Monday Muses: LaGuardia

           Something I did recently was go to the LaGuardia audition. I auditioned for visual arts and instrumental. I was really nervous. Everybody there was from Manhattan, I didn't know anyone and I was by myself and had no idea what I was doing. It was pretty intense. I got there 10 minutes late, at 8:07 and waited. I really felt like I stuck out. I was awkwardly holding my cello while holding my tote bag of stuff and my gigantic portfolio. I could barely sit in my seat. Finally they called all kids auditioning for art to come with this stranger and bring all of our stuff up 8 floors. By the way we didn't use an elevator. The art audition was around 4 hours long and honestly it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I felt really prepared and I hope I did well. But instrumental… the thought about my audition makes me shudder. We got time to practice but I didn't because the girl next to me was also on cello and doing art and her cello playing left me speechless. I couldn't play next to her! So the rest of the kids in the room watched her because she out did us all. We stared at her until she stopped playing from the awkwardness and the sight of a dozen eyes staring at her. I really don't think she even needed practice. Anyhow if that wasn't bad enough the audition was worse. Before entering I felt really proud and thought I would really impress the judges with my song, but after hearing her I was done. I entered a room and it was just two judges and I. I was so nervous. I was shaking the whole time. I think the reason would be partially because of one of the judges. One looked super friendly and welcoming but the other one stared at me as if he was angry that I was alive! My piece was worse and I messed up the whole thing. Then they asked me to sight-read and I died once again because I didn't know what I was doing really. Afterwards they asked me to tap back some rhythms, which wasn't so bad. But the worst part was when they asked me to sing notes. I cannot sing. Enough people have told me and when I wasn't allowed to sing it back in a lower octave I freaked out. This evil man chose like the highest notes on the piano all the way at the end. They judged me so badly those judges. I could see right through their fake smiles. I left incredibly sad. Well its over now and goodbye LaGuardia auditions!

Monday Muses: Favorite Children's Book

           Ever since I was a baby I watched Sesame Street. I don't know why but I just loved it! Even when the towers went down, I was watching Elmo. Apparently I started freaking out because the channel went dead from the crash. So my favorite book was “The Monster at the End of this Book”. Even now reading it is so cute. Its really creative how Grover is just the monster but he keeps trying to stop you by “putting up” all these brick walls, ropes, and planks of wood to try and stop you. It keeps you reading. The graphics and colors in the book are great too. There are big word bubbles when Grover is shouting, and shadows in the book as if it were right there, 3-D. It was like when you would imagine going into the TV or the book you were reading. And for some weird reason my favorite part of the book was on the cover. It's a company called “Jellybean Books Just for PRESCHOOLERS” and their logo is jellybeans. So every time I would try finding the book on my bookshelf I would look for the jellybeans and to this day when I look for a book on my shelf, those jellybeans always catch my eye. 

Argument Essay Draft

I believe that the book “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky should be banned in sixth graders libraries and below. The book has been banned and has many issues and topics not appropriate for 11 year olds or 12. The book is told from a perspective of a boy going into his first year of high school. As a freshman he goes through many experiences and unravels his past. Charlie, the boy, has had many difficult issues in the past he never understood. Some of them cover the topics of rape, molesting, abuse, and more. There are also a lot of drugs including marijuana, LSD, and nicotine (cigarettes). I think 6^th graders are too young for this kind of material and are basically 5^th graders. They are young, naïve, and the worst things they have usually read are books like “The Lightning Thief”.

            In the article “Darkness Too Visible” by Meghan Cox Gurdon, Meghan writes about many teen literatures that have many inappropriate, gruesome, drug taking, self harming, and suicide related topics and how these books teens read now are so dark. After her intro Meghan writes about when the whole shenanigans began. One book Meghan writes about that is a classic because it was in the beginning of the whole dark theme is “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton. This book has many dark topics that some are included in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”. Surprisingly Meghan never talks about “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” even though it is a well-known, popular book that has almost all of the topics she discusses in it. Also in the beginning of her article Meghan writes about how 12 year olds are reading these books. This article supports my thesis very well especially since the topics covered are in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” a lot.

            An example of a dark theme in the book not suitable for 6^th grade and under is when Charlie reads his best friends suicide note (from page 70-73) without knowing it was a suicide note. Charlie being a naïve boy never wanted to believe that the note was a suicide note. Charlie just thought that the note was a poem written very well so at a Christmas party he read it aloud for everyone.  Only afterwards when Charlie said he didn't know who wrote the poem did one of his friends speak up and say that it was a suicide note from a kid in the neighborhood a year back. This clearly shows that even Charlie is too young for the things he is experiencing and that he goes through many dark issues such as suicide.

            Another example of why this book is not suitable for 6^th and under is when on pages 30 through 32, Charlie watches somebody getting raped. This scene does not teach a lesson since Charlie is just cowering in the corner but helps you experience what it is like to see it happen. This part is also very descriptive and graphic which makes it even scarier. Also Charlie is just about in 6^th grade when the rape happens in his room. He says,  “I had to stop watching at that point because I started to feel sick.” If the readers are the same age and the book is really describing the scene, how do you think the readers will feel? As you can see this clearly shows why this book is not suitable for 6^th graders and under.

            In conclusion the book “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky should be banned in 6^th graders libraries and younger. The book has many dark topics and is not suitable for 6^th graders in my point of view and many others. In my school our principal is trying to ban this book specifically in 6^th grade libraries and I support her. In 6^th grade you start to read more sophisticated and meaningful books and I feel as if “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is too big of a jump from “Junie B Jones”. EXCEPTION!

For any 7^th graders and up this book is really great and almost prepares you for high school and what to expect.