Jyoti Tamisier fayard                                                                                                                     5/10/15

            804

Dear Romeo,

You, who have the mind of a poet, full of love and honesty, why don't you use it at crucial times? When you saw them fight, why did you do so little?  Did you think your words would reach their souls and change their actions? You led your best friend to death. He was neither Capulet nor Montague. Yet he fought for you. When he died, he was full of hatred for the two wrecked families.

Did his last words not mean anything to you? Could you not learn a lesson and stop this endless war?What good did it feel when you took revenge? You were right when you said, "O, I am Fortune's fool." Taken by hatred, you lost everything. You were so enveloped in the very moment and your emotions that you did not think of tomorrow. But if you had not been blind by your own darkness, things could have changed. 

Letting your angry feelings take over killed all hopes for your love of Juliette. You let your families, these two houses that your friend Mercutio cursed, deal with your life and destroy it. Your marriage with Juliette had the power to abolish the distances between the two families: Tybalt was not only Juliette's cousin, but he was also yours through the oath of marriage. 

Now, you can cry and despair but things have unfortunately been settled. 

I wish you could have used your mind rather than let your heart and guts led your actions. Hopefully, you'll be able to learn and allow Mercutio's death to resonate and lead to some good and happiness. 

Yours, 

We All Looked Up

Jyoti Tamisier- Fayard                                                                                                                  3/26/16

            804

We All Looked Up 

"We All Looked Up" by Tommy Wallach tells the story of the 4 teenagers.  Throughout his book, it is interesting to see the characters develop and how they slowly change as Ardor is slowly approaching Earth. Ardor plays an important role in this book because it is a meteorite that is coming to destroy Earth. This also plays an important role through out the book because it made 4 teenagers named Eliza, Peter, Anita, and Andy meet. If it weren't for Ardor, they probably wouldn't have become couples. Ardor in this book was a metaphor to say that with still very little time, you can still accomplish many things and you can change things.

To begin with, when Ardor did not exist, Peter and his Sister were on bad terms. But when Ardor came,  Peter many times put is life in danger just to make Samantha his sister come back. Peter was later able to die in peace knowing that he was able to save Samantha and that he had finally been able to become the boyfriend of Eliza in which he had been in love with for a very long time. Although Peter died, he was able to die with a light heart because he accomplished what he couldn't do.

Furthermore, Ardor completely changed Anita. Anita was before a child who would do whatever her parents told her to do. She gave up her passion which was singing because her parents told her that she would go nowhere by singing just like he uncle. But again, Ardor came and changed Anita life. Anita decided to run away and do what she loved. Once she left her house. she felt free like a bird out of their cage.  Once out of her cage, Anita moved into Andy's place. Together, they composed music. Anita at the end was able to fulfill her dreams because she was able to sing to a big crowd just before Ardor came and she was no longer a virgin.

Out of all the 4 characters, Andy was the one who changed the most. Andy at the very beginning was someone was was very laid back. He never cared about school, doing drugs and always hanging out with his "friend" Bobo. If it weren't for Ardor and Anita, Andy most likely would have wasted his life being used by Bobo and being a follower. Anita changed his life because she unfolded his blind eyes and always told him the truth and made him realize that Bobo was not a good person and that Eliza was not the real person he liked and that it was actually her Anita that he liked. Ardor changed him because it made hime start moving and not be lazy like he used to.

In conclusion, Ardor was a metaphor, in the sense that although the world is about to end, you can still change things and do what you wish.

Tears Of A Tiger

Jyoti Tamisier- Fayard                                                                                                                  2/12/16
804

Tears of a Tiger

Tears Of A Tiger, the author, Sharon M Draper, tells the story about a teenager named Andy Jackson who killed his best friend Robert Washington after a basketball game while driving. While Andy and his other best friends were able to escape the car that was taking on fire, Roberts legs were trapped in the front. Seeing his friend burning and crying for help, burned the heart of Andy. After the accident, Andy's other friends were able to move on, but still feeling guilty. However, Andy was not able to move on. All he felt was sorrow, despair, grief, and was heartbroken. The memory of his friend burning and crying for help was engraved in his heart and never stopped replaying. While, most people thought he was getting better, Andy was getting worse and worse. His only light was his girlfriend who was supporting him no matter the sircumstanses. Keisha, his girlfriend, always was there for Andy when in need. 

To begin with, Keisha always tried her best to be supportive understand Andy when he was in bad condition. When they were on a date, Andy was at first very happy and optimistic, but as snow fell, he suddenly remembered Robert and felt terrible. He wouldn't stop talking about how cold he was and how Robert must be cold in the pile of snow piling over him. Although Keisha could not do much about his pain, she still stayed close to him and did not leave him. She soothed him by telling him that Robert was fine and that he could not feel the coldness of the snow and where he is, he is warm and in peace.

Adding on, when Andy was at the psychologist, he was asked if he depends a lot on Keisha and what would happen if she wasn't there. He answered, " She's there for me when nobody else is [...] Me and Keisha are tight. She's my lady [...] She keeps me in balance. " All these things he told to his psychologists shows how much Andy loves Keisha and how much he needs her.

Lastly, although Keisha was getting annoyed with Andy's depression, she still was willing to be there and listen to him. In her diary she wrote,  "Andy can't seem to get over it and i'm the only one who knows it. His got his parents, his teachers, even the stupid counselor at the Outpatient Psych Center fooled."  This shows that she understood Any the best and knew him better than his own family.