Romeo is Rash

In the play, I believe that Romeo's so called "true love" with Juliet is not "true", yet that Romeo acts very rash about Juliet. Throughout the play up until the middle, besides the end, Romeo has, to me, rash behaviors that no one would do if they were in true love with someone else, which when Romeo married Juliet, they barely knew each other. Romeo never did that with Rosaline, who we know he loved after crying about it for so long, he never married her at all, let alone would he have done it the day after he met her.
In a way, I believe that Juliet could have been some kind of "rebound" for Romeo. I believe this because she is the only thing that made him stop thinking about Roaline, but so suddenly too, even though the only way he described her was of her beauty; he knew almost nothing about her besides that she was a Capulet. She could have been a rebound because her beauty made Romeo stop thinking about Rosaline's beauty, which was "the most beautiful beauty", and want to marry her right away so that he could keep that beauty. As Friar Lawrence says to Romeo, "Your love is not in your hearts, but in your eyes". This proving my point that they don't truly love each other they just love each others looks, so getting married was a very rash, not well though out idea for both of them, also consdering that one is a Capulet and one is a Montague.
Lastly some people may say that they did have true love, or else they wouldn't have killed themselves for each other. I disagree with this point. When Romeo dated Rosaline, they were truly in love, as Romeo says, but he also talks about her beauty more than anything, meaning that this is the same problem with Juliet. But, even on top of that, he was dating her for quite some time and never even thought about marriage at first, unless he did but he never actually went through with it like he did with Juliet. Now, the reason why Romeo most likely would never think about going to extreme measures with death with Rosaline, considering something like that did happen, is for instance how when she left him, "for good", all he did was weep, and I believe that he would've done the same thing if she had died. This is why when Romeo killed himslef for someone he barely knew, he was being rash and not thinking about it. I guess this example could be argued both ways, but bottom line is that Romeo's rash decisions did not lead him a good path.

Fallen Angels

          In the book, Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Meyers, there are many uses of symbolism. I am not very far into the book but am starting to already realize these uses. The symbolism my group and I chose is about the setting. In this book, 17-year old Richie Perry, signs up for the army and gets shipped off to Vietnam. He faces many hardships and the setting tells you a lot.

          Vietnam is largely a humid, buggy, heat overloading jungle; full of mess and chaos.   In the book, on page 21, the author states, "That night the mosquitos ate us up.  I had bites all over my body.  Back home I thought mosquitos never bit black people.  Not as much as they bit white people, anyway.  Maybe Vietnamese mosquitos just bit blacks and whites and didn't bite Asians."  I believe this passage symbolizes how unpredictable Vietnam is as a nation/society.  There are also large uninhabited fields of grass in which lies nothingness.  To me this illustrates the blankness of the character's mind.  He doesn't feel anything or think anything.  He is just numb; after leaving his old life.

           Another aspect of the setting that I think tells you something about the character, is the fact that Perry calls his tent the "mess tent."  I think this is showing how messed up his time in Vietnam is so far.  It is an uncertain place were you don't know what will happen next.  It is showing the disorganization of the war and the Americans in Vietnam.  So much chaos.

        

Czar Putin?

          Vladamir Putin is a man who stands out as a "god" to the people of Russia, like their leaders from generations ago. Nearly everyone in Russia--87%--loves him. In the article, Czar Putin?, by Patricia Smith, Smith describes how Putin turned the Russian economy around, and improved the lives of many Russian people.   But she also tells how Putin acts like he is the best, he can win any challenge. He does this by posing with tigers, showing off his ability at doing Jui-jitsu and riding on horses shirtless.
          Since he became President in 1999, however, Vladimir Putin has worked to create more power for himself than any other leader of Russia.  As Smith reports, he passed laws controlling the media, he cracked down on anybody that tried to demonstrate against his government, a few years ago he even jailed three members of a female punk rock band for making anti-Putin songs. Finally, in 2008, he was not allowed to run for a third term of presidency. So instead, he appointed himself prime minister and "called all the shots from behind the scenes." In other words, the no third term presidency in Russia didn't stop Putin from still being in charge.
         Outside of Russia, people are worried about Putin.  They see him as another dictator, or "Czar", in a long line of Russian dictators.  He invaded and took over a neighboring country, Crimea and has threatened other countries.  He has wrecked relations with Europe and the United States. I think what the author, Patricia Smith, is saying is that even though the term "Czar" is no longer used in Russia, Vladamir Putin is acting and ruling the country like one.  He, in many ways, controls all of Russia like an absolute dictator.
         After reading this article I wonder what Putin is going to do next. Will he back off from confronting Europe and the United States? Will he allow freedoms again in his own country. Right now, according Patricia Smith' s article, Putin had his back against the wall. The economy is bad again and Europe and the United States have made sanctions against Russia.  If he doesn't back down, what will he do? Smith quotes a Russian member of the opposition party as saying he's afraid Putin will get more aggressive. Like a bully who is being confronted, Putin may end up getting more aggressive and try to intimidate Europe, the U.S. and the world.