Reading Reflection #4

Book: A Million Little Pieces
By: James Frey
Pages Read: 181 - 346

I am finally being drawn into this memoir of James Frey. As I get farther into the story I find it difficult to put the book down! It could be due to that I was in Brandon and had lots of free time to read.... Anyways, as I read I was introduced to this mystery girl, James' parents, Lilly, Leonard, and James himself more thoroughly than before. I now understand the relationship between the mystery girl and James. The relationships between James' peers (Lilly, Leonard, etc) are becoming a safety net of James. Finally James is learning through his parents the extent of where his addictions potentially came from.

This book has given me an insight of what an addict goes through. I have also learnt the side of a family member who lives with an addict. As I read I am not left to make assumptions, because everything is explained well. For example, how does the facility describe an addiction. On page 290 at the end of the first paragraph Sophie, a family program leader, says "The addict always wants and always needs and that want and that need is always satisfied. The inability to control and the lack of choice is but a symptom of the disease." The facility says that an addiction is considered a disease. Sophie also explains that after research "As with most diseases the belief is that the cause is genetic" she says in the last paragraph of page 289. Personally, I can believe that an addiction can be passed on through genetics, but James thinks otherwise.


My prediction from my reading reflection #2 was right. James did not leave the facility and will not until he feels confident that he can stay sober. I will finish this reading reflection off with a moment in the book that made me want to skip over, because I felt so nauseous. James was pulling off his toe nail and due to the description I could barely finish those two pages. Top of page 267 James writes "I pull and the nail breaks further. It tears the skin and that holds it in place, severs the veins that feed it. Blood starts to flow." This book is well written, maybe a little too well.

For vs Against Kony 2012

The Kony 2012 campaign has become world wide! The promotion video has been viewed over 30 million times and is creating lots of talk. There are two opinions; for vs against the Kony 2012 campaign.

According to the Visible Children blog these are the three major concerns:
(http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble)

"Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal for an issue which arguably needs action and aid, not awareness, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they lack an external audit committee. But it goes way deeper than that."

"The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending."

"Still, the bulk of Invisible Children’s spending isn’t on supporting African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) “manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA’s use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony — a brutal man, to be sure — as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil.” He’s certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest."

The Invisible Children website confronts all of these concerns.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html

Visiting their website I found that they confront most of the viewers concerns. For example the photo of the the founders of the invisible children.

"A story told by Jason Russell: Let me start by saying that that photo was a bad idea. We were young and we got caught up in the moment. It was never meant to reflect on the organization. The photo of Bobby, Laren and I with the guns was taken in an LRA camp in DRC during the 2008 Juba Peace Talks. We were there to see Joseph Kony come to the table to sign the Final Peace Agreement. The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was surrounding our camp for protection since Sudan was mediating the peace talks. We wanted to talk to them and film them and get their perspective. And because Bobby, Laren and I are friends and had been doing this for 5 years, we thought it would be funny to bring back to our friends and family a joke photo. You know, "Haha - they have bazookas in their hands but they're actually fighting for peace." The ironic thing about this photo is that I HATE guns. I always have. Back in 2008 I wanted this war to end, like we all did, peacefully, through peace talks. But Kony was not interested in that; he kept killing. And we still don't want war. We don't want him killed and we don't want bombs dropped. We want him alive and captured and brought to justice"

They also have all there financial statements on this website. Personally, the financial statements do not look like they have only 32% of finances going to direct services. Unless, you consider awareness programs not a helping source!

Truthfully, the third issue I haven't seen any responses on the website. About how Kony is certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest. Though the website is taking questions on twitter of the viewers concerns. If you really wanted to know the websites opinion on this issue you can tweet them.

With these concerns in mind,  I believe in the Kony 2012. They are making lots of awareness of an issue that is happening somewhere where the habitants can not fight it without outside help. I feel that the finances are being used properly, because the money that goes towards awareness products, media and film creation, fundraising, and awareness programs was used to grab the worlds populations attention. It helped bring the United States military to Uganda which will be an outside force to help the people who can not fight! The photo is just a juvenile mistake and I find not a big issue. I know that if I had a chance to hold a bazooka I would! I would probably just not put the photo on the internet though. I found the film very moving and informative. I did not find it unproductive, unprofessional, nor dishonest.

This is one of the biggest campaigns that the world has been well informed of. I think our class should participate by making our neighbourhood well known of the Kony issue on April 20 by putting up posters.

Two other six word memoirs I loved!

"Sisters are playdates that live together."

Photo taken by my mom, Kim, at Rennie Goose Sanctuary

Writers Note:

In my six word memoir "Sisters are playdates that live together" goes with this photo because it's of my sister and I. A sister is a friend that is always around to play. The term playdate is defined as two friends who go to one an others houses to play. That is why I used this photo because here we are playing in the grass at the Rennie Goose Sanctuary. Sisters can't help, but play together when your always together. We may fight but she is always a friend that is around to play with!

"Overcame life obstacles through my fears"

This photo was taken by my mom, Kim, at Valley Fair in Minnesota

Writers Note:

Growing up is where kids learn life lessons and learn to overcome fears. One of my fears were amusement park rides that went very fast and upside down. This past summer at Valley Fair my dad convinced me to try a roller coaster. I went on it and absolutely loved it! I overcame my fear, because I had never given a roller coaster, like in this photo, a second thought. That is why this photo of one of the roller coasters I rode at Valley Fair goes with the six word memoir "Overcame life obstacles through my fear." This six word memoir sums up every lesson I learnt growing up and it confesses how I was scared of roller coasters until I was 17 years old.

Six Word Memoir #4 - "Family are cheerleaders with the truth."

This photo was taken by friends dad, Murray at the Canada Winter Games.

Writers Note:

My six word memoir "Family are cheerleaders with the truth" relate to how my family support me in every aspect of my life. My life revolves around my sports, so my family is always there supporting me like cheerleaders. The only difference is I can rely on them to tell me the truth on my performance. They will tell me if I played well or bad, than how to improve my game! As i get older I drive to my own sporting events, but they still come out and support me! This photo was taken at the Canada Winter Games. My curling team and I qualified as team Manitoba and competed against other provinces. My immediate family and my grandparents came out to support me in Halifax! The six word memoir fits with this photo, because this was the biggest event where my family came out to support me! They also gave me constructive criticism after every game, so I knew the photo fit with the memoir perfectly!

Six Word Memoir #3 - "To Forever preserve the first rose

This photo was taken by me (Breanne)

Writers Note:

When you get a bouquet of flowers for the first time, it is a little act that makes you feel warm inside. Every time you see those flowers you are reminded of the person that loves you. When they die you throw them out even if you don’t want to. That is why when I wrote this six word memoir “To forever preserve the first rose” I was thinking about how it would feel to be able to always preserve a bouquet of flowers. This photo is a picture of the bouquet of roses that I received on my one year anniversary. On the pedal of the rose you can start to see how the roses are dying and that is why I took this photo. To symbolize that roses can not be preserved, but they are a beautiful reminder of love. I am not big into showering each other with reminders of each others love, but sometimes it’s nice.

Six Word Memoir #2 - "The true feeling of complete bliss."

This photo was taken by Me (Breanne) on a beach in Cuba

Writers Note:

Our band trip to Cuba was probably the first trip out of the country most kids had away from their parents. It was filled with laughter, awesome experiences, and lots of music! This photo is of the first beech we visited. The six word memoir “The true feeling of complete bliss” accompanies this photo due to the fact it will be a trip that every kid will look back on and remember the happy moments we all shared. I certainly remember the happy times of this trip and it feels like it was yesterday when really it’s been over a year ago we were there. Bliss is defined as perfect happiness and Cuba was a trip I was happy every day. I recommend visiting Cuba because even though it’s not the wealthiest country the Cuban people make the best of their lives and live in bliss.

Six Word Memoir #1 - "Fights won't end a true friendship."

This Photo was taken by my friend Catie in Birdshill Provincial Park

Writers Note:

This photo was taken the weekend where four of my best friends and I went camping without parents. My parents put a lot of pressure on me, because the trailer, dining tent, and everything we used, belonged to my family. Being the only one who camps regularly I got frustrated when the others didn’t know how things worked around a campsite. So by the end of the weekend our friendships became strained. So this six word memoir “fights won’t end a true friendship” goes with this photo, because even though I was a witch over the weekend the girls are still my best friends. We will fight, but we always work it out in the end, which represent true friendships. My friends have also already started talking about camping again this upcoming summer! I do love to camp, so we shall see.