Kaeshav’s Krazy Opinions

  I'm going to be perfectly honest here. I thought I understood race. Race was determined by the color of our skin, who we worship, what food we eat, and other superficial things. However, after reading a Biological Reality  in class, I've been forced to rethink my perspective on race. Race stretches far deeper than just these superficial characteristics, race is influenced by our socioeconomic conditions as well.  Think about it for a minute. Why is it that we see only a certain race of people consistently succeed? It is a common joke among members of the Asian and Indian communities, that students are either going to be doctors, lawyers, or engineers. But what enables these communities to hold such high standards? I mean, for the black community, we see a particular kind of story very often. Almost every Sunday, during either a Raiders game, or a Steelers game, we see a little bit about how their star running backs, Josh Jacobs and Najee Harris, overcame homelessness, t...

          For the close read, I chose to examine the bottom part of page 117 and page 118. In these series of panel, Vladek is discussing Haskel, and the 'rat' that turned his family over to the Gestapo. I find it very interesting, that Spiegelman drew the contrast between mice and rats. He portrays the Jews as mice, but claims that the traitorous ones are rats, and that they are like vermin.     However, Vladek clearly has contrasting feelings about this. On one hand, he feels disgusted at Haskel, for having such 'friends'. This is evidenced by his comment at the end of an exchange with a Nazi: " such friends he had". On the other hand, he also feels a sense of gratitude to Haskel, for having been his family's Avenger, and saving grace in the ghetto. He sends him packages, even after the war, much to Artie's surprise. I suppose it paints a picture of gratitude, and Spiegelman argues that Vladek still feels gratitude to Haskel, despite H...

 My earliest childhood memories are of story time, with my mother. I thoroughly enjoyed reading books such as It's the Bear! by Jez Alborough, or Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen, or my personal favorite: Noddy goes to Toyland, by Enid Blyton. All of these books incorporated some level of wording. Let's analyze  2 crucial scenes from these books, and how words affect them. "Blueberry Pie... YUM YUM" Arguably my favorite scene from It's The Bear! , this scene is the climax where the main character, who has been spending the whole story seeing the bear, finally convinces his mom, that the bear is behind her. The 2 run away from their picnic, and the bear is left to eat the blueberry pie. Now, Scott McCloud contends that this is in the "Duo-Specific" style, wherein "both words and pictures convey essentially the same message". In this story, either element could stand alone, and the reader would understand that the blueberry pie is "YUM, YU...

 For the longest time, I have been under the notion that the Declaration of Independence, a document declaring that an imperfect government should be done away with, was in stark to contrast to the Constitution, which declared that it would build a more perfect nation. However, when reading Henry David Thoreau's  Civil Disobedience,   I was able to come to a better understanding of the relationship between the 2 documents. Don't let the old age English confuse you; the 2 documents are contemporary in their ideals. Thoreau's  Civil Disobedience  has the line: " I ask for, not at once no government, but  at once  a better government." This line seemed to have Jeffersonian tilt to it. Thoreau spends the previous line berating the government for it's faults, and all but calling it a bozo. It's quite similar to Jefferson, who make his arguments and then lists every possible thing wrong with the British's governing of the colonies. Jefferson says: ...

Now, I'm sure we've all see the news about the migrants being shipped to Martha's Vineyard from Florida. Naturally, this event has sparked backlash. It is a frightening thought: migrants being tricked into boarding a plane that deposits them in a completely different location, than where they were promised. But past all the legal, and political rhetoric, I see a deeper issue. This past summer has been the trailer for what a post-midterm America could look like. First, with the crazy, right-wing judicial activism. Clarence Thomas must be really pissed at Progressives for pointing out his wife's involvement in the Jan. 6th insurrection. Speaking of which, let's talk about Liz Cheney. The MAGA groups have so much power, that they didn't even let Liz Cheney make it past the primary in Wyoming. Then, we saw the entire Republican base rise up in self-righteous fury, against the FBI raid on Donald Trump's house. Doesn't matter that Trump stole top-secret docume...

  The Crazy Horse Memorial, in South Dakota      The history of the United States is tainted with the blood of those that we have wronged. From this country's infancy, we have committed atrocities against groups of people, whether those be slaves, indigenous peoples, and even women. In the 21st century, we have taken steps to honor those that we have wronged, whether that be through the removal of statues or in the form of commemorative statues, and memorials, or even in the form of commemorative periods of time. However, we could do a lot better. In the case of Native Americans, "there were probably better ways to help Indians than a big statue", a sentiment voiced by Kelly Looking Horse, a Sioux artist, in a 2010 New York Times article. This sentiment is very valid. We must strive to level the playing field, by ensuring equal pay for all genders. We must strive to end systemic racism in our school, by appropriately allocating funds to all forms of public service. W...