State of the Union

I think President Obama's State of the Union Address was most admirable. I thought the environment was very interesting and I appreciated the integration of the parties. The environment made the country as a whole seem unified and strong. Obama put much focus on education. He thinks education will put us back on top and help us out of economic troubles. He feels as a superpower we must be top five in education once again. He also felt health care is dominating much of our deficit and the health reform must remain passed. He spent a lot of time talking about the future and his bright plans. This gave the nation hope. I think freezing federal spending will help us out of the recession as well but may end up hurting many. I wish there was a way to help everyone and hurt nobody. He needed to focus more on how to help in the present but overall I felt his speech was very nice and reassuring to the US as a whole.

Tweak Conclusion

Nic battles his intense relapse all throughout the book. He had times at his ultimate low hurting everyone he loved and addicted out of his mind as well as times of subtle improvements. It wasn't until the end of the book when I saw a true dramatic change in Nic's life. He was finally in the right recovery program for him. He loved the people there because they supported were him and could relate because many were in the same boat as him. At the end, his parents and family come for the weekend. At first, his dad says he loves his son but he doesn't know if he could ever change. It wasn't until they did drawings as a family to express themselves that his dad saw the his son had made a change. Nic's drawing repeatedly had written all over it how sorry he was. They hugged and a ton of mixed emotions filled Nic's head. His dad apologizes too and truly believes in his son again. Nic feels like he can finally live and be an independent person. He was making a very solid start and was definitely comitted to recovery this time around. The book closes with him feeling normally, laughing, and living.
This book was a rollercoaster to read. It started out really slow and all about him doing drugs. Finally, he went through ups and downs. I felt attached to his character and wanted to help him. The ending warmed my heart. I felt so proud of Nic and happy that his family had given him forgiveness and everyone loved each other once again.

Tweak #5

Finally, Nic gets help. He is prescribed on medications to help some of his illnesses going on mentally after talking to a doctor for only fifty minutes. He ended up taking medicine for depression and being bipolar to help treat it. His family is away together and Nic was on his road to recovery. It warmed his heart how his siblings looked out for each other. It also warmed his heart when his brother explained how he was scared Nic was going to change but he was the same old Nic. It gave Nic a sense of normalcy that he enjoyed. He was still not completely back to normal but his siblings helped a lot. He still felt he had to distance himself because he got really annoyed with little things and he did not want to ruin any relationships. While on the beach with his family Nic describes the improvements in himself he is starting to feel from this getaway even knowing that the reality of LA will set in the next day. He  described, "Watching Karen, Daisy, and Jasper making pattens out of shells in the shore break, my dad reading farther back underneah a tree, I feel a certain calmness...In the past there's no way I would have been able to pull myself out of that spiral of negativity, anger, and hopelessness...Something has changed" (Sheff 204). He felt comfort again and not stuck living his life as a drug addict who is constantly battling to find his place and be happy. He was playing with his siblings on the beach and was telling them how happy he was to be back with them again. He tells them with tears pouring down his face how he is so happy to have escaped the depression he was stuck in. This part made me so happy and thankful that he was able to recover. When he started crying as he was playing it warmed my heart and was by far my favorite part of the book. My brother is my best friend, and I can't imagine being absent from my family for as long as he was. This part of the book is full of love and really appreciating the good and life itself.

Tweak #4

"I stole from my grandparents. I stole from my aunts, uncle, and friends. I stole and justified it and stole more. I feel sick being on the other side of it. I feel unsafe, violated, and out of control." This quote struck me. This shows just how strong an addiction can be. He was now stealing from the people he loved the most in order to get money to support his drug usage. This is truly really sad. The fact that he was convincing himself it wasn't bad of him to do makes it even worse. Stealing is not okay not matter what and there is no justification for it. He was well aware of all he was losing yet, his addiction to meth was too strong to stop. When he was younger he always thought him doing drugs was harmless. He could stop when he wanted and control his usage without getting addicted. This book tells about his violent relapse in which he was no longer able to stop. Everyone sober around him wanted him to stop but he was incapable. He was in too deep with his addiction and even involved in selling. These drugs got him involved with the wrong people  and doing regrettable things that he would not do sober. His friends were ripping people off when selling drugs and coating them with things to make them more addicted. To them it became all about the money and there was no trusting anybody. Nic was losing all his morals. He was not only stealing, but he was having promiscuous sex and bringing others around him down with him. His father knew his life had been changed and harmed when his parents got divorced, but he hoped and prayed that he could help his son. His son's reality was a nightmare. Nic thought he was invincible before his relapse. He would never become one of the addicts and he would never get caught doing drugs. He again was wrong about himself. 

Nic is very similar to young drug users around here. Around here in the north shore, people think they are invincible. There are people who do a ton of drugs and think that they will just be able to quit when they want and they are not ones to become addicts. Many think they will never be caught yet, most of them do get caught. Drugs are dangerous and it truly feels like that is down played by teens. Once one gets addicted it is extremely hard to break it just as Nic is experiencing. 

Tweak #4

"I stole from my grandparents. I stole from my aunts, uncle, and friends. I stole and justified it and stole more. I feel sick being on the other side of it. I feel unsafe, violated, and out of control." This quote struck me. This shows just how strong an addiction can be. He was now stealing from the people he loved the most in order to get money to support his drug usage. This is truly really sad. The fact that he was convincing himself it wasn't bad of him to do makes it even worse. Stealing is not okay not matter what and there is no justification for it. He was well aware of all he was losing yet, his addiction to meth was too strong to stop. When he was younger he always thought him doing drugs was harmless. He could stop when he wanted and control his usage without getting addicted. This book tells about his violent relapse in which he was no longer able to stop. Everyone sober around him wanted him to stop but he was incapable. He was in too deep with his addiction and even involved in selling. These drugs got him involved with the wrong people  and doing regrettable things that he would not do sober. His friends were ripping people off when selling drugs and coating them with things to make them more addicted. To them it became all about the money and there was no trusting anybody. Nic was losing all his morals. He was not only stealing, but he was having promiscuous sex and bringing others around him down with him. His father knew his life had been changed and harmed when his parents got divorced, but he hoped and prayed that he could help his son. His son's reality was a nightmare. Nic thought he was invincible before his relapse. He would never become one of the addicts and he would never get caught doing drugs. He again was wrong about himself. 

Nic is very similar to young drug users around here. Around here in the north shore, people think they are invincible. There are people who do a ton of drugs and think that they will just be able to quit when they want and they are not ones to become addicts. Many think they will never be caught yet, most of them do get caught. Drugs are dangerous and it truly feels like that is down played by teens. Once one gets addicted it is extremely hard to break it just as Nic is experiencing. 

Tweak #3

So far this book has been page after page about Nic doing drugs and getting involved with the wrong people. It is alot of the same thing over and over. He is injecting himself with horrible drugs and it is truly disgusting me. Nic is now trying to sell nasty drugs in order to make a lot of money with his friend. He is going to people who are fresh out of jail as his drug hookups. He said," It is my decision what to do with my life." This struck me because he knows he has control over his life but won't change his ways. He admitted that he has thrown his life away. At this point he feels he is incapable of change but knows he has serious problems. Now everyone has realized that he has relapsed so it became reality. It was out that he was no longer clean. The part that struck me in my reading today was his reflection on his past with his family, specifically his step mom. He described such a normal loving family and memories that he had. He talked about genuinely looking forward to time with his family friends and gently getting the little kids off of them as he'd play with them. He also recalled the first time him and his step mom hung out just them two. They spent quality time and got a long really well. This is not typically what you read in books the kids tend to not like their step moms. I thought that showed that he was an accepting and real nice kid. They would crack jokes all the time and he mentioned that he respects her so much. Then, when he was hallucinating from drugs he thought he saw her and was upset by the disappointment she had in him. Because he cares this shows that he has not completely crossed over and lost himself.

This reminded me of the death penalty debates. Many people argued that the things the person being prosecuted did were horrible but that does not make them horrible people. They argued that there is still a little kid inside these people who is innocent and a good person at heart. This is how I feel about Nic. He may do horrible things but I know that he still cares about his family and wishes he wasn't addicted to drugs. By the memories he describes he seems to have been a really good kid. I think it is so sad that he is on drugs and I hope to see a recovery as the book continues.

Extra Blog: Hurricane Katrina

In class we have been watching a movie about Hurricane Katrina. The video is interesting because the people speaking in the video end up talking about each other and their reactions to the storm. I thought it was good that they ordered a mandatory evacuation. I just didn't think it was okay that the government was not able to properly execute their order. They should have found a way to get those who could not afford to leave, were too sick, or too old out of there. Many died or became ill. People lost everything in this storm. I thought it was harsh of the police not to take any calls even though their was a warning that no one will help those who choose to stay. The fact was that no one wanted to stay and die people just could not leave for one reason or another and should not be punished for that reason.

It struck me how many fingers were pointed in this movie and the lack of unity showed in America. I thought Bush putting international affairs before ones at home in the US was a slap in the face to American cities. He made people feel he didn't care. It took him too long to send help and really get people recovered and to safety. It was embarrassing to me that Canadian troops were there and wanting to help before American troops. The citizens of New Orleans were made feel that this issue was minor compared to other issues in America due to the lack of help they were getting from the federal government. People were angry and upset because they were suffering and no one truly knew how bad it was. People were breaking into stores everywhere in order to get supplies for survival. Many citizens became violent and it became scary out there. About 80% of the city was covered in water. People lost their lives. People went days without water. People got separated from their families. 50,000 people were in a center at one point and had no where to change, no where to bathe, no food or supplies and the government claimed they didn't know that many people were there. The airport when people finally were starting to get out and sent to civilization, was packed with people wall to wall. The upstairs was full of sick people being recovered by doctors. There was no air in their because of the amount of people. People were miserable from their conditions and the heat as well as the unbearable humidity. One lady who spoke on the video said she was angry because one official in uniform had an attitude. All she wanted was a little compassion after all these citizens had been going through.  This made me sad. This was very different than the 911 video where Americans came together and unified. This showed a bad side of America which made me very sad.