Who Speaks For Carriage Horses? by Liz Robbins

Horse-drawn carriages have been a New York City icon for a long time. But are they moral? Carriage drivers say their horses live good lives, but the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and others disagree. Though this issue has been raised before, it has gained a lot of attention recently due to Mayor Bill De Blasio vowing to banish the horse-drawn carriages. I learned the details of the debate in the article Who Speaks For Carriage Horses? By Liz Robbins in the New York Times.

The article represents both sides, however the author doesn't share her opinion. People opposed to horse-drawn carriages said that the horses live in "confinement" and “are surrounded by buses, cabs and traffic.” These are dangerous working conditions for horses, animals that are easily spooked. People in favor of horse-drawn carriages argue that the horses are well cared for and cite an inspection as proof. They also bring up the point that many people will lose their jobs if horse-drawn carriages are banned.

The author includes a lot of quotes to equally represent both sides of the debate. She shares others’ opinions, but never her own. By doing this, she leaves room for the reader to choose a side without being pushed in any direction. The author also uses many small paragraphs, switching back and forth between sides. She does this to keep the reader interested and helps the reader choose a side.

Before reading this article, I was positive I was against horse-drawn carriages. Though that is still my opinion, this article really made me think through my reasoning as I considered both sides of the argument. I had never really pondered the negative effects of banning the carriages, such as job loss, until I read this article. In my opinion, horse-drawn carriages should be banned as horses are injured and are not being treated fairly, which is their right. I hope that Mayor De Blasio, with the support of his constituents, will be able to ban the horse-drawn carriages.

Closely Reading Paintings By Rene Magritte

The surrealist artist Rene Magritte often painted scenes of events that you most likely wouldn’t see in your life, like a giant apple filling up a whole room, or a toy train hovering in midair. By closely reading his paintings, I learned a lot about Rene Magritte’s work and messages.

Though I have observed his paintings before, there are several small details I never noticed before. For example, in The Son of Man, the man’s left elbow is bent slightly backwards. This bend contributes to the mystery in the painting, showing that everything is not as it seems in the strange portrait. Another thing I noticed in Not to Be Reproduced is that even though the man’s reflection that ‘should be’ his face is actually his back, the book sitting on the ledge is reflected ‘normally.’ This shows that, like the reflection, reality and perception are distorted.

Another thing I noticed by closely reading Magritte’s paintings was the reoccurring background of a light blue sky with white clouds. As mentioned before, many of Magritte’s paintings include “out of this world scenes.” They are teeming with mystery and so-called impossibilities. In my opinion, the typical “sunny day sky” shows the observer all the crazy things that could happen in a seemingly normal environment. Throughout the paintings, the clouds seem to link our perception of reality to the happenings in the paintings.

I discovered a lot about Rene Magritte and his paintings by closely reading his work. There are so many mystifying details, perfectly placed, to make the observer question the reality of the world in the painting, or maybe their own reality.

Closely Reading The Stolen Party

The book The Stolen Party has many powerful themes. When closely read and analyzed, I noticed many deep issues and found out a lot about the characters. In my opinion, the two most interesting themes were class system and misunderstanding.

Class system was acknowledged from the very beginning of the story when Hermidia was introduced as a rich family’s maid and Rosaura as the maid’s daughter. They are both very proud characters but sometimes in different ways. Rosaura for example, seems embarrassed by her lower class ranking, while Hermidia is very dignified about being a maid. She told Rosaura to tell people at the party she was going to that she was proud to be “the employee’s” daughter. Class system also made boundaries between Hermidia’s family and the family of Herimidia’s employer, Senora Ines.

Misunderstanding plays a big role in The Stolen Party. When Rosaura was invited to the birthday party of her rich “friend,” the daughter of Senora Ines, she was thrilled. Throughout the party, Senora Ines asked Rosaura to help her with a few small things, like carrying a jug or serving cake. At the end of the party, Rosaura was eager to receive her party gift, a bracelet all the other girls who were leaving got. However, Senora Ines handed her money, and thanked her for the good work. Rosaura was distraught and confused. She thought she had a real friendship with Senora Ines’s daughter, but she was really just seen as the maid’s daughter.

The Stolen Party is a very sad story but also very true to life. In the world, families are separated by class just like Hermidia’s family and Senora Ines’s family. People tend to stay in the community of their class system, but Rosaura was young and naïve. She loved the way the rich lived, but she didn’t understand how divided their two societies were.

Best Book of 2013, The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Out of all the amazing books I read in 2013, my favorite was, hands down, The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. It is one of those rare perfect books that combine many different themes and conflicts that make you never want to stop reading. The main character, Hazel, and her boyfriend, Gus, are very complex and interesting characters that made me connect to their lives and get lost in the book.

One of the things I loved about The Fault In Our Stars was its use of metaphors, like the reoccurring grenade. Hazel compared herself to a grenade and tried to avoid people to “minimalize the casualties” of her death. In the end, Gus actually ended up being more of a grenade than Hazel, leaving all his friends and family devastated. The characters lived by their own metaphors as well, like Gus and cigarettes. Gus always had a cigarette between his teeth but never lit it. “They don't kill you unless you light them," he said as Mom arrived at the curb. "And I've never lit one. It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing.” Gus did this because he felt the need to have power over something in his body, considering the fact that he had no control over his cancer.

Another thing I loved about The Fault In Our Stars was how truthful it was. For example, Hazel and Gus were obsessed with the fictional book An Imperial Affliction, and couldn’t wait to meet the book’s author Peter Van Houten in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, when they finally met him, he turned out to be a rude alcoholic that almost ruined Hazel and Gus’s love and appreciation for An Imperial Affliction. Another example of truthfulness displayed in the book was when Hazel was investigating Gus’s ex-girlfriend, Caroline, who died of cancer. On her social media profiles, she was preserved as a nice girl with a lot of friends, but when Gus spoke truthfully about her, he said she was actually just plain mean. Though these occurrences disappointed the characters and readers, they were realistic and pulled me into the book even more.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green was a phenomenal book, and my favorite book of 2013. This book was intriguing on many levels, ranging from sad one moment to hilarious in the next. It was so thought provoking that I still think about now! If you haven’t read this book yet, I strongly recommend it along with anything else by John Green.