Nothin' but Nihil

I forget whether it was this week or the last, but something I do remember was the discussion of how important it is to get diverse viewpoints. We recently did an activity in class, where we had to list out all the books we read in high school. Out of the 28 books I read, only 6 of them were written by women or people of color.  While the obvious answer would be to just go out there and find new viewpoints, it's a lot more difficult than it sounds, especially in a system designed to go against that. After all, isn't it the school that selected most of these books to read? And while the school system isn't completely perfect, I do appreciate that they try to highlight books about oppression, sexuality, and other cultures. I have discovered great books in Invisible Man , The Color Purple , and Waiting through the school district. While there's still a long way to go for true equality in literature, we have a good start on it right now. But if we expand our lens outside o...

“You must have a cigarette. A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?” (Wilde). From luxury cars, exquisite furniture, beautiful pieces of art hanging on the walls, designer jewelry, high fashion clothing, and maybe even golden toilets, many of the wealthy members of society today seem to always make their most bold attempt to showcase not just how rich they are, but how rich they can make people think they are. Taking to social outlets, certain social celebrities even post videos and pictures simply to flaunt their glamorous lifestyle. These ideas of grandeur, flamboyance, and elegance all fall under the umbrella of opulence, which can simply be defined as having great wealth and living in great luxury. In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray , Wilde uses this idea of opulence to demonstrate the excesses of a Hedonistic lifestyle. Throughout history, philosophers and various societies have all hel...

After finishing reading The Picture of Dorian Grey , something that really stood out to me was how fake Dorian's "redemption" was. At the end of the novel, we learn that Dorian is trying to "better" himself. He boasts to Lord Henry that he has become a changed man, as he "spared" Hetty from the corruptions of associating with him. The novel also deals with the theme of redemption. As Dorian comes to grapple with the fact that living life as Mr. Faust will always lead him to carry burdens that a pretty, young face won't be able to solve, he wonders if he will ever be able to reach full redemption. However, none of his actions seem to indicate that he is truly sorry for his actions. As always, Dorian is simply fixated on outward impressions. He would like to label himself as a new man, but he is unwilling to put in the effort to become one. He still feels no regret for the death of Basil Hallward, and he still justifies it, as he believes it's Ba...

Yesterday, we went to Blocks Greenhouse in Romulus, and as any curious plant-buyer would, I was able to just take a moment away from my busy life to appreciate the beautiful plants and flowers around me. My parents went there to stock up on vegetables for our garden this summer, while I came to see if there were any cool flowers that we could buy and plant. As I was meandering through the aisles, I noticed something interesting about most of the flowers that I saw.  Apart from the marigolds (which were fabulously tinted in shades of yellow and orange), most of the flowers fell into four distinct colors: white, pink, purple, and red. At first, I thought that it was merely a coincidence. Maybe these are just the natural colors of the flowers themselves. However, after putting some thought into it, I wondered if these flowers were selectively bred for their color? Are these the colors that people want to see? It makes sense if this is the real explanation as to why. White represents i...

T he day I first walked into Mrs. Valentino’s AP Language class, I didn’t know what to expect. Here I was, decked out in my new back-to-school drip, looking for an empty seat and our new teacher, Mrs. Valentino, when all of a sudden, I see a young, bald man in her place, talking about the new Kanye album. From that moment onwards, I knew that I was in for a ride. I fastened my seat belts and experienced the joys and thrills of The Great Gatsby , A Raisin in the Sun , and The Clan of One-Breasted Women , while also experiencing the pains and miseries of homework (don’t worry, I still enjoyed reading pieces such as The Diamond as Big as the Ritz and annotating other pieces). And while I’m talking about how great this class really was this year, it would be disingenuous of me to continue onwards without giving a proper appreciation to all the people and pieces that have made this year and this experience possible.  First, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the two ...

This is a picture of me, back in our old apartment at Somerset. You can tell from our apartment that it was merely a humble abode with everything I ever needed. Well, it was humble enough until I saw something on TV. Or at the library. Or at Barnes & Noble. And then I absolutely needed it, no matter how much it costed, or whether we even had any room for it back in the apartment. We were at Toys R Us that evening, and it was the usual window-shopping, until I happened to stumble upon a train set that happened to be so beautiful that only god himself could rival its beauty. You see, I had always wanted a train set to call my very own, even from a young age. My aspirations were habituated slowly by watching Thomas & Friends for hours upon hours each day, but I never realized my love for these toys until a visit to Barnes & Noble changed my life in ways I can barely describe. I was just wandering around, trying to find a book on dinosaurs or the Magic Tree House series or som...

One eating environment that I grew up relatively familiar with was Burger King, the infamous "home of the Whopper." Before I continue with the rest of this piece, one thing I would like to praise Burger King for is its relative honesty. The moment you step into the front doorway, you get exactly what you are paying for. There's no sense of false pretentiousness about it. Take one look around, and you can immediately tell that you have stepped right into a microcosm of corporate America. You're greeted by the sight of workers and cashiers, many of whom are being forced to survive on the minimum wage. Take a peek into the kitchen and you can see, firsthand, the standardization of the food that will be served to you. Pop a patty on the grill and pull it out to serve the people. This process is repeated innumerable times every single day. In fact, it's repeated everywhere as well. Every Whopper made here, in Troy, Michigan, is the same as a Whopper made in Kenya or A...