Final Post

To the the very few people who read my blog: 

Wow.

It has been a very long, stressful yet short school year. Throughout the year I started this blog as part of an English assignment. At first, I was actually pretty excited about creating a blog, and the idea of being able to design it how I wanted it. Through this process I learned that in fact in some ways I did enjoy blogging and other times when I didn't. Some days it became work that I didn't want to do but other days my blog became a place to vent where I could share my thoughts about certain topics that I might not discuss with friends/family.

As a result of my blogging journey I have grown in a couple of ways. One being that I do occasionally enjoy expressing my thoughts through this platform. I have enjoyed writing since I was young but never had a blog as a platform for my ideas. While I can enjoy blogging at times I have made the decision that I will most likely not continue to do so. I might post here and there, on certain experiences I have had but do not expect as frequent of posts as I have been doing. Without assignments to keep me on track to continuing to post I will most likely not have the motivation to continue. Honestly, it is not the writing that I don't want to do I just don't think my life interesting enough to write about. 

You change a lot in one day, let alone an entire year. I have grown a lot as a person even in the last year, but to be perfectly honest blogging was not a big part of that. I don't really have many thoughts about blogging except that I usually crammed 3 posts in about one night haha. 

Even though I didn't love blogging, it was definitely a positive experience. This blog will be good to look back on my first year of high school, and is almost like a reflection. I might laugh and think that this is totally silly, and ridiculous. Or cringe at my word choice and the topics I wrote about, or maybe even smile when I look back at this. Reguardless, I am glad I got the experience of writing on a regular basis through this platform. There were a lot of stressful nights of cramming all my work, but I did it.

It almost feels weird that I am saying "goodbye" to this blog and a part of me is sad even though close to no people read my blog... haha 

Photo: Taken by my camera's self timer

Well, thanks for a good time blog. 

Until next time.

~ Marea

Why Divergent is NOT just some Hunger Games Copy

Today I would like to talk about something that has been highly debated on the social media accounts that I follow. *If you do not care about either THG or Divergent series and think it's "stupid" or "clique" please do not keep reading.*

*sorry one is the book cover and one is the movie, I couldn't find a high quality image*

Image Courtesy of: playbuzz

This would be whether or not The Hunger Games or Divergent are the same or "similar." Today, I am going to be talking about why they are NOT the same, but how they are very much different stories. Whether or not you prefer one to the other, that is a matter of opinion. Everyone likes and dislikes different things, while I am a big fan of the Divergent Series, The Hunger Games is VERY different. Most people know what these both are, but if you don't know what either of these are click here for more in depth information about Divergent, and here for The Hunger Games.

To start I would like to acknowledge that there are both dystopian trilogy's narrated by young women, BUT the plots of these and the characters journeys are VERY different.

To start here are quick summaries of the books:

THG:
In the Hunger Games society they will pick a male and a female from each "district" and will place them in an arena to fight to the death, for simple their entertainment. Katniss's sister, Prim, is chosen to fight in the annual hunger games but Katniss volunteers to fight for her. There is also in a love triangle between Gale, the guy that takes care of her family, or Peeta who she seems to be falling for. She goes back and forth between the two. But *spoiler alert ahead* she ends up with Peeta. Personally, I felt like both Hunger Games and Catching Fire were basically the exact same but with a different ending. In catching fire it was another game, with Peeta and Katniss fighting for their lives. Mockingjay is the final book in the trilogy and more than one person has told me the book was too boring to finish. In the end, while there are many wars, violence, and cruelty Katniss and Peeta turn out all right. The two of them end up marrying for real and have a family.

Now onto Divergent...

 In Divergent, their society is divided up into "factions" as young teens are going into adulthood they will make the choice between staying with their family or leaving their home to a new faction, new people, and a whole new lifestyle. Before choosing your new faction, each teen will take a test that will help them make the decision of choosing their new faction. The test will offer a series of choices to be made which will then give you one result. Abnegation(selflessness), Amity(kindness), Erudite(Intelligence), Candor(Honesty), and Dauntless(Bravery.) This series follows a young girl named Tris who makes the decision to transfer into the warrior faction of bravery. This faction is called Dauntless, in this faction she learns to fight, train, and become a strong independent women. Unlike the Hunger Games, there is no love triangle in this series.
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Now, to start I would like to address the whole messy love triangle in THG(The Hunger Games), Katniss's main focus is to stay alive but it is still very clear that she is struggling emotionally on who she really loves. While in Divergent, and to quote Veronica Roth, "Love triangles are great, but they're not just not a Tris thing. She's just so focused on what she wants."

Second, the society itself. Divergent's society is divided up into groups based off of traits they value such as bravery and kindness in THG is it split up into 13 different districts. In Allegiant the society has many more futuristic components than the Hunger Games.

Next, the basic plot line. In THG kids/adults can be chosen from their district to fight in a "game" till the death for simple entertainment. If you know Divergent at all that is not the case, it follows a young girl of her journey from the faction of Abnegation to Dauntless.

These are just a few of the MANY differences between THG and Divergent. While reading this I have probably said "Divergent and THG" wayyyyy too many times but here are a few websites I found that have even more reasons of why the two are not the same.

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

Lastly - sorry if this post came off as intense, I got a little carried away haha ;)
~ Marea

"love. always. in all ways. - SW"

Over the last couple of months I have especially noticed how so many people take things for granted(myself included).

Something I noticed more so recently is some of the drama that has to do with the dance program at my school. I am not going to use names for any of the people (b/c don't get me wrong I still love all these girls), but many of them don't really appreciate the opportunity's we are given. In no way do I think the dance program at school is perfect but we still do get a lot than most students do. Especially the stage that we get to perform on is crazy big, and extremely professional. If the only thing you can think about is getting the "next best thing" or the "cuter costume" you will loose sight of what is right in front of you. We could all be a little more grateful (myself included) for the opportunities  and the community that we are surrounded in.

While I do realize that you cannot always be positive, and granted we are all allowed to have our bad days, or weeks but in the long run TRY to appreciate what you have. In no way am I even close to being perfect with this, but I swear I am trying. ;)

If you write down a list of things that  make you happy I can guarantee that at least 50% of them are the little things that truly make you happy. One book I really enjoyed recently (All the Bright Places) had a quote in it that reminds me of this, which is "The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it's the small things that count. Everyone's so busy waiting in the Waiting Place. If we stopped to remember that there's such thing as a Purina Tower and a view like this, we'd all be happier." I totally agree with this quote, and think that the point of this quote is so important.

Often, in society these days we are also constantly comparing ourselves. "She has prettier hair." "She is a better dancer." "She has cuter clothes." We get so caught up in these comparisons that when we look in the mirror you don't see you for you, you see who your not. YOU are enough, and the sooner you can realize that I'm the happier you will be :-)

Image Courtesy of: omaze

Like one of my favorite people says, "You do you, and I'll do me." If you know me personally you know who I'm talking about haha ;)

To be honest, I don't even know where I am going with this but there goes my inspirational post. I hope this made a somewhat amount of sense, I do realize my thoughts are all over the place but I tried my best. I hope this helped at least in some way and was a good reminder :)

Until next time...
~ Marea

All the Bright Places | Book Review

BOOKS!!! In the last few months, I have been really into books. At some points in grade school, I strongly disliked reading and refused to believe that there were no good books out there. Until about 6th grade I got a lot more into reading, and have been a book lover ever since. More recently, I have been reading a ton of books, and one of my favorites that I just finished is All the Bright Places.

Image Courtesy of: jenniferniven.com

All the Bright Places is a young adult coming of age novel written by Jennifer Niven. It takes place in Indiana, focusing on two characters, Finch, and Violet. They meet at the top of a bell tower, both fascinated by the idea of death. They end up being paired for a school project, and their relationship develops throughout.

I do not want to give away too much of the book, by telling you more about the plot but I can tell you some things on why I enjoyed it.

First, I really enjoyed that the novel switches point of view between the two main characters. It was interesting to read what each characters though process was. I have not read many books that switch consistently between the two characters, which I really enjoyed.

This book will also keep you hooked, I finished it in only a couple of days because I wanted to read until I finished it, definitely one of those books that you cannot put down. The plot is suspenseful and all the drama makes you want to find out more.

Of course with a boy and a girl main character, they are bound to fall in love... The love story between the two is really sweet and it really shows in the book how much they care about each other. Their relationship takes awhile to develop, which I actually enjoyed because it made it seem more realistic.

The ending is quite bittersweet, so be ready if you plan on reading this book :)) When finishing this book I actually read into the author and this story was based off of her own high school experience and her story was also quite moving. If you plan on reading this novel I recommend looking into the author, Jennifer Niven. Her story is really moving, and it helped me gain more knowledge on where some of the ideas came from for this book.

One thing I look forward to is in 2017 this book has plans to become a film! I am ecstatic about this novel becoming a movie, and I really hope that it does stay true to the book.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and made me realize to really treasure each and every moment, and as Theodore Finch would say, "The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it's the small things that count. Everyone's so busy waiting in the Waiting Place. If we stopped to remember that there's such thing as a Purina Tower and a view like this, we'd all be happier."

Happy reading :)
- Marea