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The Importance of Good Mentors

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                           While reading the last two chapters and epilogue of The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, by Wes Moore, the theme of the importance of mentors kept popping up in my mind. Both Wes Moores start their life lacking father figures, and by early childhood are scattering to find different adults to look up to in order to fill that hole. I believe that the moment that these two seemingly parallel lives begin to branch off into their own paths is when the other Wes starts to look up to Tony, and when Wes begins to look up to his mother and surrounding family members. In fact, Wes Moore credits much of his success to him. He writes, “What changed was that I found myself surrounded by people-starting with my mom, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and leading to a string of wonderful role models and mentors-who kept pushing me to see more than what was directly in front of me, to see the boundless possibilities within myself” (Moore 180). Wes Moore had that support syste
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In chapters four through six of Wes Moore’s, “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” one theme. This is the theme of the dangers of a parent living in denial. Denial is realizing the circumstances around you, but carrying on as if they were not happening. This theme is more prominent in the other Wes Moore’s life, as the denial of the people around him allowed him to carry on down his bad path. The best example of someone like this in his life is  Wes Moore’s mother, Mary. Mary constantly lives in denial about her son’s life and his actions. The first example of this is when Wes’s brother, Tony, begins to beat up Wes because he realizes he is dealing drugs. Mary begins to defend him, even though deep down she knows about what her son is doing. Moore writes, “But the sight of Tony punching him in the face infuriated her. Maybe it was because Wes was younger than him and she knew how violent Tony could be. Or maybe it was because she wanted so much for Tony could be wrong” (Moore 71)
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What Happens When Someone Does Anything to be Included?

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  While reading the first three chapters of “Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” by Wes Moore, I noticed one recurring theme. This theme was inclusion. Both of the Wes Moores wanted to feel accepted, and went to great ends to try and get this feeling. And even though they may have ended up in different places, the ways they went about to fulfill this need were not all too different in the beginning. For Wes, the best example of attempting to fit in was in his new school. He writes, “I tried to hide the fact that my family was so much poorer than everyone else’s at school. I had three ‘good’ shirts and three ‘good’ pairs of pants. I would rotate their order, mixing and matching, so that each day I had on a fresh combination” (Moore 52). This is just one of the many examples that demonstrates how far a child will go to feel included. This inability to fit in causes Wes to act out and nearly makes him fail out of his classes. His experience reminds readers just how important it is to have
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Is Higher Education Worth the Price?

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  In today’s society everyone is often encouraged to go into college after high school and receive a degree in a field they would like to pursue. While many colleges are aimed at helping students reach this goal alone, others are there to provide students with a much deeper understanding of the world. But, of course that can come at a very expensive price for individuals and that can even turn people away from signing up. So the real question is, is higher education worth the price? I believe that higher education is absolutely worth the price tag. For starters, I think that it is important to clear up the misconception that it is impossible to afford a college education. While it is absolutely difficult and can be very taxing on a family, money for a college education is more accessible than ever. In Sanford J. Ungar’s article, “The New Liberal Arts,” he states this about the government and how they help students gain money for education, “But because of their commitment to expan
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Financial Literacy

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The lack of knowledge about financial literacy in the United States is a frightening topic to delve into. According to financial experts, nearly eighty percent of Americans are in some kind of debt. I believe this is because Americans are financially illiterate. As of now, only one-third of Americans can pass a basic financial literacy test according to the National Financial Capability Study. People may say that money is not important but unfortunately it is. This mindset is running our people and our country into the ground. If this continues, the next generation of Americans will be in even more debt than ever before. So, let’s talk about what can be done to turn this situation around.       The first step to saving our people from financial ruin is teaching them the importance of what learning about financial literacy can do in their lives. According to financial literacy experts and the department head of the Student Money Management Center at Texas University, Paul Goebel, kn
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Is Fast Food the New Tobacco

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          As of now, the percentage of Americans in the United States that are obese is currently 42.0%. That makes the obesity crisis a nation-wide epidemic that affects nearly half of all Americans. At this point, one has to ask whose job is it to grab this issue head on and get it under the control? The answer is the government. While someone’s weight may seem like a private issue, at the end of the day, we can not continue to let this get out of hand as the consequences will be deadly. In the documentary “What the Health,” the terrifying realites of obesity are displayed through a number of people before they turned their lives around. One woman’s body was so damaged from the food that she ate she was no longer able to even walk around her block. Her heart had suffered so badly that she was actually thirty days or less away from having a heart attack. Needless to say, my appetite was gone after I saw the array of health issues she had. Sadly this is a reality that millions upon m
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Is Pop Culture Good For You?

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 Is Pop Culture Good For You?      While I do believe that some elements of Pop Culture can benefit society as a whole and us as individuals, I know that overall it is not good for us. At its root, Pop Culture is an ever changing collection of trends that reflect things going on in society at any given time. For example, one common example of how Pop Culture affects things like fashion is the recent fascination the public has with “The Rachel” haircut from Friends . A much more serious and darker example would be how a trend of eating disorders in young teenagers erupted after social media because of pro-anorexic twitter pages that started in the early 2010’s. While it may insight change and help spread some messages, Pop Culture ultimately causes more problems than solutions.    Both of the articles and the Ted Talks discuss the importance of Pop Culture and the effects it has on society. I think even the articles that have a more positive outlook on these effects still prove that it
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