"A young man is so strong, so mad, and so lost, he has everything and is able to use nothing."

This can't be everything man can have, especially if these qualities aren't even that great. I wouldn't expect this kind of man to do anything with a character like this. If I were him, I'd probably go insane. How can a man be both certain and lost? This is a cute set of opposites, but what about "strong" and "mad"? These two aren't really opposites, unless you think craziness is a weakness. I thought that's where this guy was going, anyways, poetically describing opposites in a man to show that he has everything. And why does he say a "young man"? A young man definitely cannot have everything unless he's 20 years old and at the peak of his Olympic wins, or Justin Bieber. Otherwise, this man doesn't really have anything and the quote sarcastically wants to say that a man may think he has everything but is really able to use nothing. I would say a rebellious teen fits this description. He thinks he is strong because he rebels. He thinks he is mad because the music he listens to, says so. He is certain because he is stubborn. And he is lost because he's a go-with-the flow aka drug-using kind of guy. At his age, he feels invincible, driving fast cars, his hands with fast food, and a fast mouth. He can't do anything, really. I mean, it's not like he'll be a future cardiologist or something.
~Marisela Gessler

"Ambition is like love, impatient of both delays and rivals"

If this is right, then I would say that it must be the chase of impatience that appeals to people of ambition and love. Like the essay about "the Pursuit of Happiness," the end result from ambition and love may not make us entirely content forever. It is the drive, the hunger to succeed, the chase, or struggle as Tammy Fly Tetas would put it that make ambition and love irresistible. We are impatient when we are delayed from a promotion or delayed on a date with a love interest. But that impatience stirs in us an irresistible notion to work hard for that promotion or call that girl and plan the best date. We all love war. So ambition and love give us the arms of fire without the bloodshed. When we are impatient of rivals competing against us in elections or another party in pursuit of the same lover, we start a war. We bring out our most conniving and sneaky to win that election or charm that girl. So if ambition is like love, then we can look forward to a chase.
~Marisela Gessler

"We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will"

I remember my eleventh grade Spanish teacher spoke about this when we were discussing El Cid. She was like that, always digressing from the actual Spanish language and talking about a life lesson or Spanish history. It was better that way; I doubt anyone was really eager to conjugate irregular verbs. She said that all those Spanish authors were immortal because they wrote pieces that would be in use for-possibly-ever. We read a poem about a Spaniard so in love with a woman that it was practically "Grenade" by Bruno Mars status. He told his unattainable love interest that would die and probably never have her but that his poem would live on forever. This meant that his love for her would also be immortal and they too would be immortal. How romantic it was for him to declare that, Ms Pauk believed. She encouraged us from that day on, to be immortal. Not only could we live on but even live in other's lives like the way the poet is a form of company to others who can never be with their amores.
~Marisela Gessler

You can never go home -- EVER!

No one can ever tell you that you can never go home. then again home is wherever you want it to be. Home to a fetus wont always be home two years later. Where you consider home lies in perspective. many say home is where your heart is. that could be where you once lived, grew up, or a safe place. then again home is where you lay your head...try saying that to a little kid. someone who is in the system and has to lay their head wherever they are placed. Home to me is a place where your surrounded by the people you love whether they be friends, family, pets, or even alone with precious memorabilia, it's a place imagined or dreamt. In the past, the image of home use to be the married life with a white picket fence and a decent sized house. in the Bronx or any poor neighborhood home is seen as a better place. a place out of struggle and violence. away from drugs and prostitution. where everyday life isn't a struggle for survival but a precious gift. home is considered a sanctuary instead of a prison.


-MJ-

Genuis is age and wisdom

They say the older you are the smarter you are. Life is a journey that everyone has to endure. Many aspects are always unique and some are common. Older people are considered genuis not only based on their educational background but also based on their experinces. Veterans are genuis to all the upcoming army personelle and why is that? well veterans seen it, lived it, and know what truely goes on in that field that no video or tv commercial can ever describe. then again an almost 45 year old doctor who has been in the medical field as a surgeon for almost 20 years is considered a genuis as well. many times its not always how many years you have under your belt but in some sense it does. To students a teacher is somewhat considered a genuis. They are well-educated and trained to educate us as well. Now a days genuis is known as having a high IQ, being the best of the best but sometimes you can be a genuis education wise and have no clue as to the world around you. Many genuis' are people who live life taking risks, learning both in life and school. Someone who can tell u that something's a bad idea because they've done it and it isnt as portrayed. Not someone who contemplates on how life may be based on the books they read. Many books portray a fantasy rather than a reality that is.......life is unexpected and thats the beauty of it because life is never as one thinks.




-MJ-

Ambition is like love, impatient of both delays and rivals.

It really is way to early...I'm actually astonished and impressed with myself at the fact that I was able to make up at 7 am in high school every single day...ANYWAYS.

Really couldn't have put it in better words. It's ironic ho it says love is both impatient of delays and rivals, because is it not stated in the Bible that 'Love is patient and love is kind'? Ambition. Dreams. Hopes. It's what motivates us to extend ourselves to horizons that we could on dream of, and some dreams made true. As they say, if there is a will there is a way. Anything is possible. Look how far people have come today. For us now, in this current era, it may look pedestrian and 'not so big of a deal'. But, if Aritotle, Newton, Darwin ad other great minds of the past knew that we could produce light out of glass bulbs, communicate with each other without being in each other's presence, fly great distances, cure people with just a small pill...surely they would be astonished and call us miracle makers.