Is your memory your own?

The other day I was talking to someone about brain transplants. We were discussing if someone, one day, could have a brain transplant, what would happen to their memories, and would they take on the other person's memories and knowledge as their own? For instance, if a man got a woman's brain, or an english speaker got the brain of a spanish speaker, if a child got the brain of an elderly person, etc. what would be transferred and what would be forgotten? Or perhaps would it be wiped clean with no recollection of anything including a transplant. Obviously, brain transplants are not possible with today's technology and medicine, but one day, it would be interesting to see how it turns out.

Aliens Exist...or do they?

I read The Host by Stephenie Meyer a long time ago, but I was just thinking about it the other day, because I'm hoping someone will make it into a movie soon. Anyways, in the book, souls are taking over human bodies and the humans are trying to survive. It was a really good book and I highly reccomend it. Another novel I read more recently, I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore, also deals with alternate life forms from other planet systems. Anyways, while I personally don't believe in aliens, to me it is still a very entertaining idea and makes for good novels. :)

The Burden of Secrets

I finished my novel for the nine weeks project and one of the main themes was the burden of secrets. The main character keeps a secret from his family which ruins his marriage and prevents any type of father son bond between him and his son. This made me think about the problems so many families face today. From addictions to abuse to cheating and lying, there are many difficulties that famillies go through. Are these problems the result of one person keeping a secret from their loved ones? There was a quote in the novel that really stood out to me: "David started talking again…how he had woken up every morning of his life for eighteen years thinking maybe today, maybe this was the day he would put things right…The secret had worked its way through their marriage, an insidious vine, twisting; she drank too much and then she began to have affairs…he’d tried not to notice, to forgive her, for he knew that in some real sense the fault was his"(274).

Difficult Decisions

In the book I'm reading for the outside novel, a woman gives birth to twins, one healthy and one with down syndrome. The father (also the doctor) decides to send the baby girl with down syndrome away and tell his wife that the baby died during birth. This eventually leads to a ruined marriage and a torn family. As I was reading this, it made me think if I was in that situation what I would do. This book takes place in the 60s when kids with down syndrome were looked upon as burdens with no hope and life was just too hard for them. I think, regardless of that, I would never be able to choose one kid over the other or pretend they were dead knowing full well that they were not. So I would say it wasn't a difficult decision at all. Sometimes there will be challenges and you and your family have to overcome them as you get to them. Trying to find an easy way out will not work, because I personally don't think there are any easy roads. Thats what life is, taking what life gives you and doing your best in any and every situation.

Romeo and Juliet

Well I guess I will write about Romeo and Juliet since I saw the play this weekend. I don't know why but I love that story. However, I don't know if you can call it "true love" between Romeo and Juliet when they hardly knew each other, especially when Romeo was all in love with Rosaline just hours before he meets Juliet. It seems kind of naive and lustful rather than true love. Regardless, I still think it is one of the most classic love stories of all time.

Harry Potter!

Well, I don't really know what to write about so I guess I'll write about Harry Potter since the new movie comes out soon, and I am soo excited. I thought the movies did pretty well sticking to the novel. It is one of my biggest pet peeves when there is a really good book, and the movie just kills it. But, overall, I was pretty impressed with the Harry Potter movies...they just have to leave out a lot of the small details since the books are so long. I think the next one will have a lot of those details in it though since they are splitting it up. Soo, I guess thats about it. And we'll see how close the movie is to the book next week! Yay :)

The Power of Passion

While reading Macbeth, I realized that Lady Macbeth is very passionate and feels strongly about her husband murdering to become King. I, personally, am surprised by her determination for her husband to become a murderer. I know that it is human to act selfishly and to try to advance in theworld. However, Macbeth has already become Thane of Cawdor, an honorable title which both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth should be proud of. Instead, she just wants more and is willing to go to extreme measures for her husband to be King, while her husband is more hesitant to carry out the murder to get the crown. I would think that their feelings should be reversed; Macbeth should be all crazy about murdering and his wife should be the reluctant one and not pushing her husband to commit murder. Why do you think she feels so strongly about it, while Macbeth is more hesitant? Perhaps it is a further extension on the backwards reality Shakespeare has created throughout the whole play.