Short Story #2

"When I Lay My Burden Down"

Maya Angelou

1. "When I Lay My Burden Down," was a nonfiction story based on the situations that African-Americans had to face during the older years. There was a little girl who watched her mother and grandmother face rude and disrespectful whites. They owned the store that the whites would come to, but still they would try and give them orders. Reading this made me feel as if they had all of the power and rights to treat others anyway they felt, which wasn't right. The grandmother and mother would just standby without saying a word, except for humming a old spiritual hymn.

It made me think of all of the pain that my ancestors faced each and every day from other humans, just a different race. It shouldn't had matter who owned the store, but respect their property as well as their feelings. The white girls didn't care about how the African-Americans felt they just cared about themselves and their feelings of uppity. I think that the grandmother and mother of the little girl felt that every thing would be okay because they never gave a rude remark or fetched. Also, I think they were looking out for the safety of the little girl. This story shows a great deal of how things have changed from back then. In my eyes everyone should be treated equally.

2. Maya Angelou's purpose for writing this story was to show the things that African-American had to put up with. I think she wrote the story to make all of the readers feel the pain the family in the book felt. It also shows you that in life you have to go through many obstacles but sometimes you can't run you have to stay and face them. She would've wanted you to think about what if that was you? What would you have done? Just reading the short story made me think she really wanted to make a point and have it known.

She wanted us to come away from the story thinking, I never a day in my life want to have to deal with that type of situation. She made a statement saying, "Thou shall not be dirty" and "Thou shall not be impudent." But that's exactly what happened in this story. The mother in this story tried to be strong for her daughter ( "Momma never turned her head or unfolded her arms" ) but on the inside she probably felt hurt. ( "How could Momma call them Miz? The mean, nasty things. Why couldn't she have come inside the sweet, cool store when we saw them breasting the hill? What did she prove?" ) She wanted you to think about how the little girl was feeling just then, because she didn't understand why her mother stood outside the store and watched the other girls be impudent.

3. I think that it is important to read about other peoples lives because you can learn new things that you probably never knew as well as feel the feelings and thoughts that they're having. It teaches you not to think negative thoughts about others, as well. These type of nonfiction stories are so popular because they can help younger people focus on the things that their ancestors went through. There are instances in my life that would be helpful to others in their lives some sort of way. I think there's a instance in every one's lives.

"Poker, A Harmless Activity for Teens . . . Wanna Bet?"

1. I don't think it's a good idea for young teenagers to gamble, because I agree with the writer of the article, it affects their health. The article focused on how some parents feels it' s ok for their teenagers to play poker. There are more than a million teens under the age of 17 who plays poker daily. Along with the game comes rsk factors, such as stealing money from others or missing school. The parents who agree to this "illegal activity for teens" should be punished for allowing it to happen in their faces.

What stuck out to me the most was the fact that the parents feels its an alternate activity for drinking and somking. That's not true, because how do they not know that behind their backs their kids may still drink, smoke, and etc. There's other alternate activities they can choose from to participate in, instead of gambling. It's not a good idea, in my opionion, because it helps teach young teenagers that it's ok to go out and do other inapproiate things. There should be a law to punish the parents who allow this to take place inside their home.

2. Quotes: 1) " Scott Magerar, a father of a 13-year old boy, has different views, and he has no problem with staging poker parties for kids. You can't stop them right?" 2) "It is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to gamble in a casino, but young people can play poker in their homes"

Questions: 1) Why is it okay for store owners such as Toys-R-Us to sell poker games on their shelves? 2) Why do the parents believe that playing poker is 3 times as likely better for their kids then other illegal activites?

3. The main idea of the article i just read was to inform you that some people in the world have no problem with their kids playing gambling games such as poker.

4. 3 details to support my main idea: 1) " Many parents approve of their teenagers playing poker it will keep them from trouble outside the home" 2) " This is a factor coupled with the fact that some people belive poker is a safe alternative" 3) " Televised poker gives young viewers valuable insight into the poker world, and the parents approve of it"