Summer Assignment: The glass house

Ariel Cruz

Mr. Caleb Haraguchi-Combs

ELA Class 809

September 19, 2021

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Can We Overcome Our Family Histories?

Family relationships whether positive or negative influence the people we become. A positive relationship can have a positive influence on a child’s growth while a negative relationship has the potential to have a harmful impact on the wellbeing of a child. In her memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls demonstrates that it is possible to be a fulfilled and happy person even though she and her siblings grew up in a dysfunctional family where they lived in poverty and “moved around like nomads”, many times without shelter and food. They would “do the skedaddle” which was Dad, Rex Wall’s words for moving in the middle of the night. Her parents were irresponsible, there were no rules, and put their children in danger. Mom believed, “children shouldn’t be burdened with a lot of rules and restrictions” (Walls 55). Overcoming family history is possible even when it seems impossible and Jeanette Walls shows us.

Jeannette Walls overcomes her incredibly negative upbringing by always focusing on a better future. As a young child, she believed in her father’s dream of building the Glass Castle, a large home for the family. By the time Jeannette turned 12, she realized her father’s dream would never come true. She and her brother surprised Dad by digging a big hole for the foundation on the land at 93 Little Hobart Street in Welch, West Virginia that Dad said was perfect for the Glass Castle. When Dad told them to fill it with garbage because they could not afford the “trash collection fee”, they knew this dream was dead (Walls 153). It was then when Jeannette knew she and her siblings would need to create their own futures. At the age of 13, Jeannette wrote “I had made two decisions. The first one was that I’d had my last whipping. No one was ever going to do that to me again. The second was that, like Lori, I was going to get out of Welch. The sooner, the better. Before I finished high school, if I could. I had no idea where I would go, but I did know I was going. I also knew it would not be easy. People get stuck in Welch. I had been counting on Mom and Dad to get us out, but I now knew I had to do it on my own. It would take saving and planning” (Walls 221). Lori, the oldest of the four children returned from a summer camp program when Jeannete was 13 and realized that “if she got out of Welch, and away from the family, she might have a shot at a happy life. From then on, she began looking forward to the day she’d leave Little Hobart Street and be on her own” (Walls 217). She figures out she had to move to New York City to be successful and Jeannette and Brian realize if they help Lori, they too have hope for a better life and can follow her out of Welch (Walls 223).

None of these hopes and dreams were possible if Jeannette and her siblings were not strong, their resiliency and toughness allowed them to survive, and they adapted and persevered in their struggles to get to a better life. At the end of the book, Jeannette tells us about a conversation she had with her second husband, John Waters, “when I first showed him my scar, he said it was interesting. He used the word textured. He said smooth was boring but textured was interesting, and the scar meant that I was stronger than whatever it was that had tried to hurt me” (Walls 283). This is the definition of resiliency. She knew from an early age that her family was not like most families and accepted that. She was never overwhelmed by a challenge and faced everything head on. When she realized that she was on her own and if she had a set back from her goals, she would work even harder to succeed. This was seen when Jeannette realized that the money she, Lori, and Brian were pooling together for their future survival was stolen by Dad and she went right back to collecting enough money for their escape to New York City. The success of the escape plan would change her life drastically, finally distancing herself from her parents and her incredibly challenging life. She was determined to not be her parents, to overcome their neglect and yet she always loved them and was able to understand why they did what they did without totally resenting them. This made her stronger.

Unfortunately, Jeannette and her siblings had to be self-sufficient as children at a very young age to survive. Even their parents pushed them to be independent. As Mom said, “Just remember...what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger” (Walls 177) and “Mom always said people worried too much about their children. Suffering when you’re young is good for you” (Walls 25). They learned to survive on a little amount of food and provided for themselves. At the age of three Jeanette made herself hot dogs because she was hungry. She writes in her book, “If we asked Mom about food-in a casual way, because we didn’t want to cause any trouble-she’d simply shrug and say she couldn’t make something out of nothing. We kids usually kept our hunger to ourselves, but we were always thinking of food and how to get our hands on it” (Walls 65). Jeannette and her siblings would scavenge for food. She would take food out of the garbage at school that kids had thrown out at recess and go into other kids lunch bags and find food. She and Brian would dive into dumpsters to find bottles to redeem for money. Another example of Jeannette’s self sufficiency is when she knew she needed braces but also knew her irresponsible parents who had never taken her to the dentist would never get them for her. She decided she had to do something herself and went to the library to research and to make her own braces (Walls 200-202). Providing for children should be the parents’ responsibility, but as Jeannette and her siblings showed us that to survive, they had to be the responsible ones in the family and be self-sufficient.

The Walls’ children survived and overcame their family upbringing by solving problems with common sense and intelligence. Dad was an alcoholic who when he was sober taught his children math, physics, about the stars, morse code, and was a great storyteller. Mom was trained to be a teacher who read everything but preferred working on her art all day at the expense of caring for her children. Even with a lack of proper parenting, these children figured out how to survive. Having dreams and hope stems from their ability to learn from every experience and improve their situation. Ultimately being self-sufficient is what kept them alive and being resilient is what allowed them to never give up and they proved that you can overcome your family history.

Works Cited

Walls, Jeannette, The Glass Castle, Accessed August 1, 2021- September 19, 2021

Writing BASELINE

Telling a lie is an action that is generally frowned upon however in some situations I believe it is acceptable to lie to someone. Lies are entirely about misdirection from the truth in some cases the truth could be just as harmful as a lie. As long as the lie isn't backed with malicious intentions and is logical then it is acceptable. Also In general I believe that you should do anything you want to do as long as it's not hurting anybody including yourself. Even though you are taught differently about lies they can do good. Imagine you're at dinner making a first impression with your friend's family and they ask you how the food was you're most likely going to respond saying that the food tasted great no matter how you actually felt about it to make sure you don't offend the parents. In that case you lied to be polite to the people that gave you food. On the other hand lying can be a horrible choice, for example if you went to your doctor and you answered their questions regarding your health with lies there could be serious repercussions. You might lose the ability to find a possibly life threatening condition, because when you misdirected the doctor it made his job to make sure that you're safe impossible. In this case your intentions might have been bad however the situation is volatile because your life is at risk based on the information that failed to be given to the doctor. Overall trying to figure out whether lying is acceptable is up to the context of the situation and then intentions that come with said lie.

Research Paper

Ariel Cruz

Mr. Combs

ELA Regents 8th Grade

06 Feb 2022

Logo for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games

February 2022

www.beijing 2022

Should the 2022 Winter Olympics Have Been Held in Beijing?

The 2022 Winter Olympics are in progress in Beijing, China. The United States decided to have a diplomatic boycott and nine other countries have supported this decision. The Olympics are unique. They have a complicated and long history as a very large international event involving years of planning by the host city and the athletes training to participate. There is a debate about whether the location of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China should have been changed due to human rights abuses or was it correct to allow China to host because the Olympics are just a sporting event. To evaluate this decision it is important to understand the history of the Olympic Games including whether any Games have ever been relocated. The factors used in the selection process by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to choose a host are also necessary to understand why China was given the bid in the first place when it was already known about human rights abuses. The issue is not straightforward and it is apparent that China is putting on a facade at the Olympic Games regarding Western criticism of genocide and human rights abuses. The Games are always held with many world wide events going on around them. Beijing should not have been awarded the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. The decision to host in China was short sighted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because there are more implications that need to be considered as seen in the selection process, and the historical circumstances that have led to an Olympic event being negatively affected in the past. Despite what the IOC communicates regarding its mission and purpose, politics do play a role in the decision making, both internally at the IOC and externally in the world. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics had an audience of three billion people who watched the Games and saw the stories regarding the host city. The viewers of the Beijing Olympics are learning about what is happening in China behind the backdrop of the Olympics and as the media discusses the human rights abuses of this authoritarian country, hopefully the audience can see this as more than a major sporting event.

The Olympic Games are major international multi-sport events with a complex history. The location chosen is a very important decision and can have an impact on the message of the Games to the world. Both the Winter and Summer Games have been held every four years since 1896 when the Summer Olympics were held in Athens, Greece. The first Olympic Winter Games was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France which is 28 years after the first Summer Games. Until 1986, the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same calendar year. Due to increasing costs and more complicated logistics, the schedule was changed to have an Olympic game every two years. The International Olympic Committee has awarded the bid to host the Olympics Games to many different cities. See Exhibit I for a complete list of the host cities (Insider). The only non western countries to host are the current Olympics in Beijing, the 1998 Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan, the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union, the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia, the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeong Chang, South Korea. Yugoslavia and South Korea are located in Asia but have been westernized. It is very expensive to host the Olympics and not many cities can compete due to the financial constraints. Most of the money is privately funded and the IOC does give a donation to the host committee. The Sochi Olympics in 2014 were the most expensive so far, costing 60 billion dollars.

The International Olympic Committee is the non government group responsible for organizing the Olympic Games. On their website they define their mission as “ To unite the world in peaceful competition and foster an atmosphere of peace, development, resilience, tolerance, and understanding’ (IOC). The Olympic games are guided by the rules of the IOC, not by the host government who must sign a contract. Baron Pierre deCoubertin, who founded the modern Olympic Games and the IOC in 1894 said, “We shall not have peace until the prejudice that now separates the different races are outlived”(IOC). The IOC claims to be aligned with his intentions by “ [ensuring] respect for human rights insofar as they apply to Olympic Games-related activities” (IOC). Their emphasis is always on human rights issues within the Games yet here in 2022, the human rights abuses in China have started to taint the overall message of the Games. While the IOC works with an Olympic Committee on many issues including “ those that have human rights implications”, the effect of human rights abuses were completely overlooked or disregarded, despite the impact it is having on the Games (IOC). The IOC clarifies numerous times that human rights outside of the Olympic Games’ activities are beyond the scope of the IOC (olympics.com). The IOC loses sight of the fact that the actual event of the Games takes away from focussing on the political abuses of a host country. It is wrong to congratulate China on the success of this major event when their own citizens are not allowed to participate in this success and are, to the contrary, being abused. The media has been vocal talking about the human rights issues in China but it is too late, China is getting all the benefits of being able to host the Olympics.

There have only been five cancellations of the Olympic Games and one time when they were awarded to another city after an initial host had been selected. The 1916 Summer Games in Berlin were the first in the 20 year history of the Olympics to be cancelled due to the outbreak of World War I. The 1940 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan and the 1944 Summer Games in London were cancelled due to World War II. The 1944 Summer Olympics would have been the 50th year celebration of the founding of the Olympics in 1894. The 1940 Olympic Games were eventually canceled due to World War II but were more complicated. They were originally scheduled in Tokyo, Japan. Japan would have hosted both the Winter and Summer Olympics that year. It would have been the first games hosted by a non-western country and the Japanese had been advocating since 1930 to host. These Games were referred to as the “Phantom Olympics”. Paul Droubie in his article, “ The Phantom Olympics, Why Japan Forfeited Hosting the 1940 Olympics” states that “hosting the Games in 1940 was as much an ideological project as it was a major sporting event...It was this confluence of issues that caused Japan to withdraw its offer to host the games”(The Phantom Games). Japan was using the Games as a display of nationalism. There was Western criticism of Japan’s invasion of China in 1837. There were growing concerns from the IOC that Japan would not have the infrastructure in place due to increased military expenses. The British Olympic Committee announced a boycott of the Games. All of these factors led Japan to forfeit the Games (Phantom Olympics). The IOC gave the bid to Helsinkii, Finland but these games were ultimately cancelled due to World War II. The most recent Olympic Games to be cancelled are the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo due to the world COVID-19 Pandemic. They were ultimately postponed to the following summer of 2021.

Russia has been involved with several controversies surrounding the Olympics yet has never been sanctioned by the IOC. David Mariness in “ Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World '' reveals that in the Rome, Italy Summer Olympics held in 1960, the first doping scandal took place involving Russia (Marinus). Russia hosted the 1980 Moscow Summer Games when President Jimmy Carter boycotted the Games and refused to send the United States athletes to Moscow because of the Soviet Union’s failure to comply with the U.S. deadlines for troops to be removed from Afghanistan and 67 nations joined in this boycott. There was a fear that the invasion of Afghanistan would revive the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted for decades but had quieted down (history.com). Russia turned around at the next Summer Games being held in Los Angeles and refused to send athletes with 13 other countries claiming it would not be safe. The Beijing Olympics mark the third Olympics that athletes from Russia represent the ROC, Russian Olympic Committee and not the country of Russia. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) sanctioned Russia after being accused of running a state-backed doping program. The athletes cannot use their country’s name, flag, or anthem at the Olympics. This ban will end at the end of 2022 (Gomez). Since 1960, there have been 62 years of issues with Russia and the Olympic Games. Between 1960 and 2019 Russian athletes have been using performance enhancement drugs. The total impact of Russia’s participation in Beijing as they are on the verge of declaring war will not be known until the Olympics end. If the IOC is recognizing the sanctions by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, placed on Russian athletes, Russia should not be allowed to have diplomatic representation at the Olympic Games. Russia and China being allowed to hold such a large presence at the Olympics reinforces the issue that the IOC needs to take a stronger position in deciding who should be allowed to host. Neither Russia or China should be given this opportunity.

The only Diplomatic Boycott of the Olympic Games is taking place now in Beijing. In 2015, China was awarded the bid to host these 2022 Games and had previously hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008. China’s President Xi Jinping is responsible for the suppression of one million people including the Uyghurs, a Muslim group. The United States decided to have a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics based on human rights abuses. Jen Psaki on behalf of President Biden announced at the Whitehouse that the United States is making it clear that sending government representatives would imply that we do not oppose what is currently going on in China. She said, "US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC's egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, and we simply can't do that" (CNN Wire). Only nine countries joined the United States in this boycott. Other countries such as France and Germany did not support this boycott yet they speak out against human rights. It is time that more countries stand up and fight against these issues especially because of the IOC inaction. A boycott does succeed in drawing attention to a global issue but it does not necessarily change the behavior of a host country. It is a difficult decision to have athletes boycott who have been preparing their entire lives to go to the Olympics. Human rights activists protested against Hitler and advocated for a boycott of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Not even President Franklin D. Roosevelt got involved arguing that the Olympics operated independently.

The Olympics are able to take place in Beijing while genocide and crimes against humanity are taking place far away from the media. The IOC is ignoring Russia whose President and athletes are participating in this global event that is supposed to represent unity and threatening to wage war at any moment. On Friday, China produced a spectacular Opening Ceremony with both of these conflicts present. It was high tech with massive LED screens welcoming in Spring and showing the Games through the years. The performers included children who sang and danced. This was all taking place as the two most powerful authoritarians in the world, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia and Xi Jinping, President of China were sitting together in the VIP box. While viewing the Opening Ceremony, the NBC reporters wondered if Putin would have his troops invade Ukraine since they had already surrounded it on three sides. The Ukraine athletes would be marching past the VIP in a short time. It seems unthinkable that something like this would happen during the Olympics. But the exact same scene happened in 2008 when Beijing hosted the Summer Games for the first time. Putin was in the VIP Box with Xi Jinping and Russian troops invaded Georgia, a former Soviet republic. The Georgia athletes had to face the Russian athletes at a volleyball game a few days later. As the Opening Ceremony progressed this year, China delivered messages to the western world throughout the ceremony. The most significant was when the last athlete to carry the Olympic torch before lightong the Cauldron was from Xinjiang, the home of the Muslim group being suppressed. The IOC needs to finally take a stand against the injustices going on in the world when selecting a country to host the Olympics. It is understandable that as a non government group that they cannot tell a country how to handle their government. But, they need to publicly acknowledge the impact that the Olympics have on the world. They cannot hide behind their mission and goals.

The Olympics are much bigger than just a sporting event. The backdrop of the Olympics are just as important as the athletic competition. We must all be global citizens and not be tolerant of human abuses and war. Global powers need to band together to fight these injustices. This must be the beginning for the Biden Administration of the fight against atrocities towards human rights. Attention has been brought to the issue of genocide and human rights atrocities in China. NBC has been discussing it on their Olympic broadcasts and has the ability to reach billions of viewers. It is a start but there has to be more done to have an impact on these countries. The International Olympic Committee needs to re-evaluate how they select a host city. They need to consider the impact a country will have on the Games that are not related to the athletic competition. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have mocked the world in actions at the 2008 and 2021 Summer Games. This is unacceptable.

Work Cited

Droubie , Paul. “The Phantom Olympics: Why Japan Forfeited Hosting the 1940 Olympics.” Home, https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/summer-2021/the-phantom-olympics-why-japan-forfeited-hosting-the-1940-olympics.

Gómez, Sergio. “Why Is Russia Called Roc at the 2022 Beijing Olympics?” AS.com, AS En, 4 Feb. 2022, https://en.as.com/en/2022/02/04/olympic_games/1643963106_653681.html

Ioc. “Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Watched by More than 3 Billion People - Olympic News.” International Olympic Committee, IOC, 20 Dec. 2021, https://olympics.com/ioc/news/olympic-games-tokyo-2020-watched-by-more-than-3-billion-people.

"Maraniss, David. Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World." Gale In Context Online Collection, Gale, 2008. Gale In Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ2181703597/MSIC?u=nysl_me_jhs118ww&sid=bookmark-MSIC&xid=690d8959. Accessed 21 Jan. 2022. This book was published by Simon and Schuster.

“Olympic Games: Full List by City & Year - Ticketcity Insider.” Insider, https://blog.ticketcity.com/olympic-games-full-list-by-city-year/

“Olympic Games: Roles and Responsibilities.” International Olympic Committee, International Olympic Committee, 26 Oct. 2021, https://olympics.com/ioc/olympic-games-roles-and-responsibilities

“President Carter Announces Olympic Boycott.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 16 Nov. 2009, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/carter-announces-olympic-boycott

“THE MOVEMENT TO BOYCOTT THE BERLIN OLYMPICS OF 1936.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-movement-to-boycott-the-berlin-olympics-of-1936.

"White House announces US diplomatic boycott of 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing." CNN Wire, 6 Dec. 2021, p. NA. Gale In Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A685596333/MSIC?u=nysl_me_jhs118ww&sid=bookmark-MSIC&xid=172e6bab. Accessed 30 Dec. 2021

Exhibit I

Olympic Host Cities

Summer & Winter Olympics: 1896 to Present

2032

Summer Olympics

TBD***

TBD

2030

Winter Olympics

TBD**

TBD

2028

Summer Olympics

Los Angeles

USA

2026

Winter Olympics

Milan

Italy

2024

Summer Olympics

Paris

France

2022

Winter Olympics

Beijing

China

2021

Summer Olympics

Tokyo

Japan

2018

Winter Olympics

Pyeongchang

South Korea

2016

Summer Olympics

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

2014

Winter Olympics

Sochi

Russia

2012

Summer Olympics

London

England

2010

Winter Olympics

Vancouver

Canada

2008

Summer Olympics

Beijing

China

2006

Winter Olympics

Turin

Italy

2004

Summer Olympics

Athens

Greece

2002

Winter Olympics

Salt Lake City

USA

2000

Summer Olympics

Sydney

Australia

1998

Winter Olympics

Nagano

Japan

1996

Summer Olympics

Atlanta

USA

1994

Winter Olympics

Lillehammer

Norway

1992

Summer Olympics

Barcelona

Spain

1992

Winter Olympics

Albertville

France

1988

Summer Olympics

Seoul

South Korea

1988

Winter Olympics

Calgary

Canada

1984

Summer Olympics

Los Angeles

USA

1984

Winter Olympics

Sarajevo

Yugoslavia

1980

Summer Olympics

Moscow

USSR

1980

Winter Olympics

Lake Placid

USA

1976

Summer Olympics

Montreal

Canada

1976

Winter Olympics

Innsbruck

Austria

1972

Summer Olympics

Munich

Germany

1972

Winter Olympics

Sapporo

Japan

1968

Summer Olympics

Mexico City

Mexico

1968

Winter Olympics

Grenoble

France

1964

Summer Olympics

Tokyo

Japan

1964

Winter Olympics

Innsbruck

Austria

1960

Summer Olympics

Rome

Italy

1960

Winter Olympics

Squaw Valley

USA

1956

Summer Olympics

Melbourne

Australia

1956

Winter Olympics

Cortina d’Ampezzo

Italy

1952

Summer Olympics

Helsinki

Finland

1952

Winter Olympics

Oslo

Norway

1948

Summer Olympics

London

England

1948

Winter Olympics

St. Moritz

Switzerland

1936

Summer Olympics

Berlin

Germany

1936

Winter Olympics

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Germany

1932

Summer Olympics

Los Angeles

USA

1932

Winter Olympics

Lake Placid

USA

1928

Summer Olympics

Amsterdam

Netherlands

1928

Winter Olympics

St. Moritz

Switzerland

1924

Summer Olympics

Paris

France

1924

Winter Olympics

Chamonix

France

1920

Summer Olympics

Antwerp

Belgium

1912

Summer Olympics

Stockholm

Sweden

1908

Summer Olympics

London

Great Britain

1906

Olympic Games

Athens

Greece

1904

Summer Olympics

St. Louis

USA

1900

Summer Olympics

Paris

France

1896

Summer Olympics

Athens

Greece