I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift

“Once upon a time a few mistakes ago 

I was in your sights, you got me alone 
You found me 
You found me 
You found me-e-e-e-e”

That’s just the beginning of Taylor Swift’s I Knew You WereTrouble, which has recently been released and it hit big.  This song contains a lot of repetition which makes it really catchy.  On the other hand, it doesn’t contain much rhyming, but the repetition gets to the listener’s head. She writes off her songs about the love life of girls.  On Good Morning America on October 8, 2012, Taylor said, “The song is about being frustrated with yourself because here you are heart-broken and you knew when you first saw that person you saw all these red flags and you just went for it anyway, so shame on me.” Personally, I think the song is about how sometimes the going after a person is not right and in the end; you’re just going to be mad at yourself. Overall, I think this song is trying to tell us that sometimes it’s our fault for falling for something or someone.

In the song, there is a lot of repetition that makes the song really catchy. One line would be, “Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in 
So shame on me now 
You flew me to places I've never been 
'Til you put me down, oh 
I knew you were trouble when you walked in 
So shame on me now 
Flew me to places I've never been 
Now I'm lying on the cold hard ground”

In my mind, I just think the singer, Taylor is saying that she knew the guy is liked was a bad-boy and she took her chances. This is her fault for going after something that signaled “trouble” for her. She’s blaming herself for going after him even though she knew. In addition to that line,

“I guess you didn't care, and I guess I liked that 
And when I fell hard you took a step back 
Without me, without me, without me-e-e-e-e 

And he's long gone when he's next to me 
And I realize the blame is on me.”

The line, “I guess you didn't care, and I guess I liked that,” tells us that Taylor indeed know what she was getting into. As a fan of her music, I can understand what she means when she says, “I guess you didn't care, and I guess I liked that.” Sometimes for other girls, it feels good to be finally “being” with someone and they forget that they’re with that person for the wrong reasons. Lastly,

“And the saddest fear comes creeping in 
That you never loved me 
Or her 
Or anyone 
Or anything 
Yeah,”

This part is where the truth finally sinks in. Taylor finally realizes that the guy didn’t really like her. He was just there and she happened to be there as well. Basically, in the end, even though she was heart-broken, she knew that she was going to end up like that.

The message that sometimes it’s our fault for falling for something or someone does apply to the real world. Girls sometimes fall for the wrong guys. Like in the real world, people tend to go for people “out-of-their-league.” Or maybe they just happen to be there at the same time. Whatever the reason are, being in a relationship with someone who you know will cause pain to you afterwards, you’ll end up blaming yourself for it. It’s actually quite unhealthy to do that to yourself, even though it may feel good for a while, it will cause pain afterwards. So basically I’m trying to say that the song I Knew You Were Trouble is mainly trying to tell us sometimes it’s our fault for falling for something or someone that isn’t right for us. 

Would you...?

I've just recently finished "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson. This is takes place in the not-too-distant future. Seventeen year old Jenna Fox "illegally" survives the accident that many doctors thought she wouldn't. After awakening from a year long coma, she goes through the recovery of memory lapse. On her journey, she learns a lot about her existence. This not-too-distant future has made biotechnological advances that has made synthetic bodies and brains, illegal. Jenna's father works for Bio Gel, the company that has changed everything. They made everything to possible. Blue Goo is artificially oxygenated and loaded with neurochips. They're smaller than human cell and communicate with each other they same way neurons do but faster. Once you have loaded these neurochips with some basic information, they pass on the information to other neurochips and begin to specialize. The most amazing thing is that they communicate the same way human cells. So you pack a human or a lab liver in Bio Gel and let the neurochips do the rest until it can be transplanted into someone who needs it. And guess what? Jenna is basically only 10% of her original person, meaning her parents had her in Bio Gel so she could live.

Isn't that crazy? Would you put someone you love in  the position as Jenna is in?

Jenna's parents had their reasons. On page 116, Jenna finds out that she is "fake." " 'Jenna, what difference does it make? You're still my daughter. That's all that matters-' " This is the response that Jenna's mom, Claire, says to Jenna when Jenna finally understands why her hands don't entwined right and she can't walk. If I was in Jenna position right that moment, I would freaking out. Why am I not like the rest of the world/ What am I? This is basically how Jenna reacts. "My clumsy feet. My legs. Oh, God no." The fact that she has just found out would be like being able to hear a pin drop in a class. It's just shocking news. But what comes after is really surprising and kind of shocking. Her grandmother, Lily says, "Ten percent. Ten percent of your brain. That's all they could save. They should have let you die." That last sentence just shocked me. "They should have let you die." I mean shouldn't she be happy that her grand-daughter is alive. She should be grateful that the technology they have was able to keep Jenna alive? If I was in Lily's position, I would be hugging my grand-daughter, telling her that I loved her, not trying to keep my distance away from her. Who would be that selfish and conceited to be not at least happy that their loved ones were able to survive a year long coma. I mean, I can see why Lily would chose to act that way. Would you want a loved one to be only less than half real flesh and filled with artificial cells in them? I would rather let them die than let than have to live knowing that they weren't really "human."

In my opinion, I wouldn't really have a side to side with I can see the bad and good of letting someone, artifice, live. Who wants to know that someone sitting right next to you, is only half human. That might creep you out that you can't stand having the world to be crawling with fake humans. But on the other hand, there are good. You can have your loved ones back. Though having your loved ones back, the suffering they'd be going through would pain you. They have to learn that they aren't fully human and their memories wouldn't be there. Jenna has had problems trying to remember and some problems with other memories. Such example would be this line, "Let them go." This line stood out to me. This is where she throws out the backups of her friends that died in the accident. Their voices , she hears them every time she slept. Their voices I think represent the link between her and them. They didn't want to be used as an experiment. They wanted to be freed.

In conclusion, there are many reasons for the substitutions of a real human beings with such substitutes as Bio Gel. If I were in Jenna's shoes, I'd try to understand the concept of Bio Gel and what good and bad it does for me. Then I would try to comprehend everything I could understand. Yea, that's how I would try to live my life at the time. I want to see this future. I want to understand it. I want to TIME-TRAVEL. Muwaaahhh Comment your thoughts:)

Sandy Hook Elementary School

About a month ago, a gunman killed 20 children and 6 educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Now, parents and residents of the Connecticut school are debating on what to do with the school.  The article, "Newtown debates future of Sandy Hook Elementary School after tragedy that claimed 26 lives” discuses the opinions of the concerned residents. The shocked residents are, well, in shocked say that they wouldn’t want to send their kids back to the original Elementary school. On the other hand, others want the school to be renovated and to remove the areas where the victims were killed. In the article, the author includes many voices of both sides.

The author wants the reader to feel that their opinion counts to. They name out all the voices of both sides. For example, they quoted Susan Gibney, who lives in Sandy Hook, “I wouldn't want to have to send my kids back to that school. I just don't see how the kids could get over what happened there.” This gives the reader think that the event that happened at the school is already horrible enough. The reminder that the children will have to go through will be horrifying if the school reopens.  On the other hand, Fran Bresson, a retired police officer who attended Sandy Hook Elementary School, thinks that the school should reopen, but “the hallways and classrooms where staff and students were killed should be demolished.” He says, "To tear it down completely would be like saying to evil, 'You've won,’” This says many to the readers. Bresson wants the school to reopen, but with fresh starts in the places of the old ones. The author shows the reader both sides because they want the reader to understand that there are many decisions to be made about Sandy Hook Elementary School. They include quotes from the parents and residents of the school to give us perspectives. They also include decisions that have been made in the previous years about similar situations. For example, the author tells the reader about Columbine High School’s shooting aftermath. The school reopened several months after the shooting. Crews removed the library, where most of the victims died, and replaced it with an atrium. Another school tore down the original school where the shooting took place and built a new school a few hundred yards away.
The author shows the reader many perspectives and the decisions of similar situations in the past.

In my opinion, I think it is really horrible to think of going back to the school without any changes. I mean, if you had to go back to the school, you would feel like the presence of the victims “ghosts” are still there. Or may the fact that it gives you the willies that you are in the same place where the victims were killed. It’s really hard to explain the feelings and thoughts of a person who had to go back to the school where no changes were made. The author has shaped my mind to think in other ways. I mean, I’d like the school to be either torn down entirely or renovated. But then on the other hand, I wouldn’t want my school to be torn down. It’s like taking your home away. The school has created many memories for many students and residents. Tearing it down would be taking a piece of their memories and throwing it out. It’s would not be fair to the ones who
don’t want any drastic changes to the school. I’d like to know the thoughts of the children on what to do with the school. I really want to understand what they feel about the whole situation. I know some are shocked about the whole shooting, but I’m sure they have opinions about what to do with the school. I’d like to also know the thoughts of the children about guns. Because of guns, the shooting happened. Right now, the issue about guns is very worldly. I’d like to know what the children feel about the controversial topic.

So really to sum up, I’d like the residents and parents of the Connecticut school to really think about what they’re going to do about the school; to torn it down completely, to renovate the areas where the victims were killed, or to reopen with no changes. The issue is really hard to think about while knowing that there has to be serious changes happening.