Exhaust(ion)

Exhaust(ion)

Ben grasped the wheel with firm hands, focused on the road ahead. He squinted his eyes and tightened his wrists on the wheel as his veins popped out, shaking with every twitch. His foot dared to press even further on the trigger, pushing me back even further in my seat. Exhaust seemed to be carried away into the disappearing distance behind us, but still followed us like a ghost. The smell of oil prickled our noses and overpowered our airways. We zipped through through the hills at an impenetrable speed. Collected, he jerked his elbow back as he turns the wheel to the right, just slipping away.

The car chose its own path, steering over a curb, soaring into the air, and tumbling into unknown scenery. We all flew back into our seats, straight up, holding on for our dear lives on this rollercoaster. The car froze. My head circled my body with nausea as an inevitable liquid sack in my throat was about to come out. Through the windows I could recognize trees and crushed branches with the sheer sound of crackling twigs and smell of the creek bombarding my senses. Water filled our shoes and soaked our socks, my first physical feeling. Smoke consumed the air, surrounding us, and with eyes barely open I could hardly make out what I was looking at.

Ju’s eyes widened and his forehead straightened. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed, “Get out of the car!”

An explosion of blood dribbled from my face. The substance streaked down from my left eyebrow and nostrils. We ducked out of the car and started the treacherous hike back up the hill. “Hurry up...Let’s go!” Ju quickly strided with determination.

“Why are we leaving? I have to stay. We need to finish.” I responded tentatively. My ears were ringing and a powerful pounding began throughout my ear canals. As the faint whisper of his response tickled my ears, my blank expression stared back at him. He began a light jog at the top of the hill waiting for us to follow. I treaded this path lightly, for I didn’t know what to do but follow him. My legs, unaffected by the constant pressure of running barefoot, allowed me to glide behind him. My body ached from impact and fear as I held myself with care and ran with the crowd. I entered into a trance as if I were a deer in front of headlights, frazzled, wide-eyed, and clueless.

How do I get out? Do I just keep going? Do I keep running? Who do I follow? Who do I listen to?

I crouched down behind the bush of the unknown house, and watched flashes of blue and red before me, holding my legs in as my heavy breathing overcame me. I could hear my heartbeat, fast and loud, my throat aching with each breath... Breathe Rachel. Just Breathe. Water started to pour down harder and harder. The pitter patter sound of rain hitting the ground had yet masked the sound of my breathing. I brushed my mouth with my fingers, across my lip and back again. My teeth tingled with every touch, as my whole body shivered with every move. Red and blue flashed before me again.

I stared up at the sky, fading red. My vision seemed distant as my body and mind shut down. My eyes pulled from the sides as I tried to creak them back open.

“Wake up Rachel! We are almost there,” my dad informed me. I woke up bewildered before I realized it was all my imagination. I pushed my papers off my chest, and wiped my spilled water. Before I could relax, I felt the car slipping away from the road. The whole world seemed to be coming down on our car as my dad tightened his wrists and squinted his eyes in fear, bracing himself for treachery to come...

Exhaust(ion)

Exhaust(ion)

Ben grasped the wheel with firm hands, focused on the road ahead. He squinted his eyes and tightened his wrists on the wheel as his veins popped out, shaking with every twitch. His foot dared to press even further on the trigger, pushing me back even further in my seat. Exhaust seemed to be carried away into the disappearing distance behind us, but still followed us like a ghost. The smell of oil prickled our noses and overpowered our airways. We zipped through through the hills at an impenetrable speed. Collected, he jerked his elbow back as he turns the wheel to the right, just slipping away.

The car chose its own path, steering over a curb, soaring into the air, and tumbling into unknown scenery. We all flew back into our seats, straight up, holding on for our dear lives on this rollercoaster. The car froze. My head circled my body with nausea as an inevitable liquid sack in my throat was about to come out. Through the windows I could recognize trees and crushed branches with the sheer sound of crackling twigs and smell of the creek bombarding my senses. Water filled our shoes and soaked our socks, my first physical feeling. Smoke consumed the air, surrounding us, and with eyes barely open I could hardly make out what I was looking at.

Ju’s eyes widened and his forehead straightened. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed, “Get out of the car!”

An explosion of blood dribbled from my face. The substance streaked down from my left eyebrow and nostrils. We ducked out of the car and started the treacherous hike back up the hill. “Hurry up...Let’s go!” Ju quickly strided with determination.

“Why are we leaving? I have to stay. We need to finish.” I responded tentatively. My ears were ringing and a powerful pounding began throughout my ear canals. As the faint whisper of his response tickled my ears, my blank expression stared back at him. He began a light jog at the top of the hill waiting for us to follow. I treaded this path lightly, for I didn’t know what to do but follow him. My legs, unaffected by the constant pressure of running barefoot, allowed me to glide behind him. My body ached from impact and fear as I held myself with care and ran with the crowd. I entered into a trance as if I were a deer in front of headlights, frazzled, wide-eyed, and clueless.

How do I get out? Do I just keep going? Do I keep running? Who do I follow? Who do I listen to?

I crouched down behind the bush of the unknown house, and watched flashes of blue and red before me, holding my legs in as my heavy breathing overcame me. I could hear my heartbeat, fast and loud, my throat aching with each breath... Breathe Rachel. Just Breathe. Water started to pour down harder and harder. The pitter patter sound of rain hitting the ground had yet masked the sound of my breathing. I brushed my mouth with my fingers, across my lip and back again. My teeth tingled with every touch, as my whole body shivered with every move. Red and blue flashed before me again.

I stared up at the sky, fading red. My vision seemed distant as my body and mind shut down. My eyes pulled from the sides as I tried to creak them back open.

“Wake up Rachel! We are almost there,” my dad informed me. I woke up bewildered before I realized it was all my imagination. I pushed my papers off my chest, and wiped my spilled water. Before I could relax, I felt the car slipping away from the road. The whole world seemed to be coming down on our car as my dad tightened his wrists and squinted his eyes in fear, bracing himself for the treachery to come...

HELP WANTED

Hannah Wendelken

WLH 2

Tompkins

3/12/15

HELP WANTED

Need a job? You’ll earn money to support yourself and your family! Just a short trip to Cape Town and we will have you set! Soon you arrive in a city in South Africa, realizing that the job is not what you think, but a cage you are stuck in. Only allowed out when you need to satisfy a man, with little possibility to escape now. This is a common way for teens to be lured into the sex trafficking business. They are duped into thinking they will be supporting their family, by leaving, and getting a job. But in reality, they are becoming trapped in human trafficking.

To be qualified "for human trafficking, a person has to be delivered, recruited, transported, transferred, harboured, sold, exchanged or leased within or across the borders of South Africa"(Wilkinson). Though sometimes, the struggling teens chose to participate by their own free will, for they are too deep in poverty and desperate to do anything to support their family and themselves.

South Africa has become known as the “best destination” for human trafficking(N/A). Sex trafficking has taken a drastic turn in South Africa, affecting numerous teens, leading to health effects because of the poverty distilled in the lives of many teens. Many sources state that in 2010, "there were 20,000 to 30,000 children prostituted, and the figure currently stands at 45,000"(Wilkinson). With South Africa being the central of human trafficking, this number seems to be increasing.

Not only are the young women raped, but they are also at risk of many health problems, such as AIDs. The AIDs epidemic is already widespread, and sex trafficking makes it even worse. "Women and girls trafficked for prostitution are among the most vulnerable groups exposed to HIV infection"(Delport). When succumbed to the sex trade, the teens are forced to sexual interactions, most of the time, with no sex protection. Because of this, they are exposed and possibly diagnosed with AIDs, a disease with no cure.

"Fortunately, there are more and more children and women being rescued from sex slavery and prostitution…"(NGOs). The President, Jacob Zuma, has just recently signed the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking Law(Delport). With this law now passed, it is hopeful that teens lured into and already a part of human trafficking will be helped. There are a few improvements in place, but the danger still exists. Hopefully, the next time a teen girl is asked if she needs a job, there will be justice for her and her safety.

Work Cited

Delport, Elize. "Http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001528/152823e.pdf." Human Trafficking in South Africa: Root Causes and Recommendations; Policy Paper Poverty Series; Vol.:14.5; 2007 (2007): n. pag. Human Trafficking in South Africa. UNESCO, 2007. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
N/A. "Delegates Shine Light on Sexual Crimes." Global Issues in Context. Cape News, 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

N/A. "NGOs Warn against Rising Human Trafficking in South Africa." Global Issues in Context. Xinhua News Agency, 4 June 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

Wilkinson, Kate. "Africa Check - Human Trafficking - Sensationalist and Unsubstantiated Reporting [analysis]." Global Issues in Context. Africa News Service, 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

Gertrude

Booker Martin

Josef Orner

Hannah Wendelken

Gertrude

Gertrude regrets her past actions that have buried her in a life of poverty and faults, and she fears nothing is capable of pulling her from corruption.

“Have no doubt it is fear in her eyes. She draws back a step and makes no move towards him. She turns and says something that he cannot hear. Chairs are moved, and other things are taken. She turns to him” (29).

“She nods her head again. She sobs too. I do not like Johannesburg, she says. She looks at him with eyes of distress, and his heart quickens with hope. I am a bad woman, my brother. I am no woman to go back” (31).

“They knelt down, and he prayed… And when he had finished, she burst into a torrent of prayer, of self-denunciation, and urgent petition. And thus reconciled, they sat hand in hand” (31).

Image Citation

Concealed

The Suitcase

“We crept up to the suitcase.  It was tied with a thick rope of plaited straw, knotted crosswise.  We removed the rope and raised the lid in silence.  Inside, piles of books shone in the light of our torch: a company of great Western writers welcomed us with open arms.  On top was our old friend Balzac, with five or six novels, then came Victor Hugo, Stendahl, Dumas, Flaubert, Baudelaire, Romain Rolland, Rousseau, Tolstoy, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and some English writers, too: Dickens, Kipling, Emily Brontë…” (99).    

“The magic of translation! The ponderousness of the two syllables as wells the belligerent, somewhat old fashioned ring of the name were quite gone, now that the four characters- very elegant, each composed of just a few strokes-banded together to create and unusual beauty, redolent with exotic fragrance as sensual as the perfume wreathing a wine stored for centuries in a cellar,”(58).

The author uses the suitcase to emphasize freedom. These forbidden Western novels refer back to Old China, where Western ideas thrived and independence penetrated through Chinese society. The books inside the suitcase capture their mind into a non-revolutionary roller coaster where they can be free to think whatever they wish.

Coming of age is about learning and expanding your mindset to different ideas and concepts. it is being able to choose what you believe in based on different ideas you gather. The Cultural Revolution is pounding certain limited ideas into the minds of the people, and they are forced to believe in these ideas or they will be punished. The books offer more though, it offers new ideas and emotions that interest Luo and the narrator. The boys are being exposed to different things, a new world. Each book they read broadens their knowledge and gives them the option to chose, to chose what they believe in and what they want to learn.

The Movies

“We welcomed the challenge, and to be on the safe side we sat through two screenings in succession. The basketball court of the town’s high school had been converted into a makeshift open-air cinema.  The local girls were gorgeous, but we forced ourselves to concentrate on the screen, paying close attention to the dialogue, to the actor’s costumes and gestures, to the setting of every scene, even to the music,”(19).

“Phoenix mountain was so remote from civilization that most of the inhabitants had never had the opportunity of seeing a film, let alone visit a cinema. [...] By the time we, or rather he, reached the end of the story, in the allotted time, our audience was ecstatic,” (19-20).

Since the start of Luo and the narrator’s re-education, the two boys have led very serious lives. Being forced into such laborious work at such a young age while they are so far from home takes a toll on the spirits of the boys at times. Going to the movies represents an escape. An escape from the hard work they are forced to do, an escape from their troubles and an escape from their new lives they are forced to lead.

The movies connect to coming of age because every day of Luo and the narrator’s lives in re-education they are forced to grow up and mature in some way. Whether it be learning how to navigate without anyone looking out for them, or hard work that forces them to take on new responsibilities Luo and the narrator mature and come of age every day. The movies offer an escape from this forced coming of age and help the boys relax and just for a little while shirk their responsibilities. In a way, however, it also gives the boys even more responsibilities whether or not they realize it. By being given the duty of reporting back the movie to everyone in the village and giving them all an enjoyable experience, the boys are in a way being burdened with even more responsibility and further accelerating their coming of age when they don’t even realize it.  

Keep Going

The journey is not always easy,

it is not perfect,

it is not smooth,

nor very rough.

It is neither predictable,

or unpredictable,

but continue anyway.

Whether there are rocks or sand,

mountains or rivers,

keep going.

Let the rain fall,

and the wind gust.

Flowers grow,

weeds wither.

Don’t pick,

don’t stomp.

Let it be.

Don’t stop,

don’t whine,

just let it be.

Let each foot come up

and go back down.

Let each leg move from

front to back.

Let each arm swing

back and forth.

Let your eyelids move

up and down,

Let your nose breathe everything in,

good and bad,

but let it all out.

Let go,

but keep going.

Look down,

but don’t forget to look up.

Saturate yourself with the sun,

and soak yourself with the moon,

and find everything you need.

Don’t jump to conclusions,

don’t only seek the end,

just go.

What Shapes Our Perspective?

Finger Print

Perspective

Monk

Man Chopping Wood

Trees

Good vs Bad

Single Tree

Pendulm

Glasses

Scale

Tree and House