TCWE - Book Post Three (LAST ASSIGNMENT OF THE SEMESTER!!)

In our third discussion we duscussed all the events of the third section.


Winter has escaped the House of Success - foster home she was placed in until she turned eighteen - and is living with someone she never would have expected to be living with, Sister Souljah. Souljah is a big time celebrity with access to all events including concerts, parties - you name it and she was a VIP member. Winter joins her in attending these events in hopes of  creating a new hustle for her by coming up on a well payed man. She sleeps with a rapper (or so she thinks) but when she confronts him, he never recalls being with her. Winter eventually leaves Souljah's place, but not before she is robbed of her money by Souljah's sister, Lauren. Winter goes on a hunt to find Midnight, who she hopes will help her. On the way, she is sidetracked by and old lover, Bullet. She goes with him and is living the high life - aside from the negative aspects of her mother being cracked out and Winter being pregnant and getting an abortion. She becomes Bullet's right-hand woman, assisting him in his life of work and doing what ever he tells her. Unfortunately in the end, Bullet abandons her and she is arrested and sentenced to fifteen years in prison for being caught with his illegal items. Her mom dies in the end, and she sees her father one last time at the funeral.

My group and I discussed:


Why is Sister Souljah in the book when she is the author?
Why isn't Winter overly concerned about her family? 
Why didn't she help her mom stay off drugs or try to get her sisters back?
Why did she abandon the idea of locating Midnight?
Why didn't she snitch on Bullet?
What do drugs do to a community?
How did the title tie into the story aso=ide from her name being Winter?


All in all this book was really good and my group enjoyed it.

TCWE - Book Post Two

My team and I discussed a lot more ideas in this second section of the book.

More has happened because Winter's father is now in jail, there is no money, Midnight abandoned her in Brooklyn, Sterling put her out his house for another girl, she can't trust her friends, her mom is a whole new person, the goverment is after her because she is under eighteen, and she has no idea where to start at getting her life back together.

Santiaga was charged with everything you could name: murder, robbery, weapons, distribution of narcotics, etc. All of his money he had stashed away for situations like this was gone. Midnight was the only one of Santiaga's workers that was clean and not in jail, so he gave Winter three thousand dollars and left Brooklyn for good. Winter wanted to go too, but he said she was a "dumb woman and could never roll with him." She tried to stay at Sterling's again, but he put her out claiming he had "company". Back in Brooklyn, because she was no there, her friends began to pretend they were above her because her family had fallen apart. Her mom was on drugs and looked horrible al the time because she didn't have Santiaga there to take care of her. Winter has nowhere to stay nor any way to get money, and is avoiding being picked up by the cops and aken to a foster home, though eventually she is.

My team and I discussed each of these issues through Level One questions and even Level Three questions :
Will Santiaga (Winter's father) ever get out of jail? Maybe not, the charges were too severe.
Why did Midnight abandon Winter? He thought she was a dumb girl.
What made Sterling finally get rid of Winter? Maybe he realized she was using him and used another girl to make her go away.
Can/should jealousy ruin a friendship? This went unanswered.

We reviewed many ideas in our discussion, and can't wait to continue reading.

TCWE - Book Post One

I've read this book twice before, but even reading it a third time, the book is just as good. Ghetto-born, Winter - the main character and narrator - is the young, wealthy daughter of a prominent Brooklyn drug-dealing father named Santiaga. Quick-witted, sexy, and business-minded, Winter knows and loves the streets like the curves of her own body.


Chapters one through six, so many events occur it was difficult not to continue reading. Winter is sixteen years old when she begins her story. Her father Santiaga taught her to be smart about her actions and how she carried herself as a young lady. 


Growing up with money, Winter never settled for less than what she was worth. She and her family spent money like it was nothing, because it wasn't. Because her father was the man in charge, everyone in Brooklyn respected him and knew not to mess with his family. Winter wanted to show off her body and be with boys, but Santiaga didn't want her with any man who wasn't worth her time. Her mom however, knew what a woman's needs were, and put her on birth control.


Winter's heart was so devoted to the streets of Brooklyn, that when Santiaga moved to Long Island to "keep people guessing", she found every way possible to go back. Santiaga wanted her to stay away without him around, but she snuck and went anyway.


Time passes and drama stirs. Winter's mother demand Santiaga buys her a car so she can get out the house. Without thing, he takes her out with him to buy one. During that trip, Winter's mom is shot in the face by enemies of Santiaga's. She lives, but a war breaks out in Brooklyn.


Winter's birthday Comes up and she once again deceives her parents, by saying she would be one place and be at another. While she if off enjoying herself, the police ransack her house and arrest Santiaga and all his men. Winter's mother at one point too gets arrested, and Winter is stuck with her three younger sisters until they are taken away by the police as well.


She is seventeen and is legally not allowed to live alone, but she avoids being picked up. Winter remembers everything Santiaga taught her growing up about being smart and playing her cards right. She is determined to save her family.


This book is really good.

Response to a Response Post: "Making Jokes"

I chose to respond to this post because it sounded like it was genuinely written, and I agree with it's points. Pedro responed to a post Lhadze wrote about how making jokes are bad because they hurt feelings. Here's what he said:

Lhadze talks about how people can get hurt when there is a joke made about them. I agree that it is wrong to make fun of someone for something that they can't help, but at the same time, we are teenagers and we like to make fun of each other through jokes. For me, I like to make jokes about people, but only to the ones who know how to laugh along and not get so butt-hurt when I say it. I wouldn't make fun of someone if I knew that they wouldn't know how to take a joke. I know my limits and even if I make jokes, I would not take it too far, only with people who I am closer to. If I don't know someone, then of course it would be wrong to poke fun at them.

Pedro was the perfect person to respond to her post. 


There's a difference between "joking around" and intentionally trying to piss someone off. Every teenager is at risk of being made fun of, just because that's life. The people who are making jokes know who it is okay to tease and ridicule, and who it isn't, based on other's reaction. 


Pedro (and others) tease and joke around with me all the time. At one point when it first started, I used to get so aggravated by it. I didn't know how to respond, so I kept my mouth shut and just took it. At this point however, I'm a lot closer with Pedro, so I know he never purposefully tried to make me upset - he noticed something worth pointing out, and made a joke about it. Now, I just laugh along - completely aware of my flaws and imperfections - and joke back. 


I've been in Pedro's shoes as well, making jokes about others but never wanting to hut their feelings.


If you notice, those who are constantly goofing off and teasing people, don't go around the entire school involving everybody. They (we) stay within a group of significant individuals and don't spread out much. Like Pedro said, they know their limits, and even if they make jokes, they don't take them too far - and when they do, it's only with people they are closer too.