Published!

Walk of Mortality and Other Short Stories is published, so, you should buy it! Ranging from tragedy, to romance, to poetry, this compilation of short stories by Anne J. Hill is aimed for imaginative young adult readers. 

I am attempting to raise some money so I can eat on the Boston mission's trip that is coming up in less than two weeks.

Be sure to share this with your friends!

Buy it here: https://www.createspace.com/5541855

Only $9.75!!!

Walk of Mortality

To raise money so I can eat on the Boston eteam (mission's trip) this year, I am self publishing a compilation of short stories I have written and am hoping to make some cash off of it. It is called Walk of Mortality and Other Short Stories. Here are a few blurbs from it and the picture a friend of mine drew for the cover. All you good people should buy it when I'm done. :)

"The banker said he was a thief; the doctor said he was a murderer; the teacher said he was a kidnapper. And yet the peasant said he was a noble; the orphan said he was a father; and the ruined said he was a saint."

"You sit in your house; all is calm, all is normal, all is right. The wood beneath your feet feels the same as it has for your whole life. The fire by your back roars as it always has. People are busily passing on the street outdoors. But then something changes in the air. The fire by your back is not all the fire you smell. A heavy sent of smoke crosses your nose. You hear the people outside who had seemed so cheerful just seconds before, screaming."
 

"Wind blew the leaves from the safety of their branchy homes. Rain flooded the dwellings of the working ants. Thunder killed the homey tunes of the blue jays. I saw Gardi Jeremoth threaten to remove her that day. Remove her by means of death." 

"You never realize how much you need someone, till they’re gone."

Unjust Judging

         I am taking AP English this upcoming school year and I had to read To Kill A Mockingbird and write a literary analysis on it this summer. This is definitely not AP worthy, but here it is. 

Unjust Judging

            In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee depicts the childhood adventures of Scout and Jem Finch. These adventures include a mysterious neighbor named Boo Radley and a court case in which their father is the defendant’s lawyer. Harper Lee uses the court jury’s unruly sentence to magnify Scout’s own unfair judgmental opinions towards others.

            Both the court jury and Scout have a previously formed opinion about the person in question. The jury has a biased opinion about Tom Robinson because he is black and “I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man,”(208). Regardless of the facts presented to them, the jury has already sentenced him in their minds before any facts are presented. Scout’s father, Atticus, makes a fairly clear case for Tom Robinson’s innocence. It appears that the verdict should be very obvious to all and yet the jury is not moved because of their prejudice opinion towards black people. Scout does the same thing with Boo Radley. She forms her opinion about him based on what other people have told her about him and not from her own experience or facts. For example, “People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows,” (9). Scout is unrightfully afraid of Boo Radley because of what people have said about him. Instead of getting to know Boo Radley for who he truly is, Scout makes assumptions about his character based on rumors others have spread. Likewise, the jury makes their judgment on Tom Robinson based on the bad name given to the people with his skin color rather than taking the facts and his character into consideration. Scout and the court jury both have biased views on the person of interest.

            The jury passes judgment on Tom Robinson and although of a different form, Scout also passes her own judgment on Boo Radley. Robinson is convicted of raping a girl, although it is made pretty clear that he is of complete innocence and she is the one bearing the guilt, “I say guilt, gentleman, because it is guilt that motivated her,” (203). Still, the jury judged Robinson, as all juries must do, but not in his favor, for “a jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted…and not one of them looked at Tom Robinson…‘Guilty…guilty…guilty…guilty,’” (211). Robinson is judged and unrightfully sentenced. Scout also passes unfair judgment on Boo Radley. She concludes from what she’s heard about him, that, “he’ll kill us!” (47). Since she believes this about him it affects the way she talks about and treats the thought of him. For example, she does not go near his house if it can be helped, except for when they try to get him to come out of the house. Scout and the court jury both pass judgment.

            It appears that the jury and Scout’s judgments were unjust and wrong. Atticus makes it very clear that Robinson is innocent and that, “this case is as simple as black and white…The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place…The defendant is not guilty,” (203). Even though Robinson’s innocence is practically obvious the jury still sentences him. They refuse to see that they are wrong in their judgment of Robinson. Scout’s judgment of Boo Radley is also a false image of who he truly is. As events unfold Scout begins to gain a fuller understanding of who he is. There are several times when Boo Radley is thought to have done a good deed towards her and her brother, Jem. One of those times is when a fire breaks out in the town and Scout and Jem are standing out in the cold. Once inside, they realize Scout has a blanket on and Atticus claims it was put there by “Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn't know it when he put the blanket around you,” (72). Nearing the very end of the book, Boo Radley saves Jem and Scout’s lives. Unlike the jury, Scout realizes she has misjudged Boo Radley. After walking Boo Radley home after he saves them, Scout contemplates on how “you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough,” (279). Scout eventually learns to view people justly. Both the jury and Scout unjustly judged, except Scout saw her injustice and changed her verdict.

            Scout’s judgmental opinions towards Boo Radley are magnified by the court jury’s unjust judgment of Tom Robinson. Both the court jury and Scout are biased, they judge, and their judgments are unjust. The way that Harper Lee parallels these two events makes the reader take into consideration his own judgments and realize he should do the same as Scout and flee injudicious judgments.

Work Together For Good

       Romans 8:28 (ESV) "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

         Recently, my oldest sister, Sarah, was at our house reading excerpts from the newly published book, Eight Twenty Eight: When Love Didn't Give Up by Larissa Murphy, and immediately I knew I had to read it. It's about Ian and Larissa Murphy and tells the story of Ian's car accident that left him with brain damage and how it affected the people around him, mainly Larissa, his at-the-time girlfriend, and now wife. I haven't finished reading it yet (I started it last night after finding out my mom had bought a copy too, I plan on getting my own, and I'm almost done) but from what I have read so far, I highly suggest this book to everyone. Its chilling to read a book so touching about people that I have never really known that well, or at all, but I know people around me that have known and loved these people. There are several people in the book that I have actually had the pleasure of knowing, if only a very little bit. I was around seven or eight when the accident happened. And I all too vividly remember my family talking about it. I remember regular blog updates  on Pray For Ian, such as, he's home, he talked today, he proposed today! I remember people saying they'd foolishly expected to see Ian to walk into a room, but he never did. I remember not knowing who exactly this person was but knowing that there were people who cared about him, some of who I knew, and that prayer was needed (even prayer from my at-the-time unsaved heart.) I remember thinking Larissa was a brave and loyal woman for sticking by Ian's side, even when things got unbearably tough. It was a testimony to her love for Ian, her love for God, and her faith in what He would do. To sum this all, I highly suggest buying this book, Eight Twenty Eight: When Love Didn't Give Up by Larissa Murphy.

Buy book here: http://www.amazon.com/Eight-Twenty-When-Love-Didnt/dp/143368182X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408035139&sr=8-1&keywords=eight+twenty+eight

Perceptions

I have been thinking (something not new at all) and I have come up with an idea (another regular occurrence). This involves you (yes, all of you who like to write) and me. So, I thought it would be fun to do a little collaborative writing thing for the fun of it. Here's my idea, I will create a random scene (or use one I have already written) and have different people rewrite the same scene from different people's perspectives (which will be called Perceptions). Maybe your character wasn't even in my scene, maybe they were watching the scene from a distance. Maybe your character is an animal who is trying to understand what is going on. Maybe your character wrote a poem after this scene explaining what happened, how it made them feel, etc. Maybe your character picks up on things that my character never saw, heard, or thought worth mentioning. Maybe your character leaves in the middle of my scene and goes off to do something different, or your character goes past where I left off. The possibilities are endless. All you have to do is pick a character, comment, email, facebook, text, tweet, (contact me somehow) what character you're doing, then when you're done, send me your part and I'll post it on here for all to see. Or you can do it just for fun and I can not post it if you prefer. My email is southboundvideos@aol.com. I hope this is fun! I will post the scene sometime this week. :)