Journal 6 from Kelsey Eversole

Matt Kennedy is the president of the Chamber of Commerce for Coney Island amusement park.  This was a happening place to be and one of the earliest amusement parks.  It was at its heyday in the early 1900’s.  He has been through the ups and downs of the park and is currently faced with the daunting task to bring people to the park.  The park is surround by run-down welfare houses and crime-ridden neighborhoods.  But if you ask Matt Kennedy it’s still the happiest place on earth.  The thing we should most remember from Matt Kennedy is to never give up on your dream, and that even when you’re faced with challenges never give up.  This is because he is faced with the daily disappointment of the park falling apart and very low attendance.  But regardless of this daily discouragement he is still upbeat and willing to keep Coney Island alive.  The theme that I saw would be when faced with hardship you cannot give up if you want to keep your dream or passion alive.  The last paragraph is the best writing I believe, and it really shows Matt’s passion for Coney Island.  Especially his quote, “When you’re born with sand in your shoes, it remains with you as long as you live.”  I guess I’ll always have sand in my shoes” (162).  This gives the reader a visual representation of what it means to be Matt and makes us really feel for him and Coney Island.  It relates to our world today because people don’t appreciate the good ole days.  So many places that were the place to be in the early 1900’s are now closing up or are already closed.  It shows how people don’t appreciate tradition and they will much rather choose modern amusement and forget about the classics.

There are two things that I am taking away from Holding On.  The first is to hold on to tradition and not let the past wash away.  Too many iconic places in America are being torn down or just forgotten altogether.  People are not entertained today by things of the past and this causes the places to erode into time.  This is such a great loss for culture and society and this book really shines a light on this great injustice.  The second ideal that I took from holding is the idea of being a visionary.  I did not really understand this word before we finished this book.  But now I see it is someone that has a dream and works their whole life and experiences great obstacles and scarified to achieve their vision.  So many characters in this book never gave up and experienced many setbacks until they saw their vision in real life.