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Introduction

In this essay, I wanted to learn about how even when a group of people have a common goal, there are still separations. In this case, I look at activists' ideas during the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements – ideas from Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X – and see how they shaped their identities based on one goal. Additionally, I wanted to find out how these identities were destroyed by an even bigger force – the government itself. I am proud of my analysis – this is an area that I usually have a harder time doing in other essays. In my next essay, I will try to be even more specific and focus more on certain people or in a more specific point in time. I would also like to write better conclusions and make them less abrupt.

Advanced Essay

In the United States, the fight for Civil Rights has been a continuous fight. From the fight for citizenship of black people after the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement – each of these fights led to changes in the way society viewed black people. Black people wanted to have justice and equality. However, in a society where white power has dominated in the government of this country, these calls for rights were turned to deaf ears. Each of these struggles showed how this society prevented black and brown people from belonging in it and creating identities for themselves – culture, governments, and education.

The 1960s and 1970s saw the Black Power Movement. During this time, black Americans were fighting (again) to have justice, freedom, housing, and education. Black people felt that the black power movement would help create a new identity for black Americans – an identity that involved self-sufficiency and the celebration of black culture. This movement was created in response to not just the major political and social issues during this time, but also in response to other Civil Rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose approach to gaining Civil Rights was peaceful protests. In fact, Dr. King condemned the ideas of Black Power as a solution to the issues regarding Civil Rights. In a document by Dr. King, titled "It is not enough to condemn black power" in October 1966, he talked about the dangers of using the ideas of Black Power in gaining Civil Rights. October 1966, importantly, was also when the Black Panther Party was founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. "The slogan was an unwise choice at the outset. With the violent connotations that now attach to the words it has become dangerous and injurious." This quote represents the fears of going to, what seemed to be, extreme measures in fighting for civil rights in the 1960s and 70s. Dr. King felt that using the "Black Power" term would have changed the way black people were viewed by society – that black people would have been viewed as violent people rather than peaceful people. He felt that using violence was not and should not have been used to win the civil rights struggles because it would tarnish his ideas of how black people should craft their identities – peacefully and civilized.

From the perspective of the Black Power Movement and activists such as Malcolm X, Huey Newton, and Bobby Seale, they felt that the peaceful approach to gaining civil rights in the United States would not be enough to force lawmakers and society in general from changing its views on Civil Rights for black Americans. They felt that the identity that Dr. King wanted to create – peaceful protests leading to social change – was being taken advantage of. They felt that this identity would just be brushed to the side, and that the fight for civil rights would not be as productive as if they became more forceful with their protests. The ideas of the Black Power Movement represented a more aggressive tone, to show that they would not be taken advantage of and pushed around. The ideas of this movement influenced other organizations with the same aggressive ideas to take shape such as the Black Panther Party, which performed community service and armed patrol of police in black communities. A document from the Black Panthers lists out all of the things they wanted, and all of the things they would fight to be changed. "We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. … We want bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace." These initiatives showed how the fight for rights took a turn following a whole different approach. While the initiatives of activists like Dr. King were to have integration, where black and white would be equal and work towards gaining civil rights together, the Black Panther Party wanted black Americans to be able to sustain themselves.

These goals changed the national attitude towards the Black Panthers and black Americans, as they no longer were just protesting. They were working towards these goals, regardless of the criticism from a society built on racism. This progress was not met with widespread approval. In 1956, the FBI launched a counterintelligence program called COINTELPRO, aimed at investigating "'radical' national political groups," according to PBS. A year after the Black Panther Party was formed, COINTELPRO shifted most of its attention to investigating Huey Newton and the Black Panthers. Also according to PBS, out of 295 documents outlining actions against black groups, 233 of those documents specifically targeted the Black Panthers. As a result, the organization began to lose its footing, and officially closed in 1982. The swift action of COINTELPRO in shutting them down showed how the deep-rooted racism influenced the government and their institutions. It showed that the identities that black people wanted to create for themselves during these movements were not socially accepted because of their race.

One group of people with a common goal create different identities based on their general ideas of how society is run and how it should be changed. In this case, the identities that were created by those who followed in the footsteps of Dr. King and the identities of those following the footsteps of Bobby Seale seemed to be conflicting identities. They were working towards a common goal – to have Civil Rights – but there was disagreement on how that goal should be achieved. Nonviolent activism was an identity that was accepted by some black people, but unaccepted by other black people, and vice versa.

PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/actions/actions_cointelpro.html

Intro: I wrote this essay to explore the ideas of the abnormally large amount of gay slurs and homo phobics that appear in sports. I am proud of how I tied it together but my grammar could have improved and the middle sections of my essay could have been better.

Homosexuality is something in society today that people are slowly coming to accept however there are still outliers such as the Westboro Baptist Church and other hate groups set out to oppose homosexuality. Sports are a huge part of society especially in the United States. When people think of an athlete who plays sports they will most likely think of a masculine, muscular figure, which is a trait and body composition commonly associated with playing sports. Most people will not think of someone flamboyant which is a trait commonly associated with gay men. The homosexuality bias that occurs in sports does not stop there, gay slurs and dissatisfaction towards gays are abnormally high in the sports communities compared to other groups. The reason for this bias comes down to the fact that people do not like what they are not used to. The majority of sports players are testosterone filled men because testosterone fuels muscle growth, but the overall amount of testosterone in a person's body does not just have that one affect. Testosterone also causes hyper competitiveness and aggressiveness. Maybe there are not more people who are homophobic in sports but more people that speak their mind and tend to be insensitive when playing a competitive sport.

Bill Kennedy is a gay NBA referee and basketball is the second most popular sport in the world. When a gay referee is put in a spot where the whole world can see what he's doing it does not always end up with a person saying something positive. ‘‘I am proud to be an N.B.A. referee, and I am proud to be a gay man. I am following in the footsteps of others who have self-identified in the hopes that it will send a message to young men and women in sports that you must allow no one to make you feel ashamed of who you are’’(Morris). Through the limelight Bill Kennedy has become a figure head for the LGBTQ community, what he says matters, it has impact and effects the NBA as a whole. Bill Kennedy Later says something that provides a great insight into sports culture and its homophobic tendencies. “The stigmas are different for gay male athletes, in part because men have made intolerance and slurs a lasting feature of sports culture. And so, tribally speaking, for a star — a male star — to say ‘‘I’m gay’’ is, in a sense, to place himself above the culture of the team”(Morris). The point Kennedy brings up is something important to the reason why sports has a abnormally high rate of homophobic reports. Culture is the deciding factors in these types of situations, the culture of a team is different then the culture of the world that is ever changing.

The culture of the world has changed immensely, but evolution has not caught up. Humans evolved to live in hunter and gathering societies, we are now removed from this scenario. Humans evolved so that men are the ones to hunt and women are the ones to take care of the home, Now gender roles in society are generally open and not conflicted. The male female behavioral differences were pushed further apart by things such as estrogen and testosterone. Testosterone is known to contribute to aggressiveness, competitiveness and muscle growth. Testosterone gives athletes major advantages in sports because of its association with muscle growth. This could be a major factor in the cultural capital of sports, when a homosexual male or women comes into contact with a place that is fueled by primal human instincts due to the excess of hormones they effectively isolate themselves from the rest of their team. There is no science to prove that homosexuals have a different hormonal balance but their difference is seen as a challenge to sports.

The Introduction For The Digital Memorial

My goals for the audience when reading my paper is for them to understand where I am coming from. Introducing my ideas have always been a struggle. My peer reviews believe that my introduction started off strong so I’m glad of that. Being able to find a way to incorporate a memory that is more recent is something I am proud of. In previous essays, I could only think of memories from long ago that I can’t describe as clearly. Another thing I am proud of is the ideas and thoughts that I developed throughout. I need improvement in how I word those ideas and my analysis paragraphs in general. I don’t practice them enough so properly analyzing can be quite challenging for myself.

The Digital Memorial

Death is a part of all of our lives, and how do we go about coping with it? We keep it a secret from the world and make it seem like it is confidential. Societies all around the world have their own means of going about death. In our lives, we tend to not talk about it and don’t accept the reality of the situation. Grieving over something that most of the time is uncontrollable is understandable because it's not easy to hear, especially if they are close to us. With our society heavily based on technology, we have social media and other forms of communication that cause people to lose their social skills easily.

In my life, I have experienced this in the flesh. A few weeks ago I took a leave of absence from school for personal reasons. My grandfather on my mom’s side had passed away. I was unable to accept his passing all the way until the day of the funeral, which was as cold as Antarctica and felt like a part of you was ripped out. The people around us make up a part of ourselves, and he was a part that I didn’t get to see a lot. I haven’t been to a funeral since 2007 when my grandmother and cousin passed away. This all resulted in me not being able to communicate my feelings to my best friend Amaris in person. Every day we went to clean out his apartment along with my brother Jc. This is significant because my mother had to tell him not to post anything on social media since she thought he would be the one to most likely post personal matters.

Ghosts in the Machine is an article that I came across written by Jenna Wortham about how she believes death is perceived in society and how we respond to it. Jenna had a similar story when her father died in 2011 and she didn’t know how to tell others. She froze in the familiar fashion as I did when hearing the news. She believed social media would be the easiest way to spread the news even though she knew this wasn’t the best way to go about it. She stated “Social media seemed to be the quickest way to let people know why I had disappeared and why I would continue to be a ghost in my own way. But it felt wrong, even ghoulish, to announce the death of a parent in the same venue I might a new job”(Wortham "Ghosts in the Machine" 2015).  Businesses and jobs now offer communication behind the screen such as video chats or messaging. When Jenna told people, nobody was gloomy or seemed in the least bit affected by it. People joked around and posted songs which were inappropriate for the situation. Knowing it was odd to post on social media was recognizing the norms that were emplaced upon us when it comes to the topic of death.

Society has grown to the point where we who make it up are unable to express these things that seem so personal to others. I agree with Jenna when she says “The near pervasiveness of social technology has delivered death back into our daily interactions”(Wortham "Ghosts in the Machine" 2015). The problem with this is that it has to be behind a screen. The new norm is to find out about death where we find out the latest fashion trends or he score of sports games. This doesn't seem as prevalent in other countries. The culture in the United States is different, and so are our responses to situations. We all have these norms based on society, especially when it involves a serious matter such as death. Only those who stay to their families’ culture and religion go beyond the norm. Other parts of the world have access to the technology we possess, but they still remember one important thing and that is to have social skills to the extent of expressing important news to family and friends.

As we grow, changing the very society we live in every day, we need to value the moments that are precious to us. If someone passes away we should be able to speak about it and discuss it to live a more positive life. Society currently isn’t at that point, and we don’t know if it will be at that point ever. In the end, we know that our norms for responding to death have been based on our society and those who surround us. Social Media has changed the norms of society for responding to death.

Bibliography

Wortham, Jenna. “Ghosts in the Machine.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Dec. 2015,

www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/magazine/ghosts-in-the-machine.html.

Document

Amelia Benamara

Mr. Block

English 3

07 March 2018

One World Per Self

Most of us have felt like we've been invaded by aliens at one time or another. I’m sure it sounds just as crazy to you, as it does to me, but we’re all living multiple lives in a world such as ours. Some might know it, others do not focus on the subject, and the rest simply are not fully aware.

It is more of a performance where you are executing a different self in different environments. Almost like Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis approach which is demonstrated through his book: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. It is well known for the use of imagery of the theatre in order to portray the importance of human social interaction. When you're at home, you perform your “family” self, where most are surrounded by family members in a house that contains different rules from the outside world, therefore your mind automatically knows to be more cautious whether it’s with words or responsibilities. When I walk into my home, I have gotten used to instantly speaking my native language to my family members rather than speaking with a certain slang the way I do elsewhere. Almost like a puzzle, our body registers a certain self wherever it might fit based on our surroundings, which we, of course, get comfortable with over a period of time.

On the street, outside of the home, you are surrounded by people who have also have multiple selves hidden under their physical characteristics. The public persona refers to the public image that you attempt to project to others, which in turn interacts with how other people actually see you. Just as you show them a certain self, they do the same to you. This public self is different based on the type of environment, for example, in low or middle-class neighborhoods, you will find personas that use a language known as “street slang.” Some personas also feed habits of addicts who are trapped with the uncontrollable cravings of addiction. However, that is the persona they are showing to the people they are surrounded with.

In school, it might be a mixture of both your indoor and outdoor self. Many schools have different environments, for example, most private schools have strict rules for students to follow, setting a guaranteed path to success for them. Other schools, such as the schools I am familiar with in a city such as Philadelphia. I grew up in South Philadelphia, where neighborhood middle schools weren’t very safe. Many fights broke out daily and teachers didn’t show much care towards teaching the curriculum the best they should. All of these negative components have an effect on students, giving them irrelevant issues to be concerned about when at school, rather than what is more important: their academics. Teachers do very little to encourage students to stay focused on their work. In an environment as such, people might perform a persona that isn’t “real” to their surroundings. This means that they might have their guard up and act like they don’t have much care about their academics, even if those aren’t their true emotions. Once one gets used to trying to fit in by changing many aspects of who they are, they eventually get used to it and it becomes a new self within them. On the other side, in private schools, one’s home persona comes out more than their street self. This is because the strict rules the school sets are on the same scale as the rules parents set at home.

When one is alone, perhaps in a state where they no longer feel the need to wear a different mask for others that surround them, a "true," "private," or "core" self which is not always seen by other people, is shown. This self is consistent with us at all times, even when we do not have access to it. Stephen Mitchell, a New York psychoanalyst, and author, suggests in her book Relational Concepts in Psychoanalysis: An Integration, that all of our selves are true. Some are more private or hidden than others, but that doesn't make them any more reals than those that are visible to the world. Although a true self is most important within the soul, the other different selves serve a very important function, as well. They represent our ability to respond and adapt to different situations and different people. Unfortunately, we begin to suppress some of the selves that get the least response in our lives as we develop into adults. So when these selves suddenly appear, we are taken back and have no idea what to do with them.

At a certain point in life’s growth — mostly during the late teenage years or early adulthood — an individual will notice the multiple personas that exist within them. How do we react to such news? We compare ourselves to others, and often times we wonder if we’re the only ones. Society portrays figures to be “flawless,” where being the heroes, models, singers, actors, and actresses, will be something we cannot accomplish. This is where insecurities play a role as we question our worth of identity. Superheroes are an example of ones who frequently lead double lives - think Superman and Clark Kent, Batman and Bruce Wayne, Spiderman and Peter Parker, and the list goes on. The poem We are Many by Pablo Neruda reads: “All the books I read lionize dazzling hero figures, brimming with self-assurance. I die with envy of them; and, in films where bullets fly on the wind, I am left in envy of the cowboys, left admiring even the horses” (Stanza 5). We pay a huge amount of attention to even the normal things like horses that we get jealous of just because they are in movies and they seem to be living fairytale lives when in reality none of that exists outside someone’s imagination.

Even those who might seem to live perfect lives have more in common with you than you think. Politicians, professional athletes, and actors are all famous for having public and private personas - although these days there's not as much to hide behind as there was before the days of the internet. Everyone, famous or not famous, performs multiple acts, even if it is hard to tell just by looking at them. Remember, if we can hide our true selves well, so can they.

Bibliography

Neruda, Pablo. “We Are Many.” PoemHunter.com, 3 Jan. 2003, www.poemhunter.com/poem/we-are-many/.

TEDtalksDirector. “Thandie Newton: Embracing otherness, embracing myself.” YouTube, YouTube, 20 July 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzKBGtf0i0M.

Goffman, Erving. The presentation of self in everyday life. Anchor Books, 2008.

Mitchell, Stephen A. Relational concepts in psychoanalysis: an integration. Harvard University Press, 1995.

My goal for the paper was to explain my train of thought when it comes to identity and belonging. There were a few sources we went over in class that I knew I wanted to include, so I started to develop a solid thesis based on that. One area that I think I have to improve on is the transitions between topics because it’s a bit choppy at parts. Overall, I’m proud of what I’ve written.

Essay:

Our sense of belonging shapes who we are and how we view ourselves. As babies, we don’t have our own identity, we just exist in relation to other people. Thandie Newton explains this in her TEDTalk, Embracing Otherness, Embracing Myself, she said, “... the self is a projection based on other people's projections.” We are first defined by other people’s ideals and preconceptions about who we are. We can simplify the major influences of belonging to three sections: friends, family, and social media. The way we act within these three groups are usually very different, self is fluid.

Our friends are who we choose to associate with and relate to. This is how other people view you. When you are in a friend group, the way that group is defined is the way you will likely be labeled. Most don’t notice that they do it, but it’s very detrimental. Grouping people and making assumptions about their personality based on it is limiting and can lead to someone being afraid to do something outside of what their friend group typically does.

The next section is family, which, depending on the situation, can be how we view ourselves. It’s the first indication we have of our own identities since the people in your family are the first people you’re close to. This section can be similar to friends in that when a family thinks a certain way, it’s hard for one individual to break that. There are things people keep secret for their entire lives because they’re afraid of the reaction their family will have. Both friends and family have good and bad parts. On one hand, they offer companionship, giving us something to hold onto. On the other hand, there can be an unacceptance to change that puts a limitation on who we can be.

The last piece is social media, which is how we portray ourselves. The growing popularity of social media has sparked a change in the way we think. Due to the huge impact social media has on us, we often think of it first. The first thing we do in the morning is check our phones to go on Instagram or Snapchat. Online, we can post virtually anything we want, so we can be anything we want. According to Psychology Today, “We come to see our identities as those we would like to have or that we want people to see rather than who we really are.”  There is a pressure in today’s society to have a perfect, aesthetic life and teenagers fall victim to this, thinking that they aren’t as good because they aren’t popular on social media.

When I was a kid, I didn’t have a ‘group’. I was part of them all, which ended up with me not actually being part of any of them. This left me in identity limbo, I didn’t know who I was. Eventually, I learned to be my own person; I figured out who I was to myself, not to others. Now, I still have more than one group, but I genuinely fit into each of them, they all matter. I’ve thought about this a lot, trying to understand why I didn’t fit in, but I realized that it wasn’t just me, it’s really the way people view friendships. Someone’s friends shouldn’t be what defines them, they are their people with individual thoughts and interests. Although there are a lot of negative effects on our identities because of social media, personally, I was benefited. Social media helped me to discover who I was. It allowed me to post and express myself in whatever way I wanted. Family also played a big part in this, they support me constantly.

Identity and self are fluid, they change. People see us in different ways and we act differently around them, this forms our identities. Erving Goffman, one of the most influential sociologists in history, has a theory about self that essentially states that there is no one true self. He thinks that humans just display a series of masks to control how we appear. This theory has been seen and adapted many times, Newton even mentioned a form of it in her TEDTalk, stating that the self she tried to use in the world was rejected so many times that it began adapting to the rejection.

Overall, how we belong has the biggest impact on our identity. A part of it is how people view us, but we choose how they see us. We can manipulate people’s insight to our lives and only show what we think they should see. This ties together all the pieces of belonging, family to first shape our identity, friends to help us find it, and social media to help us change and show it.

Introduction

My goal for this paper was to try and teach some people about the reasons behind some refusals to vaccinate. I'm really proud that I included sources that explained more about what my topic was about. Areas for improvement are that I could've elaborated more on the idea of value systems and their impacts. Another area for improvement could be that I should expand more on analyzing the quotes. Overall, I'm proud about my topic because not many people think of the reasoning behind this choice.

Advanced Essay

According to the Collins Dictionary, “the value system of a group of people is the set of beliefs and attitudes that they all share.” Refusing to get vaccines is something that some parents choose to follow for their children’s health. Nowadays, many parents are choosing to delay how often their kids get their vaccines and some also choose to just not get them. According to the U.S National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, “These reasons vary widely between parents, but they can be encompassed in 4 overarching categories. The 4 categories are religious reasons, personal beliefs or philosophical reasons, safety concerns, and a desire for more information from healthcare providers.” (McKee, Chephra, and Kristin Bohannon. “Exploring the Reasons Behind Parental Refusal of Vaccines.” The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics : JPPT 21.2 (2016): 104–109. PMC. Web. 8 Mar. 2018.) Personally, I believe that everyone should get vaccinated because I know that it would most likely prevent people from receiving certain diseases.

I think that people don’t realize that not getting vaccines is dangerous because if they’re in the same area as vaccinated kids and the kids with vaccines have something like whooping cough, the non-vaccinated kids can catch it. People could be spreading viruses onto kids that don’t have their vaccines. I think it’s important that parents should be educated enough to know what their choices could lead to. Parents should get enough information to know what would happen if their child got sick and didn’t have their vaccines. I think that children should have some say when parents are hesitant about issues that concern their public health. I believe that some value systems that have been set in place should be removed because in a way they “punish” those who have different beliefs.

I understand that it wouldn’t be ideal if some kids got to choose whether or not they wanted them because there are kids that would refuse it because it “hurts.” I’ve seen a poster at a pediatric office I intern at and it says something like, “If there were a vaccine against cancer,  wouldn’t you give it to your child?...” Most parents wouldn’t even think twice about giving their child a vaccine to prevent something like cancer, so why not for other diseases? This value system that has been set up doesn’t take into consideration that children may die if they get a disease that they aren’t protected from. What does it have to take in order for a parent to ignore their values and actually do what’s best for their child’s health? For example, there’s a story about the death of a boy named Colin Durkin. I think that the personal story of the family who lost a child is an important source because they speak about how maybe if they’d gotten the chance to give their child a vaccine, it’s possible he wouldn’t have died. In the story, the parents explain, “We never had the chance to immunize Colin as he was still too young, but an ounce of prevention could go a long way in saving your child's life…” (Durkin, Pamela and Kevin)

In situations like this, it’s difficult to receive a vaccine because the child is so young. However, this family realized that if they could’ve done something, in order to prevent this death, they would’ve done it. This is an example of how refusing to give your child a vaccine could result in something devastation, sometimes even fatal. Sometimes there aren’t “in your face” symptoms, which is why it’s important to receive a vaccine because it could detect what your eyes couldn’t.

Personally, those who don’t get it because of “religious reasons” should have to give proof that is a legit reason for the exemption. I understand the thinking behind those who do it because they’re concerned about the health of their children. “Religious reasons tend to account for the majority of total vaccine refusal, while parents with personal beliefs against immunization tend to be more willing to compromise and at least partially vaccinate their children. Parents are concerned with doing the best for their children, and hearing reports of potential safety issues or that childhood diseases are not a large threat can hinder them from vaccinating their children.” (McKee, Chephra, and Kristin Bohannon, 104-109) This quote really speaks about how most parents could be influenced in vaccinating their child if they’re told about what major illnesses it could prevent. My mom has chosen to not give us the flu vaccines because everytime that we used to get them, we would get extreme fevers and even more sick. I understand that some parents don’t want to risk their children’s health even more because of the symptoms that may occur afterwards. I think that society needs to get rid of these systems set up with specific beliefs because it doesn’t allow for those who oppose those ideas to speak their minds.

Bibliography

McKee, Chephra, and Kristin Bohannon. “Exploring the Reasons Behind Parental Refusal of Vaccines.” The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics : JPPT 21.2 (2016): 104–109. PMC. Web. 8 Mar. 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4869767/

“Infant and Child Vaccines - Personal Testimonies - The Death of Colin, Pamela and Kevin Durkin's Infant Son.” Accessed March 8, 2018. www.vaccineinformation.org/infants-children/testimonies/whooping-cough/colin-durkin.asp.

I grew up living in a different lifestyle than most Americans. I remember waking up asking myself ,“Why am I so  different from all of my friends?” What I should be asking is, “Why am I different from the people who share the same culture as me?” My culture dictates that the ideal man gets a job and becomes successful, wants to start a family, raise a son, and teach him to be strong and courageous to pass down the family name. I, however, orbit the idea of the social norm in our tradition culture of being Asian, not being completely part of the Teochew (chinese) culture yet I haven’t left it. Both of my parents tried to raise me to be the best at math and science so that I could go to college and become a professional doctor. As I grew older, I realized that being a doctor never interested me. Being a doctor was just an option, but making movies was something that has been in my mind as something I would want to do as a career for a very long time. As time thickened the air of maturity, I consulted myself and began to wonder what my parents’ opinion would be about my career goal of becoming a filmmaker.

I’ve lived the life of being an Asian American, who was raised by a pair of Chinese Cambodian immigrant parents. The American culture was never embraced with my parents and they haven’t adjusted to the norms of what the typical American would do in the United States. As a family, we have always strictly followed our multiculture of being both Chinese and Cambodian. From food to language to family roots, gender roles were never a conflict for my parents because of where they are from. It was as if they already knew what their responsibilities were and what they wanted to do in their future. My mother was raised to stay in a home to cook and clean, and my father was raised to survive hard times through many jobs and small businesses just to make an effort of living. Once they came to America to escape the war that was happening in Cambodia and Thailand, they thought about the possible “freedom” they could have in a new country. After having three children once moving here, they realize how my siblings and I grew up with are different than what they have experienced in their country. They keep telling us, “You don’t know how lucky you are to be born in America with more freedom. You don’t have to do what was expected to for you do back in our country.” They claimed, “You didn’t have to wake up four in the morning to work day and night and come back home to cook and clean the house.” My father would then sometimes tell my sister to sweep around the house and he would tell me to go unload and load the restaurant stocks with him. This is when I realized that the gender roles are becoming a mental concept and what acceptance is for a typical Asian family. I have to learn to accept both options myself as a responsibility. Masculinity hides what I want to do in the future without being judged by others and especially my parents.

What I wanted to be was a professional filmmaker. Directing a film and working with cameras was a dream of mine since childhood. Ever since my parents allowed me to watch horror movies as a child, they told me that it couldn’t be real because the camera man would have been killed the minute the movie started. It brought a question to my attention: “What if I could make movies like that and understand how people make movies.” Unfortunately my parents disagreed to my thought process. They said, “Making movies is a waste of time and it’s not as fun as being a doctor. You get to study for money. Once you become a doctor, you can help people. That helps your good karma and you don’t have to struggle with losing anything.” The words stabbed me like a burning hot knife gutting my heart out.  As their son, they want me to be better than who they were. As the oldest of the siblings, my parents only supported me to be highly skilled at math and science, training me to do multiplication when I turned four. My mom thought it would help if I learned the multiplication table of two in Cambodian as well. They set the expectation so high, but after reaching the seventeenth year of my life I feel as if I was the one who is backstabbing my parents of their hard work raising me for something they didn’t expect. Filmmaking to them seemed unmanly and non-educational in a traditional Asian family.

For generations, my family has been very traditional with gender roles and how masculine a son could be. America is still changing the norm of having a diverse culture and gender is becoming a loose idea of how we consider our identity to be. From New York Times, The Boys Are Not All Right, the author stated, “It’s funny because it shouldn’t be that easy to rob a man of his masculinity, but it is.”(1). When describing what masculinity looks like around different cultures, Asian men are very vulnerable of how masculine they are. Whether it is a situation of life and death or something smaller, we accept the fact that we can be light hearted in the inside. Most men won’t show how they feel as if there was a secret male language that could not be spoken. In The Boys Are Not All Right by New York Times, the author mentioned, “They are trapped, and they don’t even have the language to talk about how they feel about being trapped, because the language that exists to discuss the full range of the human emotion is still viewed as sensitive and feminine.”(2). Not showing any sign of being feminine, males consider themselves not vulnerable or sensitivity. Cooking and cleaning in a household would be considered feminine and ladylike, but in my case I cook and clean as a practice to when I leave for college. From Coming Home Again by Chang-Rae Lee, Lee wrote, “She shooed me away in the beginning, telling me that the kitchen wasn’t my place…” I find the skills of cooking to be essential to my everyday life, rather than focusing on how masculine I needed to be in order for myself to be accepted in certain societies. Sometimes masculinity is viewed as “life or death” for mankind, especially when I have two different cultures to fit into. I feel as if I live in two different lives, one at home being some of the Asian expectations, and one socially in the American society where people are more accustomed to the American Culture.

What is considered the most valued aspects of being Asian is that we surround ourselves with our culture and our “identity”. Also being a American citizen, I have to consider the cost of what is accepted of the American society and what is accepted within the traditional Asian family. Playing two different people is hard enough as it is, and trying to bring one culture into another is a pessimistic goal.  What I want is a lot different from what other people expect, but it isn’t always the case where two diverse cultures can go hand in hand with each other. However, I can live two lives but the only assumption I have is that I have to expect the unexpected. I will expect disappointment from certain people, and others will expect disapproval.

Work Cited

Black, Michael Ian. “The Boys Are Not All Right.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/opinion/boys-violence-shootings-guns.html.

I often hear people predict, “You look like a [name]” and guess something scarily accurate. During childhood, many children craft their appearances and personalities to resemble people with their same name, identifying with that group and subconsciously conforming to match it. The names we are given dictate our identity starting the day we are born. They present us with shoes to fill, or to defy; they offer a personality (e.g., unique, traditional) to take on. However, these names are only the first step. Our parents label us with these names likely as a mere suggestion of the person we should be, but as we grow, our communities and societal influences begin to use names as restrictive measures. Children’s development of feelings of identity and belonging stem directly from these labels.

Given names are the first label one is awarded and a lifelong one at that, offering a persona for the child to take on. They are similar to visual first impressions and for this reason, they carry a strong associative power. One article notes this trend, “When a new person introduces himself to you (let's call him "Spencer"), your first instinct is to assemble a rough mental sketch of everyone you have ever known named Spencer… You subconsciously judge this new Spencer, at least a little, based on all the other Spencers you have ever known” (Hedrick). People create some expectations for others based on their name prior to any interaction with them or other information concerning them, thus enforcing the external influence a given name has on identity.

Names have drastic effects on internal views of identity as children learn to build their identity based on their names. Naming trends vary, with many parents handing down a relative’s name and tacking on “Jr,” while others try to find the most unique name possible for their child, and with many variations in between. Whether they choose to name their child with a numerical suffix or an uncommon name, both are encouraging their child to lead a certain type of life. Being named after one’s father or another family member gives a child a standard to meet, but some learn to instead challenge the notion that they should be another “chip off the old block.” Familial connotations, religious connotations, gendered implications, as well as having a name with no connections, affects where a child feels they belong or do not belong.

Aside from given names, children are further labeled as they grow and learn in a community or school context, quickly learning behaviors that are labeled masculine or feminine, intelligent or stupid. Children are given names associated with their gender and their perceived capability early on, and these names become who they are as it is easier for them to give in to societal pressures than to defy them in their early childhood.

As for gendered labels, girls and boys find themselves restricted by the implications that the words girl or boy come with. Girls are taught to be “girly” which in many contexts means submissive and shallow, while boys are taught to be violent, stoic, and powerful to fulfill the notion that “boys will be boys.” In the case of boy’s learned identities based on their labels, it has become an issue that boys go through this “shame-hardening process” (Velasquez-Manoff) because it creates a destructive culture of hypermasculinity. One researcher mentions that men are not inherently bad, that their power complex derives from their interpretation of being male from childhood norms, explaining, “They’re ‘over conforming’ to common, if exaggerated, notions of masculinity. They’re doing a five-star rendition of what they think manhood requires” (Velasquez-Manoff).

Children are also affected by the names of intelligence parameters bestowed to them in early childhood. When given the label of “smart” or “dumb,” children take the label to heart and follow the norms associated with them as they do with gendered labels. One woman, Amy Cuddy, shared her testimony in her TED Talk, describing a traumatic car accident that resulted in her being withdrawn from college and her IQ dropping two standard deviations. She stated, “I had identified with being smart, and I had been called gifted as a child,” (Cuddy) so it was very difficult for her to understand who she was without her “core identity.” Due to the names she was given in childhood, she struggled with recovery as she no longer followed what society said was accepted or expected from her and had to essentially create herself over.

Effects of naming are not strictly positive or negative. People often feel connected with their given names as they remind them of their families. Gendered labels can be empowering when used correctly, and positive reinforcement through intellectual labels can build confidence in children. The issue is the misuse or abuse of labels: when these names take over a child’s identity in a negative sense. Children often have very little control over how these labels shape them and similarly minimal recognition of their influence. However, in adulthood, some have taken to renaming themselves as a form of rebirth, properly addressing themselves to match who they are. They change their names in defiance of the restrictions that their names implied to embrace their true identity (e.g., references to countries of origin, variations of words that resonate with them) and have ownership over themselves.

Works Cited

Cuddy, Amy. “Your body language may shape who you are.” TED. TEDGlobal 2012, 6 Mar.

2018, Edinburgh,

https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are#t-1234115

Dahl, Melissa. “Junior status: Sharing dad's name a mixed bag.” NBCNews.com,

NBCUniversal News Group, 19 June 2009,

www.nbcnews.com/id/31416975/ns/health-mens_health/t/junior-status-sharing-dads -name-mixed-bag/#.Wp3xwOinHrd.

Hedrick, Michael. “How our names shape our identity.” The Idea Factory , The Week, 15

Sept. 2013, www.theweek.com/articles/460056/how-names-shape-identity.

Velasquez-Manoff, Moises. “Real Men Get Rejected, Too.” The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 24 Feb. 2018,

Introduction

Feminist identity has been a topic discussed in more modern eras of what it means to fight for equality. This essay explores feminist identity in relation to what it means to be more feminine or masculine, and the connotations of such. I am proud of the ways I analyzed outside sources to develop larger themes and ideas presented in my essay. If I were to do this again I would connect more books and stories.

Advanced Essay #3

Reading sources that reflect how modern day feminism has attempted to shift the ways we raise boys to be the people that can shift society’s patriarchal agenda has opened my eyes. Many observations on recent interpretations of being a strong “feminist” consist of being a strong and powerful woman, both characteristics of stereotypically masculine demeanor. Women  free of discrimination is one of the priorities of feminism -- being free of the patriarchy and being free to express themselves.

In the earliest days of feminist movement, there was a fight. Women were fighting for societal equality, in which was not granted to them in the extreme. Shifting to today’s age, the fight has not ended but it has been subdued. We as women have the right to vote, we no longer see the majority of us as housewives, and we no longer see marriage as quite the priority in its earliest sense. The fight has shifted from constitutional rights to the general state of societal norms. The patriarchal society we live in has not only dominated opportunities, but also the way certain versions of feminism play out.

My view of  feminism is that it is a spectrum; there are different versions and interpretations of the main basis that female equality to men should be standard. Many modern feminists today preach an idea of strength and perseverance to get to the top where the men reside. Using a voice and screaming your strength, which in my eyes, can diminish the fact that we are women, and we can be feminine and still be a feminist. In her book “We Should All Be Feminists,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses a time where she was going to a class she was teaching and decided to leave her pretty dress and lip gloss at home. She replaced her ideal outfit with a blazer and pants to seem more respected. This respect, she came to realize, was her idea of respect that came from looking more manly and less feminine. In that moment she believed that if she dressed more like a man she could be respected as one. This is just one example of us as women claiming our respect that we deserve, but falling to the patriarchal demands of needing to look or act more manly to receive that respect. Chimamanda realized her mistake and changed her mindset, “I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femininity. And I want to be respected in all my femaleness” (Adichie, 39).

The action of looking more “manly” to be respected as one, may work for some feminists -- act as they wish to claim the position they deserve. However, I wish to be respected as a woman without having to fall into the trap of a patriarchal society that only respects women who can claim their actions as more “manly.” This plays back into the ways we raise boys and girls. The ideal of parenting which focuses on expression can implement feminism and not discourage a strong pinpoint on masculinity or femininity. Freedom of expression is the true meaning behind feminism. Freedom to obtain power and equality while also being able to be a woman should be the priority. Having to use “masculine” features in order to get that power takes away from freedom, and reestablishes the patriarchal motive that being a man is the only way to have that power.

Girls are told that if they dress a certain way they’re just demanding the attention of a man, and boys are taught to give that attention. When women dress more feminine they aren’t taken seriously because obviously (according to current societal attitudes) they’re “demanding extra attention from men and drawing focus from their point.” If we as women dressed more like men we wouldn’t be forcing additional attention. However, we would be losing our femininity and betraying the origins of feminism as being actions of women.

The deepest bubbling down of this comes into how we perceive gender, and the stereotypes of such. What does it really mean to a boy or girl besides the genetic origins of sex? We as people have evolved and changed, and with that change comes another spectrum of gender and what it means to look or act like ones assigned sex. These roles and ways ones gender should dictate how they act is the poison behind it all, and the reason why some are treated with more respect than others solely based on how they choose to identify.

All of us, not just men, are taught to be tough in order to be respected. The human feelings of being sensitive are often frowned upon, and our empathetic humanity forgotten. When being sensitive is accepted, is when we as a society see it as only a feminine feeling, calling people names for expressing emotion. This is where we have to change to accept our humanity between each other, and accept that it’s natural to have feelings. It’s natural to want to be ourselves in a society who doesn’t let that thrive.

Works Cited

Velasquez-manoff, Moises. “Real Men Get Rejected, Too.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/opinion/sunday/real-men-masculinity-rejected.html.

Black, Michael Ian. “The Boys Are Not All Right.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/opinion/boys-violence-shootings-guns.html.

Berlatsky, Noah. “Can Men Really Be Feminists?” The Atlantic, The Atlantic, 5 June 2014, www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/06/men-can-be-feminists-too/372234/.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. We Should All Be Feminists. Anchor Books, 2015.

David Roberts

Mr. Block

English 3

9 March 2018

The Battle of Battle Royale Games

Recently, within the gaming community, a furious debate has emerged between the supporters of the two most popular battle royale games: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite. PUBG, for short, the first game to be released of the two, is a “realistic military shooter at its core,” as Erik Kain stated in his article comparing the two games on Forbes.com. 100 players, all fighting to survive, are released into an arena to fight to the death. Only one survives. PUBG, which is praised for its mechanics, the inner workings of the game, exploded into the gaming community, selling 10 million copies sold in just 6 months. In addition, Fortnite shares the same overall plot. But there are some differences. Fortnite, from the day it was released, has been a less realistic, almost “cartoonish,” as Kain  called it, and has always been called a ripoff of its predecessor PUBG. Despite this, Fortnite has been revered for its smooth gameplay and its absence of cheaters, both of which occur in PUBG. Regardless, the debate between the PUBG players and the Fortnite players has reached monumental proportions. Both sides argue that their game is better, without actually listening to the other side’s opinion. However, all this bickering leads back to one main question: are players of Fortnite real gamers? The gaming community is very particular about who is part of their community, and having this debate is a way to filter out people who don’t deserve to be a part of it.

Players of PUBG have always thought of Fortnite as the more childish game of the two, and for good reason. First, the graphics, the overall looks, are like a “cartoon,” states user Pedro Deuces on a skynetgaming.net forum. The characters are animated and modeled after fictional figures. The building structures and terrain features of the map can be compared to those seen in children’s books. But most importantly, the game is free to play. This means that a possible player does not have to pay any monetary value to download, install, and play the game. The main reasoning behind the hate for free to play games is that “the majority [of free games] are garbage, pay to win, clones of actual good games,” stated user FarplaneDragon on a GameSpot.com forum. Free games are incomplete rip offs of paid to play games. All of these things put together give PUBG players a reasonable excuse to accuse Fortnite players of not being real gamers, which is a huge insult to those within the gaming community. Fortnite players are quick to fire back though.

Despite its recent glory, PUBG has many flaws. Because of its realistic nature, the game is incredibly hard to run. The graphics make its loading times longer and its lag, which occurs when the screen freezes for shorts amount of time, increase. Therefore, players, or even prospective players, who do not maintain a high quality computer, which is a large part of the community, can experience these issues much more. Fortnite, on the other hand, does not have these issues. Also, PUBG is riddled with cheaters. Players that download external programs into the game to help improve their aim and other things are called cheaters. As Kain states, “playing against cheaters in a competitive shooter is about the least fun thing I can imagine.” These two things about PUBG, although being overlooked by current players, are slowing gaining attention and in turn forcing players away from the game. Nonetheless, PUBG is still considered the more mature game, and therefore the better game.

The gaming community is very particular about who gets in and who is rejected, and players of Fortnite are in the gray area. The players fit the description. They play on console or PC, and not on mobile, which is a whole other debate. The game format is also compatible. Other battle royale games like PUBG and H1Z1 get a pass. But the issue is the game itself. Being free to play, Fortnite can initially rejected, as most free to play games are. To add on, the graphics are cartoonish and childish, making the whole game childish. Finally, Fortnite is considered by many a rip off of PUBG, a game made and released before Fortnite. These reasons are the key issues for players of Fortnite impending induction into the gaming community.

Bibliography:

Kain, Erik. “'PUBG' Still Does One Thing So Much Better Than 'Fortnite'.” Forbes.com, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2018/02/23/pubg-still-does-one-thing-so-much-better-than-fortnite/#53c53a8f510e.

Thier, Dave. “'Fortnite: Battle Royale' Does One Thing So Much Better Than 'PUBG'.” Forbes.com, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2018/02/25/fortnite-battle-royale-does-one-thing-so-much-better-than-pubg/#76905b222e1d .

Sarah Berg

Mr. Block

English 3

8 March 2018

Advanced Essay #3: Social Media and Activism

Society is constantly evolving, and with that comes changes in every aspect of it. Each generation has been defined by a social or political movement, and the tactics involved in the movements have matched the times. In the twenty-first century, social media has become one of the most prominent forms of communication,- seeing as in 2017, 81% of people in the United States had an account on a social media (Statista)- and has subsequently become central to modern activism. On various platforms, different bubbles of accounts have formed based upon political and social opinions. People within these groups use social media to affirm their identity as activists. But is social media actually helpful in accomplishing real social change?

First, it is necessary to note the groups that are present on social media and how they interact. The groups that I have observed are usually comprised of young people, and therefore are a representation of the faces of future activism. There are two examples of groups that interact with activism by, for one group, being a part of it, and for the other, criticizing it.

One group is commonly referred to as “Social Justice Warriors” by others in a disparaging way. This group is made up of feminist, pro-gay, or pro-black accounts, for example, who follow and interact almost exclusively with each other, sharing opinions on topics relevant in current events. Examples of people in this group are Laci Green and Anita Sarkeesian. The other group is anti-politically correct, anti-”SJW” people who act in similar ways to the previous group, but are centered around near opposite opinions. An example of someone in this group is Paul Joseph Watson.

Both of these groups exist because people of like minds flock together to create a space in which they feel safe, a space in which they can base their identity. As Malcolm Gladwell says, “the self is irreducibly social”. A self is defined by those of others. On social media, you can pick and choose who will influence you the most, and members of these groups choose influencers by their political views. Interestingly enough, it does not appear that the members of these groups are always on opposite ends of the political spectrum, the far right or far left. Many appear to be on the left or in the middle. However, social justice has expanded farther to the left with more radical ideas, which lends to more conflicts between liberals.

The fact that arguments are occurring may not be a bad thing for activism. It means that conversation is happening, and that’s one of the biggest things to come out of the rise of social media. This may be because social media platforms are essentially breeders of “weak link” relationships. They encourage correspondence between acquaintances, people with mutual friends, and people with similar interests. These relationships are highly useful in terms of increasing awareness and participation in a movement. If someone has a message, they can send it out to hundreds or even thousands of people instantly, people who will now know what others are saying about the topic without seeking it out. Groups and pages can be created around a topic, allowing for everyone who wants to be involved further to do so. These interactions have contributed to social media’s usefulness in aiding political change. According to Professor Clay Shirky, “social media have become coordinating tools for nearly all of the world’s political movements.” Shirky also argues that social media utilizes the two step flow model of communication, which “proposes that interpersonal interaction has a far stronger effect on shaping public opinion than mass media outlets” (Britannica). In the first step, information is spread to the general public on mass media. In the second, people begin to talk about it. It’s this part - hearing the opinions of people you know - that forms one’s own opinion about the topic.

The argument against social media in activism is centered around the same weak-link relationships that increase participation in it. This is because the increase in participation is caused by a “lessening [of] the level of motivation that participation requires” (Gladwell). This means that people are less invested in the causes and their connections to the causes are less personal. It takes a much deeper commitment to participate in a protest that could turn violent, such as many during the Civil Rights Movement, than it does to hit “retweet”. The masses would much rather like a Facebook page than show up to a march. While there are still people who participate in real-life activism, social media can be unhelpful in organizing such events. Because these movements are not planned and put into action by a hierarchy of activists, ideas within the movement are more likely to conflict, and there is a “real difficulty reaching consensus and setting goals” (Gladwell).

Do the pros and cons even out? Would 1,000 people going out and risking their lives for a cause have the same effect as 100,000 people reposting a message? It’s hard to say, and could be different case by case. Claiming one way is better than the other may not be as productive as accepting this change in society. As long as the “slacktivism” found on social media does not serve “as a replacement for real-world action but as a way to coordinate it,” (Shirky) there will be benefits from its role. We must be aware of how much we depend on it, because if the stakes of everyone involved in a movement are low, the movement is bound to fail. Activists have still been getting things done recently, including the Women’s March, the #metoo movement, and protests for stricter gun control. They will undoubtedly continue to adapt to the rise of social media.

Bibliography

“Percentage of U.S. population who currently use any social media from 2008 to 2017.” Statista,

March 2017. Web. March 2018.

www.statista.com/statistics/273476/percentage-of-us-population-with-a-social-network-prof

ile/

Gladwell, Malcolm. “Small Change.” The New Yorker, 4 October 2010. Web. March 2018.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell

Shirky, Clay. “The Political Power of Social Media. Technology, the Public Sphere, and Political

Change.” The Council on Foreign Relations, January/February 2011. March 2018.

www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2010-12-20/political-power-social-media

Postelnicu, Monica. “Two-Step Flow Model of Communication.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 28

November 2016. March 2018. www.britannica.com/topic/two-step-flow-model-of-communication

Salsabeel Elbakhadaoui

English 3

Block

8 March 2018

Me Modeling

All my life, I’ve wanted to be a model. People have always told my parents --I’d make the perfect suit. As I grew up, I realized it was my passion. It’s something I always found interesting and fun. Aside from all the bad, I always saw good. As I grew up I began looking for connections, like close friends that could help me achieve my dreams. As I did that I got closer and closer. Modeling is a very difficult career. You must put your mind into it, have a lot dedication, and bravery if not you will lose.

Modeling comes with a lot of hardships that will possibly break you down. There are so many standards that come along with being in the industry-- size, height, weight, looks. A lot of models tend to form eating disorders. Like Sadie Robertson who performed on dancing with the stars. Also Zuzanna Buchwald who has developed Bulimia and Anorexia. They were told they were too fat and may not get any jobs. People will tell you that you're not pretty enough like for example some of the managers of some shoots or hate comments on social media. Jordyn Woods said an inspirational quote that stuck on the show Life of Kylie. “I'm not the typical model. I'm not size 0 and I’m not 10 feet tall. So I think it's really cool for you girls to see you can do anything you put your heart to, the possibilities are endless.” This quote resonated with me because society tells girls they must be a certain way but you can achieve anything. Getting into the industry you cannot trust anyone. Many photographers can use your body to make millions of dollars and give you nothing. You must know what you are getting into before anything.

Despite all the bad things, modeling comes with great and amazing experiences. I've always wanted to be a model because I always found and felt a great feeling while taking pictures. A quote from my friend who is a model “I feel unstoppable like superman on the runway.” Young girls look up to models but because of society and social media it makes it seem like one type of model is how women are supposed to be. These things are shaping young women and girls identity and making them feel like they are not beautiful. But you can do anything if you put your mind to it and everyone is beautiful in their own way.

Modeling nowadays can break you down and you have to be very confident and love your body. Modeling not only can hurt the model but also young girls making them believe their is only one kind of beautiful but if we all looked the same this world would be a boring place.

Fashionable trendy Clothing companies barely had any clothes that were Plus sized. Women who loved a piece of clothing weren't able to buy it because it didn’t come in their size. Lane Bryant was the first to start working with Plus sized clothing. If you are aware of Fashionnova which is a very successful company in which all celebrities and models purchase clothing from. They made two seperate pages on instagram one for Plus sized and the other for the main running sizes, instead of just having the sizes running to the highest number they have.

Calvin Klein also came out with their first Plus sized model in 2014 and had many people angry. “Tell me is this a joke? Plus size!? Congrats on giving another generation of girls eating disorders and insecurities.”(Tyldesley, Tweet) These things really damage a women and girls confidence.

Modeling is also a very enjoyable job. For example they get their makeup and hair done. There are a lot of clothes to pick from and they also get paid well for a job they enjoy doing. My father is my role model and he supports me everyday, he tells me how beautiful I am all the time and always buys me the clothes I want. My father makes sure everything is perfect for me. Sometimes he helps me do my makeup and hair and always gives me advice. My father always supported me through my dreams and one of them, of becoming a model. My father helped shape my identity and the person I have become today.

In conclusion modeling is the art of showing beauty and being confident. My father pushes me to become a model and he sees the potential in me. Modeling gives women and girls a sense of love for their inner beauty.

Sources:

Life of Kylie episode 1 Quote from Jordyn Woods

Mailonline, Unity Blott For. “'Congrats on giving another generation of girls eating disorders': Furious debate over 'plus-Size' Calvin Klein model after Corrie's Catherine Tydesley posts an angry tweet .” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 23 June 2016, www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3656549/The-truth-Calvin-Klein-s-plus-sized-model.html.