Blog Feed

Michael Joseph Jackson was more than a child star; his music career carried into his adulthood. From his greatest hits with the Jackson Five like “ABC” and “I Want You Back” he left his legacy playing in many people’s heads. The story behind such great performances, remains a mystery to some, and surprise to others. Unfortunately, this success did not come without its sacrifices. Due to an overachieving father, isolation of a carefree childhood, Michael Jackson was forced to skip his own. As a result, his actions as an adult all reflect a deep desire to claim that childhood that was never his.

To begin with, Michael’s father had very high expectations of his kids in which he enforced very strongly. As manager and father, responsibility of being a manager often clashed with responsibility of being a father. In an interview by Martin Bashir titled, “Living with Michael Jackson,” Michael stated, “He didn’t allow us to call him daddy, and I wanted to call him daddy so bad. He said ‘I’m not daddy, I’m Joseph to you.’” (Michael Jackson) Due to the parenting, Michael grew up to slowly lose his relationship with his father. The relationship between Michael and his father was more on professional terms than personal. In the interview, Michael also went on to say how he was scared of his dad, and how he would faint or vomit due to his presence.In result of the constant beatings to discipline him, Michael suffered from anxiety.

Consequently, Michael Jackson did not have the time on his hands to do what the other children did at his age. Being in the studios all the time, he couldn't play with other kids. He was always in the spotlight, so he couldn't go anywhere that he wanted to due to the common issue of paparazzi. Girls fell over him, and the world slowly did too. In Michael’s words, "I wasn't aware that the world thought I was so weird and bizarre. But when you grow up, like I did, in front of 100 million people since the age of 5, you're automatically different." (Michael Jackson - Grammy Legend Award speech, 35th Annual Grammy Awards, 1993). He grew up as a hollywood pop star which prevented him from being a normal kid. His life was constantly publicized to the world in which he had zero privacy provided. As child music star, he was going on many tours, which resulted in cameras constantly on him and the world watching his every move.As he got older, papparrazi only increased more, putting Michael into the position to seek more privacy.

Furthermore, as his life went on the issues he dealt with not having a childhood began to come to light. He went on to buy 19.5 million dollars worth of land located in Santa Barbara County, California, and named it the “Neverland Ranch.” Neverland consisted of the same characteristics of an amusement park. It had a ferris wheel, merry go around, and other rides found in places like amusement parks.  After he built his dream home, his life began to derail. Neverland was Michael’s way of giving children the childhood experiences that he was prevented from having.

Above all, many factors including his father, Neverland Ranch, and life in front cameras shaped the man that Michael Jackson grew up to be.  His adulthood was an attempted reflection of how he wanted his childhood to look like. Failing to do so, resulted in many issues that led up to the death of the King of Pop.  As a pop star that made well over a million dollars in record sales, he was loved by many and hated by many. His legacy will continue to live on, and the issues he faced growing up as a kid will be forgotten.

Works CIted

Woods, Raven. "The Truth About What Michael Jackson Had (And Didn’t Have) In His Bedroom." The Huffington Post. N.p., 14 July 2016. Web. 16 Oct. 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/no-child-porn-found-at-neverland-thenor-now-the_us_577fdfbce4b0f06648f4a3f8>.

Michael Jackson Documentary "living with Michael Jackson" Dir. Padronlful. Perf. Michael Jackson and Martin Bashir. YouTube. YouTube, 27 May 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqqipytDeuM>.

"Michael Jackson Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <http://www.biography.com/people/michael-jackson-38211#early-life (Links to an external site.)>.

"Childhood." :: True Michael Jackson. N.p., 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <http://www.truemichaeljackson.com/childhood/>.

Introduction

Completing this essay was a leap in the right direction for me. During this process, I learned more about my own literacy as well as discovering how to improve those literacies. People think just because math is numbers, it is not a literacy but it is. Math needs to practice and read daily to become one of your strengths. I think the thing I’m most proud of is my reflections in this essay. They are very in depth and go into intense detail about how it affected me. Something I could approve on is the way I structure my ideas. A lot of the times I just string them together without thought. In my peer reviews, my rough draft was often called “confusing” because I knew what I was trying to say but everyone else was confused. Next time I want to work on communicating my ideas better.

How Literacy Has Affected me Over the Years

Literacy is defined as “the ability to read and write.” A literate person is someone who “possesses the ability to read and write fluently.” As for me, I would define literacy as an infinite series of word-doors leading outward to the world around you--and an infinite series of word-doors leading inward to yourself.

Literacy has always had a great effect on my life--it is my life. In fact, one could even say I was born to be literate. My brain was born to decode language. I was able to read when I was just 18 months old (or thereabouts), three or four years before most children begin to read. As a toddler in a stroller, I read the signs I passed on the street and shouted out their meanings. “Parking” and “Exit” were favorites.  I read newspaper headlines and memorized children’s poems without trying. These acts came naturally, like breathing.

As a person with Asperger’s, I believe this was a blessing. I have depended on written words to tell me how people think and function socially, because I can’t always make sense of this with my own eyes and ears. How do people know when and what to say to one another (unless they obviously need to speak up to accomplish something immediate)? Social communication, apparently so easy for others, is a mystery to me. Luckily, books and articles on social behavior have helped me learn some of the answers to these questions.

Also, the written and spoken word have communicated to me other rules for functioning that I can’t sense otherwise--wonderful rules about everything from the workings of the universe to how to organize time. This in turn has imposed a certain structure on a world that can seem chaotic at times, too rich in sensory input for me to organize, and this has given me peace of mind. Beyond that, though, literacy has given me ideas to guide my thinking and learning. Knowing how to read has helped me develop a political philosophy, a good sense of humor, and inspiration for my future. From sections of The Communist Manifesto to sections of The Art of the Deal, reading and grasping literary passages has influenced the creation of my own political philosophy, or political system, if you will, which I like to call State National Socialism. Through reading, primarily of documented traditionalist works discovered online, I have pieced together a philosophy that states that nature has a long-standing, ordained, and traditional order that must be preserved. Tradition, Biology, and Environmental health are crucial. My philosophy also states that capitalism is unhealthy because it causes people to turn from compassion for the environment and for one another to the false idol of profit at all costs.

Without the ability to read, not only would I not have crafted my philosophy, I would not have built my sense of humor, which is mostly based around pictorial memes now, but got its start in reading. This sense of humor, which deals with things from politics all the way to lewd humor nowadays, goes as far back as fourth or even third grade, when we had to write funny stories for class, and sometimes even draw pictures for them. I loved how laughter made me feel, and how a simple story with a silly and unexpected twist or ending could bring about a giddy feeling--and totally improve a so-so or even dismal day. This precious sense of humor found expression in memes as I got older, but is fundamentally based in words and is the joyful result of being able to read and write.

And speaking of writing, this aspect of literacy is equally crucial for exploring and defining yourself. You don’t know what you know until you try to write about it. Somebody once observed, “writing is thinking,” and this is true. Sit down to write anything, from an email to a research project, and when you try to explain what you know, you realize you actually have more questions than knowledge. I remember reading an article by the NY Times that said “Writers, especially younger writers, often hear the exhortation ‘write what you know’. This is understandable. Some of the best fiction ever written seems to have followed that advice.” The act of putting thoughts into the structure of words forces you to make sure you really, totally understand those thoughts. This reminds me of another quote I read in that same article. It says “You should write what you really know instead of a slick, bowdlerized version of what you know.” This is how you really take advantage of the situation, so you can really put that knowledge into writing. This is important because writing is a bootcamp for thoughts, forcing them to shape up, and forcing you to deepen and strengthen your grasp of a subject.

So, without literacy I would be a very different person. Certainly I would be very diminished without it. I would not have the knowledge that I possess now about the world around me and how things work, but much more importantly, I would not know what I believe, and love, and value. Ironically, it is literacy, with its window into the the thoughts and beliefs and ideas of others, that somehow opens a door to your own thoughts and beliefs. It shows you what you identify with, from politics, to religion, to personality, to whatever provides a good laugh. Without the written words of others to lend structure, your own personal beliefs would be an unarticulated mass within yourself, an unexplored and poorly defined forest of impulses and seemingly random thoughts. This is why I say literacy has a way of shaping one’s knowledge into a state where it is intellectually beneficiary. So, yes, words can be definite, bossy, and demanding, but ultimately literacy is a kind of magic that conjures up your path and your life.

Kawthar Hasan

Ms. Pahomov

English 3

26 September 2016

People have to make difficult decisions to help them get through their life, especially with education. For example, getting a high school education is extremely hard for many people because of stress like life’s certain events such as finance, lack of interest in school, and failing to succeed school. Those are some of the reasons why it is causing some to drop out. Many adults strongly cast down students from doing this, going off  to the long-term issues of not having a high school diploma to have more open doors opportunities in the workforce. Regardless of the individual struggles and tribulations, those who drop out of high school do it with their best interest in mind. For teens who do drop out, their action is justifiable because they are doing what is best for them in that moment of time to work on themselves. That way these people can find a positive path to make the right decisions without any stress of school work being put on them.

According to the Colorado Department of Education, There are three main factors of why these teens drop out of high school: school related, family related, and employment related reasons, for many high school dropouts. The article also stated that, “Students who fail to succeed in school and attend schools that fail to provide them with the environments and supports they need to succeed.” In other words, the majority of the people who drop out had trouble with others helping them in and out of school to allow them to stay at their school. When there is no moral support, a student gets tired and believes that leaving would be best. Relating to the argument about the moment in time, teens need some support at times with their education before having them making the decision of dropping out.Therefore, it is not necessarily the kids fault if an adult does not try to help out avoiding them from dropping out, it should always be a place where these people can reach out and get support.

On the ‘National Dropout Prevention Center/Network’ website it shows many percentages such as, missed school days, overall the percentages for males are at “44.1” and females are at “42.7”. These percentages are high for the school related issues for teens to drop out. It could be possible that teens missed so many school days to deal with personal issues like financial or family problems that they have to face at home. Therefore, they must do what is best for them to take care of themselves so that education will not be in the way. There are times when adults are not in the picture to help support these kids to assist them with their personal needs to do better in high school to get their diploma. To be their in there true time of need of help.

Another reason dropping out can make sense is that it doesn’t actually cut a person off from education in the long run. A man named Kenny Buchanan who is in his late 40’s was a high school dropout. In ninth grade at the age of 18, he flunked twice and chose to give up, and decided to work at Burger King full time. He mentioned in an interview, "Back then, I could get a job anywhere," he says. "I could work at Burger King, quit that job and have a job the next day without an education." However, now he feels that it is hard to get a job because the job applications require a high school diploma. From the author Claudio Sanchez in the NPR article quoted, “Buchanan is one of 40 million Americans who never graduated from high school. Most of these people, about 60 percent, are between 40 and 70 years old, according to the ‘American Council on Education.’ About 9 in 10 have never earned more than $40,000. Buchanan falls into that majority.” Therefore, he decided to go to a place called Career Link, which is a place for job training and education for unemployed adults like Buchanan. There, then he realized the closest requirement that he needed was, a GED. GED stands for General Education Diploma, to get this a person must pass a test to earn a certificate. The certificate is proof of getting some sort of education. A person can take it at any place to get hired by their employer if there is no diploma with the job application. "When you get that GED book and you see the math that's required — algebra, trig — I think that scares a lot of people. Especially if they haven't been in school for 30 years," Career Link Director Sharon Angle says. Nonetheless, it is worth getting a job since nowaday many career places are accepting them with the applications. Which is great for others to get a job without a diploma and still be financially stable for themselves and their family.

People are going to make the best or the worst choice at certain points in life, but no matter what happens they will learn from their actions. Life is not all about making the perfect decision for a person and it will always indicate on someone whatever or wherever especially with education. If a person decides to put a hold on getting a diploma and need to get themselves together first, why not give them a chance? If high schoolers stopped to think about it, they would realize that their diploma is not just about graduation, it's about their long-term job prospects as well. Leaving school will allow them to be independent and get a view of what the future may hold. While getting an education is quite important in life, that one piece of paper known as a high school diploma can change so much in a person’s future life. Getting that job or raise that was wanted. While life can make getting a high school diploma hard for a good amount of people with personal issues. All of that has to be understandable, because sometimes life puts a person in a spot where one does not always wish for but that person has to find a way to fix it.

Works CIted (MLA format):

• http://www.npr.org/2011/07/28/138741367/a-high-school-dropouts-mid-life-hardships

"A High School Dropout's Midlife Hardships." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

• https://www.cde.state.co.us/dropoutprevention/bestpractices/overview-who

"Why Do Students Drop Out of School?" Colorado Department of Education Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

• http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/3/4/2158244013503834

By Far, the National Longitudinal Study That Offered the Most Comprehensive Analysis of Dropout Causes and Received Well-diversified Scholarship Was the NELS:88. Conducted on a Representative Panel of 24,599 Eighth Graders, the NELS:88 Study Lasted 12 Yea. "Understanding Why Students Drop Out of High School, According to Their Own Reports."Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

• http://settlement.org/ontario/education/adult-education/get-a-high-school-diploma-adults/what-is-ged-high-school-equivalency-certificate/

"What Is GED/High School Equivalency Certificate?" What Is GED/High School Equivalency Certificate? N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

• http://dropoutprevention.org/resources/statistics/quick-facts/why-students-drop-out/

"Why Students Drop Out." National Dropout Prevention Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

Alexander Khan

English 3

10/17/16

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines folklore as “ideas or stories that are not true but that many people have heard or read,” while lore on its own is defined as “knowledge gained through study or experience; a particular body of knowledge or tradition.” In the modern day, lore appears most commonly throughout digital universes crafted by video game designers. Video games have very open ended stories, which gives people room to make their own conclusions. These video games begin conjuring followers, and eventually a community of people begin to piece together stories, essentially creating modern day folklore overtime.

The past two years have introduced the internet gaming communities to many new gaming phenomena, such as the indie horror series Five Nights at Freddy’s by Scott Cawthon, and Overwatch by the Blizzard franchise. Both of these games have amassed large followings, not only for their gameplay and overall story, but for the lore behind the game.

Five Nights at Freddy’s lore follows a story of multiple restaurant locations, different animatronic robots, and a series of injured children. Many followers of the game series spend days, even weeks, trying to piece together the six game long series of mixed up stories. Players are never told anything that’s really going on within the game, just given hints that there are dangerous things happening around the player. This makes it nearly impossible to really figure out the game’s true story, and therefore sends its fans into a frenzy of decoding and detective work. This game, having been highly anticipated by its Steam Greenlight page months before its release, brought in record high views for certain gaming youtubers who made videos on the game. One youtuber, Markiplier, had his first video on the game reach over 53 million views. Another youtuber, under the channel The Game Theorists, dedicated his time to figuring out the lore behind Five Nights at Freddy’s. As the newest game in the series was released, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location, countless blogs and forums dedicated to piecing together the lore of this single game have sprouted in addition to the remaining active forums for the previous five games. All of this devoted energy shows that people are looking for more information to this ever growing story; they’re dedicated to this game franchise and the story behind it.

Many people have tried to explain the phenomena that is the FNAF series. One article at Kotaku starts with; “It has racked up millions and millions of views (and screams) on YouTube. It has hundreds of earnest fan games, and dozens of rabid fan theories. The Five Nights at Freddy's hype train is incredible.” However, many games have seen the same lore hype like this series, such as Dishonored or even the Pokémon games at times, so why do people keep talking about FNAF? The lore is so quickly produced and twisted, each game being released only months after the other, that people keep bringing it back up, trying to understand it, much like old folklore. The game, while called overhyped by many, is still drawing attention to itself with how many people have gathered to discuss the lore behind it.

In the Overwatch side of things, fans of the game have been watching a webpage for the last two months, lying in wait for a counter to reach 100% and trigger the release of a mysterious character. A website called amomentincrime has been counting up from zero since late August after a few fans dug into an alternate game reality of Overwatch, which showed a shadowy ghost figure that resembled what they’d seen of this new character. Blogs have been dedicated to watching the percentage, and the source code of the website, for hints as to when it’ll reach 100%. The only real hint given is the text on the website that says “Initiating protocol Sombra” in Spanish, which leads every fan in radius of the website to believe 100% means the ultimate release of Sombra, a character known for her association with the games “bad guys.” Blizzard has said very little about the game’s origin itself, but through the brief descriptions of the 22 playable characters’ backstories, fans have built up their own versions of the origin story.  No story is ever the same, much like the way folklore stories are passed down through generations and changed to fit individual morals. People are creating individual versions of video game lore to fit the things they seek out in a good lore-based game.

Unlike FNAF, Overwatch has used the characters they have to make real world connections, such as the animated short The Last Bastion showing a robot with signs of PTSD from the war he fought in, or the short Dragons showing family problems in a different light than usually seen. This lore being canon ties back strongly to the notion that video game lore is becoming the modern day folklore; real world problems being shown in a light where things can get better, stories told in ways meant to be relatable to anyone who reads them. In the words of Blizzard; “We poured a lot of effort into creating a game—and a new universe—that anyone could enjoy.”

Video games with lore like these two have hit the internet gaming communities by storm; millions of players have taken to forums and blogs to figuring out detailed stories worked within the games they’ve come to know and love. These stories have begun to spread, and be passed around different groups of people, essentially creating a system of modern day folklore. Although many gaming communities outside of these two might not fully see the impact of modern folklore, overtime it will begin influencing other game developers. When these new developers see the success of lore-based games like Five Night’s At Freddy’s and Overwatch, they’ll be more likely to follow that format, eventually creating a completely new genre of folklore games.

Works CIted

@GeekAnthro. "Contemporary Folklore in the Digital Age." The Geek Anthropologist. N.p., 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

https://thegeekanthropologist.com/2014/10/03/contemporary-folklore-in-the-digital-age/

By Lola at Monday, June 06, 2016 12:10:00 PM. "A Few Important Words from Blizzard about the Overwatch Phenomenon." Gamezone. N.p., 06 June 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

http://www.mweb.co.za/games/view/tabid/4210/Article/26067/A-few-important-words-from-Blizzard-about-the-Overwatch-phenomenon.aspx

Hernandez, Patricia. "Why Five Nights at Freddy's Is So Popular." Kotaku. N.p., 06 Feb. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

http://kotaku.com/why-five-nights-at-freddys-is-so-popular-explained-1684275687

Introduction:

Writing this essay really helped me explore what I went through in my years before high school and how I experienced literacy. It helped open my eyes to things I never actually thought about until now. How in schools they try to limit your reading and your literacy to one thing or one culture and same with home. People often look over it without actually realizing what they are doing. I am very proud of how I incorporated my scene of memory into my actual piece and larger idea. Something I can improve on as writer is trying to make connections within my writing and also my use of commas. Both my peers saw that there were times when there could’ve been more of a connection in my writing and where a comma or two could be added. In the future I want to improve on my use of commas and trying to make connection within my writing.

The smell of hot chocolate tiptoed it’s way up the steps and slowly into my room. It wrapped itself around my nose as it pulled me from my sleep. As I woke up all I could think about was that it was Christmas and that thought flooded my five-year-old mind. I jumped out of bed and raced down the steps as if someone was chasing me. The only thing that was chasing me was my excitement. Nothing made me happier than Christmas, the warm clothes, the sweet smell of hot chocolate, oh and of course the presents. How could I forget about the presents? That year the only thing I asked Santa for was a Barbie. Everyone in my school had a Barbie so I knew I just had to have one. When I finally got downstairs all I could see was the huge Christmas tree it was covered in the brightest lights you could ever imagine and the ornaments almost looked like they were made specifically for that tree. The one thing that topped it all off was the tree topper. I’ll never forget it, it was the most radiant star I had ever seen. My grandpa always told me that he pulled it straight from the night sky just for our tree and I believed every word he said.

As I stood there gazing at the beautiful tree my mom yelled at me and said

“Girl, if you don’t come here and open these presents before I have to open them for you.” So I rushed over there and she handed me a nice warm cup of hot chocolate and my first present to open. I don’t know what was more exciting ripping the wrapping paper off or trying to figure out what was inside. When I finally opened the gift I noticed that it was a white box and the only thing that comes in a white box is clothes. Oh, how I hated getting clothes as gifts, it was like eating spaghetti for breakfast, it just wasn’t right. I continued to unwrap my presents scavenging for the only thing I wanted, that Barbie. I finally got to my last present by then I was getting a little anxious. I was praying this last present was my Malibu Barbie I rushed to open it and when I saw that Barbie logo I couldn’t believe it. I took the entire wrapping paper off and when I finally saw her face, she was white. My five-year-old mind thought nothing of it but years and years of getting the same white barbie I started to question “Why don’t they look anything like me?”

   That same question stuck with me throughout my years of elementary school but my love of Barbies turned into my love of books. Same as Barbies, books gave me a separation from reality, they gave me a new world to look into rather than my own. My favorite genre was fiction it opened my eyes to all the different things people could do. I read about people flying in magic school buses, the adventures that the brother and sister went on in their tree house and one of my all time favorites the stories of Junie B. Jones. I couldn’t help but notice that all the books I read none of the characters were anything like me. Sure, it was fun to read about all these different adventures they went on but I didn’t really have a character I connected with. All the books I did read that had some form of a black person in it were limited to minor characters or books about the civil rights movement. In The Apartheid of Children’s Literature Christopher Meyers emphasizes how people of color are used in literature: “characters of color are limited to the townships of occasional historical books that concern themselves with the legacies of civil rights and slavery but are never given a pass card to traverse the lands of adventure, curiosity, imagination or personal growth” Within in all the fiction novels I read about people traveling through time and helping to save the princess there was never one black character or any person of color for that matter. This, of course, gave me a fixed mindset as a child. I knew there were certain things that children of color couldn’t do. Those things being traveling through time, in a magic school bus and going on adventures in treehouses with their siblings.

   This thought transferred itself into my writing as well. As much I loved reading fiction I loved writing it too. Sometimes I found it difficult to try to incorporate myself within my writing. A lot of the things I wanted to talk about I had no idea to, well at least I thought I didn’t. In Write What You Know Heller illustrates how writers shelter themselves without even knowing “— unconsciously censored themselves and thrown out the wheat, mistaking it for nonliterary chaff. In this sense, the reminder to write what you know” Many of the things I tried to write about I believed I had no business writing because I didn’t know anything about it. It wasn’t until high school I actually read books about black people. I finally learned that I don’t have to limit myself or color myself in between the lines. Just because I only read about white people traveling through time fighting dinosaurs doesn’t mean that people of color can’t do the same. Just because I only had white Barbie dolls doesn’t mean the black Barbie wasn’t any prettier. I learned that Literacy doesn’t mean writing about what you know and limiting yourself. It means both writing about what you know and what you don’t know. Extending your knowledge to all regions and opening your mind to the new things in the world.

I.

I was in the third grade, and Christmas was rapidly approaching. My class had gathered in the school library where a special treat was awaiting us. Clad in polo shirts and jumpers, we plopped down upon the old grey carpet and awaited our treat from our librarian.

The librarian wheeled in a metal cart of books. It was maybe three shelves high, and was absolutely jam-packed with a variety of books celebrating the Christmas season. Because this was a Catholic school, they could give us books which were explicitly Christmas-themed and not really allow other holidays in. There was great jubilation as a sea of small children rushed forward to nab books from the shelf.

I looked at the choices in front of me with some distaste. They were primarily oversized pictures books with maybe a few short children’s novels thrown in-all things that I felt I had mostly outgrown by that point. I had known for a long time that I was an advanced reader, and had even been in a gifted reading group at school in kindergarten. I was completely bored with the choices arrayed before me.

Scanning the shelves, my eyes finally alighted on a book on the bottom shelf, shoved unceremoniously among a group of cutesy stories about Santa and elves and the baby Jesus. It was A Christmas Carol, the evergreen classic by Charles Dickens. I was already familiar with the story, as many people are-the tale of the miser Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve who force him to alter his cold-hearted ways-but I wanted to see the original book myself, to see how Dickens wove this story that nearly everyone seems to know.

I was only a few pages into the book before the librarian came over and snatched Dickens’s novel right out of my hands. “You’re too young to read that”, she intoned angrily, “Pick another book”. I was absolutely livid with anger. She was a bat-like retired nun, with a scrunchy, wrinkled face and a bad attitude, especially when it came to kids who seemed to be just a little bit too bright. Looking much like Scrooge himself, she glowered down at me over a pair of glasses. After this, I only remember crying and my parents being upset at the librarian’s behaviour.

II.

There is a tremendous hatred towards gifted and talented students in the United States school system. Compared to other nations, we tend to want to cut down the best and the brightest-something known as “Tall Poppy Syndrome”, which is also prevalent in other Anglophone nations like Australia and Canada, but might just reach its apogee in the USA.

We feel, being a nation founded on the ideals of equality, that those who are smarter or more talented or more inquisitive than us are simply “spoiled”, “privileged”, or “unfairly ahead”. After all, they didn’t “have to work” to be smart, they were just intelligent already, from the day they crawled out of the womb. Clearly, they have to be discouraged because their ideas are a threat not just to classroom stability, but to society at large! If one child knows more about a topic than the teacher does, then we are on the road to anarchy! Or, conversely, they are undermining our pre-determined script and cannot be allowed to have their ideas flourish! So goes the thinking of many an American.

This can be seen in my own career. In kindergarten, I was a part of a small group for “advanced readers” that read more challenging texts while the other students did their typical “ABCs”-level work. I do not recall much of it, but I do remember it being more rewarding and interesting than what I typically worked on. Then, suddenly, it was yanked away from me for no apparent reason, especially as we entered the lower grades. I would never have a real advanced/gifted programme after that for the rest of my schooling career, which frustrates me to no end. There were so many hours wasted in the classroom with kids who read aloud at a snail’s pace, or who stumbled over basic facts about geography, or who didn’t know who so-and-so was, or teachers who bungled simple things and hated to be corrected, that I felt like I was going insane. Sure, I could do the work. Sure, I suppose I liked it on some level. But year after year, I always had some teacher who despised me and didn’t appreciate or understand my intelligence or the intelligence of others, who instead taught towards the middle and ignored those who might have wanted to stride above and beyond the pablum vomited at us by the mandated curriculum.

And, controversially, this has not improved now that I have arrived at SLA. I still feel like teachers are teaching towards the middle, that students make stupid mistakes, or that they feed us stupid stuff (like Terence from Housman’s famous poem). We are trapped in limiting streams that force us to work with people who may or may not care about the fate of our projects. Our assignments, projects, and benchmarks themselves seem to have descended into frustrating busy-work that only serve to bore and anger the inquisitive.

III.

One of the great quests of Civilization is to preserve what has come before it. The great corpus of works that has defined the history of literature stands as a testament to humanity’s collective glory and wisdom. Without its light to shepherd us along the path of life, we would be lost, adrift without any signals as to how the human person works, lives, loves, and suffers.

We cannot allow it to be subsumed by the foolishness and myopia of a series of present-day bureaucrats. We cannot allow the Beacon of Civilization to be snuffed out, and for the heritage of the world to be destroyed.

But presently, it is under grave attack. It is being subsumed by a series of cheap, small-minded quasi-reptiles who cannot see the necessity of our traditions and our lifeblood.

That is why our gifted and talented children are central to the preservation of our heritage. They can understand our fallen nature as imperfect beings and how that even includes our highest authority figures-even our teachers. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel, much like the monks scratching away in the monasteries and chapels of Ionia over a thousand years ago. They can see that, though there is much darkness, there is also greatness and light. They shall persevere. They shall preserve.

INEQUALITY IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

There are many talented women in the film-making industry, but not as many as men. Even with this being, why aren’t the women mentioned as often? There has always been an inequality in the work area when it comes to men and women. Women have come so far from the past but still aren’t treated with the same respect and fairness as men. Women get paid less and don’t have as many opportunities overall. This goes for every work field that isn’t specifically a “woman’s” job, but why film? A lot of what happens in the film business is behind the scenes and is mostly on the computer, so why do people think that it still isn’t fit for women to handle? The Huffington Post and even the New York Film Academy have taken notice to the issue of gender inequality in the business because it is a rising issue. The problems range from how many lines female actresses get in movies to the 284 million dollar pay gap between them and the highest ranked male actors.  Ultimately, the state of women both behind and in front of the camera reflects that women are still expected to stay in their place. To basically just leave the hard work to the men.

A study that was done by Stephen Follows talks about gender split within film crews from between 1994 and 2013. People might think that with almost 20 years passed that things would have drastically changed. From 1994, the average amount of women on the film crew were 22.6% while the amount of men was 77.4%. When the numbers were recalculated in 2013 the percentage had actually decreased with only 21.8% of film crews being women. This percentage might as well be 0 when looked into deeper, because Women tend to have the less important jobs. Not that costumes and makeup don’t matter, it’s just not what makes the movie completely. When the percentages are broken down into specific categories such as wardrobe, casting, and makeup, otherwise know as the “easier” and more “girly” things, the numbers are high. 68.8% of the crew for makeup is female while only 31.2% percent is male. 66.5% of the casting department is female with males at only 33.5%. As the jobs on the list get harder or more “important”, the amount of females in the department decrease. For camera/ electrical only 5.1% of the crew is women while males come in at 94.9%. This article doesn’t even get into the inequality between men and women on the screen, from speaking roles to amount of nudity.

The film industry has always been a man's business and always will be at this rate of change. Everything in the industry is for what benefits or interest men. Male actors get paid millions more, they have more speaking roles, they don’t have to take off their clothes as often, they even get nominated for awards more. In the New York Film Academy’s study they found some very interesting statistics. From 2007-2012 in the top 500 movies 26.2% of female actresses got naked, while only 9.4% of men did. The amount of nudity in female teenager has even increased by 32.5 percent. Only 7.0% of men wore sexually revealing clothes while 28.8% of women did. Out of all of the 500 films, only 30.8% of speaking roles were female. The forbes 2013 list of the top ten highest paid actors and actresses, females made a collective 181 million dollars while men made 465 million.

The most disappointing part about this information that there isn’t much to do about it. At least not yet. This issue matter because it about time that women are treated with the equal respect that they deserve. People brush the issue off and hope that it will solve itself, but it’s time that a change was made. As soon as more and more people are no longer blind to this issue, women can the equality that they have been working to get for years. Even though this unfairness is something people know about, the seriousness of the issue goes unnoticed and it’s time that people started to pay attention.

SOURCES

SOURCE #1:

https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/

Zurko, About The Author: Nicholas, and Nicholas Zurko. "Gender Inequality in Film - An Infographic." New York Film Academy Blog. New York Film Academy, 2015. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

SOURCE #2:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martha-ts-laham-/the-celluloid-ceiling-tru_b_11389544.html

Laham, Martha T.S. "The Film Industry's Problem Of Gender Inequality Is Worse Than You Think." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

SOURCE #3:

http://stephenfollows.com/reports/Gender_Within_Film_Crews-stephenfollows_com.pdf

  Follows, Stephen. "Gender Within Film Crews." StephenFollows.com. Stephen Follows, n.d. Web.    16 Oct. 2016.

SOURCE #4:

http://wmc.3cdn.net/2e85f9517dc2bf164e_htm62xgan.pdf

Women’s Media Center. "The Status of Women in the U.S Media 2014." Women’s Media Center, 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

In the United States, same race relationships have been more common than interracial relationships. The reason for this is the limits people set themselves at by being hesitant to be involved seriously with another from a different race. It's all about comfort in a relationship, having things in common. Growing up it's a better chance to relate to people of the same race rather than another race because many people find comfort and reliability in partners who share physical characteristics as well as cultural and racial backgrounds.

Because of the intensity regarding black and white history, society has made interracial relationships focused more on these two races rather than others. The evil era of slavery and racism is what really separates these two races and makes black people feel intimidated to date a white person, Being comfortable is key in a relationship. It gives off a state of belief and ease that everything in the relationship will work out for the good.  has showed it’s easier to be around like minded individuals. For most people, it’s easier to communicate and be around people who have many similarities and most of the time them people are the same race. Every race comes from different backgrounds and sometimes different beliefs plays a big factor on the ability for people from different races to unite.

Location plays a factor on same race relationships being more common than interracial relationships too. Indeed everyone is raised differently depending on the lifestyle one can afford to live, however lots of races have a tendency to live fairly close to one another. For example, African Americans are minority and many grow up similar by being raised in a more ghetto neighborhood surrounded by poverty. Many blacks believe that only the African American race understands the struggle and that’s what relates the many people throughout the race. This is apart of the reason for the continuous awareness of the Black Lives Matter Movement with black people feeling their race aren’t getting the  equal amount of respect compared to white people. With this being said, black people along with other races can tend to limit themselves to only date people throughout their race because of the belief that only their race understands where they come from and can have a better chance to have a long, successful, relationship.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham found that socio-economic status significantly affects someone's choice with regards of relationships. Socio-economic status consists of one’s income, education, social class, profession and more. These researchers at University of Birmingham also did a survey that showed white people have a lower chance to find a partner outside their race because of their advanced social status compared to other races. There are more white people involved in essential aspects of the world such as politics, presidential candidates, and more compared to other races like African Americans and Asian Americans. In 2008, Jennifer Bratter and Rosalind King used the National Survey of Family Growth to investigate the likelihood of divorce for interracial couples compared to same race couples. The comparisons across different marriages showed that interracial couples have higher rates of divorce. Furthermore, these statistics showed that white/black marriages are twice as likely to divorce compared to white/white couples and white/asian marriages are 59% more likely to divorce compared to white/white marriages. The core reason for this stems from people’s contentedness of being with the same race and the inability to develop the needed when involved in an interracial relationship which makes it difficult for an interracial couple to last.

If couples and researchers stopped to think about it, they would realize that same race relationships are more common compared to interracial relationships not only because of being raised closely to people of the same race, but also the lack of desire and ability to develop comfort with another race, and because of prior history that may have separated the many different races. The barriers are not just psychological -- they are geographic and economic as well.

Works Cited:

Gladstone, Sarah. ""Swirling" vs. Same Race Relationships." Ravishly. Ravishly Organization, 23 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 Oct. 2016. <http://www.ravishly.com/2015/09/07/swirling-vs-same-race-relationships-%E2%80%94-will-we-ever-reach-post-race-america>.

Wang, Wendy. "Interracial Marriage: Who Is ‘marrying Out’?" Pew Research Center RSS. FactTank, 12 June 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2016. <http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/06/12/interracial-marriage-who-is-marrying-out/>.

When I began writing this essay, I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea where it was going, just that it had to do with film. Yet, as I began writing, I realized that it all lead back to SLA. SLA was what allowed me to discover and explore my interest in film, vastly changing my world. Even more, SLA has allowed me so many opportunities that I never would have even tried before now. The reason our school is so special is because it embraces all kinds of literacies and talents. As I registered how special SLA was, it made me disappointed in our other schools. Why couldn't our education system follow this model? My essay is all about the issues with our current education system and how inquiry and curiosity needs to be embraced in order for students to thrive in schools.

Essay:

INT. NIGHT - FELIX’S HOUSE

His feet pounded down onto the bloodstained floor, his stomps ricocheting around the desolate hallway. All around him lights flared and sirens shrieked endlessly, a visual symphony to accompany his impending doom. Shadows encapsulated every part of the room, yet his eyes still darted around, attempting to find any sign of the incoming danger. He sprinted into the confined box of the elevator, the walls around him hugging him close as if to say he would be safe here. He slammed his hands against the flickering buttons, drops of blood sliding down the metal as he punched it again and again. Seconds passed, each one ticking by ever so slowly, battling his increasingly fast heartbeat. The once welcoming walls began to close in on him, tightening around him and offering no escape. Suddenly, the beast-

Felix paused the show and suddenly make-believe was over. “Do you guys see the coloration? The greens and the yellows perfectly emulate the Upside-Down later.”     

"Yeah, and you know the Dungeons and Dragons scene? That’s like perfect foreshadowing for what happens to Will,” I replied. I couldn’t help but grin as we discussed the show. Even the subtle details like coloring and lighting took on a whole new meaning now that I knew what went into making a movie. Even better, for the first time, I felt like I could actually contribute to the conversation, be a valuable addition to our film analysis.

“Let’s keep watching,” said Felix. “I want to keep analyzing it though, pausing whenever we want.” He pressed his finger on the remote and suddenly we were launched back into a land of fantasy, mystery, and the Upside-Down.

   Cut to Black.

Watching Stranger Things for the second time in my friend’s basement would seem like a nondescript memory. Yet, to me, it meant everything. As our discussion continued throughout the whole night, I realized how much I relished these discussions. I admired everything the show was doing, but even more so, I wanted to be the one behind the camera. This seemingly bland Friday night made me finally realize my passion for cinema itself and the learning and analysis that went with it. It felt like, after two years of filming and editing, everything clicked into place. This was what I was meant to do.

After that, everything in my life lead back to movies, my love for it only growing as I continued my digital video class. There, at SLA, I felt like I had more than just a school, I had a support group. A collection of people who I knew I could count on to help me succeed and learn. Before I went to SLA, the idea of  staying at school any longer than required was something I had never considered. Yet, by the end of my sophomore year, you couldn’t find me anywhere else but the editing room, typing away at a computer until I was kicked out of school. No class had ever made me want to stay at school until the last possible minute. No subject had ever developed a curiosity in me that burned for years. Without SLA’s encouragement of inquiry and exploration, I would have never been where I am today.

So many schools don’t understand students or the importance of a free environment like SLA does. With the style of learning that is widely used today, we force one kind of literacy onto students. We decide for our students what should and should not be valued. We decide that a boy who is literate in music is less important than someone who is literate in math. Our education system attempts to squash literacies that lean against their ideals. Sherman Alexie's’ Superman and Me addresses this very issue in Indian schools: “They struggled with basic reading in school but could remember how to sing a few dozen powwow songs. They were monosyllabic in front of their non-Indian teachers but could tell complicated stories and jokes at the dinner table.” Alexie shows how the Indian children prosper in the environments that support them. Where their family and friends are, they can recite song and story, yet where they’re individual literacies and talents are rejected, they fail. These systemic issues create one set form of literacy and learning, where those who do not succeed are ostracized. Our schools allow tiny inked letters based on tests ignorant of your history to determine your future.

I recognize these issues as both an insider and outsider. As a white student from a good neighborhood, I have never had to go to a school where I was expected to be stupid. As a straight-A student and decent test taker, I have never had to spend hours studying just to end up getting a C. Yet, as a student and a teenager, I have seen mine and others’ education slaughtered by a lack of funds and lack of thought. I have seen my best friend get an F on a test and turn it into a mural on the very same page. I have seen all of these things, but I haven’t seen change. Our learning and our literacy both stem from inquiry and questioning, yet our schools reject it. Learning is driven by the passion and inquisitiveness behind it, where students are persistently and restlessly fighting for answers. It’s only through inquiry and expression in schools, that we find ourselves and our passions and we discover the world.