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Language Autobiography

            I was born in Philadelphia.  I was raised right in the center of the city, only a few blocks away from downtown, and right around the corner from all the museums.  I have gone to three different schools, all located in the city and within walking distances from my house.  It’s a city I feel comfortable in.  I am a true native Philadelphian.  But I do not speak like most other Philadelphians.  In my family, I was taught to speak our most proper English, with our best grammar.  I don’t speak in slang, and I try to pronounce my words.  To my family and me, I sound perfectly normal.  To my family in Scotland, I sound very American.  But to my friends in Philadelphia, sometimes I sound British.  I grew up with a Philadelphian-scotch accent, always begin too British or too American for either sides of my friends and family.

            I am not sure if it comes out when I am excited, angry, or what; but on rare occasions it can be very noticeable.  On one occasion, it was so obvious that my friend began to yell at me.  “Why are you talking like that?” my friend exclaimed at me.  “What are yeh talkin’ about?  I’m talkin’ normal.” I questioned her in confusion.  “You are talking with a British accent!  Why are you talking that way?” she said frustrated.  At this point I had become increasingly puzzled.  I’ve heard people say my dad talked with a Scottish accent, and I’ve heard my sister talk with a really lousy Scottish accent, but never me talk with a Scottish accent.  “I think yeh’ve gone mad” I told her doubtingly.  “Why are you talking like you are British?” she asked my impatiently.  “I’m speakin’ the same way I always talk.  This is shtupid.”  I replied, trying to listen closely to my own voice.  As I said stupid, I began to hear it.  It was as if I was mimicking my Scottish cousin, if she had a more Americanized accent.  I had no idea where it came from or why.  I began to get worked up about something and it just slipped out.  The more I got “my knickers in a twist” over it, the stronger it became, and I had not the slightest clue why.

            On rare occasions, you could easily tell that my dad was from Scotland, and if you had a good ear, which part.  The r’s are more pronounced, the words are spoken faster, and words like you and speaking and said like yeh and speakin’.  This could have been the source of my selective accent.  Even though I was raised in a community where American was the accent, my dad had a greater influence on my speech.  It is often said that kids learn the most from their parent’s behaviour and language.  When my dad was in a familiar environment he resorted back to his natural language.  I suspect this the reason why I occasionally spoke with a different accent. 

            Although I speak with a slight Scottish accent on some occasions, my more dominant accent is no dubitably American.  Every year, my family and I take a plane all the way to Scotland.  In Scotland we see my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmother, and friends; all of them of finding me sounding too American.  “You should come stay with us for a year.  Get a real authentic Scottish accent!” My auntie would exclaim to my sister and I.  “I wish!” we would both wishfully reply.  “You could pass off as one of the girls in the village with your appearance, all you would have to do is get rid of that accent.  If you lived here you could get a strong quite fast.” My grandma would tell me every time I bumped into her in the hallway.  I am never sure whether she is genuine or just wants us to move so she could be closer to us.  My family in Scotland, I couldn’t sound any more American, yet my friends at home criticize me for sounding a bit British.

            For the most part, having a American-scotch accent has not been a bother.  Most people that I converse with do not even notice the Scottish part of my speech.  On those rare occasions that it becomes noticeable, most people shrug it off as if I was speaking the same way as them.  There are very few occasions where people find my accent fictitious.  My friend confronting me on the way I speak was an example of how she thought that I was choosing to speak that way.  Which is not the cause of accents.  A person and their environment determine accents, not whether they decide to be British for a day and then American the next.

            While most of the time I get off as just sounding American, there are those rare occasions where I am both American and British sounding.  Due to my family, my background, and surroundings, I have adapted my own variations of both accents.  My accent has taught me that people do not choose the way they speak, it is something that happens due to their environments. 

Everyone gets a thrill out of something, for some its running, for others its school, for me it’s doing things I’m not supposed too. Ever since I was in kinder garden I had a soft spot for being bad, for getting into as much trouble as I possibly could. I liked the feeling of being the most bad, I changed my language with each bad girl move I made having everyone gossip about how “out of control” I was. I was the first too kiss, the first to smoke, and the first to get arrested.  

It was Memorial Day weekend, my last few weeks at Germantown Friends School, the long weekend was perfect, I had a week of exams coming up and I just wanted a break. On Saturday afternoon my mom and I decided to go to the mall.  She went with her friend from out of the country, so while my mom was showing her all the stores that I hated, I asked to go to another store, and walk around for a little, she agreed and we made our separate ways. Leaving my mom was the biggest mistake of my life, I had a problem, I was a kleptomaniac, I couldn’t walk into a store without stealing something, I got away with jewelry, makeup and even shoes. The first store I went into was Saks 5^th avenue, I took a look around found some things I liked, and snatched them. The adrenaline I had when walking out a store without the alarm going off, made me feel like the greatest person alive. The next store on my hit list was Neiman Marcus, little did I know it would be the last of my shop lifting days. I was feeling lucky and went straight to the shoe department. I found the pair I wanted I slipped them on my feet and walked out the store, no alarm no nothing, until out of no where two men and one woman ran at me, they took me into the back of the mall. I didn’t know what was going to happen

            “I swear I didn’t mean to take them, I swear” I said behind all the tears

“Please whatever you do don’t arrest me, I’ll never do it again” I screamed behind tears as I dug my nails as hard into my skin as I possibly could, thinking it would take the pain away, at that moment I wished I could have taken it all back, and just be with my mom. I knew she was worrying they took my phone from me, they took everything.

“Stop crying, it’s not worth anything, you’re not getting out of this” the tall man looked mad. I wanted to change his mind so bad, just let me free. He looked me in the eye, and let out a sly smile, not in a mean way just in a “I feel bad for her” kind of way.  I felt alone, it was honestly the first time I felt as though no one was there for me, my father didn’t know what was happening and neither did my mother, nor did my friends, only I did and the scary men that watched me.

“You’ll be in the cell for six to eight hours” The cop had a rather horse voice, it didn’t make me feel comfortable, but then again I had no merit to feel comfortable I didn’t deserve any comfort, I was going to jail not candy land.  In the back of the cop car I tried to slide the handcuffs off my arm but it didn’t work. When I got to the jail cell they put me in a room, one wooden bench and a bottle of water… nothing else.

“PLEASE LET ME GO PLEASE”

“Shut up, stop crying” the cops laughed at me, as if it were some sort of joke, as if I were a clown or something

“It’s your own fault you’re in here”

I couldn’t speak , my voice was clogged my head was throbbing considering I had been crying for 4 straight hours, it was too much I couldn’t handle it.  All I wanted was my mom, I wanted her hugs and her love, I couldn’t wait for it, I wanted my cell phone I wanted a large piece of greasy pizza, I wanted to be with my friends laughing talking in my most annoying Miley Cyrus voice.  But I was in jail that’s where I was, I was stuck no way of getting out, at least not for another 5 hours.

“All I want is my mommy that’s all I want” I kept repeating to myself quietly, I didn’t want to look crazy by talking to myself but I couldn’t help it the words just kept spitting out, I could barley understand what I was saying to myself behind all the tears.

“Taylor, your mothers here, you’re free too go” The cop didn’t have any emotion in his voice, this was the scariest moment for me, having to see my mother, when she saw me she ran up and hugged me, she didn’t look angry or mad she looked sad, I had broken her heart. In the car it was quiet, I tried to let out a laugh but it didn’t work.

“I’m really hungry can we go to McDonalds” I said, I couldn’t cry anymore my voice was just sad, empty to say the least.

“No, I have to drive you too your father immediately” My mother said, her voice sounded as if she was about to cry.

“I tried to hide it from him, but there was no way I could” She said to me after a long awkward silence. That night my dad was staying at the Ronald McDonald house, doing an overnight volunteer shift.  When I got there my dad came out to let us in.

“Did they put you in handcuffs” The first thing he said to me, I looked at him solemnly and nodded my head yes, his voice wasn’t angry either much like my mothers he sounded really sad. He hugged me tight, and sent me up to his room, he brought me cake and cereal and put the t.v on and told me to wait there. While in there I checked my phone, I had about 30 missed calls. Both my parents made me promise not tell a soul, it was something they wanted kept as a deep secret.

This changed me forever, it changed the way I acted and who I was, which resulted in a change of language, the way I spoke and acted like the nothing ever mattered changed, I started too care, I dropped the bad girl language and moved on too a more mature settled language, never would I want to relive 

English Essay ( Languages by Keiasha Lumpkins)

When you are from where I am from, you have a choice to be with a certain group of kids. Sometimes when you aren’t in that group, you tend to catch on regardless. I never understood this “belonging to a certain group”. With me, I don’t consider myself belonging to a certain group. I just think that I am automatically put in that group because of where I am from and what I am attached to.

A lot of times when I am with my friends, there are things that they expect you to do and not to do. One time my friends and I were hanging out in from of my house. We all were laughing and joking around. Something I said shocked my friend. We were sitting in front of my house, he said, “Yo its cold outside, I be freezing my but off out here like WTF!” Then added on, “I know it really is cold out here.” After I said that all my friends laughed. They said that I sound like a “white girl”. I didn’t take offense when he said that, but when I think about it, how can you sound like a “white girl”.  I was wondering how is that possible to sound like someone I’m not. I didn’t think anything of it. A lot of times when I talk to my friends I say words and phrases that they aren’t used to me saying. They always say that I talk like this because I go to a school where you have to talk a certain way. It always amuses me when my friends make fun of the way I talk. Yes, sometimes I would use the slang that my friends use, but it comes natural at times when I talk differently around them. When you are expected to talk a certain way you or do certain things other people get surprised when it turns out different. They catch the right instead of the wrong way to speak. Only time this is opposite is when I am at home and my mom hears me speaking like the way I would talk to my friend.

It’s opposite when you’re home. My mom just got me these new boots. “These jawns is nice mom”. My mom looked at me and said, “jawn? You are not outside with one of your friends you don’t talk like that in my house.” After the fact I was thinking that how what I said was wrong? Then when I thought about it my mom was right. We shouldn’t talk like that to adults because when you get out in the real world, talking like that cant gets you a job. Its as if parents, or older people in general held high standards then younger people. Older people tend to not like it when younger people talk in slang or from where I am from “ghetto.” Just like when Maxime Hong Kingston said, “her mom didn’t like it that she sounded right, and said all the words right. It seems like a lot of times our parents don’t want us to speak if they don’t speak that way. These two scenes are connected because there is a lot of irony here. When you speak proper with your friends, its as though you are speaking wrong. A lot of times when I speak with my friends I don’t talk the way I would with my as I do my mom. When I talk to my mom pronounce all my words. When you are with your friends and you say proper things, its as though I said something wrong. It gets really confusing at times.

            These two scenes connect because a lot of times you have to remember when and how you talk to your friends. The same thing goes for adults/parents. The world of language is different through people eyes. Some people don’t realize language but when you think about it, language is notice everyday, when you don’t notice.

Deciphering fact from fiction is one thing that kids don't or maybe won't fully understand; then trying to figure out the reasoning behind the moral that your parents teach you is another. Growing up, your parents or guardians instilled certain lessons of language or morals in your mind, but what happens when their plans seem to back fire and you follow another instinct; rebellion. What happens when you defy the morals and language that you were taught to think was correct? Well, I'll tell you because I can describe it to you first hand from the eyes of my own to the minds and thought of my parents in shock. 

So it was about a few months ago, six months ago. One of my best friends is a vegetarian. See at first I found this to be a real stupid, I always judged him because he was a vegetarian, I even forgot a lot of times. I was not a real considerate person towards his beliefs and how he felt about his choice to not eat meat. Till one day he when he came to me and asked me about something we’ve talked about before. 

 “Me, A vegetarian?” I had said with a astonished gasp 

“Yeah you, I bet you wouldn’t even last one day or even one hour in my shoes.” He said in his provocation voice

So once I got off the phone I took a few minutes to think to myself. ‘Since I’m a vegetarian mines well tell my family’ I said to myself. That night I went to the dinner table with more on my plate then an actual plate would be able to hold. My family dinner starts off like it usually does everybody gathers at the table and then they say their grace and we all eat. When I had got to the eating part my family had noticed that I did not take any of the roast beef that my dad had made, this made them curious. 

“You forgot something”, my dad said 

“No I didn’t, I need to talk to you guys.” I said as if the whole world was looking straight at me in a shirt that said I’m different

“Go ahead, we’re listening” My mom says in an accepting and considerate way

“So I’ve done some long and hard thinking, and I believe I’m ready to say that I want to be a vegetarian. Yeah I know it’s a big change, but I’m ready for the challenge.” I said this with power, pride, and confidence. 

My family stopped, not any type of stop but one of those what just happened stop. The moment of silence was so essential that the whole world had gotten silent. Vegetarian what? Every ones faces replied in their silence. Everyone just stared then they continued to eat. They were silent as a library. After a few minutes I had got the idea, so I put my utensils down on my plate and I stepped away from the table. I’m your typical teenager, something bad happens I leave and totally flip out to someone who understood me but doesn’t like or can’t talk. So I went upstairs and told my dog what just happened and went through everything that was bothering me at the time and moment. Pacing back and forth in my room burning holes into my ‘emotions and feelings’ so that I could calm down. After about twenty to thirty minutes my dad called me from upstairs. This made me more nervous then how I felt before I told them. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach and a little man did this hopping thing in there too. I felt as sick as a dog who just ate chocolate. As I walked down the steps I felt like I was falling into a deep dark hole, at one point I felt like I was walking into the deepest darkest depths of hell. So my whole family was downstairs in the living. They all sat next to each other, I felt like an intervention was about to take place. 

“What made you want to be a vegetarian?” My dad asked so quickly

“I actually been thinking about it for awhile and it seems like a smart choice to me. “ I replied

“Hmm,” He says with a eerie look “ are you sure your ready for such a change in diet like this?”

“Yes, as ready as ill ever be. I’m prepared to take the challenge that will change my life style.” I replied

“Well we all support you with whatever choice you made.” My mom had said to make me feel better.

So then I exited the living room to return to my comfy bed. That night was the first night of me being a vegetarian. 

Vegetarian was a foreign word in my family. It was things we saw on television, things we heard other people talk about and be, but never we. I was alienated from my family the moment I uttered the word vegetarian from my mouth. Alienated but accepted I continue to live my life and as I will continue as a vegetarian. 

Through many years intellectually you’ll notice your parents becoming more and more intact that you are not trying to disappoint them, but every structure they taught you would be more stretched out to help them understand and comprehend life as it is and the children.  I didn’t disappoint my parents but I gave them a little mental shock by telling them that I was a vegetarian.  Another example oh parents raising their children to comprehend that some things are not acceptable for times and or places. Steve Lundeberg Lundy: Acceptable language?

Some years back, I was driving with my niece from Australia, her husband Simon and another niece when I had to stop abruptly when the car in front of us did the same.

“S—,” I exclaimed, then, remembering the young women in the car, quickly said, “I mean shoot.”

“S—’s acceptable,” Simon said matter-of-factly.

In this scene the guy is talking and someone halts on his or her breaks really fast.  When this happens the man goes to curse, but he doesn’t. He did not do this because his parents had taught him not to. In many cases people would not care but he did. He was raised to learn that you are suppose to be your full blown gentleman when your around a lady. If he was around all of his friends I wonder if that would be the same. I don’t think so I think he would’ve talked around them however he felt like. 

When a parent had taught you to speak and learn a way that child tries and tries to fulfill their parents orders, but when its time to grow up and make your own choices then it’s time to defy the morals and language that you were taught to think was correct. 

Daniel Wirt 

Iron stream 

Talking to people in a manor, in which everyone can understand you, has become increasingly difficult. Now a day, we have all this new technology such as the iPod, the laptops, and the cool new phones. All of which have forms of communicating involved with them. These forms of communication all involve using language and through this communication people have found ways to dim down the amount of writing they have to do. Possibly it is because people are too lazy. There are things that are now shortened like laugh out loud= lol and k/kk= okay. These are just two of perhaps thousands of ways that people abbreviate things. 

More recently I have been noticing this becoming more evident in people’s language. People are using this to talk rather then the standard and ‘correct’ English. Why might this be? Possibly it is because people are so used to shortening words when they are using these technological devices. It has become second hand for people to write lol, kk, and ard. This is limiting the speech horizon for many people. It can be used as an advantage in some cases because other people may not be aware or this newly developed writing/speaking style but it can also be a disadvantage because it gets engraved into your head that this is correct and that this is proper. 

“Your so funny, lol,” I feel as though this is accepted today where we live, but out in another state or even another city that is right around the corner from ours may be thinking what does that mean. Now with the popularity of that word I feel as though it has spread throughout our country and most people that use these technologies are susceptible to this new form of talking. 

“Oh hey girl, how you doing?” the women said with  a look of shock on her face as if she hadn’t seen the women in a long time. 

“Oh i’m ight, how bout chou?,” The girl responded with the same amount of excitement. They both hugged and did some sort of hand shake. 

“oh girl I’m good, yo dat foul on the field was so funny like real rap yo,” 

“I know right lol,” the girl laughed in a chuckle that filled the environment with disapproval at the fact that she had just insulted the man. 

Now in this conversation that I over heard on the train there are two females interacting in a conversation after a football game. The words that they used are simply chopped up and revised English words. Making up these new words is like creating a new language that on you and the other person understand. In fact I am sure there are words that are used within one community that wont be understood to a community that is right around the corner. 

I feel as though this form of talking has taken over the people in my life. Why, just today my mom sent me a text saying “K,” not “okay.” It has become such a normal thing these days that people don’t really think twice about the way they are talking.

Speaking in a certain dialect also gives a bit of personality to you. It describes you, and it defines you. However, now that all of these technologies have introduced a whole new way of talking is it possible that we loose a bit of the things that define us? Everyone has a language identity. One that makes them, them.  For people to talk by using words that are cut down and slimmed it is perceived as an informal way of talking and it takes away from someone’s creativity. If you were to walk into a job interview and talk in such a manor then they would probably not hire you. Speaking in that manor makes you seem less intelligent and less ‘you’ but why? Is it because of whom the languages were made by? It could very well be that reason, or maybe it is the fact that it just sounds informal. I suppose we can’t know for certain but what is evident through this is that this language, ‘slang,’ is not a very good thing to get a habit on speaking like. 

“Yo I don’t fuck with no green vegetables besides green beans dog. Except for maybe some of dem hoagies and shit,” He said with a chuckle.

His friends replied with a laugh and were thoroughly okay with the way he was talking 

Now this was a person that was talking to his friends on the train. This doesn’t see like something you would want to be saying if you were in the middle of a job interview. There is an improper use of grammar and pronunciation. Thus telling the hirer that this job applicant has very little ability with talking. Jobs don’t want that form of English. Also this can be mistaken to some people because this kid has given the word “fuck” a new use. 

One summer I was at my cousins in Florida. Every time that I get outside I let the moist air into my lungs. I love everything, from getting my baggage to finding the car in the parking lot. I love Florida, it’s what I look foreword to every winter break and summer. I used to just go there and hang out with my cousins. They moved to Florida when I was about 7 and it was extremely saddening. I was there when I was in 7^th grade. I was playing Xbox 360 with my cousin Jake for the first time ever. We sat on his comfortable carpet floor, playing on his 50-inch flat screen TV. We joked around about what was going on in the game of just us. After a while we decided that this was kind of boring with just us. We played an online game where he talked to other people. I couldn’t understand anything that he was saying. He said things like “Owned, Camper, Noob, Wrecked, Beast, and No-scope.” I asked him what that was. He was astonished that I didn’t know what those meant. He explained to me that its what you say when you play a game. He said, “Owned means I beat him really badly. Camper means that they are camped out in one spot. Noob means that he is bad at the game. Wrecked is a synonym for owned. Beast means that I’m really good.” I asked, “What does no scope mean?” He replied, “when you use a sniper rifle, and you don’t scope in but still hit someone.”

I spent several weeks in Florida that summer, all the time playing Xbox with him. I started catching on to this part of language. After I got home I had no-where to use this new language. I pleaded for weeks to get an Xbox, and finally I got one for my birthday. The first thing that I did was talk to my cousins. I was so excited that I forgot all of the trash talking online.  No one in my old school spoke with gamer language, so I didn’t either. I thought that I would get made fun of if I said anything that I use every time I play Xbox. While I wasn’t saying any of this in school, I said them as much as possible when talking with people online. When I came to this school I found other people that play Xbox. I started playing with them, so we used our gamer speak online. Eventually we became better friends and started using our gamer speak at school. This creates a problem because I am at risk of people being like “What is that, nerd!” I have decided that gamer speak is a kind of language that many people in the world use or speak. It is somewhat a type of slang, whereas words replace others and not everyone knows what they mean. I try to switch between these as much as possible, not saying some things to my friends who don’t play games, and saying gamer things when talking with my friends that do play games. Sometimes it gets kind of confused, so I switch the things up.  

In 8^th grade I got a homework assignment in history class. We were asked to use a primary source, but I didn’t know what that was. I went to my friends house after school. My mom came after a while to pick me up. I walked out to our light gray Toyota Camry.  I always loved the seats because of how fuzzy and warm they are. They are also the same color as the car. I asked my mom what a primary source was. My mom was born in Queens New York. She lived there until she was in college, but then moved to Philly. I had never heard her New York accent before this. She repeated “A Primary sauce?” I started laughing uncontrollably, saying “Primary sauce? My primary sauce is tomato, I like it on spaghetti.” She didn’t understand why I found this so funny, because that is how she says source. When we got home I sat on the maroon sofa in the family room. This room is very dark, so the couch looks even darker than it is. The couch has a weird design in it, where unfilled in hexagons cover it. I don’t like sitting on it because of this, and because the small blanket is somewhat itchy. While sitting on the couch I was talking with my mom about it. Eventually she said sofa, but it came out as “Sofer.” This was the second time in one night that I had heard her New York accent, and it surprised me very much. I now make fun of her every time I need to find something, and use a primary source, or any time I sit on the sofa. 

Changing your accent is not something that most people would do unless they really wanted to. Everyone thinks that their accent is normal, so the only reason to change how you talk is to fit in with other people. It takes a long time in order to change your accent or how you speak. Many people try to change their accents in order to fit in, but like gamer talk it slips out sometimes. I think that changing your accent is unnecessary because people shouldn’t judge you on how you sound, or what you talk like. 

A lot of things about dialect are making you fit in or make you stand out in a bad way. Changing your accent or dialect can be a tough process. It takes a lot of time in order to change how you talk. It is not something that can be done over a short period of time, and even if you take a long time it will never be perfect. Everyone who has changed how they talk will eventually go back to how they used to, even if it is only for one word. Changing how you speak is something that many people do in order to fit in places, even though they probably know that it will make them alienated from the people that they knew before.

     Language is how we communicate with one another. It’s how we show respect for those that we communicate with, and how we talk. Our language is made up of our dialect and accent. Our dialect and accents are influenced by our surrounding beings, by how people in the media speak. We all have accents, and talk in some sort of way influenced by our peers or role models.

  It was the first day of school, and I wasn’t nervous or jittery with excitement – I was exhausted due to only getting a few ours of sleep the night before, but even though I only got a few hours of sleep, I was still out to enjoy my day, I wasn’t going to let tiredness be in the way of that.

     I arrived to my Advisory for the first period of the day. The walls were completely stripped of all of the random assortments of math posters and various other posters. The walls were painted with a sky blue. The place would have looked so much better, if there were windows in the room. I sat with faces that I haven’t seen in a while. I sat with Tyler and Alex and the rest of our advisory slowly, yet surely came into the room.  Shortly, a favorite of different dialects, word choice, and people were within the room. You could easily walk from one end of the room and here more sophisticated and quiet conversation, or go to the other side of the room and here a variety of shortened words and loudness. I chose to seclude myself between these two areas, where I could easily indulge in a conversation between either group of speakers. Tyreé came in the room and we greeted each other, “Yo man, I haven’t seen you in forever.” I said to him.  We did the “Shake hand hug thing.” and sat down.  Minutes passed, and Garvey and Sanchez walked in to the room. Immediately how I talked changed. My voice become more upbeat and much more louder and powerful. I walked up to Ms. Garvey and said, “Hey, Ms. Garvey! How was your summer?” She turned around to me to give me her undivided attention, “Hello, Mr. Ferry! My summer was great! I got a lot of training in and traveled. How about you?”

“My summer was pretty good. I got a lot of running in, volunteered, and got around the city abit. It was pretty sweet overall.“  I replied.  “That’s good.” She said with a smile. “Now, go find a place to sit while me and Mr. Sanchez read the advisory memos.”

   I took my seat away from the other students, because I enjoy being by myself in advisory, so I don’t get involved in a conversation. It’s not that I’m anti-social, but it’s because my advisory is very loud, and I’d prefer not to contribute to that noise. My advisory came a bit close, just leaving a few corner desk out of the way. I decided I’d sit at one of  those corner desk.  I sat there and faced where the Promethean board was, which was where Sanchez and Garvey were sitting in front of. I patiently awaited for them to speak, so I could find out my schedule and other information.

   Conversation was still be conducted on both sides of me by my peers. It wasn’t anything interesting, really.  On one side of the room I heard more thought out sentences like, “Haha, you’re absolutely right!” While on the other side I heard sentences like, “Haha, you so right!”  Their were such various uses or words and dialects, it was quite pleasant to hear, well in some cases it was. I could have gone without the slang, or improper English, but hey, who am I to judge one’s language of choice?

   We were just about to get rolling with the Advisory memo, when suddenly, Sanchez was interrupted by one of my peers. “Ahahaha, Sanchez you think you so funni!” It was in such a rude, and raised voice, which I found completely terrible. She used improper English when talking to a teacher, and showed no respect in her tone.

   How one speaks to someone else is a form of respect. Language is a tool of communication, and an indicator of that person’s heritage, intelligences, and overall just how polite they are. The way the student spoke to Sanchez just displayed them as rude, uneducated, and simply disrespectful. When you speak to someone, you either create a world of possible respect and a good relationship, or you create disrespect and a horrid relationship. How you project your voice use your words, and your accent all play a role in how others see you. You could speak with a more Philadelphian accent, and get respect from certain groups of people, or speak more Black English, and get respect from people who use that language.

   The language you use, is how one will be looked at, judged and will create a very large part of the first impression, or just reestablishing who you are with a group of people, like what happened here. She established that she was ignorant of the teacher with her word choice, and tone to the man. While I on the other hand established my respect for Ms. Garvey by my speaking toward her.

     A voice is a very powerful thing. It speaks languages, whether old, ancient, new, or new-age, it help creates a powerful instrument, some are nicer to hear then others, and some prefer some over others, but think of them as instruments. Some prefer it well played and very long notes (words,) if you will, while others prefer much shorter notes (words.) Each voice has a different sound, accent, and dialect, which gives it’s own uniqueness. 

The task I chose was adoption. I decided to do this topic because adoption to me is really interesting, jus the way it helps to get children into safe homes and families is such a good idea to me. The job you gave us to do, was to create a flow chart , get paper work, as well as write a summary about our process. The flow chart was created, we couldn't get paperwork , and this is the summary. The flow chart is based off the process that is taken to adopt a child and questions created to determine if you've taken each step in the accurately. In my personal research, on Adopting. org I found that adoption is quite the job. There’s several steps involved such as:

• Educate yourself and your family members.
• Decide what type of adoption you want pursue.
• Investigate ways to handle adoption expenses.
• Select adoption agency/facilitator and/or attorney
• Complete an agency application form.
• Begin the home study process.
• Attend pre-adoption and parenting classes.
• Be matched with or locate a child.
• Prepare for your child's arrival.
• File a petition to adopt.
• Finalize the adoption.
• Post-adoption services and education.

During this process of adoption, you have to fill out a lot of paperwork, mainly in each step you take, but the most important sets of paperwork you have to complete are the actual petition to adopt, post-adoption contact agreements and the agency application which can be either domestic or international. It is very difficult to find examples of adoption papers and agreements because that stuff is all given by actual agencies and are private documents, I think that its been made this diffucult because of the simple fact that America wants to protect its children in the system, yes they want to provide homes for foster children and orphans, but they want to make sure that they are quality, safe environments for them to be in. I think the majority of the project was okay. Below is an example of a certificate of adoption that must be signed by the court judge when the adoption is final :

     The easiest task in the Bureacratic system is obtaining a marriage license. My partner and I found that the hardest part of this process would be to come up with the eighty dollar fee (minors pay 100 dollars). To research the process of getting a marriage license to create a flow chart, first my partner and I searched the city of Philadelphia's official website. We hit the jackpot with that website it had all the information we needed for every possible situation couples trying to wed could be in.

       To get a marriage license in Philadelphia, you need the eighty dollar fee, your social security card or document containing your social security number. If a person was married before they need proof of dissolution of marriage or the death certificate of your former mate along with the previously stated items. If you are minor you need parental consent and an extra ten dollars per person. Lastly if you've had your name changed you need the court order. After you bring all the required materials all there is left to for the couple to do is sign their signature.   

      They only thing I would change about this process is lower the fee for the license. Philadelphia has the highest fee in the state.

We did well but we can alway improve.

My partner and I chose to illustrate the process of a buying a HUD home. We began by reading the instructions available on the HUD website and choosing a house from the HUD Home Store. Next, we acquired the necessary paperwork frommy partner's aunt, who is a real estate agent. The paperwork for buying a HUD home turned out to be voluminous but straight forward . The hardest part of buying a house, we discovered, is negotiating with people about purchasing the house, and getting it inspected. The forms, as intimidating as they initially seem, actually guide the process. Furthermore, a person buying a HUD home would have a broker or a real estate agent to explain each step of the procedure. It's the decision making, the money managing, not the bureaucracy, that makes buying a home an arduous process.

As we already know, illegal immigration has become a recent rise in our country... However, it recently is comming up more in our nation not only through the DREAM act; which would allow immigrants the proper education of an AMERICAN citizen, I somewhat think this is a good thing, but at the same time it is WRONG. But dont let me get started on that issue, I came here to say that talking about the current problem with immigration is a "touchy" topic with politicians and many other high officials.

With that being said, not many politicians will be so quick to jump and do something on the issue as quick as you would hope they would. Which to me is kind of a let down and would really bring down my hopes of once again seeing this country taking action on the problem.

My bureaucratic 'task' that I selected was task Food Stamps. Food Stamps generally help low-income people purchase food. Although some of the wording on the paperwork was confusing. The paperwork was also lengthy and seemed to ask the easiest questions in the most complicated way. I would not change anything. The whole process was pretty straightforward altogether. But I think the systems have become so complicated so that the people who do not NEED the system, will not abuse it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cVqOWzI78QjbhCxG_BbIuwSdgQ0H-8DWZACXH3agVfs/edit?hl=en

Getting A Restraining Order

The paperwork for getting a Restraining Order really wasn't a lot. The bulk of the work had to be filled out by a court hearing. The most tedious part on there was having to fill out the paper work part for the kids if you have more then 5. Also when they ask for a description of the person your getting the order against, not that its weird but knowing there height, eye color, and weight seems a bit much.

If I could change one thing on my flow chart I would want it to be more complicated. Sometimes i feel like the more complicated things are it makes the subject more interesting. 

I think this process has become as complicated as it is because anybody can get in trouble for any little thing. So making sure that they are not liable for anything they will cover each and every crack they can. 

The only problem I had was locating a Philadelphia Restraining Order.

The bureaucratic task that my partner, Lenea, and I selected is FAFSA. FAFSA is the free application for federal student aid, which is used for receipt of federal, school, and state aid. Lenea and I began by identifying the major components of the FAFSA—documentation, important steps, etc—we then examined the general components in greater depth. Eventually we both tried to tackle different aspects of the FAFSA process. We reconvened to share the information we found regarding our assigned parts of the FAFSA via google document and in-person discussion. As we both anticipated, the flow chart layout was the most challenging and time-consuming part of the project. However, we both continued to collaborate and compromise to create a solid, effective, and visually appealing product.

The paperwork for the FAFSA was straightforward, but when I arrived at the parent section things became confusing. I was not familiar with some of the questions—maybe because I am not familiar with the terms and I do not possess the information that was requested. I am sure that parents will be able to properly complete the section. I can’t identify any aspects of the FAFSA that should be changed because I understand, somewhat, why each step might be essential to the purpose of the process. The system might have become complicated so that people do not attempt to manipulate the system. The FAFSA specifically inquires a lot about family income, earnings, etc. The questions serve to ensure that the proper amount of money is granted to each family. 

There is nothing quite like bureaucracy.  Every system contains it, we all have to work through it, but most agree that it can often be a pain in the rear.  With a partner, we (American Government class) were all assigned to investigate the processes behind a bureaucratic system with a partner.   My partner, Aimee, and I chose to look into Food-Stamps (also known as SNAPS)

            SNAPS is a national food-assistance program for families who are struggling to provide for themselves.  Families receive a certain amount of benefits each month, based on their calculated need.  In PA, these families then receive an ACCESS card, which can be used to purchase food (excluding certain items like alcohol.)

            The Food-Stamps system doesn’t seem necessarily difficult, but is very complex.  Although it is a nationally based system, a person must apply within a specific State, and complete the required paperwork.  You can do part of the process online, depending on your State.  However, Aimee and I did it by hand because we would have had to actually create an account, and this is strictly academic. 

Instead, we printed out a 24-page application and tried to fill it out.  They consider a lot, and much of the information gets repetitive.  Since SNAPS is often closely tied to other systems like Welfare Benefits, WIC, or unemployment, there are many factors taken into consideration.  You have to provide social security, who you’re applying for, people in your household, income (if any, including job and other resources), expenses per person in house, whether you own a vehicle…etc.  To receive benefits, you have to meet specific income eligibility requirements, which vary depending on who lives with you.  It’s quite tedious.

            The 24-page application was for other benefits, including healthcare.  We soon found a much shorter form for just SNAP benefits, and filled that one out for a (non racially stereotyped) single mother of two. 

            In some way I see why there is so much to consider in application.  They have to consider just about any possible scenario a person can have.  When it comes government money, they don’t want to leave any loopholes.  It’s very specific, but probably needs to be. 

            It was very frustrating trying to figure out how to put all the steps and things to consider into one cohesive “flow” that made sense and didn’t exceed our 60-object free trial on Lucid Chart.  There are probably more specific details that could have been included, but we tried to pick out the most important bits.  I would like to see this professionally done, with every detail, just to grasp the complexity. 

My partner, Sophia Moreno and I did our bureaucratic project on food stamps. The Food Stamp Program or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a system made by the federal government in 1939, to provide food benefits to people with little or no income. Individuals such as the elderly, children, or disabled are given an ACCESS card, which are used at most grocery stores.

We started our project by researching the background information on our topic and how the system works. We printed out all the necessary forms that we would have to ‘fictionally’ fill out to apply for food stamps. After going through the research, we had to pull out all the requirements that a person would have to meet to be able to receive food stamps. Knowing that information is what really helped us with the putting together the flow chart.

I must say, the paperwork was bit perplexing. Trying to correctly fill out the forms in the correct boxes and such was sort of confusing, especially working with a fictional character that we were making up along the way. There were a lot of steps and outside of influences that would affect the process of filling the forms out. The flow chart was a bit even more complicated. We didn’t exactly know how to start or go about it but I think we pulled it off pretty well.

If I were to do this project again, I would try and do deeper research on trying to figure out the loopholes around it. I would try to see why there are so many people are on welfare. I really enjoyed this project and going through the process with my partner.

Devon and I chose to do our Bureaucracy Project on Registering a Car and Getting Your License. We separated our task by splitting these two processes up and created two different flow charts. Devon focused more on Getting Your License while I did the Registering A Car portion. 

Registering A Car: http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/4d08d061-7af4-41b2-ae47-04ce0afcbe04

Getting Your License: http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/4d08ca51-c1b4-4d42-9ac7-02fb0afcbe04

The process of this task was I believe pretty easy. We went to the PennDot site which had all the information we needed and a step-by-step setup of how it was supposed to be completed. The hardest part was ironically making the flowchart look appealing to the eye. For example, the first time we did it, the chart had 40+ boxes on it and was just black and white. We both realized that this wouldn't work and therefore started over. During the second time Devon came up with the idea that we should make it look like a street and have the lines look like the yellow broken lines in the middle of the street and vehicle like shapes as cars. We tried our best to mimic the curves and turns of the road with the chart.

• Form MV-1 (could not be found online)

"Form MV-1 is not available online. This form must be completed by an authorized agent of the Department." I found forms from different states like Georgia and Maryland however, none from PA.

After doing this project, I believe that registering a car in PA is so complex. I realized that you have to have so many forms and documents and go to different people to actually do all of this. It's really, just overwhelming with all of the things that you have to complete. I don't know why this process is so complicated when getting your license is not even close to how difficult it is to complete.

I selected to do the adoption for my bureaucracy project because I love kids. This was personal on a level because in the future I am actually considering adoption when I am ready to start a family. Basically the process for this project was simple finding the nuts and bolts of adoption but he hard part came in for the paperwork. Because you have to go through an actual agency to get any type of paper work for a child, we couldn't send any information out to be sent paper work. So that part would have been the most difficult about adoption because you need legal papers and really the process is all about giving families the run around. The adoptive process I think is as simple and complex as it needs to be. There needs to be a point of trust between these agencies and the potential adopters.  Other than doing this project alone after being confronted about not putting in much effort, I really just wanted to get this project done. I learned a lot from this project and it benefited me as well as others who may have been thinking about adoption.

My partner and I researched the long process of obtaining a license to sell liquor in the state of Pennsylvania. The first thing we found in our initial research was that liquor licenses are extremely specific. They are different for bars, restaurants, corner stores, etc. There are certain qualifications and papers you must fill out to distribute certain types of liquors. Purchasing a license alone has been know to cust up to 400,000$ in the state of Pennsylvania. There were about a dozen pieces of paper we had to fill out, and basically all of them asked for the same information. They were separate papers asking for the same information to be sent to different departments; it gets frustrating very fast. The process itself has many checks and balances to make sure that the people whom sell the liquor will be responsible, however the paperwork is still too much. The paperwork doesn't operate as part of the checks and balances system, it's just tedious repeated information. This could be a stretch, but I think the system became complicated after prohibition ended. Prior to prohibition everyone could sell alcohol which is why it used to be such a bigger problem then it is today. Prohibition ended, but regulation strengthened, thus we have the system we see in place today.

For our bureaucracy project, Kristina and I decided to research the process of obtaining a building permit for a house in Philadelphia. This flowchart outlines what you need to submit your application for a permit. Here's the link to the real version of the flowchart, which contains some links to websites with the paperwork.

http://www.lucidchart.com/documents/view/4d08c727-33f0-41dc-ab32-7f0f0afcbe04

We did our research by finding the application online, and then searching for the supplemental paperwork as we came across it. Also, we used this site as a guide:

http://www.100khouse.com/2008/12/04/how-to-build-a-house-in-philadelphia-building-permits/

The paperwork that we filled out for this was really complicated. We think this is because a lot of registered professionals are required, so we just didn't understand a lot of the language. It was also difficult because there are tons of different forms to fill out, and you have to figure out which ones are required for your individual building.

If i could change one thing about this bureaucratic process, it would be the availability of information. We had to go around in circles looking for this stuff because it's not outlined clearly anywhere on the city's website. I think that the city should have an easy-to-understand guide to make the building permit process more accesible to average people in Philadelphia.

I think that one reason this process has become so complicated is that there are more regulations than there were when the city was first formed. As regulations are added, more paperwork comes along with it so the organization of the process is a bit confusing.

Overall, I think that researching this process gave me a good glimpse of the inner workings of the city. I never realized it was so hard to just get permission to build something!

This project was to choose a bureaucratic system and create a flowchart about it. My partner was Kim Bush and we had two different topics, I predominately worked on the flow chart for Getting your Driver's License in PA while Kim worked on Registering a car in PA. 

Through personal experience, the bureaucratic system for getting your driver's license and dealing with the paperwork is very straight forward, however, getting to the Driver's License Center and dealing with the workers there is the difficult side of it.

Getting your driver's license begins with the process of getting your learner's permit, and making sure you are fit to drive. There are two forms needed to get your learner's permit, they are the DL-180 (Non-Commercial Learner's Permit Application) and if you are under the age of 18 you need the DL-180TD (Parent/Guardian Consent Form). 

After you receive your learner's permit, you have to test for your driver's license. If you are over the age of 18 you can take your driving test whenever you want after you pass the permit test. If you are under the age of 18 you must complete 50 hours and wait 6 months before you can test for your license, you must also bring the DL-180C (Parent/Guardian Certification Form). 

After you take your driver's test, you will have either passed or failed. If you failed your driver's test you will have to re-take that test, however, if you are under 18 you will not have to bring the form DL-180C with you again.

The paperwork for this bureaucratic system is very straightforward, and if you go to the Driver License Center website and it explains the entire process for you.

The process is quite easy, however, if I were to change something about the process, I would make it more difficult to begin the process of getting your learner's permit. In order to make it more difficult, I would suggest that the test is only available after you complete a driver's education course.

Although this process is not as complicated as some of the others, I feel as though they have become more complicated over the years because things have gone wrong within the systems. 

My partner, Marshall Johnston, and I decided to focus on the difficult process of obtaining a liquor license for a restaurant. This process is full of many instances where exceptions occur. There are many options that require people to have different forms depending on their personal preferences. There are options to be applying for a new establishment to use a liquor license or to keep the establishment that the liquor license is already permitted to be used for. It is necessary to buy an already exsisting license from a buisness willing to sell it. This is because the amount of available licenses depend on the population in Pennsylvania. Also, a license can't be sold to anyone outside of the specific county because that is how it's organized according to population. After a license to be sold is found, the buyer can apply for it and bargain a price for what it will be sold. Along with this there are fees for not only the license but the application fees also.

The forms to be filled out aren't simple at all. They ask for a few means of "background checks", like a "criminal report check" and a "tax certification statement". They also ask for every aspect that will be associated with the selling of the liquor such as the areas that will occupy liquor and the amount of space of each of these room. They ask for the information of the employees that will be responsible for the liquor and how long they've been a citizen

I would change the amount of unnecessary paperwork or make it more straight forward. There are many different variables that make it necessary to have different types of paperwork which is one thing that makes it unbearably confusing. I think it's this confusing because of the fact that everyone wants to be able to sell liquor and there are many more restaurants in Philadelphia alone than there are liquor licenses here. 

I thought it was interesting to investigate this process because I often see places around where I live obtaining liquor licenses and wonder why they didn't get one when they first opened. Now I know why and understand why liquor stores aren't open on Sundays. This is because there's a separate license to sell liquor on Sundays.