Script and Slide

Untitled presentation (1)
Untitled presentation (1)
Hi, my name is Hayden Myers and this is all about me. This slide shows all of my interests and things that defines me. I have it separated to the music I listen to(point to logic), my favorite things to do(points to tennis ball), and my favorite places to be(show the forest in the background). I tried not to include my family members, because even though they are a very important part of my life, I am trying to focus on just me for now. Anyway, these are all very important parts of my life because they all are things that I enjoy, and life is about being able to enjoy yourself. First off, tennis. Tennis is the sport that I have been playing for the longest. I was pretty much born into tennis. When I was a tiny baby my parents would turn me away from the tv because I was too young to look at it, but I would listen to tennis matches. I started playing tennis when I was three and still play today, which makes eleven years of me playing tennis. Second off, my favorite place to be, the forest. The forest is my favorite place because of how peaceful it is. I feel so relaxed, and get to look at animals and sights that I rarely ever take time to look at. I really like the animals in the forest because of how different they are from us. To me everything that I just said makes the forest a huge stress reliever for me. Now last but not least logic, or at least music but I definitely prefer logic. I listen to him because it relaxes me, music is amazing and I can play tennis or walk through the forest while listening to him. For me logic is the icing on top of the cake. Anyway, thank you for listening and I hope you enjoyed. Bye!

Erasing Erasure Project - Stonewall Riots

The Stonewall Riots were undoubtedly one of the most poignant events in the history of LGBTQ+ liberation. The bravery and perseverance of those who fought for their rights during this time period was unprecedented. If modern day life as an LGBTQ+ person seems hard, life in the 1960s was impossible. It was illegal for gay couples to publicly engage in any sort of display of affection. In New York City specifically, people could get arrested if they weren’t wearing at least three items of clothing that was deemed to match their gender. Life as an LGBTQ+ person was strenuous, but they did have sanctuaries to retreat to such as gay clubs and bars. Here, they could express themselves freely and converse without judgement.

One of these bars, called the Stonewall Inn, was a bar bought and advertised as a “straight bar” only to be later renovated and remodeled into a gay bar. This particular bar welcomed homeless LGBTQ+ youth, drag queens, and runaways. Raids were common but no consequences followed as the police were often bribed to keep quiet about the activities taking place within the bar. On June 28th, 1969, there was a raid that caught the entire bar off guard. Police barged in and began to patronize everyone inside. Two of the women inside the bar this night were Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, both trans women of color. It is unclear but likely according to many survivors that Johnson was the first to fight back and spark the riot. Essentially what happened that night was the police raided the bar, violently manhandled the people inside, and the crowd decided to fight back.

So here’s the issue: the most impactful and powerful members of this fight are being left out of the picture. Courageous souls such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera are glossed over as if they weren’t even in the movement to begin with and are painted over as white cisgender men. It seems obvious that these people should be receiving the credit that they deserve, but that’s not the case for everyone, especially in Hollywood.

In the movie Stonewall directed by Roland Emmerich, the main character is a white and cisgender gay boy named Danny. After the trailer for this movie was released, countless members of the LGBTQ+ community became outraged at the noticeable lack of representation in the movie. Essentially what they were saying was that the movie was too white for what the Stonewall community was actually like. Even some survivors of the riots spoke up. According to Titus Montalvo, a survivor of the riots, about 70% of the crowd at the Stonewall was of color.

The most treasured fighters from this time period were trans people, people of color, etc. This whitewashed and erasure-packed movie completely and unjustly strips the beloved martyrs of this movement of their title and their courage. To essentially erase a trans woman of color, who had to fight 10x as hard as a white cis gay boy and paint him in her place is damaging and painfully disrespectful. They did include a minor character to represent Marsha Johnson, but she was played by a cisgender man which perpetuates the transphobic notion that Marsha was simply a man dressed up as a woman rather than a real woman. The point of dissecting this film is not necessarily to belittle the true pain and ignorance people like the main character had to endure, but rather to analyze the privilege that comes with that experience and how it compares to those less fortunate.

How does this apply to today’s trans population of color? Trans people of color know erasure and discrediting all too well. To them, movies like this make them feel like they just can’t have anything. These people already have to endure battles every single day just for existing, and erasure like this invalidates and simultaneously adds to their struggle. Having to speak up and say “actually, it was my people who won those battles for all of you,” isn’t something they should have to deal with. Additionally, a lot of the white and cis people at the forefront of LGBTQ+ movements are notorious for dissing people of color and trans people, even though those are the people that caused for gay men to even be allowed to show themselves in public. Essentially, the Stonewall Riots erasure is only contributing to the challenges that the people involved have to face nowadays.



We Aren't Equal

Male, Female. Nothing but two meaningless words. Or did it mean something that I put one before the other? Could it have anything to do with the fact my mother treats me differently than my brother? Na. Male, Female. Nothing but two meaningless words. Created by man to erase confusion. ‘Created by man,’ that’s just what we say it’s not intrusion. Male, Female. Nothing but two meaningless words. Told we’re both going down the same road but are given different dress codes. Male, female. Nothing but two words. But what could they possibly mean? Could it have anything to do with the fact that only one of us is expected to clean? Be yourself they say, oh but not like that. If I stand up for myself i’m considered a brat? Male, female. Two words. That’s all it took to separate us, to make us different. Who are you to tell me that if I dress like this or like that I am no longer innocent?  Male, female. Why is one seen more superior than the other? Why are we expected to just hide and take cover? Don’t neglect me, you’ll regret it, I guarantee. My parents say americans are the ones with arrogance. But they tell me sit still, look pretty, no you can’t go out to the city. Of course you brother can go, he’s a boy honey you’re a girl, don’t you know? You’re different. I don’t mean to spaz, but mom I want the same choices he has. Get real and go make a meal. You’re different. Male, female. I used to look at life like a fairytale. Then I started wearing a bra and suddenly things began to fall. I’m not supposed to wear certain clothes or i’ll be loathed. If this is the world I don’t wanna live here anymore. But I left syria, this is suppose to be ‘the land of the free.’ So how come just because he’s a he I am on a lower degree? I don’t know about you but it makes no sense to me. Male, female. I don’t care if you’re black, brown, or white. We don’t need a knight just give us a sword we can fight. Fight for our right to live in a world where being ourselves isn’t absurd. Instead it’s preserved. Male, female. Female, male. Just two people, but don’t be fooled, we aren’t equal.


Advance essay #2 Israt Jahan

Advance essay #2  

No English

In the essay I wanted to explore the literacy of not speaking the languages. And how it can affect people in different way.   People don’t understand how hard it is to not speak a language in a country that everyone speaks that languages and how hard it is to get through everything.


It was the second day of our new house in in 2011, two weeks in united states.  I did not speak english at that time. Neither did my family. We just came to united states and finally moved into our new house. The moving process did not take long because we did not have that many things with us. Not like we can bring furniture on  a plane. We had to sell all the furniture that my mom customized it in her own design that she was really proud of. I remembered that my mom was really sad when she had to sell her dresses which was completely new she just got it and it’s made out of real wood. After we moved in and finished putting everything away I realized I didn’t have anything to do at all. My mom wanted to take a nap while my dad was at work, and my siblings were sleeping while I was bored in this big home doing nothing. I didn’t have a television either. I wandered around the house and found a window. Then I looked out and saw that you can climb out the window and sit on the roof top but it didn’t have a door to go through. I looked out and saw the next door people had a deck on the rooftop and they had a door so I decided to go out and climb through the window. In the process of climbing I almost slipped and fell but I held on to the window. “Becareful” someone said “Ki” “Oh, I said be careful”  I  just looked at her didn’t know what to say. “Are you guys new here” she said. First I didn’t get what she said but then I knew what the word new was so I said yes. “don’t go to far off the edge” now what she just blabared I didn’t understand, but I just said ok so she doesn't have repeat herself. Finally I was able to come down from the edge of the window to the roof of the second floor. “ did you understand what I said” she said. “I...I no I.. NO ENGLISH” I said to her. Her facial expression changed from normal to confused “OH OK….Well it was nice to meet you” I didn’t say anything not because I didn’t understand but because I didn’t know what to say to her. Then she left and went in the door that was made for the deck unlike me climbing through a window. From that moment in my life I realized that “Flies don’t enter a closed mouth” Interpret that as if I don’t learn or try to learn english there wouldn't be any word coming out of my mouth. And I wouldn’t understand anything people would say to me.


From then on I always Look at the book my dad brought to learn english. I watched TV and cartoons like my aunts said to. She said it would help me know some words and learn  how to use them in real life.  

Another time I had to I had experience not understanding english  was with my mom. It was 3 years after the time when I met the lady on the deck. By then I knew how to speak english good enough to understanding everything and not no know to speak. I could speak fine then. I was in 7th grade.  I became the ultimate translator in my family. I had to go everywhere with my mom and dad from grocery stores to green card office to school  report card conference.

One day I was just sitting in my room after school  thinking about everything and how much my life has changed from when I was in my country to now. And the differnce between teachers, how they teach vs how teachers teaches in my country. One of the most different thing about teachers in united states vs teachers in Bangladesh is the strictness. Which reminds me of a time when I didn’t bring my homework to school in Bangladesh….

I woke up in the morning with knots in my stomach. I knew that this day wouldn’t go right. It was one of those days where nothing goes your way and everything you do ends up being wrong.  I walked down the hallway to my bathroom to get ready for school. After I got ready I went to go have breakfast but no one was awake to make breakfast. Sighing…. “Okay I’ll just take a granola bar and eat it on the way,” I said to myself. I went to go put everything in my backpack but I saw all my stuff in the in my backpack already, Then I remembered I never did any of my homework because I didn’t feel well that weekend. “Oh my god , oh my god “ I kept saying.” I didn’t realize I was saying it a little loud. “Why are you screaming” my mom screamed at me. “I’m not screaming” I said yelling at her. She just looked at me knowing she's right. Sigh… “I’m leaving.” I said to my mom. I walked down stairs and open the gate and started walking down the block. Half way through the walk I realized I didn’t eat any breakfast neither did I bring my granola bar with me. I silently shook my head at myself knowing that it can get way worse today, I just know it. As soon as I went near the school I look at the watch on my hand to see that I have a minute until they ring the bell. I ran up the stairs to the 4th floor, I had english first today. Walking in I sat in my assigned sit near the window. I sat down and took out my english textbook and my homework book to show my homework but I didn’t do it. I put my hand under my chin and looked out the window. I didn’t realize that the teacher was in front of my desk calling my name. “ huh.. Oh ami kori nai = Oh I didn’t do it” “ Cano= Why?” “Āmi asusta chilam ēbaṁ āmi ēṭi bhulē gēchi = I've been sick and I forgot I had homework”  She looked at me like I forgot my passport for my flight that’s leaving. For ten second she just stared at me which felt a lot more than ten second. Never in my life did I have more strict teacher than her. She always seems mad. “ Bā'irē dām̐ṛiẏē thākō yatakṣaṇa nā āmi tōmākē āsatē bali = go stand outside until I tell you to come in ” That day she made me stand outside the door of the classroom  for 10 minutes. When she finally told me to come in she gave me a lecture about how she going to tell my mom. It always fascinates me how much of a difference in teaching  over there and how they teaches in united states.

Works cited

How to tame a wild tongue By: GLORIA ANZALDUA

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HiE7cGVyGIXXl1vYOQw3_vETIl66U3W-UN2Ht6Jih48/edit



5 minutes till hell.

“5 minutes till landing”

At home the war was a huge topic, some people would be horrified that the nazi’s could come marching through at any moment, others like my mother would just calmly go about their day like nothing was happening, then there were people like dad who wouldn’t let this war slip by without a fight…..I never thought that I would be one of the soldiers on the frontlines


“4 minute’s till landing”

I miss dad, I wish I could have said goodbye. They shipped me off so fast that I couldn’t make it to the hospital in time. I hope he’s proud of me up there.


“3 minutes till landing”

I wonder how wyatt is doing up in russia, last I saw of him, he was with the brit’s for specialized training. I hope to god that when this is all over, he’s ok.


“2 minutes till landing”

Mom must be terrified, knowing that her two darling boy’s are sent out to the killing fields. In the papers we would see pictures of nazi weaponry recovered by the soldiers and it was terrifying.


“1 minute till landing”

Oh god! I feel weak, like there is no hope for us. We are the forsaken few, god please guide and protect us with your ever watchful eyes.


“50 seconds till landing!”


The rifle hanged heavy as I feel the boat rocking violently back and forth. It’s been a hard month on the sea.

The cold metal makes my hands numb as the boat shakes more violently as we reach ever closer to our destination.

I hope to god that my rifle doesn’t jam, it shouldn’t jam.

“20 seconds to landing!” I can’t believe we are so close.

A hand taps my shoulder; “hey man, ya wanna smoke?”

Nah, I don’t smoke. But… what the hell. I’m about to get shot at anyway. What’s one cigarette gonna do to me.

Last night was one hell of a party.

The cigarette ash scorched my throat.

The soothing feeling of pain acts almost like a painkiller, prepping my lungs for the hell coming my way.


“10 seconds till landing!”





“Alright men! We are the first battalion out”

“We were trained for this exact moment!” but were we trained enough?

“We are the last line of defence!”

Advanced Essay #2 From Asian to Asian American

My goal for the paper is to accept how people talk with the language that they are not used to. Parts that you are proud of is the intro, and the areas for improvement in the future is the outro.

From Asian to Asian American


Asian American, it is what I am right now. I was born in America, but I have lived in Hong Kong for most of my life. I never considered myself an Asian American, since I only spoke Cantonese. I was just an Asian who spoke decent English. However, after coming back to America for highschool, I finally know which one I am.


After I was born, I went to my mom’s and my dad’s country of birth, which is Hong Kong. here, I learned to speak and read Cantonese, and it became my mother language. I talked to my friends and my family in Cantonese. I studied subjects in Cantonese, but a lot of people thought I was good at English since I born in America. But I was just like those who were born in Hong Kong. Although I did learn English in Hong Kong, it was just  basic English, like tenses, and simple vocabulary. English was my second language.


There are two types of Cantonese, one is from the textbook and one is from what people speak. The one from what people speak is the easier version to the one from the textbook, so when we spoke, people would understand easily. We don’t speak the one from the textbook because it doesn’t sound good, according to my dad. When I said anything, nobody had problem understanding.I understood what people said easily, in school, at home, in the restaurant, etc. No problem. Also, I never spoke differently to who I was speaking, Whether it be friends or family, I spoke the same way every time, maybe when I spoke with elderly, I may spoke politely.


I was about 14 years old, my dad said he wanted me and my older brother to go back to where I was born to study for the rest of my life, because he wanted me to have a better life in America. My first thought was that it was a joke. There was no way I was going back to where I was born. I loved being in Hong Kong. But in reality, parents can do what they say and what they want, and because of that, I moved to America after third years of Secondary.


I missed my friends in here, I missed my family in here, since only my mom was going with me, I missed my dad the most, I just didn’t want to leave without them, also back I was about 3 to 5, I heard United States can have gun and Hong Kong can’t, and I scared about getting shot in United States. I just don’t want to leave. But at the end, me, my older brother and my mom went back to where I born to kept continue study.


After I went back to America, every things were new to me, the place, the people, the lifestyle, all were new, it liked I was learning another culture. Since I was not in Hong Kong, I needed to use my second language which is English, I could say my English was suddenly getting worse when I was using English in America. Like one time when we were in a restaurant, it was my first time I went to a fast food restaurant in the United States, because my mom’s English is not good, I was the one who ordered food, and it was my first time I spoke to a person whose mother language is English in the United States, I was a bit nervous because it was my first time spoke with American, I scared about he would not understand my English, and he did. In “If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”, James Baldwin agrees to what language should be: “Language is also political instrument, means, and proof of power”. When I ordered the food, he had a hard time to understand my English, then my older brother saw that problem, he came to me and help me a bit. After that, we got our food and experience of how we spoke.


After the restaurant experience, I wanted to improve my English as soon as possible so that I could let people knew what I was saying and knew what they were saying, so I try to say more, write more, read more… Although I still struggle with English when I was in the school right now, at least I got better in my English compare to when I first arrived America.


Soccer Slide Remix

REAL TECH (1)

After presenting to my group I learned how to improve my slide dramatically. First, the text in my slide should have been bolder and a different color because it did not contrast with the background and was hard to see. I also learned that the computer was a distraction to the eye so it would be easier if I took it out or made it bigger. Since I received this feedback, I decided to make the computer bigger and change the font and color of my text.

To make this slide I used various resources. I started by reading some of the articles that were provided for us. From these sources, I learned about contrast, blank space, and the rule of symmetry. Later in the project, I watched several youtube videos on how to make a professional slide. These videos taught me various tricks and effects. Finally, I used my classmates feedback and teachers advice to create a finished copy of my slide.

Learning how to make a proper slide is essential when attending SLA. Since SLA is a project based school, I can used these new skills to better my projects and grades. Even after high school, the ability to make slides will prove helpful in college and often times work. Overall, I hope to further improve my slide creating and presenting talent.


Advanced Essay #2: English with an Accent

Introduction:

This goal of this essay was to explore how people are judged based on the way that they speak English. I am very proud of the way I narrated the experiences of my family members. Something I could’ve worked on is my time management with my social activities, so I wouldn’t have to ask for an extension. I also could’ve provided a deeper analysis of Amy Tan’s work, and how I integrated it with my ideas.


Advanced Essay:

My mom often tells me a story from her childhood. She grew up in Fairless Hills, a predominantly white working-class suburb. It was 1974. She lived with her two parents, recent Filipino immigrants, and her younger sister. They were the only people of color in that area, besides her relatives who lived in the same suburb. On one of their first nights in the neighborhood, while they were sleeping, my mom heard a crash and the sound of breaking glass. Someone had thrown a brick through their living room window. Later when she was in high school someone had vandalized their new van by spray painting in large neon yellow letters, “CHINA BASTARDS.” Over ten years later the message was the same; my mom and her family were not welcome. They were not wanted.

I have grown to understand that these awful events happened because my grandparents were obvious immigrants.They had dark skin, jet black hair, and almond-shaped eyes. They also spoke to each other almost exclusively in Tagalog, a mix of Spanish and clucking, tangy sounds. For both of my grandparents English is not their first language, but when they speak English they do so with extremely thick accents. Even though they both lived in the United States for over 40 years, they were never able to grasp English like a native speaker. This is what made them stand out the most. Often they complain that I talk too fast. Even talking to them now, having spoken English their entire lives, it’s still hard to have a strong and detailed conversation. I find myself speaking extremely slowly to them, our conversations mirroring a parent speaking to a child. While I recognize the unfairness of this analogy, it has been my view of their literacy skills my entire life. While I have an abundance of empathy and understanding, I still can’t shake that feeling. And I know that this is condescending.

The essay Mother Tongue by Amy Tan resonates with my ideas about who determines what proficient literacy looks like, and how people are judged by their English speaking skills. Proficient literacy in America is defined by white men, who have the most cultural capital. This is because of their place in the hierarchy of America. White English speaking American men are very privileged and are in a position of power. They don't usually have to worry about being judged or treated unfairly because of their literacy skills. In this short essay, Amy Tan describes in depth the experiences of her mother not being a proficient English speaker, and how judgment follows that. Quoting Amy Tan, “You should know that my mother's expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands.” This quote reminds me of how I am able to interpret what my grandparents are saying. I often rely on their expressive way of communication to understand them. For example, when my grandmother’s voice rises, I can tell she is excited about something. When my grandfather defers to his off-topic phrases, I can tell that I spoke too fast and he didn’t understand what I said. And when they sit quietly watching as my parents, brothers, and I chat and joke with one another, I can tell that they’re happy to be around us.

Building on the ideas of expressive communication and the complexities that lie below the surface level of people’s English communication, an idea I want to explore is that language is more than words. As Amy Tan said in Mother Tongue, “Like others, I have described it to people as 'broken’ or ‘fractured’ English. But I wince when I say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than ‘broken,’ as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness. I've heard other terms used, ‘limited English,’ for example.” I used to think of my grandparents’ English as broken, but limited is a more appropriate term. Language doesn’t only revolve around speaking or English. That is an easy way to judge people, considering that is the main way people communicate in the United States. My grandfather has many other ways to demonstrate his literacy skills. It can be through his printing press, his vast knowledge of classic swing music, his fluency with Tagalog, his knowledge of his homeland, his social skills, etc. All of these skills are independent of his ability to speak English. His interactions with the world are richer than merely speaking English, but this is not recognized in the United States. Without “sounding smart” opportunities are limited.

I understand there are more complexities to people who appear not as intelligent because they aren’t originally English speakers. My grandfather worked at the Princeton University Printing Press for over fifteen years, and never got promoted. He was perfectly capable of receiving a promotion and the responsibilities that would come with it. I’ve come to the conclusion that he did not get promoted because he wasn’t able to communicate as well as his co-workers, which isn’t fair at all. His bosses should’ve taken into account that he is an immigrant, and isn’t as skilled with English. This is very analogous to my experiences with my grandparents. I used to assume they weren’t as smart when I was very little, but as I grew older I found that not to be true. Just because I can’t always understand what they’re trying to say to me, doesn’t mean they’re unintelligible. My grandparents are very smart people in so many ways. They read, write, speak, hear and think in two languages. But more amazing, is that they have decades of wisdom in their ability to navigate between their world in the United States and their home country.


Works Cited:

Mother Tongue, Amy Tan










Intelligence vs. what is considered smart

Intelligence versus what is considered smart. What’s the difference between them? You can be intelligent and smart, you can be intelligent and not smart, you can be smart and not intelligent, you can be neither smart nor intelligent. This is because in order to be intelligent a person has a vast knowledge on any particular topic. In other words the person knows a lot of things. In order to be considered smart a person must know how to implicate the knowledge they know. The person doesn’t necessarily have to know a lot of things but they do know how to use what things they do know to their advantage in life.

In I Just Wanna Be Average, Mike Rose argues that teachers in vocational education struggle with helping students apply knowledge: “Students will float to the mark you set… Vocational education has aimed at increasing the economic opportunities of students who do not do well in our schools. Some serious programs succeed in doing that, and through exceptional teachers… students learn to develop hypotheses and troubleshoot, reason through a problem, and communicate effectively- the true job skills.” The reason why teachers struggle with helping students apply knowledge is because the students are not being given enough knowledge to apply to things. That is because the students give up on themselves and, eventually, the teachers give up on them also.

This leads into another idea about knowledge. In Other People’s Children, Lisa Delpit elaborates on the idea that knowledge is controlled by other people: “These issues include: the power of the teacher over the students; the power of the publishers of textbooks and of the developers of the curriculum to determine the view of the world presented;… and the power of an individual or group to determine another’s intelligence or ‘normalcy.’” To put this idea into simpler terms, people do not control what knowledge they take in from their education. This makes it easy for textbook publishers and educational leaders to control what students learn. A lot of times the textbook publishers and educational leaders limit the amount of knowledge the students take in. This leads to the students not being given enough knowledge in order to be smart or intelligent making it hard for the students to succeed in life.

In Superman and Me, Sherman Alexie points out how someone’s identity can influence whether other people think you’re smart or intelligent: “He reads ‘Grapes of Wrath’ in kindergarten when other children are struggling through ‘Dick and Jane.’ If he’d been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy.” In this quote Alexie is referring to himself and the reason why he probably isn’t considered a “prodigy” is because of his race and his family’s background. His race should not influence whether or not he is considered smart or intelligent. However, in our American society race does influence whether or not people think you’re smart or intelligent.

Many times racial influence can lead to people making assumptions about other races and whether or not that race is smart or intelligent. For example, in Other People’s Children, Lisa Delpit assumes that White people are very closed minded: “When you’re talking to White people they still want it to be their way. You can try to talk to them and give examples, but they’re so headstrong, they think they know what’s best for everybody, for everybody’s children.” Based on this assumption, the closed mindedness of White people causes them to not be as smart or intelligent as other races. This however is an assumption because in 2015 the SAT test was given to elite people in the United States with a variety of races. After this test the mean scores were taken and White people had the second highest mean score. The race with the highest mean score was Asian people. Now if White people are not smart or intelligent then why did they have the second highest mean score? The answer is that most White people are not closed minded and therefore are smart and intelligent. There are only a few White people that are very closed minded and not smart or intelligent whatsoever.

Advanced Essay #2: Online/Offline

Advanced Essay #2 - Andrew Rodebaugh


When you are on social media do people know that it is you? Do you feel more open to your opinions when you are online? Do you feel like there is less consequences for your actions? Or do you know that but think you can simply “figure it out” in the future? Are you more open about/to people online vs in person?  Being online can make you a different person because it is so easy and their are either no real consequences if any they are not immediate most of the time. The ability to change your identity online can make it seem like you have the ability to be more open about people or show your true personality but can lead into future problem mostly out of your control. We have a different personality online and offline which is not a bad thing generally but the seemingly absence of consequence online can make you do things you would never think to do offline or people in your life would never want you to do at all.


After stressful days at school wanting to disconnect from life I jumped out of my Andrew Rodebaugh self and jumped into my other self “Cosmic” my online identity where I was seen as the normal nerdy teen (among other things that I don’t want to share) that I wanted to be seen as in real life but it is hard to or not wise to. I got a couple good friends and got pretty popular online. It was good at the time being able to share my thoughts without being judged and being able to think for a while before responding which helped me avoid making mistakes of which I make in real life. I created projects with them since they were mostly programmers like me and they were really awesome about working on them. The best part was that they did not know who I really was, what I looked like, where I was from, and same about them. All they knew about me and all I knew about them is that I program, I try to listen to people and I can be helpful with life situation.


Unfortunately I became to used to it I went online and they were online most of the time… they were nice and they helped me through some tough times and we had fun making projects together. But then after a while the username became them and they became like my personal chatbots I did not really put a person behind the keyboard it might sound creepy but it is easy to do when talking to someone you do not know while online. Then you become more  open, more honest and you are quicker to criticize because you don’t really see their true emotions during a situation which can obviously lead into some problems. Then I was lead into a choice between two online friends…


Hero -> Cosmic: “Cosmic I cannot stand @jordan anymore he thinks he owns this whole project though he barely does anything.”

Cosmic -> Hero: “What happened?”

Hero -> Cosmic: “Don’t you see how he is constantly telling us what to do? He barely even knows how to code! Why did you even invite him!”


Jordan -> Cosmic: “Is @hero talking bull crap about me again? He constantly complains. I am just trying to keep things organised. Why did you even invite him he constantly complains and does annoying things?”

Cosmic -> Jordan: “Well maybe you guys need to work this out yourselves. I don’t want to get into any of this”

Jordan -> Cosmic: “Well if that is the case… If you do not kick him out I will quit and if you haven't forgotten I own the server which has the code in it… so it is either him or me and the code.”


That whole week was full of arguing online and it started to crumble this project I have been working with them for a long time was removed from the server so we were unable to use the code. People left and stopped chatting with me because I got impulsed to say things out of anger and frustration which was more than I would ever offline because I thought everything would work itself out like it always did. There was some other stuff that happened which is why you should not mess with programmers Jordan was able to take from a domain name I bought the IP address of my computer to be able to pinpoint my location being able to get my name to then get images of me. Then it happened I was out, they now knew who I was that safety I once had of being able to talk openly about myself went down the drain. I now had a real identity and they were learning things about me I did not want them to learn like my heart defect, what I look like, how I sound, my school, more of my interests and more. The web is a scary place that has so much information about you which anyone can find just by using my name. Your past is online and will continue to be online for the foreseen existence of the web and it is highly accessible with a simple online post. Put something embarrassing online then deleted it… don’t worry it is in some archive somewhere for someone to access.


Your identity affects how people will treat you that is why I wanted to hide it to create a new identity. Now they thought I was a disabled kid that needs help and is going through problems in life. And now they treated me that way which is the way many other people offline treated me… these were supposed to be the people that only new the good stuff about me: my close to perfect identity the person I would want to be seen as in life.


In conclusion, when people do not know your true identity such as online, people treat you differently. Your race, gender, ethnicity, disability and look among other things that make up yourself define how people interact you making online a safer place to express yourself sometimes. Making it safer until your identity comes out if it does.


Advanced Essay #2: Hidden In Plain View Of A Multi Linguist

Introduction

The main goal of my written essay is to a point of view of someone who speaks multiple languages. People have different experiences with languages and how it affects their knowledge of education. I wanted to express the issues that my parents see and how I experience a daily life being a multi linguist.


Hidden In Plain View Of A Multi Linguist

Language is a beautiful way to communicate with people In both spoken and written ways. Most languages have culture behind them and sometimes are much different than others. Although, language is sometimes referred to as person’s identity because it is how others see how well educated they are. Education plays a huge part in how a person’s identity can classify how successful they might be in the future. A person without the knowledge of learning how to read, write and properly speak can effectively cause someone to look down upon them.

In Mother Tongue, Amy Tan discusses the way her mother uses English, that it is “fractured” or not as fluid as how other Americans speak. She grew up influenced by her mother’s speech and she adapted into the language of “broken” English. Tan is first generation Asian American, and readers can see the view of point of how the author experiences her mother speaking English is very different in comparison with most Americans. She believed that it wasn’t her mother’s fault for not speaking English fluidly as she is an immigrant who is making an effort to effectively communicate, and Tan claims Americans dismiss her mother’s speech just because it is not standard, writing, “I’ve heard other terms, ‘limited English,’ for example.”

Language has always been incorporated to how well educated a person can be. How well a person is taught, shows in their knowledge and their mindset. In I Just Wanna Be Average by Mike Rose, the author’s work describes his personal experience of going to college as an Italian American. His environment was different than others. His identity was a label of how his professors would consider him as a student and the work he turns in. Rose mentions that education does not have the best system: “School can be a tremendously disoriented place.” He believes that sometimes schools can judge based on identity and the person’s origin.  

Growing up as an Asian American, there are unique things to learn that are essentials to life. My main issue is my primary language, Teochew. I was told that English was an American language, and that the only way to be able to communicate in America was to twist my tongue to English. However, my life at home is different. The language that I speak at home is Teochew, a dialect of Traditional Chinese. It is one of the Chinese dialects that still exist, but barely a fraction of the world knows how to use it. Sometimes speaking the language made me feel like I was different from the world around me. Here in America, the most common language is English

I remember a time when my dad and I were coming back from Jetro, a restaurant depot. As we came back, my dad was driving and I sat in the passenger seat. Everytime we drive back home as the sun begins to set across a highway, we have a long discussion about life and ways I can be independent. One of the discussions that we talked about was about the culture that my parents grew up with. The best conversation is when one topic become another. Though, coming from Jetro, we were tired and exhausted from lifting supplies into the trunk of our mini van. My mood was stressed and tense from lifting so often and my arms sore from shoulder to shoulder. My dad started talking about how my sister’s future would might become if she didn’t start being wise about her own surrounding.

My dad said, “I fear for her life. What might become of her when she has a husband and a child of her own. If she doesn’t start now, she wouldn’t be able to help her own family. She is powerless. Her intelligence is poor. She could barely communicate with me in Teochew words.”

I told my father that I didn’t know I feel. I told him that I have experienced times when she was being lazy and doesn’t want to do things herself.

My father stated, ”She relies on others to help her get through many things that she wants. If she doesn’t put effort in her education and worry about her future, she won’t have a future.”

I agreed. I sighed and watched the remaining rays of light glow in red and orange across the thin clouds from the sunset.

The conversation began to switch about how much of the Teochew we each knew. My father pointed out that I was fortunate that I had parents who was able to teach me to be bilingual. There were a lot of perks to be able to speak another language than English.

He told me, “When there are times of trouble, you can communicate without others knowing what you are saying. If you were hostage and you see someone with a gun, you can warn people who speak the same language to be cautious of the armed person. You don’t want to be the first ones dead. Having to learn two languages is a gift. The gift should be used wisely.”

He explained why I was lucky to be born in America and have a school to get education from. My father never had the ability to learn in a school because his parents never had the money to pay for school. He was one of the children that hid behind an open window to be able to listen to what the teachers were teaching. He ended up with a bit of education to start with. He wasn’t able to read and write properly, so speaking Thai, Teochew, and a bit of Khmer (Cambodian) was part of his identity. Now in America, he learns a bit of English to be able to communicate with the people around him. My question that I keep asking him was, “Why do not a lot of people not speak Teochew?” Most of the people that I have met spoke popular languages such as: Khmer, English, Spanish, Cantonese, or Mandarin. After years of researching, there were people in certain areas that was able to understand and communicate with Teochew. Not everyone is perfect in the dialect and accent but they have a sense of understanding.


Citations:

Rose.pdf. http://userwww.sfsu.edu/mmartin/rose.pdf. Accessed 11 Dec. 2017.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Cvq7ioloJpZGNkYTM0ZjUtNDczZC00NWE2LWEyMTQtMjgzZDRhYTAzNTBi/view


Google Slide Remix

Throughout the week our class had spent time learning about the design and process that went into making eye-appealing google slides.Thanks to multiple sources provided by Ms. Hull we were able to learn about key factors in what makes an image attractive to us, and with the information provided we made our own slides based off our Me Magazine. I wanted to stick with an excerpt about an essay I wrote in the piece about growing up in a house that encouraged the science and fantasy genre -especially my dad-. Going through the sources provided I was able to absorb more knowledge on what we as humans find aesthetically pleasing and from that I was able to improve my slide-making skills.

Honestly, I made a lot of changes in comparison to the first slide and you can see from the entirely different design what I mean by that. I originally started with a text-block oriented slide that I still found attractive but I decided I wanted to start fresh with a different format. Now, obviously some design choices I made with my new slide might raise eyebrows but I defend that it sticks by what I think is appropriate for a slide about me and my essay. The font, image, and text I used was to give a meme vibe but still have a genuine point and meaning. The research I absorbed explained that slides shouldn't have a bunch of text on one slide, and that points can be summarized and organised better so I decided to take that information and condense it into my meme esc slide. I used multiple sources throughout all this but I definitely got the most enjoyment out of this longer youtube video because of the visuals provided; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SKtcBy9Bvw.

After all this I'm happy to say that I have a better attachment to the slide I made and that the new piece has a better connection to the point I was trying to get across with my design choices. I think a huge point of design should be sticking to the basics but bending stricter rules so that you can have fun with what you make and add a personal touch to what you're doing, otherwise your slide gets boring. Restricting yourself with other's guidelines and not following what you want will only hurt you, others won't know what you're trying to display so giving it your touch makes it easier for them to understand what you're trying to tell who you're presenting to. In conclusion, I learned that there's a lot to making good slides that keep people engaged but what's most important is to make sure you're having fun and making something you and others can be proud of.

Andrew's Remix 1 Google

Keep on grinding

My name is Andrew Bowers, and I made an improved google slide. I have created this slide after weeks of research and editing. Before My skills and slide design were like a baby not about to say a complete sentence but just saying one word. now I can say a full sentence. After i'm finish tech class I hope to say paragraph. That being said, I still have much to learn.with more  research, my classmates and Mrs. Hull giving me ponters I have made some small changes in my google side.

Everyone's  constructive criticism of my google slide inspired me to make a some changes to my slide design of my slide. Imade the text bigger so that picture and the words We're not on the same line because that doesn't look pleasing to the eye. Also, I Change my pictures of wasn't so blurry.Finally I made the text pop off the page. These changes Improve my slide tenfold.

to make my Google slide look as good as it does I had to do some research.Some things that helped me were Presentation Zen because their slide was very minimalistic and eye catching. That's why I don't have a lot going on in my side. In conclusion I'm on my way to being fluent  in Tech and in slide design.


Advanced Essay #2: CodeSwitch

Introduction
In this essay, I explore the many aspects of the communities I belong to and how literacy between each differs as well as how these differences make up my identity. 


Essay

Literacy is a quite complicated idea, you can’t just look at it on a surface level, it is an idea that needs to be explored and thoroughly discussed. In my life, the way that I understand the world and the way that I understand human language and communication definitely affects me in my everyday life and continues to with every new person that I meet.  James Baldwin reveals an interesting element of language in his article If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?, “Language, incontestably, reveals the speaker.” I relate to this quote very strongly in the sense that know that the way I present myself and the way I speak reflects who I am as a person. I belong to many social communities, where the culture varies and the people are very diverse.

Many, including myself, love to be close to their families in any way they can. Personally, since I am mixed, Puerto Rican and white, my family is quite diverse. At home with just my mother, I can be myself and speak the way I want to because I know she’ll understand and accept me that way. When I’m with her side of the family however, I tend to be more reserved. My mother’s side of the family is composed of people from Jewish descent; very sophisticated and successful people that are nice to be around. Even so, when I am with them, I don’t speak as loud, I don’t express political views, and I don’t talk about my personal struggles out of fear of not being understood and accepted. My belonging to other communities such as the LGBTQ+ community might not be as accepted with certain members of my family, so I often keep my voice to myself to avoid conflict. I sit a little taller, hold my tongue, and eat a little more proper to avoid judgement and resentment. Though I do often doubt that I will be judged, I fear that my form of literacy, the way that I see and understand the world, might not be as accepted as I hope it might be.

On the other hand, my father’s side of the family  is quite different. My dad was born in Puerto Rico, so his side is very loud and hilarious. I love being around this side of my family, but I can’t help but feel a disconnect. They speak spanish quite often, and when they do, I don’t feel as close to them as I should. I always end up thinking does that even really matter? Just because I don’t speak their language, does that mean I’m not as close to them? I always wonder if the language barrier between me and my father’s family is one of the reasons that we aren’t as close. Even so, we do find ways to communicate when we are together. We speak a mixture of spanish and english to almost create our own form of literacy. A way only the Rivera Family speaks to one another. Our form of literacy in our family means alot to us.

Regarding the LGBTQ+ community, I always feel more comfortable when I’m around others that are like me. I feel way more comfortable expressing my social and political views, because I feel like I’m around more accepting people. I never have to hold my tongue, because I  know they’ll understand me and my beliefs. The way that members of the LGBTQ+ community speak to others and each other are definitely different. Making jokes and sarcastic comments is more fun with others like you who will understand and get them compared to trying to make a “gay joke”  around someone with no knowledge of the community who might think you’re being “offensive.” This happens quite often, and it’s hard to explain to people who aren’t a part of the community just why certain expressions are offensive. There have been many times where I’ve stopped to correct someone, and have given up trying to explain out of frustration due to lack of communication. There was a specific time that I can recall where I’ve had to speak up to ignorance.

Everytime I enter SLA, I remember how lucky I am to be in such an inclusive school. ‘Safe Space’ stickers line many windows and door frames to assure that the good intentions and message of the school and staff are clear, “You are safe here.” I see the colored flags on the shirts of my teachers and I always release the breathe I didn’t know I was holding each time.

The staff has never been much of the issue, but it is a different story when walking the lone, spacious hallways; you’ll never know just what you’ll hear.

It was mid-morning, around the time of the first lunch period. The hallways were crowded with teenagers and echoing with the mixture of songs from individual speakers. I was walking from the office to the store when overheard one conversation that was louder than the rest.

One boy had sat down quite harshly on another boy’s lap, and he didn’t seem to happy about it as I could tell from the groans and sounds of protest coming from underneath the first boy. I had stopped to speak to a friend when I heard an exchange that made the breath catch in my throat.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing? What are you gay or something?”

The boy on his lap laughed and stood up quickly at the ‘accusation.’

“No! I’m not a fag!”

I looked at the person I was speaking with and we nodded together and turned towards the two boys.

“Hey,” I started, “That’s not okay, you can’t say that.”

The boys snickered.

“It was just a joke! Come on.”

I rolled my eyes, not like I wasn’t expecting that one.

“Look, it’s a slur, so you shouldn’t say it especially when it’s not your term to reclaim anyway. You’re not gay.” I tried to explain it as simply as I could.

“But we were just joking, it’s not like it means anything,” one of them argued, the point soaring over his head.

I shook my head in disappointment and turned away, I couldn’t be bothered to try to explain more to two pieces of drywall.

There have been many more times like that moment, some more upsetting than others, but the frustration comes from the same issue. The lack of communication between both LGBT and Non-LGBT is frustrating. Appropriating the forms of literacy each community has to offend the other is harmful, especially when one side doesn’t understand why they are wrong. It’s an issue I and many others have to deal with on a daily basis.

When I was young, I wasn’t sure who I would grow up to be. I wasn’t sure what career I wanted to pursue, what city I wanted to live in, what school I wanted to go to, I was just going through the motions of growing up. Literacy means alot to me in many aspects of my life. At my current age, I am a part of many different communities and families, and I don’t completely act the same when I am with each. The kind of code-switching that I do between each community makes up my identity, it doesn’t split me into different people. Every side of myself that I show to different groups of people are all individual aspects of myself, and all together those traits and forms of literacy that I speak with and see the world with come together to make up all of who I am today.


Works Cited

Baldwin, James. “If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 July 1979, www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-english.html.

Advanced Essay #2 Boubou Magassa - English without Diversity

​Introduction

I wanted to answer the question revolving around my whole essay, What would English sound like if there were never any diversity? I believe that without diversity we would not have the two types of English that we have today.

Essay

English is a language that has developed over a period of millions of years. Throughout those years, English has morphed through the diversity of races. When slaves were forcefully taken from their homeland,and were brought to America, they didn't know how to communicate with their masters or fellow workers. Over time, they learned things around their environments by just listening. Everything they heard couldn’t have been received perfectly this were some of the first appearances of what we as Americans today call “Slang”. Without diversity, slang and other creative concepts of the American English would have never been created and also allowing it to be considered in a way its own language.

A quote from “If Black English Isn’t a Language” touched on my theory, that without diversity the American English would have never been created and also allowing it to be considered in a way its own language. “Blacks came to the United States chained to each other, but from different tribes: Neither could speak the other’s language.” The mixture of tribes caused even more diversity than just the blacks converging with the whites. Because of the mini diversities, there was even more turmoil because it would make it even harder for them to communicate and accomplish their tasks. In the future, this intelligible english had become normal and is even being considered the way all americans speak. Without the failed attempts of the slaves speaking english there wouldn’t be differences between British English and American English.

It was a normal day - I was doing my homework on the kitchen table as my Dad was reviewing some documents. My mom was cooking dinner and my little brother was already passed out on the couch.

“Babou, can you give me the envelope(ON-vuh-lohp),” said my Dad. Looking intensely at some sort of document.

“Pass you which one,” I said as I begin to rise from my chair.

“Give me the envelope(ON-vuh-lohp),” Said my Dad. He turned staring at me.

“Ohhh, you want the envelope(EN-VUH-lohp),” I said. The storm of confusion had finally drifted away.

“Yes, the envelope(ON-vuh-lohp),” Said my Dad. He looked sort of annoyed as if someone had played “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley on repeat for a couple of hours.

“Why do you say it like that? ”I said as my lightbulb of curiosity had lit up.

“What do you mean?” inquired my Dad.  

“How you say envelope(EN-VUH-lohp), you say it differently,” I said.

“That’s the way I was taught in school, I learned British English when I was young,” said my Dad.

“Why are you taught that type of english instead of the english that Americans speak?” I replied.

“I believe that we learn this type of english instead because it is more proper than the English that Americans today speak,” Said my father.

A quote from “How To Tame A Wild Tongue” talks about experiences of Chicanas have growing up speaking their language. “Chicanas who grew up speaking Chicano Spanish have internalized the belief that we speak poor Spanish.” Chicanas in the spanish community have to live with the stereotypes all the time with people saying to them that there language is improper and incorrect even though it is also said to be the purist. Just like American English after years and years of developing it is still to this day being called improper and incorrect even though it is one of the most popular languages in the world. The differences that they had didn’t just make it a language derived from British English but, a language of its own.

When I started off writing this essay I wanted to show you what english would sound like if there was never any diversity within the people. I had talked about evolution and changes that caused english to become what it is today. As I continued onward I talked about how in America people try to prevent more spread of slang or improper english by getting rid of the accents of foreign people. What I was left thinking was without diversity the American English would have never been created and also allowing it to be considered in a way its own language. My father who was taught the supposedly proper of two englishes has learned that American English isn’t improper it is no longer below British English but, of equal footing. My father now speaks with the tongue of a person who speaks slang and American english. As I end off I want you to think what life would be like if people were only taught British English and are not allowed to alter it. What do you think the image of America would look like. Would it still be considered improper because of other things or would it truly be appreciated for what it is, A way for people of different cultures to communicate and learn from each other.


Works Cited:


Anzaldúa, Gloria. “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” https://www.everettsd.org/cms/lib07/WA01920133/Centricity/Domain/965/Anzaldua-Wild-Tongue.pdf

Baldwin, James. “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is?” New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-english.html

Advanced Essay #2: More than Meets the Eye

​Introduction
The goals of this particular paper was to take an in-depth look at my identity and to relate it to this greater idea of literacy. I tried very hard to stray away from the typical "immigrant language story" and try to provide an interesting take to the whole bilingual scene. Some parts that I am proud of are the descriptions I gave of the different languages I spoke and how I was viewed in those different languages. Some areas for improvement would be using a larger set of vocabulary and providing more larger ideas. 
​Advanced Essay 

Gregory Tasik

Mr. Block

English 3 - Earth

December 10, 2017

More than Meets the Eye


There is much more than meets the eye when it comes to being bilingual. Merriam-Webster defines bilingual as “using or able to use two languages especially with equal fluency.” The majority of people define fluency in a language by knowing the grammar and conventions of the language, the way the language should be spoken. Fluency in a language requires a lot more than just knowing grammar; it is understanding the flow of the language, the casualness of it when it is spoken by native tongue, and understanding its deeper meaning.

My tongue is an anomaly. It cannot decide what or who or where it wants to be. At home, I speak “Indoglish”, an awkward mix of English and Indonesian. Neither perfect, but articulated well in a home where it has evolved for over 10 years. My Indonesian is the “broken” Indonesian I’ve adopted from my parents. It is not fluent nor correct in any definition of literacy. I cannot write in Indonesian nor am very confident in my conversational skills. In my parent’s native home, I am praised for my ability to speak English. They ask me to teach them simple words like “attitude” or “motorcycle,” amazed by how the words roll off my tongue. On the other hand, my Indonesian to them is that of a toddler. I know my cousins mean well when they laugh at my pronunciation, but it cuts deep. How is it possible that my own identity can be called into question?

In English class it takes the form of the standard English; the adverbs, conjugations, and vocabulary that have been taught and crammed in my head over the years. Outside of the class, it is the not-so-standard English I’ve adopted from my friends and community. It is the slang and phrases that teachers would deem “inappropriate” in an essay and would make English scholars cringe. It is understanding the underlying messages in certain intonations and phrases, the subliminal significance within a conversation. In America, I am considered as any typical human being.

“All answers look the same to me!”

“It’s B, it has to be the right answer.”

“But C could also work, matter of fact, A and D also work.”

“I give up. If worst comes to worst always pick C right?

Unlike the English and Comprehension section of the SATs that was a straight, newly paved highway, the writing section of the SATs was long winding road that I was unable to navigate through. The way the writing section worked was that they first present a story. In the stories, there would be multiple phrases or sentences that were underlined and there would be questions on whether the underlined portions needed to be changed, moved around, or combined. To do well on the writing portion of the text, the test taker would need a good command of standard English conventions and rules.

“The underlined sentence could be placed before sentence 3. Or would it be better if it were placed at the beginning of the paragraph? Maybe I should just leave it where it is.”

“Ooh, they’re probably trying to trick me!”

Every question was a battle. The longer I looked at the question, the more the other answers made sense. In Mother Tongue, Amy Tan uttered a very similar response: “the answers on English tests were always a judgement call, a matter of opinion and personal experience”(Tan,3). She, a fellow Asian-American, struggled with her command of the English language. Tests like the SAT were based on stories and experiences that felt distant to my own. The language used in the tests had words that haven’t seen the light of day since the 1920s and were not used in the common English I spoke with. How was I supposed to connect to the text?

Ultimately, there is no easy to answer. I cannot expect myself wake up one day and master the English language. I cannot expect myself to have the same thought processes as those who grew up with two native English speaking parents, and on a larger scale, I cannot expect myself to think/process the same way as any other human being. We all have different experiences which shape our ideas of literacy and which forms of literacy we identify with. My areas of strength are areas of weakness for another person, and vise versa. It’s all just a matter of  putting the work in to make up for the areas I lack in, even it if means SAT prep on grammar for a couple hours a week.


Works Cited

Tan, Amy . Mother Tongue.

Advanced Essay #2: Mom's English

Introduction:

​When I started to write this paper, all I knew about it was that I wanted to write about my mom. Basically, I just rambled until I ended up with something I could work with. I'm proud of the quote that I used because it really encompasses the way I feel my mom's way of speaking and just literacy in general. I'm pretty proud of the essay overall, but if I were to edit it more, I would definitely elaborate on some of the ideas brought up and possibly add another scene.

 

When we were first being taught to read in kindergarten, my whole class was sitting on the carpet in the back of the room, while my teacher wrote simple words on the board for us to sound out. She asked a student to read the word “Dad”.

“Duh-ah-duh” The kid stuttered through the word. I was sitting somewhere in the middle of the group with a weird mix of extreme apathy and anxiety. On one hand, I really didn’t want to be picked to read, but on the other hand, I was bored and just wanted us to be finished so we could move on to the music lesson. I could tell that my classmates felt the same because many of them were either talking to each other or staring into space.

“Katie, how about you read this for us?” My head snapped up and my heart dropped to my toes. I saw a second word on the board, “Cat”. Of course I knew how to read it, easy. I sounded it out in my head, Cuh-ah-tuh.

“Come on,” she encouraged, “you can do it.” But I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. The only thing I could think of was the worry of sounding stupid and my classmates laughing at me

This moment is the earliest memory I have of being nervous about reading. It was the first real time I had the chance to be criticized by other people. I had no issue with understanding what the word said. There have been multiple instances where people denoted my intelligence to luck, but that is not at all the case. I’m not lucky. I have worked my entire life to be able to function academically, at the level I do. I credit this entirely to my mom. She made sure that I knew how to read long before kindergarten. My mom has a lot of trouble with English, despite it being her first, and only, language. When it comes to literacy, she’s aware of her shortcomings and she never wanted me to struggle, whether in school or in life, as much as she did. This is why she made sure that I had the knowledge and competence to be confident in my intelligence. Even though I knew I could read and write extremely well for my age, my mom’s uncertainties stuck to me, they made me uncomfortable with reading and speaking.

My mom speaks a different version of English, words are swapped for each other, sentences are mixed around and rearranged, and she doesn’t do it on purpose. We have conversations that would be hard to follow for some people and, much like in Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, it would be considered ‘broken’ English. Tan summarizes the conflict with naming it really well, writing, “It has always bothered me that I can think of no other way to describe it than ‘broken’ as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness.” I’ve always seen my mom struggle and she has always taught me that I need to work hard, I have to work harder than hard, to succeed in life. She motivated me to be intense with my education and to reach out for more opportunities to learn and to get ahead.

As a child, I was relatively aware; I knew we had issues with money, for example, and it’s these issues in particular that push me to be successful in school and, furthermore, in life. My goal is to get to a place where I can support my mom. She has succeeded in supporting me by threads for my entire life, I want to be able to support her with steel beams for the rest of hers.

Language has a major influence on a person’s identity. It has the ability to connect people while also being able to eradicate others; it’s the kind of thing that’s bittersweet. Looking at the effect of language on how people are viewed by society reveals just how important it is. People who speak properly are seen as more intelligent when this is not at all true. Often times, people meet students who don’t speak the standard of a language and they write them off as stupid, they expect them to be less able than their peers. Those expectations push them down and don’t give them the chance to show that they are smart. I was fortunate enough to have someone who made sure that I could avoid those low expectations. My mom’s skill and confidence in literacy affected me in the past, and it still does in a lot of ways. One side of it is that seeing her struggle motivated me. It instilled a determination in me that could never die, it’s the type of motivation that starts as a child and becomes a driving force in life.  The other side shows how her low confidence stuck to me and, sometimes, hindered me. It made me nervous when it came to public speaking and sharing me language with others. Overall, my mom has taught me more than anybody has and I am forever grateful for the lessons she gave.


Works Cited
Tan, Amy. "Mother Tongue." Dreams and Inward Journeys: A Rhetoric and Reader for
Writers. Pearson, 2010.

Advanced Essay #2: Mailman

Introduction

My goals for this paper were to investigate the differences between my experience with literacy and that of other kids, as well as experiences we read about in class, and how the school system puts certain kids at an advantage or disadvantage. I am proud that I was able to develop more profound ideas, but I wish I could have gotten to them in a more precise manner, as my essay is quite long.

Advanced Essay

In my last year of Pre-k, I entered a class called the Roadrunners. We would read, write, play, hike, camp, and still, nap. At naptime, letters from classmates were handed out by one student, who was given the esteemed title of “Mailman” for that hour. It was considered an honor, an honor held above even the student chosen to hand out animal crackers, as the mailman could be no average toddler in terms of their literacy. I remember one spring afternoon that I received this honor in great detail:

Laying on our sticky blue gym mats, none of us were the least bit tired. We were all excitedly awaiting the announcement of today’s mailman. Our teacher, Christel, opened her mouth and we all stayed still in concentration.

“Okay Roadrunners, this afternoon I am going to spell our mailman’s name out backwards. When you know it's you, come to me. Quietly, please!” Each of us began to rack our brains, trying desperately to reverse the sequence we had come to know so well.

“A”, Christel began. My heart jumped, but then sank knowing it could still be anyone.

“I”, She continued. Because my class was small, I had finally narrowed it down to myself, and Nina, one of my playmates. Clearly my reversing skills needed work as her name was already out of the running, but I still had a chance.

“F” I shot up from my mat, ecstatic. When the contents of that little blue mailbox were shaken out into my hands, I felt on top of the world. Sounding out the letters in the scrawled script of my fellow three and four year olds was no hassle for me, but a welcomed challenge.

This excitement for literacy drove me to be an avid reader and writer for years to come. Pre-k gave me a strong base in literacy on which I built my academic career. My parents, who were elementary school teachers, taught me at home and encouraged, as well as rewarded reading and writing. Literacy became my main source of pride and happiness before I was even 5 years old.

I am so fortunate to have this head start, and this began to become apparent in entering elementary school. I had a leg-up on every kid I knew coming into the school. They all seemed to struggle with concepts I had grasped and held onto for years. Through my readings and personal experiences, I have now concluded that the school system of today often does not give students an incentive to learn, giving those with an outside support system or basis in literacy an advantage.

Mike Rose’s story in I Just Wanna Be Average is a perfect example of a student without an advantage. As a child of immigrants in a poor neighborhood, the cultural capital was of “physical prowess,” and the expectations for him were to get by, with no real investment in his education. When he was wrongly placed into the vocational track, he lost all previous self motivated interest and had nobody advocating for his success. In describing the fate of students placed in the vocational track like he was, he wrote, “You are defined by your school as ‘slow’; you’re placed in a curriculum that isn't designed to liberate but to occupy you, if you’re lucky, train you, though the training is for work that the society does not esteem” (Rose, 3), showing that the school system fails kids who initially struggle and cannot get much outside help, and these implications have lifelong consequences. This system is a trap for kids like Mike with immigrant, working, or uninvolved parents. Yet, the school system still denies responsibility, blaming the poor parent for not helping the child more. Rose writes, in talking about the parent of the student whose failing scores were swapped with his own, “What sort of pressure could an exhausted waitress apply?” (Rose, 1). When the school system begins to fail these struggling students, they fall even more with minimal support to keep them motivated. Thankfully, support came to him late in his school experience, through a teacher that incentivised him to improve his skills in literacy.

Sherman Alexie’s essay, The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me, tells a story similar to my own experience with literacy and education. He started reading at an early age, due to parental influence and encouragement. He dedicated his early interested in reading to his respect for his father, writing, “My father loved books, and since I loved my father with an aching devotion, I decided to love books as well” (Alexie, 12). His father was educated and invested in literacy, giving Alexie the same expectations as a parent, as Alexie set those for himself out of respect for his father. However, living on the reservation, many Indian kids didn’t have the same experience with literacy within their homes. Sherman Alexie describes that his classmates had the exact opposite expectations, for themselves, from their parents, and from their educators/ white society, “They struggled with basic reading in school but could remember how to sing a few dozen powwow songs… Those who failed were ceremoniously accepted by other Indians and appropriately pities by non-Indians” (Alexie, 13). They rejected literacy and growth, and their learning environment gave them no incentive to change this; failed through school but still met the expectations of those surrounding them.

One conclusion that can be gathered from this is that proficiency in literacy is a socioeconomic class issue, and within that also a racial divide. As an upper middle class white kid in an elementary school classroom of black and immigrant kids from working class families, I came in with a support system, a base in literacy, and was able to maneuver and manipulate my education to be beneficial to my future. Most of my white peers came in with similar advantages due to their socioeconomic status, but many of my peers of color came into the school system at a disadvantage. Coming from low income families, they probably did not have the opportunity to go to an early education program. This also may mean that their parents were uninvolved in educating them at home, not by choice, but because they may have been forced to focus on providing for basic needs, like food and bills. And when these students find themselves struggling with concepts or even focus in school, not many options at home or in many schools are able to incentivise their learning.

Another related conclusion is the profound effect that the direct and indirect expectations for kids from parents and educators on a student’s drive to learn. Self expectations are typically based upon those given by people in power. This is exemplified in children like myself and Sherman Alexie, following our parents path to become educated and read, but also by Mike Rose and struggling Indian children in The Joy of Reading… who had no goals for themselves in school because that was not what was valued by those around them. By being placed in a school that didn’t encourage them, their self motivation to learn was crushed by the low expectations set for and taught to the students there.

These factors are, and have been, having negative effects on kids who are not set up to succeed in these systems. The fact that there are kids who are set up to succeed and kids who will often fail due to factors out of their control is a problem within itself. These major issues leave many kids without the literacy to navigate the world past their bad experience with the school system. Many fall into mindless labor not by choice, but because they could not succeed in school without the support many unfortunately do not have at school or at home.


Works Cited


Alexie, Sherman. The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me. Los Angeles Times, 1998.


Rose, Mike. Lives on the boundary: a moving account of the struggles and achievements of America’s educationally underprepared. Penguin Books, 2005.

Advanced Essay #2: The Structures of Society

Introduction: In this essay, I wanted to address and explore the ideas of this constantly need of classification of students and people in general and to discuss their roles in society. I also wanted to highlight cruel judgements are being unfairly casted upon members of society starting from a young age. Parts that I'm most proud of throughout this easy would be the writing of larger ideas because I think that it's hard to identify larger ideas aside from ones that I have in my head. But I think I did well in retelling my thesis but not in a repetitive way. Some improvements for the future would be to try to work with the word count and to take out unnecessary words and phrases that are unneeded.

It should be known that the minds of society are fixed around the idea that the pace of how others learn and the language that they speak determines their intelligence. Along with this concept, physical and mental tests are constantly being conducted upon society to help people separate and insult the intelligence of those who are different, race and background-wise, etc.

Our society is continuously trying to classify two groups of people as either “stupid” or “smart.” Then, society decides whether or not these people should be defined with a grand or derogatory representation. This is unfair, and does not give people a chance to express their knowledge fully in their defense. The act of enforcing tests that claims to determine their intelligence should not arbitrate the intelligence of a person. In I Just Want to be Average by Mike Rose, it strongly represents the school environment that diminishes the spirits of young students based on a single test, that determines if they were considered “stupid” or “smart” using the school’s principles. He uses the words ‘disaffected’ to describe the students who were placed in the “stupid” class.

“The vocational track, however is most often a place for those who are just not making it, a dumping ground for the disaffected…” Throughout the story, it shows that the teachers who teach the “slower” students, do not establish any policies to help them improve as students. The teachers have this mindset that they’re hopeless, without giving the students a chance to enhance their knowledge that is yet to be discovered by others.

This story gave me a revelation about school environments. Similarly to Mike Rose in his story, ever since I was in elementary school, in English class, we would have oral reading tests and writing prompts that would determine what reading level we were at.  I could remember the feeling like it was yesterday.

“Remember, DRA testing starts today, directly after lunch. Come into class quietly and read independently. I will call you up one by one to take the test. The classroom must remain quiet.”

“Here we go again.” My friend Michael said to me.

“I really hate these. I don’t think it’s fair.” I whiningly say.

“I always feel like every little stupid mistake that I would make, counts towards the grade. I never get the grade that I deserve.” Michael said pulling out his book.

I could tell that he was as nervous as I was, I have my red, hardcover book opened up to a random page as I continuously read the same sentence over and over again. All I could think about was the order that Teacher Debbie was going in. I counted the minutes in between each student that gets tested just so I wasn’t caught by surprise when she calls my name. I felt my leg starting to shake anxiously under my desk, I couldn’t get it to stop, Every noise in the room made me jump. The constant and crisp sound of flipping pages, quiet whispers coming from the back of the room, the zipping of book bags, the sliding of chairs, and so much more.

I would tell myself, “Just calm down. Panicking will make it worse, you will try your best and that’s it. Just read smoothly and don’t think about it too much.”

I could feel my face tense up as time passed. I completely forgot about the book I was supposed to read and found myself monitoring every little movement my teacher made. I heard nothing for a good few minutes and felt my eyes getting heavy.

“Viv?” I felt my friend Michael tapping me on my shoulder.

I jolted up and opened my eyes wide.

“It’s your turn, hurry up.” He said pointing towards our teacher.

I got up right away, scooting my chair back quickly and making a screeching sound. I walked towards her desk slowly trying to remain calm, I felt like my heart was racing a million beats per second. The jitteriness from my leg came back as I sat down.

“Choose any book and read until you see the star.” Teacher Debbie said, laying out 5 booklets out in front of me, as she flipped through her papers.

I silently picked one out.

“Whenever you’re ready.” She said waiting for me to start.

Soon, I started to read. I examined the whole page and read the words in a monotone voice. As I continued to read, not focusing on what the words actually meant, I heard the little scribbles that she started writing. I started memorizing the noises of patterns of circling and underlining. By the end of the test, I was told to finish the book and fill out the packet she gave me.

Every year I would expect to take the same test, and to go through the whole process again. My results wouldn’t necessarily be considered to be a part of the “higher level.” I felt like I was never going to be good enough as I would compare my scores with my friends, who would get a higher grade than me. To this day, those tests, helped us figure out what level we were at, but they should be altered in a way that wouldn’t negatively affect and create learned helplessness. The tests and teachers should help encourage us to strive for better.

In both “I Just Want to be Average,” and my life story, the teachers would never say that they were conducting these tests to separate the smart from the dumb. But as students, we would always know that that’s what they’re trying to do. This feeling of wondering if we are good enough based on tests could lessen our will to continue on improving ourselves.The idea of testing and categorizing students based on tests is a strong depiction of social hierarchy in the terms of language and the testing of intelligence rather than social class. This serves tremendous significance to how close-minded society is.

Cultural representation should be fair and impartial but instead offensive terms are being correlated with those who don’t appear to be “smart” based on their culture and language. This is undoubtedly a burden on many people whose first language is not english, and those who couldn’t afford the best education. These expectations are being planted in the minds of those who are oblivious and obstinate.  From the story, “Superman and Me,” an Indian boy has grown up understanding for himself and his culture, that being with Indian has it’s own affiliation. He says, “We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid. Most lived up to those expectations inside the classroom but subverted them on the outside.”

The children would grow up hearing distasteful words used to describe them, some would try to avert those stereotypes, while others simply just accepted those terms as a way to define themselves. Not only were they called stupid because of their background, but also because they were ESL learners. This language barrier invited members of society to belittle and apply judgements to one another, unable to see past the reality of each person’s intelligence regardless of race, nationality, and tests.

In the documentary, “A Place to Stand,” the protagonist, Jimmy Santiago Baca speaks about his important parental figures in his life not being present to guide him. He described the way he was raised as, “You learn how to run with the dogs as a dog.” Just like in “Superman and Me,” the boy knew his role in society and  knew that he was different and was going to be treated as such. He compared himself and those that he surrounded himself with as “dogs,” and used the term very loosely. In some cases, an individual would feel very insecure to be themselves because of that negative energy being cast upon them. No one should be afraid or doubtful of who they are because of how other people speak of them.

Interpretation is an important factor when it comes to responding to these harsh stereotypes and assumptions that are made. In the story, “Mother Tongue,” by Amy Tran, she expresses her experience with her use of different forms of english. This is mainly centered around her work, and how she would speak differently based on the environment. She reveals her thought process about language and it’s influences, “I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language-the way it can evoke emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.”

She notices different layers when it comes to the power of language, it is much more than just a way to communicate with family members and the community. But it’s a way to express complex ideas and reveal these impressions about every person.  She also gives her commentary on her responsiveness when it came to communicating with her parents.

“Lately, I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as 'broken" or "fractured" English. But I wince when I say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than "broken," as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness.”

Those who come from the same cultural background, within the same family still have the tendency to have negative speculations. These standards has even led to those who are within the same cultural background to believing these heavy-handed alterations being made about their loved ones. It is easy to judge someone’s intelligence based on their level of education and their cultural background. These mental and physical literacy tests has a strong grip on cultural dominance and is clear to distinguish who deserves certain representations. Everyone has their own form and definition of what literacy is and the types that are commonly used. Without the power of language and literacy being one of few sole reasons why many are quick to judge, many thoughts would be kept to oneself. The amount of repulsive commentary against groups of people would be kept at a minimum, but the power of language and literacy is a huge factor in the structures of society and may never be broken down because it’s been molded and strengthened.

Citations:

Rose, Mike. "I Just Want to Be Average." Lives on the Boundary: The Struggles and Achievements of America's Underprepared. New York: Free Press, 1989. 162-67. Print.



Advanced Essay #2: "Thanks"

Introduction: The goal of my paper is to explain how obstacles in life, whether that be your background or something that comes up during your life, can actually bring about a better version of yourself. In my essay, I talk about how being an English learner didn't discourage me from the learning the language, but instead, encouraged me to work harder. I am proud of my use of descriptive language and implementation of quotes, but I did go slightly over the word limit. Next time around, I will try to be more concise.

 

Wendy was behind the wheel and Shihong was in the passenger seat. Jeffrey, Lina, and I sat in the back as the car drove through the suburbs of South Jersey. It was a glistening day, and the azure blue sky was sprinkled with puffy clouds like cotton balls. To each side, we were surrounded by forest thick enough where we couldn’t see where it ended.


Wendy began talking. She was the wife of the boss at the Chinese restaurant that my parents worked at. While most of the employees couldn’t even form complete sentences in English, she stood out as the “special Asian” as she was a fluent speaker and even attended college in the United States. She had this aura of condescending arrogance, always looking down on the others at the restaurant. She was very proud of her literacy, and made sure to let others know. In Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, she talks about her mom’s broken English and how people “did not take her seriously” because of it (Tan). Wendy would always talk down on the employees, including my parents, and she knew they couldn’t understand her insults anyway.


“William. Do you have an accent? I think I remember you having an accent. Say thanks,” she said. The request was very unexpected, but I did as I was told.


“Thanks,” I said.


“Say it again,” she replied, with a hint of excitement in her voice.


“Thanks,” I said again, this time with less confidence.


“I think I can still hear an “s,” actually. It sounds like you’re saying sanks. You definitely have an accent.”


I noticed a strange smirk on her face through the rear view mirror, as if she felt like she achieved something through that exchange. It was either anger or disappointment that I felt. Maybe it was both. “There was no way I was saying it wrong,” I thought.  Thanks, thanks, thanks, I kept repeating in my head. “Could I really still have an accent?” I was in denial. In Mother Tongue, Amy also brings up this idea that her mother’s inadequate English “had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well” (Tan). Like Amy, I felt that my parents’ shortcomings in the dominant literacy of America also made life more difficult for me.


My parents are both Chinese immigrants who dropped out of school at a young age to attain financial stability. I was born in the US, but when I was only a couple of months old, I was sent to China to live with my grandparents for about 4 years. Back in China, I spoke Fuzhounese with my family, and learned Mandarin in the local pre-school.


When I came back to America, I couldn’t speak any English. Having parents who were  illiterate in English didn’t help either. Not having parents that are English literate meant that I never had help from them for homework. It meant that at a very young age, I had to learn do things on my own, like write checks for the bills, apply for health insurance, set up doctor’s appointments, and fill out all paperwork sent home from school.


In my early years of schooling, I struggled to understand what my teachers were saying, I struggled whenever I tried to read, and I struggled to communicate with my English speaking friends. I couldn’t relate with experiences many other kids had, like having pets or traveling, because I never had those experiences myself. I’ve spent countless nights staying up late, reading books at half the pace of other kids, rereading the same paragraphs to understand the material. In Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie, he mentions that when he was teaching himself English, he “read with equal parts joy and desperation” (Alexie). Despite our shared disadvantaged backgrounds, we knew that English was the best tool we had to success. I was afraid that I may end up like my parents, not knowing English and working backbreaking, low paying jobs.


While most people will find illiteracy as disadvantage, it can potentially create a more ideal circumstance for success in literacy. This disadvantage gave me more reason to work hard. I felt the need to have neat handwriting, good desk organization,  and good grades. The standards I set for myself are higher than many friends of mine who are Native English speakers. The work ethic I’ve developed became the reason why my academic career since has been so much more successful. I’ve had many responsibilities that kids my age don’t, and have experience doing many things that most people my age didn’t. Not being proficient in the dominant literacy became an incentive for me to improve myself. Although English is still not my strong point, what I have gained through learning it has made me a better reader of the world.

 

                                              Works Cited

Baca, Jimmy Santiago. A Place to Stand: the Making of a Poet. Grove Press, 2001.

Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” Google Drive, "https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Cvq7ioloJpZGNkYTM0ZjUtNDczZC00NWE2LWEyMTQtMjgzZDRhYTAzNTBi/view"

Alexie, Sherman. “Superman and Me”.


In Limbo

Introduction: When I was typing this I didn't know where I wanted to go with it, I had only knew that I wanted to speak about my experiences with how I spoke to other people and how they reacted to that. Eventually, I realized wanted to speak about the third and fourth grade specifically, and that's what got me here. 

Back when I was a child I was always told that I speak white. My friends would tell me this and I wouldn’t understand what that meant, or some family members would be really impressed by how proper I spoke with them. I’d have only been speaking how my great-grandmother had taught me. Initially, I had never spoken using slang, I only knew how to decipher it. Every time I switched schools, I had to reintroduce myself to a new set of people. However, every time I reintroduced myself, I’ve always gotten the same reactions
“Hello, my name is Tylier.”
Everyone would be stunned by that first sentence, my teachers would look at me with their eyes eclipsed in excitement as to suggest that I would finally be the one who would make it. My classmates would stare at me in awe as I emphatically expressed my sentences. There was no slur in my speech to tie my words together, there were no conjoining words together to form something else, there was nothing to suggest that I was from here, the hood like all of my classmates. There was only that sentence, and it was so well articulated for someone of my age that it became one my most striking characteristics, I became Tylier, that dark-skin kid that speaks white, but for me, it really felt like I was Tylier, that black kid that doesn’t belong here, or Tylier, that dark-skinned kid that shouldn’t be.
 I don’t think I’d ever met another person that spoke the way I did, and I feel like neither did those kids. The only language they knew was the slang from our poor neighborhoods, I think that their only real experiences with white people were from the smiling faces leaking out the tv. I mean, I wouldn’t blame them, Why should a dark-skin boy in the hood be able to articulate his speech so well?
I remember my first day in the third grade, this was my first time switching schools, and at lunch, all of my conversations were about the way I spoke.
“Yo, why you talk so weird?”
“Yeah, don’t he sound like he white?”
“Like, he rich and he got money.”
I gently shuffled my shoes while sitting at the lunch table, I felt them scrape across the dirty green tile floor. I was thinking about how I would respond to this, or if I was going to respond at all.
“I grew up like this, this is the way that my great-grandmother speaks”
“You adopted by white people or something?”
“No, it just sounds like it.”
“You a whole weirdo, forreal yo.”
When someone in Philly calls you a weirdo, it’s one of the most insulting things you can possibly say to a person. Sometimes I feel like that one small conversation set the tone for how I acted throughout the entire school year. After that comment, I didn’t say anything, I had soon come to realize how isolated I was because, although I had friends, none of them spoke to me the way I spoke to them. I wished I was white, because if I was, then I wouldn’t feel like I didn’t belong, and it would also give everyone an explanation as to why I spoke so proper in comparison to everyone else. I had eventually learned how to change the way I spoke so that I wouldn’t sound out of place, but I was never able to fully speak like my friends and most of my relatives. I felt like a lever that had gotten stuck in the middle, I couldn’t fully transition over to the other side, no matter how much effort I had put in. 
In the article, If Black English isn’t a language, Then tell me what is?, James Baldwin suggests, “A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand, essentially, is that the child repudiate his experience and all that gives him sustenance, and enter a limbo in which he will no longer be black, and in which he knows that he can never become white. Black people have lost too many black children that way.” Initially, this quote may seem like it speaks on how changing a black child’s slang can erase their existence as a black person, this quote actually speaks on black children and it is explaining that erasing or shifting a black child’s speech to fit the norm in a culture where their speech isn’t the norm can eliminate this child’s history. In my elementary schools, I didn’t understand what language meant or why it was so important, however, the more people spoke to me about how I spoke to them, I realized that being able to speak the same language is something that can unite a people.

Works Cited
Baldwin, James. "If Black English Isn't A Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?." Nytimes.com. N. p., 1979. Web.  July. 1979.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-english.html