Advanced Essay #3 : Social Media got the tea

Intro
My goals for this paper was to bring up the point on how we as a society, values social media more than how we truly feel. In fact, we change our opinions based off of the dominant trend on social media. Using evidence and statistics, I want the reader to come upon the idea that social media is a curse if we are not careful. The process aspect of my paper was very challenging. I changed paragraphs and got writer block and I know this essay isnt what I want it to be right now. 

ESSAY
 

In the turn of this decade, Social media became the new voice for millions of people. From internet dating to international scamming, people created profiles that best describes the personality they want others to see. Though popular social websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and others  can be the place to connect, people tend to mistaken it for free therapy sessions. People haphazardly create profiles to express everything on their mind about sensitive topics without considering the consequences that could bring. When their thoughts become social media posts, they can be perceived as racial slurs, misogynistic views, homophobic hatred, etc. It can lead to people getting unemployed, exposed, lives ruined, and even death. All of those in which are made possible because of how social media runs the world around us.


Businesses hire their employees based off of their social network accounts, modern drama is normally based off of a social media post, and people are defining each other according to how popular they are on the newest social app. People look at social media for identity and guidance. They value its opinion over their own. This turned people into making decisions based off of what others say and post.


The Atlantic stated “The more than 63 million active users of FarmVille spend an average of 15 minutes a day pretending to run a farm. Over the course of a year, that's 5,475 minutes -- the equivalent of a full-time job for over two weeks”. Social media can be bad when someone invest more time into it than they would, a job. When people pretend to do real life activities on social media, it waste up time they could be spending actually doing something productive. They start to care more for getting virtual gems than taking care of themselves.


When a person start basing decisions off of a social media opinion, the ugly in that person is exposed. The murder of  “The Kim Kardashian of  Pakistan”, Qandeel Baloch, perfectly demonstrates this idea. Though her father accepted her rebellious social media lifestyle, her brother allowed it to drive him to kill her. In fact, when being asked about his motive, he replies "I am proud of what I did. I drugged her first, then I killed her. She was bringing dishonor to our family." If Waseem really had a hatred for his sister choices, he would of been killed her. I came to that conclusion because when speaking of what led to her dying, he only mentions the reaction social media had on her posts. He had ill feelings about her becoming so popular for something that he simply doesn't agree with and then tried to claim that her death was for the honor of his family though the family was tolerable with her lifestyle.


Besides ending a life, social media can also destroy one. I would like to bring up the point that people carelessly post about their everyday life on social media like it’s a diary. They expect no one to read it let alone, disagree with them. Let's take former IAC director of corporate communications, Justine Sacco, tweets for example. On a plane ride back to Africa, she tweeted “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” That one post made her the number one trending topic on twitter. She lost her job after people asking them to through social media. This show how much power social networks has over our lives and its value. It’s important for us to be careful  not to offend any one when posting but I am always left with the question, why do we judge a person off of their social media posts if we never met them in person?


Having my fair share of basing decisions off of what social media says, I took the way I was presented on my social media profile, seriously. Going through different phases, my profile would change with it. Social media was becoming the main outlet for me to express who I am. My family had a issue with some of the things I would put out on social media. I did not realize they did until my mother talked to me about her sister calling her about my Instagram username. At the time, my username was “phvckyouropnion”. She felt as if it was inappropriate to have cuss words on my profile though it was spelled different. I had to change it because my mom did not want my aunt to have a issue with my profile. I came to the realization that people truly do value a social media opinion over their own.


Social media has always been an important aspect to society. We promote businesses, celebrate birthdays, debate, date, and everything else, on social media. It made some of us famous while others, died.  In all reality, social media have a larger voice than our own. People always say “ actions speak louder than words” but as this decade slowly close out, I’m starting to understand that a  post has a pedestal over actions. We are what we put out in the social network.


CITATION
  • Perry, Jullet. "Brother 'proud' of killing Pakistan social media star." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2017. This source is to help me find a great example for why social media is valued more.

  • Jackson, Nicholas. "Infographic: The American Identity According to Social Media." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

  • Donovan, Laura. "These 4 People's Lives Were Ruined By The Internet." ATTN:. ATTN, 16 Jan. 2016. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

Break Down the Norms

Introduction

Going into this essay I wanted to get across one point and that point was we as people do not have to live according to other people's standards and that there is always a way to make a new lane. I think I was able to get that point across along with other points which exposed identity and more. I think I did a good job brainstorming this idea and creating my larger idea and also finding examples to further express and prove my point.




Essay


“It’s brought.” she stated. I was mid sentence when my grandmother corrected my speech. Confused and a little annoyed, I faced her and asked her “Why is it so important that I say that if I’m having an informal conversation?” I mean, I understood she was a former English teacher but everyone has a different type of speech when they’re around different people. “It’s just proper English.” Proper English? What exactly does this mean? I started to wonder if proper English was a standard that everyone she encountered had to meet. I’m sure my assumption as to what proper English is may be differ from what proper English may be to her. Although I challenged her thoughts, I followed suit. But why?

Society is an aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community and the status quo is often influenced by societal norms and standards. But, who sets social standard and what is considered a social standard? Standards are often set by the mindsets of those who are dominate and have the ability to convince people to follow this one path in life. This path not only marginalizes people but it narrows the ability for people to act or portray themselves a certain way. But on the other hand, we have this thing called free will and self identity and this gives us the power to do what we want and be who we want to be. We are all unique for certain reasons, whether it’s our race/ethnicity, religion, sexuality, physical appearance or our personalities. Unfortunately, self identity will always be challenged and picked on by this bully portrayed as society.

Depending on what role you play within the public, your identity has to match it. A good example of this would be President Obama. As a prior president and leader to our nation he has had  to carry himself in a very prestigious, sophisticated manner but according to others, very assertive and “angry” as well. Keli Goff , an American journalist known for being a political commentator during the 2008 election expresses her feelings on Obama’s lack of an angry appearance. “President Obama received so much criticism for failing to appear angry enough about the Gulf spill. Well when you’re a president it’s often a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. “ she then went on to talk about the many angry black male stereotypes that could follow suit. This is a perfect example of how a set identity in society clashes with personal self identity.

LGBTQ community members face this bully like society every single day. An article published by The Atlantic reviews transgenders facing a crisis with using public restrooms and quoting the author Emma Green, “They’re objections to what people are, which isn’t tied to any particular act.” Transgender people experience enough identity clashes throughout their time of life. From the moment they realize they aren’t fit for the gender they were given at birth and up to the actual change. When approached with situations like this, situations where society feels as if you are still associated with the gender you were given at birth , you start to no longer feel accepted into what you thought you’ve finally became a part of. And it’s not because of who you are, it’s because of what society is and how society wants you to be.

The fortunate part about this is that you can pioneer a new train of thought. Not everyone has to be subjected to living in the margins of others social standards. There are people who completely dismiss the set lane and make their own. For example, Lady Gaga, Madonna and Stevie Nicks all created their own style. Lady Gaga’s 2010 MTV ceremony Meat Dress is still one of the most famous, out of the box looks down by any celebrity who walked the red carpet. Her dress was so remarkable that it was taken and preserved in the “Women Who Rock” exhibition in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  

Now, we can’t all be Lady Gaga or Madonna or Stevie Nicks but we can be ourselves. After that car ride with my grandma I realized we were put here to challenge social norms and to set higher standards. Brought may be proper English, but in my community so is the word “jawn”. To some people, transgenders surely should go to the bathroom that was designated for their birth gender but in their community a bathroom is just a bathroom and maybe Obama isn’t to angry for your liking  but he says “Change requires more than righteous anger.” Social barriers were meant to be broken, let’s be the ones to tear them down.


Bibliography


Politi, Daniel. "Obama To Howard Graduates: “Change Requires More Than Righteous Anger”." Slate Magazine. N.p., 07 May 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.


"Obama – Not Angry Enough?" NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.


Green, Emma. "America's Profound Gender Anxiety." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 31 May 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.





Avanced Essay #3 -Gavin Lane

Precursor/Introduction

Over this last quarter, my writing process has improved significantly. I do think, though, that the main field in which it has improved is the way I phrase the ideas. For example, I have had problems with repetition, but those have significantly lessened. I think this is certainly a sign of growth in my writing - and although it is one that I have always been doing - I have happened to notice it during this quarter.



Assimilation is not Colonialist


Over the past few decades there has developed an emphasis, primarily on the part of left-leaning thinkers, on “setting the dominant culture back” for those who immigrate to a new country. While we should not force immigrants and their children in our schools to give up their culture entirely (which was once done with Native American children in U.S. government-run boarding schools), no host country should suppress its own culture either. Proponents of this left-leaning thinking seem to want to discourage immigrants from learning, engaging with, and practicing the language and culture of the host country as a gesture of respect for and sensitivity to their origins.

Personally, I believe this view is incredibly weak, and when I say weak, I mean a source of weakness for the host nation--and for the immigrant, too. As far as the immigrant is concerned, non-assimilation could lead to isolation and even poverty. Even if the immigrant has a community of other immigrants to help him or her, non-engagement with the larger surrounding culture shuts down opportunities for work, education, and travel. I do want to make it clear that assimilation to the larger culture does not have to mean the immigrant groups totally give up their original culture. It simply means they are fluent in both--and it means the dominant culture of the new country continues to thrive. It is not turned into something else.

This is what happens when too many immigrants go too far to retain the traditions of their culture of origin. The dominant culture in their new country is profoundly affected and ultimately may not survive in its own homeland. An example of this is what is happening now in Germany. There, women generally don’t cover up when running simple errands like, say, going to the market. For some male immigrants from some Islamic countries, this is a problem. Based on the customs of their countries of origin, they see these uncovered women as sex workers, and they make unwanted sexual advances. This creates a climate of fear and discomfort where there had been none. Also in question is the German tradition of Oktoberfest, where people drink beer in outdoor settings. For some immigrants, drinking alcohol is considered haram (unlawful), and some judge the beer drinkers as bad people. If too many people with these views move into Germany without respect for its culture and without a willingness to assimilate somewhat, the traditions of German culture may be lost and the people who practice them threatened.  

Why would we want to lose a single rich national culture? In everybody’s native homeland, a culture is just going to be dominant--that is an unavoidable fact. In Somalia, Somali culture is going to be dominant. In Germany, German culture is going to be dominant. This is simply and powerfully the way it is, not an expression of any sort of “bigotry,” and traditionally many immigrants have understood this. No, I would argue that “setting back our cultures” is cultural suicide, and that is not the same as showing tolerance for immigrants. The latter does not require the former.

    Some people argue that former colonists have an obligation to host immigrants from former colonial holdings. Because colonial nations controlled and oppressed the native cultures of their colonized peoples, these nations must make amends by offering immigrants the chance to live and express their cultures within the comfort and stability of the former colonists’ borders. For example, they feel strongly that Great Britain should take in migrants from former empire countries because they owe them that.

This does not make sense, though. Does it really help former colonists to stand on their own two feet if they are welcomed into the colonizers’ homelands to live however they want? Britain was wrong to harm the culture of Pakistan, for example, but is rejecting British culture while living in Britain really helpful to former colonists such as those from Pakistan? If the Spaniards and the Portuguese built themselves up after Moorish colonialism, shouldn’t we encourage former colonists in Africa, for example, do the same? Also, this question of owing former colonists the right to enter a colonizer’s country is not consistently applied. Only Europeans and some other Western countries seem to have this asked of them. For example, why isn’t Turkey flooding itself with Southern Slavs, Romanians, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, and Arabs--all formerly colonized by the Ottoman Empire? Unfortunately, colonial guilt has been pushed too strongly in the West, to the detriment of Western cultures and immigrant alike.

Some final thoughts: in one of the sources that I read, it says that “Assimilation efforts have changed over the years, yet they remain colonial, oppressive, and in 2015 these ideas go against the freedoms that are supposed to be at the core of what it means to be ‘American’.” While you can certainly make that argument about America and, say, Canada or Australia, which are countries of immigrants that have been home to people from almost every nation on Earth, you cannot do that with, say, Europe. Europe has no obligation to adjust its cultures to immigrant populations. This is because Europe is and has been indigenously European forever, belonging to the Proto-Indo European people.

    I also want to mention the other quote above: “In the United States, approaches to integrating immigrant and refugee children in the educational system focus on getting the children proficient in English as quickly as possible, often at the expense of their native language, which can result in interrupted intellectual development and a break in valuable links to family and community.” This does not ring true. Frequently children of immigrants are bilingual or multilingual  and remain so throughout their lives. I believe they would experience greater trouble with intellectual development if they could not access the language or educational system of the dominant culture.

In short, I would argue that immigrants can still practice their native cultures in many settings in their communities, and they should. They don’t need to force themselves to stop speaking their languages or stop being who they are. What they cannot do is ask the larger culture of their adopted country to change its ways to allow them to remain who they were. It is not “colonialist” to protect the culture of an immigrant’s new home; rather it is very much in opposition to that. What we want to avoid is the destruction of the cultures in the host nations--and the actual creation of colonies of ethnic groups in those countries. Think about it: when the Pilgrims came to “The New World,” they were originally settlers. Later, they formed colonies. Those colonies harmed and even destroyed the cultures of the Native peoples. My plea is for respect for the dominant cultures of host nations and a willingness on the part of immigrants to engage with those cultures and to some extent to identify with them.


Sources:

“Losing Identity During the Refugee Crisis” by Tracy Brown Hamilton, Тhe Atlantic, 2016

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/05/balancing-integration-and-assimilation-during-the-refugee-crisis/482757/

“Will Immigrants Today Assimilate Like Those of 100 Years Ago?” by Alexia Fernández Campbell, The Atlantic, 2016

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/08/will-immigrants-today-assimilate-like-those-of-100-years-ago/495746/

“Germany’s Migrant Rape Crisis Spirals Out of Control” by Soeren Kern,  Gatestone Institute, 2016

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8663/germany-migrants-rape


Is Racial Identity that important?

Introduction 

As we are living into today’s society, we witness the poverty, and the discrimination that surrounds us. We sometimes question ourselves, what can we do to make it better? There are going to be some people who probably don't want to make our civilization better than it already is. Other people probably just don’t care. But other than that, there’s you, who would want to make a change. You, who would want to develop a bright idea that emphasizes your thinking. You, who would want to make that change not just for yourself, but for the other people who would love to  have the power to do so. You can make that change, because anyone can. If you just put your mind to it.

However, racial identity consist of every citizen, especially people who are known to be popular. “Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you”. -George R.R. Martin. Celebrities are people whom everyone knows. People see celebrities as role models and icons. And they set that example to the people who are in need of help and are lost in life. However, celebrities need to enact and explain on there social lives for the people who wants to know more about them or if there curious to know about there life whether they need to a project or an assignment for school etc. Therefore, civilians won’t question or assume that they are a race that not right or any other opinion that’s not true. They have to reflect on there ancestry because there racial progress is there racial mixing to there children and family. The only problem is there appearance. Illuminating the thought on other people is the problem we are having today. And it’s something that need be fixed.

Not only that racial identity needs to be change, but intersectionality cannot wait either. Since our identities are so important, we also need to interpret it through everyone’s point of view in a way where we can accept each other for who we are. Looking back into the past, many people assume that racial identity isn’t that important. But it is if you think about it. But now that we are in the present, it’s more critical and more of a conflict. People today are moving into different countries coming in as an illegal immigrant, then sooner or later you're no longer illegal because of your identity. But coming into a new country trying to adapt having to deal with other citizens who look at you and identifies you incorrectly is not easy. Even though it’s misinterpretation, it shouldn’t necessarily be a huge problem, especially if you're trying to apply for a job or applying for something to support your family is a big deal. That’s when you would matter. Many people would wish that they can be supportive to whoever is in there life. Because in order to make that change, we need to be able to define ourselves. We need to able to say “I matter, because I am just like the rest of you”. It needs to mean something, not only to your peers, and not only to your family, but to yourself.                        

Furthermore, racial identity is so important nowadays because you’re not defending your rights and your race, but for the people who are in your shoes that’s living the conflict and wants to change that to a resolution. People who wants the same thing as you can make a huge difference in their lives, because not only your fighting for there equal right but conversing for who they want to be. It’s people like them that can make the world for the better.. However, racial identity fits with multiple conflicts essentially to discrimination, racism, etc. The situation can either sit on the positive and/or negative side depending on what you are seeking and how. If there is a concept where a woman who comes to the United States met someone who would soon become her friend and they asked “are you indian?” But you're actually Native American, that type of racial identity is not bad because it was misinterpreted in a confusing way. But if there’s another situation where you're applying for a job and get interviewed for the job, they automatically assume that you are indian instead of asking what race you are. That’s where racial identity comes in a negative way. That type of concept needs to be prevented.

To my conclusion, it is said that racial identity is a source of belongings, a source of pride, and a base of discrimination. It has been for awhile now, since it’s taking apart of our race and culture in society today. We know that a person who would value their own potential would want to conserve it. No matter if the person is famous, average, poor, etc. Because we are all equal and created equal. Just think, if animals of the world can exist for there own reason, what makes us think that they were made just for us? They could be there for the same purpose we are here. Our identity can relate to the weak, or to the power. To society, it depends on where you're living, and how you’re living. It’s a way for intersectionality to take apart of since it shares its form of debate and controversy. To the people in the world.         

The Twilight of Deities

Introduction:

This essay, to me, is a survey of what it means to have or lack faith in the modern world. I myself am an atheist, but I can see the purpose of religion both to individuals and society. The landscape of belief has changed much in the past two centuries, and I have attempted here to chronicle how different thinkers and artists have viewed this seismic sea-change in our consciousness. Whatever your opinion is on this subject, I would advise entering this essay with an open mind towards the idea of the decline of belief (at least in the West) and the philosophical quandaries which arise from this.


Paper:

It seems that depression and the supposed absence of a deity or higher power are our current zeitgeist, the spirit of our age. A Marxist would chalk this up to the alienation caused by the capitalist system which dehumanizes the human person and relates everything to money. Meanwhile, a traditionalist conservative would say that the liberal reforms of modern times have destroyed humanity’s relationship with God by making “Man the measure of all things”. Whatever portion of the political spectrum you fall on, humankind seems to have collectively agreed that whatever used to reign from above has abandoned us en masse in the light of modernity and postmodernity. Some have reacted to this by challenging the accepted orthodoxy of the past, while other have clung ever more tightly to their constantly dying faiths.

“‘Whither is God?....I will tell you. We have killed him.”, asserted Friedrich Nietzsche through the mouth of a madman in a parable in his 1882 work, The Gay Science. At first, this would sound as if Nietzsche, a rather nihilistic, committed atheist, is celebrating the collapse of the old system of deities and spirits and hailing the new humanist outlook of our species. However, it soon becomes clear that, despite its author’s beliefs, this is not a cause for celebration: “‘How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers….Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?’” For the great bulk of human history, cultures and peoples have had deities and spirits and legends to comfort them in their worst and darkest of times. Faith was a light to many; that, despite the darkness of life and the tragedies of existence, there was something watching over you, something to comfort you, and another life that existed after passing on. In this newly faithless world, there is no comfort if what you believed was comforting you is gone. In fact, the very deed of killing God, Nietzsche seems to say, is such a mammoth undertaking that a group of hairless apes on a tiny planet would not be worthy of doing such a thing, especially when most of them are not sufficiently independently-minded and stable to fathom exactly what they have done.

In order to slay God, Nietzsche insinuates that humankind would have to rise to godhood in order to make it seem like slaughtering their deities was a good idea. And, in the minds of many, this is exactly what we have done. We have placed ourselves at the center of our existence and elevated humanity to a position that perhaps it doesn’t deserve. It presumes that humans are far greater than they really are, that we are more than just creatures lost in space. It puts political ideology before religion as well. While politics and religion have often intertwined over the millennia, religion has always seemed, in the end, to nourish the souls of our species more than mere politics. Perhaps the worst and most shocking revelations are that there is no reason why we are placed on Earth, that life and history is essentially random, and that all of our deeds are for naught. It is immensely horrifying to us that we argue, fight, and go to war and yet there may be no reason for such things in the end. Without a deity, without myth and legend, we realize that we are not important, and that, no matter how much we try to deify our species, we are still small and still striving for something to elevate ourselves above the mundane-in short, to regain our lost gods.

“Big Sky”, a song by the Kinks from their 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, is perhaps the ultimate “Death of God” song. “One day, we’ll be free, we won’t care, just you see…” croons frontman and lyricist Ray Davies after listing how “Big Sky” (re: God) does not particularly care about those beneath Him on Earth. Despite this strong desire for the eventual extinction of God and the freedom it should entail, Davies sings about the comfort and tranquility religion can provide in a world bereft of it: “And when I see you/And the world’s too much for me/I think of the Big Sky/and nothing matters much to me”. While religion can been seen as a mind-killer-making nothing matter to someone-it also gives help and love to those most in need of them. Like it or not, humanity’s identity throughout the ages has been dominated by religion and belief. Moving forward, we will need to square our own simian egos against the vastness of the universe and the strangeness of eternity.

In the absence of a higher power, humans often turn to political movements to nourish their souls. However, these ideologies fail to become transcendent, and are instead base and materialistic. Some put all their faith in politics, seeing a movement as undying, always finding new human conduits. However, deep down, humans know that these ideologies are ultimately earthbound. They lack the rituals, the comfort, the inner, mystical dimension of religion. They are merely something which we can latch onto in an increasingly chaotic world.

One final thing we should realize is that, no matter how great and mighty we become on Earth, everything down here is transient. Fame is fleeting, nations and empires crumble into dust with regularity, nothing is eternal-not even the gods. Rudyard Kipling was aware of this when he penned his poem “Recessional” for Queen Victoria’s 1897 Diamond Jubilee. This was at the height of the British Empire’s power, and the celebration would have recalled for a happy, slightly pompous poem. Instead, Kipling wrote a work which warned of the smallness of Earthly greatness in the light of eternity. “Lo, all our pomp of yesterday/Is one with Nineveh and Tyre”, he wrote, naming two once mighty ancient empires that have since gone extinct. In the final verse, Kipling uses the phrase “All valiant dust which builds on dust”. This wonderful, mystical phrase warns that, in the end, all human civilization is doomed. We simply build upon the remains of older cultures. Despite our advances in society and technology, we are not so high and mighty after all. It can be taken away at any time. We will never escape the lingering remnants of the old gods, always there to tell us that nothing lasts forever. Night will fall, and a new day will dawn upon the remnants of us all.


(Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm.) The Gay Science. N.a. n.a. Print.


(Davies, Ray Douglas.) The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. The Kinks. Reprise Records, 1968. Vinyl recording.


Kipling, Rudyard. “Recessional.” 1897. Print.

Double standards: Who's to blame?, Nisa Hardin

Intro: ​For this essay, I wanted to attempt to connect my personal experiences with my work, but it was more difficult than I thought, because I was trying to better my descriptive writing skills at the same time. I ultimately decided to go in a different direction, making my essay something I'm truly passionate about and could see myself providing genuine thought towards, and in the end I was able to create something that encouraged analysis of the deeper meaning in my topic. 

Essay: Addressing the issue of double standards in this era will incessantly be something that impacts us all, but we rarely focus on the real problem at hand, and that’s who is being affected most and why. Some factors in particular such as race, religion, or the place one grows up in can play a role in how much a person experiences the many forms of double standards. The idea of undressing the topic and confronting it’s issues is, in this era, abnormal and almost taboo, which is ironic because the concept of double standards contributes greatly to what we are taught and what we teach, and before you know it it's become the norm. Blue is masculine, Pink is feminine, ballet is for girls, martial arts are for boys, and so on; until the invisible rules placed on certain religions, races, and genders cloud the judgement of whose who use double standards to perceive others. Phrases like “Boys will be boys”, “That isn't ladylike”, or “Man up!”, are all products of the enforcement we put on double standards, so much that we fail to realize that it has been ingrained in our minds from birth, clinging to us throughout the years, and obliviously passed down to the next generation.  

The deal with double standards is that it isn’t being dealt with. This could possibly be because in a way we know that trying to equalize justices between race, sex, economic status etc. would be too difficult an abstraction for the world to comprehend, and uncovering the ugly truth behind that system would do more damage than good. Double standards live everywhere, but it’s rules adjust depending on where it’s centered. In America, for example, there are a number of groups that face pretty particular double standards. These issues are often written about, and the variety of writers’ articles about the double standards they face displays much of the cause and effect. Barbara Walters, who at the time was just starting out as a young journalist, was well aware of her limits as a woman in the world of politics and became known for speaking out on things that were to be considered “bold” for women to discuss. In an interview, she states, “If I said to a politician, ‘Yes, but you didn’t answer my question,’ it sounded terrible, If a man said it, it didn’t sound terrible.” What Walters faced as a female in a predominantly male line of work was an experience similar to many other women before her, and presumably women today.  

Situations such as male vs female are not always so black and white, however.  Double standards can be narrowed down to something as particular as pregnancy and motherhood, according to a mother of one in North Dakota. Known as Gabrielle Pfeiffer, she describes her knowledge of double standards and how they haven’t really changed since they were created, only modified to fit today’s insatiable society. In one of her popular articles, Pfeiffer points out a well-known double standard: “As mothers, we see it the most. There was a time where most families stayed together, the father worked outside of the home, and the mom stayed at home as a homemaker. The dad would take their sons hunting and fishing, and moms would teach their daughters how to cook and clean. Back then it was the norm, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right way.” With the example she used, Pfeiffer was able to demonstrate how people have decided to deal with double standards decade by decade as a whole from her perspective. Women get the reputation of being bad mothers if they don’t fit the outdated double standard, and although some might not find it bothersome, those who attempt combat against the backlash of it don’t have many to fend for them.

In some way, shape and form double standards affect the mind and sense of belonging; in other words it can take a great toll on one’s identity. While the concept of double standards pairs well with stereotyping, an equally abstract idea that we are well acquainted with, it’s a reflection of what we are responsible for creating.



Citation:

Capretto, Lisa. "The Sexism A Young Barbara Walters Faced When She ‘Asked The Tough Questions’." Huffington Post. Huffington Post, 04 Aug. 2015. Web. 16 Jan. 2017.


Bahadur, Nina. "5 Things Women Are Judged More Harshly For Than Men." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.


Harrison, David. "America's Shameful Double Standard." PravdaReport. Pravda in English, 07 Jan. 2017. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.Harrison, David. "America's Shameful Double Standard." PravdaReport. Pravda in English, 07 Jan. 2017. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.


Advanced Essay #3 : Identity

Intro

For my essay I wrote about the identity issues that a lot of Native Americans face. Since Europeans first came to this continent, they have been oppressing Native People. Through hundreds of years of oppression, cultures were hard fought to keep. My essay talks about how Native People claim their identity in a society designed to oppress them. For this essay I wanted to look more into Native American People. I recently re-watched a documentary called Reel Injun. It's about the portrayal of native people in popular movies and film.The movie often connected back to how these movies painted these stereotypes really hurt the communities that today, live in large parts, poverty. My essay is largely inspired by this movie because it goes in depth about stereotypes Native Americans experience.

Essay

In October of 2014, a protest was held in Minnesota against the Washington Redskins for their name. The Native American people in attendance shouted “not your mascots!” during a sunday football game in Minnesota. The message of the football team known as the, ‘Redskins’ is considered a hateful and insulting name to native americans. To many people, it perpetuates a negative stereotype surrounding Native Americans. For hundreds of years they have been victims of hate speech and harmful stereotypes; any of which, native youth are fighting to shed to this day. In an article she wrote for The Guardian, Ruth Hopkins talks about the harmful stereotypes that white people (Pretendians) formulate that hurt and offend Native People. By supporting generic, false stereotypes that encourage a belief that Natives are monolithic, all Pretendians commit cultural genocide and contribute to the erasure of legitimate, unique, ancient indigenous cultures while spreading misinformation about us.” Native People have faced this erasure and now, they’re finding ways to reclaim their identity.

For years, native americans have been forced to adhere to western standards of living. This by and large, has had a negative effect on a native communities. Jekeva Phillips wrote, “For Native American people, identity in many respects is a foreign word. Faced with crippling poverty, violent  abuse, and severe alcoholism, Native Americans are kept in a position of dire straits with the American government, and a position of pity with the American public.” Native American people in many ways have been forced into a kind of box when it comes to identity. Forced to be the stoic, brave, warrior or poor, drunk, and unemployed. This stereotype has made Native People feel trapped without many ways to address their identities. In some forms, it makes people turn to ways that may not be helpful to the native communities.

Many Native American tribes require proof of native blood to a certain fraction. To many Native People, they look more white than they do native. In an editorial by cultural survival by an unidentified author the person says, “Identity is an extremely complex issue. Certification of blood quantum is usually required in order to be legally identified as Native American, and some tribes require a certain blood quantum for membership. Informal constraints within the tribe also affect identity as some tribal members with full-blood quantum consider tribal members with mixed ancestry not to be truly "Native American."” This also creates a loss of identity for Native People, not solving the problem of identity within the community. However, some people within this community, have provided an answer.

Hopkins wrote an article for The Guardian, talking about what blood quantum represented to her and many other Native People. “Natives today agree that blood quantum is not the sole determinate of Native identity: kinship is key, because no true Native is an island. We have grandparents and cousins, blood roots and homelands.” Where she finds her identity in family, others find it in culture. “Today, local communities or reservations devote resources to perpetuating oral traditions, their Native language, and activities they regard as traditional.” These ways to experience their identities has helped many Native People with finding themselves.

Ultimately, the way that Native American people claim their identity is up to the individual. For some people, it's about being with your family, experiencing traditions with family. Others find it in their culture, in being apart of their respective tribes. With all the harmful stereotypes that Native People face today, it is important for them to have the ability to point to something tangible for identity. Identity for Native People will continue to evolve. However, it can always connect back to family and culture, whatever tribe you are apart of, identity can be found within the family and culture.









The Twilight of Deities

Introduction:

This essay, to me, is a survey of what it means to have or lack faith in the modern world. I myself am an atheist, but I can see the purpose of religion both to individuals and society. The landscape of belief has changed much in the past two centuries, and I have attempted here to chronicle how different thinkers and artists have viewed this seismic sea-change in our consciousness. Whatever your opinion is on this subject, I would advise entering this essay with an open mind towards the idea of the decline of belief (at least in the West) and the philosophical quandaries which arise from this.

It seems that depression and the supposed absence of a deity or higher power are our current zeitgeist, the spirit of our age. A Marxist would chalk this up to the alienation caused by the capitalist system which dehumanizes the human person and relates everything to money. Meanwhile, a traditionalist conservative would say that the liberal reforms of modern times have destroyed humanity’s relationship with God by making “Man the measure of all things”. Whatever portion of the political spectrum you fall on, humankind seems to have collectively agreed that whatever used to reign from above has abandoned us en masse in the light of modernity and postmodernity. Some have reacted to this by challenging the accepted orthodoxy of the past, while other have clung ever more tightly to their constantly dying faiths.

“‘Whither is God?....I will tell you. We have killed him.”, asserted Friedrich Nietzsche through the mouth of a madman in a parable in his 1882 work, The Gay Science. At first, this would sound as if Nietzsche, a rather nihilistic, committed atheist, is celebrating the collapse of the old system of deities and spirits and hailing the new humanist outlook of our species. However, it soon becomes clear that, despite its author’s beliefs, this is not a cause for celebration: “‘How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers….Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?’” For the great bulk of human history, cultures and peoples have had deities and spirits and legends to comfort them in their worst and darkest of times. Faith was a light to many; that, despite the darkness of life and the tragedies of existence, there was something watching over you, something to comfort you, and another life that existed after passing on. In this newly faithless world, there is no comfort if what you believed was comforting you is gone. In fact, the very deed of killing God, Nietzsche seems to say, is such a mammoth undertaking that a group of hairless apes on a tiny planet would not be worthy of doing such a thing, especially when most of them are not sufficiently independently-minded and stable to fathom exactly what they have done.

In order to slay God, Nietzsche insinuates that humankind would have to rise to godhood in order to make it seem like slaughtering their deities was a good idea. And, in the minds of many, this is exactly what we have done. We have placed ourselves at the center of our existence and elevated humanity to a position that perhaps it doesn’t deserve. It presumes that humans are far greater than they really are, that we are more than just creatures lost in space. It puts political ideology before religion as well. While politics and religion have often intertwined over the millennia, religion has always seemed, in the end, to nourish the souls of our species more than mere politics. Perhaps the worst and most shocking revelations are that there is no reason why we are placed on Earth, that life and history is essentially random, and that all of our deeds are for naught. It is immensely horrifying to us that we argue, fight, and go to war and yet there may be no reason for such things in the end. Without a deity, without myth and legend, we realize that we are not important, and that, no matter how much we try to deify our species, we are still small and still striving for something to elevate ourselves above the mundane-in short, to regain our lost gods.

“Big Sky”, a song by the Kinks from their 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, is perhaps the ultimate “Death of God” song. “One day, we’ll be free, we won’t care, just you see…” croons frontman and lyricist Ray Davies after listing how “Big Sky” (re: God) does not particularly care about those beneath Him on Earth. Despite this strong desire for the eventual extinction of God and the freedom it should entail, Davies sings about the comfort and tranquility religion can provide in a world bereft of it: “And when I see you/And the world’s too much for me/I think of the Big Sky/and nothing matters much to me”. While religion can been seen as a mind-killer-making nothing matter to someone-it also gives help and love to those most in need of them. Like it or not, humanity’s identity throughout the ages has been dominated by religion and belief. Moving forward, we will need to square our own simian egos against the vastness of the universe and the strangeness of eternity.

In the absence of a higher power, humans often turn to political movements to nourish their souls. However, these ideologies fail to become transcendent, and are instead base and materialistic. Some put all their faith in politics, seeing a movement as undying, always finding new human conduits. However, deep down, humans know that these ideologies are ultimately earthbound. They lack the rituals, the comfort, the inner, mystical dimension of religion. They are merely something which we can latch onto in an increasingly chaotic world.

One final thing we should realize is that, no matter how great and mighty we become on Earth, everything down here is transient. Fame is fleeting, nations and empires crumble into dust with regularity, nothing is eternal-not even the gods. Rudyard Kipling was aware of this when he penned his poem “Recessional” for Queen Victoria’s 1897 Diamond Jubilee. This was at the height of the British Empire’s power, and the celebration would have recalled for a happy, slightly pompous poem. Instead, Kipling wrote a work which warned of the smallness of Earthly greatness in the light of eternity. “Lo, all our pomp of yesterday/Is one with Nineveh and Tyre”, he wrote, naming two once mighty ancient empires that have since gone extinct. In the final verse, Kipling uses the phrase “All valiant dust which builds on dust”. This wonderful, mystical phrase warns that, in the end, all human civilization is doomed. We simply build upon the remains of older cultures. Despite our advances in society and technology, we are not so high and mighty after all. It can be taken away at any time. We will never escape the lingering remnants of the old gods, always there to tell us that nothing lasts forever. Night will fall, and a new day will dawn upon the remnants of us all.


(Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm.) The Gay Science. N.a. n.a. Print.


(Davies, Ray Douglas.) The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. The Kinks. Reprise Records, 1968. Vinyl recording.


Kipling, Rudyard. “Recessional.” 1897. Print.


Advanced Essay #3 (Identity and Child Abuse)

​My message for this essay is how negatively impacting a child's life at a young age can impact the development of the identity later on. identity can take time to form, sometimes even someone's whole life. When someone at a young age gets a negative vibe from someone, they will continue it on to someone else as they get older. People will see them as bad people. Someone will be able to develop their true self around a positive environment. I want people to make a change for children's lives based off of the fact that it can impact their lives and their identity.  

Hayley Barci

1-10-17

Child Abuse

The identities of children need to be developed over their experiences, The people around them can impact them as well as what they learn from them. However if their experiences were negative and put against them, it can impact how they create the self that fits who they are as people.

My father was, and still can be abusive towards me, however however I was thirteen and my parents were about to go to court, and I was a little concerned on how my father was treating me. He would threaten me, curse at me, and he would yell continuously. I then searched verbal abuse, I fit within almost all of the symptoms. I’ve never felt such fear as when I’m around my father. It’s really a cycle, my father was physically abused when he was a child, he would get hit with a belt, get hard shoes thrown at him. Somehow, that continued on to me, my theory was because he didn’t know how to cope with his past, what he has to deal with, so therefore, he takes it out on me. There are children all around the world suffer from child abuse, and people need to be more aware and stand up for what's right. We don’t want the cycle of abuse to continue throughout people’s families, we want children to peacefully be able to see the world through a positive lens. However, even throughout my experiences, I’m still trying to figure out who I am as a person. One’s identity should be cherished, not abused.

Identity is built upon experiences, environments, and the people you are surrounded by, all of these examples contribute to developing your true self. However, sometimes these things can become somewhat of a disaster to an identity. One’s self is also developed based upon experiences, and learning new things in our lives. Edward P. Jones wrote a story about a little girl on the first day of school, he quoted,”Mama, I can’t go to school?” The little girl stood still in shock as the woman her mother speaks to says that she cannot apply to the school she wanted to go to. Children are at a young age where they never really learned that much about who they are, their capabilities, and their true self.

As it was said earlier, identity takes time to fully develope, sometimes maybe even most of someone’s life. Thandie Newton once said during a TED Talk,” we are not born with a self, an identity.” She realized that we as people don’t know who we are the day we are born. It takes experiences and learning to develop a sense of who you are, and your identity. She also explains her own experiences to find her own identity. Your experience while finding your identity can be different from the person you're sitting next to. No one’s identity is the same, no one’s learning and processes are the same.    

I was inpatient in Fairmount hospital  multiple times, and many of the girls I was with shared their stories about their parents/guardians abusing them. But there was one story in particular that caught my eye. It was the beginning of the summer of 2016, and I was just one day from leaving inpatient. I shared a room with this one girl. She seemed to be calm enough to talk to her.  We began talking and we ended up speaking about our abuse stories. She then began talking about her mother, her father was never in her life, and because of the abuse she suffers from trauma. She would have several different outbursts, and because it put other lives at risk, she would have to be strapped onto a bed overnight or until she calmed down.

I began to get to know her a little more about her mother and what she did to her. Her mother would hurt them by punching and kicking her and her siblings. Her mother also barely gave them food, but when she did, her mother would make her and her siblings eat it off the floor. As she spoke these words flowing out of her mouth, I could see the sorrow within her voice. This is one of many experiences of child abuse.

These are a couple different stories of kids/teenagers who are or were suffering from child abuse. These stories connect to a matter of their identity and how it impact their lives. Each child was impacted in a different way, they don't each have the same reaction to other people’s actions. When it comes to one’s self, it can depend on the person and their experiences.

“Backing me into the corner until I was whimpering and crying, he would just walk away, satisfied with my distress,” This was a quote from a girl named Fiona, who decided to tell her story. She explained her idea of abuse by also demonstrating  her own experiences Her story was mainly about the verbal abuse she and her mother had to suffer from her step-father. She wanted the message to be known that abuse is no right in any way, shape, or form. Her purpose was to also encourage other children to stand up and speak, so that there can be positive changes before it impacts their life permanently. Just because it’s emotional or verbal, and it’s not physical doesn’t mean that it’s not abuse. Sometimes verbal/emotional abuse can have more longer term effects than physical abuse, however that depended upon the child.    

“We reported my dad to the police but there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him.” This story was spoken from a teenager named Tia, she suffered from sexual abuse provoked by her biological father who had just gotten released from jail. He would touch her in inappropriate places where he shouldn’t be. When she finally had the courage to tell her mother, they pressed charges against her father. However due to “the lack of evidence”, he got away with doing what he did to his own daughter. There are several different forms of abuse. However, they need to make sure that the abuser doesn’t treat other children the same way. The kids who were already suffering from the causes of abuse, need justice, they need some form of relief that the abuser will not strike upon other kids.  

There are several different effects of child abuse, like for example,” The most serious cases of abuse can end in death”.  Like it was said earlier, it’s depended upon the child and how they react to the actions of people surrounding them. People need to realize, that standing up for a child, can save their life, their sanity, even their identity. If children are treated poorly, they will react poorly to his/her actions. As they try to grow their ‘self’, they will struggle, they could turn to drugs, or even suicide. So therefore, identity is something that doesn’t happen in one day, it happens with time and patience. The developing of one's self, times time, and sometimes even most of someone’s life. When a child is getting abused, they will not be able to fit to the self that fits who they are and their personality.

You can make a change in many children's lives. One of the first steps to helping a child is that you can recognize the symptoms within their behavior. You can look up the symptoms on many websites like Nemours Kidshealth, can explain what child abuse is, different forms of it, and the symptoms as well. You can call for help to hospitals, police, and other emergency contacts. Another way you can change a child's life is when you speak up, and encourage them, and teach them what’s right and what’s wrong with how they are being treated. Patience is another way to help a child gain their strength and even their true identity back. Taking time with the child, take things one step at a time and help him/her cope with what they have to deal with. Identity is truly important in a child, don’t let them suffer because of someone else’s actions.    


Sources:
http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/child-abuse.html
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/fighting-for-childhood/childrens-stories-about-abuse/
Embracing Otherness, Embracing Myself- Thandie Newton TED Talk

Selves in Theater

Introduction: Theater uncovers your many “selves.”  Playing different characters makes a stronger person and grows their compassion for other “selves.”  I tell of my time in theater and how it has grown me and my “selves.”  I got the idea for this project from the video we watched in class.  Then when I “free wrote” about my life in theater, I just kept writing and got this piece.  Then of course I edited to get this final product.  This is a different structured essay then many of my other papers. I felt like it was necessary to talk about the meaning of selves more throughout the essay. Instead of doing the story in the beginning of the essay I did it in the middle.  I decided I should just try something new and see how it goes.


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Selves in Theater
As an actress I have to play many parts and put myself in different people's bodies.  I have to form my body into many different characteristics.  My body is like a etch a sketch to the theater.  Walking around a space, I am given a task to form my body in a certain way and to start acting like a self that is not my own.  Sometimes to get into my character I have to do a “roll up” and “roll down.”  This is a theatrical exercise where you “roll down” one vertebrae at a time as yourself and “roll up” as the character you are playing.  Theater can be an escape for people like it is for me.  I have always felt safe playing someone else.  It always came naturally to me to express and put on “other selves” through theater.  For me playing different selves helped me develop my true self.

My first role in theater was when I was 8.  This form of art helped me through a time I was going through puberty and other life changing challenges in my life.  The theater group I am a participant in, “Yes!And… Collaborative Arts,”  gives people a chance to grow up and figure different things out in this world.  For instance, over the summer we put on a play called “Paper Trail.”  This play was about six different situations that were going on in the world including the Stanford rape case, Flint water crises and the political debates involving Trump and Hillary.  We took these situations and three additional ones and acted them out through various theatrical genres. We portrayed the Stanford rape case as a 1950s musical; the Flint water crisis was portrayed as a movement piece; and the political debates as a abstract theater piece.  In the Stanford 1950s musical rape case, I played the rapist Brock Turner.  This was definitely a different experience for me having to play such an intense character.  At around the time I found out I was going to play Brock I found out about my friend getting raped.  This was a very hard topic to talk about but I felt the need to play this role to bring justice to my friend.  Being inside the head of such a awful person made me think of this world differently. It helped me grow on my thinking of the rapist and my knowledge on the Stanford rape case.  I learned about how Brock's family impacted his acts and the different influences in his life.  I also learned more about the white privilege and the fact that white men are less likely to stay in jail for heinous crimes.  An instance of white privilege is demonstrated in these song lyrics...

THE LESSONS LEARNED DON’T BE CONCERNED YOU’RE TOO WHITE TO BE PROPERLY CONDEMNED

OHHHH WE SAID IT. IF YOU WERE BLACK YOU’D FIND YOURSELF IN JAIL

WE SAID IT.

BUT YOUR PRIVILEGED CLASS

GONNA SAVE YOUR ASS

POCKET CHANGE WILL PAY FOR YOUR BAIL.”

These song lyrics from the play came after Brock found out he was receiving only a 3 month sentence,which is much shorter than many black people would get.

Theater has always been a way to cope, a way for me to step outside of myself.  It is a way for me to stretch myself and put on many different masks to uncover my identity.  For me the theater has always been that safe place.  Theater isn’t the outlet for everyone though.  Some people feel awkward or even stage fright.  This is okay, as there are many other methods of stretching your “selves,”  the point is you need to put yourself into other “selves” shoes to grow.  Even though the theater is a safe place for me, there are still actors and actresses that get confused in the process.  Some start to lose and get confused who their true “selves” are.  The thing is, how do we truly find ourselves and answer the question everyone wants to know: who are we?  We play so many roles in life depending who we are around.  Erving Goffman in the Performed Self video claims,“We display a series of masks to others, in acting roles, controlling and stageing how we appear.”  No matter who we are and no matter how secure we think we are as people it is normal for us to adapt to who is around us.  We as actors and actresses in this world want to try and fit into the right roles of a group of people.

Theater is a means to open our eyes and jump into many different selves as well to uncover the challenges others had to go through to be who they are.  This will help us not to get lost and grow vain and unconcerned of others, rather it empowers us to grow compassionate towards other and to grow into decent beings.  I can say that I would not be the same person I am today without theater.  I do not think I would be the caring and compassionate person I am today.  Using my theater skills I am able to put myself into other’s shoes, which is the key thing to do to grow in compassion for others.  In conclusion,  theater is a powerful medium in uncovering “many selfs” within an actor and actress, but it also an effective tool in growing more compassionate towards others as you are called to step into their shoes.

"Erving Goffman and the Performed Self." YouTube. N.p., 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.https://youtu.be/6Z0XS-QLDWM

“Paper Trails: Finale Of Stanford Peice” 2016 Brooke Sextonhttps://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1nGRElZ5_kyVP_v0vxLSlPWMRKsAEMTJHy670dRrq4z4/edit?usp=sharing

Tragic Events From a Browser

Introduction
This essay will show how tragic events that we see on a browser can affect people in certain ways or forms and how we react to the tragic events that happened in the past.

Essay

For my thesis, the deaths of tragic happenings from a browser makes us feel closer because it feels like we are actually there witnessing the tragic happenings with our eyes. For my essay I am going to talk about how Tragic events that happen that are in your browser will make you feel closer to that tragic crisis. Now there still tragic things happening around the world to this, but I am going to talk about certain tragic events that have happened. In the article Ghost in the Machines, it points out how we feel closer to the That have died that are our browser. In Ghost in the Machines, by  Jenna Wortham notes the significance of the mass shootings: “The mass shootings in Paris and San Bernardino felt, somehow, closer to our lives because they played out on our screens and in our browsers.” The reason I chose this quote is because it shows that even though we were not there, but since we see it from a browser it makes us feel bad for those people who were in that tragic happening.


The world going on the internet shows that we do not ignore the tragic things that happened in the past and even the present. From Ghost in the Machines by Jenna Wortham notes the significance of us not ignoring the people who died: We have seen how people used social media to ensure that Americans did not ignore the deaths of people like Freddie Gray, Walter Scott and Sandra Bland, amplifying them into a rallying cry for justice. The reason I chose this quote is because it shows that people that we do not know, but they still have an impact in our lives somehow.


Everytime we go on to our browser, there are new tragic deaths being posted on the internet and we pray that it is not one of our friends or family members were in that tragic event. Here is a quote that supports this statement: With the exception of our friends and closest kin, we typically encounter news of deaths through social media. It shows that there are new tragic events happening every single day and we hope that it is not the people we love that are in that tragic event.

Tragic events can show us that what we watch can affect you as a person. What this means is that what we watch can have affect your life in a small way or in a drastic way for some people. For some they wouldn’t even care about what happened to people in that tragedy. It could have been your friends or even one of your family members, but some people do care because they feel bad for the people who were in that tragedy. What I am saying is that the tragedies that we see on our very own browser can affect one way or another.


Advanced Essay #3: Memories of the Block

Introduction:
For this paper, I wrote about how your neighborhood effects you as you grow up and even after you leave where you're from. To me, where you begin impacts your identity and who and what you were exposed to in those years. My goals for this essay were to portray how I myself like to hold onto memories and carry my past with me, and I contrast this to how you need to be able to let go in order to grow. For this essay, I feel like it was pretty personal and something I was passionate about which made it flow much easier for me. The idea and drafts came easy to me, so this was an especially smooth process. I am pretty proud of how it came out and feel like this is the most effort I've put in all year.

Essay:

I used to have a little table in my living room. I would sit and keep myself busy for hours making paper dolls, watches, and whatever invention popped into my four year old mind. Any time I heard someone yell outside on the street or the sound of bike tires against the pavement, I would rush to the window and peek through the curtain with excitement to see if it was the boys. I would beg my mom to let me out the door, in dire need of seeing my friends of the block. There was Ivan, who was lanky and funny, and was the oldest of the group. We liked to play Lego Star Wars on Xbox together, even though I was never any good. There was Sal, his full name Salvador, which I could never get quite right, and he would always tease me for it. There was Owen, who had moved there just for a year or two and who we didn’t see all that much, but was a part of our playful group on occasion. Then there was Nick. My little heart used to flutter every time I laid eyes on him. He wore the South Philly boy tank tops, had one diamond earring, and was the definition of perfect to a younger version of myself. They were like the band of brothers I never had. I was the baby of the group they all looked after. We would run around the street all day long, finding chalk and bubbles, riding our scooters and bikes, like a bunch of best friends.

I felt a sense of belonging on that little street wedged into the culture of South Philadelphia. I had found my people: kids who came from where I came from, but with totally different backgrounds. Nick’s mother had died when he was young, and his father seemed to be addicted to some drugs, from what my family could make of his characteristics. Nick had a good heart with good intentions, but my mom would always say she knew he could be trouble. As for me, I was just a little middle class girl going to private school, but just loving being a part of something. To he honest, we didn’t know too much about one another. They had all only been into my house for my birthday party one year, but other than that everything stayed on the street. I didn’t even know their last names, but somehow it didn’t matter. We were so contrasting in what our lives consisted of, but that neighborhood brought us together regardless.

My family had decided to pick up and relocate further down Washington Avenue, only 15 or so blocks more South. I missed turning the corner and playing on the swings of my childhood at Palumbo park, or walking to Anthony’s for an iced coffee on the weekends. I didn’t want to disconnect from where I grew up, where I felt so deeply rooted and surrounded by the comforts of familiarity. I am one to linger on every piece of my past, each memory permanently etched into the background of my brain travelling with me and piling up in stacks. I am terrified of letting even one memory slip away.

Once I moved, I missed my old friends. The ones who were always there for me. I only saw Nick one time after, many years later. He had grown to be slender, like a twig. He still wore his white tank tops, and was every bit as charming as I had remembered. As he walked by I suddenly began to feel sorry for him. His being had a looming sadness to it, he seemed the same as he did before and I worried he would never change. Would he always be stuck in the little house on the corner, taking care of himself and trying to make it on his own? He was a good kid, at least he was in my eyes. He always protected me and cared for me, and that was all I could ever ask of him. He showed me what it was like to have someone you could always count on and look up to As he turned to the street and left my field of vision, and I knew we would never cross paths again. It hit me in that moment that I didn't know him anymore. If I had gotten up and ran over to him, like I could when I was younger, I didn't think he would even know who I was. Nick was the living, breathing evidence of how I no longer fit in. I locked my eyes onto him for as long as I could, soaking in every detail which I knew would soon fade away.

Even though we no longer share Montrose street, that will always be where we grew up. Everyone has a starting place, a home town. Each neighborhood has their own traits, things that make it home. We all carry the ghosts of our childhood along with us, trailing us no matter how far away we wander. This is true of my little sliver of South Philly, and can be seen replicating across the entirety of Philadelphia. A Northern Liberties native commented, “I want everyone to know that we used to play there and that the ghosts of our past remain there playing indefinitely while new tenants live their everyday lives. Things change, but the memories will always remain.” This thought came from Ava Olsen, a girl who grew up in Northern Liberties which is her own neighborhood she called home. There was an empty lot in which all of her and her neighborhood friends used to play, but got converted into new houses. She delves into the thinking that memories are a part of us, woven into our skin, embedded into our eyes and stained to our thoughts. The names of the corner stores will continue to change, the houses you used to know will be filled with new strangers, but nothing can strip away what you take with you from your childhood.

This is a natural evolution of a neighborhood and happens continuously and everywhere. No corner can escape it, and this is a weight we all carry on our shoulders. Having to let go of the smell of spaghetti at my favorite Italian restaurant down the block, or the memory of walking into the spice shop and the old woman giving me free sprinkles to bake my favorite cupcakes. Slowly, day by day, these memories will fade, becoming less vibrant as the seconds tick past. There are too many memories and moments to carry, our brains overflowing with attempts to cram in all we have endured. None of us can grip all of them; they always manage to slip through the cracks. Where we are from still defines us however, because those memories have still molded us in miniscule ways that build up to who we are now. We are all forced to grow and learn from our past, but not cling to it so heavily that we cannot evolve in the future. Our neighborhoods give us a basis for all that we are exposed to. No matter how far we stray or when we leave our origin, our neighborhoods will always be scattered with pieces of us, and we will never forget where we came from.


Sources:

Olsen, Ava. Street Note: Northern Liberties. Re-Place-ing organization.

http://re-place-ing.org/content/street-note-12

Advanced Essay #3: What Makes Us, Us

Introduction:


My goal for the paper was to be patient in my writing, and to learn something about either my writing skill or the topic I wrote about, or both.  I think I did a good job not rushing too much, using techniques like reading out loud and listening to the advice from the video we watched in class about how writing is all about revision.  I could have spread the writing out better rather than working for longer periods of time for certain days that way I could pick up more easily, however I wanted to write when I was in the best mood or had an idea.  I learned I can be a patient writer, but not to the point of starting from scratch.  I’d rather change and delete and change and delete, until the paper is how I like it.  I think that can be seen if my paper is compared to my rough draft.

Advanced Essay #3:  What Makes Us, Us


What is the ultimate factor in figuring out our own identities?  Objects can be useful in explaining identity, by personifying them and showing how identity is determined through change.  In an example of a scenario from the video, “Who Am I?” by Amy Adkins, the idea of persistence of identity is brought up.  The video says that the “I” is always changing and is made up of many things, so it is extremely difficult to explain identity.  This essay will explore the most important pieces to all of our identities, and consider the question, “What types of changes cause a change in identity”?  

In the video, a ship made of many planks of wood is constantly being repaired with new planks.  The process is very gradual, but eventually there are more new than old planks, and after even longer the boat is made of all new planks.  Physically the boat is completely different than originally.  However, its identity remains the same.  After a 100% physical change, there was not a point in time where the ship was not itself anymore.  The meat of what makes up our identities is our experiences, memories, and actions.

The past does not go away, and links people to previous versions of themselves, making our experiences an important element of Identity. More experiences are added to our lives along the way, however the old ones are always there, a constant piece of us throughout changes and additions to our bodies and minds.  Going back to the ship analogy, the reason it can identify as the same ship as it was before any repairs were made is because of its experience. Physically it is 100% different when all the planks are replaced, similarly to how a person is physically much different after a long time.  

Suppose there are two people who look alike, even identical twins.  They both identity as separate individuals, and have their own identity.  Physical characteristics have some measure in defining us, but they are not totally unique or long lasting, and actually mean less to us.

20th Century Moral philosopher Bernard Williams proposed an experiment.  The premise is that two people would swap brains, and then have to decide if they would want the body they had originally came into the situation with to be rewarded and the body with their mental content now to be tortured, or vice versa.  Practically everyone asked this question chooses the body where their mental content now is to be rewarded and their old body to be tortured.  This shows that physicality does not define our identities as strongly as our experiences and memories, because we see more value of ourselves in our mind than body.

Hank Green in a Crash Course Philosophy video opines his thoughts on identity, reasoning that, “Personal Identity persists over time because you remain in the same body from birth until death.” The body changes, but the important thing to draw from this quote is that since we are in one body all this time, we can be identified by our past and actions we made.  We all have our own unique actions that remain the same, and speak a lot about us.  Our actions show where we stand, and express our desires.

Identity is based on experiences, memories, and actions, because they are all tightly linked to us regardless of anything.  We are all recognizable by these three things, all enveloped by our experiences.  Our experiences defines us because they are everything that has happened to us in our entire lives, through all changes.  In a change of identity, our experiences still defines us because they are never wrong in telling us about ourselves.  How could they be? They are our life story.  



Work Cited

Adkins, Amy. “Who Am I?.” Youtube. TED-Ed, 13 January 2017    <https://youtu.be/UHwVyplU3Pg>.                   

Green, Hank.  “Crash Course Philosophy #19.” Youtube.  PBS, 27 June 2016.  13 January 2017. <https://youtu.be/trqDnLNRuSc>.

Advanced Essay #3 "Identity & Belonging

Goals for my paper is for it to be understood when read. I want the read to know my theme and see both arguments of my paper. I also want them to agree with me by convincing them with my piece. My process was to start typing and whatever idea I liked I kept. When I or a peer edit saw a grammar mistake I fixed it. 


Identity is who you are. Belonging is wanting to be associated with a certain group. I believe a feeling of belonging is being with society as a whole, and someone belonging is them wanting to be with the rest of society. But can we fully belong to something? And if we do, is it to ourselves or society?

Society can and cannot co-exist with identity because that's what you are, rather than belonging to society. It can when you fit a standard in a certain belonging. For example, if you belong to a church. and the church is against homosexuality.  There was a boy named danny that belonged to a church in his neighborhood. He was cast aside by the church when he come out as gay, and didn't want to get “treated” for a mental disorder like the church suggested. “​Danny’s church would either recommend celibacy or reparative therapy—a widely discredited form of treatment that identifies homosexuality as a mental disorder with the goal of converting people to heterosexuality—to congregants who identified themselves as gay or lesbian.” Because Danny couldn’t fit into this type of society, he was shunned and cast aside because he classified as something different than the church's beliefs. Looking closely, it looks like if someone doesn’t agree with the rest of society, they will throw anyone who disagrees away. Danny fully belongs to himself, accepting his identity. Even though he does not belong to the church anymore.



A a referee that was openly gay faced a lot of criticism from people in society. He was harassed by a player from a team. The player was suspended but that did not erase the thought that there is still hate from others. “I’ve seen myself and not because of anything you did.” This ref believed in himself instead of what society thinks. He continued his job. He chose himself over society. Here, the worth of society is not valued. The Ref stuck with his identity and didn’t change himself from the criticism and harassment he received.


Anyone that is poor is unfortunate. Of course they don’t want to identify as being in the low class. But that’s where they belong. This world consists of people who want money, such as taxes for the government. When you are expected to pay money for something, but don’t have it, you are looked down upon. “ It’s the same type of problem poor people encounter every day, multiple times: The demands of the moment override the demands of the future, making that future harder to reach.” A poor person’s goal is to be able to have money like the middle class can, or even be rich. But people in society put pressure on these people to do better to achieve that goal. This is because they are already struggling with not having money, but now they are expected to pay things like everyone else even though they can’t. Belonging and identity co-exist here because this person identifies as poor (unfortunately), and they belong in the low class since they don’t have money.



American is one of the most proud countries in the world. We, unlike many, have patriotism. In which we are very serious and interested in our country's politics. But because of that, we look down on people who live in America and identify as something other than American. Olympic athletes were criticized for playing for other countries when they are American.“For an event that represents so much national pride, where victories or defeats live in lore for decades, many athletes will represent another country, either because of heritage or because it may be the only way they could compete in the games.” These competitors tried out for countries their heritage is from because they wanted to compete for their ancestors, or it was their only chance to compete in the Olympic. To make the American team is really hard, even if you are a powerful athlete. These athletes choose to identify as another country, since they have it in their blood. They belong to play for American some would think. But they identify for another country. For this, many Americans criticize them. “In the eyes of the athletes competing under the flag of a country that’s not home, they’re competing in the Olympic spirit as much as anyone else.” It is an honor to be in the Olympics. Athletes will take any chance they get to make it their. Therefore, Identity and belonging do not co-exist here.

Identity and belonging can co-exist but be very different. How you perceive it is your opinion. But we have to realize that we should not shut others out from society because they are different.



Stalker Love

This is a story of the incident of a guy, Jackson and he was kidnapped, and the love crazy stalker, Clementine. She takes the girls boyfriend now it’s up to her and the detective, Nicole, to find him. Watch the show to see how well the both of them crack the code.

Cast
Payton:Taylor
Adil:Jackson
Shyann:Clementine
DectiveNicole:Angelyque

I miss you - Best Personal Essay Ever


All I remember was standing there seeing his lifeless body laying on the bed. Covered with white sheets, I was afraid to remove it to see his face. What would be different if we stopped him sooner? I asked myself over and over again but knew that we were too late. I  remember being at school, in the back office room with a few other people, getting ready to order some food. Playing with a pair of scissors and talking to everyone, I checked the time and I noticed that I have received a text from my mother. “He passed.” I didn’t quite understand what she meant by this so I asked her for confirmation, “What do you mean?” She replies with a heart stopping text “Grandpa left us baby, he’s gone. ” My heart sunk and broke into a million pieces. I didn’t really know how to react. I dropped the pair of scissors I was playing with and suddenly began to cry. I just sat there for a good 5 minutes crying my eyes out before the man told me to go talk to my homeroom teacher. I was brought to her by one of the girls I was with and I remember having my head down the whole time I walked. When I got to the room, all the teachers who was eating lunch together stopped to look at me and then asked what was wrong. I told them what had happened. I remember her asking me if I wanted to go home, and at first I said no. She then told me to go to lunch with the others and if I felt like I wasn’t going to be okay I could go back to her and tell her I want to go home. I walked into the lunchroom, still crying, unaware of the many heads that turned to watch me as I walked in. Certain people that I knew ran up to me and hugged me asking “What’s wrong?” “Are you okay?” “Omg, what happened?” I didn’t know how to answer and it triggered me so I began to cry harder. My friend Melanie brought me back to my teacher and I told her I wanted to go home. She allowed me to call my mother, “mommy, i wanna come home” she said “ok baby nemo is gonna pick you up.” And “nemo” is what we call my cousin. when he arrived to the school, He signed me out and i remember the office ladies saying to me “i hope you feel better honey!” before I walked out. I got into the car and my cousin looks at me and says “you ready?” i answered with “no” and he said “stop crying, everything's gonna be okay my dear” and I slowly stopped crying. I then remember pulling up to my house not wanting to walk out of the car. “Let’s go my dear” he said as he walked up the steps to my house with his head down. As soon as I walked into the door, the first person I saw was my Aunt Lisa and I ran straight to her and began to cry in her shoulders. She rubbed my back telling me he was in a better place and that I should go and comfort my grandmother. When it was my turn to say goodbye I could think of nothing but his smiles. My grandpa was always the one to make me smile as I was younger. I remember Christmas of 2006, I was afraid to open all my christmas presents. I cried until he would pick me up and put me in his bed and I would automatically calm down. He would pat my back and hum me a song in Cambodian, until I fell asleep. It breaks my heart everyday thinking about how life would be if we still had him with us, physically. My family probably would be more happy and more put together. He was such a great man, the strongest man I knew. I  miss him so much. I felt like his death was my fault and that I jinxed it. Everyday since he passed away, I could think of nothing but the fact that it really could have been my fault. The reason why I thought it was my fault was because the day after I saw “The Fault in our Stars” he  passed away.

Film Review: Finding Dory

dory-list
dory-list

“Finding Dory” is a sequel to “Finding Nemo” a movie where a clownfish named Marlon travels across the ocean to find his son Nemo who has been taken by scuba divers.  Along the way he runs into a fish named Dory who suffers from short term memory lost and travels the sea with Marlon on search for his son.  “Finding Dory” has the viewer jumping between emotions just as “Finding Nemo” did.  In the second installment of the the franchise we see our favorite forgetful blue bodied yellow tailed fish on the hunt for her home and family.  She is joined on her journey by Marlon a clownfish that we were introduced to in “Finding Nemo” and his son Nemo.  In their travels across the ocean to seek out Dory’s long lost family the puzzle pieces that happen to be Dory’s memory start to come together.  They come across old friends and make new friends, and go through a life threatening situation.  With her unsuspected smart choices and good wit Dory gets a lot further in her quest than anyone could’ve expected.  I recommend everyone to see this heart warming movie that puts you on a rollercoaster of emotion and if you have not seen the first installment of the franchise “Finding Nemo”, that is a must see as well.

This movie passes the requirements for both the Mako Mori test and the Bechdel test.  For the bechdel test there are two female characters that have a conversation about something other than a man.  This movie also passes the mako mori test because the main character is a female and the movie tells her story, therefore she has her own narrative and it does not support a male’s story.  Dory is an unexpectedly strong character who discovers her problem and figures out a way to fix it.

Finding Dory passes my gender bias test by during somewhere in the franchise the female character supports the male’s story and the male character supports the female’s story.  In Finding Nemo, Dory supports Marlon’s story by tagging along with him and helping him find his son, but in Finding Dory Marlon and his son Nemo help Dory on her journey so therefore they support her story .

E1 U3 Amira, Nasya, and Orlando "El Poltergeist y la Escuela embrujada"

Characters:

Lando como Alejandro

Nasya Ie como Adaline

Amira como Candace Former member: Olu como Zanny
#WalkingCorpseShy


Setting: Haunted school

Story/Description:
3 adventurous teenagers are going to a haunted
school. Alejandro was the one who lead them there, Adaline was excited while Candace was scared. The adventure seems to be deadlier than they thought… They experience scary situations, and one of them gets possessed… will they make it out alive.. Or not.

Film Review - Gender Bias Lens

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (more commonly known as Star Wars: Rogue One) is a space opera and war story starring Felicity Jones. Taking place between the events of Episode III and Episode IV, former imperial scientist Galen Erso is taken away from his by Orson Krennic to help design and build a superweapon called the Death Star for the Empire. Years later, his daughter, Jyn Erso, is sought out by the Rebel Alliance to find her father to retrieve the plans for the Death Star so the Rebels can have an edge in the fight against the Empire. The movie acts as a bridge to both the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy while also tying up the loose ends that appeared in Episode IV as well. It also fleshes out many different elements of the story that were not touched on before.

Jyn Erso plays a very strong role in the film as it’s leading role. It fleshes out her character arc from the beginning where she was separated from her father to helping the Rebels in the present. Because of this, it passes the Mako Mori test with flying colors. She has her own character arc that not only does not support anyone else’s arc but, has other story arcs supporting hers. One example being the arc of Galen Erso’s involvement in the Death Star’s construction being a story element that supports Jyn’s story arc.

It passes the Bechdel Test by a slim margin as there are at least three conversations that female characters have with each other in the whole film. One of which being Mon Mothma where she briefs Jyn on her mission to find her father. All of the other ones are with extras and side character that are not too relevant. Even so, the movie still passes the test in a satisfying manner.

My test wanted to focus on something that this movie does not necessarily excel at: represent of women of color. My test is called the diversity pass test because I feel like casting director will throw a person of color into the film but, will not put in the work to flesh their character out or just make them a side character. Their only objective seems to be to fill some very shallow quota they have in their mind. My test requires at least non-white woman who has her own fleshed out character arc that does not support a man’s story and if there is more than one non-white woman in the film, then they cannot be similar in terms of character and personality. They must be wholly original characters that are not a product of stereotypes.

The fact that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is able to pass at least one of these tests is an achievement in of itself. Even though representation can be improved in this film and this franchise as whole but, passing one of these tests is quite rare in Hollywood. These tests can help further improve the issue of representation in America.

E1 U4 Telenovela: "Chicas Antipáticas y un Chico."

Personajes (characters)

Casey - Christina

Gabriela - Dasia

Carrie - Michaela

Bruno - Keyonne

Casey is the new girl and starts off high school pretty rough. She meets the Mean Girls crew and that one guy “Chicas Antipáticas y Uno Chico” and immediately tries to fit in. She starts rumors about Bruno and everyone of her other friends making them turn against each other. Casey starts to take Bruno’s spot. Casey starts to become Bruno while Bruno slowly becomes Casey. Carrie wants revenge on Keyonne for his “Rumors” that he “started”. Watch to find out what happens to Bruno and the girls relationship.

El asunto

Introduction:

Adam a hardcore player makes a big mistake. He invites two women to dinner at the same time:  Melissa, the one he is having a love affair with, and Gabrielle his wife. He get’s his friend Jose the waiter to help him get away with this scheme. Will he succeed or will he fail miserably and end up with a broken heart? Find out on this episode ofEl asunto.”


Cast:

Kyla Gladney-Enos como Melissa

Teyonna Little como Gabrielle

Benjamin Rivera como Jose

Asnain Khan como Adam


E1 U4 Telenovela : "¿Quién Eres Tú?"

Julio and Rosalita have been bound by marriage but separated by their own endeavors outside of their home life. Both Julio and Rosalita have secrets to hide but none want them to be revealed. Watch the telenovela “Quién Eres Tú?” to see what happens when one of Julio’s biggest secrets gets revealed and how his wife reacts to it…

Amani como Rosalita Jeremiah como Julio Alexis como Natalia John como Sebastián

(Also available on Alexis’ personal blog)

E1 U4 Telenovela: "Innocent"

The story starts off at a news station where the live report of a robbery in the school store begins. Paul a cop watches the newscast, and then begins investigating the case. Paul has a conversation with the celebrity, and then interrogates the civilian. After, another robbery is plotted...


​Personajes
Justin como Cop
Mamadou como civilian
Joziah como 808
Joziah como Celebrity
Bobby como robber

Beyond the gender

On November 14, 2014 the movie “Beyond the Lights was released in theatres in the US. The Pg-13 drama film was advertised everywhere on billboards and the trailers were almost on everything. The film stars main characters actress Gugu Mbatha- Raw as Noni, and actor Nate Parker as Kaz/ Officer Nicol. Both have very different careers, but the influences of their parents comes between and the love affair that develops between the two. Noni is a heartthrob singer who everyone loves, and her mother is the manager of the her. Her mother also played by Minnie Driver, only wants her daughter to match what society’s choices of her talent. Noni wear minimal amounts of clothing throughout the movie, and her mother encourages it and makes her think it is okay to be sexual. With the amount of fame that she has, Noni feeds into the light of fame given to her. On the other hand we have a police officer named Kaz Nicol who has a father who wants him to walk in the same shoes as he did, and Kaz has a few disagreements with it after meeting Noni.beyondthelights.jpg


The film does a great job in terms of meeting the mako mori test, because Noni the superstar has her own storyline of her life as growing up with a talent of singing and a single mother as a manager. If anything, the police officer was supporting Noni’s story as the movie goes on. It includes multiple women throughout the movie who illustrate that they serve an importance without the idea of backing up or being beside a man. On the other hand the movie does not meet up to the expectations of the Bechdel test, because Noni and her mother discussed the issues with boys intervening with her career as a superstar. The rationale behind the Bechdel Test and the Mako Mori test is to focus on the typical stereotypical roles women are given throughout tons of films that are not that popular, because men play bigger roles than the women.

Screenshot 2017-01-10 at 8.58.30 AM.png


An anti- gender bias film test that I would like to see pop up in some films, is more movies about single dad. A lot of movies emphasize the women always being left with the child/children and exploring their journey with that amount of responsibility on their lives. The men are typically categorized as leaving the mom with her kids, when their should be more focus on the dad’s who are forced to play both parent roles when the mother leaves or passes away. For instance, the movie Jump In emphasized what is was like for the dad being forced to play both parent roles for the two children he was raising. Not every situation should fit the stereotype of the dad leaving the mom to raise the kids they both had.


E1 U4 Telenovela: No Puedo Más

Intro:This telenovela is about Domínico (played by the witty Tim) who has been an unfulfilling and lazy boyfriend of Veronica (played by Mayah). Veronica is tired of it! Watch as she meets (and cheats) with the adventurous Cecilia (played by the stunning Odilia). Will he find out that she has been unfaithful? Watch as the drama unfolds!


Personajes

Timothy Williams como Domínico

Odillia como Cecilia

Mayah Gold como Veronica