Language and Identity                              

    Language, the way you speak, shows a lot about your identity. Where I live, the way I talk might sound really strange to someone who lives in Canada because they’re both different accents. Language has a huge impact on people’s lives. Say if you were going to a job interview and you talk with a kind of slang and the person who is also going for the same interview talk more “properly”, the person who talks in a proper way is more likely to get the job. Why? Because it is easier to understand what they are saying, and they seem more professional. This might not be fair, it might not be your fault if you talk with slang. It might just be where you grew up or the people you were around most could influence the way you speak.

   “Ms. Bier told me my legs were completely bent doing basically every trick. Now she’s making me practice pointing and straightening my legs. I my routine was good, she never comments on the good things I do.”

    “Sometimes when you talk your accent gets really bad. It’s so easy to tell you’re from Roxborough. It’s really funny.” My friend Vanessa really confused me when she said that. What did she mean Roxborough accent? Roxborough’s only ten minutes away from where she lived, she talks the same way I do. My friend would make comments like that all the time, she would say I talked almost as if I was from South Philadelphia, which apparently sounds different from other places in Philadelphia. Vanessa said it’s really easy to tell where I live. That got me thinking about the way I speak. It was the first time someone has ever commented on the way I talk. I didn’t think I sounded any different from the way she did. She almost made fun of the way I would say some words, and would repeat them in almost a mocking way. When she would point out the words I would say “weirdly” I would become very aware of the way I pronounced my words. Before I’d say a word I’d make a conscious effort not to sound like I was from Roxborough because my friend almost made it seem like my accent made me sound dumb. I started to listen to the people from my neighborhood speak, and I too began to think they did have weird accents. Because I was so conscious of the way I talked in front of my friends not from Roxborough, I think I trained myself to lose the accent, if you could even call it that. I would also listen to the way my family spoke to see if I could tell a difference in their voices. I noticed my grandma talked different from my aunt. My grandma was raised in North Philly, and my aunt was raised is Wissahickon. My grandma didn’t have a very distinct way of talking, she talked “normally” but my aunt sounded like most of the people in my neighborhood.

    I’m really aware of the way people, including myself, talk now. I don’t necessarily judge them and put labels on them if they speak different then me. I find it interesting when I listen to the way people in my neighborhood speak, if you go down to lower Roxborough a lot of people have a very distinct way of talking. You can really hear it when they say words with r’s because they kind of drag it out in a way. Now that I pay more attention to speech, I’ve noticed that people that are higher up when it comes to jobs, don’t talk with slang. They pronounce every word in a way that is very clear and understandable. You don’t see a lot of people who speak in almost a slang type way in higher up job. When you think of the president, you think of an all American man or woman who is very proper and prosise not someone who . When people hear someone talking with slang, they assume they are not well educated. That could be why people who talk with slang either change the way the speak so they can have to higher job position, or they do not get hired. Just because someone does talk in slang may not mean they are not well educated.

    I never realized language was a part of my identity. Nor did I realize I had an accent, people from places like where I live generally don’t realize that the way we speak is different. We aren’t really known for our accents like other places may be, like some of the southern states, or Boston. I never realized that it was a part of my identity until it was pointed out to me. Of course, I associated accents with the identity of other people because it was so obvious, if english was their second language. Language is a huge part of everyone’s identity. It doesn’t identify how educated someone is, as many people associate the two. It does however show where you live in the world because of the way you talk. Many people never think of language as something you can be identified with, personally I do.

Since middle school I have always involved my art work compared to other historical and famous artist. When I came high school I started to look at myself as an artist and see how I could improve my artistry. I am starting to look at my work and making sure that I have attention from people that have expertise on art work. I also feel that many times I seem to compare my artwork to people that are very advanced and I need to make sure I start on my level.

What influences me the most is the things around me. I look at the cultures and the fads nowadays, and look at what I can continue my artistry on. I also think that the things that I have done in this class is juxtaposition to what I want I think are recent and popular nowadays.

I want other people to understand that my artwork is very free. It has no constrictions or follows any rules. I like how I can make my art very open to my audience and make them interpret it anyway they want. I also think that I kind of put my twist into my artwork and make it so people know that it is my art work.

Thus making me grow from my artwork. I like that I can change my artist depending on what is popular or how I adapted. I like how I adapted throughout middle school and through high school. I think that my art has been interpreted through the projects I have done this quarter.

Fashion In Music

The way people are is a reflection of someone else or a collection of things deriving from other people. The way hip hop affects violence it also influences many of its sub-cultures. In the 80’s when hip-hop began to take on the face of hardcore rap with groups such as NWA is when rap was born and it completely took over the minds of people. Rap gains more negative attention than it does positive. The way rap artists carry themselves in most cases is considered ‘ghetto’ though they influence more  than just black people that is often the misconception. When the consumer sees something in a magazine naturally someone might want it. Rap music videos have this same affect on the minds of people which helps formulate the minds of them at a young age. Fashion can influence the minds of people Fashion can also make them feel obligated to be a consumer because of popularity of the project.

Artists have casual fans, but also dedicated fanatics who support them despite the ongoing evolution of them. For example, Kanye West is one of the most influential artists of all time; his following of both kinds of fans is huge. Kanye has a large catalogue of not just music but clothing and footwear as well. Kanye arguably has the largest sneaker of all time; the Nike Air Yeezy series has made itself one of Nike’s largest releases besides competitors under Nike such as Jordan, Kobe, and Lebron’s sneakers.  

Recently, the Air Yeezy 2 ‘Red October,’ which retail for $245, caused a lot of excitement to Kanye fans and the sneaker world. There has been much speculation as to whose sneakers are more popular between Kanye and Michael Jordan until Kanye in his song “New God Flow”  silenced all critics when he said “Hold up I ain’t tryin to stunt man but the Yeezy’s jumped over the jumpman, went from the most hated to the champion god flow guess thats a feeling only me and LeBron know.” Here he clearly states that his sneaker has reached  a standard as the “God” of shoes; he quotes his Air Yeezy’s jumped over the jumpman.

In these very instances the consumer does not realize that Kanye is marketing himself and his brand the consumer only hears what he is saying and they feel inclined to have that shoe in addition to the fact Kanye is comparing himself to GOD! He later makes his longing for Godly status more apparent in his most recent 2013 album titled “Yeezus”.  The relevance of Kanye makes him one of the most powerful entertainers on the planet. After the discontinuation of Air Yeezys the Red Octobers released making the value of them extremely high.

The Red October released back in February on nike.com selling out worldwide in only 11 minutes. Nike released these shoes in the midst of a feud between they and Kanye; Ye’ later went to multiple radio stations to remind the world of how displeased he was with the release that no one saw coming. Nike’s website along with footlocker were crashed due to sneakerheads and Kanye fans combined itching to be the first with the Red October priced at $245 retail. In consignment stores such as Flight Club NY & LA they carry the Air Yeezy series these sneakers are priced from anywhere to 2,500-1,000,000. The consumer spends their last to afford this shoe just to be like Kanye he projects himself as a godly figure people follow him like he is Jesus which is why he calls himself Jesus.

After the excitement of the Red Octobers went down fans always wanted to know what was next from Kanye. The biggest Kanye fans buy all of his highly expensive clothing whether it be the Yeezys, his A.P.C. line or his collaborations with Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, and other big named designers. People feel that the way he projects himself as an artist makes fans feel as though they need his product, his Air Yeezys are so rare that he cannot sell them in stores at that retail price, which is why they were released online. Jordan release lines are often around the corner and down the block but never do they crash twitter and the nike website.

Hip-Hop as a whole has major influence on what its followers feel like they must have in their closets, yet again fashion combined with music influences the minds of people and makes them feel obligated to be a consumer.

If an art has a huge effect on a large group of people it is important that it promotes positive things. In addition to the fact that people will spend their last to look like who they look up to it is important that the consumer understands that the artists specifically are promoting other brands to generate revenue and not to overspend.

• Bibliography

• Website Title: Shmoop.com

• Article Title: Kanye West Influences

• Publisher: Shmoop University, Inc.

• Electronically Published: November 11, 2008

• Date Accessed: October 23, 2014

• Author: Shmoop Editorial Team

• http://www.shmoop.com/through-the-wire/influences.html

Website Title: Refinery29.com

Article Title: The Kanye West Guide To Everything In Fashion

Publisher:JULIANNE ESCOBEDO SHEPHERD

Electronically Published: June 17th 2014

Date Accessed: October 23, 2014

http://www.refinery29.com/2014/06/69622/kanye-fashion-influence

• Website Title: Terapeak Blog

• Article Title: Terapeak Trends: Nike’s Air Yeezy Red October Does $1.4 Mill[…]

• Date Accessed: October 23, 2014

• http://www.terapeak.com/blog/2014/02/21/terapeak-trends-nikes-air-yeezy-red-october-does-1.4-million-in-first-week/#.VEk_movF_uc

• Website Title: KicksOnFirecom

• Article Title: Nike Air Yeezy 2 - KicksOnFire.com

• Date Accessed: October 23, 2014

• http://www.kicksonfire.com/tag/nike-air-yeezy-2/

• Website Title: AskMen

• Article Title: The Most Influential Man In Music

• Date Accessed: October 23, 2014

• http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/special_feature_3700/3760_the-most-influential-man-in-music.html

“Identity+Language=You”

“Whuya Meee! STOP KECKING! Para, Por Favor, Me duele!” I yelled

“NO, Shut up, you STUPID MEXICAN!!? ENGLISH!!!” Yelled the boy that was kicking.

“Stop, PLEESES!?” I yelled as the pain started burn as if they sat my body on fire.

I was the bullies punching bag, or as they said “The MEXICAN trash bag”. I’d sometimes wish that I was die. Not being able to pronounce word in the  third-fifth grade, it makes you stupid, dumb and worthless, that you're no good in this world. I didn’t know why people bullied me for. I’d cried all night, wishing that someday it would stop, and wishing to correct my english too! English is too hard!

“I no like thet projeck” I get made fun off for a long time from these stupid project, reason was about me and where I’m from and all the other thing. This was my second year at Olney Elementary School. The year before, people kept asking me where you taco, other  asking “Can you go do yard” I’d cried because I was scared, I never did nothing about, because I was weak, fat and slow at everything. People didn’t like me, maybe because I wasn’t cool for them. Many people said that I was stupid for what I did, for example I’d help the teacher clean up in whatever we did in class. My parents raise to help people and care and not be mean or rude to other, so that people wouldn’t do back. I was that one kid that the teachers like but not the student.

“Stupid!”

“Ugly monkey!”

“Go make me taco! Or go my yard!”

This was all 4th grade year. It was that dumb project, people don’t need to know where I’m from and what I do or don’t, what I believe and don’t. All I had is to go thought the year, i’ll start soft, but end strong.
A year later, school is about to start in 2 weeks for now. Summer was a peacefully time where I don’t have to worry about people messing with me or other thing like that. Summer goes by fast, it splits by our hands and you have to go to school, that is when my worrying start, only for me (sadly!!!).

“Mi hijo, despertate, la escula esta a punto de comenzar...Rapido Mi Hijo!!!”

“No, madre, no quiero, Por Favor!!! “

“Rapido o te meto tu chinga!!”

“Ok, ja voy!!”

Who knew that even days could go by fast too! School was up now. (I’d wished that I was dead!!!)

“What the hell is he wearing on his feet?”

“Theyua a tiype uf shoes in mexico…”

“Yo bro, you homeless or wat!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Great, my day stupid is starting off crappy. One special thing that help me go through the day was learn, learning help ignore these dumb people didn’t know any better. The first day has end, now I have a whole year of school. Great, that was amazing. Second day, it might be better than, yesterday. When I got to school, people were hearing to rape song, in my opinion I didn’t like rap, because they didn’t make sense. Everybody got hype and that, it was just song!

“Yo these song tough right!”

“I guess…”

“What! You GUESS, Yo something is wrong with you, bro, this song is the shit

bro. Oh right, you're mexican, you wouldn’t understand, LOSER”

“Sorry!”

Why was he so rude about, it is just a song. I guess I was supposed to get hype,

just for a song. I got bullied for not liking rap song. People got hype for the most stupidest thing in the world, that they don’t realize that the most important thing the world is your family, not the material that you get. For example, I was happy that I got new shoes, other people in school super hype that they got the new, very prices shoes that were $200 or a shirt that was $50, in my head, that was stupid.

Into the month two, a very big boy was coming from home and I was walking next to him. “HAAA!”(uh-oh, I got to get beat up) I tripped on my shoelace and scrapped his shoes, I think they were jordan.

“Sorry, I’m very sorry. (Inside of me, I was scared as hell, my body was paralyzed)”

“What, loser… look what you did, clean or else you trash bag”

Obviously, I did it, because so far I did get beat up, not yet!! I was happy that he didn’t punch or something like. (Hopefully this school year goes by fast, I need it to)

“Madre, ja es Junio, la escuela java terminar!” I yell to my mother.

“Ja lo es!”

“El verano ja va a empezar!”

School, this school year was a lot better, this was the very first great school, that I had ever have in my 5 years of school. All I had to do is survive the last 4 more day of school.

“3….2….1….I DID IT!!! Summer, YES!! No School, Mean No Worries”

My heart was rushing fast because I had made it through the year, without big problem.

Overall, now I bigger, older, smarter and braver. I’m now in 10th grade, my english has gotten a lot better over the years, and english has many way to be spoking. Identity and language are a great mixture, reasoning why is because without language you wouldn’t like the Identity, and if you know the identity and don’t know the language then what is the point of having that identity, if you don’t know it.

It was the night of my SLA interview. My mom dropped me off in the morning, around 9 am and we all traveled up to the fifth floor and settled in the 10th and 11th grade english classroom.  The huge windows showcased the picturesque Philadelphia skyline. The suns rays reflected off of the buildings and made room warm and cozy.  It was beautiful.  As the hours passed, the kids left one by one, until, I was the only person in the medium sized classroom. It was pitch black outside and the room was dead silent.

“It’s your turn.”

I slowly stood up, made my way to the door, and we walked around the corner in the vacant hallways. My hands were clammy and shaking from my uncontrollable nerves. We approached the classroom door and the girl turned over slightly to look at me. ”It’s ok to be nervous. Just be yourself and you’ll do great.”

“Thanks.” I tried my hardest to create a smile that didn’t look overly forced. I failed. I pushed open the door. The man and the student next to him both smiled and welcomed me in. I kept making mental notes to remind myself to enunciate my words and pronounce all of my vowels. The last thing I needed was for them to think I was unprofessional. The man and the student began to ask me questions about my project. The whole time I was zoned out trying to suck back all of um’s, like’s, and so’s that were forcefully trying to creep their way back into my sentences.

“What do you think you can bring to the SLA community?”

“I ...ah ...wahhh...I...umm… could you repeat the question please?”My face was bright red and my hands were soaking wet. But most importantly I knew exactly what the man had just asked me, i was trying to think of something that sounded interesting. I was also trying to redeem myself for saying umm so many times I just needed to breathe and put on a different persona.

“Yes of course sweet heart. What do you think you can bring to the SLA community?”

“I believe that I can end cliques and also I could just be a person that anyone can talk to.”  

Nervous was an understatement. I felt as if I had to erase all of the “Tianna” out of my system and try to become someone else. In The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingstan, the protagonist’s mother cuts the tongue of her daughter to help her speak, and in his quote she is explaining why. ”I cut [your tongue] so that you would not be tongue-tied. Your tongue would be able to move in any language. You’ll be able to speak languages that are completely different from one another. You’ll be able to pronounce anything.”

The way you talk is sort of like a sponge. It is made up of your environment, your city, your age, in some cases your race or sex. Most of those things are things that people use to make assumptions about your character. It is easy for them to judge you based off of the way you speak because everything that makes up the way you speak can also be used to discriminate against you. So in order to avoid that, people feel the need to code switch so that people can not make false assumptions about who you are and where you come from.

When the author says “cut your tongue ... your tongue will be able to move in any language“, it reminds me of when you code switch. You cut all the ties that connect you to where you come and many more things that make you, you.

Code switching is when you switch the way you talk when you enter a different setting. There are many different reasons why people code switch. One example would be, when you switch from speaking slang with your friends to speaking standard english when you have a conference with a teacher. Another example would be when you speak spanish at home and you switch to speak english outside of the home.

In the passage “Hunger of Memory” by Richard Rodriguez , Richard describes growing up in Sacramento with his Mexican immigrant parents. In the quote on page 13, Richard explains how his parents have two different personas, one in the comfort of their home and one for when they have to speak to people in a more formal setting outside of the home.“In public, my father and mother spoke a hesitant, accented, not always grammatical English. And they would have to strain-their bodies tense-to catch the sense of what was rapidly said by los gringos. At home they spoke Spanish. The language of their Mexican past sounded in counterpoint to the English of public society. The words would come quickly, with ease. Conveyed through those sounds was the pleasing, soothing, consoling reminder of being at home.” Richard explains how his parents had to acquiesce in order to get what they need so that they could get ahead. Similar to Richards parents  I also had to acquiesce to a different vernacular that was deemed socially acceptable which was different to the way I’m used to speaking.

¨ Who is it?¨

¨Ummm, someone named Charles.¨

¨Oh, that’s my client from work. Here, pass me my phone.¨

I grab her purse and blindly forage for her phone.

¨C’mon hurry up!¨

¨Wait a minute...almost got it¨

I quickly hand her the device and watch as she answers the man on the other side of the line.

¨Hello? Charles?  Why yes, this is Amy Silveri from Quality Progressions…. Pardon? Yes, I will be visiting your house for a brief meeting regarding the placement of your child...¨

This is a daily routine that I see everyday with the interaction I have with my mom. Now anyone who’s grown up in a black household knows that they’re parents always change the way they talk depending on who they’re talking too and depending on that person’s race. For years I’ve heard my mom’s voice change from her work environment to her social environment. And it wasn’t until recently where I’ve noticed that I do this as well.

There are three types of Jaiye’s.

The white Jaiye.

The black Jaiye.

And the regular Jaiye.

The white Jaiye can be described as the voice I use when I talk to everyday white people. White people I see at school, who I see at supermarkets, who I see walking down the street. My voice suddenly becomes higher and softer and my vocabulary immediately advances. I speak more slowly and my facial expression changes. I make sure to smile and to always appear happy, as if everything is going great. And as I’m doing this, I think to myself, ¨ I hope they don’t think I’m ghetto.¨ and all the other negative stereotypes attributed with blacks. As soon as a white person speaks to me my brain instantaneously reminds myself to ¨Change your voice!¨, and in doing this I automatically become a new person, a new identity, an alternate self. It all becomes a facade.

The black Jaiye is alternately, the voice I use with my blacks peers. It’s the voice where I’m most comfortable with. It allows me to express my individuality better and I feel more accepted with the fact that I’m black. I feel more connected with my roots and the life that we as blacks live. My words become a constant blur; I talk faster, louder and I use slang. ¨Hi¨ or ¨hello¨, becomes ¨Yo¨ or ¨wassup¨. ¨Isn’t¨ becomes ¨ain’t¨.  I use words like ¨jawn¨ and ¨drawlin’¨, words that are indigenous to Philly and that I hear everyday . My native tongue.

And the regular Jaiye is a combination of the two. My language neither leans towards the white dialect or the black dialect. My tongue isn’t biased. I find myself using this the most throughout my everyday life. It has the perfect amount of respect and proper mannerism yet it still holds onto my personality and characteristics that derived from me being African American. The slang and the style is still there yet there’s a proper sophistication in the way that I enunciate the words as they leave my mouth. In doing so, I’m not judged for being too black or too white; too ¨ghetto¨”or too ¨snobby¨.

Throughout my entire life I’ve always had these different personas and evidently, the reasons why I code switch is because of the influence that language and dialect has on today’s society and the way we are viewed as people, especially for a young  African American woman in America.

James Baldwin, a well known African American writer who tackled the topics of race and oppression as well as the topic of African Americans in the white man’s society, wrote an essay on the influence of language on blacks in America and how it has influenced the way we live today. He explained that the way we speak, impacts the social recognition of African Americans, as well as other people of color, stating that, ¨It goes without saying, then, that language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power. It is the most vivid and crucial key to identify: It reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity.¨ Our language, dialect and accent gives us power in this world.  As black Americans, it is prime that we remind ourselves to code switch,  in a society where the mass majority does not see us as intelligent or deemed fit enough into today’s society and a primary reason for this is because of the way we speak. Brought over to this country as slaves, English was never our original language nor was our dialects natural to English. We all developed various accents that people would describe as ¨ghetto¨ and for that, the world views us as ignorant belligerent fools who deserve no chances in life. In doing so, we retain back all power lost and all of the stereotypes pin-pointed towards us are then withdrawn.

As for most blacks, code switching isn't something that we want to do. It’s something that we’re forced to do to reject oppression. People tend to judge us off of our tongue and because of that, we do not get the same opportunities as others. Because of this, the vast majority of blacks live in a life reflected upon poverty, imprisonment, drugs and negativity. But who are we to change who we are to fit the social norm? It is not our fault that we speak like this. We were forced to, and in the end, we've adapted the various dialects and accents that travel across this country. Code-switching is appropriate when needed, but don’t change the way you speak entirely. Language mirrors identity.

Sneakers have always been apart of our lives since the Michael Jordan era. Many young teenagers now don’t remember who Michael Jordan is but remember him for his sneakers. The sneaker culture now has now been focus on what sneakers someone has and if they have the most exclusive sneakers amongst friends and others. But with that comes a price.

Many incidents have been occurring about someone getting shot or killed over a pair of sneakers (mostly Jordans). On December 22, 2012, 2 men were shot in Texas over their Jordans (to be specific Jordan 11 Bred). Both men were leaving the mall with the sneakers in hand until they were approached by 2 men in a car and told them to give up the sneakers. 1 man got away safely but, the other victim tried to get in the car and drive away but was shot at in the back of the head by the men who shot through the back window of the car. All of this over a pair of sneakers is unacceptable. There should be no reason to kill an innocent person for a pair of sneakers. Sneakers are sneakers. Yes, some of them are rare one and some are limited to a certain number of pairs made but that doesn’t mean that a person should rely on violence to get one of those pairs of sneakers if they didn’t get one themselves.

Another incident where someone was robbed of their sneakers involves college students who go to a excellent college but decided to beat up a student for his Nike Foamposites while his friends video taped the fight and watch. Every student who laughed and video taped the fight including the student who beat the other student up for his sneakers were all expelled from the college. These were people who were accepted into a very good college but doing one little mistake caused them to be expelled.

Now the sneaker culture isn’t always having bad and cruel incidents with it. There is good things that come with it too. Sneaker Con is a convention that is held in different states and countries all the time. It’s a convention where people who love to collect sneakers get a chance to connect with people just like them and sell their sneakers or trade them. This is a great way to show their love for sneakers in a organized way. This is also a learning experience for young people who go to these conventions in a way. Let’s take a look at one story about a young sneaker collector named Alex who is 15 years old. Alex was featured in a ESPN article called, "Sneakerheads: The Business of Reselling Sneakers.". Alex is many of young sneaker collectors who buy and sell sneakers making up to a much as $1000 dollars. During the documentary, it follows  Alex and his friends at a sneaker convention. While they are there, Alex becomes a smart deal maker. Alex is in the middle of making a deal with one person (which ends up ending with a deal of $340 dollars), Alex finishes another deal halfway down the table worth $320 dollars which he wasn’t apart of at the moment. Alex and his friends continue to make deals with people and bargaining with them to get the right price.

After that, Alex’s father is sat down and talks about how he feels about his son and what he does. Alex’s father says that he somewhat likes what Alex is doing. He says that it is showing him that he knows how to handle money and how negotiate with his money. But, his father also says that he does not like it as well because he feels that instead of spending time on a Saturday morning on the computer trying to purchase a sneaker coming out that day, he could be studying and doing his homework. This is true but this could also be another way for young sneaker collectors to learn how to manage money and how to use it wisely and not spend it on things without really thinking about it.

With the current day and age technology is continuously evolving, making everything easier to come by and find. Going on google can lead to information, apps, games, and programs that help with over efficiency and productivity. These search engines can also be very helpful for finding Bit Torrents and bittorrent compatible files. These Torrents are most commonly used for illegally downloading music files like albums and songs from different bands/composers, getting all the tunage with minimal work and no pocket money. File sharing and illegal downloads are not killing the music industry, because what keeps music alive is the mutual love for it fans share.

It is becoming a common trend to illegally download things like music, books, games and apps Focusing on music, many people (mostly with jobs in the music industry/community) have been continuously saying that torrenting music is killing the industry. That supporting the band(s) or artist(s) would be putting money towards the music to allow more to be made. Although other people have been countering with the argument that the love of music kept it alive this long and will continue to do so with or without the music being top purchased on iTunes.

Dee Snider, a rock and roll legend and member of the band Twisted Sister was interviewed by LoudWire.com on the death of rock and roll. His opinion was,

“Rock ‘n’ roll is alive and well and thriving on social media, in the streets, and in clubs and concert halls all over the world. And the bands playing it are more genuine and heartfelt than ever because they are in it for one reason: the love of rock ‘n’ roll.”

This comment can be transferred to any genre of music. Most bands and artists have Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and Instagram profiles, they leak previews of their new albums and give out free merchandise bundles. Which is according to the logic that ‘torrenting music is stealing from bands’

Recently there was a case study done by Time Magazine titled, “Illegal Music Downloads Not Hurting Industry.” This study concluded a lot of interesting data. Including:

• Men are more likely to download music.

• People with higher education stream more music.

• Average income doesn’t affect the amount of music streaming.

• Based on cultural differences/economic structure in different countries downloads vary across the globe.

The study proved that, “Specifically, the study found that legal purchases would be about 2 percent lower without illegal downloading available—meaning, yes, illegal downloads boost legal downloads. Their conclusion: people who download pirated music mostly do so for tunes they wouldn’t have ever spent money on. The positive effect of streaming was even larger.”

The article also made the point, “Clicking on a legal download website does not equal buying music, past studies have found that “some people buy and steal a lot of music because they love music”.”

The final outcome/result of the study is that the people that illegally download their music wouldn’t buy it if they didn’t torrent it. Meaning that there was no initial ravine for the music industry to be making for them to really lose any money.

Works Cited:

Kreps, Daniel. "Gene Simmons: 'Rock Is Finally Dead. It Was Murdered'"Rolling Stone. N.p., 7 Sept. 2014. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.

Hartmann, Graham. "Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider Responds to Gene Simmons’ ‘Rock Is Dead’ Claim Read More: Dee Snider Responds to Gene Simmons' 'Rock Is Dead' Claim | Http://loudwire.com/twisted-sister-dee-snider-gene-simmons-rock-is-dead-claim/?trackback=tsmclip." 

Loudwire.com. Loudwire Network, 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 3 Oct. 2014. Rothman, Lily. "Your Illegal Music Downloads Not Hurting Industry, Study Claims." 

Entertainment Illegal Music Downloads Not Hurting Industry Study Claims Comments. N.p., 21 Mar. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

Thirty or so kids, all from different neighborhoods which make up the small city of East Providence, claimed seats in a tiny classroom, on the first day of 2nd grade. As a way to introduce ourselves to the class, our task was to write a short paragraph about who we were (the question of identity, in the eyes of a second grader, offers a pretty open ended answer). I began my introduction, Hi, I’m Ella Donesky and I was born in Toronto, Canada. My favorite colour is green. The next day, my paper was returned with a red “x” over the “u” in “colour.”

My dad is Canadian and he speaks Canadian English. Though I was also born in Canada, the majority of my life was spent in in the United States, first in East Providence, Rhode Island and then in Seattle, Washington. Rhode Island, the smallest state, is divided down the middle by the Narragansett Bay and the Pawtucket River. The result is the east side of Rhode Island seems to have been influenced by Massachusetts and Boston, and west side of Rhode Island more by Connecticut. Growing up on the eastern side, my friends, neighbors and classmates spoke with accents similar to the Bostonian accent. I, however, spoke like my parents and their friends (further, I only ever spoke Bulgarian with my mother unless there were other people around). My dad taught at Brown University and my mom taught at RISD, with are both across the river from where we lived. The English I learned was the Canadian English my dad spoke with me. He also taught me how to read before I started Kindergarten in the USA, and I went to daycare in Toronto before moving to Providence. Nearly all of the books we owned were Canadian books with Canadian spelling. In addition to acquiring my dad’s accent and writing, a few of his “Canadianisms” slipped into my vocabulary.

“Pass the clicker,” I would say to my friend, sitting beside me on the couch.

“Oh, you mean the remote?”

Sometimes, they wouldn’t understand what I was trying to communicate.

“Grab a few serviettes and we’ll clean up this mess.”

“A serviette?” They would ask.

“Sorry, napkin.”

I didn’t know if I should call someone’s aunt “ant” or “ont”.

The confusion that would follow my use of the jargon was an indicator that these words were not ones they typically heard in their home or neighborhood. Not only that, but it made more clear that there were differences in the way I spoke and the way my peers spoke. In spite of the differences, it never occurred to me to try and change the way I speak. After all, I didn’t think I was speaking incorrectly, I was speaking the language my parents taught me, and the language I spoke with them at home. It felt entirely natural and I was fine with the differences with others.

This may clarify why in my six years living in Rhode Island, I didn’t adopt the Rhode Island dialect. A friend of mine grew up in a household where both her parents spoke with British accents and her accent sounds identical to her parents’. Yet, she lives in Newton, Massachusetts. The one word I picked up in Rhode Island and continue to use, is “bubbler,” or what you would more commonly refer to as a drinking fountain. I rarely use Canadian English, now, and it’s very easy to switch between the two, but during my early formative years, this was the only English I knew (I also spoke fluent Bulgarian exclusively with my mother). Throughout elementary school, it was confusing to me when words that were very naturally a part of my vocabulary and to which I didn’t give a second thought, were considered incorrect. To my peers, these words were foreign. The differences in the language I used when compared to the language my classmates used was only made more noticeable. My teachers began to understand that I wasn’t making spelling errors or using an incorrect form of English, I was writing and speaking in a more “Britishized” version of the English language, which is in use in Canada, the form of English I was most used to and in which I was first taught.

In East Providence, there are two predominant speaking groups, recent immigrants, and those whose family have lived in East Providence for generations. Among my peers, my perceived accent acted as a sort of third type. Accents often suggest socio-economic status, level of education and whether you are an immigrant or not. All of these may have been an issue for me. However, at the time, I wasn’t so aware of the politics. Among my friends parents were professors, doctors, and lawyers as well as janitors and factory workers, etc. My awareness was just that of difference, but not of judgmental difference. Difference was fairly neutral at the time. I only became of aware of the differences when my friends would come over to my house and say “Your dad sounds funny,” or “Your mom talks weird.” My friends pointed out their accents, but I didn’t hear it.

My move to Seattle was a culture shock, or lack thereof. Accents didn’t come up much. Seattle is not known for having a strong local, regional accent. It’s an American town, but it’s very close to the neutral seeming accent that is largely northwest and not so different from the way Canadians speak. So my dad and I didn’t stand out. But my mom did. I’d gone from living in an environment where diversity was the norm to living in a mostly white city with very little diversity. Unlike regions in the UK, for example, which carry distinct regional accents from areas that are not to far apart and are often indicators of status, these factors were hardly identifiable in my classmates. My friends would tell me “Your dad sounds like a professor,” and he was a professor. My mom was also a professor, but no one said the same about her. I believe it was because she had a Bulgarian accent. Furthermore, my grandmother speaks five languages, including english, but when she was in America, my friends only heard a old lady who spoke English with an accent, and they may have made negative assumptions. Most Americans can’t tell if British people are smart or stupid, as the joke goes, because British accents have long been associated with education and being upper class. Accents are tricky and you have to be very careful about how completely you rely on them to create your perception of someone. In James Baldwin’s “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” he discusses language and what it reveals about the speaker “It goes without saying, then, that language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power. It is the most vivid and crucial key to identify.” The identity of myself, my father, my mother and my grandmother all became filtered through these issues and changed according to context.

Two years ago, my family moved to Philadelphia. Known for it’s distinct accent, Philadelphia offered a slightly more diverse environment for me than Seattle. Though it was still primarily black and white, the ethnicities were more evenly dispersed. Science Leadership Academy is not a white suburban school, unlike my middle school. It seemed that I wasn’t perceived as speaking that differently, however, until it became known that I was Canadian. What people know about Canada gave them their impressions of me, and the stereotypes simply didn’t hold.

“Say ‘aboot’.”

“About.”

“No, no, no. You’re Canadian, say ‘aboot’.”

“About.”

“M’kay, say ‘eh’,”

“Say ‘water’,”

“Wooder.”

I remember driving across the country from Providence to Seattle in a big “Penske” truck, nudged between my mom, dad and dog, entertaining myself and them with all of the accents I could conjure. At the time, it didn’t occur to me that this could be offensive to anyone, because I didn’t experience it that way. It was simply a response to my growing up in multicultural environments. Today, I’d be more careful in order to avoid seeming disrespectful.

  "Why don't you speak Spanish in this house boy?" My father said for the seventh time today...in Spanish. "If you can understand my english, then why should I speak Spanish if I prefer speaking English?" I replied. He did not say anything after that. He hated it when his kids spoke to him in English then. Since we were "born Spanish" he wanted us to speak Spanish. He especially hated when we would use English slang around him. This whole language problem caused tension in the house for about half a year. Whenever we were at his friend's houses and spoke English, I could tell by his facial expressions that he was embarrassed that his friend's kids had no problems with speaking Spanish but we did. "Why don't you repeat that in Spanish?" He would ask. Me and my sisters all thought the way he acted was so ridiculous. But it kept on going for almost half a year. It also only began to get worse after some time.

   "You know what...I don't care anymore" he said randomly one day in the car. "You guys want to speak your language then go ahead." To my father, being able to speak perfect Spanish makes us the “perfect” Puerto Ricans, he thought that if every Puerto Rican he knew could speak great Spanish, then we as his kids should be able to as well. I felt relieved about that but it was just the beginning of my problems with the way I talk. I started talking more and more like the people I hung around. I began using way too much slang and that wasn't just a problem for my dad but it was a problem for some of my teachers at school as well. One day, fifth grade, I had a presentation to do on a project about grizzly bears. "Your voice was too low and I could not understand some of the words you were using...what is 'trynna'?" My fifth grade teacher, Ms. Schuler, said right after she told me I failed my presentation. I honestly felt like she was being racist for grading me on the way I spoke...it was a science presentation. Other students were surprised because they thought that I had one of the most well presented project. I didn't feel like talking for the rest of the day because I felt embarrassed. The way I speak is one of the main things that shape me so why is it a problem with other people? I have an A in every class so why is the way I speak so bad? I had so much hate for my teacher that day. Since my mother were together at the time, all I could do was go home and complain to her.

   "I tried to tell you that your 'friends' are bad influences" my mother said. I didn't think so though. They were are my "brothers." Even to this day they are. “Pshh, she trippin’ bro. She actin’ like I be smokin’ bud or something,” my friend Derrick said after I told him. I eventually got over it and ended up having no problems with the way I talked till I got to seventh grade. Science class. The teacher Mr. Dukulah, you might recognize him as the teacher who was prosecuted for sexually abusing a family member for eight years. His speech was no better than anybody's speech in the class, actually the school. He had a really strong African accent and sounded just like the one comedian Michael Blackson but he felt as if he spoke perfectly fine. He would even judge the way we talked. That class was difficult for everyone because he thought the way everyone was speaking was incorrect. People hated him. When we heard that he was arrested everyone was shocked and sort of thought that it was funny. People use to say he was a rapist because of the way he use to look at the girls in class. He would even make them do unnecessary things that they did not want to do. So it was ironic that he was charged with rape. Everyone failed most of their presentations because of what he thought was “good speech”. He taught in Africa a couple years before he came to the middle school I attended so he was accustomed to people having strong African accents. It is like the world is separated by languages.

   I not only have have been in bad situations because of the way I speak though. In eight grade I won a poetry contest because of my speech:

"Am I really good at this or is the truth untold ?

Either way ya fear shouldn't deny ya goals

Always heard first sight shouldn't defy ya goals

But if often times I'm right then sorry that's the way it goes

Say if time froze would you spend the time to right ya wrongs..."

Everyone in the lunchroom, snapping as I "spit" the poem like a rap. Afterwards I had people coming up to me like "yo the way you said that one line made the whole thing crazy!" I felt great because for once, the way I spoke was a good thing...people began to like it because supposedly it had "style".

   Speeches around the world are all so different though and they can be a good thing or a bad thing. For example, for certain men a woman with a certain accent could be the perfect wife. For a movie director, an actor with a specific accent could be a star. But for a national or worldwide company, not being able to speak “proper” could be what gives them bad reviews. It things like this that make language and speech a blessing and a curse.

   In 'If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?' by James Baldwin, he says "Language, also, far more dubiously, is meant to define...". He means a completely different thing but to me this quote is very critical to what I am explaining in this essay. Language is meant to define and to translate, not a way to show class or intelegence. For example, in my poem, people did not really care how I was saying the words. Yes my accent supposedly made it "crazier" but people cared more about what I was saying than the way I said it. The world does not understand that everyone speaks differently. To some people from different countries, the way we speak English could be completely differentfrom the way they do.

   The north and the south are split with accents just like the east and the west. Language and accents could be good and bad depending on where you are located. But the big question is: was there or is there a “correct” accent somewhere out in the world or will was the world always separated because of speech? I have experienced speech prejudice in both good and bad ways and it is reasons and questions like this that make language and speech such a mystery...almost like a story that has not been fully told.

Some people conceive creativity to be something that is achieved by being solo or in a group and that competitiveness detests gaining inspiration from rivals. Many people have a mentality that in order to be successful they have to have inspiration that does not come from someone else. There have been many examples to the contrary of that in different fields from literature to science. In the music industry an example would be The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Rather than despising each others' songs and success, The Beach Boys and The Beatles openly used each other for inspiration and creativity.

One of the biggest examples of this reciprocal relationship would be The Beach Boys’ album “Pet Sounds” which was composed soon after The Beatles’ album “Rubber Soul”. The albums both have very slow,peaceful, and innovative music and at their time, were considered to be the greatest albums of all time.  “The album “Pet Sounds (1966) was the Beach Boys‟ response to the Beatles, ‟Rubber Soul”. With the help of the Wrecking Crew and the rest of the Beach Boys members, Brian Wilson produced this album to top the seamless fluidity of songs he heard on Rubber Soul.” (Hui) This shows how The Beach Boys directly took inspiration from The Beatles and incorporated it into their own work. If it weren’t for The Beatles the Beach Boys would not be as successful because they wouldn't have “Rubber Soul” to inspire the production of “Pet Sounds” and bring in the creativity they needed.  When The Beach Boys listened to “Rubber Soul” and were amazed at the fact that the album was innovative in the sense that it did not only have a few hit songs with a couple of b-sides to put it all together. They used The Beatles’ example to make “Pet Sounds”. “Pet Sounds” was voted to be the second best album of all time by Rolling Stone and it topped “Rubber Soul” which was voted as the fifth.

The Beatles were looking for inspiration for their next album which they found in “Pet Sounds”. They used this inspiration to produce their next album, “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. “To me the greatest influence on “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was The Beach Boys’  record “Pet Sounds”, and I think Brian Wilson was a great genius.” (Paul McCartney) This shows how willing The Beatles were to take inspiration and how creativity and inspiration can come from competition. Without having used The Beach Boys’ for inspiration Sergeant Pepper's would not have been. It was voted as the number one album of all time by Rolling Stone, right over “Pet Sounds”. The Beatles’ ability to not only be able to accept the fact that “Pet Sounds” topped “Rubber Soul”, but also be able to use inspiration from it to make Sergeant Pepper was crucial to their success.

Aside from taking inspiration from albums,The Beatles and The Beach Boys also gave direct feedback towards each other. The lead vocalist of The Beach Boys, Mike Love, was on a trip to India with Paul McCartney. “I was sitting at the breakfast table and McCartney came down with his acoustic guitar and he was playing Back In The USSR, and I told him that what you ought to do is talk about the girls all around Russia, the Ukraine and Georgia.” (Love) McCartney did end up incorporating the advice of Love into the song. The Beatles were very willing to take advice from The Beach Boys on their songs. If McCartney had chosen not to take Love’s advice, then “Back in the USSR” would not nearly be the same. The healthy relationship between the two bands enabled them to be able to take advice from each other in order to become successful.

The Untrained Ear

¨What’s bout to be the move?¨

¨Ion even know forreal!¨

¨I’m tryna go to the movies… I need a laugh¨

¨We gotta see a movie that’s gonna be the bid though¨

¨That Kevin Hart jawn did just come out...¨

¨Ard then. That’s the move¨

 One of my closest childhood friends and I were trying to figure out what we were going to do in order to keep us from staying bored how we already were. A conversation that to some will sound foreign and to others sound ignorant. Yet to us, it’s the language that’s most comfortable to speak. It is a combination of ¨Black English¨ and what I call ¨hood slang¨. Languages to me, but nonsense to most others.

  People who do not speak either of these languages, Black English or Hood Slang, may hear me speaking a foreign language and they usually do a series of things. The most common is a signature look. The look has ¨I bet she can’t even read correctly¨. Another reaction that’s common is the stare of confusion. A stare of disarray. The stare of uncertainty. My overall favorite reaction is when there’s a comment made. Usually it’s something as simple as ¨Huh?¨ or ¨What?¨ that’s said. A blatant remark that slips through their ignorant lips. People judge and base your knowledge of topics off of the way that others talk and carry themselves. It’s not fair or just.

¨I’m bored… ¨

¨Find something to do. I don’t know what to tell you!¨

¨You feel like takin me to H&M?¨

¨You got H&M money?¨

¨No. But you do! I ain’t gotta job.¨

¨Well I guess you ain’t goin to no H&M¨

¨MOMMM! You drawn...¨

I was bored over a long weekend when I had off from school. At the time, nothing was more important than subduing my outrageous shopping addiction. As most spoiled teenagers would, I resulted in asking my mother to take me on a quick shopping trip.

  A common tone of conversation that’s typically held in a Black English household.While reading it, plenty of people may think that how I speak is in no way shape or form appropriate to talk to your parent. That’s just like telling a French mother and daughters  duo to not speak French to each other. It’s our language. It may sound unusual to the untrained ear, but there’s really no other way to communicate. People try to connect the dots and interpret an entire life story by simply hearing how someone speaks. Except it doesn’t work that way. I can speak as ¨illiterate¨ as possible, but no one will care that English has always been one of my best and favorite classes. They won’t care that my mom is highly intelligent with multiple degrees.

   One summer a few years ago I attended a leaders conference camp that took place in Washington D.C. It hosted children from ages 11 to 15 that lived all over the United States. I was in a line to sign in and to get my room key. A girl in the line decided to spark a conversation with me and our conversation ended up taking a different path than what I had imagined.

¨Hi, Im Carolyn, what’s your name?¨

¨Hi Im Jamilah¨

¨Where are you from?¨

¨Philadelphia, How about you?¨

¨Really? I bet you eat Cheesesteaks every night for dinner and say all these weird words¨

  ¨Weird words¨? The way how I talk is weird because I live in Philadelphia?  

¨Hello¨

¨Hi, How are you?¨

¨I’m good and yourself¨

¨I’m well. Thanks for asking¨

  ¨Standard English¨ is a language where you have to make sure you pronounce all of the vowels, consonants, and syllables. There’s a lot of work that goes into just saying one word correctly. Just like many others in the world, I am also more than capable of speaking ¨Standard English¨.. For the simple fact that many people speak it, is the exact reason why I despise speaking it. If a situation does not cause for me to speak ¨proper¨, I will not do so. ¨Proper¨ to me includes pronouncing my words correctly, using correct grammar, and etc.I also despise it because I find it boring and it has no personality. It’s no fun. Speaking ¨Standard English¨ makes you sound like millions, if not billions of other people across the world.

   There’s nothing to differentiate you from the others that are out here in the world. The language is very general. You greet people saying things such as ¨Hi¨ or ¨Hello¨, and depart by saying ¨Good Bye¨. There’s no energetic approach to a conversation by saying ¨HEY¨ or  ¨Wassup¨ or leaving someone yearning to converse again by saying ¨See ya later¨. There was a quote once stated by Jay Danzie stated, ¨ Your smile is your logo, your personality is your business card, how you leave others feeling after having an experience with you becomes your trademark.¨ Your trademark should be unique and like no other. Your business card should be fun and also like o other. And your logo should be all of the above. ¨Standard English is like a white business card with black font. Boring. Bland. Tedious. It’ll end up being just another unwanted conversation.

When I came to Philadelphia from Bethesda,Maryland, I talked different than everyone else. It was weird to hear everyone without an accent like mine. It was not a rich,or thick accent but it was enough to know I’m not from Philadelphia. On the first day of kindergarten at my new school , I was nervous what would happen. I knew I was going to be the odd one in the class because I didn’t talk like everyone else.

I walked into the room, with my backpack and my lunch in my hand.As soon as I walked into the room, I was ready to get the day over with. The class scared me a little bit, the wall were painted white, there was educational posters all over the place.We were told to sit in a circle on the alphabet rug in the center of the room. It was time to take the attendance, Oh boy I said to myself sarcastically.

“Amanda?”

“Persent.”

Instantly the whole class laughed at me and I was embarrassed so I sunk in my chair. The class thought I was weird, what a great first day so far.  My teacher would have us read a sentence from the morning paragraph on the chalkboard. The teacher called my name to read the first sentence. I had to read it in front of the class.

“ Good mmmorrninng cccllaass, tooday iis sseepttember 8th 2005.”

They laughed again.

At least I came into kindergarten knowing how to read some words.All but one person laughed at me. She had long brown wavy hair, and a very nice smile.Her skin was tan, and she had big brown eyes that sparkled.  At that moment in time I wanted to thank her.

I did everything in my power to stay away from talking.I did try to talk when necessary, but that was only when the teacher asked the group a question in general. I had to ask go to the bathroom. “ Mrss. Paaagggee, maaay I goo too thee bathhroomm ppplleeaasee?”

It was play time,everyone went off to the different centers. There was a housekeeping area, dolls, coloring, blocks, and legos. While my classmates played I stood in the middle of the room looking for something to play with. I noticed the girl who didn’t laugh at me was playing with some other kids. I thought I would ask to join them.

“ Con I playy too.”

“Sure, I’m Brittney and don’t worry about those other kids they mean.” I knew we were going to be best friends. I joined the group on the rug and we played with the legos and bears.

“Whhaatt, the nnamme oof the cciitty?”

“ Wee are gooinng too naamme it beaarr ciitty.”

It was hard adjusting, to my new friends and how they talked. If I wanted to fit in I needed to learn to talk the way they did. Then I could be normal. I listened to how they talk and try it on my own.  After a few tries I got the hang of it. My friend Brittney helped me realize that I can adjust to the way they talk pretty easily.It didn’t matter if I talked different it was my peronalitily that they liked. Now people don’t even realize that I have an accent. They only notice if I tell them I’m not from Philadelphia.

Sometimes when I get annoyed my accent shows more than I intend. In one of the stories we read in class I notice this one part that spoke to me. “ I used it to win in arguments, to express myself, and to show who I am.”  When I saw that sentence I felt moved by it. I use language not only to express how I feel but to describe who I am. I use my accent for power sometimes. When I use it for power I will get very defensive.

Everyone laughs or thinks it cute because my face gets all red. My accent will get thick and heavy and it’s pretty scary but pretty cool at the same time. When I sing a country song it’s strong and sounds amazing. I enjoy it because it makes me different and unique.  My friends love hearing my voice when I sing country. It sounds so natural.

Language is one of the best ways to be yourself. It is always cool to hear others talk if they don’t speak English. So many cultures have languages that have cool dialect or accents. There are many ways to express yourself. whether it’s art, music, or writing. Language shows people how you speak. Everyone has a different way, but they need to learn the correct way to speak. That way is not using slang words and incomplete sentences.

Dr. Seuss is one of the most well known children’s books writers of all time. His unrealistic but imaginative drawings can be noticed anywhere and his rhymes can even stick with people through adulthood. Children ask for these books over and over again, until they can “read” the book by themselves. They memorize the rhymes and stare at the pictures until they are ingrained into their minds. Dr. Seuss books are a good way for children to open up their imagination and learn through their imagination.

According to Dr. Howard Gardner, there are multiple ways for children to learn, or anybody for that matter. There are eight different intelligences in the brain and one or two of them are the most prominent while people are working or learning. For example, if someone absent-mindedly taps on the table while listening to a lecture, they most likely have a prominent Musical Intelligence. Or if someone would rather look at charts than reading directions to learn something, they would most likely have a prominent Spatial Intelligence. A child might need a teacher to tell them exactly what to do rather than watch how to do it. This child would most likely have a Linguistic intelligence. Dr. Seuss books can play up to Spatial, Musical and Linguistic Intelligences which would all help the child learn better in a classroom when the teacher lets their imaginations run wild. These intelligences focus in on the rhymes and the illustrations that are in Dr. Seuss books. Overall these three intelligences are in everybody and so when they are more prominent, Dr. Seuss’ books will help the children’s imaginations loose and they can learn better using their intelligences.

Dr. Seuss’ books help children’s imaginations open up with his rhymes because he makes new words that kids haven’t heard before to make rhymes work. Rhymes also help a child learn phonics and reading skills. (https://suite.io/karen-whiting/3wc22bm) With Dr. Seuss, books children are learning how to form sounds in their mouths and they are learning when to use these sounds in a sentence. For example, when someone asks a question, the end of the sentence usually gets a little bit higher than the rest of the sentence. Without this subtle lift, questions would sound so different. Children learn by saying rhymes or listening to rhymes that when someone asks a question, their voice goes up. All of this is important to children, especially when someone reads out loud to them from a Dr. Seuss book, their little brains will have so much new information and so much to copy and learn from. They will learn how to imagine different places and things with the words that Dr. Seuss gives them and with these hard words, they can also learn how different letters make different sounds.

Illustrations in other picture books are usually meant to provide setting and characters to the story. Dr. Seuss’ books do that as well but these illustrations let the child think of something out of this world because the illustrations are so unrealistic and nothing like the world that the child knows. For example, in The Lorax, the setting is similar to the real world but there are trees with tufts of hair on the tops and the Lorax looks like a naked toe with a large mustache. Children have such great imagination that they don’t see a naked toe but a trustworthy man and a great place to live. Illustrations can also relate all of their imagination back to words in the book. According to RIF (Reading is Fundamental), which is a literacy non-profit based in America that gives children the chance to read and learn, children use illustrations to help them understand the meaning of a word when they don’t know. For example if the book says that a Lorax is sitting in a tree and the child doesn’t know what a Lorax is, they immediately look over at the picture to find the creature that sits in the tree. Pictures are often dismissed from books as the reader matures but they are still important in every book, for every reader to imagine a new world.

Dr. Seuss’ books were popular when they came out because of the wild illustrations and because of the crazy names he gave his characters. Children today still read his books as a way for their imagination to run free but also to learn about phonetics and important reading skills. Adults still remember rhymes from his books and illustrations, picking out “Dr. Seuss trees” in different landscapes. Dr. Seuss can now be named a teacher because every child who reads or looks at his books, is learning from the best.

Works Cited:

https://www.earlymoments.com/Promoting-Literacy-and-a-Love-of-Reading/Why-Reading-to-Children-is-Important/

"10 Reasons Why You Should Read to Your Kids." Early Moments. Sandivk Publishing, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014

http://school.familyeducation.com/multiple-intelligences/learning-style/linguistics/66376.html?detoured=1

"Learning Style: Linguistic." Linguistic Gifts and Talents. Pearson Education, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.

http://www.nea.org/grants/facts-about-childrens-literacy.html

"Facts about Children's Literacy." Rss. National Education Association, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.

http://www.rif.org/us/literacy-resources/articles/getting-the-most-out-of-picture-books.htm

"Getting the Most Out of Picture Books." Reading Is Fundamental. Reading Is Fundamental, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.

https://suite.io/karen-whiting/3wc22bm

Whiting, Karen. "How Rhymes Help Children Learn." Suite. N.p., 10 July 2010. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

When I was younger language was a conflict in my home and it still is most times because I have to switch from English to Albanian and sometimes when I help my parents to English then translate to Albanian then when that's done I have remember to show my brother that he should speak Albanian because it his first language even if he has great understanding speaking should come first because it his culture. Then after that I have school and in the beginning for me  language in school was quite difficult to speak to because sometimes the transaction it would confuse me I remember once being in class doing my work and teacher calls on me asking me Also what is the author saying in the text I say “He is saying that too much good thing is sometimes bad” and I thought I had answered right but the teacher and students are looking at me like I am a little green man from another planet and I am asking them take me to your leader.

I repeated myself again and as the word “He” came out my mouth I realized that I was talking Albanian they had right look at me like that as I tried to mumble up some sort of and apologize to my teacher while I heard the laughter of an entire class I just wished that I could end the day already. That was the first and not last time that I have confused my languages together I mix them up every once and a while because the constant switch between it has become a reflex if that's best way to word it so most time I will just talk and the switch just happens I really don't know why it happens but I have tried stop it best I can which has cause me to lose accent that people use to say that I used to have Twenty-four seven  but a part of it I have and will never lose because it my connection to who I am. When I look back now to all mistakes I used make and the blurting out of Albanian in class while answering a questions I laugh because its who I am.

I would think that language is not just conflict for me in school but in other aspects of my life as well it some times its hard to articulate properly like people wish you to do or even find the right words to say when I talk. When I usually have a conversation or try to with my parents it end up with me halving it all ways

“Aldo did you do your homework yet”

“ Yes Why do you need me”

“ We are leaving come down and watch your brother down stairs”

“I will just go” “ Also what did you say I said come down stairs”

“ I said that I am”

I understand that seems like a normal back forth dialogue right there but if I had not translated it you would not have understood they time I had this conversation with my mother she did not understand me and not because I was far she could not here but because some words That I learned in Albanian I had forgotten or overpowered by the English. Its like when you have to fragrances together one is lighter and the other is stronger the lighter one will be overpowered by the stronger fragrance in the end as it always does that's what happens with my Albanian It get overpowered by the English and most of my vocabulary is diminished into a few phrases that even a novice could say with just few weeks of practice.

“ Aldo you know you don't sound Albanian at all right”

“ What does that mean I don't sound Albanian”

“I am just saying that  you sound like a Greece who tries speaking Albanian, You are a wolf in sheep's clothing if you will ”

Evolution of the White Dove’s Whispers

By: Shaina-Nicole Keenan

Pure. Fine. Untainted.

I was born and raised in southwest Philadelphia. The majority race in the region was and still is African-American. There are handfuls of Asian and Hispanic families, and a very sparse amount of white families. I am apart of one of those very few families.

I attended the elementary school in my neighborhood from Kindergarten to Fourth grade. I was one of three Caucasian students in the entire school. When I was five years old, starting school for the first time with larger classes, I spoke properly and clear. I never used slang. Up until I was in third grade, I never let people tamper with my dialect. I was a fine dove, with pure feathers. I flew my own path and sung my own song.

Inside and outside of school, I spoke impressively for an elementary school student. My family has many friends, and I was introducing myself to new people constantly. I was also a true “chatty kathy”, I loved to talk. Here’s an example of a typical scene with stranger and I:

“Hi cutie, what is your name?”

“Hi, my name is Shaina-Nicole Margaret Keenan,”

“You have the prettiest eyes, sweetie.”

“Thank you so much. They are from my daddy,”

Reading impacted my language and dialect incredibly when I was younger. I always had a book in my hand. This is how I learned to speak and use proper grammar. Adults were amazed whenever I opened my mouth and let the words fly out. Yet, my peers were not always so intrigued.

As I gained more and more friends, my original dialect and vocabulary was tampered with. My feathers were starting to get dirty, and ruffled. As one of two white girls in the school that is centered in a neighborhood where language was a dying cause, it was hard not to be manipulated into speaking like my peers.  

There was an unrealistic difference in my dialect in the span of three and a half years. My language evolved along with my personality. I was blind to fact I was growing up in a time where kids everywhere had no sense of language. By the fourth grade, I was someone else. Here’s an example of a typical scene with a friend and I:

“Yo, dat teacha is so f***** irkin’.”

“Right yo, she was really drawlin’ the otha day,” I would say.

“I was finna pop her in her ugly mouf.”

Once I graduated from my neighborhood school, I went to a prestigious school in Center City. The population of students was very diverse. There were a lot of African-American students in my class from neighborhoods just like mine. So although I tried to escape bad language, it followed me.

Before I started at my new school, I thought about why I truly spoke the way I did, and the person I had become. I tried to find a common ground between my old dialect and the dialect I wanted. No matter where I went, Southwest would always be a language I felt comfortable with. Despite feeling at home with the improper dialect, I wanted to start fresh at my new school. I did not completely abandon my old dialect, I migrated it with my original dialect to feel most comfortable talking to new people.

James Baldwin once wrote, “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by a reality they cannot articulate.” This relates to my situation incredibly. My language changed so much over the course of many years; I continuously evolved it. I felt like I had to describe my struggles with language with people who would criticize me, it needed attention. Since I was constantly obsessing over how I would sound to certain people, I let my language overshadow my life and personality. My reality was muffled and lost. Submerged by the circumstances of my undecided languages, this quote resonates and encompasses my struggle perfectly.

I kept that constant new dialect throughout middle school. Yet, language is always evolving. As we grow older, day by day, year by year, we are always changing. Our language and dialect is shifting along with us as humans.

I will never be the pure white dove I was. My feathers will never be as bright of a white as they once were. I am okay with that. I am still soaring, and although my feathers are ruffled, wrinkled, and a little

dingy, they are mine. I sing the song of my ever evolving language. My language is my own. The whispers of my white dove’s songs are my past, my present and my future; I am always soaring high, singing my broken song that I am proud to claim!