Blog Feed

My goals for this paper is for people to realize that sports doesn’t have to be all masculine and for only people that are bulky and strong. I doesn’t have to be someone who is a man and someone who is straight. I think anyone can play sports and it doesn’t matter what they look like they shouldn’t be judge or be harassed. I’m proud of the introduction paragraph because I think I have some good questions to think about in the beginning for people to think about. I think I can improve on the writing part and describing it.

Advanced Essay

In sports, men are usually super masculine and when there’s someone who is gay or have different sexualities or even female it can become a problem and people who are against these things starts to cause problem for others. Because it’s always shown in such a masculine point of view. Sometimes it goes as far as to where they can use a homophobic slur against another person. All of these things made me question “What exactly is masculinity? How would you define masculinity?” ”So are you not masculine if you're gay or other sexuality other than being straight.” “Why are sports so masculine all the time?” “Is there a certain mold that you have to fit in to or to get accepted into what’s so called ‘sports team’?”Why not accept them for who they are? Does it really make a difference or make the team look bad because they don’t look like term “masculine” ` that society put for people.

According to toxic masculinity in sports  I read about what other people feels about sports, and their experience. In this quote Gillian Reese talks about  how her highschool switched up the football team one day with the cheerleaders and it turned out to be fine “With football, guys are the players and girls are the cheerleaders. When I was in high school we had an event called “powderpuff football” where the girls would be the players and the guys would be cheerleaders. Why can’t this be a normal sport?” . I like that they switched up the sexes in football to show that not all the time it has to be the traditional way that society puts it. And if the sports are like this I want people to know that it’s not the end of the world and they don't have to harass other people.

This is story is about a time when I had personal experience with this whole masculinity thing in sports. It was one day when I was 8 years old I had to stay with my cousin because my parents had to get out of town and I had to stay with my cousin and his parents. He was in his teens so he was always moody,always said no to everything and didn’t listen to anyone. I didn’t have anyone to play with me and I had no one to talk with in their house so I chose to go with my cousin and his friends when they were playing cricket which is a sport that southeastern Asians play so I decided that I was going to join their game thinking nothing would go wrong, but boy was that a big mistake. “Can I play with you guys?” I said. They all  looked at me and they looked at my cousin like it was the most weirdest thing that I wanted to play with a group of boys. “What?” my cousin said. “I said can I play with you guys?” I said it louder. “You want to play with us?” one of his friend said “Yeah?” I said like it was the most obvious thing ever. “Get out your not playing with us!” One of the guys said “Yeah you are a girl” “You can’t even throw a ball.” another said “who said I can’t throw a ball?” “I said just get out” said my cousin. Then I walked away towards the garden feeling down because i didn’t understand why I couldn’t play with them just because I’m a girl.

In this quote Reese states her opinion and she also compares sports to dance to show it in a different way for people to understand. “Boys are always said to be more competitive; this is why sports were made for men! But in reality, certain characteristics are not built into you based on your gender. Gender is a social construct as well as gender stereotypes. Some stereotypical adjectives for males are aggressive, heated, and, like I said before, competitive. When you think of a sport such as football, one may want their player to have all of those qualities. When you think of a sport such as dance, one might question someone having those qualities. I think they both can be attributable characteristics to both sports, even though dance is considered “feminine” and football “masculine.”” I really liked how she compared the both to state it in a way that makes you think about both and compare them.

In conclusion I think masculinity is a term that society puts and everyone just goes with it and expects everyone to be that way and it’s more so really focused in sports a lot these days because sports is so big and everyone expects it to be the traditional way for everyone.

Bibliography

Toxic Masculinity In Sports.” The Odyssey Online, 30 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/toxic-masculinity-in-sports

The skills we learn in school can be often be used in our daily lives. However, not all of those skills can be used. For example, as you get older the math you learn in school becomes less and less usable in daily life. The only real acception is a career that has a lot to do with math, like engineering or something involving physics. My main point is that school can’t teach you everything, and not everything you learn will be usable later on. The goal of school is to increase your understanding of different topics.

There are kids that lack things like social skills, and a school is not really focused on developing social skills. That is where the scouting programs come in. Scouting helps develop social skills even if the scout has Autism, which makes it harder for someone to develop those necessary social skills. I know because my older brother has aspergers and scouting has helped him to be more social. He still struggles with those skills, but his social skills are much better than they were. Scouting doesn’t just develop social skills, it also develops skills a scout may need to react to an emergency.

On October 11, 2017 the Boy Scouts of America made an announcement that starting in September of 2018 girls will be allowed to join Cub Scouts, progress into Boy Scouts, and earn the rank of Eagle Scout. Most people, like the BSA’s Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh,  agreed with the decision, and thought it was a great idea. “‘The values of Scouting—trustworthy, loyal, helpful, kind, brave and reverent, for example—are important for both young men and women,’ said Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh in a statement. ‘We strive to bring what our organization does best—developing character and leadership for young people—to as many families and youth as possible as we help shape the next generation of leaders.’” However, the decision also received backlash from both Boy Scout and Girl Scout leaders. “‘The need for female leadership has never been clearer or more urgent than it is today—and only Girl Scouts has the expertise to give girls and young women the tools they need for success,’ the Girl Scouts said in a statement.”

I agree with the decision made by the BSA, and think it is a good idea. Like Surbaugh, I think the values that the BSA teaches are important for all people. The BSA’s main goal is to teach the scouts how to be better people. The Boy Scouts does a great job at making sure each scout leaves the program as a better person. Just like an Eagle Scout I remember from when I first joined my troop. His name was Christopher Alvelo, and I had only known him for a short time when many news reports like this one came out, “A teen Eagle Scout, killed in a car crash, is being hailed as a hero for taking the wheel of his stepfather's SUV after the man suffered a medical emergency. The teen's actions saved the lives of the man and two other passengers.

17-year-old Christopher Alvelo, his stepfather, 51-year-old Joe Snyder and two friends were driving home from an Eagle Scout trash clean-up project in Pennypack Park on Saturday when Snyder suffered a medical emergency shortly after 12:30 p.m.” The friends in the SUV were two scouts also in my troop. Here is what happens next, “Alvelo, who was in the passenger seat of the 2007 Ford Explorer, grabbed the wheel and tried to take control of the SUV.

The teen was able to steer the vehicle off the road and into a parking lot for the North Philadelphia Jet Center at Northeast Philadelphia Airport along the 2800 block of Red Lion Road. However, he couldn't get to the break and the vehicle slammed into an unoccupied Paratransit van.

Alvelo died at the scene.”

These tragic events happened on October 26, 2013, but if Chris wasn’t a scout he may not have been able to react the way he did and save three people’s lives. At that time I had just started Boy Scouts and Chris was one of many scouts in the troop, so I didn’t really know him. However, I do know that at the time that Chris died he wasn’t technically an Eagle Scout. In order to earn the rank of Eagle Scout the scout must have a certain number of merit badges. Then, the scout must complete a service project they come up with and supervise. Lastly, there is a ceremony acknowledging that the scout has earned the rank of Eagle.

There never was a ceremony for Chris, but my Scoutmaster and my dad, the Assistant Scoutmaster, decided that Chris met all of the requirements needed for the rank and that he lived the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. So even though Chris wasn’t there to receive the Eagle Scout award, he saved lives and he truly earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

Introduction

The Light is an essay that deals with the many questions that one may encounter while growing up. Who am I? What purpose do I have in this world? Jacobo Pastor describes his personal experience about a time that made a personal experience changed his own identity.

Personally I think that I got to analyze a topic that is very controversial and that no one has really an answer for it, but I would have wished to research a little bit more for others opinions about the topic

Jacobo Pastor

English 3/ Mr. Block

February 27th, 2018

The Light

Flying in a plane wasn’t a new experience for me, but the monstrous sound of the engines didn’t help me feeling at ease. Swallowed by thoughts of fear, the airplane wings did not look safe at all.  The plane that I usually associated with holidays, became an endless tunnel of uncertainty. I did not have a clue of what would come next. I looked over my shoulder and all I could see were my eyes reflected on the window, scared and immature. They were shining as a thousand lamps in a dark room, filled with the anticipation of my journey. As the plane took off, my hands tingled with the idea that a new door was opening. I was leaving my old life and entering the gates to a new world of possibilities. The hope of a new beginning outweighed the pain of leaving my home country. From the airplane, I could see the city lights of Madrid, and felt it was illuminating my new life overseas. I held to that hope like a beacon shining in the dark. Although I wasn’t able to understand the moment, looking back, I know it transformed me and pushed me towards the beginning of my new life. And, together with my new life, it came my new me.

I was conflicted leaving behind the life I knew. My family, my friends, and my culture which created the person I was, were not around anymore. Now I was on my own, without a clear idea where I belonged. It was hard for me to function in a new environment, a country I never visited, and a language I didn’t fully speak. Everyday I looked around on my way to school, and found nothing similar to my home. The diversity of the people, the music I heard on the streets, the slang I didn’t understand. The families I met, the school routines, the food I ate, they all were foreign to me. This was the American culture I grew up seeing on the Tv shows but now, this was my reality. “We know what we are, but not what we may be (Hamlet).” The quote by William Shakespeare crossed my mind repeatedly during those first months. I began to wonder what it meant and if it applied to my life in the US. Who am I, I asked myself. Do I belong here? Is this part of me? Looking back at those moments, I came to the conclusion that everyone knows who they think they are, but they don’t discover their true selves until they experience a life changing event.

A couple months after arriving in the United States, I realized I was changing. As a result of my own process to adapt myself to the reality, my personality was transforming and developing. I grew more confidence and as a result, I took on more leadership roles at school, did more public speaking, and performed some theatre in the classroom. I wasn’t that scared immature young kid anymore. I liked the person I was becoming. It struck me that my old personality was fading, one bit at a time. Those changes took place in a very short time and, they were for good. As Shannon L. Alder, a famous author, stated, “life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of that.” Those changes marked the commencement of my new personality and identity.

Many spend their entire lives searching for their true selves, and many die without finding it. I believe I have been fortunate to find who I am by adapting to my new life. I have discovered the capacity that is in me to learn, enjoy and engage with people and events I would never have experienced back in my country. Although my identity is not complete, I feel my world has become richer and wider, and I have become more open and ready to make the most of what life brings. I now can say that Spain is part of my life and will always be,  but Spain did not shape me but predefined myself. By moving to the United States, and opening myself to growing and changing, my identity has blossomed. Only those who challenge their beliefs and conditions, find out who they truly are. I believe I have.

Bibliography:

“A quote by Shannon L. Alder.” Quote by Shannon L. Alder: "Life always begins with one step outside of you...", www.goodreads.com/quotes/736100-life-always-begins-with-one-step-outside-of-your-comfort.

Shakespeare, William, et al. Hamlet. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Vivian Pham

Mr. Block

English 3

March 9th, 2018

Introduction:

My goals for my paper was to help the audience understand two sides of what goes into self realization and self reflection in the terms of deciding what career or job is best suited for oneself. A person’s future is way too important to not think about or not realize what goes into crafting a life in this toxic society. And I wanted to capture what many people don’t realize about their own thoughts, there are a lot of subconscious thoughts that goes into how our minds work. Some areas of improvement would probably be to decrease the word count of my essay as a whole and work on making sure that all brainstormed ideas are fully incorporated.

Advanced Essay:

Many are completely dumbfounded by how society subconsciously controls their career goals and decisions that they had for themselves. We need to come a realization that there are a lot more at stake when finding a career/job than how much the job pays. Although many fail to realize, everyone has control over their decisions but are continuously classifying whether it’s “acceptable” by society. All attention should be geared towards their mental, physical, and emotional capabilities when deciding what jobs are best suitable to take on.

Once we start to think for ourselves about what’s best for us, we start to comprehend certain factors that makes us happy. We must disregard all judgement provided from others. This doesn’t make us selfish, this makes us mindful, capable, and secure enough to guide ourselves through all career related obstacles.  Observations are being made wherever we go, Ryan Etis had a lesson to be taught to an audience of 400 high school students at an event to teach about careers and manufacturing.

“I watched closely as they settled in, full of potential and possibility. I had been thinking about this 30 minutes for a while. I had a goal. Maybe it was more of a hope or desire. I wanted to be that defining moment for one young person today. To pay it forward. To ignite something inside someone else that becomes the catalyst for change.”

Ryan wanted to make a difference, although he didn’t know any of the students personally, he knew that he wanted everyone to take away from his lesson that they can become a “catalyst for change.” He viewed inspiration as a defining factor in society, given that he found his own inspiration from Jim Rohn, who “...saved me. I had never been exposed to that kind of thinking. I went for the free happy hour, but didn’t anticipate a night that would become a defining moment in my life. I walked out fully committed to begin my life transformation. The learning has never stopped.” In college, Ryan felt uninspired, he found himself realizing things about himself that he seemed to not have control over. He had to take many steps to find his true potential, and to pass on that process onto the younger generation.

Being genuinely happy with a career that not only challenges you to do better is much more satisfying rather than the opposite. As individuals we owe it to ourselves to have our own direction in what we decide for ourselves, and how we associate our happiness and success.

The most common job in this industry belongs in the setting of a restaurant. In many cases, our mental and emotional abilities are challenged the most. Although it might not seem like the most hardest job in the world, it takes certain people to adapt to this type of work. Christina Druen wrote an article discussing the process of her first job and the influences that came from that.

“Working as a waitress has helped me develop life skills that years of schooling never did. In school, presentations scared me, and they still do to this day. However, give me 3 or 4 groups of people to talk to and teach them something, I will eat it up. By working as a waitress, I have learned so much about myself, and about relationships. I have learned that I am amazed by what customers have to say.”  Not only did she learn the physical skills when it came to the specificity of the job like managing money and engaging with leadership skills, she learned how to personally break out of her shell of uncomfortability that she never thought she would overcome.

However, the restaurant job hasn’t given everyone a positive experience, Lucy Murrey writes about her experience, “The restaurant had pretty distinct cliques and a tangible hierarchy associated with them. Most notably were those who had been working at the restaurant for years who resided at the top of the pyramid, crowning themselves above a sea of nomads: the college kids who would pop back in every so often, the high schoolers who were harmlessly picked on, and then the miscellaneous, ever-changing group of people who, from the moment they were hired, had everyone placing bets on how long they’d last.”

She realized immediately that working in a restaurant had its own set of societal distinctions. Expectations were contrived before new workers would come in, she described the environment as a “tangible hierarchy.” Depending on the workers’ age or social background, the whole purpose of this business was that their positions weren’t permanent. She talked about how people would place bets on each other to see how long they’ll “last,” already assuming that they can’t handle it. But yet, others still continue to work in such manners, not taking into account that this is harmful to their emotional being.

A vast majority of adolescent teens starts off their years diving into the world of business. They are oblivious to how the world works, it’s common for them to automatically gravitate towards pursuing a career that they notice family members take on. That shouldn’t be the only purpose to decide a career, Cheri McBride discusses her experience with her family business,

“Cheri McBride, now 65, was just a kid in 1951 when her parents opened up a jewelry store called Nowlin Jewelry in Lake Jackson, Texas, a Dow Chemical factory town that sprung up in the 1940s. As she grew up, she saw how hard her parents worked—staying up late or spending weekends doing paperwork—to make it a success. That was why, when it came time to go to college, McBride, who goes by the nickname "Duckie," couldn't wait to get out of town. "I wanted to be the world's greatest artist," she says. "And I honestly think my parents hoped I would find a job with nice benefits."

Success in her eyes rose from how she saw her parents work at a young age. She observed how hard they would work and the amount of time they would spend throughout time. After college, she had a goal based off of her parents’ work ethic, her desire to be “the world’s greatest artist.” She soon found herself not reaching that goal and began to take over her family’s business, but “the third generation of the Nowlin family told their parents they didn't have any interest in taking over the business. That's why four years ago, McBride and her brother decided to sell off their entire inventory and close the business down after 50 years of operations.” It seemed easier said than done when it came to taking over her family business, but she knew that this business couldn’t continue simply because she wasn’t passionate about it.

Once again, Christina speaks about her influences growing up in regards to important people in her life, “I was 15 when I started. I had just started high school. I didn’t know who I was yet. Although I’ve always had a good head on my shoulders, I was still influenced by others that were older than me. I wanted nothing more than to be friends with all of them. Because I was the baby of the crew, they all took care of me. They were there with me through all my successes in high school and even now in college.”

She felt that she had this obligation to stick to this job because of the people that supported her every step of the way. This shows that certain working environments provides teenagers of this generation an invitation to following in the footsteps of others, simply because of their age and their experiences. Living off of someone else’s lifestyle is something that people tend to do, without realizing, it can definitely cause major restrictions on their lives.

There are so many constraints on life itself when it comes to expectations that we have to live up to. From family members, close inspirations, and societal impacts we have control over anything involving our self decisions and self discoveries.  It takes courage to admit to themselves that a huge part of their lives are under the control factors aside from their own. We all need to dig beneath the surface instead of scratching it. This establishment of happiness is something we all need to take into account. Everything is a learning experience whether it be a positive or negative one, taking away something from a job experience into the course of life. Success should be something that others work towards and aim for for themselves, and taking all steps necessary to help them achieve their full potential.

Bibliography:

Dahl, Darren. “Succession Stories: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Inc.com, Inc., www.inc.com/articles/201103/succession-stories-keeping-the-business-in-the-family.html

“How My First Job Changed Me.” The Odyssey Online, 28 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/how-my-first-job-changed-me

“3 Defining Moments That Shaped My Life.” Ryan Estis, 2 Nov. 2015, www.ryanestis.com/leadership/3-defining-moments-that-shaped-my-life

Intro

This is an essay I am proud of. For this paper, my biggest goal was to make sure I understood the project and developed something I knew was quality. There have been instances where I have written a piece, but realized later that I didn’t follow the directions at all and had to start over. An area for improvement though was the amount of editing I did, and how I didn’t end up changing a lot from my rough draft to final.

Essay

Each person has a hidden identity. No one is a completely open book; everyone will have their secrets. You see a lot of examples of hidden identity on social media, but you don’t notice it for what it is. If you look at somebody's facebook feed or Instagram page, you’ll see that they will only share what they want others to see. Everybody with a social media account wants to craft an identity for themselves online. However, it isn’t an accurate representation of who they are. Think about it. How would you feel if there was an accurate representation of your emotions and activities on the internet for all your friends to see? Would you want people to see the depths of your personal life online? People will only post about things in their life that they would want everybody else to see as well. Social media isn’t even just about sharing your life, it’s about bragging about it and crafting an ideal persona online.

Social media also changes the genuine expression of emotion from people. While Facebook is a place where people vent about their siblings and show their video game high scores, they also will tell all of their Facebook friends that somebody close to them passed. In my personal experience, I feel a certain level of guilt if I see a status update like that and I don’t like or comment. However, this does not feel genuine to me at all. If somebody close to me lost a loved one, I would make sure I am showing support in person, and not through a Facebook comment. I read a Time Magazine article on mourning on facebook. It introduced the idea of if Facebook is the right place for important issues such as loss, depression, death, etc. A quote from the article read,“There’s no ‘right’ way to mourn, but I question whether Facebook — which seems more and more like a junkyard of complaints and raw emotions — does justice to our feelings about meaningful things like death if we discuss them on the same platform as complaints about our cable company.” This quote raises a really good question on the topic of worth. Can somebody’s death really be dumbed down to a social media post? Death is a massive topic, that cannot be just summed up with a speech, a funeral, a gravestone, and especially not an Instagram post. If a funeral doesn’t give justice to somebody’s death, then how can a post on social media?

There was a relatively well known local musician named Brian Nowell, who recently passed because of a drug overdose. It was a very sad event, and I did see and feel the effect of it on people around me. But not in person, it was all expressed on Facebook or Instagram. I never actually heard anybody who involved themselves in sharing or posting about his death, speak about it in person. It was uncanny, to get texts, facebook messages, and more about this tragedy, which made it seem very sad. However, without anybody actually talking about it, made it seem very fake. This is because, without a real connection to the person, a person doesn’t feel as much remorse as somebody close to the tragedy. Somebody can feel sympathy, but won’t feel the same way as somebody who was close to Brian. Just from my perspective, it felt like many different people were putting this persona of themselves on social media to make the tragedy about themselves, and to show that they care, and not to actually show support to the ones truly hurt. Sharing and posting about a tragedy like this can help craft this ideal online persona, one that is not only busy, smart, and having fun, but is also caring and supportive.

People end up crafting different identities because they want to create a persona they find ideal for the public. There are different reasons for this, whether it’s to feel more important, seem caring and supportive, seem popular, and much more. People use different ways to craft ideal identities for the public. This can be done with social media, by sharing things that will make you seem like somebody more interesting or popular. People will also often utilize their hidden identities to seek attention, sympathy, or approval. This isn't something that can really be addressed, but it is an issue. Considering how important people's social lives have become to them, an online persona can influence your personality greatly, and change you for better or worse.

Bibliography

Zneimer, Lia. “Social Media: How to Mourn on Facebook After Someone Dies.” Time, Time, 6 May 2014, time.com/47252/mourning-social-media/.

Introduction

The goal of my paper was to analyze the streetwear culture and social media’s influence on its growth. I wanted to understand and attempt to explain both sides of the argument of culture vultures, and I believe I did a good job in my attempt. I believe I did a good job in establishing the relationship between social media and streetwear and analyzing the argument of those who criticize culture vultures. One area I do think I could’ve improved in was my overall argument. I feel as if I repeat my argument one too many times in certain areas and that is in part due to my lack of word variation.

Advanced Essay

Social media has created a virtual global village that connects people from all over the world. An influencer in London no longer only has influence in London, but has influence from places like Zhuhai, China to Jonesboro, Arkansas. This global reach has given power to the influencer and has accelerated the rise of trends. Trends can blow up in a matter of minutes on the internet. One of the booming trends today is the rise of streetwear and brands like Supreme. However, unlike your favorite 6 second vines or meme, it is a trend that hasn’t gone away. As the streetwear culture is just starting to hit the mainstream market, there has been backlash from those who believe the culture is losing its authenticity. Those who consider them “original” streetwear enthusiasts have criticized adopters of the brand, however, Supreme’s rise is due to social media and the natural growth of clothing brands.

Supreme started as this exclusive club meant for only the most authentic and raw of skaters and artists in the New York Area. As Alex Williams from the New York Times stated, “For much of its 18-year existence, Supreme was confined to the in-crowd, a scruffy clubhouse for a select crew of blunt-puffing skate urchins, graffiti artists, underground filmmakers and rappers.” The store represented the culture of its city and thrived in this space. If you walked into the store and didn’t pass the “authenticity check,” you were looked down upon(New York Times). This was true for most underground brands such as Palace and Thrasher. Brands like Supreme established this ethos that they are anti-culture and different from the norm, however, one could argue that they are the new norm. As streetwear has gone mainstream, its ethos has lost some of its grunginess.

Social media has undeniably provided a platform for individuals to create careers and cultivate huge followings. Anyone who denies this can be pointed to Kim Kardashian’s Instagram. As of March 16, 2017, brands have to pay up to $500,000 for an Instagram post to her 94.8 million Instagram followers (Talia Ergas). On a smaller scale, social media has established a pipeline for the growth of streetwear. Leo Mandela, most notoriously known on Instagram as Gully Guy Leo, is one specific individual who used social media to his advantage. Leo Mandela grew up in Warwickshire where the most streetwear thing to do was wear skinny jeans. Due to the lack of inspiration in his community, he turned to social media where he found inspiration from individuals like Jaden Smith, Kanye West, and Justin Bieber. Once he reached around the age of 13, Leo Mandela started finding the money to purchase clothes that were considered “hype.” From there he was able to build up a following on Instagram and currently he has over 590,000 Instagram followers. He models for brands such as Converse and and is flown out to fashion events all over the world. He hangs out with major celebrities on a consistent basis, doing all of this at the age of 15. His free to sign up Instagram account has opened doors that wouldn’t otherwise be possible at his age.

Leo Mandela has also been heavily criticized for his following. Dubbed by many as a “culture vulture,” he is viewed as one of the many that are ruining the culture. However, there is an argument to be made that Supreme’s growth as a brand is inevitable, and social media is only speeding up the process. Brands like Nike, Clarks, and Stussy all started off small. They did not have overnight success. It took the consumers to express their enjoyment from the brand to fuel their growth. Social media just makes it easier for the consumer to spread their enjoyment with a certain brand, thus speeding up its growth. Social media’s reach has fused Supreme’s urban sensibility and suburban mainstream, drawing a fine line between those who wear the brand because of its urban authenticity and those who wear it because it is hype.

As our world becomes more and more connected, the popularity of different art/expression/culture/niches will grow too. This is becoming an issue as people are quick to protect a part of their identity and keep it a secret from the masses. All it takes is a couple of minutes to find like minded individuals or to find a niche you are interested in. What were once subcultures are being thrust into the spotlight and there is no longer a boundary for its reach or influence. More and more people are facing the fact that what they consider unique about themselves is quite common when looking at grand scope of things, and it is up to each individual to decide whether it will affect them or not.

Bibliography

Ergas, Talia. “Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian Make Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars for Instagram Ads.” Us Weekly, 16 Mar. 2017, www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/kardashian-sisters-make-how-much-for-instagram-ads-w472080/.

Williams, Alex. “Guerrilla Fashion: The Story of Supreme.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Nov. 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/fashion/guerrilla-fashion-the-story-of-supreme.html.

Davey, Jacob. “How Gully Guy Leo Harnessed Hate to Become the Coolest Kid on Instagram.” Complex, Complex, 1 Feb. 2018, www.complex.com/style/2018/02/gully-guy-leo-converse.

Introduction:

The goal of this paper was to try and make sense of why working class whites in America have the beliefs and prejudices that they do. I attempted to do this without insulting or vilifying them, though I’m not sure if I succeeded. While I’m overall content with the essay, I find that I repeat myself a little too often and that my analysis is quite long-winded.

Advanced Essay:

Ethan Larrabee

Mr. Block

Advanced Essay

March 9, 2018

The election of Donald Trump has ignited the discussion of a very important question: how did this happen? The answer lies in many places, but one key factor in his victory lies in a previously unexpected region of the United States. Known sometimes as the “silent majority”, America’s rural communities are rarely regarded when considering massive social and political change. This past election, they proved to be a driving force behind Trump’s seemingly out of nowhere victory. Trump, or rather his campaign staff, manipulated these people by exploiting their fear and their inner rage against the “urban elite”.

The best way to manipulate people is through fear and rural, working-class whites have a lot to fear. Their main source of livelihood, mostly low-skill manufacturing jobs, have been on the decline as more and more companies ship their business overseas where labor costs are cheaper. They believe to have been passed over by their government, left with no representation. They’re led to believe that other races of people receive “special treatment” while they’re seemingly forced to fend for themselves. This leads to them creating extremely insulated communities where everyone shares a similar mindset. Without any new ideas coming into the community, they continue the same way they always have, which only serves to worsen their problem. The typical conservative viewpoint tends to come from a place of ignorance. Racism, xenophobia, pro-gun beliefs, anti-abortion beliefs, and so-called “conservative family values” are harder to find in more densely populated urban environments because there is a far greater concentration of people with different beliefs from different backgrounds. This exposure to different ideas makes one more accepting of change and more open to new concepts. In a place where everyone is the same race, has the same worldview, has access to the same limited information, and have all lived there for generations, progressive opinions are hard to find. This creates an echo chamber where misinformation is repeated from source to source until it becomes fact.

That’s not to say that these people are monsters. A part of their fear and hatred stems from wanting what’s best for their communities. People who live in rural areas pride themselves on their resourcefulness, their grit, their status as American citizens, and the strength of their communities. They believe that most problems can be solved with determination and hard work. This leads them to perceiving other oppressed groups as lazy. They don’t understand the effects of systematic oppression because they don’t experience it, at least not obviously, nor do they know anyone who has because minority groups are regularly regarded with contempt and mistrust. These people have been fed misinformation for generations and are so steeped in their own way of life that they fail to see the world from any other viewpoint aside from their own extremely limited perspective.

In a USA Today interview with several Trump supporters, a man named Zach Broullire gives his reasons for supporting such a candidate. “Right now, our immigration system is not working for the American people, and our trade isn’t working for the American people. Really, I support Trump because our government is not necessarily working for the American people and more for their agenda, whatever that may be. I want American first policy; any American citizen, that’s who our immigration policy, our trade policy and every other policy should be working for is American people.” This is how people like Donald Trump get elected. Working-class whites feel ignored by the government and are looking for anyone willing to speak to their beliefs. They are willing to ignore and excuse a great deal of problems because they are desperate for representation. Any politician claiming to have an “America first” policy has an easy time gaining their favor.

Instead of looking for ways to help these people, politicians abuse their predictable responses and generally limited educations to garner support for their campaigns. As Adolf Hitler stated in Mein Kampf, “All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to. Propaganda must be limited to a few simple themes and these must be represented again and again. Here, as in innumerable other cases, perseverance is the first and most important condition of success.” One can observe these tactics used time and time again. By utilizing a limited vocabulary and catchy phrases like “America first” and “drain the swamp”, propaganda appeals to these people’s identities as Americans and gives them a clear and simple goal to fight for.

It is important to remember that these are still people. They may say horrible things, they may commit horrible acts, and sometimes it’s impossible to forgive them, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t hope for change. If the root of the problem here is caused by ignorance and the manipulation of said ignorance, than the education of these people is of utmost importance. If we ignore the white working class, they will only withdraw further into their isolation, and the situation will only get worse.

Works Cited

Capehart, Jonathan. “Opinion | Working-Class whites can't handle their status as 'the new minority'.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 20 Apr. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/04/20/working-class-whites-cant-handle-their-status-as-the-new-minority/?utm_term=.b8e5c6c1f1d6.

Glasser, Susan B. and Thrush, Glenn, et al. “What's Going on With America's White People?” POLITICO Magazine, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/problems-white-people-america-society-class-race-214227.

“Trump Nation.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/trump-nation/#/?_k=4y2pq5.

Introduction

My goals for this essay had been to use sources and analyze sources well. I really wanted to try and make sure that my sources made sense and had been chosen well in order to fit the theme of the essay. I know that which sources you choose can make your essay amazing or simply not work so I had spent a lot of time searching for the right sources and the right quotes. Something that I am proud of is my thesis along with my theme. I think it is an interesting topic and had been unique as well. There are not many people which would have gone down the route I had and i think my originality is what I am proud of. An area for improvement is my analysis. I think could have done a bit more analysis and that would have strengthened my argument.

White Acceptance

Growing up I was told we were all unique, there is something special about all of us. Something that we can all identify from and call our own. This is a lie. Some people are unique, others are generic and basic. I’m part of that basic category. I'm white, I don’t have any disabilities, no allergies, and worst of all, I'm from Europe. So the whitest of the white.

When applying to college we all as students seek to stand out from the thousands of other applicants that apply to the school you absolutely want. Pristine colleges such as Harvard University say that they value “Growth and potential” but this idea is completely dependent on the person reviewing your application. One man could see you as the perfect applicant but another simply doesn’t think your the right fit. It is absolutely true that an amazing transcript and an amazing SAT score will raise your chances of getting into the college of your dreams but that many of the won’t even help with the cruel and unjust societal system which plagues our school admission system. Due to the mandatory requirement of racial diversity, the admission offices in colleges deny qualified students and accepts less qualified applicants, lowering standards and expectations for some while unjustly raising standards and expectations for others simply because of their race.

Schools base their opinion not off of your transcript but on how many of you there already are. We can all be grouped. Colleges group their students based off of their race and it is in no way a system which produces the most academically capable students and instead creates a damaging culture for minorities.

A study done by Princeton University had showed that white students had to score 340 points more on their SAT to have the same chances of admission. When compared to hispanics, whites would have to score 130 points higher to have the same chances of admission. This is unacceptable and simply not right for discrimination like this to occur. In that same study, it had shown that Asians have an even larger disadvantage. An SAT score of a 1500 by an Asian student, would have the same chance of admission as a black student who had an SAT score of 1020. By enforcing such policies we decrease the quality of work and lead to a lack of caring among students because they don’t have to commit as much effort as others. Hard Work, discipline, and achievement in academics should be rewarded. A reward should not be given to a student simply because they are a certain race and someone should not be punished for not being a certain race.

During the civil rights movement, a new law had been put into place called Affirmative Action. According to the NCSL, “Affirmative action policies are those in which an institution or organization actively engages in efforts to improve opportunities for historically excluded groups in American society.” The purpose of this program and the effects of it, do not align a single bit. In an interview conducted by BBC, a student had stated that “During law school I had a male classmate talk to me about how he believed that I that was admitted to the law school simply because of affirmative action...there was a number of white applicants, particularly white male applicants, who were qualified and denied admission to our law school simply because the school had a commitment to diversity on campus.” With this wrongful prioritization of diversity on the Campus and enaction of such a program, students are discriminated all while having every one of their achievements demeaned. We should believe in students and their ability to get into a school if they put in the effort but when we hand them this acceptance letter simply because of their skin color, we insult them by disbelief of their ability to achieve it on their own.

The longer such actions continue, the worst the problem will get. The lack of caring, the normalization of privilege, and the loss of incentive will continue to grow in the minority society. College acceptance is not a right, it is an accomplishment of the highest level for those who have truly earned it.

I’ve worked hard to get to where I am right now. Others have even harder and I give them credit for that. For every hour I spent studying, someone spent two. Those are the students who should be accepted and enrolled in the most pristine colleges. I am white. I admit it's a part of me. But it's not what defines me. I can just pray when the time comes, white isn’t all they’ll see.

Bibliography

“Affirmative Action: Do White American Students Really Get a Bad Deal?” BBC News, BBC, 3 Aug. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40804848.

Hultin, Brenda Bautsch Suzanne. Affirmative Action | Overview, www.ncsl.org/research/education/affirmative-action-overview.aspx.

“The Power of Race.” Inside Higher Ed, www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/11/03/elite.

“What We Look For.” Harvard College, college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look.

Introduction

In this essay, I wanted to learn about how even when a group of people have a common goal, there are still separations. In this case, I look at activists' ideas during the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements – ideas from Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X – and see how they shaped their identities based on one goal. Additionally, I wanted to find out how these identities were destroyed by an even bigger force – the government itself. I am proud of my analysis – this is an area that I usually have a harder time doing in other essays. In my next essay, I will try to be even more specific and focus more on certain people or in a more specific point in time. I would also like to write better conclusions and make them less abrupt.

Advanced Essay

In the United States, the fight for Civil Rights has been a continuous fight. From the fight for citizenship of black people after the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement – each of these fights led to changes in the way society viewed black people. Black people wanted to have justice and equality. However, in a society where white power has dominated in the government of this country, these calls for rights were turned to deaf ears. Each of these struggles showed how this society prevented black and brown people from belonging in it and creating identities for themselves – culture, governments, and education.

The 1960s and 1970s saw the Black Power Movement. During this time, black Americans were fighting (again) to have justice, freedom, housing, and education. Black people felt that the black power movement would help create a new identity for black Americans – an identity that involved self-sufficiency and the celebration of black culture. This movement was created in response to not just the major political and social issues during this time, but also in response to other Civil Rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose approach to gaining Civil Rights was peaceful protests. In fact, Dr. King condemned the ideas of Black Power as a solution to the issues regarding Civil Rights. In a document by Dr. King, titled "It is not enough to condemn black power" in October 1966, he talked about the dangers of using the ideas of Black Power in gaining Civil Rights. October 1966, importantly, was also when the Black Panther Party was founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. "The slogan was an unwise choice at the outset. With the violent connotations that now attach to the words it has become dangerous and injurious." This quote represents the fears of going to, what seemed to be, extreme measures in fighting for civil rights in the 1960s and 70s. Dr. King felt that using the "Black Power" term would have changed the way black people were viewed by society – that black people would have been viewed as violent people rather than peaceful people. He felt that using violence was not and should not have been used to win the civil rights struggles because it would tarnish his ideas of how black people should craft their identities – peacefully and civilized.

From the perspective of the Black Power Movement and activists such as Malcolm X, Huey Newton, and Bobby Seale, they felt that the peaceful approach to gaining civil rights in the United States would not be enough to force lawmakers and society in general from changing its views on Civil Rights for black Americans. They felt that the identity that Dr. King wanted to create – peaceful protests leading to social change – was being taken advantage of. They felt that this identity would just be brushed to the side, and that the fight for civil rights would not be as productive as if they became more forceful with their protests. The ideas of the Black Power Movement represented a more aggressive tone, to show that they would not be taken advantage of and pushed around. The ideas of this movement influenced other organizations with the same aggressive ideas to take shape such as the Black Panther Party, which performed community service and armed patrol of police in black communities. A document from the Black Panthers lists out all of the things they wanted, and all of the things they would fight to be changed. "We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. … We want bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace." These initiatives showed how the fight for rights took a turn following a whole different approach. While the initiatives of activists like Dr. King were to have integration, where black and white would be equal and work towards gaining civil rights together, the Black Panther Party wanted black Americans to be able to sustain themselves.

These goals changed the national attitude towards the Black Panthers and black Americans, as they no longer were just protesting. They were working towards these goals, regardless of the criticism from a society built on racism. This progress was not met with widespread approval. In 1956, the FBI launched a counterintelligence program called COINTELPRO, aimed at investigating "'radical' national political groups," according to PBS. A year after the Black Panther Party was formed, COINTELPRO shifted most of its attention to investigating Huey Newton and the Black Panthers. Also according to PBS, out of 295 documents outlining actions against black groups, 233 of those documents specifically targeted the Black Panthers. As a result, the organization began to lose its footing, and officially closed in 1982. The swift action of COINTELPRO in shutting them down showed how the deep-rooted racism influenced the government and their institutions. It showed that the identities that black people wanted to create for themselves during these movements were not socially accepted because of their race.

One group of people with a common goal create different identities based on their general ideas of how society is run and how it should be changed. In this case, the identities that were created by those who followed in the footsteps of Dr. King and the identities of those following the footsteps of Bobby Seale seemed to be conflicting identities. They were working towards a common goal – to have Civil Rights – but there was disagreement on how that goal should be achieved. Nonviolent activism was an identity that was accepted by some black people, but unaccepted by other black people, and vice versa.

PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/actions/actions_cointelpro.html

Intro: I wrote this essay to explore the ideas of the abnormally large amount of gay slurs and homo phobics that appear in sports. I am proud of how I tied it together but my grammar could have improved and the middle sections of my essay could have been better.

Homosexuality is something in society today that people are slowly coming to accept however there are still outliers such as the Westboro Baptist Church and other hate groups set out to oppose homosexuality. Sports are a huge part of society especially in the United States. When people think of an athlete who plays sports they will most likely think of a masculine, muscular figure, which is a trait and body composition commonly associated with playing sports. Most people will not think of someone flamboyant which is a trait commonly associated with gay men. The homosexuality bias that occurs in sports does not stop there, gay slurs and dissatisfaction towards gays are abnormally high in the sports communities compared to other groups. The reason for this bias comes down to the fact that people do not like what they are not used to. The majority of sports players are testosterone filled men because testosterone fuels muscle growth, but the overall amount of testosterone in a person's body does not just have that one affect. Testosterone also causes hyper competitiveness and aggressiveness. Maybe there are not more people who are homophobic in sports but more people that speak their mind and tend to be insensitive when playing a competitive sport.

Bill Kennedy is a gay NBA referee and basketball is the second most popular sport in the world. When a gay referee is put in a spot where the whole world can see what he's doing it does not always end up with a person saying something positive. ‘‘I am proud to be an N.B.A. referee, and I am proud to be a gay man. I am following in the footsteps of others who have self-identified in the hopes that it will send a message to young men and women in sports that you must allow no one to make you feel ashamed of who you are’’(Morris). Through the limelight Bill Kennedy has become a figure head for the LGBTQ community, what he says matters, it has impact and effects the NBA as a whole. Bill Kennedy Later says something that provides a great insight into sports culture and its homophobic tendencies. “The stigmas are different for gay male athletes, in part because men have made intolerance and slurs a lasting feature of sports culture. And so, tribally speaking, for a star — a male star — to say ‘‘I’m gay’’ is, in a sense, to place himself above the culture of the team”(Morris). The point Kennedy brings up is something important to the reason why sports has a abnormally high rate of homophobic reports. Culture is the deciding factors in these types of situations, the culture of a team is different then the culture of the world that is ever changing.

The culture of the world has changed immensely, but evolution has not caught up. Humans evolved to live in hunter and gathering societies, we are now removed from this scenario. Humans evolved so that men are the ones to hunt and women are the ones to take care of the home, Now gender roles in society are generally open and not conflicted. The male female behavioral differences were pushed further apart by things such as estrogen and testosterone. Testosterone is known to contribute to aggressiveness, competitiveness and muscle growth. Testosterone gives athletes major advantages in sports because of its association with muscle growth. This could be a major factor in the cultural capital of sports, when a homosexual male or women comes into contact with a place that is fueled by primal human instincts due to the excess of hormones they effectively isolate themselves from the rest of their team. There is no science to prove that homosexuals have a different hormonal balance but their difference is seen as a challenge to sports.