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Satire is defined by dictionary.com as “the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing,denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.” It is used in shows like Saturday Night Live to make fun of recent events such as presidential debates and celebrities. In mainstream venues like broadcast television, satire is used in a humourous and for the most part in a light hearted way. However, in the Youtube commentary community; people who make videos reacting to other videos and mock and make fun of them using under the umbrella of “satire.” Many YouTube commentary channels are not actually satire, they are just a way for them to get away with bullying and harassing people.

One of the YouTubers who pioneered this fake-satire genre was “Leafyishere”. They have almost 5 million subscribers, and in his channel description it states, “If you don't like satire content, probably not the place for you.”. He made a video called,”THE MOST UPSET FEMINIST GETS 0-100 ANGER TOWARDS ME.” In this video he talked about and watched a video with a person who was talking about all the hate they were getting because of the last video Leafy made on them. The first video he did about her was him making fun of one of the women’s youtube video, talking about her intro and some of the points she made in the video. In the video he said,“So I made a video on her or, or him… she’s trans so I don’t really know which one. Uhhh anyways I made a video on this f****ng creature. Umm *laughter* Okay that was f****ng joke…” In this statement he is blatantly making fun her for being a transexual, comparing her being trans to that of being some “creature.” Since he knew that was an inappropriate comment, he quickly defended himself by saying that it was just a joke, so he doesn’t get backlash for making such poorly taste statement. Since his channel is satire he is basically saying that the statement he just made was “satire”. This seemingly worked for no one made a comment about him making that statement, when it was not satire and just bullying someone over being transgender. So he got off “scot-free” for making that statement. If he were to use actual “satire he could’ve mock her video style or an statement she made that he felt was outlandish, not attack her sexuality.

In another one of Leafy’s videos called, “ANGRY UPSET FEMINIST SAYS SHE WANTS TO KILL ALL WHITE PEOPLE.” Which was about leafy commentating about two high school poetry slam students and how he feels that they were just hating on white men. He says, “Time out, you guys see the one on the left. You know the one with the hat; can someone please explain to me why she is wearing f****ng safety goggles.” He also stated, “I feel like these two annoying f****ng monkeys don’t fully understand…” These two quotes aren’t as harsh as the one in the previous paragraph but shows that his content not satire because he is directly attacking their physical appearance. He is not sarcastically saying this or using irony to prove a point about how what they are saying is foolish. He is just plain out attacking them and just labeling what he is saying as “satire” when it actuality it is not.

A YouTuber named “ColossalIsCrazy” who makes similar content to that of “Leafyishere” actually openly admits to using the word satire as a way to not get hate in the disclaimer of his video. Stating, “Please do not attack/harass anyone I discuss[insult] in this video. I hide behind the shield of satire, but I am also a strong believer in strong criticism...”  What this tells me is that the YouTube commentary community are not oblivious to this but still use the word for protection anyway. Collosaliscrazy is not that much of an offender of this because most of his videos are just criticism and not deliberately bashing on somebody. With that said his channel is basically criticizing people which is not satire. So claiming his channel as a satire channel is just called that just in case he needs it for protection against criticism.

If Youtube commentary channels stopped to think about it, they would realize that using satire as a shield does not just involve the misuse of the word “satire”, but it also involves lying to your fans and tampering with the definition of the word satire as well. Many of their fans maybe do not know what the definition of satire is and may get the wrong interpretation of it from their videos.What is needed to prevent this from happening is more YouTubers calling it out to discourage the people doing from using the claim of satire for protection as many such as Idubzzz has. With people doing this they can make the YouTube commentary more respected and honest for their viewers.

This piece of writing reflects on how I was able to use language to express myself in ways that I couldn't before. I was introduced to a new way to put what I was feeling into words, this was a big turning point in my life that allowed me to understand myself and the world around me in a new way.

Essay:

His name was Bukowski, Charles Bukowski, and he changed the way that I would write for the rest of my life. He was truly insane, a crazy man, but every word he spoke, every verse he wrote was pure poetry, a reflection on mankind that was almost as if he were watching the movement of the world from up above and spat out what he saw. The depressive way that he wrote could also reflect all of the pain that he felt through his life, as if he were baring his soul to us the reader, and then telling us all to go fuck ourselves. I loved it from the first moment, from the first words I heard, “There's a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out, but I'm too tough for him, I say, stay in there, I'm not going, to let anybody see you” from the screen as a montage of images were shown in front of me, with an old voice reading the heart wrenching words of a dead man.

“Who is this person? Who wrote this?” I immediately asked. I had never heard writing like this before, I had never felt a poem wrap it's cold, calloused hands around me before. Poetry had always been a chore to me, some assignment that a teacher would hand you and tell you to write your heart on the page, and I never knew what that really meant until now. That night I went home and read through every word that he had written, every thought that he had was now trapped rumbling around in my head. I was then convinced, I was convinced that I could be just like him, I could write just like Bukowski.

I decided to take a try at writing poetry. I let the words play over and over in my head like a broken record, lines kept repeating in my head until I could find the right way to express all of the pain that I had felt, I wanted to put myself into my words just like he had. So I wrote, letting the words flow out of me, and it felt like I had discovered something that I had never known was inside of me. A new medium of expression that allowed me to tell the world how I felt, a way to put the isolating feeling lingered over top of me for years into the minds of those who read my words.

“So you want to be a writer,” he said. “If it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it. Unless it comes unasked out of your heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut, don’t do it. If you have to sit for hours staring at your computer screen, or hunched over your typewriter searching for words, don’t do it.” Now I knew what Bukowski meant when he said this, that the only way you could be a true writer is if you have something to say, if you have the emotion to put into it, or the true desire to put your words into the minds of people. There are so many people out there who are writing for the wrong reasons, they want to feel the satisfaction of knowing that they have the deepest or most powerful words, but those who can put the most meaning into their words are not the people who want to write, but the people where all they can do is write, all they have is their words.

There are so many people today who have extensive stories to tell, people who have felt pain, but who don’t have the words to express it like I did. The fact that people all over the world are incapable of reading and writing is a horror, because I know that by using words I was able to find a way to express myself, and I couldn’t imagine an existence where I couldn’t. It is like being trapped in your own head, your body constantly feeding off of your pain until there you have nothing left. No way to release the growling beast inside that could make you one of the greats.

So as I think back over his words, what it seemed like he was saying directly to me. “There's a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out, but I'm too tough for him, I say, stay in there, I'm not going to let anybody see you.” These words that are scattering throughout my head, eating away at me, and as I look for my response, I write:

If my heart could speak

Its every word would be stifled by your loud screams,

Your insatiable need to be heard by everyone in the room,

Though you don’t have a word to say.

As you fill the room with nonsense that no one wants to hear,

I sit in the corner,

Unheard and undesired,

And though you interrupt every word that anyone has to say,

I let you go on because,

If my heart could speak,

I wouldn’t say a word.   

             “ Wild tongues can't be tamed they can only be cut out.”-  How to tame a wild tongue.

               Many times in my life I have been criticized for the way I speak. Either I speak ¨ too white¨ or  I speak ¨ too ghetto¨ which I assume means black. I never understood how one's speech could reflect their entire race, let alone an entire other race. All my life I have been trying to find a balance in my speech that made other people comfortable talking to me when I never focused on making myself comfortable with the way I speak.

 It all started in first grade, a very innocent time in my life. At that age, a child is very vulnerable and easily influenced so what I heard changed me forever.

¨ Deja talks W-H-I-T-E ¨

           This was coming from one of the teachers in my class. I went home and told my mom because I didn't know what that specifically  meant.

¨ Mom do I talk W-H-I-T-E? ¨ I asked her.

“ White?  You talk white Deja?” She asked

This is a moment that I believe really shaped my speech. It was the moment when I realized the clear difference in myself from other people in my race. I didn't know I was different until I was pointed out that I was. Being raised in Rhode Island took a heavy toll on me.My family and I were the only black members in the community so I wasn’t exposed to my black culture very much. The only people who were around me were white so that's the culture I had to cling on to for the time being. I was at a very impressionable age so the things I saw and heard, I mimicked which in time reflected on the way I spoke. I followed by the examples I had.

        I was ashamed after that. At the age of six  years old I already lost myself cultural wise. I knew at this point I would have to change. That somehow I would have to become somebody else in order to fit in with everyone else.

¨ You sound like such a hoodrat ¨

             Flashing forward eight  years to me at fourteen years old in eighth grade . It took eight years of me learning and growing into what I believed was my culture. I had evolved in my speech. I began to sound like everyone else around me. I no longer sounded “white”. I would mispronounce words and phrases  purposely to sound like what I thought at the time was cool. My friends and I didn't realize the way we were speaking was damaging our images. Now we sounded exactly how everyone expected us to. Loud and uneducated. This comment was made to me by a classmate as a joke but I didn´t take it that way. Once again, I was put in a position where I was questioning myself and my speech. I was reminded about the way I felt all those years ago after being told I ¨ talk white¨ now I talk ¨ too hood¨. I couldn´t win . “ I've never seen anything as strong or as stubborn”.- How to tame a wild tongue.

               There was a point in my life where I was ¨too white¨ for the black kids and ¨ too black ¨ for the white kids. I was stuck in the in between. I was lost and i didn't know how to be found. Eventually I found myself in my speech. I had to blend all the things I know and heard to create something new. It was a new me. I realized in order to be accepted by everyone you must first accept yourself. ¨ If you didn't grow up like I did then you don´t know and if you don´t know then it's probably better you don´t judge.¨ This quote is from the story Wildwood and it perfectly explains what I went through. I was constantly judged for the way I spoke by people who didn't understand why I spoke the way I spoke. They didn't know anything about where I come from or how I was raised. I feel like based on people's  judgements of me and me trying to fit it with everyone else I lost myself. I was so wrapped up in trying to become someone I wasn't I never got a chance to find out who I could be. In life it's either you're making others happy or making yourself happy. Now I choose myself.

When Congress passed The Animal Welfare Act in 1966, its goal was to regulate the treatment of animals in the United States when it came to research and exhibition. However when the Animal Welfare act was written there was no section included in it that talked about the effects of environmental change to animals. It is understandable that a section like this was left out during the 60’s as much less was known about the connection between animals and the environments they  live in. In today's world much more is known about the connection these two hold. A new section has to be added onto the Animal Welfare Act that criminalizes environmental harm or purposeful destruction as a form of animal abuse.  

The animal welfare act was passed in 1966 with its goal being to give animals protections under law from abuse and cruelty. Since the creation of the animal welfare act it hasn't been edited or added too according to the USDA.  “It is the only Federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers.” This quote helps show just how much animal rights have been abused. If there is only one law in the united states that regulates and defines the abuse of animals why has it at least not been added too. This shows just how much the government actually cares about animals.

Over the course of earth's history there have has been a total of five mass extinctions with a sixth currently taking place. The first five were caused by natural causes such as asteroid strikes, volcanic eruptions, and natural climatic shifts. The current one is being caused by none other than humans. Researchers from WWF and the Zoological Society of London say  “Animal populations plummeted by 58% between 1970 and 2012, with losses on track to reach 67% by 2020… The destruction of wild habitats, hunting and pollution were to blame.” This goes to show just how damage humans actually have to the environment itself and how that translates to animals. The destruction of wild habitats and pollution are often not looked at as animal abuse and instead are looked at as just collateral damage.  

This is how these statements supports the thesis. Although Animals rights may only seem important to animal rights activists, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about the earth's environment. If one species was to go extant or lose the majority of their population the ecosystem could take a drastic hit from that. Think of it this way if bees were to go extant the plant population would suffer because there would be hardly anyone to polonize them.  

Thesis: The reason why women are objectified by the media is because they are seen as property.

Women represent many things like sex, beauty and vengeance, but they are represented by men as if they cannot represent themselves. They are objectified. They are objectified because they are seen as property. There are examples in the media, on television, and in people’s everyday life. Women are seen as just pretty faces to look at.

This all started in the Stone Age. While the men went out and hunted, the women stayed at home with the children because that’s all they’re good for; to look pretty and make kids. Women weren’t good at it is because they aren’t given a chance to be good at it. Society was split into the hunters and the gatherers and women were always the gatherers because hunting is too dangerous and Despite that, they are good at raising children and caring for them. Over the years, women have always been the dedicated to caring for children and especially in the more recent years, women get paid to do so.

But are they really paying for the service, or are they paying for the woman. Anyone can say that they will care for your child, but a select few can do it properly.

Advertisements are the main culprits when it comes to degrading women. All around the world there are ads for perfume and clothing and whatnot. A lot of them seem to feature a woman being degraded or just used for her body. Specifically, there’s an advertisement for Blush lingerie that features a woman with her face cropped out in purple lingerie and the caption is, “Make him your toy.” This is as if to say that the tables need to be turned from the woman being the toy to the man being the toy. Of course the woman is seen as the toy initially, though. Women are toys, and toys are property. Violet Rose said, “It is illegal for women to go topless in most cities, yet you can buy a magazine of a woman without her top on at any 7-11 store. So, you can sell breasts, but you cannot wear breasts, in America.” The fact that women can show breasts but not have them is ridiculous.

When there are the pictures of women on the covers of magazines, they all look the same. But in all honesty, one could wonder, what should a woman look like. There is no one answer. All women are beautiful no matter what.

Going back to the stone age, women have been dedicated. Of course it can’t be stopped over night. If everyone could see that women are just as important as men and have just as much to offer as men do, it not more, the world would be one step closer to peace.  Men think they can control women or that women will obey me automatically but that’s not how it works at all.

Works Cited:

Source #1 Link:

"Works." Coloribus.com. Blush, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

https://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/blush-make-him-your-toy-10756405/

Source #2 Link:

Tag, By. "Quotes About Objectification Of Women (13 Quotes)." Quotes About Objectification Of Women (13 Quotes). N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/objectification-of-women

Source #3 Link:

Pinsky, Paulina. "Don't Blame Girls for Their Own Sexualization." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 June 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paulina-pinsky-/dont-blame-girls-for-thei_b_5435604.html

Source #4 Link:

Ma, Julie. "25 Famous Women on Body Image." NY Mag. NY Mag, 1 Sept. 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/09/25-famous-women-on-body-image.html

David Williams

English 3

10/18/16

Pahomov

Skateparks for Cities

For many years, skateboarding, scooting and BMX have been popular worldwide. However, skateparks have not always been around for all that glory. So, naturally, riders made the world their skatepark. As adventurous as that may sound to some, this wreaks havoc on city structures and concerns civilians. Somehow there's just something about a kid on a skateboard or a scooter that terrifies people and makes them want to call the police. It is clear that kids riding on city structures is not good for the city or the general public, but how can skateparks affect the city health and the reputation of skating? Maybe if kids have a designated place to skate, it will keep them out of other areas.

Every city needs a skatepark so riders have a place to enjoy themselves. However, many people associate skateparks with drugs and trouble. This may be true sometimes, but for the most part, this is not the case. Skateparks help riders form strong community and have a place to socialize with each other. It's  place where riders. can express themselves. They can forget about their problems and just ride. For example, the recently opened Paines skate park in Philadelphia… The paines park fund website even says that their goal is to make a skatepark available within a 10 minute walk of every skater. Their site shows how the parks can form strong communities and keep kids out of trouble and just what a positive influence it can have on everyone.

In Philadelphia, skaters loved Love park. It is considered by many individuals, “The skatepark of Philadelphia.” It hosted the 2001 and 2002 X-Games. Riders loved it so much that documentaries were made about Love park made by skaters and just people alike. To many skaters, these things became their culture but unfortunately for everyone, skating still remained a nightmare for the city. People started complaining about the drug use and destruction of property. This led to the banning of skateboards in Love Park. Police were  assigned to maintain the grounds clear at all times of the day. This hurt the city as a whole because the riders spread out and rode in even more places and some even retaliated against the police.

Obviously, riders found loopholes in this and somehow still proceeded to skate at Love Park. This also gave them motive to find more places in the city to ride at. However, something had to change, so the city began construction on Paine’s park. This was possibly Philly’s biggest breakthrough. When paine's first opened, there was a huge ceremony that just about every skater in the city attended. There were speeches about why philly really needed a skatepark in the center city area. They explained how Love Park was becoming unuseable by the public because of skaters and how paines was really needed. They even cut a golden ribbon, which showed how proud they were to have built paines park.

After paine's opened, skating at love Park began to die down. The park was so packed that skaters had to form lines to ride the park. It was a miracle for the city, because people could enjoy love park again and skaters had their place of recreation. This alone proves that something as simple as a skatepark can do so much for a city. Skaters are actually coming from other areas to ride at paines, so it has a ripple affect to areas near philadelphia. The number of skaters at love park and in similar areas had greatly decreased and paines has become a magnet for community. would see a beautiful community where almost everyone gets along and enjoys their time there. So what does a skatepark do for a city, it creates a city wide equilibrium, keeps the general public happy and keeps skaters out of trouble.

Works Cited

"About." Franklin's Paine Skatepark Fund. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://franklinspaine.com/about>.

"History of Skating in LOVE Park." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://www.ushistory.org/lovepark/history2.htm>.

"How Much Do Skateparks Cost?" Public Skatepark Development Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://publicskateparkguide.org/fundraising/how-much-do-skateparks-cost/>.

"The Top 6 Benefits of Public Skateparks." Skatepark Designers & Builders – Spohn Ranch. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <https://www.spohnranch.com/the-top-6-benefits-of-public-skateparks-2014-03-02/>.

David Williams

English 3

10/18/16

Pahomov

Skateparks for Cities

For many years, skateboarding, scooting and BMX have been popular worldwide. However, skateparks have not always been around for all that glory. So, naturally, riders made the world their skatepark. As adventurous as that may sound to some, this wreaks havoc on city structures and concerns civilians. Somehow there's just something about a kid on a skateboard or a scooter that terrifies people and makes them want to call the police. It is clear that kids riding on city structures is not good for the city or the general public, but how can skateparks affect the city health and the reputation of skating? Maybe if kids have a designated place to skate, it will keep them out of other areas.

Every city needs a skatepark so riders have a place to enjoy themselves. However, many people associate skateparks with drugs and trouble. This may be true sometimes, but for the most part, this is not the case. Skateparks help riders form strong community and have a place to socialize with each other. It's  place where riders. can express themselves. They can forget about their problems and just ride. For example, the recently opened Paines skate park in Philadelphia… The paines park fund website even says that their goal is to make a skatepark available within a 10 minute walk of every skater. Their site shows how the parks can form strong communities and keep kids out of trouble and just what a positive influence it can have on everyone.

In Philadelphia, skaters loved Love park. It is considered by many individuals, “The skatepark of Philadelphia.” It hosted the 2001 and 2002 X-Games. Riders loved it so much that documentaries were made about Love park made by skaters and just people alike. To many skaters, these things became their culture but unfortunately for everyone, skating still remained a nightmare for the city. People started complaining about the drug use and destruction of property. This led to the banning of skateboards in Love Park. Police were  assigned to maintain the grounds clear at all times of the day. This hurt the city as a whole because the riders spread out and rode in even more places and some even retaliated against the police.

Obviously, riders found loopholes in this and somehow still proceeded to skate at Love Park. This also gave them motive to find more places in the city to ride at. However, something had to change, so the city began construction on Paine’s park. This was possibly Philly’s biggest breakthrough. When paine's first opened, there was a huge ceremony that just about every skater in the city attended. There were speeches about why philly really needed a skatepark in the center city area. They explained how Love Park was becoming unuseable by the public because of skaters and how paines was really needed. They even cut a golden ribbon, which showed how proud they were to have built paines park.

After paine's opened, skating at love Park began to die down. The park was so packed that skaters had to form lines to ride the park. It was a miracle for the city, because people could enjoy love park again and skaters had their place of recreation. This alone proves that something as simple as a skatepark can do so much for a city. Skaters are actually coming from other areas to ride at paines, so it has a ripple affect to areas near philadelphia. The number of skaters at love park and in similar areas had greatly decreased and paines has become a magnet for community. would see a beautiful community where almost everyone gets along and enjoys their time there. So what does a skatepark do for a city, it creates a city wide equilibrium, keeps the general public happy and keeps skaters out of trouble.

Works Cited

"About." Franklin's Paine Skatepark Fund. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://franklinspaine.com/about>.

"History of Skating in LOVE Park." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://www.ushistory.org/lovepark/history2.htm>.

"How Much Do Skateparks Cost?" Public Skatepark Development Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://publicskateparkguide.org/fundraising/how-much-do-skateparks-cost/>.

David Williams

English 3

10/18/16

Pahomov

Skateparks for Cities

For many years, skateboarding, scooting and BMX have been popular worldwide. However, skateparks have not always been around for all that glory. So, naturally, riders made the world their skatepark. As adventurous as that may sound to some, this wreaks havoc on city structures and concerns civilians. Somehow there's just something about a kid on a skateboard or a scooter that terrifies people and makes them want to call the police. It is clear that kids riding on city structures is not good for the city or the general public, but how can skateparks affect the city health and the reputation of skating? Maybe if kids have a designated place to skate, it will keep them out of other areas.

Every city needs a skatepark so riders have a place to enjoy themselves. However, many people associate skateparks with drugs and trouble. This may be true sometimes, but for the most part, this is not the case. Skateparks help riders form strong community and have a place to socialize with each other. It's  place where riders. can express themselves. They can forget about their problems and just ride. For example, the recently opened Paines skate park in Philadelphia… The paines park fund website even says that their goal is to make a skatepark available within a 10 minute walk of every skater. Their site shows how the parks can form strong communities and keep kids out of trouble and just what a positive influence it can have on everyone.

In Philadelphia, skaters loved Love park. It is considered by many individuals, “The skatepark of Philadelphia.” It hosted the 2001 and 2002 X-Games. Riders loved it so much that documentaries were made about Love park made by skaters and just people alike. To many skaters, these things became their culture but unfortunately for everyone, skating still remained a nightmare for the city. People started complaining about the drug use and destruction of property. This led to the banning of skateboards in Love Park. Police were  assigned to maintain the grounds clear at all times of the day. This hurt the city as a whole because the riders spread out and rode in even more places and some even retaliated against the police.

Obviously, riders found loopholes in this and somehow still proceeded to skate at Love Park. This also gave them motive to find more places in the city to ride at. However, something had to change, so the city began construction on Paine’s park. This was possibly Philly’s biggest breakthrough. When paine's first opened, there was a huge ceremony that just about every skater in the city attended. There were speeches about why philly really needed a skatepark in the center city area. They explained how Love Park was becoming unuseable by the public because of skaters and how paines was really needed. They even cut a golden ribbon, which showed how proud they were to have built paines park.

After paine's opened, skating at love Park began to die down. The park was so packed that skaters had to form lines to ride the park. It was a miracle for the city, because people could enjoy love park again and skaters had their place of recreation. This alone proves that something as simple as a skatepark can do so much for a city. Skaters are actually coming from other areas to ride at paines, so it has a ripple affect to areas near philadelphia. The number of skaters at love park and in similar areas had greatly decreased and paines has become a magnet for community. would see a beautiful community where almost everyone gets along and enjoys their time there. So what does a skatepark do for a city, it creates a city wide equilibrium, keeps the general public happy and keeps skaters out of trouble.

Works Cited

"About." Franklin's Paine Skatepark Fund. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://franklinspaine.com/about>.

"History of Skating in LOVE Park." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://www.ushistory.org/lovepark/history2.htm>.

"How Much Do Skateparks Cost?" Public Skatepark Development Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://publicskateparkguide.org/fundraising/how-much-do-skateparks-cost/>.

Hayley Barci                                                                                                                     Oct.26.2016

I remember being bullied, because of the way I looked, the way my body was shaped, I was different. I was always trying to fit in with the the popular kids, with their huge groups of friends.  Meanwhile, I had one true friend, Abby. She meant the world to me. We would always play in the big backyard of her house, and have teddy bears wrapped up in between our arms. I could be whatever I wanted to be around my best friend. I can still remember all of the times we would get in trouble for silly things and how we would play witches in her bedroom, with brooms in between our thighs, flying in the magical skies.

The bullies would always bring me down, I fall, and I would stay on the ground. I would end up home, with my face, showing no emotions of the pain I suffered Every single goddamn day. I would always think of myself as an ugly person, or better yet, a thing. It was as if I were an alien, people poking at me with their sharp tools, drawing pain throughout my veins. An unbearable,  stinging, burning pain, attached to my soul. I would never tell my parents about my troubles. I kept every word inside my tight throat, it was suffocating.

“These stories changed me deeply”, the narrator admits in the beginning of A Place to Stand. I began to open my eyes, and realize that dominance is a way of life in our communities, and in our culture. It’s always the goal to be on a higher standard than everybody else, in different manners. Some nationalities have more knowledge than others, so therefore they use that supply of knowledge in order to gain more power in our nation.

I began to get older as I was starting the realize what I have and didn’t have, I was lucky enough to have all of my needs. I knew I couldn’t get everything thing that I wanted like a milion dollars, or a huge house, or a fancy car. My mother had many struggles with money, pay bills, or insurance, or medical bills. “We were poor by most standards, but one of my parents usually managed to find some minimum job or another, which made us middle class by reservation standards,” as claimed in Superman & Me. That’s that situation that certain people have to deal with in our society.    It has always been a heartache watching her struggle, meanwhile some people have all of the money in the world and have a lot of things that we need. The dominance that people of higher class posses is extremely powerful. Using it in order to receive more money from those who don’t really have it.  

This society that many people including myself are exposed to, has impacted the way we live. The amount of money that someone has can be relatable to how much knowledge you have. Sometimes people take advantage of the amount of knowledge they have against others, saying that they have more than someone else. That’s how a lot of people are today, trying to be more dominant than everyone else. That’s  what our society has become, and sadly, that the way it will be.Some people are not known for their knowledge, because others may think that it’s not as informative as their own, or not as important.

Well, after all, “if you want to be American, speak American”, stated in How to Tame a Wild Tongue.That’s often the case when it comes to knowledge, it’s like many people have expectations of you, the way to act, the way you read, write or speak. You are meant to have a higher stand when it come to literacy, and in how you interpret it. How you use the knowledge, and how much impact it will have on others.

These kinds of impacts can be positive for someone who wants more dominance when it comes to literacy and knowledge. For instance, in the United States we have the PSSA’s, PSAT’s, etc in order to measure how much structured learning they obtain. These sorts of situations occur in schools, colleges, jobs, and in multiple different accommodations. Children in many schools get bullied because maybe they don’t understand something in class, or maybe because they learned about literacy at a slower pace.

People of many backgrounds, also receive judgements for what kind of knowledge their families, or ancestors possess. In which can be an issue because you are not exactly your family members, you are not your ancestors, you have a life, and a mind of your own.

Introduction

Writing this essay has affected me in a positive way as a writer. I feel as though my writing  became better and my vision for literature had been expanded. My goal for this essay was to change the way people think what it means to be educated in literacy. I’m very proud of this essay, I think it was very well written. I’m also proud of myself for finding a larger idea to touch on in this essay. In my last essay, I didn’t really accomplish this. To improve myself as a writer, I think I should remember to not write too many unecessary words. I tcan end to write extrenuiously. Overall, I’m proud of my work and I hope you will be too.

Essay

During the good ole days of my adolescence, probably 14 or 13 years old, I was watching TV and came across a show called, “Parks and Recreation”. It was my first time watching the show, and I just jumped into the random episode that was on. I didn’t know anything about the characters, so I had to “read” them to sort of understand what they were about. For example, one of the characters on the show, named April, has very dark and I-don’t-care-about-anything attitude about her. I learned this from intensely “reading” the way she spoke, acted and carried herself. Another example from the show is a character named Leslie. After “reading” the details of the way she talked, acted and did things, I understood that this character is someone who is constantly determined to get things done, wants everyone to be happy and can be way over the top at times.

I see this moment in my life as a form literacy. As you may know, literacy is a form of education. While watching “Parks and Recreation” for the first time, I was educating myself on who the characters were by “reading” them. Most people would say that I’m not educating myself; they’d say that I’m doing nothing more than watching non educational TV. But they are wrong. By “reading” these characters, I’m educating myself on who they are and what they’re about. There is more to education than just school curriculum.

In the Apartheid of Children’s Literature, Christopher Meyers finds out how old a child is just by examining his features: "I’m talking with a boy. He’s at that age when the edges of the man he will become are just starting to press against his baby-round face." Although Meyers doesn’t state the actual age of the child, his description of him entails that he is at a maturing age such as 12 or 13. In this quote, Meyers demonstrates the exact same thing that I performed when I first watched “Parks and Recreation”. In order to better understand who this little boy was, Meyers educated himself by “reading” the boy. Literacy has many forms, and being able to read people is one of those forms. This would classify as cultural literacy because culture symbolizes identity, and identity is what I was looking for when educating myself on the characters of “Parks and Recreation”.

Knowing how to “read” people, and or situations, is a great way to educate one’s self; especially if you don’t know how to read. In today’s society, high officials set the standard that being literate means just knowing how to read words. If you can’t read words, then you would be considered slow minded and unable to be educated. The fact that this is happening is unacceptable, especially when it comes to race. They are basically making them dumb by ignoring the intelligence they already possess. Just because a person isn’t literate in one way, doesn't mean they aren’t literate in another. Like I mentioned before, literacy has many forms. When Sherman Alexie was just a young, Indian boy in his story, Superman and Me, he was unable to read the words in the Superman comic book that he had. But, that doesn’t mean he was unable to read the story: “In one panel, Superman breaks through a door. His suit is red, blue and yellow. The brown door shatters into many pieces. I look at the narrative above the picture. I cannot read the words, but I assume it tells me that ‘Superman is breaking down the door.’ Aloud, I pretend to read the words and say, ‘Superman is breaking  down that door.’” (Pg 12-13) This quote emphasizes my idea that there is more to education than schooling because Sherman reads the comic book without reading the words. By “reading” the actions and situations in the comic book, Sherman then taught himself how to read. Looks like people who don’t know how to read words aren’t so slow minded as some people assume they are.

In fact it was from this point, of educating  himself on how to read, that Sherman was on the path to a bright future. Near the end of Superman and Me, Sherman grew up to become a very successful and well rounded adult: “Despite all the books I read, I am still surprised  I became a writer. I was going to be a pediatrician. These days I write novels, short stories and poems. I visit schools and teach creative writing to Indian kids.” (Pg 14)  This quote doesn’t really exemplify my claim, but it does support it. The quote points out that other forms of education, such as “reading” the world, can lead you to success just as much as schooling education.

The fact that Sherman grew up to be such a successful writer is a major feat, especially since he taught himself how to read. Like Sherman, not many minority youth are given the opportunity to get educated in literacy. So they would either learn about it in another way or not learn it at all. The high officials of today’s society, who are pre-dominantly white, set the standard as to what literacy is and who can be educated in it. When these high officials see minorities who don’t know how to read or write, they write them off immediately or give them very low quality education on literacy. Back in 2014 in an essay called The Apartheid of Children’s Literature, a man named Christopher Meyers saw the potential for greatness in young minorities, particularly black ones. He decided to educate them on a consistent issue with children’s book that is still a little relevant today. This exchange is between Meyers and a young, black boy: “‘So you’re telling me these are all the books published last year for kids?’ they ask me. ‘That’s a lot of books. That’s more books than I could read in a year.’

‘Yep, it’s a few thousand.’

‘And in all of those thousands of books, I’m just not in them?’

‘Well...um...yes.’

‘Are there books about talking animals?’

‘Oh, sure.’

‘And crazy magical futures?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘And superpowers? And the olden days when people dressed funny? And all the combinations of those things? Like talking animals with superpowers in magical futures ... but no me?’

‘No you.’

‘Why?’

‘ Because you’re brown.’”

Meyers educated this child, and most likely others, on this topic by having them “read” over the world of children’s literacy. This agrees with my idea that there is more to education than just schooling because these black kids were educated on an issue that most schools wouldn't even touch on. These kids were being taught how to be aware of the diversity issues going on in the world of children's literature.

In conclusion, the education of literacy is very diverse topic. In this essay, I focused on the literacy of “reading” people and situations; which would fall in the category of cultural literacy. Most people would say that this type of literacy is not needed or unimportant, but I beg to differ. By being able to “read” people and or situations, you acquire a skill set that is very much used in politics. Which is “reading” issues/ situations and coming with ways to improve or fix the situations. So we, as a society, need to reevaluate how we view education. Because we could just be dismissing our future politicians and presidents.

Bibliography

Meyers, Christopher. "The Apartheid of Children’s Literature." New York Times. N.p., 15 Mar. 2014. Web. <The Apartheid of Children’s Literature>

Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 1998. Web. 30 Oct. 2016. <http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/19/books/bk-42979>.

Intro: In this writing piece I concentrated on the time I found out I had dyslexia and how is was an eye-opener for me.  I also talk about how without my dyslexia, I would not be the same person.  My literacy is through my creativity.  I may not be strong in my reading and writing but I am strong in my theater and artistic activities.  My goal in writing this piece was to make people understand the different levels of literacy.  Something I like about writing this piece was I went into more detail than my last advanced essay, about what my main point was.  Something I can still work on is my grammer.  I think I did better than the last time, but that has always been a struggle.

There’s Identity in My Literacy

I was sitting in a testing room in a giant house.  Unfamiliar surroundings made me overthink all the obstacles that could happen as I sat in a chair for 7 hours in a room with glass walls.  Being asked question after question and being told to read and write this or that.  Mind slowly being winded up as the questions got harder to answer and my eyes started to stumble over the words.  I was a 7th grader with a twisted tongue while reading.  I was first told by the student council at my school that I might actually have dyslexia.  For most of my time in that school they said that dyslexia is not even a thing. Being a kid not having any knowledge of why it took me two times longer to do homework was definitely pressing.

After years of my parents fighting for the student council to realize I might actually have dyslexia, I finally ended up in a testing room.  I sat there in silence twisting my mind over the concept that I am going to finally figure out what is going on with me. I got to find out who I am and why I struggled so much.  With every question the person testing me asked, I felt like I was discoverying my identity. The only time my mind got a break was during a small lunch hour that my dad and I took.  The same time hoping I can get back to testing just so I can have that piece of my identity defined. After the break I went right back to work.

Finally after hours of testing it was finally time for results. I waited on the other side of the glass door as my dad went to meet with the instructor. I sat there thinking, finally, I get to find out what’s going on and I will be able to see a little clearer.  It felt like I was just getting my first pair of glasses.  Once I put on the lens, the blur goes away even though you know you still can’t see.  After waiting over 30 minutes, they both came out, my dad sat next to me and the lady who tested me sat across the table. The lady told me there was one good news and one bad news.  I ask her to tell me the bad news first just to get it out the way.  She told me I had dyslexia.  Even though this was supposed to be bad news, I felt a sigh of relief.  I no longer have to search for what’s going on.  I can also tell my dad was relieved too, that we no longer had to wonder and fight.  She then went on to tell me the good news... I did not have a very high diagnose and that I can get help.  She gave us options and we decided to go with a tutor that came to my school twice a week and taught me.  I would say that this moment in my literacy was a big changing point.

Literacy in my life has taken the place of my identity.  I always searched for the answer to why I am the the way I am through my literacy.  Without my dyslexia I would not be the same person.  Even though I struggle in my reading and writing, I still am very strong in my creative side.  I am able to act, sing and do art because of my lack of expertise in reading and writing.  I would say a struggle that schools have is not knowing how to let kid’s true talents and literacy shine through.  For instance my literacy is through my creativity, schools are just so into subjects such as reading and writing.  The story, I Just Want to be Average, mentioned how it is a  problem that teachers don’t know how to engage the imagination side of a child: “But mostly the teachers had no idea of how to engage the imaginations of us lads who were scuttling along at the bottom of the pond.” pg 164  This should not be a problem, the teacher should look at the strengths of the kid and let them show their true literacy.  If the teachers do this, the student will grow as a bright individual and show their true colors.  This will also help the kid not be ashamed if they are not the best at the main subjects at school like math or reading because the teachers will be bring light to there true literacy and helping them grow in that.

I think that my dyslexia shows that I am a strong person, who no matter what, I am able to tackle the tough times and get through struggles in my life.  Literacy to others is something that is meant for school but there are so many different levels of literacy.  There is literacy in the way people talk to one another, there is literacy in the way people act, write, and learn.  We need to realize these levels of literacy before we shut someone down for not knowing the “basics” in school.  Growing up being told by my teachers that my learning disability isn’t even a thing, was hard for me.  I can tell you that my confidence level in myself was not that strong when they kept denying me.  Once I was able to figure out what was going on with my reading and writing was the day I became more confident.  That is the day I was able to look at myself in the mirror and say, “I know what I struggle with. I know where I have flaws. With this knowledge of my identity I will become more than what others expect.”

“Look, maybe there’s another way we can settle this! Isn’t this going a little too far?”

“Just hearing you talk makes me want to smash your face in!”

He served a firm strike to my lower abdomen. A gasp for air ended up becoming a gag, which transformed into a ball of saliva and today's lunch exiting my mouth almost forcefully. It hit the ground and splashed over the circulation of the feet around me. As his grip on my jacket loosened, the “flight” response in my head had overtaken my body, and I ended up home in less than a minute.

I reached for the handle as I heard my dad talking continuously with someone over the phone. I wanted to get inside as quickly as possible to tell him what had happened. I wanted him to know so he could be the father I dreamed of. The kind whose muscles bursted out of their shirts when they heard that their son had been bullied by a group of kids. I was excited to see that side of my dad for the first time. I burst through the door, my body aching from my previous endeavours.

“Yeah, I know! My son sounds like a real white man! Now all he needs is a-”

The sound of my dad was interrupted with the slam of our front door. I stepped inside, soaking wet with rain and vomit covering my body. Every breath heaved at my chest, dragging me down into the futon.

“Hey there, Sam. How was your day? Oh, yeah! Your grandma’s calling us from the plant! Come say hi!”

My grandparents worked in a plant in the Port of Tianjin. They grew up in a world filled with those like themselves, and didn’t know the world for what it was. They could only gain a few glimpses of outside reality from specific examples of media. Their views of race and social status were influenced solely on that. And it rubbed off onto everyone who they have connected themselves to, and it spread like wildfire. Their indifference to language shows how much they actually know about it.

“Hi, Grandma”, I said unenthusiastically. My breathing was often interrupted by hard whooping coughs from the pulsing of my lower body from the massive blow I received earlier.

“Oh my goodness! You sound like a ‘man’ now, huh?”, she chuckled.

My dad held in his cackling handed the phone back to my dad, clutched my bag handle, and headed upstairs in the blink of an eye. In that moment, the events that I believed I could escape at school stalked and fixed itself to my own house. I couldn’t escape the cryptic descriptions of the way I talk. The thought of ripping out my vocal reeds from my throat spun around my head until I fell asleep. “Tomorrow will be better”, I thought to myself, trying to flee the position than the voice gods had put me in. I was in a hell that caused me to be someone I'm not. Someone who I don't want to be.

“The tragedy is that you have to twist the knife in your own gray matter to make this defense work.” Adapting to the places that you are in is the only only way out of situations that you don’t want to be in. You have to attempt to make amends with a new persona to add to your arsenal if you don't feel  comfortable in a certain location. You'll have to shut down. You’ll have to reject intellectual stimuli or diffuse them with sarcasm. You’ll have to “cultivate stupidity.” “You’ll have to convert boredom from a malady into a way of confronting the world.”

Adults have lower expectations for kids education than they did in the past. This is because of the huge achievement gap, low graduation rates and less standards. Education for the last generation was different from what it is now.

The achievement gap is testing, test scores and work output amongst each different race in education. Teachers and other people have been trying to close the achievement gap since 1970. However, Progress came to a halt in 1988 because people lost interest. Standardized testing scores show that some schools have a high achievement level whereas others have a low achievement levels. Expectations for some students are lower because of the testing scores and the curriculum they teach. When parents hold their kids to a lower expectation, the kids can figure it out and don’t believe that they’re capable of a lot.

Second Reason:  But this is different for a lot of parents with kids who have disabilities or who are disadvantaged at birth.  

                                           Introduction

 This essay helped me develop a better writer. My goals for this essay was to show that language isn’t just Spanish and English. I wanted to show that their are more pieces to it . I wanted  for my audience to be able to connect these pieces through my essay and understand the bigger picture of language and why we need. Need. My goal was to be able to connect my experiences to a major theme and I think i succeeded. I’m proud that i was able to make an essay that people from all over can relate too, no matter your age,gender, or race. It’s a universal thing. The thing i could improve on though would be just making it a bit more in detail .

                 The Art of Language

 Literacy comes in all shapes and forms from political literacy, to media literacy to even visual literacy but the one literacy  that we all have in common even when we don’t know what it is, is cultural literacy. Cultural literacy “is the knowledge of one’s culture” stated by the website digital Is. There are a lot of things that surround culture from the music you play, to the clothes you wear, to the food you eat but overall language is one of the most important because language is the way you communicate with the culture. It’s the way connect within in your culture A lot of people think language is just Spanish,English,Chinese,French, Vietnamese, Italian, and so much more but truthfully language is so much more than that. You could be speaking the same language but not the same language at all. Let me explain clearly what I mean. If you speak  modern english and I speak old english, we may be both speaking English but not the same language. When I was about ten years old I actually had my very first experience with cultural literacy.

 I hadn’t seen my niece, Destiny  in a long time. I only got to see  her every 3 years ,maybe and I know a lot has changed since then. I packed so much stuff that day, unnecessary stuff. I was only going to be at her house for a weekend but I packed like I was going to be there for  two weeks.My mom unpacked some of the clothes and gave me the stuff that was actually nessary. “Take a jacket” my mom said. I  looked at my mom “Why? It’s summer” . My mom gave me a look back “Because I said so. It’s going to rain. Now take the jacket. If you don’t need it then don’t wear it.”  She said as she walked out of the room. I put my jacket inside of my bag and soon as I did I I heard the doorbell ring. She’s here I said in my head then out loud. My mom came down the steps with me . I said Hi to Destiny and her mom. My mom and hers had a little chat before we left. We were off to quakertown. This was my very first time ever going to quakertown but i thought it be fun. When we arrived the very first thing I noticed was all the snow and i’m not  talking about actual snow. I was wondering if there were any black people?I never seen so much white people in my life but I wasn’t closed to making some white friends. My elementary school  had been with all African American students so I was looking for some diversity. Most of the day we spent watching disney movies, eating chinese food, and walking across the train tracks. It was slow but i was having a bit of fun. When nightfall came i thought  we were going to play games in the house and relax since it was 10 o'clock at night but my niece Destiny had other plans. Her and I were going to go see her friends. We left out without her saying really anything to her mom but we will be back. We went behind this shed where she met her group of friends who were smoking weed. They were a wild group of kids who all basically did whatever they want when they wanted but  that  was really none of my business if they listened to their parents or not but things got weird when i tried to talk to them and make some friends.  “Wassup?” I said to one of the white girls. “Hi she said.”  flipping her blonde hair. I tried to start conversation. “U always lived here or nah?” I was bad at it at 13 but it was my attempt. She stared at me for a while before she actually spoke “I don’t understand what you are talking about?”  she said.  “I’m  saying have you always lived quakertown.” I said rolling my eyes. She laughed with her friends. “Oh yeah” she answered.  “That’s cool I lived in Philly my whole life, that jawn sorta poppin” I said awkwardly laughing. She looked at her friends once more as if i was speaking another language or something but to them i probably was. “Why do you talk like that?” she asked. “Talk like what?” I answered. “Like a gangster” she said. I didn’t know how to respond so I didn’t At this point I  honestly thought she was trying to be racist and maybe she was  but without the knowledge I have now I wouldn’t have ever thought that maybe we just weren't speaking the same language.

 Language will always be crucial to cultural literacy, it makes up most  of the definition and whether we like it or not when we step into diverse situations we experience what it feels like and without  speaking the same language we won’t be able to understand what each other is saying. If we can’t understand what people are saying then we can’t connect  as humans and as humans we long to connect with another person that’s why Language is so important.  Language bonds us together , Language   helps make us a culture. Language is beautiful. A quote in How to tame a wild tongue reminds us of  this  it states “Who is to say that robbing a  people of their language is less violent than War? “Pg (53) Ray Gwyn. My response is  that it’s not.  If you rob a group of people of their language then you rob them of their culture.

K-Pop is attractive to American fans but why? K-Pop refers to the pop music of Korea. It can incorporates elements of western music as well. But why is K-Pop so popular with American fans who do not understand Korean? Is it because of the dance? The music? The sheer fact that it’s in a different language? KPop is popular with American fans because it is different than what they are used to hearing, yet has key elements that remind them of home.

An element where K-Pop differs from the typical American pop group is their fashion.  In fashion, there are different types of fashion.  A particular fashion is loud fashion. This means that there is so many different styles that there is a huge selection of  colors and styles that everything becomes very profound and therefore loud. America is one of these places that has the type of fashion.  Korean fashion is more relaxed due to the lack of said mixture and due to the fact that “(Korean)  Girls tend to be shorter and Korea is more homogeneous.” This causes similar fashion styles and interests. However, as said before, K-Pop is derived from their western counterparts, therefore creating a mixture of designs and fashion, such as paring a cool colored article of clothing with a warm colored article of clothing to make it really pop.  With this mixture, Americans are drawn to the new yet familiar style of fashion. An example of this is the Kpop singer Ailee in her music video “I will show you”. In the music video, she is seen in very plain and cool colors to make her fit in with the rest but as the bridge of the song comes on, she is dressed in very bright colors along with her cool colors.

Another element where K-Pop differs from American pop is their training. According to  (Differences between K-Pop industry and the American Pop industry, 2012),  “In Korea, there are K-pop training camps that kids will go and audition for to join - and everyone knows that.”  The backgrounds of how bands came together also vary a lot. Christine Choi, a K-Pop fan explained this difference using two popular American groups. She says when the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC came out, there were great efforts to make their history together genuine instead of a group haphazardly thrown together.  Compared to Asian groups who actually knew each other from the training camps. Christine gives another example with two popular Korean groups, Dong Bang Shin Ki and Super Junior. They had met in the training camps and after a while decided to combine their talents and become one big 4 person and R&B group. A harsher training and creation of genuine friendships really boosts how effectively the group works and effectively captures the attention of their American fans.