“Being a Cheerleader - Is Cheerleading a Sport?” The Official Site - Varsity.Com - We Are Cheerleading, www.varsity.com/event/1262/being-a-cheerleader-sport.

With this source I looked into the age old question that typically comes when hearing about cheerleading. Is cheerleading a sport or not? This article spoke about what it truly means to be a cheerleader and what cheerleaders go through on a day to day basis. It gave a lot of detail about the definition of the word sport and how there is no solid definition for an official sport. According to the article what makes a sport an official sport is it involving some form of physical activity, competing against opponents and acknowledgement of the competition that has a primary purpose such as the super bowl or the world series.

Pennington, Bill. “As Cheerleaders Soar Higher, So Does the Danger.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Mar. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/sports/31cheerleader.html

This source helped me highlight the importance of staying safe in cheerleading. Many people believe that cheer is all dance and chants but it is far more complex. We are lifting up girls that are our weight or more so in order to avoid danger we have to take special precaution. This article also talks about how sports like football have armor and cheerleaders do just as much if not more than they do without an armor at all. It is a lot more dangerous for cheerleaders than it is for those of other sports for these reasons. I believe this is why cheerleading is the most dangerous sport.

Mather, Victor. “Great Moments in Cheerleading: Could the Olympics Be Next?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Dec. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/sports/great-moments-in-cheerleading-could-the-olympics-be-next.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FCheerleaders&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection.

This source helped me see more of the evolution of cheer. I got to dive into where cheerleading came from and how it has changed over the years. I think this source is important because it represents like an old school way of thinking about cheer. I feel like a lot of people see cheer as more of a hobby just because of how it was represented in the past. I want people to see that cheer is a constant growing and complex sport. I feel as though this source is more of a timeline of the cheerleading spectrum. It really helped me in getting into the history of cheerleading.

Almasy, Steve. “Cheerleaders prep for hours in search of 2½ minutes of perfection.” CNN, Cable News Network, 15 July 2011, www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/15/sports.sweep.allstar.cheerleading/index.html.

This source helped give a more detail explanation of what cheerleaders go through. Practice is very intense and everything that follows it as well. It goes into detail about training and goals in order to succeed in the sport. I feel like it helps explain what cheerleaders strive so hard for. A title and a trophy just like every other sport. It also speaks on the risk in the sports such as injuries that I believe people don’t know enough about. Cheerleaders work just as hard as other athletes if not harder because they compete for a certain amount of time and have to give there all in a 2 to 3 minute window. That one performance is all they have and there is no coming back from it.

BetterBraces.com. “Cheerleading: The Most Dangerous Sport.” ACTIVEkids, Active.com, 2 Mar. 2016, www.activekids.com/cheerleading/articles/cheerleading-the-most-dangerous-sport.

This source goes to further explain the difficulty of the cheerleading as a sport. It speaks more on the stats of injuries for cheer. It helped me see and explain cheerleading and everything that comes with it. It talks about what practices and coaching looks and sounds like. It gives the percentages of injuries as well. It also brings up the good point that when typically thinking about injuries in sports people immediately think of sports like football and basketball. I feel like this source helps me prove the point that cheer is a very complex sport being that they called in the most dangerous in the world.

Morgan, Richard. “Cheerleading has evolved into a billion-Dollar business.” New York Post, New York Post, 24 Apr. 2017, nypost.com/2017/04/24/cheerleading-has-evolved-into-a-billion-dollar-business/.

This article speaks more on the cost of cheerleading and the number of people involved in it. Apparently it is in the midst of becoming an Olympic sport. I find that extremely interesting because the sport is heavily doubted and it is a very difficult sport. I believe that it does become apart of the Olympics it will finally get the recognition it deserves. This source helped me bring up my point that many people are involved in the sport men and women of all different ages. I pulled a lot of quotes about the involvement of people in cheer and some background on where the sport came from.

Cinetic. “American Cheerleader - Official Trailer.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=caBZRrJT_vw.

This documentary was a very big help in showing and explaining the world of cheerleading. It captures 2 teams preparing to go up against each other for a title. The documentary shows what the sport is all about while also representing all the work that goes into it. I found this source extremely helpful in showing the positives in the sport and accurately portraying what cheerleaders look like. It shows and represents competitive cheerleading and what it’s like to be apart of that and to be in that environment. I think that in my documentary I can incorporate a lot of their ideas about the importance of cheer and how strict everything gets when a competition is involved.

“Cheer Squad.” Netflix, 14 Mar. 2017, www.netflix.com/title/80170845.

This show is another that helped accurately represents the competitive cheer world. The show follows a team in Canada that is known for continuously winning and it follows their journey to multiple competitions. This source helped me alot with really understanding how an all star team works and how much work goes into being on a professional team. From this source I got a lot of ideas on how I want to film my own video. I like the way they set up the show being a lot of videos of interviews and then showing clips of them practicing and competing.

“Bring it on.” Netflix, 1 Jan. 2018, www.netflix.com/title/60001366.

The movie Bring it on is a very good source to me because it captures exactly the opposite of what I am trying to portray in my documentary. It shows the difficulty of the sport and highlights the competition but it still represents a very stereotypical type of cheerleader.  I want my documentary to capture the different aspects of not just cheer but also cheerleaders. This source is kind of what I want to base mhy documentary off I just plan to tell the story of cheer in a better way then the director of this film. I want to show the diversity in the sport.

“Being a Cheerleader - History of Cheerleading.” The Official Site - Varsity.Com - We Are Cheerleading, www.varsity.com/event/1261/being-a-cheerleader-history.

This source really helped me find more information on the history of cheerleading. I got to see where exactly it came from and how it came to be. They spoke on how UCA ( Universal Cheer Association ) and how it started. I think that it really helped me/ figure out where cheer came from and why it’s important. I took a lot of my information from the years everything was established. I hope to use a lot of the dates in my documentary when I’m speaking on the history of cheerleading. I feel like in adding this it will put historical significance in my video.

Deja Harrison

Advanced Essay 4

If you're a man you might look at the pictures above as just a bunch guys and see nothing wrong with it. As a woman I see these pictures and an immediate anxiety comes over me just thinking about having to walk past this group of guys. When a girl walks past a group of guys it´s usually followed by comments like….

“ Ayo “.

“ Yurp jawn with tights come here ”.

“ Ya shit fat ma damn ¨.

“ ard fuck you then bitch “.

At some point in life sadly every female experiences a situation like this. Catcalling is when a sexual comment or gesture is made to a women in public as she walks by .Catcalling is one of the most degrading ways men objectify women. With all the advances and changes in the world there's one thing that seems like will never change about our society. Men will continue to view women as objects no matter how much progression we make to become equals. It is so common in our modern society to hear things like “ damn ya ass fat as shit ” and “ I'm trynna hit that ”. Comments like these are unfortunately apart of a lot of women's daily routines.  Being yelled at and in some cases physically assaulted for our appearances is completely terrifying and doesn’t make us anymore attracted to our harassers. So the real question is why do they continue to do it?

            Malcolm X once said ¨The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.¨ Men are heavily influenced by the things they see and hear. All across the world there are movies, tv shows and ads of men being surrounded by women or disrespecting them in such a way that makes other men what to be like them. For example perfume ads for brands like Gucci and Armani tie into the idea that smelling like their product will help men get women therefore drawing men to their product. From a very young age men are exposed to these things that place the idea of masculinity into getting women. Women are often viewed and portrayed as prizes to be won by men and that if they say and do the right things they can win them.

             Men don't realize the effects they have on the women they are harassing because the media doesn´t show that part. They never get to see the mental and sometimes physical marks they leave on their street harassment victims. ¨ Fear and discomfort are what define sexual harassment. Not every catcall is followed by unwanted physical advances, and yet that reality has to be considered a distinct possibility for safety's sake. Aggressive or sexual comments alone can instill terror¨. What men don't understand is that they are not the first to do this to their victim. Women are constantly being hit on and harassed and after a while it's quite terrifying and very annoying. The problem is men believe we like being cat called. They think we like being called out and harassed for our bodies and faces. They believe we are flattered by the attention and that them calling us out on our  ¨fat asses¨ makes us swoon for them.

              ¨Catcalls can easily turn into insults but they are seen by a lot of people as some kind of compliment that women should be happy about. ...Some others are afraid they will not be taken seriously or are too ashamed to complain¨. Most women who get cat called ignore the comments and most of the time that leads to the guys saying something completely disrespectful like ¨ I didn´t want you anyway¨ or ¨that's why you're ugly anyway bitch¨. Sometimes things can get much worse and involve physical contact. Men aren't taught to take no as an answer, they believe that they are supposed to have what they want when they want it. On movies and tv shows the crowd is always drawn to the male character who is the ¨go getter¨ or womanizer, he gets all the women and all the glory. He´s the one all the guys admire and aspire to be like so they pick up traits in order to have his lifestyle because they believe that's how you achieve it. It seems as though over the past few decades mens mentality has stopped evolving. I never understood how men don't respect women when they came from a women themselves, They continue to believe that women were created for them and that we are supposed to meet their every command. Times have changed for the better. It´s not the 1950s anymore women have rights and are more than just mothers and housewives. Women have rights now, we can work and vote. By catcalling women men are simply setting us back from all the progression.

        Women are worth more than being called out of their name by some barbarian who´s just looking for a good time. We have come too far in this world to allow men to take something else from us. Catcalling is an act of violence and abuse that no women should have to endure.  Men catcall take our attention and power. I believe it's time for us to take it back.

Work Cited

CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

"Home." Stop Street Harassment. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

Rossalyn Warren, Marie Kirschen, Lane Sainty, Jina Moore, Rachel Wilkerson Miller, Hannah Giorgis, Nirali Shah, Bibiñe Barud. "Here's What Street Harassment Is Like In Eight Countries Around The World." BuzzFeed. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

"Why Some Men Catcall." Men's Health. N.p., 03 Nov. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

             “ 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.

Savagery is in all of us. It is how we choose to consume the true beast within ourselves that makes us civilized. But the question is in what state or setting would it take for us as humans to release it. What does it take for humans to go back to our caveman style of living and when exactly do we lose that way of living? In our adulthood?  In our adolescence? When we as people are young we don’t know as much about the world and how to survive in it. Children are more savage than adults because they have been in civilization for less time and they rely more on their animal instincts.

Fear takes a heavy toll on our lives. Out of fear people make some very drastic actions such as shooting up a school. In those moments of fear they are completely vulnerable. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies a group of young schoolboys are stranded on an island from a plane crash and are fighting to stay alive. In the book the boys lose sight on the humble life they once had and turn into complete barbarians. School boys who have never once been outside of society, away from adults, truly on their own lose control of themselves. They are on this island trying to find food and become excited from the rush of hunting commenting “ You should have seen the blood¨(pg.70). They experienced the thrill of the chase. It was at this moment in the book that you could see changes in the boys. They were not the domestic people they started out as and this was just the beginning of the decivilization. All they were doing was hunting pigs but what ended up happening was their animalistic instincts returning to them. Getting blood on their hands changed them in the worst way possible.

No one should commit murder, but when someone does they are frowned upon in society.  They are seen as a monster. So when a child commits such an act as murder it is truly disturbing. According to New York Times, ¨The best predictor of violence is past violence. The earlier the violence, the worse the prognosis''. Meaning that children are influenced by the things they see and hear. They aren´t born a killer they are made a killer. The parents are usually the blame for this. People always wonder how they let their child become a mass murder. But what about society's impact on a young mind? With the things that are shown on tv and the crimes happening in everyday life their are millions of possible faults that are to blame for children who murder. Most of them feel no remorse as to what they did. A 15 year old murderer who killed an elderly woman and a little girl commented on his actions stating ''I don't know the girl so why should I have any feelings about what happened to her?'' The fact that he does not feel guilty about his felony says a lot about the mindset of a young executioner.  At an age so young these kids minds aren't developed enough to know that what they are doing is wrong. They weren't taught this yet. So being as these kids watch the life go out of someone and have no empathy is quite barbaric.

In life, things can go from going really well to very bad almost instantly. Something as simple as a game went from laughing to stabbing very quickly in Lord of the flies. Jack one of the older more violent boys in the group decided that the boy should play a game reenacting the moment that he slaughtered a pig when they were hunting. They decided one of the boys would represent a pig and that he would show what he did to kill it. Things took a turn for the worst when the boys began biting and scratching the boy completely ignoring his cries for mercy. ¨ Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Bash him in!¨ (pg. 114), they chanted completely forgetting that this started out as game. This is a prime example of animal instincts taking over. They became vicious in a childlike game showing again no signs of remorse stating “ that was a good game¨ ( pg.115) while the boy they attacked laid on the ground crying. Coming back to the idea that children don´t know the fault in their actions because their minds aren't fully developed yet. Them not having any repentance makes them even more savage than they already are.

Than again ¨some children do kill knowing exactly what they did was wrong¨ or so everyday psychology. com states. There are cases where kids committed acts of violence and were well aware of what they did. A 13 year old boy was being bullied by an older boy who he played football with. His parents told him to do what he had to do in order to protect himself, so he got a knife and stabbed the bully in the heart. He knows that what he did was wrong but he did it anyway. Again coming back to the concept of children's minds not being completely developed when they commit these crimes, one can assume that they would know not to kill someone. But knowing they aren't supposed to do it makes them want to do it more. In a kids mind that's the game, seeing how far they can go with something without having any repercussions.

Savagery is in all of us. But when it is seen it in the eyes of a child it´s different. Pity is taken on the fact that the criminal is so young. Children are more savage than adults because they have been in civilization for less time and they rely more on their animal instincts. Adults have been in civilization longer than children so therefore they are more domestic than them. Most adults know wrong from right and are charged because of this. They have been exposed to the world and all that it is. Children have not been. Children are uncontrollable. They can be trained like dogs but they could turn on you like dogs.

This scene takes place in the bathroom in a mirror

While the scene is taking place the actress will be doing her hair, brushing her teeth, make up etc. to get the feel of her getting ready for school.

(Yelling) Yes mom I’m up

I am so up

I don’t have an attitude I just.. Ok whatever. (rolls eyes)

I’m so sick of this shit, I can’t wait to go to college (says under breath)

(Repeats loudly) I said I can’t wait to go to school and get this knowledge

Everyday is the same thing. Wake up, go to school, come home, do homework, go to sleep.

Ugh I really don't want to go to school today. I hate it there. All you see in school is a bunch of fake bitches you don't like, teachers who think you don't have a life outside of school, couples who think the hallway is a bedroom and a bunch of work that you won’t do until the night before. I wish I was sick. (feels face) Please someone give me the flu or chickenpox or something that lets me stay in bed all day today.

(Yelling) Mom (cough,cough) I’m sick

I am so sick

I am not full of shit, I’m sick I really am

Ok mom ok whatever (Mocks mom with hand)

Why doesn’t she understand that school is hell. I have to sit for 7 hours and watch a bunch of kids act like they are going to do something with their lives after high school is over. They talk about their big plans to go to Paris and China when the closest they will get to there is google maps. I mean don’t get me wrong some of them are perfectly capable of actually make their dreams a reality, but only the ones who actually care about their future. But I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the kids who buy 300 dollar shoes and get a 30 on a test. The kids who forget that school is for education and not just to meet people to have sex with.They will be the ones who end up being the neighborhood drug dealers, hoes, addicts, golddiggers and people who still live in their mom’s house at 35.”

Huh?

You're leaving?

Oh ok see you after school

She’ll never understand what it’s like for me at school.She is getting paid to be miserable my misery is 100 percent free. Getting talked about all the time for no reason. Teacher’s failing me because they’re “stressed” and need something to take the stress out on. Weird looks in the hallway, all of it it’s just exhausting. I just wish I could find any reason not to go to school today. A snowstorm, a sudden fire anything that would prohibit me from going. I just need a day, one day where I’m not stressed the fuck out from test or projects. One day where I don’t have to be around a bunch of people. One day where I can sit in my damn house in my pj’s eating Chinese food and watching movies. Put no I have to go to school. Honestly school is helping me do nothing. I’m just their everyday wasting time being taught things I’ll never use. I want to be a dancer and ya know that’s what I need to learn about if that’s what I want to do. So I really don’t understand how y= mx+b will help me do shit. School is so pointless. They teach us a bunch of crap that is useless in the real world. Now what they need to be teaching is how to pay taxes cause that shit is confusing.

(Brushing teeth and talking) I mean I would like to learn something useful for once.

(Spitting out toothpaste) Ya know I could always drop out. Be a drug dealer or a stripper maybe. That’s where the real money is. Naw I couldn’t do that I’m not slick enough to sell drugs and I’m not thick enough to be a stripper. (Laughing) ”

My mom would kill me if I did either of those.

(Mocking mom is annoying voice)  You have to stay in school and get an education and go to college and do this and that and blah blah blah.

(Pauses for a moment for a realization) I guess really we go to school for our parents. If it was up to kids we would drop out really. We bring home our grades that makes them happy or sad, either way they expect more. Seeing their child succeed brings them joy. They’re basically living through us. So in a way school isn’t really for kids. I mean I guess we benefit from it in the long run but really it’s for our mom’s and dad’s to see us become better people.

(Pause) Hmmm I never really thought of it that way. Well I guess school is kinda important. It’s our parents way of holding onto us as kids. (Checks phone) Wow it’s 7:45 in the morning and I already discovered the secret to life. (Chuckles)

(Face changes from laughing to frightened) 7:45 fuck I’m going to be late.

(Grabs phone and book bag) Great just great I’m going to be late to school on a Mon..

(Pauses after staring at phone) Saturday. I’m going to school on a Saturday… wow

(Facial expression is annoyed) ( Lights dim, Scene over)

“ I’m so hungry “

“ Yea me too I didn’t have time the eat BRECFIX this morning because….”

“ You didn’t have time to eat what “?

“ Brecfix you know, morning time food”.

“ Oh you mean BREAKFAST”

“ Yea isn’t that what I said”.

“ Why do you say it like that “?

“ Say it like what?“

“ You sound so weird it’s breakfast like break-fast not brecfix you sound like you're from the south or something “

“ Brecfix ”

Everybody that was in a 5 feet radius of my conversation burst into laughter.

“ What is Brecfix “

“ She said Brec- Fix”

“ Like Brick and fix”

“ Hahahahahahaha”

                 I started laughing with them to hide my embarrassment. I didn’t understand why it was so funny. I had been saying breakfast the same way since I was a kid. This was in the 7th grade. I was 13 years old and until that day, I didn’t know I couldn’t say breakfast. The word had already been sprouted into the garden of my vocabulary and I didn’t know how to change it. When I got home that day I sat in the mirror for hours just trying to say breakfast. My mind knew that it was breakfast but my mouth kept saying brecfix. I felt so stupid and I was so frustrated with myself because I couldn't say a simple word. What really upset me is that no one ever told me I was saying it wrong. So how would you know when you're saying something wrong or strange? Especially when it sounds so normal to you.  When you’ve been saying something the same way for so long and someone corrects you, it feels like a slap in the face. Why do people think they have the right to correct you on the way you speak?  When a group of people say something the same way they become accustomed to it. It's their normal. But when someone comes and says it differently they look at them strangely. They laugh at and judge that person because they don’t speak like them.  I noticed that when people don’t understand something they try to put it down. These ideas of one language triumphing over another are ridiculous. Language is language, it's your interpretation of the definition of language that is different from everyone else’s. Everyone's definition is different. You're definition doesn't make you better than anyone or less than anyone it makes you who you are.

         Language is power. It's the power to judge someone. It's the power to understand someone. Our language is the most powerful thing we have. It's our language that lets us communicate with one another. People feel as though if they speak a certain language they have power over someone who doesn't speak that language. They make fun of that language because they don't know it. In the world that we live in being different is frowned upon. Anything that is not what people are used to is weird to them and they will laugh at it or joke about it. They don't understand that when they are laughing at the way someone speaks it is laughing at who they are. The way you speak is you is apart of you, it is you.

               I was laughed at because I couldn't say one word like everyone else. Imagine all the people who get laughed at who have accents or have a disability like a stutter and can't speak like everyone else. It hurts. You feel bad about who you are. You're language is your power. When someone puts down you're language they are taking away your power.  There is no perfect language to speak. Everyone goes somewhere outside of where they are from and doesn't understand the language or the slang. Where you are from influences you're language greatly. Once you step out of that zone you are lost, your language is lost.

            I tried to change who I was to get approval from others. That's what you do when you change your language you are talking away a part of yourself. I tried for months to say breakfast like everyone else. I practiced and practiced but I never got it right.

           One day I was sitting down eating at school. It wasn't breakfast, it was lunch time so nobody asked me to say brecfix or talked about how I said it. My friend Imani and I were making jokes and laughing like we always did at lunch and I started to talk to her about an assignment we had.

“ Did you finish your project for Mr. Jumpp’s class”?

“ No I didn't even start that yet”

“ You know it's due in like last week right?”

“ Yea but I don't know PACIFICALLY what I want my topic to yet”

PACIFICALLY, SHE SAID PACIFICALLY.

“ You don't what”?

“ I don't know what..”.

“ No you said you don't know pacifically what you want to do yet”.

“ Yeah I don't know pacifically what I want my topic to be”.

“ Specifically”.

“ Huh”.

“ The word is pronounced spe-cif-ically”.

“ Oh Sp..Pa..Psssifically is that right”?

          This was coming from the same friend who corrected me for saying brecfix. She couldn't say specifically. She said pacific, like the Pacific Ocean. It was in that moment that I realized something important. People mispronounce words all the time. It’s apart of life. Than I started to think about it, and maybe we aren't mispronouncing words. Maybe we are just saying the word in our own language. Putting our power into a word to make it our own. Each word that we speak is different. We each have our own way of speaking. So this is my definition of language. Language is not just what you say or how you communicate with one another. It's so much more than that. Language is the power that we put into what we say. We put power into everything that we say.  That's how language and power coincide. Power runs through the river of language and language flows out of all of us. We all individually make our language. Nobody in the world can say every word “correctly” or knows every language. Sometimes we can’t say things “correctly” and that's okay because it’s how we say it.  

Artistic Statement:

My visual is about Abraham Lincoln not really freeing the slaves. I believe that Abraham Lincoln always had the power to free them he just waited on it because that’s not what he really wanted. I think my visual will be unclear in the sense that most people think that he freed the slaves because that’s what they were taught. They have no real background knowledge of the situation so of course they will agree that Lincoln freed the slaves.

Lincoln’s main priority at the time was saving the union. He didn’t care about the slaves or whether they were free or not, he just didn’t want the union to fall apart. He freed the slaves to make a statement to the rest of the union that he was in charge. He says he was antislavery yet at the same time he never wanted blacks and whites to be equal.

Nosotros somos Nadia Green, Olivia ¨Liv¨ Cooper, Jessica ¨Jess¨ Celli, y Deja Harrison. Somos estudiantes de Science Leadership Academy. Está en 55 N 22nd St. Está cerca de 7-Eleven y Aya’s Café. Es muy grande, brillante, y amable.. Hay 465 estudiantes, 20 profesores, y 4 pisos. SLA es la única escuela a usar proyecto basado aprendizaje. ¡Qué chévere! Ofrecemos una gran variación de deportes incluyendo voleibol, béisbol, y baloncesto. También, ofrecemos muchos clubes incluyendo la Comunidad involucramiento club, CIC, y el júbilo club. Allí son muchos clubs participamos en. Liv, Deja y Nadia participan en softbol. Jess canta con Glee Club y Liv también juega voleibol.Tenemos clase de español, inglés, bioquímica, matemáticas, historia, arte, tecnología ,y teatro.    

Nuestra clase favorita es almuerzo porque es muy divertido. Nos gusta pasar un rato con amigos y comer. Nuestra otra clase favorita es inglé.s. Siempre es interesante y comico. En la clase de inglés tenemos que leer un libro el Odyssey y escribir unos papeles. El Señor Kay enseña muy bien. En la clase de matemáticas necesitamos tomar apuntes porque muy dificil. En las clases de historia, arte y tech necesito el lápiz y la computadora.. En la clase de bioquímica nosotros aprendemos que diseccionar. es super terrible y malo. ¡Es una broma! En la clase de español es importante hablar españana. ¡No English!

Los profesores y los estudiantes La Señorita Manuel enseña español: Me encanta Señorita Manuel! Enseña muy bien! Ella es súper enérgica, y canta mucho en la clase. La Señorita Dunda enseña bioquímica. Ella es divertida y cómica. En su clase, hacemos experimento. Nos disectados una rana. Muy chévere!  La Señora Thompson enseña math. En la clase de math, Trabajamos con números. Álgebra es mucho dificil. El Señor Kay enseña Inglés. Leemos libros. Señor Kay es tremendamente extraño, más amable. ¡Es un amor  La Señorita Jonas enseña historia. Hablamos de africano-americano historia y identidades de los estudiantes. ¿Quiénes somos nosotros? No sé!  La Señora Hull enseña tech y arte. Aprendemos de computadoras.  Los estudiantes de SLA son siempre trabajador y tranquilo. Depende del día, después del almuerzo nosotros vamos TFI. TFI es The Franklin Institute. TFI es único y es bastante divertida.

Deja

Intro:

Pictures of me and my friends.

Words: ¡Bienveindos!

Yo

Pictures of me

Song: all about that bass ( in spanish )

Me llamo Deja

Tengo catorce anos

Mi Cumpleanos es el tres de febrero

Tengo los ojos cafes, el pelo cafe

Soy alta y comica

Super perezosa y sociable

y Muy muy adorable

Me gusta dormir y pasar un rato con amigos

No me gusta nada correr Ja Ja Ja

El

Picture of Justin

El es Justin

Tiene catorce anos

tiene los ojos cafes, el pelo cafe claro

Es deportista y timido

mas o menos alto

por lo general chevere

Te gusta practicar deportes ( odio practicar deportes ) y escuchar musica.

Ella

Picture of Imani

Ella es mi mejor amiga Imani

Somos amigos por tres anos

Tiene catorce anos

Tiene es porrista

Tiene los ojos cafes, el pelo cafe

Es muy muy cómica y habladora

siempre antipática ( es una broma )

super divertido

Te gusta ir de compras y comer

Me da Risa

Ellas

Pictures of Fatoumata Israh and Tia

Le presento a Fatoumata y Israh y Tia

Ellas tienen catorce anos excepta Tia tiene quince anos

Ellas tienen los ojos cafes, el pelo cafe

Asisten a Science Leadership Academy

Son las siempre cómica y boba

por lo general tranquila

Les gusta pasar un rato con amigos

No les gusta trabajar

Son muy muy perezosa

Nosotros

Pictures of me and my friends

Somos del primera

Asistimos a Science Leadership Academy

Somos de costumbre cómico y creativa

super super divertido

Nos gustamos descansar y ver la Netflix

No nos gustamos estudiar

Fin

Gracias por tu atencion

Net Neutrality is important for teens to know about because they need to be aware of what’s going on in the community. It teaches them why its important.  Without it people wouldn't be able to go on certain sites.  Certain websites you would have to pay cash for. That's ridiculous that people would have to do that. Teenagers should be aware of these type of things.