Bibliography:

1. Kitch, Bryan. "Rowing Related." Rowing Related. Bryan Kitch, 2010. Web. 31 May 2013.

This is a blog that comments on huge rowing events  such as the IRA National Championship Regatta and Dad Vails. Going through this blog helped showed me what is going on in the rowing community outside of PCR's bubble. This also gave me a general idea of what a rowing blog should look like.

2. "Rowing Journal." Rowing Journal. N.p., 2013. Web. 31 May 2013.

3. ScullerX. "The CrossFit Rowing Blog." The CrossFit Rowing Blog. N.p., 24 Feb. 2010. Web. 31 May 2013.

This blog is very similar to my own. However, this one touches more on the actual workouts ScullerX does. This blog encourages me to add video and pictures rather than just words on my own blog. This also showed me how I should type my blog post. Like how to phrase different things.

4. Fay, Devin. "The Bates Rower." The Bates Rower. N.p., 18 May 2009. Web. 31 May 2013.

This is another blog used to influence how I phrase different things in my blog. This blog was a little different than the other blogs I looked at because it allowed a couple of people to post on the blog. So the wording changed between different blog posts. This blog also includes the race results from the regattas Bates competed at. It was interesting because my coach rowed for Bates.

5. "Philadelphia City Rowing." Philadelphia City Rowing. Philadelphia City Rowing, 2011. Web. 31 May 2013.

This is the website for my team. I took some information about PCR from this website whenever I found it hard to explain a certain thing.

6. Peters, Libby. PCR First Season. 2010. video. Youtube, Philadelphia. Web. 31 May 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3O4Og6yla8>.

This video was created by my original coach when PCR first begun. I remember watching this video when it first came out and getting excited by seeing the results from my first year of rowing. This video also makes me happy because I find it inspirational that we've come so far in the past 3 years.

7. Philadelphia City Rowing- Fall 2011. 2011. video. Youtube, Philadelphia. Web. 31 May 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJDXhf3aMek>.

This video was created by the girls novice coach, Annie, last year. 

8. Slack, Peter. Philadelphia City Rowing (short).mov. 2012. video. Youtube, Philadelphia. Web. 31 May 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2baUhyG2UqU>.

I remember when this video was created because it was the first time an outside person actually wanted to make a video about us. This was used with a goPro and it only films the boys.

9. "Rowing Terminology." T.C William High School Crew. Alexandria Crew Boosters Club, Inc., 2007. Web. 31 May 2013.

Non-rowers always have questions about rowing terminology because I agree that rowing gets pretty complicated. It was difficult to define each term in my own words without being confusing. 

About Me:

I am: A Philadelphia high school senior, a rower, big sister, and environmentalist.

Neighborhood: Overbrook Farms

Favorite Spot: The Schuylkill River and boathouse row

Years in Philly: 10 years

Dear Schuylkill River,

I've watched you from the car window for many years. Never giving a second thought to who you are, to what you are. I never took the chance to dive deeper into the little things that help you function. Never took the chance to who's lives you've changed and who relies on your presence. Little did I know there's a whole other world that revolves around you. It took me 14 years to figure this out. 14 years too long. The summer of 2010 was when we were introduced. The moment we were introduced broadened my perspective of Philadelphia. You showed me a unique way to live and gave me the desire to explore more of Philly. Thank you for making me explore and appreciate Philadelphia.

Much love,

Imani.

What went well was the efficiency we were able to research on our topic and how we equally worked on creating the info graphic.

What didn't quite go well was the fact that when it came time to actually start connecting pictures with our research. It was hard to really work well on how we want our whole poster to look like and organize it so that people can tell what our natural diaster was about.

If I had another chance to work on this I would probably try to organize the information a little bit better and also find information that would be a little easier to display through only pictures and/or diagrams.

The tips that my group and I excelled in was being accurate, being a bit varied, and visual. The rest of the tips I feel like my group and I could've worked a little more on using those tips especially with "be concise" and "be creative." This was a little hard to do because there is a lot to explain about the government reaction/response that couldn't really be explained clearly through just pictures or diagrams. 

• Mi grupo y yo hicimos un PSA sobre la basura en la (ballroom) de SLA y que las visitantes piensan de la estudiantes de SLA. 
  
  Por crear PSA, la cosa más important que aprendí fue es mejor a limpia tu spacio porque la spacio es bueno,limpio, y mejor. 
  
  Me gusta el PSA de mi grupo porque nosotros trabajamos bueno en el PSA y me gusta la cancion.
  
  Si pudiera hacer el proyecto otra vez, yo cambiaría pronouncia los palabras mejor y dicen más sobre otros sitio en SLA.

From open doors and smiling faces.

I am from the creek down the street.

(filled with untold wonders,

unmarked by the trail)

I am from not one place

But many

Traveled to by car and plane

Searching for a place I call home.

I’m from loving faces of smaller mammals,

            From a crowing rooster in the morning.

I’m from a small sunny city

             with parents moving to Philly

 I’m from she needs to talk more

             To details, details, details!

I’m from numerous nick names

            Deprived from book to my world connections,

            Thanks to my freshman year.

I’m from the golden coast of California,

            With recyclable everything.

From albums filled with memorable photos,

            Filled of people there’s yet to meet

            Along with long lost memories I have yet to keep.

Different places called home all in different places,

One in Nigeria, Maryland, and Philly

I am from the world,

Grown with help from love and happiness.

I just entered my Algebra 2 class as my teacher played whatever random song he had in his iTunes. My classmates and I were doing our daily routine of checking to see if any assignments were given back to us and taking our materials out of our bags.  As I was pulling my binder and pencil out of my bag my friend came to bother me.

“Go away!” I tell him pushing him away.

He laughed and started to tickle me while trying to discreetly steal my binder. I laughed and snatched my binder and screech, “Oh my god! Stop it leave me alone!”
“Oh my god leave me alone,” he mocks still reaching for my binder.
“Stop you're so mean to me.”
Still in that mocking tone he imitates me, “Stoppp.”
“Dude really?”
“Why do you talk like that?” he asks.

Ever since I came back from over seas I’ve been asked this same question over and over again, “Why do you talk like that?” I never have a real response for this question except that it’s just the way I talk. As my friend stares at me while he waits for an answer I just ask him, “Talk like what?” I already know his answer before the words even pass his mouth.

“Like a white girl.”

I don’t take his response as an insult knowing that he didn’t mean it as an insult but just his only way to describe my speech. I thought back to 7^th grade when I first came back from over seas and felt like an outsider among my friends because of how they talked. They talked in higher voices and talked with using words such as “like”, “oh my god”, or “dude” constantly. Speaking like them meant that you were cool and I was in need to make new friends so I decided to speak like them.  Their language was pretty cool and I got a kick out of speaking the “new” generation’s language. My change in language was a permanent change and became a part of who I am.

            Apparently to people I was viewed as white although my skin is brown and my race is African- American. Although what people say, I always thought of myself as African-American. For a while I was confused with why people called me white, but then as I grew I realized what they meant. I didn’t act like how a stereotypical African- American acts: being annoyingly loud, speaks improperly, etc.  I went against my race’s stereotype. Intentionally. It wasn’t because I wanted to become someone I wasn’t but because I wanted to prove those stereotypes wrong. To show that I’m a young educated African- American girl and not a loud, rude, uneducated African-American girl. That I deserved to be respected. I realized that many African- Americans are disrespected because of their language.  My language was created to prove that I’m not what people assumed me to be and to be cool.

As high school came along I was called the “whitest black girl” or when people listened to me talk they or looked through my iTunes they would say I only have white music. My friends not only would say this about me but also my parents.

            In the words of James Baldwin, ”Language incontestably, reveals the speaker,” your language greatly defines who you are. This is how most people think and how many racial stereotypes were created. Even so, what happens to those who do not fit under those stereotypes? Where their likes and dislikes aren’t like everybody else in their race, or where they don’t act like others in their race? I’m one of those people who don’t fit under a racial stereotype so many people try to place me under another stereotype.  The most common one I get placed under is “white.”

            I realize that not many people are not used to not being able to determine your identity by just observing how you talk. Even I am guilty of judging someone and getting confused because they talked differently than their race’s stereotype. Even though many people talk about how I talk and call me something that I’m not, I will continue to talk the way I talk because people need to understand that language isn’t always the key to someone’s identity.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2174528/Group%202_Spanish_Tutorial.mov