It’s a Myth and a Legend  

Should we believe in myths and legends? -- Many people believe in myths because of a constant reminder of them from their environments. When an individual believes in a myth, they are actually psychologically affected. Myths come from a variety of cultures throughout the world. The belief in myths occurs through stories told to others whether it be true or not. The truth relies on how much an individual believes in the myths. People believe in myths and legends through their own cognition because each individual’s cognition is grown through their own process.

Something to consider when certain people are telling you certain stories (myths), is that in their mind they are held to have a cognitive dissonance. What that does is that it allows the mind of a person to remove a conflictingconlficting matter and instead continues to replace it with cognitive corporationcoorperation. For example, if someone is constantly telling you a story about how the boogie man monster does really exist, in their childhood, they may have heard the story of the boogie man so many times that it stuck to them and holds a place in their cognitive mind. With that in their cognitive mind, when someone else tries to replace their thought and tell them that the boogie man does not exist, they would remove that idea and instead keep their idea of yes it does exist. An article from How Stuff Works by Julia Layton states, “We all want to feel comfortable with our thoughts and actions, and it's a whole lot harder to change than it is to stay the same. We can see cognitive-dissonance theory at work in everyday life.” It’s true that when an individual  learns something totally new that they have never heard of in their entire lifetime, it’s hard for them to process it. BecauseBecasue they are human and that issue falls in place with every human, they are more or so likely to believe in the myths that have been told to them rather than myths that are totally new to their existence.

Myths are something that many people believe in. However there are different myths that people believe in. For that reason, when people believe in myths, they are believing in things that are always being told to them. An individual’s memory is basically a constant renovative story-telling device that exists within them. No one would actually be able to tell what is true and what is not, it depends on the person themselves if they believe in certain things or not. There is something called neuromyth, this is a type of myth in neroscience. Neuromyth results in overthinking the things that people learn to end up misunderstanding these things that they learn. When they are constantly told to believe in certain things, they make up these “connections” and misunderstands the whole point of the truth. Memory is what builds the person’s cognitive mind. With the cognitive mind, a person would automatically acknowledge things that they have faced or been through. Whereas they would not process something they have been told for the first time because they have no cognitive memory of it. Psychology Today states in their article, “Research indicates that remembering a bunch of new, unrelated elements is difficult. But if the elements are part of a structured story, they are more easily remembered.” What this article is saying is that the fact that parts of new things that we experience are the same parts we have already built into our cognitive minds makes us remember this new experience more. With that, different people believe in different myths because their cognitive minds are built different from the moment they came out of the womb.

Only certain people believe in myths because only certain people grow up from the moment they have been born to whatever age they are now, their cognitive schemas have been building within their own minds. ZSR Library exposes a case study performed by Mary Diane Cantrell, which where she states, “For others, believing in a particular legend is an emotional response. Legends can feed into the fears, anxieties , and biases a person may feel toward the subject matter or society in general thus providing them with emotional gratification.” With that said, an individual’s personal state of mind using their cognitive schema is what continues society’s beliefs in myths and legends. “-- believing in a particular legend is an emotional response” what this means is the fact that an individual’s own cognitive mind compels them into believing in the legend. Since everyone’s cognitive minds are not the same at all, only certain people with certain cognitive schemas can compel themselves into continuing to believe in the legend or myth. Looking at beliefs for myths and legends though a psychological lens, people with common disorders are more likely to feed into things like myths and legends. Cantrell states in her case study that “Legends can feed into the fears, anxieties, and biases a person may feel toward the subject matter…” By coming to that conclusion, it is clear that when an individual is affected by some sort of disorder, like anxiety, they are emotionally unstable which generates their cognitive mind to feed into things like legends and myths that are told by anyone and everyone.

If people stopped to think about it, they would realize that they only believe in the stories that they are told because of how common it is told to them. Whether these stories have the same concepts or are exactly the same stories. For the majority of the people in the world, myths are a big factor of their lives because it’s what build their cognitive minds which is what they use to think about anything they experience in life. People can experience that growing up in a certain neighborhood and then moving to the complete opposite side of where they were, they would face different problems and would try to stick to their original cognitive minds no matter how different they seem to the rest of the community. Depending on how long they make their stay, they would eventually grow into a different cognitive mindset to eventually feel comfortable with their new home.

Work Cited  

Layton, Julia. “Why Do People Believe Things That Science Has Proved Untrue?” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 8 Mar. 2018, science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/why-people-believe-things-science-proved-untrue.htm.

Cantrell, and Mary. “ZSR Library.” Urban Legends: Why Do People Believe Them?, Wake Forest University, 5 May 2010, wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/handle/10339/14790.  

Lindemann, Katherine. “Many People Believe Myths about How the Brain Works.” ResearchGate, 9 Mar. 2018, www.researchgate.net/blog/post/many-people-believe-myths-about-how-the-brain-works.

“What Mythology Reveals about the Mind.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cui-bono/201704/what-mythology-reveals-about-the-mind.

A Manipulation of Love

Comparing “Taming of the Shrew” and “Revenge of the Bridesmaids”

In Shakespeare's “Taming of the Shrew,” the manipulation of love is proved through the character Petruchio. Petruchio manipulates Baptista and others by telling them that he has wooed Katherine and she will be married to him without her actual consent at the time. As manipulation is a common action done to make people “fall in love” back in the days, it also happens in present day as well. In the movie “Revenge of the Bridesmaid,” Caitlyn, the soon-to-be bride manipulates her soon-to-be husband into being pregnant in order for her to marry him.

Although Caitlyn and Petruchio share the same tactics to get what they want, they feel differently about their situations. As for Caitlyn, she’s going through with her plans for the sake of her mother’s bankruptcy in return for getting the perfect wedding that she’s always dreamed of. As for Petruchio, he’s going through with his plans because his goal was to get a wife and that wife was to be Katherine. Even though everyone tells him that she is almost impossible to wife, he claims that he will woo her and she will be the one he marries.  It almost becomes a game to him, if he can woo her, he proves his victory in winning the woman that no one wants or can woo.  Based off of the play and movie we can see that they are conveying how people manipulate their significant other into love so that they can get what they want from them without having to actually love them.

“What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, good Kate. I am a gentleman --”

“That I’ll try” (she strikes him)

(Act 2, Scene 1, lines 231-233)

At this point of the play, Katherine and Petruchio meets for the first time and Katherine, as expected, does nothing but deny his request and proposal with all her attitude. At this point, the reader can predict that the wedding is not going to happen because Katherine was not being wooed by Petruchio. Though Petruchio does not give up whatsoever. Petruchio continues to try to woo Katherine, but the moment she strikes him, he loses his motivation for a slip second saying “I swear I’ll cuff you if strike again.” In this part of the play, Petruchio is trying to manipulate her into loving him by saying he is a gentleman and he loves her although they just met. Katherine clearly denies him and does not love him.

(Caitlyn pushing Tony’s buttons about the cake.)

(Tony pulling her to the side away from everyone else.)

(Caitlyn nervously looking around.)

In “Revenge of the Bridesmaids,” Caitlyn, the soon-to-be bride and Tony, the soon-to-be groom is cake tasting for their wedding. Caitlyn says to Tony as they taste their third option, “Tony-bear, participate. C’mon we need an opinion from the groom.” Tony then pulls her to the side away from everyone else in the room to respond with, “Look Caitlyn, I’m doing what everybody wants here. It’s just cake.” Looking at Tony’s dialogue, the audience can predict that Tony is not very excited nor cares about the wedding. Caitlyn then nervously looks around and smiles to fake an “everything is okay” and loudly says to everyone, “Yes, you do like milk with your cake. Why don’t you go get some milk.” Tony then walks away with disappointment all over his face mumbling, “I think I will” as Caitlyn nervously continues to smile at everyone else. At this point of the movie, it is clear that Tony has no love for Caitlyn, but he knows he has to marry the woman only because he got her pregnant. Unlike Petruchio’s situation, he’s stuck in a loveless marriage for a mistake he has made. But similar to Petruchio’s tactics, Caitlyn continues to act like everything is fine because she will marry Tony regardless of his actions and the way he feels personally.

"I tell you 'tis incredible to believe How much she loves me. O, the kindest Kate! She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss She vied so fast, protesting oath on oath, That in a twink she won me to her love. How tame when men and women are alone, A meacock wretch can make the curestest shrew."

(Act 2, Scene 1, lines 325-332)

At this point in “Taming of the Shrew,” Petruchio and Katherine has met for the first time. Although this meeting does not go as Petruchio expected, he claims that all is well and he has done his duty and wooed her into marrying him. During the meeting, Katherine is rude and denies everything Petruchio proposes, but when Petruchio comes back to speak with Katherine’s father Baptista, he says that he was successful in his duty. He manipulates the father by telling him that Katherine is now in love with him and they will be married soon even though she has not given consent, if anything, she has denied his proposal.

(Rachel telling the girls that Caitlyn is pregnant with Tony’s baby.)

In this specific scene Rachel tells Abigail and Parker that Caitlyn is pregnant, “No they have to get married, it’s a secret it’s a big secret, I’m not suppose to tell anyone, Caitlyn’s pregnant” and therefore he has no choice but to marry the her. By the looks of Rachel’s reactions and dialogue, the audience would be able to assume that Caitlyn is pregnant because no one finds out that it’s a lie until later on in the movie. Rachel tells the girls which OBGYN Caitlyn went to to get her results. Similar to what Petruchio does in the play, Caitlyn has already manipulated everyone in believing that she is pregnant with Tony’s baby.

"Then tell me, if I get your daughter's love, What dowry shall I have with her to wife?"

"After my death, the one half of my lands, And in my possession, twenty thousand crowns."

"And, for that dowry, I'll assure her of Her widowhood, be it that she survive me, In all my lands and leases whatsoever. Let specialties be therefore drawn between us, That covenants may be kept on either hand."

"Ay, when the special thing is well obtained, That is, her love, for that is all in all."

(Act 2 Scene 1 lines 126-136)

By this scene in the play, Petruchio is conversing with Baptista before his first meeting with Katherine. The reader can tell that some type of deal is going on here for the marriage of Katherine. Baptista approves of Petruchio’s ideas and offers all that he can to Petruchio if he does win Katherine over by wooing her. The idea of manipulation falls into this action because of how Baptista manipulates Petruchio to marry Katherine in order to get his ownings after his passing.

(Caitlyn showing her mom (Mrs. McNabb) that her dress is the wrong color.)

(Caitlyn coming at her mom for promising her the perfect wedding in return of getting all of Tony’s fortunes.)

At this point of the movie, it has finally come to the day of the wedding and everything seems to be going wrong. It starts out with the wedding dress. Caitlyn receives her wedding dress and it’s a different color than what she actually ordered. She cries in distress to her mother, “Look look look at it see?!” Her mother responds, “What? What am I looking at?” Caitlyn then has a mental breakdown saying, “Look blind mother! It’s summer pearl.” Along with that Caitlyn reveals and discusses their deal to the audience, “You promised me! Every detail of this wedding has to be exactly right. I’m only marrying this guy because of all the money you went through. I don’t mind a loveless marriage, but I will not tolerate anything less than a perfect wedding!” In these few lines, Caitlyn reveals the huge secret of why she’s been manipulating people into believing that she is pregnant in order to marry the guy with money only for his money.  Unlike Baptista, Mrs. McNabb wants the money and that’s why she wants her daughter to be married, whereas Baptista is paying off Petruchio to marry his daughter with whatever it takes.

The manipulation from both the movie and the play shows how love is portrayed in society’s attitudes towards courtship/dating. Since back then, parents of the individual in the relationship has always been involved in some way. Baptista, the father of Katherine (from the Shrew), proves through his actions of paying Petruchio and manipulating him into wooing his daughter in return to get his fortunes after his death.  Whereas in “Revenge of the Bridesmaids,” Mrs. McNabb manipulates her daughter for her to decite others into believing that she is pregnant so that she can marry Tony for his wealth since the McNabbs are going bankrupt. In return of this manipulation, Caitlyn will get her prefect dream wedding. This shows us that in society, people’s attitudes on love and romance is that more wealth equals more happiness in a marriage.

Can two worlds combine into one? As a person whose ancestors, descendants, and parents come from another country from the other side of the world, it’s kind of a struggle growing up. Not as a kid really, but it begins when you hit puberty. That age where you need someone, specifically an adult you feel really close to, to talk to about literally everything and anything. Now this can’t be just any adult, it has to be someone that’s understanding of your situation and helpful, not judgemental. Someone who understands your background and where you’re really coming from, who won’t be judgemental. I’m sixteen and right about now, you’d think that I’m writing about how the world judges me for how I dress, or the amount of makeup I do and don’t wear, or the size of my body, or how I do or don’t have a boyfriend, or how I do or don’t always have an attitude towards everything and everyone. You’re wrong, but you’re on the right track.

In a world where people depend on each other, many of these people depend on coffee as  well. It doesn’t matter where anyone is, but every morning, anyone can and will smell the smell of coffee, see coffee being consumed, or made by someone. Although coffee is not the only caffeinated consument, like coffee there are alternate fluid substances people may prefer. In a generation where people are always trying to succeed and “stay on the ball,” caffeine is something that a large amount of the people in this world depend on for their everyday lives.  Caffeine is not an addictive stimulant, but has the ability to alter and change how a person feels  mindfully.

According to The Drug & Health Blog article of The National Institutes of Health, “The world’s caffeine obsession can be described as a “dependency,” but is not an addiction.” Although caffeine seems like an addictive stimulant in a person’s everyday life, it is actually a dependent for a person to go about their day. Many of these caffeine consumers feel as if they are unable to function or perform their best when they do not get their daily dose. This is starting to sound a lot like a person who is addicted to drugs, but no, it is not the same. Caffeine, it is a widespread obsession that many people use to be more alert, which is also why it is the most consumed mood altering stimulant in the world. Again, the The Drug & Health Blog, from the same Institute previously given, states that “-- like many drugs -- caffeine enhances dopamine signaling in the brain.” Dopamine is a chemical that controls movement, motivation, and emotions. Since the dopamine in caffeine enhances the brain signaling, this makes a person more hyper and awake. No one likes to feel super tired or be sleepy when they have a full day’s worth of plans lined up. The success of one’s life comes in when the fact that people’s attitudes and actions differ by the level of alert and awakeness they feel. Therefore, consuming some sort of caffeine becomes a habit.

Caffeine is an effective way to get that energy that almost no one wakes up with. As stated before, caffeine contains a chemical called dopamine (which controls and changes the movement, motivation, and emotions by signaling the brain of a person). From an article about caffeine addiction by Deane Alban, this person has stated that although there are many upsides to “being addicted” to caffeine, particular things from the downside may not be good for a person. All of this would be a personal matter depending on the person’s body’s conditions. Alban also mentions that one of the main side effects of caffeine (not true energy) makes a person super tired, therefore if a person were to stop consuming caffeine completely, the withdrawal would be a burden. Alban gives a metaphor, “your brain on caffeine is like a car with no brakes and the accelerator pedal jammed to the floor.” Because the caffeine makes a person productive and more awake, during that time while the caffeine is rushing through the person, they are being drained of their true energy. Being so, once the caffeine runs out of the body, the body will remain super tired.

At the same time, studies that have been done on people who consume coffee on a daily basis shows otherwise. “The pre-clinical studies from The Institute of Scientific Information on Coffee shows that when a person drinks approximately two large cups of coffee in a day, it does not activate the brain circuit of dependence in humans, but activated regions involved in attention, vigilance, and anxiety…” This is saying that when a person says they depend on coffee to be “alive” and work efficiently, they actually mean that they enjoy what caffeine gives them which is activation of attention. When a person’s attention is activated, they would feel more productive and actually working their way up to succeed in life. Also this study is based just upon coffee. Throughout the day, people may consume more caffeine through other drinks or foods that they are consuming to trigger the dependency. Based on this study, people do not necessarily depend on caffeine or are  addicted, they just enjoy the certain activations it gives to their body. Being so, an article written by Karen Fernau from USA TODAY states that 83% of the adults in the U.S drinks coffee, meaning that on average they each drink three cups of coffee per day. Over half of the adults in this country drinks coffee daily, consuming at least three cups per day. The sole purpose of this would be what it does for the person. From personal experience, no one is born to like coffee. It is believed that the habitual tradition of waking up to consume coffee is what makes the people desire and depend on coffee.

When asked, people who depend on caffeine might say that they feel like they are addicted to consuming caffeine to better their daily lives. On a closer inspection, however, caffeine is not an addictive stimulant, but it does alternate a person’s mood and way of focus because of the dopamine in the caffeine. Although people of all natures may believe that caffeine is “addictive.” It is actually something that people enjoy and/or depend on to go on about their daily lives without fear of getting hooked.

Works CIted

“Caffeine and dependence.” Coffee and Health, 13 Sept. 2017, www.coffeeandhealth.org/topic-overview/caffeine-and-dependence-2/.

“Is Caffeine Really Addictive?” NIDA for Teens, teens.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/caffeine-really-addictive.

Alban, Deane. “All About Caffeine Addiction and Withdrawal & How to Quit.” Be Brain Fit, 24 Sept. 2017, bebrainfit.com/caffeine-addiction-withdrawal.

Stöppler, MD Melissa Conrad. “Caffeine Addiction: Can You Quit? by MedicineNet.Com.” MedicineNet, www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=43492.

Republic, Karen Fernau The Arizona. “Coffee grinds fuel for the nation.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 9 Apr. 2013, www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/04/09/coffee-mania/2069335/.

Kill or Survive

What does survival mean to you? In some cases people turn against each other, no matter how little or large they have of each other. There are many ways one can survive, but there are often situations where one doesn’t try and takes the easy way out. How does one survive with a group of people? Given a moment in certain situations, some may act civilized while others may not. Some may think about themselves only. While others who often has interactions with other people such as family, have a habit of caring for and thinking of others as well. Just like in the novel Lord of The Flies, many scenarios are given when the boys have choices among survival. Even so, when it comes down to survival in any case, the killings of other living things do not really come to mind because of the crave that they have for their own survival.  

Survival being a huge deal to many people, people often do anything humanly possible for survival, even if it means killing other living things. In China, the Chinese people engage in killing and eating dogs. These dogs are either kept as pets that are torn apart from their owners or they are strays that roam around the streets. They call this tradition. They beat the dogs, they let it bleed out, and they use the blood for meat. “Dog meat is considered a delicacy in China, and traders deliberately kill them in the most painful ways possibly so the animals die filled with adrenaline; the Mirror noted”. They cage up the dogs allowing it to lack dehydration and exposure which led to kill hundreds of them at each killings. Although some may buy dogs not to eat but to keep as pets to campaign the cruelty towards animals, they are often taken from owners when food becomes desperate. After the death of the dogs, they are slaughtered, some even boiled alive, and then taken to markets to be sold. Some markets would take them alive and kill them in front of the people at the market when the buyers come to buy them. At first they claimed that the dogs were “emergency food” for when food becomes scarce, but over time this tradition of killing and eating dogs got out of control. Calling these happenings a tradition, they enjoy the flesh, bones, and blood of dogs. They believe it is a tradition for the survival of their lives dated back from years ago when food was actually scarce. But now they enjoy the killing and slaughterings of the dogs to soon eat for their survival. It turned into such a common thing that the majority of the Chinese people no longer cared about the lives of the poor living things.  

This same action is done in the scene where the boys kill the pig and felt the proudness and excitement from doing so, especially Jack. He took the the twins with him to go kill the pig and led them back as they carry the pig that has been killed to eat. As he explains to Ralph how intense when the boys begin to chant “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.” In moments of this scene when Jack and the twins brought the pig to Ralph’s presence, Jack grows in excitement for his achievement, in a constant matter. Quoted in this moment of the scene, “Jack checked, vaguely irritated by this irrelevance but too happy to let it worry him.”We can light the fire again. You should have been with us Ralph. We had a smashing time. The twins got knocked over-” I cut the pig’s throat,” said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it” (69). From this quote, the cause of excitement that falls on Jack in this moment comes from his desire of being “big and proud.” He felt irritated when Ralph commented on his success and instead of giving any mind to it, he continued to brag upon his success of killing the pig for food. As British schoolboys, they do not ideally kill animals on the daily as a necessity. In this situation, Jack believes that he has the ability to do so with no adults to take matter into their hands. Given the fact that he brags about the killing in excitement makes him think that it was okay to kill a living animal since it was for their survival’s sake. He no longer gave any care to the animal. He describes how the killing went down to Ralph and for a moment he seemed to be uncomfortable being a British schoolboy, “I cut the pig’s throat,” said Jack, proudly, yet twitched as he said it.” This specific line from the previous quote expresses how he may have been uncomfortable killing the pig when he twitched as he spoke, yet still proud for the actions he’s done.

In China there are annual festivals to celebrate “dog meat”. At this festival, they kill over about 10,000 dogs, slaughtered, boiled, beaten, and bled out. This is no longer the fight for scarce food. It is now profound as enjoyment. To declare a whole festival where dogs are killed in front of cheering crowds is no longer a fight for survival. It is seen more as just enjoyment for the celebration they are not being stopped from. To the Chinese people the killings of dogs are found normal, but in certain scenes of the novel, killing pigs or attempting to are not normal nor realistic to happen for British schoolboys. Jack mentions how the pig squealed as the the boys crept up on her to then kill her. The chant that they made “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.” This chant brought the most similarity to the wrongdoings of the Chinese dog killing traditions. “Kill the pig.” They wanted the pig dead under any circumstances. “Cut her throat.” They wanted the pig killed in a humanly way. “Spill her blood.” They wanted the pig to suffer and bleed out to watch it be tortured. Relating back to the Chinese people standing in crowds to watch the dogs being killed and tortured so that they would soon be able to eat them in celebration. The inhumanly cruelty that both the characters in the book and the Chinese people have are because of their carelessness towards the living animals. They believe it is more important for them to survive. The only difference falls upon them when the the characters of Lord of The Flies had no choice, but to kill and eat the pig whereas the Chinese people had choices not to do so.

Survival. To survive is to do what it takes to keep living even if it means killing other living things. In Lord of The Flies, Jack and the boys kill the pig in excitement having done that, as in killing a live animal, for the first time. In real life, people in China kill, torture, slaughter, and boil dogs almost on the daily. Both scenarios started out as the fight for survival, then it turned into advantages, advantages for an easier life, for an enjoyable life. After the death of the pig, their characters become more fierce throughout the book in having to kill other living things. Also after the killings of the dogs, the Chinese took advantage of not being stopped to do so and started up a whole tradition and festival like celebration for the killing and eating of dog meat. In doing so, these people did not have empathy for the living animals anymore.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of The Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Francis, Nathan. "Dog Boiled Alive: Shocking Video From China Shows Greyhound Being Slaughtered Before Cheering Crowd At Public Market." The Inquisitr News. The Inquisitr News, 07 Sept. 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. http://www.inquisitr.com/3491289/dog-boiled-alive-shocking-video-from-china-shows-greyhound-being-slaughtered-before-cheering-crowd-at-public-market/

Cooper, Rob. "Dogs Destined for the Table: Horrific Images Show Animals Being Killed, Cooked and Served up as a Meal in Chinese Tradition." Daily Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 25 June 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2164353/Horrific-images-dogs-killed-cooked-served-meal-sick-Chinese-tradition.html

Yo soy Mindy. Mi historia personal es un poco complejo, sin embargo, yo no cambiaría eso. Yo vivo en Philly de sur. Mi barrio, para mi, es más o menos. He vivido aquí durante tado mi vida. Algunos imágenes son diversas en los niños. Sin embargo, la causa de los niños muchos problemas en mi barrio. Por eso los policía siempre está. Me gusta mis amigos y sus familias. No me gusta la violencia dentro los niños. Me gusta mi barrio. A veces de miedo, pero ellos son como una familia pequeña. Para mi, yo cambio los niños y pandillas en mi barrio. Algunos temas importantes son la violencia en mi comunidad. Todas personas son importantes. Ellos traen alegría.

La historia de South Philly empieza con los refugiados de Ireland. South Philly es muy diverso ahora. Jim Croce es una persona famosa eso fue de South Philly. Un evento importante es el Camboyano Año Nueva. El evento está muy cerca de mi casa. Algunos problemas son niños luchando con pandillas.

Mi mural tiene muchas descripciones de mi barrio. Mi barrio tiene un gran parque, todos niños juegan baloncesto. De hecho, mi mural es un baloncesto grande a causa de los niños, mis amigos. Dentro el baloncesto es el muchas representaciones de mi barrio. Por ejemplo, los niños, la boba té (bubble tea aka boba), pizza , la música, y (corner stores) tiendas de conveniencia.

El mensaje de mi mural es los niños y sus infancia. O sea, ellos eran nacido y criado con otros niños en esta barrio.

Mi motivación para mi mural es mis amigos. Ellos pueden ser loco, pero ellos eran mis amigos desde infancia.

Los propósito del gran baloncesto es a causa de los niños. Ellos juegan baloncesto día y noche, frío o caliente, siempre. El cosas en el baloncesto debido a los personas en mi barrio. Todos personas ir de tiendas de conveniencia, todos personas amor la música, Pizza está en todos partes, y boba té es todos personas favoritos. Tres palabras importantes son Familia, Detener Violencia.

Modelos - Mindy, Antonio, Waverly, Ameer

Thunder He Cries

Silence You’ve lost all but one, me. rain drizzling sound

It hits me when you’re hurt, when you’re drowning in deep sorrow until you’re yet to hit rock bottom. thunder sound, continues to rain drizzling You seek a light so bright, yet you’re stuck in the dark. You blame yourself, but it’s not you. You’ve made mistakes, but you’ve learned from them. You had little from the start, not much to spare. It meant everything to you, everything. You’ve lost it though, all of it. The little you had is now nothing. How do you feel? another thunder No don’t cry, don’t sob. Because you were wrong. I was wrong. You have me. I’m worth more than everything you once had. What you’ve lost, it was never there to stay. It was on a joyride that came upon you. You enjoyed it then, but now it’s gone. There never was a permanent commitment. You don’t know what it feels like to have a permanent commitment, but you do have one. One you do not realize until that point in life you will stumble upon, and when you do you will lose it all. Me. pauses Do you not believe me? thunder sound, silence There has been many points in your life where I have been with you. I helped you. I lived those moments with you whether they were good or bad. I was there. Me. thunder, rain drizzles continues You were never alone from the moment you met me. It may have not seemed like it, but that’s not because you didn’t notice my presence, it’s because you were not comfortable enough to throw your issues at me. You choose to leave me out and expect me to be there? How? I’m not a magical being, I’m human, just like you. You make mistakes, I know, I do too. Everyone does. BUT quick thunder a mistake takes more than one person. You’re not alone.

I can’t believe you were going to let this happen to you. I don’t care if you don’t love yourself or if your parents can’t find a reason to love you, because I do and I will teach you how to love yourself. storm gets loud You have to know it wasn’t your fault that your parents are always fighting, it’s not your fault that they do not believe in love.

No, it’s okay. I understand. Do you? Pauses, rain drizzles continue I know it’s hard to believe. I’m not God. I can’t save you. But whatever you go through, I’ll go through WITH you. It’s hard. I understand, but hey, you’re most certainly not alone. You’re most certainly not the only one that cares. sighs as if his message did not get through to the significant other You don’t have to believe me. It’s your choice. Everything you do is your choice. There may be a lot of significant others that influences your choices, but in the end, the choice you make is yours. The consequences you get are yours. This doesn’t mean you deal with the consequences alone. You have me. I choose to be with you. I choose to drag my life through all that you need or want me to be there with you for. Like the many times your dad left your mom for a few days and she was always drinking and causing problems with you, I was there. Just like how you would tell me good news that we could celebrate together. Like that time you got your first college acceptance letter with full scholarship, I was there. You can also tell me not-so-good things that you wouldn’t want to be alone for. Like that time your mom kicked you out of the house and you had nowhere to go so you called your brother and I had to find out through him weeks later. quiet sob over the rain drizzle

El Corazón de Mi Vida

Mindy Saw

Soy yo.

Mí papá viaja a América,

pero mi mamá y hermano son inmigrantes.

Mi familia es de Asia.

Yo soy la única de América.

Mis ojos son cafés del chocolate.

Oigo la voz de mi mamá.

El té saboreo de mí papá.

Toque mis abuelos liso las caras.

Huelo el arroz y el curry.

Musíca está en nuestro alma.

Myanmar, mí familia.

El aeropuerto es el lugar de lágrimas.

Hablo por teléfono del otro lado del mundo.

Mi familia - somos productos de Myanmar.

Soy Américana.

Somos bilingües,

de los pueblos en Myanmar a la ciudad de Filadelfia.

No somos una, somos ambos.

Mis padres viven en América.

Pero mis abuelos, tíos, y primos viven en Myanmar.

Somos uno en el corazón.

The TV show we watched in class was Digital Nation from WHYY.

1. This show was about teens and their life online and the comments/opinions that the adults had about it.

2. The most memorable thing to me about this show is how much effect the internet has on people especially teens.

3. It is important to watch shows like these because it allows you to see what’s not obvious to some people in detail. It is not important to watch shows like these because even though we see these things happening because of the internet, we still do the same thing. We don’t stop.

4. I will keep my future family safe online with the ability of trust and help from each other when in need.

5. It is important to talk to your family about internet safety because it can lead to a lot of bad things that’ll bring you yourself into the whole situation.

           6.   I would give them advice about one little post can lead a huge situation/problem so they should                        

                 think before they post.

In the slide that I made is about me. I made it have a picture of the city as the basic background because I was born and raised in the city. The random aligned words are not only random, but they are words that describe who I am and what I am. I made some words more visual than others with the reason being to create contrast in order to get the viewers/audiences to wonder their eyes upon the slide. Looking out the window into the city influenced me to set the background picture as the city. The random words came naturally when I figured to describe myself on one simple slide.

Me fascina Tocar el piano.

                                                                 Soy de FilAdelfia.

                                                Mi cumpleaños es eL 7 de marzo.

                                                           Tengo catorcE años.

                                                                  Me gusta Nadar.

                                             No me gusta hacer la Tarea.

                       A veces soy perezOsa pero de costumbre trabajadora.

 Soy loca y maS o menos timida.

               Me llAmo Mindy Saw.

Hola, yo soy Mindy Saw. Tengo 14 años. Soy de filadefia y vivo en filadelfia, Pennsylvania.

Soy bastante simpática y de costumbre perezosa pero algo deportista. Mi amigos dicen que soy timida.

Mi familia es de Asia. Me fascina música y soy bien talentosa en música. No me gusta nada hacer la tarea. Me encanta ir de compras.  No me gusta nada descansar, soy preferir yendo loca con mi familia y amigos. Me encanta correr, sin embargo ello muretes yo mucho.

¿Té gusta escuchar música?

1. The video we watched today in class is the cyber bullying video from I AM A WITNESS website. The classroom activity from today is to look up yourself on Google search and see who you are online. Then we had to pick a partner and look them up and describe them in 5 words.

2. This video brings guilt and fear to my mind on the topic of bullying because I may have done stuff online to people in the past that was not as serious but still considered bullying and I fear that I’ll do it again the future.

3. The person I am found as online is nothing compared to who I am in real life. The only things you can find about me online is a picture or two and my science leadership account. You can find my Facebook, but there are more than one Mindy Saw’s so if the person looking me up had no idea who I was then they wouldn’t find out anything from Facebook.

4. I think people would perceive me as a non social person based on my appearance online.

5. The goal of internet trolls are to get responses from the victim of their choice.

6. The positive results of online anonymity is that the person attacking gets away with what they do temporarily and forever if no one cares enough to find out. The negative result is that once you’ve done something, you can always be found even though it might a long while.