"You're so well behaved." I felt like I've heard this so many times, I don't even realize these are even words any more. I was one of few black kids in my class that went to a mostly white school; all white teachers for the whole nine years.

That one sentence... In the first few months of second grade, I distinctly remember my parents having to talk to my teacher, not because of my grades or bad behavior. In fact, he was trying to make it seem that I was the worst student ever when... I wasn't. It seemed like he was poking at me to find something that he knew I'd snap about. Like the time we had indoor recess… or art class – I don't know. Whatever it was, I was always first in line to get a piece of paper and utensils for transcribing my imagination from brain to paper. But then that teacher, adamant to break me, told me that I would have to complete some writing sheet. Apparently, I missed that assignment –  but I just did it, while he stood over me for the whole ten minutes it took me to complete it, while everyone else got to draw and build towers and such. He asked me why I thought the answer was right for each problem where a word was misspelled or the punctuation was wrong. I answered "because we learned this in writing class." I handed him the completed sheet.

He snatched it out of my hand while staring intently over his glasses at me, smirking, and I felt nervous, like I'd done something wrong. He read over it about five times. He told me that I'd passed. About time you'd say that. It was the same sheet he gave us three days ago in writing class that I remembered doing!

"Darn," he must've thought. "Still didn't break." I never would. He probably realized this after winter break – he did a complete 180 flip, complimenting my hard work and my "great behavior." Still unaware of his motives, I just said thanks.

Of course, I later realized what he was doing this for, and why all of my teachers told me "you're so well behaved." Sure, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but, scratch the surface, and – surprise! Mostly white school – so seeing a black kid probably was shocking. Especially when that kid smashes the stereotype of "getting in trouble all of the time."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

For the most part, I tried to make this sound like the character were telling the story rather than it being written down. To an extent, I drew some inspiration from Margaret Atwood's writing style – specifically the voice and the character trying to remember what happened. For example, Atwood has Offred asking herself where she was or what she was doing. I did the same, where my character asked which class this situation took place. But for the most part, I wanted this to sound natural, partly to give it more dimension, but also because the basic setup of the story is personal.

Introduction

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

Advanced Essay

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

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

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

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

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

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

Introduction:

In this essay, I want to bring light on how education, business, and media, play a role in the manipulation of the general public. I am proud of my analysis, but I would have liked to use a better scene.

Introduction

My goal in this essay is to understand what having experiences can do to shape a person and their passions. I am most proud of my analyzation to my scene, since I actually found this most difficult to create. An area for improvement is possibly more expansion and making more connections to themes.

The Essay

While looking through my bookshelf in my bedroom, I spotted a subtle shining object behind the generations of old, dusty books. It was a trophy, which read "UYRS (Urban Youth Racing School) 2010 Participation." And on top, there was a depiction of a racing driver driving a go-kart. The day when I first boarded the tired-looking yellow school bus with a broken head gasket was when I experienced first-hand what it would be like to think and drive like the racing drivers you see on the television. In the weeks leading up to this first day, we attended classes, where we learned about the most important aspects of racing, like finding the best driving line, ultimately leading to faster and more efficient driving.

Now, just four classes of sitting at a table, we would convert those lessons to reality. I went through the doorway to the briefing room, where we put on our neck braces and racing helmets. We were then given a run-down of the first lessons, where a "pace kart" would drive around the track so we could learn the track. We were led out to the cold warehouse-like building where the track was located, and though it was a relatively small space for the job, there were still tight chicanes, fast bends, and everything in between. Finally, we were sent out on our own. The first race came, and I started in the fifth position out of about seven or eight other drivers. The noisy lawn-mower engines echoed wildly on the walls of the warehouse when the green lights lit up. My kart's wheels struggled to get traction on the slippery, polished concrete floor, but I eventually adjusted to the driving characteristics. One by one, I overtook one driver, then the next. I held a steady second place as I started to pass the first place driver on the fast left. Then, all of the sudden, the back wheels lost all grip, the kart spun around, and I found myself facing the drivers coming up from behind. The back of my kart finally hit the tire wall with a thud. The yellow flag waved in the air, and one of the instructors rushed out to check on me. I sat in complete confusion. It all happened in a blink of an eye. It wasn't until after the race that I realized I was pushed by the driver behind me, fighting through to get to first place as well.

In my first actual experience in go-kart racing, I faced both the highs and the lows of motorsport. Sometimes you enjoy these first experiences, and other times you wonder how you even decided to take the risk. In my case, I enjoyed the go-karting experience. The thrill of high speed, wheel to wheel driving still resonates with me now. Even after having the crash, despite the fact that it disrupted my race, I knew that I could refine my driving in the future races. When you get to say, "I did this thing for the first time," you find something new about yourself. You may find that this experience falls right in line with your passions, or you may find a whole new passion altogether. Or, you may find that these first experiences do not fit your passions.

These unfitting puzzle pieces, however, can give you more chances to find the pieces that do fit. When you have these "unfitting" experiences or experiences that you may not have enjoyed or found interesting, you will keep searching for the experiences that fit. When solving a jigsaw puzzle, you keep looking through the pile of pieces, setting the ones aside that don't quite solve it, putting the ones in that connect seamlessly. Each experience is a new potential piece to solve your jigsaw puzzle. When you pick up a piece and it doesn't fit, you set it aside and look for the next piece. In the case of my go-kart racing experience, it was a piece that fit. This allowed me to find more pieces that connected to my passions for cars. A few of those pieces were ones that held my interest in engineering. This piece connected directly to my interest in cars, since in order to build a car, from the simplest of cars to the Formula One machines, you need engineering. When you take the opportunities to do something, you may find that in some way or another, that experience will open new doors to getting the chance to further your career.

Una oda a Emiliano Zapata

Justo, bravo, y revolucionario

Cuando yo te veo pienso en luchando por lo que es correcto

Me haces sentir como yo tengo un voz también

Gracias, Zapata.