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Advanced Essay #4: Just War Theory and Nonviolence
There are enough open doors in life for everyone to have a successful and happy future. However, there are also many things in life that can abruptly close those doors right in your face, such as war. War can never be justified because not only is it unethical, but it completely destroys the spirit of humans. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize this at all, while some may only consider it from time to time. People are doubtful of the terrible effects of war because they often believe that war can be justified in some situations, if not all. Despite the idea that there are no solutions to conflict besides war, nonviolent resistance is a reasonable method that should be looked into because it can change our world for the better.
Fundamentally, the Just War Theory is one that speaks on how and why wars happen, and states that war is justified in select cases. There are three important parts of the Just War Theory—Jus Ad Bellum, Jus In Bello, and Jus Post Bellum. These parts apply to two enemies that have similarities in religion, race, or language. When values are shared between these two groups, they usually agree on the limits of war, and this is when Just War comes into play. However, when there are two groups that are not culturally similar or when there is a difference in rank, these rules do not appertain to the war. The reason why this theory exists is for enemies to be able to understand who will participate in the war, and what will happen regarding relations in the aftermath of it. Often times, when groups agree on certain conditions of the Just War Theory, it is because it will benefit them in the long run, and they are able to avoid political or moral issues that occurred in the past.
In the first section called “Jus Ad Bellum” of the Just War Theory, there are six criteria for war. In a document created by Michael Lacewing, which has all of the details about this idea, states, “The response of declaring war must be proportionate, i.e. the good that can be secured through war must outweigh the evil that will most likely occur. The end must justify the means. And in this calculation, the state must take into account not just the costs and benefits to itself, but those that will affect everyone involved in the war.” As it has been proved countless amounts of time, there is no secure answer of what might happen after the war is finished. There may be many consequences of war - another country may attack, things may be taken over, and a crucial decision may even be made, changing everything around. People who advocate for this theory and believe that it is correct, argue that the end of the war will make everything that happened during the war, much better. This is complete bogus because many countries are left on their own to pick up the pieces, and somehow scavenge for money to pay for all of the damage that another country has caused them. Ultimately, one group may get what they want, but is all of the destruction that war creates really necessary?
This is especially true for wars that go on for a long time - so long, that people completely forget what even started it, and what the goal of it is. The War on Terror is a perfect example of this as it is one that has been going on for sixteen years, ever since the September 11 attacks on the twin towers. In 2016, the United States dropped 26,171 bombs and most of these air attacks took place in Syria and Iraq. Other countries include Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. All of these countries were predominately Muslim countries, and so many innocent people were killed by the drone attacks. The US government were in a mindset that they would kill whoever they wanted, until they actually killed the right person. They overlooked the lives of so many people by grouping them as one, and hoped that the end of it would be “justified.” None of these losses were ever acknowledged by the United States, and neither did anyone think twice about providing war reparations to those people that were cruelly affected by it.
This leads into the second section of the Just War Theory called “Jus In Bellum.” This agreement speaks about how the enemy should be treated by the opposing side. There are also six different criteria for this section, one being, “No weapons or means of war that are ‘evil in themselves’ are permitted. Examples include ethnic cleansing and mass rape.” This idea of the theory, much like all of the other ideas, is completely delusional. The Just War Theory does not accept that weapons are already “evil in themselves,” although this is so obviously true. Weapons are meant to cause harm to other people, mentally and physically - as soon as the engineer begins crafting the instrument, it is only meant for destruction and evil. War has become so normalized and casual that using weapons to wreak havoc is not something that is seen as immoral. Although weapons are just one inhumane factor of war, another obscene aspect is wartime sexual violence. Rape has been committed by combatants for a very long time, and it is just something that is expected of war. During the Vietnam War, there was a plethora of assaults which were done by South Korean and American soldiers. A Vietnamese woman posted her story on a petition website, where she explained how a soldier came and raped both her and her mother in their shop. Their lives were changed forever, and they could do nothing but accept it. So many people’s lives wouldn’t have been affected as they were if the war never happened. This is another reason why Just War Theory would never work. Preventing rape from happening in a world where not everyone is fully aware of the consequences and effects of it is truly impossible to do. If women who were once raped are still struggling today to get recognition from the government of the things they experienced, than it is completely unreasonable to believe that citizens would ever stop committing these heartless crimes.
The last viewpoint of this theory is called “Jus Post Bellum,” which is the last aspect. This concludes the whole entire theory and speaks about the aftermath of the war, “The discrimination between combatants (including political leaders) and noncombatants still applies when seeking punishment. Public, international trials for war crimes should be conducted.” In connection to the previous paragraph, many different war crimes are completely unrecognized. There are international rules, in places like Syria, which protect citizens and prisoners of the war who aren’t participating in it. According to a CNN article, some of these war crimes include torture or inhuman treatment, purposely causing suffering, causing serious injury to body or health, and destruction of property. What’s completely mind-boggling is that these war crimes are an exact definition of what the war is. There haven’t been any prosecutions made against anyone in Syria, however there have been many allegations made. Nevertheless, no further investigation has been done to get justice for the victims. Jus Post Bellum does not come even close to answering for the monstrosity of war.
Through the whole entire process of war, so much damage is done that it can take a very long time to fix, and even then, they may never go back to how they once were. This makes the Just War Theory an illogical mindset which would never work in the world we live in today. None of the details listed in the theory could ever justify war. However, there is a clear solution. The concept of nonviolence should be implemented and always used, no matter the conflict. This type of resistance is used to achieve goals of social change by participating in protests, civil disobedience, and many other methods. Citizens can partake in this, which is what makes it so powerful and effective. People like Ghandi, Henry David Thoreau, and MLK all have partook in nonviolent resistance. If nonviolence was looked into by our world, it would completely change the mindset of war. War is a vicious cycle that will continue as long as people feed the fire. The more that people depend on violence as their number one priority, the more damaged this world will become.
Lacewing, Michael. "Just War Theory." Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, n.d. Web.
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Advanced Essay #2: Language
Learning English when I first came to America was something I had to get used to fast and quickly. I can remember this memory vividly as if I am reliving it. It was the first day of Kindergarten, and the teacher, Ms. Dougherty, was giving a tour of the classroom. Ms. Dougherty was a middle aged woman with blonde curly hair, which she always had pinned up. She was showing everyone where everything was so they could use materials when needed. There was a sink at the side of the room, and she walked over to it, her heels made a sound every time they came into contact with the white tiled floors. She picked up a bottle of soap off the edge of it, and held it in the air, and started speaking in a language that I had no understanding of - English. Neither did I know at the time what that bottle with the orange label, and the green pump was. Obviously, she was describing to us to wash our hands after we used the bathroom, but the first thing that popped into my five-year-old head was that she was telling us that it was something edible and that we could eat it whenever we liked. I don’t know why I thought that, but for some reason, it made sense to me. I never got to test out that theory, but I am thankful I didn’t.
Other times that year, I would speak Banglish, which was Bangla and English mixed together. Because Bangla was the first language I learned, sometimes I would accidentally mix it in when I was speaking with people at school, and this continues to happen to me today but when I am speaking with my parents. When I speak this way, my parents are still able to understand me, but with people other than them, they do not know what I am talking about. Another day back in Kindergarten, I was in the lunch line, and I wanted to get a carton of milk with my food. I remembered that my mom kept bothering me about it, telling me that it would keep me healthy and strong so I should drink it every day, so I thought why not? Instead of saying “Can I have some milk?’’ I said, ‘’Can I have some doodh?” The lunch lady looked confused, and I didn’t know why, until I pointed at the milk behind the counter and she said, “Oh, milk!’’ I hadn’t realized that I mixed in my Bengali with my English; it was something out of habit.
One thing I can say that has never happened to me is facing discrimination for speaking Bangla. However, other people have gone through things like this. In How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua, she spoke about a time when she tried to correct her teacher because she pronounced her name wrong. The teacher shot back, “If you want to be American, speak American. If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong.’’ (Anzaldua, 53) The teacher was not telling Gloria in a respectful manner, but instead was being ignorant towards her identity and where she was from. She is also putting this idea into Gloria’s head that in order to be American, you need to speak English, which isn’t true, especially since America is so diverse and people speak so many different languages. In Pedagogy of Education by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian writer, talked about when teachers provide the student certain information to ‘’learn’’ as if they were a computer instead of teaching them the material in a natural way. In his writing piece he wrote, “Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the "banking' concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits. They do, it is true, have the opportunity to become collectors or cataloguers of the things they store…’’ Connecting this to what happened to Gloria, the teacher planted in her head that because she was speaking Spanish, she was inferior to her and to those who were speaking English. This, however, truly shows how ignorant and narrow-minded the teacher was, and how sometimes, the people who believe that they are the best and have good knowledge about different things, really don’t in reality. In order for students to catch on to the material you are teaching, teachers should guide students, not form an idea of something and command the student to understand or believe in that idea. No one should be shaming anyone else for speaking a language that isn’t English, or for being from another country, and if the teacher needed her to speak it in that environment, she could have handled the situation differently instead of disrespecting her.
The reason for the banking concept is so there will be no risk of a student having their own ideas and mindset about the world and the things that they are learning in school. The opposite of this concept is teaching the natural way. In Freire’s writing he stated that, “The solution is not to 'integrate" them into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so that they can become "beings for themselves." Becoming their own being means having individuality, however, the teachers prevent this from happening by teaching everyone in the class a certain thing, in a certain way, and nothing more than that. An example of free speech that has happened recently and got a lot of controversies was The Black Lives Matter movement, which spread awareness about the injustice towards black people. Police were killing innocent black people on the street and using excuses for their actions, which sometimes had no consequences. Some truly believed what these police were doing was right, and the black people were at fault. Others believed that this movement was “selfish” because it only had to do with black people.
In another text from the New York Times called Who Is Entitled to Be Heard by Suzanne Nossel it speaks about how people have been threatened, harassed, and put down for speaking their minds. A lot of this speech discrimination happened on college campuses, like Yale, where “campus events disrupted and activists threatened for speaking their minds.’’ (Nossel) Similarly, as seen in Gloria’s situation, this free speech her teacher had was used to discriminate against her, and to shut down her own speech completely. Free speech should make the community a stronger place by fortifying the ethic, especially in a classroom. However, since the teacher had the upper hand, and she was in charge of the classroom, she did what she believed was correct and passed on that idea to Gloria and the rest of the students.
While watching TV may have a lot of negative connotation, it played a big role in aiding me in learning English. I remember when I woke up every morning, I would turn on the TV and watch all of the shows that PBS Kids was airing. I loved watching Sesame Street, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious George, Mister Roger’s Neighborhood, and Barney along with so many others. They were always very entertaining to watch, and because some of these shows were really interactive, I was able to practice and test my skills while watching them. Not only did they teach subjects like English, they also went over basic math and other subjects. However, I still had a lot to learn, and I did face problems because I wasn’t quite so fluent in English yet.
In first grade, when I had transferred to a new school, I was still having problems speaking English and I wasn’t completely fluent in it yet. An incident occurred in the technology lab which has stuck with me since, and what happened still bothers me to this day. I was having trouble working on the computer, and my technology teacher had come over to see what was going on. I tried to explain to her, but I was having trouble using the right words and sentences to describe what was going on. At one point, she got very angry and seemed to be getting impatient, which made her raise her voice at me, saying, “What are you even trying to say?’’ and “Explain to me better!’’ What shocks me to this day is how disrespectful people can be of others because they cannot speak English or are having trouble speaking it, and really, this is not the way a teacher or anyone should act for that matter. Not only did it make me feel pressured, but I grew insecure and scared because of the fact that I was having trouble speaking English. In this situation, my teacher got to a point where she became very frustrated and because I was having trouble speaking a language that I “should have” known. She should have been supportive and helping me along the way to not only understand what I was saying, but also to help me solve the issue I was having on the computer, but instead she was the one who was getting impatient and unwilling to help and acted this way towards me. It affected me a lot and made me realize that not everyone would have open minds and be as understanding as some are. This is due to the fact that they may have grown up in an environment that wasn’t very diverse, so they weren’t familiar with how to act when they came across someone that was foreign.
Later on in the year, I had improved immensely and the ESOL teacher wanted to see how well I was doing. She took me, along with a few other students, to a room and we sat down at a long table. She put a paper in front of all of us, and then put cardboard up between each test so there would be no cheating. That was the only time I had ever gone to ESOL, and it was good news to me - it meant I was truly becoming fluent in English and compared to the previous year, I was much better at it.
In today’s society, there is a lot of judgment towards others who speak a different language. People who are privileged and obtain dominant cultural capital can use Literacy to their advantage. However, they are not always right, and sometimes these people who are privileged can be negative and have the wrong mindset. In such a diverse society, people should not put others in a place where they are struggling but instead should provide assistance and guidance. This way, literacy can be used in a positive light and can improve all communities.
WORKS CITED:
Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands = La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1999. Print.
Nossel, Suzanne. "Who Is Entitled to Be Heard?" The Opinion Pages. The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2015. Web.
Freire, Paulo. "Chapter 2." Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, 1993. N. pag. Webster University. Web.
Advanced Essay #1: Self Confidence
Introduction: My goals for this paper is to help the reader understand what confidence is, why it’s important and how I feel about self-confidence. I also talked about a certain time in my life where I felt confidence in something I was doing. I am proud of the description I wrote in my flashback. The areas for improvement may be my actual thoughts I had written at the end.
It was 2010 and I was in Ms. Shieh’s fifth grade class. On this particular day our class was painting, and I sat completely focused on the crisp white canvas that I had placed on my desk. All around me, tables were pushed together so the other kids in the class could also paint. Plastic cups full of fresh water were put on each table, along with bottles of acrylic paints of many shades and hues. I pulled a paintbrush from the holder and swished the frayed hairs into a cup of water. I squeezed a bottle of a baby blue acrylic paint onto a paper plate that I had taken from the stack earlier. I dipped the brush into the paint and lifted it onto the canvas and made a long stroke along the top edge of the canvas. I had a good idea on what I was going to paint, and had pictured it perfectly in my head. Now, it was time to create that image, and I had hoped not to make too many mistakes so it would come out perfectly. It was only years later that I stumbled upon this painting again after being stored away for so long.
“Ugh, I hate going down here. It’s so dark and it scares the crap out of me.” I thought to myself, frowning as I made my way down the steep stairs leading to the basement. My dad had asked me to go down there to look for some tools, so he could fix the back door. He had said that it was in a brown bag that had a draw string. On the side of the stairwell, there were shelves and drawers with stacks of old books and notebooks we had used when we were younger, and bags of miscellaneous items. My dad had explained to me where the bag of tools may be. I walked over to the shelves and searched through all of the stuff to find nothing. All of the bags were white, or gray, or black, but not brown. I pulled open a sandy wooden drawer and moved things aside looking for it, and to my luck I see the one he mentioned and pull it out with both hands in a struggle. I situate the heavy bag on the ground, so I can close the drawer, but come to a halt when I see that familiar canvas I had painted when I was younger. I was really proud of that painting because it took days and days to create; it even had a golden frame around it! I traced my fingers over the painting, and noticed an edge of another golden frame peeking out from underneath some books. Once I moved the books aside I saw that it was a picture of me, when I was a fifth grader. I remembered that day clearly, we had gone outside the school to take pictures, and underneath those pictures we had little notes we wrote about what we liked and what we want to be when we grow up. I put the painting, and my picture under my arm and grabbed the brown bag, gripping it tightly, and headed back up the stairs. There was a feeling of nostalgia when I saw those two memorabilias. I had probably put them down there when I was cleaning my room, and had forget about it for many years. However, seeing it made me feel a sense of joy, and it was interesting to see my younger self along with what I had worked so hard on and been so confident about. And for me, confidence was a very complicated thing for me to grasp.
Ever since I was little, I have always been pretty quiet and have kept to myself because I’m an introvert. One of the reasons why was because I was never too confident to begin with. In the Dictionary, self-confidence is defined as “a feeling of trust in one’s abilities, qualities, and judgment”. Many, many people in this world lack this trait, and I am still one of those people who are on and off about themselves. Whether it has to do with schoolwork, or how I look, or if I am doing something well enough, there are always things that I’m not so sure about and it’s really a process to get to a level which you are completely okay and one hundred percent in everything you do. It’s really easier said than done however because in order to gain self-esteem, you need to believe in yourself, and that’ll be how you conquer your fears, or get over an obstacle in your life. All of your years in school, you may gain so much factual knowledge, however, one thing is that self-confidence is something that isn’t taught. Social media apps and websites are always promoting self-love and self-confidence.
On apps like Instagram, people post images, and many post pictures of themselves. You can like these images, which for some people, even boosts their confidence and may make them feel good about themselves. I was always kind of shocked at the fact that some people were just so naturally loud and energetic and open to everyone, but for me, it took a really long time to even become close friends with someone. In my eyes, this showed confidence because they were able to make so many friends and with such ease. I was always over thinking about things, and what other would perceive me as, but I have come to realize that I shouldn’t overthink because it just makes me worry unnecessarily. Sometimes, when I would make a mistake, it would completely change my whole mood - just about who I am and why I made the mistake. I would feel like I couldn’t fix the situation I was in or even move on from it.
Day my day, I am still growing as a person and learning about who I am. Even though I am still not completely confident, this trait is slowly increasing and if I am down about myself, I know how to bring myself up. Self confidence is something that can help you accomplish many things in life by making you an even more successful person, and I have come to understand that over time.
Leadership
Many books imitate the real world into its text and make important connections to different times in history or present day. In the book “The Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding, these connections are very prominent, specifically when it comes to analyzing leadership. Throughout history, there have been good leaders, but there have also been bad leaders. Because of these leaders and dictators, people have learned to differentiate which qualities a good leader has compared to a bad leader. By looking through the text, and comparing it to Donald Trump’s campaign, we can determine that certain qualities are necessary for a leader to have, such as honesty, communication, and their approach.
In the novel, Jack, one of the boys stranded on the island, is a dictator of his own tribe. He is a very masculine and strong, using fear and punishment to keep his tribe going and keep order. Because of this power, many people in his tribe easily agree with anything he says. In a scene, a group of boys and him were standing on the beach and Jack was looking everyone over them. In the text it reads, “‘We’ll hunt. I’m going to be the chief.’ They nodded, and the crisis passed easily. ” (pg. 136) This quote shows that Jack has entitlement and it is showing that if Jack had not took control of the group, there would have been problems choosing a leader. Jack also goes onto say to forget the beast and not to worry about him. The other boys agree with him. He is not denying the existence of the beast, but is protecting them from the fear they may have of it. In an article in the New York times, it speaks about how Donald Trump believes that Muslims are ignoring the fact that suspected terrorists were plotting attacks because he thinks that Muslims are all “protecting” the terrorists. He thinks Muslims should open up more and report things like this to the police. The article also talks about how he wants more surveillance in mosques and he does not want foreign Muslims to enter the US. Donald Trump is making us all seem like one person, and once again, acting as if innocent Muslims are in fault as much as the terrorists are. He has had this view point on Muslims for a while now, and because of how close minded he is, these opinions may never change. He seems to only listen to himself.
Even though Jack has good qualities that a leader needs, he also has bad qualities. Throughout the book, at times he was very inconsiderate and dismissive. In the text Piggy, Ralph, and Jack were all talking about the beast and fighting over the conch. The conch was shell was for everyone to have an opportunity to speak without having everyone else speak over them. Jack says, “It's time some people knew they've got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us” (pg. 139) Jack was saying this to Piggy and putting him down, especially because he is weak and doesn’t have as much power as him. Like I’ve said before, Jack did not deny that there is a beast, like Ralph did, but he tells the littluns that he will kill the beast. He is basically trying to make himself look better than Ralph. However, Ralph ended up putting Jack in his place because he demanded him to sit down since he wasn’t holding the conch, and Jack seemed very vulnerable. In an article on IB Times there is a video, a Trump supporter, yelling ¨Kill Muslims.¨ This example connects to the example from Lord of the Flies one above and shows the bad influence Trump has on his followers. Especially since he has such a big audience, these opinions will spread and continue (even to the children). This relates to the thesis because here have been good and bad decisions made in the novel because of someone else, which may change some of the kids ideas/beliefs. A good leader can promote good ideas and opinions, however this isn't what Trump is doing. Things like this cause more trouble and chaos, as seen in the book multiple times.
Vlad the third was listed as one of the deadliest dictators in history and was even associated with Dracula and vampires. There were many people that were killed during his time, and he treated prisoners and rebels very cruelly and liked violence. To make things even worse, he also bathed in the blood of his victims. This is an example showing what power can do to you, and the harm it can have. Throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies, Jack is progressively getting more and more consumed by the power he has. In one scene, when Jack and Ralph are discussing being rescued, Jack says, “Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I’d like to catch a pig first-” (pg. 54) What is happening here is that Jack does not think being rescued is his top priority - he would rather take advantage of the situation he is in and catch a pig. This is showing that Jack’s greed and selfishness and growing and he is not thinking about the others and their safety, but what will only satisfy him. Jack was continuously trying to satisfy this new craving he had to fulfill himself and he had a sense of accomplishment and glory. The more he tried to satisfy himself, the more the greed and selfishness grew.
In conclusion, there are many qualities necessary in order for a leader to be a good one. Power can do many bad things to someone, but it can also be good if used properly. There have been many moments in Lord of the Flies where leadership skills were not very strong, and they were pretty similar to real world events in history. A leader should be someone that listens to others, isn’t selfish, has a good approach to things, and knows how to use their power wisely.
Works Cited:
Rappeport, Alan. "Donald Trump Accuses Muslims of Ignoring Terror Plots in Their Midst." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Mar. 2016. Web. 08 Apr. 2016.
"Video Shows Donald Trump Supporter Yelling Anti-Islam, 'Kill Muslims' Death Threats In Michigan." International Business Times. 2016. Web. 08 Apr. 2016.
"25 of History's Deadliest Dictators." List25. 2013. Web. 08 Apr. 2016.
ILP
Nuestra Revista: Kalim, Jones, Friend, Hasan
Entrevista De Trabajo La Profesora - Adela, Alicia, Sara
Los Fotos
Memories
Memories
(Rosa opens up a yearbook)
Oh, I remember this night like it was just yesterday. My older sister had done my makeup and we had gone shopping a month before . I had to be prepared, you know - find the perfect dress beforehand. Many people waited a day before prom to go shopping, but that sounded like a bad idea to me. What if I couldn’t find a nice dress? There’s a picture of me in here somewhere with my group of friends…
(Flips the page)
Ah. Here it is. I felt like a real life princess in this dress. Of course it was in my favorite shade of blue. Speaking of that dress, Christina, didn’t you wear it before to the dance? Look at my hair, I had gotten it curled and styled into a fancy bun at a nearby salon. I saw that exact hairstyle in a magazine… Hmm, I can’t remember the name, but the lady showcasing it looked gorgeous. All of my friends thought it would suit me.
(Points)
This is Josephine, she was my best friend since middle school. Oh, here’s Leanne, she was the first friend I made in High School! The guy next to her is her younger brother Joe, and his girlfriend, Stacy. Oh wow, this is Kendall, she was crowned prom queen, and her boyfriend, Mark.
...Aiden. The one next to Mark is Aiden. I could never forget this boy’s face. I fell in love with Aiden freshman year of High School. People would say, ‘you’re too young to feel love’, but love has no barriers - you just feel it, and you know what it is and that it’s there. Even when you never see them, there’s always going to be a place for them in your heart. Have you ever been in love, Christina? Being in love isn’t the same feeling as liking someone, it’s way more than that. It was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. Heartbreak, happiness, tears, and laughs.
Aiden and I dated from freshmen year to junior year. We broke up in the beginning of junior year. It was for stupid reasons, honestly. Petty things like rumors, and other girls. I could never understand why people pushed their way into other people’s relationships, you know? We stopped being friends for a while, after we broke up, but since we had so many mutual friends, it was hard not to see each other everywhere. Maybe if I hadn’t seen him all the time, it would have been easier to let go.
Yes, I have moved on, but I do still care for him.
Aiden had cancer, Christina. He had kept it a secret for a long time, until his doctor told him how many months he had left to live. Two months. It was two months. There was nothing I could do. Aiden didn’t seem too upset, which was surprising. Maybe he was trying to make the best out of his two months. I wish I could have done something about it, but it wasn’t in my hands. It wasn’t in anybodys hands. He had to go.
God always takes the good ones.My Language Is My Identity
“Whenever you and your sister talk, I love listening to your voices. It’s so different compared to Bengali,” My aunt said, looking over at me and my sister. English wasn’t her first language, so everything she said was in Bengali.
“Really?” I answered back in Bengali, “I never really thought about how different English could sound to someone who doesn’t know it.”
“Yeah, it’s very interesting.”
“For some reason, it wasn’t that weird when I first arrived here, and everyone was speaking just Bengali.”
“You spoke both Bengali and English back in America, right? You must be used to both languages.” She responded truthfully.
Me and my family were visiting Bangladesh for the summer, and we were excited to see all of our family members since most of them didn’t live in America.
It was Ramadan, and that night, we were going to go over to a close family friend’s house to end our fast. We were all ready to go and were waiting in the living room, for my uncle to get his keys.
“I got them, let’s go.” He said, entering the living room swinging his keys in between his fingers. Once the car arrived at the house, we got out of the car, and stepped into the pouring rain. When there’s a group of pre-teens and little kids in the rain, there will always be screaming, and laughter. That group was us.
One of our aunts greeted us at the door, “Come on guys, hurry, hurry!” She said gesturing us to get inside before we got soaked. In our culture, even if an older woman isn’t related to you by blood, you still call her “aunty”. It’s just how our culture is in Bangladesh, and that’s how it is for Bengalis in America as well.
I walked inside and my stomach instantly grumbled at the aroma of the food.
“Assalamualaikum aunty!” Assalamualaikum means ‘may peace be upon you’ in Arabic, and it’s how Muslims greet each other not only in Bangladesh, but also in America. I hugged her and took off my shoes, leaving them on the shoe rack next to the door.
We all sat around a table, and when it was time to break our fast, we ate.
“Can you guys believe Ramadan is almost over?” One of my uncles asked, looking around the table.
“It has become a routine. The month of Ramadan always goes by quickly.” My older cousin said, and I nodded.
Even though I was born in Bangladesh, and I had lived there for 5 years, I didn’t know how to explain things in Bengali very well. I was not able to reply to my uncle’s question because I didn’t know how to put into words what I was thinking in my head. However, when my cousin replied, it made sense and I understood what she was trying to say.
Other times, when I did try to explain things in Bengali, I would speak Banglish, which is Bengali and English combined. For an example, if I had tried to respond to my uncle, I would have said something like, “Yeah, Ramadan onek fast gece.” (Yeah, Ramadan went by fast) Because I don’t know all of the words in Bengali, I have to also use English words.
Whenever I pronounced a word wrong in Bengali, my family would correct me and teach me the proper way of saying it. I remember once, when I was texting my cousin, he asked me how I was, and I said, “Balo acci” (I’m good). He corrected me and told me it’s “Valo acci”, which is the same meaning, except I didn’t spell it right because in my head, I pronounced it differently.
Most of the time, the English words I used in Bangladesh were simple, so my family there was able to understand it. If my mom was next to me, who is 100% fluent in Bengali, and I didn’t understand what to answer, or what the person was saying to me, I’d look to her for help and she would explain it to me in simpler terms.
When we went shopping in Bangladesh, you would have to negotiate with the store owners about the prices because there wasn’t always a fixed price for an item. We used to go to the mall in a big group consisting of my mom, my aunt (from my mom’s side), my cousins, and my siblings and I. I can only understand Bengali numbers 1-10, but after that it gets confusing, so when my mom used to call out numbers, I would ask her the what that number was in English. Even now, I still do this because I can’t get the hang of numbers.
Because I stayed in Bangladesh for three months, I ended up learning a lot more Bangla. From my cousins, I learned slang words, and I noticed that I started to use them more.
There is a variation called Chitenga that people from Chittagong (my family) speak. There is also another variation of Bangla called Sadhu Bhasa (which is the general variation that almost everyone speaks). I can speak Sadhu Bhasa, and understand it, however I can understand Chitenga, but can’t speak it.
Now looking back, I’m surprised that I still didn’t learn how to speak Chitenga even though my mom, dad, uncles, aunts, and grandparents all spoke it, along with some of my older cousins. I remember once when I went to the village side of Chittagong, which is where my Grandma lived, everyone spoke Chitenga to me, and I responded in Sadhu Basha. A similar situation happened in America as well, when one of my neighbors was of Bangladeshi descent.
Whenever I speak Bengali to people that aren’t my family, I always feel insecure about it because I there’s a possibility I might mess up at any point. However, I think that taking that trip to Bangladesh in summer ‘11 really allowed me to better my Bengali, and learn more about my language.
Federico Fellini once said, “A different language is a different vision of life.” He is stating that each language gives you another perspective on life. I agree with this because behind every language there are cultures, traditions, and a way of life. The Bangla language really made me who I am today because I learned so much about the type of people we are, and how dedicated we are to our language.
ILP
ILP: Lego League
Magnífica casa Diseñado por Tajnia y Syeda
Description: Esta casa moderna, situado en la Filadelfia, está perfectamente proporcionado para una familia. Fue diseñado por Syeda Kalim y Tajnia Hussain, mundo reconocidos arquitectos y diseñadores de interiores. Situado cerca del Schuylkill, los residentes serán capaces de despertar a los rumores de una nueva y fresca mañana. Cuando entras en la casa, subes un piso de madera, con juego de sofás son de color marrón, una TV, una mesa de café y grandes ventanales hacia el patio. El patio es el lugar perfecto para servir a los huéspedes y para descansar. Hablando de los huéspedes, hay un amplio dormitorio para descomprimir y tomar una siesta en la cama. Muy hogareño, se sentirán como si nunca salieron de su propia casa. En el primer piso también hay un aseo, además de otras salas como el garaje y un armario.
Pasar a la segunda planta, hay tres dormitorios - perfecto para una pareja y sus hijos. Uno de los dormitorios viene con una cuna junto a una cama, así que si es necesario, alguien podría acompañar al bebé. En el dormitorio principal, hay un baño completo, que es una ducha, lavabo e inodoro. Eso no es todo, hay una caminata en armario para llenar toda la ropa de moda. La habitación familiar, que es más grande que todas las habitaciones del segundo piso, viene con una TV, un sofá largo y tablas. Esta habitación es perfecta para jugar juegos de mesa, o simplemente para tener un maratón de películas.
Reconstruction Era Visuals Project
Spanish Skit
Syeda: Así que, ¿dónde debemos ir hoy? (so, where should we go today?)
Nana: Tengo muchas ganas de ir de compras. (i really want to go shopping)
Athalia: yo también (me too)
Liv: Pero yo quiero ir a la fuente (but i want to go to the fountain)
Tajnia: Sí, yo tambien! (yeah, same here)
Syeda: el centro comercial cuenta con ropa bonita (the mall has nice clothes)
Tajnia: ...... pero tiene largas colas (...but it has long lines)
Liv: hay una tienda de helados junto a la fuente (there is an ice cream store next to the fountain)
Nana: ... pero la fuente que te hace mojado (...but the fountain makes you wet)
Athalia: debemos ir de compras y luego la fuente (we should go shopping and then the fountain)
EVERYONE: SÍ!
(inside the mall)
Nana: (looks at phone) Oh... Tengo que ir al baño (Oh... I gotta go to the bathroom)
Athalia: Yo iré contigo (I'll go with you)
Nana: NO!.... sólo compras (no... just keep shopping)
Athalia: Bien(Okay)
Tajnia: quince minutos más tarde (fifteen minutes later)
Nana: (looks behind her) Debo ir a casa (I gotta go home)
Syeda: Por que? (why?)
Nana: Tengo que llevar a mi perro al veterinario (I have to take my dog to the vet)
Liv: No tienes un perro (You don't have a dog)
Syeda Tajnia Athalia Liv: (looks back) Es el novio, Mason?!
Q3 Art Reflection
- I think I did good on the ceiling, back wall, side wall, and floor. I messed up on the table and chairs because it wasn't one point perspective. I think I did pretty well on the extra details.
- b. I would change my tables and I would make it so that only one side of the paper had work on it so you couldn't see the other stuff on the back.
- c. Gavin's is successful because it is very proportionate and well drawn. The detail was really great, especially the window view. He used the one point perspective really well.
- d. It helps a lot because then you know how to proportion things and it just looks better overall when you use it.
Spanish Mini Ensayo - Tajnia, Deja, Syeda
Nuestro SAT, Dillon Hershey pero vivo en Lancaster County. Ella vivo en Germany y Switzerland soy de Filadelfia. Su familia le gusta juegos de mesa y comer. Ella le gusta jugar deportes y jugar con su perro Otis. Ella no le gusta limpiar la casa y lavar los platos. Los fines de semana se ve películas y mostrar. Cuando ella sale con amigos ella le gusta ir a lugares. Ella tiene un hermana y los padres. Ella practica softbol y ayuda en clase español uno.
Su papá escribe para de béisbol de fantasía. Su madre es un pastor de iglesia. Su abuelo posee maderas empresa. Su abuela enseña de arte. El nombre de su hermana menor es Eden. Ella le gusta ver la Disney películas, libros y canciones. Ella trabaja en su iglesia y su hermana es fluido en español. Hermana de Dillon baja, boba y amigable. Ella asiste Independent Charter la escuela. Ella familia montar en bici en Schuylkill. Ella tiene to perros y gatos. Ella famila le gusta escuchar la radio.
Su mamá de Dillon es baja y chevere. Ella es rubia. Su mamá lee cuando tiene tiempo libre y cocina para la familia. Ella mamá se llama Lorie. Ella papá nombre es Brent. Él es bajo y tranquilo. También, ella padre es calvo. Él ve deportes en el fin de semana. Dillon tiene catorce primos. Sus primos de su lado las mamás les gusta practicar deportes y ir al partido de Phillies. Sus primos de su lado las papás les gusta jugar juegos de mesa. Dillons tías están en calma, y le gustan los juegos y gatos. Sus tías niños es muy activo y cómico. Familia de Dillon a veces molesto pero siempre interesante y amoroso.
key:
bold + underline = conjugation
just bold = vocab from unit 5Water Filter
ESSAYS - español uno
Slide pt. 2
¡Los seres queridos en mi vida! (The Loved Ones In My Life!)
INTRO: ¡Los seres queridos en mi vida! ¡Hola!
YO: !Hola! Me llamo Syeda. Soy de Bangladesh, Asia pero vivo en Filadelfia, Pensilvania. Asisto a Science Leadership Academy. Me gusta Youtube y pasar un rato con amigas los fines de semana. No me gusta nada estudiar, y ir a la escuela. Tengo los ojos cafés y soy artística.
ÉL: Se llama Harry Styles. Harry es muy famoso. Él tiene los ojos verdes y el pelo rizado cafés. Él es en One Direction y le gusta bailar y cantar. Tiene veinte años y cumpleaños el primero de febrero.
ÉLLA: Se llama Myrna Yousuf. Ella me da risa y súper simpática. Le gusta dormir y divertirse con hermana. No le gusta nada practicar deportes y ir al gimnasio. Además, le gusta Hindi cine y Hindi canciones. Élla va a CHOP ILP todos los miércoles.
ELLOS: Ellos nombres son Tashan y Saudul. Es mi hermana y hermano. Ellos es muy cómico y divertido. A veces son molestos, pero me encantan. Les gusta jugar videojuegos y escuchar música. También, no le gusta nada trabajar y ayudar en casa.
NOSOTRAS: Nosotras nombres son Syeda, Amea, Natalie, y Monet. Somos es muy inteligentes. Somos les gusta ir de compras, y pasar un rato con amigas. Nuestra viejo escuela es Penn Alexander. Soy bengali, Amea y Monet son africano americana, Natalie es una mezla de razas.
CONCLUSION: ¡GRACIAS POR TU ATENCIÓN! ¡ADIOS!
(click on the video to view it)
Net Neutrality & Teens
Syeda Kalim - Slide
Soy Adam Saleh
Syeda, Sydnye, Harrison - Spanish Benchmark Videos
Tu vs Usted (1) from Syeda Kalim on Vimeo.
Courtesy phrases from Syeda Kalim on Vimeo.