Do you change the way you speak, depending on who you’re talking to? Do you Code Switch?

             No, but I’ve had plenty of confrontation over the subject of code switching in my life anyways. I’ve noticed my dad does, for example when he’s at work, or when he’s with his friends. But even then, he talks differently with people he has recently become friends with, then when he’s with people he grew up with. It’s like a different side of him when he’s with people he’s always known them. It’s always natural, but it seems more fluid or…just normal, when he talks with them. Like with people he grew up with it’ll be more of a “yo, whats good” while with friends he recently acquired, it’s more of a “Hey man, what’s up?”

            Me , myself, I don’t do it as often or as severely as he does.  I’ve had people ask me why I talk “white”, or why I talk that way. When peopleusually ask me this, it’s generally not in a kind or happy tone, and it usually leads up to, the ever so wonderful. “So you think your better than me or what?” My favorite question…ever. I’ve lost friends over the subject of my speech. It’s like people think I’m just being rude, like I’m talking this way because I put myself above them or something.

           I live in Germantown, on the rougher side and I didn’t really have any friends that lived near me until I came to Sla. I’ve just never….felt like I fit in with the kids around there. I did used to have one friend around there, and I really liked her...but her friends didn’t like me. They’d question why I was with her, and why she even liked me…

 “What you mean why? I hang out wit who ever I want..”

“ Well you can’t jus leave us for…her.”

“Im not leavin yall, I’m just talkin to her calm down..”

“Why?? She think she better than all of us anyway”

           At this point I wanted to speak up….but I’ve never been very confident, or one to speak up when I’m nervous or shy….but I wanted to tell them I wasn’t being ignorant. That I wasn’t trying to disrespect them by talking the way I do…That it was just the way I talk, and that isn’t something I could change, even if I wanted to. She didn’t stop hanging out with me though, not until she moved one day. She was having a sleep over at her new house, and I really wanted to go, I begged my mom and dad. They’d met her, she’d gone places with us, but they said no…because they had never actually met her parents…After that we stopped talking…and I lost the one friend I had, who had lived near me.

          I went to summer camp at a church, behind my house, one year. The kids there were loud...and all seemed to know each other, and when I don’t 

know  anyone I stay to myself. We had an introduction circle, and the only person who spoke in the same “accent” as me was the camp counselor, and she was white. I felt awkward and out of place, not just because I was shy, also because these weren’t the people I generally found myself with. Some people didn’t talk to me because of the way I talked. So I never really had that many friends there, even the ones I did have, wouldn’t talk to me now if they saw me on the street. Some forgot my name, others just don’t care that much.

          I went to a private school most of my life, and as you progressed into higher grades, you could find less and less diversity in the student population. In about 7^th grade I was officially the only person who wasn’t white. There was a Mexican boy named Raul, who lived in Germantown too, and he always told me how I didn’t belong there…because I’m not black. He wasn’t the first to say that, and he surely wasn’t the last. When he said it, Ireally felt offended that he would take me away from my race like that. Simply because of the way I speak. I guess I got used to being told I’m not black though. I have friends who tell me it now, and I most likely will in the future, that’s not really something I can help though. They don’t mean it in a mean way. They just say it, like they’ll call me an “Oreo”, “White girl”, “ you’re a white girl, you just have black skin.”. These aren’t usually said to be mean, it’s just the way they see me I guess.

Love or Logic.

In,

out,

in,

out.

The blood flows in, then out, then in, and out again. It never stops. I’m always here. I support you. I keep you healthy. I keep you...alive!

(Silence)

So why…when I simply try to help the girl along, do you say no? Why must you constantly say no to my ideas/shoot me down?! She loves him! So when I say go ahead, do what I say, I know what’s right…. must you tell her to “stay strong”!?

Your idea of moving on, is turning the other cheek, simple as that.

It’s not that simple though! You don’t know love! The pain to  “Keep her head up”,  and have every other friend tell her ..:” Well next time it will be better…”, to move on...get over it. It hurts!

 (Screaming with anger)

She doesn’t want to! Can’t you feel her crying those tears every night!

(Speaker get’s quieter, calmer)

I can…They’re for him. She loves him. Let her love him...please?

I’m begging you…I rarely do that. you usually are right, but this is different.

It’s love. I know love, I breathe it, feel it, live it.

(Takes a moment, as if they’re listening to someone, rolls eyes after.)

Okay, so yeah you’re the “mother board” ( actually do the quotes sign here), the big commodity around here, I get that. But maybe you don’t know everything! Maybe I’m right this time. Love is my thing, and it’s clear she’s in love with him. Yes, yes, I hear you, I know he hurt her, but maybe he’s changed. Maybe he’s a better person now. People change all the time. What if he’s the one? And your getting in the way of that, your telling her to walk away. You could be ruining it for her!

( stops to listen, as if someone else is talking, then madly replys)

No, Of course I don’t like seeing her get hurt, how could you even say that!

But pain is a part of everything, especially love!

As long as she makes the right decision ….the pain will be worth it.

I think he cares. Maybe I’m wrong, and maybe your right, but look at her, when she hears his name, her eyes light up, even I get excited…

So maybe this one time, I am right, maybe this time she can listen to me, people tell her to listen to her heart, they’re right. So you’re the brain, logic isn’t always right…love isn’t about logic…it’s about so much more than that.

Even if I am wrong, it won’t have happened for nothing, because if she doesn’t go after him now, she’ll always wonder. It’s better to know, and not regret what could’ve happened. If she doesn’t learn this lesson with him, she’ll learn it with another guy. That’s what life’s about…It’s the lessons you learn, and not the things you could have done. It’s everything you did.

Sidney Williamson

Ms. Pahomov

English 2- Band

9/18/11

“Hahaha” They laughed.

…..This was normal, the usual, nothing special.

It’s more or less become a routine. I sit down and take my seat.

I sit there, looking over all of them, six "happy" faces.

They all sat there, each one defeated at one time or another; I'd seen it all happen. Arthur and Quentin, sitting there laughing at his ever rude and unforgivably offensive jokes...Worshiping him in a sense. As if he'd given them all life again. What I never understood was, how these boys, who deemed themselves so strong and tough, never stood up to him…

 I sat next to my supposed best friends.

 It was like...watching the Titanic sink. The cold ocean water engulfing the large ship and anything it could take with it, That’s how it was. Anything he could take, he would. We all knew it was fake. He knew it was fake, but then again did he?

I sat there in my seat, wondering what kind of joy this brought to him. I looked him up and down. I knew why they all acted as if they hated me, it was his fault. He never liked me, he noticed when I looked at him and his followers in disgust, and that was when he attacked, the jokes about my clothes, my hair, anything that he thought would hurt me emotionally he did.

 I sat there, no real friends, just me, myself and my pride.

It wasn’t like this had all happened out of the blue though, I knew why he hated me, we all did. Everyone had heard the story, different versions, but it to him, we all had to deal with his over inflated ego, and I guess I just got

tired of it. It wasn’t even me who he was attacking, when I did it, it was my friend. He was being mean to her, not because she had done something to him, because he could. I just guess I just got fed up. After that he never really “attacked” me per say again, he’d hit me several times before, even though he “didn’t hit girls”. I guess I just hadn’t counted at those times.

I had a really hard time in the last few years of Middle School, and it was primarily because I was myself, instead of being someone that someone else wanted me to be. 7^th grade was the first time I told a guy I liked him, and he was probably one of the best guy friends I ever had, but I was just really embarrassed when he said no. I hadn’t wanted to tell him in the first place…but my friends got my hopes up so high, that that was all there was

really nothing else left to do. After that I sort of fell into a…black hole per say. I just started ignoring everyone, and having a hard time being happy.

My “best friend” started flirting with the guy I liked, and I was eventually diagnosed with Clinical Depression.

I don’t think I have it as bad these days, but I get weeks where I will be suicidal or just hate everyone and my life, and I’m just overall unhappy the majority of the time…But if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing, because everyone goes through struggles in their life, but I think the tough things are what make us who we are. If life was easy, and everything was handed to you, it wouldn’t be any fun.

So In 8^th grade, it wasn’t too bad in the beginning, but being separated from my class for half of the last year, you do start to notice things, because your more an observer than anything else. Oh and did I notice things…my eighth

grade class was a dictatorship, no question about it. You were not to stand out, you were to be exactly as normal as possible and if you weren’t you

were not accepted. I was the weird one. I always have been, and I most likely always will be, I don’t mind though. I actually have learned to embrace

it in the last few years between 8^th grade and now. I think I’m absolutely as crazy and complicated as I need to be right now, because if I were meant to be “normal” I would be. 

So in the Presentation zen video, they talked about how to make a good slide. Some things it talked about were the rule of thirds and catching your audiences eye. Saying that you should use contrast colors, or simple but appealing fonts are good things to try.

Courtesy phrases! (Good manners)

 Just like in English we have manners and different ways to say them in espanol.  Gracias is used mostly and it simply means thanks. You may also say Muchas gracias witch means thanks a lot or Mil gracias witch means thanks a million. Those are all good ways to say thank you. Here are some ways to say you’re welcome. De nada, Por nada and no hay de que.  And that is how you can say thank you and your welcome. When it comes to saying Excuse me there are different ways of saying it based on the situation. The three ways of saying excuse me  are Con permiso, Disculpe, and Perdon. Con permiso should be used when someone is standing in your way. Disculpe should be used when you are trying to get someones attention. Lastly Perdon should be used if you accidentally bump into someone. Por favor is appropriate to use when saying please.

Real life application

An real life application for courtesy phrases is one iff someone does something for you or if you are in a crowded place or mabey even on the bus This is all used in everday life.

We will show how to use each of these phrases in our video explaning when what is appropriate.