For my Capstone, I decided to create a clothing line that represents cancer awareness. I picked this topic because I was already considering creating my own clothing line prior to this project. I chose to make the clothing line represent cancer awareness because cancer has affected a lot of people and it is also one of the most widely known diseases in the world. But there still isn’t a cure to for cancer. With this design for a clothing line this could bring more awareness to cancers that aren’t as known as others. Throughout the school year I sketched multiple pieces that I was considering including in the final project. I also researched about different cancers to find out the colors that corresponds with each and what parts of the body they affect.

Drawings Of Final Designs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15lsArVEm4AGvj9dY7txJh6F7DoIWb6xDDkE2DGWXDoY/edit

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/167Nf0dIqtxxuYmpW98zSYc7gzOYypf1jXZXOG8RjsgQ/edit

Introduction

The goal of my essay is to determine who belongs and what makes someone a native. Something that I am proud of is how I describe the photograph in the beginning of my essay. I would like the readers to notice the analysis I used to prove my points. I tried to connect all the sources we in class to my topic.

Who Belongs?

In a photograph from a refugee camp at the Islahiye Camp in the southeastern Turkish province of Gaziantep, the ground is covered in dust, dirt, and rocks. The sky is filled with clouds hanging over the bunched up mountains in the background. There were about 15 white tents lined up along the sides of the dirt. About 7 on one side and 8 on the other. In the middle of all this are about 30 people, more than half are kids. It seems most of the kids aren’t happy and are looking for something to do.

When people think about immigration the main focus is about immigrants not belonging. But the main reason why they think they don’t belong is because they moved from another place but the reality is that people choose what they want the criteria of an immigrant to be based on the situation. In the book We Need New Names the kids are going around trying to find something fun to do. It reminds me of that part because the environment they were in wasn’t the cleanest and didn’t have the best living conditions. The difference is that those kids in that book weren’t immigrants. Their environment was in that condition because of crime, war, and other world problems. In the picture the immigrants were put in an environment with similar conditions because that’s how immigrants are treated since they aren’t natives.

This raises the question of who belongs and what makes someone a native? A widespread belief is that decisions about “who belongs” are often based on appearance. I actually believe this to a certain extent though. I believe this is true because usually the people being targeted in the United States are people that don’t identify as white or black. Such as Latino/Mexican, Chinese/Asian, Middle Eastern, and many more. I’ve rarely seen people with the fairer skin color be questioned on rather they belong in the United States or not compared to other races. One reason I disagree with that is because one way they determine “who belongs” is if that person was born in that country. If they were then that person is automatically considered a citizen of that country. Another way they determine “who belongs” is by checking if a non-native born person has their citizen papers because if they don’t have them than they believe that person should be allowed to live in that country.

According to We Need New Names one of the main characters Darline, moved from Africa to the United States specifically Detroit, Michigan. When she got there she pronounced it as Destroyedmichygen. She met this girl named Kristal and they weren’t really friends. Kristal was teaching them how to put on makeup and she felt superior to them because of that. Darline did not feel the same way. She thought to herself “Kristal thinks that since she taught us to wear makeup and has a weave, she is better than Marina and myself, but the truth is she can’t even write a sentence correctly in English to show that she is indeed American.” I chose this quote because this shows one of the “qualifications” of a native. Since Kristal could barely write in English (the native language of the U.S) Darline is a little skeptical about Kristal actually being American.

According to another book Exit West one of the main characters Nadia was describing her neighborhood. There were many people moving in and out throughout her time there. As she was describing that she said “We are all migrants through time.” What I got from that quote was that everybody is a migrant to another place. For instance when you are from a certain place you are considered a native but when you travel to somewhere different you are now considered a migrant or an immigrant and the same goes vice versa. Another example of this was in an article called A Return to Nigeria. The boy was describing his childhood when he said “Coming of age in foreign classrooms, my sister and I slowly shed our native skins.” He is saying that he is losing his native culture because where he is at now it is considered foreign which forces him to adjust to fit in with natives. Another thing is when someone doesn’t belong they are forced to adapt to the culture around them and sacrifice very important things from their home. When Darline moved from her hometown of Africa to the United States, she had to leave her friends (which were like family to her), her mom, and all the fun things she did there. When she got to the United States it was very unfamiliar to her. She thought the way they danced, ate, and talked was weird. Immediately after she got there she started looking for things that she would see back home. She couldn’t find anything. Her cousin that she didn’t even really know she was related to told her “This is America, yo, you won’t see none of that African shit up in this motherfucker.” This shows that Darline has to adapt to the culture of the United States because what she is used to is nowhere to be found. Since the culture there is not the same as Africa’s culture she has no choice but to learn to adapt to it. In Exit West Saeed and Nadia had to leave Saeed’s father behind along with their jobs and their homes. That was hard because they had to adapt to an unfamiliar place with other each other. In the beginning of the journey they weren’t even that close but as the journey went on their bond got stronger.

In conclusion there are a lot of different factors that go into determining who belongs and what makes someone a native. For example someone isn’t considered a native simply because they weren’t born in that place. Many people believe that theory. So in that case everybody is considered an immigrant when they go somewhere else.

Sources 16 Children – 16 Photos: Click the Black Background and Switch on Their Reality Peter J - https://politiken.dk/fotografier/art5849931/Click-the-black-background-and-switch-on-their-reality Exit West by Mohsin Hamid We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo A Return To Nigeria by Enuma Okoro

Introduction:

My goal for this essay was to tell an interesting story using the two memories that I had to write. I am proud of my scenes of memory. I feel like they are very descriptive and they tell an interesting story. One way I would like to improve my writing for my next paper is making my story flow together better.

Advance Essay:

The theme of my scenes is me having mixed emotions about the activities I was about to do. My aunt, brother, and I were on a plane to Orlando, Florida for a little summer vacation. It was the middle of June. The sun was out followed by a million little rain drops. My brother, my aunt, and I just stepped off the shuttle bus to Volcano Bay. The waterpark was temporarily closed due to the rain and lightning. So soon as the park opened back up we went to the first ride we could find. Surprisingly there was no line. We began walking up about 250+ steps and by the time we got up there we were tired but also filled with excitement. We finally got to the top and I saw the sign and realized that this was the tallest ride in the entire waterpark. The ride consisted of twin tubes across from each other at a 70 degree angle. I thought about going back down but that was too many steps to walk up for no reason. So I stepped in the blue tube and my brother stepped in the green tube. The staff worker told me to cross my arms and legs and then look straight ahead. Before I followed her instructions, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Out of nowhere I heard a loud metal sound. My eyes popped open instantly and my brother was nowhere to be found. In my head I was thinking where did he go and I got a little more worried. My heart was beating out of my chest and my eyes were looking all around the tiny tube. Then finally I looked down and realized what had happened. I tried to prepare myself but it was to late. A trap door opened from under me and I shot through the tube at about 30 miles per hour. There was water splashing in my face, water going my nose, and water going in my eyes. In this scene I was excited to get on the water ride but then when I saw how it went I got a little worried.

In the second scene I was also excited because bungee jumping looked fun. I was worried because once I got to the top of the platform it looked way higher than I thought. But I decided to get over it by jumping off the platform. My friends and I were walking through the Poconos until we saw a tree that was not like any of the other ones we’ve passed so we stopped and walked over to the tree to see what was going on. When we got there we were greeted by this lady wearing a blue “STAFF” t-shirt. So we asked “What is this?” as we pointed to the tree. The lady replied “It’s for bungee jumping.” My friends and I all looked at each other and said “What y’all tryna do?” One responded with “Let’s do it!” and the rest of us agreed. So that’s exactly what we did.The lady attached the harness to all of us and we all began to start climbing until we heard someone whisper “I can’t do this.” We tried to convince her to keep going but it didn’t work. So we went without her. We finally made it to the top of the platform and now came the decision of who was going to jump first. To decide who was going to go first, we decided to play rock, paper, scissors. Thankfully I didn’t have to go first but after seeing him go first I volunteered to go second. I eased slowly to the edge, looked down, and then I leapt into the air as if I was doing a cannonball into a pool. About 5 seconds later I was dangling from the bungee cord barely above the ground. In my head I thought to myself that it wasn’t so bad I was actually glad that I did it.

One reason why I chose those memories is because I overcame one of my fears. I used to have a fear of heights and I felt I could conquer it by doing those activities. Since I stepped out of my comfort zone to do those activities I realized that I actually had fun and now I like to do things like riding roller coasters. Another reason I chose those memories is because both of those memories occurred outside of Philadelphia. The water slide scene occurred in Orlando, Florida, while the bungee jumping scene occurred in the Poconos.