Lee McKinnis (57)
Kristina Marynczak (37)
Killian Noonan (36)
Melissa Castillo (32)
NikoVelazquez (27)
Shannon Ratzel (23)
Michelle Reyes (22)
Kyle Barczak (21)
Maura Bilek (21)
Susan Bayaa (21)
For this weeks journal I decided to talk about the Bees. I watched a documentary about the vanishing bees of the world and decided to do further research on Colony Collapse Disorder. Colony Collapse Disorder is the complete absence of adult honey bees in a colony, with very few or even none remaining. The disappearance of bees became a problem around 2006. Bees were simply leaving and abandoning their hives in massive quantities and were not returning. Almost one third of our countries bees have vanished. People don’t understand that without these bees our country alone could loose up to 15 billion dollars worth of crops. The money doesn’t compare to the decrease in nutrition we would loose. Imagine never seeing grapes, avocados, peaches and more because of the disappearance of bees. The bees are vanishing due to a different amount of factors. One major factor is the pesticide exposure. Bees are becoming increasingly sick due to these chemicals that are invading their habitats, and their food. Colony Collapse Disorder is also caused by viruses and diseases like Israeli Acute Paralysis and Nosema. Also another group of factors would be global warming, like the increases in droughts around our country and the world. There are scientists that are still determining the exact cause of the bees distress. There has been a large amount of money the government has given to provide research to find a solution. Not only can the government help but us individually could help stop this issue. We could start by better educating ourselves about our natural surroundings. There are also places where you could start your own bee home. Planting organic seeds with organic dirt will also provide a great home for the bees.
“Vanishing Bees.” (2008). NRDC. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. .
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Anahi Perez
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Anahi Perez
The country of India is one of the most populated country on this planet. Then we also have China, where they limited the number of offspring a couple could have because of the increasing population. I have always wondered why families wouldn’t consider contraceptives. I found an article dated from around the 1940s explained certain details from the plan of provided contraceptives to women. The world peace legend Mahatma Gandhi also had a say on this issue. He believed that the self control was a better way to go about this issue that contraceptives. The debate in India lasted around 20 years. Their plan to introduce contraceptives was to reduce birth rates due to the high population. Reducing the birth rate would help out India economically and also help enhance the health of the new generations. Clinics were built around to provide these contraceptives to women. There were constant issues that came in the way of the India Women’s Conference. People began to ask questions about the side affects of this new advertised product. It also began to reflect women on their motherhood. The public debate continued and the religion factor came into affect as well. I honestly believe that every women should be educated on birth control. The subject of teen pregnancy has been long into affect and it is quite sad that these teenagers have to be put through motherhood at such a young age. It could all be different if they were educated on it. Not only would it help young women out, but it will also drop population that often leads to global warming.
Ramusack, Barbara N. “Embattled Advocates: The Debate over Birth Control in India, 1920-40.” Journal of Women’s History 1.2 (1989): 34. History Study Center. Web. 19 Apr. 2012. -
Anahi Perez
Community Values
I have always underestimated the misfortune of others and complained about the smallest things in my daily life. “I hate this food,” “I need shoes to match my dress,” “I want the new Ipod that is coming out,” and well you know those type of things. My parents always made me work hard for the items that they bought me. I had to get good grades and then maybe I would be rewarded. I always watched cartoons as a kid and never the news. I traveled to Mexico on an annually basis and I noticed that some of the kids there were different from me, but I was too little to understand, and well I continued to be a little brat. Until this day I conclude that I was some what blocked from what other misfortunes children and families went through. I had some what knowledge on it, but I was not fully educated on it as a kid.
As I started to advance in grade levels and became older, I started realizing the small details my parents told me as a child, “Don’t throw away your food, there are kids in Mexico starving.” It all made perfect sense. Later in my first year of my college career, I took a geography class. It taught us the basics of the world along with the behaviors of different ethnicities and religions. We then studied famine around the world. It left me in complete agony. It was a shame that we complain about the smallest things while there are people dying on a daily basis because of lack of food. I feel as if some people are undereducated on the subject of needs, more specifically in our community.
As I began to work with my group we wanted to work strictly with children in the hospital. There are always certain guidelines when working into a huge medical facility, things didn’t progress within the limit that we had. We researched other organizations and with that as well, we didn’t have enough time. We then tried making some phone calls to possibly see if maybe we could easily get into some organizations and once again that didn’t go to well. We then heard about this Church that made sandwiches for St. Vincent DePaul. We got into contact with the Church members, and we then set up a date to work with them. We arrived to the location In Beverly, and there was a large group of older men and women. They had three tables set up, like a miniature factory line. I believe they said they used about 30 loaves of bread to makes these sandwiches. The sandwiches were passed down through the table with condiments slowly added to them. They were then neatly packaged into plastic sandwich bags and then into boxes. My job there was to put the sandwiches into the bags. While I was doing this extremely easy job the older group sitting around me seemed so happy. They welcomed us into the room with such great hospitality. We then started asking question as we progressed in the volunteering and they mentioned that they volunteer every other month at a place called “Su Casa.” I sparked great interest in what this man was telling me, and he then told me that we could go the coming up Sunday. That’s exactly what we did.
Su Casa is a Catholic Worker In our local communities. They provide individuals and families with food, clothing, and activities. When I arrived to the location I first met a lady by the name of Frida. She was absolutely the most amazing person I have ever met. She referred to her soup kitchen as her baby, she kept repeating “this here is my baby, I love this place.” Frida first started off as a Chicago Transit Driver, she then realized that her job was’t what she wanted. She then started working with the city in order to set up her soup kitchen. She has made such big progress with helping her community. Boxes of food are delivered to the kitchen by various amounts of grocery stores, more specifically Trader Joes.
When I finished talking to Frida she instructed myself and my group members on what needed to be done. I was absolutely amazed by all this food that was donated by the grocery stores. We separated the foods into its proper categories. As we were doing this the door kept opening and shutting. I looked out a couple times and seen a crowd of people by the door. They were waiting outside for food. I thought I had seen around maybe 15 to 20 people waiting outside, then Frida comes walking towards me to show me the sign in sheet. She explained that the people who receive aid from the soup kitchen must sign in, so that way she keep track of the tally. She mentioned that at the current moment she had over 60 individuals sign in. I couldn’t believe that within our own community there are people in need of food. What sense does that make? There is nothing but nonsense on television and the media fails to show this on the news. I never understood that. I continued to take part in my task, while I unpacked the food from the boxes in the kitchen the Church members began to cook food. Sloppy Joes for the adults and grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids. They were put nicely onto a paper plate. The plates were placed at the tables with a drink, a donut, napkin, and a fork. Once the six seats at the table had their plate of food, they began letting people six in at a time. There were a total of four adult tables and two children tables. The people came in to eat and rapidly finished their food. Once a table of people were gone, it was then time to set up again. Six plates of food, six drinks, six napkins, six forks, six donuts. It was a constant repeat and it was nonstop once it began.
Families kept walking in, it broke my heart to know that these people might not be able to eat for the rest of the day. I wanted to ask them so many questions, but I knew it would be rude to invade their privacy. There was a man that walked into the kitchen with three little girls and a baby. The baby was probably around 6 to 8 months. I wanted to take the little girls home with me and provide a home for them. I felt so upset that these little kids had to go through this. It was an absolutely life changing experience. All the things my parents had told me made perfect sense. I always took the smallest things for granted not knowing what the outside world was holding.
As I continued to observe the atmosphere at the house there was a large section in the back for clothing items. Frida mentioned that they have clothes in the back for people to grab if they would like. I instantly thought about all the excessive clothes I have in my closet laying around. I haven’t done so but I will keep in contact with Frida to hopefully keep helping out at her kitchen for the better of the community. I also hope to convince my friends and family to give any possible donations towards the soup house, for food, books, and clothing. After this experience I could honestly say that my values and mindset have changes so drastically. It was an amazing experience.
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Anahi Perez
Human rights have always sparked an interest for me, but more specifically women’s rights. I did a bit of research on women’s suffrage and found this article. The newspaper clipping is titles women’s rights in France. It is amazing to me that women gathered around the world to fight for their rights. It explains that in France two women when to the mayor of their town, presented themselves, and they told the mayor that they wanted to become registered voters. The mayor then told them that there was no such law to prevent them from voting but the weaker sex (the female) was represented by the stronger one, therefore he could’t make any changes. The two ladies left the place and took their presence to the Women’s Rights Convention in Paris. A large amount of women attended the convention along with a small group of men. The crowd of women said, “woman is the slave of man.” Women were not allowed to do much in the past. They were denied many rights because men always thought they were superior. Women were sick and tired of always be looked down upon and stood up for their rights. The women of France didn’t stop standing up for what they believed in and took their conventions to different locations around France. The women also demanded the right to serve on different amounts of committees. They also started petitions throughout the country of France in favor for women rights. It is unbelievable of how much work women put for the better of future women.
WOMENS RIGHTS IN FRANCE. (1880, April 11). Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1922),p. 19. Retrieved April 12, 2012, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Chicago Tribune (1849 – 1988). (Document ID: 587546402). -
Anahi Perez
I always try to find information or articles that I find interest in for the journals. This specific article on Autism caught my attention instantly. I have a family member that is currently diagnosed with Autism. Most people get the impression that all autistic kids have intellectual disabilities which is incorrect. The majority of Autistic people have a very hard time in communicating and interacting with others. Scientists recently performed a studies on autistic kids for a period of time. The observed their performance and concluded that 10 percent of autistic kids will improve dramatically over time, and some even possibly grow out of the diagnosis. Scientists have also included that many of the affected children have an extremely high IQ. I personally think that some people look down on people with disabilities because they just assume and think and they don’t know. In the article they mentioned a family, their child would come home from school crying. The family was unable to figure out why he would cry on a daily basis. The child then said “there were so many echoes bouncing off the wall that it felt like people were having a party in my head and they wouldn’t turn down the music.” His autism contained sensitivity to sounds. His stress was causing him to not be able to communicate with others. The child was then sent to listening therapy. Improvements are always available for autistic people, the only problem is that people lack of this financial funding. I still believe that this will soon come to an end.
Szalavitz, Maia. “Autism: Why Some Children “Bloom” and Overcome Their Disabilities.” TIME (2012). Web. 5 Apr. 2012. -
Anahi Perez
Remember our prehistoric ancestor “Lucy”? She was the one scientists discovered in upper Africa which helped the tracking of pre human history. Scientists have recently found another group of bones around the same area. Lucy was noted to be an upright walker like the present day human, but the foot bones that they found might have been of a human that was a swinger, meaning that they spent much of their lives swinging and living in the trees. The bones that they found also came from a much younger prehuman than Lucy. This only leads scientists to think that there was other groups of human species that were able to climb trees some what like an ape. The findings of the foot bones only give scientist a limited window to conclude additional information about this prehuman ancestor. A couple years ago scientists discovered another set of fossils around the area of Burtele. THe bones had its foot with a separated big toe structure. They believe that the structure of its toes gave it an ability to grasp branches and trees. This recent discovery has opened up more questions and opportunities for anthropologists to research more about our prehistoric ancestors. This recently provided information gives more evidence and possible proof that Charles Darwin theory of evolution might be correct. It is absolutely astonishing that scientist have the proper materials and supplies to trace back millions of years ago. New discoveries of pre historic bones will soon answer all our questions about evolution and where we as humans came from scientifically.
Owen, James. “”Lucy” Wasn’t Alone? Had Neighbors in Trees, Fossil Foot Suggests.” National Geographic. 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. -
Anahi Perez
For this weeks journal I decided to read Harros “Cycle of Socialization.” I found this reading really interesting due to the fact that one of my recent projects was based on Racism. Harro explains the deep thinking and knowledge of who we are on this present day, more specifically on socializing. He says that “our socialization begins before we are born” (p 16). This makes plenty sense because who we are as a person is determined by the people that surround us as we grow up and learn knew things. I took this into great consideration because the way I socialize with other people has a lot to do of how my parents raised me. The cycle of Socialization has a great interpretation because it is like a domino affect. We are influenced not only by the people who raised us but also by our surroundings. In the cycle chart it mentions that we portray social messages from television, songs, readings and so on, if you really observe the music we listen to there are small messages and categorization of the social classes. The smallest of things affect people in great ways. Ignorance is created which leads to horrible acts such as stress and violence. Harro also taught me to realize that there is so much more than just the basics of categorizing people. He said “it is important to observe that they, too, are not to be blamed” (p 17). He makes sense because it is not their fault their surroundings made them who they are. It also brought me to a great conclusion that people should take a step out of the circle and begin to be open with one another and let go of the fears and prejudice they have for one another.
Harro, Bobby. “The Cycle Of Socialization.”(2012): 15-21. Splatter.writing101.net. Web. 22 Mar. 201 -
Anahi Perez
Bittersweet Service
My family has always played an extreme role in my life. My parents educated me about the values of life and family. I learned that we must never take anything for granted, and that we must appreciate what is given to us. I never understood what they meant, I just obeyed. Years passed and I started to realize what my parents actually meant. I spent a large amount of time visiting my family in the country of Mexico. Everything became so unreal. I thought everyone in the world lived in a very similar atmosphere as I do, I was completely wrong. It broke my heart to see villagers walking around barefoot selling items for extremely low prices. I questioned myself but I had no answers. After visiting Mexico annually I learned that these children walking barefoot didn’t have homes and were out working to make a living. As I begin to think about this it is absolutely insane that these children were working. I was a spoiled brat when I was around their age. I had shoes to cover my bare feet. I was always provided with my needs and often with my wants. It hit me really hard and started to become very saddened with what I was seeing. This triggered my observations and questioning about our society. I had asked my mother about the less fortunate, she then showed me a picture of a young man. I don’t recall his name, but from my conversation with my mother I learned that she sponsored him. My mother would send money monthly for his needs. My mother was always a very tough woman. She never showed affection to us as children. I never doubted that she loved me, she always and still wants the best for myself and my sisters. When my mom talked about this young boy, it instantly opened doors that she cared deeply about others. She then became a strong influence on the person that I am today.
My father on the other hand is possibly one of the most friendliest and most admirable person in my life. His smile and presence absolutely lightens the room. He always puts his family and friends first. He will go up and beyond to help one out. As a little girl I always remember my father giving money to the children selling in the streets of Mexico. Before we traveled to Mexico he would tell my sisters and I to gather the clothes that no longer fit, we would then pack them and give them away to kids that were less fortunate and needed clothing. My father has always had the biggest heart in my family. My sisters and I have received a large portion of his genetic generosity and sympathy. The collaboration of these two people that I call my parents only brings me to a great reasoning of how much I care about the people around me.
The repetitive actions of giving only grew onto me as a person. I always knew that I wanted to put some type of positive contribution into society. Ever since the subject of career picking came into the picture, I most certainly realized I had to work in an environment of some sort that involved positive change and contribution. I thought of becoming a teacher, counselor, and maybe be a social worker, until this day I can’t make up my mind. As a student in high school I often wondered why the school systems would add mandatory community service in their lesson plans, and luckily my answer was answered in this COM 102 class. At first I admit I was upset at the fact that this had to be done at a certain time frame, I have such a busy schedule that the services I really wanted to participate I couldn’t. I was then only left with the Great Chicago Food Depository.
I was absolutely clueless on what the service consisted. I visited the website and things became a lot clearer, however I was not too sure on what my job would be. The day finally came to help out my community. I walked to the building with the mentality that whatever job I did, would make such a small change since the place was a giant warehouse. I walked into the entrance lost in the world, I asked the man at the desk where I was supposed to go and he then directed me into a large room. I walked in and was surprised to see how many people were in there. I thought that only our school students were going to be there. I wanted to start asking everyone questions, but of course I was to shy. I wanted to see what their reasoning was to be present in the service. Through out the time I sat quietly patiently awaiting for somebody to direct us to what we had to do for the time being. Finally the man at the service desk introduced us to the Great Chicago Food Depository. As the man talked he pointed to a map of Cook County, on this map was a handful of black dots, it represented the places food was distributed to. This left me in complete awe, I had never thought that so many people in our surrounding neighborhoods needed food aid. It only left me with hundreds of questions running through my mind. Why is there so many people in our city with food needs? Why isn’t everybody in our communities informed on this situation? Are there children who are lacking food needs or shelter needs too?
The dots were just the beginning. The man finished talking and we were then directed and split into two large groups. One went to the dairy I believe and we went to the pasta department. We walked into this very cold room and were introduced to another man. It had a very large open space with carts set up into three different rows. One row for packing, the second for bagging, the third for labeling and packaging. He then assigned us to our volunteering job. I got stuck with the fairly easy task of just labeling the pasta bags and sending them off to be put into bags. I walked into the room thinking that this was going to be a very slow paced volunteer job. I was completely wrong, the packing people starting the line of the work flow, soon there were bags overflowing our station with pasta bags to label. We were given sheets of labels, thirty labels per sheet. A couple hours later after we were done I counted the empty label sheets to see how many I did. I counted eleven meaning I labeled about 330 two pound bags of pasta. I mentally thought, “holy s**t” (I rarely use profanity). The crazy part is that there was another two girls labeling. After we were cleaning up, the instructor gave us the exact number of bags that we made together as a group, I believe it was a bit over a thousand bags. That probably means that within the three hours of volunteering we helped about a thousand people and or families. I walked out the building feeling so much better about myself.
As I walked back to my car, I thought about the values my parents had taught me as a child. I knew then that I had not failed them. The experience I had reminded me as a person that I should never take things for granted. I am beyond fortunate to have such a loving and supportive family and at the time of day when I am hungry there will always be food. It breaks my heart to know that there is people who lack of these things. I would love to help everyone in the word out, but my power is so small that it is impossible. The only thing I could do is to continuously volunteer like I have been doing through out the past with different charities and organizations. A few hours does not make a world wide change, but it does influence and change a persons life wether if its for a few day or a life time change. I have always tried to influence the people around me to make contributions to society, this experience has made me push even harder. I highly encourage people to take part in community service, it is a great way to learn about yourself as well as help those in need.
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Dawn Murry
I love the way Anahi started off her service experience with an introduction on what her personal experience was. I felt she was trying to express that she appreciated what the people was going through. She did great to explain what her mom was still currently doing for a young man in their country still to this day. That is good stand up loyalty and respect to show that no matter what your current situation with family or close friends maybe have you should never forget where you came from. I believe that’s what her mom is trying to display with her actions. She doesn’t mind coming home to Chicago and work hard and give some of what she works for back to the world today. There are a lot of people out there that don’t think that way. They only think about who they have to think about. You never caught them going out there way to help anyone out of the normal. Something like that I would say you never get back because you are too selfish to see what that little can do for someone with not that much. Anahi also stated that her mom wasn’t affectionate to her and her sisters but, she had no doubt that she loved them. I wanted to point out that you can have love in your heart for anybody and not one time have to hug, kiss or simply know me one thing about them. Your actions will speak for themselves when you decide to give a dollar or something bigger. The whole thing is that they know that you cared about or just had them on your mind at the time. Anahi also went on saying that her dad you know right away give and showing that he care. That’s just to let you know that everyone show s love or illustration of caring in a different way. As, read along with the rest of her assignment she displayed information about the Greater Food Depository where she didn’t realize how many people that we had in the city along that had no food or shelter. I with her that you simply take for granted the little things in life because you just don’t know what our people are going through. That’s when you have to figure out what’s next for you to do. We as a city or community should try to give back to those who are less fortunate then you. I do believe that Professor McGuire has displayed out more to this city and world on what the struggles are that our people have to go through more than we think. Great information provided on given back to the city that we are in
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Anthony Stevens
To start off I like you started talking about your service experience with an introduction on what your personal experience was. I felt like you were trying to express what you appreciated what the people were going through. You did great explaining what your mom was still currently doing for a young man in their country still to this day. That is good loyalty and respect to show that no matter what your current situation with family or friends maybe has you should never forget where you came from. I think that is what I got from your mom trying to display with her actions. She doesn’t mind coming home to Chicago and work hard and give some of what she works for back to the world today. There are a lot of people out there that don’t think that way. They only think about who they have to think about. You never see them going out there way to help anyone out of the normal. Something like that I would say you never get back because you are too selfish to see what that little can do for someone who doesn’t have as much as you do. You also stated that your mom wasn’t affectionate to her and her sisters, but she had no doubt that she loved them. I wanted to point out that you can have love in your heart for anybody even if you don’t know them. Your actions will speak for themselves when you decide to give a dollar or something bigger. The whole thing is that they know that you cared about or just had them on your mind at the time. You also went on saying that your dad right away give and show that he cares. That’s just to let you know that everyone shows their care or love in many different ways. As, I read along with the rest of her assignment you displayed information about the Greater Food Depository where she didn’t realize how many people that we had in the city along that had no food or shelter. I with her that you simply take for granted the little things in life because you just don’t know what our people are going through. That’s when you have to figure out what’s next for you to do. We as a city or community should try to give back to those who are less fortunate then you. I do believe that Professor McGuire has displayed out more to this city and world on what the struggles are that our people have to go through more than we think. Great information provided on given back to the city that we are in.
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Alejandro Morales
I like how in the beginning you start with an informal and relaxed introduction. You start to talk about your parents and the values in life that you have been taught. You right off the bat start with very personal information. I like this because the reader feels that you are comfortable enough to talk about your experiences and it makes the reader relate with you a lot more as well. Another great thing that I liked was how you first talk about your parents and the values, but then you go on to individually talk about each one of your parents and how you believe your characteristics have been passed down by each of them to make you who you are today. You go into pretty good detail about your father and the type of person he is. Along with that you provide examples to show the type of man your father is. As I read your passage in my head I was able to picture your father from how you write about him.
Your next paragraph flows perfectly with the preceding one. From those values you talk about what you want to do in your life. For example, a teacher, counselor, and maybe be a social worker you name. You talk about because of your values that you want to give a positive contribution to society. When I read this paragraph I wonder how you talk about your parents being such giving people and that you want to help society so bad. Then the last couple lines of your paragraph you say that you honestly were pretty upset that you had to do community service for this class. I know you say being upset because it was at this current time frame, but I am not sure if you meant about the entire idea of doing it or just because it was at that time. I think just that part needs a little bit of clarification.
The next paragraph you talk about how you were clueless of what the service was going to be and how you went on the website and things were a little clearer. Talk about the website and what it had, be specific with it. Doing that will paint a picture in people’s heads about how it became more clear to you or even just so they can have an idea of what you witnessed. When you walk into the building thinking whatever you do would be such a small change because it is a giant warehouse, is that a positive outlook or a somewhat negative because you want to do more but you don’t know if you can because of the size?
I think you could have reflected a little more about the actual service and along with that gave some specific details about it. The amount that you talk about the service and what you did is very minimal to the paper. Especially because the paper is supposed to be mainly about the service. If you talk more about what specifically happened, or even the smell or the view and things like that it will make your writing that much more powerful.
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Anahi Perez
Today marks a huge day for women, its called “Womens international day.” Women have undergone rough situations in our history to get us where we are now. One specific accomplishment is woman suffrage. In the national geographic article it mentioned that women were on a constant fight for their right to vote since the time of Andrew Jacksons presidency in the 1820’s (Schons p.1) Decades after the Wyoming territory was the first to grant woman the right to vote. This bill was introduced by politician William H. Bright, and then it was rapidly signed and approved on December tenth 1869 by the governor (Schons p1).People were not too happy about the current change which were mostly men and thought that it was foolish to allow a women to vote. The woman suffrage bill also granted woman the right to run for political office. It is right to say that the Wyoming territory was the basic foundation of support for woman suffrage. Susan B. Anthony said “Wyoming is the first place on God’s Green earth with could consistently claim to be the land of the free.” She was nothing but right on her statement, the rest of the country was still restricted from their voting right. The large spark has led women to have equal rights as men do. We are only becoming stronger and holding much more power in this country. We should never take these luxuries for granted because even today there are women who are not granted these rights in various countries.
Schons, Mary. “Woman Suffrage.” National Geographic. 18 Oct. 2010. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. -
Anahi Perez
Wrote a research paper not too long ago about child soldiers, it was one of the most terrifying subjects I have ever learned about. Since we are in a class where we try to make great contributions to our community, lets reach a little bit farther to the country of Africa. I am more than positive that there will be a positive outcome. I really encourage for people to take a look at this film.
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Shannon Ratzel
This is such an amazing story..really this is the first time I’ve ever had any interesting in helping out a cause.
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Gregory Laurenzana
Thanks you Anahi for posting this! This is exactly what our class is about this semester! A GREAT cause to support and get involved it! Let bring him to justice!!
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Anahi Perez
Thank you, I just want everyone to be well aware of this issue and maybe hope to persuade people to sign the pledge!
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Gregory Laurenzana
Good idea! I was going to but you beat me too it! LOL I signed and I even bought the action kit! Nothing has made me want to get involved more then this video!! Sooooo very moving!
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Melissa Castillo
This is a great video. I had taken an African American history class and I thought it was the most interesting class next to this class I’ve ever taken. We were taught about child soldiers, blood diamonds, and child sexual abuse out in Africa. It is a pandemic. These children are sleeping on the cold ground being forced to take drugs, so they are numb to it all. This is a sad story above. It needs to be circulated on the internet and everywhere else you can make it available.
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Prof McGuire
Invisible Children visited MVCC last year, and they will be here again in April. Be sure to attend their presentation. Ask me in class for more details.
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Anahi Perez
Dear Editor,
I would like to inform you on a horrid issue called racism. Racism has been an long term issue in our society. There are always stories on the news of people getting hurt physically and emotionally due to ones race. It would be a great blessing if it came to a complete stop. We need to start to accepting each other for who we are inside and not from our racial background. It is very important for people to accept one another before more deaths occur and so people could stop being hurt. Racism is also links to a very wide spread issue off bullying. Kids and teenagers have been going through very tough times because of the physical and emotional harm that is being done to them, they often commit suicide. It is very hard to loose somebody special due to the issue of racism. Last summer a group of teenagers went on a search for a person of color, only to kill them. I know for a fact that not everyone is racist, but to the people that are, you just need to open your eyes and see that there is so much beauty in everyone. It would be such an extreme step to change the way people think of others. We have so many different faces in our city of chicago, that there is no room to hide inside of a box and hate one another. We need to spread the world in hopes of ending racism. A stop to racism awareness would be amazing even if it just made the smallest change, but at least it will be an amazing and positive start!
Sincerely,
Anahi Perez-
Alejandro Morales
In your letter to the editor you talk about the horrid issue, racism. I really liked that you used such a strong word just for your opening sentence. Horrid. Alone it sounds like a powerful word, and for something this huge of an issue is well deserving of it. Instantly as I read this first line I was hooked. I wanted to continue to read. If you were to just say the issue about racism, then I honestly would not have been as interested in this piece. Subconsciously I think that word just puts a terrible image in my mind and really makes me thing of the terrible disasters racism can cause. Not alone with just what can be caused, but over the years of what has been caused. As those thoughts were running in my head instantly my mind thought of two things, the period of racism, as in how long it has been going on. The other thought that instantly ran through my head was incidents of racism, in other words stories. So as you can imagine when I read the next two lines it felt like you just knew what was going to go in my head. You instantly brought up the concerns that came to my mind so fast. After I read you talking about always hearing about stories, well, I then expected a story or example to have been there. However, there was not. You did bring the story of the group of kids who went looking for someone just because of their color. Although that is obviously still important I think if you brought it right after you saying about hearing all these stories, then it would fit so much better. As you talk about people hearing stories, then you provide one. Another thing that will allow is constant interest to the reader. After they hear a horrific or horrid story like that, they will want to read on eagerly. So I definitely am not telling you to erase the line, but just to consider moving the line.
When you say, “it would be a great blessing if it came to a stop.” GET THAT OUT! You are talking about how horrible of an issue this is, and then when you read that line it is almost as if you are just asking with such sincerity for this horrible issue to leave. You need to stay strong. Talk about how it MUST come to an end. You need to show how much of an issue this truly means to you. You don’t want to request this issue to be gone; you want to tell everybody what this issue is doing to society and why it must be eliminated as soon as possible.
Then as you go on in your writing you start to give more demands. That is a lot better because I feel how you feel about this issue then. I liked the way your structured your editorial piece. You kept the sentences short and to the point. That is exactly what you want to do for a short piece like this. One thing I think your editorial lacked was things that people can do or where they can find more information about the subject. You kind of leave an open end because if people want to do something about it, then they need to know where they can go. -
Anthony Stevens
In your letter to the editor you talked about a true issue, racism. I really liked that you used a strong word just for the opening sentence. Horrid. Alone it sounds like a powerful word, and for an issue like this it fits perfectly. Instantly as I read this first line I was hooked and wanted to continue reading. If anyone had an issue on racism, then I honestly would not have been interested. I think that word just puts a terrible image in my mind and really makes me think of the terrible things that racism can cause. Not alone with just what can be caused, but over the years of what has been caused. My mind thought of two things, the period of racism, as in how long it has been going on. The other thought was incidents of racism, in other words stories. As I read the next two lines it felt like you read my mind. You brought up the concerns that came into my mind. I read that you kept hearing about these stories you heared of, but the missing part was the a story or example, but there was not one there. I say add a story or example to show that you heard of these stories. You did bring up however the story of the group of kids who went looking for someone just because of their color. Although that is obviously still important I think if you brought it right after saying about hearing all these stories, then it would fit so much better. Again when you talk about hearing the stories, provide a story because then it would fit in well. Another thing that will allow is constant interest to the reader. After they hear a horrific or horrid story like that, the reader would be hooked and would want to keep reading.
When you say, “it would be a great blessing if it came to a stop.” Tell them! You are talking about how horrible of an issue this is, and then when you read that line it is almost as if you are just asking with such sincerity for this horrible issue to leave. You need to stay strong. You don’t want to request this issue to be gone; You want to tell everybody what this issue is doing to society and why it must be eliminated as soon as possible.
Then as you go on in your writing you start to give demands. That is a lot better because I feel how you feel about this issue then, I like the way you structured your paper. You kept the sentences short and to the point. That is exactly what you want to do for short piece like this. One thing I think you letter lacked was things that people can do or where they can find more information about the subject. You kind of leave an open end because if people want to do something about it, then they need to know where they can go.
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Anahi Perez
I am a big freak when it comes down to the news. I am more than sure that everyone has heard or read about the shootings that occurred in an Ohio High School. All I knew was that there was a shooting and nothing else. I went to the CNN website and of course it was one of the headline articles. A seventeen year old student, has been charged of killing three students and wounding two at his High School? What in the world are these people thinking nowadays. I had always came to a conclusion that people who commit these actions are not mentally right. As soon as I heard about this on the news I thought there had to be a reason for the shooting, but as I read deeper into the article he randomly shot people. The article mentioned that the shooter had been charged before with juvenile assault for “putting another boy in a choke hold and punching him in the face.” Right then you assume that by choking somebody your primary intent is to kill them. There are always little signs before people occur these deadly attacks but nobody seems to pay any mind to it. This guy was a completely reckless teenager, after hearing about his past criminal charges it does not surprise me that he committed the shooting. This article only makes me wonder why people choose to do the things they do. Nobody has the right to take away some one else’s life. Not only are the people who got shot are affected but imagine the harm and sufferings their families are currently going through. Nothing eases the pain. This society just keeps getting worse.
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Anahi Perez
Throughout the week as I drive home from school or work, I always come across school zones. I am always way too observant with my surroundings. I came to an understanding that many kids walk home alone with there head facing the ground. I always wondered if these kids lack self esteem. I work at a pharmacy and I also noticed that many children are being prescribed depression medications. These observations only led for me to do some research on bullying. As I read an article of bullying, it mentioned that it is a form of physical or emotional abuse. At times the victims find no other way out but to commit suicide. In this article it also mentioned over 40 states have anti bullying laws. My only question and concern is why don’t all fifty states have these laws? Ted Fienberg in the video also mentions that the incidents of bullying that don’t go checked typically end up in terrible outcomes. There has been large demands in change in the school system to such large wave of bullying. In my opinion I believe that guardians or parents should also act as support other than the teachers. People say that more needs to be done, but as society we need to evaluate how we treat one another. I was not a victim of bullying but I could only imagine how tough it is. Bullying has been taking the lives of young adults and children and it must come to a stop.
ProQuest Staff. “At Issue: Bullying.” ProQuest LLC. 2012: n.pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 23 Feb 2012. -
Anahi Perez
Evils of Color
WHAT IS RACISM ?
Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another. Racism has been in affect for hundreds of years. You would think this issue would be long gone by now, but the answer is no, it is still in affect today. Not only has our present society been strongly affected by this constant issue but the whole world is still battling racism, and it still has yet to come to a stop. Racism is one of the most powerful designs to cause physical and mental harm to an individual. People have lived in constant fear for racial crime. The hatred a group of individuals have towards another group is foolish and ignorant. The ignorance of racism has left millions of people dead and hurt. There should be no superior person in this world, no categorization of the color of our skin, every one is uniquely different therefore racism should not exist.
“You can’t hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree.”
-Malcolm x
Background on Racism
The act of racism was brought upon this world around the 16th or 17th century, around the European territory. Europeans went enslaving people from Africa and surrounding countries as labor workers. In the Americas around the 17th and 18th century, race was a factor of life. Americans became racist when they used slaves as a profit, which continued people to categorize Africans as items, not people. They were given poor living conditions and were never given a chance to become successful. They were alway known as slaves and given the title of poor individuals. One of the biggest moments for racial profiling was the African slave trade system and were also the ignition to the deadly spark.
Later in history a man by the name of Abraham Lincoln. He believed in the abolishment of slavery in the confederate states of America. He wanted the slaves to be released from the horrible conditions in which they lived in. He convinced the slave owners by giving them money for their so called “property.” He later released a document known as the Emancipation Proclamation, which said ”all persons held as slaves within any States, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Although this document didn’t free all slaves, it only freed those who lived under the Union Control. The Emancipation Proclamation then sparked the civil war. The civil war was fought to preserve the Union. Thousands of soldiers died throughout battle, but most importantly the war permanently ended slavery. The racism that was once at its highest, slowly started to drop.
There are plenty of historic acts that we were constantly taught as student. Most events positively affected our present world, while on the negative side there are certain events we could link towards racism, such as genocide. Genocide is the killing of a large group or ethnicity. For example Adolf Hitler. Hitler was one of the most powerful dictators in World history. He strongly enacted in the undertaking of racism. He believed that his country should be Aryan, which means having blue eyes and blonde hair. He believed that his German superior to all Jewish people, and blamed them for the economic downfall of Germany. He believed that his problems would be solved by simply exterminating all of the Jewish population, and thats exactly what he did. Millions of Jewish people lost their lives due to such powerful hatred they received by other ethnic groups. Although it appears to be such a long time ago, there are still living survivors. Their lives have been so dramatically harmed by the attempt of their racial extermination, therefore it leaves or current society traumatized of the racial occurrence. Who was he to kill all those people? Why did everyone think it was perfectly fine? The mentality these people held was so off beat. Racism should never lead to large extent like it did in our history books.
Later in history a well known case Brown vs. Board came in effect revolutionizing the educational systems. The primary question that was held in the case was “wether or not blacks and whites can receive and education integrated with or separate from each other.” The term “separate but equal” was not how things were being done at the time. Things were still unequal. Brown won the case with the help of attorney Thurgood Marshall. This court case became a huge support foundation for the civil rights for the ethnic minorities.
There was a man that went by the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. This man was one of the most influential civil rights leaders in history. He began hope of civil rights of the United States population. He gave his life towards a positive attribute in our social society. He sat in the Montgomery Bus Boycott for its fight to end racial discrimination on the city’s transportation system. Soon the busses became unsegregated. Martin Luther King, Jr stood beside infamous leaders by the names of Whitney Young, and Roy Wilkins. They marched to put an end to racial separation in the education systems. They marched to fight towards the ending of racial profiling in the work force. They marched along with millions of protestors from multiple ethnic backgrounds. The march resulted in triumph, he finished it off with his ” I have a dream ” speech. Martin Luther King, Jr gave americans hope for discrimination against race. He helped start this revolutionary change that people should be treated equally. His unfortunate death gave people the power to act upon their civil rights. His dream will soon come true.
Genocide was once again brought upon our world in the year of 1994. President of Rwanda was shot down in a plane, and killed. This sparked a war between the Tutsis and the Hutus groups. Ethnic anxiety has always been an issue in the Country of Rwanda. Rwanda holds a majority of Hutus, leaving the Tutsis as a minority. The Hutus began their killing spree. The bodies of the Tutsis were thrown into bodies of water, their killers said their bodies were on their way back to Ethiopia. In the period of one hundred days 800 thousand Rwandans were killed. This genocide and racial hate is complete insanity. There should be no superiority within racial, especially including the termination of thousands of innocent lives. The Tutsis were kept in refugee camps held by the Hutus. The Hutus were forced by military personnel to murder their Tutsi neighbors. They were given rewards for the killings, such as food, money, or the land that belonged to those that they killed. Soon after they captured the leader, Kigali. Although the mass killings ended in Rwanda, there is still continuous conflict.
Although the world continues in mass destruction due to racial issues. We are slowly putting this damaging social issue to a complete stop. With the help of these influential civil rights leaders there will always be a way.
“[People] hate each other because they fear each other, and they fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they are often separated from each other.” -Dr. Martin Luther KingPresent day Problems
It is very hard to understand why racism still occurs. If we turn off the lights in a room of different races, nobody will be aware of our racial background. This hatred is pointless and disgusting. On this very present day, killings or harm to people are still in occurrence do do racism.
On June 26th 2011, a group of teens left a party and went on a search looking for a black person to physically hurt. One of the teens said “Let’s go f**k with some ni**ers,” to his friends. They made their way towards a distinguished black town. They soon came across a black man. The black man went by the name of James Craig Anderson. As the teens kicked and beat him they yelled out “white power!,” along with other racial slurs. After they beat the man the teens ran him over in their truck. The man was soon dead. The teen then jokingly told his friend, “I ran that ni**er over.” The teen did not hold any guilt towards the awful killing he had committed. This here is a racially motivated killing. There were a couple teens that participated in the event but only one face a double life sentence. These teens must have had some psychological problem to think it was okay.
Another occurrence of a racially motivated killing was in Pennsylvania in the year of 2008. A couple of Caucasian football players attacked a 25 year old named Luis Ramirez. They beat and kicked him because “they didn’t like Hispanics and wanted them out of their town” (Rubinkam). Although the football players didn’t mean to kill Ramirez, they enacted in racial hatred. There intent was to hurt because of their ethnic background. These reoccurring issues need to come to a stop before another persons life is put to risk.
Our educational resources are still being influenced by racism. Recently in Tucson Arizona, their schools have now banned books by Native American and Chicago authors. According to Norell “the books were seized from their classrooms and out of their hands”( The Narcosphere). One of the books included pictures of Mexico. The students were traumatized by the administrators. The banning of educational materials because of the ethnic background of an author is absolutely foolish. This is something you would learn about decades ago, but this was just brought into affect a couple weeks ago. Racism must come to a stop.
“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.” -Muhammad AliWhats being done?
I recently spoke to Chicago Elementary Public School teacher about the subject of racism. Ms. Renteria mentioned to me that her classroom participates in group activities involving children of different ethnicities. She also said their classroom studies involve the learning of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. The children not only get to learn and work with others, but they also learn not to have any boundaries due their backgrounds. It was a great thing to hear from this teacher, that these kids are learning about themselves as well as the diversity of their surroundings.
There are numerous amounts of support group in our local communities that help out with racial justice. I spoke to a local community in my neighborhood and asked if they support and counsel people from racial suffering, they responded with a yes. They have counselors available throughout the week. Also in schools the counselors are always available for moral support and guidance.
The increasing generations since the first start of racism have slowly drained racism. According to Trice American cities are more integrated from what they were a century ago. Our society has made positive attributes by slowly allowing to accept the fact that we are all equal. We can’t keep assuming one does certain actions because of their race. It is highly unfortunate that people hold back on their social life due to Racism. Every one thinks that they will never find their soul mate, but truth is if you get to experience other races other than your own, then maybe you will meet that special soul mate. Racism must come to a complete ending because it’s complete bullshit.
How can you get involved?
With all due respect, if your the type of person that blocks certain races out of social life, grab a hammer and bust those doors open! There are so many mind blowing people out in our society, that you should not have to hold yourself back. You will be amazed at how much you and a person from across the world would have in common with you. Stop restricting yourself! Racism is a social restriction that should not be in existence or even mentioned in your life! There are gorgeous people out in the world, get to know one another, and don’t be frightened.
As kids we are highly influenced by our parents or family. If your family loves tacos and pizza, it is more than likely that you will love tacos and pizza too! Some older generations still come attached with racism, therefore the acts of racism are still evolving in ones mind do to the influence. Racist people breed racist children. There is no reason for one to receive the negative hand me downs from your older siblings or parents. Become open minded and understand that we are all equal inside. She has one brain, one heart, and two lungs, the exact same as you! You could educate a friend of how cruel and barbaric racism is, and who knows maybe your friend will pass it on to another friend. Make a difference!
Learn More About Racism
There are many known factors of Racism but what does it matter? What matters is what we do in the present that will positively affect our future. Here are some ways you could learn and help out the termination of Racism, as well as how you could make a positive contribution to society.
“Center for the Healing of Racism“- This center primarily helps one out by providing a supportive atmosphere for people to heal the pain they have suffered to due racism. They also provide social groups that could relate to his or her racial occurrence. The center provide many workshops along with services for those who are in need. The Center for Healing of Racism works together with other associations to build and share a commitment to racial justice. The website allows for public donations. http://www.centerhealingracism.org
“YWCA USA“- This organization is primarily involved in the elimination of racism, and the empowerment of women. They are not government funded therefore whatever amount of contribution they receive will make a large impact. YWCA supports the enforcement of hate crime laws that keep people protected from crimes based on race, gender, religion, ethnicity, age, disability, or sexual orientation. The YWCA represents 2 million women all over the country. This organization allows for donations as well as volunteer work at their available locations. http://www.YWCA.org
“Southern Poverty Law Center“- This center is dedicated to fight hatred and bigotry. They seek justice for people of the society. They work for the proper pay of immigrant workers, and expose extremist activities to law enforcement. This center also helps out children who suffer from learning disabilities who are thrown out of schools and into the juvenile justice system. Their website also shares information on where their recorded hate crimes have taken place around the United States. They also share the latest news in subject to their dedicating issues. If interested, public donations are gladly excepted. http://www.splcenter.org
“Equality Now“- Their mission is “to achieve legal and systemic change that addresses violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world.” This organization was founded in 1992 that has been fighting of gender equality, and our standing principles. Their largest areas focus on sexual violence, discrimination in law, and trafficking. This organization has offices all around the world helping people not just in the United States but worldwide. Equality now is not just a solitary center, they work along with other organizations to help strengthen their success. www.equalitynow.org
Works Cited
1. Rubinkam, Michael. “Men Get 9 Years in Prison for Pa. Hate-Crime Death.” Daily American. 23 Feb 2011: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20 Feb 2012.
2. Racism: A Short History. Dir. George M. Fredrickson. http://Www.topdocumentaryfilms.com. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
3. Trice, Dawn T. “2 Young Housing Advocates Say Racial Segregation Still Widespread.” Chicago Tribune. 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
4.Felstiner, John. “On the Other Side of Darkness.” Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA). 28 Mar 2004: n.p. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 21 Feb 2012
5.Norrell, Brenda. “Tucson Schools Bans Books by Chicano and Native American Authors.” (2012). The Narcosphere. Web. 18 Feb. 2012.
6. Martinez, Michael. “Mississippi Teen Charged with Capital Murder in Alleged Hate Killing.” (20 Sept. 2011). CNN. Web. 02 Sept. 2012
7. Kelly, Martin. “Overview of the American Civil War.” About. New York Times Company. Web. 18 Feb. 2012. http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/civiloverview.htm.
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Alejandro Morales
You explain racism very well in the beginning. You give the definition, and then you give your thoughts on racism. You talk about how it is a present day issue, and then even how it goes back many years. Following that you talk about the background on racism. As far back to where it originated and even how. You talk about who started it, and who they were acting on as well. A great thing in this writing is when you talk about categorizing Africans as items, and not people. Reading a statement like that really makes the reader feel what you are talking about.
Your next paragraph that starts to talk about Abraham Lincoln started to bother me. Although Abraham Lincoln did abolish slavery from the Civil War, he did not fight for that reason. He actually had no side on, or against slavery. He fought for the unity of the North and the South. Although slavery was going to be abolished from the war, he did not go to war for that reason. I would suggest changing some of your information on there. You definitely should bring up that the Civil War was the reasoning for the abolishment of slavery, but don’t say that he believed in it. Slavery really didn’t bother him, so I wouldn’t say that “he wanted slaves to be released from the horrible conditions they lived in.” The Emancipation Proclamation is a very good thing to mention! Good job! So overall I like what you’re trying to address in that paragraph, but the information is misleading. If you reword what you say, then it can be a very powerful paragraph like you are intending it to be.
GREAT JOB IN TALKING ABOUT GENOCIDE!!!! A lot of times when you hear about racism, genocide comes into play. Talking about Adolf Hitler is great too. Talking about issues that many people know about helps them better understand the issue, so great. There is a problem with this paragraph which is very misleading. You talk about how Hitler thought the extermination of the entire population of the Jews would solve the economic problems in Germany. However, you say that is exactly what he did. You need to say he attempted to exterminate the entire population. Although he killed millions, he did not wipe them out as a whole. The other thing is the two questions you ask. Your second question asks, “Why did everyone think it was perfectly fine?” Not EVERYONE thought it was perfectly fine. In fact, many did not agree with it. The problem was people were too afraid to stand up to Adolf Hitler. So even though many wanted things to change, nobody had the courage to stand up to him. Another thing is he was such an influential dictator that many people truly believed he was helping. If people truly believe he is helping, then they do not think anything is wrong.
I like all of your quotes at the bottom of sections. They are very powerful quotes. I am a big guy on quotes, so I enjoy when people use them. Another thing I like about this writing is the headlines for each section. You clearly state what you are about to talk about. It is very organized so if someone wanted to go to a certain section, then they could find it very easily.
Strong present day stories. It is truly terrible how society has developed. For your “How to Get Involved” section you don’t really show how to get involved. You tell people things they can do, but others may let people in already. Some may not be afraid to talk to another race. Your “learn more about racism” section should be close to how your involved section looks. That shows people exactly how or where they can go to get involved.
Overall you have very strong parts in your paragraph. Some are just misleading and change the way someone may interpret this piece. If you reword some of those paragraphs, then they can be just as powerful as you want them to be.
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Anahi Perez
Thank you so much. I should had researched the whole civil a lot more than what I had originally planned. Your review was very useful. Once again thank you.
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Anthony Stevens
You explained racism very well in the beginning of your paper. You gave a definition of racism, then giving your own thoughts on racism. You talked about the issue as a present day issue, and even talking about the past and how it was an issue many years ago as well. Following that you talked about the background on racism. From when it originated and how it became an issue. I liked how you talked about who started it, and who they were acting on as well. I liked when you talked about categorizing Africans as items rather than actual human beings. Reading that statement like that really makes the readers feel what you are talking about.
The next paragraph talking about Abraham Lincoin started to bug me. Abraham Lincoin did abolish slavery from the Civil War, he did not fight for that particular reason. He was neither for nor against slavery. He fought for the unity of the North and South. He did not go to war for just that reason, but slavery was abolished from the war. I would reccomend changing some of the information. I would say definetly bring up that the Civil War was a reasoning for abolishing slavery, but avoid saying that he believed in it. Slavery didn’t bother him that much. Great job mentioning the Emancipation Proclamation. Overall I like what you’re addressing in that paragraph, but some of the information is misleading.
Good job on mentioning Genocide because most of the time when racism is talked about, genocide comes into the coversation. Talking about those kind of issues helps the reader better understand the issue you are talking about. I was misleaded when you talked about Hilter thinking the extermination of Jews would solve economic problems in Germany. When I reading it sounded like he exactly did it. It turns out that he attempted to exterminate the entire population. Try saying that he attempted to exterminate them not exactly doing it. Althought millions were killed, he didn’t wipe them out completly. One of the questions asked was “Why did everyone think it was perfectly fine?” Not everyone thought it was fine. Many did not agree with it. The real problem was that no one would have the courage to stand up to Hitler. Many wanted things to change, but no one was willing to stand up to Hitler. He was a influential dictator that many people believed he was helping. If they truly believed him helping then they won’t think anything is wrong.
I enjoyed your quotes at the bottom of the sections. They sounded very influential and powerful. The whole thing is very organized and very useful when it came to the headlines. If I wanted to go back and read a certain section I can easily look it up.
I enjoyed the present day stories. It is sad how society has developed. For “How to Get Involved” section I really didn’t see much on how I can get involved. It is mostly about what we can do. Some people might not be afraid talking to a different race. Your “learn more about racism” should be similar to the previous section. It will show people exactly how or where to get involved.
Overall great parts in your paragraphs. Some things to think about is rewording some of the information so it doesn’t sound misleading.
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Arianna Wright
First off, I would just like to say that I absolutely enjoyed reading your portfolio piece. The title is catchy, and makes you be like “Hmm, what’s this about?” I thought that the portfolio piece itself was excellent. The first paragraph was a creative way to start off giving the reader a clear understanding and a clear definition of the word racism. This topic/issue is one of those issues that has been around for a very long time. Our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and all the way down the line, have all experienced or witnessed some type of racism. Its now 2012, and racism clearly still exists. Racism is one of those topics that nobody really wants to talk about so I’m glad to you chose this to discuss as your portfolio piece. I love how you ended the first paragraph with a quote. “You can’t hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree.” – Malcolm X. Malcolm X was an amazing civil rights leader but that’s just my opinion. Anyway, I like this quote because it makes you think and it was creative of you to use it.
In the second section of your portfolio piece, I like how you’re giving the reader background information on what exactly racism is. None of us really know how it started so I wouldn’t expect you to have that in your piece. I personally like history, so this section actually kept me interested and made me want to continue to read your paper not just because I had to. I noticed how you put in bold, “Genocide is the killing of a large group or ethnicity.” This came right after you previously stated the word “genocide.” I like how you did that because even though I know what a genocide is you cannot expect that all of your readers know what a genocide is, so its good that you broke that down. The section was full of history of racism. You discussed Hitler, MLK, etc. I’m glad that you addressed Hitler because when most people think of racism the first thing that pops into their head, it black people. Blacks were not the only victims of racism. The holocaust was something that even to this day makes me so disgusted. Once again you ended with an amazing quote. “[People] hate each other because they fear each other, and they fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they are often separated from each other.”-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That quote explains itself. Love it!
I love how you first gave the reader an understanding of racism, then the history of it, you discussed some big historical events due to racism, and now you’re talking about present day problems. You’re addressing every aspect and I like that. Then you ended this section with a quote from Muhammad Ali, “Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.” Maybe you should explain what all these quotes mean to you, just a suggestion.
Last but not least, you discussed what’s being done about this issue, and how the reader can get involved. You covered everything. I loved your piece, I can’t even be critical because I saw absolutely nothing wrong with it.
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Anahi Perez
Dave Eggers, “Your mother and I” was extremely confusing the first time around. This is the type of reading that has to be read at least twice. I was not too sure who exactly he was talking to, I thought he was a little insane. Through out the passage I came to a conclusion that he is talking to his daughter. His daughter is making some food dishes while he talks about these insane lies about her mother and himself. In this reading there is no type of dialogue of his daughter speaking. The commas make a huge difference to ensure that this author includes plenty humor. He started talking about intimate moments with his wife and of course his daughter wouldn’t want to hear that. I enjoyed the part where he talked about Rwanda and Bosnia. How thousands of people were dying and nobody did anything about it. The author and his wife made a proposal to send “badass” soldiers. This showed that the author had thoughts about these horrible issues at the time. He personally thought that something had to be done about it and that it was not right. He focuses ever so often about how she making this possible cheese, sour cream, and jalapeno dip. He also talks about how himself and his wife changed so much in the world. From the ivy covered Cleveland to the fixing of the deadly disease of Aids. As I finished reading this story I felt like everything he talks about is something he wished he could fix, if not do. This is a pretty interesting and funny reading.
Eggers, Dave. “Your Mother And I.” How We Are Hungry. McSweeney’s 2002: 115-123. “Splatter: The Messy Art of Writing.” Web. 02, Feb. 2012 -
Anahi Perez
As soon as I hear the word activism I immediately think activist. Activist such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. Activism is when somebody stands up for change in society. Positive meaningful change. It isn’t the easiest thing to do. It requires dedication and motivation. The people who have completed changes have had such a positive impact on our society. A service, is to help, assist, and a helping hand. It its so much easier to help somebody or a group out, but so much harder to become an activist. In the article I read about the peace corps, Rajeev was both an activist and somebody who helped in service. He went around the world making such large impacts. He assisted those who needed help. It such a amazing feeling to realize that their is still people constantly giving a helping hand, and becoming active in changing our communities.
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Anahi Perez
Rajeev Goyal had now been added on “people who inspire me” list. This man has been an absolute angel in serving the word and people in need. One of our first class meetings professor McGuire wrote, “Can one person make a difference?” on the board. I responded with a yes. There a few people who have stood up to change horrible issues in the world, although some don’t succeed they never give up. Rajeev was a second generation Indian living in the United States. This only comes to show that our past immigrants are so beneficial to this country. I had heard minor details pertaining to the Peace Corps, but never knew the whole story behind it. In the reading the part that caught my heart the most was when President Kennedy went to Ann Arbor Campus. As I was reading it I would not have thought such a large amount of medical student would volunteer oversees. It just comes to show that people in this country care about the issues around the world. Ghana’s secondary education would have been completely shut down if it wasn’t for president Kennedy. Rajeev never gave up after he did one task, he kept on going. He went straight in to where he knew would make a difference, Washington D.C. It didn’t make any sense how the Peace Corps budget was so much less than the budget they had on war. Evils were extremely pricey. It angers me. Rajeev is such an inspiration, I hope people in our generation come to see that we could make a difference in making the world a better place.
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Anahi Perez
For my decision making on who would get to survive, prejudice never crossed through my mind. The brief descriptions on the individuals was not enough information. I came to a conclusion that for this activity it was sort of a trap. I didn’t pick the prostitute to live do the fact that I assumed she had a very bad mental history that she wouldn’t be capable of taking care of her baby. On the other hand I could had also been wrong about her. She could have had some type of rehab and established a family with the father of her child. I bases my decisions on a basis of equality. I did not kill Bobby Lang so that the remaining people could learn that these people with disabilities also deserve to live. They establish new learning experiences, and they are not in anyway different than we are. It would have been a lot easier if he had a very detailed description about these individuals. It is quite sad that we had to be chosen to eliminate people from their own life, but if it was in my hands I would have saved all of them.
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Anahi Perez
As I read Eggers “What it Means When a Crowd..” article it gave me instant chills. His very detailed writing shared emotions that the reader could vividly capture. It is very disturbing and uneasy to observe a photography of a dead soldier. Personally, death is a very downing subject, avoiding the subject alone. Continuously leaving and returning to the photograph showed that this man was deliberately thinking of it and as much as he tried to forget about it, he kept going back. The man asked himself where the citizens where at in the picture, in fact where were they? How could a corpse be left to die on the dirt ground beneath a truck. A soldier whose task was to serve and protect for his country. It was maybe an eye opener that a hero could end up in such terrible condition, is it even worth it? Capturing moments like these not only lead to a few questions but it leaves the mind wondering of what happened. A photograph only capture one specific moment and leaves the rest as a mystery. A soldier of possibly your own country should not be left unattended, only there to serve as a canvas. The man in felt indifferent about this picture but not bothered about a train derailing. Was it because there was no photograph of a dead body on the train? Was it because maybe this soldier under the automobile was someone he knew? This story ends with mind blowing questions that might possibly never be answered.
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Anahi Perez
The Evils of Life
The meaning of life has endless terms. Its meaning is extravagant and fragile. We live on this present day to take chances, to experience, and to make a difference. Life is a very powerful aspect of existence. Life can be easily harmed and taken away. I don’t believe in the perfection of life. Perfection extracts the educational values learned from mistakes through out our life time. Its meaning is a contribution of creation and existance. I live my life towards happiness, endless experiences, and positive outcomes.
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Alejandro Morales
I can tell by your writing in itself that you are a very strong believer in family. It obviously shows in your writing. You say that you would live for them, and you talk about the values and importance they have made in your life. The acts you make in your life are positive effects that are taken upon the benefits of your family. You even talk about how it would be selfish of yourself to not put them in your beneficial thoughts because of what they have done for you as a child. I personally cannot relate to you talking about how your older siblings stepped in for your parents. However, I am the oldest in my family and I have watched my siblings many times. Although at times we may fight, and have our disagreements, I think it really shows how much a family sticks together. Even through all the bullshit, we still go to one another for help. My favorite is your one line and it says, “Through out life friends, companions, and associates come and go but family will always be there.” My mom as we were growing up would always tell us, “Boyfriends, girlfriends, and friends will always come and go, but one thing that can never leave is family.” I can completely relate to your sentence and I 100% agree!
I did find something to be a little confusing in your paper. You put that you live for two things in life. Although both are great, I think you should bring one issue up and then focus on the other more. To me it seems like you live more for your family then for success. I know they can be very hard to choose one, but you should really look at it like you can only choose one. I’m not saying that success is less important than your family, and I’m not saying vice versa so please don’t be offended. I think it’ll just be a little clearer if you focus on one of the topics a little more than the other. However, feel free to say both. They are both very important values in your life.
Another part that was a little bit confusing was you dying for something. You showed that you really are not comfortable with the situation, but I don’t think you really addressed whether you would or would not die for something. You say the vision you had as a kid, but you never say if that has become your answer for today. If you don’t think that you would die for anything, then say that! Not everyone knows or would willingly die for something. Just to make it clearer I would give a straight answer to what you would die for, or that you wouldn’t for anything. To add on, if you wouldn’t for anything, then say why or talk about how that may change as you grow older. Talking about MLK was very good and it makes the reader really think about the issue of dying for something. I think if you use that first, then state your reflection of dying, then it would make it more understanding and influential.
From reading your writing I interpreted that you would be a very gentle-hearted person. You believed in forgiveness and sought to it many times. It shows how much your family means to you when you say that you couldn’t imagine yourself killing anybody because you believe in forgiveness. However, you go on to say that if you had to, then you would do it for the protection of your family. You also talk about the extremities the situation would have to be to even complete that.
Overall I think it was a very good piece! Your points are all in there and you can really see how much the values in your life mean to you. I think if you focus on some topics a little more, and rearrange the order you use examples and your response it can be even better. I enjoyed reading your work and I respect how much your family means to you. That is a huge factor in everyone’s life, and I don’t think people understand it fully sometimes. -
Arianna Wright
I really liked your hook, “the meaning of life has endless terms.” I agree with that because everyone has their own definition about what “life” means to them. We both definately live for for success and reaching our goals. “Failure should never be given as an option .” I’ve always heard that failure is not an option but it’s basically the same thing as you stated. I can also relate to you on the family because just like you my family is a very important part of my life as well. They are the basic foundation of who I am as a person today just like you said. I also liked the connection that you made between Martin Luther King and dying for what you believe in. Even he knew the dangers and risks of taking a stand he still continued to be a part of the Civil Rights Movement. Had he had backed out no telling where we would be.
Overall, I really enjoyed your paper, there was never a dull moment. You were very descriptive with your examples and you kept me interested.
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Anthony Stevens
I really liked your attention grabber and introduction because it sounds true “the meaning of life has endless terms.” i would agree because everyone has a definition of “life” in their own way and their own meaning of what life to them is. I also see that you definetly believe strongly in family. that strong belief definetly showed when you said it would be selfish to put yourself before your family. i also liked that you would die for your family’s protection. i would absoultly agree with you because i’m a big family person too and i would do anything to keep my family safe and they are the world to me. i relly liked how much you would do for your family and how much you care for them. i also liked your references to Martin Luther King and relating to the dying for what you believe in.
overall, i enjoyed reading your paper, it was always interesting. you are very descriptive and the whole paper kept me hooked in and intersted.
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Anahi Perez
Ecological literacy in my own interpretation is the continuing and positive connections that we personally contribute to our world but more specifically with our environment. We are influenced one way or another by our human surroundings. We constantly make daily choices to what positively strengthens us and our community without even knowing it. For example throwing out your garbage in the right container. Capra mentions that in order for one to be ecologically literate one must comprehend the basics of organization of our ecological communities (Capra p.81). We live in a world full of relationships, wether its a relationship one has with their friend or mother. We base our actions with the intention to affect others in a positive way, just the way our ecosystem works. Becoming literate in this subject is a very important feature in our lives, it affects not just us as a person but as a whole community. Keeping a small message of knowledge circulating through a social basis of how to live sustainably will definitely create awareness of our ecosystems. The term ecology pertains to the relationship of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings, Literacy is having knowledge within a specific area. In this short selection Capra mentions that “ecology emphasizes cooperation, conservation and partnership,” that summarizes not only how we should base our interactions with one another but a very powerful way to promote sustainability (Capra p. 84). I believe that in one way or another I am ecologically literate. Learning excess information on this term would not hurt it would only make the community and my surroundings stronger.
Capra, Fritjof. The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. New York: Anchor, 1996. Print. -
Anahi Perez
The grading contract is very to the point. There should be no issue on getting at least a B in the course.
Anthony Stevens, and 
Alejandro Morales are discussing. 
Dawn Murry are discussing. 
Melissa Castillo, 
Gregory Laurenzana and 2 others are discussing. 
Arianna Wright, 
Anahi Perez and one other person are discussing. 
Alejandro Morales 8:59 pm on April 23, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I like the way that you immediately start off the paper in a very personal manner. You start with yourself. Saying how YOU have always underestimated. YOU always wanted the newest ipod. YOU need shoes to match your dress and so on. In a paper that is about your feelings toward your experience that needs to be there. A lot of time people get off track and don’t even realize this is all about yourself and you have to be at the personal level. Your introduction paragraph is very good. I like how you give all these examples of yourself and how you were raised. You were not just given things to just get them. You still had to work for them, but nonetheless after you did what deserved, then you would receive a gift or an award.
The next paragraph is a pretty good transition from the first. You go into as you got older. The small details that you started to realize. For example, “Don’t throw away your food, there are kids in Mexico starving.” Things like that show your maturity level increasing and it proves that you are starting to see how the world is. It also continues to show how your parents raised you to be the woman you are today. In that very paragraph, you bring it all the way to pretty much the present. You talk about your geography class and about the famine around the world.
The transition to this paragraph I think could have been a little better. You all of a sudden talk about your group without ever acknowledging why to the reader. I think if you help introduce that a little better, then it can be a better transitioned paragraph. Other things that can help bring your paper on a more personal level are explaining why you wanted to do specific things. Such as strictly work with children at a hospital. You should talk about how you heard of the church. Who told you about, what did you hear about it, what did you think right when you heard about it? Things like that can help you really elaborate off the topic. When you do arrive there talk about how it was. Explain the atmosphere. Was it what you thought it would be? Did it look like an upper-class neighborhood? Did it look like it was a very poor town? Explain details like this. You say that you had a really easy job. Were you satisfied with it? Did you want to be doing something else? What were the other people doing? Although you felt it was an extremely easy job, how important was your job? Your next paragraph talks about “Su Casa” explain more about it. Talk about how she described it to you. Again your thoughts and things like that.
Overall your paper has a lot of personal events and well described things, but remember that you do not want to just give a diary entry of the day. Talk more about the facility and how you felt about it, not just what you did and how you did it.
Anthony Stevens 12:23 pm on April 24, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I like that you started your paper off with a very personal matter. You started your paper with yourself. Saying how you have allow A lot of time people get off track and don’t even realize this is all about yourself and you have to be at the personal level. Your introduction paragraph is very good. I like how you give all these examples of yourself and how you were raised. You were not just given things to just get them. You still had to work for them, but nonetheless after you did what deserved, then you would receive a gift or an award.
The next paragraph is a pretty good transition from the first. You go into as you got older. The small details that you started to realize. For example, “Don’t throw away your food, there are kids in Mexico starving.” Things like that show your maturity level increasing and it proves that you are starting to see how the world is. It also continues to show how your parents raised you to be the woman you are today. In that very paragraph, you bring it all the way to pretty much the present. You talk about your geography class and about the famine around the world.
The transition to this paragraph I think could have been a little better. You all of a sudden talk about your group without ever acknowledging why to the reader. I think if you help introduce that a little better, then it can be a better transitioned paragraph. Other things that can help bring your paper on a more personal level are explaining why you wanted to do specific things. Such as strictly work with children at a hospital. You should talk about how you heard of the church. Who told you about, what did you hear about it, what did you think right when you heard about it? Things like that can help you really elaborate off the topic. When you do arrive there talk about how it was. Explain the atmosphere. Was it what you thought it would be? Did it look like an upper-class neighborhood? Did it look like it was a very poor town? Explain details like this. You say that you had a really easy job. Were you satisfied with it? Did you want to be doing something else? What were the other people doing? Although you felt it was an extremely easy job, how important was your job? Your next paragraph talks about “Su Casa” explain more about it. Talk about how she described it to you. Again your thoughts and things like that.
Overall your paper has a lot of personal events and well described things, but remember that you do not want to just give a diary entry of the day. Talk more about the facility and how you felt about it, not just what you did and how you did underestimated.