Internship Readiness

For this module I plan to improve on the characteristics I haven't displayed. My evaluation said that I needed to stop side talking and participate more in class. At times I tend to not pay attention when I'm not engaging in the disscusion that is happening in class which is where I began to joke and side talk. I have sat down and made a plan on asking questions when I am unclear about something in class. I also plan to work on slant so I will appear engaged in the instructor is presenting at the time. One thing I noticed about my growth areas is that at times when I'm not engaged in the conversations it can come off as I don't care about what they have to say and that is not the impression

My best work experience

The best job I had was when I worked with the community of opportunities. Every day we had a different job assignment and every job we did was based on getting the community involved. I had one other person I worked who had a very difference in opinion than I did and I was very weird. The problem of us having a difference in the way we viewed life was really simple, I wanted to be rich and he really didn’t care for famous people and expensive cars. We did good work together and it slightly over shadowed what we worked on so it wasn't bad. Our bosses like the way we showed up to work on time and did every thing we were asked to do and sometimes more. We had two main bosses Mr. Green and Mr. Angelou. They had very different personalities Mr. Green was a retried war vetran who had a very distinctive way of communicating something to us. He would tell us stories about war and his experiences in other countries. Mr. Angelou was a family man who would sometimes bring his children by the office. What I can say about both of the is that enjoyed having us as employees around the office. The job lasted through the summer of 2009, the fact that is seemed to go by so fast was a little discouraging. For the final week of us working on the job they took us out to eat and bought us really nice suits. The suits they gave us were about $500 a piece and that was a discount to what they really would have costed. In conclusion, the job taught me to get along with people and make it work when it seems that it may not.                

Occupy and Great Depression

I think the image is a direct match to what is going on because of the economic situation. In the middle the image shows a man in black standing over all the bodies and in every political movement you see a group of cops standing over the minorities. At the bottom of the picture I see another picture of someone (in black) standing in front of people as if he is guarding them. In a symbol, I see this as how every time there is a revolution the people with power tend to hide behind the police and bars that keep the minorities away from them. Those people in my eyes are seen as cowards because the people who are protesting and dying are the ones who have the heart to speak out about what they feel and the people with power don't seem to meet the needs of the protestors. The fact the people have power and they do unethical things with it shows that the government is corrupt.

My bigggest Inspiration...My Auntie Ruby

My auntie Ruby is the oldest of my grandmothers children. She works as a director of a hospital near Los Angeles and every time we go to visit her I have a good time. Normally it's my sister, mother and I who take about five hours to drive down to Los Angeles. Recently for my senior graduation, my two younger cousins and my Auntie came out here and we had a good time. They stayed at our house for three days and I was able to catch up on all the things that were going on in their lives as well as mine. When I get to spend time with my auntie and my younger cousins it's always fun because her job moves her a lot so I do not visit with them as often as some of my other relatives that live in San Francisco. In my lifetime I think she's lived in a total of six places and when she lived in San Francisco I was one years old.
    One thing that inspires me about my auntie is the fact that she has always managed to be on her feet and not ask anyone for money. When I was younger my mother and I had struggles and we had to barrow money from my aunt to get back on our feet and she was there to help us. The money was what I saw until I got older, I realized that she didn't nag us to give it back. When we got on our feet we returned it money wasn't a problem. She has always been able to keep a nice car, nice home and keep money in the bank when she wants take a vaction or do a family event. When I'm unsure if I want to complete a task she gives me the type of perspective I need to get me back on track and focused on what need to be doing. For example, when she came out here for my graduation she asked me if Year Up would help me suceed in the future in the field I want to be in when I go to college. At first I signed up to get college credit, and I had no idea on what I wanted major in. I had a conversation with her with my aunt and she asked me if I was prepared to endure the things that go on in the real world. I couldn't answer that question, because I'm fresh out of high school and I have a lot to learn. She recognized that and gave me tips on what I can do to be ready. It's the best advice I've recieved all year and that's why my aunt Ruby is my biggest inspiration.

My Community

This community I chose to talk about is my sports community. In high school, I played football and it was such an experience for me. The TV shows I watched never prepared me for the type of team I played for, reality hit me fast when I got there and met everyone. The coaches were hard on me, but a times it didn't seem like it was for the best reasons. I went into high school a little nieve thinking that because I played sports a lot of things were given to me and things would be great. I'l keep it real short and simple, but playing football tought me a lot of skills that I will keep for the rest of my life.

Module One Reflection

Pluses:

• Got enough sleep
• Showed up everyday 
• Completed all of my assignments on time
• Did well speaking in front of the class 
• Inter acted with people of older age groups 

Deltas:

• Procrastination
• Studying
• Infractions
• Failed Final
• Participation

From Hunters Point to Diamond Heights

I've heard terms like, "It's not where you come from it's where you’re going." Well I would have to agree with that statement. Where you come from shapes who you are as a person, but it doesn't always dictate where you will end up in life. I watch a lot of movies about people who make it out of  bad neighborhoods and become famous or get into a good college. Black people that gain wealth in the world and often times change the type of people they hang out with and even the way they talk. In one person’s eye speaking proper may be considered to be “white washed” and that person may just be educating themselves. When I was in middle school and in high school classmates would call me white boy, but what they didn’t understand  is the way you talk doesn’t dictate who you are as a person.  There are so many different sterotypes and trends about living in the hood. That the odds are against those trying to get out and move to higher living. If you watch movies like Boyz n the Hood or ATL, the young men coming up always face a number of challenges in order to get to the position of success.

                I grew up in Bayview Hunters Point and I saw many things that help me make better decisions now. I remember a time when I was at Raging Waters and a lot of people from my neighborhood were there and it was two different groups didn’t that get along. A fight began and people were arrested because one guy snuck a shotgun into the building. He was immediately put into handcuffs and taken away by the police. What I witnessed was worse than the guy pulling out a weapon, a woman was body slammed by the police and maced by the cops for trying to get her son out of the way. Even though they apologized it still angered me because they assumed she was involved.    

Response to Poverty Business

I think the companies are destroying the opportunity divide by taking advantage of those who do not have resources to search information themselves. One common thing I noticed about the victims of the being charged high interest rates is the access to computers.  By reading this article it reminded me of a saying that I hear often called, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” Simply that means that the way the system is built it’s meant to keep people from ever crossing that opportunity bridge. I do not understand why you would charge people a higher interest rate the less money they have. It’s the same as me saying the shorter you are the bigger the pants I will give you. The only reason I would do something like that is if I have no intentions on really helping you find the right pants in the first place. It’s corporation’s responsibility to inform the costumer on what they are signing and the options they have when they buy from the company. For a long time companies have falsified information and they really don’t get n trouble about it, because of these advertisement rules to where they can limit the amount of information they give about a product. That isn’t fair that a lot of people get tricked into buying a car or signing a phone contract where they own a lot of money. I would also add on that it’s just as much our responsibility to read up on a product or company so we don’t end up in those kinds of situations. In the article Vincent Humphries (a former Blue Hippo costumer) quoted, “I should have done my homework.” Which means that he should have did a little research before he went through with Blue Hippos.         

All About Me

I have many interests and hobbies that I like to do outside the professional world. When I'm not doing homework or any projects I like to turn on the TV and catch as many episodes of the Degrassi as I can. This past summer I stared watching the show and I got really into it because it has a lot of drama and things that really happen in high school. When I'm watching TV Degrassi is not the only thing I like to watch, when I can I watch Sports Nation, Espn First Take and Nfl Total Access. I know what you're thinking there all sports show, but you right they are. I watch these shows because they talk about my favorite sport football, but because I like how they debate at who's the best Quaterback, Widereciever etc. Some of the analysts on the show don't really know what they're talking about but it's okay because I get a kick out of watching them make a fool of themselves. Not only do I like watching football and sports shows, but I love to play with friends on the weekends. Every other weekend I go up to Hayward with a friend to play flag football or tackle and I have a great time.

Strange! Random Birds drop dead!

This incident has happen two southern states; Arkansas and Louisiana. On January 1, 2011 residents in Arkansas woke up the morning with a 1,000 red-winged birds dead on streets, lawns and rooftops. The night before birds had dropped dead out of the sky. Motorist had a hard time driving down the street without running over or hitting the birds that were dropping dead. When reporters found out the news they interviews residents that lived in the area and a lot said they either thought it was raining or it was fireworks from New Year Eve. Some also made conspiracies about that the world would come to an end in the year 2012. After the reporters gathered information they came up with a theory that the birds dropping dead could be from being struck by lightning or of high altitude hail. When theories were made people believed they could have been hit in the air. Again, on January 4, 2011 in the state of Louisiana the same phenomenon happen. More birds were found and residents once again had no clue of what was going on. The previous incident was not yet cleared, because the birds had not yet been examined and this was the second time it had happen. Residents were upset because the birds also fell on property like cars, motorcyles and from lawns. Finally, the birds from Arkansas were sent to Georgia and Wisconsin. The out of state officals concluded, the birds were suffering head trauma from the New Year’s celebration and they were hitting buildings. The death of the birds came from a the loud fireworks on New Years. I posted a link if you would like more information of the invent. http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/04/dead-birds-in-arkansas-and-other-stuff-haarp-has-been-blamed-for/

Expectations at Philip and Sala Acedemic High School

High school was an up and down road for me. In my first year I had many teachers who were nice but when it came to the grades I did not catch on that easily. The highest GPA I had that year was a 3.0 and the lowest was a 1.87. I had many struggles teaching whom not to hang out with and turning all of my work in on time. I would say my freshman year was my worst academic year, but it was the best time partying with a lot of the upper classmen. I came back with the mentality that my grades were going to be up and I would have a good football season. I thought that until report cards came out and my GPA was once again a 1.87. The next semester cam around and got the hang of it I ended the school year with a 3.57 GPA. My junior year began and I had two honors class and an AP class. My junior year my grades were good, althought sports was horrible. My senior year my grades were a 2.0 average until I slipped at the end back to a 1.87.

Language Growing-Up

Coming up in the neighborhood I lived in it was different learning proper English in a neighborhood where nobody really spoke it. When I was younger my mom would always correct me on the type of words I used like "aint" and "mines", but I didn't understand why she would always corrects me because all the others kids I played outside with would use it and there mothers never corrected them. At times I used to think she was doing it to be mean. When I was in fourth and fifth grade I played basketball for a youth league team and everybody called me "White Boy" because the way I talk. It didn't hurt my feelings or anything, but after a while people tried to label me based on the way I talked and considered me to be soft. I didn't have many friends and I ended up quitting because too many fights with other teammates. Then I transferred to a another Elementary that was mostly Spanish speaking. I never learned to speak Spanish, but it was totatly different speaking proper because I never had any problems with it. I learned my first Spanish song La Bamba and I heard others sing songs I had heard in English, but because of the melody I knew what song they were singing. It was a different environment for me and not only was I surrounded by a language but culture as well.