As low as the ground

My head was spinning, the air was quite warm yet the bus drive was a good one. I was sitting next to my good friend  and we were having our daily bus conversation. We usually talk about anything that comes to mind...classes, homework, boys, friends, the community etc.

I saw from the window to my left 2 men sitting on the dirt floor and a women on her dirty foldable chair. They were wearing work clothes, boots, bandanas, and hats. I automatically felt a rage cover me like a blanket.

One of the men was kneeling while he munched on his food after a hard day of labor, the other man sat on the dirt floor, and the women on her foldable chair. They all ate their food and talked on the dirt floor, outside, while the dirt wind was hitting their faces and their food. There were no faucets with clean water around, no chairs, no benches, no sanitation, no rights...

The dirt was their support. They seemed so low on the floor as I looked down at them. They were tired. They cannot complain. They speak and deported they will be. Stripped from their human rights in broad daylight what joy it is...To see your own people eating on the dirt fields, to see the injustice and the oppression....to see them as low as the ground goes.

Compassion Project

Today I would like you to ask yourself when if ever where you sat down and taught how to be compassionate?

Exactly...Now my question to you is how do you practice something you have never learned? How do you become good at it?
I am not sure I can answer this for you but I'll give you a head start.

The truth is in order to show compassion and/or to be compassionate you really have to think about it. Yes, you have to think about it.

Try to recall a moment in which you were not at the center of?

"Think about it: there is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of. The world as you experience it is there in front of YOU or behind YOU, to the left or right of YOU, on YOUR TV or YOUR monitor. And so on. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real." - David Foster Wallace

You see our natural default is to fall back on our feelings and how they are the most important in the world.

Think about school for instance.  You are walking into your classroom and you have to take a test for AP Economics, or Chemistry or Calculus and you are stressed out and confused and you are mad at your parents and siblings, because they did not turn off the television when you asked them to last night so you could not prepare for the test properly so you are tired and confused. And you are wondering how this subject is ever going to help you in life and you hate everyone around you. And then you have to sit on a dirty tagged up desk and a seat that makes you butt ache. Then you walk out to the hall and in front of you is a person walking as slow as a turtle and I mean it is not like you have to go to your next class right? And what about the stupid people to your right talking about how wasted they got the other day and who they had sex with. And you're angry and frustrated, because you have to get to your next class.  And the boy next to you is speaking spanish and you are irritated and all you want to do is punch someone. The noise level is so loud and all you want to do is drown everybody out and then someone bumps you with their backpack and they say sorry in the most fake voice ever and you glare at them with a glare of death...and then there is the girl laughing hysterically with all her friends and you are wondering what the hell is funny? because to you nothing is funny at the moment. And you are thinking about the crowded hall and you are wondering how many of the people around you are actually going to college anyways and you are thinking  how all these stupid people are in YOUR way. All you are really thinking about is YOUR anger and YOUR tiredness and YOUR needs...

Have you ever stopped to think  that maybe it was not them in your way, but you in theirs?

Beginning to Live

Wrote this poem last year.
Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's "If" poem.

Dedicated to all of us who think we really are living...

If you can bring yourself down

When you are high above

If you can pick yourself up

When everyone you trusted had the fault

If you can smile a real smile

When everything around makes you frown

If you can trust yourself

When everyone doubts you

If you can give respect

Without asking for any in return

If you can love yourself

With out seeing any beauty

If you can work hard

Without damaging your good mood

If you can keep yourself together

Without destroying  anyone or anything

If you can see hope

Where there is no light

If you can lend a hand

Where there is no help

If you can make others smile

When you smile

If you can love

When you have been neglected

If you can laugh where there is silence

If  you can find God

Where there is only darkness

And be able to walk

without having to drag your feet

then my love

is when you will begin to live.

For Food

I wrote this poem sometime last year.
It was inspired by a friend.

Dedicated to: All of the hard working people that do the impossible to have food in their hands for their families.



The glimpse of innocence
The eyes of truth
The bright Smile
Yet a childhood struggle

Why?
Why is it?
That a seven year old child
Has to work
That a six year old girl
And her four year old sister
Play instruments
And sing in the street
To gain
No
To earn money
To buy food
To eat

Necessity is becoming too common
The struggle is spreading further
But why?
Why?
To our children
Our Innocence
Our happiness

My ungrateful heart breaks
My knees go weak
And my selfish mind crumbles

Work is being instilled in them at such a young age
5,6,7,8
and here they are taking grown up task
caring their cross
and their crown

…to eat!
To taste! Eat! Fulfill!
Eat! Taste! Eat! Fulfill!
Taste!
For FOOD

Sucking the life out of me

How do you give hope when you are running out
and faith. What does that even mean?
What do you do when you yourself have doubt
I think you keep giving, but i'm just a teen

And when they turn to me
I look down for I have run out of words
there is nothing here to see
and that's when I approach the lord

How can I be the rock that others lean on?
How do I keep myself from  grumbling?

I search for the answers in the dark moon
but still I find the concept puzzling.


Today I ask you that you look at yourself and you ask yourself...How is my life? Do I like what I am doing? What can I do to make my life enjoyable? I find myself being very frustrated this week. Maybe it's finals week and the stress that comes with it or maybe i'm at the top of my limit. I enjoy helping others, but there are certain times when I feel like I give and all the person wants in return is more of my attention. I do not ask for anything in return, but I do wish to be given a break. I mean how do you give to someone who seems to drag you down with them, to someone who seems to suck the life out of you?

Feel free to comment to the post.
Much appreciated.

LIFE AFTER THIS BLOG POST

Today I wrote myself an e-mail that I will receive on September 20th, 2014. During this time I will most likely be starting my first few day on a college campus. I will have mixed feeling about the whole situation for sure. In my letter I told myself that I have to keep working hard, believe in myself and remember to live day-in and day-out aware of the life I am going to be living.

These are things I have to constantly remind myself to do so I decided to remind myself then. By that time I hope I have a better grip on life than I do now. That sounds kind of bizarre. How do you get a better grip on life when it seems like it is flying by?

In this letter I am basically just motivating myself to live a good life and to take time for myself.
I want to live a fulfilling life and around this time (Sep. 20th, 2014) is when I will begin the journey to become a great human being.

THE BULLYING EXPERIMENT!

This video made quite an impact on me. The amount of people that let the bullying continue astonished me. I am very surprised, but now I know why bullying is still around.
Your silence will not protect you.

Lit. analysis: Great Expectations

Check out our blog here:

I CAN READ

Yay it finally uploaded!

Practice Essay: The prisoner's prison

          The full book shelves near the door, the blank white boards, the music disk and graffiti covered wall frightened the prisoner. He had no idea what he had gotten into. No other classroom looked the way this one did. In fact no other classroom was mentioned and talked about so much as this one was. As the prisoner walked into the intimidating looking place he sat down not to far from the front, but not to close to the back, about the middle to be more accurate. The man near the desk spoke about some big question the prisoner was supposed to come up with. To be quite honest the prisoner was astonished. He had never been asked what he was curious about at school. He was told that the answer for most things would be a yes rather than a no. He was told that he was in control of the classroom and that he would have to take advantage of his learning. The prisoner could not understand anything that was being thrown at him. He went home confused and intimidated. He wondered if he was in the right class. He had never in the history of his schooling been told that he was in control of his thinking and learning. He had never been in an English course like this one.
          This prisoner stuck to the course. He was the prisoner that was strong enough to leave the cave that captured him. Even though in other classes the cave was still present, in English there were no boundaries. The escaping prisoner was dumfounded that he could even think in so many different ways and learn so much in so little time. He told the cave students about it, but they did not understand. They nodded their heads the other way and apologized. They felt sorry for the escaping prisoner and all of the hard work and effort he was putting into that class. They did not understand that whom they should really feel sorry for was themselves. The prisoner had escaped the routine of thinking. He has escaped the cave.
          In the “Allegory of the Cave” the tone is dark and bitter. The theme can easily be argued, but I found it to be the fear of the unknown and what is already known. The escaped prisoner decided to take the opportunity to enlighten himself through an English class. When he tried to tell his peers about thinking and viewing things from different perspectives they did not really accept him. The prisoner in my story is much like the prisoner in the allegory, because he is rejected when he tries to guide the other prisoners to the light. He is seen as the crazy one.
          The prisoner in my story compared to the Estella in “ No Exit” is very well aware of his surroundings unlike Estella. They are both alike in the fact that they initially thought they did nothing wrong. They did not want to recognize that something in their life was off. The prisoner being his way of thinking, his ignorance and Estella being her desire for men. If Estella was stuck in the situation that my prisoner was stuck in she would probably drop out of the English course and continue to deny any of her wrong doings. She would go on living day in and day out doing as she pleased and not taking in to consideration what the world has to offer.

Thinking outside the box

Plato's Allegory of the cave was very different from Sartre's No Exit. Though they could both be argued to be a description of hell, Plato focused on the darkness and inability to see much while Sartre focused on the light and how painfully cruel it can be.

The theme of Plato's Allegory of the cave is the fear of what is unknown and what is already known. The theme is knowledge. In No Exit the theme is people paying for their sins. It is hell and torture.

The tone in the allegory was very dark and eerie while the no exit tone is hateful, painful, lustful and aware.

As for characterization in the allegory there was only two characters Socrates and Glaucan. Socrates served as the teacher, the free man, and the guide to leave ignorance while Glaucan was the student like character. In No Exit the four characters seemed to have problems of their own. Ines was very daring, outspoken and quite witty. Estelle on the other hand is quite the attention holder. She is very needy and will do anything to have Garcin sleep with her. Garcin is an uncaring man, he is quite the flirt when it comes to women. He also shows some of his insecurity in the text.

Allegory of the cave takes place in a dark cave where physical torture is actually present.The prisoners shell is not being able to think think like a free man. Of course for them it is not hell for they know nothing more.  In No Exit the hell they live in is a room full of light and furniture. Their help does not consists of any physical torture. Their torture is the presence of each other.

NOTES ON NO EXIT AND TEXT QUESTIONS DOWN BELOW

Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address: Inspiring :)

1. Connect the dots.  You have to trust that the dots will connect down the road.

2. You've got to find what you love.

3. "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."

4. "Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

5. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

No Exit Notes+ Questions

NOTES:

Characters:
• Valet
• Garcin: He is in hell because he slept around with other women and did not pay much attention to his wife.
• Estelle: She killed/aborted her baby? Had interest in many men.
• Inez: She is a lesbian and was a very cruel person.

Hell:
• The room itself
• People are hell
• There is no physical torture, but the people give each other a hard time, they are each other’s hell.
• It is a room full of furniture and all door are locked
• No sleeping
• Pure light

The outside world:
• Each character could see what people in their past are doing on earth. It is part of the torture. They can see but cannot say anything.
• They suffer in silence while seeing the other person’s actions and how they talk about them (the dead ones).

Lust:
• Estelle desires Garcin.
• They are planning to make love in front of Inez.
• Inez convinces Garcin not to. She tells him that Estelle is lying to him and only telling him what he want to hear and not the truth.
• They have various arguments
• Estelle and Garcin try to escape and kick Inez out, but that fails.


Thoughts:
• Light = awareness
• Contradictory: light in a room where no one is able to escape. How does the light portray awareness and knowledge in a place where people are damned?
• Can the characters really see what is going on in the world even though they are in hell?


TEXT QUESTIONS:


1.Think about the place you have chosen as your hell. Does it look ordinary and bourgeois, like Sartre's drawing room, or is it equipped with literal instruments of torture like Dante's Inferno? Can the mind be in hell in a beautiful place? Is there a way to find peace in a hellish physical environment? Enter Sartre's space more fully and imagine how it would feel to live there endlessly, night and day:
The hell I have chosen is similar to Dante’s inferno. It is a place without any disguise. I believe the mind can be in hell in a beautiful place. The mind works in such ways that it can easily ruin the mood you are in with the constant thinking it does. It can be your worst enemy no matter if you are in the most beautiful place on earth. Just like you can find hell in a beautiful place you can find peace in a hellish place. You use the mind to your advantage. Sartre’s space seems like a fancy place to be in. If I was stuck in that room I would find a way to keep myself sane though I do not guarantee staying sane.

2.Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break? Are variety, moderation and balance instruments we use to keep us from boiling in any inferno of excess,' whether it be cheesecake or ravenous sex?
Hell can be described as too much of something without a break. I believe it is too much suffering without a break, too much burning without a break, etc. Hell is definitely a place in which everything happens without a break.

3.How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feels like to stay awake all the time with the lights on with no hope of leaving a specific place? How does GARCIN react to this hell? How could you twist your daily activities around so that everyday habits become hell? Is there a pattern of circumstances that reinforces the experience of hell?

Sartre allows the reader to experience the place by the way Garcin is speaking and asking questions frantically. You get a sense that the place is torture itself. Lately I have not gotten much sleep. When this happens my eyes feel swollen, I am bit grumpy and not in the mood for many things. That alone is hell I do not know what not sleeping at all would be called. Daily activities like going to certain classes everyday, or doing chores, or waking up early or doing homework could easily be interpreted as hell. I have heard conversations in which I hear that a certain class was hell or a test or final was hell etc. When calling something hell people mean that the work or situation was a drag, time consuming, difficult, uncomfortable, etc.

Think about it

What motivates you?
What allows you to keep going when you are tired and worn out and just done with everything? Is it the cups of coffee or is it the fire inside of you? Is it for your parent's satisfaction or is it for your benefit? Why do you do what you do?
Just sit down, stop what you are doing and think about these questions. You might be surprised for whom and why you are doing what you are doing?

Thoughts on “What Makes a Hero?”

"Was carrying out one transcendent, self-abnegating act the only way to achieve heroic status? Or could you assemble a heroic identity like a puzzle, piece by piece, over time?"

transcendent: beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience

self-abnegating: the denial of one's own interest in favor of the interests of others

In other words: Is doing something extraordinary and self-less the only way to become a hero or can you create a heroic identity step by step?

To be a hero, "historically, you have to have some special skill that goes above and beyond what ordinary people have. That's a leftover from our distant past," Franco says. "We've moved form that position. What we're saying is that ANYONE can be a hero."

I believe that hero does not really know he is a hero until someone points it out to them. A hero does not have to be some super power, magical person. To me a hero is assembled piece by piece, some are assembled better than others and some are not assembled at all, but bottom line is that anyone can become a hero. 

How exciting! :)

Good luck on becoming a hero! 

ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE SONNET

The Allegory of the cave, my eyes did open
The prisoner seemed like you and I
until we became outspoken
they stayed in the cave instead of saying goodbye

It was not their fault, that was their normal
but we refuse to be trapped
for that is infernal
poor prisoners for they were blacked

The dark cave, ignorance it was
the restraining shackles
but still they did not buzz
it was a battle

A battle between fear of the unknown and what is known
but  knowledge, we decided, we could not let go.

BRAIN WITH [8] LEGS

Izamar, Miranda, Nakesha and I are going to be reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.

We plan on reading 40 pages a night to be done by December 1st.

We also plan on creating a separate blog for our conversations and discussions on the novel.
Our blog should be up and running by this friday. On the blog we will include our summaries, what we understood and what we did not, questions and anything that helps us understand the text better.

Don’t drown in your selfishness

There is no them

There is no me 

but

There is us. 

David Foster Wallace’s question is engraved in my head; What is water? As I think about this question I think of living an aware, educated and compassionate life. If we could stop being so wrapped up in our own worlds and paused to think about water and what it is we would live in a much more humane, just and compassionate world.

Water is what we live in, it is the norm therefore many stare blankly when asked what is water? To become better people we must know what water is. We must be aware, compassionate and selfless. We should be able to pause and lend a helping hand, a good ear, and/or a warm comment.

I firmly believe that we will not be able to know what water is until we are conscious of others and their lives. I am very disturbed by the fact that some of us can get through our day with out asking how are you? Can I do something for you?  Or Are you okay? It is quite ridiculous how little time we spent trying to understand other’s lives. That is not our job, but that does not mean we should not take some time to do so.

There is no you.

There is no me.

There is us.

And 

This is water. 

DON’T DROWN IN YOUR SELFISHNESS. 

What a great way to spread germs :)

Apparently it is not just me

I wake up and I get ready and drag myself to the bus stop. When I am at school I have such a good and positive attitude. I have a front that is unbreakable and quite resistant. When I get home I find myself in a much less positive attitude. In fact I am more easily irritated and angered. I crumble little by little and before I know it that school mode face has crumbled.

WHY IS IT THAT WE ARE MORE EASILY AGGRAVATED WHEN ALONE?
Does the thick skin wear out when we get home?

I had a conversation with a couple of my colleagues about the topic and they promised me I was not the only one going through this weird habit. Some said that the fact that their is company at school and people who are going through the same things we are is comforting and allows them to keep themselves together. Some people even thanked me for asking them how they felt. Sometimes that is exactly what you need to do...just talk about it.

Can this be considered as hypocritical behavior? Is it fair that our family and the people at home get the leftover energy of us?

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
The Allegory of the cave represents everything that inhibits someone from being free.  It is everything that does not allow someone to think for them selves or to practice something else other than the norm. It represents the dogma that many people are trapped in.

2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
The darkness, shackles, cave, and mentioning of the shadows create an image for the reader. These elements set an area of eeriness and distinct image for the reader. These elements are the symbols for restriction, being naïve and ignorant. The shadows represents everything they do not understand. The sun represents the light and the freedom of being able to think freely.

3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
It suggest that so many people are so afraid of coloring outside of the lines that they get stuck in dogma all their life. The freed prisoner is the opportunity in the allegory. He is the opportunity that many people in our society refuse to take. The process of enlightenment and education is very long, but if accepted is very rich and fulfilling.

4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
The shackles and cave suggest that the prisoners are unable to break away from their routine. They are unable to look past what they are and where they are because all their life they have known nothing but that. The prisoners are naïve and unaware of the world outside of their own little bubbles.

5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
Structure and being told there is only one answer are the biggest shackles in daily life. For as long as I can remember I have been told to do as the teacher says and to organize my notebook and school work a certain way, the right way. I have been trapped in other people’s opinions or thoughts on something because I have been told that their thoughts are the rights ones. Well, can’t my ideas and thoughts be right too? Many may read this question and say no, but when I look at it I see opportunity to think differently and think yes. Steve Job once said, “Don't be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.” The shackles are the opinions of others that drown our own.

6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
I believe the freed prisoner is struck by the unwillingness of the cave prisoner to leave. He cannot grasp in his head why the cave prisoner would not like to be free. He has forgotten what it was to have a limited, structured, habitual, and dark life.

7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
One is the outside of the cave. At first there is confusion, but within time freedom is found. Th second is returning into the cave. The ex-prisoner could not grasp how the others can bear stay in the cave. He is isolated and criticized for not being naive/ignorant like them (prisoners).


8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners’ get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
Prisoners get free by breaking away from structure. They get free by leaving behind the cave, by leaving behind whatever inhibits them to be free. This suggests that intellectual freedom allows the person to be more creative and open-minded. It allows a person to free him/her self from habit and structure.

9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
I believe there is a difference between appearances and reality. An appearance is something seen, but not everything we see is real. The allegory says that knowledge is created by what is real, not by what you see, by the sciences not the senses.

10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
Metaphysical: relating to things that are thought to exist but that cannot be seen.
The alternative is that people will believe everything they see and everything they see will be a reality for them. The only learning experience would be from what they see.

Another day, another question.

Why is it that when you look in the mirror you do not see what others see in you? How is it possible that people see more in you or less than you see in yourself?

How can someone's faith in you be bigger than what you have ever had for yourself? Do not get me wrong it is a total blessing, but how do you live up to those extremes?
The thought of someone having so  much confidence and pride in you is ridiculous. I can' t even grasp the idea of someone liking me more than myself. I mean isn't that essentially what it is. Someone having higher goals and expectations than you ever had for yourself. It is driving me crazy!

Maybe that is why mirrors only allow you to see the outside of yourself. Maybe the point is to search inside of yourself and find who you are.
What is so special about you?
What makes you stand out?

brain with 200 legs 2.0: mindmaps & strategy

3. Speaking of collaborating I think I would contribute if I had partners to do it with. We should get into groups in our class and compare and contrast or mindmap websites and pick the best one. From the best one we can talk to our class and then to all the other classes. Together we can agree on one and use it for our benefit.

4. Edraw: I liked Edraw because it has exemplar templates and diagrams we can use. It has a very organized layout and I believe it is free.
http://www.edrawsoft.com/freemind.php

Mindomo: It is great it allows the user to share videos and use links. It allows the user to post pictures and record sound.
http://www.creazaeducation.com/this-is-creaza/Mindomo

5. My 6,128 Favorite Books:
I love this article!
(In progress)

WE HANG TOGETHER

Survival of the Interdependent
• “We depend on other people for our very existence and survival”
• Darwin-survival of the fittest = most interdependent people
• Build effective relationships with people
• To strengthen business leaders you must understand nature of working with people and with organization
• Key factors: trust and communication


American Culture and the fallacy of “going it alone”
• Students are taught to do things on their own
• One against the world mentality
• One needs to build relationships, and needs to depend on others
• People do best when collaborating with others and depending on them
• People build up or sink a project, partnership etc.
• It all lies on the people and how good or bad they are at collaborating


Values of strategic relationships
• Now people are more self centered than ever
• If relationship/collaboration formed both parties need give/put of their part
• Relationships are much more short term now then they were before


Capacity and building
• Online community = company’s space


The technique of the marketplace
• We need each other
• Interdependence is more effective
• There is a need to connect with real people and real places

PV jinx day tally

Today is PV jinx day. As I walk around the halls I see girls with money pinned to them and/or wearing shirts addressing the $10 fellatio scandal last year. Is it offensive or funny?
Some t-shirts said: I'll do anything for $10" or offered a special menu to choose from. Is this degrading the school or is it just plain old fun?  I decided to ask my 12 classmates. The tally came down to...9 people thinking it was offensive and 3 people thinking it was funny.

I guess this is what it takes to get medical attention!

Indigenous Women gives birth outside of Hospital in Oaxaca.

Mail Online:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2451618/Mexican-woman-gives-birth-clinic-LAWN-treatment-denied.html

USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/10/09/woman-denied-help-gives-birth-on-a-hospital-lawn/2955209/

SanDiegoRed.com
http://www.sandiegored.com/noticias/44288/Woman-gives-birth-in-a-hospital-front-yard-after-she-was-denied-medical-service/

Irma Lopez of 29 years old went to the hospital to give to her baby boy. At the hospital she was denied service because she was only 8 months and according to the nurse not ready to give birth. There was also said that there was a language barrier between the nurse and Irma. All Irma understood was the word no. as her husband pleaded inside Irma went to the lawn and waited in pain. According to the hospital they were also very busy and unable to help. About an hour later Irma gave birth to her baby boy Salvador on the hospital lawn. Without any help. Alone. In public.

When I heard the news on the television I stopped what I was doing and I asked out loud what? what the he**? They denied her service why? The anger rushed in easily. I quickly typed in the case on the internet and read and skimmed different sources on the case. My question is why would a nurse tell a women she is not ready to have her baby? Is it not the mom that feels when she is going to have her baby? The women can feel when she is about to dilate. The nurses job is to care for the patient. No excuses. No personal opinion.

The nurse blamed the situation on a language barrier and a busy day in the rural hospital. Does misunderstandings and busy work days give the hospital a free pass? What is this monopoly? There is no get out of jail free card in the hospital!

Many are saying that this case can be seen as an act of racism because not many pay attention to the indigenous people. They are considered low class in the Mexican hierarchy. It is arguable.

I understand that language can be a huge barrier, but that is why we have hands and eyes and bodies. Not all communication is done with words. The nurse could have offered her a room with clean sheets to lay down on. I understand that due to the busy schedule in the hospital that day the nurse might have been under a lot of pressure and frustration, but there was no need to deny Irma. On the other hand I wonder why Irma did not insist more on having the proper care. Why did she just walk outside? Was she frustrated? Did she believe that she would get the hospital's attention that way?

This is a topic that can be looked at in many different ways. It can be argued and debated many times and each time will have slightly different conclusions.

What has happened to humanity? To dignity? How do you say no to a mother ready to give birth? How do you blame your actions on a busy work schedule and language?

Busy.
Language Barrier.
A baby born outside a hospital Lawn.
I guess that is what it takes to get medical attention!

SONNET ANALYSIS #1

Big Question: Why is it that people in society are intensely interested in pleasing others and/or fitting in to the "perfect" world society has drawn for us? Why the desire to live in that world?

Sonnet 141: http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/141

In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes, 

For they in thee a thousand errors note;

But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,

Who, in despite of view, is pleased to dote.

Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted;

Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone,

Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited

To any sensual feast with thee alone:

But my five wits nor my five senses can

Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee,

Who leaves unswayed the likeness of a man,

Thy proud heart's slave and vassal wretch to be:

  Only my plague thus far I count my gain,

 That she that makes me sin awards me pain.



Interpretation:
I do not love you on the outside, not with my eyes for I see faults in you. I like you, but I despise your image.

When hearing your name I am not delighted, nor do I feel a tender or sensual pull towards you.

Despite this I am still your servant, I cannot escape that.

I only gain one thing from you. You are the women that makes me sin and rewards me with pain.


In my big question I state my frustration by asking why people are people pleasers. I ask why the world we live in has shaped our perception of many things. This sonnet is focused on outer beauty and the physic of a women. The reader recognizes that the narrator is degrading the women he is talking about. The women is unlike any other women. She is ugly, the sound of her voice is unpleasant, she is not desired yet there is something about her that forces the narrator to stay close to her. It is something not even he could fully explain.

In our world today we have media telling us how we should look and what we should wear. The media lets us know that in order to be pleasant and fit into their perfect little world is to look and dress a certain way. It has taught young women to strive to look one way, and young men to fish for that perfect all over girl; nothing more and nothing less. Nothing and nobody else matters. In the sonnet the narrator is focused on the physic of the women, and last comes her power, heart and personality. The fact that the women is not really present in the sonnet may be a coincidence, but I take it as another point to support my thoughts. The women has no say, she lives to please the man for what he is looking for first is outer beauty. Our media is to blame.

A POETIC INQUIRY

Thought Process: As I thought about what topics could make a connection with my big question I skimmed my brain and did not get to far. I thought about sonnet 65 and all of the sonnets we read in AP Spanish Literature last year and I smiled, because I knew I was not going to start my homework with a blank mind. I typed in Sonnets on Google and of course many sources popped up. I typed in the key words “pleasing people” and sonnet 141 and sonnet 130. I chose Sonnet 141. 

HAMLET REMIX

       1ST ATTEMPT: Hamlet's character uses three languages to get his ideas, thoughts and actions across. These languages consist of, locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary force. Locutionary is when Hamlet speaks of his plans, he is basically delivering a message; getting his ideas in the air. Illocutionary is experiencing that idea, it is whatever is being done when the idea, thought or emotion is being said.  As Hamlet tells Horatio his plan does he pace around the room?, hold anything?, lower or higher his voice? Perlocutionary force is what is achieved by what is being said, so basically what actions have been done. I believe what Austin is trying to let the reader know is that there is a connection between what is said and what is done. There is a process and it begins with locutionary force and makes its way up to perlocutionary force; from words to actions.

      Every time Hamlet says one of his soliloquies he is self overhearing. He is hearing himself think and feeling the emotion through his own words. Every time Hamlet speaks to himself he has a melancholic yet angry and disappointing almost hopeless tone. The tone allows the reader to recognize how desperate and in need Hamlet is. He is wrestling with his thoughts and emotions and contemplating whether or not he should make them a reality. Hamlet is trapped and is unsure on how to take his locutionary force to perlocutionary force.  If he made the transition he would actually be doing something with his words instead of throwing them up into the air. There is a process that Hamlet has to go through to actually make the transformation successful. I am an over-thinker sometimes I make things harder than they really are. The thoughts and ideas that run in and out of my head are a vast amount. I believe there is a process to changing words into actions. When my words slip into the air I know that all of a sudden there is something tying me to them, whether it be accountability or just plain hope that I could get whatever I said done. The more I say something the more I reassure myself that it could be done. Sooner than later I see myself achieving what I said. Hamlet is the same way; he goes through a process, restates his goal and ideas to himself often and finally turns his words into actions by killing Claudius.

      When I look back on an experience I like to think of an accomplishment or something I struggled to    achieve. How did I get to that point? What drove me? The memory is created by the struggle. Hamlet had to battle with the memory and command of his father. He suffered his loss and was motivated to to carry on a memory, a legacy, that of his father.

      In the beginning of the play it almost seemed as if Hamlet were going to be the vision of pre-modern man, but throughout the course of the play he proved the reader wrong. Instead of being a talker he converted himself into a man of action. By pre-modern man Austin meant someone who talks and talks, but does no action. Polonius was the perfect example, he was like the dog that barked the loudest, but never bit a leg.

     

2ND ATTEMPT: 

3RD ATTEMPT: PEER INTERPRETATIONS

I went up to as many people in our class and asked what they thought about performative utterance, Hamlet and self-overhearing. I had lots of fun going around and asking if they could share their knowledge. ☺

Izamar: Performative utterance is a series of words that not only convey action in them, but influence it also. Hamlet used words to make people think he was crazy and was successful. Performative utterance is about saying the words to a specific person and having that person get the meaning you want them to get. 

Javi: Hamlet is crazy lol

Mia: The purpose was to break down the language in Hamlet, to give us a better understanding of things.

Sam: (puts face on desk)

Ugh that requires thinking

Alright

(face palm)

Andrew: I have nothing to say on the subject

Lindsey: Perforamtive utterance is the ability to say something, hear it, and act upon it. 

Kendall: Self-overhearring is when you say something out loud and it reinforces your belief that it is something you want to do. 

Ricky: Not right now

Miranda: Performative utterance helps you portray your general message, tone, the way you speak, your body language etc. It helps you decode a persons character. 

TED TALK ON BODY LANGUAGE: Amy Cuddy

check it out on: 

http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html

     

Evolution of Music - Pentatonix

IT IS A MUST WATCH! Pentatonix is the best!

THIS IS THE LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lExW80sXsHs


http://www.youtube.com/v/lExW80sXsHs?autohide=1&version=3&autoplay=1&showinfo=1&attribution_tag=qOuTAa2DR-TmwJa4hM2yjg&autohide=1&feature=share

offensive or funny?

You always have those light hearted people that try to look at the bright side of things. Yes! Those people are great people to be around, but when do you draw the line...

Read these articles: http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/woman-s-boston-marathon-bombing-costume--what-it-says-about-everyone-205502002.html
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/blogs/gone-viral/os-boston-bombing-victim-death-threats-11042013,0,5316014.post
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2486663/Twitter-turns-user-posted-picture-Boston-Marathon-victim-Halloween.html

A 22 year old women dressed as a participant in the Boston Marathon Bombing for halloween. The bloodied women wore a t-shirt with a participant number in the middle and running shorts and shoes as she posed with a flashing smile to a camera. My question to her is was this some kind of a joke? How can you explain  your decision for this heartless costume?

I am trying to look at the situation from both sides of the fence, but I am finding it quite difficult to argue that the costume might have served as a sign of honor and remembrance for those who were lost.
I wish this women would have thought about her costume more, because now she is suffering the despise and hate that comes with idiotic decisions. I find her action embarrassing and plain heartless.

WHY 7 TIMES?

Andy Lopez: Looking at it from the inside out:

you may want to read: http://nation.time.com/2013/10/25/toy-guns-deadly-consequences/
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20131022/articles/131029886

Every once in a while I am awoken by the racism that lures around our community, our states, our countries, and our world. On October 22nd a thirteen year old boy was shot 7 times for carrying a toy gun that seem to look like a real and threatening gun.

I read in the newspaper that Andy Lopez (the boy killed) was asked by the police to put the gun down, and instead of lowering the fake arm, lifted it and pointed at the police. Then is when the police fired.

This article: http://nation.time.com/2013/10/25/toy-guns-deadly-consequences/  and the news did not mention any of this happening. All they offered was the basic information. A boy with a fake rifle that got shot 7 times. 

What is the media hiding from us? You see it really fires me up when the media decides to leave out information or hide information from the public. I want to look at all of the situation not just what the media wants me to see.

Why 7 times? Why did Andy get fired at 7 times? Was 1 shot not enough? Why fire in the first place?

If the newspaper story was true about the boy lifting his rifle up when told to put it down then I understand the police's motives to shoot, but why 7 times? Wouldn't one be enough?

What if Andy raised his fake fire arm as an act of impulse or fear? 

The police could have tried to talk to the boy before firing at him. 

I can go on about the possible alternative ways in which the police could have dealt with this situation, but my question still remains; WHY 7 TIMES?

The other way to look at it is... Why was Andy carrying the toy rifle in the beginning? Why did he walk away when the police called him? Shouldn't he have known that people could mistake the toy gun for a real one?

All of this can be argued, but that is not the main point. 

7. bullets. fired. Was it an act of racism? Could it be considered injust? 

It sickens me to my stomach to think that a man can fire 7 bullets into somebody else. One is enough to injure or even kill a person. 7 bullets is a ridiculous amount. As a hispanic I could easily say that he was shot at because he was of latino/hispanic descent, but I refuse to go that route, because apart from being that he was a human being. One shot is enough to stop a human being from moving to quickly or escaping anywhere. Yes, his ethnicity certainly adds fuel to the fire, but we should take into consideration that 7 shots is 6 too many shots or maybe even 7 too many shots. A life did not have to be lost.

bullet 1. and he was probably down or even dead

bullet 2. definitely dead 

bullet 3. still dead

bullet 4. still dead

bullet 5. still dead

bullet 6. still dead

bullet 7. still dead

WHY 7?

Hamlet Essay: From speaking to acting

After spending so much time analyzing and discussing Hamlet I have come to the conclusion that Hamlet is a witty character in which everyone’s actions revolve on. His “madness” consist of overhearing his plans and emotions and transforming his language/speech into Locutionary force to Perlocutionary force. I have learned that I am not so different from Hamlet, (except for the fact that he was made a character and I was not)  for if we think about it we are all “mad.”

For the most part words come out of the mouth effortlessly. The words coming out of the mouth are of some importance or none at all. Words are disguises that each and every human being uses. These disguises are the most effective, because they have escaped the brain and allowed the person to hear them selves speak words, also known as language. In the play Hamlet we (the readers/audience) are allowed to see the different stages and difficulties Hamlet has to go through when using disguises. In the beginning of the play Hamlet’s character has a difficult time turning his language into action he is able to get a message across (locutionary force), but unable to act on it. Hamlet wrestles with his words and how he wants to make them in reality. I myself battle with the same problem. I tell myself that I am going to be positive, and somewhat unbreakable. I keep my optimism going for a while, but once in a while I fall into the dark. As I fall I remember my own words and I think to myself how am I going to make these words my actions again? Hamlet and I both move towards making our words actions (perlocutionary force). Hamlet ends up getting revenge for his father’s death and I start all over again.

            Sometimes words go out in to the air, are remembered for a moment and forgotten forever. In Hamlet that is not the case every word Hamlet speaks is a word that foreshadows future actions. Hamlet’s speaking is not the ordinary use of speech. When speaking to himself his speech is so melodramatic and full of emotion. When something has so much emotion it is almost impossible to forget what is being said. When Hamlet speaks to himself through his soliloquy’s he is bringing out his emotions, letting himself know his plans, and accepting them as a challenge, a goal, and a motivation. My brain is a complete mess, thoughts and ideas run in and out of it uncounted. The strong thoughts are the ones that have a long stay in my brain. I more than likely over think these things until I have either come to a conclusion or just confused myself more. Like Hamlet though that speaking and thinking ignites something in me that allows me to follow through with it. Due to such great self-overhearing Hamlet’s intentions are not only strongly visible to the audience, but also to himself. His words ignite the flame of disaster; his action. The plot revolves around Hamlet’s action, because whatever he decides to do goes. The other character’s actions revolve around what the “mad” Hamlet decides to act on next. For example, when Hamlet kills Polonius he is sent to England to die. All of Hamlet’s actions to that point led Claudius to send him away. Hamlet’s scandal speeches, his rudeness and distaste, and “madness” got him to where he “deserved.”

            Like Hamlet I am a person that likes to reflect my thoughts and experiences by myself more than with other people. I like to be alone, biking, running, in my room listening to music, and among other activities. I like to hear myself think and overhear my brain. As I do the lonely Hamlet looks at mirrors, walks around, and clutches things. If it is not noticeable enough Hamlet only overhears himself when alone and in need to confirm his plans. For example, when the ghost speaks to Hamlet for the first time he establishes the ground Hamlet will walk on form that moment on. Then is when all of the overhearing comes. His emotion and frustration lead to that need of speaking to oneself, evaluating plans, and relieving oneself. Reflecting on one’s thoughts is a human trait that Hamlet pertained. The character is smarter than the typical human being, but not so much different.

scrambled thoughts on stop and frisk

What makes me better than others? Is it my personal characteristics, my ethnicity, the way I carry myself?...You see I  choose those labels to identfy myself, but if you look from a distance I am no different than you. I am part of the human race. Why then should I be responsible for pin pointing someone as suspicious? I am no God. What is this called? Is it to protect people from the dangerous ones? Is it racial profiling? Humiliating? It angers me that the police is able to do this publically. But Don't we do this in our own head;decide who looks like a good person and who just looks plain sketchy and suspicious? Why not do it in public? And then we back to this repeated phrase more like a cliche...Don't judge a book by its cover. Well too bad...because everybody does anyways. Humans are humans and they should be treated like humans not like some object being analyzed for any type of defect. I read about this on my USA Today applicatstion but if you want more info on this topic search up stop and frisk.

vocabulary #9

1.aficionado: someone who is devoted to something, very enthusiastic about an activity.

When my brother was younger he was a complete aficionado when it came to building legos.

2.browbeat: a bully, someone intimidating who uses abusive words.

I have always found it difficult to get along with browbeat kind of people.

3.commensurate: having the same measure, in proportion.

When baking goods my sister and I always commensurate our supplies.

4.diaphanous: transparent, translucent, light, delicate

I put on a very tough and unbreakable personality, but in reality I am vey diaphanous.

5.emolument: profit, salary

I made sure to count the emolument of the day before I lest the shop.

6.foray: quick raid/attack

The climax in the novel was when his brother died from a foray when hiding at the neighbor’s house.

7.genre: class or category

I love reading books that are part of the fiction genre.

8.homily: a biblical sermon

Every Sunday Father John gives a brief homily about the bible is tying to communicate to us.

9.immure: to shut in, to enclose

Some days I feel like stopping the universe and immuring life for a couple of hours.

10.insouciant: free from concern, worry; care free

The only times when I am truly insouciant is when I am surrounded by people that love me and that I love as well.

11.matrix: an environment that constitutes the place or point from which something else originates.

Apple computers was a matrix for the I-pod and the Iphone’s.

12.obsequies: funeral or ceremony

I do not like attending any type of obsequies, because they are solemn and melancholic.

13.panache: flamboyant style of manner or confidence

Ana is a person that attracts many people because of her panache personality.

14.persona:  a character or their characteristics

Ken’s persona struck me as cocky and vain.

15.philippic: any of the speeches delivered Demosthenes against king Philip.

We learned about the Philippic speeches in History last week.

16.Prurient: having lustful thoughts/desires

To Catholics being prurient would be a sin.

17.Sacrosanct: extremely sacred, above and beyond criticism

The body and blood of Christ is sacrosanct to Catholics.

18.Systemic: pertaining to a system or a group/body of people.

Facebook is a systematic web because it lies on the hands of many.

19.Tendentious: showing tendency, bias…

It surprises me how many people show tendentious attitudes without even noticing it.

20.Vicissitude: a change occurring in the course of something, usually something bad.

I categorized the triathlon as a vicissitude because it was in the middle of all of my college applications and scholarships.