Social Action Assignment #3

 Assignment: Observe your surroundings (school, home, neighborhood, media). Write a list about all the scenes or situations you come across on a daily basis that you think are unfair and/or not right in some way. Pick one of the ideas from your list and write a longer entry about it - 2-3 paragraphs. Describe the problem, what's wrong with it, cause and effect, and possible solutions.

1. A women sitting in the street with her baby son begging for money.
2. A mother threatening to slap her child because they wouldn't shut up.
3. A man going off on someone on the phone.

     I chose to write about the first situation because I feel like I see many homeless people on the streets. Seeing them makes me realize how sometimes some of us take things for granted. Every now and then I'll see people in the street with nothing. If anything, they would have a few cardboard pieces, a coat, and some dirty blankets. I feel for them. Even though I've never lost everything,  I do know how it feels to lose something. Losing things that are important to you will affect you deeply. I can't imagine what homeless people go through when they lose everything they had. Homelessness  is a very important topic. Considering that some people are living in poverty, it doesn't help them very much that they are homeless.
     Homelessness is a problem because instead of having to worry about paying the bills every month, they have to worry about finding scraps of food every single night. Not only do they have to worry about that, but they have to worry about how to keep warm when the colder months come along. Homelessness is wrong because it literally leaves people home less. It also leaves homeless people wondering how they're going to live day to day They seek for the immediate needs that they need like food, shelter, safety, and clothing. I feel grateful to be able to have all these things that support my needs for my well being. 
     Some possible solutions that can happen is maybe creating some government program to help the poor. Even though there are many shelters/food banks opened for the homeless, I still feel like the homeless should be paid more attention to. Sure they don't have anything, but I feel like its the governments priority, in a way, to still provide for their needs. 

Social Issue Reading Response

     For this homework assignment, I read two articles on child abuse. I didn't know how big of an issue child abuse was until I read these two articles. I mean I knew that child issue was a big problem, but I didn't seem to grasp how horrible child abuse was until I read these two articles. Reading these two articles makes me feel  sick to my stomach that there are such parents out there. It's appalling and abhorrent to know that some parents think that abuse is the solution to a problem. When in reality, abuse makes children anti-social, afraid, and neglected.
     Both articles I read were very informative on the topic of child abuse. How Best to Protect Children? by Ilana Sherer was about a 17 soon to be 18 year old teenage who had been badly abused by her father. All pediatricians are mandated by law to report any concern or child abuse. This teenage had been seeing this Sherer for awhile and Sherer finally noticed that the teenage had been abused at home so she filed a child abuse report to the Child Protective Services. Now, for me, what I found most interesting is that this teenage begged Sherer to write a report on the abuse that she had been going through at home. She was ready to go to college, but when she, the teenager, found out that it would affect her college education, she quickly told Sherer that she lied about everything. For me, if I was put in this situation, I could see how it would be hard for her (the teenager) to go through this. Even though Sherer had already filed the case, she still begged her to tell them that she lied because she wanted to go to college. I'm not sure whether or not she did this to protect her father as well, but either way, she made this decision so that she could go to college.
     The second article I read was Sanctuary for Abused Kids by John M, Gilonna. This article was also about child abuse except the statics and article was mainly based in South Korea. It was about a 7 year old who arrived at a group called the Open Center Youth Foundation. She had been all battered up from the daily beatings that she got from her parents. In the article, it explained how this abuse effected her and her actions. Although people know that South Korea has a high rate of physical abuse of children, not many people care to pay attention to this problem. It is a shame that people don't do anything about it even though they know its a big problem.
     Ever since I read the memoir, A Child Called It  by Dave Pelzer, it has made me wonder more and more about the causes of child abuse. I can now see on some levels why child abuse gets so bad and extreme. It honestly breaks my heart to know that someone my age, younger or older, has to go through all this constant pain. Why must some grown ups do this to their children? Why isn't there an even stricter law for these beatings? Why isn't this paid as much attention to? I feel beyond grateful that I have parents who believe in giving lectures over abuse. I can't imagine how much pain abused children go through.


The two articles I read were about child abuse. They can be found here:

• http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S44-4241-0-4830&artno=0000317641&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Child%20abuse%2C%20Law%20and%20legislation&title=How%20Best%20to%20Protect%20Children%3F&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N
• http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S44-4241-0-8565&artno=0000318500&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Sanctuary%20for%20abused%20kids&title=Sanctuary%20for%20Abused%20Kids&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N

Social Action Assignment #2

Assignment:Write a poem or song responding to a specific social problem/issue. Be detailed and specific. Also, write 1-2 paragraphs describing your process in writing the poem and what problem/issue it is about. Use "World on Fire" as a mentor text 


Two Voice Poem: Disabilities
CAPS = together
_______ = teen/person 1
BOLD = teen/person 2


I have autism.
I am blind.
I don't like being touched or I'll feel uncomfortable.
I can't see the world around me.
I CAN'T HELP IT.  

I don't know how to communicate with people in the simplest ways.
I don't want people to pity me.
I feel useless. 
I feel like I miss out.
NO ONE UNDERSTANDS.

I have temper tantrums.
All I see is darkness. 
I can't help it. That's just how I react to certain things.
I try to seek for the light, but I don't see it.


I FEEL UNNEEDED.
I WISH I COULD HELP, BUT I CAN'T.
I wish I could do things by myself.
But I'm not capable of doing so. 
And when I try, others try to help.
But I don't want help.
I WANT TO BE INDEPENDENT.


     I wonder what it feels like to live a life of a kid with disabilities. This thought has crossed my mind a lot. There are many disabilities in the world that I feel like aren't paid attention to that often. Although I know that there are many charities to support these disabilities, I really want to know how life would feel like to live a kids life with down syndrome, autism, blindness, deafness, dyslexia, and so on and so forth.
     In this poem, I tried to express the way a child with disabilities would feel about themselves and their surroundings. I imagined a blind kid living his/her life only hearing sound. This puts me in a melancholy mood.  I mean if I was blind, I wouldn't even know how the world around me would look like. I would probably always be frustrated with myself because I can't see what others are doing or how they look. I also wrote the second part of this poem through the eyes of a kid with autism. Autism is a brain problem that makes it hard for kids to communicate. They see the world in a different way than most "normal" people would see the world. Its hard for them to talk and express themselves. Sometimes they react to things differently then most of us.
     I think I did a pretty darn good job trying to express the way that both blind/autism kids feel. This assignment really allowed me to show how kids with disabilities would feel. It also made me do more research on both of these topics and it has taught me how kids with disabilities react to their surroundings.

Girl in Translation No. 2

Dear Dad,
     Ma and I have been in America for about 3 months now. Sometimes it's hard to be in a new place without the person you love by your side. I hope you're doing well. Ma and I have been working in Aunt Paula's factory and we've been rushing to get skirts done the past few nights. Ma seems so weak and fragile now. I think if you push her limit a little more, she might break. Ma's always tired now and she doesn't seem to care for me as much, but I still know that Ma loves me a lot. Work is important, which is what Ma is concentrated on right now.
     Aunt Paula was generous enough to bring Ma and I to America. I feel grateful and humble to be in America. Mei Mei, my best friend back in China, seemed like she envied me when I told her I was coming in America. I was the top student back in China, but now I feel like I am not doing as great as I did in China. When Ma got her first payment from the sweat shop, Aunt Paula and Uncle Bob made us pay for the plane tickets, the visas, the rent, water, gas, and electricity bill right away. It was unfair, but Ma couldn't fight back because Aunt Paula provided her with the job. If Ma fought back, then there would have been a big agrument  and Aunt Paula could've fired Ma.
     Pa, I don't remember you very well. You're a dull memory that is lacking rememberance. I know that if you were here with Ma and I, we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble with Aunt Paula. I miss very much. I wish I got to know who you were as a person and what you were like. Ma misses you.
          Sincerely,
               Kimberly


     I wrote this letter to Kim's dad because she mentions him alot. She says how if her father was here, she would be living a far better life than she if living now. Although she mentions her dad a lot, she doesn't really go  into detail about how her dad looked and all that type of stuff because she doesn't really remember. In this letter I touched on how Kim's mom is always tired. To me, Kim's mom is like a fragile vase. You place it on the table and you have to be careful not to push the table to hard, cause if you do push the table too hard the vase shatters into small broken pieces. Kim's mom is weak, but refuses to give up because she hopes for a better future for both Kim and her.
    The time period in this book was when all these immigrants were coming to America. Knowing that Kim and her mom were immigrants coming to America, they lived in a neighborhood that didn't fit their needs. They come to America only to find out that they were going to live in a condemned apartment. It breaks my heart because Kim's mom had even asked Aunt Paula if they could move into on to Uncle Bob's buildings, but time after time Kim's aunt puts it off. It breaks my heart to see how selfish Aunt Paula is. I mean to me, family comes before anything in life. They're the people who make you, raise you up, take care of you and so on.  I assume that Aunt Paula knows the conditions that they are living under. Their house is roach and rat infested and doesn't have heat. Kim and her mom are basically living in poverty. Yet, Aunt Paula, the closest person that they know in America doesn't help them at all with the troubles that they come along. It sickens me that Aunt Paula and Uncle Bob just sit there and watch.
   

Social Action Assignment #1

Assignment: Write a poem or song responding to a specific social problem/issue. Be detailed and specific. Also, write 1-2 paragraphs describing your process in writing the poem and what problem/issue it is about.


"Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer 
Me and all my friendsWe're all misunderstoodThey say we stand for nothingAnd there's no way we ever could
Now we see everything that's going wrongWith the world and those who lead itWe just feel like we don't have the meansTo rise above and beat it
So we keep waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to changeWe keep on waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to change
It's hard to beat the systemWhen we're standing at a distanceSo we keep waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to change
Now if we had the powerTo bring our neighbors home from warThey would have never missed a ChristmasNo more ribbons on their door
And when you trust your televisionWhat you get is what you got‘Cause when they own the informationOh, they can bend it all they want
That's why we're waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to changeWe keep on waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to change
It's not that we don't careWe just know that the fight ain't fairSo we keep on waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to change
And we're still waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to changeWe keep on waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to change
One day our generationIs gonna rule the populationSo we keep on waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to change
No, we keep on waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to changeWe keep on waiting(Waiting)Waiting on the world to changeWaiting on the world to changeWaiting on the world to changeWaiting on the world to change
Lyrics Source: http://www.metrolyrics.com/waiting-on-the-world-to-change-lyrics-john-mayer.html
     The song I chose to analyze is called "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer. John Mayer has always been one of my favorite artist. His lyrics are easy to connect to and they are simple enough so that people can understand them. The meaning behind this song is kind of hard to crack, but then again its pretty simple. John Mayer is simply saying that we're all waiting for the world to change until a certain generation steps up to the plate and "changes" the world. His song has to do with both war and our government.     In the song Mayer says, "We just feel like we don't have the means To rise above and beat it," which I think means that sometimes we don't have the power to rise up to the occasion and try to take down the problem that we're facing. Sometimes we doubt the power that we could have if we worked together as a whole. This led to me wondering about how people work together. I know it seems like a simple concept, but if you think about it, you can't really get the whole entire world to come together and work as one. There are always going to be people whose thoughts differ from what you think. He also says "It's hard to beat the system When we're standing at a distance," which means to me that it's hard to solve a problem when you stand in the shadows and do nothing.          

Girl in Translation No. 1

     I've recently started reading Girl in Translation  by Jean Kwok. Within the first few pages of the book, I could understand how Kimberly, the main character that just emigrated from China, is lost in the American culture. From the first few chapters, Kimberly finds it hard to cope with the American culture. Kimberly strives to understand all these things thrown at her, but its hard for her to excel all these obstacles.
     Like Kimberly, I have faced many challenges. To connect to her on an even deeper level, I have had trouble understand Mandarin in the past. Like Kimberly, I found it hard to understand Mandarin at first. When I was 10, my mother signed me up for Mandarin classes. I was upset because I didn't see the point in learning a different form of the Asian language nor did I see how it would help, but that was what my 10 year old mind thought. Now that I have matured, I see the point in learning multiple languages. I was mentally frustrated and angry with myself. Most of the time, I understood what the teacher said, but I didn't know how to respond back at all. I felt useless and embarrassed. Sometimes I would try so hard to complete the Chinese assignment that was due for the week, but I failed to do so. It was hard, but after taking Mandarin classes, I made progress and soon learned how to respond to questions in Mandarin.
     For Kimberly, she has the same problem as me. She has a hard time understanding the English language and doesn't seem to fit in just yet. I feel for her. I understand what she is going through right now. She tries hard to understand the English language too. She even imagined herself using new words that Mr. Bogart, her public school teacher, didn't know. She strives to learn, but she's stuck in a shell. I hope Kimberly soon copes with the American culture.

Two Blogs that I Enjoyed Reading

     One blog that I enjoyed reading was Genti's blog. I liked reading his blog because he posted a recommendation of a book that I've been meaning to read for a really long time. His recommendation was easy to understand and it was a really interesting blog post. I would've said I liked Tyler's blog post too, but they both wrote about the same book which left me dying to read the book! I can't wait to pick up The Son of Neptune   by Rick Riordan from B&N!

     The second blog that I enjoyed reading was Jake's blog. He really connected the text to the world and it was done in a flawless way. I liked the fact that he based his response off of a quote from the book. I also liked that he gave his readers some background information so that his readers wouldn't be completely confused with what he was talking about.

I look forward to read more blog posts from my classmates! (:

Teen Angst? Naaah... Reflection

     After finishing the memoir unit in 7th grade, I didn't think I would pick up another memoir type book. Ned Vizzini's book, Teen Angst? Naaah..., would relate to any average high schooler. He uses relate able comedy to keep you interested in his high school years. It is strange to say, but Ned's awkwardness throughout the book ties everything together perfectly. Although this was a great book, some of the details and stories that he adds in are unnecessary or vague.

     One example of unnecessary content that was added into the book was in the chapter called "Cable Access Says No." To be honest, this wasn't that great of a chapter. This chapter talked about how Ned and his friend, James, submitted a film to LIU (Long Island University). Even though the details were very detailed, the dialogue that was added wasn't needed. Or at least I felt that way. To be quite frank, if I wrote a memoir, I would definitely not add these few pages about submitting a film to LIU. It's not important, but then again I had realized that Ned published this book when he was only 19 years old. Although this chapter was unneeded, I do feel like there's a small moral that could have been learned from this chapter; rejection isn't always so bad.

     Another chapter that I felt was unneeded was "No Big Deal." All it simply talked about was getting people Christmas presents at a flea market. I didn't care for this chapter very much either. It bored me too while I was reading it. 

     Overall, this is a really great memoir to read. I finished the book for the second time and I just love the book. It's humorous and it's easy to read. Although I do know that this is his autobiography, I just felt like some parts were not needed.