College Essay

Everybody and every thing has a story, every person lives/tells a story and every life is a story. All those stories all begin with an obstacle or a challenge and the story I’m about to tell you is my story.

My challenge began in the second grade,surprisingly. First of all I  am just going to start off by saying that I’m just going to  brag a little now and say that I was a really good child, I did my homework, I followed the rules, I had dedicated my life to working on things/responsibilities that were given to me at that age (which weren’t much and weren’t that hard, but that were still important to me), while mom worked and provided a place to live in along with the food and our necessities, and my brother also took care of the household and me, and he also managed to do his homework, and take care of his personal responsibilities, and everybody worked hard to try to maintain a good and clean life in the moral sense. We were able to keep up this morally good life that we had built for ourselves but sadly that didn’t last long.

By the time when I was beginning Second Grade my brother started hanging out with new friends, friends who only wore the title just like  a man can wear the title of a Father and not be a Dad or like a woman who can wear the title of mother but isn’t actually a mom. These so called friends were bad influences and they were the ones who got my brother into trouble but the worst part about it is that all people have choices, meaning my brother did too, and the so called friends can’t be the one’s to blame completely because they weren’t the ones who made decisions for my brother. He was the one who made decisions for himself and the one’s he decided to make weren’t the right ones for himself or for his family and that is what got him into trouble

As time went by my brother got into more and more problems. As soon as he turned 18, which was in February-his senior year-he quit school. That was also one of his decisions and another decision was that he left home and became the brother that I never wished for. For a few months we thought he was dead because he left our house out of the blue without any knowledge of where he was going, but he wasn’t then he found us and explained everything but my brother kept hanging out with the wrong crowd and at the age of 20 he was sentenced to ten years in prison. That was the moment I actually realized that nothing was ever going to be the same and that this was the beginning of a new story.

Toni Morrison Essay

Toni Morrison book jazz was published in 1992. The book mostly revolves around violence and the love and heartache and the hurt that the people in the book are experiencing. In the book at times it mentions how black people were pitied and it made me wonder about the equality during this time, were black people treated with equality during this time period when it came to the laws?

In Toni Morrison’s book Jazz violence, race and equality are big factors in the book and during the time period that the book was written in. These factors help us see the world just as Toni Morrison saw the world in her early ages.

During the 1940s there was a lot of violence and a lot of the violence related problems were blamed on black people meaning that there “1 in 3 young black men between the ages of 20 and 29 was under correctional supervision”, while “1 in 16 white men in the same age group was under correctional supervision.” In a figure that the American Sociology Association provides it shows how in the 1990’s there was a very high increase in black kids between the ages of 10 and 17 being held by law enforcement for crimes, while there was a decrease in white kids between the same ages to be held by law enforcement by crimes too. This is unfair to the people who are black because there are still people who are racist and believe that by punishing the black race they are doing the greater good when in reality they are only making the world more of a bad place than it already is with all the race discrimination.

The book was written during a time when, yes, discrimination wasn’t supposed to even exist anymore but people sometimes cannot get it through their heads that things are done so people can be happier and feel safer. During this time people were still doing things out of hate for discrimination. There was the incident in 1992 where a couple police officers beat a black man because of the hatred that they felt for this man for having a different skin color. They lost their jobs but this man almost lost his life. Toni Morrison went through segregation she felt the hatred towards her, the difference in which she was treated and it hurt her but she kept going in life and she herself accomplished things like writing books, something small but helpful to the the world so they see what she went through and the experiences that sometimes other people will have different from ours.

Equality is a very big factor in the book, it reflects what was happening in the 1990’s and how Toni Morrison felt about equality and the way she and other people felt about the way they were being treated. In the book it is told how black people, when going to the city, were looked at with a pitiful look or pitiful eyes. They would just ignore the looks of pity, but that look didn’t mean equality it meant that they were looking at people with a different skin color like lesser beings.

As we can see during the 1990’s, which was the date during which Toni Morrison wrote her book Jazz, violence, race, and equality were big things that were happening and they not only not helped people but they put people in danger too which was dangerous.

 

Rebuttal Letter

Dear Dennis McCuistion,

I want to tell you that your article for guns helped me open my eyes and see the world as it is. You helped the fire in me wake up and keep realizing that having guns on campus keeps being the worst idea that the government has ever had. You say that guns on campus protect people, they stop attacks at campuses, but they don’t. In the article you also used the educated opinion of police officers to try to prove that there should be “permissive concealed carry policies for civilians.”

First of all guns will not protect civilians. Someone who means to kill people can come inside the school with a gun start shooting and someone who wants to “protect” could shoot back and try to kill the person who started the shooting. But in the process the person trying to protect could shoot somebody else by accident and if the point is to protect everybody then you would also have to take into consideration that you also have to protect the shooter. A good idea to disarm the person that started the shooting could be to shoot at the person’s leg or their arm or the hand, and that would be a good idea so they don’t get killed in the process but, it would be very difficult to aim for these body parts and not miss. The easy thing to do would be to shoot at a part of the body where it you are less likely to miss which would be the chest or the back, but the reality of this all is that people like to shoot more than once. Meaning most likely instant death for this person. You might say that at least you got to protect the people that were in danger but the point is that you’re supposed protect everybody even the person causing the damage. You shouldn’t do the least you should do the most. The least is protecting the people in danger and  the most would be protecting the people in danger AND also protecting the shooter. There are people out there with the desire to kill others for no reasons and they use the gun to their advantage and now they will also use the Campus carry law to their advantage too. It’s not like they are gonna get it taken away from them if they have a Concealed Handgun License (CHL). You’re just giving people more reason to take matters into their own hands and “protect” others when in reality that is the police and government’s job.

Second of all you said that “CHL holders are much less likely  to be involved in criminal activities, and only CHL holders are permitted to carry on campus”,but the truth is that anybody who actually wants to commit a crime will commit a crime it doesn’t matter weather they are CHL holders or not they will commit a crime if it is what they desire and being a CHL holder will only give the people who want to commit a crime more of an advantage especially if they have Concealed Handgun License. It will only endanger people and give others the opportunity to do what they wish for and not actually help or protect people.

Something you also did in the article was give the example of the police officers and how they believed that concealed carry laws are beneficial to people. But there have been tests that prove that police officers put too much confidence in their weapons and not their judgement. These are the people who think they are doing good and have trained to be police officers but in reality they just add to the list of people killed by gun. Police say that the gun is for their protection and that may be something that they truly believe but let’s put an example: a man is stopped by a police officer; the police officer asks him for his license, if the person turns around too fast the police officer is most likely going to take that as a threat and is going to start shooting. (this is similar example to the incident that happened in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, July 6, 2016) You might say that the police officer didn’t mean to do it and that it was an accident but a sorry will never bring back the life that the gun and the police officer took. If the police who have proper training in the field trust their gun more than their judgement do you think the common person that hasn’t had the proper training is going to trust their judgement? I believe not.

Senator Brian Birdwell did not do the greatest work by introducing S.B No.11 (Senate Bill Number 11 a.k.a Campus Carry Law) but the person who did more damage than the one with the idea was the person who signed the bill on June 13, 2015 and passed it on to be effective on August 1, 2016, which was the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. His decision has changed Texas and I believe that it has not been for the better. I’ve spoken of my opinion now It’s time to let people choose who and what they will agree with.

Sincerely,

Diana C. Alvarez

 

1:Senator Brian Birdwell http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/84R/billtext/pdf/SB00011I.pdf https://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/31/campus-carry-bill-heads-gov-abbott/ 
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&Bill=SB11

2:S.B.11 or Campus-Carry Law
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/84R/billtext/pdf/SB00011I.pdf
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-texas-law-allows-college-students-carry-guns-campus-n620911

3:Signed by Gov on 6/13/2015 but was to be effective on August 1st 2016
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&Bill=SB11

4:was to be effective on August 1st 2016
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=84R&Bill=SB11

MORE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGokQnTFHyM

Governor George Wallace and his Message to the People

Governor George Wallace wants the common people to trust him and to see him as a common person that they can look up to and trust, he does this by talking of his duty to the people, the unity that people should show, and the terms he uses also shows how he wants the people to see that he is also a common person.

The first thing that Governor George Wallace talks about in his speech is how he will do his best to accomplish the duty that he has to the people, to be honest and to increase the economical state that Alabama’s government was in. By increasing the industry in Alabama it would have helped the economy become greater. The bills that Governor George Wallace sponsored bills that helped bring more than 100 industries into Alabama, helping with the industrialization and in the process with the economy too. Other duties that he talked about were his duties to the senior citizens and his duties to the children. George Wallace wanted the old to live their last years in dignity and enrichment; he wanted them to feel fulfilled. By trying to give the old peace he also tried to help the mentally and the physically ill. Most of all he wanted the people to feel confident in their government and they wanted them to feel as if the government was their friend and if they asked for something they should be able to confidently ask for what they wanted and not be afraid.

    As said before Governor George Wallace didn’t want people to feel afraid of the government instead he wanted them to feel the unity that the was willing to give them, that he wanted to give them by being united as a state. He did have a different kind of view for what unity actually was since the governor was 100% for segregation. He believed that the people of Alabama wanted segregation and so he believed that, as he said once, “Segregation Now, Segregation Forever” was what was going to keep the unity on the state of Alabama. Governor George Wallace believed that people from other places were going to make Alabama even better and therefore he decided to include in his speech people from other places.  

    In the beginning of the speech Governor George Wallace makes the mistake of first counting himself, and himself only, since he mostly uses the term “I” but Mr. Wallace later on in his speech notices his mistake and does quickly to change his terms from “I” to “our” or “we” to show people that he is someone who they can relate to. In fact in the opening remarks he does say, “I want to thank those home folks of my country who first gave an anxious country boy this opportunity to serve in state politics.” With these words he is basically telling people that he comes from a humble home and that he is thankful for other humble people who have chosen him(a humble person) for letting him have the opportunity of being the governor of Alabama

    In this speech Governor George Wallace does his best to try to talk about his duty that he wishes to accomplish for the people, like how he will accomplish this to the senior citizens, and the children, and other people, he also talked about the unity of the people, and how segregation could do that since most of the people in Alabama were also for segregation and the terms he used changed from “I” to “we” or “our which also helped the people think of him as somebody the people from Alabama could look up to.

“George Wallace.” United States History, http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3766.html.

    It is about George Wallace. The person he was before he became Governor of

    Alabama and after. It talks a bit about his personal life but mostly the

    political side of his life.

“George Wallace, ‘Segregation Now, Segregation Forever.'” BlackPast.org,

    www.blackpast.org/1963-george-wallace-segregation-now-segregation-forever.

    This talks mostly about how Governor George Wallace viewed the laws of

    segregation, and/or segregation itself. The Governor was very honest on his

    opinion about segregation which meant he was all for segregation. 

Did Myrtle have an impact in the character’s lives?

Myrtle had a big impact in the lives of the character’s in the book. Myrtle was a wedge between Tom and Daisy, but just as she was the wedge for them, she was also the one who brought Daisy and Gatsby together, but in the end Myrtle was the cause of all the deaths in the book.

Tom was affected in a bad way by Myrtle. Even though they both cheated on their spouses Myrtle was the one who was trying to get Tom to leave his family for her.(Pg. 33 “It’s really his wife that’s keeping him apart. She’s a Catholic, and they don’t believe in divorce.”) But Myrtle was more than willing to leave George.(Pg. 35 “The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake.”) Even though Tom was having an affair with Myrtle he still took care of his responsibilities (Daisy and their daughter). Myrtle’s phone calls didn’t help Tom and Daisy’s relationship; she would call their house phone.Myrtle was the wedge between Tom and Daisy and in the beginning she was the one preventing them from building a stronger relationship.

Daisy seemed to not be affected by Tom having a mistress but the truth is that she tried not to get in that topic; she avoided it. (Pg. 14 “As if his absence quickened something within her, Daisy leaned forward again, her voice glowing and singing)Even though Daisy didn’t know the woman, It still affected her relationship with Tom. (Pg. 15 “The telephone rang inside, startlingly, and as Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom the subject of the stables, in fact all subjects, vanished into thin air.”)As long as Myrtle was in the way there would be no room for Daisy and Tom to strengthen their relationship. Myrtle was also the person who, in a way, brought Gatsby and Daisy together. As Myrtle and Tom had their affair, later on Daisy and Gatsby started to also have their own affair.

Gatsby was very much affected by Myrtle. In the beginning because of Myrtle and Tom’s affair, Gatsby and Daisy got in a very intimate relationship and he got to show the affection he felt for her but Gatsby’s affection was turned against him when Myrtle died.(Pg. 144 “Was Daisy driving?” “Yes,” ‘he said after a moment,’ “but of course I’ll say I was”) That night Gatsby let Daisy drive his car, and Myrtle’s death could have been an accident as Gatsby says, but the facts are that Daisy let Gatsby take all the blame and she did nothing to stop it, which brought George to avenge his wife’s death.(Pg. 140 “He says he knows the car that did it….It was a yellow car.” Pg. 149 ‘She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby―nothing’ In the end Myrtle was the cause of Gatsby’s death.(Pg. 162 ‘It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete.’)

Myrtle caused a lot of problems for some of the rich, in their relationships: Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby’s. Myrtle was a wedge for Tom and Daisy’s relationship, which brought Daisy and Gatsby together but it didn’t last long. Myrtle’s death soon brought a forced wedge between Daisy and Gatsby which was something that Daisy initiated by ignoring and letting Gatsby take the fall for her. But Myrtle’s death also brought Tom and Daisy together and in the end Myrtle died, Gatsby died, and George die, and there were only two people left standing: Tom and Daisy. Myrtle was only a pawn that brought them together, but she was still the greatest of them all that caused a great impact in their lives.

Michelle Obama’s Speech

    In Michelle Obama’s speech the language she uses is very formal. She says thank you a lot to the public, she is very discreet and classy in her way of talking (subtweets?) and she states and affirms the date to start voting for the next president of the United States of America.

In the speech that Michelle Obama gave she thanks the people genuinely for having her there to talk to them about Donald Trump’s alleged treatment of women, and for the welcoming hello that they gave her as they cheered when she got on stage. Not only did Michelle Obama thank the people but she also thanked the governor of Florida and also named her as the next U.S senator, Maggie Hassan.Some other people whom she also thanked were congresswoman, Annie McKlane Kuster, the soon-to-be congresswoman, Carol Shea Porter, and the executive council, whom is candidate for governor, Colin Van Oster. When Michelle Obama thanked these people she thanked them by saying ‘Thank You’ many times but she also did it with compliments and jokes in the beginning of her speech. She wanted to let the people know that she was very appreciative to the treatment she was receiving from the people of the state of Florida, and that she showed.

    Michelle Obama’s speech was very different than the normal speech. In this speech she uses discreteness and class and something that on twitter would be called subtweet, which is when someone talks about someone but doesn’t mention or say the name, and that’s exactly what Michelle Obama does. She is discrete in the way that she talks. When she wants to shame Trump’s name she says things that he, himself has already said and then says the word candidate instead of his name so it doesn’t seem as if the only thing she wanted to do is tell the world how and what a bad man he is and it also makes it seem as if his name is so repulsive or evil that not even she dares to say his name. The discreteness is shown by not just saying the bad things about Trump but by also naming the good things that Hillary can accomplish with the help of women. And she uses class by not mentioning Trump’s name and instead switching it with the word candidate.

    Voting is very important in our world and that’s why Michelle Obama tried to bring up the topic. She would sometimes mention how the day for voting was on the 8th of November and would at times also state factly how the people would surely vote for Hillary Clinton. But trying to prove her point that voting is important she even mentioned the day in which November 8th lands on, which is a Tuesday. This tells us that she wants people to vote and so they are reminded of it’s importance she states the date and the day in which the elections for the next President of the United State of America is on.

    These are thereasons why Michelle Obama’s language in her speech were so unique and different because of the gratefulness that she shows with her voice, her eyes, her posture, and the way she adds feeling into those ‘Thank You’s’, her discreet and classy way of talking show that she knows what she wants to say that she is determined to let the public know what she wants them to know and also how she manages to use her words wisely and without difficulty show the power in her voice. The last thing that was noticed in Michelle Obama’s language was the fact that she kept, in a way, pushing people to vote but very discreetly.  Even though she does mention it a few times expressing confidence in the fact that Hillary Clinton will win, makes the crowd more determined to vote or pushes them to vote. Michelle Obama is a strong woman and with this speech expressing concern for other women she shows that power and that’s exactly what she expresses in her language by choosing her words carefully and putting them where they need to be put to make her point come across

Black, Brown, & White

We all see the color
Black, Brown, and White
Sadly this is our collar
It’s something we can not fight

We want to change
We want equality
But it would be strange
To see no inequality

I guess that’s how the world was born
Judgemental and imperfect
It’s like people are meant to be torn
For something that’s not even worth it

Black like the starry night sky
Shining with all its darkness.
A color so beautiful and right
But that’s all it is, a color, harmless

Brown like the color of most people’s eyes
Drowning you in all its mystery
But all you want to see is a disguise
Something that hides all the history

White like an egg
So smooth and fragile
Its shell as hard as a peg
But light to handle

All these people are different colors
But the color doesn’t make then people.
They are all made up of wonders
And these wonders is what makes them gleeful

 

Proposal Plan

Medium: I plan to make a poem and in my poem I want to focus on 3 different races: black, white, and Hispanics/Mexicans. There has been a lot of people who are trying to speak up telling the world and the government how black lives matter, and they do, no doubt about that but I also want to put out there how hispanics/Mexicans also matter and how sometimes just because people are white it doesn’t mean that they have it all easy.
Topic: I will focus on the equality of all races
Message: I want people to know that race shouldn’t matter and what makes people who they are is their story.
Audience: People: of difference race, or who have been/felt judged because of the skin color that they are.

What is an Assertion?

“The first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell.” – Frederick Douglass
In this quote Frederick Douglass is saying that he had taken the first step by being taught the alphabet by the mistress before she was consumed but the evil treatment that consumed slave owners and just because she later on wanted him to stop, doesn’t mean he actually stopped.
In this quote Frederick confidently writes that nothing could prevent him from taking the “ell” this could also be described-by the choice of wording- as taking the next step or whatever comes after the first step. He basically reassures himself that nothing is going to stop him. When someone is trying to reach a goal or achieve something it’s because this is something they want to do, and what Frederick liked to do was to keep learning to read. He would alway’s find ways and get things to practice reading, like the newspaper or maybe even some book he found. In the quote above, Frederick mentions the word “inch”. An example of this word would be “he inched closer to the book”, and it basically means “he got closer to the book”. In the quote he means the same thing the only difference is that Frederick’s body isn’t physically moving towards something, instead his mental and physical, reading abilities are getting stronger, it’s almost as if saying that the mistress teaching him the alphabet was a push for him to keep going, and to keep practicing his reading skills. Even if later on the mistress tries to do everything in her power so Frederick won’t read, it doesn’t matter, because she can’t take her words, or her actions back. His first step has already been taken, the second, third, fourth, and the rest of the steps are sure to follow a little afterwards.

What Did I Read This Year?

Books I’ve Read:

1. Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder (Philosophical Fiction)
2. Panic by Lauren Oliver (Fiction)
3. Adaptation by Melinda Lo (Science Fiction)
4. Heritage by Melinda Lo (Science Fiction) 
5. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (Speculative Fiction) 
6. The Lover’s Dictionary by David Leviathan (Fiction) 
7. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa (Urban Fantasy)
8. The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa (Urban Fantasy)
9. The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa (Urban Fantasy)
10. The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa (Urban Fantasy)
11. The Iron Prophecy by Julie Kagawa (Urban Fantasy)
12. Antigone by Sophocles (Tragedy) 
13. Everyday by David Leviathan (Romance)
14. Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (Epistolary Novel) 
15. The Luxe by Anna Godberson (Drama/Romance Novel)
16. Rumors by Anna Godberson (Drama/Romance Novel)
17. Envy by Anna Godberson (Drama/Romance Novel)
18. Malinche by Laura Esquivel (Fiction)
19. My Traitor’s Heart by Rian Malan (Autobiography) 
20. Kalahari by Jessica Khoury (Science Fiction)
21. The Selection Kiera Cass (Fantasy/Young-Adult Fiction)
22. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Utopian/Dystopian Fiction/Speculative Fiction/Science Fiction) 
23. Haven by Carol Williams (Science Fiction/Fantasy)

Books That…Grew Me/I Love
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder -It made me grow because it taught me other ways to look at the world from different point of views.
Panic by Lauren Oliver – I loved this book because it talks about people who did crazy cool stuff that was dangerous yet exciting at the same time. It always left you wanting more. It also makes you wonder what people do for money and how there’s people who don’t care about their kids or what happens to them.
Antigone by Sophocles -It made me grow because it teaches about history and it makes us want to learn from other’s mistakes but they also tell a story. They’re many themes that plays can have that also make us learn from what they tell through their story.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood -It made me grow as a reader because it showed me that there are other ways that a woman can be treated un-respectfully but it also teaches to be stronger and just because I am a woman doesn’t mean I can’t be treated equally.

Challenging Books

1. Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
2. Heritage by Melinda Lo
3. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
4. The Lover’s Dictionary by David Leviathan
5. Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
6. Malinche by Laura Esquivel
7. My Traitor’s Heart by Rian Malan
8. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Books I Want To Read

1. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
2. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
3. The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kate Locke
4. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
5. Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris
6. Straighter by  Bryan Davis
7. Theo and the Forbidden Language by Melanie Ansley
8. Talon by Julie Kagawa
9. Atlantia by Ally Condie
10. Half Bad by Sally Green
11. All the Rage by Courtney Summers
12. P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
13. The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
14. Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge
15. The Cellar by Natasha Preston
16.  Delirium by Lauren Oliver
17. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
18. Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick
19. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
20. Crank by Ellen Hopkins
21. Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
22. Looking for Alaska by John Green
23. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
24. Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols
25. Paper Towns by John Green
26. The Pregnancy Project:A Memoir by Gaby Rodriguez with Jenna Glatzer
27. Shatter Me by There Mafi
28. Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti
29. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
30. Abandon by Meg Cabot
31. Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter
32. Half Blood by Jennifer Armentrout