American Dream Response

The author had a dream. When he was little, he wanted to become President and planned live the American Dream. Unfortunately, as he grew older and realized who he really was, he believed he would never be able to live out the "American Dream". From then on - his dream was to be accepted, no matter what his lifestyle was.
I really enjoy the quote by Kevin Jennings " Real freedom will be ours when people around us- and when we ourselves-accept that we, too are "real" Americans, and that we shouldn't have to change to meet anyone else's standards" pg. 6. I believe this is 100% true.  You will not live a free life, until you first accept who you are, even if you are different. This does not make you un-American. However, it is hard to accept your lifestyle when others around you, hate your lifestyle. It is sad that a "free" country is not really free for everyone and people feel they have to change who they are to be accepted.

White Guilt and Discussion 1 Response

After having read all three of these articles, Moving Beyond White Guilt was my least favorite. I felt like the first article was very well put together and had you understand racism a little better. The third article was compelling and very realistic - I mean relatable to readers. However, Moving Beyond White Guilt did not appeal to me that much. However, I do believe white guilt is very realistic among Americans, whether they realize it or not. The article, along with the other two, proposes that we get up and do something about the problem of racism and prejudice. 

• Get info: I can get information about the topic from virtually anywhere. Whether it be online, on t.v., at the library, or through first hand experience, it is extremely accessible. However, possibly the best source is from a person of color himself. This makes the problem and the feelings real. 
• Do something: Once I become more informed on the topic, it is time you start informing others. This is the first step to do something. I can start sticking up for people, making sure you try to defeat your own prejudices, and, if I'm really interested, I could research ways to be more active in cleaning up this social issue. 
• Listen: First, I must listen to people's issues and try to become more understanding of their feelings. It is important to do this if I want to create change. Second, I must listen without any bias and be open minded the entire time. 
• Talk: I must talk to two different groups. First, I must talk to the people who are being affected by racism and involve my listening skills. Second, I must talk with your peer group and others who are on the other side of the subject. I must explain to them why this is important. 
• Back to the past: The past is necessary to look at. It cannot be ignored. It is important to see how far we have come as a country, but how far we must still go to change our individual thinking. If I look at the past, I understand and I am empathetic to the way people of color or different ethnicities were treated. However, I must also remember not to have White  Guilt, but instead do something about what is currently going on. 
• Find heroes or sheroes: A big hero is MLK Jr. However, there are more heroes and sheroes. Anyone who overcame prejuidice and racism is a hero to me. Anyone who is trying to improve the social issue is also a hero to me.

Reflection James' and I Presentation

When I found out we had to lead discussion at the beginning of the semester, I was dreading it. When I decided to actually go sign up for a topic, I was choosing between this topic and one other. I ended up picking this one because I saw it was the first discussion topic. The weekend before the presentation was due, I regretted that decision. However, my regret was unnecessary, I felt the presentation turned out to be just fine. 

I enjoyed the articles we had to read, well two of them. The other, the one on White Guilt, I did not enjoy as much. I discovered it would be easy to talk about these articles in class because the topic is such a huge social issue. I have always loved watching Def Poetry on Youtube and after reading the articles, I knew exactly what I wanted to use as my audiovisual. So I began working on my half of the powerpoint and putting the presentation together. 

As for the presentation, I feel it went well. Although I was nervous, I found it a lot easier to be up there with James, instead of by myself because all the attention was not turned to me. I believe that our powerpoint was very well put together and went along with our presentation well. I liked the AV James picked out to go along with the White Guilt article. I felt as though my nerves got the best of me at points during my discussion, but it didn't seem that anyone noticed. I felt the discussion questions we picked worked out very well, even though the class was somewhat unresponsive. :) 

I also liked how it tied together nicely with what Professor Seloni discussed afterward. All in all, I am content with James' and I presentation and it was not quite as bad as I expected it to be.

Students often overuse the amout of direct quotations that are nesseccary in writing a research paper. It is important to try and limit your use of direct quotations in a paper. To make your paper more valuable, only around "10% of your final manuscript" (46-47) should be directly quoted from your sources (Lester, 1976).

Child Trafficking in Cambodia

I must say this writing was very passionate and emotional. The topic and paper was very shocking. I knew very little about trafficking before reading this and could barely tell you what it was. Now, I feel like I should do something to try to help stop the problem. Moreover, the statistics she used throughout her paper made the problem more real. It is sickening to know this disturbing is really happening every day. She mentioned OPTIONS, which seems like a good idea, however I wish there was a permanent solution to this problem. Anyways, all in all, I thought this was a good paper. I am glad she chose a topic to write about that not many people are not informed on. 

Reflections on BREAKING THE CODE activity

I was able to gain a lot from this activity. I learned what I need to focus in on when analyzing research and how to do it quickly. It will help me when I need to read my ten sources. I feel it will be able to pick out the research questions and main points a lot easier.

3.4 Exercise

The researcher is saying that you cannot relate music to society without  using many different components.Depending on the style the relation to society can be different from another style of music. He says, "In analyzing serious music, we have to uncover the social forces concealed in the talk of "transcendent" values; in analyzing pop, we have to take seriously the values scoffed at in the talk of social functions." You cannot give value and compare one type of music to another.

Effects of Bullying Among Teenage Females. Is enough being done?

http://www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/bullying.html

http://www.suite101.com/content/the-drama-and-trauma-of-bullying-among-girls-a240640

http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=13057

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ab.1010/abstract

http://spi.sagepub.com/content/27/5/535.abstract

Keywords

self-esteem, social anxiety disorder, self love, self confidence, self esteem in women

Websites

Self Esteem - The Problem Behind All Problems
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Selvarajah13.html
Google

The Nature and Function of Self- Esteem: Sociometer Theory
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B7J09-4DTXDVC-1&_user=564876&_coverDate=01%2F01%2F2000&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1455349723&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000028718&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=564876&md5=d7df6c52968275f9002ee68874e68d6d&searchtype=a
Google Scholar

The social Importance of Self Esteem
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uo-uiTapxaUC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=self+esteem&ots=74iQNtUMV2&sig=QBiM12YaR_WfXJ6FvMHA_SCNWNo#v=onepage&q&f=false
Google Scholar

Research Questions

• What influences a person's self esteem? 
• What are the effects of low self esteem?
• Why is it important to have high self esteem? 
• Can you re-build your self esteem and if so, how?