Alameda: my home (reflection)

As I strolled down looking for a blog post to reflect upon, one caught my eye which was about the island that I live on, Alameda. It was a reflection done by david su titled do god bless alameda.

"I am shocked. If anything, Alameda is the coolest place to be and just because you do not like it here, does not make it dumb or stupid or anything like that. I am tired of people calling Alameda bad names. ... Just because people live in Oakland and it’s where all the “cool people” live, does not make everywhere else dumb ... (My dad works in Oakland and he has seen people get shot but he loves it there and he says he would not want to work anywhere in the world but in Oakland but you do not see him talking trash about Alameda.)"

I am not surprised that rokhsor is so shocked on the account of criticizing Alameda. I too have heard several cases of negative insults about alameda that do not make any sense. No one should regret living in alameda for many reasons on is that alameda is one of the United States’s safest cities. I can walk around at night and have little to worry about due to the safety my small city provides me with. It has many parks and has a sandy shoreline beach. Alameda to me has all the ingredients that can provide me with a relaxing life.

However, all of alameda’s goodliness and lack of criminal activity can cause several people to experience extreme boredom. But that kind of fun never lasts forever and sadly many find out the hard way if they manage to make through it. Alameda is the city a few of the Alameda Science and Technology Institute teachers many and students live in, so insulting you hometown sounds a bit weird. But even though there are a few today who might dislike alameda, a large amount of them will probably change their minds. Alameda is an island that holds many memories of the past, something no one would like to through away into the trash.

 

Warriors Dont Cry: Final Post

Warriors Dont Cry: final post
The school year is half way over, and it feels great to finally start winter break! Unfortunately, my final group discussion on Warriors Don’t Cry was a very poor one with very little covered, probably because it was still early in the morning and it was only a couple hours until we started or break. Only a few questions and bam we went off topic.

However, my group and I did manage to at least get some stuff covered. We answered some of the questions I brought up like “do you think that melba did the right thing to go to Central High where she was poorly and racially treated?”. I thought of some reasonable answers for that question. I think she did the right thing in going to Central High even though there was such dirty mistreatment thrown at her. I believe that if she did not go to Central High, the segregationists would have been the winners of that battle. But by continuing her attendance and Central High, Melba was like pointing her middle finger up say you can not stop me, making her a true warrior.

Another topic we spoke about was the usage of the term “nigger”, particularly in today’s society. Gina mentioned that if a black person called another black person a “nigger”, he/she would not really care and take it as a typical joke. However, if a white person called a black person a “nigger”, the reactions most likely would be totally different. We discussed why it is this way, but one of the only answers we were able to think of was culture and society. We concluded that this depends on the society and era you are in. during the times when this story took place, many white  people would fearlessly call a black person a “nigger” and in many cases that was what their race was called, to insult or not. Marther Luther king junior for example would usually call African Americans “negro” and he was not trying to be insulting. Today in our society calling someone a “nigger” would be considered strong foul language.

Worriors Dont Cry post 2

unequality
Passing the second paper clip I placed in Warriors Don’t Cry, the story to me just keeps on adding up. Melba, the main character who is an African American girl attending Central High, becomes victimized and mistreated due to the heavy racism and hatred many white students have for her. Due to her courage to resist such dirty racism, I believe Melba is becoming a very strong warrior. To me, this story gives me an idea of how a society thinks and judges others. During our discussion my group brought up some interesting topics and questions. We even were able to state a few level 3 questions which is not an easy task to accomplish. There was an interesting question in particular that Gina brought up which I now have a response to. We spoke about the racist mistreatment Melba had, and by the end Gina asked if there are still such terrible acts in our present day society. If there was a little more time and the answer came to me at that time, I would name a 21^st century mistreatment that kills over 25% of the United States population and sadly our president is trying to legalize this form of cruelty. Sadly, it can take generations until a society will stop and think what they are up to. It took a while for our society to realize slavery was morally wrong. It took a while until segregation was eliminated. And today’s society, the one we now live in? Well there are many ways people are misjudged which leads to mistreatment. There is mistreatment for gay people and people of certain beliefs. But one rolling in my mind which is far worse than all of the mistreatments combined abortion. I know many would just go mad if I mentioned it, but eventually they will need to find the truth. In the past, if a southerner mentioned about a free African American, the people near by would probably get enough and for some, greatly provoked. If someone tried to help an African American in a Jim crow society, the helper would frequently be called a “nigger-lover” and even beaten (like in the book To Kill a Mocking Bird.). But like in every story, what is right will always win, eventually. On day our society will view gay mistreatment as a “Jim Crow era” for homosexuals and abortion as a “21^st century holocaust” since it is the act of KILLING an innocent child. Sadly change can take a while to occur. We might not live our lives to see these changes, but what is right is right, and whoever is right is always victorious.

an argument about argument:reflection

After reading a response that attempted once again to prove me wrong but failed, i found an interesting blog named the cat with crossed paws that had an interesting topic and start, but i found a few things that i found worth "arguing" about.

Argument is the root of all evil. A force opposing your own. And idea, a feeling, a person, an opinion. No, argument does not always escalate into something big, but it often turns your opponent more against you than they were before you fought.

True there are frequently arguments that are childish which just hold you and your opponent behind like ‘who will get the last cookie’ or ‘this belongs me’, but not all the arguments that occur(ed) are to be considered roots of “evil". Arguments sometimes go out of hand and suddenly you are in chaos and violence. A simple argument can at times add up to a war. However, argument is not always the root of all evil, but rather the seed of all goodness.

The main reason of argument is to prove or point out to someone into agreeing or disagreeing. if you argue that something is not the way it should be, then is arguing still evil? Was it wrong for the northerners of the United States to argue that slavery is wrong? Was it wrong for Rosa Parks to argue and refuse to give up her seat? Was it wrong for America to argue against the Crown? Was it wrong for women to argue for equal rights like voting? Is it wrong to argue for your rights and equality? Well the answers to these questions all share the same conclusion; argument is necessary and that it is not always the wrong thing to do.

If we do not argue, then things usually just remain the same. Staying the same is not always the best thing to do. All societies have issues that they need to deal and end with. Avoiding argument would just keep those problems flowing about.

Argument is like standing up for what you believe is to be the truth, though not all that we believe/agree in is the correct answer.  

Brzmi podobnie, ale są zupełnie różne

Brzmi podobnie, ale są zupełnie różne

Do you ever get misjudged by others for who you are based on your appearance? Well this has happen to me so many times. Frequently whenever I am in public and when I speak Polish to my parents (they ignore me if I do not), someone in the public would assume that my family and I are Russian.  In kasia’s blog which she titled TKR blog post #2: Russia hating gives an example of this race identification error when she spoke about the event in the restaurant for someone’s birthday.

“What language are you speaking in?”
I told him that we were speaking in Polish.
“Is that where you are from? Poland?” He asked us. We told him yes- that we were one hundred percent Polish.
“Oh, I am so sorry for mistreating you!” He exclaimed. “I thought you were speaking Russian. I thought you were from Russia!”

 We always correct them stating that we are purely POLISH, not RUSSIAN, because to me personally I feel insulted in a sense. Racists or not, Russian leaders have frequently been doing wrong cruel things like torturing Poland throughout history, so having a nationality like that prevents having pride in the leaders of the past.There is a difference between Polish and Russian. True both languages are Slavic and might have a few words that sound alike the other, but Poles use a Latin based alphabet with additional letters of their own (like ą, ę, ź, and ł) while Russia has a total different system of its own. To prove my point I will compare the phrase “how are you?” between the two Slavic languages.

Russian: Как поживаете?

Polish: Jak się masz?

You can easily see a huge difference between the two. The two languages sound and look different from one another. It is like comparing the Japanese language with the Chinese language. Poles and Russians have been hating each other and treating each other as opposite races for centuries so the great difference between the two languages is very easy to understand.

group talk: warriors dont cry

group talk: warriors dont cry
We managed to cover many things during the group discussion we had last Friday.
I have a lot to say about the discussion my group had about our book, Warriors Don't Cry written by Melba Pattillo Beals. Even though I am reading a shorten version of the original, I still got the major events which made it possible for me to participate. Even though I did not answer as many questions as some of the other members in my group, I asked most of the questions. However, due to the limited amount of time we had, I was not able to ask all the questions I had in mind. Some of the questions I would have brought up include

• Does such severe inequality still exist in today's society?
• Do you believe that what Melba is doing is worth the risk?
• How does the title relate to the book?
• What caused the severe racism to last for such a long time?

I got several of my questions like “why is there such strong racism in Little Rock (Melba’s hometown) and none in Ohio?” answered. My group responded with some thoughtful answers. They told me that most of it is caused by history and decisions of the past. Arkansas, where most of the severe racism Melba experienced, was once a state open to slavery while Ohio was against. Due to Arkansas’s support of slavery, racism and mistreatment from white people to African Americans was common and difficult to avoid. Ohio was a free state that was against slavery therefore racism on African Americans was not as strong. But their answers were not at the mark since their thoughts could have been proven wrong.

If we had some additional time, I might have brought up the question that asked about our modern day society and I would have my own answer to it. We still have racism through our jokes (insults to be more accurate), and excluding/judging others based on their race and religion. Jokes are jokes when they are not used to insult others. But when it goes too far, it can become a nasty insult. But today we have our “racism” not based on skin color but by age. Our president wants to legalize murder to whoever is within a certain age, so right now we have not gone so far at all.