Blog Assignment #7: "Author's Note" on Your Personal Memoir

“That’s when she told me the entire story.  Keisha was in foster care since she was born. Her mother was a crack addict and was doing drugs during her pregnancy. Nobody knows were she is or her condition. Keisha was born in Marcy housing park in Brooklyn. Left there alone then found by a cop who took her to the hospital. Her father was in jail, she did not tell me of what he was convicted for. All I know is that it most of been something serious because until now he has not gotten out. Also it is evident that his incarceration is drug related. Her family members did not want her. After she told me this all I felt was sadness, disappointment, but I wasn't mad at Keisha.”
This piece is about my best friend. I thought I knew everything about her, and in high school I found out she was in foster care. She was my inspiration for this piece, the idea came to me when I was eating lunch with her. She told me that when she turns twenty-one if she does not have a job and a steady place to live, the foster care agency would place her in a shelter. I turned this assignment in to late to be able to revise it for my final portfolio.  However, if I was able to revise it the first thing I would change is the title.  The writing of this assignment did not come easy to me. I was having trouble with being pleased with my work, before I gave it in to my professor I most had written it over about 4 times. As soon as I mentioned her being located in a mental institution Wurtzel Prozac Nation popped in my head. I think I was thinking about because I can just imagine the depression she most of had being in an institution with a bunch of stranger.

Blog assignment #6: Planning an Interview for a ‘Personal Profile’

For this blog I was thinking of interviewing my sister.  I was planning to aim for the struggle of a student that attended an expensive private college. The large amount of loan left and the difficult part of finding a job that is able to pay the student the amount they are suppose to get paid with the amount of education they have earned.  I  would be leaning a lot on the math aspect.
I plan to ask her:
How much does it cost to attend the college you graduated from?
How much do you have in loans?
How much do you get paid?

Another idea is to interview my friend. I would like to show the aspect of a homosexual man working with children. The children reaction to sexual preference and his actions. His coworkers and parents reaction to his preference. I could also start leaning towards his parents reaction when he told them about his preference.
I plan to ask him:
At what age did you discover you were attracted to the same sex?
Do your students ever ask why you talk or walk differently then other man in there life’s?
How long have you been working for Board of Education?

I think that when an interview format is just question and answer the reader becomes bored and uninterested. In order to make my essay more interesting I was planning to make it in a story format. I would also like to see if there becomes a large difference between my interview and an actual professional interviewer. I believe that there would be a difference since I know the people I am interviewing and I can act like myself around them.

Blog Assignment #3: Reading Description

This blog is going to be referring to Luis Alberto Urrea Across the Wire. Reading this work of literature the first thing that captures my attention comes from page 740 to 741 he states:

“Even in this wind and wet they joked and laughed. This feature of the Mexican personality is often the cause of much misunderstanding- that if Mexican are so cheerful, then they certainly couldn't be hungry or ill… Perhaps the women laughed because they were simply relieved to be getting food. Perhaps they were embarrassed-Mexicans are often shamed by accepting help of any kind… or maybe the poor don’t feel the compunction to play the humble and quite role we assign them in our mind.”

This phrase got my interest for the reason that he defended the underprivileged people. I felt like he was giving them a voice. It captured a sense of description the thought of several females smiling and giving the assumption of being happy is enough detail to be able to create a sense of an image. I can also get a sense of character from narrator it gives the impression of a strong minded individual.

Another phrase that attracted my attention is on page 753 to754

“Jesusita’s husband was held by the arms, and a sawed-off shotgun was notched under his nose and fired… the gunmen went after her. She was not fast – her legs were short, too short to carry her out of range. They shot her in the spine, knocking her facedown in the dirt. They must have taken their time reloading, because she managed to crawl a short distance, bleeding heavily. The shooter walked up to her, put the shotgun to the back of her head, and fired.”

To me this is very sentimental and emotional, it makes me shiver every time I read it. It is very descriptive I sense that it makes this scene more upsetting and cruel. There is noticeably no simile or metaphor. To me it was straighter just stating facts after facts.

Throughout this work of literature there are many phrases and sentences that grabbed my attention. The last phrase that got my attention is on page 750

“He grabbed her arm and pinched up a section of her skin. When he let it go, it stayed elevated, like clay, or a pinch of silly putty. A sign of severe dehydration”

He uses a well used metaphor and description. It does not really show a sense of character but it does tell the reader the condition Ms.Serrano was under.   

ENG 274 post #2 Author notes on assignment #1

 I decide to do the vignette in something that makes me happy every instance I think about the event. It also shows the funny and weird side of my family. The thought of everyone smiling made me want to write more than just a vignette it made me want to write an entire story. My inspiration came from seeing my brothers girlfriend and reminiscing the episode. In my revision I was planning to be more evocative and use a lot of imagery. I felt like the reader was unable to capture a sense of each character and each other differences. This was my first time writing a vignette, I consider a vignette harder than an essay to put in writing. The essay is very analytic but the hard part of the vignette is making the plot and finding the correct terms to describe a certain image.  I learned that a vignette is a short story that has no ending. I wrote my vignette on my laptop on Microsoft word, in my room, while eating cookie cream ice cream. While doing this work of literature I didn't have any reading in mind. My vignette is simple it though a reader would be confused or would need any extra information.

We sat all in a playful mood, joked around and poked each other’s nerves, the usual. All of a sudden the room changed everyone got serious and the air felt like iron steel. It felt like a funeral, me and my little brother staring at Maryann. As I look down at my feet all I hear is “Mom, Maryann is pregnant and we keeping the baby”. My mom quickly starts laughing, if I said the room felt like iron steel before during this time it felt like the material Captain America shield was made of.  As she laughs, she farts, that definitely broke the silence. We all started laughing; my mother started joking “That baby better not call me grandma! It should call me auntie; I’m too young to be a grandma”.

Melina Baez ENG 274 Creative Non- Fiction Blog

            Hi, my name is Melina Baez.  I’m currently majoring in Writing and Literature. For my major ENG 274 is a requirement. I previously have done many essays analyzing different topics.  I have also created several blogs posting for my ENG 101 and Eng103. Lately I’ve been reading and I’m interested in Julia Garwood novels. She is very talented and has outstanding novels. I’m not specifically interested in one kind of writing, I just enjoy expressing my self. However, I’m not very fond of writing research papers.

Melina Baez ENG 274 Creative Non- Fiction Blog

my integreated hour biography

  

   Melina Del Carmen Baez was born in Dominican Republic on October 13 1993. A healthy girl with black hair and light eyes. She is the child of Jose Juaquin Baez and Ylma Baez. Her father lived in New York and visited almost every summer for a couple weeks. After moving to New York at the age of five, she changed causing trouble in the relationship with her parents, and in school. In 2000 her younger brother Elvin Baez was born. She considered him her son spoiling him. At the age of 15 she found out that her parents had been keeping a big secret from her and her siblings. She had another brother just one year older than Elvin. However, it was until the summer of 2011 that she had the opportunity to actually speak with her brother.

   Human Rights are the rights given to every human for being simply that. Language is a way of expression not only a verbal one but also one through writing, body movements, pictures etc. The language of Human Rights is defined as the way the language or the rights given to the human being are interpreted and applied. The United States of America has many laws. However, many of the laws are misinterpret or are disobeyed. An education is a human right that should be given to everyone of all ages and all languages. The fact that everyone has the equal right to education yet not everyone received such is inequality. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) article number 26 mentions the right to education.

I Speak Spanish What Language Do You Speak

   I was five years old I have no recognition of how the news had been given to me or where or how. All I really remember was being told I was moving to the United states and moving in with my father. I had everything I needed in the Dominican Republic probably more than I used. I was in the first grade in the Dominican Republic lived in a very small house in poor conditions. Even though this house was small and seemed like it was worth nothing, to me its worth was the same as a mansion. It showed me that I did not need alot of superficial things to be happy. I remember thinking, " what a big bird" considering that I had never been on a airplane before.
   My mom and my aunt where scared out of their mind me, and my cousins and my siblings where actually very excited. I really did not have many expectations. I was very bright and outgoing. When we came to the Untided States we lived in New York in a neighborhood called Washington Heights. I liked it, not as much as the Dominican Republic but it was very welcoming. I was told that since I was five years old I would have to be left back one grade. The Board of Education system placed me in kindergarden. To me it seemed unfair considering that I had spent an intire year repeating the same thing I had learned in the Dominican Republic.
   My language "disability" was considered a big factor of my learning experience. Both of my teachers where not fluent in spanish and did not understand anything I would tell them, I would not understand anything they told me. Since I was new in New York and also in this school, I really did not have many friends. I also felt very isolated, as time passed by it did get better. However, it was not hard for me to pass . I did not need to learn how to speak English, to know how to draw, or know the alphabet. Considering that it was kindergarden, and many of the children did not know their number or alphabet. Sometimes I would give it a try and I would just repeat what ever they were saying. As time passed by I learned the numbers and alphabet. The only reason I learned the numbers and alphabet was because as we said the word the teacher would point at the object. I also learned other words through television and by paying close attention to my friend's translations. I needed a lot of help with my homework. Since I did not understand half of the things I was being told i would ask my sister for help. however my sister would not know either so she would walk me eight blocks or call my cousins house. She hated helping me but really did not have an option. She hated to see me cry, I was young and got upset over almost everything.
   Think about it, this is only my statement of the struggle in school. Just like myself there are many children that because of their lack of speaking English have been unable to the right of education. Some of them have had to go through harder times. New York is the city of their dreams but how can there be dreams without no sleep? Everyone decides to bring there kids to the United States for a "better future". How can that be found if there rights are provided instead violeted and hidden.
There has been several court cases that have been a movement for bilingual students. One of the cases is the Lau v. Nichols on the 1970' s in San Francisco. The main point proven in this court case was that there had been a large amount of chinese students that did not speack english and where being denied them bilingual classes or instructions. The students argued that the actions taken by the school violeted the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The students won the case (findlaw). Another well known case is the Meyer v. Nebraska on the 1920's in Nebraska. the instructor in Zion Parochial School was teaching a student German who was ten years old (cornell).
　
work cited
Lawyer, Lawyers, Attorney, http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=414&invol=563.

Cornell University. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0262_0390_ZO.html>. When everyone doesn't start at the same point at school is everyone receiving the same education?Attorneys, Law, Legal Information - FindLaw. Web. 02 Dec. 2011.

The Power of Non- Violence in class activity

        In this blog I will discuss the passage Testament of Hope edited by James M. Washington on one of its main ideas that Martin Luther King Jr. uses non- violence to get his point across.  In the passage “The Power of Non- Violence” on it discusses that the point of having a peaceful protest is not to humiliate but to befriend and create understanding with them and win them over. It also states that the protestor is not support to hate the person but instead love them, just hate their actions.  It also talks a little bit about religion. That because God loves everyone the protestor should also love everyone.  In addition, the white people where getting upset because the followers of Martin Luther King Jr. we’re not responding the way they had expected the protestor to act. Martin Luther King Jr. is an African American man that believed and followed in full devotion non- violence protest.

integreated hour

So far i have decided I'm going to write a short story or a essay or memoir depending if i find enough evidence. I am not done with i am project. so far i have the subject my biography is done. I am still searching for evidence of the lack of education given to none English speaking students. I would like my partner to critique my outline of the project  and tell me which one she or he finds more intriguing and thinks will get my point across. I am done with my biography because when i thought i was done i decided to add how i relate to the subject of my project and explain why i think my subject is so important. I need to go over it and make sure that everything i wrote on it is perfect and well put together.

Blog for Cooper #4 thoughts on the cluster

One of the common themes that I have noticed in all three classes is the distinction of something being expected to be followed and something actually being fallowed. In Linguistic class there is the prescriptive approached and the thought that in today nobody really follows this rules. In human rights there is the difference between theory and reality when it comes to the law and how it pursued in a daily day basis. In English 101 there is the though of actual justice being done and the theoretically justice. This is shown in the book Southern Horrors and Other Writings in the action of lynching. The class being diverse does not really change the cluster. However, it does make the class discussion more interesting.

biography

    My name is Melina Del Carmen Baez. I was born in Dominican Republic on October 13,1993. My dad made the family come to the United States, when I was 5. I first lived in Washington Height in New York. After 5 years my parents decided to move to Jamaica Queens. In my point of view it is an extreme change of environment.  I don’t really have any hobbies. I just view my life as a puzzle that need to be put together. I first attended PS 132 in Manhattan from kindergarten to 4^th grade. However, I did third grade at Dominican Republic. Then, I went to PS 160 from fifth grade to six grade. I attended also IS 8 as my Junior High from 7^th grade to 8^th grade. After all of that I went to John Bowne High School in Flushing.

    I believe Human Rights are a very important part of every person’s life. Mainly because it can change a person life depending on how many rights that person has.  I am fluent in Spanish and English. However, sometimes I mispronounce words or speak Spanglish.  

key words

In The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900 it is shown that Negro domination was very crucial after the slave’s days. Negro domination is when the white people tried to overrule the Africans Americans other known as white supremacy. It is clearly stated in this work of literature “as no white man has been lynched for the murder of colored people” (Royster 76). This quote explains what occurred this is because many of the African Americans got lynched for the murder of a white man. This is a perfect example how anarchy helped the white people believe they had more power. This is by not having consequences for murders depending on the person’s race.

The Third Blog Lynching and thought of Ida B. Wells

     Lynching is when the people believe that justice was not done and decide to take matters into there own hands. In this blog, I am going to prove that after the civil war there was still white supremacy by the use of lynching this will be proven through the text Southern Horrors and Other Writings edited by Jacqueline Jones royster. In this work of literature it is introduced Ida B Wells a writer and creator of Free Speech. She explained that the lynching after the Civil War was uncivilized the excuses where in actuality not valuable enough to take a life.
    One of the excuses that was used after the Civil War by white people in order to lynch African Americans was the raping of white women. Wells went against this idea and stated that if during the slaves day the white men was attracted to the African American women why could it not be reciprocal (Royster 29). She also pointed out that many of the ladys lied and said they got raped in order to save there reputation and dignity and for them not to get in trouble (Royster 57). This is shown in the case of the wife of a minister. It is stated " I had several reasons for telling you. One was the neighbors saw the fellow here...  another was that I feared I might give birth to a negro baby. I hoped to save my reputation by telling you a deliberate lie"(Royster 54). She had explained this to her husband after and he asked her why she had lied this was her response clearly stating that it was a lie to save her reputation. This shows how smart the white women during this time where they knew that there word would overcome a negro word.

        My though of how language relates to human rights is that sometimes we use language to give or deprive someone some rights. Human rights are the rights that every human should have. Language is a way of expression and communication. We can also use language to convey our thought about the way the law is interpreted into the society.  In this book or group project I will most likely contribute an essay or short story mainly aiming at bullying or feminism. I picked this two subject mainly because I can relate to them and put my personal experience as a very interesting example.

Femenist

   During the past years many group of people have gathered and fought for there believes, and rights. a group of mostly women created a group named that is now known as feminism. This group believes that both genders female or male are equal socially, economically, sexually, mentally and in every aspect of a usual day life activity. Meaning what ever a man could do a female can do also. as time passes by females have gain a lot of right that where not given before such as the right to vote. However this is only in the united states, in countries such as china there has been a inequality in population of genders, also in the believe of Muslim the women is dehumanize and seen as a object. This topic is relevant because a woman has rights just like any other human being and it is time that they get what they deserve.
   One of the main international human right law in female right was created on, December
    Since being a women is being a human being the constitution as well as the article of confederation or any document established for the United18 December 1979, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This set of regulations was created by the United Nations Commission on the statues of women it took an estimate of 30 years to be created. The document aims at mainly at three parts the situation of women legal statues also the human reproduction ,and not seen in other documents treaties(ohchr). However, even do this is a document that is expected to be fallowed and respected, it does not states that it is supposed to. meaning that just like any other human right document it cant change the law or trye to over come it unless it is passed as one.

IM GUCCI!!!

 

      A very smart and intelectual man named named Guccio Gucci was born on march 26 of 1881 in florence and died on january 2 of 1953. He created a famouse and very expensive clothing line and leathers goods named Gucci. However, today the word Gucci is not only being used to describe the clothing line, but also as a feeling. Many of my friends and people that I have met use the word Gucci as saying they feel good. My guess of why this happen is because Gucci is known of being a very good clothing brand so they associate it with something good. If put in a sentence it would be something like "Im Gucci".

second blog The contradiction of Andrew Goodman

In the memoirs from When I was a Slave by Norman R Yetman, the memoir that got my attention for a very interesting contradiction was Andrew Goodman. A man who got lucky and did not have to suffer as much as many other slaves. He stated "I was born in slavery and think them days was better for the niggers than the day we see now"(Yetman 52). He was interview at the age of 97 in Dallas, Texas. Goodman was aloud to play with the masters kids when he was young and also eat with them. His master Marse Bob also made sure that he always had enough food.This is contradicting because many people fought for the better life for a slave but yet he believes they should of left it how it was. This people believed that the best life for a slave was for them to have freedom, and not be owned by what was usually a white family. However, Goodman believed that the days where a slave was owned and had no other option but to do hard labor for free just because of a document that sayed they was property of someone, where the better days. Goodman is basically saying that all the people who risked there life fought for nothing.

say my name

So my name is m3lIna. The m is a nassals what occurs is that you close your lips and breath out your nose and kind of vibrate your mouth. The 3 is a low front. Put together it should sound like a sheep when it says "meeehhhh". However instead of it being extended it is very short and fast so it only sounds like "meh". In order for you to do the "lI" the person has to put there tongue right after there teeth and just let it slide behind your teeth. So far as you say the "m3" your lips should be close and there should be a little vibration and in the "lI" your mouth should be not closed but not fully opened. The n is also a nassal. The person basically places there tongue behind your upper teeth and just let it sit there. The "na" is just basically letting your tongue hang behind your front teeth and then letting it go.

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