Reflective Essay

        I've been learning a lot from writers block, and also from the balance on my blog between open-ended and formal academic writing styles. This blog has helped me realize a lot of things about me and the way I write. It has also help me see the big differences between open-ended and formal academic writing.
            Having a blog is fun for me when I can write about what I want. Formal academic writing, or assigned writing, is harder for me because I have to think of what to say and plan it out. I have discovered that I procrastinate a lot and I am very lazy when it comes to the assigned writing. When I procrastinate I don't start to post things on my blog until 11:00 or 11:30, and I don't get done with it until around 12:15. When I’m feeling lazy I don’t plan out what I want to write about or how I will write it until I start typing. To me, this is a VERY bad habit to get into because its a hard habit to get rid of and its not productive towards my grades. When I don’t plan things out, my writing gets messy, unfocused, and hard to understand. If I wasn’t so lathargic and I actually planned things out my writing would be a lot stronger. To me, having this blog is fun yet troublesome at the same time.
       Open-ended writing is very easy for me to do because I pick topics that are a lot easier for me to write about and they flow a lot smoother. Formal academic writing differs depending on the subject I’m writing about. We specifically have to respond to any one's post that we feel the need to. Usually I would pick a topic where I have a lot to say about the subject, but once I put it into words, my post is too short. Since I procrastinate too much I don’t have time to think of more to say. I have a similar, yet different issue with open-ended writing. With open-ended writing I can write about anything I want, but I don’t want to have the same issue as my formal writing, or response posts. These are the reasons I have very little assignments posted on my blog, they are displays of procrastination and laziness.
      There have been times when I do a response post that is fun for me and I have a lot to say about it. For example, I responded to a post Ebone wrote about a conversation Aleah and her had in p.e. about the “N-word” with two other students. For this post I had a lot to say because I had a lot of experience with discrimination  and these types of incedents. For this piece I didn’t really have to any planning because of my experiences with these things. For other response posts, they require planning and organization, but if I’m doing them late at night I don’t have time to plan out anything, so my work is a mess and unorganized.
         My writers block has been caused by, again, not planning and organizing my work. Since I’ve come up short and haven’t been able to produce well written, long enough work, I need to work on when I get stuck. I noticed that the more i get stuck the longer it takes to write and since I’m doing things late at night then I have no time to waste at all. To over come my writers block I sit myself down in a quiet place and think about the subject. My writers block mainly happens when I write a response post. When I’m writing a response post and I run out of things to say, that’s when my writers block kicks in. I have an opinion when I do a response post and my opinions are very straight foward, which moves my writing towards a more straight foward approach. When I’m writing a more open-ended piece its a lot easier for me because I have can incorperoate more creativity.
          My goals for next semester are not to procrastinate, plan out my work before I type it, try to type them during the day or as soon as I get home from school, and write as much as I can but don’t strain myself. I believe these step by step goals will help me reach my main goal of making my writing stronger. I believe I can complete these goals step by step and carefully produce well written work. My response posts will also develope a lot more. My open ended writing won’t develope as much because I have more of a problem with responses.

Quickwrite: Response to Picture

    In class we had to do a quickwrite on a picture that we saw and we had to describe what we thought was going on in the picture. In the picture the woman was holding a crumpled letter reading it with her window open next to a bed with fruits on it.
   I believe that the woman in the painting is a random lady, not a peasant, but a rich person, based on her clothing, who's husband left her. The letter probably explains the random fruit in a basket on the bed and her facial expression, which looks like a happy/frowning face. I think her husband left her and left the fruit because he felt bad. The dim lighting and how the letter is crumpled and almost falling out of her hands suggest that its a sad letter or a letter that made her sad. The painting looks very dark mainly because the bed covering was very dark and the curtain next to her was a dark green color and the light coming in from the window makes it look like its a gloomy day. Many people asociate gloomy days with sadness.
    Her clothes looked wrinkled and haggered so it looks like she's been wearing that for a while. The dress she has on looks like what they wore in England a long time ago. The fruits on her bed look like winter fruit so its winter which suggests a gloomy day, which equals sadness.

response post

I got this quote from Ebone's blog:

"After we ended the debate, they brought it up again “I’m just saying when I say it ending in –ga- I mean my homey”, we said “The N-word comes from the Spanish word Negro for the color black, slave owners adopted that word using it as a bad term towards African-Americans, so know matter how u say it how u want to phrase, if your white then it is not appropriate for you to say?"

    Ebone got his quote from Leah when they were having a debate about the N-word with two other classmates and Leah wrote about it. I would like to express my opinion on the subject.
    I believe if a white person says the N-word and it ends in --er-- then that it DEFINITELY not okay because it is used/taken as a derogatory term against black people. If a white person says the N-word ending in --a-- then i believe its okay because, yes, the N-word was used as a derogatory term against black people, BUT since it is used to say homey as Leah stated, then black people can't monopolize the word.
     I think when someone says that word and they mean it offensively it isn't just not okay for white people to say it, or for someone to say it inoffensively then it would be okay for them to say it. I feel when people discuss this word they are targeting mainly white people, when in reality its people of all colors that say it and i find it offensive or inoffesive no matter who you are.

Short Story

         Jaya ran as fast as she could away from this place. Her place of pain and loneliness. She couldn't fathom her reasons for leaving, all she knew is that she had to get out. She had to run, run far away and just go. She knew once she left she could NOT come back to this wicked evil place. It had been the home she grew up in for her whole life. She knew nothing else, nothing from the outside world, but she knew once those men had come through the door her life would be changed forever.
         She didn't know it would be this drastic, this crazy. She played everything back in her head. The voices, the black coats, the screams. It had only been 30 minutes ago. "Will someone get the door?!" Jaya's mother screamed from the opposite side of the house. Jaya ran to get the door, she didn't want her mother getting anymore angry than she already was. "Hello child. Is your father home?" The first man to the right said. His voice was calm, yet scarily soft and hard, a chill ran up her spine as the men walked in with heavy footsteps. "Baby, don't worry these are your daddy's friends."
         Her mother said to her in a soft voice with a hint of regret hidden inside of it. "Hello Mr. Caravelli, we would like to talk to you." One of the men said. "Honey go to your room." Jaya's mom, Sarah said. She slowly walked to her room, straining her ears to hear the slightest part of their conversation. Once she heard noises and commotion she decided to come out of her room. As soon as she walked out of her room, her eyes caught sight of the horrible men and her parents. "RUN BABY! RUN AWAY NOW!" Jaya's mother yelled out. She heard the desperation in her mother's voice and knew their was nothing she could do. She ran into her room and locked the door. She threw everything in her sight into a duffel bag and snuck out the back and ran. She ran as far as she could. Just to get away.

Response

I found this quote I can really relate to in Nawara's blog:.

When I came to Alameda Science and Technology Institute, I learned that I was in a smaller environment and in an area that is full time work, work, work. When it was my first day of school, all I was thinking about was college. I felt like I was not in a high school where they have rallies, dances, and football games. I was in a community where we succeed in higher educational standards. As a freshman, I was scared. I felt like I was not going to succeed even though I was accepted, I did not feel like I was ready.

       I can identify with what Nawara said when she said she was scared, when she came here, of failing at ASTI. When I came here I expected work, and lots of it. We kind of eased into all the work, but it still wasn't easy. I had to make all new habits when I came home and that was a hard transition for me. I didn't expect a normal high school,I expected a serious high school, with serious teachers, and even more serious homework, but after a month it gets easier, My grades at my old school were very good but once I came to ASTI they dropped, alot.
       I'm slowly yet surely getting my grades back up, but its hard at some points. I can understand why kids who don't go here think its a really serious academic school but you have to experience it for yourself and what you think of the school and not what other people have told you. I thought that at first but once I got here I realized that this school is not as hard as people say it is.
      When I came here I also was very afraid of failing at the high school and not being able to go to the college. Now I feel more prepared for the college but it will be a big transition. The whole point of ASTI is to prepare us for college and by giving us the amount of work we have will definitely prepare us for college.

Class Debate: Rebutle: Prostitution CON-Shannon and Lhadze

Prostitution should NOT be legalized. If its legalized the pimps will just go online or continue what they were doing and the prostitute would not report them. Yes, the prostitute is afraid, however she is still emotionally connected and brainwashed by their pimps so that they wont report them because they know about all the bad things that happen in jail and they wouldn't want that to happen to someone that they "love".

"If women and girls are not persuaded by the big money which is sometimes offered, or the survival possibility for women or their families, then they will simply be tricked or trafficked."

- Cecilia Hofmann, Secretary of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women

As Cecilia Hofmann states, IF girls  are not persuaded by "the big money" they will be tricked or trafficked, this means that the girls will be tricked into thinking that this is okay. Most of the time pimps find girls whether they want to be found or not and they put themselves into a position were the girls see them as a father figure or some one who "loves" them and once the girls get emotionally connected to them, about a week to a month, the pimps tell them things like if you love me you'll go make my money or they force them to. If the prostitute "loves" their pimp, or thinks they do, then they don't want a loved one to go to jail or be imprisoned.

A lot of the time girls are kidnapped and forced to be in these situations. When girls are forced into doing this and their "patrolling" the streets, their pimps, along with other people, are watching them and driving around making sure their doing what their supposed to. So a lot of the time it isn't easy for girls to get away and go tell the authorities.

"...an international crime ring was abducting young girls in Europe, importing them, and forcing them to work in Chicago brothels."- Wikipedia, article on "white slavery"

Women and mainly young girls are forced to be in this situation. When girls are brought in from Europe,  they don't know the streets that their on and they hardly speak english, so they can't get to the police, or any help at all.

Sources:
• http://prostitution.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000101
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_slavery#White_slavery

response

Found the best quote on Tony's blog:

I think people bully others sometimes for entertainment, because someone is different, trying to be cool, or just trying to fit in with everyone else. They might want to hurt their peers because the person might have done something stupid or just are different for them. Bullies usually pick on people that are smaller or people that appear strange to them. I think bullying is a bad thing and people should not be apart of it.

I couldn't agree more with what Tony said. This refers to all the rules on the ASTI constitution. The constitution mainly talks about treating your peers and teachers with respect and thinking before you act because you never know how you're words will effect people in what way. It also talks about accepting others for who they are, this is hard for bullies because when they make fun of someone its usually because they're insecure about that specific thing. The ASTI constitution should be a bullies guide to recovery because it says everything a bully should do.