AOD 2/27/17

AOD 2/27/17

When I read this piece on the truth the thing I immediately thought of was how increasingly hard it is to know the truth today. So many things are constantly being thrown at us, it is hard to decipher what is true and what is false. This is especially the case in the current media. Often, I feel that with different media sources they do not tell the truth, they simply spread lies or tell the reader what they want to hear. I believe they are more concerned about selling their magazines, articles and other forms of writing to catch the public's eye. One specific line I like in this piece is the line that reads: "the truth is worth defending". I specifically like this line because I believe it tells that the truth is something that no matter how hard it is to hear, deserved to be heard. It deserves to have a place in our society today. One part of this poem also states "the truth is not red or blue". This phrase is very important to note in our current political climate. Everyone has their own beliefs and is entitled to them, both sides have truth. Yes, we all support one side or the other but we should not let our political views take over who we are or blind us from other truths in the world. 

Topic of Interest

Topic of Interest

I feel this week as if my whole life revolves around multicultural issues and topics. In one of my other classes, I was just asked to pick a book for reading club and I chose a book titled, Esperanza Rising.  You know that feeling when you buy something new and suddenly see it everywhere? This is how I now feel about learning about refugees. I seemed to dive into the topic and now I see signs or clubs or organizations everywhere trying to create solutions or see myself constantly being surrounded by multicultural everything. In this new book I am reading a young girl by the name of Esperanza, lives in Mexico and is very wealthy. One night she comes home, and finds that her father has been killed by bandits while on a hunting trip. As soon as this happens, her uncle decides that he would like to take the land, yet to do this he must marry Esperanza's mother. Long story short, Esperanza's mother does not accept his hand in marriage and her uncle becomes very angry. So angry that he threatens their whole family and burns all of their belongings. The family then must flee their country and comes to the United States for work. It is interesting to see that even though this is a fiction story it is actually very similar to many real world stories, I have read. One thing the story mainly focuses on is the families transition into the U.S. The family barely knows English and is sent by the government to pick cotton in camps, where they are very little. I  try to picture how this would be and can't wrap my head around it. Although many families are like this, and many take on these types of jobs just to be safe and have a little income. Refugees continue to amaze me!

AOD 2/20/17

A.O.D 2/20/17

After reading this blog post, I do not think that Marina Gomberg is very persuasive in the way she writes this letter. To me this letter comes off as offensive and also as very unprofessional. Using terms such as lol, and other things like this does not give Marina's argument the right professionalism and surely does not help support her argument. Also I do not think she is being respectful to the person who she is speaking to. She says she is writing this letter with all respect and support yet all she is doing is assuming his beliefs on the issues just because he is a man. From this letter I believe she wants James and the vice chair to change their thinking and also for others reading this to consider another way of thinking. This article did make me rethink some items of business and I did agree with some points but I believe that she could've written the letter with more respect and written it in a more professional way.

AOD 2/15/17

Just One

Tears streaming down her face, she was warned.

Warned but not prepared.

How could she be?

Whoever said words did not hurt lied. 

Words not only hurt but they stung, and stayed with her echoing in her mind.

She was given an explanation but refused to believe it. 

  

But no not all hope was lost. 

This was just one. 

One loss. One heartbreak.

One thing that was not going to stand in her way.

For ONE day she was not going to have to be warned or given an explanation.  

She would be happy and she would love JUST ONE. 

 So she persisted and she did. 

AOD 2/8/17

Millennial

After watching this video, I believe Simon Sinek had a lot of valid points. One thing that Simon said that I noticed in growing up was the use of social media. Simon describes it as that our generation has "put a filter on their world" making life seemingly like a dream and never difficult. I also thought it was interesting when Sinek talked about how our phones and how "likes", "texts" and other things can cause kids to not be able to form deep relationships. This is something I have seen in my life and believe that this could be true. It is a sad thing to be true. One thing I did not agree with is that millennials are the way they are because of failed parenting styles. I do not believe my parents "failed" in raising me. I believe they taught me the value of hard work, and the motivation to grab life, and succeed. Yet, Sinek tells of how we were always told how special we are and how that has made us entitled. I do not believe that this statement applies to everyone in our generation. I believe yes some of us were told we were special but I do not think this hindered us. I believe in many cases this gave us the confidence that we could be the change in the world.

Topic of Interest

Topic of Interest

As I was on the phone the other day with my best friend, who is currently in California, we began talking about immigration and letting others into our country. My best friend Cassidy, is studying at PLNU to become a journalist. She described to me her want to be a journalist for important and hard hitting news stories about real problems we face, such as women's rights, immigration and so forth. As I talked with her about her week in California she described to me that she was able to make a trip to the San Yisdo Port of Entry. She was able to actually be on both sides of the border and was able to stay in Mexico for 2 days and see what there was to offer. She described walking in with "me, my journal and a change of clothes." She took this trip on her own and was able to spend a day with deportees, from those who tried to cross the border. Although this is not exactly refugees, when I mentioned my paper again she told me that in fact there were many who's only longed to live in America. Many were very poor, and sought to go to America, to find a job and support their families. I believe there were many parallels to refugees in this case where many come from poor and small means and because of persecution want to come to America, and all we must do is let them in. As I talked more with her it made me again realize just how relevant this issue is in our society and how much we actually can see when we open our eyes.

AOD 2/6/17

Stereotypes of Men

I actually really enjoyed reading this article of the day. I had previously never thought of men breaking through gender stereotypes in such ways. I think there is a lot more to this fact then we think. Often times, I think that men are said to be macho and never allowed to cry. Yet in this post it talked about how if it were socially acceptable more men would like to talk about mental illnesses and so forth. One specific part of the post that I found haunting is when one of the guys mentioned that he hadn't cried in years but sometimes felt like he needed to break down. This made me sad because I feel like if there is even one guy that feels this way, there is bound to be others. I did think one thing that was awesome though was the support the men showed for each other, and how they lifted each other. This was a really interesting read and a different perspective which I really liked.