Culture Mix - Class Related Response

We finally did something that I actually enjoyed in Ms. Hegeman’s class. The AP English class completed action projects in which we had to identify an issue or problem and find a creative way to address it. Many of us tackled our problems by simply spreading awareness. Completing the project helped me open my eyes on an issue that I have never looked into so closely before. My issue was cultural appropriation. The text book definition of cultural appropriation is the adoption of elements of one culture by members of a different cultural group, especially if the adoption is of an oppressed people's cultural elements by members of the dominant culture. In lay men’s terms cultural appropriation is using and abusing a culture for profit  or comedy. Cultural appropriation can also be done by someone who is not intentionally trying to cause harm. Many celebrities appropriate cultures to popularize a certain look or style. A lot of commoners also appropriate Native American, and Indian culture. If you've ever wore a headdress, or wore a bindi ( the red dot that many woman wear) And you’re not Native American or Indian, you have appropriated that culture. And while you may not have caused any harm, many people who identify with those cultures find it very disrespectful. Both Headdresses and Bindis are simple of honor and pride, not the latest fashion statement. Some people argue that cultural appropriation a big deal, cultures should blend anyway. Others believe that cultures will never be able to blend, because some are less accepted and underrepresented.

What the 12th grade Has Taught Me

The final year of high school was the ground breaking year for me. My senior year felt like 4 whole separate years of high school. Some times have been tough, while have been more bearable. I still remember my very first day in my first AP senior class. I was nervous and excited at the same time. Looking back, I can honestly say that I have changed and I am pretty proud of myself for it.  Here are the lessons I've learned in my last year of high school:

Academic Lessons

1. Appreciate what your teachers do for you

I remember all of my teachers saying that senior year they will not be accepting any late work, and of course they did. There were also times when my teachers allowed be to make up work months later. The fact is, they care. They don't want to see any of us fail no matter how much we believe that is true.

2. Stay consistent and focused
I started out my senior year pretty good. I earned my good grades, my mother was proud - everything was good. The n I started slacking off and everything went downhill. I started handing work in late which made everything even worse! I lost focus because I was involved in so many activities and I couldn't handle the pressure. when I look back on all of the things I've done , I think "damn I was crazy!" In college, I know I will definitely take a chill pill!

Life Lessons

1. Be patient, your time will come

My mother is very strict, as many of my close friends now. There have been weekends where I would sit in my room watching Netflix waiting for my friends to post snap chats of the amazing time they had while I was home. And while I admit, it sucked I am thankful that I was forced to stay in some nights. It showed me that I don't always have to be up under my friends at every event. I don't always have to go out and do something crazy. Around second semester my mom started to "loosen up the chain" and I was able to hang out late nights- that's when i realized that I wasn't missing out on much in the first place.

2. Have fun 

I over think way too much. It was not until a couple of months ago that I started to let go and let things happen. Once you start to do that, everything in your life will start to flow naturally, so have fun and say yes more often.

3. Have a support group

My friends and I have had it rough last year. We went through so over so many bumps on the road that we chose to take but at the end of the day we will always be there for each other - hopefully. But really I don't doubt that happening because we have a weird bond, we don't hang out as much as we used to but we live each other dearly. We have all been shoulders to lean on to one another, and friend to laugh at and with. While I don't plan on replacing my best friends, having a core group has taught me that I should have a core group of college friends. People who I can trust and bond with similar to how I bonded with my friends in high school.

4. Family is Everything

Thinking about leaving my family for four years has been difficult. I've spent a lot of time worrying about myself and my friends and my schoolwork and not enough time thinking about the people who have been supporting me every step of the way. I need to spend more time with my mother and sister before I leave because I will miss them dearly, so spend time with your family , you will never know when the next time you will see them will be.

Poetry - Class Related Response

My oh my what a year it has been! With all of the book we have read, I choose to speak about poetry! We have recently ready Black Walnut Tree, Eyes in your Eyes and other poems from AP Exams but my favorite poem is the one that I choose to recite in front of the class. The poem is Meru by William Butler Yeats. It reads:

Civilisation is hooped together, brought 
Under a rule, under the semblance of peace 
By manifold illusion; but man's life is thought, 
And he, despite his terror, cannot cease 
Ravening through century after century, 
Ravening, raging, and uprooting that he may come 
Into the desolation of reality: 
Egypt and Greece, good-bye, and good-bye, Rome! 
Hermits upon Mount Meru or Everest, 
Caverned in night under the drifted snow, 
Or where that snow and winter's dreadful blast 
Beat down upon their naked bodies, know 
That day bring round the night, that before dawn 
His glory and his monuments are gone. 

I love this poem because I had to learn it and understand each and every word. This poem questions man's existence, it's purpose, it's duties as a civilization - all of the things I wonder about , all in one poem. This poem is one of my favorites because of the history behind the poem. During the time that Yeats wrote this poem he was transitioning religions. He was an unfaithful christian due to the fact that he questioned many of their beliefs and ideas on the world. He settled for a more buddhist ideal on religion. He also followed hinduism. What he enjoyed about those religions is that they believe in life as being more than one state of being. When Yeats mentions Mount Meru , he is referring to the "mountain-like chart" of being that many spiritual religions both buddhist and hindus follow.

I am no philosopher or religion major. Most of the information concluded here comes from my own research (google) and interpretation  of the poem. For an in-depth analysis, check out:

http://jackhdavid.thehouseofdavid.com/papers/ENG5371_ppr2.pdf

http://themountainlibrary.com/2011/08/25/meru-william-butler-yeats/

https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-166945591/the-influence-of-hinduism-in-william-butler-yeats-s

Economics - Interdisciplinary Response

“Growing up happens when you start having things you look back on and wish you could change" - Clary Fray

In economics we are being taught to make smart decisions when it comes to the purchases that will matter most in our lives so that we don't have to wish we could change or do something over. Some of  the choices we will make include buying a house, car and signing up for a credit card. Before taking the economics course I lived under the illusion that I would do everything correctly, even if I didn't exactly know what correct was. After taking the course, I realized that sometimes even if one creates a 99% fool proof plan, bad things happen - like how missing a couple of deadlines for a credit card bill can bring a credit score down tremendously.

While it sucks that I will be consumed into this reality of making big purchases, building up credit and what not, I guess I will just have to make do. Besides, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” Philip K. Dick

One of the most important things that I've learned from taking Economics was brought to my attention after doing a "real-life simulation project". For this project, I was given children , an income and a credit score - all randomly. As the unlucky person I am, I ended up having a mediocre credit score, low salary and a child. After I had my pre-determined destiny, I had to find a place to live, a job, transportation and a budget for food. What I found was that I am very frugal. I found an apartment for very cheap, a decent job that was near my house, so that the cost of transportation wouldn't be that much of a burden. Often times, being cheap is looked down upon , but in this case, it helped me make sure that my family and I were living semi-comfortably. It also gave me $800 "free-money" after paying for everything for a month on a $2000/mo salary. Furthermore, the real-life simulation economics project also made me feel more confident in my ability to make important decisions in the future. After all , I can't live my life like Peter Pan and be a child forever... that's not how the world works. 

I am thankful for the project in Economics because it has given me the opportunity to grow my knowledge of finance and the world of economics. On a side note, when looking for quotes about growing up, I found this quote. I laughed , maybe you will too.

“Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit!”

The Cage I'm In

In college I will master Spanish before it is too late. In all of my years of schooling thus far, I have never fully committed myself to learning a new language - Spanish specifically. Due to my lack of comprehension of the language, the price I pay for what I consider a need is inflated. Not only is there a barrier because of the language I speak, but because of the texture of my hair.

My main motivation for learning Spanish is to walk into a hair salon and get the price I deserve, not the raised price because the workers know I can't understand how they are planning to raise the price right in front of my face. If I don't learn Spanish soon, I might just quit going to the hair salon at all. Actually, I might stop next month. Here are the reasons why:

1. The big question 

The MOMENT I step into a Spanish hair salon and greet the stylists with a hello instead of Hola! Como estas?, it's like they immediately know my background and what to ask: Do you have a perm? I am so sick of that question because to me it is as if they assume that because I am black and because I have thick, coarse hair I MUST have or need a perm. Well I don't need or have one. I did in the past and it was the worst mistake of my life. Along with stripping the identity of my hair, getting a perm stripped the identity of my heritage, of the importance of my hair, its value. Automatically the price  rises when I say my hair is natural as if it is a burden to deal with African-american hair. News Flash, if you are working in a shop in the middle of Harlem, the Bronx , any of the boroughs, hence where black people live , expect to work with black hair.. whatever that may mean to you. Now I have no problem with privately owned businesses deciding what there prices shall be, but keep it consistent. 

2. Care

Lots of the salons I go to don't really care for my hair past the job they do momentarily. While it isn't there job to make sure my hair is healthy, it is my belief that as a hair stylist (sort of like a hair doctor), they should give tips to their client on how to keep or get their hair into better shape. At some of the better salons I've been they'll give me tips on how to keep my hair from drying out so quickly because they noticed, I have a dry scalp. At others, they've given me product samples , told me something I should buy, insisted that maybe I wait a month until my next hair cut. It is that kind of care that I look for and appreciate and with most Hispanic and Latino hair salons , I do not get that, which I believe is mainly because I cannot connect with any of the stylists on a cultural level. 

3. Side Conversations

 I love to walk into a Spanish salon and hear Spanish music playing , people talking and laughing and having a great time. What I don't like is when I can understand little bits and pieces of what my stylists and the stylist next to me are talking about and it happens to be my hair. 99% , stylists are not talking about how gorgeous my hair is. Instead they discuss  how coarse my hair is , how difficult it is, and anything else negative they can possibly think of. And I will not continue to contribute to their paychecks if I don't feel my money is going to genuine people.

After my reading  my complaints about going to Spanish hair salons, one might say .. Cheyenne, why don't you go to black-owned hair salons or even do your own hair? All reasonable questions , I have asked myself those questions and answered them before. At black salons, they also expect me to have a perm. Black salons also tend to have higher prices , i'm talking $40 and up for a wash and set (washing and blow-drying hair). That is way over my little high school budget..especially for a girl who used to be charged $18 when my hair was longer than what it is now. To answer the second question one might ask, I've grown a liking to my hair being straight, which is a whole different story which I would love to tell another time. But the fact is , I feel that I need to get my hair "did."

Don't get me wrong, there are some good and some bad salons. There is good and bad of everything in this world and my job is to speak up about the things that are bad, but also appreciate and acknowledge the good that is left.

Le Cœur Sombre

The phrase Le cœur somber means the dark heart in French. French is a language mostly spoken in the Congo, not because the origin of the language is in the Congo but because the Congo was once colonized by the French. I chose the title dark heart because the phrase relates to the book Heart of Darkness, which my class has started reading.  My teacher has informed me that the book will be very challenging, and honestly I hope it is. I have been looking for a book that causes me to think and challenge what I believe. When I think of the words Heart of Darkness, I think about a crumbling black heart gravitating in mid-air with pieces falling off of it like flakes of a fluffy biscuit, drifting to a fiery ground like dust. I think of an evil slender man whose close friends with Ebenezer scrooge, sitting with him facing a fireplace plotting their next diabolical plan as he tapped his wrinkly, long, old nose.

So far, the book has been pleasant, not meaning that the content of the book itself was calming of pleasuring, but meaning I have not had much trouble understanding what has been said so far in the book. Although, the discussion and clarification we have in class will be crucial to my overall understanding of the book.

Looking at this image from a real life depiction of what the book is about I can tell that the book will bring me to a place where I may have visited before in global or history class in general. It will be interesting to see what my class will focus on being that we will be observing the book from a literary point of view.

Class Related Response to : The Importance of Being Earnest

Reading The Importance of Being Earnest became easier to read as I continued to read it. At first I did not find anything funny about the book, but after a while I found that the book was actually quite enjoyable. Part of finding the funny in the book came from understanding the language and the time period, also knowing what was considered humor in that time period. Much of the humor in the book was dues ex machina, meaning that problems were randomly solved or that people randomly popped up in scenes to help move the play forward.

What I liked most about the play was that the language was more modern than the previous plays we have read in class. I also found it easy, after a while, to find the puns and other literary elements used in the book like allusion. After reading about to the second act, I understood the book more and was able to use what I found in the socratic seminar.

The socratic seminar was also essential in helping me understand the book because the discussion my classmates and I have help to enhance my reading experience by hearing other people's point of view, I begin to think of how I look at the novel differently. What I found most interesting about the discussion my class had during the socratic seminar was when we were talking about the conative meaning of Jack saying that he hates people who are not serious about their meals. When I read that part of the play for myself, I did not think that there was any connotative meaning. With the help of my classmates I was able to find out more about the book which is great.