... This was a normal day for me and my little brother Jimmy, I like to call him Jim, and he likes to call me J. The day was boring as usual, today was the only day that felt like it was going to last for forever, all the other days felt the same, but never lasted this long. Something about this day just felt off. We leave our classroom, it was like a herd of animals out here, I get my things out of my locker and try to find my brother. Turns out he was in the front of all this chaos. From that point on the day was normal, practice was pretty fun this time, I sat through Jim's soccer practice. Except for when this car was slowly pulling up beside us as we were walking home. Me and J were walking and talking as this car rolls up beside us, I was like "Woah, who is this?" This man with the sketchy looking figure tells us to run, He tells they're coming. "Excuse me?" J says. He looks petrified." Don't worry Jim they're trying to prank us." Me and J continues walking as the same car starts to come back down the hill. The man says "I don't want you two to be caught in this crossfire." At this point, neither of us care, as the car speeds away. Me and J continues walking, we're tired. I ask him" What was all that stuff about Javier?" " I don't know." He tells me. "I'm sorry J, I didn't mean anything like that." Some time passes and J stops to turn around to check across the street, everything...
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...When hearing the national anthem being played I felt like time slowed down as I was thinking of all the blood sweat and tears I did to get there. I remember the days I had to swim over 10,000 yards in one day. The days I had to wake up at 5am in the morning to work out and swim before school. Everything I did to live up to this moment. Hearing each note of the national anthem crystal clear as i closed my eyes I could see the memories of me as a child at the YMCA being the only advanced one in my swim lessons. I knew i wanted to be good I wanted to be the best. So ever since I turned the age of seven I have strived for greatness and wanted to make my parents proud. I could see one of my first races looking at my parents in the stands and then I dove into the water from the block. In the moment of that race I believed I did amazing but was shockingly last place. The car ride home was the worst part of that whole day was hearing from my parents that they were proud of me when I know they weren’t. My dad later told me a few years later that “CJ someone has to win a race why not it be you?”. This was when I was in middle school and they had a middle school swim team. I was the only swimmer capable of swimming all the hard races so my coach, Vogel always put me in the difficult races. This made me start to dislike swim so I was always screwing around in practice and never took things seriously. Due to this my race results showed I slacked off as I always got last...
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...Though it is not too far away from my home, the Auburn YMCA or any swimming facility has become my second home. I go there every single day except for Sundays, that's my day off. It has been my second home ever since I joined to swim team seven years ago. Everyday after school I walk into the YMCA, slide my card and hear the ding that tells the computer that I am here and my card is still valid. I walk past the main gym while heading to the locker room and can hear the squeak of sneakers and can smell the odious and repellent smell of basketball players. Next comes the four steps that lead into the locker room. The lockers are green and the tile floors are green, brown, and white. You can smell the disinfecting spray the workers used to clean the tops of the dusty lockers. I set my lime green Speedo bag down in the same maroon and black plastic chair. I put my swimsuit on along with other members of my team. When we are all done we all head out to the pool but first I lock my locker and pull on the lock twice to make sure that it clicked in. When I enter the pool room I set my bag down underneath the whiteboard, in the usual spot. I take out my cap, goggles, and water bottle. I go to the waterspout and fill my water bottle up all the way to the top. As I head back over to my lane I grab a red kickboard and a red pull buoy, with no holes in it. A pull buoy is shaped like a figure eight that is made out of foam and swimmers place it between our thighs to keep our bodies afloat...
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...I was at a summer camp where we focused on crafts, sports, and having fun with people across the world. It was a hot 98-degree heat where you prayed for a cool gust of wind. I remember a boy from the opposing soccer team being rude but we paid him no mind. It was a church camp after all and we were playing for fun. So, why get upset over what another person said? As a result of maybe out cool indifference to him he pointed towards an African American kid in our group and said, “I don’t think a gorilla as fast as that sound be allowed to play green level soccer.” He cackled and the air around my other teammates and I chilled. We all grew up in the Detroit area and I have never heard an African American talked about like this. I quickly replied, “That’s racist, you can’t say that.” The boy then became defensive but my teammates drew closer and began to stand up to this boy as well, we all rallied together. Usually I stood against a bully or where there is clearly someone in the wrong. I never offered my opinion on something as opinionated as race and since that experience I have found my voice. I speak up for everything and anything I believe in. Sometimes ideologies conflict and navigating why I believe in one idea but not another is one of my strong points. While abroad I hope this ability continues to grow. When I was a sophomore in high school I went to Turkey, Italy, and Greece. I studied Greek mythology and culture throughout my life and to experience that culture changed...
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...I am biracial, my mother is white and my father is African American. When I was young I was accepted. As a child my peers were not bothered by differences in race. As I got older society began to grasp the malleable minds of my peers, my color was no longer a color, it was a target. I could never escape the ignorance, the humiliation. For a point in my life I wished so badly that I had been born completely white. That I had “normal hair”, “normal skin”, “normal eyes”... Why couldn’t I just be “normal”? In my mind, being white was a cure. As the taunting continued I put up a barrier. I blocked out the painful words and concealed my misery. I even joined in on the “jokes” making some of my own to ease the pain. They always thought it...
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...that demonstrates how love for literature and having a strong character can play a significant role in overcoming racism and distress. In the course of the story, it is evident that Maya changes from being a casualty of racism to become a young woman with self-dignity and identity that helps her to overcome prejudice. The context of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings focuses on the problems associated with racism that was prevalent in the southern states. Racist oppression is a common theme in the book that is portrayed by all the major characters; in fact, all the other themes in the book are closely related to racism, identity and segregation. In addition, the style and genre, and the structure of this literary work make significant contributions towards its thematic development, which focus on resistance to racism, the significance of the family, self-identity and definition and independence. Walker (95) argues that I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings is characterized by thematic unity, which is achieved using the structure adopted in the text that takes more of a thematic form rather than a chronological form. In addition, Angelou managed to emphasize on the universal ideas in her literary work irrespective of its periodic quality. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou used the major characters of the book to facilitate its thematic development identity, racism and literacy throughout the text. Basing on this assertion, this essay uses evidence from the book to affirm the...
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...Classism and Racism A Narrative Analysis of Paul Haggis’s Film: Crash By: Alexis Couillard Introduction: In 2004, Paul Haggis directed the Oscar winning film crash, a drama about race and class and its effects on those residing in Los Angeles, California. This film paints a vivid picture of the harsh reality that classism has and will always exist and it is intertwined with racism in this film and in our realities. This film promotes racial awareness which is a topic not typically seen on the big screen and it demands a close inspection. Haggis wanted us to understand each character and to see them as real flesh bleeding humans that make mistakes and aren’t perfect. We see different races involved in the film such as African American, Persian, Hispanic, white and several Asians. Each scene intertwines with the next and we find out that all the characters are connected in some way or another. This technique of the characters being connected keeps the viewers on their toes. The audience is not stuck on one story or scene for too long. An idea or event is presented from the perspective of one person or family, and then the same event is expanded on by another characters connection to that particular event. Different ethnic stereotypes and racial prejudices are presented within the film such as the so called “gangbanger” who has tattoos and is Hispanic, and the black man who steals cars Anthony aka “Ludacris”. The director delivers and promotes this awareness but...
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...Synthesis *Disclaimer: the views represented in the synthesis essay may not necessarily represent my personal opinions (I won’t write this disclaimer on the AP test). To live a meaningful life is awfully vague, for it can mean a life of happiness, of financial superiority, and of success. But the reason behind why the definition remains vague is clear: we become too obsessed with external factors and often forget ourselves--our character and our individuality. Thus, the prospect of a meaningful life continues to run away from us as we grow jealous of others who have more resources than we. To live a truly meaningful life that embraces both controllable and uncontrollable factors, we must resist trying to please others by avoiding the tendency...
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...some common themes that reoccur in many of the stories and poems. Of course slavery was a very common topic but there were others such as inequality between the races and sexes, injustice and resentment, the black identity, and a strong faith and religion. Even though the words can be separated in the end they all come back together. There were many narratives written by fugitive slaves before the Civil War and by former slaves in the postbellum era. These narratives document slave life from the perspective of first-hand experience. The stories they tell are dark and ugly. The authors like Douglas and Jacobs reveal the struggles, sorrows, aspirations, and triumphs of slaves in absorbingly personal story-telling. Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was the first autobiography by a formerly enslaved African American woman. In it she describes her experience of the sexual exploitation that made slavery especially oppressive for black women. She also recounts her life in slavery in the context of family relationships with her escape and her struggle to free her children. Fredrick Douglas who wrote Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas, an American Slave, Written by Himself depicts the grim life of slavery as well. He vividly describes the brutality that slaves endured, the meager rations they are allowed for nourishment, and even the murder of a slave. He also hits on the common practice of slave owners raping the enslaved women. Douglas also writes...
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...Slavery was a crucial part in the foundation of the New World. The slaves provided the labor necessary to settle and develop the New World. In the article provided, I chose Alice Alexander’s and Andy J. Anderson’s personal narrative on the subject of slavery and their own experiences in the era. In Alice Alexander’s narrative of Slavery in Oklahoma, personally describes her time as a slave and her master mentioning “Chile Colonel Threff owned about two or three hundred head o' niggers, and all of 'em was tributed to his po' kin.”, in which depicts the ideal image of how the slaveholder was in desperate need of labor for its continuous business growth. Alexander’s narrative also portrays the many flaws that the slaves were offered including...
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...The Bluest Eye such capable is the use of special techniques that safe the readers attention at all times. Though Morrison structered her novel with an exposition, climax and conclusion, the plot is still very complicated and never a simple one. You can compare the way Morrison changes charecter perspectives and time frames to building a tower, giving the audience only pieces of knowledge little by little. Furthermore, it sometimes even feels like the novel started at the climax and goes intentionally back to the exposition, because you get to know the tragedy in the beginning but you have to experience the end first by reading the book. The change between the characters narrative enhances the way Morrison structered her story. Another very important stylistic aspect is the change in the character narratives which changes from 3rd person omniscent to a lot of first persons of Cholly, Paulina, Pecola and Claudia. While it could be perceived as bemusing, it is definitely an exciting way of experiencing the story. It also provides the opportunity to cover broad steps of time and space with the third-person omniscent narration. For example the way Marrison let the reader know about Soaphead Church’s white ancestors. In addition to that, Morrison uses...
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...the notability of this speech, analyze the historical context that sparked the discourse into existence and explore other rhetorical features that will establish my analysis’s significance. Mary Church Terrell embodies feminine style rhetoric in her argument to address the social, economic and political struggles placed against African Americans with the undertone of constitutive rhetoric, topical structure, pathos and logos to validate her point. History: Mary Church Terrell was born during the civil war on September 23,1863 to her former slave parents, who later her parents became wealthy business leaders in their community. (Batten, 2010, p.2-3). Long after the civil war, she went to school in Ohio where she encountered racism so decided to study the emancipation and the civil war to help her understand the discrimination better. (Jones, 1982, p.21) From...
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...Cheryl Boulden , a 52 year old African American employee of the United Stated Forest Service (USFS), expressed that she was the victim of harassment and discrimination by a male supervisor because of her skin color, abilities, and having a relative in higher position. Her testimony shows that she experienced a hostile work environment that worsened after complaining to the Equal Employment Officer. In order to increase the effectiveness of the Affirmative Action Plan( AAP) it is necessary to understand the issue of discrimination in this case. In this context, Boulden was the victim of discrimination that can be attributed to racism from coworkers. From her narrative, we learned that her coworkers placed the blame of the situation on her...
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...Descriptive vs. Narrative Essays Camille Hall English 121 Instructor James Welch March 17, 2013 Descriptive vs. Narrative Essays Descriptive essays are much more detailed and expressive than narrative essays and are more apt to hold the reader’s attention by ejecting more emotion. The narrative essay uses detail to advance the story, while the descriptive uses to detail to describe an unfamiliar subject. The ability to describe something convincingly is always important to both the writer and their audience. Both descriptive and narrative essays use detail but for different purposes. In this essay I will compare and contrast two essays; “I Want A Wife” and “Caged Bird” in order to give insight into each type of essay. The aim of a narrative essay is to describe a course of events from a subjective point, is usually told in chronological order, and is usually written in first person. Narrative essays are used to tell a story in a way so that the reader learns a lesson or gains insight, much of this is done through lots of detail about the subject that is being written about. The best narrative essays are those inducing images in the reader’s minds about what's happening by using concrete, specific verbs and nouns rather than a lot of adverbs and adjectives. To write a narrative essay you will need to tell a story (usually about something that has happened to you) or it could be fiction. The purpose is for your reader to learn a lesson or gain insight of...
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... However, collective evidence shows that the notion that jury members are always rational and non-biased to be completely false. This is believed to be mostly in part to an individual’s environmental influences. If an individual has grown up in an environment where there is a strong presence of racism against a specific community of people it would be difficult for this person to show an objective opinion towards another person of a different race. Those kinds of environmental influences can strongly affect a person’s decision when present upon a jury panel. It is even to be thought that an individual’s religious environment may have an influence upon their jury making decisions. One of the concerns in the jury selection process is that even though jurors are supposed to be rational persons whom wait until all evidence is present to make an informed decision; this process does not include the facts of human decision making. Through this research a story model was created to display the decision making process (Malavanti, Johnson, Rowatt & Weaver, 2012). According to the story model constructed jurors will use the evidence presented to them and create their own narrative story in order to explain their initial impressions of the situation. (Malavanti, Johnson, Rowatt &...
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