Justine Fernandez

September 27, 2014           

Professor Young

Eng 1100

Harlem Art and Literacy Questions

1.     The meaning of the sentence “ From architectural designs to cultural activities to the role of local communities in civil rights movements, urban places and spaces are rich in history” simply is that we don’t appreciate the simple things, and the things that we see every single day, to the history that is behind all the places we walk past every single day.

2.     The significance about the street that relates to the essay is that  everything happened on that street and it makes Harlem what it is because of the hotel and the club that was located there. A famous spot in my town would be on Green street, this is a famous place because it is where the majority of events that happen.

3.     The use of symbols throughout the reading symbolized what Harlem was as a city. Some common symbols would be the places that they identified history as and the art along the whole town, majority of he symbols were places such as museums, and hotels.

4.     The meaning of this sentence simply is that the action you don’t get permission to create means that the real art is something that you cant change and something that happens unexpectedly, also that it comes from each and everyone one of us, we create the art that we see around us.

5.     Signs of history within community means that the community within itself makes history. Everything that the community did was a part of history, and their actins make it. An example of a significant place in my community would be the train station because it has been there forever, and it is something that everyone associates my town with, plus it tells a story at the end of the day.

6.     The use of digital documentation and photographs helped Khaleeq and Phillip show residents the effects of gentrification because it shows the difference from what it used to be to what is now. No the use of the video did not helps how my community because I didn’t film it In my town. Yes I think I could of done a written response without a video because growing up I already have specific imagery in my head.

7.     The questions aim to uncover about her essay is everything that she incorporated within her essay, the things that changed and the things that haven’t changed. It makes you as a reader think of all the things within your neighborhood and it shows the difference between then and now in her community as well.

Justine Fernandez

September 26, 2014

Professor Young

Eng 1100

Community as issue first draft

            Would you want to define your education based on the amount of money that you make? Do you think its fair that students struggle to get an education because the price of college is unbearable? The problem that many students struggle with in todays society is money, and more importantly money for school. The price of tuition for colleges and universities across the state is too expensive to afford; therefore the price of an education shouldn’t be as high as it is.

            The price of an education shouldn’t be as high as it is because it forces students to chose a school based on the amount of money the school gives them rather than the school that fits their expectations and the school that they want to attend to.  For example a student with really good grades may apply to an ivy league school and then a private school but she really would like to attend the Ivy league because it has been her dream college, but due to the amount of tuition she was unable to attend her dream college and was forced to go to the private school.

            In addition,  the price of college may be a problematic situation for majority of the families in the country. The price of tuition may force many to chose between school and work. This puts young adults in a situation that they chose between school and starting their work life early.  For example a student that is the first born may have to choose between going to work to help support the family or go to school and spend money on  an education that the family may or may not have. In result the price of tuition shouldn’t be as high as it is now. 

My last and final reason would be that it makes it harder for individuals that want to further their education or go back to school for a certain job. To get a job in todays society you need to have a college career, and it makes it hard for those who in the older generation want to go back to school to get a higher degree or just get a degree by itself. The cost of tuition for them woul be so high that they wouldn’t be able to leave the work field and support without themselves. This gives the economy a downgrade in the workforce because it forces people to make a decision between being completely broke and going back for an education or staying at the job that they are currently in and deal with it. In result college tuition shouldn’t be as high as it is, for the benefit of young adults and adults.

In conclusion, the cost of tuition should be lowered, it should be lowered for the benefit of both the new generation and the older generation.  If the cost of tuition I lowered everyone would be benefited by the new change,  people would get an education without being up to their necks in debt and the economy would run smoothly because everyone would be able to do what the want education wise.  If the problem of the price of tuition isn’t lowered it can force individuals to drop out of school and ultimately not get an education at all. This would force the future of America to be less educated and less functional in society due to one little minor adjustment.  Tuition should be lowered for the sake of everyone.

Justine Fernandez

September 8, 2014

Professor Young

Eng 1100

What defines you Essay

            In the reading “How to Tame A Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua talks about how identity defines you as a person, and that its says a lot about who you are. In her writing she states that “I am my language” and I agree with this statement because I strongly believe that your language says a lot about you as a person and where you come from. Spain defines me in everyway possible from its language to its food.

             Identity is what makes you, you and how you want the world to see you. It defines you as a person, and it shows more than just what the world see you as. Identity to me is who you are, starting from where you were born, your language, religion , heritage, to what you want to be . When I think of my identity I think of Spain in every way possible, Spain defines me as a person because not only is my whole family from Spain but it is a culture and a lifestyle that I have grown up with, it is also why I am the person I am today. In the text by Anzaldua she was constantly faced with whether or not she should go with society, or stay the way that she is. She was torn between what she knew all of her life and what she wanted to be, and what society wanted her to be.I can connect to her situation with mine because, growing up I was always taught to speak Spanish to be Spanish in every way possible from the language to the food that I eat at dinner, but as soon as I got to kindergarten I got smacked in the face with different instructions on how to be as a person. I had to speak English, I had to write in English, it was the complete opposite of what I was told to do my whole life, the decision that I had to make was do I conform to what they want or stay the way that I was already. In reality I had no choice in that decision, I had to conform to what everyone else wanted. This experience made me realize that identity is important, and at a young age I had to chose my identity and decide at that very moment what I wanted the world, and people to see me as.

             Identity is very important, identity shows the world who you are and what you want the world to see you as. Identity is something that you are born with and something you figure out while you live your life. You’re suppose to be proud of your identity, and stand behind it, but quite frankly that was something that took time for me to get comfortable with, I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin for quite some time. Anzaldua talks about in “ How to Tame A Wild Tongue” how chicanos felt uncomfortable talking in Spanish to Latinas. They felt uncomfortable speaking basically the same language, while in my case I had to speak a totally different language to people I have never met before. It took me a while to be proud of the language that made me who I am. I had to learn that with keeping my identity also came with having pride. In the long run I figured out that I can have two identities without losing one.

            On the other hand,  Anzaldua talks about how people get names, and ger categorized because of what they define themselves as. This is relatable and true due to the fact that people are going to make assumptions based on stereotypical characteristics and they can be either good or bad.  They look are one social group and automatically think the same thing for all of the members of that group. With choosing your identity comes choosing what you want to say about yourself to the world. It shows what you want the world to view you as, even if that means being stereotyped. In my life I have always been stereotyped as a Latina when in reality I am not, I am Spaniard and with being called Latina all the time it can be frustrating because that isn’t who I am but it is something that I have to deal with. Identity is standing behind who you are no matter what, even if that means correcting people on a common assumption.

            In conclusion, just like Anzalduas story that she tells in the end she is proud of where she comes and the language that she speaks. And I can proudly say that im one hundred percent proud of where I come from and what I speak. Im confident enough to say that society cannot change me or the language that I speak but it can only enhance my view on life, and knowledge of different cultures around the world. You decide what your identity is, and how you want others to see you. Don’t let the world define you, you define the world.

Justine Fernandez

September 19, 2014

Professor Young

ENG 1100

Hip Hop Planet/My place

           

            Everyone has that one place that they can just go to no matter what their mood is and no matter what they are feeling and feel completely okay. For me that place has to be the soccer field. The soccer field is a place that most people take for granted, people just look at the soccer field as a patch of one hundred and twenty  yards of grass, grass that has white chalked on lines making a rectangular with goals at the end of each side.  But what people don’t see is with every yard of grass there are memories that last a lifetime.

            To me the soccer field holds more than just memories from the soccer field but my whole life is defines in one hundred and twenty yards of grass. The soccer field is like my second home in every aspect, it is a place that I spent majority of my time as well as an outlet to my life. It is a place that I know when I’m having a bad day I can always head out to eh field and take everything out on that one hundred twenty yards of bladed grass field.

            It is a place that I enjoy waking up at the crack of dawn to go to, and a place that I dread to go to after a lost. The soccer field is a place filled with different emotions and different experiences but I wouldn’t take any of them back for anything in the world.  From the damp grass soaking your socks in the morning to the sweat that runs down your back every minute of the game. To the cheers that you scream when you score to the tear drop that you shed when you suffered a tough lost.

Justine Fernandez

September 18, 2014           

Professor Young

Eng 1100

Hip hop planet response

            The character changes his perspective on Hip hop all throughout the story line because he realizes that there are more reasons why hip hop is a bigger influence than it really is. He realizes that hip hop came from more than just music and beats that surround him but it comes from an origin and it tells a story line from history.

            It tells the lives of those who lived many years ago and they would tell there story and how they lived through the music that they composed a night. That hip hop wasn’t just something that people put together but it was something that put people together whether that would be with different people or the people in their same social group.

            At the beginning he talks about how hip hop would scare him and how it didn’t really appeal to him, he also talks about hip hop now and how it changed so much over time. That now rappers are talking about all the things that they have, where as back then they would talk about the life and the lifestyle that they lived. He soon began to love hip hop after he realized all of the meaning that It came with, and the different stories that it would tell.