E2U4 - Mi Barrio

Yo soy Mindy. Mi historia personal es un poco complejo, sin embargo, yo no cambiaría eso. Yo vivo en Philly de sur. Mi barrio, para mi, es más o menos. He vivido aquí durante tado mi vida. Algunos imágenes son diversas en los niños. Sin embargo, la causa de los niños muchos problemas en mi barrio. Por eso los policía siempre está. Me gusta mis amigos y sus familias. No me gusta la violencia dentro los niños. Me gusta mi barrio. A veces de miedo, pero ellos son como una familia pequeña. Para mi, yo cambio los niños y pandillas en mi barrio. Algunos temas importantes son la violencia en mi comunidad. Todas personas son importantes. Ellos traen alegría.

La historia de South Philly empieza con los refugiados de Ireland. South Philly es muy diverso ahora. Jim Croce es una persona famosa eso fue de South Philly. Un evento importante es el Camboyano Año Nueva. El evento está muy cerca de mi casa. Algunos problemas son niños luchando con pandillas.

Mi mural tiene muchas descripciones de mi barrio. Mi barrio tiene un gran parque, todos niños juegan baloncesto. De hecho, mi mural es un baloncesto grande a causa de los niños, mis amigos. Dentro el baloncesto es el muchas representaciones de mi barrio. Por ejemplo, los niños, la boba té (bubble tea aka boba), pizza , la música, y (corner stores) tiendas de conveniencia.

El mensaje de mi mural es los niños y sus infancia. O sea, ellos eran nacido y criado con otros niños en esta barrio.

Mi motivación para mi mural es mis amigos. Ellos pueden ser loco, pero ellos eran mis amigos desde infancia.

Los propósito del gran baloncesto es a causa de los niños. Ellos juegan baloncesto día y noche, frío o caliente, siempre. El cosas en el baloncesto debido a los personas en mi barrio. Todos personas ir de tiendas de conveniencia, todos personas amor la música, Pizza está en todos partes, y boba té es todos personas favoritos. Tres palabras importantes son Familia, Detener Violencia.

Para mi, mi mural describe mi barrio perfecto.Mi barrio es principalmente niños. Creo que mi mural es arte. Arte que describe mi barrio como nada más puede. El arte público en mi barrio puede significar mucho para los niños. A pesar de que la violencia entre ellos, todo el mundo se considera familia.
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Advanced Essay #4

Intro: The goal for my essay is to show my readers the actual reason why guys catcall and street harass women. As you read my essay, you will find that guys do it to impress other guys which is homosocial. My larger idea connects the idea of gender roles in society.




“Head down, look straight ahead. Earbuds in, volume off. Walk quickly, but with purpose. Don’t make eye contact unless you need to. Look behind you every few blocks, make sure you’re not being followed. Don’t be obvious.” These are the rules me and probably many other females live by when walking down the street by themselves. One of the most common street harassments are cat calls. When a male see’s a female in the street and says “yurrppp” or “shawty with the grey tights.” ,they think it’s cute but it’s honestly disrespectful and immature and some females take much more of an offense to it than others.

I remember one time I was coming home from work in the summer and I was wearing a loose and comfortable pink dress with my hair tied up in a bun. The sun was shining so bright, my face was glowing.  I was happy, smiling and shining because I was finally off work about to go home and relax. I was approaching a group of loud guys and each of them had on all black. I was a bit intimidated,  so I hurried and put my headphones in before I walked passed. I didn’t have time to put music on, so  I was hoping they didn’t talk to me. As I was walking past, all I heard was “yo ma” from one of the guys, another one said, “Ayo! I know you heard my mans calling you.” I just kept walking and never looked back.

  I’ve always wondered the purpose of catcalling aka street harassment and why guys do it. Do they do it because they actually want the female or to impress buddies of theirs or even both? Either one, in a female's eyes it makes you look thirsty and desperate, but I personally think it’s funny. In an interview with Jared Marcelle and Michael Kimmel they were discussing each other’s views on cat calling. “It really has very little to do with the woman. It has to do with your relationship with the other guys. It's about, you know, doing it in front of other guys. You know what I mean?” Kimmel went on to say. In other words, guys catcall to show off in front of other guys.Late on in the interview, Kimmel gave a better word to describe this situation and it’s called “homosocial.” It makes a little bit more sense because I’ve always realized after I get catcalled by a guy, they always look at their friends for approval or to laugh or joke. The best part of it all is that if you walk right past them like they not even there they get mad and say “Well that’s why you ugly anyways” or “thot.”

Some may often say that women get treated the way they allow themselves to get treated. I agree but also disagree with this statement. When a man says or does something to a women, the women can respond two ways. She can either go along with the guy, give him her number or she can ignore and walk away and also say “no.” That’s where females make the choice to get “treated” a certain way. It all depends on self worth and self confidence. If a girl thinks that they think they are worth a guy catcalling them then that’s how they think they should get treated. Getting catcalled can be a confidence booster for some girls or women. She may feel as if she is cute or better then someone else. Getting cat called can also lower a girl’s confidence. She may question her worth or her ability to get someone who respects her as a women and doesn’t look at her as a toy.

Gender roles plays a  huge role in society, men are always labeled as the ¨ bad people¨, and  women are labeled are the ¨weaker links¨. Just because men are homosocial and catcall girls because their buddies are around doesn’t make them bad people. I do believe that guys are able to respectfully approach a women without being disrespectful or even harmful. It takes a special  girl to change a man’s street ways, and it can take a good friend to encourage his friend to change. It also is a man’s responsibility to stop trying to show off for his friends in order to successfully talk to a girl without offending her in anyway.  Men aren’t bad people but they put women through bad things, things other than catcalling. There has many many acts of violence toward women. It all comes down to gender roles, men are expected to be the ‘tougher’ ones then women. We are looked at as the weaker links.



Citations:

CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.


Interview. Radio Rookies: Reformed Catcaller Explores Roots Of Street Harassment. N.p., 23 Aug. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.



Advanced Essay #4 - Why do Kids Join Gangs?

Introduction
In this essay, I decided to explore what are the main reasons why kids join gangs. I focused on a few main theories that have been confirmed by many sociologists and have proven connections to gang violence, but instead of just talking about them, I decided to take a deeper look at them. 

When it came to my goals as a writer, I had only a few simple ones in writing this essay. My goal was to get my point accross in a deailed yet easy to understand way, and that is what I did. (This is why the amount of words I have is also a lot, because, I need a decent-sized paragraph to explain how each thing contributes.)

Anyway, without further ado, here is the essay.

Why Do Kids Join Gangs?


Many youngsters who grow up in environments where gang violence is common often end up as members of gangs, especially boys. But why is this? Why is this activity hard to avoid and escape? More importantly, from a wider perspective, why is it hard to break the tendency for communities to foster gang development? Gangs are known to be stressful and dangerous, for members and for those in the wider community--and yet they persist. Former members, such as Cordozar Calvin Broadus, aka Snoop Dogg, and other hip-hop legends, have described how they grew up in gangs such as the notorious Rollin’ 20s Crips. It was a life of selling cocaine and making glamorous riches at the expense of others, but also a life of fear. Many gang members die young, and incarceration ultimately claims many. The risks heavily outweigh the riches, and yet...


There are several motivating factors for the persistence of gangs. Personality has something to do with it, for example. Those who find excitement in risky and high-stakes social activity would naturally take part in the gang experience. But that does not really explain the prevalence and persistence of gangs, which bring in young people with all kinds of personalities. Sociologists attribute one big motivator to the survival of gang life, and that is the continuing tendency of fatherlessness in some economically fragile communities. This is a problem for young people, especially boys, because they lack necessary male role models on which to pattern their own lives, values, and behavior. Without enough men to model a mature approach to managing the challenges of life, boys will naturally turn towards the older male gang members as models of behavior and as sources of approval. Older gang members have authority, street knowledge, and seem to have self-confidence, which kids look up to in a confusing world. On top of that, the gangs also provide a sort of “family” experience that feels good. It has a structure and authority figures, which are important sources of order. Kids can feel a sense of belonging to an orderly organization. Because gang life is a cycle that keeps recreating itself, the male role models are involved in the gangs and don’t break out of gang organizations to form traditional family units and begin parenting their own children, which means their own children may turn to gang life later on.


Another motivational factor to consider here is poverty. Poverty means not many people in a given community have jobs or income or wealth, and of those who do, earnings are low, jobs are demanding with little flexibility or sick time, and almost no one owns property or wealth of any kind. Many of these specific poor people collect welfare and other forms of government assistance, which allows them to survive, but does not necessarily foster skills for meaningful work that pays well or help with the development of wealth. There is stress and suffering in these communities, and gangs can seem like a way out of that. For example, many of the gangs that formed in the early 1980s in some cities did so where it was extremely hard for teens to get summer jobs, so the teens turned to the sale of drugs and created gangs as business structures to obtain wholesale drugs and distribute them. Gangs often form around the sale of drugs. After all, some people crave the high that, say, cocaine, offers, and while a one-man drug seller seems like a good source of money, a whole gang is a solid business, with workers to obtain and sell drugs, provide lookout and protection, and manage and distribute income. This business structure makes gang life an attractive source of income in an already poor environment.


There is a third element that also negatively affects some children and can cause them to turn toward gangs, and that is a lack of involvement in education. A good education usually depends on a stable home with parents holding children up to high expectations and reinforcing what the teachers are teaching. In poorer communities, families are not always able to do this. There can be crises resulting in illness in the family, drug addiction, and homelessness. Some families move frequently, and the children change schools a lot, causing disruptions in their education. All of this contributes over time to struggles in school. School can become frustrating, and students stop attending and drop out. Gang life can provide something for them to do that involves their peers, and because gangs can be run like a business, gang life provides an education of its own. It is not a good or ideal one, but it teaches business skills, money management, problem solving, social interaction with superiors and others, community history, and strategic thinking, and so it fills the education gap. Young people don’t have to keep feeling lost or frustrated at school, but still there’s the experience of gaining knowledge, which is important to all human beings..


In conclusion, it is the lack of proper support from healthy institutions such as family, schools, and the local economy that help cause young people to turn to gang life. They look for the good that these institutions offer, but they find it in criminal organizations such as gangs. Most likely, if the youth had access to the positive institutions, most likely they would not join gangs. One such example is the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. Coates currently works at The Atlantic as a journalist and has received praise for his writings such as “The Case for Reparations.” Although he is very successful, Coates grew up in a rough part of Baltimore during the 1980s, a part that was controlled by small rival gangs that dealt drugs such as crack. Despite this, Coates had a father who was fair to him, yet at the same time was very firm. He even at one point apparently had to “beat” Coates, but afterwards he said “It’s better I do it once than the gangs or police do it possibly multiple times.” With that guidance and caring, Coates did not become lost in gang life but found his way to success and a better living situation. If communities can figure out a way to provide loving authority figures, economic opportunity, and supportive education to young people who are disadvantaged, communities may find a way to end gang life.



Bibliography

Chicago Gangland - Children at War! CBS, 1989.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OYnVla3mNU&t=72s


Chicago Violence: SMILE Documentary. Directed by Marquis Daisy. --.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZRIKkm5yCw


Cocaine Scandals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4mxBMYS0aw&t=229s


Deep Inside the Gangster Disciples Street Gang.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBMXVXvjkYk


Planet Rock: The Story Of Hip Hop And The Crack Generation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zswrGZP7jUY&t=28s
















Advanced Essay #4

Intro: My goals for this essay were to display the parallels between war and social media, and how the media has normalized violence. We have the capability to be so powerful behind a screen, and the effects that we can have on people are incredibly damaging which is something we rarely take into account since we view it as decent content. 


The Social Media Militia


We’re constantly being tempted to open those colorful little squares and plug into our own little worlds, where we choose to like someone’s picture, or comment on a post. Most of what we witness is just innocent content and continue with our day, but amidst the amusing and humorous lives the rude and malicious. We can’t escape it: the mysterious, snarling beast that disguises itself in 140 black and white characters.

Since the early days of humanity, people have been drawn to the nature of violence. Whether by finding it amusing or simply disgusting, there’s something about a little bloodshed, both physical or verbal, that sparks something within us. Why are we this way? Well, in a study about human brain activity by Dr. Jeanna Bryner, it states: “The reward pathway in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved." We can’t help but sink our teeth into the sinful indulgence that results in the downfall of others. Activities like boxing, football, action movies, and other forms of violence are some of the most profitable types of entertainment because of that added golden factor. Seeing someone assert their power over another in these ways are possibly one of the most rewarding and satisfying things to witness. Social media however, provides us with an even scarier reality because it gives us that power. We’re given a platform to post and view whatever we desire, which comes at higher a cost than any of us could have imagined.

At first it seems pretty electrifying: the idea of having total control in a world of chaos and creating a cute environment with friends, family, and funny videos. Nice comments appear on your photos and you get lots of likes. You follow more people. More people follow you. Somewhere along the way, you discover a comment that’s not so nice, and soon you discover some not so nice posts. You dislike what you see and you comment back. After a while, you can’t stop seeing mean comments and posts and pictures, and all you can do is witness more and more mean responses. That is how they handled it and so must I, you think. This becomes your reality. This becomes your weaponry. Before you know it, the bad fuses with the good; it camouflages. You don’t realize it, but you have just been subconsciously prepared for Social Media warfare.

These characteristics are strangely similar to those of one who describes their experience of being in actual combat. Haywood T. Kirkland, an author, wrote a collection of memoirs from Vietnam War veterans, entitled Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans. One veteran recalls his experience behind enemy lines after being drafted in 1968: “They told us when you go over in Vietnam, you gonna be face to face with Charlie, the Viet Cong. They were like animals, or something other than human,” he explains. “They ain't have no regard for life. They'd blow up little babies just to kill one GI. They wouldn't allow you to talk about them as if they were people. They told us they're not to be treated with any type of mercy or apprehension. That's what they engraved into you. That killer instinct. Just go away and do destruction.”

The internet is an incredibly powerful resource that has an increasingly strong hold on what we perceive. Author Brittany Bostic explains: “Meta-analyses of the unhealthy effects of media-violence have shown that youth who view media-violence on a regular basis are more likely to exhibit antisocial behavior, ranging from imitative violent behavior with toys to criminal violence, acceptance of violent behavior, increased feelings of hostility, and desensitization toward violent behavior.” Society has conditioned us to normalize the presence of violence, and has created a sort of arena where we can exercise these behaviors at our liking. It’s not a necessity for us to carry high powered rifles or grenades on a daily basis. We are not handed A-K 47s whenever we leave our houses; but glued to our eyes and engraved in our brains is a tool capable of destruction just as powerful.


Bibliography


E2 U4 Leer Más - Mt. Airy

LeerMás
LeerMás

Soy Ayala, vivo en Mt. Airy y vivo en mi barrio toda mi vida. Para mi, es un buen barrio pero es un poco aburrido. Cuando pienso en mi barrio, veo familias y grupos progresivos. Me gusta el área en general y la diversidad de la gente. No me gusta mis vecinos porque ellos dan mi familia problemas. Mi casa es en el lado oscuro de nuestra calle, así que no tiene sol y mi casa siempre frío. Me gusta donde vivo debido a mi familia y porque conozco el área también. No sé qué cambiaría en mi barrio.

Voy a crear mi mural en mi barrio, Mt Airy. Fue una parte pequeña de Germantown durante los 1700s. William Allen lo llamó Mt Airy después compra el área. Tiene muchas culturas diversas. Sin embargo, Mt Airy no tiene mucho grafiti, especialmente donde vivo en el barrio. Quiero crear un mural hacer el barrio bonito. Un lugar de mi mural es ideal porque muchas personas verlo como ellas caminan o manejan pasado, por lo tanto la gente puede ver el mensaje de mi mural. La mayoría de las personas en mi barrio ya le gusta leer, por eso ellos puede gustar el mural.

Mi mural es un libro grande con los palabras “Leer más, es sentirte mejor” escrito. El propósito de mi mural es para expresar un mensaje. Quiero hacer este diseño porque mi mural tiene un tema similar de los “little libraries” en mi barrio. Voy a incorporar imágenes de un libro porque es sencillo y la gente puede entenderlo. Voy a incorporar las palabras “Leer más, es sentirte mejor” porque es un mensaje simple pero bueno.

El propósito del arte público es transmitir un mensaje, así que mi mural llena el papel de arte público. En mi opinión, mi diseño es muy bonito. El mural representa la comunidad también y está ubicado en un lugar donde muchas personas pueden ver la pared. El diseño es sencillo pero fuerte y personas pueden entender.

The Enjoyment of Justifying

For my last essay, I wanted to go down a different route than what I am used to. I decided to analyze text and do reflections on what I got from the sources. My essay expands on the idea of violence to a soldier and militarism to an american child. I experienced very little writer blocks and wrote more than expected. I ended up with about 2000 words and the limit was suppose to be 750. I had to narrow it down to 900 and take out a lot of my quotes. I couldn't cut down to the 750 mark because it would of effected the flow and took out a lot of strong  points. 

NA'EEM GOINS

Living in a society where violence is accepted, to what degree, mentally, can violence be justified for the better even when you are the doer?


Militarism and Violence  have held a critical device that shaped us into the people we raise today.  Dating back to the biblical ages with David and Goliath and the drowning of Pharaoh's Army, the interrelation of militarism and violence have been a widely accepted motive. It is the key to survival that involve strategies even God himself has used. With this information, I found my next question. How can humans live in society without the use of violence or some form of militarism? The answer being that we can’t. It’s our foundation and what helps keep the world spinning. It is  okay to learn about violence.  By  accepting it , we are able to  determine if violence should actually be reflected upon as a negative tool. I revisited many  articles, in search of perspective of war veterans and children. I figured that veterans come home to expect there to be an uproar of violence while  children are viewed as soldiers who need to be against violence but enjoy it at the same time because implementing it is a great way to blow off steam. It amazes me how contradicting and framed mentally a society as one can think. It can’t be widely accepted for veterans of all ages to be treated with a superb lenses because of their violence by entertainment and smiles. Children who produces violence are only widely accepted when it’s either done in the dark or for the benefits of the great U.S.A.


Young minds can blossom like a butterfly when manipulated.  This is a highly shared  thought between older beings when it come to the youth. The military has enforced propaganda on students to join the fight. At a very young age, I felt that violence was accepted because the schools allowed the army to come in and give us the cool key chains and posters that were dedicated to joining the fight. I’m referring to fight as the war against terror and protecting this country. It is an honor to sign your life over at 18 and fight in a war without knowing exactly why we're fighting  in the war. The lack of knowledge could be a reason for why so many veterans are scared mentally because they would not know what they are getting themselves into. This robe of honor that we give the army sergeants who promote the fight  has turned them into people  not being obligated to share the gruesome details involving the fight. The same obligation we force on the young minds to share every piece of action that happen when they got into a fight over a disagreement. In an interview titled Forced to Fight, Charbonneau explicitly gave  his opinion through an adult perspective by saying “These children live in constant fear of being killed by the troops if they don't obey. Many of them are being tortured and raped. "Unfortunately there are 'advantages' to using children for armed groups: Children are cheap fighters and easy to manipulate. They are often drugged and indoctrinated with propaganda and movies before they are sent out to fulfill their missions The psychodynamics of the TV cartoon or comic book are marvelously simple: children identify with the good guy so that they can think of themselves as good. This enables them to project onto the bad guy their own repressed anger, violence, rebelliousness, or lust and then vicariously to enjoy their own evil by watching the bad guy initially prevail.” The merriam dictionary definition of violence is an intense, turbulent, or furious and often destructive action or force. A children’s cartoon expose a hidden truth insides each human. We are all violent by nature. There is negative energy that we all bound up because we don’t want to create violence but have no problem forcing that same energy on someone we feel deserves it.

In order to enjoy being the creator of violence, you will have to believe that you are right. When Justifying a force of violence on someone, the defense story comes up. You want to propose to the witnesses that you were defending yourself or someone else. Though you smiled or cheered because you had the upper hand, we try to forgive ourselves because we hate the feeling of guilt. Not every situation is avoidable and violence can never be justified. However, observing this idea through the lenses of  a soldier, justifying violence can be a coping mechanism in the conscious. In war, soldiers are the suspect, victim, and witness of violence. With a gun in their hands and a big playfield to damage up, the feeling of sympathy for other humans are quickly non existent. Instead, the battlefield becomes an illusion of the mind where every one is the target and as long as there are sounds of screaming and bullets, violence is in the air. In the soldier mind, killing the enemy is the only way to suck the violence out of the air. Though it may sound horrible from the outside looking in, soldiers are taking their repressed negative energies out on the battlefield. The same way children compare themselves to the good superhero and enforce their own repressed violence on the bad guy. In both scenarios, the doer is responding in violence with the help of personal issues.

Militarism and violence should never be enjoyed. We can’t enforce violence with our own personal repression or militarize someone else because they are easy to manipulate. This is what leads to the decline of governments and start of an barbaric nature, both interior and exterior. For a change in society, we must acknowledge the fact that violence and militarism will always be a necessity. We can't go against it or be patriots of its actions. Treat both actions as sentimental principles instead or ways to protect the alpha status. Violence is not something that needs justification when being used in an militarism culture.


BIBLIOGRAPHY





Zero Tolerance for the Zero-tolerance policies

For my last essay, I wanted to show what I'd been working towards and improving with my creative thinking and writing. I was also really interested in my topic, so conducting research was informative and fairly enjoyable. I feel as if I did well on this essay and displayed how I have been working on my writing skills throughout the year. There is still much for me to learn but so far a lot has been conquered. 

Nisa Hardin


Advanced essay no. 4


Zero tolerance for the “zero-tolerance policies”


Other than major budget cuts, underfunding and suffering from government ignorance, a majority of inner-city schools across the U.S deal with the growing issue that follows zero-tolerance policies. Ever since a surge in violence and theft within schools before the 1980’s, schools across the nation have made it their top priority to completely divest acts of violence, truancy and general misbehaviour. The differences between then and now, though, are almost too drastic to be comparable. The first and most outstanding thing would have to be the “War on drugs” that Reagan created, which pushed drugs to inner city black and hispanic communities to incarcerate their population as a tactic to suppress the civil rights movement; in turn causing the impressionable public to demonize and alienate the black community and its culture. With significantly diminished property values and quality of life due to open-air drug markets, drug-related murders and numerous home invasion robberies, many communities residing within the inner city were figuratively and in some cases literally left for dead. Too add to the damage, Zero-tolerance policies were created and implemented within the majority of U.S schools.

To this day, research has not been able to report improvements subsequent to the placement of these regulations. Often what happens is that students are penalized to the fullest extent for things that one would think only called for a slap on the hand, but because this isn’t the case many student careers are often thrown away, regardless of the state of their records; more specifically those affected are mainly minorities and students with disabilities. Statistics show that 40% of students expelled from U.S schools each year are black, 70% of school related arrests are black and latino, 25% of minorities are incarcerated within a couple years after they’re 18. Jose Gallego shared his story in an interview about school-to-prison pipelines, illustrating the slippery slope that often follows the penalties of violating zero-tolerance policies: “I’m a highschool dropout. I was supposed to graduate in 2008, but I missed a few days of school because my parents were going through a hard time. They kicked me out of school. So, then I started selling CD’s downtown. I was arrested for selling CD’s, i was locked up, and I got out with a whole different perspective. I had never been in juvenile detention before. I didn’t know what to do. I started selling drugs. Now I am lost. I’ve got a little brother and little sister, they don’t look up to me anymore. I’m a two time convicted felon. It is hard for me to get a job.”

My middle school experience somewhat reflected the zero-tolerance policies unto its students, but fortunately I wasn’t heavily impacted by the consequences that followed the petty and excessive amount of rules that if not followed could jeopardize a student’s access to education. For example though, one of the rules that I will never understand to this day is uniform. To emphasize how seriously staff took wearing the navy blue polo and khaki pants, I’d compare it to the dress codes at SLA. Students are allowed to wear nearly whatever they please so long as it doesn’t reveal entirely too much or suggest something negative or offensive to others. Even when there are incidents where a student may violate these rules, the most they are asked to do is refrain from wearing that item of clothing in the future. At my middle school, Teachers would patrol the halls at exactly 8:40 each morning to examine the uniforms of each student. Wearing any shade of blue other than navy, gym clothes on a non-gym day, or head wear that wasn’t khaki or navy blue were grounds for an unopposable early dismissal or in some cases immediate suspension. The average number of students pulled out of class and taken to the office a day were three or four, and that was just in my grade group.

This, in contrast to the extremely strict zero-tolerance policies in other districts, is virtually nothing. The school-to-prison pipeline is really a classroom-to-prison pipeline. A student’s trajectory to a criminalized life often begins with an unfair curriculum that disrespects children’s lives and that does not center on things that matter. Nearly two decades of a "zero tolerance" mentality has contributed dramatically to a spike in exclusionary discipline that involves racial disparities, and if you ask me all of it seems just a bit too strategic.




Bibliography…


Giroux, Henry. "Racial Injustice and Disposable Youth in the Age of Zero Tolerance."International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Taylor and Francis Online, 25 Nov. 2010. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.


Norm Stamper / AlterNet. "5 Surprising Consequences of the War on Drugs." Alternet. N.p., 06 Sept. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.


Buggs, Innis. "Innis Buggs." Politic365. N.p., 15 Dec. 2012. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.


Fuentes, Annette. "Preview of Article:." Rethinking Schools Online. Rethinking Schools, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.



Effects and Influences

The purpose of my paper is to show how the media and other things men are around overall influence how they treat women. I go into detail about why men catcall, why they think its appropriate to do and how they make women feel when they do it. This essay is really different and special for me because I think it is something that everyone can relate to. I´m very happy with my work for this last Advanced Essay and am proud of what I accomplished. 



Deja Harrison

Advanced Essay 4


      

If you're a man you might look at the pictures above as just a bunch guys and see nothing wrong with it. As a woman I see these pictures and an immediate anxiety comes over me just thinking about having to walk past this group of guys. When a girl walks past a group of guys it´s usually followed by comments like….


“ Ayo “.

“ Yurp jawn with tights come here ”.

“ Ya shit fat ma damn ¨.

“ ard fuck you then bitch “.


At some point in life sadly every female experiences a situation like this. Catcalling is when a sexual comment or gesture is made to a women in public as she walks by .Catcalling is one of the most degrading ways men objectify women. With all the advances and changes in the world there's one thing that seems like will never change about our society. Men will continue to view women as objects no matter how much progression we make to become equals. It is so common in our modern society to hear things like “ damn ya ass fat as shit ” and “ I'm trynna hit that ”. Comments like these are unfortunately apart of a lot of women's daily routines.  Being yelled at and in some cases physically assaulted for our appearances is completely terrifying and doesn’t make us anymore attracted to our harassers. So the real question is why do they continue to do it?


            Malcolm X once said ¨The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.¨ Men are heavily influenced by the things they see and hear. All across the world there are movies, tv shows and ads of men being surrounded by women or disrespecting them in such a way that makes other men what to be like them. For example perfume ads for brands like Gucci and Armani tie into the idea that smelling like their product will help men get women therefore drawing men to their product. From a very young age men are exposed to these things that place the idea of masculinity into getting women. Women are often viewed and portrayed as prizes to be won by men and that if they say and do the right things they can win them.

                    


             Men don't realize the effects they have on the women they are harassing because the media doesn´t show that part. They never get to see the mental and sometimes physical marks they leave on their street harassment victims. ¨ Fear and discomfort are what define sexual harassment. Not every catcall is followed by unwanted physical advances, and yet that reality has to be considered a distinct possibility for safety's sake. Aggressive or sexual comments alone can instill terror¨. What men don't understand is that they are not the first to do this to their victim. Women are constantly being hit on and harassed and after a while it's quite terrifying and very annoying. The problem is men believe we like being cat called. They think we like being called out and harassed for our bodies and faces. They believe we are flattered by the attention and that them calling us out on our  ¨fat asses¨ makes us swoon for them.


              ¨Catcalls can easily turn into insults but they are seen by a lot of people as some kind of compliment that women should be happy about. ...Some others are afraid they will not be taken seriously or are too ashamed to complain¨. Most women who get cat called ignore the comments and most of the time that leads to the guys saying something completely disrespectful like ¨ I didn´t want you anyway¨ or ¨that's why you're ugly anyway bitch¨. Sometimes things can get much worse and involve physical contact. Men aren't taught to take no as an answer, they believe that they are supposed to have what they want when they want it. On movies and tv shows the crowd is always drawn to the male character who is the ¨go getter¨ or womanizer, he gets all the women and all the glory. He´s the one all the guys admire and aspire to be like so they pick up traits in order to have his lifestyle because they believe that's how you achieve it. It seems as though over the past few decades mens mentality has stopped evolving. I never understood how men don't respect women when they came from a women themselves, They continue to believe that women were created for them and that we are supposed to meet their every command. Times have changed for the better. It´s not the 1950s anymore women have rights and are more than just mothers and housewives. Women have rights now, we can work and vote. By catcalling women men are simply setting us back from all the progression.


       



        Women are worth more than being called out of their name by some barbarian who´s just looking for a good time. We have come too far in this world to allow men to take something else from us. Catcalling is an act of violence and abuse that no women should have to endure.  Men catcall take our attention and power. I believe it's time for us to take it back.




Work Cited




CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.


"Home." Stop Street Harassment. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.


Rossalyn Warren, Marie Kirschen, Lane Sainty, Jina Moore, Rachel Wilkerson Miller, Hannah Giorgis, Nirali Shah, Bibiñe Barud. "Here's What Street Harassment Is Like In Eight Countries Around The World." BuzzFeed. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.


"Why Some Men Catcall." Men's Health. N.p., 03 Nov. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.



Advanced Essay #4 (Keith Hodge)

Introduction: The goal for my paper I would say is to get some info out about PTSD and I believe I have. My reflection I think I did very good on the paper as well to I think it was one of my best advanced essays this year. I also started the paper soon as I got it even though finding sources was hard I did. So like I said I think this was a very good paper and hopefully you enjoy it.


PTSD is a disorder that is brought upon people but not just any type of people these people have been in war or just plain battle. But they have not just seen a couple bullets come right past them They have seen people shooting the enemy and their own men - things blown up, and even worse - people dying right in front of them. This disorder, or whatever you would like to call it is called PTSD, which stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Hopefully this essay will enlighten you on this disorder.


Well one of my first examples is from five poems about Vietnam where the actual guy that wrote them went and served in Vietnam as a long range reconnaissance patrol unit. The first quote is from the poem Armed forces recruitment day ¨Rules and regs. You are probably surrounded. There are five others beside you. You are twenty-three. You look look quickly around you: The sky, the trees. You're far from home. You know now that your life is no longer yours.¨. This next quote is from the poem Natural history ¨One night, shivering uncontrollably with fear, knowing I would have to kill whatever was out there, walking slowly, scratching.¨. Those two poems are almost like feeling PTSD because the first one gives us what you feel during war because we can imagine it would feel very surrounded by the enemy, the trees, you are so far from home and then you realize you're life is gone, or no longer yours. Also, the 2nd one it gives you a feel of a bad dream or a nightmare, one of the symptoms of PTSD as well.


The next source I used is called ¨Moral Wounds of War¨ which is basically a interview about a rifleman in Afghanistan, and also tells the story of some doctors and some other veterans that have PTSD or are specialist in PTSD. The first quote from this source is this one here ¨LT. COL. ERIC OLSEN: It’s a hard place where you are asked to do some very difficult things, and once you’ve crossed those lines it’s hard to navigate back. It is a soul wound. It’s definitely a soul wound.¨. The 2nd quote is ¨DR. JONATHAN SHAY: Well, that idea has a great pedigree, and I’m afraid it’s complete crap. It is simply wrong. Moral injury causes good character to become deformed.¨. The 3rd quote is ¨SEVERSON: For too many veterans, coming home doesn’t end with kisses and hugs. Now there is an increasing awareness and some say an urgent need for America and Americans to step up and share the pain of our returning veterans and help them reclaim their lives.¨. I liked this interview because it is this guy that has PTSD and he is talking to doctors and another guy that has it.


The 3rd source is just a couple of examples from storycorps which are videos about war veterans from Afghanistan to Vietnam. Quote #1 is ¨Before he came home we used to hold hands but now I can't and I had to remind myself not to rub his back or sneak up on him.” Quote #2 is ¨I can close my eyes and see that guy collapsing with his hands up, and I think about that kid often.¨. Quote #3 is ¨I had white gloves on and a uniform with my medals but I felt dirty, you know I thought I was gonna die in vietnam but I didn't half to go back there I had my ticket punched by my nephews blood and I felt that I failed him and I failed my family and uh I still feel guilty to this day.¨. These videos were my favorite source because there were so powerful some were with their families and others were describing family members.

PTSD is once again a disorder brought upon people that were in war and battle. My first source were poems that I thought gave you visions or images on PTSD. The 2nd source was a interview with a veteran that had PTSD and he talked with doctors. The 3rd source is about vets with PTSD that discuss their stories. So hopefully this essay gives you some more info on PTSD.


Citation #1: Quintana, Leroy V. "Five Poems About Vietnam." www.pbs.org. Pbs, 25 Mar. 2005. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/reflect/quintana.html>.

Citation #2: "Moral Wounds of War." Http://www.pbs.org/. WHYY, 28 May 2010. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2011/03/11/may-28-2010-moral-wounds-of-war/6367/>.

            Citation #3: "Story corps." Story corps. Story corps, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2017. <https://storycorps.org/listen/?collection=veterans-stories>.

Advanced Essay Final Draft

Introduction

I did my essay on mass incarceration and how policies put in place made the problem much worse. I talk about three decades as the key of these policies. the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s. In my essay I really talk about specific bills that made mass incarceration possible. I went over the word limit because I needed to include a quote from an act signed into law by Richard Nixon. This needed to be stated in order for the reader of my essay to understand what these policies look like.

America makes up 5% of the world’s total population, and 25% of the world’s incarcerated people. With over 2.2 million people imprisoned, it's hard not to wonder how we got to this stage. How did a country that makes up such a small portion of the world, become the producer of over 1/4th of our people’s incarcerated people? Until the 1970s, America’s incarcerated citizens rate was fairly stable throughout the years. What we see today, is a direct result of some harmful policies put together in the 20th century, that Americans are still suffering under today. These policies that we see have been enacted have furthered our problems with imprisonment in modern society.

The 1970s gave birth to what is commonly referred to in mass media as the War on Drugs. This is commonly recognized as when we as a government stopped treating drug addiction as a health issue and started to treat it as a crime issue. Thus, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act was born. This act ultimately shaped what drugs were considered controlled substances, substances that weren’t, and instilled heavy burdens on those who did not abide by these strict ordinances. According to this act a person found possessing “less than 50 kilograms of marihuana, except in the case of 50 or more marihuana plants regardless of weight, 10 kilograms of hashish, or one kilogram of hashish oil, such person shall…  be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 5 years, a fine not to exceed the greater of that authorized in accordance with the provisions of title 18, United States Code, or $250,000 if the defendant is an individual or $1,000,000 if the defendant is other than an individual, or both. If any person commits such a violation after a prior conviction for a felony drug offense has become final, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 10 years.” In 1970 the number of incarcerated citizens was 357,292. In 1980, that number was 513,900. In just ten years, we had amassed over 200,000 more prisoners at the start of the War on Drugs. However, the incarceration rate didn’t slow down there.

The Ronald Reagan Era introduced mandatory minimum sentencing. By doing this, Reagan introduced harmful sentences for harsh drugs. As we see now, marijuana has proven in recent years to not be as harmful as once portrayed. Mandatory Minimums introduced harmful sentences for marijuana. For instance, if you were thought to have attempted or actually carried out possession with intent to distribute was 10 years. If it was your second offense, you could see 20 years to life in prison for your crimes. So we see that people with either addiction problems or catering to the addictions of others, were forced into harsh sentencing. In the age of harsh sentencing for already extremely regulated drugs, our incarceration rate skyrocketed. The number of incarcerated citizens went from 513,900 in 1980, to 759,100 in 1985. In just FIVE YEARS, we see incarceration has essentially gone up ¼ . According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 1985 of those 759,100, 94% (718,507) were in jail due to drug related crimes. In this case, the mandatory minimum sentences increased the amount of people who were in jail, and the amount of people who there for drug related crimes.

Bill Clinton was elected in the 90s majorly on his support of tougher prison sentencing. One of the major decisions that shaped his career was the 1994 Crime Bill. This bill introduced policies which expanded the death penalty, encouraged states to issue longer prison sentences, and eliminated federal education funding in prisons. The  prison population went from 1,179,200 to 2,015,300 in the year 2000. Bill clinton later admitted that this bill made the problem of mass incarceration much worse. The 1994 Crime Bill perpetuated the problem of mass incarceration, by encouraging prison systems to further the problem of mass incarceration. These bills throughout three decades have furthered the problem that America faced and continue to face today.

Throughout three decades, American policy makers perpetuated the issue of mass incarceration through policies that made it harder for prisoners to rehabilitate or even get out of jail. In the 70s, the beginning of the War on Drugs, Nixon began to crack down on drugs, treating drug addiction as a crime issue instead of a health issue. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan introduced in Mandatory Minimum Sentences. These sentences not only brought people into prison because of minor drug charges, but kept them there for years, sometimes decades. In 1994, Bill Clinton continued these issues of mass incarceration, by encouraging state governments to make longer sentences. Today, we see what these policies have created. A massive prison population, the largest in the world. But we can look at our prison policy history and see where surges in the prison population occurred and that they often coincide with a change in policy.
























Bibliography


  1. Ec. "Abuse of Drug and Control Act of 1970." Abuse of Drug and COntrol Act of 1970 (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. https://legcounsel.house.gov/Comps/91-513.pdf



  1. Beinart, Peter. "Hillary Clinton and the Tragic Politics of Crime." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 01 May 2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/the-tragic-politics-of-crime/392114/


  1. "Proclamation by the President of the United States of America." The American Journal of International Law 11.3, Supplement: Official Documents (1917): 152-56. Government Policy Office. US Government. Web. 23 Mar. 2017https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-103hr3355enr/pdf/BILLS-103hr3355enr.pdf



  1. Drugs and Crime Facts, 1989. Rockville, MD: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1990. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/dcf89.pdf


  1. Caelleigh, Addeane S. "Prisoners." Academic Medicine 75.10 (2000): 999. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p00.pdf


Advanced Essay #4: How Media Perpetuates Sexual Violence

My goal for this essay was to show how media and pop culture perpetuate sexual violence. I wanted to share my story as well as give other examples. The reason my paper is so long because I wanted to really share what goes through a girl's head when these kind of things happen. I feel like this was one of my best essay's to date. I feel like I really got to express my greater idea as well. My thorough explaining created wonderful lengthy paragraphs causing my essay to be a bit over the word limit.

The sky was bright and full of puffy white clouds. The air had a slight smell of rain and it was really humid. This was a pretty warm day for mid-April. I was wearing my favorite blue dress. The waist had blue flowers and I had put on a jean jacket over it so my outfit would be more “school appropriate.” After school, I was walking down the steps into the train station and I heard someone say,

“How old are you?”

There were a bunch of people at the train station, I did not think they were talking to me. Hundreds of conversations were buzzing around on the steps at 15th street. So, I proceed to walk underground towards the Comcast Center. I can feel someone follow me but I’m not sure; so I keep walking and move to the left.

“Ohh you cut me off” A male voice says jokingly.

“Oh, sorry” I muttered trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

At this point I was focusing on getting near people so I’d feel more comfortable. There was minimal light in this hallway and we were the only people walking. My heart was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but my mind knew better. My pace quickened a bit as I got further into the underground

“That dress is short!” he chuckles.

At that moment I’m thinking to myself  ‘Are you serious man?’ I was trying to get rid of the thought that this man was following me a block and a half underground. ‘Maybe he’s just going the same way as me!’ was the thought I tried to keep in my head. All I could do is be annoyed that he felt the need to tell me about my outfit and make me feel uncomfortable as he followed me underground.

“How old are you?”

He was now next to my left shoulder tailing about two feet behind me.

“I’m 15!”

I said in a hurry. I was so shocked that I even said the wrong age. I had been 16 for around four months I was just so blank at that moment.

“Oh shit! Sorry, my bad thought you were older.”

He muttered as he walked back in the opposite direction towards the exit.

After, I was astonished. This man really just followed me through the train station. I mean it’s my body I’m allowed to wear whatever I want. No one deserves to be followed because someone is interested in them because of how much skin they show.

There are so many different variables that resulted in me wearing this outfit so I purposely would not get called out or harassed. I tugged at my dress constantly, wore a jean jacket to cover my arms; things that I wasn’t insecure about became things I was adamant about hiding. I know that what I wear does not give anyone the right to harass me. This is the kind of violence I am faced with most often.

The way that this man acted showed me that to him, girls who dress nice can either be one of two things; fashionable or asking for it and fashionable. Nothing about me said that I wanted him to follow me in a dimly lit hallway. I was minding my business yet, I was still street harassed.

Exploring more into why these things happen, I looked into music. Specifically, hip hop music. The lyrics say one thing, but the actions of the artist are another. Young rapper Xxxtentacion is currently in jail for assaulting his pregnant ex-girlfriend. He has a large fan base that often use the hashtag ‘FreeX’ because they believe that he is innocent. Kodak Black is another rapper that was previously in jail for being accused of raping a fan back in February 2016. In the article ‘Xxxtentacion, Kodak Black & Rap’s Ugly Embrace of Sexual Assault’ the author highlights the fans acceptance of these harsh crimes saying that, “#FreeKodak and #FreeX may have started as rallying cries for pre existing fans trying to maintaining their innocence, but in reality, they’ve acted as advertisements to bring in new listeners. Not only are these alleged crimes not slowing down the careers of either artist, they’re boosting their profiles.” Not only does this normalize that kind of behavior, it also perpetuates the fact that the victim may be lying. Whether these accusations are true or not, victim blaming will still happen and fans will still buy their music regardless and this violence will still happen.

This dismissive behavior of sexual assault and harassment becomes a never ending cycle. The article also highlights the fact that, “Of course, that didn’t stop #FreeKodak from taking over the internet, prioritizing a man’s squandered talents over a woman’s accusation that many still aren’t taking seriously. ...which helped him earn the first top 10 hit of his career.” In result of this, music may play a role, but the artist can also have influence. They live without shame and the women never get justice.

Women are constantly having to face the music, literally. So many songs degrade us and non chalantly talk about sexual violence and harassment as a hook for their song. For example, in Rick Ross’s song ‘U.O.E.N.O’ he raps, “Put molly all in her champagne/She ain’t even know it/ I took her home and I enjoyed that/She ain’t even know it” He is literally talking about drugging a woman and raping her in a song. The only thing the news has said about this is that this lyric is “controversial.” Not only is it controversial, but it is him making money off of talking about sexual violence and having no consequences. The common mindset is, ‘As long as he didn’t actually do it, it's fine.’ What people are failing to realize that normalizing this behavior makes it a “normal” thing for most women.
In conclusion, sexual harassment has to stop. I should not have to dress for other people and whether or not they’ll approach me. Women and girls should not have to live in fear because men feel entitled. To quote the article, ‘What does “non-violence” really mean?’ “The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.” If this continues it’ll create an even larger distrust between women and men and everyone in between. We need to be intersectional. Protect the girl in the short dress and the long dress from sexual violence. It can happen to anyone.


CineMasai. "Xxxtentacion, Kodak Black & Rap’s Ugly Embrace of Sexual Assault." DJBOOTH. N.p., 15 Mar. 2017. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. <http://djbooth.net/news/entry/2017-03-13-raps-ugly-embrace-of-sexual-assault>.

Staff, Bossip. "Say What? Top 10 Most Controversial Rap Lyrics." Bossip. N.p., 09 Mar. 2017. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. <https://bossip.com/756713/say-what-top-10-most-controversial-rap-lyrics/>.

Advanced Essay #4 : A Cold Night

Introduction: My goals for this essay was to show a scene of memory and then also explain how it affects me in my daily life. I also wanted to explain how women violence is prevalent in all different forms. 

Essay:

I had just gotten off the bus at Phil Ellena street, I was traveling home from school and it was around 7:00 at night. It was cold, dark and damp from the rain that drenched the city earlier in the day The only thing I had on my mind was getting home and starting my homework. The streets lights were on but in reality it wasn’t nearly enough light for me to feel safe on to travel 5 blocks. 5 blocks may seem short but those blocks were long and in the cold they seemed even longer with the few set of eyes staring at me from across the street. The bus pulled off and I started to cross the street heading towards the corner store. There were always guys plastered in front of the store, probably selling drugs or doing some other mischievous act but they always watch me as soon as I get off the bus and usually I’m not intimidated by it but tonight was different.

Walking past the group guys, I made eye contact with the creepiest one. I looked him from his feet up to his head taking in every detail of his appearance. He was a big buff black guy, with a fitted cap on his head. He had a diamond earring in his ear which was gleaming due to  the radiance off of the streetlight. His left hand was deep into the pocket of his jeans and his pants hung low. I was a tad bit afraid because he tried to hit on me once in the store. The moment I caught eye contact I suppose he thought it was his moment to attack. He started calling for me and of course I ignored the first few calls but as he kept calling they seemed to get more and more intense. “You should smile sometimes.” “You have a nice body.” “I be seeing you around girl.” I kept trying to ignore him until his final words to me were “Fuck you too bitch, you ugly anyway.” I almost yelled at him, to say something derogatory back but I realized it probably wasn’t the best thing to do so I just walked away. But why? Shouldn’t I have stuck up for myself or something. Who is he to degrade me like that?

I’ve been facing my whole life like this, that this is the life of a woman. Men who feel as if it is in their power to sexualize you, harass you and make you feel worthless when you don’t agree. I thought women were supposed to be idolized as queen and the bearer of life. I believed that they should be respected and almost put on a pedestal to show how worthy they are but men who are born from a woman’s womb still find a way to disrespect us. Is catcalling, street harassment and the degradation of women considered violence? Yes. It makes women feel vulnerable , neglected, unsafe and attacked.

Going through these experiences, I realized violence falls a lot heavier on women and it is usually implemented by men. Each year over 51% of women which is above the national majority experience partner violence or sexual assault in 2012. In 2003, 119 women died as a result of physical violence in the workplace. 1 in 5 women compared to 1 in 71 men are victims of sexual violence or will become victims of sexual violence in their lifetime and this number has not gone down. We are suppose to honor and protect women, not beat them down with hatred,violence and discrimination. We as a community, not only men but also women need to stand together and demand equal rights and safety to women at home, in public and at their homes. It is our duty as a community and as a nation to provide respect for all women of all shapes and ethnicities.


Sources:

"Facts About Abuse." Facts About Abuse | Abused Women's Aid in Crisis. Abused Womens Aid's In Crisis, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.


"Violence Against Women In The Workplace." AFL-CIO. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.




Advanced Essay #4 [Addison Zheng]

Introduction: 
My goals for my paper was talk about street harassment and how women are affected. I talked about how I felt about this crime and how we all can stand up to this and try to make a change. The process of writing this paper was somewhat hard because I had to go into deep research to find specific statistics. I had to find people who had dealt with street harassment and tell me their story.   

Essay:

In today’s society women are victims of  street harassment. Statistics shows that in 1998 about 17.7 million women who are rape or even sexually assaulted, last year about 85% of women experienced stress harassment before turning 17. It also shows female who are the age of 16-19 are mostly likely to get harassed. "He was sitting next to me to my right and as I got up to de-board the bus I had to take a wide stance to get around him and when I did he reached up and grabbed my crotch," said Brittney Gilbert a victim of sexual harassment. I was on the metro on my way home this evening and a man sat next to me and began to loudly talk about how nice my legs looked. I told him to stop and he wouldn't and I couldn't get out of the seat. He continued to encroach on myspace so I turned my head, and could feel everyone looking at me but not doing anything.” Said another victim that was victimized in harassment.

I personally find this act disgusting and wrong. No woman should ever experience such a horrific act. So the question is “Why don't women stand up for their rights, but what can men also do to stand up for this act?” Jared Marcelle was one of those guy who would catcall other women, but later on in life he realized that it was wrong. He found out that his sister Aleah was being catcalled by construction workers and he didn’t like that at all. He realized that he was being a hypocrite for saying something to those men when he does the same exact things. When someone is sexally assulted or harassed the moment is forever in their minds and their are physically and mentally traumatized. It plays over and over again in your mind and you think back and wonder, maybe I could have done something. If you think about it in today’s society we wish we could do something but honestly we all just sit there as bystanders and do nothing. Did you know that there was a law saying if you see something happening that you know is wrong and or could endanger another you could be arrested. That is called the good samaritan law which holds you accountable for not helping someone in need.

If we can do something to help women as a whole stop being the victims of rape and sexual harassment we should step up. Not all men are bad so we shouldn’t categorize them and put them in one box. The men who are not in the box with rapist and harassers could be the ones who make a difference by joining the marches and the always helping if they see someone in need. They can also shoot for justice and never make the victim feel like it’s their fault. Also, they could make sure that they are aware of how they could make someone feel when they say things that could make them feel uncomfortable.

This is simply why many women shield themselves when walking down a city street in broad daylight, or even when boarding crowded public transportation. Why? Because many women, regardless of age, weight, or appearance, say they've heard something along the lines of "Hey baby, you want some of this?" or "I like what I see" or "nice ass." It’s not okay to make women feel unsafe in their own environment. We should make everyone feel safe like they can walk down the street without being harassed.

I recently looked at an article about the sexual abuse and assault against women. It talked about what sexual assault can be and what it is. Sexual assault/abuse could be verbal, visual, or anything that forces someone to join in on unwanted sexual contact or attention. It can occur during anytime even in broad daylight which would be thought to be the most inconvenient but it happens and a lot of the time there are bystanders who don’t do anything. I believe that a lot of the time the person watching thinks that they are glad that it’s not them in that situation. This makes us weaker as a human race because we could change so many things that we know are wrong. So, if we band together as people who know right from wrong put the bad people away, fight for justice, and stop standing by and do something about it.


Citations:

"From online to the streets,." Hollaback You have the power to end harassment Home Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.


"Victims of Sexual Violence: Statistics | RAINN." Victims of Sexual Violence: Statistics | RAINN. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.


"Radio Rookies: Reformed Catcaller Explores Roots Of Street Harassment." NPR. NPR, 23 Aug. 2016. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.


"Sexual Abuse and Assault Against Women." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.



Advanced Essay #4

My goals for this essay was to show how School-Prison-Pipeline is a form of violence even though children put themselves in these situations. This essay made me explore more about the School-Prison-Pipeline because I was limited on knowledge about the system as a total, but through this essay, it helped me understand the situation better. I think that this is something I am pleased to end the 3rd quarter strong with.

Essay:

Let Us Graduate When we come across violence or unjust acts, we want them to be corrected. It is not fair to the society or personally being yourself experiencing the violence. Sometimes trying to fix an issue of violence leads to missed opportunities for ones who want to become right with the system and to become successful. We as humans are always content when unjust actions are taken care of, but we never think of the aftermath with someone’s life after the action. In this essay specifically, I want to discuss the topic of School to Prison Pipeline. I find that this is a form of violence to children because after they serve their time, there is really no life for them after juvenile detention or jail.

School to Prison Pipeline is an issue that is not really talked about or something that the society is not really concerned about. According to the information found from the Truthloader show podcasted on Youtube it stated: “ Every year in the United States, an estimated 250,000 children under the age of 18 are tried, sentenced or imprisoned as adults. And of these, around 100,000 actually end up in adult jails and prisons, with many spending time in solitary confinement.” When I read this I automatically thought how are kids learning when they are behind bars? This pondered my mind for a while. I began to realize that they are not having any system of education being brought to them while they are imprisoned. With kids being behind bars and not in school, it labels them as being dropouts from school. After kids are finished serving their time and learned the lesson of committing a violent act, they are back into society. They will come back with no sense of education, but only how to survive in jail which is not their life anymore. With children being dropouts and missing out on their education at the given time, it is harder for them to want to go back to school and gain their education after being put out of school at the designated time they should have graduated. I personally believe that this is something society needs to pay closer attention to knowing that us children are the future for the world and the society we live in. If we are behind bars and do not gain an education, what is going to happen to the world and the jobs that are ran? I would fathom to believe that they will not be ran or barely in existence because children will be unemployed due to not having the minimum of at least a high school diploma. Isn’t this considered more violence than rather letting them gain their education? It is understood that when someone commits a crime or does something unjust to the society, their actions should definitely be handled, but we never fully think about what affects it has on the person who wants to be successful children because that is always on our minds.

This situation has been going on for over 10 years and it has not been getting better, but instead it has been getting worse. I believe that the larger idea of this act is simply that this s a form of violence. To make this more direct, it is a form of violence because instances like this are keeping children away from their education while they are still young. Even though I do believe there should be punishments for actions that are not just, I think that authorities should be more sensitive with children because after they serve their time they have so much to live for. This would conclude to less poverty rates and more kids staying in school to gain higher education to be successful in the world. This will give the world a sense of ease when children develop as young adults and take on jobs that were profound by people who believe they are the only ones who can work in the field they work in. If us children are not the future generation than who is?

Works Cited

Truthloader. “The US Throws 100,000 Children into Adult Jails and Prisons Every Year - Truthloader.” YouTube. YouTube, 17 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAJFWYFPgH0.

“The School-to-Prison Pipeline.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 May 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/opinion/new-york-citys-school-to-prison-pipeline.html.

Dillon, Sam. “Study Finds High Rate of Imprisonment Among Dropouts.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Oct. 2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/education/09dropout.html.

Schlosser, Eric. “The Prison-Industrial Complex.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 01 Dec. 1998. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/12/the-prison-industrial-complex/304669/.

Advanced Essay #4:The Set Up

The Set Up


We say we want to help the children, educate them, give them experiences, and help them live out their dreams but  it seems that this saying pertains to some children and not all. We give suburban children a better education. We give them more opportunities, we provide them with a clean school with the best teachers around and give them activities after school to occupy their time and don’t give the same to the children in public schools that are in impoverished  neighborhoods. We then ask why one  set of children are exceeding while the other set barely even touches approaching expectations. Wealthy people love to send their kids to private and suburban schools because of the quality of the education that they get. Also,because the parents are comfortable with the feeling that nothing will happen to their kid due to  the low rate of violence in a suburban school than a public school in the hood but why don’t the parents in the impoverished neighborhoods deserve that same type of comfort? Children aren’t made to be violent, they are taught to be, and what better place to be taught then the school system.


Malcolm X once said “Education is the passport to the future,for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” The children in suburban schools have the opportunities, the teachers,the tutors, the activities, and the money to prepare for their bright futures. From birth they are told that they are worth something and their schools resemble this. Children in the hood, in predominately black neighborhoods are not taught that they are worth just as much as the suburban kid in school and you see this because the tools they should of been given to prepare for tomorrow are lacking or not there at all.These kids have been stripped of oppurtunities and given nothing to occupy their time. They have no knowledge to use or a trombone practice to go to because their schools can’t afford it so they occupy their time and feed their boredom with things they learn from tv  because social media has become their only real teacher.Violence has become a problem for kids in impoverished neighborhoods because no one is investing in their futures. Government officials are investing in  their jail cells not their classrooms and ask why these kids have given up. They have given up because no one is showing interest in making them have a profitable future and the only future people are worried about giving them is the one they can profit off of, so the children take comfort in their fist,hands,and guns.


Children in urban schools rather than suburban schools are more accessible to guns,drugs,and knives then a text book. There is more funding for weapons in black neighborhoods than for a good school education. In an article created by LockLip news and stated by an ex Chicago gang member he’s seen government officials dropping guns in their neighborhoods for years. He says, “I’m telling you right now, they’ve been dropping the guns off in crates for years, and I’ve seen it twice in my lifetime. I saw it in 1990 and again in 1999.” It might be astounding to hear that the government would actually do this but it’s not that hard to believe. If the government would rig children’s school education to build jail cells for them,then they would need to give something and a reason for them to go to jail. In a lot of Urban schools they have metal detectors, pat downs, and security guards that act like police.Children in these schools are getting use to this lifestyle and violence is the only thing they know, so there's no way for them to get out of it.


In conclusion, if you want the rate of violence to go down in urban schools then you must stop providing them with the motives to be violent and provide them with the motives to be successful. You must fund their schools with the same funding you give suburban schools to give them a fair advantage. We must treat them like students and not prisoners. You must stop teaching them that their only choice is behind bars.If you give them a well funded quality education and occupy their time with activities that will help t guide them to their dream careers, then you can finally watch the rate of violence in their communities go down.



Bibliography


"Government Is Leaving Crates of Guns in Black Neighborhoods." Locklip. N.p., 15 Sept. 2016. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.


"Malcolm X Day." ThyBlackMancom RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.


"Disparities Between Urban and Suburban Schools – Education Facilities Clearinghouse."Education Facilities Clearinghouse. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.










Street Harassment

Introduction:

My goals for this essay was to address the very important issue of street harassment. I hoped to make this essay a mix of creative and analytical content and I achieved that. I wanted to incorporate research and valid statistics to make everything stronger. I also added a personal story of mine to justify my argument. Overall, I think it was very successful and I acknowledged everything I wanted and explained my claim with good supporting evidence.


Advanced Essay:


In some, way, shape or form, we have all experienced violence. It is because violence is a large aspect of our society. Violence is the government in war, the environment we grow in, the media and what we learn from our parents or our surroundings. At a young age, we learn these things and we pick it up tremendously fast and it tends to stick with us for the rest of our lives. But this can change if people are influenced positively. In today’s world, a certain form of violence affects our women, and some men, on a daily basis; street harassment.

Street harassment is when a woman, in most cases, are cat called, violated with obscene comments, requested for their number, or treated with disrespect based on their outward appearance. In a 2014 study, it was recorded that 65% of women have experienced street harassment; 23% were sexually touched, 20% were followed, and 9% were forced to do something sexual. In another study, out of 811 women, 99% stated they experienced street harassment. There are laws that protect us from being street harassed but it is not among the laws that are taken seriously and it is something that occurs all over this planet. It is something that has not been acknowledged to the extent it needs to be.

Regulations aren’t valued like they are in the workplace or in school, which gives people the purpose to continue with their violent ways on the streets. They do not have to endure consequences if they are on the streets and no one seems to care. Most of time there aren’t witnesses and they don’t seem to do anything if there is, which is why people do not follow the laws. It’s as if this form of violence is exceptional and brushed away like it is not even an issue worthwhile to acknowledge.

Although there are some forms of laws in every state in the United States, many women are not informed about this, which gives this kind of view that there isn’t anything to do about street harassment, so they let it go and continue to face it. In the First Amendment, speech that is intimidating is prohibited and that is what street harassment is. An organization that has been fighting for a vast majority of time, Stop Street Harassment, conducted a document listing what regulations there are under each state in the United States. In Pennsylvania, many forms of street harassment is illegal including, verbal harassment, upskirt photos, indecent exposure, following, and groping. The subject can be charged with a third degree misdemeanor, and up to 1-5 years jail time, depending on the severity of the situation. There may be laws but that does not mean street harassment is vigorously addressed.  

According to Buzzfeed.com, this doesn’t just occur in the US. Majority of the world endures this, in countries such as, Australia, France, India, Japan, Mexico, U.K., etc. Often times in these areas, street harassment is perceived as the female's fault for dressing “provocatively,” and how they brought it upon themselves. In Kenya and other areas, people “think it’s up to women to protect themselves by covering up their bodies.” It’s not about their clothing. It is an excuse distracting from the truth. Women dress for themselves. To feel confident. To feel beautiful. It has nothing to do with attracting attention. Maybe we should start disciplining our boys to respect women and to keep their thoughts to themselves. The men looking should avert their gaze and let the women be. They didn’t dress the way they did for you. So men have no right to tell a women how they should dress. It also comes back to the fact on how society just lets men’s faults slide, and blame it on the woman and how they should cover themselves. Shouldn’t the men and boys keep their sexual feelings to themselves and let the girls be?

I am a modest Muslim woman, who keeps herself fully clothed and I am street harassed. I’ve been shouted at, stared at, and misinterpreted. One time, I was heading home one day with a friend, when a fifty year or so old man was leaving a store as we walked by it, and he commented, “How about I take you two ladies to my bed? I don’t cost much.” Again, this supports my argument when I state this has nothing to do about clothing.

Women have stood up to this issue and there is a form of resistance. Women have used their voices in the past by protesting, developing documentaries, interviews and creating organizations. “In 2012, Sofie Peeters, a student living in Brussels, Belgium filmed with a hidden camera catcalling by men on the streets.” This is a form of fighting back and it got a lot of attention in the media, which helped raise awareness. But they eventually died down because they never got the recognition it needed.

As women and men endure this revolting behavior on a daily basis, we can at least address that this is a serious issue that needs to be handled with better care. Street harassment needs to be made a priority and we need to come together to fight against it.


Citations:

Rossalyn Warren, Marie Kirschen, Lane Sainty, Jina Moore, Rachel Wilkerson Miller, Hannah Giorgis, Nirali Shah, Bibiñe Barud. "Here's What Street Harassment Is Like In Eight Countries Around The World." BuzzFeed. n.p., 11 Apr. 2016. Web.


"Home." Stop Street Harassment. Stop Street Harassment, n.d. Web.

"Statistics." Stop Street Harassment. Stop Street Harassment, n.d. Web.

Diagnosed

For this piece, I wanted to focus on the more mental aspect of violence than the physical aspect. I wanted to personally connect it to myself, so I could better talk about it and define it. However, I backed it up with other real and traumatic experiences with mental violence, and turned it into one larger piece and focus on the idea of mental violence. During this project, there was a lot of moments where I just wanted to give up on the piece. It was too vulnerable and hard for me to recap It had me having flashbacks and other things.. However, I stayed strong and did it. So I hope you enjoy. This is why it exceeds the word limit by telling about my entire experience which took up a lot of words I was able to compare how the mental violence I experienced was much worse than the physical. 


Often time, when defining violence, the first things that seem to come to mind are the physical aspect of it. However, we often forget about the harm it can pose and have on a person's mind and emotion.  It can result in someone going into a deep depression, grief and even becoming  traumatized, things all caused by the mind. Mental harm and violation can take much time to heal, just as with physical violence.  This is because the mind is very powerful. It is the place in where mental violence occurs. The mind is often referred to as the “devil's playground” a place, when not guarded carefully can become someone's source of turmoil and pain. This is when it becomes damaging, the same way in which  physical violence is. It changes a person's character, and can turn a once stable mental state into an unstable one. I am a victim of mental violence and am a witness to this. Here is my story.

I gasped as the cool marble of the wall met with my neck. It was a warm summer day, and the cool air condition of the building that affected the temperature of the inner walls should have been refreshing. However, it was not refreshing, but uncomfortable and chilling. My blood ran cold, and my skin pricked from the coolness of the stone. It felt as if my heart would explode from my chest. His fingers slid around my throat, damp and sweaty. His stench burned my nostrils. “Ha, ha finally got you right where I need you.”  “No please stop, I said”, as he came in close to me his grip on my neck getting tighter. Just as his lips were about to meet mine, I kicked him in the shin as hard as I could and pushed him off of me. Breathing heavily, I stared at him my eyes wide with terror. I was never walking down that dark hall of the building by myself again. It was the year 2013, and soon after this was the time in which I would I become a victim of mental violence and the power it would later hold on life.  This was the year I was sexually harassed at a six week summer program, by three boys. I was only  thirteen and at this time, I was one of the many who just viewed violence as just physical harm.  I had yet to realize, just how much more the grief,  the mental violence would bring me  more than the physical.

I  also did not  know much or understand the signs of sexual harassment, but was very much aware of how uncomfortable it made me feel and dreaded mostly each day and moment of the program when I knew I would have to see those boys. I would often time try to hide and blend in between my groups of friends, keeping my head low when they would walk by, or sometimes changing my hair or take off my earrings,  to make me appeal “less attractive” to them. I thought that this would make them leave me alone. However it didn’t, instead the harassment seemed to escalate. From squeezing my butt, or grabbing me from behind, and even pinning me against walls, to verbally fighting over me. I kept my mouth shut , from the teachers, friends, and even my parents.


Although my mouth was shut, my mind was screaming. It felt as if I would explode from the turmoil I was experiencing in my mind. I became traumatized, often times waking up at night screaming and even panicking when being in a certain place or part of the building. The more I gave power to this mental violence, the slower I was to heal. In the future, when I would date other boys, I would scream at the slightest touch at a certain area , or cringe because of the discomfort, although years ago I had yet to heal from.  I had not only been  physically violated but also mentally violated. I had become diagnosed with mental violence and was experiencing the symptoms. The mental way in which it effected me became worse, and I would often times wake up in the night crying, and wake up in the mornings dreading having to go the program.  Even to this day,  I still struggle from the effects of being touched by them in inappropriate ways . and sensitive to the way I am handled.

Just as I have suffered  from the effects and impact of mental violence years and months after the incident,  upon returning from war, many veterans and soldiers experience symptoms of mental violence. Commonly known as PTSD or even  survivor’s guilt. In Moral Wounds After a War, an discussion forum with  a soldier expresses the way in which violence became mental after the war and changed his character. He quotes,  “Something is changed. You know, you feel down to your spirit. You know that you’re different now. You know, we don’t really have a consciousness of our own spirit until it’s wounded, and then it needs help.” After the war, this veteran  could not only feel that there  was a change in himself,  but could feel a change in  his consciousness. Consciousness is the mental awareness of the mind, and because of PTSD it was negatively affected. He states that often times you don’t notice that you have been mentally wounded until it begins to hit you and you begin to experience the symptoms. Upon experiencing the symptoms, you then realize that it is as a wound, needing help. Thus, showing the mental violence effects can go as deep as changing your character and the way in which you view things around you. Another soldier,  Michael Abbatello  still reports to suffering symptoms of mental violence, “ Michael Abbatello is still suffering from the guilt that his unit wasn’t there to protect an Afghan father who had provided intelligence on the enemy to the Marines.”

The guilt Michael is suffering from is something known as “Survivors Guilt,” which is remorse or even shame a veteran experiences after the war, due to the deaths of soldiers who worked alongside of them.” Often times with Survivor's Guilt, surviving soldiers feel as though they could have done more to protect and to save another soldier, and can struggle with guilt for years and months after a war. These symptoms although not physical,   mental struggles for soldiers, and can greatly affect their lifestyles, and their characters. Both survivors’ guilt and PTSD, can go as far as depression, grief, and even traumatizing flashbacks. According to Veteran Statistics of PTSD, as many as 11% of Veterans suffer from PTSD daily. A symptom, that requires much healing. Harmful to the mind and spirit.


Just as these veterans and I, and other victims of mental violence, it is a discomfort. Sometimes you do not even know you are a victim of it, until your mind becomes subject to it. It took weeks, for me to realize that the battle against my physical harassment, was not just with physical violence but with my mental violence. Taking the same time to heal and to adjust to as was for the veterans. Also, just as these veterans realized a change in themselves, I realized and tried to become a change to myself through my appearance and even with my mindset. I allowed for my mindset to be weakened and experienced my own form of PTSD. I allowed for it to have the power over me, and struggled against it. As they blamed themselves, I blamed myself, for being “so attractive that I gained their attention.” I blamed myself  for applying to the program and even being scared into my own silence. It took a while for me to realize that this was not my fault, it was my harassers. They had no reasons to do what they did to me, and put me through the torment they did. I had nothing to do with their choice and decision. As with the veterans, it was not their faults a certain soldier had died or that they were in their predicament in the first place. It was their fault that the world and the country by which they were fighting chose war over peaceful resolution. It was their faults’ that were drafted against their will and made to fight in the war.

Even to this day,  I still struggle from the effects of being touched by them in inappropriate ways . and sensitive to the way I am handled. However the difference between back then and now, is that I now am old enough and more aware of the symptoms of mental violence ,and can later use this to heal from the wounds that has so long scarred my mind.





Advanced Essay #4: Violence always has negative consequences

​In this essay my goal was to introduce a new perspective and give reasoning behind my claims. I feel like I was able to completely get my point across and express my opinion. I am very satisfied with my final product as it reflects and defends what I believe in. I am happy with the central focus of this essay because it displays my take on a broader topic. 

I don’t care what anybody says, I personally think that violence always has a negative consequence. I stepped outside of myself and imagined multiple scenarios where violence could possibly have a positive consequence. Within all of those circumstances lies a negative consequence for someone or something. The first scenario I envisioned was a professional fighting ring. Of course both fighters signed up or wants to be apart of the fight and are possibly making millions of dollars but at the end of the day someone gets hurt. For some, the benefits or good aspects about pursuing the fight may outweigh the bad ones but within that scheduled fight is a negative consequence. I could go in-depth about the long term effects of constantly getting punched in the face but my point has been proven for this scenario.


Another scenario I envisioned was if someone attempted to hurt you or someone you love. Of course defending yourself or your loved one would be the most reasonable thing to do but in order to do so there is going to be some pain involved. I’m a very passive person and would rather choose violence as a last resort, when it’s absolutely necessary. Some people say that violence is never the answer but I personally find that statement to be false. I can think of tons of situations and scenarios where violence would be the most logical choice of action but none of them make the consequence positive for everyone/everything involved.


With that being said, it’s all about how you deal with those negative consequences that come with violence. The Youth Art and Self-Empowerment Project (YASP) deal with children under 18 years of age that committed crimes. Children in the program have been charged as adults after they committed their crime and YASP do not agree with this. “The number of teenagers under the age of 18 who are held in adult jails and prisons in Pennsylvania has increased drastically over the last fifteen years.” They battle this process by providing space for incarcerated young people to express themselves creatively and to develop as leaders both within and beyond the prison walls. They’re focused on ending the practice of automatically trying and incarcerating young people as adults.


Violence isn’t always physical. One can be teased and get their feelings hurt which is just one of the mental/verbal ways people can be hurt. Women are often targeted by men in unwanted sexual ways. A CNN article further explains the issues surrounding this topic in their article “Hey baby! Women speak out against street harassment

“Fear and discomfort are what define sexual harassment. Not every catcall is followed by unwanted physical advances, and yet that reality has to be considered a distinct possibility for safety's sake.” The only way for this type of violence to not be negative is if the women likes it or is ok with it. What are the chances of that?


A more simple and straight-forward example is war. War is a state of armed conflict between different nations or states, or different groups of people within a nation or state. The negative short term effects of war are the many lives lost during battle. There’s a possibility for many negative long term effects from a war but The New York Times give a real life example and explanation of the long term effects World War II has. “America didn’t just lose the war, and the lives of 58,000 young men and women; Vietnam changed us as a country. In many ways, for the worse. It made us cynical and distrustful of our institutions, especially of government. For many people, it eroded the notion, once nearly universal, that part of being an American was serving your country.” The negative consequences of violence don’t always happen right away.


In conclusion, one of the reasons why violence continues to occur is because people don’t always see the consequences. We are often blinded by how we are affected or the lack of. In the actions of sexual assault/harassment, physical violence, and verbal violence the offender may not realize the consequences because the harm is being inflicted upon them. With sexual harassment and verbal violence if the offended doesn’t speak up the offender could never know the impact they had on that person. Men who catcall women don’t realize how degrading it can be. Before and during acts of violence


Works Cited:


Smith, Emily. "Hey Baby! Women speak out against street harassment." CNN. October 6, 2012. Accessed March 10, 2017. http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/06/living/street-harassment/.

Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project (n.d.): n. pag. Print.

Marlantes, Karl. "Vietnam: The War That Killed Trust." New York Times . Accessed January 7, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/opinion/sunday/vietnam-the-war-that-killed-trust.html?_r=0.


Advanced Essay #4: Violence as Consumption

Intro

Hey ya’ll! I present to you my Advanced Essay #4. I’m actually really proud of this one. Before writing this essay, I used my free write space to get out all of my thoughts and potential ideas. I ended up with many topics/ideas, but I had to choose one. That’s when I decided to write about violence as consumerism. I chose to write about this because I can relate to it and it’s just very interesting to me. To understand why people buy into violence. To My goals for this paper were to open my readers’ eyes to the perspective of violence as consumerism, manage my time wisely, to not overwrite my essay, stop by the Lit Lab and include a great, larger idea.  I very happy to say that I accomplished all of my goals with no problem at all. If I had to do this again, I think I may build a little bit more on my larger idea. I hope this essay affects your perspective on violence. Enjoy!


Essay

When it comes to violence, there are two perspectives involved. The first perspective is of  those engaged in the violence. The second perspective is of those seeing the violence. Many people believe that focusing on those engaged in the violence is the most important thing when it comes to these sorts of situations. However, those seeing the violence is just as important. In today’s society, violence is ingrained in most of the things that we consume, such as movies, television, social media and, most strikingly, in video games. I can relate the most to the last one.


Growing up, I would see violence in TV shows, movies and games a lot. One time in 2011 or 2012, I went over to my best friend Tim’s house to hang out. When I walked into the house, I saw that he was playing his Play Station 2 as usual, but, today was different. He had a new game called “DC vs. Mortal Kombat.” I had never heard of it, so I sat on the couch next to Tim to see what was going on in the game. This game was so bloody, grotesque and brutal. It involved a one on one fighting game that only ended in death. I had never seen anything like it before that day. Any kind of violence I had seen before this game never involved blood and death, just kicking and punching. This game disturbed me, yet my eyes never left the television screen. After ten minutes into this game, I had become intrigued. It was at that point that I joined Tim in the game and then, days later, got the game myself.


As I had, many people have given into the sway of violent video games. Games such as, “Call of Duty”, “Mortal Kombat”, “Battle Field” and many more. The imagery that’s displayed in violent video games has a strange quality that draws many people into buying them. This is what the mixture of violence and consumerism looks like: People taking pleasure in involving themselves in violence. In a TED talk with Peter Mantello, he explained the phenomenon of violence and consumerism merging together in the video game world. He stated, “In the first person shooter game, the battle field transforms into a market place. And so the key prerequisites to capitalism, production and consumption, revolves around production (the killing of adversaries for cash-kill points) and consumption (the trading of cash-kill points for weapons and body armor). So the more you kill, the richer you become. The richer you become, the more weapons you can buy. The more weapons you can buy, the more powerful you can become.” This quote gives you the reason as to why people react this way to violent imagery in video games. Indulging in this violence makes them feel powerful. This makes sense too because, speaking from personal experience, when you shoot someone down, or take someone out with your immaculate fighting skills and/or powers, you feel on top of the world and unbeatable. It’s an oddly amazing feeling.


This is one of the things that capitalism comprises. It took violence and put a price tag on it. Capitalism understands the powerful feeling these violent games give people. So they continue to manufacture more of these games. We, as a society, continue to consume these games. Capitalism prospers while society gradually becomes more violent. The more society buys into violence, the more it's safe to say that violence is human nature. People have been trying to end violence for many decades, but the result is always the same: more violence.


Bibliography


"Consuming War: Peter Mantello at TEDx." The Vision Machine. Accessed March 20, 2017. http://thevisionmachine.com/2014/10/consuming-war-peter-mantello-at-ted/.




Advanced Essay #4

Introduction:
My essay is basically about violence against oneself. As well as making a point about how violence is not only considered to be a physical act, it could also be mental or verbal. When someone points violence towards themselves, they usually have a reason behind the actions of self violence. 

 Hayley Barci

3-16-17

Advanced Essay #4

Violence is a book, filled with many stories, but only one truth. However, it can be seen through many perspectives. However it seems to be most common that people think of violence as a physical act, in which could cause damage such as bruises and bleeding. The idea of violence is different for many people. Let’s also think of it as if it  an arrow, it can point in many different directions. It could be towards family, friends, enemies. Generally it isn’t an easy thing to deal with, and sometimes people use it because they don’t know how to deal with their own lives.

Violence doesn’t just include fists, words can also be used harshly against someone. They can be just as bad as a punch in the stomach or being shot in the head with a gun. Someone may use gun to kill someone else, or they could use it against themselves. Self harm can fit within the category of violence, however it can be seen as a coping mechanism, when in reality that not the case.  Causing that kind of harm to yourself, is not exactly the greatest way to `cope with struggles. Seeing self harm as a way to cope, is a perspective that certain people can have. That can become someone's reality, while others may not think that. Others may use self violence in a more mental way, like saying negative things about themselves, or saying that you’re not worth any effort.

I’ve personally had experiences with different kinds of violence. I was tossed on the floor by my own father, I was called several different names, however all of those experiences made it into a bad habit of me pointing all the violence towards myself. Think of that as if it were a routine, something that is consistent, you have other people point the violence towards you so many times. That could cause a negative impact on someone, making them think poorly of themselves. Therefore it becomes that cycle where it actually sticks in your mind, that you should be treated poorly. It begins to become something normal for you. This mainly happens because of the negative impact the people around them give.

Self harms fits into the category of self violence, like a glove. So right off the dot you automatically think about cutting. Well, that’s not the only way of self harming. Mental Health America states that there are multiple different types of self harming such as burning, head banging or hitting. That’s mainly the physical way of self violence. Saying bad things about yourself or someone saying things verbally can certainly have a huge impact on how they see themselves, or how they see other people. It takes time to heal from those sorts of actions. Especially when you basically have to learn how to do it yourself, since you’re the only one who knows what works for you.

Now, I know you're probably thinking; how can I help someone who faces self violence?  How can I help myself when I experience self violence? There are multiple way you can help yourself, and others as well. If someone you love is experiencing self violence, you just need to constantly tell them,”It’s going to be okay”. Remind them how beautiful/handsome they are. Push them through the struggles that they face. When you're suffering from self violence, you feel like the whole world is falling apart. Just know that you’re not alone. There are many ways to help yourself through those bumps in the road. Sarah shared her story on Reachout.com. She told her story through a letter to her old self. The one who suffered so much, it felt like she wasn’t living. It felt like she was dying.

With self violence, it doesn’t all happen in one day when it comes to healing; it takes time.     

Quotes/Sources:
-"ReachOut.com." ReachOut Blog RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

Advanced Essay #4, Randle (Stop The Criminalization )

Introduction:

My goals for my paper was to include 3 or more quotes to support my argument, to go over the minimum word count and to persuade my reader to agree with my argument. I also wanted to ensure that I sharpened some of my grammar errors and I even tried something new by using descriptive scenes to start of my essay. I worked on my essay a lot, I did a lot of deleting, editing and revising before I got a finished product. If I was to do this essay again I would write a lot more so when it comes to deleting I would not have as much to read and I would also get more peer edits. Overall I am proud of myself and my essay. I worked hard on it and gave it my best.


Stop The Criminalization

He walks down the street with all black on. Black hoodie, black jeans, black sneakers and don’t forget he’s black. Stopped by the police, quickly patted down and thrown in the police car. They didn’t find anything on him but as the police said: “He fits the description.”He fitted the description of some crime. The cops aren’t sure about what crime he “committed” but they are sure it is something.

This scene presented above is so common considering it’s one of the everyday norms African Americans face mostly males. For a long time, things have been this way back since racism. Racism has impacted the way things ended up occurring in today life. So many African Americans face the same troubles and worries considering this is such a norm and they often have to think how can I dress, talk or act so that I don’t get pulled over or attacked by police authorities.

We as a community and a society have criminalized everyday social interactions from our African American males. We have allowed our males to think that they will be punished for being themselves. Allowing them to second think their outfits, what neighborhood to be in and what to say considering they could be accused of something illegal based on stereotypes and accusations of their race.

Violence in the society has only gotten worse throughout the years considering the situations we have been facing. Your race, your gender, and your clothing can determine so much to a police officer nowadays. Walking down the street and you fit the description of a suspect. But it’s the same one suspect a black male and anyone can fit this description. The community is endangered and it's sad that enough people aren’t informed.

Statistics imply that “ 6.66 Black, 3.23 Hispanic/Latino, 2.9 White and 1.17 Asian/ Pacific Islander.” Of all the different races, the African Americans have the highest percentage of deaths due to police brutality. Statistics like this have allowed the males in our community fear for their race considering their race is the most endangered. Endangered considering huge populations of their own race have been getting killed and it's nothing they could do about it. The only thing they can do is worry and hope that they won't be next.

“Seeing so many black men killed by police and having negative experiences with law enforcement have made him less empathetic to the police.” African American males can not even feel comfortable or trust police enforcement considering they have often been accused and attacked just because of their race. “I’ve had a gun in my face from a police officer before,” he said. “I didn’t feel it was warranted, but he (the officer) did. I’ve been pulled over for a tail light that wasn’t out.” when you are being accused of something for no reason you have to stop and rethink everything action to ensure your safety.

You have to think should I turn here? Should I wear all black? Should I wear a hoodie? And I think this something that should not be a norm in today’s society. We have allowed black men to believe that everything they do, wear or say is a crime and that their race is automatically a target.

One resolution would be to work harder on fighting towards police brutality. If more people stood up and spoke out on situations there would be justice and statistics wouldn’t be as high. Another solution would be rebelling against things and being yourself. Don’t allow police brutality or your race stop any of your social interactions. If you like who you remain yourself.

“Along with racial profiling and other legal harassment, like stop-and-frisk, being pushed through a window by police has apparently become a new reality for brown-skinned kids. Yet how is such aggression and violence justified by law enforcement, and are these incidents to be imagined as mere coincidence” although this is considered a “reality” it should stop occurring.African American males should be able to love themselves and should never feel like anything they do, wear or say is considered a crime.  Stop the criminalization and start to love the African American males in our community for who they really are.



Bibliographies :


"The Counted People Killed by Police in the US." The Guardian. N.p., 2016. Web. 10 Mar 2017.




Worthy, Ariel. "Taking it personally: Young black men speak out on police brutality." The Birmingham Times. N.p., 14 July 2016. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.



Eternity, Max. "The Criminalization of Black Youth and the Rise of Restorative Justice."Truthout. Max Eternity, 20 July 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.


Violence From a Perspective

​Intro: 
the reason I wrote this essay is because I want to show how violence can change a person's view. I also want to share my experiences with violence, and we can decrease the violence.

   Violence can affect us in different ways or forms because it can change a person’s view on the world. Some people experience violence in different ways or experienced it worse than others. 

          The way I have experienced violence is through harassment. The reason why I only experienced violence through harassment because everyday during grade school, I was harassed. It happened so many times, that being harassed became a daily thing. I would have to beg my mother to stay home because I could not handle being harassed every single day for the next 6 years. So grade school for me was harassment hell because I had to deal with it every single day for the past 6 years and the teachers did not really help the situation, they just made the situation worse than it needed to be. 

     Some people think that violence is a normal thing to experience in a person’s life because we witness or take part in violence so many times, that people got used to violence. It impossible for a person to not experience violence in their everyday life. The only possible way to not witness violence, is to stay in your house for the rest of your life. What I am trying to say is a person will experience violence in their everyday lives.

       There are some ways to prevent violence, but not stop violence. Here are some ways we can prevent violence. We can try to shout are yell as much because that is one of the ways that violence is started. We can try to use words instead of our fists/weapons to solve problems. The reason why I say this is because people think too quickly and use violence to solve problems. If this happens it can only end in two ways, one way is you can accidentally injure/hurt someone in the situation. The second way this could end if the authorities come and see you, they’ll think you’re the one who started the fight instead of preventing it. What I am trying to say violence exist, so there should be a way to prevent that type of stuff.

Advanced Essay #4

Introduction :

For this essay, I wanted to tackle the very commonly unseen, or missed form of violence that women experience everyday, just doing everyday tasks. This violence is called street harassment. Women around the world everyday fear walking down the street because the thought of being called out her name, and put in an uncomfortable position by someone trying to get their numbers is just too much. I improved from my last essay because I tried to incorporate more of my quotes to further prove my points. I hope you all enjoy my essay!

Violence is bad, obviously. It can be seen on a broad spectrum ranging from extreme, unacceptable violence such as war, to violence that isn’t seen as such a big deal, such as a petty argument between siblings over the last cookie. But what about if there is an in-between violence? A type of violence that isn’t seen as that big of a deal in society, but is still a big deal, it just isn’t dealt with as such big of a deal. Such violence is street harassment, but what is street harassment?

Street harassment has been seen and interpreted from 2 different perspectives: the one who does the harassing, and the one receiving the harassment.  It has become a common, undignified and anti-feminist belief that street harassment can and should be taken as a compliment by women across the world. It has gotten to the point where women across the world have lost sense of the true degrading nature of street harassment.

Some women actually like being cat-called on the street, or stopped in a store to listen to some guy try and talk game to them. They see it as a compliment; a way to let other people and themselves know just how attractive they are. It’s a confidence booster in some cases with women with low self esteem, and it makes them feel good.  In an interview conducted by a CNN news reporter, one man even said "I have heard that when a guy walks by a girl and doesn't look, that she's hurt by that," he said. "I imagine it might feel pretty bad, but you know I can imagine it might boost their ego." Knowing they can capture the attention of anyone walking down the street. It is something some women look forward to leaving the house every morning. To other women though, the thought of getting catcalled on the street is horrifying. In more cases than not, simple comments meant to be compliments on the street have turned into uncomfortable or even violent situations. A writer from The Guardian was brave enough to share her insight on how it feels to be a woman at night, trying to get home: My heartbeat quickened, the hair rose on my arms, and I felt the usual emotions flood through me. Fear. Anxiety. Impotence. Anger. Frustration. Misplaced embarrassment and shame.” Many women feel this way just walking around the corner. That nightmare has turned into reality for women around the world everyday. They do not see it as a compliment. The same reporter from The Guardian article wrote:  “A compliment doesn't make you rethink your route the next time you walk down the street.”. I believe this is a strong quote because it’s brutally honest, and people should understand how twisted the meaning of a compliment has become.

It is ultimately up to a person how they chose to perceive street harassment. It’s upsetting that to the majority of people, it really won’t seem like a big deal. They might say that women are overreacting, and should be more chill about it. The point of this essay is not to portray women as cowards who shake with fear as soon as someone tries to talk to them on the street. What must be understood is that there is a difference between giving someone a compliment, and harassing them. A compliment would be along the lines of: “Excuse me, I just wanted you to know, you look really nice today.” and leaving it at that. Harassment would look more like: “Damn ma, your ass is lookin’ mighty fine in those jeans today! Your mama know you out here looking like that?” There’s an apparent difference between the two interactions, and sadly, the latter is the one women are most likely to hear walking down the street.

There have been many attempts to raise awareness on street harassment. Such attempts such as social justice blog, Hollaback! Video, recording what it’s like to be a woman walking down the streets of NYC for 10 hours. Though there are many efforts, the truth is, street harassment won’t stop as long as sexism exists, and as long as people keep being ignorant to what’s right in front of them.





Sources:


  1. CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

  2. Bates, Laura. "Women should not accept street harassment as 'just a compliment'" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.

  3. "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.

Advanced Essay #4 When is it Right to Fight?

Intro: My goals for this paper were to learn about violence, and after I chose my thesis, really learn when violence is okay.  I think it is a super difficult question I am still struggling with.  The process for writing this paper was harder than any of my others and I feel I could work on this for another week, keep it the same length, and improve the quality of it.  I got a lot of feedback that I tried to use, but only some of it could make it in the essay unfortunately.  If I could write two essays, I still would have had a lot to say, because there are so many different ways to write this, and so many levels to violence.  I wish I could have had a different essay structure.  I am glad I was able to keep my body paragraphs in line with my introduction and thesis.  


Central Idea or Question:  When is violence justified?


Violence is justified when it brings more positivity to a situation than peaceful conflict resolution could.  Sometimes, it is unavoidable and the best way to deal with a situation.  Yes it can cause pain, but it can still be the right thing to do.  For my purpose of this essay, violence will be broken down into two categories, physical and psychological. I will explore examples of each, showing how certain actions are or are not violent.  Also, I will address the question, “when is an act of violence justifiable?”


First off, Physical violence involves actions like punching, kicking, shooting, etc. It is a type of behavioral violence, and has intent behind it.  If a doctor cuts open a patient during surgery, this is not violence.  However, if a murderer cuts his victim in the same physical manner, it is violence.  There are times when physical and psychological violence can overlap.  If an army encircles an opponent and set up a blockage towards their resources, this would be a form of violence lying somewhere in the middle.  They are physically affecting their enemies, but not directly and they are also affecting them mentally with a choice.  Overall, any action that can be classified under physical violence has the potential to be moral.


Physical violence is decent when it is used in order to combat a worse violence.  The other violence may be worse in its extremity or the intent behind it.

There are a vast number of scenarios in our not so perfect world, where the answer is violence.  Should I be able to use self defense?  Can I attack someone who is in possession of a bomb that could wipe out millions?  Can I torture someone to tell me a secret, if it would save the lives of millions? Surely the answer is yes, because by acting with violence, a more positive outcome is reached.  Therefore, it is an acceptable process in some circumstances where it will produce better results.  


Psychological violence is most commonly verbal and emotional abuse.  Because the words we use and the way we treat other people can hurt them, it is one type of violence.  Some examples of this would be calling someone a mean name, or ignoring someone to get revenge on them. Donald Trump tweeted, “Ariana Huff is unattractive both inside and out.  I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man- he made a good decision.” This social media post is a prime example of psychological violence, because he purposely takes a shot at another person's emotions. I wouldn’t say this was justified however, because it was unprovoked.   


Psychological violence is warranted when it is done in response to other violence. If someone wrongs you or steps on your toes, it is right to stand up for yourself.  It could be something like yelling at your kids for making a huge mistake, or harshly criticizing someone who has been told and told again, but has yet to change.  Sometimes too much kindness will not get the point across, and some aggressiveness is good.  If using psychological violence can make something positive click in someone's mind, it can be worth making them feel a little hurt at first.


Both types of violence can be justifiable, especially and usually in harsh circumstances.  Violent actions have purposeful intent of harm and negativity.  Whether someone's being hurt on their body or in their mind, they are usually a victim of violence.  Wrapping up the bulk of the essay, violence is acceptable when the act of violence is fitting to reach the quintessential solution.






Work Cited


Borghini, Andrea. "What Is Psychological Violence?" ThoughtCo. N.p., 6 May 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2017. <https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-psychological-violence-2670714.>


Gleave, Rob. "Debating Matters: Global Uncertainties | Opinion | When Is Violence Justified." DM Banner Graphic. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017. <http://www.debatingmatters.com/globaluncertainties/opinion/when_is_violence_justified/>.

Sebastian, Michael . "29 Times Donald Trump Has Been Completely Insulting to Women." Cosmopolitan. N.p., 21 Oct. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. <http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/news/a44629/donald-trump-insults-women/>.

"Structural Violence." Structural Violence. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017. <http://www.structuralviolence.org/structural-violence/>.



Advanced Essay #4:Alexa Lahr

This essay for me meant a lot being able to talk about something that I am very passionate about.  I’m happy I was able to really dig deep not just on catcalling but also non-violence.  This whole process of writing I can say was really good for me because as I wrote, my beliefs grew.  I think it is very important when you really feel what you are writing and get into it and I feel that’s what I did.  The goal of my paper was to show why women are silent when they are being cat called.  That the act of silents was oppressed on women by men.  I think I did really good on this essay it’s my favorite one out of all my advanced essays.



A woman walks down the street with her head down avoiding the eyes of men around her.  Looking at the ground like she is trying to memorize each step she takes.  Her hands are in her pockets making her body as small as possible.  She would do anything to not be noticed by the men around her.  This won’t help though, no matter what she does she will be noticed with her long hair and inviting eyes.  Her friends tell her, “Why don’t you just make yourself look ugly?”  She’s tried that, not putting makeup on and wearing sweats, trying to do what it takes to be a blur to the men around her.  Why should she have to underdress to not get attention by men.  It doesn’t work anyways, they will always holler no matter what you look like, “Yo baby girl with the book bag!” “Yo ma’ can I get your number?!” “You want a ride sweety!”  Women are trained to be silent in these moments.  In the source, Here is What Street Harassment is in Eight Counties, it says, “The general public is pretty lax about it and girls are often advised to ‘just ignore it’”  In the midst of street harassment is silence the best non-violent response?  

In this world we live in, women have always been looked down on - from not being able to vote to not earning equal pay.  It is hard to escape such oppression with all the past lingering events women went through.  Not all men realize when they catcall, they are saying the unspoken history of sexism.  Men try to grab the woman's attention and most of them won't take no for an answer. This shows how men think they are a higher power to women.  As soon as a woman walks outside of her house, men start to view the woman through a gender lens, that is,  being looked at as a sex object or just someone that a man feels the need to take control of.  

Through all these years of oppression women were trained to keep their  mouths shut.  I am an advocate for the non-violent community, but do we truly  think this is the best way to fight with non-violence or is the “silent response” something created by men?  Your brain learns from the world around you and the people who raised you.  Being in a world where women are told to look a certain way and act a certain way, can shape women into beings who don’t have a voice.  Why should we just accept this?  Why do we go with the way history wants women to respond, by looking forward and putting our headphones in.  Women need to fight against this oppression!  As a women in this men ruled world, I can say that I have experienced this restriction to my words.  For instance,  when I am walking down the street and get cat-called and even followed sometimes, I still find myself tying my eyes to the ground and moving forward.  As someone who is all for women’s rights why do I do this? I find this question going through my head over and over again.  I find that I am scared -I’m scared of the response from the man.  Again, I restrict my words because I am afraid of the MAN’S response!  In the TED talk “Fighting With Nonviolence” Scilla Elworthy tackles the right way to handle things with non-violence and one of them is confronting your fear.“Sit down with the fear like a child you're the adult you're in charge.  You ask the fear what it wants.”So as women we need to confront our fear of men, look fear in the eye, and say “I am the adult and what do you need.”  We have to do what is best for ourselves we can’t sink into our fear forever because then are tongues will always be tied.  Confront the fear and  and push it out by standing up for yourself.  I’m not saying you got to yell at the guy but know when the right moment is to speak up for yourself.  

Knowing the history of women and where women are at today, we can still see the rooted sexism in our world.  So I would say that silence is not the right non-violent response, instead it is the responce of years of oppression.  This quote from Martin Luther King Jr.  says that we have to know how to fight the hate. "Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” I believe this with my whole heart.  Don’t let the oppression of years from men affect your pure women power.  Becoming immune to the men around you that are catcalling isn’t the right response, stand up and make a change.  Not for just yourself but for all the women out there.




Biography-

​"What Does "Nonviolence" Really Mean?" ​PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

Elworthy, Scilla. "Fighting with Nonviolence." ​Scilla Elworthy: Fighting with Nonviolence | TED Talk | ​ TED.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

Rossalyn Warren, Marie Kirschen, Lane Sainty, Jina Moore, Rachel Wilkerson Miller, Hannah Giorgis, Nirali Shah, Bibiñe Barud. "Here's What Street Harassment Is Like In Eight Countries Around The World." ​ BuzzFeed. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.