Perception

Lets say you just watched a McDonalds commercial unveiling this new burger, you are so excited to try the new burger that you drive to McDonalds and get it. You open up the box and see that it looks nothing like you saw on TV. That little example goes to show what perception can do to the human mind. For many years we as humans have been deceived by what we see and hear on TV, radio, build boards, newspapers, and the news. Nothing is exactly what it seems to be especially if the government is in control of what you see or hear.

Perception is something that could be could be true but probably isn’t. In the text it talks about how things can be one thing but its actually another thing and this is know as subliminal messaging .This can be seen everywhere whether its on television, billboards, radio, the news or even on stupid things like Tinder. I say tinder because you think you found this very attractive boy/girl and you show up and that person is definitely not like their profile picture. They even have a whole show surrounding this called “Catfish”. But its not just dating you need to watch, its also what you read.

The news is another one that likes to use perception a lot. They like to twist the truth as much as they can either to make a country, family, or person look bad. Say someone said something about how guns are great or how guns are bad, the media will try to twist that and make that person look like a terrorist or a insane person(depending on the station) even though that is not true. In North Korea they are forced to listen to propaganda of how North Korea is like Heaven to live in and the other countries are evil and will kill you. That’s how North Korea Proceeds themselves as and other countries, there is a story that is told within the country on how the United States is a evil country who liked to kill women and children during the Korean War(I’m not lying look it up). The media is sick tool to make innocent people look bad even though they did nothing wrong.

At the end of the day we can’t do anything about it. Whether its in the news, TV, or even on things like Tinder, perception will always be a tool that will manipulate how we live in society.

American

To some it’s being a citizen of the United States, but to everyone who lives here call it home. Some people love it so much that they are willing to give their lives for it but for other people they hate it so much they are willing to burn the flag in protest. Whether you love it or hate it we are all Americans.

Ever since our early days of just 13 colonies we have faced adversity head on whether is against England, Japan, Nazi Germany, or even ourselves. We have bounced back time and time again so the safety and freedom of the United States wouldn’t be in trouble. Many men and women starting from the Revolutionary war to the war in Iraq have fought and sadly given their lives to protect us from evil. Being an American doesn’t mean you have to fight in our military, it means that we have the rights and liberties that not many countries have like North Korea or Afghanistan where they publicly execute people for the littlest things. So be grateful for where you live and what you have.

After the events of 9/11 many people in the United States had many emotions either it was sadness, anger, forgiveness, and so on. But the song “Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning” by Alan Jackson truly explains for itself because he channeled what an average American was going through that day. The next day many Americans still afraid, we banded together as one. It was no longer FU you’re a Republican, FU you’re a Democrat, FU you’re white, FU you’re black. For one day it was FU Bin Laden were Americans, you may have destroyed our buildings and kill our people but you haven’t killed our spirit.

That for many years was the embodiment of being an American. No matter what challenge was but in front of us, we did it with pride and honor. But sadly we have lost that way of thinking, many Americans care more about themselves than their fellow neighbor. More people want our president to be dead than to be praised which is really sad if you think of it. We need to go back and look what went wrong, how come more people are standing on our flag than waving it, how come more people are protesting violently than peacefully. These are real questions us as Americans need to ask ourselves what can I do to help this country that I love to be great again.  

So I ask as a proud American, what will you do to help bring back the America we once knew and loved?

Writing through my life

Ever since I started my schooling days I was never a really a good writer or even a good speller. I would have a hard time trying to put sentences together even if I thought it was decent my teachers would tell me that I was always a terrible writer. It was tough trying to write but I would try my absolute best and even that wouldn’t be good. I never stopped trying and eventually I would get better.

Ever since I started my schooling days I was never a really a good writer or even a good speller. I would have a hard time trying to put sentences together even if I thought it was decent my teachers would tell me that I was always a terrible writer. It was tough trying to write but I would try my absolute best and even that wouldn’t be good. I never stopped trying and eventually I would get better.

My writing story starts when I was about 3 years old my parents got me this chalkboard so I can play but more importantly learn how to write. When I wasn’t drawing stuff on it my parents manly my mom would help me write my alphabet on it. She would do it a few times just to show me before I tried. She would also help me with my vocab words when I couldn’t figure them out and she would break it down so I could understand it.

I have a lot of smart people in my family but I would have to say the most literate person would have to be my grandmother and my mom because they read and write so much plus my grandmother was a teacher for over 30 years who just recently retired. When I got to high school and they would a sign these multi paragraph essays that were due the next day, I would call her and she would help me through it and explain to me why this sentence goes with that sentence. What I learned from her is that to make sure your sentences flow within each other to try and make more sense.

Don’t get me wrong my grandmother taught me a lot with writing essays but if it wasn’t for my mom I would be able to write or even read for the matter. Sure I still can barely form a sentence but I have gotten so much better from when I was a freshman in high school. I’m so thankful that I have these two people to help me with my writing. But more importantly without them I wouldn’t have graduated high school and gotten into college which was my parents and grandmothers dream for me to go.

The somewhat advice I would give to my fellow classmates about their writing is that to write what you are passionate about. Many people like myself have a hard time trying to write about stuff they either don’t like or don’t know much about the topic. That’s why I like to write a lot about politics manly about guns because not a lot of people understand guns and if they do those people nine times out of ten got there facts from websites that are very bias. So at the end of the day we all have our history with writing whether we love it or hate it, good or bad we all writers. We all have our journeys with writing, there was mine.

They Say, I Say Pt. 1

Chapter 1: Starting what others are saying

The authors Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein talk about how to be a better writer.  It also talks about how to engage your audience with your writing.

What I learned: before reading the chapter I spent about five minutes trying to guess how to pronounce Birkenstein. While actually reading the chapter I relearned how to connect to your audience which could be hard for some people.

Chapter 2: The Art of Summarizing

The chapter was about how to write a summary. It also talked about plagiarizing which is calling something your own without giving credit to the original writer.

What I learned: I already learned a lot about summarizing during my junior and senior year of high school.

Chapter 3: The art of quoting

The chapter is about how to property quote something. It gives whatever you’re writing sound and look better. It can also make your paper or speech more professional.

What I learned: I learned that when you are quoting someone you have to put that person’s name at the end of the quote so you are not plagiarizing it as your own.

What I learned: I learned that when you are quoting someone you have to put that person’s name at the end of the quote so you are not plagiarizing it as your own.

Seeing things differently

As humans we only see what is in front of us because that is where our eyes are pointing towards. But there is more than seeing with just your eyes, we see with our heart and emotions. What we see with our eyes doesn’t fully capture what we see in our hearts. In “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger he says that “the way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe” (8). That is very true because in a society that we live in we see a lot things that can either be real or can be fake. Things that we thought were true ended up being false and things we thought were just myths ended up being real.

Photographs are a way to show the truth about whatever but yet the emotion of the person taking a picture of what the person loves. These photographers take their time and energy on trying to capture the absolute perfect shot they can. It also gives a new layer to the word art because John Berger said “the painting now travels to the spectator rather than the spectator travels to the painting” (20). What he means is that instead of going to wherever the picture was taken you can just see it in a photo or on the internet. He even makes a statement on page 24 on how the majority of the population doesn’t go to art museums. That is very shocking but very sad at the same time because it shows how little people care about art and care more about themselves and if their selfie is going to get more then 50 or 100 likes on Instagram.

The overall book was extremely well written on how you can feel the author’s passion for art and how he believes that more people should appreciate art for what it is and not what it was. Art is more than just drawing in a notepad or painting on a blank canvas, it’s something that is inside us all. Some people express art differently whether it’s a painting, drawings, or even as silly as dressing up for Halloween. We all have that artist inside us, we just need to let it out and embrace it.

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton