Poetry Project

                         TWO VOICE POEM ON SELMA MARCH

There’s no more segregation

in this state, so please let us

March                                                                                               

                                                                                                            Go home negros

                                                Why wont they just

leave

We would like to

March

Your safety is at risk, leave!

                                                Get out of our way!

We want to march!

and we want our

freedom!

                                                Why are you destroying

                                                What we believe in?

This is your last warning

…    

Ask me my name

That light is

awfully bright

Are you disturbed

by me? I feel that

you’re afraid

Do I have

any friends?

I want to see my

face Who am

I?

I scare you

What do I do?

Life is black and

white I hide in

the shadow of

my hoodie

Do I like myself?

I don’t know

me I am ashamed

I bow my head

As me my name

She brings out my emotions sad or pleased

The green grass changes me to a player

I love it all when I play I’m released

It’s like shedding a hard outer layer

She plays with my emotions everyday

This sport gives me joy and a team to love

She has produced chants like ole ole!

I would be forever thanking above

I always hope my team can win a game

I always wish they could win a title

I will never forget the day I came

She makes me work hard all the time

This is what I want to do in my life

If I can do this there will be no strife

   

            The poem “America” by Claude Mckay is about a man who loves something that

gives him stress. Claude Mckay describes America with harsh words in the first half of

the poem. Then he’ll go on to write how much he embodies it. In the end it’s a complex

confusing poem that provokes thinking.. America has different main ideas, word

choices, and literary devices.

            As mentioned above this poem can be seen from different points of view. The

poet Claude Mckay describes America as a country he loves but at the same time it’s a

love hate relationship. He mentions some negatives and positives of America. It seems

like America is the only place he’s able to call home.   

            Claude Mckay has a unique arsenal of word choice throughout his poem. He uses

deep words like “Although she feeds me bread of bitterness and sinks into my throat her

tiger’s tooth.” The poet uses such harsh words to describe how much pain America

causes him. The poet goes on to write how America gives him strength and how he loves

it.

            This entire poem is filled with many literary devices. Throughout the poem

Claude Mckay expresses his feelings metaphorically, for “stealing my breath of life, I

will confess I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!” America is a nation not a

cultured hell, but the poet wants to explain his bittersweet feeling. He also uses similes

like “her vigor flows like tides into my blood”. Claude uses this simile to show how

America can give him strength.

     

         Unfortunately all over the world, everyday people are judged by how much money they have. The book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini shows how much the amount of money you have effects you. At the start of the book there are four main characters Baba, Ali, Hassan, and Amir. Ali and Hassan are sometimes thought of in negative ways and are treated differently because they are poor. Based on how much money you have it effects your impact on the people around you, how you are treated, and what you own.

    

Since Baba and Amir are wealthy they live in the mansion, while Ali and Hassan live in a mud hut. The author writes “I went past the rosebushes to Baba’s mansion, Hassan to the mud shack where he had been born, where he’d  live his entire life.” This illustrates that due to money issues Hassan and Ali live in huts therefore proving that the amount of money you have decides what you own.

    

Due to all the money Baba has he is able to do nice things for people with his money. In the book Baba builds an orphanage, “Baba paid for the construction of the two-story orphanage, just off the main strip of Jadeh Maywand south of the Kabul River, with his own money.” This demonstrates that money can effect the impact you have on the people around.

            Being a poor Hazara, Hassan is often thought of in a negative way. One night Amir reads a story he wrote to Hassan. At the end of the story Amir gets mad at Hassan for questioning his story and thinks mean thoughts about Hassan. Amir thinks “what does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He’ll never be anything but a cook. How dare he critize you?” This portrays that based on how much money you have it can guide someone to think about you in a certain way.

            Money has too much power on people’s thinking about the person you are. Being a person that lives in New York people are judged everyday by how much money they have. If people see a homeless person they will think if they give that person money that homeless person will go off and buy drugs or alcohol therefore being judged based on how much money they have. I feel that any person who tends to always judge others based on how much money they have should be ashamed.

Authors Note

             Many people think they can't accomplish their goals in life because they don't have enough courage and confidence because of where they may come from. There are so many gifted people out there that are not being seen by the world because of their lack of dedication and hard work to achieve what they want.  One of the problems of why people are not staying focused is because they may have so many obstacles keeping them from following their dreams. I feel that it would be so much better if those that had dreams and goals were not judged by others just because of where they're from or what they looked like. In a biography about Jay-Z from Rolling Stone the author explains about the not so nice place of where he came from. Jay-Z grew up in the Marcy housing projects, and his father walked out on his mother as a little boy. He then made his money on the streets by selling crack. After, Jay-Z started doing what he does best and rapped one of his very first verses with rapper Jaz-O and from there it got better and better for Jay-Z. Also another man that can be a mentor for this statement is president Barack Obama. Obama didn't have a relationship with his father as a child because his father was attending Harvard at the time, then when Obama was two his parents got divorced. Obama didn't really have much of an experience with his mother because at the age of ten he was sent to live with his maternal grandparents. Although Barack's childhood wasn't the best he still was able  to accomplish amazing things like Harvard, governor, and the first black president. My research has led to my moral which is, it doesn't matter where you came from if you work hard you can still get to where you want. Most of my research is about famous people, so it is easy to get information about them. With their information in my head I was able to come up with a lesson.

           I feel that many people can relate to this issue including me. I want to grow up to be a professional soccer player and play on a great team but where I'm from creates hurdles blocking my dream. In the soccer world all the great teams and players are in Europe, and as for the United States our league is not considered to be any where near the same level of greatness as European leagues. American players rarely get bought by European teams, but I truly do believe that if I work hard I can be a soccer player. In my illustrations I have chosen that the rabbit comes from unfortunate surroundings. As the story goes on different animals start making fun of the rabbit as well as some who help him. The most important illustration is the dish he makes that everybody loves.

          I hope my picture book can give people hope and something to believe in and work toward. I want to encourage people to help each others dreams . I suggest that for all the people who believe that where they're from limits them and defines who they are should forget that and do what it takes to get to where you want to be. I also suggest that people should support each others dreams. 

Critical Thinking Question: How does this text deal with individuals and groups? Are the people acting alone and in competition with one another, or does the text help us imagine people working together?

“A long walk to water” by Linda Sue Park definitely shows the relationship

between individuals and groups. Throughout the book one of the main characters, Salva goes through times when he is alone because he was left behind by multiple groups. After reading a good chunk of the book it is clear to see that A long walk to water shows how people may work together or abandon each other.

An example in the book that demonstrates how groups of people of which you don’t know too well can be so helpful is on page 9. After walking around by himself for hours he finally sees people he knows, “Salva wandered around until he heard the words ‘Loun-Ariik! The village of Loun-Ariik, here!’ Relief flooded through him. That was his village! He hurried toward the sound of the voice. A dozen or so people stood in a loose group at the side of the road. Salva scanned their faces. There was no one from his family. He recognized a few people a women with a baby, two men, a teenage girl-but no one he knew well. Still, it was comforting to see them.” This scene shows how helpful it can be to be with a group even though you don’t quite know them. If I was in Salva’s situation I would too be very happy to see people that I’ve seen in my neighborhood.  

The author continues to illustrate what it is like to be in a group when the old woman tells Salva she will be leaving him on page 18. “On the fourth day, the old woman told him that she was leaving. ‘you  have seen that the pond is only a puddle now. Winter is coming, and the dry season. And this fighting.’ She nodded her head in the direction of the noise. ‘I will go to a different village near water. You cannot stay with me any longer.’ Salva stared at her as panic rose inside him. Why can’t I go with her? The woman spoke again before he could ask aloud. ‘The soldiers will leave me alone, an old woman on her own. It would be more dangerous for me to travel with you.” This is a great example of the different perspectives on being in a group. Again I agree with Salva’s feelings, being a male myself I would find it frustrating that I could be a target in a war because of my gender.

As the book goes on Salva finds a new group, yet again being with other people helped when a person had aided Salva and the rest of the group on page 24. “Buksa stopped abruptly in front of a very large tree. ‘yes!’ he said. ‘now go call the others!’ By now Salva had caught the feeling excitement. ‘But what shall I tell them?’ ‘The bird. The one I was listening to. He led me right here’. Buksa’s smile was even bigger now. ‘You see that?’ He pointed up at the branches of the tree. ‘Beehive. A fine, large one.’ ‘Honey! This night, we feast!” This portrays the advantages of being in a group. Salva must be delighted that Buksa found food and that he has the help of his group to survive during the war.

When Salva and his group along with his uncle are walking through villages with no money looking for food, being in a group comes to the rescue again shown on page 47. “None of the travelers had money or anything of value to trade, so they had to beg for food. The exception was uncle: The fishermen gave him food without having to be asked. Salva could not tell if this was because Uncle seemed to be the leader of the group or because they were afraid of his gun.” This again suggests that this book shows how it is like to be in a group. Salva must also be joyous that being in a group got him food again. I also have the same question as Salva, why did the villagers give Uncle their food?

  

            You will receive consequences! The book Looking For Alaska by John Green

 is about a boy named Miles who is pulled into the madness of Culver Creek.

 Throughout the book many social issues are seen as well as the results from them.

 Based on evidence Looking For Alaska should not be banned from schools because it

 teaches teens the consequences of peer pressure social issues.

              The book informs us how social issues can kill you. For example on page 139

 it is stated that Alaska’s time on earth is terminated when she dies from drunk

 driving, “Last night, Alaska Young was in a terrible accident, and she was killed.

 Alaska has passed away.” What happened to Alaska demonstrates what may happen

 when you drink irresponsibly. Death was a consequence of drinking and driving.

 Also there is a scene in the book where Alaska says to Miles “Y’all smoke to enjoy it, I

 smoke to die.” This suggests that some social issues can kill you, therefore  death

 being a consequence. This evidence illustrates that Looking For Alaska shows teens

 the terrible ending of social issues.

              Throughout the book it is easy to identify where something is taken too far

 and becomes a social issue. An example of this is when Miles (Pudge) almost dies

 from being “pranked”. When he is duck taped and pushed into a lake. It is written on

 page 25 “they picked me up and hurled me into the water, I twisted and turned as

 best I could so the warm night air hit my nose first, and I breathed. I wasn’t dead and

 wasn’t going to die.” This exemplifies in the book what happens when individuals

 partake in bullying, another social issue. It just so happened that in this case the

 social issue can fall under bullying which is arguably the most common social issue.

 Pranking to this extent and hazing can be considered to be bullying. Another

 example on how social issues are taken too far in this book is Alaska’s constant

 stress throughout the book. There have been multiple occasions where Alaska cries

 to Pudge due to stress on how much she has messed up in her life. There seems to

 be one thing to blame for Alaska’s continuous despair and that’s from her drinking

 and taking drugs. All this evidence reveals that this book does show the negative

 aspects of these social issues.

            It must be said that Looking for Alaska can be of some concern to parents.

 According to the article “Panel rejects parent request to ban ‘Looking for Alaska’ ” a

 parent requested to ban Looking for Alaska due to sexual contact. It would seem

 that when Alaska’s old roommate Myra got expelled from Culver Creek for having

 sex on campus this was part of this parents concern and possibly the reason for

 their request. When Myra got expelled it made it clear to the reader that you

 shouldn’t have sex in school. This book hasn’t glamorized any of the social issues it

 dealt with therefore it shouldn’t be banned. Through out this book there have been

 negative consequential outcomes.

           

Looking for Alaska must remain in schools! The book makes teens aware of

 social issues around us. By keeping this book in schools it not only benefits the

 reader but may also benefit those they share their findings with. The sad outcomes

 shown in Looking for Alaska teaches kids to not engage in social issues. In

 conclusion this book should not be banned because it deals with some real life

 teenage situations and the truth about some very unfortunate consequences.

                                       MEDIA/NEWS IMMERSION  
                            Recently a father spoke about how drugs troubled, and eventually ended his son Kent's life. Kent was a good kid and tried to fight off drugs several times according to his father. In my opinion this is a very sad story, it makes me very upset at whomever sold Kent the drugs. After reading Kent's story it has made me realize a powerful drug addiction can over power even those who don't want drugs.

                              In a Maryland high school Michael, an autistic child, was the victim of an un clear bullying situation. Michael became "friends" with a few girls and they took advantage of him. They put a knife to his throat, kicked him in the groin, dragged him by his hair, tried to get him to have sex with the family dog, and made him walk on a half frozen pond which resulted in him falling. I truly believe that what these girls did is cruel, and it happens more than you think. After reading this article it has made me realize that this situation is a pattern.

                               Very recently Michael Brown was killed by the police after shoplifting. Many say that it was an act of racism. A similar situation happened a few years ago when Trayvon Martin was killed by a guard and many believed that racism was part of it. Personally I believe that racism was a huge part in both cases. I find it so hard to believe that someone can be so tempted to shoot someone because they look suspicious. Also you don't really hear about a white person in this situation. Reading this news has made me realize that even an officer of the law can be racist.

                                Child abuse is definitely an issue in current events. There are different types of child abuse, it doesn't necessarily mean someone beating them up. After reading about Denver resident Lorinda Bailey I now know the other horrible things you can do to a child without touching them. I think that it is terrible to keep an un toilet trained kid in a home full of cat feces and flies.

                                 A little more than a year ago Mark Carson was shot and killed in Greenwich Village for being gay. It is quite clear that many people have problems with treating homosexuality equal to straight people. I feel that this might be unfair to those who are gay, based on this incident it is okay to be straight but not gay. Also this incident will most likely make the gay community afraid. What I learned from this tragedy was that we still have along way to go in treating everyone fairly no matter what their sexual
preference may be.

                                           CHILD ABUSE SKIT
Child:MOMMY! can I have this doll?
Mom: Maybe another time
Child: PLEASE! <starts crying>
Mom: Don't do this <child crying on the floor>
Mom:Come on we're leaving now
Mom:(in the car now) I told you not to do that <chokes the child a bit>
Mom:(now home) STOP CRYING! <pulls her hair and smacks her>

                               OBSERVING MY SURROUNDINGS
                       In my own experience I have an acquaintance that went to a middle school here in Brooklyn and had a very rough year. His parents pulled him out after sixth grade. He then attended another middle school for seventh grade. He said he was being bullied at that school as well. His parents were very concerned and didn't feel that he was being treated fairly. It is hard to say what was happening to him but never the less he was very effected by the other students and his feeling had to be considered, so he is now homeschooled.

                      Today his parents are not happy with his current situation and there isn't a clear solution. I feel a good attempt could be some sort of counseling to get to the root of his issues. I don't know if this school really looked into the claims that were made against the other children. Most of the time they just want the problem to go away.

                     BIBLIOGRAPHY
medicineabuseproject.org, slate.com, cnn.com, queerty.com

                          Did you know that since 1976 more than 1,300 people have been executed in the U.S.? To Kill Or Not To Kill? by Patricia Smith is about the decline in the United States of capital punishment in recent years. It's surprising how un professional these executions are performed. Based on the outcome of recent botched executions evidence has shown that the drugs used to kill criminals have not been tested.

                          Two incidences where inmates were given the lethal drug suffered and did not die till 30 minutes later. The author writes "last April Clayton Lockett was strapped to a gurney in the death chamber of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and had been given an infection when he started kicking, twitching, and then writhing and moaning in agony". This clearly demonstrates that Lockett was used as a lab rat. Also in July Arizona state took over two hours to kill Joseph R. Wood a reporter counted 640 gasps before he finally died. This part of the article makes my wonder why political leaders haven't imposed a nationwide moratorium on the death penalty. The inconsistencies of these tragic events show that different drugs are used each time.

                          There are several reasons for these mishaps. The article states "because most doctors see participation in executions as a violation of their oath do no harm many lethal injections are carried out by people with little or no medical training". This illustrates that there is a lack of people with medical knowledge developing the death cocktail. The exact sources of where prisons get their drugs are vague, "it's forced prisons systems to try untested drug combinations". European drug manufactures refuse to sell drugs to prisons for the purpose of execution. Although these criminals are sentenced to death row we need to take a stronger look at how capital punishment is carried out.

                         After reading this article I am more convinced then ever that capital punishment should be obliterated and that criminals live out their life sentences in jail. I
feel that it is too final of a punishment in a judicial system where many mistakes can be made. Until our drugs can be tested and the final outcome of the executions can be ensured it should be ruled un constitutional.