Can Beauty Be Constructed?

Beauty is a controversial concept, especially when we think about what it means to be beautiful. Beauty by definition is a quality present in a person or thing that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind. Overtime, Western society has mutilated the idea of physical beauty into an image of having a thin body, and a symmetrical face. Image has become so important in our daily routines,as a result, we search for multiple ways to manipulate the way we look: plastic surgery, make-up, and digitally altered photography. Beauty can now be constructed.

People will go to the extreme to become “beautiful”. Putting hours into makeup, and spending thousands of dollars into surgery, people have been brain-washed into thinking that what they see in the media is real. The models seen in magazines, have separate lifestyles and appearances that have been transformed. Not only, does this increase business in the beauty industry, but it promotes the illusion that beauty is acquainted with happiness. This is not absolutely true. Sure, being an eye-pleaser can have its perks. You are in the favor of majority of people. However, there is an long-lasting effect for those who put their energy into how they look. Insecurities start to build, as people worry if they are good enough, or if people will appreciate them as a person with emotions rather than a pretty face. Girls grow up disliking the way they look which can affect their self-esteem.

Appearance has become an unconscious part in our decisions. What we wear, what our hair looks 
like, our weight, has become as important as eating. This becomes problem only when we fail to learn how to love ourselves. Like Rupaul says " If you can't love yourself, then how the hell you gonna love somebody else?"


http://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_russell_looks_aren_t_everything_believe_me_i_m_a_model?language=en

Desegregation in Schools

Kimani Williams

September 28th, 2014

ENG1100

Professor Young

                                                        Desegregation in Schools    

Overtime, we see communities undergo numerous changes, whether it be climate, population, economic or social change. Educator,Valerie Kinloch, documents a walk-through video with students Phillip and Khaleeq, as they explore the effects of the gentrification in Harlem. Gentrification is the restoration of lower-class neighborhoods with new attractions, which can result in displacement of low-income people. Phillip believes “ With schools and gentrification”, he cannot sing his own “art”, which affects his freedom, expression and identity. Phillip makes an arguable point when he states, “ Schools try to make us into machines.”. In other words he believes schools teach their students to dwell in society rather than taking action if needed. Growing up and attending school in a low-income neighborhood, there is truth in the defective way New York City runs their department of education. New York has the most segregated public schools in the country as students are isolated by class and race. Citywide and Community Education councils need to alter school choice programs, create voluntary desegregation plans, and promote the creation of more magnet schools, so students of all ethnic groups understand diversity, learn from their peers and have equal access to education.

New York City public school students’ education is suffering, especially for those live in highly stratified neighborhoods. Latino and African American students who live in low-income neighborhoods, attend schools with less-qualified teachers, insufficient learning materials, high dropout rates, and weak association with colleges.  Canarsie ( a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY), being the place where I’ve experienced my majority of years learning, has schools where the teachers who don’t really care for the students’ success in class. The relationship between students and teachers are less encouraging because the majority of the teachers do not know how to communicate with students; students who aren’t born into privileged lifestyles which can affect their learning process. Most students don’t have a choice to attend different schools, because they are generally zoned to school based in where they live. With the creation of more magnet schools students will have the choice to be exposed to different modes of instruction, and a diverse population.

Racial imbalance in New York City public schools hinders students’ chances of learning linguistic diversity and prevents them from learning how to operate in diverse settings, which can prepare them for the overall society. Students in Canarsie are more accustomed to being around fellow minorities, and this can consequently cause them to shy away from an environment different from their own. Schools don’t encourage their students to explore the educational options that are available, therefore students believe that their local environment is somewhere they should stay and be the only environment they should be comfortable in. However,  not only the city, but the country, is filled with people of different ethnicities, and when the students grow into working adults, it will be harder for them to network and communicate with their co-workers. A possible way to prevent this from being a trend is to create a voluntary desegregation plan, which is a policy that uses race as an admissions factor to determine if students can attend school outside of their neighborhoods. Although some parents believe this policy undermines a student’s individualism, this is a possible method that can broaden a student’s education and environment.

On the contrary, school integration is doubted in New York City, because of the small amount of white students and the large distance between schools. However, why aren’t there any high achievement schools in low-income neighborhoods so students don’t have to travel so far to get a better education? Why is that in the small population of white neighborhoods, better education is provided?  Instead of pushing students out of their neighborhoods, the New York City Department of Education should add better educational tools in poverty-based communities.

Students who live in neighborhoods with low-income communities are not given the same opportunities which affects their overall choices in the future. Changing the school choice plans, and implementing magnet schools that enroll integrated groups of children across school district will ultimately improve every student’s education, so they can dwell in a diverse environment and learn from each other.

Works Cited

Kinloch, Valerie.  “ Harlem, Art and Literacy and Documenting ‘Harlem Is Art’/ ‘Harlem as

            Art”             

Black Power

Kimani Williams

                                                                                                    September 10th, 2014

                                                                                                    ENG1100

                                                                                                    Professor Young

                                                                                                      

In the chapter “ Black Power”, the author James McBride battles with his race as a child, questioning what his mother stands by as a white woman with black children. Growing up in the era of the “Black Power” movement, McBride  grows concerned for his mother’s safety and started to believe “Black Power would be the end of her”.

  McBride perceives “Black Power” to be something feared. However, because his mother refused to embrace her “whiteness” and identified with the black race, “Black Power” becomes an idea that he is unsure of when he identifies himself.

 

1.   In the opening scene of the text, Anzaldua is told by her dentist, "We're going to have to control that tongue." Her reflection connects to the pressure put upon Anzaldua to not only adopt American culture, but to lose a sense of the spanish language she was raise with.
2. Anzaldua's purpose for writing in Spanglish is to "help the reader understand the rich cultural conditions of the borderlands" and demonstrate to "non-spanish-speakers" a point of view of an outsider of the "mainstream language". 
3. Speaking and writing is necessary for survival since English is the universal language. On the contrary, it should not conflict with your cultural values. 
4. What is considered to be standard and nonstandard depends ones's social setting. The majority of English speaking should not diminish the value of of other languages. There should be a common decision on what language is used in an academic environment.
5. As Anzaldua describes the the different types of Spanish spoken, it generally relates to different of types of English spoken in America, such in as slang, or southern-dialect.
6. Anzaldua recounts how she how she picked up Pachuco which is a language against standard Spanish and standard English. In urban areas in NYC, there is a dialect we use to describe our emotions. For example, the phrase "I'm weak!", would express how amused you are from a joke or funny situation. 
7. When I have conversations with my friends, my language doesn't dramatically change, but my tone does.With friends and family I speak in a much engaged tone. In a professional setting, i'm reserved, and I speak in calm,yet enthused tone.
8. " I am my language".This statement is an acceptance of one's identity and cultural background. It is the foundation of  self- assurance. Language is the root of identity because it develops your personality through communication.
9. The introduction and the conclusion connects when Anzaldua uses "tongue" as a metaphor for language. As a reference to Anzaldua's dentist appointment, she determines, "When other race have given up their tongue, we've kept ours." 
10. Communication influences your personality and customs. How a person builds relationships creates an identity to take pride in.
11. Identity is important because it builds confidence in yourself, knowing you belong and believing there is something that makes you different from the majority.