Archive for December, 2007

Materialism

December 4, 2007 at 12:59 am · Filed under Relationships, Society

By Tiara Williams 

WHY DO MATERLISTIC THINGS MAKE PEOPLE WHO THEY ARE? MOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD THINK THAT CLOTHES AND EXPENSIVE THINGS MAKE THEM WHO THEY ARE. WHAT IF THERE WERE NO MATERLISTIC THINGS IN THE WORLD? WHERE WOULD YOU BE?

 

IM NOT INTO MATERLIST THINGS, I WOULDN’T SPEND ALL MY MONEY ON DIFFERENT KINDS OF SHOES. I SEE IT AS IM NOT TRYING TO IMPRESS ANYBODY SO IT’S NOT ANY NEED FOR ME TO BE DRESSED UP.

I LOVE TO SHOP BUT IF IT CAME DOWN TO CHOOSING A CAR AND SOME CLOTHES I WOULD SAVE MY MONEY AND USE IT TO GET A CAR. SOMETIMES IT’S OKAY TO DRESS NICE BUT IS LOOKING NICE GOING TO GET YOU A JOB OR A CAR OR EVEN HELP WITH YOUR EDUCATION?

 

SOME GIRLS AT MY SCHOOL LIKE TO DRESS UP TO IMPRESS PEOPLE. THAT’S HOW SOME BOYS AND GIRLS NOTICE ONE ANOTHER. THEY LOOK AT THEIR COLTHES AND IF THEY LIKE WHAT THEY SEE THEN THEY WOULD TRY TO GET TO KNOW THEM. IF THEY WERE NOT DRESSING CUTE WOULD THEY TRY TO TALK TO THEM? WELL I DON’T THINKT THEY WOULD GET TO BECOME FRIENDS.

I PERSONALLY THINK THAT MATERLISTIC THINGS ARE NOT THAT IMPORTANT. YES I LOVE MY PHONE BUT IT DOESN’T MAKE ME WHO I AM TODAY.  I MAKE ME WHO I AM TODAY.

 

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STRESS

December 4, 2007 at 12:58 am · Filed under Health, Relationships, Society

 By Justin Fossett

      SOME MAY NOT THINK SO TODAY, BUT STRESS IS A MAJOR EPIDEMIC IN TODAYS SOCIETY AMONG ADULTS AS WELL AS YOUTHS. FROM THE AGE  OF 65 DOWN TO THE AGE OF 13 PEOPLE SUFFER FROM STRESS AND ANXIETY. I’VE NOTICED THIS THROUGH BEING IN SCHOOL  WITH MY PEERS, HEARING AND NOTICING THE DIFFERENT THINGS THAT THEY HAD GONE THROUGH. IN THIS TIME AND AGE, TEENAGERS’ PROBLEMS ARE A LOT MORE TROUBLING THEN WHAT THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN MAYBE 10 YEARS AGO. TEENS WORRY ABOUT SEX AND TEENAGE PREGNANCY ALONG WITH ABORTION, WHICH IS VERY HIGH AMONG YOUNG LADIES TODAY. ANOTHER STRESS IS SUCCEEDING IN SCHOOL, MAYBE HOW THEY PLAN ON SURVIVING AFTER THEY GET OUT….IF THEY MAKE IT THAT FAR BEFORE DROPPING OUT OR BEING CONSUMED BY THEIR PROBLEMS AT HOME. LIVING SITUATIONS ARE VERY HARD TOO. SOME KIDS AT THE AGE OF 15 ARE GETTING KICKED OUT OF THEIR HOMES AND HAVE TO LIVE WITH FRIENDS. DRUGS ARE OFTEN A CAUSE AS WELL. DRUGS ARE  NOT ONLY BEING USED AT SCHOOLS BUT ALSO SOLD BY PEERS. PEER PRESSURE DOESN’T MAKE ANYTHING BETTER EITHER. A LOT OF THESE PROBLEMS LEAD TO SUICIDES, RUN AWAYS, KIDS BEING EMANCIPATED, ENDING UP IN JAIL OR SOME OTHER NEGATIVE SITUATION. FORTUNATLEY THERE ARE OUTLETS OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL THAT MAY HELP BUT STUDENTS SHOULD ALSO BE HELPED WHILE BEING IN SCHOOL BY THEIR FRIENDS. TALKING TO SOMEONE REALLY GOES ALONG WAY OPPOSED TO HOLDING EVERYTHING IN. THIS PROBLEM MAY NOT BE COMMPLETELY SOLVED ANYTIME SOON BUT IT IS SOMETHING THAT NEEDS SERIOUS ATTENTION IMMEDIATLEY.

 

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INSIDE AN ASIAN

December 4, 2007 at 12:57 am · Filed under Family, Racism, Society

By GENESIS SANCHEZ

            MY ACTING TEACHER ONCE TOLD ME THAT SOMETIMES NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU WORK, YOU JUST WON’T MAKE IT. AT FIRST, I IGNORED THIS, DISMISSING IT AS NONSENSE, AND ZONING OFF INTO MORE “IMPORTANT THOUGHTS”. IT WASN’T UNTIL THINGS IN MY ACTING CLASS REALLY STARTED GETTING HEAVY THAT I REALIZED THE TRUTH OF HIS WORDS. FIRST, I REALIZED THAT THERE WERE MORE TALENTED PEOPLE THAN ME, MANY MORE TALENTED PEOPLE. IN EVERY ACTING CLASS I WENT TO, I STRIVED TO BE THE BEST. MOST OF THE TIMES, I WAS ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH THIS. IT WASN’T UNTIL I WAS EXPOSED TO THE STUDENTS IN MY SCHOOL, THAT I LEARNED THAT IT’S NOT ABOUT BEING THE BEST. IT’S ABOUT BEING THE MOST UNIQUE. UNFORTUNATELY, THE DAMAGE HAD BEEN DONE AND AN ADDITIONAL INSECURITY HAD DEVELOPED. SECOND, I REALIZED THAT SOMETIMES, YOU JUST AREN’T MEANT TO BE. AT TIMES, YOU MIGHT BE TOO SHORT, TALL, FAT, SKINNY, OR SOMETIMES IT’S YOUR RACE. THOUGH, DISHEARTENING, THIS IS THE WAY OF THE WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT, AND AS ONE RAPPER PUT IT, “RACISM’S STILL ALIVE, THEY JUST BE CONCEALING IT!”

 

SO I THOUGHT, “IF IT WON’T WORK OUT, WHAT WILL I DO?” I LOOKED AT MY BOOKS NEXT ME. NO. I WILL NOT BE ANOTHER STEROTYPICAL ASIAN. I WILL NOT BE AN ENGINEER, A DOCTOR, A PHARMACIST, OR A LAWYER. I’M GOING TO BE AN ARTIST. BESIDES, HOLLYWOOD NEEDS MORE FILIPPINOS. BUT HOW? I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS QUESTION FOR A LONG TIME, UNTIL ANOTHER ACTING TEACHER TOLD ME IN A REHARSAL WITH HIM, THAT, “GENESIS, IF YOU KEEP ON GOING ON WHERE YOU’RE AT RIGHT NOW, YOU’RE CHOICES WILL BE ENDLESS. REMEMBER WHAT BOOKER T. WASHINGTON SAID, ‘EDUCATION IS THE KEY’”. SO THEN I SAID TO MYSELF, “I GUESS IT’S NOT SUCH A BAD IDEA TO BE A STEREOTYPICAL ASIAN AFTER ALL.”

 

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Tiger Woods of Politics

December 4, 2007 at 12:56 am · Filed under Racism, Society, politics

By Jacob Cohn 

A FEW WEEKS AGO READERS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE OPENED THEIR PAPERS TO FIND A STORY ON THE FRONT PAGE HEADLINED “COULD BARACK OBAMA DO FOR POLITICS WHAT TIGER WOODS DID FOR GOLF?” THIS, I REALIZED AFTER STARING AT IT FOR A WHILE, IS AN EXTREMELY RACIST HEADLINE. YET THE STORY BELOW IT MADE A VALID POINT. IT SAID THAT OBAMA MIGHT BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT ENTERTAINERS LIKE OPRAH WINFREY AND BILL COSBY HAD MANAGED BUT WHAT NO BLACK POLITICIAN HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO DO: TO TRANSCEND THE RACIAL DIVIDE AND EARN THE LOYALTIES OF PEOPLE OF ALL RACES AND CREEDS.  I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS ARTICLE SOON AFTER THAT WHEN I WENT TO SEE SENATOR OBAMA SPEAK IN SAN FRANCISCO. THE LINE TO SEE HIM WAS LITERALLY THE LONGEST I HAVE EVER SEEN OR STOOD IN. AFTER AN HOUR OR SO I HAD NEARLY MANAGED TO SNAKE MY WAY AROUND A BUILDING—ONE THAT WASN’T EVEN THE BUILDING WHERE THE SPEECH WOULD TAKE PLACE. WHEN I DID GET INSIDE I WAS STRUCK BY THE INTENSE ENERGY OF THE CROWD—NOT THAT I HADN’T EXPECTED IT, BUT I WAS STILL STRUCK BY IT. THE SPEECH, TOO, WAS EXCELLENT EVEN THOUGH IT WASN’T REALLY ANYTHING UNEXPECTED. BUT THE THING THAT I REALIZED ONLY LATER, AFTER IT WAS POINTED OUT TO ME, WAS THAT ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE WERE IN THE CROWD. SOME OF THEM WERE BLACK, YES, BUT THE BIGGEST GROUP SEEMED TO BE WHITE, LIBERAL, MOSTLY YOUNG BAY AREA NATIVES. IN OTHER WORDS, THE AVERAGE MEMBER OF THE CROWD WAS A LOT LIKE ME, ONLY OLDER—PEOPLE I HAD EXPECTED TO SHOW UP, BUT NOT PEOPLE I HAD EXPECTED TO BE IN THE MAJORITY. THE FACT THAT SO MANY PEOPLE IN IOWA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE HAVE COME TO SUPPORT HIM ONLY DRIVES THE POINT HOME. MAYBE THE CHRONICLE WAS RIGHT, AND OBAMA REALLY CAN BECOME—I HARDLY LIKE TO SAY IT—THE “TIGER WOODS OF POLITICS”. I REALIZE THAT HE’S NOT PERFECT, AND THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO WOULD NEVER VOTE FOR HIM NO MATTER WHAT COLOR HE WAS, BUT I THINK HE HAS A FIGHTING CHANCE OF DOING IT. AND IN A COUNTRY STILL STRUGGLING WITH THE ISSUE OF RACE, THAT COULD BE A BIG STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

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