The American Dream

The American Dream is the ability to wake up everyday to stare freedom in the face. Leaving home every morning knowing that you have a great job and a great day right in front of you. The freedom of speech, religion, and the right to bear arms are just a few that come to mind when thinking about the "Dream." Although, it is a little harder these days to realize the American Dream because of all the world problems going on. No matter what goes on; we could have it a lot worse than what we do. We are very fortunate and blessed to be where we are today.

In some cases, however, I feel that the American Dream isn't equally distributed to some people. Some people have to work harder than others. What I mean by that is; look at some of the lower class families, they are working there tails off trying to make a living. Others are just sitting at home with nice things and have it better off. I believe that if our government could get their priorities in line, then we all could enjoy the American Dream equally. We are giving some people and families benefits that other families deserve more. It is also sad to say, but it also depends on what color your skin is. We have all kinds of hate and race problems in today's society. We got bigger problems to worry about. Once we address all of the problems and get them solved; we are just making the American Dream harder for future generations.

DEM: Trump Wants 1950s Race Relations

 The article I annotated was Representative Luis Gutierrez talking about how Trump has done nothing but bash the Hispanic race and that is a big factor in how they are going to vote. They say that the comments that Trump has made was pretty harsh. Seems like something that you would see in the 1950s. The article also says that "if other young adults were as motivated as the Hispanic ones then Trump could have a tremendous impact on the youth vote in the country." Donald Trump has been pretty harshly critiquing our countries immigration system.

I think that Trump has definitely been strong-minded with a lot of his answers. But where do you draw the line? Has he been too harsh? Those are a few questions that come to my mind that i ask myself. It really looks as if history could be making a repeat is Trump gets elected into the presidential office. We could only hope that he does the best for our country. Donald Trump isn't the guy to "sugar coat" anything. In a lot of instincts that is a good thing.  

Mizzou Students and Faculty Take a Stand

I think what happened at Mizzou was something that no one expected. The football team really got their point across by not attending practices or playing in games. I believe that is the University President would've taken charge when the students sent them the letter; then, nothing like this would have ever happened. Maybe the President got scared because he didn't want to get involved in the racial problems on campus. If he would've done something, which he should have, then the other group would have retaliated against the President. Instead the President hesitated causing the students to take charge to get justice. I believe that these kind of protests are valid. One reason, they was not becoming violent towards anyone. They was not destroying the town and rioting; they were just getting there point across. They wasn't going to rest until something was done. Other actions could have been taken to get around this situation. The university needs a leader who will take charge. One who will go ahead and address the situation at hand and deal with it; because with the football team going on strike like they did really hurt the college. Now you have to deal with fines that the NCAA throws at the college for the football team not playing in there football games. The teachers went on strike and told the students not to come to class. With them walking out like that, there's no one teaching or doing their jobs; costing the college a lot of money.

White America will ignore this video: The Hideous & predictable violence of our schools, our legal system, our society

I do agree that what happened at Spring Valley High School was a very horrific event. The video plainly shows that the girl was just sitting there minding her own business, when suddenly out of nowhere the cop goes CRAZY! Author DeVega states the facts correct when he says that we have a “racist criminal justice system.” In today’s world, that seems how it seems and it is sad. But, you also have to ask yourself this question: What did the teenage girl do that caused the police officer to make his presence known in the first place? Coming from a background of a law enforcement family and also me being a firefighter for going on five years now, I have dealt with a lot of situations where people have seem to be treated “unfairly.” When someone like that police officer puts on that badge or better yet when they are sworn in to become a police officer, they have one job: To serve and to protect. I am not saying that police officers are doing everything completely right, but what I am saying is that when you are asked to do something, just do it. We live in a world where everyone seems to get offended over every little thing. Why can’t we put that aside. Most of us have better things to worry about. I really feel that the author of this article had some very true statements. One being, where he says that racism “continues even in the post-civil rights era and in the age of Obama.” I also feel in a sense that this author really targeted the white race. Why does anyone have to be above anyone else? Why can’t we all just be equal and live our lives? These are just a few questions that I ask myself. Since we’re talking about race issues, then let’s bring up the facts about people hunting down police officers and killing them like it is a sport. I want to know why in the world does anyone have the authority to kill an innocent police officer trying to do there job? But I also have to ask myself the question: why does a cop have the right to kill an innocent person? I believe that we need to see the whole story for ourselves before we jump on board and judge what we know rather than what we see. I don’t understand why the world needs to be about race. All we have seen lately is the usual “white cop and african american person.” We never see the other way around or “white cop, white person.” I get notifications on my phone of officers getting killed every single day over the worst reasons. Our law enforcement system is getting downgraded and getting put bad names on them. What happens if this keeps happening and the law enforcement system just goes away? Author Chauncey DeVega had some very legitimate facts and statements in his article but we need to look at it a bit deeper when what he gave to us.

Derogatory Language in Literature

I feel that they should leave it alone because it is a part of history. History is history, we can't change what is in the past but I do feel that we need to be careful when talking about this kind of subject. For me personally, I feel a little bad when I read about stuff like this. It was truly horrifying what the people that got called these awful names had to go through. None of us truly knows what it felt like to be called those names and what it was like to experience all the hate and torture. I don't believe that books like this one need to be banned. For one, they are apart of history, two, the author made such a strong tone to the reader when writing these books. So why tear the author down and destroy their work? We still do , however, need to be considerate of people who get offended or uncomfortable about this topic. No matter what happens in the future, I don't think that we will ever forget what happened back in the days of the "n" word. It really is unforgettable.

My Strengths and Weaknesses

One of the things that I am good at is, coming up with a topic. I can usually find some interest in whatever I am talking about so it seems interesting. I can also do a good job on keeping my writing organized instead of talking all over the place. I think I am good at these things, because I feel that my thought process is there.

Some of the things that I seem to struggle with is the revising and editing stage.

The reason for that is for the simple reason that I feel like my writing is good, so I just leave it 

alone. I also have a hard time expressing complete thoughts about my writings. I feel that 

sometimes I don’t go into the depth that I can.