Category: Blog

Alejandro Canelas

English 103.0905

Professor Kitana Ananda

November 5th 2017

Research Paper Draft # 1

      Gentrification in New York City

The City of New York is without a question a Global city that attracts various groups of people from around the world. With that in mind, it is of no coincidence that New York City is an attractive area for many investors to flock to. With all the economic activity that New York City experiences one can see the flipside of all this new investment to NYC. This flipside is the topic of Gentrification that this paper will dismantle and shed light on. Gentrification as defined by webster is the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents (Webster). POC tend to be the ones at most risk when it comes to displacement and housing issues. This paper will delve into dissecting the neighborhoods of Harlem/East Harlem, and North Williamsburg; which have experienced dramatic shifts in demographics and undergone heavy boutiquing. In addition, the oral histories of New yorkers will be highlighted and in particular giving a voice to the Latino community of New York and issues they have faced and the various resistance strategies implemented.

Statistics indicated that from the years of 1989 to 2002 that displacements rates of experienced an exponential increase (Newman).

Kymberly Gurdon

November 5, 2017

Professor K.

English 103
You believe all the struggles and hardships faced by Jamaican immigrants would be resolve when they come to American, however, that’s wrong they are face with many barriers even when they are here. For example, securing work is a big one because they need money to live a successful life, raising children and helping them succeed in school, Securing housing and accessing services. Even though America is known for their “American Dream” fancy cars and huge houses that’s not always the case with immigrants that come to America.                                  Even though u learn and probably have all the knowledge for a certain career you still have to go through the process we have here in America , for example , having your high school diploma , a certain amount of college credits and experience. Most immigrants had a lot of education back in their country however the requirements here are sometimes different. Most immigrants that do come to America have to enroll back in school and do the whole learning process back over. In Monticello’s article “5 Ways to Adjust to American Culture,”

When I came to the U.S. for college, I suffered from a major case of “reverse culture shock.” Although I’m an American citizen, I hadn’t lived in the U.S. since I was 5 years old. I felt like I should feel at home here – after all, this is the country immigration officers see when they look at my passport. But whenever I listened to my American friends talk about their common childhood experiences, I couldn’t help but feel strangely alienated.

In that quote Montecillo explains the hardship of fitting in at school even though he met all the requirements in his country to attend college it was still hard for his when he got to a college in America. He felt challenged and overwhelmed with the language, work and school criteria that was given.

One of the biggest hardships for immigrants is raising a child to help them succeed in school.

With regards to school, parents often feel disappointed to see their children struggling to keep up in class, and many parents report bullying and discrimination as a result of cultural differences.  Kids tend to pick up English much faster than their parents. This throws off the parent-child dynamic, and you know that kids, especially teens, are going to use this to their advantage. (Nuñez)

Immigrant Parents of American children face a huge problem when helping their children in school because they do not have the right and good amount of education needed to help them. English is a major problem

Aziza Benjamin

ENG 103.0905

Prof. Kitana Ananda

November 6^th, 2017

Immigrants Impact on America

Intro

Immigrants are often accused of stealing jobs and money from hard-working Americans. Immigrants are accused of causing many issues in America. Even the President has many opinions regarding illegal immigrants and how they are causing problems, he accuses them of being rapists and many other things.

Immigrants are always accused of stealing jobs from Americans. Yet, the jobs that most immigrants do when they get here are jobs that Americans won’t do; for example, being maids, babysitters, live in nannies or maids.

Immigrants are accused of taking away money from Americans, because when they work they do not pay taxes; but the thing about this is though they do not pay taxes, they do not get the options legal residents and Americans receive. They also are not paid minimum wage because they are not working legally and has no one to go to about payment. They also cannot receive any benefits because they are not legal residents.

“…In 2006…” according to “…an Iowa congressman [who] claimed that 13 U.S. persons died every day as a result of undocumented drunk drivers…” (Light et. all, 1448).
Immigrants have talked about their experience being detained in a detention center, and the struggles they go through. In “Immigrant Families Behind Bars: Technology Setting Them Free” Blasco writes about immigrant mothers and their experiences behind bars with their children,

L., a Honduran woman seeking asylum, was detained with her young son at a family detention center in Artesia, New Mexico, for three months. They were forced to stay in a room with four other immigrant families, and the young son became very ill, eventually requiring hospitalization.

Yancy Mejia decided that enough was enough after she was kidnapped by a Salvadorian gang, had her fingers broken and wrist dislocated. She took a risk and escaped her home country with her children in search of a better, safer life in America. Little did she know that the United States would not welcome her with open arms. Instead, she and her children were detained at the South Texas Residential Center owned by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) located in Dilley, Texas. When she expressed the intense pain she was experiencing in her wrist and fingers to the detention center’s doctor, he recommended that she drink water. (698)

Both these women were just trying to make life better for themselves and their families. They were suffering and struggling, and thought coming to America would make their lives easier. Their living conditions in the detention centers are unconstitutional, and they are not given their rights and due process.

Con

America was built on the backs of slaves and immigrants. When Europeans first arrived in America, the ones who could not afford to pay for their tickets borrowed from people which then makes them owe others money. Those ones were called “indentured servants” (Foner, 60). In this letter by Gottlieb Mittelberger in 1750, he states that “The German man and woman he describes had borrowed money to pay their passage and had no choice but to sign long-term labor contracts in America to pay off their debts” (Foner, 60). These indentured servants must pay back their debts before they can go about their lives in America. “Although indentured servants were not held for life, as slaves were, they were brought and sold and their families could easily be broken up” (Foner, 60). One bad thing about having to pay off their debts, they are not guaranteed to be kept as a family; they can be separated based on how they are purchased. Though they were still luckier than slaves who were kept for a lifetime.

In the early life of graffiti, Graffiti Writers would have never thought that this movement would become what it is today. Over the past two decades graffiti has become in immeasurable trend that will probably never die away. Over the years newer and talented individuals seek to express and show off their extraordinary talents in the graffiti world. For those who may not know much about graffiti, it was a gateway for many sorts of things such as political expression, emotional expression or just straight up savagery behavior. Nonetheless, in the early stages was just a way to become known. To have your name be spread throughout the city was a way to earn Street Credit.

In the book Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York’s Urban Underground by Gregory J Snyder, the author says, “graffiti is a vehicle of expression” I think that this statement is something many Graffiti Writers would not disagree with since many writers do partake in street art because they want to express certain things whether it be there styles, moods or even skills. In the book the author interviewed a graffiti writer named Cornbread, yes is individual what some of his reasons were for doing graffiti and marking up the streets of the city and he gave one story that was remarkable, Cornbread said he had once tagged up a bus route just 2 pursuer females, meaning all throughout that bus route he would create graffiti pieces just to impress a female. Unfortunately, he said it didn’t work. But that is a clear example as to why some Graffiti writers do what they do, to embrace positive affection from their talents and to sometimes attain certain things. Afridi had originated in Philadelphia from an individual called Bobby Beck. After influencing the graffiti culture in Philly, it soon arrived in New York City in the 60s. A guy from Washington Heights known as Taki 183 was the one who started it all, tagging his name on train stations, trains and on walls created the movement that all the young cats wanted to part take in. There was an article I read called Cyber Bench: Documenting New York City graffiti, it gave an immense amount of information on how graffiti came to be most of what it is today in New York City. In this article it mentions that between the years of 1966 and 1971 graffiti was used for political reasons and for Street gangs to mark their territory. Like I had said previously Taki 183 was the one who started the movement in New York City, writers who wanted to follow in his footsteps immediately we’re Julio 204, Frank 207, and Joe 136. The reason why these individuals chose these tags was because these were their actual names and the numbers where the streets they lived on. During these years of graffiti not many bright ideas were blooming Graffiti Writers, before writers figured out that they had easy access to the train yards all they would tag up work walls, inside train cars, and outside of active trains. During the mid-70s graffiti had evolved from names with numbers to be coming bubble letters with color then words with a perplexing style that was called “wild style”. There are three different types of graffiti, tagging, throw ups and wild style. Tagging is the simple form of graffiti and how it originated, tagging is a writer’s signature, throw ups are quick painted names with an outline, lastly wild style the most hardest of them all. Wild style consists of complicated interlocking letters surrounded by arrows and all different sorts of connections, wild style was known as pieces in the graffiti world (the Mon Lisa of graffiti).

Most of where graffiti was taking place during the seventies where on the trains. Trains were the canvases for all writers, every train the head pass by or left the train yard had a brand-new graffiti piece. During the years of 1975 through 1977 New York City was broke so the transit was poorly maintained given the reason why these street artists we’re constantly putting up new pieces. These years were the heaviest for graffiti because writers were going nonstop every single day trying to get their name out and trying to see their work all around the city. It had become a lifestyle and an addiction, years after from 78 to 81 more styles and ideas started to bloom. With new Styles, new colorways and all types of different creative techniques graffiti had developed into something bigger then it was 10 years before. Street art had given writers a public voice and even Fame, with expressing their feelings and thoughts with art towards the treatment they were given from the government had really opened the eyes of many political people and the citizens of the New York City, these graffiti artist were not only vandalizing for the fun of it, but they were also speaking up for the people who lived in the poor areas of New York. As time went New York graffiti had become a common disruption in the streets and was covering all the walls and train cars of the city. Law enforcement and political efforts tried to catch a hold of it by using the Broken Window Theory. The Broken Window Theory was created by James Q Wilson and George Kelly, they’re theory states that the signs of disorder will lead to more disorder and by controlling the small crimes will prevent the criminals from committing more larger crimes. This Theory however worked, law enforcement could apprehend many Graffiti Writers. The years of 1980s graffiti was coming to its endpoint in the MTA and somewhat controlled throughout some of the city. During the years of the 80s the city had built fences and added a lot more security to train yards, with the increase in security tagging on cars and painting murals on train cars was no longer in full effect. This discouraged a lot of Graffiti Writers, it also had a lot of them leave the world of graffiti but at the same time this opened doors to a lot of writers who wanted to make a living off creating art. And what I mean by this is that since their train car canvases were being taken away they moved on to actual paper canvases and put their graffiti pieces in art studios and sometimes made money off them. The 80s was a tense time with stores locking up their paint and no longer selling spray paint to minors and the city making graffiti punishments more severe. On May 12th of 1989 the MTA declared victory over graffiti. With no more train cars to paint on writers moved to freight trains, scrapyards, highways and rooftops. In today’s time, rooftops and trucks are the most common for graffiti writer to mark up.

Bullying has increased in recent years although it is not clear if the increase reflects more incidents of bullying in school or greater awareness of bullying as a problem. Bullying is when someone gain the strength and power over someone who’s usually too scared to defend themselves.it can be extreme. Bulling at school can affect everyone from the person who is bullied to the person who witness it. To the students that are bullied, it can cause them health complains, mental disabilities, depression and anxieties. It can even decrease their GPA and concern in their field. But worst, it can bring them to take suicidal decisions. According to an article more than 73% had committed suicide because they were victims of bullying. Usually those students show some signs like talking or joking about committing suicide, writing poems about death or writing some stories about how they will take their life away. Those students become isolated and miss a big part of their life and education. They even miss classes because they know once they get to school there are those people who will start make fun of them, giving them all kind of names. And sometimes some of those children also end up committing murder because for them those people deserve to die. According to that same article “In 12 of 15 school shooting cases in the 1990s, the shooters had a history of being bullied.”

Usually they students that bully others have also being victims once and they have that feeling of revenge but unfortunately, they torture others. They get engage in violent fights with the bullied and those fights can lead to a murder. They are most of the time under effects of drugs, alcohol or other stimulants that give them a feeling of superiority over others. They can also be abusive toward their partners, friends or entourage and they can also get engage in sexual harassment or violent. For witnesses, they also have mental health problem, depression, anxieties and even skip school because they cannot stand seeing other people being bullied.

Ryann Block

Professor Kitana Ananda

ENG 103.0905

                               Mental Health Concerns Within The Deaf Community.

        A person who is deaf is at a higher risk of developing emotional and psychological problems than an individual who is not deaf. Most of the time the problems start in the individual’s home. These problems may affect their everyday life activities and may even cause communication delays and or barriers. This paper will examine mental health diagnoses as they correlate to adults and children who are deaf.

       Mental health diagnoses for the deaf has been associated with bipolar disorder, depression, and ADHD.  An individual with a mental health disability often needs specialized treatment and or therapy. Society thinks special treatment is not needed and expresses persons who are deaf are capable of just “dealing” with their disability. People who are Deaf are unsure of treatment services available and or feel isolated or embarrassed in seeking services.

       This paper will discuss mental health issues in the deaf community and the importance of community awareness for this group.  While both papers examined issues between mental health in deaf individuals’, they differ in their research which includes different treatment methods and procedures. The first paper concentrates on children who are deaf and their families as well as the key factors behind the supports they receive.

          The second paper focused on comparing adults who are deaf and hearing individuals. It to determine their difference between their mental status for each group. Peter A. Hindley’s paper Mental Health Problems in Deaf Children examined how “deafness comes in many forms”. (Hindley p.114) He also examined how clinicians whom work with children who are deaf need to be understanding to make sure they provide the appropriate services.

                Peter A. Hindley, discussed the benefits of using British Sign Language as a technique (BSL) for children who are deaf. BSL is a “language distinct from English, with its own syntax and lexicon are different from English” (Hindley p.115). BSL is also different from American Sign Language (ASL) because it is its own language. BSL provides children who are deaf with a better way to communicate. Part of the study had shown techniques to be effective by practicing points such as gathering a group of children using BSL and informing and teaching their parents.

             Peter A. Hindley felt like the parents would be able to communicate and try to understand “why” and “how” (For instance: “Why do you feel this way? How can I help?). Hindley stresses that parents play a major role in their children’s life meaning everything that the parents do can negatively affect the child. It was advised that parents should have open communication so their child doesn’t grow up to be disoriented. Hindley wanted to prove early deafness as well as pointing out the issues which cause the social, cultural, psychological and medical aspects.

          On a social, cultural and psychological perspective, it was stated that “parents respond in many different ways to the knowledge that their child is deaf. Their response is shaped by their previous experience of deafness” (Hindley p.115).  The majority of these parents didn’t know how to accept their child’s deafness. Many had different views on it and didn’t know how to go about it although they knew that there would’ve been a possibility that the child will grow up to be deaf.

        Marit H. Kvam, Mitchell Loeb paper Mental Health in Deaf Adults: Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression Among Hearing and Deaf Individuals paper reveals mental health issues among deaf adults compared to adults who can hear. There were studies conducted based on the Norwegian postal survey and one among the general population (Kvam p.1-2)(1995-1997), as well as the deaf generation. In addition, analysis discovered that the deaf showed more symptoms of mental health problems than the hearing.

             Norwegian study examined the “interrelation between psychological problems, social activity and social network” (2007 Kvam p. 1). The results displayed that the deaf were two-four times higher in distress than hearing people.  Many deaf people were gathered in this study and they noticed once they lost their hearing it affected their everyday life activities, such as not being able to socialize with others, and by having suicidal moments because there was a communication barrier.

           It was also discovered that hard of hearing, deaf adults and children were either a victim of physical, sexual or emotional abuse than hearing people because they do not have the mental capacity to express what’s going on or what happened. Usually, a hearing individual may be capable of saying something and the deaf individual may have a hard time because of the lack of interpreters or overall a person who may know their language.  

           When an individual experience hearing loss at a young age its likely for them to experience the quality of life than a hearing person. (Knutson, Johnson, Sullivan p.2 ). As a result, there’s a higher chance that mental health disorders occur because so many individuals bottle up emotions inside and are not able to express themselves. Peter A.Hindley, didn’t specify on how many people were tested in this study but instead described some factors which lead to mental health-related issues. He stressed how important it is to recognize the depth of the issue.

           On a medical perspective children, mental health is believed to be caused by the central nervous system(CNS). Medically, deaf children are at a higher risk of CNS than hearing children by 15% compared to children with other related issues such as cerebral palsy or being an epileptic. (Hindley p. 115) Hindley believes that in the medical world its vital to carefully evaluate children because there may be many misdiagnosed.

             In response to the social, cultural and psychological perspective on deafness, it states that parents respond in many ways and it’s important that families should have an option on what services they would need to address their child being deaf. One would question, should the child be exposed to sign language in their early stages of hearing loss or should they have the option to go with a cochlear implant? There were many issues on this topic so that’s why he wanted to create an intervention to separate the groups and see which techniques or method is effective to conclude with his study.  It seemed like he did make a valid point and/or statement that whether you’re an interpreter for ASL or BSL, social worker, clinicians working with deaf children with mental health issues then you must be aware of their needs and you should also be sensitive about it. For example, dig into the route of the child and try to see why he/she are feeling the way that they’re or what is it exactly is making them act a certain way (are they hyper?  are they sad?)  He urges that deaf children should indeed seek out and families should support them.

 

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The rise of pollution within our seas
With an ever more so growing human population, it’s likely noticeable to see more and more trash accumulate within time. The question we all ask is where does all this trash go? What is being done with it? Since the human population is always at an increase, organizations that are usually dealt with regulating garbage as well as respected governments across the world have no idea to succumb to a problem that is ruining our ecosystem.
We can see that within the new century that plastics and other different types of garbage are being handled. Of course, the main idea is to keep it at a garbage dump or to usually bury it underground, however there is so much garbage that it accumulated way more than expected. What’s the other alternate solution to throw out garbage? Different alternatives to dealing with plastics and waste is that we either bury it or take it out into space, however both of these methods would be highly expensive and timid to do so. The idea is to toss them out literally in the middle of the ocean, thinking that nothing will happen, no harm will be done and everyone can go about their daily lives without worrying.
This problem of plastic being in the ocean is becoming a major problem very quickly. It’s destroying wildlife, their habitat and the ecosystem as a whole. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, this problem is deemed to be “One of the most serious emerging threats to marine biodiversity”. The plastics that seep into the ocean tend to be eaten by the wildlife triggering a chain of events to happen. Either other fish eat the fish that ate the plastic, or we eat the wildlife that contained the plastic as well. This is highly beneficial for both us and the wildlife.
The chemicals contained within these plastics prove and have been shown to cause serious harm when consumed. Not only that, it takes a toll on the environment as well too. Because of these chemicals in the plastic, the ocean is littered and filled with all different types of plastic, including a major one, silicon. As mentioned within the last paragraph, once eaten, it’ll cause a chain within the ecosystem, possibly wiping out life within that particular region.
Seepage of nuclear waste is also another problem that’s being dealt with as we speak right now. Usually, if radioactive waste is released accidentally or even on purpose into an ecosystem, it can prove to be detrimental. Any exposure can lead to serious illnesses, cancer, mutations, etc. Radiation just doesn’t need to be from the waste, but it can be from the gas and liquids too. You’d usually see this from the gasses emitting from factories due to the concentration of what is burning. This can make a more widespread disaster onto the environment.
There are different types of management for the size and radioactivity of each waste. Some are usually disposed by land burials, engineered disposal vaults, etc. Most of the high level radioactive waste are usually kept under watch at nuclear power reactor sites. This isn’t only affecting life on land, but even in the sea as well.
Contamination can spread even faster in the ocean, causing plant and fish species to suffer. It can ruin the habitats, especially the coral reefs as well. This can cause a lot of wipeouts of fish species to drastically be on the rise in the future years to come. If that does become a major problem as to what it is right now, the ecosystem would collapse in time where all life in that area would either mutate or would die due to the chemical exposure. If the waste isn’t dealt with properly, the contamination won’t be able to be contained in a matter of time. This once again chains a cycle within the marine ecosystem that can wipe out a whole species or even life that was once around that area.
The quality of our ocean is becoming significantly worse every decade. This is why we see dead animals wash up on shore, including whales, fish and even birds that may have eaten other fish that have been contaminated or swallowed something harmful. The one problem as well is that at this point, with all the pollution in our water, it’ll take trillions of dollars to clean up. The problem has gotten so bad that people are literally just leaving this major problem unattended and would soon grow into a nightmare.
There is a major stretch of plastic, nuclear and municipal waste from a span from Japan to Hawaii, where all this buildup occurs. There is also a part within the Pacific Ocean that is so bad that it literally can form its own continent of garbage. All this waste will soon make way deeper into the ocean where it’ll be even harder to clean, harder to trace, and way more money now to deal with than earlier. People knows what it going on and they truly know where our waste is ending up, but no one isn’t doing anything to help as a community or anything. We are treating our planet as if it’s our own, when in reality we share it with the millions upon millions of creatures living here. We need to do our part as a civilization to help a cause that’ll soon make a huge indentation in our life.

 

 

John Adames

ENG 103

Prof.Kitana Ananda

12/4/17

Athletes vs. Politics

Have you ever seen athletes fight against Politics? Since around the 1940’s athletes and politics have crashed several of times. Now more than ever with National Football League Quarterback Colin Kaepernick sitting during the National Anthem, and many NFL players kneeling all season to fight against politics. Jackie Robinson was fighting for a chance to be the first African American to ever play in the Major League Baseball. Kaepernick was sitting during the National Anthem so he can fight alongside Black Lives Matter Movement. While the NFL were kneeling to protest against Donald Trump’s antics. In this essay I will prove how the power athletes have can change the world.

One of the biggest early encounters with sports against politics. The story of the first African American baseball player Jackie Roosevelt Robinson. During Jackie Robinson’s time in the MLB the Civil Rights Movement was going on. He did not only face the adversity of whites not liking him for being the first african american to play professionally but he also faced racism and stereotypes. In a quote from “Jackie Robinson and the integration of baseball” by Laurie Collier Hillstrom it states “ Although that event is now considered a defining moment in the history of the game and an early triumph in the civil rights movement, Chandler’s decision was extremely controversial at the time. It angered not only the other team owners, but also many white baseball players, fans, and corporate sponsors.”This shows that even though every year on April 15, Jackie Robinson day is celebrated. We have came a long way because when he first became a Major League player he was not very liked and was seen as a threat. Another quote that  Laurie Collier Hillstrom says in her book is “Robinson expanded his involvement in the civil rights movement after his baseball career ended. He gave speeches and raised money to support the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), for instance, and organized an annual jazz concert to benefit various causes. Robinson attended the 1963 March on Washington, where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.” This shows Jackie Robinson’s influenced the civil rights movement and was a big voice for the NAACP. As you can see Jackie Robinson and his number 42 has impacted not only politics but the world as well without Jackie Robinson we wouldn’t be talking about players like Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and David Ortiz.

Another big encounter that sports has had with politics. The story of Colin Kaepernick and the Black Lives Matter movement versus the government and the NFL players association. Colin started this protest when during a NFL preseason game on August 14, 2016 while the National Anthem was being sung instead of getting up and putting his hand on his heart he sat on the bench. According to Mark Sandritter from SBNation.com Kapernick stated “I’m going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change. When there’s significant change and I feel that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent, and this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to, I’ll stand.” This shows how Kaepernick looked himself as leader and a spokesman for the victims of police brutality like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Gardner. Another quote that shows that Colin Kaepernick is still going through inequality is “Kaepernick has remained unemployed after he started a wave of social activism in the NFL by protesting issues of police brutality and inequality during the pre-game playing of the national anthem last season. Kaepernick filed a grievance against the league Oct. 15, claiming collusion by NFL owners.” This quote shows how ever since Kaepernick became a public figure for the Black Lives Matter movement nobody has wanted to sign him because they believe fans will protest against him. Before Colin Kaepernick decided to take a stand against the National Anthem and the flag I believe not a lot of people knew exactly who he was.

 

Bibliography

• Hillstrom, Laurie Collier. Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball. Omnigraphics, Inc., 2013.
• Sandritter, Mark. “All the Athletes Who Joined Kaepernick’s National Anthem Protest.”SBNation.com, SBNation.com, 11 Sept. 2016,    www.sbnation.com/2016/9/11/12869726/colin-kaepernick-national-anthem-protest-seahawks-brandon-marshall-nfl.