Personal Statement

Prompt #1:

1. Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

During my freshmen year, I was accepted into a program called Wall Street Wizards. This was a program that taught financial literacy to minorities. I was excited for the first class, but when I walked into the room, I saw that I wouldn’t fit in. Everyone in the room was African American and came from low income families and single-parent families. They were complete opposites of me.
Over time, I was adopted into the “tribe” by my two teachers, Bill and Alex. I learned that both of them were completely dedicated to teaching and enriching the students in their program. Unlike many others, they don’t simply talk like they will help us; they actually put their energy and effort to give us huge opportunities that we would never have if we had no connections. They put countless hours in our monthly classes and pulled in many favors to get us into shareholder meetings and meeting CEOs of companies such as Pandora and Jamba Juice. They taught us skills that we would need not only in the business world, but in our futures no matter what career we plan to go into.
An opportunity that I hold especially close to my heart is when I was chosen to be a judge at a competition called the Ashoka Contest. During this competition, I judged with many experienced people in various different fields of work. The judges were separated into three different groups to evaluate four groups each. The judges in my group were one of the contestants last year, a woman who started her own company, and a teacher at San Francisco University. During deliberations and breaks, I grew especially close to the woman who started her own company. This woman helped me realize a skill that I possessed, one that will drive me to strive for my ambitions later on. As we talked, she commented the level of the questions I had been asking the different youth groups.
Throughout the various presenting groups, I continued to ask questions because after a while of asking and analyzing the finalized business plans and budgets, I realized my own interest in business. After I asked a question, the woman took the microphone from me and proudly announced to the crowd “When this girl talks and I close my eyes, she sounds just like a girl who came out of business graduate school.” You can imagine how surprised I was.
Throughout the day, I had people asking me what grade I was in. My reply was “I’m a sophomore.” Preceding this answer, a particular man asked “Oh really? What college do you go to? Berkeley?” I was stunned. Later, Bill and Alex both informed me that people were asking what grade I was in and how old I was. I was absolutely stunned.
These past years, I embraced my skill and my love for business by taking time to study up on stocks, follow, analyze and stay up to date with the business world. Most frequently, when I’m in the car heading to school in the morning, I would turn up the station where the talk show host informed the listeners about today's stocks and where they stand. Never before has getting a compliment on something that I had no idea I had a passion for, awaken the love for business I had. This is why I want to be a financial analyst. I want to be one because I love looking at numbers and businesses. They absolutely fascinate me. But above all, I want to be someone in the financial world because then, I can go back to my community and help youth realize the importance and the joy that they can have in the business world.

This is my goal, my dream, and my aspiration. I want to be able to make a difference in this world through enriching the youth. The difference I want to make in the youth, is firstly, the perception of business and stocks, and most importantly, helping those who many have a passion for it, realize that they have it.

Prompt 2: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

My decisions and my life are deeply shaped by my personality. For the most part, I am unafraid to take reasonable risks, I’m very open minded and I’m told that I care too much about others and how they feel. But the trait that I feel shapes who I am the most is my perseverance and my undying drive to win which originated from my father’s teacher that ultimately became my motto in life.
Winning isn’t everything and I realized that long ago. Still, when I fail to reach a goal I aim for, I am disheartened at first, but I always pic myself up, learn from my mistakes ans start over again. With this, my confidence was built and I was able to maintain the thoughts tha told me that I can do it. As a child, my dad always told me “It’s not over until it’s over.” Basically, fight to the end because you don't know what may happen if you never try your hardest.
This became my motto in life. It also held true and strong in a city-wide speech contest I participated in in my sophomore year. I was confident with my speech all along, but just four days before the citywide contest, my teacher, who was a judge at the school wide contest, gave me all the scoring and comment sheets from that round. Turns out, the speech I was so proud of wasn’t as good as I thought. I spent the next two days editing and editing my speech to death, trying to say what I wanted while keeping within the three to five minutes requirement. When I was done, there were only two more days until the contest. Now, all I had to was was practice and that’s what I did. Because of practicing so much, I nearly lost my voice, but it seemed to pay off because when I walked up to the podium the day of the speech, I was confident. All the practicing paid off and I won first place at the contest.
I won because of my strive to never give up and the motivation drove me to keep trying till the end. I will forever remember and cherish what my dad’s lesson to me was because this led me to success on more levels than just winning something.

Final Brisingr Post

            I'm reading the book Brisingr, the third book of the Inheritance Cycle. Christopher Paolini is so incredibly talented. Of course, I've read his first two books of the Inheritance Cycle: Eragon and Eldest. Paolini wrote the first book, Eragon when he was only 15. Even though his books come out around 3 years after one another, they get better and better. Brisingr was the best book from this series. It has a lot more action and a lot more going on compared to the other ones.

"As gently as he could, Eragon asked, 'Was it Faolin?' 'Yes.' she said, releasing the confirmation almost as a gasp. 'Did you love him?' Casting back her head, Arya gazed up at the twinkling sky, her long neck gold with firelight, her face pale with the radiance of the heavens...'It does matter, because I regret it, and I shall not tolerate it. Did I love Faolin? How would you define love? Fore over twenty years, we traveled together, the only immortals to walk among the short-lived races. We were companions...and friends.' A pang of jealousy afflicted Eragon. He wrestled with it, subdued it and tried to eliminate it but was not altogether successful." (197)

     At the end of the first book, Eragon, the main character, Eragon, shows his feelings for Arya. Arya is an elf who was the carrier of Eragon's dragon (Sapphira)'s egg. She was in search of the egg and because she was captured, transported the egg to where Eargon lived. Needless to say, the egg hatched for Eragon. All throughout the second book, Eragon fights the love he feels for Arya. One time, when Eragon confessed his love for Arya, Arya simply shot him down saying that they each had their duties and Eragon especially had to concentrate on training his magic in order to defeat Galbatrorix. In this book, Eragon still shows his love through jealousy. When Eragon and Arya are on a scouting trip, Eragon asks if Arya ever had anyone she's loved before. Here, I feel sorry for Eragon. Eragon shows a sense of jealousy that clearly he does not want Arya to recognize. Arya on the other hand, realizes Eragon's feelings, but does not want to return them. Further on in the book, she does express her care and her lover for Eragon, but it is only through the small gestures of worry she shows for him when he is going to battle or recovering from wounds.

In Brisingr, Christopher Paolini uses many characters and mythical creatures used very often today in teen books. He uses dwarves, elves, dragons, and magic. It's amazing that he is able to captivate a teen's attention through his writing because as a frequent reader, I always read books that have similar themes or characters. Really, there is nothing special added into Paolini's books. Still, Paolini has a way of drawing a reader's attention with the intricate plot he sets up and his writing style.
    In this book, there are many conflicts. All these things happen simultaneously in Brisingr. There are separate types of language being used constantly: English, the ancient language, and dwarf language. Still, I never get lost reading it, not even with the three made up languages that are included in the dialogue and spells.

"…as they did wherever he went- nor the dwarves he passed in the hall, who greeted him with variations of “Argetlam.” The worst one is Iorunn, Eargon decided. The dwarf woman was the grimstborith of Durgrimst, a powerful, warlike clan, and she had made it clear, from the very beginning of the deliberations, that she intended to have the throne for herself." (435) 

     Brisingr was written in a unique way. It was written sometimes in a more precise way of speech and then in other times, a more casual way. Paolini uses casual speaking to describe while using precise speech for when characters talk. The characters are especially enticing and of course, Eragon, the main character is the most enticing of all. One major conflict that Paolini builds up to but doesn't really address in this book is Eragon's struggle with not being able to kill. Eragon learns that everything has life. In the midst of battle, he feels sympathy for Thorn, the dragon, or the soldiers he is fighting. He can come in contact with their "being" or their conscious and can feel what they feel. He refuses to take a life unless absolutely necessary which had already caused issues for him. I'm curious to know what will happen with that.

            There are around 60 chapters in Brisingr and each chapter is around 10 to 15 pages long and the chapters switch from Eragon to his cousin Roran and occasionally, back to the Varden and Arya. But because of how organized the sequence of events are, the chapters seem to flow together smoothly.

            All in all, this book has captured my attention and I look forward to the next book. The chapters are well organized and the different plots ultimately converge into one large one which makes the book all the more interesting. I really look forward to reading the next book.

Comments on Blogposts

Leon Liang:
I think that this is a really good blog post because of how organized it is. But maybe you can go into more depth about the plot twists that you mention earlier.
"Another thing that Brisingr was better than the first two books was that it’s plot was more complete than the Eragon and Eldest. Unlike the first two books, this book had double the length compare to Eldest nearly triple compared to Eragon." Also, you don't talk about a lot of the points you mention. You touch on a lot of subjects. but never really talk much about them. 


Kaila:
I think that this blog post is good because of how concise you put your points. Maybe put some more ideas in your body paragraphs rather than just in your introductions. I especially liked this part of your essay: " Its random and weak. basically this book has weaknesses because the author was writing it to sund like an autistic kid, and he did a good job, except most people do not think like autistic people, so there are going to be weaknesses regardless. His style of writing is a weaknesses in itself depending on what your taste in writing is."
It showed that you really did look into how the writer's style is built up within the book.


Phuong:
This is a good book review. Sometimes you look too much into one specific thing and don't cover many of the other ideas you bring up. When you talk about the chapters being an issue, you kind of become repetitive in your response to it's format. You should also put some transitions between your ideas and your points because it seems really abrupt when you switch off ideas. The book seems really interesting! I want to read it now too. Overall this is a good book review though :D

roughdraft

 I'm reading the book Brisingr, the third book of the Inheritance Cycle. Christopher Paolini is so incredibly talented. Of course, I've read his first two books of the Inheritance Cycle: Eargon and Eldest. Paolini wrote the first book, Eargon when he was only 15. Even though his books come out around 3 years after one another, they get better and better. Brisingr was the best book from this series. It has a lot more action and a lot more going on compared to the other ones. In this book there is romance and the enemy's weakness as well as Eargon's weakness are shown throughout. 

     In the following quote, Arya, an elf who guided Eargon in the second book, and Eargon are talking about Arya's love life. Eargon loves Arya, but because of many conflicts, including the situation they are facing with the evil king, they cannot be together. This passage shows incredible tension between them, but Arya opening up to Eargon.

"As gently as he could, Eargon asked, 'Was it Faolin?' 'Yes.' she said, releasing the confirmation almost as a gasp. 'Did you love him?' Casting back her head, Arya gazed up at the twinkling sky, her long neck gold with firelight, her face pale with the radiance of the heavens...'It does matter, because I regret it, and I shall not tolerate it. Did I love Faolin? How would you define love? Fore over twenty years, we traveled together, the only immortals to walk among the short-lived races. We were companions...and friends.' A pang of jealousy afflicted Eargon. He wrestled with it, subdued it and tried to eliminate it but was not altogether successful." (197)

     At the end of the second book, Eargon, the main character, Eargon, shows his feelings for Arya. Arya is an elf who was the carrier of Eargon's dragon (Sapphira)'s egg. She was in search of the egg and because she was captured, transported the egg to where Eargon lived. Needless to say, the egg hatched for Eargon. All throughout  the second book, Eargon fights the love he feels for Arya. One time, when Eargon confessed his love for Arya, Arya simply shot him down saying that they each had their duties and Eargon especially had to concentrate on training his magic in order to defeat Galbatrorix. In this book, Eargon still shows his love through jealousy. When Eargon and Arya are on a scouting trip, Eargon asks if Arya ever had anyone she's loved before. Here, I feel sorry for Eargon. Eargon shows a sense of jealousy that clearly he does not want Arya to recognize. Arya on the other hand, realizes Eargon's feelings, but does not want to return them. Further on in the book, she does express her care and her lover for Eargon, but it is only through the small gestures of worry she shows for him when he is going to battle or recovering from wounds.

In Brisingr, Christopher Paolini uses many characters and mythical creatures used very often today in teen books. He uses dwarves, elves, dragons, and magic. It's amazing that he is able to captivate a teen's attention through his writing because as a frequent reader, I always read books that have similar themes or characters. Really, there is nothing special added into Paolini's books. Still, Paolini has a way of drawing a reader's attention with the intricate plot he sets up and his writing style.
    In this book, there are many conflicts All these things happen simultaneously in Brisingr. Still, I never get lost reading it, not even with the three made up languages that are included in the dialogue and spells.

"’Casting back her head, Arya gazed up at the twinkling sky, her long neck gold with firelight, her face pale with the radiance of the heaven.’ Do you ask out of friendly concern or your own self-interest?’ She gave an abrupt, choked laugh, the sound of water falling over cold rocks. ‘Never mind. The night air has addled me. It has undone my sense of courtesy and left me free to say the most spiteful things that occur to me.’  ‘No matter.’ ‘It does matter, because I regret it, and I shall not tolerate it. Did I love Faolin? How would you define love? For over twenty years, we traveled together, the only immortals to walk among the short-lived races. We were companions...and friends." 

     Brisingr was written in a unique way. It was written sometimes in a more precise way of speech and then in other times, a more casual way. Paolini uses casual speaking to describe while using precise speech for when characters talk. The characters are especially enticing and of course, Eargon, the main character is the most enticing of all. One major conflict that Paolini builds up to but doesn't really address in this book is Eargon's struggle with not being able to kill. Eargon learns that everything has life. In the midst of battle, he feels sympathy for Thorn, the dragon, or the soldiers he is fighting. He can come in contact with their "being" or their conscious and can feel what they feel. He refuses to take a life unless absolutely necessary which had already caused issues for him. I'm curious to know what will happen with that.

2nd post for Brisingr

     In Brisingr, Christopher Paolini uses many characters and mythical creatures used very often today in teen books. He uses dwarves, elves, dragons, and magic. It's amazing that he is able to captivate a teen's attention through his writing because as a frequent reader, I always read books that have similar themes or characters. Really, there is nothing special added into Paolini's books. Still, Paolini has a way of drawing a reader's attention with the intricate plot he sets up and his writing style.
    In this book, there are many conflicts All these things happen simultaneously in Brisingr. Still, I never get lost reading it, not even with the three made up languages that are included in the dialogue and spells.

""Casting back her head, Arya gazed up at the twinkling sky, her long neck gold with firelight, her face pale with the radiance of the heavenx. "Do you ask out of friendly concern or your own self-interest?" She gave an abrupt, choked laugh, the sound of water falling over cold rocks. "Never mind. The night air has addled me. It has undone my sense of courtesy and left me free to say the most spiteful things that occur to me."  "No matter."  "It does matter, because I regret it, and I shall not tolerate it. Did I love Faolin? How would you define love? For over twenty years, we traveled together, the only immortals to walk among the short-lived races. We were companions...and friends." 

     Brisingr was written in a unique way. It was written sometimes in a more precise way of speech and then in other times, a more casual way. Paolini uses casual speaking to describe while using precise speech for when characters talk. The characters are especially enticing and of course, Eargon, the main character is the most enticing of all. One major conflict that Paolini builds up to but doesn't really address in this book is Eargon's struggle with not being able to kill. Eargon learns that everything has life. In the midst of battle, he feels sympathy for either Thorn, the dragon, or the soliders he is fighting. He can come in contact with their "being" or their conscious and can feel what they feel. He refuses to take a life unless absolutely necessary which had already caused issues for him. I'm curious to know what will happen with that.

BRISINGR

    I'm reading the book Brisingr, the third book of the Inheritance Cycle. Christopher Paolini is so incredibly talented. Of course, I've read his first two books of the Inheritance Cycle: Eargon and Eldest. Paloni wrote the first book, Eargon when he was only 15. Even though his books come out around 3 years after one another, the get better and better. Brisingr was the best book from this series. It has a lot more action and a lot more going on compared to the other ones.

"As gently as he could, Eargon asked, 'Was it Faolin?' 'Yes.' she said, releasing the confirmation almost as a gasp. 'Did you love him?' Casting back her head, Arya gazed up at the twinkling sky, her long neck gold with firelight, her face pale with the radiance of the heavens...'It does matter, because I regret it, and I shall not tolerate it. Did I love Faolin? How would you define love? Fore over twenty years, we traveled together, the only immortals to walk among the short-lived races. We were companions...and friends.' A pang of jealousy afflicted Eargon. He wrestled with it, subdued it and tried to eliminate it but was not altogether successful." (197)

     At the end of the first book, Eargon, the main character, Eargon, shows his feelings for Arya. Arya is an elf who was the carrier of Eargon's dragon (Sapphira)'s egg. She was in search of the egg and because she was captured, transported the egg to where Eargon lived. Needless to say, the egg hatched for Eargon. All throughout  the second book, Eargon fights the love he feels for Arya. One time, when Eargon confessed his love for Arya, Arya simply shot him down saying that they each had their duties and Eargon especially had to concentrate on training his magic in order to defeat Galbatrorix. In this book, Eargon still shows his love through jealousy. When Eargon and Arya are on a scouting trip, Eargon asks if Arya ever had anyone she's loved before. Here, I feel sorry for Eargon. Eargon shows a sense of jealousy that he does not want Arya to recognize. Arya on the other hand, realizes Eargon's feelings, but does not want to return them. Further on in the book, she does express her care and her lover for Eargon, but it is only through the small gestures of worry she shows for him when he is going to battle or recovering from wounds.

     In my family history story, Jay's story, and Crystal's story, there are similar in that all our families faced troubles and had to overcome them. Although all these troubles are different in big ways, I realized that in nearly every family story, a parent or a family member had to withstand many hardships.
     In Jay's story, his mother is very successful, but in some ways, she realizes that she has to work hard and the despite all her work, she has to work even harder in order to reach the 1st place she wants to get.

"One day, there was a competition or a test between all of the people in her school district. It was somewhat like an Advanced Placement test, as it was only for people that had a certain class placement, which were the “high achievers” at the school, and the test had everyone in the Chinese equivalent of a school district taking it. "

 Jay's mother is successful in that she was able to place so high and was honored with opportunity, but when she takes the test, she only scores 60 percent, still gaining 2nd place. This score serves as an obstacle she must overcome. Even though she was able to get 2nd place with this low percentage, she knows she could do better.
    Crystal's story is much different from Jay's. In her story, her grandparents took a huge risk in trying to help others in their family and their lives were put on the line for this cause.

"She had been to preoccupied with hiding the food that she did not notice a Japanese soldier, or as they called it a soldier of the Imperial Army, had seen her grandmother's attempt to hide the food. As to why she had to hide the food, it was because Japanese soldiers were looting and stealing supplies and food where ever they saw it available. It was part of the policy that the Japanese government decided to implement upon all the nations that it invaded."

Crystal's great great grandma and grandma took a huge risk in trying to to save themselves from starvation. Her great great grandmother was abused by a Japanese solider and took the risk of hiding food for the sake of the survival of her family.
     My mother was forced to overcome her parents and their unwillingness to help her to a better future. She was forced to do things on her own and become more independent than ever.

Joy Luck Club FINISHED!

     Finally, we've finished the Joy Luck Club!
Throughout this book, Amy Tan uses a lot of "cycles" and repeats many of the things that she wants to emphasize. One thing that stood out to me was the used of jewelry.In the first chapter/last, The Joy Luck Club, the Red Candle, Two Kinds, and in Magpies, jewelry plays a role in the story.
     In the first chapter by Jing-Mei Woo, she talks about her mother's story of what had happened to her in China and why she had come to America. Jing-Mei's mother, Suyuan Woo, had had two daughters who she was forced to leave behind. In the last chapter, when Jing-Mei decides to go back to China to find her sisters, her father tells her the story of what her mother experienced. It turns out that Suyuan had left a family picture, a letter, jewelry and clothes to bundle the two babies all on the side of the road when she was fleeing form the Japanese. These were the only things that she had to offer and she gave them up in order for her children to have a slight chance of living. The jewelry was especially significant because it was the thing that her mother hoped would be enough money to allow her children to live under the care of others. The jewelry was the thing that represented Suyuan's willingness to sacrifice all she had for her children.
     In the Red Candle, again, a piece of jewelry expressed a mother's love and a mother's sacrifice. When Lindo's home was flooded, Lindo was sent to go live at her future husband's house (her arranged marriage). When her family left, they left Lindo. Her mother gave Lindo her jade and expressed her sadness to give her daughter up to another family. Her father did not let her mother show pain or sadness, but the only form of love her mother was able to show her was by giving her a jade pendent for luck and as a memento of love from her family.
     In Two Kinds, Jing Mei's mother wanted her to be a prodigy of some kind and her mother decided on her being a piano prodigy. Jing- Mei did not take her lessons seriously and when her mother pushed her to do a competition, she still felt confident she would do well. As a token of luck from her mother, Suyuan gave Jing-mei her jade. Again, the jade represented the pride an the luck from a mother.
     In the last section's first chapter, Magpies, An-mei's mother brings her back to her husband's house where she is a concubine. At their first meeting, the 2nd wife gave An-mei a pearl necklace. An-mei was overjoyed, but soon, her mother proved to her that it was in fact fake and the An-mei had been shallow to be won over by cheap means. Her mother gives her a sapphire ring and An-mei treasures it as a truth. The fake pearl necklace represents lies and deception, but the ring represented trust and truth. An-mei's mother proved that she should be trusted by An-mei because she did not want her child to be deceived by underhand means.
     All the jewelry in the Joy Luck Club represented a mother's love and caring for her daughter. This cyclical object meant a lot to the context of the stories.

Fam Story ((Blogger wasn't posting for me, i woke up just now, 2:37 and posted))

            “As a child, I was never treated the same as my brothers and sisters. I’m the middle of five children and my older and younger brothers and sisters were favored so much more than me. I didn’t know why. It was mostly my dad, but my mom followed him because that’s just who she is. She doesn’t know how to start things herself and feels like she needs the support of my dad. I could understand.

            Let me tell you some things that happened at home. My brothers and sisters and parents all lived in the larger portion of my house in Taiwan. I lived in the basement with my father’s grandparents. We shared a small space, nearly the size of half a typical kitchen and we would sleep and I would do homework there because I never wanted to be around my brothers and sisters. They looked down on me and wouldn’t treat me as in equal. Even my younger brother and sister looked at me as a lower person despite the traditions of respecting your elders. Still, I think it was the influence my dad had on them. They saw how my parents treated me and came with the thoughts that it would be ok to treat me horribly as my parents did.

            During Chinese New Years when my brothers and sisters and I all got new clothes and new things, I always got last pick, leaving me with the ugliest and cheapest of all things in the pile of goods. I took what I can get. After all, this is the only new clothes I get of the year. All I got were my older sibling’s hand me downs while my younger siblings got a constant supply of new clothes and new toys monthly. I saw the unfairness of it all, but I couldn’t do anything about it. When something bad happened to anyone, I was blamed and punished. The only people I had were my grandparents and my two dogs.”

She laughed as she reminisced and switched to Cantonese. (This is where some of the translation isn’t direct)

            I remember those two dogs. One was a German shepherd the other was one of those herding dogs. That herding dog would hide under the couch the whole day. It was a silly dog.

            Ok. Back to the story now. We moved to San Francisco and life was still the same. When I told my dad I wanted to go to college, he told me I should stay home and work and make money for my family instead. I knew that if I couldn’t get into college I couldn’t make money anyways, so I applied using my own money. I got accepted to Cal Poly and decided to go there. When my family found out, they tried to do everything they can to put me down and discourage me from going. But I was determined. The day I had to leave for college, I had a small suit case and a duffle bag with only 200 dollars in my hands for tuition and food. As I called out a hopeful “goodbye” in my house, and all I heard was my own voice echoing back at me. I was sad, yes, I admit it, but I knew what I needed to do. I turned and stepped out of the house, heading for the Greyhound I was going to take to my new college. I’ll tell you the truth. I was crying the whole way there. But I let the excitement of college and the prospect of a new future take over me.

            Now you see why I spoil you guys so much? Now you see why I know you can do so much better than me? It’s because I didn’t have anything when I was younger. I didn’t have anyone to support me and push me towards success. Now that you have me and your dad, people who push you further than you push yourself, you better do the best you can.”

She continues ranting about things I refuse to type into blog post.

What do you learn about yourself, or your role in your family, from this story? How does the story connect to and highlight something about you?

            From this story my mom told me, I learned that my role in my family is to try my hardest and make the best of everything I have. My mom didn’t have much. I wouldn’t say she didn’t have anything because she still had a home to live in, food to eat, and other things many others did not have. But she was forced to take on a very emotionally harsh road because of the decisions and things my grandparents made. She was bought down from her true potential because of them. Even though she was forced to endure such hardships, she was still able to reach her goal. She wanted to make enough money to support herself and not depend on her parents and she wanted enough money to support a family. She has fulfilled both of these goals to an extent that I would never be able to fulfill if I were put into the position my mother was put into. It really does pain me to know about my mother’s pain and I was shown her definite strength. It shows me that I can do anything because I have the support of my whole family while my mom achieved so much without any help from anyone.

            This story was passed on by my mom because she wants us to know what she went through. It isn’t for her to get out sympathy, but it is to show us how far she has gone even though she’s had to put up with so much. 

          This story hasn't been passed down many generations at all, but I think that I will pass this story down to my children because it is important for the to know that they have the ability to do good even if they have to go through they did not have it worse than my mom in terms of family and support. When they go through a horrible time of pain and emotions, they should have something to motivate them and let them know that if someone else can do it, then they can. 

     In society, there are always fantasies for children. For example, we all go to Disneyland in our childhood and believe that every success and every bit of happiness will come without any effort into anything. Disneyland is just an example of a childhood fairytale that every child wants to live. The reality of life is much more different and is much more complex than a simple wave of a wand and everything is accomplished. Telling a story like that opens a child's eyes up and shows them the true nature of life. I fel like sharing such an important life lesson and story with my children will help them realize that they ahve to work for things and can't depend on anyone else but themselves if they want to reach success.

Twenty Six Malignant Gates

In "The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates", the second section of four stories in The Joy Luck Club, the relationships between the mothers and daughters in America are very similar to Amy Chua's Tiger Mom article we read in class a few weeks ago. In Chua's article, she describes how she forces her child to learn the piano and learn the piece until she knew it and perfected the piece. In The Joy Luck Club, Jing-Mei's mother forces her to take piano lessons because she wants her child to become a prodigy.   

The difference between the two situations are that Jing-Mei's mother wanted her daughter to be a prodigy because she wanted her daughter to be able to compare with Waverly Jong, who was a national chess winner at a very young age. Jing-Mei's mother wanted Jing- Mei to be able to beat Waverly and her mother in a contest of who's daughter is better than the other. In the Tiger Mother article, Chua's intentions was to get her daughter to be able to perfect this piece on the piano.

"Over the next year, I practiced like this, dutifully in my own way. And then one day I heard my mother and her friend Lindo Jong both talking in a loud bragging tone of voice so other would hear." (138) 

      Jing -Mei's mother may seem demanding and mean, but really her underlying intentions are to give Jing-Mei a goal to become someone and Waverly was just a benchmark for Jing-Mei for how good her mother wanted her to be. Chua knew that her daughter could do it and can do the piano piece without any flaws and thats why she forced her daughter to sit down and just play and practice. Both mothers had the intentions to help their children see their potential and to reach. Both mothers didn't mean to be mean or to make their daughters feel bad, but they expected their children to live to the best of their abilities. To get them to reach their potentials the mothers believe that they need to push their daughters to get somewhere.  

Rules of the Game + The Voice from the Wall

What is Amy Tan's purpose behind this introductory piece? What thematic elements, characterization, or plot foreshadowing connect it to the stories that follow, particularly "Rules of the Game" and "The Voice from the Wall"?


     In the Rules of the Game and The Voice from the Wall, both daughters didn't listen to her mother. In the introductory piece, the girl on the bike also did not listen to her mother. Ultimately, the daughter was the one who got into trouble from trying to prover her mother wrong about how she cannot do something. 
     In "The Rules of the Game", Waverly Jong is a gifted girl with skills in playing chess. When her brother gets a gift from church for Christmas, it is the first chess set Waverly has seen. She learned how to play and soon, she excelled into playing at the national level. When her mother began to show her off, Waverly got embarrassed and upset at her mother. She yelled at her in public telling her mother that if she wanted to show off something so badly, then her mother should play chess instead so she can brag. She then proceeds in running away. When she gets back home, her mother tells her family to ignore her. And says that if she did not care about her family, her family doesn't have to care about her. In the introductory piece, the girl thinks her mother is full of it and decides that she doesn't have to listen to her mother. In the end, something bad happened to her.
     In "The Voice from the Wall", Lena St. Clair visualizes everything as being wrong. She hears of her mother's great grandfather, who did something wrong and sentenced a beggar to life in prison. Lena's mother tells her that the beggar's ghost still lives and follows them. At night, Lena hears her neighbors yelling at each other, a daughter and a mother. She only sees the worst parts of their relationship. She thinks that this girl is being abused. Ying Ying, Lena's mother, nearly has a baby, but the baby turns out to have died before being born. Lena's father puts words into Ying Ying's mouth and keeps saying that she is okay and would be fine by tomorrow. Ying Ying doesn't have the courage to tell her family of the guilt or the pain she is suffering from.

Scar

    In the story Scar in The Joy Luck Club, An-mei's mother was kicked out of her home because of how she disgraced her family.  An-mei's mother's first husband had died after they had An-mei and she remarried to a man, becoming his third concubine. She was considered a disgrace to the family because in Chinese tradition, when a woman and a man marries, no matter what happens to the man, the woman must stay loyal to him.  An-mei's mother did not do this and was kicked out by her own mother. An-mei, her daughter was taken away from her mother after her mother was kicked out and lived with her Popo. Her Popo was one who continuously discouraged An-mei to have any connection with her mother and banned An-mei from even saying her name.
     The question here is whether or not family and honor should take priority over the rights of the individual family member. In the book, family and honor did take priority. Although An-mei's mother came back for An-mei, none of her family members would allow her to even get near her. They thought she would become like her mother of she was near her. I think that what Popo did was out of being ashamed of her daughter doing such things. She had to suppress the love she had for her daughter and for the good and honor of the family, kicked her out and banned her from ever coming back. 
     At the end of the story, Popo became very sick and An-mei's mother made a huge sacrafice and endured horrible pain to try to make her own mother get better. I don't think love was ever lost between the two of them, but Popo was definitely horribly ashamed of having her own daughter be the disgrace of the family. An-mei's mother came back because she still loved her family despite all that they did to her. I think she understood the reasons they had kicked her out of the family, but still kept the feelings of love. An-mei ultimately "forgets" her mother, but inside her, she will never forget her because she is a huge part of her past. 

Animal Farm Chapter 11

My Chapter11 is on Leon's blog.

Tiger Mother

"Chinese parents can get away with things that Western parents can't. Once when I was young—maybe more than once—when I was extremely disrespectful to my mother, my father angrily called me "garbage" in our native Hokkien dialect. It worked really well. I felt terrible and deeply ashamed of what I had done. But it didn't damage my self-esteem or anything like that. I knew exactly how highly he thought of me. I didn't actually think I was worthless or feel like a piece of garbage."

     This is the second time I've read this article and it still strikes me the way she expresses the way she felt when her parents disiplined her through calling her worthless. Personally, I've had this kind of experience within my family. It's different when someone else calls you worthless, when your close relatives call you worthless and when your parents call you worthless. When someone else calls me worthless, I blow them off because it just means that they don't like  me very much. Their opinions don't matter to me.  When/If close relatives call me worthless it means a lot because typically, they are supposed to be very supportive. It's only when you are a great disappointment that they would ever call you that. For me, it would be the ultimate insult and wake up call that I am messing up everything. If my parents call me worthless, I don't feel worthless at all. In fact, it gives me motivation to prove them wrong.
    Being called useless and worthless by my parents tells me that I've become so hopeless that they have no other methods to make me do better and are forced to result in making me demote myself to a level they raised me to never want to drop to. My parents said they were ashamed that I was their daughter one time and I remember thinking "Ok then. Be ashamed.  But I'm going to prove you wrong because whatever you think or say, I know you will always see me as your daughter and nothing will ever change that between us. I'll do even better then you'd ever expect to prove you wrong and to prove to myself that I am not as useless or shameful as you say I am." Yep. It was a great motivation for me to better myself for myself and my family,

Connections Between Egypt and Animal Farm

     The connections that I saw between the uprisings and Animal Farm were things like how one rebellion on Animal Farm led to the rebellion or thought of rebellion on the other farms who hear about the reasons for the rebellion in the first place. Like in Egypt, when their rebellions succeeded last Friday, Iran and other nearby areas began to protest on the streets hoping to find a way to break through their governments the Egypt was able to do. Egypt started a huge state of rebellion for many other countries around it and was very much like Animal Farm being the start of a successful rebellion.
     Another connection I found was that in Animal Farm, a small group of animals, or actually, just Major the pig, began the ideas and thoughts of rebellion. Then the idea was spread throughout Animal Farm and an actual rebellion occurred after Major died. It's very very similar to what happened in Egypt. The rebellion started in Tunisia and when the man burned himself to death, the idea of this rebellion spread to Egypt where it ultimately took off and a rebellion really happened. This man is like Major. He sparked the rebellion.
     Another connection is where in Animal Farm, when the humans meddle into the politics and the world where animals ruled is the same as how Americans are going into Egypt and trying to help one side or the other. The humans were fought off in Animal Farm because they embraced the freedom of choice they had without outside rule. In Egypt, many despised how Americans meddled into the rebellions and the business of the Egyptians and their government. They enjoyed having the power and the fact that they are able to "speak" through their own actions and not by some foreign country.
     Orewell is truly a genius. Even though he wrote this book many years before, the connections between Animal Farm and what is currently happening in Egypt are incredibly similar and it amazes me how he wrote something like this in his book even though he knew nothing of how the future would be like.

Debate Rebuttal To Leon

          I'm going to be rebuttal Leon's debate topic about having social networks as beneficial or as harmful to society. Leon's views on this topic is that social networking of today brings people to have less real communication with each other. To start off, I already agree with his point, but there are a few flaws in his opening statement.
          Social networking is known to be the notorious disruption for students when they are trying to do their homework or are supposed to be studying. This may very much be true on the surface, but as you go deeper into the benefits of social networking, you'll realize that its is actually very beneficial. Firstly, networking itself is a main and crucial thing every student should learn. Networking with people can bring you your first job and bring great opportunities as long as you are networking constantly. Even if at the beginning, you network with someone who doesn't have much credibility to offer you a high level job, they always know people higher than them and as you network more and more, you gain more chances to be introduced to opportunities. Social networking via internet or cell phones also help networking and keeping in touch with people. For example, if you are looking for a job and you know that you need one soon, you can email or facebook a contact you have met through networking and can keep in touch with them in order to easily, not awkwardly, ask for any job opportunities they may have for you. Networking is extremely important for everyone's futures and social networking nowadays helps you build a stronger connection to your contacts.
          Other benefits of social networking are that it helps you express yourself. According to Washington Times, being able to communicate more frequently online or on your phone, you are able to bring about a type of self confidence in expressing how you feel and who you are. You also build the immunity to social awkwardness and learn how to act and how to deal with types of bullying.

"The study looked at more than 5,000 hours of online observation and found that the digital world is creating new opportunities for young people to grapple with social norms, explore interests, develop technical skills and work on new forms of self-expression."

 It is also supported in Science Daily that through such obsession with social networking, teens build the skills to potentially get jobs in these areas because of how much they are exposed to them. Amazingly, social networking has it's good and bad sides, but the benefits of social networking is much more helpful for the teenager or the social networker than social networking is harmful to them

Animal Farm Prompt 1 MiniEssay

     One pig that plays a huge role in the book Animal Farm by George Orwell is the prized pig, Major. Although Major died early on in the book he is the very core of the plot of the story. Major was the pig to ignite the ideas of Rebellion and presented the cases of all the animals publicly in order to find a way to solve them. Major speaks with a lot of conviction and determination. Major's words aren't the only things that affect the influence of his speeches, but it is also the way he says things and the order he says his ideas in. Major's ideas bring about the very essence of Orwell's plot.

            The beginning of the book is Major’s long speech which covered around four pages. His speech’s main purpose was to give rise to a rebellion and to a cause that he believed had to be addressed. Major’s speech included a lot of the problems and concerns that the animals did not realize or were afraid of challenging. Major uses his position as the prize pig and assembles the group of animals into one place and then gives an extremely persuasive speech. In this speech, he presents many rhetorical questions in which the answer is always to his favor. The rebellion is to overthrow Mr. Jones, yet, Major uses all men in his speech, making them all enemies of the animals. He makes it hard for any animal to go against his words without looking as if they were siding with the humans. Using this tactic, Major uses the many opportunities to take advantage of the animals of Manor Farm

            Major doesn’t necessarily use big words in his speeches, but the sentences that he uses and his syntax bring out the things that he is trying to emphasize. His sentences are filled with accusations and assumptions that the other animals want to hear. For example: 

"Only get rid of man, and the produce of our labor would become our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free." (Orwell 30)

 In this quote, Major says that if the animals ovrthrow men, they can grow stronger in a short span of time and can get everything they ever wanted. These statements were filled with assumptions. Major brought out the accusation that men were the cause of the animal's torturous lives and used this accusation to form the idea of rebellion. Major uses this bold comment to raise the hatred towards Mr. Jone, the farmer and owner of Manor Farm. After this statement, Major puts out a question to which the answer should be obvious to even the most dimwitted animal would be able to answer.

"What then must we do? Why work night and day body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race!" (Orwell 30)

With this, Major sets up his speech for the climax of it all and provides a buffer for the main point of his meeting. This rhetorical question is answered directly after the question is presented. It doesn't give any time for any discussion or any real thought for the other animals. The question followed by the answer forces animals to think only of the idea given to them. After this, Major's true point is revealed.
"That is my message to you, comrades: Rebellion!" (30). As Major plants this idea into the animal's heads. Major is able to manipulate and capture the minds of the animals throughout the strength of his words and through the true determination of rebellion for the good of Animal Farm, not for the good of himself with the act of selfishness.

Changing DNA in Children? Opening Statement

     Science has been evolving more and more rapidly recently. Not long ago, the newest discovery was the fact that genes were passed down from parents to offspring. Now, with new technology and knowledge, changing someone's DNA is possible. My debate topic is whether or not parents should be able to change the DNA of their children.
     I don't think that it should be possible for parents to change their child's DNA. It is immoral for this to happen to children even when they are still in their mother's womb and haven't developed yet. When this baby is born, the child is the one who will have to live with the changes that were made in them; things that the child may not have wanted from their parents and still have to live with it for the rest of their lives. The child doesn't have a say in the things that his or her parents decide to change about him or her, but this child is the one who has to live with the changes they are forced to endure the choices that their parents made for them whether they are beneficial or not in their lives.
    Yes, the changing of a child's DNA can result in something better like stopping a child from having cancer, but if something goes wrong, it would be devastating to the child. If modifying DNA should be allowed, it should only be for curing diseases, but at the moment, the technology to be sure that the child would be okay and the results are the same as the intended purpose.
     Technically, changing a person's DNA and inserting the things you would want in them has a lot to do with the controversies of Stem Cell Researching. Of course, it depends on how you see it as being moral or immoral and where the actual new cells are coming form. If the cells are coming from an embryo, is it a human or is it not? Is it murder or is it not? I think it is because that embryo they had to kill to take the cells from can grow up to be someone and you take the chance of life away from that person. In my opinion, killing an embryo is like killing a person.

Governent- Corrupt?

     In my opinion, political power does corrupt those who attain it. Power itself makes people do things and brings out their selfishness. Power isn't something that necessarily "create" selfishness, but it brings out the selfishness that people already have within themselves. During class, when Mr. Sutherland put out the question about is the US government corrupt, the idea that came into my head was that no government can possibly not be corrupt. There will always be something or someone within the government who uses his or her power to do corrupt things. Crystal mentioned that the government itself isn't corrupt. The government is a blueprint in which people simply fill in and complete the tasks. I thought differently. I thought that a government's "blueprints" change with the change of power because everyone has their own personal interests and ways of handling things.These are my thought on whether or not political power corrupts those who attain it and whether or not the US government is corrupt.
     I think that George Orwell would agree with me that power corrupts people. In Animal Farm, Orwell tells a story of animals who take over a farm. The plot is actually about the Russian Revolution. In chapter one, he writes

 "So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest and when they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared." (44) 

While the animals were out working, the pigs had drunk the milk that all the other animals wanted. Although the pigs were the ones who meant good for the animals, they took advantage of the power they had over the animals and worked it to their own benefits. The pigs were extremely corrupt later on in the book. For example, they would change the laws to fit their ways of living and to their luxury.

Elite College?

     Between the readings that were given to us, the one that appealed and was the most persuasive to me was Skip the Admissions Game by Kevin Carey. In this debate, Carey talks about both sides of things. he talks about how there are the small percentage of kids who are the ones who get straight As and 2100 or above on their SATs and then there are the majority of kids who are not as smart as those. He talks about the pros and the cons of both sides, but mostly about the pros on how kids who are not as smart can still have a rate of success within their future.
     In his piece, Carey talks about how if you are able to attend an elite college, they have a good chance of becoming successful:

"If, for example, you want to get rich by inventing exotic financial instruments (with all the deleterious social effects they may carry), the Ivy League is a good place to start. " (par. 3)

He basically says that depending on what things you want to get to, an elite college may be an ideal college to get an education, but if you are not one of those people who can afford to go to an elite college or if you don't get accepted to one, going to, let's say, a community college is just as well.

" While there's little difference among elite colleges in the grand scheme of things - Princeton, Brown, tomato, tomahto - it's a real problem when students enroll in colleges that do a poor job of teaching them and helping them graduate, as many do."

Even further down the essay, Carey points out that college isn't about elite or not elite, well known or obscure, but it is about the education and the level of teaching that a student gets to allow them to graduate and be able to survive the world on their own. It doesn't matter if you go to an elite college and get straight As if later on, you cannot support yourself because you didn't learn anything in college that you can work with to support yourself
     Carey still fails to support his idea of how going to a good college doesn't matter if you can't come out of it and be able to support yourself, but the point is still clearly stated. It would have been stronger if he had cited an example as he did for the jobs in community colleges.

Response to Ruby~

"...but my point is that style can relate to one's personality, but it does not define it. Each person has a distinctive character, most often one that no other person has. If one person is different from another, why denigrate them?"

This quote is from Ruby's blog.

     In her post, Ruby talked about people's fashion relating to their personality and I would agree with what she says. People dress the way they do because they feel that that is the best way for them to express themselves to others on first glance. No one has a right to criticize anyone for the way they dress because firstly, it may be weird to you, but to them, it is a way to show themselves off without saying anything at all. 

     The fact that these people have the bravery to wear what they do is enough to show that who they are is more important than what people think. This is something that I really envy in people who chose to stand out. It is something that I could never do because I am too self conscious about what people think of me and blending in suits me more than standing out. Yeah, maybe once in a while I would wear something totally outrageous, but most of the time, I stick with little things that stand out instead of the whole outfit. 

     So people who are able to keep their style and personality without being afraid of others saying anything are really ones who I envy and look up to because it takes a lot of courage and individuality to do something that stands out so much. Individuality should be something everyone envies and for someone to degrade that uniqueness within a person just isn't right. 

     Ruby's blog post on this was a response to someone else's blog post and frankly, I don't agree with that person's point of view on how people who are scene are posers. Well no, this isn't true at all. Everyone looks at someone else's style before they develop the idea for their own originality. Nearly every idea is influenced or was brought about by things people see and like. After this person takes a liking into this idea or style, they begin to build their own personality into it.

the misconception of Shallow people...turned into the misconception of people

    When a person likes another person for their looks or because of one little thing and announce that they already "love them" after only ten minutes of meeting them, this person is called shallow. Shallow defines someone who only looks a superficial things and judges solely for the reason  I think that the meanings of words plays a big part in a person's perspective of someone being shallow versus someone who is not. An example can be if a boy says he "likes" a girl after only a few minute of meeting her, his definition of liking probably isn't the same definition of liking you have in your mind. His form of liking may be growing fond of while yours may mean that he would want to have a relationship with her.
     Judging a person by what they do or say probably isn't exact to the things they are actually thinking. A person might say one thing, but really mean something else. Saying someone is shallow brings the problems of judging into play. You don't know how someone feels or know someone's true motives unless you are that person. Everyone has their special ways of thinking and expressing themselves. It can be true that the way that this specific person expresses themselves is by telling you something and meaning something else completely. You would never know the truth. So really, it's not the misconception of shallow people but the misconception of people in general.
     It may not even be a case where someone expresses themselves to you. It can be you subconsciously looking at a person and judging them based on what you see or what you hear. First impressions play a very important role when you judge someone because if your first impression of a person is that they is that they are very cunning and bad, then no matter what that person does or says, you assume that they only do things for bad purposes even if they mean well. When you see someone who has a kind face and a nice personality, you automatically think the best of them because of how much you think you know them. Although this type of judging is unfair, it happens constantly without us paying any real attention to the things we think of people.