About Me

       I enrolled myself into Foothill college Spring of 2013. Although it had been nearly a decade since I last stepped foot in a classroom, I was passionate about building my future. Nervous about what to expect, I quickly motivated myself and stepped into a routine. I was able to progressively manage my daily tasks as I groomed myself into an ideal college student. I still have much to learn and I will never be perfect but I am proud of where I’ve been and where I’m going. 
       Considering I am much older than the average community college goer, I am fixed on generating the idea that I may classify myself under an adult student identity. This means I hold values of character, passion, and purpose as a part of who I am as a student. To be clear, I am not saying that younger individuals in college are not capable of such values or that most adults may not hold themselves to these standards. However, these are the fundamentals I adhere to, and live up to, in order to set fire to my motivated spirit and become successful in college.

Personal Dictionary #6

The Word/Term Include other forms of the word, e.g., noun, verb, adjective	Proliferate, verb.
The meaning: in your own words	To cause a rapid increase; multiply.
An Example of the word/term.	The news about Robert Williams’s death proliferated on Facebook and social websites alike.
A Non-example of what the word/term is not.	The importance of celebrity deaths dwindles down as time moves forward.
A Quote from the text that relates to the word/term (include page #)	“These adolescent posts will remain online for a lifetime, just as those you friend on Facebook will never go away.  Anxieties migrate, proliferate” (243).
Why it matters: Why do you think the word/term is important to know and to consider further?	Living in an economy where the market can strike so many high and low cords I think it is necessary to understand its proliferate state of well-being and its inevitable downfalls also.
Questions to help think critically about the word/term.	Can proliferate be used as an adjective, as in “the proliferate method of tasks in my English course”?
An Image that helps you visualize the word or concept

Personal Dictionary #5

The Word/Term Include other forms of the word, e.g., noun, verb, adjective	Cyborg, noun.
The meaning: in your own words	A person who has become dependent on an electronic device.
An Example of the word/term.	My little sister has become a cyborg because she uses the internet to dictate her daily routines.
A Non-example of what the word/term is not.	The opposite end of the spectrum to a cyborg would be creating a robot that functions with the help of living structures.
A Quote from the text that relates to the word/term (include page #)	“Within a decade, what had seemed alien was close to becoming everyone’s way of life, as compact smartphones replaced the cyborgs’ more elaborate accoutrements” (152).
Why it matters: Why do you think the word/term is important to know and to consider further?	The last decade has changed the lives of humans around the world due to the advancements in technology.  We have always been curious about what the world would become as far as life like the Jetsons.  Cyborgs’ are the closest we’ve gotten thus far by becoming extremely dependent on our digital devices. It is important to recognize this shift and its resulting consequences
Questions to help think critically about the word/term.	Considering the world has changed drastically with our dependence on digital devices, will further advancements lead to robotic creations with life-like features and have the power to replace humans?
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Personal Dictionary #4

The Word/Term Include other forms of the word, e.g., noun, verb, adjective	Poignant, adjective.
The meaning: in your own words	A strong feeling of sadness.
An Example of the word/term.	The movie I saw was a poignant story of betrayal and addiction about a family left homeless after years of wealth and prosperity.
A Non-example of what the word/term is not.	A strong feeling of happiness or excitement.
A Quote from the text that relates to the word/term (include page #)	“It is poignant that peoples thoughts turn to technology when they imagine ways to deal with stresses and that they see as having been brought on by technology” (202).
Why it matters: Why do you think the word/term is important to know and to consider further?	I feel that as Americans we live under times of turmoil and poignancy, unable to secure our feelings and emotions.  Instead we turn to our digital devices as an outlet to escape some of our harsh realities. Moments of clarity are important to free our minds of stresses, including the ones we feel from the use of technology.
Questions to help think critically about the word/term.	Can a trenchantly pervasive society recover from its failures though still active and dependent on digital technology?
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Personal Dictionary #3

The Word/Term Include other forms of the word, e.g., noun, verb, adjective	Subvert, verb.
The meaning: in your own words	To make something less effective or weakened.
An Example of the word/term.	A new age revolution will only result from communities banning together in order to subvert the U.S. government.
A Non-example of what the word/term is not.	If we band groups together, we can unify a system and make its forces stronger as a result.
A Quote from the text that relates to the word/term (include page #)	“I thought of how Sigmund Freud considered the power of communities both to shape and subvert us, and a psychoanalytic pun came to mind: connectivity and its disconnects” (14).
Why it matters: Why do you think the word/term is important to know and to consider further?	I felt Turkle made a great point of how Freud’s concept lead to the relevancy of connectivity and its disconnects in a tech based society.  The more we allow our lives to connect electronically the further we subvert and challenge our availability in the physical world.
Questions to help think critically about the word/term.	If Americans become more dependent on technology, is it possible for our innate instincts to subvert at the frequent use of smartphones and social networking? What’s really at stake?
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Cultural Identity - Essay #2

The reason I chose this essay is for a few reasons. I enjoyed Sherman Alexie's novel and found myself researching further into Indian American history. It was something I wasn't too familiar with and I wanted to become more aware. Another reason was because of the controversy that surrounded this novel. It grasped my interest even further and I felt that I had a lot to say when it came down to writing the essay. I also made good use of the templates from class, which I'm proud of, but also learned what I need to do moving forward as a writer:

       “I think the challenge is to take...difficult and painful times and turn them into something beneficial, something that makes you grow“ (Michelle Akers). Life is full of some of the best of times, however it’s also full of some of the hardest times. Ever since the renaissance, in a humanistic perspective, we have sought the value of our existence in the pursuit of purpose. While in modern times we may attempt to plan our days accordingly, alternatively we are reminded day in and day out that life has other plans for us. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, the main character Arnold searches for his own identity torn between two different worlds. Living as a Native-American on a reservation, Arnold and his family face adversity and remain stagnant as a result of no outlets or resources disallowing them to obtain any dreams of becoming successful. As Arnold strives for a better life in a white world he is determined to beat the odds against him, allowing his downfalls to fuel success. More prominently, he doesn’t give up. The novel seeks its own value, much like Arnold, since it remains a huge controversy amongst scholars and many alike moreover seeking to ban the book from the educational system for its inappropriate references amongst young adult readers. In the novel, the theme of the vanishing Indian reflects grief and reveals revelation about Arnold’s cultural identity. When concerning the notion that the novel should be banned, many hold concerns against its publication and on the other hand support its relevance in society today.
       While the arguments concerning the outlaw of this book are fascinating, the concept is one that I have no belief in. At this point I would like to raise some objections that many skeptics would deliberate for the banning of this book. Parents, of course, want to question whether the novel is too harsh and inappropriate for their young teens. Yet some readers, including myself, may challenge that view by insisting the novel has in fact changed their lives because they were positively impacted provided that they learned valuable life lessons and found the literature relatable as teenagers. In this instance, many parents would probably object that teens need books like Sherman Alexie’s novel and nevertheless require censorship. By allowing such literature to remain on the shelves or as best put in a corresponding article, “Entertainment does not merely gratify taste, after all, but creates it” (Gurdon, “Darkness Too Visible” 173). But is this proposal realistic? What are the chances of these notions actually being adopted? Although I grant that the book has its improper moments, I still maintain that it raises important issues. On the one hand, I agree with skeptics that the books use of profanity and sexual references seem over exaggerated. But on the other hand, I still insist that The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian offers purpose. As a professor of the For Belknap Indian Reservation at the college of Aaniiih Nakoda accurately points out, “After all, in liberal arts we don’t just want students to read novels; we want to expose them to multiple perspectives and situations that inspire and encourage critical thinking” (Miller, “Honoring Identity with Young Adult Novels” 185). While both views share major points, I stand with the perspective that the novel shouldn’t be banned and should remain on the shelves for all to bear witness to. In consistency with allowing the novel to stay applicable, the author sheds light onto the lives of Native-Americans living on a reservation camp hence hindering their abilities to be successful as a result of hiding their true identities.
       To illustrate, the disappearing Indian stands against oppression and demoralization of their cultural values by a society of over-privileged Americans thus shaping a grim outlook on their lives. The land that Native Americans once laid their principles on was taken away and similarly escaped their pride and object for living. The outcome of reservation camps not only marginalized their identities but disallowed them to obtain any personal growth. Sherman Alexie makes light of this dissertation by exemplifying the lack of motivation and hardships of his Native people, “You start believing that you’re poor because you’re stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you’re stupid and ugly because your Indian” (Alexie, “Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” 13). While bestowed no other option of residency in a vast society, Native Americans are given the bare minimums of cultivation by restricting them to these small utopic reservation camps. In a place where everyone knows everyone, they are sheltered from the world around them prohibiting individual growth. “If the government wants to hide somebody, there is probably no place more isolated than my reservation which is located approximately one million miles north of important and two million miles west of happy” (Alexie,” Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” 30). Our minds are extremely powerful tools that require inspiration and ambition to utilize their full potential, yet these camps render Natives helpless impressionably stuck under a dark cloud. Arnold on one hand is compassionate towards his people, yet on the other hand he ventures away from his home granting him an enhanced perspective on opportunities in search of his true Identity. In the quest for a thriving future, Arnold’s character strikes young readers with a diligent urge to succeed demonstrating the will to overcome hardships and troubling events.
       While in pursuit of a gratifying existence, Arnold endures the anguish of discovering his place in two different domains. He searches for a better understanding of his future by leaving his high school on the reservation and enrolling himself into an over privileged white school on the borders of his camp. After already facing havoc from his neighbors and peers back home, Arnold, despite the resentment, willingly accepts the challenge striving for a change paramount to his survival. Yet, Arnold finds himself stuck between a hard place and a rock when he realizes that the adventure he has embarked on leaves little reward in defining the person he strives to become, “I felt like two different people inside of one body. No, I felt like a magician slicing myself in half, with Junior living on the north side of the Spokane River and Arnold living on the south” (Alexie, “Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” 61). Being a part of two different communities dispersed countless questions Arnold struggled to define while examining his true identity. Torn apart from the entity he is expected to be and the individual he conceives to be, ultimately his struggles fueled the fire necessary towards the acceptance of his place in the world, “I realized that, sure, I was a Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American immigrants. And to the tribe of basketball players. And to the tribe of bookworms” (Alexie, “Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” 217). This is a defining moment for Arnold because a resolution finally occurs. Arnold, who realizes that he is not just part of an Indian tribe, concludes there is no need to limit or label himself to a single group. With clarity, rather, a conclusion is met instead of conforming to one group he is able to distinguish his self-worth and his connection to the world around him in an immense way. This is exceptionally important to a young and vulnerable adult audience because it is a perfect representation of prevailing obstacles. It teaches a valuable lesson that although life may not be perfect and no matter how hard life may seem, we can absolutely conquer our inner most fears. By standing up against any dispute holding us back from our dreams in becoming something spectacular.         Sherman Alexie’s novel can potentially have a huge impact on its readers, making his stories valid and essential as a part of a beneficial product in a defaced American culture. The importance of the positive influence his messages bring to our young adult readers present a promising outlook on their lives. The teenagers may keep in mind that regardless of how horrible or unbearable life may seem, we are all a part of a bigger picture grouped by similar tribes that bring us together as one. So what hope can sexual references and inappropriate language possibly convey to a young teens dreams of feat? “I don’t write to protect them. It’s far too late for that. I write to give them weapons-in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monster. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed” (Alexie, “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood” 179). Perhaps we can find that answer mirrored in ourselves. After all, as adults, we too once lived our floundered years of adolescence in confusion of who we were going to be in society. We must contribute to our youths suffering because when they suffer, the future suffers.

Personal Dictionary #2

The Word/Term Include other forms of the word, e.g., noun, verb, adjective	Eccentricity, noun.
The meaning: in your own words	A person who acts outside of normal perceptions of character, odd.
An Example of the word/term.	Growing up I was always called names like weirdo based by my eccentric behavior in grade school.
A Non-example of what the word/term is not.	Celebrities in the entertainment industry follow the high fashion world in conformity of their way of life.
A Quote from the text that relates to the word/term (include page #)	“Of course, ever since white people showed up and brought along their Christianity and their fears of eccentricity, Indians have gradually lost all their tolerance” (155).
Why it matters: Why do you think the word/term is important to know and to consider further?	Native Americans have had their lives drastically changed since the times which their land was taken from them.  It was due to their peculiar behaviors and strange traditions in contrast to the beliefs of the Europeans involved in the takeover of American soil.
Questions to help think critically about the word/term.	Can judging an individual based on their eccentric behaviors also be considered as discrimination?  What kind of setting and to what extreme does it take to be classified as eccentric?
An Image that helps you visualize the word or concept