Either in a series of bullet points or freewriting, explore the following as they pertain to you:
- “Nature” – Ethnicity, Race, Gender, Sexuality, Personality
- Institutional – Nationality, Religion, Profession
- Discourse – Environmentalist, Feminist, Libertarian, Marxist, Vegan
- Affinity – Scouts, Teenager, Goth
Part II: Journal Reflection
In a personal journal or Google Doc: Once you have compiled a comprehensive list, write about the experiences you have had with each. Do not hold back. Some will offer more passionate responses than others will. Some may upset you. Some may even surprise you.
This will be part of an on-going exploration as we examine the narrative that is our lives. We are all protagonists, characters narrating our existences through our first person point of view. Remember, there is a third person narrator - dual narrative if you will - telling the story of us. Let your voice be the true war story.
Part III: Blog Discussion
In this blog space: Post ONE section that you feel comfortable sharing with the class in a blog response. Read your classmates’ responses, and please respond directly to at least one student in which you share an experience and one where you learned something new.
The thing about human nature and the nature in ourselves is all from perspective. If I was to describe my own nature and I would say that i'm pessimistic about things. I'm always thinking of the things that can go wrong, and how I can deal with them if they were to occur. I have always been this way because of my anxiety, its fueled by the unknown so I make sure I am ready for whatever could come at me that id need to deal with. Some of my close friends would say i'm an optimist because I always see the best in people and situations. My role models are all people who never went to college and dropped out of high school, but they are so talented and hard working that they are successful. They always tell me that no pessimistic person would look up to that, the way they live isn't practical. I know that its a 1 in a million chance to be successful without going through the normal ways of life, but if you work hard at it then why not? What I choose for my career isn't exactly practical, photography isn't exactly a huge money maker, but if I work at it enough then I can start my own company and make a good amount of money for it. I still would say i’m a pessimist because instead of looking at all the steps I need to take to where I want to be, I look at all the roadblocks that are in my way. I don't necessarily think its a bad thing, because when the time comes, im prepared for the hard work and i'm willing to do it.
ReplyDeleteI do wish I was more optimistic with myself. I wish that I could see the best in my work then look at it and think “this sucks.” Im still happy with the way I am because I push myself to do more, put my best possible foot forward, and working myself to a point where I am proud of myself and my work.
cora steffenson
DeleteDepression
ReplyDeleteI wrote about being a vegan in our previous post for Global Goals, so I think I will put myself out on a limb and share the label that hounds me to this day. The tricky thing is that I never understood whether “depression” goes under the Institutional or Nature category. Has depression been something I learned or inherited from my family members who suffered from the disease? Is it a byproduct of living in a society not designed for our DNA? Let’s face it, the stress we suffer comes from institutionalized elements that our ancestors did not encounter. In the case of depression, I always bought into the idea that depression was something you managed. “If you are depressed it is your fault and you need to fix it. Snap out of it.” I received the depression label as a teenager, with my mother saying, “You are just like me.” This not only made me, subconsciously, link depression with myself, but unintentionally caused me to feel like I am not a man. My father used to pride himself on “being positive.” Therefore, in my mind, my lack of “happiness” was my fault, and it became something I worked on for the next 30 years. I became a master of hiding it to the outside world. I put on a brave face all day, and crashed when I got home. In my 20s, I tried therapy, and numerous prescription drugs for depression. My goal was always to become “more positive” and happier. The drugs made me feel better, to some extent, but the side effects were crippling. Always tired. Sluggish. I would get “better” and then get off the medication, feeling like I could take it from here, only to slip into the depths again. The other issue is that I suffer from seasonal depression. I tried mood lamps, and long walks in the cold. Nothing really worked. Then, at 40, I decided I would give my life a complete overhaul. I stopped drinking alcohol, coffee, and it was partially for health reasons I became a vegan. All of this helped. I started to going to the gym 3-4 times a week. I swim. I bike. “Athlete” was never a term I used to describe myself, but it felt good. Guess what? The depression isn’t as bad, but it still did not go away. I finally saw a psychiatrist who gave me proper medication (what I was previously taking was part of the problem). He also shared that I am doing all the right things. There is nothing more I could do to improve myself. More importantly, he said that depression is obviously in my family history and hereditary. It is a condition. He told me to give myself a break. I do not need to feel ashamed or that I need to “snap out of it.” I shared this with you, because I know that it is a condition that is widely misunderstood and many people, like me, hide it well. If you have depression and need someone to talk to, I am always available.
One of my family members was severely depressed, and it turns out that a big factor was a medicine that was being given to them. I knew this family member my whole life and could have never imagined them thinking about any of the stuff that I was being told they were, and it seemed like it just wasn't the them that I knew my whole life. I think depression can be stemmed from a born illness, which would make it of nature, but when life's events are the cause, that would make it institutional.
DeleteThank you for sharing this Mr. Pellerin. For some, like myself, its hard to talk about experiences like this, but its also so important. I know a lot of people who don't want to do anything about their depression because they don't want to believe that its there. Its important for someone like you, a very powerful role model, to share stuff like this so that students don't feel so alone. It can give them the push they need to take the steps like you did to better themselves and the life they live. I admire you for sharing your story.
DeleteIf there’s one principle I value a lot, it’s coexistence, because it paves the way for cooperation and efficiency. Though I’ve never been bullied before, I understand that it’s good for nothing, and therefore feel sympathy for those who have. In this case, two of the books I read over the past year scarred me for life.
ReplyDeleteIn English 10 class, one of the books we had to read was Night, a novel Elie Wiesel wrote about his experiences at the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald. I’ve always known racism and slavery to ruin coexistence, but this reinforced my understanding that Adolf Hitler was the most evil bigot of all time! Of course, there aren’t enough words to describe the Holocaust to someone fortunate enough not to experience it. But Mr. Wiesel did his best, and it worked well, for I was in pain just reading about it!
Months later, I built up my sensitivity some more. For the summer reading, I read Stephen King’s Carrie. For those of you who haven’t read it, after years of constant humiliation, Carrie White single-handedly demolishes her hometown using telekinesis. I feel bad for Carrie, and I understand that all she ever wanted was coexistence, which is one of my values. In this case, I can safely integrate her into my beliefs and attitude.
DeleteRather than having faith in any particular religion, I take beliefs (and information) that strike my fancy, and cobble together a union of “Makers, Scientists, and Holy Phantoms.” These consist of gods and goddesses in a traditional sense, people responsible for groundbreaking inventions or discoveries, and characters (real or imaginary) who set motivational examples.
So what position does Carrie White hold? I’ve basically adopted her as this “Allied Empress” under whom the Makers, Scientists, and Holy Phantoms are all united for eternity. I merely got this idea because Carrie would recognize that she’s in trustworthy company at last.
Forgive me, I said Night was a novel, and meant memoir.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRace and immigration
ReplyDeleteObviously as listed above, race is part of my ‘Nature’. This can be a bit of a shaky topic to talk about as it has a dramatic history in the U.S. Luckily for me, I live in the twentieth century where racism has slightly toned down. I have thought about the past and the American history, especially in this year’s history course, where there have been ample evidence of racism. Certain races were reviled and even targeted by the government. Their rights were stolen from them several times and their lives were miserable. Now I’m not saying that America is now a pure country cleansed of racism. There are still some traces of it in the present day world. For example, I have been in a situation where both my family and I and the car in front of us were speeding (80ish miles per hour, not that bad). Then a police comes out of the woods. He checks both cars looking at the driver and decides to pull us over even though we were following the other car, who we could assume was white. Perhaps a hint of racism? This makes me feel more careful about what I do on the roads, knowing that sometimes I may be pulled over even when other people are doing the exact same thing. I feel slightly nervous whenever I am on the road now.
Another topic that is somewhat similar to race is immigration. Now that Donald Trump has been elected as president, some immigrants are being denied entry to the U.S. As the daughter of two immigrants to the U.S., I am very thankful that we were able to get into America without the overwhelming hassle that happens today to every immigrant. The border protection is being more strict these days as the system continues to develop. I can certainly count my lucky stars that I am able to live a good life within the United States of America.
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DeleteDonald Trump may be incapable of the disgrace and pain caused by Adolf Hitler, but he's certainly ruining our lives.
DeleteI think you meant the 21st century.
DeleteCatholic
ReplyDeleteMy family is casually religious. Although he grew up in a very Catholic family, my dad doesn’t care much for religion. My mom on other hand, is fairly religious, mostly because it brought her faith through tough phases of her life. She wasn’t as lucky as me and relied on faith to pull her through. She made my older brothers go to CCD (like sunday school), so I had to go as well. When I was in elementary school, I absolutely loved going to CCD, not because I was super religious or because I heavily believed in everything, but because they would tell us stories that were interesting. I didn’t necessarily believe that many of the stories actually happened, but I found a sense of security and relatability in them that I could implement in my own life. I would pray every night and it became a way for me to vent and have my own quiet time.
However, middle school came along and I discovered the stigma placed around religion, along with the controversial views of my own religion. Abortion and LGBT rights were controversial topics in Catholicism and it led to many stereotypes and stigmas on it. I didn’t agree with the views of my religion on political matters, and that stigma placed on it made me feel like I needed to take a step back from it in order to fit in with my peers. I went into this mindset that I didn’t like CCD and that it was more of a chore than something I could benefit from.
By sophomore year I had to make my Confirmation, and through a retreat, I was forced to open up to what I was learning. I realized that even though I don’t agree with many of the viewpoints of Catholicism, those stories I loved hearing as a kid at CCD did have so much meaning. I started to pay more attention at mass, actually listen to the morals behind stories, and started to soak in the advice they were giving us like I did when I was little. I still don’t go to mass really, and nor would I call myself extremely religious. For me, it’s casual, and it’s just a way of keeping faith and a source of hope when all seems lost. That’s why it’s an important part of who I am, and I’m not ashamed of it as I was in middle school.
My family is Catholic as well and I definitely agree with what you said. I am not very religious, my family and I don't go to church a lot, we really only go on the holidays (Christmas, Easter, etc.), but when we do go we all enjoy it. I also don't agree with some of the Catholic views, so I too choose which beliefs I value.
DeleteThat's the spirit, picking beliefs that strike your fancy.
DeleteMy family includes many immigrants. My mom came from a country in the middle of Europe called Slovakia and my dads family came from Italy a few generations before me. Both faced many hardships coming to the United States, but I wanted to talk about my mom and her family because she tells me about so much. My mom and her brother(My uncle) came to the United States when they were my age and went through a lot to get here. At the time. Slovakia was a Communist country so they faced political persecution before they left. They were forced to live in Austria for a couple years before they could gain US citizenship and save up enough money to go. Her parents faced many obstacles coming to the United States by working multiple jobs with my mom and uncle having to help them as well; cleaning houses late at night so that they could afford to stay. Both my mom and her brother had to juggle this work with school. It also was not easy to go to school when they did not speak almost any English. My mom tells me this story a lot but I still can’t imagine how hard it was to leave her friends and family back home. She also tells me this story to remind me that compared to her, I did not have to deal with nearly as many hardships in my life, which always encourages me to work harder in school and in life.
ReplyDeleteEthnicity is based on culture rather than your biology. In my household, our culture is a blend of many different cutures. My mom was raised in Costa Rica so she makes alot of hispantic food and we visit her aunt and uncle there. My dad is Japanese and went to school in the UK so we eat alot of Japanese food and UK food. We visit my grandparent most summer and I use to study Japanese in school. I moved here when I was four so I don’t remember alot about my time in Japanese. I was raised around american culture. The summer going into 5th grade I went to a school in Japan for 2 weeks. Almost of all of the kids didn’t speak english being that they were in 4th grade(grades are different in Japan, finish school in 11th grade)so I would rarely . The culture at school was very different, we take off our shoes when entering school and put on slippers. It was a culture shook as I don’t remember going to school in Japan when I was young. Everyone walk from school to their house(this was in tokyo but like in the main city part of the city). In Japan most kids are Japanese 100% there are not alot of mixed kids so everyone was so interested in me. In the US, we have more variation in races of kids(we still have majorities races and minority but the minority are so much bigger). Experiencing a whole new side of this culture was very interesting to me because I’d been to Japan many times before this was different. This made me realize how important my US culture has affected me and influenced how I see things.
ReplyDeleteCultural difference is crazyyyyy. And foods are always important, they are the soul of a place and a people :ppp
DeleteYou eat what you like, I'll eat what I like. But if your default meal is unavailable, be prepared to improvise and try something new.
DeleteI like how you say that it is culture, rather than biology, that makes your ethnicity. The culture of American society has also influenced the culture of my family, making some of my relatives change their traditions into to try to seem more American.
DeleteChloe Hanrahan
ReplyDeleteDivorce
My parents divorce is really something that shifted how I act. It was the first time I saw my Superwoman and Superman as just Ruby and John. I know that to most a divorce doesn’t seem like a big deal, but for me it sprung a lot of other struggles. I was never the coolest kid or the smartest. I got good grades, but my sister was the smart one. I could make people laugh, but my uncle was the funny one in the family. I loved playing soccer, but my cousin she was the athlete. I never felt like I had an identity. But when my parents began their divorce I found my identity - Fixer. I was nine when my parents told my sister and I they were splitting up, but within the span of a week I became an adult. I comforted my father when he cried and apologized to my sister and I, I listened to my parents rant about the other one, and I watched as my family members shut down. It felt like no one knew how to regulate what was going on.
From this Fixer identity grew the inability to be a normal kid. I think people have noticed about me that I’m a loud goofy person and this is true, but sometimes it feels like I didn’t get to finish my childhood so I keep that little Chloe through goofiness. It was really hard for little third grade Chloe to make friends anymore because I felt like none of the kids my age understood what I was going through. I would stay inside during lunch/recess and eat with my third grade teacher. She made me feel completely normal. Without my parent’s divorce I wouldn’t want to be a teacher because the way Mrs. Hartwell treated me made me feel normal. Staying in with her almost everyday gave me someone to talk to and I want be that for someone else one day. If I could be half the teacher she is I’ll be very lucky.
I also fall into the Fixer in my new friendships; I like to make sure everyone is okay with each other and everyone is happy. Like Mr. Pellerin I struggle with depression because it runs in my family and because I’ve gone through a lot of hard things. What I’ve written is just the surface of the effect of my parent’s divorce on me. I love my family and my parents, but this identity being a kid from a broken home has really taken its toll on me. Sometimes I wish they had divorced when I was younger because I wouldn’t remember it. When my parent’s divorce began I started therapy and my first therapist (whom I literally hated) said something that has stuck with me: “Divorce for a child is like a death of both their parents because they seem them as humans for the first time. You don’t have a Superman anymore, which means you have to be your own superhero.”
By the way, I think I might know what it was that you said to your (and please excuse me for forgetting whether you said there were any great's) Grandmother. "Gute nacht, Ich liebe du." Bist das was du gesagt, oder ist mein Deutsch schlecht. (Is this what you said, or is my German bad.)
Delete?
DeleteDon't laugh at me, I'm only testing myself.
DeleteI think your brave like a superhero to talk so openly!
DeleteSomething in my life that I think is different from most people I know is my nationality. What people may or may not know is that I am Russian. This hasn’t really impacted my life in major ways like other people have experienced. At worst, I’ve experienced confusion and at best I’ve learned a lot from it. An example is my last year US history class. A time period which we experienced is the Cold War. While this section was going on it had a lot of do with the propaganda between the US and Russia (the Soviet Union). Being in the US I guessed that the books would be bias towards the US and I wasn’t wrong about this. In that class I learned a lot about what the US had thought of the Russians. It was clearly visible that there was a disliking among them and that there was a rough relationship with them. However, when I told my parents about this they explained to me their experience of this time, seeing as how they had lived through part of it in the Soviet Union. They also experienced a similar side as Americans had. There was a lot of propaganda and disliking formed. They were told that everything that Americans were doing was bad and they were better. After learning all of this, it was a helpful life lesson for me that I needed to see all sides of something before I can make a judgement about it. And if I didn’t have all of the facts that I need to allow other people to express their ideas and not shut them down. I believe being brought up with different views compared to other people has let me accept ideas that I might’ve not accepted if things were different.
ReplyDeleteAgnostic
ReplyDeleteMy parents are casual followers of Catholicism. We have gone to church a few times when I was younger but I was never pressured to follow it. I was allowed to develop my own thoughts on religion and through education, I have come to realize that that religion is a hindrance for society. In school, I learned about the bloody Crusades that were justified by religion. In the news, I learned of priests abusing their power and molesting children. On social media, I learned about the oppression of women through their firsthand accounts. If God is real then why would he let his followers do this? People will deny human rights and scientific facts such as evolution in favor of their beliefs. I’m not saying that every religious person is a bad person but I don’t see the influence of religion as positive. Studies have shown that the least developed nations have the highest number of believers and the most developed nations have the least believers. Despite all of this, I can’t say that God is not real as there is really no way to prove it. There is a slight chance that everything I thought I knew is false. Maybe he is out there and is just busy with some other planet and lifeform. There are many things to learn from being religious but there are too many negative aspects for me to devote myself to one.
Or could there be more than one?
DeleteMixed
ReplyDeleteMy dad is pretty all-American. He was born and raised here, has gone to all the 48 continental states, and he loves Elvis. His mother is from NYC, English descent. His father is full Italian, first generation American. His grandparents were both Italian immigrants, who brought this huge family to America through years of hardship. And my mom, she's a little different. She's an immigrant herself, born and raised in Taiwan. She was raised in a different language, with a different lifestyle than my dad. She came to America to get her Masters, and stayed even though she couldn't speak the language well. You'd think people from different places wouldn't end up together, but centuries have told that it happens. And here my brother and I am, proof that it happens. We aren't Taiwanese like my mom. We aren't full Italian blood like my grandfather. We aren't full English blood like my grandmother. We're split. I'm split. And I have not made my peace with that fact. It would be so much easier if I was full. The neighborhood grannies wouldn't whisper. I wouldn't get stared at when I come to a rural place. I wouldn't get "what are you?" one too many times. I wouldn't get "why is your last name De Angelis? Were you adopted?" one too many times. I could be more carefree, I could worry less about speaking to my family, my blood on the other side of the world. I wouldn't worry about missing out on major events because a plane ticket has to be used wisely so should I miss this wedding or the next, and what if this is the last time I'm going to see my grandmother, who I love more than anything but I've only met 5 times in my life? I would be pulled to one side, not pulled from both, like a tug of war, and my body is so tired of being wrung. I would have happy ignorance, not the cold mistress Truth. It would be easier.
And yet I cannot imagine life not being mixed.
I cannot imagine my life not making dumplings on a warm spring day. I cannot imagine my life not sitting together at a table with a lasagna instead of a casserole. I cannot imagine my life not traveling 16 hours on a plane to the hot, humid city where my grandmother is there with a bowl of soup, with my name on her tongue and her fingers pinching my cheeks. I cannot imagine my life not sitting with my grandfather, him tracing our last name on the dining room table and reminding me that I'm a De Angelis, and what that means. I cannot imagine my life without counting in Chinese first, without my great-grandmother's tomato sauce recipe at Thanksgiving, without steamed buns in the morning, without the bump on my nose that everyone shares. I cannot be myself not being mixed. So I'm not okay, and I'm okay with that.
I cannot related to being part of a mixed race family at all, but it was very interesting how you described your life and your culture being "spilt," since you have struggled with what side you are more pulled to. It is great that you have come to terms with who you are, embracing the fact and understanding that it is part of what makes you who you are.
DeleteI also agree with Sydney in that it was very interesting how you described your life and how being mixed is and the fact that accept the fact that you are mixed.
DeleteBeing Asian especially in a predominantly white neighbor can be a struggle and it always has been since I was in elementary school. From the beginning, I knew that I was different not only by my skin color but just the difference in culture that I grew up in my house. I think no one really cared about certain differences like race until I was probably in either second or third grade. I would sometimes be asked, “What are you?” or “Where are you from?” from other kids in my grade. And being just a kid, I would respond either that I'm American or I'm from Massachusetts as the rest of the kids. But then they would say, “No, where are you REALLY from?” When I was first asked this question, I didn’t mind it at first because I knew that it was just out of curiosity. But, when I got asked this question numerous more times after my first encounter or if kids were gonna use it against me, I got angry and frustrated with not only at them but also with myself. I would even say that I am Korean and they would still ignorantly ask me, “Oh… so you’re North Korean then right?”
ReplyDelete………*silently throws shade
Khfskjadfksdkjsdkafsgugfskkiuyguygyuguuftdgdtyethfghoijhggcgchgchgsdfseerseawawefcgvhjbjkiuhkkcghchgjhiuuguftxfchjbjufxhvhrsfxjhftxghvkjoihyxgvlyfppohify
(this is all in my mind btw)
Even today it is a struggle that I have to go through every day. I don’t only struggle with people trying to identify who I am, but also dealing with the stereotypes. I’ve heard people say that “Asians are smart” or even “Asians eat dogs.” First of all, it's not a matter of who smart or not and it's more of how some people can retain a certain amount of knowledge. And not all Asians are smart, like me for example. I may not be the smartest when it comes to academics, but I can have more knowledge on other subjects, like art, music, sports and so on. And secondly, not all of us eat dog. I know that in other Asian countries they do consider dogs as any other animal to eat and yes, it's cruel in many contexts. But honestly, some people don’t even have a choice, especially when they don’t have much to eat. Personally, I never tried dog before and don’t plan to in the future so I don’t even know what it tastes like, but from people that I know and have eaten dog before, in their perspective, they didn’t even know they were given dog until the person that cooked it from them said so. And those people told me that it tastes like any other meat. Even a few months ago, I was watching videos on youtube about North Korean refugees telling their stories of what their life was like and how they can’t even eat beef (because you could be killed for it) or sometimes pork so they have to eat other animals like dog, squirrels, rabbits, and other animals they could find in the forest. I just wish that our society didn’t have to have these stereotypes, racist remarks, and stigmas about someone just because their race.
All stereotypes have exceptions, so it's easier not to believe in any of them.
DeleteHonestly that is so relateable. In my experiences in elementary school, people couldn't tell the difference between chinese and korean. So I had people coming up to me saying "hi" in Korean. Similar to your situation, it is kinda awkward
DeleteI remember a story where in the olympics or something people said they were north korean and I was like really the flag is totally different and north koreans were not in the olympics until recently. It hard because sterotypes are the only things people know about a race sometimes
DeleteI really agree with a lot of points. Being asian is immediately associated with all these negative things, but it's just an alien culture, not a bad culture. People don't seem to get that people are different and you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
DeleteTo add on, the dogs that are eaten are usually bred for consumption just like any other animal that is eaten. Too many people assume Asians eat dogs kept as pets.
DeleteI know that this blog post may seem to be a bit a of rant and I'm sorry if I came off negative towards anyone, but when writing this, I got really caught up in my own feelings and do want to say that even though this is an issue I do struggle with today, I don't receive that many racist comments as I used to today than I did in the past. And despite these racial tensions, I'm happy to be who I am and I'm not ashamed of being Korean-American, or otherwise known as Asian when it comes to race.
ReplyDeleteMany people think that concussions are a rather minor injury, that you will be back to doing the same things as before in a week or two. But concussions aren’t always that minor; sometimes, they are quite severe and it take months to recover. I first got a concussion while playing soccer during the fall of sixth grade. It was the first game that I was allowed to play in after I tore a ligament in my thumb (also from playing soccer), and a girl on the opposing team accidentally kicked the ball right under my chin and made my head snap back. I was knocked unconscious and just lay, completely still, on the ground for some time. It took me about a month to recover from this concussion, which was a severe one. Then, at the very beginning of seventh grade, just two days after school had started, I got a second severe concussion playing soccer, but I can not remember it happening, I can only remember what happened hours later. I only know how it happened based on other people's terms of events. Both of the concussions had occurred within a year of the other so it was very disconcerting to the doctors since the smaller amount of time in between brain injuries, the greater the risk of permanent damage. They were also worried about how my head got better and then worse in about a day which could have meant that my brain was bleeding internally. I remember the looks on their faces when I told them that I felt almost completely normal, with the exception of mild headache for a brief time. Then it became something much worse than I had ever had before, all in the course of a single day. At first, their expressions had been those of polite kindness, when I told them this, their faces tightened up, still trying to seem that everything was normal, even though it was not. I almost had to have brain surgery to remove the pressure in my head, but luckily it subsided by itself. It took a year for me to recover from this concussion and if I get another, I can never play contact sports again.
ReplyDeleteI had to wear sunglass everywhere I went because the light bothered my head so much. I had episodes of blacking out. I couldn’t use any screens, I couldn’t read, I couldn’t learn, I couldn’t even think because of how much those things hurt my head. I wasn’t able to go to school for three months, and when I was finally able to go back, it was only for one class at a time. It took months of slowly working my way up to eventually be able to stay in school for an entire day without frequent breaks in the nurse’s office.
These concussions ended up triggering migraines, which I still get frequently. In these, half of my vision is gone, entirely black, and I cannot really see. At first the doctors thought I might have a brain tumor so I need to get a MRI with contrast, but luckily they only ended up being migraines. These times of blindness happen often too, generally at least once a day and at any time, while sitting in class, while at practice, while driving, and I can’t do anything to stop them. These brain injuries have influenced my everyday life, becoming a part of who I am today.
Nature: I was born a straight, white male, into a family of mainly Welsh descent. My uncle is from Mexico, and my great aunt is African-American, but most of my blood relatives are either Welsh or Italian. I was born with a very impulsive personality. I have always done the first thing that comes to my mind and I rarely think before I speak. I think that my diverse family, with different races, religions, and sexualities has helped me reach a greater understanding of how everyone is just a human being on the inside. I grew up in a house with two siblings, and being the only straight one showed me how common it is for someone to be born gay, which I never really understood growing up. I don’t have a lot of diversity in my own nature, but those who surround me have really taught me how I should treat everyone equally.
ReplyDeleteDiscourse: I don’t really have any discourse. If anything, I’d label myself agnostic, but the only thing that I really like to be labeled is Will.
DeleteIslam
ReplyDeleteEveryone lives by a series of principles which most predominantly guides our decisions in life. I live by the principles and values of the religion I was taught in my household growing up (Islam). Being muslim is something that is quite momentous to me, and I believe that it’s important to understand the distinction between following and believing in a religion. I feel like religion affects everything in my life on a fundamental level. My view of the world and sense of purpose stem from my religious beliefs. In my younger ages growing up and being asked about Islam and some restrictions our religion had would sometimes exasperate me. Not necessarily because I got an overwhelming amount of questions, but because of the perplexed looks or responses I would get in return. Since the majority of children back then were not exposed to much culture other than their own (in my opinion) they found some of my beliefs a bit unusual. For example telling them that I couldn’t eat pork, or why I had to fast, followed up with a vast amount of questions. Nowadays more people are revealed to much more diverse cultures and religions, but not everyone in our society accept people of different races or religions. Hearing things from the news or from different people saying how us muslims are “terrorists” is something that really infuriates me. Muslims are often blamed for single acts of terror, which most definitely displays prejudice and needs to stop soon.
I totally agree, judging a group simply by the actions of few is so wrong. Being not religious, it's really interesting to me that you have a lived a different life shaped by a different religion than what I am used to.
DeleteDonald Trump must be stopped! He gets in everybody's way!
DeleteCuber-Quite easily noticeable, as I usually take a puzzle or two with me to school. Although my times are mediocre compared with other speedcubers, I still enjoy playing with my puzzles, finding various efficient solutions to problems. This also enables me to solve different problems by thinking differently than others, making difficult concepts easier.
ReplyDelete*I posted this late sorry
I'm also a Table Tennis Player and gamer
DeleteNature: I am a European American, White, Male, Heterosexual, I am what some consider a perfectionist, brutally honest, a pessimist, I sometimes take things too literally, I sometimes have a hard time understanding when something’s a joke, I like to play, design and create video games, I like to try to make jokes, I would say that they either succeed or fail with about a 1:1 ratio. I am introverted
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ReplyDeleteBeing a teenager is a strange thing. It is a part of life where you are uncertain. You are not a child anymore yet not an adult either. It is that in between part and that can be somewhat intimidating in a way. New things start to come into your life as well as new experiences and responsibilities. Freedom becomes more prevalent. And that can be scary as well but also exciting. Teenage years also bring a rollercoaster of emotions.And these emotions can be tough to decipher like a lot of the things that are related to being a teen. Being a teenager brings a flurry of ups and downs I think that you don’t really go through unless your a teenager.
ReplyDelete(Mixed) I come from a family of being half Salvadorian and half Italian. I appreciate this a lot because I get a little bit of culture from each part of my family. This is throughout things like food, gatherings, celebrations, music and much more. It gives me a more open mind about other cultures in life as well.
DeleteMy affinity for nature takes me far. Nature is something I have been in love with for a long time. When I was younger, I first became interested in camping, conservation and sustainability because I loved the scale of how things exist. I enjoyed seeing bugs and animals because I knew that I excited them as much as they provoked my interest. I do not personify with critters, but I certainly do have an empathy for them. It gave me an understanding that this earth does not only belong to us. I felt a certain duty to the outdoors that I must protect and contribute to the conservation of it. It is where we all come from, it is where we all stay. My activity in the scouts gives me the opportunity to take part in service projects and ways to conserve the place I love. I understand that I not everyone will agree with this and not everyone will take something from my values, but that has never stopped anybody who sought a better world.
ReplyDeleteIt could be confusing what I am talking about. When I say nature, I do not mean the nature talked about in the question, I meant the nature as in the world around us.
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DeleteI love nature as well. It's very serene and helps me be calm. It also helps get things off my mind.
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ReplyDeleteInstitutional- I am Jewish but because of the communal aspect. I don't believe in some of the teachings of Judaism but I do believe in how it can bring people together and allow people to be in a community. Judaism in my family comes with a couple different things. My siblings and I all got bar/batmitzvah'd but we also had to learn about the Holocaust at an incredibly young age and this caused me to see and learn about hate in a different way too.
ReplyDeleteNature:
ReplyDelete- Female
- Pansexual
- Headstrong
- Brutally Honest
- Puts others before themself.
- Leader
- Shy
- American
- Irish/Scottish
- Depressed
- Sociopath
- Slightly Psychotic
- Homicidal
Institutional:
- Agnostic
- Raised Christian/Jewish
- Story Teller/Maker
- Army Medic
Discourse:
- Anatomist
- Equalist
Affinity:
- Teenager
- Soccer Player/Referee
- Artist
- Making stories
- Dark jokes
- Gamer
I am definitely white. My Dad being Irish has given my sisters and I very fair skin and an array of freckles. Though I sometimes wish I was a little tanner during the summer, or didn’t have to wear so much sunscreen I consider myself lucky to be able to say that I don’t believe the color of my skin has held me back in any way yet in society. Though my dad is 100% Irish, my mom’s side is a little more complicated. She is french canadian, Native American, and German. To me, this doesn’t physically affect me much, but it does give me an ability to connect to her side of the family. For example, my grandparents on my mom’s side are definitely more involved in my life than my dad’s parents are. They come visit or send letters to us every holiday, and they know our personalities (however, it is more natural for them to do this because we are their only grandchildren and my dad’s parents have a total of 27 grandchildren to think about. My grandparents on my mom’s side are very passionate about their history (especially my grandfather.) I even call him pepere while I call my grandmother grandma. He has always encouraged me to take french and I feel like I wanted to take it in middle school mostly because of the connection my family had to the french culture. Also, my grandfather was a big influence on me getting my Native American citizenship card. He wanted me to proud of my heritage and when I felt bad about using the card to get lighter admission fees into college, he told me that my ancestors earned me this right and I accepted that. Though nobody would ever be able to tell from looking at me that I am Native American, I do like the fact that I can surprise people by announcing it.
ReplyDeleteI am Sicilian- I am Sicilian from my Dad’s side. Specifically, my Dad’s mom. I am told often by various other family members and people that I look most like my Dad and his relatives (the Fisichella’s) and nothing like my mom or sister. I actually take pride in this, when I was younger every Wednesday night would be spent at my Great Grandmother’s house with her, my dad and my aunts and uncles. I was young and didn’t always understand the conversations they had but I will always remember the loud roaring laughter and the strong smell of fish with bread crumbs, stuffed mushrooms and red wine. I loved it all. However my last name does not reflect all of this. I was always unhappy with Magner. It’s funny because I am so similar to my Sicilian family members both in physical appearance as well as personality. For the longest time I’ve signed my name only using my last initial because of this.
ReplyDeleteDiscourse- I am a pescatarian, so I don't eat meat except for fish. Whenever I tell people this I always feel uncomfortable because they always ask a lot of questions like "what is that?", and "why are you that?". I usually respond with, "because not eating meat helps the environment (especially not eating cows), but also because the conditions that a lot of these animals are living in is really sad and how they are killed is sad too". After I tell people this they usually feel like they have to back themselves up and argue with me about how they could never give up meat. I don't understand this because when I tell people my reasoning, I am not trying to make them feel bad about the fact that they eat meat, I am just explaining why I eat the way I do. I also think that becoming pescatarian or vegan or another diet can be harder for certain people. My mom never cooked cow or pig because she didn't really care for that type of meat, and she also sympathized most with those animals. So becoming pescatarian wasn't that hard of a transition for me because I wasn't used to eating cow or pig, the only meat I had to give up was chicken and turkey. It also helped that I like tofu, which many people do not. So when I explain my reasoning to people for why I am a pescatarian I never want them to feel bad for eating meat themselves, because it is a hard thing to do and for some it is harder to do than for others.
ReplyDeleteI've been a vegetarian for years, and I even count underwater creatures as meat.
DeleteBy the way, I also like tofu!
DeleteThis is something that I just wrote - I don't know if it's responding to the prompt but I thought I might as well share it...
ReplyDeleteThere are multiple sides to me. On one side I am very reserved, quiet, intimate and personal. On another side I can be outgoing, funny, creative, and wacky. There’s also a side of me that can be mature, leader, someone to look up to.
For all characteristics of me there is an opposite characteristic to counteract that characteristic - maybe that’s just human, but when I reflect on my characteristics it’s obvious to me that there is a direct correlation with where I am in that moment.
Living in the moment is my AFFINITY. Maybe because I'm a theatre kid, maybe because I have ADD, maybe because my parents force the issue when I 'm struggling with time management. I think being human means that I will always have mutiple sides to choose from to balance myself out when I need it.
ReplyDeleteSo in this blog post I'll be talking about my affinity. This has to go to poetry. I've been writing poetry for almost my entire life, but now is the time where I took it seriously and started actively writing poems. I had been dormant with my poetry for a couple years, but this year is when I finally came back to it. The thing that brought me back was mainly the band, The Doors. I finally got around to listening to them these past few months and I don't regret my decision. They were a great band with a very interesting history. But it was mainly one person from The Doors that brought me back. That person was Jim Morrison; front man for The Doors and an incredible poet. He may not have been the greatest person in his short 27 years of life, but he definitely made an impact. His poetic works are fantastic and I can only hope for my works to one day be as good as his. As I'm typing up this blog post, I'm also writing a poem. So in essence, without him, I would've dropped poetry for good and just moved on. And as an added bonus, people I've shared my poems with have all loved them, or at least something about them. This makes me happy and makes me want to keep writing. The best part would be that I can write about literally anything that comes to mind. I just have to think about a topic for a short while, and I'll have the basis for a poem. But, I always keep in the back of my head that I can't please everyone.
ReplyDelete