Angelyque Oquendo

9/29/17

Ms. Pahomov

English 2

10th Grade

Is It really?

Oh! Crap I’m late, I run to put clothes on throwing on whatever caught my eye first at my only chance at not being late to this special “appointment”. I’m running to the bus with my mom we are trying to catch our breathes, while having a thick lump in my throat trying to catch what little air I can inhale. My pace is accelerating as I get warmed up to run faster, and faster to catch the late bus. As I reached the door it’d slide shut half way and I thrusted my arm through the opened crack of the door and the door slid right back while yelling for my mother to catch up, . Soon enough someone had offered their seat to me and my mom, but I hesitantly accepted the offer to the seat, sat down next to my mom it was akward at first but then I soon enough let it go.

All I can think about was that I’m not cut out for this, what if they wont except me or like me or even care about me, “ That’s basically all I thought about” that whole bus ride. My mom just kepted on say is that “you’ll be fine, you will be ok/ They’ll love you”, and basically I just blodded most of that out of my head and honestly I have no idea why I care so much about why my other side of my family will even like or acknowledge me or even love me, for some reason I just wanna get a good look of why I’m trying so hard at this attempt of what is actually not me.

“Angelyque Oquendo is not a punctual person she can be punctal if she is determined at what she puts her mind to, her meeting and seeing her dad’s side of the family again to at least remember what, who everyone still or might look like”. Back to whatever mom was doing I guess trying to get my attention “ANGEL!” “huh yea” “come on were getting off” So we hoop off the bus and carry on walking to the next corner of something and Market ,“I don’t remeber the street my mom was walking to fast for me to see”, but we are suppose to meet with everyone I think it was TGI Friday’s or Target I don’t know I can’t really remember. It all of a sudden gotten really chilly and personally I thought of it being the emotion I felt or the weather either or I did’nt really like the feeling.

As we walked right in and up the stairs to the resturant of TGIFriday’s a hostess greeted us and we greeted back she asked where we’d like to sit but we told her were with a party, she asked which, we told her the name of the party and she escorted me and my mom to the tables, As we walked up the stairs and followed the hostess she gently gestured us the event right infront of our eyes as I stood there and I froze for a solid 3 minutes before anyone had noticed me and my mom standing there, she was smiling so bright like she had just gotten proposed to and I have my eyes wide open so wide that if you looked deep enough you can probably see me shivering inside. I may-be exaggerating just alittle but I was really wondering why I did’nt remember half of my siblings faces and half of my cousin/ aunts, uncles I mean come on I have a huge family. I guess what I learned from this moment in my life would be that “Don’t always expect the worst in people”.

So we are laughing and giggling together about something very funny a comment from the my old sister Auroara and she is hirlarious plus she’s smart, nice. Well some of my family member’s are almost exactly the same they all have a sense of humor and are very intelligent, some of them have a really contagious laugh, but they make up for it and as I think to myself they are’nt that bad I thought that they’ll be really rude or boring, ugly. I’m kidding except for Phil that man is ugly as my dad calls him “Ugly Phil”. Anyway after the little party celebration they invited me to go to the movies with them another time I accepted and we all said our goodbye’s and exchanged numbers, My mom and I got a ride home by my sister she has a buggy car “punch buggy no license car” and while my mom chatted on with her in the car I started to drift away in the music thinking to myself that this was’nt so bad “Never judge a book or dictionary by it’s cover”.

                                                                                     Octavain A. Davis

                                                                                                                 09/26/17

                                                                                                                 English 2

                                                                                                    Essay Assignment

                                                                          System: Blatant Disrespect

I raised my hand in class.

“Yes, Octavian?” Ms. Pahomov called on me.

I waited for the class to get quiet. There was a little bit of talking. When they didn’t get quiet right away, I began to feel so disrespected.

I put my hand back down. “That’s ok.”

Jayden’s hand was also raised as he was the next person to be called on by Ms. Pahomov. He asked,

“Can you include slang in the essay, or naw?”

That was my question! Of course I had to remember that this was a new environment with new inhabitants for me. It wasn’t nearly as horrible as my past experiences which made me take this small issue to heart in the past, when I was extremely shy and much more humble. I would often experience things that no one my age should experience. This included physical destruction, sexual exposure, and horrific attitudes.

As usual, I was considered the weird kid. The one that nobody really knew until speaking with me. This is actually the reason for me making lifelong friends, of course things such as this will always have its cons. Charles, an old classmate of mine, he’s wild, obnoxious, and takes nothing serious. From the day I’ve started school, I would always end up sitting with the wild kid, need it be mentally corrupted or just plain down disrespectful.

“Yo, bro, look,” He said.

I looked down just to see him gripping his penis from the outside of his pants. Mind you, the uniforms were mandatory for school acknowledgement and their pants were sometimes thin. At this time I was extremely humble, shy, and a little afraid of authority. There would be times my teacher wouldn’t know I was there until he saw me eating alone on floors that were absolutely off limits to students. I raised my hand, but wasn’t satisfied with her seeing my handup and still just passing over me so I got her attention the only other way I knew how.

“Ms. Legan!”

She never liked me. She was what you considered a “ghetto” teacher. To this day I wish I had never met Ms. Legan. She plays a small part in why I'm a little angry at most things. I was embarrassed by her sometimes, and trust me, she’s not the only teacher. Literally, she would embarrass me. Mind you, some of the kids are still talking and this was actually my first time getting loud in school as well.

“Who you screaming at!” She said

“Ms. Legan, you need to get him!”

“You better sit down!”

“He’s over there playing with himself!”

“So! You don’t like it, then go tell the principal!”

Confused, I sat back down calling my mother soon after. I could hear the others talking in the background about me. My mom, being the awesome person she is, called up to the school's front office and talked to a few staff  members.

“Yeah baby, I talked to some of the security gua…”

My phone was hung up by two others near me. I was pissed! That's when I sort of let loose and gained a much more bolder, slightly negative attitude. I was able to get my mother back on the phone, but she could hear the anger in my voice.

“Calm down Platinum, don’t let them get to you. If nothing's done, then I'm coming up in that ____ !”

This wasn't the first time my mother had to come up, and more of a sense that we were tired of playing by the rules. We wanted something to be done, and done it was. Turns out my mom didn’t have to come up to the school, there was a security guard in there that knew me very well. He knew I wasn’t trouble, he also knew that Charles was. By him knowing this, he didn’t hesitate not one bit to handle him. I didn't see him for the rest of the day, but the security guard told me that he was taken care of. If I’m correct, I think I remember seeing him in the front office? After many experiences and many observations, the truth is, I lack true friends and I’m very unsure when it comes to happiness. I’m now highly picky with who I call “friend” and who I go places with. I actually have some seniors now that I call “friend,” but this is probably the last year I see them so when you think about it, they’re really just associates! I do believe in making others happy, just because I had bad experiences doesn't mean they should, right?  I do want to take this time to provide you with another event to kind of give you a better idea of how Ms. Legan was. I never went on class trips for your information because I was afraid of three things that would happen. I could get into conflicts with the other students, I could get disrespected to the maximum (this isn’t foreign), and possibly get embarrassed by my teacher. But me being the kind hearted fool I was, I let one of what I thought was a friend persuade me to go. A lot happened during the trip but the real action happens after, the teachers got our attention.

“Almost time to go, get y’all stuff together y’all!” She said.

I got my stuff together and I saw what looked to be our bus. Was it our bus? I don’t remember, but what I do remember is her jumping in front of me.

“Where ya going! Where ya going! You better back up!”

I backed up, but of course I had a confused look on my face. She saw that and I guess thought that was the perfect opportunity to strike. She moved her face as close as four inches to mine.

“What ya gonna do, huh! What ya gonna do?! You ain’t nothing special, you better back up! Hmm, what you think this is.”

This was one of the many times I felt a little streak of negativity retaliation and violence in me, but this time it was here to stay. I’m so glad I had self control, because believe it or not, I was really considering getting disrespectful and possibly physical with the women (age 35). Also, she had her two kids and her husband right down the street. So I guess by that being so, I guess she thought she had backup if needed. You know what’s so funny to me though, because I wasn’t like the others in my class I guess, she messed with me a lot. Oh! Did I mention her and Charles were close, she loved him. Why!? Because in her eyes he was funny! I guess you could say in her class it's bad to have your own mind, but now I’m in SLA. Yeah there are others that call me weird, but it’s to the point now I just…

I guess you can say I'm used to it, not to mention now I actually do act a bit weird. But it makes others day much brighter than mine, laughter is always needed and luckily I'm able to provide just that.

If we were born able to stand up, I would have been dancing from birth. It's something about the bass in music that makes me just want to move and the rhythm in songs that make it flow. It's effortless... It just happens. There's also that part of me that believes it's in my blood, having so many family members that dance. My father is strictly Hip-Hop, and my mom moves to whatever gets her up. And great grandfather was  a professional ballet dancer.

I remember the first dance book I signed out of the school library in first grade. It might have been the pink tutus that drew me in or how beautiful the pictures in the book looked. I just knew that I wanted to be a ballerina. When I got home that night with my new book, i told my mom,

“Mommy I think I want to be a ballerina.”

“That's great.” she responded. “Did you know that I took ballet classes when I was younger?”

“Really? You never told me!”

“Yeah, but I don't think that you will like ballet classes Rasa. the teachers are really strict. I hated dance classes.”

Even Though my mom suggested that I shouldn't take ballet classes, It was really her way of saying she wasn't going to let me.

I will always remember the day, I was at my grandmother's and my mom called with “Good News.”

“Hey Rasa do you still want to take dance classes?” she asked

“Of course I do mommy!”

“Ok, it’s a summer camp that goes on throughout the summer and you can start on Monday. The only thing is, they started a week ago.”

I was thrilled to start dance classes, but nervous because I was going to be a week behind the other dancers. The weekend flew by and on sunday my bags were packed to come home.

Monday morning came and I was up extra early eager to get ready and go. I was unsure of what to wear. So I packed some black and nude tights and my black high top converse. After breakfast my mom, dad, and I got in the car to go to the dance “The Pointe Dance Studio.” My heart started pounding as we walked up the stairs to the office. We signed in and were shortly helped. The lady at the desk asked me if I had any dance clothes. I showed her my tights and shoes. She told us we had to buy jazz shoes, ballet shoes, and a black leotard. I had no Idea I would need so much for classes.

My mom bought everything I needed for classes and left. I quickly went to the bathroom and got changed. I felt to naked in my new dance clothes. The lady at the front desk told me to go straight to the back for my first class. My first class was jazz. I thought I was nervous before, but my heart was pounding and I was shaking when I was introduced to the teacher and the class.

Once I was introduced to the teacher, she told the girls to do the dance from the top. The song was a remix of “bust your windows” by Jazmine Sullivan. I couldn't believe that I was about to learn the dance that they did. I was speechless.  There was so much movement and sass, From head rolls and snaps to chassés and jazz runs. I wanted to get right to it. After jazz I had ballet, hip-hop and modern. I knew that this was the missing piece to my puzzle. Dance became my everything.

Right now i've been dancing for almost 4 years and will be interning at a hip-hop dance studio. This is only the start. Dance has become my second nature. From the way i walk to when i'm just talking to someone, I can't stop myself from doing small movements. Dance came in my life and sure isn't leaving anytime soon.

Since slavery being biracial has always been an issue or in cases beneficial. In slavery if you were biracial they would use the term “mulatto”. For most people is hard from coming from two different world and trying to fit in. It's always one or the other. People think you really can’t enjoy both. Along with being the female sex. Its has been consistently a struggle from years prior to slavery. Women have had plenty to fight for within American history. With that this is where I come in.

Most of my peers are well aware that I am biracial or mixed. But from my appearance plenty of people have thought that I was Puerto Rican. When they do come up to me and ask “What are you mixed with?”. They are in awe when I explain that I am half Jamaican with my other half being African American and Irish. I never go too in depth with everything that I am mixed with just the main portions. What I’ve noticed over  my fifteen years that all biracial people appear to look different. It's always a similarity with this because if you are mixed with the European descent and African American they usually have light eyes with sandy blonde hair. Or if if you are mixed with a Hispanic descent and African American they are usually a couple shades darker and have curly black hair. As for me I’m just a simple brown eyed light skin girl with dark  brown hair.

As someone who surrounds theirself around the African American I’m sometimes perplexed. It’s always I’m too lightskin to be around them. At times you feel isolated from everyone because you just want to be accepted by society. Once you meet someone new its as if they are only seeing you for your hair and skin complexion. Along with being a GIRL. For the women society it has been hard for many years. As a young black girl I have a lot to go through in this day and age. With having to be very mindful of my surroundings. I can’t be worried or stress over any negativity that is brought to me and my follow black girls. From being slaves to being judged but their body figure, black women have consistently had it tough for them. Today in 2017 black women are just loved for their bodies. Not the fact that they are educated and successful in life but their bodies. Social media has showed young girls that having that type of body it is good. Now many young black girls are insecure about that. Luckily for me, I love myself as it is. In relation to the way I dress and  how I keep my hair, I stay true to my culture. Even from walking down the street being a girl is hard because having random men eyeing you down is very uncomfortable.

At this age I am becoming a young woman there are certain expectations for me. Women are suppose to be strong, most are independent like myself. Additionally, I do my best with empowering women. Since I am a feminist. Therefore I feel strongly about the triumph of women. This starts from most of my family being female. As a child child I was influenced by this beautiful and successful women. Admiring that all my life to come figure lots of shame has been past on black women. Though my life I have had plenty shaming because I’m a girl. Like when I try to involve myself with a man-originated sport. Boys would continuously say “You throw like girl”. I get confused because that what I am. However in society that phrase is always taken into offense. As well as women getting paid a smaller salary. It never be like that for females of any age.

Within a few years from now I hope people and their mindsets have changed on people of a mixed race and females as a whole. We shouldn’t be judged by our appearance. Additionally for the women who have influenced me in positive way, I will follow after them. For the people of a mixed race like me, shall continue to be themselves and not pay attention to what anyone thinks.

“Mom I have decided on something,”,I said  in a shy voice.

“What is it Keyonne, you can tell me I am your mother.” She replied confidently.

“I want to play football.”

“WHAT! FOOTBALL WHY WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO PLAY THAT GAME!”

“Well it looks like fun. I would not mind getting hit and knocking people down to the ground.”

“Boy I will knock you to the ground right now for saying that.” She roared at me,

Then she calmed down a bit. “Hey what made you want to play football anyway.”

“To me it looks like a lot of fun and I think it will be good exercise.”

“But you did not want to play soccer you can get exercise from that.” She responded.

“I am not too good at running a long distance, so it think I would be bad at it.” I said.

I could tell she really did not want me to play football but it had not come to me why she would not like me playing football.

She asked me again: “ Are you sure you want to play football.”

“Yes,” I replied.   

“Why do you not want me to play.”

“BECAUSE PEOPLE GET HURT REALLY BADLY THEY HAVE CONCUSSION AND OTHER THINGS!” she replied.

“MOM PLEASE!” I said without a care in the world

“I will be fine we have coaches to tell us how to play so that will not happen to us little kids.”

” Well ok then fine I guess you can try it out but if you don't like it then you can always leave and do something else.”

“OK!” I say with the happiest smile on my face the next day I am coming from school and my mom says

“I have found a great football team near the house so you can was to it when I am not home and one of the people I work with sons play for that team to.”  

“OH ok what is the team called,”  I ask in amazement.

“Oaklane Wildcat.”  

“And their first practice is tomorrow and I have all of your football supplies right there”

“ok thanks,” I turn and look in the living room and see a duffel bag full of pades and color red and black cleats with metal spikes and I was so happy because this was my first time doing anything like this I could not wait to go to practice. I woke up and I was SO happy I could not hold in the excitement after school that day I ran back home I was so sweaty that it looked liked I just go finished play a sport.

“I am guessing that you are ready for football then,” my mom said with a smile on her face.

“Yeah let's get going.” I said almost breaking the door down because of how much I wanted to go and play. The ride there I was shaking like I was opening a snapple but for some much longer we finally get there and I was terrified I get out the car and my mom says are

“you ready to go.”

And I nervously walk over to the coach my mom comes up to him and says

“HI I am keyonnes mom.” And the coach says

“HI I am coach Q.” I was so nervous I could barely speak and the coach said.

“so you must be keyonne nice to meet you.” and he shook my hand. And the coach asked me

“what do I know about football.” and I said

“nothing” then the coach said

“OK great let's get started.” after practice I was really tired and I did not want to do it any more because I did not think the team need me and so I told my mom and she said

“OK”

Then she talked to the coach and the coach said that was really good for a beginner he said it looks like he could do this a profession. And then he talked to me and said that you can't give up because something is hard you have to keep fighting for what you and till that day I never gave up on anything I did and I will not start.

Has your mom ever gotten on your nerves… Like a lot? Well, my mom can be a very annoying at times. All the time that would probably be the be more truthful option for me. She always tries to find ways to be right, no matter the situation but sometimes she’s just trying to enlighten me on things.

For example, last week my mom and I were having in the car having a regular conversation. I was on my phone during the conversation but I was still engaged in the conversation. I was texting a good friend of mine that my mom didn’t know, so she got upset. I was really confused on why she was so upset, because I didn’t think it was that serious.

“I know all of your close friends,” she told me. “You always bring them up in conversation, but how come I don’t know about this one?”

“I didn’t know I had to tell you every time I have a new friend,” I replied.

That only added more fuel to the flame, sadly. Everything I said to her after that was seen as disrespectful or snarky through her eyes. I feel like I can never win with her, even when we just have seemingly insignificant disagreements. There isn’t any enlightenment in this situation, just another loss for me.

One situation where I really did gain wisdom is when we were talking about my ex-girlfriend. That was around my 8th-grade year, so I was most likely 14. I’m not gonna lie, that was the first girl I really cared about; I was usually heartless. I thought that I knew what I was doing, because I was very cocky back then compared to now. My ex and I weren’t on the best terms, and it was easy to tell. My overall mood wasn’t my usual one.

My mom asked me, “what was wrong?,” but I didn’t want to tell her because I don’t like her in my business.  

She caringly told me something I won’t forget: “If she’s making you act like this, it’s most likely not going to last.”

             I didn’t want to listen to her because I thought I knew what love was back then. I still think I know what it is now. Let’s fast forward to the end of the school year. My ex magically disappeared and I didn’t understand why. Long story and a heartbreak later, I began to understand how my mother’s help would’ve prepared me for the disappearance when it happened.

Another thing that I despise about my mom is that she thinks she knows me so well. She’s watched me grow up for 15 years, my entire life, but she doesn’t know what I go through on a day to day basis. This summer we went on a cruise and I was in a terrible mood the whole time. I found myself in the cruise cabin a lot, because I needed people to talk to. So I would call people that could help me with the situation. My mom didn’t like that, because she felt as though I was wasting her money though that wasn’t the case at all. I couldn’t enjoy myself because I knew that I was gonna have to go home and deal with my mistakes.

         My mom said “You’re on a cruise! There are a million things to do, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t be enjoying yourself,” in a stern tone and stormed out of the room.

         I realized she was right and I found ways to forget about the situation that made me upset and started to enjoy myself a little more.

Despite all the little disagreements, my mom and I always find the lesson in it sooner or later. My mom has become one of my best friends because I know I can talk to her about anything and she’ll have some insight on the situation to help me get through it. When I was younger, I never wanted to listen because I thought it wasn’t cool to talk to her about my personal relationships or struggles, but she always helps me through everything now. All of our disagreements have made my and my mom’s relationship stronger due to the realization at the end of each one. I realized my mom would never tell me anything to steer me wrong. She only wants to see me succeed in every way possible and she does everything in her power to do so.

Mamadou Samassa

Date:09/28/17

Miss Pohomov

I was enrolling in the French International School of Philadelphia, on the 12th of April, while flowers bloomed with unique colors of blossom purple and velvet red. The bees flew from vine to flower, grasping onto each milliliter of pollen that was flowing in every breath I took. The atmosphere was breezy, spreading a bunch of little particles of mist around me. I made my way to a seat next to an arborvitae, it’s bark an ashy grey and reddish brown, with its twisting shape providing shade. I sat at the table next to the tree, as I prepare to relax my conscience, a young boy with big fist stood up to me, looked me dead in the eye “Allahu Akbar,” he said. Without any empathy, he let a regretful smile slip right through his reddish pink cavity. My attention navigated towards him with an uncontrollable amount of fierceness and exasperation.

“Do you know what that means?”

“No, but it’s what Muslims say before they blow themselves up, killing non-Muslims,” he said.   

I looked at him with confusion. I wanted to ask him if he knew it was mentioned in the holy Quran of Allah(God) by saying, “If you kill one person it is as if you killed all of the mankind, and if you save one life it is as if you have saved all of the mankind.” The redistrict that enters people's minds saying that all Muslims represent groups like Isis, or that mosques are the hotbeds of radicalisation is completely false. Our prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) called this group the worst of the creation, even though he said they recite the Quran. These are people who believe in the Quran and recite the Quran. In the hadith the prophet said, “They call to the book of Allah(God) but they have nothing to do with the book of Allah, they call to the Islamic law, but they have nothing to do with the Islamic law.”

The prophet also said, “Those who fight them are closer to the book of Allah than they are.”

“Yo,” the boy with his Bolton knuckles yells in agony, “I’m talking to you!”

“Yes,” I reply in a gentle tone

“Why are staring at me like that?”

I  went back to my reflecting. Did he know that jihad is interpreted in many ways: waking up for the morning prayer is jihad, and fighting in the path of God is jihad. Muslims only fight when they are provoked, just like how the United States would defend themselves in any crisis. And, we must incline towards peace if any enemy does as well. Look at Syria, Palestine, Jordan, we suppose that we are the civilians and they are the suspects, they look for peace, and the  headlines are saying, “The US has yet again eliminated another leader of Isis, after Isis has just a week ago killed an American reporter.” What makes you think civilians won’t get killed when you decide to drop “The Mother of all bombs?” If I were to utter the smallest atom of Islam it would start creating differences between people from the way they live, speak, act, interact, and the way they simply understand the world.

If it’s not that all Muslims are terrorist, it starts with the destruction of the twin towers. As my deep thoughts started to weaken, all I saw were the Bolton knuckles which deliberately jacked my face up. It was so unexpected.

“What’s your problem,” I could feel every corner of my face heating up like wood burning after hours of intense calefaction.

“That’s what you deserve, you fake Muslim.”

I want to punch him so badly, my body suppressed heat, my heart is beating faster than ever before, but I ask myself, would the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon) use violence as revenge? No, he wouldn’t because he came as a mercy to all of  humanity, and I must follow in his path as well as the path of Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Zacharia, Yusuf(peace be upon them all) and many more. All prophets of the one and only Allah(God). The prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) suffered so much during his lifetime. He lost his children, people tried killing him more than once, he was an orphan, and yet after all of these trials and many more, he had  kindness, forgiveness. He treated his enemies with more respect than his own people. So, who am I to hurt this kid? I stood up and looked at him, gave him a smile.

“Why are you smiling, did you hear what I said, fake Muslim!”

I started walking away, “Hey, I’m talking to you. Hey! You walking away because you scared.”

“You're not worth my time.”

“Why do I have to go to the masjid? people don't care about us Muslims. Things are hard these days.”

I knew once I stated what I just said to my parents, I would get right into trouble. I tried to explain to my parents why I thought that way, but they did not want to hear it.

"You are Muslim Adil!!!" my Mom yelled at me.“There is no reason why you should second guess your religion Religion is something that keeps you in  Place.”

She told me that sometimes people in the world are going to dislike things that the person believed in or maybe even represent. My mom is a religious type, she always wants to tell me what God Said and why I should always take time and read the Quran about 1 hour a day.  She started reciting  Surah Al - Kafirun This Surah was very powerful  I knew the reason why she resided this world to me it was because she wanted my eyes to open why and for the words that she's singing to touch my heart. “قل "يا كفار، أنا لا العبادة ما تعبد ولا أنت المصلين ما عبادة.ولن أكون عبادة لما تعبده. كما أنك لن” تكون عبادة ما لي هو ديني.”( Say, "O disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship. Nor are you worshippers of what I worship. Nor will I be a worshipper of what you worship. Nor will you be worshippers of what I worship. For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.")

        I knew this was very important because she would never use this deep of Surah.  I was just staring At her, listening to every single word she was saying. I didn't know what to say or what to do. I could tell that she knew I was scared and confused because of the way the world treats us Muslims. She said that there is no reason why I should hide my religion and I should be proud of why I am Muslims, but she does not understand how many terrorist attacks were blamed on us Muslims.

         I went upstairs to go take off my hot blouse/over garment because I honestly did not feel like going to the masjid, but I knew deep down that I was making a really bad mistake. All I kept thinking about it if people don't like Muslims, why do I have to be proud of being one. We are blamed for everything.  We have censured "The assailants were Islamic psychological oppressors from Saudi Arabia and a few other Middle Eastern Countries. Supposedly financed by the al-Qaeda fear monger association of Saudi outlaw Osama container Loaded, they were professedly acting in striking back for America's help of Israel, its contribution in the Persian Inlet War and its proceeded with military nearness in the Center East". We Muslims are blamed for a lot of stuff and I'm still supposed to be proud of being Muslim

“.تعال هنا الآن ” ( Come here now!) My Mom shouted, I knew that she was going to try and persuade me to come with her, but this time I was really serious. I started to listen all she was saying was Islam means peace, so why should I be scared to let people know I was Muslim? I told her some serious current events that had occurred during the past few years, and they all were blamed on us. I tried not to shout because I knew that if my dad heard me yelling, he would come straight downstairs to confront me.

       “Did you not understand anything that I just told you” my mom has shouted,  she does not really speak very good English, so she usually tends to use Arabic if she wants to chew me out. “I did understand what you said”,  “I just really did not care about what you said”.  I know that I was out of line for saying that, I don't mean to be mean to my mom, but sometimes I feel as though that's the only way she'll understand how I really feel. I overheard my father coming down the steps, the stairs were squeaking like an old stairway my heart was pumping faster than you can ever imagine. We were already late to the Masjid,  and if he would have seen me with my blouse off there would have been bigger problems. I knew that there were problems from the start because whenever my dad is upset about something he usually makes a disgusted face and pretends to look away when he's actually looking straight into your eyes.  Adil “what's all the yelling about”  my dad shouted. “Now we are already late to the Masjid, and to be honest, I don't even think I really want to go anymore”.  

           I started to speak, but I know it wasn't my turn to speak, my voice cracks, saying “she wants me to go to the Masjid, she wants me to tell everybody I'm Muslim, she wants me to do this you want me to do that”. I was talking faster than my heart was pumping.  sweat was coming down my face,  I stop talking for about 10 seconds, realizing that the more I talk the more trouble I will get myself into. My dad looked at me as if I was stupid, he quietly said “man this is stupid see now kids back in my day knew they could not talk to their parents the way that you are talking to them now.

“If a joker talks to his parents like that his father would smack him beside the head”. “See now you got it easy” My dad said,  what it is is your mom treat you like her baby even though you damn near 15 years old she still sees you as a 3-year-old. My mom always hated when he said that,  it's not that she treats me like a baby It's that she wants me to be happy. I started to doze off daydreaming about things that I found interesting about,  pretending that I'm listening but I'm really not.  I seen my dad mouth move over and over again, I knew that he was angry but I just did not want to hear anything he had to say.

         I'm not sure he had noticed that I was not paying attention because I saw his mouth stop moving.  he took a deep breath and said: “what does religion mean to you”? I stared at him confused because 90% of me was still daydreaming.  then he shouted again what does religion mean to you!?  I jumped it's like the words or trying to come out my mouth before I had a chance to open my mouth.  religion means something someone believes in.  “it means something or someone that they worship”. so now what was that hard to say? My dad asks. “I don't know”?  doesn't look right I reply, “you don't know”?  my dad asks that ask, That's the thing Kids these days never know.

   “Why is that PlayStation of yours so important”? Why is that laptop of yours so important, why is basketball so important? He just kept asking questions that I knew the answers to but did not want to say. You're right I announced, religion is something that you should be proud of not disappointed or Ashamed in. I apologized to my parents because I knew I was in the wrong. I want to help people that are just like me, afraid or ashamed who they really are, but at the end of the day, everyone's the same in a way.

It was a cool and sunny day in the city of Philadelphia. The month that was November 2011 and I was a 4th grader coming back from gym class My teacher had taken me, and my friends to the bathroom and my friends and I were in the bathroom playing around. We weren't supposed to be doing that.

Then we started to pick each other up and throw one another. Suddenly, one of my classmates picked me up when I wasn’t paying attention and they had thrown me. When he did it made a loud bang, I hit the ground extremely hard and I suddenly started crying because my right knee had hit the ground so hard.

So, everyone went to go get our teacher. She came out towards the bathroom.

“What happened?”

My classmates told her. So she took me to my nurse and I had told the nurse what happened, why I was there. The nurse had given me an ice pack and kept me in her office with her. Next, we had to call my mom and tell her what happened and she told me to get on the bus and come straight home. When school was out I had got on the school bus and went straight home with my sister Kyianna.  

Around 5:00 pm my mom came home and I told her that my knee hurts every time I'd walk or move. My mom had to take me up to Abington  Hospital because that is where I  got my x-rays taken.

I was very anxious, and terrified because when I went into the room to get my x-ray done they had told my mom that she couldn’t come in.

“I’ll be waiting right here for you” My mom said. “Ok” I said. So, when we had returned to the room me and my mom started to joke around and take pictures.

Later on, my doctor finally came into the room and said the bad news to us. He said that I have a fractured knee and that I couldn’t dance, or do physical things anymore. I started to cry hard right away because my mom said that I might not be able to dance in the Thanksgiving day parade.  I was really sad/ upset because everytime that I had gone up to dance practice I had to sit and watch them and I was hopelessly upset cause I couldn’t dance. They had put my knee in an Ace bandage and gave me crutches. I had walked out the hospital sad and devastated, when we got home my mom, I  told my dad and my two older sisters what the doctor had said. I was letting my knee heal faster because I never gave up and pushed through it and my knee wasn’t 100% heal it was basically like 90% healed halfway. I managed to dance in the parade and I was really happy, satisfied.

As the years went by I was downstairs on the couch watch tv in the living room and I notice that my x-rays were in the corner. I was looking at my dad “dad can we look at my x-rays,”I asked. “Yes we can go get them,” dad replied. As we open up it up and put it against the light my dad pointed out where I had fractured my knee. When I saw it, I couldn’t believe it. “This is why I am the person I am today a stronger hard working person” I said to myself. This made me think of the three words my parents always told me. The three words are to never give up on any obstacle/challenge that is in my way. So the lesson that I had taken from this was to never give up even when a hard and painful challenge is in your way or blocking you from your dreams.  Still here and there I feel pain in my knee but not as much before. I am always willing to share this story to people so they can be amazed by how I became the person that I am today. When my friends are in the hospital. “Don’t worry because you will come back stronger than ever.”I tell them.