Most of us are born into families where life is quite simple. We having a loving or two loving parents, who are attentive to our needs as we grow and expand in the world. Some of us have siblings, who immediately become discouraged at our birth with the realization that there is a new thing in town to be more prominent in our parents’ eye. We grow up normally. Eating three well balanced meals a day, enjoying playing and talking with friends, and learning from everything around us inside and outside of our schools. We try our entire lives trying to figure out who we are.

Yet, there are few whose lives have been written in the history books for them. The monarchs, those whose bloodline ranges from some of the most prominent and high-ranking leaders of their nation's history. The House of Saud, House of Bourbon, House of Windsor, simply to name three of the 26 principal royal families worldwide. Acknowledged across many nations, few still have a reigning, single family in charge of the country politically. Compared to the 18th Century, royal families have severely died down due to conflicts regarding their power and society's outlook towards them. The question remains as to why after so many deaths, problems, and public outrage across the history of our world, why countries (both internationally leading and minor) continue to have these families incorporated as either the nations head of state and/or head of government.

The most universally recognized royal family today, is the House of Windsor. The Queen (or the reigning monarch at the time) is the head of state for the United Kingdom. In the case of the UK, the royal family does not play a role politically. However, they have the opportunity in recognizing treaties, in addition to lesser roles in the government. The royal family gets their funds from the people, to note the cash that goes to the royal family is not a large amount at all. That is in the case of the UK however, for Saudi Arabia where the royal family rule the government of the country and which includes thousands of members, the taxation numbers are much greater. For the UK, the royal family receives over 40 million pounds each year from taxation (in many ways their salary for doing very little), while the Prime Minister who runs the country and is elected by the people of the UK only gets a salary of 142,500 per year.

Not all royals are good people. King Juan Carlos I of Spain, last summer abdicated his throne to his son a 39 year reign. The King was a celebrated liberal, peacemaker who created and developed democracy in the country. As good of a man and well liked domestically and internationally King Juan Carlos was, his family wasn’t as appreciated. His daughter and 6th in line to the Spanish throne, Princess Cristina and her husband have dealt with severe fraud charges in recent years. Due to the negative press involving the scandal, King Juan Carlos I of Spain had to abdicate his throne to his son Prince Felipe (a much more favorable, public figure) and his very much loved wife Princess Letizia, in hopes of saving the monarchy. For now that stands, but the Spanish people are still not sold on the monarchy anymore.

Kayla Cassumba

English 3

Identity & Belonging

“It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,   

The stride of my step,   

The curl of my lips.   

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,   

That’s me.”

In the mirror we see our truth. The curve in our hips. The thinness of our waists. The stride in our step. We strive to love  ourselves to the maximum of our ability. However,  most people do not understand how difficult it is for women to love themselves.  But how can women and how can  I love myself in a society that continues to degrades me?

In the documentary titled Beyond Beats & Rhymes, director Byron Hurt discusses the problems that hip hop music faces in regards to social changes in society. The director interviewed an up- and- coming artist named “J-hood”, for a section of the film named “Sisters and Bitches.” Hurt asked the artist to describe the difference between the two words that are used to describe women. He pointed to women in their bikinis on Daytona Beach and stated that they were “bitches.”

This quote raises a conflict about how women are viewed. On one hand, a woman has the right to wear what she pleases, especially since the environment mentioned above allowed her to do so, without suffering the backlash of men. But on the other hand, when viewing what they wore OFF the beach,  the “invitation” became clearer. This by no means gives men the right to objectify women, but we have to realize that humans are sexual beings."’ We live in a culture in which we constantly see women objectified in interactions on television and in the media. When you turn your own lens on everyday, ordinary women, we focus on those parts, too,’ says lead author and social psychologist Sarah Gervais of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.”  As human beings we rely on what we see, that's how arousal occur. However, the natural attraction that occurs between human beings has been exploited. This saturation in media and other outlets  compels us to view one another as objects or representations.

On the contrary, as women we need to respect ourselves and realize that how we dress is a reflection of our self love, morals, and style. We should respect our bodies and know that some things are better left as a mystery. Everyone does not have to see what God has blessed us with. We should carry ourselves in a manner that reflects who we want to attract.  In truth, we should dress for ourselves first. We need to get past what we see being represented in the media.  Let us humanize ourselves and understand that every women should develop a love for themselves before loving anyone else. We can't expect someone to love us unconditionally if we don't love ourselves unconditionally.

Fierce strides were made toward the trolley stop.  I walked alone, blocking everyone and everything around me, until I felt someone's eyes on me like an itch that I just could not scratch. We make eye contact.  Ahead of me stands a tall, pale man whose eyes reflect the sea. The bluest of blues. He stops, stares at me and says , “Wow, your eyes are beautiful.” My eyes are beautiful. And he continued to make his way down the trolley steps.

Men who are genuinely interested in a female are attracted to natural beauty and the way they carry ourselves.  People can identify if confidence radiates out of our bodies. And even though I see myself as fairly confident, when a non-African American man complimented me, I subconsciously held it to a higher standard than when an African-American man gives me the same compliment. I’d won a prize, the validation prize.  Still, questions began running through my mind : does this validate my beauty any more than a compliment from a black man? Does a compliment from a non-black man make me any more beautiful? Do “they” also see beauty in me? But more importantly, do I see the beauty within myself? Finding yourself was never a straight road, and it will never be.

  My goal for this paper was to try and explain that you don’t need a high education level to succeed in life or to achieve that american dream the way that society tries to tell you,  through my great grandmother. It’s taught the only way you will evey and or do anything important in life in must go to college and if you don’t you will automatically be a failure in life and i think that i explained pretty well that that’s not necessarily true all the time.

Success comes in many different shapes and forms, but success all depends on what you want it to be it could range from owning a big house to being able to buy yourself a pair of sneakers as long as you know your goal is obtainable there should be no doubt that you can achieve it , but  Society tries to tell you a lot of the time that the only way you can live a great life or try to achieve the american dream of becoming rich is by having a high education, that’s the only way that you will be rich and be happy in life but, I say other wise.  My great grandmother was a prime example that you do not need a high education to achieve that American Dream. She had no more than a fourth grade education and had her first of three kids when she was fourteen also getting married at sixteen years.  When you hear something like this you would think that her life would be HELL. People would automatically assume that she set her life up for failure, that there was no way she could succeed yet alone achieve the american dream most would  assume that, that is out of the question.

Let me tell you first off my great grandma  came a long way Richard Island in North Philly she is a short woman 5”2  and most would say she was a beautiful young lady but she says most people doubted her, that all she would be was a beautiful dummy flash forward  She now lives in condo in Plymouth Meeting that she owns, and lived in what I would say not a mansion but a very large house in Germantown , also was a property owner multiple properties  . She also owned a business a video store the store boomed and the the only reason for her closing the store was because that there was a another video store that opened up right across the street that took most of her customers called Block Busters. These are  some of my great grandma's achievements throughout her life still keep in  mind she never went to college and never graduated from high school.       

This situation is like a chapter ripped right out The Great Gatsby. The man Gatsby went to college for two week just two! He decided that college wasn’t something for him but instead of sitting on his butt waiting for something to happen good in his life he went out and was searching for that one great thing to happen to him and it eventually did. He went out and introduced himself to a man that would change his life forever. He was taught how to look and act like a business man even though he knew we was no such thing and eventually he would become one the most know wealthiest men around a town called East Egg. The moral of the story is that you can come from nothing and make something of yourself to achieve that American Dream. Not necessarily having an education defines your true potential all you really need is some determination in yourself, recognizing your true identity and not falling into society’s arms trying to be another somebody else to achieve your dream.

My grandma explained to me that she had to grow up fast. She had three kids by the age of 17 , her mom no longer wanted to deal with her and her father died so she had to fend for herself but had no money. she first worked at a candy so  from there she learned how to deal with money. working at a candy store wasn’t doing enough for her family. flash forward two years she is a case  worker making enough and know is married to a man she would spend the rest of his life with. Throughout her life she had a lot of  people talk to her about life things to give  her that right guidance because she needed it nobody who was a big father or mother figure was in her life. She told me Bill Cosby gave her some good advice on how to approach life and what the correct steps she should take to be successful in life, and she told be it was good advice and it looks like it was b

Because the way she is living right now looks like her life is great she never complains about anything. All of this success without a high education, just a little guidance, hard work, and dedication if you have those three things you can have your life any way you picture including achieving that american dream.

The first quarter of English 2 for Copper stream was the beginning of an era for my learning experience. It marked the beginning of what would be a world-changing period of educational growth. In terms of outline, Copper stream wasn't far from any other 10th grade English class in the city. What made the experience so unique was the discussions we were able to have on the text that we all read as a class. Reflection on last year, specifically in that class, I've been able to come to the conclusion that group analysis and discussion is the best way to understand literature.

Since its original publishing in 1954, William Golding’s “The Lord of the Flies” has grown to be one of the most frequently challenged novels in recent history. This is due greatly to its allegorical references to society. I remember sitting and picking apart and analyzing the content of the book in E-band for almost the entirety of the first quarter. The fact that there was enough in the book to allow me to analyze it for a whole quarter and still find new things is what makes it so powerful. As we powered through the book, the students that were truly engaged in the class and its works were building up to a mass revelation. As we were preparing to begin the process of our benchmark, I was anticipating Kay assigning the class a prompt about human nature, due to the fact that it frequently appeared in the book and was often discussed in the class. That wasn’t the case, but it wasn't far off from what we actually ended up doing. We were given the task of forming a thesis statement and justifying our thesis throughout the course of our essays. Having only written essays based on specific prompts before, this style of writing was all new. Writing that essay caused me to reevaluate the manner in which I wrote analytical papers. I had never been given the task of forging a thesis that had to meet specific standards before. D.U.C.K stood for debatable, unique, creative, and knowledgeable. If our thesis statement failed to meet that criteria, we would only be granted approval when we submitted something that did. Within a week, the majority of the class had submitted their essays and were awaiting a grade. After he had read and graded the essays of the class, Mr. Kay commended Copper Stream, stating that the batch of essays that had been submitted might have been the best that he’d ever seen. I would like to think that we did the novel some justice. The goal of Lord of the Flies was to spark great debates and conversations, and that’s exactly what it did.

The thesis that I used for that essay was “People are often restrained by society. In the William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” the boys have been on the island for around two months when Jack begins to paint his face. When Jack begins to paint his face, it symbolizes his release from societal restraints.” I proved this thesis by using a series of quotes. The first quote and analysis was “When Jack first paints his face in chapter three he begins to break away from his societal restraints. When he wore the mask, Jack felt liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” What came with reading so far into the book was being able to see from the get-go that most often, it will contain some form of metaphorical symbolism, and not everything should be taken so plainly as a boy deciding to paint his face.

Literature isn't something that can be memorized and regurgitated onto a piece of paper so someone can say you understand it. Everyone has to come to their understanding of literature at their own pace and point. Nobody reads literature the same way, and nobody understands it the same way. Literature is a powerful thing, and I'm glad I got to experience it the way I did.

I found my pace, and eventually, my point, by being able to share my literary journey with a group of people embarking on the same journey. Through this, I found my own way. Discussions allowed me to see how everyone was comprehending it, therefore making me look at things in a multitude of different lights. Literature never only means one thing, so it shouldn't be taught like it is either.

2 Questions:

How many memories would you suggest that I use?

In grade school I had a friend named nick. Teachers would always call him out because he was scared to read in front of the class. From the beginning his self confidence was low. He was very shy and didn't talk to many people, and if someone new tried talking to him he would take a long time to feel comfortable with them. Nick had a stuttering problem. Whenever he was in front of a large group of people his voice would lock up and he would shut down. His self confidence was destroyed in the 8th grade when a teacher made him stand up in front of the whole grade, all 225 of us. He was alone and he shut down completely botching his graduation speech. I talked to him afterwards and he said he had never felt so sick before in his life. His confidence was no longer existence, he shut eve the people who were closest to him out.

People with speech impediments and other problems with speaking and writing have severe problems with their self confidence. They feel as though they are not normal. But what is normal? Is there a direct definition that labels these impediments as not normal? Normal is defined as standard, usual, typical or expected. But how do we define normal? Society's normal is, if people are all the same they are normal. Any defining feature or change to their personal, or physical appearance warrants them to be “not normal.”  There is a story written by Mike Rose called “I just want to be average,” And that is a direct quote from the story that points out how people who are not seen as normal feel about their surroundings. People who are not “Average” or “Normal” can feel like somewhat of a group of outcasts. They are separated from the mainstream classes and put in their own “Vocational Track” which means d-level learning which does not help. In d level classes you are not treated as a human being, and you are certainly not respected by the people who are teaching you. This very easily make these students feel like they do not matter. This is why many of them act out or show off, in an attempt to get the attention that they so desperately need. If people took their time to sit down with these students and try to help them, they would not feel the need to act out and do bad things to get someone's attention.

My older cousin Nicky had a speech problem when he was younger. It was hard for him, he was teased and put in a special learning class. A teacher sat down with him one on one and walked him through how to cope with stuttering. He told me it was one of the hardest things he has ever done, but having a teacher to help him and calm him down when he got annoyed or angry with himself, helped push him through the problem. Today he is an officer in the United States Navy, and has no problem whatsoever with speech.

With proper learning strategies and help, people with speech problems and other disabilities can feel like they are part of this so called normal society.

The Foreignness of my Speech.

Never did I feel the need to silence my voice or to conduct myself knowing that I have so many great things to offer to this world. When I was in the third grade, my classmates disagreed with my ideas based on my accent. They refused to hear what I had to say because my English did not sound like theirs. They said that I sounded “African” or that I spoke funny. Those words became scars and I lost all my confidence. I didn’t want to be the person everyone turns to look at because I sounded different. I did not enjoy that sort of attention.

Back then I wasn’t able to let them know that I have the same rights as they do, being that I was also born here, the only difference is that I grew up in a household with more than three languages were being spoken. At the age of nine, I didn’t know that being multilingual and having an accent wasn’t a bad thing. Gloria Anzalda has this concept of “Wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out.” Her idea has assisted me by making me realize that my classmates too had the intentions of cutting out my tongue. They too dislike the existence of my foreign speech. They wanted me to be just ordinary. My accent made me stand out in a way that I used to think was awfully embarrassing. I can’t really understand why this set me back. Why it has kept me sort of silent, determined that no one wants to hear my multilingual tongue. Having to pause a moment because I had mixed up the words in my brain, thinking of the same sentences in Fulani, French, Sou-sou, Mandingo and Arabic.

It seems that people are somehow afraid of change. People hate what they don’t understand. Most people like to cling on things they are already used to, so it gives them an excuse to dismiss new things. When my classmates were exposed to the way I spoke, they dismissed me and my ideas because they couldn’t relate. The way they reacted to the change was to make me not want to speak. My classmates feared my wild tongue because it was something new to them.

When I was in the third grade my teacher, Ms. King asked me to read. This was my greatest fear. I had no choice, there was no way around this one. So I began, my heart pounding. “Th..The boy went to.. the park” I stammered. As it became more difficult to distinguish my letters. “Ha-ha” laughter rose from my third grade class as tears stung at my eyes. I could feel myself shaking. “How are you in the third grade and can’t even read.” One of my classmates shouted as I had a sudden urge to pee and chills ran down my spine. “Ms. King may I please use the bathroom.” I asked. “You asked to used the bathroom too many times, what is wrong with your bladder Aissatou? You know what just walk to the principal's office afterwards. You get on my nerves. I barely understand anything you say.” I rushed out of my seat tripping as a girl with two ponytails sticks out her foot for me to fall. I ran to the bathroom, my eyes blurry full of tears. I hated school. I wiped my face and walk to the office ready to get a phone call home.  

In order to meet the requirements of my classmates, I would go home everyday and read. I read about things that made me happy. I grew to love books because that was the only part of the day I could looked forward to. It helped improve my English. Reading taught me words my classmates could not even comprehend. The more I read the more I wanted to wash out my own tongue. However, I realized that attempting to perfect my English, in order to get rid of my wild tongue of its foreignness or to please others is useless. Drowning out my native background wasn’t worth it, limiting myself to only speaking English was holding me back a lot more than trying to juggle with them all.

Getting rid of my ability to speak many languages was pointless. I took to heart this feeling when I met a girl in the eighth grade, who spoke Fulani just like me, however she couldn’t speak much English. I became sort of a translator for her. I walked up to her after class when I found out that her name was Amirah. “My name is Aissatou and I’ve noticed you don’t talk at all in class.” I stated. “I no speak much English.” Amirah answer looking down, ashamed. We began to walk. “Then what do you speak?” I challenged. “I speak Fulani.” She reply. I beamed as we entered into the lunchroom. “Me too.” I said excitedly in Fulani. This was one of the times I felt proud about being multilingual. Someone was in need of my talent when I was trying to hide it. I learned that accepting my capability instead of disregarding it was not only helpful to myself but many others. The idea of trying to fit was not worth it, while it made me lose so much of my identity.   

"Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Being Bilingual." Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Being Bilingual. Torri Miller, 1998. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.