All throughout the movie you see the violence and racism towards the black race in the ghetto. They were arrested for just standing and doing nothing and beaten for the same. They were constantly mistreated by the police. Almost every song they wrote was about the everyday struggles that they faced and encountered. When they tried to tell people about their struggles through their music, they would get shut down and told that their music was too violent for the public people. They almost got kicked out of the club they were allowed to play in because of it. But it was a good thing that they were discovered while playing there. After they were discovered and got a record deal, they went outside the building and were eating. They cops rolled buy and saw them. They arrested them and tackled them to the ground for no reason. They were treated horribly. They wanted their music to express their everyday battles. This includes the issues and fights with the police and the everyday difficulties of living in the ghetto. They constantly needed to watch out for the people they were around and talked to. They began the journey with teaching Eazy E how to rap while Dre came up with the beat and did the DJing. This song, “Boyz in the Hood”, became a huge hit and started them out on their journey to be political rappers. Their journey began difficultly. Within the first few months, Dre’s brother had been murdered. It was difficult time, not only for him but for the group. They began to write more music. Their music started to shoot off and become very popular. It started an uproar in most of the large cities. People started fighting against the police and their racism. Their music finally doing what they hoped it would. It started fighting against their everyday tribulations. They became a public figure against racist police and racism in general. In Michigan, they encountered police and head people of a concert telling them that they could not rap about violence and could not swear and use inappropriate words in their music. They did not listen and ended up doing it anyways. The police got upset and shot gun shots in the building. They freaked everyone out and everyone ran out in fear. They were tired of being told what to do and they wanted to stand up for what they believed in. The police finally seemed to stop messing with them. They then began partying all the time. They were with women all the time and were taking advantage of the life of a super star. They occasionally ran into trouble with some bad people but always got through it. Soon after their uproar, the LA Riots began. The LA Riots was a huge event in NWA’s history and the history of LA. They began the rebellion against police racism and the racism of many others. This lasted for days and caused a lot of damage to the city.

The quote in the movie was a very important part to not only the movie, but to the background of their music. “Our art is a reflection of our reality,” is the basis of everything that they do in life. They want people to try and understand what is going on in the cities and in their lives. They wanted change and they wanted it to be done through their music. People often got upset over their music and their lyrics because they involved violence and profanity. This is true but this is also what their everyday lives entail. They wanted their music to not only send a message but they also wanted people to be able to relate to something. They wanted the people who were in the same position of them to be able to know that they have someone that knows what it is like to have these everyday struggles.

In the interview that they said the quote in, they wanted people to understand why their music was the way it was. They wanted people to know that it was not just for fun; that it had a point and a purpose to it. NWA worked really hard to make an impact on the country and to make things known. They not only wanted people to know what was going on but they also wanted to put Compton on the map. It may have been a rough place to live but it was home and it was where they came from. This whole movie is pretty much made around this whole quote. It is the basis of their life. Every day they went through trials and tribulations. They were constantly being beat down on. Even when they were rich and famous they still went through their problems and issues but in a different way. They also went through a difficult time with their manager. Jerry was making them sign contracts that were not good for them. He took advantage of them and hurt them. He was supposed to be their friend and business partner. It hurt everyone else when Jerry and Eazy E became really close and everyone was left behind. It also was hard on them when they left Jerry and Eazy stayed with him. It was a tough situation for all of them. Eazy E didn’t know why they left him but was also angry that they did. When Eazy E found out what Jerry was really doing, he was hurt that he could do that to him. He acted like he would never do anything like that to him. He thought that he had him in his best interest. When he left Jerry, he finally goes back together with the rest of the group. Unfortunately, that did not last long. He then passed out and was rushed to the hospital. He was diagnosed with AIDS and soon after he was told that he only had a few months to live, most of those he was in a coma.

This quote was very important part of the movie and the story line of every song they sang. “Our art is a reflection of our reality”

Flat tax or Fair tax

America’s current tax system is a progressive tax. Progressive tax is a tax that is based on your income. The more you make the more you pay and the less you make the less you pay. When comparing fair tax to flat tax, I choose flat tax. I believe that flat tax is the most fair. Everybody pays 10 percent of what they make. This is somewhat similar to what it is now but right now not everyone pays the same percentage. The more you make the higher percentage you pay and the less you make the less percentage you pay. With the system we have now, people can cheat the system and the rich people have to pay so much money. It is just a way for the government to make more money. Honestly, fair tax makes no sense to me at all. It is really confusing. Overall, flat tax is the best overall. It is the most fair and the best for us. The system now is not any good. It is like they tried to be fair and greedy at the same time. I wish we could spend time on talking about what fair tax. It seems too complicated to use and I don’t think it is what would be best for the country. Fair tax seems like the best fit and it makes it easy. There are not as many forms and it is 100% fair to everyone. We all get 10 percent out of what we make.

                Overall, if you did not get it now, I think that that flat tax is the best. It is fair and the government cannot be greedy about it. Not to mention, I do not understand how people could cheat the system. It is the best system for America.

Deviance in Sports and Church

In the article I read, the so called deviance was against the norms of a church softball team. Jana Jacobson is a softball coach for a local church softball team. She was openly gay and did not see any issue with it when it came to her being a coach. The only rules for the team was there must be no alcohol, smoking or cursing and no offensive terms on uniforms. She followed these rules and paid the entry fee to be in the tournament. Her team was disqualified. She was confused as of why. They said she was because her “lifestyle” was an act of deviance. She did not understand why. She knew that them doing this was against the word of God that she knew. She was hurt and later had a follow-up meeting saying that she showed public displays of affection. The minister said that because she is gay, her team cannot play because it will send the message that the people of their parish condone her lifestyle. A civil rights lawyer looked over the case and found out that it was not illegal; however, he said that the community of Memphis should protest it to stand up for the ridiculousness. She later said that she will not wait for the church to reverse their decision and she would not return even if they did.

Human Trafficking Summary

In the beginning, there is an investigation going on about the death of a girl who jumps out of the window. After her death, they have a raised suspicion about sex trafficking. They go on showing how the girls ended up in the trafficking. They see a bunch of girls go into a candy shop and they go in and find all the girls. They continue to investigate to find more girls that are being trafficked. They find the guy who is running the whole thing but they need evidence and cannot arrest him unless they continue to investigate. They go on to get information from the captured women.

Mike Tyson and Freddie Gray

Mike Tyson and Freddie Gray had horrible lives. When you grow up in an environment where people are killing each other and you never feel safe, it changes you. For Mike Tyson, he had to change himself to survive in his neighborhood. He moved into a scary neighborhood when he was young. He was shy and kept to himself. He was actually a pretty good child up until this neighborhood. The day he let the bully get the best of him was the day he turned his life around. He knew that if he wanted to survive he needed to be feared and change into one of them. Mike Tyson could have just made it a mask he put on to survive. Instead, he turned it into who he was. It took over his life and turned him into a scary person. I believe that Mike Tyson decided his fate and let himself down. He had potential to be good but instead took the bad route to survive. Although it was not his fault he had to grow up in that kind of environment.

Freddie Gray’s life was similar but also very different from Mike Tyson. Freddie Gray was born a premature baby into a life with a drug addict mother. He was already screwed up from the drugs she was taking while she was pregnant with him. He was born into a home where education was almost nonexistent. Freddie’s life was different because he was not born into a life he really could not control. He could not better himself because he did not have an opportunity to make himself better. His entire life he was surrounded by horrible things. He had brain damage and could not reason like everyone else. I believe that society failed Freddie. The hospital that he was born at should have taken him away from his mother from the start. They must have known that she was on drugs throughout the pregnancy. The government should be trying to take the neighborhoods that these people grow up in and trying to make them better. Try and educate the people and show them right and wrong.

Racism

Article 1 Racism in the West

In the first article, it talked all about how racism started in the west. It said how racism is more recent than we believe it to be. In ancient days they wanted the other races to be more like them because they thought they were greater. They just wanted them to believe in the same things and do the same things. They did not put them down because of who they were but rather tried to make them more like themselves because they believed they did it the right way. Because it was the west that started doing this to the darker skinned people, it soon evolved into today’s racism because people started thinking that they were less intelligent because they were not like them and made them lesser to the whites. Soon after the whites started using people with darker skin as slaves. They thought that did not have much of a purpose. This began spreading throughout the whole western world. Racism is a huge problem in today’s world. It has been the root of many wars in the past, including the Civil War between the American people. Racism was also the root of WW2.

Article 2 How Racist Are We?

This article starts out by them stating all of the racist thoughts that they have had. They tell us that no matter what, everyone is racist to a certain extent. Some of the racism we have is just stereotypes that we hear from people growing up.  Sometimes it is just because we do not think that they do as well as someone else could do it. In today’s society, it is racist to keep a black person from getting a job because they are not capable to do the job right. They go on saying that we sometimes judge a race based on what one person does. Racism in America is not anywhere close to as big of a problem as it is in other countries. In many of the Asian countries, they are very racist towards the other Asian countries. Racism in America has come a long way. It is still here but has evolved very much. Recent generations have come to accept other races much better than older generations. They go on to say that we need to look past the skin color. We need to start looking at what they have to offer.

Article 3 Cultural Bias for Racism

In this article, it talks about how these students studied about why racism is still alive. It says that most of what we see in our everyday life contributes to the problem. This includes TV, literature, movies, and radio. Not only is this true for racism, but also for sexism and ageism. We seem to develop our opinion about a whole group of people by seeing a few people. After developing a questionnaire, they found out that most of the prejudice that people have is gut level. They saw how certain words correlated with the different groups. Old usually correlated with the words lonely and wise. White correlated with greedy and successful and so on. It states that we should not always form our thoughts on people based on our gut. It is not always right. We need to see people as individuals rather than as a group. We have a right to not like a person but that doesn’t mean that we should base the whole group of people from something that one or two people did. We need to have control over our thoughts and have respect over all people.

Racism has always been around. It has been a problem for longer than any of us can remember. I believe that racism started in the west but is not just a western issue. Many different places have problems with racism as well. It started as a western concept but it is now culturally universal. Racism is a byproduct of western culture and media. First it started in the west. The media made it travel and made it way more a problem than it used to be. Racism started in the west with the white races. For example, while the ancient Greeks and Romans described other groups as “barbarous” and “savage,” they believed members of these groups could become “civilized.” This is how racism first started in history. It was not because they did not like people with their skin color, but rather that they needed to straighten them out with their ways. I believe that racism started in the ancient times when civilizations started discovering the other civilizations. “What matters most is whether someone is intelligent, capable, independent of mind, productive, honest...” This quote is how I believe everyone should be. It is not about the color of the skin but more about what they have inside and what they have to offer. “What is more important is your behavior, rather than your gut reaction.” We need to give people the benefit of the doubt. People need to be seen more as individuals than as a group. Racism is a problem in our society that needs to be defeated.

Lord of the Flies

1. I believe that Andre’s quote was not meant to be taken literal. Although I am sure that society can do it literally, I do not think that was the intentions of what he meant. Thinking about how society works I believe it means with words.  Words can break a person down to the core. Society says many hurtful things and kills people’s spirit and soul. When he says that it is more subtle than death, I think he means that when someone gets hurt emotionally and mentally, nobody sees it. It is subtle in a way that people can’t see the pain and hurt and see how words can break someone down.
2. A person’s willpower is stronger than anything. We become what we hope to become. If you want to be a savage person you will be. If you do not want to be savage your willpower will push through and become civilized. A person can do whatever they put their mind to, no matter the circumstances.  You can learn new ways and become a different person; you just need to train your body and mind. I believe that if you cannot separate your civilized self from your savage self, you will overcome whatever you want to overcome and whatever you allow to overcome you.
3. When surrounding yourself with like-minded people, you are part of a society. By you being a part of the group you are the one helping to control. A civilization is known as a complex society. I believe that because people make up a society, that the people control the society. The people are the society, so the people have to be the ones to control the society. They control what the society puts out to the people. The society is the people and the people control it.

The "Lottery"

1. Were you surprised by the ending of the story? If not, at what point did you know what was going to happen? How does Jackson start to foreshadow the ending in paragraphs 2 and 3? Conversely, how does Jackson lull us into thinking that this is just an ordinary story with an ordinary town? Yes, I was very surprised. People start to become tense. Because in the beginning the kids are just collecting rocks and playing and act like it’s a normal day.

2. Where does the story take place? In what way does the setting affect the story? Does it make you more or less likely to anticipate the ending? It takes place in a town. The setting makes the story sound like an ordinary place, nothing special. I believe it made me less likely to anticipate the ending.

3. In what ways are the characters differentiated from one another? Looking back at the story, can you see why Tessie Hutchinson is singled out as the "winner"?  Everyone was kind of quiet and such and Tessie was loud and kept saying that the lottery shouldn’t happen anymore.

4. What are some examples of irony in this story? For example, why might the title, "The Lottery," or the opening description in paragraph one, be considered ironic? It is ironic because a lottery is something that you want to win and have but in this case you do not want it at all.

5. Jackson gives interesting names to a number of her characters. Explain the possible allusions, irony or symbolism of some of these:

 Delacroix- The name means cross. The cross stands for religious turmoil

 

 Graves- Grave as in death, which it going to be afflicted on someone

 

 Summers- Summer is usually and happy and joyful time and in this case it is not

 

 Bentham

 

 Hutchinson

 Warner- He believes tradition should stay tradition

 Martin

7. Take a close look at Jackson's description of the black wooden box (paragraph 5) and of the black spot on the fatal slip of paper. What do these objects suggest to you? Why is the black box described as "battered"? Are there any other symbols in the story? Both of the objects were black or had black on it. When I think of black I think of death, such as a funeral. The box is battered to show that this is tradition that has been going on for many, many years. The rocks

 

8. What do you understand to be the writer's own attitude toward the lottery and the stoning? Exactly what in the story makes her attitude clear to us? In the whole story there are little parts where it talks about how the other towns have stopped with the “Lottery” and that times have changed and the town needs to too. I believe that the writer was trying to say that the “lottery” needs to end.

9. This story satirizes a number of social issues, including the reluctance of people to reject outdated traditions, ideas, rules, laws, and practices. What kinds of traditions, practices, laws, etc. might "The Lottery" represent? Just because it is a tradition does not mean that it is right and that it should stay. It represents traditions that need to get rid of.

10. This story was published in 1948, just after World War II. What other cultural or historical events, attitudes, institutions, or rituals might Jackson be satirizing in this story? The war and the holocaust


In a minimum of 200 words answer the following:  What does "The Lottery" tell us about human nature?  What does it say to us about violence?

In the lottery, there are the people that want to stray from tradition and then there are people who are hard core and want to stick to the traditions that have always been even if it does not apply to anything in the new day and age. The reason for the whole lottery is for a myth that does not even work. They want a good harvest. Instead of calling it a lottery and sacrificing someone’s life, they should give it up because they know better. It does not work but people are afraid to stray from everything they have known. If the lottery represents WWII, it shows that people do not want to stray from war because it has always been. It is not so much a tradition but something that has always happened and been done. Even if it is violent, they think it is fine because it is what the people have always done.

Response to Sally Yates

1. Who is Sally Yates? She is the US Attorney General

2. Why does President Trump have an Obama appointee as acting Attorney General? Another one wasn’t appointed yet.

3. For what reason did President Trump fire Yates? (How did the White House explain the decision?) She betrayed the Department of Justice.

4. How did Ms. Yates explain her decision to defy President Trump’s hold on immigration from several countries? She did not believe it was lawful.

5. President Trump tweeted shortly after the letter was made public that Democrats are delaying his cabinet picks for “purely political reasons,” leaving him with an “Obama [Attorney General]“

• President Trump’s pick for U.S. Attorney General is Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. Sessions only needs 50 votes to clear the Senate floor, and Republicans have a 52-seat majority. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has also said he will vote for Sessions.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on the Alabama Republican’s nomination during a morning meeting last Tuesday, January 24. The committee’s approval is a first step to being scheduled for a full Senate vote.
• Senate Democrats delayed a vote on Sen. Sessions’s confirmation, arguing they want more time to review the pick. A week later, it will now be voted on today in committee before it can go to the full Senate for a vote.

Yes, because she was supposed to follow the rules she cannot and should not disagree with something just for personal reasons.

Bill

In The Senate

Senators: Peter Fazekas, Maria Barker, and Lance Stiklestad

Introduced the following bill, which was referred to the committee on January 24^th, 2017

A Bill

To establish: SB1170

1.  Be it enacted by the Senate and
2. House of Representatives of the
3. United States of America in
4. Congress assembled, that

Section 2

1. All school systems must have hearty and nutritious lunches.
2. Lunches must include an option from every section of the food platter.
3. An alternate choice must be presented to the students.
4. Every athlete must have a higher protein and calorie lunch presented to them.
5. Dairy items must be kept up to expiration dates.

Section 3

1. Every public school must follow the guidelines set in this bill.
2. Every student should have an alternative option, so they will eat even if they do not like it.
3. Fruits and vegetables must be fresh.
4. Fruits and vegetables must have different options every day to give variety to the students. 
5. Meats should not be heavily preserved.
6. Religious students must have food options to follow their beliefs.
7. There must be vegetarian and vegan options.
8. All students should be fed before the hour of twelve o’clock pm.
9. All of these rules apply to breakfast.

 

 

 

 

Section 4

1. The Department of Health will be in charge of enforcing this law.
2. Schools must adopt this food program and it must be approved by the Department of Health.
3. If any school does not follow this rule or chooses not to, will be fined 8,000 dollars a school year.

Section 5

1. All laws or parts of laws in conflict
2. Herewith are hereby repealed to the
3. Extent of the conflict.
4. If any portion of this act is declared
5. Unconstitutional, it is the intention
6. Of this legislature that the other
7. Portions shall remain in full force
8. And effect

 

 President’s Signature

____________________

 

Barnga Reflection

1. I would describe the game as confusing and chaos.
2. I expected to lose because I was confused by the rules.
3. I first realized when something was wrong when chance, Dylan, and hunter kept trying to give me a pile and I didn’t understand why.
4. I just went along with it.
5. You couldn’t figure out why the other people were doing what they were doing and it made it difficult and confusing.
6. Yes it is appropriate because it isn’t really a game. You think it is but it is confusion and chaos.
7. Yes, because otherwise the world would be chaos.
8. It teaches us that we all need something in common with each other or chaos will be upon us.

 

Ted Talk Reflect

In the video we watched, although it may have started a heated argument, I understand the place he was coming from. I agree that in no matter what the situation is being presented, it is important to put yourself in other people’s shoes so you can understand why they react the way they do and how your actions and words affect them. This is an important concept to use in your life. It prevents fighting and conflict in life and it also increases empathy in a society.

 Just the other day I had to use this in my life. I had to put myself in my dad’s shoes and try and understand why he was upset at me. I began to analyze my dad’s week and what he had done and my week and what I had done. Once I did that I understood why he was upset at me and how hurt I made him feel. My actions and attitude towards him were not what they should’ve been and I had to become more aware of the problem. This taught me to not only look at my actions and attitude towards my dad but towards everybody in my life.

I see myself fitting into the big picture of society by bettering myself as a person and doing the best to be a good example for community. I will try to better myself by going to school and doing something that I am passionate in and doing the best I can in it. I hope to help people in my work and to change people’s lives for the better and to leave an imprint in their lives. I hope to see myself being an example for children and adults to be a good person by showing love and kindness everywhere I go.