Am I College Material?

So I'm here in the Atkins Library, on my laptop listening to this song that is about "losing someone in life who meant more to you than you ever realize."  Sounds a little corny, but I remember as a kid, one of my close friends shared with me her connection with this song; so I'm just going to listen to this song to help me write about the Readiness for College, an assignment for my English 1102 class. The reason I'm hoping for this song to help me write more about college readiness is because everyone at least uses someone in their life as motivation.

 (My bird image)

Coming back to this assignment, what does readiness for college look like? What prepared me for college?

Honestly, college didn't hit me until my second semester of senior year in high school. I just always tried my best in school just to feel good about myself. But what got me here? To college? This is something I wrote in my journal for the assignment of College Readiness:

Lake Badin and Lake Wylie is my school
My home is my school
My family are my teachers
My teachers are just my enforcers
My friends are my arms and legs...

* Even though I never realize that I was going to college, the long journey put me here.

What's My Narrative like?

When it comes down to me writing a literacy narrative, what is my theme? my topic? my story?

For homework in my English 1102 class, I was reading about "Master" and "Little" narratives in a piece by Kara Poe Alexander. Although this amazing piece had great and methodic information about literacy narrative, I did not get a chance to read the whole entire thing. What I was really looking forward in this text was the definition of cultural, master, and little narratives.

(Notes)

First of all, let me share a literacy narrative in my own words. After reading this informative piece, I have brainstormed my own definition of a literacy narrative. A literacy narrative is defined as art being discovered or defined within ourselves, with the fact that we understand it or at least see it.

For example, one thing that I feel I can express about truly deep inside is the peace I can draw living in the city of Charlotte my whole life. I have experience some phenomenal things, such as going to the panthers game and rooting for my team, and I have faced some horrible things, such as getting into a car crash on the way to school. Lots of things have happened in Charlotte in my life, something we Charlotteons can relate.

But what's so different about Charlotte?

You have the east part of charlotte. South part. North part. West part. Northwest. Southeast. Northeast. Southwest. Rural. City. Suburbs. Metropolitan. Caucasian dominant. African dominant. Hispanic dominant. Diverse. Poor. Rich. Dirty. Clean. High class. Low class. Crowded. Deserted. Fun. Boring. Ghetto. Sketchy.......  I can go on and on.

What I always loved about Charlotte is the things that only we Charlotteons can do. Root for our home teams, Panthers and Bobcats. Enjoy the low temperature of 30 degrees fahrenheit around winter and 90 degree Fahrenheit around summer. See the beautiful flowers bloom during spring. Getting stuck in Interstate 85. Eating at Cook Out. Listening to rap/pop/rock. Go to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. I can go on and on.

Everyone has their own experience living in Charlotte, but living here has really been a factor in who we are. I hope this can be an example of a literacy narrative; if not, give me some suggestion on what a literacy narrative really is.

The Hidden Meanings in Kid's Movies

So the other day in my english class, my class and I watched a video called The Hidden Meanings in Kid's Movies: Colin Strokes at TEDxBeaconStreet, and what I picked up from Colin Strokes that really interested me was the topic of manhood. Colin Strokes talked about how often we are seeing dads teaching their sons the wrong value of manhood in today's society. According to the National Studies of NY Times, "one out of five women in America said they have been sexually assaulted in their lives." Pretty shocking huh? Now I agree on the fact that we "men" do sometimes fail to learn, but I do not agree with Colin that "men" should sometimes be taught better by our fathers. As a man, I feel though it's important for me to go venture on my own and seek my own potential. If I make mistakes, I will learn from them. That is my principle of manhood.

 My writing into the day: I based it on this topic.

Coming back to the fairy tales and super hero movies, I use to love pretending to be a certain character. Some characters are:

the Red Ranger from Mighty Morphan Power Rangers
the Spiderman
even Aladdin.

These characters fight for a purpose in their movies. They save the day, get the girls, and make a happy ending, but these aren't the main reason I liked them. I like all three of them because they make mistakes and then they get their hands dirty to fix it.

I'm not going to be the kind of man who tries hard to prevent myself from falling into ditches every time.  Every once and a while I want to fall in ditches and work my ass up.


"Manhood can play an evil character sometimes, and if it was to change it's way, only the man in the mirror can make that happen."

WordCloud of "Stuarts Hall's Representation"

Culture? Representation? Language?

          One day I was in Atkins Library reading an assignment called "Stuarts Hall's Representation" for my english class. I was really into it while reading it because Hall expanded and constructed the definition of culture in so many different ways. He included the principles of culture, and one principle that I found very remarkable was LANGUAGE.

I  use to think of language as communication owned by certain backgrounds. According to Hall, language is more than a communication line, it's a representational system. To put that in my own words, language is any kind of relationship anybody can have with another. That includes art, music, emotion, work, skills, or even vision. The connection people have with another is a language. Language can be shared through so many possibilities.

For example, taking the class "Intro to Engineering" has really been a lot of work. What kills me the most is the things we talk about in that class. I sometimes don't get what my professor is saying when he talks about water fluid systems underground and its propulsion. So what can I do about that? I start to study more on civil engineering online to see what my professor was talking about. I also talked to my professor in his office about how can I really get my mindset into this class. I had to search beyond my imagination. Incorporation was the key. I had to talk the language of engineering, something I have never done.

It took me a while to digest the introduction of Stuarts Hall's Representation passage. My eyes were getting tired. My head was not into it, but after reading it about three times, I finally got it. I finally got it because I found ways to relate to it.

*Language is a tool for us to communicate, but the best way we can communicate is if we know our own identity.






Here is a Wordle I did on the Intro of "Stuarts Hall's Representation."