Blog 10 Reflection

Throughout this semester I’ve come to actually enjoy writing more because of this class which is different for me because my whole school life English has always been my worst subject. Honestly if it wasn’t for Dr. Perry I would not have not have been as comfortable with my writing today. I went into this class nervous because last semester I got a C in my first English class. I think what also got me involved in this class was the topics we focused on could relate to mostly everyone in this class.

Having our project topics be relatable helped me make all my essays more personal. My top two essays and books I enjoyed wiritng was The House on Mango Street, and Becoming. THOMS was a great way to start off, we had to write about of identity whether or not it was based on our georgraphy. The book was enjoyable as well because we could view someones else life through their eyes. Becoming inspired my topic to be on gentrification which was the perfect topic for me because that i was my favorite paper to write out of all our projects even though it was the longest and most challenging.

Blogging through this course was a task at first that i did not like or saw the purpose of doing it. At first i thought it was soley due to the fact that this was a english class. My mind changed when my grades started to imporve because i was writing more. I relaized that blogging made me a better witer overall. If i could go back and change anything about this class i certainly would not. I am grateful for this experience beacuse it made me a better student.  

Jelysa Edwards

Becoming

I like Becoming, from jump it interested me. I like learning where Michelle Obama came from, i like her story she telling. She is such a role model for women. I am not too far into it currently to get into deep details but for me it’s so far so good. This novel is inspirational for any and all women, doesn’t matter your race or gender or even where you are from, as long as you are strong minded and goal oriented you will be able to set yourself up for success.

Blog 9

Currently I am watching this show on netflix called “Breaking Bad”. It is about a highschool chemistry teach named Walter White, who is also a husband and a father. Walter is over qualified to be a highschool teacher, he once was a part of a team that was highly educated and had potential to blow up. He got cut from the group and after a few years it became a million dollar company. He resents them and is unhappy but he puts on a show for his wife and son. His wife has an unplanned pregnancy and he has mixed emotion about it because of their age.

Walter gets diagnosed with stage three lung cancer and this new devastated him and his family. They are not prepared to pay his medical bills, because the only source of income is his teaching job. All Walter cares about is making sure his family is stable when he is gone. His wife suggests borrowing money from family and friends to help out with their money issues but he is too prideful to accept. Instead of accepting help, Walter decides to start cooking meth using his chemistry knowledge, but is not setup with the distribution connections so he reaches out to a former student of his to become partners.

Of course with anything illegal it is bound to take a left turn with extreme complications. Walter and his partner face many near death situations, in some of them they are forced to kill or be killed. Not only do they have to face the dangers of the streets and other criminals, they have to watch their backs from the DEA, which one of the many officers on the meth case is Walter’s brother in law. After they get themselves out of very intense battles, Walter gets a big head. I can tell by the way he holds himself now that he feels like the top dog in the game, but from the outside looking in he is way in over his head and he doesn’t care. Being lucky makes him takes more risk that leads to bigger and bigger problems. I can’t wait to see how everything plays out.

Blog 8

The film I chose was Hotel Rwanda, which was based on a true historical event. I really like this movie because of the historical education it serves about african history. The film was made in 2004, but I am impressed by the directing skills, making the movie very realistic. I learned more about the history behind hutu and tutsi in this movie than any history class i took in high school. The Belgium ruled Rwanda in the earlier years and separated the people of the country based on their appearance, hutu were usually shorter, darker, and wider noses and the tutsi appeared taller, skinner noses and lighter skin.  

This movie is an eye opener of how other foreign countries do not value the relationship they have with rwanda or any other African countries. Although Rwanda had allies they did not want to involve themselves because they simply did not care enough about the natives lives, forcing them to fight for their lives while their government system was down. I usually get emotional with movies like this, it is just crazy for me to wrap my mind around that situations like these occurred.

One thing i could suggest to make the movie better is the acting. Not every actor in this movie was as good enough to convince the audience the depth of the scene they played. I also noticed that everybody had a african accent which is reasonable considering the place of the plot. The accents could have been more realistic but i wouldn’t have minded if the movie had english subtitle.

Blog 7

I am a first year college student, and I am honestly surprised of how far I came. I feel that everyone can relate that college is very stressful, but you also learn a lot too. I believe nothing can fully prepare you for college, it’s a learning experience. Everything any highschool teacher told me about college was a lie. Yes the work can be hard, but the biggest battle in my personal opinion is time management. Being on your own forces us to manage life on our own terms, there is nobody telling you when to eat, sleep, or go to class because we are now responsible for ourselves one hundred percent.

Time management is one of my biggest struggles when it comes to homework and assignments. In highschool everyday your teachers remind you of what needs to be turned in and when. Yes in college most professors send reminders for due dates, but it is up to the students to take it upon themselves on when is the best opportunity to get it done. I used to really want to work during this semester but i am glad i waited because i could not possibly imagine maintaining a job while keeping up with my grades. Not only are you in charge of when you get your homework done but eating and sleeping isn’t something i consider would be such a task until i got to college.

Making sure your body gets the right about of sleep and nutrients can help with anyone education improve. This is also something that i am working on getting better at. Nobody is here setting aside time for us to go eat. On a average day i may eat one to two meals a day, which is not at all healthy. These meals also rarely include enough fruits and vegetables as id like, unhealthy food is generally cheaper, faster, and easier to get. I am only human and i’m sure i am not the first to deal with these issue, i plan to improve in my next semester with everything i struggled with this year.

Blog 6

Gentrification was the topic I chose for project 3. To summarize gentrification, it is basically the process of upcoming renovations and improvements made in certain cities and neighborhoods, generally in low income areas. Although I could witness these changes happening I was unaware of everything gentrification comes with in a negative light. People, including me could visually see the positive side but it wasn’t until i did my research that i could also see the negative sides. I couldn’t properly state my argument until I did an abundance of research.

The main sources I planned to use consisted of articles, either from personal experiences or statistic based reading. Whether the article was percentage based or personal, there were very little information of the positive effects having to deal with the community prior to this movement. After I gathered this information I choose to direct my argument to an anti gentrification point of view. Gentrification was a topic that stuck out to me more because i have family that have also faced the negative consequences.

Putting my thoughts into words became easier once i choose specific topics to shed light on. I learned through my research that gentrification takes a toll on the school system, family owned businesses, and leaving most residents homeless or in poverty. Out of only these few subjects to talk about none of them are worth being thrown to the side to build coffee shops, or yoga studios. I am happy and content with this topic to research and i am looking forward to sharing this information and learning more.

I never cared for poetry, but for some reason Danez Smiths poems have interested me. I read the poem “recklessly” and it took me a few times to read and actually fully understand what he was trying to say, even though i am not fully sure i get what he is saying. Smiths was mentioning a boy a lot and i think he is talking about his sexuality or about being in love with a boy or more like a love story. I think the boy was confusing Smith but he did not care. The tone makes me feel he is desperate about something or like worrisome. What i liked about this poem also was that in a way it had me on the edge of my seat, i did not know or expect what he was going to say next or what he meant about everything until i digested it and went back to the beginning. I was not at all disappointed by this poem and i look forwards into reading more by him, he is very unique and it has a very big impact on how he writes because you can almost feel how he feels through his word which is extremely powerful. https://vinylpoetryandprose.com/2017/09/danez-smith/

My name is Jelysa Edwards and I am Jamaican. Both my parents are from Jamaican and we try to visit every year. I like to visit and help my family anytime we get an opportunity to go. Not only do i like to go there to see my family but the food there is more than delicious.

I’ve played tennis since the 7th grade and that is my favorite sport. I’ve played soccer, basketball, and volleyball but tennis is my favorite so that’s what I kept doing. I played tennis all of high school and been in 3 championship games. I decided not to play in college to focus more on my goals i wasn’t really interested in keeping up with it.

My major is psychology. I plan on using my psychology degree to obtain a marketing/ advertising job. I’m really interested with study human behavior and development which could help me in sales by understanding how the human brain works in order to help grow business. If my major were to change i would major in a marketing degree and minor in psychology.