E N D A N G E R E D

No thought should be forgotten.

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DEFINE IT. DEFINE FREEDOM.

I can never quite begin to try and understand what freedom really looks like; I always ask myself if I fit the definition of free and if I do how do I wear it. Do I wear it proudly displaying it for all to see or does it hide behind me, only choosing to cloak me when others announce its presence. 

Being raised in America one is always told they should be proud to live in the “country of the free”, but how free are we really? 

The social contract states that one must forfeit rights to the government in exchange for protection, yet the protection that lives among us is getting away with killing the minority. Society has placed such restricting classifications on people that it has become the norm to say “he wasn’t white, I feared for my life because (s)he looked suspicious so I had to shoot first.”  

The American society has not bred a free population rather a population constantly placed on a leash. In which one’s greatest wishes and dreams are placed within reached but always snatched way before one can claim it.

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bern one for sanders

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M O N E Y

Whether people admit it or not money will always be something everyone subconsciously takes into account. In this society money buys one their life.

You see it is an endless cycle of always wanting what is better for your children, always wanting them to have what your parents could not provide for you. However, in doing so the society has become closely tied to the idea that having money results in happiness and that one’s end goal is to retain as much as possible.

One is molded with the belief that going to a good college will give one the advantage to be better than everyone else. So in high school students takes as many Advance Placement (AP) classes and take part of activities that “will look very good in my college resume” and in doing so education ceases to have any value to the student. Going to school becomes seen less about learning and more about showing everyone else that you are better than them. 

It is quite sad that as a population we have allowed money to form us into the people we are today. People who fuel the addiction between themselves and pieces of paper; people who never seen to be happy with the amount they have and the life they are living, always comparing themselves to others.

I suppose it cannot be helped.

As humans are now we will never be able to establish a utopia in which wealth and status hold no relevance. There will always be the a battle between those with and without money and one will always feel like they are entitled to something. Take a look at the presidential candidates currently running, one believes Wall Street should be tamed while the other candidate is being endorsed by Wall Street.

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S L E E P

I am exhausted. 

Sleep has become a foreign topic to me. Something I can no longer comprehend.

School work keeps me up late at night. A tragic routine.

Sleep late, crash when I get home.

I have stopped trying to cover the bags that rest below my tired eyes and have come to the conclusion that I will not be able to break the routine’s restrain until May 26.

It is said that sleep is for the weak, but no sleep makes the body weak. There is only so far one’s body can get them without sleep and no amount of caffeine can change that. The body is fragile and need to be taken care of by sleeping enough and eating right. But society does not understand.

Kids are being placed in the position were work is more valuable over sleep and ultimately themselves. 

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C O L L E G E   S T R E S S

For the past five days my older sister has called me in tears. She says no one seems to understand how sad and stressful her life has become and that no matter how hard she tries she cannot make things right. 

Since then my sister has become a different person than I imagined her to be. I imagined her to be this carefree college student who’s every action was made to counter my parent’s believes. Now I see a fragile,broken, lonely girl living miles away in a big city trying to find out who she is. 

College has done this to her. It has forced her to be exposed and unsafe. Forced her to be someone she is not. 

Everyone paints college as the time of your life, a place where you can be anyone you want and be anything you want to be. But no one exposes college for the vile creature it is.

My sister is in-debt with the bank and owes her sorority a couple hundreds, and I would also question why she would put herself in the position where she her actions made her unhappy. But she said to me that college was all a game of networking and that her sorority was the only support she had in campus.

My sister explained to me that all her life she was told her path paved so she would go to college make a better living, the one thing my parents could offer her, a chance at a better life. However, she says its not possible; she says it has all become to much, too unbearable.

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H I L L S   L I K E   W H I T E                 E L E P H A N T S

In my AP Language and Composition classes we read and annotated Ernest Hemingway’s poem “Hills Like White Elephants”, and prior to the class decision we had about the poem, out of confusion about the motive of the poem, I came to the assumption that the poem was nothing more then a couple fighting. However, once my teacher explained the meaning of the poem I was flabbergasted.

The poem depicts a story of a traveling couple faced with a troubling decision, whether or not to abort their unplanned baby. The agitated female does not know what to do but her actions often portray her want to keep the baby. Unlike the woman the males’s words and actions make it seem like an abortion is the right thing to do. In the end, feed up the males constant blabber the women states “she is fine” and one can assume their story would conclude to be a miserable one because neither get what they want. The woman wants to keep the baby, however the man makes the comment that the time is not now and if she were to keep the baby she would lose him.

In understanding the poem I could not begin to fathom how someone could disregard a child’s life and even threaten to leave the mother if she did not go through the procedure. It was then that I realized how defenseless women are against the world. 

Unplanned parenthood is scary, but it takes two to tango. However, time over time women are always the ones to be punished for getting pregnant. They are the ones labeled as whores or slut while men get praised for “tapping it”. This double standard must be stopped. 

Women should be equally valued as men and should have a say on whether they want to keep the baby; it should never come to the conclusion that the female is forced to go through the procedure because she has no aid from anyone. This is why organizations like Planned Parenthood should funded on the basis that is the procedure goes against some people’s religious belief. Because at the end of the day the Christian monk does not have to make the decision that they will live forever with, it is the women who bears the child so she should make the decision.

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S T R E S S E D  O U T

Everyone has their demons, some more than others, but nonetheless everyone is constantly at war with oneself. 

Adults might argue that the demons they carry weigh them down to the point that they feel like their knees will give out. And I acknowledge that adults face more everyday issues than I do, however their demons do not suffocate them to the point that giving up is a definite option. I understand everyone is placed under different circumstance that I might not/ will not face, despite that I must argue that the definition of stress is reflected upon teens.

Going to college to get a six digital job follows the endless cycle of doing it “so my kids will have a better future”. And when people have their kids and they did not amount to what they wanted to do in life, their kid’s life becomes a battle to be best “because that is what my parents expect from me” or “ I want to be the best so I can get my parents the best”.

Failure is never an option. 

Thus it is no surprise teens drown their sorrows away with alcohol and drugs, because the six hour high the drug provides is so much better than hearing the whispers of the demons telling them they will never amount to anything.  

One’s teen years draws out the blueprint one’s life. Everyone is faced with the decision of whether college is the right choice and if it is what college would be the best option. And once one find their “dream college there is never the guaranteed one will get in. When acceptance letters come in teens come the realization that at that moment they are sealing their fate. They are committing to a school that will place they thousand dollars in debt to get an diploma that does not come with a job. 

Every year that proceeds after one turns eighteen is a mere effect of the actions one took prior to becoming an adult. It is all a domino effect which only provides a harsh insight to  what life is to bring. 

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B E R N   T H E   W H I T E   H O U S E

When I came to the realization that 2016 was going to be the last year I would say “President Barack Obama” I, like many knew who my first choice for president would be, current Vice-President Joe Biden. However, with his announcement that he would not be running for president I came to the conclusion that my only other choice would be Hillary Clinton, because I believed we did not need a bigotry Republican president and that while Bernie Sanders seemed promising he is quite old. 

Nonetheless, I made that assumption in a state of mind in which I was uneducated and prejudice. So it came to no surprise that the more research I did the more I came to dislike every candidate but Bernie Sanders. I came to the realization no matter how people paint Clinton she is nothing more but a manipulative politician who would stand for aristocrats not the people, unlike Sanders.

Bernie Sanders’ campaign consist of the following: income and wealth equality, free college, restoring democracy, creating jobs, combating climate change, racial justice, fighting for women’s rights, LGBT equality, veteran care, medicare for all, etc. all excellent basis to build the troubled USA. People use Sanders need for change to label him as a socialist which is defamatory to Sander. 

Feel the bern.   

Citations

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/bernie-sanders-president-change-politics

https://berniesanders.com/issues/

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/02/bernie-sanders-2016-socialism-213667

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P E R I O D

Necessity 

ne·ces·si·tynəˈsesədē/

noun

1.the fact of being required or indispensable.

an indispensable thing

Luxury 

ux·u·ryˈləkSH(ə)rē,ˈləɡZH(ə)rē/

noun

1.the state of great comfort and extravagant living.

The United States’ (US) government taxes goods based on the criteria of whether the item is a necessity (see definition above) or a luxury (see definition). 

The US government decided tampons, pads, and other feminine hygiene products are not essential to women but a mere luxury.

People decided that although women bleed once a month and experience unbearable cramps, backaches, etc they should be responsible for cleaning up the mess. 

Men especially do not understand the severity of a period. They cannot begin to comprehend how some females have to be prescribed birth control to dull the pain and the minimize the flow.

If women did not use pads or tampons when on their cycle and let all the blood flow and run its natural course it will be then when people realized ‘feminine products’ are a requirement for the developing women. 

Women must not allow for this jurisdiction to continue any longer; we must take a stand against the ‘discrimination’ taken against our condition and call for a change period.

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H A P P Y ?

Now a days the world is eerily quite.

There is not enough communication; everyone is either on their phones or listening to music never truly getting a grasp of the living world around them.

I always assumed it would be a lonely world; I always questioned why anyone would like to live a imaginary life.

However, this past year has proven how addicting loneliness can be.

Everyone around me is always in a face of sadness or stress which they try to counteract by drowning their sorrows away. But ever quite works, the gleam in their eyes in never truly there, but the weigh of their addiction is ever present.

I am living in a world of sad people

People always trying to get ahead for a “better future” never the happiness it will bring. And those who correlate happiness with wealth are the ones who never sleep and are always hungry, never satisfied.

I would be naive to suggest people live a life of happiness, because I understand the world is not a perfect place that will meet everyone’s needs. 

I merely suggest that people take a look at the people that surround them and see how unhappy some people are and take action toward making their life be more meaningful than their net worth.

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W H I T E W A S H E D

white·wash

ˈ(h)wītˌwäSH,ˈ(h)wītˌwôSH/

Someone who is looked at as leaving behind or neglecting

their culture and assimilating to a white, western culture.

My skin labeled me as whitish, never white. My hair was too dark to be seen as American; my accent to prevalent in some words for English to be my native language. 

At first all the labels placed upon me made me uncomfortable to me myself, a Mexican-American. I would try hard to erase the characteristics in myself people saw as foreign by dying my hair lighter or trying hard to excel in academics. Because no one believed a Mexican would get far; no one believed in Mexicans period.

However in my head I never saw this action as whitewashing; I always gave a reason to every action. I always said I was experimenting with colors or trying to be the best at whatever I did to make my parents proud.

It was not until recently that I realized how unhappy I was with the person I had become, a mere whitewash. 

I was not happy. Never truly pleased with whatever I had accomplished. And saddest of all I was ashamed to say who I am. 

But looking around in my community I came to see the Mexican pride everyone raved about, I saw the invisible thread that held every Mexican together. And through this connection I came to realize the glory behind being a Mexican. 

I came to see that although social media, conservatives, or most of all Republicans hate us because of our “foreign blood” being Mexican is the best part of me. 

I came to see that I am only endangering my happiness to please others when I cannot control who I am only my reaction. Be proud.

Citations Provided by 

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=white+wash

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D E F A U L T

The life of a female is a game of strategy.

A game that if security is not ensure can lead to a deadly consequence.

That is why girls are told to travel in  groups at night and are advised to carry pepper spray in their purse at all times.

At school we are told we should dress modestly because wearing a low-cut shirt and short-shorts is a welcoming sign to men.

If I were to go to a party and get raped I would not be comforted by the authorities; instead I would be questioned. They would ask me what I was wearing or if I was drinking; they would try to make me believe it was my fault I got raped.

It is never the man’s fault.

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S A V E   T H E   K I D S   K I L L  T H E   N O R M

Sitting in front of my laptop I was pleading my fingers to cohesively type the thoughts running through my head, but everything I typed never seemed to be enough. Every draft I trashed contained a part of me, but the blog never seemed to portray who I was.

It was on the fifth draft that I realized I was never pleased with my writing, because I was am unsure of who I am.

I do not know anything about myself but the absolute facts. I have been too busy trying to comprehend and master my classwork that I had forgotten to take time to understand myself.

I can explain to you in depth Newton’s Three Laws and how the British disregarded “no taxation without representation” because they believed in “visual representation”, but I cannot begin to comprehend who “Adela” is. 

Kind of sad don’t you think?

I have let myself become a living zombie, but instead of brains I crave good grades.

I can write a page long essay trying to justify my actions,but instead I am going to place the blame on the mental intruder who has changed me,

the education system.

The education system has brainwashed students to believe that they are a mere number to everyone around them. After all one’s thoughts do not get into college; one’s GPA and SAT/ACT scores get one in. 

Students have been conditioned to think strategically not emotionally, because life is a never-ending competition and if one’s “numbers” do not reflect the best possible score a dooming fate is expected.

And even as I am writing this I am not giving the blog my 100%, because in the back of my mind I “believe” I could be doing something to educationally push me a step in front of the other students. 

The education system has corrupted me to a point where I can no longer identify with myself, instead I have become a malleable individual that molds to other’s expectations. 

It is imperative that the education system be altered to provide students an environment where they are being intellectually enlightened not stressed to the point they become a mere shell of themselves.

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L O N G    L I V E   T H E                       U . S .    G O V E R N M E N T

One cannot stand with pride along our government. The black plague of corruption and greed has consumed it whole and established a institution bases on unethical morals.

The term “secular” can no longer be applied to the United States' (U.S.) government. The now corrupt institution is debating whether the U.S. should allow distressed refugees in the country, or to only accept those who plead their loyalty to God.

Although I agree that a safe procedure should be established to ensure the citizens safety; I believe there should no debate on whether or not refugees are given asylum based on their religion. The country has a vast amount of unused land that can be used as a temporary refugee until the individuals gain footing on the undiscovered world around them.

The “political debate” about the issue is idiotic, but not as idiotic as the candidates running for presidency. I cannot fathom how American citizens can stand along side the beliefs of Donald Trump, a horrible, disgusting individual, who bases his ideologies on an unclear understanding of the U.S. history.

It is individuals alike Donald Trump who play the government as their puppet; individuals who merely see the government as a way of networking and gaining money. The government is now a game of power and greed. The government has to be cleansed and reestablished to reflect American beliefs not the elite.

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M E X I C A N

To a Mexican seeking refuge America is seen as the land of the free until one lives there.

Everyday one has to work 100 times harder than the “average” American to be given an excruciating and non-compensating job that they should be “thankful” to have. They work long days in the sun, long days cleaning up American’s mess to be paid merely enough to provide for their family. With whatever money is left they feel obligated to send back to Mexico in hopes their struggling families back home can have a day’s rest.

The life of a Mexican is always being scrutinized by the arrogant American with too much money in his pocket. The American always want to “send them all back to where they came from” and let their government deal with them. Americans cannot comprehend that Mexicans are running away to the same promise land they sought refuge in thousands of years ago, the land of the free. 

People have placed such harsh stereotypes on Mexicans and do not let them break the chains. Mexicans morph to people’s perceptions; Mexicans become the cholos killed every other day by because of a drug bust. Mexicans become the dirt bordering the picket white fence. When in reality Mexicans are so much more then the idiotic perception people have on them. They work hard hours, Monday-Saturday from sunrise to sunset, to come home be with their family and help their community. The Mexican perception is a mere illusion of the lazy American who is scared to lose his/her job to an”undocumented and uneducated” Mexican. That perception has to be eliminated and Mexicans have to be given equal opportunities. 

America is not the land of the whites it is the land of the refugees and it is time the individuals realized this before the land of the free becomes the land of the imprisoned.

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I T   B E G I N S

To say I am defined by all that is endangered is broad and vague, the perfect contradiction, because everything and nothing is endangered.

By definition if I burn the chair I am sitting on I am endangering the chair’s existence,but would the chair really be endangered? No. Although I destroy the chair an exact copy can be made to replace the demolished chair, however if anything was to happen to the girl sitting on the chair that would be a whole different circumstance, because the female population is at risk.

The fundamental change to the female status came with the the Neolithic Revolution that altered the position of women in society. Before they were seen as equal to men because both genders were interdependent on each other, however with the shift to an agricultural based economy women were seen merely as child breeders. And to this day, although we live in a greatly differing generation, women are still seen as inferior to men.

Thus it is no surprise some women are raised to believe that they must be submissive to men and that “it was their fault he hit her”. As a gender, women have been raised to believe the greatest threat to them is the other women never the violent, irrational man, yet there is no greater threat to women than men.

Every day 3 women die because of domestic violence.

In America, 17.7 million women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.

I alone cannot demand change for the women’s status, and it now more than ever that females have to stand by each other in the fight for equal rights.

If you or anyone you know is a/has been a victim of domestic violence do not be afraid to reach out for help.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline

http://www.thehotline.org/

RAINN

https://rainn.org/get-help/national-sexual-assault-hotline

Citations:

Lee, Kaofeng. "Each Day, 3 Women Die Because of Domestic Violence." National Network to End Domestic Violence. Accessed December 11, 2015. http://nnedv.org/getinvolved/dvam/1307-dvam-blog-series-1.html.

"Who Are the Victims? | RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network." Who Are the Victims? | RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Accessed December 18, 2015. https://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims.

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W H E R E   I T   B E G A N

I have been told countless times by those that surround me that there is going to be a moment in my life that will define me; I just have to patiently wait until I can answer the question “what moves you?” not only confidently but passionately aswell. Though to provided a single answer to such a complex question seems to make one appear obtuse to the rest of the world.Thus, I am defined by all that is endangered.