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[hellokarengonzales]

Reflective Essay: The hassle brought by ENGLCOM

A friend of mine told me before how hassle englcom is. Drafts here and there, essays everywhere. I am not good in essay making, not creative enough to make papers with sense and I am really not good with the language. I actually don’t want to take this subject but I have no choice, englcom has a lot of prerequisites.

  Surprisingly, I learned a lot from this term like contractions should not really be used in making academic papers. I was used to using it, so yeah englcom made that one different for me.

  Every Tuesday and Thursday our schedule is from 7:30-5:45 so when in class I really am bored. To be honest, it was Ms, Joy’s enthusiasm (and outfits) that capture my attention. I actually see her as an inspiration and every class I tell myself if she can be this happy for the whole day why can’t I? Her attendance sheet always challenges me, like how can I answer this. I really admire her because at such a young age she was able to teach students and inspire them. She always reminds us to use recycled papers in printing. Now, I print papers not because I want additional grade but because I get used to it and because of Ms. Joy actually. So Ms. Joy I may not be as good as Jen in recitations or as creative as Pio in writing, I just want to tell you that I really learned a lot from you and you are one of the best teachers I ever had.

  Ms. Riano’s patience is what caught my attention; even if it’s already late she still teaches us and makes an effort to make it lively. She waits for us to finish our essays so that she can check them. 

  ENGLCOM is hassle but it makes you dig deeper in yourself especially when making essays, too be able to make a good essay you have to write from the heart.  It maybe hassle but you will actually learn a lot. And CRAMMING should never be an option (hahaha).Surprisingly, I learned to love the subject and as the term ends I’m having sepanx.

[hellokarengonzales]

Exit Essay: War for Peace

     Philippines is a democratic country Being a democratic gives us the right to do whatever we want as long as it does not break rules. We have our own government which is ruled by people elected by the registered Filipino citizen voters. Filipinos have the right to select whoever they want and they also have the power to impeach them. Basically, the view of the voters on the system is divided. There are some who are relaxed with it and some who are neutral; there are also people who considers the government is not the way it should be. Hence, not everyone approves on how the government runs the country. These people are called the “New People’s Army” or the famous NPA.

  The Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) aims to remove the American influence in the Philippines. They also want the working class to take over the government. Furthermore, these groups of people are also for the poor. Their intention is to distribute the lands to those land-deprived farmers. These people attacked the government to raise their issues. The group also has weapons such as pistols and rifles which was allegedly stolen. Moreover, the group is not financially supported by the government or any non-government organization. In order to finance their operations, they collect “revolutionary taxes” from illegal businesses. The attacks of the CPP-NPA killed a lot of innocent civilians. One example of these occurrences was the Plaza Miranda Bombing wherein a lot was wounded.  Another attack happened last July 27, 2014 wherein 13 were injured and 3 were killed.

  The CPP-NPA aims transformation in the society and they are for the poor. Ironically, their ways opposes their goal. They aim for change but they do not reach out to our government. They aim for transformation, but their ways are done wrong, they corrupt money from the people by reasoning out that these are revolutionary taxes. They are for the poor, but the outbreaks that they do affect the poor.  Yes they are fighting for their right, the right to have a good government but sometimes they are becoming a burden to the society and to the government as well.

   They aim for change but they do unlawful things. They want peace but they kill people. Killing and attacking will not make any amendment: ironically, it will merely make the condition worse.

  References:

·         Communist Party of the Philippines–New People's Army. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2015, from http://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/149

·         Palace: Government open to resuming peace talks with CPP-NPA-NDF. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2015, from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/507814/news/nation/palace-government-open-to-resuming-peace-talks-with-cpp-npa-ndf

·         3 soldiers dead, 13 others injured in NPA ambush in Kalinga. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2015, from http://cnnphilippines.com/regional/2015/07/29/3-soldiers-dead-13-others-injured-in-NPA-ambush-in-Kalinga.html

[hellokarengonzales]

Argumentative Essay: Limits of Fashion

   Rules are everywhere, it sets order and uniformity. Our society has laws while schools and universities create policies for the students to follow. Certain policies provided by the school sometimes causes debate between students and school administration. In connection to this, the dress code policy should be revised because it inhibits the students in expressing themselves.

    What do you mean by dress code? According to dictionary.com, a dress code is a set of rules specifying the type of clothing to be worn by a group or by people under specific circumstances. Another meaning is that it is a set of rules or guidelines regarding the manner of dress acceptable in an office, restaurant, etc.

   The dress code policy has been an issue for so long. According to The LaSallian, the school is a university carrying population of fashion bloggers and lookbookers. For the students, the way someone dresses up is a form of self-expression, it shows how you perceive yourself and how you want others to view you as well but the dress code policy limits the students in wearing the clothes they want. The clothes they wear screams individuality despite being in a pool of people.

    With regards to this, the dress code policy gives the students the idea that girls cannot wear clothes that shows skin because guys will be disturbed. Sounds irrational right? Girls have the all the right to wear what they want specially if they are confident about their body. You don’t control the way someone’s way of dressing up just because it will cause disturbance or it is provocative but still the main goal of the school is the safety of the students.

   Another point is that the said policy favors men more than women. It is girls who are most likely to commit an offense regarding the dress code compared to men. There are a lot of boys who wear shorter shorts than girl’s skirts. Another thing is that the dress code policy is not really equal for everyone one example is the rule about the length of skirts should be as long as the length of your longest finger plus 1 inch, students do not have the same length of fingers. But despite of that, the university is a catholic university so being conservative is practiced.

   The said policy imposes that despite of not having uniform, the university is still an academic institution, and being under an academic institution, students have to be cautious on the way they dress. But do our clothes affect our grade? What students wear in class does not affect their studies. In fact, the policy limits the students to wear what they want comfortably. Why should you limit the students when in the first place the clothes they wear do not affect the scores they get?  In UP, they can wear whatever they want to school but they are still the best school in the country.

    Another point raised is, with the presence of dress code students are practiced on how to dress in a way that they will be respected. This policy indirectly promotes rape culture, believing that provocative clothes will cause disturbance. Students wear the clothes they want not because they want to seduce guys or they want others to notice them, they wear it for self-satisfaction.

    The way people dress up is one way of expressing themselves, it shows a bit of their personality. Students have the right to dress comfortably but they must also keep in mind that they are in an academic institution. The policy should be revised, not completely removed. Learning does not have anything to do with the clothes we wear and another thing is that being comfortable is a lot different from being provocative.

References:

1.      Sta. Romana, M., &Manay, J. (2014, June 10). Grievance, dress code, still top concerns of students and faculty. The LaSallian. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://thelasallian.com/2014/06/10/grievance-dress-code/

2.      Fajardo, N., &Panis, K. (2014, July 9). University Dress Code Policy, maspagtitibayinng Legislative Assembly. AngPahayagangPlaridel. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://plaridel.ph/2014/07/09/university-dress-code-policy-mas-pagtitibayin-ng-legislative-assembly/

3.      (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dress-code

*Reflection: The argumentative essay was so challenging for me because we have to make claim and research about the details that supports it. It was also fun because you get to make points and prove that you are right even if sometimes you are not. I enjoyed doing Arg. Essay 

[hellokarengonzales]

Extended Definition Essay: Colors of Friendship

    It is natural for us humans to find someone who we can call as friends, someone who will always be there for us.  As the saying goes, “No man is an island”. With the emergence of technology and social media, the need for us to have our ‘brothers or sisters from another mother’ did not change. People value friendship a lot, we treat them as our second family because of it we call them names such as dude, bro, or even nigga.

         The meaning and how the word nigga has evolved through time. With the rise of modernization, the meaning of the word nigga has also improved. At the present time, the famous N word is used as an endearment and greeting of one person to a friend. The word nigga before does not really pertain to a certain race. It actually meant God for the reason that during the ancient times, Black American pharaohs believed that having black skin is sacred for it is a direct blessing from the Sun God. The first to use the N word as a derogative term were the Roman Invaders of Egypt. They used it to refer to people who were black-skinned; from then on it was used as a racist term.  The N word becomes offensive when a white uses that name to call a black. When they hear you calling them a nigga, it may offend them but the truth is they can call each other that way.

            What is really the difference between a nigger and a nigga? Nigger is the term used for describing a race while nigga is the slang word defined as a friend. Presently, the word “nigga” is used more liberally for term of endearment among friends, younger siblings, and individuals from all social and cultural backgrounds. In addition, African American people today would foolishly classify it as being term of endearment rather than to take it as “racial abuse”. It is also evident among well-known artists from America most especially by the young hip-hop and thug subcultures who often use this term. For instance, you can find “nigga” in every pop song lyrics nowadays that were mostly produced by Americans. With this, we can say that the use of it is being gradually accepted by Americans mostly the Black People or the Negroes. The reason behind this change might be the advanced technology that causes the new generation to be more open-minded and unprejudiced. However, let us remind ourselves that several parts of the world are still not comfortable with the use of N word and still finds it as derogatory.

          The use of N word is still in debate whether it is a word of hate or term of endearment. On the other hand, people from different backgrounds such as in other parts of America, Europe, Africa, and as well as in Asia are capable to use this among their friends and younger siblings without any intention of harm, disgrace

References:

1.       Nigga. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2015, from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nigga

2.       My nigga. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2015, from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=My nigga

3.       (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2015, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nigga

4.       Nigger (the word), a brief history. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2015, from http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/nigger-word-brief-history

  *Reflection- Making this essay made me realize how important it is to understand a certain word. By using it you have to know first what does it really mean and use it without offending others. All in all it was fulfilling.

[hellokarengonzales]

Media Log #3: Media and Self-perception

                                            “#thINSPIRATION?”   With the emergence of technology, social media also arise. Social media made it easier for us to connect with people far from us and it also made it easy for us see a glimpse on the life of people. But is social media really helpful?

  Social media is a double-edged sword; it has its positive sides but also negative sides. It created a notion on people’s mind that the number likes we get on facebook

,twitter, and Instagram determines how beautiful or how attractive we are. Likes were made on the said social media sites for us to show that people appreciates your post, not to put a standard that one has to be as beautiful as Kylie Jenner to have million likes.

  As for my own experience what I see on social media sometimes affects how I perceive myself. At times, I feel very sad and question myself “why can’t I be like them?” Social media makes people see what they’re lacking and most of the time it makes them pity themselves.  The #thinspiration is like a indirect way of saying that to be able to fit in to society or to be able to get many likes on facebook

you have to be as thin as this model or you have to have the boobs of Kendall Jenner. A lot of studies shows that media really affects the self-esteem of people, especially teenager: in fact according to Duke University and National Eating Disorders Association, 40% of girls ages 9-10 years old have already been on a diet, 70%  of 6-12 years old wants to be thinner. In connection to this, another study by justsayyes.org found out that teenagers are more afraid of gaining weight that having cancer or losing a parent. Isn’t this alarming, a child at a young age want to be thin or wants to be in a diet because that is social media’s standard of sexy and beautiful.  

Let us all remember that the likes we receive on social media does not define who we are as a person, having lesser likes, favorites, ad followers does not make us less of a person.  Each of us have our own understanding of beautiful,each of us has the right to believe that we are beautiful so let us all stop forcing ourselves to fit in the standards of society and social media because the more you force yourself to fit chances are your true self will be as damaged as the society’s standard of beauty.

[hellokarengonzales]

Media Log#2

For this media log I chose the movie Every Child is Special. It is an Indian movie that revolves around a child who suffers from dyslexia, his struggles and how he managed to discover the hidden talent in him. But what is dyslexia? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, it is a condition in the brain that makes it hard for a person to read, write, and spell.    The movie lets the people become aware of the issues that a child may face. It also tackles about what a child feels when he/she is under pressure, being bullied, and when his self-esteem is very low. The movie will make you realize that the family should be the main support system of a child, the parents should be the one encouraging them to do things they want. It actually became a culture that when a child does not excel in school, parents will give them negative reinforcement. In the movie negative reinforcement did not do anything good to the child, sending him to a school far from his family just made him sad and more distant to others. The parents have a duty to encourage the child to do the things they want to do and not mold them into what seems normal for the society.    Having dyslexia is not easy, as shown in the movie it seems like the letters are moving and flying and that’s what makes it hard for them to read, write, and spell. Dyslexic children should not be scolded for the things that they have a hard time doing as a matter of fact the people around them should have a long patience in guiding them while they are finding where they are supposed to be.   I think the movie aims to let the people realize that having dyslexia is not an abnormality, it is something that make someone uniquely good. Having dyslexia is not a weakness, it is a challenge. As a matter of fact a lot of people who contributed a lot in science and discovery are dyslexic like Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell.    Each one of us has the right to live and to be treated equally. People with this kind of illness are not abnormal; they are people who need extra care and attention. Let us all remember that judging them will not do any good, it would just make them worst.

source:

Khan, A. (Director). (2008). Taare zameen par: [Motion picture]. Super Cassettes Industries.

[hellokarengonzales]

Media Log #1

"Almost Is Never Enough" (with Nathan Sykes) “...If I could change the world overnight

There'd be no such thing as goodbye

You'd be standing right where you were

And we'd get the chance we deserve”

Most people believe in the magic of second chances. Second chances to prove themselves, chances to be able to show that they can undo the wrong things they did in the past. They want second chances because they fear change. We fear change because we do not know what this will bring us. Most of the time we tend to think negatively about change.

 Second chances does not work for me, not being bitter here, but giving second chance to a person is like giving him again the right to hurt you. It is like putting your heart at risk. People have this tendency to do things again. For example he left you without even giving you any reason why and when he comes back again asking for another chance it doesn’t mean he loves you it just means he does not have someone to flirt with again. Another example is when he cheats on you and you gave him another chance most likely he will do it again.  Second chances also means putting yourself under torture since the fear of them doing it again will always be there. Not giving second chances does not mean you are selfish it only means that you value your worth as a person.

 Goodbyes are hard to accept especially if you have learned to love him or if he is dear to you. Sometimes you need to accept the fact that there are things that are not meant for each other, you do not need to chase someone just because he left you, prove him that it is his lost not yours, not because you want revenge but you want to be someone better.

 We must always think of what we do or say since it would affect our relationship with the people we love. You will not be able to turn back time so better think of your action always.

 The best way for us all is to move on from the past, accept changes, and be a better version of yourself.

Sources:

"Almost Is Never Enough" lyrics. (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2015, from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/arianagrande/almostisneverenough.html