I Believe by Matthew Funches

Many people living today find themselves re-living their past . A past experience in any form, brought to the present or to assume to be part of the future. This is known as deja-vu. How often do you find your self re-living a moment that isn't part of your daily routine? It has occurred so many times in my life and now I know that deja-vu lives and there are many ways in which they live.

One way deja-vu lives is through time. I believe that deja-vu is a simple form of time travel. This allows things of the past to keep up with the present and even may go forth in the future. I'm not speaking of world history, but personal events that occurred in ones life. Most things that happened before, that were not planned, has or will happen again somehow. Sometimes the exact same way it happened before. It can be the exact same place, or during the exact same time. Things taking place that happened either mentally or physically. This, sometimes, is able of correcting or changing the future. As much as I wish anything could, nothing can change the past but the past can
change the future.

Another way deja-vu lives is by visions. Not actually seeing or telling the future but, thoughts. I once remember lying down in my bed one night and before falling asleep, I was staring down the hall at the stairs. I then had a thought of me falling down the stairs. It wasn't too long after wards when my though came true. One night, I was sick, and as I walked up the stairs to bed and once I had reached the top step, I had slipped out of my house shoe and fell backwards down the stairs, with my right elbow crashing through the window. All had happened, just as I imagined. The same flight of stairs, the same time of day,under the same condition, breaking the same window with the same elbow. It all happened just as it did in my humorous thought because I didn't think it would have happened but I surely wasn't laughing when it
did.

I often see things before it happens, no matter how long it take for it to happen or if I witness it taking place. Just random things that I think about, wondering what are the possibilities or chance of it becoming true, then they sometimes do. Seeing is believing. My outrageous thoughts often surprise me because I usually doubt that what ever I thought or think about to come true but sometimes it still becomes reality.

Even when they are thoughts of things that already happened, it seems to happen again. Some say that history repeats itself. Sometimes things happen more than once and then it makes or becomes part of history. Now I take precautions of what I think about and see in my mind because I usually think about something often and I believe that's one reason why my thoughts often come true. This is why I believe in deja-vu.

The Truth in Miracles by Shaina Randle

I realize miracles come in all shapes and sizes. Whether it’s something as simple as miracles in sports history or something as extreme as a person’s life. I finally realized this last year when I got to spend the last few days with my auntie.
For some there are no such things as miracle. For others a miracle is simply an unexpected event or a wonderful surprise. For me miracles are the feeling that God has intervened mysteriously into my life. All of life is a miracle, love, eating, sleeping, and having a home and even just living.
I nearly gave up on hoping for miracles, with the continuous pain and suffer in my life. Little did I know all this would change. My aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer and had fought it off for year. Until two years ago when she became extremely ill. Come to find out the breast cancer along with lung cancer had come back. The doctor only gave her three months to live, but she proved them wrong. We got to spend another two years with her. I believe all miracles happen for a reason and I believe she fought the cancer so long because she wanted to spend more time with her grand kids and let her daughter know that she is strong enough to make it on her own.
The word miracle has become somewhat of a cliché. Like when someone says it was a miracle that I made it to school on time, since I woke up late. To me miracles are so much more. Take for instance the plane crash in the Hudson River were hundreds of people were all bunched up on the wings of the plane, all surviving the crash. It wasn’t a miracle because it had no explanation. It was a miracle because people experienced it as a miracle. It was a miracle because nothing like it had ever happened before to the people who experienced it. It was a miracle because it happened when something extraordinary was most needed.
I believe miracles aren’t things that we can make happen but events that happen on their own. We are all surrounded by miracles everyday but we fail to understand what miracles really are. It is a miracle just to wake up each day with a chance of being around the people I love. It’s a miracle to be able to go to school in the morning and come back to a home, where I am blessed to have food to eat and a place to sleep. It is a miracle because not everybody gets this chance.
A miracle happens to us for a reason, big or small. There are some that don’t believe in miracles and I wonder, how will you ever experience a miracle if you never know what a miracle really is? Miracles aren’t things we can control but they do come when we need them the most. We are living proof of a miracle. We are living miracles whether you believe or not.

This I Believe by Brandon Parker

I was awoken by the O’Jays and the rumbling of suitcases. I could hear the voices of my mother, grandparents, and Uncle Poochie. It was five o’ clock in the morning, and we had to be there early. “Kids, it’s time!” My grandfather’s voice ascends up the stairway to the rooms, or guestrooms, as my grandmother would put it. My grandparents’ house was like a sentient being, full of stories and history. Objects put in one place always wound up in a different place. Dishes were always, always in the sink, and you always sensed an aura of love, wisdom, and tender loving care here. Even though I live with my mother and siblings in another house, I will always feel that my home is there, at 7552 S. Chappel Ave. I rised out of bed, put in a good two minutes of stretching and yawning, and then got my little sister and brother up. My grandfather’s voice came up the stairs again, but there was no need, because I already knew what he about to say. “Ya got 10 minutes!” Ten minutes… that was always the set time to get ready; get out of bed, brush your teeth, get your clothes on. But even though ten minutes was always said, we usually got twenty.
By the time we made it downstairs, all luggage was outside in the car, and auntie Livie and three of my cousins had now arrived. Everyone was now present and accounted for, it was now 5:45 AM, and time of the essence. We arrived at O’Hare airport at 6:30 AM, the flight to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida was departing at 8:15 AM, and it would take a good forty-five minutes to get through security checks. As the plane took off into the sky, my expectations began to build, imagination soaring. Another destination. Another trip, another adventure. The carnival cruise to the Virgin Islands had been planned for about eight months. Big family vacations were always planned about every two years, and I was always geeked for them… in a cool sort of way. I loved to travel. That suspenseful feeling of what you’re going to witness in a new, foreign land. That Indiana Jones, Lewis & Clark felling of adventure; but this feeling was just the start. The true bonus, the sweet center, was that I would be enjoying this with my family. My foundation, my inspiration. My #1 band and fans. My center of the universe.
I believe in family. The first, pure form of government. Mankind’s tether to true happiness, companionship, and fellowship. Human life is not meant to be one of solitude. Hell, the average human being needs about ten forms of physical contact a day. I wake up every day and feel blessed that I know and have a group of people who care about me, and would do anything for me. That is the beauty and magic of a real family. One that supports you, inspires you to be better. One that teaches you morals and principles that will take place in your own character. My family has taught me how to be a man, self-control, maturity, and humility, but most importantly, they have simply believed in me. This I believe.

Brandon Johnson: Hard not just upgradtion

Reading is useless, I don’t need this to succeed. This is how I felt about reading for many years. I hated reading, the reason was because I was below the average reading level. This really affected my views on education, and how I fit in with the rest of the world. When I was in second grade I was reading at a first grade or kinder gardening level. Since my reading level was so low I avoided reading in class. Despite my low reading ability I was promoted to the next grade.
It wasn’t until I was in fourth grade that my teacher Mrs. Weinberg called on me everyday in class to read handouts and passages in the book. She didn’t care that it took me a longer time to figure out words. She always motivated me to do better. Mrs. Weinberg was my first teacher that believed in me and actually brought to my attention that I could do better if I just practice.
She contacted my parents and told them about her concerns. Immediately my parents rearranged their schedule and ordered many reading aids such as Hooked on Phonics. My parents also sent me to Sullivan for awhile to better my reading skills. I remember coming home from school everyday putting in hours to better my reading. I even dedicated my weekends to reading. I use to come home from school and do three hours of Hooked on Phonics, and on the weekends I did six hours. I followed this routine up until the summer before sixth grade. This is when my parents enrolled me in The University of Chicago Office of Special Program Upward Bound. I attended Office of Special Program (OSP) for the summer and the fall sessions. So, I was in school for about eleven months out of the year.
When I graduated from grammar school I was noticed as one of the students with the best grades, and I was reading at an eleven grade level. This was ironic to me that I started my academic career behind the curve. When it was time for me to start a new chapter in my academic career, I was at the top. I would have never made it to the top if it wasn’t for the help of my parents. Their concerns and assistance in helping me better my reading ability. Currently I am still reading at a level above the average senior.
This experience taught me a lesson that I still live by until this day. This is why I believe hard work is the only way to succeed. This was perfectly stated by Fredrick Douglas, when he said “ without struggle there is no progress.” This is a quote that I believe with all of my heart, and try to exemplify in the way I carry myself. This hardship that I experience gave me the tools that I need to succeed in the future, such as determination, work ethic, and the desire to never settle for less than greatness.

Mr. Hip-Hopper by Darnell Blakemore

Rhythm of the beat run in and the boom clap of the drums, sound of the roaring crowd screaming my name. Grabbing the microphone counting in 1, 2, 3 Go Crazy! The strings take over my soul and I am already working up a sweat. Time to take a brake and grab my water bottle and it is back to the music. But before that life style I wasn’t known as the hip-hopper. I remember when my cousin and my uncle asking me if I wanted to rap with them. I said yes just because I wanted to feel cool in a since. Really didn’t have an interest in rapping. On stage, hands shaking, palms sweaty from the fear of the crowd and the lime light shinning in my face. I choked. My words were mumbled and voice was shaky. Some clapped and some laughed. I could see the excitement of the crowd before I started rapping. They wanted me to do well. They loved the hip-hop. So that made me wanted to learn this art. As the time passed I honed this craft.

Hip-Hop is the key to this generation’s heart. Hearing the bass kick in from a down south beat, or the extensive wording of an east coast rapper. The vibe of the mid-west is the best. Saying anything you want and the laid back feeling of a west coast rapper. I also think that hip-hop has its down falls. Sometimes it can make us want to be just like that guy in the video. Dreaming of how it would be like to have three or four crib’s with a garage full or high classed whips. Or even for a girl to want to have the perfect body just like what’s her name off of ol dude video. C.R.E.A.M! Hip-hop can put us in the mood of being angry but also somehow make us feel good. You may wonder why I say I believe in hip-hop. Being a Christian rapper has a lot to do with me believing in the hip-hop movement. This is just something I do in just too by pass time. This is a gift that I have and that I use to the best of my abilities. How can a Christian be a hip-hopper? It is merely Christ-in-a-hip-hopper. Not hear to preach your ears off but to encourage other believers and find a way to get to others hearts. And through music I find it very easy to express the way I feel and the to spread the gospel.

These examples of hip-hop that ima bout to explain. The good, the bad, and the heartless of this game. Hip-hop, ima hip-hop over to the tick-tock of the shinny wrist watch. Let the time pick-pocket the grind of the kid, cops around time to flip-flop on the ground as his two feet run around on the pavement and the sound of the car chasing bullets flying pass ya face and as I switch the flow can you hear what im spilling? Hands sky high try to touch the freaking ceiling. Feeling I don’t give a f if u feel me. I hope my words sting like the bite of a killing……and I’ll give her anything if she ask for it. Fast-forward. Give her the card don’t give her cash for it. Riding down the streets making loud noise. Something like a bad girl what can I be mad for. And as im headed out the back door speeding on the highway trying to get back to her. And the moral of the story is the movement it originated in New York look how it moved kid. The blues did throw some rock to it Mr. Hip-hopper not a new boy or cool kid. Not tryna diss the cool kids they some fools for having that black mags blueprint 3 for the smoothest young money do this jeezy for the hood kanyeezy on some new ish. Nerd outa space and lupe the skate boarder on the pace and Gucci maine came through it. Common Sense for ya brain biggie and pac did the same and Nas kill’s the blueprint. Im something like the truth kinda stupid. And hip-hop just changed my life!

Something You Forgot by Rosie Keith

Two hands uniting as one, twisted like twizzlers. Thumbs pressed hard enough to turn red. A bond made from parent to child, friend to friend, boy to girl, heartbreaker to heartbroken. It’s a wonder something so small could mean so much. It can whisper short stories, or speak volumes. Often broken, but never forgotten. It may leave you on edge or completely at ease. Because you didn’t just give someone your average, nonchalant “BS” promise. No! You took the time to grasp their hand in yours allowing their humanity to pulsate against your fingers, becoming one for just a moment, to make something official; a pinkie promise. Something you may never take back.

My mother was the first person to ever break a pinkie promise to me. She was also the person who instilled such a strong belief in these minute, but ever so personal connections. Ever since I could remember my mother has been telling me that one day we would be together; that I’d never have to live with anyone that wasn’t her ever again. “A place of our own,” she says. It’s been about twelve years now, and I have not forgotten the promise she made to me so long ago, and still makes to me today. I can still see it clear as day, like having HD in my head, it is crystal clear.

My grandmother had been steadily concerned of my whereabouts when I was with my mother. At the end of preschool year, she being the head of the family made the ultimate decision to have my aunt take care of me. I had been staying with my aunt, my mother’s sister, since the summer break of my preschool year. It was then where my mother’s hand connected with mine making my first pinkie promise. I was five, and she fourty – two, even at that time I was more adult than she has ever been.

It was late November, my birthday had just passed, and I was sound asleep when my mother crept into the room assigned to me by my aunt. Gently touching my arm she shook me awake, whispering loud enough so only I could hear, “It’s time for school,” she said. Throwing my feet over the bed and rubbing my eyes too hard, I was awake. After stumbling to the bathroom, washing my face, and briskly brushing my teeth with Princess Jasmine bubble gum flavored toothpaste; I was almost ready. My mother helped me into my Caldwell Academy uniform, zipped up my coat and we proceeded out the door. On our way she asked me the usual questions but like any other five year old at eight in the morning I wasn’t very responsive. I’d gotten to school early that day so my mother and I waited inside my Mr. Tuggle’s kindergarten class. She sat across from me staring into my cocoa brown eyes, ones identical to hers; and she began to ask me questions about how I felt living with my aunt. I answered honestly. That’s when she took my little hand in hers, gripping my pinkie just a tad too tight, she promised. Vowed that staying with my aunt wouldn’t be a long term thing, and that she’d been working on getting us a place of our own. Since then I’ve lived in Georgia, Las Vegas, and I’m currently in Chicago, none of which have been with my mother.

That late November day my mother set my heart on something that may never happen. Yet I still believe. Two hands united as one, twisted like twizzlers, thumbs pressed hard enough to turn red. A pinkie promise. Something you may never forget. And indeed, I have not.

Good Riddance, No More Lies by Rashaad Lay

Lying is a trait cherished by those who like to take risks whether it is for a particular moment or chronically. They are taking a chance on getting away with a good lie, and also getting caught up in a bad lie. When I was younger, my first instinct was to lie when I got in trouble, and it took many people to tell me, “the truth will set you free,” to evade this bad quality, and now I’m a believer.
I remember the worst lie that I ever told. I was about ten years old, playing with a skateboard in the house, not even thinking of any of the possible occurrences. There I was in the living room, trying to knock over as many blocks as I could with the skateboard. I gave it one hard push sending the skateboard spearing through the pile of blocks, and into the wall. At that instant, the lies started to assemble in my head.
The skateboard left a hole in the wall the size of a quarter. I sat there brainstorming about lies that I could tell my dad, and I realized later on that this only made things worse than they could have been. My dad walked in just as I made my decision on what I was going to say, which was that I slipped on the skateboard while trying to answer the phone. He didn’t believe this one bit, and he grounded me for a month. This gave me more than enough time to think about what I had done considering that I couldn’t do anything. In the end, I promised myself that I would think twice about lying from then on.
People say that the truth will set you free, but I have witnessed that this is not true all the time. Sometimes it just makes things better than if you were to lie. Another thing that I’ve learned from my past is that lying hurts both the liar and also the people who are lied to. I’ve been lied to, and I’ve got to admit it does hurt. Lying frequently makes it less likely for people to believe you. Perhaps this is why I now believe in telling the truth.

Palm of The Hand by Tarik Martin

Planet Earth. There are almost 6.5 billion people on this big green blue ball walking, living, talking, and interacting with one another. About 3.5 billion of these people have jobs, and lead some type of interacting life. According to W.E.B. Dubois ten percent of the 3.5 billion are here to change the world in some mind provoking way. We call these people rich, wealthy, successful, talented, accomplished, or maybe just natural born leaders. This leaves another ninety percent to be “ooed” and “awed” by what the other ten percent have to offer. We call these people broke, lower-middle class, unsuccessful, followers, or just average. Now these average people wonder what they can do to become apart of the world of talented people, and what can they do to be great? Some how that average person gives up, because they think it’s too hard, they doubt themselves, or they let someone else be little their dreams, goals, and aspirations. The average person lets some abstract object discourage them.

I don’t know if I was a natural born leader, but I knew I always wanted to be great. If it wasn’t having all the superpowers I could think of, then it was being the president of the United States. If I wasn’t going to be President Martin, then I was going to be the one better then Michael Jordan. If none of the above then I was simply going to own a insurance company, a bank, a couple restaurants, a car dealership, clothing stores, and about 100 supermarkets nation wide. Little goals but no matter what it was I was going to do something great. Not because anyone told me I could do those things, but because I wanted to.

I watched the televisions shows when I was younger, and I remember seeing the one character on the show who doubts him or herself. That one character had no inspirations for their goals, because they lost their motivation, they lost their strive, and they were demoralized. I couldn’t relate to that actor because I never experienced what they were portraying until one day in seventh grade. My Uncle Larry had come to visit. He came downstairs, sat with me on the couch, and I conversed with him about many broad subjects. Then my Uncle Larry asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I told him I wanted t become a basketball player. “You can’t do that” he said “it’s too hard, and you could never be that good to be in the NBA.” My Uncle Larry was the first person to make me laugh, but the first to tell me I couldn’t achieve my dream. Thankfully another uncle of mine told me don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do anything. Those words walk behind me everyday.

I have dreams, inspirations, and goals that I want to accomplish like everyone else, but there will be people in my path ready to discourage me. When I encounter this pessimistic people I ignore them. Because I know they only reason they try to belittle me is because someone has done they same to them. I know that my path won’t be easy but that doesn’t mean I have quit. Just as you can fail a million times, you can succeed a million times. With that probability I think that I can do anything I put my mind to. As if impossible is nothing. I know no failure. 6.5 billion People, and no matter if they are talented, average, rich, poor, a natural born leader or a fluky follower; no one can tell us that we can’t do anything. I believe this world is boundless, limitless, and entirely all ours for the taking as it rolls off our fingertips into the palm of our hands.

After the Storm by Melissa Moore

“Without struggle there is no progress.” (Fredrick Douglas) Nothing in life comes on a silver platter. Before you experience the beauty of walking you first have to crawl, before u make it to the top of the mountain you first have to climb, and before you can experience progression you then first have to overcome obstacles. There will be hardships, down falls, and mistakes made but that’s all apart of being human. I believe that when there are downfalls, just stand back up again, and when there are hardships just work even harder, and when you make mistakes…learn from them, but never give up on anything. “Opportunity follows struggle, it follows effort, it follows hard work, and it doesn’t come before”. (Shelby Steele)

No one can act or do anything perfectly. I know I don’t. Often times I compare myself to baseball games. I’m always the batter and life is the pitcher. Sometimes I miss, sometimes I hit curved ball, and sometimes I even get smacked right in my face, never once could I hit a home run. Sometimes I’m so close to winning I can almost taste it…then I loose. Not being perfect at things are okay, but not doing my best at something is completely unacceptable. Only Practice makes perfect. That’s why the one good thing about loosing is knowing that with just a little practice and dedication to the game hitting home runs would not be a problem. I like to compare these baseball games to my life because just like the game I make mistakes. Sometimes I win, sometimes I loose. There has been time when I felt like quitting, just giving up on life itself. There has been times when I would do really well, even stand out from the rest. My point is that nobody is perfect. There’s plenty of room for mistakes and plenty of room to fix them with just a little dedication to the game.

I’ll never forget my freshmen year of high school. Being at the top of my class in eight grade lead me to believe that high school was going to be a breeze. Little did I know, I was in for a ride. Classes were harder, and more homework was on my plate. I had a lot of things to keep balanced. Get all my homework done, maintain a good GPA, stay involved and committed to after school activities and still have a social life. School had become a struggle for me. So much of a struggle that I thought that giving up was my only option.

After I received my first semester report card, it was no were compared to my standards. My parents were very upset and surprised that I brought home such grades. Disappointing my parents hurt me in ways that I will never be able to describe in words. I realized that I could not let my parents down. More importantly I could not give up on myself. No matter how hard school was becoming for me, I had to give it my all. Whatever my struggle I had to continue to climb. Lacking in school made me realized that I was also lacking confidence in myself. I never gave high school a high school a shot. Never gave it my all. I was so worried about how hard things were becoming that I never even tried to overcome the problem before it even occurred. I was so scared of high school that I never even gave it my all. As stated by Marcus Garvey, “if you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life, with confidence you have won even before you started.” I had been defeated, but I wasn’t giving up that easily.

I had to gain my confidence back. I believed in myself, and know that all I had to do was try my best. After doing that, my grades became a lot better, GPA went back up and I had become dedicated and committed to all my after school activities. I had learned how to balance all those things and still hold on tight to my social life, and I still keep them balanced to this very day. Giving up wasn’t an option. After going through all those obstacles I had grew as a person. I gained strength. I know that in life sometimes we need struggle, going through life without obstacles is unrealistic. Struggle is strength. As Arnold Schwarzenegger stated, “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggle develops your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that’s your strength.” Me not giving up had made me that much stronger. “Success is sweet and sweeter if long developed and gotten through many struggles and defeats.” (Amos Bronson Alcott) To this day, I appreciate the progression that I have made in my high school years so mush, because I know the struggle I had to overcome

God only knows what I'll be without you by "Half man, Half amazing"

“I met this girl when I was ten years old/ and what I loved must, she had so much soul”, (Common, I use to love her). When I look back at my life, I know for sure that music has been a big influence. I have over the years formed an intense love towards music, in the same way, dancers, musicians, and singers have. This love for music almost seems like it was destined for me to have. One of the earliest memories I have is music bouncing off the walls of my house. My parents both shared a love towards music, leading me to grow up hearing music all the time. Even though they shared a love for music, they both played music as a way to articulate the feelings they had inside that they choose not to express externally. My parents attraction to music passed down to there only child me. Compared to their mature taste in music, my personal love for music was from the Disney movies of my youth. From Lion King to Beauty and the beast, these musicals of my youth, and freedom to explore my own taste of music began to take shape. This freedom to form my own

“ I don’t want to ever feel like I did that day, take me to the place I love, take me far away”(Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Under the bridge). The lyrics of “Under the bridge) truly express how I felt during tenure at my elementary school. When I started elementary school I was a normal kid, I did not like sports that much, played video games, and liked to listen to music. As I got older, I still shared the same interests with the kids my own age, the one thing I did not share was the type of music I liked. At my school most of the kids were huge rap fans, unlike my peers my household did not allow the listening to any music with numerous cursing in it, due to this rule I was not a fan of rap. This distance when it came to music with my peers became bigger as I started to move up the grade latter. The weirdest part for me was when ever my peers talked about rap I knew the artist they would speak about, but when I started naming artist that I like, they were labeled as “white music”. So from then on I was the kid who listened to the “white music”.. Being labeled really hurt me mentally. What this label did was make me feel as if I was not black enough and totally made me feel totally alienated in my mind from the rest of my peers. All I know is this period time was the first time I was thought of as an individual, and you know what, I didn’t want to be.
“Unbreakable/ what ya thought they called me Mr. Glass?” (Kanye West, Through the wire). The rapper Kanye West is the reason I became interested in rap. Kanye’s debut album “College Dropout”, was the first rap album I ever bought and from then on I became the fascinated by this amazing thing I called “rap”. When I finally got into this thing called rap I was swallowed into this new world. A world that had it’s own history, language, and it’s own icons. The new interest in rap led me to being able to talk about more things socially in school, and thus make new friends. By my eight grade year at my elementary school, I was voted class president. Now music did not lead me to become class president, nut it did lead me to becoming more open as a person.
““ Try to rise above….one love””(Nas, One love). When I first started this essay I wanted to be about how I believe in all types of music. While that is true, what I really want to articulate is that I believe in rap music. The poetry of rap has changed my life forever. It has not only given me confidence in my life, and let me create great friend; it has been there for me no matter what situations I have been through. I have changed musically for Lion King to Jay-z something I would never thought, would possibly happen. So through my experiences I have come to the conclusion that I believe in rap music while believing that every one should have the ability to form their own musical beliefs.

Judgments by Anonymous

“Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearance”, I strongly believe in this because one of the main things that people do in this world is judging one another. Either if it is based on religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, age, etc. People should learn that judging someone else will not make them successful in life. Most likely, the person who judges others might have a negative attitude toward life. The one issue that I definitely do not agree with is when a person discriminates against another person because of their skin color. Generally speaking of colorism, not racism, which occurs throughout the Black community majority of the time.
I started to believe that people should not pass judgment when I was in my African-American history class. That day, the topic was “colorism” throughout the African American community. It shocked me to see how the Black race judged each other because of their skin color. I knew that discrimination occurred, but I did not know how serious an issue it was upon my own race. In the Black community, having lighter skin is preferred over a darker skin tone. Some dark skinned African Americans feel that if they have lighter skin, then they will have an easier life because they will get treated better. Our society has lured Americans to believe that having lighter skin is better and dark skin puts you lower in society; this is what society portrays as being “beautiful”. This statement is true because what do you see majority of when watching television: light-skinned Americans.
In my Afro-American history class, we read numerous articles that described people’s views on being Black in America. It appalled me to see how my own race discriminated against each other, or how they did not appreciate their heritage. The article that stuck out the most was written by a Kenwood student on how she disliked being Black. She stated that majority of young Black men will end up in prison, will not attend school, or graduate from college, and that they are most likely to be bad husbands and fathers. It surprised me to see that a person of my own race did not like being Black because of the stereotypes placed upon the Black community.
The issue is not just societies fault, because in the past the issue of skin complexion was looked at in a negative way. During the times of slavery, light-skinned slaves were treated better than darker-skinned slaves. For example, the lighter-skinned slaves were able to travel along with their masters and work inside the household, while the other slaves were often beaten and worked outside all the time. The issue of skin color is not new; it is an issue that has evolved over the years.
To this day, I believe people are going to judge others no matter what. I judge people, not based on the color of their skin, but more on material things and personalities. People are going to always judge someone else because people are going to think, feel, say, and do what they want. I just believe that if you are judging someone let it not be based on the color of their skin.

The power of believing by anonymous

Have you ever heard of the statement; if you can believe then you can achieve. Well if so I know you can consider this a true statement. I have had that statement told to me on many different occasions by my mother. I have taken that statement very far into my life thus far, from which I have benefit from. Many people come across this every day where they have something to complete that they just do not feel comfortable doing. I know this because; I have run into this type of situation numerous times.
Every day you use this statement in some kind of way. Whether it is the biggest to the smallest problem that you can not seem to solve, you can always fall back on that to help. To be honest when I was told this, I never found myself to believe in this. Every time that I came into something that was out of reach I just gave up, until I realize that is not what I want to do all the time. When I was around 7 years old, was when I learned how to ride my bike. I was determining to learn how to ride a bike until I kept falling down. I had given up so many times that I knew that if I had just quit right then and there I may not still not know how to ride a bike to this day. But because I did not give up then, I kept trying until I made it. By giving up on everything that happens in your life, you never get the chance of learning from your mistakes. For you to grow in life you first need to have something that you can grow off of, and your mistakes is the best way for you to learn. People often think that if they never see someone make a mistake that they are living a perfect world but as we all know that you are not considered a perfect person unless you have dealt with a mistake or two in your life, because know no one can be perfect in the society that we live in today. I used to often compare myself to others when it came to reading sometimes when I was younger, I would often hear other people read with no mistakes and thought that was the way I wanted to be. But I came to realize something that they are strong in, I might be weak in and vise versa.
Many people realize things much later; I can speak on my behalf for example. When I was toward the end of my sophomore year in high school I found out that I was pregnant. At that moment I was lost at words, unable to leave body language. Thought then came rushing into my head one after another. That’s when I had one to one conversation with my mother, who made me think back on her statement, after she told me I could get through it. Every day I thought about the statement that she shared with me years before that time.
That is when I believed and had the right mind set to say that I believe in if you can believe then you can achieve. I found it very hard to believe that the statement that she had spoke of, would ever be related to my life in this way. But if you do not learn from the problems that you stumble upon, know matter what it is, there is always a way to solve it, you just have to be patient and do what it takes to complete the task for yourself. And this really made me think that this one 8 word statement could make you a much stronger individual if you just use your faith and believe.
Because I had very strong faith in my self I found my life being much easier that what I had anticipated. I was able to go through my whole sophomore and junior finding it easy to complete, I was also working at the time. But by that one statement that the doctor said to me when receiving my results by mouth and my mother true statement. I was able to turn a not so good situation into a very positive situation. I said that to say that weather you come to a situation that seems unbearable to you, just give it a try and if you fail at it try again.

The Beauty of Art by Chloe C. Harvey

The beauty of art is something that is breath taking. Believing in the beauty of art is worth while. The art forms that exists in today’s world lives among all of us. The art of noise, visuals, and movement draws attention to what I believe is true art. It’s apart of our everyday lives.
The art of noise flows through my blood stream as if it gives me life. Ever since I was about three years old, I had a passion and appreciation in the music form of art. I remember when my brothers and I wrote songs just about everyday and performed them in front of the family. My love for the art of noise still exists today and it is even stronger than before. Today I am really serious about my music. The flow of the music surges out through my mouth on to the pen. I have an even stronger passion and appreciation for it because it is life changing for me. Now I have professionals looking at me because of my music.
The art of visuals takes me to a whole different dimension of life from which my eyes can only see in my dreams. Not to long ago, I began to study the visual arts. I began having an interest in graphic design. Once I started creating art, I could not seem to start. Graphic design takes art to a different level. To me there is more depth within the artwork in which I create myself. Graphic design is another passion of mine. The ideas that come to my head and how it comes out on to the computer screen is completely amazing. With such creativity that I possess makes me who I am as an individual.
The art of movement is the physical beauty of art. The way that an expressions flow out through one’s system has a breath taking effect is the form of dance. I can remember when I first learned how to dance. At first, I wasn’t very good; I knew that it would take a lot of hard work and practice for me to get better. From then to now I have became better at the art of movement known as dance. Dance gives me such uniqueness as a person because of my style. I am a different and unique person. Everything I do will be unique and different as well. As much as music gives me life dance keeps me balanced and it completes me.
The beauty of all that is art has changed my life because I have much more of an appreciation of all types of art. I do not limit myself just to only one form. It has taken me to a new height in life. I look at things in a whole different dimension because of these beautiful forms of art. When a person possesses all of these beautiful forms of art, that person has discovered what true beauty really is.

Change always comes bearing gifts by David Borom

Change always comes bearing gifts

For me, life is a journey that’s all about decisions and changes. Some people were born with their lives planned for them, some just followed their friend’s footsteps, some lived in the same place their whole life… their lives are nothing like mine. Since I can remember, there have always been decisions made about my life, first by my parents, then by myself. I am a firm believer in change, but it isn’t always good. Over the years change and I have grown on each other.
I was born complete, one mother, one father, one sister, a family of four is what we were. We were family of four living in a single family home on the Southside of Chicago. Birthdays were joyful, holidays were blissful. It was a time when I though that everything was perfect and nothing could go wrong. I was living in a dream, but I would soon get a wake up call.
When I was ten, my parents got divorced; change number one. A week before the divorce was announced to my sister and I, my mother moved out of the house, and purchased a home of her own. At the time, I didn’t really know what was going on, but now I could see that something was about to happen. My mother came over to my father’s home where I was staying. She sat my sister and I down on the sofa and broke the news to us.
It didn’t hit me that my perfect family was breaking up until my mother came, packed our clothes, and moved us in with her; change number two. I was now living with my mother in a condo in a strange community. When we first moved away from my father, I saw him almost everyday, but as the weeks went on, and they turned into months, I began to see him less and less. A few months after the final divorce, my father purchased a home in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. My mother then decided that she could not afford my private school education alone, I am transferring to public school; change number 3.
So far, my parents got divorced, I moved away from my father, and I got transferred to a different school. My life was nowhere near perfect; I knew that I had awaken from whatever dream I was having. I still often pinched myself hoping that I would all be a nightmare and my life would go back to the way I liked it. I believed in change, well at least I thought I did. Change in my life was changing shoes, cars, or just the carpet on my floor. I would have never imagined moving out of my childhood home, changing family size, or schools. In my sheltered world, that just didn’t happen. I had become like those kids that I felt sorry for, but I refused to feel sorry for myself.
Of course, my parents getting divorced, moving away from my father and changing schools weren’t good. Sometimes I would feel lost or discombobulated, thinking that I would end up somewhere else and have to start over again. But the ups overweighed the downs. I have made friends in many different places. I’ve met people all around the country. These are opportunities that I could not have encountered if I had stayed in my little world. I wouldn’t re-live my life in any other way; all these changes have made me who I am today. I believe in change. I believe that it is absolutely necessary for future survival.

The Love Chronicles

Stacy Stewart

Love is a powerful obsession. Stronger than the power of money. Stronger than any drug. But surprisingly not everyone believes this to be so. True love is abstract, something that cannot be touched, not held, but only treasured! Something never seen but its remnants always left behind. Love shows itself in your actions, and takes no true form of its own. When experienced it is something that you will want to hold on to forever. People will kill, steal, and sacrifice themselves to keep it.
I believe in true loves many powers, its different faces, and the results of its unseen presence. Love unlike anything else is everywhere. I believe that I am loved, I have loved, and that I am in love. Not just in love with a guy, but in love with the people who love me, in love with people that need love, in love with life. I have love stories that would last for days, love stories that consist of thousands of pages, love that has proved itself endless.
I had my first encounter with love when I was born. The love by blood, I was loved because the blood that ran through my veins ran through theirs. My parents have a love for me, and are loved by me. We three share a love that is undying, I see love in their eyes, hear it in their voice, and feel it in their touch. Constant love is experienced by family. Sweet gestures, warm hugs, bright smiles, my family. A family that openly invites me into their hearts.
My next happenstance with love would be most expected, the love of friends. Friends who helped comfort me in my times of need, wiped me tears when I had no tissue, shared my joy, felt my pain. My friends stuck by me when I was at my lowest point and my family life wasn’t going quite right. Friends who stuck around through the arguments, disagreements, and misunderstandings. I try to make sure that I provide them with as much love and care as they provide me with. Friends are always there to give their love and support, and best of all advice without judgment.
The next occurrence of love was unintentional, unplanned, and strictly spontaneous. The love felt from a special someone, a love that has kept my secrets, supported my ventures, and created many smiles. A true love that has not only provided me with its normal side effects, but a love that has provided me with new wisdom. I grasped the understanding of the art of communication, compassion, selflessness, and trust. I feel as though these are lessons that I can always carry with me even if he is not around. A love that has exposed me to pain, confusion, but at the same time a distorted clarity. I remember our phone conversation when he had openly admitted to me that he loved me. At that moment I realized all of his sincerity, and how much he cared. That moment was the same moment in which I understood that this was true love. Never will I forget the moment in which my friend had become way more than just a friend, but we had become the perfect match. Neither of us are perfect but we understand that love is not about perfection but accepting each other for their flawed reality. Together we are perfect and his lacks what I require, and I provide what he is missing, I guess u can call this a symbiotic relationship. His presence meant so much more at that moment. He had been fully integrated into the essence of me. His love is unconditional and my love for him is unconditional. A love that I never want to live without, his loved has helped me grow.
I trust in love! I accept love! I believe in true love! Love is of an abundance, something that never ends, doesn’t cost, and provides a ecstasy nothing else can!

Let Out A Little Sarcasm BY: Amanda Henderson

I felt isolated, unwanted, random, just segregated from everyone. When I was six years old my father walked out of my life, he did not turn back, and he did not look back at what he left. Growing up I was the only one in my family without a father, it literally felt like I was on an “emotional rollercoaster”. Saying this I mean that every little comment made, regardless if it was just constructive criticism, no matter who said it, and I was hurt sometimes to the point of crying. I was so sensitive that I eventually gave up, gave up the dramatics, gave up the want of having a father, I gave it all up. By the time I was 13 I started to hid my emotions, I thought I found a new escape, thus realizing sarcasm.

Age 13 was such an impressionable age for me, I had just graduated 8th grade, just started high school, but most of all I had just lost another father figure in my life. My mom divorced my step father; there was nothing I would have wanted more than a father at that time.

I cannot pen point the precise moment, or even the exact day that I began using sarcasm but I know I was in high school. It started with my friends, and then I integrated it into my relationships with other students and eventually with my family. Now I am known as the “sarcastic one”.

I thought sarcasm would become a great escape for expressing my feelings in a somewhat witty manner. I understood that in using sarcasm I could virtually say whatever I wanted and no one would take me serious. In time I was sarcasm and sarcasm was me, it was in every comment we made.

I know how prevalent fatherless children have become, I have known it since I was in fifth grade, and I just wanted a crutch. I wanted an excuse for my actions, I dwelled so much on the issues that it became my major issues. I know I am not the first fatherless child, certainly not the last and there was no need for the melodramatics I displayed.

Sarcasm is no longer an escape for me, it is my existence. I live for sarcasm, its not just cynical derision, its fun; it brings me joy. Not the joy of listening to music on a radio, joy like my mom experiences when listening to her favorite song live with the original artist. As most people think back to the most joyous moments in their life it is usually: their wedding day, meaningful relationships, time spent with their friends, family, or even traveling to exotic countries. I have been to numerous wedding, had meaningful relationships, I have best friends- whom I spend most of my time with- family, and traveled around; but they have all encompassed one important factor-sarcasm. I do not use sarcasm to make others feel less of themselves; I use it to bring happiness to others and myself.

From this self examination I know what sarcasm brings to me. I no longer look for crutches, I look for change. Sarcasm has helped me accept life for what it is, even joke and play around a bit. I am young and should not be weighed down by the pressers and anxieties of life. So I sit back, relax and let out a little sarcasm.

An essential rule for all by: anonymous

When I walk down the street I always feel like people are judging. One person’s facial expression asks, “Why is that person wearing those shorts?” Another person’s hand covering their mouth shouts the question, “Why didn’t that lady do her hair?” A man moving across the sidewalk is saying, “That women’s smile is nice, but her teeth are too yellow!” These instant thoughts seem uncontrollable. Not only am I judging, but I am being judged as well. I may feel like I know a person by catching a glimpse of them, but how is that possible?
I have learned from experience that looks do not tell everything. I have learned this from being judged and by prejudging others. The ideas and looks I have received from others have been very hurtful. The thoughts and laughter I have portrayed to people have been just as painful. It should not matter if a person is big or small to determine their potential, or if a person is rude or polite to determine their ability to care. What really matters is the inner person.
I have recently experienced some of the harshest judgment from my peers. Since the start of school more rumors have been spread about me than over the passed sixteen years of my life. I thought other students would have understood my dilemma, but that was not the case. I have heard everything from getting into fights to being domestically abused as the causes. People are starting to judge the amount of respect I have for myself. It is a frustrating incident to be apart of because people do not thinking about the effects rumors may have on a certain person. After years of proving I am a responsible, non-violent young women many people’s perception of me have instantaneously changed.
I have been on both sides of the judging table. A common act that I am familiar with is prejudging. I tend to prejudge people because of their external appears. I had a habit of publicly talking about people. I unknowingly hurt their feelings, but at that time I did not care. I do not regret my actions from the past because they have molded me into the person that I am today. I have come to realize that my instinct judgments were not correct. In fact those judgments have kept me from becoming acquaintance with a lot of people. Since I was so In the end I have cheated myself out of relations that could have helped made me a better person.
As time goes on more lesson are taught, more advice is given, and more people start to change. Experiences will always occur, but it is up to me to take advantage of these self improvement opportunities. People should never judge a book by its cover but instead judged the book based off of it’s contains.

Everyone Has One by Alexis Jones

The sun beaming upon your head, sounds of water crashing against the rocks, serine ocean breeze and wet sand at your feet with sea shells in between your toes is the most peaceful thing a person can experience in their entire life. The wind blows and displaces your hair all over your head. You feel “free”. Free to think, do and imagine what you want. There is always something within an individual that empowers them to do anything. When I was eight years old, my family and I would go to the beach almost every weekend. As I listened to my father crack jokes, while my mother laughs hysterically, I couldn’t do anything but smile and always remind myself of how I love the glow of happiness in their eyes. That look was just so magical and has allowed me to accomplish goals within my lifestyle. I believe in inspirations.
Inspirations show a person’s true character, emotion and values in life. This allows people to act to the best of their ability and enhance the knowledge of when an emotion is occurring drastically. Even though you can live without them, life would be pointless, mundane and an understatement. People would’t be able to step out the door or get out of bed and realize today is another day of challenges to be faced.
Everyone has a purpose in life and with each step you take there are impediments within yourself and those others creating for you. I’ve never had to worry about problems others and still manage to have problems reaching the goals I’ve used centuries to build.
With inspirations values can be shown, miracles can happen, visions of prosperity all could be reality for anyone. My main inspiration would have to be my parents even though they get on my last nerve most of the time. Seeing them together makes me feel like I could do anything. If i felt the need to fly to a cloud and pluck a rain drop i could. I feel invincible, knowing that no matter what I do they will always be there, what ever I decide they'd motivate me, what i value, they'd educate me. They'd teach me to not only be myself, but to be a savior- and inspiration to others. Drive is a significant aspect i n inspiring people. If you have the drive to inspire someone you could change someone's entire day or full interpretation on life. An emotion is the most powerful ability for anyone to have. Showing that you could not only open up emotionally, inspires people to speak their mind and also inspire people. Inspirations are vital to happiness.
I remember a time I had joined this summer program during the summer. The program was called, I AM YOU. It was an entrepreneurship and women uplifting program. We always would do an activity called, drop it like it's hot, just to voice our problems that occurred outside the work place. The stories I've listened to from these girls were anonymously soul damaging. Rapes, Boyfriend Issues, Parents, etc. Each time I'd go home and tell my parents each problem, because compared to their situations, my problems were no where important. I would give advice on all the ones I could from each girl.One girl came to me and thanked me for inspiring her to stay in school, when she had no one to support her ,or tell he " you will be something in life". The lessons I learn from my parents helped me to teach someone else a lesson in not giving up on something that could possibly create them a magnificent future.
Everyone has flaws and will remain with flaws foe the rest of their lives, because no ones perfect. Your main purpose in life should always be to accentuate the goods and the bad shall be masked. By inspiring people I am setting a great setting for myself and hope that people around the world today would understand that you could do anything with a little inspiration.

THE GAME OF LIFE BY QUEEN DEJA RICE

When I first played volleyball I was just a freshman in high school. It was then I felt a sense of Déjà vu while playing the game. Although I had only been playing this wonderful game for only a few weeks, it hit me that I was playing the game of life.
In volleyball there are six main players on the court in which I consider those players to be immediate family or close friends. The strong hitters, the middle players and two setters are the essential positions on the court and have a significant purpose as well as the major people in your life. These six players are your backbone, the supportive system that everyone contains in life. Then there is the symbolic figure called the net which acts as a shield between you and life. On the other side of the net is the team called “Life.” The key to this game called life is not to let the ball drop on your team’s side. The ball is also a vital part in this game. I like to think of the ball as my dreams and aspirations, shooting for reality when it flies over the net. However, there is the other team, life, which sometimes bumps it right back onto our home side.
I have related this game to my life due to past experiences. For instance, when I was tried out for the Kenwood Academy high school volleyball team, I had reason to believe that my spot on the team was at stake. All while at practice my coach was hollering and yelling at me because I did not make all my overhand serves. She kept making indirect comments that she was intending on making more cuts. However, I spoke with my mother, grandmother, father and other supportive family members about this matter. My mother asked me how bad I wanted to be on the team. I told her that I have always dreamed about being apart of a volleyball team. She responded by telling me that, “the only person to hold back your dreams is you.” I took that into deep consideration and decided to work hard and strive for the best. In the end I ended up with a starting position on the court and I was an active volleyball player all four years of my high school career.
Many say life throws curve balls however, I feel that life throws you high balls that may sometimes be out of reach. But like the old saying goes, what comes up must come down, which allows you and your support a chance to bump, set, and spike it right back into life’s reality.

THE GOOD PART OF GUILT BY: ERNEST AMEYAW

Love, sickness, stress and are some things that can make one weak. Acquiring these symptoms can break you and can change the way you live your life. One main symptom that can either make you or break you is guilt. Guilt it is the very nerve of distress caused by loss, affliction, and disappointment. Guilt is an affective condition in which one experiences conflict at having done something that one believes one should not have done or having not done something one believes one should have done. When guilt comes on you I believe you can be either get weaker or get stronger.
Everybody one way or the other feel a sense of guilt, after we have acquired guilt what we make out it is what really matters. In most cases people will say to themselves, “I haven’t done anything wrong so I don’t know why I feel guilty”. Right, it is quite gratifying to feel guilty if you haven’t done anything wrong or on the other hand you can just admit that you are guilty and repent. I remember one time during soccer practice one of my team mates said he had a girlfriend, which we all kind of found that impossible to believe but we just said ok and just let it go. After school one day as we all was talking by our coaches room his girlfriend happened to walk by, so we invited her in and asked her if they were a couple. She looked at him stupid and replied “heck no, I don’t go with him”. In this situation he could have just let it go and probably said ok guys “I told a lie and I don’t go with her”, but he didn’t he kept on defending and then the girl said “I already have a boyfriend”. He looked stupid and just walked away. When he realized that he was guilty he could have made himself stronger by telling the truth but instead he became weak by continuing to tell the lie which he started.
One thing I have come to realize is that whenever there is guilt there should be regret. Guilt is regret for what we’ve done and regret is guilt for what we didn’t do. When one is guilty they should regret whatever they did which put them in such situation, look at it and become a better person next time. Most at times one can be got in a period of guilt and since they don’t want to feel shame they decide not to make it a big issue, but whether it is big or small, accept it and deal with the consequences that comes with it. For instance when I go to church on Sundays I am being told to do the right thing but at times I catch myself in the midst of doing something wrong, I accept the fact that I am guilty and then grow from it. Accepting this feeling of guilt makes me a stronger and a better person.
Unlike all the other things that brings strength and discomfort and even makes you weaker, guilt is one which you as an individual chooses to make you stronger or make you weaker when u experience it. Even if you don’t become stronger it might make others stronger, because in society some are guilty but all are responsible. It is really nice to know that society is using their guilt to make them stronger, even though they might not admit it. This will explain why some people do bad and later on do a charitable deed, although they might say they are doing their charitable work not because of guilt but because they can afford to, it is all a sense of guilt. Although it bad and no one wants it, guilt can make one stronger and also better society.

Ultimate Success by JoVona Taylor

The first day of freshman orientation seemed to be the most thrilling day of my fourteen year existence on Earth. I had been anticipating the arrival of that day since I received my letter in the mail notifying me of the event, and it felt like years before the day actually arrived. Walking through the auditorium entrance, my heart filled with excitement, visualizing all the opportunities that this four year institution held for me. Although I sat through hours of lectures from the principal and faculty of the school, there was only one memorable segment of the assembly that has been instilled in my mind from that day forth. The speech was made by my principal, Ms. Kirby, and it was regarding the significance of obtaining and achieving goals in high school and in life.
After hearing that speech I decided to regularly create new goals for myself and make them my top priority. One of my most successful goals so far has been to make the most of my high school experience both academically and socially. I would hate to be an adult and look back at my teenage life with disappointment, knowing that there where so many great opportunities given to me as a high school student that I did not take to my advantage. I have dedicated myself to a number of activities during high school and I plan to participate in a few more before I graduate.
In the process of achieving my goal of taking advantage of all that high school has to offer, I made a mental list of all the interesting activities that my school presented such as clubs, sports, and other extracurricular activities. Once I discovered the activities that attracted me the most, I made a pact to myself that I would join at least five of these activities before my second year of high school. Now I am currently in my senior year and I have been apart of several different school clubs . My activities consist of Freshman/ Sophomore Mentor, F.O.C.U.S Community Service Club, Ladies Lounge Leadership Club, Kaleidoscope Newspaper Committee, and Ivy League Club. Each of these clubs and sports teach me a different lesson that I can use in my future life, such as responsibility, commitment, and to respect all people. Although this vast amount of after school activities takes a lot of dedication and time from my normal teenage life, I always feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that these activities will be of more assistance to me in the long run.
Along with participating in the extra curricular activities at my school, I also attend another after school program called After School Matters/ Gallery 37 Downtown Region. The program was created by the mayor of Chicago’s wife, Maggie Daley, and it is offered to all artistically talented youth in Chicago, Illinois. The class that I attend is called Fashion Design. It is a really entertaining yet educational course which teaches me how to illustrate and create my very own clothing line. This program challenges my imagination and opens my eyes to all the creative features of the world. It also assists in achieving my goal of using all the opportunities given to me as a youth in America.
Thinking back to that moment at my freshman orientation, I never would have believed that I could accomplish so much. When creating all these different goals, I did not believe that I could do so well at achieving them. Being a teenager, life is open for so many unfixable mistakes. With all the space given for wrong turns there is no way of staying on track unless you have goals set to keep your life in order. Goals seem to be the greatest factor in keeping my life on course. My life seems to be heading in the right direction and my goals are a major part in this ultimate success.

Becoming Yourself Not Others

As a young boy I always saw myself following in my father’s footsteps. I wanted to be just like him. Until the year of 2005 when he lied to me about his own marriage at my age I felt as if my heart had burst like magma from the earth. Then once more he lied about the divorce, just when I began to have hoped again. These events led me to believe in individuality and as I got older the belief grew. I began to support rights to dress and act the way I please no longer carrying about my father or smirk and chatter from others. Soon believing that I could be independent of my father no matter what the situation set in front of me.
When I was younger people compared me to my father. They would usually say I looked just like him and ask me would I have the same job or car or as him. My reaction was always with a smile and nicely answered the question, but know that I’m older I hate to be compared to him. Simply because I am my own person and being compared to other makes me feel like I copied someone’s paper or I felt so “lazy” and “dumb” that I couldn’t think for myself. Even though I will be similar to some people I know I did something based on my own opinion.
Also, I realized since I had a opinion which meant I had the right to think for myself. I began to have my own philosophies about the economy and other stuff. For the most part I began to think for myself because I don’t I will never have control the world I live in. When people decide to live life like a robot it’s like a book . The words in the book will never change and the road to failure and unhappiness is on the way.
As every teenager does sooner or later, they begin to become independent of their parents. However due to my parents’ divorce I inherited this trait a little sooner. I began to rely on myself because at the end of the day I believe you are all you can depend on. I pushed my father out of my life and truly had no regrets, but thanks to him I became a stronger person. Eventually I would talk to my father and leave the past in the past.
Well I have truly found a sense of individuality from my father lying to me. I began to have personal beliefs and philosophies. I began to believe in dressing how I like and not caring about what the rest of the world had to say to .Also I began to think for myself and I matured because of it. Know I have the courage to control the world around me and make the decision necessary to be successful.

by Marcel Cochran

Society Effect

People progressively change over time. There are many reasons to a change in personality and life style. There are times when there are unkown causes for someone
to change who the they are. It can be because of a troubles at home or everyday tragedies. Change can be for good or the bad. I am not only a witness of the changing of life styles but I am also the victim.
As a young kid, I did things more my own way. I closed out everyone with my anger and bad temper. I was somewhat socially disordered. I had very few friends but they were not considered to be true friends. Sometimes I just stayed away from people completely for no reason. I just found any reason not to talk to anyone. If someone broke the trust I had for them, I would never forgive or take ever again. Even petty things like lying during a game. What I did not understand was that life is hard people to completely understand you. People notice how I did not like to be around other much, so they tried to change me.
I did not like whole idea of change, mostly because I was not changing on my own. My peers and classmates figured changing the way I was for the good. The whole process of change started in elementary school during the fifth grade. They tried to change me like the media changes teens in society. I started to notice as I attended middle school that change was coming into effect. I changed the way I think, dress, and talk. After all the changes, they were not the key reason for my brand new mind set.
The society is what changed me and other people who live urban areas. I caught myself as a young teenager studying the high school kids, as if they were role models. I learned over the years that society imitates hip hop music and other influential media. I made the connection with what people wear at school to what artists wear in their videos. It is a fact that I made a change through hip hop music. When I think sometimes, I feel as if I am a sell out to myself and everything I stood for. I really did not believe in anything. Even though after all the changes, I have benefited from it. I am more open socially and mentally. It is not too hard to say, I changed for the better.
Even I have done this when I was younger, I notice now that I am in my senior year that younger teens and kids look up to me. People change because of hip hop music or the common that they are just not using. Not only can people be changes by their peers or role models, but they mostly change because of their society brainwash or corrupts their mines. There is no looking back after making a new me. There are somethings I am not proud of after a big change but I am still me. Everyone changes in their life time, even they have a option or not. “The old me is dead and gone.”

I Believe In Hope by Vanessa Fortenberry

There are times when I look at people as they go through hard situations and wonder just how they have the energy to go on. With so much pain going on in a person’s life, how do you find the strength to move forward? There is one word that plays a huge part in this, hope. It is as bright and beautiful as the rising sun. Hope can lead people into a completely new direction. It’s power and force is bedazzling. No one can deny the love of hope.
Hope means to look forward to something with confidence or explanation. Deep down there is hope in every human being’s heart. It’s something that keeps us going through the good and bad times. Hope can act as a motivational tool for progress. Hope is the one thing that can unite the entire country, or world if possible.
I’ve experienced hope last year during the 2008 presidential election. There was an anticipation with everyone throughout the entire year. Senator(at the time) Barack Obama was the candidate for the Democratic Party. He was running against Senator John McCain from the Republican Party. Even though things weren’t always on the positive note for Obama’s campaign, I never gave up hope. There was still something inside of me that was saying, “Don’t give up, don’t give up.” Just because things don’t always go well, doesn’t mean that they stay the same. When Obama won the presidential election, I was absolutely ecstatic. Obama gave myself and a whole new generation of people a sense of hope. Barack Obama is like the Dr. King of our time. Times may not have been so great, but both Barack Obama and Dr. King wanted to lead people to a brighter future. Whenever I heard Obama speak, it’s like I had no other choice but to believe him. He speaks with such eloquence and assertiveness, it’s easy for him to catch anyone’s attention. Barack Obama has been my personal symbol for hope ever since last year’s election.
I am a person that strongly believes in hope. Because of this, I have faith in everything I do. There is a music line that relates to this topic. It goes, “There’s hope, it doesn’t cost a thing to smile, you don’t have to pay to laugh, you better thank God for that, there’s hope.” It’s sung by R&B singer India Arie. This line is saying because there is hope, you should be grateful for the things you overlook in life. Things may not go as fast as you want them to or the way you planned, but just continue to have hope and leave the rest up to God. That’s the problem with some people now, they try to take matters into their own hands or give up altogether. And when it happens, all hope is lost. Hope and believing go hand and hand. So if you have hope and just believe, everything will be fine.
In conclusion, hope is a connection to a dream that you wish to come true. It is way more than just a thought or an idea. Having hope can change things tremendously. No matter what the problem may be, hope can solve them and put them into your past. Without having hope, I would not have made it to the point where I’m at today. I strongly believe in it and there will always be a place for hope in my heart.

Reassuring Opposites-Erica Scott

Dazedly wandering through gardens of ignorance and confusion has left me bereft with a thirst to understand the world. The bad tidings and misfortunes often assuaged by man have created a universal complexity that I often find myself caught up in. The density and depth to which all people owe their beliefs has become so convoluted and mislaid that even I find myself lost among the found, deaf among the hearing, and weakened severely with no cure to purify my shortcomings. However, even with all of this I find myself able to believe in one solid revelation to which its dexterity needs no aid or interruption. This belief, this truth allows me to breathe without suffocating and it all started with a children’s book.
Robinhood stared back at me through the roughly drawn picture, almost daring me to contest his equalitarian edict. The paper so rough and thick between my fingers, taunting me to release the book, became my own personal torture. The pleasure and pain kind though. It is the bittersweet, the kind demon, and the hellish paradise. I remember flipping the pages as my eyes ran across the vibrant colors of the woods Robinhood ran through and hid in. I remember the thoughts I had as he took from the rich and gave to the poor. Why write such stories of bravery and sin and innocence if our society allows for nothing as synonymous? Why advertise true morality if we taught ethics? The story of Robinhood instilled in me a truth that overcomes and outshines all of mans beliefs and laws and it is simply because it is bigger than all of those things. This truth is bigger than life and the world because its origins generate an existing path that stretches all the way from the beginning of everything. We are different and yet the same and one mans truth is another’s lie.
In short we are contradictious of our beliefs and our laws and it is our nature. Maybe a weakness to some and perhaps a strength to others. Still, even greater is that fact that the Earth is just the same. It is alive only to one day die just as it promotes existence to creatures that bring its decay, its downfall. There has always been darkness within light, wrongs within rights and endings made of beginnings. Robinhood’s actions are no different than a man stealing bread for his family or a murderer helping an old lady cross the street. The contradictious nature of this world allows for such things and I am ecstatic for it. I believe that it is the incongruent relationships between opposites and how they posses a trait of one another that keeps this world from collapsing. If everything was perfect and succinct and exact then humans would not exist. Good and evil would be myths and characters such as Robinhood would never be known. The world could never be beautiful because there was never an ugly. I believe the faults and shortcomings of nature are essential to life. I believe the world to be imperfect and although there are negatives to every positive there is also room for change. This is what I believe.

Too Much- Jennifer White

I have always been a person with too much pizzazz, too much energy, too much creativity, and too many thoughts. As a child, when I was supposed to be quiet and sit down, I was too loud and too hyper. I was never a wallflower, someone who sits in background hoping to be unnoticed; and although I didn’t look for attention it always found me because my personality was too big for it not to draw something in. I am over the top as oppose to being under the radar, and I believe too much is better than too little.
It is better to have too much personality, than to have little to none at all. People are drawn to interesting unique things, and every person has something interesting and unique about them; to hide or mask these things that make you different is like hiding yourself. When I was young I always felt being unlike everyone else and having a big personality was wrong. Oftentimes members of my family would try to conform me into being quiet and subdued. My mother would embrace it, sometimes, but my aunt and grandmother would completely shun it. I was ostracized for being too loud, and having many ideas, thoughts, and creativity exhausting from every morsel of my body.
I used to train at Alvin Alley, in New York City, for ballet, and at the end of each session we had a recital. Each of the students was suppose to do a one minute performance, and during my showcase I shook, rattled, wiggled and rolled. My Aunt and Grandmother, appalled at it, walked away from my performance, and I was devastated. Although everyone else laughed and had fun watching me, they were embarrassed. I could not understand what I did wrong, the only thing that was running through my head was not, why they leaved, or what I did, it was what’s wrong with me. It took me some time to realize but soon after that I began to understand that there is a time and place for everything but it is always better to show people too much of what you really are than to show them nothing at all ( or even go as far as to fake it). Although my relatives tried their best to suppress my mountainous personality, I still remained true to myself.
It is easier to have an individual tone down their personality, then to pull it out. It is always easier to modify something big, than it is to modify something small. In order to work with something, there has to be something there because you have more than enough to share with others. For instance if you have a fairly large piece of cloth and you want to make a shirt out of it, it would be easier to cut it off any excess material than to stretch, pull and add to the material. By doing that you could possibly rip or damage the material, just to create more of it. There are many different types of people in the world and I believe none of them are too little, or have small personalities at heart. If everyone were to open up and get rid of these ideas that you have to be aloof and closed off mentally to others, it would make many things much easier. Falling in love and making new friends would be easier, discrimination and stereotypes would diminish, and ignorance fueling from the unknown of people and their culture would vanish.
The saying goes, you live and you learn and being too loving, too trusting, too caring, too naïve, too happy can be bad, but if you don’t have a chance to be hurt by being too much of anything, what is the point of living. You only live once, and while you’re doing it, it is best to make the most out of it and live how you really want to as much as you really want to. Even now, as I get older, my dreams are above and beyond, as oppose to below and contiguous, and I am happy.

By Roslyn Sipp

Fractious love, pain and deceit, all of these feelings inside of me. I’m sick of the way people say, love is magic and love conquers all! I can’t find these feelings at all. Not that I’m searching but if love is so magical then shouldn’t it come naturally? I’m just sitting here thinking, all the times I’ve been hurt or heartbroken by someone I thought loved me. I promised never to believe in love again. But like everyone says, it’s always that certain someone who brightens your day. Then it occurred to me, all the things he says to me.
“Roz listen to me! I’m trying to keep you out of trouble. I don’t want to scream at you but you’re my sister and I have to”
Of course, I don’t want to hear it. Not along with everything else he fuss and scream about. My brother is just a burden in my ear. When he screams I walk away, but deep down inside I know he right and he change my way of thinking. My brother Lawrence sipp, is the only guy I can trust. He is always there for me, no matter what. And he will do anything for me.
It makes me laugh when I think about how he continues to push away so many boys who try and talk to me. At my seventeenth birthday party, he wouldn’t let my boyfriend come no where near me. I don’t fully understand the reason why, all I know is that he wasn’t trying to be mean. He just loved me the way I should have loved myself. That’s what brothers are supposed to do.

However, since my father been dead, I’ve never met a decent man. The guys I know are cowards. They do not provide good love, money and support for their families.
They act more like women and women act more like men, because they have no other choice. All of these feelings just changed one day. The day I opened my eyes and realized that my brother is not just my brother but my father and most of all, my best friend.
He inspired me to believe in love. Now I know that all love is not fractious, painful, and deceitful. That was just my way of thinking. After 17 years living with my brother, he taught me that love can be magical and it can definitely conquer many things. It never occurred to me that there was somebody next to me all this time that loves me so much.

A Higher Being by Mariah Rosado

There was three things in the world that I knew existed: good luck, bad luck, and karma. Growing up as a child, I believed that everything good in my life was because of me being a lucky person. And whenever a number of bad things happened to me, I claimed that bad luck or karma was serving its revenge. Now that I am older, I feel the presence of a higher power than luck and karma; I feel the presence and power of the almighty God. During the phase of me believing in good luck, bad luck, and karma, my grandmother would bring me to church every Sunday. Although my grandmother was very religious, she never really imposed her belief of God on me. In the church service, the choir would sing and the preacher would preach the word of God. People would tell stories about how their God was good to them. I then began to question if there really was a God and evaluate my beliefs of luck and karma. I decided to test my theory of whether there was a God. Since my eleventh birthday was coming up, and I wanted a new bike, I prayed to God that I would receive one. Sure enough I received my shiny, new pink bike, and started to believe that maybe those individuals in church were telling the truth about God. Ever since then, I continued to worship God, not because I got my new bike, but because it started to feel right. I truly felt his presence when I was fifteen years old and I was coming home from school. It was almost eight o’clock at night when I began to walk down a somewhat dark street; a man in a station wagon pulled up beside me and was trying to convince me to get into his car, saying that he would give me a ride. As I ignored him and kept walking home, I realized that there were not many cars passing by and this man was slowly following me. I started to get scared and prayed to God to help me. The man in the car pulled over and got out his car to approach me. He began to get angry with me, walking behind me while calling me derogatory names, and I walked even faster. All of a sudden, a police car drove down the block and stopped at a red light. As I went with my gut feeling and flagged the police down, the man got back into his car, made a u-turn, and drove away. After I caught the police’s attention, I told them what happened and they drove me the rest of the way home. The police officers told me to be careful and that I was very lucky; I never walked down a dark block alone again. There are many things that could have happened to me that night. It was no coincidence that the police showed up before the man had a chance to catch up with me; it was not luck that saved my life. God heard my prayer, he saw that I was in trouble, and came to my rescue. I know in my heart and soul that God exists. He has bestowed his power upon me in times of need and when I deserve it. God has opened up many doors in my life. I feel as if I have a strong connection with God. I now try to live my life the way he wants humans to live, and it feels right. I try to obey his commandments and serve him because he serves me. In a world full of corruption, everyone needs someone beside them, God is the higher being that stands beside me at all times.

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