BLOGGER 4

Gains Brittany                                                                                                                                     Gaines1

Professor Amanda Reyes

English105

June 8 2016

                                                                "Can't Stop, Won't Stop"



              Hip Hop has been a ground-breaking industry that has opened up many doors. Originating in the Bronx, Hip Hop faced many barriers but from struggles the culture faced to victories won, Hip Hop has made it through. Hip Hop continues to break barriers, and have a large impact. People found it powerful to be able to express the hardships and their lifestyle freely.  It started as a mode of expression and continued to gain popularity with the public quickly and still continues to grow today.









Citations:

-"Cant Stop Won't Stop" by Jeff Chang, 2005.

blogger #4

Music and culture movement

Tate, Greg. "Music and Culture Movement." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 05 June 2016.

                Hip hop originated in mostly African American economically depressed South Bronx neighborhoods. In the late 1970’s deejaying, turntabling, rhyming and MCing was popular. As the hip-hop movement began to expand the origin of dancing and rapping came about. Rap first came to national attention in the United States with the release of the Sugarhill Gang’s song “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) on the independent African American-owned label Sugar Hill. Within just weeks of them realising the song it became a chart topping song and also helped define rap music.  In the mid-1980s the next wave of rappers, the new school, came to light. At the forefront was Run-D.M.C., a trio of middle-class African Americans who fused rap with hard rock, defined a new style of hip dress, and became staples on MTV as they brought rap to a mainstream audience. Run-D.M.C. recorded for Profile, one of several new labels that took advantage of the growing market for rap music.

blogger #3

                                                               Album: To Pimp A Butterfly  by Kendrick Lamar
1. Context:

Who: kendrick Lamar

Where: Compton , CA

When: 2009

2. Purpose:

Theme: "To Pimp A Butterfly”

·         It was made for the people who know the struggle and grew up in it. Kendrick admits that he has “survivor’s guilt” because he made it out of his bad neighborhood in Compton.

3. Audience:

intended: rap and hip hop fans who want to hear about the struggle

unintended: children, the elderly, anyone who basically doesn’t like rap with explicit lyrics

4. Genre:

·         Kendrick Lamar is associated with rap, hip hop and sometimes trap music

·         Article- “The History of Hip Hop: 1925 to now”

·         Hip hop started in the late 1920’s 

BLOGGER #6

I watched a video on YouTube that was a portion of a documentary called "Prescription Thugs". This documentary is about the overuse of prescription medication and the negative impact prescription drugs have caused individuals all over the U.S. It is a recovering addicts interview with an ex pharmaceutical representative. In this interview she is stressing the addictive nature of these drugs, and how the industry is only motivated by gaining a profit.

I can easily use this video to introduce my social issue, that is, prescription drug abuse. Her interview will be a huge eye opener for everyone and a great way to validate and support my stand on this issue and just how big of an issue it is.

I also found a clip of the trailer that is more focused on the prescription drug effects on the body. The entire documentary he is speaking to real people about their experiences with these harmful drugs. I might try to fins a way to work them both in. These clips should both be seen, and aid in proving my point.

blogger #2

1  1.My father had an impact on my life (the parts he was there for) because he taught me a trade. He taught me how to weld I remember one hot summer day he called me out into the garage and told me to grab one of those old milk crates and sit down. I remember I was so excited because I was going to be able to spend quality time with my dad. He told me to put on the welding mask it was huge, I felt like it wouldn’t fit my face but my father adjusted it so it would. I felt like iron man because the mask completely covered my face and had this huge blue rectangle where the eyes go so I could see. I remember he told me to put on his brown rough welding gloves. I did and he handed me the welding wand, he then guided my hands to a piece of metal and sparks began to fly. I pulled my arm back fast because I got popped with some of the sparks on the exposed part of my arm (ouch). I remember it burning but I didn’t cry because I didn’t want to look like a punk in front of my dad (lol I just wanted to be a cool chick in front of my dad). He  immediately asked me if I was okay I responded with yes and he told me to pick up the wand again. For the next three hours that day I and my father built the frame for a go-kart. That experience showed me that I shouldn’t allow a little pain to keep me from doing what I want to do and I should never give up.

2.     

     2. My father had an impact on my life because he taught me a trade. He taught me how to weld, I remember one hot summer day he called me out into the garage and told me to grab one of those old milk crates and sit down. I remember I was so excited because I was going to be able to spend quality time with my dad. He told me to put on the welding mask it was huge, I felt like it wouldn’t fit my face but my father adjusted it so it would. I felt like iron man because the mask completely covered my face and had this huge blue rectangle where the eyes go so I could see. I remember he told me to put on his brown rough welding gloves. I did and he handed me the welding wand, he then guided my hands to a piece of metal and sparks began to fly.as a result, of my fear  I pulled my arm back fast because I got popped with some of the sparks on the exposed part of my arm . I remember it burning but I didn’t cry because I didn’t want to look like a punk in front of my dad . He immediately asked me if I was okay I responded with yes and he told me to pick up the wand again. For the next three hours that day I and my father built the frame for a go-kart. That experience showed me that I shouldn’t allow a little pain to keep me from doing what I want to do and I should never give up.

Part 2

1.      My dad welded all his life and was great at it I wasn’t so great at it.

2.      After learning how to weld felt accomplished because I didn’t even though I got hurt.

Blogger Entry: Citations

     Reporter Gale Holland covers homeless and poverty for LA Times. With the help of Shelby Grad, they write "How Los Angeles' homeless crisis got so bad." The article is basically a few questions and answers from The Times' archives. General questions of homeless are being answered such as why is it happening and why is it increasing. The article even gives a map where homeless people tend to live. It also has a good amount of statistics throughout the article that gives an idea of how big or small this problem is.  "Well over half -- nearly 26,000 -- were in the city of Los Angeles" (Holland). This statement is helpful for my proposal and presentation as well as the map because I can show my audience how many there are and where.

Grad, Shelby, and Gale Holland. "How Los Angeles' Homeless Crisis Got so Bad." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 22 Sept. 2015. Web. 08 May 2016.

<

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-how-los-angeles-homeless-crisis-got-so-bad-20150922-story.html >

Blogger #7

Mario Gallegos
Professor Reyes
English 105
7 June 2016

Blogger #7 Citations

1.

           My organization Save Our Water is someone who wants to help California with conserving water not only during this drought but everyday. They want to be the people who make a difference in these tough times with climate change and the drought. You can clearly tell my organization wants to do real change even if there would be no drought when on their website they state "Created in 2009 as a partnership between the Association of California Water Agencies and the California Department of Water Resources, the program offers ideas and inspiration for permanently reducing water use – regardless of whether California is in a drought" (About Save Our Water). As you can see my organization does not only want to help people in California during the drought but even if in the future the drought clears up they will always be around helping people.

2. MLA formatted citation

"About Save Our Water - Save Our Water." Save Our Water About Save Our Water Comments. N.p., 2015. Web. 08 June 2016.

blogger entry #5 springbreak

Part 1

Link to the article:http://lib-ezproxy.lbcc.edu:2230/ehost/detail/detail?vid=11&sid=5b6c02b5-cccb-456e-a71c-4bf8691a7f93%40sessionmgr120&hid=110&bdata=JmxvZ2luLmFzcCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmU%3d#AN=9507055273&db=aph

The title of my article is Bring Dads Back into the Family. By: Wilson, Pete, Christian Science Monitor, 08827729, 6/20/95, Vol. 87, Issue 143. In the beginning of the article, it states that the nation is facing a crisis of more and more children growing up fatherless. It goes on to gives some stats about how teens are more likely to be in poverty, teen parents, and go to jail. It then goes on to say that we need to do more than just have an organization that says it’s trying to help, but we need more role models for youth.  The author of the article then gives 3 ways to fix this issue. One being a father summit, on June 13 in Burbank California the first father summit took place. At the summit, they attacked issues like teen pregnancy and welfare laws, how they should be changed so they don’t encourage teen pregnancy. Most teens aren’t ready to be good parents the key word being “good”. The second thing discussed at the summit was marriage and how it should be enforced more.

            Another thing that the author spoke about that was important was a “wedfare” initiative that will allow woman on welfare to have the ability to keep it when they get married. This will promote unity within the household because financial hardship can play a big role in a family crumbling. He also says that parents should be in their children’s educational life at home as well as at school because this will show children important values of family unity.

Part 2

Organization

GRIP

GRIP works on reaching out to the community and creating role models for students who are fatherless. They also have a lot of programs that are positive outlets for students and keeps them from getting in trouble.

Blogger #7

In the article Transgender Youth and Life -Threatening Behavior written by Arnold  H. Grossman and Anthony R. D' Augelli they state "In addition to the exogenous factors of rejection, maltreatment, and victimization, youth who self-identify as transgender also experience personal distress and isolation." Here they focus on talking about the struggles transgender youth face, and apart from those factors they also face distress and isolation that are known to be caused from rejection and being treated poorly. They want people to recognize the internal struggles trans youth face. There are programs that are out there to help transgender youth through any depression or struggles they may go through. Melissa MacNish and Marissa Gold-Peifer say in Critical topics in family therapy "Many of the youth described feeling safe, understood, and proud of who they are for the first time in their lives" Melissa MacNish and Marissa Gold-Peifer  say this about Camp Aranu'tiq. Camp A is a great opportunity for transgender youth to experience.


citations:

1. Grossman, Arnold H., and Anthony R. D'Augelli. "Transgender youth and life‐threatening behaviors." Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 37.5 (2007): 527-537.

2. MacNish, Melissa, and Marissa Gold-Peifer. "Families in transition: Supporting families of transgender youth." Critical Topics in Family Therapy. Springer International Publishing, 2014. 119-129.

Blogger #4

Biondi 1

Annette Biondi

Professor Amanda Reyes

English 105

June 5, 2016 

Rap as literacy: A genre analysis of hip hop ciphers

Newman, Michael. "Rap as literacy: A genre analysis of hip-hop ciphers."Text 25.3 (2005): 399-436.

Rap is the best known and most widely practiced of the four elements— forms of artistic expression—of Hip-Hop, the others being graffiti art (a.k.a. writing), break dancing (a.k.a. b-boying), and DJing (a.k.a. turntablism). This cultural movement emerged in the wake of the fractures provoked by the civil rights struggle in the moral and legal foundations of the centuries-old U.S. racial caste system.

Blogger #4

Elli Spain                                                                                                                                        Spain1

Professor Amanda Reyes

English105

5 June 2016

The Soul Music Sanctuary R&B

 

              "SOUL MUSIC'S HISTORY." SOUL MUSIC'S HISTORY. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2016.           

 

During the early 20th century in the South, the Blues' expressive forms became the most important influences on the development of popular American music by the 1960s. The Blues is essentially about emotional expression through many instruments. When it comes to the singer, there are many vocal techniques that they use, to create the desired effect. There are many instruments that accompany the central vocal performance: the bending of guitar strings, the classic bottleneck of so many of the great blues guitarists, the harmonica imitating the human voice etc., all of which clearly characterize the essential  Blues performance. 



Blogger #3

Album: Fire and Ice by Kaskade

1. Context:

Who?: Kaskade aka Ryan Raddon

Where?: Los Angeles, CA

When?: 2011

2. Purpose:

Theme: "best of both worlds"

-It was made to give electric music listeners, an album of songs with 2 versions to each song. A high tempo, going out song and a down tempo song, for relaxing times

3. Audience:

intended: house music fans

unintended: people who do not like house music

4. Genre:

-Kaskade is associated with EDM but more specifically House Music

-Article: "Feel the beat come down: house music as rhetoric" by Stan Hawkins

-House Music came from the night clubs of Chicago in the late 70's

blogger #4

Andrea Brown

Professor Reyes

English 105

March 23, 2016

Feel the beat come down: house music as a rhetoric

Hawkins, Stan. "Feel the Beat Come Down: House Music as Rhetoric." Analyzing Popular Music: 80-102. Web. 

The purpose of this article is to give ways to understand and listen to house music based on it's structure and musical organization. Hawkins reason for "Feel the beat come down: House music as a rhetoric" is to understand some of the internal mechanics of house music work. As technology advanced throughout the years since house music started, in the 80's, making the tracks became less about every step needed to make the sounds and more about the "mechanization of the beat." In the end, Hawkins found that listening and dancing to house music is about the person establishing their style through dance and everyone identifies in song differently. 

Blogger #5

Ricardo Marquez
English 105

Animal Cruelty
www.rspca.org.uk/

Animal Cruelty is a nationwide problem that is rapidly growing in today’s society. Animals are being beaten and starved everyday and millions of helpless animals die each year because of irresponsible owners. There are many forms of animal cruelty. The most common forms of animal cruelty are scientific research, abandonment, and mistreatment. The shocking number of cruelty cases reported daily on television, on the internet and in newspapers is only a small part of something larger. In media-reported animal cruelty cases, dogs are the most common victims of animal cruelty. Pit bulls are the most commonly abused animal. According to “The Humane Society of The United States” in the year 2007 only 1,880 cases of animal cruelty were reported. 64.5 percent were dogs 25 percent of dogs were some sort of pitbull breed. 18 percent were cats and 25 percent involved other animals. According to the “Daily Mail” in the year 2014 RSPCA investigated 160,00 cases after receiving complaints in which one in eight involved violence.As the years go by the numbers of animal cruelty keep increasing.

Part  2

Organization 

ASPCA

ASPCA works to rescue animals from labs, streets or households were they are abused. The  organization fights to pass laws. 2 years ago they successfully passed a couple of laws that fight for animals rights.

Blogger #2

Ricardo Marquez
English 105

Part 1

1) I grew up in a household of five, me being the youngest sibling out of 3 and the only boy made me the center of attention. The toys I usually received were mostly sport balls. My parents were obsessed with the idea of me playing sports. Since no sport caught my attention my parents decided to sign me up for soccer at a local park regardless. At the time, I was five years old and when my parents told me they signed me up for soccer I got mad and started crying. I begged them not to make me participate in soccer because I was not interested, but nevertheless I was forced to attend. Every Tuesdays and Thursdays there was practice from 6pm-8pm for three months. I tried every trick in the book not to attend practice; pretending to be sick, crying, hiding, and locking myself in my room. Weeks passed by and my mindset about soccer didn’t change. Once soccer season ended my parents finally decided that they would stop pursuing the idea of me playing sports. It was time for me to attend Elementary School and made friends who were not surprisingly into soccer. It was only then when soccer slowly started catching my attention. Every recess I would check out a ball to play with and suddenly, I saw myself playing at home. After a few weeks of having contact with a soccer ball I told my parents that I wanted to try out soccer again.

  2)  As a result, soccer became a part of me in many ways. The first thing soccer helped me with was my communication skills. My freshmen year of high school was a challenging but a good one. I had Biology which I found a bit challenging. My teacher taught in a fast pace and I caught myself being lost a lot. I would constantly ask someone next to me for help and if they couldn’t help me I would stay after class to ask my teacher for help. If the teacher wasn’t available after class then I would go during lunch and talk to my teacher about things I needed more clarification on. The end of the semester approached and I had a B- . Me asking all those questions helped me pass my Biology class. All I could think about when I saw my grade was soccer. Soccer made me pass my class because our soccer coach would insist to interact with our fellow players in order to achieve a certain play or win a game. It was my communication skills that helped me pass my class.

Part 2

1) My parents had a passion for sports and they wanted to pass it on to me. The first few months weren't good I gave up on sports my first year of soccer.

2) After soccer slowly came back into my life.  I saw myself being motivated by soccer my sophmore year. It also gave me my fighting mentality.

Blogger #3

Ricardo Marquez
English 105


1) Context
The album "Forest Hills Drive" made by J Cole was released in the year 2014. The album to this day is still one of the most listened to and sold albums in the world. The album ranks among some of the most elite hip hop albums in the world such as Graduation by Kanye West.

2)Purpose
The purpose of this album is J Cole telling us about his childhood and how he took a a lot of wrong turns and how his mom and god were always there for him when no one else was.

3)Audience
The album is mostly intended for the young audience it is suppose to help the youth get through the difficult times.

4)Genre
Hip Hop
Rap


History Genre
www.insidermonkey.com/blog/history-of-hip-hop-202895/
Artist Biography 
www.billboard.com/artist/276541/j-cole/biography

Blogger #6

Ricardo Marquez
English 105



I read an article on the website RSPCA. The article talked about 3 of the major forms of animal cruelty.The 3 major forms were abandonment, scientific research, and abusive behavior. These 3 have lead to many animal deaths in the world in the last few years. The article informed me on a lot of stuff that will help me with my proposal. Based on the 3 forms of animal cruelty I have enough to write 3 paragraphs. One paragraph for each form of animal cruelty. The article also provide stats of the animal that is put through animal cruelty the most. Surprisingly the animal to be abused the most is the Pitbull and small rats. The Website RSPCA is my number one source for my proposal.

Blogger #7

Ricardo Marquez
English 105



The organization I choose is National Criminal Justice  Reference Service.Despite the historical recognition of the link between cruelty to animals and violence toward humans, law enforcement agencies, the courts, and social service agencies have, until recently, ignored the connection.

Recent attention to animal abuse as a potentially serious human problem has been prompted by the realization that many violent offenders have a history of animal abuse, the increasing attention being paid to all forms of family violence, evidence of the central role that pets play in normal and abusive families, the links between organized cruelty toward animals and other illegal activities, and growing public concern over the lenient sentences given in animal cruelty cases. Much of the current evidence indicates that animal abuse is not just the result of a personality flaw in the abuser, but is often symptomatic of a deeply disturbed family, in which children and elders may also be abused. There is also support for the hypothesis that cruelty to animals may be linked to other mental disorders.

http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=155688

blogger #6

I choose a video from my organizations GRIP outreach for youth website. In the video it shows children reading statistics about the fatherless generation. It starts with the words fatherless in the beginning then cuts to children read the statistics. Then the video cuts to fatherless again and shows the children saying you can make a difference so they don’t have to deal with certain consequences of a fatherless childhood.  At the end of the video it shows a verse from the bible and the website you can visit.

I feel like this resource will be helpful in both my proposal and my presentation. It could work well in my presentation because it pretty much sums up what my organizations mission is. It would also work well because it depicts the different children who are affected by growing up fatherless.  It would work well with my proposal because I could use some of the statistics in the video in my paper. It can also help back up how important it is to have a father in a child’s life.

blogger #7

            The organization I choose to write my paper about is called The Fatherless Generation organization.Their mission is to reunite  fatherless children with their biological fathers all while providing the resources and services that strengthen, support, and elevate the commitment to fatherhood and family values. They have quite a few partnerships such as, Boys & Girls Clubs of America,Watch D.O.G.S, and Diamond in the Rough Youth Development just to name a few. The Fatherless Generation Organization  has be featured in magazines, TV shows and radio casts. Here is a quote from a interview the founder Dr.Torri.J Evans had with JET magazine she said "A fathers love is  reassuring and children need that presence in their life." (Evans,"Decades Without Daddy")

Evans,Torri. "Decades Without Daddy". JET Magazine. JET.mag.com, 2 Apr.2012.

blogger #7

The organization I have chosen to back is called The Borgen Project. They fight for poverty in developing countries at a political level and have volunteers from many parts of the country, as well as the world. They have caught the attention of the public and many editorials over their years of being operational. The Borgen Project has shown up a couple of times in articles by the Huffington Post, a news editorial known worldwide. In one of those articles, Katie Tate, a writer for the Huffington Post wrote, "The Borgen Project is an incredible non-profit organization that is addressing poverty and hunger and working towards ending them" (Tate, "The Borgen Project: Working to Downsize Poverty").

 Tate, Katie. "The Borgen Project: Working to Downsize Poverty." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Jan. 2011. Web. 25 May 2016. 

Blogger #7

Randy Elder, a scientific director for systematic reviews for the Community Guide Branch and he  joined CDC's Injury Center in 1999 to conduct research in the areas of alcohol-impaired driving and alcohol epidemiology, wrote his article, What Works: Strategies to Reduce or Prevent Drunk Driving, to help spread awareness about drinking and driving. When you think about college, what comes to mind is; education, degrees, masters, and possibly, parties. Parties can be a huge thing in college, and most likely college students will be drinking. To help prevent a student from drinking and driving Elder listed many possible ways to help. One possible way is to have an Ignition interlock installed into cars. Elder stated, "Ignition interlocks installed in cars measure alcohol on the driver’s breath. Interlocks keep the car from starting if the driver has a BAC above a certain level, usually 0.02%." This invention can definitely help prevent deaths caused by drunk drivers from happening.

Citation
Developing the Guide to Community Preventive Services - Overview and Rationale. [PDF - 191 kB] Benedict I. Truman, C. Kay Smith-Akin, Alan R. Hinman et al. Am J Prev Med. 2000; 18 (1S) :18-26.

 

Blogger 7

Wilson M. Compton, author and director of a division of National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Department, writes an article entitled Abuse of prescription drugs and the risk of addiction. In this informative article he states “Abuse of several categories of prescription drugs has increased markedly in the United States in the past decade and is now at alarming levels for certain agents, especially opioid analgesics and stimulants”. Mr. Compton is interested in research to help fix this massive problem of drug abuse and addiction and also states “Future scientific work on prescription drug abuse will include identification of clinical practices that minimize the risks of addiction, the development of guidelines for early detection and management of addiction, and the development of clinically effective agents that minimize the risks for abuse.” He is afraid for the youth and the recreational use of the prescription medication. He explains: “with the high rates of prescription drug abuse among teenagers in the United States, a particularly urgent priority is the investigation of best practices for effective prevention and treatment for adolescents, as well as the development of strategies to reduce diversion and abuse of medications intended for medical use.” This illustrates my concern and my social issue. My organization will provide alternative medicine and care for those who desperately need an alternate solution for their pain and wellness. My organization will also provide awareness and promote the use of alternative medications that are less addictive and harmful.

Citation:

1. –“Abuse of prescription drugs and risk of addiction” -Wilson M. Compton, division leader in the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2016)
2. –“Abuse of prescription drugs and risk of addiction”-Nora D. Volkow, M.D.,Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2016)

Blogger # 7

           Alison Kunh a writer for the Iris Magazine for thinking young women wrote a an article about the role that media plays in shaping today's rape culture. Kunh discusses how the media is portraying victim blaming. Many victims get asked what they were wearing and if they had drank before the incident as if that makes it okay. Kuhn mentions that "people start to believe that perhaps women are at fault in cases of their own rape" (Kuhn,2014). Because people believe that the victims are at fault, they do not receive any support. The victims often don't speak up because everyone else seems to just dismiss the issue.

 Citation
"The Role Media Plays in Shaping Our Rape Culture." Iris A Magazine About Thinking Young Women RSS. Alison Kuhn, 31 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 May 2016.

Blogger Entry: Citations

Due: Wednesday 5/11

Prompt 

Read the "In-Text Citations" handout.  Based on these notes, follow the directions below.  

1. Select a text from your research that is related to 1) your social issue and 2) your organization
2. For each text:
1. Write a paragraph that introduces the text and one quote from the text you find interesting (MLA format for in-text citation).  Establish your sources credibility. 
2. Then, create a MLA formatted citation for the entire text at the end.    

blogger #6

     I recently watched a documentary on Netflix called "Underworld Inc.". One of the episodes covered human/sex trafficking throughout the United States. They mainly focused on illegal immigrants. The sex traffickers help these immigrants to cross over the border and if the fine cannot be paid on time they will be forced to pay if off by prostitution. They prostitute children, men and women alike. Most of the time people become trapped because the sex traffickers will enslave them to work for them until they are of no use.

      I found this information very helpful because it allows me to tie in both human and sex trafficking together correspondingly. I will be able to further use this information for my presentation and proposal as well,

Blogger #6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blotbURichY

    This video/TV show I watched was a gang in Los Angeles called "Avenues." This gang started of around the zoot-suit era, where a bunch of hispanics made a group to defend themselves. The gang got more violent when drugs came into the city and gang members from different areas try to fight over territory. J.R., a former member of the Avenues, talks about his first murder. After the Avenues heard about what he did they immediately wanted him in. The Avenues were well protect for the drugs and territory. Older members that went to jail joined up with an even bigger gang call "Mexican Mafia" or "La eMe." This is when La eMe taxed the gangs in the area and if you did not have their money they will either beat you or kill you. The Avenues were always ready to kill and on September 17, 1995, a family took a wrong turn and was surrounded by the Avenues. The Avenues shot the car injuring most of the people in the car and killing a young girl. This incident prompted the former president, Bill Clinton, to take action on what happen. He order a huge raid on the avenues and arrest many. J.R. had left the gang to be with his family, he got tired of always looking behind his back, but that caused a "hit on his head," which means he was wanted by the gang to be killed because the felt betrayed. 

      I can use this reference on my presentation by comparing it with the gangs over here in my area. Most gang are connected together and still fight for territory. The gave examples on how people gain respected and what they would do for their gang. Also, how gang sometimes influence young people to join because they see the older gang members as role models and family members will influence them by bringing all the gang violence into their homes.

Blogger Entry

          I watched a documentary called I am Jazz. The documentary was about a 11 year old  transgender girl named Jazz. The documentary talks about Jazz's transition since she was little too the age 11. It all started on her 5th birthday when her mom allowed her to wear a girl bathing suit to her party. Since then Jazz started dressing like a girl and started being called Jazz. Jazz has full support from her family. Her family is fully supportive of Jazz's transition. But even though her family was supportive, many people aren't as supportive as her family. But even though jazz faced some problems her family was always by her side. One of Jazz's problems faced was not being able to play with an all girls soccer team. The soccer association was afraid she will "hurt" someone. Even though her parents received many declines to their request to let her play, they kept fighting for her to be treated equally. Eventually, they allowed her due to a email her father sent. Also, they talk about her growing up, and her hitting puberty. Jazz has the option to block puberty, or go through puberty and just go with the changes. But jazz is almost positive she wants to block puberty completely. She can't stand the idea of getting a deep voice or growing hair. Jazz's parents support any decision Jazz decides to do. Also, in the document it shows when jazz and her mom go to a panel, amongst Jazz and her mom there are other trans men and women. During the panel Jazz starts to notice most of the panel had a hard time transitioning. They faced violence, discrimination, and no support. Jazz's really realizes she has an amazing support from her family and friends, and that everyone may not have that. 
          I think this documentary may be useful  for my presentation. I feel it showed the difference between a person having support through their transition, and someone who did not have any support at all. I feel like this document really shows how not having support or acceptance, may bring problems to a person during their time of their transitioning journey. I feel like if more people were supportive of the trans community, or at least not see them differently the transgender community wouldn’t face so much physical/ mental abuse. We are all equal and should not belittle people for something they cannot change.