Response Post to Lhadze's post

  Reading Lhadze's post about whats Emo/Sscene, actaually caught my atention. When i saw her tittle "Emo/Scene," i actually didnt know what type of people are considered to be a scene untill i read about the characteristics. This is one of her quotes that gave very good imegry.  

Emo on the other hand is all black and mainly basic clothing with studs, and rips kind of like scene. An emo is quiet, shy, and much more emotional. They wear EXTREME amounts of eyeliner and always have black nails. Both types have piercings...

If you see me, automatically, you will not consider me being and emo guy. One thing for sure, i do wear alot of black. i don't wear eyeliner at all and dont have any piercings. What fits my description is either baggy or skinny jeans, vans or nike, skating T-shirts, and lots of hats like beanies. I'm not much of a person who wears clothing with lots of colors.

Not too long ago, my sister called me emo because i was in my room listening to my ipod which i mainly have all types of rock music. For example, I listen to the bands Nirvana, HIM, Linkin Park, Silversun Pickups, Breaking Benjamin, Guns N Roses, and plenty more bands. I didn't want any lights on so i turned all of then off. Well, just because of that my sister considered me emo. But this is just me and I'm very different from an emo guy.
 

Just like you people are preppy, jock. hipster, gangster, what ever you are, you represent who you are. And sometimes its not always clothing but definitely you personality

This is another thing that Lhadze said and i agree with it 100%. After reading the characteristics of a Scene girl, i do consider Lhadze a teenage scene girl. But,  that doesnt change anything. I still respect Lhadze the way she is. Being Scene or Emo, is just a way of life. I think. I know girls that are scene and most of them are pretty out going. Clothing doen't change anything.

Elite Colleges

 The Most Persuasive Argument

  I think that the most persuasive argument came from Richard D. Kallenberg, because he gave many strong and persuasive points. His argument was well put and the flow was also good. I like Ivan dont agree with him most of the time. There were other arguments about the elite colleges that were good, but i think that that Kallenburg's argument was the strongest out of all of them. There are many things that i liked of his argument. One of them was:

attending a selective college with a large endowment offers numerous advantages, which can put students on a more favorable trajectory in life.

This is somethiung that catched my attention and i asked myself, "how can you get numerous these numerous advanteges are ther ad vanteges that you cant get at public universities?" So then i kept treading and he then Kallenberg answered my question he said
 "At selective institutions, a student is surrounded by talented and high achieving peers." I dont really agree with him because at public Universites, ther are many students who are talented and high achieving peers. Another thing that i like of his argument was when Kallenberg said

If you attend a highly selective college, the per pupil expenditure is $92,000, compared with just $12,000 at the least selective colleges. The richest colleges require students on average to pay just 20 percent of the total cost of college, compared with 78 percent at the least wealthy colleges.

At first, i was very confused when i read this. But, then found out that you as a student going to an elite university is still paying more than a student going to a least selective College even thogh paying 20% of the college cost than the student paying 78% of the college cost. Another thing that surprised me was wehen Kallenberg said a studen is more likely to graduate from a selective institution than the less ones.
Not only he said this, but so did other debaters. Overall, I think that Richard D. Kallenberg had the most persuasive argument even though I dont agree with some of his points.

The Least Persuasive Augument

I think that the the least persuasive argument comes from Martha (Marty) O'Connell.
First of all, when she said " Understand that it is not where you go that matters." It certaintly daoes matter where you go and theres important reasons why.
  You want to go to a college where you will feel comfortable studying for about four years. Why would you choose to go to a college that you probably dont even know how it is and choosing to go to that college just because its a college.
  When she started to talk about the cekebritities and how they went to college but some of then dropped out, but do very well in life and are filthy rich. I said to myself, "yea thats amazying but thats luck.

The “oohs” and “aahs” follow as the audience learns that Steven Spielberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropped out of college...

Like Cameron said. All Bill Gates did is took MAC and put it into a PC. He just did that and then became filthy rich. It doesnt matter what celebrities did. What matters is you. You going to good college and succeed. I was actaully surprised when I read that Bill Gates dropped out of college, but i dont really care abou that. What matters is you,  you wanting to go to a good college it get a great education or even lucky enough to go to an elite collge.

Response to Shannon's bolg Post about OAKLAND

I got this quote from Shannon Richardson's blog post about Oakland

I hear that there is some debate on whether or not Oakland is safe or not. Living in the hood for my whole life, I would say Oakland is fine. A lot of people call it a "kill-zone" and say its dangerous. From the parts I've lived in and from my experience its not really dangerous unless you're unlucky and shot as an innocent bystander or you're into some stuff. Most people in Oakland aren't even into stuff. Oakland has actually been very safe for me and lots of other people. There are parts that are very nice like Montclair and the Oakland Hills are all safe as can be.

I agree with Shannon that there are some naighboorhoods in Oakland that are are safe. But where i live its not safe at all. To be honest, i sometimes get scared as i walk through the streets of Oakland hopeing that i wont get shot or jumped. Shit like this happens in my neighborhood. the good thing i sthat im sorrounded by family. Thats one reason where i live. SHannon says that Living in Oakland is fine for her. Well thats because of where she live. Shoot, i wish in the nice neighboorhoods of Oakland.

I have friends that have been jumped and even worse, killed. They were all cool people and were not gang affiliated. I knew then very well as if they were my brothers. My gangs shoot to prove a statement. But for what? That doesnt help at all. Oaklnd is the city where i grew up and spent my child hood in. I really dont want to end up beign a drug dealer as a living. I beleive tha Oakland is what motivates me to succed in life. Thats because i dont wnat  to end up being a thug for the rest of my life. Oakland is what it is to me. a violent city.

A Long Way Gone Final Blog Post

Thursday was our groups final LCD about the book "A Long Way Gone." Toward the end of the book, we dicussed about the ending and we never found the answers to our questions. My question was "what is the point of this war?" As i read, i never found the answer. Basically, the whole point of the warwas to just kill and steel.This war was a civil war. Really, there was no meaning to fight that war.I brought up that question and my group agreed with what i said. That there is no meaning to that war.

Something that i noticed in this book was that ishmael voluntered to fight along side with the soldiers. He fought to kill the rebels. The rebels killed Ishmael's family. At that point, he was set to love violence. As i read the book, he was litterally brainwashed.to kill.He took over villages, murdered people, did drugs and killed some more. At that point killing and doing drugs were his hobbies. Now, he was doing what the rebels were doing.

Cameron brought up a very good point. He said " what if his familly maneged to escape? What if they lived in a village that ishmael attacked? What if his brother was recruted to the rebels who he might of killed?"

My answer was simple, " he had no choice but to kill." It was either his life or the vilage. At that point he was lost with violence. I thought "is this his new life style?" I shmael went through a brutal and viloent experience.

Ishmael was then sent to rehabilitation. There, he was cared for. At first he was very violent. During that time, he was addicted to marijuana and cocaine. He really needed help. Through time, he maneged to get help and recover himself/

The nusre, Esther was someone who really helped him a lot. Through out the last chapters, she was like a mother to him.Going outside of his enviorment also helped him recover. Going to the city helpped him realize the way life should be lived. Months passed and he finds his uncle and moves in with him. He goes to New York to talk about his life and what he experienced. I shmael changed alot.

A Long Way Gone LCD #2

As of now, the novel A Long Way Gone is really good. Not because of the violence that is happening throughout the book, but because of the events. As I was reading, at one point i almost cried because of something that happened. Ok Ishamel finds out that he will be able to see his family once again after a long way gone. As he was walking towards one of the villiage with one of the viligers carying baskets of bannas, he noticed that the villiage where his family were living in was attacked by the rebels. Before that, he talks about how he was so happey to see them and spend so much time with the. Ishamel had hope.But, whwen that village was burnned down and all of the people died. He was in shock and really, really sad. As i read this part, I actually almost cried, because it was a big turn over and a big twist. When this happened, the first thing that popped to my mind was that if Ishamel still had hope. I thought thAT he had lost it and which he said. Ishmael said that all he wanted was to see his family even if it meant dying next to him. I totally agreed with him because that was his goal all along. To see his family and die next to them. All of those people who died, were burnt or shot. I became sad when that was the way that everyone died. I was so mad when i read the part where the rebels who had burnt the villiage down where laughing  for what they had done.
i brough this to our LCD and i thought that so much was going to come out of it. One thing for sure, vic and stan did agree on it. I think that if Cameron was in the LCD, he would of probably said alot about it. The thing is that really shocks me is that all of this that happens in the book really happened in real life.  this book is not science fiction. everything that happened just shocks me. the brutal violence is just brutal thats all i can say.

Response to Billy Lau's blog post

This is part of Billy's blog post of why Chinese people like rice

 In general, Asians eat rice a lot. Thats one reason they like it...Rice is one of the most important food in Chinese's peoples diet...Rice to us Asians are like bread to Americans... Eating rice is part of the Chinese tradition.

I really like this post because i can compare to this. Im Mexican and just like Chinese people enjoy eating rice, us Mexicans love to eat tortillas. I know that in every Chinese dish, rice is always served. Just like Billy said, rice is part of the Chinese tradition. In every Mexican dish, most of the time we have torillas. In my opinion, if you dont have tortillas then you food is not complete. Tortillas are made out of korn which is another grain that is good for you. A nother thing is that When it comes to mexicans cooking food, they alway put pepers. In my opinion, if the food is not spicy, then its not good. My dad was a cheff. So basically, he knows how to cook many foods. Just like Asians, when they have a delicouse dish, they always have rice. Same with us, we always need tortillas. I enjoy eating rice. I really like white rice with vegetables and shrimp. When i eat this, i think about the chinese and how they eat rice in a daily basis. Overall rice is good, and i love tortillas.

My Bass.

   Last week, i went to Guitar Center at El Cerrito with my parents to buy me a bass guitar. I've always wanted to buy a bass, but never got the chance to buy one because their so expensive. But, it all depends on the brand you get it. Well, im going to talk about how i bought it. The day before Black Friday which was Thanksgiving, my dad told me what i wanted for christmas. I've always told him that i wanted to buy a bass guitar, but he never bout it for me because he thought that they were expensive I've told him that it depends on the brand you getit. Like always, he never really understood.

 when he told me what i wanted, i told him that i wanted to get an ipod touch. Ireally wanted to get an ipod touch because their so much better than an ipod nano, i mean the really old ones. I then thought bout it and i toldhim,"Hey dad, your going to pay around $250 dollars on that ipod. Instead, i want a bass guitar and your going to pay like the same amount of money or even less. Well i was worng about that. The next week, i we went to guitar center to get the bass that i wanted. I picked out a black and white Squire by Fender Bass. That bass was the one that i was recomended by a bass expert from Guitar center. Thats actually the bass that i went to get. The bass alone was $200. I also got the amp which costeed $100, the cable for the amp which was $10, the strap which was $5, and the bag which costed $40. In the end, my dad ended up paying $350. But thats not all, we also payed $50 for the 2 year enssurance, which is good because if my bass or amp breaks. I'll just go to Guitar Center and get a new one. So there, we have $400 plus tax $440. The good thing is that i got my bass on sale and ended up paying $415. In the end my dad ended up paying more than what he expected. When we went back to the truck my dad just lokked at me and started laughing. H laughed because of how much he paid. That told me that he was ok with it.

   As a begginer, its pretty hard to learn how to play bass by yourself. Even though its difficult, that didnt influenced me to stop trying. I'm goig to parctice and practice untill i fully understand how to play very well bass. This is something that i plan to do for the rest of my life learning how to play and playing bass has become a new hobby for me. I think that this is much better than a ipod. I'm really happy that i got my bass. It was then to stp dreaming and begin playing. Its AWESOME!!!