Stand Up, Speak Out

The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal, yet people don’t think that everyone should have equal right such as LGBTQ people. It saddens me how people in the world could be so cruel and vile to one another we are all born equal and shouldn’t be treated in any disrespectful manner. Yet there are people who argue of how God made a woman and a man and that its “disgusting” to have a man with a man or woman with a woman. But yet God would not want us to judge one another this way and mistreat each other. In my school there are many people that I’ve seen mistreat LGBTQ people and are homophobic and it sometimes makes me really depressed because I wish they would not say rude comments about them, they are like everybody else. The problem at my school is mostly boys and I’m guessing it’s because they haven’t reached a level where they have to be mature, but my teacher once told me a story about her sister that was lesbian and that they still teased her in college, so maybe age has nothing to do with this sort of discrimination.

I believe adults are a big problem in this whole situation because they are stuck in their old ways and have this fear of change. In the past year there have been a lot of teenage deaths due to the fact that they were always bullied and discriminated against, and their parents did nothing to help them in any way. The people who pass laws are adults who are practically 60 or even older and they too discriminate against LGBTQ. I believe LGBTQ people should be allowed to have equal rights as any other citizen, they should be able to get married an even serve in the military. I’ve heard of this law called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that was passed in the year 1993 and is barely under the process of being repealed by early 2011. The law made LGBTQ people that joined the army not to speak about their sexual orientation or they would be discharged. Now I ask myself how can people me so mean? But then I find the answer and it is: Fear. People don’t like change they like following the same tradition that have been around hundreds and hundred of years. Why are people afraid of change you ask? Well see when change occurs you really cant tell what the outcome will be, it will either benefit you or not. People don't like not knowing things they like keeping their same routine and order.

This whole topic about discrimination is very hard for me to understand for the reason that I consider myself pan-sexual meaning I really cant tell the difference between gender or race. I'm not completely gender blind like most pan-sexual's claim to be, but I really in honest truth cant tell the difference between a boy or girl. It infuriates me when I see people not treating them with the same respect as everyone else, because I just can not comprehend the difference. Our founding fathers once said that all men are created equal but yet why does not that entitle is to the same rights? LGBTQ people should be given all the same rights any person has such as the right to marry, serve in the military without hiding their sexual orientation. They should have the right to be able to mingle with other people, go to the supermarket, do their laundry, going to eat at restaurants without being looked or judged in a rude manner. I do notice that a couple of kids from the up coming generations are a bit more sympathetic towards LGBTQ people so maybe there is hope for change in todays modern society.

My Time with the USC Anthropology Class

Well what I learned with the students that come every Monday to teach my 2nd period class was mostly review. I did learn a few interesting things that I didn’t know about but other than that I understood what they were talking about and much more. See I am currently taking AP US history at the moment and well my teacher had already reviewed that in the first weeks. Although I am not saying it was a waste of time for me because it was sort of a type of review. But I also learned a new thing which was the gender roles in some tribes and how the women had more power over the men. This topic really fascinated me because back in the day women didn’t really have much power and to see that they did was amazing so I liked learning that, and it was also something new. By the end of the year I am going to take an AP exam which is very important and they are going to test me in everything I have learned from the Native Americans all the way to Jimmy Carter. That’s a lot of information but its good review so it will stay in my mind. So I thank Ms.Erudite for giving me and my class the opportunity to talk to these students.
When the USC students first came they made us do a chart of what we know and want to know. The class and I knew a lot of things of the Indians but of course everyone wanted to build their knowledge and learn more. I had known that the Indians believed in many gods and had many diverse cultures then the Europeans. Columbus was the first to discover the new world he thought he was going to America but in reality he landed in India. The main goal of the Europeans was gold and Mexico had lots and lots of gold.
Now what really fascinated me was the gender roles in most Native American tribes, and how in tribes it was more of a matrilineal sort of thing where the women had more of the power. This I believe is good in a way because there is more peace between the women and men unlike in the modern day United States. There is no need for domestic violence in Indian households because the man has more respect towards the woman. If there were ever to be a divorce the children would stay with the women and her family so the kids would still receive love and care, they wouldn’t be traumatized just because of their parents split. The clan mother is usually the one who decides who the civils are and men are the ones who go out to hunt. It was also interesting to realize how that women homosapians where the first ones to be here rather than men.
Another interesting fact I learned and that I found fascinating was of how the Indian gathered food. How they would build a type of “fort” similar to a way of tide pooling to catch food, it was really smart of the Indian to figure this out and shows how they know how to survive not even needing that many tools or advanced equipment.
I also learned more about the puritans that came to American to set up its colonies in the Mayflower. They came to America to escape persecution and separate themselves from the Church of England because they didn’t think the Church of England was pure enough. Now they did bring their wife’s unlike the Spaniards because they planned to stay there. The Spaniards just came by themselves because most were conquistadores and were there just for resources, gold, and enslavement they didn’t want to live in America. The conquistadores such a Cortes conquered lot of Indian empires like the Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, etc. There were also privateers that I learned were another form of pirates but with contracts, a famous privateer would be Sir France Drake.
I reviewed a lot from my experience with the USC students and learned many new things that were captivating and I enjoyed them coming and building my knowledge and I’m glad that I received this experience because I know most students wouldn’t receive it so I am totally grateful and thankful.

Academic Autobiography

My name is Liberty I am 16 years old and attend West Adams Preparatory High School. I am currently in 11^th grade and have gone through many schools during my academic life. I didn’t attend pre-kinder for the reason that my father thought me being taught social skills was a waste of time. So I never really experienced making cookies, coloring, speaking or socializing with other kids of my age till kindergarten. I attended kindergarten at Lenicia.B Weemes Elementary located at 1260 West 36th Place, Los Angeles, CA. but then later moved to Vermont Avenue Elementary School located at 1435 West 27th Street, Los Angeles, CA to finish grade 1-5. For my junior high experience I walked the halls of James A. Foshay Learning Center located at 3751 South Harvard Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA. Now I am currently attending West Adams Preparatory High School located at 1500 West Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA where I am a junior, I only have a year left.

       I remember the first time I went to kindergarten; I was really excited that morning. Yes I know you may be wondering what kind of kid wants to go to school especially a small one. But see I always liked reading or writing, it amazed me seeing my sister do such complex problems while I had to sit down and play with insignificant toys and other things. When I got there the first day of school to Weeme’s it wasn’t what I had expected, there were kids crying everywhere with their parents. So I started to panic, was this what every school was like kids whining to their parent to take them back home? My father sat me in a seat and said to stay their till he came for me and follow the teachers instructions I knew not to question him so I sat down even though I was scared with all the crying children around me. My mother told me to make friends and talk to the girls sitting next to me whose eyes were faces were super red from crying and screaming. I remember me telling them that everything was going to be okay and that it was going to be super fun, like the shows Sesame Street and Barney. That didn’t work much but once things settled down the class was having lots fun, I can’t really remember the lesson we did but I remember no one was crying any more and the following week the kids got used to the routine.

        For elementary it was a whole different thing I was actually nervous to go into 1^st grade, my sister had told me we would meet older kids in this grade so of course I got scared. But I really panicked over nothing things were fine throughout my elementary years I remember doing a lot of things such as Halloween one of my favorite holidays. Everyone dressed up and we had a mini parade inviting the parent over to come see all the children’s costumes. My school offered a really good program which was chorus and I was in it, every Friday I would head to the auditorium and would practice singing for the school in the upcoming events. I was a play leader who is someone that watches over the smaller kids like grade 1-3^rd while I was a 5^th grader. I sometimes wish I could go back and stay in elementary because these years in my life were really simple and I enjoyed them. Everyone got along with everyone; no one cared about what you wore, or who you were friends with. I always dreaded graduation I didn’t want to leave my friends but eventually I did and we all grew up and headed to middle school.

        My first day of middle school was one of the most scariest moments in my life I really didn’t know what to expect all I knew that this time I was going have more then one class and I was going to have to find it on my own. The bigger middle school or sometimes high school students, my school was K-12, would always yell mean remarks to me and my peer such as scrubs. They would always tease us on how small we were and utterly lost. So I wouldn’t really say my 6^th grade year was a good one although I did make friends because everyone was so shy and small it was easy to make friends, but they through out middle school we started to grow up and become more confident in our selves. Your social life was more important then your educational one, everything depended on what you were wearing or who you hanged out with. I think this is at the point of my life were I realized where I was becoming big already and was stuck with a bunch of people who were really superficial. But I mean I can’t complain I did meet some pretty awesome people that I will remember for the rest of my life.

   

       When I entered high school I was a bit more prepared I knew we would have multiple classes and well I had to act more mature in a way. But ill admit when I was a freshman at West Adams I was still stuck in middle school mode depending on my friends to help me out in whatever I needed. In the beginning of 10^th grade I started realizing it wasn’t always going to be that way if I wanted or needed something I had to find out a way to do it I was becoming more independent. Now that I am in 11^th grade I realize how my responsibility has increased and I find myself thinking more about my future and what I want to do in life. Its not fun and games anymore I don’t only have to act mature I need to act mature to get through with my education. The transition for middle school to high school was a big one, teachers don’t guide you as much as they used to when you’re small. You learn self discipline, and I still have one more year to go and many more new things to learn that will help me better myself not only right now but in the future.