Bricks Life

I was horrified when I received my notice of my room placement for my first year of college, on campus. I was placed in the Bricks, Royce Hall. Everyone that had stayed in the bricks for freshman orientation said it was terrible. The building is made entirely out of bricks, which explains why they call it The Bricks. The first thing I notice when you walk into a bricks room is the old deep red brick wall with a dirty window. The carpet is a dark forest green, with sturdy wooden beds, and old used mattresses. I was placed a triple, so I lived with two roommates. Originally this room is only for two people, but since sjsu is so impacted, they changed many double rooms into triples. I had to share my closet, but thank God I know both my roommates from high school. The worst part of it all is the communal bathroom, I was not comfortable with sharing the bathroom almost like it is public. There are stains all over the shower walls, with a nasty moist floor that no one would ever dare touch with their bare feet. I didn’t know how I was going to live. I dreaded the day I was going to move into college because of the bricks. But when I was all settled in, unpacked, it felt like home. I made myself comfortable, and I sometimes might actually like it better than my own room because my parents are not constantly barging in to check on me, when I am clearly fine. The recreational area is a place for activities like table tennis and pool. There are also couches and tables for residents to do homework. I just had to get use to the environment.

Statue

Tommie Smith and John Carlos won Gold and Bronze in the 200 meter track run at the Olympics of 1968, Mexico City. (RoadsideAmerica, Olympic Black Power Statue) At the medal stand, as the national anthem played, they both raised their fists and bowed their heads for respect of black power. This is a gesture associated with the Black Panthers Party, who were a band of armed citizens that monitored the behavior of police officers for police brutality in Oakland, California. Smith and Carlos wanted to advocate for African American rights because of racism and segregation, which led to unfair rights. The audience did not approve of their actions; they were striped of their medals.

African American rights play a big role in our history; over time, this matter was looked upon and re evaluated. People began to take notice and stand up for the injustice of unfair treatment. According to RoadsideAmerica, in 2005, San Jose State University dedicated a 23 feet statue of Smith and Carlos, to remind us of that moment when they were up on the medalist podium. The statue consist of just Smith and Carlos, but not the Silver medalist because he was irrelevant to the movement. The statue is a dirty brass color, with colored glass sharps that make up the medalists clothing, and detailed expressions. This statue represents a lot of history and is a tourist attraction at the university.

I chose to write about this statue on campus because I believe it captures a big moment in history. Equal human rights is still an big issue in our society, but we have come a long way. I believe this statue represents how long our country is progressed.

"Olympic Black Power Statue." RoadsideAmerica. Web. <http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12702>.

Goals

I have always felt apathetic about writing in general. Maybe that is why I don’t excel in it. I struggle with transferring my thoughts onto paper. Before I start any writing assignments, I create an outline, so I have a general structure of my essay. But often I do not have the words to formulate my essay because I don’t know where to start or how to start. Also, my writing assignments are short and simple because I just don’t know what to write or how to elaborate more. Writing makes me feel like a helpless bird, trapped in a cage, and will never learn how to fly. Flying is an essential ability for the bird to survive in the wild, just like how writing effectively is an ability I need to do good in college.

In stretch english, I hope to improve on my punctuation, grammar, imagery, stop using colloquial language, and get a B on a essay. I believe this class can help me improve as long as I work hard, put in effort and keep an open mind. I can achieve these goals by exposing myself to more reading, practicing, and asking for help from peers or my professor. Reading will help me improve my grammar, have better control with my vocabulary, and abandon colloquial language in my writing. Practicing, by writing, will make me use the skills I have accumulated from reading. Then asking my peers or professor to look over my work to ask for feedback will help my writing drastically. This will bring my essay grades up in this class, to a B, possibly an A if I work hard enough.

Overall in college, I hope to grow into a leader who is not afraid to step out of her comfort zone. Most of the time, I feel shy and awkward with strangers because I do not know what to talk to them about. I want to be able to get out of my bubble and start the conversation first. I can do this by joining a sorority or associated students, just to put myself out there and meet new people. I want to make the most out my college year with my academics, and my social life.

Taking My Parents to College

Before college, I have never been away from home, other than for vacation, but that doesn’t count because my family is still with me. My traditional chinese parents are super overprotective and strict about everything. I had a curfew at 4:00pm everyday up until senior year and I never slept over at a friend’s house before. I know they just want to keep me safe, but they go overboard. My move out to college was really hard for my parents to accept, though they live only a 40 minute drive from San Jose. They worry about me because I’m their little girl no matter what. When I take my parents to college, I want to show them that there is nothing to worry about.

First I would take my parents to my dorm for a room tour and to introduce them to my roommates, Judy and Maxine. There are dozens of polaroid pictures all on the walls, christmas lights embroidering the room, a shiny silver fridge with tons of snacks piled on top of it, and neatly folded clothes in both closets. I want to show them that I get along with my roommate because my mother was really worried about me living with people I am not familiar with. But I love my roommates, they are perfect; I would not want anyone else but them. We are all from San Francisco, so we have a lot in common and mutual friends. Next I would take my parents to the dining commons, to show them the variety of food they have. I know for a fact that my parents care a lot about my diet, so I would show them exactly what I eat almost everyday; a balanced diet. They want to make sure I am getting all my vegetables, fruits, protein, dairy, etc. Then I take them to all of my classes, show them the syllabuses because they want to know what

I am learning in class, also show them my grades, so they know my progress. Later introduce my parents to some of my friends, so they know what kind of people I hang out with. My parents are really concerned about who my friends are because your friends make up who you are. Finally, I show them my bedtime routine: homework, shower, brush my teeth, Netflix, and sleep. My routine at home was like that today too, so their day as a shadow would ease their worries. They will be happy that I am doing well and progressing in college.

What I Learned in College

It is either friends or grades. What I learned in college is that you either have a social life with bad grades or good grades with no social life. You cannot have both because there is just no way to balance it out, unless you never sleep. College is completely different from high school, because I shoulder a lot more responsibilities while in high school I fooled around all day. In high school, I was constantly late, I would fall asleep, text, eat a whole meal, gossip, just anything but pay attention to the teacher. Even though I was always distracted, I was still able to keep my grades up because they teach at a slow pace. I expected the first month of college to be easy, just explaining the syllabus and policies, but instead we went straight into work. Though I only have four classes, there is actually a lot of work that is why time management is an essential skill a college student needs to have. In college I learned how to be more productive and manage my time efficiently. I start class at 9am and get off at 2:45pm, Monday through Thursday. I have about an hour gap in between until my 1:30pm class, so I make use of that time to do my homework. Then after class, I run errands and go back to my room to finish up my homework. I start my homework early so I can finish early and not stress about it later on. I can just be lazy and netflix until late without worrying about homework because I already finished. As long as I am efficient with my time, I can relax and still be on top of my game.

"I Just Wanna Be Average" Summary and Analysis

In “I Just Wanna Be Average,” Mike Rose talks about his experience of when he mistakenly got placed in the vocational track in high school. In the vocational track, Rose began to learn dead end skills because his knowledge was superior to the material taught in class, also because his teachers were often unprepared and unqualified.Over the course of the next few years in the vocational track, Rose lost his motivation and gave up. He believes that being a “vocational” student means that he is excluded from everyone else. Then a student in class, Ken Harvey, said something that stood out to Rose: “I just wanna be average.” That phrase stayed with Rose throughout the years, but he did not know what it meant until he was grown. In college prep, Rose met Mr. MacFarland, who changed his life. Rose’s Biology teacher finally caught the mistake that Rose was placed in the wrong class. In the higher up class, Mr. MacFarland realized Rose’s hidden potential and helped him get into a four year university, which slowly put him back in track for the learning environment. Rose has come to succeed and still to this day looks up to Mr.MacFarland as a role model.

Mike Rose shared his story about his time in the vocational track to show the reason why students fail. The school system uses various placement tests to place students in classes according to the knowledge they already have. However, students that slip through the cracks, like Mike Rose, stay in lower division classes for a while and lose motivation from boredom. Students sit around in class being taught material that the school district requires from teachers with no incentives. Students have no respect for teachers that do not know what they are doing, so they end up fooling around in class. “Spanish was a particularly rowdy class, and Mr. Montez was as prepared for it as a doily maker at a hammer throw. He would tap his pencil to the room in which Steve Fusci was propelling spitballs from his heavy lips…” We find faulty in our education system, that can be easily fixed by simply hiring qualified educators who can teach and catch mistake before it is too late. Mike Rose shared his experience in this story to show how someone can impact your life when you least expect it. Rose was lucky to encounter Mr. MacFarland, who showed Rose a whole new perspective to learning.  Mr. MacFarland stepped into his life and changed everything. He taught Rose to aim for not just “average,” but above and beyond.