Introduction to Contemporary Literacy 1/24/2021

  Most people feel that music is an essential part of their lives. I always wonder how different the world would be without the joy and creativity of music, the different sounds of music and the different cultures that come behind music. Music affects how we feel and how we react in certain situations. In the book, The Other Wes Moore, hip-hop music is an interest of the other Wes Moore. He explains how hip-hop music is a necessity to his everyday life, and it is necessary for him to maintain himself. In my everyday life, music helps me stay focused, stay positive and it helps me keep myself together for the day, whether I am happy or sad. Even as a baby, my parents expressed themselves through music and I guess that is where I got it from. Growing up, no matter what we were doing or where we were going, there was music playing and it was always upbeat happy music. Music has the power to leave a different feeling in me, if I hear a good song that song will stay with me all day and ...

  We can never be to sure what life has in store for us. Life is a journey and we go to different things every day that makes us who we are. In some cases for some people, different life challenges can be too stressful and they may need a break or even give up. Some challenges make people stronger and make them equipped to handle other situations. I have faced a lot of different life altering situations but I always try to do what I think is the best for me at the time. For example, in high school I really liked this boy but he was a “bad” boy, he didn’t get good grades and did drugs and everything I thought was “edgy” and “fun” in high school, he was popular. Fast forward three years later and that popular boy that I had a crush on in high school has now passed away from a drug overdose and I can’t help but to think what if I wasn’t so shy in high school and I would’ve tried to date him, would he have changed my life for the worse? Where would I be in life right now? Would I have...

   As I reflect upon the thought, “ are we products of our environment or products of our expectations?”  I believe that we are products of our environment. I strongly believe that if our environment isn’t a strong environment then we won’t succeed. Some people do push through different obstacles that they face in their environment but a lot of people don’t and they suffer greatly for it. For example, my mother went to college and has her bachelor's degree and is pursuing her masters degree right now and I feel like that is a strong push for me to do the same thing. For someone that didn’t grow up in the environment that I grew up in where education is mandatory, a lot wouldn’t think it’s mandatory, they would just live life without higher education if they felt it wasn’t a necessity. On the other hand, a lot of people also overcome their environments but they have to really push themselves to overcome what is around them. For example I didn’t grow up in the best neighbor...

 Mahquella Jones Is Higher Education Worth the Price ? As someone who once experienced coming out of high school and actually debating with myself whether higher education is worth the price, this topic is incredibly interesting to me. This topic is not only interesting to me but I am completely sure that millions of young adults question this as they are entering or are already attending college. With universities constantly raising the price of tuition, it is making it harder for students to not only attend college, but to graduate from college without having to leave and come back. After viewing all the materials provided in class and discussing with my group, I have come to the conclusion that higher education is worth the price but it is also not worth the price. There are a lot of contributing factors as to why I believe higher education is worth the price, so let me start by stating a few. I believe that it is not hard to find a school that is in your price range because I h...

  After reading, researching and discussing the topics of fast food when it comes to obesity with my group and between my own thoughts, I think fast food is the new tobacco. Obesity is the result of an extremely poor diet and many Americans face obesity, which can lead to worse health issues. Fast food plays a huge role in obesity and just like tobacco it’s everywhere.  How do so many people gain access to fast food and tobacco if it is known to have as many long lasting Health effects as it does ? In the article “ Don’t Blame the Eater ” the author says “Then as now, these were the only available options for an American kid to get an affordable meal.” I agree that these fast food meals are the only available option we see everywhere. These fast food restaurants are always being marketed, when we go somewhere, even to a different state or country they are everywhere and they are usually very affordable compared to preparing a home cooked meal. I’ve also read in other articles ...

 Is Pop Culture Good For Me?  February 7, 2021 Is pop culture good for me? Pop culture is good for me and the rest of the world, how else would I be updated on everyday events going on around the world. For the past week I have been learning about and studying pop culture in the television, media, through fashion and etc and I have come to the realization that pop culture is in our everyday society. From what I have been viewing and exploring these last few days with this assignment, I have learned way more about pop-culture than what I knew before. The class readings and the group discussion have given me a new thinking pattern as to what I really know about pop-culture. Different pop-culture platforms, specifically television exercises to parts of your brain that map social networks that fill in the missing information that connects different parts of your brain. The kind of thinking that you do while watching pop culture is important because it is a kind of thinking that yo...