Brandon Ma – Hall 1121 Spring 2019

Artist Statement

Every individual has their own strengths and weaknesses. Ever since I can remember, I’ve had struggles with any form of languages such as English and traditional Chinese. My journey up till now, from all the things that I learned till now shows I still have a lot to improve on.

It all started at the very beginning of elementary school. Ever since first grade, the grades I receive was high 80’s and 90’s in my English tests. I never noticed that I needed extra help with English, specifically speech. I was never aware that I received extra help in my curriculum that a speech period was added and support during test taking. Until middle school, it became apparent that I was put into a class specifically for students that need extra support because a normal classroom would have 1 teacher instead of 2. Even throughout my years in high school and my first year of college, my speech is still not as good and I have difficulty communicating with peers and professors. I don’t think it will ever improve until time will tell.

The writing requirements for high school and college are drastically different. Going into my English composition class in my first semester of college was the cross between college and high school writing. I was learning that everything I was taught from high school was incorrect and I wasn’t annoyed by it. I appreciated the college style of writing because students were able to freely choose their style of writing and topics they want for an assignment. I believe the student’s topic is most important to them because no one would want to write on a topic that the individual won’t be passionate about. Moving into English composition 2, I did terrible on my first writing assignment that required serious revisions. Before the first assignment for English composition 2, we were told to write about the setting the character was in and was able to metaphorically paint a picture. These words mean much more such as “father”, “scolded”, and “tears” to help build a paragraph. For example, “I’m home with my father. It was after school, my father confronted me to discuss with my failing grades”. I tried to incorporate this into my other writing assignments throughout the semester to give a vivid image of the story. I may not have explained it better when I spoke to Professor Hall, and there are many ways to word a sentence better to be understood. Another assignment was the Gilyard’s response taught me ways to fill in words to complete an assignment with analysis. One of the things that I wrote was “Another thing that I liked about this story and that I would prefer in my writings is the use of the first-person perspective. I do not like how this story has people talking to another individual, as reading from a 3rd person perspective…”. This taught me how to add more details such as including my own personal opinions and thoughts if the topic has an impact on my life.

English may not be easy for everyone through countless years of expertise or practice. After all these years taking English class that was taught to me throughout my entire life that is supposed to teach the student how to write. I don’t believe that writing can be taught to students because writing isn’t something that students should be bound to. My writing hasn’t changed too much even though I wasn’t forced to follow a format. When I receive feedback from professors and help centers, I would be told that this is grammatically incorrect, its a run-on, or there is a tense problem. I may not see it the mistakes that other people may see and that’s one thing that I’ll need to improve over time. Another habit I have is being lazy, thus I have to commit and spend time in an excluded room and read my essay out loud. In the end, the effort I put into my work will reflect the grade I will receive.

My weakness will continue to be English. As time will tell, I can’t really imagine myself being good at English. Even with my limited vocabulary, I may not impress the reader. I may not even have a coherent and cohesive essay. However, it should not be the reason that I would stop writing in the future and completing an assignment

Entry journal

Unit 2 (revision)

Brandon Ma
English Composition ll
Finding your own Identity
In the mid-1900s to late ’90s, there was little to no acceptance to individuals who identify as LGBTQ within their communities. Everyone has their own journey in what they want to achieve later in life, and should not be influenced by how others think and act. Here we are in 2019, there is more acceptable compared to the 1900s but it’s hard
for people coming out to society because they may we worried about their safety. People should be able to express themselves freely for who they are without the negative opinions of others that will make individuals feel discriminated.

According to the television show “I am Jazz”, originally a documentary
transitioning into a reality show. This reality show revolves around this transgender child who transitioned from male to female at a premature age. While the show main focus is on Jazz’s life, however, in reality, she is an advocate for transgender rights. This reality
show can target any range of audience who is curious to learn more about the life of a young transgender teen. For example, waking up every day and having gender defining parts of the body that does not associate with their brain. This is one of the many things that people who identify as transgender experience every day, wanted to change very
badly. When people who do not have access to services to support them mentally to combat these feelings will eventually develop symptoms that lead to depression, anxiety, etc. leading to suicide. When you tell your parents you’re transgender, they might think you’re going through a denial stage, especially if you’re very young. For example in Jazz’s situation, ”the moment she was able to speak, she told her parents that she
was transgender”. When telling her parents, two brothers and the rest of her family had everyone speechless. No one knew what to do with Jazz in her attempts to transition at a precocious age and wasn’t accepting at first. Jazz’s parents believed they had nurtured their child in a way that might’ve caused these expressions. While there are some researchers that say its the psychology, and can not be the possibility of these children brainwashed into thinking they are transgender. In my opinion, the individual
should be able to express themselves however they would like even if they are brainwashed as long as things are reversible because everyone should be able to be happy since everybody only lives once in this world. However, not everyone can be happy in this world, in a society that judges everyone in a negative attitude without being sensitive towards the individual.

Not everyone can take negative criticism and be calm about it. Jazz and her
mother decided to confront an anti-trans group that has been targeting their family. In this auditorium, the air was filled with intensity, one of the audience came forward and said: “what bathroom do you use”. Jazz responded with “I use the female bathroom because I am female” and the individual responded with “I believe it’s a sick thing basically”. This show how people are disgusted with what is happening in our society
because these questions weren’t supposed to contain his opinions. There should be boundaries that people should respect when it comes to difficult topics to discuss. These influences can change how a transgender person will come out because of intentional threats they may receive. Some people might ask, “when is it a good time to transition?” because the brain of an infant hasn’t matured to think logically. This controversial topic led to people believing, that these parents are trying to brainwash their child into doing something that changes their psychologically and physiologically.

From the beginning of Trump’s campaign, there has been an increase in violence in our society. Throughout Trump’s term, Trump’s administration has announced a plan to thin out the terms of the biological gender meaning there will be only male and females. This caused the LGBTQ community to question the future. This will be impactful to individuals meaning the removal of some LGBTQ centers that offer treatments
to their patients. People who may not want to be tied down to male or female will unable to express themselves. If the terminology was justified, people of the LGBTQ community would not be safe because of the existing violence against LGBTQ individuals. Any type of violence against an individual identified as LGBTQ would not be considered a hate crime meaning the crime is less severe. There are people who may
not express their identity freely because of the dangers that can be exposed to them. Another action that Trump has done, was everybody who identifies as transgender to resign from the military. This is impactful to individuals because their job is resigned and won’t be able to serve their country. However, according to the Independent, “The administration had also attempted to ban transgender individuals from serving in the US
military but was blocked by several federal judges and opposition from military leaders”(Sampathkumar). This shows Trump revisions into the regulations, however, it is not being enforced by every department of the military. Trump’s action of using his power isn’t being supportive of everyone but for his own advantages.

While not going too deep into my story, my journey is a little different from others. Growing up, my parents had thought I was going through a phase and ignored it. As time continued, my stress and depression had drastically increased until I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Having this feeling constantly come and go like a tide wave became unbearable as time continued. Another problem that I face was not having a consistent therapist that helped me. I always feared to tell my grandparents what I believed in and
worried about their reaction if I tell them. There is still tension with my parents because it is not an easy topic to talk about.
As we move into the future, there are still many people hiding their identity even today to their parents or friends in the fear of unacceptance. Now after Trump has proposed this new identification, people would have to be even more cautious because that shows how our society is moving forward today in our era. However, New York City is a great place to be in such as pushing the rights for a person to use a single-sex bathroom that aligns with their expressed gender identity. Everyone should be able to express themselves such as their gender identity and/or sexual orientation freely
without the negative opinions holding them back.

Works Cited
Green, Erica L., et al. “’Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump
Administration.” The New York Times , The New York Times, 21 Oct. 2018,
www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-de
finition.html.
Hobbs, Allegra. “Threat to Roll Back Trans Rights Sparks Action.” Am New York , Am
New York, 23 Oct. 2018,
www.amny.com/news/transgender-rights-nyc-trump-1.22354107.
Sampathkumar, Mythili New York @MythiliSk. “Trump Administration Considers
Elimination of Transgender Recognition.” The Independent , Independent Digital
News and Media, 21
Oct.2018,www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-tr
ansgender-rights-lgbtq-gender-identity-bathrooms-military-education-a8595131.ht
ml.

Unit 4(revision of Unit 1)

English Composition ll

Hello..My name is Brandon Ma.

There are many things that I would like to discuss today regarding America. One of the things I will talk today is something that everyone of you should went through in your life….and it’s our education system. Growing up as students, everyone has the same curriculum to follow and it’s hardly changed in these past years. The America’s education system can be very competitive among students that want to achieve better in college but are uncertain what they are passionate about. The American education system should adopt some policies from all around the world, but specifically things that worked well in Finland’s education.

The first topic that I will discuss is what America has implemented from the “early 1900’s” which is the standardized testing. One of the many thing that students get anxiety over which is the testing. According to Big Think “Finland has no standardized tests. Their only exception is something called the National Matriculation Exam, which is a voluntary test for students at the end of an upper-secondary school (equivalent to an American high school)”. Students should not be studying and getting stressed until the standardized test or even the SAT just to get a good score so people they know would be proud. Not everyone is capable of doing well in tests and while there are others who can do well but does poorly in school. This can relate to discrimination in our society because if a student was not able to achieve certain expectations, thus these students tend to be neglected.

[My story]

Growing up has been challenging for the first 12 years of my life in public schooling. Why would this matter?

[Pause]

For most of my life, I was in public education and I never felt learning was something that I can be passionate about. Standing here now, I’m afraid of running out of time before it’s too late.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do from an early age and all I’ve done up to know is study the main curriculum to pass these upcoming test like the common core, standardized test, and SAT test.

Here I am in college, being penalized by Excelsior Scholarship Program in college. The reason was changing my major and an elective that I previous took does not transfer over. This can be very frustrating for me personally because I still don’t know what I can be passionate about.

Now I’m worried about running out of time before it’s too late.

[Introduction]– Moving onto our next topic, is student’s interest going to school.

Not everyone likes to go to school and attend class especially at the end of the day, they get piles of homework. According to the website The Big Think, “students in Finland have the least amount of outside work and homework than any other student in the world(qtd.Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)). The students of Finland may not worry about stressing over homework that is due the next day and is able to relax. While America gets a lot of homework, and students worry if they can maintain still be motivated to go to school.

[Story]

In my high school no one liked to sit in class and learn.The environment was very rebellious and causing all teachers being irritated everyday. Whenever students were given homework, not everyone completes them. This led to the teachers giving less homework or little to no homework at all. On top of that all, the students in my class was always distracting others in class and teachers when they are not getting personalized treatment to help them learn.

[Transition] The education system we have today may not be ideal in some ways but it can be improved.

[Introduction]While education had worked well in Finland, America still struggle to follow the trend. According to the website The Big Think, “There are fewer teachers and students in Finnish schools. You can’t expect to teach an auditorium of invisible faces and breakthrough to them on an individual level”. This clearly shows how Finland has small classes because of that students are more focused in class and interested to learn. However America still has its overcrowding in schools causing students not want to learn. I would like to talk about American University School of Education, and their mission “is to create knowledge and prepare students to transform societies through education.” The American University talked about, “Acknowledge and address overcrowding”. This often lead to students losing interest in schools, less personal support, and more stress between teachers and students. This shows that America should change some policies like effects of overcrowding schools.

[My story]

In my high school, the teachers felt out of place. The students never wanted to learn because of that they often distract other classmates and even the teacher. While the teacher can’t remove the student from the class, even if they are distracting is not a great solution.

One of the most common thing that is happening to our very classrooms is overcrowding. According to School of Education

[Conclusion]

Not everything can be changed overnight but as a society, we can change things little by little. There should be more personalized care for students in school, not everyone learns the same way or students are able to understand the material. Thank you for listening and you should be one to help education be better even if you’re a parent or a student.

Works Cited

“5 Ways Policy Makers Can Improve the Quality of Education.” American University School of Education, soeonline.american.edu/blog/5-ways-policy-makers-can-improve-the-quality-of-education#first.

Colagrossi, Mike. “10 Reasons Why Finland’s Education System Is the Best.” Big Think, Big Think, 7 Feb. 2019, bigthink.com/mike-colagrossi/no-standardized-tests-no-private-schools-no-stress-10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-in-the-best-in-the-world.

Helsinki, Visions of. “Why Finland Has the Best Education System in the World.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Sept. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHHFGo161Os.

For my proposal, I am revising Unit 1. The type of audience I would like to reach is the board of education of America, or even the principals of their schools. Teachers can also be targeted the audience because if there are more teachers who are aware that their teaching isn’t mean’t to help the students to learn, and lead to wanting to change as a community. I’ll be moving my genre to a speech format, discussing about education. Things the United States can do better to change their methods from the past and move on. I’ll be using a social media source to give evidence to why the United States should adapt to change. for example a quote from this documentary, “America should stop teaching to a standardized test”. I’ll be writing a persuasive speech with a mix of picture essay.

Education essay (revised)

Brandon Ma

2/7/2019

Dr. Hall

English Composition 2

Ethnicity overwhelming grip

There are many factors that we as an individual can not change if we wanted to. Such as our religion, gender, ethnicity, or the choice to live out the life that we wanted to. Coming from an Asian background, it has been difficult for me to be happy with myself because of family pressure and expectations. I was not a higher achiever compared to relatives in my family or was I a hard worker. However, everyone should not be treated indifferently because of their lack of academic performance.

Every individual in their society will face different hardships. For a stereotypical Asian, we are expected to go to school and work hard to earn a good respective job that is acceptable in the family. However, individuals that put pressure on themselves to achieve their parent’s expectations often lead them to be constantly stressed and depression. It can be shameful to the family if the child did not study hard in school and turns out to be a dropout. Such as the quote from Mother’s Tongue, “Well, these are broad sociological questions I can’t begin to answer. But I have noticed in surveys — in fact, just last week — that Asian students, as a whole, always do significantly better on math achievement tests than in English”(Tan). Going to school everyday and my depression made me give up trying to achieve high grades in school to show my family for recognition. I was not particularly good in any subjects before college and failed a vast majority of the subjects such as english, science, and even math. I wasn’t able to reach that academic success that is perceived by the social norms. Throughout my elementary and middle school, I struggled in academics to the extent I was in probation in my 8th grade year. I was never a bookworm and my lack of passion in learning made it more depressing. Being yelled at by my family, especially my father, for doing terrible in school had changed my perspective in many ways. I was sent to these after/summer programs that are suppose to provide extra learning called “Kumon” that was located next to my elementary school in Chinatown. I would always remember being put under a lot of stress to the point I had many mental breakdowns at the center. It felt like hell to stay when i was pushed to my limit, that I was told this “you are unable to leave until you get a 100% on this quiz”. I was there from 4pm to 6pm, constantly repeating the same quiz, It was just me and a few others after their closing hours still answering questions on their booklet. I felt trapped and what had became of me was in agony, I felt so frustrated that my tears wouldn’t stop leading to my booklet covered in tears. If you were to lift up the booklet, there would be a stream of water flowing to the bottom and off the booklet. In the end, I revolted against my parents for taking me to this program, I never felt that I learned anything at the program and it became unbearable to commit. In our world, having an higher education is the key to success, getting better paying jobs and respect.

When High school came along, it has opened a new doorway to me to appreciate the things around me. Changing my environment from middle school, I had experienced a vast diversity that I wouldn’t have in elementary or middle school. As time went along, I adapted and appreciated the friends that I made. I haven’t been very distressed about my grades too much because the teachers weren’t grade heavy. They do not give a bunch of assignments and the school wanted the students to appreciate more than just work hard and study in school. Many things that happened in my education, was around the time that I arrived in high school, that everything has shifted. Students were encouraged to learn at their own pace because everyone learns differently. Because of that classes had to slow down, thus some units in the year has been removed by the teacher. I appreciated with what I had in high school because students are not too competitive and students are supported more to achieve their high school diploma even if they didn’t want to. The teachers wanted students to appreciate life and not constantly going home and doing homework all night long before tomorrow’s deadline. While my school is a trade specifically, we also worked towards something that is more hands-on work if we are not academically successful. So I had a lot of free time to hang out with my friends and wasn’t bound to my school.

In conclusion the school education system, where students would cram everything for a semester and afterward neglect it. There should be a system for students to learn something that they are passionate in before they reach college instead of learning the common core. Also, the grades shouldn’t be the only reason why people sacrifice their mental and physical health to achieve high standards to be acknowledged by their peers and teachers.

Research Memo

Brandon Ma

Each and everybody would need to work to earn some living to survive, and unfortunately not everybody has the same journey. Everyone was taught to go to school, and work hard to find a full time job to survive in the real world. Not everyone is fortunate enough and may experience many problems that impact an individual differently from everyone else in our society.

One of the many reasons that can lead people to going homelessness is gentrification. What I found out in my research was how the homeless can be impacted by personnel matters or even thing beyond an individual’s control.According to Vice News and HomeAid, a person who may have lost their full time job especially can affect their entire life. The mother of a daughter who was interviewed by Vice News, Danielle Williams, unfortunately lost her full time job and was unable to live in her apartment. She was eventually forced out of her home and is currently living in the van, one of the many people taking advantage of the safe parking program.

Currently our Mayor de Blasio, has implemented changes to help the homelessness in need. “homelessness has worsened, from 50,689 persons living in shelters at the time of Mayor de Blasio’s January 2014 inauguration to over 60,000 today”(NyDaily). He hasn’t help improved the situation of the rising homeless, however, he has attempted to improve and reduce the amount of people who may fall back into homelessness. He has improvised a “three plans to combat homelessness”(NyDaily) to combat homelessness by 2021. So by 2023, “Approximately 20 of the new shelters are to open each year for the next five years, with each community responsible for assuming shelters for its homeless “population(NyDaily) to help those in need in their perspective borough.

While there are many solutions out there, some notable ones in Vice News was this program that offers safe parking. If people have downgraded out of their apartments and have a car to sleep in, this would be a great place for people and be safe. In New York City, it will be very difficult because there aren’t too many free places to park your car for the night and it can be very dangerous. There are many places that have violence and safety can not be guarantee when you’re in sleeping in the city. Another solution is the HomeAid, an nonprofit organization, “builds and renovates multi-unit shelters for America’s temporarily homeless families and individuals”. These non-profit organizations also provides help especially in new york city where the public housing are so full, that many families or individuals are still waiting in line for an apartment from months to several years. Another solution would be more affordable housing for those who are unable to afford housing in our gentrifying neighborhoods such as “Manhattan and brooklyn”(NyDaily).

Work Cited

Gertler, Eric. “Combating Homelessness Today: Looking beyond Shelters – and Making It Easier to Get Housing .” Nydailynews.com, 26 Mar. 2017, www.nydailynews.com/opinion/smarter-battle-plan-homelessness-article-1.3008528.

Giraldo, Cassandra, et al. “California’s Housing Crisis Is so Bad People Are Living in Cars.” VICE News, VICE News, 6 Sept. 2018, news.vice.com/en_us/article/qvmgem/california-has-a-hidden-homelessness-crisis.

News, VICE. “The Hidden Homelessness Crisis In California (HBO).” YouTube, YouTube, 6 Sept. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wCHtOTxQak&t=20s.

Solutions, Blue Tangerine. HomeAid, www.homeaid.org/HomeAid-Stories/69/top-causes-of-homelessness.

Final Pop Culture

Brandon Ma
English Composition ll

Finding your own identity

In the early 1900’s, there has not been much acceptance to individuals who identify as LGBTQ in our communities. Everyone has their own journey in what they want to achieve and become later in life, and shouldn’t assume how others think and act in finding their own identity.
Here we are in 2019, it’s more acceptable as compared to the 1900’s but its hard for people coming out to society as their safety is still a factor. People should express for who they are without opinions of others that impacts their life.

According to the TV show “I am Jazz”, the focus of this documentary revolves around this transgender child from male to female at a very young age. It is very slice of life, but outside the TV show, she’s an advocate for trans rights. This reality show can target any audience who is curious to learn about the community out there and what a transgender individual will go through everyday. Such as waking up everyday and looking at themselves in the mirror, and say how their body doesn’t match with their psychology. These symptoms often lead to depression and anxiety, and worst case scenario is suicide.

For a person growing up at a very young age can be very shocking when they explain it to their parents. For example for Jazz said,”the moment she was able to speak, she told her parents that she was transgender”. Telling her only family, her brothers and especially her parents was really tough. They feared what will happen if they allowed Jazz to dress up the way she likes and get bullied at school. Or fall into deep depression and commit suicide. When coming out to everyone, it is a very hard topic to discuss at a very young age. Jazz’s parents may believe they might’ve nurtured them in a way that affected their perspective in life. While there are some researchers that say its the nature, down the biological psychology.

Even though there is more acceptance compared back to the 1900’s, but there is still some anti-trans people who despise trans individuals. Jazz and her mother “ decided confront an anti-trans group that has been targeting the family. In this auditorium with intensity in the air, one of the audience came and said “you should be discussing these things with your parents” like they haven’t discussed at all to begin with. Another thing he asked was “what bathroom do you use” which can be sounded offensive. Jazz said she uses the female bathroom because she identify as a female,however , this individual spoke his opinion saying “it’s a sick thing basically”. This showed how there will always be people who will in doubt hate transgender people by speaking out their opinions. This influences can change how a transgender person will come out because of threats they may receive. Some even argue the question , “ When is it a good time to transition as suppose you’re only a child”, because the brain of an infant hasn’t fully matured to think logically. This controversial topic led to people believing, that these parents are trying to brainwashing their child into doing something that changes their psychologically and physiologically.
It can also be hard for people who may not be transgender, and your sexual attraction can be homosexual relationships. Coming out to your most supportive family members and even friends can be challenging. Depending on your ethnicity it can be viewed as shameful act because of expectations the family. This can lead to individuals to not be supported by their family and often be depression. Eventually, keeping these emotions in will later on continue to make your life more miserable. Especially millennial will not understand the terms of LGBT, and it can be even harder for them to understand what a child will go through.

In the 21st century, there is a lot of hate and discrimination in our society. Such when Trump was campaigning for presidency in 2016. In his term, Trump’s administration has announced a plan to thin out the terms of gender to the biological male and female characteristics. This caused the LGBTQ community to question what will happen to them, and started protesting. This can be very drastic to individuals, this can mean removal of LGBTQ centers that offers healthcare, therapy, programs, and etc. For the millions of people in the United States will no longer be comfortable for they express themselves. If the term was justified, people of the LGBTQ community would not be safe because of the violence against LGBTQ individuals.This type of violence against the LGBTQ wouldn’t be considered an hate crime and can be viewed as crime.There are also people who are still not public about their identity because of the dangers that are imposed by these changes as increase to discrimination towards these individuals.

Another action that Trump has done in the past was by removing everyone who identify as transgender to resign from the military. According to Independent, “The administration had also attempted to ban transgender individuals from serving in the US military, but was blocked by several federal judges and opposition from military leaders” (Sampathkumar). This impacted individuals who are passionate to serve their country, but now they can’t. This is also a good reason that we have balanced of powers, thus people who are public about their identity will not be shamed for who they identify as. This shows Trump revisions into the regulations, however, it is not being enforced by every departments of the military. While there are higher powers in our society, everyone should be able to express freely without discrimination.

While not going too deep into my story, I went through this process. My parents thought it was a phase and ignored it and thought it was normal for every child to have, eventually this feeling every time I would try to forget about it. Having the feeling of anxiety and nervousness emotions held in for so many years that it became unbearable as time continued as if nothing has changed everyday I would wake up. I never had a consistent therapist that also helped me in my journey, and this often led me to having no one to talk to. I always feared telling my parents what I believe in, and worried what their next steps was. There is still tension about this topic because of that it’s not often discussed between my family.

As we move into the future, there are still many people hiding their identity even today to their parents or friends because of uncertainty if they will be accepted. Now after Trump has proposed this new identification, people would have to be even more cautious because that shows how our society is moving forward today in our era. However New York City is a great place to be in, New York City wouldn’t enforce these changes because of its democratic standpoint. New York City has even “pushed for the rights for a person to use a single-sex bathroom that aligns with their expressed gender identity, established by the Obama administration” according to Independent. There has been implementation that individuals are treated equally in our schools, such as the implementation of unisex bathrooms, dorms, programs that are individual sex, and more. Everyone should be able to express themselves their gender identity and/or sexual orientation freely without the toxicity holding them back.

Works Cited
Green, Erica L., et al. “’Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump Administration.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.html.
Hobbs, Allegra. “Threat to Roll Back Trans Rights Sparks Action.” Am New York, Am New York, 23 Oct. 2018, www.amny.com/news/transgender-rights-nyc-trump-1.22354107.
Sampathkumar, Mythili New York @MythiliSk. “Trump Administration Considers Elimination of Transgender Recognition.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 21 Oct.2018,www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-transgender-rights-lgbtq-gender-identity-bathrooms-military-education-a8595131.html.

Mentor Article

The mentor article I chose that peaked my interest was how it had many short paragraphs. With how the article was small chunks in paragraphs, it made it easier to read and felt like the reader wouldn’t need to digest a whole lot of information. Also having a lot of words in a paragraph may make the article a little too boring and is just informing. Another reason why the article has peaked my interest was how it argued its points between another game. It mentions what the new game that makes it more unique than the game that has been popular for months. Gives reasons why people are coming into this royale game rather than the game that originally dominated any mainstream game. There is also a brief explanation of the game, so if a new person were to try it out. Some difficulty that I had faced was giving a visual representation that the article had if you were to actually play the game compared to what I’m writing. Moving onto my pop culture, I don’t want to get too personnel with the topic that I chose but its something that affects people who are unable to express themselves and being happy for who they are. Being bullied and people saying they have a mental illness for being different is a discriminatory act. Its also an issue that many people may think they may be superior than other ethnicity and races because of the rules set in the past. When I came across to how can I impact the reader to think like if they were different and how they will imagine themselves as one of these people who felt different from birth and this emotion that never leaves the body. How the topic engage the reader and hooks them into the article can be impactful and to also have a little summary so the reader knows what to expect from reading at the end.

Pop Culture (Draft)

Before the mid 1900’s, there hasn’t been many acceptance to people who identify as LGBTQ+. It wasn’t until the Trump administration has begun to narrowing the biology between male and female.

Being aware at a very young age can be very drastic to many people. When coming out to their parents can be very difficult and for them to understand the way the child may think. They may believe they might’ve nurtured them in a way that affected their perspective in life. While there are some researchers that say its the nature, down the biological psychology.

In the events of the first announcements of Trump’s administration plan to thin out the terms of gender to the biological male and female characteristics. There were many groups of protesters that are fighting for their rights.

Until recently, the Trump administration has begun to change the laws that has protect people of LGBTQ+ under Title lX. This can be very drastic to individuals this can remove centers that offers healthcare, therapy, programs, and etc. This can lead to impactful things in cases that will remove the term out of the millions of people in the United States that are comfortable of who they define as. There are also people who are still not out there to society because of the dangers that are imposed by these changes as increase to discrimination towards these individuals.

Another action that Trump has done was by removing everyone who identify as transgender to resign from the military. This lead to impacts to individuals of what they may be more passionate in serving their country, but now they can’t.

As time is moving on, there are many people hiding their confidentiality even today to their parents or friends because of uncertainty if they will be accepted. Now after Trump has proposed this new identification, people would have to be even more aware because that shows how our society is moving forward today in our era.

There has been implementation that individuals are treated equally in educational environment such as the implementation of unisex bathrooms, dorms, programs that are individual sex, and more.

However New York City is a great place to live in, because NYC isn’t affected too much by its own regulations. New York City has even pushed for the rights of a person to use a single-sex bathroom that aligns with their identity.

Even now, there are many social problems that LGBTQ+ face other than political affairs such as the individual’s peers, friends, classmates/co-workers, and even their families. This can cause communities to be even more supportive than ever when we are in a century with a lot of hate caused by the current president.

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/2185920/apex-legends-takes-fortnite-battle-royale-crown-adding-new

Author: Brandon Ma