Revision for Unit 1: I fixed my sentence fragments. Also removed any unnecessary sentences that sounded repetitive.

      My alarm went off at 6:50 am. I woke up and went to eat breakfast with my parents and my older brother. Later I had to go get dressed into my navy blue polo shirt and khaki pants uniform. After getting everything I needed for school I finally got my backpack and left for school. Some days I would walk with my mom to school or she would drive me to school. But today we walked because we had enough time before school started. Also, my middle school wasn’t far, it’s about 10 minutes away from home. Later in the course of walking to school, my mom and I regretted it because it was really hot outside that day. Which we should have figured because it was the beginning season of summer. Once we got to school my mom would give me 10 dollars for lunch then we would say bye to each other. Then I would walk up a small hill of my school’s entrance and enter school. After passing my school’s security, I would go directly to the cafeteria, where I would meet my friends and talk for a little. 

       Later when it was time to go to our first class we would be dismissed from the cafeteria directly go to our classes. In between my 5 period class, a teacher would come into my art class and would ask my art teacher for me, which at first was a bit confusing why I was being pulled out of my class. Once I left the room with the teacher she explained to me that she was a speech teacher and the reason why she pulled me out of my class was that I was enrolled to take speech classes. When I asked why I was in a speech the reason was that at my home my parents mainly speak Spanish, which makes English, not my first language, said the teacher. Although that didn’t seem right, because I didn’t know anything in Spanish neither did I speak it. The only language I knew was English. I only spoke English at home and my brother would actually be my translator to my parents. I felt a little discriminated against, I was put into a speech class just because my parents are Hispanic and mainly speak Spanish and not English at home. Doesn’t allow them to assume that I didn’t know or understand English. They shouldn’t have based my English language knowledge on my family and what they speak or where they’re from.

      In that period of time, I didn’t really enjoy it so much because it would make me feel different from everyone else. Being pulled out of my regular classes to get into speech class. Being separated from my other classmates would make me feel so self-conscious about myself, I would doubt how I’m not smart enough. I was being taught basic English words and how to pronounce them as if I didn’t speak English. In the speech classroom, I noticed there were other students also there. Everyone in the classroom where people from different countries that recently entered the school, which actually needed help to learn how to speak and understand the English language. Other students there were like me put into that class because in their homes there’s another language spoken instead of English. Then I realized the point and purpose of this speech class. It was meant to help students individually for those whose first language isn’t English.

       However, I didn’t agree with how they chose which students had to attend speech class. It is actually not fair and discriminating against those that shouldn’t be in it. I see how people from other countries that don’t speak English at all can actually see it as very helpful and it is. Although other students like me didn’t see it the same way. Well for me in particular because I was born in the United States and raised in New York. I was raised with the English language, not the Spanish language. Which makes it unfair that just because they knew that at my home Spanish is spoken more than English.  Which seemed discriminating to me because they’re putting me in a class that teaches me English just because my parents don’t speak English at home. Which shouldn’t mean anything to them because I’m attending school. My knowledge and whether I understand the English language is not based on what my parents speak. But based on my hard work and accomplishments in school. 

       I agree that sometimes it’s hard to understand the English language, but I’m a kid that is also learning with my other classmates at school. Throughout the course, I will obviously make mistakes. Not all kids learn in the same past as others, which is normal. I’m learning more and more about the English language. In the process, I will develop more and more my English language and techniques that will make me better in reading and writing skills. I didn’t see the need to put me to the side and treat me differently as if I didn’t know anything at all of the English languages compared to my other classmates. I started to get embarrassed every time my speech teacher would come into my class and call me out to leave. Having to leave my regular class to go to another that I shouldn’t be in. This would make it seem as if my other classmates were smarter than me. This is what they create by having these separate classrooms from regular classrooms. I wasn’t being treated as equal to my other classmates. When I should be because I don’t see a difference in what is or not spoken at my home. The only thing that should matter is that I’m attending school. Throughout school, I will keep growing and strengthening my English language. If along the way I’m struggling then I think my teachers should help me along the way. But not separate me from my regular classes and make me feel less than others.

Revision foe Unit 2:

I fixed my sentence fragments. Also any minor grammar errors.

      My research question is what is the current situation for undocumented families crossing the United States with children? The reason why I chose this question is that I’m actually very interested to know what situation there in. I have been seeing a lot through the news and some on social media. How these families are being treated unfairly and being held for an extremely long period of time. This is why I chose this question because in my research I want to go in-depth and find out what’s actually happening after being caught at the border.

      My expectations to find in my research is that some type of injustice is happening with these undocumented families. For example, children are being separated from their parents. Also, either parent or children get any information about each other where about. Which I find very unfair because these children need their parents because they are too young to be alone. Where children have to defend themselves as individuals when they’re just kids. The reason why I think I may find this in my research is because of past information that I have already seen. However, I hope to find that everything is being taken care of in the correct manner. Hopefully that these undocumented families and children are being treated as they should. 

      If in my research I find information that goes against my expectations I will still write about it. Mostly because either if it’s positive or negative it’s still information, which is good to know about. Being informed of good or bad information allows us to be aware of what’s going on in our society. Which results in influencing our way of thinking on certain topics. Where this allows us to make changes when we see it’s most needed. This is also my purpose for my research paper to show and provide awareness of these situations. Where we can acknowledge these undocumented families. If so help them as little with making their situation heard. However, some genres that might give good information for my research paper are newspapers, novels, and videos. All these can help me find and understand more of my research questions. Which can provide me with strong evidence for my research paper. For example, newspaper and video both can show me an outside perspective. Compared to a novel that can be written by a person that has experienced it in real life.

      Domonoske, Camila, and Richard Gonzales. “What We Know: Family Separation And ‘Zero Tolerance’ At The Border.” NPR, NPR, 19 June 2018, www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621065383/what-we-know-family-separation-and-zero-tolerance-at-the-border.

       In this article, it states what happens after families are caught at the border. Children are separated immediately from their parents from the moment they get caught in the border of Mexico and Texas. In early May over 2,342 children had been separated from their parents. Based on the article, parents don’t know any information about their children after their separation. Although they were sent to a detention center where they are in holding cells. After three days these children go from immigration detention to the Office of Refugees Resettlement. Where they help contact any other family members of each child to take them in. ICE and ORR have worked together to set up a hotline for parents and children to keep in contact. However, when requested asylum at the port, entry from families are meant to stay together. Although it’s reported that they do not follow this right to immigrate families. Eventually, President Trump signed an executive order reversing his policy of separating families.

     After reading this article I disagree with how the U.S Department of Homeland Security is controlling these immigrant families. Although most of the fault is on a current president which created this law to separate parents and children at the border. This isn’t clearly a good idea because these children need to be with their parents in situations like these. According to the article, “ORR says children remain at these shelters for “fewer than 57 days on average.” However some children have been kept detained for months longer than that, and some advocates say certain facilities improperly administer psychotropic medications”. Within these detention centers, children are going through these harsh processes alone with no parental comfort. This proves how these young children are being psychologically traumatized. However, I don’t understand how Trump signed an executive order reversing his policy of separating families. Although it’s good news to hear that now families that are detained at the borders can stay together. My question is why to change now after having families and children suffer from separation from each loved one. Although to better understand this article I need to find more information from the government and their illegal procedures. Overall, this article answers my question but still needs more information to back my research question.

      In this article, I liked some rhetorical factors the authors used, like pictures of the current children’s situation in these detention centers. One thing I mainly like that caught my attention was when they proved evidence, it wasn’t only reports of what people have said and stated. Although they cited other websites, that were linked in their writing that backed up their evidence.

      “Parents being deported may request that their children leave with them or may decide to leave the children in the U.S. to pursue their own immigration claim, ICE says. For instance, they might suggest another family member in the U.S. sponsor their child, as described above.” 

      News, Global. “The U.S.-Mexico Migrant Crisis: What Is Really Happening at the Border?” Youtube, 22 Aug. 2019, youtu.be/8Ra8udKbHro.

      This video explains what’s really happening at the United States Mexico Border from the beginning where everything started. The data shows how in the last 10 years the number of immigrants crossing the border has changed continuously. After 2014 it has shown more families traveling with children looking for refugee status. Most of these immigrant families are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras which are from Central America. The international and U.S. law gives the right to any people that show up at the border to request asylum. Asylum can be granted to people or refugees that can not return to their home country because of prosecution. Although in April 2018 Trump announced the zero-tolerance policy. This policy is for any undocumented bordering crossings to be prosecuted criminally. Resulting in separation between parents and their children. These children are kept in tents and weren’t taken care of properly because they have been seen dirty, and haven’t been given enough essentials to be clean and not enough food. Based on the video many people are still coming across the border because they face more danger in their home countries. 

      After viewing this video I disagree with the actions that our president Trump has taken towards immigrants. Mostly because of these specific actions is what caused so much horror for these immigrant families. For example, the zero-tolerance policy is an action that shouldn’t have ever been made. This policy apart from going against the law for undocumented people wanting to request asylum are treated strictly as criminals. According to the video it states “People don’t leave their home countries unless they have to unless what they are facing at home is so much worse than the dangers they face along the way”. I totally agree with this quote because these people don’t want to cross the border illegally but because they need to for their families. Most of these people are coming in to protect their families and construct a better life for them. It is not fair to create this zero-tolerance policy and making it result in family separation at the border. Knowing these people are coming in because they are in need. 

      In this video, some rhetorical factors I like that the authors used was the choice of evidence they picked. Meaning a part of researching and gathering all the data to use in the video. They have included an interview with an attorney, which increases credibility. Where in the video you’ll hear audio parts from the attorney speaking about this matter. 

      “The situation has been called in an invasion, national emergency, and a humanitarian crisis”

      Lazo, Luz. “For Kids, Crossing the U.S. Border Illegally Involves Fear and Hope.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 9 Oct. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/for-kids-crossing-the-us-border-illegally-involves-fear-and-hope/2019/10/01/5618ed00-e131-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html.

       In this article it states a young girl and her family experience crossing the U.S border. An 11-year-old girl Wendy traveled with her parents and her older sister in May. They traveled by foot, car, and crossed the Rio Grande River. It took them approximately 1 month to arrive at the U.S border from El Salvador. During this course, Wendy with her father have gotten split up from her mother and older sister. Later Wendy and her father surrendered to the U.S. Border Patrol officers. After they were taken to an immigrant processing center in Mc Allen, Texas. As Wendy explained she was taken away from her father and put into a big room with no windows and other immigrant girls and women. Where she stayed for four days and only ate ham and cheese sandwiches. Within these four days, she wasn’t able to take a shower and neither was there enough space to lie down on the floor due to it being very crowded. Also at night, she would use aluminum foil as blankets. At the end of the four days, Wendy was reunited with her father and flew out to Washington to be with their relatives that would host them. After going through a similar experience Wendy’s Mother and older sister joined them in early June in Maryland. However, after this long journey, Wendy’s parents discuss the reason they left their home country was that they didn’t earn enough money to support their families and were also afraid of gangs. Although Trump’s administration has announced that those who enter the country illegally will immediately be sent back to their countries or to Mexico while the U.S. government considers their immigration request.

       After reading this article about Wendy and her family going through this harsh experience to come to the U.S. I disagree with how this young girl and her family were treated since they surrendered to the U.S. Border Patrol officers to the day they were released. The conditions they were in are unbelievable and inhuman. According to the article, Wendy states, “During the day, she said, she mostly sat in silence and prayed quietly”. They were in a big room with no windows to even see a bit of sunlight. They slept on the floor and there wasn’t even enough space to sleep and they would cover themselves with aluminum foils. Also, they weren’t properly being fed healthy food and not enough. However, I don’t understand how our country is allowing this type of unfair treatment towards undocumented people. I understand our government doesn’t want undocumented people entering illegally into the U.S. Although we also have to understand that these immigrants don’t do it because they want to cause problems. But because they have families they need to support and they just want to offer a better future for their kids. I see no harm in and also no need for all this injustice being made throws them. They experience enough risk traveling from their home places to the U.S. These undocumented families do this is because there are in some really big need, for our country to be harsh and try to close the doors on them.

      In this article, a rhetorical factor I like was that it was about an actual family that had the first-hand experience of what actually happened at the U.S border. Another factor I like was the pictures the author included the family and how they’re doing to this present day.

      “I was afraid I was going to drown,” said Wendy, who now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. The entire trip was long and scary, she said.”

       Department of Homeland Security. “Zero Tolerance Immigration Prosecutions – Family Fact Sheet.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 15 June 2018, www.cbp.gov/newsroom/zero-tolerance-immigration-prosecutions-family-fact-sheet.

       This Family Fact Sheet from the Department of Homeland Security states by law what are the procedures for immigrants crossing the border illegally. Anyone who enters the border illegally even with children will be prosecuted. After being prosecuted, any family involved will be separated from their parents. Children will be sent off to the department of health and human services, and to the Office of Refugees Resettlement. These children are held in temporary shelters or hosted by an appropriate family. places. Where they take care of children’s medical care, mental health care, and educational programs. Also, ICE will work on regular communication between parents and their children. Although all individuals that have entered illegally will be sent to the Department of Justice and present before a federal judge. Later the result made from a federal judge will be sent to ICE to follow up immigration proceedings. Although any individual that has been prosecuted for illegal entry can seek asylum and any other protection available under law. However, children can also present individual claims for asylum and may take separate immigration proceedings.

       After reading the family fact sheet and knowing by law what the procedures have to be taken toward families and any individual that enters the country illegally. Which actually doesn’t seem the same procedures that are being taken at the border. According to the family fact sheet, “Children in HHS ORR custody are provided with appropriate care, including medical care, mental health care, and educational programs”. Considering past research these children aren’t given all the care that they’re in the title too. For example, mental health care and education programs aren’t given to these undocumented children. While they are being held in these temporary shelters there are sleeping on the floors. Where there isn’t even enough space for these children to sleep. Let alone have space for educational programs they can attend to. Also, there’s no mental health care given to these children because they spent all day in these shelters sitting quietly. Lastly, children shouldn’t be allowed to make their own claims without their parents, because they’re too young to understand. This is why they should be with their parents and file claims together instead of separate. Children shouldn’t present themselves at federal court without their parents. 

       The rhetorical factor that this genre uses is that it’s a legal source. Meaning the agent from the Department of Homeland Security wrote this family fact sheet and based it on what the law states and what should be happening according to them.

      “Children whose parents are referred for prosecution will be placed with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)”.

       Throughout all my research the most important thing I noticed is the bizarre process these undocumented families have to go through when coming to the U.S. Border, that is actually only really seeking help from the United State. Within my research what surprised me was how hard all this situation must have been for both parents and children. Having little children like 4 years old separated from their parents. These children don’t understand what is going on, they go through many emotional problems like anxiety, fear, sadness, and many more. Not having one person for comfort like their parents and marking them go through a legal process without them. Also, the amount of suffering a parent goes through when being separated from their children. Words can’t explain how a mother or father must feel when their children that are everything to them isn’t by their side. Which more pain must be when they don’t hear or know anything about their children. Overall, after researching my question all the information I have collected has made me understand more in-depth what’s actually happening at the border. It has made me realize the major issue than just knowing what is happening to these undocumented families at the border. Although the injustice that the government is making towards these families. This is important to know to be able to be aware of situations like these. Having students knowing about these undocumented families will help bring awareness to the public eye. Making society see and understand what the United States is doing to these families is necessary. With awareness, we as a community in the U.S. can make a major difference. We can all come together to make a change for these people that are in major need of help. By doing so it will also reach up to the eye of our government system. Which hopefully they will view over and see how the way there handling undocumented families isn’t actually the most correct manner. Their current procedures are just unnecessary; there’s no need to have a separation between parents and children. It doesn’t benefit the system nor the government. Improvement should be made, and make new and reasonable procedures that are really necessary that would actually benefit both the government and the immigrants. Instead of causing so much pain and distress to these innocent people that only want the opportunity to raise a better life for their families.

Revision for Unit 3:

If I would have had more time I would have added more evidence. For example, I would have linked the evidence I used in Unit two in my genre.

Family Separation At the Border 

      Separation at the border has been a hash action taken towards undocumented families. Having these parents and children go through massive emotional pain. By not having one another by their side through what must seem a scary process of being detained at the border. This is why we as high schoolers are at the age to make a difference. Help spread awareness throughout our community by using every type of platform we have to. Which can lead to making a change for these undocumented families at the border.

        No children should go through these detained processes without their parents. Their minors don’t know what’s happening. Having them pulled apart from their loved ones. Also being held in tents with strange people that they don’t even know. Having no sort of communication with their parents. Neither their parents have any type of information on their children’s whereabouts. Which only creates pain for these families.

        As shown from these pictures we can realize that there needs to be justice made for these undocumented families. There’s no need to separate undocumented families. There’s no type of benefit that the United States government gets out of this action. This only caused emotional problems for both parents and children. When these families travel a risky path to get to the U.S. from their home countries. Just to have an opportunity to give their kids a better future. 

Artist Statement:

      What is the current situation for undocumented families crossing the United States with children? I have always been interested in this topic since I first saw a video in the media of how undocumented children would have to represent themselves at court for entering illegally. This caught my attention immediately because first children are minors that shouldn’t be facing any type of illegal issues alone. Most importantly when they have their parents that they could be with and face situations like these together instead of apart. However, I didn’t actually ever really have the opportunity to actually go more in-depth with this situation and research more about it. This is where my inspiration came from because I have always had that in my mind. Until I was able to actually write about something I wanted and what seemed important to me. 

      However, picking the genre was a little hard at first. Mostly because there are multiple various genres to choose from. Although I was able to make a choice by putting myself in my audience mentally. Meaning I had to think as a high schooler and think what type of genre would they most likely pay more attention to. Then I concluded by making a video or a teen magazine. Both actually were good genres to make but I finally chose a teen magazine. I thought it would catch my audience’s attention by reading and viewing images of what I’m writing. Which is my purpose as a writer towards my high school audience. Where I choose this audience because I felt like there at the age enough to understand the injustice being made towards these undocumented families when separating them. Also, they have the power to spread more awareness of these undocumented families’ situation. Finally, my purpose in my writing piece was to show and explain what actually happens to these undocumented families at the border. To be able to help our community to come together and make a change for these undocumented families.

       This is why I included three images. Although at first, I was only going to put one and write a long paragraph. However, I thought why don’t I show what I’m writing instead of just plan writing. I started to think from my audience’s point of view and see a page with only one picture and a whole lot of words, which would seem a little boring and not interesting to read. This is why the images I included in my teen magazine are to grab my audience’s attention. Like the saying says “ a picture is worth 1000 words”. Finally, the pictures I included also fit perfectly in my writing because it backs up all the information I researched and wrote about.

       Lastly, going back to my work I am glad to have been able to write what was most important. Mainly not to sound repetitive from Unit 2. Although it was hard to have gathered all of the information from unit 2 and be able to do my teen magazine for unit 3. Mostly because it’s a lot of information and in my perspective, everything seemed important. Which was hard not to include certain things.    

Final Reflection:

       Throughout this whole first semester, I have released that there’s a lot of work to be done. Which at first I didn’t understand why and how all these writing assignments were helping our writing skills. However, now that we have come to the end of the semester I have realized the purpose of each one of my writing pieces. For example, in unit 1 I stated, “In the process, I will develop more and more my English language and techniques that will make me better in my reading and writing skills”. This is exactly what I have done this semester with all my work. I have learned a lot from the feedback I have gotten from my professor and classmates. One feedback I got is, there’s a lot more to write about than what you actually think. Meaning in unit one we had to write about an event that impacted the way we view education, which also has to be 1000 words. Although when writing this assignment I would always get stuck because I felt like there wasn’t anything more I could write. However, the feedback I got helped me to think more about my audience and ask myself what can be unclear for them. I would be asking myself what, where, why, or how after reading each paragraph to see if I missed anything. 

       Therefore, ending this semester with unit three wasn’t actually my favorite piece of work. Mostly because I found it very difficult when writing my genre. Although it wasn’t choosing the genre we were supposed to write. We had to write what was the most important from unit two, which was hard because I struggled in trying not to sound repetitive. In spite of the fact that there was one lesson that really stuck with me, was a shitty first draft and how to clean up our mess. This helped me a lot because sometimes I don’t know where to start off, so I would write and write. Later I would go back and put everything together and organize my writing. These two lessons helped me in not getting stuck in my writing. Not having to worry about organizing and writing, but just writing all my thoughts down. Lastly, my reading, writing, and thinking improved as are genres and assignments changed. For example, as I stated, “As in reading and writing we can be able to know what message is being sent through identifying the genre it is”. This explains how close reading helped me identify the genre, which helps me understand the messages that are being sent. Also, help in my writing skill to write clearly to be able to identify the genre I’m writing. Also helped me think of my audience and what I could be missing that may seem unclear for them. 

       However, as assignments changed so did content and design, which personally making these decisions wasn’t so hard. Mostly because they are self-explanatory. Meaning every piece of writing assignment has its own template to follow. Although if I didn’t understand or had difficulties I would have asked my professor. Even though I had some assumptions in my writing, that is grammar and punctuation errors. Also not being able to send my message through my writing and just write unnecessary stuff. Along the semester with the help of my professor and classmates’ feedback has helped me prove a lot of my grammar and pronunciation errors that I haven’t noticed. Also, add more information where I didn’t see that needed to be added. For example, I stated “I started to think from my audience point of view and seeing a page with only one picture and a whole lot of words, would seem a little boring and not interesting to read”. This is one example of where I took the feedback I got and applied it to my writing. Before I would write and write and forget about my audience. Now I write for my audience, which helps me also not to get stuck so much when writing. Also, it allows me to avoid sounding less repetitive. 

       Overall, revising my past assignments helped me a lot. I was able to proofread thoroughly and catch my own errors. The error that I wish I would’ve seen before. Although I wasn’t actually aware of these errors. Until I was told through my professor’s comments in my assignment. Where I have repeatedly done this in my assignments. For example, one error I didn’t notice I was doing often was sentence fragments. Although I have taken this feedback and will use it to improve in my upcoming assignments. However, these sentence fragments might have been actually my biggest challenge in this course. Mostly because I have been doing this without realizing it. I have attempted to fix these errors by seeing some links my professor has sent me to be able to see the difference and understand what sentence fragments are. However it’s challenging because I used to write a certain way, so now I have to also have in mind when writing if I repeat any sentence fragment errors. 

REFLECTION:

I’ve always had a great talent for writing, however this class in specific has helped me learn so much and essentially grow as a writer. I thought that due to the fact that all of my learning this semester would be online i wouldn’t learn much, however that couldn’t be further from the truth. One of the most important things in reference to my writing that I learned is about how important it is to capture the audience’s attention, and to make the format of your writing digestible enough for readers to understand it. One important example being how to properly put a quote into my text with it not only making sense to me but also to the reader. The format being to build up to the quote, then execute the quote, and finally explain the quote. This was one of the many lessons that resonated with me because I use to feel as though my process of including quotes was awkward. For example in unit 2 during my source entries I sometimes would just place a quote after a sentence and then explain it with no real prior build up which made it seem like it essentially came out of no where. For example in source entry #1 I conclude my paragraph with “In the article it states “There is even some research that suggests that black, working-class families tend to stay in gentrified neighborhoods rather than leave them, and that the economic

benefits of gentrification do indeed reach all residents.’” Now that I am aware

of how to properly input a quote I not only would’ve built up to it prior in

the paragraph but I also would have explained what it meant before concluding

it like that. This is because although it made sense to me, it may not make

sense to others who may read it. I see growth in this department when analyzing my unit three project in the transcript for my podcast. For example I stated “Now this in and of itself isn’t inherently bad however there are plenty of negative effects that follow. One of them being an increase in rent. According to the NYU Furman Center “Percent Change in Average Rent Between 1990 and 2010-2014’ was “23.5%”. Now i don’t know about ya’ll but 23.5% is 23.5% more money that i don’t have (laugh). But now the average rent in Central Harlem has increased 53.2% from 2010 to 2014. Like wow. That’s a lot of money.” The growth i noticed when analyzing this was that i not only built up to my quote but i was able to explain why i utilized it and it’s purpose in a digestible way for my audience (even going far enough to make a realistic joke out of it to match my genre which was the news podcast ).This strengthened my work immensely and helped me to get an overall structure in reference to the input of my quotes, that i can utilize in any class.

Another thing i noticed that i have learned in class to strengthen my writing would that if i’m at a block or don’t know where to start when choosing a topic for class then i should hone in on something specific to talk about. For example during my conference with professor Hall in unit 2, i was told that if i was having a rough starting point with the topic of gentrification then maybe i could focus my paper on something specifically having to do with gentrification. This was helpful information to me due to the fact that we are in a pandemic and if i am struggling with how to start a paper i have to handle that myself. I don’t necessarily have the help of my peers and my professors at all times, so this is a good way to remind myself how to pick and start a topic for my paper. Furthermore i decided to do just that and focus on gentrification specifically in NYC. In my first source entry i stated “Other things i think would help my essay would be to look up instances in specific communities where gentrification became or is becoming a big problem. After reading this text i found out that Bushwick, Brooklyn NY is currently in a big battle with gentrification, and i want to explore other communities too. This text also helped to narrow down my search to gentrified neighborhoods in only New york, where previously i was going to research gentrified neighborhoods in general.” This not only helped me get a good foot on the ground, but i ultimately knew what kind of information i would have to research and how to incorporate it into my writing. Although my first semester wasn’t the typical college experience, it was eventful and gave me key information that others may find common sense but helped me personally in my writing. These are all pieces of information that i will not only keep with me but utilize in other classes to strengthen my writing. Without the guidance of Professor Hall or the help of my classmates i not only wouldn’t have soaked in this information but i would have still been in that same position i was at the beginning of the semester in terms of how i write.

UNIT 3 (UPDATED):

https://youtu.be/WhaZU-UNGeE (Updated Unit

3 project Link)

2-3 SENTENCE INTRO: As i decided to edit unit 3 i chose to specifically focus on making sure that i wasn’t neglecting any arguments the other side could be making. This is because although it is, i don’t want my opinion to sound biased. I want my readers to hear any argument the other side could make and see that there is a rebuttal present for it.

Updated Podcast Transcript:

     Welcome back to the cur-events podcast. I am your host Hasani Wright and today we will be focusing on how gentrification is negatively affecting New York City and it’s residents along with the big question “Does gentrification do more harm than good?”. For those of you listening in at home that missed last week’s segment which covered what gentrification was, count yourself lucky because I’ll be informing you again today and be sure to text 1800-Curevents to leave any of your gentrification horror stories for us to read. Again text 1800-curevents for an opportunity to have your experience with gentrification featured on our podcast. That’s 1800-curevents (spelled).  So to start gentrification is the process in which wealthy upper class citizens (who are usually white) Move into poor communities (that usually inhabit citizens of color). Now this in and of itself isn’t inherently bad however there are plenty of negative effects that follow. One of them being an increase in rent. According to the NYU Furman Center “Percent Change in Average Rent Between 1990 and 2010-2014’ was “23.5%”. Now i don’t know about ya’ll but 23.5% is 23.5% more money that i don’t have (laugh). But now the average rent in Central Harlem has increased 53.2% from 2010 to 2014. Like wow. That’s a lot of money. Now all of that isn’t to say that there aren’t some positive aspects that arise from gentrification. Gentrification is a sign of economic growth and as money flows into these neighborhoods many things change for the better. Buildings are renovated better, more jobs arrive, as the property rate increases so does funding for public schools, and statistics have shown that crime rates also decline in gentrified neighborhoods. These all are wins i agree, but at what cost?  Ooh it appears we have got our first gentrification horror story of the day but before we get to that let’s get to these ads.

     *AD (Voiced by Krystle Webster). * Ever wondered what comfortable housing feels like, well I’m here to tell you. Hello my name is Elizabeth Mootchii of Mootchi apartment housing in central Harlem. Built right on top of where CH apartments used to stand. What’s the difference you may ask? Well we have brought out and demolished all small businesses that are placed around what is currently Mootchii apartment housing in order to maximize spacing and comfortability. With rent starting at $6,200 we hope to comfortably house an abundant number of people who will enjoy living in one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods in New York city. Not to mention the amount of stores and corporations nearby meant to amplify that comfortable feeling. Did I even mention the New Starbucks being built on top of where Ronnie’s Bodega used to be? So many opportunities for so little money, with housing once again starting at $6,200. For more information text 444-MoochiHousing and remember we have so mootch to offer!

     Okay back to the cur-events podcast. So our gentrification horror story for the day is a submission from a man named Ray Torodo. According to Mr.Torodo he lived in an apartment complex in East Harlem. He had planned on retiring and living out the rest of his days in his apartment. I mean it was his childhood home, where his mother grew and raised him. To continue essentially his landlord wanted him to move out, they had a whole plan about tearing down the complex and building a new more expensive one. I mean I get it, that’s more money in their pockets but at another person’s expense? I don’t know. Anyways Ray refused to move out, even though all the other tenants had. He was the last holdout, the last man living there. I mean this man’s apartment was falling apart all around him and his water didn’t even work but he still wanted to stay. Now many of you may be thinking, why didn’t Ray just move out when asked if all these things were occurring?Well this was his childhood home, he had been promised this home from since he was living with his mother in it. And he had payed off everything, he had built an entire life around living in this place and he had built his entire life off of what was surrounding this building that he could no longer live in. And it was really hard for him, he didn’t have the facilities to just move out on such short notice and get another apartment. Although many people might say that it would have just been better for him to find a new home you have to think if you were in his position, what would you have done? Would you have fought for your home that you had lived in for over 40 years or would you have just let it be taken from you so that a “Better home” could be placed on top of it? Apparently his landlord didn’t want to pay for the water to get fixed because she just wanted him out, and I guess this was a way to try to make him do so. I don’t know. It seems kind of weird to me. Apparently “The feelings of frustration and marginalization among longtime residents who are displaced by gentrification are magnified as landlords often turn to aggressive and abusive tactics”. Ray even tells us he went to court apparently. To fight for his home. He ended up losing though. He lost the court battle and his home all in the same day for less money than he put into it. Sorry that happened to you Ray. But can you all see now how gentrification negatively affects people? This proves that gentrification does more harm than good. I mean yeah sure more money is made from a larger more expensive apartment being placed on an old one but whose pockets does it go back into? Oh yeah the rich and the white. I mean it leaves people of color homeless and without the comfortability of the neighborhood they’ve made an entire life around.

Oh that’s all for the show today guys. Be sure to tune in next week where we will be cooking with Gordon Ramsey. Until then be sure to keep up with your cur-events!

Artist statement:

     Honestly if you had asked me about gentrification two years ago i would have said that word was too big and would have been uninterested. So when it did become an interesting topic for me I was kind of astonished. I became interested in gentrification and the effects of gentrification when I had initially heard about the term in my drama class. We were doing these 3 minute plays from a book and we focused so heavily on gentrification (as that was the theme). Initially I was confused because it was explained how important it was but it was weird to me that I was just now learning what it was. Not to mention no one told me how negative its effects were. I then focused on gentrification in New York as that is a big problem and whether gentrification did more harm than good for people. I want to present this as a podcast as it is a form of news and I believe that people take information more seriously when it is in a news format. Especially to the rich white people who need to hear this and be affected by this.

     As aforementioned this needs to reach rich white individuals who will never be affected by gentrification. They need to see the effect it has on people, and give them an informational yet human outlook on how gentrification molds its surroundings. I believe that if they do hear the informational aspect of it they’ll understand how increased rent and increased homelessness go hand in hand with gentrification. However as landlords and people of power I’m sure they already know this. So I planned to incorporate a man’s story and the effect gentrification had on him and his livelihood into the paper. Hopefully this will humanize the text and cause them to think the next time they decide to close down a small business and build a Starbucks on top of it or move a family out of their home for the sole purpose of destroying it in order to get more money. Overall the goal is to show them that there are still people hurting under all that money.

     There were many things that did not become the final product, and my work grew as I did. Initially I wanted to do a news video as that’s the genre. However I couldn’t find a way to professionally portray this. I also did not want to do a news article as I feel like the audience I am trying to reach wouldn’t have time to read it. I wanted it to be immersive and interesting, so after talking it through with Professor Hall I decided to do a podcast. This led to little to no problems as i was already in the process of writing a script, and tweaking it into podcast form wasn’t that difficult. I learned how to utilize tone and music to set a mood for specific talking points as that is important for a podcast. Your face and body can’t be shown so all you have is sound to kind of set a mood and tell a story which I found really interesting and different as I had never done anything like it before.

UNIT 1 (UPDATED):

2-3 SENTENCE INTRO: I decided to fix my conclusion and a few minor details in the text. However the conclusion was the main thing i worked on, this is because it had been explained to me that my conclusion excluded the fact that there are autistic people, dyslexic people, and individuals who are just bored with the content and that that is what prohibited them from learning. I didn’t mean to look over this and make it seem as though if the way you’re taught doesn’t cater to you then “oh well”, because that isn’t the case and i believe that educators should try and teach all students in a way that’s comfortable to them.

I had always assumed that the education system was perfect, i mean it’s used to help mold the brains of billions of kids around the globe. As a kid, school holds a sort of authority over your life, it’s not really something you question. You assume everything is put into place to perfectly educate your peers and you, it’s a system you are taught to trust. However the older i got, the more i noticed instances that refute the previous mindset that had been put in my head for years.

An incident in specific that changed my view on education would have to be in the 11th grade. The summer before school started, I had been emailed my schedule for the school year. I remember reviewing my schedule, deeply focused on what classes i would have for the year. Wondering which of my friends would be in which period, and how many periods i had before lunch. I was pleased to see that i was accepted into my first AP class, computer science. Of course i was prepared for it to be difficult, not only because it was an AP course but because computer science involves a lot of math (which isn’t a strength of mine). Fast forward about 2-3 months into the school year, something unexpected yet great happened to me. I was understanding and doing the work easily, even the math. This is because i work better with hands on work, opposed to other forms of learning. A lot of the material had been hands on up to that point, and it really made me more confident in my work and in my self. However i also realized that other kids were struggling either because 1. thats not how they were use to working or 2. because that’s not how they worked best. This led me to the conclusion that even tho this may work well for me and others, that doesn’t mean that it’s what works best for everyone.

At the end of every unit our teacher would do a survey just to get an understanding of where her class was at. I remember sitting at my desk typing on those cold MacBooks. Feeling like these surveys were unnecessary and a waste of time as i assumed the teacher wouldn’t even consider anyone’s ideas (none the less read all of them). The aforementioned survey would ask various questions such as “What was your favorite topic this unit”, “what do you want to see next unit”, and “Are there any lingering questions”. Another question being “what do you want to see changed next unit?”. Of course i put the usual such as “less homework” or “more extra credit” as i was doing fairly well with how she was teaching up till that point. However i’m guessing multiple of my classmates asked for less hands on experiences, because as soon as the new unit took place that’s exactly what happened. My teacher opted for less hands on work and for more written assignments and lecture type class periods. I then found myself struggling and frustrated that i couldn’t work, i found myself exactly where i feared i’d be the summer before school started. This took a toll on not only my grades, but also my confidence in that course. Needless to say, some kids thrived in this new work environment and did a complete 180 in terms of grades.

That’s when i realized that the way we’re educated isn’t perfect, you can’t cater to every kids way of learning and you definitely can’t please every student. However as an educator and you have to find out what works for the majority, as the education system isn’t an exact science. That isn’t to say that others should be left to the wayside if they don’t fit the general way of learning. I believe that every students needs should be catered to so that they are learning and soaking up information. In saying that education isn’t perfect, i’m saying that it wasn’t made to perfectly resonate with every single kids way of learning. Some might have to work harder to grasp a concept than others, and although it isn’t fair it’s how the education system works. There are alternatives you can take on situations such as the one i was in. There’s lunch lessons, one on one talks, office hours, etc. Which is exactly what i did, i stayed after school a lot that year and even asked my teacher at the time for alternative ways of learning. My after school would include doing the same problem over and over until i understood, coming home drained from the work, and even more practice after that. This however doesn’t exempt educators from excluding students who may need more help than others. They are just as important as any other student who can typically learn a topic. Although at the time i looked at it as unfair that i had to work harder than others in order to grasp a concept, i quickly realized that just a few months ago other students were in my place. There are instances in which students may be autistic, dyslexic, or just simply bored with the work which is prohibiting them from being engaged enough to learn. My teacher of course would not change how she taught the course to spite me, but she needed to do what was best for the majority. Although we assume the best in the school system and other authorities in our lives, it is important to take a notice to this flow of value type trust. I made the observation that the education system wasn’t perfect, and it changed my mind about education from there on out. I learned to rely on myself to understand things, because some educators ways of learning may not help me.