PWA Essay

            Have you ever been forced to do something, that you didn’t want to do? In the book Kindred, by Octavia Butler, the main character Dana who is living in the present time, is taken back to the 1800s to the Antebellum South, to save her ancestor Rufus, who happens to be white. Her stayings in the South were very confusing because while it seemed like she stayed for a very long time, when she got back home discovered that it wasn’t more than just a few seconds, hours, and sometimes days. Her mission every time she went was to save Rufus, who seemed to summon her every time his life was in danger. Her stayings were much more longer every time, but the weird thing was that while she was home, the time in the South kept going, so when she was summoned, Rufus was older each time. During her stayings she was treated just like any other slave, and although Rufus was too young to understand oppressive conditions, still knew the difference between right and wrong. Unfortunately, things changed as he got older. He became oppressive, unfair, treated people as “property”, and was a spitting image of his father. Among the things that made him just like his father, was the fact that he treated women as toys. Would use them whenever he pleased for his satisfaction, and he didn’t care whether the woman wanted to or not. Many times Dana tried ti\o instill in him that women had to be respected, and that he couldn’t force someone to do something she didn’t want to do. But he never listened. He never did try to force Dana to have sex with him until he felt that he felt like he was losing some of his power, and she was gaining it. Unfortunately, because of this, Dana ended up killing Rufus because she was NOT going to put up with that, because she had forgive everything else Rufus did to her, but that was too much. My thesis, we can determine that forcing someone to have sex against their will is unjustifiable, was based on reading Kindred.
 
    The quote, “you raped a woman-or tried to- and her husband beat you up.” “You’re lucky he didn’t kill you” explains that Dana is trying to let Rufus know that if he doesn’t change his ways, he could get in a lot of trouble. I think this is important because it shows that even though Rufus is an oppressive man, Dana still does care about him, and cares enough to let him know that he is very oppressive and to try to change him. Not just for his sake, but for every one else surrounding him. I can relate to this quote because I’ve seen on shows like Maury, Jerry Springer, and on news, stories of women getting raped either by strangers, or by the people they love. They feel like it’s their fault because maybe they did something wrong, when it was really the oppressors fault because they probably are so insecure of themselves, they have to make helpless peoplel feel bad, in order for them to feel good.

     Another quote that is personally the most important one of all is, “She had the right to say no.” This quote is important extremely important because it gives not just women the right to say no, it gives EVERYONE that is being forced to do something they don’t want to do the right to say no.This quote reminds me of a case I heard about where a young girl got gang raped by a bunch of drunk men, right outside her school after a school dance in Richmond, in 2009. This ocurred late at night, and although there wasn’t anyone outside when it ws beginning while they were raping her, bystanders were just passing by, but NONE of them did ANYTHING to help the young girl. This type of oppressive behavior could have been stopped if the guys weren’t drunk, and although you cannot justify your actions because you were under the influence, it is a very big part of oppressive and self-defeating behavior. This could have also been prevented if the people passing by wouldn’t have been bystanders and would have been upstanders instead, so they would have helped the girl, instead of causing her more pain.

   The last and most intense quote of all is, “So you’ll be rid of the man and have possession of the woman just as you wanted,” I said in digust, “rape rewarded. This quote is important because it is trying to show that people go to great lengths just to get what they want. And they won’t be satisfied until that happens. I can connect to this quote because I once heard of a story about a girl that was kidnapped from the time when she was 8 or 9, until she was about 18 or 19. When she escaped, she already had 2 babies with her kidnapper. This story reminds me of what the quote is trying to say. The kidnapper kept her for many years because that’s what he wanted. And if she wouldn’t have had escaped, I’m positive he would have kept her longer.

   As you can see, my thesis, you shouldn’t force someone to have sex against their will because it is unjustifiable, is very important because everyone has a voice that has to be heard, and everyone deserves respect, and for their needs to be respected. After writing my essay on this topic, I’ve learned that if I don’t want to o something I don’t agree with, NO ONE has the right to force me to do it. I’ve also learned that I won’t ever force someone or pressure them to do anything against their will. Some advice I would give to rape victims, or people who are being pressured is one, make sure your voice is being heard so they know you don’t want to do that certain thing. Also, I would tell them to talk to someone. To their friends, parents, family members, co-workers, ANYONE, so they won’t have to go through the pain by themselves. And lastly, I would tell them to get away from the perpetrators causing all of this harm, even if they think they love them because if they are harming you, they obviously don’t love you. Don’t be a victim of this type of abuse. If speaking up hasn’t changed anything in your life, take action. Always remember that Actions Speak Louder Than Words !

Sex Trafficking Powerpoint

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dq9s5zc_9dp3hbrfb&revision=_latest&start=0&theme=sparkling&cwj=true

About Mee

The Mask I Wear

♫

I wear my mask

to hide my pain

My mask is long

From head to toe

From the make-up

I wear in my face

To the socks that keep

my feet warm

My mask is different

every day

I use it to make me

Seem stronger

I wear it to make me

look tougher

With my mask

I can pretend like there’s

nothing wrong

With my mask

I don’t have

to worry about people teasing

me

I might seem tough

When I’m wearing my

Mask

But as soon as it

Comes off

I turn into a vulnerable

Little girl, who needs

Love, affection, and comprehension

I sleep through the night

Just like that

But wake up just to put the mask

Right back on

College 4 All * :]

       In the college for all trip we had last week, we visited 3 colleges. UC Santa Barbara, CAL Poly San Luis Obispo, and UC Santa Cruz. We first visited UC Santa Barbara. There, we went to this one building called, El Centro, which is basically a Latino association building, where Latino students hang out, study, and just associate with each other. They created this because there are not as many Latino students, so they wanted to feel like the majority and wanted a place to kick it in. Then, they took us to the beach, and we asked them questions and they answered them. After that, they showed us around the rest of the campus, and that was the end of the tour. Then, we went back to El Centro, played a game and we got food. After, we got to kick it with our classmates for like 20 minutes, and then we left to our hotel.:]] The next day, we went to the second college, which was Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. We basically did the same thing, we asked questions, they gave us a tour, and after that we ate. Then, we had a time to reflect on that school, and after that we left to Santa Cruz. We got to our second hotel around 4, and had 1 hour to get ready to go to the boardwalk. We had until 9 to play in the arcade or do whatever it is we were doing. We played lazer tag, machine games, went to eat at a bowling place, and over all just enjoyed the time we were there with eachy other. Even though the beach wasn't opened, there was like a balcony type passage near it, where my friends and I were. We were goofing off, dancing, and having fun with each other. Sadly, at 9, we left!:( We got to our hotel, and mmy roomates and I got in the bathtub because it was as big as a jacuzzi! We almost got in trouble because with all the water noise, we didn't hear when our teachers were knocking on our door, and so I guess they thought we were doing something wrong. We straightened things out though when we heard the phone ringing, and the teachers said that we had to opened the door immediately because they had been knocking for over 20 minutes!When they saw why we had taken so long, they started laughing! My math teacher, Ms.Lehman,(after scaring us to death), took a picture of us in the tub because she thoiught it was hilarious.Then, they left and after changing and putting our soaking wet clothes to dry, 2 of my roomates went to sleep, but me and my sleeping partner weren't sleepy at all, so we stayed awake until about 1 in the morning. The next morning, I was so happy because we were going to Santa Cruz, and that's where my sister goes, and she told me that she was going to meet me there. At first, I was worried because she wasn't answering her phone, and so I thought she over slept and wasnn't going to be able to meet us. But thankfully she did, and I was glad to see her because I hadn' seen her in forever. She was talking to us about her experience there, and the difference between dorms, and apartments. Then, more college students came, and we had another panel where we were asking them questions about college life. After the panel was over, they took us ot to eat and the college students were able to ride in the bus with us.We went to a college diner up in the hills where they had all sorts of different food for us to eat. They had Mexican, Chinese, burgers, a sald bar, and dessert.They had the best food out of all the 3 colleges we visited in my opinion.We had an hour to eat, and I was dreading the hour to be over becasue it meant that I was going to have to say goodbye to my sister, and I didn't want that becaue I didn'd know when I was going to see her again. We were having such a good time together, that when it was time to leave, I couldn't take it, and so I started crying because I didn't know when I was going to see her again. After we left Santa Cruz, we were on an hpour and a half bus ride back to Oakland and during the whole bus ride, I was excited because I wanted to get home already. When we got to UPA, our parents were already waiting (axiously it seemed to me) and that was the end of our trip. I personally really enjoyed it, and would so do it all over again!

Freedom Speech

                                                       

  Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Linda Johnson. I am a white woman living in Massachusetts'. My life has not been easy. To begin with, since I am white, I have no rights. I am not allowed to vote, cannot go to college, and cannot do half the things white men can do. My contributions to to this new country is that I actually disguised myself as a man just to be able to fight in the war. Also, me and other women had camps where we brought them food, and other items that they might needed. People should listen to me because I should have the same rights as anyone else in this country. Without me, the soldiers wouldn’t have been able to survive and so that’s why i think I should have the same rights. In my opinion, the 3/5ths compromise is a bad thing because everyone should be treated as a whole person.  Also because it’s not fair that the citizens give their whole self and are only counted for half of themselves because they don’t give half of themselves when they do their work, so why don’t they tell them to only give half of themselves in their work if they are only going to treat them like that. From my perspective, i believe that everyone should be allowed to vote, but in particular free and enslaved African American slaves because i don’t think that it’s fair that just because they are a different color than you. I would also like to add that The Constitution should give the right to own land to anyone that earns their right to own it because if they work so hard to just be successful then they should be allowed to own. In conclusion, freedom to me is just the act of being able to be, do and say whatever you want without having to be tied down by anything or anyone. You shouldn’t have to work for anyone that can do things themselves without pay, without rights, and being treated worse than an animal. Also, you should be treated as a whole person and not less then what you really are.  after all is lal my life not urs!! and so stop snichinching into my business !!

Freedom Words

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                              
                                                       Freedom Words

There are words in life that define freedom

Joyful, happy, and unique

In me, freedom screams, pleads, and yells to get out

But with time, the screams slowly fade away

Because of the reality of life

There are words in me, that describe liberty

Words like the pursuit of happiness, right to do what you please

And to be whatever you desire in this world

But with time, all those words slowly fade away, and end up stored

Away, in a far away place, by the force of tyranny, unfairness,

And cruelty