Life's Successor

We spend more time being old than we are young. Time sometimes is a factor even if you’re desperate. But you have all the time in life to be where you want to be, everyone’s dream is a common one.  People are satisfied when they’re happy and one man’s trash is another’s treasure. As a student, son, nephew and grandchild, I have seen different types of success and happiness. It doesn’t have to be a professional life even though it is a milestone and is the American dream; it can be any way of living as long as you feel good. As for me, school isn’t my main attraction. But I do understand that I have to give my effort or try for this short amount of time because after you become something you want to be, one has the rest of their lives to live it, and mechanical engineering is where I’m at.

When you learn how to become or try to be happy, it often happens when you start adapting to life. My father lives in the Dominican Republic and every vacation I’m spending it with him, hopefully when I finish my studies I will start my own business over there. Every year people always ask me how I can spend so much time in another country, but I love it, I love being there and every year when I arrive, it’s like I never left. The Dominican Republic is very different from New York City. The air feels different, the environment, society and the food. Being a tropical island, country, the Dominican Republic is known for their famous plates and fast foods, to me the adaption is getting used to the water bottles. I adapted to the blackouts, the diesel fuel all over the place, the mosquitos, just everything that can make someone feel happy even if they have to substitute something that one is used to.

You have to try and be life’s successor but if you follow too much it may lead to the wrong direction. Becoming a leader isn’t easy; it requires confidence, loyalty and sacrifice. I try every day to make my day the same as the previous and even better because you don’t really know what your purpose is until you find something you’re comfortable doing for the rest of your life. Some consider education to be their path, in life others find it to be their minds because that’s where the real knowledge is, you can teach always teach something but you won’t always learn it.

Maybe from the present until the future I change my mind about going to college for the experience and try inspiring people to do well with their opportunities. Some people get overwhelmed with some of the challenges this beautiful life sends to us and instead of seeing the bright said of it people tend to turn to negativity as soon as they have to think a little. Words won’t convince anybody to accept me at a school or a job; it’s your attitude towards that obstacle and the way your actions speak.

When you put your mind to something you set every sense of motivation to that field so that nothing gets in your way or close to stopping you. Life gives opportunities but not too many free waivers. fortunes don’t just fall out of the sky, it requires hard work, determination and dedication meaning you’re willing to sacrifice and adapt to any circumstance that troubles you or makes you better. I think any college is good for me because I’m like the newt, I blend in anywhere and when I do I try my best while I’m at.

   

Graffiti

   Graffiti is a great way to express ones thinking, but it’s also a way to damage public places.  Every place in New York City has graffiti; from local streets downtown all the way uptown. It’s an act of a brother hood and sister hood. However, Graffiti in the states is vandalism and illegal. It makes artists want to bring out their emotions even more creating self-expressions on walls. Murals in Harlem and Spanish Harlem that were made in form of graffiti are historical to the history of Manhattan, creating famous artists who composed them. Graffiti has been around for millions of years. Romans wrote on the walls of buildings they conquered and cave men drew illustrations on cave walls, although graffiti has not been in the United States quite that long. Graffiti is a wonderful way to express oneself.

    When you walk through neighborhoods in the city, you come across Barrios which are known for having a community wall, which represent those people from the streets. What may have begun in the medieval times as a form of decoration, now a ticket from the cops and even jail time. Graffiti is broadly throughout the whole world, in regular streets, alley ways, sidewalks, buildings and even your schools public bathroom. Graffiti became a form of art which inspired young artists to come out and use this new art as a form of self-expression. Whatever mood they were feeling they were able to make something that described they’re imagination at that moment. My neighborhood in the 90s was a narcotic trade; there was once a crack house on the corner of Columbus which was flamed down to its last bricks. That area later was then turned in to a memorial garden and a graffiti mural was made to represent the people. The documentary “Exit through the Gift Shop” shows how a film addict meets one of the most famous underground graffiti artists (my personal favorite Banksy) by getting together with people that were willing to risk it all in order to show their art. If graffiti were to be legalized then it would make a lot of money in addition to being in museums. Maybe a private area or local space can be provided for artist to get together from around the world and be able to spray away with freedom of the pen. Some artist like to ink what’s on their minds and put it out to the world it would be a great way to represent what art truly is. “Imagine a city where graffiti wasn't illegal, a city where everybody draw whatever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million coluors and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall - it's wet. ” Even though Banksy is a street artist and no one has ever seen who he is, to me he is one of the most exclusive street artist out there.

     It started as tagging or writing your name on a street sign, and then gangs used graffiti as a way to mark territory. Graffiti became a huge part of how people demonstrated their feelings, using words that were nasty in form of art, so that it would catch everyone’s attention. "Basically, when I look around, I see us living in a modern day Babylon, full of temptation, sin, distraction, corruption, injustice, and misguided fools being mentally enslaved. It seems to me the only way to wake people up from this kind of numbness is to destroy what they know: Their business, their places of commerce and their biggest place of gathering, the cities! Put it on their trains, on the lines they take to work, on their rooftops, on their highways, on anything just to make some people realize that culture isn't lost and that, at the very least, a small group of kids is fighting to keep it alive." (Artist from south Dakota Unknown name)The artists that create what they do are because it’s the only thing known and are willing to face the consequences because they fight for what they want hoping that it will be given to them. Graffiti is bad to a certain extent, if one is using it for hatred and bad purposes, then it’s wrong and should be acted against.

     If it’s good or bad wouldn’t be the problem against graffiti, the thing is that there will always be a biased opinion as to how people and your environment feel about it. The never ending passion for graffiti and late night wall conquering won’t come to an end unless the law decides to come to an agreement with the street artists. Everything ever done has its good effects and it’s bad. Graffiti for those who don’t like it is useless time spending, as well as garbage but for the street artists out there it’s still willing to go the extra miles it’s like gold painted over concrete.

     People are provoked to vandalize because they know that it’s illegal, just to show how much it means to them they won’t stop doing it until it is legalized in the world. Graffiti is being fought for everyday with a new tag on the streets at a time, as well as cops arresting those who are caught. Art should be consumed by the eye and not erased for eyes. All in all Graffiti also known as street art is a wonderful way to express oneself even if its gloomy or its bright Graffiti shines with all its might.

Power of The Media in the 21st Century

    Since the start of the cyber world, there have been many questions and doubts as to the internet not being safe, as well as it being a helpful epithet. In the new millennium year 2000, the cyber network was introduced as a new way to communicate via emails and it was just one big new social interaction that everyone was getting used to. Over time they started to modernize and add new sources and knowledge to computers which made it the smartest creation ever built in the 21^stcentury. What was once used as a data book and a mailbox is now the world’s biggest franchise and world network connecting people from across the world. Containing more history than a textbook can provide, a social network, a study screen, just one overall huge gadget that you can now also travel with anywhere you go. The internet has become the most used product ever invented besides the cell phone, and even cell phones now compete for the best internet service for their model phones.  The internet broadly is helpful for anyone trying to learn; from students to adults it makes no difference.

     If we the students and the people didn’t have internet to begin with I wouldn’t be writing this easy determining that internet is useful in a lot of ways, but that’s just the obvious. Even if you’re not using the internet to find information about something or someone you still end up finding out innocently, much of the worldly news is advertised now on big companies search engines like Google, msn, and AOL. Also teenagers and adults now find news even on social networks where friends are daily dosing and posting every few seconds and so. As a student I believe that the internet has created a new way for people to learn and develop new skills for instance; when the internet became popular so did instant messaging sights and everyone stayed in contact to ask what homework had to be done for a specific class as well as slang or short writing like “LOL” meaning Laughing Out loud, “BRB” Be Right Back, and “TTYL” Talk To You Later. All these short ways to describe a moment were developed by and for the internet; these sayings have become famous and popular all over the network. “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page” (Teenagers’Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing: By Tamar Lewin). This article explains how many people miss interpret the use of the internet and what kids are using it for and how. “New media allow for degree of freedom and autonomy for youth that is less apparent in a classroom setting” also By Tamara Lewin, states that teenagers feel more comfortable sharing and exchanging words with friends rather than adults.

      If you were to take away the internet from such a competing environment as to what  it has become over the years, we’d all decrease in certain skills and have naked parts of our brain that will never be developed. Not everyone agrees with the idea that the internet is needed and will be the greatest accomplishment over the next decade, but for now it seems that it’s the most helpful source next to dictionaries and encyclopedias. We do waste a lot of time using the cyber world, but what would we make of it if we didn’t have it? Well crimes will start to be visited in the minds of criminals since there’s nothing else to do, people would watch more TV and play more video games which if in any case is as bad as using the internet.  In the article “Is Google making us stupid?” the author states “I know have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print”. Some people have difficulties reading two different texts if it’s on screen or on paper, some have a problem trying to modernize and lack the ability to always blend in with society and keep up with the world.

      The internet is a good and a bad place for you to spend most of your time in. it just depends on what you use it for, if it’s for a productive use or just for entertainment. The internet is like a 24 hour newspaper available all the time at just a click away. In the article is Google making us stupid says “Google’s desire to solve problems that have never been solved before”, why hasn’t anyone tried to answer everyone question I think it’s just the lack of knowledge and capacity that makes us turn on that computer screen or smart phone The Human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive. The internet can be bad if you’re overly distracted most of the time, and are using it to harm people.

       The internet was made to make people have information quicker and manage their lives easier. The network only affects teenagers if you’re not learning anything, it can affect you negatively. All in the entire cyber world will be the best creation that changed the world completely with a complete turnaround of modernization.

“We don't even need the CIA anymore. I can find anything I need to know about someone by checking their Facebook."

  Facebook contains most of peoples information, Facebook users have been tracked down by police in other occasions, for violating user rights and publicizing and promoting violence.

“If only people's lives were as exicitng as their FB pictures project them to be, they would not have the time or need to update their FB profiles!”

  Facebook users don't only use their accounts to entertain them. Facebook is used for several purposes, such as business, promoting, and keeping in touch with long distance families.

“Apple, Ford, even Google create things of value and are worth their valuations. Anybody who buys FB shares as an investment (as opposed to speculation) is a fool”

  In terms of users and popularity , Facebook would make a great investment if and when it remains as it is now. There are far more other generations to come that are still not Facebook users which are being grown into the network. 

“I have never been tempted by Facebook, even less now, though I suspect many who have joined will regret having their posts follow them around for years to come.”

  If your ashamed of something , you should never regret posting it. Looking at past post makes you sometimes realize how you have grown or changed as a person.

“I personally do not invest in any company that does not create REAL value. Whether it is manufacturing or services. Facebook provides no value. As another commenter here called it, it is 'legitimized voyuerism' [sic]*[1].”

  The value that Facebook provides for some people isn't always that price that you can visually see. For some users, they cant live without Facebook because it is the only way for them to interact with people, so for them the value is beyond someones reach because of their dedicated time to the network . 

The Lottery

    A mind twisting short story like The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a unique spellbound text commending a long carried ritual tradition. In small populated villages came along a short amount of supply to live on, therefore in the Lottery, you may think its riches but instead it’s for your own wealth. The ritual in the Lottery is based on an old black box that only reveals what’s inside, once a year. A ticket either determining your life, or death with a black circle printed on it. Will you be chosen or will you live to find out?