Miryam Juarez


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Blog # 7

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One scholarly article that I will be using in my paper is “Toward a Psychosocial and Sociocultural Understanding of Achievement Motivation Among Latino Gang Members in U. S. Schools.” This article basically explains the connection between culture and identity and why these two relate to the Latino youth‘s involvement in gangs, their internal and external problems that could caused their affiliation with gangs, how their familial problems or backgrounds affect their involvement in gangs and their socialization with gangs as well. This article is important to my paper because in my paper I will be discussing the Latino youth’s involvement in gangs and why they are involved in gangs.

Arfaniarromo, Albert. “Toward a Psychosocial and Sociocultural Understanding of Achievement Motivation Among Latino Gang Members in U. S. Schools.” Journal of Instructional Psychology, vol. 28, no. 3, 2001, p. 123. Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A79370565/HRCA?u=nysl_ca_nyempire&sid=HRCA&xid=fcc060b1. Accessed 15 Nov. 2020.

Another scholarly article that I will be using is “Chicano Gangs: One Response To Mexican Urban Adaptation In The Los Angeles Area.” The scholarly article explains the sociopsychological, sociocultural, socioeconomic, and ecological aspects that come with being in gangs. How being in gangs can affect a youths future due to not being able to maintain a job, how a youths present economic status can affect their involvement and how their mental health plays a role in gang involvement are also mentioned. This is relevant to my paper because in my paper I will be discussing how gangs affect the youth’s future and present.

Vigil, James Diego. “Chicano Gangs: One Response To Mexican Urban Adaptation In The Los Angeles Area.” Urban Anthropology, vol. 12, no. 1, 1983, pp. 45–75. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40552988. Accessed 16 Nov. 2020.

Another article that I will discuss in my paper will be “Racial discrimination and mental health among Asian American youth.” This article explains the negative tone that we show discrimination plays on mental health among not only Asian American youth’s but also American youth minorities in general. This is important to my paper because part of my paper will be focusing on how racial discrimination and racism play a role on minority youths mental health.

 

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Blog #6

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The Text I will be writing about in essay #3 will be the original Netflix Series “On My Block.” Thesis statement: Teens unfortunately are being exposed to racism, discrimination, gang violence, drug abuse etc. and are expected to be able to function perfectly stable despite the negative toll it can take on their mental and physical health and their relationships with their friends and family.

I believe that this show depicts struggles not openly spoken about that certain teens endure on a daily basis. This show depicts how a group of 4 young teen friends live in a bad part of California filled with gang violence, racism, discrimination and drug abuse. Such topics are not as easy to be talked about I believe due to fear and negligence that they do exist. In this essay I hope to be able to shed light on these problems that young children are being exposed to and try to be a voice that there should be something done in order for these problems to decrease. I would like to address that discrimination and gang violence display a relationship with each other and ignoring someone’s mental health is also a problem as seen in the show. Addressing the importance of trust within family and friends is also important and addressing the certain toxic traits of masculinity is also important and should be pointed out. The lack of education on drug abuse and sex education is also an important point that I would like to note in my essay. I would like to further research these topics because the majority of children that are affected and endure these problems are minorities such as blacks and Hispanics. Analyzing the negative tolls that these problems take on teens is important because one will be able to further understand the damage that these teens may have in themselves and the damage they can cause to themselves and others and will allow for us to learn ways in helping these teens better themselves.

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Blog 5- Miryam Juarez

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The terms “undocumented immigrants” and “illegal aliens” carry different connotations with them. Personally, when I hear others call people “illegal aliens”, I feel that it is a form of disrespect towards individuals in these situations. Saying someone is “illegal” makes them sound like a criminal regardless of who they are. When you hear “illegal”, you think drugs, human trafficking, murderers etc. Anything that is seen as maleficent usually comes into mind. “Undocumented immigrants”  I believe is a much better term to call someone in this certain situation. People in Vargas’ situation should have the option of being called what they want regarding their legal status. I do not think it is fair to have to label certain people for this reason or any reason at all. The way I see it, it is unfair and it affects the opportunities of these individuals. Growing up with undocumented family members, you learn to understand why it is wrong to have to label someone and you get to see how these labels negatively impact ones self esteem, mental health, opportunities etc. Many undocumented immigrants do so much to contribute to the country, as Vargas stated “ [he] was paying state and federal taxes,” though he was using an invalid social security card he still decided to pay taxes. Apart from that many of these individuals manage to assimilate into the country, unfortunately based on the way they look, they are not accepted no matter how “American” they may seem as Vargas points out “ they don’t want to assimilate, they are a drain on society. They’re not talking about me, I would tell myself. I have something to contribute.” These individuals grow up in a place they see as home, actually the only place they know as home but are labeled as “illegal” and are not accepted into the society because of the way they look which is cruel. They are denied certain opportunities as Vargas points out, he was denied certain jobs, internship opportunities and aids because of his status. They try to live up to the American Dream; some fail, some live it. However, sometimes those who live it, such as Vargas, are living with lies which just weighs them down and exhausts them, all so they can have a better life and move on. Fortunately acts such as the DREAM Act have tried to help these individuals with their situation. Many of these individuals are called DREAMERS, which I think is a better term to call these people because it fits them perfectly since in reality all they want to achieve is the American Dream.

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Blog #4- Miryam Juarez

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President Abraham Lincoln and President John F. Kennedy both made speeches addressing the problems they believed the United States were facing at their corresponding times in which they were president of the nation. They both spoke about the nation and how the nation was powerful if they united and helped one another as well as stating that they needed to fight for their nation. However, in Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, he speaks more about the people or the nation and how they will all be able to win the battle they have been fighting for. On the contrary, Kennedy talks more about how he will be able to lead the nation and the people of the nation towards solving the problems they were facing. Kennedy was more directly speaking about himself as leader rather than Lincoln who was more subtle about it and involved the people more. Lincoln believed that the problem that needed to be solved was no more discrimination and for there to be equality for all. In the beginning of his address he starts off with “…Our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Starting off with this line demonstrates that Lincoln’s address would be focused mainly on the equality of all people. He later goes on to state at the end of his address “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation… shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” With Lincoln ending his address on this note, it goes to show that he believed that the U.S has not yet fully addressed this problem and that it would be a long process. Present day, it can be seen that there is still a fight going on for equality and any form of discrimination which the U.S has not fully addressed though the many Black Lives Matter protests and the spikes in police brutality as well as hate crimes. Kennedy in his Inaugural speech gives hope to the American people that they soon will be able to achieve peace and progress. Kennedy states that he will “support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.” Kennedy, by “any foe” referred to the communist countries such as the Soviet Union. Though Kennedy states this, he is rational and reaches out to the Soviet Union in his address, expressing his desire to reduce tensions stating “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” Kennedy also goes on to store hope in the people by suggesting “both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction” which referred to him asking there be peace between the U.S and the Soviet Union in fear of a nuclear holocaust which at the time was a very common and real fear. Kennedy made this speech because just like Lincoln he believed that the U.S was still in a very long process of restoring peace. Present time, it can be seen that there has been some type of restoration of peace with some nations however the U.S still has a long way to go to restore complete peace, if that is possible, not only from foreign nations but within its own nation as well.

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Blog #3

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Literature is important to the people, literature is not just words put together to make a sentence, literature allows for the gain of knowledge to understand others and to understand oneself. Through literature you learn to appreciate the power that words have, you learn to empathize with characters whether that’s feeling their joy or feeling their pain. There is a sort of freedom when it comes to literature because it allows you to make the words of what you want.

While incarcerated, Malcom X once said that he “never had been so truly free in [his] life” directing this towards him being able to enjoy books and writing. When Malcom X first came into prison, he did not know how to read or write, he picked up books and would try to read them but “every book [he] picked up had few sentences which didn’t contain anywhere from one to nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese.” He envied a fellow inmates stock of knowledge because they were able to coherently carry on a conversation and though Malcom would try to emulate him, he could not. This motivated Malcom to want to study to allow him to gain knowledge. As days passed, he read more and more, a love for learning and reading grew in him. In prison there was intense emphasis on rehabilitation so “an inmate was smiled upon if he demonstrated an unusual intense interest in books,” meaning that those like Malcom himself, carried respect from others wherever they walked. To Malcom, a whole new world had been opened to him, it was not just about being able to read or write, it was about being able to finally understand what the words meant and being able to give the words meaning. Malcom was able to open himself up, “the ability to read had awoke inside [of him] some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.” The knowledge he was gaining was allowing him to get one step closer to becoming free hence why he believed he felt free while reading though he was incarcerated. His “homemade education [had given him], with every additional book that [he] read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America.” Back in Malcoms time, an educated Blackman was seen as dangerous because they were seen as a threat to the hierarchy. A person like Malcom gave his people hope and advocacy to fight against the inequities being given to them. Malcom states that in prison he was able to attack his ignorance by educating himself. Ignorance is the biggest problem in our society because it keeps us cooped up in our own worlds with very little knowledge of what is really going on, education allows for ones mind to flow freely and see what it stored beyond our own realm.

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Blog #2- Miryam Juarez

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Language makes up an important part of someone’s identity. Language can reveal a lot about a person such as their ethnicity, perhaps their culture or even their interests in learning. “Mother tongue” by Amy Tan, shows how language plays a role in her life. Language in Tan’s case, played the role of a barrier that Tan had to overcome to reach success. As a young child, Tan disliked her “mother’s English”, she felt embarrassed when her mother spoke because her English was described by many as “broken”. Tan felt that “her [mothers] English reflected the quality of what she had to say… because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect.” Because of this certain bias towards “broken English” speakers, Tan explains that when going to department stores, banks, restaurants or doctor visits etc., the workers would not take her mother seriously because they correlated lack of English to a lack of intelligence. This lead her to believe that her “mothers English… had an affect on limiting [her] possibilities in life… [and] that it affected her results on achievement tests, IQ tests…” because academically she excelled in science and math but not in writing or reading since she grew up in a household where “broken English” was the norm for her. This shaped young Tan into a person that did not believe will have many opportunities for themselves in the future. Growing up however, she went against the assumptions made on her and disproved them by becoming an English major and beginning her writing career. She was breaking the barrier that language had become in her life. It was not until recently, that Tan realized that not many Asian-Americans are represented in literature, beginning to question why not many Asian-Americans enroll in writing courses and it made her think that “there are other Asian-American students whose English spoken in the home might also be described as ‘broken’ or ‘limited’” and that perhaps their teachers are also discouraging them from writing and English and into math and science as they did to her because of her English.
I believe that people who learn English as a second language are constantly aware of the way language is used around them. Take me into consideration, I was raised in a Mexican household and being the first in my generation to be born in the U.S, I was surrounded hearing my family speak only Spanish. When I watched cartoons was the only time I was exposed to the English language up until I started pre-school which was when I started to interact with children who spoke English. At the time, transitioning from the English I spoke in school to the English I would rarely have to speak in at home, was somewhat of a difficult task because I constantly had to remind myself that my parents English was different than mine, their English was more simpler than mine in terms that if I were to describe a food as “exquisite” in school, I would have to describe it as “very good” at home. Growing up like this makes you aware of how constant language is being used around you, how it is always changing when you enter a room full of foreign speakers compared to a room full of English speakers.

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Class Introduction

Posted by Miryam Juarez on

Hello everyone, I’m Miryam Juárez (she/her), my intended major is Social Work.

After reviewing the syllabus, I am looking forward to being able to share my ideas and get input by others despite the class being online, however I am nervous about the amount of essays having to be done due to the fact that I work and don’t really have a great amount of time to do my school work, I’ll manage though.

Writing differs with everyone. Each individual has their own style of writing unique to themselves however there are qualities of writing that make it “Good Writing,” such qualities are but not limited to  how captivating the persons writing is, the vocabulary, the amount of context you incorporate to get the audience to understand you, how clear and cohesive your writing is presented, and how clear the grammar is. In order to write well, one can experiment with their writing and allow for someone else to read and get their input on how well they wrote. One could also read essay papers and analyze how well they wrote the paper and try to incorporate some of the elements of the essay into their own writing. Being able to write well is important because writing is an important form of communication especially in our society now. Writing can go from making invitations for your birthday party, to emailing your coworkers, to coming up with a social media posts, it is crucial because it allows us to express ideas.

The easiest part of writing for me is being creative and descriptive when it comes to expressing ideas or coming up with ideas. I prefer creative writing because you don’t need to necessarily follow a rubric or need to focus on answering a prompt, it allows you to get your brain flowing with ideas. The hardest part of writing for me is not being repetitive and making sure my points are clear, being able to incorporate different types of rhetoric is also a weakness of mine. I don’t like having to follow a rubric or having to answer a prompt because I feel that I’m locked with what I’m able to and not able to write about. I do understand that’s not the case and it is something I’m working on and hope to improve in this course.

As I stated before, my intended major is social work, and in social work writing is important. I have an understanding that in social work you are required to write many reports about patients based on your analysis of them and explain what you believe is best for them. Being an effective writer is important in this case since you would have to be able to express your beliefs strongly so that you can get the people a top of you to agree with what you believe is best for the needs of your patients.

 

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