Police brutality

I'm sure that you have been hearing about the whole "police brutality" around the country with the shootings of Freddy Gray, Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin that soon later turned violent, and then blaming the police for their brutality. In this speech, I'm going to tell you more about the history and what is going on about "police brutality" and how people are taking it.

Police brutality is defined as wanton use of excessive force usually physical but also common informs of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation by a police officer. Police brutality doesn't just exist in our country, but around the world also. Police misconduct includes false arrest, intimidation, racial profiling, political repression, surveillance abuse, sexual abuse, and police corruption.

The history of police brutality ages way back to the Civil Rights Movement and the Southern Slave Trade. Brutality has a certain perception that victims of police brutality has often belong to and they are mainly powerless groups such as minorities, the disabled, the young, and the poor. The word "brutality" has several meanings, but towards civilians it's mainly used in savage cruelty.The term "police brutality" started being used in the American press in 1872 when the Chicago Tribune reported a beating on a civilian under arrest at the Harrison Street Police Station. In 1991 in Los Angeles, California police officers harshly beat an African American man, Rodney King and his two passengers while a civilian taped the incident leading to extensive media coverage and criminal charges against the several officers that were involved. Shortly leading after this incident caused the Los Angeles riots in 1992. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles riots caused 53 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires, damaged 3,100 businesses, and nearly lost 1 billion in financial losses. Two out of the four officers were convicted and received a 32 month sentence for being blamed for this chaos. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2011 stating that between the years of 2003-2009, 4,813 people died in the process of being arrested by local police and 2,876 of the deaths were people of color.

When Hubert Locke experienced and saw the police brutality that they force to relatively powerless groups he said this, "When used in print or as the battle cry in a black power rally, police brutality can by implication cover a number of practices, from calling a citizen by his or her first name to a death by a policeman's bullet. What the average citizen thinks of when he hears the term, however, is something midway between these two occurrences, something more akin to what the police profession knows as the "alley court"- the wanton vicious beating of a person in custody, usually while handcuffed, and usually taking place somewhere between the scene of the arrest and the station house."

The history in the United States goes way back to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, Anti-War Demonstrations, and Global War on Terrorism. In 2014 the UN Committee against torture condemned police brutality and excessive use of force by law enforcement in the United States. The UN states, "frequent and recurrent police shootings or fatal pursuits of unarmed black individuals."

The causes vary among people, the towns they live in, and the way they were brought up, but police brutality happens anywhere and it doesn't matter about any of those reasons. A police officer are legally permitted to use special force, and everyone expects to use the force that they are permitted. The problem is with police officers is that they gradually develop an attitude or sense of authority over society, which creates violence with citizens. It's also some of their personality traits that make some officers more susceptible to use their force that they are provided towards others. These personality traits relates to previous traumatic job-related experience and then also the category where they are young and inexperienced. Violence can be used by police and be excessive despite being unlawful, which can make the police react and be considered police brutality. Sometimes police brutality is often used to refer to violence used by each individual police officer to achieve politically desirable ends, but the studies show that there are officers who believe the legal system they serve is failing and it is their duty to pick up the slack. It's also known as "vigilantism" which is where the officer involved may think that the suspect deserves more punishment that what they may have to serve under the court system, which creates police brutality.

It is measured based off the account of people who have experienced or seen it as well as the juries who are present for trials involving police brutality cases. Because there is no way to quantify the use of excessive force for any particular situation, it all depends on if the suspected person or persons is or are restricting police force. But police force cannot be quantified but it is the opinion of brutality among various races, genders, and age. Black females, and younger people are more likely to have a negative opinions about police than white, males, middle-aged to elderly individuals.

Police brutality is known as the abuse of power because they are expected to protect the public and confront potentially violent individuals they are able to legally use physical even deadly force under certain circumstances. An officer who uses force when it is not called for or who uses more force than is necessary to perform their job may cross the line into police brutality.

The constitutional implications is the one that effects societies the most. Police officers are agents of the government which means they have the ability to do anything. While a citizen who is subjected to police brutality may be able to sue the police officer or even the department for personal damages under law but as people claim, many cases of police brutality involve civil rights violations. In this situation violations is among the constitutional claims as a victims brutality may raise and these reasons might be denial of the due process rights guaranteed by the 4th and 14th amendment of the constitution, unreasonable searches prohibited by the 4th amendment, and the violation of the civil rights under the civil rights act of 1871. Another factor is constitutional implications where race is a main factor due to police brutality. If a police officer brutalizes a person based on a persons race a victim may also raise a claim of violation of his right to equal protection under the law.

Police brutality conflicts with community damage, both bad and good. It can destroy neighborhoods, but can also bring them closer. Harm inflicted by police officers who engage and engage in brutality is the loss of brutality is the loss of trust by members of the community they have sworn to protect. In able to have police officers succeed in their job they need trust in the community around them. When a officer doesn't have any trust from the communities around them, witnesses and victims are less likely to report a crime or cooroperate in investigations if the cops have betrayed their trust by brutalizing their neighbors, family members, and friends.

One story that I came across was the story of Frank Jude. Frank Jude was a 24-year old man who was viciously beat by several off-duty Milwaukee police officers as he was leaving a party. The police attacked Frank and his friends because one of the officers claimed that Frank's friend stole his wallet which contained a police badge. His friend was cut in the face with a knife but was able to get away unlike Frank who was repeatedly punched and kicked and then later stabbed in both ears with a pen. Later, the three officers were sent to court and charged.

Then there's the most recent one of Freddy Gray in Baltimore, Maryland where a man died from spinal injury due to police brutality. They say that the police hid the main part of the injury so that no video would catch them, which made him soon later die. When it went viral and people started going out for riots, it was the police vs. black men. The main reason why he was arrested is because they thought that he was being suspicious because Freddy made eye contact with one of them, then soon after started running. He was found with a knife on him, but it wasn't used to create the crime.

Police brutality has progressed in the years but the 21st century it has gotten worse. Many police brutality happens all over the countries, but mainly in bigger cities where the blacks outnumber the whites. It sounds bad enough as it is just hearing it on the news, but when someone's loved one is killed, they think that nothing else bad can happen. In my opinion, police brutality can lower the causes of people's death in the United States and it would make the world a better place.

Websites and articles - police brutality

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/14/22293714-what-is-police-brutality-depends-on-where-you-live

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/police-brutality.html

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_brutality

http://www.nationaljournal.com/domesticpolicy/police-brutality-lawsuits-cities-20150504

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/14/22293714-what-is-police-brutality-depends-on-where-you-live

http://chicago.suntimes.com/mary-mitchell/7/71/576905/black-black-violence-bad-police-brutality

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/30/us/baltimore-freddie-gray-death-investigation/

http://www.colorlines.com/articles/what-obama-says-hell-do-about-police-brutality

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-mysterious-death-of-freddie-gray/391119/

Mrs. Rosa Parks

https://youtu.be/R5KmYa6DhuQ

Ted talk video

http://youtu.be/KM4Xe6Dlp0Y


In this Ted talk, Cameron talked about how beauty isn't just about the looks, but being a model is a choice. In the beginning of the speech, she changed her clothes. At first she was wearing a tight dress with heels on but then she changed into an old fashioned outfit, long skirt, a sweater, and flat casual shoes. She did this because towards the end of the talk, she talks about how she wasn't pretty. Throughout the talk she talked about how she was talked into modeling and such. But then after she showed all of her pictures she got asked if the pictures were edited. After that question, she showed all of her pictures that we taken the same day of the photo that was taken during the shot, and you could tell that they were edited because of how much different she looked. In each photo she looks twice her age, especially when she first started modeling. This Ted talk inspired me the most because somewhere in the speech she said that the women who model, are insecure about themselves and she said that no one should ever be insecure about themselves.

blog #9

On both debates my team had good points, and the points that each of us created a good argument with the other team. The first debate was our first one debating against something that wasn't a big conflict towards most the people in the United States, but it was still an argument for the young teens about violence in video games. In that argument we had good points, but we did make a valid point to what we wanted to argue exactly because our points had good information, but not really experiencing the fact of video games (me) it was kind of hard to argue about. The second debate, I also had the same situation, I did not have any experience with the topic, but my partner did coming from a 18 age limit drinking age. During that debate we did better because of the advice that was given after the first debate. We had stories and more valid point that we could relate to the real world today.

In the first debate I was nervous because I didn't really know what I was exactly talking about because I have never played violent video games and I didn't know what they were all about, but I was all for that violence in video games need to stop because of what happened in the world today, so I was able to argue a little bit, but I didn't have valid points that proved our point. During the second debate, I was much confident even though I was on the side of keeping the drinking age at 21. I was more confident because I knew what to do, what to look up, how to argue against them, and more.

The other team was majority over us because they had three people and we had two. During each debate they had valid points that we were able to argue against, which was good. And also there closing and beginning statement were very detailed in life today and also facts that were valid enough so we could relate back to them.

In my opinion each debate was even, but the first one the other group won it and the second one we won it. The first group won it because they acted more confident in what they were saying, and had valid points that were hard to argue back to because it's either you didn't find anything that was against it, or you couldn't because you knew that it was true. In the second argument, we won it because we had valid points, and when we made them it was hard for them to argue back. And we could relate more to the drinking age being set at 18 years old.

Pros: Lowering drinking age to 18

Lowering the drinking age in the United States to 18 has always been a conflict. Before 1987 the drinking age was 18, which did not change anything. The crashes that have been reported were between the age of 21-24 years old, which has nothing to do with changing the drinking age and lowering it down to 18 years old. Lowering the drinking age wouldn't be a controversial thing because most of the countries around the world has their drinking age set at age 18, and none of them have changed it due to the possible things that would happen including more crashes, alcohol poisening, and none responsible teenagers that would be drinking and driving or providing it to younger kids. But also, 29 states in the United States allow underage drinking as long as it occurs on private premises and is done with parental permission. And half the states allows underage drinking if it is for religious purposes. And then another 11 states allows underage drinking if it is for educational purposes. Making the drinking age 21 years old, young people are still drinking even though its illegal. The fear of being caught creates converts drinking such as secretive drinking and that makes it hard for parents and adults because they don't know what's happening and if they have a problem to help them out. "Pre-gaming" is another big issue. When teenagers go out and they are not allowed to drink because they are under age, they do such thing as pre-gaming which is drinking alcohol in short period of time, which can cause alcohol poisoning which can lead into many bad things including death based on how bad it is. When your under the age of 18, you tend to drink more because you don't know when's the next time you'll be able to drink again. You might say that tolerance comes with age, but in reality it does not, it comes with realization and responsibility. If 18 year olds are able to vote, get married, and go to war, why can't the drinking age be lowered to 18 years old?




- Many states already allowed underage drinking to occur

   - In 29 states in the U.S, drinking is allowed at the age of 18 as long as it, occurs on private premises and is done with parental permission 

   - 50% of the U.S allows for underage alcohol consumption if it is done for a religious purpose 

   - Another 11 states allow underage drinking if it is for educational purposes 

- Traffic accidents and fatalities due to drinking come from new drinkers of any age

   - 2009 dats, the age group with the highest percent of drivers with an illegal blood alcohol content level was the 21-24 age demographic

   - Although there would be increases in the 18-20 age group in these statistics these would be offset by reductions in older age groups

- No evidence that a 21 year old drinking age reduces accidents 

   - When the legal age of drinking was set in 1984, the rate of traffic fatalities/accidents decreased less in the U.S

- An 18 year old has the right to vote and serve in the military

   - If an 18 year old can make up their mind of who's going to be the next leader and take a bullet for their country they should be able to buy alcohol. 

- Says that 18 year olds has less tolerance compared to a 21 year old 

   - MIGHT be true- but you won't know until you find out

   - Tolerance doesn't come with age- comes with relization of responsibility 

- "Forbidden Fruit" 

   - Curiosity leads to more people under the age of 21 drinking anyways

   - 18+ "forbidden fruit" not used anymore

- People under the age of 21 tend to drink more when they get alcohol because of the uncertainty as to when they will be able to drink again

- 22% of all students under 21 compared to 18 over 21 years are healthy drinkers

   - 32% underage are compared to 24% of legal are heavy drinkers

- Young peopale are still drinking despite the fact that this behavior is illegal; teens and many adults are ignoring the law

- The law and fear of being caught creates convert drinking, such as secretive drinking makes it difficult for adults to know what's happening and help those with a problem

- The fear of being caught, limits on the ability to get alcohol 

   - Not able to drink at a club or party ables to have teens drinking large amounts in a short period of time in private (pre-gaming)

   - Putting kids at risk for alcohol poisening 

- If youth are allowed to make other choices (voting, going to war, getting married) they should be able to consume alcohol and they can face the consequences 

Pros - video games are good!

Pros- violent video games are good!

       Playing violent video games boosts children's learning, health, and learning skills according to American Psycoholgist research. According to Isabella Granic, PhD at Radbound University says that "important research has already been conducted for decades on the negative effects of gaming, including addiction, depression, and aggression, and we are certainly not suggesting that this should be ignored...however, to understand the impact of video games on children's and adolescents' development, a more balanced perspective is needed." Playing video games may strengthen a range of cognitive skills such as navigation, reasoning, memory and perception skills. A 2013 meta-analysis found that playing video games improved a players capacity to think about objects in three dimensions just as well as academic courses designed to enhance these same skills. Also playing video games may also help children develop problem solving skills. The more adolescents reported playing strategic videos games, such as role-playing games, the more they improved in problem solving and school grades the following year according to a long-term study published in 2013. When playing video games, the youth allows themselves to learn about the possible consequences of their harmful actions. Since the kids are able to see the results of particular violence with their enemies in the game, they would think that it should not be done in real life. It also teaches them how to accept defeat especially when they loose to someone better than them in a game.


Facts:
- The authors of angry birds also highlighted the possibility that video games are effective tools for learning resilience in the face of failure
- By learning to cope with ongoing failures in games, the authors suggest that children build emotional resilience they can also rely upon their everyday lives
- Multiplayer games become viral social communities where decisions need to be made quickly about whom to trust or reject and how to lead a group
- People who play video games even if they are violent that encourage cooperation that are more likely to be helpful to others while gaming than those who play the same games competitively a 2011 study found

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/video-game.aspx


-Helps in expressing aggression and establishing their peer group
- Able to release whatever aggression they have through a game
- Allows themselves to learn about the possible consequences of their harmful actions; since the kids are able to see the results of particular violence with their enemies in the game, they would likely think that it should not be done in real life
- Learns how to accept defeat especially when they lost to someone better than them in the game

http://healthresearchfunding.org/video-game-violence-pros-cons/

- Video games are therapeutic for children with chronic illness
   - University of Utah released a study that examined the effects of regular gaming on children diagnosed with illnesses like autism, depression, and Parkinson's disease
   - Kids who play certain games shows signs of improvement in many fields
   - Researchers believed the games' ability to act on neuronal mechanisms that activate positive emotions and the reward system and that helped improve kids' demeanors as they faced the daily challenges of their illness
- Video games reduce stress and depression
   - 2009's Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedince included a study that found that gamers who suffered from mental health issues such as stress and depression were able to vent their frustration and aggression by playing video games
   - Hypothesized that games give a certain "type A" personalities
   - Time to relax in "a state of relative mindlessness"
- Video games provide pain relief
  - Not only provides relief from emotional pain but also physical pain
  - Psychologists at University of Washington developed a game that helps hospital patients suffering from immense physical pain by using an age-old trick; distraction
- Video games improve your decision-making skills
   - Most video games require fast reaction and slip-second decisions that can mean the difference between virtual life and virtual death
   - Cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Rochester in New York found that these games give players' brains plenty of practice for making decisions in the real world

http://theweek.com/articles/466852/7-health-benefits-playing-video-games

Rainstorm Poem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xLvLX8tZuk

I chose this poem because it meant something. The meaning of the poem is meaningful to me because the poem is about beauty and how the rain storm can get away the sadness and everything that bothers you in the world. When the rainstorm leaves it shows brighter days and happier days so that the bad days were gone away with the wind. The poem was very hard to get to concept of memorizing the poem, but it was easier than memorizing the monologue. When I was memorizing the poem it went with the flow once you get to concept. The only problem with memorizing the poem was the length and some of the words repeated itself, and the lines sounded the same just because it was poem. The techniques that I used while memorizing with separting each section into four stanzas so they would have the pair that rhymed with the previous line. So by separating into sections I could just focus on one section at a time. As I separated them into sections I color coded them so that I could remember was color was after a certain color. Since that was my first time trying that, I was nervous because I don't know how long it would take, or if it was even effective. Doing that was a struggle for me because it took it twice as long as it usually would for me when it comes to memorizing. When I realized that wasn't working for me, I had to tried another situation that I've used in the past, but this technique is very useful but very time consuming, but I had to use it. When memorizing and using the technique, I had to write down each stanza down many times so that I would memorize it. Doing that made it easy because I wrote it many times, then I can read it multiple times so that it would stay in my head. It took many days to get the concept and memorize it, but by the end of the day, it was worth it because I was able to perform in front of the class (even though it took about 20 tries)

Blog #4

All of the poems that were performed in class were all different, in many ways. We each had our different styles of picking a poem, so they were all neat and interesting. My poem was about the rain and beauty, Lauren's was about time and change and all the other ones were about change about a catipiller. This project is many forms of public speaking because you can do a poem about anything, make a beat to it, do some hand gestures and many other things to make the poem interesting to the audience.

Since only two poems were performed, I can't really talk much about each of the poems, but I can talk about Lauren's and my poem because they were the only ones that were performed.

When hearing Lauren's, her poem was very interesting. It was all about time, but the words that were put together in a poem showed a true meaning. The poem showed meaning about time, and that time puts your day together and makes it complete. I liked her poem because it was original, and the words were put together which made the poem interesting. Also I liked how Lauren performed because she used hand motions while performing the poem, and her hand motions went with the poem. While she was doing hand motions, it wasn't too much, but it wasn't too little so it wasn't overwhelming.

Performing my poem, was never racking but I got it done. I liked how my poem just went with the flow and was easy to remember because each line had a pair to go along with and rhymed. The music went along with it and the starting of the poem was just right. It took many tries but towards the end of the class, but I finally got there.

Debate topics

1.) Sport stars should be positive role models

2.) Sharing music online should be allowed 

3.) Video games are too violent 

4.) Smoking should be illegal 

5.) Same sex marriage should be allowed 

6.) Frades should be abolished 

Poem

You were born to be a rainstorm,

To send your voice throughout the night,

To sing your song with falling raindrops, 

To break the darkness with your light,

You were born to show raw beauty,

To wash the dirt out from their eyes,

But the whole world ran for cover,

When you opened up your skies,

So you made your thunder silent,

And learnt t bite your tongue,

You gave them what they wanted,

You gave them life with endless sun,

But as they watched their lives grow weaker,

Watched as their leaves turned brown and dry,

They wished they didn't take for granted,

Your blooming presence in the sky,

You were born to be a rainstorm,

To be chaotic and be bold,

To show there's beauty in the knowledge,

That you cannot be controlled,

Because you might think your not needed,

Life without you is the same,

But nothing beautiful would ever grow, 

If it wasn't washed with the rain. 

Goals in the Marking Period

The main goals that I set for the second semester marking period was not to fall behind or be lazy. Setting those goals for myself would make me a better person in and out of the classroom. The main reason I said to not fall behind is because making up work is terrible, but even more terrible is making up work and having other homework to do also that's due the next day. If I do that, then I will be lazy and not do the made up work, and then fall behind to the point where I'm almost failing. So far with only two weeks left of the marking period, I am not falling behind and keeping up the work, and sometimes do more work than needed. (which I call not being lazy) Compared to last semesters in high school, my work improvement has improved greatly and that has made me a better student in and out of the classroom. In the years to go, I will continue to work hard and maybe harder for everything in the class room so that it would pay off in the long run.

I mainly worked on getting my work done and asking for help when I need too this marking period, more than I ever did in any other marking period. I improved on completing full homework assignments and asking for help when I needed help and going to extra help if I don't get anything. (mainly before tests/quizzes) I think I need to work on mainly keeping up with assignments and not turning in anything late. Also one of my goals that I need to work on this semester and next is getting the same grade in every class, no matter how hard it is. Do all the work, go to extra help if I don't get anything that's going on in the class.

The goals that I set for the next marking period is to do everything that will make you become a good student. In the classroom especially, participating in more discussions, be an active thinker in group activities and many more. To me being an active body in a classroom will help you become a better person out of the classroom but also in the long run when you aren't in the classroom. Being that kind of student will make you do better even on your homework assignments and tests because,your an active listener and will help you study.

The thing I might do this upcoming period is described above. But my goals is to make my school year easier by just doing the hard work first and everything else last. By this I mean, when a project is assigned, do that whenever you have free time just to get it done so you don't have to worry about it in the long run. This can also means not slacking and waiting for the last minute to get everything done.

Putting all of these things together will hopefully become successful in the long run; college. 

I Believe Reflection and Speech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1fOcPPSAEQ


I wrote this speech based on my family. In the speech I wrote that my family meant everything to me, and how the formed and shaped me to be the person that I am today. In the speech I wrote about my mom, and my two brothers that inspired me the most.

In my speech I mentioned my mom because my mom was the one who raised me. She's the one who was able to play the mom and the dad figure with no problem. She raised eight kids, mainly by herself with the help of my dad's side of the family before he passed away. My mom had a huge impact on my life because she's the one who consequence me when I did something wrong, but when I did something bad, she made me feel like the best person in the world. Also, she put her family before anything, if someone needed help she would be right there no matter where it was. The best thing about my mom is that she always forgave me for what I did no matter how bad it was, she never stopped loving me.

My two brothers who inspired me the most is three years older than me and six years older than me. My brother Kyren plays college football in Texas. I look up to him because I plan on doing the same thing he's doing but at a lower level in college athletics. He always tells me how coaches are, what they do, and how they "work" because every college coach is different. Playing football he has plenty of coaches and each one of them are different. One might be your best friend and the other might hate you or vise versa. He says no matter how rough they are or how they act to you, your hard work and your attitude is all that matters.

My oldest brother Daniel has a family now, but before this he always told me to respect my body and other people around me, but mainly my body. He says that as a pretty young black female, everyone wants you and thinks your "easy" because of the past movements with blacks, but all I gotta do is prove them wrong so that people start changing their mind and seeing blacks as just normal people. Some girls don't do that, but as a young black girl I can do that and it will hopefully change in the years to come.

At the end of the video I state a quote from the bible that means my family is everything. You should always put your family first and before anyone because they are the strongest bond you will ever have until you get married.

Growing Up

I believe that your family can change your view on life. My family is everything, I would put them before anything instantly. Growing up with eight brothers and being the only girl was hard. Sharing the bathroom with them was the worst because either I had to spray a ton of febreze around and suffer the consequences when you walk through the door or wait 45 minutes for it to be free. But they're the ones that always had my back through the good times and bad. Emotionally my brothers made me strong they picked on me and yelled at me when I didn't listen, and physically to deal with the things that brothers do; put me in headlocks, grab me by one leg and hold me upside down, sit on me until I can't breath, or pin me down so another brother can do something to me. Growing up with my family had positive outcomes and bad outcomes, but each thing had a learning experience and made me become the girl I am today. Every day at least, I created a fight or argument with each brother which ended up in me crying or just getting physical fight and having another brother or my mom coming to break us up. Once I got older, it wasn't all about fighting anymore, it was mostly about making me emotionally and mentally strong for the real world today.

Each brother had a huge impact on my life whether it's beating me up to learn my lesson or watching out for me and giving me tip on how to live life and the future, but my parents made the most impact on me. They're the ones that made me who I am. My dad and my mom got divorced right after my younger brother was born, then my dad shortly after died due to liver failure. Since my mom had to do both duties now, she struggled, but it didn't stop her from attending sport events or giving up whatever we needed. My mom has been there for me through thick and thin, tears of anger and tears of joy, even during my brat moments and during my sweetheart moments, and no matter what I do she will always love me. I look up to my mom the most, because ever since she and my dad got a divorce, she has just been focusing on her kids and the restaurants and making sure that we live unforgettable lives. She always supports me no matter how much I make her mad, but she tells me "no teenager can be perfect."

The one day that I was getting along with my older brother, Daniel, he taught me the most, not physically but emotionally and how I should grow up being a respectful young lady. One day he said, "you shouldn't let anyone come between my family and you because it's the strongest bond that you will ever have with anyone. As a young mixed lady you should always be respectful and have a positive outlook with everything that goes into you and out of you. You should also have respect for your body, keep it in shape and don't give it up to anyone you have no respect for. You should always keep your body sacred until you meet that one person that you will soon marry." My older brother inspires me the most because out of every one of my brothers, right now, he inspires me because of his success, personality, and outlook towards and in his life. He's the one who went to college for sports, focused on what he did best, then after college found his first love and is now marrying her this summer. He inspires me to focus on myself, focus on what I do best, and graduate high school, then soon after, college. Then after college focus on everything else that involves me succeeding in life.

I have so many physical stories that I could go on for days about, but there's one that will always stick in my head, and when I get physically weak, I just think about this story. My second youngest brother, Kyren plays college football for Texas A&M. Including that scholarship he had over 30 D1 offers for football, basketball, and track and field, but he chose football because it keeps you in shape both physically and mentally, especially playing for a high D1 college. Before he went to college, he wasn't physically ready which lead him to not be emotionally ready. As soon as he got recruited, his coach told him he had to get physically and mentally tough in a matter of months, which he knew that he couldn't do, he decided to go to prep school closer to Texas A&M to make sure he was ready for what he had coming. Whenever he comes home, which is very rare, he tells me everything, all the stories, good and bad, and tells me how I could deal with it if I ever come across a coach like his. He always comes home with different stories about his college coach, good and bad. As a college coach you’re supposed to be mean, but his college coach takes it beyond meanness, he yells all the time and when he’s yelling breaks objects against anything that’s close to him. The worst part is that one day, he treats you like the best player on the field and his best friend, but then the next day you're his worst enemy. My brother said that, that was the worst thing to get used too, but as you get older, you just get use to the fact. Kyren’s stories almost make me feel like I don't want to ever play college sports but he says, "if you're in good shape, that one less thing you gotta worry about." Kyren telling me all these stories just motivate me into being in physical shape so I don't have to worry about it in college or the years after college.

A quote from the 1 Peters 4:8 states, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” This quotes describes my family perfectly because they might be rough all the time, but in the long run they will always be by my side and have my back.

Blind Side Monologue Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qU0mg-cMtA
(Copy and Paste to watch!)


When trying to find this monologue, I knew that I was trying to find something that was meaningful to not only me, but everyone else. When I saw the Blind Side come up, I knew that I had to do something from the movie, because as a teenager, that is by far the most inspirational movie and had an impact on my personality towards sports and adults as a teenager. Finding a quote that was in the Blind Side wasn't hard, the only hard part was trying to find which one to choose because they all have a special meaning to them, from playing on the field to connecting as a family on and off the field.

I chose this monologue on courage and honor, because to me that was the best one towards teenagers and how life should be lived as a teenager. When reading it over, Michael said it perfectly even though his English wasn't the best. He stated that everyone should have courage and honor in their hearts and if they do, then that's pretty good. Even though his speech isn't perfect English, deep down, that should mean something to teenagers. I aim this mainly towards teenagers because as a teenager, I sometimes lack those aspects in life, and to be able to succeed in life, you should aways have those aspects in your life, no matter how rough it is.

While rehearsing this, memorizing it was tricky as it got to the end, so it took longer than expected. The beginning was easy to memorize, because I felt like it repeated itself, so I just had to remember what came next and after. Towards the end it was hard to memorize because I felt like he just put random stuff together to get it all in, and plus his English wasn't too good, so I had to change his words around and put in words that weren't included.

Blind Side Quote

"Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or mistake, but you're not suppose to question adults, or your coach or your teacher, because they all make the rules. Maybe they know best, but maybe they don't. It all depends on who you are, where you come from. Didn't at least one of the six hundred guys think about giving up, and joining the other side? I mean, the valley of the death that's pretty salty stuff. That's why courage is tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do. Sometimes you might not even know why you're doing something. I mean any fool can have courage . But honor, that's the real reason for you either do something or you don't. It's who you are and maybe who you want to be. If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that's pretty good."

My Life, My Future, My Goals, and My Hobbies.

This blog post is all about me. What I like to do, my personality, my hobbies, my dreams, and what I plan on doing in my future life.

Hi, my name is Chelsea. I'm a junior but suppose to be a senior in high school. Currently I'm 17 years old and will be turning 18 April 26. I was born and raised in a small town in New Hampshire called Enfield. I had a brother named Adam, who was seven years older than me, but had a different dad than me, so he was white and I was mixed. I never actually knew my dad like my brother did, because he wasn't a good guy and spent a majority of his life in jail, and my brother interacted with his dad, which made me jealous later in life. At the beginning of 3rd grade we moved due to school issues and sports that my brother was involved with. We moved the next town over, called Lebanon, New Hampshire. Where my brother attended the local high school, which was rated the top high school in New Hampshire because of their sports and eduacation. And my brother played varsity football and lacrosse there. And then I attended the elementary school. 

At the beginning of 5th grade, my mom decided to get me into sports because I was causing too much trouble at home after school. So that year I decided to start soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. After that year passed, I realized that I love sports and I loved every sport that I did, so I ended up doing the same sports again. At the end of 6th grade year, I realized that I had passion for basketball and I wanted to keep playing it in junior high and high school, but I loved playing soccer too, so I used playing soccer to keep in shape for basketball. At the end of basketball season in 6th grade, I got asked to play AAU. I had no idea what it was at first, but it basically meant more basketball in the spring and getting better, which I was up for. So my mom signed me up and everything. Going into try-outs I was nervous, but I knew that I just had to my thing. And I did everything that I could do and ended up making the team with no sweat. And I was happy as I've ever been. We got customized jerseys and I just felt cool walking into tournaments, which felt amazing. After AAU season was over, I knew that I have improved physically and mentally, so I was ready for basketball season by 7&8th grade year. Both years I made the A team, which was the better team. Throughout those two seasons I knew I improved more and more each day. After every basketball season, I got asked to move up an age group in AAU just so I could get better because my coach told me that playing with better people will make you improve as a player and person, so of course I decided to do it. Going into high school I played varsity for Lebanon High School which was so big because the coach already won three titles before I came, and was predicted to win three more with the talent he had coming up. I played one year at Lebanon and ended up winning the NHIAA title and we were the champions. My sophomore year was suppose to be my important year playing there, but my mom found this opportunity to move across the boarder to Vermont, which was only 15 minutes away from where I use to live. It was unique because I ended up playing for his brother at Hartford High School, where the team was just the same of Lebanon and I enjoyed it. That year I got picked to play AAU in Burlington, Vermont which was an hour and half from where I lived away. I played up there twice a week and traveled every weekend to tournaments. 

My mom was a single mom raising my brother and I. My brother was seven years older than me so once he got to a certain age, he started helping my mom out more and more. My mom was always working in restaurants and everyone called me a restaurant baby because my mom's water broke while she was working. At first, my mom worked at a restaurant called the truck stop, then from that she went on to working at a private country club and years later she ended up managing the food and beverage part of the country. She was doing that right until I turned 16 years old, before that I had a job there and everything, but as my mom got older and I started to travel more for basketball, the hours were not working for her. So she ended up starting her own business, which was successful right from the start. Since I always grew up in restaurants, I wanted my future in being in the restaurant stage, or something similar to it. But as I grew older and older, and started to work in different kind of restaurants, I decided that I didn't want to do that as a living anymore and go to college for communication and pyschology and hopefully help people out in the future. 

My hobbies are basically anything. I play a lot of basketball for the majority of the year, so I consider that as one of my main hobbies. Also, I'm a typical Vermonter so I love being outdoors; going for hikes, walks and runs in the woods. Also, I'm a very big family person and I love spending time with my family, so I consider that as a hobby because whenever I'm home, I try to see as much as them as possible. 

My mom always said "dream big" so that's what I always did. I dream about my future basically. My biggest dream is playing basketball at a top college. Being able to feel the thrill, being on TV, playing in front of huge crowds, and going to the championship at least once in my college career. Another thing is to be able to make my momma proud in the long run. Since she was a single mom, and provided a roof over my head for my whole entire life, I want to be able to give back to her more than she gave to me, to tell her that she meant so much to me through the worst moments and the best moments.