What i think about Writing assignment 2: College and The Future

I think this writing assignment is kinda of a challenge, and why i think that is that there more stuff to do like you have to write a 4 page essay about college and the future but also do an interview with someone who has the same major as you. To me i like the interview part you get to know about the person you interview for this assignment and they might give you more information about stuff which i like learning new thing about stuff i didn't know about. I feel like the more we do writing assignment the more we improve on a lot of things too, like with our writing and grammar and other things we have to work on too.

Why did Malcolm X go to jail with his friends shorty for 10 years?

In chapter ten we find out that Malcolm X and his friend shorty got ten years because they were committed a crime with white girls. But they got more into trouble then the girls. because during their time white and blacks can't be seen together it was against the rules. If white and black people were seen together they would either get a warning or they would both go to jail. which is not faith because you can control who you want to be with or be friends with. you should do whatever you want.

Why Malcolm and Shorty got 10 years

Its Malcolm X’s feeling that he and Shorty got 10 years of jail time because they committed the crime with white girls. Further into the book when he leaves jail he also says how he and Shorty talked about how they knew many people who had committed worse crimes, and got lesser sentences. In the time when he has gotten arrested, and I think it can even be argued in some cases today, people see things in black and white, no pun intended. A white women “doesn’t belong” with a black man and because of that they are going to shame the black man for that while the women hardly gets a punishment.

Race And Religion

at the end of the chapter “saved”, Malcolm get the first chance he can to stand and question the white teacher about the race of Paul and then furthermore the race of Jesus. I think Malcolm had so many new feelings and so much new information that he was acquiring and wanted to prove himself right a lot he wanted to inform other people about his beliefs as often as he could. For me personally I think I see Jesus as someone similar to me, I cant speak for everyone but perhaps seeing him as a version of someone similar to you is a comforting feeling and maybe he doesn’t have the same look to everyone.

Malcolm's family

To me is funny to see how the roles have changed between the two brothers. This also shows a pattern in Malcolm's family. They can't keep a constant lifestyle because their childhood was pretty tough because of the death of their father and mistreat of their mother. This leads to many family members to take bad decisions and suffer the consequences. I think that is why this autobiography made a huge impact because the story is not only told by Malcolm's perspective but also tells the effect of their family being a black family. 

Why did Bimbi (ch. 10) make such an impression upon Malcolm?

I think because Malcolm always lived under violence and injustice. So, when he saw Bimbi gain respect in a peaceful way he learned that violence is not needed to change people and share your ideas. This behavior made a huge change in Malcolm's life because he starts doing the same and start earns the respect of the other prisoners. Also, he was able to share his religion, thoughts and make connections with different people.

Why did Bimbi (ch. 10) make such an impression upon Malcolm?
Ans:- In my opinion, Bimbi make such an impression upon Malcolm because of his personality as a non-violent and being a preacher of spreading the Nation of Islam. Moreover, he has never met anyone who inspired him in a positive way and lead him to right path instead of following bad influence. 

Malcolm with Reginald

I actually appreciate the relationship between the two brothers, I felt bad when Malcolm disowned him as a brother. After he slept with his secretary, and then says he felt closer to the faith of Islam then his actual family. which for me makes me feel bad for Malcolm that he's getting to dedicated to religion, then being with his family.

Why did Bimbi (ch. 10) make such an impression upon Malcolm? 

I believe that Bimbi made such impression upon Malcolm because he has never met anyone like Bimbi. As in Bimbi never cursed or yelled but he still got everyone's attention when he talked. H e had power in his voice and his opinion mattered. This was new to Malcolm because was used to talking in slang and didn't care about education much. When he heard and saw Bimbi talking it was a new fascinating experience for him. He was drawn to the respect and tone Bimbi used while talking. Bimbi was educated and mannered which was way different from Malcolm's world. 

My opinion about how Elijah Muhammad judged white people.

I disagree with how Elijah Muhammad expressed his statement by saying only white people are evil. In my opinion, I think that all people are good and bad not just white people. It was wrong for  how white people treated africans but, In this world every race has done something evil to one another, which has led to protests, wars, fights, and a division of separation.

Response to the question from Race and Religion

• Why did Bimbi (ch. 10) make such an impression upon Malcolm? 

I think that Bimbi made such an impression upon Malcolm because, he was amazed how he used so many vocabulary words to talk to people and appeared to be a non- violent person. This surprised Malcolm since Bimbi was in jail which led to have Malcolm think that all prisoners don't have a variety of words to use when communicating and all prisoners are just violent people. Bimbi was even nice to Malcolm when he was in jail.

Conversation Hours

If you need practice working on your English, I recommend the CTAS conversation hours. Although I won't give extra credit for attending these, you will get free food! See below:

Race and Religion

At the end of the chapter, "Saved," Malcolm is in a religion class in jail w/ a white teacher. Malcolm asks "What color was Paul?" This leads toward a discussion of whether Paul was black or not, and then what color Jesus was. How did you react toward this scene? Regardless of your own faith, or lack thereof, how do you see Jesus when you imagine him, if indeed you do? Why do you think you see Jesus the way you do? How do you know what he's supposed to look like?

Other questions:

• It's Malcolm X's feeling that he and Shorty got ten years for robbery because they were working w/ white women, not because of the robbery. Why would they get a stiffer sentence for that?
• Why did Bimbi (ch. 10) make such an impression upon Malcolm? 
• Why does Elijah Muhammad teach that white people are devils?
• In what ways has history been "whitened" according to the Nation of Islam? 

What other things did you notice? What questions does the reading raise for you?

Malcolm X writes of how mathematical geniuses like West Indian Archie became numbers runners and writes that, "in another kind of society, their exceptional mathematical talents might have been better used" (135). Why didn't mid-century America better use their talents? 

I believe he said this because Archie wasn't white and during the mid- century only whites were considered successful. For example blacks were only considered as failures and were not respected. The whites believed that they were too smart for blacks and the blacks were not smart. Though Malcolm talked about how him and Sammy tricked the cops into thinking that they were lost and looking for a specific address. When in reality they were the thieves the cops were supposed to catch. This is why if we had someone as genius as Archie we would actually respect them and out his mind to work regardless his race.

New Assignment 2

As I looked through what is required of the activity, it will take some time to gather material and have a proper schedule for each required criteria. Shows me that time management is a very important thing and with that I will be able to have drafts handed in on time as well as it being properly done. First off with the interview. Lets go guys we can do it! A little motivation for you all.

Response to one of the Malcolm X question

On p. 88, Malcolm X write about African Americans being "both servants and psychologists." What does that mean?

In my opinion, I think this means that African Americans at the time would do what they were told by their bosses and would make sure people that they were serving or working for, were satisfied with their needs. I also think what Malcolm X meant by African Americans being psychologists is that, Africans tried to get white people to like them so that they can try to get a better work position to get more money and to try to convince them they aren't bad people as they are since they were judged by society.

NY Times Editorial

I thought you guys might like to see this editorial by Charles Blow that came out a couple days ago. He quotes Malcolm X. Reactions?

Malcom x, week 2

The reason why people didn’t use their talents on mid- century it was because society were to focus on separate themselves in social classes, Black people were trying very hard to integrate themselves in the white society that they forget many times about what they were good at. And West Indian Archie was an example of how talent and intelligence coming from Black or other group of people wasn’t appreciate for the society. Malcom himself was another example, when he was so good at school that he wanted to became a lawyer, society wouldn’t accept them because of who are them base on superficial things. 

Book and clips review

The pages that we read today and watch the clips which was mostly related to the dance and band creates a scene where you can completely understand where the book heads up to. I like the fact that in clips it's more information than just reading a book and imagining things like how would this react be looking as or how would things be going around if these scene was there. However, when I watched a clips it was more than just a dialogues or word; it was more about making it interesting view which is easier just by observing their facial expressions and their foot steps.

What did interracial couple where going through during this time where they couldn't be together?

Answer: during the time where it was forbidden for people of color to be with white people and one thing that happens if they get caught they get thrown in jail because of them being in love. It was a big problems because they had to hide there relationship from people and they try so hard to keep it a secret from everyone.

Malcolm X writes of the riots in Harlem in 1935. Why do you think people riot? Why do they destroy the businesses and property in their own neighborhoods?

Most people riot in order to protest for what they want or something they are against. For example some people may want a change in the way certain things run or just simply their beliefs. Rioting is simply a more aggressive manner in protest. From high school I remember that the riot started over theft, so the the riot was intended into businesses and not people. Which was as to why they were destroying properties as well as businesses in their own neighborhood. It was also to protest against racial injustice. In their case they want their voices heard through rioting.

Book Reveiw

Malcom went to to a terrible road, working with Sammy the pimp, selling marijuana sticks and/or "reefers. He did this to survive in the streets of Harlem  but at the same time he had to be cautious about it as he had to be aware of the police. I really like how Malcolm does not miss out on any information at all. He is very detail and he certainly has a vivid image about his life step by step. He only did it for his own benefit. For example, Malcolm had enough money to go to the movies, watching at least five movies a day. However, although selling marijuana was good for Malcolm, i wouldn't necessarily have it be a first time job for the upcoming generation.

Malcolm X week 2

Malcolm X does such a great job of describing the vivid details of the world of hustlers in Harlem: the different levels of drug dealing, prostitution, stealing, his brother's hustle, and so on. I think that's one reason the book is still read--he makes a specific historical time come alive vividly for his readers. Instead of just saying he sold pot to musicians, he says one of them smoked through a chicken thigh bone. That's a priceless detail!

Malcolm X the movie scene of them dancing was actually quite interesting to watch. Because while reading those chapters when he'll talk about how they look as if they were possessed and what not, when it came to dancing. It was cool to see the things that he would talk about, because he would say that Laura was a "perfect size" which would make me think what types of dancing he was talking about. Now i can fully visualize it because he'd flip her over him, and then i saw Sophia hiding in the background as well 

I believe Malcolm was tying to become successful and wanted to show whites that blacks are not failures. Along the lines he forgot how he was doing illegal things like asking a soldier to be put on with a prostitute. He started doing illegal things like selling weed and rugs and ruin his life. He got involved with cops and almost lost his life when Archie came to shot him. He though that was his hustle and he was independent. Though in reality he could've gone to school and get educated and live a better life. Instead of Lindy hopping he could've spend his time studying so he wouldn't have to go to jail. He was too young to go through the things he went through but at the end it was him who made those choices.

About the movie clips we watched today...

These movie clips were very interesting to me. It really gave me a peek into what entertainment in that time period was like. Swing and Jazz music thrived a lot in that time period. Especially in Harlem, New York. From prior knowledge, I know that Jazz music was actually created by African Americans. I thought this was interesting to me because I saw how well the music was performed. Also, another thing I noticed about the clips was that there were predominantly black actors in those musical films. They performed Jazz and Swing songs really well. I can see why Malcolm X liked those films.

Video and Reading

I really liked how we were able to see video of what Malcolm X was talking about when he watched "Stormy weather" and "Cabin in the sky". The reason why I liked this is because we are able to visually see how Malcolm liked certain scenes in the movie and we were able to compare the imagery we had when reading and seeing the visualization with our own eyes.

Malcolm X week 2

I enjoyed seeing the clips from movies Malcolm mentioned in the book and also the Spike Lee produced version of Malcolm X. They both really helped me to better set the scene, although I knew what was going on in the book and the time period it was placed in I didn't really know how they danced and how they acted and they clothes they dressed in. I was thinking about the term lindy hopping and I knew they were dancing but I didn't really know how, and the music and entertainment and the way they danced is so different than what we know today so the clips helped me better understand the scene and how different it was then. 

Malcolm X, Week 2

Some questions I have about the reading this week:

• On p. 88, Malcolm X write about African Americans being "both servants and psychologists." What does that mean?
• What is the significance of the white patrons in bars who would go up to black patrons and say, "You're just as good as I am--I want you to know that!" Why does Malcolm X tell this story? (p. 129). 
• Malcolm X writes of the riots in Harlem in 1935. Why do you think people riot? Why do they destroy the businesses and property in their own neighborhoods? 
• Malcolm X writes of how mathematical geniuses like West Indian Archie became numbers runners and writes that, "in another kind of society, their exceptional mathematical talents might have been better used" (135). Why didn't mid-century America better use their talents? 
• What questions does the reading raise for you so far?

What role does Laura play in the book? Why does Malcolm X devote a chapter to her?

Reading this chapter I believe Laura represents a turning point in Malcolm's life, he describes her as someone who loved to read, who loved her school, hence why she was a genuine person and very friendly with everyone,  she even supported his dream of becoming a lawyer, Malcolm described her as "...different from the others on the Hill." Later on he showed how she started changing for him, she stopped reading, she started lying to her grandma, she became a different person after she met him. After he choses a white girl (Sophia) whom he met at the dance, over her, she loses it, he explained that she became a wreck, that she started drinking and doing drugs and she also started selling herself to men, I believe he devoted the chapter to her because for years he has blamed himself for what happened to her, and how she turned out, if it wasn't for him doing that to her, she would've continued her school and her future would've turned out better.

Malcolm X Reading

Seeing that I just acquired the book I've read two to three chapters each day. All of which i couldn't stop reading. Malcom X has gone through quite a lot and though he had done some activities of many different kinds, there are actually some i can relate to. It shows that big influencers go through the same situations that us as young individuals go through. And that will certainly teach us a lot through the rest of the reading.

Malcolm X spends some time discussing interracial dating. How did you react to these scenes?

The story about interracial dating amaze me because white people and black people had a great organization to have encounters depending on the zone or area. This shows the other face of white people and how they accept black folks for private reasons. I think many people see this situation normal because it was like  a win-win, so nobody could complain about it. The interesting part was that white women chase black men and meet at the bridge because when I think about the bridge, it comes to mind a sour of symbolism, a thin line between black and white people where the thin line represents quality between the two colors and the differences are separated and forgotten.     

Why do you think it made such a big impact when his teacher, Mr. Ostrowski, tells Malcolm that it's "unrealistic" to want to be a lawyer?

When Malcolm's teacher tells him he cant be a lawyer it definitely had a major impact on him. Not only could it have changed the story but of course his whole life possibly. Just like anyone we all set a goal or choose something we would like to be and accomplish. In his case it was rejected by his teacher just because he was black. Its understandable at the time it could've been that way but i still believe another person shouldn't change your mind on what you strive for. There was other educated black people at the time so there was no reason Malcolm couldn't have became a lawyer. There could've been many possible outcomes to Malcolm's life if he had followed his desire into being a lawyer. At the same time when someone tells you you cant be something it also builds up that desire in order to prove someone wrong. In Malcolm case he was self taught and educated himself which influenced him a lot.

Why do you think it made such a big impact when his teacher, Mr. Ostrowski, tells Malcolm that it's "unrealistic'' to want to be a lawyer?

Answer: It made such a big impact for Malcolm because his teacher crushed his dreams to become lawyer because of his skin color. So after that Malcolm changed a lot he didn't cared about school anymore he gave up on getting an education because of what his teacher said. So at age 15 he dropped out of school because there was no point to continue his education because what his teacher said was stuck in his head. I always thought if Malcolm teacher never said that to him would he become a lawyer or would he did what he did in his life.

Slang in Malcolm X

The slang used in the book correlates to the English that was spoken in that time period. It plays a role in displaying how individuals would communicate with each other and what was deemed appropriate to say. Furthermore it helps the reader experience the story through Malcolm's eyes and a different perspective.

How does Malcolm X connects his personal story to a critique of race in the US?

The autobiography of Malcolm X describes the difficult life of Malcolm X. There are many aspects of race, and societal problems in this auto biography. For example, when Malcolm X talks about his own family, he describes how he was treated differently by his parents because he was light skinned. He states that his father had favored him, that his father had never laid a hand on him because his skin was lighter than his siblings' skin. While his mother favored him the least, because of his light skin.It was mentioned that Malcolm X's mother is biracial, and that his grandmother was raped by a white man. Because of this, Malcolm X and his mother had a strong distaste to his light skin. 

Meanwhile, his father was very dark skinned. His father never beat him because he had light skin. The societal norm for people in this time was that light skin is superior, while dark skin is inferior. This could be why Malcolm X's father had never hit him when he was alive. This shows that the negative societal norms even affected black households, because they were so common. 

However, in school, Malcolm was called many racial slurs, all of which pointed at his skin. One thing that really stuck out to me was that to his own family, Malcolm was treated differently because his skin was light. His father favored him for that reason. However, at school, he was just seen as another black person, and was still considered inferior  to the white people. 

Also, in chapter 3, Malcolm describes some black people in a negative connotation, explaining that they wanted to be white people. In my opinion, this was not their fault. Rather, I think it is the fault of racist white people, and the standard that white skin was superior to dark skin. 

Malcom X

- Mr Ostrowski  being his teacher was someone that Malcolm looked up to. For him to tell Malcolm that what he wants to do is unrealistic would make him feel like no one believes in him.It would be similar to climbing a mountain with a companion and then as they both reach to the top, the companion decides to convince you to go back down. I do believe that Mr Ostrowski was looking out for Malcolm when he said that it was unrealistic. He knew that during the current era that it would have been safer for Malcolm to be something that wouldn't get him in trouble/judged for his skin color.

- For questions I would like to see if he successfully reaches his goal and maintains it. I am also curious to see where and how his assassination happened.

Beginning Malcolm X

As we start reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, I'd like us to think about the following questions:

• In what way(s) does Malcolm X connect his personal story to a critique of race in the US?
• He critiques white people, of course, but he also critiques some black people. Whom and why? 
• He also critiques systems--capitalism, social mores, etc. Did you notice examples of this? Where? 
• Malcolm X spends some time discussing interracial dating. How did you react to these scenes? 
• Why do you think it made such a big impact when his teacher, Mr. Ostrowski, tells Malcolm that it's "unrealistic" to want to be a lawyer?
• What role does slang play in the book? 
• What is the significance of hair-straightening in the book? 
• What role does Laura play in the book? Why does Malcolm X devote a chapter to her? 
• What questions do you have about the book so far? What direction do you predict it will take?

Group Critiques

I have had some experiences related to group discussions and I think they are really helpful because every member of the group have different ideas that can be shared in the group, which make me feel confident to express my opinion and share my ideas. Something new I learned was, that many of my peers found journals and writing  as a way or expression or a safe-place to write their feelings or awful experiences they have had. The less helpful was the grammar correction I think because It don't give a real feedback of the work and it is focused on minor errors, so I think we have to focus the main idea explained on the draft to be able to make comments or suggestions. 

Writing Center Extra Credit

As I said, you can earn extra credit (one quiz per week) by going to the Writing Center. They no longer send me reports so you should ask your tutor for an attendance slip and then pass that slip along to me.

First Group Critique

      I used to do the same activity at my English class in high school, my teacher would put us to work on group about our essays or research paper. My classmates would give me three to four good comments, just like they would give me three to four suggestions of what should i change. I particularly find this activity very helpful because i have the opportunity to change many things with my classmates suggestions.
what i learn from my classmates witting was that, each person has their own way of write. and that there is not perfection before some works and drafts.

Draft work

When I was reviewing one of my peers work, I saw that the draft had a good story line but, I wrote a suggestion which was to explain how the student worked hard to get through a certain goal when he was talking about his project in the draft. Overall, the draft had good details and explanation of what the narrative was about.

Group critques

Today I found the group critique very beneficial. In the group critique we discussed what improvements we can make to fix our draft and the good parts that we had in our draft. Starting group critique made me feel a little nervous because I usually don't like reading aloud but, it helped me realize that I made some grammatical errors. One thing I like about this is that when the groups are sharing their writing, you get to learn something new about them in their life. Another thing that I like is that, you are able to see how people express their ideas when writing.

Group critique

Today's group critique was very interesting. I have never had a group critique class before but back in my country we had something close to that known as Student Based Assessment(SBA). However, we didn't really have a time where we would actually sit down and just talk about what we wrote. We just made sure that everybody was on the right track and that the work was actually completed. I found t very helpful as I was able to have others make comments on my excerpt. For example, what I learnt today was that I had to stick to the topic and to not drift away from the point i am trying to make in the extract. For now, I do not really think that there should be any changes when it comes to the critiquing sessions. I just have to remember to print my work draft before coming to class(sorry professor). With that, I am going to do more research on literary narratives, looking at all the sample pieces and try to buy a new printer. I hope for the best for myself and to all!     

After The Peer Review

After getting into groups for the first time in the class I believe that it was a different feeling. In high school I had to do similar things but today had a different atmosphere. Nervous at first when the professor said that we would have to read it out loud but shortly after reading it I kind of understood why he suggested we do so. Reading it out loud made me see all of the mistakes that I had made and then also reading what my peers had wrote made me also realize that I had rushed the story and should have probably slow it down. The exercise is very efficient and I cant think of anything I would do to possibly change the way it runs. It was very helpful in the end and I cannot wait to see the outcome of my final draft. I also look forward to the future group critics for our future writing assignments.

My thoughts on the first group critique

Our first group critique as a whole was pretty successful in my eyes. I was able to learn a lot of things about my writing. I learned more about showing, not telling through reading my partners' work. They explained the significance of an event by describing where they were, what they were feeling, and what they learned from their experience. Personally, I found this to be very helpful because I was quite stumped on this part of writing my essay.

While I learned a lot about my writing with this group critique, I still think i need to learn more. I want to know if I am being a bit too repetitive with my words, and I want to know how to use more powerful words to make my essay stronger. Overall, I definitely think I have learned a lot with this group critique thanks to my group mates. But, I still want to learn even more.

In addition to learning, I want to be able to help out my peers with their writing as well. How can I help them in a better way? If they need any help for their work, what can I do to clarify their information? I think a good way to receive help is to explicitly state the weak parts of the essay as a whole. With that in mind, people that are reading essays will be able to give constructive criticism without any hassle.

First group critique

This group critique was something new for me and it was honestly very helpful. It allowed my classmates to share their ideas with me in order to make my essay better which was just what i needed. learned from my group what their hobbies were along with their journey into learning to write. for example one of my group members had creative writing influence their writing which i can also relate to. Now with all the ideas i have gathered from my group i will add it to my essay so it can continue to catch their attention and allow my essay to be better.

First Group Critique

From my first experience with the group critique, I'd say It wasn't anything I hadn't encountered before. I've previously written essays for English class weekly and also gave it to my classmates in order to peer review, similar to what the group critique is. The only new aspect about it is the topics in which we write about such as the literacy narrative which I hadn't done before. But I for sure find it useful as you get to listen to what other people think about your writing from a non biased perspective. I'm not sure what changes should be made to the critiquing process though. I also received good feedback from my group members and observed the techniques they used which I think could help my paper.

Thoughts about group critiques

I liked the group critique this week I have worked in groups before editing each others work and I think its really helpful to see other peoples opinions and points of view about what you wrote. My group gave me some good advice about a few parts of my story that could use some revision and also gave me positive feedback which I will be able to add on to and gave me new ideas. I think its really helpful to get feedback from your classmates because often times other people can notice little things that you missed.

1st Week on the Blog

For this first week of the blog, I would like you to write about your experience in the group critique on Tuesday. Some questions I have:

• Have you ever participated in an activity like this before? In what ways was it new for you? What did you find helpful about it? What was less helpful? How would you suggest we change it going forward, if at all? 
• What did you learn about your literacy narrative from your group? What steps do you need to take next in composition and/or revision?

For one of your responses this week, I would like you to respond to a classmate's post about their draft. What bit of advice can you give them?

You may also write about Malcolm X if you've begun reading.