My entire life I have always been on the search of a career that would fit my persona, fit who I truly am, and to become someone who will constantly have the ability to help people through their difficult problems that they face. Throughout my life I have been deemed the type of person that people felt comfortable coming to with their problems. Maybe people feel this way because they sense that I have a sympathetic ear? Well, all I can say is that human behavior has always seemed interesting to me and that is probably why I made the decision to go down the psychology career pathway.
I believe that choosing this career is much like how the Freedom Writers chose to beat stereotypes in the book The Freedom Writers Diary. I can compare my journey to wanting to become a licensed marriage and sex psychologist to how the Freedom Writers had to overcome how others stereotyped Ms. Gruwell's class. Ms. Gruwell's class use to be known as the “reject's class” or the “ghetto class”. For example, in dairy entry number two one student talks about the stereotyping in the school that even the students could visibly see,
I'm stuck in a classroom full of troubled kids who are bused in from bad neighborhoods. I feel really uncomfortable in here with all these rejects. I had lunch before class in the high school quad and noticed that, like everywhere else, it was really separated by race. (TFWD 8)
Many of the freedom writers felt feelings that I have felt myself especially when it came to feeling shy about speaking up for something that I truly wanted for the fear that someone would judge me. I know I want to become a licensed marriage and sex psychologist, but I know that some people would feel disgusted by my career choice. Thus, diary sixty ...
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...tempt to help save future marriages and keep families together happily. I also love having the ability not only to hear someone's problems, but to listen and help devise a solution best fitted for them makes me feel like I'm actually doing some good for the world, I feel as if I'm making peace in the home life and that may equal to less family neglect, more family values, and all around a better stress free environment at the household. Many people would think that my chosen career choice is nothing more than a nightmare, but for me it's a mere dream.
Works Cited
"The Freedom Writers Diary." The Freedom Writers Diary. New York: Broadway, 1999. page 8. Print.
"The Freedom Writers Diary." The Freedom Writers Diary. New York: Broadway, 1999. page 142. Print.
"The Freedom Writers Diary." The Freedom Writers Diary. New York: Broadway, 1999. page 145. Print.
Charters, A. (2011). The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction (8th ed.). Boston: Bedfor/St. Martin's.
Words can have a profound, meaningful impact that may alter, shift, and even end lives. In “Create Dangerously”, Edwidge Danticat reveals how words crafted her reality and identity as a woman who lived through a dictatorship. “Create Dangerously” is a nonfiction essay and memoir that focuses on the impact of literature not only in dire times, but in everyday life. Through the use of detail, allusions, and vivid recounting of the past in her writing, Danticat reveals importance and valor of creating art in times where art is a death sentence, and how this belief shaped her identity.
I keep my journal hidden; the script, the drawings, the color, the weight of the paper, contents I hope never to be experienced by another. My journal is intensely personal, temporal and exposed. When opening the leather bound formality of Alice Williamson's journal a framework of meaning is presupposed by the reader's own feelings concerning the medium. Reading someone else's diary can be, and is for myself, an voyeuristic invasion of space. The act of reading makes the private and personal into public. Yet, for Alice Williamson and many other female journalists of the Civil War period, the journal was creating a public memory of the hardship that would be sustained when read by others. The knowledge of the outside reader reading of your life was as important as the exercise of recording for one's self; creating a sense of sentimentality connecting people through emotions. (Arnold)
Eric Foner, The Story of American Freedom, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 1999), 600.
The idea of freedom can be seen throughout Collection 2 in our textbook. Freedom can be seen in the short story “The Censors” by Luisa Valenzuela when it talks about the freedom of speech. Addition to that, an article “A People’s History Of The 1963 March On Washington” by Charles Euchner shows freedom in its article when it talks about the segregation occurring to colored men. Lastly, freedom is shown in the graphic novel “Persepolis 2: The Story Of A Return” by Marjane Satrapi as it shows high restriction.
Deborah Gray White, Mia Bay, and Waldo E. Martin Jr. Freedom On My Mind, (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013), 186.
Deborah Gray White, Mia Bay, and Waldo E. Martin Jr. Freedom On My Mind, (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013), 163.
Wenska Jr., Walter P. "The Coquette AND THE AMERICAN DREAM OF FREEDOM." Early American Literature (1977): 243-256.
Shear, Walter. "Cultural Fate and Social Freedom in Three American Short Stories", Studies in Short Fiction, Newberry, S.C., 1992 Fall, 29:4, 543-549.
Jackson, Kevin. “The great bad writer.” Prospect Magazine. 22 Feb 2012. Web. 20 April 2014.
Shear, Walter. "Cultural fate and social freedom in three American short stories." Studies in Short Fiction, fall 92, Vol. 29 Issue 4, p543, 7p.
Eric Foner, The Story of American Freedom, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 1999), 294-95.
I have chosen social work as a profession because of my passion to help others. I want to make a difference in someone’s life and help them through the problems they are having. Whether the client needs counseling, guidance, or advocacy I want to be the person to help them. My drive for helping others and motivation to change social policies for the better is why I have chosen social work as my future profession.
My interest persisted and grew as I began to see how my efforts had the ability to improve the lives of people around me. I first noticed this on a personal level as friends would come to me for advice or for me to listen to their struggles and provide comfort. No matter how mundane, horrific, unique, or common the story was, I listened to them in a genuine and non-judgmental manner. I truly enjoyed hearing people’s stories and providing comfort and advice when needed. These moments helped me realize the power of simply being there for someone, and it increased my interest of pursuing a career where I can support those who need it most. I want to become a social worker so I can provide direction to those who may not be able to get it from other sources, just like I have done for various people throughout my life.
For me, it didn’t click that I can turn these characteristics and skills into a career that I would enjoy until I started meeting regularly with my High School Counselor, Mrs. Corbin. I met with Mrs. Corbin once a day for about an hour in order to receive my community service hours that were required for graduation. Much like me, she has a passion for helping others and she carried me through my entire senior year. She would show my how to fill out college applications, help determine which college was the best fit for me, we spoke a lot about what major I should consider, and give me advice or just listen to what was going on in my life. She really inspired me to be on this path that I am today because I want to give others the help, love, and support she gave me. She recognized my desire to help others and “people person” skills and would always say “You’ll miss your calling in life if you don’t become some sort of counsellor”. That phrase always