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There are many issues today that we don’t understand as well because of the lack of information we have about them. Poverty, discrimination, and how women are treated are the few issues we face today. Tupac’s “Keep Your Head Up” and Holliday’s “Strange Fruit” gives us a deeper look into these problems. Many of people are living in poverty. They are struggling with the little money they have to take care of their children and themselves. People are struggling and trying to survive, along with their friends and family. They lose their jobs, houses, and their happiness, but they still try so hard to make it into this world of ours while others are living carefree, spending money on things like brand name clothing or expensive sport cars. “While the rich kids drivin Benz I’m still tryin to hold on to my surviving friends.” (Tupac, “Keep Your Head Up”) We should not wave our money and spend it on things that we don’t need. Instead, we should save money for things we’d need later on and also care about the only family and friends we have, before it’s too late. In Billy Holliday’s song,...
Barbara Ehrenreich’s story, in her book “Nickel and Dimed,” was humbling to read. Her quote at the end of her book left me speechless. She states, “I grew up hearing over and over to the point of tedium that hard work was the secret to success: ‘Work hard and you’ll get ahead’ or ‘It’s hard work that got us where we are.’ No one ever said that you could work hard—harder even than you ever thought possible—and still find yourself sinking ever deeper into poverty and debt (220).’” When I first started to read this quote I thought it was going to be encouraging, but by the end my heart felt heavy for people like Ehrenreich that are stuck in poverty and can’t seem to get out, no matter how hard they work. It is such an eye opener to me because I have grown up hearing things such as “work hard to get what you want”, which is similar to what Ehrenreich has heard as well, yet Ehrenreich didn’t find this to be true. Being privileged and having parents that support my financially is something that I take for granted.
Oppression in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
...ness. We should just “love our life, poor as it is” as poor people would yield “the most sugar and the most starch.” Therefore, we should be unique and should never care about money in this material world.
Maya Angelou lived through a time where she was discriminated against for not only her race but also her gender. In her poem “Still I Rise” Angelou sarcastically talks about how no matter what is thrown at her she will rise above it and she will do it with resilience and confidence. Her poem discusses racism and sexism and gives minorities and women a sense of hope to overcome and endure both of those things. Angelou’s self-assurance in the poem makes you believe that you too can overcome whatever obstacle. Although this poem was intended for blacks, and women, and specifically black women, the poem helps build up strong and courageous people no matter what race or gender you are. Maya Angelou in “Still I Rise” uses both pathos and ethos to
For example, the essay discusses the problem of there not being enough eligible Black men attending college (Henry, West, & Jackson 245). The definition of eligible could be interpreted as attending college and on a path to some sort of success. Because there is a shortage of eligible young men “Black females believe that they must succumb to the whims and pleasures of men in order to find a mate” because this is the image being shown to them when young ladies in hip hop videos do seductive things in order to gain the attention of the a male (Henry, West, & Jackson 245). One of the most terrible effects is that the music destroys black women 's self perception making it hard for young Black women to “ exhibit personal pride” (Henry, West, & Jackson 245).
As stated by Franklin D. Roosevelt, “the test of our progression is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” Many people may agree with this statement considering that the United States is such a wealthy country and in 2012, 46.5 million people were living in poverty in the United States and 15% of all Americans and 21.8% of children under age eighteen were in poverty.The honest truth is that many people do not know the conditions this group of people must live in on a daily basis because of the small number of people who realize the struggle there is not a great amount of service. In the article Too stressed for Success, the author Kevin Clarke asks the question “What is the cost of being poor in America?” and follows the question by explaining the great deals of problems the community of poverty goes through daily by saying, “Researchers have long known that because of a broad reduction in retail and other consumer choices experienced by America's poor, it is often simply more expensive to be poor in the United States.
“Proper society did not think about making money, only about spending it,” said Barbara W. Tuchman. This quote shows our real world, and the people that spend money, but they forget about the value of money. Nowadays people want more than they have. They forget how many things they have and how much money they spend. Most people when they see people having something better, they think that they need it also. Also, people forget how hard they get that money, but how easily and quickly they spend it. In the article “The Treadmill of Consumption” by Roberts, he says that people are willing to go into debt to buy certain products and brands. That is right that people can do crazy things to buy certain goods. Sometimes people
It goes without saying that hip-hop has changed. It began as a social practice of African-centered liberation to transform the black community or bring the youth together in unity, but towards the 90’s and onto the hip-hop scene in todays day and age, it is anything but that. The youth of today will know Tupac Shakur and beautify or streamline his self-destructive “thug life” but remain in the dark of figures like Mutulu and Afeni Shakur. Although this is a sad reality to live in, it is not hip-hops responsibility to change this. It is the responsibility of artists alike representing an oppressed populace to speak meaningfully in their art, in someway or another, for the liberation of their people.
From birth, our everyday experiences and interactions with the people around us help to grow and shape the brain. The child-caregiver relationship is a key element in healthy cognitive development, and has a lasting impact on the child’s life. Through this positive relationship the child learns and cultivates their understanding of people and the world around them. These experiences will help determine the level of motor skills, visual skills, and learning abilities that a child will possess in their future. A responsive caregiver provides the serve-and-return interactions a child needs to develop healthy brain circuitry. A healthy example of serve-and-return is when an infant babbles and gestures to an object, the caregiver responds accordingly by smiling and naming the object. This interaction lays the foundation for creating a link between the object and the word. As children age they learn about cause and effect, spatial relationships, problem solving, number sense, and classification. They learn these skills through the use of symbolic play and imitation.
This chapter focusses mostly on the injustice against black people and commences with an insert from Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous ‘I have a Dream’ speech. The chapter describes an America that has a lot ‘unfinished business’ and due to this unfinished business not being remedied, black people continue to be among the most impoverished races within the United States. This chapter makes for a very interesting read as authors sum up the issues within the US while they include their theory of fairness and stories to explain why special poverty among minorities
There is a difference between a great piece of art and a good piece of art. A good piece of art dazzles and influences its audience. While a great piece of artwork is not confined to time, but influences generation after generation. Literature is a great piece of artwork. It tends to influence its audience no matter the time period; whether it was written in the middle ages or in the millennium. Literature offers something that is ageless and always applicable. It is a story with an agenda to teach its audiences. After all, as the Nun’s priest says in his epilogue, “For everything written, says St. Paul Is written, surely, to instruct us all.” (Chaucer 218). Literature like the Canterbury Tales gives a reader access to moral lessons that are applicable to life. These lessons include the dangers of flattery and that appearances can be deceiving.
Often times in today's society, we stumble upon instances of racism and oppression. About 60 years ago, innocent civilians were poorly treated and ridiculed on a day to day basis during the time of segregation. The courage and strength of those men and women was indescribable. So now we ask ourselves, what was it like? In Maya Angelou's “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” Maya effectively uses multiple writing strategies to bring awareness to the prominently apparent issues of racism and oppression that still exist in our society using imagery, pathos, and strong diction to craft her overall message.
While growing up we learn that the best way to stay healthy and look great is through proper dieting and regular exercise. As we get older and feel the pressure of obtaining perfect looks, the sensationalism of fad dieting can seem like a dream come true. With the desire of a tiny waist plaguing America, it can be difficult to decide between healthy dieting an exercise, or extreme fad diets promising fast results. When choosing which method will work best for you can be stressful, it is important to think about what is really best for your body. Each form of dieting has different long term results, can affect your overall health, and can have an effect on the rest of your appearance.
Those in poverty are struggling to make enough money to pay the bills because they are not paid enough, but raising the minimum will make this process become less stressful for people. Not being financially often leads people to have to only be able to think short-term because they do not have enough time to think about the long-term happenings in their lives. In Linda Tirado’s article “This is Why Poor People’s Decisions Make perfect Sense” she can relate to how it feels to have a short-term mindset because she mentions, “I ...
As an African American woman, I have lived and worked in underserved communities and have experienced personally, the social and economic injustices grieved by underserved communities and the working poor. All of which, has increased my desires to work with such populations. A reserved person by nature, I have exposed an inner voice that I was oblivious to. I have expressed my inner voice to those living in underserved communities, who are seeking social and economic stability. I have come to classify and value the strength I have developed by the need, to survive in an underserved community. I use these as my continuous struggle against the social and economic injustices that I have experienced, as a product of an underserved community and as an African American woman. I have continued my struggle to overcome the barriers from my upbringing in an underserved community.