Against All Odds by Vanessa Barthel
Women in Music Videos by Tambria Troy
A Satisfying Career by Colette Miller
The Transforming Power of Al-Islam by Lormont Wells
My Life as a Cat by Danielle Mapson
Great Expectations by Dominique Carter
Alternatives to Prison by Quentin Byrd
Make Smoking Illegal by Sandra Agazie
Wanted: Responsible Fathers by Rotonda Carter
How I Plan on Raising My Daughter
by Danny Parsons
In our society today, many people are face with dilemmas that can sometimes make or break a person spirit! Some of the problems facing today's society, is the fact that many people have just given up on themselves. Beating the odds is truly a life progress.
Whether we admit it or not, we all handle situations differently. For instance, a person may be going through a failing marriage and feel that the world is closing end on them. That person with the failing marriage may start during recreation drugs to make the pain they feel go away; as a result, they found themselves soon strung out on drugs and many loose everything! Now on the other hand someone else may take another approach at the problems facing their marriage in a more positive way.
POSITIVE: this is a word that has truly kept me grounded! Yes, time get hard but we must keep striving. To give up on oneself, is one of the saddest feelings in the world. A person must first recognize that "greater is he that is within me, than he that is within the world. I am a living testimony to that! Raised as the only child to a single teenage mother, I was placed to live with many difference families besides my mother. By the time I was eight years old, the people who was suppose to be dear to me had molested me.
Finally, after years of growing up in a physical, emotion, and sexually abuse family, I was given the opportunity to live with my mother. At last, I was happy! There I was this beautiful twelve year old, the only child (which meant I did not have to really share anytime with any brothers or sisters. My mother spoiled me so much that sometimes I still have problems when I can't get my way.
After many years of joy, my world was once again turned upside down! The 80's brought many American families to tears when "crack" took many of our love ones by storm. One of crack victims, was my mother. My mother, praise God Almighty, is now working with a major hospital as one of the executive.
Beating the odds takes a lot of knock down, but you must never let the problems or disadvantages get the best of you! Yes, life can be a depressing experience, if you don't stay positive. Sometimes people would put you down, but you must keep striving. People talked terrible about me, when I would say that my four children and me are going to move to Atlanta. Many so called friends, told me that I should not move to Atlanta with my four children without a husband. If I would have listened to them I may still be back in South Florida hustling with the wrong crew!
Yes, I had a serious problem about making that fast dollar. There has been time in my life that it was truly about making bad fast money. It's sad to say that my children father is now serving over 10 years in federal prison! One may ask why would I get involve with that type of lifestyle after what my mother went through. But to be honest, I now realize that it was all a waste of my time.
Now here I am going to college full-time as well as working full-time with a Fortune 500 company in Accounting. To look at me you may not know the storms I have been through, but what you may see is a friendly , loving , caring and funny person, who always smiling about something! That smile is only there to remind myself of all I have been through. It gets hard sometimes but all I do is look in the mirror at myself and I can truly see that it's a God so where.
In closing, I would like for anybody reading my essay to e-mail me at Vstyle15@hotmail if you can relate. If not, I understand that too! I would like to close my essay with thanks to my personal Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, who has never, took his hand from me! I hope at least one person who has read my essay that is going through hard times will remember, "GREATER IS HE THAT IS WITHIN YOU, THAN HE THAT IS WITHIN THE WORLD!"
A woman is supposed to symbolize beauty and leave a wonderful impression on the minds of others. But that's not the case in music videos. The image of women presented in music videos is very degrading. It leaves a bad reflection on women all together. There are several factors that contribute to the negative reputation of women through the videos that the are presented in. They are the lyrics contained in the music associated with the videos, the appearance of the women in the videos, and the situations that the women are associated with during the making of the videos.
The first reason that contributes to the negative reputation in the videos is the lyrics that the artists use. They use phrases like; Get that Bitch man, Freak Hoes, Pop that Pussy, Where they at Hoe, A Bitch ain't nothing but a bitch, and they even rap about doing the 69. The women in these videos just dance to these degrading words like it doesn't mean a thing. All the artist is doing is making the women look bad and it also makes the listeners feel that they can say these awful things to women. What they should be thinking about is those lyrics that they are blurting out to women in general could include their mothers and sisters also.
The next reason for the negative reputation of women in videos is the women's appearance. The women are practically nude. They wear G string panties with the bra to match, shorts that look like panties, sheer dresses, fish net dresses. Occasionally they are nude and their private parts are blocked out. Surely being the mother of a 12 year old daughter and a 10 year old son, I get a fair share of video viewing in my house. And I must say that I am constantly telling them to turn the channel or even turn the television off. When it gets to that point it's completely out of control. Videos of that nature should only be shown at certain hours or it should be pay per view. Due to the graphic nudity and the lyrics I think that videos should be rated.
The last reason for the negative reputation of women in videos they are presented in is the situations these women let the artist associate them with. Just the thought of being in a video whether, the artist is R Kelly or Dirt Buster, women let themselves be placed in any situation. You catch situations where women leave their husbands for other women, women are caught in bed together feeding each other strawberries, women being abused and women in the bed with more than one sex partner male of female. Come on now do men let their reputations slip through the cracks? No, because a man would never consent to be in a video where a case of homosexuality might be revealed. Even though it's just a video. He would never let put his macho image on the line. And if he was placed in a situation where he was caught in bed with another woman so what. Whatever he does he still will be respected as a man. But these women on the other hand when will they ever learn?
In conclusion the lyrics the artists use, the appearance of the women in the videos, and the situations that the women are associated with during the making of the videos are factors that contribute to negative image of women through the videos they are presented in.
Everyone who works is concerned about money. Money is a major key in turning a job into a career. No one wants to be overworked and underpaid. If you can work for a company that is fair when it comes to paying you for what you are worth, it will motivate you to do better. Knowing that the company is fair will want you to know more about them. I have had the experience of working at a credit union that offered a raise based on the amount of continuing education an employee was willing to receive. If you took a certain amount of classes, you were given a cash bonus. Once you finished the classes, they were prepared to train you to take a supervisor position. Knowing that a monetary incentive was there based on your achievement level, everyone was willing to grow within that company.
When entering the workforce, it is best to have some type of skills. Although there are some companies that offer on the job training, they also commend you for the training that you already have when you begin working for their company. The skills that you learn on the job are tools for advancement within the company you work for. To better your skills, it is good to take advantage of any ongoing education classes offered within the company. Getting that extra knowledge can only help you in moving up that ladder of success. Success can very well allow you to enjoy what you do.
To enjoy what you do will allow you to continue to be successful. I've worked in an environment where the employees always complained about their jobs. While they were complaining, the work continued to pile up and eventually they fell behind. Instead of complaining I feel they should have stopped to think about what made them unhappy. Once you pinpoint the problems, you can take steps to correct them. Their major complaint ended up being trapped in a dead end job and not making enough money doing the dead end job they had. No one was responsible for their down fall but themselves. They should have taken the time to get the extra skills needed to move into another department that offered more of a challenge. That challenge would have allowed them to enjoy their jobs better. The point is that enjoying your job is necessary for you to be successful. If you don't enjoy what you do, then you should look into another job or career.
In order to have a satisfying job or career, everyone should take the time to set certain goals for themselves. The career you chose should offer the income range you are looking for. Always plan to improve your skills within the company. Knowledge only helps you go further. The factor that counts the most to me is always enjoy what you do. If you do not enjoy your job or career then maybe you should re-think your goals.
Today many African Americans are beginning to practice Al-Islam, a way of life that is based on the belief in one god. The way a man's life is affected by believing in one god is one of the greatest phenomena on earth. The black community as a whole is being to feel the effects that this has on it. It is, however, not limited to just this one community. Americans from all different backgrounds are entering into Al-Islam.
The majority of African Americans that enter Al-Islam do so after the false information about it is destroyed by the truth. False information about Al-Islam is not in short demand. Many African Americans, today, seem to think of Al-Islam as a new religion. They seem to be under the misconception that Al-Islam was started in the 1920's by Elijah Muhammad. Most African Americans think that if you are a Muslim then you are a member of the Nation of Islam that is now led by Minister Louis Farrakhan. Other Americans seems to believe if you are not a member of the Nation of Islam, then you must be a terrorist from the middle east. None of this information about Al-Islam is true.
Islam is an Arabic word that means submission and obedience. Al-Islam is the submission and obedience to the commandments of Allah. Allah is another Arabic word, the name of the Creator of the universe. Most African Americans know him by the pure meaning of God, the Supreme Being that created everything including the Prophet Christ Jesus the son of Mary. Islam is the guidance for mankind revealed through all Allah's prophets. The line of Allah's prophets runs from the Prophet Adam to the Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah. Allah has sent prophets to every nation at different time but with the same message. This message is that he is the only thing worthy of worship. The Prophet Muhammad started receiving the last of revelation, The Holy Qur'an, approximately 1400 years ago in Saudi Arabia. The Holy Qur' an exists today in its original form.
The path that I took to come in to Al-Islam as a way of life was a hard and bumpy road. I was like many African American males, full of a lot of frustration and anger because of being in an oppressive society. I was born in a project in Charleston, South Carolina. The environmental elements in projects are all the same no matter the location. You will always find the drugs, the alcohol, the violence, and the hopelessness in any project you go to in the United States. The place where I grew up was no different. I was determined to change my condition and my family's condition no matter what. I tried the avenue of hard work and intelligent planing to accomplish my goal. I became side tracked by the elements in the street when that plan failed me. My thinking was that it was all up to me to make it in life. I did not look to anyone for help including God.
I developed, over the years of growing up, many questions about God. The idea that God did exist and I would one day have to stand in front of him was never one that I ever questioned. I developed the idea that I would have a good excuse on that day for my actions. This excuse would be that no one really knew what was the true path he wanted us to follow so I made my own path. This idea of mine erased all of my fears for any authority and brought me a lot of trouble into my life. It began to fall apart right before my very eyes. I was at one time a heavy drinker and smoker of cigarettes in addition to marijuana. My life style was one that fitted most of the negative stereotypes of a young black male. However, I never lost my desire to change my condition or my family's condition. I began to have the desire to change my whole community's condition. I just didn't know exactly how to bring this change about.
I had many ideas about how to change the black community but I thought it would be smarter to find out about its history first. Everyone that I was coming into contact with at this time was preaching pretty much the same thing. They were all preaching about how at one time the black man was the king and ruler of the earth. They wrote or spoke about how no one could compete with him in any arena. All of this great information left me with one question. What happened? This made me really start to study my community and its leaders. I began with Malcolm X. This is where I began to come into an understanding of Al-Islam.
The phenomenal change that Al-Islam brings to the African American life seems to begin when they comes into some sort of understanding of what Al-Islam is. It happened in Malcolm's life and it started happening in mine. The truth hit me one night when I was studying. I knew my excuse to God on the day of judgment was no longer good. I had so much fear in my body that it felt like I was on fire. I knew that I could either accept it or reject it. The paths were clearly marked. The one leading to paradise was marked submission to the will of Allah. The other one that I was already on leading to hell was marked disobedience. I made my choice right then and there to submit to his will. I have not had a drink or smoke of any kind since that night three years ago. I am like a totally different person because of my belief in Allah.
Danielle, where are you? What are you doing? Why are you so quiet? I have heard these questions all my life growing up. If my parents couldn't hear or see me, I was in the house getting into something or being real sneaky about something, they say. For me to live life as an animal, it would be a Persian cat because they are sneaky, quiet and very lovable.
Persian cats like any other cats are very sneaky. They are always doing something they have no business doing. They use your sofa for a scratching post. They kill things in your kitchen you never knew you had. Then they leave the evidence for you to discover. I do the same sneaky things myself. For example, my mother baked a pie once and she wanted no one to eat it. I waited until everyone went to sleep and got a piece. Little did I know that my mother was up and I got caught eating the pie. She called me sneaky and sat down to join me in eating some pie.
Quietness is another trait of the Persian cat. You never can hear them coming or going. They are extremely light on their feet. That is why people are always startled when a cat appears. I have mastered that trait myself. I always seem to startle my family because that can't hear me walk. That's what they claim anyway. My mom can be in the kitchen and I walk up behind her and she jumps. She always tell me to walk so she can hear me.
The Persian cat is most definitely lovable. It is always rubbing up against you to show you affection. It's soft and fluffy fur makes you want to love it back. I don't rub up against anyone to show affection, but I do help people out when I can to show I care. My sense of humor always win a crowd over as well.
In conclusion, being sneaky and lovable as well as quiet are the traits the Persian cat and I share. That is why I chose this animal.
Growing up the daughter of the first black Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader and the president of Sumner's class of 1974, I faced many expectations to be the best. I grew up expected to be popular, smart and very active. I am two out of the three. I think that expectations our families place on us can be good because they help us to work for greatness. On the other hand they can be a hindrance because when we don't live up to their expectations we have to deal with their disappointment along with our perceived failure.
In high school I was the ideal student. I made very good grades, I was involved in most student activities and I surrounded myself with 'the smart crowd'. I had very good relationships with my teachers. I was active with the youth group at church and was a big help to my mother around the house. My parents instilled a strong work ethic and stressed that I do things right the first time. None of the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality was tolerated in our home. I believe I was such a good student and daughter because that's what they expected from me. I didn't know how to do it any differently.
On the flip side of their expectations I was not a perfect child. I became involved in a sexual relationship in my junior year. I got pregnant and hurt my family deeply. They were hurt not just because I was with child; they felt that instead of graduating high school and continuing to college, my life was over. I was disappointed with myself because I failed them. Up to that point almost everything I did was to please them. I loved the way they bragged on me. After my mother found out she could hardly look at me. Knowing I hurt her hurt me and at times I could hardly deal with it. It took us almost two years to get to the point where we were friends again. Sometimes I feel the disappointment creep up in her conversation; however, I have learned to just let it pass.
Although the expectations that our families place on us can be difficult and sometimes impossible to live up to at times, ultimately they are only to make us the best that we can be. As I watch my daughter grow I find that I already expect so many things from her. Some of them may be selfish but mostly I only want her to be better than me. I can understand where my parents were coming from and I plan to guide my daughter to be the best she can be, but I'll keep in mind that she will not always live up to what I expect.
As we embark upon the next years, we face the battle of deciding if there should or should not be an alternative to prison. Day after day Congress is being slammed with complaints from persons who feel as though the criminals of society, regardless of what their crime, should be locked away in prison. On other days you have the complaints that with each waking day our prisons are continuing to be overpopulated. What to do? Rehabilitation is and has been found to be a much more efficient way in dealing with these people (criminals) of our society. In an effort to rehabilitate these persons, we must educate, train, and allow them the opportunity to make a difference in society rather than sit in overcrowded prisons that are funded by our tax dollars.
Many studies have been proven to show that the populations of our state prison institutes have and continue to increase dramatically with each coming day. This overflow of inmates, are known to be those with backgrounds of no educational achievements, such as receiving a diploma, GED, and/or degree, and no career/job training. Because of this, persons who do have the opportunity to come out of prisons, come back to a society that has moved on past their experience and they become useless to this society and usually find themselves back in the hands of the state's prisons. For this reason, it is vital that we rehabilitate these criminals by educating, training, and allowing them a fair chance to make it in this society.
The first step in this rehabilitation process would be to educate these persons. By educating them, their minds will be challenged and put to use for the purpose of learning. In an effort to educate them, we must teach them the fundamentals of a basic grade school education. So often times we find that these inmates lack high school diplomas, even more lack a secondary educational degree from a college, technical or trade school. There should be implemented in our prisons a much more efficient educational program that makes these inmates attend classes and learn the basic skills it takes to receive a formal education, one accepted by society today.
After these inmates have been properly educated school wise, they need to be trained job and/or career wise. In training the inmates, they need to be equipped with the skills to know first the job itself, and ever so important a proper job attitude. So many criminals refuse to work at a McDonald's, Burger King, or some other job such as this because they feel as though this is a standard of lowliness and in a sense, inferiority. This type of feeling is a source of the cause many are incarcerated today. However, these inmates must be trained in a manner that will enable them to know that a foot in the door will allow them to get in and move around the house. This simply means that if you start somewhere with the right attitude, you can end up somewhere you respect, admire and want to be.
Lastly, society as a whole should be willing to give and allow the opportunity for these persons to make a difference in their own lives and in society. Society must not look down upon or make these persons feel inferior in any form, yet we should encourage and support the efforts that these persons put forth. I'm not at all implying that we should forget what these criminals have done but we should be willing to allow them this opportunity so that they will not feel an urge to do it again.
It is my true and sincere belief, that if the steps of educating, training, and allowing a fair chance to make it were used in a rehabilitation process as alternatives to prisons, then the populations of prisons would be on a decline and the population of educated, respectable, and responsible citizens of society would prevail.
Ahh ...cigarettes. What is about cigarettes that seems to captivate so many people? I just don't understand this problem about cigarettes. All I know is that it is the most disgusting habit that has ever been in the history of our race. Smoking cigarettes is not safe for anyone and that is why I say it should be illegal. It causes so many health problems, it is big-time addiction, and children are smoking cigarettes, which is disturbing news.
Cigarettes can cause severe health problem such as sinuses, chronic bronchitis, digestive cancer, gastric ulcer, cancer of the throat, the tongue, the esophagus, the colon and the pancreas. Smoking cigarettes can kill and there is no arguing against that. I think it is time for smokers to fess-up and realize the damage they are causing themselves. Most smokers don't know the consequences of smoking and how dangerous smoking is until they experience a health problem, and by then it is too late for them to reverse the sickness, so it is best for one to stop smoking to avoid any sickness. For example, I had to do a research project for my health and physical education class on chronic bronchitis, so I went to Georgia State university library to get a tape on chronic bronchitis, asthma and lung cancer. The tape that I got was a tape about a doctor helping her patients deal with their illness on chronic bronchitis, asthma and lung cancer. It was a sad experience for my classmate and me because we have to watch those people suffering asthma attack, shortness of breath, and collapsing of the lungs, and some of the patients were dying from the illness. One of the patients was saying that if he had known the consequences of smoking, he would have stopped smoking a long time ago.
Another reason why I think smoking should be illegal is because it is a big-time addiction. Having just one cigarette puts people at risk of becoming seriously addicted to tobacco. When it comes to addiction, the nicotine in tobacco is highly addictive and that is why people get so easily addicted. The earlier people start smoking, the harder it is to quit when they are older. I also think after drugs are made illegal, people who are addicted to an illegal drug such as nicotine should be hospitalized, not thrown in jail, because they are sick people and they need our help. Moreover, there are a lot of people out there in the world, who are so strong out that they have to steal from their loved ones to buy their drugs or cigarettes and that is because they are so addicted, that they don't know what they are doing.
Another reason why I think cigarettes should be illegal is because young people are buying and smoking cigarettes. There are some federal laws restricting the possession of tobacco by minors especially under the age of eighteen years old. There are still young children still finding a way to buy cigarettes. The fact that young people are buying cigarettes shows that the laws are not being enforced enough. I think the government should be creating some new laws to stop young people from buying cigarettes.
In conclusion, I think cigarettes should be illegal because smoking is dangerous to one's health, it's addicting and our young children are buying and smoking cigarettes, which they should not be doing.
Why did my dad walk out of my life and never look back? Was I not special enough to love? These and other questions like them are asked by children whose fathers choose not to be a part of their lives. I was one of those children. My father, like hundreds of other fathers, decided to leave my mother with three children to raise on her own. My father did not consider the impact of his actions and how they would affect me. If only these fathers would realize how their absence affect their children and how it all affects our society, things might be done differently. Like other men of his kind I consider my father to be selfish, irresponsible, and an inconsiderate poor excuse of a man.
Some people consider these men to be "dead-beat dads", and think only of the financial situation which is not important to a child. What is important to a child is having that father figure to go along with the mother figure. That father figure does not have to be present in the home, but it should be present a good majority of the time. Time spent with children means just as much to them if not more than having money in the household.
Unfortunately, my father did not contribute financially nor did he find the time to spend with his children. He was too busy in his selfish little world making life easy for himself. When my father divorced my mother he also divorced his children. Like so many families, my father left my mother a single parent struggling to make ends meet, while raising three children. As I look back at my father's decision I believe as a child it had a negative impact on my life and how I felt about him. At times, I thought about him not loving me and that wasn't right because I loved him. All of my friends had their father at home and their father was there when they needed him. What about my father, I needed him because my mother couldn't do everything.
I can still remember the bad financial situation that he left my mother to deal with by not paying child support. She had two jobs that did not leave her at home much, so we had to take care of ourselves on many occasions. Even more vivid are the telephone conversations between my mother and father, which mainly consist of her begging him for money. Then the conversation would turn ugly with the use of a few choice words. Hearing her cry after these conversations made me experience a lot of negative emotions and then soon after find myself crying along with her. At that point I hated him.
More importantly, I think about the opportunities that I had as a teenager to get involved with drugs and alcohol not to mention an unwanted pregnancy. I feel this could have happened because my mother was always at work and my father put her in that position. Instead my mother was fortunate to have her parents to help instill good moral values and raise her children.
Another common impact is the cycle of leaving children fatherless. A good example of this is presented in my family. I have an uncle that has spent all of his teen and adult years in and out of jail, which means that he was not available to raise his children. This is a choice that he has made in his life. His older son is following in his footsteps. Just like his father, the son chooses what he considers to be quick money by selling drugs and stealing, instead of working an honest job. The son also spends time going in and out of jail and totally disregarding his responsibilities as father of two children with another on the way. This is a sad and serious situation that possibly could have been avoided. I wonder if my uncle had been a better father to his son could he have prevented his son from a life of crime and made a difference in his son's life.
As adult twenty-four years later, my father's actions still have an impact on me, but in a positive manner. I find myself putting a lot of focus on raising my children to be loving and responsible young men. Showing and telling my sons that I love them and being available for them when they need and want to talk to me are just some of my ways of teaching them. And I am trying to prepare them for fatherhood someday by instilling family unity and the importance of taking care of what is yours. That is the only thing that I can thank my father for.
I know that not all of the society's problems can be blamed on the lack of a father figure, but I think the role of a father plays an important part of a child's life on in to adulthood. If all fathers would take their responsibilities more seriously, by being there for the child and providing the child with much needed attention and support, some of our problems would be solved.
In today's society we as parents are face with different struggles for raising our children. Will my child obey me? Will he or she respect other adults? These are but a few questions I ask myself as I prepare to raise my daughter. There is an old saying that says girls are easier to raise because they are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, and boys are hard because they are made up of snails, nails, and puppy dog tails. But I believe that a child is a child and they all have different ways of behaving. I plan on raising my daughter first by setting good examples and by letting her know who are the parents and who is the child.
I plan on raising my child first by setting good examples. I believe in order for my child to grow up knowing what is right from wrong I must set good examples. I plan on accomplishing this by not letting my daughter hear any type of profanity around the house, by not playing music with vulgar language, by not letting her look at movies which are rated 'R', and by not letting people come around her drinking nor smoking. I believe good proper training takes place at home first, with the mother and father setting good examples around their children, which will stay with them until they approach adulthood.
I plan on raising my daughter secondly by letting her know who are the parents and who is the child. I believe there would have been fewer crimes among our teens if we as parents had taught this method. I plan on teaching my child this by punishing her when she does wrong and letting her know why I punish her. I also plan on teaching her this by letting her know that I tell her what to do and not her telling me. I also plan on teaching my daughter who is the child and who are the parents by letting her know if she lives under my roof she will go by my rules and regulations. As a child growing up I was taught these same things and that is why I turned out to be the type of man I am today by knowing that my parents were in charge.
In conclusion, I believe in order for a child to be raised properly there must be a tight knit family which has a mother and father involve in a child's life. I also believe that a family must pray together in order to stay together. I am very thankful because my daughter has a mother and father involved in her life that loves her very dearly, and also has a family who believes prayer changes things. I know that since this is my wife and I first child we will see that we set good examples and that she will understand who are the parents and who is the child in order for her to be raised properly and be a leader of tomorrow.
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