Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Did you know that majority of the Hip Hop industry music sales come from the White community? Wow! I did not know that! The video we watched in class was really interesting because it talked about music that the class basically listens to everyday. In this music there are lyrics and videos that display masculine identity that men display inside as well as outside the industry. There is a lot of cursing and violence in these industries and personally I think this displays and insecurity of these men. Like where did all of this originate? Why does violence attract so many people? It’s like when rappers rap about violence and talking bad about girls the listeners of this music get so attached to it and try to make their life into this fantasy portrayed. I have to be honest though. I listen to this music a good bit, but I just really enjoy the beats rather than the lyrics. I just think it Is important to not get attached to these lyrics because all of it is FAKE in my eyes.

Some words I learned … Homo irodism- An example of this would be LL Cool J with his shirt off, sagging pants, and tattoos.
Also the phrase Bitch ass niggas feminizes men
I thought this video was really nice to watch and I loved the comments the class shared throughout the video.

-Buttercup/Breanna Cousin

Boys and Sexual Harassment

I know that I am suppose to blog about the other chapters that I have read, but this subject and boys and sexual harassment rose in interest in me. When I looked through my notes this weekend I saw this subject and really wanted to discuus this. In my school as well as the schools where the author interviewed there were this activity of boys touching and talking to girls innapropriately. Most of these incidents occur between the friendships of these boys and girls. Most of these boys just like to play around too much and it gets out of hand at times. I just think the boys need to keep their hands and comments to themselves. This action will reduce a lot of confusion between the girls and boys and the conflict will be settled.

That was just a random blog I felt like talking about !

-Buttercup/Breanna Cousin

Women and Music Videos

As we all know women are hardly NEVER fully dressed when it comes down to making music video for "POPULAR" men. Thinking it's going to get them money & some just because they think it's cute. In most videos womens bodies are used to draw attention to or advertise more. Female bodies are used to simply achieve a goal that men has set for themselves. One thing about men is that they don't want any "Thick" females doing work for them , she must be a certain size in order to fit the job correctly. A question was asked in class: Would you starve yourself or do whatever it takes just to impress a man or whomever? Majority of us answered no! Another thing we talked about in class was: How are kids in the city represented in the nighty news? Most of the time teens are either seen on the news because a shooting happened, kidnapped/missing or something like that. Very seldom when you see anything good like a child won the lottery. I mean c'mon can't they reconize us for doing something good, instead of negative news all the time? The women in the music videos compare to children on the nightly news because with both something negavtive is getting reconized. Women should repect themselves more and maybe men will too & teens with all this killing should also stop. (blossom)Brishawn Perkins

PLAYING TOO MUCH

IT WAS A GIRL WALKING DOWN THE STREET SHE HAD SOME LITTLE SHORTS ON AND A LITTLE TOP AND AT FIRST THE GUY TRY TO TALK TO HER AND SHE DID NOT WANT TO TALK TO HIM.SO HE TOUCHED HER AND SHE TOLD HIM NOT TO PUT HIS HANDS ON HER NO MORE OR SHE GONNA GO GET HER BIG BROTHER.HE DONE SLAPPED THIS GIRL. SO SHE WANT TO GONNA GO GET HER BIG BROTHER AND STUFF.THATS HOW STUFF BE GETTING STARTED.THATS HOW PEOPLE BE GETTING KILLED PUTTING THEY HANDS ON PEOPLE THEY DONT EVEN KNOW.
MY BROTHER BE THIS LIKED THIS TO BE.

getting played

the reason for this neglect are manifold.mainstream criminology has long been criticized for its insufficient attention to both women and gender androcentric perspectives continue to guide much criminological research and theorizing leading to both an exclusive or implicit focus on mean and boys and a failure to seek explanations for crime and victimization that take gender seriously as a struction interactional and symbolic source of inequality.

Chapter 2 - Gender n' the 'hood

In class this week we talked about Chapter 2 and gave our opinions on it. One topic that sparked controversy in the class was this question: Who fault is it when it comes to rape? Is it the Females or the Males? Under which conditions do this happen?
Majority of the class could not agree with one specific gender in which these things occur. I say it's half and half. The boys are the ones who feel like they have to show off in front off their friends and approach a young lady any way they please. But what is attracting these young men? I have to say it is the young ladies and the way they present themselves. Presentation is the way you dress, speak, and carry yourself in public. Girls these days want attention and therefore they wear short and tight clothes. Then they get mad when a boy approach them the wrong way. If you want respect, look like you want respect.
I have to say it's not always the young people's fault. They are taught by their environment and what they see. When they were younger they probably saw older girls dressing the way they do now and that is what they desire. On the other hand with the young men they don't have a lot of men who respect ladies and if they are men like this the action of being respectable is not exhibited around these young men. How can we blame these young people when the adults are not during their job? The most important question is how can we fix this problem?
My final opinion on this topic is that it is the adults, young ladies and the young men fault that this problem is occurring. The adults should lead by example! But The young ladies and the young men have to pick up their own slack and become better role models for the upcoming generation. The young ladies need to learn how to present themselves in the world and the young men need to learn how to approach a young lady.


-Buttercup/Breanna Cousin

My Relations to the Hood!

One particular section in this chapter stood out to me, and that section was titled Living in the 'Hood. This particular section stood out to me because being a native New Orleanean you can relate to the problems that each of these interviewers experienced in their neighborhoods. Reading this broke my heart as she described how the sreets looked as she walked them daily and I can relate to seeing broken bottles and paper flowing down the sreets of Frenchmen and Claiborne.
Being a citizen of New Orleans you experience things that you definitely should not be experiencing, such as the dead bodies that you find lying in the middle of the streets after a shoot out has taken place. It seems as though Cleshay has a lot of knowledge relating to the streets but she regrets what goes on in them. I found that she spoke honestly and released he frustration during her interview. She spoke of a little girl being raped and questioned how can you not hear her screams? That is a real question, how can you not hear the screams of a baby girl? Its not the fact that they didnt hear them they refused to hear them. I can recall a little girl being dragged into an abandoned house and raped just about three years ago as well right here in my home town. I find that it is sad that our communties are like this. A community is suppose to act as one and now a days we dont fight as one we decide to fight one another.
I think we all can relate to this chapter because it is based upon facts and not thoughts. We can also relate the harrassment and neglect of the police officers in our city. I can especially relate to this situation because i actually know someone personal who was harrassed for walking up the street and was told he looked like a nigga that had just robbed someone, all because he was a black male.
I can also recall watching a video in 4th period about caucasians moving into the suburbs due to the violence that was coming into their communties and it seems as though our race was doing the same exact thing in the hood. I say this because Cleshay mentioned that they did not know hoe to take care of their houses and they then decided to move into another and took care of that one with the same treatment which provides our community with an enormous amount of abandoned houses. More house that you have to chech for dead bodies and drugs, This is pathetic. People keep these tragegies alive in the streets and teaching our youth the wrong thing in life we need to make a change but we cant do it alone and it wont just happen over night.

-Bubbles/ Jen'Brica Harris<3

GettingPlayed

First when reading the title "Getting Played" I thought of something that happens at school to some children all the time. When cracking jokes, people can sometimes be like " Oh, I feel played". Well in the story a main part that I really thought stood out to me was when they were taking a picture and girls would turn around showing their backs meanwhile guy would rep gangs. Also the type of disrespect that men showed to women, only because of the way women carry themselves. Having whore-like ways gives guys the opinion thinking they can do anything. In human life, people go through these types of problems all the time. We see it everyday, well it happens even if we don't knowtice it. On the first page of the story it says "This book should not read as a indictment of Young Black men and their treatment of their female peers". Well, reading this, it gives all thought in the world for this story to be exactly about that. Girls should have respect for themselves, and know better. Knowing better and doing better would give you a better reputation towards your peers.


Blossom- Brishawn Perkins

Blindsided ... Getting Played Chapter 1

This is my type of story. The part I will blog about today will be the parts that stood out the most to me. When reading stories and passages the beginning always sticks out the most because it is the focus and main part of story.
Getting played? What does that mean? When I hear the phrase “getting played” I think of the meaning of being blindsided. To be blindsided is to attack someone when they are most vulnerable. It is commonly used as a football term, but it is a word that can easily be transferred to our daily lives. I think it means that the girls in the African American community are not being shown the right way. Even though they do not know the right way they are still being criticized by their actions. That is not right and therefore they are getting played.
The author made some very clear points about young African American girls and how they act. She talked created a vivid as well as a very familiar picture of how these young ladies present themselves. Just like in her story she talks some about how they take their pictures. They face backwards toward the camera to show their backsides and turn their head so their face is shown in the picture. On the other hand the boys try to mugg (look mean) and hold up gang sides they rep. She also talks about sexual intent and the different examples of it. One example she states is simply to be friendly to a young man. She talks about gang rape and how the guys get respected for that. My personal opinion on that is that I think that is disgusting and horrible. Young men need to more respective to the young ladies and the young ladies need to carry themselves a certain way. But the question is what if they do not know how to carry themselves. This thought brings me to one of the sentences she states in this chapter. The sentence states: “We’ve perpetuated the structural conditions that lead to the cultural adaptations and situational contexts that shape urban African American young women’s risks”. I broke this sentence down into my own words and I got this; We (society) are preserving the bad things in the African American community that shape the young African American girls that put them in these predicaments and situations. It is society that blindsides them and therefore we are the ones to blame for the ways that these girls act.

-Buttercup/Breanna Cousin

Thrasher !

On Last Thursday a handful of my classmates and I went to the African American Museum and witnessed a powerful play about the 1811 Slave Revolt. The play was set around the Andry plantation where the slave revolt started. In relating this play to Sociology I noticed a few things. Something that was quoted in my Sociology notes on 8.30.11 was "Culture is a way of life". I totally agree with that quote! When talking about culture I think about religion, food, ritual, music, clothing, and language. Around the time of the slave revolt most Africans were practicing Voodoo, etc. These were religions they practiced I'm their homeland. When they were brought to the United Sates and forced to accept the Catholic Religion. When it came to their language they spoke they were forced to speak the language of slave owner. As for as food and clothes They dresses in the style most people preferred to dress in the 19 century.
Another thing I realized was some Gender Structure. Most (light skinned) women worked in the house as maids and the men worked in the field.
Overall I really enjoyed the play and saw a couple of relations between the play and sociology. I would have enjoyed that my whole class could have experienced this with me , but maybe next time.
-Buttercup/Breanna C.

1811 Slavery Volt

The field trip we atteneded about the 1811 Slavery Volt was epic. I witness a lot of different music, culture, words, etc. There were a lot of different actors. When we first arrived there were slaves standing on the sides of the walkway. They were slaves that died trying to fight away for freedom. The play showed the ending at the beginning. Almost like foreshadowing the events that lead up to the ending. The first scene was at a dinner table. Where the prince kept making the black slave do anything his white dinner guest wanted. They would make him run around the table picking their glasses up. The slave was the brother of Charles Deslondes. He was the leader of the slavery volt. They treated him with such disgust about himself. I'm sure he did get fed up because he ended up killing them all. The part I like most about the poem was the end. When Charles's mother gave her daughter , his sister the power to carry on. While the rest of the people went to the battle. She was the one that survived. The mother drew lines on them with chalk. And she made it like her passing down her torch. She taught her daughter dances and she taught her that she was powerful enough to keep their culture going even though she wouldn't be there. The part that I really didn't understand was the middle scene. Where this white woman was in this room. She wasn't able to do anything because she was ill. She couldn't have any company or anything because people might catch what she had. But her maid kept coming in risking her own health. I didn't understand what this had to do with anything though. I really like the African music thought. There were actual people beating on drums and things. And there was also a band where the people played the violin when something important was happening. I do wish that there were more of a contribute to women though. Charles and his brother were like the stars of the play. Almost like the leading men of the whole thing. The only part that had to do with woman was the daughter in the end. But the slaves from the beginning of the play died. I think there should have been a little more involvment with them in the play also. Because the white woman had a whole scene to herself. And back them I'm sure white people weren't that important to the slavery volt. They didn't have much apart in it either. but i think the play was actually worth going see. Instead of just using it as an excuse to be out of school. It was really cool.


-Kirktisha Cheneau

THEY AINT HIRING KIDS FROM MY NEIGHBORHOOD YOUG MEN OF COLOR NEGOTIATING POOR PUBLIC SCHOOL AND POOR WORK OPTIONS IN NEW YOURK CITY

ONE AFTERNOON AS I SIT ON A CROWDED SUBWAY CAR EN ROUTE TO THE CAMPUS OF EASTERN UNIVERSITY MY FIELDWORK SITE THE CHATTER OF PASSENGERS IS SUBBENLY DORWNED BY THE AMPLIFED VOICES OF THE TWO MEN. MANY PASSENGERS WHO HAD NERVOUSLY DIVERTED THER EYES TO THEIR NEWSPAPERS VISIBLY AFRID OR CAUTIONS FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY WHEN THESE YOUG MEN ENTERED TGHE TRAIN WITH RAISED VOICES ARE NEW GRINNING WITH RELIEF AND STARING IN WONDSERMENT AS THE B YOIUNG MEN SOMERSULT INTJHE MIDDLE OF A CONGERSTED SUBWAY B CAR CAR LOCKING ARTEMS AND FEET.LIOUBREIA BLACKMON> bubbaliciaes

CULTURE TRAP TALKING ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE OF COLOR AND THEIR EDUCATION

IDEAS NEVER CONTAIN IN THEMSELVES ALL THE REASONS FOR THEIR INFLUENCE AND THEIR HISTORICAL ROLE. THOUGHT ALONE CAN NEVER PRODUCE THOSE REASONS FOR THIS INFLUENCE DERIVES NOT SIMPLY FROM WHAT THEY ARE BUT FROM WHAT THEY DO OR BETTER STILL FROM WHAT THEY GET DONE IN SOCIETY. MAURICE GODELIER THE MENTAL AND THE MATERIAL 1986.> loubreia blackmon> BUBBALICIAES

OUR SCHOOL SUCK

they aint hiring kids from my neighborhood young men of color negotiating poor public school and poor work options inn new yourk city. i think about thheir live and the lives of the young men imen iam going to interview at the colllege access initiative cai a college preparation program on the campus at eastarn university. LOUBREIA BLACKMON >BUBBLICIAES

where youth have an actual voice teenagers as empowered stakeholders in school reform the CELINAU

THE HECTOR WAS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL HE DID NOT ALWAYS STUDY AS HARD AS HE COULD AT THE UNGING OF A friend though he joined siates and brothas united sbu and began to work with then regulaly after school. the sbu is a youth organizing gourp that works to imporove conditions at school aroud the south and north wast bronx. > LOUBREIA BLACKMON> BUBBALICIIAES

Orleans Public Education Network Board Of Directors

the orleans puben lic education network open was collectively awed and pained by the october 14th public hearing on the state superintendents recommendation. we were pained by the deep divisions our current landscpe has produced as too many of our citizens saw one form of success coming at the expense of another group of our citys children . Loubreia blackmon< bubballiciaes.

THE VALUE OF COMMUNITY VOICE IN SHAPING THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

ANY PUBLIC EDUATION GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE SERVES TWO PRINARY PURPOSES EDUATING STUDES AND LISTENING TO THE COMMUNITY. A SUICCESSFUL CENTER ADMINISTRATIVE BOBY WILL SERVE BOTH OF THESE GOALS. THIS DIVERS SYSTEM OF STATS AND LOCAL CHARTER AND DIRCETLY RUN SCHOOL IS PROBLEMATIC IN SEVERAL IN SEVER WAYS. > loubreia blackmon > BUBBALICIAES

NEW SCHOOL

I THINK THAT WE SHOULD DSING THE NEW SCHOOL FOR PEOPLE HOW CAN MAKE IT WORK FOR OUTHER LIKE ME HOW CAN NOT LEARNT WITH A 100 PEOPLE IN ONE CLASS A IHOPE WE GET A NEW SCHOOL LEAVE THE 7TH AND THE 8TH GRANERS HERE. >LOUBREIA BLACKMON BUBBALICIAES

MY BEST EVERY DAY LIFE

MY BEST EVERY DAY LIFE IHAVE TO LET YOU KNOW THAT IAM A TWIN AND HIS NAME IS LOUIS BLACKMON AND MY NAME IS LOUBREIA BLACKMON AND MY DAD NAME IS LOUIS BLACKMON AND HE HAND DEID WHEN II WAS 3 YEARS OLD BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE SAID BUT YOU KOWN ME AS A QUIT GIRL THAT DO NOT TOCK TO PEOPLE.IAM A GIRL THAT LOVE PEOPLE AND IAM A GIRL THAT LIKE TO HELP PEOPLE I SAY HELLOY AND HOW ARE YOU DOING TO PEOPLE I PASS. IAM DESSED FOR SUCESS EVEERY DAY ICOME TO SCHOOL IN MY UNIFORM AND FOR CHURCH THAT I FEEL JOY. I FEEL THAT WE WILL THAT WE IS GETING A SCHOOL BULLDING AND THAT OUR FOOTBALL TEAM WILL BE NUMBER OND DAY THEIR DISTRICAT AND I FEEL HAPPINESS ABOUT THAT. I HOP ONE DAY TO FOLLOW MY DREAMS AND HELP MY MOYHER OUT IAM DETERMING TO BE A BETTER STUDENT AT CHURCH BECUENTIY WON YOUTH OF THE YEAR AND PANUER OF THE YEAR AND LWAS SO HAPPY AMD THIS IS MY EVERY DAY LIFE.

Schools

New Orleans doesn't care rather these students have an education or not. As the man said in the video " We Don't Care as long as we got our money". Which is a sad case for us. 70% of our black people go to school just for the heck it. They find it enjoyable and fun but yet it isn't. Shouldn't an education be much more better for us to recieve durinig the school day than just play. On the 1st day of summer about 75 5th graders were in school, do you know how bad that sounds as 5th graders. Most of the people were black with a caucasin teacher yelling at those children for no apparent reason. Another thing is the uncertifed teachers in which call themselves teaching but they really don't. Thats another problem why children are failing and the city is gaining money for summer school. Why students complain about work being to hard and not understanding because of the teacher not doing their jobs right. As a junior in high school I feel as if people should do whats right in order to accomplish goals they have in the near future. Remember everything we learn in elementry school follows us to middle, high school and throughout college and also to our career.
Blossom( Brishawn )

My city has been Reborn!

Reborn spoke the absolute. We have a lot of children in our community who have enormouse accomplishiable dreams but do to the school system after Katrina it sometimes made this a hard task to accomplish. Citiens often did not care about the students in New Orleans and i say this because a man actually mentioned that they did not give a damn long as they were recieving their money. i find this to be a sad case, children need suport just as well as they do.
"A charter school is a pulic school that controls its own budget and cirriculum and hires it own staff."
To me most Charter schools dont learn as much as we do as students in the New Orleans Pulic school in the same peer groups.

Wow how can that many children be in summer school that is a whole entire school. after katrina things were awful one man stated if i snap than you can answer. im not some damn dog. I find that it is a racial situation, most teachers and principals at these schools are white and they treated africans so cruel and i blame this on the government. Why, because they allowed them to come to New Orleans and take over the schools of our city. After the storm charter schools hired their own teachers so therefore they were unexperiences teachers so that means that they were not getting the education that they deserve and i find that most of the students that attend charter schools such as KIPP students dont succeed in my opinon.I have the back up statement from the video that one year only 100 freshmens graduated. I feel that this is sad, our children is the future and if we cant succeed in school how can we futher our education and carreer.

<3 Bubbles/ Jen'Brica Harris

Reborn

My teacher made a very good point ! The racial make up of our school system is changing . I feel as though majority of the whites try to take things and make it their way . Majority of the cities population is 70% . Why are they changing everything ? Where are the black teachers ?

-Buttercup (Breanna C)

Reborn

Charter schools really started to become established in New Orleans after Katrina. Charter schools ate almost like a private (public) school. The video sates about 102 schools took this Charter school route. Charter schools control their budget , curriculum and hires it's own staff McDonogh 35 is one of the few Orleans Public schools still established in New Orleans. Last year about 250 of our Seniors graduated. We must be doing something right !!!

-Buttercup (Breanna C)

Reborn

Katrina
"What doesn't kill you, Makes you STRONGER!"

-Buttercup (Breanna C)

My DECA experience

Wow, as the new southern region Vice President i really enjoyed the Fall Leadership confrence with my peers. When i returned to class today and informed my classmates how things went my teacher brought to my attention that everything that i learned during my trip does involve sociology. It relates to sociology becaue they had an adiqute lesson prepared for us during opening night to teach us how to react at a dinner table during professional events. The term that he used was cultural capital. Cultural Capital was involved in the DECA trip because it futhered our awarness of the positive business attitude. Cultural Capital is teaching and appreciating the fact of having the ability of dealing with higher class citizens. During the confrence we were introduced to the attitude you should have in the marketplace, by having us work as one group of eight but then broke up up into two's and had us to work against each other on buying or selling items.


<3-Bubbles/ Jenbrica Harris

Reborn

For every 10 students that attend a New Orleans public school fewer than 6 will graduate.
-Buttercup (Breanna C)

Louisiana & the Many Faced Problem!

Many problems have taken place here in Louisiana rather it’s racism, school board problems, or even the city alone with killing and other thing. Many years ago whites thought everything should go their way. They was scared about the crime in which was taking place. Because of that they moved away in to suburbs, where crime wasn’t a problem. Another problem would have to be tuition, and also segregation. Whites believed they were to good to do anything with black, and with a such thing called tuition blacks were unable to pay.
The school board is also yet another problem here in Louisiana. It doesn’t make any sense for it to be as bad as it is. Schools here in Louisiana don’t have books to be used in class, certified teachers to teach us, and some students that doesn’t want to learn period. Dropout rates are over 70
% of students which don’t meet their goal line.
The school board and city schools are almost the same. They both have the problem with what they need to do about student dropping out and the graduation rate. Personally I would want for the graduation rate to be much higher 100% if possible for everybody. It would give not only there school, but also the state of Lousisiana a much better look.

- Brishawn (Blossom)

Your school > my school

My sociology class recently watched a video about the government and school system in New Orleans. Some focus questions that were brought up were racial change in power in city hall , the city's school board and the relationship between the school board and the city's schools. I found the previous week very interesting because I had a lot to say about it.
When thinking about the population of New Orleans it is majority Black. According to the video whites were the ones who moved to the suburbs because of crime and schools. Little do they know problems are everywhere and are hard to escape. Meanwhile the racial power in city hall has moved in the hands of the black folks. Well there is 70% of us in New Orleans.
In my last post I talked about how I would create my school system. I think it will be very successful. The city hall members in the video seemed to have somewhat of the same mind frame as myself... It's all in the COMMUNITY! Did you know that New Orleans has the highest murder rate in the nation. It takes a village to raise a child. So what is the village doing now? That's a good question to ask ourselves.
When it comes to the relationship between the school board and the city's school (in my opinion) I find it
Poor. I am a student in the city's school and I find things to be unorganized. Most of the people working for the school system seem confused and not interested. Where's the dedication? Where's the new books? Where's the smaller classrooms? Where's the money to provide our need !? We need to do better than this. I can't blame everything in the staff because sometimes it's the students too. Everyone needs to get on their "A" game and we can rise above al in excellence !

-Buttercup-____-

New Orleans Public Schools

Racial change in power at City Hall in New Orleans has changed drastically. The whites have mved away to the suburds. They feel they are in danger ebcause of the crime rate. The crime is risig and the school antuition. The political power was once3 very bad. As I recently watched a video about the racial issues in the school board and the New Orleans Parish Schools most of my views have changed. The conditions of which all this happened were during Hurricane Katrina and crime tuition. Before the hurricane schools were very worst off. The school board superintendent at the time Anothony Amato, was voted in by the people in the stands apart of the school board. They felt that he was the one that could turn the system around. But that also was something that changed drastically. I did see that he was trying in the beginning but maybe he felt that it couldnt ever change. Fights as big as 9-10 people happening 5-10 times during a school day were taking place. People being seriously  hurt or even killed. Coming into offce Mr. Amato knew that New Orleans had the lowest school system and the highest incarceration rate. Also, 70% of the students that started as freshmen drop out and dont make it to graduate. I myself believe that one problem is that these test were designed to leave the black kids behind.Ive never understood why they need to know our race and gender when we take test anyway. At least standardized test, that is required. Most kids fail many times, but they dont drop out they eventually get moved up. I was kind of upset when I found out that people were takings schools money. Like the oney is for local public schools so why steal it??? Robbing us out of our education is exactly what they were doing! Im not sure if things like this still take place today but I would hope not.

                                                                                                    _Bubbleface (Kirktisha)

When i actually enrolled as a student in a high school i failed to realize how terrible the school system is. i was so involved in the prep ralleys, games, and dance instead of paying attention to the academics that i was not recieving.

My design of a new school system !

     I am from New Orleans and attend McDonogh 35. The school I attend would not be the structure of how I will design a school. In class we talked about how can we improve our school system. This is not an easy task and can not be done in one day. The help of the community will be a huge part in making my design a better one than the one that is used in society today.
    
     In my opinion I think that the community either makes or breaks the schools. The parents, staff, and citizens living in the area of the school influence the success of the new system I would like to see in the future. For example, I will like to see my community encourage its students. Tell us that we can be whatever we want to be if we are driven and dedeicated.This is the FOUNDATION that we need! When we get this down pack and as long as we teach the students what they need to succeed, we will have a foundation and will begin to build a strong empire of GREAT students in the future.

                                                                                                                       -Buttercup<3

Improvement for students & myself!

Schools sometimes dont make it any easier from us than it can be. For white kids there teachers are there to support them. It is sometimes on the student to say that they want to do better and learn more. There is such a thing called self teaching. I myself think that my problem and many of my peers problem is how lazy we are. To change the way the schools are to improve them there are many different options. One, there should be many different types of teachers because all children dont learn the same. Everyone is smart in there own way but they might not be on the same pace as the other students in there class. Sometimes I want to do many things to help the youth and change things to see a better future when I am older. But the I get lazy which is my number one problem.  To  change the way we are lazy there should be more interesting things. Like make us want to learn about a boring topic. Make it interesting to us that we want to learn more about it. Then maybe we might stop being lazy. If I did more homework and studying I would be a  better student.
                                                                                                                            -Bubbleface (Kirktisha)

Race and the Glass Ceiling

You wanna know what we think? We feel as if Caucasions get more oppurtunities than "We" will be able to get. As for as the Glass Ceiling (Men can get a higher postion than woman) I will substitute the men as the Caucasions and the women as us .. African American females. We can only go so far. Even in the video we looked at in class a Caucasion herself stated "I feel as if have better oppurtunities than an African American". Is it wrong for us as African Americans to feel this way ? What do you feel about this situation between the comparisons of "Race and The Glass Ceiling"

                -Buttercup, Bubbles, Bubbleface, Bubbalicious, Blossom.<3