Poem Analysis: We Beat The Streets

‘We Beat the Streets’ is a book based off true events of three men named, Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins and their daily life of living the streets of Newark, New Jersey. Brought down by many things like gang violence, drugs and much more it's tough for these three boys, who don’t know anyone that made it to college. But they had a dream to make it there one day!

“Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire other,” says Virginia Woolf, an English writer. Growing up is preordained. Everyone grows up. When do we grow up? Perhaps, after we graduate school, maybe after our first love, or maybe after our marriage or maybe after the birth of our first kid. It primarily depends on how one looks at it, but irrespective of what we consider the right time or the right situation to be “grown-ups”, we cannot help but admit that it is that moment in time where innocence vanishes. As children, we dream of growing up, getting a job, getting married, living happily but on the contrary it is quite different, we find that reality is completely opposite. More often than we wish, we were still children,

The book We Beat the Street by DRS. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck hunt is a captivating autobiography about three boys, Sampson, Rameck, and George, who overcame several obstacles and became important doctors. This story took place in the dangerous location of Newark, New Jersey, in the 1980-1990’s. Violence, peer pressure, and drugs were often found in this location, so the majority of people were greatly impacted by the negativity around them. In this book, Sampson and Rameck were involved in unfortunate situations, and often had to face severe consequences, some as serious as being arrested.

Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.

Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.

Clint Smith is a writer, teacher, and doctoral candidate in Education at Harvard University with a concentration in Culture, Institutions, and Society. Smith Clint wrote a poem called “Something You should Know.” The poem is about an early job he had in a Petsmart. The poet allows the readers into his personal life, but before he had trouble opening up to people and his work. Moreover, Clint wrote an insight in the poem about relying in anything to feel safe and he says it is the most terrifying thing any person can do.

To attain maturity, you must have a loss of innocence. For example, when a kid finds out that Santa Claus is not real, he is disappointed and cannot believe the fact that there is no Santa Claus, because

    Maturity is not a fickle expression such as happiness or frustration, but rather an inherent quality one gains over time, such as courage or integrity. Before maturity can be expressed, the one who expresses it must have significant confidence in himself, since self-confidence is the root of maturity. Being flexible and formulating one's own opinions or ideas are aspects of maturity, but neither is possible without self-confidence. The greatest aspect of maturity is the ability to make decisions which society does not agree with. Whether or not one follows through with these ideas is not important. What is important is the ability to make the decision. These decisions represent the greatest measure

How we dress, talk, and behave can have life or death consequences, with young people particularly at risk. Myself would define it as the ultimate black urban experience. More importantly, I was more engaged to read the book eager to base my own personal experience of my black urban neighborhood to compare to the residents interviews Anderson tackles and the assertion Anderson makes between street" persons from "decent" persons and families, with decent families tending to accept mainstream values, while street values are part of an oppositional culture. In addition, I wanted to see if he is accurate about his assumptions that the constant threat of violence to the circumstances of life among the ghetto stir from poor lack of living-wage jobs, dearth of basic public services, the stigma of race, the fallout from rampant drug trafficking and use, and the ensuing alienation and lack of hope for the future. After just finishing chapter one and two I was amazed and shocked by his knowledge and illustration on the distinction along with the relationships between “street” and “decent”

A person’s age has nothing to do with maturity ; a person’s life is what shows maturity. For example, if a person has had a very

The 2016 census reported that 14% of the United States population was living below the poverty line. And sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures. Leading people to go as far as committing a crime just to feed their family. This was the theme of Cage The Elephant’s song, “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked,” written by Matt Schultz. In the song, Schultz utilizes personal experiences and an emotional appeal to address the issues of poverty to the upper classes and to justify how people in poverty or “the Wicked” handle their situation by the means of crime and immoral ways.

Life is an extremely unfair situation for Liz, as well as her best friend, Marlee. Life is supposed to be happy, and easy for children, but instead for these children, as well as all the other children in the book, The Lions of Little Rock, life is tough, and you had to be careful, especially if you were colored like Liz. This book is alike the to poem Black Fists in the Air because both are extremely against segregation. Furthermore, the mood of the book and the poem are close to the same. Both are sort of dark, ad the narrator, and the people in this book seem depressed. Finally, both the poem and the book use comparisons to show how unfair discrimination is. The poem Black Fists in the Air, and the book The Lions of Little Rock are both very similar in many ways.

The child does not just grow up but they also understand that at a given period they are expected to abandon their childish

“Everyday is a new day, and you will never be able to find happiness if you do not move on,” is a quote given by Carrie Underwood in her speech during a music awards show. As a child, do we expect to grow into the person we are today? For example, in our early stages, we never expect to become a lawyer when as a child we dreamed of becoming an astronaut. This shows how much we change over time regardless of our goals and dreams as a child. Furthermore other experiences disregarding our main goals, such as high school, work, or even experiences at home. Thus regardless of what hobbies we want as a child, the likeliness of following our dreams as a child is infrequent. These observations will present people of older age comparing their

Some of the poems and essays I have read during this class were relatable to me. Being away from college, I have struggled with not being at home. I have become a different person when I am at school, but when I am home, I feel like I am my normal self again. Some of these authors of the poems and essays that I have read throughout this class has struggled with being somewhere where they don’t belong and that they are someone else when they are not home. Unlike the other poems and essays we have read throughout the course. I enjoyed reading the ones about “home” because I actually understood what they are going through and that I can relate. Some of these poems and essays include “Going Home” by Maurice Kenny, Postcard from Kashmir”, by Agha Shahid Ali, “Returning” by Elias Miguel Munoz and “Hometown” by Luis Cabalquinto. All of these poems deal with duality.