Reflection Paper

Carrie Fisher once proclaimed, “Stay afraid but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually, the confidence will follow.” I had to learn the hard way that confidence does not show up ready for you to utilize, just as the quote says. You have to put yourself out there and the confidence will develop. In the seventh grade, I joined the beginner band and chose to play the flute. Beginning band was far more terrifying than my twelve-year-old self imagined it to be. I learned that each student would have to perform in front of the class for a weekly grade. Even worse, the one other flute player next to me had already been playing for a year and I constantly compared myself to her. Later in that semester, this girl and I were talking and she said to me, “When we first started, I thought you were going to be the worst player in the band!” I was completely baffled that this girl, who had only been playing for a few more months than I had, would have the audacity to say that to my face. I did not understand that, at the time, it was okay for me to not play as well as she could. I had only been playing for a few weeks at most after all. Twelve year old me took it to heart and I felt like I was two inches tall. Sadly, that was not the last negative interaction I had with that girl. She stayed with me all throughout middle school, where she made fun of me for making last chair in eighth grade, and overall, put my

As the semester was coming to a beginning I honestly thought I was ready for this course. I say this because senior year high school I took an advanced placement English class. I also, say I was ready to start this course because I have had practice with English and writing essays during my summer before beginning Fall year. I would get good grades on my essays both my AP English class and my Summer English class. So with that being said I thought I was going to do good in this course. As I began this course and saw that we were only going to be doing three essays and a portfolio for the whole year, I thought I was so ready for the semester. I thought this class was going to be one of my easiest class. As assignments were coming up I thought

In the beginning of this class I started off as any other student in this class. I knew what I already learned in high school but transitioning to college level classes was a challenge. Our writing classes weren't ass detailed as the ones in St. Francis. I thought writing wasn't as hard as it was this semester. In high school we read classic novels that we had to take tests on. There was a lot of “in between the lines” type of novels so I assumed that was going to happen in this class. Instead we started off with the how to essay. I thought it was pretty basic but I was surprised when I got a B. I realized this class was way more serious and harder than I assumed.

Mr. Abedi then introduced me to Miriam, one of the woman volunteering at Open Mosque Day. Miriam was working behind one of the tables educating people on Islam. She gave me a Qur’an , a short biography on Muhammad and lots of other information to take home. She was very interesting to talk as she was raised Catholic and converted to Islam. She spoke about how Islam is a lot like Catholicism and that Mary is mentioned repeatedly in the Qur’an more than any other woman. I asked her if she believes Mary is the mother of God and she replied no. Miriam told me she was mentioned seventy times and that she is recognized as devoting herself to God. She explained to me that Allah wants us to pray and that God is great! God is absolute, perfect and unique. I asked her if she believes in God and she replied she believes in Allah and that Allah means God in Arabic. Up until she explained this I thought of God and Allah as two separate people. Miriam was not comfortable taking a picture with me so she found Mr. Abedi and we took a picture together. I thanked them both for their time. Syed commented that he thought it was great that I was open to learning about other religions.

Before starting this session, I assumed I was well versed in terms, of race, ethnicity, and nationality being that it is a topic I am reminded of nearly every day. However, I may have been partially wrong, I’ll explain. My mother was born in the state of Michoacán, Mexico in the rural town of Arteaga. My father was born in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico in the city of Chihuahua. I have always considered my race to be Mexican and my ethnicity to be Hispanic while my nationality is American. Considering filling out administrative forms, I typically check the block for other when it comes to race and identify by ethnicity. It varies depending on the form, if there’s a block to check for Hispanic usually there’s a blank space where I write in Mexican. If there is only a black space then I will write in Mexican. However, to Mexicans from Mexico, I am not considered Mexican. They will label me as a white Mexican, Mexican American or Chicana. I am undoubtedly proud of my roots as well as being an American. In the world we live today, it’s difficult to neglect the fact that I stand out due to my unique characteristics. That at times I am treated differently. That due to my roots I am told to return to my country. That I shed a tear as I write this because I live with an inner struggle of who I am.

“He’ll be alright, Mom. Honestly, nothing bad ever happens to us. I promise we’ll be okay,” I reassured her. The next day, October 1, 2015, my dad discovered the devastating news: his doctor diagnosed him with cancer. The doctor explained he has Multiple Myeloma, a blood cancer that eats away at the bones, and it is incurable. Suddenly, it felt as though we were one of those families in the Fox Chase Cancer Center commercials. Why is this happening to us? What did we do to deserve this? Nothing could prepare me for the constant overwhelming feeling of bewilderment.

Education has always been something that I value in my life. It is the way that we can share knowledge with each other, and learn to develop as a society. Educating ourselves is the key to be able to connect with others. One of the most common ways we obtain learning experiences is through educational facilities. Every student in the classroom is there for the sole reason to complete the course to get closer to their graduation requirements. I, however, wanted more from my education.

The United States of America is the country where there is a true dynamic of cultures. Culture is capable of affecting the value and reasoning of thoughts. Culture is a sensitive area each human must explore. In class, I learned about cultural awareness and how everyone should be compassionate and accepting of others and themselves. I grew up in a Christian world, however, now I am seeking something more. One lesson that will always be keen to my heart is: to love others as you love yourself; this verse is crucial for one’s growth. If one does not love him or herself than one cannot truly love another for who they are. Consequently, if one loves others, then one should be working on insecurities and gain more confidence so that it does not become an obstacle to truly care for others. Life is about embracing who you are, and in order to succeed in this, one must love others truly. The love for oneself and the love for others, should balance each other out. There are times where one should sacrifice time or other things in order to show love. Love should be unlimited and available for everyone, but unfortunately, some individuals never experience something so pure like love, hence, the reason why we have justice. Justice is embraced in our society, it requires one to become an advocate and learn how to empower individuals to use their voice. One of the reasons why I choose this field is because I want people to know they are loved and provide justice for them. In every

Being a Christian is not something that everyone accepts wholeheartedly. It, at times, brings about ridicule and resentment, and it is typically a matter in which most people will try to avoid talking about for the sole fact that they do not want to be questioned on their beliefs. Deciding to follow Jesus is a huge deal, and for me, this decision came when I was 14 years old.

I am a privileged person. I am white. I am upper-middle class. I am university educated. I am thin. I have parents who are still married to each other. I have always had some form of part time work since starting high school. I have no student debt. I am straight. I am Christian. I am an extrovert. I have a strong voice and an even stronger opinion. This made a class on inequality difficult to relate to but if anything, its shown that I do not have even the most basic understanding of what some of my less privileged peers go through everyday. Because of my privilege and powerful voice, I found it extremely difficult to express my opinions in this class because I either felt like a hypocrite or I felt domineering thus I took a silent position attempting to not only understand how some of my peers feel but also because I had never understood what it was like to be unable to share my individual opinions and stories. Although the silence was unintentional, as I went through reading my classmates posts I found myself frustrated because of something I differed in opinion on or because I felt that a grouping to which I belonged was being misrepresented and there was nothing I could do to address the situation.

We are all different in unique ways that make us who we are. Life comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and orientations, and yet the only thing we, as a society, see is what makes up the best of these. So many people believe that being “different” is not acceptable in the world, and because of this, people deny themselves who they are and live in fear. I sadly found myself in the same situation, afraid and alone.

Let me start off by saying the knowledge I gained during this course is unmatched. It was overall a fun course and gave me a deeper understanding of topics I had never previously explored in American History. The way the professor conducted the class was all around smooth. I must agree my group members and I have become lifelong friends. I didn’t believe at the beginning but here we are. Many topics were studied but some that stood out to me is how Abraham Lincoln is basically a fraud he did everything for the benefit of himself, Holocaust and how America help fund it, how slaves were treated and reparations, criminal justice system in America, Eugenics, also secrets inside the Army including the money we waste within the military (The weapon funding of Al Qaeda). Amongst other social issues.

Throughout my life, I have lived and been educated in different countries such as Albania, Italy, Germany, and United States of America. My education and the foundation of my own thinking have traveled with me from one continent to the other. Within this diverse learning experience, my learning concept was enriched with opportunities that have shaped and reshaped my thinking.

I felt very uplifted after receiving this email, until later that day when we received the papers back and I think I got a C. I cried my whole walk back to my dorm room, wearing my sunglasses down Van Meter at 5:00 pm so I could try and hide my tears. I wanted so badly to be better than a C because in my head, it wasn’t just the papers that were C work, it was me that was a C. Aside from this experience, I really loved Being Human and its introspective aspect was very beneficial for me at the time. I felt very lost and unsure about who I was and certain things that had happened to me during that period. I expressed all of this during one of our first assignments, where I drew an actual human heart and assigned each chamber a moral that I was sure I had. I thought out every aspect of that drawing, from the reasons why I shaded certain areas darker to why certain words/icons were placed in certain chambers. During my presentation, I wanted to be honest about my state of unknowing, and the challenges I was going through. I opened up about my mother's death a little bit and really tried to express how that tragedy instilled specific values in me.

Growing up in a community were violence and crime was present at all times knowing that people’s life’s would be in danger. Church became the sacred protection of humans making the bad turn good on relieving their own mistakes to god to make them forgive. Being born in Oak Cliff was really tuff because the schools that I attend brought allot of attention to people’s eyes through children acting up in class not showing respect to the teacher’s.