Land of The Free Maya Lin is an architect that graduated from Yale University and quickly became famous when her very own design was chosen for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. Lin was born in Ohio though her parents migrated to the united states from China before she was born. “ To me the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom.” said Lin. This informs us on how privileged we are in America to have freedom, and how we can use it to do impactful things. Similar to Maya Lin’s story, “American Oxygen” and “Mother Tongue” also show that the idea of the American Dream for many immigrants is freedom and being able to talk, act, and create in the way you wish. For many immigrants, coming to America is one of the most memorable and life changing events they will ever experience. Rihanna delivers impactful messages through her lyrics, “Young girl hustlin on the other side of the ocean” (Rihanna). In the song American Oxygen, the lyrics describe how challenging it is to start a new life in a place so unfamiliar and far away from home. Another bold and meaningful quote from Rihanna's song is “We sweat for a nickel and a dime” (Rihanna). Meaning money doesn't come easy it takes a lot of hard work and time to have enough to get by, especially to those who are new to this country. Getting a job is also a difficulty of many that are trying to get their new lives started: Rihanna
Many people have come to America for adventure, opportunity, freedom, and the chance to experience the particular qualities of the American landscape. The American Dream is the idea that every United States citizen, including immigrants and residents, should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. America somewhat provides access to the American dream, it is more so the citizen who provides access to the dream for themselves. Even though they encountered many trials and tribulations, with persistence, people such as Langston Hughes in “I Too Sing America and Anzia Yezierska in “America and I” they were able to achieve their individual American Dream.
Oppressed women have been unjustly held back from achieving full equality for much of human history. A woman no matter neither color nor education faces discrimination on a day to day basis. Barriers that are place in their way to advancing includes: lack of mentoring, lack of opportunities for career development, biased rating and testing system and counterproductive behavior and harassment by colleges (Schaefer, pg 15). In the past, women did not have jobs and were to clean, cook and care for the children, also did not have the right to vote. While the man work long hours to provide for his family and gave orders as the women followed. As time went on and rights were given to women, the men did not like the idea that controlled was being lost. They refused to let women become equal to males. Women are allow to work the same career as males, but will never be paid the same as males. This paper addresses Maya Angelou life and how her writing and public speaking inspired women to overcome discrimination.
The Maya of Mesoamerica, along with the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru, made up the high civilizations of the American Indians at the time of the Spanish conquest. Both the Aztecs and the Incas were late civilizations, between 1300-1533 AD, but the Maya of the Yucatan and Guatemala exhibited a cultural continuity spanning more than 2,000 years, 1000 BC-AD 1542. Many aspects of this culture continue yet today. The Ancient Maya in their time had actually refined writing.
Maya Angelou is a phenomenal woman. She rises through all things that come her way and she refuses to back down. Angelou chose at a very young age to be a writer and a role model for many people. She believes that everyone should be treated equally and that the world should come together as a unity. Angelou had many careers but is known mostly for her poetic creations. She has come a long way from where she started and I think anyone can agree with me when I say, she has made us all proud with her accomplishments. Angelou writes poetry to inform and encourage others to carry on through the worst of times. She is a strong, confident, inspirational woman and I am more than honored to be doing my senior paper on her.
Imagine living in a perfect world where people can do what they want with their life; a world without discrimination, where art is just as important as math. Well, it's not going to happen. At least not in the next century. The lack of accessibility of the American dream is especially apparent in the essay by Kesaya Noda, “The Four Freedoms” by Franklin Roosevelt, “Veterans Day: Never Forget Their Duty” from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and an excerpt from “The Newsroom”. The American dream is inaccessible to the majority of people in America.
Personal accounts from immigrants preserving through the endless hardships are the living proof that the American Dream is achievable. Their accounts prove that the dream is only achieved because of the toil throughout the immigrants’ lives. Richard Todd describes “a man who embodies American opportunity” (90). This man immigrated from Korea to start his own software company in America. Todd describes his meeting with the Korean immigrant who had recently made the business a publicly traded company. The enthusiasm of the immigrant accurately conveys the dedication he has toward his ultimate goals (Todd 90). The Korean man was able to be successful due to his extensive work in the field of technology. He lives the American Dream of beginning with nothing rising up in the ranks of
Many immigrants come to America in hope for a better life for themselves and their children, but sometimes they leave without experiencing the great opportunities they were promised. Lately, people are struggling to make ends meet and thinking that they made a great mistake coming to this country. People from all over have been questioning whether the “American Dream” is actually attainable now and in the future. Barack Obama, our 44th President, spoke on this briefly when he addressed his keynote at the Democratic National Convention before his presidency. He mentioned a young woman who had struggled with money when he said, “the young woman in East St. Louis, and the thousands more like her, who have the grades, have the drive, have the will, but doesn’t have the money to go to college. (Obama,7)”. In this keynote, he was addressing many of the problems that people had that the government was not resolving. He addressed this issue because it is very serious,
Gish Gen and Barbara Ehrenreich’s works outline the struggles and challenges that the Americans undergo today in their pursuit of the American dream. Gen points to a Chinese family that is weaved between maintaining ties with their traditional Chinese way of life and culture, and adopting the American dream (Gen 107). Through this rather humorous and attention catching treatise, Gen confirms the struggles the American immigrant population face in order to streamline their thought, actions and philosophy with what the American dream represents. A majority of immigrants survives on low wages and struggles to put food on the
Maya Lin is Chinese-American and was born on October 5, 1959, in Athens, Ohio. Lin is a daughter to Henry Huan Lin and Julia Chang Lin. Maya grew up in an artistic home, her father was the Dean of Fine Arts at Ohio University, and her mother is a Professor of Literature at Ohio University. Because her part of her heritage is Chinese most of her inspiration comes from that heritage.
Maya Lin is a driven and innovative artist of our time. Many of her works have been seen as controversial and received harsh criticism. She manages to trudge on. Her works express both an artistic and mathematical feel, somehow finding a beautiful marriage between. Her obsession with art and knowledge can be greatly attributed to her parents, as she was very successful at an early age. Her art career is one of many triumphs and breaking boundaries in the art world. Lin has a great love for nature, and many of her pieces help to express the significance of this, and she loves to enthrall the audience.
“Of course you can be prodigy, too” (471). A mother’s wish for her daughter who believes she can be whatever she wants in America. In the story of “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, a mother who comes from China after losing her first husband, twin baby girls and her home; comes to America having dreams for her daughter, Jing-Mei. “You can open a restaurant. You could work for the government. You could become rich…” (471). As a child of immigrant parents, I believe they too had that dream. America gives us better opportunities, a better life and numerous ways to be successful. This story shares what many parents go through; being obedient to parents wishes or following their own mind. They only want the best for their kids, especially if they didn’t have the opportunity due to lack of education.
The ancient Maya were a group of American Indian peoples who lived in Southern Mexico. Their descendants, the modern Maya,live in the same regions today.
Background Information Maya Lin is an Asian-American artist who is known for her installation art and structural art. Her early art career began with an interest in ceramics, but she later developed strong skills in architecture, which led to her being a key architect on projects such as the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington, D.C. Her structural works also include the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. Her art career further developed after she earned a degree in architecture at Yale University, and it is clear that her art does not draw on her family’s Chinese culture because she has stated that she “grew up with little sense of ethnic identity” (Encyclopedia of World Biography 2008). In the art world, Maya Lin is described
My sister was born on October 2ed 2013. She is the best sister ever. If I had to pick any girl in the world to be my sister I would choose Maya Rose to be the one. Today is October 2ed 2014 my little girl's first birthday I am so happy today because she is one today. Tonight we are having cake with her. I also get to help her open her presents a little bit. I just get to make a little rip so she can open it. My mom is bring cupcakes for her friends at my moms work. I hope that there is a extra so I can have it! I hope. But I think she would get it. Since its her birthday and it's good that I moved up a level in cheer or I would have to go to cheer today. But this morning she got hurt and that was sad. I love her so much I was up when I was
All remnants of the distant past are romantic, but ancient Maya civilization has a special fascination. It is a "lost" civilization, whose secrets lie deep in the mysterious tropical forest. The style of Maya architecture and sculpture seems alien and bizarre.