The Stages of My Life

I was born on September 17th, 1978 at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA. My Parents, Raul and Mirta Pascual, had immigrated from Argentina a few years before I was born. We were living in La Puente, CA when I was born, but when I was about two years old we moved to San Dimas, CA. While Living In San Dimas, CA I attended Gladstone Elementary School, Lone Hill Intermediate School and San Dimas High School, where I graduated in 1997.

Jamie Ford’s novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet follows the life of Henry Lee at two diverse stages of his life. The book focuses on Henry’s life in 1942 when he was twelve-years-old and in 1986 when he is an old widowed father. The book begins with old Henry walking passed the Panama Hotel, which was in the 1940s a gateway between Seattle’s Chinatown and Japantown. The hotel has long been deserted, and boarded up since War World 2 and is under a new owner, who in the basement of the hotel discovers long forgotten belongings of several Japanese-American families. As Henry is walking passed the hotel he notices a crowd of people in front of the hotel. The crowd gathered as the owner pulls items from the forgotten effects. Henry stood wondering if his broken heart would be in the items. A Japanese parasol sends Henry wondering about his long lost love Keiko a Japanese girl who he befriended when he was twelve-years-old. During WW2 Keiko, her family, and several Japanese-American families were forced into internment camps because America feared that they were enemies of the country, several months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The following essay, will examine historical context of the book, policy issues, how the policy influences the main characters of the book, the books main themes and how they fit within social work practice and social welfare policy.

I was born Christmas day in the small town of north oxford, Massachusetts. The year was 1821 and I was the 5th and last child of sarah and Stephen barton. We were a middle class family and my parents were hard workers who cared for me very much. I have four siblings , two sisters and two brothers, whos ages ranged from 10-17 when I was born. For years to come they woild teach me many skills, some which would help me later on.

Talk about when and where you were born and things of importances at that time.

I was born in the spring, April 13, 2000 in Selma, Alabama. Selma is a very little boring town, where everyone knows everyone. It offers very little activities to young children. Then one day, I found myself at a place named the Sportsplex. At the Sportplex I watched my brother play baseball and girls play softball. I was very influenced by the sport. I knew it was something I

I was born on October 17, 1938 in Montana. Grew up a poor kid in a poor family, I lived with my grandparents and I don't optate to toot my own horn, but I was a pretty tough kid. I genuinely set a school record for the most sit ups and push ups.

Growing up my family was always very close. We were always together; whether it was going to church or going to the ball field. My mother raised me as a single mother. She would work a lot of hours at work and my grandparents would watch me. They would take me to school and ball practices. Where sometimes my mom could not make it, she would always tell my grandparents to tell me something

Have we asked ourselfs how prejudice and discrimination has elevated so much throughout this new century & how it affects people of color up to this day? Every day in current society many individulas try destroying a person or group of color to simple self justify an issue. Vincent Parrillo professor of Sociology argues behavioral prejudice amongst colored people and the possible causes of prejudice on the article, “Causes of Prejudice”, published in 2004. Michelle Alexander a graduate from Stanford law of school states diverse arguments based on the struggle colored or minor groups of people with problems face during their lifes, in her, “The Jim Crow”, publication,

I believe that many psychological theories were involved in my choice to study social work. These stages contributed to not only my social, but my intellectual growth as well. They have truly shaped me into the person that I am today.

Most people know who their relatives are. They know their aunts and uncles, their cousins and their grandparents. Some relatives live far away and we rarely see them or in some instances, never meet them at all. Others die before we ever get to know them. I’m lucky because I have two sets of grandparents that live close by. My favorite grandpa is Charles Brainard and he is a remarkable and distinguished gentleman.

My grandpa was a hard working dad and grandparent. He had a lot on his hands and helped his kids get a good education (J. Gonzalez). He was an amazing father and although he didn't have the chance to get an education he made sure his kids got a better education than he did. Although not all my siblings took the opportunity to go to college. (R. Ballesteros). Also was a very helpful dad he would always help out with taking care of my kids and he had such a great impact on them. His life wasn't as easy as some of ours M. Ballesteros). Even though my grandpa didn't go to college he worked hard to make sure that all his children, grandchildren and everybody else to come would have the opportunity to do what he did not (E. Gonzalez). He didn't have much of an education because he was working to help out the family (I. Ballesteros).

Many of our temperament traits are evident at birth. However, other characteristics such as trust, guilt and competency are learned based upon our life experiences and the support we receive as we grow and develop. Based upon his research, Erikson became aware of the influence maturation and social demands have on behavior and ultimately on our development. He believed these two forces "push[ed] humans everywhere through…[a set of] eight psychosocial crises" (Sigelman, C. & Rider, E., 2009, pg.332). He organized life into eight stages that extend from birth to death.

I was raised primarily by my grandparents along with several other cousins in one household. My grandfather would gather us by the fireplace and read the newspaper to us every night. A couple of my cousins developed a strong dislike for reading from this experience. However, I developed a sincere passion for reading. When I was pregnant with both my children I read to them every night much in the same manner that my grandfather influenced me to do. Additionally, my grandfather was a sports fanatic. In particular, he watched every aired baseball, basketball and football game. And I was sitting on the couch right beside him watching the Atlanta Braves, the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta Falcons. Although my grandfather has long since passed away, to this day I still watch those teams with my own

Phrases such as “you are turning into your mother” or “that’s so something mom would say/do,” have become increasingly more common with each passing year of my life. I have come to accept the fact that not only do my mother and I favor in appearance, but also in many behavioral way as well. My mother recently turned 46, and I chose her as my person of interest because it is the closest I will ever get to interviewing my future self. As well as I know my mother, I have never had the opportunity to analyze her development and her current stage of life. It is amazing what one can learn and take away from a few simple questions when they are based on theory, especially Erikson’s.

Kierkegaard suggests three stages of life that an individual experiences on his or her way to existence. For Kierkegaard, existence is not simply a condition of being alive; it is an active pursuit toward the type of person one “ought” to be (Stumpf, 2015, p. 374). ‘Existence’ is a qualitative statement that indicates a conscious and active will to make reflective choices (373). According to him, there is a graduated system; ‘three stages of life,’ that one navigates with a series of choices in order to fully exist.