When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you a child, your world is about to turn upside down. Especially when the film's protagonist, Valentin, is stuck with a one-year-old child as a result of one of his previous hookups. Thrown into dad-hood, he struggles to find suitable work in America in order to support his growing daughter. His primary goal is just to make her happy as she has a terminal illness and he wants to make her childhood as fulfilling and wholesome as possible. After failing the paternity test, the court orders separation from the little girl that he loved and raised which raises a moral dilemma among the audience. Overall, the film was pretty good (until the last five minutes I guess) and threw in some controversial topics without directly alluding to them. In the one scene with the "mom lineup", a trans named George walked up the mic and was immediately swiped aside. Although George probably wasn't going to get the part, it possibl...
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The United States is known as the "melting pot" based upon its foundation for those seeking salvation from political tyranny and religious persecution in other nations. The United States was founded by immigrants. Yet in modern society, immigration is especially frowned upon (by American-born natives) if someone has come here illegally. In almost all cases, the undocumented persons have come to the U.S. to seek a better life, just like our American great ancestors. In my opinion, it's very harsh to berate someone that has crossed our borders because they want to live the "American Dream" or are fleeing from a poverty-stricken, corrupted homeland. I guarantee almost everyone would attempt do what it takes to live a better life, and the United States has the reputation of savior. This is one of Jose Vargas's major points about undocumented immigrants. Families are being separated and even children (as seen in Which Way Home ) are being traveling to America a...
What drives one away from their home? What social, economical, or political circumstances drive people to leave everything behind and seek a fresh start somewhere else? Let's talk about that. I have always been aware of immigration, but it was not until I divulged into more extensive research about it (including the documentary) that I realized it was not just an "American" issue. It's global. People are fleeing their home nations because of corrupt governments, extreme poverty, or to seek a new, higher standard of living. The United States has the highest percentage of immigrants entering the country, but there are also many immigrants from Russia, India, China, and the middle East. Immigrants often choose to face the hardship of moving out of desperation. The situation in their homeland has gotten unbearable and they hope it will be better when they cross the border. Many of these immigrants are caught by border patrol and sent back or arrested. Unfortunately for...
Two major topics we covered this week in classes were Growth vs Fixed mindsets and cheating/plagiarism. We had separate discussions about each but the two topics are actually related very closely. Let's divulge. First, lets break apart the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is the belief that one is born with a certain capacity of knowledge for a skill like academics or sports and do not have much motivation to achieve more than what they think can be achieved. Growth mindsets on the other hand is the belief that knowledge is limitless. It's more about focusing on the process to achieve your goals and in turn, expanding your knowledge of skills by fully understanding the process. The " neuroplasticity " video explains the science behind how your brain creates new neurological pathways to store and process skills, which is pretty neat. The " Introduction to a Growth Mindset " video goes more in depth about the reasoning...
Communication is a major proponent for improving basic human behavior and conduct, inside and outside of a professional setting. How we communicate poses a great potential to elevate or decline the impressions we give to others. We must constantly seek understanding through an open mind and with a respectful character in order to effectively communicate our own ideas and insights. In the classroom, our communication with our peers and teachers enhance our educational experience by collecting and assimilating contrasting views of a topic and having a mutual, respectful conversation explaining why we think a certain way. The " process involves listening with empathy, searching for common ground, exploring new ideas and perspectives, and bringing unexamined assumptions into the open " ( London ). This is how we begin to understand each other. As outlined by London, we need to move from a "din" culture of meaningless dialogue to a more progressive "dialogue...
Preface: I wrote this while conducting a real-time experiment on the effects of procrastination and how it may affect one's ability to structure ideas in a blog. Buzz. Your cell phone goes off and you take a quick peek at it to see what the alert is. It is at that instant, that of an entire lecture hall of 154 people, the teacher happens to be looking at YOU. He then calls you out in front of the whole audience and berates you for using a cell phone in his class. That's a catastrophic distraction. Not speaking from experience or anything but.... Distractions have been incorporated into everything we do, mainly due to easy internet access. It is fantastic being able to talk to people at all times, play games when you're bored (or putting off assignments), and listening to music. The rapid advancements in technology has made our lives easier in some ways, while complicating it in others. Social media has emerged as a great platform for meeting new people and keeping up wi...
College isn't just about graduation. Often many people have cliched the phrase "It's isn't about the end result, it's about the journey" and I totally agree. I have been told over and over again that while I'm in college, take advantage of everything that it has to offer before my time is up. This included scoping out the clubs, sports, and activities outside of class. Engage in those activities. In class Wednesday, we talked about how important it is to engage in the classroom but also everything else happening around you. Find a club or sport that interests you, because not only is it fun, it can help you figure out your career path or decorate your resume (if it applies to a related field of study). We also watched a TEDx talk about how acquiring a substantially successful career is getting increasingly difficult and more higher-educational degrees are required to apply for a surface-level job than in the past. This is what makes those experiences...