Assignment #10: The Journey

      I awake to a bright sun peering through the window. As I sit upon my bed I begin to wonder, is my life just a fairytale? I lay back and see walls drenched in luxury. A flat screen TV, a huge entertainment system, old expensive antiques, and my huge Venetian style bed. I rise from my bed, open the curtains and take in the beauty of the outdoors. With a feeling of emptiness in my heart and soul, I walk into the kitchen. The granite kitchen counter tops, stainless steel refrigerator, top of the line pot and pans, and the one hundred dollar knife set now, have no value to me. Looking in the dining and living room a feel a deeper feeling of regret. The flat screen, entertainment center, game counsels, and fireplace seem unattainable. The feeling of wasted time, energy and money, run through my blood like bullets. As I stand there with a feeling of confusion, I again am pulled to look out the window. I see the field just out side my fence. Butterflies’ twirling around, the sunflowers brushing the freshly dewed grass, and beautiful aroma is calling me. I run up stairs and prepare to head out into the first day of the rest of my life.

       I step out of my cabin and head towards the field. The trail is yellow golden brown and is filled with scattered blue and green pebbles. I head down the trail and come upon many inquisitive things. I see a family of grasshoppers sunbathing on a boulder. I see cabins that look exactly like mine. I hear the laughter of various families spending time together at the dinner table. I head deeper into the field and things seem to have a bit of a change. The trees get taller. The leaves start disappearing. The animals slowly drift away. In addition, the voices of others start to fade until there is noting left but the sound of my footsteps. As the field begin to become cold and discreet, I gaze up too a tall thin tree and I spot a chubby little blue bird sitting on a branch. The branch is thin, brittle and makes a cracking noise after every movement the bird makes. As it sits on that small branch, the bird stares down at me. The bird is at a complete stand still. The bird does not make any kind of movement, noise, nor does it change the direction of its eyes. The birds focus and concentration draw me in. The deep look upon the both, the bird and myself is so unique and beautiful. I Begin to feel the bird’s emotions. I feel that the bird is sending me a signal a spiritual signal of some sort. Just like that, the bird flies passed me spinning and twirling in the air. Still in disbelief, I gaze at the bird in aw. It heads toward what seems to be an edge of a mountain. I feel a pull in my legs, my heart begins to pond and I start to run after the bird. The trees are racing past me. What I was surrounded by before seems to disintegrate. The edge seems to be getting closer and closer.

     Just before, I fall of the edge of the mountain a stop, as the bird dances with the clouds. I look down over the edge and there is nothing. It looks like a black hole with no ending. I look directly across and I see another mountain. Purple, red, yellow orange and green fill the sky and background behind the second mountain. Small misty clouds are now surrounding me. I see the bird again; it is now sitting on top of the mountain staring straight at me as it was on the tree. I once again put all of my concentration on the bird and stare directly into its eyes. The bird then says to me “come.” I stand there shocked and say nothing back. Again, the bird says, “come” “Come Now”. This time I yell back “I I can’t”. The bird slightly tilts its head and responds, “Yes you can. Just feel it. Just start running.” I take my eyes off the bird and seek a route to the mountain but I see nothing. The mountain seems to now be floating in thin air. I yell to the bird who is still in the same position “I can’t get to you the track is gone I can’t!” The bird quietly and calmly says, “Close your eyes, believe you can, let go just let go.” I do as I am told and I insistently being to float. I open my eyes and see two small birds are holding me. These birds are as little as can be. They take me to the mountain a set me down next to the little blue bird. The bird then says, “Look into the volcano.” “Volcano?” I ask Then as I look down the once to be thought mountain transforms itself into a volcano. I look down see my once adored family, my cabin, my pets, all my riches and wealth being swirled around until there’s nothing but a baby picture of me left. I asked, “What happened to all my things? What is going on?” The bird then says, “Those item were never yours that family wasn’t what you wanted it to be, and that money will never be your escape.” I believe the little bird that sat on that brittle branch was a gift sent to me. 


     A gift greatly appreciated. It thought me that I was living a lie and that I was covering up the pain with my riches. The bird said, “This is your time, take it, recreate yourself, be the you really want to be.” and just like that my baby picture was next to me and my past had vanished.

Assignment #9: Psychology Of Child Abuse

          
     My assignment was to write about the Psychology of Child Abuse. As a researched, this topic I begin to feel very emotional. The assignment was to answer these following questions; What are the psychological issues which cause adults to hurt children? Can these illnesses be corrected? What are your personal views on this topic after you have perused the research on this topic? What would be your suggestion and plan of action for correcting this problem in American society? I became very emotional and sick, in attempt to research and answer those previous questions. Therefore, I wrote my blog entry bases on opinion and statistics.

     Let us begin with information on child abuse and the types of child abuse. One type of child abuse is physical abuse. Abuse can be labeled physical by any of the following; Punching, Beating, Kicking, Biting, Shaking, Throwing, Stabbing, Choking , Hitting with a hand, stick, strap, or other object or Burning. A second type of abuse is Emotional abuse. Emotional abuse is Terrorizing, Isolating, Exploiting or corrupting a child. A third type of abuse is Sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is abuse by act of Anal or genital digital or other penetration, Genital contact with no intrusion, Fondling of a child in any way, Inadequate or inappropriate supervision of a child's voluntary sexual activities. Another type of child abuse is Child Neglect. Child Neglect, Physical, educational, and emotional neglect are considered the three major types of neglect. Then there are the other types of abuse such as medical abuse and psychological maltreatment.

      Some statistics show that child abuse is a leading cause to criminal behavior. Studies show that 14% of all men in prison in the USA were abused as children. In addition, some studies have proven that 36% of all women in prison were abused as children. Also studies show children who experience child abuse and neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime. The statistics also show child abuse information about consequences and substance abuse. One study showed that a consequence of abused children is the fact that 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy. In addition, they show that abused teens are three times less likely to practice safe sex, putting them at greater risk for STDs. The statistics show the results of substance abuse. The statistics infer that children who have been sexually abused are 2.5 times more likely to abuse alcohol. Also I found statistics that prove children who have been sexually abused are 3.8 times more likely to develop drug addictions. A third statistics also shows that nearly two-thirds of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children.

     I also studied statistics on a general note. One showed that a report of child abuse is made every ten seconds. Also almost five children die everyday because of child abuse and more than three out of four are under the age of four. In addition, it is estimated that between 60-85% of child fatalities due to maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates. A scary statistic showed that 90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way; 68% are abused by family members. Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education. About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse. A statistic showed that more than less statistics showed that about 80% of 21 year old that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder. On a report issued by the Federal Burrow was the estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2007 is $104 billion.

      Children are suffering from a hidden state of child abuse and neglect everyday. Over 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States; however, those reports include multiple children. In 2007, approximately 5.8 million children were involved in an estimated 3.2 million child abuse reports and allegations. Now that you have read about the real life statistics and about the child abuse epidemic that the United State is in now, think. The world has a big set of rose-colored glasses on and are blind to the truth. Many people shine away the bad because they fear to face it. The world needs to understand and accept that we are not perfect and we need to fix our flaws before we begin to move on.

For help or to report child abuse please conceder the following links;
http://www.hhs.gov/
www.childabuse.org

 

Assignment # 8 Resoritive Justice

     My assignment was to write about Resoritive justice. I was asked to research Resoritive justice and determine the effectiveness, the meaning, how it is applied and how it would affect the future of crime. Studies have shown that the are both pro’s and con’s to Resoritive justice. None, although, have given a true, one hundred percent answer to rather Resoritive justice is a fully accurate or inaccurate tactic that the law uses today.

      Resoritive justice is being applied to many trials as a plea bargain or in some cases, as a sentence. To give you an example of Resoritive justice , imagine your on trail for robbing an old lady, now picture your attorney and the court offering you a plea bargain or a Resoritive justice deal. You have now just relieved yourself from a four to five year sentence to simply having to serve some community service time and maybe house arrest. Ill let you ponder on that idea awhile. NNow imagine you have been accused of domestic violence against a loved one. Imagine yourself in court and the jury announcing you have been found guilty of all charges brought against you. Your sentence is to serve a year of probation and four months of house arrest/ now lets dig deeper into the crimes of today. Imagine yourself as a sex offender. Pretend you have been accused of molesting a small child and a woman. The court, jury and family of both victims want you to get a hard sentence, possibly prison time. Evidently your attorney has opened up the talk of your right to receive a sentence falling under Resoritive justice. The judge, and jury have came to a quick decisions that with using the Resoritive justice law you can get away with four years probation, year and a half of house arrest, having to register as a sex offender and an ankle bracelet to monitor your activity. With that being said imagine all the criminals that have gotten away with using Resoritive justice, that are still walking the streets today.

      Now that we know what Resoritive justice is and how it is applied, lets decide if it is indeed effective or not. After viewing some statistics, I can indefinitely agree that in some cases Resoritive justice can be effective. To expand, I have seen and agreed that Resoritive justice is effective in the cases of adolescence and in young children offenders. For example imagine an adolescence with no current record, robbed someone because their family was in need. On the other hand, imagine a child with a background of abuse and violence, beat someone nearly to death. Obviously Resoritive justice is acceptable for both examples given. Now let us dig deep and investigate some cases where Resoritive justice is not an enough sentence to receive justice. In some cases such as domestic violence, harassment and verbal disagreements might be acceptable crimes for Resoritive justice. Offences such as molestation, offences done by well minded and well equip adults and most heinous offences are not acceptable for Resoritive justice. If a man receives house arrest for molesting a child just as well a man that gets in a fight at a bar and is charged with domestic violence is simply unfair and unjust. In my personal opinion, suspects or offenders should only be allowed Resoritive justice if their crimes are not as serious as others and if the offender is not well minded, well off or has not fully developed mentally.

      The way I see it, the way that Resoritive justice is going it is only making the rate of crime increase. If children continue to learn that if they act badly and get off with a deal and live their life normally, they will jus increase in violence and crime. I believe the rate of violence, murder, molestation, rape and murder will see a major increase. The law needs to change immediately. Many crimes and offenders are being dropped and ignored because of the over crowd in prisons. Lf that is the problem then more penitentiaries, detention centers and halfway house need to rise and be built.

      In my opinion, there is no excuse for a crime to be unseen. There is not an offender in a world that should not be tried fairly. There is not a soul, offender or man in this world that can erase their bad decisions or choices and pretend it never happened. It is the duty of the court, jury, community, and judge to give justice and lock away those whom deserve it and to give “a break” to those who need it.

Assignment # 7 School Report Card

      It would be very difficult to give AHA a “Grade”. The reason why is simply because, I would not be able to fairly give an over all grade. As for the current teachers I have I would give them all A’s. As for the quality of lunch, the school has to offer I would give a B-. As for the safety, I feel that I have at school I would give an A. As for the Security themselves I would give some an A and some a C-. As for the opportunities I am given I would give an A. as for the campus and buildings I would give them a B. The grades I would give out differ because there are certain places where I believe the school could improve. I mean do not get me wrong I love my schools it’s beautiful and I am proud to be a Jaguar but there is a few things I’m not proud of.

      To elaborate on what was just presented the reason for the high grades is simply the fact that in those areas the schools doing great and as for the lower part of the grades, in my opinion that is where I believe the school could use improvements. For example the main reason why I gave the school’s lunch a B- is plainly because, the manner lunch is given and the food offered needs to see some improvement. In addition, the reason for the split grade on security is because, the presentation of some officers and the way some officers treat students. I am very glad we have security because they ensure my safety but there are some officers that treat students in a manner that is simply unacceptable. As for the buildings receiving a B, that was simply based on the fact that our buildings are not sufficiently built for the size of students that we are currently housing and because of the fact that almost half of the original campus has not been started and is currently missing. Those are just some minor flaws that AHA has because; in ever other way, AHA is perfection.

      The way I see it is, Atrisco heritage Academy High School is one of the most fantastic high schools to attend in the state of New Mexico and I am very honored to have the chance to attend. However, as a student of AHA I do see many places where our school could improve. Nothing and no one is perfect and I know that but, if AHA can get close to it, it would better not only the school but also those who apart of it as well.

Assignment # 6 Teen Relationships

      For this assignment, I was asked to write an essay about the importance and non-importance of relationships in teenage lives today. Teenagers all over the world are in a committed relationship whether it is for two months to two years. The rate of teen relationships is on a rise but we have to ask ourselves is that a good or bad thing?

       Relationships are defined differently around the world. In some society’s relationship are not permitted until the young adult is at least sixteen years of age. This means that the teen, at only age sixteen, is already exposed to “love“, relationships, the pressures of sex, and the rude awakening of denial and betrayal. In other societies, arranged marriages happen in the early twelve, thirteen years of an adolescences life. This means that teens as early as twelve years of age are expected to learn how to take care of their own family, learn how to cook, clean, and are expected to have the hardest responsibility in the world.

       Teens all over the world are being taught to be in a relationship for security reasons. As for women, they are being taught to find a man to take care of them to survive. As for men they are being taught to find a woman to clean, cook and essentially do everything for them.

       Girls today depend on relationship to keep them sane. They feel the need to be in a relationship so that they have someone that loves them someone to care for them when they’re in need. More times then less, women fall into the stage that they believe without the person they are with they are nothing, they will die without their love and that life would simply be easier with the love of another. In most times the young man in the relationship, break up with the young woman and evidentially her whole world ends. This in my opinion is what causes the rate of suicide to escalate. Most young men commit themselves into a relationship to show off to friends. Young men seem to use young women to relieve their need of sexual tension that they might be facing. This in my opinion causes teen pregnancy to rise more than ever before. In my personal opinion, young men and women must first understand themselves as a person before they commit to a serious relationship.

      To some people love is not a necessity to their lives, to others it’s they live for. More women then men become dedicated to their partner. Women seem to be emotionally stronger and more capable to uphold a serious relationship. More young men seem to have the understanding that real men are strong and could not possibly be dedicated to one specific woman. What they do not know is that when they do find the said girl of their dreams it changes their life for the better.

       I am currently in a serious relationship. I will officially be with my boyfriend for a year, now on November 14. Our relationship started as a friendship at first then escalated to e serious relationship. My boyfriend is a nice, considerate, wonderful young man and I have invested my whole heart into our relationship. We have grown a strong, loving relationship that I would never change. Our families have accepted that our love is real and they see that we have a good head on our shoulders and that we do actually know what we are doing. We have a plan for our separate lives and we know that our future comes first. We are defiantly in love and we dedicate ourselves to each other. We put our well-beings and our future before the temptation of a sexual relationship. We know what our families expect from us and we accept that we must make smart decisions to stay together. I love my boyfriend Alex with all my heart and I can honestly say I would never change the one I am with for another.

       Love, trust, faith and responsibility all come with having a great relationship. The world is full of mistakes but I am a strong believer that personal relationships with a person you enjoy being around will never count as a mistake. Love is what the world feeds on and without it, we would not be where we are today.

Assignment # 5 Teen Gangs

       In psychology many topics are discussed and disected. The minds of young teenagers are one. Aspects of the said teen are then researched debated and focused on but those studies seem to alter and seem to have more of a difference when the teen is or becomes involved in an organized group or "gang". In this essay, I will be expressing my beliefs and my point of view on what goes through the mind of a kid when they are debating on join a gang and on why kids join the gang in the first place as well as the personal influence gangs have in my life.

        First off, I would like to point out a few aspects of how gangs influence my environment and the part it plays in my life today. As a citizen living and being an active member of the "West Side" community, I see how gangs have transformed some neighborhoods from being the calm suburb part of alb. With kids running and playing to families, being secluded in homes and police officials patrol neighborhoods. I have seen the many families affected by gangs, the effect gangs have in the education role, and how some gangs have influenced the characterization of said part of Albuquerque. To be completely honest I believe alb. Has it easy there are so many gangs in other parts of the U.S and abroad whose main moral is to kill terrorize and ruin innocent lives. Now don’t get me wrong alb even new Mexico, in that matter, seen tough days but not as much as some towns, cities and even some countries.

        To show my personal and in-depth interaction and knowledge of gangs im going to tell you a bit of the influence gangs have had in my life. I live in "The Gates Community" also known as the West Gate Community. It is a small part of Albuquerque that has a beautiful view of the city, which can be seen from many houses, it has a great chain of citizens, but that also has much gang activity, violence, and mishap. When in West Gate, like in many communities, you will come across various stop signs, street names, and even personal property with tags of various gang names, nicknames of gang members, numbers representing a certain gang and the occasional gang member. However, back to the personal influence of my life, gangs have been around ever since I could remember. At school, was when I was first introduced into the gang lifestyle. I believe I was a sixth grader when I was quickly approached by a girl, whom was apart of a gang, the gang and said gang member remain nameless for secluded reason. When she approached me before even asking my name she aggressively asked if I was apart of any gang. I quickly reasoned no. she then proceeded to ask if id be interested in joining the gang she was in. I again reasponed no and began to walk away from her. To me, she became agitated and went after me. She stopped me, continued to ask why I had rejected her offer, and began to state that if I refused to join id have Permanent enemies and would be in danger. A bit shaken up, I still rejected her offer and went on my way. A few days had past when I noticed that bulling, threats, pushing, attempted fights, and violence began. I never realized that from simply rejecting to be in this girls gang, would bring me so much hassle in my life that continues to this day. As I sit here thinking, though, I would not change my choice if the chance came by. I believe the reason for that is because gangs have never been an influence in my family nor in my life until that day.

         I believe some the main reasons why teens join gangs today is peer pressure, fear, the belief that the teens life would some how improve, for safety and in some cases to become more popular and accepted by others. The fear eats teens alive and gives them the idea that if they reject and stand up for them selves against the gangs their life might as well be over. The thought of the gang improving one life is so they would have somewhere something or someone to run away to for support and to escape their norms. To become popular and accepted by others, I believe, is the most likely reason for a teen to join a gang. only because those=whom are apart of gangs are known by pretty much everyone. They have this assort of big bright glow to them that shows power, strength, and fear at the very least. Peer pressure of course is a huge impact on teens. Once a member from a group of teens joins a gang or even brings up joining one they begin to drop like flies. One by one slowly being sucked in without knowing what just hit them.
Teens today have more of an advantage to get help with gang violence but many avoid the help because of fear. If someone who teens look up to, could change his or her perception of fear into strength, it could possibly help gang awareness increase and gang involvement decrease. It’s all a matter of time, but to achieve an accomplishment of deteriorating gangs and increasing the strength of saying no to gangs, adults as well as teens need to act and live by the following quote; “Be the change you want to see in the world today.”

Assignment # 3 Bullying

For this assignment, I was asked to reflect on the story we heard about bulling, to think of a time when I was bullied, when I was the bully, and how I felt in those types of situations. To tell you the truth I can’t remember a time that I wasn’t bullied. I was picked on for what seems to be everything. I was picked on for being too fat, for being too smart, for having nice and expensive thing, for having my dad still in my life and even at times for something as little as wearing a color I should and should not be wearing. I also can think of a time that I myself was a bully. I bullied my bully back. I pick out little things about her that I know she disliked and I toyed around with her emotions, as she did mine.


When I was bullied, it was the worst feeling in the world for me. At times some bullies made me feel as low as the floor. At times, I had no self-confidence, no drive to succeed and everything that I enjoyed seemed to slip away. I knew at the time that they were wrong and that their actions towards me were simply hate but, never fully understood why me? Looking in the past I kind of get a feeling of why, I think it was mostly because, I was popular in middle school, I did have a lot of things and I was a bit of a show off. I mean not to use that as an excuse for them but I had it coming to me I guess you could say. I think the absolutely worst part of the bulling though was when my mom tried to intervene and try to solve the problem. My mom went day after day to complain to administration that I went home sad, I could not focus on school and I basically gave up. Dispite the zero amount of help my mom received from the school she did indeed help the problem. After a few mediations with my bullies they got the picture that I had, back up I was not alone and that from that point on I was going to defend my self. That’s when the problems seemed to get a bit bumpier.

By not receiving, any help from my school my parents and I decided to take it into our own hands. My mom defended me when she could and then I slowly began to defend myself. Defending my self seemed to work for the first couple of times and then it soon became a problem. Our silly little words going aback and forth to each other turned into violence, we started heightening each other. We started to push each other in hallways and stare each other down. At one point, it got so bad that we actually had a physical altercation between each other. I men it never resolved it self it created either more and more problems or it created more fear or more dominances between us. After the altercation occurred the violence, bullying, and contact began to die down we began to avoid each other until one day she was kicked out of school. That day was the best day in my middle school life, I was ecstatic. It seemed like when she left my life had one less worry. I knew she’d probably return but at the time, I didn’t care, I just thought of it as a vacation from all the drama I had been going through.

When I began, high school I was glad too see she had not followed me. My freshman year was fantastic because the bullying had stopped. I mean there was some name calling here and there from other people but nothing highly sever that I couldn’t handle. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that my bully had returned. This time it seemed to be worse because of the unresolved conflicts we still had. I though I could just pick up where we left off, ignoring each other. Seems to be that I guessed wrong that didn’t work. We started the conflict almost immediately and again we created an altercation. Thankful for me that altercation cost her enrollment at AHA and she was again kicked out of school.

I know ill always have a bully. There is always going to be that someone that is going to attempt to lower my self-esteem. I know that will never be possible though. I am stronger than I have ever been before. I am more intelligent, strong and well mined and I know that one ignorant person does not have the power to get me down. I now know the affect bullying had in my life I do regret being a bully but, at the time, it was my way to release the pain to release all the anger I kept inside. However, I did learn from my mistakes, they made me stronger, they made me the person I am today and I would never change that.