I Say Tomato, You Say Toe-mah-to, He Says Red Apple....Huh???

One day I lay in the grass with two friends of mine looking at the sky. It was a clear day with a few rogue clouds roaming around in the sky. I then noticed one and blurted out what I thought it was. Immediately after my friends each said they saw something different when they looked at the cloud. I was quite surprised when this happened. It had been a while since I last realized that everyone sees things in a different light. It really put a lot of things in my life at the time, and thereafter, in perspective. We are all individual beings with unique wiring. We need to learn how to walk in other peoples shoes and see the world through other peoples eyes. The world would be a much better place if we could do this.

To be continued...

Ok So What's Your Race? Oh Me? I'm Mexican. No...There Is No Circle For That On The Census. Ok...I'm White? Yea That Works Fine

The question of differentiating between race and ethnicity is one that has bothered me for a very long time. What exactly makes me white? Is it my skin color? Well even then it still confuses me because I can get pretty brown at times. Is there no classification for brown people? If someone asks me what my race is do I say white? If I do what will they know about me? They will think I am white when in reality I am a first generation American citizen. I speak Spanish just as well as I do English. I am not white in any sense of the word. Many people take offense to filling out the race section of the US Census. On the census website the government states, "How Should Hispanics or Latinos Answer the Race Question? People of Hispanic origin may be of any race and should answer the question on race by marking one or more race categories shown on the questionnaire, including White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Some Other Race. Hispanics are asked to indicate their origin in the question on Hispanic origin, not in the question on race, because in the federal statistical system ethnic origin is considered to be a separate concept from race."(http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/race/racefactcb.html) Many people I speak to just skip the race question al together. I, along with many others, believe my ethnicity is a huge part of my identity because it has affected my ideologies, beliefs, religious stance, and countless other things. My experience is very different than the white experience. I am who I am because of where I grew up, who I've met, and what I've learned. To truly know who someone is we must understand where they came from. So the next time someone asks you who you are tell them the whole truth, not just a piece of it.

This Is My Circle And That's Yours...Keep Your Words Out Of Mine

People are naturally territorial when it comes to many things in their lives. These range from political views to material things, and everything in between. Speaking personally, when I first got to Berkeley I was so against using the word "hella". Looking back, the only reason I refused to say it was because all my friends back home in Los Angeles made fun of that word. I was being pretty close-minded. I came to realize this when I was speaking to some people originally from Northern California and confused them with my choice of words. I then realized I was simply letting what my friends back home thought influence me. But isn't that a major part of how we grow up? We are influenced everyday in our life. Whether it comes in the from of what are parents tell us, or our teachers, friends, random strangers, iconic figures, books, the news, etc. Life is all about who you surround yourself with and what you let influence you. It's not easy to grow up conservative your entire life and come to a place where liberal is the norm. It is difficult to accept a new idea, way of speaking, language, or even a type of food if you have been used to something else for years and years. With respect to Bakhtin, I feel it is hard to make other words your own because we already have a system we go with that works for us. Making someone else's ideas, or words, your own entails changing something that has been working for you. Change can be scary, and many times people steer clear of change. Although I don't adore the word "hella" I have stopped judging those who do use it, because I don't always use the most intellectual words myself. I am human. We all are. Change is good. That is all

Literacy...It's That Important

"Funds of Knowledge"

I was extremely intrigued with what Luis Moll had to say in this article. He states, "...reciprocal practices establish serious obligations based on the assumption of mutual trust...and leads to the development of long-term relationships." (Moll) I feel as if it is the role of a teacher to look beyond the school work of their students and to look at them as people with different backgrounds. I feel it is necessary for teachers to act like researchers to get the most from those doing the learning. I also feel that researchers need to look beyond the data they collect and see people for who they really are. You can only know so much about a person from data. To really know someone we have to spend quality time with them. We must strike up a conversation for the sake of getting to know the person, not simply to get answers to questions we had written up before. It is definitely possible for researchers to collect data and empower those they are researching. A combination of a teacher/mentor and a researcher is ideal. We are all mentors to someone, even if we don't know it. We all affect multiple people with our everyday actions. Being in an education class we have also become researcher. It is essential to realize the difference between the two, but to try and combine the two to really get the most from the experience. This, to me, seems like the biggest barrier (aside from nervousness) for us. The biggest thing to remember, though, is that if there's a will there's a way. 

Orality On The Decline

While the debate between orality and the written word rages on, no one neglects to admit that either one is important in one way or another. I believe orality (in the sense of communication) to be quite an important tool in the world today. In the past face to face communication was the only way to talk to somebody else. Now, with all the technological advances made, we can communicate with others using cellphones and the internet. Face to face communication is something to be valued. Through texting and internet chatting there is no emotion expressed between the two, or more, parties. Children and teenagers have become obsessed with this type of communication. An entire generation is growing up having trouble expressing themselves to another person in a social setting. Social skills are lacking in the present, which presents a problem for the future. You might think I am exaggerating this point just a bit, but think of the number of cellphones and computers in the world today. So the next time you text someone take a second to think...can this wait for me to ask them in person? Odds are it probably can