WOOH!

Finally finished my essay =]

Jay Bhakta

Eng 103
Cerritos College
Post 4

President Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech
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Witnessing History

If one is alive today, then one is witnessing history in the making. We are alive to see the first African American President of the United States of America. Looking back to the notorious past of our nation regarding the enslavement of African American people, one would never have guessed we would see a black president. The transition the nation has made from the time of Martin Luther King Junior's I Have a Dream speech, to president Obama's acceptance speech only illuminates the potential strength of our nation. Our nation faces callous times once again. A declining economy, and terrorism that seems to have divided our country lurke around the corners of our nation. Times may be grim, however our president has encouraged us that there will be changes taken pace to rebuild our nation, brick by brick. Overcoming obsticales in the past leaves hope that we have the ability to do so once again. With a smart, sophisticated, and sensible president can we improve the conditions we face? "Yes We Can."

Jay Bhakta

Cerritos College
English 103
Post 3

How to Tame a Wild Tongue
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Relation

After reading Gloria Anzaldua's How to Tame a Wild Tongue, I realized that many other cultures are able to relate to the experiences that Gloria went through. We all deal with different stereotypes aimed at our culture, personality, looks etc. and we all feel differently about their effects. On September 12, 2001, a day after the attacks on the world trade centers, I experience racism and stereotypes aimed at my culture for the first time. Different children, even those who I once called friends called me a terrorist, and claimed that Osama Bin Laden was somehow my relative. I had never been so confused. Many had assumed I was guilty by association. I had not even taken into account the fact that I had been associated with a culture that was not even my own. However due to ignorance and lack of factual information I was grouped as a terrorist. Many others wrongly faced these accuasations, and the land of tolerance became less tolerant. We must not let these waves of ignorance wash away who we are. As Anzaldua said, "Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself." (20) It is important to know who one is above anything else, and it is important to take pride in one's self in any aspect of one's life. Let no one define who you are.

Jay Bhakta

Eng 103
Cerritos College
Post 2

Only Daughter- Influence
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In Sandra Cisneros' Only Daughter, Cisneros shares her life experiences to show her character was influence by the family she was raised by. Being the only daughter in a mexican family of six sons impacted her perspective of life as a hispanic women. The cultural rules and the ancient traditions caused her father to raise her a certain way. These facts are reality for many others as well. We are raised by our parents from the moment of birth. We absorb their actions, words, attitudes, and behaviors towards various aspects of life. Unable to really think for ourselves for a short span of our lives leaves us vulnerable resulting in the mimicing of the actions around us. After, we reach a turning point in our lives- young adulthood, and just as Cisneros had done in her life, we find our own views and opinions. What we want to happen then would be to have our parents except our views, and to respect them. We probably cause our family a good amount of stress due to these different and often conflicting views. However, when we all land on common ground, it would be the most wonderful feeeling.

Jay Bhakta

Eng 103
Cerritos College
Post 1

The Allegory of the Cave- Meaning
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In Plato's The Allegory of the Cave, Plato uses symbolism to bring meaning to his piece. The prisoners chained in the cave are meant to represent the people in our society, each individual. The chains which do not allow the prisoners in Plato's short story demonstrate how individually we are unable to turn our heads to the whole truth. The end of the piece brings forth the fact that the shadows were not the absolute truth. However, the fact that the prisoners believed the shadows to be completely true, illustrates that we may believe something to be true when in reality it may not be. At first all we see are shadows, not the true figure. We only see an undefined shape, an outline. Not until all of the chains are removed can one witness the whole truth.