Carlos

Social Networking is a grouping of people into specific groups like communities or divisions. Social Networking is possible in person but its mostly used online. The internet is filled with many people that are there to meet other people to share information about work, friendships, and all other topics you can think of. People mostly use social sites to interact with each other. Depending on the social website, online members usually share common hobbies and religious views. Any person can create an account and join a social website. Easy to make and easy to use. 

Social Networking is beneficial because people can make friends easier instead of going up to them and having that awkward moment. Another benefit of social networking is diversity; many people from around the world join the social website so there’s a greater chance of getting to know people from different places. Also, you can learn somethings about that new culture or language. The true beauty of networking is anyone can join the social networks regardless of hobbies, beliefs and views.

However there’s always a negative to everything. The more social networking; the more risk does your device of getting a virus. There’s also a risk of identity theft or online predators that act like regular people online. Like everything else there’s risks even in real life but its just important to be aware and cautious. There’s many social websites people can join like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Yahoo, etc. Social Networking is a growing trend in the U.S. and is becoming a way to make life easier in a sense. 

Plagiarizing someones work is an insulting action against the person that actually put in the time and dedication to get the result. Plagiarism is most common in schools but it wouldn’t be suprising if we hear of it that happening at a workplace or a event.  The U.S. law does believe that words and ideas can be stolen. ideas are considered as intellectual property and is protected by the copyright. 

All forms of expressions are in copy right protection for example a book or video. Most people that plagiarize are young adults in school. They most commonly don’t give credit to the person that actually wrote the idea or words. People most commonly use someones ideas and just change the words but the sentence structure is the same; that’s still plagiarizing and its unlawful.

Plagiarism is a very severe offense that if someone does it; its enough to go to jail and get sued by the real publisher. In college students can be dropped off the class or even expelled from the campus. Very serious stuff but some people don’t take it seriously and that’s where the trouble begins. 

Most students plagiarize because they feel lazy to actually do the research and cite correctly while others are unaware of how to cite correctly and accidently begin to plagiarize. even though its done accidently; its still a serious offense. According to the Center for Academic Integrity ” Almost 80% of college students admit to cheating at least once.” Wow. That’s more than half of College students. Its a very serious now with more and more technology is becoming available to students of all ages.

Plagiarism can be a avoided though by just citing the place where someone got the information. They also can tell the audience the correct place in the web of book to find the source. Easy steps makes perfect. Plagiarism wont ever be completely prevented but we must find ways to minimize it. 

Hip Hop got started by African Americans and Latinos. African Americans living in the poor and forgotten neighborhoods used Hip Hop to express their frustration with problems and living conditions. Eventually, in modern times Hip Hop has evolved into music that talks negatively about the fellow men and treats women like a useless object. For some people hearing those kinds of lyrics makes them wonder what is the overall message of the song?  I think in a way, through Hip Hop that’s how people express themselves. It may not be the right way to express themselves but Hip Hop is extremely popular. Hip Hop has many important symbols in their music videos; from almost naked women to men showing their bronzed upper bodies and money. These symbols portray that these men see women as usable objects and men are showing their physical strength through the bronzed body. Hip Hop has became something else…

Today on class I saw a video that talked about Hip Hop and media. The narrator of the video showed a music video that really caught me off guard. The artist was swiping a credit card next to the women’s behind. I would have never thought media would let something like that get released into the public view, what if a young kid would see the video? He would probably grow up portraying women are things that can be bought and used. Next the narrator of the video went to a Hip Hop event were people were trying to get their music out to get attention from the        people up in the music industry to become famous. He interviewed some of them and he noticed that all of them rapped about the same thing. He asked one of them why, and they responded by saying that “they” don’t want to hear that, so they must talk about the guns and women. That got me thinking about something. When he said “they”, who was he talking about? the public or the people at the top of Hip Hop? The public doesn’t really want to hear about guns and women. So i thought he was talking about the people at the top. My next question; why do the people on the top want rappers to talk about guns and women on their Hip Hop songs? Do they want to influence the rest of the public to view African Americans negatively? I don’t know if I am getting somewhere with this but its a thought I had. Hip Hop is growing and its in our everyday lives in a way or another….

What is truth? Truth is nothing but a word, but there’s a very important meaning. Truth is related to every aspect in life. That’s what differentiates characters between people. Truth makes people change for the good depending on the situation. It also makes people realize what they truly have in life and truth also makes people ask questions about themselves and their surroundings. I believe truth is a term people are interested in because it keeps them motivated in life to uncover the right things in life.

People have desires to find things out about the universe and there own lives. People have questions about everything and the word truth is behind it all. Truth is used as a way to motivate people to achieve their goals. They want to be the first person to uncover the so called truth. In reality there’s only an interpretation about the truth based on peoples point of views. 

In on another aspect, truth sometimes hurts. In the court system the truth can be distorted because people can go to jail for something they never did. Its morally wrong but it happens. For example in the story of Tulia the federal agent misused his power and hid the truth from the court to send innocent African American to jail. That’s a manipulation about the truth. 

All in all, truth is the reality about life. We just have to find the answer to them. 

War on Drugs is a global issue because it involves people from the top to bottom social classes, and is being experienced in all parts of the world to an extent. I thought Wars on Drugs was a issue that wasn’t related to no other. But in story of Tulia Texas there’s a problem of drugs that gets related to racial profiling and segregation. Those two other issues are really big. The top authority in the town decide to call a federal agent to try to solve the problem of drugs in the town. The agent misuses his power and sparks a racial problem in Tulia. There was segregation in the town already. The agent begins to accuse the African American community of having the drugs with no real evidence. The worst part of this story is the social justice system lets themselves gets manipulated and they accuse about 20 African Americans guilty of having drugs. They were charged with 90 years to 20 years in prison. That just isn’t possible in the United States; a place where everyone has a voice. The federal agent targeted the black race and they punished them for something they never did. If we keep letting people like the federal agent manipulate us; eventually will destroy ourselves because of so much conflict. Drugs was just the issue leading to the rest of issues coming with it. War On Drugs is an issue that won’t be able to be stopped because it’s a worldwide problem so one person can’t change it. Not only are blacks being targeted but also Hispanics.  Countries and different cultures must come together to face this issue. As of right now; there’s no solution.

Hearing the word “Religion” makes me wonder what it really means because in the present day it has an abundance of different definitions and interpretations. It makes it difficult to define because, if u don’t believe it; “Religion” is a touchy subject were people get offended really easily. Personally, I’m not as religious as my family is, but i  do believe in certain aspects of catholisism. I don’t see why people get offended if other people don’t have the same beliefs as they do. If I were them; I would just accept their beliefs. I’ve seen couple of rare cases were people don’t get along as friends because of the simple fact that they don’t have the same religious beliefs. I think that’s just crazy how people act. Being friends with someone is about having fun, and having common interests; not about common religious beliefs.

Another common issue is Religion sometimes get’s into conflict with science because science is mostly based on proof over than just faith. The conflict between the two mostly occur in educational places because they want to have a say on what the young children learn. I think both ideas should just try to find a common ground in that aspect. 

All in all. I believe “Religion” is a broad term that shouldn’t be toyed with. People should just except each others religions and live life.  (: 

I think we should keep both, e Books and printed books because they are essential parts of our everyday life. I personally used an e book a year ago and it wasn’t as exciting as the moment you get the printed book for the first time. There’s that feeling of excitement.  In a printed book there’s that feeling of holding a three dimensional object in your hands and looking at the picture cover. On the other hand, e books don’t have that feeling; its just a feeling of reading something in an iPod. I think neither should be eliminated by the other, both should just find the solution so they can co-exist. But recently there has been problems with bookstore sales because of lack of people buying actual books and instead buying them online. Both have to find a common ground because if they don’t, printed books will become extinct. Technology always progresses so eventually some breakthrough will occur and then e Books will become extinct as well. To stop that, both will have to come to a solution. People also have to find a common ground on when to use e Books and printed books; that’s another factor of books sales going down. If people just keep using e Books, that just won’t help out printed books. In my part i will keep using printed books because that’s the way I learn by getting myself accustomed with the book. i will only use e books when I’m required to do so besides that i won’t.

The United States is going through a recession at this moment. As a result it makes the 2012 elections more interesting to watch. I am a U.S. citizen, and I’m looking forward to vote for the first time. I don’t really follow political issues, but these elections are crucial for a better tomorrow. Many people have said “Obama hasn’t created change” or ” Obama isn’t persuading the House of Representatives to pass new laws that will create jobs”. I think based on all the problems that the United States is facing right now we can’t blame Obama. The problems of the recession, global warming, and immigration have surfaced in the Bush presidency prior to Obama’s campaign. So Obama came into office having to deal with many problems from the get-go. I would assume he wouldn’t be able to fix these problems in just four years(1 Term). By not knowing any of the other candidates; I would still vote for Obama again because we just haven’t seen what he’s capable of doing in a extended period of time in office. We just need someone that will be more than just a president, but someone that can fill the role of example for our hard working people to reach their goals.That’s my choice, but I wouldn’t be surprised if people disagreed with me. I just want this nation to keep moving forward in the right direction. The choice is in us the people to make the right choice in re-electing Obama, or choose a new candidate that will bring new solutions to our nations problems. These elections carry more significance because our generation and future generations are in jeopardy of losing health aid or educational programs. That will affect us the students’ harshly because our steep hill to reach our goals will get much more steeper, and fewer people will accomplish them. Will just have to wait until the elections are held and see what happens. The people have a voice; we just have to make ourselves be heard.  

  Academic English is an essential part of life to be successful in the United States, and in the rest of the world. Although in recent years people have started slagging off on the thought of learning standard English, and just keep using their informal way of talking. I believe those people that have the opportunity, but don’t put the effort to learn academic english won’t be successful or as successful as those people that learn academic english.

Learning Academic English is essential because it will the guide to communicate in the real world. Without it, people just won’t be understood or be taken seriously since they haven’t taken the time to learn standard English. Academic English is widely used for example in; school, work, interviews, and meetings. As you can see standard English is used in every fa set of life. Also, with standard English people will be able to succeed in college because college is mostly about writing papers, and making presentations. “Reading is the key to knowledge”( Anonymous). Iv’e heard this quote before, but I am not quite sure who said it. When you think about the quote; it makes sense because being literate is the key to know information and not be taken advantage of in life. 

Informal English is mostly for childish people because those people think standard English isn’t important in life. Sadly those people that think that are wrong. Using SMS language like “SMH” or “U” is unacceptable. In a way those people are making themselves look bad, and people look at non-literate people as a lower class status. All in all, Academic English is very important to succeed in school and in life.

Greetings! My name is Carlos Sanchez and I this is my first year in Northeastern University. I am eighteen years old and planning to pursue a career in Secondary Education. My family came from Ecuador, but I was born here in Chicago Ill. I’m a very outgoing and friendly person. I have a total of two siblings; an older sister which barely came from Ecuador, and a younger brother. That means I’m the middle child, but I’m very responsible. I plan to graduate from Northeastern University and find a stable job in education. Right now I’m doing my General Education courses while fulfilling some of my requirements for secondary Education The goal of graduating and finding a stable job will have it’s obstacles, but I’m up for it.

I have many hobbies like playing soccer, volleyball and watching T.V. I play soccer with friends, and also for separate leagues. I have never really won first place in a league, but don’t get me wrong I’m good. It’s just mostly to have fun and defeat the other teams. My favorite soccer team is Real Madrid(Sorry Barcelona fans). As for volleyball I play with my friends only because we play a different style of volley(Ecuavolley). I play volley almost everyday of the summer in the lake. Fun times. Also, when I watch T.V. I like to watch horror movies and the NBA. I am a 100% fan of the Chicago Bulls. I’m a person that just likes sports and have fun.

Last year I went for a vacation to Ecuador for the first time in my life. It was rather different because I never met my family in Ecuador. It was a family reunion, and I also met my sister for the first time. She’s is here with us now, but at that time she wasn’t. I got to experience the different lifestyle and culture of Ecuador. In example, in Ecuador the people eat more natural foods than compared in the United States were we eat greasy foods. Overall, the experience was great and I’m looking forward on traveling back soon.

Well those are the most important facts about me, Thanks for reading!