The Good and the Bad

The best volunteer work that I’ve had ever done was in my FACE community. I was an “Event Planner” and I really did not have a primary role because everything I did was mandatory. Working with FACE was enjoyable, because I was constantly working with people and always thinking about different party ideas that would be fairly fun for our community. The one thing that I really didn’t find enjoyable was the miscommunication within the community. I learned how to work with groups, organize and budget an event, public speaking, network with different artist, using my creative imagination, and persuading people.

The skills that I’ve developed while working with FACE will serve me well because I might be faced with a chance to plan and organize an event for the company. I can also use these skills to be zealous with the people I’m working with in my internship. I will be able to network with others, go into a situation ready to persuade someone, and network. When I first started my volunteer work, I was nervous at first because I didn’t know what to be expected. I think I could use my same tactics into going in my internship and treat it as something that I was born to do.

Being in an environment with all young adults, I’ve learned not to expect everyone to be as professional as they should be and some people to perform at their best abilities. I noticed that I’m not really the best person to work on a team with other people that aren’t willing to cooperate or be mindful of others time. In other words, I love being on a team that is professional, willing to do whatever they need to do in order to get the job done, and is attentive the majority of the time.

Occupy Movement

Thinking about the Occupy Movement, I think about people fighting for what’s right and really trying to express to people that they should be paying attention to things that aren’t right. Looking at the picture, I felt the painter trying to raise awareness to everyone around what’s going on in the world. In our world there are a lot of sneaky things that is going on and I feel as citizens we should all know what is going on. In the mural there are 3 sections of the picture and I feel it is broken down perfectly. The government paints a picture for us and that’s what we see, then they have those that look over us to make sure that what the government is doing is not released to the public, and then there are those at the lower level that are making money off of those that poor and is trying to reach the top. But of course, the government doesn’t want that to happen because they are making money off of those that less fortunate. The people that are standing up for our rights see this nation heading back into the Great Depression and they don’t want that to happen. It makes me sick to know what is being hidden from us and knowing that people can be so cruel in this world. In my opinion, I really feel that it is very pointless to be so money hungry and so materialistic because when it is time to exit this world, they money cannot go with us and it would mean nothing. All of this is about money and moving ahead in this world, people being money hungry, and wanting power over those that do not know. The mural was very clear and I feel the Occupy is doing a great job in exposing what’s real and standing up for our rights.

It doesn't have to be this way.

When I look around me, I notice the less unfortunate around me and it really inspires me to want to give back to my community. Thinking about all of my talents and what I’m capable of doing really gives me the upper hand at giving back and really putting my all into helping other people.  Most people are on board with my decision because having I feel having a party and someone having fun and being around people can touch them and makes the really think about getting their lives together. 

Along with me just wanting to be an event planner, it also ties in with me wanting to help the youth by keeping them active in their community. I want to provide a space for them to have fun, get off the streets and give them a safe place to party and have fun. Looking around in my community and just watching the news is very depressing. While watching the news all people really hear is someone getting killed at a party or seriously injured. Nowadays, the youth really can’t go to parties without something bad happening and I feel with my help I can try to prevent that from happening.

I really feel that people feed off movements and trends, I want to be the one of many people starting a safe party trend, by trying to promote nonviolence at events. Instead of having very expensive events, I want to have quality events that are affordable to everyone in the community.  I don’t think that people should have to pay a ton to have fun, that’s how people start up trouble because their bored, on the streets, and can’t find nothing better else to do.

I’m just really glad that I’ve actually met some people that share the same dreams as mine and really want to change the community and shape them to be the safe citizens that we know they could be. No one deserves to get over foolishness that could’ve been prevented.

The Pre-Writing to my Essay (FACE)

In Common

1.      Adult Youth

2.      In College

3.      Love partying

4.      African American

Problems

1.      Miscommunication

2.      Unorganized

3.      Clashing personalities

4.      Couples in the group

Likes

1.      Come together

2.      Great Ideas

3.      Debates

4.      Meetings

Successes

1.      OMN

2.      2 Huge parties

3.      Members

4.      Fundraiser

5.      Reputation

Dislikes

1.      Don’t like some members

2.      Clashing schedules

3.      Some not doing their part

Plus	Delta
·        Handling tough situations	·        Selective hearing
·        Blogging	·        Organization
·        Participation	·        Not being enough of a leader
·        Effort	·        Side Talking
·        Positive attitude	·        Not sharing the spot light
·        Getting through tough assignments	·        Not performing to best ability

It really wasn't my fault, it was my neighborhood.

Born and raised in Oakland, CA, growing up out there for me was very hard. If you were to visit any of my neighborhoods, all you would see were crack heads or people fighting outside. I attended two elementary schools because I had to fight my way through school and grow thicker skin than the average kid. Living in Oakland was definitely not a place for a child to be raised properly, especially with a mother that was absent half of the time because she had to work.

I would say that being brought up in Oakland just really made me into a stronger woman today because I learned that fighting is only necessary when trying to protect your life. I had to grow up as a fighter because kids were always picking on me and my cousin.

When I moved out of Oakland, I think that was probably the best feeling of my life! My mom finally had enough with my rough upbringing and really wanted me to succeed in life. While living in Antioch, I no longer had to fight anymore, but my attitude stayed with me because I was so used to protecting myself at all times that I just felt like the world was out to get me, but all people wanted to do was help me become a better person.

I definitely would say that living in Oakland was the cause of that because if I haven't had to fight all of my early years, I probably wouldn't have been in so much trouble in school. When I was in middle school, I really think I spent more time in the principal office than I was in my actual classes because if I felt like a teacher was attacking me, I would attack back verbally. I'm not proud of my behavior, but it made me a better person.