Final Draft!

Stereotyping at a Young Age

As the sun sets upon the horizon of the New York City skyline, the beautiful red and orange colors fade to a mystic black. Aban, a turbaned Middle Eastern man, paces north toward home from a hard day of work as a financial assistant.  Parading south down the same street as Aban is a nice young family, so giddy and giggly after a successful night out at their favorite restaurant. As Aban approaches the young family, their giggles turn to gasps as the two young children, 4 and 7 years of age, fiercely look into each others eyes as if a man was murdered right in front of them.

“Oh no, we better run! The Muslim is going to bomb us like we’re the twin towers!” Shouts out the 7 year old as they quickly scatter away. But Aban was used to the critics. He got called ‘terrorist’ and other harsh names, wherever he went and some people would give him an evil glare as if he was literally the one behind the attacks. But on the inside, Aban was nice gentlemen who wanted a large family and beautiful wife, not the stereotype of a terrorist he had achieved.

Stereotyping is “a form of pre judgment that is as prevalent in today’s society as it was 2000 years ago.” Now, more so than ever, with the new war and terrorist attacks, America continues to deal with stereotyping. This “social attitude has stood the test of time and received much attend by social psychologists and philosopher alike.” Although it is controversial, some believe that stereotyping started at childhood. (Schneider)

John Stossel and Kristina Kendall of ABC News, put out an interview on the “Phsycology of Stereotyping” This study concludes that stereotyping begins at childhood.

"20/20" brought together three groups of kids and showed them pictures of two men; one Arab, the other Asian. When asked which man the children prefer, they all said the Chinese man. Most of the children preferred the Chinese man "because he looks nicer and he has a smile on." But both men were smiling. When asked why they did not like the Arab man one said, "I think he's weird." Another child said, "He's like the scary dude.”

Next, they showed a picture of a white man and a picture of a black man. The children commented on the black man and one said, "He looks mean." Another referred to him as "FBI's Most Wanted." Another commented, "He looks like he's a basketball player."

When shown the white mans picture one said, "He's nice." And another said, "I think he's nice except he might be mad about something." In reality, the black man was just a photo found off the internet and the photo of a white man was of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

But where do these children get influenced from? At a very young age, many children are exposed to movies, whether at the theater or on videos at home. One major producer of children’s movies is the Disney Corporation. Some of the more current releases with racial stereotyping include Aladdin, the Lion King, Tarzan, and Peter Pan.

“The Aladdin character in that movie portrays “bad” Arabs with thick foreign accents while Anglicized Jasmine and Aladdin speak in standard Americanized English” (Giroux). Aladdin looks and sounds like a typical American boy. One of the evil characters, Jafar, looks very Arabic. Some of the lyrics in the movie convey racist

overtones: “I come from a land…where they cut off your ears if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home” (Giroux).

Also, In the Lion King, the hyenas clearly speak in a kind of street, inner city African American dialect and they are considered the bad guys. Referring back to the 20/20 study, the children believed the black man was the ‘bad’ and ‘mean’ one.

Tarzan, which was released in 1999, is set in Africa but does not feature any black people. It is difficult to identify animated Disney movies with positive black role models, which may be why children have such a different view on them.

Another common stereotype noted in Disney movies is the Native Americans. In the film Peter Pan, Princess Tiger Lily’s father represents the negative stereotype of being uncivilized and savage as he holds Wendy’s brothers hostage.

Most Disney moves are essentially trying to portray lessons and attributes for younger children to acquire, but while delivering that, they also deliver an increased amount of stereotyping. Because of this, at only a young age children begin to stereotype people and it sticks with them for the rest of their lives. As the 20/20 study shows, many children judge other people on what they look like or what their skin color is at only a young age. It could possibly be outward influences, like Disney Corporation movies that inhabit them to do this. Not only is it something we have no control over, it is something we are automatically prone to do because it is, in the end, the way we were brought up. 

Draft

As the sun sets upon the horizon of the New York City skyline, the beautiful red and orange colors fade to a mystic black. Aban, a Middle Eastern man, paces north toward home from a hard day of work as a financial assistant.  Parading south down the same street as Aban is a nice young family, so giddy and giggly after a successful night out at their favorite restaurant. As Aban approaches the young family, their giggles turn to gasps as the two young children, 4 and 7 years of age, fiercely look into each others eyes as if a man was murdered right in front of them.

“Oh no, we better run! The Muslim is going to bomb us like we’re the twin towers!” Shouts out the 7 year old as they quickly scatter away. But Aban was used to the critics. He got called ‘terrorist’ and other harsh names, wherever he went and some people would give him an evil glare as if he was literally the one behind the attacks. But on the inside, Aban was nice gentlemen who wanted a large family and beautiful wife, not of the stereotype of a terrorist he had achieved.

Stereotyping is a form of pre judgment that is as prevalent in today's society as it was 2000 years ago. Now, more so than ever, with the new war and terrorists attacks America has seen and dealt with stereotyping. It is a social attitude that has stood the test of time and received much attention by social psychologists and philosophers alike. Many approaches to, or theories of stereotyping have thus been raised.

John Stossel and Kristina Kendall of ABC News, put out an interview on the “Phsycology of Stereotyping” This study concludes that stereotyping begins at childhood.

"20/20" brought together three groups of kids and showed them pictures of two men; one Arab, the other Asian. When asked which man the children prefer, they all said the Chinese man. Most of the children preferred the Chinese man "because he looks nicer and he has a smile on." But both men were smiling

When asked why they did not like the Arab man one said, "I think he's weird." Another child said, "He's like the scary dude.”

Next, they showed a picture of a white man and a picture of a black man. The children commented on the black man and one said, "He looks mean." Another referred to him as "FBI's Most Wanted." Another commented, "He looks like he's a basketball player."

When shown the white mans picture one said, "He's nice." And another said, "I think he's nice except he might be mad about something."

In reality, the black man was just a photo found off the internet and the photo of a white man was of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

As this study shows, stereotyping is an attribute we have acquired at a very young age.  Not only is it something we have no control over, it is something we are automatically prone to do because it is, in the end, the way we were brought up. 

Over used slang words

Like. When you hear that word, you believe it is a synonym of something that pleases you. But today, people use that word as if it triggers their mind to think of something else they want to say. And instead of the sentence being, “I really like that jacket, when can I get it?” it becomes “That jacket is really like pretty. When I wear it everyone will be like oh my god it’s like amazing!” Kids these days especially use it a lot when talking and can rack up the likes in each sentence to over three. Like and um are also similar because when you can’t think of much more to say, like comes into your brain as something that will replace your empty mind with a thought.

Memior: Final Draft

Olivia Schaub

National Champions

As we are waiting for the Flemington Pioneers to be announced onto the mat in Orlando, Florida, our hearts are beating so loud it’s as if they were plugged into a sound system and thumped for the whole stadium to hear. Like we are dressed like the middle of winter and standing in Costa Rica, our bodies are drenched in sweat. But our minds? Anywhere but in that stadium.

My mind continually wondered back to our last competition before Nationals, when we got second place and our rivals came in first. The feeling I got after they announced that they won is somewhat like when your heart is in your toes so far that if it exploded your toes would be painted red. When they came in bragging they won like a little kid would brag about getting the fresher baked cookie than his friend. After that competition our coaches doubted us as if we had just lost everything we ever accomplished. “Third place or fourth place would be exceptional!” They communicated to us on the plane ride down.

But these thoughts were cut off suddenly by a man speaking “And up next from Flemington, New Jersey is the Flemington Pioneers!” Any worries we had turned into a fake smile trying to cover it all. As we ran out on the mat it seemed as if we were dropped into a cave and the lights were just on us; everything else was pitch black. The music was so loud it sounded as if my own personal band was playing right on my ear drum. We performed each move so precisely that if you had taken a picture everyone would be in sync with one another. Our first pyramid had gone up so well and the crowds “oohs” and “aahs” came over us as if we all had just dropped dead and they were surprised. In our dance we all shook our hips as if were Latina and had the most extravagant faces on.  Our routine was flawless until the stunt we changed two hours before performing on the mat, somehow didn’t turn out. Everything went so fast that my other base didn’t have enough time to “catch the foot” and we fell. As the music came to a sudden stop we realized what had just happened, maybe our coaches were right. Maybe we were a third place team.

 The warm tears started falling down my face as if I had just broken my leg and was awaiting the arrival of the ambulance. As we got off the mat everyone was yelling, “why didn’t your group “catch the foot”? If we loose, it’s your entire fault.” Our name wouldn’t go down in history and we would be failures. My stunt group would be forever known as the ones that made your team loose Nationals all because of one silly mistake. And to make it even worse, they had our whole routine on replay after we had just performed so we could see how we fell and could have possibly taken away our first place prize. I was so upset, I couldn’t even watch. Instead I walked down to see my coaches, but suddenly a man came up to me out of no where and saw my tears and kindly said, “I know you guys fell, but I just wanted to say that you were one of the best teams up there and I wouldn’t be surprised if you took home those glistening white jackets.” That made me cry even harder. What is this guy thinking? I know he was trying to be nice and all, but thinking of those white jackets not being on my back made me want to crawl up in a ball and eat ice cream until years later.

As awards were being called we all had but a smile on our faces. Everyone kept on glancing over to see what my group’s facial expressions were. They expected us to be depressed and crying, because if we did loose it would be our entire fault. That charming mans voice just kept replaying through my head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you took home those glistening white jackets” Perhaps the man was right, one little fault doesn’t always have to change the rest of our performance because other than that we were magnificent. “Let’s get these awards underway!”  Fifth place, not us. Fourth place, not us. Third place, NOT US. This could not be happening! It was between us and our rivals that beat us the competition before. “Were down to the last two here!” After those words were spoken, all of our hand grips suddenly got tighter. We all shut our eyes and tried to take in what might be happening. “And our second place team from Washington, New Jersey, Rigel RidgeRams!”

It took us yet a second to realize that we had just won the National Championships in Orlando, Florida. We all jumped up and instead of crying because of sadness, this time we were crying for joy. Our name would go down in history and my group would no longer have to face the bullying of making our team loose. Those silky white jackets would be ours. As the man handed us the first place trophy, he looked like Zac Efron in our eyes, the god to us at the time. The satisfaction of lifting that trophy above our heads was greater than any other I have ever experienced. Later that night as we walked through the parks with our glistening white jackets, and everyone congratulated  us with that same fake smile we wore as we ran onto the mats. We were the Queens of that park and not to mention, National Champions.

Theme; mistakes are not always a contributing factor to the outcome of something

This is the performance my memior is about!

http://varsity.com/event/1443/2011_national_hs_cheerleading_championship.aspx

Memoir: Rough Draft

            As we are awaiting our decadence onto the mat in Orlando, Florida, our hearts are beating so loud it’s as if they were plugged into a sound system and thumped for the whole stadium to hear. Our palms are sweating as if we are in a sauna, dressed like it’s the middle of winter. Our minds? Anywhere but in that stadium.

My mind continusiously went back to our last competition before Nationals, where we got second place and our rivals came in first. The feeling when your heart is in your toes so far that if it exploded your toes would be painted red. When they came in bragging that they won like a little kid would brag about getting the fresher baked cookies than his friend. After that competition our coachs doubted us as if we had just lost everything we ever accomplished. “third place or fourth place would be good!” They told us on the plane ride down.

But these thoughts were cut off by a man speaking “And up next from Flemington, New Jersey is the Flemington Pioneers!” Any worries we had turned into a fake smile trying to cover it all. As we ran out on the mat it seemed as if we were dropped into a cave and the lights were just on us and everything else was pitch black. The music sounded like it was my own personal band playing right in my ear. Our routine was flawless until the stunt we changed two hours before performing on the mat, somehow didn’t turn out. She slipped and we fell, our whole pyramid. As the music came to a sudden stop we realized what had just happened, maybe our coaches were right. Maybe we were a third place team. The warm tears started falling down my face as if I had just broken my leg. As we got off the mat everyone was yelling, “why didn’t your group catch the foot? If we loose, it’s all your fault.” Our name wouldn’t go down in history. We would be failures. And to make it even worse, they had our whole routine on replay after we had just performed so we could see how we fell and could have possibly taken away our first place prize. As we were walking down to see our coaches, a man came up to me and saw my tears and kindly said, “I know you guys fell, but I just wanted to say that you were one of the best teams up there and I wouldn’t be surprised if you took home those glistening white jackets.” That made me cry even harder. What is this guy thinking? We’re terrible, anyone would beat us. As awards were being called we all had but a smile on our faces. Fifth place, not us. Fourth place, not us. Third place, NOT US. This could not be happening! We could possibly win this and prove our coaches wrong. It was between us and our rivals that beat us the competition before. Second place, Rams… We all jumped up and instead of crying because of sadness, we were crying for joy. We had just won Nationals in Orlando, Florida and our name would go down in history. Those silky white jackets would be ours. We proved our coaches wrong. The satisfaction of lifting up that trophy was if I had just won the loterry. As we walked through the parks at night with our glistening white jackets, everyone congratulated  us with the fake smile we wore as we ran onto the mats. The team that  wanted fourth of fifth place our now National Champions.

Memoir

I am doing my memoir about going to Nationals for cheerleading. I am not sure what i really want my theme to be though. Maybe something about beating our rivals from Washington, NJ. Or maybe about overcoming our challenges and changing things 2 hours before we went on the mat to make everything work. I'm very confused.

The Six Traits I need to work on for my writing

While writing an essay the main point that I used to always try and cover was to have extravagant vocabulary. Every other word I would look up in the thesaurus to make myself sound way more intelligent than I really and subsequently, most of the time I didn’t even know how to say the words that I wrote down in my essays.  After discussions in class, I’ve learned that it’s not right to use that much vocabulary because in the real world you wouldn’t even say half the things you did. We’ve learned to use the six traits which is something that is new to me but I am sure will help me vast amounts.

The first idea in the six traits is idea’s which is something that I believe I am good at. Using descriptive words to paint examples in people’s head like “They reek of garbage; because that’s the only thing they can eat. They have dirty and ripped clothes; because that’s the only thing they can afford. They have a cardboard box for their stay; because that’s the only thing they live” You can just picture a homeless man looking like that. Along those lines, that is something I should keep up because it is important for your reader to feel what you are writing and almost be like they are there. Another trait I feel like I am good at is the second one, organization. I spend a lt of time on the beginning of my papers to make it sound interesting. I mean, who wants to read a paper that starts off, in the book Angela’s ashes, this is what happened. You need a good hook, just like in these essays I started off with great hooks, “While in the beautiful New York City, there are many sights you can come upon that appeal to the eye and other the other hand, many horrific sights. One of those sights is the homeless” and “Bloody swords protruding into lifeless bodies as a huge thump echoes the heartless body falling to the ground. The yelps and screams of innocent lives being taken away, right before your eyes. Cruel, mean, and dirty eyes staring right at you as you take your last breath. This is the sight of the American Revolutionary War”

One trait I really could use some work on is voice. In most of my papers I am so egger to get to the point and make sure I include all the necessities that I forget to hook the reader like for example in this sentence I totally lost energy, “Sometimes in life there are things that you would want to change, like the way you look or the way you dress. Or maybe even the way you talk, but that isn’t made possible because of your parents.” That sentence is lacking energy to a whole extent. It’s very boring and not a good time to read. Word choice is something that I am phenomenal at, that is if I have a thesaurus around me. I’ve always used colorful language, but I believe that I could limit it, “Some vigorously believe in fate, an event that will inevitably happen in the future, while others are convinced of free will, the power of making free choices unconstrained by external agencies” Yes, I do sound very smart, but lets be honest I would never say that if I was talking to someone in real life!

One thing I am also bad at is sentence fluency. I tend to make my sentences way to long and boring, “In other words, the colonists really had not much of a support system because the seats in the parliament were continuously being changed and every seat that was replaced in the parliament most likely had someone with different view from the others and in any event, people were just getting the seats in the parliament because of being wealthy; they were not voted into the parliament and did not earn the right to be there.” This sentence in my paper is way to long. I need to focus on how to make my sentences shorter and more appealing. Like I mentioned before I am quite intelligent when it comes to looking up words, that’s why conventions is an easy one for me. I am very good with words, spelling and punctuation. “Clearly, the British government was corrupt. At that time, they could have easily been compared to out of control animals.” This sentence uses the right amount of punctuation and vocabulary. Last thing, presentation I am very good at. I always make sure all my papers have titles and when I present it sounds very professional.