WritingReal - "Learn as much by writing as by reading"

     Many immigrants in the United States crossed the border secretly in order to get a better life for themselves and their family. In the process of coming to United States illegally, some immigrants leave behind their love ones. One of the characters that went through this process was Rosario from the movie, "Under the Same Moon." She faced many internal conflicts throughout the movies. Many of the conflicts were about being an illegal immigrant in the United States and about her separated son. Ever since coming to the United States, Rosario regretted leaving Carlito, her son, along with her sick mother. Throughout the movie, she suffers from the separation of her loved ones and often questions herself if she was doing the right thing by staying in the United States.

     Although they were separated, Rosario wanted to take care of Carlito and be a responsible parent. Using the money she earned with her hard work, she sends $300 back to Carlito and her mother every month. Although it was all she could provide for them, it was enough to feed them. Carlito was nine during that time, while his grandmother was sick. Both of them could not work, thus Rosario's money was a big help to them. In my opinion, it was right for Rosario to leave Carlito with her mother while she goes to America looking for a better life. She did not want to put Carlito through the hardships that many illegal immigrants face. They had to run from the I. N. S. and look for jobs. During the times that they were separated, Rosario did her best to keep her family surviving. At the end of the movie, Rosario and Carlito finally reunite. Thus, I believe that she did the right thing.

     Another negative experience that many immigrants face is that they may feel helpless when they are being threatened. Sometimes they are abused by legal citizens during work. In fact, immigrants usually have a hard time finding a good job. They could only have jobs that many Americans did not want. Rosario works two jobs. She works as a babysitter and a housekeeper. One time, one of her boss fired her for an inexcusable reason. Furthermore, her boss did not pay her for her work. Rosario could not do anything because she was illegal. Illegal immigrants could not call the police, because it would only cause trouble for themselves. Rosario could not resolve the conflict about her getting fired by her boss, because she was an illegal immigrant. Undocumented immigrants do not have any rights in the United States. They were often treated poorly. Since she was undocumented, she could not call the police. However, Rosario did not give up in finding a job. Many immigrants had a lot of things in common. One of them was to find a job that paid only in cash. Some succeed in finding a job, while most of them did not. After losing her job as housekeeper, Rosario was persistent in looking for another job. Considering the fact that she was illegal, she could only find jobs that paid in cash. This caused her to have a limited option in jobs. Rosario spent days looking for a job, but no one wanted to hire her. Although this conflict was not resolved, Rosario remained persistent. Therefore, I believe she did the right thing. She may not get what she wanted, and yet she continued looking. In fact, she only wanted the job because she wanted to earn enough money to deport her son here legally. It was a tough time for her, but the thought of her son being with her kept her going.

     Many illegal immigrants also choose to marry a legal immigrant to benefit from it. According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, an illegal immigrant can become legal only by marrying a United States citizen. Therefore, most undocumented immigrants choose to marry a United State citizen to become legal. Although they gain benefit from marrying a citizen, they sacrifice love. Rosario, in one incident, chose to marry a legal citizen so that she could get Carlito over the borders. At times, she questions herself. She chooses between marrying for a legal status or for love. However, she believed that marriage should be based on love. Though she faced a difficult choice, she did not want her son to grow up without his mother. During the day of the wedding, Rosario finally comes up with the choice that she did not want to marry Paco. She wanted to marry for love. Although she remained illegal, she stood up for what she believed in. I believe that Rosario was brave to choose to marry for love. Many immigrants would have married for a legal status in the United States. Most of them seek to marry only for a green card. I believe that this is wrong because they are only marrying the legal immigrant so that they could use them. At the end of the movie, Rosario's illegal status remained, but she was reunited with her son. Reuniting with her son was what she wanted, therefore, she did the right thing by choosing to wait.

I am from the flags with 5 stars

                Of the colors, gold and red.

I am from the birth of an arranged unity

                Of a man and woman.

I am from the fourth of six children

                one that was born a female.

I am from the white rice and long chopsticks

                we count on for survival.

I am from the dragons and drums

                During a new year.

I am from the red envelopes that

                Brings great happiness.

I am from the ni hao's and the xie xie's

                That represents manner.

I am from the metal object that flies across borders

                That feels like nights.

I am the result of a brand new beginning

                In a mysterious country.

I am now the flag with 50 stars and 13 stripes

                Of the colors red, white , and blue.

I am now the schools of the perfect teeth people

                With sky blue eyes.

I am now the birth of diversity and race

                That represents countries.

I am now the fireworks

                And scary faces during a holiday.

I am now the promotions and green

                That brings greed.

I am now the growth of a bud to a flower.

                Or am I?

The media in America today exhorts many people to engage in sexual behaviors. Advertisements usually persuades people to do something, but what happens if they persuade people to do criminal things? Television and music videos today show violence and women with half naked bodies. These factors can lead people to a wrong direction. Today, many Americans can download music videos and movies without consent. Americans usually download movies that they are prohibited to see. Although the movie may be rated PG-13 or rated R, the movies can be downloaded everywhere. This shows that there are a variety of unintended and intended audiences that can watch these movies. In addition, advertisements, television, and music videos may not use any contents, many people can see what they try to express. It is like many people say, "pictures are worth a thousand words."

     Kilbourne's documentary, "Two Ways A Women Can Get Hurt," shows the reader an ad for Possession. She writes, "Sometimes it's all in good fun...shirts and shorts featuring a man ripping the clothes off a woman who seems to be having a good time" (222). This ad, like many other ads mention in her documentary, is a litany of how many woman seem to be enjoying a moment where her body is almost half naked while the man is still ripping her clothes. Although it is irrational, many individuals would start to think that women love the way of what men to do them when they are raped. Young children, after seeing these ads, may become future perpetrators of rape and sexual abuse. In fact, they might believe that tearing other women's clothes off would make them happy, thus, leads them to a wrong path. In addition, they start learning negative things at a young age due to the negative influence of media. They may be committed in harassment, thinking that it is a positive thing to do.

     Media also causes the men to believe that they have the oppression over women. Men are viewed as the dominant sex while women are viewed as the inferior ones. This causes men to sexually harass and abuse women because they believe that they have the authority to. Men also believe that they will not be held responsibility if anything happens. In the other hand, women are held responsible for anything that happened to them such as pregnancy or victims of rape. In a CUNY leadership program that I participated in, I was introduced to many new faces. The individual that intrigued me was Elle. She had an interesting and disturbing life story. She was raped at the age of four by one of her male family members, though she did not tell us who. Her life story got my attention because I could not believe she was actually raped and at such a young age. I saw her as a strong woman because she was a survivor of a rapist attack. It was not just any rapist attack but an attack that was caused by her family member. Although she did not want to go into details about the life of a rape victim, her story made me realize that men and women are actually different. Her male family member got away from sexually abusing her while she had to go through life with a painful scar. I believe that it is wrong how media portrays women as a sex object rather than a human being. Elle was a rape victim at the age of four, but luckily she was about to face the light and climb up again. However, there are not many people who can be as strong as Elle, many people would choose to suicide or live a crooked life if they were raped. The media should be at blamed for if many adults and children choose to die because they were sexually harassed and abused by others.

The video "America for dummies" started with a teenager describing his immigration from Bangladesh to America with his family.He shared his experience when he started school about remarks and comments he recieved from students and the neighborhood.He also talked about how people reacted to him when they found out the he came from Bangladesh.The video went on to show the teen walking around and interviewing other teens about pictures of celebrities and other important persons.The celebrities were easily identified but the others,took longer than the famous stars.

The message in the video show how the youths of today are uneducated about people and events around then.But when it comes to celebrities and the faces we see on television often who does not benefit them at all,they know there names.It shows that more informative ways need to be put in place so we can learn more and be aware of events around us.We do have ways to be informed but its not used to the full capacity.It's sad to see the way our youths are following bacause they are the future of tomorrow and the leaders.

In some instances I can relate to the video but we do have the access to the information but we don't see it fit to know about it if it does not relate to us.But it is important for us to know formal and informal situations.It can benefit us in conversations,school etc.It would help to get rid of the ignorance among our youths today.Thus leading us into a better society for tomorrow.

"America for dummies" is about how people in this generation don't really know much about the world of politics. When they were shown pictures of people who aren't involved in the entertainment business, many didn't know who the people in the pictures were or what they did. But as soon as they were shown pictures of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and others, they recognized them immediately. The videos talks about how people aren't interested in knowing  much about what goes around in the world and prefer only to know what is needed in order to pass their exams. They mention that teenagers are more worry about who has the best party or more friends instead of knowing about politics. It is also mention that many would be more interesting in these issues if it were to occur close to them rather than somewhere far away where that they don't know. The speaker of the video also claims that the media instead of teaching the good about a country, only inputs hate into us telling us only the bad things that country has done.

   In my opinion I think that the message that the speaker of the video was trying to send out was that in this generation many like me, don't know anything that is going on around the world and that we only worry about what is going on in the entertainment business. We worry about things that have no affect on our lives and don't worry about the things that do. I think what he is trying to say is that people come to this country as his parents to have a better future and that it should be appreciated. Because many who wish they had this opportunities to learn and the right to an own opinion, don't. He says that we are America's future and that how will we face the future.

       I can relate to those people who don't know much about politics and prefer to know only about what is needed to pass classes.  I don't watch the news that often and don't try to learn anything besides what I need to know about. I think that this is bad especially if we are the future.  I like the video, I think that we should do our part to learn about other things and get into the politics because these things do matter. Because it may seem funny in the video how people act and say about the pictures but in reality it isn't something to be laughing about.