"I made it a possibility for the rising Seniors to be better prepared for their last, stressful year at Chinquapin."
No I am definitely not better today than I was at the beginning of this year. I have let everything that mattered to me slip away. I have lost hope for my future. Of course I know I'm going to college, but this project rather than help me find a passion was an extensive time consuming project that will ultimately not make a positive impact in my life. However, I am happing I will be helping the Juniors, but I found this project much too late. I admittedly don't care much for the project, there are several more important things as a senior at Chinquapin.
I want to think that it was my lack of interest in the project that has caused me to work the minimum, but I know that the reason I don't work hard is because I absolutely detest the idea of forcing people to do something they don't have time to do. I understand that I can't give 100% because there is no time left over for this side project. Regardless of my feelings, I don't think I've grown this semester. I Honestly, think I've taken 100 steps back from where I used to be.
I think the reason I'm not pursuing my real passion: photography, is because it was snatched away from me. I can't even believe how much I cared about the "other club" I did. But it has shown me to not invest yourself into something all the way.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
LGBT Plan
I don't see why there would be a problem with having an LGBT club on campus. It is a club that would promote the level of acceptance our school should have. I do believe that students at Chinquapin who are LGBT would greatly benefit from having a club. This would also help students who are not LGBT become more accepting and continue to grow the family feeling we have at this school.
My plan for the club is to help students find peace with themselves. Hopefully the club could transform into a support group that would help students talk to their families, if the student wishes. I most importantly want to educate about the LGBT community. Of course I don't have expert knowledge, but this would be a learning experience for me too.
I plan to partner with my best friend and classmate, Eric Volpe. We will run the club together and we will be working on promoting a more positive LGBT environment. We have come up with a schedule we think will work. We will have meetings twice a month starting in January and ending in May. The first meeting of every month should be informational, learning, planning!
The second meeting should be about talking to each other, comfort, family, help if necessary.
We want to have the informational sessions about coming out to your friends, to your family, about protection, about disease, about laws against or for, about rights, about hate crimes, about awareness, about awareness days.
We also plan to do the AIDS walk, and the candle lighting! My classmate and I are excited and know this is what we want to contribute to our community.
My plan for the club is to help students find peace with themselves. Hopefully the club could transform into a support group that would help students talk to their families, if the student wishes. I most importantly want to educate about the LGBT community. Of course I don't have expert knowledge, but this would be a learning experience for me too.
I plan to partner with my best friend and classmate, Eric Volpe. We will run the club together and we will be working on promoting a more positive LGBT environment. We have come up with a schedule we think will work. We will have meetings twice a month starting in January and ending in May. The first meeting of every month should be informational, learning, planning!
The second meeting should be about talking to each other, comfort, family, help if necessary.
We want to have the informational sessions about coming out to your friends, to your family, about protection, about disease, about laws against or for, about rights, about hate crimes, about awareness, about awareness days.
We also plan to do the AIDS walk, and the candle lighting! My classmate and I are excited and know this is what we want to contribute to our community.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
LGBT Club
I no longer doubt who I am. I know that I am Bisexual, and I am not ashamed of that or afraid of it. I can't force myself to be something I'm not. Yet for years at this school I didn't feel comfortable talking about my sexuality. It has always felt as if I should hide it from everyone. As if I needed to stay in the closet. Chinquapin fonders this idea of acceptance. We love each other, because we are one big family. However, there is this feeling of hiding who you truly are when it means your gay.
We of course would never hit or hate anyone for being something they can't control. However, we don't exactly accept them whole heartedly. This is why I want to start an LGBT club on campus. This school is amazing in so many ways and I know we have to help any LGBT student feel comfortable in a place they call home. Let us unite this school in a new way, a way that will help several of our students feel more comfortable.
The plan of this club is to help students not only feel more comfortable in their environment, but also help them feel more comfortable with themselves. I understand that this club is something so new to Chinquapin that it may be hard to start. However, I have never believed that something being guilty means that it is impossible. If I have learned anything it is that I can make a difference and I want it to start here at Chinquapin.
We of course would never hit or hate anyone for being something they can't control. However, we don't exactly accept them whole heartedly. This is why I want to start an LGBT club on campus. This school is amazing in so many ways and I know we have to help any LGBT student feel comfortable in a place they call home. Let us unite this school in a new way, a way that will help several of our students feel more comfortable.
The plan of this club is to help students not only feel more comfortable in their environment, but also help them feel more comfortable with themselves. I understand that this club is something so new to Chinquapin that it may be hard to start. However, I have never believed that something being guilty means that it is impossible. If I have learned anything it is that I can make a difference and I want it to start here at Chinquapin.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Make it Better
I want to have hope. Where I come from not many kids get the opportunity to even dream of going to college. Yet, here I am a kid from the ghetto, who is dreaming of college and law school. I am applying to this program because I want to learn what the world has to offer me. My hope, year by year has been deteriorating. As I grow, I am faced with the cold fact that I am one of millions who might not make it to college.
Though, I feel as if my hope is slipping away from me, I also know it’s in my power to reach for it. I have learned that the biggest obstacle in my way is myself. What I see and what I’ve experienced, like all my brothers being thrown in jail, will not dissuade me. I am the only person who can control where I will go. I want to see if what college has something safe, reliable, and fun.
All my life I had to be a grown up. I’ve had to be responsible and keep going, no matter how hopeless my situation seemed. And I know I will always have to be responsible, but I want to know that whatever college, I attend, that it is the right fit for me. I know college is in my future, now all I want is to ensure I’ll be happy at that college.
Though, I feel as if my hope is slipping away from me, I also know it’s in my power to reach for it. I have learned that the biggest obstacle in my way is myself. What I see and what I’ve experienced, like all my brothers being thrown in jail, will not dissuade me. I am the only person who can control where I will go. I want to see if what college has something safe, reliable, and fun.
All my life I had to be a grown up. I’ve had to be responsible and keep going, no matter how hopeless my situation seemed. And I know I will always have to be responsible, but I want to know that whatever college, I attend, that it is the right fit for me. I know college is in my future, now all I want is to ensure I’ll be happy at that college.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
TEDX ART INSPIRES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qleQi4vhXno
The link above will lead you to a TED-Talk, I feel truly grasps the importance of art. Art has the power to unite communities and that is my biggest motivation to create a mural. I want to help unite my community. I know art can push people to greater limits and that for me makes all the difference.
The link above will lead you to a TED-Talk, I feel truly grasps the importance of art. Art has the power to unite communities and that is my biggest motivation to create a mural. I want to help unite my community. I know art can push people to greater limits and that for me makes all the difference.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
1st Proposal
I see my mom, and I think how much I love her. I expect her to be the perfect mom, yet I know that our lives have not been easy. She grew up in a country where the only language was Spanish. I grew up in a world much different from my mothers. English has now come to be my first language.
I am ashamed that I let my culture vanish in the midst of a world of struggle. My senior project will consist of me getting back to my roots. I have separated myself from my family. More than that I have separated myself from my mother, the person who has risked her life to protect me. I want to rekindle the friendship and love I once had for my mother.
One of the things that has kept our family sane, is my mothers cooking. She knows millions of recipes from scratch and can cook almost any Mexican and Central American plate. I have asked her and she agreed that we would make a cook book website together.
This will not only give us the means to rekindle our relationship, but also a way to help me get closer to my culture. For years I had wished to learn to cook all my moms recipes. Yet, all my life I have consumed myself with work. With things I had to do, and so I never truly learned about my own Honduran culture.
Through my project I want to show kids that even though we may be in a different country, where the first language is different from our own, we have to keep to our roots. We have to learn that even though we are in a place where we are the foreigners we have to adapt, while at the same time keeping our own identity.
I am not ashamed of my culture or my heritage. In fact I love who I am. I like that I’m part Colombian and part Honduran, and at the same time I am American. I want to express to others that we have to take pride in who we are. We cannot allow our environment to change who we are.
We live in a world where we are expected to read, write, and speak a different language. However, people everywhere are adapting much quicker to this new world. It is without a doubt a necessity to adapt, but it is not a necessity to sacrifice our culture, our lives to be a part of this American Dream.
My cultural cook book project will start in the first weekend of November. We will be cooking several different plates, not only consisting of Honduran plates, but also American, Mexican, and other Central American plates. I will be taking pictures of the ingredients, and the final products. I have started my website, you can visit it at http://www.wix.com/ebelalcazar/rekindle. It is in the process of getting edited, but it will be amazing by the end of this year.
My project is meant to help others find peace with not only others, but also with themselves. I feel as if I will not be able to live my life in peace until I rekindle my relationship with my family, and my culture. I want to show others that finding peace is possible, and it all can start with a project.
I am ashamed that I let my culture vanish in the midst of a world of struggle. My senior project will consist of me getting back to my roots. I have separated myself from my family. More than that I have separated myself from my mother, the person who has risked her life to protect me. I want to rekindle the friendship and love I once had for my mother.
One of the things that has kept our family sane, is my mothers cooking. She knows millions of recipes from scratch and can cook almost any Mexican and Central American plate. I have asked her and she agreed that we would make a cook book website together.
This will not only give us the means to rekindle our relationship, but also a way to help me get closer to my culture. For years I had wished to learn to cook all my moms recipes. Yet, all my life I have consumed myself with work. With things I had to do, and so I never truly learned about my own Honduran culture.
Through my project I want to show kids that even though we may be in a different country, where the first language is different from our own, we have to keep to our roots. We have to learn that even though we are in a place where we are the foreigners we have to adapt, while at the same time keeping our own identity.
I am not ashamed of my culture or my heritage. In fact I love who I am. I like that I’m part Colombian and part Honduran, and at the same time I am American. I want to express to others that we have to take pride in who we are. We cannot allow our environment to change who we are.
We live in a world where we are expected to read, write, and speak a different language. However, people everywhere are adapting much quicker to this new world. It is without a doubt a necessity to adapt, but it is not a necessity to sacrifice our culture, our lives to be a part of this American Dream.
My cultural cook book project will start in the first weekend of November. We will be cooking several different plates, not only consisting of Honduran plates, but also American, Mexican, and other Central American plates. I will be taking pictures of the ingredients, and the final products. I have started my website, you can visit it at http://www.wix.com/ebelalcazar/rekindle. It is in the process of getting edited, but it will be amazing by the end of this year.
My project is meant to help others find peace with not only others, but also with themselves. I feel as if I will not be able to live my life in peace until I rekindle my relationship with my family, and my culture. I want to show others that finding peace is possible, and it all can start with a project.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
ReAwaken
It is essential in life to always stay true to your roots. It seems that living in the world we live in, America, we have betrayed our roots, culture, past generations, and ourselves. I live in a country where every school's main language is english. Even with the consistent required foreign language courses, it is apparent that most students do not retain the language skills. I am an Honduran American, but it seems now more than ever that I am more American. For many students from a different background outside of America, there is a huge gap between the generations. From the humble parent who cannot speak a word of english, to the involved Americanized student who is pushing themselves to succeed in a country much different from their parents. I want to show these generations that in order to succeed in this country it is not necessary to sacrifice your culture. The culmination of my senior year will end with me demonstrating to the world that it is within our power to shorten the generation gap.
As I grow, and discover so much more about the world, I find myself feeling like I am lost. There is so much to see in the world, to understand, and at the same time I'm trying to understand myself. I've noticed that being raised in an english speaking country has diverted me from my roots. The thing that bothers me the most about my hispanic generation is knowing that we have lost our culture.
The more people I meet I realize that most only speak english. If they speak another language they speak it very poorly. I have always prided myself in being fluent in both English and Spanish. However, as I've grown I've tried discovering so many of my passions, and as a result have spent more time speaking English than Spanish. I've strayed myself so much from speaking Spanish that now I speak it very poorly. It seems as if English has taken over, and to me that is a shame. Spanish was the language my mother spoke to me during my youth.
I am an American student who has created for himself a busy life with several responsibilities in and outside of school. Like many students in America, I have not only found my many passions, but I am also trying to make it into a top tier college. My life is full of school in english, of clubs in english, of my social life in english, of my job in english, of my communication to anyone primarily in english. Though I am fluent in spanish, I understand that my lack of communication with my family has forced me to be a part of the people who created the generation gap.
I refuse to turn my back on my culture. I will through the help of my mother prove that even if we, students, have lost our culture it is not dead. Our culture is merely in a very strong comma. I have agreed with my mother that starting in November we will be cooking traditional Honduran plates together. This will be my means of not only submerging myself in my culture, but also of building a better relationship with my mother, and therefore with my Honduran roots.
I have started a website, in which I will weekly post pictures and instructions as to how to cook the plates. This will be my mother's and I electronic cook book. We will not only be cooking traditional Honduran plates, but also Mexican, American, and other Central American plates. I will be posting the websites url once it is more fully revised.
I hope that many of you will follow my example and submerge yourself in your culture. It is time to reawaken your culture and realize that your background is an essential piece in the being that is you.
As I grow, and discover so much more about the world, I find myself feeling like I am lost. There is so much to see in the world, to understand, and at the same time I'm trying to understand myself. I've noticed that being raised in an english speaking country has diverted me from my roots. The thing that bothers me the most about my hispanic generation is knowing that we have lost our culture.
The more people I meet I realize that most only speak english. If they speak another language they speak it very poorly. I have always prided myself in being fluent in both English and Spanish. However, as I've grown I've tried discovering so many of my passions, and as a result have spent more time speaking English than Spanish. I've strayed myself so much from speaking Spanish that now I speak it very poorly. It seems as if English has taken over, and to me that is a shame. Spanish was the language my mother spoke to me during my youth.
I am an American student who has created for himself a busy life with several responsibilities in and outside of school. Like many students in America, I have not only found my many passions, but I am also trying to make it into a top tier college. My life is full of school in english, of clubs in english, of my social life in english, of my job in english, of my communication to anyone primarily in english. Though I am fluent in spanish, I understand that my lack of communication with my family has forced me to be a part of the people who created the generation gap.
I refuse to turn my back on my culture. I will through the help of my mother prove that even if we, students, have lost our culture it is not dead. Our culture is merely in a very strong comma. I have agreed with my mother that starting in November we will be cooking traditional Honduran plates together. This will be my means of not only submerging myself in my culture, but also of building a better relationship with my mother, and therefore with my Honduran roots.
I have started a website, in which I will weekly post pictures and instructions as to how to cook the plates. This will be my mother's and I electronic cook book. We will not only be cooking traditional Honduran plates, but also Mexican, American, and other Central American plates. I will be posting the websites url once it is more fully revised.
I hope that many of you will follow my example and submerge yourself in your culture. It is time to reawaken your culture and realize that your background is an essential piece in the being that is you.
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