Portfolio Piece #3

Last Encounter

My breath catches in my throat. I choke, which causes me to lose my grip on the silver locket. Within seconds it’s too far to reach. The vast blue ocean is pushing and pulling me, toying with me. It can sense my helplessness; I desperately wish to cry out. But I can’t, my body has betrayed me, and won’t do what I want it to. I look down to within the stomach of this treacherous thing; a sliver of my locket is visible. Then realization sets in and I wonder, did the ocean take it from me, or did I let go of the locket? Does this one thoughtless act symbolize something more? Have I lost myself? Or how I stopped paying attention to my world? Does it mean that I don’t care about what I once loved so much, that something I would have given my life to protect suddenly doesn’t even cross my mind anymore? “What does it mean?!” The answer seems so simple, yet I just don’t know. I can’t even begin to answer my question without any contradictions to support it. Now I can’t think, because the waves are crashing on me, roaring hungrily into my ears. Suddenly I can’t see, everything goes pitch-black all around me. I slowly drift down. A smooth descent. One, two, three…Time passes unhurried, pain seeps into my lungs. I am drowning. The transparent cerulean dyed walls surrounding me seem to collapse. I am forced up, salty water forcing its way into my throat, which burns unbearably as I break for surface, no longer buried in the depths. I have nothing to breathe, my lungs are gasping for fresh air, but what I get is icy and stiff. This pricks my veins. Pain seizes me again. I shut my eyes trying to ignore the throbbing soreness of my lungs. I begin to panic. I need to live! I want to live! I can’t die now! I have so much to repent for! So much I have to give, I want to beg forgiveness to everyone I sinned against! Won’t you let me live? Please! Please?! Please! Blackness envelops me. a cold shiver runs down my back. My body shutters in response. No air caresses my cheeks. No icy air chills my sad lungs. Then I hear a whisper. It says o me so many things I can’t understand. It feels dark and disembodied. I only catch little of what it asks me. It sweetly demands that I let go of the locket, which I didn’t even know I was holding. I answer dumbfoundedly that I don’t know what it means, “Yes you do, just loosen your grip and come with me…I promise you great love and forgiveness of all your sins…I promise freedom and timeless life…Come with me…” It coos softly. I smile happily, unknowingly, and innocently. I release the locket, this time forgetting to fret over it. I follow, drifting into unconsciousness. “Okay…” I whisper.

Portfolio Piece #2

Blog Post #1-

Nuggets are the best thing on the McDonald menu! But sadly, some questionably mental people think burgers are better than nuggets. WRONG! Nuggets are tastier and way more awesome. They come in a pack with 6 pieces, where you only get 1 hamburger. Do the math 6 is bigger than 1. But still some people prefer hamburgers. Why do these people prefer hamburgers over the obviously better nuggets. All happy meals come with toys that are really awesome and fun to play with. This rivalry started in 1983 when the McNugget was first introduced. 1983 marked the start of the “McNugget Mania”. McNuggets were only served in three different sizes, 6, 9, and 20. Now you can find nuggets in 3, 10 and 50 piece packs. Prior to 2003, Chicken McNuggets contained 50% white meat and 50% dark meat, this is what made the nuggets so darn irresistible. Local fans of the McNuggets have expressed how much they love the nuggets by making comments like “easy question. 6 piece > 1 burger!” and “nuggets ftw[for the win]!!!”. This shows the support for the obvious choice of McNuggets over hamburgers. Please vote in the poll above and show your support for the McNugget!

 

Revised Blog Post #1-

The controversial issue is that of Nuggets vs Hamburgers. Though nuggets are the wining contenders across the country, there are still seriously mental people that would say otherwise. They ARE of course wrong! Nuggets are richer in taste and way more awesome. They come in a pack with six pieces, while you only ever get one burger with a standard order. Yes, maybe the burger is bigger than the nuggets, but it is nowhere near as tasty as a nugget. But still some people prefer hamburgers. Why do these people prefer hamburgers over the obviously better nuggets? Case and point, prior to 2003, Chicken McNuggets contained 50% white meat and 50% dark meat; this obviously made them 100% irresistible. Local fans of the McNuggets have expressed their love for the nuggets by making comments like “oh, easy question, six pieces of nuggets trumps one lousy burger each time!” and “nuggets ftw [for the win]!!!” This demonstrates how the public supports nuggets way more than the hamburgers. Please vote in the poll above and show your support for the McNugget!

 

Blog Post #2-

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is a 31 year old Southpaw professional boxer from Kibawe, Bukidon, Philippines. He is the No. 1 pound for pound boxer with 8 Titles in 8 different weight divisions; Light Middleweight, Welterweight, Light Welterweight , Lightweight, Super Featherweight, Featherweight, Super Bantamweight, and Flyweight. Manny is also involved in politics in the Philippines. He is also involved in acting and music recording. In May 2010 he was elected to the House Of Representatives in the 15th Congress of the Philippines, representing the  province of  Sarangani. He is the only active boxer to be voted into congress  while at his prime. At the age of 14 Manny moved to Manila where at first he lived on the streets. When he started boxing and made the Philippine National Amateur Boxing Team. There his room and board was paid for by the government. Manny had a total of 60 amateur fights with a record of 60 wins and 4 losses. His current professional boxing record is 52 wins, 38 knockouts and 14 decisions; 3 losses, 2 knockouts and 1 decision; and 2 draws. Manny is the best active pound for pound boxer. He has many opponents left to fight to prove his complete dominance of the boxing world. He can fight the cowardly Floyd “Money” Mayweather, “Sugar” Shane Mosely, and potentially Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.. But Manny will only fight Chavez jr. if Chavez gets more experience. Manny is the most exciting active boxer. He will definitely go down in history as one of the greatest boxing legends ever.

Revised Blog Post #2-

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is a 31-year-old Southpaw professional boxer from Kibawe, Bukidon, Philippines. He is the No. 1 pound for pound boxer with 8 Titles in 8 different weight divisions; Light Middleweight, Welterweight, Light Welterweight, Lightweight, Super Featherweight, Featherweight, Super Bantamweight, and Flyweight. Manny is definitely accomplished, but what’s more interesting is that he doesn’t limit himself to just one career. He has involved himself in politics, acting and music recording. In May 2010 he was elected to the House of Representatives in the 15th Congress of the Philippines, representing the province of Sarangani. He is the only active boxer to be voted into congress while at his prime.

At the age of 14 Manny moved to Manila, where he first lived on the streets. He soon started boxing and made the Philippine National Amateur Boxing Team. There his room and board were paid for by the government. He has a record of 60 wins and 4 losses. His current professional boxing record is 52 wins, 38 knockouts and 14 decisions; 3 losses, 2 knockouts and 1 decision; and 2 draws. Manny is the best active pound for pound boxer. He has many opponents left to fight to prove his complete dominance of the boxing world. He can fight the cowardly Floyd “Money” Mayweather, “Sugar” Shane Mosely, and potentially Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.. But Manny will only fight Chavez Jr. if Chavez gets more experience. Manny is the most exciting active boxer. He will definitely go down in history as one of the greatest boxing legends ever.

 

Evaluation-

I notice that I write grammatically incorrect sentences and my writing is everywhere. Trying to edit my own blogs is hard because I can clearly see where I need to improve, but I can’t completely fix it. I’m limited in word-choice and I tend to throw my words together in a rushed way, usually I end up just posting it the way it is. I think if I took more time and paid attention to what I wrote, I would have a clearer message in my work and a direction. I think I lose my central point too easily and head in another direction. Most of the time I just need to focus in my paper and not wonder off point.

 

Portfolio Piece #1

 

 

Prompt:  Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

The issue I have chosen to write about is not a heavily talked about issue but it still affects many people whether they know it or not. This issue is the loss of the Chicano culture due to Americanization, globalization, and the ignorance ofone’s culture. The Chicano community is a very rich and proud community. Like many people my family and I take pride in our heritage, history, and culture. But as Americanization grows the Chicano culture becomes endangered of losing its culture and heritage as younger Chicanos begin to embrace the fully American lifestyle and culture.

Americanization has helped the decline of the Chicano culture. Americanization is to turn something more American in many ways such as by culture, style, language, and interests. Young Chicanos today are influenced to become more American, which has many consequences. This can cause them to forget about their rich heritage. It causes them to lose pride in being a Chicano and makes them favor the pride of being an American. Chicanos need to embrace the American heritage but never forget their own. Globalization is also an affecting reason to the downfall of cultural pride.

Globalization has negatively affected the Chicano culture. Globalization is the changing of the world into one such as economically and culturally. This changes and alters the Chicano culture and makes it so you can’t even notice it anymore, it just fades into the background. The Chicano culture is unique and should be preserved by its people, but globalization makes that difficult. Globalization causes the popular media and culture to influence the Chicano culture. World media is controlled by a handful of corporations, or culture groups, that limit minority cultural expression. Consequently minority groups become oppressed by these major corporations and cultures, minority groups likeChicanos. This can make people ignorant of their own true heritage and culture.

Ignorance of their Chicano culture makes many people less proud of their culture. For example, a boy born and raisedin the United States by Mexican parents who was never taught the Spanish language. This boy cannot communicate with most of his family due to the language barrier. The boy loses the connection of his family members and feels left out as his family connects without him. The boy cannot hear the wise words of his experienced grandfather as he tries to give advice to the young ignorant boy. The heritage and language must be preserved and passed down from generation to generation.

The Chicano heritage and many cultures are slowly dying because of Americanization, globalization, and ignorance. Globalization and Americanization influences and overshadows minority cultures. As a minority group we must fight against the influence of major corporations and culture groups, to stand out and be unique by showing our true culture. The Chicano heritage needs to be preserved and honored. We must keep the celebrations alive and continue the rich heritage that defines us as a person and a group.

University Of Texas Admission Essay (Final)

Essay topic:  Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

The issue I have chosen to write about is not a heavily talked about issue but it still affects many people whether they know it or not. This issue is the loss of the Chicano culture due to Americanization, globalization, and the ignorance of one’s culture. The Chicano community is a very rich and proud community. Like many people my family and I take pride in our heritage, history, and culture. But as Americanization grows the Chicano culture becomes endangered of losing its culture and heritage as younger Chicanos begin to embrace the fully American lifestyle and culture.

Americanization has helped the decline of the Chicano culture. Americanization is to turn something more American in many ways such as by culture, style, language, and interests. Young Chicanos today are influenced to become more American, which has many consequences. This can cause them to forget about their rich heritage. It causes them to lose pride in being a Chicano and makes them favor the pride of being an American. Chicanos need to embrace the American heritage but never forget their own. Globalization is also an affecting reason to the downfall of cultural pride.

Globalization has negatively affected the Chicano culture. Globalization is the changing of the world into one such as economically and culturally. This changes and alters the Chicano culture and makes it so you can’t even notice it anymore, it just fades into the background. The Chicano culture is unique and should be preserved by its people, but globalization makes that difficult. Globalization causes the popular media and culture to influence the Chicano culture. World media is controlled by a handful of corporations, or culture groups, that limit minority cultural expression. Consequently minority groups become oppressed by these major corporations and cultures, minority groups like Chicanos. This can make people ignorant of their own true heritage and culture.

Ignorance of their Chicano culture makes many people less proud of their culture. For example, a boy born and raised in the United States by Mexican parents who was never taught the Spanish language. This boy cannot communicate with most of his family due to the language barrier. The boy loses the connection of his family members and feels left out as his family connects without him. The boy cannot hear the wise words of his experienced grandfather as he tries to give advice to the young ignorant boy. The heritage and language must be preserved and passed down from generation to generation.

The Chicano heritage and many cultures are slowly dying because of Americanization, globalization, and ignorance. Globalization and Americanization influences and overshadows minority cultures. As a minority group we must fight against the influence of major corporations and culture groups, to stand out and be unique by showing our true culture. The Chicano heritage needs to be preserved and honored. We must keep the celebrations alive and continue the rich heritage that defines us as a person and a group.

 

Mladen Petric

Mladen Petric is a 29 year old Croatian professional soccer player who was born in Dubrave, Brcko. Petric started his professional career in FC Baden, a third tier Swiss club. He left after only one season to play for play for Club Zurich. Mladen spent 5 seasons with this club where he was one of the top goal scorers in the league, with a total of 30 goals. In 2004 he left Club Zurich for FC Basel. With Fc Basel Petric made had 72 appearances with 38 goals. In 2007 Petric left Basel and switched to play in the Bundesliga in Germany. He signed with Borussia Dortmund. After only one season Petric left and signed with Hamburger SV. SO far with Hamburger Petric made 51 appearances  and 20 goals. Malden plays at the International with the Croatian National Team. He started playing for the national team in 2001 since then he’s had 36 appearances and 12 goals. Mladen is known for scoring against England in the Euro 2008 qualifying game, Mladen came in as a sub and scored a remarkable goal with his weak foot outside of the box. He is also known for blocking a penalty when his goalkeeper got a red card and his team had no more subs, Petric was forced in the spot and saved the game. Also he scored a dramatic equalizer in stoppage time in the DFB-Polka final against FC Bayern Munich, sadly Petric and his club ended up losing that game and the championship. Petric is a world class footballer that still has plenty of game left in him.

Hamburger SV

Hamburger Sport-Verein is a multi-sport organization that is based in the second largest city in Germany, which is Hamburg. The largest branch of the organization is the soccer team that has competed as one of the top teams in Germany since World War 1. The Hamburg SV football team is one of the oldest in Germany. They started playing in the 1. Bundesliga as one of the original 16 teams. They are the only team to always play in the Bundesliga. One of my favorite soccer players, Mladen Petric, plays for the soccer team. The current head coach is the German Armin Veh. Hamburger SV II is also apart of the organization as the reserve team for Hamburger SV. Hamburger SV also has a women’s football team that was created in 1970. HSV Hamburg, known as the Stealers, is the baseball team in the organization that was established in 1985 and plays in the first division of the Baseball Bundesliga. The organization also has volleyball, cricket, and rugby teams. The volleyball team qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The rugby team was established in 1925 but stopped operating in the 1990s, but was reestablished in March of 2006. Hamburger SV is a top organization for sports in Germany and the World.

University of Texas Admission Essay (Draft)

Essay topic:  Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

The issue I have chosen to write about is not a heavily talked about issue but it still affects many people whether they know it or not. The issue I have chosen is the loss of the Chicano culture due to Americanization, globalization, and the ignorance of young Chicanos’ own culture. The Chicano community is a very rich and proud community. Like many people my family and I take pride in our heritage, history, and culture. But as Americanization, which to assimilate to the customs and institutions of the U.S, grows the Chicano culture becomes endangered of losing its culture and heritage as younger Chicanos begin to embrace the fully American lifestyle and culture.

Americanization has helped the decline of the Chicano culture. Americanization is to turn something more American in many ways such as by culture, style, language, and interests. Young Chicanos now a days are influenced to become more American, which has many consequences. This can cause them to forget about their rich heritage. It causes them to lose pride in being a Chicano and makes them favor the pride of being an American. Chicanos need to be able to embrace the American heritage but never forget their own. Globalization is also an affecting reason to the downfall of cultural pride.

Globalization has negatively affected the Chicano culture. Globalization is the changing of the world into one such as economically and culturally. This changes and alters the Chicano culture and makes it so you can’t even notice it anymore, it just fades into the background. The Chicano culture is unique and should be preserved by its people, but globalization makes that difficult. Globalization causes the popular media and culture to influence the Chicano culture. Globalization does this by the control of world media by a handful of corporations, or culture groups, that limit cultural expression by placing high bias on only their culture, beliefs, and ideas. Consequently minority groups become oppressed by these major corporations and cultures, minority groups like Chicanos. This can make people ignorant of their own true heritage and culture.

Ignorance of their Chicano culture makes many people less proud of their culture. Many Chicanos only know the American side of their culture and not the Mexican side. Many Chicanos don’t know any Spanish. Many young Chicanos don’t know the celebrations and the meanings of the celebrations that are celebrated in the Chicano community. Many Chicanos need to be educated on their culture and heritage so they can become proud of who they are and where they come from. Also so they can understand the struggles and sacrifices of their ancestors, appreciate them for everything they have done, and understand their lives so they can make their own lives better. Chicanos need to be educated about their heritage so they can keep it alive and pass it down from generation to generation.

The Chicano heritage and many cultures are slowly dying because of Americanization, globalization, and ignorance. Globalization and Americanization influences and overshadows minority cultures. As a minority group we must fight against the influence of major corporations and culture groups, to stand out and be unique by showing our true culture. The Chicano heritage needs to be preserved and honored. We must keep the celebrations alive and continue the rich heritage that defines us as a person and a group.

2010 MlS Champs!

The MLS (Major League Soccer) finals has just ended and the Colorado Rapids have been crowned the Championship. This is the first time the club has ever won the Championship. Colorado has a 2010 regular season record of 12 wins 8 losses and 10 ties. The Colorado Rapids was the underdog in the playoffs. The Colorado Rapids played FC Dallas today in the finals and won 2-1 in overtime. Dallas’ forward David Ferreria was the first to score in the match at 35 minutes. He was followed by Connor Casey who scored in the second half in minute 57.  But at the end of the second half the score was still tied so the teams were forced into overtime. The MLS uses the classic overtime rules that continues play of two more 30 minute halfs and at the and of the two halfs the team with the higher score wins, but if the teams are tied then they are forced into a penalty shootout. The penalty shootout has not necessary in this match as Dallas suffered an embarrassing own goal by # 14 George John. Colorado has made history with its first championship. Congratulations Colorado Rapids on their well deserved win.

 

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is a 31 year old Southpaw professional boxer from Kibawe, Bukidon, Philippines. He is the No. 1 pound for pound boxer with 8 Titles in 8 different weight divisions; Light Middleweight, Welterweight, Light Welterweight , Lightweight, Super Featherweight, Featherweight, Super Bantamweight, and Flyweight. Manny is also involved in politics in the Philippines. He is also involved in acting and music recording. In May 2010 he was elected to the House Of Representatives in the 15th Congress of the Philippines, representing the  province of  Sarangani. He is the only active boxer to be voted into congress  while at his prime. At the age of 14 Manny moved to Manila where at first he lived on the streets. When he started boxing and made the Philippine National Amateur Boxing Team. There his room and board was paid for by the government. Manny had a total of 60 amateur fights with a record of 60 wins and 4 losses. His current professional boxing record is 52 wins, 38 knockouts and 14 decisions; 3 losses, 2 knockouts and 1 decision; and 2 draws. Manny is the best active pound for pound boxer. He has many opponents left to fight in order to prove his complete dominance of the boxing world. He can fight the cowardly Floyd “Money” Mayweather, “Sugar” Shane Mosely, and potentially Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.. But Manny will only fight Chavez jr. if Chavez gets more experience. Manny is the most exciting active boxer. He will definitely go down in history as one of the greatest boxing legends ever.

UT! “Glog”