Mirror mirror sing to me

Have you every heard a recording of yourself and said "HOLY CRAP THAT CAN'T BE ME!" Yeah I have. I am a karaoke aficionado. I am usually better when I have had a few drinks but who isn't right? Because I love karaoke and do it on my free time, I decided to download an app on my phone. Its supposed to be some app that lets you sing and records you. If I sound the way I do on there live, then I would like to apologize for that. I never thought I was the best but I never thought I was THAT bad. Funny thing is, when I record myself on the voice memo option on my phone I sound totally different and a lot better. The app comes with effects that you can add to your voice. None of them help me. They only seem to make it worse. I mean I know I'm no Justin Timberlake or even a Johnny Cash but really? I am guessing its the app because I sound terrible. I mean I guess you are your worst critic but if I were to submit my recording in the app to one of the many singing reality shows, I wouldn't make past the audition. I'm not going to let that ruin my fun though. I KNOW I can rock out to any Beatles song and nail it. I am blaming the app. Or maybe it's the mic. I mean I was in choir for 5 years. I even competed and made it to state! For solos AND ensembles. At any choral competition your best score is a 1 and I've received multiple 1s for both ensemble and my solos. Maybe I am not the next Michael Jackson or Beyonce. I know for sure though that I am not the next Paris Hilton. I am going to blame the app. End of story. Who am I kidding, I must suck. At least I didn't plan on making a career out of it. I'll just stick to my day job. Ok, end of rant.

#WhatLatinoMeansToMe

As you may know, September is Hispanic Heritage Month. On some social networks, one of the trending topics is #WhatLatinoMeansToMe. I figured that I would write about this and what being Latino means to me. First off, I have been asked many times what I prefer; Latino, Hispanic, Mexican, Spanish. I myself don't focus on labels. Speaking in a literal sense, I am Mexican. I am Latino. I am Hispanic. I am not Spanish. Only reason I am not Spanish is because I am not from Spain. Latino means a person of Latin American origin or descent. Hispanic means a Spanish-speaking person living in the US, especially one of Latin American descent. I qualify under both since I am from Mexico and I speak Spanish. I really don't understand why some people prefer one term over the other. Only situation I can think of would be if you were from Brazil. Brazilians speak Portuguese so that means they are Latino. Like I said I am not big on labels. What Latino means to me is diversity, color, passion, and hard work. Latin culture is so diverse that you get a great range when it comes to characteristics. You can literally meet a person who is blonde, fair skinned, and blue eyed who only speak Spanish. Just as there are many fair skinned people, our culture also has darker shades that could be mistaken for African-American. For example, Dominicans, Cubans, or Puerto Ricans. Just as many stereotypes are on point, many of them are far from the truth. Just like Americans, each country has regional accents. Many times we use these accents to identify where a person is from. It's like how people from the north can easily identify someone from the south or someone from the north east and vise versa. Many are passionate and joyful. Many are hard working people who's only goal in life is to be able to provide a comfortable life style for their family. Just like every culture, we have people who ruin our image. Like I said, all cultures have people who ruin it for the rest. That's where all the negative, racist comments come from. When you here any insult about your race, or cultural background it's always based on the negative side of that race, culture. 
Love, family, passion, and perseverence are also things that Latino means to me.

Audience: I promise I'm not judging!

From the recent discussion boards I have noticed that there are a lot of my classmates that are in the same situation as I. I have also noticed that not all of us have the same way of thinking, which is not bad. We are each individuals working towards the same goal. Just as we have differences, we each have similarities. For example, many of us have taken the online course because it fits our schedule the best. It sounds like the majority of us work and go to school at the same time. We may each have different career plans, but in the end we are all having to do the same work of balancing school with our personal lives. Something else that a lot of us share is that for the most part we are all on similar levels when it comes to our writing experience. If we weren't we'd probably wouldn't be in the same course. I have also been surprised by many of classmates responses, for example, Kayla and Michael's response to Irene's question. Being from a southwestern Missouri small town, you just expect everyone to be religious, Christian to be exact. I think it's great that they weren't afraid to speak their beliefs and that they have their own thoughts. To me it doesn't matter whether I agree or disagree with their beliefs, I respect them. I am no one to judge. I did find Michaels response charming when he stated "We teach our children about loving one another regardless of differences or mistakes and that we are here to make changes to benefit the whole human race rather than just ourselves." I find it moving and gratifying that there are people out there teaching about acceptance no matter how different the other person is. One more thing I have noticed is that the majority of the class is women. Just something I noticed. We are all different, but in the end are all alike. We are all in this course to better ourselves and achieve success. We are all in the pursuit of happiness. Different paths but the same goal: Happiness.

I Believe in "Si se puede"

    Coming  from a Mexican background, my beliefs have been heavily influenced by tradition as well as my own experiences growing up in a whole new country. The cultural differences I have had and have noticed, have certainly shaped my way of thinking. Work ethic, humility, and respect are great teachings that my parents have bestowed upon me. Experiencing traditional teachings at home and learning the american lifestyle at school has been a challenge but I have used it as learning experience to grow from. This challenge has made myself believe in being optimistic and applying to my life, creeds that are traditional to my culture. All creeds have both positive and negative outcomes. In the end though, I have had, and still have, the best of both worlds
    Growing up, when I would be in trouble, my parents would always lecture me using some saying or creed that they were taught by my grandparents back when they were young and getting their own lectures. Hispanic heritage is known for its many proverbs. So much that in Mexico there are even television shows that are solely based on these Mexican proverbs, for example the show Como Dice El Dicho. The title literally translates to “like the phrase states”. One proverb that has always stuck with me is “Si se puede” or “Yes I can.” This has stayed with me through the ups and downs of life. I tend to be an optimistic person and truly try and work for a positive view to everything.
    One instance in which I constantly had to remind and tell myself “Si se puede”, happened about four years ago. It was my first year of college and everything was going a lot better than what I had expected. I was making As and high Bs in all my courses and I was adapting well. Due to economical issues, I had to commute roughly 100 miles, if you count the drive back home, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to Springfield. It was a regular October day and I had just gotten out of my last class. I had made plans with a friend to go to the mall after class that day. Everything was going great, I had picked up my friend and we were on our way to the mall when I recalled that I had left some coupons in my back pack, which I had left back at my friends house. We got to stop light and were going to turn left off of Glenstone onto Sunset. The light had just turned yellow and I was in the middle of the street. Being used to small town driving, I got nervous and tried to make it before the light turned red. At that moment, I slammed on my brakes but it was too late. Everything felt as if it were in slow motion. I recall the music on the radio slowing down as red chips flew up in the air. My limbs tensing up as to not let the inertia push me forward. As this was all happening, I turned to my right to make sure he was ok quickly releasing my right arm to, I guess, catch him. All while the car was spinning onto the opposite lane. All this comes to me as if it were a scene from some action packed Hollywood blockbuster but it was my reality. At the moment I slammed my brakes, I suddenly saw the white car that would hit the left front part of my 95’ Camaro. Leaving my car to look as if the shark from Jaws suddenly jumped from the asphalt street to take a giant bite out of it. Luckily, no one was injured. It was more the fear and shock of being in an accident that affected both, the other passenger and I. We were lucky enough that two ladies who were nurses at the time were at the intersection as well. They called 911 and made sure we were all ok.
    Due to the accident, I was left with no car. My car made it home, barely. For the rest of the semester I was forced to borrow my mothers truck but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to go back the next semester without my own vehicle. I got depressed and stopped trying at school. All my grades quickly plummeted due to lack of attendance and turning in assignments. I managed to pass two classes, but failed the other two.
    That December, during winter break I applied at the window manufacturer that had hired as summer help that summer prior to the accident. Due to my good record with my old supervisor I was quickly hired back on as temporary help. When I  started that January day, I was this inexperienced 18 year old who had never had a job like what I was about to do. I was always taught that you are never too good for any job. All through high school I worked in the fast food industry and that helped establish a good work ethic in me. I was hired in the shipping department loading all kinds of windows and doors that varied in weight and size. Each window, door, or crate of glass would be manually loaded with the help of a partner. The weight of the material varied from 25 lbs to 500 lbs and would be as small as 1’ x 1’ to four times my size. There were times when I wanted to quit but that would be when I would tell myself, “Don’t give up. Si se puede.” After 4 long months I was hired on full time. By then I had managed to save up enough for a new truck, which I still drive to this day. When I was hired on full time, I managed to impress my supervisor  with my interview. He pulled me aside and told me how much more potential I had and how the company would benefit from me a whole lot more somewhere else, not as a loader.
    Months passed and I got my current position. My first office job. No one in my family had ever worked at a desk job. Everyone else had always worked manufacturing jobs. My parents were so proud and still are. Because I have had an optimistic view and have told myself, “Si se puede.” I have managed to do well in my current position. With this mind set, I ended up getting a second job. I managed to handle the 2 jobs for a little more than a year. The thought of going back to school never left my mind though. I finally felt comfortable enough getting back to school and am at it now. I had to quit my second job, but it was for a better.
    Creeds, like everything else, have they’re negative side as well. With my “I can do it all” mentality I have been able to accomplish a lot in my career but other aspects of my life have suffered. Due to my dedication to working, I have no real social life. I am 22 years old and my weekends don’t consist of going out with friends and having drinks. For the most part they consist of working only to come home and work on homework. I have somehow managed to move forward in the romantic part of life though. Even with her though, I had to apply myself and tell myself  “Si se puede.” I pursued her for 8 whole months before she finally agreed to be my girlfriend. I had asked her out twice before she finally said yes. We are now going on 9 months and could not be happier.
    I believe in myself and the power I have to accomplish anything I set my mind to. Never giving up has been something I have learned from my parents and from the people I have met outside of home. “Si se puede.” Such a short statement yet so powerful. So powerful that sometimes there are negative side effects on other aspects of life. Open mindedness and tolerance have helped manage the side effects though. We are all capable of anything. It’s just a matter of putting enough passion and effort in it.

All light has shadows.

If you look at any color, you will always be able to find a light variation and darker variation. Not all that shines is gold. Sometimes things that seem right might just be the farthest from. What I want to get to is that creeds may also have negative effects. Hostility, stubbornness, intolerance, and hate are a few side effects that creeds could cause. An example of creed gone wrong would be the Holocaust. Many lives were lost due to no real offense other than being different.
What's disturbing is that still to this day genocide, or the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation, still exists. Look at the at the middle east or in central Africa. People are dying for uncontrollable things. Dying because they are different. Hate crimes because your family has a belief different than others.
Just as crazy are the things happening here at home. For example the recent coverage on Ferguson, Mo. There's also the bullying and hate crimes that we see everyday but don't think much about. Killing yourself because you are too scared to go to school because your different seems to be an other example. Racist remarks you hear because your skin is darker. Because your have blue eyes. Because you speak another language. Because you wear "traditional" clothing. 
Just as creeds can be a very positive way to think, they can be dark too. I'm one to believe but with an open mind. We are all different and that's what makes the world beautiful. Diversity adds character, quirkiness, uniqueness, color to life. Live with an open mind, open heart and it's amazing the connections you can make. It's 2014, lets celebrate diversity. Even that's a creed.

Creed. Not the band.

The definition of creed is a set of beliefs or aims that guide someone's actions; a faith. Examples of creeds can be found in just about anything and everywhere from religious texts, government documents, to musical lyrics. For the Christian religion, examples of creeds or credos could be the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are a set of beliefs that are used to guide Christians actions in life. The Constitution of the United States of America is also a great example of creed. More precisely the Preamble; It states the principles this nation was founded on. When it comes to creeds in musical lyrics, you can look at any list of hits, from today to hits of the past. Bob Marley's song One Love is a great example. In the song Marley states “one love, one heart, lets get together and feel alright.” This works as a creed as it clearly states the artist's belief and appreciation of peace and love. Groups like Amnesty International use their statements of belief or mission statements to clearly define what they believe and work for. These statements work as creeds as they remind the members and define what the group is working towards and helps the members see how their actions impact their representation of the group as a whole. Creeds are everywhere and are interpreted by everyone in unique ways.

Si Se Puede

As you might have guessed, I come from a Mexican background. Hispanic heritage is known for its many proverbs. So much that in Mexico there are even television shows that are solely based on these Mexican proverbs, for example the show Como Dice El Dicho. Which literally translates to “like the phrase states”. One proverb that has always stuck with me is “si se puede” or yes I can, the more English friendly: it is possible. This has stayed with me through the ups and downs of life. It’s a great reminder that all things are possible. I tend to be an optimistic person and truly try and work for a positive view to everything. Like every other human though, I have my down days in which it’s harder to deal with the shadows of every day issues. Then I just remember, “si se puede.” No matter how old or young we are, we have all faced issues in life that have put a dark effect on our views. Whether it be, being disappointed because you didn’t pass a test or losing a loved one. I know that those two examples are very drastically different, but after all, life goes on and we learn ways to cope with our disappointments. Each one of us experience life and its curve balls differently, but I truly believe that if we get up, have an optimistic outlook, and maybe even utter “yes I can” or “si se puede”, we can take on anything.