An Argument

What is an argument? 

Well, an argument can be a lot of different things; it's in the conversation that you have with your parents over the choice of your major, it happens when talking about your March Madness bracket, and it it's also in the 11 AP Language and Composition test. Arguments are everywhere and they happen all the time, whether we know it or not; they’re a part of everyday speech. Persuasion is how we make our arguments seem credible; it’s what you use whilst asking for ice cream, it’s what you use when begging to stay up late, or even what you have to use when asking to stay home from school.  The point is arguments and persuasion are everywhere and there is no escaping them. We, as a society, have to learn how to structure them to help us succeed. Some may say that argumentative and persuasive people show us the greediness of society, but that is wrong. It is natural for someone to want something and if a person can get what he/she want with just words, isn’t that impressive? Arguments have been taking place since the Stone Age, proving that this is in fact human nature and that arguments are natural and happen normally.

The Unspoken Truth

We always notice how society makes women appear, but generally we never notice how it treats men (which is horrible too).  Men are depicted as having 6-packs and muscles, but how accurate is all of this? Do all teenage guys look like Abercrombie models? What about middle-aged men, do they look like the Eddie Bauer models? 

The answer is no. Not every guy has a perfectly chiseled jaw, a 6-pack, a "rugged" appearance, and of course, not every male is white. Ok, there is some African-American representation, but still it's not a lot and when they use someone that isn't white, the person that companies use always have Anglican features. One of the most prevalent problems is ethnicity when it comes to male models, because most of them are white.  The lack of racial diversity is appalling; America is supposed to be a melting pot, but without diversity in ads how is this shown? Female models are starting to come from multiple ethnicities and are starting to look different from each other, but every single male model is white and has either blonde, brown, or a mixture hair. When was the last time that you saw an advertisement to Abercrombie or a PacSun that had an Asian or an Indian guy in it? At least American Eagle made an "effort" and threw one Asian guy into the mix, but what about the rest of them?

Labor Laws

Let me tell you a horror story about the past that is also in the present. Many people do not believe in this, but I promise that it's real, even today in these changing times. Without further ado, I'll start.

Once upon a time, in a land not much different than ours, a couple of children were at work, not at play. These children had been working for 9 hours straight, with not a single break. These children, aged at just 6 years and above had been sowing the fluff into your toys for the past 9 hours. Until their frail, little fingers had fallen off, they were at work.  While the rest of the world slept, they were pulling apart the fluff that goes into making pink elephant dolls.  Just imagine, all of your friends, your parents, and your sibling, everyone that you care about working in a small and moldy factory to produce pink elephants to be sold to privileged kids in a different country.  Everything about the factory puts intense fear into their souls; the room without windows, the smell of hundreds of kids cramped together, the clock that seemed to not change time. At times, the only break these children had was death.

This horror story happens every single day.  Today, about 150 million kids aged 5-14 will be working to help support their families; 90% of these kids are girls.  I've realized that without a specific rhetoric, similar to Frances Kelley, you will not get a proactive response from a crowd. It's astonishing that in countries like: Bangladesh, Thailand, Malawi, China, and Mexico, children work form the time they are able to reach the machines.  This is so different from the US, where even at 16, the legal age to work, kids still have restrictions.  Oh Jesus! There is still so much to fix as an international community.  We must put a stop to the injustice that is child labor, but the first question is what can we as teenagers do?

Public Space and Race

Each decade in the history of the US inspired a major theme that has left a lasting impact on future generations. The 20's was the age of the flappers, the 70's being the Disco era, and the rock age of the 80's.  Although each decade had a distinct style, there was one thing that did not go away once a new decade came about- racism. 

Staples wrote Black Men and Public Space in the 1980's, when the US had claimed to be tolerant, but this essay proved that most people believed stereotypes.  To stereotype someone is to give a certain person traits based on the idea that all people who share a certain characteristic are the same.  Most Americans are guilty of stereotyping, and the people that are stereotyped the worst are African-American men, which is exactly what Staples proves in his essay.  He says that he is the exact opposite of the stereotype, but the first thing that people notice about him is his race.  Is America still as racist as it was in the 1980's or has it changed and become more accepting? 

Although the US isn't the perfect country, it is changing and becoming better and better each day. Americans are able to fight for their rights without having to overthrow the government to be heard, which is happening to a lot of people in other countries right now.  Racism is slowly disappearing throughout the US and we see more people of color in power, which is for the better.  In the 80's, Staples was treated unfairly by complete strangers for being black, but hopefully he doesn't have to be as we advance as a country to become a place without racism.

Parental Problems

When I first started typing out this post, I wanted to make it deep and sentimental, but I didn't have the words for it because even though I love my parents a lot, I still don't know what to say or how to thank them. 

Most of the time, my parents and I joke around with each other. My older brother has a similar relationship with my parents, so I must've learned from him. I guess we just have a really playful relationship because we always tease each other and come up with jokes at the other person's expense. This may be more the case with my mom though. When I annoy her (if you ask her, she'll tell you that I'm always annoying) she has the best reactions; I started taking "candid" pictures of her doing daily household stuff and they always turn out bad because she's moving or she looks at the camera with a really annoyed face, but that's why I take those pictures- they make me laugh a lot and she laughs at them too. Although we joke around with each other, she always listens to my rants and offers insight (when she pays attention, I tend to talk a lot).  Just like Brad Manning said, his mom was the one who showed more outward compassion because she wrote him letters and went to his orchestra concerts and for me some of that is true.  My dad is a different story though. I used to think that my dad I were complete opposites, but the more that I think about it, I realize that we are really similar.  Both of us like Indian movies, basically any food that contains sugar, and we both make jokes that no one else laughs at. I think the way that my dad differs from Manning's dad is that my dad does so much for me. He wakes up to take me to school and makes me breakfast (I think I should work on getting my license) and then picks me up from school every single day. I don't even know how I could function without him there to help me. But like every other teenager, I get annoyed at my parents too. 

The other side of my relationship with my parents is when I become "rebellious". Even though I know that my dad just wants me to do well in life and become successful, I find it frustrating when he doesn't support my dreams of working for the UN and majoring in International Relations. I guess my way of rebelling is stupid too; "I'm going to get a tattoo" used to work like a charm, but now the response I get is "Ok, go buy a motorbike and get a leather jacket too!"  Whenever we talk about what my career will be in the future, we get into fights. I don't want to do medicine, but of course that's what my dad wants me to do and since we're both stubborn, neither of us wants to change our views. 

My parents have always been there for me and I know that no matter what they will continue to be there for me, which is why I am eternally grateful. It makes me sad to think about kids who just don't connect with their parents because I would be so lost without mine. 

The Silencing Scream

The Scream- Edvard Munch (1893)

The orange Sun seems so far away

as he stands trapped in his own mind.

The Ocean drowns out his pain

leaving him with nothing

but the smell of the sea.

The ocean. free and untamed.

able to show its true beauty

not trapped behind a mask.

He longs for the independence,

the ability to do what he wishes,

but as he tries to grasp whatever is left-

the dock seems to be sinking,

as he struggles to hold on to what is real

there is nothing still there.

His dreams are destroyed,

he cannot show his true self.

He is trapped by the boundaries;

set by a mad society to confine

and suppress individuality.

No one is perfect,

so why should he be perfect in the

eyes of another.

Reality has become a mess,

all he can do now is

Scream,

But how much will that help him,

He screams loud enough for the world to hear him,

or so he believes.

This scream should be the scream that silenced the world,

that led to deeper analysis on society.

His scream is our scream, the only difference is that it’s aloud.

The world doesn’t stop for just one

Scream.

Assimilating to American Society

The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines assimilating as "adopt[ing] the ways of another culture: to fully become a part of different society, culture, etc." This definition can be perceived with a positive connotation, but most stories of assimilation are not happy and "feel-good".  This definition doesn't tell us what a person feels as they are forced to assimilate to the dominant culture.  Sherman Alexie and Amy Tan provide an insight on what it's actually like to assimilate to American society.


I think that it's hard for the children of immigrants to see themselves and think "oh yeah I assimilated to the dominant society" because if they were born here then aren't they a part of "normal" American society?  When I see myself I don't think that I assimilated. I was born here and even though my parents weren't, that doesn't mean that I'm from somewhere else too. I grew up with American culture, so doesn't that make me a part of the dominant society? I not only grew up with American culture but also with Indian culture and I've never felt like I had to choose one over the other.

As a society, we always say "be yourself" and "don't be afraid to express yourself" but in reality we, society as a whole, judge other people based on how they express who they are even thought this is wrong. You should be able to express your individuality any way you wish without being embarrassed or ostracized.