Thesis:Even though many people think that troubled youth wont succeed or change after they join gangs, I believe they can change. Youth joing gangs for many reasons, authority pushes those youth to gangs, they turn to gangs to find comfort and acceptance, the solution would be that youth should be encouraged to attend programs which will help them change unlike, being isolated like the current system does it.

Youth that is believed to be affiliated with gangs, are now called “monsters” and they have the connotation that they do not deserve to be treated as humans. Those with authority make regulations for the troubled youth, like treating them in court as adults. They are humans themselves and deserve the same respect as any other human being in the community. In the book, Hears and hands, Rodriguez claims, “Of course being called a “monster” now a days had the connotation of not being a human—an animal—therefore, deserving of less than human consideration” (Rodriguez 31). This quote makes me view that violence changes the whole perspective on people and how they view those that are involved. People in the community should not judge them because they do not know the reason on why they joined the gang and violence is not always the main reason.

         

Tentative Thesis Unit 1

Even though many people think that troubled youth won't succeed or change after they join gangs, I believe that youth join gangs for many different reasons, our methods of authority push those youth to gangs, they turn to gangs to find comfort and acceptance and they are able to change by being involved in programs not isolated like the system does it.

Looping In-Class Freewrite

            After reading the book hearts and hands, I changed my whole view on gangs and violence. Violence just doesn’t happen because people want to harm others. It happens because youth see their way out of struggling and they see their way out of their problems by turning to gangs. I agree with Luis Rodriguez on his solutions on how the system is set up to corrupt the prisoners. And it shouldn’t be like that. The youth are kids and they make mistakes they just need someone to be there for them and straighten them, to give them support and acceptance. Because if the youth do not find acceptance in their families and in their community, then they turn to gangs because the gangsters the “bosses” the ones that demand them to do things give them acceptance and the youth feel comfortable with them. I think that the youth find comfort and acceptace in violence because that’s the only other option they have if no one else thinks what they do ids good. Also going back to the system and how it is created, it gets families angry. I believe it was in chaper 4 or 6 im not sure where they took a kids sibling in to prison and his brother was really close to him and he got really mad that he was taken away from him so he turned to violence and gangs.

I agree with Luis Rodriguez on his solutions on how the system is set up to corrupt the prisoners.

            I agree that the prisons corrupt the prisoners by taking them away from society. I think a better option would be to make programs where they can still be in the society and contribute but also, they can reflect on the mistake they did. For example, if authority figures take those who do crimes they are only isolating them from the society and they will not be able to function the same when they are out in the community. When they are released, they are just getting the community and the people in danger. Also I believe that creating rehabilitation programs instead of prisons can get the prisoners to reflect on what they did and maybe they can change. According to the book there is a few example of former gang members that went on to the YSS program and they are now straightened up witht heir lifes and that was with the help of the the YSS program and because of luis rodriguez which is helping them reflect and showing them that they can succeed, but they need support from their community and families. (youth need hearts and hands.)

and because of luis rodriguez which is helping them reflect and showing them that they can succeed, but they need support from their community and families. (youth need hearts and hands).

            Youth need hearts and hands from their families, referring to the families accepting and honoring them and giving them love. For example, a young child that is being acknowledged on both the good things and bad things he does, he will feel good about himself because he is getting attention from his loved ones and he doesn’t have to turn anywhere else for that support. Unlike a young boy whom his parents are only focusing on the bad things he is doing, he isn’t finding comfort in his family and he needs support and attention from others. So he turns to gangs or violence where there  is other people like him which have turned for that reason or another reason.

Building Community/Facing Violence- Chapters 6, 8

"Clearly, zero tolerance determines action against people on the surface of things, not on content." Pg 73

The quote is saying that People of the community focus and judge people on how they look or how they dress rather than how they are and what they do for a living or to help society. This quote stood out to me because it shows how many people can judge you and not give you the opportunity to try new things or grow because of how they dress. For example, the members of the YSS were very respectful and clean after themselves, and the director of the hall that they were renting found out they were gangsters, he told them they couldn't be there anymore. An emotion that I evoked was shocked and thought it was unfair that people judge others by how they look or how they were in the past.

"Most of these women, which little or no support, have raised wonderful children" pg76

This quote is describing how single mothers have raised good children, just because the children have one parent in the household doesn't mean that they are going to become criminals or gangsters or something bad. This quote grabbed my attention because I can relate to it. My mom was and is a single mother of three children and we are not criminals. And our maybe people will judge because of where we are from but that is it because we all work and are striving to accomplish our goals. This particular quote made me get a chilly and emotional reaction because i connected to it for the same reason that people judge who you are based on what they see, just because they see that we have one parent does not mean we will become a criminal. That's how many people see children in their eyes.

Building Community/Facing Violence- Initial Reactions

Chapter 1:

" For them a gang embraces who they are, gives them the incipient authority they need to eventually control their lives, the empowerment that other institutions-- including schools and families-- often fail to provide" p25

• This quote is saying that youth turn to gangs because they find themselves gaining power when they are involved in the gang. they feel the need to turn to something that is going to get them noticed in a good or bad way, since families and schools or whatever it is that they are involved in doesn't give them the attention they need.
• I thought this quote was important because the youth fall in to gangs because thats the easy way for them to get power and feel noticed by others even if its in a negative perspective.
• As i was reading this quote, it made me evoke the emotion of shock, i can say because i never thought of it that way. As the youth joining gangs for attention. i thought they would join gangs because they wanted friends or they wanted to hurt others. After reading this my connotation and view of gangs and youth in gangs changes.

Chapter 2:

"Tony, who was close Pepe, began having problems in schools and with the law after his older brother was jailed" pg42

• This quote is saying that the Tony was very close to Pepe. ANd after pepe got sent to jail and was incarcerated. TOny started having problems in school and in the community because he knew that pepe was innocent and he didn't feel heard. so he started having problems everywhere.
• My thoughts about this quote was that children who aren't in gangs like Tony, which he was a YSS member started having problems in school and his community because of his brother getting taken away to jail. He became angry that he got taken away from him even when he was innocent and him not being in a gang and being agry that his brother got taken away because the police thought he was in one, he might join one to prove a point.
• my question was, if he actually joined a gang or what happened. or what will happen to peeps case through out the book.

Chapter 3
"when more and more young people plan their funerals and not their futures, it spells alarm for the rest of us" -Father Greg Boyle p47

• This quote is warning the adults and the law and everyone in the community to aware with whats happening. its saying that if children are planning their funeral instead of their future than we should be worried about whats going on in our society and community because it can hurt our further which is the youth of today.
• My thoughts about this quote is that if children are planning their funeral instead of their future then we should all we worried as a society because our future are our youth and they are planning the funerals instead of striving for their goals.
• i felt sad by reading this quote because i know that in reality in some communities, youth have joined gangs and they don't see their way out of it and they don't know where to turn for help. they see no future, but there is a future if they turn somewhere else like Luis Rodriguez did he turned to writing. and he was in a gang as well. he changed. i believe everyone can.

Reflecting on Essay #2 Feedback

1. What surprised me the most about your comments was that you said I improved in my topic sentence. Well you didn't really mention it but you didn't put that I needed improvement in that section. What also surprised me was the same grade that I got for the last essay and I tried harder and I know that I have improved in my writing I just don't know what I need to improve on the most to get a better grade.

2.The comment I found helpful the most was the one where added the areas of improvement. I wasn't very confident t in how I was supposed to use FANBOYS. Now I know that I need to work more on adding FANBOYS to my sentences so they can connect to my ideas.

3.The comment I found least helpful was where you said that my topic sentence need to be more developed. I thought i had made an arguable point but I guess I  need to add more discussable points.

4. One area that I should focus on my next essay is that I have to stay on point with one point of view for example I noticed that I started my essay with talking in second person perspective, using "you". Then I kept reading and I was talking in first person perspective, i was using the word "I" and kept including myself. I think its fine if I use both but I have to use one perspective per paragraph. In this paragraph i think i should have focused on using the first person because I can relate to this topic about equal education myself.

5. I think I could have gotten at least a B on this particular essay because I worked hard on it. I made sure that my paragraphs had PIE structure I tried using some FANBOYS. I met with my pass the torch tutor twice a week to go over the outline because the outline would determine the main ideas and what was going to be written on paper. 

6. I will use FANBOYS and make sure I have discussable main points in my body paragraphs or else my essay won't have much information it. ALso I need to make a strong topic sentence for every body paragraph so it can interest the reader to continue reading the rest of the essay   

Unit 3: Social Media, Community and Democracy Generating Ideas about the Value of Social Media in a Democracy

1.     What are the differences between “weak ties” and “strong ties” ? 

I think the differences between weak ties and strong ties is if a person has connections. Weak ties is when a person doesn't have connections. For example, When a person has a Facebook and they have a lot of friends on Facebook but they are not really friends they are only acquaintances. Unlike the strong ties is when people have connections as friends and they know they can help them get somewhere with their help. Those are strong ties when you know people from different places that way you have different connections.

1.     What causes cyber activism? 

Cyber activism is caused by people who are stuck in there offices or home that are too busy to communicate with others face to face. I think that cyber activism also happens because it's way faster to communicate through emails than by calling someone or going to look for someone to talk to them face to face. I just think its way faster and more effective today.