Bullying as a True Drama by Danah Boyd and Alice Marwick

Bullying is a serious problem in society especially among teens. In this article authors claim that teens would rather use the word drama then bullying. They say this because teens tend to use it as a "protective mechanism" It allows them to downplay a situation and put even a horrendous situation in a category with frivolous things. The word Drama makes it easier to just let these things happen. Bully's and those being bullied use the word drama to either try to hide the abuse or  hide the fact that they are abusing others.

The phrase "thats so gay" is used by many to describe things that are bad. But using gay in the homosexual term and turning into a negative. Is not ok its very disrespectful and hurtfull to many.

Language & Human Rights

When reading an article it is important to think about what opinion is being forced upon you, what position the author is taking because at times they can be bias . Giving half of the information or  giving only the information they agree with. So before you agree and change your mind it is important to do your own research. Words if you choose the right ones can have a lot of power. When Hitler came into power, Germany was a in a state of shock they needed somebody to take charge make a change, and through his powerful words and timing he got to take control of a country. He promoted and enforced his idea of human rights but for only his people if you didn't fit into his idea of the perfect model. You didn't deserve your human rights. This is a example of using your culture (Nazism) to oppress another group. This is why everyone is entitled to their own beliefs but nobody should be able to use their beliefs to take away the rights of others.

My name is Lauren

lɔrən

The initial sound in Lauren is created using a voiced alveolar with a liquid articulation "[l] then connecting a back vowel ɔ. The last sound is created by connecting the central vowel ə with a  voiced nasal alveolar [n].

 
To start place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and then slide it frontwords and let the air flow throught the sides of your mouth to make a "lor" sound then put your teeth together as if your smiling add "in"  to the end while letting the air flow through your nose.

The Language of Human Rights

I am excited for my first college semester. I love discussions and speaking my opinion and i am getting to do that in this cluster. I'm enjoying learning about my rights as a human and more about the many events in the world that have taken away peoples rights. I believe knowledge is the only way to prevent these horrors from repeating themselves. I never put much thought into language itself and my language class is opening my mind to things i might of never thought about before. Even though this is still only the beginning i have high hopes for this semester.

Twitter

@LaurenByron

English is My Everything

I never actually learned English it was more forced upon me, everyone around me spoke it. It was all I ever heard so it flowed through me naturally as a child. I began to improve my English when I was around 4; my father began teaching me to read using a program called Hooked on Phonics. Reading helped me learn how to better express myself, better my vocabulary and allowed my knowledge of the language to expand. Some days my father and I would spend countless hours and laughs in the library. Before I had the ability of reading on my own I would make him read aloud to me every book I thought had an interesting cover. When the time came when I no longer needed his assistance I began to fly through books with ease, only stopping to ask for the meaning of words here and there. When I began school I remember others students complaining about the 30 minute homework assignments given. I would happily read that and more on the train ride home. My love for words weren’t limited to the ones on paper because I also loved to talk, so much that at times this love became somewhat of a blessing and a curse. In parent teacher conferences the teachers would always tell my parents the same speech "Lauren is a very bright young girl, but her talking distracts her other classmates from their work sometimes". My parents weren't surprised to say the least.

Although in 3rd grade I encountered my first rode block concerning to language my parents put me in a bilingual school. My mother being Puerto Rican thought I should learn Spanish, but being that my father is African American we lever spoke the language in my home. So I new nothing of this language and was terrified. In this school half of the day was entirely in Spanish, the other half in English. Growing up I always liked to interact with other kids and adults I loved to socialize, I could make a friend in no time with my jokes and stories. In class I was used to participating and I was never shy to give my opinion. But here amongst words I couldn’t read nor understand I felt completely alone, I couldn't express myself the way I could before. Kids around me spoke the language fluently and I for the first time felt the power language could have. Over the years at this school I began to understand Spanish. I would be able to understand when people would talk to me, by translating it in my head to English and with little delay I could reply. But I would only reply, and even to this day in English. For some reason I never felt the comfort English gave me with Spanish. It just wasn't the same, it didn't feel natural. I couldn’t connect to the foreign language, I spoke English with my family and friends, maybe not the most politically correct English but it was my English just the same.

English is who I am, I think in English, I speak in English, I read in English, I watch T.V in English, I listen to music in English, I express myself in English. I believe if I didn't have English I wouldn't b the person I am today.