decicels

Music played a significant role in propagating the notions of what the street life entails for Wes. He found solace in the music, but it also served as a motivational factor. From excerpts in the fourth chapter hip hop seems to be the main genre that Wes enjoyed. Chubb Rock and EPMD were two artists specified in the book that Wes listened to heavily. His life and the struggles he was facing were mirrored in the music he gravitated toward. There were specific instances mentioned in chapter four where Wes drew energy from the music he was listening to and used it to surmount different hurdles he encountered. For instance, strains of “The Bridge Is Over” which he described as empowering prior to confronting Lateshia's brother. It would not be far-fetched to conclude that certain pockets of hip-hop made him feel validated in the lifestyle he was enveloped in that was accurately represented in the music. In my life, music also serves a similar role as a mechanism to stimulate desired em...

In the book, The Other Wes Moore , basketball serves as a unifying element for Wes and his friends. Their lives are described to be similar in the hurdles they experience such as their environment, socio-economic struggles, crime, drug presence in their community, and academic struggles. Their escape came from basketball at one point in time in the book. The good thing about activities such as sports is they consist of three beneficial aspects, whereas many activities that are commonly used to serve as an escape or coping mechanism only include one or two. These being the social factor with other people who may or may not be experiencing the same things, the physical factor which allows you to simultaneously get some healthy activity in, and the fact that most sports are shared outside. That last element alone can greatly affect mood and mental health to levels that most people aren't truly aware of. Unfortunately many people now turn to technology as their coping mechanism which ...

I believe the essence of a person is molded by the experiences that an individual encounters in life. To say a person is a product of their environment or the expectations of those close to them solely is only fractionally true. I believe both and so much more contribute to what makes a person who they are. The expectations imposed or simply held by those around you with regard to your future could be viewed as the seed. The environment you live in and your acquaintance with certain parts of it are the soil. That being said, more is needed. Sunlight, water, and oxygen. Maybe fertilizer or more time. The more you have of one component, the less of the others is required. The same is true for people.  The quality of people you have in your life from the very beginning is crucial to setting the foundation with which you will build your character. After all, when you first come into this world, the only pieces you have to build are of people around you. The house your parents have, the...

     The unending debate over the value of a degree has been deliberated for years. Some compare the benefits of one degree over others as if they are golden passes that open gates to various occupations. Others compare the worth of the knowledge that can be acquired in the pursuit of a degree or the experiences encountered along the way. The true value most likely can be best ascertained by analyzing the career paths and general success that graduates obtain after acquiring their degrees. To further examine this point of discourse, the works of  Sanford J. Ungar depicted in “The New Liberal Arts,” a speech from David Foster Wallace, “The Ivory Tower'' documentary, and an analysis from Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus were perused and utilized to create a visual representation which further inspired this reflection piece.           Some vital contentions that were risen included the lofty debt and cost of tuition that have become synon...

  Just about everything is good in moderation. This holds true for certain foods, social time with friends, and all forms of media. In analyzing the contents of the articles “Small Change” by Gladwell and “Watching TV Makes you Smarter.” Looking at both of these articles at face value could return polar opposite takeaways, when the reality is that both are somewhat true. Television and social media when consumed and utilized proportionally can have positive outcomes and negative outcomes when overutilized. By extracting three elements from the article by Johnson, an interesting phenomenon can be exhibited. The components that encompass the substance of the entire article, suit criticisms from Gladwell but are represented as something that should be strived for by Johnson. The elements were the word “intricacies,” the phrase “narratives demarcate the line between texture and substance,” (Johnson 287) and the sentence “what I am arguing for is a change in the criteria we use to deter...

        My name is Davie Sanchez. I am currently in the second year of my pursuit of a career in Computer Science. My primary interest are music and basketball. To be candid, I randomly chose this class for no particular reason other than process of elimination with the other options I had available. That being said, I do hope to further improve my understanding and respark my immersion with literature.      My earliest memory of actively choosing and reading books independently was from the second or third grade. There was something called the One Hundred Book Challenge where every kid in my school would have a log of every book they finished and once you passed a certain amount verified by the teacher you would get a new folder. Each folder had a different primary color, and the following next folder always had a more popular color. Once you get past one hundred books, you would get   an all black folder with a ring of fire around the log...