Group presentation on bullying

When people say or feel like they are a victim of bullying I can relate to them. Being bullied is not fun to experience and with bullying becoming a major issue across the world makes the thought of it even worse. I never thought in my entire life that bullying would start to kill people. Sure bullies would make you cry or make you feel uncomfortable when in your presence but not kill.
This group’s presentation went into details on how bullying starts, the various styles, and the effects. Also, they briefly stated the how’s and why’s of bullying. I truly do not see why someone would want bully another human being. It’s just not logical to me. Don’t all kids learn at a young age to treat others the way they would want to be treated? From what the statistics show I guess not. Did you know that 38% of the parents in the United States bully their own children? That is just disgusting and they know they are living life mighty foul! Why would you abuse your own blood ones? That is just so sad to me and messed up part about it is that 7 times out of 10 they learn the bullying at home.
Bullies never fazed me until the 5th grade. Shondra Cummings used to bully me every day after our first class change. It never was as serious as the foolishness going on today but, she bullied me because my hair was prettier than hers and I was too “uppity” for her. How is a 9 or 10 year old uppity? Well, back then I never wanted to find out and the day she got kicked out of our school was the happiest day of my life.

A true Self Evaluation

I feel like I’ve taken five steps back instead of 10 steps forward. This semester has really been all over the place for me. A freshman off campus their very first time in college is definitley not a good idea. I wish we would have reconsidered my living conditions. The living off campus is a down fall but besides that I know that since I’ve left the nest of Atlanta, Georgia I’ve become a new individual. I’ve grown in ways that I never knew can grow. The biggest and hardest one I accomplished was responsibility. Responsibility and I are like oil and water. I have always had a problem with it, blaming any and everything but myself. When I came to Howard I knew that everything I was about to get myself into were going to be because of my choices. Everything that has happen this semester is because of me. Whether it’s not making a deadline, not going to class, or forgetting to do a homework assignment is 100% my fault. There’s no one to blame and I’m an only child so I never even had the comfort of possibly blaming a sibling. You would think I would’ve learned this early on in life by default but, after years of my perfect excuses they’ve always pulled through. Well now there aren’t any excuses. No more lies or “What had happened was” situations. So to self evaluate myself I would give myself a below average because there’s no way I gave my full potential in the class. The difference between me and thousands of people in this world is that I can’t lie to myself, sit back and convince myself that when I’m wrong I’m right. I know when I’m dead wrong and I’ve learned to accept it. Real is real and it gets no realer than that.

Self-Evaluation

I feel that I have grown tremendously since the beginning of this semester. My first year of college is not over, but I feel more mature than when I first got here. Freshman Seminar was easy in the beginning, but when it came to group projects I was worried because my group was not put together yet. Once my group was put together we had the task of getting our schedules lined up so we could meet and talk bout our project. We ended up having a really good group presentation. We talked bout how black America views Hip Hop. I never really thought about Hip Hop until our project. We, as a group, knew a lot about Hip Hop. This class has taught me how to work well with others even if I do not know them. I have also learned how to do a real research project. No doubt I will have to utilize this skill very soon in my upcoming years of college. I look forward to being a great student. This class has also taught me many things I did not know about my African Heritage. I never realized how historically oriented Howard University was until I stepped foot in Freshman Seminar. I'm actually kind of happy that this is a mandatory course. I learned a much needed skill from this class. I hope to get Dr. Carr as one of my professors soon because of his enthusiasm as it relates to the history of Africans and African Americans.

 

By Christiana Flood

Group Presentation 2

This presentation was on obesity. A lot of people in America suffer from obesity. I see children that are 6 and 7 years of age and they are headed towards path of destruction. The parents do not want to tell their children no when they ask for more food because they might throw a fit. If they really loved their child they would be less concerned about temper tantrums and worry more about their physical health. Many parents do not realize that if they let their child get morbidly obese it will lead to low self-esteem, binge eating, depression, and many more things. They so focused on keeping the child happy for the moment that they do not think about what will happen to their happiness when they are being made fun of at school or when no one asks the on a date. Why settle for temporary happiness when you can be healthy and happy for the rest of their lives. Obesity leads to having to take many medications to help with hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart problems. Those are not all of the health problems they can face, but I have witnessed people go through these things. I really do not want to have to deal with health problems. I like being able to eat what I want in moderation. America's young people are facing short life-spans if we do not do something to drastically change the outcome. We can just start by eating healthy and exercising regularly. If we encourage one another to take these two stpes we will make progress gradually.

 

By Christiana Flood

Group Presentation 1

This presentation was on bullying. There are different types of bullying such as physical bullying, cyber bullying, or ostracizing. Males are more than likely prone to physical bullying. Males are considered to be more aggressive than females. Females are more prone to cyber bullying. Physical bullying consists of being punched, kicked, pushed, and other physical harm. Cyber bullying is done on Facebook, Myspace, and cell phones. I can say that I have never been bullied in my lifetime. I'm very thankful for that. However, I know that there have been instances where young people have committed suicide because of the humiliation and shame of be bullied. There have also been instances where the victims of bullying have killed their tormentors because they hated them so much. People usually bully other people because they have no control over what happens to them at home. A person that may be a bully at school may be getting abused or pushed around by their parents or siblings. Most bullies have issues with their self-esteem. They want to feel good about themselves so they make someone else feel badly about their physical appearance, clothes, or disabilities. A bully will never choose someone that is bigger than them because they are intimidated by that person's appearance and physical strength. Females are more likely to pick on average-looking girls and girls that are prettier than them. They want to be seen as pretty so they ruin the other girl's reputation and tend to spread rumors that portray the girl as a "whore". This way all the guys will want nothing to do with her. There was an instance where one girl had to transfer because she had no friends and was getting attacked daily. Hopefully, America will be able to gradually bring a stop to bullying in all forms.

 

By Christiana Flood

Research and Methodology: Inscription as a Liberating Practice

I can honestly say I can relate to this lecture. I know what it feels like to do good research and get good grade for it. Doing research is not just for a grade though. You can do it just to educate yourself on a few things. I can say that when I have heard a person's name that I do not recognize I write it down so I can look it up later. When you take it upon yourself to do a little research you will be surprised at what you find. You will learn some things you did not know. Freshman Seminar actually encourages that we as young people do more research. I realize that all of the lecturers had to do an element of research to get ready to speak to us in class. I did not realize that there were steps and stages of a research project until Freshman Seminar. There are methods of researching. You can use the library, the internet, or even people to research a certain subject. Your research question cannot be too broad because then you will have trouble bringing a certain point to the forefront. You have to narrow it down to negative or positive, a certain age group, or a certain nationality. Freshman seminar also challenges us as young African Americans to research our history. We cannot be uninformed when it comes to our history or we will be taken advantage of. I as an individual choose to know where I came from. If you do not know where you are from you cannot possibly have a clue about where you are going.

 

 

By Christiana Flood

The Power of Young People

Dr Pollard brought an element of humor to his lecture which brightened my day somewhat. His lecture was on Civil Rights, Hip Hop, and Hope. He pointed out that it was not just older people doing the sit-ins and other demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement. It was actually a group of college students that did the first sit-in. I was surprised because I did not know that. I do not know why I never really connected young people to the Civil Rights Movement. I think it was mostly because I was only taught about the elders and adults contribution to the movement. He also spoke about Hip Hop. Hip Hop was a form of expression for the African American community. Hip Hop is not just a genre of music. Hip Hop is a whole style. Hip Hop is a style of dance, a genre of music, and a style of dress. Honestly, Hip Hop has become a community that includes many different nationalities and ethnicities. However, we must not forget that it originated from the African American race. This generation's version of Hip Hop is distorted and watered down. You have more ignorant and materialistic rappers in this generation. Artists such as Common, The Roots, India Arie, and Lauren Hill are a rarity. Most lyrics in songs today are vulgar, demeaning, and explicit. However, there are rappers such as K'naan, Kanye West, and Talib Kweli that speak more about what is going on in the world's systems. They are trying to bring the truth to us in a more appealing way. I really believe that this generation can come up from the dust, shake ourselves off, and prove all the people that doubted us wrong.

 

By Christiana Flood