Internship readiness

Qualities of someone who is internship ready is professional, an enjoyable person to be around, friend, inquisitive, hard-working, intellectual, and quick learner. I plan to show that I am internship ready by acting more professional, as well as speaking more professional. I plan to receive positive feedback from my progression and strive for perfection. I will continue to work hard in my studies and work on my time management skills. I also plan to keep up with technology, so that I am not left in the dust. I plan to start following through with writing down my homework, also never being late to class or missing a day of class. I plan to expand my technology vocabulary as well as become more current on tech topics. The only change I can think of is my professional grammar.

The best and worst

My best job that I ever had, had to be coaching. I loved working with the kids that I had. The parents that I worked with, loved me coaching their kids because I was fair, helpful to the kids growth, and also very knowledgeable about the game of basketball. Another thing I loved about coaching is that I had free time to do other things throughout the day. I would coach 2 hours for my team and then help out the Jv and Varsity basketball teams as well. Some of the responsibilities that I had were to develop the kids to get them varsity ready, make sure the kids made grades to play on the basketball team, and make sure they were growing as individuals into responsible young men. Lessons I learned through coaching were that I can teach when I am passionate about something, I am definitely someone who loves winning, and I'm very competitive. Things I learned about the workplace is that we needed a new gym, and our supervisor was very open to our strategy as long as it coincide with what he wanted to achieve.

The worst job I had was working for a trucking company. I didn't know anything about trucking and it was a brand new experience for me. What I learned about the work place is that it's very face pace and needed to know a little about the job. One thing I learned about myself is that I can't really work as a truck dispatcher because of the fact I don't really know trucking. My job was making sure all trucks were in the correct place as well as scheduling pick up and drop off.

Wrongly accused Afghan lady

This is about the Afghan woman who was raped. She was 21 years old and sentenced to jail for 12 years but was reduced to three years. She was sent to jail for not confessing sooner and also for committing adultery. She also now has a baby by the man she claims raped her. Because she was accused of adultery she is also going to have marry her rapist in order to get out of jail. At the same time the rapist is saying that it was consensual and that this was not the first time it happened. (http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/23/world/meast/afghan-rape-victim/index.html?hpt=hp_c3)

I feel that the law of adultery in Afghanistan is a wrong. If she was raped then it was out of her control for adultery. When a woman is raped by a man, he is forceful as well as violent. More than likely he is stronger than her and she can not defend herself. I believe that she did not deserve to be in jail and even after being sentence to jail, her sentence was unjustly increased to 12 years. Also I feel it is wrong that they are leaving her baby in jail with her instead of sending the baby home to her family. I don't think that it was consensual but rather doesn't want people to consider him a rapist.

My brother from another mother

Who or what inspires me is my business partner and my mentor. When we first met he pulled up to where I was working with a super nice Hummer H3. So I asked him "how did he get the material things he had?" So from that day we have been super close. He shows me how to stack money, but doing it the right way. Always paying you first, recycle things you have and not owing people money. What I mean by that, for example, is if you have an iPhone 3gs and you want the iPhone 4s sell the 3gs first. He also has showed me how to start my own business. I hold him my goals and he has been helping me achieve them ever since. One of my goals is to save up double of the money he had at 30 years of age. With the way I am saving I should be able to double my own goal.

Community: ___________________________________________________________


To begin visualizing this group of people as a particular shape with particular functions and characteristics, Pre-write about this community. If you get stuck or aren’t sure what to write, answer some of the questions below and see where they take you:

· Who are the members of the community? How do they interact? What is central to their membership? Do members choose to be a part of this community or are they members because of other reasons (geography, ethnicity, religion, etc.)

· What are the community’s characteristics? Its benefits? Its disadvantages? Its successes? Its problems?

· What do you enjoy about the community? What do you dislike about it?

The community I belong to is a basketball team called the rebels. There is 7 of us who make up this community. We all have been playing basketball since freshmen year in high school. Now we run a summer league team out of Manteca, CA. Everyone chose to be part of this team since we formed it together. The only thing asked is to practice when we can during the off seasons. The characteristics are different among all of us due to the fact that we all contribute in different ways. For instance I have my jumping ability and my mid-range jumper. I am a great rebounder and having the ability to use my body well. The benefits is that it keeps all of us together even after graduation. The disadvantages is gas since I don't live out there anymore. All and all number one requirement is to love the game of basketball

Done with one, on to the next!

What are some of the things you learned about yourself as a student or a professional in Module I? Did you surprise yourself in any way? Were you proud of yourself? Were you at all disappointed in yourself? Why?

In the first module I learned that I am a excellent student when I put my mind to it. I am going to receive my first college "A" in a actual college class. In the first section I only missed one homework assignment out of both my tech class as well as business communication class. I was also proud of myself to be able to wake up everyday with a smile on my face and dress up in business attire. I am also proud that I don't need to use my phone every second of the day like it is attached to my hand. Any time I needed help I would check in with my instructor or if I had questions about my grade so I always knew where I would stand. I am proud of the work and effort I put into my PowerPoint final. Putting together sound and pictures and text really made or great. I really did have fun making a presentation about my life in Year Up. I also stayed focus throughout the first semester in order to get my hard earned A. Some things I need to work on is never getting a infraction for homework. I went 7 weeks almost before getting my first infraction. I also need to work on my timing as far as when and where I talk. I need to become more professional at all times. I have a lot to work on but I am up for the challenge.

Make Me Like Damian

To what extent does a person’s neighborhood shape who she or he is?

Write a post on your blog-in which you talk about your surroundings and how this environment has affected you as a person:
Briefly describe your neighborhood.
Which statement best fits you and why?
I am who I am because of the neighborhood I live(d) in.
I am who I am despite the neighborhood I live(d) in.

I am who I am because of the neighborhood I lived in. I grew up in a city that back then wasn't bad at all. When I moved out of that city to the suburbs, it was a whole new feeling compared to the city. There was mostly whites and Latinos in the suburbs I moved to. But the schooling was great, which is why I make that statement of I am who I am because of the neighborhood I lived in. There wasn't a lot of violence in Manteca. The type of housing I lived in was spacious homes in a very quiet community. The loudest things or people were the kids at the park playing or maybe it was the thunderstorms. But I definitely will say I am who I am because of the community I lived in.The community that is Manteca, was all about cleanliness and keeping up with the look of the city. My school had a clean campus reward, which I think throughout my high school career only got maybe once, but it was when the campus was clean enough to get an extension on our bunches. Back to the neighborhoods, each community had a park. Some parks better than other, like some had basketball courts and some have playgrounds and some have huge grass areas for soccer games and football games. As far as the weather, Manteca has some crazy weather. During the summer it gets up to 100 degrees and during the winter it can get so foggy to the point you cant see anything in front of you. I still remember after a basketball game I had to get a ride to my car from one of my teammates because of the fact the parking lot had flooded. There isn't much to do in Manteca, so what everyone focused on was sports. Kids went to school sporting events and so did the parents. The focus was to make everything a family environment since that's what Manteca was. More times than not your next door neighbor was a family.

Read A Contract!

There are many people who are in poverty and are exploited by businesses who want to make a quick dollar. Businesses charge the poor higher tax rates on loans because of the fact that the profit on taxes alone would build capital faster than the rich paying off the loan.

“Federal Reserve data show that in relative terms, that debt is getting more expensive.  In 1989 households earning $30,000 or less a year paid an average annual interest rate on auto loans that was 16.8% higher than households earning more than $90,000 a year paid.”

Do you think that the fault of these interest rates and debts of poor people or the companies providing the services to the people?

I believe that it is the peoples fault because instead of the people reading the contract before they sign things they decide to listen to a salesman words. Of course they are going to tell you what you want to hear because salesmen get a commission of what they sale you. If they can’t read the contract then they should pay in full or just not get it at all. Companies stay on the poor side because they know that the poor won’t be able to pay in full for any expensive loans. So to capitalize on the market, they go to the poor areas giving loans to all of them just because they know they get residual income. Over the course of 5 years a company would make more money with a person taking out a loan than a person who pays off the item right then. Companies should be more benevolent because then they will get business from both sides of the opportunity divide, both the poor and the rich will benefit from companies being of goodwill. If profit margin is a problem for companies they should think of both rich and poor in my book.

The Life of A "Baller"

The definition of a "baller" is a successful person. I am Damian and I am 21 years old. I was born to a mother named Sharon. I come from a big family that I know very little about. I believe that I have a total of 13 or 14 brothers and sisters combined. I grew up with one of my brothers named Darren who is 18 years of age. We usually don't get along because of the fact that we think so much differently. My family mostly comes from the south, Arkansas to be exact. My mom still has that southern hospitality in her at times. I was born in Oakland, CA and moved to Hayward, CA at a very young age. My mom was offered a job in Atlanta, GA and so we moved there. I graduated high school in Manteca, CA at a school called Sierra High School. My hobbies in high school and still today are basketball, both playing and watching, computers, both being on the computer as well as fixing and building them, and also coaching basketball. I have coached ages 8-17 year old kids. I played basketball since I was 6 years old. I also played CYO basketball which is Catholic Youth Organization basketball. My future goals are running my own business, an airliner to be exact. Also I plan on having my own property management company. I also plan on starting my own AAU (amateur athletics union) basketball team to give back to the community I came from. I am also going to continue to get my bachelors and soon my master's degree.

High School Memories

The high school I went to was Sierra high school in Manteca California. The high school itself would be considered in the country of California due to all of the farms and cows in the area. There was actually cows right across the street from the school. Sierra high's education system was great. It is very intolerable toward bad grades as well as bad behavior. You do have to bring your A game when it came to education. The administration office is very supportive. They are all very laid back until you get in trouble that first time. For me I had it good because all the administrators loved me. As far as the atmosphere, the campus is always clean as well as the green trees and the flowers around the school. The school gets pretty descent books and computers. The students however were good and bad. We had some trying to claim gangs but usually they don't last long due to the tolerance level of the administrative department being at zero. But the ones that were great students were always acknowledge for that fact.

Damian's Tongue

I was raised by my mother as a single parent along with my brother. She is from Parkin, Arkansas so she definitely has that southern accent some times. Now she speaks as if she was born and raised in California. She would definitely be my biggest influence on how I speak. She says exactly what’s on her mind but knows when to hold her tongue. She talks informal when she is with friends, but when she is in a business setting, then she knows how to sound proper. My second influence would be television. I watched a lot of television growing up, at least when I wasn't playing basketball or going to school. So watching a lot of television definitely influenced how I speak. I am pretty good at code switching which is where you switch how you present yourself for the situation at hand, but my third influence would have to be my teachers. The way they make us pronounce our words and the way the teachers teach you to spell your words and read what’s on the page and not what you think it is. There is a difference between professional speech and informal speaking. I would definitely have to say my biggest influence is my mother.