Experience at public meeting

The “public meeting” that I have attended was a city council meeting in Oakland California. It was at the Oakland City Hall with members from the committee such as Patricia Kernighan from district 2, Nancy Nadel from district 3, Vice Mayor Ignacio De La Fuente from district 5, chairperson Jean Quan from district 4 and four more other person that I did not catch their name. These are all people from the city council in the city of Oakland. This meeting was about Finance and Management of Oakland where there was maybe about 30 to 40 or less then that in the audience at the hearing. Mostly it was older people in the audience from the budget office, the public works agency, the finance and management agency, the department of the human resource management , and from the Oakland police department. Myself and another person was the only college student in the audience which was interesting to see because I would expect to see more college student. A lot of the attendee were dress professionally in business suit and was well presented.

From this meeting they talked about 10 items that was previously discussed.. Out of the 10 items that was talked about at the meeting I thought was interesting was about the budget for the fiscal year from 2009 to 2011 about whether taxes on property and gas would increase for the next coming up years. The next item was about parking garage in the Oakland down town around where there are a couple of garages that are either empty, has a lot of over night parked car, and or space that are reserve. For this item they talked about it was interesting to see that questions was put out on the table about whether those parking space was suppose to be on reserve or free parking for the employees that works for the city council. I was surprise to see a committee member ask the person that was presenting the topic what is free? Just like what was taught in class.

After each item is presented in front of the committee member they listen to what was said then they say what they have to say about it. Before moving on to the next topic they asked for who motion or second the proposal. I thought that it was well organize and interesting, but at the same time I kind of thought that it was boring because there was just a lot of talking and a lot of going back and forth. The whole meeting was about an hour or so long. I thought that it was rude that the committee member just get up and walk off from their seat to leave and refresh their self while people are presenting their proposal. Also one of them pick up their phone and started talking which was not nice, but I guess that it is a normal thing for them and from their perspective it not rude when they do those thing while the meeting is in session.

Overall, the governance for the meeting was good. I would attend another meeting like this if it was not a class assignment. This meeting would apply to me and many other people because it can effect us if we try to find parking in the downtown Oakland City Hall area because it is already difficult finding a space to park. Also if they do decide to increase taxes it would effect home owner and many people who owns vehicle if gas taxes increase. This was a good public meeting even though there was not a lot of turn out.

inspiring

In my past English class I learned about a well know hip pop icon Tupac Shakur. I also learn about how he was living his life. Many people are touch by this artist from the way he presence his work such as songs, poetry and stories of his life. During his life time he was a smart, strong, and brave young person who did not let anything get in his way of surviving. He was killed during a drive by shooting in his late twenties, but during his early life he was the best rap artist selling a lot of record and he was also an activist following his mother footstep. A lot of his works has been taught in school after his death because many have notice that there was an intelligent person who does a lot of goods that other should know about. His songs and poem are sad and people can relate to them because the way Tupac expresses how he felt is touching. It come from his heart and his learning experience while growing up. In his songs and poem he expresses how he felt growing up in an environment with poverty, racism, hardship in the ghetto, and problems that he see happening in the society. He has a mother that he loves and cares about a lot, but she was always in and out of his life due to being a member of the Black Panther Party known as Afeni Shakur. As for his father he was never in his life because when Tupac was born his father abandon his mother and him.

After learning about this pop icon I can really respect and see how much people really relate or respect music artist so much. He wasn’t just a music artist, but a person who wanted to make a change in young people life. He inspire many to open their heart and minds to explore the world and enjoy lives.

Me......

My name is Cynthia Phan. I am 20 years old and always get mistaken for a Chinese girl because apparently all people say Asian are Chinese and that I look like I’m Chinese. I am Mien, a hill tribe that is from Laos and Thailand. My parents are from Laos, I was born here in Oakland, California on January 6, 1990. I lived here in Oakland for all my life with both of my parents, siblings, and relatives all around the bay. I have a very big family where I am the youngest of seven children, four brothers and two sisters. I am very close to my family. Being the youngest of the family meant that I was spoil and get what I want, but that was not the case I would always have to help my parents with translation, filling out forms, and more. In a way they depended on me to help them, but I depend on them the most to provide for me to be where I am today. I have graduated from Oakland Senior high school in the school of 2008 and attended University of California for a year, but now I am here at College of Alameda. I’m proud of myself for getting this far and I know that my parents are too.
As I was growing up I wasn’t always the smart or perfect daughter, sister or student because I’m from a low income family where I have to share things with my older siblings and cousins because I was not privilege like other families that are high class or middle class that gets what they want. I have always had work my hardest on everything to be successful and get a higher education so that I would not have to struggle as much as while I was growing up. Many of my family members including myself had gone through some kind of hardship to get to where we are now. I grew up not getting help from my parents on school assignments or anything else that involves English. Both of my parents weren’t as lucky as I was because back in the days they had to do farm work to survive and get through life making it harder for them to be educated. Even though, they weren’t educated, but they are still very supportive and is always there for me and my siblings.

Ladies' reader

I read a book called, The Ladies’ Room Reader. The Ultimate Women’s Trivia Book. This book is written by Alicia Alvrez and published by the MJF Books Fine Communications in New York. This book is well organize and interesting. It has a table of content in the first or second page follow by with a little short introduction of the world of women, then the first chapter continues. I really like the story a lot because it talks about different things that women does. Like things that entertains women, getting mulled at, facts on women, and feminine food that women would want to have. I just thought that this book is fun to read because you get to learn and hear different things from another person point of view, beside people that’s around you.

The ladies reader book would be read by people like teens and people in their early twenty to late or early thirty or maybe even men who want to learn more about women. I think that not many younger elementary student would read it because they would be young to understand what it is about. Its easier and not hard to understand the reading when you’re older reading the book. You could also somehow relates to the story when you come upon a comment or statement in the story. It is funny because of the things that are said in the book. The book also has pictures of the high hills, make-ups, purses hearts, numbers, birds, and etc. I like how it has these different picture to go along with the writing on each page.

I thought that there are a lot of statement in the story that I like. Such as, “American women spend over 5 billion a year on cosmetics and beauty supplies.” I wonder if this is really true. I think that I don’t use this much money on my beauty supplies. I think that this is funny, when designer Edith Head won the Best Costume Oscar for Roman Holiday, she said, “ I’m going to take it home and design a dress for it.” who would actually make a dress for their Oscar. I never thought of this comment before. I would like to see someone design a dress for their Oscar. Another thing that I like is this where it said that money makes the world go round. The U.S. News and World Reported tells us that women slightly outnumber men(50.4 to 49.6) in millionaire status. It’s not only because of our increased earning power, but also because we live longer than men, we end up inheriting their wealth too. These are a few that I like when I read the book.

Here are a few facts that I also like. In Little rock, men and women are prohibited from flirting on the street. The fine, if caught, is 30 days in the clink. I think that it is stupid, crazy, and dumb because it sounds really strict. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book because it was funny, had stupid facts, and other interesting information.

Self-defining Incident

As I was growing up I remember always being the quiet, shy person. When I was in elementary my teachers would say, “Why are you so quiet and shy.” I don’t know why, but I wouldn’t respond to them because I was probably too scared and of course shy around people. Whenever I received my report card from my teachers I would always look in the comment section. On that space it was written “Participate more in class, stop being shy, and speak up.” I would see this on every single report card that I get. My parents also noticed that and they would always try and lecture me about it. Especially my dad, he would tell me to try my best, stop being shy, and speak up. If you don’t then you are not going to get what you want in life because no one would know if you need help or not. I took that into consideration because if I’m too quiet and shy, no one would know if I need any help.

Everyone that knew me would also say the same thing. They would say that I’m too quiet and shy. I was getting tired of hearing the same thing over and over again from different people. I probably heard that more then a million time or so now. Even though I hear that a lot and want to stop being that way, but I just can’t because I was born with that trait of being quiet and shy. The friends that I knew and went to school with back in elementary was kind of like me, but I notice that now, they are very different from before and changed a lot.

Throughout elementary and middle school, I continued being shy and quiet, I don’t know why. People would recognize me as the girl that’s quiet and shy. They labeled me as that. I didn’t really care because that’s the way that I am. I can’t just wake up one morning and say, “ Oh I am going to stop being shy and quite.” it takes time and I can’t do anything about it. Its in my genes. I just let them recognize me as that person because that’s who I am.

Whenever I am around my cousins, aunts, and uncles they would say the same thing. I remember always hearing that I am like my daddy from my aunts. They said that I got my personality from my dad because he is also the type that’s quiet and sometimes shy. Unlike my mom, who always has something to say on everything that happens and who is very loud. She likes to yell and raise her voice. It seems like that or she was just the type that has a loud voice. They would say that they like who I am and the way I am because I ’m not all wild or acting crazy. My aunt would give me a lecture when I see her about being too shy or quiet and not responding to someone when they’re talking to you. I do respond, but I have a low soft voice, that’s what I think, but people seem to say that I am ignoring them. My aunt would say, “ People don’t like it when you don’t respond and they going to think that you’re all that, can’t even speak to them.” Although I am quiet and shy I have a soft low voice and people just don’t hear me when I speak to them, but I’m not ignoring anyone. I want to say something back to her but I know that if I do then she is going to understand me, but still get upset about it. She seem to think that I don’t like her and always trying to ignore her.

changes

Lauren Whitehead is a poet who write many poem and had try to help children from failing into a trouble life. She is a directed or a counselor at a group call youth speaks. This program or group help young children with expressing their self in writing on either paper or speaking out in a large crowd of people. There are many students in the program who are from different background that had went through or faces some kind of problem while growing up. Writing poem help many people express their feeling and thoughts. It also help with people being more open to things that they come across to.
I agree that poetry does save many lives because I know that a lot of people expresses the way they feel by writing their thoughts and ideas down on paper instead of telling someone face to face. For example, in the video that we saw in class there was many poetry spoken word youths team being form because it help many of the young youth living in good or bad environment speak up and make a change in their life. They get to express how they feel towards something, tell about incidents that occur in their life, or just anything that they want to out of their chest.
An example from Brave New Voices was seeing youth that has disability being proud and excited about trying to make it in a team competing with other youths around the world. They are learning new thing through poetry, making changes within their self, and reflecting on their life. Many people are super passionate about spoken word poetry.
Poetry keep the youth out of trouble and I guess that writing poem is a way for many people to relax, cool off when they are angry, clear their head, and make them feel happier or better.

respose to poem

In Tupac Shakur’s poem “If I Fail” he writes about how people should make plans or set goals and not become discouraged if “[They] stumble or crumble,” because we can do anything that we set our minds to (Rose 27). His poem is an encouraging and motivating poem that I think that a lot of people can relate to because he talks about how there are times that people will encounter some kind of hardship while trying to achieve his or her goals. I feel that it is important to know what my goals are, what my plans are, and what steps I’m going to take to achieve my goals. I can relate to this poem in particularly because there are times where I feel like I fail at chasing my goals or dreams going through hardships and not being guide to achieve my goals. There are many experience that I have encounter trying to achieve. Tupac poems allow people see that there are possibility to trying to achieve goals living in poverty with no guidance.

An experience that I have encounter trying to achieve my goal was during my first year in college at University of California Davis. I was the first to attend college in my family and I was trying to make my parents, my siblings and myself proud, but I feel like I have fail at achieving this goal because I am no longer pursuing my education there. I lived in the dorms with random girls that was assign to the suite and had a great experience throughout the whole year, but my performance in class was not paying off. I did not get good grades in some of my classes where I was expecting to get passing grade because I had made the wrong decision by not studying enough and traveling back and forth from Davis to Oakland where my parents and family lived. Like in the poem I was out in a new environment with no one close to me to guide and I had to just listen to what my insider voice was telling me. I’m learning form the mistakes that have made and making changes to trying to achieve the rest of my goals.

Making plans and setting goals in life will lead me to a better future and good times in life trying to achieve my goals. Something that I will take away from this poem is being passionate about chasing and achieving my goals even if there is hardship along the way. If Tupac was able to achieve his goals then I would be able to as well because he has fallen many times and was able to put himself back at the top at try his hardest at achieving his goals. This poem is a really good from the heart poem that myself and other and learn from.