In the U. S the issue of racism is still present. Though not as prominent and rampant as it once was it is still ever present on some aspects of everyday life. Cases can be found across the U.S, though more hidden as a result of time, even in some cases as a airport. For example me and my friend, both Hispanic, went to LAX to catch a flight to Reno to come to campus and were stopped by the TSA. We had both gone through security and were about to pick up our things from the box when they stopped us. Now keep in mind my friend was a lot darker than I and when they stopped us they specifically questioned him and all but left me alone. They asked him questioned after question, most of which were redundant, like what are you doing, why are you here, what are you doing with that, and finally where are you going. After interrogating him they  looked at me and said your fine you can go, even though we made it clear they were together they got mad at me when I protested to leave my friend. After which they subjected him to a search and finally cleared him to go. When then noticed this happen to every so people or so of the same profiling. Though this is just my case this isn’t to say every single TSA agent is like this, its just the ones we encountered and many small and sporadic cases like this can found across the U.S. Though it is an improvement to the rampant cases we had in the past and tie into American history it is still ever present in parts of the government, agencies that are supposed to be free of it, and even everyday people whether they are quiet about it or not it is still present. Some opponents to this idea that racism is still an issue in America claim that racism isn’t an major issue because of how small and less rampant it is. They say that minorities have their rights given to them by the government and that’s that. But what they tend to do there is confuse Civil Liberties and Civil Rights. Civil Liberties can be defined as the things granted to us by the constitution like the Bill of Rights, things like freedom of religion, speech and right to bear arms being the most infamous.It is Civil Liberties that we have achieved in society. But Civil Rights being defined as “The rights of citizens to be free of unequal or discriminatory treatment on the basis of race, gender, or membership in a particular demographic group” and it is under this aspect where America tends to fall short. We have achieved Civil Liberties and that is not a major concern, but we lack in Civil Rights as racism can still be found amongst people and government agencies like the TSA and government alike whether it be local, state, of even federal.

 

 

 

For today’s post I will being writing about a Rube Goldberg Machine that I found on youtube under the title of “Red Ball Adventure”, a link to the video will be found below at the end of the post. For this Rube Goldberg machine we are greeted with a peg board filled with screws, and resting on these screws are three pieces of wood inclined downward and have a groove cut in the middle to keep the red marble in place. The first piece of wood is completely flat and hold the red marble. A small plastic hand pushes it forward and the marble begins its journey. As it goes down each of the alternating ramps it encounters screws staggered downwards like steps. The red marble rolls down these steps and onto a new continues downward ramp.

Once on the ramp it hits a pencil and is stopped by a screw hanging from a wire. The pencil sets of a grey marble above the red one, which sets off a chain reaction of the same kind until after about a foot above the red ball a grey ball falls into a bucket that is part of a pulley system that moves the hanging screw out of the way and the red marble continues on. From here the red marble rolls down the ramp and uses its momentum and energy to hit a silver marble. Which the silver marble uses to pull up the red marble to a second higher ramp by pulling down a piece of track.

Here the red marble encounters the same problem of being stopped, but this time by a pixie stick. When it hits this stick a small silver marble is released and falls into another basket pulley system lifting the stick and allowing passage to the marble. Once passed this the marble uses its new downward momentum to hit a hammer that launches it up a ramp which causes a silver marble to break free and allows this silver marble to open the next gate for the red marble through a trip plate system.

This time the red marble hits a green marble and stops which frees a blue marble that frees the red marble so it can continue. Up next the red marble continues it journey downward and falls into a basket, attached to a weight, which allows an orange marble to roll down a ramp and push a weight over the edge of this ramp. This causes the red marble to sling shot up the ramp to another level. After this the red marble enters into a Ferris wheel looking structure, as it goes around it frees a blue marble which causes a chain reaction until one falls into the Ferris wheel freeing the red marble. From here the marble enters another basket delicate attached to a spring and frees the basket. This causes the stored energy in the spring to release and launch the red marble up and into a pulley system that opens another gate letting it down the course.

Now the marble is shot into a plinko game when it falls into a spring launcher that is set off by a blue marble it hits. This cause and effect system continues to propel the red marble forward until it reaches a finish line for another two minutes.

Zombies, Robots, Automatons, and Androids. What do they all have in common and what makes them all so different. Well there are many things that separate them so let’s start with the opposites. First of all we’ll start with the definitions.

Zombies are defined as one of two things when talking about people. The first being “a corpse said to be revived by witchcraft, especially in certain African and Caribbean religions.” The image of this type of zombie is no the popular culture one everyone is used to. These types of zombies don’t crave human flesh, they are brought back to do one thing and that is to serve. They aren’t normally depicted with grotesque amounts of blood and guts, but rather more intact and human looking. The second definition of zombies is “a person or reanimated corpse that has been turned into a creature capable of movement but not of rational thought, which feeds on human flesh.” This is the modern zombie that we are all used to. The one that we see in horror or survival movies, dramas, and shows. They can range depending on the fictional universe from super fast to slow or somewhere in between. To a fast conversion to a slow one, from man made to mystery of nature.

Next is robots, which is something I think we are all familiar with. The first definition we are covering is “a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer.” This refers to the robot you are most likely used to seeing. The types that put cars together or work in factories with little to no human supervision. Only being checked up on when maintenance is required. The next definition comes from science fiction and popular culture which is “a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and functions automatically.” When thinking of this think of Wall-E. A robot that somewhat resembles humans with eyes and eyebrows, arms, a body, but not completely and Wall-E cannot perform all the same functions as a human. Or think of a Droid from star wars, the ones you see in the prequels. They resemble humans but can’t do all the things humans do.

Now we will discuss Automatons. Automatons are described as “a moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being” with the second being “a machine that performs a function according to a predetermined set of coded instructions, especially one capable of a range of programmed responses to different circumstances.” Now this and the first definition of robot have a lot in common. They both don’t have to resemble humans and perform tasks we want  them to. Yet when it comes to automatons not all robots are automatons but all automatons are robots to put it shortly. Meaning automatons are a subsection of robots.

Finally we have Android which can be described as “a robot with a human appearance.” Just like automatons, androids are a subsection of robots. They are the ones that are the most human like in appearance and can do most functions a human can do. For example in the alien movies there are androids that look near identical to humans, yet they can’t do everything thing a human can do to restrictions and depending on the model are a bit more stiff in their movements. Another good example would be the terminator.

But what do these all have in common? They all seem very different from one another in what their capable of and what they can do and zombies don’t even come close to the electric circuitry of the other three subjects discussed. Well all four of these can be related back to humans. They can be used to show how we can be less human, how we can work or do something without thinking. Doing what we are told and not making up our own minds. As all of these things work without any critical thought or self awareness. This is what they all have in common, fitting that they all relate to us as they all came from our thoughts and ideas.

 

One of my favorite types of genres and types of shows and films to watch is futuristic sci-fi. One of the things that I really enjoy about this genre is the future technology and the freedom that comes with writing these types of shows. For example you could be in sprawling successful civilization or a stagnant one. Or you could be exploring the frontiers of space in a future sort of wild west, and the level of technology can vary greatly or be not so different. As well as main characters using “older” yet classic things as well, like swords for example. The possibilities are endless as we don’t know what the future holds laying in wait and secret. So for today’s post I thought I would pull from different sci-fi themed plots like The 100, Fall of Reach, The Expanse and Altered Carbon. I will be diving into the types and classifications of people that I think are present and reoccurring in this type of genre who aren’t really real and true to the depictions of everyday people.

For starters we have the gifted engineer which is almost always present in this type of genre and I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. The one who you could through any problem at, know matter how difficult or labor intensive, and they have an answer to it almost right away with no help. Albeit they don’t solve it write way all the time but they do get the job done eventually with little to no help at all Being able to solve problems that would take an entire teams and different levels of expertise to solve all by themselves.

Next we the charismatic leader the one who is able to convince entire groups of people to their side and do whatever they tell them with again little to know problem or resistance whatsoever. They can e the good or bad guys and everyone, on their respected side loves and follows then and their lead. Very few times do people question them or challenge them and it usually takes them to mess up really bad before they power is questioned by the larger group as a whole. Like no one thought ahead of time or questioned that really bad call earlier, and just decide to blindly follow the until they get someone killed or completely ruin things for the group beyond repair.

Finally the last one I’m going to write about is the chemist or doctor of the group depending on the character or story. They seem to know exactly what to do and how to whip up some concoction to help heal somebody who got wounded and know all the medically equipment or procedures. This is usually because their mother was in the field of medicine and they “helped around” giving them an seemingly automatic degree in medicine allowing them to know what to do for every situation. It is either this or the person is the opposite yet the same conjuring up thing of destruction to help the group push forward past some obstacle in their way so they can reach their goal.

 

 

My childhood and early experiences differ drastically to that of my counterpart, with my counterpart being my girlfriend Drew Christensen. For starters the areas we ended growing up in are vastly different. I grew up along the west coast in Los Angeles, California, or L.A for short, meanwhile my girlfriend grew up down south in Austin, Texas. I grew up in a lower class neighborhood and surrounding area with the frequent crime, sometimes violent sometimes not, taking place nearby. From drivebys to break ins to street tagging my ridiculously small place in L.A saw it all. People mostly kept to themselves, with neighbors saying hello and hi as they saw each other and have the occasional friendly conversation with one another but that was it. No organized events or having people over or collaborating parties. Yet in Austin my girlfriend grew up in a gated neighborhood, more specifically a house at the end of the cul de sac. She had a fenced in backyard with a hedge, kids would openly play in the streets and bike around in the late hours of the day. Every year they had a fall festival and build arts and crafts, watch movies, play games, eat food, and have a cakewalk all in the cul de sac with the whole neighborhood participating.

Another difference would be the food between the two of us. I grew up with lots of Mexican food growing up. For example I grew up eating chilaquiles, pozole, menudo, al pastor, carne asada, enchiladas, tamales, chile verde, pollo, pico de gallo, ceviche, empanadas, and many others as you can probably imagine. This was common place in my household, and was served more often than not. Of course we’d have other dishes and styles like Italian and different american foods, but Mexican food dominated. My girlfriend had rotisserie chicken, burgers, BLTs, Pastas, Texas toast, Salads, stuff cooked in crock pots. Along with a lot of dining out at places like chili’s, Texas roadhouse, barbecue places, chick fil a, and many more.

The next comparison to be made is schools. I was placed in catholic schools that were co-ed, though my parents had to pay tuition and it seemed counter productive given our current situation the tuition didn’t cost much because of the area the school was located in and my parents wanted me to grow up in the catholic faith. With this came your ordinary everyday schooling along with classes about the Roman Catholic Church and its teachings and attending mass on Fridays as part of the school schedule. For recess we played on a blacktop that served as a parking lot for the church and school as we had no playground. What we did have on that parking lot were basketball hoops attached to walls and games drawn into the ground like hopscotch. We would also have basketballs and dodge balls to bring out to play along with whatever somebody brought to play with, like a football or Pokemon cards for example. As you can imagine my girlfriend had a completely different experience. Her family is non religious so she didn’t have the early life experiences that I had of getting first communion or reconciliation. Which means no catholic school and no regular mass to attend. She went to a nice public school, where the kindergartners had their own tree house and the school had its own dedicated playground and nearby woods to play in that school owned.

 

In the painting below there is a large crowd of people gawking at a goat headed figure as it appears to be speaking. Some of them seem to be terrified of the goat figure while others show curiosity and seem to be listening to the beast. Even still in this large crowd of people some seem not to care at all, as if they are not surprised by the beast that sits in front of them. As if they have seen it before. The most noticeable person seen in the painting who seems not to care at all is the old women sitting down in the far left side of the piece, she seems unfazed by the current events at hand. Which is extremely out of place considering the reactions of the others around her. Sitting next to the goat headed figure is what seems to be a smaller person cloaked in white also unfazed by the current events, yet this being is out of place as they are facing the crowd of people along with the goat headed figure. Along with that they seem to have some stuff laid out in front of them and vapor or smoke is rising from what looks like these ritualistic items. In the far right of the painting there is a person cloaked in black and sitting in a chair. The person in a chair seems rather calm unlike the vast majority of the people yet in paying attention the the goat head figure talk, they have something in their hands that is hard to make out. Now what seems to be going on in this picture is that the figure in the white cloak, the one facing the crowd of awe struck people, has performed some sort of ritual. A ritual to summon the goat head figure, which is most likely Satan himself, meaning this depicts a cult of some sort. Now Satan seems to be speaking, what he saying we shall never know, but it seems to be something truly horrifying enough to petrify some of the cultist while captivating others. It seems to be a truly awe inspiring yet wicked and horrific speech. This can be inferred by the faces of the people in the crowd. Yet the elderly women in the far left of the painting seems to not care, she can be seen looking down as she plays nervously with her hands. As if she knows that death is around the corner and is waiting nervously and scared as for what will await her in the after life, as if she made some sort of deal perhaps and is now awaiting death to come and find her to fulfill some debt. In contrast the person on the right is more cool, calm, and collective looking. They seem to be absorbing it all in, as they look and listen to Satan speak. Unlike the other listeners there is no fear, no awe in the person’s face. They seems harder to read and is more focused than the rest, and most likely the one that is feared and respected the most and have a chair unlike the rest.

RENO, NV – Destroying the hopes and dreams of many young college freshmen this week English teacher Alison Moore, from the University of Nevada Reno or UNR, assigned writing blog 4. Much to the dismay of the hard working English loving students in her class. They now have to write a grueling 500ish word long response to the question 3 of the For Writing section of their Back to the Lack textbook. The question at hand states “Have a look at the Onion website; read a few examples of “reporting” and what the editors have to say about style and content; then compose an Onion-like news report of your own. If you can’t think of a subject that fits the genre, look back at the first selection of this chapter on Winston the escaped piglet.” Truly an extremely difficult prompt to follow. Not only do students have to endure such a tragedy they also have to go through the extra step of posting their individual responses to a blog post they were forced to create.This has put a damper on many a freshman’s plans of being lazy and not doing any work this weekend. One student attempting to complete this assignment on the Thursday of this week, approximately at 8:32 p.m, stated in text “I give uuo.” The frustration shown by this student can be clearly seen as they are too upset and stressed to spell correctly. Another student stating “I would just not do it, but if I don’t then I’ll drop from a 94 to 83. Like what in the heck is that about.” This injustice and many others like it have not gone unnoticed by some students. “We just want to be lazy and not do anything, like why do I have to do all this writing? Why do I have to do all this work? It’s not my fault I procrastinated.” said another student Wednesday night at around 11:27 p.m. The students dull and tired eyes said more than any words ever will. The cruelty behind these assignments have left some scarred for life as they will never be able to catch up on the lost hours of sleep. Though one survivor that was witnessed has an even more horrifying tale. “It was 1:33 a.m and I still had no idea on what to write about. At this rate I won’t sleep till 3 or 4 a.m.” stated Michael. This is truly the great tragedy of our time as this is not exclusive to UNR and has spread across the country like a plague. With students of all walks of life staying up extremely late working on papers and other assignments. If you don’t believe it then just check some college students Snap chats. Your bound to find posts of students staying up late just to finish a paper to no fault of their own, because it definitely wasn’t the hours of procrastination. The only thing to do now is to work vigorously hard on removing assignments completely for a better future.

 

As we drive up the hill I feel the weight of gravity press down on me. Yet inside I feel a sense of anxiety and dread. My statistics project was due that day at 12:00 a.m and I had only just begun. Getting the required data had been harder than I thought and consumed most of my time. We pulled up to the rundown but decently sized pink brick house. My brother looks to and said “You good?” “Ya I’ll see ya later” i replied with as I got out of the the charcoal grey truck and grabbed my stuff, “See ya” is all he replied with. As I make my way to the black gate a familiar face greets me. “Hi Kobe!” I said as I unlatched the gate, squeezing my way through so Kobe can’t escape. I knee down on the hard concrete floor and bet the very excited husky, his blue and brown eyes looking at me full of glee. After a while I make my way to the front door. Along the way Kobe kept jumping on me begging for more attention, but time was short and precious commodity at the moment so I ignored him. Upon entering the first thing I see is two very familiar red sofas and a small flat screen TV mounted to the wall, this was James’s small living room. It was so small in fact I could go from one end to the other in three steps. To my left was a bed room and to my right the kitchen table, sink, refrigerator, and kitchen itself. James’s tias cooking dinner, moving swiftly yet ever so preciously. Never coming close to running into each other’s way in the cramped kitchen. One of them look over to me “Hola mijo, como estas?” “Good, how about you?” I replied with, “Bien, James and Richard are already downstairs.” she tells me. I nod my head and make my way downstairs. I decide to cross the living room and go down the cramped hallway, I didn’t want to get in the way of the cooks. If you were to turn left down the hall way you’d hit more bedrooms and the right would be a straight shot to the staircase down stairs. Along the way in the middle of the hallway is a door leading outside and a bathroom. Now this bathroom wasn’t like any ordinary bathroom, I swear it was built for dwarves. I’d nearly hit my head on the small door frame, the sink and toilet was low to the ground, barely any room to move around, and a shower was crammed in along the wall. I reached the staircase, it was as claustrophobic as the hallway. I made my way down the steep straight forward stairs, gripping the makeshift railing of spare pipes just in case I fall down. As I make my way down I keep my head down, so I don’t hit anything. Upon reaching the bottom I find a familiar white door and open it. On the other side waiting to greet me is my best friends James and Richard, also in the room was James’s little brother Jerry who we were all cool with. The room was cramped like the rest of the house. Three beds shoved into one room, a small but slightly larger bathroom, some windows to lead outside on the far end of the room, and one big TV. The four of us had a long night ahead of us, one that would prove to be extremely stressful. But in the end we prevailed and all received passing grades in our statistics class.

4) English was the first language and only language that was taught to me at home. Even though most of mi familia habla espanol I was told that I never needed it and therefore never needed to learn it. Though I eventually picked up some spanish as it was inevitable with all the Spanish speakers in the house. The obvious words for food I picked up significantly fast, for example cabeza, al pastor, jugo, y tamarindo. Other words like la puerta came with time as I was trying to pick up on what people would ask me or tell me to do. Though the majority of what I learned would be slang and more of the vulgar terms of the language. As for English I learned your standard run of the mill American english. Yet as I got older I learned new ways to manipulate the English language in the form of slang. Some of those words being deadass, hella, headass, or straight up abbreviating words. I tend to use these words when texting or talking to my friends in an very informal environment. Yet I find this slang infecting my everyday life and replacing some words in my vocabulary completely, even when I speak in what is supposed to be a more formal environment. This can sometimes lead to people giving me inquisitive and puzzled looks as I try to explain my use of slang to them. I’ve acquired these forms of writing and speaking over an excruciating long period of time and still feel like i have a lot to learn.

1) It was one of those perfect nights, you know the type. Where it’s not bitter cold, yet not melting hot, a full moon out so you can see outside. Brandon was out with his amigos, they went to go movies and then after eat some street tacos. Brandon had some al pastor and lengua tacos, his friends had a mix of carnitas y cabezas. The movie had been decent, something about a bunch of superheroes fighting this one really determined villain bent on killing half of the universe. In the end he actually won the fight and left everybody shook. Brandon was very excitingly talking to his friends about the movie, it eventually occurred to him to check his phone. On the lock screen it displayed 1:17 a.m. “Fuck, I’m finna get my ass beat. Yo I gotta go home.” Brandon said in a sort of a panic. Brandon downed his remaining tacos and rushed to his car. He struggled to put the keys in the ignition as he fumbled around in the dark and tried to move as fast as possible. He  made his way down through the streets at an rather unsafe speed. Luckily it was late out and all he had to look for was la policia, Brandon thanked the lord that there wasn’t any cops out he never really got along with them. As he pulled into his driveway he cursed himself for leaving his headlights on, they lit up the whole house and probably woke everybody up. He quietly made his way to the front door and opened it, so far so good. He to one step forward and heard the floor creak and groan. “Puta Madre” he said to himself quietly, he then proceeded to sneak his way to his room. On the way he passed his grandmothers bedroom, he had hoped to not wake her up. Just when he thought he was in the clear a faint voice can be heard “Buenas noches mijo.” Brandon sighed “Goodnight abuela” he replied with and shuffled into bed.

 

It was a Wednesday morning, the bitter cold was nipping at my feet as they were uncovered from the blanket. I didn’t want to get up, leave my cocoon of warmth and comfort. Though my brother had other plans for me, he violently rips the blanket away from me and says in an sonorous tone “Get up.” The unforgiving cold air rushes in and hits my body, I instantly wake up. The first thing I notice is how much pain my shoulder is in from sleeping on the floor  again, I let out a long yawn and notice that I can see my own breath. At this moment I had wished that our heater worked or we had at least some insulation in the house. In a very groggy and annoyed manner I got up and preceded to get ready for school. As I made my way to the bathroom I noticed my brother had climbed back into bed, I flash him a look of envy. As I entered the bathroom the temperature became more tolerable and noticed that the room was full of steam. My dad must have just got out of the shower. As I was putting toothpaste on my toothbrush I was debating whether or not I should go to school or just skip again. Suddenly there’s loud pounding on the door. I can hear my dads voice on the other side “Hurry up fool your gunna be late for school.” I quickly wrap things up in the bathroom and change into my bleak cloths for the day. As I hastily grab my things for school I frantically look around for my English book. But with time running out I think to myself screw it I’ll borrow one from my friend and exit through the back door. Upon stepping outside into the frigid cold air I noticed my uncle sleeping outside on some car seats all wrapped up in a sleeping bag. Carelessly laying next to him is a single silver spoon, a green lighter, belt, and a pie pan. I unapologetically kick the side of a car seat and say “Uncle it’s time to wake up” and then proceed to make my way to the car were my dad is waiting for me.

But how does all of this, this Wednesday morning, tie into my reading and writing? Well this day, and many others like it, helped to realize that life is what it is. That you don’t always get the best in life and sometimes it really sucks. But this doesn’t mean one should be ashamed or embarrassed of what they’re given in life. They should just simply not care what others think nor should they try to hide themselves from the world. I have, or at least tried to, incorporate this way of thinking into my writing. I try not to worry or care about others judgments. But this doesn’t mean that I’ll outright ignore someone’s critique, if it is constructive and well placed I’ll gladly hear it out.  I try to write things as they are and don’t cover up or hide facts or details that I or other people might not find appealing.