Be Proud To Be HISPANIC

In the last unit of Rhetoric which was called Unite, I studied political speeches to learn how to inspire and unite others for a good cause. I learned rhetorical skills and devices to analyze political issues that are going on today. For the last action project I had to pick a political issue and create a piece of art explaining how I felt about the issue and bringing out more awareness to this topic. What I enjoyed about this project was creating the artwork and how it came out. What I struggled with was picking a issue to talk about and to make an artwork about it.

Created by JV, Bracelet Sketch 2015.

I am JV and my topic is immigrant status, specifically tied to discrimination against Hispanics in the US. I chose to create art about this issue because of how much it literally hits home for me. I am both Mexican and Puerto Rican, and at one point my grandmother and great grandmother were immigrants themselves in the US. Both families members faced discrimination for being a certain race and also because they were both immigrants. After arriving in the US, my grandmother and great-grandmother both had a hard time finding jobs and getting around Chicago because neither of them knew English. People would make fun of them because they were Hispanic and new to America.

Even more personally, I have very strong feelings about anti-immigration attitudes towards this topic because I myself have experienced discrimination from other races despite being a US citizen. I wanted to show how Hispanics are a race that suffer greatly from this kind of racism and prejudice. Did you know that the most discrimination Hispanics face is at their workplace? 11% are treated unfairly, 10% are being mistreated by police, and 9% get mistreated by the health care system along with unfair treatment while they’re dining at a restaurant. This Gallup Poll was conducted June 15-July 10, 2015,using a random grouping of 508 Hispanics, aged 18 and older, who lived in all 50 U.S. states. (Discrimination Statutes Among Hispanics, 2015.)

Created By JV Bracelet, 2015.

I decided to make a bracelet that represents hispanics and how we should be proud to be hispanic and not let anyone bring us down because of our race. We should be proud to have really good food and big loud families. We should be proud of our dark or light hispanic skin, and everything that comes along with being hispanic. I chose to make a bracelet because anyone can wear it, even if the person isn’t hispanic and just wants to support stopping discrimination.

The colors that I picked for my bracelet fibers are: red because it represents passion and love; green represents safety; yellow represents happiness; purple represents independence, and pink represents inner peace. I wanted red and green to be the main colors because red is in both the Mexican and Puerto Rican flags. I wanted the other colors to be peaceful and calming. All theses colors are what I want my Nation to have we need peace and stop hurting each other. 

I designed my bracelet in a braid style and spiral friendship pattern, to show how people can unite together.

Created by JV Bracelet, 2015. 

My bracelet has pathos through the passion and pride it shows towards Hispanic culture. It also shows alludes specifically to Mexico, since when I think of this part of my heritage, I think of lots of colors, especially the ones that I chose to use in my bracelet. The logos displayed through my bracelet is the colors and facts behind it, people should stop hurting each other just because of their race. We should all stand together and be pride of what we all are.

If I had the chance to publish my artwork I would want it to be worn on people’s wrists or ankles, so that way it is visible to everyone. I would first make it for family and friends to help me support my idea, then eventually other people will start to notice and would want to help stop discrimination.

Materials:
-a ruler
-scissors
-tape
-embroidery floss
-cotton string
-safety pins
-wrist to measure

Citations:

"Immigrant Status Tied to Discrimination Among Hispanics." gallup.com. Justin McCarthy. 20 Aug, 2015. Web. 15 Oct, 2015. 

"Understand The Meaning Of Colors." empower-yourself. N.P. N.D. 2010. Web. 20 Oct, 2015. 

Making America Great Again!

The purpose of this Action Project is to demonstrate my understanding of effective rhetorical techniques by highlighting and educating others about a rhetorical challenger. My task was to select, analyze and present an example of somebody today who is talking about issues that I agree with or don’t. This project is to raise awareness against ignorance and oppression. I had to select a text and annotate it using the rhetorical devices. I also had to create a prezi that teaches others about the rhetorical challenger that I have chosen. I picked Donald Trump, who is very well known for speaking his mind about many topics, and who also happens to be running for President the United States of America. I chose him because I don’t agree on many key issues with Trump; I think he is really obnoxious and and doesn’t care about our country, but just cares about money. What I enjoyed about this Action Project was annotating Trump’s speech and making a prezi out of it. What was most challenging was trying to find a copy of his speech in writing instead of a solely recording.

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The title of this course is Rhetoric, which is my first Humanities course as a Junior. The course supposes that we use language to bring unity, division, and transcendence into our school, work, and civic life. To succeed we learned about Rhetoric devices that helped us analyze and critique language by watching videos, or reading short passages. The purpose of this action project was to demonstrate mastery of rhetorical techniques by writing my own speech. I had to imagine that I was in a political debate and had to come up with a topic that raised awareness. What I learned during this action project is all the devices and how to analyze a speech and text better. The challenges I faced during this action project is talking about my story about depression. What I am proud of is how my transcript turned out.

                                                                                          Created by JV 2015*

Did you know that suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 - 24 year olds? Approximately 5,000 young people die each year. Some causes of suicide are teens feeling like they can’t fit in and get block out from crowds. Feeling like they can’t be accepted for who they are, some youth LGBT have been going through this for many years. Some have taken their lives because family members and friends wouldn’t accept them for who they were. Jean-Philippe was 14 years old when he ended his life due to depression and suicide because he constantly got teased for being gay. His own family members found out by reading the letter he left them in which he wrote, “PS: By the way, I was gay and I would like to say to the ones who still love me I will never forget them.”

Depression doesn’t always win. My sister’s story is one that can be told proudly. I remember when we were younger she would never let me paint for nails or do her hair. She would cry, scream, and yell because I would force her to let me, but I had no luck. She started “changing” around 10 years old, wearing baggy clothes, cutting her hair shorter, not wanting to talk. Certain family members wouldn’t understand why she was dressing like this, or why she acted a certain way that was different from their expectations of her. I noticed something on her arm one day; I saw cuts and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that she felt like we wouldn’t accept her because she's a lesbian. Lucky for her, she has a family that is the most loving, caring, and group of supporters for her.

A semicolon is used when a sentence could have been ended; but wasn’t. The Semicolon project is a faith-based, non-profit movement dedicated to offering hope and love to those who are struggling with depression, suicide addiction and self-injury. The project promotes the semicolon tattoo in order to raise awareness of these important, life-or-death issues, but most importantly to let sufferers know they don’t have to live in shame because they aren’t actually alone. I am planning to get this tattoo when I turn 18 to represent my sister and myself, because I suffer from depression as well. 

Depression is like a big tumbleweed filled with uncontrollable feelings and thoughts. You never know when it’s going to leave or cross your path again or what garbage it’ll pick up along the way. Some days you’re fine, and then the next it’s there hovering over you and can take days, weeks, and even months for it to leave. Even the simplest things can make it come back and you just wish you could feel numb. Robin Williams was one of my favorite actors and he lost his fight with depression as an extremely successful,well-known adult. Just because he had a big smile and knew how to make people laugh doesn’t mean he was okay. One thing I learned from depression is that it’s so easy to hide from people; you can look so happy but inside you are running, running, running away from that one thing that can bring you down. Another thing that I learned is that depression isn’t me, it’s just a thing that happens. You have to stay positive and accept yourself for who you are, not caring what other people think. Depression doesn’t always win. Be like the semicolon - before you judge pause and take a moment to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.

Citations:

"Semicolon Project." www.projectsemicolon.org. Amy Bleuel. 2013. Web. 19 Sept, 2015.

"Facts and Figures."afsp.org.N.P. 2015. Web 19 Sept, 2015.

"True gay youth stories." akeweedatarrowhead.net. Gary Lynn. 2004. Web. 19 Sept, 2015.