Gao Ia Vang
Freshman
Michigan State University
I thought I had more time…
I thought I had more time to rest in the arms of my parents. It’s been the only place I’ve known of,
But sooner than I thought, those hands were letting go
I thought I had more time to spend time with those I’ve joked around with,
But sooner than I thought, it would be time to grow up
I thought I had more time to stay surrounded with those I loved,
But sooner than I thought, that love would become a memory
I thought I had more time to change all those mistakes I’ve made
But sooner than I thought, those mistakes would become lessons
I thought I had more time to explain myself,
But sooner than I thought, that it would become regret
I thought I had more time to change the way I am
But sooner than I thought, change wouldn’t come good to me
I thought I had more time to stay just a little bit longer,
But sooner than I thought, that time would come to an end
I thought I had more time…but now it’s time to move on
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Passion: Stepping Up
Chibi Vang
Brenda Scott Middle School
They said that we were born to live, but why do we all die at the end? If not born to live, then born to make a difference. You were born to be a role model. You were born to be given a chance to show yourself, to be remembered, to be just known for you. Why do we all have a limited time to live? Why can’t we just live forever? Maybe because it is boring being the same person over and over? Maybe it’s not that.. Maybe, if you believe in reincarnation, we are always being born again so that we can experience other people’s lives. But most of us don’t even remember our past lives from before. Why’s that? Is it because you couldn’t bear the harsh memories that you may have had in your past life? Is it embarrassing knowing what you did back then? Or is it because you just want to completely erase some of the people that you once hung out with and start anew?
Humans are supposed to be one of the smartest species out there, but I think that we are the ones who struggle most and are slowest when it comes to make a life decision. We can be stubborn. We can break down easily and we make a lot of mistakes. But some of us don’t even know that mistakes are the greatest lessons of our lives. Even if we’re not perfect, we learn from mistakes that help us to become better people.
Many of my peers are not that motivated as they should be in their own community. I’m not sure if it’s out of fear, risky, or just laziness. They rather wait for something bad to happen to them, and then they’ll have the motivation to step up. Why do we have to wait to change the world? To change yourself? We need to start caring now. When we care, we’re contributing into our community, to make it better environment for the new generations to come. Same thing goes with peer pressure. Why be like everybody else, when you can more fun being yourself?
Why start now? Because your opinion counts. The faster your message gets around, the more support you’ll get and the less guilt or stress you’ll feel in yourself. If you already waited too long, it’s not too late to start over. It’s just that most of us find it hard to move on. They can’t forget. Of course you can’t forget about what you did, but then you can forgive yourself. You can forgive yourself and that’ll take off some of the burdens on you. That’ll make it less heavy on you and give you a little ease to start over. You can start all over every day.
Stop waiting and do something now. I finally realized what this sentence meant after joining NSO YIP. It opened many new options for me to see. It let me know that I’m not too young to change the world and told me to stop making excuses and just do what I wanted already before it’s too late.
Start off small. End big. Help out your community. Make a difference. Learn from your mistakes. Be yourself. That’s my passion and I’m so going to live with it because helping out not just the community, but everything else, makes me feel accomplished. It also makes me feel very proud and nice. I don’t know but I always wanted to be like the Ultimate Superhero around the world! I like smiles and to get people to smile, I crack a joke, help out, compliment, and just go all out crazy! I don’t care if people have a gap in their teeth or if their teeth are yellow! I also like laughs too because it’s the only sound that all humans make, no matter what culture or language, when something’s funny, you hear HAHAHA! =)
Brenda Scott Middle School
They said that we were born to live, but why do we all die at the end? If not born to live, then born to make a difference. You were born to be a role model. You were born to be given a chance to show yourself, to be remembered, to be just known for you. Why do we all have a limited time to live? Why can’t we just live forever? Maybe because it is boring being the same person over and over? Maybe it’s not that.. Maybe, if you believe in reincarnation, we are always being born again so that we can experience other people’s lives. But most of us don’t even remember our past lives from before. Why’s that? Is it because you couldn’t bear the harsh memories that you may have had in your past life? Is it embarrassing knowing what you did back then? Or is it because you just want to completely erase some of the people that you once hung out with and start anew?
Humans are supposed to be one of the smartest species out there, but I think that we are the ones who struggle most and are slowest when it comes to make a life decision. We can be stubborn. We can break down easily and we make a lot of mistakes. But some of us don’t even know that mistakes are the greatest lessons of our lives. Even if we’re not perfect, we learn from mistakes that help us to become better people.
Many of my peers are not that motivated as they should be in their own community. I’m not sure if it’s out of fear, risky, or just laziness. They rather wait for something bad to happen to them, and then they’ll have the motivation to step up. Why do we have to wait to change the world? To change yourself? We need to start caring now. When we care, we’re contributing into our community, to make it better environment for the new generations to come. Same thing goes with peer pressure. Why be like everybody else, when you can more fun being yourself?
Why start now? Because your opinion counts. The faster your message gets around, the more support you’ll get and the less guilt or stress you’ll feel in yourself. If you already waited too long, it’s not too late to start over. It’s just that most of us find it hard to move on. They can’t forget. Of course you can’t forget about what you did, but then you can forgive yourself. You can forgive yourself and that’ll take off some of the burdens on you. That’ll make it less heavy on you and give you a little ease to start over. You can start all over every day.
Stop waiting and do something now. I finally realized what this sentence meant after joining NSO YIP. It opened many new options for me to see. It let me know that I’m not too young to change the world and told me to stop making excuses and just do what I wanted already before it’s too late.
Start off small. End big. Help out your community. Make a difference. Learn from your mistakes. Be yourself. That’s my passion and I’m so going to live with it because helping out not just the community, but everything else, makes me feel accomplished. It also makes me feel very proud and nice. I don’t know but I always wanted to be like the Ultimate Superhero around the world! I like smiles and to get people to smile, I crack a joke, help out, compliment, and just go all out crazy! I don’t care if people have a gap in their teeth or if their teeth are yellow! I also like laughs too because it’s the only sound that all humans make, no matter what culture or language, when something’s funny, you hear HAHAHA! =)
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Plastic Surgery...Is It Really Wrong?
Gao Ia Vang
Osborn University High School Graduate/MSU Freshman
The cost of plastic surgery is expensive and yet many people pay thousands of dollars to “renew” themselves. Many people view plastic surgery as a negative thing to be done upon one self. They say natural beauty is the best kind of beauty and define people who have done plastic surgeries as fakes, but I disagree. Is it really a crime to want to be beautiful? Not everybody is born with that natural beauty and in this world, let’s face it, everybody wants to be pretty.
Girls are more pressured and insecure about their looks than boys. Why else would we have those numerous amounts of makeup and Botox being marketing directly at us? If the world and the media wasn’t so judgmental and obsess with looks, everybody would be happy. Sadly, that’s not the case. In the media, looks are everything. There, it’s portraying that only “pretty perfect” people make it big when in fact, it’s not.
I see plastic surgery as another way, or for even some people, a chance to become beautiful. For example, what if someone had been born with a deformation that affected their daily lives? It’s true that it’s the personality that counts and not the looks but it’s not fair when people are pointed out to be made fun of because their nose had been “too big” or if their eyes had been “too small.” Anybody has the right to be happy and if choosing to do plastic surgery satisfies their happiness, let them be.
Osborn University High School Graduate/MSU Freshman
The cost of plastic surgery is expensive and yet many people pay thousands of dollars to “renew” themselves. Many people view plastic surgery as a negative thing to be done upon one self. They say natural beauty is the best kind of beauty and define people who have done plastic surgeries as fakes, but I disagree. Is it really a crime to want to be beautiful? Not everybody is born with that natural beauty and in this world, let’s face it, everybody wants to be pretty.
Girls are more pressured and insecure about their looks than boys. Why else would we have those numerous amounts of makeup and Botox being marketing directly at us? If the world and the media wasn’t so judgmental and obsess with looks, everybody would be happy. Sadly, that’s not the case. In the media, looks are everything. There, it’s portraying that only “pretty perfect” people make it big when in fact, it’s not.
I see plastic surgery as another way, or for even some people, a chance to become beautiful. For example, what if someone had been born with a deformation that affected their daily lives? It’s true that it’s the personality that counts and not the looks but it’s not fair when people are pointed out to be made fun of because their nose had been “too big” or if their eyes had been “too small.” Anybody has the right to be happy and if choosing to do plastic surgery satisfies their happiness, let them be.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Where Am I From?
Pao Kia Yang
Graduate
Osborn University High School
I am from the abandoned houses that were once filled with memories of laughter and sorrow.
I am from surroundings of people who wish for a better tomorrow.
I am from the door entrance of shoes piling up as high as a hill, walls that are surrounded with flowers and picture frames, the smell of steaming rice, and the sound of the TV.
I am from a man whose stomach is as round as the world due to his distance of circling to put food on the table for his family, and his head as shiny as the sun to wake me and be my guide towards the brighter side of life.
I am from a woman who gave up on me when I was only three years old, which of who I do not know of. A woman who did not give me time to grow and prove my reason of existence.
I am from a group of individuals who grew up together to not only think different, but dress different…and still others tend to see some sort of similarity.
I am from teenagers who go under peer pressure when it comes to life decisions, teenagers who struggle to succeed in a violent environment, and teenagers who think outside the box.
I am from the transition of a little girl who once thought only of herself, but struggles brought her to a young woman who learns how to appreciate small things that comes her way.
I am from everything I’ve met.
This was poem was an activity that I did at Detroit Asian Youth Project, which is an organization that works with Asian youth within the metro Detroit area on building leadership skills surrounding the awareness of issues in the community. This writing activity was created to open the youth’s mind to their surroundings and things that made them who they are today. As an introduction to our summer 2007 session, instead of stating the typical like our name, age and school, the activity provided us with creativity, because we are, in fact, a part of everything that we’ve met.
Graduate
Osborn University High School
I am from the abandoned houses that were once filled with memories of laughter and sorrow.
I am from surroundings of people who wish for a better tomorrow.
I am from the door entrance of shoes piling up as high as a hill, walls that are surrounded with flowers and picture frames, the smell of steaming rice, and the sound of the TV.
I am from a man whose stomach is as round as the world due to his distance of circling to put food on the table for his family, and his head as shiny as the sun to wake me and be my guide towards the brighter side of life.
I am from a woman who gave up on me when I was only three years old, which of who I do not know of. A woman who did not give me time to grow and prove my reason of existence.
I am from a group of individuals who grew up together to not only think different, but dress different…and still others tend to see some sort of similarity.
I am from teenagers who go under peer pressure when it comes to life decisions, teenagers who struggle to succeed in a violent environment, and teenagers who think outside the box.
I am from the transition of a little girl who once thought only of herself, but struggles brought her to a young woman who learns how to appreciate small things that comes her way.
I am from everything I’ve met.
This was poem was an activity that I did at Detroit Asian Youth Project, which is an organization that works with Asian youth within the metro Detroit area on building leadership skills surrounding the awareness of issues in the community. This writing activity was created to open the youth’s mind to their surroundings and things that made them who they are today. As an introduction to our summer 2007 session, instead of stating the typical like our name, age and school, the activity provided us with creativity, because we are, in fact, a part of everything that we’ve met.
Domestic Violence
Danielle Welcome
Junior
Martin Luther King Jr. High School
Domestic violence is abuse committed by a spouse, former spouse, fiancée, boyfriend, or girlfriend, or a cohabitant upon another individual. In the United States it is estimated that a domestic violence act occurs every 15 seconds. So that means over 2.5 million victims per year. I don’t see why females stay in relationships with people that are abusing them. There are a lot more people in the world that will love and cherish you, people that would never in their life think about hitting you. Stand up for yourself, don’t be anyone’s punching bag, and leave them. The abusers will say they’re sorry, they love you, and that they won’t do it again, but it’s a lie because the next time they’re even a little angry it will be you that will feel the pain.
There are 1,500 shelters for battered women in the United States. There are places to go that you can find help. Don’t let anyone abuse you it’s your body and no one has the right to hurt you. Domestic violence occurs when one person believes that they that they have the power and that everything is up to them. The saying is “It’s my way or the highway”, but to them it’s their way or no way period. You have a mind of your own; you don’t need anyone telling you how to live your life. It’s even worse if you have children because it is likely that the abuse will spread to them too. Have enough respect for yourself to know that you deserve better. Have enough respect for yourself to know that you deserve better. Have enough confidence in yourself to know that you can find better. So many people are being killed because of domestic violence every day. Who knows who will be next? If you are being hurt by domestic violence speak up about it. Take control of your life and speak up against domestic violence.
Junior
Martin Luther King Jr. High School
Domestic violence is abuse committed by a spouse, former spouse, fiancée, boyfriend, or girlfriend, or a cohabitant upon another individual. In the United States it is estimated that a domestic violence act occurs every 15 seconds. So that means over 2.5 million victims per year. I don’t see why females stay in relationships with people that are abusing them. There are a lot more people in the world that will love and cherish you, people that would never in their life think about hitting you. Stand up for yourself, don’t be anyone’s punching bag, and leave them. The abusers will say they’re sorry, they love you, and that they won’t do it again, but it’s a lie because the next time they’re even a little angry it will be you that will feel the pain.
There are 1,500 shelters for battered women in the United States. There are places to go that you can find help. Don’t let anyone abuse you it’s your body and no one has the right to hurt you. Domestic violence occurs when one person believes that they that they have the power and that everything is up to them. The saying is “It’s my way or the highway”, but to them it’s their way or no way period. You have a mind of your own; you don’t need anyone telling you how to live your life. It’s even worse if you have children because it is likely that the abuse will spread to them too. Have enough respect for yourself to know that you deserve better. Have enough respect for yourself to know that you deserve better. Have enough confidence in yourself to know that you can find better. So many people are being killed because of domestic violence every day. Who knows who will be next? If you are being hurt by domestic violence speak up about it. Take control of your life and speak up against domestic violence.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Drug Abusing Parents
Ometere Osho
Freshman
Florida A & M University
Drug abusive parents are corrupting their child’s life. Doing drugs sends a bad reputation on the family. It also gives a kid the idea to do drugs. It’s not healthy for the family to have parents doing drugs.
Parents that do drugs are corrupting their children’s life. At home they have to deal with these consequences. Going to school they face getting talked about from their peers. These children are actually suffering from stress and emotional problems. Also it runs in the blood stream, so that have a major effect.
Everybody knows your business in the street. Your family doesn’t want to be bothered with you, because your parents are doing drugs. The things that your parent’s have done to get drugs are more embarrassing then ever.
Drug abuse is not healthy for your family. Its causes mental and emotional abuse. That leads to stress and families get broken up. Also a parent that does drugs will be unhealthy and that is not good. Parents, you must remember that your children are watching you. Never forget that.
Freshman
Florida A & M University
Drug abusive parents are corrupting their child’s life. Doing drugs sends a bad reputation on the family. It also gives a kid the idea to do drugs. It’s not healthy for the family to have parents doing drugs.
Parents that do drugs are corrupting their children’s life. At home they have to deal with these consequences. Going to school they face getting talked about from their peers. These children are actually suffering from stress and emotional problems. Also it runs in the blood stream, so that have a major effect.
Everybody knows your business in the street. Your family doesn’t want to be bothered with you, because your parents are doing drugs. The things that your parent’s have done to get drugs are more embarrassing then ever.
Drug abuse is not healthy for your family. Its causes mental and emotional abuse. That leads to stress and families get broken up. Also a parent that does drugs will be unhealthy and that is not good. Parents, you must remember that your children are watching you. Never forget that.
Underage Sex
Danielle Welcome
Junior
Martin Luther King, Jr. High School
I know everyone has heard that once you lose it you can’t get it back. Well, it’s true! Once you lose your virginity it’s gone. Whether you’re a male or a female your virginity is something sacred that you should keep until you are older, wiser. And more mature. I know that most people think they’re mature at a young age but wait, there is no rush, take your time, be a kid while you still can.
Underage sex most likely and most of the time lead to teenage pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy is serious. Think about it how can a baby take care of a baby. Having a baby cuts the joy of being young short. Pregnant teenagers often have to drop out of school, so they don’t receive their full education necessary to get a job. Also, the young teenage mother must find a job to be to take care of her child. Most of the time the father either denies the child or is just to scared to step up and take that responsibility. No teenager, male or female, should have to worry about having to take care of a baby; all they should have to worry about is doing well in school and just having fun.
Underage sex mostly caused by peer pressure. Sexually active teens pressure their peers to become sexually active. They name a lot of lame reasons to why teens should be sexually active and most people listen. Most people want to fit in so they’ll do whatever they can to be popular. Teens need to realize that sex can wait. When people are sexually active and people know about it, they gain bad reputations such as a player for males and whore for females. Males seem to get congratulated for being sexually active and females get looked down for it. When females are sexually active at a young age, males think they’re easy so they keep trying to have sex with them. Some females are taken advantages of because people know they are sexually active and males get mad they can’t get from her what someone else got. So in conclusion, underage sex is not something you should rush into. It’s better if you wait.
Junior
Martin Luther King, Jr. High School
I know everyone has heard that once you lose it you can’t get it back. Well, it’s true! Once you lose your virginity it’s gone. Whether you’re a male or a female your virginity is something sacred that you should keep until you are older, wiser. And more mature. I know that most people think they’re mature at a young age but wait, there is no rush, take your time, be a kid while you still can.
Underage sex most likely and most of the time lead to teenage pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy is serious. Think about it how can a baby take care of a baby. Having a baby cuts the joy of being young short. Pregnant teenagers often have to drop out of school, so they don’t receive their full education necessary to get a job. Also, the young teenage mother must find a job to be to take care of her child. Most of the time the father either denies the child or is just to scared to step up and take that responsibility. No teenager, male or female, should have to worry about having to take care of a baby; all they should have to worry about is doing well in school and just having fun.
Underage sex mostly caused by peer pressure. Sexually active teens pressure their peers to become sexually active. They name a lot of lame reasons to why teens should be sexually active and most people listen. Most people want to fit in so they’ll do whatever they can to be popular. Teens need to realize that sex can wait. When people are sexually active and people know about it, they gain bad reputations such as a player for males and whore for females. Males seem to get congratulated for being sexually active and females get looked down for it. When females are sexually active at a young age, males think they’re easy so they keep trying to have sex with them. Some females are taken advantages of because people know they are sexually active and males get mad they can’t get from her what someone else got. So in conclusion, underage sex is not something you should rush into. It’s better if you wait.
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