How I Define Success

     Success is a very flexible term. flexible meaning everyone's definition of success is different from one another. One person can think Success is getting a C on a paper, but another can think getting a B on a test is a failure. Due to media and society, a lot of people assume success is defined by what kind of car you drive, or what brand your purse is, or how much your house cost. you can have that stuff because of success, that does not nesassarily define success to me. The specifics might be intangible, but the core parts of success are pretty much the same. the way I define success is if  you are happy with your life, personal fullfilment, and defines success to me.

     alot of things can make people happy, some people need material things, like clothes, shoes, jewelry and for some people, its just the simple things, like making someone laugh, or hanging out with loved ones that can bring joy to your life. They say money doesn't buy you happiness, and in some cases, that can be true, and other it can be a little misleading. the point I am trying to make is if you have money or you don't if you yourself are happy with the way you are living, then that is success in its own way. if you are living in a basic house with your family working a decent job, and if you are happy, who is going to call you unsuccessful? that was like my family when I was a kid, and no one called my parents unsuccessful. If you are happy with what you have, and no matter how much  or how little you have, no one can tell you you are not successful.

     My Junior year of highschool, If found my self on the varsity football team. The year before I had a pretty good season on JV. In my head I thought I was all that, and that I would just take over a starting spot anddid not have to put in any work during the offseason, so the summer before my first varsityseason when we had our summer conditioning program, I would half ass all the workouts, all the running programs, and while my teammates were getting bigger and stronger, I was sitting there making no gains. when we put our pads on for the first time, I thought I was going to out hit everyone that I outhot my sophomore year, well tthey all got stronger then me, and for the whole season the only thing my ass was on was the bench. I had a meeting woth my coach the day after the season ended. He knew I was contemplating on whether I wanted to return. He also knew I put in no work that year and said If I wanted to get on the field so I was going to have to work for it. the next day I started busting my ass everyday in the weight room until thesummer conditioning came along. When it came to summer conditioning programs, I was up there with the big boys again, and I ended up back starting again. that moment I realized when all my hard work apid off, I knew I was successful. the point of my story was about self actualization, and that becuase I fullfilled my goals of being a starter, I became successful in my own mind.

I wanted to show you guys a video that motivates me when I'm unmotivated. This man Eric Thomas defines success very well, and if you need a pick me up, I suggest watching this video. You will not regret it.

Students Acting Rebellious

   My Sophomore year of High  School, I took an extra class at 6:50 in the morning so I can get some extra credits. I had this teacher that was always 10-15 minutes late everyday, and show up with Starbucks in her hand. So we realized that she was late becuase her Vente Carmel Frapuccino was more important to her then educating us on time. Classes at my high school were usually 50 minutes long, but this class was 40, so we were a little behind. Plus, her being late 10-15 minutes plus the shortened time, we would have about 30 minutes of instruction everyday. Because of that short time, we would just watch history movies all day. We barely even learned anything and everybody was struggling on tests. the day after we all got our tests back, we all saw that most students got a D or an F, with some C's and the ultra rare B by one student. That day, she was late as usual, and instead of maybe asking questions about the past test, or wondering why all her students failed, she just plopped on another boring history channel movie from her TiVo. As she puts this movie on, one daring kid in my class starts packing up his stuff and starts leaving. My teacher asked why he was leaving, and he said, "because I didn't wake up at 6 in the morning to go to class and watch History documentaries on TV. I'm not learning anything I might as well go home." and so he left. The whole class was in shock of what happened. I couldnt believe what just happened. after that day, for the rest of the year, we never watched another movie, we actually learned, and I thanked that kid in my history class for it.

     This video of Duncanville High School student Jeff Bliss has gone viral on YouTube. with millions of views on this video, it's safe to say a lot of people has heard about this man. To me, this guy is a hero. he stood up for what he believed in, and that takes a lot of courage. this story reminded me a little bit of the book we read in class called, Bread Givers. The whole essay we wrote about on how if Sarah was a hero or not, and this dude shows some heroic qualities. He shows a lot of courage, and in that courage, he shows a lot of passion. you can tell by the fire in his voice that he was pissed off at this teacher. He kept talking about how he never learned because he kept getting packets and the teacher never taught anything. I once had a teacher like that. I'm sure most of us have, but have you ever seen somebody with the guts to stick up to a teacher like that? It's a very rare sighting.

Into The Wild

the book, "Into The Wild" can intersect with what we are talking about because the main character Chris, is a man of privilege. he was a graduate of a college, and his parents have a lot of money. he also happens to be a white male too. the funny thing is the is that he treats himself like he is not a man of privilege. he gets offered a new car by his parents and he declines. he goes on an Alaskan adventure by himself without telling his parents. you can also say, that he felt privileged enough to just go into the Alaskan mountains and just start living on his own

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Kobe Bryant The Best of this Generation

I chose to show Highlights Kobe Bryant, because to me, besides the great Michael Jordan, no one has shown more passion, more drive, and more motivation, then the Black Mamba Kobe Bryant. Bryant is the 5th leading scorer in NBA history, and he is not even 35. How is that possible? He works as hard as anyone in the game, and his motivation is like none I have ever seen. I also chose him because he is one of my favorite athletes of all time. there was a story about Kobe Bryant I read about in a basketball blog that was told by an assistant coach of the 2012 US Olympic Team, that included Kobe Bryant. He said one night around 3AM, Kobe wanted to get some work done in the gym, and if he can help him, so he helps him for about an hour, and the coach says he is real tired and needs sleep, so he goes off to bed. he wakes up at 8, and he goes to have breakfast with the team and still in the gym shooting jumpshots was Kobe Bryant. He was amazed on how someone works that hard to perfect something. It just goes to show what kind of a man Kobe Bryant is, and you can see the results in the video.
     His drive to be the greatest has to be one of the best qualities he has. When he first cam into the league, he was just known as a high flying dunker, so what did he do? He worked on his mid game jumoshot and tore it up. then his doubters said he couldnt shoot a 3 pointer so what did he do? develop the 3 pointer and has the record for most 3 pointers in a game with 12. then they told Kobe he has no post game. (you see where I'm going with this?) guess what he did? he went to Akeem Olajuwan, one of the best post players the game has seen, and Bryant learned moves and footwork from him. he later developed an aweseome post game and he became one of the greatest all around scorers in the history of the NBA. he also has 5 championships, so you know he is a winner. when it comes to passion, the Black Mamba brings it like no other.

Andrade response

     When we saw Jeff Duncan-Andrade's leture in class about roses from a concrete, I really felt what he was talking about. I've seen his lecture before in highschool, but I never really payed attention to it. now that I actuslly payed attention to it, I really enjoyed what he was saying. he is not the normal monotone professor, his lecture included alot of charisma and passion, and you can tell in the way he talks he cares about what he is saying. Andrade was talking about stuff I never really thought about, stuff that I take for granted. Andrade was talking about how kids in Oakland don't do as well in school as the others, and one of his conclusions were that PTSD was affecting these kids. Oakland's homicide rate is higher them alot of U.S. cities, and those kids are seeing murder everyday. their classmates are being buried and they go to school the next day and teachers wonder why they do not pay attention in class. I can relate on a smaller scale. my junior year of highschool, a former football player was fatally stabbed just blocks away from my school, and me being a football player and all my friends in shock over what happened, we came to school the next day and couldnt even do it. I knew a former teammate of mine who was so distraught, he completely changed who he was as aperson. he used to be a smart kid in schoolm and I dont even know if he graduated highschool. I think that is what might be happening in Oakland, but on a larger scale. they see it on a daily basis.
     some questions I had was, if Oakland is so bad, what ar other crime ridden cities like South Central LA, Atlanta, Baltimore, and D.C. like?

     Is there a similarity between all those areas?
     what can we do as bystanders to help make Oaklands school system a better place?

What Makes College Hard

     College can be really difficult for students. Especially here at Chabot College. There are a lot of factors. Some of the factors that can lead to it are money. Money can be very scarce for a student at Chabot College. Sometimes, you can’t get financial aid and it becomes very difficult to try and get money. Money can lead to things like not having transportation, or money for books. Money is what makes the world go round, and it rules everything. Without money, you cannot do a lot of things. Some students end up having to drop out because students end up having to help their parents with the rent or the food. Some students are also out on their own. They are busting their ass with one or two jobs, and going to school. They have insurance, rent, food, and a lot of other bills to pay, and if one bad thing happens money wise, they will not be able to go to school.

     Drugs can be a huge factor in college too. Some people do a lot of drugs like marijuana or abuse alcohol. Some people just start going to school high every day and can’t focus. One side effect of marijuana is laziness. Kids will start getting lazy and not go to school and just choose to get high. People who abuse alcohol get hangovers and end up not waking up for school. Some students get hooked in drugs in college. They get peer pressured to start smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. Instead of studying, they go and smoke a joint, and instead of buying 50 dollar book, they buy 50 dollars’ worth of weed. Instead of doing your homework and studying, they go out and party and do drugs. That’s not the way it should go. People end up dropping out because of that.

If potheads cared this much about their education, they would probably stay in school

     The other day in English class, we watched this eye opening movie called, "the Passion Project" it was directed and made by students at our very own Chabot College. the students also gave insight in the documentary.this movie made me realize that we should all find our own passion, and that it will help in the long run. the part that opened my eyes was the part about the teachers, and how they only teach the content in a class, but never more then that. teachers never really help you find your passion, they just tell you to get it all together but really don't show a lot of effort. I can relate to the beginning when they were all talking about how their parents were pushing them to be something they don't want to be. my mom tried pushing me to be a nurse, but that shit wasn't happening. I really liked the students perspectives in the movie, and they themselves showed passion by directing and making the movie.

      In my opinion, the only connection between passion and privilege, is that privileged people pursue their passion easier, and they destroy non privileged people's passion. have you ever told a person of privilege what you want to do when you grow up? my freshman year in high school, I told my teacher I wanted to be a lawyer, and she just laughed and told me that was not happening. like really? I've had you as my teacher for 3 weeks and your telling me what I can and cannot do? I'm just speaking from experience when I say what I say.

Follow YOUR passion!!!! The only way to go is UP!