Do you need this?

Based upon this list, choose three things that are "wants" and not "needs." List them and then describe, in a paragraph, why they are not necessary:

1. Buying Hot Cheetoh's
2. Cable TV
3. Fresh meat
4. New furniture
5. Nike Shoes
6. Internet
7. Going out to the movies
8. A swimming pool
9. Donating money to a charity
10. A birthday present for your nephew
    

A Web of Issues

by Pablo

In toady's world there are many problems that the world or certain individuals are faced with. As individuals it is our duty to overcome the issues or problem that are afflicting us. If we don't confront the problems while they are small after a while they get bigger. After time if the problem is not solved it becomes almost impossible to solve. That is why it is better to confront problems as soon as they show up.

The housing crisis is a issue that a vast majority of the people in the U.S. are facing. This predicament occurred because the banks gave many loans to people who would not be able to pay them. as a result many people lost their homes. This problem was was caused by a cause and effect. A related issue to the housing crisis is the low stock of the stock market.

The low stocks have not only caused a national recession but a global recession. This recession is linked to the housing crisis in the following sense. The sense is that if one of these two things is doing bad so is the other. Which leads us to think about what was done with all the money that was given to all these major corporations. Yet we do not know what was done with that money but the government wants to continues to give them more money. Many of the major CEO's of important companies continue to give large raises to some of there employees.

Which leads to the topic of corruption. Corruption is one of the main reasons we are in this mess. As mention in the first paragraph if this problem this problem isn't solved soon it is just going to get bigger. The CEO's of these major companies should just take responsibility for their actions. If they don't do it soon thing are just going to get worse for everyone as well as for them. Major companies aren't they only areas that have become corrupt an example of this is the following. The example is former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich trying to to sell president Obamas vacant senate seat. The point I am trying to make is that corruption is everywhere.

Which leads to my conclusion that problems need to be taken care of when they are small. There are many more examples of this that apply to other issues. So it is important to take this into perspective. Even more important is to practice this. That concludes this article.

Photo Credit
Flickr Creative Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxypar4/2124673642/

Living History: Lucero

We created this video in our "Maryvale Voice" as a demonstration of how people in our community are applying concepts from social studies to life.

vandalized dreams

by Jackie

What do you think of when you see a tagged wall? Are you those kinds of people that think "In what way does it benefit those people that tag up all these walls"? Or do you always think "Poor families that have to pay the consequences for their kid'srediculous actions"? Or something like that. In my point of view, those who fill up the walls their taggings don't just mess up their dreams of being someone in their lives. They never think about the dreams of their younger siblings. When they mess up their dreams if they get caught, they mess up their siblings dreams as well as their own. Also how they ruin their future they ruin their family's future. Not only that, if they get caught the officers are going to put that in his/her record and it will stay perminantly.

When someone sees a person writing on a wall, they should do something. That doesn't only help, it makes less taggers in our country. It's not fair that other people's walls are all tagged up because someone decided to write on someone's wall, fences, and even cars these days, but they don't think that. They just do their drawings on the walls, cars and etc. They don't think that other people have to take the money out of their pocket to get rid of the writing on the walls.

Something else that I have noticed on those people who do that, is that they don't like to regret their actions. They just do it and it's done for them at that moment. Then later when they don't even imagine, they get caught. Some people's biggest mistake is to deny something that the police is sure that you did. So if i were to be one of them, I would not deny whatever I did. If I got caught, then to bad I got caught, but for them it's hard to take the consequences and easy to deny.

When you decide to to write on a car, or a wall you are putting in risk the most important things in your life. First of all your future, the most important thing in someone's life. Then your reputation. When you go out there trying to find a job, that will be in your record. Then also even if you don't notice it, you lose more things than what you gain. When it's to late you will want those real friends back and you won't be able to have them because partically you changed a real friend for those other supposable friend and for tagging.

Some main reasons why people start tagging is for their friends. Some people care more about what their friends think about them. They end up getting into that and other stuff so that their friends don't call them a scarycat or what they call each other pussies. Most of them say "NO I won't get caught" but when they say that they don't realize that they can get caught. Sometimes they don't get caught, those who say that they are their friends snitch on them too. Those who you call friends today will someday be a backstaber, but those who really care about you, get ignored by you because you, instead of thanking that person, you ignore that person and when you realize that that was the real friend, it will be to late or that person won't want to talk to you no more.

Tagging doesn't only destroy walls, it also destroys families. I say that because when a person in your family is a tagger, then your behavior is different and you don't listen and the family gets tired and they can't deal with you no more. So they send you to another place so you can learn to behave. Either you ever want to talk to your parents ever again or not they will still send you. Not because they don't love you no more, because that is why they want to send you, because they love you. If they wouldn't care about you or love you they would let you get caught and then that is when you will regret it.

Photo Credit

Flickr Creative Commons 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/merrickb/82281756/

Peace

the issue in our neighborhoods

This home in Las Vegas is similar to the scene in Maryvale

by Eva

When I walk around some of the neighborhoods, they feel empty.  Foreclosure signs litter the streets.  Within the walls of some of the homes, children hope for a next meal.  Parents lie to their children, saying, "It will get better," but they don't know.  The reality is that the economy is hitting them hard.  With the immigration raids and then the collapse of the construction industry, families in our neighborhoods are struggling to make it. 

Many people have lost their jobs during these last few years. People have begun to struggle with money because of the loss of jobs. No money to pay their debts or their necessities means they struggle more. Jobs began to fade away and citizens are desperate to become employed. When citizens are desperate, immigrants are even more so. They simply want to support their family or children. A lot of families are going through difficult times because of the loss of jobs.

For all the immigrants life becomes more complicated each day With the difficulty of not having stable jobs and failing to have a good income, they struggle to raise a family. What start out as a goal for a better life is now just a goal to maintain life. Sometimes they have to eat the same food for days. No money means no groceries and that means no food. They lose their homes and cars because they cannot afford the next payment. Losing jobs is a big issue in the real world. Immigrants really have a harder time with this situation, because the laws have made it so hard for them to work.

Photo Credit 

Flickr Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sadrzy/3406206433/

Moco Loco: Two Campaign Commercials

From the Archives:

We created this awhile ago to show how political propaganda works.  We're finally posting it here. 

the change

by Andy

Two guys call an apartment complex. The first man wanted to rent, but he was Mexican. The company could tell by his "weird" English and by his accent. Another man calls with good English. Which guy gets the apartment? In many cases, it's the second man. There are many groups in our society that do not have equal rights. There are also a lot of people who are racist and who fail to accept those who are different.

Some people don't accept others because of there race. They hate people because they are different skin colors and they have a different culture. They don't let them in their stores or even their states or countries. It depends on how much they hate them. In the old days they use to beat up or even kill the people that they hate. Nowadays, people still get beat up and sometimes killed, but it's less violent. Most of the time, it's things like not getting jobs, not being talked to and being treated differently.

Some of the people who get mistreated are Hispanics or Latinos. They're not even let in our state without papers, even though this land used to belong to them. The government doesn't let them in because they say that Hispanics brought violence into this state. The reality is that many Latinos work in farms and do different jobs to get a better life. You need to have papers to come here and if you don't you are judged. Why do you need a dumb papers that say your name?

African American have also been mistreated for the past years. In our nation's beginning, blacks were slaves and died for their freedom. The stereotyping began there and continued over the years. Some Americans think that Hispanics and African American are just criminals, but they're not. African-Americans aren't the only ones committing crimes.

Many people have tried to change the racism in our world. For example Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. They were both good people, that had great ideas. We even have Martin Luther King Jr. Day too. Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta both tried to get equal rights for Latinos. These people were somewhat successful, but still people are racist.

What if there is a cure for racism? A cure that will change peoples way of feeling or thinking. There won't be racist people any more, and people won't be mistreated badly, like they are nowadays. I believe that Barack Obama will make huge changes in the United States, by showing racist people that an African American is as equal as any other race.

Photo Credit
Flickr Creative Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23327394@N05/3160242401/