Stay Focused Does Not Focus

The Stay Focused application retains a simplistic and easy to navigate system where the user can easily access and restrict websites to their desire. I used StayFocused as a tool to restrict distracting web pages which include YouTube and Twitter. These social media and entertainment pages have gained an empire of fans and are designed to immediately captivate the user which is why I used Stay Focused thus allowing me to center my attention on my school work. 

When first entering the application, it immediately gives you an option to block all websites or only specific pages, it then asks which parts of the website you would like to temporarily block and for how long. This enables the user to not be easily distracted by notifications. Stay Focused is user friendly and is comical in its wording, using the phrase “Nuke Em” as a way to begin disabling access to chosen websites. 

However, what Stay Focused does not take into account is that (for some people including myself) the application is only a reminder that I can not use the disabled device for the allotted time, so (depending on the work) it only would motivate me to use an alternative device. I feel that though the application is well thought out and quite useful, it is not one I would use for myself, primarily because I would prefer to start working with a self motivation rather than having a machine manage my time, thus proving my incapability to take my academic studies seriously.

Riot Voiced the Unheard, Equality is What Was Needed

The biggest surprise to me was my interviewees involvement of the 1992 Rodney King riots, where my subconscious had incorrectly assumed she had entangled herself into the chaos of the anarchy and grasping the raw resemblance of inequality and tragedy, however this was not true. Being an African American living in Los Angeles during the 1990’s, I made a conjecture and was confident she would have been a part of the unlawful disorder, however she argued that the involvement of people during the riots was primarily decided based off of one's geographical and socio-economical status. In addition she was not a large advocate against the jury’s decision that essentially instigated the most violent ever seen in the city. The only experience she encountered that were similar to those of Rodney King was when the recalled herself going to work on any given day and being called a monkey, a term used to put disdain and derision upon people of color. She also argued that there was a point in the rioting where people had essentially “Lost sight of their objective” and used riot as an alternative to loot, consume, and destroy, this venturing off the initial objective which was to prove to the people of the city that everyone should be treated equally.

After the interview, we created a monologue in an attempt to share our interviewee’s perspective with the public, similarly based off of Anna Deavere Smith’s book Twilight Los Angeles. During writing process, unique literary elements were key in order to convey our interviewee’s perspective. What made my monologue successful was not only the monologue

itself, but was the introduction. The introduction describes the character and it’s setting, in my case I was to describe Mrs. Sims and her ambiance. I had begun the introduction with her body framework, describing how she hunches over and is lean and elegant. I then move into using similes to describe her perspective and her facial expressions. I mention her being sharp and her voice as a weapon, how she is destructive and keen. My goal was to have to have the reader retain a presumption of the subject, where they can later discover Mrs. Sims in her own words through.After the introduction I began to write the monologue, using keywords and phrases that I felt would have the most meaning. My monologue begins with one word, “Monkeys.” Then a line down, “That’s what they called us.” The use of spacing was intentionally used to have the reader understand the emphasization and primary meaning to the one word. Throughout her story I used this tactic, hoping that if the monologue was deleted except for the single word, the reader would still understand my intention and path. Mid­ way through the monologue I mentioned in parenthesis, “(Her glasses worked as a veil for anguish. Commotion is heard from the living room, I think someone scored a goal. Locomotion. What does that even mean?)” This was specifically used to make the reader appear authentic and real. This makes the reader feel as if they are inside the interview room, being able to see the mechanics of both our brains working as we interpret the 1992 Rodney King riots.

Credit: www.dailymail.co.uk

Beyond The Hills, Somewhere Waiting For Me

The Voice Of The Unheard 2

What I captured from all the information gathered throughout our study of Twilight Los Angeles can be summarized into one sentence, “Riot was the voice of the unheard.” This sentence sparks many themes; confusion, hatred, pain, isolation, loss, gain, discrimination, and prejudice. 

Throughout the countless monologues in the book these themes are constantly referred to through language, colloquialism, and stylistic choices. These themes reflect the spark the riots embedded into the people. The themes are categorized into the one sentence based upon experiences read in the book and seen in Anna Deavere Smith’s film. 

During the film she portrays the character of a bystander to the scene of a store robbery, she mentions how racial discrimination is not applied to the white police force, how we do not see them as people. She continues to explain how the Rodney King beating and riots reiterate racism, genocide, and slavery. These both can spark prejudice, loss, and discrimination. 

An anonymous man speaks out in the book referencing the riots, he speaks with worry and makes wild interpretations corresponding with scenes from a post apocalyptic film and Godzilla. This represented the confusion and fear being experienced by people of the riots. 

In the book a young girl named Lucia speaks about power and change. She comments on her experiences with people's perspective on revolution, and how they would consider it impossible. Her uncle says it’s impossible for the young to change the world because they are idealistic and romantic. Lucia repeats her name thrice, each with a different variation, these variations represent hope, possibility, faith, ambition. She is essentially isolated, with a negative attitude from her own side, but gains aspiration through her self confidence. This sparks the isolation, loss, and gain in the phrase. 

From this information we have learned the most significant idea was a revolution through the unheard and disdained.

The Sprightly Adolescent Giraffe 3

During the waiting process (A specific time from February to March 6th where applications are being reviewed by alloted high schools) I had been driven with distress, and received an astounding grade on a mathematics quiz. Now you're wondering, how is this a failure? In response I did not receive this grade due to my own knowledge. During the quiz, I was struggling on a section involving linear equations with multiple variables. During the quiz a peer passing by noticed I was struggling and without my permission or realization whispered the answers to me and continued walking. Shocked, my mind had immediately began questioning if I should tell the professor, and though every instinct was telling me to alert someone, I pretended to not hear the comment and continued working. I later received a score of one hundred four percent. This grade would be ninety-two percent if I had alerted the professor. Due to my acts of dishonesty and selfishness I cared more about a number on a quiz than a moral act. In my perspective a failure. I would consider this the greatest academic rebounds of my career as a student, whereas from that day on I kept my work confidential and concealed myself from outside influences. I imagined failure as not a forewarning of one's academic demise nor a sign of incompetence, but merely an opportunity. This opportunity was to own my work and to know it is my responsibility to complete every aspect of what is expected of me usingh my own knowledge. This is what had been a successful failure. 

Image Credit: www.playbuzz.com

Rodney King Perspective 1

An experience I encountered that influenced my way in which I perceive the issues surrounding the Rodney King assault was when I was driving to school and our vehicle was pulled aside by a police officer because we had done an illegal u-turn. The police officer had stepped out of his car, the flickering blue and red lights moving in quick circular motions. He walked towards the front of the car, wearing glasses and keeping his right hand on his weapon as if he was seeking for an intimidating and menacing look. He knocked on the driver's side window implying she needed to roll it down. He then set his arms on the door and looked at my mom who was driving, then who was inside the vehicle, then asking if she knew what she had done wrong. He asked a few more questions and it wasn’t long before the police officer left only giving my parents a warning. 

This experience triggered an immediate reaction from me, I questioned myself that if my mom had been a male or a person of color, would the outcome have been different. This brings me to the Rodney King assault, where he was a young african american male in a time where the police force was more rejecting of people of color than they are in the modern day. I believe that the complexion of one’s pigment can play a large role in situations such as the Rodney King assault. My perspective initially changed when I realized how severe racial discrimination is and what roll it can play in the modern day. Understanding that creating assumptions can be entirely untrue, where it does not matter what skin color one may retain, but that skin color does not dictate ones potential actions.