Internship Readiness

Internship readiness is vital for module 3. It is very important that myself and as well as other colleagues understand the importance of preparation. I look forward to working on my growth areas and any other aspect of my professionalism. I want to be a valuable asset to whatever company i intern at and to not be overlooked. I want to provide and add value as an intern and a future employee. Year Up is the foundation and it is up to me to follow the proper guidlines, in order to be succesful. I will take module 3 very seriously and use it as a stepping stone to further my career in the information technology field. I will attend Toastmasters regularly to help improve my public speaking skills, and lean on the staff and my colleagues for additional help. This community is more than a learning community it is the backbone for future success. I will also strive to want more from any upcoming opportunities and events that will help broaden my horizons, or career path. Most of all, I will follow the steps of a smart positive goal and apply it Year Up, my internship, and my daily life.

Best and Worst Jobs

I have had a number of 5 jobs in my lifetime. Ranging from a cook at a cheesesteak shop and working at Costco wholesale. By far, I feel that working for the cheesesteak shop was my worst job I’ve ever had. I had a mean manager who was never on time for anything and always blamed the employees for everything. The miasma atmosphere was depressing and made me want to quit everyday while I was working. Most of all, I smelled like rotten cheesesteaks every day after work. This stained my clothes, my hair, and my daily confidence. To sum it all up, I got laid off for leaving and going to my grandfather’s funeral out of state, after I had given the manager a notice two weeks in advance. This was a complete shock to me, but I was happy the torture of the cheesesteak smell and work was over. I soon began working for Costco Wholesale, which was not my favorite job. My favorite job by far, was working as a certified fingerprint roller, under a company called Certifix. I fingerprinted the providers for the In Care Home Service. This really helped me with my social and people skills. I had to work with people from all ethnicities and mostly those who couldn’t speak English. This really helped with communication skills through language barriers. I found myself asking common greeting words from different ethnicities, so I could be able to at least greet my next customer. I felt like both my jobs really helped evolve my people skills and how well I communicate with others. This will really help in my internship because I will have the opportunity to interact with people from different backgrounds. In the end, even if I hated the job, it helped my future.

Connecting Events

The mural shows and displays signs of depression during hard times. The color scheme is gloomy and uses dark mellow colors. This connects to present times because the Occupy Movement is similar due to the new class of poor people. The connection is clear because their our many deaths and wrongful actions taking place. The mural even shows a picture of the bank and the bank is part of the reason for the Occupy Movement. The mural shows a man in a business suit looking over dead bodies and my interpretation is the unjust actions of Wall Street. The protestors outside of the Wall Street buildings can represent the bodies in the mural in my opinion because they are willing to die for what they believe in. The mural shows the power that Wall Street has and the effects it has among society. The occupy movement is also about the imbalance of wealth throughout our country. The banks are wrongfully taking actions with their customer’s money and its causing a strain on society. The mural also shows the Wall Street buildings standing tall in the background as a symbol of power, but too much power is causing the poverty line to steepen and even those who commit suicide. This mural is very relevant to what’s happening today and shows clear similarities between both movements. I feel that this is a powerful mural that states a lot without words involved and if our society was wiped out;this picture will explain a lot about our extinction.

My Inspiration

            My business communications instructor is one of my biggest inspirations. I never liked English for any reason until I joined her class. She inspires me to work on improving my grammar and punctuating skills. I’ve gained a lot of insight on how to speak in the professional world and properly compose an e-mail. This has been very helpful and is a skill I can continue to improve on for the rest of my life. She takes the time to make sure her instructions are clear and always helps students understand by giving multiple examples. I never thought I would be interested in a subject I hated so much in High School. This was a complete shock to me and a blessing because speech is so important when it comes to business and presenting yourself to others. Her teaching style is amazing and will have an impact on me for many years to come. I plan to share the knowledge I’ve obtained with my family and peers. So they can understand the importance of language and how far it can take you in life. I’ve also learned the importance and value of code switching. Code switching is learning what is and what isn’t appropriate language and gestures for the workplace. We all use slang and words we are comfortable with outside the professional atmosphere, but it’s about when and where we use them. My instructor has taught me the value of code switching without changing who I am as a person. This is a lesson in life I will cherish and use to my advantage because a lot of people lack the ability to code switch. I appreciate the enthusiasm my instructor brings to class everyday and her will to push students to over achieve. Although she will be looking for work that’s closer to her residence and family. I hope she understands how much her gracious efforts has affected me and she will have a great impact on my life forever.

Basketball community

The members of my basketball community are passionate about how they play the game. It consists of friends and other associates that attend the gym regularly. We all interact with a competitive edge and a will to challenge ourselves to the best of our abilities. This takes team chemistry, dedication, support, and a heightened basketball I.Q. A lot of us are a part of this community because basketball is a form of exercise and is vital to relieve stress. It provides a second home to some, and a sense of direction that motivates our self esteem. It also teaches discipline and how to work as a unit through mistakes. I feel that sports hold the advantage of connecting people from different cultures and backgrounds. It lets people who you may not interact with on a daily basis learn more about you. For example, after most games or before, we introduce ourselves and I feel like that forms a bond with others outside of just playing basketball. Even when you’re not on the same team, it shows common interest by being in the same environment. I wouldn’t just recommend basketball as a form of exercise or community to join. I would recommend all sports because of the learning experience and chance to bond with others. I hope that everyone can have experiences with different cultures and ethnicities. It’s something that’s special, which changes perspectives and assumptions to things you may not be use to.

Module One

My time during module one was well. I feel like I interacted with others more than I usually would during my daily life and stayed professional during most of the module. I feel like I can improve on my anger management, by not being discouraged by infractions or future infractions. It had an effect on my work ethics and I’m looking forward to improving my attitude. My exam scores should have been higher so I will make sure I get enough rest and study three times harder. I am proud of the fact that I made it during the first seven weeks and look forward to growing as a learning community. All in all, I look to gain from all my mistakes and use them as lessons for future references in the business atmosphere and life in general.

I am who i am

                I am who I am because of the environment of my neighborhood. It consists of violence, prostitution, and drug wars. It doesn’t have the best resources, but it does have resources around. When you have been accustomed to a way of life for so long, you adapt to your surroundings and learn to live with it. These obstacles lead to friends, family and neighbors being murdered in your life. I believe that everyone in low-income or challenged neighborhoods has faced hardships and constant problems. It takes a village to raise a child, but it’s harder when the village has been influenced and engulfed in the negativity surrounding it. I am who I am because of the neighborhood I lived in and I feel that it has made me strong as an individual through life lessons and teachings. Life is hard dying is easy and that’s how I feel from the heart due to many situations I have witnessed and personally been through. People have their own views about people coming from a specific neighborhood, but their judgment is irrelevant because situations in life affect everyone differently. Judging an individual from their past or background is easy to do, but it does not justify who you are as a person or your moral values. Everyone makes mistakes in life and it’s up to the individual to grow from it or stay in the constant cycle of previous habits or addictions. Life is precious and it would be a better place if we evolved towards equality and justice for all. I am proud of life experiences because it teaches me to be thankful for everyone around me and appreciate everything that I do have. Life teaches you that no matter what you go through, your situation can always be worst. All in all, my neighborhood has had bad influences that were life changing, but it makes me push that much harder towards positivity.

THE POVERTY BUSINESS

I feel that companies in our society are playing by their own rules. Their strategy is taking the opposite affect towards globalization. It is making it hard for poor people and those who are living day by day to excel in life. These companies are targeting communities where not as many people have had the resources for education, or even access to the internet. They’re taking full advantage of this by charging extremely high interest rates and not thoroughly explaining what the contract is actually stating. Some of the main companies are credit card companies and car dealerships, which keeps the low-income community further away from the opportunity divide. The worst your credit gets, the easier it is for companies to reject you by a simple credit check. This is unjust and I feel like the government would make a big difference in alleviating some of the traps these companies have set for a specific group of people. I feel that since our society has become so advanced, everyone should have access to the World Wide Web in becoming more up to date into what’s going on around them. This will constantly keep the opportunity divide further from our goals if something isn’t done immediately. After reading “The Poverty Business,” it became evident that companies have made a huge impact in reaching out to low-income communities and making sure they’ll be left in debt, or paying credit bills for the rest of their life. It was a shock to me because I never knew they could make such a profit by targeting poor communities and really becoming lucrative. They use slogans and ads to make consumers comfortable while accumulating clients with high interest rates. This is not a matter that should be overlooked but valued as something communities can join and face together in order to cross the opportunity divide.

Perserverance

Hi my name is Jabari Harris and I’m striving to accomplish every aspect of my future goals. I’m family orientated and love to exercise as a form of meditation in my spare time. I graduated from Berkeley High School and I am currently enrolled in the community college of San Francisco. I am pursuing my educational goals as far as achieving my associates degree and following up with my bachelors in the near future. I haven’t had the best life, so my peers and my community inspire me and motivate me to want more for myself and my family. I also hope to be an inspiration to my peers and others looking to excel in life. My transition into the technical world has been a challenging but resourceful tool that I am now confident about. This has taught me the importance of technology and where our future is headed. There are new inventions and creations that are taken affect every minute of our lives. This is a precious fact that motivates me and how I can potentially be a part of the next generation’s future.

Devastation of Haiti

It has been a year since the earthquake in Haiti occurred and destroyed the city of Port-au-Prince.  There has been hardly any help, though billions of dollars has been pledged for aid. This is like a slap in the face for those who live in the country. They barely started to reconstruct the damage and it has already been a year. They are looking forward to building and uplifting their city, but the resources they have are procrastinating. The epidemic of cholera has added to the trouble and problems already occurring. This means that people are suffering from healthy resources. Such as food, water, shelter, and basic living needs. This is a depressing fact and us as Americans should be thankful and fortunate for not having to fight an epidemic while surviving through a crisis. I can only imagine the health and for parents trying to raise a family in a harsh suffering environment. The earthquake last year killed around 250,000 people and left more than a million people homeless. These are the real faces of poverty and shouldn’t be over looked as less than. These are devastating statistics and painful numbers to read for a country that’s already below the poverty lines. I couldn’t imagine waking up to a city of destruction for a whole year with suffering community around me in need of reliable help. The thought of what these people are going through makes me want to achieve higher goals for myself, so I can be established to the point to help other countries in times of disaster. Hundreds and thousands are still living in camps, but are still falling victim to the epidemic of cholera. It has already taken at least 3,750 lives since mid-october. So I just want my colleagues to appreciate what others don’t have…

Academics

I would tell interested outsiders that Berkeley High School is an excellent school because it had a school inside of a school such as the Community Partnership academy. This allowed for students to focus on specific subjects and criteria related to his/her area of study. The facility was huge and the atmosphere was positive and flowing with energy, but it''s up to u to make a conscious decision and complete your work. The teachers were helpful and wanted to push all the students to thrive to do their best in preparing us for the "Real World." I feel like they did a great job as far as being positive leaders and role models and setting forth the tools we need to be succesful. Even the students were helpful and we were like a positive team inside of a small community. So I would advise any kid in the nation to go to this school,plus Cal Berkeley is a few blocks away from the campus. So I feel this school is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a good school to join.

Influence of language

BLOG POST # 1

9/14/11

I feel that my parents and the community I was raised in had the most influence on my language and dialect. Since birth, this was all I knew and listened to growing up. So this portrayed the way that language was suppose to be spoken in my eyes. It is only until you get older and realize the proper way to speak English for some of us. When you are around slang your whole life, you have to adapt to the new environment of speaking clearly and correct. This is a challenge a lot of us have to face because we are not use to speaking in that manner. Reading the dictionary has helped me improve my speech and I feel that If I grew up in a nicer area I would have already had proper English instilled in me. My biggest influence was my father because he was the male role model I looked up to and my support system while transitioning into manhood. The community around me influenced me heavily because my peers and colleagues are who I grew up with. To the business world we speak funny but in our eyes it was all we knew. So the community and my friends and family had the biggest influence on my dialect growing up.

Jabari harris