Blog Post #15: Thursday, December 29, 2011

Today, I planned on spending time with my sisters. However, I ended up spending the whole day with my friends. My morning started at around 8:30 a.m., when I had to wait for a Sears maintenance representative to fix my refrigerator at my new house. After he left, I picked up one of my friends, and then dropped her off to another friend's house.

Afterwards, I was pretty tired because I am not a morning person, and my body was still in shock from waking up so early. Therefore when I got home, I had plans to take a thirty minute nap. However, I ended up having an hour conversation with another friend of mine before I finally took my long anticipated nap. When I went to take my nap, I had set my alarm for thirty minutes after the time. Instead,  I ended up waking up two hours later with another phone call from another friend who needed to be picked up from work.

After I picked my friend up, we went shopping for a couple of hours, and then picked up my friend that I dropped off that morning. When I picked her up, we went driving through various cities, and just having fun with each other. It was a very fun, hectic, and unplanned day.

Blog Post #14: Monday, December 26, 2011

Today, I spent another day with my family but for another holiday. My aunt did not believe in the story of Christmas, and instead believed in the morals of Kwanzaa, and wanted our family to gather at her house to celebrate the first day. A part of me has always wanted to celebrate Kwanzaa because it is about bringing family together, and coming together to give thanks for the things given to us throughout the year. My aunt had taught me a lot that day. I had learned about some of the words that were used around the holiday, and what they represent. Today represented "Umoja", which meant unity.

My sisters and cousins got to participate in a lot of things, too. They got to light the first Kwanzaa candle, pour water in a bowl for ancestors, and say a prayer for the family. The only thing we did not do traditionally was exchange a daily gift because we already participated in that on Saturday.  It was a very unique experience, and changed the way I felt about even participating today.

Blog Post #13: Saturday, December 24, 2011

Today, I spent my Christmas Eve and part of my Christmas with some of my close family members. My family and I had plans to celebrate and exchange gifts at my grandmother's house. When I arrived there, I ended up wrapping presents for my grandmother because she was too busy cooking.

Since my great grandmother wast admitted into the hospital weeks before, I did not get the chance to see her until that day we had our Christmas celebration. It made me happy to see her around people, especially my family. Before we opened and exchanged gifts, my aunt took tons of photos of everybody and forced all the children to pose like a bunch of princesses.

For the first time in my 22 years of celebrating Christmas, I had presents that did not have wrapping paper on it. However, I did get a lot of gift cards. I think this was the first Christmas that symbolized that I was an adult because of the gifts I got and the way they were wrapped. Altogether, I was very satisfied with this day.

Blog Post #12: What does Internship Readiness look like?

Qualities that I believe someone has who is internship ready are leadership, dependability, determination, humility, humbleness, along with their own personality. I plan to demonstrate internship readiness by improving on my growth areas that were pointed out by my instructors and peers. I would also demonstrate this by working more intimately with my peers, and coming up with ways of staying connected with them. I also will strive to stand out as a leader in my own ways in class. Things that I plan to change is my approach to class and working with others. I also plan to be more energized and excited about class and my internship opportunities.

I would also like to work more on my networking and showing my personality to corporate companies. Since I want to hold my own firm, I need to acquire the skills of social networking. I would also like to work more on working with a team of people. This is not my strong suit, and I need to figure out how to work intimately with people.

Blog Post #11: Zeal & Pain at the Workplace

The best job that I had was working at Target between November 2009 to March 2011. I was 19 and it was my very first job, so I was very excited. I was worried when I started because I was hired on as a Seasonal Inventory/Stock Team Member, but my manager had asked me to stay after three months of working there. During almost two years there, I was trained in truck scanning, cashiering, merchandise planning/organizing, price changing, and returning stock.

Things that made my job enjoyable was the fact that it was my first job, and I was encouraged to learn more and do more at work. I also got a lot of hours. Things that the workplace has taught me is to take whatever opportunity that comes my way, and be excited about the work that you're given. Things that I learned that I can take into my internship is being excited about work, and taking on whatever workload that you can without burning yourself out.

The worst job that I had was working as a Seasonal Sales Representative at The Picture People between November 2010 to February 2011. I had got the job because I wasn't going to school, and I figured that I would go for another job. Some of the tasks that I did was greeting/interacting with customers, getting them to their appointed picture room, viewing pictures, and selling to them. I knew how to sell because I had to do that at Target, but working at Picture People made the job more intimate with the customer, and a lot more selling that I preferred because of my personal financial morals. The co-workers I had were very conniving, and always wanted to talk about irrelevant things.

Blog Post #10: Link between Rivera's Mural & the Occupy Movement

The in-depth message that Diego Rivera's Frozen Assets mural shows is how capitalism reigns over cities, while poor laborers don't get benefits and the wealthy does. The Occupy Movement that's going on today has to do with protesting for economic and social equality that many people in America feel is lacking. Rivera's mural and the movement are connected because the artwork brings up things that are lacking in America.

The connection between the two aren't very clear because they're set in different times. However, they point out the same issues. Rivera's artwork was created around 1931-1932, and the problems seem to closely tie into today's events. The Occupy Movement goes more in depth to say that most of America is represented in 99 %tile, and they are paying the wealth's taxes (the 1%). That 1% also collects more money than any class below it, as the government undermines the 99%'s labor output.

An incident very similar to today's protest happened during the Great Depression, and that's what Rivera tried to showcase in his piece. The top half of the picture shows corporate banking business being built, while the second half shows homeless laborers sleeping in sheds and not reaping benefits. The bottom half shows a secret trade between the bank and a few wealthy people.

After getting insightful information about the mural, I can see where the "We are the 99%" motto that is used in the movement comes from. The wealthy are getting paid money under the table, which should be shared with the laborers. While all of this is going on, the only concern the government has is building corporate America, instead of building homes for workers. I feel that it takes a lot of reading between the lines to see the connection between Rivera's artwork message, and the Occupy Movement today.

Info:
Diego Rivera's Frozen Assets Mural
The Occupy Movement
The Great Depression

Blog Post #9: Patience is A Virtue...And an Inspiration?

This may sound weird, but I feel that patience inspires me. The time it takes for things to flourish is a beautiful things to me. I’m known to be a late bloomer, and a time consumer when it comes to my own life path. However, I feel that in order for things to come out the way you truly want it, you have to take the time, and wait for things to come about the correct way.

I think patience and time also gives you room to make mistakes, and be able to correct them. If you make mistakes early on, you’ll have time correct them for the future. The reason I feel that patience is an inspiration to me is because I like to take my time with things so that it comes out the way I planned it to be. I also feel that patience is inspiring to me because I don’t like rushed work. If I can manage to do something on the fly, then it was probably sheer luck. Though in normal situations, my products come out like “chicken scratch”.

I’ll admit that there were times where patience has pushed me, and I wasn’t inspired at the moment. Times where I am not inspired by patience is when I am driving or during confrontational times. When there are stressed times, patience isn’t really running in my head, even though I think it should be.

I am not sure if I share this inspiration with anyone else, but I think that this type of inspiration is something that people should think about. It may not be a person, art form, or behavior, but it’s something that people normally don’t take notice to, let alone as an inspiration.

Although people inspire me, it doesn’t last because I’m a detached person. If I had to choose someone that inspires me, it would be my mother. She exemplified patience my whole life, and put aside her dreams to raise me. I think that is great human interaction with patience.

Blog Post #8: The Babysitter's Club...Community

The community I am a part of is a babysitting community. The members of my community are family-based and tied to friends of my family members. This community initially started as just a family operation, but it became more of a task for me as more members were added on. The interaction in my community is friendly and very open. The kinds of things that go on in the community are homework studies, interactive activities, and transportation to their homes.

The thing that connects the community is the friendship that they have between each other. I am connected to the community because I get the opportunity to witness it. The members of the community sometimes choose to be a part of the community, but sometimes are obligated to be a part of the community because of transportation or homework issues. My community's benefits are that all of the members interact like family. My community's disadvantages are that we may get too involved with each other and get dristracted from doing our work.

I really enjoy my community because I get to see the community members grow. I am the eldest member of my community and because of this, I get to see everything evolve. Most of my community consists of girls, and that makes everything more sentimental.

Blog Post #7: My 1st Module Experience

At the beginning of my first module, I had high expectations for myself. However after getting through Module I, I realize that my goals weren't met and I constantly dropped the ball. I had some good and educational times during those moments, but I wish that I had lived up to what I set myself with in the beginning.

I am proud of the fact that I figured out ways to dress business appropriate, incorporated with my own style. At the beginning of the program, I thought that it was going to be the hardest part because I was so used to wearing tank tops and flip flops, and I hated the thought of having to conform to business attire. Although finding an outfit for the next day is hard, I have found myself liking the close that I have been forced to wear, and now find it hard to wear casual clothes.

I am also proud of the fact that I did so well in my Business Communications class. I thought it would be like trying to stand still on slippery ice. The class had turned out to be very easy, and I really loved the interaction in class. Although I don't like to talk about things that I'm rewarded for, I got the opportunity to do my Elevator Pitch in front of a panel of judges (one of whom intimidated me), and was tied for 2nd place.

I am also proud of the fact that I have been interacting with my peers. I also feel that this is a delta because even though I interacted, I did not get a full opportunity to have real, in-depth conversations with some of my colleagues like I wished.
TO BE CONTINUED...

Blog Post #6: Who's My Neighborhood Shape Shifter?

I was born and raised in San Francisco, and lived there for the first eleven years of my life. If you know about San Francisco, then you probably know that there are sections of San Francisco that people "claim", and I place my "claim" in the Bayview Hunters Point region. It is know to be very urban, and a violent. However, these are all things that people I've encountered have "claimed". I never really paid attention to neighborhood influences, but more so to how my environment at school and home influenced me.

I can't say that my neighborhood, didn't influence me, but it did give me a new pair of eyes to things I did not experience. Growing up in my area with most people the same race as me, and going to a very diverse school could seem like a push & pull situation. However, I seemed to be more involved with the environment that I was not used to: school. I seemed to enjoy putting myself in situations that I wasn't used to, but I still remembered where I came from & the people who were like me, in color. The people I hung out with usually seemed to be a different race than me, and I had no problem with it, but "my people" thought that I was betraying them.

Even though they felt this way towards me, I did not hold any grudges, and change who I was. Instead, I explained to them that I wasn't a different person, but just putting myself in a different situation to see the difference. People who are the same race as me now seem to be coming around with other races and environments. This would not be so much gentrification, but more like a race settings or racism, in general. It does feel like gentrification plays a small part, though. The different ethnicity of students, and my race of people not coping with the fact that I was willing to branch out is an example of gentrification, just without the housing changes.

Blog Post #5: Reflection on "The Poverty Business"

The companies who prey on people, or families who are living in dilapidated homes make situations worse by cheating them with the sneaky deals that they sell. There were times where salesmen wouldn't even give someone in a bad living/income position, the time to ask a simple question. However, with the annual debt rising, they realize that selling to them can benefit them because they know that families need these necessary luxuries to get ahead and get by. Families or individuals who have dreams and hopes to get out of the environment that they are in, or even getting out of the class system they're placed in, won't be able to get to that point because of lucrative salesmen, who are now aware of their situation.

I honestly feel that the more that these salesmen keep selling and succeeding in it, they will reap what they sow. I learned in my Economics class years ago that if a teen walks into a store, and then walks out with something that they did not pay for, every single person in the world eventually is paying for it. It would be due to the price of the item sold, the cost of the wrapping of the item, the cost of the shipping, the labor done in the factories, the investment in that company from various sponsors/people, the creator's pocket money from trials and errors, and the profit that they potentially lost because that item was stolen.

I also feel that the person or people responsible for fixing this sale/debt problem would be the run-down companies who prey on helpless families. They feel that their only profits would come from people who need it, but cannot afford it. However, I am pretty sure that they get bigger profits, and recurring customers based from their wealthy clients. It is not fair to the lower class system, and does not help the economy, as a whole, move forward. I also feel that individuals are a fault, sometimes, because they should read the fine print before signing anything.

Blog Post #4: My Bio Blog

My name is Dominique Anderson, and I am 21 years old. I have a big interest in jewelry making, interior/commercial design, traveling, many forms of art, and learning new things about life and the people who exist in it. I am also very family oriented, and consider them to be a big motivation in my life, especially while I am attending the Year Up program. I have seven younger siblings who look up to me, so I feel that it is mandated that I do something that would at least make a positive impact in their lives. I have future plans to go to a four-year college, preferably Sacramento State or out of state, that would apply to Commercial Design, and get a Associate of Arts Degree in Fine Arts.

After I feel that I have accomplished my school studies, I will work at trying to create my own design firm that would aid businesses or companies who needs functional and creative environment to work in. My reason for choosing commercial design as a career is because I am a very artistic person, and would love to be able to meld that into a business career, where I can effectively help someone. I would want the work that I do in the world to last for a prominent number of years and be useful.

Blog Post #3: An Event of Our Today-Meg Whitman becomes CEO of HP

Today, September 22, 2011, former CEO of HP, Leo Apotheker, has been fired and replaced by former e-Bay & runner-up for 2010 California Governor election, Meg Whitman. Although both of these great people are qualified to run a company, there will always be only one winner. Apotheker was CEO of the company from September of last year til now. Between that time, HP's stock dropped about 40%, and then almost another 25% in August this year. His executive background includes co-CEO and eventual CEO of SAP AG. It is a software corporation that creates other software programs for businesses, which lasted him almost two years. 

Unlike Apotheker small working ranks, Whitman has had many executive positions at many popular companies like Hasbro, The Walt Disney Company, and Proctor & Gamble. I personally think that Meg Whitman would do greatly as CEO for HP. She has great credentials, and seems very educated in the things that she does. I chose this article because it relates to jobs in the Technology & IT world, and I think this is female empowering.

I also think, as an ulterior motive, that becoming CEO for another company would boost her votes for another election to come. Although some people feel that she may have screwed over e-Bay, the employees that she brought in ended up profiting a lot of money, annually. I also think as an ulterior motive, that becoming CEO again will boost votes for her if she were to become a candidate for another election. Overall though, I think that girls (women) rule the world.


"Who run the world...GIRLS"
-Beyonce "Run The World"


Info:
KTVU News: http://www.ktvu.com/money/29269957/detail.html
Meg Whitman Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Whitman
Leo Apotheker Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léo_Apotheker

Blog Post #2:: The Awkward Years: My High School Experience

For the four most confusing years of my life, I attended Deer Valley High School. I remember the first day of my freshman year thinking that I would have that same "Im so excited to venture into a new world" feeling, as if it I were going to back to kindergarten. I will admit, the first week was fun, but I think after that, everything went downhill. I had ran away from home during a school break, which was a funny and unsuccessful attempt to live on my own. I ran away for a day and came back home the same day!

I had always struggled to keep good grades, despite how much I actually knew because I was actually smart. I never really applied myself when it came to homework. The environment set in my school was pretty fast paced and it seemed, in my eyes, that everybody was just trying to fit in, instead of doing work. Aside from myself, a lot of my classmates ended up reuniting our senior year in night school to catch up with credits. Although my teachers were pressing me to do good, I had internal issues at home that hindered me.

Blog Post #1: The Way I "Talk"

Being that I come from a separated family, I would say that both my mother and father had some sort of influence on the way I speak now. I would also say that my settings sometimes influence me to talk a certain way, as well. Whenever my mother talked to me, she spoke "proper", but did not hesitate to add some slang into a sentence in order to get a point across, whether it'd be good or bad. My father, on the other hand, almost always spoke "proper" and always wanted me to speak proper. There were times that I caught him slip out a few slang words, and not even correct it. He wasn't strict with me, though, so if I had let a few slip out, that would be okay, too.

I really picked up on slang being around my young peers in elementary school. I hung out with a lot of different ethnicity groups growing up, so I caught on to how they spoke to each other. At the end of the day though, I try to speak in whatever way is comfortable and understandable enough to get my point across. Regardless of if it was slang or "proper". I think I can come up with my own "lingo", and say that I speak proper slang, or slang in a proper tone.