Ready for Internship...Is my Internship Ready for Me?

One of the qualities you need to be ready for your internship is to be professional at all times. In the office, outside of the office, even on your breaks you will be evaluated. You should always be early, because being early is on time and being on time is late. You must develop the skills of being a good listener and a fast learner. Whenever you're being told a task or given information always take notes. This shows your boss you're taking what they say seriously and you won't find yourself asking repetitive questions. Always be willing to go the extra mile, you will be looked at as more of an employee instead of an intern. In Module 3 I will have to tighten up and always be aware of my surroundings. Meaning, I can never let my guards down and get too comfortable. I need to improve my grammar and the way I speak to my peers. I also need to watch how I perceive myself because I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about me. My attitude has drastically changed, but I still need to watch my face expressions. My peers and I  know I mean well but my body language may beg to differ. I will continue to use my planner because it has helped me tremendously to stay on top of things and prioritize my time. I feel by the end of Module 3 I will be more than ready. The real question is, is my internship ready for me?

JOB well done...

 My most memorable and favorite job was when I worked at Jamba Juice. Believe it or not, I learned a lot working there for two years. I’ve witnessed some crazy things from employees doing drugs in the break room, fights in the lobby, to even homeless people defecating all over our bathroom walls. It was safe to say there was never a dull moment working at Jamba Juice. Despite all of the craziness that came with the job I met plenty of great individuals, learned a lot of skills, and gained a new understanding of health. My main job was being a cashier and a mixer, but I loved working at the cash register. I am a social butterfly, so I loved sparking up random conversations with customers and giving compliments. But with every great job, there is a horrible one. One summer, for a little extra money, I applied to be a canvasser in Berkeley. Our main job was to go door to door and collect donations for a certain cause. They expected me to memorize a lengthy speech in which I would recite at each person’s door. And to make matters worse I worked from 2 pm to 8 pm, in corrosive neighborhoods of Richmond. I literally wanted to cry every time I had to go to work. I was forced to walk in unknown territories, speak to rude people, and be out of my comfort zone. Did I mention it rained my first week of working? I held up for two weeks and quit. This job, hands down, was the worst job ever.

Protect and Serve??

   We all remember the sad day that Bart police, Johannes Mehserle, shot and killed Oscar Grant at the Bart station. The killing of Grant was justified by Mehserle mistaking his gun for his taser gun. Meshserle did not serve the time he deserved. Now that he is out of jail a new case is being brought upon him. Kenneth Carrethers is accusing Mehserle and four other officers of police brutality. Two months before the fatal killing of Grant, on November 8, 2008, Carrethers was beaten for criticizing the officers. Carrethers said the officers were being lazy and were incompetent and the officers responded by tripping him and jumping him. In my opinion, officers are over using their authority. The purposes of police officers are to protect and serve, not beat first and ask questions later. I’m sure officers are taught different ways to restrain a person, so there is no reason for 5 officers to handle a man with no weapon. Police are spreading fear rather than keeping people and neighborhoods safe. If words or opinions trigger violence and anger in you, then you don’t need to be a police officer of any kind. Last time I checked, police are not allowed to touch you unless they are threatened. There are plenty of cases of police brutality, but sadly they are dropped because of the government support police officers receive. The people don’t even think to call the police first in a time of need; they have lost our trust and respect. Lately the news is filled with police vs. people violence. If this keeps up there will be a war within our cities. We the people are upset and have the right to be! Our tax money is being used against us; police officers are not living up to their duties. The police bleed just like we do, and if this continues, they will bleed like we do!

Why Hate?? Motivate

“If you have ‘haters’ that means you must be doing something right.”
The word “hater” has become used loosely lately, it seems everyone has them. The true definition of haters is people who envy you simply because you do you, and do it so well. For example, all through high school girls hated on me simply because I hung with the boys. Girls spread rumors about me and my name was dragged through the dirt. At first I didn’t understand why these girls didn’t like me, because I got along with everybody.  I later found out it wasn’t meant for me to understand, they simply envied me for no reason, which made them haters. Being young and defensive, I responded to hate with violence, and found myself fighting unnecessary battles. My mom sat me down and said, “Brenae fighting these girls is not going to solve the problem. You can’t change the way people feel about you, all you can do is continue to do you. If they hate on you, you must be doing something right.” So I used the hate, envy, and jealousy as a motivation to keep on going. Instead of getting mad, I got it together. People hate on you with the intentions of seeing you react and eventually get caught slipping. I take the hate, put it under my feet, and step my game up. Dealing with haters taught me how to turn negative scenarios into positives ones. Someone is going to hate on you one time or another, you just need to know how to flip the script.Turn criticism, discouragement, rumors, and judgment into motivation. Instead of letting it get to you and weigh on your shoulders, use it as an inspiration to do better. Besides, anyone should be flattered that they were someone elses topic of conversation. You must hold some importance in their life.

Community Prewrite

What: Devry Online Learning Community
Why: This community of people are all goal driven. They are all in this community with a purpose of success in passing a particular class.
Who: Different people from all kinds of backgrounds and ages; diverse.
Where: Students are located all over the United Sates
When: Each week we are graded on Discussion Questions we answer, provided by the teacher. This is our opportunity to converse with each other daily.

RIP Module 1

Module one was quite the learning experience, but it went by way too fast. Just as I began finding comfort in my teachers and classmates, I was moved to another section. Looking back at our previous weeks together I discovered a lot about my peers, as well as myself. I’ve always been told I was very smart and wise beyond my years, but never really seen it. Successfully juggling my college classes, Year Up program, and my daily life proved to me otherwise. I have become very organized with my tasks as well as my time. I’m consistent and always strive for perfection. I also gained good studying habits and note taking skills. There are things I still need to work on such as these infractions. I need to improve my attitude towards authority, and respect the importance of the dress code and rules.

A Product of my Environment

I was born and partly raised in Oakland, California and I can honestly say I love my city. Over the years, Oakland inherited a horrible reputation, but when I was younger, it had more life. Growing up of course Oakland had its good and bad. North Oakland, where I'm from, was the nicer side of the city. East Oakland was the liveliest and let's just say don't go to West Oakland if you're not from there. When I was younger I guess I seen the innocence in Oakland. I used to dance and cheer lead for Mosswood Park so I attended all the basketball games and performed at all the community events. I loved the fact that my city was so diverse. Everything wasn't all glitter and gold though, I've witnessed things a little girl should never have to. I've seen racist crimes, robberies, I held my first gun, I even seen my first body in Oakland. Being raised in my city, gunshots aren't new to me anymore. I have bittersweet memories about Oakland but it has lead me to be the woman I am today. I'm street smart. I know the ins and outs, and the dos and don't 's of the game. Oakland has helped form me a thick skin and taught me trust can’t be bought or developed overnight. My city made me tough and I appreciate that because I feel nothing can break me. For my high school years, I lived in Antioch. At first when I moved out there, I hated it, because there was nothing I was used to. There were no black people, there were fat houses everywhere, and I felt like the minority. Nevertheless, over the years I've grown to appreciate living in Antioch. Living out there taught me to be independent and showed me being solo is a good thing. I can honestly say I am a product of my environment. I took the good with the bad and learned from it. I gathered up all of the things I went through and used it as a platform to rise above it all. Guess what, I'm still standing.

The Poverty Business

“I don’t know whether I was more bothered by the ignorance of the customers or by the company taking advantage of the ignorance of the customers.”

-Kehinde Powell

The issues between these companies and individuals are a joint problem and it takes a joint effort to eliminate the problem. None of these companies are making these customers sign any papers. Companies simply advertise the pros of the deal and make everything look sweet. How else would they lure people in? The customers call them specifically for their services not fully understanding what exactly they are asking for. We, as consumers, should be more knowledgeable in what we get ourselves into. If you don’t understand something it is your responsibility to figure it out, especially if you’re the one seeking for services. These companies wouldn’t bloom so well if everyone knew the pros and cons of the deal. This is why middle class citizens are being targeted because of the lack of knowledge. Plus how else would they make money off of interest? They are looking for people who are unable to pay their installments quickly. I believe if people were aware of and fully understand the fine print, then this business wouldn’t be so prosperous. They need our business to stay in business, so why do we keep supporting them while leaving ourselves in debt. These companies purposely include the cons in fine print. I believe the government should step in at this point because it is getting out of hand. Before establishing credit, companies should require a credit or money management class or at least offer it. Credit and money management should start being taught in high school. In high school people start to develop their own financial responsibilities. Once it is taught young, by the time we are older we should be more than familiar with it.

From a Broken Home, But You Can't Call Me Broke!!

"The apple doest fall too far from the tree, explains why you see the Goddess in me."
-Queen B
I am my mother's child, her only child and I was more than enough. Growing up it was only me and my mama. What can I say about my father, the coward was never there. I eventually grew to appreciate his absence because the relationship between my mama and I is strong. I've always felt like she was the father and I was the mother because we had each others back and relied on each other.We've struggled, shed tears, and bloomed together. She is a very strong and independent black woman, her ways rubbed off on me. When I was 14 I made it up in my mind I will not be a burden on my mama, so I started working. It was empowering to earn my own money and do for myself. It also felt good to make her smile and take her out to eat from time to time. My mother is a queen in my eyes and her standard will never be lowered, I owe my life to this woman. Since she had to work a 9-5 I found myself lonely at times. An idle mind is the devil's workshop, and boy did he work on me! But I don't blame my mama for any mistakes I made because she did exceptionally well taking care of. I mean look at me now. If there's one thing I've learned from my mom it's MONEY over EVERYTHING, but in my HEART there's nothing over HER.

School You!!

Your average high school isn't for everybody, it sure wasn't for me. My sophmore year I was expelled from my school district and ended up dropping out. In high school I had a bad attitude, plenty of enemies, and you couldn't tell me anything!I felt all the females were a problem. They were messy and childish, so I solved my problems by using violence.(and between me and you I never lost a fight) I started working and I missed out on a lot of credits, so I was forced to go to continuation school. People think continuation school is for a bunch of misfits but little did I know continuation was the best thing that happened to me. I received my credits twice as fast and I only was in school for 3 hours, so I was able to work and do other things. The teachers were more down to earth and the students were more mature and independent. I loved it!! Unlike regular high schools the classes were small so I was able to really get to know my teachers and build relationships. I wasn't ashamed of graduating from a continuation, because if I were at a regular high school I would have never graduated period.

Who influenced your speech??

In general I believe that our speech is influenced by our peers and where we are from. Growing up I noticed different city's said different things, that's how I knew where people were from. It's funny to me how a generation can change their peers vocabulary, as if it were a fad. Honestly, we are with our peers more than 50% of the day. Since we are with our peers most of the time we tend to bond and relate easily. Which makes it easy to be influenced, period. Influenced to try drugs, play with guns, or just hustle. A majority of my friends talk the same and do the same things like smoke and drink. As humans we naturally rub off on each other or whoever we're affiliated with. For example, me and my best friend look completely opposite but sound exactly the same. We go bad on people the same way, we even find ourselves saying the same thing at the same time. I remember growing we had a (fake) hyphy movement and I think E-40 went on 106 and Park putting the Bay Area on the map. He was explaining and defining all of the different terminology we used such as "hypy", "that go stupid", and "yadadamean". Good thing the hyphy movement is DEAD and so is the terminology!