Literacy History Blog - Destiny Portillo

  The Impact of Music: By: Destiny Portillo When it comes to music, plenty of individuals can tie it to the sense of comfort.  Music has been known to be a therapeutic form for individuals to increase relaxation and the processing of one’s emotions and thoughts.  In the novel “The Other Wes Moore”, the genre of hip hop music played an important role in giving Wes an identity.  It seemed to give him a form of clear mindedness from the chaos around him from selling drugs, to being told not being in class results in better outcomes for his teacher and fellow peers.  As well as allowing him to avoid facing the inevitable for a split second when it comes to his mother’s anger.  Although Wes has so much going on around him, he still finds a sense of relief from listening or rapping to hip hop. Wes allows individuals to view the idea in which the sound of any music may perform a meaningful impact on one’s life.  A prime example would be myself since I’ve ...

  The Other Wes Moore: By: Destiny Portillo Page 27:  Tony lectures Wes about taking school seriously and staying off the streets. Talk about the relationship between those two.  What advice do you give your siblings based on your mistakes in life?      Within chapter two in the novel "The Other Wes Moore", Tony consistently tries to lead Wes in the path of doing right and focusing on his academics.  Tony is known in the novel to be perceived as the “tough” well known guy in the streets.  This being due to the fact that Tony has made multiple mistakes while younger and has been selling drugs since his early teens.  Of course as Tony is Wes’ older brother; there is the looking up to the older sibling concept at hand.  Wes tends to allow the advice Tony provides him to go in through one ear and out through the other because of how “cool” Tony looks to him.  Which illuminates the crucial factor of being a sibling, because you are leadi...

  The Other Wes Moore: By: Destiny Portillo            I personally am in agreement with the idea Wes Moore presented of individuals being "a product of their expectations".  This being due to the fact that as human beings we will always be able to live life with options along our path.  Of course this does not necessarily mean that the encounters individuals have within their own “environments” are always going to be positive.  There are going to be times in life where we as human beings must make decisions that will alter the path in life we are paving for ourselves.  When encountering these moments we are choosing whether to follow the “nature” within our own environment that surrounds us or to go ahead and exceed the expectations of what one is experiencing.  We in fact do not need to shed the blame solely on our environment surroundings whether they be poor friendships / relationships, jobs, academics, experiences etc....

  Is Higher Education Worth the Price? By: Destiny Portillo         This week as a group we reflected upon the higher education pricing crisis.  Within the following three resources, "Are Colleges Worth the Price '' by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, "The New Liberal Arts' ' by Sanford Ungar, and the Kenyon Commencement Speech; a unique perspective is shared by all authors.  Although a majority of graduating students aspire to earn a degree by furthering their education by attending college, the skyrocketing prices make it harder on undergraduates.       In Hacker's and Dreifus' article "Are Colleges Worth the Price" the idea of paying for something and receiving less in return is brought to readers attention.  This article presents the fact that college students are gaining a significant amount of debt simply to gain access to higher education.  Although both authors believe that the price individuals ar...

  Is Fast Food the New Tobacco? By: Destiny Portillo       This week within our course module we touched upon the subject of whether or not fast food is the new tobacco and or "addiction".  My group focused on breaking apart the article "What You Eat Is Your Business" by Radley Balko.  In this particular article readers were displayed the idea of taking self responsibility for the consumption of food they decide for their "own" bodies.  Instead of having the idea that individuals will have the government to rely and depend on when it comes to making choices.      As a group we decided as whole that in fact fast food is truly the new tobacco.  This being due to the fact that our "backbone" the government has in fact been the downfall of society.  They have deemed obesity as a renowned issue; when in fact they have limited the healiter opportunities for plenty within society.  In the text it states, " And if t...

  Is Pop Culture Good for You? By: Destiny Portillo Pop culture is the arrangement of beliefs, preferences, and items that exemplify the most comprehensively shared implications of society.  After having read the articles "Watching TV Makes You Smarter" by Steven Johnson and "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted" by Malcolm Gladwell; I agree with Gladwell that pop culture is not quite the best for us in some ways.  Although Johnson depicts in his article that the effects of pop culture allow individuals to become more intelligent, we don’t seem to use it to our proper and fullest advantage. As a group, we understood and agreed more in line with Gladwell’s perspective on pop culture; being that it may have its advantages, but it does have its flaws.  Pop culture is viewed as a mass systems administration web-based entertainment stage that permits thousands to join together and support each other.  While allowing thousands to unite it does allow fo...