beloved blog 1

Blog #1

When I read the section of Toni Morrison's Novel Beloved, It was so heart felt to know that the one thing she did remember was the taking of her milk in the barn. She was rapped and helpless. She talked about this with Paul D as a confidant.  This was something that bothered Sethe in contrast to being a slave, runaway then free.Then I get confused, I understood why she killed her child, so she wont have to endure the pain of being a slave, Sethe didn't want her baby to encounter the life of a slave. Was this baby her husbands or was it someone who rapped her before in Home Sweet Home? What grasped my attention was how later in the story Paul D brought the traumatic subject up once more, but without leaving details. Sethe was concerned and always wondered why her husband Halle left her and her children, She didn't know if he was dead alive free, or hiding somewhere, she wondered and Paul D knew of this. Until he reminded the her of the time when they took her milk, he then told her that her husband was basically there up top, he was in shock and he just lost it! Sethe was in awe to know that he was there and couldn't help, Paul D defended her by using his interpretation of what a man can and cannit do all the time to save oneself. And stated that a man cant always help basically, that a man is only one. He then he would say 

Nakisha Thompson

English 4 DA 01

To Be-Loved #1 Short paper

The last two pages  where very intriguing. It was  something that I had to read several times to actually feel comfortable with giving my interpretation. So here we go.... What Toni Morrison is trying to say is that Beloved,  a very deep story: a story that should not be passed on, if so, the actual words and events that happened in 124  can get twisted  and the tale would not be the same. For example , when I was younger, I seen the movie Beloved with my mom, I had so many questions then, and after reading the book, all my questions are answered in more detail. Parts in the movie were left out,, thats why the story is not to be passed on until your read the actual source. They say “Read the Book first, don't watch the movie” or “you should read the book if you seen the movie”. Thats with every movie that also has a book. i.e Malcolm X, The Colored Purple and various other novelty books. The Book is  always the true interpretation of the actual story. Therefore if you hadn't read the book first dnt add in anything extra, if you're going to tell the story tell it right but most of all the story Beloved is something too difficult to pass on, so I feel the onlookers should read the story themselves in order to receive the true meaning, and not what you heard.

When Tony quotes “There is a loneliness that can be rocked . Arms crossed knees drawn up; holding holding on,this motion”. There is this one type of loneliness that can be rocked, something like holding bracing yourself using a rocking motion. holding on tight to your loneliness.  Consoling the physical  presence of loneliness.“Then there is a loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down”. The Spiritual loneliness. Beloved was the loneliness that roamed around looking to be loved. In the spiritual world some spirits are not at rest and their lonely souls roam the place they only knew, looking to be loved. So beloved found her way out of loneliness in the darkness with the dead to be loved by Sethe. Denver asked “What did you come back for?” beloved smiled “To see her face.” “ma’am? Sethe?” “yes Sethe.” (88) Beloved waiting day and night until she finally got out of the darkness to return to Sethe. Beloved was a lonely lost soul that no rocking can console her, only the love of her mother Sethe, who she roamed to her loneliness to find again only in torment and revenge.

It was not a story to pass on, They forgot her like a bad dream, After they made up their tales, shaped and decorated them. By this time they forgot her because the story never would turn out the truth, things were probably fabricated, and elongated. It took longer for those who had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in love with her, to forget, until they realize they couldn’t remember or repeat a single thing that she said, and began to believe that. So in the end they forgot her too”. Sethe Denver and Paul D were closest to Beloved. I dont know if beloved erased their memory or  if they’ve listened to so many different stories that they  started to believe it and lost the real meaning of what Beloved was trying to say. Or merely they didn't want to commemorate.   “Remembering seemed unwise. Being a slave had enough pain in their memory that they never wanted to reminisce the past.” (301). Especially  if the evil turned spirit named Beloved that had such a grudge. “ Sufficient  unto the day is the evil thereof,’ “The future was sunset; the past something to leave behind” (302) No one wants to avert the Evil that beloved was. This was not a story to pass on...  This story is not a story to pass on... This story is the story of the life of a runaway slave, that should not be forgotten, and our ancestors whom all have suffered and tried to forget. But  We should not forget the turmoil and  pain the endured for this was not that long ago we need to remember for them. Let us not forget the slaves who were runaways, let us not forget the rape the cries of the suffering babies born into slavery along with pain and most of all the loneliness to be loved freely. Seethe did  not want to reminisce on the fact of what she did let alone that beloved had returned stronger and wanted to be loved.                 that
Halle Lost it after that, and it wasn't sethe who ran him away it was at he incident he witnessed that happened to his wife. Sethe thought it was something about her her husband did not like. But Paul D would say no it was what happened that day when your link was stolen. He then later mentioned that he saw him and that he wasn't dead. I can imagine how sethe felt, but i cant say I know how she feels knowing that here this man that she rekindled the flame with knew all along why her  husband had left and that he witnessed the whole thing. When he said he saw Halle he was smashing butter all over his face basically out of it. He couldn't bear knowing that he didn't saw anything and Sethe didn't either. Did the witnessing of his wife getting raped and the only source of food for their baby was stolen from her breast make him loose his consciousness and his manhood. This is why he left, that did something to Halle, he couldn't deal so he dealt with it another way.

To-Be-Loved

Nakisha Thompson

English 4 DA 01

de Wit

To Be-Loved #1 Short paper

The last two pages  where very intriguing. It was  something that I had to read several times to actually feel comfortable with giving my interpretation. So here we go.... What Toni Morrison is trying to say is that Beloved,  a very deep story: a story that should not be passed on, if so, the actual words and events that happened in 124  can get twisted  and the tale would not be the same. For example , when I was younger, I seen the movie Beloved with my mom, I had so many questions then, and after reading the book, all my questions are answered in more detail. Parts in the movie were left out,, that's why the story is not to be passed on until your read the actual source. They say “Read the Book first, don't watch the movie” or “you should read the book if you seen the movie”. That is with every movie that also has a book. i.e. Malcolm X, The Color Purple, and various other novelty books. The Book is  always the true interpretation of the actual story. Therefore if you hadn't read the book first don't add in anything extra, if you're going to tell the story tell it right but most of all the story Beloved is something too difficult to pass on, so I feel the onlookers should read the story themselves in order to receive the true meaning, and not what you heard.

When Tony quotes “There is a loneliness that can be rocked . Arms crossed knees drawn up; holding ,holding on, to this motion”. There is this one type of loneliness that can be rocked, something like holding bracing yourself using a rocking motion. Holding on tight to your loneliness.  Consoling the physical  presence of loneliness.“Then there is a loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down”. The Spiritual loneliness. Beloved was the loneliness that roamed around looking to be loved. In the spiritual world some spirits are not at rest and their lonely souls roam the place they only knew, looking to be loved. So beloved found her way out of loneliness in the darkness with the dead to be loved by Sethe. Denver asked “What did you come back for?” Beloved smiled “To see her face.” “ma’am? Sethe?” “yes Sethe.” (88) Beloved waiting day and night until she finally got out of the darkness to return to Sethe. Beloved was a lonely lost soul that no rocking can console her, her eagerness was to hold on to a lonely grudge of only the love of her mother Sethe. Beloved, she roamed carriying this bag of loneliness to reappear in a different presence that was stronger only because of holding on to loneliness so long lead for her to want to Be- Loved.

It was not a story to pass on, They forgot her like a bad dream, After they made up their tales, shaped and decorated them. By this time they forgot her because the story never would turn out the truth, things were probably fabricated, and elongated. It took longer for those who had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in love with her, to forget, until they realize they couldn't remember or repeat a single thing that she said, and began to believe that. So in the end they forgot her too”. Sethe Denver and Paul D were closest to Beloved. I don't know if beloved erased their memory because it was so traumatic, or  if they have listened to so many different stories that they  started to believe it and lost the real meaning of what Beloved was trying to say. Or merely they didn't want to commemorate.   “Remembering seemed unwise. Being a slave had enough pain in their memory that they never wanted to reminisce the past.” (301). Especially  if the evil turned spirit named Beloved that had such a grudge. “ Sufficient  unto the day is the evil thereof,’ “The future was sunset; the past something to leave behind” (302) No one wants to avert the Evil that beloved was. This was not a story to pass on...  This story is not a story to pass on... This story is the story of the life of a runaway slave, that should not be forgotten, and our ancestors whom all have suffered and tried to forget. But  We should not forget the turmoil and  pain the endured for this was not that long ago we need to remember for them. Let us not forget the slaves who were runaways, let us not forget the rape the cries of the suffering babies born into slavery along with pain and most of all the loneliness to be loved freely. Seethe did  not want to reminisce on the fact of what she did let alone that beloved had returned stronger and wanted to be loved.                

Alicia Keys - Brand New Me (with lyrics)

 Check out this song for conference:
http://www.youtube.com/v/BlZ7qFVPZTQ?autohide=1&version=3&showinfo=1&attribution_tag=97afnZLGTyUvetRLDUPqgQ&autohide=1&autoplay=1&feature=share

collaboration of the midterms process

Nakisha Thompson

I decided to work in groups while working on our midterms, that Professor de Wit asked us to do because we are as one, a community. So my group was a large group. We were to incorporate all these different relevant political topics assigned to different groups. We were to learn all about the 12 topics, which include how to get mortgages and about the employment rate, as well as health care reform, ageism and more. I worked with my group over the weekend using Google drive. Google drive is such easy to learn and very reliable as well as accuracy and everyone can be on the same page. Me and Leo had the groups we collaborate with to copy and paste a brief description of their topic, which I found a compromising from each topic to another. I noticed that all of our political topics seemed to connect one way or another. The different aspects of house loans, house mortgages, banking, the taxable income involved in mortgages lead us to what tax write offs are, and how they are beneficial, for  we must start to be our own bosses, and to become entrepreneurs so they can become successful. This is something that  is very important to contributing and feeling some sense of an independent citizen that's doesn't just look forward to the end of the years for your w-2’s or W’4s  you will be doing your business write off as well, because you will own your own business and your own house. So this information is very important to be heard and taken into head. Then we had you look into the job employment rate which is very low, so the best option is to become an entrepreneur and get that Masters degree, because if you have no degree in this world I don't know what type of employment you will have to retire on that has that pension and the 401k plan. Think about it.

Later that week our group met and went over our final drive in the library, we made corrections adding some ideas and made all the final touches to our 13 paged paper. I loved the collaboration we had with all of our big group. We wanted to get more topics to add, but by coincidence many of our groups had the same research topic, but I managed to put it all together. Thats what daraja is all about, we must look out for each other because daraja is the stairway to success and I’m not successful without my darajans, vice versa. peace. one love.

75 Possible deductions for taxes (owning your own business)

75 Possible Deductions for Taxes

instructions: ***(If you click on the items it will direct you to the links)***

Accounting fees

Advertising

Amortization

Auto expenses

Bad debts that you cannot collect

Banking fees

Board meetings

Building repairs and maintenance

Business association membership dues

Business travel

Cafeteria health-insurance plan (requires plan)

Charitable deductions made for a business purpose

Cleaning/janitorial services

Collection Expenses

Commissions to outside parties

Computers and tech supplies

Consulting fees

Continuing education for yourself to maintain licensing and improve skillsl

Conventions and trade shows

Costs of goods sold

Credit card convenience fees

Depreciation

Dining during business travel

Discounts to customers

Education and training for employees (new)

Employee wages

Entertainment for customers and clients

Equipment

Equipment repairs

Exhibits for publicity

Family members' wages

Franchise fees (new)

Freight or shipping costs

Furniture or fixtures

Gifts for customers ($25 deduction limit for each)

Group insurance (if qualifying)

Health insurance

Home office

Interest

Internet hosting and services

Investment advice and fees

Legal fees

License fees

Losses due to theft

Management fees

Materials

Maintenance

Medical expenses (with plan)

Mortgage interest on business property

Moving

Newspapers and magazines

Office supplies and expenses

Outside services

Payroll taxes for employees, including Social Security, Medicare taxes and unemployment taxes

Parking and tolls

Pension plans

Postage

Publicity

Prizes for contests

Real estate-related expenses

Rebates on sales

Rent

Research and development

Retirement plans

Royalties

Safe-deposit box

Safe

Software and online services

Storage rental

Subcontractors

Taxes

Telephone

Utilities

Website design

Workers' compensation insurance

Tax write-off Works Cited

Works Cited Page For TAx Write-offs

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219474#ixzz2jAanQue6

Wikipedia.com tax write-offs

Howstuffworks, “How do tax deductions work?money,howstuffwork.com/personalfinance/taxes

McCormally, Kevin, The most overlooked tax deductibles Klinger.com, 13, March, 2013.web

IRS, Topic 513-educated exprenses IRS.com 15.April 2013.web

10tax Benfits for the self-employed,Some Common tax deductible expensese, Investopedia.com 20.Feb.2013/web

Tax Write-off bibliography with research reflextion

Nakisha Thompson

English 4

Daraja

My topic was to research what a tax-write off actually means. I really didn't know too much about tax write-offs until I asked Professor de Wit what it meant, of course he told us to research it, matter of  fact, he assigned different political topics to research. All of the 11 topics were assigned to groups. These topics were very relevant to the issues of America today. That’s why it’s important  for us to become knowledgeable of these important aspects of the business world and the corporate world politically,  so we can become involved and pass it down to our younger generations so they can  honestly apply it to their everyday lives.

My researching on tax write-offs gave me understanding that tax deductions mean the same thing. As i mentioned earlier, when tax deductions came to mind, I only thought of donating to a charity and getting extra money when it came to tax season. I leaned by navigating the internet and typing “What is a tax write-off?” first I read the actual definition which read:  A write-off is a reduction of the recognized value of something. In accounting, this is a recognition of the reduced or zero value of an asset. In income tax statements, this is a reduction of taxable income, as a recognition of certain expenses required to produce the income -Wikipedia. I learned that there were different types of tax deductions found in different aspects like tax income, and banking, accounting and more. I decided to think what is it about tax deductions that I really think will be relevant to my life. I decided to look into the possibilities and expectations of one day owning my own business, self employed and maybe an entrepreneur. Because at the end of the day who doesn't want to work for themselves and become their own boss?  Well I do, so I researched what tax deductions can be beneficial to me starting my own business our foundation. according to MARK J. KOHLER of Entreprenuer.com  quotes “With a small-business venture in your life and on your tax return, you may be able to convert some personal expenses to business expenses, as long as you have the proper business purpose for that expense.”  Owning your own business may seem like your everyday life may be tax deductible if your life consist of your company and your business. I prepared a page on my blog that has 75 items you can deduct if owning your own business, that my fellow darajans can look at to gain more knowledge of Tax Deductions. These items have the links accessible for my fellow darajans to further investigate, there as so many tax deductible items that you can profit from in the long run. for instance if a person in the United States has a taxable income of $50,000 per year, a $100 telephone for business use would lower the taxable income to $49,900. If that person is in a 25% tax bracket, the tax due would be lowered by $25. Thus the net cost of the telephone is $75 instead of $100. By doing this research I learned that there are many ways to profit from your business when having your own, is more profitable that working for someone else.

Bill O'Reilly vs. Tavis Smiley and Cornell West

  Nakisha Thompson

English 4 Daraja

10.8.13 de Wit

Bill Vs. Tavis

  According to Bill O’Reilly on his opinion about poverty, is to be a social problem. Cornell and Travis differ from this matter saying that its not a social issue, its an economic issue. Bill O'Reilly believes that the war on poverty is a personal option, meaning that people that are in poverty choose to be this way due to addiction and not want more for themselves. He states “people that are in poverty is because it’s a personal problem.”  If that’s so, then this population that he is referring to is not all minority. The new poverty consists of whites and middle class as well.

          Poverty is a political issue according to Tavis Smiley and Cornell West. I believe this, because poverty was only an issue when it hit the working middle class families, which are mostly whites. Poverty has always been a problem that has been overlooked for many years, and it’s sad to say that now its become a “Political” and an “Economic” issue. It hit the working middle class families when the great recession hit, which lead a lot of people to become unemployed.

Jobs were cut, and the unemployment rate continues to rise.  “There are nearly 150 million persistently poor and near poor people in America who are not responsible for the damage done by the recession. Yet they pay the price” (169). O’Reilly says that Poverty solely consists of the 15% that are poor and the 9% that are poor and have a personal addiction. This addiction can be of substance abuse, shopping, or spending money on unnecessary things that you cannot afford. Tavis and Smiley continue to argue that this poverty tour was not because of people that have an addiction, its because it has now hit the middle-class families, who have no addiction at all. Now that the new poor are the ones that we would never imagine to be, republicans like Bill O’Reilly believe that poverty is social, not political. Poverty is a political issue that can be portrayed as a social issue due to the 9% of Americans that are addicts, but the other percentage is over looked. 

Even odds 2nd blog

intro to even odds.

How could we CONSTRUCTIVELY respond to a bias article that shamefully insults we as people and we as a society? This is an insult to Oakland city, and insult to the striving parents of black young men who raised them to the best of their ability. No one asked to be born into this generation. Its not where you live its how you live. Its an insult that they label our children from birth, and which leads into their statistics report :THE EVEN ODDS:. Its an insult to compare public schools to charter schools, One program of a charter school for blacks only is an insult because that's not enough!  Not only was this an insult to our African american males, an insult to public schools, AND AN INSULT to our new generation of Black males who were born into their identity of  a labeling society, not by choice but by life. By advocating how we feel about this article and taking action to outreach to our peers is the first step on our CONSTRUCTIVE RESPONSE.!
""Bee carful what you set your heart upon, for it will surely be yours!""----James Baldwin

Even odds 1st blog

Even Odds

 Reading the article made me wonder was this an insult on Public Schools or an Insult to African American Males in Oakland. In reality it’s both.  How could we CONSTRUCTIVELY respond to it? By advocating for this cause, by making a difference for our young black men. What saddens me is that soon as tragedy occurs that’s when the media and the schools officials are only concerned. If our young Black men weren’t being murdered at such a rapid rate in Oakland, would they care? Coddles to you Jill Tucker for becoming famous for your little article in SF Gate as an “Awesome” journalist for letting the people know again already how hard it is growing up in the society of Oakland and that you made no connection in advocating for this cause Jill! Although Oakland faces half and half on Black men who graduate compared to the ones who are victims to homicide, This has been a #1 Fact in Oakland, Soon as a black male is murdered we look at the schools and not the fact that we should of done something a long time ago.

            Olajowan was just like Thomas, striving to get out of Oakland and to go to college.  It saddens me that this has happened to him. With a mother that constantly told him that she’s not suppose to bury him” He’s suppose to bury him” made all efforts a single mother could do, as far as looking out for her child. I am the same. But the journalists fail to mention that. She tried to make it seem like Thomas was better than olajowan just because he got killed. No one deserves to die, not as a victim to homicide. I obviously don’t agree with the article because it’s a little bias. Very opinionated but, not with a lot of facts. My argument is what can we CONSTRUCTIVELY DO to respond to it? We can start by getting involved in Oakland neighborhoods, then the schools. The more we are talked about who murdered whom and why, we are basically praising the horrific murders and not even no it. Homicide rate in Oakland has always been high rated, and there is no difference between being taught in a public school than a charter school because a young black male will face the same situations in life, Its just the way things are.