Opinionated Blog post (post 4)

For my fourth blog post the issue that I wanted to give my opinion about was the stereotypes of non-native English speakers. I chose this issue because I myself am a non-native English speaker and I am bilingual, so i have unconsciously known this topic since my early years living. I believe that the stereotypes towards non-native English speakers are unethical and prejudicial because overall it undermines the person's value in many ways and damages them.

     The reason why I believe it undermines the person's values is because the native English speakers believe they have a certain power over the non-native speaker just because of the language barrier. In Amy tan's essay "Mother Tongue", The author describes how her mother was treated poorly because of the lack of empathy and help that the hospital provided for her when they said they had lost her CAT scan for a brain tumor, in which the mother was anxious to see due to the fact that her family members had died of brain tumors in the past. They simply told her to make another appointment "next time" for more information since they could not find it and to me that is leaving someone hang out to dry. In addition, you would expect that a hospital purpose's is to provide service in health and safety. I do not see the author's mother's health and safety being noticed or even considered in the beginning to the hospital in anyway from their actions. In the end the hospital is being ethnocentric for not showing empathy towards the mother, implying from the hospital's actions since she cannot speak (non-native English speaker) like we do, why should we treat her the same in the first place if we're not the same (native English speakers). 

     However, when the mother is clever enough to know that her English has limitations and the prejudice she has from the hospital, she tells the doctor in the hospital she won't leave unless they call her daughter  (the author). We as the audience already know that the author has what's considered "good" English as she's a writer and was an English major in her first year of college. When the author calls the hospital that is when they actually do show empathy and provide a service for her for whatever she wants. Before the author called the hospital, they did not even apologize for making the mother anxious, but when the author did call they assured the CAT scan would be found and promises already that a conference call would be held on Monday. That clearly shows how when the author spoke, not only did they show empathy and help but they even did their jobs and provide them an exact date for them to go and get the mother's CAT scan.

     I just know in anyone’s opinion with morals that setting an appointment on a date sounds and feels more assuring and guaranteed than "until the next time".

The significance of my name (post 3)

May 5, 1996 was the day my sister was born. Her name is Laura and my parents told me that as an only child, all that she wished for was a brother. By late 1999 early 2000 my sister being 3-4 years old (roughly), she enjoyed a Japanese Spanish dubbed cartoon called "Ruy, el pequeño cid".

Why am I telling you all of this non-sense?

Because the cartoon's protagonist's name was Ruy nicknamed "The Little Cid (translated), and this name along with the plot is inspired from the Spanish nobleman in the eleven century Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar who was a Castilian nobleman and military leader in medieval Spain. He was also called "El Cid" or simply by his name Rodrigo. The only difference is since this is a cartoon, the creators wanted the small children to relate to the protagonist thus made him "pequeno" (small), nonetheless they claim that the plot is inspired by Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar and his life as a nobleman. I would personally say the protagonist of this cartoon Reflects my identity because in the opening song of the cartoon, they describe Rodrigo as courageous, brave and a strong warrior helping his friends in need and be a kind and a nobleman... ;).

So then when I was born May 2nd 2000, my parents decided that as my first name (i'm not done yet), i would be named Rodrigo due to the cartoon character that my sister loved so deeply as a child.
(I hope she loves me like the cartoon character... hopefully)


     As for my second name Ezequiel, the reason why I got it is self explanatory. My father's name is Ezequiel and my grandfather's name is Ezequiel as well. I guess he wanted to portray that the legacy kept going and the name of Ezequiel was being passed down from generation to generation. This reflects my identity as it would brand me implying that I am part of this legacy of Ezequiel's that could potentially start as a trend within the Oropeza family to name the next generation of boys Ezequiel. Even every time we go to a family gathering, the whole family wants to take a picture of me, my dad and my grandfather and we are known as "las tres generaciones" which translates to "the three generations".

      My first last Name Oropeza, is given simply because that was my father's first last name. In Mexico it is traditional to give the child 2 first names and 2 last names, your father and mothers. For my mother's last name is Sanchez and the last name Sanchez reflects my identity by making my identity seem more Latino in general because the last name Sanchez is known to be a common last name among the south american and Mexican cultures.

So that pretty much the significance of my entire name, Rodrigo Ezequiel Oropeza Sanchez.

Modern Hip-Hop/Rap Culture (post 2)

The modern hip-hop/rap genre has gotten a lot of criticism throughout the years. From excellent to detestable, it has been recognized as a genre with two sides.There's one side that believes that the genre generates positive messages to it's youth and there is the other side which believes the genre provides negative messages within their song lyrics to the same audience.

     In my opinion, I feel that the language of this genre is misunderstood because there are many speculations about what the lyrics of the song (it's language) actually mean or tell the audience/listeners. The language of the Hip-Hop/Rap Culture is important to me and the people inside the culture because language is the way in which the majority of the communication is delivered to the people inside the culture and to the people outside the culture on a major scale. The only difference is some people choose not to take part in this culture, while others (me) join in and absorb all the communication given through the listening of the language. Without there being a language in Modern Hip-Hop/Rap Culture, the messages that the Modern Hip-Hop/Rap genre is trying to convey wouldn't be addressed clearly towards the members of the culture and towards the people outside of the culture. This is the reason why the Modern Hip-Hop/Rap Culture is so significant to everyone listening to the genre because there can be a lot of debate between the communication in this music genre through language.

     The misconceptions which I believe this genre has, to the people outside of the culture listening to its language is they believe this culture ONLY provides negative messages towards its listeners and the youth. They believe the language also encourages it's followers and listeners to do mischievous activities like get money by selling drugs and consume them too. I personally know that within the Modern Hip-Hop/Rap Culture, there are minor groups and artists within this culture/genre that their messages are very dull and negative which affects the listener's lives in a wicked way.

     However, I also know that there are other artists who actually provide positive and impactful messages within their communication through the use of language in their music. Once everyone understands the language in the Modern Hip-Hop/Rap Culture, then communication between one another (despite not being in the same culture) would be easier to comprehend which would allow us to understand one another and ourselves better.

Me (post 1)

I guess you could call myself a hipster... but not the type of hipsters that are vegan eaters, grow out their long bushy beard (Although i'm lying to myself because I actually plan too) or dye their hair crazy colors (that I can assure you that I will never do). Yet, the interests that revolve around me are somewhat linked towards the idea that if you like these certain things you are classified among one of them. I have a particular love towards old and classic movies like the star wars trilogy, the god father, Point break with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze (man I love that movie), and the rocky series with Sylvester Stallone. This does not mean that I do not enjoy movies of the 21st century, this just means that these movies were some of the first to make certain movie plots which we categorize now now as movie cliches, but before they were not cliches at all. As for my adoration for music, it is not really hard to love more than one music genre and within that genre different eras because each era tells a story with the factors of that time and time in the music genre is so unique that there is so much selection for the ear to listen too for just one genre out of many! I would say my top 3 genres throughout the time of music would be modern rap, 50's jazz and the last genre which is called tropical music from latin america. Now step aside my hobbies of collecting Pop figures and vinyls for my soon to be collection of music throughout time, I do have more responsibility now as a diploma student heading into a small fraction of what determines my future, university. I care about the grades and the effort that I put into each task given and i cannot simply walk away from not knowing something, I refuse. In the long term, these bursts of effort given in the beginning will ease the amount of work i'll have in the future and will help manage my time. My goal really for this year is not only to pass it like everyone else has on their minds, but to get most of my cas done as well as be confident for grade 12 which would be my last year of school (i still cannot grasp that i have 2 years of school left). For language and literature, language has a major role not only in mine but everyones life. It's how we communicate with teachers and friends in the school, and mainly how we communicate in the world without the need of any verbal language use or to have to surpass the language barrier. This is the reason why i believe language and literature is an important subject to choose, because it allows us to communicate and understand one another in this world regardless of any limitations. On the surface, there are limitations with language as i am an expact who's mother tongue is spanish and secondary language is english. The language in this country is arabic and when all of my arabic friends engage in a conversation with their mother tongue, i obviously feel excluded out. However that is on the surface because in the end, we both like the same things and want to have the same goal, thus why we are friends in the first place and break the language barrier. In all honesty, i think that language barriers are never really there to begin with since we have so many ways now of communicating without verbally speaking. R.E.O.S out


*Update  Friday September 16th, 2016

I forgot to include a picture of myself, so I found a good picture that best represents me...

Yeah, chasing money and loving spiderman since day 1. (og)