the paper I’m doing has nothing involved with my site. instead of talking about immigrants in the united states, my train of thoughts has gone the total opposite way. what is the most interesting thing that had happen in this class is when Don Samuels' came in for his wonderful speech. what he said sounded so true. if thoughts of crime wasn’t mentioned in his lecture but he did focus on other topic like the local police and neighbors getting along. my idea on service has changed. now that I’m actually doing service, my whole perspective on service has changed. others may feel what do I get out of it but to me, I personally think, helping other is rewarding itself. taking this course has change my point of view on helping the community in ways I thought that helping others will benefit their lives more than ours.

So far at my site, i've been partner up with one individual and so i could see her progress along the way. It's better off that way but i do want to help others beside the one i'm partner up with. The one i'm helping with is learning to read. her reading level is at a 1st grade level. She is improving but still need help her on her past tense. So far at my site, the atomsphere is welcoming. when i mean welcoming, is that they tell us what they need help in and we help the best way we could. they arent afraid of what they need and quickly ask for help when needed. On Wednesday around 7, everyone is suppose to hop on a computer and start mavis beacon. the one i'm tutoring rather stay and push herself to learn to read better. the motivation i see in her is outstanding.

The topic i'm mainly focus on is gangs. Not just gangs itself but the causes and effect of it. Also i want it to involved with teens and drug trafficking. Why are teens joining gangs and selling drug at the same times. That is main focus. This connects with north Minneapolis is because north minn. is known for the shooting and killling. This doesnt tie my topic and my site but learning about violence, i have a better sense of what gangs are about and help others to avoid it as best as they can. I just recently check out a book at Wilson Library on Juvenile Gang. What really interesting about this book is because of the drug trafficking teens are doing when they are in gangs. It struck me that if selling drug at a early age, most likely you are gonna be a big drug leader. Selling drugs and being in the gang is almost like a cycle. It repeat itself over and over again. How? It starts when they are in their teens. They join a gang for one reason, to earn fast cash for selling drug. they get big on selling drug and recuit more teens to do more selling.

What going on at the site? well the same as usual. We help the the students(immigrant) learn english step by step. but then last week, pheng and i focus on one on one conversation with the student. The student i had was around her late thirty's and knew a quite bit of english already. Her reading skills was good and she was learning at an outstanding pace. And on my third essay, it was much harder to put it on paper. I didnt know where to start and i didnt know how. So my essay is pretty much what was going on and what wanted out of learning english. I had to understand what the lead coordinator was saying and also from what the student point of view was. this paper i believe is our hardest is because, we dont know much about the person i'm tutoring but i have a little sense of what she wanted in life. and that is to know more english.

The site was awesome. Even though it was kind of small for at least 10 people including pheng and myself, the site was fun. Listening to the instructor teach the class was quite boring. But when we start interacting with the students, it began to be fun. While listening to the instructor, you will often hear the old folks talking about how the teacher's hand writing sucks and inside me, i was laughing hard as heck. Helping the immigrants about double my age, they were very open on what they need to know. For example, there was a young man, i believe he was around my age or younger, wanting to know more about a specific things. He want to know what a word meanthis and how could i use it in a sentence. He was learning at a very fast pace. What was so fun about this class is that the enivornment was pleasant and the students show pheng and myself that they wanted us being there so we could help along the way

So far my volunteer situation still at a hold. Pheng and i have tried countless time contacting cythnia. and so far nothing. we will call and be waiting about 15-20 rings. The feelings i hope to get from this volunteering organization is a feeling more overwhelming than happiness. i want to feel a sense of pride that i changed someone life. i havent visit my site yet but i cant wait. i want to meet the people whom i'm going to lend my hand to and help. right in this class i'm at the point where i'm lost in the dark but still see the light in the far distance. the reason for this is that i'm know what i want to write about but still have a sense of feeling that i dont get this paper. i read over "our america" and "how the ghetto happens" but still have to rock solid evidence to back up what i want down on my paper. this is far yet the hardest paper i have to think about and write. the paper i have right now is ok but not satify. i just need more help on my paper. back to my site. today i will try again contacting cythnia again and see when pheng and i could begin volunteering.

the main cause of these issues of substance abuse, pregnancy, and the causes of poverty is when the ghetto show a bad impression of the little ones. in "Our America", tyrone and johnny, the kids that push eric out the window are influence by their surrounding. they look outside, hoping to see a bright beautiful day with lucious green grass and flowers blooming but instead they are kids on the corner selling drugs and gangs fighting. they are force to follow this if they want to survive in the ghetto. Getting a job while you live in the ghetto is hard. employers may sometimes judge them by the way the they talk, dress, and reside. For this reason, they have no choice but to selling drug and steal. Education is there to help but not enough. for example, johnny the boy who probably pull eric off the 14th floor window didnt know how to read or write and made to 5th grade. Lack of teacher's moviation maybe the cause of the kids academic achievment.
in the book "Our America", 3833 apartment's window were all board up. the reason was because of people breaking in or having graffi on the window. So every is force to live in the darkness in order to be safe.

The changes of what north Minneapolis has been through could all be bias. People has know to stay away from north minneapolis because of the high crime rate or just to be on the safe side. the history that north minneapolis has surpass in ways that other think had never happen. Colour people has face discrimination in housing and are force to choose the ghetto to reside. The history that start the great migration of blacks to the northern states was all because of work. follow where work exist, earn money, and have a good life. because of discrimination, the colours are force to live in the ghetto and are force to stay there. making other think that they have a lack of intelligence, living on welfare, and history of violence. also mentioning white flag. when a group of colours move in the neigborhood, white are scare and makes up their mind to move out. these historical statues that exist in the past has damage the future. afriad to live next door to a different race, they make a decison to move away.

I'm committing myself to help elderly refugee from Thailand and helping them speaking english as their second language. I'm putting myself in place call Minnesota Council of Churches Refugees Service/ Hmong American Partnership. When thinking about helping elders in speaking english as their second language, i have butterfly in the stomach. The nervousness creeps from behind my back and swallow me whole. What if i do something wrong or what if i said the wrong things at the wrong time. Question fills my head making me think twice if i should volunteer. But if i think about it long enough i forget about the situation and just focus on that i'm making a difference. This step of helping other in the community will change my view on society or sections of Minneapolis. Getting there is no problem. I wish it was the summer so i could just bike there but now it's kind of winter heading toward spring, i'm gonna stick to a car to get there. The experience i will encounter along the way will be a once in a life time in the making. What i mean by that is that if i wish to relive that moment, it will never feel the same like before. So when this experience ends, the once in a life time will be gone.

The reason why students has enroll in course such as service-learning classes, is to mainly help the people who is in need. The idea of helping others encourage them to help others where not much help exisist. For example helping students from the ghetto understand that their lives may not have to end up in robbing someone to feed themselves or end up going to jail. The volunteers like ourselves and many others will try to sparks their interest in school and their future goals. Also understand what the child wants in life and help them pursuit the path to reach it. Rather than let them down and see their end the wrong way.