From a Millennials Perspective

WOW can't believe the semester is over already! Time definitely flew by.  Now that the semester is over, I can reflect on the work I did in my group project, and working with 916 Ink. In the beginning of the project, I found myself asking "Why am I doing this"? Were my motivations intrinsic or extrinsic? Was I solely completing the work to receive a passing grade? Well, after exploring the 916 Ink imaginarium and talking to the 916 Ink crew, I received an answer to my own question. I quickly became enamored by the passion and drive 916 Ink exhumes. I became excited to help 916 Ink promote their workshops because I saw the value they bring to the Sacramento Community youth. The readings from the course definitely helped me throughout the journey, mainly the Allen and Light text because it mentioned social media, and the value of civic literacy. The Allen and Light text provided good examples of social m...

For this blog post, I will be reflecting and expanding on my discussion leader question: Can effective change be made by not voting, and political un-involvement? Along with more meme discussion. To some extent, yes change can be made without political involvement. Immediately, I thought of major movements like the civil rights movement that influenced the passage of several legislations that overturned discrimination practices. In the modern world of today, the Black Lives Matter movement is also working towards a similar movement, ending policy brutality. So yes, some form of change can be made from political un-involvement. However, there  are plenty of people that would not agree with that. I have seen many memes and quotes of people saying “If you don’t vote you don’t have a right to complain”. I somewhat agree with that statement; for example, if someone wants to make a change (in regards to a proposition or who becomes president) then they should vote because it does ma...

On Friday, October 13th our group made the trip out to 916 Ink, and we explored the imaginarium along with interviewing some of the staff members. My initial reaction of the imaginaruim was simply WOW! It was such a beautiful space that was carefully crafted with so many details. I absolutely loved all of the details such as little boxes filled with starfish and other knick-nacks, typewriters, and a huge amount of books. Creativity definitely fills the room, and I can see how students might be influenced to think and write creatively in such an amazing space. The vision behind 916 Ink and their desire to help youth through literacy is amazing, and I truly want more youth to get involved! Our group is currently working on helping 916 Ink get more youth involved in the workshops. While interviewing Henry, he explained how participation at workshops has been lacking. For the new media plan, our group is proposing a revamp in the social media area; we think 916 Ink can be more active on ...

Chapter 3 of "From Voice to Influence" by Allen and Light caught my attention for various reasons, mainly due to the discussion of impure dissent. Never in my life have I heard of such a term, but immediately it sounds pretty negative. I honestly hate that the word "impure" is even attached, especially seeing as it is in relation to oppressed individuals. From what I can gather, political dissent refers to any "negative" expression that is in response to disagreement from politics. What makes something "impure" is a message that encourages the oppressed to act transgressively. According to Allen and Light, hip hop and rap is usually classified as being morally and politically impure because of its similarity to civil disobedience that may be displayed (Allen and Light 67). Immediately, I went to google and typed "rap songs with political messages"to see for myself what types of messages were being conveyed. I came across the song ...

Honestly, I believe 916 Ink is an amazing organization. I absolutely love how they are reaching out to the youth in order to help them express themselves through writing, while also helping kids grow as individuals. I am confident that writing and art can have such a huge impact on people of all ages, especially kids who struggle to find a creative outlet. As a teen, I too struggled with finding my voice and I did not have a creative outlet. It wasn't until I began diving into the world of literature and writing that I found my voice. I think that's why I am so excited to know that an organization like 916 Ink exists, because I know first hand the positive influence that can result from being creatively express. The many positive stories Henry shared with our class were also heart warming and motivating. 916 Ink is surely helping better the lives of the kids they are helping, and I am beyond happy that they are granting kids the opportunity to grow as both writers, and as indi...

The article “What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Service” by Adam Davis is an interesting piece that discusses the idea that community service/engagement should NOT be openly talked about because it takes away from the service, and steers it in an ego boosting direction.  I find the claims Davis makes as quite negative and not entirely true. Davis states, “It seems to be so clear that Service Is Good (SIG) that we do not need to question service or to talk about it; we only need to do it. It even seems that talking about service might be a problem—first, because if you’re talking about service, you might not be doing service, and second, because if you’re talking about service, you might start to wonder about its goodness”. Yes, some individuals may use community service as a way to enhance their ego among peers, but not everyone is like that! Talking about service is not a bad thing, if anything, I believe talking about service helps spread the word about the cause, espec...