LETTER TO TIANA

Hey Tiana your favorite cousin is in jail far far away
But everything is okay I think about you everyday
Sorry I couldn’t pick you up from school today
Hope we are still cool just hope for the best today
Just continue to pray and hope I get out one day
So we can play your favorite game
I know for the past time I haven’t been the same
I sit here with pain in my face hoping things will fall in place
I can seal the case eat off a clean plate
Just be brave and don’t be sad
Smile and think off the fun times we had
Just you wait I’ll get things straight
I guess this was my fate
I love you and will still write to you too
I still owe you a hug and I’ll make it up to you

MEMORIES

The man up above didn't like my pace
I was coming up too fast and I caught that case
Woe was my fate for making a mistake
Whatever God hands me I take for only he can judge
I was framed guilty because of a grudge
God be kind when you judge them for condemning an innocent man
Their condensing plan had me in the palm of their hand
My heart pays them no regard; this is why life is hard
It leaves them mental and emotional scarred as my sister gives me an “I LOVE U” card
Try to frame a nice guy because there was something to hide
Cruel intentions I wasn’t by their side
What was there to gain just my life lost to pain
Hurting emotional death and hope they die
As my loved ones cry
The company is a crime monopoly
Probably that’s why they tried to get rid of me
I try to understand but now I am blind
The case is presented and I said my last speech
I worried as the jury stood I just hoped they were kind
In my mind I wasn’t worried as they say the innocent have nothing to fear
The judge came out and guilty was all I hear
The jury leaves but a brief verdict they reach
I sit in my chair and my heart beats fast
How much can I take? How long can I last? At last my fate has been sealed
Two paid witnesses proved me wrong I couldn’t get the case appealed
I was supposed to be free but I had no choice
Then I heard an angel’s voice it was that lady there
That picked me out and that man sitting in that chair

MONKEYS AND THE NATURE OF LOVE

It was Harry Harlow that believed to understand how to raise humans we could learn much more by altering the upbringing of monkeys and analyzing their responses to certain conditions. Harlow supposed that every child has a need of love and affection. When reading “The Nature of Love” by Harry Harlow, Harlow did many experiments with monkeys using real and surrogate monkeys as mothers to prove that there is a strong psychological need for love and affection as well as food and shelter. The experiment consisted of taking baby monkeys away from their mothers at birth and placing them in an environment with a surrogate mother. One mother was made of wire and one mother was made of cloth. In “The Nature of Love”, Harlow, concluded that even though the mother made of wire had milk it was cold unlike the mother that was made of cloth was warm and the monkey needed a material that resembled the warm contact of a real mother monkey. A clear connection can be made to human parents. It is the love and affection that demonstrates to a human that there is security and love as well as food and shelter. If love and affection is removed their will be damaging psychological effects to the upbringing of the child but if these affections are present then the child will feel an intimate attachment so there will be no psychological effects. During the experimentation it was apparent that the baby monkeys chose the warm surrogate mother over the cold wire mother because regardless to the food the warm mother symbolizes security and safety whenever the baby monkey is scared. There were many experimentations done were the baby monkey would run to the surrogate mother clinch to her side and accustom themselves with the mother monkeys face and body. As demonstrated by the experimentations of Harlow the baby monkeys began to form a sense of security to the surrogate monkeys. These actions and behaviors would quickly change if the mother was not present in the room. As seen in Harlow’s experiment the baby monkeys would freeze, start crying, panicking, and frantically clutching every object that would resemble the mother. It was interesting to see that the actions were similar when placed in a cage with a wire mother. During Harlow’s studies he had observed the behaviour of the baby monkeys raised by their own mothers. The baby monkey spends many hours a day clinging to its real mother. If away from the mother when frightened, it rushes to her and in her presence shows comfort and composure even though this even held true with the warm surrogate mother demonstrates that baby monkeys as well as humans need to have a sense of togetherness by actions such as love and affection.

YOU ARE UNSKILLED AND UNAWARE OF IT

The ingenious psychological study conducted by Justin Kruger and David Dunning of Cornell University was a study that did not go unnoticed. Justin Kruger and David Dunning two psychologists from Cornell University had performed four studies in how unskilled individuals lack the skills for an accurate self-assessment. This paper will address the nature of the problem being investigated; the type of methodology used to address the topic at hand; and will identify each study’s hypothesis; independent and dependent variables; and general findings. Each psychological study was to demonstrate that there are people who are very unskilled in a certain area and cannot even identify their own lack of skill. These types of people make wrong choices and their lack of skill doesn’t allow their ability to identify it. This study labeled these skills as metacognitive skills. This observation was thrown on a case study group which was tested in three different areas but before they were allowed to take the first test they had to assess how they would perform on the test. After the first test they had received the scores of the test and then took another test but before they would take the second test they again had to assess how they would perform on the second test. The nature of the problem was such; everyone had over assessed their performance on the first test that was given. However, there had been those that had done well on the first test that on the second test they had lower assessments for the second test. Even those that had performed poorly on the first test did not change their assessments for the second test. This study displays that most individuals are often overconfident in their assessments on how much they really know. The tests were based on a common wisdom. They were humor, grammar, and logical reasoning. For example, the first test was based on humor where the individuals had to rate how funny a joke was. This enabled Kruger and Dunning to measure the individuals’ metacognitive skills in humor.
These marvelous studies revealed that unskilled individuals, if they are unaware of what they are have to perform they will do poorly. However, if these individuals had once taken the test then were able to assess their earlier performance then if they would take the same test again the same individuals would improve their performance. More so, it is because they embraced what they have done wrong before and now know how to do it the right way because they have a different assessment then the previous time. It can be said for every individual that if they are unskilled in a certain area then they will lack the ability to identify that they are unskilled. The methodology used is as follows; if you take a group of average students and you put them through this procedure those that performed poorly were not very capable of properly assessing themselves and their abilities. This experiment concluded that unskilled people didn’t know they were unskilled and their levels of incompetence marred their metacognitive abilities to assess themselves properly. However, if to train the individuals on their metacognitive skills then as a result the individual can then better assess themselves and their capabilities.
Kruger and Dunning have established a hypothesis that all individuals in this study are of equal assessment abilities. Although, there is a division of percentiles as seen in the table charts presented in the study. There are a percentage of individuals that are in the bottom quartile and there is a percentage that is in the top quartile. Those that are in the percentage of individuals that are in the bottom quartile on the first test will stay in the bottom quartile for the second test. Those in the percentage of those in the top quartile during the first test will vary because they will be individuals that have assessed the second test. A constant problem arises throughout the studies when the individuals are asked to assess themselves in other subject areas and the individual rates himself to be much more skilled but rather that does not hold true. In fact, those that had assessed to be better than average are actually below average in these areas. They are truly unaware of how truly unskilled they are. Based on general findings, it was seen that the lack of skill assessment on these chain of tests were due to the individuals knowledge of humor, grammar, and logical reasoning.
Kruger and Dunning’s hypothesis held true that the more unskilled some is in a particular subject area the more unskilled he is to assess his own skills. When the individuals have failed to identify how poorly they have performed they are left with nothing else but to believe that they have done to the best of their ability. This inability to assess will force students to misjudge their skills. The test of humor, grammar, and logical reasoning demonstrated how one’s perception of their skills actually truly to the actuality of their skills.
Kruger and Dunning’s had formed the following hypothesis before the experiment. Unskilled individuals will significantly misjudge their abilities and skills in relation to the topic. Those that are unskilled will have a hard time understanding the skills of others so this will make it much more difficult for the unskilled individuals to draw an accurate picture of their own abilities and skills. Also those that are unskilled have already formed the metacognitive skills need to see that they have already did poorly. Finally, the unskilled individuals also form the inability to correctly assess so they experience incapability in their metacognitive skills which makes it much harder to see their lack of skill.
In conclusion, this paper has addressed the nature of the problem being investigated; the type of methodology used to address the topic at hand; and will identify each study’s hypothesis; independent and dependent variables; and general findings. Each psychological study was to demonstrate that there are people who are very unskilled in a certain area and cannot even identify their own lack of skill. These types of people make wrong choices and their lack of skill doesn’t allow their ability to identify it. This study displays that most individuals are often overconfident in their assessments on how much they really know. The tests were based on a common wisdom. They were humor, grammar, and logical reasoning. However, if these individuals had once taken the test then were able to assess their earlier performance then if they would take the same test again the same individuals would improve their performance. More so, it is because they embraced what they have done wrong before and now know how to do it the right way because they have a different assessment then the previous time. It can be said for every individual that if they are unskilled in a certain area then they will lack the ability to identify that they are unskilled. There are a percentage of individuals that are in the bottom quartile and there is a percentage that is in the top quartile. Those that are in the percentage of individuals that are in the bottom quartile on the first test will stay in the bottom quartile for the second test. Those in the percentage of those in the top quartile during the first test will vary because they will be individuals that have assessed the second test. A constant problem arises throughout the studies when the individuals are asked to assess themselves in other subject areas and the individual rates himself to be much more skilled but rather that does not hold true. In fact, those that had assessed to be better than average are actually below average in these areas. They are truly unaware of how truly unskilled they are.

THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYCH

The Death of Ivan Ilych is a masterpiece constructed on the basis of constant human life struggles. In the novel, The Death of Ivan Ilych, Leo Tolstoy creates a character (Ivan Ilych) who resembles every common human individual. Ivan Ilych was a man who as a child had a poor upbringing but when he got older he led an ideal life He was wealthy, had a family and high positioned job in society. However, as the story progressed so did Ivan’s life. At the end of the story Ivan had those around him because they were all phony and pretended to care for him. Throughout Ivan’s Death it was clear no one cared about Ivan even though he did lead an ideal life.
The Death of Ivan Ilych begins where Ivan’s death is having already occurred. Ivan’s friends didn’t even care much for him because they felt it was a hassle to even offer their condolences. Tolstoy introduces Peter Ivanovich, this guy was Ivan’s longest friend. He had known Ivan ever since early childhood till late adulthood. Even Peter doesn’t want to go to the funeral he rather play Bridge with his friends. When he goes to visit Ivan, Peter begins to think about his death coming soon. He quickly enters a state of denial and confusion because he doesn’t want to think about death and when in the presence of Ivan’s body he starts to cross himself and bow because he thinks if he doesn’t his death will soon come. As the story progresses, Ivan begins to isolate himself from society and family. His work shortened his life and allowed Ivan not to think about death coming because he was so occupied. He was so into his work that he did not have time to relax and devote time to his family. As Ivan became more successful in work he had lost two children and didn’t care much for them because he was more concerned about money. He believed if he worked so much he would set his life for the latter part of his life.
In chapter four, Ivan is told that he has very little time to live. Ivan was told that he had a kidney disease (floating kidney) so he devotes every second of his life thinking about death. Ivan believes he can cure himself if he uses the method of mind over matter but he quickly learns he cannot because his symptoms are too much to handle and only make him think more about death. Due to his fatal situation his perception of life changed. For example he questions life, challenges god, and emits hate and disgust towards his wife. He also enters a state of denial and begins to evaluate his life. He is so disgusted and frustrated with life because he has not reached his expectations. Ivan Ilych constantly wishes for death and thinks about his past life. Once he realized he has a lost touch with life he confines himself to his sofa and asks questions that he cannot answer nor can anyone else help him answer them. Towards the end of the book he understands that death is unavoidable. Even though he knows everyone wants him to die except his son he displaces his hatred towards his friends, doctors, and family that he forgives his wife and dies peacefully. During the last minutes of his life he embraced what his life was missing and that, that had been missing was his life was straightforward and it was awful because it was common and not what Ivan wanted.
My reflection on this book is as follows: I very much liked the story it wasn’t interesting but it showed the common process of death. I realized that my perception of death has changed. Before I thought that if I died I would very much die like Ivan but after many revaluations of my life I have accepted my death if I was to die tomorrow because I have accomplished many things in my life. I am proud because I don’t fear death and instead accept this stage of passing. I didn’t like Ivan’s death because it demonstrated that he had no purpose in life and died without respect and pride. However, if I was put in his situation I won’t die without pride I would like to die “big” with respect and when I die I will die with pride because I know my head will be held high and I won’t go easy into the ground. I would also not be angry with the world and hate those that are close to me because Ivan thought everyone had lied and pretended they cared but Ivan knows they care and love him a lot.

RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy is a therapy that directs itself on realizing the unreasonable and unhealthy behaviors humans develop and change them into positive logical and healthy emotions. Due to the fact that humans have accepted unreasonable and unhealthy behaviors they are held back from being happy and being successful. When this state of mind is changed from negative and unreasonable behaviors to positive behaviors it leads to a better state of psychological and physiological health. This therapy helps humans develop a better positive state of mind that will help them when they are encountered with emotional suffering and self-inflicting pain. Patients of the rational emotive behavior therapy face the ABC model. The ABC model was developed by Albert Ellis, it differentiates between the effects of having a reasonable behavior about a negative event, which produces positive and healthy emotions and the effects of having an unreasonable behavior about a negative event, which produces negative and unhealthy emotions. The A in the ABC model is the way you perceive an event, the B in the ABC model is your decision and the way you act upon this event, and the C in the ABC model is the resulting emotion from the event whether it be negative or positive. To further explain the ABC model: the A, is the actual event and the patients interpretation of the event. The B in this model is the evaluation of the event if it is reasonable or unreasonable. The final step of this model is the consequences, such as, emotions and behavior whether positive healthy or negative and unhealthy.
In addition to these three parts there are also three primary insights. The first of these primary insights is the perception of reality and the acceptance of this reality that causes the emotional effect. The second of these insights is there are conditions that do affect the person either in the past or present but they don’t affect the person. Instead it is the way a patient responds to the negative event and it is up to the individual whether they want to uphold these beliefs. The third and final of these insights is to attack the emotional problem and either remove it or turn it into a positive emotion.
In conclusion, rational emotive behavior therapy tries to acknowledge the problem of the patients, identifying the causes of the problems, and when the therapists understand the problem of the irrational emotion they try to understand why it is irrational and provide a different way of counteracting the perception to produce a positive and healthy emotion. When this state of mind is changed from negative and unreasonable behaviors to positive behaviors it leads to a better state of psychological and physiological health. This therapy helps humans develop a better positive state of mind that will help them when they are encountered with emotional suffering and self-inflicting pain.

LIVING THE LIFE

Albert Einstein was theorized that “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” I believe life is too short to be shackled by stringent principles. For life is an everlasting struggle for existence until it eventually meets death. Every individual will always be surrounded problems so every individual must love themselves the most for it is this love for the inner self that acts as an inexhaustible potion to keep the spirit of fighting alive. All causes are driven by an inner manifested self-love. When you identify your weaknesses you are able to correct them and this will allow for complete domination over your mind, body, and soul. Every action is controlled by the mind and the heart because they are the two centers of power. One must stop thinking about others and embody the attitude that there is nothing in the entire world more important than you and your desires. For the greater half of our lives we spend in depression because it is the little certain things that force us to be unhappy. If we are a creation of God’s perfect image has he bestowed us as weak?

LIFE IN HELL

“Life in hell” I wrote this while I was sitting in my cell
Stressed behind the bars of jail so I wrote the bars of hell
Couldn’t believe this is where I’ll be in my eighteenth year
Filled with misery in a long day of court and it stressed me out
Framed by my enemies and the judge won’t hear me out
Can’t believe the system I was under
A criminal structure constructed to puncture
The pain makes my veins cry thunder
I hold my tears trying to make the troubles disappear I don’t want to live here
Embraced by my blood brother peers so it’s now safe in here
The reds coming in to my pen doesn’t matter that the mob I’m in
It’s dark and hell is hot this is what is kept within
Hate orange and freedom is not getting closer so I wait for the day they release me
“Don’t want anything, go eat without me”
Used to make a hundred twenty five thousand a year but I was stripped to my last dime
Hell is blind and true love is defined as divine but I gave up all that was mine
Need to restore my name and get away from the evil that remain
Pride filled with blood stains, when will the rain stop so I could shine
This is what has become of me I need to get out and see my family
Who cares what they have done to me I have to move forward with my life
Get out and do what’s right, fight through the strive

WHO SAYS THERE'S NO GRAY AREA

Dating back to the time of Genesis it was uncertain who was superior the men or the women but it is now proven that men do think differently then women. According to a new study the anatomy of the brain indicates the brain is constructed of two different types of tissue, white and gray matter. This new research reveals that men think more with their gray matter, and women think more with white. Findings show that in general, men have nearly 6.5 times the amount of gray matter related to general intelligence compared with women, whereas women have nearly 10 times the amount of white matter related to intelligence compared to men. In human brains, gray matter represents information processing centers, whereas white matter works to network these processing centers. The results from this study may help explain why men and women excel at different types of tasks. Men tend to do better with tasks requiring more localized processing, such as mathematics, while women are better at integrating and assimilating information from distributed gray-matter regions of the brain, which aids language skills. Scientists find it very interesting that while men and women use two very different activity centers and neurological pathways, men and women perform equally well on broad measures of cognitive ability, such as intelligence tests.

TRU LIFE

There are three things people need to know to live a happy positive and successful life. It is important to feel good about yourself and do the things that bring about happiness. The first things that people need are moral values so they can determine what is right and wrong. These moral values are instilled in us when we were children and it is an important thing because it is what we use to make the right decisions. The second things that people need are family and friends because they help you get through the hard times in life. Without family and friends you will face the hardships by yourself and having nobody beside you is very difficult. People need family and friends because they provide love. This emotion is needed because it is what drives us to do everything we do. People need this most so that they have something to help them get through life. It shows someone personally cares for you. The third and final thing people need is an education because it assists you in becoming successful and wealthy in life. Education is very important, street knowledge or book knowledge does not matter because it is the experiences with the education that help you understand life.

EAT THIS EATING DISORDER

As a St. John’s student and a member in a society that is infatuated with weight and appearances I quite often come across people with eating disorders and obsessions to be “perfect”. Quite recently I have attended “eat this eating disorder”, a presentation held at St. John’s and I have learned about the hazardous and injurious behaviors that take place. At first I firmly believed women place an enormous amount of stress of the image their body presents. However, I came to know everyone goes to certain lengths to mold themselves into an ideal image. I disagreed and agreed with much of what was said and I have come to provide certain steps that will help you lose weight and be a better person. While achieving your health goals it is important to be a positive and strong individual. Surround yourself with all the positive things in life and eliminate the negative things in your life and begin to better you. The first step in your process is laughter, it makes you positive and you even lose weight when you laugh. Happiness stretches your mind and body as it rejuvenates what is inside of you. Listening to happy music, reading a good book, and watching funny movies can brighten your whole outlook and do wonders for your self esteem and introduce you to ideas and habits. Most individuals think this is comical but having more safe sex is actually good for you because it supports weight loss and able you to release stress and make you happy. For those that do not prefer to indulge in safe sexual activity could throw a party, take a vacation, and isolate yourself from electronic devices and work. Just relax and have a day for yourself one time and indulge yourself in something flavorsome.

TV MAKES YOU STUPID?

The experiences shared with friends and family is the material one’s life is fabricated. In today’s era people prefer to watch reality television then experience reality. The majority of society average about 45 hours of television a week which consists of reality television, sitcoms, and other forms of entertainment. The entertainment replaces logic and takes away from their intellect. Growing up I spent most of my time at the school playground getting together to play sports. However, as I got older I got the responsibility to watch my little cousins and I was witnessing how stupid they were becoming. They would wake up really early on a Saturday morning to watch cartoons. It was there weekly festivity and they would wake me up early just so I could watch Tom and Jerry with them. They no longer wanted to draw, read, color, or play sports they just placed themselves on each couch and did not want to do anything. The television had kept their attention by providing laughter, excitement, and amusement so I had to ban television. Even though I received an unpleasant reaction the choice to get them out of the trance would only benefit them in the long run. According to Daphne Miller, a renowned doctor, she believes television is dangerous and damaging for those that are exposed to it. When we watch television we are not becoming smarter because the brain is a muscle when it is used to think it becomes stronger and you become smarter. “Television hands kids all the answers, promoting passive learning and short attention spans. As a result, kids have difficulty concentrating and working hard to solve a problem.” The consequences that television has on a developing mind are hazardous. Most children will have watched about 10,000 hours worth of television by the time they even start school. Then, the majority of kids will spend 10 hours in front of the TV for every hour spent tending to homework. Around the time students are graduating high school, they will have committed more time to television than they have to sitting in a classroom. Dr. Daphne Miller states that on average, children should spend less time watching television and use those hours saved to play sports, spending time with family and friends, to create, to build, and to contemplate.