1-4-2012

 Weading and Witing is a Hawd Thing!

“Stop being a baby!”

“I don’t want to.” I said.

 It hurt that they laughed and made fun of me. Instead of helping, they shouted out sentences for me to say. After seeing that my slur was just humoring my family, I couldn’t find the confidence to speak. It tore me down and I felt like there was something wrong with me. I was the only one in my family with a speech impediment.

Whenever I could, I would go to my room and sit on my bed. Sometimes in tears as I practiced words aloud to myself, “wun, wabbit, wace”.

Waking up to go to school every morning was the best. I loved reading out loud; feeling like the instructor was special, until I realized that the class wasn’t reading along and paying attention to the book. They were listening to me stumble over words and repeating myself, laughing at me. I felt alone.

I researched a little bit, and Polish people tend to have trouble with pronouncing their r’s. One can notice my accent anywhere. Everyone always does. They say I sound like Elmer Fudd from the Looney Tunes. I could understand why people would look at me if it were an uncommon thing, however it is a very common ‘language’. “Elmer's speech impediment is so well known that Google allows the user to change the search engine language to Elmer Fudd.” (Wikipedia, Elmer - Speak).

When it came time for second grade, I decided to step up. I hated being mocked and laughed at all the time. I told my parents that all I wanted was to speak normal.

They didn’t really know how to help me, other than to have me practice words with the ‘r’ sound in it. In school, one other kid in my class had an accent problem, too. She went to the speech impediment class twice a week that my school had offered. I told my parents about the class, and they filled out all the paperwork for me to go. On the first day attending, I was a nervous wreck. Thoughts went through my head; I felt like it was the end of the world. To my surprise, we didn’t even practice working on my speech until the 4^th visit there. The teacher wanted me to become comfortable speaking around her, so that she got to know me a little bit. Every night, I would come home and practice the words on the paper she gave me. I would write them over and over again, repeating them aloud to my mom and myself.

“Were you born in New York?” asked my teacher.

“No, why does everyone think that?”

“Well, people from New York tend to have a problem with fully pronouncing their ‘r’ sounds.” she replied.

Actually, I was born and raised in Philadelphia and have lived in the same house my whole life. Never, still to this day, have I visited New York. It confused the hell out of me when I was little why everyone asked if I was from there. Now that I am older, I realize that people often judge a person by their accent, and assume they know where their from.

As I grew older, my accent became more and more unnoticeable. The two major things that impacted my speech impediment were the classes, and also experience. As I became older, I felt as though people stopped paying attention to my accent.

I listen to people when they talk and pick up on their accents. I was listening to my little sister Julianna tell me a story last summer and couldn't’ help but notice that she sounded just like me when I was younger. I sat down with her and told her to repeat some words for me.

“Say Rob.” I said.

“Wob.” She replied.

“Say race.”

“Wace.”

“Say track.”

“Twack.”

Hearing my little sister speak is the cutest thing ever. Now I know that I am not the only one in my family, so there must be some type of gene passed along. I know she will do just fine and will grow out of it. Practicing words over and over will help her strengthen her speech skills. It’s almost like hiding our language history, and changing how we speak to fit in with the ‘modern day, ordinary language!’

Wondering what the next move was I stuttered when I told them to move, because we were leaving. As I pushed my way past them, one calls out “Do you know who your messing with?” I turned “No but it doesn’t matter, your in my past now.” As I stare at him wondering why his hand is deep inside his coat, he embraces a disgusted look on his face, as if he thinks I know something. Without hesitation, he shows it. A gun pointed, 4 feet from my face, terrified.

I have always been the type of person to think that anyone who talks to me wont hurt me. Random strangers on the street could ask me something and I would answer in a polite manner because I believed they were part of my neighborhood and I could trust them. From the day I could talk, I would be the first to meet my neighbors and introduce myself to everyone. A problem never occurred for me to be afraid of anyone, so why be afraid.

I remember my mom always repeating “In a situation where it may be life or death, there are no games to be played, no chances to take. You do what your told and give them everything.” Let me tell you something, when you are in a life or death situation do what your mom says. Me on the other hand, I did the exact opposite and turned them down flat. “Run you pockets” they repeated. Standing there watching them look unsatisfied I smiled and turned around on my again. Sensing something was wrong, I look behind me to see one kid pulling my pants down, searching my pockets for himself whispering “Ill find what your hiding”

Hardworking and dedicated to not one but three jobs at the time, I consisted of having around $60 with me at all times. I knew I had a good amount of cash on me, I just didn’t know how much. I watch as his face smirks when he feels the money, and rips it out of my pocket “look at what we have here.” Glaring at the money thinking damn, I worked for that money and now I’m going to let some fool take it off me. I see a chance and I take it. I snatched the money back out of his hand and laugh as though I had won the war. When they ask for their ‘share’ I think in my head and give them each $5 knowing they would leave with $5 rather than $0. To my credit, I was right, they left hollering things such as “Don’t tell your parents, don’t tell the police, we know where you live and who you are so don’t make any mistakes.”

Continuing on my journey, I begin dreading my next moves. The streets were empty, the night was cold. What to do next. We decide that it was best to just let it go because no one was hurt and that’s how we wanted to keep it. By the time we go to the end of the street and look back, they were gone, nowhere to be found. Police cars zoomed around the corner with only their lights on. Staring us down, looking to identify us, like something had been told. As we arrive at 7-11 and sit down on the wall, we see the teens our age being stopped and questioned. Above we hear the blades of a police chopper smacking against the wind with a hot spotlight beaming to the ground searching vigorously.

Later on we found out that the police were alerted by other teens our age that were also held up right before we were. It wasn’t until 2 days later, Sunday morning, which I had told my parents the story and the police were notified that we were also held up. 

The warning signs of drug abuse or alcohol abuse may be easier to spot than you think. Teen drug abuse may be accompanied by teen depression and teenage suicide. This makes it a serious problem. However, some people do not realize the roll that drug abuse can play in teen suicide. It is important to understand that teen drug abuse can contribute to attempted suicide and to completed suicide.

Drug abuse is one of those things that can really affect the chemical balance in the brain, intensifying feelings of depression and sadness. Dependency on drugs, both legal and illegal, can lead to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. The drug becomes increasingly necessary, both physically and mentally, and this can lead to unpleasant feelings associated with being out of control.

It is important to recognize the symptoms of teen drug abuse. Some of these indications include:

·  News friends (often of questionable character)

·  Increased secretiveness

·  Pulling back from family and friends

·  Paying less attention to appearance and hygiene

·  Dropping school grades

·  Lack of interest in extracurricular activities

Sometimes teen drug abuse is not the main cause of teen depression leading to teenage suicide. There are occasions that stresses and life events cause depression and contribute to teen drug abuse. Sometimes teens feel so depressed, and so overwhelmed with life, that they turn to drugs to help them feel better. This is known as self-medicating, and it can lead to teen drug abuse. This drug abuse can, in turn, lead to increasingly severe depression, which, if not treated, can result in teen suicide. Here are some factors that can trigger teen depression:

• Stressful situations at home, work or school
• Exposure to violence (mental, physical, sexual or emotional)
• Loss of a loved one
• Divorce of parents
• Change in economic or social situation
• Changing schools
• Moving to another town

Alcohol is the drug most commonly used among teens. While most teens say they disapprove of heavy drinking, teen alcohol abuse still occurs. Alcohol is one of the risk factors associated with teen suicide. Despite assertions by teens to the contrary, 80 percent of high school seniors have used alcohol at some point. However, most teens underestimate the problems that drinking alcohol can pose, and many of them do not even realize that it can contribute to depressive symptoms that can eventually result in teen suicide.

While teen alcohol abuse is not terribly rampant, it can contribute to teen depression and suicide. Here are some of the risk factors that can trigger alcohol abuse: 

• Mental and emotional problems; because emotional and mental disorders can be so stressful, many teenagers seek alcohol as a means of self-medication. When they drink alcohol, their problems seem to shrink. The initial euphoria that comes with the first stages of intoxication can be a welcome release from mental and emotional problems. 
• Family history; teenagers who have a family history of alcohol abuse are at risk of teen alcohol abuse. This is because addictions are partially genetic, and also because a teenager living in a home where alcohol is abused is exposed to alcohol on a regular basis, and often has the means to easily obtain it. 
• Family situation; stressful situation at home can lead to escapism through alcohol and, as a result, a developed dependency upon it. 
• Violence; teenagers who experience sexual, physical, mental or emotional violence, or who witness it regularly, can be more prone to teen alcohol abuse. Alcohol becomes a way to deal with the problems and to forget reality for a time.

Many teenagers, especially those who are subject to teen depression, feel as though they only feel “normal” when taking alcohol. Additionally, the changes that the body experiences while on alcohol are of a limited duration. When the “buzz” wears off, teenagers might feel even more depressed than they did before. These feelings can lead to suicidal thoughts, and even teen suicide attempts. Teens who recognize they have a dependency can begin to feel helpless, as though they will never escape their alcohol abuse. These feelings of hopelessness and increased depression can also lead to teen suicide. Teen alcohol abuse is one of the risk factors of teen suicide, and it is important to recognize the problems that an alcohol addiction can cause.

It is important to get help for teen alcohol abuse before it develops into a problem that can lead to destructive behaviors, including problems with holding a job, schoolwork, drug addiction, prolonged depression, and even teen suicide. There are many alcohol treatment problems geared toward helping teens overcome the addiction. Therapy is often a good idea in order to help teens work through depression and suicidal thoughts and feelings. This is especially important, as withdrawal symptoms associated with teen alcohol abuse can be quite severe and discouraging. Support and care by family and friends is essential to the treatment process.

• Aggressive behavior 
• Disruptive behavior
• Substance abuse
• Depression
  

Below is my original slide.

Above was my original slide that I presented during class. Below is my revised slide that I changed using elements from Presentation Zen. I changed these simple elements which made my slide a lot better. All I did was deleted the picture on the right and make all of the words/letters bigger. I made the letters/words bigger so that people can read it quicker and easier. I think this slide (below) is better than the slide above.