Meditation is looking within and finding yourself; it is soul-search and coming out refreshed and renewed. I believe, as my quote says, that mediation is exploring within yourself. Meditation can just be reflecting on your day or just clearing your mind. From the article "Why we find it hard to meditate", what I found shocking was that one cannot fail at meditating. Even if one's mind is not clear during the process, you can still achieve in meditation. This is because, as they say, there is no special method in meditation. Everyone's method of meditation may be different and may feel different but in the process, can achieve similar results; inner peace. What I learned is that even if my mind is not quiet when I meditate, it is normal and does not effect your meditation. As they said, three hundred thoughts can manifest in your mind in the span of ten minutes of meditation. Ah, the wonders of the human mind. I do meditate. Not frequently or on a schedule. I meditate whenever I feel stress or have a problem I need to figure out. I do this during these specific period because they give me peace of mind a clarity that I otherwise cannot obtain.

"What can the rhythm and flow of a pendulum teach us about balance and personal growth" is an absolutely inspiring. It is an absolutely accurate description of life and its natural, that in the end, it will all balance out. We constantly swing from extremes, from happiness to sadness. But no matter what happens, the universe has a way to keeping everything balanced. This relates to my life because I follow this belief, that even through my toughest challenges, I can persevere through because I know that things will lighten up in the end. For me, in order to maintain a balance in my life, I require planning and working ahead. This is because with both, it allows me to not stress and gives me extra time to relax and keep calm in the future instead of feeling trapped. Another activity I do to keep my balance is to see my friends. Though it may seem like just a normal hang out with buddies, me seeing my friends allows for me to blow off some steam and let loss. This reduces my tension and for me to focus more afterwards. Since my arrival at Loyola, my biggest change is planning. I like to make sure I have time to accomplish a task and keep a calendar. This is important to me because without it, my life feels chaotic. What I will be improving in the future is my priorities. Prior to stressful event, whether it be a test or a date or just talking to someone new, I have a good amount of time where I am worried and nervous but do nothing to benefit myself. I believe that I can improve this by working so that I can accomplish tasks rather than worry. Prepping for a duty is better than worrying.

Time: there has been so much said about it. Philosophers have spend portions of their lives defining it and scientists have made attempt on changing it. But if it was a tangle thing. The saying "seize the moment" for example. What if every accomplishment or failure you encounter is what makes time exist. And each event that we choose to participate in the minutes and seconds of our day. Who's to say it isn't? What is time to someone who does nothing? The quote by W.E.B. DuBois is very interesting. He metaphorically compares time to a seed, something that will grow and bear fruit. I feel like this is possible. Each day, we plant a "tree" for each of our actions and we taste the "fruit" of the outcome in the long run. If this is so, then one should live life to the fullest. The gain the sweetest fruit for your labor, take advantage of each day and lay nothing to waste.




This song gets me through a lot. Make everything seem like it's possible.

"Explaining the Inequalities in Chicago"-After watching, I was annoyed. I was rather startled by the statistical amount of student who struggle or who are pushed aside in Chicago alone. They hit two very keynote when talking about the teachers lack of support and pay. Though this is true, I also wonder, do all teachers teach for the right reason. For example, I've heard "I don't get paid enough for this." Those are the first words of ignorance. Not paid enough for what? Proving a future to children? Developing our students to lead us? Though education is considered a blessing, it cannot also be seen as a chore. Quality education comes from teachers that are willing to put in the extra effort and to provide a solid education. The second point that was brought up was parents. As stated in the video, the period between 3-5, which is also the period right after kids are released, are the most dangerous for kids to remain unattended. Though it may be difficult for parents to constantly be present in the child's life, it is still beneficial to have an idea of where children go after school and their friend. Taking in interest and talking to your child makes all the difference in their lives and what they choose to do and who they choose to be. It all comes down to what kind of role model are you to your children?

"Louder That a Bomb: High School Training Ground"-When I heard this I was amazed. Not by anything he said in particular but by what he said as a whole. It is amazing seeing a spawn of CPS, someone who struggled with the system talk about its downfalls. Why? You can hear a lot about the education system being terrible and our children's futures fading away, but the reality doesn't hit us till we see it for ourselves on the face of a student. What he did was absolutely bold, taking a solid stand against the education system of Chicago. The biggest point that he pointed out to me was the idea of preset destinies. He mentions why he should try if he is only going to get locked up or fail. The fact we have these ideas embedded into out students should be a huge indicator that that is a huge problem with our education system. Why not teach our children to do better rather than teaching them how to not succeed.

Inspiration: How Bad Do You Want It?-It's funny because I was a business/leadership seminar/conference and this exact thing played, except in espanol. Same basic principle and with football as the reference too. But I found this video inspirational. How do we expect success in whatever we do if we don't put our hearts in to everything we do. Success is but a state of mind. There is no secret to it, just effort. this video shows all that can be with some determination. Why do we expect success when we put forth the littlest of efforts. We get what we put forth, nothing more nothing less. Leadership, education, everything is just like sports. With practice, we get better. With determination, we can always succeed.

So, Amundsen High School coming to Loyola. Im pretty stoked. It gives me an opportunity to enlighten these kids on college life and the college experience. I am a little nervous on what to say and how much of my experience I should censor. I'm also worried on how much of what I say they will actually take in. Hopefully, what we say as a group will not fall on deaf ears and they will be able to take from our experiences.

So closing remarks. We should focus on living and bettering the world in ways that will improve everyone's means of life. Whether that be education or through leadership, we should give it our all, and improve anything we can.

This weeks blog is going to be very serious because it touches on a topic very near and dear to me. This idea of the "school-to-prison pipeline" is not new too me though the term is. This immense racial injustice that is present in the public schools today have been sickening and hard to watch. Throughout my educational career, I have been a spawn of the CPS school system. Because of this, I am very aware of the problems that go on with the system. After reading the article "Locating the School-To-Prison Pipeline", I was not shocked or appalled. This is because all these ideas and implementation I have witnessed prior to our last session. It just reminded me of how many children suffer and the challenged of being a minority or a student of color or even just a student in an low income area. This is also very similar to the "Black Makes, Black Dreams" documentary that we viewed during our session. From what I saw in the video, I was disappointed. There is so much potential in each human but because of social standards and inequalities, we have preset ideas that do no give people a chance based on their identity.
So it's time for a story.
Once upon a time, a boy; for confidentiality sake, lets call him...X, was accepted into Lane Tech. X was a 5'5 Hispanic who lived in the southside of Chicago. At this time, I was working for the school as a Freshman Mentor, whose duties were to assist students with their transition into high school from grade school. So X ended up being in my group of freshman and we all had our laughs and giggles. However, whenever in class, X would argue back with the teachers and cause a scene. After a week of this reckless behavior, the teacher pulled me aside saying this: "If X does something else, take him to the office and send him home." But of course, X that day is feeling extra snappy and talks back to the teacher. So I call him out and tell him to follow me. As we walk, I ask him "Hey bro, is everything alright?" He replies, "Yeah." I follow up asking "so... then what's up with that classroom business?" He looks away, and tells me about his school and his parents and his community. He told me about how his teachers told him that he would not amount to anything and that his parents were never there and that his friends all were either selling drugs or in a gang. Then came the part I will never forget. He says "I know I won't be successful so why should I care?" I turned around and he says "Where are you going?" I tell him "taking you back to class." He says, "Why? I thought I got kicked out." I tell him something I hope that he won't forget. "You're worth a lot more than you think. You can give up and I wouldn't blame you. You've been through a lot. But people don't make you into what you are, you do." Now, X is a junior with a 3.7 GPA and in various clubs, with a bright future ahead of him.

As a STARS Leader, there is much I can do to help. First off, there are various schools and facilities that require aid in tutoring and education the minority or the unprivileged. Another way in which I can attempt to address this issue is through petition to the mayor and city council. There has been word that there will be pay cuts and loss of sick days. There is also word of a disbandment of the teacher's union, which would allow for teachers with tenure and teachers with seniority to be overlooked. With all this chaos in the education system, how are students expected to learn? Only though social change and demands of the population will we be able to induce a change among the schools. "Kids are our future" but if we continue to discriminate, our future appears to be bleak at best. Servant leaders are what is necessary in order for change. If I am to attempt to make a difference, i will have to lead by serving. By listening to others problems and placing their concerns on top of mine, I can help to make change through servant leadership.

The empowerment pipeline will offer me the ability to develop my servant leadership abilities, but one in particukar: empathy. In hearing about struggles, I can place myself in their position, in their pain, and help them in a way that I would not be able to otherwise.

As a spawn of CPS, I am anxious to get to know these students. I want to know about their struggles and problems and their expectations of school and college life. I feel nervous because I want to appear as a role model and as a scholar. I want to be as helpful to them as they need. I am very happy that we will be interacting with actual students and that we can share our experiences as a college student and as ex-high school students with them.

This blog was really heavy, so we are going to end on a lighter note! A quote that I love!

This quote by Martin Luther King Jr. was said during one of his many speeches. He was one of the most recognized leaders in social justice. He followed the mindset of Gandhi, this idea of a peaceful protest during a time when Malcolm X and the Black Panthers advocated rising up in arms. Though he was not the first and perhaps not the most important, his social movement sparked a spur of changes following his death.

This quote related to my leadership cause this is what I believe. When leading towards a cause, through all the prejudice or disagreement, what stands in the end is love. This can be a love for the goal or for the nation or even just love for humanity. This quote shows that rash movements are not always the way to go. The love of an idea can bring forth more change then guns ever will.

I though that cartoon was clever. But it also portrays an important subject: social justice. Social justice revolves around the idea of equality and understanding of the values of everyone. It is solidarity between all groups of people. The idea of social justice stems from, obviously, oppression. Social justice is essential in order for the world to get along. During trying times, equality among all reduces the amount of discrimination and promotes society working as a whole towards a higher goal.

I thought the Servant Leadership workshop was very informative to say the least. Prior to this, I would have had no idea of what that phrase even meant. I thought our speaker was very informative and his approach to teaching was very engaging and allowed for me to fully submerge into the idea.

In regards to servant leadership, I believe I possess: listening, empathy, awareness, conceptualization, commitment to the growth and people, and building community. This is just from the list that I received from the workshop. I believe that though I possess these traits, I should still work on them further to develop myself as a leader and as a person. There is never a point when a person is perfect, but we should always strive for perfection. Contradictory but true. Traits in which I plan to obtain were persuasion and foresight. These traits are very essential in being a servant leader. To convince people to do something allows them the choice to not do it unlike through mere power. This is important because a servant leader puts the people first, allowing for them to take priority. The other, foresight, is essential because it allows for me to learn from my mistakes instead of just throwing myself a "pity party". Learning from errors can help aid in situations in the future.

My dream job. That would to become a neurosurgeon far far in the future. Through this career path, I will merely be servicing the people. This is my ideal job because of my love of biology nurtured by my caring personality. I will aid people from illness and put delicate care to each patient.

It's Superbowl so got to end this with a bang!