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The Power of Words
Dyesha Sanchez 11/19 “I love you.” “I do.” “We need to talk.” “We the people.” I believe these are just simple, limited words combined to represent an idea. I believe that words carry power and value. I believe it is possible for the dialogue between humans to go beyond their intentional meanings. I believe that through words, peace can be achieved. I believe words are not simply just letters written on a sheet of paper; they can inspire, motivate, and evoke certain emotions. I believe words can also influence what people believe and how they act if used correctly. I believe you can use words as a way to make people like you, respect you, and even love you. As a little girl I grew up listening to words all around me. I used words to make a positive impact in my life and other people's lives. When my aunt was in the hospital back in February, I used to go to the hospital every day and I would stay there until 10 pm. As I was there I would talk to her using my words and I would always try to make her smile no matter what. I used to lay in the bed with her and I would just hold her and I would sing to her while she slept. Until one day when I was singing to her, she never woke up and I knew she had passed away. I feel that I literally sang her into the next world. I believe the negative outcome of words is that some people use them as weapons to brainwash and manipulate others in order to accomplish what they want. I believe words in the wrong person’s mind can mean chaos. I believe words are so powerful that they can make someone sad or upset about how people talk about them. I believe words can even make people think about suicide if they take them too personally. For example, a bully at school can say how ugly a girl is, and that makes the girl’s self esteem go down, which causes depression. Then suicidal thoughts can come. I believe that is how powerful words can be. There is a metaphor that says, “speak only if your words are more beautiful than your silence.” I believe this means that everyone has thoughts, but you have to know how to keep words to yourself if they are too dangerous. When I was in middle school and all the way into my sophomore year of high school, words made a negative impact on my life. The kids used to make fun of me all the time because I had glasses or because I was “ugly” or because I didn’t understand the work. On top of that, a lot of stuff was happening at home. My life became a mess because of words. Words affected me so badly that one night I got into a big argument with my dad. I couldn’t sleep so I went to the bathroom and I filled up the tub. I started cutting myself until I saw blood and my body felt numb. At that moment I felt like I was good for nothing, but the blood coming out of my wrists. I lost my identity. Ever since then my life has never been the same. I told my parents using my words; they got me help and I went to therapy. As I went every Wednesday, words somehow started making a positive impact on my life. Now when people try to hurt me with words I know what I’m worth. I know who I am. I know how to take care of myself. I see how words have changed my life. I believe words can influence someone in a positive way and they can also destroy someone. I believe people need to be careful with what they say and how they say it. I try to use my words to make positive change. |
Has New Haven Actually Been a “Sanctuary City?”
Thomas Small 10/19 I’ve lived here forever. Well, that’s not entirely true. I have lived in East Haven and West Haven a bit, but my heart has always been in New Haven. This is especially true because I have always been in the New Haven Public Schools and I can say that New Haven hasn’t been even close to a sanctuary. Safety, for someone like me, isn’t the city’s worry in any sense. Why worry about some middle-class kid when they have to worry about 10,000 rich Yale students? The only thing that saves this city, financially, is Yale. Yale brings many of the business aspects to New Haven’s art and culture. Yale does cause a great social and economic divide--one that may not be able to be fixed. The average income for a Yale student’s family is $192,600 (nytimes.com), compared to the average income of a person that lives in New Haven, which is $39,191 (datausa.io)a year. For me, this divide has always been clear and present in my life. I haven’t let it affect me, but it's still there. The state and local governments, and associated services, don’t even want to fix this divide. Instead, they give Yale tax breaks, making them pay virtually no taxes even though Yale owns so much property in New Haven. Yale University is worth an estimated $29.3 billion (thebestschools.org). Keep in mind, this doesn’t include Yale New Haven Hospital or the Yale New Haven Health Overview system. Yale New Haven Hospitals have assets that add up to an enormous $6.1 billion dollars. Yale hospitals grossed about $4.6 billion in 2017 alone (ynhhs.org). Money like this is enough to change the entire scope of the city, but this will never happen because all they care about is improving the Yale Legacy. Of course, the government has played an enormous part in allowing Yale have three of the most profitable companies in New Haven. They have been supporting Yale in many obvious and not-so-obvious ways for their mutual financial benefits. For example, on almost every block where the campus is, there are buttons you can press to quickly get the police there if necessary. Why not have these buttons all over the city? Wouldn’t this be helpful to everyone, not just Yale students? It’s obvious why the buttons aren’t all over the city. The people of New Haven aren’t valued. Another way that city government has shown that they think their people don’t matter is the obvious gentrification that has been taking place over the past decade. For instance, there are two Starbucks downtown, even though they’re only about three blocks from each other. There are new artisan stores, shops, and cafes opening every other week. Of course, all these places are extremely pricey. To most Yale students cost will not matter. All this isn’t bad. In fact, I think it’s good that all these diverse shops are opening because it makes lots of visitors to the city feel welcome. But this is part of the issue. While these new “hip” shops make visitors feel welcome, they also drive away the local people with average salaries who have lived in this city all their lives. In many ways, New Haven has improved on paper. But ethically, it’s not even close. From what I see, New Haven seems to be a mini-version of every major city in the country. This explains why factories have closed and become luxury apartments and business is booming in this city. Clear class disparities, dicrimination, and shady business deals are the new regular. |
The Head of The Table
Speech by Raven Joseph 9/19 As Du Bois sits with Shakespeare, I now sit with Aristotle, Thucydides, and Plutarch, authors of great works that have managed to shape my thoughts on the past and its influence on the future. They offer me a seat at the head of the table; they don’t dare to frown. They welcome me with open arms, lifting the veil that once covered the eyes of my ancestors and now attempts to shield me from reaping the benefits that I must rightfully sow. Du Bois sits across from me, grinning as he witnesses a living, breathing testament of the future he longed to see. A future where a little black girl like me gets to use her voice and it is heard by millions, where a little black girl like me will receive an exemplary education from an institution built by people who look like me - FOR people who look like me, where a little black girl like me seeks out opportunities to gain her own sense of self-consciousness, self realization, and self respect. He grins, as I sit uncomfortably through a journey he knows I will never escape as he acknowledges that though we have come far, there is still much progress to be made. As we engage in conversation, these forefathers urge me to seek happiness, to honor the lives of those before me, and to foster my own community of changemakers. Today, they have called on me to relay this same message to you, hoping that this here group starts an uproar, a new wave of progressive co-workers, understanding co-workers, unified co-workers in the kingdom of culture. We must work diligently to fulfill their wishes and create new ideas they would be proud to watch unfold into radical change and historical movements. |