New Years Resolution

Although it has been a great 2016, I'm more thankful to be ending this year on a happy note. One thing that I will try to work on on 2017 is try and be more happy it might sound cliche, I want to stop recalling and retelling the past and alsostop thinking on the future so much but try to focus on the present and to live everyday like it's my last. And to stop doing the same things everyday and get out more and make a change to my life and travel more to make me feel more happy and accomplished for what I've done because just by doing nothing almost everyday I'll get more depressed and to focus on what I never thought was possible.

Students Entering Schools With Weapons in the U.S.

Students Entering Schools With Weapons in The U.S.
By: Ezequiel A.

   In the United States alone, it is reported that up seventy-seven weapons are caught in schools and caught in the possession of students most under the age of eighteen. Most students are not caught in the act but only a handful are reported and face serious trouble with the law. Reasons may vary in why they might bring it such as for self defense, perhaps from bullying. Another way is that the person in the possession may try to hurt someone.

  According to thetrace.org they state that "Students from elementary through high school have been caught bringing guns onto campus at least 77 times this year alone " showing that it is possible for students around the U.S. Are more likely to bring firearms onto schools. Most are White Male teenagers that are reported or caught in the act and they not only bring guns, they bring knifes ,switch blades according to childtrends.org

   But how are kids/teenagers getting access to these types of weapons especially a gun? And how are half not caught in the possession? "A study of 37 reported Weapons in 26 states found that in nearly two-thirds of the incidents, the attacker got the gun from his or her own home or that of a relative." Smartgunlaws.org showing how just simple it is just to get a firearm and not only is it easy for them to get a in hands and sneak potentially harmful items that may hurt someone.

   We can not stop this situation in a matter of weeks or years, we need to count on each other and make a school and a household environment well protected. And so we can make everyone depending on each other and not go off on each other and make it a safe place for everyone to be in and lash out on innocent people. We just need to understand each other and the people around us and if someone is going through tough times we should sit down and listen to them.

Websites:
https://www.thetrace.org/
http://smartgunlaws.org/
http://www.childtrends.org/indicators/high-school-students-carrying-weapons/

Gun violence PSA leaving viewers awestruck 

Title of YouTube video that shows gun violence in schools. 

Vocab.

When I was nine years old and already being vulnerable my friends death, it was late July and I've lost my bestfriend he was more like a family friend. But to me he was a brother/grandfather figure he died on his birthday at the age of ninety-four in his bed. But before his death he told me that when he left, he would give me his prize possessions one of them being an antique music box that he got in Japan back in the 1950s, another a Chinese coin, an antique dagger that he got from his father during the 1920s I think and lastly he gave me this little metal toy. And I will forever cherish those gifts that I got from him because I don't have a picture of him but everytime I look at those gifts I can still recall the time when he told me that I can keep them. And to me that means a lot giving someone something you loved your whole life and handing it down to another young life meant a lot to me even though I was nine years old. And even though I kinda understand why he gave them to me I still try to elaborate more why me, why not his nephew or my mother instead he told me that I was allowed to keep them and maybe I'll pass on tha tradition and explain to the next person why I want them to pass it on.

My Names Origin

My name Ezequiel comes from a long list of people in my famiy, the name comes from my fathers side of the family my father is name Ezequiel and my fathers father was Ezequiel too and lastly my Grandfathers father was also named Ezequiel and throughout these years I haven't accepted my name because I felt that people will distinguish me from my race and make me feel like I didn't belong and as I was eleven years old I felt that when grew up to be eighteen years old. I will change my name to something more American. But as grew up  was I was thirteen and now i'm fourteen and have learned to accept my name and it is a unique name to me because most people can't spell it or even pronounce my name and it's funny to me to see them try I guess and my name makes me who I am today.

My favorite quote.

"Tomorrow always comes."

Is one quote that really hits me every time I'm down, it is my quote to me that stands out more than any other quote out there. Every time I'm sad I think and remember "Tomorrow always comes" and just by annotating those three words they probably mean that today was a day, but forget all the downs and remember that tomorrow will hold something probably much better, because "tomorrow will always come." And it's true in my opinion because most of the times we feel down but we know that tomorrow may be a better day and to me that really speaks out.

Things I'm thankful for

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for two things, having two wonderful parents who love me and care for me even when I think they don't. I will forever love them and remember them for what they have done for the fourteen years of being alive I will forever care for them and thank them for everything for making me have a bed a roof over my head and a job because without these things we wouldn't be able to survive. And lastly I am thankful for having friends, because whenever I'm down or feel like I have no one to talk too, they always call me to calm me down and make me feel better and I'm forever thankful for that because of these two things I don't know what my life will be like.

2016 Presidational Election

November 9, 2016 5:00 A.M. I had just woken up from a thirty hour nap. I stayed up from 6:00 P.M. November 8, 2016 all the way to 5:00 A.M. To see who the next president of the United States would be as soon as 2:00 hit Donald Trump became the fourty-fifth President of the United States of America. And it just hit me, in my head I was like "Oh dang, were doomed!" I saw on the news how news castes were worried about the New York Stock Market, they feared since he is now presidernt we may go to another Ressication and maybe go into another Deepresion that morning. I was beyond terrified because of Trump's view on immigration and insults my nationality. And since he wants to have a massive deportation of illiegal immigrants i'm scared. I fear for me and our country. And I fear that one they our country would not be ruled by the government rather than a third world country or maybe even Socialist since Trump has an idea of Socialism. And as the days goes by, our economy is booming. But the Trump riots keep going on and this just shows how are country is separating and that is something I will forever fear for the next four or maybe eight years, a Trump presidency. And it just hurts me that our country was so close to having a Female running our country and all the millions of lives shattered. And now we have to see a white man with extreme racist beliefs and I hope for the best for our country, and for our country to heal.

Martin Luther King Jr.

  This book focuses on Martin Luther kings life, I really recommend this book to other people who seem to be interested about the Civil Rights Movement because this was a really historical event that took place during the 1960's it talks about how African American's living in the United States were being discriminated by whites do to the fact that during this time of history segregation existed. People tried to change this by being a whole united people but whites thought that it would be better for states all over the United States to separate Whites and Blacks. But as most people know this let to outrage and the creation of the Civil Rights movement to end segregation against African Americans. And King was the most major man who impacted the Civil Rights he was a Black who wanted to see change in the America he wanted everyone to live in a world where everyone was created equal and that there was no racism to any race. And I felt impowerd in a way to make a change. Though it's been sixty plus years since this and there is still violent protest against African Americans and people want to change the perspective others view people. 

My Best Day

     My best day ever has to be July 29, 2016 because that was the first day in my life that I actually felt free and actually felt happy in months. Because not only was it summer, but I met new friends that actually cared and I appreciated and actually felt like they cared about me. There three male teenagers around my age of thirteen. And during that day, we all went by ourselves to downtown Chicago, Illinois we took a CTA train downtown and we landed at the heart of the city which was State st. And Clark ave. where all the buildings are and the famous Millennium Park was.

    We all decided to go to the tallest building in Chicago which was the Willis Tower it took us five minutes to get there and we were trying to find the entrance to the Sky Deck. We all had about seventy dollars on us. But we were all out of luck, we couldn't get in because we needed a guardian to come with us. We tried everything to get in and one of my friends decided to sneak in with an older man maybe around his twenties, but he declined to we had nothing else to do we all got bored and decided to go eat we went to a fancy two story Mcdonalds we ate almost everything off the dollar menu and then it hit us. We where lost, one of my buddies had an Ipod which meant that he needed to connect to WiFi in order to work his Maps. I couldn't find available free WiFi connections and my cell service wasn't working well and my other friend didn't bring his phone for some dumb reason. We were lost in the city we decided to go and try to find the Loop where all the CTA trains that connected every single train to the suburbs.

   But that wasn't the only thing that was worse, something else happened. One of my friends dropped my phone in the streets. I really didn't care that much because it was a cheap phone but it was my phone. And when it dropped half of the screen was shattered and when I Tried to go on to my Snapchat or Instagram little pieces of glass would stab my finger. I put the phone onto my hand faced down but that only made it worse my whole hand was covered in glass and in some parts blood was visible. I got really mad because he dropped it and. Started yelling at him and started saying mean things about him but he said that he was going to put in half of money for a new phone. And next thing. I know in only one month I got an Iphone, But other than that the day just kept getting better even though we got lost and shattered my phone I still felt happy to be away from home and have not care about anything else making that day to me a good day for me.
    

Young African American Teenager Brutally Shot by Chicago Police

Young African American Teenager brutally Shot by Chicago Police
    By: Ezequiel Avila

   On October 20, 2014 Chicago police officers on duty had gotten a report of a suspected African American teenager acting in a strange way. A while later the police arrived to the area, the police thought that the thought that the teenager was in possession of a knife. An officer by the name of Jason D. Van Dyke a white police officer, was charged with first degree murder after he shot this teenager at the age of eighteen. His name was Laquan McDonald, he was shot by the police officer sixteen times in fourteen to fifteen seconds. And died on the spot. But Van Dyke pleaded guilty.

   He claimed to have saw Laquan in possession of a knife. Or maybe was it because he saw a black man wondering off at night in a ruff side of the Chicago area. Located in 4100 S. Pulaski Road Chicago, Illinois. This was all recorded by dash-cam video. The city of Chicago hid this video from the public's knowing until November 25, 2015 almost one year later later when it was finally released to the public. This caused major outbreaks and lead to months of protest not only because of how many times he was shot by a black man, but by the number of years it took for the city of Chicago to release the video many people of all different races were outraged on someone who is suppose to protect citizens brutally shoot them to death.

  This isn't the only city/state in the United States of America to be showing violent police brutality against young African Americans and other races. Memphis, Tennessee has high numbers of young African Americans dying due to police and gun violence. But the lack of trying to improve the city is low, the city has just surpassed its number of deaths caused by loose guns on the streets so far the city is trying to improve but the Mayor of a Chicago Rahm Emanuel is doing very little he is only making promises to its citizens that things will improve? Only time will tell, for the time being the city needs stricter gun laws and to improve it's relationship with its police officers and citizens.

Childhood Memories.

      Growing up in my family I never really had a true memorable childhood, my family went through hardships and mostly during the winter and summer times, they always went to work. And I was mostly sent to a babysitter around my neighborhood. So I never really went out or had that much fun in my early childhood since I watched T.V. 24/7  but when I was truly happy was around my Birthday since my fifth and ninth birthday. I can remember that during those times I was truly happy. Because around those times my family would come and visit me and my family to celebrate my birthday's and I can still remember being so happy to see my family. But at times I wish. Can go back in time to treasure those moments because now I rarely see my family due to financial cost to see them or it's cause some of them didn't make it to see 2016

      Seeing them always made me happy and not only seeing myself happy was the best part. I can still remember seeing my parents so happy my mom was so excited to see her friends and her family from Mexico and other's are out of state. And seeing my dad go crazy was funny to and seeing him with my family was a true gift as well because rarely today I see a smile in his face and I barely can make him laugh anymore. But I still treasure these moments in my life because it makes me who I am today and makes me think of the times I was truly happy.

Blogging Tips.

Two things I hope that improve in my blogging is that, I hope I'll be able to have more proper grammar because it is important to have proper grammar in life. Because it makes you look smarter and shows others around you that you are smart. And also it shows others how capable you are of texting or writing because grammer is everything. And throughout this blogging experience I hope to be able to improve my grammar and be able to look and feel smart.

Another thing that I want to work on is on choosing wisely, choosing the topics that I'm going to write about wheather it depends on personal or opinions that I have. Because whatever you write in Social Media always stays with you even thought you might have deleted that context it is always there. And I hope that my topics are generally able to talk about positive things and not the negatives.

Where I want to go...

My dream vacation: North Korea (DPRK)

     There are many places I want to go in the world such as Japan, Russia, etc. but there is one place I'm the world that only a handful of people can ever go. It is located in the south east Asia. The country is called North Korea (DPRK) most people might know is country for being the last sealed communist country in the world. I've had devoted most of my time to learn the country's official language Korean I study night and day to understand there way of culture and language. If I ever get the chance in my lifetime, it would be a dream to visit this country.
    This country is usually known for its latest Nuclear Missle test which was the 5th and most powerful bomb ever tested since 2006. And all everyone hears about the news it's about its corrupted government and rarely about people who live there, and how they live there daily lives. But the tue reason why I want to visit this communism country is because of the very little information we have on the country. And it is my dream to go to the capital Pyongyang and explore even though I know I'll be able to see what the government wants me to see.
     Although I would probably not be able to go here due to the handful of people that are let in yearly there is so much I want to see. Like May Day stadium the worlds largest stadium in the world and I want to explore Pyongyang at night, if you ever look at pictures of the capital at night there is so much to look at from propaganda buildings, Sculpture's but most importantly. I want to interact with the people even though that might be prohibited since I'm not allowed to talk to North Koreans about there own ideas of the country since everyone in the country has no rights. These things make me curious and want to explore this secretive country and find out the truth about people's daily lives and how they maintain the socialist system of North Korea.

Summer Reading Blog: Papertowns

    The book I have chose for my eight grade summer blog is Papertowns by John Green. The two main charecthers are two high schoolers by the name of Quentin Jacobson (main Charecther) and his crush the mysterious Margo Spigelman. To start off, before Highschool; Quentin and Margo were nine years old at the time and they were walking to there nearby park Jefferson Park, Florida Once they arrived to the park they found the dead body of Robert Joyner this set off a massive divided between Margo and Quentin. Go to Highschool and Margo is a completely changed person, she isn't herself. She is now a mysterious girl while Quentin stayed the same.

   One night Margo runs away to Agloe, New York but the thing is that no one in the story currently know where Margo is. Once Quentin found out about Margo ran away he gathered his friends to go and discover her in many places. Such as SeaWorld, Walmart etc. places in the Orlando area. But one night Quentin and his friends stopped at a local Walmart and discovered a message my Margo, Quentin that she wanted him to find him and prove to her that Quentin loved her. But little did they know that Margo wanted nothing to do with them.

  Once Quentin found this supposed 'clue' to Margo's strange dissaperence he set off to find her the clue that was found said that she was in a Papertown which means that she was in a hidden town mostly not found in maps. Then Quentin started referring Margo as a Papergirl a lost on identified person who no one new who she was. Quentin set off to the long journey to find her in Agloe, New York by car. Going into the book they finally discover the town and while there they come across this abandoned store and in the distance is Margo. She is very angry and upset that she was found she never wanted to be found by anyone she explained to Quentin, Radar, Ben and Lacey that she was trying to runaway on purpose. Leading to this Margo wanted to stay but wanted to talk to Quentin about everything that happened she explained to him that she really thought it was sweet for him to go through all the trouble into finding her. And in the end Margo gave Quentin a kiss, but it meant that they only remain friends.

In ten years...

In ten years...

      Thinking about the future is one of my biggest fears... Because I'm growing up,  and I don't know what I really want to do with my life. I'm so focused on the past, I seem to have forgotten the present and the future...I realese that in 15-20 years that my parents/family members aren't gonna be able to help me mentally, physically, emotionally. And that really keeps me up at night, I realize that people who are 'friends' leave. Some stay but some leave and I realize that you have to start making choices...

     Honestly, in ten years I hope that I'll keep studying different languages. Because right now I only know four languages English, Spanish, Korean, and a bit of Japanese because learning different languages is important to me especially when traveling outside of your coutry.

    My biggest goals is to travel the world, and one country in particular North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) because this country is shrouded with mystery. But the news/media clam this country to be a threat to the peace of the world. Because of North Korea's latest Nuclear test, but I really want to visit the country to see what I am able to see. This country says that Americans are 'Imperialist aggressors' that started the Korean War (1950-1953) and they also calm that Communism/socialism is the way of life. While on the other hand the U.S. Feared Communism during the Cold War and I really want to know what's up with these two different country's.

    Reunification of relatives is highly important... One of my New Years resolution was to reunite with family members some that I knew but didn't visit much. And other family members that I never met before and since the first day of 2016 I met my Grandparents! And my Uncle it took the, nearly eleven years for me to meet them. And most recent July 2016 I met my other long lost Uncle. And even more family members. And I'm glad to say that my dreams are coming true...

     Lastly and the most important, I want to leave a purpose. I want to leave a purpose in this life just like everyone else I want to be remembered as the young man that build that building I want to leave a stamp that says I built this and I'm the best! I don't want to leave this world without being able to do the things I mentioned. Because I want all my dreams to come true with the little time I have left.