The House I Live In by Eugene Jarecki is a documentary film about the war on drugs in the United States. It raises many contemporary intercultural concerns about the issue, but first it would be important to explain what cultural groups it highlights. We would first think about diving the war on drugs between drug users and law enforcement, but after watching this movie we can tell that there is a real intercultural issue amongst drug users and prisoners incarcerated for drugs. Indeed, we learn in the movie and its website that “even though White and Black people use drugs at approximately equal rates, Black people are 10.1 times more likely to be sent to prison for drug offenses. Today, Black Americans represent 56% of those incarcerated for drug crimes, even though they comprise only 13% of the U.S. Population”.…
The car plunged from sun drenched desert into tall, dark palms. Into a different world. Inside, the road softened to a track that wound and bumped its way forward over sandy, unimproved soil, shielded from the sun’s glare by walls of greenery. That is, the track came about as close as any vehicleway can to being in harmony with earth and vegetation. But before long it ended; just petered out. A few yards ahead, nestling so naturally among the palms that at first my eye hardly registered it, stood a thatched-roof cabin. Or perhaps the right word is “shanty.” For the place had a definite South Sea Island air. The big stars-and-stripes hanging from a flagpole seemed almost colonial.…
The first house my father built was constructed room by room and took more than 25 years to be built, a continuous work in progress. The original house was built in the standard square format without standard electricity and started with just four rooms: living room, dining room, kitchen and bedroom. The bathroom was located about 70 feet away in a little draw or valley from the house, which during the winter could be cold as the wind blew snow in during the most inopportune moments. New square rooms were attached to old square rooms as the house expanded outward to accommodate our growing family.…
I come from a world where the only thing that is constant, is change. Changing states, changing houses, and changing schools. Unlike most other kids, I don't have a childhood home where I made countless memories, in fact, my earliest memories as a child all consist of cardboard moving boxes, along with unimaginably long car rides to foreign places. I don’t have a door marked to show how I've grown over the years, and I don't have a bedroom wall thick with paint covering over colors I chose as a child. Truthfully, often times when I was younger, and would see someone with these things, I was tempted to be envious and couldn't help but to think how lucky they were to have such stability. As a result of this, I spent a large portion of my childhood…
People have places that they can go to that bring them much warmth and comfort. These places can be homes, places with lots of memories, or even secretive ones. My childhood home in Dallas, Texas, has always evoked those feelings of comfort and security.…
What’s better to chill out a hot summer’s day than something sweet and cool? No, I am not talking about a Popsicle. I am not talking about an ice cream cone, either. I am not even talking about iced tea or lemonade. It is something better than all of those, and it doesn’t even have all the sneaky calories of those other tasty treats! The answer to the question is simple. Have you guessed it? It is a cherry.…
American NFL football is the greatest sport in the world. Many would ask why I think this. The Gridiron as we all know it is a very magnificent, strategic, and violent sport. Football can easily catch the unknowing eye of anybody. American football is the greatest sport in the world because of the tailgating, my personal opinion, and the strategy of the game.…
It is approximately six in the afternoon on this bright shiny day in September. Today is a day like no other, for today we will experience the beauty and grace of the beach at night. For quite some time I've been meaning to experience this illusive phenomenon at night. With all the rumors about the beach being a gloomy and mysterious place under the moon lit sky, I just had to see for myself. The thought of reaching the beach was so tantalizing, that anxiety overwhelmed me. I packed the basic beach utensils; beach towels, sun block, playing cards, a guitar and firewood, therefore was set. The only ingredients missing now for my trip to the beach were my friends, and soon quickly found the solution by picking them up. Along the way, the bumpers of cars were visible for miles, as traffic filled the lanes of the 91 and 55 freeways.…
Immediately upon arrival I headed to the beach and buried my feet in the gleaming hot white sand. I stood on the edge of this breathtaking tropical island and saw water so blue, that it more resembled liquid sapphire. The ocean's salt stained breeze kissed my skin only enough to askew my hair and soften the mandarin orange suns heat. The ocean was like a cool rejuvenating enveloping blanket. Staggered black jetties stretched like fingers into the deep blue water offering the gulls something to bask in the sun on.…
Fiji was a place that was almost too exotic--a place that existed only in movies and magazines. I remember the first time I saw a picture of a perfect wave in Surfer Magazine. I was fourteen years old. I studied the glassy surface in detail. I couldn’t imagine being in that wave and how it would almost feel as if time was stopped.…
United estates have so many historical places that have become popular because of its attractions such as West Virginia, Brooklyn, new York, Largo Key, Miami and others, On last summer my classmates and I decided to do a field trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We chose this place because of its historical monuments, arts museums and literacy writer’s backgrounds.…
The urban sprawl of Suva held so much of my early life from my parent’s first house at PTC to my birthplace at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital with its rusting sign and broken strips of barbed wire atop the chain-link fence. It was here that I was shown the hospitality that is present in every facet of life in Fiji we simply walked through the front door and when questioned by a security guard about our purpose for being there my father answered that I had been born there. A smile and laugh greeted the statement and with no further questions we were led on a tour of the maternity ward where I was born. Moments like these began to open my eyes to the hidden influence that my Fijian heritage that had been in my life. The recipe for my favorite dish that my parents cook, chicken curry comes from the rich Indo-Fijian culture present on the Island. Perhaps even my love for football comes from a young exposure to the best rugby-7s team in the world. But beyond any superficial taste that may come from Fiji I inherited a genuine joy to be alive from the small island nation. I may not be the most demonstrative about it but just as Fijians remain happy through numerous coups and massive tropical storms I take things in stride and keep smiling. Whether I’m stuck in the middle of the Adirondack…
It was nearly sunset and I was relaxing along the soothing beach in Capitola, California. My brother and sister were assembling sand and shells to make a colossal sand city while my parents were in two chairs chatting. As I was ambling down the oceanfront my feet would feel the chilly waves and I could sense the gentle wind blowing my way. I was reminiscing about the exciting activities previously that day, including swimming through the waves, body surfing, and passing around a volleyball with my brother.…
As we approach the beach, the first thing I notice is the sky. As I look into the cloudless, cerulean blue sky and see the flawlessness of life; in the distance, rolling clear-blue waves crash into each other with such force as that of football players. The sky is breathtaking along with the sounds of the waves and the tide washing onto the shore. The water reminds me of crystals shimmering in the water with the sun reflecting off of it. As the sun sets, the sky turns into a pink hue with a bright orange sun going down into the horizon.…
My favorite place is sitting on my back porch on an early summer morning. The small…