Community Pre-Write

The community I was apart of for a while was this student organization called PCN, which stood for Pilipino Cultural Night. The organization was held at Skyline Community College in San Bruno, CA. The group was formed by Filipino American students who hosted events like Filipino food festivals, talent shows, and Pilipino Cultural Night. The way we interacted was having meetings after classes to discuss what events would be held throughout the school year or even hanging out with one another outside of school. The members choose to be a part of PCN because they want to feel closer within their communities, the Filipino community. The benefits about this community was that everyone had a tremendous amount of teamwork and dedication towards this organization, hence it has been around since 2004. What I enjoyed about this community was that almost everyone was friendly and very welcoming. The members all knew how to have a good time and knew how to demonstrate how teamwork was all about.

Reflection on Module 1

During Module 1, some of the things I learned about myself as a professional student was that I am a good listener, a great note taker, and I was always on time to class. I have also been told that I am a little too quiet most times and I need to participate in class more often. I don't think I really surprised myself in any way because I already knew I am quiet person when it comes to being in class as well as participating. The reason why I feel that way is because I choose to listen carefully what is being taught to me than to actively listen and I tend to be very shy. I think I am a little disappointed in myself because of my fear of speaking up in class and its something I should always work on . I am proud of coming to class on time which is always important. I feel like I can always maintain a professional behavior. Academic work is something I also need to work on constantly because I have a little bit of a bad habit of procrastinating.

Neighborhood

The neighborhood I grew up in was very suburban. The city I loved in was West Covina, CA in the Los Angeles County. My neighborhood was very boring and quiet. I was within in gated community also. Nothing really much happened much except activities being held at the community pool. I also moved around a lot in California. After 13 years of living in southern California I moved to Northern California. I lived in a small town one hour away from San Francisco, which was Fairfield. Living in Fairfield was also very boring and a culture shock for me compared to me living in L.A. Fairfield was a very small town, there were hills and cows everywhere. The cultural difference between the two areas where as different as night and day.  In Southern California the majority of the people I grew up with where of a Hispanic and Samoan.  In Northern California, the majority of the people where Filipino and African-American. After about a year, I moved to Daly City for the rest of my high school years. I also lived in a suburban area as well. The majority of the people that lived in Daly City were Filipino. I think I am who I am because the neighborhoods I grew up in were very quiet and secluded. The fact that I grew up in these neighborhoods to me makes me a quiet person most times. Moving around a lot has also exposed me to different types of cultures, nationalities and personalities.

Poverty Business

  Companies who profit from low-wage earners are exacerbating the opportunity divide by making it very impossible for low-wage earners to obtain upward mobility. Having good credit is the key to upward mobility and the businesses who practice providing high interest loans to individuals prevent them from saving money. Most individuals ultimately neglect their loans because of high interest. Payments made on cars, needed to get to work or homes are lost which makes it difficult to continue working without transportation or worse they can become homeless.

  As for who is responsible for alleviating this issue, I think the answer is everyone; corporations, the government, and individuals. The Government on a national level needs to create laws that address this high interest loan practice that are carried out by businesses. The rules on interest should be strictly enforced and businesses should be made to carefully explain to customers what they're agreeing to. The Government should also make it a crime to provide misleading information.

  The Corporation must learn to establish a set of rules that would abolish them from making  loans available to individuals with poor credit history or don't have the financial means to access the loans. Businesses also need to have moral standards;  It may be legal, but it doesn't mean businesses should enlist in practices  that will harm or hurt other people.

  Individuals need to take responsibility for their actions by making sure if they can afford the monthly payments on loans before hand. The need to determine what their monthly expenses are first such as rent, food, clothes, utilities etc and checking how much they would have left before taking out a loan. Individuals need to read what they sign also, if it takes you an hour to read the full details of what a business is asking you to agree to, so be it!

My name is Catherine Bakari, I'm 22 years old. I am a San Francisco native but raised in the Los Angeles and Long Beach area in Southern California. I moved back to the Bay Area about 8 years ago with my parents and 2 sisters. I spent my teenage years in Fairfield, Ca and in Daly City. My personal interest is spending time with my extended family and dancing but sometimes I feel like I have no time for myself because I tend to be a workaholic. I am also a very big movie buff, watching Independent films is a favorite for me. I'm very big on music, I grew up listening to music from the 70's and the 80's.