Who Am I #2

My American year is almost over. It is so weird to talk about it right now. Feels like i have been living this way forever, and now, saying goodbye to this all... It feels like taking an essential part of me away. But my experience is going to stay with me forever. Yes, I have definitely changed during this past year, and I realize that I am going home, to Ukraine, as a totally different person, with different views, attitude, and character itself.

This year gave me great understanding of where i belong to and what my goals are. I know that my Motherland - is Ukraine - and it is the dearest country for me. It is the place where my parents and family are from, it is the place where my first home is, it is the place where the people are the ones who understand you best of all. Just because you share the same problems, the same language, same culture and way of living - you understand each other really well. Ukrainian flag - is my flag, it shines like the beautiful landscape of the wheat field with the deep-blue sky above. I love my country, and I am proud to call myself Ukrainian, I am proud of my culture and my roots. Ukraine is something that cannot be replaced for me, I am with Ukraine in my heart.

America made me a stronger person. This whole year I have been learning how to find a compromise in any situation, how to cooperate with any person, and how to solve the problems on my own. Yes, I did face some hardships on my way to this, last day in the United States. I faced them and I went over them. All the hardships only made me better and gave me an opportunity to improve. I have become a more independent person, more prepared for life in the real world. And I know that everything I've got during this year, I will carry it throughout my whole road of life.

What I can say is that being an exchange student is some kind of experience you can only get this way, going away from your usual life, getting out of your comfort zone and facing the real life. Your exchange is more like a life in just a year, than a year in your life. Once you leave your home to reach out and see the world, trust me, you will never be the same. Our life experiences is something that directly shapes our personalities. I know that now, and it makes me a more confident person. I know now for sure that our tomorrow, our future is in our own hands. Remember that, and it will lead you to happiness and success. Success I am looking for, and I hope, I am on the right route.

A loser or a winner?

Dear Reader,

we all are looking for big achievements but we cannot always win. Our life is full of ups and downs, and to survive in this world we need to learn how to cooperate with it. People are really stereotypical about winning. We all have some model of success which is widely thought to be right and accepted in the society. I do not know, why a lot of people connect the term "success" with money and materialistic issues. If you are rich, you are successful. If you have fame - you are successful. If you have a great career - you are successful. No, maybe you are not, but you are SUPPOSED to be like that.

The whole culture of the XXI century is built on looking for a special way to success and recognition. However, let us face the truth. We do not need that many winners in the world. Our living and the economy of the world is based on the people, who are often called "the losers". The blue-collar workers, people who do the dirtiest work, people who do not get that much money - we all depend on them. You see, once the winners of ]life disappear, we may know about it, we may be sad, but we may not suffer. However, once the people we call losers disappear, we may feel it. The economy may die in a short time, as far as who may grow and pick up the basic, food, for all of us. Who may work on the plantations? Who may keep us going?

Yes, the truth is that we may not survive. We won't be able to succeed without the people who may be under us, who may become those losers. Everything is based on the comparing. This way, there would be no success in the existence, if there was no losing. We cannot always win, too. This is life and  we all depend on the people who surround us, we depend on the conditions which anyways influence us. Success is not only money. It consists of different parts. Money is only a part of it. And money does not necessarily means happiness.

There always were and always will be winners and losers, and the percentage of the last ones in the nature may be way bigger, comparing to the first ones. This is how it has been forever. Everyone will become the winners in some field and, at the same time, the biggest losers in another field of living. You should just remember, dear reader, that every single losing is only a reason to become a better person. So, whenever you lose, you become a stronger person. We all will one day face the loss, and our main goal is to face it with readiness and belief in the better tomorrow.

Sincerely Yours,

I.D.

Boys N the Hood



1 in 21 black male may be killed during his teen age. The hood life. What is it like? Full of danger and fear. Shootings every single night wake you up and you cannot get back to bed. You are afraid, what if the next person to be shot may be you?


We have just finished watching the movie Boys N the Hood which is a great example of the hood movies, a special genre in the cinema culture which appeared in the United States. The movie has a number of sociological issues within it and, personally, I enjoyed it. It is a great dramatic story, based on the real life of the hoods in Los Angeles and, this way, in any hood either. The film brings up the questions of violence, relationships, drugs, education, family life and responsibility.


For example, at the very beginning of the movie, the main character Tre, being a boy back in 1984, appears to live with his single mother, far from his dad, and to be a bully at the school. Then his Mom sends him to his Dad, saying to his father that only a man can bring up a real man, and that is why Tre should live and grow up with him. So, now Tre gets into the real life of the hood, Crenshaw . He meets his old fellow friends here,  Darrin "Doughboy" Baker, hated by his own mother for some reasons, and his "spoiled" brother Ricky, who is treated well. As a result, 7 years later we can see how the lives of the heroes have changed. Darrin is tough and street-smart and just got out of jail for some deal again, while Ricky, being a successful football player in HS, has a family already and a child, and is going to enter a college and win a scholarship. He needs to get the SAT score of 700, so they take the test with Tre.


Tre has become a responsible man. He is mature, and knows what the life in a hood means: looking in the eyes of the death. No one is secure here: the war between the 2 major gang always goes on, Crips and Bloods never stop it. So, once Ricky gets into a conflict with the guys from the other gang and starts shooting in the air. The enemy runs away, being kind of ashamed and embarrassed, and preparing for the revenge. All in all, one day he finds Ricky, on the day he gets his test results. Ricky goes to a store with Tre and gets shot by his old enemy. He dies right on the arms of Tre, Darrin doesn't get enough time to come and save his brother, so they decide to take a blood revenge. Tre is angry, he goes together with his bros, though even his dad doesn't let him. However, on the way to the place of destination, Tre asks Darrin to let him out. I guess, he is thinking of his life, his love, plans for the future, and his dad. About the responsibility. So, he quits, but Darrin with his friends goes and kills the murderers of his own brother. By the way, Ricky got enough SAT scores to pass, 710... The next day, Darrin talks to Tre and Tre tells Darrin that he lost his brother, but  he has another one, and here he is, Tre. 14 days later, Darrin gets shot.


All in all, this story is based on the real life. The hoods still exist, and they are the same hazardous. People in there have to live in fear and are still brought up in the rules and "laws" of the hood. So, this seems to be an endless circle. But, who knows...