#360 words

POV!!!!

night chalks 2 (First one: (2003) Night Chalks)

Joel knew he wouldn’t be able to get you back to his place. He lucked out when you parked next to him in the darkest corner. Over the first drink, you told him how well Sarah was doing in class, then after one more, you admitted things weren’t good with your fiancé.  Your engagement was falling apart, all on its own–It was only the second time Joel had seen you. To lighten the mood again and make you forget, Joel told you about Sarah’s new obsession with Captain Jack Sparrow. Then, when he was closing the tab, he put an Altoid mint in his mouth. You looked at him shyly and took one from the tin. Oh, you wanted it bad. He brushed your bare inner thigh with his hand as he stood up, and you didn’t pull away. Hell yeah. 

Spencer Reid starts the show as your typical nerd; he wears sweater vests constantly, rambles out useless information, and is deathly afraid of germs. His character is born with the unique gift of an eidetic memory, so he automatically sticks out in the group when he starts talking. Going into episode 14 Reid had just been sharing the difficulty he has been having with his schizophrenic mother and the fact that she had been getting worse in treatment. His mother’s illness plays a big role in how Reid treats Tobias Hankel in episode 15 because he understands what it is like to try and live with an uncontrollable mental disorder. During the time of his torture, Reid has a sort of mental break due to his near-death experience and decides that he needed to start living his life in a more exciting way. The few episodes following his interaction with Tobias Hankel are rough for his character because he is trying to get over his drug addiction while simultaneously not alerting any of his co-workers about his issue. This causes his character to be very on edge and rude to other people when he is usually soft-spoken and nervous around others; this character change is all due to the events that took place in episode 15 of season 2. From the pictures I have included, it is obvious that the shot types the director uses also shares a bit of Reid’s traumatic time. In the first picture, you can see people around him, and the lighting is warm, which causes the tone to feel overall happy and laid back, whereas the second picture is anything but that. The harsh lighting defines the contours of his cheeks, really showing a more sunken in drug addict look, and the cool coloring of the show makes him seem more lonely. Also, the spacing in the frame shows that he is alone and thinks that he can only turn to himself in this time of despair.

This picture shows a wamer happier time in Reid’s life.

I started the Personal Development Action Plan before leaving for London. As instructed I set myself three goals. Independence, Confidence, and Networking. Below you can see how this part of the Plan is set out.

This is where Neil’s advice about Reflective Learning Practice came into play. We were given three things to focus on when trying to get better at something.

What happened? You want to be specific about this, the people the places etc. and also slightly objective. 

Focus on identifying what went well. You want to focus on the positives when developing something. Despite this, be sure to look a little bit on what you can change.

Test the changes. The only way to know if a skill has improved is to try it again.

When setting my goals, it was also important to remember they needed to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound). I found this really helpful when thinking about what to choose as I was able to highlight goals that I’d be able to work on during the trip but still develop afterwards. This was also good as it helped me to think about what I wanted to get out of my trip.

Before going to London, I worked on my Independence goal by researching the travel connections in London. This included looking up the ticket prices for trams, subway, and buses.

For my Networking skills, prior to leaving I attended the Networking Event put on by the Global Insights group. I found this really helpful as I’d never experienced what networking was before. It really eased my worries about it and I’d really recommend attending. I also came up with a few questions for each alumnus I’d be meeting.

In order to work on my confidence my group split who would reply to emails from the various alumnus so that it wasn’t just one person corresponding with everyone. If I were to do the experience again I think I would out myself forward for more. Despite this, I did find it useful to be in contact with them prior to the meetings especially the ones I had conversed with.

           My culture is Pakistani-American. The first Pakistani-Americans came to the U.S. after 1965, when the U.S. government released the restrictions on immigration.  The immigrants who came from Pakistan were mainly students, looking to achieve a higher education. They worked to find employment in the fields of medicine, engineering, and banking. Many of these immigrants end up working in agricultural fields, instead.

           The hope of many Pakistani-Americans was to work towards the American Dream of gaining high salaries, homes located in sub-urban regions, and academic success. Many immigrants coming from big cities like Lahore knew about the Western culture, and adapted fairly well. Pakistani-Americans tend to live in larger cities, reflecting their dream of economic opportunity. States with the largest amounts of Pakistani-American immigrants lives in are New York, California,  and Texas.

          Many of these immigrants came to America during or after 2000. I for one, was born in 2000 and moved here in the same year. Most Pakistani families like to raise their children with the Islamic traditions taught to them when they were younger. They tend to stray away from Western culture.  In some Pakistani-American communities, mosques have been set up as schools for children to learn about their religion.  In these communities, it is common for someone to have an arranged marriage, typically with someone also in the Pakistani community, or even a native-born Pakistani. They find unification in celebrating their national holidays together. On Pakistani Independence Day, Pakistani-American communities celebrate their independence with parades going through their community.