I Am the Best Man For the Job

As an applicant, I believe I have what it takes to succeed and move forward while being a great asset to the company.  Here are a few things about myself that could provide more information to make your decision.  I was born and grew up in Oakland, California, where I attended and graduated high school at Bishop O’Dowd High school.  After enrolling in California State University East bay in Hayward, California, I majored in illustration with a minor in graphic design.  Today I am still in attendance, trying to earn my bachelor’s while holding down a steady income.  However during the course of my studies, I took a year off to attend Year up, a job skills training program for information technology.  With relatively little job experience and opportunities, training courses and volunteer work was the alternative.  While working a few jobs in retail at Safeway and as a custodian in a convalescent home, I learned what I could and kept building up my experience and resume.  On my off time I usually partake in exercise, artwork consisting of painting and drawing and an interest in computers and how they work.  Thank you for your time and interest in me and hope to hear from you soon.        

Troy Davis executed; supporters cry injustice

On September 21^st 2011, Troy Davis a convicted cop killer was executed for the murder of officer MacPhail back in 1989.  At his execution, several hundred people rallied outside in support, even foreign countries like France were made aware and rallied in support as well http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-09-22/troy-davis-execution-injustice/50516226/1.  For those of you unfamiliar with the story of Troy Davis, he was convicted and executed for the murder of a police officer in Butts County Georgia.  The officer who had been serving as a security guard at a local Burger King eatery witnessed a dispute between Davis and a homeless man over some beer.  Witnesses claim they saw Davis shoot and kill the officer with a 38 pistol.  Although the weapon was never recovered, ballistic evidence linked him to the crime with back up from witness testimonials.  In addition, he had also been linked to an earlier shooting involving him and a friend after leaving a party.  He was then sentenced to death in 1991; however several witnesses came forth and changed their testimonial.  Within twenty something years Troy Davis’s family, friends and supporters composed petitions and rallies urging new evidence and retrials.  Following speculations of an unfair trail, the Supreme Court ordered the District Court of Georgia to consider new evidence that could support Davis’ claim of innocence.  In 2010 following a new hearing, the decision was upheld and execution date set was set for September 21, 2011.  All following appeals and petitions to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant clemency were denied http://www.pak-times.com/2008/09/14/between-life-and-execution-the-troy-davis-story/¹.  Following his execution, supporters were in uproar of his death as many comparisons were made between the Casey Anthony case and Davis’. 

A Day at O'Dowd

The education at O’Dowd was pretty good; it prepared me physically and mentally for college.  The teachers there cared and offered lots of extra help.  Though there was high support, the curriculum was very difficult.  Lots homework was assigned from the different periods we had.  We at least had more than two hours of homework and studying in addition to pop quizzes, tests and rigorous papers.  Some of the high school years were a frustrating experience here depending on how smart and dedicated the student was.  As for the atmosphere, they tried to be lively and original in their humor and events outside of class.  However most of the events and rallies were dry and corny (well to me they were), though I had no clue of how the sports teams were since I only ran cross country and did not follow sports.  The students there were like people you'll meet everyday, either you like them or don't.  Of course like all high school culture, there were segregated groups according to popularity, race and status.  Now taking all this into mind, the experience can be what you make of it.

English Language Influences

Growing up as a kid, I was of course taught proper English by my parents and teachers through grade school.  But after years of constantly being around classmates, friends and other family members who spoke slang, the influences became more prominent.  Unintentionally, I began speaking half English saying “eey” instead of “hey” or “What it do” instead of “Hello, how are you”?  Although teachers and parents would correct me, I thought proper English and grammar was irrelevant.  In addition as a kid I cared a lot of what peers thought, so I figured it would be very strange being the one kid in the classroom who spoke proper English, so it became intentional.  When I turn on black people movies or rap videos, it did not help that all the entertainers also used slang, so naturally, I got used to speaking Ebonics. However, in high school, an instructor showed the class an example of a job interview of an urban kid applying for a job.  In the video the kid tried to be professional as he could, but the bad habits made a few slang words slip out costing him the applied position.  This was a turning point for me as I discovered everything past instructors and my parents told me was the truth.  It was simple, keep the Ebonics for my social life separate and get accustomed to using proper English in the professional world.  Although I practice full English and am developing better habits, some things can be influencing like text message and social network slang/acronyms “Lol”, “Lmao”, “Wut”, “Der”, “Fo” and “Fml”.