[CEP] Occupy Oakland

Here's the story of the OPD's takedown of innocent protesters. This morning OPD participated in a in-hostile takedown of Oakland's peaceful "Occupy Oakland" protest. The Oakland Police Department areested over 85 protesters. The protest was to let the city officials know how serious they are about changing the way our finacial administraters destribute money throughout our country.

[RP] Dreams Money Can Buy

"Lets be honest, dont we all wish we all had a time machine. Life would be so much easier if we all had one. Being able to rewind the memories, fast foward the drama, pause those special moments and play the good times." 
Deja was right on this one. I always  wish i had a remote where i could rewind and fast-forward time and be able to get a second chance and do things the way I want to. When  you make a simple mistake and you look back at it and know that you could have done it better or maybe just a little bit different, it always revets you back to thinking you had some type of time machine to take you back.

On the other hand, i feel like if you always have a remote and were able at anytime to go back and correct any of your mistakes, life would be extremely easy. I think that life is only life, with obstacles and challenges and that if you just cruise through life with the easy way out all the time, you would never learn anything for yourself. I think that life is perfect the way it is and we shouldn't change a single thing about it.

[CEP] Moutain Lion Spotting

Here's an interesting article I found:A jogger threading her way through Arana Gulch this morning reported seeing a mountain lion, a development Santa Cruz officials say would be a first.
  This was really interesting because where my grandma lives, in Oakland, there is a lot of deers and mountain lions. I remember one time when i was younger, i remember seeing a mountain lion over by her house and I was terrified because it was so much bigger than me. Mountain lions are stalkers and what I mean by that is that the stalk their prey before they pounce and kill them. If there is a lot of deer or wild hares, you better believe that there is mountain lions nearby but that only depends if its in their normal mountain-like territory, hence the name "mountain" lion.
   Mountain lions are very shy animals and they do not like to interact with people and they are most likely more scared of you than you are of them. If or when a mountain lion attacks you, it is usually confusing you for its' prey. If you are ever attacked by a mountain lion, you should not run. You need to stand their and attempt at intemmidating the lion. You should make yourself seem larger than you really are and make alot of noise because mountain lions' ears are very sensitive. If you are getting mauled by a mountain lion, I really dont know what to tell you my best advice would be to do what you got to do to get the hell out of that situation.

[FP]Mixtape coming soon!!

Late Nights & Early Mornings : That is the name of our new mixtape which is set to drop either December 25, on Christmas or Jan.1, New Years' Day. This mixtape include tracks ft the likes of Q Smooth, Ang Bang, Will Jam, Bak Fresh and many more. Of coarse your boi MeedyBo is going to be killin' some verses on the mixtape as well. The beats will be done exclusively by that of Lil Ant, one of the bay area's finest producers to touch a 8 track. Bak Fresh will also be producing some tracks on the mixtape.

  The mixtape is taking longer than expected to release because it is difficult to get everyone in the studio at the same time and have it coordinate with everyone's schduele. We have already decided as a team on what our two singles will be. Our first single will be "Rollin'" which will be produced by Lil Ant and will be featuring MeedyBo, Will Jam and Bak Fresh. Our second single will be ''Homecoming" which will also be produced by Lil Ant and will be featuring MeedyBo and Q Smootth. This mixtape has taken a lot of peoples time and we really appreciate all of our supporters and our familes as well. We also want to give some shout-outs to the record label that signed us; Jungle Beats Inc. and of coarse we cant leave without thanking God. "We walk by faith: not by sight"

[RP] Homecoming

This week is going to be the homecoming assembly and every student reppin there class color and talking shit. at the end of the day thought they they are all supporting the football team at the game. they'l have the half time prayed and stuff soo im kinda juiced for this coming week. Basically if i do good in that game and get my team that W i really dont care about any other things. i just hope JV and Var win and all go home happy on Friday night.
    

Ayye! I’m with my son Biruk on this one. Everybody is hyped, as they should be for homecoming on Friday. Usually teams schedule weaker opponents for their homecoming game in order for them to guarantee a win, but our football coach, Kemp Moyer, is very gutsy and he set us up to play Pinole Valley High School. Pinole is always know as a dominate force in the ACCAL league which is the league we play in. Every year they continue to produce numerous Division 1 college prospects and this year they did not fail, as usual. Now this all goes to say that we are still going to win this game tomorrow and I hyped them up on person just so you know how good they are and how much better we are going to be Friday night.

           

            Our record does not accurately depict the caliber of our squad. Although we are, 2-4 we have played games that we know we could have won, we just weren’t focused like we needed to be and we didn’t come out ready to play. This is all going to be different tomorrow; tomorrow will be the start of a new era of A Team football. I am tired of people trying to dog out my team, my school, and me as well. It is time to show all these Haters and Nay-Sayers what time it really is and if they aint down wit it they can bounce because on homecoming night; ITS ABOUT TO GO DOWN! Shout out to al my SWAGGIN SOPHMORES!

[FP] i put that on my mayback bluhhd! ambitions

Ambitions....I got dreams and aspirations to one day be something great. In eighth grade we were given an assignment to come up with an “I AM” statement. This statement was to perceive how we wanted to be captured by the eyes of others solely by the way we act and carry ourselves on the outside. My “I AM” statement was: I am something GREAT in the making! I felt like this was the story of my life.  

            Growing up as a child, it was instilled in me that I would be successful. Although the exact nature and ways of my success were yet to be--and still are—be determined, my family was very passionate about me having this feeling. My visions and dreams are my beautiful stories waiting to come true and I can depict my future only by every decision I make either wise or immature but whatever choices I make now will help unveil my reality. I know that nothing in life is for free or just handed to you, you have to work for what you want and I am willing to work for all my ambitions. My biggest goal right now is to get a scholarship to play college football and use my athletic abilities that god has blessed me with to pay for education so that my parents don’t have to worry about it. I know that I’ll get there soon, I just have to continue to work harder than I’ve ever worked and remain humble at all times and remember to thank god for everything.

Soph Biweekly Column

I completely agree with Steve Jobs(May He Rest in Peace). This quote was extremely imspirtional and it made a lot of sense to me because my mother and father used to preach this to me everyday. At my elementary and middle school, they emphasised on this a lot and it eventually started to regester in my head and I finally understood its true depth and meaning. If you live everyday of your live to the fullest then you would live life with no regrets. When you y live life with no regrets you will never get that "what if" feeling you get after you do or don't do something you wish you had done. Also when you live life with no regrets, you are happier with yourself and you feel more confident as a person in our modern-day society.

            If I started to factor this brilliant advice into my lifestyle I feel like my manner would be a little off and I think I would have the dare-devil type of lifestyle. The way I live my life already is with the mentality that I don’t really care about what happens next or what my consequences will be after my actions. I am a person that thinks a lot and in turn; it causes me to say what I am thinking out loud. Sometimes the things that I think in my head are defiantly not meant to be said out loud but I still say them anyway. Of course this happens to everyone, but for me it is extremely hard to determine what needs to be said and what needs to be brought to the attention of others. If I honestly started living life like every day was my last, quite honestly, I would be a little intimidated by myself as a person. If I was another person and not myself, I would never approach Sulaiman Hameed if he was to have that type of lifestyle because that man would be reckless.

            I am a firm believer in confidence and high self-esteem. When you hold these two beneficial qualities together you get a person who is ready to conquer any obstacle ahead of him. When you exemplify these two qualities you can be a dangerous threat to your enemies and to your allies as well. “Making the big choices in life” is going to be a huge part of life throughout the whole jest of it. Sometimes making the smallest decisions can be the biggest choices you’ll ever make. When you make the big choices in life and go for the gold it shows courage and passion. Taking a risk is a great thing that life offers you and it is an opportunity that you should always seize. Making a decision can be good or bad but if you make a bad decision you can always build off of it and make the later or better decision next time. At least you can sit there and say to all the HATERS “Well at least I tried!!!”

[CEP]Southern California wife who killed, cooked husband seeks parole

SANTA ANA -- A woman who killed her newlywed husband and chopped and cooked his body parts over Thanksgiving weekend in 1991 is seeking release from a California prison.
 Let me just start by saying this  women is insane in the membrane. Like she really has issues to the point that she had so much aggression built up which in turn was enough to kill her husband. She even went passed that to the point where she violated his dead body by chopping it up into pieces through the garbage disposal and used his meat to cook the rest of her thanksgiving dinner.
  This women was of Egyptian decent and in their culture they are taught to respect the bodies of the dead but you could definitely tell that there was something that went wrong in her up bringing or she might have some type or mental illness because it takes a lot to kill someone you loved or at least once loved. 

[FP]Sittin in class

 So im sitting in class with my fam, ant and basixcally we just chillen you know. Aint much to do really so must of the time we just sat here and ate food and laughed and talked about good times ya know. I have no idea what we doing right now and i have no idea what to talk about so im hella happy that this is a free post because if it wasnt id be screwed. Ayy but this class is coo tho beacause ive never been in a class where you have to post all your work online. Me and Ant, went to a middle school called Northern Light School and its was smackin at first but then we got to 8th grade and they started to make us responsilbe young adults and everything but its all good. Our 7th and 8th year but mostly 8th grade was some of the funniest times of my life. I just remember this time being all good times even when it was bad times. We always had eachother rollin, in and outta class and we were all hella close. It was sad for all of us on our graduation beacause giving the fact that our class already only had like 15 kids in it and all the boys were really like bruthas, well most of us! The saddes part of our graduation was that everyone went to different high schools for their freshman year. During soph. year ant transfered to alameda high and ya boi was too juiced, now we be having this thang smackin again! lol

I am not a human being!

What makes us human? This very question can conjure up a vast amount many different opinionated answers but the definitive characteristics of human being for me, is how diverse our human species is from other species on our planet and possibly in other universes as well. Also how diverse we are from one another. The human race, to me is by far the most advance species known so far to man. The fact that we have been able to build and create different advancements in science, mathematics and just life in generally ha s been a major factor for why we have been as successful as a race.

           
            An advancement that has pushed us pass different races has to be the diversity in our language systems. In different countries and regions, we use different languages to speak to one another and communicate with each other. In some areas we even use dialects to communicate. Dialects are more like sounds rather than a particular language, and are used throughout the more rural area in countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. Other difference in our languages is the different accents we use. An accent isn’t necessarily a different language but instead it might be a different tone in most cases. Many languages have different accents that are used throughout different areas of where they speak that language. Accents are extremely common in North and South America where many people speak the same language but it is spread out so it may sound different in different countries. For example, in the United States of America, the countries official language is English, but since there are so many different regions within the USA, a certain persons English in the southern portion of the country will most times sound a little bit different from a person’s English that lives in the western portion of the country.

            Another characteristic that sets us apart from many other species is the fact that every single individual is their own selves. Every single person on our planets has their own way of doing things, their own features, and their own thought process. You could easily say that identical twins look alike, but what you cannot say is that they think exactly alike all the time and have the same exact emotions. Same thing with opinions: yes indeed, people are going to have or think of the same opinion but you cannot conclude that they had the same thought process that lead them to the particular conclusion. Every human being has their own mind state and every individual is entitled to that but when you think about it deeply, it is quite intriguing. People may all think differently about something, but the thing that will always bond us till death do us apart is that we are still all thinking.

            Our diversity expands way beyond just our thought process. Another trait that sets us apart from one another is our belief and moral systems. There are many different religions in our world. The main three religions are; Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Your morals don’t necessarily pertain to your religious views though. For example, many people, like Steven Montoya, believe that in the religion of Islam it is thought that it is okay to kill people who don’t believe in the same god as you, which is complete BS. I say this because it is the exact opposite and matter of fact it is thought to embrace those who do not believe the same as you and that it is solely for god to decide the fate of a living human being. Religions do help to build strong foundations for moral values but again it leads you back to where you can see how we all have different thought processes that might get in the way of what we know to be wrong and what we know to be right. Every human is given that very attribute and sometimes your conscious can eat up and make you forget wrong and right and you end up doing something stupid. If you think about it, life would be extremely boring and dull if everybody thought the same because then there would never be a variety and everything would be a routine.

            Another aspect that plays a major role in the life of a human being, is how we can display multiple personalities but yet be the same person. This can also tie back into our emotions but it can be bigger than just emotions. You can also think about it like this; are you going to act the same way with your mother than you do with your friends, in most cases the answer is no. I know I’m not about to sit up there and just curse in front of my mom like I do with my friends. The human species was given emotions that make us act according to how we feel. If a person is extremely angry inside, they aren’t going to go around skipping and singing songs while giving everybody they pass a hug and a compliment. No, it just doesn’t work like that, I’m sorry.

            Some people are raised in the safe streets of Alameda and some of us are raised in the rough streets of Oakland. Where you are raised and where you come from plays a major role on how you behave yourself. If a lion is raised by a human, in captivity, they will not be as aggressive as a lion that was raised in the wild. It is the same thing for humans, how you were raised by your guardians or parents play a role of which you will grow up to be. A rich kid will go out into the world and will always know that they have something to fall back on and will never be scared to try new things and take risk. A kid that maybe grew up in the ghetto will go out into the world and will feel like they have nothing to lose and just not give a crap about life and just go through it without caring for anything.

           

             

           

[FP} island

On Friday night our alameda high football team took on their cross-town rivals, the Encinal Jets. The game was hyped up extremely high and there was an estimated 2,000 people there. The game was even televised on 2 different channels and there was also known to be plenty of scouts in attendance. The final score of the game was 45-41: Encinal. As you can see it was an extremely good game and both sides battled valiantly but just like in every game that is played, there can only be one winner. The game started with Alameda getting the edge over Encinal and it being a 14-7 game but Encinal came back with two blocked punts that both set up for touchdowns and put the Jets up 21-14. At halftime it wasn’t known who was going to win the game but it looked as if Alameda had the most heart when it came down to tick for tack, but once Encinal got that first lead they never looked back. There were touchdowns on the alameda side from Andrew Cooper, Zac Alfers,  Keelan Doss, Antonio Manibusian and Sulaiman Hameed. Despite all of the effort from the Hornets , the Encinal Jets came out with the Win.

                This was the 57^th anniversary of this glorified Island Bowl between Alameda High’s Hornets and Encinal’s  Jets. This particular game will go down in the books for being on of the better games because Encinal is known for just blowing Alameda off the field and the Hornets put up a hell of a fight.

[RP] DEJA

“He said congratulations and gave me a hug, I looked down at the letter and it was a letter from Princeton University about their woman's basketball program.”

                My sister Deja though!!! I was super juiced when I saw this lil post. Even though she failed to tell me this in person but is all good because I’m still ecstatic that it happen.

                Some people might not know this, but me and my sista DJ go way back, back to when you be like damn, ‘that aint coo’ ahaha. But yeah I been knowing Deja since I was about 6 or 7 which is extremely long, giving the fact that I’m a grown man now.  DJ is prolly one of the chilliest, funny, silly, bipolar, awesomest people you’ll ever get to meet in a very long time. I don’t think there is one time ( except for when shes mad at me) when I’ve talked to her and not smiled because that’s just how we roll. I lowkey look out for her like she’s my lil sis when it comes to boys and people messing with her because that just how we roll. I also help her with her basketball skills because lord knows she needs help lol but nahh forreal I thought her everything she knows and she thanks me every day for it. Aint that right Deja?? Aha yawp, because once again that’s just how we roll. I am really happy that Dj is on the basketball map fpr college tho and I know shes going to make it somewhere and be successful .

[CEP] Dont Ask: Dont Tell

http://www.youtube.com/embed/hmID4q-Sggs

The United Sates is really messed up for even having the Don’t Ask: Don’t Tell law because what they don’t realize, is how demoralizing it is to human beings. Being gay, homosexual, lesbian, transgender …etc already has a negative connotation that goes along with it and insensitive things like this are prime examples of how people have no feelings for people who are different than the norm.

These brave, young men and women are out there serving our country on fierce and intense battlegrounds everyday and they have the nerve to say that if you have a different sexual preference then you can’t fight and defend the country you love. I’m sorry but that’s complete BS and it makes no sense to me. I feel like, in America we are all set to a certain financial class, a certain ethic background, and that’s the way you are supposed to act, according to those particular attributes. What people really need to understand is that you cannot keep judging people solely on the exterior but instead judge them on their interior and measure how good their intentions are, rather than jumping to conclusions by what is already known or assumed by the naked eye or ear. I know this might be hard to digest for some of you but what you have to understand is this….We Are All Human Beings and the fact-of-the matter is that God gave us the beautiful gift of choice when we were placed on earth and if he all wanted us to be exactly the same, he would have never gave us that option.

Dark Room

A tall dark African- American man walks into a pitch black room. The room is extremely cold and you can feel the suspension of the uncertain objects in the room building up higher and higher. The man takes his first step into the pitch black room and his whole body is immediately shot up with terror, it starts at his feet and it slowly spreads to his butt then to his sweaty back. When the terror finally reaches his second step, he feels as if he is going to pass out. As he takes his third step with his size 14, left foot, he could hear the sound of his red air max ninety-fives squeak against the cold hard basement floor. The sound startled him so much that the feeling of terror shot right back up his smoothly shaven legs and into his black hairy chest. The man’s puffy afro begins to feel like little black spiders were crawling in his hair and he startled to jump around and run his hands through his nappy roots to get rid of any unnecessary items intertwined with his freshly combed hair.

Even though it was over 100 degrees outside, the basement felt so cold that it could snow at any given minute. The man was so cold and nervous that he started to shiver and shake. The goose bumps on his arms were rapidly spreading throughout his whole body and it reached all the way down to the tip of his big round black big toe. The man suddenly remembered that he had stored a big ass puff coat in the right section of the basement but he knew that there was something different in the atmosphere and he was too terrified to walk over there and get it himself. The man reached for his old 1989 cell phone to call down his son to help him get the puff coat and to calm his nerves. When he really got his son on the phone, he asked him if he can also bring him down a nice cold glass of the freshly squeezed lemonade. The son kept asking his father what he was saying, like he was having a hard time hearing him, but he ended the conversation with an OK DAD and hung up the phone in his face. When his son reached the door he started to pound it with his fist, splashing and spilling most of the lemonade out of the beautifully decorated cup. The father then turned to the direction the pounding was coming from but it was so dark that the man couldn’t even remember where he had came in from. After several minutes of pounding the son eventually went away.

Suddenly, something slapped the man in the face. Thinking that it was his son trying to mess around, he yelled for his offspring to knock it off. After it didn’t stop and the slaps kept coming back and the man yelled at the top of his lungs for the slapping to stop. After 30 seconds of screaming the man eventually passed out and died of starvation and a heart failure….it turned out that the slapping was coming from a hanging bag of garbage.

[RP] San Lorenzo

"Coming off my game friday night agianst Northgate"

 Coming off of a tough loss last week from former section champs Northgate, the alameda hornets football team bouces back with a triumphpant win over the San Lorenzo Rebels. The game started off with the Hornets at a very high energy level and you can tell how hungry they were for thier first win. When it was time for the kickoff, everybody in the stands and on the feild felt the intesity of the game. The first defensive resulted in a fumble recovery for a tochdown by Adam Awa. After the insuing kickoff return. The Super-Sophmore, Sulaiman Hameed busted for a 79 yard touchdown run. After already being up, 13-0 not even halfway into the first half, the hornets keep a firm grasp on the lead for the rest of the game.
   Eleven different hornet players touched the ball for the electrifing A-team offensive and the hard-nose deffensive forced twelve turnovers. The game resulted in Sulaiman Hameed rushing for 101 yrds. Antonio Manibussan throwing for 107 yrds. Zac Alfers catching for 71 yrds. It was a awesome game for the Hornets and a great way to earn their first victory for the season. The Hornets will prepare to take on the Encinal Jets next week in the Island Bowl.

[CP] MNF/Jerome Boyd

Last night was the season opener for the Oakland Raiders, as well as for the National Football League. The football game was played on the NFL's highly celebrated Monday Night Football show and the "Ruthless Raiders" took on the Denver Broncos at Denver. The game was very undisciplined and both teams ending up with a bunch of penalty flags which in turn, turned into a lot of negative yardage. The game was eventually won by the raiders, 23-20.
  My god-father's little cousin, is Jerome Boyd, who is number 30 for the Oakland Raiders. Jerome had a great game and he was everywhere on the field during the amount of time that he was playing. He had only made 6 or 7 tackles, i think but at the same time that is really good for a second year player in his first Monday Night Football game. He must have been doing something right because the commentators were talking quite a bit about him and how good of a player he has the potential to be. Jerome actually plays the same exact position as me and I look forward to trying to work with him in the future and him helping me out with my technique. Jerome played his college years at the University of Oregon and learned from some of the best definsive backs coaches in college football. He has to be one of the hardest working football players i know and i look up to him for that.

[FP] Swagg

Some people believe that if you have the latest styles or any of the newest trends then you have, so called "swagg" I mean of coarse some of that would help, but i have seen the wettest outfit on the some of the most least confident people and it makes them look like they have negative "swag". Honestly, what you have to realize ladies and gentlemen, is that swag is defined solely by your confidence and creativity. When you wake up in the morning and pick out your fit-of-the-day, (or if you pick it at night) you should always keep in mine who you are as a person and how you want to project yourself. Remember, clothes are just an extension of you and if your not feeling good that day or your energy is low than your swag will defiantly be slacking.
  When i get dressed, i never think about what other people might say about my fit because all that matters is that i feel comfortable in my choice of clothing. That how everyone should feel aswell. So the next time you you get dressed for school or a party or whatever, make sure you feel comfortable and look good because if you look good you feel good!

[CP]What IF?

9/11…the very sound of these two numbers is haunting for many Americans all across the United States and for people in other parts of the world as well. As we come to the 10^th year anniversary of this epic tragedy, we are all shocked at how long it has been since event occurred. It seems as if it had just happened yesterday and the cries of many Americans were ringing through the heads of those who weren’t as affected as much as the ones who lost loved ones                                                                                                
   At first glance, it seemed completely sensible to go to war with the enemies but in the long run, we look back at this decision and can’t help but ponder what would have happened if we handle this with a different aspect. What if we had never went to war. What if we never sent thousands of troops across the Atlantic and into enemy lines? What if we haven’t spent BILLIONS of dollars on countless ammunition and war materials…WHAT IF, WHAT IF, WHAT IF. For every action occurred there is a reaction. We must always keep this in mind. For example, now that we are ten years down the road from when we first declared war, we can now look back and see how much damage has been done to our own country from the actions we have decided to carry out. Our country is now in economic turmoil because of this war, point-blank-period and again all we can do, again, is sit back and ask ourselves, WHAT IF?

[RP] 9/11

"I think 9/11 was not a really good thing they just bombed every one in that building over and over again."

I agree with Ant, I feel as if the actions of Al-Queida was completely out of line and unnecessary. Honestly I feel like ALL wars have nothing to do with the citizens of countries involved because if you really just think about it, the only thing that our leaders are usually fighting over is money, power, or territory. War to me is just ridiculous in the first place and I don’t understand it. The way that this particular terrorist group took out their intense anger on innocent civilians was inhumane. The amount of hatred you need in order to plan and execute such a harsh plan of redemption is way to vase to even fathom for me personally.

When the very first plane crashed into the west tower and I seen the terror on people’s faces that where around the cameras it was very hard for me to hold back my true emotions. Then the second plane came and I felt that one more than the second one because that was when the buildings started to collapse and you just sat there knowing how many people where just killed. You started to sit on the edge of your seat, just hoping that it would be over and you can wake up from this horrible dream. Sometime you can’t help but sit back and think, what if that were me in that building or what if that was one of my family members that died in one of those buildings. All I can do now, is just PRAY!

http://ant-bigdaddy.blogspot.com/ Anthonie's blog

[FP] day-to-day #1

Wassup with it ladies and gentlemen, its your boy again (MeedyBo if you didn’t know) and today I wanted to just talk to you guys about my day today.  The first thing I did today was wake up at 5:30 so I could get ready for zero period. It’s always hard to wake up that early everday but it is a must for me because it takes me forever to get ready in the mornings.
       After I got to school, I almost fell asleep in my zero period but I was lucky because we were dealing with chemicals so that really livened up the class that day. The next class I had was Spanish 1. My Spanish class is always kind of  awkward for some odd reason but its cool because I have  one of my “patnas” in that class so I feel better. My next class = fail. It is my drama 2 class and it is not smackin at all but its one of those things you just got to get through. My drama class was hella fun last year but this year its just hela weird and people have no sense of humor. My third class is my P.E class and that is got pointless really. My fourth period class is my AP Euro history class and I am lucky if I don’t fall asleep in class everyday because I mean who enjoys history like that. 5^th period is adv. Algebra 2 & 6^th period is the best class though! Aye shout out to Mr. Southerland! Yeah but that is the day in the life of ME! Follow me on twitter @soulfoodkilla haha (: 

[colum]Get to know ya boi

 Ayy, wassup with you!? My name is Sulaiman Hameed and I am currently a sophomore at Alameda High School in Alameda,CA. I am a young African American male who is striving to be something great. I have very strong leadership qualities that I look forward to using them on and off the field. I am also very good at listening and learning, I use these qualities in the classroom and on the field as well. I am an avid athlete, playing sports such as football, basketball and track. Sports have always been pivotal in my life, especially after my dad moved to Texas.     
           

            My hobbies include making my own music, dirt-biking, and dancing. I have always been intrigued by music ever since I was a little boy. Growing up, music was always surrounding me, whether coming from my family singing or from the records that were constantly playing. Dirt-biking is a newer hobby of mine that I acquired while in Texas with my dad and cousins. In Texas dirt-biking was a very popular past-time and as soon as I tried it, I was hooked. I feel as if my love for dancing came along with the music. Anytime I hear a really good song, I automatically want to get up and start dancing, it’s almost instinctive. I love all three of these hobbies, especially music and dancing, because it gives me a way to express myself in a positive manner and it allows people to see another side of me.

In addition to my hobbies, I work very hard at being an excellent student. My parents insist on learning and excelling in school. My first year of high school was somewhat of a breeze for me but, learning to be a part of a large school, playing football, basketball and track, and managing my studies was still extremely difficult for me. In my first semester of high school, I was successful in achieving a 4.0 grade point average. I intend to continue to work hard and excel in my academics as well as on the football field. In my sophomore year I am challenging myself even more by adding some rigorous classes to my ever-so-busy schedule: AP Euro, 0 period chemistry and Adv. Algebra 2.

I have been involved in football ever since I was eight years old and as soon as I first touched a football I immediately fell in love with it. Under the watchful eye of my Coach/Uncle, Eugene Gardner, I matured more and more on the field as time progressed. He is truly one of the main keys to my progression because he has taught and continues to teach me everything I know, so far, about the game of football. He has also helped make me the young man I am today because some of the things he has taught me over the years. I always have to give all my thanks to god for putting me in this wonderful position to succeed and my family for supporting me at all times.    

My writing goals for this year will diffidently be to expand my vocabulary and to learn how to write long stories and essays better. I am really looking forward to this year because I have never been in a class where you don’t take test, the teacher doesn’t grade your work, and you never have to turn in anything, personally. I think that if I manage my time wisely this year, I should be just fine, but I know that as soon as I start to slack off, it’s going to become very difficult for me so I got to keep working hard and stay on top of my assignments.