Materialistic Holidays

 

What is the meaning of Christmas?  Has greed taken over the meaning of Christmas? Christmas is a holiday I have just started celebrating. when I was growing up my intermediate family did not celebrate Christmas. my mother thought Christmas was a waste of time. When I was younger in asked her "Why don’t we celebrate Christmas?" She said "would you rather  have presents one day out of the year or would you rather me buy you something every couple of weeks. even though my siblings and I knew we did not have a choice when it came to my mothers decisions we still picked to have something every couple of weeks.  

I never remember celebrating Christmas when I was younger so my first true Christmas was 2003 with my friend, Chondra's family. Chondra was the first person I met when I came to California so her family and I had became very close. her family exchange small prizes between each other and called it secret Santa. her family came from different states just to hangout with each other, 0play games, and  watch movies. From that Christmas on I tried to get my mom to celebrate Christmas but it never happen. I wanted to be able to have the same experience that I had with the ward family with my own family. 21 years later when my daughter was boring, my family finally celebrated Christmas.  

I think holidays can be materialistic because people get caught up in the ideal of buying the best toy or the better present. A lot of people also believe the better the gift is the better gift they will get. I agree with Amel Saleh when she said, "People are conditioned to "expect" gifts and this ultimately ruins the true meaning of the holidays."(157)  The true meaning of Christmas is not to receive or give gifts but to celebrate what you have, your friends, family, job, etc.  

Reality TV

    Reality television is my guilty pleasure. I love the drama, the fights, and the horrible acting. One of the reality shows that is my all-time favorite is Love and hip hop Atlanta. The reason I started to watch love and hip hop Atlanta or LNHA was because I have always been a hip hop fan and the fact that I was born in Atlanta the show made me feel like I was back at home in the middle of the action. The first episode I watched started with a fight between rapper, Scrappy and Steve J, record producer. The two were fighting because Steve j and his artist, Joselin had disrespected Scrappy girlfriend, Erica. A few minutes after the first fight a second fight broke out between Erica and Joselin. After that episode I was hooked to the show. I made sure I was home every Monday night at nine to watch the show. I also recorded the show just in case I missed it for some reason. Another show I enjoy looking at is Bring
IT on lifetime. It is a reality show about a young group of majorities mix with bucking dance girls called dancing dolls. The dancing dolls compete in competition for trophies and the bragging rights to say there team is the best.

                Reality television has taken over a lot of big televisions stations such as MTV, VH1, Lifetime, and BET. Although reality television is very entertaining it is also extremely harmful to society. For example, the shows Teen Mom and 16 and pregnant demonstrates to the public that being a teenager and having a baby will get you on television and make you a reality star. Another reality show that hurts the image of the youth is Jersey Shores. Before this show came out tanning, body building and partying was not as big of an issue as it is now that the show is out. Snooki shows young girls that is ok to be drunk in public and get arrested. A lot of young adults and teen are now tanning and body building. There is a girl as young as the age of six who is tanning her body and a boy as young as 5 that can lift over one hundred pounds.

                I personally do not avoid reality television how could you when it’s on every channel. I like some of it. The advertisement on a lot of the reality shows are very creative and the drama of the show just sucks you in like a black hole sucking up space.

Never Judge!

In life I have learned that you should never judge a book by its cover. For instance, the first time I met my best friend, Melissa. It was the middle of my tenth grade year when Melissa came to my school, Oxnard high school. It was during break when I notice this new girl with purple braids walking around school. I thought to myself “Ooo that color looks good on her.” I never talk to her until the end of the school day when she got on my bus. Since I got on the bus first, I was able to save a seat for my sister and my friend, Sam. When Melissa got on the bus almost all the seats were taken except the one next to Sam. When Melissa saw Sam she sat down and start going off on him. The both of them were talking about another student, Bree. As the bus start moving, Sam and Melissa finally stop yelling at each other and turn around to talk to us. Something about Melissa just tried to rub me the wrong way. As the school days pass Melissa and I would talk more at lunch and during all the breaks. She started coming to my house every day after school. Ten years later we are still friends. . I am now a godmother to her daughter, Ella.  Melissa is more than a friend to me, she is my sister. She has taught me that you can never look at somebody in judge them. She has also taught me that anybody can change if they want to.  This will be one person that would alas be in my life. Our children are best friends and I hope they grow up together with the same relationship that we have because it’s hard to find and keep true friends.        

The Trip that Changed My Life

It was nice day in May, unlike the rest of the hot Atlanta days, mostly because of the white clouds that where rolling by. My sister, Ariel, was vacuuming the living room floor. I was washing the glass table in the living room when there was a hard knock at the door.  Ariel and I rushed to finish our chores before opening the door - we both knew from the knock that mom was home. My mom demanded the house to be clean from head to toe when she came home. When Ariel opened the door, my mom pushed passed her saying “move, I got to use the bathroom.” Soon afterwards our mom sat us down and said “Listen, we’re moving!” The words stuck in my head repeating over and over again. “What? Where are we moving to? Where to?” I asked. “California“, she answered.

                School in Atlanta was fun for me, my friends was always coming up with different kinds of pranks to play on each other. The biggest prank the boys ever pulled was a stink bomb that exploded when one of the boys opened his locker during fourth period break. The bomb had the whole school smelling like hot garbage. The smell was so bad that the school let all of the students go home for the rest of the day. Middle school was turning out to be the best thing in my life.  

                My mom had tried to make going away special for us by buying me and my sister our own cameras to take pictures of our friends. These were not any fancy camera just throw away cameras but it was better than nothing. From the way my mom stopped spending money we knew she could not afford for both of us to get yearbooks or even one for us to share. This was her way of showing us that she felt bad about moving us away from our friends and family.

                On the last day of sixth grade the idea of moving became a reality. Saying goodbye to  my friends was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. My best friend, Brikia, was the hardest person to say goodbye too. She always stood by my side, even when people laughed at me. Because I wore glasses people would pick on me but not Brikia. When I told her I was moving we both cried like babies. I first met Brikia when our mothers decided to take both of us to see Grease on ice at the Atlanta civic center. We had so much fun at the show but Brikia and I really didn’t really talk until afterwards. When our families were leaving the show, we found out that Brikia’s mother’s car had been stolen from the car lot. That night Brikia and her family spend the night at my house. That’s when  Brikia,  Ariel, and I stayed up talking and becoming fast friends. I thought me saying good- bye was going to be the hardest thing to accept but this was just the start of my day.

                In my last class my whole mood turned around when the boy I had a crush on the whole year finally asked me to be his girlfriend. I was so happy the breath left my body until I start thinking of my mom’s voice saying “We’re moving!” I looked Chris in the eyes and told him I’m was leaving. Right then my teacher announced it was time to go to the gym for the end of the year pep rally.  When we got into the gym the teacher disappeared and the class spread like a wildfire. Students left to find their friends and I decided to do the same thing. I started to look for Brikia but found my friend Samiah.  During the whole pep rally I tried to kept a look out for Brikia but I did not find her until the show was over. When I saw Brikia I was heart broken, upset, and confused. Brikia was kissing my crush, the boy who just asked me to be his girlfriend, the guy I have been telling her I liked since the beginning of the school year. I could not believe it. That was the last time I talked to Brikia, I rode the bus home with Samiah that day.

                On the ride to the airport my heart started to race. It was going to be my first time on a plane. I had never even seen a plane up close only in the movies. I had never even been to the airport. As I exited my grandparent’s car a plane took off right over my head. We began to walk into the airport,  I pulled my little sister Ariel close to me and said “We’re starting a new life. Let’s not let anyone in California punk us.”  

                As we landed in California my ears popped for the first time. I was in so much pain. I didn’t know what to think. I thought I was going to be deaf. The thought of not being able to hear again scared me. I cried to my mom and she simply handed me a piece of bubble gum. I thought to myself “Really mom?  A piece of bubble gum? What is this going do?” As I started to chew the gum, my ears started to pop. I thought to myself “Wow a little piece of bubble gum.”

                My mother’s choice to move us to California changed my whole life. Many of my old friends have ended up in jail or haven’t finished high school. Atlanta crime rate has also went up since me and my family left Georgia. California has turned out to be a great place. I have found real friends that I considered to be sisters to me, my daughter was born here, and I will be graduating from here. Moving has also taught me not to judge a book by its cover. When I first thought of moving I only saw the negatives. I only thought about losing my friends, moving away from my grandparents, and leaving everything I knew about behind. I never looked at the positives: new friends, warm days, beaches, and new family members to meet. This move helped me realize that I was too nice to people, that I allowed people to push me around, talk about me and I never did anything about it. I was weak but never again will I allow myself to let someone bully me or Ariel. Now I have courage to stand up for myself,   the strength to not let anyone stand in my way and the knowledge to know that if you want anything done, you have to do it yourself.     

Marriage Pha!

 Marriage has change because America has change but marriage is still a lifetime commit with another person. Marriage is supposed to be on love and finding your soul mate. Finding someone who gives you butterflies, someone that cares enough for you not to make you cry, someone willing to put up with your flaws, and help you develop into the person you want to be. Today a lot of people take marriage as a joke. Marriage is not thought out it is rushed. People today are getting married just to post pictures on Facebook and Instagram.

                Not all people take marriage as a joke. My best friend is married and loves it. This was not rushed, it was not because they had a child together, and it was not because they lived together. The decision that made them get married was true love. The two have grown and developed together as one over the past couple of years. They now have two kids and are truly happy together. Don’t get me wrong they have their good days and bad days but true love has kept them together. Another friend of mine has gotten married recently, she also choose marriage because of true love.

                I also have a friend who has gotten married just because his ex-girlfriend got married. He did not plan or think the ideal out. He was just thinking about how he could get back at his ex. The sad part is the women he married really loves him. I think marriage has lost a lot of its core values. I always thought it was supposed to be til’ death do us part but that is not the case now of days. Now it should say something like til’ something better comes along, til’ you piss me off, or til’ I can make my own money.  

                Temporary marriage is a big joke to me. If you are not going to be with the person you love for life why even think about marriage? Someone that is going be in your life for a couple of years, is that not the same thing as a girlfriend or boyfriend? Yes I can see how a temporary marriage would lower divorce rates. I think if people thought out marriage and really plan out steps to get married divorce rates could go down. The first step would be picking the right person or soul mate. Who is the right person for me? Do they like what I like? How do they act after a couple of months? The second step would be living with that person. You could find your soul mate then when you start living together find out that their super dirty. That the soul mate does not like sharing bills or even worst cannot budget their money and you have to pick up the remaining bill! After a couple of months of living together you can really figure out if this is someone you can wake up to ever single day. The third step would be marriage. If you get to the third step great you should have a happy married.

My Name

My name is Mico Kelli Summerford. My mom got my name from a hit show called “young and the restless”. Her favorite character on the show was a doctor named Nikko Kelly. I never watch the show so I do not know why she loved him so much but that was her favorite person on the show. She try to put a twist on the name by changing the spelling of my name. I have not met too many people name Mico unless it spelled different. I have seen people spell my name two different ways Miko or Meko. I have never met another Mico with the same spelling. I love the fact that my first name has a unique spelling. When I think of mico I think of a brave, loyal, strong and wise person. I would never change it but I wish she would have change my middle name.

 My middle name, Kelli I do not care for. I never liked the name Kelli, it never fit my personality. When I think of Kelli I always thought of the Kelly doll and that is not me. I was never a dressy, make-up, skinny doll. I hate the way it is even pronounce. When I think of my middle name I think it represents the things I do not like about myself.

 My last name Summerford reminds me of how strong my family is.  My last name has open up the gates to my family history. My great great grandfather was a slave, Summerford was the name given to my great great grandfather from his master. My last name is a slave name. Summerford reminds me that my family can overcome anything.

If I had the choice to change my name I would only change my middle name. My first name is different and unique I like that about my first name. Mico expresses bravery, fun, and outgoing. I love the fact that my name has a story behind it but I would love to change my middle name. I would love for my middle name to be Renee. Renee is a family middle name. My aunt, my mother, my older sister, and my grandmother all have the middle name Renee. My last name I will never change I love the history behind my last name.

My Life

My name is Mico Summerford I was born in Atlanta, Georgia. I moved to California when I was in seventh grade. I use to hate California. Moving to California meant moving away from my friends, my first boyfriend, and my family. When I got here I remember a conversation I had with my friend Sarah. I told her “Ya talk funny!” she told me “we don’t talk funny, you do! You said ya.”

I have been in California for ten years now. I have a two year old daughter name Tahlea. I’m in school working on my AA and perquisites for the radiology program at Northridge. I use to work at Ventura County Medical Center before budget cuts. I work with the county for a year and four months. Now I go to school and spend the rest of the time taking care of Tahlea.

In the future I will be an ultrasound technician hopefully living back in Georgia. I want to get married and have more kids after school.  Tahlea will be on the gymnastics competition team. The most important thing to me is to become an ultrasound technician and be a great mom!