Jay Z interview

Shawn Corey Carter (known as Jay Z) is an extremely famous American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur.

Question #1: How did your career begin? and what made you so famous and the person you are today?
Jay Z: I started rapping when I was at a very young age so I can express my feelings and escape from the poverty I lived with, and the violence that surrounded my community. I kept on performing and writing raps when I could, and eventually by time this is where I reached. I never thought in my entire lifetime that I would get to where I am today; and what can I say? it's a dream come true.

Question #2: Does your music show your past experiences and adversities you have faced in your life?
Jay Z: Yes, Definently. I'm sure you can tell that most of the songs I write are about past experiences I have faced in my life. I used music to express and share my adversities and struggles that I have faced during my personal life. For example one of my rap songs speaks about the unfortunate death of my nephew; as he passed away in a car accident using the car I gave him as a present. I don't know why, but I really feel guilty for this so I wrote a song to express the extreme pain I was and still am going through at the moment. Another example would be my other rap song which tells the story of the cruel life of my father and uncle. In this song, I express to the audience the poverty I lived with when I was a child, and the violence that surrounded the place I lived in, including my family who continuously used drugs. I eventually got into using drugs, and this really effected our entire family and the relationship between myself and my father. My father later on decided to leave our family which really effected me in a negative way. So yeah, many and most of my songs talk about past experiences in my life; mainly adversities faced.

Question #3: What is one moral you have lived by?
Jay Z: I have always believed that if you want to aim high and achieve your goals hard work is required. I mean, I obviously wouldn't be in this position right now if it wasn't with all my hard work and commitment to what I'm doing.

Question #4: What would be some advice you can give to the younger rappers?
Jay Z: Well as I just said, hard work is needed if you want to be successful at rapping. I would also convince you kids to not be shy to express your experiences and feelings in your songs. Also, never let the haters effect you because there are always those people out there will judge you. Good luck to all of you, and I'm sure with a bit of hard work all of you will be successful! Enjoy!

Mother Tongue

We were reading an essay earlier this week that was called Mother Tongue by Amy Tan. This essay is about the author Amy Tan speaking about her experiences and how she and her mother were treated differently than others due to language barriers and different culture. Amy was a fluent speaker of the English language and was growing up under a Chinese mother in the United States, who was considered to be speaking "broken" and "fractured" English by many American citizens. Fractured and broken english means that limited and poor speaking of the language. Amy Tan focuses on how non native english speakers are not being taken seriously, are being stereotyped, and overlooked at all times by the native english speakers.
One of the few stories Amy Tan includes in her essay about the way she and her mom were treated; was when Amy and her mother were at the hospital in order to see the mother's CAT scan she had previously completed, but the hospital staff immediately stated to the mom and her daughter that they have lost and misplaced the CAT scan that was previously completed. The staff were also acting extremely rude as they showed no emotion and sympathy for the previous family members of this family (Amy's father and her brother) both died because of brain tumors. The staff members of the hospital wanted to basically get rid of the patient and were not taking her seriously. Amy's mother asked to re-schedule another appointment in order to complete another CAT scan as they were not given more information about the missing results. Suddenly, Amy (who speaks english fluently) spoke to the hospital about the lost scan in her fluent English accent. The hospital staff then claimed that they had somehow found the misplaced CAT scan, and Amy was treated nicely. This experience Amy reflects on in her Essay shows how tough and difficult it can be being a non native English speaker, and how people think differently of you.
In my opinion, people should not be judged because of their limited language skills. The hospital staff thought that Amy's

mother wasn't a smart person due to her limited English speaking skills. This is completely incorrect. If you are not as good of a speaker in a specific language, does not mean you are not a smart and knowledgable person. 

Lang and Lit 1st Entry

Hello, and welcome to my blog. This blog is made for my English Language and Literature class in school. We have began studying our first topic which is around language and culture. I will use my blogs as both an informal, exploratory writing space as well as a place to share projects incorporating digital technology and media.

My name is Zaid Ariqat. I am a 16 year old boy living in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. I come from Amman, Jordan. I am currently studying the IB Diploma program at Raha International School. This is my fifth year at the school, and I really enjoy being here. I have lived in the UAE all my life, however i have relocated a few times between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I was born in Abu Dhabi where I spent four years, before moving to the wonderful city of Dubai where I lived for six years. I then had to move back to Abu Dhabi because of my father's unstable job in the year of 2010. I live in a family of two younger brothers and sisters, and both my parents.

I really have an extremely strong passion for sports in general; more specifically football (soccer). I am a huge supporter and fan of the football club Arsenal and enjoy watching them play. I also often enjoy playing video games with friends when possible.

I really hope I am successful in the next two school years of this journey, and can successfully achieve the Diploma, but I am aware that extremely hard work is required in order to achieve this goal and it will definitely not be straightforward.

As for my future, I am not completely sure in which direction I will be heading and what I will be exactly doing for my life. Many people I know of have a specific plan on what they will be doing and which direction they will be heading; and on the other hand some people like myself, still have no idea, but will eventually find out soon.

As for my definition of culture; it is the ideas, customs, social behavior of a particular people or society. The most reliable way for people to communicate those ideas and customs is through the use of language. This is why language is an important part of culture.

I identify myself with the Arab culture; more specifically the Emirati culture since I have lived nowhere other than this country for my entire life. I have at times felt excluded from a culture, but not really due to language barriers; for example when I travel to Jordan to meet family and friends, its true I can speak arabic, but I just don't feel the connection and the understanding between us.

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Bye.