Privileges

When you are privileged you are granted a special right or advantage over others that are not as privileged. There are many different ways to view a privileged individual. I personally feel as though anyone that was born into wealth is privileged. Not to undermine any hard work their parents contributed to their wealth, but they will never have to work hard for anything in life. In fact, I would consider them over-privileged because they will never understand the responsibilities of maintaining a job or working hard to achieve a major accomplishment. Anything they desire is right at the tip of their fingers; whatever they want is handed right to them. Their wealth entitles them to better education, better homes & cars and finer material items.

Privilege does manifest itself in today’s society. Think of those socialites who are famous based solely on their family or connections and not because of any particular talent. Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie are prime examples. They are both wealthy because of their parents and are well known because of their partying and outlandish activities, not because they have talent. Their celebrity has opened the doors of opportunities for them, together they had a show on television and Paris Hilton has been offered movie roles, has recorded music and has a fragrance line. But what about the aspiring actress who can’t afford to travel to those auditions or the aspiring singer who spends their time performing at events without receiving any pay and hopes to be discovered by a record executive. Kim Kardashian is another, although she did do a little styling before she was well known her celebrity propelled from a sex tape. This tape has made her famous and opened the doors for her and her family; they now have their hands in everything. The family owns clothing stores, clothing lines has had a long running reality show and are continuously featured in magazines. They are examples of the privileged; they have greater opportunities than many other people and have not had to work hard to get to the point in life they are at.

MY STUFF

            My stuff, where do I began? I have an obsession with clothes, shoes, costume jewelry and make-up. My son and I both have a closets, dresser drawers and totes filled with clothes and I also have a stand up jewelry box fill with jewelry and a caboodle filled with make-up. My son could care less about the clothes that he has, but I always feel like he or I have to have some sort of new clothing. Then I think of course I have to get the shoes to go with the outfit, and then he needs the perfect tie or hat and I need the right piece of jewelry to complement our outfits and to finalize I need the right make-up to bring it all together    

          I really don’t know how my items are created, I’m sure it’s made in a factory though. I’m sure knowing would probably have an impact of my consumption. However when I discard my items I donate all of our clothes to the Salvation Army, it is an accredited organization so I’m happy in knowing that our items can go to those who may be less fortunate or cannot just spend an outrages amount of money on clothing. So as far as usage, all of my items are used on a daily basis besides of course when I work and have to wear my work uniform. But my son is in Elementary school and they don’t wear uniform so his items require daily usage. I think I could do with less stuff but I know for certain I couldn’t do without it completely. I am not oblivious to this obsession and I have been easing up on my purchases because I am realizing it is becoming ridiculous. My make-up has to be discarded every three months for health purposes; it cuts down on possible bacteria growth on your make-up and its accessories. I have been wearing less make-up lately so my purchases have not as frequent as before. The pricing of a lot of clothing and make-up today can be outlandish which is why I feel I need to cut back on my purchases and the money that I spend on over-priced or unnecessary items can go to other important things.

                           My Son's Closet                                                          

 

               My Closet

 


   
            Make-Up Caboodle                           Jewerly Box
          

Short Response Two

After graduating from High School in the spring of 2005 I immediately started my freshman year of college at Towson University in the fall of 2005. It took a lot of getting used to; I went from an atmosphere that was governed by my teachers, they told me when to study, what to study, how to study, what to do etc. to now me making all my educational decisions on my own. I am a big procrastinator so separating from the dependency of my high school teachers to now doing for me was hard. By the end of the school year I would like to think that I began to get the hang of the college life, I began to pace myself; I developed a schedule for myself that was strictly for study, school assignments and anything else pertaining to school. I didn’t live on campus but I still attended a few events that were held on campus. I strongly believe my transition would have been full-fledged by my sophomore year.  Unfortunately, I didn’t return to Towson the next school year. I became pregnant with my son and school was something I had to put on the back burner for the time being.

Today I am a full-time mother to my 5 year old son, full-time employee at an Urgent Care center and a full-time student, so as you can see my world is pretty busy.  I started my college career back up last school year, so I have already been working on the separation process. I was only used to working, being a mother and hanging out during my free time.  I have learned to separate myself from hanging out, that time is now consumed with school. The transition has been very hard because my time management skills need a lot of work. After working and dealing with my son I don’t feel like doing anything else so once again I will procrastinate. But I have to sit back and look at the bigger picture. Back in my TU days I was doing it just for me, now I have a little person who I do this all for and I can’t let him down. So I had no choice than to transition into new habits, they are not where I would like them to be at the present moment but once I get used to this new way of life and incorporate them everything  will fall into place.

 

Short Response One

My name is Ashley King.  Ashley is a very common name amongst females of my age group. From the start of my education in grade school until I graduated high School I’ve had a class with someone by the name of Ashley. I’ve even had a class with a boy named Ashley, which I thought was bizarre but learned that up until the 1960’s the name was most common amongst males. Since my name is much shared amongst my peers, I really do not like it. When my parents were deciding on what to name me they struggled in choosing between the names Ashley and Erica. My mother wanted to name me Ashley; after a character from her favorite Soap Opera and my father wanted to name me Erica because his name is Eric. As you can see my father lost this battle and because of my mother’s stubborn ways I was given such a widespread name.

I used to get teased a lot when I was in Elementary school by classmates because I was a girl whose name was King. Some children would utter “Why is your last name King, shouldn’t it be Queen since you’re a girl?” Both of these questions I thought were dumb because my name and gender was nothing I had control over at that age. Although I dislike my first name and as a young child I didn’t care too much for the name King, as I got older I learned to embrace my last name and I absolutely love it today, it’s even my nickname. King doesn’t seem as common to me as Ashley is, but it is well known. Martin Luther King Jr., the world’s most notable civil rights leader shared the same name as I. Webster defines King as: One that holds a preeminent position especially a chief among competitors. That is how I feel about myself. Not to seem self-centered or even conceited, I know I’m not perfect but I take pride in myself. Something I think every person should do.