Elijah Brown

“Pop culture is a universal language that manages in all of its seemingly trivial glory to make us dream and smile, to connect us across racial political, and social divides (Talks, 2013) .” Documentary filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe gave this definition of pop culture in his TED talk. Through his speech, he debated on the fact on the position of pop culture in the midst of the evolving world through the rise of technology. Using the comparison of politics, religion, values, and beliefs to pop culture, his debate showed the public idea that pop culture is considered trivial compared to the other constructs that shape human function. However, pop culture has become part of our social functions of life, always changing based on trends and informing people of other’s varied ideologies under a universal form of communication. Regardless of its form through words, videos, pictures, or in-person socialization, pop culture undeniably influences the world and interacts with all people. Pop cu...

Literacy is a skill that connects people of different backgrounds, unifying them through a common language. Though some are unable to take advantage or work for the opportunity to be literate, my literacy story started in childhood. Gifted and passionate about education, learning became the thing I thrived at most. Firstly, my parents placed me in preschool for two years to get a head start on learning. It continued with repetitious writing of my name, other words, and associating objects to words with my parents. During elementary summers, my brother and I were given various math, reading, and writing worksheets to extend our skills. I had a book at home that taught simple sentence structure, learning how subjects and predicates come together with a verb. These skills learned at home during the summer and after school translated to growth in the classroom. During my elementary school years, I was a part of the Launch program, an honors-type program for gifted and talented students. ...