Summer 2012 Newsletter - LaGuardia Community College - CUNY
Summer 2012 Newsletter - LaGuardia Community College - CUNY Summer 2012 Newsletter - LaGuardia Community College - CUNY
After more than twelve years of trying marriage, I can say that the person who loves the most is the one who always asks for the contract of matrimony as proof of commitment. Virginia Goodno What does "Motherhood" mean? To me "motherhood" means constant adjustment to several changes. During my early twenty’s, I disregarded the idea of being a wife and getting pregnant. My plan on living single and adopting children changed when I fell in love and got married. I became pregnant four months after my wedding day. The feeling of being a mother became very important for me as soon as I found out about my pregnancy. Major changes happened to me by the beginning of motherhood life. I experienced intense physical, spiritual and emotional changes. Pregnancy as what almost every adult knows changes most physical parts of a woman’s body. The physical changes that happen to me during pregnancy, I consider a torture. For nine months, aside from adjusting to an expanding stomach and changes happening with other parts of the body, my crown of curly hair also gradually became wavy. The physical changes that happened was also accompanied with constant heartburn, nausea, dizziness, morning sickness, and other uncomfortable feelings. Vanity was not as important to me anymore. Finding ways in making myself feeling comfortable all the time and making sure the health of my baby in my womb was monitored became my priority. Somehow, motherhood led me to become more spiritual. I remember, for the very first time in my life that I felt an intense unconditional love for my unborn child. I prayed more than I usually have done before pregnancy. I was always praying for the baby I was carrying to be okay, healthy and protected all through pregnancy. When I held my first child right after a very exhausting birth delivery. I had a moment when I contemplated about the selfless love of Christ for humanity while I was still in the hospital. Motherhood gave me the opportunity to discover unconditonal love. I developed patience, endurance, care, and thoughtfulness at a higher degree with no expectations but health and comfort for my child and constant connection with God. The state of my spiritual being became more as my family grew. Aside from my spiritual changes, I also became more emotional. There were several situations where my emotions were hard for me to control whenever my I saw any of my three children and even other children in pain. I remember how I became emotional whenever I saw any of my children cry when they needed to get their immunization shots. One of the hardest adjustment for me was separating from my children every beginning of their school years during their early elementary years. I was always happy when they did not have to be away from me. I was very attached to my children. Motherhood was fun for me whenever my children were with me. The changes that I have experienced during motherhood was a transition that was hard to forget. Although I honestly do not like the physical changes that took place after marriage, the emotional changes was easier to accept. However, I always felt very grateful about the spiritual development that I experienced. Eylul Akpinar As a person grows and gains more life experience his or her personality changes. It is the accumulation of time, pain, joy, and encountering different ideas and different people. The life experience that had a colossal impact on my life was my Marine Corps career. The 3 years I have spent in the Marine Corps, observing everything that was going around me, changed me, my views on society and showed me how harmful herd mentality and tyranny can be. It gave me an idea of what civil life is supposed to be like, and how a human being is supposed to be treated. I learned about hypocrisy and how brainwashing of teenagers can poison an entire community. It showed me the true meaning of freedom and the importance of education, intellect and the need to speak out against immorality. The years I wasted in the military was absolutely nothing but a 12
compilation of mental abuse, unjustified oppression, and constant shameful punishments. One of the definitions of tyranny is “the arbitrary, unreasonable, or despotic behavior or use of authority.” To me this is also the definition of the Marine Corps. The obsession with power and the need to swallow the smaller fish is very common among marines. As a matter of fact it is encouraged. I have seen many incidents where a staff-non commissioned officer, even officers would encourage his non commissioned officers to haze, belittle, and torment lower rank marines. I remember playing fetch with my non commissioned officer in the middle of the desert, just because he could make me do it. I also remember him making a game out of throwing rocks at me because he was bored. I was humiliated and degraded. At the time I was stupid enough to not do something about it. The saddest part is a lot of other marines saw this and did absolutely nothing but sit there and laugh because they thought it was funny. The lower rank marines all want power and all the ones that have power do nothing but abuse it. It was all over the news not too long ago that Lance Corporal Harry Lew committed suicide in Afghanistan because he was hazed by his “fellow” marines. He was threatened, physically and mentally abused, singled out, and humiliated. What did the “men” in charge do about this? Absolutely nothing. As a result this nation lost a marine to suicide and Harry Lew’s blood is on the hands of the marines that hazed him and the high ranked staff and officers that let this happen. It is claimed by the hierarchy of this institution, that this type of behavior is not condoned. But what are they doing about it? Once again… Absolutely nothing. By not doing anything about a problem such as abuse among their ranks they are in fact condoning these actions. I constantly asked why hazing was so popular in the Marine Corps and not in other branches. The answer I would get is “because the Navy and the Airforce are pussies”. It seems that the other branches of the service are doing just fine without primitive conduct. This type of harmful and disgraceful behavior cannot be tolerated in an organization that is supposed to defend the nation from harm. The Marine Corps claims to go by their 14 leadership traits. These traits are Justice, Judgment, Dependability, Initiative, Decisiveness, Tact, Integrity, Enthusiasm, Bearing, Unselfishness, Courage, Knowledge, Loyalty, and Endurance. Unfortunately the majority of these characteristics are limited to being just claims. This organization makes a lot of claims and show little to no evidence at all. In one of their recruiting videos a drill instructor states that he inspires recruits to do the best they can. I can’t remember being inspired to do my best in boot camp, in fact I was revolted by their ways. I assume they consider hazing, mass punishment, or to ostracize people to humiliate them to be inspiration. The Marine Corps also claims they take care of their fellow brothers. I was expected to work on tanks and lift heavy equipment only weeks after a major knee reconstruction surgery I ended up injuring myself right after a surgery. They use words like honor, courage, and commitment. I don’t understand what is so honorable about how they treat people. I don’t understand what is so courageous about making an injured man work. I especially do not understand their commitment to make my life as miserable as possible. I could never find happiness in the Marine Corps. I was severely depressed, hated life, and couldn’t do anything about it. I was married and my relationship with my wife at the time was slowly coming to an end because of my career. Unfortunately I was never allowed to take some time off to possibly save my marriage. Once my wife left me I attempted to take my own life. To me that was the final straw. I started doing drugs and in a matter of couple weeks I was hospitalized, staring death directly in the face. Once I got out of the hospital I hung myself. Fortunately I was stopped. Instead of giving me proper care my command thought it was a good idea to send me to prison until I had a court date. I was suffering from severe depression and anxiety. They did not help me or provide me with effective care. Apparently their idea of taking care of their brothers is to send someone to prison when they need help the most. I could have saved my marriage only if they let me but it was more important for them to punish me for doing drugs and attempting to end my life. They still maintain this image that they are the better branch of service, the best of the best, the few the proud when statistics show that they have the highest suicide rate, alcoholism, drug addiction and are very well known to be the least educated people in American society. I often wonder how these people are even crowned as heroes in our country. It’s a shame. As a 17 year old I didn’t know much about the opportunities and the variety of options I had in life. I was sometimes ignorant, impulsive, and apathetic. What did I know? After all I was only 17. I started showing interest in the military because of this false image that society has of marines and joined. The Marine Corps is almost deified by the public and television. Many others have joined because of how the Marine Corps portray themselves on television commercials. 13
- Page 1 and 2: Veterans Upward Bound, LaGuardia Co
- Page 3 and 4: so I aggressively researched her co
- Page 5 and 6: person and could have been perceive
- Page 7 and 8: The boy scouts taught me how to be
- Page 9 and 10: eak this cycle, by following throug
- Page 11: sure you look fantastic without a s
- Page 15 and 16: were the black shirts given to pool
- Page 17: ough of Manhattan while other train
After more than twelve years of trying marriage, I can say that the person who loves the most is<br />
the one who always asks for the contract of matrimony as proof of commitment.<br />
Virginia Goodno<br />
What does "Motherhood" mean? To me "motherhood" means constant adjustment to several<br />
changes. During my early twenty’s, I disregarded the idea of being a wife and getting pregnant.<br />
My plan on living single and adopting children changed when I fell in love and got married. I became<br />
pregnant four months after my wedding day. The feeling of being a mother became very<br />
important for me as soon as I found out about my pregnancy. Major changes happened to me by<br />
the beginning of motherhood life. I experienced intense physical, spiritual and emotional changes.<br />
Pregnancy as what almost every adult knows changes most physical parts of a woman’s body.<br />
The physical changes that happen to me during pregnancy, I consider a torture. For nine months,<br />
aside from adjusting to an expanding stomach and changes happening with other parts of the<br />
body, my crown of curly hair also gradually became wavy. The physical changes that happened<br />
was also accompanied with constant heartburn, nausea, dizziness, morning sickness, and other<br />
uncomfortable feelings. Vanity was not as important to me anymore. Finding ways in making myself<br />
feeling comfortable all the time and making sure the health of my baby in my womb was<br />
monitored became my priority. Somehow, motherhood led me to become more spiritual.<br />
I remember, for the very first time in my life that I felt an intense unconditional love for my unborn<br />
child. I prayed more than I usually have done before pregnancy. I was always praying for the<br />
baby I was carrying to be okay, healthy and protected all through pregnancy. When I held my<br />
first child right after a very exhausting birth delivery. I had a moment when I contemplated about<br />
the selfless love of Christ for humanity while I was still in the hospital. Motherhood gave me the<br />
opportunity to discover unconditonal love. I developed patience, endurance, care, and thoughtfulness<br />
at a higher degree with no expectations but health and comfort for my child and constant<br />
connection with God. The state of my spiritual being became more as my family grew. Aside<br />
from my spiritual changes, I also became more emotional.<br />
There were several situations where my emotions were hard for me to control whenever my I<br />
saw any of my three children and even other children in pain. I remember how I became emotional<br />
whenever I saw any of my children cry when they needed to get their immunization shots.<br />
One of the hardest adjustment for me was separating from my children every beginning of their<br />
school years during their early elementary years. I was always happy when they did not have to<br />
be away from me. I was very attached to my children. Motherhood was fun for me whenever my<br />
children were with me.<br />
The changes that I have experienced during motherhood was a transition that was hard to forget.<br />
Although I honestly do not like the physical changes that took place after marriage, the emotional<br />
changes was easier to accept. However, I always felt very grateful about the spiritual development<br />
that I experienced.<br />
Eylul Akpinar<br />
As a person grows and gains more life experience his or her personality changes. It is the accumulation<br />
of time, pain, joy, and encountering different ideas and different people. The life experience<br />
that had a colossal impact on my life was my Marine Corps career. The 3 years I have<br />
spent in the Marine Corps, observing everything that was going around me, changed me, my<br />
views on society and showed me how harmful herd mentality and tyranny can be. It gave me an<br />
idea of what civil life is supposed to be like, and how a human being is supposed to be treated. I<br />
learned about hypocrisy and how brainwashing of teenagers can poison an entire community. It<br />
showed me the true meaning of freedom and the importance of education, intellect and the need<br />
to speak out against immorality. The years I wasted in the military was absolutely nothing but a<br />
12
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