"The Will To Succeed Is Always Welcome Here."

All comercials of super bowl have a significance, good or bad, they all leave behind an impression of the company and people involved. But, the commercial I want to talk about, that really spoke to me, is the commercial done by 84 Lumber. Their commercial told the tale of a mother with her young daughter and their journey across Mexico in hopes of place in the United State where they can be safe. The full commercial is pretty long, five and a half minutes, just about. Part of the commercial was banned because the reference to " the wall" was voted insensitive.During the portion of the ad that wasn't on tv, the mother and daughter reach an gigantic  wall in the desert, which can be inferred as the boarder. The mother breaks down into tears and seems to have  lost hope, the daughter pulls out a handmade U.S. flag  that has been made out of scraps collected throughout the journey. Then the mother turns to see that the wall has a door. The mother and daughter both work together to push the doors open, revealing  sunlight. Onscreen text reads: "The will to succeed is always welcome here." To me, this shows that there are people in this world that aren't against new, different people. People are still willing to except people who are willing to work hide and who have good values, even if they are different. There is still hope for the world because there is still people who will welcome others with open arms, despite racial background and stereotypes.

Dear Mr. President...

If I could ever write a letter to Donald J. Trump, that I  knew he would actually read and receive, I would tell him, honestly, about how he should become aware of what he says because now that he's president, his words will be broadcasted to a larger audience that includes children. I'm only thirteen and my mother always told me " If you don't have anyting nice to say, don't say anything at all because you don't know how it will affect the people listening.", and that's a piece of advice that I'd like to pass on the Mr. President. All of Trump's comments that talk down on women, lower the worth of women, his comments that talk down on different races, all of these comments by him, he who is supposed to be a big contribution to how children grow up. Small children listen to these things, people think that these children can't comprehend these words that are constantly repeated, but they are more vulnerable to learning these ways than older children and their mindset will grow revolving  around it.

A little girl shouldn't be taught that she will never be good enough and that she's " ugly and fat", two words that are loosely used by the president himself. A little boy who has a Mexican background shouldn't grow up thinking that he'll never be anything better than a killer who's involved with drugs. So, if there was just one point I could prove to Donald J. Trump, it would be this, solely, to think about his words might affect anyone listening. Even if these people are young, old, whoever, every one will have something to take away from the words of Trump.

The Argument That Was Never Settled

The worst argument I've ever been in really has no purpose, and it involved my brother. The argument was about whether or not you have any control over your dreams and what you do in your dreams. I believed that you had some control over your own actions in your dreams, while my brother  argued that you no control over the subject of your dream, nor did you have control over your dreams whatsoever.  My argument was backed up by some of my " common sense" and my brother just consistently articulated that you don't have any control over your dreams because if you did, bad dreams wouldn't exist and people wouldn't have to live life in their actual day to day lives because they could do it all in their dreams.

This conversation went from a typical conversation on the couch, to us name calling each other across the house, and the names were based on the points we tried to prove in the earlier conversation. The argument ended with our mother telling us to just look it up to settle the dispute. We were both eager and hesitant because we didn't want to be proved wrong. So we both agreed to forget about the argument and wait to settle it until we both agreed we were both mature enough to handle the outcome, but in my defense I'm as ready as ever.

Im a Nerd Who Can't Play Sports

When it comes to confidence, there is only one area in my life where I can say that I am confident. This area is math, I was in accelerated math classes from third grade until this year. I was always a little ahead and have always been good with numbers. That's an area, for now, where I'll feel like my abilities are appreciated and useful. An area in life where I feel lie I'm not so comfortable is sports, especially since people expect a tall girl like me should be rather good at them. I think there are multiple things that contribute to my insecurity in sports, there's the fact that I'm just not good at my coordination, and the fact that there is that pressure of people expecting me to have skill in sports. If it's basketball we are talking about, people expect me to do well because I'm tall and large so,  the assumption is that I can block shots and shoot baskets no problem. That's isn't the case, though. If it's soccer we are talking about, there is the stereotypical expectation that a Mexican would be good at soccer, and even maybe accel at soccer, but again that isn't the case. I'm not so light on my feet like it's required, I can kick a ball well, but as soon as my foot makes contact with that ball, there's no telling whose face it's going to hit. Those are two areas in my life where my confidence can either be high in the sky or so low it's not even a joke. These are two opposites, and hopefully I can better the stereotype.

My Name

My name is August-Marie. The August was given to me because august is my mothers favorite month, it's the warmest out all the months, she was born in august, and my dad was born in august. Her and my fathers birthdays have one day in between them, I was supposed to be born on the day between their birthdays, that's another reason that the name August was given to me. My mom also loves being unique, the other option for my name was Precious. My grandfather still calls me that. Overall, I love my name, it's not something you hear everyday. Unusual and weird, just like me. The Marie part was given to me because it is my mothers middle name, and my grandmothers middle name, and her mother before that, and it continues on. August-Marie is my first name, I also have a middle name, one that ties in to my Mexican heritage. I guess because I was my moms first child, she went a little name crazy.

Where I'm From

I am from tortillas on the comal everyday,
Women talking in the kitchen and children playing outside.
I am from the fort rebuilt every weekend after destruction from my grandfather.
I am from the back porch and hammock that had the strength to hold all of my cousins.

I am from many combs and strong hair ties.
I am from behind the photo counter at Walgreens with my grandma.
I am from rice and frijoles after school.

I am from the corner of shy children at a big family party.
I am from Come on, it's just your family and Loosen up.
I am from Keep God in your heart, it'll be okay.

One Action Can Make Two People Happy

I live with my mom because my parents are separated, so me and my siblings have to split the holidays between parents. We had to get ready Christmas Eve morning at my moms house and get ready and bring everything we needed to celebrate that day at our dads, all outfits, gifts, and games. After we had been there for a couple hours, we needed to be ready to exchange gifts, I had gotten my sister a stuffed bear from Walgreens, because I knew that she had wanted it. We went to the store week prior and she pointed out and her mother said that she wouldn't buy it for her, so I decided to get it for her myself. We had all gone to our little areas where we had hidden our gifts went my brother pulled me to the side and told me that he had forgotten his gift for my sister at home. He's only 10, no one could really expect a child to go out of their way to spend their money for a gift. At first, that's what I was going to tell him. I then decided that since no one can expect a child to spend money, no one would expect a gift from me. So I gave the gift to my brother to give to my sister as a gift. Don't get me wrong, it was hard to do because I really wanted to be the one to give it to her, but I couldn't just that my little brother stand there with a look of such regret. So I let him take the credit for the bear, he was happy, she was filled with excitement, so everybody was happy in the end. Especially my sisters mom, because she didn't have to end up a the store buying the bear.