So~Bee~Love

A Year in Review It is officially the first full week of 2020 and it already seems like 2019 was a distant moment in time. Although the year is young, so much has happened from social movements to political situations but aside from that, 2019 was a year of growth and self-discovery. I want to list my top moments of 2019 and their impact on me as a person. These are in no particular order but they will be loosely chronological, being that the first on the list happened earlier in the year. One of my first memorable moments of the year was turning 21. In the United States, this is the legal drinking age. Being in college it seems like a certain right of passage, you upgrade from house parties to going to the bars. This by far was one of my favorite birthdays, not because there was drinking involved (it definitely created an interesting atmosphere)  but because of all the people that were involved in my celebration. I celebrated my actual day of birth at college wi...

In my freshman year of college, I took a Literature and Cultural Studies course. Throughout this course, I learned about various literary theories that help to shape our society. Two specific theories that come to mind are Psychoanalytic and Critical Race theory. The psychoanalytic theory focuses on the mind and how the way er think effects our actions. This theory also focuses on mental health disorders and how that plays a part in the way interactions are made. And Critical Race theory obviously focuses on race but goes it goes into depth about how the history and concept of race shape our views on how we view and interact with people. Psychoanalytic theory and Critical Race theory don't often go hand-in-hand with each other. But looking at the history of the United States, science was used to dehumanize people of color by saying their minds didn't have the mental capacity to understand and comprehend complex ideas or tasks. This was not true by any means but in order ...

We made it through the first month of 2019! This year has been off to a great start but I've had time to reflect on the past year and I wanted to point out some highs and lows of the last year. Taking Time Off The beginning of 2018 started off with me, not in school. The previous semester was very difficult me, mental health wise, and I decided to take some time off of school to focus on myself and relax and rejuvenate. I thought it was the best time in my life to take time off. This is the only time in my life where I don't have any major responsibilities and I can just relax and try to figure out my life. It was definitely scary and I know I felt a wave of uncertainty and failure. I had days where I thought about being a college dropout and not being able to be strong enough to stay in school but I realized that prioritizing my mental health was a brave move and I should be proud of that. I was also lucky to have my parents' support through this time in my life...

Lately, I've been feeling very unmotivated to write posts for this blog. I feel like there is a subconscious thought that keeps telling me that no one will read anything that I have to write and that there is no point in writing anything on this silly little blog. Honestly, it sucks having so many ideas build up in my head over time that when I finally have the courage to type out the words, it doesn't seem like its good enough to publish. As an aspiring journalist, it is very hard to self-publish quality content. In the internet world, it seems like there are so many voices to be heard and I am just being engulfed by all of them and not making enough of a statement to have mine stand out. Granted I don't put too much time and effort into my blog but that doesn't mean I don't care about it. It just means that I'm scared and don't know what to do. Since living at home after taking a semester off of school I've theoretically had more than ...

It seems like people really enjoy sharing their lives online for the world to see. With social media, it is so easy to post a picture or video of yourself that could potentially reach millions of people. In many respects, I am astonished by the wonders of the Internet and the way that you are able to connect with people across the world that you may not otherwise have been able to interact with. Also, social media is great at connecting people and keeping in touch with people that you may not see that often. Since I graduated high school there are many people that I keep in touch with through social media since I don't get to see them every day. It's great getting to log into an app and see what everyone's up to but there are definitely faults in social media. Personally, I think that social media has evolved into a superficial practice. These days it seems like everyone is trying to show off their lavish life or all the exciting things they do every week. I usuall...

This year has started off very similar to the years before it, full of hope and empty resolutions. At the beginning of each year, I am very optimistic about setting goals and resolutions. I try to be persistent in completing them but to be honest, after January there isn't much momentum left to continue pursuing these expectations. The problem isn't setting up a goal, its the completion of it or rather the lack of accountability to attain them. One I first started making resolutions I would think of outlandish things like exercising and eating healthy. The Lord knows I haven't seen the inside of a gym in months and the only healthy thing my body knows about is lettuce, which is basically solid water so...What I ended up doing was creating more realistic expectations for myself like drink more water and take the stairs instead of the elevator, baby steps. Anyway, this year I am putting more of a focus on myself and my writing. Throughout this past semester I allo...

Wow, it's been a while since I've written anything. College was interesting ride and I'm so grateful for the experience and opportunity to be around amazing people and learn so many new things. But today I am not here to talk about that. I want to write about something that happened to me during college... "So I have a friend that is a Documentary studies major, which means she wants to make documentaries for her career. For her Intro to Photography class she has to take pictures of people in their natural habitats aka dorms. So after lunch my friend, another friend and I headed to his dorm for our photo shoot. My guy friend pulled out his guitar and started playing a song, my Doc Studies friend was quick to whip out her camera and start snapping pictures. Once she starts clicking she can't stop, she calls it being 'shutter happy'. Like trigger happy but with taking photos. Anyway we all get to singing a song and she turns the camera to me ...

Written on August 19th, 2016 Today marks two days until I move into college and the rest of my life changes..... Although the first line of this post may seem a bit dramatic, college is it's own different world with it's own set of rules and it's own culture. I deem myself very independent although I've never been away from my parents for longer than two weeks. I know how to clean and cook for myself, I understand and know what my responsibilities are. But for some reason I can't shake the nervous feeling I get when I think about college and moving out. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm moving out of state for college or the fact that I hardly know anyone. Maybe just the fact that I'll be a significant amount of distance away from everything I know. Although being far from home is exhilarating, it'll be great to have some freedom. But I think all my worries just boil down to change. i don't like change, people in ge...

A popular topic this year is the election for the next President of the United States. This year's election seems to be the most intense and most important election year to date. This year I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to cover the  DNC  through  Motivos Magazine . I am not here to display my personal views on the election but rather share my experience about my first day and how YOU can become aware and educated to make an informed decision on who you want as President. [pictured above Kendrick Sampson at Youth Council Meeting] Today was a VERY busy day! This morning I started off at a media briefing near Penn's Landing with Steve "Buzz" Thomma. This briefing included special guests like Congressman Xavier Becerra, a representative of California's 34th congressional district. He spoke to an intimate crowd of people. He introduced himself and gave his thoughts on this election. After the briefing, I headed over to the Conven...

A popular topic this year is the election for the next President of the United States. This year's election seems to be the most intense and most important election year to date. This year I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to cover the DNC  through Motivos Magazine . I am not here to display my personal views on the election but rather share my experience about my first day and how YOU can become aware and educated to make an informed decision on who you want as President. \ I live fairly closely to the convention, so I am traveling every morning to downtown Philadelphia. Today I attended the Hispanic Caucus, which is a meeting with political figures (that is open to the public) discussing important issues that need to be addressed in our country today. This caucus brought light to many things that are going on within the Hispanic community. At this Caucus I got to see Rosie Perez, an accomplished Latina actress, who moderated a panel. The...

wan·der·lust ˈwändərˌləst/ noun a strong desire to travel. The summer of graduation, essentially the first summer of my adult life? I am left with an overwhelming feeling of wanderlust. I feel like I am obligated to travel and experience the world around me. It doesn't help that in a social media driven world it is so easy for me compare with my peers and see that I don't lead much of a privileged life that allows me to travel to other countries. I only can live vicariously through Instagram posts and Snapchat stories. I am however taking it one day at a time and discovering that I don't have to travel to a far distant land to enjoy my summer. Of course traveling to a far and distant land is preferred but not necessary. Countless times I have pointed out on this blog the importance of discovering your own hometown and finding everything it has to offer. I recently just attended an event that was solely based around celebrating our to...

So earlier this month it had been raining on and off for about four days straight. Since I have been getting into photography I thought it would be a cool idea to go in my backyard and take some pictures. All the flowers have bloomed and I am using a very basic camera (not a DSLR) and I personally think the pictures came out great! Check out my YouTube video! Live ~Laugh~Love  Pinterest ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Bloglovin

I am a freshly graduated high school student. I am 18 years old and I am scared. In a matter of months, I will be moving 200 miles away for college. I will be in a new environment with new people in a new town. Now, I am not scared because I'm moving and I'm not scared of meeting new people, I'm scared of failing. It is the fear of failing that I'm scared of. I've always dreamed of becoming successful and having money to be able to provide for my family. Now that I'm at this stage in life, I find myself overthinking every little detail about my future and every outcome of every scenario is horrible. I find myself second guessing my career path and if I'm truly going to suceed. I am planning on studying journalism. Writing is something I've always enjoyed doing. In elementary school I started a newsletter (5th grade). And I carried on this desire into middle school  (7th grade) where there would be biweekly distribution of a newsletter to all of...

Ama la gente que Dios te dio porque un dia el va necesitarlo paratras. I wanted to write this blog post in Spanish to honor my late grandfather who passed on Thursday may 12, 2016. He was a man born and raised in Puerto Rico. He moved to the U.S. at the ripe age of 20 with my grandmother. They moved to the Bronx in New York State. For the next 10 years, they were back and forth between Puerto Rico and New York. Before they settled in the Bronx then moved to southern Pennsylvania where they eventually stayed. My abuelo wasn't the perfect man on the planet but he tried and did what he could. He was a great person to all of his grandkids. I know he is in a better place now. For the past few weeks, he had suffered from strokes and had been in and out of the hospital. It wasn't necessarily a surprise that he passed but it still wasn't something that anyone was expecting to happen so soon. After his last hospital visit, he was put into a home where he could receive...

So a few weeks ago the northern east coast was hit with a blizzard. This blizzard caused me to have a whole week off of school. Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to go around my house and document the blizzard. Here are some of the pictures that I took...... Very amateur photography but I really enjoy taking photos and I know with practice I can get better! Hope you enjoy this! Live ~Laugh~Love  Pinterest ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Bloglovin

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2015 had it's share of high points and low points but I am so glad to have a fresh start at a new year. Every year around this time people set resolutions for themselves, something cliché like eating healthier and working out more. Although some people have good intentions, the vast majority of people that set resolutions fail within the first couple of weeks in the year and fall into old habits. So in spite of all of that I have a list of goals that I want to accomplish before the new year ends. 1. HAVE A STRONGER RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD I am a christian. I am of the Pentecostal denomination and I serve Christ. In the Christian religion we view Christ as more of a personal figure than some distant almighty being. Although his powers are great having a daily connection through prayer really helps to strengthen the spiritual relationship. this year I am going to start a Prayer Journal . I've done these in the past and find that they are so helpful ...

During this lovely holiday break I have still been applying to colleges. On most applications schools will ask short response questions to get a sense of what kind of student you are. One of the schools I applied to asked me a question that took me by surprise. Not because it was challenging or confusing but the level of depth that the answer could hold, was astounding to me (also the fact that they only gave me a maximum of 200 words). "If you were to write the story of your life until now, what would you title it and why?" ​My Secret Life ​would be the title of my life up until now. As a person I feel that I am very bubbly and energetic, friendly and open-minded. I am always eager to learn new things and explore different places but as a person I also tend to hide some things I feel ashamed of or too embarrassed to talk about. I put up a facade for my friends to look at but I never reveal my whole self. Although I have some pretty amazing ...

It's officially fall! The temperature is dropping and the leaves are falling. During this time of year I tend to stay inside and avoid going outside. I forget that just because the temperature drops doesn't mean that you have to stay inside. So here is a list of thing to do during the fall.... Jump In! Instead of raking leaves into trash bags put them into large piles and jump in! If you really aren't into raking leaves use the trash bags for "sacks" and have races between you and a sibling. Nature's Beauty Personally fall time seems like the perfect weather for a hike. Take a trip and visit a state park near you! Also exploring local park trails can be just as fun, invite a few friends and see what you discover. Pump-tastic Fall is the season for pumpkin picking. Search around your local area for pumpkin patches. Look around try to pick out the perfect pumpkin. Afterwards you could have a carving party wit your family and see who has th...