What America means to me

By Ariana Figueroa, junior reporter

Ms Laverda’s 9th grade English class wrote about what America means to them. Students were assigned to write a poem or writing piece about their view on our country. Freshman, Sasha Romero wrote the poem above expressing her thoughts.

What inspired you to write about this topic?

“I wanted to write about how people view the world. That society dictates what is acceptable, it wants to make us look a certain way.”

Did any specific event inspire you?

“Well, I used to get bullied a lot when I was younger. But now I realized to not care about what people say about me.”

How do you think this piece will affect other readers?

“ I hope that it will make people realize that it doesn’t matter what people say to just be themselves and to be proud of who you are.”

My America

Society creates an image

Of what we are supposed to be.

How we need to look

How we need to act

And who we are supposed to be attracted to

For society to accept us.

The people that we see on TV

Are skinny and perfect girls.

And so many ads

For diets, gyms, and make up

Society says we need to be something we are not

We are supposed to be so skinny and perfect

And we need to wear make up all the time

Just to look pretty

The society that we live in and listen to

Tells us that we need to wear certain things

And we need to be attracted to certain people.

Girls are told they need to like boys

And boys are told they need to like girls.

We are treated differently based on our race, religion, and sexuality.

A rapper known as Logic once said,

“I believe that we are all born equal

But we are not treated equally.”

And I agree with him

And it is the horrible things that some people do to others

Based on their race, religion, and sexuality

Based on society’s image for us

That believe that we are all beautiful

And that we can change all the hate in the world

By changing society’s image