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The History Behind Labour Day in North America

Have you ever wondered how Labour Day came about? Well, here’s the history behind it.

For many of us, Labour Day is the holiday before we have to head back to school (or work for some); it is the long weekend that ends summer vacation.

The History of Labour Day in Canada

But do you know the history of Labour Day? Do you know why it is a holiday and how it came about?

Well, in the late 1800s, workers were treated horribly.

They had to work long days in bad work conditions and were paid very little. And to add salt to injury, they had no benefits.

Additionally, they weren’t allowed to form unions, so their employers were able to treat them however they pleased.

And with the rise of machines that did labour work, workers were afraid to speak out because they feared they would lose their jobs (the majority of them didn’t have any other skills to do anything else).

Continue reading “The History Behind Labour Day in North America”

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History Time: The Cuban Migration to the U.S.

After decades of Cubans migrating to Florida, Bill Clinton and his administration developed a controversial policy (called the “wet foot/dry foot” policy) to curb migration.
So I just got back from a two-and-a-half-week vacation in the States. It was a pretty long one, but I did travel to both Miami and Orange County.

During my vacation in Miami, I took a Duck Tour.

If you have never been on one of these or have never heard about it, it’s not what you think, unless what you’re thinking isn’t the same as what I first thought when I heard about it.

The tour, which has nothing to do with ducks, is a tour of Miami.

At first, I thought it was literally a duck tour, where a vehicle drives you around natural duck habitats so that you can learn about them.

But to my surprise, it was not that.

The Duck Tour was pretty cool and again, to my surprise, quite informational.

At the beginning of the tour, I thought it was just going to be a tour of the cool spots in the city and celebrity homes/hangouts.

But the tour guide talked quite a bit about the history and politics in the city too, and this right here is my jam.

I love this kind of stuff!

He talked about many things, such as deals that John D. Rockefeller made with politicians for ownership of public land, the consequences of construction companies not following building regulations when building buildings, and the Cuban migration.

What caught my attention the most was the Cuban migration.

Continue reading “History Time: The Cuban Migration to the U.S.”

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Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Learn History

History is one of those subjects that some students just hate to learn. They find it boring and useless, and often wonder why they have to learn it.

A while back, I had this one student I was tutoring ask me why he had to learn history.

He said that the stuff he was learning in that class was useless because the events had already happened and don’t affect him.

I really didn’t know how to answer him.

All I said was history class is important because it shows you what works and what doesn’t work, based on the past.

And I also told him that he should go ask his social studies teacher in school that question because I’m his English tutor.

But regardless, that question was stuck in my head because I like history.

I like reading and learning about the events that happened in the past, but I didn’t know what the importance of that information was.

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5 Grammar Mistakes Every Blogger Must Prevent

When it comes to writing well, grammar is a very important component. Your writing needs to be clear and readable, and grammar is the element that makes your writing just that.

But when you are a new blogger or just starting to get into writing, your grammar may not be as awesome as you would want it to be. Your sentences may be choppy or they may be fragmented. Or you may be using certain words incorrectly.

But since you are just getting back into writing, you probably don’t remember how to fix all the grammar mistakes you made. “Why didn’t I pay more attention in school when I was younger?” you probably say after proofreading your horrendous writing.

That’s the exact thing that happened to me. I recently went into my archives and checked out some of my older articles and, boy, were they hard to read. Aside from the lack of flow of the paragraphs, there were so many grammatical errors.

The mistakes ranged from incorrect word use and spelling to sentence clarity. They were absolutely terrible!

So to help out some of you newbs, here are 5 grammar rules you must know: Continue reading “5 Grammar Mistakes Every Blogger Must Prevent”

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James Baldwin’s ‘The Fire Next Time’ Illustrates the African-American Experience in the 60s

7 books you should read

James Baldwin was a gay African-American writer and social critic who lived from 1924-1987.

He witnessed racism when racism was upfront and in-your-face, and he witnessed the growth of the civil rights movement and the change that it created.

(Just to be totally transparent with you, this review includes affiliate links. What this basically means is that if you decided to use the provided links to buy the product, I will get a small commission from your purchase, at no extra cost to you.)

In his memoir, The Fire Next Time, Baldwin talks about what it was like to be a gay black man who was raised in a religious household with a family who disliked white people.

And above all that, he lived during a time when society wanted nothing more than for black people to fail.

Continue reading “James Baldwin’s ‘The Fire Next Time’ Illustrates the African-American Experience in the 60s”

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How Bruce Lee’s ‘Striking Thoughts’ Can Inspire You

“Education: to discover but not merely to imitate. Learning techniques without inward experiencing can only lead to superficiality.” – Bruce Lee

Man, Bruce Lee was the shit when I was a kid (actually he still is)!

I don’t remember which movie of his I saw first, but I have watched a bunch of them.

One of the things that I liked most about him when I was younger was just how badass he was.

He didn’t take any shit from anyone and he always stood up for his community. This was really cool to me back then.

And to an extent, it still is.

But Bruce Lee, and this is something that I found out much later in life, is more than a martial artist and ass kicker. “Thanks for that Captain Obvious,” you might be thinking.

And you are right. I was ignorant to all that Bruce Lee is. But I didn’t know, okay?

Anyways, it wasn’t until I was in my maybe late teens or early twenties when I found out that Bruce Lee was also a philosopher; that he was a really big thinker.

I started watching some of his interviews and I was amazed by the stuff that he talked about. Continue reading “How Bruce Lee’s ‘Striking Thoughts’ Can Inspire You”

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The Definitive Guide to Sentences (Structures and Types)

Curious about what the different types and structures of sentences are? Look no further -this is the only guide you need.

I was tutoring a student one day on the various types of sentences and structures of sentences.

This kid, though he was in the sixth grade, didn’t know any of the types of structures.

I was surprised because most students are supposed to learn them in the third grade.

After teaching him the different ones, I sat down and thought to myself, “When did I learn this? Did I even know about them in high school?”

I came to the realization that I probably did learn about sentences in elementary school but completely forgot them, specifically the sentence structures.

I don’t think I re-learned them or put much thought into them until I started tutoring.

After this realization, I thought to myself, “If I forgot this, others must have as well,” which led to me writing this blog post.

This post is meant to be a review of the sentence types and structures for all of you who have forgotten them (or want to learn what they are).

So in this post, I will go over:

  • The 4 sentence types and how to use them
  • The 4 sentence structures and how to use them

Continue reading “The Definitive Guide to Sentences (Structures and Types)”

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