School vs. Home




The past seventeen years of my life I have tried my hardest to not do things that make me unhappy or feel uncomfortable, and I manage to do a pretty great job at this. Most kids growing up have a list of rules to follow. Such as curfews, who they can and can’t hang out with, what time they have to go to bed, the music they can listen to, and the language they’re exposed to. My childhood on the other hand, lacked almost all of these things. And I commend my parents for this more than I  can begin to explain. Not once, have my parents ever pulled the infamous “I don’t want you hanging out with that girl, she’s a bad influence.” because for one, they trust me, and two, they trust my judgement of the people I surround myself with. How are you supposed to make the transition from being dependent on parents to becoming an individual when you have people constantly trying to control your actions. Telling you what’s wrong, and what’s right, what the proper career is, and what an improper career is. The answer is you can’t. Odds are you’ll  end up becoming a robotic, rehearsed, unhappy human being full of regrets. Luckily, my parents have dedicated their life to preventing this from happening to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a wild child that does whatever she pleases when she pleases. I do as I please when I please, but always with reason.


Ever since I can remember my friends have always adored my parents. “Oh my god your Mom is soooo chill.” “Yo your dad is the coolest dude ever.” My mother being a ditzy, plant loving, artist. And my father being a bearded, motorcycle riding, music junkie. Then there’s me, the perfect mixture of the two. I can think of a million and two times that my father and I have sat in our basement listening to records simply just talking about life, and out of all 1,000,002 times we’ve done this, not once has my father ever enforced that I do something that makes me unhappy. And during these conversations I don’t think I could count the amount of times he tells me to do whatever it is that makes me happy and to never do something solely based on the happiness of others, such as attending college directly after graduating. I know nowadays not going to college seems like an illogical, idiotic thing to do, but I know it’s the right choice for me.  


Considering all of these things, I think it’s pretty clear that I stick out like a sore thumb at SLA. 90 Percent of the students come from families of professors, lawyers, architects, etc, who not in all cases, but in many brainwashed them into being someone that they truly don’t want to be. At least that’s the impression I take from getting to know many different people here. Forcing them to take torturous extracurriculars, and all sorts of other things that the average teenager wouldn’t want to do. Then there’s me, neither of my parents attended college, yet they still managed to provide myself and two older sisters with a rather luxurious lifestyle. Helped me to focus more on creating and maintaining happiness rather than only focusing on my future college career which until absolutely necessary is irrelevant in my eyes. Thankfully, my parents are extremely supportive and understanding of my choices.  


Now the thing is, there’s two Anna’s. The home Anna, and the school Anna. When I’m home I’m far more relaxed over all. I openly can talk about things that actually interest me without being judged, such as not going to college directly after graduating high school and moving to Northern California to attend Oaksterdam University, so I can then pursue my future career in legally farming Organic Marijuana, and eventually live a self sustainable life. The school me, on the other hand, hid these things from my teachers and classmates majority of my high school career because I knew that people were going to look at me like an idiot and all of my teachers would think I was on drugs. And for the record my prediction was true. Almost everyone I tell this to that doesn’t know me personally, gives me an uneasy look and proceeds to say “Oh, wow.” and that’s usually where the conversation ends.

Being in an environment with people that are completely different than you can be really uncomfortable at times, and that’s a big reason as to why I never say much when I’m at school. There’s nobody I can truly relate to therefore if I talk about things that interest me or I believe in I’ll just get looked at weirdly. I’m horrible at keeping my thoughts and emotions in, so you can imagine how stressful it is for me to act like I’m somebody I’m not. If I feel a certain way about something I make it known, but when I’m at school I can’t do this, and it’s honestly the most frustrating thing. SLA has changed me in ways that I didn’t want to change. Staying true to myself is a big part of my life, and I just simply can’t do that here without feeling extremely uncomfortable.


Americano padre


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​Hola mi nombre es Steve. Mi familia es pequeño. Mi padre es trabajador y loco.Él trabaja para CIA. Él Capturar criminales y hacer misiones. Mi madre es guapa y inteligente. Su le gusta hurgar en bolsillo y estar conmigo. Mi hermana le gusta relajar y dormir. Ella siempre es protesta y marcha en la ciudad. Roger es extraterrestre. Su le gusta jugar basquetbol y ir de compras.Él es bobo pero es mi mejor amigo. Claus es mi pez. Él es muy aburrido y siempre solo en la casa. Su le gusta bailar y jugar beisbol. Yo es muy deportista y encantador. Yo tengo muchos amigos en escuela. Me gusta hablar con su chicas. Me encanta salir con mi novia.


Mi Familia es loca.

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Mi familia es loca pero amo a mi familia. El nombre de mi padre es Jason Sr. El se vive en Boston,MA. En la universidad, el corrió muy rapidó.  El rompió dos récords. El nombre de mi madre es Sara. Ella es bueno en leer y escribiendo. Ella escribio su propio libro. Su libro se llama Love For A Lion. El nombre de mi hermana es Jasmine. Ella le gusta dibujar mucho. Yo amo mi hermana, pero algunas veces quiero ser el unico hijo.  Su encanta jugar con su teléfono.   Cuando estoy con mi mama este verano , vamos ir al cine.  Tenemos que para ver Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.  Tenemos que ir a Ocean City, NJ.  Veo a mi papa cada agosto.  Cuando hace calor, tenemos que ir a Six Flags en Massachusetts.  Quiero ir a un soxs rojos juego. Tengo que ver a la pared verde.  Yo amo a mi familia.

Mi amiga, Niah

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    Esta es mi amiga, Niah. Ella juega sofbol. Ella ayuda mi mucho. Nosotros dormimos mucho en nuestras clases ( Shhhhh!). Niah piensa sobre su futuro. Ella quiere ser un chef. Ella prefiere concina solo. No entiendo Niah. Ella le gusta vuelves a él pasado. Ella le gusta niega este.

Mi Familia

Mi familia


Mi familia es muy raro y bonito pero estricto. Somos una familia muy pequeña porque no tengo hermanos. Mi mamá es muy inteligente y trabajador y divertido. También puede ser muy sobreprotector. A ella le encanta la lectura y la escritura. Mi papá es artístico y muy tonto. Le gusta andar en bicicleta conmigo. También tengo un gato gordo llamado Capitan Oreo y un conejito llamado Thumper. A ellos les gusta comer mucho. Especialmente Oreo. Mis padres están divorciados, así que tengo dos casas diferentes. Viven muy cerca, así que mi viaje no es largo. También tengo muchos primos. Por mi parte tengo 5 papás y de mi lado mamá no estoy seguro porque nunca he conocido a ninguno de ellos. Mis primos preferidos se nombran Oona y Caius porque son agradables y divertidos, aunque Caius puede ser un poco molesto. Amo mucho a mi familia a pesar de que puede ser muy loco.


Mi famila
Mi famila
Mi famila el dorka
Mi famila el dorka

¡Amo a Mi Familia!

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Screen Shot 2014-03-26 at 5.50.02 PM

Esta es un foto de mi familia. Mis padres se llaman Rossi y Grant. Siempre trabajan duro. ¡Rossi es súper artística y creativa! Mi mamá dibuja mucho. ¡Mi mamá dibuja magnífico pinturas! A veces, Rossi visita el museo. Grant es muy aplicado. Él nunca relaja. Piensa mucho y lee. También, jugamos piano. My tía se llama Deni. Ella vive en New York. Deni va al Parque Central en el primavera y verano. ¡Yo extraño mi tía! Es muy guapa y increíblemente talentoso. Mi tía diseña ropa y cuando tiene tiempo libre, mi tía practica deportes. El nombre de mi primo es Alex. Él es bien cómico y divertido para pasar el rato con. Alex asiste universidad en Connecticut. Los fines de semana, duerme. Además cocina delicioso comidas.


Depende del día, yo corro cerca Filadelfia. Cocino con mi primo, pero prefiero comer la comida. También, cuando tengo tiempo libre, leo mucho libros. ¡En el verano, nosotros vamos a la playa! ¡Amo a mi familia!

Mi familia

Mi Papá Conta terrible y lee muy bien. Mi Máma nada bien y conina supeer bien. Yo bailo vale y canta terrrible. Tenemos a gato nombre snowy corre muy rápido. Mi familia comemos mucho comida. Yo vengo de Boston y New york. Nosotros tengo la gata. Mi máma voy al supermercado y la estación de tren. Mi pápa  voy a la  casa depués de trabajar. mi familia gustar vamos playa. Nosotros caemos si prestamos attención.

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Mi Famila

Esta un foto o familia y yo en un restaurante. Esta es la familia de mi padre. Cuando tengo tiempo libre, me gusta ir nadar en la playa o en el río. Mis primos son torrey, brandin y milan. milan y brandin son muy divertidos. Ellos siempre toman fotos porque ellos aman fotos y todos los días se retratan. Mi papá a veces lee libros en la casa, pero sobre todo en la biblioteca. De vez en cuando milan va corriendo y es muy rápido. Mi sobrino es Torrey Jr y mis sobrinas son treasure y titi. Mis sobrinas le gusta dormir mucho y a veces le gusta bailar. Los fines de semana mi sobrino torrey jr prácticas que juegan fútbol americano y es muy bueno. Mis tías apodos son “lightbright” y “honey”. Mi tia "lightbright" le encanta ir de compras y  hace mucho.  mi tía “honey” le encanta hablar mucho por teléfono. Me encanta mi famila!
Dad's Side
Dad's Side

"Mi Loco Amigos Y Yo"

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photo (6)

Esta es una foto de mi amigos y yo. Mi mejor amiga se llama Morgan. Es muy cómica y creativa. Va a la escuela en casa. Creo es aburrido. Va escribir en la computadora canciones. Vamos hablar por teléfono casi siempre. Mi amigo otro se llama Jason. Es super loco y bobo. Come y duerme siempre. Va practicar deportes en la parque, es por eso que te gusta jugar béisbol. También, mi llama Sherell. Voy relajar en la playa verano tiempo y estudiar en la biblioteca. Además, cuando tengo tiempo libre pastar un rato con mi amigos. Vamos jugar videojuegos en “Jugar Dos.” Comemos en el restaurantes a veces. Mi favorito es “La Manzana Abejas.” Vamos ir de compras el centro comercial de vez en cuando. Somos asombroso.

Qual Canción?

Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso de la Santísima Trinidad, también conocida como Celia Cruz nació el 21 de Octubre de 1925 en la Havana Cuba. Celia Cruz fue conocida como la reina de la salsa. Celia es famosísima por su contribución a la música latina como la salsa. Muchas de sus canciones como “Por Si Acaso No Regreso” eran espectaculares para la comunidad latina. Esa cancion “Por Si Acaso No Regreso” se trata de la inmigración. Más allá de la inmigración, trata de la vida propia de la guarachera de Cuba. Es la propia experiencia de la mismísima Celia Cruz. La canción interpreta a Celia como una gran leal cubana. Ella se va de su tierra para poner el nombre de Cuba en alto. Para que todos sepan de su Cuba querida. Celia piensa en regresar a su tierra luego de hacer su voluntad. Para ella el haber abandonado Cuba le duele profundamente. Si ella no regresa a Cuba estara bacia. Es básicamente lo que la canción “Por Si Acaso No Regreso” se trata.


La canción “Por Si Acaso No Regreso” interpretada de Celia Cruz es muy interesante. La canción trae un mensaje muy especial. No solo porque es sobre la inmigración pero trae letras desde Celia misma. Uno de los temas que Celia repite en la canción es cuando ella se va de Cuba. Para Celia Cuba es parte de su corazón. Ella dice “que por si acaso no regresa” de vuelta para Cuba  llevará siempre la sangre Cubana. Nunca se olvidara sus raíces y la tierra que la vio nacer. Una de las líneas que ella dice en la canción presenta los estereotipos que la gente tiene sobre Cuba. Pero ella menciona y asegura que adonde quiera que ella vaya va a desaprobar esos estereotipos. Ella va a mostrar que bajo la corrupción de Cuba con Fidel Castro, Cuba es un lugar de paz y tranquilidad. Celia demuestrara una parte de Cuba que todos no conocen y les dejara claro quién es Celia Cruz.  Una de las líneas que me llamó la atención fue “cuando me muera,que en mi tumba pongan mi bandera”. Esta línea es muy poderosa. Ella básicamente está diciendo que Cuba estará siempre con ella hasta la muerte. Eso es puro orgullo y admirable.


Cuando yo por primera vez escuché esta pieza me encanto. Me gusto el ritmo de suavidad del coro. Cuando leía la letra de la cancion me conecté mucho con ella. Como un emigrante latino pude entender el papel que decía Celia en su canción. Personalmente conozco muchas personas que cuando llegaron a los Estaod Unidos se olvidaron por completo de sus raíces latinas. Entiendo que quisieron tratar de encajar con los niños Americanos pero, para mi es muy importante y significativo tener mi realidad presente.Por eso esque no estaba de acuerdo con ellos. No los juzgaba duramente, pero les decía mi opinion. No solo porque vine a los Estados Unidos se ignifica que voy a cambiar quien soy. Por lo contrario, aceptar y apoyar quién soy y de donde vengo. Al fin de acabo es una cultura que tiene que causar orgullo como lo dijo Celia en la canción “Por Si Acaso No Regreso.” Quiero ser reconocida y representada por quien soy, no por lo que no soy.  

Revolution

In this unit we went over various revolutions, and at the end we had to create a product that used all of our knowledge from what we have learned about revolutions thus far.

Foto de Mis Amigas

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Esta es una foto de mis amigas. Sus nombres son Ameena, Ashlye y Cassie. Son extrañas y inteligentes. Ameena y Ashlye son por eso que todos los días ayudan en las casas. Todos las chicas cantan y comen. Nunca son serias. Chicas y yo siempre trabajamos. Participación de Cassie es un pueqito. Cassie es hija única pero Ameena y Ashlye no son hijas únicas. Van a compras todo la hora en el centro comerical. Nunca de las chicas les gustan van al museo y las montañas. Todos las chicas siempre hacer la tarea. También, todos las chicas les gustan van a la playa.


Cashier, Where's My Change?

Changes occurs throughout our lives. There are some we are able to recognize and there are some we cannot see with the naked eye. An individual can play many roles when it comes to creating and sustaining change. By being an activist for a cause, an individual can bring about many changes; big or small . Becoming a role model for others who want to create change or just coming out of the blue to solve an injustice could account also as a step for change. All it takes for change to happen is for an individual to take that first step, say that first word, make an effort in standing up to an injustice and changes will gradually start to occur.


Nelson Mandela is one of many individuals who stood up for what he believed in.

Not only did he stand up for what he believed in, he in fact became a leader to his cause and the many who looked up to him. This leadership aspect-the ability to focus on your goals even at times you are put in the face of danger- was very important to his perception of freeing South Africa from apartheid. He believed it was his destiny to solve this injustice no matter what the consequences were to be. He stated in his autobiography, “As a leader, I have always followed the principles I first saw demonstrated by the regent at the Great Palace. I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the regent's axiom: a leader, he said, is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”


Creating change is all about  and perseverance and determination. Sacrifices may come at times but it’s all about taking chances and standing for what you believe in.

Mandela had to sacrifice the well being of his family to establish change. He was unable to  be a part of many family gatherings. He was not there to see his children grow up. He was not even able to attend the funerals of his oldest son or mother, both of whom died while he was still in prison. His family had to share him with the world.This was a sacrifice he was willing to make. Mandela stated in an interview, “ I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments, produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system which imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, From henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.” He believed his struggle was not for himself but in fact for his people; for his nation.



Most changes don’t happen overnight. Sometimes it takes extreme dedication before  you can even see a speck of success. You just need to be motivated to your cause and always keep your eyes on the prize. And remember “everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”



Sources: 
"7 Ways Nelson Mandela Changed South Africa." NBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
"PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014."
"10. Realizing the Importance of Courting the Youth Vote." Complex.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

Mind Like a Lens Documentary: Joy Luck Club

VIDEO LINK HERE​



MY

To start up, I really enjoy working with my group. We communicate really well using email, and we all taking our responsibility to finish the work we assign as a table. I also want to thanks Siannie for taking the leader. She organized the project really well and as a table we got a lot of thing done that is plan to be done. For this project me and my table first working on the proposal together. I fill out all the part that need to be done.  The second part we need to do is to watch the movie we pick, and take note on the google doc. In the google doc there are a section for each of the member to take note as they watch the movie so that we can use them in our project. I took the note and write down the time in the doc. After taking note we need to write the script and pick the part we want to talk about. During that class I also research on different thing that could be involved in with the lens that are being use in the movie. After everyone had  write the script we start to record. Everyone suppose to make an appointment with Siannie so that she can record. Before the record we suppose to practice our line so that we can sound natural. I did my part to practice them and do the record on the day I schedule. After record my part I help siannie record her part because she can't record herself.

The moment of collaboration that I most proud of is we all listen to other opinion instead of try to do everything the way one person wanted. Everyone also helping each other out. I know that I have a hard time writing my script but they help me put them in words and it sound really nice. The fact that we be honest with each other if one person didnt get it done as a table we try to help them and we end up finishing the project that are well done




ALEXA


I have a thing for being in control of everything and having things done. And I hate working with people. Absolutely hate it. But, I have to admit that this group was pretty good with communication and keeping up deadlines. I appreciate that at the beginning of the project we all admitted our strengths AND our faults. Sabian kept up with the deadlines, My was good at try to find understanding and making sure she understood the concepts and meanings of the movie before she made any moves. Sieanna did a really good job with the story line and the recording. She jumped right on it and made sure we were on track. This is probably the first good functional group I’ve been in. When it comes to te structure of this project, I think it would have been a better idea to link up people with different strengths. Not grouping by same strengths. I tried to focus more on feminine aspects of “The joy luck club” so that my notes would be more on point. I helped do my part of the lines and I printed them out and tried to sound natural while recoridng so Sieanna wouldn’t need to edit so much. I think the most proudest collaboration is my analysis of the movie. I had lot’s of quotes and opinion to put in there.



SIEANNA

What I did for this project was provide my best camera and film editing skills. I also contributed to editing the script for smoothness and solidness with the analyses. I set up our daily goals and made sure we all stayed on track with getting tasks done in a timely fashion. What I’m most proud of, however, was contributing my film skills. As I aspire to become a director, the more practice I get, the better I become. This project allowed me to finally understand how to use a green screen and becoming more effective in editing a documentary. I’m proud that my first time doing this came out as great as it did in our final product. Everyone looked and sounded great. The video has a nice flow and very easy to follow. I’m looking forward to doing more projects such as this further in the year.

Shock por Ana Tijoux

Ana Tijoux es un artista Francés y Chilena, sus padres son chilenos, pero mudaban a Francia. Ella fue la MC, rapero y vocalista para un grupo llamado Makiza de 1997 a 2006. Makiza era un grupo de hip hop chileno. El grupo rompió y ahora Tijoux es un artista solo que hace música de pop latino. Tiene dos álbumes, y los canciónes son sobre temas muy importantes como la violencia. Shock es un canción hecho por Tijoux. Originalmente es sobre la corrupción en Chile, y otras partes del mundo. Pero cuando yo lo escucho, me hace pensar en la inmigración. Me hace pensar en cómo la inmigración es parte del corrupción, así lo veo yo.

Las instrumentos en el canción Shock son pop y electrónicas. La instrumentación en rápido, y tiene un base suerte, esto da un tono poderoso al canción No es agresivo o enojado, pero es fuerte. Las Palabras del canción van con el ritmo, y son poderoso, igual como las instrumentos. En un entrevista que yo escucho, Ana Tijoux hable de cómo este canción es sobre la corrupción en el mundo, y que no es justo a los derechos humanos de personas. Pero cuando yo escucho al canción, yo pienso en inmigración, y como esto no es justo. De un manera, inmigración puede ser un forma de corrupción. Puede destruir la vida de alguien, pero esta no imparta a los políticos que hacen los leyes acerca de quien puede entrar al país y quien no. Por ejemplo el canción dise, “Ya todo lo quitan, todo lo venden todo, se lucra la vida, la muerte, todo es negocio.” Esto es hablando de corrupción, pero es cierto que la inmigración puedo hacer esto también. Hay otra parte del canción que dice, “Tu estado de control, tu trono podrido de oro, tu política y tu riqueza, y tu tesoro: no.” Cuando escucha esto, yo pienso en cuando veo las noticias y escucho a políticos hablando sobre inmigración.

Para mi esta canción es pegadizo y tiene un mensaje importante sobre el mundo que nosotros viven en. No tengo un conexión personal, pero se que cosa como la inmigración es corrupto e injusta. Yo se personas que han experimentado el corrupción de la inmigración en las Estados Unidos. Por suerte  todos ellos tienen un buen final, pero no siempre es así. La canción por Ana Tijoux dice esta parte de la historia para los que no pueden. Me gusta el mensaje y pienso es importante, pero también puede ser deprimido porque es verdad. Para mi es agridulce. es un mensaje importante,pero esto es un poco triste que es verdad. El mundo que vivimos en puede ser muy corrupto. No puedo pensar en una cosa específica que aprendí, pero el canción me da mucho para pensar. Espero que puedo aprender mas de esta canción tan importante, y que un día no va a ser tan pertinente a los cosas que están pasando en el mundo.

Newtons way of Change

To start off, I want to say that I went to multiple trials and errors in order to come up with my final product. Creating good art that is able to speak and explain to the audience without actually speaking is very difficult, however it is something that I am very good at. 

Just like everyone else, I was given the task to answer one of my 11th grade essential questions which was “What is the role of individuals in creating and sustaining change?”. Below is a brief description of h I came up with the idea of my painting, and what It represents. 

FIrst, I wanted to focus on a person that changed the world. I didn’t want to focus on someone that represented an ordinary American , but someone that was different. Early, in my english class, I researched up one of the greatest scientist of all times named Isaac Newton. I found that he suffered from a lot of different mental illnesses so what better person to chose. Next, I had to think to myself, “How am I going to show his role in creating and sustaining change.?”  and that’s were I got my Idea from. 

I wanted Newton to look different from the other people that were displayed in the painting, I also wanted them to look somewhat lost and show lack of individuality. This is what made me come to the conclusion that I would make the people faceless and make them all have the same body shape. I then wanted my painting to show the Newton is some how letting them know that It is okay to me different and have some type of malfunctions on your way to success. This is what drew me to the conclusion that I wanted to have a path that is interacting with newton and that was also curvy to show that there is no straight path to success. 

In the large picture of Isaac Newton, there is his successes and his inventions on his face , and on the outside written throughout the picture there are his distractions and his disorders. I did this to show that majority of the time, your good out weighs your bad and in Newtons case that is what happened. He was a very successful individual who had problems along the way. 

To go with the idea of the good out weighing the bad, the path is a light bright orange and the background where the faceless people and his flaws are, is this dark royal blue. 

At the top of the paint there is a quote that talks about change and hoe you have to change your thinking in order to change the outside world. Over all, I think this piece is very clear and it answers the essential question in many different ways.  

Should Murderers Receive Parole?

When it comes to the judicial system, the list goes on about how many things should be corrected and just completely exiled from the laws. One of those decisions being on whether murderers should have parole or live the rest of their lives behind bars. Taking into consideration that some murderers aren’t just one time offenders, some have killed numerous people before actually getting caught. By giving a murderer parole, it sets the family and those involved into a state of injustice and unsatisfaction.  

Once trailed, the convicted receives either 3 options, life in prison, the death penalty or the institution for the criminally insane. For those who receive life in prison, doesn’t always mean a life behind bars. This can only be true if the convicted has what it known as parole. Parole is when a prisoner can be released from prison either temporarily or permanently on account of good behavior. With parole, the person may receive a release date after at least 12-13 years behind bars. Though, it usually depends on the crime committed. For the more harsher crimes, such as killing more than one person, they do receive first degree murder without the possibility of parole. If given a permanent release, this would mean that the murderer gets to walk free as a citizen again. 

After a loved one has been murdered, families don’t really want to hear about the facts and the rights regarding to the convict’s sentencing, unless it contains them being locked up for the rest of their days. The thought of that murderer having the possibility of parole puts them at unease. To know that while the reason for their sorrows is now walking free to live their life and start a new, can be painstaking to absorb. None-the-less, many families frown upon this rule in the judicial system and choose to stand against it because adults aren’t the only people to be murdered, children are too. With that being said, families don’t accept 12-13 years as a fairly ruled punishment, giving the fact that those children either didn’t even experience 12-13 years of their life or just made 12-13 years, which will still never equal out to a life time they will miss out on.

The corporation called Parole Block Program sponsored by Parents of Murdered Children, Inc. is a national organization built around families that have loss their loved one’s due to violence. It helps families to cope with their loss and gives them a chance to take control on whether their murderer should remain behind bars for the remainder of their sentence instead of having the possibility of parole. They write to the courts and highly recommend that the prisoner stays locked up with a reasonable explanation to back it up. Many people involved in this program don’t just do it for themselves but so that others don’t have to go through what they went through because the murderer was released back into society. It also comes down to the prisoner serving their rightful sentence, due to the fact that parole cuts their time in more than half of what they should be serving, resulting in some not serving their appropriate amount of time. The way PBP works, is they try to work with the courts and not so much against them by simply asking the courts to let the prisoner serve their sentence in full, and not necessarily asking for a longer sentence. An example of one story takes place in Omaha, Nebraska: “A paroled killer was sentenced to 20-60 years in prison after shooting a 25-year-old man to death. This was just one month after his parole from prison, where he had been incarcerated for almost 12 years for another shooting.” The family felt cheated out of justice and thought that the courts made a huge mistake, yet what hurt the most was that there was nothing they could do. If it hadn’t been for him being on parole, he wouldn’t have been able to claim another victim. 

Through the selfish, cruel acts of murders, many families and lives have had to suffer upon the hands of those that lack self control. If every other citizen has to follow by the rules, then those who commit the act of murder should face the consequences. Thus, answering the question of if murderers should receive parole. Taking the life of another isn’t anything for anyone to decide upon because a life is something that you can’t get back, unless its a miracle of chance. Either way, it impacts everyone involved in that person’s life and is too painful for the families to see the murderer only serve half of what the deserve. The loss of loved ones, causes depression, anxiety and other emotional and physical distress, so technology the murderer doesn’t just take one life but the whole family and loved ones.The courts and judicial system should highly reconsider this rule for future families to at least give the families’ some closure and real justice. 

Where's Ms. Debby?

I switched middle schools in the seventh grade which made it hard for me to find myself.  Since I was twelve turning thirteen, it was a transitional period into something different.  It was the stage from child to teenager where you find out who you are as a person, a member of society, where you are classified in the school’s popularity contest and ultimately who you will be for the remainder of your life.  I did not know who I was, I flew under the radar so I was not a member of society and I was not popular but teased and isolated.  This led to not having a lot of friends and evasion of socializing with my peers most if not all of the time.  The only thing I had to help me cope with this void I had inside was art.

I loved art because I was able to express what I was feeling with paint, charcoal, and clay.  What made it better was my art teacher, Ms. Debby.  She was an older woman with curly hair with gray streaks but nonetheless, one of the kindest people I have ever met.  She was always smiling which would sometimes suppress my somber, distant persona.  She was warm and she accepted me and at the time, this was an alien concept.  Usually I showed carelessness and neglected to work with anyone, whether it was mandatory or not.  My emotional coldness and lack of empathy for others was immediately dismissed whenever she was around or I was making art.  Another thing art gave me was a circle of friends who felt the same social awkwardness.  They were all in an oddity that was unexplainable to the people who were apart from it.  Art was an outlet that gave some happiness and people who were in a similar place as I was.

The school’s popularity contestants were all befuddled that I and the rest of my fellow peers did not want to belong to their group.  This is a group where everyone is the same, have the same ideals, have same hobbies and many other similar compatibilities.  It is funny how the people who are at the “top” of the ladder want to include your presence when you find something more and sometimes even better than what they have to offer you.  In a way, they only want to see you feel better or make friends if it is under their terms and principles.  I found out soon after that I deserved better than that and decided to still be the “lone wolf” of the circle in my head.  I can honestly say that most of my friends have very distinct differences with me hence the phrase; opposites attract.  I can look back and say that the “clique” within my dreams did help me cope with the harsh reality that I dealt with everyday but scarred me psychologically with anti-social tendencies.

Ms. Debby’s inviting and welcoming personality changed me for the limited amount of time that I was with her.  During regular classes, I was the child/teenager who sat in the back and did not say anything.  Having an idea or a question would result in laughter and discrimination against me.  That is why people did not know who I was by name but as “the boy who we laugh at”.  But when I would go to art, I would always feel reinvigorated with energy.  Her infectious persona filled me with bravado when we talked about art or as person/member of society.  But all of this went down the drain when my principal decided to be a wet blanket and did not renew her contract.

By doing this, he was restricting her from coming back in the fall.  Many students already had an immediate disliking of the principal and this stunt was considered the last straw for us.  I usually do not follow the crowd but at that time, I didn’t have much of choice.  I had my own objectives and was not conforming to anyone even though they were allies in this case.  They were enemies that I had a temporary truce with until we could destroy the monster who wanted to spread unhappiness amongst all of us. 

We petitioned to have the renewal followed through as planned.  Since it was a known fact to everyone in my grade that I was semi-great at art (because of the time spent with Ms. Debby) I was assigned to design posters and picket signs.  When using words and understanding did not work, we proceeded with a bang: striking.  Almost every student did not do any work until we received word that Ms. Debby’s contract was renewed.  Something that was surprising during this entire experience is that not single punch was thrown.  Some of the students were very upset with the monster’s (my principal) decision and were bloodthirsty enough to start a riot but there was not.  He said that it was a lack of money because the school was relatively new.  Although, I knew that that was true, nobody except Ms. Debby was going to lose their job and some people were even gaining jobs as administrators. I can gladly say that even though I did not like or have anything in common with my peer group, they did show decorum and handled the situation like young adults instead of insane teenagers.  The only reason I did not feel anything any emotion towards Ms. Debby’s firing was because I was used to things falling apart and the amount of instability at my school.  Since Ms. Debby and I had a close connection, she understood what it meant.  She understood that I was internalizing it and known that opening up or showing weakness was not my strong suit.

Sadly, our concerted efforts did not work and Ms. Debby still left in the fall.  The next year when we met our new art teacher, I strayed away from art because I only had Ms. Debby’s bright aura to help me continue on.  Without it, I felt lost again in an oddity I cannot explain just like in the seventh grade.  Even though she was gone, she was not forgotten and I knew that she did not forget me as well.  Soon after this happened, I came to an absolution.  

Some things do not last forever but at this time, I did not want Ms. Debby’s employment to be terminated.  Therefore, I felt obligated to do something, but not just for me, for her and the entire administration.  I wanted to show people that I and my peers have a voice and that we should be heard since we are the resource that qualifies the establishment as a “school”.  By trying to change something, I went out of my comfort zone to fight for someone and something that I truly care about.  I partnered with people who I had nothing in common with but fought for a common purpose with and I can honestly say that they fought a hard battle.

As for Ms. Debby, I cannot say what happened to her but I know that she remembers my effort to fight for her job.  Wherever she is and whatever she may be doing, I hope that her co-workers treat her with respect and dignity.  But one thing that I will never forgive, is my principal’s stupidity in handling the situation.  He caused the uproar that made the students act like a pack of rabid wolves, smelling nothing but blood.  In the end since we fought alongside each other, I guess you may be able to say that we are a “pack”.

Wanting what's best for my mom

There are many times in life when we want something to happen, however someone else might not feel the same way. It could be for a good change or a good reason but perhaps that someones does not want to be a part of it. This brings up the topic of my family and I wanting my mother to take better care of her health.

For the past three years my mother has been taking poor care of her health. She does not sleep or eat right, which are two important things human beings need in order to survive. In the past years, she has also gone through a lot, which could be some of the elements that were reflecting on to her health. My mother is a very hard working woman, my family and I really appreciate all that she has done but we just wished that she would take better care of her health. Knowing that she was not taking good care of herself had a huge impact on my family. We tried to help her to eat and get to sleep on time but she did not really take our help into consideration, which frustrated my family member because she was not willing to bring change into her health.

Everyday she has a very early start meaning that she should also be going to sleep early, in order to get the right amount of sleep, but she does not. She wakes up every morning, bright and early, before her sleeping childrens. Since I leave the house before everyone else, she comes and wakes me up first and then heads downstairs to prepare breakfast for everyone. After I eat breakfast, I head out to leave but I do not leave alone, my mother actually gets ready to drop me off to the trainstation. At that time I was younger but I was able to walk myself to the trainstation. I would tell her that “you don’t have to go,” but she would refuse to listen and would come along. I did not mind this because this was one of her ways to show that she cared about me. But I did not want her to come along because I wanted her to get some more sleep and eat since she had not eaten breakfast with me. Once I had told her “mom, I am old enough to walk myself to the trainstation, you do not have to come with.” My mother took that a bit too personally and got upset about it. The next day when she would want to come along again, I would say nothing. I tried this many time and I always got the same reaction. Then I realized that there was no point in saying or doing anything because she would just do things her way.

Everyone in my house has a different schedule, we all leave and arrive at different times, the only time we are all together is after 11pm. My mother refuses to go to sleep before her children. A lot of times I have to stay up really late to finish school work and she would decide to stay up with me until I finish. Once when she was staying up with me, I asked her to go to bed since she gets up before me but like before she would not listen. At home I alternate between two different languages, Bangla and English, I speak Bangla with my parents. One day my older siblings, Laxmi and Mithun, told me that I tend to have a harsh tone in that Bangla. I had no clue what they meant because when I speak, I can not tell the difference between my tone being harsh and not harsh. I also do not mean to do it, it just ends up happening and sometimes my mother takes that personally and ends up getting mad. At that point it is really difficult to make her understand my point of view.

My mother says that she does not have the time in her schedule to get enough sleep or eat well. This made me sad because it showed everything she does for us, does not give her time to do things for herself. One day when my siblings and I were in the kitchen my mother was repeatedly telling us to eat. My brother, Mithun, told her “mom, you constantly keep telling us to eat and take care of ourselves but why don’t you do the same.” My mother was busy cooking so she responded “then who is going to do all my work.” She does a lot for our family and she does not want to give my siblings and I responsibilities because she thinks that it would be pressuring us. When in reality we actually wanted to help out because her doing so much was affecting her not being able to take care of herself. If we had more to do then perhaps she would not have so much to do and would have more time to take better care of herself.

Everytime I or anyone in the family tried to make a change in her health, she would not pay it any mind and that would make us really mad. We showed her that we cared but she just stuck to doing things in her same way. Then I think what did I do wrong? Did she think that I did not care or is it that she did not want to me to care? Whatever the case it got me really angry. But I learned to control what I would say to her, because first it probably would not matter and second she would probably mind. There was obviously something wrong, but I just did not know what it was; that made it hard to help change her health. Maybe its the fact that human being do not have the ability to make other do what they want, even if it is for a good cause.

Overtime we all realized that this was, obviously, something we could not change overnight so why not take baby steps and see where they led us. To make things a bit easier for my mother, my siblings started do more around the house; my mother still did not allow me to get involved. Wanting to change my mother’s health is still possible, however the results would come in a slow pace. I have learned that when someone else is involved in the change I want to make, I can’t force it upon them that I have to wait and be patient.

Literary Lens English Benchmark

By: Penelope Deoliveira, Micha Getz, Jamria Carter, Brycent Itzko 

Penelope:

The collaboration in our group could have been better. We should have recorded earlier and their where a few-falling outs between our group members. At some point it became stressful because either someone was not willing to record or willing to contribute to the project. No one wanted to take the leadership role in the project, and at first our group ran into a few technical difficulties.  However, in the end we quickly worked together to produce an okay video. I contributed to the project an edited video, and analysis to the Feminist lens. For the video I used live-game footage, actual comments from players using these lenses to better help the audience understand the game itself. 

Micah:

First I researched the Marxist Lens. Then I set up and filled out the storyboard. Next was the writing of the script, which I helped write and edit, and finally there was the acting. I contributed a lot of time and effort into these, but it wasn’t really high in group collaboration. We each worked on our separate tasks and tried to complete them as well as we could, and we did well, but the group didn’t interact that much.

The pinnacle of the group work was the actual filming of the video, Everyone kept to their tasks really well, and though it took us a little time to get started, it was rather simple once we had got it going. Our group gathered itself quickly after every take and learned from its mistakes in order to improve for retakes. We held our composure well even though we were in a crowded hallway. I honestly didn’t think that we’d get the project done in time, but the cohesiveness of the group allowed us to finish quickly.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/azsr5dqvntccip2/English%20Bm.mov

Instructions for Leaving Feeback

Get out your headphones! During class it is your job to watch at least four videos. WHen you are done, leave a comment and answer the following four questions for EACH PROJECT, in complete sentences:

1. Describe how you agree or disagree with their analysis. If you agree, add a few sentences extending their theory about their text. If you disagree, use the lens to produce an alternate analysis of their text.

2. Did this video push your thinking at all? Did it encourage you to look at the world in a new way? Explain why or why not.

3. What other book, film, movie, TV show, etc. does their project remind you of? How could you apply their analysis to this other text?

4. What shout-outs do you have for this group and their project?

A flawless Lit Lens

Reflections


Molly:

I contributed in brainstorming general ideas for making our video. I also added my thoughts to our analysis on the feminist lens, how the song we chose relates to this lens; as well as helped without the storyboard. Lastly, I  recorded myself reading a paragraph from our analysis, which i'm the most proud of. I'm most proud of my contribution in recording for the video because I will usually do anything to not have to show myself in the video. No specific reason why I do this, but i'm proud I got over it.



Maggie

While working on this project I found that I was able to contribute with a fair amount of equality. I feel that I contributed most on the actual analysis. I was able to come up with good ways of looking at the video through the feminist lens especially. However, I am most proud of the work I contributed while we were brainstorming. Although our project didn’t have a particularly new or interesting theme I felt that I was more able to express ideas than I have been in the past. Our group worked well together and we found ways to use what we had.



Ray

I think my largest contribution to the project was suggesting the song, “Flawless.” Along with that, I was able to give creative ideas and write things such as the introduction and conclusion. An accomplishment I had was letting go of some control. Usually, I like to lead group projects, but I decided to not “take control” and let someone else do it. It turned out great because I saw some really amazing leadership skills from my project partners. My group worked well together; we had good communication and fair treatment.


Marcus

My biggest contribution to the project was creating a part and editing the video. It was a bit stressful and tedious since i ran into multiple errors and I had to recreate the flawless video since we could get the actual video anywhere. My accomplishment working within this group was sticking to the plan and making sure I always had something to do and staying busy even if it was hard to find work. We all worked so well together getting our parts done and turned in on time. We all communicated well and did what we all said we were going to do.


Literary Lenses Benchmark

Write Ups

Aateeyah:

By doing this project, I got a chance to reflect on the different lenses we learned in class while reading the Great Gatsby. It helped me understand all of the lens more by actually relating them to things that we watch everyday. Everyone in the group took part in each aspect that we had to do. From writing the script, to creating the storyboard, and recording, we all took part in it. But personally, I think I contributed a feeling of excitement and motivation. When recording, I couldn’t remember my line, but after a few tries, I got it.

Max:

This project was fun to do. Looking at common things in our lives through different lenses definitely changes my point of view. I’ve began looking at things through these lenses subconsciously. I think that Family Guy was a good choice to analyze for our project. I think the moment of collaboration I’m most proud of is the rap by Ronald. We had discussed this from the beginning of the project and finally got it filmed the day before the project was due. It took a lot of attempts to get the final shot and it was very relieving to finally have it done.


Warda:

I’m particularly proud of our final product in this benchmark. I contributed to analyzing what the Marxist Lens is in the show Family Guy. Another thing I did was putting the screenshots from our episodes we chosen. I also contributed to actually being part of the video and putting some of the script together.

The moment of collaboration that I am most proud of is when we decided as a group that we should have a rap in it. I felt like we collaborated on what we wanted to have in the video, which showed that we were talking as a group and not individually.



Ron:

For the quarter three benchmark, we all worked together as a group, analyzing our lenses that we learned while reading “The great gatsby”. Feminist lens that take us on a journey through the feminist aspect of different situations that can occur in real life, Also we touched upon the Marxist lens. I contributed with analyzing the feminist lens for our family guy scene when peter assumes Lois of being a prostitute, Also I wrote the ending spoken word of our movie to reflec all of the things that we've analyzed. Thinking about it now, looking through the world, media, and everything else does change my point of view and makes me thinks about the different shows, movies, and songs that I listen too. I enjoyed this project and I'm proud of the work that my group and I have accomplished during it.


Lit Lenses on American Apparel

Write Up

Jian Zhang-


During this project, I was in charge of keeping things on task. Thankfully that wasn’t really needed since everyone was on task the whole time. I worked on many different bits of the project such as the research, data collection, edited here and there, discussions and some other things. Videos are the only thing I didn’t help much on since I have no idea what to do with them.


The part I am most proud of during this project was how well everyone worked together. Most of the time people just spend days arguing over things that doesn’t really matter or they just refuse to do much work. However this group got it’s stuff together on the first day and started laying down a reasonable and detailed plan. We followed the plan we made and worked things out in group discussions. Even when we do have disagreements, we solved them by talking with one another instead of just refusing their ideas. This made the project much easier then it could have been. With everyone pitching in to do the work, it was a very enjoyable experience.



- Pierce Luck


For this Project, I have contributed insightful thoughts and opinions into our group discussions analyzing American Apparel. I researched and found controversial ads,videos, commercials, and pictures that we used during our project. I was in charge of analyzing American Apparel using the Marxist lens with the help of my peers. I helped create the script for the Marxist portion of the project. I also did voiceovers, and was involved in the recording of the video, recording scenes for the feminist lens. The moment of collaboration that I am most proud was discussing the sexual appeal that the company sells. My Job as Secretary of the group kept our work in order, especially with our storyboard checkpoint.



Crystalle Hutchins:
I felt that I was a key part in helping all four members of my group collaborate effectively. I gave ideas and the group either agreed or tweaked them a bit with their own input. I, with the help of Nikki Adeli, wrote the script for each scene of our lenses. Once we recorded, I edited the video to make the final product.

I’m proud of how quickly my group recorded our scenes for the lenses. I think this showed how knowledgeable we were about the topic. It only took us one class period and we had time to spare. I loved how passionate my group was about the subject when researching. I knew that using American Apparel’s ads would engross our attention, making the project seem more enjoyable than a laborious task.


Nikki Adeli

When we first listed our strengths and weaknesses, I listed a weakness of mine to be time management. Therefore, going into the project, I not only wanted to be a great team member and collaborate with the group, but also work towards overcoming my weakness.

As a team member, I had multiple roles which I had managed nicely since I met my personal time goals that I had set for myself. I worked with Pierce to research the marxist lens and the application of Karl Marx’s thoughts to the American Apparel ads to make our analysis and video seem realistic. I also worked with Crystalle when writing the script to make the script as creative and unique as possible.

When it comes to collaboration, I had 2 great moments. The first was the researching in the beginning. We were all actively working towards a successful project and the work was equally separated. The second was when we were filming. None of us were absent in the moment, but very much present and working hard to create the best product we could.