Senior Laptop Turn In Day

Dear Seniors,

Laptop turn in is Thursday, June 7th starting promptly at 10:30. Please come with your laptop and charger, if you no longer have a charger there is a $25.00 fee.  

During this time you will be cleaning out your locker and turning in all materials issued from the school. If you are missing any issued materials please check in with your teacher about the cost of those items. 


Seniors should report to the following rooms:

D band Global report to 506 Latimer

B band Econ report to 313 Rami

B band Global report to 303 Dunn

D band Econ report to 308 Best 


Thank you,

Mr. Lehmann and Ms. Hull

Aztec's Second Chance

TreatyImproved
TreatyImproved


So the point of my project was to change the fat of the Aztecs, a once indescribably powerful and advanced native american group of people. To do this, I decided to take out the man who made their downfall, Hernando Cortes. Growing up with a passion for adventure and danger, Cortes came across many different opportunities for him to die but escaped them by some luck or little trick. My POD is him running out trick and luck though. 

There's a moment in Cortes' life where his life is put in the hands of a Governor name Velasquez who had to the power to completely kill him off without any repercussions. Two options could have been made and both were reasonable. One option was to kill off Cortes and make his death an example to anyone who would try to threaten Velassquez's position and power. The other, which is the option that was chosen in real history, was to let Cortes sit in jail which didn't work out very well because Cortes ends up picking his cuffs and escaping off to a church for refuge. 

The result's of Cortes being killed off so early is that the exploration to and discovery of the Aztecs went different and in the Aztec's favor. The explorers who tried to do what Cortes would have done would fail due to their lack of a good blend wit, charm, and the ability to not understand fear and failure. 


I think the thing that I liked the most about this project was the fact that I got to look into something that happened over a hundred years ago and be able to see how one change down the line can have a big ripple effect. I also liked the fact that I got to look into a group of people that really interested more. I think the most challeging thing about this project was trying to figure out what exactly would be the perfect point of divergence and then researching all the information that tied into the one change. There was a lot more background story to a lot more events that I needed to research but hadn't realized. 

The most interesting thing that I read was the fact that Montezuma, the king of the Aztecs had all the warning signs that someone (Cortes) was coming to overthrow his power. There were numerous bad omens that foretold of it and Montezuma chose to ignore it. If he had planned ahead of time and actually took the omens seriously, he would have been more prepared to deal with the Spaniards.  


 As I learned from my project, one single choice made can reshape the entire outline and road that life is trying to steer. I feel like if I hadn't had other benchmarks and outside of school things to attend to, I would have been able to give this project the attention it deserved. I think I could have more thoroughly researched a lot of things, especial the Mexican American War that lead to the US gaining New Mexico, Texas, and California. If I were to ever do this project again, i would definitely put more effort into doing it and I would also try to make much, much better primary sources. 

Humanities Portfolio 2012

 ​Before I was in Mr. Block's English and History class I never really thought that I was good at writing. Sometimes, as all writers do, I would get stuck. I never really knew what to do when that happened; usually I would just give up and try again another day. In Mr. Block’s class I learned how to get through those ruts and now when I am not in a so-called writing rut creative topics and concepts burst out of me like a geyser. When I think of the beginning of the year it reminds me of the first time I ever really noticed that I had the potential of being a good writer. The class had just finished reading a boatload of short stories and we had been assigned to write a letter to anybody of our choice. This letter had to have many different quotes in it from the short stories. I decided to write to my father and express all of the things that I had wished I could say to him if I was not so scared. I wrote, "I really don’t get to tell you how I really feel most of the time. I am usually scared to tell you because I am scared of you. Before I start I just want to say that I love you and what I say in this letter can and will change our relationship forever. Weather it makes our relationship better or worse I will not regret saying how I feel because I really want you to know. I want you to know how you have slowly started to destroy everything that I thought was my life." When I finally read my Short Story Letter I was astounded at how good it sounded. I felt a little bit better about my writing skills, but I still wasn't too sure of myself. Little did I know that would soon change.

 

 

In class we have had many discussions about many things, some of them would even last all class period. Discussions can change your perspective on things if you keep your mind open and really listen. In class we have had many class trials (almost like an actual court trial), we were all split into groups and had to find evidence to defend our group from the charges that were being pressed. We did two trials in the class one was the Cortez/Aztec Trial and the other was the Sweat Shop Trial. Everybody would go into the trial with his or her own set idea/perspective on what actually happened. But after the trial, after everybody heard what had to be said their views changed because interesting and reliable points were made. After the trial everybody had to write a trial response. When you read all of these responses and saw what different people thought about every single part of the trials.

 

 

            Over the course of the year we have also focused on freedom and deeper understandings of oppression. Hope can function as a support system. Just like in “Night”, in the holocaust all people had were hope and their families. But when their families had gone all they had was hope. To keep moving on they used the hope of being free and surviving carries them on. As well as in the movie “The Farm” these men are in jail and they have nothing to hope for, but to be proved innocent or to be free. It is interesting to see people’s stories and to try to understand how some of them feel. Another project that went with this unit is Art in the Open, we had to Pick a location 4 blocks away from the school and create and perform a creative piece to the school. The Leah Stein Dance Company helped us get in touch with our inner creativity.

 

           

            As I said before, I never thought that I was a good writer. But I realized when you work hard you can surpass your own expectations. It is very interesting how you can go from not wanting or knowing how to write a good essay to taking it on like it is almost nothing. I have written a couple essays for Mr. Block’s class such as The Lord of the Flies Comparison Essay to The Thesis Paper. I now understand how to do these things, it is important to have good grammar and amazing writing skills. Now that I have those things I can utilize them so they would work out in my favor. Writing essays for colleges and jobs is a skill that is needed. As well as you have to sound professional. All thanks to a great teacher and a great year of learning.

 

 

 

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Rflite LotF2011

People are always rising above the occasion and taking responsibility for things, just a lot of the time other people overlook it. It’s been this way since at least 1954, because that is the year the book Lord of the Flies, a book about the struggles of young boys who are alone on an island, was written. Rising above things is a major theme in it, even if most people don’t notice. It’s still happening now though. Right now there is a lot of problems with pregnancy and others think it’s bad but people will take care of their child no matter what. They won’t leave them alone to die. Even though they were young children alone on the island in Lord of the Flies, they took responsibly for themselves and others, which relates to pregnancy and taking on the responsibility of caring for somebody else and themselves.
               In the very beginning of Lord of the Flies, Ralph, a responsible boy who is very determined, decides that they need to have a chief and he believe that he could take on that responsibility. In chapter one it says, “’Shut up,’ said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. ‘Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things’”(22.) This shows that since there are no grownups Ralph will take on some responsibility. He doesn’t do it in the nicest way but he is still saying he will rise above everything that is going on right now. This related to a quote that one of the girls on the show Teen Mom has said. The show is the everyday life of girls who have become teen moms and one of them said, “Its actions, not age that make a mom.” In this quote there seems like there is a lot of fear happening. They’re still scared but they are rising above that and taking the responsibility they need to become a mother.
               In Lord of the Flies when the boys have reached the point of fear because of so much stress about being saved and not knowing if they’re ever going to be rescued, they see a ship.  Too bad the fire was out so the ship didn’t know the boys where there. Piggy, a weak boy who people don’t believe can do things, starts to say “If someone threw you a rope while you were drowning. If a doctor take this because if you don’t you’ll die—you would, wouldn’t you?” “Without the smoke signal we’ll die here” (139.) This quotes is Piggy trying to tell everybody if they don’t get their acts together then they are going to die. They aren’t thinking about what’s going on right now and how big a deal losing the fire was, but Piggy is. This is similar to how The Children’s Aid Society works. On their website it says, “The Children’s Aid Society coordinates several programs geared towards these adolescents’ emotional, educational and physical well-being.” This is similar because in Piggy’s quote he was scared, but he knew what was going on and was trying to take control. That’s exactly what TCAS does. They are scared for children becoming parents but they are taking control and doing all they can to help.
        Around the ending of the book Piggy gets his specs stole from him by Jack. Piggy cannot see without his glasses and they cannot make fire without them so Piggy is getting ready to go to Jacks camp and get them back. He says “Not because you’re strong, but because what’s right’s right. Give me my glasses, I’m going to say-- you’ve got to!”(171.) In this quote it is showing Piggy becoming responsible for himself, he stopped living under everyone’s shadow and is making it know that he wants what he deserves. It shows how he was scared when he first got to the island but he’s rising above it. When he said “because what’s right’s right” it is symbolizing who he is because he just realized standing up for him is right and now believe Jack should do what’s right. When someone is a mother of a teen who just got pregnant they have to deal with that “what’s right’s right” type of thing also. This quote from kidshealth.com explains it.” Whatever feelings you're experiencing, this is likely to be a difficult time for your family. The important thing is that your teen needs you now more than ever.” It explains that ever though a mother would be upset and frustrated they have to take some sort of responsibility and do what’s right, take care of their child and soon to be grandchild.
        Just about at the end of the book Piggy has died and Jack turned all of the boys against Ralph. All of the boys are now hunting Ralph down because they want to kill him so Ralph is terrified. In chapter 12 it says, “There was no Piggy to talk sense. There was no solemn assembly for debate nor dignity of the conch, ‘Think,’”(196.) It shows how badly Ralph wants to give up but he doesn’t. He knows it’s his responsibility to keep trying, no matter how bad this go. It’s obvious that he would give up after he talks about how he doesn’t have anyone to help him, he tells himself to think. This related to teen pregnancy because there is a quote by Gisele Bundchen that says “I felt like my pregnancy was a sacred moment for me. I stayed in Boston and I didn't work apart from the contracts I have, and then I only let them use my face.” It shows exactly what Ralph felt. There are things that will be awful but there is always something to look forward to. For Ralph it was being rescued and for Gisele Bundchen it was having a child.
        Overall, even when a situation is rough there is always something to believe to get yourself out of it. All on the boys in Lord of the Flies were scared; the only thing that kept them all working was the chance of survival. The way the boys took responsibility is very lifelike because when a person becomes pregnant they have to take a lot of responsibility. Responsibility is a special trait, it doesn’t matter if an event causes it or if you’ve always had it.

Paige Wayman Q4 What if?


My point of divergence is about the killing of George Washington during the battle of Princeton, and the thought of us  losing the revolution, and the reminiscing on how that would have conflicted with the future of us as a country.

The future that I envisioned, was that most of the land in the Midwest would most likely be all Britain’s including the thirteen colonies, and Mexico would have taken over Texas because there was no Mexican American war, and the Midwest would have been shared between England, Mexico, and Great Britain, which is located in the UK.  I also said that because of Great Britain’s harsh laws on freedom of speech  when it came to the civil rights movement the rulers of Britain will terminate the proceedings. I also mentioned the Native Americans and how they will just become a part of Britain’s society.

         Overall, I thought this project was a very good learning experience, but overall I think the most difficult part was creating your own history and your own future of something you made up in your mind because there were so many events that occurred in history that could have been an extent to what could have happened but finding them deep within the context was very difficult.

If I had to do this project all over again I would have made an outline on how I was going to go about doing this project, because as I was attempting it,  I got lost within my thoughts and I felt as though I had everything all over the place, and while into my project I would most often lose sight of my topic and get drawn into websites that had eight different stories and reasoning’s on events.      

Link to project: click here

History Journal #45

What are some of the best strategies for creating social change?
  • traveling different places
  • riots
  • protests
  • connection higher people
  • get alliances
  • demonstrations
  • conferences/gatherings
  • campaigns
  • rallies
  • social networking
  • speeches
  • boycotts
  • public awareness
  • petitions
  • marches
  • getting laws passed
  • propaganda
  • letter writing
  • violence

"My Faith in Nonviolence" by Mohandas R. Gandhi
Three quotes and 1 paragraph about one person
  • 'Such a struggle leaves one stronger for it. Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.'
  • 'The perfect state is reached only when mind and body and speech are in proper coordination'
  • 'The law of love will, just as the law of gravitation will work. 
'Such a struggle leaves one stronger for it. Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.'
I agree that nonviolence is a weapon of the strong. somebody has to be strong enough to hold back when they are getting beat on somebody else. For example, the Civil Rights boycotts and how the Africans Americans sat in the white restaurants while the Whits poured milkshakes, smashed food, and beat on them. The African Americans had to hold back that anger and that instinct to fight back. People have to be able to contain that instinct and I think that makes a person stronger for it. They are able to turn their cheek and become the stronger and smarter person in the situation. 

Short Story Letter

Morgan Taylor                                                                                                      October 11, 2011

Dear Mr. Darryl Taylor,

The first quarter of my school year is almost up. I have learned so much and part of that learning was reading short stories in English class. So far we have read 3 important short stories, but I only wish to share with you the two that really spoke to me and somehow related to our relationship at the moment. “Like a Winding Sheet” and “Wildwood” are the two. Brace yourself dad it’s about to get really deep.

I really don’t get to tell you how I really feel most of the time. I am usually scared to tell you because I am scared of you. Before I start I just want to say that I love you and what I say in this letter can and will change our relationship forever. Weather it makes our relationship better or worse I will not regret saying how I feel because I really want you to know. I want you to know how you have slowly started to destroy everything that I thought was my life.

Remember that morning; you know exactly the one I am talking about. The one when you were screaming at my mom at the top of your lungs. What time was it again? O, yes I remember now it was 3 AM on a Tuesday morning. Your yelling and screaming woke my sister and me up. We knew what was coming we just didn’t want to believe it. You then yelled at us to go into the movie room downstairs so we can have a “Family Meeting”. I would say it was more of a slow, painful murder of my life, or what I thought was my life. You did not explain, but expressed with anger and hate that you and my mother were not happy and that she wants you out of the house. You then explain with no regret what so ever in your voice that you had cheated. My mother cut in for a second or two and explained that she found out three years ago and decided to forgive you because she loves you. No not loved you LOVES YOU! Remember your two daughters that you are supposed to love and protect from harm were crying and sobbing for hours. It lasted until 8:15, I don’t even know why. Maybe it was because we were trying to comprehend how everything in our lives were and still are a lie. Do you feel bad daddy? Do you feel bad for ruining our lives? I asked you and what did you say? “I am a very cold man Morgan, so therefore no I don’t feel bad at all.”That did it for me and I just wanted to get away from you for however long I could.

       I remember from the short story “Wildwood” there was a quote that was probably one of the feelings I was feeling that day. The quote read "And at that moment, for reasons you will never quite understand, you are overcome by a feeling, the premonition, that something in your life is about to change" (page 76). Let me explain this to you. Now that you have practically ruined this family I will never be able to look at you the same way, my mom now has to pay all the bills and can’t really afford all of it, you don’t even understand. You know how your father left you and your family to provide for yourselves while he had a great life with his new wife and family. How hard it was for you having to get a job at 13 just to stay in an apartment. Why would you want that for your children? Our situation might be a little better but it is the same scenario.

Right now from me there is a lot of hate towards you. I just feel like I can’t do anything to express it. This reminds me of the quote from the short story "Like a Winding Sheet" "But he couldn't bring himself to talk to her roughly or even threaten to strike her like a lot of men might have done. He wasn't made that way." (page 200). I can’t say what I feel or think to you because you are my father and I love you too much, but at the same time I feel as if you were never my real father to begin with, I feel I know nothing about you or what my life really is. I want to not care if I talk to you with a stern voice or a little attitude because my life would be a whole lot easier.

       Then one day out of nowhere I just got really angry. I ran upstairs as fast as I could and told you off. I yelled and screamed, it just felt so good. I felt like I had power over you sad I could say whatever I wanted. I felt kind of bad, but I felt as if you didn’t care so why should I? In the “Wildwood” there was a line or two that said, "I almost felt sorry for her. This is how you treat your mother? she cried. And if I could I would have broken the entire length of my life across her face, but instead I screamed back, And this is how you treat your daughter” (page 78). I felt the same way when I was yelling at you to get the hell out of my family’s damn house. I want to break my entire span of my life across your face. Everything we have and had is a lie. You were lying to my face my entire life.  It was almost as if I didn’t see you as family any more. "Like a Winding Sheet" says, "The knowledge that he had struck her seeped through him slowly he was appalled but he couldn't drag his fist away from her face" (page 210). I felt almost like that. I couldn’t stop myself.
    Before you resent me for however long you live. I want you to know that I still love you. It will just take me some time to really love you like I did before all this mess happened. Like you said, you did failed. You failed to protect me, to protect me from the monster we call Darryl Thomas Taylor.

From the daughter that loved you most,
Morgan Ann Taylor

The African Perspective

    The Ibo is a small group/community in Africa. The two places where this culture mainly coincides in Umuofia and Mbanta. Many of the people here stick together through many situations, good or bad. They are very strict and serious about this culture. For instance, there was a man named Okonkwo. There was a little town meeting in the air, where he shot into the air and the most unfortunate event occurred, a young boy was killed. Now of course he did not kill the child on purpose, but he got the chi mad. The chi is the god of the Ibo culture. And since he was banned for the seven years, he was considered an efulefu, which in other words is a worthless man.

         Secondly, the relationships of all of the people in the Ibo tribe in Umuofia and Mbanta are very strong. Again, that can go back to the event of when the little boy was called, but here it is described into further detail. Many of the men were know as the hunters/protectors. They were the ones that would go out on a daily basis and receive supplies for the families to stay supported and get through the days. The men were known to not be afraid of blood, and had to be tough. The women of the other hand were completely different. The women could be placed under the soft and innocent categories. They were known for staying home and keeping everything together for the family. Also the women would segregate themselves into their own little groups and socialize, then at night tell metaphorical stories about animals.

Lessons Learned Through Life Scenarios

In life and society in the past, present, and possibly the future racism, inequality and, segregation have been some of the main standing grounds of life. In my life I was born in a typical South Philadelphia neighborhood where 99% of my neighbors and everyone else spoke American English. But as time went on a culture diffusion has progressed, my life as it is have been filled with minorities. And this took much time getting accustomed to. I knew that there was no negating this movement, and it is something that cannot be undone.

Therefore, not only in my life have I felt that a part of my past has been replaced with something new. In my English class I read a passage called, “Hunger for Memory” from a book called, “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez. In this story, there a man who moves from his homeland into a completely different society. From his homeland everyone spoke Spanish, but to where he moved to, everyone spoke English. 

Now that the person and I in this story seem to be floating on the same boat, our problems are similar but no exactly the same. In his story, he has the problem of moving to a new area and not being accustomed to the people speaking English all around him. With my situation I accustomed to everyone speaking English around me until people started coming in speaking a completely different language.

Next, it seems like my situation and the person in the books situation seem to tie in together in a very unique way. My problem is too many outsiders coming in and changing my society. Well those people coming seem like one of the many people that are in the same situation as the person in “Hunger for Memory.” So as the people that are like the person that was in the story start to move into a English speaking society, people like me who are already here are not used to these adjustments.

Here is an example of how my family and I used to talk before we felt like society has changed,

“It all began in summer of 2006, my family and I decided to take a vacation to Wildwood, NJ for a week. In the past I was remembered as the jumpy, nonstop, overexcited child. No matter what I couldn’t sit still, and with the information that we are going to the beach, I was running around like a headless chicken. As we arrive in front of our shore house I open the door, run up the steps and wait at the door. Unfortunately I had to help my parents unload the trunk. So as we are done unloading the trunk I run around the house to call dibs on what room my mother and I are staying in. After about 30 seconds of running around we chose the room with the futon and the deck. When my mother and I are done unpacking my family and us two took a walk to the beach. When we get there I rip off the shirt like the hulk and sprint to the water. It felt so good I was running around in circles jumping in the water. From the distance I hear my family yelling at me to back up and not go to deep.

My grandfather yells, ‘Yo wippersnapper, get your ass back here before I beat it!’

When he said that I knew he meant business. I turn around without any other thoughts. When I come up to them he tells me, “Daniel you need to calm down and don’t go too deep. You forgot to put on sun block and you were too far away too fast. The rest of the day I tried to stay my calmest and not give my parents any difficulties. Being a child was a very exhilarating time of my life.” In this example from my childhood, my grandfather said, “Whippersnapper.” That word is something that was said commonly by my grandfather when I was little to emphasize my rowdiness. But as time progressed and society began to change, slowly stopped saying that word. He could have stopped saying it because I was growing up, and I would have found it to be a joke, but I feel like that if said that word today then people would look at him like he was insane.

To close I feel like a piece of my past has been taken away due to the large population of different ethnic groups coming into my life, but it something that cannot be changed and there is no going back. It is something that has to be lived with and something that will take some adjusting too. Maybe I am just under some sort of cultural shock and eventually while I have them around me long enough, I can see my life as, “back to normal.”

History Journal 34

Progress is when something happens to move something forward. This something could be an idea, or the creation of something, or a popular movement.

  I think that the Industrial Revolution was a time of progress in the economic and technological sense. We made great machines using steam and coal that improved and sped up almost every process of people’s lives. It was also a time of recession in the human rights sense, as people were seen as tools, and there were no longer “master craftsmen”, but simply laborers.

History Journal #41

​How do gender roles in Ibo culture compare to gender roles in our culture?

The overlapping gender roles in our cultures are few and far apart.  Nowadays, working moms and stay at home dads are common, and not looked down upon.  The only ways that Ibo gender roles have influenced ours is in small ways, like how the majority of police officers are men.

History Journal #34

Define Progress

Progress is the process of something growing in a positive manner.  When a country has made progress, something has changed.  Maybe their scientists have made a huge breakthrough, or maybe they have gotten closer to solving the problems caused by poverty.  Whatever form it is in, progress is always a welcome aspect of life.

English Journal #41

Write a letter to someone that is something you would never really send.

Dear Don Cherry,

First of all, you are amazing and have great taste in suits.  Having gotten that out of the way, I want you to know how much I appreciate your brutally honest analysis of hockey games.  I love when you talk about a fight, and give that insight into how the fighters are thinking.   How they are fighting because the fans love it and because how it is fun instead of some personal vendetta.  You truly understand the violent side of hockey.

 

History Journal 25

A revolution is a massive movement for change by a group of people. Revolutions can change governments, like in the French revolution, and the Cuban revolution; as well as in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. There are also spiritual revolutions. I don’t think that electing Barack Obama was a revolution because it wasn’t a movement that caused great change.

History Journal 19

Social change can be fast sometimes, like in the case of Egypt, Libya, and the rest of the Arab Spring; when they overthrew their dictators. This was fast because they know what they wanted to change into, because they could see examples of it outside their own country. They were also oppressed and unhappy, so they made the change, which was fast. Slow change of society, like the renaissance, was slow because there was nothing they could see that they saw was more advanced that they wanted to become. Because of this the change was not pushed in any direction in particular, it simply happened on its own, which is much slower.

English Journal #49

Why do people create art?

People create art because....
  • they are expressing themselves
  • for freedom
  • passing messages
  • to remember events
  • for deaths
  • to honor people
  • advertisement
  • emotion
  • to be known
  • personal and world issue
  • tell stories and teach
  • to grow
When is art powerful?
I think art if always powerful, it just depends on the person that is viewing the art. Their feelings of the art and how they react to it. Art is powerful when everybody has a different interpretation of it, when it makes me people think deeply about the meaning. 

La case de Katie por Brycen

Photo on 5-30-12 at 12.40 PM
Photo on 5-30-12 at 12.40 PM
Su nombre es Katie. Ella tiene 25 años. Ella es un estudiante y también. Ella tiene un novio. Ella le gusta salir con sus amigos, ir a cine, cocinar, nadar, hacer ejercicio, y ella es un modelo. Los dos deportes favoritos de ella son softbol y porristas. Tiene un gato y dos perros pero ella no le gusta gatos. Ella es muy divertida, más o menos salvaje, bastante inteligente y siempre segura. Tiene un Lamborghini y un bicicleta. Ella encanta ir de compras los fines de semana. Ella planes para el futuro, es tener tres niños.

Ella casa será en las afueras cerca de la playa. Está lejos de el desierto, porque ella realmente odia el desierto.
Es en Miami, porque la playas es largo, así que tiene espacio para para sus futuros niños. Ella case es moderna, de tres pisos, grandiosa, elegante y extravagante y colores vibrantes, proque ella súper rico y tiene muy buen gusto. Hay tres baños y cuatro dormitorios, porque Katie planea tener tres niños. Su cosas especiales, es una pasarela proque ella le encanta el modelo. Su garaje y jardín será largo y muy fantasía.
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La parte frontal de la casa. Esto es sólo una imagen de cómo se verá, será cerca de una playa.

Thesis Paper – The Lifestyle of Violence

The Lifestyle of Violence


When Violence is brought into conversation, it’s commonly categorized as a mindset that is most abundant when there is deprivation and a lack of outer resources to aid it. Many people abuse this mindset, meaning they think that it’s the only answer to most situations. From my perspective, I see the more violent people, being the people that come from the more violent backgrounds. These backgrounds don’t necessarily have to revolve around their family, but it can also be from the government, cultural deprivation and/or, religion... the list goes on and on.


First, here is a miniscule area where violence is a problem almost every day, Philadelphia. It seems like that almost every day someone is getting shot. There were 148 days into the year as of
May 28th, 2012. Parallel to that, according to Philadelphia Police Department, there was a substantial 140 homicide victims as of May 28th, 2012 in the city of Philadelphia. In the year of 2011, there were 324 homicide victims, that’s almost equivalent to a person being killed every other day ("Southeastern philadelphia transportation authority"). Then in 2007, there was an outstanding number of 391 homicide victims ("Southeastern philadelphia transportation authority"). Why are there so many people being killed?  From my standpoint, it doesn’t look these acts of violence are ever going to end.


Secondly, there is a bit larger area where Violence is a nuisance to life, right in the Keystone state, Pennsylvania. Just because many historical things happen here such as the Penn Treaty with the Indians in the 1600’s doesn’t mean anything, that was almost 400 years ago. As of 2010, Pennsylvania contained a whopping population of 12,702,379 people. From that amount, 46,514 are from violence
("Disaster Center"). Yes that is less than 0.005% of the state, but someone has to take care of them, and the people that have to do that has to be paid. And who pays them? Oh thats right, the middle class. This has to be paid on top of many other things that the middle class has to pay for. Eventually this is a never-ending cycle. It’s a never-ending cycle because the middle class has to pay, they eventually run out of money, they do bad things, they go to jail, then they have to be taken cared of. That is how it’s a neverending cycle. From that total of people, 46,514 were arrested due to domestic violence. The question is, where are the majority of these crimes coming from? First is Harrisburg with a crime rate of 170,000 (As of 2009). Second is York with a crime rate of 125,000 (As of 2009). And third, believe it or not, is Philly with a crime rate of 120,000 (As of 2009). It is really crazy to fathom the idea on how many crimes occur is such a little bit of time.


Third and foremost, violence may be a large problem in the Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania, but both of those places exist in one place, the World. If violence takes place in two little fractions of the World, I can already assure myself that Violence occurs elsewhere. There is no need to pull numbers up because I lived long enough to see a lot of it. For instance on September 11th, 2001, the group called Al Qaeda crashed two planes into the World Trade Centers in New York, New York, and they crashed a third plane into Pentagon. Lucky the last plane was not crashed into any big cities due to the brave passengers. Anyway, back to the violence. Many violent things in life happen for many reasons that could easily be avoided but people choose not to. Then again there are many things in life that are violent that people would like to avoid the situations because of the their lack of power. Life would be so much better if the entire government was completely equal. Meaning that there should be no parties in the house, such as the democratic and republican. It’s about money, people say money is a person’s best friend, I say money is the devil, money is the ruination of our economy and relationships with other parts of the world. First you have the Republicans supporting the rich not having to pay taxes, while the poor do, and then you have someone like Barack Obama, a Democrat, wanting to help the economy but all of his ideas are shot down. And the more poor people are burdened with all of these taxes, they will lose money, and find new ways, legal and illegal to be able to have money in their pockets. No wonder why their symbol is an elephant, they’re fat for money.


To close up, I would like to talk about why all of these things are the way they are. I feel like I can really tie together the main reason why there is so much violence in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, it’s because they take place in the USA. And what is the the USA currently? That’s right, a recession. This recession that is occurring is causing many financial problems, many of which people can’t avoid. Then when push comes to shove and the money becomes really tight, many things occur that can be harmful to society. Drugs are being dealt, stores are being robbed, people are being killed, and the list is neverending. So it’s things like this that cause much violence to occur all around the clock. Secondly, things can be explained and factual reasons can be added on why there is violence in the world, but one reason can be explained, just one reason, culture. Culture plays a big role in many places around the world, it can be as small as a family, or as large  as a country. Throughout the world there is much cultural diversity that breaks up many societies and causes problems that vary in different ways. An area of land will be covered with one culture, while the other area of that land is covered by another culture. Then at the point where they meet, there is controversy over whose is better and whose should get the majority of land.


To close, its very easy to see that a majority of these different forms of violence come from the constant need to be most powerful. This constant need can vary anywhere from politics, to finance, all the way down to family related problems. Although power is one thing that makes many things run, it is at the same time, the ruination of many things.

Viet's Journal Posts!

History Journal 37 

Everything the main character is shown glorified no matter what, you usually see only that one perspective



History Journal 45

"The perfect state is reach only when mind and body and speech are in proper coordination"

I don't think there is a perfect state. I think that no human can be perfect. Each human has a flaw and if they try to fix that they will cause another flaw to reveal itself.


English Journal 26

Race is a social construction


Race has no genetic basis

Skin Color is only skin deep

Q4 ART

April 9-13

Abstraction Emotion - any size (not smaller then 8-11”)

Choose an emotion and create a painting/drawing/collage/photograph

         Abstract emotion is when you are making an art piece out of colors that are reflected on your mood. In my painting I used a lot of darks, and some really bright colors. I chose to do it that way because I just felt that having it look all dark would make me feel a little down, so to make myself happy I added some bright colors.

         Throughout this project I did have some mishabs but I learned to teach myself how to reinvent, and make it into something more natural. So at first I was planning on doing all white and black and so I got a big brush, and I got some water, but as I dipped my brush in the water then into the paint then onto my paper the color appeared gray, and watery. At that point I told myself what I had planned wasn’t going to work. So instead I just continued to undercoat everything in a damp gray. Then I started taking my colors, and this time I didn’t use water I dried my brush and started dabbing, and I continued doing that with every color, so that everything will begin to clash together.

         Overall I did enjoy this project even though the process was a little hectic, but at the end I realized I honestly did really liked my painting.


April 16-20

Abstraction Motion - any size (not smaller then 8-11”)

Choose an motion and create a painting/drawing/collage/photograph

         Abstract motion is when one looks at a drawing, and by looking at it, it sort of looks like a movement, or it can look as if its actually moving. In this project I looked up on the internet and found an orange picture that looked as if it was moving because of the different shades of orange, and I took the photo and I attempted to do the same thing.

         I knew that this project was going to be different than the last because we were dealing with different types of shading, and different textures of lights and darks. When first beginning the project I had to think to myself if I should add water or not because I figured if I add water I didn’t want it to start dripping and such like it did last time, or I said to myself just paint the paper dry, but I figured if I did that it wouldn’t of had that motion effect. So I decided that I was going to paint it dry first with a whole bunch of shades of orange, and then on top of the painting I will coat it with water, so that it would smear and look sort of like a moving light.

         As a result I liked this project. It honestly wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was enjoyable. I personally thought I did ok on this project it didn’t necessarily look the way I wanted it to but I believe it was worth the challenge. 

 April 23-27

Abstract 

Your choice of medium and size

For my medium size Abstract I did a type of design resulting in circles, and spirals. The colors I used for this project were all shades of green. I chose green because I just thought it was a really nice color, that I wanted to experiment with.

         I decided to get green paint and on the side I had a little bit of white. I put a little bit of green on my brush because I didn’t want the green to be too dark, then I began making swirls with my brush. I eventually began using the white so that it would have a lighter tone. I then used a little blue and I embedded it inside the green swirls, so that it would kind of have a nice green and blue mix. I then added some white outlines, and added some blues.

         I really enjoyed this project because I felt as though I was free to do whatever I want, and I thought I did fairly well on this project. At the end I was very happy with what I accomplished.  

April/May 30-4

Observation Drawing - Close up drawing

For my close up drawing I decided to do a portrait of Bambi and his mother. I really don’t know what made me think to do a picture of that but I just wanted to do something different and something that I was more accustomed to.

            I started my project with the mother because I figured if I get the posistion and just of the big figure it would be easier to put together the whole picture with all the little details. I first sketched the drawing as good as I can, and then I outlined it with a sarker shade. Once I did the mother I began to do the ears. For some reason the ears were the most difficult part. I think it was because in the picture it was so complex with the design I just gave up on perfection and made it look as good as I can. I then worked on the eye. I made sure it had the perfect distance between the head and the eye. I then began to work on bambi. The only hardship I had with drawing bambi was when I had to make him look like as if he was laying down. I believe making his body positioned on the ground as if he was sort laying against his mother was difficult.

            Overall I was very happy with my work. I thought I did as best as I could, and I think my hard work paid off, and I was very happy how my picture turned out.  



 Observation  drawing: Landscape

For my landscape drawing I decided to draw a park that I found off the internet. In this project, I only used pencil. I used pencil because I thought it would seem more natural if it came from an actual sketch, and then proceed with shading.

            I started with the bottom half of the picture because I figured if I get the shape of the pathway and the bushes it would create the general shape for the whole picture. So then I positioned the pathway as if it were going into a city type thing, as you can see in the picture I made everything narrow so it looks like an actual parkway, because if you were to look at a parkway it would start of big and then everything would sort of cave in. After I finished the bottom half of my paper I began adding things such as bushes and trees and city buildings.

             As a result I’m not necessarily proud of how it turned out but I think it’s a pretty ok picture. I thought this project was more difficult their others because drawing a landscape requires a lot of analyzing, and figuring out when and where to shade. Overall I’m content with the outcome of my project.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               

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Colony Collapse Disorder Blog #3

This is my final blog post. Through out this blogging, I learned more than ever on my subject and I'm trying to make a difference now. I don't see alot of effort to raise awareness so I actually went to home depot and decided on some ways you guys can start to plant flowers at home. Now in my past blog posts one and two I have been talking about how honey bees really do help us out because we depend on them and so does our food (cows, pigs, your next chicken fillet). So I felt like I should give back and so should you guys too. It's actually not that hard, you don't have to go to home depot (or lowes, I still love home depot) and buy a whole seed starter kit. If you have a left over egg carton then that's good too! See this is how you can help make a difference:

1) Go to HOME DEPOT (or lowes) and buy some seed starting soil. 

2) Go back to your house and grab the egg carton that you have been saving over.

3) You could either cut off the top our use popsicle sticks to stand it up and you can label the top. 

4) Once you cut off or label the top grab your soft seed starting soil. 

5) Use a spoon and fill up each cupped section with soil but don't over fill it. 

6) Grab your seed packet (what ever type of seeds you want). 

7) Look at the directions on the packet because it will tell you how much water to put and how much sunlight your seeds will need. 

8) When your seeds get bigger take pictures and email them to me alexaeddy97@yahoo.com

9) When they are big enough transfer them to a bigger pot and watch the fruit of your labor. 


In the beginning it should look like this 


Heres my bibliography  
 
Plant picture
Plant picture