Pandemics and Change

Many can say that quarantine has been hard, and we have all been forced out from the busy nature of our daily lives. However, I can say that quarantine has humbled me, grounded me and allowed me to realize that there are many pockets of peace in our daily lives, but it is up to us to appreciate them and hold onto them for as long as possible. Furthermore, quarantine has allowed me to learn a lot about life that I wouldn’t know if this pandemic didn’t happen. For instance, I have learned that sometimes you have to put others before yourself and this speaks true to me because I understand that some people have higher risks and that I shouldn’t be irresponsible and selfish. Sometimes, when I think about my experience before the pandemic I realize that sometimes good things and blessing come in disguise and that although the pandemic is a horrific thing it has changed me for the better. Making me more open minded, selfless and hard working in order to navigate the new world that has been presented to us.

pandemics and change

Pandemics and Change

Many can say that quarantine has been hard, and we have all been forced out from the busy nature of our daily lives. However, I can say that quarantine has humbled me, grounded me and allowed me to realize that there are many pockets of peace in our daily lives, but it is up to us to appreciate them and hold onto them for as long as possible. Furthermore, quarantine has allowed me to learn a lot about life that I wouldn’t know if this pandemic didn’t happen. For instance, I have learned that sometimes you have to put others before yourself and this speaks true to me because I understand that some people have higher risks and that I shouldn’t be irresponsible and selfish. Sometimes, when I think about my experience before the pandemic I realize that sometimes good things and blessing come in disguise and that although the pandemic is a horrific thing it has changed me for the better. Making me more open minded, selfless and hard working in order to navigate the new world that has been presented to us.

pandemics and change

Time is being wasted, lifes are being taken

2020 hasn’t been the best way to welcome the new decade. It sure has been a roller coaster, Virus, Police brutality, and it’s election year. Yet the world has corona, but America is having so many more problems than just a virus. The sad part is that these problems aren’t new, they have been seen for so long, but no one makes a change. I made a drawing to represent what my 2020 looks like in my point of view. People protest for a change, but yet they wear masks, because there’s a virus around them. President Donal Trump is seen walking away, refusing to hear his people. This puts a single story into Americans, people see american as an unfair place, and it shouldn’t be like that. We are slowly making America ungreat. This is also why I made the background as the american flag burning. It’s not a hateful way, but because America is slowly burning, people aren’t heard and find a way to be heard. They start to destroy stores and burning stuff. Yet, the president still walks away from it. The BLM movement has been coming out a lot, seeing this as a chance to be heard, many other movements have also come out to make their problems known. America, hasn’t also been the only place in the world with pain, other countries have been fighting for survival. As a teen living in this country, I have felt unsafe, and sometimes worried about my family. We have tried to stay safe in quarantine, we try and spend time together, and it’s a good way to get closer to your loved ones. But with the countrys actions of treating non-white people is worrying. I’ve seen in the news that kids are being put in cages like animals in the border. Sometimes, I think, what if it was me? What if it was my siblings?. It’s not much about me, but my siblings. I can’t do much being 14, but if I had much more power, I would use it for good. 2021 is around the corner and everyone is praying for a better year, with a better view. Time is being wasted, lifes are being taken, it’s a change for today.

IMG_3051
IMG_3051

Coming of Age in 2020

For my coming of age in 2020 The New York Times submission, I wrote a seven-page six-part ten paragraph essay chronicling the events that affected my life during the COVID nineteen pandemic. This project took me a month to make with breaks in between. In my essay, I implemented many multiple media aspects into my essay with news headlines from websites such as NBC Philadelphia, inquirer.com, and philasd.org, and some photos of my day to day life. I wrote an essay about my time during the COVID nineteen pandemic to share my experiences, emotions, opinions, and struggles that many other people my age have faced during this tumultuous year.

Coming of Age in 2020 - Google Docs

dear younger generation

I specifically wanted to write a letter to the audience about self love and how someone else’s opinion could affect you. I made this in late October 2020 as a school project and as a strong message to the people who watch it. I originally was going to submit a piece of paper with all the same things written on it but then I decided to make a video. I went with the format of a lyrics video because it will be eye catching to watch and visually understandable.

I think this connects to the theme because even though insecurities were already a thing before this year, I recently have been thinking more about myself and how others think of me since we are all locked in our house. With no human contact, many people can start thinking bad and the internet is a big influence since we can’t see each other. I made this to hopefully reassure people that no matter what situation, you should always be yourself. 

Of course I didn’t just boringly repeat “be yourself” over and over again in the video but instead use my motto which is to be “perfectly imperfect.” It might sound very cheesy but I genuinely think that perfect can be anything is our eyes whether or not someone else has an opinion on it. Many believe that perfect isn’t real and that when I think they’re wrong. In their eyes it can be imperfect while in yours it’s perfect so technically in a good way, you’re perfectly imperfect.

I wouldn’t say I have completely accepted myself and that I don’t care what others think of me but that’s what I’m trying to progress in even when I was making this video. I have accepted most of my flaws and I do realize I am not perfect and I will never be perfect but if I can fully embrace myself and acknowledge all the positive things in my life, I will happily say I am perfectly okay with that.

This whole video project is dedicated to the people in the generation younger than me who cares about their reputation and looks more than what reality is. Hopefully my project will help people improve themselves and help them through this horrible time. Also to help make them realize what’s important in life.

2020 SMH

Artist’s Statement

The title of my essay is Ten Months of Disappointment. This year has been difficult for many people. The coronavirus has changed everything, including me. This year started out for me well but then the virus and other tragedies hit me hard. Each month of this year created new challenges but, in the end, also created new opportunities. I wrote this piece after a deep reflection of this year’s experiences. I sat down in my room at my computer and thought about how each month began and ended. I reexamined photos I took with my phone, text messages I sent, and social media posts I sent and received. I reflected on the many conversations I had with my mom and dad. I thought about the conversations I had with my friends while playing games on my PlayStation. While I wrote this piece for my well-being, I hope my story will inspire others to never give up no matter the challenge.

The Inspiration of Klaus Mikaelson and Kai Parker

2020 - The Inspriation of Klaus Mikaelsona and Kai Parker

I’m making a presentation about how two specific characters from The Vampire Diaries personally inspired my urge and passion for my future acting career. Before quarantine I was serious about wanting to direct, produce, and act, but I wasn’t so eager to explore the variety of different personalities to play and create, until I started watching The Vampire diaries. Obviously, within 8 months of being locked up inside, it’s not fun at all. To get through a time like this, me and my mom started watching The Vampire Diaries, where I was introduced to the two characters who inspired the type of characters I want to play. Klaus Mikaleson and Kai Parker, the two powerful, supernaturnatural, and feared villains. The show itself paves the way for my identity towards creating shows and movies in the supernatural genre. Basically, because of quarintine 2020, I know now exactly what I want to do with my future.

Reflection

Reflection
Reflection

In many ways, our life is like a flower. The first stage of a flower is planting. Then it grows and develops into a beautiful flower, but with time, it withers away and dies. A flower has many stages of its life, like people. This picture is one of the stages of my life and many others had to face in this pandemic. This photograph was created in late September. The picture Reflection is taken in my bedroom.

The picture Reflection was taken in my room and took a while to shoot. To set up the picture, I first moved my desk against the wall. After setting up, the hard part was taking the picture. Even with 2 years worth of experience in photography, it was a struggle. Since I had no one to help me take the picture, I used the self-timer on the camera, which would give me 10 seconds to get in the right position. It took almost 3 to 4 hours to get the best result. To get the best quality, I decided to edit. It took a long time to do, I tried multiple times, but the exposure was always too much or too little. I stayed up late trying to edit it until I was satisfied with the result until one day it came out how I wanted it.

In many ways, I have gained and lost in this pandemic. It has not been the easiest stage of my life that I’ve had to go through. I just wanted to share that mental health is very important during this pandemic and staying positive can be hard. It’s hard to be home because it feels like you are trapped in a cage slowly becoming smaller, and not being able to be set free. It’s hard but I know one day it will all be okay because things always start and come to an end.

By the time you finish reading this, maybe a stage of your life has ended and a new one has started, like a flower. To be honest, I wouldn’t know, but I do hope you have enjoyed this. This photography project may have sounded easy but it was not. I had to use things around my house since I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere, so I had to be creative. It was hard, but I had fun creating it.

The Fear of Missing Out

I wrote my essay about what it feels like to grow as a person in the pandemic. The prompt was to write about how it has affected my identity. This was a hard thing to write about for me because I think that as a teenager my identity is already changing a lot. I didn’t know how to differentiate what about the pandemic has changed about me. I decided I wanted to talk about that because I think that is a real feeling. I also wanted to write about how it feels like teenagers are missing out. I wrote about this because it is a scary thing to realize this is the time where you are supposed to be making memories but your not. I think we have been told that this is the time for having fun and learning about yourself for a long time but now that we are teenagers its not happening. This is something I have noticed about myself and I have heard from my friends. I think its is shaping our identity a lot so I wanted to write about it.

Benchmark essay - Google Docs

Quarantine Hobbies

My Post
My Post

Have you ever just sat on your couch and thought “what am I going to do while being stuck in quarantine?” Well that’s what I thought. Not that I don’t like staying home, but I needed to find new things to do. . I know everyone thought of the same idea. Since I was bored in quarantine I decided to become interested in different hobbies like Drawing, Cooking, and Music.

My online art class inspired me to start drawing. On one assignment, we had to analyze our favorite song. My teacher said “ what ideas can you come up with just from listening to the song”. I got really creative and started to think of bright colors and since the song was about letting go I started to draw things that demonstrate that emotion. Although I started drawing in art class, I began drawing outside of class whenever I was upset or had an idea. I think that’s really important because when drawing you can take out your anger or sadness by just drawing on paper. Even if I don’t show my drawings to others I’ll just keep that idea to myself and it’s still special.

During quarantine I started to learn how to cook. My mom would teach me step by step and I even tried to cook on my own. If I needed help, my mom would be there for me and tell me if I was doing something right or wrong..We usually made Colombian or Japanese food together. I already knew some of the fastest food you could cook is rice, Beans, chicken, pasta, and fish. I think cooking is an important skill that you would need to learn in the future because parents aren’t always going to be there to help. We need to learn how to do things ourselves.

Although I have listened to music and sang before, I never thought of actually dedicating Music as a hobby. During quarantine I started to actually find my voice range and the meaning of some songs that I could probably start singing. I thought singing is the best way to let out emotions about things either when being sad or happy.

During quarantine, I developed new hobbies that influenced my life, and that helped me become who I am. I’ll be sure to carry these new interests with me throughout my life.

May 20th 2020

For the Coming of Age 2020 project I chose to submit a picture of my journal entry I wrote in 8th grade at the beginning of online learning. I chose this because I feel as though it perfectly sums up my attitude towards what was going on at the time and it also sums up some other people’s reaction toward Quarantine and COVID. I talk about not taking the situation seriously. Back when it started, I knew Covid was a threat but I, to an extent, thought that I just wouldn’t get it or it just wasn’t that big of a deal. That was until my father became sick. You never really realize the pure danger in something till it basically slaps you in the face and my project talks all about that. My project also talks about school. Since I’m in 9th grade, I had to leave the school in which I wrote this in. I’ve been at that school since 3rd grade when I transferred there. During the last few weeks before school closed was hard. We were starting our PSSA prep and got a new principal who changed things up a lot. I started to hate that school and would say I couldn’t wait to leave. When they sent out a letter that we wouldn’t be back in school in 2 weeks I was ok with that because I still wasn’t fully educated on coronavirus. It wasn’t until May 19th when the school said they would send a cap, I was upset and asked my mother why and she asked me if I new what was going on. I was still oblivious and she turned on the news. I saw thousands of cases of COVID-19 and saw the amounts of death. I was finally scared straight. I was also told I won’t be going back to school either until possibly next year, which meant highschool would start but we won’t be there to really go. That was the exact moment I finally had a realization. The next day on online class the teacher told us to write down our feelings, and I did. I wrote about my journey to finding out why this world was in a panic and why I should have taken it more seriously.

20201112_111000_Film4 (2)
20201112_111000_Film4 (2)

Our Decision

Climate Change Photo
Climate Change Photo

This year has been a year of ups and downs, but the things that have separated this year from previous years is climate change, a topic that is thrown around and put aside. Climate change, a change in global or regional climate patterns, has struck our world with the worst of it. To forest fires, water rising, up rise in heat, ice glaciers melting, it affects our everyday lives and that was just a few. I believe if we take steps In the right direction we can solve this crisis. You might be reading this and asking, what steps can we take? Well to answer that question there’s a vast amount of little things we can do. It starts by using energy wisely, reuse items, turn off lights when not using them, little things like that goes a long way to providing a safe environment for yourself, your community, and most importantly the world. No matter your age, you can make a difference and it starts now!

Quarantine Through Different Perspectives

Essay - Quarantine Through Different Perspectives

Quarantine has affected every single one of us in different ways. Some changes can be positive and negative. I think that for most teenagers, quarantine has been a negative thing. It has caused us to miss out on important events in our lives. I think our teenage years are some of the most important, and interesting times of our lives. This is a time when we grow, meet new people, and make great impacts on our lives. Quarantine has made us miss a lot of things that are important to us, exciting things. Some teens might have had a good experience with quarantine. Maybe they like being isolated and with more time to themselves. I have personally not met any teens who actually like quarantine but I know there could be a lot of kids who think like this. I decided to ask some of my friends about their experience during quarantine. These are some of the questions I asked them: Do you feel like you’re missing out on important events of your life/ like your wasting time? What’s one word that best describes your quarantine experience? Has quarantine been good for you or not?

I got 8 people’s responses and they all ended up being very similar. Six of them said that they felt they were missing out or wasting their time because of quarantine. Some of the words they described their experience as were boring, lazy, unmotivated, stressful, lost, “meh”, and fun. Seven people said their experience was bad and only one person said their quarantine experience has been good. My own experience with quarantine hasn’t been pleasant at all. I feel like quarantine has made me waste valuable time. I’ve missed my 8th-grade graduation and the beginning of my freshman year. Those are two things I’m very frustrated that I’ve missed out on. I’ve looked forward to those two events for years. Maybe since 5th grade. I always expected my freshman year to be filled with excitement and joy. This is not at all what I expected it to start off as, but it won’t be like this forever. I also go to Colombia every summer to visit my family and sadly I wasn’t able to go this year. It’s already hard enough for me not being able to see them for 10 months and now it’s doubled the time. This has caused a lot of stress and frustration. Quarantine feels like being grounded for an incredibly long time. I just can’t wait until it’s over.

Author’s statement.

I wrote this essay the day before it was due. To be honest it was hours before it was due. I finished writing it at around 11:40 PM. I had an idea of what I wanted to do weeks before the project was due but I actually sat down and wrote it on the last day. This might seem like I was irresponsible with my time management (and it probably is) but I know I wasn’t the only one who did this. I know a couple of people who participated in this contest that did exactly what I did. Since quarantine started, and before, I struggle with my time management. I do a lot of my work a little while before it’s due. I also don’t think that because we wait last minute to do it, it’s gonna turn out bad. I’ve done a lot of projects that ended up looking awesome the day before they were due. I think this relates a lot to being a teen in these weird times but also it relates to being a teen in general.

Essay - Quarantine Through Different Perspectives

2020

2020 has been a rough year for everyone, but for some people it has been extraordinary hard, the teenagers. Teenagers already live a hard life outside of covid and covid definitely made their lives more stressful. So I decided to interview my brother, who is a teenager living in chaotic times. I asked him a series of questions regarding recent events. Although my project isn’t the best, it’s unique. It shows what a teenager thinks about in these modern times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_opwYeCB_k&feature=youtu.be

Still Connecting...

Screenshot 2020-11-06 at 5.08.46 PM
Screenshot 2020-11-06 at 5.08.46 PM

This piece is a self portrait, of sorts, that shows me at every year of my life. It is an attempt to encompass what coming of age in 2020 looks like. I thought, “what is more 2020 than a Zoom meeting?” This is a Zoom meeting between myself in 2020 and my younger selves that represents how the different parts of me all make up who I am today. I created this piece by sifting through the many pictures of me growing up, choosing one from each year, and editing the pictures to look like somebody took a screenshot of a zoom meeting between all the different years. I worked on it over a few weeks, changing my mind about which pictures to use about every two seconds, before finally deciding on the final pictures. It was fun to look back at all the pictures of me and my family throughout the years and see how we have all changed. It also felt like stepping into a different world;sitting on my couch in quarantine but at the same time watching myself grow up. I scrolled through pictures of countless birthday parties, Hanukkahs, New Years, family gatherings, new additions to the family, and quite a few temper tantrums. I think a big part of coming of age is looking back through your past, because your past is what shaped the person you are today. Coming of age and being a teenager is about becoming your own person and being more independent. I think that in 2020 coming of age looks very different from other years. I can’t break away from my parents in the same way because I have to stay home with them all the time. I can’t be a teenagerout with my friends like I wish I could be, because there is a global pandemic. So instead of coming of age in the normal way, we have been forced to come of age in a different way, by looking back at our past, who we were, who we are today, and who we want to be in the future. Who I will be in 2021 hasn’t fully joined the Zoom meeting yet, because as 2020 draws to a close and we enter 2021,we will all become different people, and who knows what those people will be like.

2020 through my hands

I created this piece in my home because I can’t go anywhere else. The way I made this project was through research. Research, through my own drawings. I went back through old notebooks and drawing pads, and saw through my old self to show how I was like back then. And then, I drew what was on my mind about recent events, and the overall world. I then cut out every drawing and image and pasted them all together into a big collage. It also works as a timeline, because it goes from top to bottom. (old to new). This relates to the theme by showing how my mind is working during this time, and how it has changed from before. And I am, in fact, a teenager, so my mind will work the same. My drawings will show how my teen mind sees things, and what it wants or likes.

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IMG-1221

TikTok Takeover

I created this over the course of September throughout November. When the contest was first introduced to me, I knew I had to write about TikTok. I thought it would be somewhat original but it would also PERFECTLY explain my quarantine experience and others. It relates to the theme because it is explaining the impact of an app that got extremely popular over the course of this pandemic. It gives an inside look into how this app has shaped mine and other’s personalities and beliefs. That’s what we were supposed to show, right? Something that has shaped our year, quarantine, and this pandemic lifestyle we all now have to endure. Now that’s why I think my work fits so perfectly into the theme.

Coming of Age Final Submission

The Broken Society

Coming of Age in 2020 Bechamark Project- Michelle Ie ;-; (2)

How I created this essay was kind of complicated like quarantine because I never did anything like this, it was heart wrenching for me. When I started to create my “masterpiece” I didn’t know what to create, all I knew is I wanted to show my photography but what to photograph. So I asked my mom, my mom was pretty excited about this project (unlike me at the time), she had ideas for what I should photograph and I actually liked her ideas. So I set a date on when I should take the photos, it was perfect until I noticed that I didn’t have a battery charger for my camera. So we went online to buy a charger.

5 days later… the package came but the postman didn’t knock on our door so the package got stolen, I was distressed on how I have to wait another week for another battery charger to come and on top of that this was the first time we ever got a package stolen from us so it was just a lose-lose-lose for me and so I set a new date for when I should take my photos.

A week later… the package arrived, I was so excited to charge my camera battery after all these months, I charged my battery and waited for tomorrow to take my pictures.

The next day… I was excited to take photos of my city, Iwas ready so I got changed and waited for my parents. We went out and my mom had suggestions for where I should take my photos, I thought they would be irrelevant but actually turned out well. I took my photos in City hall, The Love park, and Chinatown, I was surprised by how the pictures turned out but I chose the photo that was in Chinatown and City hall.

After all of that happened I sat down on my chair and started writing my essay to show what these pictures mean to me, the first try I wrote my essay… fail, The second time I tried… fail but the third try…SUCCESS. Finally I was finished with my essay. So I had my mom check what I wrote and she said that it is a good story on how I express what being in quarantine meant. I was happy that she approved of it and happy that I enjoyed this project.

My Catastrophic Calendar

Sebina Leventon - My Catastrophic Calendar - English 1

Click above for a look at my project!

Artist’s Statement- For this project, I wanted to create something that highlighted the imperfections of 2020. A calendar, I thought, was the best way to do this, because calendars give an overview of the events in a given month. As I gave it more thought, I decided that it was the way to go because, using a calendar, I wouldn’t need many words to sum up 2020 from my point of view. I think it’s really cool to be able to tell a story using very few words and not even complete sentences! As you may have noticed, I used 3 different colors of text on the calendar. Blue text means it was scheduled to happen already, purple means it was scheduled or rescheduled because of the pandemic, and red means it was a bad thing that was scheduled or rescheduled because of the pandemic. I made my calendar by reflecting on the events of this year and writing everything down along with their approximate dates. Next, I created a calendar template and filled it in according to my memories of 2020 so far. In true calendar spirit, I added my own pictures for each month that help tell the story of what happened that month. I hope there are no more red events to add to my catastrophic calendar this year!

Time is being wasted, lifes are being taken

2020 hasn’t been the best way to welcome the new decade. It sure has been a roller coaster, Virus, Police brutality, and it’s election year. Yet the world has corona, but America is having so many more problems than just a virus. The sad part is that these problems aren’t new, they have been seen for so long, but no one makes a change. I made a drawing to represent what my 2020 looks like in my point of view. People protest for a change, but yet they wear masks, because there’s a virus around them. President Donal Trump is seen walking away, refusing to hear his people. This puts a single story into Americans, people see american as an unfair place, and it shouldn’t be like that. We are slowly making America ungreat. This is also why I made the background as the american flag burning. It’s not a hateful way, but because America is slowly burning, people aren’t heard and find a way to be heard. They start to destroy stores and burning stuff. Yet, the president still walks away from it. The BLM movement has been coming out a lot, seeing this as a chance to be heard, many other movements have also come out to make their problems known. America, hasn’t also been the only place in the world with pain, other countries have been fighting for survival. As a teen living in this country, I have felt unsafe, and sometimes worried about my family. We have tried to stay safe in quarantine, we try and spend time together, and it’s a good way to get closer to your loved ones. But with the countrys actions of treating non-white people is worrying. I’ve seen in the news that kids are being put in cages like animals in the border. Sometimes, I think, what if it was me? What if it was my siblings?. It’s not much about me, but my siblings. I can’t do much being 14, but if I had much more power, I would use it for good. 2021 is around the corner and everyone is praying for a better year, with a better view. Time is being wasted, lifes are being taken, it’s a change for today.

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IMG_3051

2020 in Summary Podcast

Man 2020 has been a year and that’s all it has going for it. So I decided to do a podcast about it. I asked my siblings who range from 17-24 and asked them to join a discord server and talk for 10 minutes then edited it for a bit to get it to just under 2 minutes to meet the guidelines. But enough of the process lets talk about why it is relevant Well I think it is relevant because we talked about things that happened this year and we all had different viewpoints and experiences. Another thing about this project that I like is that it felt really real (because it was) due to it practically being a conversation between friends and family. It is a shame that the project was so short, I was only able to get two minutes of audio. So that is why I made an extended cut of the podcast. You can find the cut on my personal school YouTube channel if you are interested or interested. And that is my submission for NYT Coming of Age in 2020 project/competition

Notice: the extended cut is not a part of the submission it’s only there for those who want to see it.

Link to extended cut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw3mXAMlAcE

Dear Parents

My submission was a short letter to parents, talking about the connection parents should have with their kids especially during corona. 3/5 students polled think their parents dont understand what they are going through. It’s a Parents Job to be there for their kid. The more everyone tries to support one another, the better everyone will be during these times. So in conclusion my letter was asking parents to check up on their kids and see how they are really doing, it goes a long way.

NYT Sub