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AGENT OF CHANGE

For my final agent of change I decided to did 3 posters that really set the mindset of how smoking is bad for every human around the world.  When I first started this project I was going to do only children but I quickly realized after some research that it is not only the children that need help, the adults also need help with smoking because I pretty sure they do not realize the extensive and everlasting damage smoking puts on your body and your pockets. So what I did to spread some awareness around my school community was to put up several different posters that depict how smoking affects you and the people around you. My first poster was a picture of the words Ńo Smoking” and below that was multiple reasons and effects smoking has on You My next poster that I made was a picture a vertical cigarette that shows the different ages( to the max of 60). For my final poster I made was a pictures of  cigarette explaining the dangers and how. I realized a lot through these past couple of months the worst of smoking and the effets aren’t just made up, they are real and I learned that from multiple MDs about smoking and the dangers. From this project I also want and have been talking to my family that smokes and sharing this information with them. I believe I should do that because It shows how much I have learned from this project and I feel as though it’s my duty and my job that I try to make a change in people lives to stop smoking to one protect their health and two stop a trend that smoking is cool and I hope that I achieve that with my posters.

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Quarter 4 Advanced Art Reflection

The first project we did this quarter was figure drawing. With a regular mechanical pencil on white 8.5 x 11 paper, I sketched 8 figures from a useful reference image site. I then chose one of the sketches to draw on large paper. I think that the final product is kind of atrocious proportionally, but I am proud of it because I never do full figure drawings. I think this project really showcases how much I need to do more of it. The second project we did this quarter was line drawings. I really liked this project. I did 6 bust portraits in different colored pens on white 8.5 x 11 paper, using continuous lines. The final product looked better with some drawings than others, but I think that the overall effect was very cool.

The third project we did this quarter was digital drawings. I made two of them using google draw. For each drawing, I used a combination of lines of my own creation and pre-made shapes. I personally like the more geometric one I made better. The fourth project we did this quarter was an illusion of space drawing. I used pencil on  white 8.5 x 11 paper. To make the illusion of space, I made a vanishing point and made all the lines go into it. I liked the cool surreal world I made with my drawing.

The fifth project we did this quarter was a texture drawing. Before my final drawing, I used a website to practice many different textures I could create with my pencil. Then, I used pencil on white 8.5 x 11 paper to make a drawing of vegetables, showcasing what I had learned about texture. The sixth project we did this quarter was value drawings. These were very fun because I had a lot of freedom with what I did. I did some fun doodles with a number of different mediums on white 8.5 x 11 paper. The seventh project of this quarter and the final project of the year was an elements of art drawing. I used color, value, line, space, and shape to make a really cool drawing. It was really fun to combine all the skills I learned to create something of my own.

My element is Hydrogen. Its atomic number is 1, its atomic symbol is H, and its atomic weight is 1.00794u. Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance in the universe. It is a gas and is the fuel for stars that are in a plasma state. Hydrogen is one of the elements that make up carbohydrates, and it is also an important component in water.

I got the idea of making a star for my print design while I was researching my element. Hydrogen is the fuel for stars, so I thought it would be fitting for a star to be my design. I had to incorporate the atomic number and symbol, so I decided that I would put the atomic symbol, H, inside the star. I drew the H in one-point perspective and I drew the atomic number, 1, under the star.

The process of making this print took me a while. I first had the idea of making drops of water on my print due to Hydrogen’s role in making up water. I then decided to go with a star design instead. When drawing the print onto the styrofoam stencil, I initially drew my design on regularly which was a mistake. I then turned over the stencil and redrew my design backwards, so that it would show up regularly on the print.

If I were to do this project again, I would probably try and create a more complicated design in order to challenge myself. My favorite part of the printmaking process was using the rollers to cover my styrofoam stencil in paint so that I could press it onto my paper to make the print. I enjoyed this because it was a simple process, yet it ended up making beautiful pieces of art. It was very cool to see. Hopefully I will be given the opportunity to do this again sometime in the future.

Atoms & Art

Bohrium

My element for this project was Bohrium, with the atomic number of 107 and atomic symbol of Bh.  Bohrium was first discovered in 1976 at the Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia by Yuri Oganessian, and the element was confirmed in 1981 by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenber at the GSI particle  accelerator (Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung) in Darmstadt, Germany. It was created by bombarding Bismuth with Chromium in both labs, but since the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) said that GSI’s discovery claim was more credible than JINR, GSI were awarded the discovery despite JINR likely discovering it first.  The element was named after Niels Bohr, a danish physicist and Nobel prize receiver in 1922 for physics, who made contributions to our knowledge on atomic structure and quantum theory. Bohrium does not have any real life uses and it has only been produced in minute quantities in particle accelerators. Little is actually known about what Bohrium other than it is a highly radioactive metal and it is solid at room temperature,  as its half-life is only a few seconds long.

The idea I got for the imagery of my element came from the knowledge that it was created in a particle accelerator, so I decided to sketch up an image of two particles colliding and creating many new particles and elements.  To print the sketch, I first needed to trace the original sketch on tracing paper, then transfer that over to the foam board backwards and essentially etching the positive space. I would then roll the paint onto the brayer and roll it onto the foam board.  Then I would place a piece of paper on top of it and apply even pressure on the paper to transfer the ink. I would occasionally lift up the corner or the side of the paper to see where more pressure was needed to be applied and then the paper was removed and left to dry.  If I were to make the print a second time, I would’ve put more texture onto the motion trails of the particles as on the print, it is just solid color. I would’ve also printed multiple colors if I wasn’t already past the printing stage by that point. I enjoyed doing the printing the most, and specifically rolling out the paint as it was satisfying to do and it was the most hands on step of the process.  

Darlenny Rodriguez

English 2

The Obesity Epidemic: What's Causing it?

Obesity has become a rapidly increasing issue in America, with more than one third of adults being obese. This is an issue because of the serious health problems it can lead to. They range from gallbladder disease, strokes, diabetes, and many other diseases. Many things can factor into the cause of obesity, such as non sedentary living, but one of the leading causes is processed food.  In a country where the majority of the food is process, obesity has become inevitable.

Processed foods are foods that are commercially prepared foods that aim to ease consumption, usually foods that have already been prepared. Shape.com highlights the different levels of processed foods and its negative impact on the human body. According to their article ¨Why Ultra-Processed Foods = Obesity¨, there are three levels of processed foods, minimal, semi, and ultra processed. They highlight the issues of ultra processing, stating ¨they tend to be calorie packed per bite, readily available, often super-sized, and heavily marketed; which all add up to overeating by throwing off our normal appetite, hunger and satiety mechanisms.¨  Food that doesn’t provide people with the needed nutrition might make them feel full but soon you will be hungry again because their body will be asking for nutrients. This becomes a process, which becomes harder to break after it is made a habit. Processed foods may seem great at first, but slowly they are harming the human body and their consumption should be minimalized.

Another reason why processed foods should be considered the leading cause of obesity in America is because of how accessible and marketed they are. Big companies are mass producing unhealthy items, ignoring the negative effects it has on people's health. Myfoodandhappiness.com speaks about this in an article explaining the correlation between obesity and processed foods. They state ¨They [processed food] are created to allure you, excite you and addict you to become a consumer of their product. The food companies’ goal, just like any other company, is to make more money. The way they do it is by designing products with a perfected taste with the help of people that have been hired to serve the role of guinea pigs.¨ Unlike many healthier foods, processed foods prioritize making money over keeping americans healthy. In addition to this, they are extremely easy to obtain. Restaurants, supermarkets, etc. are all around and many companies make them extremely affordable. These foods are marketed in a way to appeal to the general public, because of how easy it is to get them, making processed foods the main cause in obesity .

Obesity has became a bug issue in America due to the severe health problems it can cause. Many factors play into this, such as people not getting enough exercise, or genetics, but processes foods and its tactics that make you want them are reasons why the obesity epidemic should be blamed on processed foods.

1. editors, shape.com. “Why Ultra-Processed Foods = Obesity.” Shape Magazine, Shape Magazine, 25 July 2013, www.shape.com/blogs/weight-loss-coach/why-ultra-processed-foods-obesity.

2. Kriner, Matthew C., and Monika. “Processed Food and Why Is It the Main Cause of Obesity.” My Food & Happiness, 16 May 2017, www.myfoodandhappiness.com/processed-food-and-why-is-it-the-main-cause-of-obesity/.

Genero Accooe

4/22/18

English 3

Larissa Pahomov

Due to recent events, many people are questioning the safety of what we  humans call, social media. About 2 week ago, Facebook's creator, Mark Zuckerberg went on trial on Capitol Hill as Facebook was caught dealing information to Cambridge Analytica which is a company hired by President Donald Trump which deals with data mining and storing, and strategies for elections. The reality of all this is that this data can all be accessed from each and every Facebook account on the planet which begs the question, do we really care about the actual information or the just the assumption that people/ companies make out of that data? People often care about consent when it comes to information, and many people be upset if they found out that their info was being used or studied once it was too late. People The data is misrepresenting and goes against what they themselves choose to portray online.

The grilling on Capitol Hill was long and awkward to most as Mark Zuckerberg  answered many of the senators questions, some of which seemed obvious due to their nature. One quick question that Senator Blumenthal had asked Mr. Zuckerberg had made it clear that even Zuckerberg did not fully agree with people invading his privacy. Blumenthal asked the CEO of Facebook if he would care to tell the senators were Zuckerberg had stayed the other night and had his beliefs on privacy confirmed when Zuckerberg refused to reveal that info. It goes to show that even someone like Zuckerberg who created the website which has abused others personal information wouldn’t like their own info used. Like most people, Zuckerberg wouldn’t want complete strangers to know where he’s stayed due to the probable dangers that could come from people that would like to do him harm. It seems that it is only specific information that Zuckerberg would have liked to show since due to the image he would like to convey to the media. If Zuckerberg were to have had his location known at almost all times then he would come off as a vulnerable person which can be a damaging trait to people in power and if they had the choice, they would certainly not allow such information to be put out into the media.

Even though Mark Zuckerberg was the main focus of the grilling on Capitol Hill, it still leaves people to question the thought process of those over at Cambridge Analytica. Aleksandr Kogan, the app developer for Facebook said that his actions were justified due to the companies so called “(“The belief in Silicon Valley and certainly our belief... was that the general public must be aware that their data is being sold and shared and used to advertise to them," - Kogan) In response to the interview, Cambridge Analytica said that they assumed that the data they were given did not violate data protection legislations and even began to ask consent from other users. This change of actions shows that the company saw some sort of problem with the way they gathered information and ultimately proves that they saw it shouldn’t be their choice to do as they please with others information but also shows that people often .

People often forget the risks of social media when it comes to their own privacy and take many of their choices lightly. They come in the form of blindly accepting the user agreement terms papers, posting or liking things that may end up damaging their own image, but the one thing that separates the two is that when humans do things against their will they revolt and become angry. Humans constantly battle for their free will, and constantly fight to make sure they are in complete controll of their lives and the ways in which thoes lives are percieved. The problem was not that Cambridge used data, it’s that it was against the will of thoes it came from.

Sources:

• Musil, Steven. “Cambridge Analytica Researcher Fires Back at Facebook on 60 Minutes.” CNET, CNET, 22 Apr. 2018, www.cnet.com/news/cambridge-analytica-researcher-fires-back-at-facebook-on-60-minutes/

• Granville, Kevin. “Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: What You Need to Know as Fallout Widens.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/facebook-cambridge-analytica-explained.html

If you are reading this post then you know that it's the final one. I have done two in the past two semesters.The first one was just a beginning analyzation of the Ecuadorian Oil Crisis. I talked about how oil has a huge impact on the Economy. Then on my second post , I went even more in-depth about how much oil as actually spilled and added an interview from an Ecuadorian Native.

There have been many ways this Crisis is being helped. There was a documentary called Crudo. I have talked about what I have learned from it, but I never talked about the positive impact it had on raising awareness. During Crudo the lawyers that were trying to raise awareness and gain a following. Sting's wife was one of the main supporters of this movement. She even went to Ecuador and brought reporters to spread the word. After that Sing organized a huge concert that helped fund money for the lawyers back in Ecuador.I think that when you are able to engage a crowd and make it a fun way to raise support, more people will give to the cause.

Of course, you want the public support but you also need changes in laws and government officials. In Ecuador we are currently getting major changes in our government and people are actually speaking out and voting for change. I mentioned this before but in Yasuni park has been an important part of the fight on Oil.  6.1  million Ecuadorians voted to reduce exploitation in that area. The bill passed and exploitation is now in the works. Now that the public is fighting back we must make sure it stays that way.

                                           Me presenting my slide show to my advisory,

I wanted to make a change here in Philadelphia also. Thanks to this project I had an incentive to organize an event. I had two ideas for my agent of change my first one was to do a screening of Crudo followed by a discussion. I wanted to do this but I could get in contact with the Crudo Organization so I could send the donations. I then went to my back up plan which was to do a slideshow about this problem. To do this I had to make my presentation first, I then got in contact with my Advisors and set a date. Finally I presented to my Advisory. I thought that raising awareness and educating people about a topic that they probably didn’t know would exist would be a great start.I was very nervous because I'm not that confident during presentations. One I got into a rhythm though  did well.  I do believe that I was able to start a good conversation with my advisies.

I really enjoyed this project. The You and the World Project forced me to keep pushing for one end goal and not flake out. I am very thankfull that I was able to learn and teach out this topic so close to my heart. I do belive I could have push the CRUDO orgniatation to see if they needed donations. I think I summarized what we still need to do for change.  “This injustice of explosion isn’t just one thing happening in Ecuador. There are so many countries that are dealing with the same  issue that Ecuador is dealing with. There are big companies all over the world taking people's land and resources and not paying for it. What we have to do is open our eyes. We need to be look at all these problems and learn to not just ignore them. They may seem big and whatever you do is insignificant. It may sound cliche but no action is too small. Vote for someone you know will stand for the issues you care about, educate yourself about topics that are important in today's society so you are able to have a conversation about it. Find what you are passionate about and fight for it with every fiber of your body.”. Before you go here is the link to my bibliography.

English 3

Larissa Pahomov

4/23/18

Taming of The Shrew is book that centers around courtship and love, a man named Lucentio and his suitor Tranio arrive in Padua on their way to study when they see a lovely woman named Bianca. Lucentio finds Bianca to be beautiful in feature but he cannot marry her until her older sister Katharine is wed, they plan to marry her to a man named Petrucio who is a bit raw mannered. In the end, both parties get married but Katharine and Petruchio are the couple with a stronger bond than that of Lucentio’s marriage. The film Juno, which aired in the year 2007, was about a high schooler named… Juno!, who finds out that 3 months after her first and only sexual encounter, she’s pregnant! Juno decides to find a family to adopt the baby and go about her life as if nothing happened but this wouldn’t be much of a movie without some drama. The adoptive parents ended up divorcing due to the love between the two diminishing, while the two teens somehow come to a conclusion that they were meant for eachother.

The thing about love is that it's an uncontrollable thing, it doesn’t actually manifest right away as we can see from our two couples [ In Taming of the Shrew, and Juno] Juno and her partner Paulie were friends they weren’t actually in love with each other, one day Juno is really bored, and she gets the idea to make love with Paulie. Throughout the movie Juno makes it clear that she has no actual interest Paulie which could be tied back to the way that Katerine speaks to Petruchio after he reveals his motives (to marry her)

PETRUCHIO

For patience she will prove a second Grissel,

And Roman Lucrece for her chastity.

And to conclude, we have 'greed so well together,

That upon Sunday is the wedding day.

KATHERINE

I’ll see thee hanged on Sunday first. (Shrew, lines 258)

This quote may not be an exact parallel to the scene of Juno and Paulie bedroom chat but it has some similarities in which i could point out: In this scene, Juno goes over Bleekers house to talk about the adopted family she plans on giving the baby to, Paulie is accepting to all that is happening in response to this accident which shows us a very warm side that Paulie has for Juno despite her more rough and over stepping nature when it comes to taking care of issues. The talk leads to Paulie making a comment on the nature the couples faint but somewhat relevant love for each other, suggesting that he’d indeed like to get serious;

Paulie - “I mean we-we could always get back together too… that’s an option.”

Juno   - “...Oh-uhh-w-were we together?”

Unfortunately Juno strikes down the comment, suggesting that whatever they “might” of had together was barely there suggesting once more that Juno has yet to accept him as a partner. See, the two quotes may be on different levels due to the fact that the Shrew characters are dealing with marriage rather than BF & GF relationships and shows a little more seriousness as they are adults doing adult things… But Juno and Paulie are kinda doing the same although the seriousness comes from the fact that they have already created a child which lies in Juno. Both soon to be couples have one side which wants to make something official while another wants to deny any possibility of it happening… in the beginning.

The second quote has to do with the actual arguments that the two couples have as well as the one thing they both have in common, embarrassment. Throughout the book Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio pulls many psychotic pranks on Katharine, making her almost ashamed to be alive, let alone being married to a man. Petruchio’s most daring prank in terms of embarrassment, making his way to their wedding in garbs ridden with rot and stenches and has the whole audience shocked. His arrival gives Katharine a near heart attack, sending her running off in fury:

Juno may not have as much reason/ fury to bring to Bleeker but it is definitely juxtaposed. Due to the obviously pregnant Juno becoming larger in appearance, coupled with the fact that Bleeker is not taking her to prom puts her in a worse mood than before about the pregnancy. The two show the humiliation that the woman in the story faces due an action made by the male in the relationship. Even if Paulie’s negligence to protection wasn’t totally his fault it still left Juno with the feeling of loneliness when going through a situation of embarrassment. The outcome of the two love scenarios may have seen both couples triumph in the end, the conflicts they had may have only been loosely tied together but they ultimately show that love can bloom from damaged or complex relationships.

In the first confrontation between Principal Duval and the girls, we would use low angle, front-facing zoomed in shots as each different character speaks. The audience would be able to see the tensions and rising arguments that lead to the ultimate fallout scene. This allows a deeper understanding of the cause of the tension buildup and why the characters feel the way they do.  Like in Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, because of the camera angles, the audience was able to clearly understand just how the tensions got to the point they did. We would use a wide variety of longshots, pans, and zooms so that the angry and fed up explosive emotions of the characters can clearly be seen throughout the duration of the film.

Cadmium was first discovered by a German chemist name Friedrich Strohmeyer in 1817. He was studying calamine and when he heated it some of calamine glowed with a yellow color. He did more research and experiments when he determined that he found a new element. Cadmium can be found in Earth's Crust along with zinc so it mined out by humans. The problem with Cadmium is that it is very toxic to humans. Although Cadmium is toxic, it is still used in rechargeable batteries. Cadmium is used in alloys for bearings. Cadmium can be used for control rods for nuclear reactors. Cadmium can also be found in solder with silver.

When I started to do the print, I research about the what Cadmium is use for and the history behind it. When I find out what it does, it made three separate designs in my sketch book. One was batteries inside of a charging station because cadmium it is on of the uses in cadmium. Another design I had was a nuclear plant and then there is an inside view of the control role that have cadmium in it. My final design was drawing a alloy bearing and solder. I decided to do the the recharging station one because I felt like that was my best work out of the three. Then , I trace the drawing over the foam plate with pen. Finally, we got paint and I decided to try out all of the colors. The class we had, I pick out one of the three best prints out of the 8 prints I made. I measure what the matted out and glue the two prints onto my matt.   

What I would want to change if I do this the second time was to try to press hader so there is no white spots on the parts where it should be fill with color. I also felt like I could improve the drawing like drawing the insides of a battery to show it charging. I enjoy printing it because it fun painting over your plate and seeing it being printed on paper.