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While attending Mr Blocks History and English class it opened my eyes to many issues in the world such as “How does society affect the world?” we did many assignments that challenged me and made me look at different topics in other ways that i would have ever thought of without the help of Mr Block. If you think about it for a little you will immediately start thinking about human actions but i'm also talking about how media and people we see as famous and athletic affect us.

“In my opinion sports are such a big deal in this country because the american people don't have anything else to do and it is a way to control the american population for example they make the american society think that if they don't have a muscular body that they are not appealing to females.”

Many americans nowadays go crazy when missed calls are made during a game when its not even that big of a deal and i've heard of stories of people not eating or losing thousands of dollars due to their team losing. Americans become too addictive it's like gambling people just keep going back and spending money on useless stuff.

“I believe that industrialization has brought more than good because it made a lot of of small businesses go out of business and the factories would pollute the rivers so the environment was affected and also the product quality went down for example before a shoe makes would make only like one pair of shoes a day specifically made for one person but now factories made hundreds a day due to a higher population and demand.”

Society influenced clothing in huge way, before you would walk into a shop and order a pair of shoes personalized to you. Now a days you walk into a store and you find hundreds of the same shoe at a cheaper price than a pair of personalized ones to worse quality fabrics and they are not made the want you want them they can sometimes take short cuts due to demand.

“Many americans are are against illegal aliens coming over and taking american jobs. But the americans don't want to do those jobs, they just use the illegal aliens and once they are not needed anymore they deport them and say that they are destroying the country and all they bring is violence and use the country. But they actually have built this country up they pick the fruits and vegetables for the food producer and they do many low paying jobs that the american people would never do without them this country would fall apart and will not be able to grow. (Op-Ed)

Society sees illegal aliens as the enemy and when the economy had a downfall one of the first ones to be blamed for not there being enough jobs where the illegal aliens but if the americans would think straight and not just assume stuff they would see that the jobs illegal aliens do are the worse and toughest jobs that also pay the lowest wage. So if an american were to work the job an illegal alien does they would have to complain and call the police because they would see how unjust the jobs are.

“When she met Teacake in the story she was a woman that was not that strong and she had some power because she owned land and had a store but her ex husband prohibited her from doing many things such as she was not able to play checkers but when teacake came into her life he swept her off her feet and made her feel equal. He let her play checkers and they went on a romantic picnic like she did when she was with her first boyfriend. Teacake filled in what was missing in her life and when she killed him because she had to, she cherished those moments and it seemed like she did not regret being with him (Final thoughts on their eyes were watching god)”

While reading “Their Eyes Were Watching God” I noticed the inequality, society influenced in how women are not seen is that women are not equal. A huge example of how women are not seen as equal is like when a female Basketball player from Oregon named Brittney Griner wanted to play in the NBA but a lot of people said no because she would get pushed around and would only get hurt. She was not even given a chance all she was told was that she was a female so that made her “ineligible to play”. Another example of how women are seen as less than men and only as like a sex object is the lingerie football league, they are dressed in lingerie and usually the spectators are men and all they do is harass them.

Inquiry - Wr had to inquire about our elements in order to do this project. We had to think about what the element is, what it does, and why it is important and valuable. We also had to inquire when we did not know how to do something, and where left to figure it out. These where healthy challenges to take, and I am so happy that I attend a school where I am not just told things, but have to experience them, and learn from what I experience wether it is good or bad.

Research - In order to make these block prints, we had to do research on our element so that we could come up with our own design.

Collaboration - We had to collaborate with others on this project in order to print our designs. We had to work with others and share the space, ink and brayers that where used to print out the designs on our linoleum block.

  For inquiry, I wondered about what kind of object I should print out for my element. After I chose my object, I had to think of how big I want my object to be. 

  I researched the objects that my elements make and I searched up the images to draw it. 

   For collaboration, I asked my classmates which three are the best out of the five that I printed out. Also, I helped out my classmates by answering questions and helping them out in general. 

Presentation:

   I am presenting my printed objects by posting them on the slate blog of SLA. Also, I will be showing my art teacher, Mrs. Hull, my paintings.

Reflection: 

  I reflect on my process by writing out what I did. By using the five core values of SLA, I can write a reflection on my project. 

One of our major projects this year was to interview someone and make a podcast to explore the topic of crossing boundaries. We had a few class discussions but did not go to much in depth about it until we all finished our podcast. While sitting through the interview and listening to the other podcast, I gained something that I would have never gotten if it was in text form or discussions. I felt and heard the emotions expressed through listening. In my reflection of the podcast, I wrote, “Although I have done interviews a few times before, this time it felt like something different because it was something that I could really connect with, especially because I was interviewing my own brother.” If my brother was to write down everything he said and hand it to me, I would have read it but not feel any connection at all. The podcast added a deeper layer to my experience in learning about crossing boundaries. I was able to learn about the boundaries in general and also apply that to my life. If it was not for this podcast then I would not have known so much more about my brother.

The class also spent a huge amount of time writing our own play. Plays normally have a storyline to them that makes people interested but writing plays takes a lot of skill. Writing a play is not like writing an essay but it enables so much more creativity. Students are most likely going to put more effort into something that they enjoy and that is why writing a play is so important. It increases our writing skills but it also shows that we can learn from writing something that is not as formal as an essay. When I gave a brief summary of my play, I wrote, “One of the girls is a famous star who dreams of going back to school but cannot because she is too busy. The other girl is very poor and tries to find money to pay for her tuition and take care of her family at the same time.” Although this play did require a lot of editing, it also helped me learn about the life of people in different countries.

As one of our earliest projects, we had to write a series of monologues from different perspectives. Although there may be articles and news about the different views of the pipeline coming from certain groups of people but there is so much more we can learn. Writing monologues gave us an infinite range to choose from. We can write from the perspective of the pipeline, the trees, the earth, the water and so much more. For one of my monologues, called “One In Thousands,” I wrote from the point of view of a sensor in the pipeline and one of my lines was, “If something goes wrong, they’ll just blame us. “Oh, there’s something wrong with our sensors.” Pathetic. Why is it that I’m the only one that could see that we shouldn’t be here?” In order to express the feeling of a sensor, I had to do plenty of research. The monologues helped me have a better understanding of the effect of the pipeline because I did a lot more work and put more effort into it but at the same time it did not feel like much because it was an enjoyable project.

English Journal #40 (4/25/13) - Describe what it felt like to be crowded together. In what ways do you think this compares to what they went through in the book ?

It felt like being in a cage. Everybody's body heat made the experience very uncomfortable. There was no place to sit down, so I couldn't imagine standing for hours to days on end. It felt dark. This certainly doesn't compare to the real thing in Night : we were just in a classroom. We had places to go to the bathroom and food in our stomachs. They didn't. But it does give some insight. It was probably dark and highly uncomfortable not being able to sit down. They had the fear we didn't: the unknown. We knew we wouldn't be held up in this position for oh so long. We had to sit back down and get on with class. But those prisoners didn't know what was going to 

History Journal #27 (2/19/13) - In your opinion, what are the different messages of the cartoon ?

The smaller fish represent the poorest of people, stating there is no justice. He doesn't get anything, but he gets eaten. Behind him there is a bigger fish ready to eat him, saying there is some justice. He represents the middle class. He's still able to eat something, but he knows he is going to get eaten. Then behind him, there is the biggest fish, saying the the world is just. He represents the higher class. He gets to eat everything with no repercussions and nothing to worry about. The idea of this cartoon is that the higher-ups see everything as completely fine because everything is going their way, and they don't get reprimanded for their actions. They can ignore the lower classes without a care because their life is great. The poorest of people have the worst of luck, but they see the world as it really is because they can't help but not ignore the lives of people higher than them.