Tariq Smith
Sekai Harris

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This is my letter to Senator Scott Brown (R-MA). He is against the DREAM Act because he feels as if it is a "backdoor amnesty." With my letter I am hoping to convince him to vote for the DREAM Act. Though many students and people have tried to convince him and fail, giving up is not an option. 

Dear Senator Brown,
            My name is Caroline AbdulBaki and I am a senior at Science Leadership Academy.  This year, applying to colleges is an incredibly huge part of my life and filing for financial aid. While fighting to accomplish this overwhelming process,  I tend to ask my friends to see the kinds of steps they are taking. All or most of them would say their process is complicated, easy, and or done, but not all of them mean it. Some of my friends would not be applying to colleges or for financial aid because they are illegal immigrants. They know that financial aid will not be given at any cost, and in some situations, they are declined from going to any college.
            The DREAM Act gives these hard working students an opportunity to be leveled as an incredible student. These students that you are now depriving from college have been attending your school districts since Pre-school. They should not be punished for a mistake their parents committed and the child takes all the sufferings. . These children may not be American on paper, but they are at heart. I understand the pros and cons of the DREAM Act, however “the children are our future” should be a huge reason why you should vote for the DREAM Act. These children work hard to receive an education and achieve in life in order to help make OUR country a better place to live. It is important for those who help represent the country their entire lives to be given a chance.  They work hard to accomplish DREAMS they have had for a long time but not to be crushed by a system that limits their education. If you are not a favor of the wordingm try to change it, make it reasonable but I ask you to not take this opportunity away from these earning children.
            Take a minute and put yourself in their shoes. Put your children in their shoes imagine if they were to suffer from a mistake that you had made in your past. It is a frustrating proccess that any parent or child would be willing to fight.  We want to legalizing immigrants and why not help those who deserve it. Take a second Mr. Brown and truly think about these children by helping to make the right choice for these children.

Sincerely,
Caroline AbdulBaki

 

My art comes from inspiration. My inspiration for painting the lotus flower came from the lack of me not knowing how to draw a flower and the lack of me never seeing a lotus flower in person. I started with just a one-on-one drawing session with Ms. Hull, where she showed me how to illustrate the basic design of a flower and how it should be drawn. Once I got the basic "how to draw a flower" down pack, I decided to sketch more and more and practice each class how I want my drawing to be. My favorite thing about my work is knowing that I tried something I've never done before and it came out as a masterpiece. I knew my work was going well once my sketch was not only  what I pictured it but even better.

The decision in how to correctly illustrate my final project is what hindered me the most in this project. I knew I wanted to paint because I've yet to paint a canvas for my final art project yet. Once I knew I wanted to paint, I bought 2 canvases (1 extra in case I mess up). After I purchased the canvas, I came to Ms Hull in excitement ready to learn the fundamentals of painting and export a dazzling final project. Ms Hull taught me various techniques on how to paint including shadowing and manipulating dark and light colors.

The final product consisted of a lotus flower in the water with floating lilly pads around them and a sunset that consisted of the many colors that catch my mind when I look at a sunset. The hardest part of the project was making a sunset. Since I already pictured in my head what I wanted the sunset to look like, there was no way that it could turn out another way. With the correct usage of water and paint, to give it a soft look, the sunset turned out to be as wonderful as I depicted in my head.

I knew my canvas was finished once I put the finishing touches of the lotus flower. The usage of the dark and light colors and the hard, dark stroke around the stems of the lotus flower, really put a finishing touch to the project. I also knew my canvas was done when I looked at the canvas and said "This is what I pictured in my mind."

*I would like to give a special thanks to Ms. Hull this quarter because she truly helped me through developing the final product that I pictured. Her patience was truly a blessing to my art piece.*

Here is the Paper sketch of the flower


Here is the canvas sketch of the lotus flower



Here is the final product

Overview: 

For the second quarter, "freedom" was like my middle name. For I was able to discover things about myself through poetry and improve my skills as a writer. I decided that I always wanted a journal, but am too busy to write in one. Therefore, I created one by recycling a shoe box. Then, I printed and 10 of my poems onto the cardboard box. Throughout the quarter, I have written over 20 poems. That would be a lot to include, so I provided a sample. Writing poetry was sometimes difficult, with the occasional "Writer's Block", however I pushed myself through them all. Below is a picture of the final product, as well as one of my best poems I wrote throughout the quarter. 


"The Seed" 

I am the analytical epitome of proximity 

the exemplary identity of a leader 

trapped behind a glorious mask

I throw ash in the faces of those in the traces 

trying to reveal the veil that entrances 

these simple minded people and I to equals 

trying to make sense of the world  

now thou say all is forgotten 

funny how we reminisce on time while they plotting 

creating scenes of the future stemming from our dreams 

turning the desirable fate into clear reality 

crisp as the wrinkles that river your uniform pants 

I keep the haters on their feet, 

while I move to the task like ants 

that's why their faces dance 

like a million of me in their pants and 

I bet they wish it was them instead of me on the thrown 

I like the sweet taste of victory, so I take it home 

where I reside back to this contraption and desolate transaction 

pressing keys along this board to express my letters 

form meaning into art and poetry all together 

combine us like a mixed breed 

I'm calling to the Seed

and I try to conquer all of the negative energy 

transform it into my inner chi 

I would love to see you try to defeat the optimism 

for I balance yin and yang so you will see no change 

when the mask of the peoples try to phase me 

I let it roll of my back and suffix your self esteem 

I am the prefix that can changes your being 

within all of the drama I am the hierarchy you are seeing 

you should try to make sense of the puzzle pieces you are missing… 

I enjoyed the second quarter, because there was more freedom in what could be done. I decided to do some sketches, because its just what I was more comfortable with.  I used a sketch book and a couple of pencils. I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do at first, so I just used the first things I saw and sketched them. I started off with some that were simpler and moved on to ones with more detail. Before this project, I hadn't sketched anything in a long time.  As I started to get used to sketching again, things became easier.  One thing that was challenging for me was keeping things proportional, especially ears and eyes.  The last sketch I made is a self portrait from a side view.

I chose to sketch Murdoc, 2-D, and Noodle from the Gorillaz. I left out the fourth member, and did a drawing of myself instead. The album artwork is what lead me to make the self portrait, even though I had originally intended on drawing the fourth member (Russel). I was in the process of drawing Russel when the sketch started to remind me of myself so I decided to turn it into a self portrait.

This is before I darkened the hair.

The final sketch.

For the quarter 2 project in my art class we were told to create somethings that meant something to us. I decided to draw a picture of the symbol of hope which is a dove. I wanted to draw something with hope because there are so many things and people out there that need it so bad. So while I was drawling the dove I started to doodle a little more and just decided to add more things. It was a picture that progressed from day to day. 
I started with a dove and then drew a tree. A tree that represents life and bearing of things. I wanted the tree to symbolize the fact that the dove was bringing hope to the tree and the tree was going to distribute hope to different disasters or things that need it. It was a big enough tree that the dove was just going to sit in the tree and just give out hope to everyone. 
Then as the picture progressed I began to draw different disasters or things that I felt need hope. I drew about 5 different things a broken heart, a hurricane, a fire, massive winds, and a crash. These things are most common in disasters and things people go through almost everyday in different environments and places. Also on the other side of the paper is a laugh now cry later mask that I chose to draw reverse. I chose to draw a cry now laugh later mask because during the bad things you cry but then when you receive hope you feel better about things and you can smile and laugh. It is going to drop behind that end of the dove and not be as bold as everything else but still seen. I chose this because I don't want it to be the main thing in the picture I just want it to be seen.
I really enjoyed drawing this because it was fun and it actually came out looking like something. I'm not the greatest artist I like to say that I can't draw but when I drew this picture it was really encouraging and it gave me hope that I might have a hidden talent. 

This is when I started the project and got the shape of the igloo. After building it for awhile it just wouldn't look like a dome. 






Since the igloo did not work out as I planed because the Elmer's glue started to degrade the sugar cube, I decided to draw pokémon instead. I drew pikachu and togepi. 

PIKACHU









TOGEPI







I learned that things are hard then they seem but if you take it step by step it becomes a lot easier. I enjoyed this quarter project and I am determined to work harder on my next couple projects to come. 

 

Sierra Dinvil

Gold English

January 6, 2011

Language Essay

 

“And what would you like to order?” the waitress asked as she patiently stood over our table.  

“Can I have a Chicken Quesadilla with –“ I paused, taking my eyes from the Menu to look at her.   She looked back at me with a puzzled look on her face, holding her hand up to her ear, and leaning further in towards the table.  

“She’ll take a chicken quesadilla with no guacamole sauce,” my dad said quickly before I could even repeat myself.

“You need to learn to speak up,” my dad said sternly.   The waitress, and everyone else let out a quick giggle, but I didn’t find anything funny.   As she continued to take my table’s order, I thought about what my dad said.   This isn’t the first time that he’s told me this.    It actually happens every time we go out to eat, or any time we’re out in public.   I used to think that this was a simply a problem that I had in restaurants, but I eventually realized this problem occurred everywhere.

After we left the restaurant, I became more self-conscious of my speech.   When I got home, I went straight to my room to practice making my voice projection louder.   After about an hour I stopped, and was very proud of the progress I thought I was making.   I then started to go downstairs to talk to my mom.

“Do you know where my navy blue pants are?” I asked as I slowly began to walk down the steps.

“What?” she yelled back at me.

“My jeans! Do you know where my jeans are?” I said with an attitude.   It made me a little upset that she couldn’t hear me the first time.

“I can’t hear you,” she yelled back again.

“Either walk all the way downstairs or talk louder!”  I couldn’t believe it.   All that time I wasted in front of a mirror and still showed no signs of progress.   I went back to my room and sat on my bed.   I couldn’t understand how even when I yelled my voice wasn’t loud enough.   Richard Rodriguez once said, “Linguistic difficulties have no serious consequences” insinuating that even if you have a hard time with your speech it is unlikely that you will be penalized for it. My life at the time was proof against his theory.

I had been dealing with this problem for years, and couldn’t figure out an effective way to fix it.   As a result of being so self-conscience of my speech I refrained from speaking in public.   I started to think about this effected not only my personal but life but my school life as well.   I began to think back to my latest report card.   Teachers would constantly give me B’s and C’s in the participation portion of my grade because I would hardly ever contribute to classroom discussions.   However, whenever I did grow the courage to raise my hand to answer a question or contribute to the class, they would ask me to repeat myself or cut me off mid-sentence to tell me to talk louder.   I hated that.   It started to become annoyed after a while, which made me stop participating altogether.   Another result of my poor projection was that I would receive low scores when presenting something orally.   Oral presentations were the one part of school I hated the most.   As soon as I would start presenting, I could immediately tell no one could hear anything I was saying.   Some would look at me with puzzled faces, some would break off into conversation, and others would just find something else to do.   Throughout the presentation I would constantly try to raise my voice but I would never have any luck.   This caused me to think further into my future, would people not listen to me because I couldn’t speak loud enough?   Would they be able to respect me and take me seriously?   No one really listens to someone who has a soft voice.  

So much power is given to the force behind a voice.   It’s lets people know that your serious about what your saying, and they need to listen.   Have you ever heard of some one robbing a bank saying, ”Excuse me… but can you give me all your money” in a soft voice?    I don’t think anyone would take him seriously and a few people may even laugh at him, but If he came busting through the door yelling

“GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY!” then he would get more of the response he was looking for, he would be taken seriously.  

Knowing this, I also want the ability to put meaningful force not only behind what I say, but how I say.   I want people to take me seriously, and not to ask me to repeat myself several times before they can clearly hear me.   Projection is a skill, and a lot more then how you speak.   Since then, I have been working on my voice projection, making sure that everyone can hear what I have to say.   I’ve found a way to put power behind my voice and I wont give up until I have perfected the skill.

 

            

For the second marking period we had the option to create whatever kind of artwork we wanted. Personally I liked this. It gave me the freedom to do some of the things I'm particularly good at without really any limitations. This is different from the last marking period because we were basically given an idea that we had to work with opposed to what were doing this quarter. Looking at some of the projects that are already posted you can see how versatile our projects are from comics to sketches. This marking period is personally my favorite.
For my artwork I chose to expand on a skill that I previously learned in my Freshman year. As a freshman I learned how to print a drawing on a linoleum block, and also carve the drawing out to resemble a stamp. I chose to sketch out an "S" because it's the first letter of my name. I wanted to make sure it was something more challenging and time consuming to sketch so I chose to draw a fancy looking "S" with a lot of detail. I then painted over the linoleum and printed on sheets of paper to make 1 collage of different colors. 
If I were to do this project differently I would definitely be more consistent and work on using my time more wisely. However I am proud of the work I am putting up, but I know that if my time was used more efficiently I probably would have had more prints to chose from. Another problem I experienced was not using the same kind of paper for each of my prints which effected the quality of my artwork when I was picking prints to choose from. A lot of them were on different textured construction papers and wouldn't give my art work the effect I wanted them to have.
Overall I am really proud of the piece I produced, and I hope that you like it too.

Sketch:

 

Outline on Linoleum: 



(It's backwards on purpose)

Marks for cuts:



Final Cut:




Final Pieces:

Directed by : 

Blase Biello
Anwar Abdul-Qawi
Ryan Francis

I do the work I do because it is what fits most with what I am thinking at the moment. I don’t think about anything else but what I want to do. I may receive certain requirements for whatever project I am working on, but I turn those requirements into my requirements. For this project, we were given the opportunity to choose whatever we wanted to do for the quarter project.

The way I chose my project was pretty simple. I was not done with the project from the last quarter and I was curious to know what it would look like if I had finished it completely. I also wanted to continue the experience of a sewing machine. It took me about four months to complete this bag whereas if I was using an electric sewing machine it would have only taken me a couple of days, one week at the most. I also chose these tools because I have never sewn anything before. I’ve always wondered how well I would do on my first time sewing something together. Using empty Capri Sun pouches, a needle, thread, a hot glue gun, and old bag handles from a different bag, I created a hand made Capri Sun tote bag.

Throughout the second quarter I spent most of my time cutting out the stencil for my project I have about two left. My plans are to spray paint the poem onto the windows. The project is very time consuming and difficult. Letters such as O,R,A and G's were the hardest letters to cut out because in order to preserve the actual shape of the letter you must cut out little rectangles that connected the rest of the paper and the middle space of the letter and cut around it. I had many trails trying to get the correct grove on how to cut neat and with accuracy. There were 15 sheets each containing about 25 letters. By the 3 quarter I expect to be finished this project. I am trying to now figure out a way to preserve the paper just in case I mess up the first trail of spray painting because like Mrs.Hull says" We se you up to fail." I will reflect on what i need to do in order to improve my work and hopefully create a project I am more proud of than now.

Throughout the second quarter I spent most of my time cutting out the stencil for my project I have about two left. My plans are to spray paint the poem onto the windows. The project is very time consuming and difficult. Letters such as O,R,A and G's were the hardest letters to cut out because in order to preserve the actual shape of the letter you must cut out little rectangles that connected the rest of the paper and the middle space of the letter and cut around it. I had many trails trying to get the correct grove on how to cut neat and with accuracy. There were 15 sheets each containing about 25 letters. By the 3 quarter I expect to be finished this project. I am trying to now figure out a way to preserve the paper just in case I mess up the first trail of spray painting because like Mrs.Hull says" We se you up to fail." I will reflect on what i need to do in order to improve my work and hopefully create a project I am more proud of than now.

​For this marking period, we were allowed to pick the project we wanted to do. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. It was either photography, or do some drawing. After a lot of thinking, I decided that I wanted to draw the Eiffel Tower. 
I drew the Eiffel Tower last year, as one of my brainstorms for the periodic table assignment, but I didn't use that one for my element picture. So, I thought that this time, I would try it again. I liked the one I did last year, but I wanted this one to look different than that. My plan was to have this one set at nighttime, with the stars in the background. I had a lot of inspiration for this project. I think that Paris is a really beautiful place. I've had a picture of the Eiffel Tower that I fixed up in picnik as my desktop picture for a long time. So, I used that, and other pictures I found to help me. I also used howstuffworks.com to help me. 
I have not yet finished this. It took me a lot longer than I thought it would to do the sketch. Once I finished that, I had to get the canvas, and then draw it on there. So, now all I need to do is paint the canvas. 

Sketches:


In sketchbook






On canvas:

            “Yo. You def need to talk to him, like you obviously like him.” I said to Tsion on our usual morning trolley ride to school. We had met up at the 45^th street trolley stop, and it was time for our usual girl talk. Girl talk is when we each tell everything, no holding back.

“I don’t like him!” She tried to hide her awkward smile, but I saw through her lie. We were the loudest people on the usually quiet trolley. I never realize it until all eyes are on our conversation.

“Oh my gosh, you are such a liar. I hate you and your lies.” I said to her in a serious voice. I couldn’t help but laugh after I said it. She laughed back, but her laugh said it all. It was the “Amanda you so crazy laugh”.

Then she actually said it “You are so crazy, but I do a little. I just don’t want to anymore.” I laughed at her. I hear those words everyday “Amanda you are so crazy”. I completely agree with that statement, those words not only describe my speech, but also my actions. It’s strange, but I only hear these words from my friends.

 “How has your winter break been?” My Great Aunt Linda asked me when I was over her house for the traditional Christmas dinner.

“The break has been wonderful. So far, I have completed all my homework and my mother and I have watched a few movies.” I replied in a light, yet sweet voice. Then I smiled, and put on a complete “I-am-such-an-angle” act. My family always falls for it .I could also see something else in my aunt’s eyes when I talk; judgment.

 “Our family looks down on us because I am a single mom. They pity us and they don’t think I raised you right. That’s just our family, get used to it.” My mom stuck this idea in my head when I was young. I grew up trying to be better than my families perception of me .I couldn’t be relaxed around them. I had to be perfect, I had to show them that my life was completely normal and that I was intelligent.

According to James Baldwin “You have confessed your parents, your youth, your school, your salary, your self-esteem, and, alas, your future.” In simpler words the way a person speaks, the vocabulary they use and the accent they have, can tell all about a person. For instance, if a person always talks with words that aren’t in the dictionary and their grammar is completely wrong, then most likely this person didn’t go to one of the best schools and probably works a minimum wage job. This could also mean that their parents didn’t push them enough or that they have too low of self-esteem to really believe in them selves.

Since I believe this quote to be true, I am afraid to use slang or just say whatever is on my mind around my family. Using slang will prove what they already think is true, that I am not educated well and that I pretty much live in poverty. My family believes that because I never went to the most expensive private schools or had a father in my life to support me. My guard always has to be up around them, I can’t just let lose and be goofy. I have to be proper and always watch what I say.

I was always the youngest in the family. The only other girl in the family near my age was about six years older than me. I was out casted because of such an age difference. My cousins didn’t want to have a deep conversation with me; I was to young too talk about anything relevant to their lives like dating or high school. I knew from a young age they didn’t want me around. I could just tell by the stares that pierced me whenever I walked into the room.

“Hello” Glenda my oldest cousin asked while going in for an awkward hug. She didn’t say it as if she cared, it was just something to say to break the tension between us.

“Hello …”I go in for the unwanted hug and then pulled away quickly. She stared at me.

“How have you been?”  I said swiftly, I wasn’t used to these word. “What’s up?” is what I say to my friends, she wasn’t my friend. She was far from one.

“Great.” Anywhere but here, it was like she was thinking out loud. Glenda walked to the other side of the room as soon as her mom peered out of the kitchen. I didn’t know what to say, it was strange because I always have something to say. I always felt this way around my mom’s half of the family.

I couldn’t help but to notice that I wasn’t myself around people I wasn’t comfortable with. With my friends I felt like I could just be myself and talk anyway I pleased. I didn’t feel the same around my family .It could be the fear of not being accepted by them or just not knowing what to say in a conversation. Whatever the reason, I can’t help but to code switch. 

“Art is something unique for yourself to create and not for others to judge. Art has the ability to enrich each individual.” For our second quarter project, we were assigned to create a piece of artwork of our choice. There were no limits or boundries in which you may or may not create, or more like your own inspiration.

           

I was inspired to create different images and artwork by using material that was around me to begin. My first piece of artwork was a drawing inspired by a friend of mine who dream of being a theater performances, and the art and theater itself. This piece of artwork is a remodel of the famous “Comedy Tragedy masks” piece. However, it was only a remodel of the comedy side of the mask, which was present with a sketch using #2 pencil and sketch paper.

 

Pencil and paper are not very comforting for me. Another big piece of my project was dealing with different type of paint, and using canvas to present the beauty of the artwork. This part of the picture was inspired by my dream. I was told by many people to “capture and accomplish ” my dream. In this painting, I selected an image of Ojibwe cultural dream catcher as my main object to resemble my inspiration and added textures, colors, and different details that also describe my personality and give the artwork more beauty.

 

By using the leftover paints from my first canvas, I decided to create my second canvas with something less inspirational and more enjoyable. I painted a picture of a flower surrounding with colors to explain the beauty of art, the beauty of life, and all of the colorful things around it. It was also one of the pleasant and relaxing projects I’ve ever worked on.

 Uyen Nguyen 

For this last blog post, I was thinking about writing a letter to the department of transportation on a federal level. I wanted to bring up key facts as to why more regulations of new cars should be published for the safety of drivers. Beside new cars, foreign cars are also a danger, and in this letter I explain why and how we can improve

Dear Mr. LaHood or Office of Transportation,

Over the past couple of years, car accidents has become top news over the country. After the Toyota fiasco, I believe now is the time to change our judgments as to which car companies should have more regulations and more time before being sent into the market. In February 2010, the gas and brake pedals of the new Toyota's Prius Hybrid malfunction. Recalling around 300 thousand cars back, American began to recover from this chaos of "runaway cars" and being uncontrolled by a 90mph car. Also in March '10, Nissans' manufacturers in the brake pedals and fuel meters have failed to make efficient parts and the company announced withdraw of 540 thousand cars from markets around the world.

With each new car in the market, there's always a slight chance of putting drivers in harm. Though most car accidents are from unsafe driving, cars can be another dangerous factor. To prevent other incidents to happen, we should improve the regulations of checkups for new and foreign cars. Companies should be more responsible with mishaps. Added regulations should help shape America's future of safe driving.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/08/toyota-recall-prius-hybri_n_453188.html
http://www.cargurus.com/blog/2010/03/09/green-update%E2%80%93the-runaway-prius-and-some-thoughts-on-evs
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5335476-technical-problems-in-the-car-nissan

Blood slowly dripping down the wall and face

Bruises all over my body

What did I do to deserve this?

The only thing I did was love you and try to support you

You were supposed to love me not hurt me

Day after day, night after night

My body can’t take a lot of pain

My heart is about to burst

From all the anger, torture, and love you give me

I try my hardest to ignore it

But me trying doesn’t do anything

You still continue to do whatever you want to do to me

Why I let you do it

I don’t know

I don’t want to lose you, I love you too much

I want you to change for the better

I know what happened

We went through the same pain

We both saw the same things

Why do you have to do this?

You could express your pain in some other way

Don’t express your pain on me

I’m slowly falling, breaking, breaking falling

I can’t get up or get away

Your cries of hate always seem to find me

Hurt, crying, pain yelling

I’ll feel this pain until there’s nothing left of me

Just my cries of yelling “STOP” blowing in the wind