Esta es una foto de mi amigos y yo. Mi mejor amiga se llama Morgan. Es muy cómica y creativa. Va a la escuela en casa. Creo es aburrido. Va escribir en la computadora canciones. Vamos hablar por teléfono casi siempre. Mi amigo otro se llama Jason. Es super loco y bobo. Come y duerme siempre. Va practicar deportes en la parque, es por eso que te gusta jugar béisbol. También, mi llama Sherell. Voy relajar en la playa verano tiempo y estudiar en la biblioteca. Además, cuando tengo tiempo libre pastar un rato con mi amigos. Vamos jugar videojuegos en “Jugar Dos.” Comemos en el restaurantes a veces. Mi favorito es “La Manzana Abejas.” Vamos ir de compras el centro comercial de vez en cuando. Somos asombroso.
Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso de la Santísima Trinidad, también conocida como Celia Cruz nació el 21 de Octubre de 1925 en la Havana Cuba. Celia Cruz fue conocida como la reina de la salsa. Celia es famosísima por su contribución a la música latina como la salsa. Muchas de sus canciones como “Por Si Acaso No Regreso” eran espectaculares para la comunidad latina. Esa cancion “Por Si Acaso No Regreso” se trata de la inmigración. Más allá de la inmigración, trata de la vida propia de la guarachera de Cuba. Es la propia experiencia de la mismísima Celia Cruz. La canción interpreta a Celia como una gran leal cubana. Ella se va de su tierra para poner el nombre de Cuba en alto. Para que todos sepan de su Cuba querida. Celia piensa en regresar a su tierra luego de hacer su voluntad. Para ella el haber abandonado Cuba le duele profundamente. Si ella no regresa a Cuba estara bacia. Es básicamente lo que la canción “Por Si Acaso No Regreso” se trata.
La canción “Por Si Acaso No Regreso” interpretada de Celia Cruz es muy interesante. La canción trae un mensaje muy especial. No solo porque es sobre la inmigración pero trae letras desde Celia misma. Uno de los temas que Celia repite en la canción es cuando ella se va de Cuba. Para Celia Cuba es parte de su corazón. Ella dice “que por si acaso no regresa” de vuelta para Cuba llevará siempre la sangre Cubana. Nunca se olvidara sus raíces y la tierra que la vio nacer. Una de las líneas que ella dice en la canción presenta los estereotipos que la gente tiene sobre Cuba. Pero ella menciona y asegura que adonde quiera que ella vaya va a desaprobar esos estereotipos. Ella va a mostrar que bajo la corrupción de Cuba con Fidel Castro, Cuba es un lugar de paz y tranquilidad. Celia demuestrara una parte de Cuba que todos no conocen y les dejara claro quién es Celia Cruz. Una de las líneas que me llamó la atención fue “cuando me muera,que en mi tumba pongan mi bandera”. Esta línea es muy poderosa. Ella básicamente está diciendo que Cuba estará siempre con ella hasta la muerte. Eso es puro orgullo y admirable.
Cuando yo por primera vez escuché esta pieza me encanto. Me gusto el ritmo de suavidad del coro. Cuando leía la letra de la cancion me conecté mucho con ella. Como un emigrante latino pude entender el papel que decía Celia en su canción. Personalmente conozco muchas personas que cuando llegaron a los Estaod Unidos se olvidaron por completo de sus raíces latinas. Entiendo que quisieron tratar de encajar con los niños Americanos pero, para mi es muy importante y significativo tener mi realidad presente.Por eso esque no estaba de acuerdo con ellos. No los juzgaba duramente, pero les decía mi opinion. No solo porque vine a los Estados Unidos se ignifica que voy a cambiar quien soy. Por lo contrario, aceptar y apoyar quién soy y de donde vengo. Al fin de acabo es una cultura que tiene que causar orgullo como lo dijo Celia en la canción “Por Si Acaso No Regreso.” Quiero ser reconocida y representada por quien soy, no por lo que no soy.
Esta es una foto de mis amigas. Sus nombres son Ameena, Ashlye y Cassie. Son extrañas y inteligentes. Ameena y Ashlye son por eso que todos los días ayudan en las casas. Todos las chicas cantan y comen. Nunca son serias. Chicas y yo siempre trabajamos. Participación de Cassie es un pueqito. Cassie es hija única pero Ameena y Ashlye no son hijas únicas. Van a compras todo la hora en el centro comerical. Nunca de las chicas les gustan van al museo y las montañas. Todos las chicas siempre hacer la tarea. También, todos las chicas les gustan van a la playa.
Changes occurs throughout our lives. There are some we are able to recognize and there are some we cannot see with the naked eye. An individual can play many roles when it comes to creating and sustaining change. By being an activist for a cause, an individual can bring about many changes; big or small . Becoming a role model for others who want to create change or just coming out of the blue to solve an injustice could account also as a step for change. All it takes for change to happen is for an individual to take that first step, say that first word, make an effort in standing up to an injustice and changes will gradually start to occur.
Nelson Mandela is one of many individuals who stood up for what he believed in.
Not only did he stand up for what he believed in, he in fact became a leader to his cause and the many who looked up to him. This leadership aspect-the ability to focus on your goals even at times you are put in the face of danger- was very important to his perception of freeing South Africa from apartheid. He believed it was his destiny to solve this injustice no matter what the consequences were to be. He stated in his autobiography, “As a leader, I have always followed the principles I first saw demonstrated by the regent at the Great Palace. I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the regent's axiom: a leader, he said, is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”
Creating change is all about and perseverance and determination. Sacrifices may come at times but it’s all about taking chances and standing for what you believe in.
Mandela had to sacrifice the well being of his family to establish change. He was unable to be a part of many family gatherings. He was not there to see his children grow up. He was not even able to attend the funerals of his oldest son or mother, both of whom died while he was still in prison. His family had to share him with the world.This was a sacrifice he was willing to make. Mandela stated in an interview, “ I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments, produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system which imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, From henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.” He believed his struggle was not for himself but in fact for his people; for his nation.
MY
To start up, I really enjoy working with my group. We communicate really well using email, and we all taking our responsibility to finish the work we assign as a table. I also want to thanks Siannie for taking the leader. She organized the project really well and as a table we got a lot of thing done that is plan to be done. For this project me and my table first working on the proposal together. I fill out all the part that need to be done. The second part we need to do is to watch the movie we pick, and take note on the google doc. In the google doc there are a section for each of the member to take note as they watch the movie so that we can use them in our project. I took the note and write down the time in the doc. After taking note we need to write the script and pick the part we want to talk about. During that class I also research on different thing that could be involved in with the lens that are being use in the movie. After everyone had write the script we start to record. Everyone suppose to make an appointment with Siannie so that she can record. Before the record we suppose to practice our line so that we can sound natural. I did my part to practice them and do the record on the day I schedule. After record my part I help siannie record her part because she can't record herself.
The moment of collaboration that I most proud of is we all listen to other opinion instead of try to do everything the way one person wanted. Everyone also helping each other out. I know that I have a hard time writing my script but they help me put them in words and it sound really nice. The fact that we be honest with each other if one person didnt get it done as a table we try to help them and we end up finishing the project that are well done
ALEXA
I have a thing for being in control of everything and having things done. And I hate working with people. Absolutely hate it. But, I have to admit that this group was pretty good with communication and keeping up deadlines. I appreciate that at the beginning of the project we all admitted our strengths AND our faults. Sabian kept up with the deadlines, My was good at try to find understanding and making sure she understood the concepts and meanings of the movie before she made any moves. Sieanna did a really good job with the story line and the recording. She jumped right on it and made sure we were on track. This is probably the first good functional group I’ve been in. When it comes to te structure of this project, I think it would have been a better idea to link up people with different strengths. Not grouping by same strengths. I tried to focus more on feminine aspects of “The joy luck club” so that my notes would be more on point. I helped do my part of the lines and I printed them out and tried to sound natural while recoridng so Sieanna wouldn’t need to edit so much. I think the most proudest collaboration is my analysis of the movie. I had lot’s of quotes and opinion to put in there.
SIEANNA
What I did for this project was provide my best camera and film editing skills. I also contributed to editing the script for smoothness and solidness with the analyses. I set up our daily goals and made sure we all stayed on track with getting tasks done in a timely fashion. What I’m most proud of, however, was contributing my film skills. As I aspire to become a director, the more practice I get, the better I become. This project allowed me to finally understand how to use a green screen and becoming more effective in editing a documentary. I’m proud that my first time doing this came out as great as it did in our final product. Everyone looked and sounded great. The video has a nice flow and very easy to follow. I’m looking forward to doing more projects such as this further in the year.
Ana Tijoux es un artista Francés y Chilena, sus padres son chilenos, pero mudaban a Francia. Ella fue la MC, rapero y vocalista para un grupo llamado Makiza de 1997 a 2006. Makiza era un grupo de hip hop chileno. El grupo rompió y ahora Tijoux es un artista solo que hace música de pop latino. Tiene dos álbumes, y los canciónes son sobre temas muy importantes como la violencia. Shock es un canción hecho por Tijoux. Originalmente es sobre la corrupción en Chile, y otras partes del mundo. Pero cuando yo lo escucho, me hace pensar en la inmigración. Me hace pensar en cómo la inmigración es parte del corrupción, así lo veo yo.
Las instrumentos en el canción Shock son pop y electrónicas. La instrumentación en rápido, y tiene un base suerte, esto da un tono poderoso al canción No es agresivo o enojado, pero es fuerte. Las Palabras del canción van con el ritmo, y son poderoso, igual como las instrumentos. En un entrevista que yo escucho, Ana Tijoux hable de cómo este canción es sobre la corrupción en el mundo, y que no es justo a los derechos humanos de personas. Pero cuando yo escucho al canción, yo pienso en inmigración, y como esto no es justo. De un manera, inmigración puede ser un forma de corrupción. Puede destruir la vida de alguien, pero esta no imparta a los políticos que hacen los leyes acerca de quien puede entrar al país y quien no. Por ejemplo el canción dise, “Ya todo lo quitan, todo lo venden todo, se lucra la vida, la muerte, todo es negocio.” Esto es hablando de corrupción, pero es cierto que la inmigración puedo hacer esto también. Hay otra parte del canción que dice, “Tu estado de control, tu trono podrido de oro, tu política y tu riqueza, y tu tesoro: no.” Cuando escucha esto, yo pienso en cuando veo las noticias y escucho a políticos hablando sobre inmigración.
Para mi esta canción es pegadizo y tiene un mensaje importante sobre el mundo que nosotros viven en. No tengo un conexión personal, pero se que cosa como la inmigración es corrupto e injusta. Yo se personas que han experimentado el corrupción de la inmigración en las Estados Unidos. Por suerte todos ellos tienen un buen final, pero no siempre es así. La canción por Ana Tijoux dice esta parte de la historia para los que no pueden. Me gusta el mensaje y pienso es importante, pero también puede ser deprimido porque es verdad. Para mi es agridulce. es un mensaje importante,pero esto es un poco triste que es verdad. El mundo que vivimos en puede ser muy corrupto. No puedo pensar en una cosa específica que aprendí, pero el canción me da mucho para pensar. Espero que puedo aprender mas de esta canción tan importante, y que un día no va a ser tan pertinente a los cosas que están pasando en el mundo.
To start off, I want to say that I went to multiple trials and errors in order to come up with my final product. Creating good art that is able to speak and explain to the audience without actually speaking is very difficult, however it is something that I am very good at.
Just like everyone else, I was given the task to answer one of my 11th grade essential questions which was “What is the role of individuals in creating and sustaining change?”. Below is a brief description of h I came up with the idea of my painting, and what It represents.
FIrst, I wanted to focus on a person that changed the world. I didn’t want to focus on someone that represented an ordinary American , but someone that was different. Early, in my english class, I researched up one of the greatest scientist of all times named Isaac Newton. I found that he suffered from a lot of different mental illnesses so what better person to chose. Next, I had to think to myself, “How am I going to show his role in creating and sustaining change.?” and that’s were I got my Idea from.
I wanted Newton to look different from the other people that were displayed in the painting, I also wanted them to look somewhat lost and show lack of individuality. This is what made me come to the conclusion that I would make the people faceless and make them all have the same body shape. I then wanted my painting to show the Newton is some how letting them know that It is okay to me different and have some type of malfunctions on your way to success. This is what drew me to the conclusion that I wanted to have a path that is interacting with newton and that was also curvy to show that there is no straight path to success.
In the large picture of Isaac Newton, there is his successes and his inventions on his face , and on the outside written throughout the picture there are his distractions and his disorders. I did this to show that majority of the time, your good out weighs your bad and in Newtons case that is what happened. He was a very successful individual who had problems along the way.
To go with the idea of the good out weighing the bad, the path is a light bright orange and the background where the faceless people and his flaws are, is this dark royal blue.
At the top of the paint there is a quote that talks about change and hoe you have to change your thinking in order to change the outside world. Over all, I think this piece is very clear and it answers the essential question in many different ways.
When it comes to the judicial system, the list goes on about how many things should be corrected and just completely exiled from the laws. One of those decisions being on whether murderers should have parole or live the rest of their lives behind bars. Taking into consideration that some murderers aren’t just one time offenders, some have killed numerous people before actually getting caught. By giving a murderer parole, it sets the family and those involved into a state of injustice and unsatisfaction.
Once trailed, the convicted receives either 3 options, life in prison, the death penalty or the institution for the criminally insane. For those who receive life in prison, doesn’t always mean a life behind bars. This can only be true if the convicted has what it known as parole. Parole is when a prisoner can be released from prison either temporarily or permanently on account of good behavior. With parole, the person may receive a release date after at least 12-13 years behind bars. Though, it usually depends on the crime committed. For the more harsher crimes, such as killing more than one person, they do receive first degree murder without the possibility of parole. If given a permanent release, this would mean that the murderer gets to walk free as a citizen again.
After a loved one has been murdered, families don’t really want to hear about the facts and the rights regarding to the convict’s sentencing, unless it contains them being locked up for the rest of their days. The thought of that murderer having the possibility of parole puts them at unease. To know that while the reason for their sorrows is now walking free to live their life and start a new, can be painstaking to absorb. None-the-less, many families frown upon this rule in the judicial system and choose to stand against it because adults aren’t the only people to be murdered, children are too. With that being said, families don’t accept 12-13 years as a fairly ruled punishment, giving the fact that those children either didn’t even experience 12-13 years of their life or just made 12-13 years, which will still never equal out to a life time they will miss out on.
The corporation called Parole Block Program sponsored by Parents of Murdered Children, Inc. is a national organization built around families that have loss their loved one’s due to violence. It helps families to cope with their loss and gives them a chance to take control on whether their murderer should remain behind bars for the remainder of their sentence instead of having the possibility of parole. They write to the courts and highly recommend that the prisoner stays locked up with a reasonable explanation to back it up. Many people involved in this program don’t just do it for themselves but so that others don’t have to go through what they went through because the murderer was released back into society. It also comes down to the prisoner serving their rightful sentence, due to the fact that parole cuts their time in more than half of what they should be serving, resulting in some not serving their appropriate amount of time. The way PBP works, is they try to work with the courts and not so much against them by simply asking the courts to let the prisoner serve their sentence in full, and not necessarily asking for a longer sentence. An example of one story takes place in Omaha, Nebraska: “A paroled killer was sentenced to 20-60 years in prison after shooting a 25-year-old man to death. This was just one month after his parole from prison, where he had been incarcerated for almost 12 years for another shooting.” The family felt cheated out of justice and thought that the courts made a huge mistake, yet what hurt the most was that there was nothing they could do. If it hadn’t been for him being on parole, he wouldn’t have been able to claim another victim.
Through the selfish, cruel acts of murders, many families and lives have had to suffer upon the hands of those that lack self control. If every other citizen has to follow by the rules, then those who commit the act of murder should face the consequences. Thus, answering the question of if murderers should receive parole. Taking the life of another isn’t anything for anyone to decide upon because a life is something that you can’t get back, unless its a miracle of chance. Either way, it impacts everyone involved in that person’s life and is too painful for the families to see the murderer only serve half of what the deserve. The loss of loved ones, causes depression, anxiety and other emotional and physical distress, so technology the murderer doesn’t just take one life but the whole family and loved ones.The courts and judicial system should highly reconsider this rule for future families to at least give the families’ some closure and real justice.
I switched middle schools in the seventh grade which made it hard for me to find myself. Since I was twelve turning thirteen, it was a transitional period into something different. It was the stage from child to teenager where you find out who you are as a person, a member of society, where you are classified in the school’s popularity contest and ultimately who you will be for the remainder of your life. I did not know who I was, I flew under the radar so I was not a member of society and I was not popular but teased and isolated. This led to not having a lot of friends and evasion of socializing with my peers most if not all of the time. The only thing I had to help me cope with this void I had inside was art.
I loved art because I was able to express what I was feeling with paint, charcoal, and clay. What made it better was my art teacher, Ms. Debby. She was an older woman with curly hair with gray streaks but nonetheless, one of the kindest people I have ever met. She was always smiling which would sometimes suppress my somber, distant persona. She was warm and she accepted me and at the time, this was an alien concept. Usually I showed carelessness and neglected to work with anyone, whether it was mandatory or not. My emotional coldness and lack of empathy for others was immediately dismissed whenever she was around or I was making art. Another thing art gave me was a circle of friends who felt the same social awkwardness. They were all in an oddity that was unexplainable to the people who were apart from it. Art was an outlet that gave some happiness and people who were in a similar place as I was.
The school’s popularity contestants were all befuddled that I and the rest of my fellow peers did not want to belong to their group. This is a group where everyone is the same, have the same ideals, have same hobbies and many other similar compatibilities. It is funny how the people who are at the “top” of the ladder want to include your presence when you find something more and sometimes even better than what they have to offer you. In a way, they only want to see you feel better or make friends if it is under their terms and principles. I found out soon after that I deserved better than that and decided to still be the “lone wolf” of the circle in my head. I can honestly say that most of my friends have very distinct differences with me hence the phrase; opposites attract. I can look back and say that the “clique” within my dreams did help me cope with the harsh reality that I dealt with everyday but scarred me psychologically with anti-social tendencies.
Ms. Debby’s inviting and welcoming personality changed me for the limited amount of time that I was with her. During regular classes, I was the child/teenager who sat in the back and did not say anything. Having an idea or a question would result in laughter and discrimination against me. That is why people did not know who I was by name but as “the boy who we laugh at”. But when I would go to art, I would always feel reinvigorated with energy. Her infectious persona filled me with bravado when we talked about art or as person/member of society. But all of this went down the drain when my principal decided to be a wet blanket and did not renew her contract.
By doing this, he was restricting her from coming back in the fall. Many students already had an immediate disliking of the principal and this stunt was considered the last straw for us. I usually do not follow the crowd but at that time, I didn’t have much of choice. I had my own objectives and was not conforming to anyone even though they were allies in this case. They were enemies that I had a temporary truce with until we could destroy the monster who wanted to spread unhappiness amongst all of us.
We petitioned to have the renewal followed through as planned. Since it was a known fact to everyone in my grade that I was semi-great at art (because of the time spent with Ms. Debby) I was assigned to design posters and picket signs. When using words and understanding did not work, we proceeded with a bang: striking. Almost every student did not do any work until we received word that Ms. Debby’s contract was renewed. Something that was surprising during this entire experience is that not single punch was thrown. Some of the students were very upset with the monster’s (my principal) decision and were bloodthirsty enough to start a riot but there was not. He said that it was a lack of money because the school was relatively new. Although, I knew that that was true, nobody except Ms. Debby was going to lose their job and some people were even gaining jobs as administrators. I can gladly say that even though I did not like or have anything in common with my peer group, they did show decorum and handled the situation like young adults instead of insane teenagers. The only reason I did not feel anything any emotion towards Ms. Debby’s firing was because I was used to things falling apart and the amount of instability at my school. Since Ms. Debby and I had a close connection, she understood what it meant. She understood that I was internalizing it and known that opening up or showing weakness was not my strong suit.
Sadly, our concerted efforts did not work and Ms. Debby still left in the fall. The next year when we met our new art teacher, I strayed away from art because I only had Ms. Debby’s bright aura to help me continue on. Without it, I felt lost again in an oddity I cannot explain just like in the seventh grade. Even though she was gone, she was not forgotten and I knew that she did not forget me as well. Soon after this happened, I came to an absolution.
Some things do not last forever but at this time, I did not want Ms. Debby’s employment to be terminated. Therefore, I felt obligated to do something, but not just for me, for her and the entire administration. I wanted to show people that I and my peers have a voice and that we should be heard since we are the resource that qualifies the establishment as a “school”. By trying to change something, I went out of my comfort zone to fight for someone and something that I truly care about. I partnered with people who I had nothing in common with but fought for a common purpose with and I can honestly say that they fought a hard battle.
As for Ms. Debby, I cannot say what happened to her but I know that she remembers my effort to fight for her job. Wherever she is and whatever she may be doing, I hope that her co-workers treat her with respect and dignity. But one thing that I will never forgive, is my principal’s stupidity in handling the situation. He caused the uproar that made the students act like a pack of rabid wolves, smelling nothing but blood. In the end since we fought alongside each other, I guess you may be able to say that we are a “pack”.
There are many times in life when we want something to happen, however someone else might not feel the same way. It could be for a good change or a good reason but perhaps that someones does not want to be a part of it. This brings up the topic of my family and I wanting my mother to take better care of her health.
For the past three years my mother has been taking poor care of her health. She does not sleep or eat right, which are two important things human beings need in order to survive. In the past years, she has also gone through a lot, which could be some of the elements that were reflecting on to her health. My mother is a very hard working woman, my family and I really appreciate all that she has done but we just wished that she would take better care of her health. Knowing that she was not taking good care of herself had a huge impact on my family. We tried to help her to eat and get to sleep on time but she did not really take our help into consideration, which frustrated my family member because she was not willing to bring change into her health.
Everyday she has a very early start meaning that she should also be going to sleep early, in order to get the right amount of sleep, but she does not. She wakes up every morning, bright and early, before her sleeping childrens. Since I leave the house before everyone else, she comes and wakes me up first and then heads downstairs to prepare breakfast for everyone. After I eat breakfast, I head out to leave but I do not leave alone, my mother actually gets ready to drop me off to the trainstation. At that time I was younger but I was able to walk myself to the trainstation. I would tell her that “you don’t have to go,” but she would refuse to listen and would come along. I did not mind this because this was one of her ways to show that she cared about me. But I did not want her to come along because I wanted her to get some more sleep and eat since she had not eaten breakfast with me. Once I had told her “mom, I am old enough to walk myself to the trainstation, you do not have to come with.” My mother took that a bit too personally and got upset about it. The next day when she would want to come along again, I would say nothing. I tried this many time and I always got the same reaction. Then I realized that there was no point in saying or doing anything because she would just do things her way.
Everyone in my house has a different schedule, we all leave and arrive at different times, the only time we are all together is after 11pm. My mother refuses to go to sleep before her children. A lot of times I have to stay up really late to finish school work and she would decide to stay up with me until I finish. Once when she was staying up with me, I asked her to go to bed since she gets up before me but like before she would not listen. At home I alternate between two different languages, Bangla and English, I speak Bangla with my parents. One day my older siblings, Laxmi and Mithun, told me that I tend to have a harsh tone in that Bangla. I had no clue what they meant because when I speak, I can not tell the difference between my tone being harsh and not harsh. I also do not mean to do it, it just ends up happening and sometimes my mother takes that personally and ends up getting mad. At that point it is really difficult to make her understand my point of view.
My mother says that she does not have the time in her schedule to get enough sleep or eat well. This made me sad because it showed everything she does for us, does not give her time to do things for herself. One day when my siblings and I were in the kitchen my mother was repeatedly telling us to eat. My brother, Mithun, told her “mom, you constantly keep telling us to eat and take care of ourselves but why don’t you do the same.” My mother was busy cooking so she responded “then who is going to do all my work.” She does a lot for our family and she does not want to give my siblings and I responsibilities because she thinks that it would be pressuring us. When in reality we actually wanted to help out because her doing so much was affecting her not being able to take care of herself. If we had more to do then perhaps she would not have so much to do and would have more time to take better care of herself.
Everytime I or anyone in the family tried to make a change in her health, she would not pay it any mind and that would make us really mad. We showed her that we cared but she just stuck to doing things in her same way. Then I think what did I do wrong? Did she think that I did not care or is it that she did not want to me to care? Whatever the case it got me really angry. But I learned to control what I would say to her, because first it probably would not matter and second she would probably mind. There was obviously something wrong, but I just did not know what it was; that made it hard to help change her health. Maybe its the fact that human being do not have the ability to make other do what they want, even if it is for a good cause.
Overtime we all realized that this was, obviously, something we could not change overnight so why not take baby steps and see where they led us. To make things a bit easier for my mother, my siblings started do more around the house; my mother still did not allow me to get involved. Wanting to change my mother’s health is still possible, however the results would come in a slow pace. I have learned that when someone else is involved in the change I want to make, I can’t force it upon them that I have to wait and be patient.
The collaboration in our group could have been better. We should have recorded earlier and their where a few-falling outs between our group members. At some point it became stressful because either someone was not willing to record or willing to contribute to the project. No one wanted to take the leadership role in the project, and at first our group ran into a few technical difficulties. However, in the end we quickly worked together to produce an okay video. I contributed to the project an edited video, and analysis to the Feminist lens. For the video I used live-game footage, actual comments from players using these lenses to better help the audience understand the game itself.
Micah:
First I researched the Marxist Lens. Then I set up and filled out the storyboard. Next was the writing of the script, which I helped write and edit, and finally there was the acting. I contributed a lot of time and effort into these, but it wasn’t really high in group collaboration. We each worked on our separate tasks and tried to complete them as well as we could, and we did well, but the group didn’t interact that much.
The pinnacle of the group work was the actual filming of the video, Everyone kept to their tasks really well, and though it took us a little time to get started, it was rather simple once we had got it going. Our group gathered itself quickly after every take and learned from its mistakes in order to improve for retakes. We held our composure well even though we were in a crowded hallway. I honestly didn’t think that we’d get the project done in time, but the cohesiveness of the group allowed us to finish quickly.
Reflections
Molly:
I contributed in brainstorming general ideas for making our video. I also added my thoughts to our analysis on the feminist lens, how the song we chose relates to this lens; as well as helped without the storyboard. Lastly, I recorded myself reading a paragraph from our analysis, which i'm the most proud of. I'm most proud of my contribution in recording for the video because I will usually do anything to not have to show myself in the video. No specific reason why I do this, but i'm proud I got over it.
Maggie
While working on this project I found that I was able to contribute with a fair amount of equality. I feel that I contributed most on the actual analysis. I was able to come up with good ways of looking at the video through the feminist lens especially. However, I am most proud of the work I contributed while we were brainstorming. Although our project didn’t have a particularly new or interesting theme I felt that I was more able to express ideas than I have been in the past. Our group worked well together and we found ways to use what we had.
Ray
I think my largest contribution to the project was suggesting the song, “Flawless.” Along with that, I was able to give creative ideas and write things such as the introduction and conclusion. An accomplishment I had was letting go of some control. Usually, I like to lead group projects, but I decided to not “take control” and let someone else do it. It turned out great because I saw some really amazing leadership skills from my project partners. My group worked well together; we had good communication and fair treatment.
Marcus
My biggest contribution to the project was creating a part and editing the video. It was a bit stressful and tedious since i ran into multiple errors and I had to recreate the flawless video since we could get the actual video anywhere. My accomplishment working within this group was sticking to the plan and making sure I always had something to do and staying busy even if it was hard to find work. We all worked so well together getting our parts done and turned in on time. We all communicated well and did what we all said we were going to do.
Write Ups
Aateeyah:
By doing this project, I got a chance to reflect on the different lenses we learned in class while reading the Great Gatsby. It helped me understand all of the lens more by actually relating them to things that we watch everyday. Everyone in the group took part in each aspect that we had to do. From writing the script, to creating the storyboard, and recording, we all took part in it. But personally, I think I contributed a feeling of excitement and motivation. When recording, I couldn’t remember my line, but after a few tries, I got it.
Max:
This project was fun to do. Looking at common things in our lives through different lenses definitely changes my point of view. I’ve began looking at things through these lenses subconsciously. I think that Family Guy was a good choice to analyze for our project. I think the moment of collaboration I’m most proud of is the rap by Ronald. We had discussed this from the beginning of the project and finally got it filmed the day before the project was due. It took a lot of attempts to get the final shot and it was very relieving to finally have it done.
Warda:
I’m particularly proud of our final product in this benchmark. I contributed to analyzing what the Marxist Lens is in the show Family Guy. Another thing I did was putting the screenshots from our episodes we chosen. I also contributed to actually being part of the video and putting some of the script together.
The moment of collaboration that I am most proud of is when we decided as a group that we should have a rap in it. I felt like we collaborated on what we wanted to have in the video, which showed that we were talking as a group and not individually.
Ron:
For the quarter three benchmark, we all worked together as a group, analyzing our lenses that we learned while reading “The great gatsby”. Feminist lens that take us on a journey through the feminist aspect of different situations that can occur in real life, Also we touched upon the Marxist lens. I contributed with analyzing the feminist lens for our family guy scene when peter assumes Lois of being a prostitute, Also I wrote the ending spoken word of our movie to reflec all of the things that we've analyzed. Thinking about it now, looking through the world, media, and everything else does change my point of view and makes me thinks about the different shows, movies, and songs that I listen too. I enjoyed this project and I'm proud of the work that my group and I have accomplished during it.
Write Up
Jian Zhang-
During this project, I was in charge of keeping things on task. Thankfully that wasn’t really needed since everyone was on task the whole time. I worked on many different bits of the project such as the research, data collection, edited here and there, discussions and some other things. Videos are the only thing I didn’t help much on since I have no idea what to do with them.
The part I am most proud of during this project was how well everyone worked together. Most of the time people just spend days arguing over things that doesn’t really matter or they just refuse to do much work. However this group got it’s stuff together on the first day and started laying down a reasonable and detailed plan. We followed the plan we made and worked things out in group discussions. Even when we do have disagreements, we solved them by talking with one another instead of just refusing their ideas. This made the project much easier then it could have been. With everyone pitching in to do the work, it was a very enjoyable experience.
- Pierce Luck
For this Project, I have contributed insightful thoughts and opinions into our group discussions analyzing American Apparel. I researched and found controversial ads,videos, commercials, and pictures that we used during our project. I was in charge of analyzing American Apparel using the Marxist lens with the help of my peers. I helped create the script for the Marxist portion of the project. I also did voiceovers, and was involved in the recording of the video, recording scenes for the feminist lens. The moment of collaboration that I am most proud was discussing the sexual appeal that the company sells. My Job as Secretary of the group kept our work in order, especially with our storyboard checkpoint.
I’m proud of how quickly my group recorded our scenes for the lenses. I think this showed how knowledgeable we were about the topic. It only took us one class period and we had time to spare. I loved how passionate my group was about the subject when researching. I knew that using American Apparel’s ads would engross our attention, making the project seem more enjoyable than a laborious task.
Nikki Adeli
When we first listed our strengths and weaknesses, I listed a weakness of mine to be time management. Therefore, going into the project, I not only wanted to be a great team member and collaborate with the group, but also work towards overcoming my weakness.
As a team member, I had multiple roles which I had managed nicely since I met my personal time goals that I had set for myself. I worked with Pierce to research the marxist lens and the application of Karl Marx’s thoughts to the American Apparel ads to make our analysis and video seem realistic. I also worked with Crystalle when writing the script to make the script as creative and unique as possible.
When it comes to collaboration, I had 2 great moments. The first was the researching in the beginning. We were all actively working towards a successful project and the work was equally separated. The second was when we were filming. None of us were absent in the moment, but very much present and working hard to create the best product we could.
For my english class we made to pick away that we was going to answer “What is the role of individuals in creating and sustaining change?”. I pick to make an audio because It will help answer the question, “What is the role of individuals in creating and sustaining change?”. Most people are good at writing how they feel, fact, or making story, but I feel when I write it is harder for me to get what I want to say. It’s harder because I don’t know how I’m going tell the information with other repeating over and over the same things. When I’m writing sometime I start to get off topic and that a way you can lose the read, and I don’t want that. But when I talk about it I can give you the facts that you need and now get off topic.
This audio will be a question and answer this will help some some of the answer about the main question. To answer the question I will give an example of what creating and sustaining change is so people can know what I’m talking about. I will bring up an issue that is happening now or did happen and talk about it . Then I was give my opinion and other so I can show “What is the role of individuals in creating and sustaining change?” is. I will also talk about the people I mention in my speech. I will give fact on what they did and how they did it. The will show people how the change happen .
Something that we all know is the guy who set himself on fire so he can make a change. Change can happen in a lot of ways, but every change that we was teach about in school or seen on the news was started but someone. Most people are scared to stand up for their right until someone else stand up by them self. So when I was ask “What is the role of individuals in creating and sustaining change?” my answer would be Yes we do need a individuals to help create a change. This is shown in a lot of way. For example Gay right, the right to sit anywhere on the bus. Most people are scared to break the rules because they don’t know what’s going to happen to them. So that why people don’t want to but when some do for something good then other will be there for them.
How we came up with the idea-Jaaz
How we sought out the idea-True
How Tupac created change-Sophie
How we came up with the Idea
When first getting this project, True (black) and I wanted to do something unique, so we agreed on doing a movie. Thinking about a person who made change that we both knew about we choose Tupac. After deciding, we had to think of scenes where we could show how he changed his environment. Then we thought about it, we needed another person so we asked around to who else wanted to be apart of our greatness. So we asked around, and with a lot of luck sophie said she would be apart of this great movie. As we started to write the script, we came up with scenes that fit into Tupacs attitude, and into what he was about. The process took time, but after we had a thorough idea, we were set to start filming. However getting to the idea wasn’t easy we had to make sure that we weren’t just putting information anywhere, or just saying anything. Everything had a meaning in our project, and that was a little bit difficult because that meant we had to make sure the script didn’t have holes. But however after we came up with the idea our project basically finished its self.
How we showed created Our Project
The way we went about representing Tupac’s life is by reenacting what could’ve been key moments in Tupac’s younger life and during his career that represented how he changed the world around him. We started by establishing his personality. Tupac was always intelligent and friendly to others, he just feared no one. We also wanted to show how passionate he was about rapping and providing for himself and his family. Tupac over the years never let the publicity of his own rise to power change his views and perspective. He always put his family first and made sure people close to him were ok. We wanted to show Tupac’s lack of change over the years, helped change everything around him. We also tried to demonstrate this by creating what could’ve been the creation of the hit single Changes. In the song, Tupac talks about how he sees the world around him and what needs to be done to fix all the wrong thats going on.
How Tupac Created Change
Many people know the name Tupac, and most are familiar with his name. However, most are not familiar with the how just one rapper, one gangster, was such an influence on the music industry. His music had such an influence on the individuals living in America’s ghettos. He spoke out to woman, and how men too should treat them as their own mother; with respect, and not let unmatured men bring them down. He talked about the man, how they need to work hard for their families. His music identifies the injustice that came to victims of racism. He realized the struggle of all the different races that were down upon the white man. He had a very political conscience, which you could determine from his lyrics. When growing up, he lived in a very diverse environment, especially when living with Leila Steinberg. She made him read deep writings, like feminist books. According to a Harvard study, Tupac was more “well-rounded” than an average freshman college student from an Ivy league school. Just listening to his lyrics you can tell that he was trying to get his point across. Take for example his song “words of Wisdom”. In one of his verses, he states “No Malcolm X in my history text. Why is that? Cause he tried to educate and liberate all blacks. Why is Martin Luther King in my book each week? He told blacks, if they get smacked, turn the other cheek”. Tupac fought for human rights in his music by creating awareness. Sadly after he died, all his good music went with him. However, his mother, as well as his role model, founded the TASF (Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts), which is a performing arts center that offers programs such as drama, dance, and creative writing classes. This allows kids all of over the area a let out, a gateway to themselves, expressing their beliefs and opinions through creative writings of all sorts, just Like Tupac did.
Trying to understand how
the freedom we once fought for isn’t there
where did it all go wrong
Cause, its time to bring injustice to an end
It doesn’t have to be like this
We can make it well
we can make change for the better, baby
With a little help
Lets start by acting out
we need to start working together, no more fighting amongst each other now
is it so hard to ask
to focus on the fight that is at hand
we can stop this racial mess
it just takes some work and a whole lot of effort
It just can't be done alone
you have more say than you think
Don't you know that
You can make change for the better, baby
With a little help
It doesn't have to be like this
we can make it well
Its time to fight like we used to
there is nothing else
'Cause we can make change for the better
With a little help, you know
That's how you make this wrong a right, yeah
It doesn’t have to be like this
We can make it well
we can make change for the better, baby
With a little help
Liza’s Write-Up:
The group and I worked really well together to finish this project on time and present it at it’s best quality. The group worked sufficiently by meeting our goals on time. By doing this, each member of the group put in a great deal of effort and contribution to the project. I, personally, liked playing the role of managing the group; making sure we were up to par with doing things on time and meeting the correct requirements. Before we starting to make our video, we took the proper amount of time to do some thorough brainstorming. Each day in class, I would raise ideas to the group before going through with them. This was important since the project was a team effort and I didn’t want to make decisions that my group didn’t agree with; without communicating with them first. Aside from that, I helped with the physical portion of the project; by organizing the video. The imovie wasn’t on my computer. Therefore, I used the work-time given to us in class by helping my group member with the video. I helped put slides together. While she put everything in the video, I organized it. So, I was contributing to the organization aspect of the movie. In general, I did the daily requirements of being in a group project by making sure I recorded my lines from the script every day and regularly asking my group members if they needed any extra assistance with any portions from the project.
A moment of collaboration that I am the most proud of is when the group and I would record our scenes for the movie. This made us get more enthusiastic with the project. Each time this happened, we got excited when it triggered us to get new ideas to make our video even better.
Betty Louis- Write Up
In this project I personally contributed my technology skills and ideas. In the beginning of this project I helped by suggesting clips of the movie that we chose. Once that was discussed and decided I helped with giving out websites and other ideas each group member could use in order to download the clips and the movie into our laptops. During this whole project I was the one that made sure everyone emailed me their recordings and I put them all together in one whole video. After that was done I checked in with my teammates and allowed them to see it in case there was anything that I missed. Once I got some feedback from them I made some minor changes, exported the video from imovie and uploaded it. I am very proud at how well we all contributed to the project, collectively collaborated on our ideas, that we all were able to finish and turn in our benchmark right on time, and exceeded in following our goals. One moment that I’m really proud of is how in class we all suggested our ideas of how the flow of the video would be. Whenever there was an idea put on the table we would all think about it. If we all agreed on it we’d keep it, if it wasn’t we’d professionally talk about it and make some improvements on it.
Timothy’s Write-Up
These past two weeks my group and I worked real good to finish the final product for our quarter three english benchmark. We all took time to set out the rules and goals as a team and we all follow them to have a complete benchmark. In this project I personally contributed to giving out ideas on what should be done for the whole benchmark. I contributed with finding all the information on the lenses so as a group explain what the movie have to do with the different lenses. I contributed to recording my part and more to make an actually video for the final design based on the movie Taken. They last thing I could equally I contributed to was finding the right clips in the movie Taken to compare the lenses to the parts in throughout the movie. They moment of collaboration I am most proud is when we all came together to give out the ideas because we all gave out personal ideas on what we should do. Also I am most proud of that because we came to one final agreement without any arguments or disagreements on what video we could analyze into all the different lenses. At the end of the product I am happy because we all worked hard to complete this quarter three english benchmark and finish it as a group.
Emily
Over the past two weeks my group and I worked consistently to complete our quarter three benchmark. We worked well together, setting deadlines and goals. I helped chop up the movie in imovie and edited out what we needed. I wish I had been in class more and contributed more to this project, I really did not do as much as my groupmates. They were awesome and reminded me gently about things i needed to do and worked with me through the process. Overall i understand the lenses more now and even find myself subconsciously analyzing movies and tv everyday now.Change is an enormous topic to tackle. The only way I felt completely confident that I would be able to express my thoughts was through video. The creative aspect of it enables me to send a message that I would be able to using words. I am a big believer in the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is also why I chose to use more visuals than text in my video and let the pictures take you through a specific event in history.
There are literally a million ways I can portray the message of an individual creating and sustaining change. However, I chose to focus on the topic of racism and the individuals who have helped change the perspectives of others. Racism is a very powerful indicator of how much our country has changed and how far it still has to go. We have all stories of racism or have encountered them ourselves, but I decided to focus on an event in our history that hasn’t been taught in school or hasn’t been talked about among peers.
My video opens
with the march that occurred on January 17, 1987 in Forsyth County, GA. A march
organized by many leaders such as Hosea Williams and Coretta Scott King to
lower the level of racism in a county that suffered terribly of segregation.
Georgia is the sixth most racist state in our nation. Forsyth County started
with just one black and over 100,000 whites. Slowly the number of blacks has
progressed but the ratio is still very unbalanced. What I am getting at here is
that change is not possible without the hard work and commitment that happens
behind the scenes. And although the county’s diversity has come a long way it
still has room for change and that room will never fade. Like Dean Carter said
at the Forsyth County march: "Today
we have embarked on a journey, a journey that will take a lifetime to fulfill,
the journey of worldwide brotherhood and understanding. Without this, Forsyth County, Georgia and even our nation will fail. Without brotherhood in a community,
violence and intimidation will exist.”
You can’t sit back and expect change. This expectation is unrealistic and will never happen. Along with this comes the fact that change is constant. Nothing is ever perfect, which means things can always get better. Without the help of each individual a change cannot occur. We must go forth and conquer!
One of the most popular teen girls clothing store is Forever 21. They have cute clothes for reasonable prices. The only problem with the store is the trends they come out with. They just recently came out with their spring line. The spring line consist of floral prints and bright colors, which is normal for girls to where in the spring.
The one thing about the line is the clothes are very appropriate for teen girls or the spring. The clothes are very revealing and sexual for girls my age. They are made where girls bellies and a lot of their legs are showing. For example they have tops that look like bathing suit tops and very small shorts.
During this project I put my self in two different positions. One as if I was a designer for Forever 21’s spring collection and the other was as if I was designer for Kohl's. I made one outfit that could be transformed into another. Both outfits are made for teen girls in the spring but both give off different meanings.
The outfit designed as if I worked for Kohl’s is a dress that shows her back and legs below her knee. The outfit demonstrates as a teen girl its okay to show skin but not too much. The other outfit, made for Forever 21 is a crop top and little shorts. The crop top shows from just above her belly button to her waist. The shorts stop right under her butt and show all of her legs.
The message from both outfits show the difference between how girls can change from looking 16 to 26. Wearing certain clothes can change how old you look. It can also change how people view you. Over time girls have changed how they dress because they are trying to fit in with the new trends.
I used to imagine what the perfect father would be like. I used to imagine that he would take me to school and pick me up. I used to imagine that he would be more than a best friend, but my only friend. I used to imagine this big husky guy that protected me from trouble and people who wanted to hurt me. I used to imagine that he’d love me until he grew old. I used to imagine him taking me to the park and pushing me on the swings or chasing me in a game of tag. For some reason when I would imagine these things, I never imagined my father fitting any aspect of this “perfect father.”
During my childhood, my father taught me typical things you learn how to do when you’re a child. He taught me how to ride a bike, how to cook, how to run the fastest, and how to use the video player. He was the strongest man I knew, but when my mother wasn’t around he would sit me down and give me four pigtails before school. He was heavy handed so it hurt when he did it, but every time he heard he squeal he would stop and apologize. To me, he was my superhero with a soft spot for his daughter. No bad guy could get to me as long as my father was there. He was my superhero best friend, and I was his sidekick.
Now, I notice that I might have been mistaken about my thoughts on my father. He was the perfect father before, but what’s the “perfect father” title worth when he was only that figure for only one portion of my life? It saddens me that he couldn’t be the man I expected him to be. It’s almost like the man I knew when I was younger was only a figure of my imagination. He would only appear when I wanted him to. Now, he only appears in my memories when I reflect on what I think built me into the person I am today.
As I grew up, I became content with the fact that my father would in my life at one point in time, disappear for a few months, come back and expect things to be normal. For a while, I would allow him to keep coming and going. My mother would try to warn me to not be hurt when he broke his promises of staying or taking me places, but instead of believing her, I would blame her for his absence. I would do this because my dad was my favorite parent because I had the most fun when I was with him. When I was with my mom it was strict and I couldn’t have as much fun as I could’ve with my father. When my mom would try to talk bad about him, I would defend him to the death because I wanted to hold on to the idea that he was the perfect father. Now that I look back, I wish I would’ve listened to my mother sooner. I wish I would’ve listened with open ears instead of closed and payed attention to the person who never left my side. She was my real superhero.
When I reached about age 12, I found out that my father was cheating on my mother. At this point in time, I saw my mom as the perfect parent because I realized that my father wasn’t there for me. When I found out, I told my mother because it was something she definitely needed to know. She then told him, which led into a physical altercation between him and I. I never felt to weak in my life. That, by far, was the most belittling moment in my life. What happened in that altercation is something I will never be able to fully forgive my father for, but I try to forget about it. When he left the house after the altercation, my mom and I packed a couple days worth of clothes and drove as fast as we could to her best friend's house so we could be safe for the night. I remember having to get ready for school the next morning at her house and pretending like none of that happened. I’m pretty sure that all of my classmates never thought that my life had any flaws. I portrayed myself as the happiest person who always kept a smile on her face and a loud laugh throughout the hallways.
At age 13, I found out that my father had a daughter by the woman he was cheating on my mother with. I found out by going to his mom’s house for my little cousin’s birthday party and seeing the lady with a baby in her arms with my father standing right next to them. He called me over and said “Symone, meet your sister Lyriq.” I was in shock. I felt 100 different emotions flowing through me at the speed of light. First, I was happy. I always wanted a baby sister or brother, but I never imagined that they would come into the world that way. I was angry because my father left my mother and I to go create another family with someone else. I was sad because I now had to share my dad with another human being for once and would have another human being called my dad their dad. I was annoyed because my father’s side of the family knew and didn’t tell me. When I met Lyriq, she was one years old. That meant that everyone knew for a year and didn’t mention not a word to me. What made it even worse was that the lady told me that she was pregnant with another child. I couldn’t even swallow the news about the first child, but a second? Unbelievable! But even still, there was nothing I could do to change how my life looked after that point.
As I started spending time with my little brother and sister, my relationship with my dad was almost nonexistent. He wasn’t paying attention to me anymore. He also would neglect seeing and spending time with me in order to stay home and take care of them. I was older, so I understood but I always questioned it. He could’ve tried to spend more time with me, but he didn’t. Even though I knew he wasn’t a good parent, I would always defend him against my mom when she started talking bad about him to me again. She would only do this when I would get disappointed in him not keeping his promises. Her favorite line was “Symone, you already know how he is. I don’t know what you expect from him at this point.” And she was very right. I couldn’t expect anything from him because he was never going to fall through… not even for his old sidekick.
He, though absent, contributed a lot to my spirituality. I am a lot stronger now because of his mistakes. I can endure almost any mental and emotional pain because I know that no one could ever hurt me as much as my own dad did and would continue to do. He failed to be the dad I needed him to be, but I kept pushing him to try. I didn’t cut off ties with him because he was my dad and I thought that the more I pushed him to be there for me, he would. I would act out in elementry school to get his attention, but that would only catch his attention for a few moments and then he would be gone again. What I want is to just have a good relationship with my brother and sister but unfortunately that involves having a good relationship with him too. I would want to tell my dad his faults so he can try to be a better parent, but that would be a waste of my time because nothing would change.
I’m not sure if I can still make change in our relationship because the problems are still occurring. I have not talked to my father since christmas of 2013 and it is now March of 2014. I don’t know any good fathers that could go months without talking to their child. Maybe I never saw a stable relationship between a father and daughter, but I know fatherhood was something my father would never understand and be able to carry out. The only thing I can do now is do everything in my power to make sure that my child never has a father like mine. I pray that I never fall in love with a man like my father because no child should ever have to know what it feels like to have a deadbeat father. I have no intentions on speaking to my father about his issues because talking to him is like talking to a child. All he’ll do is find a way to blame it on me and make himself feel good. I know this because he does the same thing with my mother when she tries to create a change in our relationship. He is who he is and I can either accept it or let him be. I’m tired of accepting his ideas of fatherhood because when he’s around I feel sad rather than protected and loved. I have always had something preventing me from shaking my issues from my father and I think I finally found out what it is...true bliss without him.
