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My point of divergence is during Paul Revere's midnight ride. There is a point in which he came across a couple of British officers on horseback and had to evade them. He really had managed to, but I changed it so they had actually caught him. As a result of this, the future I envisioned is the United States remaining a British territory and potentially being called British America. This came to be because Paul Revere was making the ride to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the British were coming to arrest them due to their involvement in a potential rebellion. Since Paul Revere never reached his destination, I made it so Adams and Hancock got arrested. Adams was an avid leader when it came to the rebellion and Hancock was an rich and influential man (who was going to be elected to be President of the Continental Congress the month after he escaped arrest), so I made it so that when people heard about them being arrested (due to being exposed by a British spy, who had reported to British General Thomas Gage) they began to get suspicious of everyone and could not organize themselves enough to start a full-on rebellion.

I liked that this project called for a little bit of story-telling and gives a view as to how a butterfly effect can happen. I think the most challenging was making the story believable; there could be many loopholes of what could have happened instead of what you want to happen and you have to be sure to cover everything. The most interesting fact I uncovered was that Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere (among others) were all a part of a group called the Mechanics who organized rebellions and plans to achieve freedom from the British and that there were really spies in their midst. In fact, the only reason why Adams and Hancock were to be arrested is because a spy discovered that they were powerful leaders who lead rebellious attacks and were a danger to British rule. The spy reported to General Thomas Gage, and he organized their arrest. 

The actions of individuals impact the historical record because a lot of history deals with a group of people and a leader or numerous leaders. Whether or not the people follow a leader affects the course of history and the side the people are on also affects history. If a leader didn't step forward to guide people, then the majority would probably be afraid to step forth and make a change. Systemic changes impact the historical record because systemic changes is what usually leads to a change in the people, in general. For example, one of the reasons colonists began to retaliate against the British is because they were being taxed quite obscenely and though they were being taxed, they weren't being represented properly. They didn't want the high taxes or want the Acts the British tried to pass that taxed them, though not directly (as the Stamp Act had), and so they started to fight against their rule and the colonies started to establish their own mini-governments. One decision could change everything in history, especially if the choices are worlds apart. One decision could impact how things are handled and what happens to certain people. The decision hold even more power if it is from a very influential person who is high on the social ladder. 

I think the project could be improved by giving us a set presentation style. I feel like I didn't really know where to go when it came to presenting the project and I wasn't entirely sure as to how long it should be or if I was adding things that weren't needed. If I had to do it over, I would read the history around the revolution (and that time period in general) because though I knew a lot about it, I wanted to go back and check everything and in the end, I actually had to alter my point of divergence and explain a lot of history that I didn't expect to explain.

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”

What does this proverb mean?

The hunter is the man. The lions are the animals that will never have their story told. The hunter will always be seen as the good guy because he is the winner. Only the stories of winners are told.

List an example to which you think this proverb applies too:

            I think this proverb applies to the story of Christopher Columbus. Although he helped discover America, there were already people on the land, the Native Americans. And Christopher Columbus went into America and slaughter, hurt, and raped the natives. 

“Love is like the rain. It comes out in a drizzle sometimes. Then it starts pouring and if you're not careful it will drown you.”

-       Edwidge Danticat, Breath, Eyes, Memory

This quote is beautiful. It speaks of how a mere crush can go spiraling out of control and then the crush turns into LOVE. I think that Danticat was trying to show people how love is and how love can change a person in so many ways, in the most different ways. She compares love to rain because rain is unpredictable. Rain can be very bipolar. A little bit of rain can leave you asking for more, like love. A lot can make you run around like a lunatic…like love. She says when dealing with love you have to be carefree.

(On this day, Mr. Block through an egg onto the floor and told us to write about the egg in the point of view through the chicken, floor, egg, chick, farmer, etc.)

            Extra! Extra! Extra! CHICKEN KILLER ON THE LOOSE!

            Tuesday, September 13^th, 2011, 8:34 A.M. The police were called to the scene. I was a chicken doing my daily clucking activities: laying eggs, pecking at things, and bawking around the open fields. As you can see, I run a tight schedule.

            On my daily patrol around SLA, I headed to Mr. Block’s room. He is a peck-cular man. Often likes to do things in a different way and he has a group of students that do the same peck-cular things as he does. When I to his room, there was an amassing crowd around a splattered like goo. As I approached the crowd, I SAW IT. It was an egg I had laid only days ago, it was my BABY! MY BABY, never to have a life on the farm or on a plate. Why? Why cruel world?! This man, the murderer…and his students, the accessories to the crime. I ran as fast as I could to the officer, Officer Byrd. Oh how I loved her name… it’s a very common name in our community…Byrd, Peckerson, Clerk, you know.

            Everyone questions the killer but I didn’t do that. I did what every chicken from the Egglands Best Farms would have done; I asked the shoe the floor, and the table. They all told me and confirmed to me that it was the evil English and World History Teacher, Mr. Block!

(After that we talked about ways to write better)

            3 Parts to help us write better:

·      Hold in different types of writing.

·      Don’t just keep ideas in your mind, write it out!

·      Point of views can be very biased, history is often written by the winners.

This English school year I tried my best then messed up sometimes but now I know my mistakes and can help me in the future. Looking back at the year I grew as a writer and improved in other areas. Everyone is at different levels but no matter what if you put everything you can into the work you will get the grade you deserve.

My strengths in English are reading books and collaborating with others about the story.  My weakness in English is my process with the projects I wait until last minute or don’t stay focused in class but I think from the beginning of the school I have gotten better at that, also my spelling I want to work on my writing a lot more I am very creative and I think if I really try I can have great pieces of writing.

Going back and looking at my work Is funny also something that all students should do because you get to change things, know what you need to work on also remember your year. It’s funny because it’s like oh my god I wrote that or what was I thinking if its something that you didn’t think you would write or do. Some issues that occurred were my journal entries because my journal entries were not organized and fully done I went back and polished my journal entries. 

The piece I am most proud of is my Macbeth creative. I did a keynote with my own pictures and some from the Internet that show lady Macbeths journey. I feel as though I did my best on this project. What I wanted to do was make people understand her change through my own pictures and how I thought this the picture should be and others understanding it. I worked on it whenever we had time to, I was focused.

            For my project, I decided to change the history of the Social Security Act. My main question was “What if the Social Security Act was not passed by Congress?” After researching about this topic, I found out that this act helped provide financial support to the homeless, unemployed, elderly, and disabled. It gave them a small income just so they were able to obtain the proper necessities of life. During the Great Depression, unemployment devastated the lives of individuals and had a critical effect on the economy. Older Americans as a group was particularly affected by this crisis even though improvements in medicine meant people were living longer. Yet many elderly Americans faced age discrimination that made it difficult to find employment. The Social Security Act basically provided unemployment insurance for workers, aid to needy children who had lost one or both parents, and disability insurance for workers who could not work on account of an injury.           

            The future that I envisioned resulting from my POD was that young adults were not gaining jobs due to the fact that older workers had first priority. Also, from this drastic change it left the sick and homeless with no hope to living a normal life. From all this, the unemployment rate would continue to increase and eventually leading to massive protests and riots against the government.

            The most challenging thing about this project was connecting actual primary sources to my new topic since they were completely different events. I was able to relate pictures to my POD because they are more flexible and can be changed easily. I really liked how I could choose my own idea and develop my own masterpiece. It was difficult at times to make something that did not have a drastic domino effect on society, but after several tries I was able to choose something I am proud of. If I could do this project all over again, I would probably add more fake primary sources because that is when you can add creativity to your final product. For example, I really wanted to make a video newscast of my POD so it was as if it was realistic. Overall, I am very satisfied with my final product, and it is something that I am really proud of.

This quarter I painted all of my drawings and just painted on what interested me most. Thorough out this quarter I painted 5 paints and drew a couple of abstracts. Because of the missed day of my teacher my art work was thrown out and pictures couldn't be taken of the first few of them. The first pictures I drew with pastels and the work was abstract art filled with many different colors. The next weeks work was a tree that was brown I painted it with pink and red flowers. The next week I painted a changing sunset in the valley with the blending  colors red orange yellow and colors in between that. The next week I painted a replica of the rap groups Odd Future's "OF" donut on a large piece of paper. The week after that I started a new painting and was going to paint the superman symbol. During that week those got thrown out and so I started and tried to recreate these projects. Through this quarter I completed my assignments in every class and enjoyed it as I was painting them.

• Describe your Point of Divergence.
  My point of divergence was, What if, Osama Bin Laden was killed in the Battle Of Jaji in May of 1987, during the Soviet War in Afghanistan.  I chose to focus on this because I thought it would be unique to imagine a world, as well as a life to some without Osama Bin Laden, of course I couldn't touch on the topic of 9/11, but since that's what most know Osama for, many would never know who Osama Bin Laden was.  
  
  
• What is the future you envisioned resulting from the POD? (short summary)
  I envisioned the future being a lot more peaceful.  Muslim's wouldn't be looked at as aliens or outsiders, they'd be accepted all across America.  Terrorism would be as common as well, Bin Laden was famous for his terroristic acts, and since him, terrorism has become more common.  I believe if he was killed in 1987, many terroristic acts that took place, wouldn't have happened.
• What did you like about this project? What was most challenging?
  I liked the fact that we got to choose what we wanted to look into and what we wanted to focus on.  Most projects are assigned, but this one was what ever we wanted it to be.  The most challenging part about my project, was not talking about 9/11.  9/11 was a big part of Osama Bin Laden and his image and how he became known to many people in America, and it's weird because if he was killed in 1987, many people wouldn't have ever know who he was, not only because 9/11 didn't happen but because around that time, he was just coming into the light and grasping power.
• Describe the most interesting fact or event that you investigated.
  I found it very interesting that Osama was a very wealthy man and that he helped fund a whole rebellion, it makes me wonder many different things.  One being that if he never inherited the money from his father and his family never became well known, would he have ever been involved in the battle of Jaji and would he have ever been any different from any other Saudi Arabian man born around around that time.
• How do the actions of individuals impact the historical record?
  Actions of individuals impact history A LOT.  Osama was one of the leaders in the War On Terror.  If he had died in 1987, there would've been no war.  Terrorism wouldn't have been as popular either.  As I said before people link Osama Bin Laden to terrorism, all the time, but with him dead, terrorism wouldn't be that popular and wouldn't be used as much world-wide.
• How do systemic changes impact the historical record?
  Systemic changes also affect history a lot.  Osama Bin Laden was a dictator and allowed people to believe in terrorism and that America was their enemy, and even though he has died, his ways live on.  Many of those in the Arabin Nation and Muslim nation see Americans as their enemies.
• How influential can one decision be in the historical landscape?
  One decision can be very influential, Osama bin Laden proved that, he chose to fund the revolt and with that one choice he began a full out war.  Without him funding the the soldiers and recruiting soldiers, there wouldn't have been a full out war, I believe that there would've been a couple of battles and fights here and there, but not a full blown war.
• How could this project be improved?
  I believe that I could've improved the project by researching the Battle Of Jajji a little more.  I think I could've been able to find a better and more interesting way for Osama to be killed.  
• If you had it to do over, what would you change about your process for the project?
  I would change the death of Osama, I would make it a lot more interesting and research it a lot more.

For our last quarter in art we were given 6 similar but different art projects. 3 of which were under the topic of abstract and the other 3 were observation drawings. At first I was confused as to how I should go about my abstract drawings. After researching different paintings and drawings I was able to get an idea of what I would do. My favorite abstract projects were the photographs I feel that my drawings don't show the same emotion as my photographs do, they speak more to me. During the time that I would draw I would need to find inspiration and I found little of it. While on the other hand I would be able to find paint and mix it and find so much uniqueness with in the mixture. For my observation drawings I found that I was able to use lessons from our 9th grade year and put it to work. My favorite art piece would have to be the landscape drawing in which I was able to see more artistic ability with in me that I thought I didn't have. I was able to capture details from the view of a window and show a sections of Philadelphia's center city. Through out the time that I drew the landscape drawing I was able to connect with a different aspect of life and leave reality. If I were to enhance this art piece I would draw what I saw and not what was there.