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History Journal 37 

Everything the main character is shown glorified no matter what, you usually see only that one perspective

History Journal 45

"The perfect state is reach only when mind and body and speech are in proper coordination"

I don't think there is a perfect state. I think that no human can be perfect. Each human has a flaw and if they try to fix that they will cause another flaw to reveal itself.

English Journal 26

Race is a social construction

Race has no genetic basis

Skin Color is only skin deep

April 9-13

Abstraction Emotion - any size (not smaller then 8-11”)

Choose an emotion and create a painting/drawing/collage/photograph

         Abstract emotion is when you are making an art piece out of colors that are reflected on your mood. In my painting I used a lot of darks, and some really bright colors. I chose to do it that way because I just felt that having it look all dark would make me feel a little down, so to make myself happy I added some bright colors.

         Throughout this project I did have some mishabs but I learned to teach myself how to reinvent, and make it into something more natural. So at first I was planning on doing all white and black and so I got a big brush, and I got some water, but as I dipped my brush in the water then into the paint then onto my paper the color appeared gray, and watery. At that point I told myself what I had planned wasn’t going to work. So instead I just continued to undercoat everything in a damp gray. Then I started taking my colors, and this time I didn’t use water I dried my brush and started dabbing, and I continued doing that with every color, so that everything will begin to clash together.

         Overall I did enjoy this project even though the process was a little hectic, but at the end I realized I honestly did really liked my painting.

April 16-20

Abstraction Motion - any size (not smaller then 8-11”)

Choose an motion and create a painting/drawing/collage/photograph

         Abstract motion is when one looks at a drawing, and by looking at it, it sort of looks like a movement, or it can look as if its actually moving. In this project I looked up on the internet and found an orange picture that looked as if it was moving because of the different shades of orange, and I took the photo and I attempted to do the same thing.

         I knew that this project was going to be different than the last because we were dealing with different types of shading, and different textures of lights and darks. When first beginning the project I had to think to myself if I should add water or not because I figured if I add water I didn’t want it to start dripping and such like it did last time, or I said to myself just paint the paper dry, but I figured if I did that it wouldn’t of had that motion effect. So I decided that I was going to paint it dry first with a whole bunch of shades of orange, and then on top of the painting I will coat it with water, so that it would smear and look sort of like a moving light.

         As a result I liked this project. It honestly wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was enjoyable. I personally thought I did ok on this project it didn’t necessarily look the way I wanted it to but I believe it was worth the challenge. 

 April 23-27

Abstract 

Your choice of medium and size

For my medium size Abstract I did a type of design resulting in circles, and spirals. The colors I used for this project were all shades of green. I chose green because I just thought it was a really nice color, that I wanted to experiment with.

         I decided to get green paint and on the side I had a little bit of white. I put a little bit of green on my brush because I didn’t want the green to be too dark, then I began making swirls with my brush. I eventually began using the white so that it would have a lighter tone. I then used a little blue and I embedded it inside the green swirls, so that it would kind of have a nice green and blue mix. I then added some white outlines, and added some blues.

         I really enjoyed this project because I felt as though I was free to do whatever I want, and I thought I did fairly well on this project. At the end I was very happy with what I accomplished.  

April/May 30-4

Observation Drawing - Close up drawing

            I started my project with the mother because I figured if I get the posistion and just of the big figure it would be easier to put together the whole picture with all the little details. I first sketched the drawing as good as I can, and then I outlined it with a sarker shade. Once I did the mother I began to do the ears. For some reason the ears were the most difficult part. I think it was because in the picture it was so complex with the design I just gave up on perfection and made it look as good as I can. I then worked on the eye. I made sure it had the perfect distance between the head and the eye. I then began to work on bambi. The only hardship I had with drawing bambi was when I had to make him look like as if he was laying down. I believe making his body positioned on the ground as if he was sort laying against his mother was difficult.

            Overall I was very happy with my work. I thought I did as best as I could, and I think my hard work paid off, and I was very happy how my picture turned out.  

 Observation  drawing: Landscape

For my landscape drawing I decided to draw a park that I found off the internet. In this project, I only used pencil. I used pencil because I thought it would seem more natural if it came from an actual sketch, and then proceed with shading.

            I started with the bottom half of the picture because I figured if I get the shape of the pathway and the bushes it would create the general shape for the whole picture. So then I positioned the pathway as if it were going into a city type thing, as you can see in the picture I made everything narrow so it looks like an actual parkway, because if you were to look at a parkway it would start of big and then everything would sort of cave in. After I finished the bottom half of my paper I began adding things such as bushes and trees and city buildings.

             As a result I’m not necessarily proud of how it turned out but I think it’s a pretty ok picture. I thought this project was more difficult their others because drawing a landscape requires a lot of analyzing, and figuring out when and where to shade. Overall I’m content with the outcome of my project.   

Abstract

I began by writing one story about Cherokee myths involving the sun and moon. My main character had to deal with living those myths and being affected by the moon. I began to write, but an obstacle I encountered was that I didn’t connect with my characters at all. I did too much research on the story and the plot, before getting to know the characters. The lack of passion I felt for the characters affected me severely. Eventually, I had to change the story to something else. It was changed to another idea that I was much more comfortable with. I learned how to make a story more independent. Because I had chosen a story that was originally a sequel, I feared that I’d have trouble writing it on its own. But I learned that just with a few minor tweaks, a story’s plot could be changed considerably. After deleting references from the past story that I loved, I realized that it helped build the story and give me more advantage in the plot. I also learned my strengths and weaknesses as a writer. I now know that I should not push my creativity too far within deadlines because it might kill the joy of writing. But I also can’t take two years to write something. So I need to find the middle line between giving myself deadlines, and writing freely.

Dear Irene, 

Ok, so um, you need to get yourself together. You need to stop getting yourself between problems that have nothing to do with you and you need to get away from Clare! You’re doing nothing but putting oil to the fire.

To begin, I know that you and Clare are like best friends, die hard, positive and negative energy bonded magnets. But I am going to be completely honest with you, and give you reasons why you need to separate from her. I need you to listen clearly, it’s almost like I am reading your life, almost like a book!

First, you and I both know, Clare is passing. This is something that you cannot play around with, and this is something you need to avoid. She is acting like someone she isn’t and if people know that you knew that she is African American, there can be very bad consequences.  It’s almost like you have an ultimatum. It’s either you tell the community about Clare’s TRUE identity, or you leave it a secret, and hope for the best. But heed that there are consequences involved. 

Sincerely,

Life is made in many different forms,

These different forms come from different makers.

You eat the food from the ground,

You drink the water from the seas,

You smell the scent of the flowers,

And you breathe the air of the earth.

The Presidents made the constitution,

The gods made the earth,

The chicken laid the egg,

And seed made the tree.

Everything has a source.

It’s the heart of the body,

Without it we would be dead

It’s the Sun of the Universe,

Without it we would be dead.

It’s the racism of our society,

Without it we would be alive.

It has brought nothing

Except hatred and war,

It is something undesirable,

Nothing we adore.

The main source of it,

Died many years ago,

Not possible to fix,

This situation left us in woe.

We can always attempt to make a change,

Getting a lot of people to agree, is very hard to arrange.

Most likely it is impossible to complete this task,

Everyone is two afraid to help, they will wear the fearful mask.

-Daniel Varnis

• What did you find most challenging about this project?
  The most challenging thing was finding resources for what I was trying to show with my images. i knew what I took the images for but had difficulty presenting it. 
• How did you go about collecting the images or selecting the images?
  I looked for images that told a story. I didn't just want images of convenience stores owned by foreigners. I wanted images that showed lifestyles of Americans with other cultures. I also wanted images that showed things that wouldn't be found in America without influence from other parts of the world. 
• Which image is your favorite? Why? Elaborate.
  I think the picture of the volkswagon is my favorite because it shows globalization in another time period as well as presently. The van is so old.

            It was late in the afternoon, Obierika stood a comfortable distance away from the lifeless, wilting, dying body of Okonkwo. Obierika knew it was not the best to touch him, as much as she wanted to one last time. She looked at his hand, there was a tattered banana leaf sitting between his two fingers. She asked a stranger to take it from Okonkwo and to hand it to her. Obierika unwrinkled the banana leaf and read what was written on the inside…

            “To whom ever reads this, you recognize my absence to the present world. However, I am present mentally, nno. Life itself is changing ever second when you have missionaries. They shall change you, making you one of their own. Causing you to forget who you are to ruin the better lives of future generations. For the time I was alive, I saw us as obodo dike, but that has obviously changed. I know that I am not the only one who finds these changes to be different and unappreciated, but when they conquer our land to the fullest extent, I shall be the tufia of Umuofia.”

            Obierika stopped reading for a few minutes to absorb and reminisce the words of wisdom that were being portrayed in the death note. The emotions of denial and misunderstanding was overpowering, Obierika fought to keep in the tears of regret.

            “Why had we not believed?” murmured Obierika. She proceeds to read, this time trying to hold everything in until the end.

            “I don’t reckon that is necessary to live somewhere anymore if your roots are ripped apart like a flower in the ground. My original land will never be the same, and I have nowhere else to go except with chi. We will sit together high in the sky on the clouds, eat Kola Nuts, talking about how life will never be the same, for he is the only one who shall understand. We shall talk about how they had no pity on us and shall never have pity on us. And as they showed they had no pity on us, I showed the same. Word will probably be out way after my soul flies high into the sky. They will not be able to banish again, and even they did so, it would be pointless for it would make no change. That is all I have to say, and I am long gone right now. To whomever reads, don’t forget me, don’t forget Umuofia.”

             Obierika took a quick look and noticed the hand where the letter once was. It was missing something. His jigida had no longer been on his wrist; it was broken, all over the floor under where Okonkwo was hanging. Obierika took the beads, wrapped it in the banana. She then dug a hole and places it in.

             “I cannot touch you, but you are still with us in Umuofia.”

The States of 2012 would change drastically. Becoming allies with the Soviet Union could cause us to see the world through the eyes of Russia and China. The country would be somewhat of a communist country. But the laws supporting freedom would just cause us to have less liberation in the country. The censorship of the internet would already be in play, the music will be less vulgar (which wouldn't be such a terrible thing), and taxes would be equal so that the Occupy movements would be unnecessary. The protests against other wars wouldn't be as drastic because of our alliance with Russia and China. 

I envisioned a big change in 2012 because if we're not as worried about arguing with the Russians, we wouldn't be worried about the dangers of an atomic bomb. However, if we have a strong bond with Russia and China, the world itself would be a monopoly. Russia and China have similar views on politics. If three of the more powerful countries are all agreeing on something, then nothing could stop them from controlling the entire world. 

The enjoyable thing about creating an alternative future is that everyone wishes they could change an event in their lives. But when we are to search a historical event and alter that, we learn more and more about the event in the process. Rather than reading about a certain topic in the world and writing a paper, we had to go in depth about a specific events in order to understand how we can make a change. Sometimes having the knowledge on a specific matter doesn't mean you are an expert. You're an expert when you can make a difference that is plausible to a time you weren't present. Also, creating such a bond and a change between America and Russia over a common enemy seemed intangible, but it made sense. If two strong countries worked against one country who's main motive was to conquer, they could overcome any problem. 

President Harry Truman was the man of the divergence. If the president really planned out the events following Japan's atomic bombing and realized that Japan's citizens shouldn't have to suffer for their leaders' actions, then he would have waited. Sure the war would have dragged out for 10 months or more rather than 10 days, but it may make an impact. America may not be the free and liberal place is it now, but it would be more strict than it is. Our educational and economic situation may not be present in the alternative history. The changes of the government by the government would cause a more miserable America, however it'll be a more stable America. 

The best way to improve my point of divergence is to create a more in-depth explanation of Truman's chat with the Soviet Union. If we created an alliance, how did it happen? What happened in the room? But like other governmental events, most are top secret. So to personally understand President Truman and to understand the Soviet Union's government better, it would've created a better project. To understand this event alone, you must understand everything. If I had a chance to change my process, I wouldn't spend so much time researching President Harry Truman's other decisions, but I would have tried to understand the Soviet's government and Truman's decisions with other issues. 

New York Times 

TIME Magazine Article