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This quarter, I did fanart/practice with shading, melted crayon art, practice with painting, and a ceiling tile. 

10th grader Klarissa Hudson won the youth essay contest held by the Human Rights Campaign!! Way to go Klarissa! She will be honored at the HRC Gala Dinner.

Here is an excerpt from her essay:

Happy..I don’t really hear that word come from my mouth when I’m asked how I’m feeling. It’s usually an “I don’t know,” a “I’m alright/fine,” or “I’m chilled.” Happy isn’t really in my vocabulary. I imagine it’s not in the vocabulary of most LGBT young people. The only time I use this word for myself is when I’m saying, “I wish I can someday be happy..” It’s not easy to be happy. Not everyone has a stress free and painless life. Not everyone has friends in school. Not everyone is loved. It’s not easy to be accepted.

You can read the full essay here...

​ This quarter I tried to work harder on all of the cours work. I also worked on my personal art as well. I had some trouble balancing my work with in other classes and this one, but I'm pleased to say that most of my art turned out quite well. It was a little interesting since I know have three sketch books to keep track of. 

                                                        Cours work

                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                     

                                                              

                                                           

                                                                             

                                                           

                                                              

                                                    

                                                    

                                                    

                                                    

                                                   

                                                    

                                                    

                                                    

                                    

                                      

                                   

                                                    

                                                     

                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Outside Work

                                                                                                                           

                                                        

                                                

                                                  

                                                  

                                                 

                                                   

                                                  

                                   (work in progress) 

                                 

                                  (done in sharpie)

                                                      

                                                      

                                                      

                                                      
                                                                 

These are some of the best things I drew this marking period. 

Hi, I'm Sarena Shuman a Junior at Science Leadership Academy. I am a very all around artist.  try any type of art, even if I have no experience.

Well, in this quarter Ms. Hull had us go on this website called Drawingspace.com. This website has interesting lessons on how to draw. I started from the basics on Beginner Level starting at B. B is the Learn to See section, which means “As an artist, can visually explore  everything around them  from their own unique perspective, and with new purposes, such as discovering drawing subjects.(Drawing space)” So we did all the mini lessons and drawings with in that section. I learned how to see the object, and draw it. For example the duck, instead of drawing the duck I drew the space around the duck. My duck then got lots of shape and came out wonderful. Refer to the duck at the bottom of the blog. I also feel like shading had a big part to do with this section. Simply because I shaded several of my pictures so that it comes out more defined. I feel as though several of the examples came with knowing how to shade.

I discussed about the section B. But now I moved on to section C. Section C is drawing with lines. This section is about  “Lines, the basic building blocks of drawing, can either be visually rendered or simply implied as a division between spaces or values. All shading styles used throughout Drawspace are made up of the three different types of lines, straight, curved, or angle.” I feel like this section improved my drawing tremendously because without lines what is Art? Everything in art refer to lines, even the shading. This section taught me how to use lines exactly. How to make dark lines, or  thin lines. For example, The Star Fish drawing, was drawing well drawn because  I knew the basics of lines from the previous drawings I drew. By me curving lines and adjusting how long a line is, my star fish came out very well. You can see my drawing at the end of this page. 

The next section of Drawingspace.com is D. Section D was also an interesting section. Section D was called squirkling, “Squirkling is an easy method of shading, in which randomly drawn curved lines (called squirkles) combine squiggles and scribbles with circles to create textured values. The curriculum is designed to enhance various shading skills.” I feel like this section was defiantly focusing more on shading, and knowing light from dark in a picture. This relates to section C, but a little more advance.  I used the method squirkling, to shade certain things. Sometimes I would shade in hard, or around the face of one of my drawings. For example, my drawing baby curly, and his hair was drawn by using the method squirkling. The motion of my pencil is around, instead of shape. This causes the lines to be curly and not as straight. So Baby curly’s hair looks natural and more like hair. Also, with this method I can decide whether I want more darker tone, or lighter tone. I really enjoyed this section of the Lessons.

Section E was about perspective. All of the other sections applied to perspective meaning the lines, the way I angle them. I also did lots of shading and tones. Section E says “Perspective is the very foundation, on which drawing compositions either stand or fall. With proper use of perspective, representational drawings appear three-dimensional and visually correct.” Perspective is so interesting and come out to be very real. They look like the object drawn is  real. Section F is more structured but look to further blogs to see.

This quarter I followed tutorials from draw space website. My aim for this quarter was to work on shedding and I did. I worked hard this time and I see some improvements as well. I am trying my best to improve more. 

I am Julian Makarechi a sophomore at Science Leadership Academy. I have taken some art classes in the past at my old elementary school, but nothing serious. This is my second year taking art at SLA and my second quarter in this advanced art class. Like last year I have Ms. Hull as my teacher and she has been able to teach me many different methods to improve my artistic skills. The sketches below are drawings that were assigned to do on drawspace.com. This site is very helpful, its explains how to do each drawing and shows you other peoples sketches as well. As the quarter went by my sketches started to improve, I was able to get a general understand of most of the topics. The sketches vary from portraits and animals to shading and squirkles. I am pretty happy with my art work and how I have developed it. 



How to make flickr slideshow:
1. Create a flickr account on flickr.com (very simple; you may sign up with gmail or facebook)
2. Upload you pictures to your photo stream (you may rotate and add caption them if you would like)
3. Transfer all your desired pictures from your photo stream to a set by "clicking create set"
4. Finally turn that set into a slideshow and take the embed code to post on other sites.

During the second quarter of senior art class, I brushed up a lot on my drawing skills. I bought myself a brand new sketch book to start fresh and my goal was to only draw things in it that I knew I was going to be really proud of. Before this quarter, I was working a lot with charcoal so I wanted to switch it up a little and just use my pencil for a lot of the work that I did. I really wanted to improve my drawing skills so my drawings look a little more realistic. I think this really showed through with my daffodil drawing. That is the drawing I am most proud of doing this quarter. It took me about three class periods to complete because I was being very meticulous with the shading. I wanted it to look good enough to be a tattoo, that is what I kept envisioning. 

I also worked on a project at home. I was doing some research online and I came across a Crayola canvas. It really looked interesting and I wanted to try it out. I went to the craft store Michael's and picked up a new canvas and the biggest pack of Crayola crayons I could buy. I color organized the crayons the way I wanted them to be on the canvas. I then hot glued each crayon onto the canvas in a zig zag pattern. My next step was to take a hair dryer and put it on high and melt the tops of the crayons so the wax melted and dripped down the canvas. I was very happy with the way it turned out. I used my friend’s professional camera to take a picture of it. 

After that project, I went back into pencil drawings. I drew a bunch of pictures of my favorite cartoon characters. This included the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, Alice, and the Mad Hatter, all from the movie ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ Then I drew Jake and Fin from ‘Adventure Time’, my favorite TV show. I also threw in one charcoal drawing I drew down Valley green and two flower pastel drawings. I really enjoyed art this quarter because I did a variety of different things and I got to brush up on my drawing skills and make a Crayola canvas. 

Click here and here

Ingredients (for two servings):
1 Onion
1 Green pepper
1 Tomato
2 African hot peppers
5 Maggi cubes
1 Package Chicken tray
⅕ cup of vegetable oil 

Instructions:
1.) Pour 5 oz. of dehydrated attieke into a large pot.
2.) Heat 5 oz. of water until warm. Pour the water in the pot with the attieke while stirring gently. Allow the attieke to soak for 5 to 10 minutes.
3.) Place the pot on the stove and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir the attieke continuously. Use a fork to prevent the grains from sticking together.
4.) Turn off the heat and remove the pot from the stove.                             
5.) Place the attieke in a large bowl and wait for it to cool down.
6.) For the second part of the dish, place the chicken in a large Ziploc bag. Then, place the 3 maggi cubes in the Ziploc bag with the chicken. Keep the chicken in there for 30-60 minutes. 
7.) Take the Ziploc bag with the chicken and put it in a refrigerator. You can refrigerate the chicken for up to four hour. The chicken will absorb the flavors.
8.) Take the chicken out of the fridge. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature before grilling it.
9.) Grill the chicken in a grill pan till both sides of the chicken turn brown and crispy.
10.) Place the grilled chicken in a plate and put the attieke next to it.
11.) Cut up the onion, tomato, African hot pepper, and green pepper and put them in a Ziploc bag. Put one maggi cube and ⅕ of vegetable oil in the Ziploc bag. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
12.) Put the mixture that is in the Ziploc bag on top of the grilled chicken and the attieke.

 

Analysis:

Our meal consists entirely of processed foods. The total amount of calories in our meal is 851.4. Since there are so many calories in our dish, if eaten often, the human body would gain weight and grow to be less healthy. The amount of fat in our dish is 18.1 grams. Since our dish is fairly low in fat, the human body is more likely to work more proficiently. It is also less prone to get diseases associated with a fatty diet. These include diabetes, heart disease, and cancer of the lower digestive system. However, if you ate this meal everyday, since it is low in fat, it can lead to problems like overeating, depression, and hormonal imbalances.

All of our ingredients were harvested in the United States. However, some of them are native to West Africa (African hot pepper, etc.). On average, our ingredients travelled 600 miles to get to Philadelphia. According to research, the manufactures of the ingredients to not harvest it organically.

The chemicals used can have a negative impact on the planet in many ways. One of these is pollution. As the chemicals get washed away, they end up in rivers. This ultimately decreases the quality of the affected river. Given each ingredient, the meal cost five ten dollars to make. This is about the same cost as a fast food meal. 

One ingredient of particular interest to us was the African hot pepper. To grow it, a seed was placed in the ground. It was watered once everyday and sprayed with pesticides. After growing, it was picked, packaged, and sent to the store to be sold. After being purchased, it ended up in our dish.

 

Personal Reflections:

Ronald: One of the main problems with America’s food system is that people are lazy. In this unit, we have learned that people simply do what is most convenient when it comes to obtaining food. For instance, I remember one of the graphs that we looked at showed how far away the average person is from a supermarket. I realized that this distance often determines whether or not a person has access to healthy organic foods, as if unhealthy foods are closer, that is probably what the consumer will choose.

If I could make changes to my food choices, I would I would eat more vegetables. The reason is because I sometimes go days without eating them. I feel that if I ate more vegetables, I would become a healthier person. One impact that eating more vegetables would have is that I would have more lasting energy. Although eating foods that are high in sugar gives me energy, it burns out quickly. As a sprinter, this can lead to me tiring out in the middle of a race. 

After realizing that I need to eat more vegetables, I am prepared to make a change. Now, I make sure that I eat vegetables at least once a day. I plan to increase my intake even further.

Mabintu: I have learned a lot about foods this unit; food that is good for you and food that is bad for you. We also learned about why some foods are the way they are and what the government has to do with the kind of food we eat. When we looked at the health/food maps we came to an understanding that most of the overweight/Obese people are in the poor areas of Philadelphia. We talked about how food companies be lying about in the food and the labels. We talked about organic food and how it is more expensive and you have less of a variety to choose from. That is why people spend most of their money on presses food because they cause less. I do not need to change anything about my diet because I usually eat homemade food. When I eat outside I do not eat health because it’s they only time I can eat something that I think is good. I do not eat unhealthy most of the time I eat unhealthy like twice a week or so. I guess I need to make a little change to my diet, as to what times I eat. Right now I eat any time I hungry and sometimes I eat even when I’m not hungry. That will have to change.

Nadir: ¡Hola!
Terrance: ¿Que Pasa? Bien venido a la discoteca de caballeros! 
Sasha: "¡Te parece a Trinidad James!"
"Realmente? Quiero estar en tu video próximo."
"Vamos al baño"
Wendy: ¿Como era tu dia?
Kami: "Ohh ah ew si.."




https://vimeo.com/58420510

Serving size: 7-8

12.00 dollars

Ingredient

1/2 cup of magrine

1/2 cup of Sugar

4 eggs

1 bag of wheat bread crumbs


20 onces of crush pineapples.

 1 cup of skim milk.

2 tablespoons of salt.

5 tablespoons of pumpkin spice.

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees

2. Mix the bowls with the ingredients.

3. Bake the 350 degree oven for an hour before serving.

Serving size 2 people.

Some of the food is process and some is whole. The pineapples and eggs are not process and they are whole foods. But the extra ingredients like sugar margarine is process. Its pretty healthy as it only has 166 calories. I say it’s like 55% process and 45% not process. It is very high in natural sugar and process sugar. It also has eggs for protein and bread for bread use. This food dish lacks vitamin A, B and D. Also it does not have a lot of cholesterol. Some of the food that is processed all of the food will go straight to your systems that will be processed and then go to your stomach. Margarine comes from vegetable oil and skim milk. That is healthier then butter.

Margarine comes from vegetable oil and skim milk. So they came from a farmers.  So does the eggs that were made. My specific margarine and eggs comes from Kentucky. I am not aware wear my eggs came from but its company was Foodhold USA which is in Maryland. The rolls came from Florida and my Pineapples also came from Florida. That is a total of 1324 miles traveled just to get in my home. The Margarine, bread, pineapples, and sugar were all processed. Only the eggs were not processed. But the chicken who laid it was.

This meal cost around 12 dollars. This meal is suppose to serve 8 people. This is a lot more expensive then a 4 dollar menu burgers from McDonalds. This is an outrage that a dish served for 8 cost so much more. The stuff that cost the most is pineapples which were 2.00 dollars. Obviously the Martians, Doles and other foods won the deal by stealing my money. 

My bread cubes cubes some soybeans and Monocalcuim in it. I have no idea how they managed to add those items in bread  but the did.  I’m pretty sure if I made the bread those items would not be included in my bread. My eggs have no significant source of Dietary fiber or sugar. But I have no idea how to make eggs the right way. Plus I have no chickens.

I learned different effects that food can have on someone. I knew that eating unhealthy can cause an unhealthy life in the future. I knew that liver problems and other serious diseases are caused by eating habits. What I learned the most was from the videos, even though we didn’t finish the movie I learned a lot about the food culture. I learned that the food producers are a bunch of a-holes. Sorry for the rude language but it’s beyond me that a food company can just about contaminate almost all of the natural foods to make them more fattening just for money. It’s terrible to kill the cows, chickens and pigs the way they do. Not only make them fat but you basically make them kill them in the most gruesome way. And once someone talks about it, they get sued by the food companies. The workers can’t stop because they need the money to survive. So no one wins. This is a messed up society we have. Another reason why this world is messed up is because people in low income can not afford healthy foods because 1 low income and 2 there are no grocery store. This a terrible world we live in.

Click here to view my final project! 

 

Over the past three years of living in Philadelphia my language has changed dramatically compared to when I lived in Delaware. Not only did I move to a totally different state with a different way of living, talking, dressing, etc., but I got older as well. Living in Philly I definitely have picked up the slang that’s used on a daily basis. When I am with my friends we use different slang words then someone maybe from south Philly. My weekends are full of fun random sayings that we make up.

My friends that live in West Philly, together we call each other The Mob. In the Mob my closest friend is Shania. She Is the one closest to my age (17). “Shine bright like a diamond” a song by Rihanna (my sister Shania’s ringtone) begins to play as my day is interrupted by her daily text messages or phone calls. Most the time she is calling or messaging me to ask if im going to come down there that day to chill or go to a party. “Yo shawty. Whats up? Instead of just “Hey” or “Hi” those are usually the things she’ll say. My response mainly sounds something like “Hey love. How r u?” I use love as a way to show I care about you on some level. If I call you my love its basically like calling you my friend or my homie.  Majority of the Mob’s conversations involve finding out the swerve (the move; activity) of the day/night. They can also involve a lot of plotting and planning sessions.

Our conversations go on they begin to get sillier and sillier. Someone will say something that someone else should have already known the answer to. Or (usually) Shania will ask a dumb question like five times in four different ways. We are the youngest of our crew of about 20 people (we are 16). The oldest direct member of our family will be 21 this year. Shania and I being the young ones, they basically took us in as there lil sisters/ young bulls. For someone who doesn’t hang out with us on a daily basis they would think we are they WEIRDEST people alive. One thing that we do to basically laugh at each other is what is called Follow ups. “That’s one…follow ups”; this is usually stated when someone does something wrong or says something totally Stupid off. What happens is that you get hit on the shoulder back arm area by everyone around you. You can say “No Follow ups” Saying this is basically acknowledging that you screwed up in some way. It also yells “dont hit me!”

Another language that is used a lot in my life is the language of arts. Whether its rap poetry or singing its always happening (especially if im with my friends) We use it to not only express ourselves but to make things more fun. We could be walking down the street and someone will randomly start singing or rapping about what we are doing. Seven out of the 15 people in The Mob rap and go to the studio. When PurpVarsity (the rap group) with Cazz, Drew and two people not from The Mob throws parties they preform and give other people the opportunity to perform as well.  The arts have become of big part of how I communicate to strangers and very close people. Its not pressuring, its comfortable and fun.