Reflection: What I found most challenging about this project was finding things that related to topics that I wanted to use. Even if it was something that you could find that connected the world in America, that didn't mean that you could find it in Philadelphia to take a picture and to really show that it was a part of my life. Even though I know that the world is connected, I didn't realize how much of that you could actually see or how to connect the things we saw everyday with that knowledge. To collect images I started with topics that I knew I would want to go over and then I seriously thought about where I have seen those things in my daily life. For example, I used the Salvation Army as a representation of international organizations which didn't occur to me until I really sat down and thought about organizations that I saw everyday. I had the information I needed on globalization and I had the knowledge of the things I was surrounded by, the problem was really pulling those two things together. And once I did I went around my own neighborhood and the school's neighborhood and I took pictures with my camera. My favorite picture is the picture of fruit from Trader Joe's because I went there in the first place because I knew that we got our fruit from other places. What I loved the most was that Trader Joe's is so out there with it, they really show you where we get our food. And the picture in the presentation shows two different foods from two totally different places in the same place. I think that once you really take a step back and look that Philadelphia has more than enough examples of globalization all over the place. Sometimes it's hard to see that because we live here, but it's so obvious when you take a closer look. And as far as Philadelphia is compared to other places, I would say that if it isn't well above other places then it is definitely even. Maybe New York has more diversity, it is a huge eastern city. I think that it's just difficult to see globalization in a place where you are so much a part of the society.
Reflection: What did you find most challenging about this project? I think what I found most challenging was putting in words how one aspect connected to globalization. I live it everyday so I wouldn't put much detail into it, so it was challenging.
How did you go about collecting the images or selecting the images? First I selected topics and thought about places I've been or walked by before. Most of my pictures were in the city or things you can find anywhere, like police of BMW.
Which image is your favorite? Why? Elaborate. My favorite image was either the China Town gate or the Yoga club. The Friendship Gate is colorful and symbolic with the red and gold. The yoga club has a lotus flower on top and flowers in India represent long life, honor, and good fortune. You can see the globalization in these pictures.
How
prevalent is the evidence of globalization in Philadelphia? Do you
think it is more or less so (evident) than in other large cities in the
US? Why Why not? The globalization is easy to see in Philadelphia. This city is the home of many cultures and those cultures all have different components of globalization.
This entry will mark my second to last one :( makes me a little upset because I wont really have a reason to share what I think or how I feel anymore (not like i have been doing these a lot) but I felt like when I did do them, I felt better about myself.
* My next one will be just as good as the one I wrote for the baseball team after our last game.
The most challenging part of this project was the collection of images. It takes a lot of thought ahead of time to go out and plan it and make it to all the places I needed to go. I used the day that the power went out to collect most of my images. It went well, I just wish I had gotten more. My favorite image is the one of the reading terminal. I like it because I like the reading terminal and buying things there, so being able to use that in my project was enjoyable. Globalization is pretty prevalent in Philadelphia, especially with China town and all of the diverse cultural places we have available to us in the city. I assume most cities are similar to ours, but in rural places there would be much less evidence of globalization.
What did you find most challenging about this project?
I found it most challenging to decide on pictures to take and
getting to the locations. Some things that I wanted to take photos of I
didn't have access to getting there. I also found it difficult to
directly relate my photo to that theme, some times I would end up
focusing on a different theme with that photo also.
How did you go about collecting the images or selecting the images?
To collect images, I made a list of broad ideas then just wandered downtown until I found something that was interesting.
Then I thought of places or things to take pictures of to finish. So I
could find the object then easily capture it. It was also hard to get
some pictures because some places like The Parkway was under
construction. I couldnt get all the way to the airport so I drove until
I found a sign on the expressway that informed drivers that the airport
exit was coming up.
Which image is your favorite? Why? Elaborate.
My favorite image was my photo for culture. I didn't know the
meaning behind the hotel or mural on the hotel. I knew that for culture
I wanted a mural painting that looked in some way cultural. When I did
my research I found out that the hotel is made to be a home away from
home for people from Europe and there are many branches of this hotel
in over 50 countries in the world.
How
prevalent is the evidence of globalization in Philadelphia? Do you
think it is more or less so (evident) than in other large cities in the
US? Why Why not?
I think globalization is prevalent in Philadelphia. I think that
it is probably equally evident in other large cities. All of my
examples for globalization, other cities have those things also, like
restaurants, airports, money, banks, hospitals/health insurance,apple stores, gas stations and a place where government officials meet.
What did you find most challenging about this project?
I found it most challenging to decide on pictures to take and getting to the locations. Some things that I wanted to take photos of I didn't have access to getting there. I also found it difficult to directly relate my photo to that theme, some times I would end up focusing on a different theme with that photo also.
How did you go about collecting the images or selecting the images?
To collect images, I made a list of broad ideas then just wandered downtown until I found something that was interesting. Then I thought of places or things to take pictures of to finish. So I could find the object then easily capture it. It was also hard to get some pictures because some places like The Parkway was under construction. I couldnt get all the way to the airport so I drove until I found a sign on the expressway that informed drivers that the airport exit was coming up.
Which image is your favorite? Why? Elaborate.
My favorite image was my photo for culture. I didn't know the meaning behind the hotel or mural on the hotel. I knew that for culture I wanted a mural painting that looked in some way cultural. When I did my research I found out that the hotel is made to be a home away from home for people from Europe and there are many branches of this hotel in over 50 countries in the world.
How
prevalent is the evidence of globalization in Philadelphia? Do you
think it is more or less so (evident) than in other large cities in the
US? Why Why not?
I think globalization is prevalent in Philadelphia. I think that it is probably equally evident in other large cities. All of my examples for globalization, other cities have those things also, like restaurants, airports, money, banks, hospitals/health insurance, apple stores, gas stations and a place where government officials meet.
The most difficult part of this project was finding concrete examples of vague and intangible forms of globalization, such as "energy" or "human rights." Ultimately, I was able to make a list of things to photograph, and biked all around the city taking pictures. My favorite picture is the one of the Lukoil gas station, because it's such a pedestrian sight and yet such a perfect example of globalization through trade, not to mention an illustration of recent US-Russia relations. I think globalization is ubiquitous in Philadelphia. Virtually all technology is made overseas. Clothes are almost always from Asia, and it's necessary to make an extra effort to find American-made products. I think globalization is prevalent throughout the United States, but perhaps less so in land-locked states, who don't have immediate access to trade and travelers from overseas.
What did you find most challenging about this project? Choosing what to take pictures of was definitely the most challenging part to me.
How did you go about collecting the images or selecting the images? Some of the were pre-thought out, others just came to when I was about and about.
Which image is your favorite? Why? Elaborate. My favorite image had to be the one of the Italian Fiat I took because I was really lucky to get a shot of it when they are still so rare and it was perfect for what I wanted to talk about since I love cars.
How prevalent is the evidence of globalization in Philadelphia? Do you think it is more or less so (evident) than in other large cities in the US? Why Why not? I think that Globalization is very prevalent in Philadelphia and other large cities because with large cities, it's like there is one blueprint for success. And each large city around the world contributes a little bit to it. But they all follow it so they are taking pieces of each other
Reflection: The most challenging thing about this project was coming up with things that I could easily find in Philadelphia that could represent the different aspects of globalization. Some of them were not all that hard to think of, but others were very hard. I first thought that I would just walk around the city taking pictures of things that I saw. I thought that as I saw things, ideas would come to me and I would take a picture. This method did not work when I went about walking around. I then sat down and thought of ideas for pictures that I could take in my head and where I could take them. This method worked a lot better. I think that my favorite image is the one of the solar panels. Although it is kind of hard to see them in the picture, they are good for representing that aspect of globalization which is environment and energy. I took the picture of my neighbor's roof because his house is powered by solar panels. I think that Philadelphia shows an average amount of evidence for globalization compared to other cities. As I said in my project, I think that immigration is the most important element of globalization so probably cities that have a lot of immigrants are what show evidence of globalization the most. Probably cities like San Diego or Los Angeles which have a lot of Mexican immigrants, or Boston which has a lot of Irish immigrants.
Reflection The most challenging part of this project, by far, was finding a connection between the themes of this class and places in Philadelphia. Although we live in a very diverse city, examples of globalization are not as evident as one might imagine. It took a lot of creative thinking to complete this benchmark.
Most of my pictures required a special trip, whether it was to the Philadelphia Zoo or to Chinatown. However, I was able to take two of them while I was in the city for other reasons. GlaxoSmithKline and the flags that line the Parkway are on an average day's route, so those picture were easily to take. My favorite picture is the one taken in Malawi, in front of a school constructed by buildOn and the local village. It perfectly connects to the globalization of education and brings back wonderful memories of my trip last year.
While some examples of globalization are evident in Philadelphia, certain topics, such as international politics and security, are much more difficult. In cities with higher immigrant populations, like New York, or cities with an international focus (i.e. Washington, DC) globalization would be easier to evidence.
Reflections In all honesty, this was one of the worst projects I have ever done. There are many excuses as of why? Maybe it was the idea of the me not being motivated to do work or plain and simple I'm ready to graduate. It could simply be that I can accept getting a C this quarter and having a B overall. The challenging part was actually completing the project. With aspirations of getting anything above a zero, I think I hardly can say I accomplished that goal. I only did 3/10 for pictures and my facts are no where near as strong as I would like them to be. I dont really have a favorite part because me not putting any effort forth in completing this project. My favorite image was getting the religion and showing which cultures come at different times. This was pretty unique and something I felt was interested. I could say may evidence does help to lean my opinion in either way because I did not find enough research to have a valid opinon on this topic.
In a ukelele sound is produced through sound waves, created by vibrations. Vibrations are created from energy transfer from the strings being strummed. Depending on how hard you strum the more the strings will vibrate and the louder the sound will be. Specifically, pitch is be changed through the tension of the strings at the head of the guitar and where you apply pressure to the strings on the neck. For instance, if you apply pressure to the strings onto a fret close to the center of the guitar, the pitch of will be higher and vice versa; if pressure was applied closer to the head of the guitar then the pitch would be deeper.
What materials will you actually be using for your instrument and why? I will be using a wooden box, strings wooden rods or poles for the neck and guitar stings. I will shorten them to a appropriate length for my ukelele. To create the correct sound, I'll use a wooden box because I can easily sand it and change the shape of the box accordingly to the sound I'm trying to create. The rods will act as my ukelele's neck. Together, I'll be able to play my instrument like an acoustic guitar or ukelele.
Do we have time in class to practice the song or do we have to build and practice the instrument outside of class?
Statistics is a great class with
many different challenging projects, class work, and quizzes. But not only are
they challenging they also are fun to do because it is more of a real-life
application than in any other math class I have taken at SLA. My purpose for
this post to tell you why my favorite benchmarks of the year was from the first
quarter. This benchmark was fun because we had to go to our local supermarket
and find the price of certain food items and compare against the people of our
group who were assigned a different location. With this benchmark, we were put
to the challenge of finding the:
Z-score
Mean
Median
Mode
Range
Also, this was my favorite because
I got the opportunity to see how much money I was either saving or wasting by
shopping at said supermarket. As a group doing this, we were able to see how
the different supermarkets price the same item and compare it, and we also
looked to see if the “generic” brand had any comparison to the regular brand.
In addition to that, my second
favorite benchmark from this class was the most recent one that we were faced
with doing. This benchmark I am talking about, required us to make ourselves a
mini-study guide for our college math course that we are going to take in the
fall. This study guide had to touch on all topics that we touched throughout the
year. However, this was hard to do because I had to go back in my now sloppy
notebook to figure out what we had done this year.
My portfolio is a demonstration of how much of a good student I can be If I try, and how I sometimes may not do my best because of time of sequences that don't work for me. The Odyssesy comapare/contrast, I tried my best, managed my time, and met was able to complete everything I needed for the assignment even though I did it in the last week. An example of a project gone right. Unlike my Mysterious Skin book review, It was rushed and incomplete in body and depth, It was obviously a fault of mine that made me not able to show off my best efforts. Throughout the entire semester my grade was a reflection of this repetitive unbalance of time, and organization.
2) Memoir Vignette: In this project we had to write a narrative about something that happened to us, that was impacting and played a role in how we grew up. I choose an event that happened to me when I was very young, which inspired my fascination for paranormal science.
In the summer of 2001, when I was only five years old, I was to become a member of a group of paranormal phenomenon fanatics and victims. What I witnessed when I was young may be a factor to my arms length detachment to society. Don't be afraid, for it was but a mere miscomprehension. And come to these years discovering that it wasn't really what I thought it was a t first. And maybe so the expanding mind of a five year old really did misinterpret but it happened. My mothers van another blur in the great big spectrum of cars we' own in the future years. Sitting in the back, seat belt strapped over my shoulder staring in amazement out the window. Eyes to see, eyes to learn. This ride is muted, like a slow dive. It's the time when summer trades in it's sun umbrella for a rake. My favorite time of the year, the weather at humble ease into a closer step towards peacefulness. My mother is in the front driving, my baby sister Lindsey in the car right next to me as we head under the bridge into Kelly Drive. I remember always being scared when we went under the bridge. I always thought it would collapse over us, and we'd be goners. I still think that sometimes today.
The van cruised smoothly down the road. Right next to it brown river with a beautiful rainbow forest to the other side, with little dirt paths playing pick-a-boo with the travelers. A bikeway on our side with a little wooden bridge that connects you across the river. I stared out the window, the yellows, and greens of nature moving vastly through the window like a mosaic. We went around the curve, and I observed the river closely. Brown and mucky it was, with all kinds of dead trees and plants creeping at the surface. My mind swallowed it whole. My heart stumbled.Eyes faltering to a blink. Face pressed up to the window. A humongous yellow creature emerged from the water. It stood in its brown puddles. The size of the house it was. Steadily moving in the muck water dripping from it. It was garbage truck yellow and had brown little patches of stains marked all over its monstrous body. Its legs were skinny and almost robotic. It had giant black fly eyes on an alien shaped head. And yellow antennas mutinous. It seemed to be praying, almost. And then I figured it out; it was a giant yellow grasshopper! It made a horrendous noise "SCREEEECCH!" As it maneuvered itself in the river. I wanted to scream. But we just drove on by. All the cars seemed to be driving on by. I was to pertrify to tell my mother. We drove on in to lost memories.
For years and years that scene stayed a bullet in my heart. I always believed it was a giant grasshopper. I had witnessed the paranormal. The pretend things. That's another thing that sparked my curiousity for UFOs. For years every Saturday morning I'd be on the Discovery Chanel watching UFO Files. Going on the computer and researching ghosts and any kind of paranormal happenings. The Church of Satan, Christianity, Exorcisms, Bigfoot, the missing, and unexplained creatures. All these things had become the center of my life. I had always thought all these years that I had witnessed the paranormal. I was a one of those people you saw on TV talking about being abducted, I was that country family who saw the flying saucer zoom across the sky. That was all I cared for, until I grew up. Life it happens, but sometimes we do let our imaginations get the best of us. And now when I look back, I learn that I didn't discover some new species, but I discovered something more colossal. What I saw wasn't a giant yellow grasshopper, but a CATERPILLAR truck. Used for construction and destruction. Those big black eyes were probably bulldozers I was seeing. It's funny how strong the mind can fool you. Memories painting pictures and illusions. I understood why there are so many crazies walking around believing that zombies will return from the dead and it will be salvation. People believing anything they hear. I was afraid so my mind made it all up. Fear is thoughts that distort reality. Thoughts that distort reality are lies, and thus imaginary. I like to laugh at what I though, but want to humble myself for the truth about life I have gained.
The 3)Odyssey Compare/Contrast: In the Odyssey Compare/Contrast essay we were required to pick a character and or event of the Odyssey and compare it to another story/movie/ tv show. I chose to compare Athena of the Odyssey, and Lady Galadriel of The Lord of the Rings.
It is assuredly valued that the goddess Athena and Lady Galadriel are sage mentors of their time. Although the texts of The Odyssey and The Lord of the Rings take place in different times and settings, Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings elfy Lady of Lothlorien, and the Greek's virgin goddess Athena of The Odyssey both appear as guilders of wisdom and power in both stories. But just how do these immortal ladies meet head to head in similarities of their stories? Athena and Lady Galadriel are different because Athena is a Goddess, and Lady Galadriel is a high Elf. Though Lady Galadriel is great in wit, Athena is known for her logic and intelligence, and Lady Galadriel for her fairness, calling her the Lady of Light. Athena is known as the Virgin Goddess, because she never married or had a lover, Lady Galadriel on the other hand is married to Lord Celeborn. Athena and Lady Galadriel are similar because they both prophesize to help the main characters of their journey. In the book The Odyssey Athena predicts Ulysses' return to Telemachus " ...But come, tell me this and declare it truly, whether indeed, tall as you are, you are the son of Ulysses himself. WOndrously like his are your head and beautiful eyes; for full often we did consort with one another before he embarked for the land of Troy, where others, too, the bravest of the Argives, went in their excavated ships. But since that day neither have I seen Ulysses, nor he me."( Book 1: 178-210). And Lady Galadriel does the same thing to Frodo and Samwise Gamgee, by taking them to her Mirror of Galadriel and letting them look into the future of what could be if they don't complete their tasks. In The Fellowship of the Ring, she states,"' Like as not.' said the Lady with a gentle laugh. 'But come, you shall look and see what you may. Do not touch the water!'...' There's only stars, as I thought,' he Frodo said. Then he gave a low gasp for the stars went out. As if a dark veil had been withdrawn, the Mirror grew grey, and then clears. There was the sun shining, and the branches of trees were waving and tossing in the wind..." ( Book 2: p. 362) These quotes exemplify how Athena prophesizes the return of Ulysses and how Lady Galadriel lets Frodo and Sam see the future. In conclusion, Lady Galadriel and Athena are both important and key characters in the books Lord of the Rings and The Odyssey. They meet head to head, by providing characters with gifts, prophecy, and help in near impossible situations. By highlighting the relation between Lady Galadriel and Athena, one can have a better understanding of the influence of ancient Greek mythology on later masterpieces of fantasy and literature by authors like J.R.R Tolkien. 4)
5) Independent Reading assignment: Nineteen Eighty Four, in this assignment I do a review the book Nineteen-Eighty Four. I basically talk about the book
On June 8th
1949, the English author of the popular novel Animal Farm, George Orwell,
published the 326 page book Nineteen-Eighty-Four.The book was listed as number 13 on the 100 best
English-language novels of the 20th century.
Nineteen-Eighy-Four
takes place in the post-capitalist fictional dystopia
Oceania, which is supposed to be a model of future Britainthirty-five year after the book was
written.We find ourselves in a
totalitarian, collectivist,oligarchical state, where state interference is apparent in a very
controlling manner, and all popular thoughts, and opinion reign. The story is
in first person told by the protagonist Winston Smith, who though works for the
central Party’s branch in changing historical records to make sure that
propaganda is always true, is actually very critical of Big Brother, the
dictator of Oceania,and is
throughout the entire story trying to find his way into a direct action of
rebellion.The conflict of the
story, is basically him trying to achieve some sort of independence and
revolution in a society where censorship is prevalent, actions and you are
constantly being watched. The main conflict in the story is Winston trying to
survive, trying not go completely insane in a police state where everything his
force fed and authority blankets every inch of land.
My
favorite character is of course Winston even though, how he ends up is very
much shocking and terrifying.I
can’t honestly say I favor any of the characters, for every character is not
very likeable, in fact they are all very bland, and it seems as if some of them
don’t even exist.People should
realize that this bookisn’t even
about the characters, it’s about looking into a perspective and challenging
everything you know. One theme I took away from this book was definetly,
revaulating my opinions on authority, government control, economy, and
correlating these things to modern day society. Though fictional, I’d say this
book, is at the same time a gothic horror and an informative essay. Very
beautiful, eloquent, and explosively written.This book should without a doubt be read more than once,
because there is so much to take in, one can possibly not take in everything at
once.
This
might just be one of the greatest books I’ve ever read and one of the greatest novels
of all time. Imagine, the “Catcher in the Rye” but the politically correct
version. One strength this book has is demonstrating perspective of the rebel,
and thoroughly exemplifying the mentality one who is against the grain. I
wouldn’t change anything about the book, I’d only read it again and again and
again. It introduces many political themes such as socialism, capitalism,
democracy, etc, so additional research should be done so you know about every
thick concept the book explores. It may be quite overwhelming because of the
intense word usage, so having a dictionary by your side is recommended.
In
conclusion, this book should be read by every sort of person, of every range of
abilities. Something about it taps into your brain, leaves you shocked,
possibly frightened, but eager to learn more.
6)Journal Entries: These are journal entries from this year that love.
JOURNAL:3/17/11
Your environment shapes who you are because living in a
certain environment can effect how you see the world.The things that you do in
that environment, affect how you spend your free time, either it’s too
dangerous to go outdoors, making you stay indoors, or your prefer going out in
the jungle. What you see outside of your house for me, is what you see in the
world. Either it’s a clean suburban slum, or a the gutters of the city, that’s
what you have to show for your perspective of the world.
JOURNAL: 3/18/11
I didn’t feel anything when I encountered the word “nigger”.
I would’ve been interested if I was in the 5th grade or something,
but no. I don’t really think it means anything, it’s use is to evoke hatred and
bad memories, but really when you get over it, it doesn’t affect you. It’s not
the best come back, and it’s not even the best insult, people have turned it
into something different, making it not really harmful at all anymore.
JOURNAL 3/24/11
I think Kevin
will eventually end up having to adapt to the new world,or become insane and institutionalized.
JOURNAL: 4/5/11
Some of the expectations put upon me by others are to have
good grades, good behavior, look the best, be in tons of extracurricular
activities, and be everybody’s favorite. My expectations for myself are to
basicallybe as secure with my own
individuality regardless of what others say and not try to live up to other people’s
standards and be content in what I feel is best for me. These expectations are
way different because though, I am involved in an extracurricular activity, I’m
not excited by most of them,my
expectations are about being at what you think is your personal best, and doing
things that give you purpose and meaning and not just being a tool for others.
7) This year was very very messy for me. It's unlike any year I've ever had. My grades were not all straight A's like usual, and I had to face uncomfortable socialization from the staff and students. I guess I learned how to deal with screwing things up and how to pick up the pieces from the mess I make. It's great.
I would like to play the Ukelele, it is a string instrument. Sound is produced by the musician strumming the strings. Depending on how tight the strings are and how thick the strings are. A different sound or pitch is produced due to tension. Tension is kind of like friction, tension is caused by the objects resistance to movement, like friction. However, tension focuses more on the vibration of the strings rather than its movement in general. By pressing down on the strings in different places on the frets (which are small rods attached to the neck of string instruments like guitars, ukeleles, violins etc.) also changes how high or low the pitch of the strings will be. Ukeleles are typically rounded wood, with a small cut out hole in the middle to let sound escape. the exact size of the ukeleles alternate. The shape is really important for the sound to amplify, the sound waves can bounce off of the rounded and flat surfaces rather than pointy or just simply a straight box. Which makes me think a lot about how I'm going to create my ukelele, specifically what kind of materials I'm going to need in order for the sound waves the be amplified enough for everyone to hear them. I think that this is going to take a lot of hard work and a good amount of calculations especially when I add and tune the strings.
Considering that I didn't know much about sound waves except for the basics of them. Like how mediums interact with them, and the fact their their are multiple types such as sound, light or UVA/UVB rays, heat and wave disturbance within a liquid. I don't know exactly what type of wave is going through the liquid or medium. I did not learn about waves before these classes so this is all knew to me. But I know, that I have quite a bit of learning ahead of me before friday, when we perform.
Click here to see a video how how the song is played: http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-play-lazy-song-by-bruno-mars-ukulele-408518/
Click here to see the chords being played as well as where they show up in the song: http://www.ukulelestrummer.com/lazy-song-bruno-mars/
Our third big project was an Odyssey
Compare/Contrast Essay. Students had to pick a character from the book the
Odyssey and another piece of work. In my project I compared Odysseus from “The
Odyssey” and Everet for ‘O Brother Where Art Thou” In this project the students
had to create a thesis and link it through the paper and support it.
Odyssey Compare/Contrast Essay:
Odysseus
vs. Everett who is a better leader???
Sometimes leaders can get distracted, even the great
ones, but it is their job to realize that they made a mistake and must suffer
the consequences. Some leaders only lead for the glory. Odysseus from The
Odyssey and Everett from O Brother
Where Art Thou were both amazing leaders and their men looked up to them.
Despite their similarities there are some things that set them apart. Although
Everett and Odysseus are alike, Everett has better leadership skills, which in
the end helps him and his crew get to where they need to go.
Odysseus and Everett are both on a journey to get
home. In The Odyssey, Odysseus has been away for twenty years. He was at
the Trojan War for ten years and it took him ten more to get home. In O Brother Where Art Thou, Everett
escaped from the chain gang so he can go home and win his wife back. Both men
are vain. In O Brother Where Art Thou,
when Everett and his men are trying to fix their get away car, Everett is
supposed to be getting car parts, but he is worried about his hair treatment.
This shows that Everett can get off track easily when it comes to his
self-image and he doesn’t even think about what he should be doing. In The
Odyssey Circe is telling Odysseus how to get home, when she tells him about
a deadly creature that he should stay away from he wants to fight it any way.
”Deadly Charybdis-can’t I possibly cut and run from her and still fight Scylla
off when Scylla strikes my men?” (Book
12, Lines 124-125, page 275). He says this because he thinks he is
unstoppable and that he can take any monster that comes at him. He also wants
the rights to brag about defeating a monster that no one else could defeat. It
seems that Odysseus is more focused on the glory and the fame than the actual
consequences of doing what he wants to. If he did not talk this over with
Circe, Scylla would kill more of his men and maybe even himself.
Despite their similarities both men have many
differences. For example, Everett is more focused on the task at hand while
Odysseus is distracted. Odysseus and his men are on Circe’s island, after
Odysseus saves his men from the clutches of Circe. Odysseus and his men hang
out at the island for a year because Odysseus is sleeping with her. Odysseus’
men have to tell him that they have to go because they have been with Circe for
a year and that its time to start heading home. The men say to Odysseus “Captain
this is madness! High time you though of your own home at last, if it really is
your fate to make it back alive and reach your well-built house and native
land.” (Book 10, Lines 520-523, page 263). His men said this to him because
Odysseus promised them that he would get them home. Instead he was fooling
around with a Goddess for a year. After Everett and his men fall into the trap
of the Sirens they wake up and fine that one of them is missing, Pete. Wanting
all his men to get home safely Everett tells Delmar that they cannot stay
because they have to finish their journey without Pete. In this case Everett
shows that he is a better leader because he is more focused on getting to his
destination
Odysseus
steers his men in the wrong path, because of this many of his men die. Odysseus
feels bad, but keeps it to himself and doesn’t tell his men. When Odysseus and
his crew go towards Scylla and Charybdis he doesn’t tell them what is coming.
As a result of this his men are horrified and six of his men die a horrible
gruesome death.When explaining
his journey to people he explains how bad he felt and how he wanted to
apologize but didn’t. This is how he explained the death of his six best men,
”I could see hand and feet already hoisted, flailing, high, higher, over my
head, look- wailing down on me, comrades riven in agony, shrieking out my name
for the last time!” (Book 12, Lines
267-270, page 279). Everett also steers his men in the wrong direction and
lies to them. When Everett and his men escape from the chain gang he tells them
that he has a treasure that they can split if they come with him. After Everett
and Delmar rescue Pete, Everett tells them the truth about the treasure. He
tells them that there really wasn’t a treasure; he just wanted to get his wife
back. Everett feels bad and apologizes to his men for misguiding them and lying
to them. Everett’s men are extremely mad at him because they only had a little
more time on the chain gang and now they have another 80 years added on. Over
all Everett has the audacity to tell his men the truth. This tells us that he
is a better leader /man than Odysseus.
Everett and his men are all able to get where they
need to go safely because Everett has better leadership skills than Odysseus,
even though they are both alike. Both of the men Odysseus and Everett are very
vain, they are both consumed with their self-image. Odysseus gets distracted by
a lovely goddess and doesn’t leave for a while; his men have to tell him to
leave. Everett however falls into the same situation, but can easily spring
back into action. After Odysseus and Everett make a mistake Everett apologizes
to his men and asks for forgiveness. However Odysseus keeps his feelings to
himself. In all the leaders today and along time ago lead for different
reasons, how would we lead in different circumstances.
I would my favorite Benchmark was the 3rd quarters. It was a chance to do something a lot more interesting then normally present in math. I really enjoyed applying the statistical concepts we had learned into video format. I normaly find any math topic to be dreadfully boring but in this particular case I think I shined. The concepts of probability and chance were represented through a game of black jack shown in our video. The chance of getting 21 with various cards was shown . Several varying "trees"of black jack were also shown. These trees branched off showing various outcomes and probability of getting 21.
Our second big project was a Memoir
Vignette. In the second Quarter the class read Freedom Writers and Funny and
Farsi. These two books are memoir vignettes and we had to do one too. The
students had to pick an event in their lives and write about it by using the
elements we learned in class. Students had to incorporate a reflection without
showing it was really a reflection.
Memoir Vignette:
Family
is Always Better
I was so excited for the next school dance[SA1]. The first one was so much fun. I felt free and like
I was able to do anything. I also had a basketball game the same day. I was so
excited to walk into that dance and tell the school about our amazing victory.
But all that excitement went away when my mom finally mentioned that we were
going to see our family on the 17th of December. I thought to
myself, “NOOOO!! That’s the day of
the dance. I’m going to miss it.”[SA2]But I just had to suck it up and deal.
On
the day we left I decided to go into the car with my parents instead of my
grandmother. At first I thought it was a good idea. I’ll never make that
mistake again. I was smashed up
against the car door like a dead bug up against the windshield.[SA3] During the drive my dad was being even more weird
than usual. He kept saying the same thing in a loud obnoxious voice. “DANG YOU
DANG WOODCHUCKS QUIT CHUCKIN’ MY WOOD!!!!” He saw it on a commercial and
couldn’t stop saying it all weekend. We had to make a few stops to eat and use
the bathroom. At those stops my parents started to embarrass me out of my mind.
They started blurting out all of my personal information to the public. We were in the food court sitting down
on the cold hard red chairs; we sat and started to eat our food that we just
got.[SA4] My dad started to say that annoying thing that he
heard on the TV. I decided to ignore him and keep eating my cheese pizza and
Coca-Cola. Then I had to ask my mom a very important question. It is way to
personal to talk about. Any way they started to talk about it really loudly, I
tried to quiet them down but it didn’t work. Eventually I decided to go and eat
my pizza in the car where it was quiet. So far this was the worst trip ever, I
though to myself “I’d rather be at
the girls Basketball game or the dance.”[SA5] Then it was back on the road.
We
thought that we were only two minutes away; well it turns out after five hours
no one noticed that my mom put in the wrong address. So we drove around for another hour and a half trying to find
where the hotel was.Well it felt
that way; it was only about five minutes.[SA6]We made it to the hotel and pulled into a parking
spot. I ran out the car to greet the family that I only see once a year. I run
out and hug the first person I see, who was my Uncle Chris. I turn to hug the
next person but there is no one else there. I end up waiting for my family to
come. It didn’t take that long for them to show up.
At
the time only half of my cousins ended up coming. My cousin’s names are Kristen,
Lauren and Stephanie. Stephanie the oldest brought her boyfriend along named Russel
as a joke we called him Roger. My Uncle Chris’ wife is my Aunt Denis (we call
her Aunt GG). I ran and hugged each of them, except for Russel, and helped them
bring in their bags.
After
the family got all settled in we decided to watch the most amazing and funny
Christmas movie ever, ELF!!! We all wanted to open our presents but we didn’t
because our family was not there yet. It came to be about twelve o’clock and I
was tired so I went to bed before my other cousins came. When I woke up I found
out that my other cousins came a half a hour later, my mom took them to a
dinner for breakfast/desert. I was jealous and kind of sad that they didn’t
wake me up to take me with them.
I woke up the next morning and greeted
all the family I haven’t seen yet. My two younger cousins Emily and Jon Jon. I
greeted my Aunt Leslie. Lastly I greeted my Uncle Rob. After I greeted everyone[SA7] I went to the waffle maker and made a chocolate
waffle with a mountain of whipped cream on top and a drizzle of chocolate syrup
on top. It was the most amazing chocolate waffle ever.
At
this point I was still upset that I missed a basketball game and the dance.
Some how I decided to get over it. I learned that we were going to see a whale
hunting boat named The Charles W. Morgan. I was amazed that it had my name in
it. I felt like a celebrity[SA8], but no one really cared I could tell. We learned many things about how it was
built, being rebuilt and lived in/used it. We also learned who worked in it,
how it got its name and the captains that lived there. [SA9] You
could say it was like a class trip.[SA10]
After
we finished the tour of the magnificent ship we went to the famous Mystic
pizza. The pizza is said to be the best in Connecticut. And the romance movie
Mystic Pizza was shot right there in that shop. Julia Roberts was in that movie
and it was the jump-start of her career. I couldn’t believe that I was standing
where Julia Roberts stood almost 30 years ago. I can honestly say that was some
of the best pizza I have ever had. The
flavors all-swirling in your mouth like a merry-go-round of delicious toppings
cheese and sauce.[SA11]Some
went back to the hotel to take naps and swim, but I went back to see the ship.
It was somewhat fun. I kind of wished I had my swim suit with me so I could
swim with my little cousin but that was alright I had an amazing time.
Soon
enough it was present time. We started to each open our presents from each of
the 3 families plus one from Grandma. In total we got 3 presents, except for my
sister and myself. Since our grandmother lives with us we have to open ours at
home. I got a 25 dollar itunes card from my aunt GG and a cute long-sleeved
shirt-hoodie from American Eagle from my Aunt Leslie. I love the presents I
got.
It is a tradition to play Monopoly after unwrapping
all our presents. My dad always used to make up bogus rules. During the game we
were all watching one of my favorite romance movies called The Titanic. This
game was intense; I was winning then
losing then winning then losing[SA12]. If you can’t tell this game went on forever. After
a couple hours of playing I lost. My uncle Rob was the one who ended up
controlling the whole entire board and winning. I was surprised I made it that
far. The game ended at four A.M. Monopoly is always a good time.
The
next day came and it was the day to leave. Before we left my grandfather came
over with his wife Mary. I didn’t stay, Jon Jon , Emily my sister and I ditched
everyone and went to different buildings to play ding dong ditch on the
residents. It was a rush, thrill
anything awesome you can call it.[SA13]
Eventually it was time to go. I was sad to leave my family we had so much fun
together. When everyone was all packed up and ready to leave we all said our
good byes. We got into our designated cars and drove our separate ways. As I
sat there in the car with my mom, dad and sister I was upset. I looked back on
all the fun I had and was content. Family is way more important than any old
basketball game or stupid school dance. I am happy now that I saw my family when
I did , I can’t wait to see them again soon and I hope they feel the same way.[SA14]
My favorite benchmark of the entire
year was the first quarter benchmark where we had to go to the supermarkets. It
was a group benchmark, and typically I don’t like group projects, however this
one I made an exception for. I had three other group members who had the same
ambitions as myself work ethic as I do. I had Ashley who was the organized and
determined one, Evan who got his work done, and Marchella who understood the
work, but had to push herself to actually do it.
Another reason why this was my favorite
was because it was given to us back when everything was so easy and staright to
the point. We had the basic: mean, media, mode, and range, Along with the
quartiles, z-scores, and graphs like bar graphs and histograms. With the easy
unit there was no wonder why I was able to so well on this benchmark. Thinking
back now of course there are many things I would change. I hate that now I
think about it because there is nothing I can do about now, but the opportunity
may come up again if I have something similar to this.
Firstly I would chose a completely different supermarket with completely
different items. The prices that I had before were either too close or the same
price, and that didn’t give me much data to work with, challenging data anyway.
Thinking back on it shows my reflection,
wanting to change my store and items is my presentation, my group was my collaboration,
and the assignment was my inquiry and research. Oh look SLA’s core values.
