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What are some of the best strategies for creating social change?

• traveling different places
• riots
• protests
• connection higher people
• get alliances
• demonstrations
• conferences/gatherings
• campaigns
• rallies
• social networking
• speeches
• boycotts
• public awareness
• petitions
• marches
• getting laws passed
• propaganda
• letter writing
• violence

"My Faith in Nonviolence" by Mohandas R. Gandhi
Three quotes and 1 paragraph about one person

• 'Such a struggle leaves one stronger for it. Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.'
• 'The perfect state is reached only when mind and body and speech are in proper coordination'
• 'The law of love will, just as the law of gravitation will work. 

'Such a struggle leaves one stronger for it. Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.'
I agree that nonviolence is a weapon of the strong. somebody has to be strong enough to hold back when they are getting beat on somebody else. For example, the Civil Rights boycotts and how the Africans Americans sat in the white restaurants while the Whits poured milkshakes, smashed food, and beat on them. The African Americans had to hold back that anger and that instinct to fight back. People have to be able to contain that instinct and I think that makes a person stronger for it. They are able to turn their cheek and become the stronger and smarter person in the situation. 

Morgan Taylor                                                                                                      October 11, 2011

Dear Mr. Darryl Taylor,

The first quarter of my school year is almost up. I have learned so much and part of that learning was reading short stories in English class. So far we have read 3 important short stories, but I only wish to share with you the two that really spoke to me and somehow related to our relationship at the moment. “Like a Winding Sheet” and “Wildwood” are the two. Brace yourself dad it’s about to get really deep.

I really don’t get to tell you how I really feel most of the time. I am usually scared to tell you because I am scared of you. Before I start I just want to say that I love you and what I say in this letter can and will change our relationship forever. Weather it makes our relationship better or worse I will not regret saying how I feel because I really want you to know. I want you to know how you have slowly started to destroy everything that I thought was my life.

Remember that morning; you know exactly the one I am talking about. The one when you were screaming at my mom at the top of your lungs. What time was it again? O, yes I remember now it was 3 AM on a Tuesday morning. Your yelling and screaming woke my sister and me up. We knew what was coming we just didn’t want to believe it. You then yelled at us to go into the movie room downstairs so we can have a “Family Meeting”. I would say it was more of a slow, painful murder of my life, or what I thought was my life. You did not explain, but expressed with anger and hate that you and my mother were not happy and that she wants you out of the house. You then explain with no regret what so ever in your voice that you had cheated. My mother cut in for a second or two and explained that she found out three years ago and decided to forgive you because she loves you. No not loved you LOVES YOU! Remember your two daughters that you are supposed to love and protect from harm were crying and sobbing for hours. It lasted until 8:15, I don’t even know why. Maybe it was because we were trying to comprehend how everything in our lives were and still are a lie. Do you feel bad daddy? Do you feel bad for ruining our lives? I asked you and what did you say? “I am a very cold man Morgan, so therefore no I don’t feel bad at all.”That did it for me and I just wanted to get away from you for however long I could.

       I remember from the short story “Wildwood” there was a quote that was probably one of the feelings I was feeling that day. The quote read "And at that moment, for reasons you will never quite understand, you are overcome by a feeling, the premonition, that something in your life is about to change" (page 76). Let me explain this to you. Now that you have practically ruined this family I will never be able to look at you the same way, my mom now has to pay all the bills and can’t really afford all of it, you don’t even understand. You know how your father left you and your family to provide for yourselves while he had a great life with his new wife and family. How hard it was for you having to get a job at 13 just to stay in an apartment. Why would you want that for your children? Our situation might be a little better but it is the same scenario.

Right now from me there is a lot of hate towards you. I just feel like I can’t do anything to express it. This reminds me of the quote from the short story "Like a Winding Sheet" "But he couldn't bring himself to talk to her roughly or even threaten to strike her like a lot of men might have done. He wasn't made that way." (page 200). I can’t say what I feel or think to you because you are my father and I love you too much, but at the same time I feel as if you were never my real father to begin with, I feel I know nothing about you or what my life really is. I want to not care if I talk to you with a stern voice or a little attitude because my life would be a whole lot easier.

       Then one day out of nowhere I just got really angry. I ran upstairs as fast as I could and told you off. I yelled and screamed, it just felt so good. I felt like I had power over you sad I could say whatever I wanted. I felt kind of bad, but I felt as if you didn’t care so why should I? In the “Wildwood” there was a line or two that said, "I almost felt sorry for her. This is how you treat your mother? she cried. And if I could I would have broken the entire length of my life across her face, but instead I screamed back, And this is how you treat your daughter” (page 78). I felt the same way when I was yelling at you to get the hell out of my family’s damn house. I want to break my entire span of my life across your face. Everything we have and had is a lie. You were lying to my face my entire life.  It was almost as if I didn’t see you as family any more. "Like a Winding Sheet" says, "The knowledge that he had struck her seeped through him slowly he was appalled but he couldn't drag his fist away from her face" (page 210). I felt almost like that. I couldn’t stop myself.
    Before you resent me for however long you live. I want you to know that I still love you. It will just take me some time to really love you like I did before all this mess happened. Like you said, you did failed. You failed to protect me, to protect me from the monster we call Darryl Thomas Taylor.

From the daughter that loved you most,
Morgan Ann Taylor

​     The Ibo is a small group/community in Africa. The two places where this culture mainly coincides in Umuofia and Mbanta. Many of the people here stick together through many situations, good or bad. They are very strict and serious about this culture. For instance, there was a man named Okonkwo. There was a little town meeting in the air, where he shot into the air and the most unfortunate event occurred, a young boy was killed. Now of course he did not kill the child on purpose, but he got the chi mad. The chi is the god of the Ibo culture. And since he was banned for the seven years, he was considered an efulefu, which in other words is a worthless man.

         Secondly, the relationships of all of the people in the Ibo tribe in Umuofia and Mbanta are very strong. Again, that can go back to the event of when the little boy was called, but here it is described into further detail. Many of the men were know as the hunters/protectors. They were the ones that would go out on a daily basis and receive supplies for the families to stay supported and get through the days. The men were known to not be afraid of blood, and had to be tough. The women of the other hand were completely different. The women could be placed under the soft and innocent categories. They were known for staying home and keeping everything together for the family. Also the women would segregate themselves into their own little groups and socialize, then at night tell metaphorical stories about animals.

In life and society in the past, present, and possibly the future racism, inequality and, segregation have been some of the main standing grounds of life. In my life I was born in a typical South Philadelphia neighborhood where 99% of my neighbors and everyone else spoke American English. But as time went on a culture diffusion has progressed, my life as it is have been filled with minorities. And this took much time getting accustomed to. I knew that there was no negating this movement, and it is something that cannot be undone.

Therefore, not only in my life have I felt that a part of my past has been replaced with something new. In my English class I read a passage called, “Hunger for Memory” from a book called, “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez. In this story, there a man who moves from his homeland into a completely different society. From his homeland everyone spoke Spanish, but to where he moved to, everyone spoke English. 

Now that the person and I in this story seem to be floating on the same boat, our problems are similar but no exactly the same. In his story, he has the problem of moving to a new area and not being accustomed to the people speaking English all around him. With my situation I accustomed to everyone speaking English around me until people started coming in speaking a completely different language.

Next, it seems like my situation and the person in the books situation seem to tie in together in a very unique way. My problem is too many outsiders coming in and changing my society. Well those people coming seem like one of the many people that are in the same situation as the person in “Hunger for Memory.” So as the people that are like the person that was in the story start to move into a English speaking society, people like me who are already here are not used to these adjustments.

Here is an example of how my family and I used to talk before we felt like society has changed,

“It all began in summer of 2006, my family and I decided to take a vacation to Wildwood, NJ for a week. In the past I was remembered as the jumpy, nonstop, overexcited child. No matter what I couldn’t sit still, and with the information that we are going to the beach, I was running around like a headless chicken. As we arrive in front of our shore house I open the door, run up the steps and wait at the door. Unfortunately I had to help my parents unload the trunk. So as we are done unloading the trunk I run around the house to call dibs on what room my mother and I are staying in. After about 30 seconds of running around we chose the room with the futon and the deck. When my mother and I are done unpacking my family and us two took a walk to the beach. When we get there I rip off the shirt like the hulk and sprint to the water. It felt so good I was running around in circles jumping in the water. From the distance I hear my family yelling at me to back up and not go to deep.

My grandfather yells, ‘Yo wippersnapper, get your ass back here before I beat it!’

When he said that I knew he meant business. I turn around without any other thoughts. When I come up to them he tells me, “Daniel you need to calm down and don’t go too deep. You forgot to put on sun block and you were too far away too fast. The rest of the day I tried to stay my calmest and not give my parents any difficulties. Being a child was a very exhilarating time of my life.” In this example from my childhood, my grandfather said, “Whippersnapper.” That word is something that was said commonly by my grandfather when I was little to emphasize my rowdiness. But as time progressed and society began to change, slowly stopped saying that word. He could have stopped saying it because I was growing up, and I would have found it to be a joke, but I feel like that if said that word today then people would look at him like he was insane.

To close I feel like a piece of my past has been taken away due to the large population of different ethnic groups coming into my life, but it something that cannot be changed and there is no going back. It is something that has to be lived with and something that will take some adjusting too. Maybe I am just under some sort of cultural shock and eventually while I have them around me long enough, I can see my life as, “back to normal.”

Progress is when something happens to move something forward. This something could be an idea, or the creation of something, or a popular movement.

  I think that the Industrial Revolution was a time of progress in the economic and technological sense. We made great machines using steam and coal that improved and sped up almost every process of people’s lives. It was also a time of recession in the human rights sense, as people were seen as tools, and there were no longer “master craftsmen”, but simply laborers.

​How do gender roles in Ibo culture compare to gender roles in our culture?

The overlapping gender roles in our cultures are few and far apart.  Nowadays, working moms and stay at home dads are common, and not looked down upon.  The only ways that Ibo gender roles have influenced ours is in small ways, like how the majority of police officers are men.

Define Progress

Progress is the process of something growing in a positive manner.  When a country has made progress, something has changed.  Maybe their scientists have made a huge breakthrough, or maybe they have gotten closer to solving the problems caused by poverty.  Whatever form it is in, progress is always a welcome aspect of life.

Write a letter to someone that is something you would never really send.

Dear Don Cherry,

First of all, you are amazing and have great taste in suits.  Having gotten that out of the way, I want you to know how much I appreciate your brutally honest analysis of hockey games.  I love when you talk about a fight, and give that insight into how the fighters are thinking.   How they are fighting because the fans love it and because how it is fun instead of some personal vendetta.  You truly understand the violent side of hockey.

 

A revolution is a massive movement for change by a group of people. Revolutions can change governments, like in the French revolution, and the Cuban revolution; as well as in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. There are also spiritual revolutions. I don’t think that electing Barack Obama was a revolution because it wasn’t a movement that caused great change.

Social change can be fast sometimes, like in the case of Egypt, Libya, and the rest of the Arab Spring; when they overthrew their dictators. This was fast because they know what they wanted to change into, because they could see examples of it outside their own country. They were also oppressed and unhappy, so they made the change, which was fast. Slow change of society, like the renaissance, was slow because there was nothing they could see that they saw was more advanced that they wanted to become. Because of this the change was not pushed in any direction in particular, it simply happened on its own, which is much slower.

Why do people create art?

People create art because....

• they are expressing themselves
• for freedom
• passing messages
• to remember events
• for deaths
• to honor people
• advertisement
• emotion
• to be known
• personal and world issue
• tell stories and teach
• to grow

When is art powerful?
I think art if always powerful, it just depends on the person that is viewing the art. Their feelings of the art and how they react to it. Art is powerful when everybody has a different interpretation of it, when it makes me people think deeply about the meaning. 

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

For my close up drawing I decided to do a portrait of Bambi and his mother. I really don’t know what made me think to do a picture of that but I just wanted to do something different and something that I was more accustomed to.

            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.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               

This is my final blog post. Through out this blogging, I learned more than ever on my subject and I'm trying to make a difference now. I don't see alot of effort to raise awareness so I actually went to home depot and decided on some ways you guys can start to plant flowers at home. Now in my past blog posts one and two I have been talking about how honey bees really do help us out because we depend on them and so does our food (cows, pigs, your next chicken fillet). So I felt like I should give back and so should you guys too. It's actually not that hard, you don't have to go to home depot (or lowes, I still love home depot) and buy a whole seed starter kit. If you have a left over egg carton then that's good too! See this is how you can help make a difference:

1) Go to HOME DEPOT (or lowes) and buy some seed starting soil. 

2) Go back to your house and grab the egg carton that you have been saving over.

3) You could either cut off the top our use popsicle sticks to stand it up and you can label the top. 

4) Once you cut off or label the top grab your soft seed starting soil. 

5) Use a spoon and fill up each cupped section with soil but don't over fill it. 

6) Grab your seed packet (what ever type of seeds you want). 

7) Look at the directions on the packet because it will tell you how much water to put and how much sunlight your seeds will need. 

8) When your seeds get bigger take pictures and email them to me alexaeddy97@yahoo.com

9) When they are big enough transfer them to a bigger pot and watch the fruit of your labor. 


In the beginning it should look like this 


Heres my bibliography  
 

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.

Artifacts are soon coming.

Click HERE for the benchmark



For this benchmark, I had to take pictures that show evidence of globalization in Philadelphia. Specifically, I went around the city and thought about things I saw everyday when I took the train, or walked to school. I took pictures of them, uploaded them to my wordpress and found interesting sites and graphics about these topics. I'd say the most challenging part of this project was connecting my image to a document or website that showed the topic of globalization. My favorite picture was of the woman waiting for a train because it is the most candid and honest of my pictures, the rest of them seem very posed.

I think that globalization in Philadelphia is similar to that of other large cities in the United States. Naturally, most immigrants and new technology come to the larger cities first creating region-specific impacts. Now that there is more social networking and media, I think that even big cities in other countries are affected by the same topics of globalization as those of the US. By doing this project, I have learned to appreciate the expanse of globalization and how it has affected even the small things in my life. Whether for the good or bad, globalization is all around us.

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,

Dan

The Oil of Fire

 

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

For my final history benchmark, we took a very interesting approach to history. This quarter, we were sopposed to pick a moment in history, and change it. After we changed that one moment, we were supposed to predict three things in history that would happen because of the change, and as a result, what would life be like today?


I decided to change the second day of The Battle of Gettysburg, when General Robert E. Lee doesn't allow General James Longstreet to attack the Union Army from behind. History according to Stephen Holts says that Lee allowed Longstreet to attack the Union line from behind, while the rest of the army attacks from the front. The Confederate Army wins the day, and because the battle was so bloody, President Abraham Lincoln decides to let the Confederacy live the way they want by completely separating them from the United States. From the Battle of Gettysburg came the establishment of the Confederate States of America. 

Years later, the two countries are anything but friendly neighbors. They wage war all throughout history, with the bloodiest battles being right after the Civil War over the land in the west. 

Coming closer the the 21st Century, the two countries are still fighting over the same thing their ancestors did. The CSA maintains a process of immigration that the USA views as modern day slavery, while the CSA defends it saying that immigrants work for their place in the country.

The CSA and USA fight over many different things, but they also come together in certain situations. 

All of this is displayed in a documentary about

Summary: 
For my project i decided to do a portfolio on fashion. I would be taking photos of people with fashion.


Abstract:

For my project I basically made an online Portfolio On Fashion. I chose this project because fashion inspires me and I like half of the things people wear now. Sometime people wear the things they wear for their personal reasons and I would like to know why but at the same I don’t want to be all up in their business if its private. For me I would like for people to show the clothes they have in their closets/wardrobe to show whom they really are, now. The process of my project wasn’t that hard but at the same time it wasn’t easy. I had to do a lot of editing for my website, so it can look really good. I learned a lot from my project, I’ve learned that sometimes fashion describes a person’s personality really well.