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We all love superheroes. Whether it be Spiderman or Batman, many people find themselves engaged by these types of stories. Because of this, most people fantasize about what alternate versions of these heroes would look like and how their worlds and narratives change because of this. That is what my project focuses on. My conversion takes the neo-noir superhero story of Batman and puts a western twist on the setting, props, and production. For this project I will be recreating the opening scene, where the Joker is holding Robin (Jason Todd) hostage while trying to draw out Batman to save him

I chose to turn this movie scene into a Spaghetti Western type of film because I felt like these universes and the characters that reside within them have a lot more in common than most people think. Batman, in a way, could be considered a very secluded and nomadic figure similar to how someone like Blondie acts in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. He has a strict code of justice that he follows and takes along with him throughout his adventures in Gotham City. Robin, specifically Jason Todd who eventually becomes the Red Hood, could be seen as his partner stands as an anti-hero towards Batman himself as there are many things that they are at odds about. It is for this reason that I chose to do this type of conversion for my storyboard, The characters and stories hold a lot of parallels for it to not be able to work. Another things about the genre of spaghetti westerns is the cinematographic choices that directors like Sergio Leone use to give them that gritty feeling of the American West in their films. I noticed that in scenes during different dialogue segments were not interrupted at all by cuts or any other technique that transitions into another shot. I also noticed that there is very little non-diegetic noise which means that there are very little times in which things like the soundtrack or any other noises that only the audience hears are cued to go off. Because the setting would have to take place in the American West, the scene would take place in some sort of old and run-down farmhouse or warehouse. This would add a much older feel to the scene and will make the overall feel of the scene even more raw and intense.

Hi, I’m Sam Gualtieri. For my first blog post, I discussed the concept of the technological singularity and how realistic it was. In my second blog post, I reviewed the interview I had just done and discussed the more realistic dangers of computer technology and what should be done to prevent them, as well as what the majority of people thought about the subject.

My subject is something that’s only beginning to show itself as a problem in our society. Many parents have started to find problems with how the internet interrupts their children's social interactions. This is true for basically all ages, and is far from the only problem that comes with computer technology, but it’s one of the most popular ones to be protested. However, there’s more to this story. Computers are an incredibly powerful tool, and many worry that one day they may become too smart and be beyond our control. However, as Mr. Kamal pointed out to me in my interview, the problem isn’t software (or other things) being too smart, but too stupid.

It’s a powerful tool, and has no foolproof way to stop itself from getting out of the hands of someone with dangerous intent. For my Agent of Change, I created an informational video and put it on youtube. The best way I can describe it is a Vox-style educational video. The video contains 6 recommended guidelines recommending questions to ask yourself before creating a new technology.  The goal is to share this out as far as possible and maybe make those guidelines mainstream. The questions are:

1. How much will it cost to create and maintain?

1. Are the materials too expensive for mass productions?

1. On that note, would it be smart to use this material environmentally?

2. Could my product be a danger to the user in any situation?

1. Electric shock? Exploding? Sentiance?

3. How could my product be used with negative intent and what can I do to  prevent this?

1. How powerful is my tool?

2. Could it be used to hurt people? (physically, online)

4. How easy should my product be to acquire? (commercial or specific market)

1. Should people be able to order it online, or should there be legal requirements involved?

5. Would this product replace human jobs? How many?

1. While maybe it could be convenient for companies, how many working class people would be let go?

6. What are the benefits of my product? Does it justify these risks?

1. What does my product do and how beneficial is it to the world?

2. Have I found many problems looking through these past problems?

3. Are they worth risking for the sake of the product?

Overall, I’m ok with my video. I hate everything I make, as do many content creators of any creative medium. The timing is weird in places, and it can be very dense, but it also looks really nice. Mr. Kamal had a lot of interesting things to say and it was difficult to try to cut it down. In the end I wish I could have made his part shorter, but there was just so much good stuff. I’m passionate about this subject, yet I learned that I don’t know as much as I thought I did, and compiling all that into a video is hard. There are plenty of things about this video that I wish I did differently. The transitions from The Singularity to general safety with technology isn’t really explained outside of Mr. Kamal sort of changing the subject. I still need to post this link on all my social media and try to get people to share it. Otherwise, I’m done.

Annotated Bibliography:

I’m Alina and this is my final blog post for You and the World project. In my first blog post I talked about why immigration is illegal and the pros and cons of immigration. Another thing is that I talked about what immigrants are struggling to do just to get in the United States. After that on my second blog post, I interviewed two of my friends who were immigrants. During my second blog post I asked them the same questions and both of them have two different answers as their experience of being an immigrant.If you want to take a look, here is Simon’s interview transcript and here is Sarah’s interview transcript. And now for my final blog post I did a Agent of Change at Science Leadership Academy.

What is an Agent of Change you might ask, well an Agent of Change is when you want to change that situation to a solution that will allow people to participate in. For my Agent of Change, I did a bake sale in school outside of the office. My bake sale was on June 6th during lunch. I did this fundraiser to help The National Immigration Service Directory so they can help immigrant have an affordable job to work at and to help immigrants come to America to have a better life style.

During my bake sale, my goal was to raise $50.00. But while selling doughnuts and cookies, I raised about $55.00. I exceeded my goal which was a good thing because the more the better. With this money, it could help immigrants live a better lifestyle in America then as they did back in their old country. Another thing is that with this money it could help immigrants not get deported back to their country.

Why did I do a bake sale you may ask? Well, a bake sale is easier than spending a lot of money doing a run or hosting an event. Doing a bake sale was really fun because you get to experience handling money and meeting new people.

My experience with the bake sale was very nervous because I was afraid that nobody will buy my baked goods but instead there was a lot of people who came and bought the baked goods. The best thing was that I get to donate the money to the National Immigration Service Directory.

Chandrea Lack

June 9, 2017

Success In the Graffiti Run

In my first blog post, I have talked about the problems that graffiti brought to our community and how it shouldn’t be considered vandalism by the age groups of 12 to 19. They do it to express how they feel in a manner where it is shown to themselves and it brings some of them names and fame, but the fame comes after being heard, you do that big change or that big thing then you get heard. For my second blog post I explained the detailed areas of why graffiti was not considered art from a law’s point of view and it showed that the police were to assume whoever carried a can of spray paint was vandalizing property which I thought was very immature of them to just start assuming. Graffiti is art like any other form of art. It shouldn’t be outlawed because it’s a release of feelings, the rebellious teen spirit. Graffiti has messages in them too they express you.

My experience doing this event drove me into learning so many things. I learned how to manage my time well and give people time to show up, when to order the food, how long each of the activity we were going to play for and when we were going to leave. I also learned how to create a decent poster people would look at to come to my event.

The poster was spread all through social media and was known to some students but some could not make it.

For my “Agent of Change” it consisted of hosting a “Graffiti Run”. The run was held at a park in South Philly called FDR park (Franklin Delano Roosevelt). The area that we went to was a field beside a skatepark with a ton of graffiti art which stood out while I hosted the activities.  Involved in this run were freshmen from SLA coming out to support my project. Around 20 others showed up to the graffiti run. This event wouldn’t be made possible if I didn’t have my helpers. They didn’t just help support the run but also helped set up a lot of the equipment. During the graffiti run, I gave out food, drinks, and colored powder. The food and drinks were to help the students if they needed a small boost or a little more energy after the running and activities and the colored powder was just to make the theme interesting. Those who came also brought some stuff of their own to support the idea of just having fun and expressing how they felt like how the walls of the skatepark felt with all of the drawings on the walls they were supportive as they brought a football, frisbee, volleyball, basketball, and skateboards. The day overall was very fun to host but also stressful but I was happy to hear back that everyone had a good time and that it was hosted very well.  

The Big Change

For the past month, I have been doing research on problematic family homes and as people say you learn more and more each day. In my first blog post, I talked about this problem and how much it meant to me and coming closer to how I can make a change about what’s going on. In my second blog post, I interviewed a friend of mine who goes to my school who had gone through a struggled group home.Knowing that people doesn’t know his background story it’s hard to tell people that this kind of stuff goes on, but I am proud of him for sharing his story with me and getting hard things off his shoulders. This topic has really been important to me because if I was in this position, I wouldn’t know what to do and seeing that children in these homes are sometimes scared and they don’t tell anyone what goes on. So this is where my agent of change come in. To see all my sources you can look at my annotated biography.

For my agent of change, I choose to raise and donate money to a local organization called “Turning Points for Children.”  I choose this organization because it connects to my topic of this project so well and I was very excited to see they had a donation option. Right away when I looked into the website, I immediately knew that I wanted to raise money for these children. Me personally I love children and seeing all types of children like those  in foster homes, makes me up set due to the fact that some of these children are really young and to see how  they don’t have what I had as a child.

On Thursday June 8, 2017, I sold water ice to students at my school for $1 to raise money to donate to the organization. I had a goal to make $100. I came out a little short but I was still excited to see how many people came out to but the water ice and for me to explain the cost of doing it. As I go home ready to make the donation it makes me so happy to do this. I would probably be shy to do it face to face but i would love to share how much I care about the children in foster homes to see what I don’t have. This wasn’t a big change but it’s a big and great start to it.

Hey I’m Ben as you know I’m doing a project for English class called you and the world and I have to find a problem in the world and get it supported, noticed, or solved. I chose to get Youth Violence noticed at Science Leadership Academy and show that even if we go to a school where we have a safe environment people go through a lot of violence that involves the youth community. When I go home on the train everyday there's always students fighting and it makes me unsafe or very discomforting. I would mind my business on the train walk out and the police would block exits because of students a fighting and it just makes public transportation a ugly mess.

I did two other posts and they involved some research explaining the violence students have caused in slate post 1 which involved which parts of Philly is safer than others. We found that North and West Philly have caused the most violence. In slate post 2 I discussed some of the results of youth violence which end tragically sometimes. Sometimes people are put in the hospital and the unlucky ones take something precious which hurt families and friends around their neighborhood.

I did some research for my agent of change and found that the youth crime rate has dropped and it is still dropping. Crimes such as assault, battery, rape, etc are caused by the youth community. Crimes in these categories have dropped 68% A lot is being done but not a lot of people notice this crisis that's going on in youth crime and violence. People aren’t gonna stop and people still don’t care. If they see something they like they will take it from you and won’t think twice. It’s crazy how cruel people can be to each other. But is there a way to stop violence; no but there’s ways to

get it noticed in our communities.

My official Agent of change was pretty creative and everyone at SLA has probably seen it once or twice. I made a poster that represents everything I’m against that said STOP THE VIOLENCE. What this poster represented was a small but noticeable voice for every person who doesn’t feel safe in their own community after school. Things are being done like populating all train stations with more police which reduces violence in the area. I decided to create a poster because when you walk by and see the poster it makes you think, does violence happen everywhere because we don’t see it in SLA. It’s good to expose our community to topics like this and get it noticed.

While doing my project I felt like the project was impossible and I couldn’t ever complete this with a good grade or at all. But as the project kept going I realized that I accomplished a ton of research and got my agent of agent thought out and finish very swiftly.  Reflecting on the project I felt like I did an awesome job fulfilling my goal in getting youth violence recognized. I feel proud of myself for all the hard work and courage to interview a police officer to get info that even police think youth violence is still a problem.

If I could of done this whole project again I would not procrastinate and get things done way earlier than I did. I got everything in on time but I think I should have gotten a peer review for each blog post. Well thanks for reading my last blog post if you want more information look at my annotated bibliography and do some more research.

In my previous two blog posts I have told you about Taney and Bainbridge streets’ problem with litter and my own outdoor observations of my streets. In this blogpost I will be telling you about me actually acting on this situation. In my blogpost, ¨Litter Search and Solutions¨, in the end, I mentioned signing up and joining Not In Philly to help make a positive change in myself and my community. Recently, I have created for  myself an account on http://notinphilly.org/ and registered to clean and Taney street. When you register to clean up your street it shows map of Philadelphia with roads for you to choose from and it shows you who else is currently cleaning that street and the streets near by and how many people there are for that street. When I registered for Taney Street it said I was the first person to register for cleaning that street.

The day after I registered, I went out on Taney street in the afternoon and picked up trash and recyclables off the street with a trash grabber and a plastic bag. I picked up the trash with the help of my father. My father helped me take the pictures of the trash with his camera. We also did a little extra cleaning on Bainbridge Street. When I was out on the street seeing all the trash on the street made me feel displeased with some of my neighbors and sad knowing that it was hurtful to the people, plants and animals that live in this  neighborhood. But when I cleaned up the trash and looked back when I was done, I was very satisfied with how clean the streets looked and was happy knowing I had done a good deed.

Let me tell you about my experience with the Not In Philly registration. There I made myself a new account. Signing up was easy: on their website they gave me a form where I just had to give my name, my phone number, my address, my email address, and make up a password. After that they gave me an email telling me to go to their website and choose a block/street to clean, I choose a block on Taney Street because it was next to my house. I trust this website because it is not a big faceless corporation or a money hungry business. It is a nonprofit organization that seeks to make a good difference and it is currently happening everywhere around the city unlike the Philadelphia Streets Litter Cabinet which I have never seen in action. I also trust this organization because it was created by a well known family friend who is kind and looks towards improving the city and solving its problems, like the litter on the streets.

A website that I found that focuses on reducing litter is called the Litter Less campaign. This campaign not only encourages people to pick up trash but it also aims for changing the minds of children about the problem of littering and what they can do to make a difference, ¨It aims to engage and educate children and young people on the issue of litter, and encourage them to make positive choices.¨(http://www.ecoschools.global/about-the-campaign). The organization is involved in 35 schools around the world and they educate children on cleaning up litter.  I like how this focuses on younger generations, teaching them not to litter.  If we can teach each generation not to litter, pretty soon young people and adults all over the world might stop littering and be more concerned about keeping the environment clean.

Overall, I feel that I have made a change with myself and my neighborhood. My change is that I have gone from just being against littering to standing up and physically acting on the problem. I have made a change in my neighborhood by being the newest person to having a habit of cleaning the streets and being a example to keeping the streets healthy and clean to the neighborhood. I feel really proud of myself for developing these new good habits. So far I plan on cleaning the streets one day every week, but I want to expand this by starting clean on two or three days a week. What is left to be done is to get more people in my neighborhood to clean the streets and join Not In Philly. I love making a good difference in my neighborhood and making clean and healthy decisions.

"About the Campaign." Eco Schools. Eco Schools, 2014. Web. 08 June 2017.

http://notinphilly.org/

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1a1IMIcIqSX8D1xx5avGy6a4UGhaZAydxWbygZ_MH0RQ/edit?usp=sharing

My trash grabber with a piece of plastic.

Some trash around a neighbor’s flower pot.

My collected trash in a plastic bag.

It’s Briannie Matos again with another post about anxiety. As you know anxiety is a very serious topic. Throughout the beginning of my research I found a bunch of facts and statistics about anxiety. You can find all of this information in my first blog post, which you should really go check out! As my original research I decided to interview my Aunt who suffers from anxiety. I learned so much about her and she gave great advice to those who also suffer from anxiety. If you would like to listen to the interview and read more about my topic you should go check out my second blog post as well.

Anxiety is really such a big part of my life and I wanted to show people that there are ways to cope with it. For my agent of change I decided to create a care package for my aunt who was also apart of my original research. In the basket there will be a 2 books, some chocolate, and some puzzles, such as crossword and wordsearch. I know this will help her because she has a hard time everyday dealing with her anxiety. She does live in New York so I will be mailing it over to her house so she wouldn’t have to wait until I go to visit her.

Thinking of how I wanted to do my agent of change was very difficult. At first I wanted to give care packages to those who have anxiety but I realized it wouldn’t have worked out because of the costs. After that, I wanted to raffle off some care packages but it was too late and I did not have enough time. That’s when my English teacher, Ms. Giknis, gave me the idea of making homemade stress balls and even gave me a way to make them. The stress balls did not work out either so that’s when I just decided to make a care package for my aunt.

Here are images of me putting together the care package for my aunt.

Going more into anxiety has made me understand it so much more. I knew anxiety was bad but getting to know more about my aunt’s anxiety and reading articles about other people has really opened up my eyes more. I will say it was a great experience actually getting to become an agent of change instead of just having to write a paper about everything I learned about. This project was very different but a good different. I’m glad I got to learn so much more about anxiety because now I know how to help my friends and family who suffer from anxiety, including myself.

Having to deal with anxiety is a real big struggle, especially when you need medication to control it. It’s a disorder that just can’t go away but it’s something that people can learn to cope with. I’ve learned many great ways to cope with anxiety and now for the future I plan to keep on helping those who suffer from anxiety.

This is an image of my aunt, my grandmother, and my mother. Even though she suffers from anxiety she will always have that big smile on her face.

Please visit my annotated bibliography for more information.

I’m back again, for the last time. Yeah, the kid who’s doing the Black Lives Matter project for you and the world. Since you love me so much, read my previous blog posts again. And if you haven’t already checked them out, stop reading and go check them out RIGHT NOW- Part 1 and Part 2. In these, I talk about the importance of my topic, why I chose it, and how/what I researched. Now let’s get to the good stuff.

At first it took me a long time to figure out how I wanted to make a slight difference in the community. I reached out to those apart of BLM Philly. This is the only organization like this in Philadelphia, and they set up events to raise awareness. We spoke about creating some sort of program for children like me who want to make a difference, but the process was difficult so I decided to make a smaller, yet more significant impact. I spoke to all of the Freshmen of SLA, and attempted to get everyone to wear Black/Dark hoodies or sweaters in remembrance for Trayvon Martin, the man that sparked this movement and ultimately led to creating a better place for me and my people. Surprisingly, I got over 50 people to wear black, which touched my heart that I could raise that much aware for something so important to me and others. Many people suggested that I should do something like this in the future. For the future, I’m going to strive to create a Trayvon Martin Day, AKA #TrayDay. I am aware that this poses a lot of obstacles and challenges, but I’m prepared to gather other people who same the same passion for ‘Blackness’.

I want to thank my wonderful teacher for helping me and my classmates make a change and raise awareness. I want to thank my readers for coming along for the ride and I hope I inspired some young souls to conquer what they love. Lastly I want to honors those who lost their lives in the history of the Movement by saying, #BLACKLIVESMATTER!

See my annotated bibliography here! If you have any questions or concerns, email me: rpowell@scienceleadership.org