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Alexander Gomez Torres Capstone

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Capstone · Menasion · Wed on Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 10:57 am
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNoNjn945co&t=2s

For my capstone project I decided to create a rap about my 4 years in high school and Science Leadership Academy’s significance in my life. In my rap I touch on all four years of high school which is freshman, sophomore, junior and senior year. Not only did I rap about what happened in school but I also included some moments in my own personal life outside of school. The most difficult part was most likely trying to find a instrumental to fit my story and adapting to a new rap style. I was going through different types of beats with different flows until I found the perfect beat that fit my story.  I freestyle for fun with my friends all the time. These freestyles are just for fun and the things we say don't make sense, they just rhyme. So trying to transition from that rapping style to a more lyrical rapping style was a hard task for me. I would find myself writing things that did not make any sense, so I would have to delete a lot of my lyrics and creating new ones. Before attempting to make an actual rap, I thought the process would so easy. That was not the case at all, I learned that there is so many aspects into creating a song that actually has a meaning. Aside from the rapping and lyrical part of the song, there was the presentation aspect that was also a long and hard process.


Capstone Annotated Bibliography


Brandon, Jessica. "Songwriting Tips, News & More." 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Song Lyrics. June 6, 2017. Accessed January 25, 2018. http://www.songwriting.net/blog/five-mistakes-on-writing-lyrics.

This source gave some valuable information that will help me enhance my lyrics. I never written a song so this source giving me some valuable tips on what mistakes not to make when writing lyrics. I found it useful because the things I have a habit doing I found in the mistake to not make. I will use this source to make sure I don't make any common song making mistakes. The website did not look so professional but after looking through the website thoroughly I found out that this website it a reliable source and it helps out young artist create good music.


Brandon, Jessica. "Songwriting Tips, News & More." Songwriting Tip: You Can Write Better Lyrics. April 14, 2011. Accessed January 25, 2018. http://www.songwriting.net/blog/bid/56567/Songwriting-Tip-You-Can-Write-Better-Lyrics.

This was a very useful source that will help me write my lyrics for my rap. It gives me several tips that I found extremely useful. Researching on how to enhance my lyrics has definitely helped me. I thought knew how to write good lyrics although this source has some good techniques and ideas to incorporate to create a good set of lyrics. These tips and techniques come from famous singers and songwriters. The main thing I took from it was the fact that I'm going to need to incorporate a good melody and a good lyrics to create a good and catchy song.


JColeVEVO. "J. Cole - G.O.M.D." YouTube. March 23, 2015. Accessed January 26, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHU6ZRQJ50Q.

This music video was a perfect example of one of the research ideas that I found which was to make a story within your music video. This video was professionally produced and is voted as one of the best music videos. I will use this video analyze the certain features this music video offer from editing to setting. This will come most useful when planning and directing out my music video. J Cole is a famous and successful rapper so getting ideas from his videos and raps will definitely benefit me.


KendrickLamarVEVO. "Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE." YouTube. March 30, 2017. Accessed January 26, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvTRZJ-4EyI.

Another example of one of the ideas that I researched which was to having a unique theme and specific mood. This video has a unique type of style that enhances the lyrics in the song. This can definitely be something I can incorporate into my music video, making my video stand out while making my lyrics sound better and letting the audience vision my lyrics. Kendrick Lamar is a very successful rapper and it shows in his music. Thus makes him a very reliable person to analyze to gain ideas from.


KriscoartProductions, and Kris Trunini. "Making A Music Video - Tips & Tricks." YouTube. August 10, 2015. Accessed January 26, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPEeVz0nnF0.

Kris Trunini is a professional producer and director that now shared his experience with recording videos for artists. Looking at this source will be really helpful for me because I never shot a music video in my life so to hear from someone who went through this process. I hear out his mistakes and process choices and I can use that information to plan out my music video and make sure to not do the same. Being a beginner in recording a music video this video has definitely gave me some tips and some things to do before. Basically things to do when planning to record.


Letang, Shaun. "How To Write Good Rap Lyrics, Advice For Writing Better!" Music Industry How To. October 21, 2017. Accessed January 25, 2018. https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/how-to-write-better-rap-lyrics-5-big-tips/.

This source coming from the same website as my other source, this one stood out to me the most because it teaches on how to create a actual good rap. Giving me some valuable advice that would make my rap not only good but entertaining. This will come in good use when I will start to plan out what I will be rapping about and what message I would want to get across through my rap. This website helps beginning rappers and gives advice to new artists.


Letang, Shaun. "How To Rap Better In 5 Steps." Music Industry How To. April 03, 2015. Accessed January 25, 2018.

https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/how-to-rap-better-in-5-steps/.

This source is based around the music industry and helping people become better. More specifically rappers which is what I identify myself as. Considering that I just freestyle and have not made a actual rap, this source gives 3 valuable tips for beginners when becoming a rapper. This source is a perfect find for me because it will come in handy in writing my lyrics and not making the same mistakes other beginners make.


Sharp, Rob"How to write a memorable song lyric." The Independent. December 29, 2009. Accessed January 25, 2018. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/how-to-write-a-memorable-song-lyric-1852772.html.

This source wasn't really giving me much facts and the research that I need since it was a story. Although after reading more of the article it started to give me some valuable information about making a memorable song. I notice a ton of great ways to create a memorable song and this is definitely a essential idea and information that I can use when making my own rap. I’ve been wondering on how to make a good and memorable hook. This will come in handy when Im creating my hook and am in the process of writing my lyrics. This information comes from a well known artist who is known for memorable lyrics, Don Black.


Stolpe, Andrea. "5 Steps to Start Writing Lyrics." Take Note by Berklee Online. December 09, 2016. Accessed January 25, 2018. https://online.berklee.edu/takenote/5-steps-to-start-writing-lyrics/.

This source is a reliable source that circles its information on music creation. Although I already know how to rap and freestyle, this article definitely puts me on the right track to write valuable lyrics. This was the best source to start with because it gives me all the specific tips and ideas that I can choose to incorporate in my lyrics. I see the necessary steps to make my rap into a professional song and not just any regular song. This will be most useful when I'm writing my lyrics and making sure its professional


WikiHow. "How to Make a Professional Music Video." WikiHow. June 26, 2017. Accessed January 25, 2018. https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Professional-Music-Video.

Wikihow looking like a sketchy site actually gives a lot of valuable information about how to do something. Coming from no knowledge on how to make a professional music video or a music video at all, this source definitely was the best source to start with. It goes in depth on how to create a professional music video and goes through every single step needed to make the video i want. Not only that but telling me what to expect. This will help when writing my storyboard to help me understand how to plan things and what problems to expect.



Tags: capstone, Ms.Menasion, 2018
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Q3 Art Statement

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Senior Art · Hull · A Band on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 9:47 am
I love the way this class worked as a stress reliever for me. A Lot of the work I produced this quarter was definitely one of my best work. Water coloring was one of the skills that I enjoyed learning and doing. My artwork this quarter really showed my techniques to detail. I learned most of these techniques through videos recommended by Ms. Hull and they really helped me improve my drawing skills by a ton.
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Art Portfolio

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Senior Art · Hull · A Band on Friday, January 19, 2018 at 2:14 pm
I have created a ton of drawings this quarter. Most of them were with coloring pencils. Coloring pencils being the main focus this quarter, I feel like I have enhanced my coloring skills. Each of my art drawings were all time consuming but I was satisfied with the outcome. Not only that but with using the charcoal pencils, I feel like my shading skills has definitely helped me draw more efficiently. Last but not least the blind contour drawings were definitely a roller coaster. A challenging task but once accomplished, it gave a new perspective on art.
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My Q1 Art Portfolio

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Senior Art · Hull · A Band on Saturday, November 4, 2017 at 6:45 pm
The art I have created in this quarter was really an accomplishment. I feel like as the more classes I take in art the more I get better at being a artist. The art piece that I am most proud of would most likely be the ceiling tiles because It was something I enjoyed doing and loved the outcome. Also with one of the ceiling tiles a piece got broken off but I got my way around it and made that into part of my art work and it was just great.
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Q4 Final Project

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Advanced Art · Hull · x1 Band on Thursday, June 8, 2017 at 11:18 am
This last quarter was very fun in art. There were alot of fun and cool assignments we had to do. My favorite being the last one where we had to combine all of our skills to create one piece. I love drawing because it clears my head and Im proud that I had a class to do so. This quarter was so successful for me because not only did I enjoy the class but I feel like I worked real hard on these assignments.
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Q3 Art Portfolio

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Advanced Art · Hull · x1 Band on Monday, March 27, 2017 at 9:53 pm
I really enjoyed this quarter considering that there was assignments that I really enjoyed doing. Especially the mandala assignment,I really enjoyed letting my brain flow onto the page and creating a nice mandala. The bike drawing was also a fun and interesting project because it was interesting in creating a bike from scratch which was challenging. Same goes for the eye drawing, optical illusion and shading forms. I had a lot of fun and feel like I have improved alot this quarter.
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Advanced Essay #4: Walk, Ignore, Keep It Going, Repeat

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 3 · Block/Franz/Taylor-Baranik · C Band on Thursday, March 23, 2017 at 9:22 am

Introduction:


This essay has been one of my best works in terms of talking about how I feel about a certain issue. I honestly had fun writing this, because it allowed me to voice my opinion on a worldwide topic. I focused on taking on certain perspectives on the topic and feel like I have accomplished that goal in this essay. As well as improving on my grammar, I think I did a much better job. Hopefully you enjoy reading this essay as much as I enjoyed writing this.



Street harassment has unknowingly been installed into our society and way of life. As street harassment continues to live in our society, women are becoming more accustomed to the harassment but does that means it’s acceptable? Ignoring the ignorant men has been incorporated into some of woman's daily life routine. Most people would say that street harassment is only a problem in the United States but in reality it's a worldwide problem. People across the world no matter what their cultural background, race or ethnicity is, are still being affected by this problem. In a source I read about worldwide harassment, there is a heavy issue with women being harassed in packed/full trains. We could bring this back in history where it all started. Have women been viewed as less from the start?

Although I find it interesting that street harassment is not only a U.S issue. I still ask myself, can women be harassed even if they are not dress in provocative attire? The answer to that is yes. Being in the shoes of a women is something men won't be able to handle. women are strong individuals who are targeted for the wrong reasons. A women’s body image has a great affect on if a man ‘harrases’ her or leaves her alone. This has been the case for all men, but in the generation I was born into. Things that are said to women may have long lasting effects on her mind more than you think. In this generation, there are different things you can do to survive through street harassment.

I find it ridiculous that their is an actual mobile app for street harassment. “That's where Hollaback! comes in. The original app, released in 2010, was basically a mobile extension of the webs”. Not at the fact that there is one but at the fact that it exists and was needed for people in our society. It just disgusts me this issue is really big and we need to have an actual movement to stop this. People just need to control their mouths and censor their words. Also learn to respect personal space, but can we stop that? Is it possible to stop every single person from harassing?

Most of the posts and sources I have read have been about men targeting women. Is there any such thing as men street harassment? Yes, there is such thing as street harassment towards men. Coincidently, I was so called “harassed” two days ago when I was heading to practice. I had a regular outfit on, a black plain t-shirt, ripped jeans and some black heavy boots. I seen a group of girls walking towards the direction I was walking towards so we were bound to pass each other. That's when one of the girls said “My friend want the oop with you”. That slang, is another phrase for “My friend wants you”. I personally believe that the way I reacted and felt after what she said would have determined if that was considered harassment. I responded with a smile, ignored her and kept walking. It did not make me feel bad at all but just boost my confidence in my looks. Now, I haven't been harassed enough times to understand if that feeling would change if I were harassed on a daily basis or more often. This is where the differences between men and women street harassment intervenes. There are a lot of variables to this like age group, aggressiveness, and emotional feelings. In what ways they are different is definitely something that can not have a direct answer but their is a distinctive difference between both women and men street harassment.


Citations:

CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/06/living/street-harassment/


Rossalyn Warren, Marie Kirschen, Lane Sainty, Jina Moore, Rachel Wilkerson Miller, Hannah Giorgis, Nirali Shah, Bibiñe Barud. "Here's What Street Harassment Is Like In Eight Countries Around The World." BuzzFeed. BuzzFeed, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/rossalynwarren/what-street-harassment-is-like-in-eight-countries-arou?utm_term=.gqmdzwAmg#.tbZnpyr6o


HKearl, Correspondent, and Contributor. "Blog." Stop Street Harassment. N.p., 12 Mar. 2017. Web. 14 Mar. 2017. <http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/blog>.


Ohikuare, Judith. "An App to Help Women Avoid Street Harassment." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2017. <https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/an-app-to-help-women-avoid-street-harassment/279642/>

Ramsey, Franchesca. "Guy Walking around NYC for 10 Hours Is the Street Harassment Response for Anyone Who Doesn't Get It." Upworthy. N.p., 30 Oct. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2017. <http://www.upworthy.com/guy-walking-around-nyc-for-10-hours-is-the-street-harassment-response-for-anyone-who-doesnt-get-it>.



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My Radio Piece

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 3 · Block/Franz/Taylor-Baranik · C Band on Friday, February 17, 2017 at 9:43 am
I think this project was one of the most stressful so far. Not because of the content but just soundtrap not cooperating like it should have been. Although on the bright side I definitely learned a lot about interviewing and picked up on a lot of good interview skills. I also learned to take everything slow and to be careful with the working process. My goal for this project was to make sure the interview came out nice and has a nice flow.

Radio Piece: Google Drive
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Q2 Final Artist Project

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Advanced Art · Hull · x1 Band on Monday, January 30, 2017 at 11:30 am
This marking period I created a lot of good artwork. I was on task every class making sure I had a goal to accomplish before the end of class weather it was a big or small goal. I have made contour drawings, drawings of my own, a recreation of a artwork and I editing a a couple of my photos.I am most proud of my recreation, because  I believe I worked really hard on that and made sure it was as close as a replica it could be.
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Advanced Essay #3: The Rules Unbeknownst In Our Society

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 3 · Block/Franz/Taylor-Baranik · C Band on Thursday, January 19, 2017 at 9:03 am

Introduction

My goals for this paper were to make sure my analysis and evidence was well balanced. Also to make sure there isn't more evidence then there is analysis.I feel like I did a great job process wise completing this assignment considering I had it done a couple days early. I had plenty of time to revise and I think that will play a big part in the outcome of my essay. Overall, I believe I did a better job balancing my analysis and evidence and had a great topic to expand on.


The Rules Unbeknownst In Our Society


Advertisements combined with the media are constantly flooding our brains with ideas, stories that influence the way we think, unbeknownst. These influences impact what we like and how we think. It alters what we believe is right and what we believe is wrong. The media constructs rules on how we’re suppose to look and act in our society. If the guidelines are broken, we are judged and looked at differently, making us feel isolated from society resulting in a system where people need to change who they are and what they do to fit in and not be called weird or different.

As advertisements influence us without our consent, standards are being built. Whether its watching a commercial about clear skin or a commercial about underwear where they only show “slim” and “skinny”models, you are constantly seeing this, making you think if underwear is only for those kind of people. While advertisements build standards and create rules, social media is what basically enforces it. You might not or might notice how advertisements influences you, but in social media people would go post with the idea of the standards that were built with the advertisements. Now the posts on social media are reflecting back upon these standards.

In a article “Teen Girls And Social Media”, by Nancy Jo Sales talks all about teenagers and their struggle in social media. “She says girls face enormous pressures to post "hot" or sexualized photos of themselves online, and she adds that this pressure can make the Internet an unwelcoming environment.” From experience I have seen girls get more likes on pictures that were “hot” or “sexualized” photos. I'm not saying that you can not get attention or fit in with not posting “hot” photos, but it is difficult. It was almost like if you weren't posting any sexualized or hot photos, you wouldn't attract a lot of attention or you would not be fitting in. The more of these posts that are seen, the standards ore being pressured upon girls in social media.

It's a similar standard for boys as well. In a story “It's Complicated”, it has a short introduction titled, “Why do teens seem strange online?”. They questioned, why would the boy lie to the admission committee about what he's about, when the committee could easily find out online?. “perhaps this young man is simply including gang signals on his MySpace profile as a survival technique.” Survival technique in this situation would be fitting in. The young man’s posts included gang signals, but the reason behind it was to fit in. He was trying to blend in with his local community, and if he did not try to blend in and post the things he posts, he would be looked at differently and judged.

Being judged and the pressure to be someone you not is hard for some people. Especially when there's advertisements showing you what's perfect, right and pressuring you to be someone you not. In a short blog post, “False beauty in advertising and the pressure to look 'good'”, by Jo Swinson, she takes us through her perspective on advertising on beauty. “From smoothing skin and erasing wrinkles to enlarging muscles and slimming waists, airbrushing, or "photoshopping," men and women to so-called perfection is the norm in advertising. These images don't reflect reality, yet from a younger and younger age, people are aspiring to these biologically impossible ideals.”. In this quote she shows how advertisements paint a picture of what perfect is and set a standard for people to obtain. Although, these standards are nearly impossible to reach. “People unhappy about their bodies can develop eating disorders, turn to diet pills or steroids, or try cosmetic surgery and Botox injections.”  People using steroids so they can have that nice toned and muscle to getting a botox injection, so they can have a nice butt, these standards are now casting standards upon people to change their lifestyle just so they can fit in this society.




Annotated Bibliography


Keyes , Daniel . "Flowers For Algeron." Pdf. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2017. <http://www.sdfo.org/gj/stories/flowersforalgernon.pdf>.




Boyd, Danah. "Its Complicated." Pdf. Yale university Press, n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2017. <http://www.danah.org/books/ItsComplicated.pdf>.




Sales, Nancy Jo . "Teen Girls And Social Media: A Story Of 'Secret Lives' And Misogyny." NPR. NPR, 29 Feb. 2016. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

<http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/02/29/467959873/teen-girls-and-social-media-a-story-of-secret-lives-and-misogyny>



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Advanced Essay #2 (Three Codes)

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 3 · Block/Franz/Taylor-Baranik · C Band on Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 1:53 pm
Introduction: 
I really enjoyed writing this essay considering that it was about ourselves and our language. Language and literacy was something I struggled to understand and writing about it made me think about it even more.Im proud of my analysis and how I connected my evidence to my evidence. This is going to be essential to helping me be a better writer in my future writings by having my main idea make sense.

The Three Codes

“Just put some of this on it y el vas estar bien.” I Said


“What are you talking bout’ bro?” my friend said in a giggling voice.


“Oh shit, sorry. I meant to say he’ll be fine” I replied.


Literacy is a topic filled with hundreds of different meaning and versions. This is a nice example on how I forgot to switch my “Home Speaking” to “Friend Speaking”. This is known as code switching. As a bilingual individual I need to switch my way of speaking when speaking to people outside of my home. Although, being bilingual is not the only thing that affects the code switching. Growing up in certain environments affect whether you need to code switch because certain environments make you speak certain ways. There are tons of different way you could code switch but for me I only use three codes.  “Home Speaking”, “Friend Speaking” and “Public Speaking”



‘’What’s good Bro” I asked curiously


“The jawn I’m talking too is on some sh#t” Jack Replied in a upset tone


“What she do?”


“She ratted on me bro.” He said


When reading that short dialogue you probably didn't understand, that's why this language is exclusive to Friend Speaking. Reason being is that If I were to use this language at home, they would not comprehend what I will be trying to say to them. Same goes for Public Speaking. This language is considered improper english to most people. In this code things are more short and to the point. We using a lot of abbreviations and make up words to get right to the center of our message. There has been plenty of situations where I mistakenly talked to my friends in my “Home speaking” language and they would think I'm crazy. This code is affected mostly affected by the environment you were raised or grew up in.

Home speaking is slightly different but is under the same category. This type of language is used only at home when speaking to my parents, cousins and other family. This code can be different for all different types people. Culture also plays a big part in determining that. For example, in the passage “How to Tame A Wild Tongue”, the main character states “My home tongues are the languages I speak with my sister and brother, with my friends.”. In this sentence she explains what her “home tongues” are. In our case “home tongue” is considered “Home Speaking”. Although, the way I choose to speak at home with my family is slightly different than the way I communicate with my friends and the public, conversations in this code would look a little like this,


“Como que tu no tienes mi correa!” I yelled


“No lo tengo Alex, yo no uso las cosas tuyas.” He replied.


“Tu siempre me molesta” I said,


Spanish speaking is commonly used in my household which brings out my cultural background. This really brings out the culture and background that I am from. Trying this language with my friends or in public, people would look at me at strangely and would not comprehend what I am trying to get across. This brings us to the last code “Public Speaking”.

Public speaking in my case is considered to be standard english. Standard english is a language everyone who speaks english can understand. This code isn't exclusive to itself its is open to everyone. There are a great deal of literacies in the world, although there are also certain literacies that everyone can understand. In my case, “Public Speaking” is under that category of the language that everyone understand. For instance, if I were to go in public and enter a store to buy something and were to have a conversation with the cashier, I would code switch to Public Speaking because he would not understand me if I spoke in ”Home speaking” or “Friend Speaking” language he would have trouble understanding me that's why Public speaking is essential to my variety of codes. Public Speaking is the language everyone understands, no matter what code you are in or type of english you speak.

For different people, speaking and comprehending english will be different. There is not one correct literacy that everyone has to follow or that is proficient literacy. Although there is definitely a type of literacy everyone understands and use to communicate. This literacy or language is determined by noone but ourselves. We determine what is understood by everyone and what kind of language we need to speak in to communicate with people who are not familiar with your original language or literacy. There is not a wrong way of speaking english, we choose what literacy is proficient. There is not one type of literacy or language that is correct but there is a type of literacy or language that everyone understands.


Citations

Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands = La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1999. Print.


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Q1 Final Project

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Advanced Art · Hull · x1 Band on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 1:44 pm
This marking period was really fun. This class let me be creative and that was really cool. Our first project was the ceiling tile. At first I did not know what to do at first but then starting to think about things I like. So I created a ceiling tile based on my favorite artist mixtape. The finish product was amazing. I enjoyed doing this project although it was time consuming.

The second project was also time consuming but I enjoyed it. We had to draw our selves to make a self portrait. This made me look at myself in a different way when drawling myself. This made me point out the things on me that I never noticed before although I enjoyed the process.
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Advanced Essay #1: The Man That Changed My Life

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 3 · Block/Franz/Taylor-Baranik · C Band on Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 5:50 pm

Introduction

This essay has been one of the most personal writings I’ve ever done. I haven’t written what I consider a good essay in a while. This essay made me think and write about important events in my life which is something that is really hard to share. Not only was this essay real but it was also one of my only essays I was really descriptive. I lack very much in being descriptive and using descriptive words. I feel like in this essay I did a great job moving forward and improving my descriptive language. I can maybe try to include less scenes and have more analysis in my essay but I think I did a good job of balancing it.

        The Man That Changed My Life        

As I walk in and out of my room each day, I always pass by a very important painting. It is of a man that has played a very important part in my life as well as many others. The painting is of a man looking up into the sky while crossing his fingers; which is centered in a mysterious blurred out background with only a gleam of sunlight peaking through the window. He is wearing a nice silky blue shirt that seems as if it is the sky on a sunny bright day. A tiny thin gold necklace dangles around his sturdy neck. He has a slightly faded beard with a face of innocence. This man has long light brown hair that sits upon his shoulder. His mustache is slightly bushy, not too thin but just right. I see a halo hovering above his head glistening. To the right we see a lady in her late thirties, slowly approaching this man. This women has a white cloth on her head that resembles a hoodie. To complement the cloth, she wears a burgundy type of red shirt that fits just right. Around her neck there is a necklace that has a flaming heart at the center with a chain surrounding it. Her skin was flawless and her face embodied an equilibrium of seriousness and serenity. The portrait comes together as one to show the bond between a mother and son. The picture is of Jesus and his mother Mary. A nice classic artwork of the two; framed in a nice light brown frame with sharp edges to center out the artwork of the two. This image would come assist me in multiple situations throughout my years as a young boy trying to find out how this world works. “How was your day?” Asked my mother as we sat in our living room. A room that gives the feeling of calmness and leisure. The walls had a mixture of the two colors; brownish red and a dark yellow. Im sitting next the couch which is closest to the back wall. The room is cubed with 4 walls and two openings “It was good, I got to complete most of my work at lunch and now barely have anything to do at home.” I replied. “Im proud you are being a good student.” “How was your day mom ?” I asked. “Umm… it was ok, I have something to tell you but have no idea of a way to tell you without making you feel a certain way.” She replied. I moved eagerly to the couch she sat on to hear this news. The couch was located on the opposing side of the room from where I had just been.These two couches formed a small hallway that was parallel to the two openings. “Well, mom you know you could tell me whatever. Whats wrong?” I said. “Nothings wrong with me baby, I just got a phone from Frankie’s mom and he’s in the hospital.” She replied. I stood up and began to shakingly walk around the room. At that very moment millions of questions rolled through my mind, but the only one that managed to come out was, “What happened?” She answered, “He was in a car accident, he said he wants to see you.” After she said that I walked upstairs with no response to what she said. I never used the artwork hung in my room but this was the first time I decided to use it. I talked to the artwork and this made the artwork come alive. I asked for mercy for my friend Frankie, and that was exactly what they did. One day In fourth grade, I was sitting at the lunch cafeteria table playing a game of chess with my friend. He was very short with a mushroom shaped haircut that was a very bold dark brown color. He was real light skinned and was always a really nice person.
“No matter what you do I’m still going to be the best at this game.” I said in a giggling voice. “You have no chance against me.” I then continued. “Yea whatever you say” he replied. As he moved his king chess piece; and I realized that this is where I had him locked down. “Looks like someone in checkmate” As I said that; another kid soon approached us. He had been looking in our direction for a while but now he was in the presence of our game. He was a smaller kid who matched the body type of my fellow chessmate. We had been in the middle of what I considered a very intense game when the boy rudely interrupted.
“What are you guys playing?”
He reached for one of our chess pieces and moved it. I shouted, “What are you doing!?”
“Just moving it around”. “If you do that again I’m going to punch you” I said now aggravated. He went to reach for another chess piece; I stood up and pushed him so hard he hit the lunch table’s edge. The situation did not escalate after this so later on that day I went home. When I got into the house my mom asked me, “How was your day?” “My day was good, nothing bad happened just another day of school.” I replied, knowing it was a lie. After the conversation I walked up to my room with the feeling of guiltiness taking over my body. I then looked up at the painting and asked for forgiveness. He talked back to me and told me to go tell the truth to relieve all this guilt. That’s exactly what I did. Jesus is someone who can easily control your actions, which is crazy when you think about it. He has helped me through many obstacles in my life. They’re a lot of people who do not believe in god and have no religion at all. That’s perfectly fine but when I come to think of that, I can’t seem to find myself being the person I am without god to guide me and help me. Jesus isn’t someone you have to make an appointment for, he is someone who is always available. This makes him even more special to me. After Frankie’s accident, I never felt the same. I felt protected and felt as if there had always been someone there for me if my family or friends weren’t able to be there. After the many incidents I had experienced throughout my life, I was able to build a nice strong relationship with Jesus. We developed an unbreakable bond that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

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Zapatos Nuevos Para Marisol

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Spanish 2 - Bey - X on Thursday, June 9, 2016 at 11:24 pm
https://www.wevideo.com/hub/#media/ci/689473085

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Santiago, Ellena y Alejandro - Flamenco

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Spanish 2 - Bey - X on Thursday, May 26, 2016 at 10:36 am
https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/presentation/d/1uQtMVNQPan6cMxKhx9C1txCe2H3wHAKDaD8uUhmYXQo/edit?usp=sharing
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Role Of Rules

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 2 - Pahomov - E on Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 1:55 pm

Role Of Rules


Imagine a world without any rules or laws to tell people what’s right or wrong, Out of all of the endless possible things people can achieve, those things can lead to violent things and ruin everything that is running smoothly. People tend to make laws and rules in order to have everything run easy, simple, somewhat fair and to keep everyone safe. The person who decide these rules is considered a leader,someone who is in charge of group decisions and that the group choose to be. Although, people choose leaders based on what the leaders show not what they really are. This can cause people to be hurt by it or just plain out benefit from it. Also this is the reason people might choose to rebel against them. This situation works for rules and laws as well, having these regulations only benefit one side of the community and having that said, this will cause the resting side to rebel against these rules.


The most important thing to do when starting a community or group is to choose a leader. Without a leader things would be more complicated and less controlled in most situations. This is one of the first things that is done in “Lord Of The Flies¨ By William Golding. Kids introduce themselves and form a group. As the group increases in number, Ralph, one of the older kids holds a meeting. This is where they decipher things. ¨Seems we ought to have a chief to decide things¨. (22). Considering that this is one of the first things they have decided as a group, it makes it very important to have. It is very important to decide on a leader because it definitely gives the authority to the leader to have it organized and somewhat fair. Without a leader there would definitely cause chaos between the members and arguments. In this situation they chose Ralph because he was the one in control of the meeting and was the reason they are all joined together in one place therefore he showed some characteristics of a leader. After that he appointed Jack the leader of the hunting team. To sum it all up, they chose these leaders based on what people see and what the leader display. This will come back and bite them as the story goes on while they seem not to be what they actually show.


To relate this on how the United States decides on what leader they need or is necessary they have a leader called the president. In the U.S our citizens vote for their leaders. The head of the government is the president of the United States, he proposes new laws and rules for our country. According to “ask.com”,¨The president has the ability to veto laws made by congress and can issue executive order. The president also commands the military, which is significant because the U.S...¨. This definitely answers the question of why it is important for us to have a leader and why it is important for them to make laws and rules. Although these citizens only have the option to choose their leader based on what they claim they are. They can say tons of stuff about themselves and what they are going to do but might not actually do those things.and that will cause people to rebel against this leader.


There are plenty of rules and laws created that will only benefit a certain amount of people. Although that certain amount of people would be the majority of the group. While it benefits them, on the other side of the group, it will be hurting them. Their is a similar situation in ¨Lord Of The Flies¨ when the group decides to start a fire. They begin to form a fire although they encounter a problem of not having anything to start it with. ¨His specs---use them as burning glasses!.... ¨Here let me go!¨ (40)The group is in need of something to spark a fire, and they choose Piggy's specs as a “lighter. This causes Piggy to get upset and be sad. This is a perfect example of how this rule or command is benefiting only one side of a group and hurting the other. The group is benefiting from the glasses by using them to start the fire while Piggy is walking around blind and unhappy. We can also see how this is benefiting only the majority of the group. They’re tons of situations where this is portrayed in real life, from politics to society norms.


They’re plenty of ways that rules made to affect people in a bad way but others in a good way. This unfairness can be found in society, organizations, politics Etc. In some situations, somethings can be adjusted to make it more fair although most of the time there is no way to change it and there will always be a side that is being affected in a good or bad way. In a Buzzfeed post called “25 stages of getting randomly selected by airport security also known as flying while Brown”. There is a rule in airport security where if people or their bags look suspicious then they are allowed to check them. Although, “looking suspicious” could be interpreted in multiple of different ways by plenty of different people. Most common misinterpretation is checking someone because they look muslim or like a certain race or religion a terrorist group is in. The security would check these people and take up almost all of their time while they are most likely innocent. This connects back to the thesis by showing how it is benefiting only a certain amount of people. The people benefiting from this would be the airport itself and people boarding the plane. This would probably give them more comfort while boarding the plane while on the other hand it is taking too much unnecessary time from the person and giving them uncomfort and disrespect.


To wrap up, they’re plenty of different rules and regulations that have a reason behind them. In an amazing fictional book, young kids first instinct as a group is to decide a leader. That decision is very essential to a group’s health and environment.  As well as creating rules that affect certain parts of a group in a bad and good way. In“Lord Of The Flies” there was a situation where the rules were not fair and connecting that to a real life situation. We noticed that these rules will affect the majority of the group in a good way in most situations and it will give the rest a bad result. At the end of the day, rules will never benefit everyone but only a few and being part of that “few” could be very likely or unlikely depending on the situation.


Works Cited Page:

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.


Akbar, Ahmed Ali. "25 Stages Of Getting "Randomly" Selected By Airport Security." BuzzFeed. Web. 06 Apr. 2016


"Why Is the President an Important Person?" Ask. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.



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Ilp Blog Post

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Ilp - 10Th Grade - Menasion - Wed on Monday, March 28, 2016 at 3:49 pm

I had a great time and am still having a great time at my Ilp. It is a very interesting course considering that it has to do with law. I've always enjoyed having conversations about what is allow and what is not allowed in this country that won't break the law. In this course I get to discuss these things with my classmates and teachers and have a well thought out discussion. I enjoy my Ilp and am looking forward to finishing it off this year.


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Alexander, Tatyiana and Saamr

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Spanish 2 - Bey - X on Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 8:58 am
https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/presentation/d/1txiLUcb2TGovHspFhG-yUXhavStlMK-412jbpqu5FFQ/edit?usp=sharing

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Las Fotos Alexander (Alejandro) Torres

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Spanish 2 - Bey - X on Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 8:49 pm
Link:https://www.wevideo.com/hub/#media/ci/536817764

Miguel!

El se llama Miguel.  Ahora el tienes 15 años. El es muy perezoso. El solo le gusta jugar el videojuego. El juega el videojuego todos los días. Pero le odia practicar deportes. El no es atlético.


Los padres del no gusta a miguel. Los padres de miguel lo dejaron cuando Miguel tuve cuatro años.Ahora el odia a su padres. El quiere a encontrar su padres para matar los dos. El esta enojado a los dos.


El quiere matar su padres con perros. El no sabe usar una pistola. Él compró dos perros en la tienda. El se olvido comprar comida para su perros. Los perros del tienen hambre. Los perros no comieron nada hoy.


Los perros mordieron a Miguel.  Miguel se puso loco. Los perros quisieron comer. Miguel dio chocolate a los perros porque él no tuve otra comida. Una hora después de el chocolate, los perro se murieron .



.

Después de la muerte de los perros, Miguel estuve con hambre todo el dia.. El comio mucho. el se comio doritos, fideos y un sandwich. El dejó mucho basura. El leo un libro de perros. Ahora el sabe mucho de perros.


Cuando el se despertó él estuvo muy cansado. Él comió desayuno. El se comió huevo con salami. El se lleno de comida. Ahora el vas para el aero puerto. El le encanta los viajes de avión.


Él llegó al aero puerto. El vas a nueva york para encontrar a su padres. El no tuve dinero para comprar su boleto. El robo a un viejo and cogió su boleto. El está en la avion ahora y tiene miedo.


El llego a nueva york sin peligro. El estuvo muy cansado. El fue para un hotel and dormio por diez horas. El fue a un restaurante para comer. Después, él fue a encontrar su padres. El miro todos los lugares.


Cuando el estuve cruzando la calle un carro raro paso. El carro tuve dos tipos con mascara. Los tipos, robo a Miguel. Miguel entro el carro. Miguel pregunto adonde ellos iban pero no respondieron.


La voz de los tipos estuve reconocido. Miguel preguntó qué era los nombres de lo tipos. Ellos dijeron, “Maria Y Michael”. Miguel estuve sorprendido. Los tipos eran los padres de Miguel! Miguel estaba feliz.


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My Lover

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 2 - Pahomov - E on Monday, November 23, 2015 at 5:19 pm

(Sad Mood)

I was being used, yelled at, and even shut down. It wasn't a fair relationship. He would touch me and somehow control me. He would touch me in places I didn't want to be touched because I was not “acting right”. I did so much for him. Although it looked like he had total control over our relationship. Everything he demanded I would do for him. I would sign him in once he gets home, he would tell me to go to certain places for him and I would respond peacefully and obey his orders. I feel like he just used me for what I had, he used me for my unique internal and physical havings. Sometimes he  leave me alone in the dark, locked up in a room. I couldn't physically clean myself, someone else had to clean me. This was his job but he never did it.


“What did I do?!”

“Why are you cursing at me?!”

Then he would tell his friends to get online so he can play and talk with them using me.


(Happy Mood)

He's been a struggle in our relationship....but at the same time I loved him. He was my everything, he was my lover and my world. He spends quality time with me. I love the late night talks and activities we do. He loves to play with me at night and during the day. I remember when he played with me all day long, It was the best day ever. He used to buy brand new games every month to play with me. Although he did abuse me, he always made up for it. He was the only person in my life that has ever been like this to me. I loved watching him sleep, he sleeps in the cutest way ever. He curls up in a ball and snores like a pig. Although... that was the only person I seen sleep.


(Sad mood)


Wifi also was in the room where I lived. She was my enemy. She would try to make me glitch in order for my boyfriend to abuse me and get mad at me for it. She would shut herself down so I won't function as well, this is where my bf abuses me. Recently, my bf haven't been paying any mind to me. His mother and I did not have a good relationship. His mother would get angry at him for spending time with me. I wonder why, maybe If I was a another system, would she have not gotten as mad? I believe his mother was a big factor in separating our relationship. Oh...and he goes to this school thing where he is away for 8 hours. Those 8 hours are the worst. He locks me up, and I just have to wait until he comes back. Recently he has joined this new school, I think he moved up in something, but he was very nervous. When he comes home now he's just writing on paper and reading books constantly. He’ll play with me for a little, maybe for 30 minutes or an hour. I don’t know what has gotten into him. He's been bringing in girls, and spends more time with them than me. I remember when he was 4 ft and now he's almost 6 ft. I wonder where did I go wrong. I’ve also noticed that he has been spending a lot more time with this bitch Iphone. What’s the reason for our separation? If I was another system maybe he would love me more. I still can’t stand the fact that he shut me down forever and left me to dust.



My lover
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Puerto Rico Alejandro(Alex), Angelica( Taytiana), Pedro (Peter)

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Spanish 2 - Bey - X on Monday, November 16, 2015 at 10:06 am
https://www.wevideo.com/hub/#media/ci/510093416

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Papi Chulo

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 2 - Pahomov - E on Monday, November 9, 2015 at 8:57 pm
“Yo quiero un cheesesteak with onions.” I said to my dad.

“That's all, tu no quiere ketchup” Replied my dad.

“Yeah, that's all” I said

“Ok mijo”.

When my dad first arrived in the US he didn't know English. He worked in a “bodega” as we call it in our language, or a “Papi store,” as the Americans call it. Most Puerto Ricans and Dominicans were known for owning stores like these. When my parents had me, my brother and sister, they had to learn English. My father still currently does not know a lot of English but when he talks to us we mix our conversation with Spanish and English, same with my mother. I call it “Spanglish”. When we do talk in Spanglish, sometimes it's intentional and sometimes it's not. When we don't know a word in the language we are speaking in we usually say it in the other language to see if the phrase we are trying to say will get across.

My language has been a problem at home, although only for tiny reasons. I speak both Spanish and English at home. Both my parents speak both as well but don't know as much English than they know Spanish. For me it's the opposite. I know more English than I know Spanish. This is where the Spanglish kicks in. The reason  language is a tiny problem at home is because when me and my parents are having a conversation in Spanish, I stutter a lot and don't remember the words I want to get across, so I use Spanglish.

In school, my language has been a minor problem as well. People has commented on my accent my whole life. Although it’s not a very thick accent but when you get used to my voice you start to notice I have a tiny accent. Having this accent make me pronounce things differently.


“Laffy Taffy and Frooties would probably be my favorite candy,” I said.

I was with my friends and we were discussing different types of candy and which ones were our favorites.

“Ehh, those two are good but aint’ nothing gon’ beat chocolate!” Said Johnny.

“Eww, Choawcolet! That jawn nasty, I hate Choawcolet” I replied.

“Did you just say Choawcolet? Haha dude, it's chocolate not Choawcolet!” Said Johnny.

Everyone laughed.

“Chocolate...Choawcolet same thing.” I laughed.

Chocolate wasn't the only word I pronounced weird. Same goes with hockey. I feel like the differences on how the O’s are presented in both languages is what makes me pronounce it weird. I also pronounced pizza strange as well. The way you pronounce pizza is “pete zuh”. The way I pronounce pizza is “Pee suh”. I think this is just a Spanish and English mixture problem.

I had two different types of speech. I consider myself two different types of people when I talk in those two different types of speech.

“You talkin’ bout’ boul?” I sai

“Yea, that boul real funny.” My friend replied.

“What boul say that make you laugh?”

“He just be saying the funniest and stupidest stuff”

“I make you laugh all the time, I'm a comedian myself yameant.”I laughed

“Keep dreaming young boul”

“Is you crazy? I make everyone laugh all the time, you juss hatin’.”

When around my friends I have what I call a ”loose tongue”. I don't have a limit on how I speak. I curse unintentionally like it's part of the language. I don't speak proper english when around my friends because I know they wont care and I don't need to impress anyone with my speech.


“Hello, my name is Alexander Torres.” I said.

“Hey how's it going, my name is James. Let's get started. Tell  me about yourself.”

“Well, I'm from North Philadelphia. I'm Dominican, I can speak both English and Spanish. I work very well in any environment.”

“That's interesting. How did you learn Spanish?”

“As a kid I learned Spanish first then as I started school, I learned English.”.

If I were to speak  to someone who is trying to hire me for a job or if I was going to an interview for some reason. I would speak more proper just so they can get a good first impression of who I am.

Now since my parents do not know a lot of english I try to speak more proper in front of them as well as with any other stranger I come upon. Although with my brother, sister and cousins I'll speak with my loose tongue. I would speak “ ghetto” with my friends because I know that they will understand me. Not to get you confused but I do not speak ghetto intentionally, if I'm speaking to you I'll probably speak ghetto first and then change my way of speech according to who you are.  In this generation people have confused “speaking ghetto” with “speaking dumb”. Speaking ghetto does not have to do with anything in your education. If we were to compare education through grades, between a person who speaks ghetto and a person who doesn't, I believe you would not have told the difference. People have also confused speaking ghetto with speaking smart. They have labeled speaking smart as speaking white, speaking ghetto as speaking black. Now as much as I hate this saying I won't be getting into it.

Having a Spanish accent isn't the only problem causing me to speak weird. I also have a “north philly accent”. I talk less proper and speak “ghetto”. When I first came to SLA, some people commented on how ghetto I talked. When I talk I make up words that has a similar meaning to the original word. For example, the phrase “do you know what I mean”, I would use “Yameant”.  it is a quicker way of saying the original statement but just a faster way. This accent has affected me a lot. Not only did it make me speak weird but also help me find friends that have a similar accent. If I could find someone with a similar accent  I would know that they are similar to me in some way. Accent can be a big factor in determining  who you are and where you come from.

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ILP

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Ilp - 10Th Grade - Menasion - Wed on Thursday, October 15, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Dont have one. I met with Jeremy last week and he requested to email the principal at greenfield but they were full. Trying to think of something. The thing that got in the way was that i didnt know what i wanted to do and still dont know what i want to do. I need help finding what I want to do and the location has to be convenient for me.
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Change

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 1 - Giknis - X on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at 1:18 pm

Change

In both my blog post #1 and blog post #2 I gave a lot of research on homelessness. In blog post #1 i gave a lot of information on the different types of people who become homeless easily. I gave rough estimates on the percentages of the different types of people who become homeless for example, veterans, children under the age of 18, people experiencing chronic homelessness and etc.  I wish i had found a lot more information on the homeless spikes that cities use to prevent the homeless from staying there. I also wished I had found more information on homelessness in the past compared to homelessness in the present. I want to know more about how homelessness originated.


In blog post #2 I reflected on my original research. I decided to survey people on their stances and opinions on homelessness. It went not as I expected. I expected more people to not care about homelessness but instead they actually did care which isn't a bad thing. Somethings I would change would most likely be the questions. I feel like the questions were too broad and general. Maybe if I created more in depth questions it would've been more valuable research


For my agent of change I decided to go out in public and give money to the homeless. It was a great experience and but I was very nervous. I hope I did give the impact i wanted to give. I was aiming for the homeless people who recieved my ¨care package¨ and my word of advice to pass on that hope to motivate others. I believe that words is more valuable than items and actions. I hope I gave the impact i aimed for considering that i can't determine that at the moment.


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Giving Hope

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 1 - Giknis - X on Friday, May 29, 2015 at 8:10 pm

Giving Hope

Giving back to the ones in need. In my two previous blog posts I gave a lot of information on Homelessness. I gave research that I found on the different kinds of people who became homeless and also explained why I chose to pursue this topic. In addition to my blog post #1, In my blog post #2 I also created my own research to gather information on people's opinions on Homelessness and reflected on it. IMG_1118.JPG

I woke him from his sleep to give him what i wanted to give him

There's many organizations out there trying to prevent homelessness from spreading in the U.S. One organization I found that is working currently in Philadelphia and it is called ¨Project Home¨. This organization helps break the chain of homelessness and gather volunteers to do so. I support this idea of helping to take down homelessness. By Having people volunteer on their own will to help out the homeless people makes my heart filled with joy. They even accept donations, so they can give to the homeless people. For my Agent Of Change I decided to go out and give some poor homeless people some food/snacks. Not only did I give them snacks but I also went and gave them some word of advice. I told them to keep on moving with life and to keep their head up. I told them that i had faith in them. One of the homeless people, responded with ¨I've been homeless for 22 years¨. I was very surprised and that made me question myself. How can you experience homelessness with your family and friends around you? I felt really nervous doing this project because I am not the type of person to go out there and confront a random stranger. When I went up to the homeless person, I felt really conscious of the people around me and what they would think but I overcame that and did what I needed to do. I learned that homeless people are often donated to not like I expected. I expected the homeless to be surprised that I gave them food but they weren't they casually took my food and thanked me.

           He's been homeless for 22 years.IMG_1124.JPG

Things i could've done better for my agent of change was maybe talk to more homeless and gather more stories. I only gave them some hope and food, I wish I had a longer conversation and gather more information on the homeless and listen to their story on how they got homeless. There's one thing that needs to be done in order for Homelessness to not exist and that is to get the word to the government. In my blog post #2 I talked about how different cities want to drive homeless people out the cities by doing different things like implementing homeless spikes and more. Instead of the government trying to get rid of the homeless people why not help the homelessness by implementing new laws that makes it less likely to be homeless. To rise up together, we need to lift each other up.

IMG_1156.JPG

Here is my annotated bibliography!

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Help The Hopeless

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 1 - Giknis - X on Monday, May 11, 2015 at 7:40 pm

      Help The Hopeless


In my previous blog post I gave some important facts on the homeless people. Such as the different causes of homelessness. One cause of homelessness as discussed in my previous blog is economic problems such as low incomes and lack of affordable housing. Also talked about the amount of people that were homeless last year. January 2014, on any given night there was at least 578,424 people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. I also talked about the different types of people who become homeless. For example, U.S military veterans who come back to find themselves homeless in a few months after they've served for the military.


I found a lot of new information after my first blog post. I've learned that their are different kinds of homelessness. One that I had researched was Chronic Homelessness. Chronic Homelessness is when someone with disabling health and behavioral health conditions is experiencing homelessness. According to researched they are trying to end it from 2015-2017. I've seen Chronic Homelessness myself. It kills me inside to see those people suffering not only from Homelessness but from other personal health issues. Another issue I've found during researching was Homelessness being restricted in some cities. Cities like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and  Lawrence, KS has banned panhandling in some of the different parts on the city. Also the fact that the local citizens of the specific cities actually signed petitions to stop the homeless from getting any help. In addition to my previous blog post where I talked about different types of people who become homeless and I found out that the majority of the youths become homeless usually because of family divorce, neglect and abuse which is really heart breaking.


Researching about homelessness was very interesting and really heart breaking. So I took it upon myself to do a survey about people stances and opinions on Homelessness. The responses were not as surprising as I thought they would be. I expected more harsh answers after researching about Homelessness. Although, the responses on one my questions shocked me. The ninth question(¨Should there be homeless people in a country where we live around money?¨) responses shocked me after I seen that people have answered yes. Almost half of the people who answered this question said yes. This survey helped me understand more of the opinions that the people have on Homelessness. Although I was not surprised with most of the responses, I personally believe those responses was because of the community the people are in. Considering that most of the responses, well all of them were sent to people of my school, I feel like that couldve been the cause of all the answers. Somethings Im still left wondering is, what if i had sent this survey to different types of people from different money classes or depending on where these people live. Something i am looking forward to doing is, giving money to the homeless and giving them hope and to keep pushing.


Screenshot 2015-05-09 at 3.57.49 PM.png

Survey response to question #9


Homeless.jpg

Homeless spikes to restrict homeless from staying at that place.

Heres my Annotated bibliography!


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Would you give money to a hobo?

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 1 - Giknis - X on Friday, April 24, 2015 at 8:52 pm

Would you give money to a hobo?


In this project I will be focusing on the issue of Homelessness. I’ve experienced being asked for help by homeless people in the streets of philly multiple times. As a kid my mother always told me to not give money to homeless unless that you see that their are really in need of money. As i started to grow up I starting to form own opinions and control my own actions. Im interested in this topic because I believe not all homeless are bad and everyone deserves a big push to start a new life.There has been an enormous amount of people that are homeless in the country of The United States. Main factors why most people are homeless is because of economic problems such as low incomes and lack of afordtable housing. Knowing that, I hope I could see people who are in somewhat good conditions wealthwise, helping the homeless get back on their feet.


This issue has been around for years. Its a problem today because according to the adamplimton website it shows that over 133,000 people sleep on the streets or in a shelter on any given night. January 2014, on any given night there was at least 578,424 experiencing homelessness in the U.S. Knowing this gives me the motivation to help out the homeless. I also find it very interesting how 23% of the 3.5 million who are homeless each year are U.S Military Veterans. Serving the military and then coming back home to find yourself homeless is devastating. Although the rate has been decreasing. In addition, 25% of the 3.5 million homeless each year are children under the age of 18 years. Imagine trying to survive in this world homeless. As humans we take advantage of what we got. Imagine on a 20 degree cold day outside and you finally coming home to some warm comfort. Think of the homeless who are outside suffering and have no hope of heat. Also i feel like homeless people are shunned by people. I feel like everyones thought of a homeless person is a older man, over grown beard, smelly and is a drug/alcohol addict.Known as a stereotypical hobo. Thats a bad stereotype to have in so many ways. Anyone can become  homeless. Bee talks about this in a video about the homeless.


Im wondering what kind of stereotypes other people have againist the homeless. Im also wondering if they know what kind of people are homeless and how would they react. I also wonder reason why people decided not to give a homeless person money. I also would find it interesting to try asking the homeless people some questions also.

Homelessness.jpg

Homeless person sleeping on the streets.

http://www.adamplimpton.com/homelessness/



Screenshot 2015-04-24 at 8.46.48 PM.png

Data on homeless people sheltered and unsheltered in 2014

https://projecthome.org/how-to-help/advocate/facts-homelessness


Annotated bibliography






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Q3 Art Reflection

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Art - Freshman - Hull - b2 on Friday, April 10, 2015 at 10:11 am

I feel like i did a good job trying to accomplish what i needed to do. My back wall 15 because of no windows. The side walls are good because they have window but the door wasnt so good so like a 19. The ceiling deserve a 20 because i tried my best on that and i followed the rules. The others i aint have. Work on it more. One drawling i seen looked like they took their time on it and looked just like the example we used. I learned that the orthagonals were very important.


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Team M.A.O

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Spanish 1 - Manuel - E on Thursday, February 5, 2015 at 11:59 am

    Team M.A.O


Somos Alex, Obie y Madison. Somos estudiantes de Science Leadership Academy. Science Leadership Academy es situado en 55 North 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA. Es algo grande. Hay muchos comida lugares alrededor la escuela. Esta cerca de Arch Gourmet. Hay cinco pisos. Tenemos una hora del almuerzo. Tenemos un café pequeño. Ofrecemos el deporte de beisbol, Futbol, ultimo frisbee, softbol y baloncesto. Ofrecemos clubes como robótica. Alex participa en béisbol porque a él le encanta jugar beisbol.


Nosotros tenemos matematicas, teatro, bioquímica, español y inglés. A Obie le encanta la bioquímica. La clase favorita de Madison es bioquímica. En arte nosotros escribimos. En bioquímica, nosotros diseñamos cerditos. Para tener éxito en la clase de matemáticas es importante tener papel. La clase favorito de nosotros es inglés. En inglés leemos los libros ¨Macbeth¨ y ¨How to kill a mockingbird¨. Nosotros hablamos de los libro tambien. En toda las clases hacemos mucho proyecto.


Los profesores favorito de nosotros son la señora Sessa y el señor Kay. La Señora Sessa enseña nosotros como a diseccionar nos cerditos. La señora sessa es muy tranquila y contenta. El señor Kay es muy divertido. Nosotros nos gusta a los dos professores porque los dos son divertidos. Su clases son muy educativo. En la clase de bioquímica nosotros vemos peliculas y tomar apuntes. En la clase de el señor Kay nosotros actuamos. Para la clase de Bioquímica necesitamos la bata de laboratorio y un libro.


Nos encanta el horario. Nosotros nos gusta una hora del almuerzo. Nos encanta los profesores tambien. Lo que más nos gusta de SLA es que nosotros no necesitamos usar uniforme. La escuela SLA es muy avanzado, difícil y creativo.



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Macbeth Rap

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in English 1 - Giknis - X on Friday, January 23, 2015 at 10:54 am
I made a Macbeth rap to show the change in Macbeth. I want you to know i am not a good rapper but i tried my best. I chose to do a rap because i found it fun to do while i am actually working for a class. I might've talked a bit fast so heres the lyrics.

Oh snap… lets calll the cops.

MAcbeth just killed someone from the naives the chops

Dunsanaine coming to the top

Better watch out with those moving crops

Macbeth people and my mixtape about to drop

Macbeth killing it gotta stop


Naw lets start from the begining.

yea, MAcbeth was great and loyal or atleast he was.

Killing, i believe he did  it just because

alright lets see how this all got started

his wife telling him hes too warm hearted

he killed duncan malcolm departed

When u hear my rap, yea its prerecorded

Macbeth such great, loyal and devoted

All these quotes in one book, i decode it


First was duncan,second was banquo

third was killing macduff famiily just like rambo

To be king was his fate

but all he really got was real painful  hate

all these good quotes i should annotate

a sword to his chest, no amour plate

macbeth going crazy at an outstanding rate

only if he was the kind of person to patiently wait


He started acting abit strange

This is where he took a real big change

should tell his wife but shes out of range

got her dying in the end in exchange


strange things in his head shall be scanned

back to duncans with two daggers in his hand.

lady macbeth the murder was planned

now macbeth has all scotland


Now hes just killing without even thinking

hes acting to fast before hes even blinking

his heart      little by little its shrinking

im going a bit slow so the words can start syncing



for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth.

Macduff the one and only shall cause his death


Killing his family was a real big  mistake

he shall be sliced, and be done with for gods sake


Macbeth hes king, he got their fast

he killd alot of people but just forget the past

a test to see if heĺl chanlenge fate, he didnt pass

the war is going to start, finally at last


now we see forest coming up to dunsanine

macbeth inhaling feear and all this pain

he deserves this for breaking the great human being chain

keep my verses straight on track like a septa train


Macbeth, hes done a lot of killing

instead of king hes a big bad villian


Macduff looking for someone     hes outof sight

Is he going down, well      not quite

Macbeth isnt going to die without a fight

but lets be real   macbeth is softer than some egg whites


Macbeth was noble and loyal

now hes just plain ol evil and royal

the forest coming up to dunsanaine soil

Making macbeth mind go in endless coils


why challenge fate, out of curiosity

becamne nice to evil so fast its called velocity

question is, if this is called reality

school i go to science leadership academy




Donaldbain and malcolm they not here they fled

Macbeth was good to start but now is full of dread

i seen that in a line that i carefully  read

I dont dont make money i make literal bread

to much things in his mind, cant to go to bed

Same for lady, something she already said

too late when macduff sliced his big ol head


Macbeth where his friends he has none

banquos son wiill be king yes more than one

I think this is the part where i call it done


11 Comments

Net Neutrality

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Technology- Freshmen - Hull - b1 on Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at 11:30 am
Net Netrality
Net Netrality
  1. What did you learn that is new information?

-Their will be a meeting on Febuary with the FCC. Their the chairman Tom Wheeler will pass the draft proposal of the new net neutrality rules. Wheelers previous proposal didnt work out well. Cititzens are fighting to have new rules for net neutrality.

  1. What are the differences in the articles?

-I dont really see any differences. Although, i do see the different perspective on the event. Each article has a different way of describing the event.

  1. Which one is the most trustworthy link?

I would say their is a ¨more trustworthy link¨. I feel like they all show the same thing and trys to educate us on the same subject. All links are ¨.com¨, so we cant determine it by that. Also, all the websites sort’ve portray the event simular.



Part ll

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/11/12/polls_show_that_republicans_and_democrats_both_want_net_neutrality_no_fast.html


I couldnt find a pro-Democratic or rebublican source/article. Although i did find a link that shows how both democratic and republican want net neutrality.


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Q2 Benchmark Video

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Spanish 1 - Manuel - E on Monday, January 5, 2015 at 9:24 am
Mi proyecto

Los quiridos en mi vida

Intro-

Hola, me llamo ALex y esto es mi proyecto.


Yo-

Yo tengo el pelo negro y los ojos cafés.Yo tengo cartorce anos.Soy viejo si? Yo soy latino. Ademas soy dominicano. Yo soy algo loco. Me enchanta jugar beisbol.


El-

El es mi mejor amigo. El se llamas Kamil. El es super loco. El es un poco cómico. El le gusta salir con amigos y le encanta bromear.


Ella-

Ella es mi tia.Ella se llamas Shantel. Ella es joven. Ella es bastante hermosa. Ella le gusta jugar. Ella a veces vernir a ver me


Ellas-

Ellas son mi amigas. Ellas le encanta ir de compras. Ellas son guapas. Ellas son latinas. Ademas ellas son puertorriqueñas.  Ellas tienen los pelo rubia. Ellas assistant a Palumbo.


Nosotros-

Nosotros somos intelligente.Nosotros somos guapos. Nosotros somos latinos. Nosotros gusta ir en viajes. Nosotros somos divertidos.


Fin-

Gracias


2 Comments

Blog Net Neutrality

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres on Monday, December 22, 2014 at 8:01 pm
Net Netrality
Net Netrality

Net Neurality isnt fair. They control our network by easily restricting us on what we can see and charging us. Its not fair for them to take control of something that can be equally divided. Slowing and blocking us users from iternet connection is not acceptable.


Have you been affected by it? Have you ever been watching a movie on netflix and it starts to buffer or it just takes a huge amount of time to load? Then yes, you have been affected by net neutrality. They want you to pay extra in order for you to be put in the ¨fast lane¨.


What can we do? Theirs different things you can do. You can sign pettions and also indepently write to the FCC. The FCC are already taking action. Although these actions wont be effective and will only change a bit.



http://www.softwarespecialists.com/net-neutrality-will-affect-users/


http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/15/everything-you-need-to-know-about-net-neutrality/


https://www.change.org/p/tom-wheeler-save-net-neutrality





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Media Fluency 2

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Technology- Freshmen - Hull - b1 on Wednesday, December 17, 2014 at 11:49 am
Media Fluency 2
The reason i made the slide look the way it is was because people said that i was trying to put two slides in one. Also that the two topics i was trying to present in my previous slide didnt relate therefore i changed it to one slide and showed one topic.
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Media Fluency

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Technology- Freshmen - Hull - b1 on Wednesday, November 26, 2014 at 11:41 am
Untitled presentation
​Image from:
Why did you make the slide look the way it does?

I created this slide the way it is for several reasons. One, I chose to to put my text size somewhat big since i dont have much things to put in my slide besides the two topics in the slide. I got this advice from Presentation Zen. Also the two topics i put up in my slide is the reason why i act the way i am. Also i kept my slide simple because as stated in a article i read its better to keep it simple, than to have it filled with text or information. 

What influenced your decision making?

The two topics on my slides represent the way i act and why i act this way. It explains the way i think and who those two things changed the way it think. Also websites i read helped me make the slide look the way it is. I read that it is good to make it visual.  
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Alexander Torres, Java Miller, Maddison Haye

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Spanish 1 - Manuel - E on Friday, October 31, 2014 at 7:47 am
Alphabet
Birthday
Greetings
Number
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Home Network, Torres

Posted by Alexander Gomez Torres in Technology- Freshmen - Hull - b1 on Wednesday, October 15, 2014 at 7:00 pm
My Internet service provider would be Comcast Xfinity. The coax wire brings that internet into my bedroom into my modem which is connected to my router through an Ethernet cable. Connected to my router is my xbox. Through wifi ,the phones and laptops throughout the house are connected. I learned that their is a process for internet to come in to your electronics. I thought it was as simple as just tapping ¨Connect to wifi¨ for u to have internet. Illl recommend them to know how their home network is setup ao they can know its not a simple process.
mind mapping software
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