Artist’s Statement: In Q2,  the main focus was on various colored pencil techniques. In particularly, we completed various blind contour drawings, pieces of fruit and a color wheel that helped us practice and hone the skills we learned using colored pencil. The blind contour assignments showed me how not to rely on the paper for reference when drawing something but rather to focus on the actual image I am drawing. These assignments taught me how to blend colors as well as what colors mix well together. One assignment that stood out to me the most was the fruit basket because I saw myself using the techniques I learned and then applying them to create colorful and realistic pieces of fruit. I hope I will be able to use these skills that I’ve learned from this quarter and apply them into the next.

“Water is the Driving force of all nature”- Leonardo da Vinci

Water and I have always had an interesting relationship. Some days we were inseparable, and others she was a cruel mistress who sought to entice and smother me to death. Either way I’ve always had a fondness for water. In 2011 my aunt and uncle were hosting a pool party at their house in New Jersey. Like every other time I was eager to visit them and take a dip in their pool, but this year was special. I was even more excited to bring my cousin along so that he too could experience the same joy that I felt every summer. My cousin is two years older than me and every summer he would spend the week at our house. So me, my mom, my dad, my brother and cousin hop in the car and begin our journey to New Jersey, where fate will have me experience something I will never forget. In the car we planned what we would games we would play in the pool, what food we eat and how we would teach each other different types of dives that we have learned over the years. As we progress, it is tradition that we stop by the Wawa located a mile from my uncle’s house. From Wawa I get a tub of ice cream and a big bottle of Fiji water, knowing that if I didn’t, I might pass out due to heat exhaustion. After leaving Wawa, we continue the rest of our journey and shortly arrive at our destination.

Once we arrived at our destination, I was ecstatic to hop in that glorious pool, but before that I had to pretend like I wanted to see the rest of my family in an awkward display of misplaced affection. The only ones I was excited to see where my uncle, aunt, her mother, three cousins and my godmother. Shortly after I rushed to the bathroom to change into my swimming trunks but as soon as I left out, my mom forces me to put on sunscreen to which I reluctantly comply. After the 5 minutes of rushed sunscreen application was over, I hurry out to the pool without a care in the world. I waited 15 minutes for my cousin to get to the pool and every second that he took I grew more and more agitated.

After what felt like an eternity he got there and the gloves were off. I tackled him into the pool and and our battle began. We assumed the roles of our favorite aquatic superheroes and villains. He was the infamous Black Manta and I was Aquaman. It was a classic battle between good vs. evil, and I had every intention to win. The goal of this game was to come out victorious and to bask in glory.

Elbows, punches, kicks and knees were all muffled and slowed down due to the water pressure. Back flips off the diving board, cannonballs and dives were all apart of the act. Many dynamic hits were traded off underwater. I had the majority of the hits but I knew that my cousin had a trump card up his sleeve. I should have seen it coming. I can remember his smug and arrogant smile but due to my ignorance I took it as just a facade in an attempt to stay true to his character.

In a matter of seconds I felt a major amount of pressure that land in my stomach. I felt like time had stopped as his foot hit my rib cage. Next thing I knew I was dunked underwater and kicked in my head. I was stunned and caught completely off guard. All of a sudden I saw two feet over my face and felt both impacting my face. Both shock and fear struck me. I was unsure of whether we were just playing or if he was serious. Many thoughts entered my mind during my time underwater. I thought maybe I hit him too hard or if he thought we were seriously fighting.

Pain didn’t affect me. Adrenaline fueled me as I was struggling to come up for air but my efforts proved useless as my cousin was holding me down with his feet. I tried to grab his leg in an attempt to stop him but I was kicked in my head again. At that moment I felt as though it would be my dip in my uncle’s pool. Things became blurred and nebulous. I felt a combination of sadness and betrayal. Then, as I thought all hope was lost, I saw a pole which was my beacon of light and I grabbed it. When I awoke, I was surrounded by my dad, cousin and uncle. I hear muffled arguing on who was to blame and why nobody came to help sooner. Once I was able to stand, my mind was blank. I lost the feeling of fear I had in the pool and instead I felt nothing but anger. I was silent. I heard both my dad and uncle trying to talk to me. Questions like, “ Are you okay?”, “ What happened?” went unanswered. I look up at my cousin who was standing directly across from me and I lunged forward and punched him in the face. I watched him go down as my dad grabbed me.

I was infuriated with him and my anger was similar to Jimmy Cross’s in the book The Things They Carried when Ted Lavender died. However, the only thing that died that day was my trust in my cousin. I asked myself, “Why would he do that to me? Why did he try to kill me? What did I do to deserve this?” Like Jimmy Cross I longed for answers and retribution. I wanted nothing more than to see my cousin suffer. He apologized to me but I was certain it wasn’t sincere. To this day, I still don’t know why all that happened but oddly enough I thank him. I am grateful that I now know you should never let your guard down in any situation. Anything can happen and it is important to be aware of your surroundings. Since then, I have forgiven my cousin and I respect him immensely as he enters a new chapter in his life with going into the Navy.

The Loss of Childhood Innocence 9/28/15

Brandon Jones

Air Stream

Knowledge is a powerful tool in the hands of man. Knowledge can both help and hurt people, build and destroy relationships and help determine right from wrong. Because of its power, children are taught to seek knowledge at a rapid pace, which could lead to both a revolutionary and destructive future if it continues. At the wrong time, this knowledge could potentially teach children inappropriate behaviors. Parents believe that exposing their children to vasts amount of knowledge at a young age will aid them in adulthood, however, what they don’t know is that this knowledge could at the same time ruin their innocence.

First, it is important to define what knowledge truly means and everything it entails. According to Dictionary.com, the definition of knowledge is, “the fact or state of knowing; the perception of fact or truth; clear and certain mental apprehension.” When a child first learns the concept of right from wrong, they learn the truth of what is morally acceptable to do and what not to do. Usually, parents and teachers don’t go into detail of what truly constitutes as right and wrong, but instead, a basic black and white explanation, not going into the greys in between. This was to protect the innocence of a child, but times have changed from then. Parents now are so focused on building their children up for “success” that they forget to realize they are opening up a dangerous Pandora’s Box.

A poll was taken in February 2015 on parents and childhood stimulation, where over 87 per cent of parents said they believed that the more stimulation a child received, the more successful they would be.  From seeing that so many parents agree that more stimulation equals more success, it’s safe to say that they are right to an extent. Yes things like stimulation, knowledge and wisdom are key to a successful life as an adult but everything should be done in moderation. This concept that 87% of parents agree on, looks over very important stages of development. Stages that are necessary for further social development

In an article published by the New York Times about the loss of childhood innocence, information came from a Fourth grade teacher in Denver, Colorado talking about a student in her class. the article states, “ As the teacher reported, ''Kids are a lot freer now. Even in the 10 years I've been at this school, there's been a change. The other day, a very innocent-looking little boy came up to me and casually asked me whether a certain sexual act was 'for real.' He used a crude word for it. I asked him to whisper in my ear what he thought the word meant. Well, he knew more details than I myself knew until about five years ago.” This information supports my thesis because it talks about a child who learned about a certain sexual act that clearly shocked and upset the teacher. It’s likely that prior to learning about the sexual act, the boy knew very little to nothing about sex. By gaining the knowledge of this, the boy’s innocence was lost and born from that loss was the curiosity to find out  if what he had learned was true. His thirst for knowledge drove him to want to seek answers to this concept that he knew nothing about but craved to learn.

Even if parents attempt to bring up a child in the best way possible, they must be aware of the influence the outside world has. Parents must be careful of what their children get exposed, to such as the sexualization of young children. Things like this, specifically the sexualization of young girls, can be a huge factor in the loss of innocence. In 2012, researchers did a study to identify self sexualization in young girls and identify factors that protect girls from objectifying themselves. Also psychologists at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois assessed self sexualization in girls, ages 6-9 through the use of paper dolls. The assessment goes on to say that, “Across-the-board, girls chose the "sexy" doll most often. The results were significant in two categories: 68 percent of the girls said the doll looked how she wanted to look, and 72 percent said she was more popular than the non-sexy doll.” Other studies have shown that “sexiness” boosts popularity in girls but not boys. Needless to say, young girls and boys should not have to feel the pressures popularity through sexualization. These pressures cause children to explore their sexuality at too young of an age and it needs to be stopped.

If parents ever want to combat the loss of childhood innocence, they need to be mindful of what their children are exposed to. They need to focus on nurturing their children instead of being too concerned with success that loose sight of what is important. Parents are responsible for teaching their children what they will need later in life but everything must be done in moderation. If this is not done their might be irreparable damage done to children because of the actions of their parents.

Work Cited:

1. Winn, Marie. "THE LOSS OF CHILDHOOD." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 May 1983. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.

<http://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/08/magazine/the-loss-of-childhood.html>

     2. "Knowledge." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.

<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/knowledge>

     3. Abbasi, Jennifer. "Why 6-Year-Old Girls Want To Be Sexy (STUDY)."Huffington Post. LiveScience, 16 July 2012. Web.

In this unit of World History, we learned about climate change. We read and talked about countries all over the world who are affected by climate change. My goals throughout the project were to portray different peoples opinions and thoughts on climate change, whatever they may be. I wanted to portray the thoughts of a timid business man, a successful company owner and an environmental activist.

Ichabod Cheeks

(To peers)Umm, yes.. my name is Ichabod Cheeks. I am a succesfu.. no an average business man. I...I think that with...with the help of our government we can put an end to global warming! I mean if that is okay with everyone. Not to step on anyones toes or anything. Well, maybe they need to be stepped on!.....Or maybe not! Heh Heh. Actually, no this is an important issue! I am tired of our government constantly lying to our faces. It doesn’t take a man from Fresno to see that! Even stevie wonder could see that. It is appalling that our so called leaders are not doing what they need to to correct this impending issue. They are carelessly wasting money on irrelevant things for no reason at all.(Pause)They even spent 750 thousand dollars on a soccer field for inmates at guantanamo bay! Yet the US complains about not having funding for schools. But what do I know? I am just a lowly man who has an opinion. Even though my opinion won’t be heard. But I won’t be ignored! I will do whatever it takes to make my voice heard! Never again will my opinion be neglected. I’m sick of people constantly taking me for granite. Well, will they not listen to me when their whole words are turned upside down?(Pause)Not again will we not help a country who will suffer at the hands of a hurricane! They will hear my voice and the will feel our wrath. The people's wrath!

Florida Stevens(Video)

Your Honor, Jury, climate change is more fuss than harm! Sure there have been natural disasters and thats sad and all, but I don’t believe it’s reason enough that I’m in court before all of you now.(Pause) Yes I know my company is a big fossil fuel burner. I don’t see why that has to do with anything. (Pause) So what if a few people get hurt in a natural disaster. That’s not our problem! They need to toughen up and strive instead of babying about a small amount of property damage.(Pause) What do you mean I am out of order? We aren’t the ones suffering because of a little rain.(Court banter, Judge calms everyone down) Pfff...order in the court, you wouldn’t know order if it hit you like a tsunami. At this rate, your honor, I do not have time for this. For some reason, you can’t get it through your thick skulls, that climate change isn’t that deep of an issue! You’re a pack of fools! Every last one of you!(Pause) I’m being sued for how much?
But...but why? You are blowing this way out of proportion! Please, I’m begging you! Don’t do this!
I was just trying to own a business and now I’m being sued for it?

Jermaine Flowers

(To the crowd) Hello! My name is Jermanie Flowers and welcome to the 3rd annual San Diego Envo-Con.(Crowd cheers, Jermaine guides the crowds attention back to him) Yes, I know all of you are as excited as me but we should all give thanks and pause to our dear mother nature(Pauses for moment of silence) Alrighty then! Our first order of business is to go to congress! We need them to pass a bill to incriminate everyone negligent on climate change. And if they refuse, we will unleash our master plan!(Crowd gasps in anticipation) We will block all traffic in San Diego, New York and Washington DC!(Crowd cheers) Then congress will have to pay attention to us. We’ll see then how they like it when they can’t get to their jobs. Then they won’t be able to burn anymore of those horrible gasses into our precious air! All hail mother Nature!(Crowd cheers)

Monologue 2 video

Hello again, My name is Brandon Jones and I am writing for a third time on African American students and standardized test scores. Since my last 2 blog posts, here and here, I have relentlessly be following this impending issue. I have been looking for what can or is being done about the Black and White Test Score Gap and I feel as though my efforts have been prosperous. According to this website, closing the test score gap would do more to promote racial equality more than any other tactic the United States has ever used. Also by eliminating the gap, there would be an increase in black college graduation rates, thus making them equal to white rates. Absence of the gap would also discourage colleges from using racial preference as a means of admittance along with racial disparities in both men’s and women’s earnings.

Closing the gap would require the endeavors of both blacks and whites. Sadly however, it is estimated that this would take more than one generation to accomplish. I agree wholeheartedly that we as Americans can achieve this goal. Though I disagree with the problem taking a whole generation to fix. If we actually try and work hard, I am optimistic that the elimination of the gap can be seen in the near future.

For the Agent of Change aspect of my project, I wanted to raise awareness around my school. Me and another student created a series of posters that had information such as graphs and positive messages to grab the attention of all of the school and faculty passing by. I thought this was a great way to inform people of my issue. Though being subtle, they can have a very powerful impact. Creating these posters informed me that in 2004, it has been proven that black males have been the least likely to earn a regular diploma.

Although I created the posters, I feel I could have done more. I believe that I could have taken action myself and helped out children who were struggling in any subject by tutoring and giving advice in any subject. Even though I didn’t get to it, I planned on reading to a group of younger kids at my local library. I wanted to do this so I could get kids reading at a young age so that it would be easier for them to succeed on standardized tests and in life. What we as Americans can do, is to get all of our children to develop a craving for knowledge so that doing well in school is a desire instead of a struggle.

Closing the test score gap goes much deeper than a competition between races. Closing the gap will unite all of us as a whole and destroy any boundaries between skin colors that our ancestors have so desperately put up. What we are doing now is doing nothing but setting a bad example for future generations. We need to change and we need to act.

In conclusion, I’d like to thank my parents and Ms.Dunn for giving me guidance on writing this blog post. I’d also like to thank my friend and classmate Damir Hunley for helping me designing and putting up our posters. As the late Mahatma Gandhi said, “ You must be the change You wish to see in the world.

* Student looking at the poster

My name is Brandon Jones and I am writing again on my topic of African American students and standardized tests scores. Since my last post, I have really dug deep into investigating why the test scores of African American students are so low. In this article, it gives a possible reason for why African American do so poorly on standardized tests. For example, in the article it talks about how stereotypes can be a factor in success. Unfortunately this happens to be very true in black community. One common stereotype is that African Americans do not aspire to higher education.

For my original research, I did some field work. On Thursday, February 27, I visited Ad Prima Charter School, a school with a majority of African American kids in attendance and they let me observe one of their after school classes. By just sitting in on this class, showed me that those kids are living proof that stereotypes are truly oversimplified images. Both teachers and students were passionate about learning and they showed it. I saw students that were hard at work and focusing on the task at hand. One thing that I had noticed was that almost every student had a snack with them. It made me realize that hunger plays an important role in learning. If a child is hungry, their bodies try to save that small amount of energy for basic body functions like keeping the heart and lungs going, so the rest of the body won’t have energy to think about math problems or to figure out the main idea of the story. Also the teachers were able to help any student in need, no matter the subject or what type of work it was. The sight of this just put me in awe. The fact that the teachers were able to find time in that hour and 30 minutes to accommodate every student and still be able to keep a watchful eye over the class and still get their work done, shocked me in a good way and I respect that. There was one thing that really stood out to me the most during the entire observation. One of teachers called over a 4th grader named Irving and told him to tell me about his idea. Irving asked me would I try a Macaroni and Cheese pretzel. I said I would but this really spoke to me. It shows that the teachers want kids to think creatively and to have ideas and to be the opposite of what stereotypes and society depicts them to be.

* Ad Prima Charter School

These kids are shining examples of what African American students can be. If African American students would just sit down and take the time and put in the effort to do well, then my issue would be resolved. We also need more teachers that are supportive of students. Teachers who take the time to get to know the students and to care about what the student has to think or say.

* A teacher who is helping a young black student

This picture gives me hope, of one day when we as a black community, will strive for excellence in everything we do and negative comments or biased opinions will not bring us down, but build us up and to make us stronger.

As for my Agent of Change part, I will most likely lean toward something like reading to younger kids or tutoring students who need help but until then I end this blog post with a quote by Aristotle Onassis.

“ It is during our darkest moment, that we must focus to see the light.

Blog Post #1

My name is Brandon Jones and I am a freshman at Science Leadership Academy. In my English class we were given an assignment to tackle an issue we found and blog about it. The issue I picked was the  test scores of children from different ethnicities and how the scores of African American children were alarmingly low.

For my blog post I researched and found many interesting and informative articles. This particular article reported that African American children scored lower than European Americans in Vocabulary, Reading and Mathematics test. This true, but aggravating statement made me realize how serious this issue is. It is disheartening to read that the gap between the two ethnicities starts before children enter kindergarten and sadly leads into adulthood. The article states that even though this problem cut down since 1970, the average African American child still scores 75% below the average Caucasian child and on some tests, African American children score 85% below Caucasian children.

*above are the percentages of white, black and hispanic students who scored at or above proficient on standardized test*

The article here and the graph above, concerns me and makes me wonder what could be done about this issue. To solve an issue, you must first address the problem, however for his particular issue, there are many possible problems. One being improper funding for students. In Lower Merion, the School District spends $21,399 per student and the School District of Philadelphia only provides $11,078 per student. Another problem is racism and making children feel lesser than what they can be.

As for the solutions, I could go on for days about the possible theories and solutions on solve the issue at hand. Sadly, most of the solutions might not work. For my YATW(You and the World) project me and my partner are going out in the world and going to try to find a solution to this impending issue.