Colin Pierce Public Feed

El Blade Runner: A Western

Posted by Colin Pierce in Reel Reading · Giknis · D Band on
By Colin Pierce, Ali Driggers, and Ben Fink.

Our original script

The goal of our project was to reshoot Blade Runner as an Italian spaghetti western, since we saw both Blade Runner and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly recently. We thought that both movies had flexible enough settings and plots that we could combine the two easily.

We chose the scene where Deckard is infiltrating the nightclub towards the beginning of the movie, trying to determine whether or not Zhora is a replicant. It wouldn't make much sense for an android to be hiding in the old west, so instead we made Zhora into a generic outlaw who is hiding from Deckard, who is now a sheriff, by posing as a bartender. The scene starts with Deckard bluffing his way into Zhora's dressing room by pretending to be from an organization that helps performers, and he starts checking the room for holes and cameras. We thought that the most likely comparison to the wild west (without getting too lewd) would be having a health inspector check a saloon for health problems. Deckard also asks if Zhora's holographic snake is real, to which she says "Of course not, do you think I'd be working in a place like this if I could afford a real snake?" The closest comparison we could find was the price of wood in the old west, so we had Deckard ask about the quality of the wood in the saloon instead.

After this point we kept the basic outline of the scene almost identical to the original. Zhora becomes suspicious of Deckard and fights him with some kung fu moves before running away and eventually being shot by Deckard. In our scene the same thing happens, except Deckard has an uzi since it was all that we could find. It is still an older gun than what Deckard had in the original Blade Runner, so the idea still stands.

While we were recording, we realized that the phone we were using wasn't recording any audio for some reason. At first we were going to use another phone, but then we remembered that many westerns were originally recorded in Italian before being dubbed over by English voice actors. Because of this, we decided to to keep our old silent footage and dub over it.

Colin Pierce Capstone

Posted by Colin Pierce in Capstone · Reddy · Wed on
The first level of my game
The first level of my game
I have been interested in technology for longer than I can remember, building my own computer in freshman year and experimenting with programming as a sophomore. I wanted to find an outlet to test my abilities with programming, so for my capstone I designed a video game which would run within a web browser, with the goal of having as small of a file size as possible so that it runs smoothly on mobile devices and bad internet connections. You play as a black and white smiley face who travels through a labyrinth collecting artifacts, and to beat the game you must collect all eight and make it to room 50. When I started my project I first researched the most efficient ways to write code so that it would load quickly, then I collaborated with Mr. Hernandez, my Capstone mentor, to improve how the game is presented so that it is attractive to prospective players. When I had a mostly completed product, I took a survey of SLA students asking them to play my game and suggest improvements. I accomplished my goal of being extremely lightweight, since the whole project only takes up around 25MB of space and can load completely in under a second on the school's wifi. I am planning to continue working on my game after the school year ends, building upon it and making it better based on the information I will get during presentations.


Link to my Capstone product: http://www.trog.ga/

The Taming of the Cher

Posted by Colin Pierce in English 3 - Pahomov - C on


The Taming of the Cher

An analysis of Taming of the Shrew and Moonstruck


In The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio subtly manipulates Katherine throughout the text from despising him to being in love with him. He does this so that he can inherit her father’s property when he dies. In the movie Moonstruck, Nicolas Cage’s character, Ronny, does the same thing to Cher’s character, Loretta, in order to get revenge on his brother, Johnny, who is her fiancée. Petruchio and Ronny both have ulterior motives for going after their respective female love interests. These similarities show that relationships between couples often involve manipulation and gain for one person and not the other. Although these stories might appear like typical romances on the surface, they actually show men using women for their own purposes, no matter what era they take place in.


“Petruchio: Then tell me, if I get your daughter’s love, what dowry shall I have with her to wife?; Baptista: After my death, the one half of my lands, and, in possession, twenty thousand crowns.”


(Act 2, Scene 1, lines 126-129)


This conversation between Petruchio and Baptista, Kate’s father, displays the motive that Petruchio has for wanting to marry her. Baptista tells Petruchio that when he dies, Petruchio will inherit half of his land, as well as 20,000 crowns when they are first married. 20,000 crowns is worth around $9,000 today.




When Ronnie and Loretta first meet, Ronnie explains to her that there is bad blood between him and his brother, Johnny, her fiancée. He believes that he was responsible for the loss of his hand. This establishes a reason that Ronnie might want revenge against his brother, and one way to accomplish that would be to steal his fiancée.


“Katherine: Forward, I pray, since we have come so far, and it be moon, or sun, or what you please. And if you please to call it a rush candle, henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.; Petruchio: I say it is the moon.; K: I know it is the moon.; P: Nay, then you lie, it is the blessed sun.; K: Then God be blessed, it is the blessed sun.”


(Act 4, Scene 5, lines 14-21)


In this scene, Petruchio tries to convince Katherine that the light in the sky is from the moon, and not the sun. When she finally agrees with him, he reverses his position and says that the light is from the sun, not the moon, and she agrees with him. By doing this, Petruchio is forcing Kate to agree with him because she knows he won’t stop until she agrees.



In the first scene in Ronnie’s apartment, Ronnie and Loretta are arguing about whether or not he should be mad at his brother. Then during the argument Ronnie flips the table and kisses her. Loretta is hesitant and pulls back, but then decides to accept the kiss. After this, Ronnie picks her up and says “I’m taking you to the bed.” It’s important to note that in this scene, all of the romantic actions are initiated by Ronnie and are not expected by Loretta. In this way Ronnie is, in a sense, forcing Loretta to participate. This is similar to the previous scene in Taming of the Shrew because Petruchio forces Kate to agree with him by getting her into a state where she can only say yes.


In conclusion, the plots of Taming of the Shrew and Moonstruck are similar because both involve the male main character manipulating a female love interest into falling in love with them so that they can achieve personal gain. Even though this is not as prominent in Moonstruck as in Taming of the Shrew, it is still evident if you analyze the behavior of Ronnie, who is the equivalent of Petruchio. Petruchio manipulates Kate by subtly forcing her to agree with him on trivial things so that she will start agreeing with him on larger things, and Ronnie manipulates Loretta by making her participate in romantic acts with him and getting her used to the idea.



Works Cited


Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Taming of the Shrew. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014. Print.


Moonstruck. Dir. Norman Jewison. Perf. Nicolas Cage and Cher. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1987. DVD.

Fear of the Dentist

Posted by Colin Pierce in English 3 - Pahomov - C on

It was May 14th, 2006, and I was walking to the dentist with my mom. I had been to the dentist a few times before, and I was starting to get used to it. It was getting to the point where I was looking forward to each visit because of how clean my teeth would feel afterwards, but it all changed on that day. When we got to the office, I jumped up on the chair and held my mouth open for the dentist.


After a few minutes of poking and prodding my teeth and gums, he said “Hmm, this doesn’t look right...” which is something you never want to hear from someone who is looking at your mouth. He asked me to stay in the chair, and he went to go talk to my mom for a bit. However, because of six year olds’ natural tendencies to run around and not do what adults tell them to, I got up and wandered over to the waiting room door. That was when I heard the exact six words I didn’t want to hear, “We could just pull the tooth,” come out of the dentist’s mouth. My eyes instantly widened, and I had to hold back a yelp so that they wouldn’t find out that I was listening. I went back to the chair, my eyes as wide as frisbees. When the dentist finally came back in I put on the best poker face that I had ever done. I felt a sense of dread as he walked up to the chair. I knew what was about to happen.


He said “Sorry about that, I hope you didn’t get too bored.” I could only squeak out a tiny “Please don’t pull out my tooth.” “Don’t worry,” he said, nothing more. He didn’t say if he would or wouldn’t, which only made me even more scared. He laid me back in the chair and went to work. It was the same old stuff at first. Scraping, rinsing, and flossing. I thought that maybe he wouldn’t pull my tooth after all. Maybe I would just be able to go home and still be able to chew on that side of my mouth, but I was wrong.


Before I knew it, I looked over to see him pull out literally a pair of pliers. No special tool or anything, just some plain old pliers. I thought I saw some rust on the tip, but it could have been my imagination. I instantly started screaming and thrashing, trying to escape the unbearable pain that I knew was coming. I knew that I was just delaying the inevitable, but I kept struggling on the off chance that he would give up, leaving me free to live my life with my molars intact, but I wasn’t that lucky. A dentist from the next room over came in to see what all the racket was, then she left and came back with a gurney, complete with medieval style straps. If you have ever seen the movie Saw, then you know what it looked like from my eyes. After much more struggling, kicking, and screaming, it was finally over. I felt around my mouth with my tongue, and noticed a huge, gaping hole in the side of my gums. I felt betrayed. The “nice dentist man” wasn’t as nice as I had thought.


From then on, I never wanted to go to the dentist. Every six months I would pretend to get a very violent case of the flu, which would last from when I found out about the appointment to the second it was too late for me to go. It only worked for the first few times before my mom started to catch on to the act. One day she woke me up by saying “Hey, Colin, we’re going to the store to get ice cream!” I jumped up, got dressed, and sprinted outside to the car. On the way there, I noticed that we passed the store that we usually went to. I thought there was a chance that I’d been deceived, but it was two months earlier than usual, and we weren’t going to where the dentist was before. My mind started racing. My mom looked over and saw my worried look, and she said “Oh, yeah, we’re going to a different store. This one has better ice cream.” “Ok,” I said, but in the back of my mind I didn’t completely trust her. If the dentist tried to dupe me into giving up a tooth, then could my mom do the same thing? That was when we pulled into a parking lot, and I saw the word “Dentist” written in huge, chrome letters on the building across the street. Immediately I tried to run, but she anticipated this, and she picked me up, threw me over her shoulder, and started walking towards the office. “Please don’t make me go to the dentist!” I yelled. She said “It’s for your own good, Colin, you’ll understand when you’re older.” The next half hour was filled with apprehension and fear that something unexpected would happen. I never truly got used to going to the dentist until a few years ago, which is when I eventually decided that it wasn’t worth worrying about, and figured that it would go faster if I didn’t struggle.


For a long time after that I thought that being scared of the dentist was an uncommon fear. Even after overcoming it, I still felt that it was unusual. I wondered if it was completely unreasonable, and that I was just being a wimp. Then, this year in class, we read The Things They Carried, which contained a chapter called “The Dentist,” where a character, Lieutenant Curt Lemon, has to overcome his fear of the dentist, even requesting that one of his teeth be pulled out in order to prove to his squad-mates that he wasn’t a coward. It first surprised me that this fear was being brought up in literature, and second it surprised me that a grown man, a soldier, would share this fear that I had only had in childhood. This inspired me to research a fear of going to the dentist, and I found that it was, in fact, a very common fear. I also found that, instead of being referred to as a phobia, which is what I assumed it was, it was actually more similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This made sense, as having a tooth pulled out by the dentist at six years old unexpectedly was a pretty traumatic event. After finding this out, I felt relieved. At that point I knew that I was normal, and I could feel secure with the fact that I was scared of the dentist. Even further than that, I could feel proud of myself, knowing that I had overcome a fear that is crippling to some people.


The Militarization of the Police and How it’s Making Us Less Safe

Posted by Colin Pierce in English 3 - Pahomov - C on
Colin Pierce English 3 Ms. Pahomov
The Militarization of the Police and How it’s Making Us Less Safe In the past decade, incidents of violence between regular citizens and the police in America have become more frequent. With the increasing incidents of police violence, notably Michael Brown and the incident at a Phoenix pool party, it is obvious that there is a problem, and it shows no signs of improvement. This can be attributed in part to the militarization of our police forces, which is only getting worse with the influx of advanced gear left over from the Iraq war. These weapons and defensive items being introduced mask the human features of officers, and makes them seem more like objects than actual people. This dehumanizing effect makes them look more threatening, and creates a greater contrast between the police and the average person. It is believed by some scientists that, when people are exposed to weapons, they are more likely to exhibit violent behavior, as Bruce Bartholow, a psychologist from the University of Missouri, told NYMag. He said “Theory underlying the weapons effect or similar kinds of phenomena would suggest that the more you fill the environment with stimuli that are associated with violence, the more likely violence is to occur … I would expect a bigger effect if you see military weapons than if you see normal weapons,” Dr. Bartholow stated that people are more likely to act violently when they are around weapons. On a regular police officer’s uniform, their weapon is small and can fit on their side, which isn’t very noticeable. However, when an officer is carrying a larger rifle, they have no choice but to hold it in front of them, which is very visible and threatening. This goes both ways, as an officer would feel more open to violence the more they handle their weapon. As a result, both police and civilians would feel more inclined to start violent incidents, and as a result, the crime rate would increase. Fortunately, the opposite effect can also be arranged. It has been proven during field tests that, when police officers wear more casual clothing instead of their regular uniforms, their relationship with the community improves. Richard Johnson, who is a medical student, puts it best in his article on policeone.com, where he writes “In 1969, the police in Menlo Park, California dispensed with their traditional navy blue, paramilitary-style uniforms and adopted a nontraditional uniform in hopes of improving police community relations. The new, nontraditional uniform consisted of a forest green sport coat blazer worn over black slacks, a white shirt, and a black tie. The officer's badge was displayed on the blazer and the officer's weapons were concealed under the coat. ... After wearing the new uniforms for 18 months the Menlo Park police officers displayed fewer authoritarian characteristics on psychological tests when compared to officers in the surrounding jurisdictions.” Johnson examines a real life example of officers wearing more casual uniforms, and shows that it caused them to display fewer authoritarian characteristics, which improved their connection to their community, and ultimately reduced crime. Even police officials agree that too much gear can separate a police officer from the rest of society, as Chief Norm Stamper told NBC in an interview in 1999. He said “[W]hen riot shields are raised, the seemingly simple fact that civilians can't see the cops' faces flips a psychological switch for some citizens in the crowd — and that image acts to dehumanize the officers.” When officers have riot shields it will, depending on the type of shield, completely blocks the officers’ faces. This outright removes the human aspect, and makes rioters feel like they are attacking objects instead of people. In conclusion, the appearance of an officer has a large effect on people's view of them, and also the officer’s view of everyone else. A more militarized uniform causes the officer to think of people as opponents and potential troublemakers rather than the people they’re supposed to protect. These differences create a dehumanizing effect for people which only creates more violence. A common argument by police is that they need more armored uniforms because of the increased violence against them, but in reality the reason that there is so much violence against them is because people are scared by their uniforms. Police officers are supposed to make people feel safer, but with a ‘heavy-duty’ uniform it does the exact opposite. WORKS CITED: "How Militarizing Police Can Increase Violence." Science of Us. NYmag, 14 Aug. 2014. Web. 9 Oct. 2015. <http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/08/how-militarizing-police-can-increase-violence.html>. Johnson, Richard. "The Psychological Influence of the Police Uniform." The Psychological Influence of the Police Uniform. Police One, 4 Mar. 2005. Web. 9 Oct. 2015. <http://www.policeone.com/police-products/apparel/undergear/articles/99417-The-psychological-influence-of-the-police-uniform/>. Briggs, Bill. "Are Ferguson Cops Fueling Mob Psychology By Donning Battle Gear? - NBC News." Are Ferguson Cops Fueling Mob Psychology By Donning Battle Gear? NBC News, 16 Aug. 2014. Web. 9 Oct. 2015.

La Entrevista de Diego Pierce

Posted by Colin Pierce in Spanish 2 - Bey - C on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx_nVVYbPTA
Script and peer edits
​

¿Qué es su nombre?

Mi nombre es Diego Pierce.

¿Cuantos años tienes usted?

Tengo veinticinco años.

¿Qué universidad asististió?

Asisté a la Universidad de Penn.

¿Dónde vida usted?

Vivo en Filadelfia, Pensilvania

¿Tiene una coche?

Sí, tengo un coche pequeño.

¿Porque quiere el trabajo?

Necesito dinero para mi casa.

¿Qué es usted maestría?

Mi maestría es para ingeniero de las computadoras.

¿Tengo un doctorado?

No, no tengo un doctorado.

¿Donde trabajó pasado?

Tuve trabajos en el Franklin Institute, en el Tienda de Apple, y en National Instruments.

¿Tienes una familia?

Sí, mi mama viva en Oregon, pero no tengo niños o una esposa.

¿Va a trabajar en sábado y domingo?

Es posible en sábado, depende de las horas. No es posible nada en domingo.

¿Qué su tiene qué nuestra compañía necesita?

Puedo escribir programas de la computadora, y editio audio y vídeo.

¿Va a ir en diez años?

Voy a estar el presidente de los United States.

¿Qué son las metas de su vida?

Voy a tener mucho dinero, y una familia con muchos niños.

¿Va a trabajar duro?

Sí, voy a trabajar duro para todo los días.



Peer-editor

Fecha

Comentarios / Recomendaciones

1.Ana Islam

19.12.14

This is really good. You kept the sentences simple and only used vocabulary we learned. However, in some answers, you wrote phrases. I think you should reply in full sentences to be more professional. (:

2. Lorenzo Rahman

19.12.14

This is mas-o-menos good. You need to fix some things with vas- use voy for subject. As Rifah (Ana) said make your replies more professional.

3. Anita Hahsy

12/22/14

I liked it. It was great because i was simple and sweet and you got to the point. Your sentences were great 2 things that messed me up on the way but I commented if you look on your script.

4. Luke Risher

12/22/14

I thought that it was good and that you used only what we know. Makes sure your stuff is for usted which is conjugated like you were saying him or her. Make sure it’s two minutes and also it’s very simplistic might want to add more for a better grade.

5. Carmen Messing

23-12-14

In your answer with age it should be “venti y ocho.” Make sure you are conjugating for usted instead of tú. Your answers are very short. To make them longer try to turn the question into a statement (TAG). You also used a couple words nobody knows of, so try to use what you already know in Spanish.



Climate Change Monologue Project

Posted by Colin Pierce in World History - Block - B on
Part 1

For this unit of our History class, we focused on climate change, and man's effect on the globe. In order to express this, we wrote three monologues from the point of view of people affected by (or affecting) the world's climate. This can mean anything from global warming, to deforestation, to habitat loss. My goal while writing my monologues was to show how large corporations damage the environment for their personal gains.

Part 2


Metaphores Dear Mayor Johnson, It's frank from school, remember me? I work at a coal plant in New York now, but I’ve got the week off. I kept meaning to write to you. Today, I went to the doctor because of a recurring cough and chest pain, and I found out that I have lung cancer, despite never smoking a day in my life. It couldn't have been hereditary, because my doctor said that it looked like I was smoking a pack a day for 20 years. This was shocking and confusing, but when the doctor started talking about my job it started to become clearer. I always used to love the smell of burning coals, but I didn't even know before today that it could be that harmful to your health. I asked around among my coworkers, too, and they said that they were always coughing and wheezing too, even when they were off-duty. This seems like a bad trend, and I’m puzzled because in the 15 years I've been working in this plant, the system has barely changed at all. I'm starting to think that I should've gotten that job as an accountant. While I was thinking about the effects on myself, I started thinking about the effect that it has on the ozone layer. If we only breathe in some of this stuff and it’s doing this, just imagine what it’s doing to the atmosphere, which is getting the full force of the smoke. According to NASA’s website, the ozone layer is already depleted way below normal levels, and scientists also say that there might not be a way to make it grow back, and the consequences could be catastrophic! So please Joe, as a favor for an old friend, start cracking down on pollution soon! Sincerely, Frank Smith.
Oil Spill Man, it sure is great to be a duck, not having to deal with all the problems the humans have. (Breathes in) Yeah, today’s gonna be a great-- Hey, what's this? Eww, it's all sticky! I just took a shower, too! Wait a sec, is this oil? Man, those humans are at it again, spilling their oil everywhere, on our food, our beaches. It's so infuriating! And look, there’s more washing to shore! Who do they think they are barging in here going completely by their own agendas? To me, that just seems selfish and immature. I mean, how would they like it if a whole bunch of bears busted into New York and started leaving their droppings everywhere and eating everyone? It’s unjust, and I want representation! It’s just too bad that animals can’t go to law school. If there was an animal lawyer, he would make tons of money. The polar bears in the arctic would probably make millions from their homes being destroyed, and maybe we could get some humans to clean up their mess here. Hey, it could actually be really simple. We could get together a team of animal lawyers. I could be one, we could get an elephant, maybe some deer, then we could all go to Harvard and get law degrees! This is the best plan ever! (Transition to college admissions office) You're going to accept all of us? Great! Thanks so much Mr. Superintendant, you won't regret this. (Transition to court room) So your honor, these elk were recklessly injured because of these two delinquents and their assault rifles. We request the amount of 500 trillion dollars in compensation and 100 million hours of community service. (Transition to the Oval Office) Well, we did it. We sued the humans out of all their money and now they all work for us. The world is greener than it ever was before. God bless the United States of Duckmerica!
The Lie detector Hi everyone, I’m Bob Dudley, the CEO of BP. I’m here today to address the tragic incident on one of our oil freighters yesterday which left the Mexican Gulf crippled by oil pollution. Now, in response to the public’s view on the honesty of big corporation executives, I’ve decided to wear this lie detector on my head based entirely on my own free will. (BZZT) Ok, some of it was from PR, but only some. (BZZT) Jeez! Can’t you guys make this thing a little more lenient? No? Ok, well our first question comes from Mike Sanchez from Florida. He asks "Dear Mr. Dudley, what are your opinions on climate change?" Well I obviously think it's our biggest concern. (BZZT) I mean Besides orphans! (BZZT) And homeless! (BZZT) I mean money, alright? Is that really so bad?! Next question comes from Billy Matherson from Missouri. He writes “Mr. Dudley, can you tell everyone your main reason for starting the repairs so fast?” Well Billy, it was because we at BP care so much about the animals in the gulf, and… (BZZT) I mean because it’s harming the fragile ecosystem… (BZZT) Ah! Well it’s definitely not just to turn a profit… (BZZT) Ok, ok, next question! This one is from Mr. John Davis from Idaho. He asks "Mr. Dudley, how do you feel about the oil's effect on undersea life?" Well, there's definitely not going to be an issue with the fish. (BZZT) (SIGH) Well, looks like that’s all we have time for tonight. Thanks for watching everyone. We at BP are trying our hardest to repair the gulf, I guarantee it. (BZZT) Ow, dangit!

Part 3

The password is "SLA".

World History Climate Monologue Project from Colin Pierce on Vimeo.

Note: The last sentence was cut off. He says "Sincerely, Frank Johnson."

La Casa de Sus Sueños por Colin Pierce y Quinn Grzywinsky

Posted by Colin Pierce in Spanish 1 - Manuel - C on

Cliente:Owen for Spanish.jpg

Nuestro cliente es Owen Grzywinski. Tiene 18 años. Él es muy sociable y más o menos alto. Le gusta jugar videojuegos, leer libros, y a veces, escribir cuentos y poesías. También, le encanta su perro Zeus. El prefiere casas modernas y elegantes, en las montañas si es posible. Sus deportes favoritos son fútbol, frisbi y golf.

La Casa:

iBienvenidos cliente! La casa diseñamos es muy fabuloso. La casa es cerca de Los Angeles, en Pequeño Tujunga Canyon Carretera. Está cerca de La montaña Baldy.

La casa tiene dos pisos, siete cuartos en todo, y un balcón chévere. La mayoría de los cuartos tiene ventiladores. Primero en el piso uno, tú entrar en la casa a través de la sala. La sala es grande, y tiene una sofá azul, paredes azules, y un madera dura piso.

Los baños son medio, y tienen duchas, y los lavamanos también. El piso

La oficina es medio también, y hay un piano grande y una computadora por escribir. (El hombre llevando verde la ventana no es importa.) La manta es chévere, y la ventana con un agradable vista.

Hay un lavadero, pero cuidado, es muy despiramente. La cocina tiene una mesa con cuatro sillas y una nevera media. También tiene un bol de manzanas gratís.

El cuarto de los niños es largo, y hay juguetes y una litera. También tiene papel pintado

Finalmente, el dormitorio maestro es muy grande, y tiene una cama para dos personas, y una aparador alto de osos.




Teléfono: 1-800-COMPRAR

Diseñado por Colin y Quinn



Fuentes:

https://planner5d.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Owen.Powers1/photos

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgGgK_fZSU2rdG1zc21aNTIydm16TjRZLVBxVklDcEE&usp=sharing#gid=0


Fences Academic Piece

Posted by Colin Pierce in English 1 - Dunn - X on
​

Troy has a large negative effect on Cory’s life, but it’s unlikely that he means to be this bad, and it’s probably just an effect of him treating Cory the same way that his own father and others from his childhood did.

On page 8, Troy tells Rose that “The white man ain’t gonna let (Cory) get nowhere with that football. I told him when he first come to me with it. Now you come telling me he done went and got more tied up in it. He ought to go and get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living.” This quote displays Troy’s motive for suppressing Cory’s ambitions. It’s obvious from this that he had a sort of falling out with white men as a younger man, and still resents that. This is clarified through a quote on the next page, where he states “Selkirk! That’s it? Man batting .269, understand? .269. What kind of sense that make? I was batting .432 with thirty-seven home runs!” And on the page after that he states “Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn’t even make! What you talking about Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson wasn’t nobody. I’m talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don’t care what color you were. Come telling me I come too early If you could play then they ought to have let you play.” Through all of this we can see that Troy doesn’t think that Cory will have a chance in sports because of the impression he had as a kid of it being so segregated. 

Troy also disregards Cory’s arguments for why he should be allowed to go to Football practice. On page 35, Cory and Troy are arguing about Cory’s future. “Cory: Coach Zellman say the recruiter gonna be coming by to talk to you. Get you to sign the permission papers.
Troy: I thought you supposed to be working down there at the A&P. Ain’t you supposed to be working there after school?
Cory: Mr. Stawicki say he gonna hold my job for me until after the football season. Say starting next week I can work weekends.
Troy: I thought we had an understanding about this football stuff? You suppose to keep up with your chores and hold that job down at the A&P. Ain’t been around here all day on a Saturday. Ain’t none of your chores done… And now you telling me you done quit your job.
Cory: I’m gonna be working weekends.
Troy: You damn right you are! And ain’t no need for nobody coming around here to talk to me about signing nothing.”
While Troy does seem to have an argument, even if it isn’t that strong, he does disregard some of the stuff that Cory tells him, like when he completely disregards when Cory tells him that Mr. Stawicki is holding his job and that he’s still going to work on weekends, and starts yelling about how “you done quit your job.” It’s almost like he’s only taking in what he wants to hear. This is a big sign towards an ulterior motive, which could easily be his previous bias against the white folk and sports.

And finally, the last piece of the puzzle. When Troy realizes that he can’t convince Cory to give up football, he flat out goes behind his back and destroys any chance of him getting on the team. This is shown on page 57.
“Rose: What’s the matter? Cory … What’s the matter?
Cory: Papa done went up to the school and told Coach Zellman I can’t play football no more. Wouldn’t even let me play the game. Told him to tell the recruiter not to come.
Rose: Troy…
Troy: What you Troying me for. Yeah, I did it. And the boy know why I did it.
Cory: Why you wanna do that to me? That was the one chance I had.
Rose: Ain’t nothing wrong with Cort playing football, Troy.
Troy: The boy lied to me. I told the nigger if he wanna play football … to keep up his chores and hold down that job at the A&P. That was the conditions. Stopped down there to see Mr. Stawicki…
Cory: I can’t work after school during the football season, pop! I tried to tell you that Mr. Stawicki’s holding my job for me. You don’t never want to listen to nobody. And then you wanna go do this to me!
Troy: I ain’t done nothing to you. You done it to yourself.”
Cory then says a key line that helps verify all of this. Troy responds with a stern talk.
“Cory: Just cause you didn’t have a chance! You just scared I’m gonna be better than you, that’s all
…
Troy: I’m gonna tell you what your mistake was. See… you swung at the ball and didn’t hit it. That’s strike one. See, you in the batter’s box now. You swung and you missed. That’s strike one. Don’t you strike out!”
Troy’s statement after Cory’s revealing comment shows that deep down, even Troy knows that he’s envious that Cory has a chance at sports when he didn’t. If Troy didn’t believe this, he probably would’ve acted a whole lot differently.

These pieces of information are the reasons that I think Troy suppresses Cory so much over the book. It can be viewed as a mixture of bad childhood memories, jealousy, and fear. You almost have to feel sorry for Troy. He has obviously been through a lot of pain, but he’s let it get the better of him and makes his son miserable too, and that’s inexcusable.

You and the World Blog post #3: A Post for Change

Posted by Colin Pierce in English 1 - Dunn - X on

This blog post is the third part in a 3 part series on our English class' You And The World project, where we each tackle a problem in our society that we want to spread awareness about. Blog #1 is about our initial research on our topic. Blog #2 is about our field research, where we gathered data ourselves based on survey results or observation. I took a survey of everyone in our class on their opinion of littering.


A signed SOSNA trash bag


In my research between now and my Blog #2, I looked into organizations like the South of South Neighborhood Association who hold neighborhood cleanups periodically, where they supply grabbers and garbage bags (pictures below) to small groups of people who help clean up the street. For my Agent of Change assignment, I participated in the first SOSNA spring cleanup of 2014. I put an ad in the school memo for it, but nobody could make it there. Neighborhood clean ups are a great way to get involved in improving the environment and beautifying your city, and other than that, it's great exercise for your back and arms. A few more interesting things were that we filled up around 10-20 trash bags over about 9 blocks and a couple parks, there was a 4 block stretch where there were no trash cans (except for one belonging to a business), and that the quality of the sidewalks and surrounding buildings appeared to be a big factor in the amount of trash in those places.


Various supplies provided by SOSNA


This was a fun project, and I’m looking forward to participating in litter cleanups in the future. The project has also taught me alot. Mainly that people don’t litter just because they don’t care. It’s also because they just don’t want to touch those gross garbage can handles when it’s so easy to just toss your stuff on the ground, but I digress.


Even though our city is bad in terms of cleanliness, it's only considered the sixth dirtiest city in America. Others include Atlanta at #5, Los Angeles at #4, Baltimore at #3, New Orleans at #2, and the Big Apple itself, New York, at #1. The cleanest was Cheyenne, Washington. Cheyenne even received the EPA’s Clean Drinking Water award in 2009. According to the website, they use special precautions and techniques to prevent large plants from leaking toxic fluids into the water supply. This may help with problems involving larger structures, but it wouldn’t be as effective here. If we as a whole really want to do better, we can encourage more cleanups and stricter laws in those places.


To conclude this post, thanks to Andy from SOSNA for agreeing to let a group of SLA students join their neighborhood cleanup of this spring. Also, big thanks to the 22 people who took my survey on littering (except for that one guy, you know who you are). And thanks to Ms. Dunn and Ms. Lucy for their continuing influence and support.


Annotated bibliography (Sources for #2 and #1. See hyperlinks for #3.)

Take this survey about littering!

La Casa de Bill Cosby

Posted by Colin Pierce in Spanish 1 - Manuel - C on
e9e5a3afb73ef8086f5a7e83374f219a3082366fef98a9a8761e299d8c47b27dc488c4dd2a625ad39704b6a201bdbad66fd9e03e59ad78e16a3da1f9f2fb0c4b
e9e5a3afb73ef8086f5a7e83374f219a3082366fef98a9a8761e299d8c47b27dc488c4dd2a625ad39704b6a201bdbad66fd9e03e59ad78e16a3da1f9f2fb0c4b
http://www.ballofdirt.com/media/18032/249468/1228265.html​

Está es la casa de Bill Cosby. Está en Los Angeles, y es muy muy grande. Hay una puerta y una valla en la frente. Tiene nueve ventanas. Los paredes son blanco y marron, y el techo es marron. También hay un chimenea en el techo. Está cerca de una bosque, y lejos de filadelfia.

El Descripción de una Casa

Posted by Colin Pierce in Spanish 1 - Manuel - C on
Casa_de_Cultura_Alemã_(byTom_Junior)
Casa_de_Cultura_Alemã_(byTom_Junior)
​(Foto es "Casa de Cultura Alemã" por Tom Junior)

Esta es una casa grande. Tiene tres pisos y al menos diezisiete ventanas. Hay un ático, y es muy grande. Hay tres acondicionadores de aire en el lado. Esta tambien tiene un jardín. Tiene una techo rojo y paredes bronceado. No tiene un garaje.

Negative Space Project Reflection

Posted by Colin Pierce in Art - Freshman - Hull - b1 on
Screenshot 2014-05-14 at 12.38.40 PM
Screenshot 2014-05-14 at 12.38.40 PM
Screenshot 2014-05-14 at 12.37.04 PM
Screenshot 2014-05-14 at 12.37.04 PM
1. Negative space is all of the space around the subject of an image. AN example is if you have a picture of a plane flying through the sky, then the subject would be the plane and the negative space would be all of the sky around it.

2. I found negative space in my cut out by tracing each color to use as the subject of either side, and in my drawings by combining different sketches and erasing the boundaries in order to create one solid looking blank spot.

3. It is useful for an artist to be able to see negative space because it allows them to make drawings with a clearer message, and so that they don't end up painting just a blob of prime colors.

4. Negative space is useful in art because it clearly contrasts between the subject and the background.

Final Perspective Drawing

Posted by Colin Pierce in Art - Freshman - Hull - b1 on
photo
photo
1. I learned during this project that it's OK to draw some things in non-horizontal lines while drawing in one point perspective as long as it's a flat surface, like a picture.

2. Applying this lesson made my painting more detailed by making it possible to add 2D elements, such as the painted ceiling tiles leaned against the window or the heart illustration on the wall.

3. If I did this project again, I would use the X method to find the center point instead of using math, which took a lot longer, and I would add more details, such as more stools or floor/ceiling patterns.

4. My advice for someone new to one point perspective would be to always have either horizontal lines, vertical lines, or lines that lead to the center point.

5. The resource that helped me the most was Ms. Hull's example presentation on one point perspective. When I was stuck on part of the project, I could refer back to that document and see where I went wrong and what I should change.

Qué Personas Hacen

Posted by Colin Pierce in Spanish 1 - Manuel - C on
(No es mi familia)

Todas las familias son únicas. En los días de la semana, mi papá trabaja en una laboratorio en la universidad de pensilvana. Él trabaja duro más de la hora, y también puede acceso mucho restringido áreas. Mi mamá a veces juega juegos con su iPad. Ella era una bibliotecario, pero no es ahora. Tengo dos gatos. Ellas son duermen todos los días, y son súper histérico en la noche. Ellas también a veces lucha con al uno al otro. Yo voy a la escuela en los días de la semana, pero no con mi papá. Mis clases son bien, pero no entiendo álgebra o bioquímica. Después escuela, yo juego videojuegos en mi computadora y a veces estudiar para pruebas o proyectos.

You and the World Blog #2: Litter Survey Results

Posted by Colin Pierce in English 1 - Dunn - X on

In my first blog entry, I talked about how Philadelphia is known as the second dirtiest city in America, and how that has an affect on the air and our marine life. I haven't found much new information in real life, but this week I took a survey of 22 people in Philadelphia, mostly from my school, and the new information I found showed a lot about our city's causes of littering.


Of everyone that took the survey, less than half littered (10/22). And of those, none of them said that they littered often. Of everyone that littered, nearly all of them said it was because they were never near a trash can or didn’t have time to find one (9/10), and that they wouldn’t litter so much if the city installed more. Some even said that the city's trash cans were too hard to use (3/10) because they didn't want to have to touch the lid to open it. Every one of the people surveyed said that they thought littering was wrong.



I agree with the survey results. Sometimes it’s nearly impossible to find a trash can in some areas of Philadelphia. You can carry your trash for blocks and blocks, and even if you do find a trash can it doesn’t always have a recycling bin next to it. I thought it was interesting that so many people didn't litter or littered rarely. I think that if there had been a wider variety of people taking the survey then there would've been different results.


Also, I might soon be collaborating with a local business to organize a neighborhood clean up in Philadelphia. They do clean ups regularly in my neighborhood and even hire 8th graders to help over the Summer in exchange for school supplies. Stay tuned for more information.


If you would like to take the survey, visit http://www.tinyurl.com/SLAtrashsurvey.


Annotated bibliography

Mi Vida Académica (En Español) por Colin Pierce

Posted by Colin Pierce in Spanish 1 - Manuel - C on

Mi nombre es Colin, y soy estudiante de Science Leadership Academy. Yo tengo catorce años, y me gusta jugar videojuegos y usar la computadora. SLA es en el centro de filadelfia, en pennsylvania. Hay 5 pisos y 500 estudiantes. Tenemos ultimate frisbee, fútbol, y robótica. Yo participo en robótica porque es diversión y desafiante. SLA también tiene español uno a cinco, álgebra uno y dos, y geometría. SLA es socios con el Franklin Institute y Dell, y ellos damos muchas gratis computadoras.


Tengo álgebra uno y español uno, también historia, inglés, y bioquímica. Mi clase favorita es español porque es fácil y no tenemos mucho tarea. No me gusta inglés o historia porque ellos damos mucho largo tarea y son muy confuso. En todas clases necesita una computadora, un lápiz, y unas hojas de papel. En álgebra y español, necesita una carpeta y paquetes de trabajador. En inglés clase, leemos Macbeth por William Shakespeare. En bioquímica, hacemos muy experimentos. Para tener éxito en esta clases necesitamos para atención y sacar buenas notas.


La Señorita Dunn enseña la clase de inglés. Ella es caucasia y tener el pelo negro y ojos azules. Ella también tener approximate cuarenta años. Su asisto es la Señorita Lucy, y su clase es más o menos confuso. La Señorita Dunn es bien en general. El Señor Todd es joven y en colegio. El enseña historia clase Historia es interesante a veces, y nosotros somos estudiamos esclavitud ahora. En general, el Señor Todd es bueno para un profesor.


Me fascina Science Leadership Academy porque las estudiantes son muy independiente, y tenemos gratis computadoras. Me gusta la indepencia más, pero no me gusta nada consejería después escuela. Total, Science Leadership Academy es muy diversión, interesante, y increíblemente desafiante. Sin embargo, es una fantástico escuela.

Colin Pierce: The Slide

Posted by Colin Pierce in Technology- Freshmen - Hull - b2 on
Media Fluency 2 -- Colin
This is my slide. I had the images of things that interest me bleed off the bottom of the slide because, as said on Presentation Zen, they make the presentation look more engaging. To avoid making the slide feel like a long novel, I only included my first and last name at the top, and I left a small blank space on each side of the slide because it helped draw the focus to areas where there was content. Also, to make sure that the slide didn’t become too lifeless, I added an angry bear in front of an explosion to draw attention. At first there was just a picture of me, but I thought that it looked too cliche and uninteresting.
Media Fluency Improved
After presenting in front of the class, I got a lot of suggestions for how I could improve my slide. First of all, Ms. Hull told me that I should make my slide into halves, with one side having the bear and the other having my name and interests. She also recommended that I change the sizes of some of the images to create better contrast, such as increasing the sizes of the baseball and bear, and decreasing the font size of my name. When listening to classroom discussions, I also learned to never have blurry or pixelated pictures in our presentations, and to always have some sort of organization to avoid a confusing slide. Ms. Hull meant to set us up for failure with this project by making it so open-ended, so that we could learn from our mistakes and revisit it later. Now, if we’re in another class making a power point, we can look back on this and know exactly what not to do.

Team 6: Photosynthesis

Posted by Colin Pierce in Bio-Chem 9 - Sherif - A on
Hi, my name is Colin Pierce. I worked with 3 other students in Team 6, and this is our presentation about the respiratory system commonly known as photosynthesis. We cover all of the topics about photosynthesis, including the function, cycle, and equation. Before learning about photosynthesis, The group thought that only plants used this process but after researching photosynthesis, it was found that bacteria and protists also use it. Next project we will make a bigger effort to research and divide tasks evenly between everyone.



Click here to see the presentation.

You and the World: Philly's Dirty Streets

Posted by Colin Pierce in English 1 - Dunn - X on

Hi, my name is Colin Pierce and I’m a freshman at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. For English this quarter, we have been assigned to research and write a blog about how to combat a recent problem in our society. I decided to address the large amounts of litter in our streets because it seems to have gone out of control in the past few years. It’s degrading to our city and harmful to our ecosystem.


According to this CBS Philly article, Philadelphia was ranked as the “second dirtiest city in the U.S., according to a recently released survey by Travel and Leisure magazine”, and this isn’t just a baseless claim. If you take a walk in South Philly, you can see trash everywhere like it’s on display! You see it in the gutters, in plants, window boxes, in storm drains, and even on people’s porches! It’s not just that it’s making our city look ugly, either. Litter is also making its way into the Schuylkill River and interfering with marine life, which is shown below.


This photo, showing trash in the Schuylkill River, was This diagram from The Living Ocean shows

       taken in 2005.     how exactly trash affects marine life.



This trash won’t just disappear. If we keep going on like this without making some sort of effort to fix these mistakes, then we can say goodbye to clean drinking water, goodbye to all of our resources, and hello to the rodents and bugs that are attracted to what we leave out. If we continue on this path, then soon we’ll end up having to wear gas masks to work and having smog days instead of snow days, like in China. It seems so easy to not litter, too! There’s trash and recycle bins at almost every corner, and even weekly trash pickup, so why aren't people taking advantage? Is there anything we could do to encourage people to be cleaner? If you have any ideas, leave a comment or go to the Philadelphia Streets website here for more information.

For a complete list of resources, check out my annotated bibliography.

Colin's Home Network

Posted by Colin Pierce in Technology- Freshmen - Hull - b2 on

In the beginning of the first quarter, Ms. Hull had us research and create a diagram of our home network. The purpose of the assignment was for us to get a better understanding of how exactly the internet worked, and to give us an idea of how the school's wi-fi worked. In my diagram I have a Comcast Co-Ax cable coming into my house and connecting to my modem. Then, the modem connects to my router through an ethernet cable, and the router connects to all of my family's devices using a wireless network. The router also connects to a signal extender, which transmits to my PS3 and Wii, which are out of range of the regular network. There is no connection to the laptop in the lower-left corner of the diagram because it's too old to install wi-fi drivers on.

mind mapping software
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