John Green published his first book, Looking For Alaska, all the way back in 2005. Since then the book has become an acclaimed young adult novel and has won awards like the Michael L. Print Award from the American Library Association. Since then Green has published 3 more novels including 2 collaboration novels. His own works have received positive acclaim by both adults and teenagers around the world. His works have spread far enough to have been published in more than a dozen different languages. Starting in 2007, John Green and his brother Hank Green began making youtube videos under the channel Vlogbrothers. Through youtube, John Green’s books were made known and he gained a number of followers. An Abundance of Katherines, Green’s second teen novel, follows a teenage boy on a journey dedicated to discovering a great math equation and the art of story-telling. 

Colin Singleton, child prodigy and aspiring genius, has just had his most recent break up with Katherine 19. Colin’s infamous dating career has resulted in him getting dumped and falling into a small depression, but this time is different. Colin’s depression leads to a road trip with his weight-heavy, Muslim best friend, Hassan. On the road Colin aims to finish his universal equation that would determine the fate of any romantic relationship ever. The duo’s adventure lands them in Gutshot, Tennessee, a town dependent on a tampon string factory. Here, Colin and Hassan land a job recording the town’s history by interviewing the inhabitants of Gutshot. It will take a few adventures in Gutshot and quite a bit of sappy moments for Collin to restore himself and come to life changing conclusions. 

John Green experimented writing in the third person point of view, while he wrote  An Abundance of Katherines. On his blog, Green explains that he didn’t think it would make sense for the book to be written in first person if the main protagonist lacked story-telling skills at the beginning in the book. The language style in An Abundance of Katherines mainly focuses on metaphors and foreign phrases, courtesy of Hassan. 

Finding one’s unique identity is one of the main themes in the novel. In the beginning Collin wants to become a genius more than anything else and it literally takes a book for him to discover who he really wants to be. Not only does Collin have a goal for who he wants to become, he has his own reasoning behind it. Collin wants to matter to the world. He is chasing after recognition so that he does not become sort of insignificant to the world. Personally, John Green had a great, constant writing style through out the book.

I had mixed feelings about An Abundance Of Katherines. The book met my expectations in the writing style section. John Green can make characters talk like real teenagers and he gives them common dilemmas that teenagers can relate to. I enjoyed the footnotes full of fun facts and explanations of the crazy math that Collin thinks of. To be brutally honest I was disappointed with this book with how the main protagonist carried himself. Collin was whiny and extremely geeky; although he tried really hard to cover up his awkwardness at times which kind of countered the whole theme of “discovering one’s self”. The plot of the book was sort of random, not in how it was structured but in the way that makes you think “Where did John Green get these ideas from?”. In short, the character development in the book and the strange plot did not appeal to me but I was satisfied by the writing style and overall messages. Unfortunately the book did not exceed any of my expectations. 

An Abundance of Katherines perfectly fits under the Beauty and the Geek category which is one that I don’t often read. The romance is really sappy and cheesy which might appeal to some people. Although the messages were good, the book is not worth reading if you are not into geeky teen romance or random math spasms. People who are suckers for smooth, cheesy pick up lines and teenagers having super deep conversation will definitely enjoy An Abundance of Katherines. I recommend this book to people who enjoy John Green’s other works because it does have a few comedic moments and has that teenage love story some people might relate to.Other than that you should only read it if you can put up with the amount of eye rolling you will be doing every time Collin mentions his love of Katherines. 

Title: An Abundance of Katherines

Author:John Green

Pub date: Sept 1, 2006

Page count: 256p

Genre: Fiction/Young Adult

Edgar Pacio

Gold Stream

Journal #1

IAGO: [looks down, hand on chin]

That’s not amiss,

But yet keep time in all.

Will you withdraw? 

[looks at Othello]

OTHELLO Exits

[looks at audience] 

Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,

A huswife that by selling her desires

Buys herself bread and clothes.It is a creature

That dotes on Cassio, as ’tis the strumpet’s plague

To beguile many and be beguiled by one. He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain

From the excess of laughter.

Here he comes. 

[looks away]

Enter CASSIO

[looks up]

As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad.

And his unbookish jealousy must construe

Poor Cassio’s smiles, gestures, and light behavior

[slowly looks towards CASSIO]

Quite in the wrong.—How do you now, lieutenant?

  This quote is from the beginning of Act 4 Scene 1 during one of Iago’s soliloquies. Iago looks down at the ground with his hand on his chin. This is a pose that many people make when they are in deep thought. Iago looks towards the audience to indicate that he has switched from thinking out loud to informing the audience. He tells them about his plan to make Cassio talk about Bianca in front of Othello. He then switches his audience again by looking up as if speaking to a higher power as he finishes his plan and realizes what it will cause. As he turns towards Cassio, we now know that he has switched his audience as he begins to talk to Cassio.

Journal #2

“EMILIA: 

Thou hast not half that power to do me harm

As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!

As ignorant as dirt! Thou hast done a deed—

I care not for thy sword, I’ll make thee known

Though I lost twenty lives.—Help! Help, ho! Help!

The Moor hath killed my mistress! Murder, murder!"

In Act 5 Scene 2, Emilia observed Desdemona's death first hand. Desdemona spoke to her as she took her last breaths and Emilia weeped over Desdemona when she finally died. Most things Emilia observed were second hand. She was told about the fight out side and the death of Roderigo. Othello told her that he had been the one who had killed Desdemona. She was also told about how her husband, Iago, made a plan and what its consequences were. By focusing only on her scenes we can understand that Emilia was very fond of Desdemona becuase she was her servant and perhaps even a mother figure. She was there for her every need and stood by her as she died. We can also see that she was loyal to Iago when she stole Desdemona's handkerchief. From Emilia’s actions it can be assumed that her loyalty to the people she is close to is her most important characteristic to the play. Overall she is loyal to those people that seem to have good intentions.

Journal #3

Othello was sold into slavery when he was six years old. He was taken into an army at the age of seven and was put under the wing of a kind retired war hero. As Othello grew older he began to go away from his janitor duties and was taught to become an Italian soldier. He was a soldier for many years until he was recruited to become a general after he had survived many battles against invaders. Since he rose in rank he got to meet more high class families, which is how he met Desdemona. Othello started talking with her and finally won her over. They had a secret marriage together in Venice. 

Othello's past shaped him into what he was. He was faced with many hardships in life, struggling and working hard to reach the rank of army general. He is a dedicated person, which shows when he is determined to carry out Iago's plan to kill Desdemona. He is also a very sensitive person under all his brutish manliness. Othello was truly in love with Desdemona since she was attracted to him for who he was and the struggles he went through. When he went to kill her he was overcome by grief which proves his ability to love people. 

Journal #4

The scene that my group had was a breakdown of Act 3 Scene 3. In the scene Othello is speaking in a quiet, faint, and annoyed voice because he has a headache. He points to his head when he shows Desdemona where on his head he feels the pain. When Desdemona tries to bind his head he becomes somewhat annoyed and takes the handkerchief and tries to put it in his pocket. Othello accidentally drops it without noticing. My prop will be a cloak. I think my group is going to stand out because we have practiced several times and the argument between Emilia and Iago is the most expressive part of the scene. We have worked on the stage directions like Iago snatching the handkerchief, Othello dropping it, and the interactions between Othello and Desdemona.

Journal #5

“Your napkin is too small. Let it alone. Come I’ll go in with you.”

This quote shows that Othello is a bit annoyed with Desdemona and his current situation. Iago told Othello that Desdemona was cheating on him. This caused Othello to have a hard time processing it and thinking about the truth behind Iago’s accusation. When Desdemona tries to bind his headache he pushes her away. He takes out his frustration on her. I delivered this line in a kind of annoyed tone.

My group’s performance did go as I planned. I am really proud of my group members especially Donesha and Haneef because I feel as though they delivered their argument scene very well. If I could do something differently I would have probably made my final line a bit more expressive. Performing the play changed my perspective by making it more clear. It was like re-reading a sentence you didn’t understand at first. Seeing the play again in a shorter and simpler version made it entirely clear on what was going on in the play.

As a bilingual speaker, language plays a big part in my life. It represents me as a person from two separate countries, meeting at an invisible line and separated by the border of language. In the essay “Borderlands/La Frontera” by Glona Anzalúna she writes “Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity.” For me personally I find the quote to be totally true. My ethnicity is Mexican and it does reflect on my identity of a Spanish speaker. Yet I also know how to speak English which creates a second persona.

My parents brought me over to the United States from Mexico when I was nine months old. They came here knowing close to zero English, thus making Spanish the first language I learned to speak.

“Di: Perro”

“Pero”

“No, Pe-rr-o”

My parents would ask me to pronounce words that desired the famous Spanish “rolling r”, like “carro” and “padre”, and being  2 years old,speaking was something new. My parents brought me over to the United States from Mexico when I was nine months old. Learning a language that was full of accents, “ñ”, double r’s and l’s was tough. My parents taught me how to speak, read and write Spanish. After a while it began to come to me naturally. It was all I knew how to speak. Spanish was the only thing I needed to know how to speak.

When my parents decided to enroll me in preschool I kind of looked forward to it. I remember the first few months of preschool as being really tough because I lacked English speaking skills. The only words I knew were “no” and “yes”. I had trouble communicating with the teachers and other students at first. 

“Me usar el baño”

“What? Speak up.”

“Tengo que usar el baño!” 

“Hey! You, come here and tell me what he wants”

The classroom was always full of children who were English experts compared to me. Not being able to speak English in the class room made me the outsider. With the help of my teachers I began to speak English and use it to communicate with the other kids. My difference began to fade away slowly as the year progressed. I remember how I would use stencils that came in all sorts of shapes; insects, animals, and cars. I would choose one and make a booklet filled with stencil drawings. Then my teacher would help me write out my name under every picture I made; to show that I was the artist yet learning to spell at the same time. 

From then on things were a lot easier. Being with people who only spoke english for 7 hours, 5 days a week really helped shape the way I spoke English for the rest of my life. It was a matter of learning English or continuing to use hand gestures like an advanced gorilla for the rest of my life. 

Being a bilingual has forced me to switch from Spanish to English and then back again depending on my situation. My parents’ little knowledge on the English language makes me their main translator. In elementary school, whenever I mentioned that I spoke Spanish. People would ask me things like: “Are you fluent?” or “Do you speak Spanish at home?”. Being bilingual sort of gave me a title. I didn’t understand why my friends were so amazed when they heard me speaking Spanish with my parents. I guess they saw it as a gift. In my opinion it was just who I was; I didn’t choose to be bilingual. Some people take courses or get a tutor to learn another language. I just happened to have Mexican parents who helped me learn Spanish before English in a country where English was the dominant language. 

I don’t speak much unless I’m close to the person I’m speaking to. The amount of words I say also depend on what language I’m speaking to them in. I speak English with my siblings and cousins who all grew up here and learned English as a second language too. English represents my “Americanized” persona; the part of me that feels like English is my first and only  language. This probably comes from the fact that I have probably spoken more English than Spanish in my life, because of my environment. I usually only speak Spanish whenever I’m talking to a relative or my parents.  My parents also never forget to remind me of my ethnicity and encourage me to speak to my brothers in Spanish so I won’t lose touch with the language. I don’t talk to my brothers in Spanish because they were born here and had me to teach them english before they started school. I see that as an advantage and that creates a difference between us. When I do speak Spanish with someone, especially with someone who doesn’t understand it quite well, I tend to feel a sense of pride. I take into account that it was my first language and it represents my Mexican nationality. 

I do agree that my linguistic identity is a representation of my ethnic identity. I am what I speak. In “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me. What Is?” by James Baldwin he speaks about the relationship between language and identity, saying “It is the most vivid and crucial key to identity”. Knowing how to speak two separate languages gives me two different identities. Using spanish at home and the houses of my relatives I am more formal,using words like “usted” instead of “tú” and “mande” instead of “que”. Speaking with people who are fluent makes it seem more normal and that makes me speak more. This is my identity as the polite Spanish speaking, culture proud Mexican. The part of me that is more seclusive around non-hispanic people.  Anywhere else I use my other identity, the Americanized English Speaker. I grew up learning English and using it most of my life because everyone around me spoke English. Learning English as a second language made me into a part of the American society, where it is useful to know to speak the common tongue. 

This isn’t living. Waking up and knowing your wife isn’t beside you, your mother isn’t in the next room, and your son isn’t downstairs watching saturday cartoons. I don’t know what to do. I left them. That’s what I’m reminded of every time I see one of those creatures out there, stumbling about looking for the next person it will rip to shreds. I left them for bait. My wife, my son, my mother. Everyday since the first outrage came on t.v.,  I’ve been giving them a false sense of hope. They relied on me. They trusted me to keep them same. And I just left them. It all happened so fast. The door was broken down by dozens of them. The entire house was filled with their disgusting odor of dead meat and dried blood. I reached for my handgun, the one I used to get rid of the groundhogs in the back yard. My son, Steve, he just kept crying in Ana’s arms. I used my gun to shoot them, but I couldn’t reach the ones that were climbing up the stairs in time. In a matter of seconds I heard my mother scream and then the growling. That one moment of distraction was all it took for those bastards to run me over getting to Steve and Ana behind me. They stepped on me, and all I could hear was them yelling my name. Their screams were also consumed by the growling. I dragged myself across the floor with my gun in hand to reach the street outside. They noticed me and I starting running, I didn’t think twice. I didn’t stop to think about my family I just left behind. I ran and ran. I passed a couple of stupid ones who didn’t know what the hell was going on. I didn’t look back. I didn’t even look forward. I looked down at my running feet and stopped after I was sure I wasn’t being followed. I stopped here, at this doughnut shop. By the looks of it, it was out of business for a long time now and there were signs that a horde had torn the place up. I looked for a way to get in and I found the back door wide open. I closed it and chained it back up. I found this tape recorder in here. It replayed a young woman’s voice . She lists all these groceries. Eggs. Milk. Canned corn. Groceries remind me of my wife’s cooking and I realized, and it’s still on my mind at this moment. I realized that my family was dead. They were back there, on the house with the once beautiful garden I planted for Ana. They were there completely disfigured to the point where they can’t even be considered to have once been alive. I just stared at the blood on the wall. I wanted to cry and I would have given up anything to do so. The tears wouldn’t come. I was overpowered by other emotions. Disbelief. Shock. Fear. My family was killed by those freakish man eaters and I couldn’t do shit. I only saved myself. I wish I could go back out there and die like they did. But, fear gets me every time I try to open the door. I’m so damn selfish. I’m a coward. Some father I came out to be. I just keep checking my ammo. How bad of an idea is this? One bullet left. Yeah, this is how I’d rather it end. I don’t want to carry this guilt anymore. Shit. There’s a horde outside. I might as well do it now. There’s no way I can fight them off. Mom, Ana, Steve. I’m sorry. See you soon. 

            My final blog post is about change. The Post For Change is the last of the trio of blogs for the You And The World Project. In my first blog I talked about the DREAM act and it’s impact on many students and the country. I talked about how helpful it would be to the eager students who want to become part of America and their first step being getting an education. In the second blog post I focused on the youth group Fuerza and it’s several Latino members. I talked about our mission and the things we do in our struggle for equality and immigrant rights.

            With the first two blogs being informational posts I was able to introduce my topic to several people. Although bringing awareness is part of the mission of gaining immigrant rights in our country, there is much more that can be done.

            One of my first steps was joining Fuerza in order to better educate myself in the controversial topic of immigrant rights. Through this organization I will be doing several things including going into the streets of Philly in order to get signatures for petitions, or maybe even participating in protests such as the one on May 7^th. This group is a great opportunity to become a young activist in the movement towards equality and rights for immigrants. A second step I took was posting a formal petition through Facebook, in order to get enough signatures to urge our representatives and legislators to vote against the anti-immigration laws. I also recently sent the email to the 9^th grade streams.  My final phase for change will be to e-mail the Senator of my district of Philadelphia, Sen. Shirley M. Kitchen. She is the representative in the Senate for my district (District 3) of Philadelphia. I met her on a previous occasion in 8^th grade and along with other members of the school government. I was able to remember her, and I made a plan to send her a proper e-mail stating my point of view on my topic and how I would like her to help.

            I have already begun to start my project for change, which is to educate myself and to bring awareness to my topic. Last Wednesday, May 16, I joined a group called Fuerza. This group is part of a larger organization called Juntos, which is a community of Latino immigrants in Philadelphia who strive to earn human rights in the fields of labor, education, and immigration. The group I joined consists of several other teenagers who have come to educate themselves about the topic of immigration rights and fight for their rights.

            I first heard of Fuerza through my cousin who was in the group. I asked her about the group and I made a decision to go to the weekly meetings. At the meeting we had a speaker from CNS (Campaign for Nonviolent Schools). We talked about the decrease in the amount of counselors in high schools and the budget cuts and how it affect the community of immigrants. Another thing we discussed was the high drop out rates among Latinos.        

In Ms. Dunn’s 9^th grade English class we had to choose a topic that was important to us. We would be making blog posts that keep our audience up to date with the headlines of today or bring awareness to the topic. When I heard that we had to choose a topic I immediately knew I wanted to blog about the topic of immigrant rights, but more specifically, the DREAM Act.

The American Dream, it is the title of the wish that many foreigners wish to obtain in the land of America, the land of opportunity.

Most families from all over the world come to the U.S to escape tension, war, or poverty in their own countries. Most immigrants come to the U.S seeking a better life. The ones, who come here illegally or even stay when their visa has expired, are often deported to back to their own countries. To a bigger dismay, excellent students who have come to the country when they were young, are denied education past that of high school, even when they are willing to pay tuition and have had numerous chances for scholarships.

            Immigration is a very important topic to me personally, for I myself am an immigrant. I was born in Mexico and was brought over to the U.S when I was nine months old. Like many other immigrant teenagers I was brought here before we could make our own decisions. We were brought here because our parents wanted us to become greater than what we could become in our native homes. It is also not just Latinos, but people from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean islands, who come to the U.S for better opportunities. Most of the kids who come to America for the American dream either have the dream turned into a nightmare because of not being able to speak English. When they do begin to succeed they are sometime faced with the problem of having no education after high school. For this reason, an act is in the process of being approved. The DREAM Act bill needs to be supported by legislators and signed into law, but this can only be done with support from people of this country. This bill will allow foreign illegal immigrant students be able to apply for residency and get an education after high school, if they meet several requirements.

             The requirements for being eligible for the DREAM Act is fair enough for both the person applying and the country. The country will benefit from the talented young minds that will become our future. The next generation is what the country will soon depend on and enabling the leaders of tomorrow, rather than deporting them, will benefit the U.S greatly. Is it really fair to deny immigrant teens the right to study here? By giving them a right to education we are accepting people for what they want to become; true Americans.  

Había una familia en las Islas Sandwich. Había un papá, una mamá, un hijo, y una hija. La familia vivía en una caja. La familia tenia un pingüino. Era un pingüino gordo. El pingüino era bastante gordo. El pingüino tenía hambre. El pingüino estaba preocupadísima. EL pingüino lloraba. El pingüino sollozó al papá, “Mamacocha tiene hambre. Mamacocha va a destruir el mundo.” Había un problema. Era un problema grave.

El pingüino le mandó el papá, “Escala el rascacielos más alta con tu familia. La familia voló hacia el rascacielos mas alta con el pingüino. El rascacielos más alta se llamaba el Torre Eiffel. 

Había un guanaco. El pingüino le dijo al guanaco, “Hay una problema. ¡Mamacocha tiene hambre! El mar va a destruir el mundo. sube el rascacielos con nosotros.” El guanaco comprendió perfectamente. El guanaco se escapo con el grupo.

Había un flamenco. El pingüino le exclamó al guanaco, “Hay una problema. ¡El mar tiene hambre! El mar va a destruir el mundo. Escala el rascacielos con nosotros.” El comprendió bien. El flamenco no voló con el grupo. El flamenco camino.

Había una puma. El pingüino le dijo a la puma, “Hay una problema. ¡Mamacocha tiene hambre! El mar va a destruir el mundo. Escala el rascacielos con nosotros.” El puma entendió. La puma se fue con el grupo.

Había un cóndor. El pingüino le explico al cóndor, “Hay una problema. ¡Mamacocha tiene hambre! El mar va a destruir el mundo. Escala el rascacielos con nosotros.” El cóndor comprendió. El cóndor no voló con el grupo. El cóndor nado. 

Había un zorro. El pingüino le explico al cóndor, “Hay una problema. ¡Mamacocha tiene hambre! El mar va a destruir el mundo. Escala el rascacielos con nosotros.” El zorro no les dio de comer. El zorro no se fue con el grupo. El zorro era demasiado flaco.

El grupo subió el rascacielos mas alta. La familia, el pingüino, el guanaco, y la puma volaron al Torre Eiffel. El flamenco camino y el cóndor nado al Torre Eiffel.

El mar subió. El mar subió con hambre. Había una problema. Había un problema grave. El zorro no estaba con el grupo. El zorro voló. El zorro no camino. El zorro no nado. El zorro voló rápido. El zorro voló al rascacielos mas grade. El zorro tenia hambre.

Por fin el mar, Mamacocha, estaba lleno de comer vacas y cabras y no subió mas. El mar bajo. La familia bajo. Los otros animales bajaron. Y todos tenían hambre. Ya había muchas problemas.

I.               Antes de la unidad no sabia mucho sobre de Chávez. Cuando pensaba de Chávez yo pensaba sobre de Venezuela, y que el era un dictador. Pensaba en los temas políticos. Yo tuve un punto de vista negativa sobre Chávez.

II.             Yo aprendí que el no es un dictador. El es un presidente que fue elegido democráticamente. También aprendí que el manda petróleo a Nueva York para los familias. Ahora se que Chávez es un socialista.

III.           En mi opinión Chávez es un hombre bueno. Yo soy un Chavista por lo que aprendí de el. Si yo fuera un Venezolano, yo votaría por Chávez. El quiere ser útil y ofreció ayuda a los sobreveedores de Katrina. El quiere ser un presidente bueno por que ama a su patria.

IV.           Lo que mas me gusto de la unidas fue aprender sobre Chávez. Antes no tenia un buen visión de Chávez, pero ni lo conocía bien. Me gusto el chance de aprender sobre el, y después decidir si somos Chávistas o de la oposición.

Para mi, la clase obrera sufrió mucho durante el reino de Pinochet. Yo soy Pedro Machuca, un niño de once años. Yo vivo en Santiago, Chile, por el campo de fútbol. La vida es muy difícil en este pueblito, pero no importa mientras tenga yo mi familia. Trabajo con mi vecino y su hija, Silvana. Durante las manifestaciones vendemos banderitas. Vamos a los dos tipos de manifestaciones, de los momios y los comunistas. Yo tuve el chance de ir a St. Patrick, un colegio para niños. Allí conocí a Gonzalo, mi nuevo amigo. Tuvimos una amistad hasta que me decepciono, cuando los soldados destruyeron a mi pueblo. Yo quiero a ayudar a los pobres y ser útil, por eso cuando sea grande me gustaría ser un cura como el Father McEnroe

Los objetos de la obra también tienen significados. Como yo lo veo, la mujer puede simbolizar mi gente. Ella es un símbolo de la clase obrera. Los hombres la mujer en trajes, simbolizan la clase alta. Ellos están dando la espalda a la mujer. Esto pudría significar que la clase alta no le da la atención que necesita. Los cohetes simbolizan la guerra fría. En este tiempo EEUU era enemigos con URSS. Había tensión entre ellos por la guerra fría. Por la guerra, Chile tuvo un golpe de estado. Pinochet derrumbó el gobierno de Allende. Allende tuvo la presidencia por solo tres años, antes de que lo mataron, o como dice la historia, se suicidó. Los colores brillantes son pocos entre el negro de la ropa de la clase alta. Sin embargo, los colores salen de la obra y se hacen visibles. Este puede ser un seña de ay esperanza entre lo oscuro del mundo. Todos los maquinas y cohetes también pueden simbolizar el adelanto en la tecnología. Todo la obra pude tener un mensaje único. Yo pienso que la mensaje es que en un mundo de colores oscuros si puede ver un poco de color.

En mi opinión el mural esta echo con talento. Yo pienso que tiene un mensaje importante y fuerte. El mural me llamo el atención por que fue pintado por un muralista Chileno. Pinochet también tuvo su parte en la historia de el mural. Yo estoy acuerdo con los ideas de el señor Ecamez.

Me llamo Edgar Pacio y me encanta el arte. Vivo en la comunidad de Lawncrest en el Noreste de Filadelfia. En mi comunidad hay poco arte. Hasta hay poco graffiti en las calles cerca de mi casa. Por esta razón he creado el mural titulado “Alcanza las Estrellas”. El mural estará ubicado en la Avenida Rising Sun en la pared de la biblioteca de Lawncrest. Mi comunidad es mas o menos tranquila y tiene una historia muy interesante. Para contar la historia de mi barrio, se puede ir asta los años mil seis cientos. Varias iglesias fueron construidas en la comunidad, una iglesia ha estado desde los años mil seiscientos. En los años mil novecientos la comunidad estaba poblado por los Alemanes. En estos años la comunidad empezó a construir mas servicios públicos. Una estación de bomberos fue construida en 1920. En otros cuarenta años la biblioteca publica fue construida por la escasez de libros en la comunidad. Ahora mi comunidad no es sólo de puro alemanes, ahora hay de todas culturas.

            Las imágenes de mi mural son unas manos que están tratando de alcanzar las estrellas. Las manos simbolizan las personas con sueños, y las estrellas son símbolos de esos sueños. Los colores que use son varios. Use un color azul medio oscuro para representar la noche. Las estrellas son varios y son un color en medio de blanco y amarillo. Mi mensaje es que los sueños son comos los estrellas, están de larga distancia pero ser pueden alcanzar con determinación. Las personas deben tratar de alcanzar sus metas y sus sueños. Como mi mural será pintado por la comunidad, vamos a necesitar pedir permiso de pintar en el pared de la biblioteca. Además muchas personas visitan la biblioteca y el parque que esta cerca. El mural será visto por la comunidad entera y los va hacer orgullosos de la arte y de si mismos.

            Para mi, la arte publica esta para expresar la comunidad. Expresa sus culturas, su historia, y su ayuda formar una identidad para la comunidad. Ayuda las personas de la comunidad a ser mas orgullosos de su barrio. El arte publico trae a las personas de la comunidad juntos para una ocasión importante para la comunidad entera. En mi opinión, mi mural si esta sirviendo su propósito. El propósito de mi mural es para ayudar a los personas de mi comunidades de nunca soltar sus sueños. Mi mural es un tipo de arte con un mensaje fuerte. En mi comunidad, ay algunos estudiantes que se van a otros lados en debes de ir a la escuela. Ellos están dejando sus sueños atrás, y mi mural los va apoyar en que se recuerden que los sueños pueden ser realidad. El mural costara mucho dinero, pero desde mi punto de vista el producto final vale la pena. 

From this project I have learned presentation zen. I have always seen billboards and slides with good eye-catching designs. I have never known the proper names for the effects until now. I have learned about “bleeding” and “kerning”. I learned about the basic fundamental knowledge of slide design. Color contrast, boldness, and font is something I improved in. I feel that knowing more about the slide design will help me with presentations in my other classes.  

Mis características obvias son que soy tranquilo, amistoso, y callado. Cuando alguien toma el tiempo para conocerme, pueden aprender que soy Mexicano, me importa mucho mi familia, y que soy Católico.

El efecto de ser tranquilo es que yo no disimulo mis emociones negativos tanto como otras personas. A veces me veo como si no tuviera ningún emoción. Yo prefería a quedarme en mi casa que salir a fiestas, pero también me gusta divertirme. En mi perspectivo yo creo que ser tranquilo me atrae amigos. Nuevas personas  vienen a mi con curiosidad y después de allí empieza una conversación y a lo mejor, la amistad. Los amigos me dan otra razón para venir a la escuela. Los amigos bien cercanas son como familia para mi. Yo se que siempre estarán aquí para que nos divertimos y cuando necesitamos ayuda. Yo soy una persona respetuoso y amistoso, yo doy respeto y recibo respeto. Yo y mis amigos somos iguales, no somos mas ni menos. Ser amistoso me ayuda llevarme bien con los amigos. Me porto bien con los amigos porque creo en la paz entre los amigos. No me gusta estar en medio de una problema con mis amigos. Cuando primero me ven las personas pueden notar que soy un poco tímido y que soy callado. Yo no hablo mucho, soy una persona de muy pocas palabras.  Casi toda mi vida yo era muy tímido, y no hable mucho. Ahora  ya me acostumbre a no hablar mucho. Hablo mas con los amigos mas cercanos que a los que apenas conocí, pero gradual mente me voy acercando mas a ellos y empiezo hablar mas. Con los demás ser callado los ase querer saber mas sobre de mi y querer que yo hable mas. Las cosas obvias son una fuerte representación de quien soy.

Las cosas menos obvias nada mas se pueden aprender cuando alguien me pregunta. Las personas pueden aprender mi lugar de nacimiento, que es lo que valoro mucho, y mi religión Yo vengo de México y valoro mucho mi país. Nací en el estado de Puebla México es mi país natal y soy orgulloso de ser Mexicano. Cuando hay una fiesta Mexicana en Penn’s Landing yo me siento parte del grupo cuando estoy allí. Las personas no siempre piensan que soy Hispano, y yo tuve muchas veces que unas personas me confunden por ser Asiano. Yo vengo y nací en  México, y vivo con mis padres y dos hermanos. No conozco personalmente mis abuelos o familiares allá en México, y eso me ase valorar la familia mas. Unos de mis temores es que mis abuelos ya no esteran antes que yo los pueda visitarlos y conocerlos Yo se que la familia es algo precioso que no se puede cambiar para nada en el mundo. Con mi familiares soy respetuoso, y me siento mal para los personas que no les importa la familia. Mi religión es Católico y el religión es importante para mi. Para mi, mi religión es tan importante come es la familia. Yo creo en mi Dios, siempre a creído, y siempre voy a creer. Yo me llevo bien con los demás de otros religiones por que yo no pienso que otra religión es mejor, o peor que lo que yo practico. Yo respeto los perspectivos de las otras personas. Yo un juzgo a otras personas o los discrimino que no comparten mis perspectivos religiosas. Cuando alguien toma el tiempo de conocerme mejor, pueden aprender mucho sobre de mi y yo aprendo sobre de otras personas. Tal vez sea un poco tímido, pero me gusta conocer nuevas personas.