Group Members : Tianna Mcnair and Kobe Nabried      

Our group decided to convert was Get Out into a buddy comedy. The change in genre challenges the ability to include humor through thought-provoking racial issues. We sought out three directors: Phil Lord and Chris Miller known for 21 & 22 Jump Street and Tim Story known for the film Ride Along. Before commencing the project we analyzed the tropes used in buddy comedies through the lenses of the two films mentioned above. A commonality is that comedies like these usually include a “bromance.” The “close nonsexual relationship between two men” is strengthened throughout the movie. Therefore the trailer we created only selects scenes from that film that include Chris and Rod. Rod is the only person that Chris calls in the film denoting that Rod is viewed as the friend that he tells everything to. Although they were already friends before Chris decides to meet Rose’s parents, their bond intensifies as Chris starts to uncover the truth about the Armitage family.

Another trope seen in buddy comedies is the desire to seek adventure. In Get Out Rose insisted on Chris meeting her family even though they weren’t dating for a long period of time. The introduction to the trailer shows the audience that the characters are headed to meet Rose’s parents. With Rod’s dialogue in the background the racial tension begins to build itself, even when it is used in a joking form. The use of seeking an adventure is demonstrated clearly in both the Jump Street movie series and Ride Along, where a task is assigned and although it is very serious, the process of completion is fun. In Phil Lord’s How I Met Your Mother, the television series is based on recounting to his children about how he and their mother met. This sets up a flow in the direction that the show should go. Similarly, in Get Out we known that race will be an issue within the movie and we know that Chris needs to get out of the situation, creating a flow in the movie. This gets the audience to now see how the accumulation of troubling events can cause Chris to “get out.”

The musical elements included in the trailer are used to introduce punch lines or stick to one perspective. When Chris initially hangs up the phone on Rod, the scratching of discs occurs. It goes from you hearing the conversation between Chris and Rod, to a solo scene of Rod. This demonstrates that Chris hung up the phone because of the scene ending on Rod and him not hearing a response on the other side. The next example is shown when Rod approaches the police about the suspicious events occurring in the Armitage household. The music hits a complete stop before the cops begin to laugh at the unimaginable claims that were made.

Every year the senior class of SLA creates a variety of senior projects, also known as the Capstone. Capstones are meant to inspire, ignite, and bring about change within our community.  My capstone involved a business proposal to create Science Leadership Academy’s Child Care Center (SLACC).  I identified a problem that needed to be solved and determined the steps to see this idea come to fruition. The program requires the cooperation of students, teachers, and children to operate successfully.

Recipe for Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• ½ a bag of Idaho potatoes

• 9 eggs

• 1 cup of mayonnaise

• A tablespoon of salt

• 6 cups of water

1. Start by adding water to a medium sized pot. Then add in potatoes and salt.

2. Let the potatoes boil for 15 minutes. The potatoes should be softened but still solid. If the potatoes are falling apart you have overcooked them.

3. In a separate pot boil the the eggs for approximately 10-15 minutes. Then, pour out hot water. Run cold water over the eggs and begin to peel.

4. In a separate boil add in the potatoes, mayonnaise, and cut up eggs. Mix it all together leaving some chunks of potato still intact.

5. Finally, enjoy !

Environmental:  

The potato brand i’ve seen my mother use is Idahoan Fresh. Wada Farms Potatoes is the company that sells this brand and is based in Idaho Falls, ID and is organically grown. A driver would have to travel approximately 2,215 miles to reach Philadelphia. Morton Salt is the brand that is also usually used in my home. The company has about 20 production cities and the closest one to Philadelphia is a site in Fairless Hills, PA about 26 miles away in a car.

Political/economic:  

The salt is $0.89. The mayonnaise is $3.99. The potatoes are $10.99. The water is free. This comes out to a total of $15.87. Although the meal is more expensive than fast food it can serve more people a last a little bit longer. Hellmann's Mayo is another company that is involved with this dish

Health/nutrition:  

An 11.5 oz bottle of mayo contains 100 calories, 95 mg of sodium, 1.5 g of saturated fat, and 0g of sugar. Per one large egg there are 70 calories, 5 g of total fat, 70mg of sodium, and 6 g of protein. Table salt has 0g of fat and sugar, 0 calories, and 6,976 g of sodium. As you can see this meal contains a large amount of sodium. Sodium is used to regulate blood flow and pressure but an excess amount of sodium could lead to high blood pressure and hypertension.

My goal for this paper is to analyze the way that guilt influences a soldier’s life. Throughout the process of the paper I have learned that the majority, if not all, soldiers suffer from this emotion whether they admit it or not. However, even if soldiers see their time serving this country as a privilege or not, they can all admit that war changes people and the way they think. A new perspective arises and it adds to the person that they are.

Above is a picture of the Vietnam Memorial Wall located in Washington, D.C. A middle aged white male has his hand placed on a wall that states the names of all the soldiers that died during the Vietnam War. The man is looking down toward the floor, his briefcase beside him. On the wall there is a reflection of about five soldiers standing up and one kneeling down, soldiers whose lives were lost staring back at the man. He is on his from work and he has his sleeves rolled up and his suit jacket sits beside him on top of his briefcase. A small American flag is planted into to ground and it hangs low. The man’s face is scrunched up as if he is starting to get emotional and is trying to prevent tears from running down his face. War is an unique concept of conflict that people who have not experienced it can only sympathize and not empathize.

An essay written by Kevin Sites states that ,“Combat is almost always the shortest and smallest part of any conflict, while collateral damage or civil destruction is war’s most enduring legacy.” The guilt that soldier feels will be carried with them forever.  Although they might have pride and have seen it as a privilege to serve their country, it does not take away from the fact that on that journey sacrifices are made not only with your internal being but with the people around you, the people you love the most.

A CBS NEWS article titled I can’t forgive myself states that ,“Like other officers who've spoken about moral injuries, he also feels responsible for deaths that resulted from orders he gave in other missions. The hardest part, Kudo says, is that "nobody talks about it.” This thought goes along with a book titled The Things They Carried  and how they avoided talking about death even though they faced it everyday. The characters in the book would desensitize the tragedies they had to deal with. Humor was often used to downplay the circumstances that they have endured. They used multiple methods in order to avert their thoughts from the adversities that have occurred.  Despite the various methods used, aren’t they all coping mechanisms?

Regardless of the coping mechanism that is used by an individual, if you do not talk about it then it will start haunting you inside. Our soldiers have “wounded souls,” in accordance with the CBS NEWS article mentioned above. Although these “souls” might be repaired they will never return to being the same as they were before. When they leave the war a part of themselves is lost and it can never be recovered. Many people, especially doctors and other medical advisors,  just lump soldiers into the PTSD category but in reality who wouldn’t suffer from that “illness”  if they were not in war, witnessing the deaths of both civilians and criminals everyday and having to be watching it all, if not actually partaking in those actions? No one is fully capable to dismiss those images from their head. These soldiers might not actually be sick, but they are just the product of the wicked environment they have been placed in. A system which undoubtedly causes these effects on them.

 Now what outlets are available in order for people to repair their wounded souls? In article titled Coping with Survivor Guilt & Grief it is reported that, “Guilt is a common reaction to loss and it can ultimately be part of the healing process. However, if it is not addressed, excessive guilt can lead to psychological health concerns, such as depression, apathy or generalized anxiety.” While guilt is usually the emotional reaction to a traumatic event, grief is the actual healing process. When lives are lost , the feeling of one’s humanity automatically decreases.  There needs to be more organizations that promote this healing process in a healthy way that gives drugs as a last resort instead of the first. It becomes difficult to empathize with someone if you never lived through the situation that they have faced. Nevertheless, that does not mean that we should stop trying. We need to understand that this guilt travels with them from war to home to carrying out their daily activities. Most of this guilt is due to the responsibility that soldiers feel for the lives lost both during the war and when they return home and lose contact with other soldiers they have served with. Still, we need to see these emotions as  Mike Felker, Veteran of the U.S. Navy does, he says, “Guilt is the driving force.” Guilt prompts us to continue to discover who we are and helps us stay in tune with our emotions. The acknowledgment of  guilt being present in our minds and hearts helps us grow through self-reflection.

Works Cited

"Coping with Survivor Guilt & Grief." Real Warriors. Defense Centers of Excellence. Web. 17 Mar. 2016. <http://www.realwarriors.net/active/treatment/survivorguilt.php >.

“ ‘I Can't Forgive Myself'': U.S. Veterans Suffering Alone in Guilt over Wartime Events." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/i-cant-forgive-myself-us-veterans-suffering-alone-in-guilt-over-wartime-events/ >.

Kevin Sites. "How Do Soldiers Live with Their Feelings of Guilt? - Kevin Sites - Aeon Essays." Aeon. Aeon Essays, 09 Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <https://aeon.co/essays/how-do-soldiers-live-with-their-feelings-of-guilt >.

Major Rebecca Lange. "Service Before Self: Reflections on Military and Civilian Service." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/major-rebecca-lange/service-before-self-refle_b_6135730.html >.

Kayla Cassumba

English 3

Identity & Belonging

“It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,   

The stride of my step,   

The curl of my lips.   

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,   

That’s me.”

In the mirror we see our truth. The curve in our hips. The thinness of our waists. The stride in our step. We strive to love  ourselves to the maximum of our ability. However,  most people do not understand how difficult it is for women to love themselves.  But how can women and how can  I love myself in a society that continues to degrades me?

In the documentary titled Beyond Beats & Rhymes, director Byron Hurt discusses the problems that hip hop music faces in regards to social changes in society. The director interviewed an up- and- coming artist named “J-hood”, for a section of the film named “Sisters and Bitches.” Hurt asked the artist to describe the difference between the two words that are used to describe women. He pointed to women in their bikinis on Daytona Beach and stated that they were “bitches.”

This quote raises a conflict about how women are viewed. On one hand, a woman has the right to wear what she pleases, especially since the environment mentioned above allowed her to do so, without suffering the backlash of men. But on the other hand, when viewing what they wore OFF the beach,  the “invitation” became clearer. This by no means gives men the right to objectify women, but we have to realize that humans are sexual beings."’ We live in a culture in which we constantly see women objectified in interactions on television and in the media. When you turn your own lens on everyday, ordinary women, we focus on those parts, too,’ says lead author and social psychologist Sarah Gervais of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.”  As human beings we rely on what we see, that's how arousal occur. However, the natural attraction that occurs between human beings has been exploited. This saturation in media and other outlets  compels us to view one another as objects or representations.

On the contrary, as women we need to respect ourselves and realize that how we dress is a reflection of our self love, morals, and style. We should respect our bodies and know that some things are better left as a mystery. Everyone does not have to see what God has blessed us with. We should carry ourselves in a manner that reflects who we want to attract.  In truth, we should dress for ourselves first. We need to get past what we see being represented in the media.  Let us humanize ourselves and understand that every women should develop a love for themselves before loving anyone else. We can't expect someone to love us unconditionally if we don't love ourselves unconditionally.

Fierce strides were made toward the trolley stop.  I walked alone, blocking everyone and everything around me, until I felt someone's eyes on me like an itch that I just could not scratch. We make eye contact.  Ahead of me stands a tall, pale man whose eyes reflect the sea. The bluest of blues. He stops, stares at me and says , “Wow, your eyes are beautiful.” My eyes are beautiful. And he continued to make his way down the trolley steps.

Men who are genuinely interested in a female are attracted to natural beauty and the way they carry ourselves.  People can identify if confidence radiates out of our bodies. And even though I see myself as fairly confident, when a non-African American man complimented me, I subconsciously held it to a higher standard than when an African-American man gives me the same compliment. I’d won a prize, the validation prize.  Still, questions began running through my mind : does this validate my beauty any more than a compliment from a black man? Does a compliment from a non-black man make me any more beautiful? Do “they” also see beauty in me? But more importantly, do I see the beauty within myself? Finding yourself was never a straight road, and it will never be.

Using the theme of literacy as our focal point of this essay I wrote about an issue that directly affects me as a student. In my advanced essay I am most proud of the way I was able to express my opinion. The essay revolved around the question about the narratives that schools teach about minorities. In my experience I have seen a myriad of approaches to the teaching of minorities in history. However, in my essay I tried to target the idea of empowering minorities instead of continuously degrading them. As a growing writer I plan to continue to analyze different perspectives in order to gain a proper understanding of the core issue that will help me better formulate my ideas and clearly articulate them to others through my writing.

1. Malcolm X. Dir. Spike Lee. Prod. Spike Lee. By Spike Lee and Arnold Perl. Perf. Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, and Al Freeman. Warner Bros., 1992. Online.

2. Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me." The Most Wonderful Books: Writers on Discovering the Pleasures of Reading. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1997. N. pag. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 1998. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/19/books/bk-42979>.

Negative space is the space around the picture that defines it. It surrounds the positive or subject of the picture. I found the negative space in the cut out by outlining the actual picture or positive space of the image. In the stool drawing the negative space was everything that was not touching the table in the center of the room. When an artist sees in negative space it allows he/or she to define the picture and find delicate pieces on what we should concentrate on. Negative space is useful to an artist because it creates more definition to the image.

Hello readers and welcome back to my blog! Back in my blog post #1, I spoke about what sex trafficking was and how it was affected the Southern Asia region. Organizations were listed that support victims of sex trafficking. In blog post #2 original research was conducted via email with the help of Free the Slaves organization. In addition a news story on CNN connected sex trafficking to the U.S. Today  the project will be finalize by explaining my “Agent of Change” and reflecting on information gained through this process.

In my prior research I have been in contact with various organizations that support victims of sex trafficking in providing them homes and shelters along with counseling. It is noticeable that when money is donated to these organizations they use it to enhance their campaign in order to educate others about sex trafficking. The actions that have been taking place are exactly what needs to be done to inform the inhabitants of this earth of the misfortunes that exist in this world. For my “Agent of Change” I created a slideshow presentation to present my advisory about sex trafficking in India.

To make change happen I took part in enlightening the minds of my peers on the horrors of sex trafficking, especially in the country of India. After completing this project I feel satisfied as an adolescent that has not only informed herself but others on a topic that not many are addressed about.

Although I am proud of the work that that has been produced It was possible I could have added to my “Agent of Change” or even done better . For my Agent of Change awareness could have brought  to a larger audience through a fundraiser. The money would have gone to an organization that I have been in contact with in order to thank them for information that they have provided for me for my previous blogs. However this can still be fulfilled because change still needs to occur in the world and I can personally promote change on the issue of sex trafficking.

I would like to begin with acknowledging and thanking Ms. Dunn for presenting us with the You and the World project allowing us to get involved with real world issues that we are interested in. I would also like to give thanks to Free the Slaves organization for providing me with key information in order to speak on this issue with more insight. As well as Ross Kemp for creating an insightful documentary entitled “Extreme World Series 3 1 of 6 India”  that granted me a new perspective on the struggles of the women in India.  In addition I would like to thank my advisor Mr.Reddy for allowing me to present to my advisory and my own advisory for being attentive while I was presenting and participating when I asked questions. This project has made me realize that change needs to happen and I hope that one day it will take place.

One thing that I have learned through this project is that vertical, horizontal and orthogonal lines shape a precise drawing. If one other the three lines was not precise the rest of the drawing would be off too. Learning the importance of precision made me spend more time and put in more effort in the drawing. I was constantly erasing, making sure the alignment and proximity of the drawings was the best of my ability.

If I could do this assignment once more I would definitely begin the process of drawing earlier than I did. I would also spare some of my time apart from class to work on the drawing. Additionally, I would take photos of the room that we were drawing to make sure I had as much detail as possible. My number one piece of advice to someone who has never drawn a one point perspective drawing is to follow directions. The lines that you draw have to be straight and placed in the appropriate place because each line is essential in creating different parts of the drawing. The resource that helped me the most was the slide show posted on Canvas. They included step-by-step instructions to creating the one point perspective drawing. At the end I was able to see a completed figure drawn and try to duplicate it by simply drawing what I see.

Welcome readers back to my post! Back in my blog post #1 I spoke about an issue that  interested  me: sex trafficking in India. The definition of human trafficking was stated. Then I researched information on the enslavement of those women and how diseases are spread throughout the southern region of Asia.  Organizations that are involved in ending human trafficking were included at the end of the post.

After continuous months of research I have come across new information that affects the US. directly.  An article on CNN  based  in Savannah,Georgia. They have discovered a sex trafficking ring that has been going around in the city. As a result various people in custody. This horror has shown that sex trafficking occurs everywhere, not just in India. This event should us aware of the dangers and circumstances of our world today. Additionally, information on Ross Kemp -- British “actor-turned to-serious documentary-maker”-- and his journey on discovering the stories behind sex trafficking in different parts of the world. It was shocking to find out how the sex trafficking trade has grown  rapidly. It is estimated that about “100 million people - 10 per cent of the population - and sees girls as young as nine being sold into the sex trade.”

For  my original research I decided conduct an interview via email. I was able to interview someone from the Free the Slaves Foundation.  The results of the interview were successful. Through the interview it was possible for me to obtain updated information as of 2012. See email at the end of article. It is evident that many organizations and foundations are coming together to fight sex trafficking. While sending emails to different foundations it become clear that there were open lines of communication. Through this arduous process each organization that was contacted contributed to the quest to find the answers to my questions. After serious research and information gathered I have come to the conclusion that sex trafficking is a worldwide issue. Currently there are many institutions willing to fight with all legal tools within their reach. Their work is starting to becoming noticeably in all parts of the world, especially those that suffer from poverty.

Subsequently at the end of my research my personal interest on sex trafficking has increased for the better. Even though the research done has been focused on India, it is clear that the issue has international repercussions. The questions now are what about the rest of the southern region of Asia? What about other six continents that also affected? The real question is how can I do my part in bringing awareness to this issue. In conclusion for my ¨agent of change"I would like to present a slideshow on the information gathered about the issue so far and share it with my peers.

Annotated Bibliography here .

Hello my name Kayla Cassumba and I am in Mrs. Hull 9th grade Technology class.For this slide we had to implement lessons we learned on Presentation Zen on not only how to advertise but how we can make engaging slides. While working on my slide, I touched basis on a couple of designing principles. I tried to focus on the 8 concepts on the “ Presentation Zen” article. First, I wanted it to be eye-catching, making sure your mind goes on this image journey with me.  I also played around with the font and font size. The text needed to be simple, yet large and legible. I also used a couple contrast rules. I used black and white even though different articles suggested not to. However Mrs. Hull always says, “You have to know the rules to break the rules.” And that is exactly what I did. I tried to ensure that the font did not clash with the actual image by keeping it simple and to the point.

Hello, this is my new and improved presentation slide! Through the critiques of others , a lot of valuable information was gained. The first thing that needed to be addressed was the font. After viewing my slide a couple more times I noticed that the two fonts clashed, so instead I made it one specific font for both words. I changed the color of the font to add contrast. For “fast” it was now a dark gray to resemble the light streaks, without hurting your eyes. “Life” was colored orange and moved closer to the word “fast”. This made the reader concentrate on the words written. I wanted the reader to read the words from left-to-right so I put an effect that has the words moving into the background which is appealing to the eye. Then I adjusted the alignment as well. I increased the size of the font to make the point get across in a matter of 3 seconds, just like a billboard. Last, deleted my name from the top right corner because it was just unnecessary.