Kyla Gladney-Enos Public Feed
Advanced Essay #3: The Reality of Adults and Children Living in War Zones
Introduction:
WIth this essay, I was trying to focus my writing on one theme and make it as clear as possible. I hope I accomplished my goal. I am proud of the sources I found and that I learned something new about war zones.
Essay:
People do not realize just how harsh war zones are. They are the things that can make or break a country. War zones have a major influence on people. They add to the stress of people, and can produce insecurities, fear, depression, etc. When children are added to this, it creates a whole different type of problem. Children can become influenced by what they see and hear in their environment. In a violent, militarism environment, children may be drawn to the violence and the mistreatment of others. Children are vulnerable and our actions can leave a print on them that can never be changed.
War zones are hard places to be in. For a lot of third world countries in war zones, families have to live in little spaces, barely getting by in life. “Abu Yahya, his wife and four children are squeezed together on a sofa. This is their living room and now it is also their bedroom. Like most houses in their area, the second floor has been blasted by shells” (Hattenstone, Mahood 2014). This is just one example of what life is like in war zones. This place, in particular, is Syria.. With this family, the dad used to ride through his neighborhood in his truck selling fruit, but now, he cannot do that anymore. The war made it unsafe and impossible for him to just ride around in the streets of his neighborhood. As a result, he and his family are not getting money, cannot properly eat, and do not have enough money to live in a stable home in a safe neighborhood. His children may never know what it is like to wake up every day without having four rockets dropped on their neighborhood every morning. Loud, disturbing noises can cause one to have PTSD, and if that is all these children know, then they are most likely to develop it.
Children are dependant on the adult(s) that provide them care and affection. This attention helps build character in the child. During times of war, they might not get this. “Their attachments are frequently disrupted in times of war, due to the loss of parents, extreme preoccupation of parents in protecting and finding subsistence for the family, and emotional unavailability of depressed or distracted parents” (Santa Barbra 2006). When this happens, the child is left with a substitute guardian whose love is not enough for the child. If these children do not get the affection they need, they have a higher chance of having behavioral, emotional, and social problems as they grow and get older (Harmon 2020).
There are a lot of unjust actions that happen when people are in war zones. Adults and children have a higher risk of losing a limb and becoming paralyzed in a war zone than if they were not in one. Sometimes it is hard to tell whose on which side and as a result bad things happen to innocent people. “Hundreds of thousands of children die of direct violence in war each year. They die as civilians caught in the violence of war, as combatants directly targeted, or in the course of ethnic cleansing” (Santa Barbra 2006). The saying “kill or be killed” comes to my mind with this example. In order to not be killed, soldiers have to take over a lot of land to plant booby traps and keep watch. As a result, schools have become the next battlefields. Children have become the next target to get the enemy’s attention. “Increased fighting in urban areas and the growing use of bombs in densely-populated areas has seen a dramatic increase in the number of children killed or maimed - 73,000 of them in 25 conflicts since 2005. Children are also being targeted with more brutal tactics, such as the use of young people as suicide bombers, said the report The War on Children” (Watt 2018). Since 2005, about 73,000 children have been killed or maimed due to attacks. Children are not meant to be used for escape plans or plan B’s. Children are the future of the world and should be treated better.
In conclusion, innocent people in places where there is an active war are being treated without respect or consideration. Adults are forced to quit their jobs and find another way of making money while children are being forced to commit suicide as a tactic to scare their enemies. It is not right and this has to change. Adults are our mentors and children are future mentors.
Citations:
Hattenstone, Simon, and Mona Mahmood. “Life in a War Zone – Syria.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 5 July 2014, www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/05/life-in-war-zone-syria.
How Does War Child Provide Vital Psychosocial Support to Children?” War Child Holland - How Does War Child Provide Vital Psychosocial Support to Children?, www.warchildholland.org/psychosocial-support/.
Harmon, Katherine. “How Important Is Physical Contact with Your Infant?” Scientific American, 6 May 2010,
www.scientificamerican.com/article/infant-touch/.
Watt, Ewan. “'Schools and Playgrounds Are Battlefields': One in Six Children Living in Conflict Zones.” Theirworld, Theirworld, 15 Feb. 2018, www.theirworld.org/news/one-in-six-children-live-conflict-zone-attacks-on-schools.
Advanced Essay #2: Stromy
Introduction
With this essay, I was trying to accomplish the after effect confusion and feelings of someone being blinded with feelings. When asked to apologize for hurting one’s feelings, we don’t really mean it, so we lie and apologize for something we don’t really mean. I am proud of the way I structured this essay. At first, it was very difficult to organize my thoughts accordingly, but after awhile of preserving, I feel as though I connected the paragraphs in a way that’s unique. One thing I would like to improve for my next essay is my use of descriptive language. I feel like I lack in that department, which is not good. Hopefully, I can get better.
Stormy
Why can’t I help myself? There’s always something wrong with you. You need to stop this. Get better. You have to get better. There’s always something going on. It’s so ironic. The people who don’t care about what’s going on and fool around are the ones who aren’t depressed, but the ones who do their work and try and try and try are the ones who are. Maybe I should slack off. Maybe I shouldn’t care. My family will never understand.
This is boring. This is boring. This is boring. Why are we doing this? I don’t understand. Nothing is exciting to me anymore. What’s wrong with me? They say it’ll get better when I’m an adult. But will it really though? I don’t think so. I always ask myself, “What’s the point of life?” We’re born, we grow up, stress over grades, get into college, are in debt, work until we literally can’t anymore, and then die. Eventually, everyone is going to die. It’s inevitable. I heard someone say one time, “What’s the point of living if you can’t feel?” That’s exactly how I feel. What’s the point? Sometimes when we’re feeling a certain way, what we say and do reflect off of that. It’s like we let our emotions get the best of us. One minute everything seems to be fine, and the next, you’re seeing the effects after the stormy hurricane has hit.
I’m at the table eating dinner. We’re talking about our lives and how our day was. It’s only my mom, Micheal (my stepdad), and me. My sister is at work. I think to myself, “I wonder how she’s doing. I’m excited for her to get off soon.” Suddenly, my own storm hits as we start talking about SEPTA bus stops. “No, no!” said my mom. “Let me tell you something. You can’t talk to people like that. If I’m talking to you a certain way that isn’t disrespectful, then please don’t talk to me with disrespect. It’s a two-way street. Push out the same respect you pull in.”
Everyone in my household is sad except for my stepfather. Of course, that makes sense though. He’s not the result . He’s not my father's seed. Depression is hereditary. I don’t ever want to have children because I want to save them from feeling the way I am. Why would I want to pass this on to them? Why did my mom and dad pass this on to me? Questions, decisions, actions.
Things took an abrupt turn from talking about bus stops to being disrespectful. I instantly apologized for raising my voice and getting an attitude, but at that moment, it didn’t mean anything. Andrea Mathews from Psychology Today writes, “If we didn’t mean what we said, or what we did, who did? Because someone or something within us meant for us to do or say what we did or said, or we wouldn’t have done or said it.” Humans tend to deny the meaning of what they say. “I didn’t mean it” really means “I meant it, but now after saying it, it sounds bad, so let me try to soften the blow.” More times than we can count, we say things to make other people feel better, even though we know it’s not true.
In Beast Of The Southern Wild, the people living in Montegut, Louisiana are being forced out of their home by nature. Hushpuppy, the main character, is no more than six years when she is forced to fend for herself. Wink, Hushpuppy’s father, tries to reassure Hushpuppy and their community by telling them that he’s “coming to get you storm.” The community is already stressed out about what’s going on. Some people are leaving, and others don’t know what to do. Wink is trying to calm everyone down by telling the storm he’ll catch it. The problem is, a storm can’t be caught. You can catch the remaining of what the storm did and you can catch the feelings that people are throwing at you from the storm, but you can not actually catch a storm.
Hurting someone’s feelings is never the way to go, so we use cover-ups as an excuse to cover something up. In the long run, people’s intentions aren’t always what they appear to be. Anger, longing, obsession, all taken over by the storm. Sincerely apologizing for something you can’t control is rare. We thought it, we did it, and we meant it.
Wet Clouds
My essay is about how losing track of time and getting lost in your own world is a problem that a lot of people don't know how to balance. It starts off with a dream of me in a sky experiencing different emotions. Then, I am magically being devoured by a wet cloud that burns and feels weird. I suddenly wake up from the dream and fall back asleep only to realize I've overslept. I abruptly try to catch up with the time that I've lost but am stuck in a trance of reliving and thinking about how it all went wrong. I want you all to notice my word choices and descriptive scenes. I rarely write long, descriptive paragraphs, and with this, I feel like I've accomplished a goal. In the future, I want my writing to have less basic words and more descriptive ones.
Wet Clouds
Blue skies were all that appeared to me. The bright, vibrant blue fills me with emotion. I’m happy. I’m sad. I’m excited. I’m mad.
“Hop away,” I tell myself.
With all of my might, I take a big jump onto something that has a polished limestone grey vibe. My feet are slowly being devoured by this thing.
“Help!”
The more I wiggle the fewer chances of me getting free. My whole body is in this thing. This awfully dull thing. I feel a slight sense of heat at the tip of my big toe. Where is this coming from? Faster and faster it heats up. First, it’s like I’m standing in an unairconditioned room. I feel my sweat glands opening up like how flowers open their leaves for sunlight. Then it’s like I’m standing in a 120-degree sauna. Slowly, I feel my skin starting to bake. I can feel it cracking open, resembling roots from a tree; a rigid, thick line. Lastly, it’s like I’m standing directly in front of the sun. My skin is starting to melt. I hear a noise loud in my ear. Oh god, what is that? I see that white light that people always talk about on tv shows. It’s getting brighter and brighter. Closer and closer. The noise is getting louder and louder.
“What am I going to-”
Beep, beep beep, beep. My eyes open and I see my pale, white ceiling with a couple of baby blue paint marks on it. Ugh, it’s Monday.
“Get up and move,” I tell myself.
But my limbs just won’t move. I turn to look at my pink and black alarm clock, which is placed on my window sill directly to the left of my bed. I place my hand on the large, silver ‘Snooze’ button and let it sit there. Beep, beep beep, beep.
“Why won’t you turn off?!” I pick my hand up and slam it down on the button.
“There we go. Peace and quiet.” The time says 6:47 AM. I can feel my eyelids slowly falling down.
“No! This isn’t the time. You have to get up! Get up!”
BOOM!
“Huh, what’s that?”
I abruptly sit up and look around. Everything seems to be in place. My bed is somewhat made, with half of the black with white polka dots sheets on the mattress, my turquoise owl comforter is on the floor, and my clothes are symmetrically thrown on the floor. I hear my sister, Anasia, scrambling through her drawers, looking for something to wear. She’s disregarding my cat, Saturday, who’s impatiently waiting to be pet. Yup, that’s normal. I turn to look at my alarm clock again which is still placed on my window sill directly to the left of my bed. The time says 7:15?
“No, that can’t be right. I only closed my eyes for like 10 minutes.” I rub both of my eyes--first the left and then the right--with my right hand and look back at the alarm clock. 7:15 it says!
“How could this happen? How could you do this, AGAIN?”
I jump up and out of bed, not realizing my comforter is wrapped around my foot, causing me to trip and fall. Bang! This steamy, sizzling feeling is at the peak of my elbow.
“Great, now I have a rug burn.”
I get up, run to the bathroom, and turn on the shower. Everything seems normal. My black and white polka dotted shower curtain is still intact, my turquoise toothbrush container is where I left it, and my clothes are symmetrically thrown on the floor. I rush into the shower and look at the water trickling down. For every ounce of water coming down is another second I can’t get back. Time only goes forward, not backward. Fighting your inner self is a battle that many people don’t know how to fight. I look down at the tub’s floor and see the water going around in a circle--slowly trying not to meet its fate--and see all this time I’ve wasted since I’ve gotten out of bed. It's hard knowing how to separate your inner self from your outside duties. You get lost in yourself, which results in lost time.
The Power Of Chanting
The Power Of Chanting
The power of repetition can come into play in several ways. At times, it can be used when studying to remember material for an important test. At others, it can be used to get a point across, such as in a speech or debate. It can even be used in the context of religion or a strong belief, presented as a means to symbolize the importance of said thing.. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, chants are used as a way to instill fear or as a forewarning several times throughout the story, establishing the beliefs and behaviors of the group.
In one scene, the boys discover they are trapped on an island in the middle of nowhere. One by one, little boys are making their way to each other, when someone realizes there needs to be a leader to keep everyone in control. Without one, things would become hectic. They desperately try to find materials to survive, to: make a fire, a pig to hunt and kill, and suitable shelter. They get in the habit of having to hunt, as as they’re hunting and killing the pig, something interesting happens. Savagely the boys chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.” (Pg 69). This act of describing what they’re going to do to the pig reoccurs frequently throughout the book. These boys, who are no older than 12 years old, are dancing and singing while taking a living animal’s life. They’ve never known what it was like to have to truly depend solely on each other to pull their weights and capture this animal. None of them knew what it was like to have to rely on what little knowledge they had about hunting. The desperation of hunger took over, and turned those boys into people they weren’t. The boys are mysteriously placed on what seems to be a deserted island and have to figure out a way to survive. Chanting and dancing while killing a pig is far beyond “normal.” Everyone has subconsciousness that partly make up the worst sides of them. After being boxed out of society, the boys don’t necessarily have to follow all of the previous norms and rules, which allows their natural capacity of evil to take over their entire beings piece by piece--those rules seemingly now non existent. The power of chanting these minimal words is a way to keep their sanity. Since they’ve never had to take another living animal’s life before, they have no idea what’s going on. They’re feeling overwhelmed, and by chanting, they learn to with it.
In many religions, chanting is something the participants of that religion practice. Most of them would even say that chanting religiously is extremely popular and helpful. For some chanters, they believe that chanting will help them through their hardships, hoping for their voices to be heard by a higher being. In a case study that was performed to see what would happen to the moods of Buddhists if they were being shown negative or neutral pictures while chanting Amitābha or Santa Claus silently to themselves, it stated, “Results showed that viewing negative pictures (vs. neutral pictures) increased the amplitude of the N1 component in all the chanting conditions. The amplitude of late positive potential (LPP) also increased when the negative pictures were viewed under the no-chanting and the Santa Claus condition.” According to this study, viewing negative pictures can cause the brain to go through some sort of PTSD trauma. It can sometimes make the purest souls become evil. Amitabha, which translates into Pure Land Buddhism, is a pure place. Santa Claus is an adult who gives back to children who deserve his gifts. Together, they’re the most saintly of things. Having them together, chanting them separately, and looking at negative pictures all together, have changed their moods in a positive way. It has raised their LPP. The negative pictures were affecting with their mental state, and by chanting Amitabha or Santa Claus’s name, calmed them down and relaxed their soul. Yes, their mood still changed, but they weren’t as triggered by what they were seeing.
Later on in the book, the boys have taken a turn from innocent and clueless, to reckless and dangerous. It seems as though they can’t tell the difference from right and wrong. Right before this happened, some of the hunters were climbing up a mountain when they discovered pig droppings. After that, they decided to hunt a pig, which they did. The only problem was that they were unable to kill it. With its tusks, it cut Robert on his forearm. The boys chant, “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” (Pg 114). When Robert gathered the others and told them what happened, they started throwing jabs at him, made a ring, and started stabbing him with the butt of their spears chanting. The evil surrounding them on that island took control over their decision making. It was making them see and do things that they wouldn’t have normally done. They were willing to kill one of their own, which is why the chanting came into play. They could see the blood on his forearm and thought he was a pig. The excitement and fear kicked in, and chanting was the only thing they had left to get back to their regular selfs. After they did so, they stopped torching Robert, and decided to hunt and kill a real pig.
In conclusion, chanting is a powerful source of meditation. Chants calm and relax the body, are relatively easy to remember, and there are different ways to partake in one. In Lord of the Flies, chanting is mainly used to symbolize how important an action or an object is, but it’s also used to calm and relax the bodies of the children It isn’t only used in fiction, though. A lot of religions use chanting as a way to reach out to the figures who are higher than them It sometimes can even alleviate people’s negative emotions, and cause them to have positive perspectives. When something like that happens, there would be more peaceful and senseful citizens in the streets.
Works Cited
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.
“Symbolism in Lord of the Flies .” Symbols and Symbolism in Lord of the Flies Lord Flies Essays, 123HelpMe, www.123helpme.com/assets/9704.html
Bremner, J. Douglas. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, Les Laboratoires Servier, Dec. 2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181836/
Gao, Junling, et al. Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers Media S.A., 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5223166/
Geduld,, Marcus. “Why Do People Chant in Various Religions?” Quora, 30 Dec. 2012, www.quora.com/Why-do-people-chant-in-various-religions-What-is-the-origin-of-this-practice-and-What-are-the-reasons-people-do-it-for-Is-it-helpful-and-how
“Saint Meinrad Archabbey.” History of Chant - The Monastery | Saint Meinrad Archabbey, www.saintmeinrad.edu/the-monastery/liturgical-music/history-of-chant/.
Soard, Lori. “Cheers Chants and Songs.” LoveToKnow, LoveToKnow Corp, http://cheerleading.lovetoknow.com/Cheers_Chants_and_Songs
Dopamine
Dopamine
Oh my god, there he is! The boy I was telling you about. Be cool, be cool.
(pause)
Every time I see Tyler, it’s like 20,000 shots of dopamine gets released from my brain. He walks towards me and I lock my eyes into his, like a reminder to brush my teeth twice a day, every day -- just in case we get close. My eyes wander down to his lips, what a perfect pair of lips. I look at his arms, nice and strong. He walks away from me and I feel myself gazing at his butt. (Shakes head) Snap out of it Billy. If he turns around and looks down he’ll see you with that, and then you’ll be exposed. Fucking snap out of it!
(Pause. Billy is turned towards audience, but isn’t looking at them. He’s talking to his best friend Jor (h-or))
I know, I know, Jor. It’s wrong, I just can’t help myself though. He’s so sexy. And it’s not even like a, “damnnnn boy! Look at your body” type sexy, it’s like a, “damnnn boy! Your face, your body, your style is just a turn on.” And his personality just melts my heart. He’s perfect.
(Pause)
What do you mean “how does his personality melt your heart?” Like the way he--well, it’s more like how he--It’s like when you’re on a roller coaster. When you’re waiting in that long line and you’re preparing yourself for what’s about to happen. You finally get up to the gate and see the other people slowly pull off in the roller coaster. A few seconds later, you hear their screams--the beginning is scary and challenging, but in the end, you know they’re having a good time. Then, they come back, and they look so happy. The only difference with me is that I never get in the line, I’m too scared.
(Pause)
No, it’s not alright! I want him, but I’m too scared to tell him. I’m such a pussy.
(Pause)
You really think so? I mean, I kind of think I am. I don’t know, maybe you’re right. Ughhhh, I wish I had the balls to tell him.
(Pause)
No, I don’t! What if he looks at me like I’m crazy? Or what if he laughs and tell everyoneeeeee I’m gay? I can’t go through that humiliation. I mean, commmmmme on! How would you feel if your crush told everyoneeeeeee you liked him? Huh? (Sits down on a bench)
(Pause)
Yeah, that’s what I thought, but--
(Pause)
Wait...what?
(Pause)
So, you’re saying you wouldn’t be humiliated?
(Pause. Billy is confused)
What the fuck? ...Why not?
(Pause)
So, you’re basically saying you wouldn’t be upset if the whole school, including your crush, knew you liked him? You wouldn’t be upset to know that everyone in school knew you were gay? You would instead feel relieved?
(Pause) Damn...you have guts. You know what, you’re right. I’m gonna rip a page out of your book, and tell him. I’m gonna tell him that I like him, and he’s gonna act normal and not tell anyone that I told him I liked him. Yeah, of course. It’s totally normal for guys to like guys. Yeah! I totally got this. Yeah, because it doesn’t matter if he laughs at me, or if he doesn’t. I had the courage to tell him, which is all that matters. But how do I do it? Oh myyyyyyy God (sits down and puts face in hands). It’s like one thing after another! Like, Jesus Christ! Can I get a freaking break!
(Pause and takes face out of hands) You’re right. I don’t need to take time out of my day to flip out about what to say, or if he’ll tell everyone. He should respect me as a human being who has feelings. He should acknowledge my courage and strength to even talk to him, so that’s what I’m gonna do.
(Gets up and walks over to Tyler)
Hey, what’s up?
Emulation Handbook: The Rest Of Us Just Live Here
The Reason Why
When I was younger, I didn’t understand catcalling. I understand why catcallers do it now, but I don’t understand why they constantly pursue people who don’t want what they’re offering.
The first time I was around that type of environment, my mother, my older sister, and I were walking up 16th and Chestnut right beside the H&M attempting to get to 15th street. A tall, middle aged man abruptly stopped my mother. At the time, I thought he just needed directions. I was no older than nine. I barely knew how people had sex. I didn’t know he was about to ask my mother out on a date. I didn’t know he was about to disrespect my mother by asking her that question blatantly in front of her children.
“What’s your name?” He asked leering at her breasts. “What would you say if I asked you out on a date?”
I turned to look at my sister. She doesn’t look shocked. Why doesn’t she look shocked?
“I would tell you I’m with my kids right now,” My mother said. She motioned her hands at us to continue walking.
I wanted to know: What had happened back there? People are allowed to do that? These thoughts raced through my mind as we walked. When I got home, that’s all I could think about. Does this usually happen to her? Why does this happen to her? What did he truly want in return for taking her out to dinner? I got up to ask my sister.
“Hey, Nasia. Do you remember what happened with mommy earlier?”
“Yeah, how could I forget? Why do you ask?”
I wasn’t sure how to word the question. Should I be blunt? What if I just-- “What was that back there?” I blurted out.
My sister looked at me like I was a doofus. “That guy was trying to get mommy in his sheets. He obviously only came up to her because he thought she looked good.”
To get her in his sheets? What? What does that mean? I had a lot of unanswered questions.
Just recently, I had a situation like that happen to me. I was walking up the stairs to get to Dilworth Park. I would’ve stayed underground, but I didn’t have any cell reception and I needed to call my sister.
As I looked down at my phone, I heard, “You look nice!” I looked up to see a man standing right in front of me. My immediate reaction was, “Thank you!” not acknowledging his ulterior motive. “How old are you?” Why is this man talking to me? What is he doing?
“14,” I tell him, holding my phone close to my ear to deliberately ignore the truth.
“Oh..I’m sorry! I thought you were older!” Of course you did! They always think I am. Just let me get to where I need go.
“You sound so mature though!” He said with a crooked smile on his face.
He raised his hand like he was saying goodbye. I continued to be polite by doing the same thing. As soon as I did, he grabbed my hand and held it tightly. What is this man doing?
“You just look like a nice person. I’m really sorry I--.” I zoned out to hopefully hear Anasia pick up.
“I’m sorry. The person you are trying to reach has a voice mailbox that has not been setup yet--.” Great, now she’s not answering.
“--When I was a kid, we didn’t do this. Everything was so different.”
This man kept rumbling on and on about his childhood. I thought: Why is he continuing to talk to me? I just said I’m 14. He griped my hand tighter and tighter. His eyes were widening. He opened his mouth and began to say, “I’ll just wait for you!” Is this man in his right state of mind? What made him think I’ll date him when I’m older? He let go of my hand and said goodbye.
Are looks the only thing people see in a person? What about personality, and the way they make you feel? Is catcalling just for booty calls? After thinking back, I have come to the decision that now and days, everyone wants what makes them look good, whether it’s a phone or a person. I’m sure there are a few people who see past the good looks, but most of us just want something because it’s extravagant or name brand. Honestly, I even do it sometimes. We’re so used to what we want, that we forget what we need. Do you want someone who has a killer body, or someone who cares and respects you?
It's Time For A Change
It’s Time For A Change
My name is Kyla Gladney-Enos and in the previous blog, I talked about an interview I conducted about deep poverty. In this blog, I’ll be talking about how I’m going to make a change for my interviewee. This is the last main section of the You & The World project. I’m really excited to talk about what I’m going to make for the women I interviewed. I’m going to talk about my change and why I picked this change, but before I do that, I’m going to summarize the last two blog posts.
In Blog post #1, I talked about what deep poverty is. Deep poverty is when someone is living under the income of $6,000. For new viewers, you might be wondering what’s the difference between deep poverty and poverty. The difference between the two is that you would have to be making under $20,000 a year to be considered living in poverty, whereas to be considered living in deep poverty, you’d have to be making under $6,000 a year. Something I said in the last blog post that surprised me was that even though Philadelphia has the highest number of people who are living in deep poverty within the Nation’s most 10 populous cities, it has a low range of homeless people living on the streets. About half the people living in poverty are living in deep poverty.
In Blog Post #2, I talked about what I did for my original research plan. I interviewed a 26 year old African American woman. The conversation in the interview talked about her personal experiences and how she felt about things. I started off the interview by saying my name and what the interview was about; Kyla Gladney-Enos and deep poverty. I then told the time and the date; 7:19 PM on May 5, 2017. I asked her simple questions like, “How long have you lived in deep poverty and what was your experience like?” The lady answered since she was 16. Her original words were, “Umm, I’ve been living in deep poverty since I was about 16. It’s kind of hard, but if you know how to make it work, then it’s not as hard as you think it is.” I asked her another question like, “Did you ever experience hunger? If so, how did you manage paying your bills and feeding yourself? If not, what did you do to help yourself not be hungry?” She basically said she has experienced hunger, but she knows how to manage her bills.
For this blog post, I’m going to be talking about the change I made for the lady I interviewed. For my Agent of Change I made a care package for the lady I interviewed. In the care package I included things I think will help her. I included a lot of museum admission information in the care package because if she shows her access card, she’ll get to pay $2.00 to get in. Plus, she has little kids. When I was a kid, I remember going to a lot of cool museums that educated me on little things. I decided to do this because I felt like it would be more effective for me to give someone in need a care package than to give a presentation to my classmates. I also put a map of free clinics in Philadelphia because after the interview, she told me a story about one of her family members, so I thought this would help. When I decided that a care package would be my agent of change, I felt like it wasn’t that hard of a task, but when I was completing it, it was mildly difficult to find museums for children in Philadelphia that allows people pay with their access card. I was effective in making this care package because I was creative and thoughtful when finding information. My creativity really came in hand when I was making the pouch to put the information in.
I felt really calm while completing this project. I wasn’t really stressed when it came close to the checkpoints because there was so much time to do each one. Usually with a benchmark, the deadlines are so close together that it gets so stressful, but with this project, there was a lot of time to complete checkpoints without feeling that stressed out. I learned that I didn’t know a lot about poverty. Like, I knew what it was and what it looked like, but I didn’t know the facts. I think I could have found more sources about poverty, because the more I know about something, the more I can understand it. For my project, there isn’t anything else to do. Some things people have done to raise awareness is asking their local community to give up one thing they enjoy (make-up, phones, food) on a particular day. Others have petitioned for a poverty reduction. I honestly think signing petitions and protesting is a good idea because when we fight for what’s right, it brings attention to the issue. Everyone will know about what’s going on if we protested about poverty. Thanks for tuning in, see you later!
(P. S. Check out my annotated bibliography for more information!)
My element is Strontium and its atomic number is 38. Strontium was founded by Adair Crawford when he analyzed a mineral sample from a lead mine near Strontian, Scotland. Strontium is mainly used for flares in fireworks. It makes the color red more vibrant in fireworks. I got the idea for making the a firework because strontium is mainly used for fireworks as I stated above. The process was fairly simple. I had to figure out what I wanted the print to be; a firework. Then, I had to copy it onto a thin piece of paper. After that, I turned the thin piece of paper backwards and traced the design onto a foam type of material. We had to turn in backwards so the final design wouldn’t come out backwards. I then painted and matted my designs to get this final look. If I could do this print differently, I would try to make it neater because the neater my work is, the more professional it looks. I really enjoyed painting the foam type of material because I love to paint. Even though the area that I was working on got messy, I still enjoyed doing it. There were so many people trying to get their foam type of material painted which actually made the situation pretty funny.
Looking For Alaska-Final Book Club Project
For our final book club project, we decided to make a trailer of the most important scenes in the book. Janiya was Alaska, Shyann was Pudge, Graham was the Colonel, Payton was Lara, and Kyla was Takumi. We didn’t have a lot of costumes because we didn’t have enough time. We picked the sad sounding music because what happens to Alaska is sad. Our overall video is pretty good! We did a good job!!!
E1 U6 Spanish Project: Kyla, William, Orlando, Ivan, and Shyann
The First Look Into the Truth
The First Look Into the Truth
This is the link to the recorded interview, and this is the link to my annotated bibliography!
In the previous blog post, I talked about two things: deep poverty in Philadelphia and hunger as a result of it. In this blog, I’ll be talking about the same thing, except it’ll be told by a woman who has been through the worst possible situations. But before I tell her story, I have to inform the new viewers about what deep poverty is.
Deep poverty is when someone is living under the income of $6,000 a year. The difference between poverty and poverty is that you would have to be making under $20,000 a year to be considered living in deep poverty. Even though Philadelphia has the highest number of people who are living in deep poverty within the Nation’s most 10 populous cities, it has a low range of homeless people living on the streets. About half the people living in poverty are living in deep poverty. I personally thought with the amount of people living in deep poverty that the number of homeless people would be more than 700 in Philadelphia.
For the original research plan, I conducted a formal interview about a 26 year old African American’s experience. I was originally going to do a field observation, but I couldn’t arrange a time for one. The questions that were asked to the person I interviewed were basic, straightforward questions. I’m going to include some question and answers that I think are important to hear. I started off the interview by saying my name and what the interview was about; Kyla Gladney-Enos and deep poverty. I then told the time and the date; 7:19 PM on May 5, 2017.
The first question was, “How long have you lived in deep poverty and what was your experience like?" She answered, “Umm, I’ve been living in deep poverty since I was about 16. It’s kind of hard, but if you know how to make it work, then it’s not as hard as you think it is.” I didn’t know a lot of people have budget plans, but they do. I’m starting to think more and more people are coming up with plans. The second question was, “Did you ever experience hunger? If so, how did you manage paying your bills and feeding yourself? If not, what did you do to help yourself not be hungry?” She answered, “Umm, yeah, I experienced hunger a couple times. Uh, I would just like work. If I was working, I would always try to pay half of the bills, and try to buy food with the other money.”
Writing the questions were not that hard. I didn’t spend a lot of time stressing over my questions. While I was asking the questions, I should have asked more questions about her answers because that would have given me a deeper look into her life. My questions were answered the way I wanted them to be answered. She answered them in complete sentences and gave a brief synopsis of her experience. I already knew a lot about this topic, so I didn’t really learn anything shocking, but some of the things she said surprised me. I personally think kids who grow up in poverty have a hard time getting out of it because that’s what they know. I’m still wondering how people who are living in deep poverty don’t wind up being homeless because as time goes on, prices of simple things start to increase. For my Agent of Change part of this project I think I’ll make a care package for the lady I interviewed. I’ll have nice quotes and museum information that she could use.
This is the link to the recorded interview, and this is the link to my annotated bibliography!
Final Stamp Design
Negative Space Reflection
A. What is negative space (explain this concept to a fourth grader that has never heard of it)
Negative space is the blurry part of a photograph. It’s the part of a picture that the photographer is not focusing on. It’s the stuff in the background.
B. Explain how you found negative space in your cut out?
I found the negative space in the cut out by noticing the different colors.
C. Why does it help an artist to see in negative space?
It helps an artist see the negative space because the negative space defines the boundaries of the positive space.
D. Does seeing in negative space enhance drawings, why or why not
I think seeing in negative space does not enhance the drawing because I feel like the picture looks better seeing it in positive space.
The Behind Deep Poverty In Philadelphia
The Truth Behind Deep Poverty In Philadelphia
My name is Kyla Gladney-Enos and I’m going to talk about an important topic for my You And The World project that some people are ignorant to, or that some people don’t like talking about. The topic that interests me the most is deep poverty in Philadelphia. More specifically, hunger as a result of deep poverty. Deep poverty means that the person or family is living under the average poverty rate of $20,000. This is a problem because when you’re impoverished, you may not have the things you need to survive like drinkable (running) water, electricity, heat, etc. The current population in Philadelphia is nearly 1.56 million. The population in Philadelphia who are impoverished is about 200,000 people. I plan on raising awareness by grabbing people's attention with actual facts instead of trying to make poverty seem not as bad as it actually is.
I’m interested in this topic because it’s an issue that is inevitable to terminate due to the number of children being born each year. About four million children are being born in the United States each year. 14.5 percent of those babies are going to poor families. When I was a little girl, I didn’t know what poverty was, so how could I have known what deep poverty was? My mother was so good at hiding the fact that we were living in public housing, didn’t have a lot of money, and got most of our food from food banks.
The official definition of hunger is feeling or displaying the need for food. In Philadelphia, 1 of 5 people are considered a risk for hunger. That’s about 260,000 people in Philadelphia who might be starving. This number has been increased 65% in the last eight years. The people who are hungry in Philadelphia are mostly children. 30% of Philadelphia’s children are hungry and 6% are senior citizens. 14% of the people who are hungry in Philadelphia are white, 18% are black, and 24% are Latino. 60% of hungry children are most likely to miss school than children who are not hungry. This is a serious problem because if these kids who are starving miss too much school, they’ll have to repeat the grade over.
These are pictures that I took on April 25, 2017 at 4:07 PM on 20th and Arch. This is a pretty popular avenue in Philadelphia that’s located in the city near a lot of museums. In the pictures, there doesn’t appear to be a lot of trash on the ground, the sidewalks aren’t cracked, and the streets look nice.
My goal moving forward is to volunteer at a food bank every once and awhile. When I started researching deep poverty in Philadelphia, I didn’t expect Philadelphia to be the poorest big city in the nation. I feel like the government is good at hiding this stuff. The other day I was talking to my friend who has never lived in poverty. She’s lives in a primarily white neighborhood with her white mom and sister. When I was explaining what deep poverty was and showing her pictures of North Philadelphia, she said those pictures make the city look bad and that Philadelphia doesn’t look like that. I started thinking how could she not know this? Why doesn’t she know this? But it’s not her fault. It’s the media’s fault. Even in school they don’t teach us that Philadelphia is the most poorest big city nation wide. I want to inform people (who haven’t experienced what the conditions of poverty are like) about what’s really going on in the real world. I want to learn more about why we don’t get educated about important things that’s going on in our city.
These are pictures I took on April 25, 2017 at 7:02 PM. This block is also a popular avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. In this picture, there appears to be trash in the street, cracked trolley tracks, and cracked sidewalks.
Here’s my annotated bibliography!
The Importance Of Printmaking
Printmaking is important because it lets us recopy images without spending a lot of money and without using a lot of materials. The google definition of printmaking is the activity or occupation of making pictures or designs by printing them from specially prepared plates or blocks. My definition of printmaking is taking a drawing that someone or you made and copying it on a prepared plate or block. Printmaking was discovered in the 15th century. The news of printmaking spread through Buddhism from India to China. Printmaking is so important because you don’t need a lot of resources to printmake. Printmaking is revolutionary because it was one of the first discoveries for copying a picture.
Tener Que conversation #3 with William, Orlando, and Angelyque
Tener Que conversation #2 with William, Orlando, and Angelyque
Tener Que conversation #1 with William, Orlando, and Angelyque
E1 U5 Producto Soy producto de África
Soy producto de África
Soy un descendiente africano
Soy yo la hija de padres migrantes
Veo la tele
Nado en el duche
Como la comida
Leo los libros
Mi familia están descendiente africano
Soy producto de África
Una de piel oscura de américa
Se supone que debo hablo frances
Soy una unido estados cristino
Africa esto en mi
Hablo ingles
Vivo en america -Kyla Gladney-Enos
E1 U4: SLA Will Slay The Day (Kyla, Nasya, Olufemi, Amira)
Hola, somos del primer año de Science Leadership Academy. Bueno, me llamo Nasya. Hola, me llamo Amira. Hola mis amigos! Me llamo Kyla. ¿Que Tal? Me llamo Olu. Dónde está SLA? SLA está en Filadelfia! En SLA trabajamos duro y lo pasamos bien. En SLA tenemos muchos profesores. Por estudiantes del primer año hay las profesoras Señorita Hernández, Señorita Giknis, Señorita Sessa y más!
En total tenemos inglés, bioquímica, historia, español, matemáticas, tecnología, drama, ingeniería y art. Nuestras clases favoritas son inglés, porque nos interesa, español porque es divertido y bioquímica porque nos fascina. En la clase de inglés necesitamos papel, libro, y lápiz. En la clase de español necesitamos una carpeta, un diccionario, y una pluma. En la clase de bioquímica necesitamos una computadora, una bata de laboratorio, y una mochila. Es importante ser un trabajador para tener éxito.
Nuestra profesoras favoritas son Señorita Giknis, Señorita Sessa y Señora Jonas. Señorita Giknis enseña inglés. Nosotros disfrutamos la clase. Nos encanta porque ella es divertida. Señorita Sessa enseña bioquímica. Ella es simpática. Señora Jonas enseña historia. Ella es divertida. Nuestras estudiantes son Ruby, Sarah, Amira, Asnain, and Octavain. Ruby es una trabajadora, Sarah es positiva. Amira es una trabajadora, Asnain es cómico, y Octavain es friar.
Nuestra opinión de SLA es positivo. Nos gustamos los clubs y deportes. Hay el club de la ciencia, el club del anuario, y el club de la ingeniería. Hay deportes como baloncesto, frisbee y softbol. SLA es muy bien con estudiantes y profesores inteligentes y agradables. Nos gusta la comunidad de SLA. SLA tiene máquina expendedora, y tienda de la escuela que vende comida. ¡Ven a visitarnos! ¡Gracias y adios!
Media Fluency part 2
I chose the way this slide looks because in the articles it said to make the slide noticeable. With the red background and the word ‘Netflix’ in the middle makes the readers know it has something to do with Netflix because those are the theme colors. I tried to make the text big because it said that big text should grab people's attention and it should get straight to the point. I placed a lot of things on the slide because I didn’t like the empty space rule. People might not notice the slide if there is a lot of empty space.
I chose to have all of the pictures on the slide say Netflix because that’s the main focus of the slide. The website said to make the slide easy to read. I thought it would look good if I clouded the slides with the word ‘Netflix’ because it shows that I’m passionate about it. It shows that my slide is connected to me in a real way. It shows that I care about Netflix.
I learned that you should contrast your colors on the slide. You shouldn’t make the colors blend in because people won’t be able to read what it’s saying. I changed the changes on my second slide because my first slide was kind of plain. I wanted to make this slide pop out. Research is very important when you’re doing a project because you need to understand what you’re talking about.
Media Fluency
When you think about Netflix what do you think about? Mean girls or Jane the Virgin? When I think about Netflix I think about Pretty little liars and The 100. I think about all the great movies and Television shows they have. I think about The Vampire Diaries and Dexter. These are my favorite shows that interest me. I’ve recently discovered The 100, and it’s amazing! I can understand their struggles and their sacrifices. It’s amazing what people can do with their imagination.
I chose to make the background picture a road because usually an open road symbolizes that you can go anywhere and do anything. I feel that way about Netflix. Netflix has a variety of different shows and movies. It can take you anywhere from American Horror Story to How I Met Your Mother. If you’re in love with Vampires like I am, watch The vampire Diaries or The Originals. I personally like The Vampire Diaries more than The Originals, but it’s whatever you like.
“Unlimited Netflix shows for the unlimited Netflix watcher.” These words are very powerful. Obviously Netflix is the unlimited shows, and I’m the Unlimited Netflix watcher. I chose to write this in the order that it’s in because it just seems so cool like that. It seems like I’m a (as my dad says) pokemon master. Replace the pokemon part with Netflix, and I’m a Netflix master. This basically means that I’m a master in watching Netflix shows/movies. As I said in my Me Magazine, I’ll always be there for Netflix, and Netflix will always be there for me.
My home network
My L.A.N. is connected to all my devices in my house. It comes through my home and goes through the cloud. It then goes through the Modem Router and connects to all my devices. I learned that there's more to internet than just internet. I would tell people to know what it is and how it works.
