Student Name:
 Mathew Walker

In school mentor’s name:
 Mark Miles

Topic Summary:

 The goal of this project was to help me develop a better understanding of my future major, and also to show my current knowledge on the topic of computer science to see where I am going to be when I enter college. What I did was I created a game via the program processing which is a coding program that codes on java. What I learned during this process is that it is not always easy to stick to your original idea. As I went through the project I was learning a bunch of new coding material that I did not know and trying to take all that and apply all in one year was a little difficult. So I created a game that was not like my original idea but I did this because the game that I was able to produce in the end took some of the new knowledge that I learned and apply it. My original idea was to make a side scrolling adventure game such as the game Zelda but a lot of things such as drawing the maps and writing different coding functions for changing the map were slightly difficult. So in my end product, which was a maze, I was able to take the drawing maps and apply it. I also learned that you do not need fancy graphics to make a game fun because when I let my friends test it out everybody surrounded my computer trying to beat the game, which I am proud of.

and Processing

      One reason we need the Patriot act is for the fact that since it was enforced there have been no major terrorism attacks such as 9/11. This is a great thing because I do not believe that this country can handle another attack like that. Now while I do believe that we still do need the patriot act I do feel that in the Past the government has been abusing the law.

      Between the years 2003 and 2006 the FBI issued 192,499 NSL's (allows them to access personal records) that led to only one terrorist attack. This is just showing how the government can abuse power. So for this act to be continued their needs to be restrictions on when the government does this.

      Another example on why the government needs restrictions is because in the year 2010 there were 3,970 sneak and peaks 76% of which were drug related 24% other and less than 1% were terrorist related. This shows that the government can bend the act to satisfy what they need to arrest other criminals. So in order for the act to continue there also needs to be a way for other parts of the government to monitor why exactly the FBI or CSI are performing a Sneak and Peak.

      In the end I feel that we do need this act but there needs to be restrictions. Without the restrictions it is invasion of privacy for all the wrong reasons. Which is why people complain about the Patriot Act.

Video games are a topic known very well around the world. It is something that connects people of different ages, races, religions, and social status. It is something that brings people closer together, allows to meet new people, and even learn new skills. I guess you can say that my partner and I chose this topic because it is something that we experience first hand. What better ways to do a project then to do one that you are nearly an expert on and enjoy doing. Our first hand knowledge made it very easy to conduct research. Also the fact that we had friends on a video game consoles that we could use a sources if we needed to made it even better. Although we knew a lot of the information, timeline, etc. there are still things that you can learn from doing a good job with researching, which made this project even more fun because with every source that we got from a teacher, a friend, and found ourselves we would unlock a piece of information that we were not familiar with before. Even though we were having fun there were difficult parts. The most difficult had to be selecting our presentation category because originally we wanted to make the presentation feel like a video game, but there were no categories that would support the type of project we wanted to make. Eventually we decided that choosing a documentary would be the best way to do this. Doing this documentary was pretty awesome. From the very first time that my teacher announced the NHD project I immediately thought video games. The reason for this is because video game technology is a revolution that no one can ignore. It changed society because of the amazing technological advancement that we were seeing, and that we are still seeing. In just forty years we went from a box that only played simple games to a motion sensor that detects every movement of your body and can also be used for voice commands. The revolution of video games is an amazing one that someone needed to point out and represent well which is exactly what we are intending to do in this project.

Y dinero 

que vivimos, la respiración, y comer philly

By: Mathew Walker

Throughout this school year my thoughts have been changed many times. One thing I remember very vividly is the classes Sweatshop trial. The sweatshop trial was a trial that the class did to figure out who was the most responsible for sweatshops. Every student was put into a group. My group was the U.S consumers. The other groups were sweatshop workers, multi-national co-operations, the system, and the ruling elite. Now of course people were trying to make their group sound the least guilty. When the trial was over we had to do a response to the trial in which we voted on who was the most guilty at the time since I was being a little bias I gave my group very little points. Now after looking back on everything I see that I was wrong and that in that situation you can put blame on any one person. It is like a rotation and everybody fuels everybody. What I started to understand from this is that it is not good to start coming to a conclusion while you are still focused on one group.

Another piece of work that helped me realize that with time everybody can get better at their creativity is my Poetry unit. During the poetry unit we had to write several different types of poems that we were going through in class. The reason why I say it helped me the way it did is because there is a noticeable difference between this and what I did in the beginning of the year for my English B piece. My English B piece was set at the beginning of the year and we had to write a poem based off of Langston Hughes’ English B poem. 

One piece of work that I am most proud of is my English photo essay. The reason why I am most proud of this piece is because it showed that one could produce very good work even if they are talking about themselves. This also helped me learn a lot of things about my Irish side. The assignment was to take a heritage that you were apart of and research that. After you research you have to come up with several pictures and analyses for why you chose each picture. I was able to find out a lot about the Irish heritage through this like the fact that Irish dancers keep their arms by their sides because when the English invaded Ireland the Irish were not allowed to have any fun so the Irish kept their hands at their sides when they danced so the English could not see them. Unfortunately I do not have the photos but I do have my analyses.

            My last piece of work that I would like to share with you is my colonialism museum project. The reason why I would like to share this with you is because I am very proud with my work in this project. In this project we had to make museum based off of colonization in a country of our choosing. My country was Kenya and my exhibit presented only artifacts that made complete sense like money. You can find my explanation for all my artifacts here. This project helped me learn a lot about Kenya and colonization like the fact that sometimes it can be good and sometimes it can be bad.

This is a portion of what I have learned throughout this year. It has been fun for me to share this with you. It has also been fun to take a trip down memory lane. I hoped you enjoyed the journey through my thoughts.

Robert Mugabe: Greedy President of Zimbabwe.

Gono:  Head of Zimbabwe’s main bank that helps Mugabe steal money.

Maid: Works at Mugabe’s place just for work but.

Archbishop of Canterbury: talks about Zimbabwe and how it is going under.

Act 1: Scene 1

The reason Why Zimbabwe is going under nowadays is because Mugabe steals all this money while he pays people like me very little money. That greedy little bastard. I’m thankful his wife is cheating is cheating on him. Haha. I find it kind of funny that his (makes air quotes) “friend” slept with his wife. (Points finger at interviewer) Just think what it would have been like if he did not take all that money (puts finger down). Zimbabwe would have been the best vacation getaway instead of this shithole of a plaace. Excuse my language its just he makes me extremely mad. (Acts Cautious) He won’t see this will he?

Act 1: Scene 2

(Trying to avoid eye contact by picking up random things in the living room)

I just wanted to let you know i am really happy to be your friend and business partner. It isn't all for just the money but you are a really good listener. I came here to discuss the future of our relationship. We have been cheating Zimbabwe out of millions for a long time and I feel that I have grown really close to you over the years. I think that any misunderstandings that we might have in the future should be disregarded. I mean you being the president and me being the head power of the bank we can take over this country



Act 1: Scene 3

(Pacing across the floor slowly throughout the whole scene) do you believe this? I had a life set. Why did he have to find out? We were going to live in my house, rule this country and keep getting money. (Being cocky) I mean who wouldn’t want to live in my house 47 bedrooms, a pool, a gym, and a mini movie theater.  NO but seriously I need to do something and quickly, I mean he is going to kill me. (Talking to the voices in his head really fast) How do I know he is going to kill me? For the fact that his bodyguard was suspiciously poisoned for just knowing about this, that two other people she had an affair with were in trouble, one died in a mysterious car accident and the other had to flee the country. Wait a minute I have an idea what if I can go and try to win the citizens over at the protest that they are having in a couple of days. If I win them over I can become leader and not get killed by Mugabe. Ha its genius. (Exits stage)






Act 1: Scene 4

Citizens of Zimbabwe. Over the years you have come to think of me as a liar, a cheater and a robber. I may be that entire list but I have come here today to seek your forgiveness. I know most of you people are thinking, “Why would I forgive this man” well let me give you some reasons. Sure I am scared for my life. But the main reason is that I am willing to make a very large donation to Zimbabwe.  I promise that what I did will never happen again. Many are probably wondering why I am even trying to convince all of you to come to my side, well let me say this would you rather have a man who has basically ruined your lives as president or someone who was a mere victim of that person. The next thing I… Wait… what… (background voice) “sir we need you to come with us” … What are you doing to these people… Taking them to jail. Why?

Act 1: Scene 5

Robert Mugabe

(In his room talking to himself reminding him of all the power he has)

(Starts singing) Money, Money, Money. I love money (stops singing). With all of this money I have (picks up a stack of money and counts it)  I can basically buy this country even though I already controlled it for 30 years. The best thing is that I can manipulate anyone I want by just simply changing the way I am around them or simply including violence. Though I am sad that my wife cheated on me. But I don’t care that much because I(singing) I I I get money, money I get (pauses) ( says it as if ending) and I will just kill him.

Act 1: Scene 6

ABC: I think the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe is now at an appalling level. It's estimated that perhaps half the population is now under threat of starvation; and the deaths from cholera have been climbing in just the last couple of weeks from 3,000 towards 4,000. Everyone knows about the rate of inflation, but I think the main thing is the sheer level at which people are at risk of starvation. I mean if

Act 1: Scene 7

 (Wife walks into the room) Why would you cheat on me... Because im old... But why with one of my close friends... Why do I care because Gono is the only person that I thought I could really trust and not only are we good friends he is the owner of the bank that got me and you a lot of money and having friends that are in power too can help me out a lot, but you screwed everything up. Now I have basically no friends. Everybody hates me and I don't even have a faithful wife. How would you feel if I had a Heart attack. (Wife leaves)

            Boom! Bang! Bang! “Ha take that,” I said to the people on my Xbox 360. Then my family ran in like a pack of wild wolves knocking things over and tripping over each other and they say  “Mat turn your game off the Phillies are on.” At the time, I was too into my game and didn’t care about the World Series and kept playing. Then my mom’s voice got serious and I turned off my game quicker than a little kid runs and gets ice cream.           

The house started shaking after every run the Phillies scored and it was like the air was sucked out of the room every time they scored. It was now the 9^th inning and the Phillies were up 3 to 2 and Brad Lidge was pitching everyone was nervous and the pitches came in.  1 out. The room started to fell tenser. 2 outs. Everyone sat at the edge of his or her seats praying we got this last strike out. 3 outs my family went crazy and knocked over the wood framed picture of my sister and the glass cracked and flew everywhere as they ran out the door. We were not the only one’s outside there were many others outside screaming and cheering. We headed down to Main Street There were a lot of Phillies fans down there, spraying multi-colored silly string, drinking and jumping around which cause their Phillies hats to fall to the ground. I had to get away from the party because I had to wake up early the next day to go to school. 

When I woke up the next day I got down on my hands and knees and begged my mom to stay home like someone would beg god for forgiveness. She said “ Mat I already told you, that you can’t because you already missed enough from being sick with a stomach virus”! I just kept begging but every time I got the no response. So eventually I gave up. I got showered got dressed with all my Phillies stuff and when I went downstairs I grabbed my Phillies hat that had a brown Phillies P surrounded by an ocean of sky blue and a brown and white diagonally checkered rim, and put on my head in a tilt. As I walked up to the bus stop every Phillies fan that saw me, said “yeah go Phillies” and every Ray’s fan that I saw looked at me and just put their head down in shame and every time that happened I would get a smile on my face as if I was the one who beat the Tampa Bay Ray’s. When I got on the cheese bus all my friends had on their red and white to represent their team except for my one friend that sat in the back and looked like he was as lonelier than someone stranded on a faraway island. I sat next to my tall friend and he handed me a twenty-dollar bill from the bet that we made a couple weeks before the World Series started. I respected that he lived up to his word so I handed it back to him and said, “Keep it” he immediately lifted his head said “thanks” and smiled. It was then that I realized that friends could be just like family sometimes.

When I got into school it was like my couple of friends and I were isolated. We could hear the water drip from the sinks on the third floor. The school was almost completely empty. There were about 10 kids out of 22 in every class and the teachers didn’t want the other kids to get behind so we were allowed to get on the computers. My friends and I all got on game websites such as www.addictinggames.com and www.maxgames.com this was all before the school district blocked everything but that’s a different story. After about two classes of nothing but games we all decided to start helping each other in subjects that we didn’t understand or homework we didn’t do. While we were doing that two of my friends got into a fight over a reason that I don’t know. Knowing that they were both my friends and friends with each other me and my other friend held them both back so that we could stop the fight. After the heat got turned down we let them go so that they could talk it out. By the next class they were both friends again and messing around with each other. I realized that friends and family all do things together and help each other out no matter what the circumstances and that encouraged me to go home and hug everyone of my family members.

Mathew Walker

12/16/10

            Ones ability to code switch is key to how one lives. Code switching is something that everybody does whether you’re from the United States or Japan, it doesn’t matter. Now I will explain the larger idea for you but not in detail, basically I am going to throughout the paper give you situations where I and other people have code switched and some why it was bad. In the end I will ask the question is Code switching good or bad and explain to you my position on it.

 I have code switched all my life one time I was on my way home with my friends after playing basketball at a court which was about 20 blocks away from my house and had trees all around. We were talking and here is a little bit of the conversation. “Yo you’re really bad at basketball” I said, “Stop fucking playing wit me you da one who sucks” Cory said, “Haha you funny but if someone is really bad here it has to be Eric” I said, “I wasn’t even in your little convo” Eric said. This is how I talk when I’m around my friends and it will be constantly brought up during this paper.

When I got home my speech changed to where I was not talking to my friends but my parents and the rest of my family. Here is how I talked to them; “Mom I’m home” I yelled, “Ok dinner is almost done” My mother said, “ok,” I said. I walked into the dinning room took of my hoodie and went in the living room My dad started talking to me “Hey son” “Hey dad” I answered, “how’d you do playing basketball today” He asked “Fine” I replied. This is not the whole conversation but most of it. So what I want these parts to explain is that code switching is an everyday thing for me and I sometimes choose when I want to do it but other times it comes without me even realizing it. When I am at school I talk to my friends the same way but when I talk to my teachers I talk to them way differently than I talk to my parents. When I’m talking to teachers I will say “Yes sir”, “No sir”, “Yes mam”, “No mam”. I would talk more respectful although I am already respectful to my parents.

Amy tan shows a perfect example of this in her story “Mother tongue”, She is an example because at home she talks non-educated but when she is out in public she uses big words and tries to pronounce a lot more. Sometimes though code switching can be a problem because when you don’t have control over it you could possibly switch at the wrong time. I remember one time I was down my grandmother’s house and my grandfather said, “Mat what do you think about the cowboys”, “I fucking hate them” I answered. After I said it I realized what I just said and I looked over at my grandfather he looked shocked. Afterwards I apologized and explained that it slipped out but right after that moment I started questioning myself and asking myself if I was loosing grip on the real me, if I was loosing my identity? In Aria a story by Richard Rodriguez, he was talking about how later on he couldn’t speak his native language at home anymore thanks to schooling and to me when he could speak his native language he was code switching because he would talk to his teachers with the English he learned but go home and talk to his family in Spanish. Now this code switching has basically made him take another identity, which I do not want to do.

 What I have been trying to get to is, that Code switching is good but after a while you start to loose track of who you really are. Now the reason loosing your identity is bad is because when you loose track of your identity you can possibly loose track of your culture like in the movie that we watched about the Ladahk people and tourist came in and started to bring modern stuff into their little town where the whole place was family. When they lost their identity they lost their family and they started to be more easily influenced by other culture. So things like crime rate, pollution levels all those bad things started to rise and make their community a very bad place. This is what I don’t want to happen because I love my family and I feel that I should always be with them. Which means people should try to stop code switching and try to stick to one way of talking.