Nasir Duppins Capstone 2021
Link to Annotated Bib. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X7cjfjDYWKjycvTpudRMwB1QaFDnRhsg8v4tdU6ZfJ0/edit?usp=sharing
Nasir Duppins Public Feed
Advanced Essay #2: Imagination Vs Reality
Intro:
In this essay, I am proud of the amount of research I have done and the effort I put into this. The goal for writing this essay was to have people understand that many immigrants’ everyday struggles to find a new life and provide for there family. Immigrants think about getting a second chance at achieving their goals but can’t because of Ameican society. The people in power don’t think and consider about what immigrants go through. That is what my essay is about.
Essay:
In the picture above you see refugees coming off one raff. All of them coming off with life jackets on and in the front you see a man holding a girl that could be his daughter or just a little girl he knows. From looking at the picture we may not tell what they went through but we can see they had a reason for getting on the raff and travel over treacherous waters. Each individual has a story and some of the stories may be the same or all of their stories are the same either way all of them had one goal, to strive for a better life.
When immigrants come to America they come to seek opportunities and change. Wherever they came from it might have been hard for them to get a good education and good-paying jobs. There are many other reasons why immigrants come to America but they have faith that their life will be filled with many opportunities. Sometimes, it can be hard for immigrants to live in America. Immigrants have to go through processes in order to be a citizen and some don’t make it through the process. That’s when immigrants realize that America is different than they imagined. Immigrants may fantasize about how good America is and the many things they will achieve there but in reality, it is hard being accepted by some of American society.
In the past, America has been very heavy on people from different countries heading into the country. There have been many strict laws made and they have developed decades later after America became its own country. For many years it has been hard for some immigrants to settle in America. An example of a representation of situations like these can be found in a book called, “Behold the Dreamers” by Imblo Mbue. The book is about a family from Cameroon moving into America because they lived in a poor part of the country. Jende and his wife, Neni, are trying to adjust to America’s life as Jende works for a rich family as their chauffeur and Neni wants to enter the medical field while taking care of their kids. During the book, the court didn’t believe the story of why Jende came to America and so there were possibilities that he wouldn’t be able to stay in the country. Jende’s boss had to let him go because he didn’t need him anymore and it was harder for him to adjust and he had to work two jobs. Here is a quote from Jende after realizing how hard it is to adjust to America, “Guess what, he would say to her in mock instruction, America is not all that; this country is full of lies and people who like to hear lies. This country no longer has room for people like us.” (pg 332) Jende towards the end of the book had faced the hard truth about what it is like living in America. It’s hard living in America when you have to do so much just to live in a country full of opportunities. Not only America makes it hard for immigrants to live in but sometimes people can be judgemental.
A thing people don’t realize is that most people are ignorant when it comes to understanding the life stories of refugees. When immigrants come to America they have a reason why they come here. Most refugees leave their country because the government they were under was harsh or they weren’t granted a good amount of pay. Whenever an immigrant is in America most people judge them immediately because they don’t understand the immigrant’s story. In the article, “A Return In Nigeria,” the Narrator tells us that people were judging her identity and asking why she was living in America. In the article, it states, “I started to imagine what it would be like to live in a place where you did not have to explain some aspect of your identity…no matter how subtle, for why you were among them.” The narrator is constantly being asked about her identity and why did she come to America. People don’t think or know about the struggle that immigrants have to go through to survive in the country they came from and the struggle getting out of the country. Our president right has been striving to put up stricter laws for immigration as it makes it harder for immigrants to even be able to get in the country.
Our former president, Donald Trump, wants to achieve many goals and one of his objectives is immigration. He wants to make sure that America is safe from immigrants bringing in illegal drugs or guns by creating stricter laws. Not only is he creating stricter laws but he is persuading people that immigrants shouldn’t be entering the country. In a speech on May 16th, 2019, Donald Trump made some remarks on modernizing immigration. In his speech, he states, “We are proposing an immigration plan that puts the jobs, wages, and safety of American workers first…Our plan achieves two critical goals. First, it stops illegal immigration and fully secures the border. And, second, it establishes a new legal immigration system that protects American wages, promotes American values, and attracts the best and brightest from all around the world.” Donald Trump is more worried about protecting the country and putting it first then letting immigrants start a new life. Some people would agree with what he is saying but what he and his supporters don’t realize is that not all immigrants aren’t bad. Donald Trump is creating a blockade for immigrants to start a new life. This would then show immigrants that some of American society doesn’t want foreign people in the country.
At some point, we might risk or sacrifice something in order to get what we want. Immigrants have to risk their lives in order to achieve their goals. Some are successful and had their dreams come true and others don’t have it so easy. That is something people should think about when immigrants come to America or anywhere else. Everyone has a story and it could have a good ending or a bad ending.
Sources:
“Behold the Dreamers” by Imblo Mbue
“Return to Nigeria” by Enuma Okoro
Remarks on immigration: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-modernizing-immigration-system-stronger-america/
Change
Introduction
My goal for this essay was to make sure that in both of my scenes I was very descriptive and was able to draw the reader’s attention. I wanted the readers to see how I felt in that moment and give a brief description of what the environment looked like. I also made sure that the two scenes connected to a theme where it starts to become clear why these scenes have some type of connection. What I am proud of in this essay is explaining the larger theme. At first, I had a little trouble trying to go in-depth with my theme but as I thought about it more then I saw the bigger picture. One way I could improve my writing process was I could’ve done a better job at being descriptive. I was being descriptive but I could’ve done it in a better way.
Change
As life goes on we experience a lot of things. But, sometimes when those experiences happen you see that there is a theme to whatever event you have experienced. What I’m about to share are my experiences and how they connect to a theme. The first scene is my eighth-grade graduation and the other scene is when I started a STEM program at Penn University in the summer of 2018.
The room was big, there were a lot of people. In the first three rows of the room, there are boys who were wearing blue and girls wearing white. We were all sitting patiently as we were watching the principal speaking at the podium. I would zone out whenever someone would be talking at the podium then I would always look at the window. The window had different designs on it like a bird and a sun shining down on the bird. The window had a pink background and I thought the art on the window was very detailed. I would pull my phone out to check the time only time was moving slow. Maybe time was moving slow so I could soak in the moment I thought. After a few people talked it was time. It was time that my class would get their graduation certificates to go on to high school. One by one they called names to get our certificates. Parents and siblings had their phones out recording the moment. This moment was special to everybody and to me as well. I was very excited waiting to hear the statement. “Ms. Hightower, do you let the class of 2017 move on to the 9th grade?” The climate director asked. “ Mmmmm. I do!” said Ms. Hightower with a smile on her face. “Congratulations you all will be able to move on to the 9th grade!” The climate director announced. Everyone rose up and everyone was joyous and excited. Everyone had a smile on their face. I then again looked up at the window with the design on it and I felt like that bird on the window; flying to my next destination.
Now, as I continue my journey to be successful, I decided to do a summer STEM program in 2018
This summer I tried something new. Every year I went to a summer camp and it was a chance for me to actually do something instead of being in the house bored. This summer I would be sacrificing my fun to go do some more learning at a STEM program at the University of Penn. I would be staying at the campus for five weeks. During the car ride, I was nervous. I was thinking about how I’m going to be away from family and living with people I didn’t know. What if my roommates don’t clean up after themselves? What if most of the kids are rude? What if I had trouble making friends and I couldn’t fit in? I had these thoughts running in my head and then I became anxious for the rest of the car ride. When I got to my dorm it wasn’t what I imagined it to be but it was big. I thought the walls would be a different color and there was going to be a carpet covering the whole floor but I thought wrong. I noticed there were two grey couches as soon as you walked in, they were leather and on the right side was another couch with blue cushions along with a wooden armrest. There were other people in the dorms as well and they seemed pretty excited happy. We all introduced ourselves and continued to unpack. The walls and floors were milky white, mostly all the walls in the dorm were that milky white color. I pulled out the comforter and the sheets as it brought to my attention that I would be away from home for five weeks. But, this would allow me to experience something new and see how college life was. We were done unpacking everything and it was time for the parents to leave. I said my goodbyes to my family and it felt weird. It felt like I was actually going to college; I was starting a new chapter in my life. “Goodbye, son I hope you have a great time and learn something new!” My dad said “Okay, dad I will.” I responded My family left as I was getting ready for a new journey!
These scenes are different but these scenes can both connect under a theme. In both of these scenes, I was experiencing change. In my first scene, I was preparing to leave middle school to move onto high school. Then, in my second scene, I was moving into a college campus for 5 weeks to continue my studies in a STEM program. I noticed that with both of these scenes I choose to move up a step in my life and with entering a new chapter I knew some things weren’t going to be the same. I was a little nervous but I was mostly excited. I had to realize that it is okay to be afraid of change but at some point, I have to come to terms with change. With accepting these changes I learned more about myself and helped me to learn what I am capable of.
Fluorine
The element that I did was Fluorine and its atomic number is 9. Fluorine was discovered in 1529 and in 1810 fluorine became an element on the periodic table and the person who discovered fluorine was Henri Moissan. What fluorine is used for is toothpaste to brush our teeth and sodium fluoride is used in water to prevent dental cavities. How I got the ideas of having teeth holding a toothbrush is I looked up pictures to give me ideas of what to draw and so I thought of having teeth holding a toothbrush and putting their thumbs up was a nice idea.
How I did this process was first I drew my picture on the styrofoam and then I painted styrofoam with the color I picked. After that I put down the side with the paint on a blank paper and put another piece of blank paper on the top of it and got a spoon to have the paint print on the paper. Once I felt like it was printed I took the styrofoam plate off and then that's when it prints. Something I would've done differently to make sure it prints is to actually make sure it print good enough so everything can be on the paper. The part of the project that I enjoy the most the painting part because it was fun to print the picture on another paper.
Mission Accomplished
Mission Accomplished
In my first blog about littering, I wrote about how I felt about issue of littering and provided statistics, facts, and consequences that it gives. Then, my second blog post talked about the age difference and what ages litters the most, and I talked about what I observed from my neighborhood. After researching and telling how I felt about the issue I was passionate about, I took matters into my own hands and went to go clean up a park called East Poplar Playground.
The park is located in North Philadelphia on 8th and Poplar street. I decided to have my family help me with the clean up. The clean up was a success, we collected a lot of trash off the ground. We had a rake to get the trash out the grass, we had a broom to sweep up the trash into the bag, and we had gloves to pick up the trash. Here are some pictures of us cleaning up:
My original idea was on Earth Day I was going to the FDR park but the plan didn’t go right so I canceled it. Instead, I decided to go to the East Poplar Park because it wasn’t that far from me, so from there that's where I did my agent of change. My experience while cleaning up was I felt like I was a big help to the environment because majority of people don’t care about the environment but I do, and taking my time to clean up the environment shows how much I care. It was a great experience having my family coming to help fix the issue that I am passionate about. I felt like I was effective in this agent of change because as I was cleaning up, people were walking and driving past seeing what we were doing and probably in their heads they were probably glad that my family and I were doing the right thing for the community. It seems like it was a impact on them because the people that was looking were probably thinking of having their kids do the same.
The Project Overall
The project was overall a great journey for me as a teenager. During this period of time this generation is full of open-minded kids, but there are other kids who doesn't care about anything do anything they want. I feel like it was a great opportunity for me to go out and clean up the trash because according to this website it says, “ Every year, the United States generates approximately 230 million tons of "trash"--about 4.6 pounds per person per day.”
That is a lot of trash that people is bringing up and some of that trash ends up on the ground. What I learned about my potential during this adventure is that I can be a big help to my community and other communities as well. I can be an role model to other people and maybe that will change people decision about dropping trash on the ground and instead they can put their trash in the garbage can. Throughout the course of setting up my agent of change what I could’ve done better was getting the word out. I didn’t put up flyers and that’s why people didn’t come the first time so that's why I wanted to cancel it as I said it earlier in the post. What else I could have done better was plan out the event I was doing because I didn’t think about bringing water and snacks until someone said that so I should’ve thought of that.
What Else Is Left To Change
There are some things to change and it starts with the kids. Kids today don’t know that much about littering and the effect of it. Like I explained in my second blog post, parents should teach their children about littering because as they are growing up they will see what the adults are doing and think that is the right thing to do when it’s not. Adults as well litter because they are lazy to throw their trash in the garbage can and that should change by maybe having a little challenge where if they don’t litter they can get a certain amount of money and maybe that can change their habits. Different types of events could take place where kids and adults could go out to a park and pick up trash to clean up their community; it could be a clean up day! If your community ever wanted or have a clean up day here is some advice on what materials you should have and what to think about during the process. Well, this experience has been a extravagant adventure and I am so glad that I was able to go out and do my part for the world.
Here are some pictures:
Negative space cut out
Negative space is the space around drawing creates a shape which makes the art relevant. How I found negative in my cut off is when I outlined the drawing by cutting it I placed on another construction paper and when I placed the cut out on the paper you could see what it conveys. Negative space helps artists to see negative space to see the positive space and balance the composition. Seeing negative space enhances your drawing so you could create good artwork and know how to balance the space.
My Next Phase
The Next Phase
In the beginning of my journey to stop littering, I gave a basic definition and talked about what littering is. I explained the cause of littering, the effects, and a solution that could possibly stop people from littering. I also gave statistics about littering that happens in our community. To see what the littering situation was like, I went out and observed my neighborhood.
Age Difference
The next task that I fulfilled with my journey, was field observations. What I was observing was the amount of trash on the ground and how frequent people drop their trash on the ground. As I was observing, I noticed that different age groups litter less or more. Then I realized that adults litter more than teenagers and teenagers litter more frequently. I looked up a website where it gives gives statistics on the types of trash on the ground and the different age group that litters the most. This website stated, “Those under 19 are the most frequent culprits, while adults aged 21 to 35 are three times more likely to litter than the 50-and-up crowd.” This information explains about the age difference when it comes to littering, because you would think that teenagers are the ones littering but really it is the adults who is littering the most and that has an effect on the youth. The youth doesn't care as much for their environment because they are focused on other things and they litter because they see other people do it. If adults are littering more than teenagers, it’s not showing teenagers a good example of how the world should always be clean. People should educate each other about the importance of keeping our streets clean.
This picture represents america being dirty because all the litter that is everywhere.
My Observations
For my observations, I wanted to see the amount of trash in my neighborhood. The first thing I did was look at the ground to see how much trash their was. While I was observing, I noticed there was so many cups, bottles, plates, paper and etc. After seeing all the trash on the ground, it was clear to me that my neighborhood is really dirty. Below are pictures that I took of the trash:
From the pictures above, it shows how filthy our neighborhoods look. My neighborhood, in North Philadelphia, isn’t the only dirty area; there are more areas in Philadelphia that are dirty. I was reading this blog post where the author, Julie Hancher, was talking about how dirty Philly is. She said, “Several neighborhoods actually have removed trash cans from their streets because residents will pile bags next to trash cans instead of waiting for their trash cans. Also, lack of trash cans throughout the city tempt people to throw their trash wherever – in a bush, etc.” This is one of the reasons why Philadelphia is filled with trash. From the blog post it says, “A few years ago I was on Filbert Street near Eighth behind our newsroom in the old Strawbridge & Clothier building, and I watched a woman in a parked minivan throw a dirty diaper right out her window onto the street.” Not only people are dropping trash on the ground while walking people are dropping trash on the ground from their cars.” This shows that since people are lazy to throw their trash, in the trash, they decide to throw it on the ground.
My Next Step
After my first post, I’ve been researching a lot about littering more. As I’m researching, I realized that some people do not care about their environment. Some things I was wonder was if people ever think before actually doing something? This is a question that I have in mind, because people don’t seem to care about what they do as long as it is done and out the way. Now that I have done enough researching and observing, it is time to bring this issue into a solution. One of my solutions is to have an impact on other people to show that cleaning up the environment can make a difference to the community.
You can see my sources here.Littering is Not Good !
Littering Is Not Good!
An issue that is going on in the world that I am passionate about is littering. Littering is an issue that I am passionate about, because littering is a danger to the earth and other living life forms. Everyday when I walk around north philadelphia all I see is trash all over the ground. It is very peevish to see a lot of trash on the ground and especially when there is a trash can near by. I feel like their actions should change immediately. This issue should matter to people because they are living on this earth too and it is important that they keep their planet clean too so we can live clean and keep the Earth green. This information that I am going to be giving is significant because this information will warn people the possible danger not only to our environment but us as well.
Statistics of Littering
There are a lot of statistics on littering and these statistics is saying that people need to stop littering and keep the Earth clean as possible.The article I was reading was called “11 Littering Statistics Of America” and this website gives facts and statistics on littering that happens in America and it tells how much the world produce littering. This website says that, “50% of all littering is from cigarette butts” This tells us that half of the world litters cigarette butts, which is not good at all. This is also a safety hazard, because if a cigarette is still burned up, someone could step on it and could get them hurt. Cigarettes butts also leave a horrible smell and that's something people don’t want to smell. Another part of littering is there is a lot of fast food on the ground. With fast food being littered on the ground, it starts to rod and animals start to eat it. According to the website it says, “Fast food products account for a full third of all litter that produced around the world. That includes the food itself and the packaging materials.” This source tells us that people throws their garbage on the ground, instead of throwing their garbage in the trash. Brandon Gallie is the author of this article and he says, “If we allow our trash to pile up, we’re going to destroy our local ecosystems just as quickly, if not more quickly than climate change can.” This quote stands out to me because Brandon is saying that if trash is being put on the ground, it is going to destroy the ecosystem.
Littering In General
Everyone knows that littering is against the law, but people still do it. Since people are continuing to litter, it shows that they don’t care about the environment. It angers me that there is so much on the ground, which is why littering needs to stop. According to the website, “Illegal Dumping & Littering”, it says, “94% of people who says littering is bad still litter.” This shows most people are against the fact that other people litter. Since people are littering so much, they don’t even know that they are ruining the ecosystem. The website, “Conserving Energy Future” it states, “People still litter, largely for the following reasons: Laziness, people don’t realize that with littering, there do come consequence, the garbage can is too far away…” These are really the main reasons why people litter and people is going to have to start paying attention to what they are doing and fix their mistakes. I always wonder what the world would be like if no one littered at all. If there was a world where people actually cared about what they are doing then the world would be so much cleaner.
This picture of the beach being filled with trash. This is a way that wildlife that live near the beach could be possibly hurt
Here is a picture of what people do with their trash even when there is a trash can there.
If you want to see my sources here is the link to it.
Nasir Duppins Slide
The critiques I got was that when I explained my slide don't talk about me talk more about my slide to get people attention. Another critique is to change the font to make the words stand out more and also have the words, "Run Forest Run" stretch out on the track to make it seem like the words are running on the track. I made these changes because I wanted my slide to pop out more and on Presentation Zen it says to make the words big and you want to do that so that it stick out for people to know what you are talking about. Also on Presentation Zen it says to make the slide have one point meaning the slide should focus on one thing and have it get noticed more. The research I did helped my slide become better because it gave me key ideas on how to make a slide that someone will always remember the whole day and the next day. It also help me make my slide more detailed and pop out more. The source I got all my information from was Presentation Zen which helped me out a lot to make this slide look better and it made me proud that those helpful tips from the website makes my slide very interesting.
Nasir Duppins Slide
As I made the slide I wanted people to see a visual instead of the slide being dour and not exciting enough for people to be interested in. So I had put a picture in the background of a track field because as you guys may or may not known I ran track for two years in middle school. Since I wanted to show that I really love track I even put a catch phrase saying, “Run Forest Run” big on the top left side to have people interested into my slide. I made the words big to have it stand out and to have people see where I was getting at to have people laugh and enjoy it. I also put that catch phrase because my great grandma would always say to me that line to encourage me more to become faster and make me feel better of myself. I didn’t want the slide to cram everything about me focusing on multiple things because that would have people thinking a lot all at once and they would be not so much compelling towards it so I want people to focus on one thing so they can absorb in the slide and the main point.
Home Network Nasir Duppins
What this diagram is showing you is what my home network look like. In the diagram the Modem is my internet box which is FIOS-SW58 and it is sending a signal connection to the all the devices that is near it. The devices that is connected to it is 4 laptops, game systems, mobile phones, a firestick, and the EPSON printer. Also, the Netgear is connected to the internet by an ethernet cord and is the Netgear is used to have the home security network connected to it. So far I learned about what a ethernet cord is and it is a wire that carry signals from your modem or router. I also learned that the modem is your internet box which I never heard that word before. What I would tell other people about having a ISP is that it connects to a cloud where everything is stored at and it helps for other devices to run faster.
