Since the beginning of criminology, police officers and detectives have been trying to come up with  methods of detecting lies, stories and fibs. .It wasn't until the early 1920’s polygraphs have been used as an interrogation tool with criminals. The US law enforcement and federal government agencies such as the FBI and the CIA have been using them. This test works in a easy way, when someone lies it makes your heart race. It makes you pant, it drives up your blood pressure and in some extreme cases it makes you drip sweat. A polygraph machine detect lies by looking for signs of these physiological changes. But to often there have been times where the these test don’t actually work. Scientist have been coming up with ways that enhance and improve the way these test work by using neuroscience.  

“Scientists believe that a lie is made up of two parts: a person must create the lie and also withhold the truth”

After 9/11 the American government has become highly interested in procuring a sure-fire method of spotting liars. The American military has a whole department, the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute the need for a better test came along. These proponents believe the future impact of neuroscience “will be inevitable, dramatic, and will fundamentally alter the way the law does business” In this case there’s always going to be people who agree with polygraph test and people who think it’s a whole bunch of crap. Using neuroscience, scientist have come up with ways to use Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to looks inside the brain instead of tracking outside measures of anxiety like changes in pulse, blood pressure or respiration. fMRI’s get the point straight across, you ask a question and if you lie the test shows it. Detection accuracy was claimed to be as high as 90% compared to a purported 70% for polygraphs making them more reliable and fast moving. There would be no need to use lawyers that would switch up your words and evidence. While some see this the best thing that could happen, and a bridge to a whole new world of lie detection and criminology others think this is just a waste of time.

Scientist believe the fMRI machines will only confuse results  “In theory, it takes more neural activity to lie than tell the truth because you have to construct a narrative, so the extent of neural activity can be relevant in determining whether you’re lying,” said Andrea Roth, an assistant professor at Berkeley Law.  In order to image an area where there is activity, a thought has to be made, and an image taken a couple of seconds afterward (because the oxygen conversion is not instantaneous). Stanford University’s Anthony Wagner decided to do a test where laboratory studies involve instruction to tell a low-stakes lie about an action they recently performed. However, in the real world, lies are self-generated, often high risk and emotionally charged, and lie detection may occur years after the event in question. This process must be repeated a couple of times to be able to filter out false positives. In the end there is no hard data to show that we can actually detect lies with great accuracy. We would all love it if neuroscience could distinguish between these true and false memories until then cops and detective will still to polygraph test.

fMRI’s are not a perfect science, and they have a long way to go before they can be perfect. I feel like with a good mixture between the test, lawyers and great evidence court cases will be easy to solve and won’t be hard to put people behind bars. There’s going to be a lot of work done and a lot of time put in before we can get anywhere to a point where test can really tell who’s lying and who’s telling the truth. We shouldn’t treat fMRI’s as if it’s the only thing that can and should be used in the court, we should seen more like another piece of evidence that could be icing on the cake to completely the case.

If we’re still doing the whole real world lesson in quarter four this will be my final assignments for Senior year art. These assignments really pushed me outside of my comfort zone and I really enjoyed it. It actually made me think about making something that I wouldn’t normally do (adding real details, and using colors, using oil pastels) and something that’s not simple. I got so into the art I actually finished the main assignments early and did little ones on the side. . It was a really good chill, relax class where you could be open about who you are what type of artist you are. It was fun walking into class and just going straight to work not worrying about anything else. I’m going to miss senior art a lot, there’s never going to be a class like this and I'm always going to remember the memories I made in it.

My favorite assignments was the mosaic and all the water colors. One I love working with water colors, especially because they’re easy to blend with and make bolder better colors. You can use salt and cement and tape to make texture and clouds and it’s just fun to work with. The mosaic was a challenge because you had to cut smaller pieces to make your bigger piece. In the end it was worth the sticky fingers and the little paper cuts, my coffe cups came out real nice and it was really worth it. The hardest assignment had to be making a wire sculpture out of paper clips. It was the worst, I cut myself a couple of times and the little paper clips weren’t cutting it. It was a new experience for me and I learned and grew as a person from it. I made a crown out of the paper clips because it was girly enough like me and every princess needs a crown.

In the end I’m really proud of all the assignments I turned in the last three quarters and it was worth the time and energy I spent. Senior art has really taught me to be creative and think outside the box. I am really looking forward to the last quarter where Ms.Hull will be teaching us about the real world and what happens when you leave the comforts of high school. ‘Ve been waiting for lessons like this since the beginning, I think there should be mandatory classes in highschool that teach you how to pay bills and write checks, and be independent. Since we’re leaving for college soon it’s going to be a good learning experience for all of us.

For quarter two we took things a little slow and we didn’t have as much work as we did the first quarter. Instead we learned and practiced some new techniques, including collaging, block printing and sketching using math. It was fun to go out my art comfort zone, it got me working harder and putting in more effort. Besides art history we have a mini lesson in the history of art and music experimenting with different artist and how the vibes of the music affected the way we worked in class. We did have our silly days but it was fun learning about older artist from the 80’s- 90’s.

The most challenging project this quarter was the fern, because there’s a lot of details in each leaf and that takes a lot of time, energy and patience, which is something I don’t have. When it comes to art if it’s not my way or something I’m good at stray against it because it’s out of my comfort zone, and I’m not really an artist. There were times where I did want to give up and not finish the drawing because it felt like the leaves were never ending. I would finish one and realise I had like 20 more to finish. It was never ending and I really really wanted to give and chalk the whole thing. In the end I’m glad I didn’t give up because my fern came out okay. It wasn’t my best work but it wasn’t my worst.

The thing that stuck out the most was the Golden Ratio Collage which was basically a big swirl with nine sections that have to measure a certain length but still be in equal ratio. It was hard to understand at first but after some other examples from google I understood it more and it became my best work. I used an elephant head that matched up with the swirl and because elephants are grey I wanted to use a colorful background that would make the dull head stand out more. I used already cut colored pieces of paper and collaged them into each section of the golden ratio so you could see which section started and ended where. I enjoyed block printing because I’ve done it before, but this time was fun because we used styrofoam instead of a rubber plate. I choose a panda sleeping at night because it was supposed to be part of nature, and who doesn’t love panda’s?  I stuck with darker colors because it’s supposed to be at night, and most pandas have darker colored fur so it just seemed right.

Welcome to Sydne’s Senior Art... This year I’m in the senior art class which means I have two more extra classes to work on my art.  My junior year I enjoyed art so much that I came back to improve my skills. After reading the section we read of Art history I wanted to push myself more to be a better artist. So that means putting more time into each of my art pieces, mixing colors and experimenting with different colors. Using texture and shapes and just going outside the lines. So for the first quarter I tried mixing new colors and painting with texture.

Since we are still getting back into the flow of school and senior year I wanted to be calm and relax, and just enjoy art so I did. For my ceiling tiles I did my all around the world tiles and added Philadelphia and Brazil. I wasn’t really ready for halloween so I didn’t carve a pumpkin like last year but I did dress up with some friends. It was my first time using chalk so it was a experience for me. I did a water lily because when sunlight hits it in certain angles they can make pretty shadows on the water and that was the focus with the chalk, to make shadows and use different shades of black. I had fun for my first time, it was a little messy and hard to get off my fingers but I’d like to try art with chalk again. My self portrait was simple, I picked one of my favorite pictures of myself and just rolled with it.

My favorite piece, and the piece I’m most proud of is the Pocahontas painting. This was a challenge for me because we didn’t have the shades of purple, and blues and greens so I winged it. I noticed that mixing watercolors made the different shades of purples and blues and it came out nicely. It’s been awhile since I’ve used water colors so there was a lot of trial and error. I went against using blues for the tree because it looked to dark with the background so I mixed blue and greens. After the long process of mixing, drying and dabbing the extra water I loved the way the painting came out better than I could imagine.  Overall quarter one work was chill. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year and see what new techniques I’ll learn. The point of this class was to become a better artist and expand on what I already know. I hope you check the next 3 quarters to see how I progressed in art.

My first project was basic shapes and collaging I used the red colors as fire to represent the many forest fires that we're killing our own environment with. This piece involved water coloring and the splatter technique to get the feeling of fire. The glitter might be a little hard to see but it's supposed to show the glow fires have.The second project shows the beauty in our environment, I wanted painting to stick out so I painted them black and added accents of color to give the eye something to look at. It's the good and bad of nature. 

I had so much fun with my first ceiling tile I wanted to do more. I made one big one and two little ones. The first one had a twist on an old 80's comic, I wanted to use bolder colors than the original comic it took a little longer to get the details in the face and the tear drop. I was proud of the way mines came out especially the girls hair. The little ceiling tiles are two of the few places I want to travel to because everyone does a Philly skyline I wanted to leave the borders of America and adventure out. Tokyo and Johannesburg are beautiful places so they were fun to draw and paint.

    Overall I had a lot of fun with my art assignments and look forward to creating a lot more. I couldn't have done it without the help of my lovely art partners in crime who helped cut out the many many pieces of paper for each background. Gave me the motivation to paint and even gave great feedback. I hope you enjoy my four lovely master pieces.

This quarter was fun for me. It was a lot more hands on interactive with nature and I found out that I can actually draw better than I normally do.. This is the part where I say that I’ve grown as an artist or that I see me growing every time I draw when really I actually do. Compared to last quarter where something had to take me at least a certain amount to draw, that takes away from the art of things. When I draw I want to feel free and sometimes the best art doesn’t take the longest. Like the photography since I took the photography class last year and it opened my eyes to something new.. I just came naturally to me so editing was easier it’s whether or not to saturate the picture or take away the saturation and color and make it black and white. I am most proud of the picture for the hanging tree.. The song is deep by itself and it needed a deep picture. Like last quarter I’m proud of my work the more I draw the more I feel like I do grow as an artist, my confidence with my drawings has increased. I’m a looking forward to the last 2 quarters and what they have to hold for me.

This quarter I decided to take things a little slower so I was in the medium category that wasn't easy and wasn't hard. Each week or weeks we got a new assignment that tought us new things about art and process. This quarter I went out of my comfort zone and tried a lot more things I would never do. The self portrait was the hardest because eyes and noses are the hardest thing on the face for me. Looking in a mirror and trying to add the little details to everything. My favorite part of this quarters art was my ceiling tile. Since I came to SLA and saw the ceiling tiles I knew I wanted to make one. In the end I was really proud of my tile, it was a huge art accomplishment for me.

I can't say I'm a artist because I'm not. Everytime I draw or paint I learn something new that expands my skills in the art room.. I'll admit that I am proud of my work but I wish I could do better.. I know, I compare my work to others which discourages me because it seems like everyone is doing better than me and I'm over here like I drew a circle. But everytime I draw something I learn to love what I do and I grow from every experience.

I learned that it's okay to make mistakes and that's why you draw lightly in pencil. You can simply erase and keep it moving. I made so many mistakes drawing everything from my 3 hour sketch to the self portrait. I actually went through a whole eraser throughout this whole process and it's okay. If you don't like the way something you drew looked it's okay to start over. Who knows maybe famous artist from all over the world had the same issue I did. Practice makes perfect well not perfect but better and eventually better becomes great work and great work becomes a work of art that you're really proud of.

When you hear don’t judge a book by it’s cover, sometimes you can sometimes you can’t. The title it can tell you what you’re going to read about, other times it’s an important hint that will help you solve the puzzle in the book, in this case this book doesn’t do neither. The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Prebel will have you questioning if you can trust anyone, even the people who sell you shoes. You read the journal entries of 14 year old Jenna Samuels whose life isn’t the best. Her mom spends all day in bed, her father is missing and her her older brother tries to keep the family together but he is too high to focus on anything. To add to all of Jenna’s stress she becomes sick, to a point where she collapses and her brother tries to rush her to the hospital but instead ends up crashing the car. Jenna wakes up to her brother who doesn’t have any scars and he’s glowing, almost a heavenly glow. Jenna comes to realize that her brother did not survive the accident and that she’s not sick but poised. The sent her brother back to help Jenna find the person who has it out for her.

The Sweet Dead Life is Prebel’s 4th book out of 6, the first three were part of the 3 book Anastasia series, and her newest one coming in 2015 Finding Paris. Prebel’s preference for writing is fantasy and mistery following stories of strong female characters. Mystery is her favorite genre because it’s fun to write but it brought life to her simple Texas life. Many of her favorite authors were mystery writters which encourage her to write her own stories. Her writing like most authors isn’t the ordinary stuff that talks about girl meets boy and falls in love or vampires, fairies and monsters, she tells stories using myths and legends that go back to the 1900’s. In this book Prebel talks about angles and normally angles are more a religious belief that when you die and you were forgiven for your sins you got to heaven. Some people believe in this others don’t and instead of Prebel trying to push that angels are real and we should believe in them she puts a fun twist on them that has you saying, “I would have never thought of that”

The first time I read this book the second one was not out yet, but it now out and I am looking forward to reading the second book. Like many mystery series if the writer doesn’t catch your attention you get bored and you want to skip to the end of the book. This book has it’s moments where you want to skip ahead but I advice not to do this beascue you will miss important parts that if you don’t know it you will be confused, and the ending will confuse you more, it’s one of those endings if you don’t know what happened you won’t understand it. Not like many books I have read in the past the ending of this book actually does the book justice. It answers all the questions brought up in the book about Jenna’s dad and where he has disappeared to, Jenna’s poising and why it happened to her and the truth behind the car accident. It’s like watching a crime show, the writer gives you clues to solve the crime you get to know the bad guys of the show and you guess who the killer was, but with this book there’s more than one culprit and you won’t know until you keep reading. The Book keeps you engaged and gets you thinking if the crime is a lot more complicated than your simple poisoning.

“Life moves fast. As much as you can learn from your history, you have to move forward.”-Eddie Vedder. Eddie has a point we do learn from our past and we learn from our mistakes but it’s always good to move forward and learn more about yourself. In Mr.Block’s history class we learned more and more about the worlds past and even ourselves. You learn more about yourself when you learn more about your past. We had many units where we got to discover more about ourselves.

I learned that I have a knack for writing. I would express myself in our journal prompts and really go into detail how I felt about the topic of the day. One of our journal prompts  was about fighting for what you believe in and whether you would sacrifice yourself my answer “I mean I don’t really believe in anything enough to die for it... I guess I can say I would die to save my family or loved ones, because they mean the world to me.. But if a random person asked me to take a bullet for believing in the chupacabra I’d be like, you got the wrong one.”After writing that I development a new idea. As we went deeper into our units and learned more about history my opinion on a lot of things change. I felt one way on something but after doing more research and understanding more I would the complete opposite of what I did. Like the Keystone XL Pipeline at first I was up for the pipeline because it would make more jobs, but after our pipeline unit I learned that this pipeline would not only be relocating a lot of people whose homes are in the path, but it it leaks it could a lot of animals and ruin the environment. I wrote three monologues about the Pipeline teaching people about the dangers of the pipeline, here’s a sample of one of the monologues

“Dear Mr.President,

If you do read this, I want you to know that it’s time to make a decision. This pipeline that’s supposed to “help” America is actually tearing us apart. My dad was one of the many protestors who was thrown in jail the other day. He is facing a lot of time for standing up for what he believes in. This pipeline, if made will force a lot of people out their homes My dad was standing up for those people who don’t have a voice. Their voices wouldn’t be heard if it wasn’t for him. I’m just asking for your help, can you just let my dad go please? You knew what it’s like not having a dad around. All I want is mine. I hope you actually read this and help me.

Margaret Brownwood”

To read the full monologue and the other two click here

To read more writing by me click here

One of my favorite units that I really related to was our unit on female scientist and the empowerment of females all over the world. Where we discovered that women all over the world don’t have the same rights as men, and that we don’t have enough females in the science field who make a difference in people's lives. I wrote on one of our worksheet’s from The Cyberschoolbus site that “If women are empowered they’ll start going to school, and we can have more empowered females in the world” and if we have more empowered women maybe we can be seen more than just sex symbols.  I wrote more on that in my journal entry number 46 “Girls were born to be pretty and sometimes used as sex symbols while guys were born to be masculine and be the breadwinner for the family.... When really it doesn’t matter who does what..... well society doesn’t think that”

An important get to know yourself unit was Revolutions and Colonialism. In class we talked about the French and Haitian revolution, the Colonialism of the Aztecs in 1520’s, the Egyptian revolution of 201, The Industrial Revolution. During these units we would have mock trials were you get to play a certain character to defend yourself against the people who did you greasy. During the trials you do background information on the certain person you got and you put yourself in their shoes and it’s was interesting learning about past lives that affect you know.

“The vast universe is a wheel circle of life, birth, death and rebirth”  -quote from sacred text reading, and that’s how our history is people went through what they did so I could be on the path that I’m on now,which is going to school and getting my education to better myself. “Things can happen all at once and little changes can make a huge difference” my response to Science Revolution Worksheet. And I feel as those putting myself in their shoes, I grew a better appreciation for the people who did what they did, but at the same time I learned from their mistakes and how not to repeat history again good or bad.

Overall Mr.Block’s class was interesting.... His teaching was hands on wich made a real impression on me. It was a comfortable learning environment where we could debate anything for hours and still not get out point across, (which has happened many times). We got to express ourselves through journaling and iMovies and songs and at the end of the day we still learned about our past. It wasn’t your average history class with any average history teacher.  

Erase una vez en la escuela de SLA original.... Era un nueva escuela que solo tenia 100 estudiantes con 10 maestros. Donde los chicos estudiaban con computadores y no libros de texto. El almuerzo era fantástico y todos eran felices excepto un estudiante..... En esta escuela habia un estudiante única que se llamaban Mimzy. Nadie sabía su nombre real solo sabían que ella era demasiado extraño y no hablaba mucho con los otros chicos.. Ella vestiría como un abuela también tenía lentes de espesor y ancho, ella siempre quedó en el baño con un libro de ficción y un bocadillo de galletas y jugo de manzana.. Todos los días era la misma cosas después de sus clases y durante su tiempo libre Mimzy iría al baño para leer su libro y comer sus galletas.

Un dia deprimido, llovió todo la dia ni siquiera un pequeño vistazo de sol, como todos los días Mimzy se fue al baño para leer su libro. Pero cuando abrió la puerta encontraba a las chicas antipáticas esperándola. “Estas equivocada” decía un chica “No hay un baño para las personas monstruos” Mimzy quien fue muy insegura y huraña no quería pelear con las chicas trató de ir al baño pero una de las chicas agarró a sus galletas y el libro, lo dejó caer en el inodoro. “¿Que eres un perro?, como puedes comer en un baño como eso” pregunto unas de la chicas “Nosotros le estamos haciendo un favor, si quieres ser un chica humana que debe tener una vida fuera del baño” En este momento las chicas dejo a Mimzy en el baño con un libro en el inodoro y ni un migaja de comida. Cuando fui a buscar su libro, encontraba que en  el rollo de papel las chicas han escrito un mensaje “Mimzy es un anormal animal, que debería haberse quedado de dónde venía” Habia grafiti en todos los rollos de papel..  Mimzy intento de limpiarlo pero se quedó..

Despues de eso todos los días los chicos de escuela molestaba y embromado a Mimzy.. Ella era tan agobiado que corrió fuera de la escuela a la calle, donde choque con un carro. Mimzy nunca vio el coche que venía y nunca recuperó de la cirugía. Despues de su funeral el principal the SLA era tan disgustado con los chicos de su escuela que cerró las puertas, y nadie podria ir a SLA hasta que el director sentía que podía confiar en sus hijos de nuevo. Eso nunca sucedió...... Cinco años después de la muerte de Mimzy Señor Lehmann, reabrió sus puertas a SLA el segundo. Antes que que deje a los niños a entrar limpio al edificio. Pintaron las paredes differentes colores brillantes, pintaron murales en unos pisos. El proposito de todo eso trabajo es para tener un nuevo comienzo para un nuevo escuela. Cuando era tiempo de abrir las puertas todos olvidaban el graffiti en los baños. Era tan viejo que solo podrias ver el nombre de Mimzy... Muchos dicen que si usted lee en el baño puedes sentir Mimzy leyendo con usted.

En su memoria, El Principal mantiene a su nombre en los baños para para decir que no vale la pena meterse con otros niños que no hacen nada para ti y con la esperanza de sus chicos de la nueva SLA, recuerda la tragedia que paso en esto mismos baños.

1. Girl with a Pearl Earring (Dutch: Het Meisje met de Parel) Pintando por Johannes Vermeer en Delft, Netherlands el año 1665

2.The Kiss (Lovers) Pintando por Gustav Klimten de Austria en el año 1908 o 1909 nadie no se

¿Quién eres tú? Habla un poco de tus experiencias, valores, ideas, creencias, políticas.

Soy uno de los bombarderos de el Condor Legion (Germany) que ataco a Guernica. Estuve soportando mi grupo los nacionalistas .  Yo tenía órdenes del  Generalísimo Francisco Franco sólo para destruir todo sin preguntar porque. Eso es todo.... No sabia que en este pueblo vivía ancianos y madres con sus bebés. Despues de terminar mi trabajo cuando escuche quienes vivieron en el pueblo, fue un poco triste porque tengo un familia y no sabría qué hacer si descubrí que ellos se murieron.

¿Qué ves en la obra? ¿Cómo son los colores? Describe el tono.

Solo puedo ver personas tristes y muertos como si no hay esperanza escapar el futuro... Siento triste todos los veces que veo.

¿Qué quiere decir el artista?

El artista está diciendo un historia triste de los víctimas del ataque de Guernica. Porque hay conflicto de cuantos personas si murio del ataque y después del ataque.

¿Qué comunica/significa la obra para ti?

Para mi esta obra siempre va a ser un recordatorio de mi pasado en la guerra, y de todos los perosna que mató el 26 de Abril.

¿Te gusta? ¿Por qué la escogiste?

Creo que es un buen obra de arte. El artista hay puesto mucho detalle, pero no puede ver más.

El grupo Outernational fue formado en el mediado de 2004's. Los miembros del grupo son Miles Solay ( líder), Sonny Suchdev (trompeta/vocales/percusión), Minimum Tek (guitarra), Jesse Williams (guitarra baja ) y Turbo Garcia (tambores). Todos los cantantes son de Nueva York. Todos son hombres blancos que no pueden hablar ni un palabra de español pero en sus canciones cantan en español. Aunque no han firmado a una sello discográfico, el grupo a lanzado cinco canciones semi famosas alrededor de América. Uno de sus canciones famosas es Todos Somos ilegales (“We Are All Illegals”). Es una canción de protesta en la que expresan solidaridad con la situación que viven muchos inmigrantes por no tener papeles para vivir y trabajar legalmente en Estados Unidos. Este canción es uno de 18 canciones todos con un mensaje relacionada con el tema migratorio. La canción coincide con la decisión de la Corte Suprema de avalar un aspecto clave de la polémica ley SB 1070 de Arizona para combatir la inmigración ilegal. Hicieron un álbum completamente dedicado a las personas que escapan sus países y sus historias.

La mayoría de la canción tiene un tono rápido, tiene un mezcla única de rock y jazz, como sientes comos puedes bailar en círculos sacudiendo su cabeza como una persona loca.  Cuando escuchas a la canción sin palabras escuchas a tambores y un guitarra como si es un canción de rock pero en otras partes de la canción escuchas un trompeta de jazz. Desde mi punto de vista creo que la letra no va con la instrumentación. Cuando Miles canta solo prestas atención a la instrumentación a los instrumentos y no las palabras que estan diciendo. Esto es triste porque la canción tiene un buen tema. La tema grande de esta canción es la inmigración ilegal.Están diciendo que podemos ser podemos ser nacidos en América pero somos ilegales. Por lo tanto durante todo la canción cantan “Todo somos ilegales.” Un línea que atrapa mi atención es “The land we stand on, every inch of it stolen. How obscene that there’s people illegal ”Este línea de la canción es importante porque muchos necesitan recordar que los Europeos quitaban y robaron esta tierra de los Nativos. Como que los Europeos eran los ilegales de los Nativos. Después cuando mataban muchos de los Nativos demandaron el territorio eran los suyos. Significa la ironía de que los Americanos dicen que los restos son ilegales pero en realidad todos somos ilegales.

Cuando escucho la canción por la primera vez pensé que la canción era un poco ridículo,  a mi no me gusta las canciones de rock.Después de leer la letra pensé que esos hombres son talentosos. La canción está apoyando las persona que viven “ilegalmente” en América, y es un canción pegadizo. Aunque no me gusta las canciones de rock creo que este es un cancion buenisimo. Creo que la canción tiene un buen mensaje. Esta diciendo maltratamos a las personas cree la riqueza para la estado y tenemos que cambiar las reglas de inmigración. Aunque  no tengo problemas con la inmigración pienso que todos los humanos deben tener derechas iguales, y debemos ser tratados iguales. Es triste que tratamos a los personas no Americanas malas. El propósito de ser la tierra de los libres es para que todos pueden ser libres. Pero lo hacemos difícil que las personas pueden tener un green card, y no aceptamos a las personas que tenían problemas es su país. Encarcelamos todos los personas que son “inmigrante” Así como lo veo eso no es un definición de un tierra libre.  Aprendí un poco mas de inmigración y los efectos que tienen a todas las personas. Nunca pensé mucho en las cosas polémicos como la inmigración y los inmigrantes. Después de escuchar esta cancion mis ojos están abiertos de las cosas estan pasando en América.

In this unit we traveled across seas (not literally) to learn about revolutions all over the world.. We talked about the Arab Spring and Revolutions all over Africa. There was always a common topic of people being tired of being treated poorly by their rulers. Their rulers made promises to make better lives for the people but never did. To change the way the police force would treat the people (they did but the police force was just a corrupt). Enough was enough there was time for changed to be made. changes that actually did some good for the people. We would discuss about what makes a good revolution and what actually is a revolution. As a class we agreed a revolution is a change (good or bad), that can impact a way of life. For our benchmark is was our job to decide what makes a great revolution.

I decided to focus on the arts and colors. Me being who I am I feel like the news always portrays the bad sides of revolutions (violence and death ). The media can talks a little about the positive side or fun sides to revolutions but that doesn't get views.. People like drama (as long as it’s not theirs). So I wanted to do something a little more uplifting like bright colors and arts. My question was how does the arts keep a revolution from not falling apart? I will answer my question and hopefully brighten your day.

El Mural Grande

El foto de La Calavera Catrina

Dolores Jiménez era un maestra Mexicana y una revolucionario. Durante la revolución Mexicana Dolores como una activista ayudó a muchos personas famosas. Una persona importante para ella era General Emiliano Zapata. Dolores era un escritora para   Las Hijas de Cuauhtemoc y Complot de Tacubaya que eran grupos de activistas que, querían quitar el reino de Presidente Porfirio Díaz.

Una Oda a Dolores Jiménez una escritora olvidada

Mujer fuerte, Feroz, Presidente de las,  Las Hijas de Cuauhtemoc,

Inspiras a todas la mujeres que pueden escribir

lucha para las personas que no tienen una voz

Me haces pensar que yo puedo hacer algo mejor con mi vida

Tu, un salvador para los pobres

un maestra para los chicos

El Mural está ubicado en 4129 Woodland Avenue. El mural es para los veteranos que tenía problemas después de venir atrás a casa de un guerra ó la locación donde eran trabajando. Sean Casey un ayudante que ayudó a pintar el mural era un guerrero en Iraq (2006-2009) decía que "Having organizations like Mural Arts and Warrior Writers that are supportive of us veterans” diciendo que Mural Arts ayuda a los veteranos porque ellos saben que la gente sepa lo que pasan en el extranjero en la guerra. Es interesante ver la mural porque muchos no saben que pasa cuando hay un guerra. En el mural puedes ver un poco de la vida de un veterano. Después cuando regresan a casa aveces no actúan normal porque vieron cosas que podrían realmente los han asustado. Creo que el mural da vida al barrio, y quizás esperanza a los  veteranos que vivan allí.

fotos por Steve Weinik

Si Pudiera Vivir nuevamente mi vida,

Bailaría en el lluvia con mis botas de lluvia brillantes

Me haría más deportes para mantenerme mi forma

Subiría más montañas para ver puestas de sol

Viajaría por todo el mundo hasta que me llenaba más de 2 pasaportes

Cada día sería un aventura diferente.

Aprendería conducir una motocicleta

Quizás  un barco o un avión, las posibilidades son infinitas

Irá a puenting y paracaidismo en la misma semana

Despertaría con una sonrisa en mi cara

Porque se que es un nuevo dia y tengo

otro oportunidad para vivir un vida espectacular

Paría para oler a las rosas y daría gracias al sol

Viviría mi vida como que debería haber sido en el primer lugar

Sydne Hopkins-Baker: Nacio en Filadelfia el seis de Mayo 1998.

Mis padres se llaman Fairley Hopkins y John Baker (no es un panadero). Tengo un perro que se llama Señor Fuzzy, el es un Yorkie pequeño. A mi me gusta cantar, jugar fútbol y puedo cocinar. Soy estudiante de segundo año en SLA (Science Leadership Academy) y esto es mi cuento.

Cuando hablo con mis amigos dicen que soy muy amable. No tengo muchos problemas con nadie  porque a mi no me gusta pelear con nadie. Me llevo bien con casi todos las personas que se. Soy una trabajadora, cuando tiene un proyecto trabajo duro, quedó organizada y el proyecto final es expactural. Mis compañeros dicen que soy cariñoso, actuó como un mama y hablo con todos mis amigos me aseguro que todo esta bien en sus vidas.  Aveces puedo ser social a veces puedo ser huraña, depende de con quién estoy. Es que no me gusta hablar de mí mismo entonces es difícil hacerlo. Valgo mucho mis amigos de escuela y afuera de escuela. Valgo mucho  mi familia y las personas que actúan como mi familia. Me molesta mucho las personas que no tiran su basura en un basurero. Es que si quieres que tienes un vida saludable tienes que amar la tierra y respetarlo. En el futuro quisiera ser un veterinario ó un antropólogo forense como Bones de la programa de tele.

Tengo muchos relaciones entre amigos y familia, pero los relaciones más importantes para mi (que no es familia porque amo a mi familia) es mi relación de amistad con mi mejoras amigas Dionna y Brittany DeJesus. Yo y Dionna hemos sido amigos por más de 12 años. Somos uña y carne, ella es como mi hermana. Fuimos a la misma escuela de baile, y la mismas iglesia. Tenemos los mismos meses de cumpleaños. Mi cumple es el seis de Mayo y ella es el diecisiete de Mayo. Ella me entiende y escucha a todos mis problemas. Cuando ella tiene problemas doy consejos. Ella puede ser un poco huraño, y soy social somos los apuestos, pero creo que esto es la razón que estamos amigos.  Cuando estamos juntos actuamos como payasos, no somos graciosos pero las cosas que hablamos nos hace reír.  Con mi amiga Brittany somos amigos por más de 7 años. Brittany es como mi chica fiestera. Ella es muy social, tiene muchos amigos y quiere ir a todos los fiestas y bailar. Cuando estamos juntos somos imparables es ella y yo contra el mundo. Aveces ella me molesta porque habla mucho, y no escucha a mis problemas pero es normal para amigas. Si no tenia mis amigas en mi vida creo que mi vida sera aburrido. Me cae bien con todos mi amigos en mi consejería, porque ellos me dan risa y me entienden. Mi consejera se llama Señorita Martin, ella puede ser un autoritaria pero ella es cariñosa , actúa como mi mama. Todos mis maestros son simpáticos y me gusta sus clases, pero hay un maestro que no me cae bien, no voy a nombrar porque eso sería grosero. Creo que su clase es lo  muy aburrido, aprendemos cosas pero no las cosas que necesitamos en vida.  Es que tienes que estar en su clase para entender en qué estoy diciendo. Tenemos un buen principal, Señor Lehmann, el es tranquilo el no grito a los chicos cuando hagan algo malo. Es generoso cuando necesitas algo el puede dar esto. En SLA tratamos a todos como familia.

Es lo que hay en el interior que hace que una persona hermosa. Cuando alguien describe a su mismo solo hablan de los características físicas y no los características que describe que quieres ser o como eres. Soy independiente a veces no quiero la ayuda de personas porque no ayudan en la manera que quiero. No puedes ver que soy inseguro acerca de mi apariencia. Creo que si miro egh, todo el mundo me está mirando. En realidad soy un empollón de escuela. A mi me gusta escuela pero no los projectos ni la tarea. A mi me gusta las problemas de matemáticas, porque son desafíos. A mi me gusta la clase de ingles porque podemos leer y escribir sobre lo que queremos. Aveces me gusta la clase de Historia, si aprendemos sobre cosas que no se trata de America, me gusta saber cosas de otros religiones o guerras y políticas de otros paises. Soy imaginativa/ extraño, a veces mi mente va a las nubes y puedo quedar aqui por horas. Puedo pensar en muchos tópicos como, que pasaria que tenemos paz en todo el mundo. O que pasaria si Unicorns y si todos los mitos era verdad. Valgo mucho mis amigos de escuela y afuera de escuela. Valgo mucho mucho mi familia y las personas que actúan como mi familia. Me molesta mucho las personas que no tiran su basura en un basurero. Es que, si quieren un vida saludable tienes que amar la tierra y respactalol. En el futuro quisiera ser un veterinario ó un antropólogo forense como Bones de la programa de tele. Conocida en su colegio como Syd or SydSyd. Mi máscara tiene un máscara. Significa que no quieres que nadie miras entonces escondites con mascaras. Avecess pongo mi máscara para que alguien no puede ver lo que realmente está sucediendo. La animal que que está siendo representado es un peacock. Estos pájaros tienen plumas brillantes que no puedes perder. Como yo cuando es un buen dia brilla con mis colores brillantes. La máscara va ser un desafío pero creo que voy a tener divertirme.

Es lo que hay en el interior que hace que una persona hermosa. Cuando alguien describe a su mismo solo hablan de los características físicas y no los características que describe que quieres ser o como eres. Soy una persona amable siempre estoy dibujando caras sonrientes en los papeles de todos. Soy una trabajadora, cuando tiene un proyecto trabajo duro, quedó organizada y hago un buen trabajo final. Mis compañeros dicen que soy cariñoso actuó como un mama y hablo con todos mis amigos me aseguro que todo esta bien en sus vidas. Soy independiente aveces no quiero la ayuda de personas porque no ayudan en la manera que quiero. Aveces puedo ser social aveces puedo ser huraña, depende de donde esta y con quién estoy. Es que no me gusta hablar de mí mismo entonces es difícil hacerlo. Valgo mucho mis amigos de escuela y afuera de escuela. Valgo mucho mucho mi familia y las personas que actúan como mi familia.

Tengo muchos relaciones entre amigos y family, pero un relaciones importantes para yo es mi relación de amistad con mi mejoras amigas Dionna y Brittany DeJesus. Hemos sido amigos por más de 12 años. Somos uña y carne, ella es como mi hermana. Fuimos a la misma escuela de baile, la mismas iglesia. Tenemos los mismos meses de cumpleaños. Mi cumple es el seis de Mayo y ella es el diecisiete de Mayo. Ella me entiende y escucha a todos mis problemas. Cuando ella tiene problemas yo doy consejos. Ella puede ser un poco huraño, y soy social somos los apuestos. Cuando estamos juntos actuamos como payasos, no somos graciosos pero las cosas que hablamos de nos hace reír.   Entonces creo que esta es la razón que somos amigas.  Con mi amiga Brittany somos amigos desde hace más de 7 años. Brittany es como mi chica fiestera. Ella es muy social, tiene muchos amigos y quiere ir a todos los fiestas y bailar. Cuando estamos juntos somos imparables es ella y yo contra el mundo. Aveces ella me molesta porque habla mucho, y no escucha a mis problemas pero es normal para amigas. Si no tenia mis amigas en mi vida creo que mi vida sera aburrido.

Sla es un escuela diferente.  Tenemos consejerías, mi consejería se llama los Bey-Martins. Me cae bien con todos mi amigos en mi consejería, porque ellos me dan risa y me entienden. Mi consejera se llama Señorita Martin, ella puede ser un autoritaria pero ella es cariñosa , actúa como mi mama. Todos mis maestros son simpáticos y me gusta sus clases, pero hay un maestro que no me cae bien. Creo que su clase es muy aburrido, aprendemos cosas pero no las cosas que necesitamos en vida.  Es que tienes que estar en su clase para entender en qué estoy diciendo. Tenemos un buen principal, Señor Lehmann  es tranquilo el no grito a los chicos cuando hagan algo malo. Es generoso cuando necesitas algo el puede dar esto. En Sla tratamos a todos como familia.

In Mr. Blocks world history class we were learning about The Keystone XL pipeline. This unit was interesting because before this class I never knew there was supposed to even be an pipeline. The Keystone pipeline is a 1,179 mile pipe that will transfer over 830 million barrels of oil from Canada to oil companies in America. In class we read articles and  watched videos from both sides of the pipeline. The first was about the people who invented the pipeline, they said the pipeline will create more than 20 million new construction jobs.  It will give America independence when it comes to oil transportation. Which meant we wouldn’t have to depend on oil  companies across the sea. Then the counter video was about the protesters who were against the pipeline being built. They said that if this pipe is built it will cause more pollution to be put in the air which can increase greenhouse gasses that causes global warming. Another important reason of why the pipe shouldn’t be built was because if it leaks it can pollute the water sources that are near the pipe and it could kill any living being  who drinks the water. 

Later we had discussions about how we feel about the pipeline. I think it would be a great idea to have the pipeline but in order to get the oil we would have to dig up miles and miles of land to get the oil needed. We are already polluting our land and if we use for resources than can be reproduced eventually we’ll have nothing left and we’ll have to start depending on other companies again. It’s a good idea but America isn’t ready for the responsibility of a pipeline.

Cualidades

Creo que es difícil describirme porque a mi no me gusta hablar sobre mi.  Cuando hablo con mis amigos dicen que soy muy amable y cariñoso. No tengo muchos problemas con porque no me gusta pelear con nadie. Me llevo bien con todos o muchos hay personas que no me gusta pero esto es vida. Soy imaginativa, a veces mi mente va a las nubes y puedo quedar aqui por horas. Es que no se que decir , no puedo describirme.

For the last art project of the school year this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed carving and printing, and I did not cut off a finger. This type of project wasn’t new to me because I printed during summer camp but didn’t focus on negative space or matting art. My element was Barium. Some interesting facts about Barium is that Sir Humphry Davy discovered Barium in 1808. It’s Atomic number is 56 Barium is found in salts that are used to make fireworks green. Barium is also used in metals to make them heavy sometimes used in silverware and X-rays. My print is called Barium Man. It suits the print because the carnie is holding up an anvil that is made by Barium. I had other sketches for Barium but this sketch was perfect At SLA we embrace using the five core values and during this project the values were useful in many areas.

Inquiry: The first question was which sketch shows the uses to Barium?  A good question that I asked myself was would this be easy to carve without cutting my self?

Research: To make my sketch I had to learn more about my element. I researched more about Barium to get an accurate design to see what it looks like. Based off of printing from before, your sketch should be easy to carve. Another thing is to know about negative space. If you know where your negative space is your print will turn out better than expected.

Collaboration: When it came time for printing we all collaborated as a whole to put out paints and take turns using the different rollers because there was more paint than rollers. Another way we collaborated as a whole was the clean up. We all came together to clean up the room when we were done so we wouldn’t be late to our next class.   

Presentation: For my presentation I matted the best print out of all the prints I made. I also decided to show the world my creations by blogging about them. It’s a good way to show off something you are proud off.

Reflection: Over all this was a fun project, if I could do it over I would try a new design that would have thicker lines and less detail. The more detail in the print the harder it was to carve. With a design that has thicker lines and less design it is easier to see the print and it looks a lot neater than mines was.   

When doing this project it was really hard to find the negative space of the project. When it came to drawing in my sketchbook I was lost. So the easiest way I found the negative space was by making the whole page negative by then I could draw the object or the positive space. With another picture I drew the picture first then added a shadow which acted like negative space. When it came to my real life drawing I used Ms.Hull’s picture as an example. My negative space was the green paper. The trick was to only cut one paper and use the mirror effect to place the positive space down.

I think negative space really enhances drawings. You can look at it in different ways and find something new it makes them fun to look at and it keeps you thinking about what was first. It’s like zebras, are zebras white with black strips of black with white strips? Everyone knows the answer but it’s a fun question to ask. Like art some people see one thing while others see something completely different.

Agent of Change

A You and The World Project

​For my creative I have two different parts to it.The first part I have a mini story of Lady Macbeth's point of view of everything. I added details that talk about her childhood, and how she met Macbeth. It gives more story/detail to Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare really didn’t give background on Macbeth or Lady Macbeth. I like knowing a little bit about the character and they because who they were.  The second part I made a short film of what I wrote in the story. The film has pictures in it. The film also adds dramatization to the 6 quotes I had in my Lady Macbeth Essay. This is the little kid in me but I love pictures. The book has to be really good for me not to care about the book having pictures or not. Some points in the book needed pictures, the scene with the witches would be ten times better if there was a picture of them dancing. Creating the video was a little hard. You want to make sure it’s not too long where the people won’t want to see it. It also takes a while to make an iMovie so it takes time and patience. The hardest part was trying to find the perfect background music. I wanted to do something from Scotland. It’s rare that you find nice bagpipes that won’t kill your ears. I finally found a song on iTunes that was perfect. The worst part was edit the movie because not everything goes the way you want it.  Overall I'm proud of my work, I think I did a good job on it. I’m most proud of the pictures for the quotes. My original idea was to have my friend pose as the pictures but that didn’t work. So I drew one picture I found some and added the quotes. I love the quotes I think some of them are really deep.

If I could change my project I would want to use a calmer version of the bagpipe music. I would also  like my friends to act out the quotes. That would be so cool to use diffrent people to see how they felt the quotes should look like. I’m still new to using iMovie so Tiarra helped a lot. When I watched her movie it gave me ideas to how to make my movie better. The projects from orange stream are really creative. From viewing their projects I learned new things from each person. I didn’t know that some people were artistically creative like that. What I took away from this essay is I love to free write. Doing my creative part I love making up stories, about people. using iMovie was hard but I like to experience new things, someday it might come in handy.

Click here for resources