I’ve been writing since I was in grade school. I was published by third grade, in a national poetry book for students. When it came time for the capstone in my final year at SLA, I knew I wanted to write something. I took the idea of writing a book and kind of ran with it. It would be titled Eat. I asked for submissions in the advisory memo, and on social media, and ended up with a few written works from people I knew online. The submissions were placed in a section of the book titled Moving Forward, dedicated to personal struggles and issues people have faced. This particular section is a combination of music, famous poems, personal works, and submissions. There were two other sections to the book, In Time and A Continuous; In Time being dedicated to time stamped things I’d written late at night or randomly throughout days, while A Continuous is simply things I’m proud of, and occasionally things I’ve had published.

Most of the time I spent working on this project, I was working with other people to collect works and compile things in an order that made sense. Getting people to submit things took a while, which is mostly due to asking for newly written works from most people. In this process, I came to understand that while I write well, writing on command like book writing entails is incredibly difficult. It’s also really really hard to get people to cooperate and contribute to things when you lack any serious backing to prove something will come from their effort.

In the end, though, the final piece came together nicely. It’s a polished 30 page book, including the title page.

Sunflowers hold the meanings of adoration, loyalty and longevity. Yellow, the common colour of sunflowers, has many meanings; freshness, happiness, positivity, clarity, energy, optimism, enlightenment, remembrance, intellect, honor, loyalty, and joy. Sunflowers are meant to lift spirits, and bring happiness and joy to any person who sees them. They’re named after the sun, which is often associated with happiness and smiles all on its own. They’ve also been used a food source for thousands of years. Taking this into account, sunflowers should be recognized as the best, and most important flower.

Sunflowers, having originated in the Americas sometime in 1,000B.C., were used to supply food for anybody who needed it. When European explorers discovered the flower, they spread it throughout Europe and eventually the rest of the world. Everywhere across the entire world was talking about the beauty and usefulness of sunflowers. Today, the flowers seeds are used for cooking oil and margarine making, as well as being edible on their own. Their seeds alone provide a quick, cheap foodsource to people who need it. They’re nontoxic to the environment, and help prevent pollution while still producing food.

In some native cultures, Sunflowers have been used as religious symbols. They hold many meanings to different people, and their importance is worldwide. Sunflowers are known to help fight depression, as well. Not only are they the symbol of happiness, and the sun, the nutrients in their seeds raise Serotonin levels, which helps nerve function. It’s not clear if they can fully cure depression, as no one really knows if curing depression is fully possible, but they do help. Even if they’re not curing depression, in some organizations they’re used as a symbol of the fight against depression.

Sunflower seeds are also really great for physical health. While being nutrient and vitamin enriched, they’re full of healthy fats that help fight many diseases. They help reduce the risk of heart diseases, certain types of cancer, balances blood pressure, and combats bone conditions like osteoporosis. Their high vitamin E content also helps with skin health, and keeps the body healthy for much longer.

Sunflowers are beneficial in many ways, especially in a person’s mental and physical health. They have ties to religion, and provide natural and safe food sources with their seeds. People all over the world have been benefiting from the flower for thousands of years. For these reasons, they deserve to be recognized as the most important flower.

Sources:

ProFlowers. "History and Meaning of Sunflowers." ProFlowers Blog. N.p., 10 June 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

Project, Start, Jennifer Bourn, and Jennifer Bourn. "Meaning Of The Color Yellow |". Bourn Creative. N.p., 2017. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

"Want To Help Fight Depression? Plant Sunflowers". Choices. N.p., 2017. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

"Sunflower Seeds Are Answer From Nature To Antidepressant Drugs". NaturalNews. N.p., 2017. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

"Sunflower Seeds: Benefits, Nutrition & Recipes". Dr. Axe. N.p., 2017. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

This is my best 2Fer because it's about a topic I actually enjoyed writing about. Most of the 2Fer's have been written last minute, or in the moment, on topics I didn't really care about, or they were so rushed it didn't even make sense as to why I was writing them. This time, though, I actually enjoyed writing it, and I feel like I still could've done better but I'm happy with the end result.

Love’s Like A Movie

The Taming of the Shrew features two characters, Lucentio and Bianca. Lucentio came to Padua to attend school, but ended up falling in love with Bianca at first sight. He abandoned his duties with school to pursue Bianca, and hope to court her in marriage. Bianca is the second daughter of Baptista, sister to Katherine. She’s many, many suitors available to her, but she’s unable to marry until Katherine is married off first. Across The Universe, a Beatles musical set during the Vietnam War, is focused around the romance of Lucy (Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds) and Jude. (Hey Jude) Jude came to America, from London, in search of his father and work opportunities. He meets Max, Lucy’s brother, at Princeton, and befriends him. He later meets Lucy and, upon falling in love with her at first sight, abandons his original plans in America to pursue her. Lucy is a student whose boyfriend, Daniel, went to war in Vietnam. She meets Jude just before Daniel dies in the war.  Despite Lucy and Jude being in a very different romantic situation than Lucentio and Bianca, both situations stem from love at first sight and the abandonment of the males original goals. The behaviors of people who experience love at first sight are essentially the same, and often come as a distraction.

In the I’ve Just Seen A Face scene of Across The Universe, Jude is at a bowling alley with Max and Lucy after spending thanksgiving with their family goes terribly. Jude realises in this moment that he is ‘in love’ with Lucy.  

He’s had exactly one conversation with Lucy before this scene, and yet has decided he’s in love with her. The song’s lyrics, as well as the way the camera follows Jude as he watches Lucy, tells the audience he truly believes he’s in love with her after such a short time. Love at first sight is a very strong factor in this movie’s plot; the events that follow this realization are entirely driven by Jude’s ‘love’ for Lucy.

In The Taming of The Shrew, Tranio openly questions the possibility of love at first sight when Lucentio falls for Bianca after only seeing how she acts with her father and sister in public.

“I pray, sir, tell me, is it possible

That love should of a sudden take such hold.”

(Lines 148-150, A1S1, Tranio)

This quote seems to be countering all ideals the audience may have about love at first sight. He doesn’t believe it’s truly possible for someone to fall in love so suddenly and have it be a true, real love, like Lucentio, or Jude, swears it is. The reaction to love at first sight is very different for either party, though. Lucentio is questioned, while Jude’s situation goes nearly unnoticed until later on, when it’s only commented on very slightly. While love at first sight itself might’ve not changed, the reactions to it certainly have.

Towards the end of the song, Jude questions staying in the town to be around Lucy. (the location of Lucy and Max’s family is never determined)

He originally came to the city to look for his father, who he found, and look for a new life and work, which he didn’t ever accomplish. When he meets Lucy, he gives up the rest of his mission for his love for her.

Lucentio experiences something nearly identical to Jude; he came to a city to attend school, but abandoned it after falling in love with Bianca. In this scene, he decides he’s going to solely pursue Bianca, and ignores attending school entirely for it.

“Tranio, I burn, I pine! I perish, Tranio

If I achieve not this young modest girl.”

(Lines 157-158, A1S1, Lucentio)

Love at first sight often comes with the abandonment of conflicting goals, as seen in Across The Universe, and The Taming of The Shrew. The love at first sight comes as a distraction from their original mission, or goals, that the love interrupts. Had Lucentio not seen Bianca, he would’ve gone to school like his father wished. Had Jude not met Max or Lucy, he would’ve either returned home to his mother or found work in America. However, both parties ended up generally well off in the end. (sans Jude and Lucy’s fallout around midway point for drama.) Love at first sight, despite being a distraction, can work out in the end.

Directly after the bowling alley scene, Max warns Jude of the existence of Daniel, Lucy’s boyfriend in the war. Jude is practically unfazed by this, and jokes about the fact he technically has a girlfriend, too.  

Love at first sight also tends to come with obstacles, and the way they’re approached seems to have an impact on the turnout of the love in the end.

The Taming of The Shrew offers the obstacle of Baptista’s rule on how his daughters shall be wed;

“That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter

Before I have a husband for the elder.”

(Lines 50-51, A1S1, Baptista)

Lucentio goes into this challenge with a mindset extremely similar to that of Jude’s about Daniel. That’s okay. He acknowledges the barrier, and vows to find ways around it. He ends up enacting a huge, elaborate plan to get to Bianca, and succeeds. Jude chooses to ignore Daniel’s existence, and Daniel ends up dying in the war not long after. The audience expects the relationships to work out in the end because of how determined and unbothered the males were upon finding out about obstacles related to their love.

This quarter, I made this ceiling tile. It’s based off of a “spray” from Overwatch, a video game. It’s of my favourite character, and the one i play the most, Junkrat. It’s kind of a grenade, I think? And it’s my favourite spray of his, so I thought it’d be really cool to remake it and be able to leave it behind in the school once I’d left. I really think people should play/appreciate Overwatch, and I think this is a good start.

Alexander Khan

English 3

10/17/16

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines folklore as “ideas or stories that are not true but that many people have heard or read,” while lore on its own is defined as “knowledge gained through study or experience; a particular body of knowledge or tradition.” In the modern day, lore appears most commonly throughout digital universes crafted by video game designers. Video games have very open ended stories, which gives people room to make their own conclusions. These video games begin conjuring followers, and eventually a community of people begin to piece together stories, essentially creating modern day folklore overtime.

The past two years have introduced the internet gaming communities to many new gaming phenomena, such as the indie horror series Five Nights at Freddy’s by Scott Cawthon, and Overwatch by the Blizzard franchise. Both of these games have amassed large followings, not only for their gameplay and overall story, but for the lore behind the game.

Five Nights at Freddy’s lore follows a story of multiple restaurant locations, different animatronic robots, and a series of injured children. Many followers of the game series spend days, even weeks, trying to piece together the six game long series of mixed up stories. Players are never told anything that’s really going on within the game, just given hints that there are dangerous things happening around the player. This makes it nearly impossible to really figure out the game’s true story, and therefore sends its fans into a frenzy of decoding and detective work. This game, having been highly anticipated by its Steam Greenlight page months before its release, brought in record high views for certain gaming youtubers who made videos on the game. One youtuber, Markiplier, had his first video on the game reach over 53 million views. Another youtuber, under the channel The Game Theorists, dedicated his time to figuring out the lore behind Five Nights at Freddy’s. As the newest game in the series was released, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location, countless blogs and forums dedicated to piecing together the lore of this single game have sprouted in addition to the remaining active forums for the previous five games. All of this devoted energy shows that people are looking for more information to this ever growing story; they’re dedicated to this game franchise and the story behind it.

Many people have tried to explain the phenomena that is the FNAF series. One article at Kotaku starts with; “It has racked up millions and millions of views (and screams) on YouTube. It has hundreds of earnest fan games, and dozens of rabid fan theories. The Five Nights at Freddy's hype train is incredible.” However, many games have seen the same lore hype like this series, such as Dishonored or even the Pokémon games at times, so why do people keep talking about FNAF? The lore is so quickly produced and twisted, each game being released only months after the other, that people keep bringing it back up, trying to understand it, much like old folklore. The game, while called overhyped by many, is still drawing attention to itself with how many people have gathered to discuss the lore behind it.

In the Overwatch side of things, fans of the game have been watching a webpage for the last two months, lying in wait for a counter to reach 100% and trigger the release of a mysterious character. A website called amomentincrime has been counting up from zero since late August after a few fans dug into an alternate game reality of Overwatch, which showed a shadowy ghost figure that resembled what they’d seen of this new character. Blogs have been dedicated to watching the percentage, and the source code of the website, for hints as to when it’ll reach 100%. The only real hint given is the text on the website that says “Initiating protocol Sombra” in Spanish, which leads every fan in radius of the website to believe 100% means the ultimate release of Sombra, a character known for her association with the games “bad guys.” Blizzard has said very little about the game’s origin itself, but through the brief descriptions of the 22 playable characters’ backstories, fans have built up their own versions of the origin story.  No story is ever the same, much like the way folklore stories are passed down through generations and changed to fit individual morals. People are creating individual versions of video game lore to fit the things they seek out in a good lore-based game.

Unlike FNAF, Overwatch has used the characters they have to make real world connections, such as the animated short The Last Bastion showing a robot with signs of PTSD from the war he fought in, or the short Dragons showing family problems in a different light than usually seen. This lore being canon ties back strongly to the notion that video game lore is becoming the modern day folklore; real world problems being shown in a light where things can get better, stories told in ways meant to be relatable to anyone who reads them. In the words of Blizzard; “We poured a lot of effort into creating a game—and a new universe—that anyone could enjoy.”

Video games with lore like these two have hit the internet gaming communities by storm; millions of players have taken to forums and blogs to figuring out detailed stories worked within the games they’ve come to know and love. These stories have begun to spread, and be passed around different groups of people, essentially creating a system of modern day folklore. Although many gaming communities outside of these two might not fully see the impact of modern folklore, overtime it will begin influencing other game developers. When these new developers see the success of lore-based games like Five Night’s At Freddy’s and Overwatch, they’ll be more likely to follow that format, eventually creating a completely new genre of folklore games.

Works CIted

@GeekAnthro. "Contemporary Folklore in the Digital Age." The Geek Anthropologist. N.p., 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

https://thegeekanthropologist.com/2014/10/03/contemporary-folklore-in-the-digital-age/

By Lola at Monday, June 06, 2016 12:10:00 PM. "A Few Important Words from Blizzard about the Overwatch Phenomenon." Gamezone. N.p., 06 June 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

http://www.mweb.co.za/games/view/tabid/4210/Article/26067/A-few-important-words-from-Blizzard-about-the-Overwatch-phenomenon.aspx

Hernandez, Patricia. "Why Five Nights at Freddy's Is So Popular." Kotaku. N.p., 06 Feb. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

http://kotaku.com/why-five-nights-at-freddys-is-so-popular-explained-1684275687

I’ve never been a big fan of using hashtags to try and make change happen.

I’ve never even been one to try and make change happen, so I guess my opinion is an outlier that shouldn’t be counted.

Especially since I’m a huge hypocrite when under stress.

In my previous two posts, the talk of cosplay enforced sexual harassment was the focus. In the first post, I mentioned people who were faced with the harassment, and why it’s important to know about. In the second post, I showed results to a survey I sent out to 25 cosplayers, asking them about their experiences.

I’ve mentioned a group called Geeks for CONsent a few times in the past posts, as well. They’re a group of two girls, cosplayers, that have booths set up at conventions and raise awareness about sexual harassment at conventions; such as trying to help place stronger rules against it in Convention rules. They’ve also given people a place to talk about their experiences, and even get help with it; almost like a convention buddy system. No one goes alone.

For my agent of change, I decided to go against myself and use a tag on a social media site called Tumblr.

I had rounded up a group of people and asked them to reblog/repost photos that were posted by cosplayers and tag it with:

Which would eventually link back to a post made describing the project.

(Original post found here)

Out of the people recruited, only a few actually got back to me with their participation.

The following screenshots (along with the links to the original posts with the cosplay featured, not posted directly due to personal rights.) are the few I gathered.

Original posts found here, here, and here.

Original posts found here, here, here and here

Originally, I had planned to do a video. It was to be a public service announcement type thing, where cosplayers sent photos of themselves with signs in cosplay and talked about the things they’ve gone through if they wanted. But, sadly, not many people actually wanted to take part, or just didn’t have the time. So the idea flopped/

However, a few people have given me the permission to use their photos for example. Credit being given where asked, of course. (They’re actually both from the same fandom- how funny is that?)

(http://that-multishipping-choirboy.tumblr.com)

Since starting this project, I’ve grown a lot more involved with this community. This project has changed my outlook on things, and made me realize that people become really good at covering things up about themselves until they’re actually asked about it. It’s also made people feel more comfortable with themselves. By talking about it with someone, they’re willing to face people with confidence, and they’re not afraid anymore. I think I can call this a success.

Moving forward, I think it’d be a good idea to keep this tag going, to try and expand it and make it a normal thing to do.

Make it kind of… a safe word.

There’s still a lot to do with preventing sexual harassment all together, not just at conventions alone, but we’re still fighting for it. And that’s what matters.

Consent is a funny word. Everyone has a different idea about what it means, and many sides to the same face causes problems.

In my opinion, consent is safety. Consent is being able to trust that your sixteen year old child can go to a highly populated convention for cosplaying geeks and not be sexually assaulted and harassed. Do you know how difficult it is to have to convince your parents you can protect yourself from a community you're supposed to be a part of? Or maybe, the worrying you do when trying to figure out which costume to wear; “Will this give people the idea that it’s okay to touch me?”

I am a cosplayer, I am not an object.

Cosplay is “the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, or video game, especially one from the Japanese genres of manga and anime.”

Cosplay is not “Lets wear this to get everyone’s attention!” or “I just love it when random strangers come up to me and grope me!”

Consent is “permission for something to happen or agreement to do something.”

Consent is not “Their clothes are so revealing! They were asking for it!” or “If you act like a slut, you'll be treated like one!”

So, basically what I'm trying to get across with this project: COSPLAY DOES NOT EQUAL CONSENT!

A sign from Geeks for CONsent. (SOURCE)

At this point, you're probably thinking about passing this off as just another passive-aggressive rant you can ignore, but this is important.

Last year, a young female cosplayer was found badly beaten, sexually assaulted, and unconscious after being taken from San Diego Comic-Con by a 29 year old male. (Source) This is only the most recent that’s been recorded publically. Sometimes, people get lucky and they don't end up drugged, and half dead- At that same convention, Adrianne Curry (America's Next Top Model) defended one of her friends after their pants were yanked down by a man trying to grope them. (Source) What I’m trying to say here is that this happens a lot more than you'd think. It might not be important to you, and I don't mean to pull this card but, what if this happened to someone you cared about? What if it happened to you? Would you know what to do?

More importantly, do you want to? Would you want to have to worry about protecting yourself every second you're trying to enjoy something important to you? Would you want to be bound to your phone in fear? Not just yours, but your parents’? Do you want to have fun, or be safe?

As one source said, a cosplayer themself, “The groping, the stalking, the upskirting, the unwanted attention and photographs are all part of the misbehavior and women want it stopped.” (AATTP)

A spandex cat woman suit is not consent.

A short-skirted Harley Quinn is not consent.

A big-breasted anime character is not consent.

COSPLAY IS NOT CONSENT.

Because yes! This happens every single day to people on the streets and in public areas. This is something that happens. And the same excuses are used- Clothes, attitude, alcohol; but people don't even listen to cosplayers- to us. We're a joke. And yes, I understand that that’s the case for a lot of people, but there’s a lot more people fighting with them because more times than not people think cosplayers allow it.

Hayley and Zaine

Extranjero.

Entrevistamos un el estudiante grado once en SLA. Su nombre es Nick. Nos habló de su familia. Su familia no es muy grande, pero no es pequeña. Él no dice mucho acerca de ellos, sin embargo.

Lo que sí dice es esto:

Él es el ruso, lituano e italiano. El es un orador ruso y lituano autodidacta, y es el único en su familia a hablar otro idioma. su nombre completo, Nickolai, en ruso es Николай. Él es una de las cinco personas en su familia, que consta de dos hermanos, una hermana y su padre. Ellos viven en el noreste de Filadelfia, junto con su barro amasado.

Sus actividades favoritas son jugar videojuegos y levantamiento de pesas. A él le gusta el anime y da las sugerencias de primer año. Él es un constructor del cuerpo aspirante. Está muy en la política, especialmente las cosas que implican la justicia social. (él está en el equipo de debate.) Construye sus propias computadoras. A él le gusta para asegurarse de que tiene la mejor experiencia de juego posible, al parecer.

Nick y su familia ir a Disney World muy con frecuencia con su familia. Sus hermanos y hermana trabajo y leen libros mucho, dijo. También dijo que su papá trabaja y relojes deportes mayor parte del tiempo.

A veces sale como un poco mezquino, pero Nick es en general muy agradable. No fue una larga entrevista. Él no tenía mucho que decir, pero cuando lo hizo él habló con cariño de su familia. Graci

El SLA Fanfiction.

Nuestros nombres son Zaine, Alex, y Nathan. Somos del primer años en SLA. Hay cinco pisos, no usamos cuatro piso. Hay veinte profesores en la nuestra escuela. Señor Lehmann es nuestro director. Fue fundada en 2006. Tenemos programas de la universidad de verano, y programas de ciencia. Es una muy diversa.

` La clases nosotros tener En SLA es Historia, Español, Inglés, Álgebra, Bioquímica, Drama, Tecnología, Arte, Ingeniería Estudiante de primer año, T.F.I, y Estudio Habilidades. Nuestro favorito clases son Inglés y Historia porque nosotros pensar que es un realmente creativo y activo clase. Nosotros socializar y discutir acerca asignaciones así nosotros lata entender  un poco mejor. Otro cosa es tener un punto de referencia que usted lata hacer ella a cualquier cosa usted realmente querer ella a ser. Algunos gente tener hecho su proyectos en murales, modeles, raps, canciones, y cosas como ellos sentir como haciendo o tener su talento. En inglés, ella siente como tu lata ser libre y aprender en la mismo tiempo.  Nuestro profesores, permitido nosotros elegir entre leer un libro porque nosotros pensar s su interesante y divertido. Nosotros también tener cosas como Wilma que nosotros fue a último jueves en la drama estudio y nosotros cuota nuestro personalidades y nuestro camino de demostración nosotros mismos. Básicamente, qué usted necesitar en Inglés es un lápiz, cuaderno, y su cerebro para ser creativo y idea genial diferente ideas para diferente asignaciones que ella cesionarios nosotros. En la clase, nuestro maestro nos permite a idea genial Ideas tenemos para puntos de referencia tal como un momoria y tener a hablar acerca de usted mismos.

Nuestros favorito es Señor Todd y Señorita Giknis. Señor Todd enseña Africano Americano Historia y Señorita Giknis enseña inglés. En Señor Todd clase es muy interestico y inglés es muy divertido. Señor Todd es nerd y comico. Señorita Giknis es interesante, creativo y amable.  Señorita Giknis enseña Inglés es y Señor Todd enseña Historia. Nosotros amar nuestro enseñanza porque de camino de profesor enseñanza    

First slide is the intro - ¡Bienvenidos! Los seres queridos en mi vida.

Second slide is yo/me - Mi nombre es Zaine, tengo quince años. Mi gusta videojuegos, youtubers, Marvel, y Homestuck.

Third slide - Su nombre es Elijah. Él tiene más o menos tengo cuatro meses. Él es mi sobrino!

Fourth slide - Es mi mejor amiga. Su nombre es Melissa, la quiero mucho. Ella vive en Florida, es puertorriqueña. Ella le gusta dibujar tremendamente.  

Fifth slide - Sus nombres son Mark Fischbach o Markiplier y Aaron Ash o Yamimash. Ellos encanta jugar videojuegos en Youtube. Ellos famoso. Yamimash vive en England, Markiplier vive en Los Ángeles.

Sixth slide - Es mi y CJ, Avery, Eleanor y Paul-Ann.. Estamos entre trece y quince años. Nos gusta Youtube mucho. Nosotros un poco loco, y muy fabuloso.  Estamos muy divertido.

Seventh slide - ¡Vale, eso es todo! ¡Gracias!