Lincoln Analysis

I took a class called Ollywood. In this class, we discussed cinematography, screenplay, acting and other topics relating to movies. For this class, we have taken many FEs to amazing places such as the Siskel and Ebert movie theater to watch a documentary called The Area which featured the struggles of people living in Englewood. We also had representatives from the Goodman theatre come and help us read out a screenplay with proper inflections and tone. So far I have found this class to be very interesting and really have learned a lot about movies and have gained a better appreciation for them, every time I watch a movie I actually look at the details and the characters and how they are portraying their part. I think the biggest takeaway is really understanding the context of the scene and seeing if what's happening is what should be portrayed. 

 

Life behind the scenes

This term I am taking a class called Ollywood. In this class we are learning about what goes on behind the scenes of movies and how much work it really takes to really make a movie function.  We have discussed screenplay, location scouts, and storyboards. To really understand those topics we have make our own storyboards and we even had to choose our own locations based on certain criteria and my location was actually chosen for our trip since it really fit the criteria assigned. This class really gave me an appreciation for older films as well as some newer ones because older films really seem to be better thought through since they had less in work with in a way. Newer movies can be corrected with special effects which makes it easier.

For this action project we had to analyse a movie. I chose the movie Life of Pi. I chose Life of Pi because I think that it has a very dynamic plot and the characters are very unique and that isn't something very often seen among newer movies. I think that newer movies tend to follow similar plots and have relatively generic characters. I think that Life of Pi breaks that trend and I will explain that below.

I think Life of Pi had a strong plot because there was a lot of content to explore. The journey always had somewhere to go and something to do but along with that it kept you wondering because you couldn't know what was coming up. For example nobody could have predicted that Piscine would end up on the island of death while he is in the middle of the ocean nor would we have ever guessed how he tames Richard Parker. The crisis is when the ship taking Pis family to America sinks and Piscine ends up on a life raft with a tiger. I would consider the climax of the movie when Piscine finds the island because while it isn't the most action packed it sort of peaks in what is happening since the island scene is surrounded by scenes of ocean. The resolution is when Piscine lands in Mexico and Richard runs away into the woods. Many parts of the film were surprising and different than situations that would normally pop up in movies. I think that's what made this film something special.

The protagonist of this film is Piscine Patel who is a very religious young man from India. In the film he seems like a good person who was easy to connect with and sympathize with. "Religion will save us," I said. Since when I could remember, religions had always been close to my heart.” I think this is a quote that really shows who he is because he was very religious and that's what he lives by. Pi is also shown throughout the movie to courageous and brave because “the island of death” is a test to his will since he could have easily lived there and quit but he knew what his journey was and stuck to it.

The antagonist of this film is Richard Parker (the tiger) who was from Piscines families zoo. This movie had an interesting situation between the protagonist and antagonist because they eventually started to respect each other. I would describe Richard as any other tiger, hungry, a predator, and territorial. “The first time I tried, Richard Parker bared his teeth, rotated his ears full round, vomited a short guttural roar and charged… I was beside myself with terror - of Richard Parker” this quote simply adds to what I said about the tiger simply being a tiger. Richard Parker eventually adapted to accept Pi because they started to look at each other as equals which I think adds a dimension to Richard because I think we assume most other tigers wouldn't accept people so quickly.

The film was based off of the book but the book was based off of the Trivandrum Zoo which is the same zoo that was shown in the movie. The author of the book even did research on actual animal behaviors for his book and that is partly reflected in them movie.

I think the set design was incredible at many different parts of the movie, especially the opening scene at the zoo where there were hundreds of plants not to mention the small things like water fountains, statues, and colors. As for the the ocean scenes when most would think there isn't a lot going on you can notice the details of the boat and the sort of things that were taken into account such as the oars, the bags, water, wood, fish, and even the tarp covering part of the boat. As for the locations I think it was absolutely fantastic. I love the zoo and the pool and even the “ocean” was very impressive. The “ocean” in the movie was actually a wave pool built in an abandoned airplane hangar. I think that the locations chosen were perfect since it really portrayed what was trying to be described such as the exotic zoo, the fancy pool, and the unpredictable, sometimes violent ocean.

The costume design was very impressive but at the same time there was not as much time to judge it as most movies because for massive chunks of the movie there is only one person floating through the ocean. But for that person they did a great job at giving him a costume that mimicked what we all think would happen if you were stuck at see for long periods of time. As for all the other parts involving costumes I think there was an incredible amount of attention to detail. In the beginning when the whole family was alive at the zoo they had clothes that matched what you would think they should be wearing such as the Indian style dresses and colors which really portrayed the environment perfectly.

Say Goodbye

I took a class this semester called Art of Rhetoric. In this class, we have discussed many things including what rhetoric is, why it's used, and why it's important. So far during this class, we have taken many Field Experiences including talking to Troy Laraviere, talking to Ugo Okere, and going to the Chicago History Museum. So far this class has been really fun and interesting and I think I have learned a lot. For the last project we needed to make a piece of Rhetorical art that is an advertisement for our upcoming people's assembly and on top of that write an invitation to it. Below you can find my work and I hope you learn something new.

Say Bye

S,D. Say Bye. Chicago, 25 Oct. 2018.

GCE Lab Schools 2020 Junior class will be hosting a peoples assembly on January blank. We the Juniors of GCE Lab School have decided to put our heads together to create a peoples assembly that will answer the questions that the people may have. We have been meticulously planning for the last couple weeks and plan to continue this process for the upcoming semester so that we can bring you the best environment to ask questions, learn, and ultimately make the best decision you can in this upcoming election.

Our class will be inviting many high ranking figures such as Toni Preckwinkle, Bill Daley, Garry Mcarthy, Amara Enyia, Jamal Green, Troy LaRaviere and many more. These are all people who are in the race to become mayor of Chicago, or in other words your mayor. They will be asked questions that are based on large problems the Chicago area have been experiencing. Some of those questions may address gun violence, tifs, schools, money, and transit. We hope that their answers will give you insight into what they think, how they treat others and if they're a good fit for you. These are all pressing issues in Chicago that may influence your vote!

Our people's assembly will be very accommodating. There are many reasons that could hold you back from attending but having children shouldn't be one after all this impacts you more than anyone! So if you have children that's fine we will be providing child care services for the duration of the assembly. We also will be providing lunch and snacks for the duration of the assembly. We hope to make this assembly as accommodating as possible while still having an extremely informative environment that will allow you to leave with more information than when you walked in.

Let's talk about why. You may be wondering why you should go, and that's reasonable. We think that people need to take charge. We have power in numbers and when you decide to show up you add to that. We have many problems in this city and when the people step up things get done correctly. Along with that if you have children then these issues are not only impacting you but also your children. These kids are the future of the city (and the world) we need to support them which involves coming to events like this. How many of you liked when many CPS schools got shut down? Not us as we think it was wrong and we think you share that opinion so if so agree you can ask these mayoral candidates about it and find out if they're on your side or the machines. This is your opportunity to see these people as their true selves, not just people on tv that won't listen, this is your chance to make your voice heard and there's nothing to stop you but yourself. So do yourself a favor and make sure that you do what's right for your family, your community, your city, and most importantly yourself.

Picture description

My picture addresses the issue of money not being put into poorer neighborhoods and being put into downtown Chicago. My painting breaks through to people because this will be seen by people in poorer neighborhoods who can relate to their money funding downtown innovation. My painting builds upon rhetoric in the U.S because the United States has a history of using rhetorical art to gather people over a certain cause such as world war two when they rallied for people to fight in the war. In the drawing, I included a hyperbole in the form of SAY BYE since your not literally saying bye to your money. I also used exaggeration because the city is supposed to look perfect in the foreground while all the money is going there but in reality, the city isnt perfect and not all the money goes downtown. I want my audience to experience a feeling of anger and rebellion when they look at this picture.

The Juggernaut

I took a class this semester called Design and Engineering. This has been one of my favorite classes so far since it is related directly to things I like, not only the designing and engineering which is something I have always been very interested in but also because of the specific things we have looked into such as bicycles. In this class, we have taken countless Field Experience to places like Beyond Design which is a design laboratory that creates designs for large companies to smaller places like On The Route bike shop where we talked to the owner about different kinds of bikes and the way they differentiate. For this final project, we needed to design our own bike around one person's specific needs below is that project and the bike I came up with.

 

Pascals Triangle

I took a class called Prove it or Lose it. In this class, we learned about combinations, and how to find the different number of routes that can be taken for a certain puzzle or map. We also discussed Pascals Triangle which is also what this project will be about. In this class, we have not taken any Field Experiences but we have done many projects that have to do with real-world applications such as understanding reflections in the real world and proving them. For this project, we had to make a dynamic Pascal Triangle that showed different aspects of the triangle and showed different patterns regarding it.

 

Preckwinkle Power

I took a class called Rhetoric. In this class, we talk about different ways that rhetoric is used and why it matters. I think this is a very interesting class because we get to choose a Chicago Mayoral Candidate and do research on them and tie our learning into a real-world example. In this class, we have completed many Field Experiences including a discussion with Troy Lariviere. Other notable Field Experiences include visiting the Chicago History Museum to see the Martin Luther King Exhibit to understand the way they presented the information and how to museum used rhetoric in the exhibit. For this project we needed to choose our candidate in the Chicago Mayoral Election then choose a speech or article that they made and then dissect it and understand the rhetoric used.

Here is the video I analyzed in the presentation. 

Bikes

Frames

Carbon Frames

They are very light and very strong but they are expensive.

Wheels

Carbon Wheels

Very light and strong but drawbacks include price.

Prove it or Lose it

I took a class called Prove it or Lose it. In this class, we are covering different things such as mirrors, reflections, translations, and such. We set out to prove things in math rather than actually solving the problem. This is important because while the process is important understanding it to a different degree is even more important. For this project, we needed to take a picture of something, reflect it across a line and then prove it was a reflection.

 

In conclusion, I think this was a very interesting project since I had to directly connect in-class work to real-world items. I learned a lot, to say the least, starting with GeoGebra and I know it a bit off topic but GeoGebra is a really helpful program that allowed me to show my work and lay it all out in one place. I also learned different ways to prove that a reflection is a reflection. I used many different methods to prove this such as circles. triangles, and slope. I think the biggest takeaway from this project is that the math we learn is all around us whether we realize it or not. 

Jerry Joyce

I took a class called Rhetoric this semester. This class is about many different things, so far we have learned about how rhetoric is used for good or bad and how it plays into advertising. We have taken a couple Field Experiences such as a trip to the Chicago Music Exchange. We took this trip because we had to look up one of their antique guitars to make our own advertisement for so we needed to see it in person. Another trip we took was to an MLK memorial. We went there so that we could talk to the creators of the memorial to better understand why they felt the need to put a statue there. Finally for this project we needed to make a speech for a current mayoral candidate. We needed to make a video of us presenting our speech.

How Will you Address Violence In The City?

 

The Gravediga

I took a class called Design and Engineering. In this class, we learned about a couple of different things including vectors, simple machines, and how to design something for a certain audience. As far as Field Experiences go we went to Home Depot to learn about gardening tools so that we can better understand the market. We also went to Beyond Design which is a design firm that designs things for a living. Going to these places helped us understand the topic even better. For this project, we had to recreate a gardening tool for elderly people. I chose to recreate the sledgehammer.

Before starting this job I had to do prior research to make sure I made the best design possible. The research I did prior included an interview, going to Home Depot and personal research. I interviewed my sister so that I could understand how tools caused stress to certain joints. I went to Home Depot to ask questions of the professionals working there, and finally, I did personal research such as understanding the competition so that I could properly differentiate from them and make my tool better.

I learned that sledgehammers are too heavy for most elderly people to use. Second I learned some elderly people can handle the weight but not the placement of the weight. And finally, I learned that sledgehammers are typically not ergonomic because they stress out the same parts of the body.

Empathy is when you put yourself in someone else's shoes to understand what they are feeling. This relates to the class because to design something for a certain audience you need to be able to make it specifically for them.

I learned a lot from doing this project because while yes I was already very knowledgeable on the topic before entering the unit I hadn't done a sledgehammer or garden tool before so this was something new. I also think this project was beneficial because I now have a better understanding of how empathy fits into the project.

Scoliosis Prevention!

This semester we took a class called Cure. Cure is the third STEAM class this year. In this class, we talked about how we can take preventative measures to stay healthy and avoid getting bad diseases. We also have learned about probability which I will be using to help us learn the chances of developing the In this class, we have taken a few FEs including a Yoga Nidra Meditation class which was a great example of a preventative measure which someone could take to prevent diseases. The reason this helps is that it calms the body and releases stress. We read about another preventative measure someone took where they had their breasts surgically removed to prevent breast cancer since she had a high probability of getting it. For this project, we needed to look at a patient and give them recommendations as to what they could do to prevent a disease. I decided to look into Scoliosis.

Example of Scoliosis

Name: Ólafur Andersson

Sex: Male

Gender: Male

Age: 36

Height: 6’11”

Weight: 370 lbs

Medical History: He has an extensive medical history including broken bones, concussions, surgeries and pulled muscles. The main problem we are seeing is that he has had back problems and even had surgery on his back. This is not a good sign considering what he is trying to avoid. The problems he has had in the past may weaken his body and cause other complications with him such as an increased chance of Scoliosis. For someone who is worried about Scoliosis it important that they have a strong back support.

Lifestyle Behaviors: Ólafur Andersson is a former NFL football player. Who eats relatively healthy but has recently been slacking off after leaving football. On top of not eating as healthy as he should he also has all but stopped exercising. Things he likes to do in his free time include, watching tv, playing with his kids and cooking pastries. The only exercise he gets is a walk around the park once a day, which is not a lot.

Medical Concerns/Family History:  His family has a record of Scoliosis which he is concerned about. He is personally concerned about his back which has been in pain for weeks and given his family's history he is concerned he has Scoliosis. Scoliosis is a disorder that affects the spine by making it bent sideways. Scoliosis can affect different people in different ways, some people may need surgery if its bad enough and others may never feel the effects of it.

Purpose of Consultation: He has consistent back pains.

Risk Assessment: 3/100 people in the world have some form of Scoliosis. This means that the experimental probability of a person getting scoliosis is 3% and that is without the factor of your family history. If you include the genes in his family you will see his chances of getting Scoliosis will rise to 47% since 9/19 people in his family have it.

Medications: The only medications for Scoliosis are painkillers such as Advil. The Advil will help relieve the pain that comes from the spine. Some side effects of Advil can be stomach pain, heartburn, nausea, vomiting, and constipation.

Nutrition Plan: People with Scoliosis should not eat a lot of salt and sugar. Salt and sugar can slow communication transferring in the body which is a problem when the spine is not perfect. They should only eat moderate to little amounts of healthier versions like sea salt or Himalayan salt, stevia or raw honey. These are slightly healthier versions since they aren't processed. Eating healthier foods will be beneficial because when you are more healthy in general your body can work to the best of its ability. Things I would recommend are fish, smoothies, and lots of salads.

Lifestyle Recommendations: Stretching and daily exercise such as 20-30 minutes of aerobic exercise 5 days a week will help. Some examples of aerobic exercises are swimming, running, and biking. The reason you want to be doing aerobic exercise is so that you can be healthy and your body is strong. Also strengthening the muscles in your back will help support you.

Alternative Therapies: There are a couple good alternative therapies that you can try that will help you. Yoga is the first one because it is known to stretch your body and it will relax you. Yoga will also lower your stress levels which means you will be healthier and your body will be able to heal itself better. Another option is acupuncture which relaxes and heals you in a similar way to yoga.

Goals:

Month 1-2: You're going to want to bike for 1 hour a day for two months. The reason for two months is because I want to ease you into the routine before we add more exercise.

Month 2-4: After the two months you need to add a 25-minute run after or before the 1 hour of biking for another two months.

Month 4-6: After those initial four months, you should add an exercise of your choice for another 35 minutes which will add up to two hours of total exercise.

Month 6-onward: I want you to do these exercises unless they start to hurt. Doing these exercises should strengthen your body and make sure there isn't excessive pressure on the spine. Doing these exercises will also give you a way to channel stress which will also help you in the long run.

Sources:

AboutKidsHealth, www.aboutkidshealth.ca/Article?contentid=2008&language=English.

“Ideal Diet for Scoliosis.” Mercola.com, Mercola.com, articles.mercola.com/scoliosis/diet.aspx.

“The Connection Between Spine Health and Blood Sugar.” Why Tobacco Should Be Banned From Your Life, www.thejoint.com/arizona/glendale/arrowhead-ranch-48016/the-connection-between-spine-health-and-blood-sugar.

Scupham, Beth. “Scoliosis Priority Protocols.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 24 Sept. 2017, www.flickr.com/photos/bethscupham/37430093115.

“Scoliosis.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 29 Dec. 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/scoliosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20350716.

Davis, Charles Patrick. “Scoliosis Treatment, Causes, Symptoms & Surgery.” MedicineNet, www.medicinenet.com/scoliosis/article.htm.

Play?

This semester I took a class called Drama. In this class, we talked about how plays are written and we have read a couple of plays such as Taming of The Shrew and Dolls House. I have learned a ton in this class so far such as how to make a play, the different components of plays and the different jobs that go into making plays work. As far as FEs go we went on a couple with the most memorable being the trip to the Goodman Theatre where we received a tour of the place and were allowed to see all the really cool parts that you normally would never see. After all this, I managed to get a much better sense of how plays are made which allowed me to make a good action project. For this project, I teamed up with JP and OL. We were tasked with making a play that displayed gender inequalities. Below are my script and the play we made. If you want to see my partners blog you can click the links. Here is OL blog https://olgcelabschool.blogspot.com/. Here is JP blog https://jmpgcelabschool.blogspot.com/.

Might be type 2 Diabetes but here is 3 options!

Right now, I am taking a class called Cure. In this class, we have discussed many things such as different drug types such as over-the-counter and prescription. We also have discussed different types of math such as graphing parabolas, ellipses, circles, and hyperbolas. My favorite part of this class had been learning about a berry called the miracle berry which essentially blocks your sour receptors and makes sour foods sweet. The way the miracle beery works is that it blocks the sour receptors in your tongue by essentially jamming them so that the sour molecule cant fit into the receptor. The way this happens is that the blockers find open receptors and they are essentially a key that blocks the entrance to the receptor. So you can think of the receptor as the lock and the medicament as the key. This was an eye-opening experience because it really demonstrated the content of the class. The lock and key idea relates to many other drugs and is the reason they work the way they do. In this class, we have taken a few field experiences such as the miracle berry demonstration. For this action project, we needed to choose a disease or symptom so that we could talk about different treatment options such as over the counter, prescription or other types of cures. Below is my action project, I hope you enjoy!

	Humulin Insulin	Genesis today 4 fiber	Biking
Price	$55	$18	$550
Effect	Lowers blood sugar	Help lower blood sugar levels	Helps level blood sugar levels
Accessibility	Prescription	Over the counter	Anyone can buy
Side effects	Low blood sugar	Bloating, diarrhea and cramping	Sunburn

Kate Sonnet

I took a class called Drama. In this class, we discussed the play the taming of the shrew, which is a play written by Shakespeare. In the play, there are a few main characters that we follow along the way and later need to write a sonnet about. For this class, we have not gone on any FE's but hopefully, this will change soon. For this action project, we needed to choose a character from the book to talk about. I chose Kate because I feel that she was oppressed by her husband. We also had to incorporate at least four vocab words from the actual play.

 

Kate Sonnet

Kate, you used to speak your mind/share your thoughts

You used to be what we would now call, strong

Now you have submitted to be a bot

You need to know that Petruchio’s wrong

You used to shrill and scream and be a shrew

Petruchio said that you he could tame

A “good” wife is what he turned you into

He did it by playing so many games.

Kate look at life from a different view

Life should not be taketh by a husband

Tush Kate, you must heed, people get through

You need to leave, yes leave this fiend running

“Come on, and kiss me, Kate” he determined

You need to make this man your ex-husband

Words from the play:

Petruchio’s

taketh

heed

Tush

fiend

Quote from the play:

“Come on, and kiss me, Kate”

In conclusion, I actually had a hard time writing this because it was difficult for me to find good words that had the proper number of syllables and sounded good. On the other hand, I had an easier time finding the topic because I knew that Kate was being treated incorrect and that needed to change. In the end, I think the project turned out well.

Messed up elbow?

I took a class called Cure. In this class, we have talked about different diseases and how they affect the body, we also have looked into how they can be cured. We also started reading a book called the immortal life of Henrietta Lacks which is about a woman who died of cancer and her cells have somehow kept on living. Mathwise we have discussed a couple variations such as learning about hyperbolas, circles, and ellipses. For this class, we have not yet taken any FE's but that should change soon. For our project, we are diving into a certain type of surgery that we chose to research.  I chose to research arthroscopic elbow surgery because while I didn't get this exact surgery I have has a elbow surgery and so I have a slight connection to this. I chose to do my project in Prezi because I think it best visualizes the components.

Science Achievers MSI pt2.

At the Museum of Science and Industry, I did many things. First I would come in and learn the content that I needed to know for presenting to guests on the floor. Second I would go to Media Class where I would learn about making a good video and then we would go out to the museum and create content for the museum's youtube account. Third, after lunch, I go to the floor to present the current topic such as the magnets, which is a game we play with the guests regarding the properties of magnets. Fourth I would go to a class where we learn teamwork and we bond as a community. I made a difference to others because I taught hundreds of people new things and they really benefited from this because this was their first time hearing what I was teaching so they got a great first impression and wanted to come back for more. I plan to share my experience with others by telling them about the program and also teaching them things I have learned. I plan to stay in the program for the next two years of high school.

In total, I have earned 120 hours this year at MSI. 

Animal Farm or Tyranny?

I took a class called Forbidden Books which is a Humanities class. In this class, we discussed why different things were banned in different places and the effect that the ban has. I learned many new things during this class that had to do with many topics such as religion, culture, etc. During this class, we took a couple different FE's (Field Experiences). The first one was to a bookstore called Women and Children First which we visited. At the bookstore, they talked about why they hated that Donald Trump tried to get a book banned. They also talked about how they banned two books from their own library. The second FE was to a mosque which was very interesting, the man who gave us the tour was very knowledgeable and talked to us about his religion and how it worked. I found the second FE to be very interesting. For our last AP, we needed to write an essay about a banned book we needed to read. I talk below about why Animal Farm shouldn't be banned.

DS
Forbidden Books
March 17, 2018

Animal Farm

          What if an author wrote a book, and then it was banned across the Soviet Union, Cuba, and China? This, unfortunately, is exactly what happened to George Orwell, the author of Animal Farm. This book is focused on a pig named Napoleon who is the head of a farm. The farm that Napoleon leads is called Animal Farm. Animal Farm used to be lead by humans but the animals didn't like the circumstances, so they decided to rebel and take over the farm. Over the course of the book, the pigs (who are the leaders) become more and more assertive, and they eventually start to become human. During the process of the pigs becoming human, the animals start to question what is going on and if they are truly living a better life then they were before. This book technically takes place in England, but it represents the rise of the Communist party which took place in Russia. There are a few different themes in this book, but the one that stood out was the corruption of power. This book is banned in a few different places such as China, Cuba, and mainly the Soviet Union. It was banned because it would have shown the people what communism was and could have caused an uprising. Despite this book being banned in so many places, Animal Farm should not be banned anywhere.

          In the book, Napoleon symbolizes Joseph Stalin (Dictator of the Soviet Union) who wanted to keep information from the people which was bad because it kept the people from being educated about their situation. As stated by David Gerrard, “It is a direct allegorical attack on the Soviet Union.” The Soviet Union wanted it banned because it directly symbolized what they were and what was happening to the country. If the people got ahold of the book then they would understand what was happening to them and could start a revolution. As George Orwell said, Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." The Soviet Union, at the time, was at a point where the people knew that what was happening was bad, but they didn't know what to do. The book gave them a perspective that afforded them a bird’s-eye view of the situation which would have made them dangerous to the government. The government was scared that the people would push back and they would lose power. That is the reason it was banned in Russia and there are other places that banned it for similar reasons. This reason for being banned would be attributed to politics.

           The entire book is a recreation of the Soviet Union, and so there are countless quotes that show why the book would have been banned. One that stood out was, “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which” (Orwell 42). This quote is closer to the end of the book when the pigs in charge of Animal Farm have a dinner with humans and all the other animals are watching and wondering what the difference between the original oppressors and the pigs was. This quote played into to banning of this book because it explained the fact that the new government was not any better than the old one and would show the people of the Soviet Union what was really happening. Another quote that was important was, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” (Orwell 40). While this is a simple quote, it means a lot because this is the point where the new government starts to make excuses for their behavior, and the animals start to see the truth. This would have played a part in the book being banned because it would have been another eye opener for the people of the Soviet Union. These two quotes played a huge role because they both would have been moments that the people of the Soviet Union would have connected to the reality they were living. These quotes were both political because they were directly linked to the government.

            Animal Farm should not be banned. The first reason is that every person should have the right to education. Stalin had a clear goal of making sure that his people were kept in the dark about certain things. As it turns out these things most likely meant life or death for most of the people. That leads to the next reason it shouldn't have been banned because not only was he keeping the people from being educated, but he was keeping them from understanding their situation and doing something about it. This meant life or death for the people, and so by banning the book, he killed countless people. The last reason Animal Farm, shouldn't have been banned was it kept people from having their own opinion on the government. What is meant by this is that when they didn't allow people to read this book, they basically gave the people a one-sided view of the government which meant they couldn't create their own opinion on the matter.

          In conclusion, Animal Farm should not be banned because banning it violates people's rights and liberties. People deserve to become educated, they deserve to live and finally, they deserve the right to form their own opinion. Banning books has existed throughout history because people in power have always wanted to control the people below them. There will always be people who want to take control of weaker people and a way to do that is by not allowing them to be educated. 

Citations:

Gerrard, David Barr. "ANIMAL FARM: BANNED BY THE SOVIETS, PROMOTED BY THE CIA". 24 Sept 2014. Pen America. Pen.org. https://pen.org/animal-farm-banned-by-the-soviets-promoted-by-the-cia/

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Londen. England: Secker and Warburg, 1945.

“Animal Farm.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2018, www.wikipedia.org/.

Alcohol Use Disorder

This semester I took a class called Disease. The Disease is a steam class which means it uses math and science. In this class, we discussed different topics such as piecewise functions and different types of mental illnesses. For this class, we had one FE when a medical student came in to talk to us about the way they work in the emergency room. We learned about the process of quickly identifying what could be wrong with a patient and how they would address the problem depending on what it is. For this action project, we had to choose a mental illness and make a simulation to show how it affects the person who has it. I chose to study Alcohol Use Disorder, so hopefully, you learn something new!

This disorder is when someone thinks only about getting alcohol and they want only drink. The disease also has many drawbacks such as less focus in the workplace or in school.

Symptoms include:

1.) A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain alcohol, use alcohol,
or recover from its effects.

2.) Craving, or a strong desire or urge to use alcohol.

3.) Recurrent alcohol use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations at work,

school, or home.

The DMS-V says the following:

Consumed more alcohol or spent more time drinking than intended.

Want to limit or halt alcohol use, but haven’t succeeded.

Spends an inordinate duration drinking, being ill and undergoing the aftereffects of alcohol use.

Strong cravings for alcohol.

Consuming alcohol or becoming ill because of it has kept the person from properly attending to household duties and children, or resulted in difficulties performing on the job or at school.

Continued drinking in spite of it causing problems with family and loved ones.

Discontinue or are only sporadically involved with things that were once enjoyable or important to be able to drink.

Have repeatedly been in situations during the consumption of alcohol that have increased the chance of being injured (using machinery, driving).

Even though a person feels sad or distressed, or it affects an already existing health problem, the person continues to drink. Or, after episodes of forgetting or going blank about the events during drinking, the individual continues to use alcohol.

Have to increase drinking to get the results he wants. (The usual amount of alcohol provides little results.)

When alcohol wears off, causing symptoms like such as insomnia, difficulty staying asleep, aggravation, nervousness, sadness, stomach upset and nausea and/or perspiring. Or, the person felt items were there, but they are actually not

Below are the math and graph used to show the different brain waves used during my presentation.

Below is the breakdown of my presentation

The brainwaves affected by this disorder is the beta and alpha waves because those are the ones that are most commonly used for everyday life. The disorder affects it because it makes you loose focus. 

Below is my simulation and presentation of my disease. 

 

It may be hard to tell in the video but to simulate the effects of AUD I had another class in the background having a pizza party to distract my audience. The point was to ask them at the end if they were distracted. If they said yes then they would have felt the effects of AUD because they had their minds focused on something other than their work without even realizing it. 

Citations:

“Alcohol and Your Brain.” Science NetLinks, sciencenetlinks.com/student-teacher-sheets/alcohol-and-your-brain/.

“Helping an Adult Family Member or Friend with a Drug or Alcohol Addiction.” Partnership for Drug-Free Kids - Where Families Find Answers, drugfree.org/parent-blog/want-help-adult-family-member-friend-drug-alcohol-problem-7-suggestions/.

“National Institutes of Health.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.nih.gov/.

“SAMHSA - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.” SAMHSA - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 3 Feb. 2018, www.samhsa.gov/.

Are you a Gadfly?

I took a class called Forbidden Books this class is a steam class which means we learn about things that have to do with society. We are currently studying why some books are banned and whether we think it is right or wrong. So far for this class, we have gone on one FE to a bookstore. This bookstore talked about how they try not to censor things unless it disagrees with their opinion. For this action project, we had to make a Socrates dialogue.

Below is my dialogue transcript.

Chevy: You hear about what happened in Florida last week.

Godwin: Yes, I have heard, it was a horrific incident. 

Godwin: We must make public spaces safer. I am tired of hearing people getting hurt where they should be safe. It's ridiculous that people can't go out in public without worry of getting hurt. They happen way too often don't you think?

Chevy: These horrible tragedies like Florida only happen once in a great while, but for the most part, public spaces are safe.

Godwin: What about the people in Columbine and other such places, even the incident at the concert in Las Vegas? These things actually happen quite often actually. People need to be able to defend themselves.

Chevy: I still don't think people should carry guns because they could accidentally shoot someone. We should still wait for the police to arrive so they can solve the problem.

Godwin: But the police didn't stop the shooter until it was too late. The average response time for police across America is 10 minutes. That's a lot of time considering what is going on. Why would a police be any better than a citizen?

Chevy: I really don't think just any person with no training could take down a guy with an assault rifle. I feel like it would just cause more victims. The normal assault rifle has 30 bullets to shoot, and I know all those bullets won't hit your target and they could hit other things.

Godwin: I see but you have to keep in mind that we would train them, I agree that nobody without training should be in public with a gun, but that won't be the case. Haven't you heard of training?

Chevy: I suppose that if they were trained then it wouldn't be any worse than police plus they would be right at the scene. When I think about it I think that a bystander who has the proper trainer is good to have a firearm because a person committing a crime wouldn't suspect it which also adds the element of surprise to the table which is definitely an advantage.

Godwin: There are multiple examples of people with guns saving lives such as the Jeanne Assam who killed a gunman that was attempting to shoot into a crowd of thousands exiting a church. This would have been an event the size of the Florida shooting but nobody heard because someone with a gun stopped the shooter. Did you ever hear that story?

Chevy: Wow I never heard that story, I guess there really are people that have guns for the right reason. I guess you've been right all along and guns in the right hands really can save lives.

Godwin: Thanks for talking to me Chevy! I have to go catch a plane, to England! Thanks for talking to me today and I hope you take my words and apply them to your everyday life.

Chevy: No problem Godwin I really appreciate you helping to explain your point of view to me. I really look at this topic differently and I hope that I could use your technique with other people. I really learned a lot from this discussion.

Godwin: Goodbye

Chevy: Goodbye

 

In conclusion, I think that this was more difficult than I had originally thought. I went into the project imagining that it would be simple. As I found out it was much more complicated to write a good script that made sense. Another challenge I faced was when I had to make the video. Our camera had a hard time focusing on the beginning and so we had to redo our video multiple times. We eventually got it to look good and now it looks like a transition. Another problem I faced was properly managing my time. I think I did pretty well considering all the applications that needed to be done along with lots of homework. In the end everything came together to make a fun and educational video. 

Lung Cancer and how it affects people

I took a STEAM class called Disease. In this class, we looked into the diseases such as cancer and how they occur. We also learned about the human body so that we could truly understand how the diseases affect the human body. While learning about the human body we discussed the organ systems such as the immune system, the respiratory system, and nine others. In this class, we haven't gone on any FE's yet but hopefully, we will visit a doctor’s office and then maybe have a doctor come into class. For this action project, we had to look into a certain disease. I chose lung cancer because my mom's cousin had it. For the sake of privacy, we will call her Julia. Hopefully, you learn something new about lung cancer and how it affects the body.

Lung cancer is a disease that killed over 150,000 people in 2012. I want to study it because it has affected the life of my mom's cousin. For this project, I interviewed Julia, who is my mom's cousin. Julia was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017.

Julia-

Julia is a 69-year-old woman who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017. Julia's life is very different than it used to be. She used to be a very athletic outdoorsy type person but now she indulges in indoor activities like board games and things that require less physical strength. She also experiences more coughing and chest pains than most people, but nonetheless, she continues with her daily life.

Julia is currently experiencing symptoms such as coughing and chest pain. Her life has changed drastically since she was diagnosed. She has had to cut down on physical activities since she can’t breathe as well as before. Julia needs targeted therapy but hasn't had the funds for it. The problem is that she has a malignant tumor in the right lung that is causing the problem. She currently is relying on her family to raise the money to get the treatment that would hopefully cure her of lung cancer.

One reason she could have contracted the disease is that she lives in a big city and while she doesn't smoke she does have neighbors who smoke which could have caused her to get the disease. We do not know how she got the disease because there isn't any way to guarantee that you don't get it.

The way Julia attempts to keep herself from experiencing pain is by doing light exercise that won't cause her to breathe too hard. She also takes medicine such as Tylenol to ease the pain. She said that the pain wasn't horrible because of the medicine but if she didn't take any, she probably wouldn't even be able to do her light workouts. She said herself "I think the light workouts actually help me because I think they make my body stronger which in turn keeps me healthier and feeling better".

Her life has changed because she still needs to have a source of income and so she now works from home. She said that every night she needs to take her medication before bed because of the pain. Her diet has also changed because she cant eat unhealthy for fear of getting worse. Before her diagnosis, she ate healthily but sometimes gave herself a cheat day, now when she feels like eating something unhealthy she has to force herself not to because she is worried it could lead to worse symptoms. Her relationship with her friends has also changed. Before the diagnosis, she used to work out with her close friends. Now she can't work out as much or as hard. She now tries to do things like limited amounts of pushups, pull-ups, and other activities that don't include weights. She also said cancer has pushed her friends away because they can't do the same things together but she has found a way to try and overcome this. Julia has now started cooking with her friends so that she can spend more time with the people she loves. Julia has actually made a few new friends along this new journey one being Sophia (name changed). Sophia was also diagnosed with lung cancer but she has actually beaten it. She was diagnosed in 2010. Now they are great friends and spend lots of time together.

Lung Cancer-

If you want to fully understand the disease, you'll have to know some vocabulary first.

-cancer cell, a cancer cell is a cell that has split to grow out of control.

-Lung- The lung is an organ in the respiratory system that allows you to extract oxygen from the air.

-Benign tumors- These are when the cells that split continuously are not cancerous.

-MRI- An MRI is a machine that uses a strong magnetic field to map out an area of interest.

-Radiation- Radiation is one form of treatment for cancer.

-Prognosis- Which is an estimation of how long you have to live.

This disease affects many people in many places but some of the most common places are in big cities where there is a lot of pollution. The reason for this is that pollution is a way to make a cell that becomes cancerous. People who live in the countryside have a smaller chance of getting lung cancer because they are not exposed to the same pollutants as people who live in cities.

While the place you live is important, the person can also increase or decrease their chances of contracting the disease. The main way to cause the disease is by smoking. Out of the more than 150,000 people who have died of lung cancer, 135,000 of them contracted it because of their own behavior. The best way to lower your chances of getting lung cancer is simply not to smoke. There are many different diseases that are transmittable but luckily lung cancer is not one of them.

This disease affects the respiratory system and the immune system. It affects the respiratory system because lung cancer starts in the lungs. When this happens cancer can actually spread to different parts of the body such as the lymph nodes or any other part of the respiratory system. The respiratory system is in charge of your breathing which means if it is damaged then it can cause death. It can affect the immune system because it can infect the nearby tissue causing tumors which can damage and weaken the immune system. The immune system is the system that keeps you healthy, if this system is damaged then the possibility of you dying increases because you can't protect yourself from common viruses.

S, D. Human Body. Chicago, 12 Feb. 2018.

While doing this project I encountered many problems the main one being that I had a hard time getting time to interview with Julia because she was very busy, also I have not talked to Julia in a long time. I overcame this by being patient and persistently seeing if she has an opening. In the end, I managed to get the time for an interview and everything turned out alright. It was also a challenge finding information about lung cancer because a lot of the information was very advanced and therefore was difficult to understand. I overcame this by looking up words, talking to others and checking other sources. Overall this action project was difficult and was pretty challenging but in the end, everything came together to make a nice article that portrays lung cancer in a real persons life and what the disease is. I hope you learned something new.

Citations:

“Lung Cancer.” American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org/cancer/lung-cancer.html.

“Lung cancer.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 4 Jan. 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lung-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20374620.

Stöppler, MD Melissa Conrad. “Lung Cancer Symptoms, Signs, Stages, Treatment & Types.” MedicineNet, www.medicinenet.com/lung_cancer/article.htm.

Can we fix the bike accident epidemic?

I took a class called Maps. In this class, we talked about the way maps can be interested and how they can tell a story. In this class, we went to many different places that relate to the class. One place that we went to that really stood out was google. I loved this FE because it was a really amazing place and we learned about the way they have created maps that have certain agendas such as getting places as quickly as possible and not necessarily enjoying or looking out the window. For this project, we had to make a map with three layers past, present, and future. I am making my map on bike accidents and how we could make them safer. Hopefully you learn something new.

  .

 

Key
*= Potholes
.= 2011 bike accidents
.= 2007-2009 bike accidents
-= Current safe bike lanes
-= Green sticks (solution)

Intro

For my AP I chose the problem of dangerous bike lanes in the lincoln park area. I chose this problem because, as a cyclist I have to deal with dangerous lanes on a daily basis. We had to make a map that shows the problems and where they occur in the neighborhood. My map was similar to a map made by the city of chicago in the sense that it is designed to be clear and concise. I designed my map after newer maps such as google maps as in it is designed to be clear about certain things, google maps does a good job of highlighting things like your route. That is how I designed my map since I wanted you to be focused on certain aspects. My map has the intent to show the viewer where the dangerous parts of the road are, how they have started deteriorating, current safe routes and the places I plan to implement safety precautions. One thing I didn't want my map to do is to be like the Haussmann situation. Basically what happend was a man named Haussmann changed things in a place without actually thinking about the people who lived there. You may be wondering how I could do that since I am trying to help the community, but there is things like parking, space for delivery trucks to pull over and things like that to account for. All these things came into play when designing my map. I think every community in Chicago has a problem with the bike lanes. For my project I specifically focused on the Lincoln Park area near the Peggy Notebaert Museum.

Map 1
For the first map I focused on current safe routes and potholes. These are two problems that are on the streets. I chose these problems because I felt they would be a perfect starter since they have to do with the next two maps.

I used gold to highlight the safe routes since people like the color gold and it is more eye catching than some other colors. The main reason I pointed out the safe routes is to show how they overlap with the bike related accidents. You may be wondering how I decided to classify safe routes and on the city of chicago website they have a map that shows the bike routes in the city and they are colored differently depending on the way it was constructed. I decided that a safe route is either green, or has a type of barrier (CityOfChicagoBikeMap).

I decided to map the potholes because they could easily could provide a huge threat to cyclists since we are on two wheels instead of four. Also the result of a bike crash can be way more devastating than a car crash since there is no cage around bikers to keep us safe from outside objects. Potholes can catch you off guard and thus need to be treated as soon as possible. If you look at the map there is a pothole that is nearly in the middle of a long road and therefore there aren't many crashes, but all the crashes that are on the straight part of the road are over the pothole. I chose to make the pothole label a star since it would stand out under all the other information.

On this map I also included the street layout. I chose to put the information above directly on the street because I felt that it was concrete information that isn't based on time or per person experience such as the accident data. I also think that it would be the perfect piece for the background of the other maps since the next two maps directly correspond to the data on the first map. The reason I say this is because these are the things that could cause accidents. A cyclist could easily be thrown off a bike straight into the road and ran over by a car. As for the safe lanes the map shows that there aren't enough safe lanes to protect people from cars.

Map 2
This map has data of the accidents that occured on the existing map from 2007-2009. This was a very important step because these were the accidents that are being compared to the accidents from 2011. I chose to make the accidents marked in black dots because they are easy to see and show exactly where things happen. The second reason I chose dots is because it is easy to see where accidents were clumped up since they will become a black puddle. The dots also stand out from the stars that represent potholes. The reason I chose the put this information on map two is because it would look good without the newer accident information on it. I also think that it would transition better if you added more beginning with older information.

A example of someone who was in a accident is Blaine Klingenberg who was struck and killed by a tour bus in the gold coast. He is a example of a witness because he experienced what can happen first hand. We want to eliminate these types of situations. Chicago actually wants to implement a program called vision zero plan which aims to have zero bike fatalities. The Chicago government would be an example of a professional on the topic.

Map three consists of the 2011 bike accidents. 2011 is the newest year that I could find of lincoln park bike accidents. For this data I chose the color purple so that it would stand out from the other colors. I wanted my map to have a lot of data but data that is also easy to read and understand.

Looking at this data overlaid with the older data you can see that the amount of accidents seems to have decreased slightly. I don't think that it has decreased enough. As you can see there still seems to be accidents occurring near the potholes. These are the kinds of things that are important to fix.

While looking at these maps we have to keep into account that many people do not report their accidents or the accidents didn't end badly enough for them to want to report. This is important because we don't know the true scale of the problem but we can assume that we have a scaled down version of the problem.

Another example of a witness would be Francisco Cruz who was struck in a hit and run accident by a white van. A expert in the subject would be Mary Wisniewski from the chicago tribune. Mary had written articles in the problem of biking in Chicago.

Map 4
On map 4 I mapped where I would install the safety barriers. Before I describe the map i'll describe my idea for safety.

The barriers I had in mind are essentially bright green reflective rods that stick up every few feet that separate the bike lane from the road. I think this would be an effective barrier because right now most streets have nothing to keep drivers from driving in the bike lane. The sticks would provide incentive for the drivers not to drive or park in the bike lane. 

The reason I chose to put the map of my plans on top is because it is representing what my solution is to the problems before it. I chose the color because it is the exact color of the poles that I hope are one day implemented.

Mary Wisniewski from the Chicago Tribune is also an expert on this part of the problem. She has an article written about the many different problems that involve the cyclist community.

Citations-

“Bike Maps.” City of Chicago :: Bike Maps, www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/cdot/provdrs/bike/svcs/bike_maps.html.

Eder, Derek. Chicago Bike Crash Report. Blogger.

“Transportation.” City of Chicago :: Pothole Tracker, www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/cdot/dataset/potholetracker.html.

“Transportation.” City of Chicago :: Chicago Bicycle Crash Analysis, www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/cdot/supp_info/2012_bicycle_crashanalysis.html.

“Safe cycling in chicago.” City of chicago.

“Share the road.” City of chicago.

Sobol, Rosemary, and Mary Wisniewski. “Six bicyclists killed in Chicago this year, all involving commercial vehicles.” Chicagotribune.com, Mary Wisniewski, 28 Sept. 2016, www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-woman-struck-killed-while-riding-bike-in-roscoe-village-20160927-story.html.