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.

Helping GCE in 3D

I took a class called Rapid Prototyping. In this class, we talked about the most efficient ways to do things using different machines. In this class, we went to many different places that relate to the class. The first place we went to was a place called mhub. mhub is a place for young entrepreneurs to start using modern technology that will allow them to advance their businesses. The next place we went to was the Harold Washington library maker lab which allows people to use the high tech equipment without owning it. For this project, we had to design something for the school that would improve the environment. I designed a cord holder, hopefully you learn more about that and the way I made it in the slideshow below. 

Working With The Wood

I took a class called woodworking. In this class, we learned how to work with wood and learn to cut and shape it. We also did a project that put a picture on a piece of wood. I had a great time in this class and learned a lot.

For our project we had to choose a internet picture and then flipped it so that it would come out onto the wood properly, then we had to glue it to the wood and let it sit until it was dry. After a few weeks we carefully scratched of the back of the picture leaving the ink. We then put a clear coat on top to preserve the picture and keep the picture bright. Below is my peice of work.

Man With Machine Vs. Machine

This class is called Rapid Prototyping. In this class, we discussed the benefits and drawbacks of modern machines such as the CNC machine. A CNC machine is a machine that used the x,y, z-axis to take material off of the thing it is cutting. We also learned different math concepts to better understand the things we learned. In this class, we took different FE's such as when we went to Mhub which was a fantastic FE because they had some of the most high-end machines on the market. In this AP we had to make a sign on a certain word of GCE's main words. I chose to do Autonomy which I personly relate too every day. Hopefully, you enjoy the presentation and learn something new!

 

Are machines actually better?

This class was called Rapid Prototyping. During this course, we have learned many many things. First thing being, what kind of machines are people using nowadays? The answer to this question is Vinyl Cutters, CNC Machines, 3D printers, Laser Cutters, and Water Jet Cutters. For FE's (Field Experience) we had one in particular that really caught my attention, which was the trip to mhub which was my favorite FE. mhub is a place that allows people to get access to extremely expensive machines that can help them with the manufacturing process for their businesses. I loved it because those types of machines (the ones mentioned early in the intro) are very connected to my life since my dad and I have built CNC machines and I also have spent many hours at the Museum of Science and Industry Fab Lab. So far this class has been wonderful and I have learned so much. For this AP we had to make a presentation on the difference between making a poster with a vinyl cutter vs. using your hands. We also use the distance formula to find the distance between the two farthest points in a letter. This project was super fun to make and I encountered many challenges along the way.

Is Taxidermy Important?

I am taking a class called Population which is the first STEAM class for my sophomore year. In this class, we are currently discussing different ways of studying animals such as taxonomy, videos, photos, and even drawing. I chose to make my project on taxidermy because it is something I can connect to and it is also a very interesting process. So far for this class, we have taken FEs to the Lincoln Park Zoo, the field museum and the Peggy Notebaert museum where we observed animals.  For this AP, we had to choose between a slide show and a few other options for presenting. I chose a slideshow because it was a good form of presenting the information. I chose taxidermy because I think it is very important for us and I wanted to explain it for my project. Please enjoy my project and hopefully, you learn something new. 

Chris Or Capt. America?

I took a class called Stories which is the first Humanities class of the year. In this class, we discussed many many different things such as how stories influence people, how stories are passed along different generations and, finally, how to write a story. During this class, we took a couple of different FE's (Feild Experience). The first field experience was when a professional storyteller came to talk to us about how a story is developed and we even ended up creating a story with her combining different people in the class. For this final action project, we had to compare two different people, one fiction, and one non-fiction. I chose Chris Kyle and Captain America. After choosing these people we have to compare their heroes journeys and how they are similar and different. In this slideshow, I'm going to take you through the lives of these two amazing people and compare them along the way.

These two heroes are actually very similar. First of they both fight for their country and have come from a childhood that wasn't the best. Both heroes rose to fame and power by being the best they could be and saving people. I think that this is the most prominent similarity because it is what has defined them and when we think of these two people you think of them as patriotic and a symbol of freedom. Some things that are not as similar are when they come back from war. Chris Kyle was super supportive and continued helping people but was eventually killed. On the other hand, Captain America is asleep for many many years but when he wakes up he doesn't help immediately and he doesn't die.

I chose these two people because, one, Chris Kyle is an inspiration in my life and I think he is a very cool person. I chose Captain America because he is basically the fiction version of Chris. I also thought that this would be a very interesting comparison because people react very differently to war and a comparison between a real-life vet and a fictional superhero would be an interesting topic.

Polar Bear Plunge?

This class is called Population and we are currently wrapping up the second unit. In this class, we have discussed Mean, Median, Mode, Range, Max, Min, 1Q, 3Q, and IQR. These are all different math terms that relate to the idea of evolution. Evolution is another idea that we dove into during this term. In this Action Project, we have to create an unusual situation for our animal and decide how it will evolve over the course of a thousand years.

My animal is a polar bear which is scientifically known as Ursus maritimus. In this project, we have to describe how the polar bear will evolve (or die) in there environment when something has been altered. We also have to choose a living relative of our animal and an ancestor.  The relative I chose for my animal is the brown bear. For the extinct ancestor, I chose the short-faced bear. All three of these animals are (or were) large predators. To give you an idea of the three different animals the polar bears weight about 990 pounds and are white. The brown bear's weight up to 1,300 pounds. Finally, the short-faced bear weighs up to 2,500 pounds. The polar bear lives in the Arctic circle in places such as Russia and Alaska. The climate is cold all year round and there is always snow. The Brown bear lives in a much warmer habitat and cant stand the same type of cold as the polar bear. The short-faced bear lived in the grasslands of North America.

My situation is that the habitat of the bears has recent apartment development which is cutting down the animal's habitat. I have to decide which bear will be most likely to survive. I think the polar bear will be most likely to survive because they usually have to most space to thrive. I also think the polar bear will survive over the others is because they have adapted to be able to survive extreme cold or slightly warmer climates such as zoos. So they could adapt better if the new people had an impact on the climate. I also think that polar bears have the capability to change color because modern-day polar bears actually evolved from brown bears.

I don't think the short-faced bear will survive because it is very large and won't be able to chase food. Also, the people who move in around the area will be much more scared of the bears because they weight many times more than the other two bears. I think the key to surviving with humans is for them not to be scared of you. Also, short-faced bears were very aggressive creatures so therefore they would not do well near humans.

The brown bear would do well because it is a lot smaller than the short-faced bear and won't be as scary as the short-faced bear. But this bear is still bigger than the polar bear so it is not quite as nimble as the polar bear. Also, its size will still scare people more than the white polar bear.

In one-thousand years I believe polar bears will look darker than they do now and will have become lighter since only the fastest bears will escape the humans who hunt them. Polar bears also may change their diet slightly to include all types of food. Below is what I think a polar bear will look like in one-thousand years.


Polar bears have evolved a lot over time. They used to actually be brown bears but the farther north they moved the lighter they got. Polar bears also have more streamlined skulls for swimming and wider paws to match. The claws and paws on a polar bear are perfect for keeping traction on slippery ice. That is how the polar bear has evolved from its cousin the brown bear.

Out of the entire data set on the polar bear fat percentage, I think the top three bears that will survive will be the three heaviest bears because they clearly have the ability to catch their prey and like I said earlier being nimble and able to catch prey is important.

Biggest

Smallest

 Below is my dataset for the fat percentage of the polar bears.

40, 45, 46, 47, 47, 47, 50, 50, 55

Below is the Min, Max, Range, Mean, Median, Mode, 1Q, 3Q, and IQR.

Min	Smallest 40
Max	Biggest 55
Range	55-40 15
Mean	Add all numbers then divide by 9. 47.44
Median	Crossed numbers off each end until I reach the middle. 47
Mode	Most common number. 47
1Q	Center of the first half of data. 46
3Q	Center of the second half of data. 50
IQR	50-46 4

Below is the standard deviation

X	_ X-X	_ X-X=	_2 (X-X)
40	40-47.44	-7.44	55.35
45	45-47.44	-2.44	5.95
46	46-47.44	-1.44	2.07
47	47-47.44	-0.44	0.19
47	47-47.44	-0.44	0.19
47	47-47.44	-0.44	0.19
50	50-47.44	2.56	6.55
50	50-47.44	2.56	6.55
55	55-47.44	7.56	57.15

                                                                                                                  Total: 134.19

Here is the box and whisker plot of polar bear fat percentage.

Below is the fat percentages for each of the polar bears in each picture.

40,45,46,47,47,47,50,50,51,55
The NCR is, 273438880
The NPR is, 99225500774400
Permutations are more useful for this because the first three most likely bears to survive are in order from 1-3 so therefore they wouldn't make sense in a combination.

Citations:

“Main Page.” Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.

“Free Image on Pixabay - Polar Bear, Glacier, Cold, Threat.” Free illustration: Polar Bear, Glacier, Cold, Threat - Free Image on Pixabay - 2376928, pixabay.com/en/polar-bear-glacier-cold-threat-2376928/.

THE POLAR BEAR PROGRAMME, programmes.putin.kremlin.ru/en/bear/multimedia/photos/47408.

Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight. “Polar Bears Across the Arctic Face Shorter Sea Ice Season.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 15 Sept. 2016, www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/29664357826.

Research, NOAA Ocean Exploration &. “Polar Bear.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 1 Dec. 2016, www.flickr.com/photos/oceanexplorergov/30986547240.THE POLAR BEAR PROGRAMME, programmes.putin.kremlin.ru/en/bear/news.

Michel, Christopher. “Polar Bears on Thin Ice.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 17 July 2015, www.flickr.com/photos/cmichel67/19160462274.

“Free Image on Pixabay - Polar Bears, Wildlife, Snow, Nature.” Free photo: Polar Bears, Wildlife, Snow, Nature - Free Image on Pixabay - 1665367, pixabay.com/en/polar-bears-wildlife-snow-nature-1665367/.

The Story of The Stick

In unit 2 for stories class, we discussed different types of stories and how some of them teach lessons. The stories that teach lessons are called fables. For this action project, we had to write a short fable that teaches a lesson of our choice. In the class stories, we also went on a couple field experiences (which are simply learning experiences inside or outside of school). For example, we had a professional storyteller come in and we worked with her to develop a short story about the class. So far in this class, I have learned many new things and had many new experiences. I hope you enjoy my story.

Once upon a time, there was a Bald Eagle named Joe. Joe was a full grown, majestic, and tough eagle. Joe is a retired fisherman but likes to fish when he has the time. But unfortunately for him, the trail to the best spot cuts through a dangerous part of the woods called the Channel Of Death. Joe carries his heavy-duty wooden stick with him on a daily basis so that he doesn't fall into the hands of whatever lies in the woods. The only problem is that he also has to cross over a city to get there, and everyone in the city is afraid of sticks because they have never used them before. Sticks are banned everywhere, from the cafes to the grocery stores. Joe is left vulnerable to the predators in the woods.

Joe accepts the rules for a while, but one day he gets attacked! Joe instinctively reaches for his stick, but it's not there! The ferocious animal is actually not any stronger than Joe, but it has a stick of its own. Joe fights with all his might and manages to escape the deadly encounter but vows to never leave the house without his stick again.

Joe devises a plan to protest the horrible rules that banned the sticks. He created hundreds of posters to put up around the city asking to allow sticks. No one in the city listens. They just simply ignore him and continue with their preachings about how bad sticks are. Joe realizes how little the people of the city really know about the infamous sticks, so he devises a plan to show how safe they are when in the right hands.

Joe changes his posters to show how little people get hurt by sticks in comparison to other common activities. He couldn't understand why people couldn't just look at the simple numbers and understand what he was saying. One day, Joe overheard a group of foxes plotting to spread more bad information about sticks. Joe got very mad at this and confronted them. But before Joe could ask any questions the foxes all ran away to their homes, so they could continue deciding how to ban sticks. He decided to spread the word that the foxes were spreading rumors. Joe realized what was really happening, the people of the city had only one unreliable source of information, the foxes. Joe had to change that so he decided to start a channel on the most popular video watching website ever, animal views. On this channel, Joe discussed how to use sticks, how cool they were, and he portrayed them as not a device to hurt animals but as a tool. He saw the impact it had on the city because he was starting to see more and more people get angry at the fact that sticks were banned from so many places. That's finally when it happened, the stores took down there horrible anti-stick signs and started to let people carry sticks in peace. From that day on Joe realized that the best way to get your point across was not to force it in people's heads but to help them understand what you are saying.

The moral of the story is to always fight for your rights.

S, D. Eagle And Fox. Chicago, 15 Oct. 2017.

The Rise of Zes-May-Turn

I took a class called Stories which is the first humanities class of the year. In this class, we discussed different types of stories, features of stories and many other components of a good story. In this class, we also took a few different FEs. To name a few we went to the Field Museum and we had a storyteller come in. For this Action Project, we had to write a story that included metaphors, similes, and other things. Enjoy the story!

Once upon a time, there was a planet in the sky called Zes-May-Turn.  It was a beautiful place, but it was extremely cold. People had to live in a contained world built on top of the cold landscape. One day, the god of the land got fed up with his people not being able to go outside the contained world. He screamed so loud that the whole planet shattered. Similar to what the earthlings call the Big Bang. A huge part drifted away with everyone on it. The broken part was named Snara 8R after the noise the god made and the roar from which it split. This new world became warmer and warmer the farther it got from its original location. Therefore the people became happy These are not average people though.

As time went on, the people began to grow stronger, since they were able to go outside and actually do work, instead of machines doing everything for them inside an indoor world. These people evolved into much stronger creatures known as Annunaki Aliens. They were able to roam the Orhadious mountains that stretched across the landscape like the spine of a Spinosaurus. These mountains had been created when the god became mad and his horrid roar left the landscape in different unique shapes. The Orhadious mountains, and I quote, Annunaki Alien,  “Are the spine of an ever-changing landscape”. The mountain range is huge, thriving with life, colorful, mysterious, and glistening with water. The mountains almost looked like they had been accidentally placed because surrounding the range was a simple grass field that stretched for miles in all directions. This part of the world seemed to be the only part that wasn't endlessly changing.

Another thing that allowed the Aliens to grow stronger as the need to be able to outrun the fast flowing Amazon River which the god had named after the most amazing river on the closest planet to their home, Earth. The Amazon was created when the rocks that formed the mountain started to rise because they left a huge line of empty space in the ground. The river on planet Snara 8R was much faster, stronger, deeper, and much, much more dangerous. This river is the fastest flowing river in the galaxy. The river was never predictable because it was common for a massive piece of ice to run down the river at speeds exceeding two-hundred miles per hour. The currents would also appear with such force that whirlpools would randomly appear on the river. People said the river was like an out of control freight train made from water and ice. The aliens had to learn how to carefully navigate the river as to make sure they didn't get injured. To give you an idea of how daunting it was to cross the Amazon even when you get within one hundred feet of it, you start to feel winds that are colder than your freezer flying by your face fast enough to pick you up.

The last iconic part of the island is the huge glaciers at the far side opposite to the river. These were created when the god yelled and some of his ice teeth flew out of his mouth settling down perfectly where they rest today. The glaciers are like a mountain of ice. They never move and never melt. These glaciers are where the aliens go to collect ice and store large amounts of food. The glaciers are a freezer. They are one of the most beautiful parts of the island tall, white, sparkling, clean, and crisp. When the aliens first saw the glaciers they had walked carefully toward them since they were scared of the cold.

Below is a drawing of the mountain range that can be found on planet Zes-May-Turn. Along with the mountains is the glaciers (top left corner) and the amazon river (bottom right corner). These are three main features of the planet. Another, not so iconic feature is the field which surrounds the mountain range because it is literally just a flat area without any features. The field also never changes. I also included a compass on the bottom right so that you get an idea of which way is which. What you see below is drawn to scale. I would like to point out that the mountain range is about 25 miles wide so that should give you a good perspective of how large the rest of the features are.

S, D R. Map. Chicago, 3 Oct. 2017.

Bolar Pear

I am taking a class called Population which is the first STEAM class for my sophomore year. In this class, we are currently discussing animal taxonomy which is how we classify animals. We also have discussed some concepts such as Venn diagrams and set theory which is a way to write out the way a thing interacts with a set. So far for this class, we have taken one FE to the Lincoln Park Zoo where we observed our animals. I tried to observe the polar bear but unfortunately, it wasn't outside for me to see so I went to the brown bear to see a similar animal. On top of the polar bear not being outside, the brown bear was asleep. This affected me because I was not able to make observations about how these animals interact with the environment. For this AP, we had to study a certain animal and also research its taxonomy. Then we had to make a piece of art representing our animal and label what makes it the animal it is (spine, aquatic, etc). Below is my research on the polar bear and what I have observed about it along with my comparison to other animals.

For this project, I studied the Ursus maritimus which is also known as a polar bear. This creature lives in many different places such as Alaska, Greenland, Canada, Russia, and Norway. Polar bears are always found in a cold climate which is where they thrive. They have adapted for the cold because they have a thick layer of fat and lots of fur. Polar bears are carnivores which means they eat meat. A polar bear's main food source is ringed seal and bearded seals, but they also eat things like beluga whales, walruses, narwhals and bowhead whales. A polar bear needs to consume 4.5 pounds of food per day to survive.

This is the different Taxonomic levels of a Polar Bear:

Here is a visual of what makes a polar bear a polar bear

This is what my drawing was based on

I'm going to be comparing the Polar Bear to a Fennec Fox and a White-Cheeked Gibbon. I created a Venn diagram to compare the three different animals. You can check out CMs blog for the White-Cheeked Gibbon or RPs blog for the Bald Eagle.

In this Venn Diagram, I am showing what the Polar Bear, Fennec Fox, and White Cheeked Gibbon all have in common, what differences they have and what two of the three have in common (such as a Polar Bear and Fennec Fox). I also show you what none of the animals have in common such as the ability to fly.

Below is the polar bear's relations put in math terms

During this project, I had a great time studying polar bears, going to the zoo and finally drawing out my animal and labeling what makes it a polar bear. My favorite part was making the drawing because it was probably the most personalized piece and I am very proud of it. I also like the set theory because it is a fun challenge to tackle and probably gave me the hardest time to complete. Overall this project was super fun and I learned a lot of things about polar bears and other animals.

Foresman, Scott. “Polar Bear.” Wikipedia, Wikipedia.

DS. Polar Bear. Chicago, 20 Sept. 2017.

DS. Venn Diagram. Chicago, 20 Sept. 2017.

DS. Math Sentences. Chicago, 20 Sept. 2017.

DS. Polar Bear Taxonomic levels. Chicago, 20 Sept. 2017.