Courageous Film Critique!

In the second unit of the course Olllywood, we studied production and how critiques review movies. For this we watch Siskel and Ebert do a critique show, they also told us the rules they have for themselves to critique a movie and the most important rule is to be courageous, say what you want but also give the movie a chance. For our action project we had to do a similar video to what Siskel and Ebert did, meaning making a video that is like a show. Once we knew what we had to do we were assigned partners and we got to choose a movie that we would like to critique. Me and my partner chose BeetleJuice by Tim Burton. During this project I had a little difficulty in editing the video because I needed to be precise. I learned how to add images to my movie.

KS & ZP Movie Critique from GCE Lab School on Vimeo.

"BeetleJuice." Put Locker. N.p. Web. November 28.

Suppli

In our Elective term, in the course Fare we studied Italian along with learning how to cook Italian food. We have learned so much Italian worlds and learned so many dishes.  For our project we made a video of us saying who we are,  how we are doing, where we are from, how old I am, what languages I speak and also we will present a dished that we liked cooking in class. I chose Suppli because its delicios and easy to make. So with that we will mention the ingredients that go into it. Also we will present a friend. This class is really fun so far. I am proud of how I learned Italian fast.

Back to The Future Review

In the first unit of the course Ollywood, we studied pre production. Ollywood is a film critique class. We are studying the elements necessary in order to create a great movie. The first unit studies the screenplay, costume design, set design, lighting, and location scouting. For our first action project, we critiqued a film that was considered to have great elements of pre-production. I chose to critique Back to The Future because I have seen it before. Throughout this project, I learned how to write an effective movie critique. I am proud of the research I did for this critique.

Back to The future. 2014

Back To The Future is a 1985 American comic science-fiction film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. The screenplay was rejected many times by the studios until Steven Spielberg took the opportunity and helped them produce it. The lead actors are Michael J. Fox, Christopher lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The actor Fox, who played Marty McFly had some difficulties in making the movie because he was filming a show called Family Ties at the same time and the producers of the show wouldn't let him film the movie. Eric Stoltz was cast to play Marty McFly but as time went they realized that he was a miscast. so Fox was called back in and this time he worked out time management with the show so he was able to do both.            

The movie was released on July 3, 1985 and became the most successful film of the year. It cost 19 million dollars to produce the film,but the end it was worth it because the film grossed more than 383 million dollars. For the great effort in making the movie, the movie won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film, and the Academy Award for Best Sound Effect Editing.

Back to the Future is based in 1985 in Hill Valley, a fictional town in California. Hill Valley is a small, residential town with a high school. Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is our protagonist, a 17-year old who dresses like any 80’s rebellious, skateboarding teenager dressed in jeans, Nike shoes, a maroon shirt, a square pattern button-up shirt, a jean jacket, and an orange vest. Marty’s desire is to get back home to 1985 after he accidentally time-travels in a car, the Delorean to 1955. While he is stuck in 1955, he runs into trouble by having interrupted his parents’ meeting and the timeline of history. In order to make both time periods believable, the production and costume designers had to pay close attention to details. For example, the high school set in 1955 was believable because there were checkered-tiles on the floor. The costumes also reflected the 1950s style with the girls dressed in square-pattern skirts with button-up shirts and the boys wore khakis with button-up shirts and blazers.

Throughout the movie Marty always said “If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything” Marty was inspired to say this quote by his dad because his dad alway said it, although he doesn't set his mind to accomplishing higher goals. Marty’s obstacle was a person...Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson), our antagonist. Biff is a big, buff, rich and he is a bully. Since Biff was a bully he would always tell people “ What you lookin’ ar, butthead?” when people try to stop his bullying.

A brief summary of the movie Back to The Future, Marty's desire had two desires one was that he wants to get his parents fall in love again because he interfered with their meeting so by that he and his siblings won't exist. His other desire was that he wants to get back to his time 1985 because he accidentally traveled back to 1955. It all started when “Doc” (an scientist inventor) invented a time travel car with a DeLorean DMC-12. He showed Marty at 1:06 am at the twin pines mall parking lot. Two mad terrorist attacked them and killed Doc. Marty panicked so he got on the car and tried to get rid of the terrorist by going fast. The thing was that if the car goes more that 85 miles then it would travel to the date that is indicated on the display board, the date was 1955 where Doc came up with the machine the would make the car travel. So he traveled back in time and for trying to look for Doc in 1955 he accidentally met his dad and followed him. His dad was spying on a girl on a tree when he accidentally fell and was going to get run over but Marty saved his dad from the car accident but he actually interfered with his parents meeting because his mom told him how she met his father when her dad almost ran over his dad and they took him inside and thats where they met and fell in love. Now Marty must have his journey in finding and convince Doc that he is from the future and that he needs help from him to get back. He also needs to get (his dad) George to become brave, for his mother to fall in love with George instead of him. The climax was on the day of the dance (where his parents are suppose to kiss and fall in love) he sets his parents up but then Biff interferes locks Marty inside of a truck. Biff tries to abuse Lorien when George sees her and he stands up to Biff. In that moment Lorien falls in love with George and enter the dance as dates. The resolution of this intriguing movie was that after a few dances Lorraine and George kissed and stayed together, by them kissing they kept their children's existence (from the future) Marty was able to get his parents back together and he was late to his meeting with the his future time. When Marty got back his family changed because his family was rich the reason why was because since his father stood up for him self he didn't let Biff determine his future which he did in the beginning of the movie.

My favorite scene would be at the end when Marty makes plans with George so he can ask Lorraine to the dance. The plan was that Marty would bother Lorraine and George would come and hit Marty to stop bothering her. When he was going to bother Lorine Biff came punched Marty and locked him in a trunk and Biff started to harraz Lorraine. George came along and was going to proceed with the plan, he opened the door of the car and said:

George- Hey you get your damn hands of…

But as soon as he saw that it was Biff and not Marty he hesitated.

Biff- I think you got the wrong car Mcfly.

Lorraine- George help me please

Biff- Just turn around Mcfly and walk away. Are you deaf Mcfly close the door and beat it.

George- No Biff you leave her alone.

Biff- Alright Mcfly. You're asking for it and now your going to get it.

Mcfly tries to punch Biff but fail and he torches him. Lorraine tries to intervene but also fail and Biff throws her to the grown. Thats when George get courage and punches Biff by surprise and knocks him down.

This was my favorite scene because George was able to stand up and not let Biff bully him anymore and other people. Meaning that people should not be afraid of an obstacle or let anyone bully them, stand up and fight for yourself. Also because this was the part where Lorraine had a beautiful pink fluffy dress and George was cleaned up with a white tuxedo. Reflecting on the dialogue of this movie I think that the dialogue is believable because Bullies always try to act tough and by acting tough they say mean things and have attitude. Of Course the person that is being bullied won't say nothing because they are usually the people that are shy and don't talk much, so they won't defend themselves.

Life Expectancy

In the last unit of the course Population we studied population growth in the world. For our last action  project we calculated the how many people there would be in 2050 and we chose a topic that contributes to population growth. I chose Life expectancy because due to a high population we now have low life expectancy. Doing this project I had a little difficulty putting my scrip together because I didn't want the argument to agree with one each other. From this I am most proud of my research.

Aaron. Calculation. 2014

The human population in 2050 would be 10,715,465,520. This calculation is a geometric sequence
because it does not increase constantly. Our estimation is reasonable because right now we have 7,125,000,000 people in the world and it will keep increasing.

Script:

[Roy walks into a funeral home to talk to the owner about arranging a funeral] 

Roy: Hello Alex!

Alex: Hey Roy.

Roy: So how’s the funeral business going?

Alex: Business has been going good. Since life expectancy is lowering now a days.

Roy: Are you sure? Because I thought that there were 21 births per 1,000 people, while there are 10 deaths per 1,000 people. Meaning, that the human population is growing at 1%.

Alex: Which gender do we see here the most?

Roy: Male.

Alex: Exactly! The reason for that is because we men take more risks in life than women do saying that the life expectancy for men is lower than women's.

Roy: Well, even so I actually heard that the UN estimates that 3.7 billion people on earth will die, but another 6.6 billion people will be born in 36 years from now. Then that would state that the amount of births would double.

Alex: What you’re saying is very true Roy, but because there are many causes of death sometimes there will be more deaths than there are births.

Roy: …. I have to go I have a funeral to arrange,but don't think we finished this conversation Alex.

Alex: Ha, ok then good luck.

Roy: Thanks, bye.

Alex: Bye.

Naam, Ramez. “Life Extension and Overpopulation”. IEET. N.p. Web. Oct 23, 2014.
Kinder, Carolyn. “The Population Explosion: Cause and Consequences.” Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. N.p. Web. Oct 23, 2014.
Copeland, Larry. “Life expectancy in the USA hits a record high.” USA Today. N.p. Web. Oct 23, 2014.

A Heroes Journey

In unit 3 of the course Stories, we studies how a person becomes a  hero and how they became a hero.  We use Joseph Campbell's hero mono myth as a guide to understand how they became heroes.  For our last project we had to follow the journey of a non-fictional character and a role model that we have in our life's. For my non-fictional hero I chose Xena:Warrior Princess because her episodes and tv show haves a clear example of a heroes journey. For Xena I created a slide show on one of her episodes to show her journey. For my role model I chose my brother Marvin because I have seen him go through a lot but he always tries his more than his best . I interviewed Marvin for the reason to tell me how going to college is important for him and how he got to go Valparaiso, a good college. I felt that he was a good role model to show a heroes journey.  I challenge that I had was to chose a role model in my life because I had no idea who. After this project I learned how to determine a heroes journey in a tv show or movie.

   

Stop at 3:56 and continue onto the second part of the interview, below.




Transcript:

K- Hi Marvin, how are you doing today?
M- Good, how about yourself?
K- Good, ok, ready

1.) The Call
K- What made you want to help others?
M- Well growing up um it was a little difficult at times ah you know you always had your friend, you always made people um you always that um weren't as friendly, that weren't as friendly to your friends to others and i think that was one of the main reasons growing up that made me want to help others. Want to help them not have to go through situations similar to mine or similar to those of my friends or simply people walking around treat other like you want them to treat you.
K- That's nice of you.
M- Thank you.
K- What motivates you to do what your doing?
M- I think a big part in my upcoming was the rule that my parents made in my development um how they raise me you know simple little things like say hi when you first see someone that you know when you walk into somebody's house you know go up to them shake their hand um smile um always keep positive little things like that really help you get through a lot of things um you know make you a better person.

2.) Mentor
K- Who would you say most helped you decide what you wanted to do in life?
M- Since i was little I always um I always liked technology, I always like innovation and um it didn't really come through until I believe it was my 7th grade year my math teacher. I really didn't enjoy math at all actually until my teacher you know sat down with me and he kinda got me to understand what math was and why it was important and it became fun. It truly became something exiting something a class that I look forward to and thats how I decided that math was going to be a key role in what I wanted to do so combining both passions of my innovation in math that how I chose that I would um become an engineer.
K- Who was physically there helping/pushing you forward to accomplish what you wanted?
M- Oh this is an easy question, I say my mom first and my dad second um not because one was better than the other but just because you know my dad always works so hard to give us the best opportunities but um at times that meant that he was away from home and when that happen my mom stepped in and kind of put both of my parents wishes and hopes to one package. You know get me through a lot of my challenges.
K- Nice

3.) The Unknown/Crossing the Threshold
K- What made you go to college?
M- I think in this world its almost impossible um to help yourself, to help others um without having a certain type of degree of skill and knowledge. Twenty years ago, thirty years ago it was you know, you only needed a high school diploma to get certain jobs and you can do find with that um unfortunately um the economic state of the country and of the world require us now to have a little bit stronger knowledge and skill set. Which require at least a collegiate of a bachelors or associates and i think that was the main point that kinda pushed me to say I want to go to college, I want to get this degree you know I want to make in life, I want to be successful and you and you know I want to have a happy life and be able to make other people be happy as well.
K- Interesting

K- How is studying engineering going to help the world?
M- Engineering is very broad theres many opportunities and there is always people who need a change in their life. Engineering is one of the main things that has helped this country and the world through out the past decades um to make progress in the technology that we use today are phones, heating, air conditioning, cars, any transportation really with out it you know the world wouldn't be how it is today how we enjoy it today.

4.) Trials/Tests/Allies/Enemies

K- Along your way, did you know anyone that was going through the same thing as you?
M- Sure, um a lot of my friends, a lot of my class mates, we were all searching for what we wanted to do, what was our purpose thats what most humans search for um I think a lot of us found that engineering was a route that we can take how ever not all of us did um even tho engineering is a very prominent career with high benefits um good market place um its not for everybody um yeah. 

K- Were there any obstacles that you faced in your lifetime? Can you describe them?
M- Sure, um main obstacles I guess same as most other teenagers um responsibility, keeping focused, on what was the goal, gpa,good grades, extra curricula's making sure I am well rounded um making sure I have a good resume template for colleges um something that can make me stand out as a student um make sure thats what I am going to um its also one of the main reasons why I chose to minor in Chinese and one the the main reasons why I am going to sticking around for graduate school to complete my MBA

5.) Abyss/Infinite Despair
K- What were the greatest challenges you’ve faced during your life?
M- Um the greatest challenge that I faced um and that I am still facing is that very little I was diagnose with HDHD um and you know since getting diagnose I have notice difficulties with concentration, I am not jumping off of the walls its just you know with concentration um time management um so for me I have to almost work double on those than other students well I want to say most, every case is unique. Definitely I say that I have to little harder than I seen you know my close friends work at it um things that come naturally sometimes are a little bit harder.
K- How did you overcome these challenges?
M- With support of family , friends, peers and um great teachers um that help me get through and succeed in my high school career.

6.) Rebirth/Reward & Road Back-
K- After your greatest challenge what did you achieve?
M- Well I made it into a rigorous university um which gives undergrad students very great opportunities in engineering um give us great opportunities and great focus on student development. Job placements um and I think thats the main goal I have gotten a lot of good qualities and a lot of good experiences through out my life.
K- How did it change you for the better?
M- Every experience that we go through helps us in one way or another saying that I can also say that there are also experiences that are negative and wont help us but actually bring us down. I think that the experiences that I took the after school activities, the saturday college, music classes um sports, jazz band, marching band, leadership roles, business internships, um and just helping around you know my community and church are things that you know help me gain important skills um through communication, leader ship, um and important networking skills that you need to make good solid connections with people that can help you along the road.

7.) Atonement
K- What was the biggest challenge you faced?
M- I think having so many activities through out the week having you know two hours three hours of each activity every day um seven days a week sometimes only getting half a day of a week for having me time. I think it was just being able to keep at it um to not give up you know having that perseverance to keep on chugging through.
K- How did the challenge affect you?
M- I think it made me a little bit stronger at least that is what I would want to think um help me you know realize you know there are somethings in life that are very valuable and other things that are not so valuable that things that you can sacrifice for now in order to make you main goal. I think that comes along with time management, being responsible with what you do, the activities that you chose to do.

8.) The Return-
K- Will you use what you learned to help others that are going through the same thing?
M- Yeah, um I have a lot of younger friends and of course kids that are around your age um that I have mentored um in business intern ships um that ask how do you do this you know if we have questions like this where would we go, who can we talk to, um what other resources are available for us. Little things like that you know even saying "yeah I know how you feel" you know"I went through this" "its going to be ok"sometimes it is just a little tiny push that helps people you know succeed help people um get through what ever situation they are in, so positive comments. 

K- What skills will you use to help them?
M- To help them, um anything I have really um which might not be much, but um anything that I can offer at the time um just being there for the person um advice, tutoring, anything that I can help at the time or anything I can do for them or point them in a certain direction I think that what I would do.


K- Well thank you very much for being her today and doing this interview
M- No thank you for having me here

Thief

In the second unit of the course Stories we studied fables and characters. We learned about the 9 different types of characters and how they are represented. For example a confidante characters is a  human or animal that is the most trusted in the story. Fable are short stories that teach a lesson using animals as humans. For our action project we created a fable, we had to come up with a problem that bothers us that other people do. My lesson was that people should take what is not there's. I chose it because recently people take my stuff with out asking me, I don't mind sharing is just that they need to  ask properly. During this project the challenge I faced was not telling the moral directly or at the end, but at the end I liked my fable and I am proud of it.

  

KIS. Allana in Paris. 2014

KIS. Garden. 2014

One beautiful day Alanna, the white tiger went for a walk around Paris most beautiful and attractive area, the Eiffel tower. Alanna had time to go for a walk because she had a day off from working at a clothing store because asked for a day off because today was her Birthday.

“Where is Seth?” asked Alanna out loud. “He told me to meet him here.”

From a long distance, Alanna was able to recognize Seth coming her way. Once Seth reached Alanna he gave her a big hug.

Seth whispered “Happy Birthday” into Alanna’s ear.

“Thank you!” responded Alanna.

Seth and Alanna had been friends since sixth grade and have been there for each other all the time.

“Guess what? Happy birthday girl!” exclaimed Seth.

“What!” giggle Alanna.

“I got you a present”admitted Seth while bringing it out of the bag he had.

“You didn't have to Seth” said Alanna.

“I know but you are my best friend and you are going to like what I bought for you” responded Seth while handing the present to her. Alanna opened the present carefully because she didn't want to destroy the nice wrapping.

“OH MY.. It is a DIAMOND HEART ring!” shouted Alanna, “It is so beautiful Seth, thank you so much.”

“I knew that you were going to like it” assured Seth.

Alanna and Seth walked around then saw Kiki, a koala running towards them. “That Parrot took my favorite pair of diamond earrings!” cried out loud Kiki. The parrot was flying towards the Eiffel Tower and you can see that she had the earring because the sun shined on the earrings.

“I have heard of that parrot. I think her name is Maisy, she takes things that are shiny” said Seth, “I am sure that she had done this before.”

“I am so sorry Kiki” said Alanna in a sad voice.

After Kiki’s earrings got stolen they tried to think of ways to get it back. They thought for a while but all the ways to get the earrings included someone who can fly. Kiki started crying, Alanna and Seth tried to cheer her up but they didn't know how. So they decided to get her mind off it by taking her to a beautiful garden that was close to the tower.

“Hey look at those beautiful pink flowers!” Alanna exclaimed, breaking the silence. While Alanna pointed at the flowers the sun shined on her ring and the ring caught Kiki’s attention but also Maisy’s attention too.

“You should put your gorgeous ring away before that parrot Maisy takes it away like she did with my earrings.” sobbed Kiki. Alanna took off her ring and put it on her small handbag. The three of them walked for a while through the garden.

“Look!” Kiki surprised, “it is blue and purple flowers mix together.”

“Oh yeah! I see them” shouted back Alanna.

“Alanna, lets take a selfie all three of us with these flowers” suggested Kiki.

“Ok” responded Alanna.

Alanna took out her phone from her bag and put the bag on the floor to take a selfie. While they were taking it Maisy flew in really fast and took the bag.

“Noo!” shouted Alanna, “Give it back!” The three of them started to chase after Maisy but once they reached the Eiffel Tower they had to stop and they all started to sob.

“And I just got that ring” cried out Alanna.

“And I just payed for that expensive ring” continued Seth.

Meanwhile everyone was sad for the things they lost Maisy was celebrating another victory. “Oh I love this ring its so pretty, it goes perfectly with the colors of my feathers,” Maisy claimed out loud to herself. “I love all of these things that I took they are.. they are just so glamorous.” Maisy stayed looking down to see if she likes anything but as the hours went by she got hungry and she flew over everyone to see if there was anybody that would feed her. When she was flying a human saw her beautiful colorful feathers and her amazing wing span.

“I have never see a parrot like her” acknowledged Rob, “I must get her for my collection.”

Maisy found a slice of pizza on a plate with no one around.

“Ha I found my dinner without going through the daily trouble” blurted Maisy.

Maisy started to eat, she was enjoying her food, that she didn't notice Rob approaching her. Rob had some more food in a basket and in his hand. Maisy at first was suspicious but then she realize that she has never seen him before so he could have not known about the things she takes. Maisy started eating the things she gave him. She ate so much that she wasn't able to fly back up to the tower.

“Yes! you are mine beautiful parrot” cheered Rob.

Maisy tried to run away but she couldn't so she got captured and was taken away from all her precious jewels.

Survival on Mars

In unit 2 of the course Population, we studied evolution, specifically in animals. We learned about how birds have become endangered, extinct and new species of birds are appearing. For example, we looked at the passenger pigeon and how there were millions of them. When they migrated, they would cover the whole sky for 3 days and they would eat our crops. Then humans started capturing them to get rid of them and they ate them. We also learned about how a human grew tall as a variation of his species; his name was Robert Wadlow and he was 8ft 11in. For our action project, we looked at Mars 1 project (which is a tv show) and we had to choose animal to accompany the humans. The challenge for this was that we had to choose from any rescue center in Chicago. I chose a Labrador female dog. Her name is Lill and she is 3 months old. The trick for this was that the animal has to survive in Mars with the cold weather. In this project, I learned about Mars and one thing that I am proud of is my math portion.

Lill, ALIVE Rescue Chicago, 2014.

Labradors came from Newfoundland dogs. There was a populated area of small dogs, they bred with Newfoundlands producing Labrador dogs. In 1830 they were reported as a new specie and British sportsman Colonel Hawker quoted "the best for any kind of shooting...generally black and no bigger than a Pointer, very fine in legs, with short, smooth hair...is extremely quick running, swimming, and fighting...and their sense of smell is hardly to be credited." They weren't called Labrador dogs until Duke of Malmesbury announced that he has always called them Labradors. Unfortunately the Newfoundland dogs died out for the reason of heavy dog tax and quarantine law. Which then lead humans to bred the few Newfoundlands dogs with Retrievers, that why they called them Labrador Retrievers and are similar to them.

Looking for my animal, I chose 10 dogs to look at they weight and I represented it in a table.

8lb (lill)	40lb	50lb	15lb	43lb
10lb	12lb	56lb	30lb	35lb

Box and Whisker plot:

KIS. Weight. 2014

Mean: 299/10= 29.9lb
Median: 32.5lb
Mode:None
Maximum:56lb
Minimum:8lb
Range: 48lb

Standard Deviation:

x	x(x)	(x)2
8	8-29.9= -21.9	(-21.9)2=479.61
10	10-29.9= -19.9	(-19.9)2=396.01
12	12-29.9= -17.9	(-17.9)2=320.41
15	15-29.9= -14.9	(-14.9)2=222.01
30	30-29.9=0.1	(0.1)2=0.1
35	35-29.9= 5.1	(5.1)2=26.01
40	40-29.9= 10.1	(10.1)2=102.01
43	43-29.9= 13.1	(13.1)2=171.61
50	50-29.9= 20.1	(20.1)2=404.01
56	56-29.9= 26.1	(26.1)2=681.21

Total-2802.72/9=311.413 311.413=17.65

Lill weighs 8 lbs. She is 17.65 standard deviations below the mean of 29.9 lbs.

“Labrador Retriever.” American Kennel Club. N.p. Web. Oct 14 2014.
“Labrador Retriever.” Dog Breed Info Center. N.p. Web. Oct 14 2014.
“Mars.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Michael H. Carr, n.p. Web. Oct 13 2014.

Elektra

In the first unit of the class Stories we studied myths, specifically greek myths. We read lots of myths, for example, we read the story of a nymph named echo got punished from Zeus wife because she believed that echo was having a relationship with him. Echo's punishment was that she could never speak only repeat the last word people tell her. Another story that we read was about a flower, this flower was Narcissus who was a handsome and wanted young man. Narcissus didn't pay attention to any girls, so the girls pray to the gods to punish him for his actions. The gods punished Narcissus by him falling in love with himself, the way he got punished was by when he looked in the pool he wouldn't be able to pull away from his beautiful reflection so he stayed bent over. We also studied adverbs, adjectives, similes and metaphors. For our first action project we created a myth story, for our story I created a fantasy planet. From this story I learned how to write a descriptive story. I am proud of how my story came out to be.

KIS. Elektra.2014

The planet Elektra was made thousands of years into the future.This planet was created when two stars wanted to make a home for their future family. The female star was called Anastasia and her husband was Alec. They both loved each other so much that they did not want to be separated for any reason. Anastasia and Alec wanted to create a world where they could take a human form and live peacefully with music surrounding them. Anastasia and Alec didn't want to make normal humans because they were too stubborn and didn't live peacefully. So what they did was form mystical creatures that they had seen in the humans’ books and made animals in human shape. They ended up making pegasus, hippogriff, fairies, pixies and foxes in human form.

On the planet Elektra the homes of all creatures are like trees. The floors are big trampolines, and for that reason, the houses will not stay stable. Since the houses are not stable, they were made in the trees because the roots are attached to the planet’s core, so they don't move. Fairies, pixies and human foxes live in those houses. Anastasia and Alec created a huge palace for themselves. It was a brilliant, white bird’s nest perched in the trees. The palace was bright and shiny with sunlight that made it sparkle everywhere. In that palace, they would make their family and help the creatures with what they needed. They would enjoy the music they like that would come from the music note clouds.

Since Anastasia and Alec couldn't fly themselves, the pegasus and hippogriff were their transporting cars. Anastasia loved her pegasus because she was so kind. The pegasus’ wings are as big as an angel’s, and she has soft, thin hair all over her body. Everyday, Anastasia would ride her pegasus and feel the strong, cold wind on her face. Alec also loved his hippogriff, but not as much as Anastasia loved her pegasus. Some mornings, he would swiftly fly off with Anastasia and enjoy his time with her. The fairies and pixies would also join them and fly toward their destination.

KIS.Castle.2014

There were times, however, when fairies and pixies had their differences. Still, they would try to get along and use their magic to create beautiful things for Anastasia or for their homes. Everyone decorated their houses their own way--some with flowers all over their house, others with camouflage. The decorating styles made it easy for Anastasia and Alec to remember the name of the fairies and pixies who lived there. Fairies are usually funny and nice, unlike the pixies who have a bad attitude, but don't mean any harm.

While everyone talks to everyone the foxes don't, they are quiet creatures that like to observe and mind their own business. The foxes have nine tails and they use them in cases where they are threatened or happy. Foxes usually like using the trampoline to jump around places and kids use it to play. There is only one fox that spoke a lot with Anastasia. Her name is Celine and she is the friendliest fox on this planet, and Anastasia’s very best friend. Together, the friends would talk about Anastasia building her family and her dreams with Alec.

After 3 months, Anastasia became pregnant and was going to have her baby in 3 weeks. Anastasia and Alec were so excited because it was going to be their first child and it was going to be raised in a good environment. When it was time for her baby to arrive, there were problems; Anastasia and Alec’s baby wouldn't come into the world. The couple was going to have twins and did not expect it. While Anastasia was suffering, all the fairies, pixies and her best friend Celina were in the palace waiting for the news of her newborn baby. Finally, a baby was born but after all the waiting and struggling the second baby didn't make it. Anastasia was so devastated but she tried so hard to be strong for Alec and her baby Elias.

While Anastasia was recovering from the delivery, Celina would visit and accompany her while Alec took care of his baby. Anastasia went into a deep depression that made her sick. Celina and Alec tried to shake her out of her depression by trying to cheer her up and taking care of her. But Anastasia wasn't getting better, so Alec contacted her parents and told them what happened with her. Anastasia's mother told Alec that the disease that Anastasia got was rare and deadly for stars, and the only way for her to survive was to go back to the galaxy and return to her natural star form.

After hearing what Anastasia’s mother told him, he tried to think of another way because he knew that Anastasia wouldn't want to go back and it would be so hard for Alec to destroy their dream of being human. After thinking for a long time, he realized that there was no other way and he didn't want his loved one to die. He had to take her back, but how? He had to trick her or kidnap her to go back. He wanted his wife to get better but he didn't wanted to leave Elias and since he was just born the baby was not yet capable of turning into a star. He had to make a decision and it was very hard for Alec, but his love for Anastasia is unconditional and he promised to never leave her side. Alec decided to take Anastasia back, sohe asked Celina to take care of Elias in the palace and let her know that they would be back as soon as Anastasia was better. In two days, Alec came up with his plan to take Anastasia home without her getting mad at him. While she was asleep, he carried her away to make sure she would shine brightly in the galaxy.

Interesting Facts about Narwhals

In the first unit of the class Population, we studied taxonomy and math language. Taxonomy is Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species (KPCOFGS). For our first project, we had to choose an animal that we liked from a list of 15 animals that the teacher provided. Most of those animal names weren't common but rare. Out of that list, I choose Narwhal, which is the only aquatic animal with a tusk and is similar to a whale. I did research on this animal and classified it in taxonomy. To visualize its taxonomy, I made a Narwhal collage and labeled it. During this project, I learned about taxonomy. I am proud of my collage.


Taxonomy of Narwhal:

Kingdom:Anamelia-Multicellular,Heterotrophic
Phylum:Chordata-Spinal
Class:Mammalia-Warm blooded,Has hair,four chambered heart
Order:Cetacea- Aquatic,large animal
Family:Monodontidae-Rounded flippers,live in arctic and neck flexibility due to vertebrate not fused
Genus:Monodon-Narwhal is the only organism in the genus. It is separated from the Baluga by its large tusks
Species:Monoceros-Narwhal is the only species in this genus

KIS.Narwhal collage.2014

KIS.Ven Diagram of Narwhal and Fennec Fox. 2014.

KIS.Narwhal element of...2014.

The People's Music School

For most all my life I have gone to a music program that is free. This organization is called The Peoples Music School. People are able to enter this school at age 5 and haves to leave at age 18. This program runs during the school year; it starts two weeks after students start school in september and finishes about a month before school finishes. In this school you get the opportunity to learn about music and learn how to play an instrument. The first instrument that I learned how to play was the piano and I have played it for a long time. About a year ago or so I changed instruments, switching from piano to harp and now I am playing the harp. A mandatory thing in this school is theory (which is learning about music), currently I am in theory H. Theory starts from basic to more complex and there is only theory up to K. Another mandatory thing that we have to perform in front if an audience to show our knowledge and understanding of the instrument. There is a performance called juries, where we perform two pieces that we have been learning and perform them in front of our teacher and a couple other teachers. The purpose of this is to get evaluated from teachers that don't spend time with you and can see how you have grown. Other performances that we do is Performathon, the Spring concert and the Winter concert. In these concerts we perform in front of the whole school including parents and family. I have a fun experience learning and playing my instrument.

Erard Freres Harp. 1800. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Web. 2014

This is the undocumented future

In our last unit Revolt of the course P'art of History we learned about revolting and how people in our history has revolted for what they believe. For this unit we specifically watched a movie called "The Chicago 8" which was a situation that happened in Chicago's history. It was about 8 men getting blamed for a big riot, they were blamed because they were some how connected with teenagers. At the end they all got send to jail for a crime that they didn't do. We also studied the race riot, that was started when black boys accidentally crossed onto the whites beach. The white started throwing rocks at them thinking it was funny when a rock hit a blacks head and died. The police came and the blacks expected the police to arrest the whites for killing their friend but the police arrested the blacks for entering whites property. That was when they blacks and whites started fighting each other for eight bloody days. In this unit I learned so much about injustice that happened in Chicago and how to make a meaningful simple message. One thing that I am proud of is the way I color my titles and the tiles them selves.

KIS
Immigrants everywhere
Soft lino-cut, plaster, clay carving tools
6 inches by 6 inches
July 24, 2014

In my mini version of a poster I wrote a message for the Dreamers “there is no limit”. In further depth I mean that Dreamers shouldn’t stop fighting for what they want and their right. Also that they shouldn’t let anyone else determine what they want to do or their future. I also include the chinese world means dream.

The way I created this piece was by creating a drawing of my message about what I would revolt for. Then I transferred my drawing onto soft lino-cut to start carving it. After I finish carving I built clay walls around my lino-cut so when I poor plaster onto it to create the tile. When the plaster was finished drying, I painted it. The, we will install the 3 tiles we created in this course in a public space.



Poem

This is the year that DREAMERs
can march into any university of their choice
get accepted and achieve their American Dream
This is the year that parents of DREAMERs
achieved their American Dream
and can put their daughter on the path of success
with their hard-earned money without the help of the government

This is the year that graduates without papers
do not have to wear the uniforms of McDonalds, Burger King, or KFC
and flip burgers or fry chicken for minimum wage
This is the year that graduates without paper can apply for jobs
that will put them on the path of being a lawyer, doctor, professor, dentist, astronaut,or an engineer

This is the year the undocumented immigrants invites the president
to their homes tell him why they want a better life
and how his country can help them achieve that dream
This is the year where undocumented immigrants take ICE to their homelands
and show them the few opportunities they have in their countries.

This is the year Dreamers succeed in life to become what they want
travel the world with their money with no restrictions
This is the years politicians accept undocumented immigrants
and become themselves a dreamer

This is the year where immigrants are no longer immigrants they are citizens and are no longer treated like criminals.

If The Race Riots of 1919 began
with the mission to demolish segregation
then this is the year;
If Blacks band together to fight for equal rights
then this is the year;
And if The Great Migration began with hopeful
Blacks pursuing opportunities in the North
then this is the year;
If every person can realize that every person that contributes to a society IS a citizen of that society, then this is the year.

So may every undocumented immigrant
who work hard and comply with the law
live without fear or restrictions.

Chicago's Resilience

For our second unit of the course P'Art of History we study how Chicago shows resilience. Three events that shows resilience clearly is the construction of Illinois and Michigan canal, The Great Chicago Fire and The World Fair of 1893. In this unit we also studied Art Deco, which uses symmetry and geometric shapes. For this project, we chose an event in which Chicago has shown resilience in our lifetime. I choose to talk about The St. Patrick’s Day parade, an event special to me and my family, that is ruined yearly by the masses of intoxicated people.In this unit I learned how to create cement tiles. I am proud of how clearly my image stands out in the tile and the smooth texture of the tile.

KIS. Safety. 2014

Safety
KIS
Soft Lino-cut, carving tools, cement,clay.
6 inches by 6 inches
July 14 2014


The main purpose of this piece is to show how Chicago has demonstrated resilience in our lifetime. The question that we answered was How may you visualize Chicago's resilience today?

A way that Chicago has shown resilience is in the ways that they have dealt with big neighborhood-wide events such as St.Patrick’s Day. I like going to St.Patrick’s parade because you get to see the water get dyed and you memory’s with your family but, people get drunk, they drive, provoke accidents and makes a safe family event very unsafe. The cause of these accidents and risks are due to business selling alcohol or people illegally bringing their own alcohol to these events. Many people also drive to these events, making the roads very unsafe. Chicago has shown resilience by adding more police to patrol large events, like The St. Patrick’s Day parade. Another thing they do is warn people about drinking while driving and encourage them to take public transportation.

A time in history that shows resilience is The panic of 1837. What caused the Panic was “Land gambling”, it was easy credit since the nationwide bank was no longer in charge. The western banks took over and took risk on loaning lots of money to people who gambled. So now people spend a lot more money on land that was worthless before gambling started. Andrew Jackson (the person who came up with the idea) saw that people weren't paying back the bank he knew he had to do something to stop it. So Jackson ordered the banks to stop giving credit to the people, so now people who wanted to buy land have to buy it with gold or silver. For that reason people who buy stopped buying, investors were no longer able to invest and property values plummeted. Their economy went down and people had to pay the amount of money they bought lands for and payback the back the money they loaned. People who were rich became poor. The way Chicago showed resilience was by one person named William Ogden, became Chicago’s first mayor. Mayor Ogden sustain Chicago while the panic and r he presided over Chicago’s grim years and had a time of hibernation. He also improved Chicago by building the first swing bridge, building parks, laying out city streets, provided clean drinking water and had a sewage system. He also helped destroyed the red light districts. 

I used three symbols to address how Chicago has shown resilience in their efforts to make family events like The St. Patrick’s Day parade safer. First, I used Sankofa (shape of a heart) which means learn from the past. Second, I used Eban (diamond) which represents safety and security. Lastly, I used Sekhem represents authority. I used two Kente symbols and one Egyptian symbol.

The way I created my piece was by drawing my visual with Egyptian and Kente symbols that represent my story. From those three symbols, I arranged them on top of each other to create a pattern by using repetition. Then I traced the drawing onto the soft linoleum block. Then, I started carving out the symbols. After that I build walls of clay around my block so that I could pour cement over the linoleum to create a print. Lastly, I mixed the cement to the consistency that I wanted and poured it on to the box where the linoleum cut with my drawing was sitting.

Art Deco is a luxury, glamour, exuberance and faith. Art Deco takes the form of geometrical shapes and has symmetrical patterns. I incorporated Art Deco in my piece by repeating the pattern two more times in the block and I used symmetry and geometric shapes.

My Story of Chicago

In the course P'Art of History we study the early years in how Chicago became how it is today and how people discovered it. This class is mostly a history class but it also include art related to it. For the first Unit we read two chapter of the book City of Big Shoulders, that was about early Chicago years. For our project we created a poem or story answering the question who claims Chicago, I decided to write a story. After writing my poem I made a visual representing my story. Then I transferred that image on to a linoleum block and carve it out. Another thing that we used was neoclassical art which describes the piece. One thing I am proud of was my carving and my visual because it took me a long while to get my message across my visual and it was hard to carve the detail in the block but I managed to make it clear. Through out this course I learned about Neoclassical Art and a lot about Chicago that I didn't know about.

KIS. Chicago. 2014.

KIS

My Chicago

Soft-cut Linoleum, carving tools

6in. by 6 in.

July 2014

The main purpose of this piece is to answer the question Who lays claim to Your Chicago?  and to talk about our Chicago experiences.

In my Chicago, the government and police control everything. From gas prices to who is and isn't allowed to live in the city. People with money get treated well and have luxuries while the people who don't, get treated badly. Most of the people who do not have money are immigrants who may be forced to work in factories that endanger them physically. Education, which is often controlled by the government also influences how I experience Chicago. Education determines how much power a person can have. Although there are a lot of conflict in Chicago, I see many opportunities, especially in education.

My Chicago is claimed by the government which controls my education. As far as I can remember, my mom taught me the importance of education. It also seemed that she understood that the government controls my education and based on that she took control of my education, she didn't trust the government to do a great job. My mom laid claim to my Chicago experience by ensuring I get a good education by putting me in a head start program, finding schools that accepts me at a young age and finding better schools for me. Through my mom’s actions, I am now at a high school that is different than regular schools. My high school is a private school, and its named Global Citizenship Experience. This school offered me a full scholarship, it has small classes and it used technology. From these experience, my mom made me realize that the government controls my education by determining the quality of education different neighborhoods may receive often based on the income or race of its residents. Because  my mom recognized this, she made a huge effort to give me the best education I can get, rather than relying on the  government to provide it.

One date of early Chicago that relates to my story is 1784, when Chicago became property of the United States. It relates, how people who have a high education, haves lots of money and own land. Another date that relates in 1833, when Native Americans had to surrender their land to the settlers. It relates, when immigrants come to the United States they have no choice but to work in dangerous jobs and if they don’t they will be sent back to their country.

I incorporated elements of Neoclassical Art by making my carving a little simple and emotional.  Neoclassical Art is based on the principles of of simplicity and symmetry. This type of art includes clean lines, heroic figures and sometimes unemotional.

I created this carving by first, creating a visual that represents my story of who claims my Chicago. I did different drawings until I decided on one and shaded in heavily the letters that I was going to carve out. Then I transferred my drawing by rubbing it onto the linoleum block. After that, I traced the letters again so I can see better what I am going to carve out. Lastly I carved the letters out. In the second  we will make a cement tile of our carvings.

My Visual reads Chicago with each letter representing different parts of my story. The “C” is drawn to look like a set of handcuffs and represents the presence of the Police in my Chicago. The “H” is drawn to look like a factory and it represents the places where lots of immigrants have to work at in Chicago. The “I” is drawn to look like a diploma and it represents the high standards of education that Chicago provides. The “C” is drawn to look like the symbol of cents and it represents the presence of money in everything we do in CHicago. The “A” is drawn to look like the capitol building and it represents the government who controls everything in Chicago. The “G” is drawn to look like gas in a flame of fire and it represents the use of it everyday. Lastly the “O” is drawn to look like a heart and it represents the health of people who suffer in working.

Future of Agriculture

In Unit 4 of our Food for Thought we briefly learned about decay and rebirth which talks about what our future may look like. The process for creating this project was simple. In my group we decided to make a path that split. The reason we wanted the road to split was because we don't know what will happen in the future so we wanted people to choose what they wanted. I took inspiration from a piece of artwork created by the Beehive Collectives. The poster I looked at was called,”True Cost of Coal.” The inspiration i took was by seeing how they traveled through the poster and told a story about past, present, and future. I think what was challenging for our group was to represent the future. We found it difficult because we did not take this unit we just briefly talked about it.I think that the future of food is still undecided. We have an opportunity to fix everything we have caused, but if we do not try to change then we will stay a course on the path we are on currently.

GS. Food For Thought. 2014

N.O.A and KIS. Future. 2014

N.O.A & KIS
Food Poster
18in by 24in
Big Paper, Color Pencils and pencil
May 2014

The unit that we picked was unit 4, Birth, where we had to predict how the future of agriculture will look like. The class didn't do the unit so the prediction came from what we know already. We had to predict if the world is going to get better or worse. What my partner and I decided to do was to create two paths, one organic and the other GMO. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. Most of our food today is GM and the way they do that is by injecting a certain gene that has a desirable trait. On the poster we created there will be two futures. How humans act in the present will determine which future we will have. We used 3 words that represent the future, and the words are organic, GM and polyculture. On one side we have organic and polyculture, and on the other side, there's GM and monoculture. Polyculture means the farm has a variety of plants. For the organic side we used as an example one of our FE partner’s farms, Marc. We tried to incorporate most of the things he had in his farm onto the paper, such as his polyculture plants and his free range animals. For the GM side we incorporated lots of things that we learned in our other class. For example, we included crops being covered in chemicals. We also incorporated GM crops along the road as a fence so people don't know what is going on. Something that both futures require is recycling. Recycling plays a big part in the future because if there is lots of garbage on the land then we don't have space to grow crops, and if there is garbage on the water then the water will be polluted. There won't be water for the crops to grow or for us to drink and survive.