Roger Ebert

    Roger Ebert was truly inspiring. He had gone through so much and lost so much. He was still able to move forward and be successful despite all of his obstacles. He was a very insightful man who knew so much about life. He seemed to have remained positive even in his condition.  Ebert has the ability to write from two perspectives. In the beginning of his career he was able to talk and engage in witty banter and now he writes as someone who has lost his ability to speak.
    There is a quote in his book where Roger explains his view on life. "We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try.”  That quote spoke to me. It gave me a new out look on life. I've been sad lately and it just reminded to be happy. My take on the quote isn't very deep but it is a contestant reminder to me to just enjoy the little things in life. Roger Ebert has been a true inspiration.

Racism unit recap

"We must acknowledge -- with eyes and minds wide open -- the world as it is if we want to change it." - Charles M. Blow, The Perfect-Victim Pitfall

   Over these past few months in class we have been exploring racism. I realize that this differentiation of color and race is still a constant problem in today's society.  We explored many topics relating to this issue, including White privilege. Before we started I barely even knew it existed. I mean I guess I always kind of did but I have never experienced it myself so I could never relate. White privilege is the belief that white people have an advantage over those of other races. After this unit I do believe it exists to some extent.
      When we first jumped into this unit the main focus was white privilege and I became immediately offended. The problem was I took "white privilege" personally in a way that I felt that where I am now, and my achievements, I got was because I was white. I understand that to others that white privilege seems more problematic. And I now do see how this could be a problem. On the other hand I do not believe it should be an excuse. In some cases White privilege is definitely present but I do not feel it is always there. Maybe I believe this because I am white and my opinion may seem invalid because of this. White privilege can totally swing the other direction if no one is aware of it. For instance, Black privilege, or Asian privilege could become more prevalent. I am not saying that this is any better than White privilege at all. I of course believe along with many other people of my generation that everyone should be equal. I think White privilege should not exist, using this term is automatically feeding into this problem.
    White privilege also relates to Intersectionality. To me Intersectionalitiy is white privilege in a different form. Intersectionality pertains to sexuality and its privileges. Men vs. women. So many years ago women didnt have rights and slowly but surely we have been becoming more equal. It's the same as rascism. Years ago black people were slaves and now theyre struggling to over come White privlege. Women didn't have rights and men were dominant now. Now the struggle for equality is not only between race but gender as well.
       There has been so much research and tests all about Intersecionality and how certain companies fall to it. Men typically make more money than woman and have an easier chance of getting the same job a woman has also applied for. This intersectionality concept works the other way too. Sometimes women get jobs easier because they are a women. Or they get certain privileges. For example a girl on a football team. Say this girl is really bad and doesn't deserve to be on the team. The coach will let her on because she's a girl and he would be looked down apon if he didn't let the girl on the team. I don't believe that girls should just get things because they're girls or men should get things because it's a mans job. It's stupid and small minded but everything should be equal. Everyone should have the same chance as the person sitting next to them. It shouldn't matter what color of skin, race,religion, or  gender, everyone should get the same opportunity.

Passion project update 2

    Its been 2 weeks since the last update. Since then my team and I have continued our research. I have personally learned more about the deaf culture. Specifically about all the societies and organizations that are available in the deaf community. We have also learned various new signs and have finished assigning names to the other members in our group. I have also begun researching schools for the deaf. Our project is progressing quickly.

Passion Project update #1

     So far we have been getting a lot of work done on our project. We have a good 12 slides. Our group also has assigned each of us a name in sign language. Finally we have started to learn some basic signs. we are just going to continue with our research and try to learn as much as we can.

Empathic Socialibity

     Empathic socialibity is such a pressing issue. People today don't care enough. I know that's a very vague statement and doesn't apply to everyone but I will explain. I think our generation was raised in a way that people can ignore the issues of our time. Children these days have their noses do deep in their phones that they have no idea what's going on in the world around them. I am even guilty of this. Sometimes the only reason I know about current events is because sometimes I see them trending on twitter. So much of teens don't know whats going on and how it could directly effect them. An example of this is the Isis. America is bombing Isis and half of my peers have no idea what is going on. To be honest I'm a little lost myself. It's hard to feel empathetic about something you know nothing about. That's why I believe as the future generation we should know more about the current events going on in other countries. Our ability to feel empathy could be a life or death situation and could be the turning point for our generation. 

    Last night I was watching the new show Red Band Society and the episode was all about empathy. There was a part in the episode where the narrator was talking about empathy and your ability to feel it. It said something like you cant begin to feel empathy until you look at yourself and feel something yourself. Your feelings need to be present to feel anything for anyone else. A character also said that sometimes you dont need to know how the other person feels, you just need to sit beside them. 

     Empathy is a hard concept to grasp. How can you begin to feel for others if you don't know how you feel yourself? How can you feel for another country or anything on a larger scale if you can't empathize your peers? At this point I believe that the human race could not extend our empathy to each other. To accomplish this every single person would have to change their ways. I'm not even sure how to imagine such an emphatic society....

Project update

        So far we have made progress on our project. We have tested everyone in the class. Many people could not do some of the tests. We still have to test ourselves and record that data. My group also still have to record the data of our family. Finally we will research and compare the data of our families to find out if they're "genetic". I assume it's going to be hard to find if some of our tests are genetic or just derived from skills. I am excited to continue this project!

20% project update

So we are at the halfway point for our Passion projects. My project was that everyday I was going to take a picture of something that was happening in my life. Thinking about my project right now, I am realizing I am in really bad shape. I keep forgetting to take pictures! Its a problem because it’ too late to switch but I won’t have a picture for everyday. I know my goal was to take a picture to represent something different everyday but it’s not as easy as I thought it was going to be. On the bright side I do believe that I found a way to  present my pictures!