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!

Martha Graham- Outlier

Martha Graham is what we today would call an outlier. Martha set a revolution. Graham in how she revolutionized dance was compared to how Picasso revolutionized the world of art.  In the 1800’s dance was pretty simple. It was mainly centered around Ballet. Ballet is like Mexican food actually. It’s essentially all the same thing, done a 100 different ways! Martha Graham has been side to be the one that brought dance into the twentieth century. Graham was 68 when she started her own company! Martha danced and choreographed for over 70 years. Martha taught some of the other most influential people in the dance world. This including, Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, and worked with some of the best composers of her day.

Martha Graham fits the mold that Malcom Gladwell has created. Martha’s dad was wealthy, he had the money to send her to a prestigious dance school for the first 45 years of her life. Her parents raised her in concerted cultivation, pushing her to be the best she could be (making her possibly even crazy). Graham was able to get the training she needed to be amazing at what she does, she had a accumulative advantage of good training, leading here to be successful. To be successful Graham had to surpass Gladwell’s “10,000 hours” theory. Now, I can not email Martha Graham since she has passed away, but I believe she passed that 10,000 hr. mark with flying colors. Matha was in the performing arts field for over 70 years! Dancing in a professional company with previous training and then going on to own her own company, there is NO way that Martha Graham did not dance over 10,000 hours! Martha Graham also had a great deal of practical intelligence. She was able to convince people that she was right, what she was doing was possible, and everyone should do it too. Just to show how successful Martha was, she and her company was the first to even perform at the White House for the president.  

Fifty years into Martha’s career is when she stepped out of the boundary. Martha arranged her first piece to kick off the start of her company. The piece was completely out there and weirdly……. extraordinary. I watched it myself. Im telling you it was weird! But, there was something about the performance, that made you watch, that made you interested. It was amazing in a freaky way. Many people criticized her piece, calling her insane, mentally unstable, crazy. These people were right. Choreographing a masterpiece, and revolutionizing ANYTHING, takes being crazy! Being able to think outside of the box takes being insane. I will have you know that Martha Graham has won many awards, created a new style of dance, and even had a documentary made all about her. Its like the quote, “Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music”- Friedrich Nietzsche

Joyas Voladoras By: Brian Doyle

              It seems that everything I read in this class I never understand. I guess this is really an understatement because I always end up loving and understanding practically everything I read and go home to rave to my parents about it. I honestly thought the entire writing piece was a research essay. A really good one too I might add! It was so detailed and described well. There were a few parts that really spoke to me. I really liked the part when it’s talking about the Blue Whale’s heart. I never really understood how big a whale really is. For a human being to be able to walk through the heart of an animal seems so surreal to me. I have to admit I kind of want to try) without dying of course)! I also loved how the author described the magnificent colors the humming bird can have. It seems almost impossible to describe such beautiful colors, and yet he seemed to have been able to do it, to get me the reader to know exactly what color he was meaning really mesmerized me.

 I happen to love the last paragraph too. It seems to sum up some of the best things and worst things in life. The sentence “we are utterly open with no one in the end—not a mother and father, not wife or husband, lover, not child, not friend.” Is so brutally honest and made me almost rethink things. What is the point of putting yourself out there, making friends, going on dates, sharing the good things and the burdens in your life with others if in the end, “We live alone in the house of the heart.”?  Brian also seems to state the wonders in life. For example “a child’s apple breath”. To me the thought of smelling someone’s breath kind of sickens me. I’m just not in that point in my life where i know what a baby’s breath smells like. I guess the feeling different if it’s your child. The sentence that really got me was about the cats. “a cat with a broken spine dragging itself into the forest to die, The brush of your mother’s papery ancient hand in a thicket of your hair, the memory of your father’s voice early in the morning echoing from the kitchen where he is making pancakes for his children.”  I know it’s a lot to take in. The part about the cat made me really.....sad. I don’t know what else to call it. I don’t even like cats, that’s why I don’t understand why I got upset. But again I guess it’s the reality that makes me so angry. The second part of the sentence gave me the worst vision. My mom was on her death bed and she was speaking her last words, taking her last breathes, her heart beating its last few beats, and her running her hand through my hair much like her own. My mom is my best friend. I don’t always tell her that, I get angry with her often too. But she is the most important woman figure I have in my life (duhh, I mean  she’s my mom) but a lot of people don’t even have a mom or don’t even have a good relationship.  Then the part about my dad. I feel that my dad and I are best friends. He was always around more than my mom. It’s not that my mom wasn’t around; she was just at work more. I have no idea what I would do without my wonderful parents!

Something worth Knowing!

There are many important lessons in life. I believe that life offers its biggest challenge its self. I also believe that it’s important to know how to communicate. What I mean is, In school you’re taught how to talk, read and write. But you cannot be taught to how to speak your feelings or read someone else’s. You are not taught to read “between the lines”, or write what you really feel. These skills you just need to find within yourself. Sometimes you need to just let your conscience take over. That’s what I’m doing as I write, right now. I speak my mind inside my head and my hands just follow. Sometimes what I write doesn’t even make any sense. But it’s important to know how to let your mind wonder but still get where you need to go. I don’t really know what I’m trying to get across while writing this tough. I guess you just need to……to…..wonder, and open up. This skill isn’t something you can be taught, it just happens.

Waste Land

To me the most memorable part of this documentary was the people. Their stories were incredible! For example the woman, whose son died, then her husband and daughter left her, and refused to ever talk to her. Its stories like these that really make me grateful. I also learned how people’s life is so different from mine. The wonderful people who work there are surrounded by garbage and I put that garbage out at my curb (even though they are in Rio the concept is still the same). Honestly if I was them, having my life portrayed I would be embarrassed. This is from my perspective as a middle class American. If I was really in this situation, and was living around a garbage dump I would want to be helped. I would feel that this opportunity would help my family and I. Therefore I would have wanted all of the help I could get. I feel that there is nothing that interesting in my life that would or even could become something so meaningful and life changing.

Delicate.

This is my glass fish I chose it because of how delicate and fragile it is. I also like this because of the beautiful patten.

Outside.

I took these when we went outside for rogate. #nature #ghost #dirt #trees #rogate #bahahaha #swag #imdonewithhahtags

     


http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/02/winter_weather.html

  I chose this photo because it caught my eye right away. It made me stop scrolling as I was looking through the pictures. I became curious.  I realize that it was one of the first pictures to come up but for some reason I was just drawn to it. In this photo no people are pictured, instead its frost. This is almost like accidental art. This picture was taken on the window of someones home! I wish this was on my window it was breath taking. At first I didn't realize how intricate ice really is. After looking at it for a while I noticed that no piece looks the same. Every piece of the frost has a different pattern. The intricacy of the ice is invigorating. People have always told me that snow flakes always have their own pattern; there are never two of the same. For some reason I was never able to wrap my head around that. I always believed that somewhere out there there is another one in the same shape. This picture really made me understand how individual each piece really is. One question I have is; How was the photographer able to capture the frost so closely? What kind of camera was used?

Looking in...

My caboodle?!?!?

Color.

Texture.

Underneath

My weekly food

For my family we typically spent about $100 depending on what we need per week.