Daniel Varnis Public Feed

Daniel Varnis Capstone

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Capstone - Garvey - Wed on
​Abstract
Before starting this Capstone project, I knew from the beginning that I wanted to pursue a project that would, in some way, benefit SLA. At first I was going to hold an 8K race/fun run on Kelly Drive to raise money, but after finding out the financial difficulties, I began to brainstorm other methods of fundraising. After some time I found that a partnership with the Phillies would be a great idea, considering they’re notorious for holding various fundraisers for schools/programs. From this process, I actually learned the difficulty of being a successful advertiser. Throughout the various problems I encountered through this process of setting up the fundraiser, I realized that successfully advertising a product requires a lot of persistence, a passion for the product, and a good personality!
Screen Shot 2014-05-05 at 3.43.28 PM
Screen Shot 2014-05-05 at 3.43.28 PM
​The image above is a screenshot of the email I received from the Citizens Bank representative finalizing the event for my capstone.
Fundraiser Poster PDF
​The image above is the official poster that was posted around SLA and South Philadelphia to advertise the fundraiser event.
Screen Shot 2014-05-05 at 3.41.43 PM
Screen Shot 2014-05-05 at 3.41.43 PM
​The image above is a screenshot of the official website where people purchased their tickets for the fundraiser event. The website can be visited HERE, but tickets can no longer be purchased.
​Final Annotated Bibliography

Braves Logo. Digital image. CBS Atlanta. N.p., 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/23938567/fans-react-to-braves-stadium-annoucment>.


This photo is the official logo for the Atlanta Braves through the Major League Baseball (MLB). I will be using this logo in the flyers that I will be made to advertise the fundraiser.  I don’t find any limitations with this photo, considering it’s the exact logo from the Atlanta Braves. I will probably being putting this picture to use across multiple mediums, some of which could be posters, advertisements, websites etc. Thinking about it, putting this logo on most of my things will be crucial if I really want to emphasize that this fundraiser is to help SLA through the Phillies and Citizens Bank Park as they play against the Atlanta Braves.



Caroline Davis, Personal Communication (E-Mail), January 8, 2014


In this email, I spoke with Ms. Davis about the status of my splash page. The splash place is where people can go online to purchase the tickets. At first we encountered an error with the website, it wasn’t loading. After a brief conversation, we solved the issue. We also discussed some other benefits that come along with this fundraiser. She said that if this fundraiser turns out to be a big hit, then there can be a lump sum amount of money to be directed towards Science Leadership Academy. Also, if we take into consideration that the Phillies have a HUGE rivalry against the braves, that may be a factor that brings in more ticket purchases, leading to more money for SLA!



Caroline Davis, Personal Communication (Telephone), December 12, 2013


This is when Caroline Davis, the leader of special events for the Phillies, contacted me say that she received my email. As we were talking on the phone, she explained to me that she thought this fundraising thing was a really good idea. She shared an electronic pamphlet with me that explained the requirements of a fundraiser. Ms. Davis explained to me that all of the necessary steps for a successful fundraiser can be found within that brochure/e-packet. Following the step-by-step procedure allowed me to get where I am today. As of right now, the fundraiser is in action and the website to purchase the tickets is live!



Citizens Bank Park. Digital image. ESPN. Citizens Bank Park, 2013. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <http://espn.go.com/travel/stadium/_/s/mlb/id/22/citizens-bank-park>.


This is a panoramic photo of Citizens Bank Park, the home ballpark for the Philadelphia Phillies. I will be using this logo in the flyers that I will be made to advertise the fundraiser. I don’t find any limitations with this photo, considering it’s the exact logo from Citizens Bank Park. I will probably being putting this picture to use across multiple mediums, some of which could be posters, advertisements, websites etc. Thinking about it, putting this logo on most of my things will be crucial if I really want to emphasize that this fundraiser is to help SLA through the Phillies and Citizens Bank Park.



"Getting More Media Coverage for Fund Raising Activities." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.directcontactpr.com/free-articles/article.src?ID=86>.


This is an online article that contains details on how to gain publicity for a fundraiser. As of right now, all I’ve done is make some posters and put the ad in SLA’s advisory announcements. This website suggests that in order to gain a good amount of publicity, it’d be useful to contact the news and media. Having them advertise the fundraiser will not only spread the word, but give the fundraiser the opportunity to exceed expectations. This website also contains a contact box where I can get in touch with a professional that will give me tips and tricks to gaining publicity for my fundraiser.



Phillies. 2014 Group Ticket Brochure. Philadelphia: Phillies, 2013. Phillies. MLB, 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 13. <http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/phi/ticketing/group/y2014/brochure.jsp>.


This brochure contains all of the information that I needed when organizing the fundraiser. For instance, I was able to pick the game date. I decided to go with April 16th, 2014 because it’s “Super Phanatic Night.” Ms. Davis explained to me again that all of the necessary steps for a successful fundraiser can be found within that brochure/e-packet. Following the step-by-step procedure allowed me to get where I am today. As of right now, the fundraiser is in action and the website to purchase the tickets is live! There are some other tips inside of the brochure that I will use to help make this capstone successful.



Phillies Logo. Digital image. Twitter. MLB, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <https://twitter.com/Phillies>.


This photo is the official logo for the Philadelphia Phillies through the Major League Baseball (MLB). I will be using this logo in the flyers that I will be made to advertise the fundraiser. I don’t find any limitations with this photo, considering it’s the exact logo from the Phillies. I will probably being putting this picture to use across multiple mediums, some of which could be posters, advertisements, websites etc. Thinking about it, putting this logo on most of my things will be crucial if I really want to emphasize that this fundraiser is to help SLA through the Phillies and Citizens Bank Park.



Phillies Special Events, Electronic Communication, December 5, 2014


This was the first email that I sent out to the Phillies. In this email, I gave some background information on me, SLA, and my capstone. I also requested information on holding a fundraiser. This was one of my first attempts at communicating with Caroline Davis. I received a call from Caroline Davis through Citizens Bank Park about 5-7 days after I sent the email out. The original email was a lot of begging and explaining the budget predicament that SLA is in the middle of due to the School District of Philadelphia’s budget cuts. They were completely accepting of the idea and were willing to hold the fundraiser!



Science Leadership Academy Logo. Digital image. Penn Science Across Ages. University of Pennsylvania, 2013. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <http://www.pennscienceacrossages.com/about/partners/>.


This photo is the official logo for the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) through the University of Pennsylvania. I will be using this logo in the flyers that I will be made to advertise the fundraiser. I don’t find any limitations with this photo, considering it’s the exact logo from Science Leadership Academy (SLA). I will probably being putting this picture to use across multiple mediums, some of which could be posters, advertisements, websites etc. Thinking about it, putting this logo on most of my things will be crucial if I really want to emphasize that this fundraiser is to help SLA.

Global Fiction Book #1 Final Project – Daniel Varnis

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Globalization - Block - A on

Sources

Article – In the Background: Life in a Delhi Slum

Article – Gang Rape in India, Routine and Invisible

Article – India

Article – Urbanization and Slum Formation

Article – In India Slum, Misery, Work, Hope, and Politics

Website – Living Conditions in Indian Slums

Documentary – iBelieve in India: A Documentary


12 pieces of information from the source

  1. Around 28% of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight.

  2. 1.2 billion people live in India. 110 million of them live in the slums.

  3. India is the second most populous country in the world.

  4. A bulk of that extreme deficit comes from South Asia.

  5. 186,000 children under the age of five die each year are a result of diarrhea.

  6. Aid has to come into the slums with fresh water because it’s not accessible for most people living in the area.

  7. 90,000,000 people in India don’t have access to this free fresh water, either.

  8. With 17% of the world’s population (over a billion people), the water crisis in India is only getting worse and is becoming life or death for millions of people.

  9. Measles is also one of the reasons why children in the slums are dying.

  10. Not every child who lives in the slums has access to a [somewhat] quality education.

  11. Most people in the slums don’t understand that it takes a while to escape poverty, so they try to make quick money in hopes that it will alleviate all of their problems.

  12. Less than a third of people have access to sanitation in India.

Six significant quotes from the book

  1. "Everything around us is roses," Abdul's younger brother, Mirchi, put it. "And we're the shit in between." -Prologue, p. xii

  2. “She was less and less sure she wanted to go to Vasai, less and less sure her husband would live to get there. She wanted a more hygienic home here, in the name of her children's vitality.” -Chapter 5, Ghost House, page 83

  3. “Abdul wasn't sure how much money his family had left after fixing the house and paying his father's hospital bill. But he thought that whatever remained should be paid, in order to be innocent. He wanted to go home to the place that he hated.” -Chapter 7, The Come-Apart, page 107

  4. "My flowers live because I don't keep anything dark in my heart. I let the bad things come out into the air." -Chapter 12, page 179

  5. "Do you ever think when you look at someone, when you listen to someone, does that person really have a life?" -Chapter 13, p. 198

  6. “Abdul could control his many desires, but not this one. He wanted to be recognized as better than the dirty water in which he lived. He wanted a verdict of ice.” -Chapter 15, p. 220

Six excerpts from my own writing about the book

  1. It’s not common for the people in the slums to find any form of jobs, so having Rahul’s foot in the hotel will allow me, as a reader, to see the two sides to these contrasting styles of living (rich vs. poor).

  2. When reading this book, the reader has to take into consideration the horrible living environment/environments when making judgements about someone or something.

  3. Although Fatima lied about many things, setting herself on fire was an act that did a very good job displaying her senses of self confidence and individuality.

  4. How are you going to allow all of these high class events to occur, knowing that the people in your own country are dying from poverty and famine?

  5. The people of the US are probably so drawn to this book because of what it pertains to. Although we do have a lot of homeless and poor people in the US, we don't have large cities of people that has a poverty rate of 100%. Reading behind this book allows us, as readers and Americans, to learn about different cultures and ways of living in India.

  6. All in all, even though this was a really good book, it came to a close with a very sad ending. Some good things did come about towards the end, however, there was an equal amount of bad things that occurred.

​Infographic (click to enlarge)
easelly_visual (1)
easelly_visual (1)

Daniel Varnis: Banana Bread (With and without nuts)

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Science and Society - Best - Y on

RECIPE AND ANALYSIS

Banana Nut Bread

Recipe

Ingredients:

⅓ cup of shortening

½ cup of sugar

2 eggs

1¾ cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of salt

1 cup of a mashed ripe banana

½ cup of chopped walnuts (optional)

 

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350° F

2. Cream together the shortening and sugar

3. Add the eggs and beat well

4. Sift together the dry ingredients

5. Add dry ingredients and banana to the mixture

6. Mix together

7. Fold in nuts (optional)

8. Pour into well-greased 9x5x3-inch load pan

9. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until done

10. Put on cooling rack

 

Analysis

Being a nutritionist and ooking at the list of ingredients, six out of nine are natural ingredients, so about 67% of the dish is all natural. The human body should be able to deal pretty well with eating a slice... or two... or three... or ten slices of the banana nut bread, considering it’s all natural. Since the the pan it’s cooked in has a length of nine inches and each slice is cut about ¾ of an inch, that should be 12 slices. Then doing the math, each slice should only contain around 0.04 cups of sugar, which is barely anything. Then for the unnatural ingredients, each slice would only contain 0.04 teaspoons of baking soda, 0.08 teaspoons of baking powder, and 0.02 cups of shortening.

From the standpoint of an environmentalist, there shouldn’t really be any issues. Almost every ingredient is manufactured or grown in the US except the bananas. Those are probably grown in South America, which isn’t too far.

From a politicians perspective, the cost of one loaf banana bread probably costs around $2.00 - $3.00. This meal cannot be compared to fast food for a few reasons. First, fast food restaurants don’t serve banana nut bread. Second, most of these ingredients are natural. And third, you know the bread isn’t bad for you.

From a socialists perspective, the one thing that might be conflicting are the bananas and eggs. For instance, it would probably be more convenient to have a farm on your property so you can grow a banana tree and tend to chickens that will lay the eggs for the bread.

FOOD RULE SLIDE

Screen Shot 2014-01-24 at 11.22.31 AM
REFLECTION 

During this unit, I actually learned a lot of things…particularly about food! In all seriousness, I looked at the idea of food at a more in depth perspective. At first, if anyone were to ask me “What are a few things that come to your mind when you think of the word food?” I would probably say some pretty broad things like “It’s the stuff that gives the ability to live” or “A human’s best friend.” Now that I have (almost) completed the food segment of our class, I’d probably respond to the question with answers that are focused on the idea of food, rather than the static object of food itself. For instance, I’d probably say stuff like “One of the biggest money makers in the world” or “An stabilizer of the human race” or even “The one thing that could give enough information to explain a human’s personal life.”

Looking at the suggested questions, I would say that one of the LARGEST problems with the food system is their carelessness for the well being of the consumers. There are so many distributed foods in the world that are healthy, whereas there is an equal amount of, if not more, unhealthy goods. One thing that really stuck to me from this unit was the integration of high fructose corn syrup in foods. In the past, I never questioned why so many foods contained high fructose corn syrup. Until this unit came about, I would’ve never known that it was two things. First, it’s a cheap replacement for sugar, and two, it’s in so many foods because of the overpopulation of corn in this country. If I remember correctly, 30% of the land in the US is covered in corn. THAT’S A LOT OF CORN. Although it’s a cheaper alternative for sugar, I think it has to be voided from many foods that are being distributed because it’s presence is only a catalyst to worldwide obesity.

Modern Day de Tocqueville – Chapter 1: US History Misconceptions

Posted by Daniel Varnis on
​Chapter 1: US History Misconceptions

American History – The history of events that occurred in the United States of America, mainly focused on the years of the late 1700s to the early 1900s. There may occasionally be points where current events will be addressed that can be deemed American History-worthy (i.e. the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the terroristic attacks that took place on September 11th, 2001, or even the killing of the Osama Bin Laden, leader of the terrorist group called Al Qaeda). Take note, all of that is according to what is taught in the schools of America, to Americans, by Americans.


Every single day (mostly between the months of September through June), students around the world (but mostly in America) are taught the history of America, how things occurred, why those things occurred, and how they have impacted past and current day society. These students are taught material that is based off of a very strict and limited criteria that most likely cannot be altered due the state laws, rules, regulations, and requirements. With this method taking place in the areas of education where students are being taught about their own homeland’s history, they unfortunately are not being taught the full story of what is being displayed. In other words, a teacher may review a very vast topic such as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, but only discuss why this event in American history took place. There are so many more facts that should be addressed. For instance, it’d be beneficial for the students if they learned what came about from the Bay of Pigs Invasion and what the end result of it was. Also, if these extra things aren’t addressed, two things are happening; first, it’s a waste of time learning about the topic if all of the details aren’t addressed, and second, it’s putting incomplete information into the minds of students. They’ll be free to roam around the world with what they were taught, but they won’t have any need to share this information considering they won’t have the full story.


To start things off, an amazing example that can be used is the Pledge of Allegiance. This is a good topic to talk about because the Pledge of Allegiance is used every single day in this country. Either a classroom full of students say it before class begins, or a baseball stadium full of people say it to salute the troops fighting in the war, or even military personnel say it to also salute their troops. With so much diversity and importance of the Pledge of Allegiance in this country, this makes a very good topic to start things off. Back on September 8th, 1892, the first draft of the pledge was written. This is what the first draft looked like:


"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."


While a majority of people who live in the United States are so accustomed to reciting the Pledge of Allegiance that goes like this:


"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."


Unfortunately, SO MANY people don’t know that the “the Flag of the United States of America” wasn’t added until 31 years later in 1923. And then then “under God” portion wasn’t added until ANOTHER 31 years later in 1954. It’s a shame and pretty pathetic that we as Americans have been reciting such an important pledge for SO LONG and most likely don’t that what we are reciting isn’t the original. There are actually valid reasons behind the changes that were made to the Pledge of Allegiance over that sixty-two year period. Before the first revision took place, Francis Bellamy thought the “to the flag” portion should be added so people would have the go-ahead to face the flag.


Closing things up with all of this missing information for the Pledge of Allegiance, it’s very clear that there is so much information on the history of the United States that is never addressed because most people find it irrelevant and outdated.


For another example, let’s take a look at the early times of African American slaves. To get things going, take a look at this quote from The Present and Probably Future Condition of the Three Races that Inhabit the Territory of the United States by Alexis de Tocqueville:


“The Negro, plunged in this abyss of evils, scarcely feels his own calamitous situation. Violence made him a slave, and the habit of servitude gives him the thoughts and desires of a slave, he admires his tyrants more than he hates them, and finds his joy and his pride in the servile imitation of those who oppress him. His understanding is degraded to the level of his soul.”


Also, let’s also take a look at this quote from The Present and Probably Future Condition of the Three Races that Inhabit the Territory of the United States Alexis de Tocqueville:


“Everybody has remarked that in our time, and especially in France, this passion for equality is every day gaining ground in the human heart.”


When people are taught about the history of African American slaves, there is only some information that is presented to them because only THAT specific information is considered important. That minuscule amount of information includes the very obvious and broad things such as African Americans not having equal rights and the caucasian people (men more than anything) having the majority of power in a country. Unfortunately, some very important information, like what de Tocqueville discussed, is definitely of importance and should be included into whatever criteria that discusses and coincides with the segregation era of America. Looking at the quotes above, the first one addresses the similar broad things that are addressed in a classroom while the second quote addresses some deeper information. The second quote states that a majority of people wish that every person in the country had equal rights during the times of racial segregation. With that being said, typically a criteria would only discuss the desire for equality from African Americans while obviously there were people of other races out there wishing that every person had equal rights.


With that said and done, it’s obvious that American history comes along with it’s strong and weak points. Unfortunately, the way that people are taught American history only learn the cliché history of events. The method of people learning history is equivalent to someone covering a whole in a wall with a painting. Although you can’t see the whole, it’s there behind the painting waiting to be revealed. People need to understand that there is more than two sides to a story and everything is worth investigation because there is definitely more waiting to be learned. Quite frankly, there’s probably so much about American history that we as Americans don’t know about just because we haven’t discovered it yet. But again, that’s why it’s good to dig deeper and truly understand every last bit of information of whatever is being presented, because it’s obvious that American’s lack so much knowledge about their own country’s history.

Below is a two minute long multimedia add-on to this chapter:

#write2connect - National Day of Writing - Daniel Varnis

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Reading, Writing, and Rising Up - Rami - B on

How does writing help you connect?

Writing allows not only me, but every other person on this earth connect in various different (and similar) fashions. For instance, some people write in a journal or diary everyday so they can connect with their feelings and let go of some burdens in life. Another case of this is the forms of writing within social networks. As of 2006, Twitter calculated that approximately 300+ million tweets are written every single day. That is A LOT! With all of these messages/tweets being sent out every day, there are 300+ million ideas being written, published, shared, and pursued. This form of connection is probably one of the most powerful, yet simple forms out there. It takes little to no effort to write 140 characters (Twitter's character count per tweet limit), but it requires a lot of effort to write something that has meaning. One last example of writing to help you connect is an author writing a book. For instance, we read a book calledDrown by Junot Diaz. This book was Diaz's way of connecting with people around the world, telling the personal story about his life growing up as a poverty-stricken boy, also have troubles with love and confusion in his life. Him writing this book gives people the opportunity to learn from his endeavors and mistakes. Out of all of the examples of connecting through writing, I'd say that writing a book is the finest and most eloquent. The formality of this type of writing is what really set's aside from the others... but in a good way! To close, I'll say that when it comes to connecting through writing, the number of ways to do so is endless; the sky's the limit.

#write2connect

Business Project - Daniel Varnis

Posted by Daniel Varnis in American History - Jonas on
Introduction:
Here is my Business Project and all of the links to go along with it. This blog post contains a lot of enriching, thorough, and deep information about the Great Depression, Great Recession, The New Deal, and President Obama's Administration, showing how they all connect in different ways through video representations to visual infographs.
 
Compare/Contrast of the Great Depression & Great Recession:
This visualization can be found here or below. The link forwards you to the same picture, just with a higher resolution and allows you to zoom in to your liking.
easelly_visual
easelly_visual

Compare/Contrast of the Obama Administration Program & The New Deal Program:
Click here to see the Google Story Builder Presentation
(Please excuse on the video, you will notice that the typing starts to glitch and isn't technically inline on the visualized document about a minute into the video. That was something Google did while creating and finalizing the video)

Annotated Bibliography:
Click here to see the Annotated Bibliography containing all of the sources and citations used in the making of this project

Hamlet Close Reading

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 3 - Rami on
Hamlet Ghost Analysis

Hamlet, or The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark is a play written by William Shakespeare back in the later-1500s.  Out of all of the plays and acts that were written and directed by William Shakespeare, Hamlet has been one of Shakespeare’s best and most highly acclaimed play he ever created. Also, other than it being his most highly acclaimed play, it’s also his lengthiest player ever written. Hamlet came in with a total word count of 29,551, covering an extensively long amount of 4,402 lines. Further on, we will go into and present the scene that is to be analyzed.


The following scene takes place in Act 1, Scene 5 on lines 14 through 29, the position being played is the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, Claudius:

I am thy father’s spirit,
Doomed for a certain term to walk the night
And for the day confined to fast in fires
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away but that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would hallow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make the two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres
thy knotted and combinéd locks to part
And each particular hair to stand an end,
Like quills upon the fearful porpentine.
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list!
If though didst ever thy dear father love–

Starting off from the beginning of this scene, this is when the ghost comes out to Hamlet, proposing the fact that he is the ghost of Hamlet’s father, who was killed by Claudius. Pause, let’s take a few steps... well, a few scene-steps back. Back in Act 1 Scene 1, in the beginning of Hamlet, the two watchmen Bernardo and Marcellus are watching over the castle as they begin to realize that a strange apparition was appearing in the darkness. They almost immediately thought that the ghost was the ghost of dead King Hamlet. After noticing that shakespeare inputted those various appearance of the ghost into the play, a few questions came rolling through my head. First a foremost, I pondered why Shakespeare thought it was necessary to make the ghost come into play a few times before even encountering itself to Hamlet. Personally, I thought this was Shakespeare’s monotonic and indirect way of hinting to the readers that the ghost was certainly Hamlet’s father. Using this method of writing, Shakespeare was able to successfully capture the readers attention, throw the reader off, while also hinting towards the reader what could possibly happen, such as Hamlet eventually coming around to confront the ghost.

Continuing onto this line from the soliloquy:

“Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature

Are burnt and purged away...”


These lines are somewhat towards the beginning of the soliloquy. At this point, Hamlet’s father’s ghost is explaining that he wants everything that caused his dead to be gone from the face of the earth. William Shakespeare added this part because it’s there to explain the father’s infuriation from being dead and no longer having the ability to roam the Earth a free human being.


Dead King Hamlet goes on to say...


“I could a tale unfold whose lightest word

Would hallow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,

Make the two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres...–”


From here, the ghost is explaining that there are things on the dead side of the world that are not meant to be seen. From here, Hamlet is very curious to hear what is father has to say about being dead, but the ghost begins to explain that if he did begin to extrapolate the truth, Hamlet may not be able to bare listening to the rest, considering how frightening and inhumane it is.

All of that could also be connected with...
“–...Thy knotted and combinéd locks to part

And each particular hair to stand an end,

Like quills upon the fearful porpentine.”


These lines are just a continuation from what the ghost was just explaining, how the dead world is too exhilarating to listen to.


In conclusion, this main quote from Act 1, Scene 5 mainly summarizes the debut of Hamlet and his fathers reconnection as Shakespeare includes various types of tone and “secret messages” that depict the possibilities of different reasons why the ghosts various appearances occurred early on in the play.





Q1 Benchmark Circuit Pictures – Daniel Varnis & Viet Le

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Physics - Echols on
Our sculpture was made designed inside of a compartment of a Lovaza water bottle The circuit contains Red LEDs for a few reasons. First, we both really like the color red. Second, we really like bright lights. And well, LEDs are very well known for being bright.

Also, we were trying to be as environmentally friendly as possible. So we used the water bottle, because were basically recycling for more than the basic use of drinking. Also, LEDs are VERY environmentally friendly so it worked out pretty well.
Below is a picture of the circuit turned OFF

Click the picture to enlarge it.​
Screen Shot 2012-11-16 at 10.20.10 AM
Screen Shot 2012-11-16 at 10.20.10 AM


Below is a picture of the circuit turned ON

Click the picture to enlarge it.​
Screen Shot 2012-11-16 at 10.20.23 AM
Screen Shot 2012-11-16 at 10.20.23 AM

American History Interviews

Posted by Daniel Varnis in American History - Jonas on
There are two interviews. I recorded two because:
The first guy mumbled a lot, so I wanted to do someone else that was clearer
The first guy was for Mitt Romney, I wanted to see if I could find someone else that was for Obama.

Unfortunately, they were both for Mitt Romney...

CLICK HERE to listen to both interviews

US Immigration 1830-2000

Posted by Daniel Varnis in American History - Jonas on
Daniel Varnis (ME)
Danielle Little
Lexus Forman
Steven Webb

Click HERE to view our groups Keynote Presentation on US Immigration from 1830-2000.

With your blogpost, include your reflection related to:What surprised you most about this information?
The one thing that mostly surprised me about this information was that a majority of the immigration was caused by things that happened outside of the US. So there were more negative things out of the US, than positive things in the US causing people to migrate here.

What seemed quite obvious about explaining this data set?
The one thing that seemed most obvious about this data is that a majority of the immigrants decided to move out of there "homeland" because living situations weren't as fit as the US.

Looking at the overall trend and incorporating what you know about the US presently, predict and defend the immigration trend for the next two decades.
For the next two decades, I predict that the the immigration rates will most definitely rise dramatically, since it's been doing that for the past 50 years. They will also rise, because it seems like there are many bad events going on in other parts of the world (i.e. Middle East/Western World), that would give the immigrants to option and decision to move from there to the US.

Describe how you made a decision on how to visually represent the information.
The way that I formatted mine in the presentation is, the top shows the decade. Then under it, there is the number of immigrants, then how much they increased or decreased. Under that there is the "Push Factor", and some side-notes that go along, making it reasonable. I chose this layout, because at first, you see how immigration rates differ year to year, then under it will give a better understanding of why the immigration rate was changing the it was.

What parts of group work were challenging?
The most challenging part about group work is trying to stay in contact with each group member, trying to ensure the fact they complete the part that they were assigned. Collaboration is key in projects like this one.
What would you do differently if you had this project to do over?
To be completely honest, there is nothing I would do different if I did this project over. It seems like everything I did met the expectations I set for the final result.

Humanities Portfolio 2012

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on
Main Understanding:
Working hard and full expressing yourself shows what one can truly do through all situations.
Wordle
Wordle
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click the image above to enlarge it. If it's not working, try refreshing your page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​Throughout my tenth grade year at Science Leadership Academy, I learned many things that vary in many different topics throughout the year. These topics relate in some way, while others didn't relate so much. Although some of them didn't relate at all, and others did, all of this information gave me an understanding on how the world is constantly changing around me.


Out of all of the topics in my English and World History class, my favorite topics were, "Slavery" and "Education." Back in September the class was introduced to four essential questions...

1) All students have a right to an education.
2) No one has the right to deny anyone an education.
3) Everyone is responsible for her/his own education.
4) Everyone is responsible for the education of all students.

From there we were asked, "Which one do you agree with out of the four?" I had to agree with the first one because it seemed most logical. I made this decision because I feel like every student has the right to an education, because with out an education you will know less than necessary to pass in society based off of todays standards.

This idea of everyone being applicable to an education is widely spread across the world, but in many places, education is not a necessity to succeed in life. It is not a necessity because an abundant amount of people feel as though all you should follow is religion, and power should be the overpowering system to a successful society.

"100,000,000 children will not even see a classroom in their life." (Global Education Worksheet)"

Click here to view my History Benchmark on Religion and Slavery
(Ideas of education not being an asset is not specifically brought up in this assignment, but this project doesn't signify how strongly Religion is/was believed.)


As the year progressed, many new topics of conversation were brought into play. For instance, we as a class learned about culture and how it differs around the world. Back in Mid-April to Mid-May, we read a book called, "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. In the book, there was culture being displayed called, "Ibu", which was also their tribe. It was interesting how much the culture differs in my living environment, and in Africa (Where the tribe existed). In the book, it was explained that if one small crime was committed, there could be a punishment as crucial as being banned from the clan, or death. In my society, a punishment would be going to jail or being on probation. I found it very interesting how that were complete opposites.

Click here to view my add-on to the end of "Things Fall Apart"
(Originally the book had 25 chapters in it, but my teacher asked us to add on a chapter, a chapter 26. Based off of what I learned in the book, and what I understood the most, this was my chapter 26.)

Click here to view a Wiki-Page on "Things Fall Apart" to better understand what the story is all about, giving a little more insight to understand my chapter 26.

Click here to view my newsletter called, "The African Perspective." You can use this resource if you need a better understanding of what the lifestyle of people in the book was like. 


Back in January of 2012 or so, the ideas of racism and inequality began to harbor around the classroom, and it was main topic of conversation. I learned many things throughout this time that made me think about how racism was one of the main roles in life that actually gave the world some sanity, but in the same time, gave the world some insanity. It gave the world sanity because so many people didn't know what to do with their selves when they felt like an outcast because they were around a racial group, so they segregated themselves into small groups based off of what they do and don't like. But it also made the world a bit more insane because there are people who believe the whole world should be equal, but that's not possible because the whole world doesn't want to be equal.

"In life and society in the past, present, and possibly the future racism, inequality and, segregation have been some of the main standing grounds of life." (History Language Autobiography)

"I feel like people are selfish towards society. The reason people are so selfish is because they live their life, while their minds were played with through propaganda and advertisement." (History Journal #7)

Click here to view a poem called, "Oil of the Fire" that I wrote. 
(The main themes are racism and inequality)

Click here to view a letter I wrote to a fictional character in a book called "Passing."
(The book was mainly about a girl who was half black/half white, and she was trying to pass as a normal person in society, but she didn't know what race she wanted to follow because she didn't want to other race to feel betrayed. So I wrote to the girl Clare, giving her advice on what to do with her situation.)


Finally the last topic of conversation is behavior and law. This topic was debuted in the classroom in mid-May to mid-June. We discussed as a class the many amounts of prisons in the world and how violence is so bad, it's almost spreading like a virus.

Click here to view my thesis paper on Violence all throughout the World.
(This thesis essay mainly explains my point of views on Violence based off of statistics and factual information.)

I feel like violence is a way of life, and it's something people see as a culture and traditional and they find it necessary to pass on those bad habits to their children, grandchildren, etc. And how violence is mostly abundant in areas where natural resources to better life, are scarce.

"In your future and past you will make good decisions and some not so good decisions. Many people make assumptions the better choice is what will make their life go better than those who make the not so good choices. Well I’m in opposition with that theory. From my perspective I say it is always a good thing to make good choices because it helps you further on in life, but it is sometimes a good thing to make bad choices because you can learn from that encounter." (English Essay on Scenarios)


There was another assignment that was assigned to the class back in about December/January. We were assigned to write a play. When I heard those words come out of my teachers mouth, I felt like running away. I never thought I could get it done, and I would just give up. But luckily with some determination, it was completed. This play mainly revolves around the idea of how families of soldiers are greatly affected when their family goes out to war. There was some violence in this play too, so I thought it would be cool to add it onto this part of the blog post.

Click here to view my play, "The Deprived War Angel"
(The main characters in the play are Max Ledger and Johnny MacMannon. They are two boys who are both going to the same college for their future. They both have completely different views on their future, their personalities are complete opposites, and so are their backgrounds. When these two meet, they find themselves liking each other until many things come in their way, causing their "friendship" to end not the way they pictured it.)


To close up, I would like to say that although in the beginning of the year when I thought all of this information was completely irrelevant to everything I would learn in the future. While creating this portfolio, I was being able to dig deeper into my prior work and see how they all relate in some way, and they did... which was awesome! This final portfolio really has expanded my thinking area and mindset on many world related issues that I would've never known about if I hadn't have been given the opportunity to take this course in my high school career.

History Journal #7 – Describe the dominant paradigm of how humans relate to the natural world

Posted by Daniel Varnis in World History - Block on
​I feel like people are selfish towards society. The reason people are so selfish is because through their whole life, their minds were played with through the means of propaganda and advertisements. Through their lives, advertisement and propaganda said, "If you don't buy/have a certain thing, you are not as good as others." But when the new becomes old, they get the new again. But as you throw out the old, you don't know what that has been through to be made, making you selfish.

  • Ignore Natural Needs
  • No Caring About Pollution
  • Unlimited Resources
  • Respect Everything
  • Manipulate Environment
  • Not Talking About/Shoving Down Throats

The African Perspective

Posted by Daniel Varnis in World History - Block on
​     The Ibo is a small group/community in Africa. The two places where this culture mainly coincides in Umuofia and Mbanta. Many of the people here stick together through many situations, good or bad. They are very strict and serious about this culture. For instance, there was a man named Okonkwo. There was a little town meeting in the air, where he shot into the air and the most unfortunate event occurred, a young boy was killed. Now of course he did not kill the child on purpose, but he got the chi mad. The chi is the god of the Ibo culture. And since he was banned for the seven years, he was considered an efulefu, which in other words is a worthless man.

         Secondly, the relationships of all of the people in the Ibo tribe in Umuofia and Mbanta are very strong. Again, that can go back to the event of when the little boy was called, but here it is described into further detail. Many of the men were know as the hunters/protectors. They were the ones that would go out on a daily basis and receive supplies for the families to stay supported and get through the days. The men were known to not be afraid of blood, and had to be tough. The women of the other hand were completely different. The women could be placed under the soft and innocent categories. They were known for staying home and keeping everything together for the family. Also the women would segregate themselves into their own little groups and socialize, then at night tell metaphorical stories about animals.

Lessons Learned Through Life Scenarios

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on

In life and society in the past, present, and possibly the future racism, inequality and, segregation have been some of the main standing grounds of life. In my life I was born in a typical South Philadelphia neighborhood where 99% of my neighbors and everyone else spoke American English. But as time went on a culture diffusion has progressed, my life as it is have been filled with minorities. And this took much time getting accustomed to. I knew that there was no negating this movement, and it is something that cannot be undone.

Therefore, not only in my life have I felt that a part of my past has been replaced with something new. In my English class I read a passage called, “Hunger for Memory” from a book called, “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez. In this story, there a man who moves from his homeland into a completely different society. From his homeland everyone spoke Spanish, but to where he moved to, everyone spoke English. 

Now that the person and I in this story seem to be floating on the same boat, our problems are similar but no exactly the same. In his story, he has the problem of moving to a new area and not being accustomed to the people speaking English all around him. With my situation I accustomed to everyone speaking English around me until people started coming in speaking a completely different language.

Next, it seems like my situation and the person in the books situation seem to tie in together in a very unique way. My problem is too many outsiders coming in and changing my society. Well those people coming seem like one of the many people that are in the same situation as the person in “Hunger for Memory.” So as the people that are like the person that was in the story start to move into a English speaking society, people like me who are already here are not used to these adjustments.

Here is an example of how my family and I used to talk before we felt like society has changed,

“It all began in summer of 2006, my family and I decided to take a vacation to Wildwood, NJ for a week. In the past I was remembered as the jumpy, nonstop, overexcited child. No matter what I couldn’t sit still, and with the information that we are going to the beach, I was running around like a headless chicken. As we arrive in front of our shore house I open the door, run up the steps and wait at the door. Unfortunately I had to help my parents unload the trunk. So as we are done unloading the trunk I run around the house to call dibs on what room my mother and I are staying in. After about 30 seconds of running around we chose the room with the futon and the deck. When my mother and I are done unpacking my family and us two took a walk to the beach. When we get there I rip off the shirt like the hulk and sprint to the water. It felt so good I was running around in circles jumping in the water. From the distance I hear my family yelling at me to back up and not go to deep.

My grandfather yells, ‘Yo wippersnapper, get your ass back here before I beat it!’

When he said that I knew he meant business. I turn around without any other thoughts. When I come up to them he tells me, “Daniel you need to calm down and don’t go too deep. You forgot to put on sun block and you were too far away too fast. The rest of the day I tried to stay my calmest and not give my parents any difficulties. Being a child was a very exhilarating time of my life.” In this example from my childhood, my grandfather said, “Whippersnapper.” That word is something that was said commonly by my grandfather when I was little to emphasize my rowdiness. But as time progressed and society began to change, slowly stopped saying that word. He could have stopped saying it because I was growing up, and I would have found it to be a joke, but I feel like that if said that word today then people would look at him like he was insane.

To close I feel like a piece of my past has been taken away due to the large population of different ethnic groups coming into my life, but it something that cannot be changed and there is no going back. It is something that has to be lived with and something that will take some adjusting too. Maybe I am just under some sort of cultural shock and eventually while I have them around me long enough, I can see my life as, “back to normal.”

Thesis Paper – The Lifestyle of Violence

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on
​

The Lifestyle of Violence


When Violence is brought into conversation, it’s commonly categorized as a mindset that is most abundant when there is deprivation and a lack of outer resources to aid it. Many people abuse this mindset, meaning they think that it’s the only answer to most situations. From my perspective, I see the more violent people, being the people that come from the more violent backgrounds. These backgrounds don’t necessarily have to revolve around their family, but it can also be from the government, cultural deprivation and/or, religion... the list goes on and on.


First, here is a miniscule area where violence is a problem almost every day, Philadelphia. It seems like that almost every day someone is getting shot. There were 148 days into the year as of May 28th, 2012. Parallel to that, according to Philadelphia Police Department, there was a substantial 140 homicide victims as of May 28th, 2012 in the city of Philadelphia. In the year of 2011, there were 324 homicide victims, that’s almost equivalent to a person being killed every other day ("Southeastern philadelphia transportation authority"). Then in 2007, there was an outstanding number of 391 homicide victims ("Southeastern philadelphia transportation authority"). Why are there so many people being killed?  From my standpoint, it doesn’t look these acts of violence are ever going to end.


Secondly, there is a bit larger area where Violence is a nuisance to life, right in the Keystone state, Pennsylvania. Just because many historical things happen here such as the Penn Treaty with the Indians in the 1600’s doesn’t mean anything, that was almost 400 years ago. As of 2010, Pennsylvania contained a whopping population of 12,702,379 people. From that amount, 46,514 are from violence ("Disaster Center"). Yes that is less than 0.005% of the state, but someone has to take care of them, and the people that have to do that has to be paid. And who pays them? Oh thats right, the middle class. This has to be paid on top of many other things that the middle class has to pay for. Eventually this is a never-ending cycle. It’s a never-ending cycle because the middle class has to pay, they eventually run out of money, they do bad things, they go to jail, then they have to be taken cared of. That is how it’s a neverending cycle. From that total of people, 46,514 were arrested due to domestic violence. The question is, where are the majority of these crimes coming from? First is Harrisburg with a crime rate of 170,000 (As of 2009). Second is York with a crime rate of 125,000 (As of 2009). And third, believe it or not, is Philly with a crime rate of 120,000 (As of 2009). It is really crazy to fathom the idea on how many crimes occur is such a little bit of time.


Third and foremost, violence may be a large problem in the Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania, but both of those places exist in one place, the World. If violence takes place in two little fractions of the World, I can already assure myself that Violence occurs elsewhere. There is no need to pull numbers up because I lived long enough to see a lot of it. For instance on September 11th, 2001, the group called Al Qaeda crashed two planes into the World Trade Centers in New York, New York, and they crashed a third plane into Pentagon. Lucky the last plane was not crashed into any big cities due to the brave passengers. Anyway, back to the violence. Many violent things in life happen for many reasons that could easily be avoided but people choose not to. Then again there are many things in life that are violent that people would like to avoid the situations because of the their lack of power. Life would be so much better if the entire government was completely equal. Meaning that there should be no parties in the house, such as the democratic and republican. It’s about money, people say money is a person’s best friend, I say money is the devil, money is the ruination of our economy and relationships with other parts of the world. First you have the Republicans supporting the rich not having to pay taxes, while the poor do, and then you have someone like Barack Obama, a Democrat, wanting to help the economy but all of his ideas are shot down. And the more poor people are burdened with all of these taxes, they will lose money, and find new ways, legal and illegal to be able to have money in their pockets. No wonder why their symbol is an elephant, they’re fat for money.


To close up, I would like to talk about why all of these things are the way they are. I feel like I can really tie together the main reason why there is so much violence in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, it’s because they take place in the USA. And what is the the USA currently? That’s right, a recession. This recession that is occurring is causing many financial problems, many of which people can’t avoid. Then when push comes to shove and the money becomes really tight, many things occur that can be harmful to society. Drugs are being dealt, stores are being robbed, people are being killed, and the list is neverending. So it’s things like this that cause much violence to occur all around the clock. Secondly, things can be explained and factual reasons can be added on why there is violence in the world, but one reason can be explained, just one reason, culture. Culture plays a big role in many places around the world, it can be as small as a family, or as large  as a country. Throughout the world there is much cultural diversity that breaks up many societies and causes problems that vary in different ways. An area of land will be covered with one culture, while the other area of that land is covered by another culture. Then at the point where they meet, there is controversy over whose is better and whose should get the majority of land.


To close, its very easy to see that a majority of these different forms of violence come from the constant need to be most powerful. This constant need can vary anywhere from politics, to finance, all the way down to family related problems. Although power is one thing that makes many things run, it is at the same time, the ruination of many things.

Letter of Advice

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on

Dear Irene, 

Ok, so um, you need to get yourself together. You need to stop getting yourself between problems that have nothing to do with you and you need to get away from Clare! You’re doing nothing but putting oil to the fire.

To begin, I know that you and Clare are like best friends, die hard, positive and negative energy bonded magnets. But I am going to be completely honest with you, and give you reasons why you need to separate from her. I need you to listen clearly, it’s almost like I am reading your life, almost like a book!

First, you and I both know, Clare is passing. This is something that you cannot play around with, and this is something you need to avoid. She is acting like someone she isn’t and if people know that you knew that she is African American, there can be very bad consequences.  It’s almost like you have an ultimatum. It’s either you tell the community about Clare’s TRUE identity, or you leave it a secret, and hope for the best. But heed that there are consequences involved. 

Sincerely,

Dan

The Oil of Fire

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on
The Oil of Fire

 

Life is made in many different forms,

These different forms come from different makers.

 

You eat the food from the ground,

You drink the water from the seas,

You smell the scent of the flowers,

And you breathe the air of the earth.

 

The Presidents made the constitution,

The gods made the earth,

The chicken laid the egg,

And seed made the tree.

 

Everything has a source.

It’s the heart of the body,

Without it we would be dead

It’s the Sun of the Universe,

Without it we would be dead.

It’s the racism of our society,

Without it we would be alive.

 

It has brought nothing

Except hatred and war,

It is something undesirable,

Nothing we adore.

 

The main source of it,

Died many years ago,

Not possible to fix,

This situation left us in woe.

 

We can always attempt to make a change,

Getting a lot of people to agree, is very hard to arrange.

Most likely it is impossible to complete this task,

Everyone is two afraid to help, they will wear the fearful mask.

 

-Daniel Varnis

Things Fall Apart – Chapter 26

Posted by Daniel Varnis in World History - Block on
CHAPTER 26

            It was late in the afternoon, Obierika stood a comfortable distance away from the lifeless, wilting, dying body of Okonkwo. Obierika knew it was not the best to touch him, as much as she wanted to one last time. She looked at his hand, there was a tattered banana leaf sitting between his two fingers. She asked a stranger to take it from Okonkwo and to hand it to her. Obierika unwrinkled the banana leaf and read what was written on the inside…

            “To whom ever reads this, you recognize my absence to the present world. However, I am present mentally, nno. Life itself is changing ever second when you have missionaries. They shall change you, making you one of their own. Causing you to forget who you are to ruin the better lives of future generations. For the time I was alive, I saw us as obodo dike, but that has obviously changed. I know that I am not the only one who finds these changes to be different and unappreciated, but when they conquer our land to the fullest extent, I shall be the tufia of Umuofia.”

            Obierika stopped reading for a few minutes to absorb and reminisce the words of wisdom that were being portrayed in the death note. The emotions of denial and misunderstanding was overpowering, Obierika fought to keep in the tears of regret.

            “Why had we not believed?” murmured Obierika. She proceeds to read, this time trying to hold everything in until the end.

            “I don’t reckon that is necessary to live somewhere anymore if your roots are ripped apart like a flower in the ground. My original land will never be the same, and I have nowhere else to go except with chi. We will sit together high in the sky on the clouds, eat Kola Nuts, talking about how life will never be the same, for he is the only one who shall understand. We shall talk about how they had no pity on us and shall never have pity on us. And as they showed they had no pity on us, I showed the same. Word will probably be out way after my soul flies high into the sky. They will not be able to banish again, and even they did so, it would be pointless for it would make no change. That is all I have to say, and I am long gone right now. To whomever reads, don’t forget me, don’t forget Umuofia.”

             Obierika took a quick look and noticed the hand where the letter once was. It was missing something. His jigida had no longer been on his wrist; it was broken, all over the floor under where Okonkwo was hanging. Obierika took the beads, wrapped it in the banana. She then dug a hole and places it in.

             “I cannot touch you, but you are still with us in Umuofia.”

English Journal #26: PART 3 – Write a journal about a mask

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on
There is one Mask, South Philly Style,
worn with acceptance, not denial!
You can walk down the street, many places to go,
since you're one of a kind, it's worthy to show.

I am different, not a copy or fake,
I am something no one can remake.
I have sworn to be my own, not anything other,
the closest copy will probably be my brother.

You look around, you have many friends,
let them be THEIR SELVES, don't make pretend.
There is one mask, South Philly Style,
worn with acceptance, not denial.

English Journal #41 – Write a letter you would never write to someone

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on
Dear Leon,
I am very, very, very disappointed in you for what you did back in 1997. You don't remember, do you? You don't remember because you probably don't want to remember. Well here is a little FYI and reminder, you almost killed Ada! Yup, thats right, she is still alive... you feel salty. She was running as she tripped and flipped over a railing 40 feet high. She held on then you grabbed her hand. But you pulled a Scar and Mufasa act. You allowed her to fall, that was NOT nice! But now she is alive doing well in Raccoon City, winning, while you look stupid, hater.

Sincerely,
–Dan (#1 RE FAN)

English Journal #23 – Write about a time when you had an experience with something foreign

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on
During Spring Break of 2011, my mom planned a vacation to Universal Studios in Florida. The problem was, we were driving instead of taking of a plane. So that meant sitting in a car for about 1,000 miles. Luckily it's the 21st Century and we have a GPS. The problem was, at about the 750th mile, technology failed on us. So as we we're passing through Savannah, we hit a detour. The GPS didn't notify us of the situation, we had to get off of I-95. As we pulled off the highway, we stopped at a Bojangles Restaurant to ask for directions. While they were explaining, we were understanding about 5% of it, due to the tense, strong southern dialect. So from there we went driving around Savannah trying to find our way back to the highway so we could proceed with our trek. 300 more miles to go.

Las Cazuelas

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
​Mi Plato de Comida de "Las Cazuelas"
IMG_1141
IMG_1141
The restaurant called "Las Cazuelas" came to SLA to give Spanish 1 students an opportunity to try some of the foods from one of the many Spanish Speaking Regions that we learned about. I attempted to try everything, some things were amazing, while some Entrees were... well... not my favorite.


Aquí estan los platos comí.


​Tacos Derados
IMG_1142
IMG_1142
​Opinión: Está muy bien, pero el pollo esta seque.

Unos ingredients: Pollo y Tortilla.

Comentarios: ¡Me gusta el Tortilla del Tacos Derados mucho!




Pollo Cazuelas


IMG_1143
IMG_1143
​Opinión: Me gusta el pollo mucho, la salsa esta picante!

Unos ingredients: Pollo, Pimienta (Mucho!) y más.

Comentarios: No me gusta comida picante, pero el Pollo Cazuelas es muy differente. Es una comida favorito para yo.




​Tres Leches
IMG_1145
IMG_1145
IMG_1144
IMG_1144
Opinión: Es mas o menos, no me encanta comida húmeda.

Unos ingredients: Leches (tres), huevo, crema, y mas.

Comentarios: Tres leches está una comida mas o menos, pero la crema de tres leches es muy bien, me gusta mucho!


Partes de la Casa

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
Los Descripciones de la Casa

1. La casa tiene tres techos
2. La oficina tiene una computadora y mucho libros!
3. La garaja en la casa tiene un carro amarillo.
4. Hay dos escaleras en la casa.
5. Hay una mesa blanco en el concina.
6. Hay cuatro ventanas en la casa.
house-cutaway-wood-furnace
house-cutaway-wood-furnace

E1 U8 Sazón (Daniel Varnis, Sabian Rosales, Jian Zhang)

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
El proyecto de Sazón con Daniel, Sabian y, Jian.

Sabian – El Mesero
Daniel y Jian – Los Clientos

Spanish Restaurant Project
El Script

Sabian – ¡Hola, bienvenido a Sazón!

Jian – ¡Hola!

Daniel – Necesitamos una mesa para dos personas.

Sabian – Bueno

Sabian – ¿Té gustaría beber?

Jian – Me gustaría un vaso de refresco.

Sabian – ¿Y tú?

Daniel – Me gustaria un vaso de té.

Sabian – Bueno.

Sabian left for the drinks

Jian – ¿Qué le gusta comer, Daniel?

Daniel – Hm... me gusta pollo mucho, y bistec. Pero, me gustaría comer la chuleta hoy. ¿Y tú, Jian?

Jian – Me gusta bistec mucho, me gustaría comer bistec hoy. “Es-coo-chay” que es bueno.

Sabian – ¿Sois preparado para pedir su comida?

Daniel – Si. Me gustaría las chuletas de cochino.

Sabian – ¿Y tú?

Jian – Me gustaría el Asado Negro.

Sabian – El Asado Negro es muy bien. ¿Es todó?

Jian – No,  me gustaría el Asado Negro sin el ajo. No me gusta comida picante.

Sabian – Entiendo. ¿Es todó?

Daniel – Si... oh... no. Nos gustarían una canasta con el pan y mantequilla.

Sabian – Bueno.

Jian – ¡Ay dios mio, tengo hambre mucho!

Daniel – Veo nuestra comida.

Jian – ¡Muy bien!

Sabian – Aqui tiene.

Daniel – ¡Gracias!

Sabian – Y tú.

Jian – Gracias señor.

Sabian – De nada.

Jian – ¡Ay dios mio, disculpe!

Sabian – ¿Sí?

Jian – Mi comida tiene ajo, no me gustaría el ajo.

Sabian – Oh, lo siento, perdon.

Jian – Esta bien.

Sabian – Lo siento. El chef habla el es lo siento tambien para el ajo.

Jian – Es bueno.

Daniel – Ay dios mio, la comida es muy bien ahora.

Jian – Si, mi comida es muy bien.

Daniel – ¿Necesitamos la cuenta?

Jian – Sí.

Daniel – ¡Disculpe!

Sabian – ¿Sí?

Daniel – Necesitamos la cuenta por favor.

Sabian – Bueno.

Jian – ¡Gracias!

Daniel – ¡Ay dios mio, no tengo dinero!

Jian – Esta bien, voy a pagar.

Daniel – Gracias Jian.

Jian – De nada.

El Fin

Mis Actividades

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
Mi nombre es  Daniel Varnis. Tengo 16 años. Soy casí activa, así que correr en mi barrio. No me gusta videojuegos nada. Es por eso que soy intelligente y tengo bueno notas. Cuando tengo tiempo libre completo mi tarea. Por lo tanto hablar con mis amigos.
Son mis amigos Briana y Victoria y yo.
Photo on 11-4-11 at 2.58 PM #2
Photo on 11-4-11 at 2.58 PM #2

¡Mi clases favorito!

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
***Tap any photo to enlarge it***

Descripcion De SLA:​
SLA es muy minisculo. Tenemos una biblioteca y un café. Tenemos quinientos estudiantes y trenta profesores y profesoras. SLA esta en Filadelfia en veintidos y arco. ¡SLA es muy differente y loco!


Bio-Chem 10:
Clase: Bioquimica Diez
Profesor/a: La Srta. Dunda
Actividades en la Clase: Hacer mucho experimentes, estudiamos casí
Responsibilidades: Completemos la tarea, Somos organizado
Materiales: Una Computadora, una Carpeta, tres Boligrafos y, un Cuaderno
Opinión: Me gusta porque es extraño.


¡Es me profesora de Bioquimica, es muy comica!
Photo on 1-31-12 at 2.43 PM
Photo on 1-31-12 at 2.43 PM

Algebra Dos (Algebra 2):
Clase: Algebra Dos
Profesor/a: El Sr. Reddy
Actividades en la Clase: Completar matimaticas problemas, Completar mucho standards
Responsibilidades: Completemos la tarea, Necesitamos ser bien
Materiales: Hoja de papeles, Dos lapices
Opinión: No me gusta porque es dificil


¡Es mi profesor de Algebra dos, es muy serio!
Sunil Reddy
Sunil Reddy


Comparing SLA to Schools in Spain​
Venn Diagram Screen Shot
Venn Diagram Screen Shot


Video

Passing Final Project

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on
​Poem

Why?

It seems like when ever there is something, it could be a good thing or a bad thing, there is always a main source. So to completely eliminate something, that main source. For instance, you need to take out bulb so the lamp won't glow. But in my video, I explained that it is almost impossible to end this problem with racism and people not feeling accepted and they feel like they don't have the rights to do things that they have a desire to do. Many people are to scared to attempt to fix this problem.



Here is the video of the poem...
If the video doesn't work, then make yourself useful and read it yourself.​



Poem:

The Oil of Fire

 

Life is made in many different forms,

These different forms come from different makers.

 

You eat the food from the ground,

You drink the water from the seas,

You smell the scent of the flowers,

And you breathe the air of the earth.

 

The Presidents made the constitution,

The gods made the earth,

The chicken laid the egg,

And seed made the tree.

 

Everything has a source.

It’s the heart of the body,

Without it we would be dead

It’s the Sun of the Universe,

Without it we would be dead.

It’s the racism of our society,

Without it we would be alive.

 

It has brought nothing

Except hatred and war,

It is something undesirable,

Nothing we adore.

 

The main source of it,

Died many years ago,

Not possible to fix,

This situation left us in woe.

 

We can always attempt to make a change,

Getting a lot of people to agree, is very hard to arrange.

Most likely it is impossible to complete this task,

Everyone is two afraid to help, they will wear the fearful mask.

 

-Daniel Varnis


Language Autobiography

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on
Daniel Varnis​


Introduction:
For my Language Autobiography, I focused on the main idea of minorities. I talk about how people talk their own unique individual language. Of course there are going to be many different people with the same language due to the limited amount. Anyway, Language is the way of people expressing their selves and communicating with one another. From my point of view I lived in an area were people mainly spoken English. It would be very rare for people to speak a language other than English in my community. Until my life progressed and minorities began to come in, the languages spoken around me became more and more diverse. It was something that was not easy adjusting to, and it was something that I didn't see as a norm.


Language Autobiography:
In life and society in the past, present, and possibly the future racism, inequality and, segregation have been some of the main standing grounds of life. In my life I was born in a typical South Philadelphia neighborhood where 99% of my neighbors and everyone else spoke American English. But as time went on a culture diffusion has progressed, my life as it is have been filled with minorities. And this took much time getting accustomed to. I knew that there was no negating this movement, and it is something that cannot be undone.

Therefore, not only in my life have I felt that a part of my past has been replaced with something new. In my English class I read a passage called, “Hunger for Memory” from a book called, “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez. In this story, there a man who moves from his homeland into a completely different society. From his homeland everyone spoke Spanish, but to where he moved to, everyone spoke English. In the story he was called a “gringo” on page 13. That word is a slang word used in Spanish to show a foreigner that speaks English and comes into a Spanish speaking community. Also on page 13 someone says to him, “You are home now; come closer; inside with us.” Basically they were telling him that he was in an English speaking community and now he lives in a Spanish speaking community; there is no turning back and you have to stay accustomed to what you are coming into. Richard was starting to get hungry for his memory of his old living situation.

Now that the person and I in this story seem to be floating on the same boat, our problems are similar but no exactly the same. In his story, he has the problem of moving to a new area and not being accustomed to the people speaking English all around him. With my situation I accustomed to everyone speaking English around me until people started coming in speaking a completely different language.

Next, it seems like my situation and the person in the books situation seem to tie in together in a very unique way. My problem is too many outsiders coming in and changing my society. Well those people coming seem like one of the many people that are in the same situation as the person in “Hunger for Memory.” So as the people that are like the person that was in the story start to move into a English speaking society, people like me who are already here are not used to these adjustments.

Here is an example of how my family and I used to talk before we felt like society has changed,

“It all began in summer of 2006, my family and I decided to take a vacation to Wildwood, NJ for a week. In the past I was remembered as the jumpy, nonstop, overexcited child. No matter what I couldn’t sit still, and with the information that we are going to the beach, I was running around like a headless chicken. As we arrive in front of our shore house I open the door, run up the steps and wait at the door. Unfortunately I had to help my parents unload the trunk. So as we are done unloading the trunk I run around the house to call dibs on what room my mother and I are staying in. After about 30 seconds of running around we chose the room with the futon and the deck. When my mother and I are done unpacking my family and us two took a walk to the beach. When we get there I rip off the shirt like the hulk and sprint to the water. It felt so good I was running around in circles jumping in the water. From the distance I hear my family yelling at me to back up and not go to deep.

My grandfather yells, ‘Yo wippersnapper, get your ass back here before I beat it!’

When he said that I knew he meant business. I turn around without any other thoughts. When I come up to them he tells me, “Daniel you need to calm down and don’t go too deep. You forgot to put on sun block and you were too far away too fast. The rest of the day I tried to stay my calmest and not give my parents any difficulties. Being a child was a very exhilarating time of my life.” In this example from my childhood, my grandfather said, “Whippersnapper.” That word is something that was said commonly by my grandfather when I was little to emphasize my rowdiness. But as time progressed and society began to change, slowly stopped saying that word. He could have stopped saying it because I was growing up, and I would have found it to be a joke, but I feel like that if said that word today then people would look at him like he was insane.

To close I feel like a piece of my past has been taken away due to the large population of different ethnic groups coming into my life, but it something that cannot be changed and there is no going back. It is something that has to be lived with and something that will take some adjusting too. Maybe I am just under some sort of cultural shock and eventually while I have them around me long enough, I can see my life as, “back to normal.”

¡Hola Vicmary!

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
Querida,
Vicmary Montilla

¡Hola! Saludos desde Filadelfia, una ciudad entre la ciudad de West Chester y Cherry Hill. Se conoce como "La Ciudad de Amore Fraternal." ¿Cómo estas? Soy estudiante de segunda año al Academia de Ciencia Liderazgo en Filadelfia. Segunda año con escuela secundaria es muy dificil porque la clase de matematicas. Mi nombre es Daniel Varnis. Estoy estresado y cansado. Sin embargo es viernes, por eso soy emocionado para el fin de semana. Mi cumpleaños es el diez y ocho de septiembre. Vivo en Filadelfia. El tiempo en Filadelfia es muy frío en Noviembre también increiblemente frio durante el invierno. Me gusta dormir y pasar un rato con amigos los fines de semana y cuando tengo tiempo libre. Depende del día me gusta escribir. No me gusta nada ayudar en casa o cantar. No me gusta nada increíblemente de leer. Soy bobo y loco. Soy un hablador también. ¿Y a ti? ¿Qué te interesa? Soy inteligente porque estudiar mucho. Soy bajo porque las geneticas de mi familia son extraño. Soy serio porque mis padres es serio. ¿Y tú? ¿Cómo eres? Bueno, me voy porque necessito ir al escuela. Respondo cuando puedas. ¡Hasta luego!

Con cariño,
Daniel Varnis



Photo on 11-22-11 at 12.37 PM #2
Photo on 11-22-11 at 12.37 PM #2

¿Cuando es Navidad?

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
Lesson:
You need to know how to ask when something is, and you need to know how to say Christmas in Español. Also some basic spanish such as hello, good bye, thank you, and your welcome.
When Is? - ¿Cuando es...?"
Christmas - Navidad
Hello - ¡Hola!
Good Bye - ¡Adios!
Thank You - Gracias
Your Welcome - De nada

Here is a video of Allen and Daniel putting the lesson to use.

Giving A Birthday Present

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
​​​Lesson:
You need to know how to greet someone, tell them happy birthday, then how to welcome them back after they thank you for what you have done. To perform this task, you need to begin by greeting them. You can say, "Hola *INSERT NAME*!" which is you saying hello to that specific person. From that point, you can wish them a happy birthday. To say that, happy "feliz" and birthday "cumpleaños" must be put together to say happy birthday "feliz cumpleaños" After that to be polite you say thank you which is "gracias!" Then again to be polite you say, "your welcome" which is "de nada."

Here is a link to a website with some general phrases in Spanish!

Video Dialogue:
*Both walk into the scene*
Allen - "¡Hola Daniel!
Daniel - "¡Hola Allen, feliz cumpleaños!"
*Daniel hands present to Allen*
Allen - "Gracias Daniel!"
Daniel - "De nada!"
*Both walk out of the scene*

Video:
Here is a video of Daniel walking into Allen's 15th Birthday party and giving a present...

Traveling To A Different Time Zone

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
Lesson:
When traveling to a different time zone, there are many different things that are needed to be known. First, you need to know how to say 1-60 in Spanish, which are in a picture below. You need to know 1-60 because those are the highest numbers when counting time in Minutes, hours, and seconds.

Screen Shot 2011-10-23 at 9.49.27 PM
Screen Shot 2011-10-23 at 9.49.27 PM
Next, you need to know how to ask, "What time is it in..." and you need to know how to tell people what time it is. But before you can ask what time it is, you need to say, "I have a question" which is, "Tengo una pregunta."


Screen Shot 2011-10-23 at 10.01.23 PM
Screen Shot 2011-10-23 at 10.01.23 PM
ALSO, you should know how to get someone attention. When they are walking by you can say, "Disculpe!" which means, "Excuse me!"
Video Dialogue:
A passenger is on a plane on his way to Milan, Paris from Puerto Rico. He needs to ask the flight attendant what the time is at Milan.

*Passenger is sitting in chair and flight attendant begins to walk past...*
Passenger - "Disculpe!"
Attendant - "¡Hola!"
Passenger - "Tengo una pregunta."
Attendant - "Si?"
Passenger - "A qué hora es en Milan?"
*Attendant looks at his watch and it says 6:45PM*
Attendant - "La tiempo en Milan es seis hora menos USA. La tiempo es la una y menos cuarto en Milan!"
Passenger - "Gracias!"
*Attendant walks out of scene*

¿Cuando es su fiesta de cumpleaños?

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
​Lesson:
-You need to know the days of the week. 
Monday is lunes
Tuesday is martes
Wednesday is miercoles
Thursday is jueves
Friday is viernes
Saturday is sábado
Sunday is domingo

P.S. - In the Spanish calendar, the week begins on Monday, unlike in the traditional English calendar that starts on Sunday.

Full Days of the Week with Visuals
Full Days of the Week with Visuals
But the one sure that you have to be careful of is that the the days of the week are always lower cased. Never begin the days of the week with a capital letter. Also you would need to know how to greet someone. When you walk up to them, you say "Hola!" which is "Hello" but in Spanish. Next you need to know how to ask someone when something is. To perform that, you need to say "Cuando es..." which means, "When is..." but in Spanish. Then some basic vocabulary is need to know, such as cumpleaños meaning birthday, and gracias meaning thank you! From there Anna will welcome me by saying "de nada."
​Video Dialogue:
*Both walk into scene*
Anna - "¡Hola Daniel!
Daniel - "Hola Allen, cuando es su fiesta de cumpleaños?”
Anna - "Mi fiesta de cumpleaños es el sábado"
Daniel - "Gracias!"
Anna - "De nada!"

Walking Into Class Greeting Señor Allen

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
Lesson:
To perform such a task as greeting a teacher, you need to know very few things.
First - You want to know how to say Hello to someone which is ¡Hola!

Second - You need to know how to ask someone how they are which is ¿Como estas? But if your talking to someone older such as an adult, you would say ¿Como esta Usted?.

Third - When someone says to you, "E tu" thats him/her asking you back how you are. From there you can something like Muy bien meaning very good etc.

Fourth - Lastly you thank them by saying, "Gracias." From there they would say "De nada" meaning your welcome.


Keystone XL Pipeline Dialogues & Video

Posted by Daniel Varnis in World History - Block on

OPENING PARAGRAPH

To begin, I though this was a very fun and creative assignment. The reason being is that we were able to make up a story by standing in a fictional made up characters shoes in the mean time, we were learning. During the making of the assignment, we had to act as if we are a person that is being impacted by the Keystone XL Pipeline. And with that factor being played it gave us as the students to people creative in many possibly ways. So when creativity is a role in education rather than a direct assignment, it allows to the students express their selves in ways while still being educationally active.


​Woken From A Mistaken Earthquake

Chad is standing with his arms crossed with a focused expression on his face
Hello, my name is Chad Dickinson and I am a current household owner in the Steele City Area. I have many things to say against this fancy oil pipeline thing going one in my area. I am fully aware of the fact that I am not the only one being affected by this, but I am one of the million that is infuriated with this movement. It all began on August 22nd or August 23rd I was woken up by the sound of a truck engine at about 6:30 in the morning. I look out my window and see a white eighteen-wheeler truck with long pipes chained on top being driven across my neighbor Sally’s cornfield. To continue, I watched them drive across the cornfield and release the chains. Once released, the pipes rolled off of the truck and fell to the ground. That is only the beginning of my hatred. I’m hating so much because the stuff that people like Sally and I make, such as corn, is just destroyed because the ignoramus companies wanting their millions while others are becoming dirt poor. This is can no longer continue. I can assure you that we as a community can and will form a group and boycott this movement so that us people can live our lives with out obstructions in the way. The first person that I got to join this group was my neighbor Sally Duguid.

Ones Lifestyle Destroyed
Sally is sitting in a chair, legs crossed, wiping random tears, and has a depressed expression on her face
                   Hi there, my name is Sally Duguid, and I am also a current household owner in the Steele City Area. As you all shall know from the interview with Chad, a large portion of my cornfield has been destroyed.
Puts her face in her hands and weeps for 3 seconds. Uncover your face and wipe the tears away

I’m sorry about that, its just that this is such a devastation to me. Let me continue, so I would say that it was about 6:30 maybe 7:00 in the morning, and I am woken up by the sound of something snapping, and my house was shaking. Well the snapping noise was the corn stalks being run over, and I’m pretty sure my house was shaking because of the truck, but at first I thought it was an earthquake. As the house began to shake I quickly ran into my sons bedroom, grabbed him and we ran out the house. As we jolted out the back door I notice a big white truck driving right through my cornfield. I started screaming at the truck to stop, but the sound of the engine overpowered my scrawny voice. Since I couldn’t get the trucks attention, I ran over to my neighbor Chad’s house. I asked him what was going on and he was clueless, so we decide to take a walk down the path of squashed corn. Once we approached the truck, we asked the driver who he was and what he was doing. He told us his name was Rick McKnight and updated us on the information that an oil pipeline will be placed in my cornfield. After he went into further detail I just walked away in disappointment. From their, my neighbor told me about a group he was attempting to conjure up to go against this pipeline being placed in our area. But for now on there is nothing we can do about the situation, its all about money. If we had millions then we could possibly get our selves out of this, we would probably be able to bribe Keystone XL to not do this in Steele City. But unfortunately we don’t have millions; all we have is a cornfield.  




Pipeline Point Of View From An Employee

Rick is standing there with a slouch, wiping sweat off his forehead, and taking big breathes occasionally to catch his breath due to the heat. Now and then stumbles with sentences.
Howdy there, my name is Rick McKnight and I am a Truck Driver Delivery Man for Keystone XL. During the spring of 2011 I was laid off from my job as an auctioneer. So I went job hunting and found this. It may not be my favorite job, but it pays the bills. Anyways, there are a few reasons why I don’t like this job. First, I’m driving a truck up, down, and around the USA picking up pipes for this fancy pipeline that my employer is building. It becomes very much just getting the pipes on top of the truck. But then after that, I have to chain them and buckle them. It is a lot of work. The other reason I don’t enjoy this is job is the way that the pipes are going to be used that I have to deliver. The reason I don’t like the usage of these pipes is they are going to stretch across the USA vertically. And the way they are stretching, they are going right through my hometown in Texas. For all I know, I might wake up one morning and have giant pipes laid out in my back yard. If they do put them anywhere near my house I might just have to move. Because I live with my wife and two daughters, and my daughters occasionally go outside to play and these pipes can be put their life on the line. When I say, “Put their life on the line” it may sound dramatic, but I am being realistic. Whenever they go outside, I am going to have to worry about them running into a pipe and tripping, or even a pipe exploding. To finish up with my ranting, I must say that this pipeline project is possibly one of the most idiotic and horrifying things that the USA has ever allowed to happen to their country.

Descriptive Essay Revised

Posted by Daniel Varnis in English 2 - Block on

Daniel Varnis                                                                                      October 17, 2011

Lessons Learned Through Past Life Scenarios

 

To begin, life is all about making decisions. In your future and past you will make good decisions and some not so good decisions. Many people make assumptions the better choice is what will make their life go better than those who make the not so good choices. Well I’m in opposition with that theory. From my perspective I say it is always a good thing to make good choices because it helps you further on in life, but it is sometimes a good thing to make bad choices because you can learn from that encounter. Here is an example of one of my more inferior choices…

“Hello, Wildwood Police Department, how may I help you?” I immediately hung up the phone, ran into a bedroom frantically, locked the door behind me, hid under a bed, and prepared to get arrested.

It all began on a Sunday morning, I was down the seashore with my family and we just finished breakfast. As all of my cousins left the kitchen, my brother waited for me to finish cleaning up the dishes. Once I was done my hands were all shriveled up and looked like raisins. I walked into the living room and saw my cousins sitting on the floor in a circle, bored. “Hey Dan, did you know that if you call 911 you get 15 free tickets to the boardwalk?” Not even thinking I threw my arm forward towards the phone and dialed 911 with my body shaking with excitement. Once I hit the “Call Send” button I watched my cousins run out of the room laughing. The phone stopped ringing and I heard, “Hello Wildwood Police Department, how may I help you?” I quickly hung up the phone, my blood ran cold of fear and I felt like throwing up. I walk away calmly like nothing ever happened. Ten minutes later I hear a knock on the door, I open the door and see two upright standing men in magnificent blue uniforms standing at my door. I ran away crying into a bedroom and locked the door. In this event I was tricked into dialing 911 to get some lousy tickets to a boardwalk. It is pretty obvious that I could have thought before I did anything because it was pretty self explanatory that if you dial 911, you aren’t getting free tickets, your getting shackles.

Basically the lesson that learned from this is to not be so gullible and to think before you speak/act. Because if I took an extra couple of seconds to notice the trick they were pulling, I wouldn’t have had the law at my front step. And now that I learned this lesson it will help me better myself for the future and allow me to do the right things when necessary. To continue, here is another example of a bad decision that I have made in my past…

One beautiful Mid-August day with my friend Evan. We decide to go for a bike ride out to Pennslanding. The route that we decided to take to get there meant going under an highway. Lets just say things went down hill from there. As we mount our bikes we contemplate where we should go. “Pennslanding!” he said. I decided to follow along because it was too hot for me to render a thought while sweat poured off my cherry red cheeks by the gallon. We proceed down the street, my face is already hotter than the sun and I could feel my blood boiling. We make a left turn onto Front Street and speed up. The street felt never ending as we flew down it like Army Fighter Jet. With all of this speed I thought of an amazing idea to finally attempt to go up and down the hill connected to the underpass. Well let me just say this wasn’t my best idea. As I get to my maximum speed, I make it to the ramp, head up about eight feet. I am now determined to turn around and head back down, but sadly my bike didn’t turn around tipped over. I fell and busted my head on the ramp; I slide down the entire ramp under my bike, the whole way down it felt like I was continuously being scratched with knives. Once I reach the bottom I black out. As I wake up I see Evan leaning over me with an expression on his face like he was leaning over a dead body. When I attempt to get back up onto my two feet I fall back to the ground. “I must have broke my legs” I thought to myself. But that’s too dramatic, I thought about how that couldn’t be the case. My legs might be hurting a lot, but for all I know I could have just sprained them. As I examine my body I feel blood running down my cheek slower than a snail.

In this case scenario I made the dumb decision to attempt to go up a giant hill under a highway and roll back down. Unfortunately I didn’t even consider the thought on how dangerous it would be to do that. But I did it anyway, and got severely hurt.

The lesson learned is to never do things that look risky with out having some sort of protection on. If I were to have been wearing some knee-pads or a helmet, I probably wouldn’t have sprained both of my legs or busted my head open. But now I know this key lesson for the future. I will be well prepared for almost anything that comes in my way no matter the extremity.

To close, these two scenes bond in a strange way. In the first scene I made the dumb choice of calling 911 to get free tickets, when I should immediately knew through common sense that 911 is for emergencies only! In scene two, I made the decision to go up a big ramp. The result was I got injured from falling down the big ramp. To finish, the theme and lesson I learned from both of these scenarios is to think before you act/speak. Because as a result I could have prevented my self from getting injured, and from having the law come to my front door.


 

RSS