Melissa Alvarez Public Feed

Melissa Alvarez Capstone

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in Capstone - Bey - Wed on

In October of 2015, NBC 10 was airing an investigation about youth homelessness in Philadelphia. It was after a mere 45 minutes that I realized how much we DON'T talk about the hundreds of youth in our city who are living without a home. I knew then and there what I wanted my capstone to be about. 
Since my junior year, I have been an active member of the Philadelphia Youth Commission. The Commission has 21 members of youth who are elected to represent their respective City Council district and Councilperson. One of the many things we do is host monthly meetings on topics that affect youth, so I used this as a partnering opportunity for my project. I wanted to have a meeting about youth homelessness, but nothing like we've had before. My objective was to change the location, provide refreshments for the first time, expand our audience, and have a legitimate call to action when we were done. 
A difficulty I faced was the new Mayoral transition happening in City Hall, which is where I wanted to have my meeting. We couldn't lock down a location until two weeks before the meeting was supposed to happen, but we were eventually lucky enough to book Conversation Hall. After attending a public hearing that happened on April 29th about the same topic, I introduced myself to some of the people who testified and convinced them to be speakers at my meeting. 
On May 11th, we had roughly 50 attendees including youth groups, commissioners, and people who work with at-risk youth. My speakers included Ms. Helen Fitzpatrick - Director of LGBT Affairs for the City of Philadelphia and John Ducoff - Director of Covenant House PA. I asked Ms. Fitzpatrick to speak about the work she does for the city because 54% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ. That's more than half, and was something I felt needed to be a larger part of the conversation. We were also lucky enough to have Mr. Ducoff because Covenant House is Philadelphia's most well known homeless shelter for youth. This had to be a collaborative conversation about what we could all do to help face the issue of youth homelessness. 
When it was over, everyone left the room with something they'd never learned up until that meeting. It seemed like doing a sleep out in front of City Hall was one of the most effective ways we could contribute. It not only helps to raise awareness, but has raised over $50,000 in the past, and it's something we plan to do in the near future as our call to action. 


Blog Link: To read more about my capstone process and view pictures from the meeting, click here. 
​
Annotated Bibliography: 

Morgan Zalot and Vince Lattanzio. "Faces of Homeless Youth." NBC 10 Philadelphia. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2016.


NBC 10 created a short documentary about the homeless youth in Philadelphia. They interviewed 5 different youth who shared their story about how they ended up without homes. It was originally what inspired me to choose the capstone that I did. I would like to have one or two of these youth speak at my meeting. This documentary made me realize just how unprioritized the topic of youth homelessness is in the City of Philadelphia, and how we aren’t doing enough to service them like we should. A lot of them unfortunately do not trust the system and by choice end up on the street because it’s where they feel safe. This is a stigma we need to change and is a crucial part of my meeting’s purpose.


Soto, Joy D. "Philadelphia Youth Commission." Philadelphia Youth Commission Home Comments. City of Philadelphia, Sept. 2008. Web. 1 Feb. 2016.


The Philadelphia Youth Commission is an office created by the mayor for youth between the ages of 12 and 23 years old who represent their respective councilpeople. I happen to be on the Youth Commission and would like to use it as a resource for my capstone. We hold monthly meetings on topics that affect youth. We have four committees: Health and Recreation, Jobs and Economics, Education, and Public Safety. My meeting will be relative to all four of these committees and I plan to work with them during the planning of my project. They will each be crucial to forming an accurate presentation for the people attending my meeting.


"Philadelphia County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau." Philadelphia County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. U.S. Department of Commerce, Jan. 2014. Web. 3 Feb. 2016.


A large part of my meeting will include presenting statistics about youth in the city. The U.S. census for the city of Philadelphia each year helps me to keep track of how many youth are currently living in the city. Right now we are working with more than 300,000 youth, and the percentage of them that are living in poverty are homeless. There are many that are homeless and undocumented because they choose daily whether or not they want to be a part of the system or take their chances living on the streets which for many is the safer option they feel. Documenting the numbers is very important to my presentation and these facts will be useful to that.


"Facts on Homelessness." Project HOME. Project Home, n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2016.


Project home is a website that presents information about homelessness. On a single night in January 2015, 564,708 people were experiencing homelessness. That’s over half a million people documented. There are thousands in this country who aren’t even accounted for and those are numbers we simply cannot stand for anymore. This website presents factual information about how many people are currently homeless, why they end up homeless, and what’s being done to help them. This will be one of the options for facts I’ll be putting in my presentation.


"Mission & Vision." Northern Children's Services. City of Philadelphia, 13 May 2015. Web. 1 Feb. 2016.


The work done at Northern Children’s Services is designed to create a better future for their clients who are primarily young mothers and their children. They believe that every child has the potential to transform him or herself – no matter their background or life situations. If they invest in that potential through services that focus on care, safety, health, permanency, independence, and positive relationships, the children will lead happier and healthy lives. These are one of many home options youth do not currently know about that I would like to present in my meeting.



Munoz, Judith. "Shalom Inc." Shalom Inc. City of Philadelphia, n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2016.


Shalom, Inc. is a school and community-based private, non-profit, non-sectarian agency. They offer a variety of professional prevention, intervention and treatment services through our community-based program. Shalom Inc.'s mission is to encourage resiliency, character building, and recovery through prevention, intervention and counseling services for children, adolescents and adults. My mom used to work at Shalom Inc. and they offer counseling for youth who are troubled at home or who are part of the juvenile detention agency. Not only did I pick this because of its relevance to my capstone, but also because my mom is an affiliate with this organization whom I hope to partner with for my capstone.


Farr, Stephannie. "Shelter Shooting Leaves 1 Worker Dead, 1 Hurt." Shelter Shooting Leaves 1 Worker Dead, 1 Hurt. Philly.com, 17 Jan. 2016. Web. 3 Feb. 2016.


This article will be one of the prime topics in my presentation. A huge part of why youth are choosing to be homeless and living on the street is because they simply do not trust the system anymore. The shelters have proven to not be safe. A person was shot and killed by a previous resident, yet these are the place we’re telling our youth to go? It’s unsafe and many would rather live on their own than to ever have to endure an experience like that. Shelters may offer a roof, but they do not offer safety. They are not homes and that’s the issue. We need to bridge that gap of trust between the homeless and the system so that they can get the help they deserve, but not by providing them unsafe living quarters. And unfortunately a lot of it has to do with the budget in the city. There simply isn’t a lot of money. So this is something I’d like to talk about in my meeting.


Turcios, Melissa. "Why My Neighborhood Kids Don't Trust the System." Audio blog post. Youth Radio. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2016.


I thought this podcast was really interesting because it centers on a woman who’s neighborhood kids who are primarily Black and Latino. They early on knew what the sound of gunshots were. After a nearby shooting happened, police showed up not long after and were asking the kids questions, but they were very reluctant to be cooperative with the police officers who were asking questions about what happened. At so early on, kids are taught not to trust the system in fear of repercussions that may follow. This was in Washington D.C., but is something that is happening in cities all over the country, especially Philadelphia. Early on our kids are being taught to keep quiet in order to survive in their own neighborhood. The system has been backwards like this for quite some time, and it’s something I’d like to talk about in my capstone.



McElroy, Molly. "Intervention to Improve Foster Families’ Trust, Connectedness." UW Today. University of Washington, 12 June 2012. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.


This article was written by the University of Washington about advice for new foster parents. Often kids are just looking for a safe place to call home. They’ve grown up in a system that is known to give them trouble and often do not feel comfortable trusting new people. This is the biggest thing they should attempt to build with these youth. Allow them to trust. Most adolescents in foster care simply need a stable home life that provides a sense of belonging, love and someone who shows a genuine interest in their lives. If there is no shared history, it might be harder for them to make that connection which is why you should be open and allow them time to connect with you on their own personal level. This is something I’d like to bring up at the end of my presentation; What we’re doing wrong, and what we can do to mend the issues.


"Mission & History." The Attic Youth Center. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.


The Attic Youth Center creates opportunities for LGBTQ youth to develop into healthy, independent, civic-minded adults within a safe and supportive community, and promotes the acceptance of LGBTQ youth in society. The Attic Youth Center has been really important in my research because over 54% of homeless youth in Philadelphia identify as LGBTQ. That’s more than half, and not many people recognize this statistic. Families that are unaccepting of their children’s sexuality or gender preferences are often the reason many of them end up homeless. There aren’t many programs specifically provided for the safety of LGBTQ youth, and Attic Youth Center is one of the very few. I would like someone from the Attic Youth Center to come speak at the meeting and/or be a part of the conversation and give a different perspective on the conversation of youth homelessness and things we can do to help. This source is the Attic Youth Center home website explaining their mission and purpose which can be brought up at the meeting as a resource to youth.

McCarthy Unabridged: The Road, Pages 58 to 59

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in Being Human - Giknis - B on

The following passage is what I have imagined would be included in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: Collector’s Edition.


The boy resembles her vastly. But his eyes were the man’s. Dark and sullen. When he asks him questions the man is often reminded of her. He gives the same inquisitive expression that could only come from her. The night she left he fell asleep rather quickly, and to the man’s surprise he did not cry. It was the first time the man felt that the boy was starting to outgrow their relationship. He couldn’t help but think about where she went as the boy slept. He knew he would never see her again but could not help but wonder if she was trekking the same bleak road as they were. Walking and surviving. He’d taught her that much at least.

.     .     .

In his dreams he felt her. He was alone and walking toward a stark gray house with its door slung open. The beads of sweat rolled down his temples as he approached. Cautiously. As he stepped past the porch, he knew something was bizarre. Everything in the house was completely untouched. As if everything that happened hit everywhere on Earth except here. Opening the door to the basement he heard her. The wooden steps creaking with every shift as he came closer. She called to him. When he reached the bottom, he turned around anxiously, searching for her. But waiting for him was the boy.


The following is my in depth rationale explaining the reason for any literary choices I may have made for this project.


In my project, I chose to address the mother a bit more and explore some of the effects of her absence. I split my passage into two different scenes. The first being the man’s thoughts about his son after his wife left and the second being a dream he had. I chose to place this between pages 58 and 59 right after the man explains the mystery and silence of the way she left.

My overarching theme centered around personal growth. The essential question I found for this novel was “How has tragedy altered the development of the characters’ strength?” It seems as though every time something bad happens to the father and son, the son matures more and the father weakens. Though some might think the father persevered throughout the story, I think McCarthy shed light on his weakening spirit during the whole story while the son however became gradually less fearful.

On page 58, the mother has just left the father and son and the only thing the boy chose to ask was, “She’s gone isn’t she?” and nothing further. This stood out to me a lot because the boy is often very inquisitive of his father, and for something so monumental and sad in both of their lives, he only posed one question. So I chose to talk about that through the father’s perspective in my passage. I included that the boy did not cry the night she left, another sign of growth in his character. This wasn’t something he feared.

Along the passage, I used small familiar description words or phrases used along the book to best match McCarthy’s style of writing. Some of these include “Dark and sullen”, “the same bleak road”, “He’d taught her that much at least”. I also tried to avoid saying “the man” and “the boy” too often and instead used “he”; McCarthy often purposely uses “he” even though there are two male characters because he assumes readers will know who he is referring to in the story. For my McCarthy-esque vocabulary word, I chose “trekking”. He is a fan of using words that describe something long, vast, or dragging. I felt like the word “trekking” captured that because it describes going on a long arduous journey which is the basis of the entire novel.

The second part of my passage is a dream the man has about his wife the night after she left. He thinks he’s found her and when he reaches his destination there is only his son waiting. This is the reality he now faces, and he is coming to terms with it here. I also made the dream parallel to the scene later where they find the bodies calling for help because this could be something that happened to her when she left.


Q4 Art Slideshow

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in Art Advanced - Hull - a2 on
During the fourth quarter of art class, I REALLY went out of my comfort zone here. I successfully created an origami object for the first time, and I really enjoyed the process. Of course I had to throw in a drawing because that's where I do feel most at home, but then I went again and tried something different. I used cardboard to create a letter and then printed some of my favorite childhood photographs on it. I think all of my projects differed a LOT from one another and I'm happy to say that I really did step out of my norm this quarter. I'm truly proud of the pieces I produced this year overall.
Q4 Art Slideshow

Quarter 3 Art Slideshow

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in Art Advanced - Hull - a2 on
During the third quarter, I would say that we definitely focused a lot more on value of color. In our first assignment with india ink, I had to practice my hand at something with such a heavy color consistency, and control where my darks and lights ended up. It took a lot of patience (and water). Then in our assignments involving shapes, I practiced how to form multiple drawings with just your basic shapes (rectangles, circles, ovals, triangles, thick and dark lining). Anything can start with just simple shapes and lines. I practiced lightening my hand which can often be heavy in my drawings. This quarter I got a lot better at successfully defining which color values belong where in my artwork. 
Q3 Art Slideshow

The United States' Occupation of the Dominican Republic

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in American History - Jonas - X on
Due to social, political, and economic instability in the country, and rising tension with Haiti, the United States began a military occupation of the Dominican Republic from 1916 to 1924. During this occupation, the effects were mainly positive and order was restored throughout the Republic. The budget became rebalanced, the debt soon decreased to none, and economic growth rose widely. Some strongly opposed the occupation and the United States spent a number of years at battle with guerilla forces during their time there. After proposing The Harding Plan, and a new presidential election on the island, the Dominican Republic resumed control of their own land once again.

Check out my infographic here!

Melissa Alvarez Q2 Slideshow

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in Art - Senior Art - Hull - E on
Q2 Artist Slideshow
During quarter two of advanced art, we had quite a variety of assignments to complete; some very different from others. After our two art history assignments, we had to complete an art collage. I enjoyed that assignment the most out of anything else this quarter because I spent so much time trying to make it perfect. I created a solid green bottle, with a variety of purple background. I also made sure to cast light on the bottle, so some parts were noticeably lighter than others. It was where I chose to be most creative. I also practiced my shadowing techniques when I drew a fabric, I created my own representation of the princess and the frog, and I practiced my photography skills when I went to New York. I think having a variety of assignments like this makes all the forms of the arts more accessible to us which I appreciated this quarter. 

The Life and Legacy of President John F. Kennedy

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in American History - Jonas - X on
My National History Day project was centered around the life and legacy of our 35th President. On my website linked here, you will be able to learn not only about John Kennedy before, during, and after his Presidency, but also about each of his family members as well. There is also a word search and crossword puzzle to do at the end to test your newfound knowledge! Enjoy.

I Am Malala

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in English 3 - Rami - E on

Melissa Alvarez | Earth Stream

11/5/14


No one really knew about the Swat Valley district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan, and no one really knew that the Taliban were occupying this Pakistani Province, or the type of limits and restraints the women were being forced to live by. No one really ever knows about what’s really happening worldwide unless it’s in front of their own eyes. In front of 15 year old Malala Yousafzai’s eyes before everything changed in her life, was a gun at point-blank range and the sound of a bullet ringing through her ears.


In the year 2009, 11 year old Malala Yousafzai wrote a blog for BBC originally under a pseudonym, about what her life was like under the occupation of the Taliban in her home town of Mingora. The Taliban restricted girls from being able to attend school and receive a quality education (let alone any education), and if disobeyed, they would more than likely be facing death. Malala wrote all about how she believes everyone deserves equal rights to an education. She began giving interviews, appearing on TV, speaking with her father at events, taking part in a documentary for the New York Times. She slowly but surely became popularized from the outside, which posed a threat to the Taliban that a teenage girl was speaking out against them. On the afternoon of October 9th, 2012, the Taliban boarded the school bus Malala was taking, and shot her in the head while injuring two others. Yousafzai’s incredible recovery has only achieved the opposite of the Taliban’s hopes. Malala is now the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient in history for her bravery and activism, and she continues to speak at major events (the United Nations, the Liberty Medal award ceremony, the Forbe’s Best Inventors Under 30, etc.), and continues to spread her cause globally.


The book “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban” leaves you wondering about what’s next on Malala’s list of remarkable experiences. She writes all about the love and melancholy she feels by having to be separated from her home in Pakistan. Readers are taken back to the short amount of time Malala spent as an adolescent, with her childhood stories and observations she made about her family early on. She writes about how and why her father was such an inspiration and motivator to her when she needed it, and how he’s been there every step of the way with her. The descriptiveness throughout the entire book gives the audience a very vivid and surreal experience, almost as if these are our memories and not hers. From the very beginning of the book, any reader is caught and fished in as Malala leaves them wanting more. From the very beginning, the story line cuts right to the chase down to the moment they pulled the trigger to her head. You won’t be able to put it down.


Some major themes recognized in this book are survival, family, the right to an education, and the definition of beauty. Malala has overcome and written not only about hardships she’s experienced personally, but the hardships her mother has also experienced, and the women before her. It is not uncommon in her Valley for women to give up their rights just to stay home, cook, clean, and raise sons. It is what they’ve been programmed to do by their ancestors, but it is something Malala has refused to do with the help and guidance of her father. Throughout this tale, you will also pick up on a little bit of ‘Pashto’ as Malala refers to certain things with certain titles from her native language (with an english translation accompanied). You will learn more about family than ever before, and the power of what the support from the right people can help you to accomplish. Also from this book will be a strong reminder about home and what it means to have a place you come from and find to be beautiful in every way that is your own; Be it the bustling city streets of New York, to the beautiful silence of the Mingora mountains, we each have some place to call home and will remember to love after finishing this book.


Malala to me almost represents a real-life Katniss Everdeen. She is very much the survivor, the motivator, the one who never loses sight of her beliefs, and the one who stood out. If you are interested to hear a very visual tale of survival, near death experiences, and a personal comeback into a new and more powerful life that the author is still adjusting to, this book is very highly recommended.



Title: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

Author: Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Date of Publication: November 26th, 2013

Pages: 464

Genre: Non-Fiction


Link to creative piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrACYiz5QUE


You and the World Blog Post #3: HPV/Cervical Cancer

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in English 1 - Dunn on
I’m back and it’s May! It’s now time to wrap up the final part of my You and the World project, an Agent Of Change. Since my last blog where I did an interview with my mom and shared her story, I’ve brought it to whole other level. To make my big shabang, I decided to do a presentation on HPV/Cervical Cancer Awareness in front of Science Leadership Academy’s entire 9th grade class. After arrangements were made, on May 1st, 2013 I went to the Franklin Institute and gave a presentation on awareness and then brought up my mother to share her story. At the end we gave out teal and white ribbons that were hand crafted by my mom; the colors that symbolized HPV and cervical cancer awareness. 

Getting to where I did wasn’t an easy decision for me at first. The idea of a grade wide presentation was awesome, but actually finding the will to do it was hard. So then I decided that maybe a presentation in front of my advisory would cover it, but I like to be different with what I do so during spring break I emailed Luke Van Meter. Luke handles most relations with the Franklin Institute and SLA, so I asked him if I could go up during April in the Musser Theater to present in front of the 9th grade. After ironing out details I went up on May 1st and presented. Was I nervous? Absolutely. Do I regret my decision?Never. The overall point of this was to get a message across to at least one person, and I ended up with 125 instead.

This project has impacted me greatly. I learned so many new things about HPV, cancer, health issues on both men and women, what was really happening to my mom, etc. I know my project has been heard and that the message was received because if you weren’t listening to me, you definitely heard my mom. I’ve gotten messages and people thanking me for my presentation afterward, but I’m just glad they listened and didn’t fall asleep. What I’ve taken as an experience was public speaking. I feel like it’s helped increase my leadership skills greatly which was something I was very bad at before. I’ve learned that I like to work and think independently as opposed to following someone in a group. It’s all part of my high school development as both a student and a person.

The following video is an edited version of my presentation, but if you want to see the full version I’ll leave a youtube link as well. And that concludes my You and the World project of 2012-2013






Other Links:


Blog Post #1

Blog Post #2

Annotated Bibliography

FULL Presentation Video


Photos Below
       ☟

HPV Photos

Negative Space

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in Art - Freshman - Hull on
A. Say I told you to draw a circle on a piece of paper and asked you to color the negative space, you'd only color the space around the circle and not the circle itself. That space is the negative space. 

B. I found negative space by seeing everything around the object. It's a matter of where your focusing your eyes. I found the negative space in my cut out by removing all the positive.
In my still life drawings, I drew a contour of the objects and never any inside details, then colored everything outside of that contour.  

C. It helps an artist to see negative space because you'll then realize what is and isn't part of an object. Positive space isn't all a drawing has to offer, there's much more depth, and a big part of that depth is the negative. 

D. Seeing negative space helps enhance everything outside of an object. Personally I prefer to play with negative space over positive. It's taking a different outlook on what our eyes usually focus on first. 







Negative Space

Final Perspective Drawing

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in Art - Freshman - Hull on
a. What is one thing that your learned specifically that you did not know before.

One thing I learned specifically that i didn't know before was how to set up walls correctly in one point perspective. I wasn't sure how to begin a drawing like that starting with the point, then the center rectangle wall, and then the side walls coming next. I also got better practice on what objects you make bigger and smaller depending on their correlation to where the point was located. 

b. How did learning this thing make your drawings better.

Learning how to set up walls was the base for everything. Once you have your walls you know how you're going to set up your floor and ceiling tiles, also drawing in tables where need be.

c. If you did this assignment again, what would you do differently?

I would have maybe picked an easier wall. I'm the type of artist that perfects the small details, so doing an easier wall would have lessened the work for the base and given me more time to fix and color all the objects like I want to. But regardless I'm also glad I chose the challenge that I did because it's good practice.

d. What is your advice to someone who has never drawn a one point perspective drawing before?

I would say to know where your point is. Once you have your point, everything comes from there. And that it's not as hard as it looks, so don't worry.

e. What resource helped you the most and why?

In all honesty, my eyes were my best resource. I drew exactly what I saw. I made sure all of the angles on my paper matched the same angles I saw when I looked up. Also rulers are a great resource for one-point perspective. 
1-Point Perspective

Creative Portion of Macbenchmark

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in English 1 - Dunn on
My Benchmark about Macbeth revolves around the thesis:"With her desires as the motivation and her husband as the armor, Lady Macbeth sets out as a power hungry wife who will soon dissipate into a regretful pit of emptiness". I wrote a thesis essay discussing the downfall of Lady Macbeth throughout the play and represented the same thing with my creative portion.
For the creative portion of my benchmark, I made a sculpture out of air-dry clay. My sculpture was of a tree. Half of the tree has strong growing branches covered completely with leaves and the other half contains bent, empty and bare branches. The tree was made to represent Lady Macbeth's journey through the play. She began as an ambitious woman who knew what she wanted and how to get there (the leafy half), and then starts to lose sight of who she is and eventually kills herself in the finish (the empty half). 
My quotes tie in with objects. I have a golden crown at the top branch to represent her desire for the Queen title and riches. For my second quote I have a bloody hand holding a white heart to represent her equal guiltiness to Macbeth's killing and the fact that he's the only one being a coward.For my third quote I have a stool under the tree to add a humorous touch, the quote being: "Why do you make such faces? When all's done, You look but on a stool"(Act 3, Scene 4, Pg.52, Lines: 62-69)".For my fourth quote I drew foot prints under the tree to represent Lady Macbeth's sleep walking. For my final quote I have a pink noose hanging off one of the branches to represent Lady Macbeth's suicide.             
        My process took  total of 8 hours. I had to go out and find the right type of clay, find the right tools and then figure out how to make a tree out of clay pretty much. It was very slow because I had to carve indents to make the bark look realistic. I had to paint the tree brown all over, then I cut out every leaf one by one and glued them on one by one. Shaping the clay was a little difficult but I got the hang of it. I'm most proud of the objects I chose to represent every quote and being able to explain them pretty well. I don't think I would change much besides finding a better looking box and to write the quotes on it. From my colleagues I learned about their artistic representations of their chosen character. People had poems, movies, drawings, games, etc. And from myself, I learned that hard work does really pay off. I spent 8 hours on something I'm kind of proud of to show the class. 
Macbenchmark Creative

Blog Post #2: The Story

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in English 1 - Dunn on
The second part of my "You and the World" solely focuses on a story. This is the story that inspired me to pick this topic and help others see its importance too. It's my mom's story. She agreed to help me with my project because she knows above all how important it is for other people to hear about HPV, and to do what they have to do to protect themselves.
First I'm sharing research on safety when it comes to catching the virus.

Research:
I delved more into the ways you can protect yourself against genital HPV. This type of HPV is one of the more common kinds. Latex condoms are the most recommended form of protection against the infection, but not always effective because genital HPV can be spread through the entire region between your legs. Oral intercourse or skin to skin intercourse will easily transmit the virus and is clearly not the wisest move to make on a person with HPV whether you're male or female. Men can transmit HPV to women and never get affected, or other times it can develop into penal cancer or they can get genital warts. Women who obtain the virus are the one's who receive the most damage; the largest being the possibility of cervical cancer. Condoms are still the most reliable source of protection against catching the virus, but not 100%. 

Interview with my mom: 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w6h20fc81hlbtaw/Blog%20Post%20%232.mov


Media Fluency

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in Technology- Freshmen - Hull on
Script:
The purpose behind my slide is simple really. I'm organized, but I like to be messy. I like to change the way my words are facing. I like to give things color and leave things bland. When it comes to the pictures: I have a sketchpad because there are times where I'm so bored that it inspires me to draw. I'll draw people, cartoons, logos, nature, whatever comes to me at that moment in time. A picture of Bruno Mars is up there because he will always be my "husband". I've loved his music since day one and am a die hard "Hooligan". He's a big part of my life. I have a picture of a present and it says "quince" inside. I just turned 15 and had my quinceanera. In the latin culture, that was my transition in life from a girl to a woman. I have a picture of a pug with the word "pugly" above it because I have 3 pugs at home and they're ugly but know how to be cute at the same time. The words I have represent me and how I am or what I like. And that's about it.

-----

​New Reflection: As I created this slide I paid more attention to the presentation zen ideas and the critiques I heard in class. This time I have a completely different slide and kept everything simple. I used the idea of bleeding with the flag in the background. I contrasted the red with with white when it came to my name (I sampled the same color from the white stripes). I have one big visual in the back (the flag) and my name would be the glance media. I also used big font again.
New Media Fluency

Home Network

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in Technology- Freshmen - Hull on
The devices on my internet connection are all electronics. We have a desktop computer for the entire household to use, my iPhone 4S, my dad’s iPhone 5, my mom’s HTC EVO Lite, our nintendo wii system, my school laptop, my brother’s Toshiba laptop, my toshiba laptop, and my mom’s android tablet. All of these things we use on a regular basis and they won’t be as useful without internet. I learned how a modem is what connects to the internet and how a router is what lets the modem connect to computers in the area. I also learned about how anything posted online will always be there. Even if deleted, it’s still out there permanently. And if I were giving advice I would say to be careful as to what they decide to put out there because people will take your things and repost, reblog, etc. and that could end up being a big mistake.


NetworkDiagram
NetworkDiagram

You and the World: HPV

Posted by Melissa Alvarez in English 1 - Dunn on
My name is Melissa Alvarez freshman class of SLA, and I have a story to share; One that’s affected my life greatly this year. When I was given this project I had trouble finding the right topic. It had to be something uncommon that we don’t hear about all the time. Then I thought about my own life and what’s really changed it and decided.

My project is about the Human Papilloma Virus, otherwise known as HPV. It’s something we’ve all heard about at least once in our lives, or read in our 8th grade health textbooks. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in women globally. Hundreds of thousands are infected with it right now and have no clue.

How does this relate to my own life? My mom was infected with HPV a couple years back and it was one of the hardest times she had and still does have to go through. The infection is long gone out her body, but the after effects are something that will be with her and millions of other women for the rest of their lives. These women are now much higher prone to cervical cancer, the 3rd most common type of cancer to women. That’s where my life started to change.

In June of 2012 my mom began to have a flare up of her HPV symptoms. What did this mean? I knew it was possible that cancer could be happening but it was hard to believe for me. I researched more about it and the symptoms involved and then my mom went to get everything tested again. I went with her to get her last test done and stayed with her in the room, and she got her final results a week later. She was tested negative to cervical cancer. This was amazing news, but it was one of the hardest times to I’ve been through; never knowing what’s going to happen.

So here I am, ready to introduce you to my ‘You and the World’ project on the Human Papilloma Virus. It won’t only affect you, but everyone around you. People should absolutely hear about it now before they’re infected later, and that’s what I’m here to do.

-----

The Human Papilloma Virus is a papovavirus. A papovavirus is DNA that is double stranded and often causes infections/diseases. Men do not get HPV, but they do transmit it. Women are the ones who become infected. There’s more than 100 types of HPV in the world and over 40 of them are passed through sexual contact with a partner. Genital HPV is an infection of the genital area of the body. Over half the amount of people who part take in sexual activity will come in contact HPV at some point in their lives, but the women won’t usually know it because it’s asymptomatic in the beginning.

HPV is most often passed through sexual intercourse but can be spread in different ways. You can only get genital HPV from skin to skin contact, most often through vaginal or anal intercourse. It is also possible to get it from hand-to-genital contact or oral sex, but not as likely.

The Human Papilloma Virus is asymptomatic in it’s beginning stages. You won’t know unless you’re getting regular Pap tests. “A Pap test is when a cell sample is taken from your cervix and looked at with a microscope,”(womenshealth.gov). It’s a quick test and it’s one women should have regularly, not only to check for HPV but to to make sure their cervixes are healthy.

It's an important thing that everyone should be in charge of. You should always know what's going on in your body or what you could be passing on to others. Male or female. Most of the common cases route from infidelity. One partner cheats, transmits it to the other partner and *bam*; infected. The woman doesn't get her Pap test and realizes later that she has cervical cancer and can't do anything to stop it. Women should regularly get a Pap test. Most go annually to see their gynecologists, but when they don't take that extra step to make sure everything is healthy in their body is when they realize that they should have. Be aware and be safe by going to get tested. You could be stopping something before it even happens to you.

Bibliography

Click here to watch other women's stories

Click here to play the HPV Challenge

Click here to learn basic facts about HPV




080000-Pap-Test_2
080000-Pap-Test_2
RSS