Join SLA GSA in silence for LGBT Rights.

The Day of Silence is a silent protest that aims to raise awareness of the unfair treatment and prejudice that effects members of the LGBT community. Students take a stand against homophobia by staying silent throughout the school day.

For more information, click here to visit The Day of Silence homepage. We encourage you to sign up on the website as well as checking in with SLA GSA Friday morning (info below).

If you would like to participate in SLA's Day of Silence, We will be having a check in on Friday morning before class (7:50AM-8:10PM) right in front of the office. You will receive a a ticket for the event.

For my 10% project, I read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. After reading the book, I was curious about genetic manipulation and the idea of genetic hierarchy, so I decided to write a reflective study based on those topics.

Click Here for the study.

Click Here for the Keynote presentation I made about genetic manipulation.

Here is my work for this quarter. Some of these may go into my portfolio. Not all are posted, just the ones that best represent each project.

“So, are we in accordance?”

Chief Inquisitorial Detective Marrows stood before a line of firemen, all solemnly standing with their arms folded in a way that could easily insinuate anger, distrust, or protest.

“Lieutenant Michaels, I require an answer, “ Detective Marrows stated impatiently. “Now.”

A rather gruff man stepped forward and uneasily glanced around the firehouse for a moment, his pupils constricted as he saw the police squad standing just outside.

“I’m afraid I can’t make that decision without a captain present,” he responded nervously.

“Well, Unfortunately, your captain is dead,” Marrows sneered. “but you already knew that, didn’t you?”

The whole team of firemen shifted posture as the obvious tension in the room rose to the tipping point.

“I don’t appreciate your tone,” Michaels responded. “Chief Detective.”

“Frankly, that doesn’t matter to me.” Marrows stated bluntly. “What matters to me, is the assurance that your squad will report the fire that burned down the CAGT building as an accident.”

“But there is obvious evidence that the fire was ignited by an arsonist,” Michaels said. “you wouldn’t need to be an expert to see that.”

Lieutenant Michaels looked at Detective Marrows with an apprehensive stare. They both knew it wasn’t an accident that a whole team of prominent CAGT protesters perished in the fire. A whole team including the Lieutenant’s mentor, Captain Nichols.

“I don’t care if God himself came down and told the whole city that the fire wasn’t an accident,” Marrows stated impatiently. “it is required that your team reports the fire as such. This is a matter of national security.”

Michaels sneered. “So, protecting national security to you is murdering civilians in order to keep your party members in office?”

The firemen standing behind the lieutenant exchanged glances of discomfort.

Marrows Paused before answering.

“I suggest you watch your tongue, Michaels.” he said. “I would hate to have to dispatch a team of Collectors to retrieve you and your family for processing”

The Chief Detective’s threat resonated throughout the whole firehouse. The line of firemen shifted angrily.

“How dare you threaten my family!” Lieutenant Michaels shouted. “You have no right!”

“Actually,” Marrows responded. “I do.”

A fire ignited in the Lieutenant’s eyes. He lunged for the Chief Detective, his face distorted in anger. A single fat vein protruded from his neck. Alas, his attack was too slow for the detective, who produced a handgun within milliseconds. The previously quiet firehouse echoed with the discharge of Marrow’s retaliation. Blood splattered every surface in front of the detective as Michaels’ corpse fell to the ground with a pathetic thud.

The remaining firemen were scattered across the firehouse floor, streaks of crimson blood stained their yellow uniforms. Before they could regain their composures and attempt to retaliate, squads of police officers and Collectors stormed the firehouse, disarming and retaining all the firemen. They were marched outside and thrown against the steel door of the firehouse. One by one they turned to face their captors, squinting from the intense sunlight.

“Well,” Detective Marrows started. "What are you waiting for? Death by firing squad effective immediately."

The detective disappeared amongst his government personnel. Shortly after, a crescendo of bullets resonated throughout the empty streets surrounding the firehouse.

Here is our PSA. Enjoy!

*My interviewee would like to remain anonymous.

​Q: What motivated you to come vote today?
A: It is pretty routine for me, actually. I vote because that is my civil duty.

Q: Do you vote in every election?
A: As far as I can remember, yes. Like I said before, voting is my civil duty, and I try to fulfill that to the best of my ability.

Q: Do you know why we vote on Tuesday?
A: No, do you?

Q: Where have seen the most political advertisements?
A: I would have to say on TV. I watch TV regularly, and I see the majority of ads in the commercials.

Q: What is the most memorable campaign ad that you've ever seen?
A: The Obama advertisements. That was such a memorable campaign, so I guess the ads were very memorable as well.

When first exposed to the immigration statistics, I took note on how drastic the different change in numbers were. As observed the information further, I connected the different highs and lows of the numbers to different points in history that I was previously aware of. I cannot say that the statistics took me completely by surprise, but neither can I say that one point didn't intrigue me. In the timeframe where the Gilded Age was at its height, the immigration numbers were't as high as I pictured them.

Predicting the future immigration statistics is perplexing. On one hand, the United States is currently in a time of economic tension, which I believe would repel immigrants. On the other, immigrants today from many countries in Europe are trying to escape their own nation's economic problems that are worse than the situation in America. One prediction I feel confident about, is that there will be many immigrants from countries like Greece and several North African nations. I do not know if our immigration numbers will follow the same increasing trend.

My group and I wanted to create a timeline of sorts, but we didn't want a normal, horizontal/vertical type of graphic. We decided to use a spiral, because it is a visually captivating figure. We then added several pictures that represented different points in time that effected immigration. The most challenging tasks in creating our piece had to have been using Adobe Illustrator and marrying physical media with digital media. Finding a scanner was a laborious task as well...
If given the chance to recreate my group's final project, I would like to do all of it in Adobe Illustrator. I feel it would look more streamline that way. I would have also added more information, as well as a y axis so that people would be able to actually get numbers from this visual.

I am from everywhere all at the same time.

From transcontinental culture,

and hometown warmth

I am from my family at its prime.

I am from France

From oven baked baguette

that sounds a symphony of crinkled bliss

when you break it

From the rustic cobblestones of Paris

they outline the decrepitly beautiful city in a sea of gray brick.

I am from La Chapelle, a village one usually finds only by chance.

I am from the influence of Morocco

From vegetable dyed maroon rugs

Made with love and not malice

From Belly dancing and Arabic music

that contorts and shakes

I am from the love j'ai por tata zboo.

I am from Philadelphia

From City of Brotherly Love

of water ice and cheesesteaks

I don't really like them…

but it doesn't mean I don't cherish them

From Fairmont where I grew up

but wasn't born.

From playing on slate side walk

hands gritty with chalk

skipping hopscotch

I am from the childhood

that I only wish I could have cling to when it was possible

I am from the demons

that I survived

and conquered

I am from me

Pure, simple,

and real

I am from me.

​Humanities Portfolio

Maximilien Marton

When Mr. Block assigned this project, and announced its full details, I didn’t exactly feel that I had learned anything majorly crucial. As I contemplated this further, I realized that in fact, I had learned multiple lessons and essential nuggets of knowledge, just that they were taught in such a subtle way, that I didn’t fully recognize their importance until I actually took the time to realize them. One aspect of this situation that intrigued me was how the knowledge was not completely hidden in my conscience, but only enough so that I could summon it when needed without the need to decipher its apparent existence in my mind. 

In example, during both of the court trials (here and here) I learned to be more sympathetic and to consider multiple points of views, even if my own expressed a strong adversity to one or more of them. For instance, during the Cortes trial, I prosecuted many of the other groups in defense of Cortes, whom I felt quite strongly against before the trial. During the research period of the trial, I found multiple resources that placed a notion of leniency in my conscience. I found that more and more, as I learned Cortes’ point of view, I felt warmer towards him. Of course, I still disagreed with his methods and his logic, but I still considered his ideas. During the Sweatshop trial, The same effect occurred, where I felt more lenient to the group of people I defended.

Looking back upon the monologue project (here), I found that once again the same phenomenon occurred. Because the editing process was so lengthly, I didn’t realize the full extent of my learning experience. During the first few weeks of the project, I had one idea, and as the project progressed, the idea behind my work evolved as well. I switched from studying prostitution to transgendered individuals. As weeks went on, studying transgendered people shifted to studying their childhood, and then to their life experiences. I didn’t realize at first that I was being taught such an interesting and crucial subject, because I was the one who teaching myself along the perimeters that Mr. Block set.

I found that the majority of the lessons learned in class were taught by the students to themselves, with Mr. Block acting as a sort of mediator. Like our monologue project, many of our essays and papers were for the most part, self taught through research. I suppose that the core values of SLA play a major aspect of this. Our history benchmark for this quarter (here) is a great example of self-taught learning. After our unit on colonialism, which gave us a broad knowledge of the subject, we were instructed to inquire upon a culture inflicted by colonialism, research it, present a proposal for a museum exhibit concerning it, collaborate with peers on the best choice for the museum, and then reflect upon our work.

An example of a more structured assignment, would be our poetry project (here). We were taught to observe poetry with new perspectives, by using poetic forms which we wouldn’t usually utilize in poetry, for those of us who actually write poetry. It is almost ironic that the poetry project would become the most structured assignment in our academic portfolio, when the vast majority of poetry is anything but structured. That aside, I learned many aspects of poetry that I had never learned before. For instance, the poet that I studied, Arthur Rimboud, was a poet that I had never heard of before I decided to research him.

So, in conclusion, I have learned many lessons and bits of knowledge that I had previously not recognized. Now that I have realized this crucial realization, I can better prepare myself for further learning that will also be essential to my academic growth. It still intrigues me that all of these crucial subjects were absorbed by my conscience without my own recollection.

​This quarter in Art has been a wonderful learning experience. We experimented in different areas of art, and it proved to be rewarding in so many ways. Developing skills in drawing different subjects with different mediums pushes our own concepts of art, and propels us to experiment more with the unknown.
I am especially thankful for the various projects this quarter. The pieces that I have completed can now go into my portfolio, which I will continue to build in order to achieve my dream of going to the Parson's School of Design. Developing my skills as an artist by going outside of my comfort zone and embracing the unknown have certainly helped me gain a perspective on my future art. I can't wait to see what's in store for us next quarter.
In conclusion, I am very thankful to Mrs. Hull and the projects she gave us, for they are rewarding in more ways than one. I am very proud of my progress in art this quarter, and I will continue to build upon my skills, and become a better developed artist.

​A Very Trashy Dress
by Maximilien Marton

Artist Statement
When I think of statements like "Go Green," I think of a fashion statement. I realize that it is terribly pessimistic of me, but today, it would seem that when one says they are "green", it is almost like they are saying that they just bought that expensive pair of jeans everyone wishes they had. I constantly see celebrities on the news talking about what they have done for the environment.
Observing this unfortunate reality, I perceived an idea for an art project. I figured that if I take this hypothetical fashion statement, and turned it into an actual fashion statement, I could turn the negative to a positive. This is why I decided to create a dress out of a recyclable materials. I chose garbage bags as my medium, simply because they are black. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the phrase "green is the new black", and because of that phrase, I coined my own, stating that "black is the new green".
Unfortunately, I was unable to finish my dress. It took me a very long time to figure out a design, but eventually I settled on a v-neck dress with cascading newspaper along one seam. Around the later days of my process, after cutting, gluing (I still have some burns), and assembling the dress, I realized that I didn't have enough time to finish. When I realized this, I found out another horrible truth. My mother's boyfriend was looking for a trash bag, and picked up my dress. attempting to open the "bag", he tore the art by both seams. That was about four weeks worth of work, down the drain. You can imagine how livid I was with him.

Pictures
Sketches
      
The Dress So Far and the Dress Form That I Made (Duct Tape)
  

Bottle Cap Poster

The inspiration for my poster was resources being wasted, as you can see, the pepsi bottle is being emptied and wasted. Thus the slogan for the poster, "DON'T WASTE!"