In globalization, we were assigned a project that required us to make connections with someone from a foreign country and have them conduct "voting day" interviews on their country's election day and share their findings with us. In the past year, Ms. Laufenberg had already assigned us to conduct voter interviews in our districts, but now it was time to branch out. The objective of this project was to 1.) learn how to make global connections via internet social sites and more importantly, 2.) to learn how the voting process and opinions towards the same differs in different countries other than the United States. The country that Ashley and I picked was Armenia. The hardest part of this project was making connections with people halfway around the world. We tried to contact a Philadelphia local of Armenian decent, Lavan,  who could possibly connect us with his family members or friends in our voting project country, but he could not get back to us. We also tried emailing many Armenian-American institutions in the country, like The Yerevan International school of Armenia, the American University of Armenia, and European regional academy of Armenia, among others, but we did not receive a reply. It was only until we messaged Ms. Karen Abalyan, an employee of the communications department of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America in New York that we actually got a hint of communication flowing, but in the end, this did not fall through. After this, Reverend Hakob Gevorgyan of holy trinity church recommended Greg Bilazarian as a good contact point. We emailed Greg several times and found that he was very helpful; he was even going to find a student to conduct the interview for us, but we could not get a reply from Mr. Bilazarian after the Armenian voting day (May 6, 2012). After a couple of weeks of hearing nothing back from our contact, we sent him an email  to follow up with his progress. It wasn't until we ran into an online article about the Armenian voting day that we found out that  there was a voting protest in Yerevan, Armenia in support for Ter-Petrosian because of suspicions of flawed voting. The protest became a violent demonstration that might have proved dangerous for the students that were going to do the interviews. Ashley and I assumed that this was the reason that Mr. Bilazarian was not able to send us a reply. In conclusion, we ended up not receive a reply from our contact, but learned the how bad Armenia's political system is at the present. 

Mentor Name: Melanie Manuel

Summary of project: For my project, I ran a school supply drive at school; the proceeds went to a church community in Honduras. 

Abstract: My project consisted of running a school supply drive at SLA. One of my church members had already begun this fundraiser at my church, and I continued it at school to help the cause. This project is extremely important to me because the church that the supplies are going to be shipped to has been affiliated with my church for many years. My process consisted of mapping out my due dates and planning on time, getting some cardboard boxes from my father, placing them in the school hallways, advertising my project via flyers, SLA advisory news, and SLA talk, counting/keeping record of inventory, and finally handing the supplies to my in church mentor/contact. Through the research I conducted regarding Honduras’ education system and economy, I learned how fortunate I am to be a student in the U.S. I also learned how to run a successful fundraiser.

For my Quarter 4 benchmark, I chose to report on abandoned buildings in Philadelphia and the process of building restoration in the same. The most challenging part about this project was figuring out where I was going to find my information. I knew what I wanted to touch on in my project; I wanted to address different historic buildings and I wanted explain the process of getting an abandoned house demolished, but I didn’t know where to look for this information.  Despite my confusion,  I kept working and came across many online newspaper blog posts concerning the themes that I wanted to include in my Benchmark. When I started to look at these posts, I found this information. I also went to government websites to verify that the information that I found in the articles was true. 

I had already begun a project similar to this one my Junior year of high school when I was asked to do a project about a historic building in my neighborhood. This was when I first gained full awareness of the Old Edison across the street from my grandmother’s house. As I dug into its history, I only became more and more fascinated with this neglected building. This had to have been one of the greatest projects that I completed during my high school career, therefore, I decided to piggy back its idea in this benchmark. Moreover, I have always held a fascination towards abandoned historic houses in Philadelphia, but they never seemed to be given much attention. I also wanted to address the problem that we have with abandoned buildings and neighborhoods in general.  In my articles, I wanted to raise these issues which not many people pay attention to. Restoration and preservation of not only historic houses in Philadelphia, but also Philadelphia neighborhood houses could increase its attraction factor and build the character of communities. 

I feel like many times this issue goes disregarded because most people feel like it does not immediately affect Philadelphia communities. They think that jobs and economy are priority issues that we must handle in order to get us back on a good foot. What they fail to recognize is that all of these things are interlaced. The more houses that we fix, the more jobs we will have,  and the more income we will receive because of the increased attraction factor that our sites and homes hold. Restoration of buildings will in fact push us to fix issues that hold priority in our city. I do think that this issue will get more attention in the future because more and more people are beginning to realize that not only do abandoned buildings pose a threat to surrounding houses, but they also hurting our economy.  

Through this project I learned that there are laws that protect certain historic buildings at state level and at a national level. I also learned why abandoned houses in Philadelphia aren’t just  knocked down. There is a whole process that the Philadelphia Department of License and Registration must follow in order to give permission for the house to be destroyed. I also learned of alternative methods that we could adopt to increase house restoration in Philadelphia.

For this project, I researched the countries of Taiwan and Armenia. Taiwan is an island to the south east of the Chinese mainland, while Armenia was one of the first European countries to adopt Christianity as its official religion. Both of these countries have similar problems like irreversible environmental damage of its environment, they both have a past with hostile neighbors who have tried to overthrow both nations, and both have presidents who are not putting as much importance into environmental policies as they should be. The difference is that Taiwan keeps connections with its hostile neighbor China, because it benefits the island’s trade levels, while Armenia has not communication with Azerbaijan because of their dispute over territory. Another difference is that Taiwan is much more industrialized than is Armenia. This puts Taiwan on a higher range in the trade category, but on a  lower range on the Environmental soundness category. Armenia is less industrialized and relies on mining  for trade, putting them lower on both the trade and the environmental soundness categories. In essence, both countries have their kinks to work out. Though they continue to stand as nations, they must first resolve these small problems in order to avoid collapsing.

My process of this project was very tedious. Because of family circumstances, I am currently living in my grandmother’s house with no internet access, and was there fore obligated to use a smart phone for most of my research. I spent most of my free time these past two days researching these two countries and incorporated the information that I used for my “global trade, local cost” blog post in my benchmark for Taiwan’s information. I tried as hard as I can to fit this benchmark into my free time, but had so many things going on, that it was difficult to get a lot of information for the project in my work periods. 

The Five points framework helped me because it gave me a guideline to follow for my research of the two countries. The easiest point on the framework was the climate and environmental damage category. There is a lot of information out there about the steps that international countries are taking build a greener environment. The hardest point on framework to research was the hostile neighbor category. Most of the hostile relationships of these two countries occurred many years ago. It was hard to find credible resources for this information, as most of these disputes are either settled or looked over currently. 

If I could do this project one more time, I would start it earlier. As mentioned, I had a lot of work to do during the transcourse of this project, and feel as though if I would have started earlier, I could have finished earlier and saved myself some last minute stress. I would have started my research of Armenia a little earlier, as I did Taiwan. Prior research of Taiwan helped me in the process of completing this project, so I feel like I should have done the same for Armenia.

This project got me thinking about or Collapsibility range. The United States has friendly neighbors, and has friendly trade partners, but also has a lot of debt to countries like China. We also are a large nation, which put us to an advantage. We are also taking measures to create a greener environment and give voice to the people for modifications of law and government. I feel like the United States is pretty stable, accept for our trade patterns. If we don’t pay back our debt and start to take care of the resources that we have (we can’t use too much of our resources), we might collapse.

The Product that Bach and I are selling is not tangible. We are “selling” the idea of raw and genuine beauty. Through our print ads we are trying to retrain our audience’s eye to look at beauty differently than the way it is portrayed in today’s ads. With our ads, we want to redefine what beauty means, essentially. We want to stop people from thinking that you have to be a certain shape, age, and color to be considered beautiful. 

I was originally just going to contact my local recreation building, as they offer after school programs for the neighborhood children, to lobby my cause, but I then decided to speak with the people who have more power over the decisions made about the school programs in our city. This way, I would get my point across in a more direct, personal, and stronger way. If I were to have contacted my local recreation center, I would have only spoken with one of the many heads of after school programs in Philadelphia; I would have only covered one out of the ten districts of Philadelphia. This would have gotten me only a fraction of the way into what I want to accomplish-more funding towards after school programs of Philadelphia. 

In order to follow up with my two contacts, I will wait for them to respond to my phone calls and emails. I have already taken the first step of speaking with them and introducing myself to them, now I just have to present my case to them. I will do this by finding other groups of people, possibly Philadelphia towns people, including children and parents who also want funding for after school programs in our city. I might take my lobbying a step further by actually visiting city council with other people with similar goals to mine, and actually speaking directly with Ms. Iris Howard and Anne Marie Dunne about funding for after school programs. I will have my lobbying partners present their personal experiences and reasons why they need these services, and will then present my reason for why it is beneficial to fund these programs. If this does not work, then I will need  a stronger voice to represent my cause and might have to contact my district council member, Mr. Frank DiCicco. If I can communicate my lobbying cause to him, he will have more of a chance of getting word to the other council members, and there might be more funding for after school programs. 

I feel that speaking to strong decision makers concerning lobbying topics is the most direct and strongest way to make progress. I feel however, that since we are high school students and since there are so many other different situations going on in city council, congress, and the supreme court that our lobbying causes are going to be overlooked. We would have a better chance of being heard if we join a group of people who have a similar cause as us or if we can get someone with a lot of power in government to represent us. Otherwise, we are all just numbers without a voice or representation. 

​

The process of filing for divorce is a very tedious one. You start out by filing your divorce complaint (which consists of filing out four forms that ask you personal information about yourself, your spouse, and your relationship with the later.) After this you must take these forms to the family court 1133 Chestnut St. to receive a court term and number for your claim. You must pay a filing fee of $303.48 to file your complaint. If you feel like you will not be able to afford paying this fee, you can try to fill out the In Forma Pauperis form, which requests that your filing fee be waived. After you have received your court term and number, you must “serve” your spouse by giving them a copy of the complaint that you filed at the family court- this basically just lets your spouse know that you want a divorce. They must then sign a paper that states that they received the divorce complaint, so that you can “prove your service” (or prove that you have notified your spouse about your intent to divorce) before you present your complaint in court. After you have “proved your service,” you must complete several other papers that prove that you have permission from your spouse to file for divorce and that line everything up for the court trial date. In the end, once all of your papers have been reviewed, you will receive a paper in the mail, documenting your divorce. 

Filling out the paper work was extremely tedious and repetitive. They asked for several pieces of information more than once. My partner could not help me the whole course of the working period because of some complications that came up, so it was difficult to fill out the forms without his input. 

The process of getting a divorce is a long and tedious one. It takes time and patience. If I could change anything about the process of divorce, it would be minimizing the amount of paperwork that people have to fill out to get a divorce. The main steps to getting a divorce are to fill out the initial complaint, "serve" your spouse, fill out some other papers of information, getting your spouse’s consent to go through with the divorce, and finalizing the divorce. I would eliminate the parts of these forms where several requests for the same information are asked for, so that whoever wants to file for divorce would only have to fill out their information once. I also could not find the divorce forms on the internet, which made the process of mock filing for divorce harder than it needed to be. I would make the filing process easier by mandating that the divorce forms be posted to the internet on the family court’s webpage of the Philadelphia city council's website. These modifications would eliminate some of the stress of filing out the paper work for this process. 

I feel like the process is so long and tedious because the judge needs to know the history of the couple’s relationship before he can grant them divorce. He also needs to take into account how many people are dependent on the two parties and what things property they can divide. Basically, I these forms are needed in order to get the whole story of the former relationship and their income, property, etc. This way the judge will know what changes to make to the individual couples’ fiscal records (in regards to money, housing, and other things of that nature). I also think that this process takes a long time in order to give the spouses enough time to think through the divorce; they need to make sure they want to go through with this. 

On our flowchart, you will notice that near the middle-bottom part of the visual, there is a big block of text. I tried to break this block up into several pieces, but did not have enough space in my chart for another box. I used a separate lucid chart account from the one that our school provides for us, therefore, I could only have a limited amount of blocks in the chart.

The city council of Philadelphia has a department of parks and recreation.  In their list of “strategic objectives,” they include their goal to “In an inclusive environment, provide a broad range of “out of school time” offerings, including after school programs...” This is the group of people appointed to fund and create after school programs for students in Philadelphia. In city council, Anne Marie Dunne and Iris Howard are both in charge of the after school programs in Philadelphia.  None of these programs, however are given enough public support or publicity; you need to sift through piles of information on the web in order to get to their webpages. In city council, there are many resolutions and communications regarding after school programs in Philadelphia on file. Mayor Nutter is a big supporter of after school programs in Philadelphia, as he refers to the amount of money put forth to Philadelphia afters school programs in several of his budget addresses to city council. The most recent resolution adopted by the city council regarding funding for educational programs like after school programs in Philadelphia was Legislation 100173, sponsored by council members Rizzo, Miller, Greenlee, Green, Jones, and Kenney. The first time it was introduced to council, it was recessed. The second time it was introduced the same, it was adopted.

In order to lobby after school programs, I would first have to speak with my council member representative, which is Frank DiCicco. This will help me get a good grip on the council members and will help me make a stronger claim. On the other hand, I might not have to go that far because there are already resolutions and programs made to back up my lobbying topic. I could just talk to either Anne Marie Dunne or Iris Howard, who are in charge of the after school programs of Philadelphia. This way I can ask them how I can get involved in moving things forward. 

There are also a variety of programs that I can coordinate with in order to lend a helping hand to the after school programs that already exist in Philadelphia. For example, there is a chain of “Just children” daycares/after school programs throughout the state of Pennsylvania. They take care children from toddlers to 6th grade students and have activities for kids of all ages to keep them busy and out of trouble during hours where they would normally be alone or unattended. The 21st century community learning centers initiative, “the only federal program dedicated to after school,” also works to fund after school programs throughout the nation, including the state of Pennsylvania. Cap 4 kids is an advocacy program that also works to give kids a place to stay after school. I can simply find the contact information for the person in charge of these programs and try to see if they have an upcoming meetings to activities near my district and help out in this way. 

My best bet of getting results is to begin speaking with local after school programs and organizations and to try and see if I can volunteer or visit them. I found that there is an after school program on Montgomery Ave., close to me. I have found the name and contact information of the person in charge of this program, Edward Carpenter. The business hours for this after school program from Monday to Friday are 3:00pm to 6:00 pm.  I can call Mr. Carpenter and ask to see how I can volunteer in the program, or set up a date where I can speak with him about what process people have to go through to open or run an after school program. I must call to schedule this appointment or interview during a week day from 3:00 to 6:00pm. 

Resources: 

http://fairmountpark.org/%5Cpdf%5CStrategic%20Objectives%20Final.pdf 

http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/policy21stcclc.cfm 

http://justchildren.reachlocal.net/locations.html 

http://www.phila.gov/recreation/After_School_Program.html 

http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/42-16849616/happy-elementary-school-students 

I chose to present my findings on  a website. I was originally going to make a movie, but I realized that this would have taken more work and time to produce. I chose to use create a website instead because I can manipulate and modify it more easily and can still incorporate the visual element by embedding videos on   it. I feel like a website is as fun and engaging as a movie, but it is easier to make.

During the course of this benchmark, I had a lot of other projects due for my other classes. Since my website was not due for a while, compared to my other assignments, I tended to push it back. I would get some things done, but would focus more on the other assignments. I feel like the other work that I had on the side took some of my work time for the website away. I overcame this, however, by completing small parts of the website at a time. I would assign myself to create, for example, the summary of the bill on day, and then the timeline another. I divided the task in bits, and finished it gradually. 

If I could do this project a second time, I would try to complete this website earlier. I would have also tried to be more creative with the website. I would have added more hyperlinks to the text of the website so that people could have easy referral to the meanings or history of the some of the words that I incorporate in these passages. I would try to make the website more interactive and “clickable”.

The research that I did on my bill showed me a lot about the creation process of this bill. Abortion is a pretty touchy subject in America. Some people believe in pro-choice and some in pro-life. Some don’t know how they feel towards abortion. The process of this bill’s transformation into a law was a rocky one. The first time it was introduced to the house, there was  an objection by a group of people because of “discrepancies” In the language of the bill. My thinking is that the people who objected to the bill let their personal bias towards abortion get in the way of their voting of the legislation-because they did not agree with abortion, they did not vote for the bill. The bill went through the house, to senate, and finally to the president the second time it was introduced to the house. The language was changed and the majority of the representatives voted yes to the bill. This time, however, the House consisted of different representatives. The research I did taught me that process of turning a bill to a law can sometimes be a rocky one because of the bias that representatives and senate members have towards the subject of the bill. 

http://casey.senate.gov/about/biography/

Natalie Sanchez

My case was Howes v. Fields. It dealer with a young man, Randel Lee Fields, who was imprisoned for a crime that he admitted to have committed. "How could he have ratted himself out like that?" you might be asking yourself. The answer is that he was not read his miranda rights before interrogation. Here's the whole story.  Fields was under custody for disorderly conduct in Lenawee County Sheriff’s Department. On December 23, 2001, Field was escorted form his cell to a conference room by a police guard without handcuffs. Once there, officers Deputy David Batterson and Deputy Dale Sharp began to question him. Fields continued to tell the guards that he did not want to speak with them at that moment, but the guards continued to question him. They told Fields that he was welcome to leave if he wanted. In the end, Field was interrogated for seven hours and told the officers about his sexual relations with a minor. During those seven hours of interrogation, Fields was not read his miranda rights. 

For those of you who do not know, miranda rights are the set of entitlements that must be read to someone before are incarcerated or before are taken into an interrogation. These rights state, “You have the right to remain silent.  Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law.  You have the right to an attorney during interrogation; if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you.”  The Miranda rights are connected to the constitution in that they give the suspect a chance to clear his or her name by pleading the fifth ammendment (or, in other words, keeping their mouths shut). Because he was not read his miranda warning, Fields told the police officers what he did, hence, the Michigan court of appeals charged him with two counts of third degree sexual conduct and was given a term of ten to fifteen years in prison. The Questions in hand are as follows: Was Field's second sentence constitutional? Was the Michigan Court of Appeal’s decision against or in agreement with federal law? More importantly, "Does federal law automatically require Miranda warnings before questioning jail or prison inmates about issues unrelated to the cases for which they were incarcerated?" This is what congress was debating on October 4, 2011. They wanted to determine whether or not miranda rights should be read to prisoners even when they are being interrogated about a different crime than the one that got them in jail in the first place. 

Now there are two ways to look at this case. You could either justify Field's second jail sentence or deem it unlawful. The side that the Michigan Court of Appeals took was the one that justified Field's second sentence. They argue that 1. Field was under custody for another crime, 2. he was not wearing handcuffs when he was interrogated by the officers, 3. he was interrogated in a conference room, and 4. he was told that he could leave the room whenever he wanted to. Because of these small details,the Miranda rights were not necessary for this case scenario, according to the Michigan Court of Appeals. The other side argues that Miranda rights were created in order to give a suspect the chance to clear his name by not speaking about his or her acts during an interrogation. They argue that the person must be in custody in order to receive their miranda warning; Fields was in custody. Fields also stated that he was treated harshly during the impromptu interrogation, as one of the deputies used intimidation to get him to talk about his offense. The people who think that Field was treated unjustly argue that 1. a suspect in custody should be read their miranda rights, as anything they say can be used against them, 2. that this should happen regardless of what crime the criminal is going to be asked about, and 3. this is the only way that the miranda warning could serve its full purpose. I think that Field's sentence is going to be lifted-his sentence will be deemed unconstitutional. 

I feel like, though he was being asked about another crime he committed, he was tricked into giving information to the officers in a very unlawful way. The fair thing would have been to read Fields his miranda rights so that he would have been given a heads up that he was going to court and that what he was going to say to the officers would be used against him. I feel like Fields was treated unfairly and that he will soon receive justice. 

Sources: 

http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/10a0254p-06.pdf

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2010-2019/2011/2011_10_680%20#

http://www.mirandawarning.org/historyofmirandawarning.html

4.8.11

  The most difficult part of this quarter for me was learning how to draw and shade correctly with charcoal, especially when I had to create a charcoal self-portrait. The first self portrait that I created was completely unrealistic and proportionally inaccurate as my head was too small, my eyes came out too little, mu mouth too tiny, and my nose too narrow. I drew everything too robotically and consequently, and ended up with a portrait that did not resemble me at all. On top of this, I had to use charcoal to draw this piece, and since I am usually not good at using charcoal, this process was made more challenging. In the end, however, I tried drawing this portrait again and letting go a little. I drew exactly what I saw and tried to be realistic when scaling the proportions of my nose, mouth, eyes, and face. The end result came out much neater and much more accurate than the first portrait that I attempted to draw.

The best part in this quarter for me was drawing my large glass charcoal still life because it was the first time I dared to use colored charcoal. I was inspired to use colored charcoal after looking at one of Emma Hoeinstein’s art pieces. It was a still life of a water bottle and it looked extremely real because of the different colors that Emma incorporated into the piece. In my drawing I used blue for the light reflected on the vase, pink and dark pink for the ribbon on the vase and the shadows cast on said ribbon, brown and green for the leaf that was placed inside the vase, and brown for the wooden table.

All in all, this quarter was very productive for me. I was able to get all of the art pieces done on time and was satisfied with each and every one of them. I was also able to learn more about an artist I had only heard about briefly. There were times during this quarter where my talent was being pushed to its full extent. I felt very overwhelmed and frustrated during this process because I thought that I was not going to be able to complete what I was being asked to complete. In the end, however, I was able to develop new skills.  I was satisfied with all of my final products.   

3/28/11

Español 5

Reflexión de “Entre Amigas”

En el tercer cuarto de mi clase de español cinco, fuimos  asignado un proyecto que representara las diferentes representaciones de los varios aspectos de la mujer latinoamericana en la televisión y en la vida real. Yo trabajé en un grupo con Fanklin, Thea, Isabela, Emilisa, y Jaccar. Nosotros hicimos un programa de televisión,  específicamente para mujeres, donde entrevistamos a una actriz. En el programa, hablamos con la actriz sobre su representación de la mujer en comparación con la mujer del diario vivir. Decidimos hacer el programa en imovie porque decidimos que era la opción más divertido para nosotros. La pregunta esencial del proyecto fue, "¿Cómo se representa la voz femenina (o el género femenino) en los países hispanos?" Dirigimos esta pregunta usando el ejemplo de la mujer en las telenovelas, específicamente. En nuestro proyecto, contestamos esta pregunta en la entrevista con la actriz invitada. Pudimos ver dos distintas perspectivas en el asunto porque entrevistamos, no solo a la actriz, pero también a una “mujer común”, caminando por la calle. En el guión, escribimos, lo que pensábamos que eran, los puntos de vistas de las dos mujeres, y pudimos contestar con la mentalidad de las dos clases de mujer. Con nuestro programa, pudimos enseñar que muchas veces, la representación de la mujer en las telenovelas no es real. Hicimos el punto que la mujer del diario vivir es muy fuerte e independiente mientras la mujer en las telenovelas es muy débil y dependiente de los hombres. También pudimos enseñar que la diferencia en autoridad de varón y hembra en las telenovelas son falsas porque las mujeres son capaces de hacer todo lo que los varones pueden hacer. Hablamos desde un punto de vista feminista. Pienso que en el proceso de crear nuestro programa, aprendimos que debemos de poner atención a lo que miramos por la televisión porque muchas veces los roles de varón y mujer que vemos ahí están muy lejos de la realidad. Debemos ponerle más atención a la realidad de los dos géneros, y el poder de tras de ambos, en ves de dejarnos dominar por los guiones estereotípicos de las telenovelas y los programas de la televisión.

Pienso que hicimos muy  bien en este proyecto. Todo el mundo contribuyó con la creación del guión y todos participamos en la grabación del programa. Pienso que trabajamos muy diligentemente como un grupo. También pienso que contribuí mi liderazgo al grupo porque fui la que hice el horario del proceso y quién organicé la mayoría del proyecto. También trabajé muy duro editando las grabaciones en imovie y añadiéndoles transiciones y música para hacerlo lucir más profesional. También salí en la película varias veces. Pienso que yo trabajé muy duro, igual que mis compañeros de grupo.

Me hubiera gustado tener un horario normal durante el proceso de grabación, porque tenía que coger el examen PSSA durante ese tiempo. Por esto, se le hizo difícil a mi grupo grabar todos a la vez; tuvimos diferentes horarios por los exámenes.

Espero que, con nuestro producto final, los miembros de nuestra clase de español aprendan que las representaciones de la mujer en las telenovelas son drásticamente diferentes a la mujer común. Espero que aprendan la importancia de analizar la diferencia entre la vida real y la televisión, como nosotros los hemos hecho. 

Aquí está nuestro proyecto! Que lo disfrutes.

www.google.com. Web. 17 Mar 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RFi8CMHoa2g/S_O2p3gCMOI/AAAAAAAAAsw/_CmiD1wq6eI/s1600/gallery_photo.jpg&imgrefurl=http://nicolajaynesullivan.blogspot.com/&usg=__w8jEugH2bvpxsxqk4fXrYmJ7g2w=&h=434&w=324&sz=25&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=CWh-fr18OYvy4M:&tbnh=168&tbnw=135&ei=M12BTf7QN8e_gQe2uYWFCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dafrican%2Bartistic%2Brepression%2B1920%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D635%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=274&vpy=83&dur=1927&hovh=260&hovw=194&tx=108&ty=153&oei=M12BTf7QN8e_gQe2uYWFCA&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0>.

"Night of Blues." www.africanartworld.com. Web. 17 Mar 2011. <http://www.africanartworld.com/>.

"Langston Hughes." en.wikipedia.org. Web. 17 Mar 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LangstonHughes.jpg>.

Miller, Michael. "OBAMA'S PRESIDENTIAL RUN REIGNITES RACE AND IDENTITY DEBATES IN THE ART WORLD." April 17, 2008 n. pag. Web. 17 Mar 2011. <http://www.thenewblackmagazine.com/view.aspx?index=1345.>

Johnstown Area Heritage Association, . "Peopling Pennsylvania." (2005): n. pag. Web. 17 Mar 2011. <http://www.jaha.org/edu/discovery_center/push-pull/peopling_pa01.html>.

"Statue of Liberty-New York-1920." www.flickr.com. Web. 17 Mar 2011. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/40726390@N00/15817898/>.

"Guide to 1920 US Immigration." www.flickr.com. Web. 17 Mar 2011. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/63778949@N00/3215035314/>.

"1920 Depression." www.bearishnews.com. Web. 17 Mar 2011. <http://www.bearishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/pigs-at-the-trough1.jpg>.

"Slums in the USA." www.imagestate.com. Web. 17 Mar 2011. <http://www.imagestate.com/Preview/PreviewPage.aspx?id=1952112>.

Natalie Sanchez

Nikhail James

Matthew Scuderi

 The Promised City on a Hill

 We are destined to be blessed

God looks on us with eyes that shine

With the glorious glow of admiration

As long as our steps follow in the path

The great one has made

We will be great rulers with prosperity for all of our days

All we have to do is remember to raise him

With undying devotion

We must stay true to our God, sisters and brothers

For he has made us the city upon a hill

The beautiful diamond

Shinning on the eyes of others

 There is a diverged road before us

Of life and good

Another of death and evil

In order to be blessed we must live like he would

 Like a seed whom,

Is watered and cared for,

In a proud mother’s oval belly,

Life emerging from her womb,

We will be multiplied,

We will thrive,

In this land,

With promise justified

 If we his word neglect,

Our promise turns barren,

The land left to possess,

Will be another’s gain,

 Let us follow him,

For with him comes life,

And in this new land,

We will powerfully thrive

 Gather here

Listen all

We must rise and never fall

We must seek prosperity

Harness it in a manifest destiny

It is his will

Some must fulfill

 We must join together as sister and brothers

Take the promised shining city on the hill from the others

We shall smite the faces of evil

Prevail with the might of our God

 We must obey his voice, we have no choice

We shall no longer be disgraced

By evil’s false gods

It’s time to go fourth this land

It’s no longer request, its demand

Only

Only way to stop our mind body and soul from falling behind

Only way to keep up with the rate of the costliness of posterity

Only way to continue in the great counsel of Micah

Only way of love and mercy humbly for our God

Only way to maintain ourselves on the right track

Only way

Only way

Only way

Only way to rejoice and enjoy the

Supply of our necessities

Only way to keep the good of the

Spirit in the band of peace

Reflection:

            For my NHD project, I chose to research the Spanish American war. I was originally going to research the history of Ellis Island, and create a project surrounding the topic, but I changed my mind when I came across a website about the Spanish American war. I was researching Ellis Island, when I remembered that we were learning about wars in history class, and thought that it would be a better idea to research wars instead. I started researching U.S. wars, when I found the Spanish American war. I read that in this war, Puerto Rico was involved. I am Puerto Rican, so this caught my attention. When I opened this page, I read about the Spanish misrule over Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines. I also read about how the United States defended Cuba from their oppressive leaders. The aspect that most caught my attention, however, was the yellow journalism involved with the history of the war. Hearst and Pulitzer were newspaper publishers who used yellow journalism, or exaggerated political cartoons, to inform the New York public about the events of the war. Soon their newspaper publications gained a lot of fame throughout America. The citizens of, not only New York, but also America, looked to these newspaper articles to get all of the latest news on the war. The history of the war was fascinating to me because of yellow journalism’s pertinence to it.

            I had many presentation formats to choose from. I could have made a documentary, set up a live performance, written a paper, or create a website. I didn’t want to make a documentary because I am not very good with imovie, and I didn’t want to set up a live performance because I was afraid of performing in front of too many people. I had already written a paper last quarter, and it didn’t turn out as strong as I would have wanted it to, so I went with the website. I felt that if I chose to create the website, it would be easiest for me and I would be able to manage it easier and videos and pictures and links pretty easily. This was the category where my strengths could be displayed.

            I ran into some trouble with the project when it came time to actually put the information on the website and on the essay. I knew what happened in the war, and I researched the history thoroughly, so I knew the facts. It was just extremely hard to develop an idea. I talked to Ms. Laufenberg about this, and she suggested that I should bring up aspect of yellow journalism in the war. I went with this, and decided to go with the debate theme of the NHD project. I posed the question, did yellow journalism start the war or not? In the end, I answered the question while backing up my points with quotes from secondary sources and also with primary source images.

            The best part of the project was looking for the history of the war. I love digging into the history of things and finding things out about the past and how they pertain to the present. It’s exciting; like finding a diamond in a pile of soil. I thought I did a very good job in stating facts about the war, and laying out the timeline of the war.

            If I had the chance to do this over again, I would probably make the website a bit more crappier, make it a bit more interesting. I would also, develop more points of the war and be more thorough with the explanations of my points. 

For my second quarter two Art project, I was inspired by a friend. My friend, Uyen, was painting a blossom tree and she asked for my help to mix the color of the flowers of the tree.  As we mixed the paint for her project together, I was struck with an idea; I wanted to make a tree as my second project. I did want this tree to be boring, however. I wanted this tree to be interesting. I wanted this tree to be made out of paper entirely.

To make my tree, I used paper, paint, tape, cotton balls, and glue. I first made hardened paper in the shape of a tree. This paper was hard, flattened paper. My friend, Vichay, taught me how to make hardened paper. I then proceeded to attaching paper balls to the paper tree shape with tape (to give it some bulk). I then papier-mâchéed the tree with paper, instead of newspaper. After it dried, I painted the tree. I did not have brown paint, so I was forced to mix the paints that I had into a brown color. I painted my tree brown. When I finished painting, I realized that my tree looked too plain. I then grabbed a handful of cotton balls from the bathroom, dipped them in green paint, let them dry, and glued them to the branches of my tree. My initial plan was to attach actual branches on to my paper tree, but the harsh weather proved to be a challenge for that.

In the end, I was able to make a paper tree.  The paper aspect of the tree is symbolic of all of the trees that are killed of and cut down in order to make paper. In this project, the cycle continues, and the paper is made back into a tree. With this project, I hope to raise awareness how truly important trees are for our environment. Trees supply us, and the animals around us with oxygen, so let’s take a more eco-friendly approach and recycle paper.

Overall, I am very happy with my final product. I never thought that the tree would look this good.  The process of this project was definitely very tedious and complicated, but I did enjoy it. I was able to use my creativity to solve problems and make lemonade out of lemons. I was able to get over the challenges that aroused during this process, and use the supplies that I did own to make the tree as detailed and realistic as possible.  

Natalie Sanchez

1/2/11

Español 4A

La verdad de tras de las publicidades

Alguna vez te has encontrado en una tienda comprando sin pensar en lo que puedes en si gastar? Te has dejado hipnotizar por las tres tácticas de venta; la música, diseño, y la apariencia del producto. Has estado en la tienda por media hora ya y sin darte cuenta, ya tienes diez blusas y cinco pantalones enganchados de tus brazos.  Esto es porque la tienda en la cual entraste tiene muchas publicidades alrededor de ella. Estas publicidades nos enseñan un mundo “perfecto” en la cual todo el mundo está feliz con los productos que venden en la tienda, haciéndote creer que si usted también quiere ser feliz, tiene que comprar el producto. No solo esto, pero la tienda también tiene música, casi siempre alta y juvenil, para distraerte de la realidad y empujarte en un mundo de materialismo. Esto se llama consumismo. Es una forma de robarle el dinero a el público consumidor en cambio de cosas realmente innecesarias. El truco de consumismo es la publicidad. La publicidad casi siempre viene en forma de propagandas en revistas, el Internet, y hasta en las mismas puertas y paredes de las tiendas. A pesar de la belleza y perfección presentado en estas propagandas y publicidades, casi siempre hay detalles ocultos de los productos en venta. Para mi proyecto de Español 4, yo investigué tres publicidades de tres compañías muy bien conocidas en los Estados Unidos.

La primera publicidad que investigué fue una de la marca famosa American Eagle derivado del Internet. En la publicidad, se puede ver una muchacha joven, de piel clara. La muchacha tiene ojos claros y pelo rubio. No tiene ninguno mancha o imperfección visible en su rostro. Lleva una camiseta, una bufanda, y un gorro. Está cubriendo su cara con sus manos para evitar la nieve que estaba cayendo en su dirección. La modelo en esta publicidad tiene una apariencia Europea, sugiriendo que la belleza significa ser Americana o Europea. Hasta el nombre de la compañía reesfuerza este pensamiento de lo que es la verdadera belleza; American Eagle o Águila Americano, nos hace pensar que si compramos de esta compañía, nos asimilaremos a la cultura Americana hasta llegar a la “perfección” y alcanzar “el sueño Americano”.  Muchos consumidores compran los productos de esta compañía para lograr esta estatus falsa de belleza y perfección.

La segunda propaganda que encontré fue de Disney Park. Esta publicidad también fue derivada del Internet. En la publicidad, podemos ver un castillo azul detrás de unas nubes azules. Casi parece un sueño infantil. Al frente de todo, dice “Disney Parks Where Dreams come true”.  Esto es traducido a “Disney Parks adonde sueños son hechos realidad.” Cualquiera mira esta publicidad y piensa en un parque donde niños pueden conocer sus caricaturas favoritos y se divierten. Esta publicidad pinta esta escena.

La tercera publicidad que encontré, derivada del Internet, es de Walmart. En esta publicidad se puede ver una señora joven con una blusa lila, azul, y negra. La blusa tiene un estilo bien “hippie” pues tiene una correa color café parecida al material de cuero. Lleva unos pantalones mahones, un collar, y varias pulseras. Está aguantando una guitarra en su espalda. La señora tiene un estilo bastante natural. En la parte de abajo de la publicidad dice “Walmart”. En esta publicidad, también vemos una modelo con una apariencia Europea. También podemos ver un estilo simple pero lindo. Nos recuerda la época de los “hippies”, una era muy importante en la historia de los Estados Unidos. Así nos sugiere, aun otra vez, que la belleza se logra cuando llegamos a un estado de asimilación a la cultura Norte Americana. 

Una contrapublicidad es una propaganda que desalienta el consumo de los productos de una compañía específica. En esta propaganda, casi siempre vemos la verdad que casi nunca mencionan en las propagandas originales. Estas verdades a veces son acciones ilegales que han hecho tal compañía, efectos secundarios no mencionados del producto, y otras cosas negativas que previenen el público consumidor de comprar estos productos.

Un maquila es una factoría adonde emplean niños de bajos recursos en otros países ilegalmente. Estos niños trabajan bajo condiciones horribles y por esto casi siempre salen con condiciones de salud peligrosas. Los pagos que reciben son menos que el salario mínimo.

Yo creé una contrapublicidad para cada compañía mencionada. Para la publicidad de American Eagle, creé una publicidad donde podemos niños de China, India, y África que trabajan con máquinas para crear la ropa que vende la compañía. En la publicidad original, vimos a una muchacha bella con un bien abrigada en una nevada. En la contrapublicidad, yo dibujé los tres niños desnudos en una nevada. Están al frente de una maquila. Están temblando del frío que tienen. En la parte de abajo, podemos ver el logo de la compañía, “American Eagle; ellos sufren para que usted no tenga que sufrir”. 

En la contra publicidad que yo creé para Disney, dibujé una maquila en lugar de el castillo que vimos en la propaganda original. Podemos ver en la maquila unos empleados trabajando en condiciones no seguras. En ves de tener una nube azul, dibujé una nube gris de polvo y contaminaciones para representar las condiciones en las que tienen que trabajar los pobres trabajadores. El texto de la contrapublicidad se quedó igual, “Disney Parks, adonde sueños se vuelven realidad” para enseñarle al público la ironía de la escena.

La última contrapublicidad que creé fue el de Walmart. En esta contrapublicidad, podemos ver una modelo parada en los Estados Unidos. También podemos ver unas maquilas en India y África. También podemos ver una barca cruzando desde África a los estados Unidos. Esta barca está trayendo los productos hechos en los países de India y África para la compañía de Walmart. También se puede ver el paquete de dinero en los Estados Unidos, mientras que en India y en África no hay dinero. Se puede ver la injusticia y desigualdad entre los países en este circulo de comercio. El texto de esta contrapublicidad dice “WALMART… la realidad detrás de los siempre bajo costos”.

Las tres compañías mencionadas en este papel, tienen una cosa en común. A pesar de su fama en los EE.UU., especialmente con el público adolescente, ellos comparten un secreto muy horrendo. Todas estas compañías apoyan maquilas. Porque no? Al final, ellos se quedan con la mayoría de la ganancia. En mis contra publicidades, traté de representar esto; el respaldo de estas compañías hacia las maquila en países de bajos recursos y desarrollo. Traté de enseñarle al público la realidad de las compañías; que cada uno de los productos que ellos consumen de estás compañías representa un niño que murió por usar una maquina peligrosa mientras hacían tales productos.

Dejemos de comprar productos de estas compañías. Vamos a pelear por los derechos de estos niños en peligro. Para más información de maquilas y las condiciones en las cuales estos niños trabajan, visiten:

http://fairtradenaropa.wordpress.com/clothing/. 

URL’s de las publicidades:

·      http://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/k013rpModestyGirls_Stretenovic.html

·      http://www.disnology.com/2010/10/07/disney-parks-let-the-memories-begin-commerical/

·      http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2005-08-25-wal-mart_x.htm

Natalie Sanchez 

For our first benchmark in Ms. Laufenberg’s history class and Mr. Chase's English class, we were assigned to tell the story of a building's history. This building had to be named after a person, and in some way, we were supposed to intertwine the stories of the people that influenced the name of the school and the history of the building. I chose to research the building at the intersection of 8th and Lehigh. This structure looks a bit like a castle, and I have always been fascinated by it. I was raised right across the street from this place. My personal memories of the building seem very distant, but I am flooded with good memories whenever I stop to remember my childhood on 8th and Lehigh. I remember playing on the side of the school with my cousins and taking walks with my father around the building just to talk about things. I remember the huge walls of the school and how I felt so microscopic when standing juxtaposed to this huge artifact. This is the impression that the building has left on me. This is why I chose to research, what many have referred to as, the "castle" at 8th and Lehigh.

When I first began my research, it was pretty complicated to find any information on the history of the school. I could find pictures of the building and of the people that the school was named after, but I couldn't find any historical dates and facts about the actual history of the structure. I then started speaking with some of the people that I know that have worked or studied at the school and could give me a more personal view of the school. One morning when I arrived to school, I started speaking with Mr. Paul, the security officer at Science Leadership Academy (SLA), about my project. He told me that he used to work at the school and that he knows some people that work with the school district and that know about the school. I got a lot of information from Mr. Paul. I also researched on the Internet, and found a lot of information on the school's history here and there. I went through the "digging-for-research" stage for about two weeks.

After this, I started to put my research into presentation form. I was going to originally make a documentary, but the videos that I took of the school were not compatible with imovie. Desperate to begin my presentation, I decide to make an iweb instead. I built the frame of my iweb by putting all of the research into the site first. I then gave up on all attempts at converting my video files, and decided to wait until I got to school to receive some help from Ms. Hull to convert my files. Luckily, I had art before English the next day, where I asked Ms. Hull for help converting my files. She showed me how to convert them, and then I was able to put the video files into my iweb. After a couple of clicks and waits, my iweb was finished.

My history and English Benchmark was definitely a challenge for me, but the feeling that I received when I finally found the information about the school was unlike any other. I felt so satisfied and excited, as if I had just made a new discovery. I enjoyed the process of making my history project. It definitely took me back to my roots at 8th and Lehigh Ave.

To see my iweb, click here.

Natalie Sanchez 

For our first benchmark in Ms. Laufenberg’s history class and Mr. Chase's English class, we were assigned to tell the story of a building's history. This building had to be named after a person, and in some way, we were supposed to intertwine the stories of the people that influenced the name of the school and the history of the building. I chose to research the building at the intersection of 8th and Lehigh. This structure looks a bit like a castle, and I have always been fascinated by it. I was raised right across the street from this place. My personal memories of the building seem very distant, but I am flooded with good memories whenever I stop to remember my childhood on 8th and Lehigh. I remember playing on the side of the school with my cousins and taking walks with my father around the building just to talk about things. I remember the huge walls of the school and how I felt so microscopic when standing juxtaposed to this huge artifact. This is the impression that the building has left on me. This is why I chose to research, what many have referred to as, the "castle" at 8th and Lehigh.

When I first began my research, it was pretty complicated to find any information on the history of the school. I could find pictures of the building and of the people that the school was named after, but I couldn't find any historical dates and facts about the actual history of the structure. I then started speaking with some of the people that I know that have worked or studied at the school and could give me a more personal view of the school. One morning when I arrived to school, I started speaking with Mr. Paul, the security officer at Science Leadership Academy (SLA), about my project. He told me that he used to work at the school and that he knows some people that work with the school district and that know about the school. I got a lot of information from Mr. Paul. I also researched on the Internet, and found a lot of information on the school's history here and there. I went through the "digging-for-research" stage for about two weeks.

After this, I started to put my research into presentation form. I was going to originally make a documentary, but the videos that I took of the school were not compatible with imovie. Desperate to begin my presentation, I decide to make an iweb instead. I built the frame of my iweb by putting all of the research into the site first. I then gave up on all attempts at converting my video files, and decided to wait until I got to school to receive some help from Ms. Hull to convert my files. Luckily, I had art before English the next day, where I asked Ms. Hull for help converting my files. She showed me how to convert them, and then I was able to put the video files into my iweb. After a couple of clicks and waits, my iweb was finished.

My history and English Benchmark was definitely a challenge for me, but the feeling that I received when I finally found the information about the school was unlike any other. I felt so satisfied and excited, as if I had just made a new discovery. I enjoyed the process of making my history project. It definitely took me back to my roots at 8th and Lehigh Ave.

To see my iweb, click here.

11/5/10

Art – D²

I have always been interested in the art that is in our natural world. I have always looked at the environment around me and seen a piece of art. Right after I would get home from a long ride, I would run directly to my room to sketch that red and brown tree that I saw on my way, releasing withering leaves onto the front window of my dad’s small and beat up Toyota.  I would always enjoy drawing small doodles on the sides of my paper whenever I was in class. I enjoyed the magical feeling of getting paint on my hands and clothes. I would enjoy the black spots that my pencil tip would leave on my index finger after an hour of vehement shading under the shade of the gates shielding my backyards. I have always loved the feeling of being an artist because with this new title came the right of depicting the world the way that I see it with paints, pencil, or even clay. This is why I am an artist.

In our art class, we are collecting bottle caps in order to make bottle cap art. Our teacher, Ms. Hull, was inspired to do this by Aurora Robson who builds sculptured out of blown bottle caps. To mold the bottle caps, Aurora goes through a process of melting the bottle caps and then blowing them up, like glass blowers blows up glass. What is cool is that not only does Aurora use bottle caps to create art, but she also uses bottles and other recyclable material.

Aurora holds a pretty deep message with the art pieces that she creates; she is trying to raise awareness of how important it is for us, Americans, to recycle. This is why she uses only recyclable materials to build her sculptures and art pieces. She uses bottle caps in her sculpture because, although bottles are recyclable, bottle caps are not, so she uses them on her sculptures in order to reuse them in a way that will bring out their beauty and value. She does not use spray glue because of the contamination that it might add to the gases in the air and she makes sure to make all of her artistic processes eco-friendly. Currently Aurora Robson is working on an art piece that was in fact inspired by a recurring nightmare she used to have as a child. She explained in an interview that, she would frequently dream about being in a dark place surrounded by colorful blobs that were the size of huge buildings compared to her size. She decided to build a life-size mural of her dreams using bottle caps and bottles. She wanted to make a different representation of her dream. She wanted to turn something that was originally scary and unknown into something cool and beautiful.

Recently, in our art class, we were assigned a task to create a piece of art made out of recyclable material. This assignment was made to mirror the importance of recycling and the value that recyclable material can have. As soon as I received this task, I started thinking of a million different ways that I could go about this assignment. My first idea was papier-mâché a basketball. After this I was going to pain the ball with blue paint and then I was going to make the continents out of scrunched up newspaper (to show a sort of topography on the “pieces of land”). I was gong to later paint the “land” brown. Eventually I thought about cardboard boxes. I was reminded of a fish tank. After this, I started planning out what I would place inside of the fish tank. I thought about using newspaper to build my huge fish and using play sand to form my base. I was going to use plastic wrap to form my water in the background.

At the end, I used a cardboard box to make my fish tank. I cut out the frame, then I painted it a dark grey. Inside, I placed its sand. At the back, I attached its water, which I created on a separate frame. I then wanted to make my fish out of bottle tops, in order to make a stronger statement. In the end, I ended up with a pretty sturdy fish tank. I am thinking of using a more adhesive glue, because the paint that I used before is pealing off. Other than that, my project cam out better than expected.

With this fish tank, I was trying to show how important it is to collect bottle tops. My fish tank represent a fish haven, but the fishes inside the tank are made out of bottle tops. This represents the many fish that have died because of the caps they have ingested. These bottle caps are tossed in the trash, which eventually gets tossed into a body of water. This is where fish wind up eating these un-recycled bottle tops, causing them to die, because of our negligence to collect bottle caps and reuse them. This is what my fish tank represents. I call it “Fish haven”.