Abstract

For a long time now, maybe since middle school, I have always taken an interest in SEPTA and public transit in general, but especially public transit in Philadelphia. It is for this that I chose to do my project on the concept of establishing another SEPTA line, similar to the Broad Street and Market-Frankford lines that already exist here in Philadelphia.

Since about 7th or 8th grade thereabouts, I have taken an interest in the concept of public transportation, for various reasons. From the various ways in which it can make for so much more efficiency, to how it moves through cities  and what parts of the cities, to the various different types of it, there is really a lot more to it than we think about. We take for granted a lot of these systems. People don’t know, or really think about this for that matter, but there is a lot to deal with, and a lot of planning and maintenance that goes into these “major arteries and veins” of sorts.

For my project, I came up with and designed a fictional SEPTA metro rail line that would connect some of the major inner suburbs, such as Upper Darby, to South Philadelphia and Penn’s Landing and the Delaware waterfront of Center City. The line was created with the goal of connecting areas that are not well connected at all by the current public transit system. These newly connected areas, of course, include rather important locations, notably the stadiums. This line is the Suburban Hook Line.

The Line follows a “hook” shape, giving it its name. Looking at the map, the line has three services. The First one is the local, which stops at every stop between Upper Darby and the Stadiums. The Second, is the express which stops at a few stops between Upper Darby and the Stadiums. The third is the Penn’s Landing Special, which stops at a few stops between UD and the Stadiums and then goes local to Penn’s Landing. I had decided that this would be the best schematic when creating this. To determine all of this, I did a lot of research. I did research on where the tracks would be, what kind of vehicle would be best, and how the system could run the best.

For what I learned, well, I’m really not quite sure what to say. I learned about old train right-of-ways that I did not previously know existed. When I went in to this though, I already kind of knew a lot of this stuff. I suppose you could say I learned more about certain transportation connections and suburban areas that I previously did not know much about. I also learned about a few new SEPTA plans and projects, including the “Direct” BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) Line.

I am honestly, as of now, not sure what the future holds for this idea. I may drop it due to coming up with an even more efficient improvement on it. Or, I may go big with it and one day take it to SEPTA as a legitimate proposal, who knows. Where I stand now though, I am not sure what I am going to do in the future with this idea, but I will likely still hold onto it.

file:///home/chronos/u-118b8822b40d051c00c2f7d9b2b7a1df51402a4e/Downloads/Suburban-Hook-Line-Infographic-.pdf

Bibliography/Sources can be found here.

For my Capstone project, I decided to write a short album. I tried to write one song each month which tied into my experience throughout senior year and my High School experience in general. It was fun to work on, and I’m proud of the final product.

I wrote a whole bunch of music, but, as time went on, I tried to slim it down to the seven songs I felt were best suited to the project. I spent a lot of time writing, bits and pieces here and there, and towards the end I started to flesh out a lot of the parts I had written, and trimming many bits I didn’t think made sense. I spent a lot of time recording it through the equipment I have at home in GarageBand. It took a while, but I feel like the recordings themselves turned out well.

The songs are on a broad range of topics, from my experiences throughout my time at SLA, both in school and out, people I’ve met, things I’ve learned, and more. For better or worse, I’ve tried to condense my time here as much as possible.

I’ve posted the music online publicly, and I’m attaching a link to this post. Check it out if you want to.

The topic of my senior capstone project is Puerto Rico. I am Puerto Rican so this was a way for me to take advantage of learning more about my homeland. By doing this project I hope to learn more about my lineage. This project will helped me improve my research skills, and by the end of this project, I hope to learned a lot. I got to interview and meet a lot of people, one of which was a hairstylist who upon arrival to Puerto Rico, after the Hurricane Maria, found out her father had passed - in which she is pictured. I learned about the culture and the highly catholic population, in which people always had faith in unity. For this project I created multiple art pieces 5 of my favorite are attached, each corresponding stories for art piece for each piece created, creating a double portfolio. During this project I collaborated with clubs in Science Leadership Academy (SLA) to coordinate, drives for Puerto Rico, as well as doing some on my own in collaboration with the first Spanish Baptist Church of Philadelphia,  during the hurricane recovery after hurricane season. I also, used Latino club as an outlet to interview students. The people of Puerto Rico were beyond grateful for things such as canned food, and paper towel. In some places, people didn’t have water and food for weeks and were left to eat dogs and cats. I have gained a new appreciation for Puerto Rico as a whole, their unity inspired me beyond words.

Works Cited

Santiago, Roberto, editor. “Boricuas: Influential Writings - An Anthology” . First ed., 'A One World Book' by The Ballantine Publishing Group, September 1995. Print.

This anthology of puerto rican writing helped me put into perspective what I wanted to exemplify in part of my capstone. Taking different writings and then having an artist create a small art piece was one of the key component of something, that I did in a similar manner with taking interviews and stories and turning them into art pieces. Also, the anthology of writings gave me an idea to do an anthology of art along with my personal gallery inspired from gallery

Silva, Daniella. "Trump Defends Throwing Paper Towels to Hurricane Survivors in Puerto Rico." NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, 08 Oct. 2017. Web. 27 Jan. 2018.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-defends-throwing-paper-towels-hurricane-survivors-puerto-rico-n808861

I know that usually the news isn’t the best source of information, but for my project I also wanted to portray how current events are affecting puerto rico and how politicians think of or respect Puerto Rico. This puts into perspective a different lense than what I would normally see, and gave me another idea for an art  piece. (j.b.)

Benítez, Marimar. “Neurotic Imperatives: Contemporary Art from Puerto Rico.” Art Journal, vol. 57, no. 4, 1998, pp. 75–85. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/777929.

 Looking at contemporary art gives a new style of art for me to explore. This displays very boxy picasso like inspired art pieces with a traditional spin, as well as art work that was composed of many lines.

FELICIANO, HÉCTOR, and Francisca González Arias. “The Museum of Art of Puerto Rico, or, the Reconstitution of a History of Art.” Remix: Changing Conversations in Museums of the Americas, edited by Selma Holo and Mari-Tere Álvarez, 1st ed., University of California Press, 2016, pp. 34–37. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt19rmbt3.10.

Viewing a historical standpoint this is very important because its about the first museum dedicated to Puerto Rico.  The subject with-in itself opens the world up to history that was kind of left behind for a while. I think this museum is something to consider because what happens to the Puerto Rican artist, work today and it leads me to asking myself how to make sure people will have access to art made today, tomorrow?

Ward, Sarah Laleman. “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Story of the Hunter College Collection of Puerto Rican Graphic Arts.” Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, vol. 34, no. 2, 2015, pp. 204–222. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/683381.

Including around 150 art pieces between 1954 and 1985, This book gives me a really good view of art development and changes and techniques. It even helped me view the changing architecture through art, which looked very similar to that of what my Great grandmother illustrates of la Isla.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016703797003359

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vyQDYqz2kFsC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=puerto+rico+art&ots=A0LSrhq9t4&sig=hLtCaJzq9IAK0yiTPYCaZlRP9JY#v=onepage&q=puerto%20rico%20art&f=false

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0094582X9802500308#articleCitationDownloadContainer

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/24/americas/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-aftermath/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/12/29/power-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-pkg-santiago-erin.cnn

I spoke to black girls, and they told me colors other than nude were “too loud” or “too much to wear in public.” Myself being a dark skin girl who wears a variety of colors on my face, knew that I had to prove what was being said wrong. Not only wrong, but had to raise awareness and confidence to black girls who don’t think colors are meant to be worn. Throughout the month of April I spoke to a group of black sophomore students and got them to come with me to Sephora to observe the limitless colors that they could wear. It resulted in them feeling more comfortable wearing colored makeup.

My inspiration of doing a YouTube video was for the fact the visuals being better than words. It was an opportunity to combine creativity with a message. I not only needed the message heard but seen and spread.

The point of my project; “Color with Color” was to raise awareness the the issue of dark skin girls wearing makeup colors other than nude. The goal of my YouTube video was to wear different shades of lipstick that I purchased to represent my idea. Each color had a different look and item. For example, the orange look was paired with a large orange sweatshirt and an orange lighter. Another example would be the green look was paired with a normal green t-shirt and a rose. The whole point of switching each of the lipsticks with the outfits was to demonstrate how much the color pops.

I started my Capstone in Junior year in Ms. Jonas’ class.  We had to make our own non-profit organization, and with the help of friends and Ms. Jonas, I decided to make it my Capstone.  My goal was to bring awareness and help the women and transmen who can’t afford feminine products. What inspired this was a video I watched last year about women on the street and how they struggle when it comes to there period.  Using different fundraisers and outreaches I was able to accomplish this goal and I am excited to go even further with this outside of Science Leadership Academy. Probably one of my favorite things we did was going to “Overington Home” for the first time.  This is a home for women who are living on the streets and who are recovering addicts. When I visited them for the first time we brought clothes and feminine products. Our hope in the visit was not just to give them something but to connect with them on a personal level.  Meeting the women was amazing and hearing how having their period and living on the streets was difficult, became the backbone of this project. If I had to say there was one outcome to my capstone, it would be my mindset and how much it has grown towards the women on the street.  I learned to really hear the women and others who are in the streets. Also I learned a lot more information about the women. I did many events throughout the year that have all grown my heart for the women and transmen on the streets. Another outcome of the project was that it brought awareness to the issue of homelessness and the need for feminine products and the conversations that came from the events were amazing.  I look forward to what this seed of a project will produce in the future.

Annotated Bibliography

1. Grigg, Viv. Companion to the Poor: Christ in the Urban Slums. Urban Leadership Foundation, 2013.

This book is about a man who went to Asia and established a church to the poor.  He tried to find ways that would treat the people’s spiritual needs separate from there poverty.  This is a true story about his time there and challenges his story is still continuing. He uses the bible as a reference on how to be with the poor.  He explains this through the text. Christianity is a big part of my life and why I live the way I do. This book is really helpful for me to hear the Christian perspective.  Also, this gives me insight on how to treat the homeless separately from there poverty-how to treat them like anyone else.

2.“Homeless People Poetry.” Purple Moon Group, LLC,

www.friendtothehomeless.org/homeless-poetry.html.

I wanted to go a different route with this link.  I wanted to see the artist point of view on homelessness.  This website is full of different art done by homeless people what I think is very beautiful and very powerful.  Showing how different art forms can really shape a situation and make you look at poverty differently. I read a few poems and was able to see the different feelings these women and men had.  The different words from these poems are really encouraging me to write my own piece for my project. On this website, they also have videos of the homeless men and women, singing videos, art pieces, and stories.  What a great way to bring awareness.

3.“How Do Homeless Women Cope With Their Periods? | NSFWomen.” YouTube, YouTube, 18 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABch4VYOJZ0&feature=youtu.be.

This is a video that really made me want to start this project.  I came across it last year when I was searching the internet. This video drawled my attention and gave me insight into something that I didn’t realize before.  I didn’t realize the struggle women have to get through on the streets during their periods. This video shows the struggles women have to go through day by day on the streets.  Showing the struggles of getting good hygiene, some women would use a cup to clean their lady parts. Also, they talk about examples of what they use instead of period products. Anywhere from paper towels to socks.

4. Okamoto, Nadya. “The Menstrual Movement | Nadya Okamoto | TEDxPortland.” YouTube, 21 May 2016, youtu.be/ncg2bw9s30M.

This is a TED talk by Nadya Okamoto.  She gives her background story of when she started her period and how her mom celebrated her by becoming women.  She talks about how growing up when she was poor how she struggled to get products. Growing up she kept a journal of all the different things women used for their periods including paper bags.  This really intrigued her and she was amused about the way people talked about there period. How women would whisper it like they were ashamed. So she decided to make an organization that would talk to students about your body and normalizes the word “period”.

5.“Period Poverty Can Imprison Women – and Humiliate Women Prisoners.” New Statesman, www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2018/01/period-poverty-can-imprison-women-and-humiliate-women-prisoners.

This source is an article on tampon tax.  It talks about different parts of the world that have tampon taxing.  It talks about if the government is truly keeping women safe. This is a sign that there is a problem the way the government has a control over women.  It isn’t fair to the women that condoms are freely given out but there is no way for women to get their basic needs. This article talks a lot about Scotland and the way they treat women.  This article is important because it shows that women having these problems in everywhere. It is a worldly issue that needs to be confronted.

6. Period, The Homeless. “The Homeless Period.” The Homeless Period, thehomelessperiod.com/.

This is a website that talks about an organization called “The Homeless Period”.  What this organization is about is one day having free products in homeless shelters.  They bring an up point that I use a lot in my reach for awareness around the topic. The point is that the shelters give out free condoms and are actually given the money to buy these every year.  But there is no money put forth into getting free products for women. One thing I thought was cool was that they have a video on their website that is words written on cardboard. This is a good vision because a lot of the time the homeless writes on cardboard to bring awareness that they need help.  They have a hashtag called #thehomelessperiod this makes me think about how I started a hashtag #equalflow.

7. Snyder, Howard A. Radical Renewal: The Problem of Wineskins Today. Touch Publications, 1996.

This book is about the poor and also the church and how they connect.  The chapter I read for this annotated bib was The Gospel of the Poor today.  This talked about how people in the church need to stop shutting out the poor and act as though they are less than.  It talks about how people in the church do a lot of analyzing of the poor but they don’t bring them in. This chapter continues to talk about Jesus and his actions.  I think this is important for me to read for my project because I can see the proper ways to act around the poor. The church sometimes acts bigger and better than the homeless and this is where a lot of problems come in.

8.scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1747&context=gsurc.

This is an art piece done by women interested in the different protests and pink tax.  Pink tax is going on all over there are certain products that have the color pink and they are products meant for women.  These pink products are taxed showing how certain things are just taxed for women and not men. There were many protests that came out of this including women gathering in front of the Houses of Parliament without any products on.  Their bloody underwear showed that these products were necessary. I thought this was really powerful to show that this is needed. Also, the author of this writing posted her artwork what was a mask she made out of tampons and she wore it in the shower and she let it get heavy and expand and this showed the weight the women had to go through.

9.Scaramella , Nicole. It’s a Part of Life. Period.

This is a document that talks about why menstruation is looked down upon.  It talks about the history of how women in the bible were told they were dirty for 7 days while in their period.  This was shocking to me because I never noticed this in this chapter. Although this is in the old testament a lot of stuff is contradicted in the new testament.  Then this document goes through the positives and negatives coming out of the word period. There is much weight on this topic and this is written well throughout this paper.  Especially with the new female taxing where they are going to tax feminine products.

10. TEDxTalks. “Period Poverty: Breaking The Silence | Amika George | TEDxCoventGardenWomen.” YouTube, YouTube, 7 Dec. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WRuKvLMkpA.

In this TED Amika George talks about girls in other countries having to skip school for a week every month because of their periods.  She started a potion to bring free products to schools so the girls can be in school. Period poverty is a hidden problem that needs to get awareness so that these girls can go to school.  She talks about how we need to stop the silents around the topic of periods. Women are taught to keep girls there periods products from the beginning. This is even built into out commercials, for instance, naming a female produce brand “whisper” to show it needs to be silently dealt with.  The first steps to fixing period poverty are to realize it's not just a women's problem.