Chapter 108

My humanities class is called Equality. In this class, we focus on Equality for women and people of color. We have discussions in class on how people can view the world differently and how we can make the world a better place. Our purpose is to change the norm of stereotypes and how people are viewed based on their gender and race. The first unit was called History, and in that unit we learned about historical background of race, gender and class to gain a greater understanding of the current context of these issues. The purpose of this Action Project was to recount a historical event through, and make it into a chapter that is in a textbook. The historical event I chose was when the Cubs won the 2016 World Series. I chose this event because it is very special to me and my family. This event relates to gender and race, Chicago is known for being one of the most violent cities in the United States. When the Cubs won the World Series, nobody was paying attention to race or gender. The city came together as one to celebrate the big victory. I had to interview someone that was there during the event. I chose to interview my boyfriend because he was with me when the Cubs won the World Series. We went to Wrigley Field the night the Cubs won. It was so crowded and so much fun. Everybody was screaming and running. There was so many people that the police came and had to gate and guard certain areas. I will never forget that night, I was apart of history. That Friday we attempted to go to the rally but there was just too many people. I enjoyed doing this project it was nice reminiscing on such a big event that took place in my city.

Tagliatelle

This elective term I took Italian again, I really enjoyed it and I learned so much more. My Action Project for Italian, I made a video of me explaining in Italian how to make Tagliatelle which is Italian pasta made with flour and egg. I had fun making the video and I'm proud of myself that I can understand and speak a bit little of Italian.

 

All in the Family.

In the third and last unit of the Cure course, we studied the revolution that happened in Western Medicine with the discovery of vaccines, turning medicine to the direction of prevention. In Math, we studied equations, and connecting them with real-life scenarios.  The last action project was to take on the role of a very specific kind of doctor which would be yourself , your own "prevention doctor", empowering yourself to make healthy choices regarding nutrition and complementary approaches to leading a healthy life. We created a video to represent that. I talked about Diabetes because it does run in my family, I wanted to address how people can prevent it from happening to them. I really enjoyed this whole course. I loved learning about taking taking a different option on medicine and how there are so many different ways that you can cure yourself without going to the doctor in some cases. For our last field experience we had a guest speaker who taught us about plant medicine, she showed and taught us how to make Fire Cider, and Healing balm. Which are two alternative ways to treat yourself when you are sick or hurt. I learned so much throughout this course and also improved in math which I am proud of myself for that.

Secrets.

In the 3rd Unit of the Drama course, we studied the term Matriarch. We read A Raisin in the Sun to gain a better understanding of race and class in the 1940s. By reading the play, it made me understand the meaning of matriarch. One character from the play was Mama, the matriarch of the family. She supported her family and did everything she could to make them happy. The purpose of this Action Project was to write a traditional Greek chorus about A Raisin in the Sun. We came up with a guiding question for our Action Project, and interviewed people to see what their response was and used that as the voice of the chorus in response to a character in A Raisin in the Sun . My guiding question was "Is it okay to keep secrets?" I came up with is guiding question because I wanted to talk about Ruth from the play. In the play, Ruth kept a secret from her husband Walter which later caused problems between them. The purpose of my chorus is to teach others not to keep or hide secrets from someone that you care about because later on it's going to come back and hurt you more. Overall I really enjoyed this course. It was so amazing having a class that taught me about women and how we are seen in society and what are “roles” in regards to gender. Each play that we read taught me something new and I really like that.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

This unit in the Ollywood class is called “Production”. We learned about the main elements of film production: lighting, camera angles, and acting. We practiced analyzing these techniques by watching different movies in class, and this action project, we were asked to produce a movie critique video. I was paired with a classmate named NOA; the movie that we picked is Beetlejuice. We picked this movie because we both grew up watching it, and thought it would be fun analyzing and presenting a movie critique of it. What I found most challenging about this action project was the actual filming; it was hard talking in front of a camera, but I’m sure I can work on it and now I have a better sense of how actors feel . What I enjoyed most about this project is how the movie critique came together and how well me and NOA worked together. The video is serious, yet funny and very informative. I hope people enjoy it!

Citations: 

Beetlejuice. Dir. Tim Burton. Perf. Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton. Touchstone, 1994. DVD.

Hamamura, Michiko. Banana Boat (Day O). SoundCloud, 2014. MP3.

German Shepherd on Mars One?

During this Unit in my population course called From/To, which means where did we come from and where are we going. In this unit, I learned about Darwin and his theories of Natural Selection. For this action project, I had to pick a organism that would be best suited to live in a new environment which would be Mars One. The animal that I picked came from a dog rescue. What I enjoyed most about this action project was learning about the history of different organisms and how they died off, and our future to life. What found most challenging about this unit was the math, I always struggle with math, but I am practicing and feel like I’m getting much better. What I am most proud of is my research for my project and how it all come together.


While looking at the animals online at the rescue shelter, I chose to record my information about the weight of dogs and cats, in lbs. The box -and-whisker plot is representing my data. 

Created by JV "Box-and-whisker plot" 2014*

This is my standard deviation chart. My chosen animal is 21.82 standard deviation which is below the mean. I did have a outlier, the animal is 80 pounds. 

 Created by JV "Standard Deviation chart" 2014*

Citations: 

"Alive Rescue". aliverescue.org. Kristen Gerali. Greg Raymond. Web. 2008. October 13, 2014. 

"German Shepherd Hope Rescue". gsdhope.org. N.A. Web 2014. October 13, 2014. 

The Diamond Shell.

During this Unit called lessons in my Humanities Stories, I learned about fables and how they work. For this action project, I had to create and share my own fable to teach a lesson based on my values and life goals. My fable is to teach how to be comfortable in your own body, and not to care what people think about you. I feel like a lot of people deal with this all around the world, and especially teenagers because we are going through so many changes as we are getting older. What I learned during this unit is to really understand what a story is trying to say, and what meaning the author is trying to tell the reader. What I found most challenging about this project was writing my story; I love writing stories, but writing fables is so much harder because you have to show the meaning, and use animals as humans. What I enjoyed most about this project was coming out of my shell like Ina did, to write about how I feel in real life.

 Created by JV "Ina the Turtle" 2014*

It was a cold autumn morning in Camon France, where the leaves are dark fall colors and the wind is chilly. Ina was laying in her shell looking up wondering, why she looked so different from the other turtles in her village. All the other girls, had dull colors on their shell, like gray and brown with no patterns. Ina’s skin is gray but her shell looks like colorful diamonds were placed on her back. Ina has a great personality. She is very outgoing, open-minded, and gets attached to people very fast. Even though she is amazing, she is very quiet and shy because other animals judge the way she looks. Some say she is weird looking, some say she is boring and mean because she never talks. Some don’t like her because they are too jealous.

When Ina stopped thinking about how she looked, she popped out of her shell and started getting ready for school. When she arrived she saw her best friend Mora, who is a rabbit and is very open and flirts with everyone she loves every inch of her body and never care’s about what anybody thinks. She is very slim has beautiful rosy red cheeks and eye lashes that are as long as weeds in a field. 

Mora went up to Ina and said, “Hey what are you doing after school?”

Ina spoke very softly, “I don’t have any plans why whats up?”

More smiled, “Lets hang out with Cindy, and Jay?”

Ina Chuckled, “Um oh I’m not sure.”

Ina didn't want to join them because everybody always treated her so weirdly, because of the way she looked. She always felt very uncomfortable around other girls her age because their bodies looked so different from her’s. But deep down, Ina didn't want to care what people thought about her, as Mora was walking away, Ina shouted, “Mora I’ll go!” She wanted to show everybody who she really was, not just who she is because of her body.

After school all four of them met up by the French coffee house, as they talked they got to know in better. Cindy told Jay, “Ina is a really cool turt!” Jay replied back “I really loved getting to know her, she is amazing!” As Ina got to know more people at her school, she realized that she can be herself completely. She can be comfortable in her own colorful shell!

 Created by JV "French Cafe" 2014*