1) what is one unexpected thing you learned /experienced?

2) How did wl1 work toward

What's your meaning of life?

Welcome to the second unit of the senior humanities class "Journalism." In this unit, called "photography." we explored the photographic side of journalism. We spent a lot of time looking at influential photographs. We discussed how these photos influenced the public and how we take photos today. One of my favorite assignments was when we picked one photograph from each decade of the 20th century. I really enjoyed looking through photographs of the past century. It was interesting to see the historical events captured in influential photographs. For this unit's field experience, we went to Columbia College to sit in on an introductory journalism class. We were able to learn more about journalism while getting to see what a college class looks like and feels like. We also participated in Chicago Ideas Week. For this action project, we had to interview someone about what they thought the meaning of life is. I had some trouble trying to figure out who I should interview, but the simplicity of asking the person I spend my time with made the most sense insightful.

Day Dreaming a Meaning

GA, "run", 2019

"We gaze in what seems to be important at that moment, what passes through your life is a choice of what you practice.” In response to my lingering questioning of life Gabori Partee had curiously sparked several more questions through our conversation as we sat on a stoop staring at the trees. I had asked Gabori what specifically seems to be holding meaning in a moment as I was curious as to what is it the dictates substance in his life. I saw the frustration in his speech as he ironically concludes by saying how It becomes increasingly too difficult to come up with life’s ultimate lesson because it depends on how that lesson reveals suitable to your life at that moment. The lesson that we might think applies to our life varies because of all the different challenges that we have currently and the ones that are upcoming in life. It then became clear to me that Gabori is one to hold true through thinking that living in the present is what sets a person's future. As I continued to question I had asked what is it that dictates one's “ultimate lesson” in which he responded by saying it's like a mental game of patience and acceptance. I then paused by taking in on what he said as I felt like it deeply resided in my life as well. As the sun began to set we headed towards the river where he then questioned, “ Would one want to look back on their life and think that they did not accomplish all the things that he or she had hoped or wish that things had turned out differently? This just means that you have not fulfilled all the tremendous things life brings.” As he took a moment to recollect his thoughts I proceeded to ask if he is one to hold regrets. Very confidently he remarked on regrets not being existent as it is what builds your life to construct on everlasting change and practice by the moments. He had then brought up how “patience is underrated as it is easier to overcome for a human than acceptance of one’s situation or state. Therefore, having a meaningful life establishes life’s greatest lesson.” It was evident Gabori had sensed in what a life with meaning looks like so I had questioned him on how a life without meaning looks like. He voiced that, ”such as death, fear, and aging, which are all elements to having a meaningful life. So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning." Gabori’s answer unclouded the conclusion of what it means to have meaning, it was clear to him that in order to find life looking in would never be the solution to that never-ending question of life as it is important to see yourself in others and your surroundings in order to see what grounds you. He frustratingly points out, “ If people could apply this approach to their own life, things would be better for all of us but some people are too devoted to themselves that they cannot find their purpose in life.” As the scene began to get dark our conversation took a turn of its own as we discussed how death plays a big part in it too. Gabori explains how preparation and acceptance illustrate the importance of dealing with the fact that we all are going to die at some point. “Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it. If people accepted that they are going to die, people would do things much differently. Knowing that you could die at any time forces one to really appreciate life and the people in their life.” As it becomes obscure into a paradox of how one thinks life is meant he ended our conversation with, “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” Taking in moments of silence I then felt as if I was ready to capture the image. I had taken my image with my DSLR camera so that I will be able to have the most control over the aperture, shutter speed, and the overall composition. As I noticed outside had gotten darker I immediately knew I needed to change my settings so that I will be able to capture him with as much light as I can manipulate. I set my settings to 800 on exposure so that I can overall brighten up the frame without using to much grain, the shutter speed had been set to 200 frames per second so I can capture a cleaner motion picture, and lastly the aperture was set to f 2.8 so that I can have as much light come in as well. Now that I was ready to capture my shot I had asked Gabori in the count of 3 to run pass me so that I can capture a moving image. Luckily on the first try, I was able to obtain the image we had both wanted. Overall I was more than happy as to how my image and my interview had gone and felt as if was a great way for me to combine something I love into my learning.

Greening the Screen

This is the second and last unit in my senior STEAM course Economics. In this unit, we looked more in-depth about thinking like an economist. What led us to our internal portion of our investigation was a book by Kate Raworth titled, "Doughnut Economics- 7 ways to think like a 21st-century economist". In order to tackle the 7 parts of this book we paired in two and prepared a mini-lesson presentation for our peers. The importance of this was to understand the book's proposals in bettering the economy while saving the eco-system. For the external portion of our course, we visited We Work where we then met up with Rheaply. We had the opportunity to talk to the CEO and team members of this company where we learned how their business is innovating a circular economy by sharing professionals resources inside their industry. With the knowledge a
nd experience we gathered up we then took action into our learning by thinking how do we view the economic world. I decided to have my focus be the sustainability in film production. By taking Raworths lesson of a closed-loop economic system I am proposing for this model to be imposed in the film industry.

Greening The Screen

GA, "sustainable filmmaking", 2019

   As we imagine ourselves creating a story in action our mind immediately goes to wanting the best location, costume design, storyboard, equipment, etc. Although in pre-production, production, and post-production is meticulous in thinking about whom and where our sponsors and resources are coming from, we still tend to lose our focus in the waste that gets made behind the glamour. Sustainable film production isn't a new topic thankfully but nevertheless is it enforced or talked among our culture. One of Raworth's passage speaks on a circular economy. A circular economy works in eliminating waste and the production of it by ways of sharing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling in the results of having a decrease in pollution and carbon emissions and an overall balanced community. Although this isn't an idea that raises surprised heads it still raises questions as to how this can be infiltrated in a working society. This is the same question Raworth asks us as she states, "the job of today's economist is to figure out what kind of finance systems, regulations, and government support is needed to make that happen because the design will already do it but the finances, government, and business need to realign with redesign meaning that an economist job is to figure out how do you design the institutions to make this possible." This exact idea of thinking the solutions are already set for us but placing ways we can have this be a requirement in our growth as individuals, business owners, and community builders is what influenced me to think of this in a field of film. Filmmaking becomes scary when data shows that the making of a big-budget blockbuster can generate 3000 tonnes of C02 and one hour of tv production generates 9 tonnes of C02. This data puts you at a halt when you closely look at the quick changes that can be practiced within these film studios. My model focuses on the benefit of sustainable production. The amount of money that can be saved by reducing set construction by 20 percent and then reusing 25 percent of the material could save about $20,500. This being just one form of the bigger solution comes from turning accessibility to credibility. On our FE we spoke to Rheaply where we discussed how they use a circular economy module in working with the businesses. This led to the relationship between film studios and how much more of a closed net it can become if transparency was set in a way that was accessible for them. One of the team members that we spoke to at Rheaply spoke on how creating a platform that allows businesses to be part of the process allows Rheaply to gain credibility and allows the business to reduce waste through partnerships in their community. Although America is not confined to this type of model... yet, this is when we have organizations like the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to learn from. The BAFTA encourages sustainable production through a selection of 12 of the U.K.’s largest production companies. Consequently, the Academy has its own carbon calculator and a nonprofit organization named Media Greenhouse that promotes sustainable production practices in the industry. This form of placing value in waste reducement is what sets us up to want to meet the standards. Fortunately, when thinking of cinematography as a worldwide language we have a grand hope that America will to learn from studios like the UK and become a closed net community.

Cited Works
- “News.” Sustainability Could Play Leading Role in the Film Industry – Green Production Guide, https://www.greenproductionguide.com/sustainability-could-play-leading-role-in-the-film-industry/.

Voice of the Century

The third and last unit of my Senior Humanities course News coverage. In this unit, Sound, we learn all around sound news coverage. We tuned in to diverse podcasts and inquired about the voices of the century. This was an task where we had to choose a voice from each decade of the 20th century that speaks to what happened in that time period. We did comparative assignments. I truly preferred this task. It was a cool way to encounter sound from history. For our Field Encounter this unit, we went to Roosevelt College to see a photography display around worker detainment centers. This FE would have lined up superior with our photography unit, but there was sound within the show. For this action project, we had to form a podcast profiling and famous or influential voice. I had a difficult time considering of who to profile, but when I thought of powerful voices I knew I had to do Michael Jackson.

Tune In:




Read Along:

TIME	WHO	WHAT
0:00 0:50 1:15 1:37 2:33	GA Erin GA Father GA	“When we think of Michael Jackson, we think of his high-pitched shrieks, twirls, moonwalks, and impactful songs that changed music forever. His mark on the industry alone is enough to make him a legend — but that’s not all people remember him for. One of the most significant ways Michael Jackson influenced the world was through global culture. The music legend wasn’t just famous in the United States. He was famous all over the world, Through his influence, he was able to bring a sense of connection — He envisioned the world coming together in peace and harmony and created music that unified.Jackson's music took root in R&B, pop and soul. His play on different mediums and pop culture had gravitated all kinds of people to take a listen and tune in. These are some voices captured by the love of Michael Jackson” “There are so many songs out there that I feel like are inspirational but one of them I would say Man in the Mirror because that one really represents wanting to make a change and that change has to start with yourself before letting that out towards everybody else. I listened to him a lot when I was younger but one of the songs I remember listening with my brother was leave me alone, we used to always re-watch that video over and over again. I don’t really know why but I just always remember him being someone I listen to to this day.” “ Just like the youth gets impacted by the voice of Michael Jackson lets not forget about the old soul who grew up listening to Michael Jackson” “My favorite song is Billie Jean, I like the music of that song. My first time when I listened to was when I was in high school. Now that I am older and in my early 50’s and sometimes when i feel tired in the job I listen to that song and I get more energy because of the music makes me remember my young age and gives me so much energy to finish my job” As it seems to be Michael Jackson gave life to many people and that is why he is one of the most influential voices of the century.”

Investing Time

This is the first action project for Economics: Risking Value course. On our first unit we had learned the basics of how economics can help you make decisions, in order to understand the substance of the question we had analyzed the balance between supply and demand, human behavior in react to personal beneficial incentives and tested out the math behind simple and compound interest. As we dipped our toes deeper into this unit the next question we had to ask ourselves is what does the decision making looks like and play out in real-world scenarios. By doing so we learned how markets in different goods affect each other on an economic scale and how does that affects the decision making the process. Now that we grasped the logic between decision making we then transitioned into answering our action project guiding question: What will you do after high school? as much as this question had built a lot of scared faces and mid-life crisis thoughts our collected analyzations had prepared us to take action in calculating decision making.

Preaching the Chicago Streets

For our very first Action Project as seniors in our Humanities journalism class we explored the news values. News values is what dictates any news source whether it be an impact, proximity, immediacy, or conflict. As we looked at several newspapers from different times we were able to get a wide range of perspectives on how much of an impact it has. In order for us to understand what it takes to write story like so we had to learn how to spot fake news and certain vocabulary words that intel if the newspaper is  biased based or opinion based. For this action project we were given the freedom to choose a story of our choice and write about it. I chose to write a news article using impact as my news values. I had researched and interviewed one of Chicago's icons to let Chicagoans and myself no more about the man we see preaching on State Street. I hope you enjoy!

THE NEW WORLD

On our last unit "Flow" we are wrapping up our course Urban Planning and our junior year! in our internal investigation, we discussed the make-up of a neighborhood as we look at industrial, commercial, and residential neighborhoods. As we dove in deeper as to how Chicago fits into the equation of Urban planning we had brought up issues like white flight, N.I.M.B.Y, redlining, and blighted communities. This had been a conversation that brought a lot of curiosity as to what policies and historical events had occurred to get where we are now. We then listened to individuals who had strong opinions on what our cities had become, some saying our cities are lazy, un-resourceful and non-eco-friendly followed by statements and ideas that can improve these issues such as public places, local living, and the ban of cars. We seamlessly dove into the external portion of this unit where we start to visualize these cities and take a look at urban planning worldwide. We had gathered a lot of inspiration from people all around the world and what they are doing to better the sense of community. This made me realize how urban planning is a talk everyone should be engaging in as it affects everyone and can be changed by anyone. At a time crunch of 3 days, we buckled our seat belts to dive into our action project where we pick a neighborhood of our choice to look deeper into and place improvements where we see fit.

Location: Pulaski Road and 51st Street on the Southwest Side of Chicago, Illinois

GA, "3D Area", 2019

GA, "Pulaski train station", 2019

BENEFICIAL HELP

Shared Bike Lanes: My neighborhood is ran by two main streets  Pulaski and Archer. With no divvy stations located near the train station and the numerous amounts of bikes parked by the side of the street I felt as it was needed to accommodate a space where they can feel secured to progressively push forth more people on bikes and less people in vehicles. what I found surprising from my personal inductive analyses is there are more people riding bikes that are around the age of 30 to 50 years old than young adults who go to school right around the corner. This to me felt as a even bigger reason as to why we need to build our streets by the way our constituents use them.

Smart Street Lights: Getting off the train stop late at night is already a burden and a risk to most. As a student who goes to school in downtown there are several times I had came home around sundown and had felt unsafe from not having the ability to look at my surroundings. Smart Street lights would be beneficial in our overall safety as a passenger and a pedestrian. Light is a overall basic need that shouldn't be taken from lower income neighborhoods.

Public Space: The empty lot highlighted by the green dot has been in the same conditions since I was born. After years of walking past a gated dry land I had thought this would be a great location ti implement a public space as it benefits the commercial area headed down south of Pulaski and the High school that is right across the street from the train.

Public Art: Archer heights used to be a industrial neighborhood that carried a lot of the main railroads yards and warehouse facilities . Now that we have generations of families building a life in this community our neighborhood should equally represent that.  By doing so public art has the ability to uplift the representation of the culture by creating a space that allows you to enjoy yourself in the same space you work.

Garden Fence: At a certain point dead weaves and uncared for grass stops being in the category of plant life. My neighborhood can benefit positively from encouraging more plant life near the south Pulaski commercial area. This will create a natural system of healthy nutrients.

INSPIRATION

My idea for the new infrastructure came from the base camps that are placed in Tijuana for the current Caravan. The people in these camps started having a connection one a another and its been continuously flourishing by the connection of art they share as they fix holes with broken glass by turning them into beautiful Mosaics. This was one of my biggest influences because many people put money as the reason why certain things don't change, this goes to prove how change can be made a drastic way without the involvement of loans. I was also inspired by an article that talked about light pollution and how Chicago is the worlds most light polluted city. This made me think of how we need to look forward into efficient options rather than faster on demand options.

GA, "Great Migration" 2019

GA, "Tijuana Camps", 2019

Ga, "Beautification", 2019

GA, "Public Art", 2019

THINK GLOBALLY

This local design can further impact globally by hitting these specific SDG targets.

11.2: By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons

- My segment purposely benefits the aspects of taking transportation. By adding streetlights towards the platform we can assure ourselves from our surroundings.

11.7: By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities 

- A portion of the space will include a public space that is meant for people to relax and enjoy the greenery. The infrastructure is currently chaotic in a sense that its surrounded by busy streets and factories not allowing pedestrians to enjoy a walk.

Building Principles

2: Create mixed-use and mixed income neighborhood

-  The fluidity of a commercial based space is a great way to welcome diversity and that's exactly what's being implemented.


4: Prioritize bicycle networks and auto-free streets

- Placing divvy stations next to the CTA will decrease the use of vehicles and allow people from work and school to resort to biking. As more and more people start to use bikes we can then change the roads to include bike lanes.

7: Match density and mix to transit capacity

-  With the reliability of transportation it'll be possible to obtain a higher rate of people suing these options knowing safety will be less of a problem.

 UP TO SCALE

GA, "Calculate", 2019

Neighborly Help
In order to form ideas that will benefit the space as a whole I wanted to get a primary source from a person who is an constituent of the neighborhood.

GA, "Jesus", 2019

Q: What can be placed to lower the crime rate?

A: By implementing cameras around the streets at night would be an idea, I don't really see cameras in high crime rate neighborhoods.

3-D Design

National Socialist Party v. Skokie

To what seems to be the end will soon be the beginning of utilizing what we learned into the real world. On our last course Policy we had defined the judicial branch power. As we looked at the historical context we discovered the shift in the established power the branch had carried. John Marshall played an impactful role in paving the way we as the United States sees the Judicial power. This transitioned into investigating cases that changed policy in America specifically supreme court cases. Dred v. Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, and Texas v. Madison to name a few were cases we had look into as a class to help us find the connection in which our policies tend to take. I had seen how the supreme court or the "popular policy" is based on prior cases and what I mean by this is without the help of cases like the Dred v. Scott where the importance came from the technically of even having a stand later changed into the Plessy v. Ferguson where separate but equal was to be the constitutional resolution later then turned into a question of  Brown v Board of Education where we they then as the judicial branch had to be challenged in diluting the new argument. As a class we had experimented to play the role of the Marshall Court hearing Boumediene v. Bush this was an awesome way to get engaged in the conversation so many of us feel unethical to have. Our questions, concerns, and curiosity smoothly transitioned into action as we individually take a look at a supreme court case of our choice to dissect and ask ourselves was it constitutional. I chose a supreme court case that happened just around Chicago's northern border. As you watch my video place yourself in the conversation, thank you. :)

" Maine! To hell with the Spain! "

On our second unit called "Executive" our class internally and externally learned about the power that the Executive branch holds within the historical aspect of war. During our several class discussions we had learned how the president manages the armed forces and can declare for war whether it be unconstitutional/constitutional. By doing further research on the origin of cabinet positions and the signed positions determined by the president we were able to connect more on how historical events get applied by policies and acts. For our FE this term, we had actually took a step forward into our third unit where we discuss the Judicial branch. We had wet to a murder case where we had the opportunity to ask questions to the judge and take part in the hearing. Being able to take part in a actual hearing had sparked a lot of energy and questions to later the used for our action project.  For our action project, we had chosen a war of our choice and ask ourselves was it justified? I chose to to talk about the Spanish American war, now if you would like to know where the question stands feel free to watch!

Opposites Attract

On our second unit called Power, we internally and externally dived into our guiding question "What it takes to power a city". During the internal investigation we discussed heavily on the Chicago World's Fair where we analyzed the architectural and social aspect of the event. We then dove deeper into one of the main attractions of that time an place between Edison and Tesla on the "Current War". We learned the two main electrical source which is a/c & d/c. Tesla had been the one who discovered AC and Edison had discovered DC where it was then shown at the Worlds Fair to compete which one was capable of lighting up the fair efficiently. For an FE, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry to see for ourselves Jackson Park where the World's Fair took place. Most importantly we had went to MSI to dive deeper into electricity aspect by looking at the famous Tesla coil and interesting enough we had took part in a workshop where we made our own circuits. This smoothly transitioned us to our Action Project where we had partnered up to create a circuit that embodies Eco-friendly home appliances. If you are curious as to see how this plays a role in Urban Planing slide on!

Bridge the Gap

This is the first unit of the final Junior year! in Urban Planning. In this unit, we looked at aspects of urban planning by asking ourselves the question of what goes into creating a city and by what means does it make it a "good" city. By doing so we had looked at several historical statues, and the changes Chicago's infrastructure has gone through due to natural or human manipulations. This leads us to investigate the material and fundings that go into building a structure and how safe can we be when it comes to knowing when a structure no longer supports. As we dove into the external investigation portion we started to visualize our questions into the real world, we looked at bridges and the similarities they hold when it comes to the shape of the bridge. By determining the shape of the bridge we were able to mathematically dive in deeper with the concept of force and how that gets calculated and shown on a bridge For an FE, we went to downtown Chicago and met Gabriel and Shehana from Metropolitan Planning Council where we then walked around the river and looked at the various bridges and how change gets made in Chicago in an Urban Planning mindset. For this action project, we partnered up with our classmates to make a bridge from popsicle sticks and glue. With the materials given we had to create a truss bridge that could hold at least 10 pounds without breaking. To see if our bridge had passed the test keep on scrolling!

Rep to your Representative!

In our third unit of Policy we entered our first Action Project Where we had taken a internal/external investigation on what it means to Legislate. In order to understand how a bill becomes a law we had taken a look at the similiraties and differences that both hold. Once we had understood the construsct of a policy in terms of a bill and a law we then analyzed policies that are placed by the people in “power”. This had helped us look further into how positions, branches, and jobs create a system of checks and balances. Checks and balances was a important term to understand when it came to looking at the history on how war is declared to how an aldermanic power in Chicago shapes our neighborhoods. For our FE we went to the Chicago City Council and met with officials and we also met with Alderman Elect Andre Vasquez in his office in Andersonville. Both of these Field Experiences helped us understand the structure of how a bill gets discussed , which we had then seen that it all comes to a group of people gathered on a table. This smoothly brought us where we are now. For our action project we wrote a letter to a representative of our choice wether it be your alderman, state representative, or the president we all had to search up a legislation that the person of your choice can sign off to. Our letter will then be composed to talk forth on the bill to your rep in an argumentative form we had learned in our last unit Argument

Dear Mr. Lipinski:

   

I am writing today to urge you to sign off to technical changes regarding the Higher Education Student Assistance Act concerning the Act’s purpose.This bill was rushed to attention by state representative Bob Morgan who advocates for the protection of education in Illinois.                

This bill protects the following: the value of higher education for all Illinois residents. This bill also points out the increase of qualified persons who desire higher education and the main detrant being the financial cripple. And his most eager importance, to provide physical support in the areas of desert sand opportunities and resources.

I am under the category of a low income brown kid from the southside of Chicago. And I can affirm people like me have fallen victim to the malpractice of middle class or higher income families taking my educational resources. I am at the moment in the position of aiming for higher education and have been crippled by this for my journey to finding financial support. Middle class or higher hispanics are thrown in with the experiences of that of lower income hispanics. This has made riffs in our own communities but mainly the one that is of great concern for the future of low income hispanic, is the opportunist in those middle class or higher communities. With this bill it can create separate funding and appropriate measures for all types of backgrounds. My main personal issue is the problem of opportunists of that creates a survival ofthe fittest mentality. An average higher education University in Chicago grants around 70,000 to a the income family of 0-30k, there has to be a lower alternative. That is a huge gap of people and experiences that need to be breached. Higher education institutions give no guarantee that the cost will diminish so the need based programs need to increase. 5 percent of scholarships are race based, only 5 percent. This is not enough room for representation, for growth within the minorities communities with such a low number. Being a 5% it is very unlikely that there are many programs that specify even though something as basic and possible distinctions of a 1st and 2nd generation hispanic. With this bill we will make a plausible for that 5% to increase and grow fruitful.

It's not about making the rift between these communities bigger but the adequate resources for the all the different backgrounds. With this bill being signed there would an influx of resources thus creating the ripple of all different kinds of programs. There is always the obvious set back to this specifically within my community, the notion that “,all hispanics should stick together and we are all the same!” To that I say yes I agree, we should all stand together but to further progress as a community we must understand each others struggles and differences within our own communities, that being the huge difference of being a low income hispanic and a middle class\ or higher hispanic. In conclusion this bill will have huge positive ripple effects for all communities. With the starting support of the technical changes regarding the Higher Education Student Assistance Act concerning the Act’s purpose. I am Genesis Andrade allow me to introduce myself.

A People's Assembly: The Structural and Cultural Dynamics of Neighborhood

For our last Action Project on A Nation's Argument we had explored how a synthesis is seen in an argument. We looked at how it effects social change by stepping back into time during the 1960's a time of action. Our classmates had focused our learning in building our own call for action by conducting a Peoples Assembly. Our junior class had done an Peoples Assembly on policing where we had a former officer, organizations ran by concerned parents and education leaders who connect with Civilian Office of Police Accountability. This was assembled to talk on the issues related to Policing. This was a surreal experience that helped us experience how a dialect performs in a real life setting that has people with opposite to similar ideas as you. This experience had shaped perfectly into our internal and external learning where we got to connect our experience into what we learn as if we conducted our own Field Experience. For our action project we were able to pick a topic we resided with that was talked in the Peoples Assembly. I chose to talk about the Latinx communities by speaking on the issue of simulated traditions in lower income neighborhoods.

Pinocchio's Cuckoo Clock

For our last action project in Light, Sound and Time we dove into TIME!. In this unit we learned a lot about tools that tell time an how it has shaped our lives. We looked at longitude and latitude, sundial, pendulum, and checked out several other tools that tell time at our FE trip to the planetarium. We then swayed our focus on how time is measured in our lives by thinking about how is it beneficial to us. We then started to design our own clocks for our Action Project. This lead me to make the lying clock... hence the Pinocchio Cuckoo Clock.

           

In conclusion this Action Project was one of the most memorable material. The concept of translating time through science and math was a mind opening experience for me. I had a lot of fun making this video! and being bale to express my creativity in a STEAM class was an overall positive opportunity. 

Citizenships Standardized Testing

In our second unit of A Nation’s Argument we had went back through time to the 1850s to discover how does a nation contradict itself. In order to create our own antithesis we had previously analyzed several documents such as The U.S Constitution, Bill of Rights, the Dread Scott case and the Naturalization test. This perfectly flowed onto our external investigation where we had the opportunity to sit on a City Council and Immigration asylum services hearings. Having the opportunity to physically be where change is made was a great inspiration booster to start on our arguments. This action project was based off the Naturalization test where we had to amend the questions based off what contradictions we think the test faces. I was personally inspired by the fact that my family are immigrants and had gone to a process of citizenship, I wanted to base this project off of my personal experiences that had formed my opinion as to why the test should be amended. 

The naturalization test is a step towards citizenship... in the case that you pass. The one hundred questions are stated to construct importance in becoming a progressive citizen in the United States. To hold such prominence in what it takes to be a citizen specifically in the United States we expect these questions to grasp the entity of an American progression economically and socially. Whether your truths coalesce or collide I amend these following questions taken from The Naturalization test to be clarified for the sake of the United States and most importantly the immigrant's moral discourse.

The proposed amended questions;

52. What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?

53. What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?

55. What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?

These questions segment citizenship to be a traveling physical change as if an immigrant took a trip to a candy store trying to figure out which flavor tastes better. As professor Freeman said in a lecture on the progression of the declaration of independence, "the colonies declaring independence feared the feeling of being detached and disembodied from themselves as they leave their lands principles" This brings up the same connotations being formed on the naturalization test. We as a country are stating that immigrants who are seeking sustainable independency aren't capable to characterize the principle of a citizen. Having to face the mental breakthroughs of an immigrants position amplifies when asked to detach themselves from their rooted cultures and laws when we can simply create an altar to the melting pot. The alter will consist of questions that root their country alongside united states asking how will they participate their loyalty to a new system by bringing in their personal passions and culture. By doing so we support the immigrant's breakthroughs and obtain economic and social progression. This will serve as an opposing act towards Morse views that shaped up the know-nothing party during the 1800's. By 1850, roughly 10 percent of the U.S. populace was Roman Catholic. Numerous local brought into the world Protestant Americans started to expect that the United States was being overpowered by Catholic settlers, and some even trusted that the pope needed to colonize the United States so as to expand his power. Morse views had escalated quickly after influencing the “Know-Nothing” party. In the 1840's the Bible Riots had killed several Catholics, immigrants, churches,and Holmes. This is to say the naturalization test hits these subliminal messages that harm what’s to expect of becoming a citizen.

I will clarify these questions to build citizenship as a characteristic…

52. How will you express respect to the Pledge of Allegiance alongside your blank countries principles?

53. How will you use United States resources to obtain economic and social willingness?

55. How will you serve your political standpoint?

The Naturalization Test syllogism:

P1. Citizenship is a physical measurement.

P2. The following questions hold no progressive substance.

P3. Forms Morse views

C1. Therefore The Naturalization Test segregates immigrants abilities. 

The Amended Naturalization Test:

P1. Adapts their roles as citizens in their countries.

P2. Following questions holds economic and social progress.

P3. Provides partnership and safety nets. 

C1. Therefore citizenship is an characteristics trait.

Co-Sign: 

Relationship: Brother

Printed Signature: Daniel Andrade jr the third

rock and roll with a deadly bow

This is my second unit venture for my class Light, Sound and Time. In this unit, we learned about sound, and how we collaborate with this idea in our everyday life as a part of nature. By doing so, we figured out how the ear functions, and how speed, wavelength and frequency. We've figured out how to quantify a high/low frequency and amplitude, in addition to that we realized what the sonic boom was, the edge of hearing, the Doppler effect within the works of a guitar. We then went on a field experience to the Chicago Music Exchange where we talked with professionals about the technicalities of the instruments specifically guitars. This led us perfectly into the action project. For this venture we made a Diddley Bow, helping us figure out how guitars work , with sound waves, notes and vibrations. Stick around and you will see my process in discovering sound on a Diddley Bow.

What is a Diddly Bow?

A diddly bow is a single-stringed instrument that consists of a wire tied between two nails and a battery on a wooden board over a tin can. The tensioned string touches the can, and the nut is where the battery touches the string. This is both used as a bridge and as an amplifier. The outcome will represent the acts of a guitar.

GA, "Sketch", 2019

GA, "diddly bow", 2018

How does a diddly bow make sound?

A diddly bow makes sound by plucking the guitar string that.is wrapped tightly by the nails and battery creating vibrations. These vibrations are what makes the diddly bow have low volume. In order to amplify the low sounds we added a tin can to act as the hole in a guitar creating stronger amplified vibrations. 

GA, "harmonics labelled",2018

How do we perceive sound?

A very important science principle is how we hear! This process starts with sound waves entering our ears through what is called our Pinna. Sound waves then travel through the auditory canal which condenses the sound waves to be smaller. The condensed sound waves then enter the eardrum where they start to vibrate causing the little bones called the ossicles to move. The ossicles then change the vibration into electrical signals by the little hairs in the cohclea. Which then send signals to the brain allowing us to perceive sound. Now the way we distinguish these sounds in terms of volume has to do with sound waves' high or low amplitude. Lastly to distinguish the pitch the sound waves are measured in a low or high frequency.  

What are Harmonic Waves?

A harmonic wave is a wave with a frequency that is measured in whole numbers. In order to calculate my harmonic waves I first measured the frequency by plucking my single string and putting it up to my computer. using this information I was able to find my wavelength to then calculate the harmonics.
Step A:

GA, "wavelenght", 2018

Step B:

GA, "Harmonics", 2019

 Precise Sound Building

This showcases the measured data to calculate the diddly bow angles.

GA,"data",2018

JAM OUT!

Looking Through The Lens

This is the first unit of my Junior STEAM course Light Sound and Time. In the first unit, Light, we learned about, light!..what a shocker. We learned about the mechanics of electromagnetic spectrum and light waves. We also did some magic with trigonometry where we studied unit circles, similar triangles, and sine and cosine waves, as well as other equations in the branch of measuring waves in distance/angles. Our class also went on a Field Experience were we went to The Latin School to meet with their photography teacher Ms. Ross. We used their darkroom to develop our pictures. This FE was an important task to take in regards to or Action Project. For the first AP, we made a pinhole camera. We made the cameras in class and afterward took them to The Latin School where we took and built up the photographs. We at that point needed to figure the light and separation between the focal point and the subject we snapped a photo of in order to do our best in creating a functional camera. Although the odds were not in my favor on creating a functioning camera, it doesn't take away from the amazing experience I had.

Looking Through the Lens

How Does A Pinhole Camera Capture Light?

In order to figure out how a pinhole camera captures light, we will have to understand the fundamentals of light. Light is neither a particle or a wave as it is a duality of both meanings that light displays properties of waves at times and properties of traditional particles in others as light can be absorbed and changed by magnetic fields. Knowing this we can have a better sense on how light works when being perceived onto a camera. A pinhole camera is a kind of straightforward handcrafted camera. It comprises of a lightproof box, a manual screen, and a focal point. The pinhole camera can take pictures by setting your subject towards the camera and putting film inside the camera. At that point, you let light through the pinhole which lets a little measure of light into the totally dim camera, where the image gets absorbed by the film. The film is then created, and in the event that it works, you have successfully captured your subject. But in order to do so, the importance comes to the camera being completely light proof. The dark within the camera ensures all the light is ingested and the main light coming through will be through the pinhole. This will then ensure your image in picking up the independent light that we want. Once light gets into the pinhole camera we were asked if the light itself works as a reflection or refraction. By knowing that refraction can only occur when the light changes it's medium to another and that a reflection can only occur when the light is being reflected off we can conclude that a pinhole camera doesn't work in any of these ideas. A pinhole camera doesn't ever change it's medium as it's only going from air to air and we can also assure that the light from the pinhole camera absorbs the film instead of bouncing off or else there wouldn't be an image to see.

I chose to make my pinhole camera out of a box not knowing the challenges that come with it. Like I had stated up top its important to ensure that your box is lightproof in order to manipulate the light being captured. My box had several holes and folds that needed to be sealed and painted all black. I then took a vacant soft drink can and cut a hover out of it with an X-Acto blade. At that point, I utilized a stick and jabbed an opening through the aluminum to then sand it with sandpaper so everything was smooth. This became a hard task when it came to dealing with creating a seal that can open and close just like shutter would do on a camera. I ended up creating a flapping opening to work as my shutter.

The After(MATH)

Since the pinhole camera is low tech we needed to see for ourselves how far the subject has to be in order for the film to capture the entire subject. In order to receive this information, we measured the height of the tallest object, the height of the pinhole and the distance between the pinhole and the film. With these three measurements, we can know the distance of the object to the camera. 

GA, "calculations", 2019

Finished Product

GA, "Pinhole Camera", 2019

GA, "Image Captured", 2019