Five Faces of Genius

For our Five Faces of Genius course, my classmates and I dove deep into learning about all Five Faces of Genius. The genius faces help us figure out what we are, and how we interpret things in our everyday lives. The Five Faces are; Seer, Observer, Alchemist, Fool, and Sage. In this unit we studied all of the faces, and related it to ourselves and how we can use them. We also watched many videos, and did many activities helping us better our knowledge of each face. The purpose of this project is to let others know about each face of genius, and for them to possibly figure out their own face of genius. I learned about each face and how they show what we are, we may not think its true but these are our strongest features. I also learned how to use these faces. I am most proud of my Observer video that I found. Being an Observer you pay very close attention to certain things before doing something. Having this skill is really important because you often have to pay attention to the detail of things in order to comprehend. Below is my action project, enjoy!
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The Five Faces of Genius are; Seer, a person who mentally visualizes something in their head, then carry out their idea by drawing visual representations. Seers often say ‘’I see it this way.''  An observer, a person who tends to sit back and look at the details of things. They also use small details to create big ideas. An Alchemist is a person who takes multiple ideas and creates it into one, often making the idea a better one. They use analogies like ‘’Lets make this quarter a slam dunk’’. Next is the fool, The fool is a person who celebrates weakness. They also see absurdity in things and try solving situations with different approaches. Fools also tend to be humorous. Lastly, there is Sage, Sage is a person who uses two strategies to make something new or change it. People with this quality also use things from the past (history) to try and solve problems.

The Five Faces survey that my classmates and I took determined that I have fool characteristics. The fool is my strongest face because I like making people laugh and I too enjoy a good laugh once in a while. I think this survey truly defined me because, during the summer time when I was little my cousins and I would take labels off of named branded items such as gatorade, granola bars, and trail mix. We decided to write something that would make people smile or attempt to laugh. People in the neighborhood admired our creativity and still bought it although our prices were high. My second strongest face is Sage. I found this unusual because this was the one I had the hardest time understanding. A sage is a person who uses strategies such as looking at history to innovate and using stories to illustrate. They also look at difficult things and try their best to solve it without getting too in depth. My weakest faces were all tied with 17%. Observer, Alchemist, and Seer. I kind of agree with my results because I can mostly see Fool characteristics in myself, and somewhat a bit of sage. The last three that I have tied with suit me because I am a little bit of everything.

A. judeh Interviewee(2014)

I interviewed my friend Alexis to find out what face of genius she was. Based on my questions I predicted she had strong fool and sage characteristics. The reason why I believe she is a fool and sage is because, she enjoys laughter and absurdity, she also likes to wing things and not make situations come off as difficult which gives her sage features. Not looking too deep into things and trying to scratch the surface is what she does. I asked her what comes to mind when she hears the word 'seer, she replied with ''Bed sheets I don’t know why.’’ 'I could immediately see her genius, the fool and sage. I also think this is why we get along so well, because we have the same faces.

Dandelionquotes/anonymous(2014) 

In class we looked at multiple famous people that had different genius traits. I picked Oprah since she and I have the same strongest face, the fool. Oprah enjoys celebrating others weaknesses, and enjoys making others laugh or happy. She can also be an alchemist because she combines a regular talk show with everyday people and famous people. She also spices it up with different topics ranging from, obesity to building a girls leadership school in South Africa. Since Oprah had a rough life before she became famous, being raped and suffering with racism she still managed to become the successful person she is today.

pintrest.com/tyra(2014)

A Person who inspires me is Tyra Banks, although she is a supermodel and people assume she is perfect, she isn't. I think she also has fool features because she embraces her humor and odd ways. Whenever I watch her shows she always encourages her models to be themselves and have fun with it, this is why she has fool like features. I also think that she is an observer. Whenever watch her shows, she must critique other models and pay attention to every detail and make sure everything they do goes with what they are trying to capture in the photo. Whenever she is modeling she too has to make sure she is doing everything correctly in order to succeed. She also has to make sure she is doing everything to keep her job as a model.

Lastly for my service project I decided on giving back to the community. I know there is a lot of homeless people in the city of Chicago and I want to give back to these people. What motivates me to give back is the homeless youth. I think that it is sad when kids my age can’t get a decent meal. I can plan out this service project by planning out the steps it will take to carry out this project using the five faces. Seer: I will first plan out who exactly who I want to reach out to. I have decided the homeless youth of Chicago. Observer. I will do my research and observe how many Chicago teens are hungry and look for organizations that help feed the youth. The Alchemist. I could combine youth being hungry, with donating clothes. By doing this they will have both a meal and clothes. Fool: I could talk to the youth their and tell and try to bring light to the situation there in. Sage: I can talk to the people hopefully motivating them to keep their heads up. By giving the homeless youth clothing and food it will be very beneficial for them especially in the cold city of Chicago.I think this service project can help me better my understanding of the five faces, and a real world problem.

Citations:

Wellman, Annette Moser. "PUT CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION TO WORKIN YOUR ORGANIZATION." Five Faces Of Genius. N.p., 2012. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.

Flow, Stephanie. "Tyra Banks." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.

"Main Menu." Dandelion Quotes. N.p., 25 Dec. 2012. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.

Italiano!

For my Italian class, Fare. We look at the Italian cloture through out the language and the food. Italian food is very popular around the world, therefore we though it would be best to learn the Italian language while cooking Italian dishes. For this brief project we had to create a short video talking about some of the things we have learned so far. Some of the things include, introducing our selves and our classmates, and our favorite Italian dish so far. This class is very inserting because its interactive, and exciting. Every week my classmates and I get to try different Italian dishes! Down below is my video, in Italian!

Genius Patterns

For our elective term, my Five Faces of Genius class learned about creativity, and what a genius truly is.We looked at many different articles, videos, and discussed who we think geniuses are. In class we created a genius gallery, showcasing the different geniuses my classmates and I picked. In the first project we had to pick three different geniuses from the genius gallery and find out what patterns they each have in common. We also had to pick another person that stood out to us the most, and talk about his or her accomplishments. Lastly we talked about ourselves and our impact towards the world today. The hardest part of this project was finding things that they had in common. The best part of this project was finding all this interesting information. Down below is my action project, enjoy!

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The three geniuses I chose were Chance The Rapper, Kanye West, and Eminem. These three males are creative because they each took time out of school. Kanye West dropped out of college naming his 2004 album The College Dropout. Kanye worked on this album for four years producing it with Roc-A-Fella Records. Chance got suspended for ‘weed like association’. While out of school Chance worked on his mixtape. The mixtape that got him recognized is called 10 Day due to the 10 day suspension he received. One of his inspirations was Kanye West. Lastly Eminem, who dropped out of high school after failing 9th grade three times. He then forced himself on radio shows, and rap battles before he finally got spotted by Dr.Dre, A producer and a rap entrepreneur that is currently worth 550 million. All of these artists didn't find school appealing to them. My hypothesis is that all three talented geniuses don't need a basic school education to be creative and smart.

Another pattern of genius I discovered out of these three artists were that they all had mentors. These mentors helped guide them to where they are now. Without these mentors I think that all three of these artists would not be where they are today. Kanye West met his mentor through his mother (Donda West). She was a professor at Atlanta University, on of her students had a son that went by the name of No I.D. He was a producer that Kanye was hesitant to work with at first but ended up getting close with him. Dr. Dre discovered Eminem while watching one of his rap battles which he lost in due to a mispronounced word. This mispronounced word cost him the opportunity of winning a cash prize of $1,500 which he needed at the time. Dr.Dre was at that rap battle, and decided to work with him. This lead to Dr.Dre signed Eminem to his record label in 1998 Lastly Chance’s mentor Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino met through Chance’s publicist, Chance states that ‘’it was very cool working with him’’, (Fleischer) and was one of the first rappers to actually listen and tweak things. All these artist had great mentors who pushed them to become who they are today. I believe without these mentors these rappers wouldn't be where they are today. 

A final pattern I used in my study of geniuses was that each artist took time off of their work. In 2002 Kanye West got into a car accident driving home from the studio. He had to have reconstructive surgery on his face leaving him with a metal wire in his mouth. Weeks later Kanye made a song called Through The Wire that he recorded with a broken jaw. This song somewhat pushed his career from producer to rapper. In an interview he stated that he always remembers that time of the car accident when he's in the studio, this motivates him to rap harder as if it were his last days on Earth. Chance the rapper got sick recently in 2014 and had to cancel multiple concert appearances due to flu like illnesses and tonsil problems. He talked to USA today about doing everything he can to get back and perform his music.While recovering he watched his videos in concert and was very eager to get back on the road. Eminem had a more difficult problem, he faced drug addiction using drugs to numb the pain. He went to rehab where he later got better. I predict all of these artists had to take time off in order to get better. Not only for their career, but for their well being.

The most important genius I had in mind was Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi was one of the main leaders of the Indian Independence movement while the British still ruled India. Gandhi felt that the British were cruel rulers, and wanted independence for India. He studied to become a lawyer in South Africa where at the time Indian residents struggled for their civil rights. When returning to India he witnessed even more discrimination among his people and called for a peaceful protest. These protests regarded excessive land taxing and

Life Quotes By Gandhi.2009.

discrimination. His protests and fasts helped Gandhi achieve one of his own concepts Swaraj self governing. Gandhi faced many challenges including a non-violent protest called fasting. Gandhi restricted himself from eating to reach his demands. Gandhi faced malnutrition, and the risk of dying due to fasting. He was also thrown in jail by the unfair British government for protesting, and fighting for their rights. Although Gandhi faced multiple challenges he still managed to overcome them and become liberated from the British.

Lastly I think I am a creative genius because I have many key strengths. I enjoy helping people, I like having the satisfaction of knowing I helped someone out. This often gets mixed up with being judged and picked on because others think of it as a weakness. When others think of this as a weakness they tend to walk over you, and feel more superior. Although I may enjoy helping people, I am my own person and I don't care what others have to say. I use this mentality throughout life to often remind myself that no one can walk over me. Secondly I enjoy cooking this helps me express my creativity through out the food I make .

 I dont always like showing my creative side similar to my creative genius, Gervonne. My friend Gervonne is an amazing artist although she doesn't like to draw for fun, however she expresses her creative side through simply ‘’enhancing school projects’’ with her drawings. that is why I chose cooking to express my creative side. Lastly I am a creative genius because I enjoy reading, I believe that reading is, and can be fun and creative. Reading different types of books makes you question certain things and that is what I enjoy most about reading. It also allows you to escape your everyday world for a while and become even more creative. Through out all of my creativity I intended to find others who are willing to express their creative side for something that they are interested in or want to pursue, I feel that nothing should hold a person back from exploring what they want to do or become.Among all of these geniuses , whether they are young or old I think that we are all creative in our own ways. Go out and find your inner genius today!

Citations: 

Life Quotes By Gandhi." LOVECRITTERSCOM. Zappos, O4 Nov. 2009. Web. 14 Nov. 2014

Fleischer, Adam. "Chance The Rapper Talks Childish Gambino Cosign, Signing to CAA and New Mixtape." XXL. N.p., 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2014

History.com Staff. "Mohandas Gandhi." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Vincenty, Samantha. "Facts about Kanye West." Fuse. N.p., Oct. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2014

Reid, Shaheem. "Kanye West Injured In L.A. Accident." News. Mtv, Oct. 2002. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Edwards, Gavin. "Rule Forty Two: The Self-Aggrandizing Website of Gavin Edwards." Rule Forty Two RSS. N.p., 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Galla, Brittany. "Eminem Talks Past Drug Use: "I Would Have Died"" Latest News. N.p., 29 June 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

"Eminem." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Hilary Hughes, Special for USA TODAY. "Chance the Rapper: 'I Did Improve' with Time off." USA Today. Gannett, 26 May 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Food Distribution Around The World

For my final action project, my class and I focused on multiple things. We looked at our current world population and later predicted the world population in 2050 using a geometric sequence, a sequence where you go from one term to the next by multiply or dividing. We also looked at symbiosis, the interaction of two similar and or different organisms and compared different things in nature, and in the human population, seeing how they would interact. We then used that knowledge and put it in our action project. This action project focuses on the human population and different factors that would make our population increase or decrease. We each had to pick a topic that would impact our human population in 36 years (2050). We then had to write a script educating the opposing view on the topic. Down below is my project, enjoy!

AMK (2014) Population.

Hunger is a well known topic in today's world, but some of us don't know one of the main causes, food distribution. Some parts of the world lack basic food distribution which leads to a fall in our population. In 2050, there is to be an expected 10,715,465,520 people. If we have a fall due to poor food distribution, it would be unfortunate for out nation because we have the resources to keep civilians alive. This fall is in regards to people dying everyday due to malnutrition (the lack of protein and energy) and lack of access to clean food and water. Hunger is a very serious issue in our world today, therefore we must try in every way possible to stop it. The parties that are not getting an equal distribution of food are acting in competition because they are fighting for this food that they need in order to survive. Although the majority of the United States is not fighting for food, other countries (third world/developing countries) are.

Below is my script describing the importance of food distribution, and how you can contribute to the cause.

[Kennedy and Alexis were eating lunch one day when Kennedy wondered how third world countries get their food everyday. ‘’Do they even get food every day?'' she wondered.]

Alexis: Man, I’m so full; I don’t want this anymore. Besides, it tastes bland.

Kennedy: Wait, don’t you dare throw that away; so many families are starving in our human population, it would be an insult to throw all of that food away.

Ashley: Uh okay, but this one plate of food will not help feed the world.

Kennedy: You're right, that’s because they can't even access it.

Alexis: No, also because this is one plate of food.

                                   

Kennedy: Alexis, don't you think we have enough food to support the U.S? We obviously do because you are able to throw that away [points to food] . But a family in Sierra Leone can't even get access to that because there is an unequal distribution of food supply happening. Over 1 billion people are suffering from chronic hunger, and it's due to poor food distribution.

Alexis: But why are we not able to feed these people if we do have the food resources? Besides, we don't live there - it isn't our problem.

Kennedy Well, Alexis, they are human beings, too and they deserve access to the same things we consume. It's their human right! 

Kennedy: Some of the reasons are because when people want to distribute food, they often don't know who is in charge, and the food ends up going to some villages where others around that area are not able to access it or purchase it.

Kennedy: At my school, GCE, we had a hunger banquet. This banquet showed us how our world population today is. They had the majority of people in lower class where people don’t have access to much, and very few in the  middle section, and lastly, high class, which was scarce. These seatings showed us our world today and how food is being distributed based on how much wealth you have. The lower class had the cheapest meal, which was rice and beans. This comes to show that whoever is in control of distributing food to the poorest people in the world finds the cheapest food possible, making sure that it has some protein in it to keep those people alive.

Alexis: Okay, I understand the banquet’s message, but I don't think people in developing countries only lack markets.

Kennedy: You're right. They also lack transportation. In their areas, there are not enough roads or railroads to transport them to get access to this food. Building these roads also cost money to build and to maintain, which often developing countries cannot afford.

Alexis: Are there any more reasons why these developing countries cannot access food?

Kennedy: Of course! Another major problem is the waste that occurs when food is being transported. Most of the food that is transported is perishable, meaning it can rot and spoil quickly. These foods also can get bacteria and spread diseases. It is estimated that 25-50% of food is wasted; because of all this wasted food, a shortage occurs causing the price to increase for consumers.

Alexis: Wow! That’s very interesting, but how about people who have access to food distribution?

Kennedy: Even people who have access to food cannot buy it because the costs are just too high. In the U.S, 58.8 percent of the U.S makes minimum wage. Although they may make ends meet, they don’t always have access to healthy food causing them to consume unhealthy fast food.

Kennedy: This lack of food can cause a great drop in our population when there isn't enough food to feed the people who need it.

Alexis: Wow, that’s a lot of information; is there any way I can contribute to this cause?

Kennedy: I'm glad you asked. You can donate or volunteer at Convoy of Hope. They help people around the world distributing medical help, food, water, and many other resources.

Alexis: Thank you! Next time, I’ll think twice about throwing food away.



Citations:
Inadequate Food Distribution Systems." Terrascope Websites. N.p., 8 Nov. 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

World Food Programme. (2009). World Hunger Series Hunger and Markets. Retrieved November 29, 2010, 

Convoy of Hope." Convoy of Hope Home Comments. N/a, n/a. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

Who Is Your Hero?

For our final action project our class focused on heroes. Heroes are figures who others look up to. We had to pick two heroes, one fictional and one non-fiction. We also watched a movie that focused on heroes to give us more insight on what to write about. We then interviewed someone who we view as a hero in our lives, and transcribed the interview. This was to help us connect to what a hero truly means. We also had the option of making a comic strip of our fictional characters showing the 8 steps for a hero. The 8 steps are the steps a hero takes to become who he is, his call to action (what he must do) to save the world, how he does this, and in the end, his return. These steps help us define what a true hero is. Down below are both analyses of my two heroes.

My fictional hero is Gerry Lane from World War Z. Brad Pitt's character experiences multiple stages of the hero's journey, and that is why I picked him as my hero. In this movie, Gerry encounters a zombie attack, and is forced to help find the cure and cause of this outbreak. Gerry goes through several stages of the hero's journey trying to find the answers he needs, in order to save the world. Below is my slideshow explaining his heroic steps in the movie World War Z.



 My hero is my cousin, Aminat Odenewu. She works at a company called the Indo-American Center, a place where immigrants and refugees go in order to get free access to tutoring help, technology, and other resources. The Indo-American Center is for kids and adults. My cousin specifically worked with the kids helping them do their homework, plan activities, and adjust to their lives in America. My cousin says she enjoys working with these kids because she loves seeing kids being able to achieve their goals, and encouraging them, telling them it is possible to reach them. The relationship my nonfictional hero, and my fictional character both share is caring for others. They both enjoy helping people along their journeys, and that's what makes them similar. Down below is my interview with her, talking about her call to action - when she first got this job.

Me:Describe your call to adventure? How does this call define who you are before and who you were likely to become in the future?
Aminat: I like seeing kids succeed, it always makes me pleased when I see people achieve their goals. This job gave me a better understanding of an immigrant family from the knowledge I had before working here.

Me:Did you have a meteor or a guide in your life? What traits made them helpful.
Aminat: I didn't really have a mentor, I just saw different characteristics in people from my workplace and chose whether or not to use those actions, these actions made me progress in the position I am in.

Me: How did crossing the thresh hold, to going to your new world(job)feel like how did this transition happen? 
Aminat: Transitioning from adults to kids, having to be somewhat stricter and doing whats expected.This job was different because it had to do with helping kids rather than adult based jobs.

Me:What trials, challenges and temptations did you face in your ''unknown world''? Why are these challenges important?
Aminat: Having boundaries between clients, they are so open to me dealing with personal aspects of their lives, so when work is over I must separate myself, and let them know there is a level of professionalism that needs to be maintained.

Me:What brings you to despair, what is the ordeal you have experienced? 
Aminat: Seeing someone fail, or not succeed pushes me to want to help. By helping them I reassure them by letting them know it is possible to try and become better.

Me:How do you transition from despair to hope? What must 'die' within you the hero in order for a possibility to emerge? 
Aminat: Remembering what the main goal is. what you are trying to achieve. Perseverance is important.

Me:What truth's are you willing to face? What suffering must you take accountability for?
Aminat: Realizing, you don't always have the answers for everything. Also that it's okay to ask for help.

Me:what gifts do you share and how do we learn from them?
Aminat: Always being open to others, and being more selfless.
     

An Alaskan Malamute, A Great Candidate For Mars!

For this action project our class had knowledge of a group of people who are planning on traveling to Mars, since it is possible to live on mars we decided to bring a companion along, a pet. I chose an Alaskan Malamute a dog that I personally think is cable of surviving on this planet. One of the challenges for this project was to find a suitable dog that could adjust well to the cold. The thing I liked most about this project was the video because, it was somewhat like us stating our case on why our pet was the best.This action project also focused on math. We looked at central tendencies calculating all the data of different dogs, comparing them with ours, and the set notation. Down below is a picture of my dog, River and Video describing why it would be a great candidate to travel to Mars. Also down below are my math calculations.

We had to find our pet from an adoption agency, and also find 12 to 15 other animals that would then be arranged in a set notation, and central tendency. My Malamute is from Crystal  lake IL, and her name is River. These animals helped us find the standard deviation in weight among them.River was the outlier of the group of dogs weighing, 95 pounds. River is 2.323 standard deviations above the mean, 39.5  We also had to create a box and whisker plot from our data. There are many different areas on mars, since my dog is use to the cold it would live near the ice caps, and since its fur is dark it would be able to catch the sunlight producing warmth. My Alaskan Malamute would be a great candidate. Below you will see my voice recording and math calculations
 

AMK(2014)

AMK (2014)

The Peacock & Squirtle.

For my Stories class, our second action project was to create a fable. A fable is a story often giving animals human like features to convey the moral. While working on this project, we had to incorporate dialogue into our fable, which was somewhat difficult for me. I managed to complete the story with dialogue in it. Down below is my fable about the Peacock and Squirtle! Also down below are my pictures for my story.

“Ugh, another day at this stupid school,’’ muttered Peacock. She got out of bed and looked in the mirror she sighed, ‘’why am I so ugly?’’ Peacock got in the shower dreading the day ahead. Out of the shower she decided on what to wear, booty shorts and a crop top suited her just fine. Peacock was one of the more rare of her kind, she had beautiful feathers that only male peacocks were supposed to have, but instead of finding the unique beauty in this, she saw this as weird and uncomfortable. Peacock then got out her big makeup bag and started applying, primer, foundation, powder, and lastly blush. She felt somewhat satisfied and went downstairs where her dad was sitting. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and immediately told her to change her clothing. Peacock ignored him and stormed out the house. Once she was outside she thought ‘Why does he even care?’.

She arrived at school and saw her clique, they greeted one another and walked down the hall bullying other students. All of the students kept walking, paying no mind to them but, there was one student named Squirtle who always wept whenever they bullied her. Squirtle was nice, pretty, and very shy. No one bothered her except Peacock and her friends. Squirtle would always whisper, ‘’Why are you so mean, I didn't do anything to you.’’ Peacock knew she was right Squirtle never bothered her, but she didn’t care it, made Peacock feel better about herself. 

Squirtle’s life was great aside from getting bullied. Her mom and dad always provided for her when they could. Whenever Squirtle came home sad her parents would always ask ‘’What’s wrong?’’ Squirtle would force a smile and reply with ‘’Nothing.’’ Squirtle had few friends but no one bothered her except Peacock. She always tried to avoid, Peacock but she never failed to find ways to torture her. Peacock made school dreadful for Squirtle, she always thought ‘’One day it'll get better, she'll stop bullying me one day’’. 

Later that week, peacock was getting ready for school, she decided to wear something daring that day, something that she thought was so cool everyone would like her. Peacock wore a tight mini dress that barely covered her legs. She smirked at herself in the mirror saying ‘’I look so cool’’! She then did her normal makeup routine, and left her home for school. Luckily, her father wasn’t there.

When arriving to her first class with her friends, Peacock was the talk of the hour. Everyone kept staring at her but no one actually complimented her. Peacock was confused, she thought everyone would compliment her. Once the class started, the teacher immediately called her out, telling her to go to the front office and find some clothes that covered her up. Peacock immediately shouted ‘’Why?! What’s wrong with it’’? The teacher told her to leave but she refused, she had another outburst when the teacher stated in a stern tone, ‘’If you don't leave you will be suspended.’’ The whole class started to laugh including her friends, she then ran into the bathroom crying. After a while in the bathroom, Peacock heard the door open, she thought it was her fake friends, but it wasn't, it was Squirtle.

Peacock was already angry because Squirtle saw her crying. However aside from Peacock’s cruelty towards her, Squirtle responded by giving her tissues. Peacock muttered ‘’Why are you helping me?’’ As she wiped her eyes. Squirtle responded saying, ‘’My parents always taught me to be nice to people even if they are not nice to you’’. As Peacock re-did her makeup, Squirtle looked at her and said ‘’You know you are very pretty, your feathers and all. I think you don't need makeup, you are beautiful just the way you are.’’ Peacock thought about it and slowly said, ‘Thank you, for everything.’ She then apologized for bullying her. Squirtle helped Peacock clean up, Peacock decided to leave for the day. As she walked home she regretted bullying Squirtle, and promised to become a better person. She also realized that her feathers are actually beautiful. While Peacock walked near the curb a car zoomed fast splashing Peacock with dirty sewer water, causing all her makeup to smear. Peacock got angry, but then realized it was Karma, she whispered, ‘’I deserved that’’, and kept walking.

AMK(2014)

AMK(2014)

The Amazing Planet Of Asadon!

The first action project for my humanities class, stories consisted of writing our own creation myth.This story had to come from our own imagination, and have similes, metaphors, adverbs, adjectives, and sensory imagery. This action project was harder than I expected because, we had to put key details into the things we described and made sure it fit the criteria. Down below is my wonderful creation story on the planet Asadon!

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AMK(2014) Planet

40,912,1026 miles straight up through the sky, a god and goddess named Diamond and Coal lived. Both were both beautiful, Diamond had a face like Beyonce, and long thick honey blonde hair hair that could never become messy. She was walking perfection. Coal on the other hand was strong, but gentle like a giant. They both were wealthy but decided to save their money. No one knows how they became so rich, its almost as if the money just came out of the Blue. They made their home in a particular cloud named Clouden. It was small, but offered enough room for the both of them to live together. One day, Diamond had the idea of building a new world where creatures would roam more freely and happily. Her husband, who liked things the way they were, disagreed and did not want to build a new world. Furious with his stubbornness, Diamond stormed out and left her husband and never returned. Coal got so angry that his wife left that he vowed that he would do everything in his power to make her new world terrible.

Diamond spent months thinking about the world she would build without her ex-husband, and finally awoke one day eagerly ready to create this world. She had thought of shapes her planet could take, and decided on a triangle because it was her favorite shape. She also knew that she wanted to build her planet atop a cloud like her own home,so even when her time was over, she'd have a memory with the cloud planet. Diamond got to work .She created a massive triangular world that sat atop the cloud. She painted the entire world black, then, with a soft stroke, added a bright rainbow across it. Diamond then decided to enter the new world she’d made. It was dark as night in the triangle so she decided to add more color with splashes of blue, pink, yellow, and orange bringing bursts of brightness to the place.

At the very top of the triangle, she created an abundant supply of fresh healthy (and junk) food. With one zap of her pointed index finger she created this supply of food that would never run out, and always stay fresh. It grows from Diamonds powers. Therefore no one would ever go hungry. She also decided on having protectors of the food to prevent robbers from leaving with too much.

With one zap of her index finger, two alluring creatures were created, similar to humans These creatures were majestic, because they were new and innocent. They greeted Diamond, who did the same. She told them their duties, to protect the food, and the newly made creatures agreed, staying completely still like guards in the U.K. as Diamond gave her orders. The creatures had heads like humans, eyes like squirrels, faces furry like gentle foxes, and human-like bodies. These creatures were happily roaming this new planet that the goddess had named Asadon. not really knowing why, Diamond thought it would be a great name for her planet. The creatures had specific roles and schedules--some would work in the technology building finding new ways to make technology better, some would work in a hospital, and some would work in sales.

Asadon was powered by cloud juice. From filling chair cars with cloud juice, to charging phones, the whole planet relied on cloud juice. They received the cloud juice from the cloud their planet was sitting on. The people of Asadon never ran out of cloud juice because it rained once a year and that rain water was stored in that particular cloud. Since the cloud is below them it rained upsdown. Asadon also had an endless supply of water, so no one would go thirsty. There was a big a waterfall with the purest supply of all that came from all the tears Diamond had shed when she fought with and left Cruel behind to make her world. This waterfall was near the gates of food.

After spending time at the top of Asadon with her new creatures, Diamond decided to go to the very bottom of the triangle where all the bad creatures that entered Asadon without her knowing, would reside. She drew a thick black horizontal line at the bottom of the triangle that would separate the good from the bad This was the place where any bad or unwanted creatures would go.

Meanwhile, from his own cloud, Cruel heard Diamond building her new world and was as red and angry as a volcano. He decided to visit the world when Diamond was asleep, and unleash terrible things as punishment. When Cruel got to Asadon, he saw how beautiful the planet was, but didn't care. He unleashed a crazy species that had just one leg and green skin, with crazy bulging eyes. He also let loose a giant, angry wasp that caused the whole world to shut down temporarily. Diamond’s creatures reported these punishments to her, but there was nothing she could do for her ex husband's powers were too strong. She was able, however, to control the giant wasp to attack only once a month, so the creatures of Asadon just had to beware of that day and stay inside their homes. Ever since cruel unleashed these terrible punishment there has been a black line going through the other side of the rainbow.

Down in Asadon the creatures roamed freely, they worked all day and had fun at night. The little creatures lived alone their houses still connected to their parents just so they can be prepared for the real world. The teenage creatures were nice and never disrespectful, they obeyed the older creatures. They also had very nice fashion taste often shopping at places like, M&H, Forever 23, and Urban In Fitters. These creatures were so stylish because diamond always had the best clothes, so she only wanted best for her younger creatures.

In this beautiful world of Asadon, no one would harm one another, but if they did, those causing strife would get locked in the nasty depressing pits of beneath the black border at the bottom of the triangle. Her planet would always be with her even if she became cloud dust, this was truly a place to call her own!

Fantastic Fennec Fox

The first action project for my Population class was to pick an organism and conduct research on it. My classmates and I learned about taxonomy and how it is used to classify organisms. The abbreviations taxonomy uses to help classify the organism is KPCOFGS. These stand for kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. These abbreviations help us get a better understanding of what we are classifying and a better understanding of the organism. We also learned about set notation, set notation is a way of describing which items belong in a sequence and which do not. Specific symbols are used for the notations in order to identify them. Below I will be describing variations of set notations for the Fennec fox.

The organism I chose was the Fennec fox. The Fennec fox resides in the sandy desert of the Sahara. This fox has unusually large ears to consume the heat. The Fennec fox is the smallest of the candid breed. Below is my Venn diagram, comparing my animal with two others.

AMK(2014) Venn Diagram

                                             

AMK Venn Diagram. (2014).

AMK Set Notation for Fennec Fox.  (2014)

Decay

Blog post

In our final unit, Birth, the freshman class was assigned to create a poster symbolizing the food system and how it affected, affects, and will affect us, and the environment. My group decided to create an art piece symbolizing the third unit Decay, which explained how technology has affected the way people eat. With that we also chose 3 keywords that explained this time of history well. The most challenging part for my group was drawing it out, but we overcame that when we realized that we don’t necessarily have to have a lot of drawing talent in order to show our hard work and understanding. We all are proud of how our art piece came out. We all helped each other when one needed help. When the class is finished we will put all posters together, to represent the four units, Life, Death, Decay, and Birth. When we put them together, it will represent the new understanding we have about the food system. Below are also pictures of both our individual, and whole poster.

Artist statement

AMK,RD,JR(2014) Food For Thought.

Our poster represents the third unit, Decay. In this unit our class learned about the industrialization of food, the American diet, and the food industry. The unit is called Decay because we studied how technology has influenced the way people are eating. We illustrated the American diet, the food industry, and the Green Revolution. We represented the American Diet by drawing a globe and a conveyor belt. The globe symbolizes how most of the world relies on fast food, or more specifically McDonald’s. The conveyor belt represents our food system, and the distribution process that animals and our food have to go through. 
We then drew a factory where our food is processed. The man outside the factory is not actually planting flowers, but painting them out. He represents how the nation puts a “band aid” to cover the truth on how our food gets to our table. The truck shows how the final step in the food industry is to finally ship out all the food. From the factory the truck is pulling out with boxes in the back, which is the food. Each box represents a fast food chain, to show how that food gets to a restaurant. We then drew a tractor connecting with the food system by having the conveyor belt as a wheel. The tractor is on road that connects all four units together. We drew an average American fast food meal, walking its way to the globe, or to its home McDonalds. We represented the Green Revolution by drawing the “Father of the Green Revolution”, Norman Borlaug, injecting fertilizer and chemicals into wheat. To represent the harm these fertilizers and chemicals do to crops, we drew an empty bottle of poison on the ground. We wanted to capture all the elements of this unit so when people look at it they get a sense of what is going on.

AMK(2014) Food For Thought

Genetically Modified Food, Good or Bad?

For the last action project for Food, we studied genetics, and genetically modified food. This unit mostly focused on science. My classmates and I spent countless hours researching and learning about genetics. We also had a guest speaker, Oana, who works with genetics come in and talk to us in depth about how genetics and crossbreeding works. We also learned about genetically modified foods. These foods are foods that have changes in their DNA using genetic engineering technique. For our action project, my classmates and I had to pick a side: pro GMOs or anti GMOs. This means that we had to discuss why genetically  modified foods are or are not a good idea. I am anti GMO, because I feel that GMOs are not the truth. The people producing these crops don’t tell us whether our products contain GMOs . I think that these foods will end up causing us harm. That is why we need to put a stop to it as soon as possible. I am most proud of the interesting information, and facts I found. Lastly I am proud of my overall presentation below!

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How would you feel if you knew that scientists are putting harsh chemicals and dangerous injections into the food that you and your loved ones consume? How would you feel if you or your loved ones get severely sick because of this? Well, this is what genetically modified food is doing to us humans. These foods are foods that have changes in their DNA using genetic engineering technique. You probably haven't heard of genetically modified foods because the U.S Drug and Food Administration does not require a label to be put on foods that are GMOs. There are quite a lot. You should be aware of what scientists are doing to our food because it can cause great devastation to us and our planet. Genetically modified foods can cause soil depletion, allergic reactions to us humans because of the the crossbreeding, and even severe consequences to our body. In this speech I will be talking about genetically modified foods and how they are not beneficial for us humans, and also the effects they are causing us, our environment, and world in general.

There are many reasons why genetically modified foods are very bad. Some often affect the environment. When growing genetically modified foods, farmers practice monoculture which means that they only grow that one crop. This has two effects: one on the environment, and one on us humans. In a monoculture, the soil is used for the same crop which causes soil depletion. This causes plants not to grow. Also by growing the same crop a virus can break out spreading to the same crops, causing the food supply of that crop to drop. Even though GM crops double their crop yields, if something goes wrong then they can lose that crop. A drop in food supply could damage our economy and cause crises such as famine.

In the late 1980s patents on plants were legalized meaning that anyone could own a seed. This often causes small scale farmers to get sued due to bigger corporations such as Monsanto patenting a particular seed and having it cross pollinate with theirs. When their seeds cross pollinate with the seeds from small farms, the smaller farm workers often go out of business because they get sued for what happens in nature. This affects the small scale farmers tremendously because they go out of business. Also GM crops in technology can hurt the small scale farm workers because the crops are too expensive to purchase. GMOs and even patents can cause people to go out of business because of the competitiveness in farming.

Lastly, Humans can get allergic reactions to foods they eat,  or even get severely sick. When these crops are crossbred they form a new substance which can also be bad for humans. Like JV said on the farm in Elgin, her brother broke out in hives from eating lunchables. These are the affects that GM foods have on us humans and if we don't stop now it could only get worse. I am stating that it could only get worse because genetically modified foods do not require a label, and are not tested. We must put an end to this because it is going on without our knowledge and we need to be informed.

Overall GMOs are a great threat to our food supply. A study in India showed that the GM grains that scientist fed to rats showed up three months later damaging their ovaries, spleens, and immune system. Despite all this testing the U.S Food and Drug Administration still allows foods to be labeled without the proper signs. This shows that the people in charge of making sure our food is safe to eat are not fulfilling their job. If we continue to let this happen it could only get worse. I believe that the U.S Food and Drug Aministration needs to stop lying to us humans, and let us know what we are actually consuming. I am totally against GMOs because they are not beneficial for us humans. GMOs are bad for the environment, bad for humans, and are dangerous because they are not correctly labeled. They are also a risk to your health. If you want to live in a healthier, more efficient world without genetically modified foods, then vote anti GMO.