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.

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.
     

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!

The Ruby Garden ,Local Profie By AMK

This action project is for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The purpose of this action project is to find an organization in your neighborhood that helps education wise, food wise, etc. My project was on, The Ruby Garden. The Ruby Garden is a non profit organization that helps people learn how to garden, also its a community garden which allows people to buy garden plots and grow their own produce, tomatoes, onions, and zucchini. What I liked about this action project was that it gave me the opportunity to me to go to a garden that was 5-minutes away, that I never knew about.

AK. The Ruby Garden (2013) GCE portfolios Chicago. 

This is an image of, The Ruby Garden taken on September, 12, 2013. This is where the community of schriber park come to grow their own produce, this image is by, Aminat kolawole.

This target reminds me of what we did on our field experience (FE). During that FE we investigated whether the residents of Englewood could access fresh food and vegetables. We traveled to the Englewood community to visit Growing Home. Growing Home is the only organic farm in Chicago. At the farm, we spoke to Tonika Johnson, the Employment Training Program Assistant. Tonika talked to us about the challenges of finding fresh and healthy produce in Englewood. Tonika supported Englewood on getting a Whole Foods. She believed Englewood would benefit by eating healthier foods instead of the options currently in the neighborhood: liquor stores, fast food, and corner stores.

We learned a new term in Englewood: food desert. A food desert describes a region where residents have limited access to grocery stores and markets.

The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) measure progress against target indicators to know whether organizations are meeting the goals. I chose to investigate a target from MDG 1. That target measures, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. I chose this target because I wanted to find out how people in my city were working to end this problem.

For this organization my classmates and I had to chose a organization that had to do with our target, that is why I chose The Ruby Garden. This garden is a community garden that produces freshly grown vegetables etc.

For this assignment I researched; The Ruby Garden, I looked into Urban Agriculture in Rogers park which led me to The Ruby garden. I found this information by using Accelerate77.com. The Ruby Garden was founded in 2009 in honor of Sarah Garden who passed away in 2008 according to the website “after a ten-year life span”. (Accelerate 77) This garden able's people to buy plots within the community area and allows them to grow their own crops.For this garden accessing vegetation is important because it lets the members grow their own crops which makes them feel accomplished. Also The Ruby Garden offers volunteer work to refugees, teaching them gardening skills. (sources from the Ruby Garden), additionally learngrowconnect.org states, how the kids interact with growing vegetables as well saying;“The kids in the neighborhood used to trash things,” Edward, ( a farmer) says. “Now they’re growing vegetables. (cited from learngrowconnect.org).

The Ruby Garden addresses this target because it helps the community garden grow their own crops and produce. This Garden relates to Maslow's hierarchy of needs because, the people at the center have a sense of security knowing they have somewhere to get fresh crops.

The human need for this community garden is to feel competent in what they are doing, this hierarchy of need is to have the self esteem. All together this organization provides the staff as well as volunteers the opportunity to access what they need at this community garden. This is a physiological need the ability to access food and water.

In order to learn more about this organization I attempted to call this company to find out more about their work and how it impacts them as a community. Unfortunately I was unable to get in touch with them due to miscommunication. I sent The Ruby Garden two emails but had no response. They also did not have any actual contact information.

While looking at other websites that talked about The Ruby Garden I found a quote from this external investigation that read; “During the work day, our refugees were working right alongside neighborhood residents, talking with each other and interacting,” Eichberger says,(a worker). “This truly is a community garden.” This shows that it does not matter where you come from ethnicity wise, we are all humans from different backgrounds, and this quote comes to show that is indeed true.

Another resource I used was The Ruby Garden/Ruby blog.The Ruby blog showed me what they do such as viewing recipes, for tomatoes once they pick them. The Ruby Garden website provided me with facts about the garden such as, when it was founded, and why it was built. I got wonderful information from the website and as well as; learngrowconnect.org

The Ruby Garden effectively addresses this MDG target because, it has multiple people working there meaning they have community members who have plots where they can work on growing their own crops. Also it is a place for kids as well. This will teach the kids how growing plants/veggies work, and how they need vegetables in order to be healthy. This could also be an educated lesson on why you should eat healthy etc. This community garden is right on target helping their community learn to be better people health wise, and in general. 

The Ruby Garden connects with what we are doing in MDGs because, it tells shows us how many people actually grow their own food. In conclusion this MDG target connects to both gardens I have visited; Growing Home and The Ruby garden, this show how many gardens really are located in Chicago and how many people are dedicated to their work.

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Citations:

Accelerate 77. Institute for Cultural Affairs. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

“Contact Us Page.” therubygarden.com. Web. 11. Sep. 2013.

http://www.learngrowconnect.org/. learngrowconnect.org. Web. 12. Sep. 2013