Sickle Cell Disease

For my class disease, we looked at diseases and how specific ones effect the body. Our first action  project was to research a specific disease of our choice and write a patient case study helping people who do not know about this disease better their knowledge. I researched  a disease called Sickle Cell Anemia. Sickle Cell Anemia (SCA) is a disease of the blood, the body makes cells that are in the the shape of a sickle this red blood cell would look like a crescent. Normal red blood cells look like doughnuts and flow regularly through out the blood stream, they contain protein called hemoglobin which carries oxygen from your lungs to the rest of the body. Where as with the crescent like red blood cell it often gets clogged, they are also stiff and get stuck together this causes them to block blood flow in the blood vessels which can lead to an infection, pain in the limbs, and organ damage. This disease mostly impacts the circulatory system because in order to carry oxygen through out the body you need your red blood cells to help carry the oxygen.

This disease is an inherited disease that lasts for a lifetime. Each parent gives one sickle cell hemoglobin gene to the child which causes the disease. If one parent has the gene the child will most likely  get sickle cell trait. Sickle cell trait isn't as severe as the disease itself but they can often get the same symptoms. Over all I found this project rather interesting because I already know so much about this disease. I enjoyed working on my human body drawing because I had the opportunity to zoom in and really show where the disease happens. Below I have my interview with a friend talking more about this disease and how it effects the body. I also have a patient overview of a sickle cell patient.
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Over View :

AMK(2015)

Adam, an average 18 year old boy who enjoys playing soccer, basketball and hockey. He lives a pretty good life. The only thing that slows Adam down is his sickle cell anemia. Adam is the only child in his family to inherit full sickle cell disease. Adam has had many sickle cell pain episodes through out his childhood which often forces him to go to the hospital and receive treatment although. When Adam was around the age of six he encountered a major stomach ache which caused him to the hospital. Later the doctors found out that Adam had splenetic sequestration which caused by sickled cells being trapped in the spleen since they are stiff and sticky it is often difficult for the passage ways to become clear. This caused Adam to have surgery to remove his overgrown spleen, to prevent infection. Today he is active and plays many sports he must watch his health and stay hydrated.

 If Adam were to suddenly have a sickle cell related episode, his stomach would ache, joints are stiff, and may run a slight  fever. Adam is rushed to the hospital and is hooked with an IV that contains water to keep him hydrated, he is given ibuprofen to lessen the fever and relive his joints. Nurses take blood work to make sure his hemoglobin count is steady and if not he needs a blood transfusion. If his case stays the same the care giver must hospitalize him to make sure he does not get worse. When he gets better Adam can return home, and go on with his daily lifestyle.

Hemoglobin is rich protein inside red blood cells, this caries oxygen through out the body. If a persons hemoglobin were to be low they would need a blood transfusion to raise their hemoglobin count. The hemoglobin could be low because their is deficiency in Iron, Folic acid, and vitamin B-12. This is where the term Anemic comes from (sickle cell anemia). 

Interview: 


AMK: How does this disease happen?

A: It happens when parents have both hemoglobin genes, and the child either has the trait or the actual disease 

AMK: What things can you learn from this disease ?

A: Its a blood disease, and it can't really be transmitted through bodily fluids it cant at all. Kids are born with it 

AMK: When someone gets sickle cell pain what are the symptoms?

A: Usually stomach pain, headaches, body aches, and high fever, its usually pain crises and pain episodes that could send a kid to the hospital so they can receive treatment.  

AMK: How can you prevent getting sick from sickle cell 

A: doing basic things like staying hydrated and also taking antibiotics, just being healthy and clean just washing your hands simple things yo do in everyday life.   

AMK: What ethnicity is this disease most common in?

A:Most common with African Americans, usually its just the history kids who have parents, who have sickle cell disease or the trait, and that's about it. 

AMK: How can the sickness be prevented? 

A:Like I aid before doing simple things like washing your hands, staying hydrated and active and watching what you eat.

AMk:Why do you have to watch what you eat?

A:Because you have to make sure you dont eat the wrong things that can make you sick easily. Also to watch your nutrition  

AMK: What type of medication does one have to use if they have sickle cell?

A: They use, well it depends on what the doctor prescribes like hydroxyurea is usually what most kids with sickle cell have it treats the pain in a way and somewhat controls it.
Citation:

"What Is Sickle Cell Anemia?" - NHLBI, NIH. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 28 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

The Socratic Method

For our Forbidden books course, my classmates and I looked at how people that have political power try to ban books because of it's content. We also focused on a writing called The Apology .This reading is very important to today's world because it talks about Socrates, a wise philosopher who was on trial for ''corrupting the youth''. He would often go to the youth and ask them random questions just to hear their responses. The people of Athens, a city in Greece did not wan't the youth thinking for themselves or starting to ask questions, this would lead to a chaos, this is also why they considered his method peril. This method that Socrates used is called question and answer method. 

Socrates  was also put on trail for not believing in the gods of Greece. Although, a dime-god called him the wisest, he wanted to find out if their was anyone wiser. Socrates often questioned everyday topics and was founded guilty and sentenced to death my Hemlock poison. I believe Socrates was truly the wisest because although he had knowledge he did not flaunt and pretend he was something he is not. A famous quote from Socrates is ''I know that I know nothing''. This quote shows that Socrates is willing to admit that he does not know everything rather than pretend he does. Socrates was executed and did not refuse because he wanted to obey the law and truly stand up for what he believed in.

For our action project we had to use the Socratic questioning and answering method on a topic of our choice. The question and answer method is supposed to get the person who answers to dig deeper to a philosophical level and answer a question.The topic I chose was, What does it mean to be alive? I chose this topic because I felt that it makes you really think therefore you should not give a generic answer. I learned that many people have different definitions of the word 'alive', when you hear all these different answers it actually makes you think about what it really means. When writing the script for my project it was somewhat difficult to stay on track on  of the one topic I had. But I managed to make a well crafted script. Down below is my video on the topic: what does it mean to be alive? Along with the transcribed version.

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Characters

Savannah-character 1 AMK

Adam-character 2 -GN

Filmed-outside

Topic: What does it mean to be alive?

S: Hey Adam! I haven’t seen you in a while. Why do you look so happy?

A: Hey Savannah, I've been feeling depressed for a very long time, and now I finally feel alive!

S: Well, I’m glad you are not depressed anymore, but what do you mean by that statement, that you feel alive?

A: Feeling happy, and having something to look forward to of course!

S: Well what’s the difference between feeling alive and being alive ?

S: So if you're feeling depressed or unconscious are you or are you not dead?

A: Being alive is being alert and responsive. Feeling alive is, like I said before, feeling happy and having something to look forward too.

S: What if a person is in a coma or life support, the machine is keeping them alive, so do you think they are alive or dead? They don’t have any feeling or emotion because their brain can’t function on its own so what state is that person in, in your opinion?

A: Um, I don't know. For all we know they could be looking forward  to waking up from the coma..so they could be alive?

S: And for all we know they are unconscious so they may not feel any emotions.

A: I don't know they possibly can’t feel emotions then. When you're asleep aren't you half dead, or umm unconscious? What is the difference between being alive and being unconscious?

A: I suppose, the person in the coma could be dead but they have a small chance of living do they not? Someone who is asleep is still alive.

S: Yes, but If the machine is keeping them alive they are alive but without it they are dead. Therefore, they are unconscious or unresponsive.The person’s brain cannot function on it’s own, but in actuality they are alive and breathing.

S: When you go to sleep are you alive or dead?

A: Umm, I’m not sure now. I guess i'm alive but unconscious, right?

S: So if you are unconscious can you still feel emotions? Is that your definition of being alive,  being able to feel emotion?

A: I don’t know if we can, when I’m asleep I don’t think I feel my emotions. However, I do think that in order to feel alive you have to feel some sort of emotion.

S: I think the problem is that you have a fixed definition on what it means to be alive. You see Adam, being alive doesn't just mean the change of emotions. The actual definition of being alive is alertness,having a pulse, and not being dead. Also the term ‘alive’ has evolved  throughout history. For example people use the term ‘alive’ to express emotion rather than actually being alive.

A: I think I see your point Savannah. Maybe next time I will think twice before I make such a statement based off of my emotions. Let me restate what I said before, I am glad that I am no longer depressed, and I feel happier than  i’ve felt in months!

S: It’s okay Adam, i'm only here to help and i’m glad that you are happy! Have a nice day, bye!

A: You too, bye!

Cookies & Smiles

For the last action project for my Five Faces class, my classmates and I had to complete 5 service hours for ten individuals. I decided to bake homemade chocolate chip cookies, and give it to random strangers and kids at my Sunday school Mosque. I will be going to different places around my neighborhood, my brother will accompany me with my project to spread joy and happiness. The people who will benefit from my project are the strangers who happen to take the cookie I give them. I think it would brighten a person's day because they wouldn't expect a random person giving them food. It will also make the kids happy at the Mosque because little kids enjoy sweets. I can incorporate alchemist features to my project by me as an individual who loves food, and doing something that will brighten a random person's day. I can also add a little note on the bag making it a bit personal. My project is unique because it doesn't happen often, and people don’t do things like this because they often don't have time, or it’s just not that important to them. The headline to this project is, ''Spreading Joy Through Food''. This is what i'm advocating for. The steps that I will have to take for this service project are, buying the ingredients, baking the cookies (and make sure they taste good), packing the cookies, and then passing them out and spreading love! Down below is my video showing my service project in action. 

AK giving a cookie to a person (2015)

   This just in: Spreading Love Through Food!

After giving away many cookies, I feel really accomplished and satisfied. In the beginning I was somewhat nervous about the idea of giving it to random people I saw on the street, and after getting rejected way too many times, I decided to give the cookies out to kids at my Sunday school. The kids at my Sunday school were very surprised about getting the cookies and thanked me. I only had a limited amount which was very disappointing because other kids kept coming up to me asking for one. Although I didn't get to give each and everyone a cookie those who had one said they were ''delicious'' and ''moist''. Next I decided to put the packaged cookies on the windshields of different cars. I figured since the random people on the street wouldn't take it, the car owners would be surprised by the act of kindness. I put cookies on about seven different cars in hopes of making someone's day. Looking back at this project, it was more difficult than I expected. I had to make the cookies from scratch, then I had write little notes on the packaging, and finally put them on random cars and give them to little kids. This service project made me realize how little things can make a difference in someone's life. We may not know what others are going through but making them smile could go a long way.

Building A Website While Learning Italian

In my Fare class, my classmates and I wanted to showcase all of the things we have been cooking, and learning through out the term. We decided to have a dinner that would be open to the public. The foods served at this dinner would be made by some of my classmates who are the chefs. There will also be a cooking demo of the food so the audience could witness how the food is being prepared, and lastly the servers will teach the guests little Italian. My role is designing our website for the class, and for the public. The website shows people what we are all about. It has pictures of us as chefs in action as well as contact information to keep people updated.

Below is the link me and a few of my classmates created, together we built an informative website about our Italian class and how we cook! We decided to name it Fare Italian Foods. on this website you will learn about the 'restaurant' my classmates and I designed, and what we make. A dish we cooked in our cooking portion of the class called Suppli, a rice and meat sauce ball stuffed with cheese, then dipped in egg and rolled in flower and breadcrumbs, and lastly fried. Suppli originated from Lazio, Italy, but the word itself is French. Its a very common snack known in Italy. I decided to write about this dish because I thought it was unique and it tasted great. Below is a picture off the Italian dish Suppli.

BimbyMania(2015)

The presentation we gave turned out to be a success. We had twelve customers that came to our restaurant type lunch, and they all enjoyed the foods we made. The most difficult part was the preparation of the whole thing, we had to help out in the kitchen as well as get the area ready for our customers. We also ran into trouble when certain foods didn't come out the way they should have. Luckily we manged to create another Italian dish substituting the former one, which turned out to be a success! The most rewarding part of the whole presentation was seeing every customer enjoy the food, as well as the looking and admiring our website, the design team and I built.

Citation:Supplì Bimby; Polpette Di Riso, Sugo E Mozzarella - Ricette Bimby." Bimby Mania. N.p., 06 June 2014. Web. 12 Jan. 2015.

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.