Exhibition Reflection

During exhibition night we had a lot of people come and people were asking a bunch of questions. I was glad because almost all of the questions I could answer without a problem. There was this one guy who asked why the sky was blue and I thought it was the same thing as why the grass is green and I told him that but he told me the real answer and I actually learned from him. I think my favorite part of the night was my shift in Ms. Golub’s room. It was fun to work while explaining about my project to the people so they could not only hear what I’m doing but also see. The strengths I had with my visitors was that for my graphic novel project it seemed to take place when all the parents were alive so they could connect and tell me what they though about it and what they know that could help me in the future with this project.

Some weaknesses were that for my light project my partner wanted to always talk and I didn’t want to interrupt him so I just kind of sat back and watched everyone. I think this was bad because people didn’t think I knew about my topic as much. Something I will definitely do for next time is maybe when my partner starts talking too much and I don’t talk as much step up and tell my partner to take turns of some sort. I will also like to be more appealing to my guests for instance make a poster board or put up cool decorations. Overall I think this exhibition night is in my top two of the four I have done. I liked that the people got to see me work and see that I’m proud of my work.

Persepolis

During humanities class we read a book about the Iran and Iraq war. Persepolis is a story about the childhood of a veritable girl named Marjane Satrapi. The story takes place during the Islamic revolution in the 1980’s and the fight for the reservoir of oil. The country was turning fundamental and religious but the secular people of Iran were greatly disappointed and started revolting.

Marji, which is what her friends and decadent family call her, grows up to the unbelievable, all powerful Shah. Riots broke out across the country and there were violence in jails and protests being held on the streets. (The Islamic revolution soon begins with even more danger meeting the people of Iran.) Veils were forced upon women’s heads and families feared normal lives. Curtain laws prevent Marji’s family along with others to live in a dull world. They have to clandestine parties so they don’t get thrown in jail. Soon the country is too much to bear for Marji’s small family and they flee the Iran for a short three week vacation in Spain. When they come back, they are in desperate shock that Iraq has come to war with Iran. Marji and her friends become prisoners to a very different life style at school and their homes. This includes pounding her chests “for martyred soldiers”. After some time, she can’t handle the danger her old country is providing and her parents make her go to Austria by herself.

During the text, Marjane wants to do stuff her own way. She wants to go to protests and rebel against the Shah. She doesn’t want to wear her veil. Overall, she is a very independent girl. She is proud of the people that were put in jail because they are “heroes” to her. Her independence surely shows when she almost gets arrested for wearing American clothes even if she lies to get out of being arrested. It seems that Marjane has to learn new and different situations just to get through the war and through her life in Iran.

I think in Vienna she will feel free and do anything she can to rebel against the way she grew up. She will be able to not wear her veil and embrace the new traditions of her new life. I think she will love expressing her independence and when she or if she returns home, she will show all her friends her new life and maybe encourage them and her family to be free of the war and all the troubles in Iran. She will definitely try and still help make Iran a better place.

I thought that Persepolis was a great book. I learned a lot about the history of Iran and about the war as long as the Islamic revolution from the book even though I had a good time reading it. I felt it was hard to put it down and loved the way she Marjane told the story in her own way through her eyes as a child. I liked how it was told in a graphic novel so I see as long as read what was going on. Overall, I really liked this book and I give Marjane Satrapi thumbs up on a job well done.

You're 16, You're beautiful and You're a Voter -Reflection

During the seminar for youth voting, I think I did fairly well expressing myself and getting into the conversation. Before the Socratic seminar began I took time reading through the article You’re 16, You're Beautiful and You're a Voter. I annotated what seemed important in the text using a highlighter and writing my thoughts on the side of the page. I think that I made many interesting point throughout this conversation with my fellow peers. I talked about how just because teenagers turn 16 it doesn’t mean all of them are ready for the responsibilities of voting or alcohol. I also said how if we had this test for young alcoholics and voters then it will separate the people who really want to vote from those who are just doing it as a joke. I said some other points that I do not remember but I think I talked more then I have ever done in any other Socratic seminar. I think the main reason why I talked more in this seminar was because it was a topic that would be effecting me and also that I am interested in. I think what I need to do better in a future seminar is I need to try and get those individuals who don’t talk more enthusiastic with the conversation.

I think the most interesting idea that someone posted in the seminar was what Emily said about the article where it was talking about how alcohol and marriage along with voting would change our society and a whole bunch of really important stuff and then the article went and said stuff about credit cards. Emily said how it was weird how it talked about life changing ideas and then a not so important one. I liked Coli’s reply to this when she said that she thinks the author was trying to seem more realistic in the article and trying to compare stuff to everyday life.

I really liked this Socratic seminar not only because I was really deeply interested in the topics but also because it opened my eyes to not just the good things about changing the voting age, marriage age, or alcohol drinking age but also it showed me some bad things that could happen also if we changed some things.

The Year Of The Youth Vote

Now, is the time of the coalition of youth voters. I believe that this year our vote count will be liberal and have no limit to the powers of how much it will change our nation’s views. Youth voters don’t want someone who is evangelical running our country. Youth voters want a progressive incumbent that will help our country do more then start wars and make us pay so much for gasoline. Obama is that change our nation is looking for. Youth voters want his ways, they want to be able to stand up proud for their country and I think Obama is going to do that for American citizens. This article states that youth voters gave him as much as 17,000 votes. The United States of America need someone as powerful as Barack Obama weather you’re a republican constituent or a democratic, Obama is going to help this poor nation succeed in the future. We don’t need another conservative leader. We need change. We need to help us, the people of America.

Presidential Elections

For my humanities class we did a mock election/debate on Monday, February 11th for our presidential candidates of 2008. My topic I had to research was education and Mitt Romney of the republican side, views on it. I also had to research my opponent’s views so it would help me in the debate. During this experience I learned about the republican’s views on education and about how poorly we are treating both our teachers and children’s academic skills. I found that while researching I learned a lot about the education that our nation is providing kids and some of the ways we could improve it but I also saw that these issues are confusing. I learned that the running candidates make their speeches more complicated then they really are so they seem more eligible for the job. I learned a lot through this project for instance about the no child left behind program. The No Child Left Behind act requires that, in order for states to receive federal funding, all teachers must be "highly qualified" as defined in the law by the end of the 2006-07 school year. A highly qualified teacher is one who has fulfilled the state's certification and licensing requirements, obtained at least a bachelor's degree, and demonstrated subject matter expertise. I also learned about how low we treat our teachers considering they are giving knowledge to our uprising generation. The United States of America is paying teachers an average of $40,000 a year, which is below the average pay for an American by $8,000. I learned that Governor Romney claims he would give funding to the No child Left Behind act if he were president and give teachers a performance based pay. I think that Mitt Romney is a pretty decent candidate for our presidential elections and would think about voting for him if I was old enough. Overall I really liked this project and learned a lot about the election process and the candidates that are on this year’s ballot.

5 California Men Are Charged in Fire That Burned 53 Homes in California

This article in the New York Times is really interesting. It was about the divisive fires that burned down 53 homes in several different places in California. 5 men were at origin of the fire, in a spot known for late-night parties, and they were not being scrupulous. They didn't put out their fire and the ashes soon spread. It took several days for the fires to reside and atrophy. These fires were capacious of harm and injured over 90 people. The firefighters soon were pinnacle and fought off the flames that usurp California. These five men should be ashamed of their conniving effect on our houses. The fires almost seemed fabricated to us in California who had to live through the fires, it was like a nightmare.

The Waiting room

The play “The Waiting Room” is an inspirational piece of writing that shows girls that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Is beauty what we look on the outside or what others see in our hearts? This play discusses three main women from around the world trying to fit in and be beautiful. Their names are Wanda, Forgiveness from Heaven, and Victoria. Wanda is a city girl from New Jersey who has given up her natural beauty for cosmetic beauty. She is so caught up in making herself ‘beautiful’ that she changes every ‘bad’ aspect of her body. Forgiveness from Heaven is a Chinese maiden from the eighteen hundreds who has foot bindings to make her feet smaller. Her husband loves the putrid smell that oozes from her feet and that is why she keeps them bound. She is so wrapped up in making her feet beautiful that she doesn’t even care that her toes are falling off. Victoria is a woman from France who wears a corset to make her appear more beautiful. She is a hard headed woman who believes that her husband’s way is the only way until she is diagnosed with hysteria. She then breaks off from her husband and starts studying Freud, while biting people randomly. She gets a hysterectomy and goes back to believing her husband is the perfect man. Meanwhile Forgiveness has enough of her husband and Wanda hasn’t yet found the perfect guy who truly likes her for herself and not her breast.
The key point of this play is the perspective of beauty. It tells the story of these different girls and what they think beauty. Everyone has a different opinion on what true beauty is which proves the point of the play that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I love the way Lisa Loomer (play writer) concluded the play. It sums up everything that we as readers were supposed to think about while reading or watching the play. I think the only thing I would want to know more about how Douglas went through with his treatment and what happened to Victoria. I thought that we should know how Victoria’s relationship with Oliver went and if they had any difficulties once she got back.
It was amazing seeing how each Character progressed throughout each event and I can see where they are going in the future as if I know them. Victoria first started out letting her husband control her but got more independent by doing her own stuff even if her husband doesn’t approve of it. By the end she was back to where she started, taking orders from her husband. Forgiveness from Heaven did anything and everything including losing her toes to make her husband happy. She did stuff she didn’t want to do so he would be satisfied. Towards the end of the play you could see that she was getting tired of the way her husband treated her and wanted to get away. She ended dancing while taking off her binding which shows what she really wanted to do, be free from the foot pains. Wanda always made changes to herself to make herself appeal to other people but when this turned out to be a bad thing she didn’t care what other people thought of her and did what she needed to do. She decided she was perfect the way she was and she was perfect even before going under the knife.
Overall this play was a magnificent learning experience and anyone would love this play as long as you keep your mind open. It shows you that everyone is beautiful the way they are and they don’t need to change any part of them. The right person will bring out the best in you and you don’t need to change for a man.