3D Printing A Chess Set

The name of this course is "Rapid Prototyping." For the second Action Project of my STEAM course this Elective Term, we had to use a design, voted on by our class to create 3D Printed chess pieces. We also had to create a clay and cardboard model of our piece to kind of match the 3D model. This was all extremely fun, and time-consuming, but sometimes time- consuming is a good thing. There was math involved, as we had to calculate the Riemann sum of our 3D Printed piece! All, such cool stuff! The challenge was make every little thing we did precise, and this was a challenge because humans aren't perfect and the design that we had is just a little bit complex. Like I said before, this was a fun project and 3D Printers very well may be the future of humanity!!

Letter Generator 4000

The name of this course is "Rapid Prototyping," and don't worry, it's not AS complicated as it sounds. For the first Action Project of my Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) course this Elective Term, we had to use what we have learned the entire course to take advantage of the complex technology available to us (Cameo Cutter) and create a letter that was assigned to us. The other part of the project was to create a handmade version of that same letter. All together, we had to create a total of four letters, one letter on the Cameo and handmade, and another on the Cameo and handmade, and that's four. We did this to observe the very distinct differences between the handmade and machine-made letters. This was NOT easy, but very fun and creative.  It took a great amount of time to make my letters actually look good. On the positive side, I learned a lot about how to use the Cameo Cutter, which was pretty cool.

 

Smoooth Cycling

In the second unit of Design & Engineering, I learned that the customer wants what they want. If they want us to adjust to their needs and wants, then the producer will adjust because they want more sales. We specifically targeted bikes and how we can innovate and change them. This was quite interesting as I never found a problem with bikes before I got into thinking deeply about them. I would say that, despite my great experiences with bikes, I'm surprised and proud that I pushed myself to a point where I could critique them. I especially applaud the design of the bike, simply because they're so useful. This truly helped me understand how to innovate in order to start building my bicycle with my partner! The purpose of building our bicycle is to piece together everything we've learned throughout this course, pertaining to empathizing with our customer and the mechanics of building a bike itself!!

"Smoooth" By DR & MF. Oct 21, 2015.

From researching existing bikes, I've learned that regular bikes are boring and full of flaws. I've also learned that, although those bikes are boring, in order to innovate them, we may have to keep some of the key elements of the original bike, in order for the bike to run properly. "Bikes are so innovative and creative, you can do anything you want with them," Said by a specialist named Micah. I fully agree with this statement to an extent. By saying, "you can do anything you want with them," you are presenting false information because I have had multiple ideas where I stopped and thought about "how?," meaning there are certain components of the bike that you may have to keep in order for the bike to actually move.

For our assignment, my partner and I were asked to create a bike for Christine, a 13 year old girl that commutes to school for 3 miles. She likes a comfortable ride where she can enjoy riding up and down the hills on her way to school, even while it rains. The bike cannot be that heavy, as this young girl must store her bike in her family's storage unit, five steps below ground.

My new bike includes several features such as a new and more comfortable seat where you can sit back, an umbrella port and a waterproof basket for rainy days! This multi-speed bike allows Christine to get to school smooothly, as she crosses over hills and enjoys the scenery on a rainy day. We specifically designed this bike to improve Christine's experience getting to school. Trust our design because it's FOR YOU. It will allow you to cruise down the path as you are protected from rain. It also supports you in storing your bike when you get home from school! Everything you asked for!

"Model of Smoooth" By DR & MF. Oct 22, 2015.

"Model of Smoooth" By DR & MF. Oct 22, 2015.

Calculations:

Our persona’s commute is 3 miles and it will take her about 16 minutes to get to school. Given this information, the average speed of our persona is 11.25 miles per hour, or 5.02 meters per second. The diameter of our wheels is 28 inches. To find the circumference of our wheels, we had to multiply the diameter of our wheels (28) by pi (3.14), and the answer is 87.96 inches. As far as wheel rotations go, 3 miles divided by 87.96 inches is 2,161 rotations!

The scale we used to create our model is: 2.75 inches on model = 28 inches in real life, so 1 inch on our model = 28/2.75 or 10.18 inches in real life.

Our gear ratio is 3:2. Our bike needs gears because our persona needs to travel up and down hills. For every three pedal rotations, the wheel will turn twice. We made sure the big cog is in the front of our bike for smooother riding. The front chainring has 20 teeth and the back cog has 30 teeth.

Since my persona will be riding over hills and such, potential energy is stored while she's at the top of the hill. Kinetic energy is presented everywhere else or specifically when the bike is moving.

When coming up with the design of our bike, there was many problems. One obstacle we had to overcome while creating the bike was the constant pressure of being able to enjoy riding in the rain. We decided to install an umbrella port and basket at the front of the bike that has a waterproof material that flaps over to protect whatever's in the basket. Another obstacle we had to overcome while creating this bike was the fact that our customer wanted more comfort. We thought of the bike seat being an actual seat, where you can rest your back and your butt won't hurt like when you sit on regular bicycle seats.

Is It Because I'm Black?

The last unit for my Rhetoric class, "Unite," had the guiding question: how does rhetoric inspire and mobilize? We discussed how to use rhetoric to inspire others to take action by looking at some early attempts at uniting different groups around a specific cause in America. For our action project, we had to create some form of art that "speaks" on an idea and I chose the medium of literature. I've created a poem, titled, “Is it Because I’m Black”, speaking directly to the issue of racial profiling. Upon creating my piece, I had to dig deeply and remember what I love about my African American heritage! I was reminded, unfortunately, that racial profiling is still a problem, not only originating from policemen, but from African Americans, too. It’s my personal belief that there would be no such thing as racial profiling if some African Americans got their lives together! (I’ll explain exactly what I mean by this in my Artist’s Statement following my poem) Many are scared to say that, though. I must say, it wasn't easy to create my poem or even articulate explanation for my artistic choices, but of course, I feel like the message that I got across was worth it! I really love this poem and I hope you love it, too. It's one of my strongest pieces!

"Malcolm X/MLK." Wikipedia. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

Is it because I'm black?

Man, I hate that crap

Blacks suspicious like water when it's tap

When you're black, and see a policemen, just assume it's a trap

Is it because I'm black?

I'm not really sure if I understand

Do you think discriminating against blacks makes you the man?

Or... Or is it because I'm black?

Am I supposed to be out on a corner sellin' crack?

Or breakin' my back

Running from police?

This ain't track,

Man, that's whack!

I think it's 'cuz I'm black.

You know, It never made sense to me...

I bet you they would arrest a blind black man...

Like, "why are you cuffing me, I can't even see!?"

It's definitely because I'm black

Or maybe it's because they don't wanna see

Any Productivity

Out the black race

Or... Or maybe they wanna see us eat without saying grace

Or.. Maybe they wanna see all blacks get a lil penitentiary taste

Yea, these are all horrible things,

But do my eyes deceive me?

Are things not what they seem to be?

Or what we see on tv?

Oh, it's DEFINITELY because I'm black

But lemme take you back

Back when everybody was pro-black

When Martin had a dream,

Remember that?

And you could hear Malcolm X scream... "by any means"

Remember that?

They say it's because I'm black

I say compassion's what they lack

I say slavery... is equivalent to "enslaving me"

And as a young black man I just wanna be free.

(Thank you)

This poem was inspired by the discrimination of African Americans around the US. This issue is so important to me because whenever I decide to have children, I don't want to have to worry about them being racially profiled. Why would that even be a concern of mine? It doesn't make sense for me, as a young black man, to fear for my life as a police car rolls by.

I looked up the definition of "police" and what I found online was: “the civil force of a national or local government, responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order.” When you think the phrases, "public order" and "detection of crime," do you think of policemen or do you think of police brutality? Crazy, right? My artwork's message is to bring more awareness and contribute my own personal perspective on the wrong-doings of some of the policemen in this nation.

I feel like this is important and I'm sure many would agree with me. Those people would also understand the emotional appeal of my topic. Even if you don’t understand or feel the need to care about this issue, you still have to have a heart. I’ve had family members beat in front of me just because something went down in the area and we’re all black. I know you have heard a story or two about a white cop killing or cuffing a black man for no legitimate reason and it concerns me to know that we can't even trust policemen to keep us safe. Look at Trayvon Martin who was killed for simply walking home while wearing a hoodie, because he was black. Look at Walter Lamer Scott who was shot down and then wrongfully accused of stealing a policeman’s stun gun, because he was black.

Some specific reasons why this topic concerns me may just blow your mind. Here are some mind blowing statistics (from Wikipedia):

1. Racial profiling un-officially began in 1693, when Philadelphia's court officials gave police legal authority to stop and detain any "negro" (freed or enslaved) seen wandering around on the streets!
2. June 2003, the Department of Justice issued its Guidance Regarding the Use of Race by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies forbidding racial profiling by federal law enforcement officials.
3. As of 2000, fewer African American men were in college than were in prison.
4. The average black kid is nine times as likely to have one parent in jail than the average white kid.

I chose to express my feelings about this issue through a thoughtful poem. This literary medium requires using a pen, of course, and a piece of paper. The medium of my choosing also requires the mental intelligence of what’s going on in the world. My preferred writing device is my phone, which is where I keep most of my spoken pieces. I feel like talking through my poems is a powerful form of expressing myself to others, and I hope you enjoyed my poem as much as I enjoyed crafting it for you and more importantly, speaking out on the issue of police brutality and profiling!

My poem has quite a lot of strong ethical appeal. I allude to my African American heritage a lot, which ties into my credibility as a writer and speaker on this top. I use Allusion to tie my poem back into the history of African American greatness, such as: Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. I use Hypophora to add pizzazz and present rhetorical questions, such as: “is it because I’m black?” and “but do my eyes deceive me?”. I seem to use Similes and Metaphors as well, such as comparing track to running from police or when I referenced blacks to being suspicious like tap water.

Due to the rhetoric and influence of my poem, I believe that anyone who is concerned about the same things I'm concerned about will help me in abolishing the discrimination against African Americans!

References:

"Racial Profiling." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

What Every Black Woman Should "Aspire to Be"

In Unit 2, Challenge, we discussed how the use of Rhetoric can inspire or pressure others. One of the guiding questions for this Unit was, "who has used Rhetoric to challenge the status quo?" This goes hand and hand with the video I have chosen below. The purpose of our Action Project is to generally use our brain to find out why a text is effective or not. The video I have chosen is a performance by "Ernestine Johnson," where she glorifies feministic power and redefines what/ or who the "Average Black Girl" is. The moment I found out about Ms. Johnson, I couldn't help but to follow her work. The task at hand (annotating the text) isn't easy, but I HAVE to give credit where it's due. Overall, although the text was hard to annotate, and the message itself was so rigorous, I had an excellent time conducting this project.

Tiller Kicks!

The first STEAM course of my Junior year, Design & Engineering, is about re-evaluating your definition of "design." Unit 1, Stronger, talked about how to use empathy to make a product more effective and useful for its users. The purpose of our Action Project was to change our product to be more elder-friendly. My partner’s and my tool was the "Hand Tiller." It seemed like a very fun tool to research and redesign so we were quick to choose it. The photos below depict our new product, the better and more elder-friendly version of the "Hand Tiller." It was quite hard to come up with ideas but it was fun at the same time. I had an interesting time and I hope you enjoy my project as much as I enjoyed making it for you! Thank you!

"Tiller Kicks" By JV. Sep 24, 2015.

"Tiller Kicks' Storyboard" By JV. Sep 24, 2015.

"The Physics Behind It" By JV. Sep 27th, 2015. 

The purpose of this assignment is to innovate equipment so that it is more effective for people of all ages. The user I am trying to appeal to is someone who has a garden and needs to turn soil. The assignment is focused on older people though. We learned a lot about empathy, which is feeling something for someone else. It relates to this project because we listen to what our elderly have to say, and start re-designing off of that.
I interviewed my grandmother, who is a gardener, and found out some interesting stuff:

• Tools are effective for older people
• Gardening is calming to some
• Your garden is also something to show off to others

Another thing that interested me was a certain quote she had said: “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I can’t do it all the time. Don’t have the strength.” This fit in amazingly with my project since not all old people hate being active and gardening, but it just takes up too much energy and time. I also learned that the tool I chose has never been VERY elder-friendly. I’ve observed that all of these tools lack visual appeal and I have also examined the effectiveness of the tool and want it to stay effective but with less force applied.

Our new tool is "Tiller Kicks." - Jashawn Products. This product will be a strap on shoe, but it will have tines on the bottom to turn and mix the soil. Generally, it does what the original Tiller would do, but it can be worn on your foot. Also it's automatic with a small remote to turn it on. Initially, the tines turn under your feet when you turn them on, and MAKE SURE you take the safety locks off!
I believe this is an improvement because of 3 reasons:

• This can be worn on your foot
• It is automatic
• It is more effective than the original hand tiller

Applying my tool more to science, the tines at the bottom of the shoe serve as wedges, cutting and chopping up dirt and soil.

But, indeed, we encountered many obstacles and here's how we solved them; we discussed how to make the shoe safer. We came up with the idea of toe slip-ins/protectors and/or a firm bottom with a hard, light surface. We also discussed how to make it more effective but with less work. We came up with the idea of the Tiller Kicks Remote so you don't have to bend down to turn them on. More importantly, we discussed how to keep the user steady while they had one foot in their Tiller Kick. We thought about the Tiller only being placed on one foot so you have your other foot for balance and also making the tine at the bottom of the Tiller Kick durable enough to walk on.

For Free?

The first Humanities course of my Junior year, Rhetoric, is about the art of persuasion. In Unit 1, Suppose, we discussed how to use Rhetoric in our speeches and language. We looked into the meaning of "persuasive and effective writing." The purpose of our Action Project is to put these techniques to good use, by creating an effective, attention-grabbing speech about a selected topic. My topic is, "Why should we have to pay to get to and from school?" I have thought about this very frequently and decided to dive deeper into it with this speech. The video below, is of me performing this speech and it was not easy. Along with all the research required to complete my essay, I have learned that this issue may be more of a problem than I even thought before.

For Free? from GCE Student on Vimeo.

Running late for school, but hey, who cares? I’m gonna be late anyway. But man, this old thing? (tosses Ventra) Let me tell you guys something. WHAT IS WRONG WITH CTA, and the government as a whole? Why do STUDENTS have to pay to go to school?? In what universe does this make sense? I wanna be successful like anyone else, but why is it necessary that I, as a child, have to pay? Sure, the government may have its reasons, but why should I have to go through this as a scholar? Instead of focusing on my ACT scores and grades 2015(the things that I've been told since I was even younger that will help me ACHIEVE SUCCESS), I have to scramble to get the necessary currency just to "get to school". WHY SHOULD THIS BE A PROBLEM ON A YOUNG SCHOLAR'S MIND?

I could appeal to you guys logically and tell you all that I spend approximately $294.08 every term or every 4 months just getting to and from school. Or that some CTA conductors aren't even "in the mood" to reduce the fare you have to pay or they give you attitude, when they should be supporting us. But there's a simple way to solve this. Why are we paying in THE FIRST PLACE?

I could cry to you guys about how some days I was stuck trying to find a ride or beg someone with a dollar or two to put me on the train. Or that I couldn't buy my little brother that birthday present that I wanted to get him because saving up is so hard. Or how hard it is for my family to cough up $294 every 4 months just for me to get to school and back home. Not to mention the extra money to put food in my system during my school's off-campus lunch.

However, I could also just say that because I am a student, you have to listen to me. Or...rr that my voice is stronger because of that. Maybe it is, but this doesn't change the fact that this morning I went through a crisis. I had no idea if I had money on my card and I was broke. Walking out of the house, this became a problem because I'm not rich like Bill Gates, I'm broke. This prohibits me from pulling out a couple hundreds and saving the day with my magical money tree’s ability. I bet if you listen closely, you can hear my wallet screeching.

Furthermore, it is almost inevitable that this topic is extremely important. I hope I've inspired others to speak up. Why do us, as students, have to pay to GET TO SCHOOL. We're butterflies trying to flap our wings, but can't because we're caught in a web and the government is the spider. That same spider is the one telling us that if we don't go school, we won't be successful. But that SAME SPIDER makes us pay to get there. Whats wrong with this crazy spider? It's all a bit too much.

But to conclude, why are the adults, we someday look to be as successful as, putting us through unnecessary obstacles that could very well reduce our performance in school? Think on that. I'm DR and I'm out.


References:

"CTA Fare Information." Transit Chicago. CTA, 2013. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
"Gov. Rauner's Budget Cuts Could Mean CTA Fare Hike; Let the Class War Begin." Chicago Now. 19 Feb. 2015. Web. 19 Sept. 2015.

Doctor To Patient

In the third unit of Cure, we discussed nutrition and diets, and how we can prevent out bodies from catching certain illnesses. We ultimately surrounded our unit around the question of, "How do we prevent, so cure is unnecessary?" Instead of revolving our discussions around how we get rid of certain illnesses or how we suppress the effects of certain illnesses, we instead, discussed how to take precautions to prevent those illnesses from even corrupting us in the first place. This Action Project is a video of dialogue between a doctor and his patient about how the patient can stay away from getting a certain illness. I chose to get a little creative, and made a slideshow hybrid for your enjoyment. I chose Diabetes as the illness for me to research. This was quite fun, I became really fond of editing videos, even though it's time-consuming!

Do Results Overshadow Intentions?

In our third, and last unit, we discussed what a matriarch is and who could be described as a matriarch in our lives. The term matriarch is commonly used to describe someone who is very mentally strong, or positively cruel; meaning when you care about others so much, you are a bit hard on them, so they're ready for the real world. They can also be described as old/wise, or selfless. We read A Raisin In The Sun, highlighting a character, Mama as the matriarch of the story. She is wise, old, and quite selfless. For our Action Project, we chose from a specific scene of A Raisin In The Sun and followed a main character of that scene through the story. We identified glory, their downfall, and the consequences of his actions. We commented on the character's different moments by writing commentary in the form of a Greek chorus. I chose the character of Walter because of his commitment to family and his love for being in charge. In my Action Project, I chose to address the issue of blockbusting, that started in the 1940s and still takes place in different ways today. My chorus is ultimately highlighting Walter as a man of love and family, and defending him in losing the $6500 that Mama gave to him. The story will be explained below...

Background Check: Bronchitis

In the second unit of my class, Cure, I though it would be "exciting" to study Chronic Bronchitis since I have it. We discussed what is supposed to go on a medicine box and why those things are important. We went over what symptoms were and how we are supposed to treat them, the correct way. We had little problem finding motivation, as we visited multiple stores to help us create our own medicine box! So our Action Project, as you may have guessed, is to create a medicine box! Your were right! We also used a QR code to link directly to my video...

Below is the 6 different sides of my medicine box, followed by a video of me, factorizing my box's sides by using quadratic functions. 

Modern Day Historic Conversation

For the second Unit of my "Drama" class, we studied how people view women as "dolls" and how some women or men have stood up to "gender roles" through theater. Throughout this unit, we have read and discussed all of two play writes: "A Doll's House" and "The Little Foxes." In both plays, there was a woman or man who brought upon stereotypes of how women "should" play their role in a relationship. My peers and I, also attended a play about Marie Antoinette and discussed how she follows the expectations of "gender roles." For our action project, we had to create a script for a conversation that we would have with a character from A Doll's House. We also had to choose a female historic figure to add to our conversation, and I chose Hera, the queen of all gods and goddess. I chose Hera because she would be very interesting in explaining the role of women as she has ruled her whole life. My conversation sets in Hera's palace, with special guest "Zan" from Little Foxes, as we discuss how the world has changed as our generations have past.

Degenderizing!

My very last STEAM course, CURE, revolves around how we can prevent or get rid of disease or illness. The first unit that we studied (Emergency) revolves around surgery and how it affects the body. Emergency is defined as an urgent matter or situation. That's what we discussed throughout the term. The purpose of this assignment was to acknowledge a certain surgery and learn how it affects the body and what it does to the body. I think surgery can be very useful at times and this comes as a compliment because many think it makes people "fake." This project was very fun. It's always fun to work with the Prezi program! I chose Adam's Apple Reduction because I wanted to better understand how the Adam's Apple works with the body.

Remember Your Values Kate

My last Humanities course of the year, Drama, is all about how we view females through the work of plays. In Unit 1, we defined what a "shrew" was and how it relates to feminism. A shrew is a women who likes to bend the rules and let her voice be heard, loudly. The purpose of the assignment we had to do was to help us understand how Shakespeare time period affected feminism. I honestly think that women should have as much power as anyone else. It's just that, we have created this world where women are inferior to men, but not enough women fight back. If not most, some even contribute to the stereotypes of them being inferior by living under these stereotypes. The shrew of our story, "The Taming of the Shrew," is the one and only Kat. Kat was an once empowering woman who believed that women should be in control of their own lives. I want to help her re-realize this through my poem!




Who writes your book?
Men are controlling and menacing, can't you see
You call that love? But your life is what he took
You say, "And be it moon, or sun, or what you please, Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.”

Is the merriment thought of living a justified life so bad?
Ofcourse you were once the person I sought you to be
But, no cullion is important enough for you to give up your life for free
All you really need is the stomach to regain your true sense for no fee, because that's who you should be to me….. yourself

You may not ever give up your beliefs for no one!
And even then, keep your beliefs because you are a swine
Kat let them hear you purr, by the way there is no disrespect, you're the swine women can only wish they were
Attitude is what makes you fine as wine

Remember, for what I tell you is only gonna make you step forth
Think I'm lying, then let your self tell you to rise north

The Absolutely Positively False Diary of A Full-Time Indian

In my third and last action project for my Forbidden Books class, my peers and I were assigned to read a book. The whole third unit was revolved around "Diversity," which happens to be the name of the unit as well. We discussed how derogatory language can get you in trouble and how effectively it's can influence a person. We also discovered a little bit more about why Diversity can be "dangerous" in some ways. I chose the book, "The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian." I chose This book because it kind of spoke to me, I found the term used in the title, about "part-time," pretty interesting. For this project, we had to take our book and analyze it, using one of the five different interpretations. I chose to interpret my text by defining how the main character of my book is a "gadfly." The book is definitely a wonderful read, and it's really fun to follow the storyline, too! I would recommend it, even though it was hard to interpret.

Deshawn Rivers

Forbidden Books

March 18, 2015

The Absolutely Positively False Diary of A Full-Time Indian

Is someone different because they don’t look the same as you? In that case, what’s the definition of “differen”? Well, then everyone would be different, right? Because everyone doesn’t look the same! If this is true (which it is), then why did people come up with “same”? We have to correctly define “different” in order to abolish discrimination. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time India, takes place in an Indian reservation 21 miles away from Reardan in Washington State. Junior, the protagonist of the story,  is looked at differently just because he looks different than the Whites. He ends up going to school in Reardan which is why much of the story is set there. Junior is a gadfly because he encourages people to look past discrimination and discouragement by utilizing his ability to be both White and Indian.

For one thing, Junior acts as a gadfly by always making his voice heard. By making his voice heard, he bypasses all Indian stereotypes to make an impression on the White people. For example, when Junior started attending Reardan. Reardan is a completely different environment, compared to the rez, where he originally went to school, due to the fact that it is composed of mostly White people. Knowing how Whites treat Indians, Junior continues to want more. Junior bypasses the fact that Indians aren’t supposed to have “hope” and attends Reardan where he will prosper. This goes to show that Junior is about his values and fulfilling his dreams, and he doesn’t let any words hold him back from having his own “hope.” Junior wants what’s best for himself and could care less about what others think, “I want to go to Reardan,” I said again. I couldn’t believe I was saying it. For me, it seemed as real as saying, “I want to fly to the moon.” (Alexie 46)

Another key point is that Junior is full Indian, in contradiction with the title of the novel, which is The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The meaning behind the title is that Junior went to depths that no other Indian at his rez would have attempted, and he is no longer “full” Indian since he spends most his time with Whites. The point that the author of the book was trying to make was that Junior is full Indian, but the way he was portrayed is Indian and White. He wanted to have “hope” so much, he had to at least act like a White person a little bit. It’s a statement that is installed in most people’s minds because we are trained to think superiority exists. He even started adapting to the White environment by making friends and doing things like joining the basketball team and taking rides home from people at the White school. An example of how the Whites treat the Indians is when Junior went to the dental office, “And what’s more, our White dentist believed that Indians only felt half as much pain as White people did, so he only gave us half the Novocain” (Alexie 2).

Furthermore, Junior is a gadfly because he showed the Indians and Whites what they didn’t want to see. He went to a school in contradiction with his social background and he made “change” which most publishers or readers may have interpreted as dangerous. Most people may have seen Junior’s actions as “dangerous” because he tried something that no other Indians would have tried. Junior was the one to stop being a bystander. He wasn’t going to live behind some false stereotypes, and I think that he proved the Whites wrong. Although Junior had some harsh realizations, he grew as a person and realized that the Rez is home, despite all the stereotypes. He still did a very courageous thing in attending Reardan and he may have inspired others to be Indian. Junior destroyed Indian stereotypes for lots of people in the story. Although the protagonist is trying to fulfill his dreams and do something different, Junior starts to realizes that there is no place like home, “So what was I doing in racist Reardan, where more than half of every graduating class went to college? Nobody in my family had ever gone near a college” (Alexie 56).

Hoping  people will open their eyes and their minds to stop discrimination against "different" people, no matter their color, size or, shape. Anyone can do what they want when they want. Believe it or not, most people started to think of this book as a threat. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was first censored in Reardan, Washington. This place was also inside of the book, where Junior went to school. It’s pretty unfair and unconstitutional. To be honest, it’s just a book, there’s no intentions of disrespectful content, especially to the government or brainwashing children. Main factors of why the book was censored were because of: sexual content, profanity, racism, homosexuality, “dangerous” content on rebelling.

Consequently, the "interracial" Junior annoyed the other characters with his courage and curiosity. To reiterate; my first topic was how Juniors bypassed stereotypes so people would understand/ and or hear him. My second topic was, Junior is full Indian, contradicting the name of the book. My third topic is that Junior is a Gadfly because he showed the Whites what they didn’t want to see. He agitated Whites and Indians with his craziness, creativity, and drive, just how a gadfly agitates people.

Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. Chaos: The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian. Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2007. Print.

"Banned Books Discussion." Banned Books. Joseph, 22 June 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.

The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian Censored. Digital image. Flickr. Robert Dumas, 21 Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.

Better Brush Your Teeth; Don't Wanna Get Yellow Fever

For the third Action Project of my Disease class, my peers and I were assigned to choose an epidemic that affected a population. The third unit of Disease is called "World," and that is exactly what we studied. We discussed, throughout the unit, how diseases affect the world; hence the term: epidemic. I chose Yellow Fever, a disease transmitted from Mosquitoes. Specifically, the Yellow Fever outbreak in Barcelona, Spain in 1821. I chose this epidemic because Yellow Fever has always been very interesting to me because there's so many Mosquitoes in the world and one could possibly end your life. This is even more interesting because I got bit by hundreds of them over the last summer. This project was not easy, but as usual, it was super fun to complete!

Below is a visual of some places that were affected by my disease:

What is Yellow Fever? Thanks for asking! Yellow Fever is a disease that you can get from Mosquitoes, normally in Tropical South Africa. The species of the mosquito is: Aedes Aegypti. Yellow Fever is commonly transmitted by the female mosquito. This disease can also affect other species of Mosquitoes. Yellow Fever annually kills 30,000 people a year and infects 200,000 people a year. Yellow Fever was the first ever human virus; discovered on the island of Barbados, in 1647.

Some symptoms of Yellow Fever are harsh fever, lost of appetite, nausea, muscle pains, mostly in back and head. In some cases, the fever keeps coming back or the body pains keep coming back, or your skin begins to turn yellow, which really makes this disease even more fatal. It can also cause kidney problems and hear failure which results in death!

The specific Epidemic I am targeting is the Yellow Fever outbreak in Barcelona, Spain, 1821. The outbreak happened through the docks coming from Cuba, apparently a brick was contagious and it got transported to people within Barcelona. It first started to affect the urban poor suburbs of Barcelona, then made its way to the center of the city. An estimated 20,000/120,000 died from the disease. That's a whole 1/6 of the FULL population of Barcelona at the time!! A quarantine was put into immediate effect, due to this epidemic. It was controlled by an estimated 15,000 soldiers! This quarantine seemed to be one of the main forms of resistance towards the disease and may be he cause of its decline. I would have suggested that the people of Barcelona use ovitraps. Ovitraps are traps that trap the eggs of insects. This idea will not only reduce mosquito populations, but it will reduce pesticides which can be harmful to humans and plants. 

Generally, a disease as fatal as yellow fever and since it can be transmitted by an insect, (mosquito) then it is definitely a potential epidemic or pandemic. So on a R Naught scale, I would say this disease is over 1. This also means that this disease has the potential to spread out of control and does not decline.

In my images you will find some patterns or epidemics I found interesting, relating to my epidemic. I used a software named GapMinder to find some relevant patterns in the way that epidemics affect other places around the same time as mine. GapMinder is a graphing program where it shows you different kinds of statistics for different countries. Something like TV sales and suicide rates. Just random things like these are examples of what you can do on GapMinder. Playing around with it, I learned about how Epidemics affected population and how drought affected population.

In the photos, you will see that I am using the software and on the software, you will see that my main out-liers are China and Indonesia in the first picture. Meaning that there was most activity in those two countries when a drought occurred. Now this is important because the holder of my disease are mosquitoes. I bet you can't guess what mosquitoes eat! They drink water, and without any water, a lot of mosquitoes die. My second image has China and India as out-liers. Now, this set of data represents populations as epidemics were happening. I found it super interesting that India and China stayed really strong in numbers, even though they are hugely populated countries.

References:
"[The "plague" of Barcelona. Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1821]." NCBI. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.

"Gapminder." Gapminder. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.

Bipolar Disorder: How Does It Feel?

For my second action project of my Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math class (STEAM), me and my peers, after learning a lot about disorders and how they affect people, had to choose our own disorders to research. Bipolar I seemed very interesting to me, it always has been. I think it's actually FASCINATING that the mind can force you into some major mood swings. If your body forces you into anything, then it must be very strong in some way. First off, what I learned about most of these disorders is that they affect some people who you would never even know suffers from that disorder. We were supposed to create an activity that helped our viewers connect with our disorder more. This is what made the project interesting!


For my simulation, I decided to use a paper ball, headphones, and a device that can play audio. Basically, you put in headphones and you will hear a man and a woman speaking through the audio. The woman will be telling you to open the paper ball and the man will be telling you to smash the paper ball. The man will be speaking very aggressively. When you open the paper ball it will say "Smash It." That is my simulation.

Why? (GQ)	What does it feel like to have Bipolar Disorder? What does it feel like to interact with a person living with Bipolar Disorder?	Time =
How?	How will I guide my classmates to experience these feelings? At the end of this lesson, students will have: Found out how it feels to have two personalities Used their inner voice to control their action Transitioned from very angry to very joyful several times Open up a balled up piece of paper with “Smash It” Listened audio screaming at them, whether digital or person	3
What? Agenda & Content	How will I guide my classmates to experience these feelings? Intro Simulation - Which criteria for this disorder need to be highlighted? Debrief Do’s and Don’ts Do’s: Listen to the audio and only the audio. Focus on your object (commonly used as paper ball) Try your hardest to get the full experience Follow Directions Dont’s: Don’t listen to any other audios while performing this simulation Please try your best to understand how my simulation relates to Bipolar I Disorder React to my simulation how you would normally react	5-6
Closure	Reflection (Writing) How might you respond differently to someone living with the disorder you studied?	4
Materials	Headphones Balled up piece of paper Device that can use headphones to play my audio

My brochure for my disease include some interesting facts about Bipolar I Disorder. It is presented below: