Sunday, June 4, 2017
Pitch Perfect
This is the very last action project of my senior year here at GCE Lab School. Our Social Entrepreneurship class has been so important to me, especially before college. Business is not easy. Entrepreneurship is not easy. This project has definitely helped me find myself and what I want to do. This is our one and only project for this course, but for good reason. Throughout this course, we had heavy preparation for this project. We actually had mass amounts of time to develop and carry out an idea for a business. I love music, as you guys might know. I am pitching an idea to Soundcloud to allow artists to collaborate easier. My knowledge of the world and myself has expanded in this course. I know more than I ever did about what businesses do, why they do it, and how they do it. This project was extremely cool and I was very interested and passionate about it. I think my logo is pretty cool, and I wanted to make sure you all understand how important it is for people to come together.
Friday, June 2, 2017
How To Survive In The Music World
For the last Humanities action project of my high school career, I was asked to create a survival guide. For the first and second action project of this course, we mapped out our mission and worked towards it. This action project digs deeper into how what we will face on our path to success. This unit, Apotheosis, was mainly just uncovering who we are and how we can "survive" in our own skin. I chose to pursue music in my journey because it's my passion. I learned so much about myself this unit, and it's truly amazing how much you can learn about yourself, that you didn't already know. This project was hard, simply because it's hard to dig deep. Even though I challenged myself, I think my project came out very nice. I want people to chase their dreams. If you are viewing this, don't be scared to unleash your inner creativity.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
My Work For Jackson Guild, INC.
I have worked with Ms. Janay Jackson for about 7 months. This program was very enlightening. Teaching the youth has always been something very dear to my heart. The fact that I got to help younger and older people learn valuable lessons about business and real estate was just amazing. I thank this organization for helping me feel how it is to work in an office and to feel how it is to impact lives. Teaching older people has always brought this sense of irony to me, and I think it's really awesome that people are always seeking knowledge. I really hope that future volunteers understand that "knowledge is power." I will make sure that others know the real power of intelligence! Get informed!
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Tuesday, May 16, 2017
No Phone, No Problem
The second unit of my Endurance course, Katabasis was all about the trials & tribulations of our figurative hero. In this project, we are that hero. We must "endure" something for 12 hours and log our experiences. The significance of this 12 hours is for you to determine. You can go on a twelve-hour hike, play video games, or even build a mini shed aquarium. The idea of this project is to achieve the mission that you set out in the first unit. Or at least get one step closer. I chose to simply not use my phone for 12 hours. I decided that I could become a better artist if I just became one with the art. No distractions. No phone calls, text messages, or games. During this project, I think I found out that writing music kind of hinders my creativity. There's something about writing music instead of typing it for me. Typing is always more ideal for me. The distractions hinder my creativity as well, though, so I guess I have to pick my poison. This project was intensive, but it was really fun and interesting!
Monday, May 1, 2017
The War Against Myself : Chapter 1
For the first action project of my last Humanities course, Endurance, we were asked to write an auto-biography 50 years into the future. The purpose of this action project is to help us find who we are as human beings. This unit helps us explore our limits and begin to understand what type of people we are. We went through a number of different endurance challenges throughout this unit. It seems right that I will get to talk about myself on this action project, right? I've learned a lot about myself so why not share with you guys! Really digging deep and self-reflecting is not always easy. I think I'm proud of the way things came out though. Thanks for viewing my project! Always remember to be selfless, but you cannot be passionate about anything else if you're not passionate about keeping yourself together!
It felt like I was in a void. From ages 17-20, there was this emptiness. Who am I? That question drove every decision I made over those three years. There are so many things I regret, but if I hadn't made every decision I did, I wouldn't be where I am now.
At 17 years old, I was attending GCE Lab School in my hometown, Chicago, Illinois. GCE was a crucial part of my life. I think it was honestly the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's ironic because my mother put me there. What would I do without her? She's 83 years young, and she still finds time to be the best person in my life. She guided me through my high school years. She was my Captain America. My teenage years weren't even that bad. Why did I need a hero? I wasn't bored. I wasn't starving. What I was doing, was fighting the greatest battle of them all. The fight against myself. My junior year of high school is when I began writing poetry. Shortly after that, I began my music adventure. Both of these things immediately became very important to me. Poetry was bliss. The writing wasn't even my favorite part. Whenever I met other artists, I couldn't wait to exchange art. I'm addicted to good energy! Louder Than A Bomb (LTAB), a poetry organization based in Chicago, was the start of my artistry. Thank you.
At 18 years old, I started thinking. A lot. There wasn't a lot of people on the same level as me. My views and daily thoughts got very philosophical and abstract. I started challenging, not only my beliefs but other peoples' as well. How did our kind get here? No one really knows. Are we not making assumptions based on educated guesses? No one was there when we were created. But I'm not here to preach to you about how your beliefs are wrong or anything like that, but I wanted to bring attention to the fact that somehow someway, we are meant for something. You have to find that something. This was my call. Shortly after that, I was accepted to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. This was a huge change in momentum because I was going to stay in the city and study audio engineering and business, but I didn't want to turn down Morehouse. The opportunity was once in a lifetime. Music still seemed right. Music was powerful. It was creative, original, breathe-taking. I didn't understand the greatness of music for a while. When I started writing and making music, I quickly became more sensitive to art. I started respecting other artists a lot more. I began to understand the broadness of "artistry." I understood music was bigger than sound. Music is silence as well. Music is everywhere.
At 19 years old, my first hit single was released. Love was my first single that went platinum. I never knew this song would blow up like this, nor did I expect it to in the first place. The song is about keeping a stable relationship while being a full-time musician. Being a musician comes with touring, women, and non-stop recording. You can easily dig yourself into a deep hole. Teenage love is complicated. A snippet of the chorus of the song is below:
"She say she love me when I'm on the road
All these beau-ti-ful girls want me to fold
I need someone to keep me warm when it gets cold
But love it will save us until we grow old"
I wrote this story because when the music got serious, I felt myself growing distant from my significant other at the time. I really wanted to be with her so I began writing about how I felt. "All these beau-ti-ful girls want me to fold." I'm basically saying that there are so many women on tour that will try to destroy our relationship, but I won't let it happen. I use music to express myself. It's my language. I wrote "Ma Knows" a year later which was written for my mom. Music is literally another language. You understand some of it, but you can't understand all of it.
After my late teens, things just started going uphill, well, for the most part. The name of the artist collective I was in is called "Exit The Premises" (ETP). These were some of the best years of my life. This group was all of my best friends. All we did, was help each other unlock our potential as artists. We all had independent careers, but we were part of something bigger. Exit The Premises was a statement. Being in ETP was a statement, and we kept it strictly family which was convenient because our family was so talented. Our logo was an alien. This alien represented all of those people who don't exactly "fit in." It was strictly for the creative and experimental. One of our mottos was to just try new things and stop being so hard on ourselves. It was important to realize that music doesn't just have one sound.
My mother is one of the dearest people to me. She taught me to be resilient and to challenge the status quo. She has proven to be the reason for all of my accomplishments. My mother went through a lot. She had me at 16 years old. It was hard, to say the least. I couldn't imagine having a child at that age. The responsibilities and the burden on my social life would be tremendous. My mother quickly became an adult. I almost ruined her teenage years. She loved me, though, and she kept moving forward. My mother's resilience is crazy. She is the reason that I try to be the strongest person I can be. The hardest thing my mom went through was post high school decisions. My mother wanted to go to college for hair. Her mother told her that it is was unrealistic. My mother ended up going to college for what her mother wanted and not for what she wanted. I didn't want to make the same mistake. I ended up going to Morehouse for business, just to understand the business aspect of music, and to be in Atlanta.
My life has been unreal. I starting touring at age 19. I eventually did drop out of Morehouse my sophomore year, but it was a hard decision to make and I had to make it. After obtaining 8 grammies over 10 years, at the age of 29, I started taking online classes at Texas University. I ended up getting my Bachelors Degree. It was for me, as a milestone, and for my family as well. I am now, at the age of 68, a co-founder of Exit The Premises (ETP) and CEO of $$ Records, Where Artists Are Free.
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It felt like I was in a void. From ages 17-20, there was this emptiness. Who am I? That question drove every decision I made over those three years. There are so many things I regret, but if I hadn't made every decision I did, I wouldn't be where I am now.
At 17 years old, I was attending GCE Lab School in my hometown, Chicago, Illinois. GCE was a crucial part of my life. I think it was honestly the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's ironic because my mother put me there. What would I do without her? She's 83 years young, and she still finds time to be the best person in my life. She guided me through my high school years. She was my Captain America. My teenage years weren't even that bad. Why did I need a hero? I wasn't bored. I wasn't starving. What I was doing, was fighting the greatest battle of them all. The fight against myself. My junior year of high school is when I began writing poetry. Shortly after that, I began my music adventure. Both of these things immediately became very important to me. Poetry was bliss. The writing wasn't even my favorite part. Whenever I met other artists, I couldn't wait to exchange art. I'm addicted to good energy! Louder Than A Bomb (LTAB), a poetry organization based in Chicago, was the start of my artistry. Thank you.
At 18 years old, I started thinking. A lot. There wasn't a lot of people on the same level as me. My views and daily thoughts got very philosophical and abstract. I started challenging, not only my beliefs but other peoples' as well. How did our kind get here? No one really knows. Are we not making assumptions based on educated guesses? No one was there when we were created. But I'm not here to preach to you about how your beliefs are wrong or anything like that, but I wanted to bring attention to the fact that somehow someway, we are meant for something. You have to find that something. This was my call. Shortly after that, I was accepted to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. This was a huge change in momentum because I was going to stay in the city and study audio engineering and business, but I didn't want to turn down Morehouse. The opportunity was once in a lifetime. Music still seemed right. Music was powerful. It was creative, original, breathe-taking. I didn't understand the greatness of music for a while. When I started writing and making music, I quickly became more sensitive to art. I started respecting other artists a lot more. I began to understand the broadness of "artistry." I understood music was bigger than sound. Music is silence as well. Music is everywhere.
At 19 years old, my first hit single was released. Love was my first single that went platinum. I never knew this song would blow up like this, nor did I expect it to in the first place. The song is about keeping a stable relationship while being a full-time musician. Being a musician comes with touring, women, and non-stop recording. You can easily dig yourself into a deep hole. Teenage love is complicated. A snippet of the chorus of the song is below:
"She say she love me when I'm on the road
All these beau-ti-ful girls want me to fold
I need someone to keep me warm when it gets cold
But love it will save us until we grow old"
I wrote this story because when the music got serious, I felt myself growing distant from my significant other at the time. I really wanted to be with her so I began writing about how I felt. "All these beau-ti-ful girls want me to fold." I'm basically saying that there are so many women on tour that will try to destroy our relationship, but I won't let it happen. I use music to express myself. It's my language. I wrote "Ma Knows" a year later which was written for my mom. Music is literally another language. You understand some of it, but you can't understand all of it.
After my late teens, things just started going uphill, well, for the most part. The name of the artist collective I was in is called "Exit The Premises" (ETP). These were some of the best years of my life. This group was all of my best friends. All we did, was help each other unlock our potential as artists. We all had independent careers, but we were part of something bigger. Exit The Premises was a statement. Being in ETP was a statement, and we kept it strictly family which was convenient because our family was so talented. Our logo was an alien. This alien represented all of those people who don't exactly "fit in." It was strictly for the creative and experimental. One of our mottos was to just try new things and stop being so hard on ourselves. It was important to realize that music doesn't just have one sound.
My mother is one of the dearest people to me. She taught me to be resilient and to challenge the status quo. She has proven to be the reason for all of my accomplishments. My mother went through a lot. She had me at 16 years old. It was hard, to say the least. I couldn't imagine having a child at that age. The responsibilities and the burden on my social life would be tremendous. My mother quickly became an adult. I almost ruined her teenage years. She loved me, though, and she kept moving forward. My mother's resilience is crazy. She is the reason that I try to be the strongest person I can be. The hardest thing my mom went through was post high school decisions. My mother wanted to go to college for hair. Her mother told her that it is was unrealistic. My mother ended up going to college for what her mother wanted and not for what she wanted. I didn't want to make the same mistake. I ended up going to Morehouse for business, just to understand the business aspect of music, and to be in Atlanta.
My life has been unreal. I starting touring at age 19. I eventually did drop out of Morehouse my sophomore year, but it was a hard decision to make and I had to make it. After obtaining 8 grammies over 10 years, at the age of 29, I started taking online classes at Texas University. I ended up getting my Bachelors Degree. It was for me, as a milestone, and for my family as well. I am now, at the age of 68, a co-founder of Exit The Premises (ETP) and CEO of $$ Records, Where Artists Are Free.
Friday, March 31, 2017
Mylist (The Curator)
For my second Elective course of the year, Mixtapes, we learned about the humanities behind the music. What are solfege and pentatonic notes? Where is the "home" note in this particular song? Is this song on a major or minor scale? These are some questions we thought about while learning about the historical context of music. For our project, we were asked to create a playlist to become the curator for the Pitchfork festival. We must use 5 songs and connect them back to who we are as a person and how we see the world around us. This project was simply amazing, but really hard. Sorry in advance for all the vulgar language in the music.
Hi, my name is Sean, and this is my playlist for Pitchfork. I am a very different person, so I like my music the same way. I want my playlist to be unique and like something that people don’t hear often. I personally am a musician. I’m a Hip-Hop/R&B artist. I rap, sing (although I’m not that great at it), write, and have currently started producing music. As far as the world goes, music is so diverse and different. There’s anything from Rock/Rap collabs to Hip-Hop/R&B collabs. The possibilities are endless. The world around me is cruel but full of great opportunity. Every minute you’re alive, there’s opportunity. The world is so vast and vibrant. My playlist will reflect my morals in life. Some type of originality and creativity.
Grief
Progressive/Profane track:
This song mainly consists of hard bars. The lyrics are hard-hitting and the beat compliments the lyrics perfectly. However, the delivery is very peculiar, and uncomfortable. Almost makes you feel this kind of uneasiness. Hip-Hop/Rap is the closest genre to this sound, but it almost makes you feel like this should be a separate genre. I think this song tries to give off uneasy feelings. It sounds quiet and loud at the same time, with very little repetition, besides "good grief." The tempo is also a medium-slow. While listening closely to the lyrics, you will start to realize that Earl Sweatshirt is reminiscing about the current state of his career. He highlights his thoughts and he vents about obstacles that he faces. He also speaks a lot about how dear he holds his real friends to his heart. This song came out in 2015. 2015 is the same year that people were breaking the barrier of “depression rap.” Acts like Tyler, the Creator paved the way for artists such as Earl Sweatshirt, Isaiah Rashad, etc. I think that anyone that respects real conscious rap. People that like to self-reflect and go against the status quo would love this song. This song is vulgar, however, so this song could definitely not be played in churches or at schools. The way I like to say it is, “the song is too real.” This track kind of got me into conscious music. Self-reflecting music that moves the rap game in ways that no other type of music does, is just so powerful to me.
We Don't Care
Progressive/Profane track:
Isn’t Kanye just amazing? This song right here has the most replay value on my playlist. It simply speaks to my soul in a way that other Hip-Hop/Rap music doesn’t. There’s a children’s choir implemented to give away a more soulful feeling. Kanye is the definition of unique. He uses certain instruments to glorifies pitches when they raise and drop. He’s simply a genius. The song was relatively loud and had a lot of repetition. The tempo was actually upbeat and kind of fast.The message of this song is self-explanatory. “We Don’t Care” is a very powerful song that talks about a lot of social issues in the world; specifically targeting the things that Kanye sees. It seems like Kanye uses this song to bring light to a dark topic. This song came out in 2004 when George W. Bush was president. He wasn’t the best president by any means. This was a very rough time for black people. This song is for anyone to be honest. Anyone who loves music should respect this song. There’s a bit of vulgar language, but the message is excellent. This song came out in 2004. At the time, no one sounded like this. That’s how I’m trying to be as a musician. The world is full of creativity.
Hi, my name is Sean, and this is my playlist for Pitchfork. I am a very different person, so I like my music the same way. I want my playlist to be unique and like something that people don’t hear often. I personally am a musician. I’m a Hip-Hop/R&B artist. I rap, sing (although I’m not that great at it), write, and have currently started producing music. As far as the world goes, music is so diverse and different. There’s anything from Rock/Rap collabs to Hip-Hop/R&B collabs. The possibilities are endless. The world around me is cruel but full of great opportunity. Every minute you’re alive, there’s opportunity. The world is so vast and vibrant. My playlist will reflect my morals in life. Some type of originality and creativity.
Grief
Progressive/Profane track:
This song mainly consists of hard bars. The lyrics are hard-hitting and the beat compliments the lyrics perfectly. However, the delivery is very peculiar, and uncomfortable. Almost makes you feel this kind of uneasiness. Hip-Hop/Rap is the closest genre to this sound, but it almost makes you feel like this should be a separate genre. I think this song tries to give off uneasy feelings. It sounds quiet and loud at the same time, with very little repetition, besides "good grief." The tempo is also a medium-slow. While listening closely to the lyrics, you will start to realize that Earl Sweatshirt is reminiscing about the current state of his career. He highlights his thoughts and he vents about obstacles that he faces. He also speaks a lot about how dear he holds his real friends to his heart. This song came out in 2015. 2015 is the same year that people were breaking the barrier of “depression rap.” Acts like Tyler, the Creator paved the way for artists such as Earl Sweatshirt, Isaiah Rashad, etc. I think that anyone that respects real conscious rap. People that like to self-reflect and go against the status quo would love this song. This song is vulgar, however, so this song could definitely not be played in churches or at schools. The way I like to say it is, “the song is too real.” This track kind of got me into conscious music. Self-reflecting music that moves the rap game in ways that no other type of music does, is just so powerful to me.
Progressive/Profane track:
Isn’t Kanye just amazing? This song right here has the most replay value on my playlist. It simply speaks to my soul in a way that other Hip-Hop/Rap music doesn’t. There’s a children’s choir implemented to give away a more soulful feeling. Kanye is the definition of unique. He uses certain instruments to glorifies pitches when they raise and drop. He’s simply a genius. The song was relatively loud and had a lot of repetition. The tempo was actually upbeat and kind of fast.The message of this song is self-explanatory. “We Don’t Care” is a very powerful song that talks about a lot of social issues in the world; specifically targeting the things that Kanye sees. It seems like Kanye uses this song to bring light to a dark topic. This song came out in 2004 when George W. Bush was president. He wasn’t the best president by any means. This was a very rough time for black people. This song is for anyone to be honest. Anyone who loves music should respect this song. There’s a bit of vulgar language, but the message is excellent. This song came out in 2004. At the time, no one sounded like this. That’s how I’m trying to be as a musician. The world is full of creativity.
Favorite Colors
Progressive/Profane track:
This song is interesting. Taylor Bennett, three-time grammy winner Chance The Rapper’s brother, created this empowering, uplifting song and chose the PERFECT feature. The feature from Kyle sealed the deal. This song quickly became a song that topped my personal chart of creativity and uniqueness. This song tries and succeeds at giving off a good feeling. A “nothing can stop me” type of vibe! This song is something you play when you’re down or you just want to have fun or be happy. It successfully gives off happy vibes and that’s just really cool to me. There's a quiet sound to this song. The tempo is just right. It's slow, but not too slow. One of my favorite parts of the song is the repetition in Kyle's verse where he repeatedly says "Ramen." This song came out not too long ago, in 2017. Musically, 2017 has been pretty inactive from a Hip-Hop standpoint. Just recently has there been some activity with Drake’s release of “More Life.” Then Kendrick Lamar’s retaliation and release of the date when his next project releases on April 7th. This song, I feel like, even though it’s much smaller scale than Drake and Kendrick Lamar, the impact on the music was still large. I think it was important to music. The diversity in this song is crazy. From the instruments to the lyrics, to the delivery of Kyle’s verse. I would think there wouldn’t be many enemies of this song. Although, there are mentions of marijuana and other things. This song is important to me because it doesn’t sound unoriginal. The world should hear this song just so they know that there are no limitations in music.
Progressive/Profane track:
This song is interesting. Taylor Bennett, three-time grammy winner Chance The Rapper’s brother, created this empowering, uplifting song and chose the PERFECT feature. The feature from Kyle sealed the deal. This song quickly became a song that topped my personal chart of creativity and uniqueness. This song tries and succeeds at giving off a good feeling. A “nothing can stop me” type of vibe! This song is something you play when you’re down or you just want to have fun or be happy. It successfully gives off happy vibes and that’s just really cool to me. There's a quiet sound to this song. The tempo is just right. It's slow, but not too slow. One of my favorite parts of the song is the repetition in Kyle's verse where he repeatedly says "Ramen." This song came out not too long ago, in 2017. Musically, 2017 has been pretty inactive from a Hip-Hop standpoint. Just recently has there been some activity with Drake’s release of “More Life.” Then Kendrick Lamar’s retaliation and release of the date when his next project releases on April 7th. This song, I feel like, even though it’s much smaller scale than Drake and Kendrick Lamar, the impact on the music was still large. I think it was important to music. The diversity in this song is crazy. From the instruments to the lyrics, to the delivery of Kyle’s verse. I would think there wouldn’t be many enemies of this song. Although, there are mentions of marijuana and other things. This song is important to me because it doesn’t sound unoriginal. The world should hear this song just so they know that there are no limitations in music.
Myself
Progressive Conservative/Profane track:
This song is important because it takes that resemblance to Hip-Hop and the artist changes it to his sound. That’s why I love this artist because his versatility and his ideas are serene to me. This song is highlighting how the artist has done it all by himself. From the money to the women to the fanbase. This song seems to be a “flex song,” where Nebu glorifies his accomplishments. This song is moderate sound, so not loud or quiet. There's a bunch of repetition which works with the fast tempo. This song came out in 2016, which was a great time for this type of music. “Bubble gum rap” or “alternative rock” are some classifications of this age of music. This song definitely has some vulgar language and there’s plenty of “enemies,” but the friends are artists like me who love to hear the new and cool music. This track is powerful to me, but it also sounds great to me. Also, Nebu Kiniza is a very important artist to me because he took a sound and made it his own. He’s the most unique mainstream rapper I can think of.Progressive Conservative/Profane track:
Glitter Glove
Progressive Conservative/Profane track:
REESE LAFLARE, a very underrated Hip-Hop artist is one of the coolest artists in the game if you ask me. His versatility and creativity will bring him a very long way in his career. You can even call this genre “alternative rock.” This music is just great to listen to. This song is just a very fun song. It’s literally about dancing and it’s just made for the listener to “turn up” and have fun. That explains the moderately fast tempo and the catchy repetition. This song was released in 2016, where people were just getting accustomed to this type of music, so this song was just magnificent at the time, and it still is now! This song still does have some vulgar language. Some enemies may be churches and some parents, or older adults. This song is simply amazingly creative in a way that I hear it and I don’t ever want to stop listening to it. Isn’t this what the world needs?
Progressive Conservative/Profane track:
REESE LAFLARE, a very underrated Hip-Hop artist is one of the coolest artists in the game if you ask me. His versatility and creativity will bring him a very long way in his career. You can even call this genre “alternative rock.” This music is just great to listen to. This song is just a very fun song. It’s literally about dancing and it’s just made for the listener to “turn up” and have fun. That explains the moderately fast tempo and the catchy repetition. This song was released in 2016, where people were just getting accustomed to this type of music, so this song was just magnificent at the time, and it still is now! This song still does have some vulgar language. Some enemies may be churches and some parents, or older adults. This song is simply amazingly creative in a way that I hear it and I don’t ever want to stop listening to it. Isn’t this what the world needs?
Friday, March 24, 2017
My Trip to SXSW
I'm an aspiring artist. I rap, sing, produce, and I'm trying to become more versatile with my work. I went to Austin, Texas for the South by South West (SXSW) Festival which was the opportunity of a lifetime, but I was forced to miss school for a couple of days which was quite unfortunate. I think the exchange was probably worth it, seeing as we made a few connections that will do nothing but substantially benefit us down the road. We just have to make sure we keep up our end of the bargain. Unfortunately, in today's hip-hop industry, success is less about skill and more about who you know. It's not really cool, but we have to pander to the status quo.
We left on Thursday, March 16th to arrive on Friday, March 17th. The ride was 16 hours so we stopped at a motel on the way there and back. The trip was nice and long. But like the reason we went, music was the main thing that kept us going. Music is so "comfortable." When I say "comfortable," I mean how all the different genres and sounds in music allow for ANYONE to be "comfortable." That's what is beautiful about it right? The possibilities are endless. We are still discovering new things, and music was founded around 500 BC. Is that not weird? Even in 2017, we are still finding ways to change and alter sound to create music. Not even to mention all the things that the human mouth can do. As our music does seem to get more and more repetitive, we probably thought "nothing could get better" a couple decades ago, but now our technology is smarter than us.
Music is important to young people. Without music, I wouldn't know a lot of my friends as much as I do. Music allowed us to develop these relationships. Our group wouldn't be a group without music. Music bring people together, like how it brought people to come see us perform at our venue.
The trip proved to be very important for the group. We had time to reflect on how we feel about one another, and we also did a bunch of networking. The most important thing is making sure we are proud of each other. If we ever have problems, we need to fix them like civilized adults. Otherwise, that would mean there's a little kid in ETP, and there's not!
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"ETP" JO. 18 Mar, 2017.
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Music is important to young people. Without music, I wouldn't know a lot of my friends as much as I do. Music allowed us to develop these relationships. Our group wouldn't be a group without music. Music bring people together, like how it brought people to come see us perform at our venue.
The trip proved to be very important for the group. We had time to reflect on how we feel about one another, and we also did a bunch of networking. The most important thing is making sure we are proud of each other. If we ever have problems, we need to fix them like civilized adults. Otherwise, that would mean there's a little kid in ETP, and there's not!
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Fable For Young People
For the third and last action project of my STEAM class, Systems & Models, we were asked to analyze a particular part of our school while having full creative control. The particular parts of the school have to relatively specific. I chose interpersonal relationships. This entails the relationships between students of different ages and cohorts within the school. I also had to interview 4 people from within the school to get a better perspective than just my own. We were asked to connect our findings to the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) chart. We were also asked to relate our findings to Maslow's Hierarchy and our research on I-O psychology. I had difficulties following the rubric while completing the project, but this project allowed me to write, which is one of my favorite things to do. I wrote a fable type of story for you all. It is about a teenage boy and his little sister. Enjoy!
This is my fable, “The Divide.” The story is represented in the quoted bold text and annotated in the regular text. I hope you enjoy reading it!
“There’s this beautiful thing called ‘divide.’ This is the same divide you have with your younger siblings. How beautiful is ‘divide?’ Or does divide have this negative connotation that everyone generally gives it? If you ask me, divide is a way to separate yourself, and sometimes you have to. The real question is, when does divide become a liability? This story about Jonathan and his sister Joanne will entail the story of ‘The Divide.’”
I chose to write a fable type of story as a creative way of depicting the social divide in my school’s cohorts. The underclassmen and upperclassmen don’t have much of an understanding. It seems as if the underclassmen want to have more fun, and the upperclassmen are used to the freedom that the underclassmen seem to be new to. I will be trying to depict this by the big brother Jonathan, being the upperclassman, and the little sister Joanne, being the underclassman.
“Jonathan was having a rough day. Honestly, it was just a regular day in the Harden household. Joanne is in her room, on the phone screaming irregularly. It would be ideal to check on someone screaming like that, but it was normal in the Harden household. Jonathan, at 17 years old wasn’t having it! He stormed into Joanne’s room with fire in his eyes! Before anything came out of his mouth, a pillow was thrown at his face as his 15 year old sister yelled, ‘get out!’ Jonathan responded, ‘I’ll get out if you please shut-up.’ Joanne teased, ‘I’m telling mom you told me to shut-up!’ ‘Whatever, just be quiet!’ Jonathan said while leaving Joanne’s room.
As you can see, there's room for improvement. Let's analyze the SWOT of this brother and sister's relationship. A strength that I see here is that they obviously have some type of connection or understanding which can be related to the relationship between the cohorts in my school. This is a nice transition to the weaknesses that we witnessed in their relationship. Like the cohorts in my school, these two seem to have different interests and wants/needs. I asked a senior at my school, VG, how he thought the general relationship between the upper and underclassmen was, he responded: "the larger the grade gap, the less friendliness displayed." I asked the same question to a freshman at my school, ZG, and he responded that the relationship between them was, "decent, but it could be better." He claimed "the freshmen are misguided and the seniors can help in certain ways." Although ZG is a freshman, he seems to not be a negative factor in the problem between the cohorts.
The threat in this case is a newborn child. Relating back to my school, the threat of this situation would be new students. Once the upper and underclassmen come to an understanding, these new students or newborn child will alter the relationship that was once formed. There doesn't have to be this idea of Six Sigma. There doesn't have to be a perfect relationship, but there does have to be a mutual relationship. They have to relate to each other. Within I-O Psychology, there's this idea that innovation drives our economy. I believe this to be true because innovation means interaction and collaboration. Interaction prospers through social skills. Social skills are needed in order for there to be order.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is important to understand in this situation. Esteem on the hierarchy is very important to both the seniors and underclassmen. They want to graduate, and the underclassmen want to be "cool." Seniors really only need water and food, but underclassmen need satisfaction of classmates. There's this sense of self-actualization, and how you want to be viewed. Maturity goes hand-in-hand with self-achievement. This is an interesting way to put it into perspective for you.
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| "Bro & Sis" Web. 26 Feb, 2017. |
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“There’s this beautiful thing called ‘divide.’ This is the same divide you have with your younger siblings. How beautiful is ‘divide?’ Or does divide have this negative connotation that everyone generally gives it? If you ask me, divide is a way to separate yourself, and sometimes you have to. The real question is, when does divide become a liability? This story about Jonathan and his sister Joanne will entail the story of ‘The Divide.’”
I chose to write a fable type of story as a creative way of depicting the social divide in my school’s cohorts. The underclassmen and upperclassmen don’t have much of an understanding. It seems as if the underclassmen want to have more fun, and the upperclassmen are used to the freedom that the underclassmen seem to be new to. I will be trying to depict this by the big brother Jonathan, being the upperclassman, and the little sister Joanne, being the underclassman.
“Jonathan was having a rough day. Honestly, it was just a regular day in the Harden household. Joanne is in her room, on the phone screaming irregularly. It would be ideal to check on someone screaming like that, but it was normal in the Harden household. Jonathan, at 17 years old wasn’t having it! He stormed into Joanne’s room with fire in his eyes! Before anything came out of his mouth, a pillow was thrown at his face as his 15 year old sister yelled, ‘get out!’ Jonathan responded, ‘I’ll get out if you please shut-up.’ Joanne teased, ‘I’m telling mom you told me to shut-up!’ ‘Whatever, just be quiet!’ Jonathan said while leaving Joanne’s room.
As you can see, there's room for improvement. Let's analyze the SWOT of this brother and sister's relationship. A strength that I see here is that they obviously have some type of connection or understanding which can be related to the relationship between the cohorts in my school. This is a nice transition to the weaknesses that we witnessed in their relationship. Like the cohorts in my school, these two seem to have different interests and wants/needs. I asked a senior at my school, VG, how he thought the general relationship between the upper and underclassmen was, he responded: "the larger the grade gap, the less friendliness displayed." I asked the same question to a freshman at my school, ZG, and he responded that the relationship between them was, "decent, but it could be better." He claimed "the freshmen are misguided and the seniors can help in certain ways." Although ZG is a freshman, he seems to not be a negative factor in the problem between the cohorts.
"Jonathan knew that Joanne was relatively tolerable some times. Maybe she wasn't too bad. It would be kind of boring without her around the house. He whispered playfully under his breath, 'I'll get her back. She wants to be annoying, I'll show her annoying!' Jonathan planned on playing his music louder than hers. He wanted to play his music so loud that Joanne couldn't even hear herself speaking on the phone."
There's obviously opportunity for their relationship strengthen. I asked a teacher, how she felt the upper and underclassmen's relationship was and she said she thought that "everyone gets along well." She said she thought that, "the freshmen as a group get scapegoated for a lot of stuff, but individually, I think everyone treats each other fairly for the most part." She has a point. The freshmen specifically are blamed for their energy which is commonly looked down upon because the seniors don't share the same energy. As the cohorts in my school do, Jonathan and Joanne need to find somethings mutual. How can they find a way to compromise; to look past age? It's all about systems thinking, and making all pieces of the puzzle come together. I asked the counselor in my school if she believed that there was a "divide" in the school she responded: "I don't know if I would call it a divide, maybe a bit of a misunderstanding between the age groups." This misunderstanding represents the gap in maturity and motive.
"What Jonathan didn't anticipate was, him playing one of Joanne's favorite songs. Jonathan had a maniacal look in his face. He was going to get his sister back! Twenty seconds had passed and Joanne bust through the door singing! 'DON'T YOU OPEN UP THAT WINDOW, DON'T YOU LET OUT THAT ANTIDOTE! Jon this is like my favorite song!' Jonathan's plans were soiled. He tried to find it in himself to be angry, but he realized that Joanne wasn't so bad. The hard part is finding something mutual between the two. Music is just one of the things that they have in common. Jon jokingly responded, 'Haha, I forgot. You know, sometimes you're not too terrible.' After briefly laughing, Joanne replied, 'Yea, you're not that horrible of a brother. I just hope we can keep the house to ourselves. It would be a catastrophe if I had to share my room if mom and dad had another child.' Jon's face showed some uncertainty. He responded, 'I'm leaving next year, so if that was to happen, you could just take my room.' Joanne smiled."
The threat in this case is a newborn child. Relating back to my school, the threat of this situation would be new students. Once the upper and underclassmen come to an understanding, these new students or newborn child will alter the relationship that was once formed. There doesn't have to be this idea of Six Sigma. There doesn't have to be a perfect relationship, but there does have to be a mutual relationship. They have to relate to each other. Within I-O Psychology, there's this idea that innovation drives our economy. I believe this to be true because innovation means interaction and collaboration. Interaction prospers through social skills. Social skills are needed in order for there to be order.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is important to understand in this situation. Esteem on the hierarchy is very important to both the seniors and underclassmen. They want to graduate, and the underclassmen want to be "cool." Seniors really only need water and food, but underclassmen need satisfaction of classmates. There's this sense of self-actualization, and how you want to be viewed. Maturity goes hand-in-hand with self-achievement. This is an interesting way to put it into perspective for you.
THE END
References:
ZG. Student, Interview.
VG. Student, Interview.
Sharon. Teacher, Interview.
Jessica. Teacher, Interview.
ZG. Student, Interview.
VG. Student, Interview.
Sharon. Teacher, Interview.
Jessica. Teacher, Interview.
"SIOP" SIOP.org. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
The First Woman Is Drafted To The NBA!
For the second and last action project of my Equality class, we were asked to think 100 years into the future and try to tackle one of the social issues we've been covering throughout the second unit. These social issues include gender and race inequality, and also social class. We were supposed to create an article or newspaper to represent how things have changed over 100 years. I chose the first woman to be drafted to the NBA. The NBA is a man's league. The WNBA was issued in 1996 to separate men and women who wanted to play ball. We were then asked to write a short letter to the editor of this created article/newspaper with a reaction. This project was pretty difficult and it really forced you to use your creative bones, and that's why I loved this project so much! I hope you enjoy my project!
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Are You Racist? Don't Answer That Question!
For the second action project of my STEAM course, Systems & Models, we were asked to conduct a social experiment. As the first unit of this course talked about who "you" are. This unit talked about learning who the people are around you. This class is very amazing in building your social analyzation. I tried to really demonstrate this concern for "those around me," by conducting an experiment that would highlight the systematic racism in the environment I stay around. My idea was to grab one of my white friends and then we both asked for money outside the subway station. The results were quite interesting. This project was amazing and right up my alley as well. This project was difficult at the same time, as I did have to create a very detailed lab report. Thank you for viewing my social experiment and enjoy!
Sunday, February 5, 2017
What Did the Emancipation Proclamation Solve Exactly?
The first action project for my Humanities course, Equality, consisted of creating a textbook. We were asked to choose a relatively broad topic. Our projects were essentially supposed to look something like a textbook; three educational devices, text, etc. Textbooks have to be accurate, though. We made sure that we had more than five sources for our information so that everything checks out well. This project was long and hard, but very important to me. This project, not only told me about myself but about what my people go through on a daily basis. I interviewed one of my younger peers and his answers really spoke to me. The project was especially difficult but necessary. I learned eventually that so many people are oblivious to the horrible systematic racism still present around the world. This project is my attempt of informing people that the oppression of black people will never be justified. Although the difficulty was very high, the project was enlightening.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Do You See Numbers?
For the first action project of my Winter Term, in my STEAM class, System & Models, we were asked to create a visual art piece of our choice. The art piece had to be backed with a strong artist statement. There was plenty of different points we had to hit and research we had to do. That includes all the personality tests that we had to take. I chose Myers-Briggs and the DISC tests to help you understand my piece! I relay loved this project. Even though I'm not a fan of visual art, and that's not what I do, I truly do respect the visual arts a lot. The influence visual art has in the world is obviously apparent. I'm a wordsmith, which is my forte of art. As you probably can tell, I had some difficulties with the artistic vision, but I took another approach. Please view my action project below!
My piece, "Numbers," is made up of ink pen on 9.75 x 7.50 sized composition notebook paper. I try to visually represent myself through numbers. The 89 and 44 represent the streets I grew up on. 9-5 crossed out represents my love for self-management. This also represents my past, present, and I hope the near future.The feelings of "doing for yourself," has always made me feel good. There’s this hidden connection to currency.
In class, we were asked to take several different personality tests. The most important tests that I took were the Myers-Briggs test and Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Compliance (DISC) test. The Myers-Briggs is a large database of results where they give you a series of questions and then give you a 4 letter combination in which they show you what type of person you are pertaining to the answers you submitted on the test. I got ESFP. Creepy enough, after reading all of the different types of people, I actually chose ESFP. ESFP is the "entertainer." Often the person who is bold and observant, but easily-bored and unfocused as well. I find myself being more connected to these characteristics then I thought. The DISC test is a unique test that tells you something about yourself by using 4 different pathways and splitting you up into them. My top two "pathways" were Influence and Dominance as I expected. Influence is my number one pathway because I feel like I really do fear losing influence. When people look at my art, they don't necessarily have to approve of it, but I do want them to receive and perceive it.
I once saw this bike experiment that I felt like challenged the norm. They took different looking people and made them do the same thing. There was a white woman, a black man, a white man, etc. They all tried to saw off the chain of a bike and let all of the people walking around react to it. The results were a bit displeasing. This really spoke to me because it showcases the sexism and racism that we all seem to witness every day. This project was also really important to me because it did challenge the norm and that was really my objective in creating my art piece.
The purpose of my piece is to inspire you to think entirely out of the box. Think out of the universe. The more original ideas, the more we progress towards a better existence. I want to say that the rubric is never said in stone. You can still “follow the rubric,” but you are set apart by the uniqueness of your creation. I also try to get across feelings of perception. The way I perceive my art is unimportant, but if anyone shares my perception then they will truly appreciate it, but the thought counts. I see this as an opportunity for people to take my art as their own.
I interviewed an artist that works at my school. Ms.Dianne. She creates human sized art through her own imagination. Her art is really amazing, to say the least. She uses rather inexpensive materials and creates rather expensive works of art. She said to me, "Viewers are given facts about me, the artist and my process and then they compare it with their views and have a more intimate understanding of my art." This statement kind of describes the type of reaction I want from people who see my art. I want people to perceive their own meaning.
The start of my drawing was kind of hard. I just started ripping through draft paper. Soon, I realized all I had to do was just stop trying to be the visual artist that I'm not. I decided to let my mind think for me. The roughness of the artistry is intentional to signify my lack of orderliness and focus. I started with simple numbers. I started to write down numbers that I felt were most important to me. My first number was "89." The 89 represents the street I grew up on. 89th street made me who I am today. My second numbers were "9-5" which describe my aspirations for having a successful career. "9-5" is the typical "job hours." I express my loathness for this by crossing it out. The next number, "45" is another street I grew up on. It also happens to be the street of my grammar school. I also enjoy music and basketball. Those are represented by "23" and the music notes. "23" is representative of the best basketball player of all-time, Michael Jordan.
The idea came pretty easy to me. Conceptually, I really already knew what I wanted to do. Delivering my piece was something that I had to think about for days. After a lot of thinking, I decided to let my imagination take over while keeping in mind who I am as a person and what the tests told me as well.
Citations:
"DiSC Profile - DiSC Influence (i)." DiSCProfile.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
"Entertainer Strengths & Weaknesses." 16personalities.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
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In class, we were asked to take several different personality tests. The most important tests that I took were the Myers-Briggs test and Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Compliance (DISC) test. The Myers-Briggs is a large database of results where they give you a series of questions and then give you a 4 letter combination in which they show you what type of person you are pertaining to the answers you submitted on the test. I got ESFP. Creepy enough, after reading all of the different types of people, I actually chose ESFP. ESFP is the "entertainer." Often the person who is bold and observant, but easily-bored and unfocused as well. I find myself being more connected to these characteristics then I thought. The DISC test is a unique test that tells you something about yourself by using 4 different pathways and splitting you up into them. My top two "pathways" were Influence and Dominance as I expected. Influence is my number one pathway because I feel like I really do fear losing influence. When people look at my art, they don't necessarily have to approve of it, but I do want them to receive and perceive it.
I once saw this bike experiment that I felt like challenged the norm. They took different looking people and made them do the same thing. There was a white woman, a black man, a white man, etc. They all tried to saw off the chain of a bike and let all of the people walking around react to it. The results were a bit displeasing. This really spoke to me because it showcases the sexism and racism that we all seem to witness every day. This project was also really important to me because it did challenge the norm and that was really my objective in creating my art piece.
The purpose of my piece is to inspire you to think entirely out of the box. Think out of the universe. The more original ideas, the more we progress towards a better existence. I want to say that the rubric is never said in stone. You can still “follow the rubric,” but you are set apart by the uniqueness of your creation. I also try to get across feelings of perception. The way I perceive my art is unimportant, but if anyone shares my perception then they will truly appreciate it, but the thought counts. I see this as an opportunity for people to take my art as their own.
I interviewed an artist that works at my school. Ms.Dianne. She creates human sized art through her own imagination. Her art is really amazing, to say the least. She uses rather inexpensive materials and creates rather expensive works of art. She said to me, "Viewers are given facts about me, the artist and my process and then they compare it with their views and have a more intimate understanding of my art." This statement kind of describes the type of reaction I want from people who see my art. I want people to perceive their own meaning.
The start of my drawing was kind of hard. I just started ripping through draft paper. Soon, I realized all I had to do was just stop trying to be the visual artist that I'm not. I decided to let my mind think for me. The roughness of the artistry is intentional to signify my lack of orderliness and focus. I started with simple numbers. I started to write down numbers that I felt were most important to me. My first number was "89." The 89 represents the street I grew up on. 89th street made me who I am today. My second numbers were "9-5" which describe my aspirations for having a successful career. "9-5" is the typical "job hours." I express my loathness for this by crossing it out. The next number, "45" is another street I grew up on. It also happens to be the street of my grammar school. I also enjoy music and basketball. Those are represented by "23" and the music notes. "23" is representative of the best basketball player of all-time, Michael Jordan.
The idea came pretty easy to me. Conceptually, I really already knew what I wanted to do. Delivering my piece was something that I had to think about for days. After a lot of thinking, I decided to let my imagination take over while keeping in mind who I am as a person and what the tests told me as well.
Citations:
"DiSC Profile - DiSC Influence (i)." DiSCProfile.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
"Entertainer Strengths & Weaknesses." 16personalities.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
The Road To Olympus
For the second action project of my Electives course, Game Changers, we were asked to showcase the games we created. Some games were solo and some games were duo-created. I had a partner who just so happened to be a great visual artist. Since I have a very creative mind as well, our partnership came to be very successful. We created a Greek Mythology themed game, where Hades has sent 7 demigods to the underworld and they must make their way up to Mount Olympus. Hades has put several different creatures on the road in hopes of tethering the young heroes, but 3 demigods must win! The process of creating this game was time-consuming and really fun! The most difficult thing about this project was definitely the creative part; specifically looking at the lore of the story, and the abilities and roadblocks. Our project was very well-thought-out and has really gotten better over the last couple of weeks. I hope you guys like it!
Our quick elevator pitch: Hello I am DR and my partner is NVA and together we have created the game, Road To Olympus, a Greek Mythology game where you can play as one of 7 demigods. Hades has captured these 7 demigods and now they must make their way back to Olympus. They must go through 5 creatures the Sphinx, the Cyclops, the Hydra, the Minotaur, Medusa, and Hades himself to get to Olympus. They can pray to the gods to help them, but their prayers can be heard by any god, even Hades. Only 3 of the demigods can be victorious in making it to Olympus.
Below is a slideshow, showcasing our failures and successes throughout the creation process:
Below is a video, explaining gameplay more in depth:
Our quick elevator pitch: Hello I am DR and my partner is NVA and together we have created the game, Road To Olympus, a Greek Mythology game where you can play as one of 7 demigods. Hades has captured these 7 demigods and now they must make their way back to Olympus. They must go through 5 creatures the Sphinx, the Cyclops, the Hydra, the Minotaur, Medusa, and Hades himself to get to Olympus. They can pray to the gods to help them, but their prayers can be heard by any god, even Hades. Only 3 of the demigods can be victorious in making it to Olympus.
Below is a slideshow, showcasing our failures and successes throughout the creation process:
Below is a video, explaining gameplay more in depth:
The game-creating process is no joke. This class has really showed me that some games were a lot harder to create than they are to play. Even with our almost pure random game, the experience was just really hard. I enjoyed every second of working with my partner, but we did struggle, and there's beauty in the struggle. If you ever feel as if you are struggling, then that means you are improving. The hardest thing that we had to overcome was making sure there was smooth gameplay. We wanted a very balanced game. It was very important to us that the consumer is happy. If whoever is playing the game, thinks it is genuinely unfair. then we were open to feedback. Feedback was huge in creating our game. We had feedback that spanned from our classmates to professional game developers. This made our drafts a lot easier to create because we just tried to solve every problem that we encountered. My partner and I are extremely happy you guys took time to look at our game. We truly did put our all into creating this game. When people are having fun playing it, it actually means the world to us! The Road to Olympus stemmed from our love for Greek Mythology and for just have a good time. Our 7 player game is more fun, the more people that play, and we would really suggest it to anyone! Let creativity prosper and create your own game! Games are more than rolling dice and moving. This project has taught me that.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Some Afterschool Fun
For the first action project of my Game-changers course, we were asked to create a scenario and choose the correct game to fit that situation. Throughout the unit, we analyzed a bunch of different games to then write notes on those games. In the notes, we described the game in grave detail, pinpointing the things that work and the struggles of the game. We also discussed what a game was. We came to the conclusion that a game played with only one player is no longer a game; it is actually a puzzle. This project was actually really cool, but quite difficult. It took me a long time to complete this project because of my passion for video games. I wanted to make sure I could share some of my favorite games with my recommendee while making sure it meets the requirements of the situation. I ended up recommending Spades and Chess. Both of these games are some of my favorites and I'm happy that I got a chance to look deeper into these games, and take on the role of a game designer. I really enjoyed creating this project for you guys! I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I enjoyed creating it.
The classroom setting that I chose was a very simple one. In middle school, after school was a huge part of my life, both emotionally and academically. I met my best friend in after school, as well as some people who helped me turn into the man I am today. After school is a place of fun, but I tried to also make the games stimulating.
Here's a link to my Stat Sheet so that you can think about my games from an analytic point-of-view: Stat Sheet
I chose two games: Chess and Spades. I think they both are great fits for this setting. Chess is more stimulating than Spades, but in most cases, it is less fun. However, Spades is, in most cases, more fun than Chess so they are both great fits, but they lack some of what the other game has. Thinking about the age group I am trying to panther to; I believe that fifth-eighth graders (11-14) would have a lot more fun playing spades. The best part is that all they need is a deck of cards and a surface!
The classroom setting that I chose was a very simple one. In middle school, after school was a huge part of my life, both emotionally and academically. I met my best friend in after school, as well as some people who helped me turn into the man I am today. After school is a place of fun, but I tried to also make the games stimulating.
Here's a link to my Stat Sheet so that you can think about my games from an analytic point-of-view: Stat Sheet
I chose two games: Chess and Spades. I think they both are great fits for this setting. Chess is more stimulating than Spades, but in most cases, it is less fun. However, Spades is, in most cases, more fun than Chess so they are both great fits, but they lack some of what the other game has. Thinking about the age group I am trying to panther to; I believe that fifth-eighth graders (11-14) would have a lot more fun playing spades. The best part is that all they need is a deck of cards and a surface!
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Future Plans
The second and last action project for my STEAM course, Economics, we were asked to create a financial portfolio. Throughout this unit, we learned quite a lot about the difference between a good stock and bad stock. We were specifically given a figurative amount of approximately $50 thousand to invest into stocks and bonds over a certain span of years. I ended up choosing Dollar Tree and Ulta because I used these companies' products a lot growing up, and I really remember their name more than most other companies. We also had to invest our money and set our goals pertaining to the SMART rule; Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Relevant/Reasonable, Time-bound. This project was very heavy and it was not easy to fully understand what I had to do, but I got through it! I would say that my favorite part was studying the stocks and comparing their recent and not-so-recent activity to help me choose which stocks I wanted to invest in. I hope you enjoy looking at my project as much as I enjoyed creating it for you!
The scenario given to us is as follows: "18 years ago, your guardian angel set up a college savings plan for you with an initial investment of $8,500. Your angel contributed $50 each month to the college savings plan ($600 yearly). After 18 years at an average annual interest rate of 7%, compounded annually, the plan is now worth a hefty lump sum. Yesterday, you cashed out your plan and deposited the money in a brokerage account to invest on your own." My SMART goals are presented below:
For this project, we had to really analyze the market to determine what companies we wanted to invest our financial life into. I am not scared of a little risk; no one should be. According to the Investment Risk Tolerance Quiz, I have a high-risk tolerance. The results are below:
The scenario given to us is as follows: "18 years ago, your guardian angel set up a college savings plan for you with an initial investment of $8,500. Your angel contributed $50 each month to the college savings plan ($600 yearly). After 18 years at an average annual interest rate of 7%, compounded annually, the plan is now worth a hefty lump sum. Yesterday, you cashed out your plan and deposited the money in a brokerage account to invest on your own." My SMART goals are presented below:
- 1-year goal: Go on a trip with my closest friends to California before college departure ($2,500)
- 5-year goal: Move into a place I can call my own ($80,000)
- 25-year goal: Have accumulated money for over 24 years and I wish to be debt free and have money to open up my own recording studio ($1,000,000)
Dollar Tree:I chose Dollar Tree because it's prominently known in the neighborhood I live in. The economic moat of Dollar Tree is their ability to maintain $1 prices throughout their stores. Centered in tough parts of the city, aiming to help people with less money and are very useful for those with money as well. $1 prices are always great for everyone! Dollar Tree, with an estimated 2016 growth of 40.7%, is well known for it's exceptionally reasonable prices and will never fail to impress the stock market. Nothing but growth in the near future!
Ulta: I chose Ulta because they have a large brand, and are known around the world as the cosmetics brand. Growing up, all I saw was Ulta brand cosmetics. Makeup will never die. I only see this company expanding from now on. Ulta has a projected 2016 growth of 18%, and they have an annual revenue of over $3.5 billion dollars!
One of the most important things in this business is the profit. My Return On Investment (ROI) is presented below:
For one year:
(Total: $2,548.65)'
21 shares of DLTR for $1,579.41 ($75.21 each stock) 62%
4 shares of ULTA for $969.24 ($242.31 each stock) 38%
ROI:
.62 x .2829 +
.38 x .1877
=.246724
=24.7%
total x 1.247 = $3,178.17
For five years:
(Total: $14,430.22)
46 shares of DLTR for $3,459.66 24%
45 shares of ULTA for $10,903.95 76%
ROI:
.24 x .2829 +
.76 x .1877
=.210548
=21.1%
total(1.211)5th power = 1.62961673e21
For twenty-five years:
(Total: $32,216.51)
41 shares of DLTR for $3,083.61 10%
120 shares of ULTA for $29,077.20 90%
ROI:
.10 x .2829 +
.90 x .1877
=.19722
=19.7%
total(1.197)25th power = 4.51144909e114
With a leftover amount of $55.70.
There's something called a stock sector. A stock sector is how we organize different companies into categories, such as Disney being an entertainment company, etc. I chose to focus on primely retail trade stock sectors. I love the retail business. I think the idea of creating stuff cheap and selling it higher, is smart because if people need it, they will buy it, regardless of the price it cost to create that good.
References:
"Dollar Tree, Inc." NASDAQ.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016. Staff, Investopedia. Thursday, October 20, 2016
The Man Who Can Do It All
For the second action project of my Journalism class, we were asked to pick someone from the 20th century, that we thought had a powerful voice. This person could be alive or dead. I chose Will Smith because I believe that his music is very underrated and his acting career overshadowed his musical talent. We were also asked to focus on radio-journalism so we used podcasts to portray our message. Although. the podcast did take a long time to complete, I think I'm pretty satisfied with the result. We were also required to create a script. This was not a easy task, but I was up for the challenge. I liked this project because it allowed me to use the creative bone in my body. Anything that allows me to be creative, I'm usually open to, and I opened up to this project and exposed myself to new things. I would suggest this project as a leisure type of thing to do because it's very relaxing and you can get your creative juices flowing while learning more about your favorite people in the world.
WHEN
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WHO/HOW
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WHAT
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0:00
0:30
0:30
1:14
| [Fresh Prince] [Me/end (Summertime snippet ends)] [The Fresh Prince- Parents Just Don't Understand Snippet/end] [Me/end (The Fresh Prince- Parents Just Understand Snippet)] THE END | *Snippet of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song plays* *Snippet of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song ends* Me (Snippet of Summertime by The Fresh Prince): This is Sean and I’m here on Sean Rivers radio to talk about Will Smith and his impact on the youth, specifically talking about his rap career in the 80s. I feel like Will Smith is prominently known for his acting career, and a lot of people call him a sell out because he didn’t continue rap. Was it for a pay check? Or was Will’s passion for acting stronger than his passion for music? Nevertheless, Will Smith has produced quite a lot of quality music and has made many movies a worth-while watch! Today I will be telling you guys, just how important Will Smith is to me, as a teenager. Will: There's no need to argue, Parents Just Don't Understand. Me: We have Nick here on SEAN RIVERS radio. Hey Nick, how you doing? Nick: Good, you? Me: I'm doing great. I just had a few questions for you. Of course we're here to talk about Will Smith and how important he was to us as teenagers, we are growing up now. In the 80s he was a rapper though, why is he important to you? Nick: He's important to me because I feel like his music resonated with me a lot and the way he tried to make it so relatable to the everyday teenager and that kind of stuff and how he was on Fresh Prince and his acting career and all of it was just so great and seeing him progress in that kind of way. The Fresh Prince: Mom what are ya doing, you'll ruin my rep. She said you're only 16, you don't have a rep yet. Me: Have you ever went to school in an outfit that your parents forced you to wear? Example? Nick: Not exactly a full outfit, but I remember my mom bought me these horrible pants and she made me wear them because she loved them (The Fresh Prince: she said if they were laughing, you don't need 'em cuz they're not good friends) so much and she got them at such a cheap price that I was forced to wear them, even though I hated them and it did not go with my style of the day at all. Me: I know how that feels! The Fresh Prince: You go to school to learn, not for a fashion show. Me: Has your mom ever yelled at you for something really minor? Nick: Oh, all the time, like of course. I feel like that's something that all parents do at some point. Me: Well, you ever do something and get into a lot of trouble with your parents? Nick: I have before. I remember I was playing with Nerf guns or something and I shot it at my dad and he all of a sudden got so angry at me. He stood up and started yelling at me. I didn't even do anything that much. It's crazy because parents, they just don't get it sometimes. The Fresh Prince: That was a hard ride home, I don't know how I survived it. They took turns, one was beating me while the other one was driving. Me: Thank you Nick, for coming on SEAN RIVERS radio. Nick: Thanks for having me, man! Me: Will Smith, born on September 25th, 1968, was an inspiration and voice of the teens. I love to watch his growth as an actor and I’m very happy I get to listen to his older raps because it helps me through my teenage years! Those parents tho….. The Fresh Prince: Can't live wit 'em, can't live without 'em! |
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Economic Dilemma
For the first action project of my senior year in my Economics class, we were asked to map out two different post-high-school paths. One of my paths is the typical 4-8 years of university, to get my Bachelors or Masters in Economics, ironic enough. My other path is pursuing a music career, which could very much make me rich at the cost of college experience and plenty of time. I used the google spreadsheet to map out my cost for school each year and my salary each year after college, to see my lifetime earnings. I also included how long it would take me to pay off all my debt according to my predicted salary. I had a lot of fun doing this project, but it is definitely one of the hardest projects I have ever done. Google spreadsheet is not an easy program to tackle.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Explain Life In 1000 Words If Possible
For the first action project of my Journalism class, we were asked to essentially define the meaning of life in 1000 words. We also had to get some help with answering this question. I chose to interview my cousin, Darius. I chose Darius because he is one of the most insightful people I know, and we just so happen to be very close. We were also asked to take a picture of our subject, which is more connected to the course itself if you think about photo-journalism. There's different types of journalism though; photo-journalism and newspaper editors are just two examples of journalism. I had just a little bit of difficulty writing the 1000 words because this assignment is very open-ended, and I didn't have many guidelines to go by. Conceptually, this project is one of the greatest I've ever had and I had a great time digging deep down into my brain.
___________________________________________________________________
What would you do if you were asked to define life? For some, this question may be quite straightforward, but for others, this question may be very difficult to tackle; I am one of those people. My views on things of this nature are normally anything but straightforward because I'm such an open-minded individual. Nevertheless I am still stubborn so majority of the time when I believe something, I'm not looking back. This project, and my cousin was an eye-opening experience. Questions like, "what's the meaning of life," are what actually gets my brain working, and makes me feel like I have to dig deep to answer them. "What's the meaning of life," is probably one of the most open-ended questions ever; I could say that this question is the most open-ended question ever.
My subject's name is Darius, and he is quite the character. My cousin's views are always different and insightful. As soon as the question for this project arose, I knew exactly who I wanted to interview because my cousin loves to preach to me about his mistakes, and how I can avoid making the same ones. As I have gotten older, he has proven as a really big role model for these stages in my life. Darius' opinions are very abstract, in a sense where you really understand him after you have thought for awhile. Although, most times Darius can be very straightforward, his mind is anything but that.
Since you have pretty much met my interviewee, I would like to show you all what happened when I presented him a couple questions, surrounding what the meaning of life is. When my subject was asked, "what's the meaning of life, in your opinion," Darius responded, "No meaning to it until you put one on it, can’t generalize the meaning of life because it’s different from person to person just live it." Just from his first answer, I knew this would be a great interview. The answer he gave was very expected, and I loved it because it really was a good intro into the interview. My second question was for him was, "has life always meant the same for you, or did this meaning change to you and why," and Darius said, "I always knew life is what you make it, just in the process of learning the full extent of it." Then there was that answer I was awaiting the whole time; when I asked him for a story that explains his view of the meaning of life, he then responded with, "Umm.. I was born in 1993, it’s 2016. 1+1 always equals 2." I wanted to ask him to elaborate on this statement so bad, but I believe it's better off not explained, and thought about. The meat of the interview began to saute when I asked the question, "what image would represent this meaning of life - would it be you yourself, something of yours with sentimental value, a favorite book, etc, and would you please describe it?" My subject then responded with,"the seasons. Life is like the seasons. As far as growth and its representation, you can’t be specific because it means different things from person to person. Just like a stop light or 100 cent means different things to different people, depends on how deep you want to look into it. But when you reflect on what those things mean, it’s a representation of ourselves as well. First thing that comes to mind when I answered seasons is change, process, and progress which is what I’m going through. Any analogy can apply to anyone at any point in time, just a matter of what part we are going through. We can be as deep as in what specific season and its meaning or just as general as the season itself and let you imply what you wish. Life is everything and nothing at the same time, depends on how deep you want to look at something or how shallow you wish to be." I want to stop here for a moment because there's a lot of stuff going on here, in this answer. My subject says that life is like the seasons, and he continues to explain the importance of point-of-view. He flexes change, process, and progress as his main support for answering "the seasons."
Fortunate enough, I have more questions; they are not going to be the same as the last ones. The following questions are going to get a lot more personal. I started this series of questions with what I would say, is the most important question of them all, "how important is money to you." as Darius answered very straightforwardly, "money is essentially one of the most important things in life. In order to do things or not, it usually comes down to finance. Most of life’s decisions come down to money and the ability to acquire it or spend it." I then tried to dig deeper; I asked him if there would ever be one thing in the past he would have did differently and he said that he wish he never would have realized being untrue to himself because it's one of those bad habits that are hard to shake now, as he gets older. I asked my subject two more questions; one of those questions was, "would you risk your life for your family's," and he responded with "indeed." My last question was quite the outro; I asked him "would you rather have a better life now or a better life later," and he responded with, "later, because life would be worse later otherwise."
___________________________________________________________________
What would you do if you were asked to define life? For some, this question may be quite straightforward, but for others, this question may be very difficult to tackle; I am one of those people. My views on things of this nature are normally anything but straightforward because I'm such an open-minded individual. Nevertheless I am still stubborn so majority of the time when I believe something, I'm not looking back. This project, and my cousin was an eye-opening experience. Questions like, "what's the meaning of life," are what actually gets my brain working, and makes me feel like I have to dig deep to answer them. "What's the meaning of life," is probably one of the most open-ended questions ever; I could say that this question is the most open-ended question ever.
My subject's name is Darius, and he is quite the character. My cousin's views are always different and insightful. As soon as the question for this project arose, I knew exactly who I wanted to interview because my cousin loves to preach to me about his mistakes, and how I can avoid making the same ones. As I have gotten older, he has proven as a really big role model for these stages in my life. Darius' opinions are very abstract, in a sense where you really understand him after you have thought for awhile. Although, most times Darius can be very straightforward, his mind is anything but that.
Since you have pretty much met my interviewee, I would like to show you all what happened when I presented him a couple questions, surrounding what the meaning of life is. When my subject was asked, "what's the meaning of life, in your opinion," Darius responded, "No meaning to it until you put one on it, can’t generalize the meaning of life because it’s different from person to person just live it." Just from his first answer, I knew this would be a great interview. The answer he gave was very expected, and I loved it because it really was a good intro into the interview. My second question was for him was, "has life always meant the same for you, or did this meaning change to you and why," and Darius said, "I always knew life is what you make it, just in the process of learning the full extent of it." Then there was that answer I was awaiting the whole time; when I asked him for a story that explains his view of the meaning of life, he then responded with, "Umm.. I was born in 1993, it’s 2016. 1+1 always equals 2." I wanted to ask him to elaborate on this statement so bad, but I believe it's better off not explained, and thought about. The meat of the interview began to saute when I asked the question, "what image would represent this meaning of life - would it be you yourself, something of yours with sentimental value, a favorite book, etc, and would you please describe it?" My subject then responded with,"the seasons. Life is like the seasons. As far as growth and its representation, you can’t be specific because it means different things from person to person. Just like a stop light or 100 cent means different things to different people, depends on how deep you want to look into it. But when you reflect on what those things mean, it’s a representation of ourselves as well. First thing that comes to mind when I answered seasons is change, process, and progress which is what I’m going through. Any analogy can apply to anyone at any point in time, just a matter of what part we are going through. We can be as deep as in what specific season and its meaning or just as general as the season itself and let you imply what you wish. Life is everything and nothing at the same time, depends on how deep you want to look at something or how shallow you wish to be." I want to stop here for a moment because there's a lot of stuff going on here, in this answer. My subject says that life is like the seasons, and he continues to explain the importance of point-of-view. He flexes change, process, and progress as his main support for answering "the seasons."
Fortunate enough, I have more questions; they are not going to be the same as the last ones. The following questions are going to get a lot more personal. I started this series of questions with what I would say, is the most important question of them all, "how important is money to you." as Darius answered very straightforwardly, "money is essentially one of the most important things in life. In order to do things or not, it usually comes down to finance. Most of life’s decisions come down to money and the ability to acquire it or spend it." I then tried to dig deeper; I asked him if there would ever be one thing in the past he would have did differently and he said that he wish he never would have realized being untrue to himself because it's one of those bad habits that are hard to shake now, as he gets older. I asked my subject two more questions; one of those questions was, "would you risk your life for your family's," and he responded with "indeed." My last question was quite the outro; I asked him "would you rather have a better life now or a better life later," and he responded with, "later, because life would be worse later otherwise."
 |
DR. "Darius" (2016)
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Above, is a photo of my cousin Darius where I just asked him to turn around and snapped a photo of him. I wanted to capture the emotion and full persona of him. I interviewed him in the living room and took this photo in the dining room where there was a bit better lighting. I tried to focus on him in the photo and blur out the background, but it was hard because my photo was sudden and not prepared. You can see the emotion of Darius, a bit of a faint smirk with a very serious face, capturing who he is as a person. The photo came out not as perfect as I would have thought, but I'm still proud of what I depicted in the photo.
Friday, May 27, 2016
Lake Redline Renovations
For the last action project of my Urban Planning course (the last STEAM course of my Junior year), we were asked to pick a street that we wanted to redesign. I chose the street that’s home to the Lake Redline stop. I chose the Lake Redline stop (188 N State) because in the last few years, I have frequently gone down this street to get to and from school. Now, of course, in many cases there are a lot of improvements to be made involving infrastructure and urban planning, but I have only have a few. I honestly love this street and I feel like architects did a great job acknowledging the surrounding buildings and places around the Red Line location. The name of this unit is “Flow” because it was basically about the flow of a city. I learned a number of terms, such as Eminent Domain and Redlining. Eminent Domain is when the government forces someone out of their property against their will, while paying them money to cover moving. Redlining is when the government denies services to certain areas based on ethnic/racial background. I feel as if this project is quite clear and easy to understand so I’m happy that this project was pretty fun.
The area I tried renovating is located on 188 N State in Chicago, IL. This street is mainly used for the Red Line, transferring from line to line, attractions for tourists & citizens, and jobs. This popular place is full of opportunity and I believe it could use more restaurants and more civilian-friendly things, such as seats and mobile charging stations. That's essentially what I tried to tackle as an architect of this space. I tried to make this space more citizen-friendly.
The space I chose is shaped like a rectangular. The length of this rectangle is 374ft and the width is 110ft. The area of a rectangle is length X width. 374 X 110 = 41140ft (squared). Below I will show a diagram of this space and I've labeled a few things I found wrong with it.
Below I have a diagram that I created, highlighting the changes that I will try to make to this space. I chose the same layout to explain my improvements so the scales are similar.
My designs were inspired by one area. I was definitely inspired by the idea of mobile charging stations, which I learned about from the AT&T mobile charging stations in New York City. My other inspiration is also from New York, where Metropolitan Transportation Authority created better looking and much safer train grates for New Yorkers with high heels and others.
Below is my 3D model of the improvements I chose to make. In my model you will see a number of different structures and shapes. The light grey boxes are representative of the 3 buildings and the one wedge shaped building is my new gas station design, with the small rectangle shaped structures in front being gas tanks. The two small white shapes represent the new and improved clear train grates. The three small yellow pyramids represent some of the seating arrangements. The one cylinder represents one of the mobile charging stations.
The volume of the seats (pyramids) in my 3D model is: height: 11mm X length: 11mm X width: 20mm/3 = 806.67mm (cubed). The volume of my charging station (cylinder) in my 3D model is: height: 11mm X radius: 10mm (squared) X pi = 3455.75mm (cubed).
There’s a concept called “T.H.I.S” that I will briefly address. T stands for transportation, and my improvements relate to transportation because of the renovation of the Lake Redline area and my idea of blocking off the alley for safer bike commutes. H stands for housing, and my improvements relate to housing because the Lake redline is transportation to an assortment of different homes for Chicago civilians and even hotels for visitors. I stands for infrastructure, and my improvements relate to infrastructure because I plan on implementing charging stations which requires an alternating current system to carry power far distances. S stands for services, and my improvements relate to services because the charging stations will require an electricity company to make it happen.
First I thought about the traffic that would generate from there being a gas station and no alleys, but then I thought that maybe I could only make one alley for bikes only. I learned after a while that this street isn’t as perfect as I once thought. Next time, I would definitely look into making the charging stations cost money, just to make more money.
_____________________________________________________
The area I tried renovating is located on 188 N State in Chicago, IL. This street is mainly used for the Red Line, transferring from line to line, attractions for tourists & citizens, and jobs. This popular place is full of opportunity and I believe it could use more restaurants and more civilian-friendly things, such as seats and mobile charging stations. That's essentially what I tried to tackle as an architect of this space. I tried to make this space more citizen-friendly.
The space I chose is shaped like a rectangular. The length of this rectangle is 374ft and the width is 110ft. The area of a rectangle is length X width. 374 X 110 = 41140ft (squared). Below I will show a diagram of this space and I've labeled a few things I found wrong with it.
DNR "Issues with Lake Red Line Area," Web. 24 May, 2016.
DNR "Resolved Issues with Lake Red Line Area," Web. 24 May, 2016.
My designs were inspired by one area. I was definitely inspired by the idea of mobile charging stations, which I learned about from the AT&T mobile charging stations in New York City. My other inspiration is also from New York, where Metropolitan Transportation Authority created better looking and much safer train grates for New Yorkers with high heels and others.
Below is my 3D model of the improvements I chose to make. In my model you will see a number of different structures and shapes. The light grey boxes are representative of the 3 buildings and the one wedge shaped building is my new gas station design, with the small rectangle shaped structures in front being gas tanks. The two small white shapes represent the new and improved clear train grates. The three small yellow pyramids represent some of the seating arrangements. The one cylinder represents one of the mobile charging stations.
The volume of the seats (pyramids) in my 3D model is: height: 11mm X length: 11mm X width: 20mm/3 = 806.67mm (cubed). The volume of my charging station (cylinder) in my 3D model is: height: 11mm X radius: 10mm (squared) X pi = 3455.75mm (cubed).
There’s a concept called “T.H.I.S” that I will briefly address. T stands for transportation, and my improvements relate to transportation because of the renovation of the Lake Redline area and my idea of blocking off the alley for safer bike commutes. H stands for housing, and my improvements relate to housing because the Lake redline is transportation to an assortment of different homes for Chicago civilians and even hotels for visitors. I stands for infrastructure, and my improvements relate to infrastructure because I plan on implementing charging stations which requires an alternating current system to carry power far distances. S stands for services, and my improvements relate to services because the charging stations will require an electricity company to make it happen.
First I thought about the traffic that would generate from there being a gas station and no alleys, but then I thought that maybe I could only make one alley for bikes only. I learned after a while that this street isn’t as perfect as I once thought. Next time, I would definitely look into making the charging stations cost money, just to make more money.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Poetry Is Bliss, English or Spanish
In my third period class, we were asked by our Spanish teacher to pick a topic and tackle it fully. I chose poetry because of my love for rhythm and rhyme. With researching our topic, we had to create 20 sentences in Spanish, related to our topic, while corresponding with a certain vocab word for each sentence. We were also asked to create some form of creative art. Since I researched poetry, I created a short poem about the awesomeness that comes with being bilingual. There was also a required Reference page that's included in my slideshow. If you were thinking, yes, all of the researched I collected is put into the slideshow below, into a cohesive and beautiful presentation for you all to read. I loved this project and I love Spanish. Sometimes I even wish it was my first language. Although the required 20 sentences was extremely challenging to a beginning Spanish student, I took on the challenge and I learned a bunch about grammar, concerning Spanish.
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