Passion Project Update/Reflection

I have done a bit. But I want to do more research and put more info in the powerpoint. My topic is Optical Illusions. I've read into to it obviously and it seems really interesting. Unfortunately the progress is a little low. I just need to work more in the last 8 weeks because I have to finish the powerpoint. Obstacle? No idea yet. Just time management I guess.

Marin Luther King Jr. as an outlier

Background of MLK Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on 15 January 1929. He was the second of three children and first named Micheal. Both his father and himself changed their name to Martin later. As a child, King's encounters with racial discrimination was mild but effective. His parents encouraged him to notice the racial discrimination and respond to them. I would guess this support from his family helped him get the strenght/bravery to help stop discrimination.

From what I understand from the book "Outliers," by Malcom Gladwell, An outlier is someone outside of the normal. MLK was obviously raised with concerted cultivation which helped him. Because of this he did not conform to society and acted to help the African American across the country. He went out and publicly spoke on behalf of the discriminated blacks in U.S. I'm sure all of you know about the I Have A Dream Speech. As a result, Martin Luther King Jr. was an outlier.

Everybody's free to wear sunscreen response

" Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as 
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing 
bubblegum" this piece of adive does not make sense. I work better by eating gum because it helps me concentrate so that means it is effective. 

"Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your 
life…" I think this is important because many young people going to the real world still does not know what to do. Most people are pressured making them feel bad if they still don't know what to do.
 Some advice I would add to the song is ignore judgmental people. After all, only when you react to what someone says does it become a problem. Some other advice.....Don't drink spoiled milk:)

Jovas Voladoras

I believe this essay has many different meanings. I take it to be discouraging because they describe the long lives tortoises have compared to ours. Almost making us seem small. However, it also shows at the same time, how big we are. Hummingbirds have such fragile, short lives compared to us. Making us seem big. My favorite line is "We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart". I agree with this because no matter how much other's affect us, it is ourselves that affect us the most( our hearts).

Things worth knowing

There are many things in the world that is worth knowing. I believe in society the best thing to know is the best way to continue on your path. For example, if you want to become a Doctor, something worth knowing for you is the best way to become one. This is the most valuable information for that person. Something else is to figure out environmental issue solutions. We have many problems like rain forest being cut down. The world is crying out for solutions to these problems. But unimportant information is still worth knowing because learning is being human. Things we learn every day fascinate us. In conclusion, nothing is not worth knowing.

Waste Land

This movie taught me about the people less fortunate in life.The most memorable part was when Vik muniz made the ordinary pictures of poor people into works of art. What really made it memorable was the fact the he used recyclable materials that have no meaning to most people. But it really makes a difference in these pickers lives. I will always take away this away with me knowing there is importance to EVERYTHING.

After all, one mans treasure is another's treasure. In this case literally.

I think they felt amazing considering they finally have a chance of being something else that seems better in societies' views. The proof is that some pickers were even crying after seeing the artwork they helped make.If i was the subject, I probably would help make the art because I would know it would completely change my life.

random image picture

(highlighted part was the shadow on the rock)

Risky rock climbing story

"Come on Jack."

"No way Bob, have you even seen what you are

talking about."

Jack was trying and failing to convince Bob to

climb the abnormal pile of rock. Bob however, thought it was much too risky to do so. They were not

sure if the rock on top would hold their weight.  Jack sighed in frustration. He had a pretty boring life

along with Bob and extreme rock climbing has always been on his bucket list. But now Bob was too

afraid to do it. Whatever, he was going to do it with or with out his best.

"What are you doing. Stop it. It's too dangerous."

Jack just ignored him. He got the safety rope on the top and was ready to do what he always wanted to

do. As Jack climbed higher and higher he felt just as he thought he would. He was having a great time

and even managed to get close to the top. Now was the risky park. Would the top rock hold his weight?

He was going to find out. As he slowly and as cautiously as he could, climbed to the top, he started to

feel nervous. No stopping now, he thought. He finally pulled himself up to the top. HE DID IT. But

then there was a sudden creaking sound. THE ROCK WAS FALLING. He thought fast he climbed

down to the rock below and hung there as the top rock tumbled down. That was close. He had no safe

way of getting down but Bob managed to get help.He survived the extreme rock climbing. Next on the

bucket list was scuba diving to the titanic.

outside photos

outside school photos

photo essay review by Alex and Sai M.

We chose this picture because we were surprised that anyone would allow children to do this. Children in kindergarten are pictured. You might miss the fact that there is a teacher making them do this as a fitness coach. It tells the ignorance they have and how stupid this whatever it is is. We believe that it is child abuse. I wonder why they do this.

photo challenge: looking in

looking in

photo challenge: for fun

artwork of panda, used pastels

photo challenge of color

Photo of color (my artwork)

Photo challenge of texture

This is a picture of a blanket.

photo challenge of underneath

The ipod nano is "underneath" me as in it describes me.

New Years

Looking back last year, I realized that I didn't change that much. I have the same grades(good), same personality I'm pretty sure, and same ideas of what I like to do during my free time. The only difference is that I actually use the computer at home because I got a Mac-book. I did start looking at the worlds news and realized that it's getting worse. No problems are being solved. Like World Hunger, and the U.S debt problem. But hopefully this year will be a better one. Unfortunately, 2012 was a horrible year. Hurricane Sandy affected many on the East coast. The shooting in Connecticut. I pray that the year 2013 is going to be better.

I am against New Year's resolutions because I forget about it one day and then I stress about it the next day. I feel like I really messed up when it's really about something simple. Like last year, my resolution was to get all over 95% in every class. PE ended up 94%. If I didn't have a resolution I wouldn't fret about it. In 8th grade, I forgot about it and just learned normally. I ended up getting all 95% and above so far. So I ended up doing better without stressing about it. 
So in the end, I hope 2013 is going to be better and I hate Resolutions.

my view on political parties

Political Parties

I think the two main political parties are going to be our downfall. The U.S two parties are unfairly above 3rd parties and don’t try to compromise much. They might try a bit, but they haven't got much done about the fiscal cliff problem. The main problem congress was not able to make the decision because of the two main parties arguing with each other. I don’t necessarily think that there should no political parties. But they should work together instead of against each other. If this goes on, then we might have to get rid of political parties.They have different goals and solutions and it almost like they are rivals. It’s okay to have different ideas, but to continuously rival in decisions is not healthy for our country’s future. This is a government, not a game of football. Their “fans” are devoted to them causing separation in our country. Often hating the other side just like in a football game.In fact, the president is more loyal to his/her party than his citizens. I always thought it was people and the government compromises for our government first, then the parties. But lately, they’ve been arguing with each other a lot more. I believe this is the biggest problem our government needs to fix before we try to resolve anything else. If the government continues to ignore it, we will continue to see a number of problems unsolved.
The democratic & Republican parties have too much power as well. For example, 3rd party candidates for president might have a good ideas but just because they are not in the two main parties, they can barely make their names get in the ballot in all the states. I think if their ideas were heard and actually taken into consideration, we might

actually have a solution to some of our escalating number of problems. There are many 3rd parties that would certainly help our economic issues at the moment. The more ideas, the merrier.
Lately, I’ve felt like the government isn’t paying attention to our debt problems. Truthfully, they are trying to solve it. But it doesn’t seem like it because they keep pushing the fiscal cliff back.They had 2 years to solve it but waited until the last minute to actually think about it and couldn’t come up with anything. It’s almost like someone put a bandage on a open giant gash that’s continuing to bleed. They came up with a last minute law that they would raise taxes to high income citizens. But the U.S is still biting off more than they can chew. We are using too much money compared to the money we take in.
Obviously Terry Mitchell agrees with me about the fact that political parties are literally splitting us apart. As he says in his article, George Washington foresaw this more than two centuries ago. We should have heeded his warning. A man named Jeff Thomas also agrees and states that it is possible to have a fair government without political parties. He gives an example of the Cayman Islands. They used to have political parties, but realized that it was not the answer and changed. This is his article. In it it shows what changes are going in the Cayman Islands and how they proposed a solution. They have made a coalition of Independents instead of formal parties. Although Jeff has a few questions, he seems to think it will help the Cayman Islands and make it a stronger country. I agree. Here in America the two political parties won’t listen to each other. They want what they want and nothing else. Sure, there have been some compromises, but only on certain issues. For example, I predict they will compromise on gun control because they both want to limit the guns citizens have access to. But will they ever compromise on issues that they have complete different views in but are still important? Probably not. Which is why we need to scrap these parties and start from scratch, or find a way to make the party idea better. 

my plan for 20% project

I want to do the origins of martial arts. All  I need is Google presentations and my computer at home to make my presentation. Some obstacles might be the usual. Which websites will have the right and accurate info. and which ones to trust will be the main ones road blocks. But I'm confident I can find Trustworthy websites. My master in Karate class would help me on this.:)