Reckless Rashes

In my STEAM class named Cure, we learned different ways on how to treat illnessin everyday life. There are three basic ways on how to treat yourself- over the counter drugs, prescriptions, and remedies. I loved learning about the scientific way that drugs work in our body, and how effective it is to our bodies. I only go to the doctor when I am extremely sick, so it was interesting to learn about new home remedies that I can try on myself. Our class performed a lab in which we had a pill that closed off our sour tasting taste buds, so that sour foods tasted sweet. It was a mind blowing experience because I ate hot sauce with ease after I took the pill! And I can’t stand any spicy foods. This lab was to demonstrate how drugs work on our bodies. When you take in a drug, it's molecule fits into it's matching shaped receptor site, just like how a key matches it's lock. Biological events occur within the body, such as chemical reactions or nerve impulses. This mechanism is called "Lock and Key".

For our Action Project, we had to find an illness or symptom that appealed to us and research 3 treatments to make it better.  Then, we had to create a medicine box that sold the symptom and its remedies. Each treatment option had its drug facts and instruction on how to do it.

JMP, German Measles, (2018)

JMP, Codeine Phosphate, (2018)

JMP, Acetaminophen, (2018)

JMP, MMR Vaccine, (2018)

JMP, Chart, (2018)

JMP, Ingredients, (2018)

I loved this AP because I am very interested in graphic design and gathering ideas onto an organized platter. I tried very hard to make my box eye catching. Im very proud with the end product and my collected research. I learned useful information that’ll I use in my future!

Spitting Out Sonnets

In my Humanities class called Drama,  we read Taming of the Shrew- a famous Shakespeare play about the effect of social roles on individual happiness. In the play, a man named Petruchio ventures out to win the heart of Katherine, one of the two daughters that a rich man named Baptista has. Her sister Bianca is often wanted by the men in the land. Bianca acts like how a woman “should” behave back then: quiet, obedient, and happy. Katherine was viewed as a shrew because she is rowdy, rebellious, and out-spoken. Being called a shrew was a big insult. Petruchio just wanted to marry Katherine because she was born into a wealthy family. He challenges himself to tame her to be a calm and collected woman by their wedding day, and he succeeds. The whole fiasco drives him crazier than Kate herself.
For the first Action Project of Drama, my class was asked to write a sonnet concerning one of the play’s characters. I chose Katherine because I wanted to write about her experience being wed to a crazy guy like Petruchio.

Here is my sonnet!

Petruchio! The man who wed thou Kate

Pleasure to you is taming of the shrew.

All she wants is a domestic break through

Instead, you threaten and fill her with hate.  

Beguiled Kate with grace, deceptive fool

“She is my house, my horse, my ox, my ass”

Insentient man, she earns a repast

Kate does not know what Love is in your rule.

In order to reach full nirvana, knave

Be true to thyself and your sweet woman

Sit down, be humble, flee oblivion

Open up your heart, get out your mind cave

Follow my sincere advice, know the ways

Life itself will have light, happier days.

Banning the Color Purple

In my humanities class Forbidden Books, we studied challenged and banned books. We looked at different kinds of religions and the attributes that the followers listen to. We read two challenged books, called Fahrenheit 451 and The Absolutely True Diary of  a Part Time Indian. These books are very controversial because the authors wrote without paying any mind to how the public may react to it. We also visited Natalie Moore, author of a book called "The Almighty Black P Stone Nation: The Rise, Fall, and Resurgence of an American Gang". Her book was banned in prisons around the nation because it talked about gangs. It was incredibly fun to meet her and be in her office. For this AP, we had to read a challenged or banned book and write an essay on if it should or should not be banned. I read The Color Purple.

Banning The Color Purple

Imagine an author who spent years writing a book she poured her heart and soul into, only for it to be ridiculed and banned in many states. Alice Walker ,who wrote The Color Purple, is one such author. The book is a chronicle of written letters to God by Celie, the protagonist. She is a very uneducated, poor black woman. As a 14-year-old, she survived her stepfather raping her and abducting her children so she can never see them again. She lived her life thinking that they were dead. A man known as Mr. ____ wants Nettie, Celie’s sister, as his wife, but the father does not want his prettiest daughter to be married. Instead, he marries off the “ugly” Celie to Mr.____. Nettie runs away with the new married couple, but Mr. ____ tries to inappropriately touch her . Nettie flees, never speaking or visiting Celie again. Celie thinks that Nettie is dead since she never received any letters from her. Shug Avery, Mr. _____’s mistress, begins to grow a close relationship with Celie. Shug helps Mr.____ change up his rude behaviors. Shug instigates a sexual relationship with Celie, even though she has a new husband. They both really like each other without saying it. They find hidden letters from Nettie in a hiding spot, which say that Nettie has met two missionaries in Africa. They turn out to be adoptive parents of Celie’s long lost children. Celie’s letters to God tell him about love, sex, and her struggles with being a woman. The book is controversial because it contains vulgar language, sexual references, and violence. The Color Purple should be banned from readers because it contains many problematic themes.

Because of the violence in the book, The Color Purple was banned in Texas prisons. A prison says “The Color Purple was banned because author Alice Walker leads the reader to believe the main character is raped by her father.” One of the reasons that they disliked it were scenes like this. “He (Pa) never had a fine word to say to me. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t. First he put his thing up against my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my p***y. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it” (Walker 1). This quote describes when Celie was raped by her stepfather. Violence plays a big part in The Color Purple. Those who show violence are often men, who are either sexist or racist. The men in Celie’s life are purely evil, with intentions to hurt others in order to get their way. They take advantage of women by appearing to be superior than what they really are. The women are scared of standing up to them because they will only get hurt in the end. Mr.____’s son Harpo, for example, beats his wife Sofia only after his father told him that Sofia’s resistance makes Harpo less than a man. Mr.____ is violent and mistreats his family by beating them and showing disrespect toward them. Celie herself tells Harpo to beat Sofia to knock some sense into her because she is jealous of Sofia’s aggressiveness and independence. This is obviously a violent and disturbing scene to picture in the reader’s head. The Texas prisons wanted to protect their people from reading this graphic material. This reason was attributed to extreme violence because the men were always in charge of the women, and made it clear that it could not be the other way around.

Additionally, homosexual references took a major role in The Color Purple. “She say, I love you, Miss Celie. And then she haul off and kiss me on the mouth. Um, she say, like she surprise. I kiss her back, say, um, too. Us kiss and kiss till us can’t hardly kiss no more. Then us touch each other. I don’t know nothing bout it, I say to Shug. I don’t know much, she say. Then I tells something real soft and wet on my breast, feel like one of my little lost babies mouth” (Walker 113). Men were supposed to be with women, and women were supposed to be with men. Celine’s sex life was ruined for her since a teenager because her father always raped her and took her babies. When she met beautiful Shug Avery, her whole world changed. She fell in love with a woman, which not accepted in the early 20th century. Their close friendship quickly turned into a sexual relationship, such as when Shug makes out and masturbates with Celie. Another piece of controversial text is, “All the men got they eyes glued to Shug’s bosom. I got my eyes glued there too. I feel my nipples harden under my dress. My little button sort of perk up too” (Walker 81). People wanted to ban the book because of the sexual things that Celie and Shug would do with each other for pleasure. Two women falling in love with each other was controversial for a lot of people back in the day and still in today’s society. This specific text can be problematic for someone based on religious reasons because a lot of religious people think that homosexuality is a sin. Heterosexuality is the reform that a lot of religions follow.

The Color Purple is a controversial book that should be banned. One reason it should be banned is because schools are against any form of violence. Also, many religions oppose homosexual. Lastly, certain curse words offend people of all ages. Although many books contain some curse words, The Color Purple contains racist slurs and stereotypical, racist, and sexist language. Alice Walker often uses the “n word” in The Color Purple. This word may offend people because it has a historical background and people believe that only certain races could use that word. Alice Walker says in an interview, “Our culture, our society, our world is doomed.” She believes that this book should be exposed to the public, as it shows the experiences as a woman may go through in her life.

Banning books has existed throughout history in order to protect people from being offended or be exposed to content they shouldn’t see. Authors write books that may or may not banned. They take a risk of exposing their controversial thoughts to the world. The Color Purple takes its themes and amplifies them to the the fullest extent, making each scene graphic and very vivid. This book should be banned for three obvious reasons. First, there is sexual violence throughout the book such as when men would beat their wives to make them listen to them. Secondly, the homosexual themes stirs up controversy with religion. Thirdly, Alice Walker used vulgar language, including the “n word”. This book should be in the right hands in order not to hurt anyone.

Works Cited

Goodman, Amy. “Alice Walker on 30th Anniv. of ‘The Color Purple’: Racism, Violence Against Women Are Global Issues.” Democracy Now!, 28 Sept. 2012, www.democracynow.org/2012/9/28/alice_walker_on_30th_anniv_of.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. ORION BOOKS LTD, 2017.

Matt McGee, "The Color Purple" , (2006)

Alzheimer's Disease

In my STEAM class called Disease, we focused on many different types of diseases, how they classify, how they are transmitted, what risks it brings to the human body, and how it alters daily lives. The class and I were taught the systems of the body, the composition of blood, and zoomed in on the background of cancer and how it is treated. For our first Action Project, we had to interview someone about their experience with a disease that they had. I made a patient profile to summarize their medical story. Then, we had to do research on that disease. I felt very tied into this project because it helped me understand what many family members are suffering through, since I am too shy to ask them about it myself.

Since Marissa's main language is Spanish, I was not able to ask her directly about her experience. She also lives very far, so I was not able to visit her either. I interviewed Sam, which went through the experience of seeing Marissa suffer from the disease since 2010.

Marissa’s caregiver didn’t understand why she was acting differently and very aggressive; she was having violent behavior and was ready to confront anyone with attitude and snappy movement. After months of strange behavior, she was finally taken to the hospital and was diagnosed with depression, which is a loss of interest in activities, causing significant impairment in daily life.  The caregiver began to list many symptoms that Marissa had, which was hallucinations, confusion, forgetfulness, not being able to remember many new memories, and often bringing up random thoughts from her childhood and expecting her family members to remember being in that moment with her. Marissa was then also diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. All of this new information was a lot to take in for the family, but Sam stepped in and stood by Marissa’s side in the nursing home everyday. Marissa had to start taking Donpezil, a medicine made for treating Alzheimer’s disease. It treats confusion and may improve memory, awareness, and ability to function again. Marissa was not told by her family that she has this disease. She did not know English at the time, so it was not easy to translate and explain the back story of Alzheimer’s to her. A direct quote from my interview with Sam about this decision of not telling Marissa about her diagnosis is “I think it’s easier to enjoy the present with her when we can keep the conversation light. We don’t try to correct her or make her feel bad. And we don’t want to worry her either. So we try to make sure there’s some congruency between what she thinks is happening and what is true.” The family visited Marissa at the nursing home everyday, making sure she accepted and took the daily Donpezil pills received from her doctor. It was a daily routine to be there for her. The stressful  summer came to an end, and winter came creeping in. The family fell into a workaholic mode, where no one could sadly make the time to visit Marissa everyday. Marissa started to forget about her daily memories, as there were none to remember. No one visited her. Holidays were the only breach of her sparked thoughts. Having the disease caused a big divide between her and the family, as she was constantly living in different time periods and couldn't help herself. She still took her pill everyday, as it was her only habit of the day’s passing by. She did have many bad episodes of memory loss where she would forget about Sam or other family members, or expect them to be able to relate to her childhood memories.

Alzheimer’s disease is a multifactor disease, where it is caused by a mix of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that affect the brain over time. Growing old is a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Average people start developing it when they are older than 60 years old. Having family members that have the disease is also a risk factor, as it can be transmitted through genetics in the family tree.

JMP, Nervous, (2018)

Alzheimer’s disease is mainly a disease of the central nervous system, which has the brain and the spinal chord. Brain cells start to die, usually due to progressive age. Amyloid plaques, made up of proteins and dead brain cells, start to accumulate in the brain tissue. A brain protein named tau grows more, which makes brain cells malfunction and die. This results in difficulty keeping a good memory and being able to learn new things. Personality and mood start to swing, n9t having consistent waves. Patients begin to depend on others for basic self care needs. Their interactions with the environment around them becomes unrecognizable.

JMP, Digestive, (2018)

Swallowing difficulties occur in fairly early stages or Alzheimer’s disease. They have difficulty eating with out choking. Also, people living with Alzheimer’s disease have an impaired sense of smell, which changes the way they taste.

JMP, Muscular, (2018)

People with high levels of Alzheimer’s disease often lose their ability to walk  or remain safe posture

in a chair. Accidental injuries start to occur when that have to control over certain muscles when the patient grows old with the disease.

This project made me more aware of the disease. I am glad I picked this disease to do research on. I feel very happy with the information I gathered for this Action Project. I had difficulty getting information from Marissa directly, but I worked with what I got.

Citations:
John, Dr. Tina M. St. “What Body Systems Are Affected by Alzheimer Disease?”LIVESTRONG.COM, Leaf Group, 14 Aug. 2017
“Alzheimer's & Dementia Risk Factors.” Alzheimer's Association,

Healthy Living in South Chicago

For the winter elective term, I was in a class called “Thin Red Lines”. I expected to learn about history , which I have a lot of trouble with. I was excited to find out that we were going to delve more into community issues and how the public reacts to it. I am a proud South Chicago teen, and I notice problems that arouse in the neighborhood. It’s interesting to hear my classmates perspectives on what they see in Chicago. We learned about Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and how many people have sided opinions about them. We even had to create our own TIF and explain why it would be helpful to the land we chose.

I’m grateful for my teacher being able to get our class to go on many Field Experiences. We had a personal talk with Tom Tressor, a community activist and is very much against TIFs. We gained a close connection with the Chicago Metropolitan Planning Council and talked about their plans and regulations for growing a healthy community. For our last FE, we visited Google and talked about their app “Waze”and how it helps transform traffic in a new way and how that affects maps.
For this AP, we had to identify a problem in a community we were drawn to and make a plan about how to fix it. This project was very frustrating to me because I couldn’t find good research on my topic, but I managed to pull through it.

South Chicago is a neighborhood in the city’s far south side. It is known for being unsafe, but it’s the only place I am happy to call home. It has high poverty and unhealthy strikes among its people.

I am looking at health rates in South Chicago because there is not a lot of access to healthy food down there. There are many small family owned corner stores, but there apisnt a main grocery store that everyone goes to. I’m going to show you existing food stores and where there should be more to have healthier, cheap, and accessible grocery stores for the residents of a South Chicago.

Demographics and Housing
South Chicago is a small neighborhood in the city’s far South Side. I couldn’t find recent data of its demographics, but I found older data from 2015. The population is 28,095 residents. The largest demographic is African American, which is 74.10% people. The second largest is Latinx, having 21.65% people. The third largest is White, with 2.78% people. The median household income is $28,504.  Its largest age group is 21. Most homes here have single parent families, and have many falling out of marriages.

Mobility
People in South Chicago rely on the public bus and train to get around. The Metra Electric starts on 93rd and Baltimore and takes you north to Millennium Station in downtown. Most people take this train to higher paying jobs up north. The closest colored train line is the Red Line, which can be accessed if you take the #30 South Chicago or the #95 95th bus. The bus and train price rose by 25 cents recently, which may seem like a little bit, but commuters have been accustomed to paying the same price everyday for years. This will change their budget and possible the way they get around the city and to work.

Land Use and Development
Common income for people living in South Chicago is $16,579. That is barely enough to make a living when you have to pay for rent, food, water, gas, heat, and children. There aren’t many public places for teens and kids to go to for free. The YMCA is closing down after it has been open for 90 years. That will make senior citizens lose homes, toddlers lose a daycare, and take away a gym that kept residents in shape and active.

Issue Discovered
Many people in South Chicago earn low pay in their jobs. There aren’t high paying jobs in the
neighborhood, so many have to travel to downtown to work, which costs even more money. It’s also hard for teens to find intern opportunities in the neighborhood because mostly everything that pays there are fast food restaurants. Low pay doesn’t allow for families to be able to afford healthy food. Affordable food is usually unhealthy and greasy. Junk food is sold at corner stores because that is what the lower class can afford. Vegetables and fruits are pricey. There isn’t a main affordable grocery store that everyone can go to. They either have to travel to Indiana where there is a cheap Walmart, or go to a family owned store. There are no name brand grocery stores in the area. I wanted to find out how many stores are considered a grocery store, and where there can be more healthy and accessible places to shop.

Map #1 : Existing Grocery Stores

JMP, "Map #1", (2018)

There are only 5 “main” grocery stores in South Chicago, as of now. Most of them run along Commercial Avenue, South Chicago’s main busy street that has shops up and down it’s street. Four out of five of these stories have bilingual workers, so they can talk to residents that speak English or Spanish. These four stores are family owned and are trusted by the community that they sell good food. There are a few scattered stores that sell food, but they are mostly for quick trips for grub. I drew the line along 79th, down South Chicago Avenue, and up and around Harbor Avenue to down Interstate 41. I included “Bush” a small unrecognized neighborhood that I consider part of South Chicago since it’s a few blocks. I noticed that there are many corner stores across the border of 79th, but I didn’t consider it part of South Chicago, as it’s technically in the South Shore neighborhood. There is only one name branded grocery store, which is “ Save-a-Lot.” I have visited this store about three times in my life, and it is always bustling with shoppers. The lines are always long, but I think people think it’s better to have a trusted brand more than family owned. The family owned shops get less Spanish speaking customers, but they have good business from the Latinx community.  A lot of these stores are along the east side of the neighborhood, which isn’t good for the West Side residents. They have to travel on bus in order to get to a big grocery store. If they don’t have money to travel, they spend their money on junk, non filling unhealthy food. These stores are not accessible to all South Chicago residents. This isn’t fair to those who want a healthy life style, but have to go through more sacrifices than those living in a busy area.

Map #2: A Plan for Good Change

JMP, "Map #2", (2018)

As I said before, the east side of South Chicago has all of the grocery stores. This may be hard for people living more West, so I consider the West Side a “blight” area. They are in need of a big grocery store that is accessible to them. I know that some people can easily drive to the nearest grocery store, but I wanted to make this convenient for their lives. A lot of families don’t have time to go grocery shopping with thought of what they actually want to eat for the week. Many just buy
fast or junk food that is cheap, but doesn’t necessarily fill them up in the healthiest way. I took a copy of my old map and added some grocery stores , some family owned, and some name branded ones. I think family owned grocery stores are trusted in some means, because they hire local people that are in need of a job. Also, since South Chicago has a lot of Mexican people, most family owned grocery stores are bilingual and can help out the two biggest demographics in the area with Spanish and English speaking workers. Spreading out this great skill can help more residents so they are more comfortable buying food. Name brand grocery stores such as Costco can sell more of an abundance of food, so families don’t always have to be on the run for new food for the week. A Costco would help save time, money, and bring more health to the area. Costco is a large store that sells appliance items, household items, food, and even had a small restaurant inside. Many people in South Chicago resorted to driving all the way to Indiana to go to the biggest home store for cheap items, which is Walmart. That wastes a lot of gas and makes people go out of their way just to get the things that they need. Not only that people can get healthy abundances of food, but they can easily walk over to the new Costco and get non food items. The Costco would have to be in the West Side of the neighborhood so it can equal out to the now smaller grocery stores in the East side of town. There is a vacant lot for sale in the top right corner of the neighborhood’s boundaries, so it would be perfect for a new Costco.

Map #3 Consolidation

JMP, "Map #3", (2018)

I think that making one Costco in the Northwest side of South Chicago is best. I thought over putting more family owned groceries instead, but I realize that would spend more money and resources. I couldn’t find small vacant land that is in the area I wanted them to be. Many houses are in the way. I don’t think that destroying houses in a poor neighborhood is the way to go. It’s better to have one large healthy grocery store more than multiple small variating ones. People trust a Costco to have cheap food too. This will certainly bring a big change to South Chicago, since Costco’s are usually placed in busy and over populated areas. This Costco will also be available for neighboring areas, such as South Shore and Calumet Heights. They can travel here because by West/East busses. There is a membership fee to be able to shop at Costco, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. Shoppers get discounted healthy food that doesn’t run out fast. The membership will put South Chicago residents on arguing sides, but I’m sure they can be persuaded to be in this new trend.

Ideas Becoming 3D Reality

In my class called “Rapid Prototyping”, we’re closing it off with our last unit called “3D”. This unit was particularly very intriguing to me, because 3D printing seemed like such a futuristic hobby to me.  We learned the specs of types of 3D printers, material that can be used for production, how to estimate the area of a function with Riemann sums, how to measure length, width, and height, and what may be good or bad to bring into the 3D printing world. The class took a field experience to the Museum of Science and Industry. We saw 3 exhibits. At the “Toy Maker 3000” , we saw a toy go through the process of being made in a factory. In “Robot Revolution” , we saw different kind of robots that do specific tasks. We also took a look at “Fast Forward”, an exhibit where we saw prototypes of inventions and the creators behind them. 
In this Action Project, we were paired up with a partner and had to go through the prototyping process to make a finished product on the 3D printer. Making our product in clay and cardboard took a lot of time. We didn’t enjoy the messy process of cutting and measuring those materials. The clay and cardboard models aren’t functional. Make our phone deck by clicking on this link. The 3D model works and serves its purpose. We were very happy with the results. 

Carve Your Heart Out

This course is called Rapid Prototyping. We are experimenting with using different machines to make creations. In this unit, we are learning about a CNC machine called the Carvey. The Carvey is a 3D carving machine that allows you to make quality objects out of a variety of materials including wood, metal and plastic. We also learned about calculating density, mass, and volume of objects. Since we are dealing with a machine that carves into material, we had to learn about 3D formulas, graphing with a z axis, and converting measurements.

This Action Project is about creating a sign about a core value at GCE; a sign carved by the Carvey and one handmade sign. My task is to try to make both of them look as precise and accurate as one another. Before carving, I had to calculate each sign’s mass, density, volume, and distance between the two furthest points on my design.