Live Your Life with Compassion

Photography has interested me since sophomore year because of my friends' knack at the art. I often like having photos taken of me and posting them on social media. In my Journalism class, I got to go on Field Experiences to practice being behind the camera to tell a story. I took photos of my classmates, the train station, and the garden. I had to explain the story behind the photos in front of my class.

This Action Project had me practice my photography skills on a person that answered the question "What is the meaning of life?" I picked my mother to interview because she is an optimistic and influencial person in my life.

Eli is a Mexican 52 year old woman that grew up in the South Chicago neighborhood. She raised her three children there- Destiny (29) Savannah (22) and myself (17). Both of her parents immigrated from Mexico to Chicago in the 1940s. Her father worked in the steel mills all of his life, while her mom cooked, cleaned, and sold Avon. When she isn’t at her front desk job at Harbor Point Estates, she enjoys bike riding, grilling her famous shish-kabobs, and cuddling with her two dogs and four cats when she gets home from work. Although she has been through some tough spots in her life, she has made sure to keep a positive attitude and keep pushing through.

At 9pm, I laid next to my mom on her bed with a pet dog  on each of our laps. I was sick with a fever but I had to push through and interview her for my project. When I explained the purpose of the interview at first, she doubted that she would be suitable to answer such a daunting question. I reassured her that she would do great and started recording.

“So, what is the meaning of life to you? What are your values?” She burst into hearty laughter and tears started rolling off her cheeks. I sat there in awe, confused by the certain burst of emotion from her.

“This is too deep. This is too deep, man.” She wiped the tears off of her face, struggled forming a straight face, then immediately burst into laughter again. “Live life happily, just by doing the things you enjoy on a daily basis. Live your life with compassion and have no regrets.” I wondered what that looked like, so I asked her how she practices her meaning of life.

“I wake up at about 5, pretty early. I take my spunky chihuahua out. Surprisingly, she wakes me up every morning to go outside and pee, even though she is very old. I make my coffee, Boston style. Lots of cream and sugar. I gotta make sure the weather channel is on while I am getting ready so I can listen in on what I should wear for the day. Seeing the weather ladies on the news inspires my outfits and jewelry. I gotta put on my war paint, aka my makeup. I don’t want people to realize how old I actually am.”

We laughed about her adoration for weather ladies and continued eating candy on her bed. “The meaning of life has changed so much for me since I was your age, Jessenia.” She closed her eyes and pet her chihuahua.

I pondered about her transition from being a teenager to now, so I asked, “How has the meaning of life changed for you since?" Eli pointed to multiple prayer picture cards of her deceased friends tucked on the side of her mirror. “When I was younger, I didn’t value anything. I had everything, and then I had great losses. Losing friends at a young age really hurt me. I started valuing life more once I realized I need to be grateful in the moment.” I got up from the bed and examined her prayer cards, each symbolizing a sad year in her life.

“What was the first impactful loss in your life?”, I asked.  Eli sadly smiled and grabbed her bible from her nightstand.

“My best friend from high school and my husband got shot on the same day, and they died a week apart. I think that impacted my life because of the coincidence. It was tragic. Just the experience of having to go to the hospital and then the trip to the morgue to identify the body. I can’t really relive everything. It feels like a blur and it hurts.”

Personally, I have never been through family loss, but I have accompanied Eli to her close family friend's funerals since I was smaller. I asked her if family loss is the same as friend loss. She hesitated and said, "A different part of your heart hurts when your parent dies than when your friend dies. Until you experience it, you won’t know how it feels."

We took a moment of silence as she flipped through her bible, full of highlighted quotes, scribbled notes in the margin, and saint prayer cards stuck in the binder. “I have been trying to get into the habit of reading verses from my bible before I leave the house. I pray to have a safe journey and not bump into people I don’t like. My mom always prayed, so I try to keep up with her tradition."


Here is a picture I took of Eli while she was waiting for the J14 bus on South Chicago Avenue and 83rd St the next day. It was very early in the morning because she was on her way to work. The aperture was high in this photo, which means that I let a lot of light through my lens. I wanted the bright colors to pop out, so that is why I used high aperture. I had high shutter speed when I took this, because the windy day was blowing her hair in all different directions. I hoped her hair would look like it was in place when taking the photo. The focus was on her face because she loves making animated facial expressions to show her spunk. The most colorful part of the photo is her face with different shades of red on her glasses and hair. She is wearing a pair of heart earrings that I gifted her for her birthday. I also practiced the “Rule of Thirds” while taking this picture. Her body is in the center of the photo, which is appealing to the eye. This photo encompasses her personality because she is very goofy, stylish, and fierce.

This photo is objective because I think others would agree with the adjectives I pulled out from her personality shown in the photo. Her meaning of life, living life happily and with compassion, is very bright in this picture.

Curating My Future Life Choices

Life beyond high school is exciting to plan for because I want to live the happiest life possible. I hope to study Anthropology/Sociology and Art History in my college career. 
Outside of the classroom, my internship at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) sparked my interest in the intersection of art and culture in non-anglo societies. My supervisor taught my co-workers and I the importance of accurate representation of indigenous communities in museums. Many indigenous artifacts at museums have been removed from their countries without permission, which leads to false descriptions and carelessly curated galleries. After research, I co-led a discussion panel with other AIC teens about how this affects visitors' impressions of indigenous art. We decided to advocate for change, which was difficult because the museum followed traditional practices that have never been examined by young people of color. We shared our frustrations and solutions for accurately representing indigenous culture to the curator of the African galleries at AIC, resulting in a recurated African gallery. This experience has inspired me to change how museums acquire art on a larger scale by becoming a museum curator as my future career, especially because minorities are underrepresented in the art world.
But the question is, what does that look like? So many big decisions have to be made, such as picking a college to attend, what major to pursue, what jobs to apply to during and after college, and ways of budgeting money. I learned how to make educated guesses and assumptions and use existing data to create a plan for my life after high school in my Economics class. My most favorite take away from this class was becoming comfortable with Google Sheets. I learned how to do calculations and organize data in Google Sheets. Practicing this skill will be beneficial to me in the future. 

JMP, Lifetime Earnings of a Museum Curator, (2019)

I calculated the lifetime earnings of a museum curator. A museum curator's salary ranges, depending on how much experience they have. I calculated how much I would make if I started working right when I graduate from college ,until retirement in 2063. Since I will earn more money with the more experience I gain, I have predicted that I will make around $2,030,839 in my lifetime. I interviewed Ayana Chavis, Program Coordinator of Youth and Family Programs at the Art Institute of Chicago, about her experience in Museum Education. She has been my supervisor at both internships I have been part of since junior year. 

1. What is your career? 

"My job encompasses planning, implementing and supporting our programs for family audiences which include everyday, seasonal and annual programming, such as our festivals and some offsite programming. I am also a manager of teen programs here in our division and department, where I mentor the teens in our internships here at the museum."

2. What college did you attend? Why did you decide to go to college? Why did you decide to attend your college?

"I decided to go to college, because really it was the only way I had ever been taught that I could sustain a life for myself as an independent woman. My mom was the person in my family that really pushed me to obtain a higher education and to always do well in school. In the fall of 2011, I attended Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), in Richmond, Virginia where I would graduate with a Bachelors of Science degree in Anthropology and African American Studies. I decided to go there, because I liked the environment of the school. Mostly I felt as if I could see myself there and indulge in the culture of the university and of the city. The school also had the major I was considering initially, which was journalism. I also liked that Richmond wasn’t too far from home, but I got to have a sense of newness by going to college out of state since I’m from North Carolina."

3. Was college a worthwhile time and money investment for you? Does your career right now make up for the investment during college?

"College was worthwhile of my time, because I felt that I experienced so many new things, learned so much about myself and how to critically think about the world, especially as a black person and woman living in the United States. I met so many new people and built amazing connections. I have to say that besides receiving a full scholarship during graduate school, the money I invested in my undergraduate degree at VCU was not worth the debt I would take on considering that the career I am currently in does not pay enough to maintain a comfortable standard of living in Chicago and allow me to pay my student loans without sacrifice. I like what I do, but I don’t think that a passion for something makes up for being underpaid. The field of education is highly undervalued in terms of the hard work that we do and how it is decided how much that is worth in terms of salary and wages."

4. What advice do you have for me on the value of my college education?

"The advice I would offer to you Jessenia, is to follow your heart and make good decisions in the moment. Always know that there are so many possibilities to the way you can achieve what you want. Know that while your education is important, it does not solely make up who you are or say everything about your worth as a person. Who you are is not about what you do, it is about the content of your character. And if you lead yourself into your college experience being sure about that, what you want and advocating for yourself first, you cannot go wrong."

After conducting my extended research about the pros and cons of Pitzer College and Amherst College, how long it would take to pay off college loans, and hearing from a museum professional’s experience, I have decided that I would like to attend Pitzer College. I think the openness of the community and colleges around it, combination of the majors I want, and warm weather area is worth the investment. I am excited to find out which school I get admitted to, which will slightly alter my predicted plan.

The Ripple Effect of ICE Raids

Each day, hour, second, a new story is happening on the spot. These stories need to be said and heard. Professional journalists report these stories on a number of news channels all over Chicago. For this first AP of Journalism, I had to write about a story going on in my neighborhood. I find it inspiring to be able to write about a story in depth for big papers. My Journalism class has made me excited to read more about the news going on not only in my neighborhood and in Chicago, but around the United States and beyond.

On September 23rd, 2019, the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained five employees of the East Side neighborhood’s pizzeria named Route 66. The restaurant sits on the corner of 10180 S. Indianapolis. People from neighborhoods such as Little Village and South Chicago travel to Route 66 for its hand tossed pizza, Italian beef, and grilled burgers. It is a staple dinner spot in the East Side neighborhood. A member of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: United Worker’s Center was ordering food when ICE came in and requested the employees for citizenship papers.

Route 66 from Google Street View

Chicago is known for being a “sanctuary city”, meaning it is a city whose municipal laws tend to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation or prosecution, despite federal immigration law. The sudden appearance of ICE surprised everyone because they haven’t been seen in the city lately. Mayor Lightfoot supports immigrants living in Chicago by actively sharing what resident’s rights are on social media.

“I can’t control what ICE does. The federal government, unfortunately, is out of control right now because of the person we have in the White House. So, I cannot control what the federal government does. We have no control over ICE. Neither does the Chicago Police Department, or the mayor. She’s (Mayor Lightfoot) doing everything she can to make this a true sanctuary city. Unfortunately, they (ICE) don’t notify us when they’re coming.”

According to New Americans in Chicago, in 2016, 20.7% (557,904) of Chicago’s population of 2,789,520 were people who came here to live permanently and were born in a foreign country. Also, 39,130 immigrant entrepreneurs generated $659.2M in business income for the city of Chicago.

Elida Benavides, a five year-resident of the East Side neighborhood said, “This event makes me angry because I don’t think it’s fair. I mean, unless these people have committed a serious crime, then I think they should go after them. These people have been here for so long, they haven’t been instructed on how to safely stay here.”

Benavides’ feelings are echoed by Alderman Garza. “It’s already impacted the 10th Ward. We’re already seeing a ripple effect. Businesses are worried that they are going to be the next one. People have actually closed their shops and sent their workers home. They were afraid. People are afraid. We’re already dealing with a ripple effect.”

As a result, fewer East Side residents are outside. Kids aren’t playing outside as much as they used to. The residents are starting to become isolated and not trust strangers. The community is starting to fall apart.

When asked if she had spoken with ICE, Alderman Garza said, “I haven’t talked with ICE directly, but we’re working with the National Immigrant Injustice Committee. The mayor was quick to respond. She called me as soon as she heard about it. We hooked up the families with lawyers. We’re working with Centro de Trabajadores Unidos. We’re making sure everyone is covered and everybody has representation. “

What Happens in the Courtroom, Doesn't Stay in the Courtroom

Our last unit of "Policy" consisted of our research on the United States Supreme Court and what difficult decisions they have to make that sets precedent for the future of court cases. My class produced an abundance of research about the suspension of habeas corpus of imprisoned suspects of terrorists of 9/11 on Guantanamo Bay. I couldn't believe that this policy was allowed back then under Bush's rule. After compiling our research, the class practiced on producing consensus among an entire class court answering... "Given world events from 2001-2008, is the Bush administration's decision to suspend *habeas corpus* for detainees at Guantanamo constitutional?"

Practicing discussing with my class was a little difficult because we usually all disagree with each other. I heard some unique, out of the box ideas that I would have not thought of before. Although I believed that the decision was unconstitutional with five other students, we were convinced by the other half of the class that it was constitutional because of rules in the Constitution document and not our feelings. It took about an hour to decide unanimously that it was constitutional. Going through this procedure was mind-blowing because the Supreme Court does it all of the time. it must take an unimaginable amount of skill to listen and articulate other's thoughts.
For the Action Project, I focused on a court case called Grutter v. Bollinger that affects many juniors in high schools. I chose to research this court case because I am going to apply to college in a couple months. The admissions process is very tedious and taken seriously by families and students worldwide.

Rebuilding a Better Chicago

Since many of my summer programs as a tween were in downtown Chicago, I had to learn how to navigate the city by myself at an early age. Getting lost was my worst nightmare. Slowly after taking the time to explore the city on Google Maps on late summer nights, my love for the design of the city grew. I was able to share my good and bad experiences in the city in my last unit of my class "Urban Planning." It was interesting to go back in Chicago's history and learn about how the planned growth of the grid system came to be. I found it helpful to think of different solutions to the many problems that arise in Chicago, instead of spending time listing out the faults of the past. We focused on the Industrial Revolution and how it played a part in cities all across the world, redlining, eminent domain, and unique ideas on how to revolutionize the future of urban planning. Our last FE of the year consisted of taking a tour of the pedway system in downtown. I was amazed to discover that I can travel in the city by foot without needing to go outside. We took our research to the test by redesigning one area of a city with inspiration from cities and spaces around the world, the SDG targets, data of the area, and a TED talk speaker named Peter Calthorpe.

I chose to redesign a block in the South Chicago neighborhood because that is where I grew up. I often took the South Chicago (93rd) Metra train to go downtown as a kid. The space has always made me jittery while I waited for the train because it is very deserted and is not cared for by the city. Vacant lots surround the bustling station. The kids that live on the block do not spend time outside because the space is not very kid friendly. I think that every family should feel the comfort of being able to spend time around their block while having fun on their free time.

The area of the redesigned space is 404ft (Baltimore Ave to Brandon Ave) x 528ft (E 93rd St to E 92nd St) = 213,312 ft²

I replaced four of the vacant lots with new structures for the community and made the transportation there more eco-friendly.

JMP, Current Space, (2019)

JMP, Redesigned Space, (2019)

You can play in my newly designed block of South Chicago in Roblox by clicking here.

Vacant Lot 1 → Container City
I was heavily inspired by Project 24 in the city of Bangor for this design. They used old shipping containers and repurposed them into art spaces for the community that are open 24 hours everyday. There are not a lot of "third places", or places for families besides home and work/school in South Chicago. I have artsy friends in the neighborhood but we are discouraged that there isn't a clean place to do art freely outside. There are unused shipping containers in Vacant Lot 1, so I think Project 24's idea could be recreated there.

JMP, Container City, (2019)

JMP, Inside Art Container, (2019)

Project 24, Untitled, (2019) 

Vacant Lot 2 → Community Garden
Community gardens promote relationship building, cheaper food transportation costs, and reduces water runoff. Philadelphia has about 470 community gardens all over the city. They have specfifc permits allowing urban farmers to own lands for food for the community. That inspired me to create one in a community that need it a lot. There is usually flooding of water in Vacant Lot 2, so I believe that the water could be used for a good cause. According to Chuy Silva, resident of South Chicago, he sees a lot of hungry homeless people hanging around local grocery stores begging for food. He believes that a community garden can help assist those homeless people so they can have food to eat.

JMP, Community Garden, (2019)

Vacant Lot 3 → Coffee Shop
This block does not have any shops to buy food or drink. Commuters have to go out of their way to get breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It would be easier for Metra riders to fill their stomachs before going to school or work if there was a shop around. A coffee shop will benefit residents on the block and hungry pedestrians.

Volume of Coffee Shop building: Rectangular pyramid: 1/3 ft x 30 ft(L) x 50ft (H) x 25ft (W)= 12,500ft^3

JMP, Coffee Shop, (2019)

Vacant Lot 4 → Playground
A new playground achieves SDG 11.7 by providing accessible access of a "third place" (a place besides home and school) to children in South Chicago.

There is one playground in Bessemer Park for the 7,446 kids living in South Chicago. In comparison, Lincoln Park, a very wealthy neighborhood, has seven playgrounds for only 2,304 children. I want to add another playground in this area of South Chicago because the ratios between these neighborhoods are off. It is not fair for children to not have reachable playgrounds to have fun at after school in South Chicago, while there is an outrageous amount in rich neighborhoods for so little amount of kids.

JMP, Playground, (2019)

South Chicago (93rd St) Metra Train → Solar Panels
The Metra train releases a lot of pollution in the air. This can affect the residents of this block with different diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Solar panels can reduce the energy use at the station in an eco-friendly manner.

This new addition reaches SDG 11.6 by "reducing the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities". It keeps a lower risk of disease for minorities living in the area. Solar panels use free energy from the sun to use less money for resources that will run out one day. The air quality would be healthier and cleaner.

JMP, Solar Panels, (2019)

Water Fountain
Kids get thirsty after playing in the playground or working hard on art in Container City. Free water should be accessible for these kids so they can continue having fun with comfort and health.

Volume of cone: 1/3ft x 𝛑 x 1ft ² x 2 ft= 2.09 ft ^3

JMP, Water Fountain, (2019)

Peter Calthorpe's principles for building better cities helped set a goal for my design.

1) Mix: Create mixed-use and mixed-income neighborhoods
The newly designed place has gardeners, children, artists, and commuters conjoining together in one place. The mixed-land use by different people is important for new connections to form and create together.

2) Walk: Design human scale neighborhoods
All of the new attributes in this area are designed for pedestrians and are walkable from one point to another. They are all easy to access by walking along the outside of the buildings. It is enjoyable to walk around in a bustling area with more activities to do than a desolate, vacant place.

3) Focus: Match density and mix to transit capacity
Since there is a lot of people waiting until the Metra gets there, I implemented many activities to do around the station so they would not get bored. It may bring travelers back to spend time in the neighborhood on their own and meet the residents that live around there.

Overall, this has been my most favorite project in Urban Planning. I felt like I can actually make a change in my former neighborhood. I had problems with creating a 3D model of the redesigned place. First, I tried making it by hand with cardboard and glue, but it took a long time for the first step. I decided to switch to Roblox to make the 3D design, which turned out amazing. I also has problems with finding the right area to redesign, but I had conversations with my family about what they thought was vacant in the neighborhood and ideas of improvements.

Citations

“Age and Sex in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois (Neighborhood).” The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States - Statistical Atlas, statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/Illinois/Chicago/Lincoln-Park/Age-and-Sex.

“School Enrollment in South Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (Neighborhood).” The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States - Statistical Atlas, statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/Illinois/Chicago/South-Chicago/School-Enrollment.

“What Is Project 24?” Project 24 NI | Transforming a Derelict Location, project24ni.com/about/.

Just for the Innocent

We studied the executive branch of government in this unit of Policy. Our class time revolved around the different powers that the President and cabinet members have in government. I went on my own Field Experience to see the mayoral inauguration of Lori Lightfoot, Chicago's first black, female, and openly gay mayor. She is the head of Chicago's smaller scale of an executive branch. All of the new and old aldermen were there to be inaugurated also. I found it energizing to see all of those people in power in the same room and seeing a compassionate group of Chicago residents. I hope to make it to a President's oath of office in my future one day. I think that the mayor has a lot of work to do for the city, but I can't imagine the amount of power the president has over the United States. I find that the power to declare war is a big responsibility. Many wars have been declared in the United States' past. Some wars that we consider to be "real" were not declared by Congress, so the government cannot say those wars were legally entered. The war I decided to study for my Action Project is World War II. I chose this war because I have read non-fiction books of people's perspectives on the Holocaust recently, such as Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. I had fun researching the history of the war and how it affected the world as a whole, and if it was legal or illegal from the United States' perspective.

Joseph Fornelli, Mission Extraction, Unknown Date

In conclusion, I learned a lot from the process of this Action project. I need to work on being efficient on writing papers and researching. I taught myself how to cite correctly, which is a new and impressive accomplishment. I hope to take the lessons I had from this AP and implement my new research skills on other papers.

Works Cited

Danforth, Bruce. “Why Japan Attacked Pearl Harbor.” Pearl Harbor. Website. https://pearlharbor.org/why-japan-attacked-pearl-harbor/ . Accessed 19 May 2019.

Fornelli, Joseph. "Mission Extraction." National Veterans Art Museum, Chicago. Ink on paper. Accessed 22 May 2019.

Recchiuti, John Louis. “FDR and World War II.” Khan Academy. Website. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/us-wwii/a/fdr-and-world-war-ii . Accessed 19 May 2019.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Message to Congress.” 1941. PDF. https://fdrlibrary.org/documents/356632/390886/readingcopy.pdf/42234a77-8127-4015-95af-bcf831db311d . Accessed 19 May 2019.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Proposed Message to the Congress.” 7 December 1941. PDF File. http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/images/decwarp1.jpg . Accessed 18 May 2019.

Royde-Smith, John Graham.“World War II.” 23 Aug 1998. Britannica. Website. https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II . Accessed 18 May 2019.
United States Constitution. Article I, Section 8, Clause 11. Accessed 20 May 2019.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Franklin Delano Roosevelt”. Holocaust Encyclopedia. Website. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/franklin-delano-roosevelt . Accessed 19 May 2019.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “War Refugee Board: Background and Establishment”. Holocaust Encyclopedia. Website. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/war-refugee-board-background-and-establishment Accessed 19 May 2019.

Save Our Energy, Save our Planet

 The Power class made me realize that I take electricity for granted. Electricity is one of the most important utilities we use in the city. It connects us to the internet, lights our streets up at night, and powers appliances that make chores easier. Without Tesla and Edison's inventions of AC and DC electricity, we would be stuck in darkness. I learned how to draw a complete circuit diagram with all of the components. The math in this unit interested me because it felt connected to how real electricians understand the amount of voltage, current, and resistance runs through a circuit. For our Field Experience of the unit, the class and I took a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, one of the last standing buildings of the World's Fair held here in Chicago. We didn't have a chance to visit the Wooden Island, a calm and peaceful area that Frederick Olmsted advocated for. It is one of my favorite places in Chicago to relax and find peace at in the summer. I was partnered with my classmate PKA to create an energy efficient circuit that is more eco-friendly than our houses in Chicago. It was difficult to create the circuit, but we took our time to create a simple, yet effective one. It was interesting to do the calculations of the voltage, resistance, and current of our circuit because it made our work affirmative. If I had a bigger circuit board, I would like to create a larger circuit with more parallel paths.