Blog Post Update 10/15

In the past two weeks our main focus has been genrally the same as previous. The main purpose was to just expand our vocabulary. Now that we're all fluent with signing the alphabet we looked up ore words. Some were of basic words like hello, mother, father, and help but others were more unique like clumsy, goat, and coffee. Also we've finally finished assigning sign language names to each member of our group. Names can represent physical appearance like Erin's which is red with the sign for E to represent her red hair. They can also be about a specific trait or characteristic you have like mine is clumsy with an E. More research has been done regarding the creation of sign language and deaf culture. For the continuation of the project though we are trying to figure out what other interesting things we can find out about deaf life and deaf culture. Like I found a video about a restaurant in Toronto Canada that hires deaf waiters and requires people to use sign language to order.  Overall we're still trying to find out more about deaf life and American Sign Language.

Passion Project 9/29

We've had two passion project days and we've actually gotten a lot done. We've done research into the history of sign language. We've also looked into how people got sign language names and figured out what ours would be. We learned some basic sign language like letters, greetings, and basic words. There is still a lot more research that we need to do and compile it into a power point presentation. We have a lot of information but none of it is organized. We have a long way to go but we still have time so I hope its going to be a good project.

Empathy and Equality

If you think about it each person lives in their own little circles. My circle is I wake up, take the bus to school, play volleyball, go home, and then go to sleep. Throughout my day though my circle overlaps with other peoples circles who's lives are similar to mine like family, religion, social groups, and so on. So when theres a part of life that doesn't fall within your personal circle its hard to think about but thats empathy. Its the ability to feel for someone else despite it not directly effecting you. According to Jeremy Rifkin, to the problem with society is a lack of empathy. We don't care enough about the person standing next to us to be driven to help them let alone a person in Syria or Sri Lanka that we've never met before. Jeremy Rifkin says that our goal should be to extend our empathy to the entire human race. I would hope this could be possible but I think its too idealistic. There will always be the people that care too much and the people that hardly are at all. Yet I think we can all stand to be more empathetic. Through empathy we can fix a majority of the issues pressing in on our society. When we listed issues in class we got results of sexual assault, gender equality, education, health care, illness, terrorism, disease, mental illness, super patriotism, lack of kindness, Russia and the Ukraine, Syria, and so many other topics we discussed that i can't even remember. Many of the issues we stated were weaved together to the point where by fixing one you may fix another while at the same time creating a new issue all by itself. While thinking that every problem facing our society can be solved is simply idealistic, I think we can solve a majority simply by thinking of people as people. Many problems are caused by viewing others as different or even inferior. But when you remove labels and classifications you are left with just a person. A person with a family, dreams, insecurities, and most likely struggling with the same kind of things you are. When you take away the things that group us together you also take away the fictions that keep us apart. One big issue is gender equality. Literally the only reason people believe genders are so different is because the only see the stereotypes and the fictitious differences that keep us apart. Take away gender and you are left with simply a person. Certain cultures view women as inferior simply because they've been told that women are inferior. However if you look at someone as a person instead of as their labels you don't see female, black, baptist you see charismatic, well read, and loyal. War too can be solved with empathy. There is a difference between civilians and soldiers in war but why. A gun? No they're still people. Society sees statistics as numbers. We've grown up in a world where war statistics are broadcasted over family dinner to the point where they're just numbers and lists of names without any real meaning. It doesn't invoke any true emotion. With empathy though we think before we shoot. Even more empathy can help get rid of the reason to shoot. Empathy makes it so religion or race or even nationality don't really matter because they're people just like everybody else. I don't think its possible for every single person on earth to be completely empathetic but society as a whole needs to increase our empathy in order to create a world of equality and to help solve the pressing issues that we face. We just have to see people, as people.

Passion Project 2 Update

Honestly our passion project has come pretty far. We've actually gotten a lot done. We started by researching different genetic abilities. By combining our research with some of our own ideas we compiled a list of tests. Then we made up a survey and we were able to test everyone in our class except for the people who weren't here. We also tested our families so that we can see how the traits move through our families. We still need to analyze all our data and figure out what abilities are actually determined by genetics. Some obstacles that our group came across was determine what actually counts as having the skill. For example some people have really prominent hitch hiker's thumbs compared to others so its hard to determine what actually counts. Some obstacles that we may come across is finding reliable information and determining what all our information really means. However I don't think these issues will hold us back and I'm actually really excited to keep working on our project.

Passion Project Update & Reflection

Its amazing to think we're already halfway through the Passion Project. My project that I'm working on with my group is a Rube Goldberg Machine and though we've started and have made progress we've still got a long way to go. With each step we added there seems to be another issue. Most are easy to fix. Some on the other hand are going to take a lot of thinking to fix. One of our main problems we have is the hand sanitizer itself. Our last step is to have a weight pull the pump of the hand sanitizer down. The issue is that the weight also pulls down the whole hand sanitizer bottle. The second issue is in poor Thomas the Train. Thomas has the very important job of traveling along his tracks up a hill to hit a block and start a domino effect. That would work perfectly, if Thomas could actually make it up the hill. On the bright side, we have a total of seven steps done and we're actually getting together today to continue working and we're definitely making progress.

The Outlier Behind the Magic.

         I always think of an outlier as someone with a unique mind. A person who is bursting with creativity and the power to think outside the box. Someone who embodies these qualities the most is the one and only Walt Disney. Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. From an early age Walt Disney was interested in art and was constantly encouraged by his mother to practice his talents. As he got older took every opportunity he could get to practice and improve his art. In high school he took classes in art and photography as well as taking classes at night at the Chicago Art Institute.
       After dropping out of school Disney joined the Red Cross and took a job driving an ambulance in France. Upon his return, Walt's brother Roy got him a job as a newspaper artist at Pesmen-Rueben Art Studio. During his time here Disney made friends with experienced cartoonist Ubbe Iweks. Walt, his brother Roy, and Ubbe tried to start their own studio producing short cartoon series but they quickly fell into debt and had to declare bankruptcy. Not willing to give up the three moved to Hollywood and started The Disney Brothers' Studio. The company survived but wasn't a huge success until the creation of Disney's famous character: Mickey Mouse. In 1923 Walt Disney made the cartoon "Steamboat Willie" and from then one Disney's career sky rocketed.
    The work the followed "Steamboat Willie" showed Disney's creativity. Walt Disney pushed boundaries and did things no cartoonist had done before. He created his first feature film "Snow White" which is now considered the best animated movie of all time. From that point on each film did things that none had before. Fantasia combined color and sound. Bambi used realism and detail. Mary Poppins was the first movie to ever combined real life actors with animation. Then Disney created Disney Land "the most magical place on Earth".
     Walt Disney follows many of the rules of an outlier. For the 10,000 hour rule he took classes and practiced his art form a young age. In Malcom Gladwell's book "Outliers" he says that the time where most people reach their 10,000 is when they're 20 years old. Walt Disney produced his first successful cartoon "Steamboat Willie" in 1923 at the age of 22. For parentage and patronage Disney was constantly encouraged by his mother and siblings. Even more, his brother Roy gave Walt financial backing numerous times and helped Disney create his companies. As for special opportunities, Walt Disney befriended Ubbe Iweks while working at Pesmen- Rueben who he learned from and went into business with. Finally for intelligences. There is no denying Walt Disney's creativity but he also had recognizable practical intelligence. Everyone during that time admired Disney and his skill for storytelling. He had a way of speaking to people that would keep them interested and he talked in a way that people could understand and relate to. He could pay attention to detail without drowning the listener. Overall Walt Disney, the man behind the magic, was a true outlier.

Joyas Voladoras

This piece of writing really makes you think but at first not exactly in the most positive way. In fact, the entire last paragraph seems discouraging. The way that I interpreted it was that no matter what precautions you take your going to end up heart broken and hurt. After reading that I was left thinking "well than whats the point of getting close to someone". Later as I was rereading I realized that loving something is natural. It's impossible to keep your heart locked away. Like whales. They are these massive mysterious creatures. We know next to nothing about blue whales but what we do know demonstrates how natural it is for a heart too want to be connected to something. Blue whales travel in pairs because they want to. They are so large that they really don't necessarily have to for protection. They need the companionship just like the humming bird needs food. Their entire hearts could stop within seconds if they stop. Stop moving, stop eating, they get too cold and then their whole life just stops. So they live fast paced making every heart beat work for them. Brian Doyle weaves his message in between medical terms and animal references but its still there. I feel like he was trying to say that if you can't protect you heart  indefinitely than what is the use of putting up walls at all. Our hearts naturally want to love so we shouldn't try to stop it.