This project is for my Five Faces Elective course and this is the second Action Project of this course. This unit was all about the Five Faces and how we can identify our strong faces and other peoples faces. Also how we can unlock our faces and make the weaker ones stronger and how we can eventually use them to help us do a service project. I liked the fact that I got to identify my own strong and weak faces. I am proud of the interview I did because I feel that I never really talk to my cousin about graffiti like that and that was a cool thing to do.

In this unit we went deep into studying all of the Five Faces and what each face means. A Seer is someone that visualizes and basically sees things in their mind and then uses what they see to solve problems and use it in real world problems. An Observer is someone that sits back and watches their surroundings and really pays attention to detail. An Alchemist is someone that combines different things and tries to make a solution by putting things together. A Fool is someone that always tries to find weird ways to do things and take average solutions and turns them on their head. They also are the type of people that aren't scared to try weird things even if they might not work. A Sage is someone that likes to take complicated problems and things and make them simple and they are also people that look to history to solve problems.

When I took the Five Faces survey to see what my dominant faces and weak faces are, I scored high in the Fool and Seer category and kind of low in the others according to the test. I actually agree with the Fool and Seer outcome because whenever I'm at home and I have to do something I will always find a “different” way of doing it and also I’m pretty goofy and just like to turn normal things upside down and just make everything more fun. I also agree that I am a Seer because I do visualize everything I do because I draw and do graffiti so I have to visualize what everything is going to look like before it goes down on paper. Another way I see a Seer in me is that whenever I can't think of a character I will stare at a brick wall or other form of textured wall and I will start to see shapes and characters in the texture and its all me just putting those

shapes and visions together to make a character.

For my external part of this project I decided to interview my cousin because I feel that he is very creative because he does graffiti just like me and he draws.Throughout the conversation I talked to him about what he does when he sees graffiti, if he watches graffiti movies, does he study graffiti and just things like that. Basically at the end of the discussion I feel that he is a Seer and a Sage. I feel that he is as Seer because he has to visualize what he is going to do in his head before it goes on paper or a wall. Just like every artist, you have to visualize what it will look like and what color combo will be good or how you will structure a certain thing and I feel that that is what graffiti writers or artists have to do. I also think he is a Sage because a sage is someone that simplifies things and I knew he was one when he said “I like to keep my style simple but still clean.” Another thing a Sage does is look to history for solutions and from past times at his house and past conversations I've noticed that he likes to look up the history of graffiti and also look at other graffiti videos on YouTube.

Hoop mixtape, BKJ (2013)

              

One person that we studied in class was Albert Einstein. I felt that Albert Einstein is a Sage and a Seer. I think he is a Seer because he had to create the formula E=mc2 and I doubt that the answer just fell in his hand so he really had to visualize how everything was going to work and how he was actually going to make the formula. I also feel that he is a Sage because of one quote that he said which was “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” I feel that this makes him a Sage because he took a very broad, controversial, and uncommon topic and made it simple and actually made it make sense.

And lastly one person that I didn't study or interview is my mom Luisa Johnston. I feel that my Mom is a Seer and a Observer. I feel that she is a Seer because she visualizes how she wants things to look and then somehow makes it happen. My mom is also an artist and she likes to draw from her mind so she has to visualize how everything is going to look when she puts it on paper. I feel that my Mom is also an Observer because she sits back and just watches things unfold and really pays attention to detail and then uses that as a way to get other people to do something and fix the thing that happened. She often notices things that me and my other family members don't and that is why I feel that she could be an Observer.

My Mom, BKJ (2014)

I will use Seer qualities to teach kids art at an after school program and I will visualize what I am going to teach them and how I am going to teach them art step by step. I will use Observer skills to pay attention to each kid’s progress in learning and use it to make special lessons for each kid. I will use Alchemist skills to combine two different forms of art and try to teach them how to make two things work as one and make it an art piece. I will use Fool skills to make the class fun and take the average boring art class and turn it upside down and turn it into a fun class that they could look forward to. I will use Sage skills to make the class simpler because I will be working with kids and I don’t want to make anything too complicated. Also I will teach them about the history of art and maybe the history of graffiti if I get to teach graffiti. Another service project I could do is volunteer at my local park district and basically clean and help out with whatever else they need.

Beetle Juice Critique

This project is for my Ollywood elective course and this is the second project of this course. The purpose of this project was to pick a movie from a list that we were presented in class and then watch it and with the partner(s) that we were given we had to write a film critique. My partner and I chose the movie Beetle Juice. I learned a lot about how to properly write a film critique and also how others have done critiques. I am proud of the work i did on the video and everything i said in the video and i feel that we had a very good video. MY partner and I made a video that you can watch by clicking the link below.


THIS IS THE VIDEO 

CITATION

Beetlejuice Movie Cover. Digital image. Imdb.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

Beetlejuice. Digital image. Villains Wikia. N.p., n.d. Web.

Beetlejuice: Adam and Barbara. Digital image. Johnrozum. N.p., n.d. Web.

Beetlejuice: Mother. Digital image. Tumblr.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

Beetlejuice House Day. Digital image. Hookedonhouses.net. N.p., n.d. Web.

Beetlejuice House Red. Digital image. Ironicsans.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

Beetlejuice Gravestone. Digital image. Screenused.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

Beetlejuice Green Light. Digital image. Tumblr.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

Back to the Future Critique

This project us for my elective term about movies. The purpose of this project was to write a critique about a movie of our choice. I chose Back to the Future because it is one of my favorite movies and I've never really looked at it in depth so I figured id give it a try. I learned a lot about how to write a good movie critique and what components have to go in it for it to be of good quality. I am proud of the critique I wrote because I feel like I did a pretty good job. The reason I say that is because I don't consider myself a good writer but I feel like I did good on this project

"List of Back to the Future Characters." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Nov. 2014. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

Robert Zemeckis’s Back to the Future (1985) is the director’s first out of 3 very successful films. The first film was the highest-grossing film of 1985 and became an international phenomenon, leading to the production of the second (1989) and third (1990) films which were actually back to back film productions. Even though that second and third films didn't do as good as the first they were still undoubtedly great films. The first movie starred Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly. The story follows Marty McFly a High school student that travels back in time and has to get back to his own time period by going on a intense and confusing journey. From the time Marty said “I came here in a time machine that you invented, now I need your help to get back to the year 1985” till the end you will be wondering what will happen next.

Now that Marty McFly has went back in time he has to find doc and he has to get his help to get back to the year 1985. The Libyans are the ones that caused all of the mess that you see in the movie because Doc took their plutonium to power the time machine. The Libyans found doc and started shooting, they killed Doc and were now after Marty yelling “get him” which forced Marty to get in the Delorean time machine and drive away. Marty had to do something fast so he accelerated the car to 85 mph and traveled back to the past. When he arrived in the past he instantly tried to travel back but he forgot to grab the plutonium to get back so he was stuck. The Libyans are only in one part of the movie but that one part shaped up everything that happened in the movie.

This movie was created when the co-writer/ producer went through his fathers old yearbook and thought “would we have been friends if we’d been at school together.” He realized that most people have those type of thoughts and what then inspired him more was when he thought about the fact that everyone can shape their future by the paths that they choose and that his parents were young once too and he figured that they could dramatize those two things. The delorean was never originally there, at first it was a time-chamber apparatus. Also the clock tower scene at the end was never there. Instead of the clock tower the time-chamber was powered by radiation from an explosion at a nuclear testing site.

The setting itself in this movie was really good. The set is exactly what I would picture a small town in the past to look like and what was great was that nothing was just thrown on for aesthetics, everything had a purpose. A lot of scenes happened in the café and I feel like that setting is accurate because that would be what i would picture if I think of a hang out spot in the past. As for costumes I feel like they weren't that accurate because I feel like the costumes were almost the same, the only difference was that Marty was wearing a vest. The clock tower felt kind of janky just because of the simple fact that the chance of Doc hooking the wire right when Marty connected the hook seemed a little unrealistic. A lot of the props were pretty cool, like the scooter/skateboard or all of Doc’s inventions. I feel like the part where Doc had on the huge machine that read minds was pretty iconic because still to this day in some tv shows when they build a mind reading machine it sort of resembles the one from the movie.

One of my favorite scenes of this movie was at the end when the lightning struck because I feel like that was the moment where I was stuck thinking “is he gonna make it or will he be stuck” and there was just so much thrill and suspense. One thing that bugs me about that scene is how the wire got disconnected from both sides and the car was going 85 miles per hour and somehow Doc had enough time to reconnect it in the exact same moment the hook attached to the car hit the wire. It was very suspenseful and it was actually really cool but I feel like it was unrealistic. Honestly its no wonder Back to the Future was such a big franchise and when the first movie came out it was a huge hit.

This project is for my Five Faces of Genius elective course. This class is all about creativeness and genius and how we see that in our own lives and also how we can find creative genius in people that inspire us. For this assignment I had to write an essay about creative geniuses. The one thing I liked about this assignment was that I got to do the project mostly about graffiti and I also loved that the project had a lot to do with creativity because I am a pretty creative person. One thing I disliked about this project was the actual writing because I do not consider myself a good writer I am more of a graffiti/street art person.

One pattern that I have found is that mostly all of them have a certain message or point that they want to get across but they all have their own creative way of expressing their point. Eminem is an example because he kind of expresses his life and how he had to grow up and what he had to go through. I feel that his songs are some of the deepest songs out there because not only do they have their own meaning but they also make you think of your life and how you can relate it to your self. Seth MacFarlane does TV shows such as Family Guy and he does themes to express a message. For example he made an episode of Family Guy that was all about drugs in high school and the moral was don’t do drugs but he expressed his message through comedy which is a pretty creative skill. Lastly Noter, a graffiti artist, uses paint to get his name out there and his name is basically his message. This is not only for him all graffiti artists pick a name and the goal is to get your name or message out to the public. I feel like this is an example of creative genius because everyone has their own way of getting their message across. They all do it their own unique way and I feel like they had to develop that way which took some creative genius.

Another pattern that I feel shows creative genius is doing whatever you can to do what you love. By that I mean doing illegal things to continue doing what you love. Skateboarding is a tough example but I feel Rodney Mullen fits this pattern because most skaters skate illegal spots and they have the risk of getting caught, but when they see a good spot they don't necessarily think about whether its private or not they just go for it because skating is a passion. I feel that Rodney Mullen fits this more than most professional skateboarders because most pros skate in private skate parks or legal spots but Rodney Mullen is a street skater and he chooses to skate flat ground normal streets rather than ramps so he’s always looking for spots to skate and most of them are private property. Another person that fits this pattern is Matthew Hoffman, a street artist because he put out the message “you are beautiful” by putting up little silver stickers around the world. Even though his message is great and it shouldn't be illegal to put a positive message out there it is and he acknowledges that but he still does it because he believes that his message can change someone's day or mood. Lastly I feel that Noter fits this pattern because he is a graffiti artist and that is his passion. Even though graffiti is looked at as dirty and ugly he still loves it and so do I. Graffiti is an addiction in my opinion when you do it you get an adrenaline rush and from then on it becomes a lifestyle. I feel that this displays creative genius because it shows that you are smart enough to find a way around the law to do what you love.

The last pattern that I feel shows creative genius is putting in hard work and education into what you do. When it comes to music I feel that Eminem is a great example because he not only produced a lot of music but he also had a very rough life, but he was dedicated to music even though he was in a bad situation. He wrote his own music and did what he had to do and now he is famous and successful at what he loves to do. Another example is once again, Rodney Mullen. Rodney Mullen started off just doing free style and eventually after hard work and practice he actually invented a couple of tricks that are popular today. Lastly Noter is a great example because he tags whenever he can not regarding the law or property because he is dedicated and loves graffiti. Graffiti has been a part of his life for about four and a half years. Even now Noter still practices and gets better and obviously still tags. I feel that everything that is creative comes with hard work and dedication because nothing just falls into your hands in this world. You have to be dedicated and willing to put in work to make it where you want to be in life.

One creative genius that I would like to highlight is Noter because I know him personally and he fits all of my categories. One of his many strengths is his handstyle. When doing graffiti a handstyle is basically your signature and in the graffiti game you want to be able to do your handstyle fast so you won't get caught. Noter’s handstyle is known as a one-liner and it is best because it is kind of like cursive, everything flows and he can do it very fast and that makes it less likely for him to get caught while tagging. Another strength that he has is his throw-up is very clean and he can also do it fast. A throw-up is fast and simple bubble letters that can be done in a short period of time but still has aesthetics. Noter’s throw-up is very clean and simple but it looks really good and he can do it in about 3 minutes and that is great because throw-ups should never take more than 7 minutes. One of his biggest strengths is the connections he has made with people. Now when he goes tagging he has people to go with and look out for him and vice versa. That is a strength because it makes it less likely for you to get caught because you have someone to watch your back. One challenge that not only Noter faces but every graffiti artist faces is the police, but like I said above Noter has an advantage because he has friends that can look out for him and also he is fast when it comes to tagging so he’s less likely to get caught. Another problem that Noter faces is lack of money. You need money to get spray paint to tag and if you don’t have money then you basically can’t tag. Something that Noter does to get around that problem is stealing. He steals almost all of his markers and supplies. Another way he overcomes the problem is by buying one dollar cans instead of expensive spray paint cans.



http://www.thebutchershop.com.au/shop_online/art_supplies/aerosol_paint/ironlak/

One strength that I have when it comes to graffiti is I can do my handstyle sort of fast and that helps me get away faster and “get up” more because it takes less time. Another one of my strengths is making friends that are also interested in graffiti because I have an Instagram that I post all of my graffiti on and people follow me and sooner or later I end up talking to them and hopefully if they are in Chicago we could meet up and tag together. Also one of my cousins does graffiti so I often meet up with him and go tagging and that helps a lot because I have someone to look out for me while I tag and I look out for him when he tags. He explains, “I love graffiti, it is not only a hobby it is a lifestyle.” Another one of my strengths is being able to purchase spray cans. Whenever I have money I go to a shop in Forest Park and they actually sell paint no matter what age you are so that is a big advantage. One thing that has made my experience as a graffiti writer harder is I didn't start with letters. In the graffiti world you start with letters, build them up until you get it right, and then you worry about your characters. But for me I actually started with characters first so I haven't had much practice in letters so it’s hard to pick it up. I have to dedicate a lot of time to practice them. One problem that exists in this world that is important to me is the issue that people think of graffiti as dirty and ugly but if they would experience it the way that I have they would think different. One way that I could change peoples’ mind is putting out quality work and hopefully people will start to appreciate it more. Also I could educate people about graffiti and teach them that it is actually an art form not just vandalism.

Works Cited

Silver, Scott. "8 Mile." Film. 2010.

Gone But Never Forgotten

BKJ, Never Forget (2014)

I am BKJ and I am a Chicago street artist and the topic I chose to represent artistically is gun violence in Chicago. I chose this topic because it is something I see in my life all the time and I am sick of it and I want to have my voice heard and get the message out that this needs to end. With that being said, I first had to draw my art “The Lost Ones” about gun violence. I drew a dead person in the middle of my piece with bullet holes all over him and rays of light popping out toward an object that we think of when reminded of a certain event. For example, for my allusion to the murder of Trayvon Martin, I drew Skittles and Arizona iced tea. The background of the piece is light blue to symbolize the person ascending to heaven. There is a black border with white writing recording the names and the dates of each victim to show respect. Behind the person are words that read “never forget” because I feel that we should never forget any of the people lost to gun violence every day.

Most young people nowadays do not feel any pain when death is around them because they are used to it and have seen it throughout their lives, but I feel that gun violence is one of the most serious problems, not only in my hometown of Chicago, but everywhere. People are killed every day for no legitimate reason at all, and some of those victims could be family or friends. Gun violence has created a tragic situation for families to go through. I feel that you should not only care about this topic, but you should get up and do something to stop it such as educating the youth about gangs and violence; placing a 3 month waiting period on gun purchases; and having background checks before purchasing a gun. These are only three solutions, but we are smart people and probably have better ideas bottled up in our heads--today is the day to go out and make it happen. No matter how unreal you feel your idea is just remember it can never hurt to try; you'll be surprised where your ideas will take you. If you don't already think this is a problem, then maybe you should know that over the weekend of July 4th, 2013, there were 82 shootings in the Chicago area and 16 of those resulted in death. You should also know that so far this year, there have been about 201 murders. Another thing you should know specifically about our city is that “In 2012, it had 500 murders, the most of any city in the country; Chicago has been among the top three cities with the most murders since 1985” (Drew Desilver, Pew research center. Factank,July 14 2014, Web, 10/17/14) and Chicago had about 440 murders total, last year.

The medium I chose to bring attention to this issue is sticker paper. I used markers, sticker paper, and a printer so I could mass produce my message. I plan to make an initial image on a piece of paper and then get more of my design printed and actually stick them up around the city of Chicago to get my message out to the public. Like I said, I want to get my message across and you can't do that with only a blog post that not everyone will see, so I would put these up, and hopefully more people will see my message and get the point. I mainly want my art to be displayed in the city streets of Chicago--what better place than the heart of the problem, the streets? The reason I want it in the streets is so the public can see it and they will hopefully get my message and I could spark a change, one way or another.

My piece shows ethos because I am obviously credible to speak about this topic because I have seen it a lot throughout my life and actually three of the people I mentioned in my physical art piece are people that I knew very well. My piece appeals to logos because these are true events and they are facts. They people that I mentioned in my piece were actual victims of violence. And I feel that my message is pretty logical “stop killing people.” honestly not everyone agrees with this message but nonetheless it is a very logical statement and I feel that more people should start taking this message into account. Lastly I feel that my art piece has a very strong appeal to pathos because it is a very emotional topic for one and on the other hand we almost all can relate to this topic one way or another. Most of us have gone through the pain of losing a loved one to violence and that only enhances the emotional thoughts I am trying to provoke. I am trying to not only make people think about this topic but I am also trying to make they want to get up and do something about it.

Can...t You See What You're Doing To The Earth

BKJ, World (2014)

Humans throw so much away with so little thought as to where that trash is going and how it affects us in the future. In my Design and Engineering course, we were assigned to collect samples of a product that was being wasted and assemble the samples into a visual representation of an issue. The purpose of this action project was to create something that represents and illustrates a global issue we are facing: material waste. Our waste material was aluminum, particularly aluminum cans. I learned and appreciate trial and error and I am proud of the way my partner and I worked together.
A beverage can is a metal container designed to hold a fixed portion of liquid such as carbonated soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, fruit juices, teas, herbal teas, energy drinks, etc. Beverage cans are made of aluminum (75% of worldwide production) or tin-plated steel (25% worldwide production)(Wikipedia).
Aluminum is a slippery-white metal and the second most abundant metallic element in the earth's crust. It weighs about 1/3 as much as steel, and is remarkable for its excellent corrosion resistance, durability, ability to be easily machined or cast and its volumetric mass density (density) (Wikipedia). Some of the uses for aluminum are in electrical transmission, packaging, and transportation.

Here are some interesting facts about aluminum waste from Lehighcounty:

It takes about 80-200 years for an aluminum can to biodegrade.
In 2012, 55 percent of aluminum beer and soft drink containers generated were recycled, which is about 0.7 million tons.
The largest source of aluminum in the MSW (municipal solid waste) stream is used beverage containers and other packaging containers.
There is no limit to the amount of times aluminum can be recycled.
It is estimated that over the past twenty years, we've trashed more than 11 million tons of aluminum beverage cans worth over $12 billion on today's market.
Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.

"Liquid Candy: How Softdrinks Are Harming America's Health ~ CSPI." Liquid Candy: How Softdrinks Are Harming America's Health ~ CSPI. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

Our installation shows a model earth made almost entirely out of aluminum beverage cans, glue, strings, and a Styrofoam ball as our base. Our installation depicts a model earth with silver representing water, green and brown representing earth. The strings represents how many times the total number of aluminum cans wasted in 2012 would go around the earth. There are 5 string around our earth installation, each string represents 7385.285408 times the number of cans goes around the earth. This piece was inspired by the amount of soda cans our school wastes each year, which is roughly about 29,850 aluminum cans. On average, a person will use 597 cans of soda pop each year.

Logistics for cans used in our installation:
2 Diet coca cola cans
7 Root beer cans
4 Sprite cans
1 Coca cola cans
1 Sparking water can
* All of our materials comes from either staffs or students from GCE (Global Citizenship Experience).

Calculations:
On average each American drinks 597 cans of soda a year. The average life expectancy of an American in 2012 was about 78 years (World Bank). This means that over a lifetime, an American would drink 46566 cans of soda. In 2012, the United States population was 312,780,968 (US. News). Number of aluminum cans of soda drank in 2012: 312,780,968 x 46566 = 1.456495856e13 (14,564,958,560,000 cans).

Amount of times the number of aluminum cans went around earth calculations:
- Earth's circumference: 24,901 miles.
- Conversion to miles/space: 14,564,958,560,000 cans x 4 (height of a can) x 12 ft/5280 = 919504959.6 miles
- Number of times United States' waste of 2012 goes around the earth: 919504959.6 miles/24,901 miles (circumference of earth) = 36926.42704 times.
Recycling is an important part of a sustainable lifestyle and is a solution to this aluminum waste problem. It’s important for the future of the planet that we all live sustainably. Recycling aluminum saves an enormous amount of energy, because the aluminum is already in its metallic state. Recycling was a low-profile activity until the late 1960's when the growing use of aluminum cans brought it to the public's attention.
Here are some facts about the importance of recycling aluminum:
Tossing away an aluminum can wastes as much energy as pouring out half of that can's volume of gasoline.
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours, this is the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.
Making beverage cans from recycled aluminum cuts air pollution by about 95%.
The pollutants created in producing one ton of aluminum include 3,290 pounds of red mud, 2,900 pounds of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas), 81 pounds of air pollutants and 789 pounds of solid wastes.

GN, Can Earth (2014)

Works Cited:

"Aluminum Recycling Facts." Aluminum Recycling Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.
"Aluminum, Common Wastes & Materials." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.
Aluminium. (2014, October 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:47, October 24, 2014.
"Chemical of the Week -- Aluminum." Chemical of the Week -- Aluminum. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
"Aluminum Statistics and Information." USGS Minerals Information: Aluminum. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
"Liquid Candy: How Softdrinks Are Harming America's Health ~ CSPI." Liquid Candy: How Softdrinks Are Harming America's Health ~ CSPI. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
Robert Schlesinger. "U.S. Population 2012: Nearly 313 Million People." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 30 Dec. 2011. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
"Life Expectancy at Birth, Total (years)." Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.

Ending Gun Violence

Stopping gun violence is my dream, it may not be perfect dream but it is mine. Gun violence in Chicago is a growing problem that will never stop unless each and every one of us contributes. “In 2012, it had 500 murders, the most of any city in the country; Chicago has been among the top three cities with the most murders since 1985” (Drew Desilver, Pew research center. Factank,July 14 2014, Web, 10/17/14) Chicago had about 440 murders in the year of 2013 and over the weekend of July 4th 2013 there were 82 shootings in the Chicago area and 16 of which resulted in death. I find this so sad that we take a holiday that is supposed to celebrate America and pride and instead of celebrating we murder each other. 82 is a shocking number for just one weekend but what is worst is it was on a holiday; the irony of so many murders during our most patriotic day as a country is sickening.
So far in 2014 there are 201 murders and that number is expected to increase if we as a city don't do something quickly. Three years ago, our Mayor made some promises during his Inauguration speech to make the city streets safer. Addressing the voters who had elected him, he told the crowd, “Today, more than any other time in our history, more than any other place in our country, the city of Chicago is ready for change.” Where is the change??? Specifically, our Mayor cited violence as one of the four main challenges

for all the neighbors who deserve to walk home on safer streets.” This quote was said by chicagos very own mayor Rahm Emanuel and seeing the statistics above I believe that Rahm Emanuel has done little to nothing to solve this problem. These statistics are a little sad because most of these are after Rahm was sworn in and it is scary that a man that loves Chicago and says it is a beautiful city would let this violence continue and do nothing about it

Some of the people I have known since I was a little kid are laying in a coffin because they were in the wrong neighborhood or they had on the wrong colors or someone just didn't like them. I am personally just sick of it, sick of chilling with someone one day and the next day you are at their funeral remembering what you last said to them. When a family member or close friend gets killed we feel the pain and it really hurts, so my question is, why do we kill others knowing the pain it brings? I bet that if we ask the whole population of Chicago not one of those people could give a legitimate answer. The reason I feel that way is because I don't feel there is a legit reason we should be killing our own kind. Chicago is such a beautiful city and is known for Pizza, culture, diversity, and just great places to see and that should be what chicago is known for not gangs, killings, dirty, segregation. Chicago is a city with potential to be great but as of now when you mention chicago the first topics that are brought up are gangs, violence, guns, murder. Now our bad rep could change but we have to start trying to make a change not just talk about it

I cannot guarantee that you will all agree with me but I believe that if you ever want this to stop you first have to accept that it is a serious problem. After you accept it,,the first thing I think we need to do is to lower the voting age. Older people are not the ones that have to go through these problems, they are not the ones being killed on a daily basis. Young people are being shot and killed because someone decides that they don't like that person and wants them dead. Another reason is gangs. Now-a-days people can't wear certain colors in certain neighborhoods because you could be killed for territory and color. I feel that if we start to make chicago less segregated then there will be less gangs because a lot of gangs are based on race. I also think that if older people actually talk to the youth about gangs and educate them about it instead of labeling them as a bad child and giving up on them then just maybe they won't join a gang. I also want to get more community activities in all neighborhoods in chicago and have more sports teams that anyone can do just to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble. I also think that they should be tighter gun control. There should be background checks before buying a gun and if that person has a record of being violent he/she can not buy a gun. There should also be a 3 month waiting period before you obtain your gun. A way to make sure the person that bought it keeps it, we will put a stamp on it with a number and if that person sells it and the person he sold it to is caught it will be tracked to that person and they will both be incarcerated for 8 years.

The people that make the decisions are often the type of people that don't really know anything about the topic or have never experienced it. So my question is, why should older people decide our fate and make decisions that could affect our life more than they know if most of them have never went through what we go through. Most of the adults that vote have gone through what we have but it really doesn’t matter what the voters say because the end decisions falls upon the people that put in the laws and they have probably lived great, safe lives. They take our suggestions into consideration but if they have never lived our lives then they can have no empathy for what we say and basically make a blind decision based on what they “think” goes on

The Comfortable Distance

 

BKJ, Bike Sketch (2014)

This project is my second project for the Design And Engineering course. The purpose of this project was to design a bike to fit a certain user’s needs. At the very start of this project we got a persona sheet which explained the user’s needs, how far this person travels, and where they live in Chicago. We learned about many types of bikes like electric, cargo, Divvy, etc. and also how all of those bikes work and what's unique about them. I was personally proud of our initial design because I feel that we took everything into consideration when designing for Travis and I feel that we really fit his needs. The purpose of this assignment was to design a bike for a persona that was assigned to us. The assigned persona came with needs that you had to meet and certain obstacles your persona had to overcome. Then we had to take all that into consideration and design a bike for that persona.

When we first started designing our bike we looked up parts on the internet but then we learned that we don't have to do something that has already been done. We also learned that it doesn’t really matter how the frame is set up as long as it still has the components to make up a bike. Another important thing I learned is that handlebars can make the bike more aerodynamic. An example would be the drop down handlebars which would make you sit in a crouching position and make you more aerodynamic. When designing the bike for our assigned person we had to make the bike fast, comfortable, and stable for the ride. My partner interviewed Anne and she said “I need to be able to ride fast, comfortable, and stable when I’m riding.” which is basically exactly what our persona needed. Our targeted user is a 17 year old high school student named Travis. Travis lives on the third story in the South Side of Chicago. His day includes carrying a bike up and down three flights of stairs and traveling 10 miles to school and back on a bike. With that being said we knew that he had to have a bike that was fast, aerodynamic, and light.

The bike that we came up with is great because it is ultra light which makes it easy to carry. That is important because our persona lives on the 3rd floor and has to carry his bike down the stairs every day. Our bike is also extremely easy to lock because it has a retractable lock that is built into the frame. The lock is five feet long so it is easy to wrap around the whole bike so people can't even steal individual parts. Our bike has built in shocks under the seat and by the front to make the ride even more comfortable. Another reason the ride is comfortable is because we added a memory foam seat that is still slim enough to be aerodynamic.

Our bike holds some unique benefits. Our bike is a road bike with shocks, a storage compartment, and a built-in, retractable lock. The shocks combined with the road bike type frame induce a very comfortable ride while keeping it aerodynamic. The carbon frame and wheels make it extremely light and easy to carry up and down three flights of stairs at the end of a long ride. The retractable lock makes it extremely easy to lock up anywhere. For more comfort we added a bag to the frame that is slim but can still hold everything our persona needs for school. Travis should believe in this design because it is made to be easy to carry up and down three flights of stairs, is aerodynamic to fly against the wind, and is easy to lock up when he gets to school. The road bike type frame allows him to travel at high speeds. On top of all that he doesn't have to carry a book bag on his back anymore, he can just store it in the compartment attached to the frame.

We did run into some obstacles while designing the bike such as, we had to make the bike light and fast. To fix the speed part we wanted to make the bike electric but when we were on FE we learned that electric bikes are very heavy so we quickly ruled that out. Another thing that made the process harder is that we wanted to add drop down handles. However, one of the considerations was that the bike had to be comfortable and those type of handlebars force you to sit in a crouching position, which is not very comfortable at all.The estimated time that it would take our persona to get to school from his house is about 56 minutes to an hour. Travis is travelling 10 mph 4.47 meters per second. The Comfortable Distance Tire’s diameter is 31 inches. The circumference is 97.34 inches around. The Comfortable Distance’s wheel will rotate 6501.46 times from Travis’s house to his school.

 

BKJ, Bike Terrain (2014)

Be Proud of Your Race

This action project is for my Rhetoric class. The purpose of this project was to take a speech that you think everyone should read and to write a reflection using the 3 rhetorical modes Ethos Pathos and Logos. I learned a lot about race pride and also that speeches that you have never heard of are often the best speeches. I am proud of all the work I did on my speech and also I really liked how I summed up Ethos Pathos and Logos. I had a lot of difficulty writing this piece because I am Hispanic so I have no personal experience being African American but I do know the importance about having race pride because I feel that your race is something that you will carry with you for the rest of your life so you might as well accept and love your race. I also had trouble actually writing my piece because I am not vey good with grammar or punctuation but I feel that I did very well. Please read my reflection below and please if you have a chance take a look at the book. ENJOY

I am not an advocate of racial segregation. I do not approve of having laws enacted which prohibit a person from living where he pleases in a democratic country. On the other hand, I do not approve of a statement of this kind: “Just as soon as I can get enough money I am going to get out of this trashy nigger neighborhood.” I feel that this is the most powerful part of the Goffman’s essay because it not only shows how little pride one can feel toward their race, but it also shows the extent they would go to try and change that and make themselves as far from their race as possible.

I chose the essay “Black Pride” by Kimbal Goffman because I feel that pride in your race is very important,  and while i was reading it, I was making connections to things that happen all around us. Race pride is important because if you don't have pride in your race then you are basically showing no respect to your culture or yourself. But on the other hand you also have to have respect for others cultures and races because I feel that that is one of the reasons that people are losing pride in their race. I believe people are giving up on race pride because people viewpoints are very negative towards certain race causing people to believe that their race is bad. I think the speech should be read by everyone because it opened my eyes to race pride and how pride in your race is being diminished and I feel that it could open others eyes, too. I feel that if everyone gets the same meaning as I did out of this then there will be less racial conflict. I feel that it is important to have pride in your race because when you have pride in your race I feel that you are also boosting your confidence. Although Goffman’s essay does show much logos, there are definitely some facts in the text.  For instance, she writes about how African Americans created the dance known as the Charleston. But, when Goffman’s sister did the dance, her mother was displeased.  Goffman wanted to know why dancing is commercialized,  but when the black race commercialize their ideas or a dance that black people came up with it becomes bad. Ethos is one of the more used rhetorical modes in this speech. Goffman is very credible because she has experienced her mother telling her sister “You act enough like a nigger now without adding that junk to it.” Her thoughts on that statement was that it denoted race pride and felt it was unnecessary. Another incident that she quotes is “Why are hair-straightening combs found in nearly every Negro? Why is the following remark made so often to a newborn baby, when grandma or auntie visits it for the first time? “Tell Mother she must pinch your nose every morning. If she doesn’t, you’re gonna have a sure ‘nough darky nose.” I feel that she is trying to tell the reader that it is fine to be yourself and to have pride in your race. In her incident she was describing a person or people that were trying to change their appearance to get rid of the unique features a black person has.

Goffman also has a strong appeal to pathos in her essay. For example, she talks about how the young black kid was ashamed of the songs that were being sung in class because they were songs about the days of slaves, and the songs were sung while working on the plantation. She also showed strong disappointment when she heard her Mother say “You act enough like a nigger now without adding that junk to it.” when I read her response to that statement I knew that she felt that the statement that her Mother had made was wrong and denoted race pride. Goffman uses description to express her ideas about race pride. She describes in detail how something happens or things that people say, one example I found in the text was “As long as the following sentences are spoken by ourselves we can not command respect:-

“I wouldn’t marry a dark person.”

“I don’t want a lot of black, nappy-headed children running after me.”

“I like her, but she’s too dark.”

“She’d get some if she wasn’t so dark.”

“She’s got brains, but there ain’t no nigger going to hire anyone that dark, and I know the white folks ain’t.”

“That man’s too black and ugly to be at the door; he’d drive the devil away.”

Those are just some of the descriptive and in depth points that she gives in the speech.  Another description the author gave was when she talked about all the features that define African Americans and how they are unique. She used examples such as “high cheekbones” “large nostrils” “large hands” “large feet” “kinky hair” “thick lips” and “dark skin.” and this, to me shows that you should be proud of you unique feature and not try to change them. Another rhetorical device employed by Goffman is cause and effect. For example, “The next song “Old Folks at Home.” The Negro boy again retreated into the covering of his book. I wondered to myself just what had become of all the race pride he had possessed the day before. The music which described the work and life of his ancestors he considered an insult and embarrassment. It was hard to account for such a sudden turn of character in our little champion of race pride. Perhaps the child had mistaken a case of personal anger for a serious insult to the entire race.”

The Revolutionary Cultivator



 This project is for my Math and Science class named Design and Engineering. The purpose of this project was to redesign a tool to make it more fit for the elderly to use. the reason we targeted the elderly as the user is because we learned that companies usually do not make products with the elderly in mind. We learned a lot about different tools for gardening and other tasks and also their use. I also learned that carbon fiber is commonly used in tools now-a-days because it is lighter than wood but it has more recoil when you strike a hard object. I am proud of our tool because we put a lot of thought and effort into designing the tool and I feel we also explained it very well

 

BKJ Cultivator (2014) 

The purpose of this assignment is to design a tool that would be easier for old people to use. Our users are old people and what makes them unique is that it’s harder for them to do tasks that may seem simple to us.

 We learned about the different purposes of different tools. For instance, a carbon fiber shaft may be more lightweight than a wooden or a metal shaft, but it also creates more impact shock on the hands. They also told us that the size of the handle can make a difference because some people cannot bend down without pain so the longer handle will make the job easier. Also the longer handle will make it easier to cover larger areas.

When we were at Home Depot we learned that most tools are not that sharp because some people will run their fingers across the blade and cut themselves by accident. When we did our interview HP's mom said "Hand cultivators need to be sharp so they can dig through clay soil or hard compacted soil." After evaluating both points we decided to add little rubber guards that you put on after each use and take off when in use to give the user protection from our sharp blade.

 Some things that we learned about hand cultivators are that the hand cultivator doesn't always have a short handle. It also doesn't always have a wedge on the back of it. The hand cultivator is sometimes pushed like a lawnmower.

Our tool is a multi-purpose hand cultivator that can not only stir up dirt, but it can also take out rocks and weeds from the soil. It does this by using its two different blades on the top to stir up the dirt. The flat side is used to break up the dirt into big pieces and the prongs on the other side are used to break up the dirt into smaller pieces. The claw at the top is used to pick up rocks using a rope at the handle that the user pulls. Weeds can also be hacked apart and then pulled out using the flat wedge on the tool.

Our new tool makes the task at hand so much easier for everyone because not only do we have add-ons but we also improved the parts that were already there. We added serrated edges to the prongs to cut up weeds and also to break down hard dirt into smaller pieces. We also made the flat side have a sharper end which allows us to cut into the dirt better with less force. Then we decided to add a claw on top of the tool to remove unwanted objects out of your garden such as rocks, glass, feces, etc. We also added it to transport dirt from one plot in your garden to another with less work and also less tools. It uses a wedge to get into the dirt so that it can be stirred up so that oxygen can get into it. It also uses wedges to get out weeds and rocks from the soil. A wedge is a triangular shaped object the goes from small to large and is used to insert itself into objects. In conclusion, our tool is better, stronger, lighter, and has more uses than most hand cultivators. At first we sketched up the design with ash wood for the handle but then realized that with all the add-ons it was going to be too heavy for an old person to use so we decided to use carbon fiber because we learned from the people at Home Depot that carbon fiber is way lighter and easier to use

BKJ Storyboard (2014)

 In the first slide it shows a picture of a person grabbing the tool for a garage. the second slide depicts a person using the serrated edges on the prongs of the tool to rip out weeds from the ground. In the third picture it shows a person picking up feces with the claw on top of our tool by pulling the rope which closes the claw allowing him to move it. In the fourth box it show the person using the flat side of the tool to loosen up the dirt to get air into the soil

 

BKJ Storyboard (2014)

 

The fifth slide show a person washing off the tool by running it under a sink with good water pressure. Last but not least the person is seen handing up the tool at the end of use.

BKJ Forces (2014)

In the picture above it shows the way the force is going by using and we decided that since you swing downward then all the force will be facing down



 

Graffiti Against The System

This project is for the last unit of my Art and History class P'art of History. The purpose of this project was to think of something that would cause you to revolt and then write a poem about what the future utopia would look like after the revolt I learned a lot about the Chicago 8, activists, anarchists, and revolutionists, I also learned how to write a poem. I am very proud of the poem I wrote because it is the first one I've ever written  and I think it was a pretty successful first try.

Title: Graffiti Against the System

Medium: soft cut linoleum, carving tools, clay, plaster, paint

Size: 6in. x 6in.

Date of completion: 7/27/14

When creating my piece I knew I wanted to show something that symbolized the system getting overthrown by graffiti. As I was thinking I figured I'd draw a man in a suit because whenever I think of the government or someone of power I think of suit and tie. I drew the spray can pointed at the "system’s" head to symbolize a gun, which symbolizes that graffiti is the only way that I feel we can end the corruption of the government’s laws.

After I got all of my ideas down I had to make the initial sketch and then after touching it up I had to finalize it. Next I had to shade in all the part I wanted to come out with pencil. Then I had to place the shaded sketch on top of the linoleum and rub vigorously until the pencil marks transferred onto the linoleum. Then I had to take a carving tool and carve out all the parts that were shaded in. Then I made a clay box around the linoleum. After I built the box I mixed plaster and poured it in the clay box and smoothed it out until it covered every part of the linoleum. Then I waited for it to dry. Finally, When it was done drying I took the clay walls off and painted the plaster mold

Propaganda posters were a very important part of warfare at home during world war 2. Propaganda posters were made by artists in Russia, America, and Germany to keep people at home informed about what was going on in the war and also The posters were also used to taunt leaders of other countries and they were suppose to be like a call to action. propaganda posters must have symbolic imagery or a symbol of power. I believe I used this in my piece by putting the guy in the suit because I believe that people in suit and ties are often associated with power or wealth. I also used symbolic imagery in my piece by putting the spray can which means graffiti overthrowing the system. The reason i wrote graffiti over system is because i feel that graffiti gives me like and the system just tries to put me back in a hole so i do feel that graffiti is way more powerful than the system.

This is the year that graffiti is considered art

and the city is covered with pieces from people all around the world

This is the year that the cops will not only accept graffiti but will pick up a can and write their thoughts

This is the year that cops put down their guns and fight with a can and a message

This is the year of 2014 but lets take it back to the 80’s when subway trains were covered with tags and pieces and the streets were our canvases

This is the year the writers don't have to wear masks and bandanas  like thieves and crooks for following their passion

This is the year that police officers hide their identities for the violence they’ve cause as the writers roam the street with pride  

This is the year that cops learn a lesson from the Chicago 8 of 1968 and don't profile someone because you know that they have a different thought or a different passion

The Chicago 8 were anarchists that got imprisoned because the government knew they had different thoughts and seen that as a threat

This is the year that you can walk down the street with spray paint on your clothes without cops stopping you

This is the year that the blue uniform and police badges are a symbol of shame and cops trade out their guns for a more powerful weapon a can of paint and a message

This is the year that our free art walls are the sides of police stations and government buildings

This is the year that we go out and take back our freedom and make this world OURS  

    

 

Police Brutality Can Change

This project is for my second unit of my art and history class. The purpose of this project was to pick a problem in Chicago and see how we showed resilience. If your problem was not yet solved then we had to dream of a way we want Chicago to come back from this problem. I learned a lot about police brutality from the news and YouTube but I also learned a little bit during my investigation of how to solve this problem. I am most proud of the solution I came up with because I feel that it will work on the cops end and will help the citizens of Chicago live a safer, better life

Title: Stop The Brutality

Materials: Carving tools, Soft cut linoleum, Concrete, Clay, water, Cups,
Size: 6x6
Date of completion: 7/17/14

 

I feel police brutality is ultimately cause by letting power go to your head. The police are given the power to take someone physically harm someone and imprison someone but if we touch them we can get imprisoned for a long time. I feel that it is very unfair that cops get t treat us like dirt for petty reason. So I feel that the cause of police brutality is just cops abusing their power! The effect of the cops doing this is that the build up a certain fear in everyone and now when someone sees the cops they get paranoid of scared and automatically feel that they did something wrong. another effect is that a lot of people get beaten badly or killed by cops because the cops want to be brutal for no reason at all and also some people even get wrongly imprisoned. cops have also made a name for themselves by doing this because now when most people see cops they associate the word "Cops" with the words "a**hole" or "Pigs" because of what they have been doing to ordinary people for many years. I don't believe we have came back from this problem but I hope that one day we can. My dream is that police officers could reach out and talk to us like civil human beings instead of treating us like dirt and not caring about our opinions. I feel that if cops would just listen to what we have to say instead of just shutting us out and making us feel bad about what we have done there will probably be way lees people wrongly imprisoned and a lot less people being a victim of police brutality 

 

 I feel that the piece represents my explanation perfectly because I show two diamond shapes connecting which represent handcuffs and one of the definitions was slavery and law. I did this symbol to represent the cause because I feel that law is a power and slavery is abuse. I did the megaphone to symbolize the fact that we have no voice when the cops talk to us and also that we need more talking and less abuse to people that do wrong. The feather symbol is my way of representing resilience. The description that came with the image was “Truth, justice, morality and balance. When the pharaoh died Maat was lost and the world flung into chaos, only the coronation of a new pharaoh could restore Maat. When I read it I think of the people being the new pharaoh and basically standing up against the government and the cops and stop the brutality because it isn't fair to us but we can do something if we cooperate and talk civilly to the cops even if they treat us like dirt just to show them how much stronger we are

First we had to once again sketch the image and then place it on the linoleum and cut out the image. when we were all done carving we had to take stoneware clay and make a tight box around the piece of linoleum that was at least 3 inches tall. When building the wall we had to first make a base to cover the bottom of the piece and have the clay base be at least 4 cm long on each side so you can bend them upwards to start the walls. When making the walls we had to first take a big chunk of clay and flatten it and then cut it into a square, next we had to cut it into a rectangle and put it on one side and connect it to the part that you folded upwards and continue that step for all four walls. Next you have to spray the entire inside of the box including the clay with non stick spray. next I had to mix the concrete. For the concrete I first  had to add water to a small bowl and then I took a strainer and made sure all the rocks were out of the concrete and then little by little I poured the concrete while also stirring the mix together. Now finally after the mix is thoroughly stirred and smooth I poured the mix in the clay box and smoothed it out so it covers the entire linoleum cut and wait for it to dry

  The Great Chicago Fire

 There were many causes of the Chicago fire but one of the most famous one is Mrs. O'learys cow but another factor is that back then a lot of fires were happening and also the streets and houses were made out of wood and the rooftops of the houses were made out of tar which is highly flammable and they also had pine chips which were also highly flammable and they blew in the wind causing the fire to spread rapidly . The effects were that many people lost their homes and Chicago had burned down to the ground. I feel that Chicago demonstrated resilience because they started to rebuild Chicago with the help of many different places in the world. different countries started to send Chicago money because they had hope in this small city and Chicago started to rebuild very quickly. Buildings were not just going up one at a time but 25 building were popping up at a time. Chicago also decided to build the building up instead to out which made commercial building which also pulled in more money