Las Meninas

               The Las Meninas is an oil painting of a large room of the Madrid palace. The painter, Valazquez, painted himself along with the king, queen, their daughter (the princess), her maids of honor, two dwarfs, and their dog. This painting shows all of these people staring at a large canvas. Valazquez painted himself in the painting looking out at the viewer. He is standing in the back behind the canvas, admiring his work. In the middle is the princess. She is a young girl with fine golden hair, rosy cheeks and porcelain skin. She is also looking out at the viewer. Along side her are her two maids of honor, which are neither looking at the painting but looking at the princess. Next are two dwarfs. They are the closest to the viewer, and both looking out at me. They are standing next to the dog who is taking a nap on the floor. Behind them, are the king and queen. They are examining the painting with Valazquez. In the very back is a man, who I am not sure who he is. He looks like he has a suspicious look on his face, like he isn't supposed to be there.  It is said that the painting inside the painting is either of the princess or of her parents but it has never been confirmed.

ENFJ

The Jung Typology Test was spot on with how I perceive myself. I am classified as an ENFJ. ENFJ stands for extrovert, intuition, feeling, and judging. I would completely agree that I am an extrovert. This doesn't mean that I am just a social butterfly and like to talk a lot but it means that I am energized by being around others. Many believe that I am very shy but I am not. I am quiet at times because I like to observe others, the way they act and react to things.

This is followed by intuition and judging. I am very intuitive. I follow my instinct and have a great charterer judgment. It is easy for me to categorize characteristics of others by observing their actions. I am almost always right when I follow my instinct and judgment.

Next is feeling. I am not so much of a thinker as I am a feeler. This is completely accurate. My whole life throughout school I have always learned better through hands on activities vs. Visual and auditory. I often tend to make decisions off of my emotions and the way that I am feeling. This can help me to communicate very well with others.

This test states that I tend to use figurative or conversational language when I write, which is true. I often find myself writing about things that can relate to me personally or others around me. I use insight and creativity when writing and I easily generate topics to write about. I try to persuasively present my thoughts in the clearest manner possible. Sometimes I can struggle writing about impersonal issues. This test has been very helpful to me by showing me how to improve as a writer.

Pigeon Impossible

“Mission complete,” I whispered to myself as I passed on the suitcase. I had waited all day to pass it on just so I wouldn’t have the great responsibility that it carries with it. It really can make a day stressful but luckily now I get to go home and relax. Just as I get ready to turn the corner of the street, I see the suitcase lying on the ground, from the corner of my eye. Then all of a sudden, the suitcase leaps into the air. I try not to stare, lest I draw attention but I am clueless as to why the suitcase is jumping.

 I suddenly feel a cool breeze. The suitcase had lifted from the ground and started to fly straight towards me, missing me by just a few inches. I watched like a cat following a laser pointer. It’s flying upside down, side to side and anyway you could possibly think of. This is completely out of control I thought to myself while looking around, seeing how many others have noticed by now. What is wrong with this suitcase?

Now the suitcase is heading right towards the Washington Monument. When pressed, the red button inside the suitcase activates the missile within the monument.. I need to inform the agency before it goes off. I spoke too soon. The monument is taking off heading straight for the moon. Suddenly, there is a loud crashing sound and the monument has been blown into smithereens.  The suitcase floats back down with its agent and is safe once again.

The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea

In a letter I received from Isabel, she talked about a story that is common in China, called, ”The eight immortal cross the sea.” This story is about  eight  immortals that  found themselves by the Eastern Sea. Lu Dongbi, one of the immortals, suggested to the others that they all travel across it. Rather than using the traditional way to travel on a cloud, he asked that they each use their magical powers to cross the sea.  

So, Lu Dongbin tossed  his sword into the seaand it became a boat. Tieguai Li used his crutch to use as a board to stand on.  Han Xiangzi had a basket whichgrew bigger to become a boat and He Xiangu did the same with her lotus. Lan Caihe turned his jade board into a canoe and Cao Guojiu turned his “imperial tablets,” into a raft. Zhongli Quanj used his banana leaf and Zhang Guolao used his magical donkey.

 The eight immortals set off to sea creating a blinding light that attracted the Dragon prince, who was beneath the water. He abducted an immortal to steal his magical power. The other immortals set off after him creating a war beneath the sea. The immortals declaired a victory after throwing a mountain into the middle of the sea, which is now called Penglai fairy land. This is now a beautiful city in China!

Primary Source: Isabel

Secondary Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Immortals

Child Safety Presentation

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B85K6dZoY0b_ZV81N0JOaVJvRGs/edit?usp=sharing
Madison, Hannah, and I created this for our service learning project.

Global Perspectives

The first presentation I went to on Thursday was called "Can the Eutopia of the world withour poverty be acheived?" There were four speakers who all spoke to persuade us to help end poverty. These speaches all complimented one another, while leaving a strong point. They stated what poverty is, statistics, and how to help.
The second presentation was a video that was made by Peter Carolla. He presented to us, "The One Who Builds." This film was about a Sudanese refugee, named, Dr. Omer Omer. He was a refugee many years ago and now that he has came to America, he has became a director of a refugee resettlment organization. This film was very eye opening, showing what these refugees go through just to be in our country.
Unfortunately I was not able to stay for any more presentations but I really enjoyed the ones that I was able to see.

Reading Response: Letters from China

I was suprised at how suprised they were of the lives we live! Some of the letters asked me questions about soccer and telling me that it is a boy sport to them. They were really suprised that I play this sport. They were also really interested in my child development class. they told me they wished they had a class like it. These response letters made me realize how different our cultures are but how alike our personalities can still be. I have so many questions to ask them! I would like to ask them what they do in their free time or if they ever have free time, since they study so much. This has been such a great experience and I am looking forward to the letters and responses to come!

Project Proposal

This past week has been very difficult for many people in Springfield. Hailey Owens, a 10 year old girl, was kidnapped and killed within a nights time. It breaks my heart thinking of how scared this little girl must have been during this time period. This terrible thing has encouraged me to help kids become more aware of safety awareness.

When I was a little kid, my mom drilled this into my head. She made up games that taught me the importance of being aware of my surroundings, never talking to strangers, etc. Many children don’t know the importance of this and many parents don’t either.  Often, people think that incident’s like Hailey’s won’t happen to them because it seems so unlikely.

I intern at Macedonia daycare and I am going to find a way to help these children become aware of how important safety is!

60 Minutes

This video talks mainly about a boy named, Jack Andraka. Jack, at the age of 15, created a early test to find pancreatic cancer. His drive to find a test for this was from the loss of a family member due to this cancer. Hiss loss made him determined to help others before it's too late. Jack has traveled across the world, speaking about his discovery and how he came about it. He claims he is not smart, but It's not very common to see a 15 year old accomplish something so big! Jack's family supported him along the way, letting him experiment whenever possible. It has surely paid off! It's truly amazing what Jack has done, and I hope many others are inspired just as I am. Hopefully, others will believe in themselves to accomplish things they never thought they could before. 

My Passion

My passion is to work with children. I have looked into careers that have to do with children and there are so many to choose from. I have also looked into the medical field and I have decided I would love to be a physical therapist and specialize in children. Every morning I get to spend my time with kids. I am taking a child developement class and every other day we get to intern at a daycare of our choice. It is a great experience! The days that I am not interning, I spend my time tutoring at Rountree elementary school. I tutor back and forth between the kindergarton and 1st grade classrooms. I thouroughly enjoy it! The children are always able to put me in a good mood. I am also joining a program called medical explorers. This program allows you to shadow people in the medical field, such as, shadowing in an ambulance, or seeing a live birth. These are all great experiences and I am hoping they will help me later on with my career.

Why I Write

I often find that I do not have as much time time to write as I would like to, or probably should. I took this compostion class to help prepare me in college, by practicing writing skills and techniques. I mainly write only when I am instructed to do so. If I were to write more, it would be because I believe it can be a big stress reliever! Writing allows you to say whatever is on your mind. The best part about writing is that no one has to known what you’re saying unless you want them to. Or you can publish a book and have everyone know what you wrote. Writing is a very accepting activity. There is poetry, blogs, journals, fictional/nonfictional stories, etc. I garuntee anyone could find at least one from of writing that they enjoy.

Plagiarism

This article states that most students/people don't realize how bad plagiarism really is. They think copying and pasting a few sentences does no harm. Using words that are not your own, is not being honest and it does not show how you would write, personally. At the end of this article, it says "writing is difficult, and it takes time and practice," this quote should be heavily used throughout colleges and highschools around the world. It seems to imply that with the work (time and practice) writing will come easier and plagiarism will not be needed. Taking classes such as composition and free writing classes will help to improve better writing skills and it should come to th point where students shouldn't even be thinking about using someone eleses words for their own.

Reading Respponse 7: Safe Haven

Katie now has transportation thanks to Alex, lending her a bicycle that he had fixed up for her. She explores parts of the island that she had never been able to before. She finds all these beautiful quiet places that she can now go to when she wants to think about things. While finding these new things and places, she is also beginning to find herself. She is thinking a lot about Alex and beleiving that she could some day fall in love with this man. Alex is also thinking the same thing throughout this chapter. This chapter mainly shows what the characters are thinking in their heads. "She wasn't exacty sure when it happened. Or even when it started. All she knew for sure was that right here and right now, she was falling hard and she could only hope that he was feeling the same way," this was a quote from this chapter and it displays her effection for Alex and how much she has changed from the beginning of the book when she first moved, to now.

Reading Respnse 6: Safe Haven

As Katie rides to the beach with Alex and the kids in his jeep, she thinks about how the loneliness she sees in Alex matches her own loneliness. When they get there, Alex's kids run to the water. Katie and Alex unload everything and sit down and relax. They are talking and Alex says "Jo used to do that," then he apologizes to Katie for bringng her up. Katie telles him it's good for him to talk about her. She knows Jo will always be apart of his and the kids life and she is completely fine with that. This chapter, Katie and Alex grow a stronger relationship through the time they have spend together. They spend the whole day at the beach getting to know eachother. "Yeah... Yeah... At first I tried to avoid every place we went together. I tried to put it behind me. I tried to... step forward. But it just didn't work. And I realized if I'm not thinking about her then who is. She didn't deserve that; she was an amazing woman and I loved her, and I want my children to know that." This was a quote from Alex in this chapter. The way he talks about his wife, shows how much he loved and still does love her. He is never going to move on fully from the loss of her but he is ready to start a new life.

Meow

I am a passionate animal lover so I decided I would like my topic to be about animal testing but figured that was a little too broad. I then thought about the cats in my anatomy class that we disect. Ms. Blake, the anatomy teacher tells us all about the cats before we disect them, like where they come from, what we will be learning, etc. These cats are bread especially for anatomy classes. They breed the cats and then inject them and send them to anatomy classrooms around the country. My topic is wheather or not it is right to kill these cats for us to further our education or if there are alternatives to learning about the body without sacrificing these animals. I will be using Ms. Blake, Biologyproducts.com, and peta.org as some of my resources.

Fifth Reading Response: Safe Haven

This Chapter is a reflection from Katies past. She invites Jo, over to her house and while she is cutting up snacks and pouring tea, Katie is realizing how nice her old house used to be and all the things that were in it. She remembers her family and how her father was always drunk but she also sees the happy times they used to have. She realizes that the things she has are not nice like her old things were but she recognizes her old life as her enemy now. Jo notices something is wrong with Katie and has a good guess as to what it is. Jo says to Katie, "I have a curiosity." Jo is curious as to what is wrong with Katie and Katie explains to her some of the troubles she had had before moving.

Article 1 Response

This article is mainly talking about the internet overpowering books. Nicholas Carr states that " Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski." He is implying that before the internet came about, books were all that people had known. He used to read all the time and have a wide vocabulary and attention spand, toward more difficult literature but now he skims the internet. Others are also aware that this has been happening over these past years. Scientists have done studies and they have predicted that the current and upcoming generations will learn differently than people used to because of the internet and how we read.  

Readers Response 4: Safe Haven

This chapter starts off with Katie at the store, talking to Alex's daughter about a "lovely" picture she had drawn. Alex comes in and starts making small conversation with Katie. The conversation somehow gets on the topic about his wife and he explains that she had passed away a couple years ago. Although, she already knew, she showed great sympathy for Alex. Katie and Jo start becoming better friends as the book continues. Jo is always trying to get Katie to go out on a date with Alex but Katie doesn't understand why. It is very obvious that the two like eachother. "That was him making a move" this was a quote from Jo to Katie about Alex.

Readers Response Three: Safe Haven

Alex is a old fashioned store owner whose wife had just died a little over a year ago. He has two children. Alex used to be a military investigator in the army so he notices a lot of little things that most peole would not. He has noticed Katie come in and out of the store over the last couple months. He's watched her transmation, from gaunt with big black circles under her eyes, to gaining a few pounds and looking well rested. Alex's five year old daughter tells him all the time how nice "Miss Katie" is. He's noticed that Katie does not like to conversate very much and when he tries to she seems shy and nervous. Katie finds out she has a neighbor that lives down the road from her named Jo. Katie goes to Alex's store one day and decides to buy yellow paint to paint her kitchen floor. Alex orders the paint for Katie even though the store does not actually sell paint or order it but he does it for Katie.
"When did we start selling paint," asked Roger, one of the other store workers. "Today," said Alex.

FACE TO FACE

The story I found interesting was the story of the boy who was getting irritated by his friend making jokes about 9/11, right after it had occured. I find it extremely disrespectful to joke about anything that has to do with the death of others. People die each day and it doesn't seem like a huge deal but it is to the people who have lost someone. I beleive that it is selfish to act in such a disrespectful way. Maybe this person was not related to anyone that had passed on the day of 9/11, but thousands of others were and they were all greievng from this tragic day. It seems that many people don't see the true meanng of something until it happens to them. I beieve that if the person who was joking around about 9/11, had any relationshions to any of the people who were killed that day, he would have a much different outlook on this aspect.