Launch

What am I passionate about? What do I like to do? No one has really given me the freedom to choose really what I want to do. Dr Preston is the first teacher that has ever given us the freedom of choosing. As think about what I like lots of thing pop into my head. One thing in particular stands out. The Fashion Industry. Ever since I was little I've always liked clothes. It seems weird that a seven year old already knows the big names in fashion. Names like Chanel ,Christian Dior, Oscar de la Renta, Victoria's Secret, Prada, Michael Kors, to name a few. The different patterns, the different colors, and how the designers have so much creativity to put up a collection that can fascinate the world. What I would like to do is to help the designers create a one of a kind collection and help show it off on a runway. The way i can achieve my goal of this is by creating groups that kind of have the same idea as me and that way we can all work together and show off our ideas. I want to make photography a major part of my assignment and at the end I want to create a portfolio of all of my different ideas that I came up with.

Hafta/Wanna

We are taught different things every day. We have the choice of either listening or not. Something's that students do while in high school is just try and get by the best they can. If that means cheating then they are willing to do anything to get that grade. Especially if those students have the pressure of AP classes and other things going on outside of school. Some students have a plan for themselves but others are lost on what they want to do after high school. Some people after they graduate still don't know what they want to do for the rest of there lives. As high school seniors were so indecisive of everything. If it's what college we want to go to or simply what to wear in the morning. After high school you still have choices to make. All of theses choices are either going to help you or not.

México 2014

I went to Jalisco México over winter break and it was soooo much fun :) it's good to have fun once in a while

Vocab #4

accolade- an award or privilege granted as a special honor or as an acknowledgment of merit. 

acerbity- a sharp bitterness 

attrition- the action or process of gradually reducing the strength or effectiveness of someone or something through sustained attack or pressure 

bromide- a trite and unoriginal idea or remark, typically intended to soothe or placate 

chauvinist-  a person displaying aggressive or exaggerated patriotism 

chronic- persisting for a long time or recurring 

expound- present and explain an idea or theory systematically and in detail 

factionalism- the splitting of a group into fractions 

immaculate- perfectly clean, neat, or tidy esp. person or their clothes 

imprecation- a spoken curse 

ineluctable- incapable of being evaded;

mercurial- changeable;

palliate- to relieve or lessen without curing;

protocol- the customs and regulations dealing with diplomatic formality, precedence, and 
etiquette

resplendent-shining brilliantly; gleaming; splendid

stigmatize-to set some mark of disgrace or infamy upon

sub rosa- in secret 

vainglory-excessive elation or pride over one's own achievements, abilities, etc.; boastful vanity

vestige-a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence

volition-the act of willing, choosing, or resolving; exercise of willing

Vocab #9

1. ultimate: maximum; decisive; conclusive
My ultimate goal is to graduate from college.

2. interactive: acting one upon or with the other.
We interact a lot during class when we have Socratic seminars.

3. principle: an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct
You have to have established principles in life.

4.guidance: advice or counseling, especially that provided for students choosing a course of study
or preparing for a vocation
We seek guidance in our lives when we feel confused.

5. collaboration: the act or process of collaborating.
We collabrate alot in class when we have group assignments.

6. formative: pertaining to formation or development
In our formative years of high school most people thought of it as a joke.

7. summative: something that is added 
The summation of all the numbers on the board was finally resolved.

8.racism: a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
Racism is something that has been a problem for a long time now.

9.intelligence: capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity;aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.
His intelligence is remarkable.

Racial Profiling Lives On

It seems like we will never learn. It seems like this will never change. This has been around for centuries and we still do not seem to get the memo. When are people going to finally realize that physical appearance isn't the only thing that matters. Its honestly very annoying how people discriminate just by someone else's skin color. I have seen this happen so much and it needs to stop. 

Notes 

• historic ruling by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin that the stop-and-frisk practices of the New York Police Department violate the Constitution is being applauded as a major victory against unreasonable policing. 
• “This is a very dangerous decision made by a judge who I think does not understand how policing works,”
•  the Supreme Court has given police officers to target African-Americans and Latinos with little or no basis.
• Despite the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of that provision gives the police frighteningly wide discretion to follow, stop, question, frisk and employ excessive force against African-Americans and Latinos who have shown virtually no indication of wrongdoing.
• Officer can follow someone without any hint that they had done anything wrong. 
• If someone were a Latino, the Officer could argue that they “looked Mexican,” and therefore believed that they were undocumented. 

Literature analysis #3

A Child Called It

by Dave Pelzer

TOPIC(S) and/or EVENT(S)

1.       What my book is about a child Dave, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother. A mother who played sick cruel games.  Games that left him nearly dead. Dave learned how to play his Mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered Dave a son but a slave, and no longer a boy but an "It."

2.       Why I think the author wrote this book was for society to see what kind of abuse some kids go through. So that others can see his story and so they know what really goes on in some peoples lives. 

3.       Why I chose this book was because I have been wanting to read it for a while now and others have told me that it was a good book. What caught my attention about this book was all the things that happen to him and I wanted to read it because to me it seems so inhuman that a person can do that to their own son. What made me want to keep reading it was his willpower and how he never gave up. 

4.       What I found realistic about the book was that there is abuse, and there is abuse going on all the time. I made some connections to this book because I know of some people that were abused as kids in Mexico. 

PEOPLE 

1.       This book is the story of the author’s horrible childhood and this book is based on his observations. What the author’s choices said to me was that he did what he did for him to survive another day. I think the author chose to write about this because he wanted to show a problem that some kids are going through.  The authors tone was very depressing.

2.       Dave was a kid that was fairly skinny due to the fact that his mother didn’t feed him and when she did it was scraps and rotten things. He also had the same clothes and didn’t get the privilege of taking showers. He was that kid at school who was the outcast. His mother was an alcoholic and an abusive parent. She didn’t treat him like a son but rather like a slave.

3.       What made these characters interesting enough to write about was all of the things that happened to Dave and the horrible things that his mother made him suffer.  

MORE ON CHARACTER/PEOPLE}

1.       When his mother made him eat his own through up. This is an example of indirect characterization. An example of direct characterization is when his mother put Dave’s arm on the stove and caused him a burn.

2.       The author’s syntax and diction did change when he talked about the characters rather than the setting.

3.       The protagonist is a well-rounded character.  

4.       After reading this book I felt like I met a complete new person and they were telling me their story. The whole book was something new and was very sad.

 STYLE

1.       The author used a journalistic type of style. He would say like for example the summer of 1971.

2.       He would mostly focus on the characters and their actions.

3.       He would use his mother’s cruelty to create a tone for each chapter.

4.       The author’s attitude towards the characters was hatred and disappointment at the end.

5.       It didn’t offer any resources.

 ENDURING MEMORY

Something that I will remember for a long time is the way that his mother treated him. That was something so cruel to me. I honestly don’t know how a mother can be like that to her own son.  Like giving him cold baths and stabbing him, and right after making him wash the dishes. That is something that I will remember for a long time.

LAST-MINUTE BONUS QUESTION

What they key people learned in my book was the way to survive. Dave found every way to survive everything that his mother Catherine threw at him.