Panama OWW

OWW Description:

One World Week (OWW) is a two week immersion class in which students can opt. to do any of the given courses they are interested in. This year I chose to go to Panama.

Process:

After much fundraising to get to go, I got to the airport however they would not let me on the plane because of a law we had not been notified about. My passport expired 2 months from the departure date and Panama's government requires at least three months on your passport before it expires from the date you depart. Because of this I was unable to go on the trip to Panama.

Reflection:

From this experience I learned that sometimes thing's just don't go as planned and you have to accept that instead of grieving over it. I also learned how to renew your passport in a short amount of time.

There were many challenges I encountered while at the government building in Los Angeles after leaving LAX. I was not able to get a rush passport because I did not have the custody form stating that my dad had sole custody of me. I had a notarized form where this form had been checked off and signed off on, however the government officials would not accept this as proof of my father's sole custody of me. Being that my father was out of town I was unable to get him to bring this document down to the building and therefore not able to go to Panama.

If I could have changed this experience I would have double checked Panama's passport requirements long before the departure date so that I could have avoided this problem. However, having this experience has helped me to develop into the person that I am now. Without this horrible thing happening to me I would not be able to deal with bad things as well as I am able to deal with them now.

Spanish Book

The Power of Music

Throughout my life I have been blessed to have my home filled with different kinds of warm love. Instead of the smells of mom’s baking wafting through the house or the voice of my dad ringing through the halls as he came home from work, my house was filled with music and the passion it inspires. Whether it was Jeff Buckley, Elliot Smith, or even the voice of my dad, guitar in hand, warming the house and the hearts within it, there was always music to be heard, lyrics to be understood, and beliefs to be appreciated.

My dad has taught me about the deeper meaning of music to musicians and people, as well as how to recognize the value of each and every word that escapes their throat, listen to every note played, and experience the song itself. Every album is a storybook meant to be listened to all the way through, every song just another chapter in the novel. As a musician my dad creates works of art, songs that describe his childhood, his feelings toward life, and his beliefs. Every word he writes, every piece of musical notation he creates, and every song he records expresses himself in a pure and unique way that sustains who he his. He’s an entertainer, a philosopher, and a teacher, all through the music he creates.

While I may not posses the same musical creativity my father does, he’s taught me to appreciate it on a different scale. Through his teachings music has become a sort of panacea for me. It’s my therapy, my entertainment, my laughter, my expression, my teacher, and an overall crux in my life. I can take my appreciation for music and understanding of it and apply it to different aspects of my life, using the principles I take from it and using them as my own commandments. Of all the things I have learned from my appreciation for music, the most important is understanding and respect. I may not like all types of music, I can at least appreciate the creator of the piece for the feelings behind it and respect the work and effort that went into its creation. This is an idea I feel I can be applied to many different things in life.

When I traveled to Bali, instead of being judgmental of the people’s beliefs and treating them as erroneous and tenebrous, I was open-minded and appreciative of what they had to teach me. Because of this I was able to absorb their beliefs and culture like a sponge and use what I had learned to make myself a more cultured person who’s able to take the teachings of the people around me and apply it to my daily life. Music was my original mentor, and because of what it taught me the world and people within it have all become teachers and philosophers that I can continuously learn from.

Reading Enjoyment Maximizers

Project Description:
During this project we read the book My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. After reading it and having many discussions about the meaning and message of the parables Ishmael tells Julie we were given a sheet of REM's or Reading Enjoyment Maximizers. You could do many different things such as turn the book into a screen play for a movie, create a soundtrack for it, make a painting about a concept in the book, etc. It was truly up to you to choose something to create. I chose to make a zine based on the concept of Takers and Leavers.

Process:

Before creating the rough draft of my zine I had to think of a concept for it. I chose to do a Taker vs. Leaver comparison using the contrast between Dystopian and Utopian society in nature. I also made it so that as you were looking at the pictures and reading the lines in the zine you would have to flip it to see the Leaver lifestyle the right way. Every page in the Leaver section was the exact opposite of the taker section, just as a Dystopian society (Takers) is the exact opposite of a Utopian society (Leavers). I then created a rough draft that had written what I wanted on each page on it. After creating the rough draft I made my final draft.

Reflection:

In this project I learned a lot about our culture and why we are the way we are. Because of reading My Ishmael I feel like my eyes have opened up to the world a bit more. It's almost as if there was this invisible wall blocking my view of the way the world really should be and reading this book helped me to break it down. I have this whole new perspective of our culture and life itself that I believe has really changed my opinions on society for the better. It's almost as if my whole life I somewhat had an idea of what people like Daniel Quinn and Jared Diamond, author of The Worst Mistake in the Human Race, already knew but I couldn't quite grasp the concept. My Ishmael gave me the tools I needed to get it within my reach.
In the creation of my piece I had some trouble getting the sketches exactly right. After hours of working on them I finally got the shading and lines the way I intended them to be.
If I could do this project over again I would have liked to have done the challenge assignment, reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, before or after reading My Ishmael instead of reading them at the same time. Because they are both so similar it was very hard for me to distinguish between the two on the final and while writing papers about them.
Creating my zine really got my creative juices flowing and inspired me a bit more in the artistic department. I hope to be able to use this next year in projects.

This I Believe Reflection

Project Description:
During this project we broke away from the transactive writing we had been doing and learned about how to write a personal essay based on a belief we have based on the essays that are submitted to NPR's This I Believe program. I chose to write about the power of music. After we finished the essays, 400-500 words, we displayed them with a profile picture of us in a beautiful frame for everyone to see.

Process:
Writing a good personal essay required us to do many drafts. I personally had five different drafts of my essay before I got my final one. After we finnished writing the essays we took profile shots of our face, cut them out, traced them onto a piece of colored paper, and cut the nice color pieces out. We then took the frames we had bought for the project and used them to creatively display both our profiles' and essays for our school exhibition.

Reflection:
During the project I learned a lot about myself. In order to be able to write the essay I really had to think about what I believe in. This was somewhat hard for me becuase I believe in a lot of things and I had a hard time choosing something to write about. Becuase my dad is a musician music has always been a big part of my life. I have learned many things from my love for music, so I figured that my belief in the power of it would be something interesting and unique to write about.
While I had my belief ready to go, when I started writting I realized that because I have been doing transactive writing so much this semester my personal writing techniques were lacking. It took my until the fourth draft to be able to fully get back into the swing of things but once I had I was able to produce a piece of writting that I am extremely proud of.
If I could do this project over again I wouldn't have done anything differently. I am extremely proud of my piece and overall display of it with my profile shot. I am completely in love with my work and wouldn't change it for the world.
Now that I have practiced transactive and personal essays I feel that I am more prepared for 10th grade when I will most likely have to write in both styles. I better understand the difference between the two and feel comfortable writing in both.

To see my personal essay click here