Living In The Matrix

This unit in Journalism, we learned about the power of the media. The stories we hear on the news and online effect how we view a group of people or an idea. In class, we looked at how 2 different people were portrayed in the news. Both people were affected by Hurricane Katrina and were trying to scavenge food. The white lady in the photo was portrayed as finding the food while the black man supposedly looted a grocery store. For an FE, a lady that our teacher, Sharon, knew came in to talk to us about photography. We got to take pictures of our classmates while trying to convey an emotion or story connected to the photo. This helped in my AP, it made me think about angles, purpose, and colors. The purpose of this Action project was to tell a story with 2 images. I decided to focus on technology and social media because everyone has felt connected as well as disconnected with technology.

Below is my story: Living In The Matrix

I was on the train heading towards Harold Washington College to attend my Art Appreciation class. It was a day like any other, except today I had left my phone charger at home. The night before I had been up all night on my phone scrolling through my Instagram and Snapchat feed...tap, scroll, tap scroll… I usually do this every night until my phone runs out of battery. After my phone dies the rest of the night is a blur, my eyes usually start to feel heavy and I fall into the black abyss of slumber. Heading to Harold Washington, I was left without a phone to distract me from my boredom and lonesome. I began to look around, studying everyone in the train cart. I realized that almost every person had a device in their hands or headphones in their ears. It reminded me of that movie, The Matrix, the one where everyone is living in a computer simulation. The whole world is being controlled and enslaved by the artificial intelligence. I had been able to unplug myself from the stimulation that I had been enslaved for almost all my teen years. I became free from the Matrix, I became The One. I was able to unplug myself from the artificial facade of social media, I snapped back into reality. It allowed me to notice the small things in life like the clouds, flowers, and the different ways people walked that I’d been missing out on by looking down at my phone.

I wanted to explore the how technology(mostly social media) has affected our perception of life. To dive deeper into this topic, I borrowed Harold Washington’s camera to capture moments of people being plugged. I stopped and interviewed a few people to get into the minds of a technology slave. The first person I interviewed was a woman who preferred to stay anonymous. She was an older woman that had lots to say about this subject. She sparked my interest. When I had walked out of a 7/11 after getting a cold beverage the way the sun was hitting her dark skin captured my eye. The anonymous lady didn’t have any device out which made her a bit more approachable. When talking to her she said,” Teens put anything out on Snapshot and Instagram now, they don’t know that people are constantly watching them. You know the saying what stays in Vegas stays in Vegas, well it doesn’t apply to being online or posting videos and photos. A stripper went in for a job interview, she used to post all that stuff online and when she went in for the job they told her no because she would post all that stuff. I try to tell my son to stay away from all that crap.” She describes social media as being some sort of dark rabbit hole, If you aren’t cautious of what you are showing the world, it can cause you lots of trouble in the long run.

Unknown, LD,2017

When I finished talking to the anonymous older woman, I spotted a grey-haired lady waiting for the signal to change to stop from the walk, her name was Emily. Emily’s grey hair and monochrome black outfit made me want to talk to her, we began talking about the truth of social media. “Social media has allowed for people to create a fake image of themselves that reflects their personality in the real world. My perception has changed by realizing that people put on an act for social media.” When Emily said this I began to think about the images I put out into the artificial world we call the social network. Subconsciously, I upload photos and videos that I want others to see so that they develop an artificial opinion about who I am.

Emily, LD,2017

The beauty of living in a world similar to The Matrix is that you have a choice; you can either stay plugged or unplug yourself from the cycle. Unplugging yourself from social media is taking the red pill, allowing yourself to see reality as it is. Choosing to stay plugged is downing the blue pill and being happy in the artificial world coded in technology.

Choose wisely.

A Justified Case

This unit in Policy we learned about specific cases, their rulings and how it relates to policy. Our class mostly focused on the Brown v. Board case that desegregated schools during the 50's. The final rulings were unanimous and the judges ruled that "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. Fortunately, my class had the opportunity to see a case happen at the Criminal Justice Courthouse. After the case was finished, we even had the chance to talk to the Judge. It was an unforgettable opportunity! The purpose of this Action Project was to choose a case that we found interesting and decide whether the final ruling was justified or not. I decided to take on the Tinker v. Des Moines case and explore the effects it's had on society.

Below is my paper:

Mary Beth Tinker and John Tinker, (1954), SCOTUSblog.com

The Tinker v. Des Moines case was one that challenged the rights of freedom of expression and speech. John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker, and their friend Chris Eckhardt decided to plan a silent protest by wearing black armbands to school to protests against the Vietnam War. On December 14, 1965, the principal of the Des Moines schools districts decided to create a policy stating if students were wearing the black armband they would be asked to remove it, students who violated that would be suspended because it would be “disruptive”. 2 days later John, Mary, and Chris decided that they wanted to exercise their 1st and 14th amendments rights by wearing black armbands. During their suspension, the parents of the children sued the school for the violation of their free speech. This case was so important at the time because the students were challenging such a conflicting war during school ground and because students were politically expressing themselves-something school officials weren’t comfortable with. The Supreme Court ruling was justified by stating that this suspension was unconstitutional because it limited the young protesters rights.

Mary Beth Tinker, the plaintiff of Tinker v. Des Moines argued that her suspension due to their silent protest was a violation of her 1st and 14th amendment rights. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the defendant of the case argued that the protest disrupted students during class. The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 stating that the first amendment applied to every situation and that school official couldn’t censor speech unless it disrupted the class. Wearing a black armband wasn’t disruptive, therefore the court held that the first amendment protected the student's rights. Justice Abe Fortas wrote the majority opinions: “ It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”The ruling of Tinker v Des Moines is just, the first amendment states:”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble...” The first amendment plays a big factor in the Tinker v Des Moines case, without the first amendment Mary, John and Chris would have been suspended without any justifications.

The ruling of this case affected how our school system is run today; it may have given students freedom, but it also set some limitations on freedom and expression. There has been a numerous of cases that challenge the freedom of expression school groundsnd, for example, the Layshock v. Hermitage case. A student in the Hermitage district was suspended for using vulgar language about her principal on Facebook. Although the words used were offensive and vulgar, the court ruled in favor of the student claiming that punishing students off school ground violates the first amendment(Prezi.com). Because of the Tinker rulings, students have been expressing themselves more freely through their attire. Most schools now allow nose rings and dyed hair but disallow offensive attire such as a t-shirt with a Confederate flag. June of 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that schools can limit student speech that advocates illegal drug use. Concerning a case when Joseph Fedrick, a senior at Juneau-Douglas High School who was suspended for having a banner that said,” Bong Hits 4 Jesus” around school grounds(New York Times). The Tinker v. Des Moines brought a term called, in loco parentis, which means in place for parents in Latin. In loco parentis means that school officials can act as your parents on school ground by disciplining the student if it is disruptive.

The Tinker v. Des Moines case allowed students to express themselves, whether it be a political movement or as small as an article of clothing. It allowed for the constitution to override what the school officials deemed to be disruptive to the class. The ruling gave power to the 3 students voice for the protest against the Vietnam War and allowed them to make a change in the world.

Citations:

The New York Times. The New York Times. Web. 28 May 2017.

Constitute. Web. 28 May 2017.

Johnson, John W. The Struggle for Student Rights: Tinker v. Des Moines and the 1960s. Lawrence, Kan.: U of Kansas, 1997. Print.

Leski, Joanna. "How Did the Tinker vs. Des Moines Decision Affect Student Speech?" Prezi.com. 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 May 2017.

"Tinker v. Des Moines - Landmark Supreme Court Ruling on Behalf of Student Expression." American Civil Liberties Union. Web. 28 May 2017.

Building A Better City

This unit in urban planning the junior class learned about urban planning and the history of it. I learned that urban planning is the development of an area that includes the community, nature, infrastructure housing, and services. For a Field Experience, my class got the opportunity to look at the urban planning around Wrigley Field. Our tour guide, James, showed us examples of good urban planning and bad urban planning. This FE helped me plan out what I wanted to do for my Action Project. For our last Action Project, we had to select any area around the world and redesign it. I chose to redesign my neighborhood, Bronzeville, as I wanted to fix the area up in a way I thought was the most efficient.

Below is my Slideshow:

Brown = Houses

Green = Park

Red = Mall

Orange = Gas Station

Purple = Trader Joe's

Scale = 14ft/2mm

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The Unjustified War

This unit in Policy we learned about wars, war policies and the soldiers who fought in them. Specifically, we focused on the Vietnam War and the Korean War. Throughout the unit I read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, a collection of stories about the soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. The chapters we read focused on the specifics of war and the effect it had on the soldiers. Occasionally we would have discussions and got to share our thoughts with one another. As a class, we visited the National Veteran Museum where we visually got to understand war and inside the minds of the veterans.  A tour guide showed us the Things They Carried exhibit,  where I got to put the war in my own reality(it was quite eye-opening). For this Action Project, we had to choose a war that we've been learning about in or out of class. Then we had to choose whether America's involvement/entry in it was justified or not through the policies and actions throughout it. I choose to write a paper about Vietnam War because  I feel strongly about it being unjustified and I believe it was morally wrong.

Below is my paper, enjoy!

Vietnam War, Britannica, 1955

The Vietnam War was a brutal, costly and strung out war that lasted 20 years. The US involvement in the Vietnam war was unjustified and morally wrong. The US had no real concrete reason as to join, other than the fear of the domino theory. That fear got enhanced by violence which led to more violence. Vietnam War destroyed lives(mentally and physically), took away people's homes and destroyed Vietnam's natural resources. Although we may have won the fight, we lost within our morals.
The Vietnam War officially began on November 30, 1955, it all started with Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader in North Vietnam who founded the Indochinese Communist Party. He wanted to unite Vietnam under communism so he declared war in 1959 (Olson,6). South Vietnam was opposed to this idea and wanted independence from communism, in order to do so they got help from anti-communist countries such as the United States, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand, and the Kingdom of Laos. The anti-communist fought against North Vietnam, who was allied with Soviet Union, North Korea, Pathet Lao and Khmer Rouge.The war was fought in four different locations: North Vietnam, South Vietnam , Laos, and Cambodia. America spent roughly $780 billion on bombs during the Vietnam War. US troops would use a burning chemical called Napalm. Napalm was a mixture of plastic polystyrene, benzene and gasoline that creates a jelly substance that burns up to 1,500 Fahrenheit to 2,200. It would usually be used on buildings (vietnamawbb.weebly.com) . Another tactic used by US ground troops were Agent Orange, a chemical herbicide that would destroy plants and agriculture. Agent Orange was later deemed a violation of the Geneva Contract and using any other herbicides during war. The Vietnam War was fought to stop the spread of communism of Southeast Asia, the immediate causes of it was: the communists attacking the capital of Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin incident.The underlying causes was to stop communism for the sake of capitalism. In order for capitalism to thrive in the U.S there must be other countries to build the market.The domino theory (the concern that communism would spread across the world) opposed to what capitalism wanted- free market and the ability to become rich.

The presidency in America throughout the war had no conclusion as how to deal with the it knowing that we were already in a sticky situation. The Vietnam War lasted for such a long time that 4 presidents served over the course of the 20 years: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon. As the years progressed, America got more immersed in the war, something we did not expect or want to happen. Dwight Eisenhower didn’t want to get involved with the war. During the President’s News Conference of 1955 Eisenhower stated: “I cannot conceive of a greater tragedy for America than to get heavily involved now in an all-out war in any of those regions.”(Presidency.ucsb.edu)JFk tripled the military in Vietnam thinking that it would be best for America and Southeast Asia. Lyndon B Johnson was appointed president in 1963 during the Vietnam War after the assassination of JFK. After assuming the position of Kennedy, LBJ had to take part in the crisis that was happening in Vietnam. His primary goal was to put an end with the involvement of the war , but instead he ended up deploying more soldiers. After two U.S warships radioed that North Vietnam had fired onto their surface, President Johnson requested permission from US congress to increase our military in Indochina. August of 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that would further any military actions that Johnson saw fit to retaliate and maintain peace in Southeast Asia. This led to more violence, making the US more involved in the war than we ever were.

In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution. Congress proposed and passed the War Powers Resolution due to the negative and messy aftermath of the war. Congress wanted to ensure that there was an agreement between both legislative and the executive branch. It states that the President must notify Congress within 48 hours of sending armed forces into military action. The War Powers Act was passed by the House of Rep and Senate but was vetoed by President Nixon.

President Nixon vetoed the War Powers Act believing that it took away the rights of the President as the Commander in chief.“(The war resolution act) would attempt to take away, by a mere legislative act, authorities which the President has properly exercised under the Constitution for almost 200 years. …The only way in which the constitutional powers of a branch of the Government can be altered is by amending the Constitution.”(Presidency.ucsb.edu) Nixon began bombing Cambodia in secret without consenting with Congress or announcing to the public. People began to lose trust in the government because of this and that feeling of distrust intensified when the Pentagon Papers(a compilation of papers that revealed secret information about America’s involvement in Indochina) became public in 1971(Billofrightsinstitute.org). I believe that the War Powers Act is legal in every aspect. The role of Congress to is to declare war; the war powers resolution act assures that the President doesn’t declare or make any decisions along those lines. Stated in Article 1 section 8, Congress has the power to “...To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.”(Loc.gov) Thus meaning that Congress and only Congress can declare war, but some may argue that the President as commander in chief has the right to send armed forces to the military. This blurs the role of the legislative and executive branch that eventually leads to conflict.The effects of the war powers resolution of 1973 were that it led to confliction between the executive and legislative branches.

America’s involvement in the Vietnam War was unjust, chaotic and immoral.We fought for free market-capitalism and to stop the spread of communism. America spent over $780 billion over the course of 20 years on bombs, weapons, and equipment. $780 billion wasted on killing people-- some even innocent--, destroying the lives of veterans that we as a country don’t acknowledge and ruining the land of Vietnam. Next time you hear about the Vietnam War, do not parade what seems to be a win on our part but recognize our losses.

Citations:

Dwight D. Eisenhower: The President's News Conference - February 9, 1955." The American Presidency Project. Web. 22 May 2017.

Napalm, Agent Orange - The Vietnam War. Web. 22 May 2017.

Nixon and the War Powers Resolution." Bill of Rights Institute. Web. 22 May 2017.

Olson, James Stuart, and Randy Roberts. Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945-2010. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014. Print.

"Richard Nixon: Veto of the War Powers Resolution - October 24, 1973." The American Presidency Project. Web. 22 May 2017. 

"War Powers." War Powers | Law Library of Congress | Library of Congress. Web. 22 May 2017.

Saving Energy

This unit for Urban Planning, we learned about electricity, the flow of electrons and how to make a successful circuit. I learned about AC and DC: AC is alternating current that was founded by Nikola Tesla, it's usually used for long distances. DC is direct current and used for modern electronics with computer chips and anything powered by batteries For our FE we went to Robot City, an organization that teaches the youth how to build robots. We built a speaker from a circuit, it was a bit confusing but overall it was fun building it and looking at the robots they've built. The purpose of this Action Project was to build an energy efficient circuit that would represent household items. This action project was fairly easy and simple. Below is my slideshow, enjoy!

              

Dear Sophia King...

This term in Policy, I learned about the policies we have here in America. A policy is a set of principles that is adopted by the government in order to maintain a civilized society. My class went to the Chicago City Council for an FE thinking that we would hear the council discuss hate crimes. Unfortunately, that discussion was postponed and instead praised officers and schools. The purpose of this AP was to write a letter either proposing or supporting a policy to someone belonging to the Legislative Branch. I chose to write to my Alderman, Sophia King, supporting the Municipal ID cards. Below is my letter to her:

ID Card, 2017, LD

Chicago Municipal ID Card
Sophia King
435 E. 35th St.
Chicago, IL 60616

Dear Sophia King,

I believe that every human deserves to be granted the same services and quality of life despite where they come from or their background. I applaud you for voting for the Municipal ID card. As I’ve been learning about policy, I wanted to get in contact with my Alderman about the importance of having the Chicago ID cards. I believe the Chicago Municipal ID should be available to all residents of Chicago. It will allow for people who’ve suffered from domestic violence, immigrants, homeless people, and LGBTQ who have been living in Chicago to take part in services.

As a high school student, I've rubbed shoulders with a variety of people from different backgrounds. Some of my peer's families quality of life is limited because their parents sacrificed their lives to seek what we call “the American Dream”; wishing for a brighter tomorrow for the next generation. I’ve heard stories about how tough life was back at home for them, success is as important to them as it is for everyone else.City Clerk, Anna Valencia pointed out that,”there are a lot of different people that will benefit from this program, including returning citizens, seniors, LGBTQ, domestic violence survivors, homeless, young people and, of course, undocumented.” Anna Valencia was elected City Clerk in November of 2016 and has been working towards having the Municipal ID cards.

Sophia, imagine yourself undocumented, scared that at any moment you could be ripped from what you call home and brought back to what you purposely left behind. Everyone should have a chance at life and this theirs. The ID secures the future of the next generation and beyond. Rahm Emanuel being highly supportive of the ID says that ”we are helping people, but we are also creating a line of protection”. With the dangers that come with being undocumented, they are risking their lives and have to live in the dark.

During the debate to see who was in favor of this proposal, 4 out of 48 Alderman voted against the ID Card. Your colleague, Alderman Anthony Beale of the 9th ward criticized the ID card saying that the federal or state government should be dealing with this issue instead of the city. The ninth ward is in a majority African-American neighborhood, where most immigrants aren’t residing, but just because it doesn’t affect the people in your ward doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect others. There are around 511,000 immigrants in the state of Illinois, 183,000 of those immigrants are living in Chicago. By pushing the problem onto federal or state government is disregarding the problem, if you have the power to help others then you should contribute to the cause, which in this case is allowing for immigrants, homeless people, and LGBTQ to have an ID card.

With the hatred spewing from our own president, it’s important to acknowledge the people whose rights are being taken and ignored. As someone in power such as yourself, it’s important to remind people around us that we all deserve a chance at life no matter your background.

Trussful Bridge

This term in Urban Planning, we learned about the process of building a city; I learned more about why things are placed where they are. We also went in depth about Newton's Laws of Motion and how they connect to bridges. Newton's third law states that for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction, this means that a bridge's downward force is reacting with the normal force of the earth and the bridge's support. My favorite FE was when we walked from Michigan to Hubbard St. and looked at the different types of bridges around the city. The purpose of this AP was to create a truss bridge given 60 popsicles that would uphold at least 10 pounds. Surprisingly, our bridge held 10 pounds only weighing 60.4 grams! I didn't expect to hold that much because the base wasn't as supportive.