Rue Maghreb 2.0 : What steps can Rue Maghreb take in order to engage with communities around the world effectively and authentically?

Rue Maghreb has been something that I have been working hard on for the past year. This project that went from an independent study to a brand has brought me to many realizations about the world we live in, and I'm glad to be given the opportunity to work on this right at school. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look at my AP from last year! 

Last year was packed with collaborations with street artists from Morocco, reaching out to organizations to donate to back in countries like Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, but most importantly, I began forming the community that I wanted Rue Maghreb to be all along.  Social media interaction was beginning to happen!  Members of our community posting their latest purchases from our site, commenting on any photos we posted, sharing photos on their stories for their followers to see, direct messaging us about how our community has made them feel like they have a little outlet to go to when they miss being back home! This is what I wanted Rue Maghreb to be all along. Being able to see the power of social media right before my eyes, and how you can virtually take someone to nostalgia.

This year, Rue Maghreb announced a new member to the board, Meriem Sadoun. Meriem is someone who is motivated to continue and enhance the Rue Maghreb mission. A hard worker that only wants to best for our brand, and sees the same future as me. Rue Maghreb is not just a brand, but will eventually turn into an organization that gives job opportunities for people in El Maghreb. The problem in our countries currently, is that we have a lot of civilians with degrees in medicine, law, dentistry, etc. but there are no job opportunities available. My goal is to help with that process and spark job opportunities for the public, and a handful of other projects in potentially ten years from now. A question of mine has been, what steps can Rue Maghreb take now in order to eventually become an organization of our own? Community is something very important to us because without a community, there is no one truly backing us up on our mission and goals. We see that by launching these lines, it's not only getting people excited to purchase from us, but it's also educating the pubic on Maghreb culture and also starting up conversations with people who are misinformed. Meriem and I began working on a line for this year called 3ala Rasi which basically translates to "the crown over my head". 3ala Rasi is a metaphor we are using for our ancestors. We think of our ancestors as being something we are not only proud of, but something we share with the world everyday. We hold ancestry above others standards. Carrying out our ancestry to our future children, grandchildren, and future generations is our mission. This line will commemorate important activists in the Maghreb region, spark old traditions in a modern light, and more.

Authenticity is something we try to capture within our brand, and we want our website to translate that. My guiding question for this project was, What steps can Rue Maghreb take in order to engage with communities around the world effectively and authentically? If you want culture to reflect on your brand effectively, you have to be authentic about it. Our website will be a platform to share thoughts and ideas, blog about traditions, recipes, clothing, and so on. A place to shop, but feel nostalgia. Take you back to the souk (marketplace), roam through El Maghreb virtually while capturing the true meaning of our mission statement throughout the experience. Rue Maghreb is taking the steps it needs to take now in order to turn into something bigger. We are currently working with someone who will managing the way we choose to look at marketing on social media. We are partnering with artists from Jordan and Spain on this project in order to build relationships with others and share work others from both parts of the world. Something that we have added to Rue Maghreb is a section called "Rue Maghreb & Friends" which basically works with local or foreign artists who may be from the Maghreb diaspora or not, may be Women business owners, or anyone who is in line with our mission.

Click the link that will send you to a presentation I have created a presentation that goes more into the idea of Rue Maghreb 2.0 visually!

To conclude, I think that we are currently headed to the right direction in carrying out Rue Maghreb's mission. But most importantly, I think Rue Maghreb is taking the right steps in working towards becoming an organization in the future. Rue Maghreb is progressively becoming a platform that sparks community engagement, and this community can help create job opportunities for our countries back home. Sparking opportunities for both sides of the world, the Western & Maghreb world. 3ala Rasi will launch April 3rd, including our new site, and we are so excited to see what this year looks like for Rue Maghreb 2.0.

Website: Ruemaghreb.com
Instagram: @rue.maghreb

The Sustainable Clock

For this term, Time, we looked into how time can deceive us. Time is relative, according to Einstein, so we really looked into this aspect throughout this term. We dove deeper into the topics of time zones, gravitational waves, twin paradox/time dilation. The class was assigned to read one of three different books including Einstein's Dreams, E=mc^2, and A Brief History of Time. We went on an FE, the Adler Planetarium! We looked into time telling devices like sundials, chronometers, etc. For this AP, we were assigned to design our own time telling devices! I was inspired by the Umayyad Clock which is located in Damascus, Syria. Read more of my blog to learn more about the Sustainable Clock! 

Script for video:

Imagine a world where time wasn’t the only thing on our minds?  Imagine a world where time could help solve economic crises around the world. When time telling devices provide clean water in countries that need it the most.

“One in three people globally do not have access to safe drinking water”, according to the World Health Organization.

Let’s think about SDG 8, to Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all, “  Over 60 per cent of all workers lack any kind of employment contract” according to the International Labour Organization.

Water purification and global economy work hand in hand, and this time telling device has just taken one step further in bringing these two contrast issues closer together.

The idea goes way back to Umayyad civilization, (zoom into map) Damascus, Syria, 800 years ago the Umayyad Mosque was constructed including the Umayyad clock which was a mechanical time telling device that required two falcons to drop a copper ball through a vase each time the hour would pass. The pulley system was located in the center of the clock. This system required water in buckets in order to function because each time pulley was lifted up or down worked. The gears would shift inside of the device to mark the new hour throughout the city of Damascus. The problem that I found when looking into this device, is that they weren’t very mindful about their water usage, and would dunk the water instead of using it in communities in need. Due to the Syrian Civil war that has been going for about 10 years now, the Umayyad mosque has been destroyed.

Time plays a key role in society today, but it also matters about the way that we cherish it. We spend too much of our time not being present, distracted by devices an inch away from us, and more. Why not create a time telling device where time can be used efficiently. Now telling what hour it is rather than being distracted by minutes and seconds only to find out that another hour is about to pass and you still haven’t used your time productively. The sustainable clock does just that. Inspired by the Umayyad clock, displaying only the hour of the day, while using a pulley system that requires contaminated water in order to function. The water gets purified for an hour through a system in the interior of the time telling device, hour passes, the pulley system goes back to its original system, water gets evacuated, while the gears shift the hour being displayed throughout the town. A person manually takes the purified water to a manufacturing warehouse where other members of the community package the water, and the bottles get distributed into the hand of the public.

This is a system that is bound to change current global economic systemic issues by sparking job opportunities for communities in need around the world. Jobs that will become necessary in order for this time telling device to function properly are employees who can get the contaminated water from local water systems, employees who can change out the water once purified, employees making sure the gears are functioning properly, manufacturers who are distributing purified water into bottles, and employees getting these bottles out to members of community. The device can change the way we purify water around the globe, while also being mindful of the way we interpret time. Time is precious, use it wisely. Most importantly, think about a future where a community can come together due to time.

Here is a link to my video! 

Five original visuals of Sustainable Clock:

The idea started with a similar concept as the Umayyad clock. This two leveled clock that used gears in order to change the hour using a pulley system. I knew that somehow throughout my time telling device concept, I wanted to add a pulley system using water. 

NB. Design 1 of Sustainable Clock. 2020

This idea sparked once I knew that I wanted this time telling device to purify water. Throughout the clock, are tubes that allow the water to circulate while the hour passes, and purify the contaminated water. 

NB. Design 4 of Sustainable Clock. 2020

In order to incorporate the new pulley system, I decided to make this system start at the center of the clock, the gears would function in the interior of the clock, while the pulley system goes up or down. The lighting is added where the new hour is being displayed in order for the community to also see the hour, and follow that time zone.

NB. Design 3 of Sustainable Clock. 2020

Here, I show what my official Sustainable Clock would look like. Here, I display the tubes running throughout the clock, the pulley system located in the center of the clock, exits and entryways for water to pass through, and most importantly, how time is displayed throughout the town!

NB. Design 5 of Sustainable Clock. 2020

Calculations:

NB. Arc Length. 2020

NB. Volume of clock. 2020

Conclusion

To conclude, this term allowed me to think more about time on a philosophical level, and see time in a different light. This is why I designed the sustainable clock. Especially nowadays, our main focus is put on things that distract us or harm us, rather than educate us and allows us to use our time productively. I think something that plays a key role in that is that the fact seeing when the hour is about to end can put us in this funk that leads to not be productive. This device will keep people on their toes, and make sure that they use their time efficiently, while also creating job opportunities for people within communities in need. 

More flex time, better grades, better students

During this unit, antithesis, we looked into how the constitution seems to contradict itself. We started the course by looking into the constitutional amendments, and started applying them to when they were created. We found that the 1800s marked a time when slavery was occurring, but also a time when slavery "ended" due to the the civil war. The amendments put in place at that time, thirteenth and fourteenth, are controversial. We watched the film, 13th, which gave us an idea of how the thirteenth is being applied today with the situation of mass incarceration in the U.S. We were able to visit the Immigration court house to look into the first cases being looked into, which was an interesting FE within itself due to the fact that we are living in the Trump era and what we may see on media could be interpreted differently when you're at an immigration courthouse. We were also able to sit down with a public defendant and state prosecutor, Latoya Hughes and Connie Jordan. For this AP, we were asked to looked into the GCE student handbook and change a rule that we disagree with and amend it, change it. Read through my AP to look into how I would like to amend a rule at GCE regarding flex time.

Throughout my time at GCE, I have come to realize that students are given many opportunities. One of those opportunities include students being about to make an emphasis or change something in the Student Handbook. Each year, GCE students are required to sign off the student handbook in order to show that students understand certain policies that the school will follow throughout the year.

One of the points given is,

“Most students do not have a lot of unallocated time in their daily schedule. Opportunities to manage their own time increase in junior and senior years. Students are encouraged to use their time productively. Sometimes they should be studying, doing homework, or meeting with teachers. Other times, it is entirely appropriate to socialize or relax. Students who are having trouble completing work satisfactorily may be assigned to Sanctuary.” 

Syllogism the current handbook, 

P1: Students get opportunities to manage their own time.


P2: Students should be using their time productively.


P3: Students are allowed flex time during Sanctuary, which is after school.


C: Students do not have time set aside on their daily schedule for flex time, except for Juniors and Seniors. 


As a junior student, I do not see opportunities to manage my own time implemented into my daily schedule. Junior year is a crucial year for high school students in order to have students start looking into colleges they’re interested in, taking the ACT, managing prep time for tests like ACT/SAT, getting assignments in on time to keep grades up and GPA’s, and the list goes on. Senior year is also the year to start applying for college applications and ending the year off right. Being a part of a project-based school requires students to be 100% attentive in class in order to be able to show what they have learned through Action Projects. Personally speaking, I think this “rule” is unjust. The fact that GCE junior and senior students are not given the opportunity to have flex time or free periods where they are able to get work done, study, etc. If you were to consider this “flextime/free period” as advisory, many students are participating in group activities at that time or cooking for community lunch, and are not given the opportunity to get work done. Sanctuary is an after school program given to students, but staff may disregard the fact that many students, especially juniors and seniors, have other after school programs to attend after school. Many students are either getting community service hours done, headed to work, a part of a dual enrollment program, Marwen, or other programs that will make an impact in perfecting their college applications. I have constructed my own amendment, Juniors and Seniors should be given the opportunity to have at least an hour of flex time incorporated into their daily schedule.

Syllogism:

P1. Junior students have brought up the fact that they often feel stressed to the school counselor, especially because junior year requires you to be more on top of your grades, APs, etc.


P2. Some students have flex time in advisory.


P3. Sanctuary, an after school flex time program, is considered “flex time”, but not all students can attend due to jobs, extracurricular activities, and more.

C: Junior and senior cohorts should have a flex time period in their school day in order for them to get work done in school, and participate actively in any after school programs they are a part of, without feeling stressed.


If a student gets their device taken away or is not actively participating in class discussion throughout the week or is almost an hour late to school, those students should NOT be given flex time.  The Fourteenth Amendment states that no state can, “ deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” GCE is currently setting up a standard for junior and senior students. Students should be looking into colleges/universities they are interested in, advancing their college portfolios with extracurricular activities, etc. If Freshman and Sophomores are given more flex time than it seems as though Juniors and Seniors are not being given the same opportunities as shown through the student handbook, “Opportunities to manage their own time increase in junior and senior years.” Juniors and Seniors should be given the opportunity to have at least an hour of flex time incorporated into their daily schedule. The Fourteenth Amendment states that no state can, “ deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” GCE is currently setting up a standard for junior and senior students. Students should be looking into colleges/universities they are interested in, advancing their college portfolios with extracurricular activities, etc.

If Freshman and Sophomores are given more flex time than it seems as though Juniors and Seniors are not being given the same opportunities as shown through the student handbook, “Opportunities to manage their own time increase in junior and senior years.”  I was able to speak to one of my peers about this rule and they said, " think this amendment will be beneficial for juniors and seniors to focus and prioritize on what they need to work on in and out of school.” SR. 

Furthermore, my other peer, SN, agreed to go forward and sign this amendment! 

I believe that equity plays a key role at GCE. By being a student at GCE, you are entitled to your own beliefs, actions, etc. You are also able to contribute into new school policies, and add onto them for the better. By amending this rule, as a junior GCE student, I would be contributing to this institution and making sure that rules that are found in the handbook are being applied to students' daily schedules equally.

HOLY DIDDLEY BOW!

For this unit, Sound, in our STEAM course Light, Sound, and Time we explored the way that sound is not only produced, but how we interpret sound. Sound can deceive us depending on the way that we interpret it. We looked into the anatomy of the ear including how the pinna gets funneled into the eardrum to the three small bones called, the ossicles, to the cochlea which transfers sound to our brain.  We also had the opportunity to visit the Chicago Hearing Society where we were able to speak to some people who were deaf, we were able to ask them questions, etc. This was a nice opportunity for us to be able to look at the world in a different lens once we realized the challenges that came along with living in a society that is not accepting to marginalized communities. We also had a guest come in who was a sound therapist. She was able to give us a performance using different instruments that allowed us to not only calm us down, but also applied science. The doppler effect was phenomenon that we looked into throughout the course. This is when a sound source may appear to be heading towards us giving us a higher pitch than when the sound is heading away from us making sounds appear further away. For this AP, we made our own Diddley bows! The materials needed was an aluminum can, a battery, wood, a guitar string, and screws. The screws were used as tuning pegs to increase tension when wrapping the guitar string around the screw. The piece of wood was able to be used as fretboard, and the aluminum can was used as a soundboard in order to amplify sound. You can learn more about this AP down below!

Audio recording of my Diddley bow!

To conclude, I really enjoyed this AP. I thought it was a nice opportunity to learn more about not only sound, but think about it in the way that it may deceive us at times. I also thought it was interesting to get the different opinions from the people at the Chicago Hearing Society, and understanding that there is more that can be done in this world to include everyone. Next time, I would like to see what other instruments could be made with basic materials that I could find around my home. There are instruments waiting to be created around me, and I think this AP allowed me to understand that.

The Declaration of True Immersion Experience

Throughout this unit of my humanities class, Argument, we have dove into the deeper meaning of what exactly is argument, how it can be detected, and what makes an argument strong? We have looked into argument in a political setting, so we had the opportunity to head down to city hall and observe a couple committee meeting that were taking place that involved alderman from throughout the Chicagoland. This gave us more of an idea of the kinds of premises, or statements,  that were being used to prove the claim that was being brought up. We have also been looking through the declaration of independence and seeing who exactly is being addressed throughout the document. Who exactly is receiving the right to  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? We have been looking over syllogism which is a group of premises that make a conclusion true or false. We were also able to sit down with Walter Burnett Jr., Alderman of the 27th ward and ask some questions about Chicago politics, relationships within your community, etc. This was a meaningful conversation to have in order to help us think not only more about the city we live in, but also think about our action project. For this AP, we were asked to create our very own declaration of independent study where we would be able to study whatever we chose and create a set of unalienable rights that come with the independent and a declaration to help back it up. Read through my declaration of independent study to learn more about my hopes for this independent study.

Argenberg, Vyacheslav. “File:Syria, Damascus, Life on the Streets.jpg.” Wikimedia Commons, 15 Aug. 2018, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syria,_Damascus,_Life_on_the_streets.jpg.

Why I'm writing this declaration?

The reason why I find the need to write this Declaration today is due to the fact that as a student and as a global citizen, I see my world deteriorating right before my eyes. I see countries deteriorating. Families being separated. Children not receiving an education. It is necessary for me to visit a country like Syria where Syrians have been facing a war for the past nine years.

Purpose of school/learning?

The purpose of school and learning is for students to reflect and learn about their identity and connect their true forms to the real world. Learning can take place in any way, not just in a setting where education is intended. Although school is a place to learn, it’s truly a place where students are granted to learn in their own way that makes them comfortable rather than in a strict structure.  

Guiding Question 

How have the lives of Syrian communities changed since 2011?

I hope that this independent study will give me the opportunity to not only grow my knowledge of communities around the world, but also allow me to grow connections with people from around Syria to get to know this country a bit better in order to grow and help a country thats situation is yet to be resolved.

Analogy of historical revolution: 

Back in 2011, Syria was faced with war between its citizens and the Assad government and have continued to destroy Syrian civilians for the past nine years. Syria has been a headline on mainstream news outlets for the past nine years, and within those nine years, Syrians have been misunderstood, especially by Americans. The Syrian Civil War needs to be reexplained to the public in order to educate citizens around the globe on the true Syria. 

Unalienable Rights

• Right to travel to Syria 
• Right to build relationships with Syrians
• Right to grow and teach others about community building through what my learning in a war torn country. 
• I reserve the right to learn and explore in any place and form.

Resources included into study

People:
Abdalaziz Alhamza- Syrian Activist

Isra Chaker- Civil Rights Activist, advocacy expert, and public

Movies:
1. “For Sama”
2. “Last Men in Aleppo”

Books:
1. Dam, Nikolaos Van. Destroying a Nation: the Civil War in Syria. I.B. Tauris, 2017.

2. Malek, Alia. The Home That Was Our Country: a Memoir of Syria. Nation Books, an Imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a Subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2018.

Syllogism

Premise #1: The Syrian war has been going on for 9 consecutive years now.
Premise #2: The Syrian war has been misunderstood by mainstream media for almost nine years.
Premise #3: Aleppo, Idlib, and Damascus. The cities that have been most affected are
Premise #4: Syria is being represented as a "dangerous" country full of dangerous communities.

Therefore, I have the right to create relationships with communities in Syria in order to have a better idea of how Syrians are doing in their war torn country. I have the ability to pursue this independent study due to the fact that I am a person who is constantly learning and wanting to see changes in my life. I can educate myself on the situation in Syria including where its people stand today, and bring this information with me to the U.S. to educate Americans on the true Syria.

Conclusion

This action project truly allowed me to gain a better understanding on what it would be like to work on an independent study like this one. If I had enough money to work on an independent study like this one, I would take that opportunity! I think that students should be given the opportunity to travel abroad to these countries facing conflict like Syria in order for students to learn more about the world around them, and its citizens. 

My camera is better than yours!

For our first unit of Light, Sound, and Time we took a deeper dive into light and how light affects our everyday lives. The first two weeks we looked into the electromagnetic spectrum and how these waves surround us day in and out. We also looked into prisms and with that came the topic of refraction because a prism is essentially bending light whenever light passes through it. We spent some time learning some trigonometry and what exactly happens when light passes from one substance into another (Snell's Law). For this AP we were asked to create our own pinhole cameras to study how cameras take in light, what happens when light goes into a camera, and finding out the ending result. As an FE, we visited a darkroom at Harry Truman College where we were able to take some photos using our pinhole cameras and go through the step by step process of developing our images. To learn more about my pinhole camera and the process that came along with it, look through my presentation!

Reflection of week: Internship at Syrian Community Network

Something new that I learned throughout this PIE is the fact that the U.S. is a hard country to acclimate to, especially throughout the education system. I've also learned that while working in case management that these families would find it really hard to get through taxes, medical care, and job searching. I am grateful to have the opportunity in being in this environment like the one at Syrian Community Network because I am learning more and more about the criteria that goes into running an organization like this one. An organization that is constantly changing due to the different laws that are put into action in this country. I made sure throughout this week to start my communication building skills by asking more questions, meeting new faces, and working with them. I have made sure to put my input into the meetings that I attend because of the fact that I have volunteered so I know the students one to one. I am excited for the week that comes ahead.

Syrian Community Network is an organization that focuses on supporting the needs of refugees living across the Chicagoland. For the past two weeks, I have been working with directors from the Education Department that have allowed me to observe the adult and youth programs that SCN has to offer. I have also been able to get a deeper look into case management which helps clients anywhere from direct service to immigration services. Being able to be a part of staff meeting and even tuning into meetings that have been held with future donors has given me the opportunity to realize and take in why I want to go into the field of diplomacy and possibly manage my own organization one day. Being able to partake in these meetings and observing visits with clients has given me a different look into organization and community building.

What's the difference?

For our last unit of Rhetoric, we dove into the topic of uniting and what that looks like. We looked into the 13 U.S. colonies and made an emphasis on the reasoning behind the American revolution that soon led to U.S. independence. In order to make the United States of America the United States of America, there needed to be this sense of unity. We were able to go down to Marquette Park to look into an art piece by an organization, Inner City Muslim Action Network, which is known for being one of the largest Muslim organizations in the U.S. We visited their public art work that used rhetoric in order to display an image of the freedom march back in 1963. After seeing the impact art had to convey a certain message to the public, we decided to do the same. For this AP we used art to unite. My piece of art is focused on the Uighur muslims in China and the horrible circumstances they have been facing for years now in concentration camps. Learn more about my piece down below!

NB. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? (2019)

Artist Statement

I am a Mexican/Moroccan, Muslim, 17 year old living in Chicago. This piece is for the Uighur Muslims, who, according to Business Insider, have been held in concentration camps for the past two years. News has not been properly published, and it’s time for news stations to make a change. It’s not right that the current education system includes the Holocaust into their history curriculum, yet when it comes to Muslim concentration camps, no one speaks on that topic. CNBC Stated, “around 2,500 prisoners at the camp, ranging in age from 13 to 84, and from a variety of backgrounds, all subject to the brutality of the Chinese state.” Uighur Muslims are being held against their will. Business Insider stated that Uighurs in these camps face “horrific conditions during [their] detention, including inadequate health care, crowding, and almost nonexistent hygiene. Prisoners who were observant Muslims were forced to eat pork, a food that's considered haram, or forbidden, in Islam.” Another news source, Independent, stated “Muslim women whose husbands have been detained in Chinese internment camps are reportedly being forced to share beds with male government officials assigned to monitor them in their homes.” This just goes to prove that unless you look up the situation currently happening in China, you will not receive information like this on daily news. When people pass by this piece, I want them to feel a level of concern for the Muslims in China. I want them to feel that they need to post this, educate themselves, and educate others along the way. In order to unite, we need to make sure that we are educated on the topics that we are ignorant on. This is not the fault of the public, but of news stations that focus their time on political issues that have nothing to do with the public than human crisis around the world. I decided to present this piece through digital media. Digital media is a way to share quickly and easily, and it is a platform that almost everyone uses, especially news stations. People will be able to follow a link that leads to an article speaking more on the topic of Uighar Muslims and what they are experiencing, and afterwards they will be able to share the post on their story. Once they share, they can potentially tag a news station for the news station to receive the post. The only material that I needed for this art piece was my ipad. This also gave me an opportunity for me to understand how powerful social media truly is and how I can make not only a social, but global impact. By using images that focus on eye contact, you begin feeling some sympathy for the person you see through the piece. The whole piece is a simile. Comparing two different historical events, but finding union in one topic, what should be published? Ideally, I would love this digital piece to bring attention to different news channels that have decided to not pay attention to this issue like CNN, The New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, etc. This piece should be a sign for news stations to wake up and truly decide what they should have been publishing for the past two years.

In conclusion, this piece really gave me an opportunity to reflect on what kind of impact social media can have. Digital art can be shared throughout different platforms and reach attention to news stations directly. Uighur muslims are being put through the harshest situations, and I personally find no difference to this situation to the holocaust. The next time you hear about Uighur muslims on social media, share the information. We share in order to educate one another on topics that we are ignorant on. In order to unite, we need to make sure we are educated and see who are the people who are making history repeat itself.

Citations:
1. Baynes, Chris. “Muslim Women 'Forced to Share Beds' with Male Officials after Husbands Detained in Chinese Internment Camps.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 6 Nov. 2019, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/muslim-china-uighur-forced-share-beds-male-officials-detention-camps-a9185861.html.

2. Ioanes, Ellen. “Rape, Medical Experiments, and Forced Abortions: One Woman Describes Horrors of Xinjiang Concentration Camps.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 22 Oct. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/muslim-woman-describes-horrors-of-chinese-concentration-camp-2019-10.

3. Ma, Alexandra. “China Is Reportedly Sending Men to Sleep in the Same Beds as Uighur Muslim Women While Their Husbands Are in Prison Camps.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 4 Nov. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/china-uighur-monitor-home-shared-bed-report-2019-11.

No way! Did someone say heated bike wheels?

For the last unit of Design and Engineering, we decided to focus on the power of wheels and pulleys. We took a deeper look into how wheels can change the way transportation works around the world, and how wheels can lead to future designs and models. We looked into bikes and the parts that make up a bike. To get a closer look we visited Working Bikes on the southwest side of Chicago. We were able to disassemble some bikes that would later be sent to Jordan! This goes to show how important bikes are not only in cities in the states, but around the world. We also visited Earth Riders which was a small bike shop on the north side of Chicago where we got to try out some e-bikes and see how those worked. For our AP, we were asked to look into a persona of someone who had to ride their bikes to school and get a better idea of their commute. My partner and I got Karen who lives in Banff, Canada. From there we were able to assemble a bike for them and include parts of the bike that could be used to their benefit. Read more of my blogpost to learn about the ending result of our bike design and model!

Persona:

Karen
Age: 14
Distance from school: 3 miles
Situation: Banff is a beautiful place but Karen has to bike along large winding roads to get to school, meaning they have to watch out for cars and trucks speeding by. Additionally, it gets very cold and snowy or icy during the winter months, leading to a dangerous ride, especially when carrying their school books. Luckily they can keep their bike inside, but space is very limited in their garage.

Need

As you can see from our persona description, Karen's route isn't the fastest or the most efficient. We as designer's want to make sure that our designs are not only efficient, but work to make Karen's ride safer. For that reason, when we started the sketching process, we made sure to embolden those struggles they face on a daily basis. Banff's climate is pretty snowy and icy, so we can only imagine Karen going through those windy roads. Also, storing the bike is a huge thing for a biker, especially a child. We wanted our design to include a compact way for Karen to store their bike almost anywhere, and not just in their garage!

Benefit

We thought about ways that can prevent Karen's bike from slipping on the icy roads, and so we thought, how about heated wheels? Essentially, these wheels would be heated as Karen bikes around transferring kinetic energy to chemical energy to heat up the path ahead of them. As Karen cycles through, the ice or snow would melt, preventing Karen's bike from slipping and possibly harming them. My partner and I grew up in Chicago, a city where it could get pretty cold, icy, and snowy. We also know that not only are the streets bad, but they are also crowded with buses, trucks, cars, etc. We don't want a fourteen year old child to ever get harmed on their way to school, especially when they are riding a bike. We decided to protect Karen, if they ever do experience a bike crash, by including a "trailer" design for their upper body. The trailer would be covering them from the snow and protect them with airbags included on the sides are rear of the bike incase of an accident. Now many people do say that airbags are dangerous and could possibly harm the person rather than protecting them, but we'd rather have airbags and possibly end up saving someone's life than harming it. Lastly, we have made the bike collapsable by including clips on the bike where Karen can easily snap them and put the parts of the bike inside of the trailer frame not only for compactness, but for convenience as well!

Reason to believe

Throughout this unit we truly were able to get a better understanding of not only the anatomy of bikes, but why benefits are so beneficial. We are aware that around the world, not everyone has access to a car. We are also aware that the burning of these fossil fuels are having a bad effect on our environment, and the risk that we are putting our climate through when riding in a car, bus, or truck. We need to make bikes more convenient and in order for that to happen, we need to change the way these bikes are built. We as designers and engineers need make sure that the bikes that people are using are accommodating people's needs. By taking a look at Karen's struggles, we were able to identify the main problems and curate something that can change their future of biking. We need to make that change for each person in this world in order to lead our planet to a better, safer future!

Conclusion

In conclusion, this action project reflected what the possibilities of bikes can lead to. Biking can make a global impact that can put people in need in the position of a better future. By not only designing this bike, but actually constructing it, it got me thinking more about what engineers should do to make bikes more efficient. In order to change the way that people think about public transportation, engineers need to make their bike designs more convenient for everyone. There is a way to change people's mindsets about changing from cars to bikes, but it's all about accommodation!

iChile Desperto!, but have respected news channels done the same?

For our second unit of Rhetoric, we focused on the question,"How can we use rhetoric to change the status quo?" For some of us, this idea of "what is the status quo?" was confusing, but for the rest it's an idea that is constantly on our minds. To think more about the question, and how it fits its true form, we decided to speak with Ugo Okere, a twenty-two year old candidate running for Chicago Alderman of the 40th Ward. We learned more about him and how he used rhetoric throughout his campaign. We also brought in Troy Laraviere who plays an important figure not only in rhetoric, but in Chicago's education system. He also ran for mayor of Chicago last year. Laraviere is the current president of Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. He is known across the Chicagoland for curating an Op ed speaking on behalf of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, and why it's just as important to get the principals who are running the schools opinion as the Chicago Teachers Association. Reading Laraviere's Op ed led us to focus our action project on creating our very own an a timely topic. I chose to write about the current situation in Chile and how respected news channels that the majority of society follow can be false, while social media can sometimes be telling us the true story. Read my op ed down below!

Conclusion

Overall, I thought this Op ed was good way to wrap up unit two of Rhetoric. Being able to use rhetorical devices on a timely topic allowed me to see just how rhetoric is used on a day to day basis. I was also able to find myself and think about my overall view on this situation in Chile, but also see the way that social media can make an impact when it comes to political situations going on around the globe. This op ed really allowed me to reflect on the fact that news channels will play it safe when it comes to writing about political issues, and how it's a choice to maintain the status quo rather than changing it.

Transform Your Ordinary Transfer Shovel to a "Transformer" Shovel Today!

In my first STEAM course of the junior year, Design & Engineering, we discussed what tools are. We learned about the meaning of tools, different simple machines, and how they may be beneficial in our everyday lives. We started the term by going out to our school garden and picking up trash using only our hands, and also planted some plants. We calculated the amounts of plants that we planted in however many minutes we were out there just to get a rough estimate. The following week we did the exact same tasks, but this time we used gardening tools like hand cultivators, shovels, etc. We also calculated the amount of time we were out there planting and how many plants we planted. This activity showed us just how easy it is to use tools and how quick they can get the job done. We discussed different simple machines that we see in our everyday lives including levers, wedges, screws, and inclined planes. We also learned about the Pythagorean Theorem, Soh-Cah-Toa (trigonometry), ratios, and vectors. We also thought about how empathy can be a part of the design process when trying to sell your item. We thought about how not all tools and objects that we buy can be made for everyone. There are people in this world who are disabled and aren't able to use these items like everyone else would. This information would help us with our action projects that were coming up. We had the chance to visit Home Depot near our school and participated in a workshop led by an employee who taught us about different tools used for gardening, and we were given partners to work with for our AP's. While at Home Depot, my partner and I had to choose a gardening tool that we would be able to redesign for an elderly person. Prior to the choice of our tool, we were also asked to interview with a gardener. I interviewed my grandmother and throughout the process I noticed that she was finding it quite difficult to use the gardening tools due to her knee problems. My partner and I decided to take this problem into our own hands and redesign a transfer shovel that we had seen during our FE to Home Depot. Learn more about our redesign down below!
Defense: We have created an ergonomic “d-handle” transfer shovel that makes transferring soil and gravel easier without having to use so much force on your back or knees. The shovel takes out soil and gravel and makes transferring easier and speeds up the gardening process. Our shovel is contoured to your body and has an extension that can extend up to 70 inches. You can pull the handle bar in order to extend. Get a better grip by putting your handle on the “d-handle” that has been contoured to fit your hand comfortably and hold onto the lower grip just under the extension to take out that soil. We know that two of the most common problems that elderly people face day to day is dealing with back pain and knee pain. We want to make gardening still an enjoyable activity rather than a task. We have made sure to think about key elements that go into gardening without taking the fun away, but including safer elements to our design. We would say that our tool works like a lever. We usually see in shovels that in the input force is at the top which is where your hands are pushing the shovel into the soil. In our case, the fulcrum is in the middle (extra grip stabilizer) allowing there to be a balance once you take the soil out which is exerting force out of the ground. There’s an up and down motion and the fulcrum in the middle which makes it a 1st class lever.

What are the parts?

Extendable Length Optimizer: Works like a telescope just pull out each handlebar that extends 14 inches for each handlebar. In general, the ergonomic “d-handle” transfer shovel can extend up to 70 inches (5’10)

Bendable Handshape Grip: Fits your hand perfectly and comfortably.

Body: Contoured (wavy) body in order to make your job easier and work with your body shape rather than having a stiff & hard handle bar which puts more pressure on your back.

Extra Grip: Helps you stabilize yourself while transferring gravel or soil.

Latch/ Button: Allows you to detach the blade from the body making it easier to clean.

Blade: Aluminium based making the tool lighter overall, and we added some sharper edges at the end but not too sharp to be dangerous for anyone who uses this transfer shovel!

Here are FOUR reasons why our tool is better than the competition:
Ergonomic body: Fitting your body shape and making it easier to work with because the extra grip is at the right spot of the shovel providing maximum comfort on your back, less force is made on your back, and you won’t have to bend down as low which protects your knees from any pain.

Handle grips: Providing more comfort throughout the tool and using two hands in different areas gives not only better grip but more balance causing you not to fall.

Extendable Length Optimizer: Are you tired of having to put force on your back while gardening? Well, we have made our tool extendable up to 70 inches (5’10) which is the average height making it easier and not cause you to slouch down as much. Do not worry, the extension shafts in our shovel does not affect the overall weight of the shaft because although we use wood, the wood that is used for the shaft is thinner making the weight distribution feel lighter.

Blade: The blade can move in a 360 motion making it easier to scoop out and dump soil or gravel to your pile. Along with the 360 motion blade, it's detachable! This makes the cleaning process 10 times faster!

Purpose:

Throughout this unit, the idea of empathy kept coming up on our minds. What makes a design a design? I personally feel that a design should be well thought of before engineered. When designing a product, you should be thinking about different people in this world who all go through different situations rather than what you have experienced yourself. What makes a true design is when you think about the people that can use the design, and that's how your design can become successful. While I was watching my grandmother struggle with some of the tools that she used, I realized that many designers don't really think about their audience to whom they are designing the product for. Sure they get the idea, but do they actually test out the item before it reaches the market?

The process:
When I was talking to my partner about redesigning a tool, I made sure to discuss the issues that I had seen my grandmother go through to base our future redesign on those issues. Our issues were back and knee problems that correlate with one another when using a shovel. It's sort of like a cause and effect situation. If you bend down when taking soil out, you hurt your back. When you're bending down, you apply more force on your knees causing knee pain and damage. It's a problem that needs to get solved. While at Home Depot, we were looking at the shovels that we think can cause the worst back and knee pain. We chose not only the shortest transfer shovel, but the most uncomfortable to hold. The "Anvil D-Handle Transfer Shovel" was our competition. We worked with the shovel throughout the workshop led at Home Depot and realized that this may be one of the toughest shovels an elderly person can use. When we go back, we thought about different ways to improve the design without losing the idea of the D-handle. The D-handle was efficient when thinking about the grip in which you place your hand through. We created a rough sketch of our design the first day of designing and presented our ideas to the class. We received feedback from our classmates the second round of the design process for what we can change or what they liked about our redesign. We created a storyboard on how potential customers can use our design efficiently and effectively. Lastly, we recorded our volume and surface area of one part of our design, we included vectors of where our input and output forces can be found throughout the design, and found a relevant quote that inspired our design process. If you want to see this information, click on the slideshow down below!


Our Slideshow Presentation:

In conclusion, this AP was quite interesting to complete. This AP made me realize how important it is to think about everyone when designing a product. There are people in this world who are disabled and who aren't able to do day to day tasks. We should make products that are designed for everyone rather than products that only work for certain people. Also, you get more of an audience when you an include everyone making your design better than the competition. The next time I design a product, I will always think about empathy and pleasing my potential audience!