For my second unit of the last term of my humanities course, Endurance, I dedicated twelve hours to a project I was passionate about completing. As many of you know, I have a clothing brand that I have been able to work on for about three years now. I decided to dedicate twelve hours of work towards my brand in order to answer the question: How does interaction allow for more people to believe in Rue Maghreb’s mission that impacts my personal mission? “ In other words, how can we attract more people to the page? My personal mission is to invite nostalgia in my life to not forget where I came from or where I’m going.This was all under the state of Katabasis which means "epic convention of the hero's trip into the underworld." In other words, entering a state of critical part of a journey and rising up from it. I was able to develop a sort of "vlog" style video that allows you to enter a part of the process and see it for yourself. From communicating with some clients who didn't really get our message to communicating with some influencers who didn't get back to us to translating documents, etc. Here is my work below!
LOG/TASK PLANNER
VLOG
Special thanks to:
Loubaba Boury - Social Media Director (Rue Maghreb)
Throughout this Unit of Equality, we dove into different topics surrounding our interpretations of what equality looks like according to U.S. history. We had the opportunity to read Case for Reparations which connected us as students to get to know our city a bit more. We touched some pretty heavy topics that also influenced us as a group, and allowed us to connect on a different level we had never experienced before. Not only did we dive into African American studies, but also looked into the way other minority groups were brought up in America. We looked into gender studies and tried to digest feminism as we saw it then and now. For this AP, we were asked to right our own version of an event in U.S. history that we believe is misinterpreted in textbooks today. I decided to look into the impact that 9/11 had on the Muslim community in the U.S. and around the world. Take a look at my AP to learn more.
Throughout this unit of my Entrepreneurship class, we dove into taking different personality tests to better understand one another and the way that we interact with others. We were able to understand how one's personality can lead the way to become an entrepreneur! We were also able to meet an entrepreneur via Zoom, Maren Rosenburg, the founder of Escape Artistry. She was able to tell us a bit more about her story on how she set foot into the business field and gave us some advice on what we should keep our eye on when starting our very own business. For this AP, we were asked to collect all this psychological research that we had picked up over the past weeks and thing about one problem that needs working on at GCE. I decided to focus my attention on the way the school handles such a diverse student body in order for diverse conversations to be held. Here is my AP!
In this first unit of our humanities course, Policy, we took a deeper look into what role legislators serve in the U.S. government. Understanding different roles played in the U.S. government gives us students a better understanding of who is representing us. Who is representing our views, values, and morals when it comes to the U.S. coalition coming together and creating policy. We were able to speak with public defender Connie Jordan, who joined us last term, to learn about how policy works in our city, state, and nation as a whole. We looked into different ordinances which helped us when it came to thinking about the issues we were passionate about seeing change on within our state, and seeing the progression these ordinances are making. For this AP, we were asked to choose a topic and ordinance that goes along with it that has yet to be passed. Our goal was to construct a letter to someone in legislation who we think represents us the best in order to get this ordinance passed. We as citizens of the U.S. have the right to our opinion and getting it out in the world because that is what democracy is. Without the opinion of the people, there would be no democracy. I chose to speak on behalf of online surveillance and cyberstalking within marginalized communities. I chose this topic after looking into Assia Boundaoui´s film, The Feeling of Being Watched, which takes a closer look into the FBI stalking the largest Islamic community in Illinois, Bridgeview. During the 1990s, Operation Vulgar Betrayal was launched by the U.S. to take a closer look into this certain community in Illinois with the perception that Islamic organizations and mosques were funding terrorist groups like Hamas. Take a closer look into my AP in order to get a better understanding of the person I am and how I want to see this state improve when it comes to online surveillance.
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!
For my last AP for STEAM this year, we were asked create a medical patient profile. Throughout the term we discussed the topics of how to prevent a disease from happening based on your family health history. We discussed nutrition plans, and which certain vitamins and minerals are found in the foods we eat now. We also looked into experimental probability that would help us later for our Action Projects. We had an in house guest, Gayle Vaul, who was a certified CPR trainer who was able to teach the class the basics of CPR. For this AP, we were asked create a medical patient profile. This patient was supposed to be a fictional character, and include a family tree. We found the most reoccurring health disease in the family tree, and calculated the probability of the patient's chances of getting that disease in the future. We created nutrition plans, goal timelines, alternative treatments, and more to prevent our patient from getting their families most common disease. Read my medical profile I created, and ways I helped my patient!
To conclude, I thought this AP was very useful for me. Personally, I never really thought about my family health, and thinking about my family tree until this AP. I think it's important that we take time out to find out more about our family backgrounds and health. Chances are that you are more likely to develop a disease that you didn't know you could get because you weren't aware of your families medical history. Wrapping up the year, I just want to say this was my favorite STEAM course by far for as long as i've been at GCE. These courses have really guided me, and allowed me to think more about the choices I want to make in terms of thinking about classes to take in university. I have definitely started thinking about taking the medical approach for my potential future career!
In this class, Drama, we looked into the play, A Doll House. This play also looked into gender roles just like the play from the last unit, The Taming of the Shrew. We went on multiple FE's to the Goodman Theatre where we got some training on how to act and make sure that the plays that we curate are the best they could be. What we were asked to do for this term is have the main character from A Doll's House, Nora, a man, and a character who was a part of The Dinner Party. The Dinner Party was a famous feminist art installation by Judy Chicago. She featured multiple different influential women. We decided to choose the Indian God, Kali for our mythical character. The guiding question for this AP was, What would happen if gender roles were switched in society? Read and watch the rest of my AP to learn more, and check out my groups AP's as well! PA & JNL
For this term, Disease, we focused on the function of the brain. We started this unit by reading a book called, The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida. This book was written in a Q & A style where there was an interviewer who spoke to this boy named Naoki who is on the Autism Spectrum. This was an interesting read before this unit started. Throughout the unit, we also looked into Schizophrenia. We looked into all sorts of mental disorders that were found in the DSM-V. The DSM-V stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. For this AP, we had to choose one mental disorder that was on the DSM-V. From there, we did research, learned criteria, created a simulation, and created a flier that encourages awareness of the mental disorder. Here is my project on Alzheimer’s disease!
Alzheimer's Disease:
Alzheimer’s, also known as Major Neurocognitive Disorder according to the DSM-V, is a “Neurocognitive disorders can affect memory, attention, learning, language, perception, and social cognition,” as stated in the DSM-V. In other words, Alzheimer’s disease is a disease that slowly kills brain cells.This disorder may lead to memory loss, and gradually worsen with the disability to carry on a conversation. Alzheimer’s comes with different stages. Because of the death of brain cells, the brain begins to shrink. Along with that, we begin to see the hippocampus shrink. The hippocampus allows us to have long-term memory. Alzheimer's disease can have a huge affect on your day to day life. Not only for yourself, but the significant others in your life. Richard Taylor, an American Academic who wrote about his life with Alzheimer's stated, "One day I will no longer know how to express love. Bit by bit, everything that connects us will disappear, and I suspect that I won't even miss it." According to the DSM-V, you must experience at least three symptoms that is listed in the criteria in order to be diagnosed with a mental disorder. Most people that are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s/Dementia experience:
1. Complex attention: For example, a person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s is dependent on a caretaker to help them with their daily routine like using the restroom, remembering to pay bills, etc.
2. Learning and memory: The patient may experience memory loss such as forgetting a person who is usually in their everyday life or forgetting their own address. This is caused by the hippocampus slowly destroying itself.
3. Deficiency in perceptual motor skills: Not knowing how to walk, holding a cup, etc. Tasks that you were able to complete in your everyday life are slowly getting harder to accomplish.
Alzheimer Patient Brain (2019) NB
Brain + Brainwaves
Almost all Alzheimer’s patients brains are affected in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus region in the brain. The brain waves that are active in the life of a person with Alzheimer’s are difficult to record. They are constantly fluctuating and go off the charts. Although these brain waves vary, neurologists are using Gamma wave therapy to revive some parts of the brain that may not currently be working for patients. Here is a visual representation in parts of the brain that are affected by Alzheimer’s.
Lesson Plan + Brainwave Function
This lesson plan shows the step by step plan of the experience that my peers had to go through for my simulation. It shows the list of materials that were needed to complete the simulation, what was supposed to be going on for each minute, and the brainwaves that should have been active throughout that time in order to convert them onto a graph and create a piecewise function.
Lesson Plan (2019) NB
Graph & Piecewise Function
This graph shows how my peers brains functioned, and which brain waves were active throughout my simulation.
Brainwave Graph (2019) NB
Piecewise function work (2019) NB
Piecewise function (2019) NB
Video of Simulation:
This simulation shows the recorded experience that my peers went through. This is my lesson plan finally coming to life. The video has some explanation, and different time's when my classmate's experience specific moments.
Alzheimer Simulation (2019) NB
Alzheimer Awareness Flier:
Alzheimer Awareness (2019) NB
Conclusion:
To conclude, I thought this AP was interesting to look into. I never found a true interest in neurology until now. I never really understood how much an impact our bodies and lives could have when our brains don't function the right way. I learned that Alzheimer's is a disease that needs more awareness. A cure for Alzheimer's disease is already being looked into deeper and it is my understanding that it's being into by the study of Gamma waves. Brainwave therapy can regenerate parts of the brain that are affected and inoperative due to Alzheimer's/Dementia.
This is my final AP for Global Peace. During this term, we discussed what it is to become an activist. We were assigned to focus on a certain conflict in the world. I decided to work with a war that not everyone is aware of, the Yemeni Civil War. I made a nonviolent public intervention by posting stickers around different street poles in Chicago to raise awareness. Read and watch my video to learn more about my public intervention.
Citations:
1. Patrick Cockburn @indyworld. “'The Yemen War Death Toll Is Five Times Higher than We Think – We Can't Shrug off Our Responsibilities Any Longer'.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 26 Oct. 2018, www.independent.co.uk/voices/yemen-war-death-toll-saudi-arabia-allies-how-many-killed-responsibility-a8603326.html.
2. “Yemen Crisis: Why Is There a War?” BBC News, BBC, 18 Dec. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423.
This is my first AP in Global Peace which was my humanities class for this elective term at GCE. We looked into Gandhi's principles. The first Gandhian principle was Sarvodaya, the uplift of all. We looked into Swadeshi, which is looking particularly on local economy. Swaraj looked deep into self government. This means to work for yourself, and making your own decisions before making communal ones. Lastly, we looked into Satyagraha. This means finding the truth in something that already exists, or finding the truth in resistance. These principles are important in an activist. In order to create your own "perfect" world, you must be able to follow these principles according to Gandhi. To further our knowledge on Gandhi's principles, we were asked to choose an activist that has used at least one of these principles.
I chose Ahed Tamimi which is activating for her own country. Throughout my research paper you will see examples that makes this young woman an activist, and find out more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I learned that this young activist has become the inspiration to many different people who are going through similar crisis in the world. She is a brave figure to the 21st century. She is the change we as a society need to see in the world. She is an inspiration to not just journalists and other activists, but an inspiration to the youth. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a conflict that should not go unheard. We need to think about the world that we live in today, and be the next Ahed Tamimi of our own nation.
Diario de Madrid. Mauricio Valiente recibe a Ahed Tamimi. 28 Sept 2018
In Unit 2 of my STEAM course, Biomimicry, the subject was based off animals. Throughout this course, we looked into different animal adaptations that influenced the design to solve real world problems. While looking into the adaptations, we also looked into different animal architects that create structures for themselves to help them in their habitats. For this AP, we were asked to choose two different animals, and create two structures for housing and transportation influenced by the animals you chose. I chose the Japanese Puffer Fish and the Swordfish, and you will see how I incorporated the two to create a unique design.
To conclude, I found that we as a society should be looking deeper into animal architecture, and what purposes they serve in the environment that they are found in. I found that there were multiple types of animal architecture which were used for mating. We should be thinking more about how we can incorporate these ideas into our everyday lives. Some of these ideas are already being used for housing and transportation. This AP allowed me to look into more of that in depth, and think about the way society is changing along with the direction in which we are going.
Bienvenidos a la clase de español dos. En este clase, hablamos sobre la historia española y figuras importantes que influencian la cultura suramericano y española. En este proyecto, tenÃamos que hablar sobre una tema que hemos hablado en esta clase. Alguno de nosotros hablamos sobre Francisco Goya, Fernando Pessoa, Pablo Picasso, etc. Yo escoge hablar sobre La Argentina porque la cultura y la gente me fascina.
During this second unit in my Population class for STEAM, we dove into some math that would be useful to figure out the differences in species, subspecies, adaptations, and more. We looked into box and whisker plots, bell curve graphs, standard deviation, permutations and combinations in order to look into the meaning and the evolution of the animals on this Earth. For this AP, we had been asked to either choose a new organism or continue with our same organism that you may have seen in Unit 1 AP, I chose the Fennec Fox. We were asked to develop a scenario which meant that we would have to change the habitat in which our organism usually lives in. By changing the habitat, this meant our animal would also have to adapt to this new climate. We were told to chose up to 20 representations of our animals, and take a sample of 3 that would end up surviving. We found our data for these samples, so take a further look into my AP to see what I found.
Presentations of the three surviving Fennec Foxes:
To conclude, this AP was by far one of my favorites. Being able to dive into the future and think about how an animal can change within five hundred years. Because I now have a connection to the Fennec Fox from my previous project, I can now deep into the hypothetic part of this animal and think about where and how this species could end up.
In our second unit, Fables, we learned about the cultural morals and background of stories told around the world. This term started off with looking for our own moral stories that have been passed down by our family. Finding out the morals and how they differentiate in between cultures made it interesting to understand what different cultures value and hold. For this AP, we had to create our own fable. A fable uses animals and gives them human characteristics in order to portray a certain moral at the end of the story. I created my own fable with some background to my life. Coming from an Islamic background in the U.S. could be a little difficult at times. My value in life is self control. The moral in my story is not to be influenced by others actions. I used the bunny as the protagonist in my story, Zara. She is kind, gentle, and adventurous; while the antagonist, Neema, is a Naughty Fox. His behavior is risky, devious, and sneaky. Read my fable to find out the Tale of Zara the Bunny & Neema the Naughty Fox.
To conclude, I hope you understood the moral of my story. Although it did take a dark turn, these are real life situations. Sometimes, you may get a little ahead of yourself and miss out on something important which may not turn out so well at the end.
To begin, throughout this term of Food we were able to look into baking. We studied the pH scale and what is considered an acid or a base. We learned about acid base reactions which we applied to our baking. We went on an FE to Big Delicious Planet where we were able to look at their garden and also get a hands on experience. We explored their urban farm and how they work from the farm to the kitchen. We made 5 different breads in class. We were trying to figure out which component makes the best leavening agent. The leavening agents we used were baking soda, yeast, and sourdough starter. This AP was actually one of my favorites that we have had all year because I was able to see what worked better and it was more of a hands on AP that I was able to experience with one of my other peers.
Calculations:
BUTTERMILK =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= PROTEIN 17% x 2 cups per serving = 34% of daily value 8 grams of protein per serving x 2 cups per serving = 56 grams of protein - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FAT 4% x 2 = 8% of daily value 2.5 grams x 2 = 5 grams of fat
Throughout this course, Food for thought, we were able to dive deeper into food. Where did it come from? How did it get to our local grocery store? Is it better to forage for your food or create an agricultural society? We were able to look into these questions deeper by going on some FEs. The first week we went to Metropolis where we were able to see how they roast coffee beans and where they originated. We were able to taste test some of the countries depending on their origins and find what we liked and didn't like. We also made some tortillas with PA's mother. She came and we were able to use a tortilla press and make corn and flour tortillas which was fun to see the difference. Lastly, we went forage around Lincoln park with Odd Produce. We saw what we were able to eat and what was maybe something to stay away from but I feel like I was able to make more of a connection with the community and neighborhood that I live in and how we care about the way things look and what we are able to use.
I created my own family tree. In this family tree you can see at the top you have my two grandparents from my Mexican side, sadly I couldn't use my Moroccan grandparents because they don't live in the U.S. We can see the variety of the foods because my family loves trying new foods. This also creates a background to culture and my family getting to experience the different spices and ingredients used in these different foods.
NBE. Family Tree 2018
For my AP, I had to find one ingredient that my family uses and write about it in the perspective of the ingredient. I decided to use cinnamon because it is used in Moroccan and Mexican cuisine. Read my essay on cinnamon to find out where it originated and how my family uses it:
To conclude, we were able to explore the origin of cinnamon and how it made its way to the Mexican and Moroccan Bedda family. This was an interesting experience and it only makes me feel more connected to both of my cultures. Connecting to the origins of something can have an effect on the way you think about the world and the people who are around us. It makes us think about how aware we are of our background and not just the background of food but also the background of our ancestors.
Citations:
NBE. Family Tree 2018.
Bedda, Hicham. Personal Interview. 26. April 2018.
Carla Rahn Phillips. "The Growth and Composition of Trade in the Iberian Empires, 1450-1750" in James D. Tracy, ed., The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350-1750 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 51.
Gonzalez, Guadalupe. Personal Interview. 25 April 2018.
Protoplasmakid. Ponche de fruta navideno. 24 December 2015. 30. April 2018
Throughout this food term, my last term as a freshman at GCE, our first unit is called: Planting. Throughout this unit we explored gardening methods, went deeper into natural farming by read the book One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, we dove into growing our own herbs and mushrooms. To wrap up the unit we created our own hypothetical gardens. In my garden I decided to include a 5ft by 5ft garden bed. I used three containers such as a hemisphere, a can, and a rectangular bucket. Before, the soil quality was pretty low and wasn’t efficient enough for all of my ten fruits and vegetables to grow such as, strawberries, avocado, raspberries, tomatoes, squash, beans, corn, cabbage, radish and tangerines.
To conclude, I think that this AP allowed me to think more about how I want to create my garden. I think I was able to think more about how I want to make an impact especially after thinking about how I could be more green and how I can make an impact. Hopefully this presentation allowed to think more about creating your own gardens and making an impact.
Citations: Natural Farming, Wikipedia. April 27, 2018. Flickr, Fish meal, fishmeal, March 12, 2015, April 27, 2018. Hemisphere, Wikipedia Commons. 25 November 2014. April 27 2018.
Throughout the humanities term, Who am I? our last unit was called Doubt and Dream which was the total opposite to our first unit which was Truth and Memory we were able to meet with Matt Fitzgerald who is a pastor in Chicago. We were able to talk to him about doubt and questions that we had. We were also able to talk to an Imaam, Abu-Noor Ryan, getting an Islamic perspective as well. This was by far one of my favorite courses this year at GCE being able to explore. At the end, we were able to create our own dream catchers. We looked deeper into the meaning behind a dreamcatcher. I tend to see dreamcatchers around Tumblr and it's usually shown as a "cute" project, but that's culture appropriation which is not acceptable especially in this day and age. Look through my ISSUU presentation to get an explanation of the Ojibwa tribe and my own dreamcatcher and the meaning behind it all. This was an experience that has made me think more about my cultural background.
As we are coming to the end of our last term, Fuel, we decided to to finalize it with an AP. This unit was called Future, where we were able to explore and think about how CO2 consumption is becoming more and more of an issue. Because we are GCE and we make a difference as a global citizen, this action project was more about inventing and thinking about ways that we can change the things around us and turn them into something eco-friendly. Throughout the term, we were able to meet with Christa Margroff from Nicor Gas (natural gas company), this was by far one of the most interactive FE's I have had all year in my STEAM course. It was an experience that made us come out with ideas and think more about where we are headed in the world in terms of climate change. Look through my ISSUU presentation to find ideas I have come up with, my calculations, and how I plan to make this Earth safer and ways we can all get a head start on making change!
Overall, I think this was quite the experience and hopefully you got something out of this presentation. I think all of us in this world, we don't really think about what we are doing that can have a negative effect on our environment, but it's important to think before you do. We have things that give us bliss, but have you ever thought about your bliss having a negative impact?
For this Humanities term, we were focused on the 17 SDGs. For each unit we had to write a different essay focusing on a specific SDG. For my first SDG essay, I wrote on SDG #16 which was Peace and Justice. Equality plays a huge role in our society so I decided to talk about it. I described the differences in different countries, how different countries are supposed to focus on specific issues such as violence. Second unit, we focused on gender inequality. We were able to meet with someone from the Women's Health Center, where they discussed issues on women's healthcare. For the last unit, we were supposed to tie both issues like SDG #16 and domestic behaviors, and figuring which SDG combines both essays.
All in all, these SDGs really taught me about how our world is changing. Although, before some people living in the U.S. thought after the presidential election everything will change for the worse. But, we have these organizations and foundations like the U.N. that will make society better by creating these SDGs.
Works Cited:
United Nations,Goal 3 .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform,United Nations,October 30, 2017
Vox,California decided it was tired of women bleeding to death Vox,June 29, 2017
, October 30, 2017, Julia Belluz
NPR, U.S. Has The Worst Rate Of Maternal Deaths In The Developed NPR, May 12, 2017
,October 30, 2017, ProPublica Nina Martin, Renee Montagne
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