1/12/2018 0 Comments Progress as a writerAutocriticism is one of the most difficult things to do accurately. People rarely notice themselves improving in academic skills like writing and critical thinking, because improvement occurs very slowly over time. I used to often assume that I wasn’t learning anything new when it came to writing. I would churn out 1-2 argumentative essays every year, and in the process, couldn’t identify any significant changes to my writing.
To assess my progress as a writer, I will have to look back farther than an essay I wrote a few months ago. Here I will provide two body paragraphs from different essays: one from my recent essay in World Studies, and another from an expository essay I wrote 3 years ago on popular sovereignty. Revolution is not a retired concept. There are revolutions happening right now, all over the world. In the past few years: A Zimbabwean and a Turkish coup d'etat, an Abkhazian revolution, protests in Ethiopia and Brazil, an uprising in Burkina Faso, and many others. There is dissent in these countries for varying reasons, but all have one in common: a conglomerate distrust or disapproval for a person in a position of power. In the west we see this as well, but on a smaller scale. Anti-government extremist groups are exceedingly common in the U.S.A., and surge under the leadership of democratic presidents. As of 2015, there are at least 998 active “patriot” groups in the United States (and over 50 in California). Modern propaganda no doubt adds fuel to this fire, as “fake news” sites continue to spread misinformation about the government and oppositional movements. As politics continue to divide our country more and more, revolution becomes an increasingly comfortable idea for many citizens. As previously stated, one of the values we believe to be important is popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty is a fundamental aspect of federalist societies and gives the public the ability to control the government. In Article One of the US Constitution, one of our major branches of government, the Legislative Branch, is defined. Our Legislative Branch is made up of two houses; the House of Representatives and the Senate. The members of these branches are elected by the public, and must be reinstated every 2 or 6 years (of the House of Representatives and the Senate, respectively). This exhibits one of our defining values, popular sovereignty. The people are able to elect whatever representatives they see fit, and can resign from re-electing them if they so choose. Popular sovereignty is also expressed in the Declaration of Independence. In the second clause, it states that “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and institute new Government.” This means that the people are responsible for altering the government if it becomes too powerful or destructive. At first glance, these two paragraphs seem very similar in their writing style, even if the subject matters are slightly contradictory. There are similar flaws in both (repetitive use of a key phrase, opinions without supporting evidence, and an assumption that the reader is an american citizen), but I can confidently say I prefer the former paragraph over the latter. There are some issues, but I demonstrate a better use of transitions, a more concrete understanding of the subject, and provide better evidence for my point. This semester I want to diversify my writing abilities and try different styles. I am not confident with my ability to write fiction pieces or poetry, and I would like to change that. As always, I will also make efforts to expand my vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. Overall, I want to improve my creativity and mastery over the course of this semester.
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9/21/2017 1 Comment After Effects Light SaberThis project was definitely a learning experience. It was pretty cool to work with this lightsaber plugin, and was super rewarding in the end. The different saber appearance presets were really impressive and fun to mess around with. I had no background on rotoscoping going into this, and I wasn’t too confident with my skills in Adobe After Effects overall. I thought that the keyframing was going to take a lot less time overall, and it proved to be a bit more challenging than I anticipated. When we shot the video, we weren’t very conscious of our movements. We swung our pseudo-swords around quite a bit, and that was very difficult to mask in after effects. It was a fun process, but I really feel like we bit off more than we could chew. I had trouble placing the mask properly due to the motion blur and the lighting. There were a few occasions where I manipulated the whole layer or mask unintentionally, and ended up having to re-keyframe certain parts over and over again.There are definitely some points where you can see my mistakes, but I am overall still happy with the video, and I think it has a lot of endearing niche qualities. Does humankind posses a tragic flaw? This is a question that may be impossible to solve. There are thousands of ways to spin it, hundreds of answers between “yes” and “no”, and an endless amount of evidence to consider. We may, however, come close to a conclusion, but there are other questions to be answered first. What makes us human? When I think about technology and the advancement of artificial intelligence, I hold on tightily to the distinction between human and robot.Often, if you ask someone what seperates man from machine, you’ll get an answer that has something to do with emotions. Is that our fatal flaw? Obviously not. We need things like fear and our apprehensive nature to keep us from danger. We need happiness and the illusion of freedom to keep our economy afloat. But some more complex emotions, things we all have but still hold stigmas, those are what truly separate us from machines. Hubris, self-absorption, greed, ignorance and bias. These are what truly make us human. And that’s what brings me to my first theory. S.L. Theory #1: The Oedipus Complex Tragic Flaws are, or at least were initially, a Greek concept. They are defined as “A fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine.” The word for this is Hamartia. Hamartia is a shared meaning of fate, flaw, and their synthesis. Hamartia is often depicted in Greek literature. A good example of this would be Oedipus. Many know the story of Oedipus. A man who is fated to sleep with his mother and kill his father, but denies his fate. Like many greek plays, his fate eventually catches up to him. His flaw is hubris, as he overestimates himself and believes that he can oppose fate. Oedipus’ story actually lays the groundwork for a very notable theory by Sigmund Freud. Freud describes something called the Oedipus Complex, which he claims to be universally present in every child. Freud theorizes that every child grows to feel attraction to one parent, and resent the other. This is Oedipus’ fate, as it is ours, which we may never elude. Because the concept of Hamartia is fate determined by flaw, we can conclude that because we share his fate, we also share his flaws. S.L Theory #2: Societal EncouragementThere is also reinforcement of tragic flaw from other culturally significant stories. Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged encourages her ideology of Objectivism, which is “the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." Obviously, one can identify flaws such as hubris, vanity, and selfishness in this statement. Still, this ideology is actually promoted by The United States’ Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Other significant figures that support objectivism are Ron Paul, Rand Paul, former congressman Bob Barr, and the Israeli Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked. Atlas Shrugged is one of many influential novels that inhabit tragic flaws. Objectivism, however, is a stellar example of something that advocates for a hamartic flaw (even if that is not the intent). In stories like Oedipus, we are warned that our pride and anger can be dangerous things, and that ignoring fate can lead to our downfall. Hamartia is still present in current media, but there are more and more people advocating for these flaws. S.L. Ignorance as a Tragic FlawI believe if humans had to have just one tragic flaw, it would be ignorance because no level of ignorance is good. Other things that people consider tragic flaws, like hubris for example, are healthy to some extent. It’s good for your mental health to have some pride. It’s different with ignorance, even a little can affect you negatively, and if it doesn’t affect you it affects someone else. When people think about ignorance it is often thought of at a large scale like segregation era racism, or current events like the white supremacist march in Charlottesville. The large amount of ignorant hatred is so clear in these events it’s easy to separate yourself from their ignorance, but even our small scale ignorance still leads to our downfall. An example of this is with health, smokers know that smoking is unhealthy but many ignore that and continue anyway. They will eventually die of lung cancer, therefore their ignorance leads to their downfall. I bet everyone can think of something that they do that is ignorant because we all have a tragic flaw. I.M. The art piece we created combines the visuals from our 3 paragraphs. The figure at the top is Oedipus. He is standing at the top of a staircase that represents how hubris makes you feel above everyone else. Oedipus is also smoking a cigarette which represents ignorance. I.M. Sources Cited“Hubris Examples and Definition.” Literary Devices, 30 Oct. 2015,
www.literarydevices.com/hubris/. Accessed 22 Aug. 2017 Kunst, Jennifer. “Is Ignorance Bliss?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 24 Aug. 2011, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/headshrinkers-guide-the-galaxy/201108/is-ignorance-bliss. Accessed 23 Aug. 2017 “Tragedy, Fate, and Hamartia.” Tragedy, www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl257/Classical/hamartia.htm. Accessed 23 Aug. 2017. “Is Selfishness Promoted in Society?” Awaken, 15 Feb. 2013, www.awaken.com/2013/02/is-this-the-right-model-for-a-great-nation/. Accessed 23 Aug. 2017. “Oedipus complex.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 20 July 1998, www.britannica.com/topic/Oedipus-complex. Accessed 23 Aug. 2017. “List of people influenced by Ayn Rand.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Aug. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_influenced_by_Ayn_Rand. Accessed 23 Aug. 2017. “What is Objectivism?” The Atlas Society, 14 June 2010, atlassociety.org/objectivism/atlas-university/what-is-objectivism/objectivism-101-blog/3366-what-is-objectivism. Accessed 23 Aug. 2017. 6/5/2017 0 Comments Tech Lends a HandOn June 1st, New Tech students took trips to locations around the community to lend a hand and give back. There were all sorts of activities, from CPR and AED Training to helping out at the Napa Library. My group went to We Care Animal Rescue in St. Helena, a no-kill shelter that provides a safe, open environment for animals without a home. We helped around the shelter by doing things like washing cat carriers and cleaning around the outside areas were the cats would play. We didn't get to see any dogs during our visit, but we saw tons of great cats who I would've loved to adopt, given the chance. The cats were all really unique, and I often found myself wondering what the story behind some of them were. There was one cat with a beautiful coat of fur, it was super soft and long, but it was almost completely shaved on one side. There was another cat, a calico cat with huge eyes that looked super anemic and was very skittish. Or my favorite, Sebastian, a black and white cat with cloudy eyes that seemed to bulge out of his head. His eyes looked like the type a blind cat would have had, but one of the staff members told me he had perfect vision. Nevertheless, all of the cats were a joy to spend time with (even the one that tried to bite me). I think my favorite thing about the shelter was the way they treated the animals. There were no cages, and the cats were basically free to roam around the facility. They had access to all sorts of toys and habitats around the shelter, and there was enough space that they weren't crowded together. There were indoor and outdoor spaces, both outfitted with plenty of places to sleep and relax. The shelter also doesn't put down any animals if they don't get adopted, which is a really important aspect of humanity that I think is often overlooked.
5/30/2017 0 Comments Personal Wellness ReflectionWhich aspect of wellness is the one I feel is most important?There are many different aspects of life that govern our functioning and ability to thrive. Some of these are easier to manage than other, some may play a larger role in life, some might even be integrated into an individual's goals. For me, proper nutrition is the most important aspect of wellness. Proper nutrition can improve mental health by lowering depression, it is a vital part of practicing healthy sleep cycles, and vitamin A, Vitamin C, and zinc are necessary to execute functions like collagen synthesis, epithelialization, cell mitosis, and cell proliferation. A proper diet that provides healthy amounts of things like protein, vitamins, and polyunsaturated fats can be difficult to obtain. In the U. S., many people don't have access to healthy foods, and some may be targeted by corporations that wish to capitalize off of their diets. And where we lack availability in natural foods, we make up for in saturated fats and sugary drinks. In America, we consume about 82 grams of sugar a day per capita, and the average American drinks about 54 gallons of soft drinks per year. This places us above every other country in sugar and fat consumption. Our obesity rates are higher than they're ever been, and we aren't exactly exhibiting a commanding knowledge of nutrition information. Even so, it may be that our diets are becoming more balanced. With the advent of more marketing campaigns for healthy diets in the U.S., we may be able to change the way americans eat in a positive way, possibly like how anti-smoking campaigns reduced the prevalence of smoking in adolescent groups. If you're interested in our collective nutritional health as a country, I suggest visiting the site Healthy People 2020. It's a program by the Department of Health and Human Services that outlines an agenda and goals to achieve a healthier America by 2020. It provides information about health statistics in the U. S. and empowers citizens to make "informed health decisions", as well as hosts interactive infographics about the data they've collected.
5/19/2017 0 Comments Freshman Year Agency ReflectionPersonally, I think that I have grown a lot in the ways of agency this year. In certain outcomes, like actively participating and seeking challenges, I came into the year fully confident and willing to practice. Other outcomes I was worried about, due to lack of experience or bad track records. My ability to manage time and projects was severely lacking, and I am certain that showed in my grades on some assignments. I didn't understand how to finish things when I was being obfuscated by something important, and I often wasn't aware of the proximity of due dates. I feel that I definetly grew in the "tackle and monitor learning" category of our Agency Rubric. It took me about all year, and it's not completely perfected, but I feel much more confident in my ability to manage tasks and prioritize than I did coming into the 2016-2017 school year.
A recently completed biology project brought to life this site about feral pigs and their invasive habits in Napa. This project was a lot of fun to work on, as it had application to our local ecosystem at its livelihood. Feral Pigs, as I learned, are a small but rising population that can be severely detrimental to crops and small livestock. Our site highlights the effects of the pig on the ecosystem as well as the agricultural community surrounding Napa.
5/17/2017 0 Comments May 17th, 2017 An integral part of teaching computer science is based on access to competent computer systems. At New Tech, we're lucky enough to have access to computers almost anywhere in the school. But for those who don't, how can they learn about things like image and text compression, error detection, binary numbers and cryptographic protocols? Through CS Unplugged, of course. CS Unplugged is a project by The University of Canterbury in New Zealand and the Computer Science Education Research Group. It teaches core computer science concepts through fun classroom activities. We were assigned to teach a topic from CS Unplugged in a easy way that didn't require a computer. We eventually landed on Cryptographic Protocol, our indecisive selves resorting to using a random number generator to pick between three topics.
1/13/2017 0 Comments DiRosa Preserve Visit - 1/12/2017Personal HighlightsThis piece, entitled Master Room (Hide a Bed) by Peter Saul was my favorite piece from the gallery. I really liked his choice of color, and found his use of space interesting. His depiction of capitalistic entities resonates with me. Although the piece seems chaotic, the frantically of it is balanced by the calm color scheme. I also like this particular piece because it differs so much from his other work. Generally he is accepted a neosurrealist, but this work steps into a more flat, abstract style. For some reason, this piece really spoke to me in our topic of a Hero's Journey. This man (or rather, subject) appears to be in a terrible state. He lies on the ground, blood pouring from beneath his skull. I drew the similarity between him and the Hero in his moment of despair.
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AuthorI'm Sabrina, a student at New Tech High. Archives
April 2019
CategoriesAll After Affects Biology Digital Media Environmental Oceanography Personal Research Tutorial |