Best of Today: The Creative Mind

Today in Humanities we had a repeat of one of my favorite days, we had a youtube film festival. These aren't just ordinary youtube videos though, the videos we watch have to pertain to the humanities, not just be an ordinary funny video. After leaving class and looking back on it, three of the videos we watched today really stuck in my mind. The first one being the video of the one singer dubbing himself over and over to create a full song. This video really stuck to me at first because of my love of music. The guy was a very good singer and had great presence on stage. But looking deeper into the video I realize the craftsmanship and the artistic thinking that went into the video as a whole. It took a creative mind to think up of the idea of dubbing yourself over to create a masterpiece tune. The next video that demonstrated this creative thinking was the video on the wall mural. This video went through the intricate design and craftsmanship of creating an outstanding mural for a wall. Watching the artists go through and carefully paint and draw each detail made my mind go wild. I couldn't fathom to think that a human could not only think of such detail but then do it by hand as well. And the third video embodied the same creative thinking that the first two did as well. The third video that caught my attention today was the video of an artist who utilized live looping to create a digital masterpiece of himself singing a song. This video was probably my favorite of the ones we watched today. I liked it because I am into recording as well. I know how to loop and have tried it in the past. Watching someone else try and master the art of looping live really gave me an appreciation for what I do and what many others do around the world. Digital recording is a lot of fun and takes a creative mind to be successful. These three videos were definitely the highlight of my day.

Inconvienient Truth: Celebration of Death

Something that has always bothered me are the different angles on Death. Some people see it as something to celebrate, others see is as a time of mourning. Granted, these feeling are also based on who is dead, but still I don't like how celebrating the death of someone is socially accepted. The most recent example of this type of celebration is the death of Osama bin Laden. I remember coming down stairs the morning he died to my parents full of glee telling one another, THIS IS A TIME OF CELEBRATION!! TRULY SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE!! Even though it may be a good thing for the United States that he is dead, I still don't find a reason to truly celebrate his death. We have been trying to kill him for years yes, but why are we as humans excited when someone dies. Now lets talk about a relative or friend who dies. At a young age their death may be described as unexpected and tragic. This is by no means a reason to celebrate, this is a time of true mourning and grieving. And from the funerals I've been to when there is a young person in the coffin, it is not a happy and pleasant time. Now lets say the person is old, like in their 80s or 90s, In that case it depends on the family. Most people in the family will be calling their death a "celebration of their life," so not exactly happy but not exactly grieving. Instead it's a happy medium. In other cases, lets say the person dies from cancer or another serious illness, the death is a celebration of them finally being at peace, no more pain. But yet it is still a celebration. So it seems to be that people are mostly sad when the person is very young or dies unexpectedly. This is an assumption from my own experiences and observations, so it depends person to person, but when someone dies people tend to be sympathetic and understanding, and in times happy. Which is what brings me to the inconvenient truth of all of this: We are afraid of death. Yet we celebrate it... Doesn't make sense does it? Why are we so afraid of dying when we celebrate the death of some of the most important people in our lives? Don't you want to be celebrated? Don't you want to be recognized and remembered?? This is what bothers me so much about this topic. It is an on going paradox of fear and celebration. I still don't fully understand it all, all I know is that I'm scared.

Blogging Around

My first comment was to Angela Poulos' blog called An Inconvenient Truth: Wars & Hatred. This blog was addressing the issue of people hating and criticizing one another. An issue that is prevalent everyday in all of our lives.

Comment: I completely agree with you. It's so sad that our culture is based off of striving in the downfalls of others. This is especially prevalent in high school because of the different groups and cliques that people are involved with. Most people also strive on building themselves up by rating others down. Which is so sad and mean :( And you're definitely right it's not about to get better any time soon. Especially with the killing of Osama. This is a perfect example of the issue you are trying to bring forward. The Americans are celebrating his death, which to me is very morbid. I feel that what we are doing is disrespectful and instead of celebrating we should be thankful of the accomplishment and move on. I really hope that one day world peace can be come true.

The second comment I made was to Katie Taylor's blog titled Connection: Challenging the status quo/ happiness. This blog is directing an issue that we face everyday by interacting with people and living out our lives. Challenging the status quo is so hard to do right now as we are all fixated to a schedule. In my response to her blog I tried to think out possible ways to enrich our happiness by challenging the status quo at the same time.

Comment: I've learned to this year that in order to achieve happiness and be content with yourself it is important to spend time with yourself. In high school our lives are so wrapped around a tight schedule that includes our normal hang out times with our friends but often leaves out yourself. The status quo is what we're used to, the constant schedule and repeating of events. But by challenging the status quo and doing things out of spontaneity maybe your happiness could prosper. I'm trying to accomplish this right now, and just keep my mind guessing because it is so much fun to live in the moment, not around a schedule.

Best of Week: TED presentations

I have really enjoyed listening to the different TED presentations. A lot of the topics the speeches are on are topics that I have never been acclimated to before or have payed attention to in life. One topic that has really interested me was the water conservation topic. I never think about the issue of water conservation, because we live right by a lake that has good water. But when listening to Marina talk about her family in Basnia, I learned that water is a resource that is in danger. Another TED presentation I really liked was the one about restaurant management and food sustainability. I was captured by the fact that we as human beings throw out so much food, and we don't even know it. This fact scares me because if we aren't aware of our waste, how can we recognize that we need to make a change to help eliminate it. After the TED presentations I take away a new understanding of an important issue.

Best of the Week: Do you Mind??!!

When I first started the Do you mind questions I was not excited. I thought that they were just going to add on to the minutes I had to be in Mr. Allen's class. But the more I do them and get into the questions themselves the more I realize how they are changing me as a person. Each question I complete I learn something new about myself that I didn't know or that I simply forgot. Today in class Mr. Allen mentioned how it is important to know how to slow time by paying attention to the details. The Do you Mind questions have helped me slow down my life for the moment, and really enjoy it and savor it. These questions also help me understand my classmates around me. When they share their answers they're sharing a part of who they are. This is very cool to experience and take part of!

Blogging Around

JosephG: Captured thought: Making videos go viral to spread information

Joe's Blog was about videos on youtube going viral and how in the future these viral videos could be used to spread information. This blog inspired me to think of why do videos go viral in the first place? What does it take for a video to go viral.

Comment:I agree with your philosophy. It is amusing and heartbreaking to see what kind of videos go viral on youtube and on the internet. From this post you have got me to think more about how information could be spread by these 'viral' movies. Your Japan idea is awesome! I feel thought that the reason this is not really working in the real world is because there is nothing that makes it out of the ordinary, the skills it would need to go viral. I hope that someday this will change. Thanks for the inspiration to think about this Joe!

Dijanam: Captured Though: What If There Was No Time

This post was experimenting if there was no time. This post challenged me to consider it in my own life. And also how life would be different if there were no time. Would our lives be the same? Would humanity change?

comment: Wow this is so deep! But this is a thought that rolls through my head too every once in a while. It's a scary but very real thing to imagine. From what I've pondered I've realized that it would be chaos without time. Our lives are programmed down to the precise minute in time and without that programming many people would be lost within their own life. You have a great point though without time people would be able to learn to deal with chaos and management skills that we call time management nowadays. You should try to challenge yourself and try to live a day without time. No clocks or watches or checking your phone... maybe you'll learn something from it!

Connection: Lit Circle Books

I read the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and connected it with The Post-American World.

In Kara Gurvey's blog she talks about how the theme of challenging the status quo was represented in her book. This theme occurs in my book as well. In my book, Skloot describes how Henrietta and her family challenged the status quo during their lives. Henrietta challenged the status quo in the way she carried her self and acted while she had her disease. She was not afraid and always exuded confidence until her disease took over her soul. After her death her family kept strong and didn't accept news reporters or any people who wanted to share or learn about the story of their mother. This was strange, because Black people were still discriminated against in that time and it was odd to not accept help or give information to white folks. These same themes appear in the Post-American World as well.

In The Post-American World, instead of people challenging the status quo, it is countries as a whole challenging the status quo. This is a more major problem in the grand scheme of things. In Kara's blog she talks about how China challenges the status quo. China is a country with the largest population yet viewed as a "sleeping giant." What people don't understand is that what happens in China today and in the future will affect the entire world. China is constantly challenging the status quo with rallies, protests and other efforts against the government. With these types of challenges going on, China will keep the world on edge to see what will play out in the future. Just like how HeLa cells keep the world up to date and on edge with the latest and greatest medical research.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Meeting 2

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Meeting 2 Pages 56-137


Summary of Reading:
In the next few chapters the author takes us through parts of her journey in finding out about Henrietta’s story. Skloot goes in depth about how HeLa cells revolutionized the medical world; she describes how the cells were used in labs and in research. Skloot also gives the reader a closer view into Henrietta’s life before her death and the years after.

Major Claim Quote:
“HeLa cells grew much faster than normal cells, and therefore produced results faster. HeLa was a workhorse: it was hardy, it was inexpensive, and it was everywhere” (Skloot 97)

Response:
This claim sets the foundation for why HeLa cells became a medical breakthrough. It was because HeLa cells were cancerous, that they were able to grow them efficiently and hardy. The cells lead to reasons behind the discoveries like Down syndrome, one extra chromosome. HeLa cells lead to the development of a standardized culture medium, for cells to grow in. Along with many discoveries, HeLa cells were popularly used to test effects of drugs and probes. Therefore the HeLa cell line made a huge impact in the medical world and still impacts it today. In the quote is states “HeLa cells grew much faster than normal cells…” this was critical to the breakthrough HeLa caused because the cells were easily replenished where quantity was in dire need. When the HeLa cell line boomed, the cold war was escalating there was a large demand for HeLa cells to be exposed to nuclear chemicals. HeLa cells were in high demand many place; therefore this claim is sets up the basic reasoning and knowledge behind the research and demand for caused by HeLa cells.

Captured Thought: People discriminate against teenagers in stores

I am sure that I am not the only one to notice this but it came to my thought today when I was shopping in a designer store. There were many store clerks there helping ladies find clothes to wear and different styles to try, but no one seemed to want to help me. I even asked one of the ladies for help and then showed me to one side of the store and then let me be. This is not the first time this has happened to me. It seems that people who work in retail segregate the people who walk into their store to those who have money and those who don't. The ones they pay attention to are the ones that "have money." This is disappointing to teens like myself, because what if I was rich? What if I did have a lot of money? They would never know because they take one glance and judge from there. The stores that attract teens are those that have reasonable prices and have good customer service. I am thankful for the stores that are like that, although it is unfortunate that not all stores have as good customer service.

Connection: Einstein's Dream and Life

Right now in class we are reading the book Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. In this book each chapter refers to time and how time can affect our lives and change our lives. It's interesting to read these chapters and apply the same concepts to my life. There are many different concepts about time that are represented in ways that normal people would not ponder in everyday life; things that are present but go unnoticed. Such as the concept time is a circle. This concept implies that time runs on a cycle and that there are no "firsts" and "lasts" in life, everything repeats itself later in life.
This concept of time being a circle, is found in my life everyday. One example is my daily routine. I tend to stick to the same routine day by day, repeating the same places I go, people I sea and activities I do. My life is like a circle with the cycle of time being the gears that move it. The circle changes as I get older and change schedules but the circle is always there. Time is always there.

Metacognition: First Semester

During this first semester of humanities I not only matured as a writer, I developed a new way of thinking for my self and how I view the world around me. Philosophy is also another concept that I discovered deeply for the first time first semester. Philosophy is something that has impacted me greatly with how I think and process the world and people around me.

Another part of semester one that changed me was the 21st century human project. We have not finished it yet but the process I have gone through to brainstorm and start creating the sculpture has provoked my senses and mind to start thinking about what a 21st century human is. Am I the 21st century human? This is a question I will be able to answer at the end of this project but for now I am still looking for the answer.

First semester has ultimately opened my mind up to new experiences, ideas and thoughts that I have not considered or experienced before. I have learned to be a better listener and realize that my thoughts are not the only ones out there. I hope second semester changes me as much as first semester has.