Friday, February 3, 2017
Chicago Teachers Union
In the first unit of the senior course Equality, we looked at equality in gender, class, race etc. We looked into all of the times where sexism and racism had an impact on our world. For the action project, we were tasked to pick a topic that deals with race, gender, class, occupation, etc. and write a chapter of a history book on it. I chose to talk about the Chicago Teachers Union strikes. Something that was difficult was picking out my topic. There were so many that I wanted to do but I am glad that I chose the CTU. I am very proud of my project.
Sunday, January 22, 2017
A Self Portrait
In the first unit of the STEAM course Systems and Models we talked a lot about ourselves and the type of people we are. We took a bunch of different types of personality tests and really dove deep into who we are as people. For the Action Project in this unit, we were tasked with creating our own self portrait and write an artists statement. We had to create our own portrait and we could use any medium we wanted. I decided to use photography as my medium. I think that the easiest part of this project was picking a medium and executing the portrait. I really enjoy photography so it was cool to be able to play around with the photos for a project. The most difficult thing was choosing what the picture was going to be of. Over all I am very happy with my project.
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The title of my portrait is “The Life of M”. I chose to use photography as my medium. My photo is an average 4’11 size when printed. My self portrait is a depiction of me and and everything that I enjoy in life. The top of my head from the bridge of my nose and up is pictured with other things I enjoy around me at the top of the photograph. My photograph shows me in the present time. It sheds light on the things that I like in my life and the things that help me stay happy. There are no other people in my photograph but the small things that represent me ties the girl in the photo (me) to my life.
In my photo I included the the enneagram test (I am a 7). I represented this by hiding a 7 above my head. I also included the Myers Briggs test. I represented this by including some things that resemble and extrovert as well as the word extrovert. I decided to include these two because they are rather similar but they also have differences. I think that my greatest quality is how outgoing I am. I am always up to do whatever and want to make life as fun as possible. I knew that placing the little things that represent my life in the background would bring some connection to that but, I wanted to be more direct with it so that people would be able to get a better understanding of the person I am. I wanted people to be able to understand why I took the photo instead of talking about the photo itself. I was given examples of this in my interview with Charlie Jensen. He told me that he “writes all of his artist statements for his work through my heart. I let that move my hands around the keyboard. I don’t only write about the art I did, I write about what made me want to capture the photo.”
In my project I wanted to look at the experiment that talked about how award winners live longer than the people that lose. Throughout that article is talks about how social status and high self esteem is something that everyone wants. I can see that in myself because although I have pretty high self esteem most of the time, there are times during the day where I doubt myself a little bit. Reading through this experiment helped me realize that self esteem issues are something that everyone faces and the fact of the matter is people need to realize their self worth to move forward and have a happy life. Another study I looked at was the Stanford Prison Experiment. The guards treated the prisoners very poorly because the power went to their head. Most of the people that played the guards had dominant personalities and, according to the DISC test I have a very dominant personality. I think that when people with that type of personality are placed in a place of power that title can cause them to make bad decisions. I think that when people with that personality are around others with the same personality in that type of situation, they can egg each other on to the point where it gets out of hand.
I chose to do a photograph because photography is something that has always been a part of my life. Since this project was a “self” portrait, I wanted to show myself and the things in my life. I chose to do this in this way because I think that it was a good way to represent myself. I want people to be able to understand the kind of person I am. I want people to feel like they know me better than they might already. I want them to be able to see things that I enjoy and the kinds of things that make me happy.
The road to creating this photo was long. I initially had to choose my medium which ended up being the easiest thing in this process because I have loved photography for a long time. After that I thought for a few days about how my photo would look. Would I be in it? Would I edit it? Once I felt solid on my idea I just had to execute it. I had to make sure everything was i the right places so that it looks natural. I think that was probably the hardest part of this entire process. I wanted to pick and choose the right objects behind me in the photo that would best represent me and what my life is. I think that this is now one of my favorite photos because it turned out exactly as I’d hoped and I think it’s a perfect representation of me.
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| MF. ME. 2017. |
In my photo I included the the enneagram test (I am a 7). I represented this by hiding a 7 above my head. I also included the Myers Briggs test. I represented this by including some things that resemble and extrovert as well as the word extrovert. I decided to include these two because they are rather similar but they also have differences. I think that my greatest quality is how outgoing I am. I am always up to do whatever and want to make life as fun as possible. I knew that placing the little things that represent my life in the background would bring some connection to that but, I wanted to be more direct with it so that people would be able to get a better understanding of the person I am. I wanted people to be able to understand why I took the photo instead of talking about the photo itself. I was given examples of this in my interview with Charlie Jensen. He told me that he “writes all of his artist statements for his work through my heart. I let that move my hands around the keyboard. I don’t only write about the art I did, I write about what made me want to capture the photo.”
In my project I wanted to look at the experiment that talked about how award winners live longer than the people that lose. Throughout that article is talks about how social status and high self esteem is something that everyone wants. I can see that in myself because although I have pretty high self esteem most of the time, there are times during the day where I doubt myself a little bit. Reading through this experiment helped me realize that self esteem issues are something that everyone faces and the fact of the matter is people need to realize their self worth to move forward and have a happy life. Another study I looked at was the Stanford Prison Experiment. The guards treated the prisoners very poorly because the power went to their head. Most of the people that played the guards had dominant personalities and, according to the DISC test I have a very dominant personality. I think that when people with that type of personality are placed in a place of power that title can cause them to make bad decisions. I think that when people with that personality are around others with the same personality in that type of situation, they can egg each other on to the point where it gets out of hand.
I chose to do a photograph because photography is something that has always been a part of my life. Since this project was a “self” portrait, I wanted to show myself and the things in my life. I chose to do this in this way because I think that it was a good way to represent myself. I want people to be able to understand the kind of person I am. I want people to feel like they know me better than they might already. I want them to be able to see things that I enjoy and the kinds of things that make me happy.
The road to creating this photo was long. I initially had to choose my medium which ended up being the easiest thing in this process because I have loved photography for a long time. After that I thought for a few days about how my photo would look. Would I be in it? Would I edit it? Once I felt solid on my idea I just had to execute it. I had to make sure everything was i the right places so that it looks natural. I think that was probably the hardest part of this entire process. I wanted to pick and choose the right objects behind me in the photo that would best represent me and what my life is. I think that this is now one of my favorite photos because it turned out exactly as I’d hoped and I think it’s a perfect representation of me.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Hush
In the Ollywood class, we focused on every aspect of filming. We talked about pre- production, production, and post- production. We learned all about the things that go into each one of these categories and how that may affect the way the film looks. We had the chance to go to some very interesting and helpful places and talk to very interesting people. We got to talk to Ron Mix all about a documentary that he made which was incredibly interesting and helpful because we were able to ask him questions about the production of his film. For this Action Project, we were tasked with filming and editing a movie review on a movie of our choice. My partner and I decided to do the movie Hush. You can check out her blog here . The most difficult part of this project was the editing portion. It was challenging to make all of the cut align. I am very proud of this project and I think it turned out really well.
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Saturday, October 29, 2016
25 Years of Investing
In the last unit of the first senior steam class, Economics, we talked about money in the market. We focused on how money moves through the government and through the market and how quickly the market can change. This lead us into our action project where we were given a sum of money that we had to spend over a 25 year period by investing it in different companies. This project was incredibly challenging but it was worth it. I learned a lot of things about investing and the goals I want to set for myself.
Apple is a gigantic corporation that has been around since 1976. They specialize in electronics: phones, computers, tv systems, headphones, etc. They have released lots of different types of phones over the years and just recently released the iphone 7 and the iphone 7+. These have caused the market to change drastically. Every Time they release a new product their are lines of people ready to get their products. Apple’s economic moat is very strong since lots of people won't try to do the exact same thing as apple because it wouldn't be beneficially if it's not the real thing. Apple's risk factor is most likely very high since they are always changing new things on the iPhones that people may or may not like. Their P.E. ratio is 26.08. This would also be a very smart investment for me to make.
The time horizon comes into play when investing no matter what. I am spreading out my stock investments based on how they have been doing for the past year. If one of my stocks is dropping, I will only invest in that one for 1 year, and if a company is doing well, I will invest in it during one of my longer periods.
I created 3 investment portfolios for each goal I set for myself.
For my 1 year goal, I put in $7,000:
The grouping of NIK and APPL had an expected ROI of 21.08%. In the graph above I have sectioned off a pie chart to show how my portfolio was divided.
For my 5 year goal, I put in $8,000:
The grouping of NIK and DIS had an expected ROI of 106.8%. In the graph above I have sectioned off a pie chart to show how my portfolio was divided.
For my 25 year goal, I put in $34,000:
The grouping of DIS and APPL had an expected ROI of 6903.03%. In the graph above I have sectioned off a pie chart to show how my portfolio was divided.
The three investments that I made are in all different stock sectors. Nike is ruled under consumer goods, Disney is entertainment, and Apple is electronics. I wanted to make sure that the companies I was investing in were not all selling the same type of thing. I wanted to have a lot of diversity so my investments fall into different categories. Throughout this process I made a few assumptions for the sake of the project:
-The ROI will stay the same
-The stock market won’t crash during the 25 years I am investing
-The real estate market won’t crash.
After a lot of investing, all of my goals will become a reality. I invested in the right companies and based on the math I did, all of my goals should be reached by the time allowed for each one.
_________________________________________________________
References:
"Apple Inc's ROI per Quarter." Apple Inc (AAPL) Return on Investment ROI Quarterly, Average High and Low, Overall Ranking from Mar 26 2016 to Mar 28 2015. CSI Market Company, 2016. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
"AAPL Profile | Apple Inc. Stock - Yahoo Finance." AAPL Profile | Apple Inc. Stock - Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
"BRING INSPIRATION ANDINNOVATION TO EVERYATHLETE* IN THE WORLD." About Nike. Nike, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
"DIS Profile | Walt Disney Company (The) Commo Stock - Yahoo Finance." DIS Profile | Walt Disney Company (The) Commo Stock - Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
"NKE Profile | Nike, Inc. Common Stock Stock - Yahoo Finance." NKE Profile | Nike, Inc. Common Stock Stock - Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
"Nike, Inc. (NKE) Ownership Summary." NASDAQ.com. Nasdaq, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
__________________________________________________________________
The scenario goes like this: 18 years ago, my guardian angel set up a college savings plan for me with an initial investment of $8,500. My angel contributed $50 each month to the college savings plan ($600 yearly). After 18 years at an average annual interest rate of 7%, compounded annually, the plan is now worth a hefty lump sum. Yesterday, I cashed out your plan and deposited the money in a brokerage account to invest on my own.
After those 18 years in the bank, that $8,500 is now $49,128.87. In order to get the most out of this money, I am investing in three different companies. My investment philosophy is that I want to make money, but I don't want to invest in things that I dont potentially agree with. I will give some leeway for something that I know would make me a lot of money but it goes against my morals a little bit. I will draw the line when it comes to a company that goes completely opposite from my morals. I have a pretty high risk tolerance. After taking a quiz online with the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, I scored a 37 which means I have a high risk tolerance. I like to take risks and that shows in my investments.
While doing this I had to think a lot about my values and which type of companies follow them. I value environmentally friendly, animal friendly, and profit driven companies. I want companies that look out for animals and the environment but I also want to make money. I would love a company that did all three but if a company that could make me a lot of money was animal friendly but not incredibly environmentally friendly, I would sacrifice that so that I would be able to reach my SMART goals in the time I want to achieve them.
I set some SMART goals for myself to achieve within 25 years. I chose 3 goals I would like to achieve; one after 1 year, one after 5 years, and one after 25 years. My goals are as follows:
When it comes to investing, I chose three companies: Apple, Nike, and Disney. I chose to dive deeper into two of my three companies: Apple and Disney.
Disney is a huge company that has been around for years. They focus on many different elements such as clothing, toys, and most importantly: movies. They have created hundreds of movies over the time of their existence and have also created thousands of shorts. Diversification is very big at Disney. After getting a lot of heat about all of their movies being about white people, they switched it up and started making their movies about all different races, most recently they are releasing a new Disney Princess movie called Moana. They also recently bought the star wars franchise and are releasing 6 new movies under that, 1 of which has already come out and gotten rave reviews. Their economic moat is very large because of the companies that they work with. Their P.E. ratio is 23.32 (industry) and their dividend yield is 1.53%. This companys makes a lot of family friendly movies and they are a very family oriented company, with all of their new movies coming out, they are a very smart investment. Disney is definitely a long term investment.
The scenario goes like this: 18 years ago, my guardian angel set up a college savings plan for me with an initial investment of $8,500. My angel contributed $50 each month to the college savings plan ($600 yearly). After 18 years at an average annual interest rate of 7%, compounded annually, the plan is now worth a hefty lump sum. Yesterday, I cashed out your plan and deposited the money in a brokerage account to invest on my own.
After those 18 years in the bank, that $8,500 is now $49,128.87. In order to get the most out of this money, I am investing in three different companies. My investment philosophy is that I want to make money, but I don't want to invest in things that I dont potentially agree with. I will give some leeway for something that I know would make me a lot of money but it goes against my morals a little bit. I will draw the line when it comes to a company that goes completely opposite from my morals. I have a pretty high risk tolerance. After taking a quiz online with the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, I scored a 37 which means I have a high risk tolerance. I like to take risks and that shows in my investments.
While doing this I had to think a lot about my values and which type of companies follow them. I value environmentally friendly, animal friendly, and profit driven companies. I want companies that look out for animals and the environment but I also want to make money. I would love a company that did all three but if a company that could make me a lot of money was animal friendly but not incredibly environmentally friendly, I would sacrifice that so that I would be able to reach my SMART goals in the time I want to achieve them.
I set some SMART goals for myself to achieve within 25 years. I chose 3 goals I would like to achieve; one after 1 year, one after 5 years, and one after 25 years. My goals are as follows:
1-year goal: Have enough money to take a summer off to travel- $7,000
5-year goal: rent a nice apartment in california- $8,000
25-year goal: own a lake house in Wisconsin/ Michigan -$34,000
When it comes to investing, I chose three companies: Apple, Nike, and Disney. I chose to dive deeper into two of my three companies: Apple and Disney.
Disney is a huge company that has been around for years. They focus on many different elements such as clothing, toys, and most importantly: movies. They have created hundreds of movies over the time of their existence and have also created thousands of shorts. Diversification is very big at Disney. After getting a lot of heat about all of their movies being about white people, they switched it up and started making their movies about all different races, most recently they are releasing a new Disney Princess movie called Moana. They also recently bought the star wars franchise and are releasing 6 new movies under that, 1 of which has already come out and gotten rave reviews. Their economic moat is very large because of the companies that they work with. Their P.E. ratio is 23.32 (industry) and their dividend yield is 1.53%. This companys makes a lot of family friendly movies and they are a very family oriented company, with all of their new movies coming out, they are a very smart investment. Disney is definitely a long term investment.
Apple is a gigantic corporation that has been around since 1976. They specialize in electronics: phones, computers, tv systems, headphones, etc. They have released lots of different types of phones over the years and just recently released the iphone 7 and the iphone 7+. These have caused the market to change drastically. Every Time they release a new product their are lines of people ready to get their products. Apple’s economic moat is very strong since lots of people won't try to do the exact same thing as apple because it wouldn't be beneficially if it's not the real thing. Apple's risk factor is most likely very high since they are always changing new things on the iPhones that people may or may not like. Their P.E. ratio is 26.08. This would also be a very smart investment for me to make.
The time horizon comes into play when investing no matter what. I am spreading out my stock investments based on how they have been doing for the past year. If one of my stocks is dropping, I will only invest in that one for 1 year, and if a company is doing well, I will invest in it during one of my longer periods.
I created 3 investment portfolios for each goal I set for myself.
For my 1 year goal, I put in $7,000:
60 shares of NIK @ $51.80 ($3,108 total) (35% of portfolio)
30 shares of APPL @ 114.97 (3,449.10 total) (65% of portfolio)
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| 1 year. MF, 2016 |
The grouping of NIK and APPL had an expected ROI of 21.08%. In the graph above I have sectioned off a pie chart to show how my portfolio was divided.
For my 5 year goal, I put in $8,000:
50 shares of NIK @ 51.80 (2,590 total) (30% of portfolio)
50 shares of DIS @ $93.83 ( 4,691.5 total) (70% of portfolio
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| 5 year. MF, 2016 |
The grouping of NIK and DIS had an expected ROI of 106.8%. In the graph above I have sectioned off a pie chart to show how my portfolio was divided.
For my 25 year goal, I put in $34,000:
40 shares of DIS @ 93.83 (3,753.2 total) (50% of portfolio)
70 shares of APPL @ 114.97 (8,622.75 total) (50% of portfolio)
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| 25 year. MF, 2016 |
The grouping of DIS and APPL had an expected ROI of 6903.03%. In the graph above I have sectioned off a pie chart to show how my portfolio was divided.
The three investments that I made are in all different stock sectors. Nike is ruled under consumer goods, Disney is entertainment, and Apple is electronics. I wanted to make sure that the companies I was investing in were not all selling the same type of thing. I wanted to have a lot of diversity so my investments fall into different categories. Throughout this process I made a few assumptions for the sake of the project:
-The ROI will stay the same
-The stock market won’t crash during the 25 years I am investing
-The real estate market won’t crash.
After a lot of investing, all of my goals will become a reality. I invested in the right companies and based on the math I did, all of my goals should be reached by the time allowed for each one.
_________________________________________________________
References:
"Apple Inc's ROI per Quarter." Apple Inc (AAPL) Return on Investment ROI Quarterly, Average High and Low, Overall Ranking from Mar 26 2016 to Mar 28 2015. CSI Market Company, 2016. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
"AAPL Profile | Apple Inc. Stock - Yahoo Finance." AAPL Profile | Apple Inc. Stock - Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
"BRING INSPIRATION ANDINNOVATION TO EVERYATHLETE* IN THE WORLD." About Nike. Nike, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
"DIS Profile | Walt Disney Company (The) Commo Stock - Yahoo Finance." DIS Profile | Walt Disney Company (The) Commo Stock - Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
"NKE Profile | Nike, Inc. Common Stock Stock - Yahoo Finance." NKE Profile | Nike, Inc. Common Stock Stock - Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
"Nike, Inc. (NKE) Ownership Summary." NASDAQ.com. Nasdaq, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Princess Diana of Wales
In the second unit of the Journalism class, we focused on sound. We looked at a lot of different types of podcast about different things and began to gather different tips and ways to talk about a topic with just your words. For the action project we were tasked with finding someone influential from the 20th century and creating a podcast about them. We had to interview two people and find sound clips of the person we chose. For my project I chose Princess Diana of Wales. Something that I enjoyed about this project was the freedom to choose whoever I wanted from the 20th century. Something that was hard for me was finding which sound clips I wanted to use for this project. I am really happy with how my project turned out and I hope you enjoy it.
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WHEN
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WHO/HOW
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WHAT
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0.00-17.612
17.612-39.752
39.752-1.01.813
1.01.813-1.10.543-
1.10.543-1.36.467
1.36.467- 1.46.748
1.46.748- 1.52.315
2.06.715-2.05.945
2.09.650- 2.40.415-
2.41.117-2.45.523-
2.24.470- 4.02.713-
4.04.303- 4.24.693-
4.28.840- 5.11.874-
5.13.379- 5.24.639
5.24.639- 5.48.600
5.27.768-5.46.576
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[ Background music}]
[MF]
[Diana]
[MF]
[Diana]
[MF]
[MF]
[RD]
[Diana]
[MF]
[MNF]
[MF]
[MNF]
[Diana]
[MF]
|
Background music starts (Candle in the Wind by Elton John Instramental)
Hi. I’m MF from GCE Lab School today I am going to talk about a voice that had a huge impact on people around the world: Princess Diana of Wales. This voice was important to the 20th century because not only was she a princess, she was also a human rights activist. She spoke on many issues that people face daily and was even able to connect them to her own life.
From early childhood, many had felt they were expected to be perfect but didn’t feel they had the right to express their true feelings to those around them. Feelings of guilt of self revoltion and low personal esteem.
She also focused a lot of her time on children's rights in different countries. She spent her time working with organizations from all around the world ranging from Turning Point to Red Cross .
1989 marks the celebration of Turning point: a charity which, in its 25 years, has gained enormous experience in dealing with problems related to drug and alcohol misuse. Today, Turning Point is the largest national voluntary organization catering to those who drink, drug and mental health problems.
1.36.467- 1.46.748- Although she got a lot of hate for some of the organizations she worked with, she never let that stop her. Diana was born into British nobility and became a princess once she married Prince Charles.
1.46.748- 1.52.315- I’m going to be talking to my friend who also has a connection with Princess Diana.
There are many issues going on in the world. And the one admirable thing about Diana was that she cared so much about these problems. She actually traveled to countries devastated by disaster and disease and tried to connect to the people affected.
When no one listens to you, you feel no one is listening to you, all sorts of things start to happen. For instance you have so much pain inside yourself, that you try and hurt yourself on the outside because you want help, but it’s the wrong help your asking for. People see it as crying wolf or attention seeking and they think because you’re in the media all the time, you’ve got enough attention. But I was actually calling out because I wanted to get better in order to go forward and continue my duty or my role as wife, mother, princess of wales.
Now I am going to be talking to someone else who also had a connection to Princess Diana.
I remember watching her entire wedding on T.V. I don’t know how long it was but it was long. What was also long was the train on her dress, it was like 20 feet long or something. It was beautiful, and the wedding was beautiful, and I watched the whole thing and it seemed like they were in love but, it came out later that it was probably a marriage more of convenience then it was of love. He was, I think, in love with another woman who he ended up marrying after she died but I think that Diana didn’t get along with his mother, the queen, and she felt kind of trapped. But she did her own thing and I think she did a really good job of being the princess and going around and helping people especially people with aids and children.
Princess Diana spent so much time focusing on other people’s problems, she wasn’t able to focus on her own. Her marriage was failing and she couldn’t exactly divorce Prince Charles because she would look incredibly bad to the entire country. She had to deal with a failing marriage, depression, and an eating disorder all on her own for a long time while still having a brave face in public.
And I think her depression, I guess she was depressed and that was probably because of her life even though it would seem like the life of a princess would be a fairytale but I don't think it was for her. I remember when she died I was in a bar in Waupaca, Wisconsin with my sister and some friends and we were playing pool and it came on the TV that she died in the car crash in London and it was, while no body cried, it was really kind of shocking.
Well it gave everybody a wonderful new label: is Diana’s unstable and Diana’s mentally unbalanced; and unfortunately that seems to have stuck on and off over the years.
Diana was able to be a powerful voice for so many people all around the world. Lots connected with Diana in different ways. She spoke a lot about women and connected most of her speeches to them but there were still lots of men that admired her as well. When she died a lot of people, even those that didn't live in wales, were incredibly sad and heartbroken.
Background music continues, fades out.
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Thursday, September 29, 2016
The Meaning of Life
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The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is one of my favorite movies/books. It’s all about love, friendship, sadness, and heartbreak. One of my favorite quotes from the movie is “Enjoy it. Because it’s happening.” The quote was said by Charlie--the main character in the film/novel. I love this quote because I think it speaks to everything that happens in life, good or bad. It shows that no matter what is happening in life, you have to keep your head up because it’s happening and you can’t change it. Life is a vast space full of opportunities so “What is the meaning of life?”
Mary is your average mom. She was born in Texas and raised in a suburb of Illinois. She moved to the city to become a grade school teacher. She currently teaches at a CPS language school in Old Town. She has taught many grades from eighth all the way down to third. She is a horse- loving prankster who loves her daughter.
As I lay on a blanket on the roof outside my bedroom, I look at all of the planes soaring through the sky. I hear my mom calling me “Maddie? I’m ready for the interview. Where are you?” I turn around, “On the roof, I’m coming in.” I grab my blanket and walk slowly back up to my window and climb through. I sit cross- legged on the white couch in my moms room while my mom sits down in front of me on her bed. “So mom, what is the meaning of life?” She sits and ponders for a couple minutes. “Mom?” I ask, checking if she is still listening. She finally breaks her silence.
“Do what you want to do, say what you wanna say, love who you wanna love and don’t worry what people think.” She says the last part with a smile. She stares down at my dog Lily who is making an unnecessary amount of noise and lifts her onto her bed. “You can see even with Lily that she's always smiling no matter what and her life is meaningful.” She walks across her room and looks in the mirror.
“Why do you think life is meaningful” I ask looking up from my computer. She looks to the ceiling, thinking about the question. “Not only do I get to do things that I want to do without worry from other people but I also get to give meaning to other people’s lives. A big part of it is to do things for other people and I think making other people lives meaningful is as important as making your own life meaningful. So doing kind things for others and treating all people with kindness is extremely important for making your own life happy. Doing kind things and being good to other people makes my life better but that's not why I do it…” She pauses, “It just goes along with it.”
She walks back over to her bed. I look through my prep sheet and pick another question. I turn to her, “What is your favorite thing in the world that makes your life better?” She thinks for what feels like hours. “You I guess…. Well really horses.” She sighs, “When I had you my life became 100 times more meaningful. It changed everything. It was another person that I was responsible for. To make happy, to feed, to love, to teach. I think having children is one of the best ways to, well for me, made my life meaningful. It wasn’t not meaningful before, but I think having kids changes people's lives. You are no longer only living for yourself you are now living for someone else.”
I took many pictures of my mom that evening. Some from close up, some from far away. It was too dark and cold to take them in the garden, so we took them inside the house. As I adjust the focus, she continues to move positions. I continue to snap pictures of her on my Canon camera. After careful consideration I chose this photo. I chose this one because I think it captures her in her best state: calm. I took it with the portrait setting on my camera so that everything in the background would be blurry so the photo would just focus on my mom.
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| MF. (MOM) 2016 |
As the interview drew to a close I had just one more question for my mom “What is the best part about living?” I ask. She turns slowly to me. “Sleeping. Laughing. Making people smile and making people happy.” She asks me to repeat the question. I do. “Waking up after getting a full night’s sleep. That has to be the best feeling ever.”
Matagalpa, Nicaragua
This summer for 3.5 weeks, I had the chance to travel to Matagalpa Nicaragua with an amazing organization called Global Glimpse. Over the course of those 3.5 weeks I learned a lot about the country I was in as well as myself. This was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget as long as I live.
I traveled to this foreign country along with 17 other people that I knew almost nothing about (there were 20 of us in total but I got the chance to travel with two people from GCE). Being in a new place with completely unfamiliar people was something very new for me. It really pushed me far outside of my comfort zone and made me make a lot of new friends.
While I was there I was able to do some pretty incredible things. In the country we built a door, a ceiling, a wall, and installed a mural all in 2 1/2 days! It was a lot of work but it was for a great organization called Infancia sin Fronteras which basically translates to Boundless Childhood. We built these things in a bad neighborhood in Matagalpa. The building we worked on was a school for young children as well as a hospital. They wanted us to build things for the school because there was nothing separating the children from the sick people and they were getting sick. After completing all of the work and being able to look at all of the amazing work we had done made me feel so amazing. While we were working people from the neighborhood were constantly telling us how great it looked and that they were so glad we were working so hard. There were so many kids that came by day after day just to watch us work.
This entire experience changed my life. It really made me realize that I take a lot of things for granted. I am so lucky for everything I have and I need to be more thankful. I met so many amazing people that have changed my life for the better. From the countless hours of playing cards to the walks around town to get coffee, I wouldn't change one bit of my experience in Nicaragua.
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| Airport. (2016) |
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