The Fallon Faith Impact [FP Edition]

Hi, if you're new, welcome! Recently, I shared a post about the 'Fallon Faith Impact' which was one of our Action Projects where we were to create a time capsule from 100 years hence. I decided that I would like to fictionalize a powerful woman president. Her name is Fallon Faith and in the slideshow below, you can see her journey leading up to her presidency.

The Fallon Faith Impact

Hello, all! If you're new, welcome to Equality! This is a course where we learn about the importance of, of course, equality, but more specifically race, gender, and American history. As of lately, we've discussed Onuwuachi-Willig's article on racism being a social construct as well as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's influential TedTalk on the power of feminism. I enjoyed watching and analyzing these two works because I got even more insight into my fellow classmate's opinions on the two topics.

But getting to the Action Project, the mission for it is to predict the future of equality by creating a time capsule from 100 years hence. So, I decided that I would like to fictionize a powerful woman whom I think who be the perfect president. Her name is Fallon Faith and if you continue on in the blog, you'll be able to learn more about her and her journey leading up to her presidency. 

 

Overall, this project was very time-consuming, but eye-opening as well. I enjoyed thinking about the future of women and politics not to mention women in the White House. 

Kamala's Impact

Hello, all, and welcome to Equality! This is a course where learn about the importance of, of course, equality, but to be more specific, we've been discussing women, gender, as well as African-American history. I really enjoy this course because I love hearing everybody's opinions on topics that make them feel particularly "uncomfy," not to mention, we see each other's anger towards certain issues such as slavery, segregation, homophobia, etc. But, to get back on track here, let's talk about our Action Project!

The mission of this AP is to create a textbook that is focused on a historical event related to race, gender, and/or class. I decided to make my chapter about Kamala Harris' Vice Presidential electing. I wanted to write on that topic because her election made a huge impact on my family. Like Kamala, my family is black and Indian so you could guess how ecstatic we were to see that someone that looks like us can have such an important job in the White House.

Please read my chapter for more :)

Overall, this Action Project was super cool! I enjoyed learning more about Kamala and her journey leading up to her becoming the Vice president. I also loved writing about something that interests me along with my family.

What is the meaning of life?

Hi! Welcome back to Journalism! Recently, we have been discussing the importance of photography and how every photo that is taken can be worth one thousand words. We've studied many different photographs from the earlier years including Windblown Jackie (by Ron Gallela), Migrant Mother (by Dorthea Lange), and V-J Day in Time Square (by Alfred Eisenstaedt). Last week, we each uploaded photos that we have taken to observe how much aperture and focus we had in them. So, the mission for our Action Project is to find or take a photo of something/someone and interview them to get a little insight into what they think the meaning of life is while also following our guided questions:

"What are the essential skills, values, and concepts of photojournalism?"

"How do you lend voice and eyes to your interviewee?"

S.S., Original Photograph (2020)

S.S., Black & White Filtered Photograph (2020)

My photos are more subjective than objective because they were based on my own observations and interests. I captured this moment between my Mom and my Pap-Pap, in front of his house, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I took this picture on a chilly October night, from the front seat of the car. We had already said our goodbyes and were headed back to our hotel when I noticed I left my AirPods in my Pap-Pap’s house. I was exhausted so, my Mom went back upstairs to retrieve them, while I waited in the car. My Pap-Pap always greets us at the door with a smile so even though we had just said goodbye he came back out and hugged my Mom again. The combination of the lighting on Pap-Pap’s porch and the night sky made me want to take a picture so I pulled out my phone to capture the moment. I tried to take the picture of them hugging, but my camera was too late, and this image was the end result. Having missed the hug I almost deleted the picture but kept it because I thought it was cute and sweet. 

I took the picture with my iPhone 11 the camera works very well especially, at night. However, I was surprised by how well the picture came out because it was really dark outside. I was sure that the lights from Pap-Pap’s living room and porch would have created a glare, but it did not. Instead, the light allowed the photo to have a smaller aperture because very little light came through the darkness. I admit that the lights are what immediately catches folk’s attention, but I was focused on my Mom and Pap-Pap and their moment together. More specifically, my Mom was my focus because she rarely takes pictures and I wanted to capture that moment for her. 

"What is the meaning of life? And why do you believe that?"

My Mom is a live-in-the-present type of person, so I was not sure how she would answer this question. She answered, "to me the meaning of life is to live. So every day I aim to live lovingly, vulnerably, empathetically, and listen intently. A younger version of myself spent too much time searching for meaning. Today I choose not to search for meaning and simply acknowledge and appreciate the people, feelings, things, and places that are meaningful to me. I’ve learned that assigning value to things and/or attaching meaning to people drains me. So, I live a life that drives me and I believe it is working in my favor because I’ve never felt closer to myself than I do today." 

I was not surprised by my Mom’s answer because she says variations of this to me all the time. However, seeing her words in print really resonated with me because I really understood what my Mom meant. When I was younger, I was always searching for something to make me feel whole; a friend, social acceptance, or the meaning of something profound like life. But as I got older and a little more mature, I noticed that I was the one assigning meaning to things, people, and places. My Mom is right because when I was constantly searching but never finding what I was looking for, I felt drained and lost. So, I am going to take a page out of my Mom’s book and live in the moment and expand my thinking about the meaning of my life. 

After the mini interview with my Mom, I started to think about what is meaningful to me. Capturing moments and expressing myself through images is so important to me because pictures say things that words cannot express. I’m so moved by photos and would love for my passion to be my career, but I’m learning that being a photojournalist is hard. 

Last week, our instructor told us the story about photographer Kevin Carter. Carter’s photo titled, Starving Child and Vulture depicted a vulture staring at an emaciated Sudanese child. Once the photo was published, it created such controversy. Carter received a lot of hatred and threats because the public was angry that he did not help the child. Carter became so distraught that he committed suicide. However, the public did not know that, due to the rampant disease, Carter was not allowed to touch the child. Prior to learning about Kevin Carter, I was ignorant about the consequences of a photo. Carter’s story revealed to me the unknown challenges that photojournalists can encounter. 

In conclusion, this unit has also given me a lot of insight into how to make my photos better by using important things like aperture/shutter-time and focus. I plan to learn more about photography and eventually turn my passion into a career. I am not sure if I’ll become a photojournalist because a career in journalism requires me to take non-biased objective photos. And this unit taught me that I prefer subjective photography, like the picture of my Mom and Pap-Pap over objective photos. Overall this AP was really cool because I gained a new perspective on life, learned more about perspective in photography, and feel very confident about a career in photography. 

Our America: "Homeless - In Their Shoes"

NDTV, Salvation Army Director hugs homeless Alvin Henry, 2019.

Welcome to the first unit of Journalism! During this first unit of this course, we read a book called Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago. It's a story that takes place in the 90s, and it's about two young teenagers, LeAlan Jones, and Lloyd Newman, living in the ghetto. Last week, we even had an FE with Mr. Jones! It was really cool since each of us had the chance to ask any questions regarding his journey and how his life has changed after publishing this award-winning book. That Fe helped with the AP since it gave us an insight into what we were actually doing.

For our first AP, we were asked to interview three people who live or lived in our neighborhood about what they like about it and what they are concerned about. And when we are done interviewing those people, we were instructed to compare their responses with one another and see what each interviewee talked about the most and write an article about that topic. 

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I live in Downtown Chicago. And as of right now, the population is 37,647, but if you live in Chicago or even visited, you probably know that there is a big problem with the number of homeless people living there as well.

I interviewed all three of my people, and they all seemed to be concerned about that same topic. The homeless population has increased in the area and it is alarming to see so many people out there on the streets, especially when COVID-19 is far from being over and the weather is gradually getting worse.

The three people that I interviewed were my mother, friend, and cousin. Not only because they are close to me and I enjoy talking to me, but these are some of the most opinionated people I know and I just knew they would have valid responses.

I was right! Please read what my interviewees had to say and my response to it, thanks :)

Interviewee 1

Tommorrow Snyder, Stand For Children, 2019.

Name: Tommorrow Snyder

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Relation: Mother

"There are a lot of homeless folks on the street and sidewalks which brings to life the wealth disparities in our country." 

I agree with this statement, without a doubt. Not only did she bring the country into her response but it is the truth! Like every other place, Downtown Chicago has a problem with disparities, not just racial disparities, but in terms of those who are homeless. People in Downtown Chicago are living in condos, paying $2,000-$5,000 a month, with their new iPhones, and Gucci shoes, but can't even give a homeless person a dollar. Instead, they walk right past. I have to admit, I use to be scared to give them money since you never know what they would do with it, but if you look at the joy on their faces when you give them a little something can lift a giant weight off of your shoulders that you probably didn't even know was there.

Interviewee 2

Jazmin Monroy, Instagram, 2019.

Name: Jazmin Monroy

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Relation: Friend

"It can very alarming to see homeless people trying to find shelter as the weather gets colder."

I agree with Jazmin's response. I actually used what she said in the intro since it is true. The weather is slowly getting worse and it can be really scary since we don't want to be in the cold, but imagine homeless people have to go through to get through the winter. Last year, it was so cold that a homeless man named Marshall passed away while wrapped in a blanket, he lived right outside of a pizza place called Rosati's which happens to be right around the corner from my home, and we found out from another homeless man that also lives around the area.

Last, but not least: Interviewee 3

Samar Carmack, Instagram, 2020.

Name: Samar Carmack

Pronouns: he/him/his

Relation: Cousin

"The population is getting bigger ever since the pandemic started and I worry seeing them out there since some of them have children."

I agree with Samar's response as well. I said this in my intro as well. The pandemic is getting much worse. Major cities such as Chicago, Las Angeles, and Chicago have especially been hit the hardest in the beginning. But anyway, many people have lost their jobs and homes due to COVID-19. You can see many people and their children holding up the cardboard with it saying lost my job, no house, please help us, or I am just hungry. It is truly heartbreaking and when you see a child on the street along with the parent, it is even more heart-wrenching because the children need a proper meal, a proper education, a stable house to sleep in.

I got the information from the following two paragraphs from here.

"I would have to go the bathroom at maybe 3 o'clock in the morning to do my homework because I still wanted to be that student I knew I could be," Kaleyah says. Kaleyah's mother lost her house, it was devastating, but she gained support from others in the shelter they were living in. She says that "they became like a second family because we embraced each other's struggles."

There is an estimate of 40,000 homeless people living in the city including thousands of public school students in shelters, tents, parks, etc. In 2014, there were over 22,000 students who were homeless, 2,500 students growing up in a house with no adults and raising their siblings, but still went to school. Since 2003, Chicago donated $5 million towards homeless shelters, but Chicago's Department of Family, Support services, or Rahm Emmanuel would speak about it.

Next time you see a homeless person, my task for you is to at least give them a dollar, get them food, or something simple like starting a conversation with them. They are human beings just like us and that is all they want you to treat them as. Think of how you would feel if you were in their shoes.

Thank you for reading this blog, I hope you enjoyed it, if you would like to learn more about Downtown Chicago and my interviews, please click this slideshow :)

MENTAL HEALTH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR GRADES!

For the second Action Project in A Nation's Argument, we were asked to take a look at our Code of Conduct, choose a rule we disagree with, and argue to change that rule. We connected this to concepts we discussed in the course such as the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and, of course, the Amendments. The purpose of this project was to amend our rules to make a stronger argument in support of the school's goals and I decided to amend our attendance policy. Specifically, allocating a certain number of mental health days to be considered excused absences instead of unexcused. Throughout this quarter, I learned how the smallest details can make your argument more convincing.

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"How can we solve the teen mental health crisis," Dazed, 2018.

This photo is a metaphor for stressed-out students who attend a school where mental health days are perceived as "missing school "just because."

GCE’s Code of Conduct includes various beneficial rules. These rules allow students to take ownership of their education, feel like an active participant in their education and feel less like a prisoner. In our open and oftentimes negotiable rules lies the “Attendance” section. After thoroughly reading them, I noticed that this Code of Conduct mentions nothing about mental health days, so I assume they are perceived as "unexcused absence." There is a small segment about student absence recommendation that reads; "in the case of unplanned, non-emergency absences, students may not be eligible to earn credit for work due on the day of the missed class." Additionally, if this rule is violated, you would have to meet with the Head of the School and your guardian, so I rewrote this as a formal syllogism to make sure I have everything correct.

These are my deductive syllogisms:

P1: Schoolwork is important.
P2: Mental health days aren't allowed.
Conclusion: Schoolwork is more important than your mental health.

Mental illness or mental health is one of the most complex issues in the world, especially for children and teens. It is often ignored and young people are often told to "get over it" or "you're fine" and "it's just a part of life." However, navigating childhood and adolescence can be extremely challenging and it is easy to become overwhelmed, especially when they're handling things like schoolwork, hormones, peer pressure, extracurricular activities, etc. In my experience, teenagers are held to an even higher standard and expected to be something or someone that they are not. More times than not adults and even their peers cannot see all the pressures that that teenagers are under. Due to fear of embarrassment and shame, teenagers tend to hide their issues with humor or mask their true feelings by telling themselves and the world that they are fine.

The Attendance Code's attention seems fixated on excused and unexcused absences, but it doesn't mention anything about mental health days. GCE should know that part of being the kind of school they push to be, includes letting students take a break every once in a while. I think every student should be given a minimum of five mental health days without penalty to provide them the time to regroup. To be fair, the days cannot be used during Action Projects and Final Presentations. This rule does not apply to students who are not actively working to maintain passing grades or who have fallen below 85% attendance. I contend that if GCE continues to works towards preparing students for the "real world," then allocating mental health days could be earned like PTO (Paid Time Off ) days and could help reduce stress.

These are my inductive syllogisms:

P1: Schoolwork is a priority.
P2: Mental health is your top priority.
Conclusion: Schoolwork is not as much of a priority as mental health.

To get to my point, mental health days aren't trivializing absences, they are simply allowing students to take time to start off fresh and regroup your thoughts. I believe they should count as excused absences because many students are dealing with issues that call for some downtime and to be frank, they deserve time to hit a pause on life's demands.

Creating this amendment will teach each student that it is okay to not be okay and feeling less than your best is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a fact that addressing mental health means better mood, improved school performances, and less physical pain. Additionally, taking a day to yourself can improve your focus, allow for more sleep, and increase performance strength. This amended Attendance policy will allow students and school staff to have more conversations regarding mental health, reduce the stigma, and increases acceptance of students' emotional states. When I showed this amendment to my fellow classmates, they agreed and made a comment saying, "mental health days are definitely something every school should approve of."

Those who signed my document: