BJJ Kid

While doing school at GCE to become mentally strong, I wanted to learn how to become physically fit. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a martial art where it acts as a sport and a self defense mechanism. This something that I have always wanted to do, with other kinds of martial arts. The main challenge is that it is very hard to upgrade in this martial art, taking a lot of mentally and physically will. This also helped me meet new, people and because of the place I go, POW MMA and Fitness, I got to also explore other martial arts.

NVA/AA "Gracie Regional Tournament" 2015

So to start from the beginning, I was actually inspired first by boxing, mainly through watching movies where it showed the man get defeated and then rise up from will. So in about 2 years ago, I watched a movie called Never Back Down, this had the same premise of Karate Kid, but instead of Karate, he did mix martial arts (MMA). This movie was a slap to face and from that point I wanted to join a place and learn how to fight, but also learn how to become a more cerebral person.

It took a while, but I found POW MMA and Fitness, where for my first class I took Muay Thai, which is the art of eight limbs, meaning fists, legs, elbows, and knees. I did that for a week or, and then I remembered that the main reason I joined this place was to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and I quickly started that, while also doing Muay Thai. Then, I realized I joined this place at the right time, because they started doing martial art of the month, where every Wednesday of the month they would do a martial art that they didn’t normally have. That quickly grabbed my attention, and the very first one was Kung Fu, a very old and well known Chinese martial art. Then it was Taekwondo, which is a well known Korean martial art, mainly focuses on kicks; since everyone loved this it went on for 2 months. Now it is currently Jeet Kun Do, which is Bruce Lee’s martial art that is a mixture of martial arts he liked.

The one martial art though that has had my focus, is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is my all time favorite, because this martial uses leverage, unlike many martial arts. This one takes, a lot of mental strength as well, because it it like playing chess, you are always trying to out smart people. I am training with guy named Dino Costeas, who once trained with the very famous Rickson Gracie. A man named Helio Gracie created this, because he was taking Traditional Jiu Jitsu, and he was a much smaller person than his brothers, so he tweaked that martial art to make it best for him. Now the Gracie family is huge in the fighting world, and the are the ones who created the UFC, mainly to show how powerful Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was to the world.

From doing this for 5 months, I have become very fit, and I think a little more logically in certain situations. Something that martial arts taught me that I always will remember, is that people do martial arts so they never have to use them. I think I can stand for myself more, being someone that people could always pick on, making me very inconfident about myself. I am still a white belt, but one life goal I have set for myself, to become a black belt, which will be hard but I am up for the challenge. I will definitely, keep doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and trying other martial arts to mainly become a well rounded fighter.

Giving Yourself Medical Attention

In unit 3 of my Cure class, we learned about how prevent problems from happening, and making ourselves our own doctors. We for some FEs, looked at diets, yoga, and making medication out of herbs. Leading me to the action project, we had to create a video where a person went to do the doctor to look for a way to prevent something from happening to them. For me I chose a man wanting to prevent any lung problems from happening, as you might see the doctor is very caring and understanding, which is in honor of Patch Adams and how he was so loving to the people he treated. The purpose of this was to show people that they can be there own doctors, and that we control a lot in our lives. Please enjoy!


                     

What does the Chorus do?

In unit 3 of my Drama course, we read A Raisin in the Sun to examine the role of the matriarch. We also learned about Greek tragedies and what they have done to superheroes to make them seem more life like. Also we looked at the chorus in a play and song, and how they say the moral in the story. We went to the Cultural Center to look at paintings, and to practice techniques to write a Greek chorus. For this Action Project we picked a character from Raisin in the Sun and to show that characters in the play have their moments of glory and failure just like a Greek tragedy. I picked Walter from the play because he is someone who has a lot of problems with trying to be a hero. The purpose of this was to see how important a chorus is in a play, song, and book. Please enjoy the chorus I made to resemble a Greek tragedy, a Raisin in the Sun.

The Common Cold

In unit 2 of my cure class, we learned about the quadratic formula, and we looked about different medicines and their purposes. For a FE we went to CVS and Whole Foods to look at the packaging of medicine, and the different things they say, including side effects, the intended effect etc. Leading me to the action project, we had to create a medicine box, that had a main ailment and the symptoms. Then we had to add four different treatments for this ailment, behind and over the counter, and two others that someone would/could do at home. The ailment I have chose was the common cold, because it is something I get from time to time, and it usually lasts longer than any other ailment for me. We also for the action project had to make a video solving the quadratic formula given to us by the dimensions of our boxes. The purpose of this action project was to show people all the different medications there are for people to use, that are in chemical form and outside treatments.

NVA "The Common Cold Box" 5-09-15. GCE Lab School

The Stone Journal

For unit 2 of my Drama class we looked at the three plays, first it was A Doll's House, next was The Little Foxes, and last was Marie Antoinette. With in these plays the main theme was what women's roles were when it came to society, and should it they be equal to men. In A Doll's house they hit on that subject by talking showing how the main character is controlled by everyone and then how she finally gets the power to control her husband. In The Little Foxes they hit on this subject by showing how the women had all the control over the other main characters, who were men. With Marie Antoinette they actually showed how society controlled her life. Some FEs we went on were going to watch the play Marie Antoinette and got to interview the understudy. Now to the action project, we had to write a script with us as one of the characters, Nora from A Doll's House, and a historical/mythical figure. I chose Medusa as my mythical character to use in my play, because I like Greek Mythology so much. My play in a summary is about, Me and Nora as friends, meet Medusa and have to battle her, finding the what society can do to people.