Unifying Two Cultures

In the Experiential term I had to work with a group and make a micro-mentary, which is a small documentary. We had to create a guiding question and then go off that, telling historical events, current events, and what we want to see. The purpose of this was to see what question we could raise about the deaf community and telling different things to answer it. The challenge of this was, the communication within are group. The one fun thing was finding out more about the deaf challenges.

 

 

Introduction

Our group of freshman and sophomores students studied ASL and Deaf culture this term. We were most interested in exploring one question: How might we reform education to promote maximum unity between the DHH & hearing communities? To do this, we looked at three domains of Deaf culture which impact a student’s life: Community, Language, & Education. In each domain, we will highlight some history within Deaf culture, articles which discuss current debates, and Field Experiences with partners who practice transformative solutions. By collecting, profiling and sharing examples of people unifying young people in the DHH and hearing communities, our group becomes one.

1. Community

In the past Alexander Graham Bell wanted to ban intermarriage of Deaf men and women to stop the procreation of deaf children and close residential schools to prevent a stronger community and culture from forming. When the deaf had no sign language they turned to art work as a way to express their feelings. (De’VIA ). The community now is very isolated from the mainstream world, which is a big issue. Sports, Churches, and Meetings have made their community larger. Cochlear implants are threatening the existence of Deaf culture. We want to see the DHH and Hearing community interact with each other more. We had a chance to visit a local Starbucks and interact in a deaf conversation. It was a shock to see how they were the ones helping us more than the other way around. 

2. Language
In schools, and in the world, there is a communication barrier between hearing and DHH students : DHH students cannot speak and hearing students cannot sign. This barrier is significant because language is the central means of communication, interaction, and education.

Sign language is the 3rd most used language in the US . There are now schools for just deaf people because using interpreters became an issue. We would like to see the mainstream world become more supportive and informed about these deaf programs and school. We talked to Jill Sahakian, a Chicago Hearing Society staff member, who talked about interpreters and how they have truly bridged the gap between the deaf community. We also talked to Erenie who talked about project Aspire, which helps deaf kids with cochlear implant.

3. Education
Education is one of the biggest barriers that many Deaf people face. Everyone has the right to be successful, but why is it so hard for deaf students? That all started when Bell worked to eradicate Deaf culture in education by seeking the removal of deaf teachers and closing residential schools. Well, the problem isn’t the way that people are educated but rather the standards that are set for hearing students are different from the standards of Deaf people. Through education we can change the way that the Hearing and DHH communities come and work together


We can do this by having more schools offering ASL as a foreign language in High School. This will show the world the truth about Deaf culture.

 

 

 

Interacting With The DHH

In the Experiential term, I was interacting with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) community. Throughout this term, I learned American Sign Language (ASL) and learned more about the community. The purpose of this was to see a community that had many different views and how they are actually a normal culture. What I learned was that the Deaf community is just like any other language. I think learning ASL was the most important part to truly understanding DHH culture.

NVA "DHH Coffee Meet" 3-23-14 Chicago

World View

ASL has changed everything I thought I knew about the Deaf community, I thought that they had a sign for every word. I also thought that deaf people never did any regular events, and that they weren't "normal" people. Then I learned they don't have a sign for every word and that they break down sentences to make it easier. I also learned that the deaf community does anything that the hearing community does. This changed how I thought deaf people actually communicated with each other, and how they lived and interacted.

 

Field Experiences

The one FE partner that inspired me the most this term was Jill Sahakian because she talked about the importance of becoming an interpreter. She also talked about how an interpreter has to be very skilled and focused. She also answered many questions I had about, why the hearing schools didn't have interpreters anymore. Interpreters bridge that gap between the DHH and the Hearing communities. To Jill, I say, "thank you so much for teaching me the importance of an interpreter and you have inspired me to learn how to become one or study that field at least." In the picture above I went to a Starbucks with a couple of schoolmates and we had a normal conversation with a group of people deaf or hard of hearing. I really liked this FE because there were no teachers, and I could have regular conversations and not having be about school. At Starbucks, we talked to different people, giving them our names and just having  a conversation about GCE. One person I talked to was Greg, who became deaf when he was in his 40s. I learned some new signs such as, high school and how to say different grades for high school.  

 

Group Project

Throughout the term, I have also been working with a group and we had to create a micromentary about the DHH community. In this, I was the videographer and script-writer. As a videographer, I had to take video and pictures of the FEs my class went to. As a script-writer, I had to write the script that my group would go off of to make the video. I learned a lot of new things from this group project, I learned about how cochlear implants is one of the biggest issue in the DHH community and whether a child should decide or the parent to get one for the child. Another thing I learned was that art was a big thing in the DHH community and that when deaf people had no sign language they used art to communicate their emotions. I learned that it is difficult to get everything done in a group because most of the time is spent discussing what we should do and how.

 

Walking in Another Person's Shoes

I think the way we lived the life of a DHH person and stepped in their shoes was by truly getting to know the community, by interacting and doing research, and seeing the different views on the different issues with the DHH community.Then we may be able to get where they are coming from and why they act the way they do. I did this by interacting with people in the community. I went a Starbucks that was holding a deaf chat. I learned more about cochlear implants, and now I know what a big issue it is.

 

ASL in Action 

 

 

HI, My name is NVA.

I got to GCE High School

Thank You, Eugene for teaching me sign Language

You are the best teacher!

Bye!

Carbon Dioxide Footprint?

For my fuel class, we had to find out how many tons of carbon we put in the air and put all the info in a plan. We found this out by using a carbon dioxide footprint calculator, after that we had to then find out what actions we could take and how many tons of carbon they offset. The purpose of this was to see how much carbon dioxide we put in the air annually and to see how different actions could help. The challenge was finding out how many metrics tons it would be, compared to how many tons. One fun thing was to actually see how many tons of carbon dioxide I put in the atmosphere.

 

 

                                                  NVA "CO2 Solutions." 2-19-14. Chicago: GCE

 

Pollution is chemicals or toxins that are released into the air that can cause many different outputs to the environment. These toxins can be released into the air in many different ways, from breathing to burning fossil fuels, and from volcanoes erupting to livestock giving off methane gas.. These ways are mainly due to man, and the only way to lower these outcomes is to change the way we live today.

One of the biggest pollutants is carbon dioxide, which can be transferred to the atmosphere through any of the ways I listed above. People release many tons of carbon into the atmosphere annually. I release about 33.3 tons or 30.2 metric tons of carbon each year;11% from goods, 33% from services, 21% from food, 25% from shelter, and 10% from mobility. It would take 6.1 Planets Earths exactly to provide enough resources, if everyone produced that much carbon dioxide. To offset these carbon emissions, I would have to plant 775 trees to sequester the carbon dioxide I produce. This information is called a “carbon footprint”. It is how much carbon we create and put in the atmosphere.

Annually, my lifestyle produces the same amount of greenhouse gases as 6.3 passenger vehicles, while my carbon dioxide emissions are equivalent to 3,387 gallons of gasoline consumed. This is a lot for just one person, especially because I don’t drive myself.

There are three actions I could take that would help reduce my carbon footprint and could be helpful for others to do. Below are the actions and how they can help reduce carbon emissions:

Reduce the amount of animal products you currently eat by half:

- I eat mainly beef and chicken, and both are big animals that release methane into the air. By taking this action, and eating half of what I eat now, I can go from 6.1 Planets Earths to 6 planets taking away 0.1 planets. Following this action, will reduce my carbon dioxide emissions from 33.3 to 32.6 tons, 0.7 tons less than before.

Use solar panels to provide most of the electricity in your house:

-If I took this action, it would help the offset the carbon dioxide emissions, because it would reduce the amount of coal or natural gases that get into the air when burned to create the electricity. The number of Planets Earths required to support lifestyle would be reduced by 0.9, which is 6.1 to 5.2. From this action, my carbon dioxide emissions would be reduce by 6.8 tons, the difference between 33.3 and 26.5 tons of carbon dioxide.

Make all your appliances more energy efficient:

-My household appliances are energy efficient, but by making them more efficient it would help reduce the amount of energy needed to make the appliance work. The number of planets would be reduced by 0.3 planets, which would be 6.1 to 5.9. By switching to energy efficient appliances, I will reduce my carbon dioxide emissions by 2 tons, the difference between  33.3 and 31.3 tons of carbon dioxide.

These actions would help get rid of some of my carbon dioxide emissions, but they won’t get rid of all it. More people should invest money/time for an emissions reduction project, because these projects can help keep the greenhouse gases contained and remove them from them the atmosphere. One way that people could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is by planting trees. As I said before, I would need to plant 775 trees to sequester my emissions.  Scientists have found that 1 urban tree will sequester (or remove) 0.039 metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere. I can use the formula 1 tree/0.039 metric tons. The formula means that with every 1 tree planted, 0.039 metric tons of carbon are removed from the air due to photosynthesis. 30.2 metric tons (1 tree/0.039 metric tons) = 30.2/0.039 = 774.35, which would round up to 775 trees.

 

Even without investing, I could just follow the actions. All of these actions put together would reduce the number of planets needed by 1.1, which is 6.1 to 5 planets. This would reduce my carbon dioxide emissions from 33.3 to 25.7 tons or 30.2 to 23.3 metric tons. In other words, I would have reduced my carbon output by 7.6 tons. Then, to offset these emissions, I would only have to plant 598 trees, which is 177 LESS TREES needed to take care of the carbon I’m giving off. We need to be at 350 ppm of carbon in the air, and because we put so much carbon in the air we are at 400 ppm and rising. We need to start taking actions now and get that number down!

REFERENCES:

"Clean Energy: Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.

"Footprint Calculator." Global Footprint Network. Sept. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.

"How Emissions Reduction Projects Work." TerraPass. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

"Carbon Dioxide." World of Earth Science. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. Web 21 Feb. 2014    

"What is a Carbon Footprint." Time For Change. Web 21 Feb. 2014           

The Dream Catcher's Purpose

In my Who Am I class, everyone had to make a dream catcher that would symbolize the positive and negative elements that are filtered out by a dream catcher. The purpose of this is to see what messages the unconscious sends us and to see how we can symbolize our bliss. The challenge was picking the the items that would symbolize the different elements. The fun thing about this was getting to chose how I wanted the dream catcher to be made and I didn't have to follow instructions.

                                                       NVA, "Dream Catcher" 2-20-14. Chicago

The dream I based my dream catcher  off of was a dream that I had when I was younger. I was in my house and this man with a mask banged on my window and I ran to my room, while he was breaking the door open. Then he opened up the closet where I was hiding in my room and I pushed him, then ran. It went dark and I showed up at a friend's house and the man had them all tied up. Then I woke up. From that dreamed I learned that I need to face my fear of men that are stronger than me and stand up for myself more. If I would have stood up for myself before the dream, then I would not have had those dreams. The middle of a dream catcher symbolizes someone's bliss or what means the most to them. My bliss is that I want to have adventures and travel the world. To symbolize this I used yellow beads to symbolize this bliss and I made it my "creator" for this dream catcher, I made the beads in a circle so that they can pass by easily. I want my good dreams to head for the white string so that it knows where to go. The beads that are hanging are used to filter out the bad dreams, I used green string to attract them and turn them in good dreams. The green string will symbolize good and wash away the evil. The three blue lines on the outside symbolize the people that were tied up in the dream. The skulls on the catcher means "death" to the bad dreams. Under the skulls are the feathers, which are peacock feathers. I used them because it looks like they have eyes. I want those eyes to look over me while I'm sleeping. I want my real bliss to come to me and not let the ego get through. I know that every dream has a message from the unconscious, I want my unconscious to help me reach my bliss. If I use this dream catcher, then I may be able to reach my bliss and do something meaningful in my life.

How Is It Going To End?

For this Who Am I action project, everyone had to come up with a guiding question that related to different parts of the unit. What I came up with was How is it going to end? The purpose of this action project was to see how a guiding question could relate to a persons doubt. What I learned was that when it comes to this questions, different religions say something different. While all scientists mainly agree on that the sun will be are end. The challenge of this action project was finding different religious views.

                                                      Celestia. "Red Giant" 2013. Internet: Wikipedia

My guiding questions is, How is it going to end? I arrived at this question because in The Truman Show he didn’t know what was going to happen to him when he found that he was being watched. Just like Descartes he wanted to know how it was going to end for him. Truman doubted that everyone around him were actually people he could trust, because he knew that it was all an act. Also that he couldn't control his life without being watched. In the end he does regain his control of his life and leaves to start a new life. Descartes wondered how man came to be and how our lives would end. 

I was compelled by the importance of this question because, this question is something that everyone wonders. No one can really tell you or someone what their life is going to turn out to be or how life would actually end. There is always something that can happen to change everything that is planned. I want to pursue this question because, I always want to know how it will actually end because people from different backgrounds have different answers. Philosophers can answer this questions because they think about how we began and how it will end. Then the philosophy would go into two categories, religion and science. Scientists would answer this question by studying space and how everything works outside of earth. Scientists answer this by stating that the sun will expand and kill off everything. While, religion would answer the question by focusing the question on the second coming.

My question is universal and is relevant to all humanity because, everyone wonders at one point in their life, how their lives is going to end up or how their life might end? Also that everyone has different answers, whether it would be religious or scientific. Many religions think it will be when God or evil, comes to the real world. In Christianity they believe that everyone will exist until the second coming, which is when Jesus Christ would come back to the real world. Or in Buddhism, we will be the cause of our own end. Scientists believe that the world will end by the sun becoming a Red Giant and kill everyone and everything.

In the end, there is no real answer to how the world will end. It could be the sun turning into a red giant of it could be the second coming. Anything could happen to the world and we might not have full control of it, but maybe like Truman we can regain our control.

“The Science of the Real End of the World.” Ethan Siegel. Science Blogs. 12-20-12. Retrieved 2-7-14


“Eschatology.” n.p. Wikipedia. 2014. Retrieved 2-7-14

You Must Switch to Wind Turbines!

In my class fuel, students had to pick a partner and those two would pick one of two renewable resources, Wind energy or Solar energy. My partner and I chose to do Wind turbines, because we both didn't know much on how they worked and the money behind one. The purpose of this project was to see if we could make a video that explained how wind turbines work, the money behind one, and to see if we could make a compelling argument. The challenge of this project was creating the video.
  

 

  

 

NVA: Hi my name is Nick, I live in Denver and I use solar panels, but the area I live in is very shady and doesn't get a lot of sun.  Is there another renewable resource that I can use to lower my electricity bill?

 

GS:  One resource that you could try is wind energy, because it is renewable, and there is an endless supply of it.  It is also environmentally friendly, like solar panels, neither of which, create pollution!

 

NVA:  That's great, but how do they work exactly?

 

GS:  Wind turbines transfer motion energy in the wind to electricity.  The way this is accomplished is as follows: The wind spins the propellers.  The generator uses magnets to create electricity, which goes to a substation.  The substation transfers the energy to the grid, which goes to your house.

 

GS: However, there are some negative impacts on wildlife.  Birds and other animals could be hit by the spinning propellers.  Also, some people are bothered by the noise that wind turbines produce.  However, not everyone feels that way.

 

NVA: Thank-you for alerting me to the cons of wind energy.  The biggest obstacle that I am worried about is overcoming the financial aspect.  My electrical bill is about $50 a month.  Would I be paying more for the turbines?

 

GS:  Your energy bill says you use around 386 kWh in any given month, which means you are paying $17.70 per kWh for electricity in a single month.  If you were to purchase a wind turbine, you could certainly reduce this monthly cost. However, initially, you will be spending more than you will in the long run.

 

NVA: Really?  How much would it cost initially?  And when would I break even?

 

GS: To buy the wind turbine, it costs about $10,000.  However, in 7 years, you will break even, and make your money back.

 

NVA: How much would I save in the long run?

 

GS: Over the course of 14 to 15 years, you could save anywhere between $654- $1,248.  I hope I have helped you answer your questions about wind turbines.

 

NVA: You definitely have!  I think wind energy is a great alternative to non-renewable resources like coal and petroleum.

 

 

REFERNECES

"How Does a Wind Turbine Work?" n.p. U.S. Department of Energy. Jan 23, 2013. Retrieved from web 1-31-14

 

"Wind Energy Pros and Cons" n.p. Energy Information, n.d.  Retrieved from web 1-29-14

 

"Solar or Wind Calculator" n.p. Solar-Estimate. n.d. Retrieved from web 1-31-14

 

Wikimedia, "Wind Turbine Holderness" Nov 26, 2013. Countryside. Retrieved 2-3-14

 

U.S. Department of Energy. Energy 101-Wind turbines, 2014. Retrieved 2-4-14

 

 

Conquering My FEAR!

In my Who Am I class, are class had to pick one memory that we had, that explained who we are. The memory I picked was when I went to Six Flags and conquered all my fears. The purpose was so we could make are class mates feel like they were actually with me at Six Flags, using there 3 of the 5 senses. The challenge of this was trying to find a memory that says who I am.

                                              Wikipedia  "Batman Station" n.d. Chicago: Six Flags


Waking up from a great sleep, my face shining brighter than the sun because I knew that today was the day I was going to Six Flags with my best friend Richard and his parents. I tiptoed outside to see how warm the weather was. It was perfect! When Richard and his parents pulled up, I jumped into the car and strapped in for the day. When I was younger, I was always scared of heights, which made me scared of rollercoasters. This wasn’t my first time going to Six Flags, but because of the fear I would only go on a limited amount of rides. After we pulled up I was blasted from the heat, then when I walked up to the gates I saw people squeeze through the gates. Half of the people wearing either beach wear and the other half wearing just normal shorts with a short sleeve t-shirts. While walking closer and closer the temperature changed a little due to the water park. Once in, it would be tradition to take a picture in front of the the pond. The blue of the pond, bluer than Poseidon’s eyes reflected the sky and made the perfect backdrop for a yearly photo.

People dressed in shorts and t-shirts whirred past me in streaks of different colors to be the first in line for their favorite rides. As Richard and me raced to are first ride the Whizzer, we knew the ride would have a line as always. This ride always makes me happy and free, knowing that I was slowly getting rid of my fear. We went to the water park. The smell was always the same, chlorine and every one in their swim wear and kids running around to the pool or a slide. Then we changed into our swim trunks which was normal to me to do. After that we went to the wave pool which always had a rough and sharp floor that would cut my feet from time to time. After that Richard and I went to the water slide called the Toilet, which I was not so fond of, because when I was little my mom and I went on a slide and I almost fell off the doughnut raft and my mom was trying to keep me from falling with her feet. After the 50th time of asking I said, “Alright I will go, but just one.” When I got on my heart was pounding, once on we zoomed past everything my, stomach dropped and then brightness hit my eyes. We swirled around. When we got off I realized that it was fine and I would be fine, then screamed, “Lets go Again!!” Richard was happy that he helped me overcome my fear. After conquering one of my fears, we changed back into our clothes, and ran off to the part of the park to conquer more rides.

We started with a familiar ride, the Viper. I have been on this ride many times, so I knew once the ride starts that I should get a good grip on the leather padding. The ride brings us slowly up and I love listening to the chain pulling us up, one rung at a time. Once, the chain gets us at the top of the tracks I feel like I am sitting on top of the world with the best view of the park. Sitting up there for mere seconds, then ZOOM, the chain weaves us up and down and I feel my hair fluttering in the wind like I am flying. Once off and I put my hair back down I felt ready to try more rides, but before that I need to have something to eat. I ate pizza which was most bought and then some ice scream.

After eating, I was ready to conquer more rides. Richard suggested we try X-Flight which looked very scary because of the twists and turns, just looking at it made me sick. In the line my stomach started to feel unease and I begged to get out of line, but Richard wouldn’t let me go. When I get on my heart is pounding and I’m not so happy. The ride was amazing and I knew I was ready for more rides. The sun started to set, so we knew that we had to get on as many ride as possible, we raced around the park getting in lines. We finally arrived at Batman, the ride. It looked very unsettling because of all the loops and the twists. Any fear was quickly left behind once I got in my seat, and this tall African American man said, “I’m screamer which made Richard and I laugh. This helped me think of how many people were scared and would always scream and over exaggerate, which showed why I shouldn’t be scared. When I got any rides like this I would have to take off my glasses, which made it blurry and I couldn't see what was going on as well. This made the ride not as fun, but I stilled enjoyed it very much. After that we knew that we better get on another ride before the park closed, our last ride was the Superman, which didn't seem scary because of adrenaline When on I got on my seat and waited and then before everything the seat came from vertical to horizontal, then we were off just looking down as slowly moved upward. My friend had his eyes closed because of the height we were at and just looking down. When the started it was just blurry and dark for me again. When off I realized that it wasn’t very fun, I thought it as a waste to go on. I thought about it later and realized that it did help me conquer my fear, because it helped me feel and see what it felt like to be that high and looking down, for more rides to come in the future.

 At the end of the day I was so tired from all the rides and the water park, but I was really happy that I was able to conquer my fear and see how fun rollercoasters are. While driving home Richard and I felt very happy and talked about which was our favorite new ride and both agreed on the Batman. Just like Jung I had adapted to something new and wasn't really aware that I just had done that, but I was really proud of myself for doing it. We started driving back home, and I knew that I would remember that day for a long time.