Htrae

For unit 1 of my Stories class, we went over myths,etiologies, adverbs, adjectives, and sensory imagery. For the action project we went had to create a planet and describe it using different types of descriptive language. The planet I created is called Htrae which is Earth backwards and it is the opposite of Earth. The purpose of this was to see how writers use descriptive language to get the reader to see and feel the setting they are talking about. What I am proud about is getting to make a story/setting with my own personal touch in it. I learned better ways to use descriptive language.

NVA, "Htrae Setting" 2014, Chicago

There is a planet in the O.P. galaxy named Htrae where everything is the opposite of Earth. This world came into being the exact way we thought our own Universe was born through the the Big Bang. Only, in our world we didn’t catch one thing, and that was when the bang went off it also created parallel universes. We earthlings weren't even sure that this happened because it can’t actually be seen. Similar to how the big bang works, it is always expanding and making new worlds. Every time there is an event, thought, feeling, there will be a new universe that goes against that. Htrae was one that came into being.

One of the most unique thing about Htrae is that everything that was thought to be fake in our world is a reality, and that reality is also switched. So, all the twelve powerful Olympian gods of Greece are real, except that Hades, rather Sedah, is the main god. The other eleven were angrily killed off by Sedah who can control everything in our world, and from his pain makes everything suffer like a dictator punishing his subjects. When he does his torture it is worse than almost drowning.

The environment of Htrae is as wretched as its god. Sedah controls the weather so that everything in the sky is a dark grey, and it rains once a week. The depression in the sky is worse than seeing your favorite TV show end. Sedah likes watching everything suffer and he got tired of having to use so much time to do this, so he softly transferred his power to make life forms to a gross dark green and grey decaying form to the rain. Like I said it would rain once a week and that is because, if people aren't affected by the decaying form they will start to become more powerful every two weeks. The rain was like a reset button for everything.

Because this planet is the opposite of earth, there is no water on Htrae, meaning that no life forms drink water. Htraens also don’t eat because they are always in decay and can't eat anything when everything else is also in a gross black decaying form. But, every day before the rain starts up the life forms get one meal. That one meal is like the last day of summer for every creature. The meal is usually really nice, it is meat and vegetables. He lets them have the one meal mainly because he wants them alive, but likes them to suffer. Also there are no hills or mountains because Sedah doesn’t want anything to get higher than  10,000 ft. This is so because if any creature got to the dark skies, they could quickly pray for Suez and help the powerful god rise again. If they ever got to the skies it would be like becoming a millionaire. For Sedah it would worse than breaking a priceless jewel. This is why he made it to where nothing can fly. Sedah has thought everything and he plans to keep it that way for eternity.

Atractosteus Spatula

For unit 1 of my new class Population, we have been learning about different ways we could use Venn diagrams to help with math, how to use sets when talking about math and using different symbols, and taxonomy which is the way to identify/name an animal. We also studied Jane Goodall by reading In Shadow of Man and seeing how she worked with the Chimps.The way scientist use taxonomy is by looking at the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species, and these all have something that tells us how to specifically pick out an animal. For the action project, my teacher gave us a list of animals and everyone had to pick one animal. I happened to pick the Alligator Gar. Once, we had our animal we would have to then find out what Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species they belonged to. Then we would talk to other classmates and create a Venn diagram comparing the animals. Next we would have to make different sets and show how they belong to this set. Then, to show how our animal looked, we had to create a mosaic of our animal. The purpose of this was to see how scientists who classifies animals would do it.

NVA. "Alligator Gar" (2014)

NVA "Alligator Gar Venn Diagram" (2014)

NVA "Alligator Gar Set Notation" (2014)

Carving "This Is The Year"

For Unit 3 of P’Art of History, we covered many parts of history where people revolted for a cause, such as the 8 hour work day, Segregation, and The Vietnam War. For our 3rd Action Project, we made a carving out of soft cut linoleum.Then used it to make a plaster mold of a propaganda poster, explaining what we would revolt for. We also wrote a poem about it that was inspired by Martin Espada’s “Imagine the Angels of Bread”. Below is my amazing poem and my inspiring poster!

NVA, "Stop Testing" 7-24-14, Chicago:GCE

NVA

Carving “This Is The Year”

Soft cut Linoleum, Carving tools, plaster, clay, box knife

6” by 6”

7- 24-14

What Would You Revolt For?

I would strongly revolt for Animal Testing, because….

This is the year;

Apes put Humans in cages

To teach them love and care

Observe as they change heart

As everyone slowly evolves into Greaters

This is the year;

That rabbits concocted from leaves and berries,

both rabbit and human faces are

colorful

without the pains of chemicals

This is the year;

That mice test cures on humans to

treat sickness

instead of stabbing each other with injections

mice cure humans by showing them life’s

truest meaning

If the Haymarket Riots began with the vision

of equality…..

then this is the year;

If the Chicago 8 revolted in court to

fight for what they think is right

then this the year;

If the courts that tried the Chicago 8,

could eventually drop the charges that

violated their freedom of speech.

then this is the year.

So may every rabbit, mouse, and ape

that are trapped in cages

have the right to live and lead us into the new Revolution.

A propaganda poster is a special poster that consists of a power symbol, is bold and has a very strong message. They are usually created to protest a cause or to influence people into taking action. In my art piece the bunny is the power symbol, because many people like bunnies and think they are cute, this helps to create more emotion. The words “Stop Testing” is to tell people what the poster is trying to get at, this is usually done in most propaganda to make the message clear and to the point.

I created my art piece by drawing my protest poster and then coloring in the parts that I wanted to carve with my pencil. Next I would “stamp” my drawing on the soft cut linoleum, then I would softly outline the drawing. Next I would carve my drawing into the linoleum until I thought it was deep enough. Then I would get clay and build 4” tall walls that would border the linoleum. Next I had to spray it with oil so that the walls and the plaster wouldn’t stick to the linoleum and ruin it. Next I poured the plaster into the box. Lastly I cut the walls off and pull off my linoleum and I have my art piece.

NVA, "POH Art" 2014, Chicago:GCE

Carving Chicago's Power

In unit 2 of P’Art of History, my class learned about all the major events that happened throughout the 1800s, such as The Great Chicago Fire and The World Fair of 1893. Both of these show how Chicago has demonstrated resilience. We also studied Art Deco by investing different buildings and sculptures in the city that show elements of Art Deco.We had to think of a time where Chicago has shown resilience in our lifetime. I chose the 2011 snowstorm in Chicago that caused many people to get stuck in their car. As with the previous Action Project. I created an image and a linoleum carving which we would use to create a cement tile

NVA, "Carving Chicago's Power" 7/14-15/14, Chicago: GCE

Carving Chicago’s Power

NVA

6” by 6”

7/14/14

Soft cut linoleum, carving tools, clay, cement, water, and box knife.

In what way has Chicago shown resilience in your life time?

For me it was in 2011, Chicago had one of its worst snowstorms, the snow got up to cars windshields. The cause of this was that warnings that were made weren’t strong enough that people didn't prepare. Also since global warming has become a huge thing now a days, a storm like that is going to be worse. Since the snow was so high many people could not go anywhere. Some people were on Lake Shore Drive, and they were stuck and had to stay days in there cars waiting for people to get them out and to safety. Also many people could not get their cars out of their driveways to go to work, so the city as basically shut down. Chicago showed resilience was by they got snowmobiles and firemen to help get people out of their cars, then they set new protocols so that this kind of thing would not happen again.

Another time Chicago has shown resilience was on Oct 8-9 in 1871, during the Great Chicago Fire. This fire destroyed all of the downtown area and basically everything around it. The story behind the fire was that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow knocked down a lantern and that started the fire, but there were other factors. First of all, many people were stocking up winter and people had a lot of flammable things in there homes. Second, a man who called the firefighters, called all of them except the ones closest to the house.Third, The Chicago River which people hoped would top the fire actually helped fuel the fire because there was so much oil on the river from the trash in it. The fire was so bad that it ruined the whole city turning most of it into ash. But, Chicago demonstrated resilience by rebuilding the city in only two years, the fire didn't burn the lumber yards.Also other states helped give money to Chicago and that helped them fix the financial part they needed. One of the biggest effects was once the city was rebuilt segregation was made in Chicago. After the fire they made a law that said they couldn’t build a house with a wooden frame, it had to be metal.

I used different Kente symbols to represent my example of Chicago showing resilience. My symbols show, hope, learning from the past, courage, patience and tolerance, and humility and strength, Learning from the past is how they made a new system to prevent that from happening again. The courage and patience/tolerance was shown by the people that had to stay in their cars over night in that cold weather. Humility/strength was shown by the whole city and how other states saw them from not helping those people faster. Art deco was a special art during 1800s that was used to show industrialism, it consists of geometric shapes and symmetry.My art piece shows Art Deco, because it is simple, is symmetrical, and has geometrical shapes. I created my piece the same way I did my last, I took a piece of paper and drew a box the was 6” by 6”, then I drew my design. Then I shaded in everything I wanted to carve out. Then I took the paper and put it up against the linoleum and rubbed the pencil drawing onto it. Next I outlined what I was carving, then carved. I used a special carving utensil that cuts precisely. After that,I made a clay border that was 4 inches tall and 1 inch thick, I made this mainly because when I pour the cement on the mold it will hold in place. Next, I actually make the cement, which was done by testing different amounts of water and cement, I took the rocks out of my mix to get a smoother surface, then pour. Lastly, I waited for the cement to dry and then cut the walls off and pull my art piece off which is a cement mold

NVA, "Carving Chicago's Power" 2014, GCE

Carving Neighborhoods

For my new P’Art of History class, we studied the historical events of Chicago during the 1600 - 1800s. We also took an artist view for history and looked at statues of different historical figures. Then we learned about neoclassical art and how the statues are examples of neoclassical art. For our action project we took soft cut linoleum and made molds of what we thought would lay to our Chicago experience. The challenge was trying to get the lines to come out straight. The fun thing about this was trying out a new style of art that uses a different perspective.

NVA, "Protection of the Neighborhoods" 2014, Chciago: GCE

Protection of the Neighborhoods

NVA

6" by 6"

7/1/14

Soft cut linoleum, carving tools

Who lays claim to your Chicago Experience? Well maybe I will help you decide that: 

A neighborhood is what defines how we will grow and the person you are going to be. Now some neighborhoods are nice and peaceful, where others can be life or death walking outside. Everyone’s neighborhood controls them more than people think. It controls the schools effecting your education, the police and how they watch over certain places more than others, and the people you will grow around and their influence on you. Everyone is under the control of their neighborhood. Especially in Chicago because we are so segregated making our neighborhoods more of influence on us.

I live in a middle class neighborhood called Sauganash, where it is very peaceful and rarely has any harm or disturbance. Everyone there is very nice and welcoming, if any new moved in they would always get a warm welcome. Going to school I would always walk confidently knowing I was safe and have little to worry about. I would go to school meet with friends and have class. I always thought that the school was very bad, because of other schools seeming to get high educations. Then a new teacher came up and she used to be a teacher at the south side of Chicago. She said that we are lucky because in her old school everyone would get in fights and she would have to break them up form fights. Many kids from her neighborhood wouldn't get good educations because of where they lived and everyone around them.

After that I would always look at neighborhood and think I was very lucky to actually live in a good place where I wasn’t influenced by gangs ruining my chances of my education today. Today many people are shaped from their neighborhoods and how they think of Chicago today. When someone is born in a neighborhood they are patented to that area and everything they become is determined right there.

This would relate to historical events from the 1800s when people were just starting to lay claim to the new land around them. Between the period of 1783-1812, the British stayed in the Old Northwest and manipulated Native American tribes to fight for them against the Anglo Americans. The British did this by giving them weapons, money, and alcohol and in turn, certain Native American tribes harassed Anglo-American on their newly acquired frontier. The tribe that helped them was the Winnebago but the Pottawatomie and the Miami didn't like the British.

Chief Black Hawk believed that property couldn’t be owned, and that when you won something it has to be something that you can bring with you. This relates to what I’m saying, because I believe that land has claim over land and not that you have claim over the land. Also we are that something that land can bring, make, and shape.

My piece is 6” by 6” and shows the different neighborhoods, upper, middle, and lower and how they all are different in the way of the people act. The shields are the protection of that neighborhood and how well protected by the police it is. The border frames are what that neighborhood is about and what they are known for, from luxury to death. The money shows how the upper class has lots of money, the trees for the middle class show how a middle class neighborhood is peaceful, and last the fences on the lower class show how in lower class neighborhoods it can be very dangerous. The two lines are to show how Chicago is very segregated, and the reason ones are bigger than others is because the classes of neighborhoods can determine how much land they have and how well known they are. Also the lines that separate the neighborhoods are bigger close to the rich side because they are so isolated from the middle and lower classes, and the other one is smaller because middle and lower classes are closing together.

Neoclassical art - Is old art style that contains mainly, simplicity, symmetrical, clean lines, unemotional, and a heroic figure. My piece could be an example of this type of art because it is simple, there are clean lines, and is a little symmetrical.

I have created my art piece using soft cut linoleum, which is like a denser clay and is very good for carving. Instead of redrawing my piece or doing it from sight. What I did was I made what I was going to carve dark with pencil on the original paper. Then, I stamped it on to the linoleum and I was able to what I had to carve, I outlined it aswell so I could see better. Last the carving, I used a special tool that somewhat worked like a shovel and very precisely started to slowly move it and it would carve. Once I carved it, I took a bigger piece and tried to make it cleaner

What I plan to do next with it, is take cement and pour it on it then once the cement dries I will have a tile that will make everything that is carved in pop out.

NVA, "Carving Neighborhoods" 7/14/14, Chicago: GCE

NVA, "Carving Nieghborhoods" 2014, Chicago:GCE

Saturday School

Other than GCE I attended a Greek school every Saturday for 3 hours, where I would learn the Greek language and culture/history. The reason I did was, because my dad is Greek and his whole side of the family is as well. It was challenging because it was on Saturdays, and I would always have plans. I enjoyed going because I got to meet people that were at various levels of Greek. I also learned how to Greek dance, which is a very big part of the culture.

NVA, "Essay Certificate." 2014, Chicago

The picture above is a certificate of excellence for writing an essay on my thoughts/experience with the Greek culture.

Ever since I was young (5-8 years old)  I did everything Greek; I practiced the religion, I went to festivals, I ate the food, and I would hang out with Greek people. The only thing holding me back from being one hundred percent Greek was I couldn't speak the language. When I was younger I would go to school to learn Greek at a church like most Greek children, but I would always struggle, even when I was put in the special needs classes. I would always keep trying for my father because he is Greek and his whole side of the family would speak it. When I would go home to try some of what I learned that day, I would mix up words and I would always mess up every time. So after that my family decided that I wouldn't attend school at that church anymore. I never took any classes after that because regular school always got in the way. I also started to attend fewer events, like, going to church or going to festivals. Years later when I was about to start high school my family and I decided to give it another shot.

We would first read a story from our books, then we would go over the vocab and discuss what was happening in the book to see if we understood. Then we would go to our work books and do a lesson. When a holiday would come we would have a big event where each class would come up and do a poem about that holiday and what it meant for the Greek community. I would always get very nervous, but my teacher knew I would struggle so she would only give me a small verse. Same would happen for graduation. Before any class would begin we had to do dancing, which was very fun and good exercise. We would learn these different dances each time a new holiday was coming. Then we performed what we learned at the big events after our poems had been read.

In the end, I learned how to pronounce the letters, and understand some of what I was reading. I never got to learn how to write it, but I am still proud that I went to that class. Even though it was for one day of the week for six months and I had to balance my first year of high school, I still learned a lot more than I did when I was younger. I plan to take it next year so I can continue to learn the language of my family. Thank you for reading!

LIfe "Masterpiece"

In the last unit of Food for Thought, our humanities course we were assigned to team up in four groups to demonstrate the understanding of our four units in pictures. The main points of the whole drawing are agricultural history, and to envision a sustainable future of food production. Each group had to have 3 topic points to demonstrate in the drawing. My group was assigned the first unit which was Life. This unit talked about the beginning of agriculture and ancient civilization and how different foods were found and domesticated. For inspiration the whole class looked at a very interesting piece of artwork done by "The Beehive Collective," called the "True Cost of Coal." The major challenge of this drawing was to connect all the units together through different styles of artwork. The other challenge was thinking about the future of food, with all the experiments that scientists do with food, is there really a bright looking food production ahead of us?

                                                   NVA "Life Masterpiece" 6-2-14, Chicago: GCE

NVA (2014) Food For Thought

This drawing is based on the first unit, called “Life.” The main focus of this unit is how and why humans transitioned from hunter-gatherers to agrarian societies, and how different ancient societies domesticated and found food. In my group, we decided to make a road timeline to connect all the units together. For our unit, we drew an assortment of different foods on the road. The reasoning for this is to symbolize how people grew crops to survive. There were no chemicals or fertilizers, so societies grew organic gardens. In 10,000 B.C.E, people were hunter-gatherers, which means they hunted animals and fish support their diet.

We drew trees and plants on one side of the road to represent life and peaceful times. We used keywords to guide our drawing. We used organic, domestication, and life. On the other side of the road we drew trees and plants to represent life. We also drew hunter-gatherers to show them hunting for food, and how they lived a natural lifestyle.  We showed the society by water and we showed the people farming and hunting.  

The beginning of agriculture is where the word “life” comes from. We wanted to show in our drawing, how our ancestors settled where they did and how they domesticated their foods. The importance of this unit is vast and it all comes together since this is the first of four units. Unit 2 revolves around monoculture, death, and colonization. Unit 3 revolves around this world’s food industry and the way that our food is made and treated today. Unit 4 revolves around the modification of the food industry and how life has transitioned through all 3 units, and imagines what the future of food might look like.