Kyianna Thomas - Dance to the Beat !

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  • My vision was for people to use dance to express themselves for when times get rough or when they just wanna let all their feelings out. First, I taught at my dance school Philly Movements Dance Company to kids ages 2-6. I taught ballet, tap, jazz, and tumbling. This was an experience that opened my eyes to dance. I learned that no matter what age you are dance helps you develop the type of person you are. Looking at the kids beautiful faces every Saturday was not easy because I had to deal with the screaming, crying, and the “ I want my mom” statement.  Then I created a mini course for the students at my school so that they would have a outlet. This mini course was so much fun. I may have screamed at them and told them that I was done but in reality I couldn’t just give up in them. I told them about all the problems that I was having leading up to the final performance. I learned that when trying to put on a show it would cause so many challenges and I would have to talk to adults about how everything would work out. They performed at the BSU 2nd Annual Gala which was a success. Future Advice for upcoming seniors, Use your resources to the best of your ability because the school, family and friends will be your guidance and help.


Annotated Bibliography



1. Allen, Debbie. "Debbie Allen Dance Studio." {{ Metas.metaService.title }}. Accessed January 25, 2019. http://www.debbieallendanceacademy.com/about/debbie-allen.

  • This source will help my project because she was a black women to make it on tv. This will help my project because it will be a push that I can use to help my students. This source could also help with the way I would encourage my dancers. She was a dancer, choreographer, and tv director. Her leadership roles will impact me with the way I handle problems I will run into.


2. Clark, Makayla. Interviewed by Kyianna Thomas, January 4th, 2019


  • My godsister will reflect on how kids ages 2-6 feel about dancing. When interviewing her I realized that this would be a perfect source because of the analysis she gave. In this source she talks about how much fun dance is and who her role model is. This would help my project by allowing me to understand young minds and what there into. It seem like kids this young are into the disney channel theme songs. It keeps them moving and grooving,

3.  "Dance | University of the Arts." The University of the Arts Place of Choice. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.uarts.edu/academics/dance#tab-4.

  • This source helps my project because in this video a young lady presents about how dance is about movement. She talks about how we as people create dance moves everyday. The nature and the object we use everyday are a type of dance. It not about the movement it mainly about the emotion behind it.


4. "Dance Team - Dance Technique." Varsity.com. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.varsity.com/news/dance-team-dance-technique/.

  • This source talks about the way you should hold your body when doing dance. It tell you about ways you won’t hurt yourself if you do it the proper way. This source will help my project when people ask about what is the right from wrong when from to position yourself the correct way.

5. "Dance Terms." MaDance Techique. Accessed January 25, 2019. http://www.madance.com/mazone/Technique.pdf.


  • This source is all dancer terms. It gives you the ins and out when a dance teacher language. It also describes every term fully and the way it suppose to be done. This helps my project by giving me insight on what it means to expand my vocabulary. As well as help the dancer I teach who want to be in the professional field.

6. HISTORY OF MUHAMMAD. Accessed January 25, 2019. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab82.

  • This source helps me talk about the history behind dance. It will help with my style of teaching. I believe that this source will impact my project because it talks a lot about why dance was created and when dance started to become popular.

7. "Our Impact." Dancing Classrooms Philadelphia. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://dancingclassroomsphilly.org/our-impact/.

  • Dance is a way to express themselves. This source helps with identifying how dance is involved in the community. This organization goes out into their community to get inspired by the neighborhood. This helps my project because of the collaboration that this organization creating with the world. This will help we learn how to get my students to interact with each other

8. Thomas, Tanisha. Interviewed by Kyianna Thomas. December 15,2018


  • This source reflects for the adults. This is one of the age groups my overall capstone is about. Then this will help with how adults feel about dance. This can also tell me house dance have changed over time. She will be able to talk about how dance was back then vs how dance is now. This source will be a direct feeling of one person eyes on dance from the adults.


9. Thompson, Brielle. Interviewed by Kyianna Thomas. January 10, 2019


  • In this source you will see a young lady represent for the teenage group. This will help my project by providing the view from this age group. This will help me understand how the music of today impact the way we view dance. This will help my project by express how young people of today believe that there is not a lot of music today that involves actual dance. As of today this generation uses dance so negative.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            10. "Types of Dance - Categories." Sun Dance - Ritual and Ceremony of Native Americans. Accessed January 25, 2019. http://www.dancefacts.net/dance-types/types-of-dances/.

  • This source will help my project when it comes to me teaching. These explain the different styles of dance. This will help me with wanted to incorporate all styles in a production I want to put on. Style is just the way you identify who you are. This sources talks about the times these dances was created and the creator of the dance.



David Roberts Capstone

Last summer, I made an outdoor enclosure for my cats. It has stood outside my house since. After showing it off to my family and friends, I received a lot of positive feedback. More people that I had imagined showed interest in the idea, and I took this opportunity to create a small business of sorts around the Catio. 
My first step was to create two basic models. I took the design from the Catio I made for my cats and improved it, making it more suitable for creation and distribution. I then had to evaluate the cost. I found out how much wood and screen I would need for each design and added up the cost. I then decided on a retail price that would satisfy my needs for building materials and an hourly wage. All this I combined into a website that is currently published at www.tinyurl.com/phillycatios and then into a brochure.
My first customer is a doctor at my mother’s vet. She had expressed interest in a Catio, and after some back and forth over email, I got to work. I visited her home and took pictures and measurements of where she wanted the Catio to be placed. I made a custom model that fit her needs, and priced it accordingly. After purchasing the required materials, I spent most of Easter break building, painting, and enclosing the Catio. And then on the 28th, I took my creation back to her home and installed it.
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Attard, Janet. "39 Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business." Business Know How, January 6, 2019. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/24waysto.htm.

This is another article about advertising written by Janet Attard. She highlights 39 low cost ways of advertising. This is essential because while I have some financial support, I don’t have hundreds to spend on advertising. These low cost methods will be vital to growing my business.


Babich, Nick. "A Comprehensive Guide To Product Design." Smashing Magazine, January 31, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/01/comprehensive-guide-product-design/.

A product is central to a business. This article will help me understand the ins and outs of designing a profitable product. I don’t want to go through all this work designing a product and then realizing it won’t be profitable. This article will help me avoid everything that might lead to that ending.


Bernazzani, Sophia. "7 Ways to Make Every Interaction With Customers Fantastic." HubSpot, June 20, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://blog.hubspot.com/service/interaction-with-customers.

I will no doubt interact with my customers over the course of this project. This interact can often decide the customers opinion of me. This article will help me over the course of these interactions and give me pointers and suggestions. The customers are the basis of any business, and no matter the conditions, all interactions should be positive.


Driver, Saige. "Social Media for Business: A Marketer's Guide." Business News Daily, October 15, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7832-social-media-for-business.html.

Social Media will most likely be the best way to grow my business. This article by Saige Driver will be my guide to using Social Media to my advantage. She discusses what the dos and don’ts of the Social Media world that will allow for the best chance of success.

Iwuoha, John-Paul. "10 Cheap and Interesting Ways to Attract More Customers to Your Small Business." Smallstarter, February 10, 2014. Accessed January 23, 2019.  http://www.smallstarter.com/know-the-basics/10-ways-to-attract-more-customers-to-your-small-business/.  

One of the hardest part of this project will be attracting buyers. This article can help me expanding my business and reaching out to potential customers. The ideas presented by John-Paul Iwuoha can help me understand what customers like and how to convince them my product is worth buying.


McCreary, Matthew. "The Complete, 12-Step Guide to Starting a Business." Entrepreneur, October 23, 2017. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297899.

This source will provide me with more information on the process behind starting a business. Having two articles on the same subject can give me opposing or agreeing ideas that will help me further understand the topic. The two different authors will most certainly have different views on what is most important.


Odjick, Desirae. "How to Price Your Product: What You Need to Know About Pricing Before You Launch." Shopify, May 28, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-price-your-product.

In addition to product design, effectively pricing my product will be essential. Too high, and people won’t buy it. Too low, and I won’t make enough profit to sustain my business. This article will help me in that process.


Rivera, Andreas. "How to Start a Business: A Step-by-Step Guide." Business News Daily, June 7, 2018. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4686-how-to-start-a-business.html.  

Going into this project, I have not a single clue about how I could start a business. This article written by Andreas Rivera outlines some basic steps that I could take to start a business. This article covers finances, themes and ideas, advertising to customers, and the whole nine yards. I can also use this article to start thinking about how I want to run my business.


SAGE Publications. "Customer service is an emotional experience." ScienceDaily.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120831123651.htm (accessed January 23, 2019).


This last article by Science Daily goes into the science behind customer interaction. It states that there are many emotions behind customer business interactions and that there are many things that I can do to improve that interaction.


Wood, Meredith. "The Ultimate Guide to Managing Small Business Finances." Fundera, Inc, November 19, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.fundera.com/blog/business-finance.

One of the most important things about running a small business is managing finances. I will need to know the essentials when I start my own. If I cannot fund my business, I will lose customers and my reputation will suffer. I need to know how to managed my business’ finances or else it will cease.

Hamidou Doumbia Capstone

Summary

The senior capstone was stressful, exciting and went well. My original plan for my capstone was creating my personal capstone but since our ultimate team had a lot of tournament. It was an option that opened up and I was allowed to become a director of an ultimate tournament. I had to spend lunch and after time with Mr. Lehmann. Overall, we spend a lot of time figuring out how to get the following items like trophies, food, and water Jugs. We had ask a lot of favors from Pada ultimate organization. There were 18 teams from D1 to D3 and Girl, the boy division. The tournament raised 2,000 dollars for SLA ultimate community and the teams had a lot of fun. The varsity boy had a very successful weekend with making the finals. The capstone was a great learning experience for sports management which would be my major in college. I want to give thanks to all teams that participated in the tournament and also Mr. Lehmann and Jereme Mason

Annotated Bibliography

USA Ultimate: “USA Ultimate.” About Spirit of the Game, www.usaultimate.org/resources/sanctioning/tournament_requirements.aspx.

These are the requirement of each team need to host the ultimate frisbee tournament. Also, helps with SLA ultimate show the USA ultimate their improvement.  

Jereme Mason: Jereme@pada.org

Gather information from one of the heads of PADA ultimate organization who orgzaine summer ultimate team and even host  . He helped with getting field space and steps which would make the process is easier.

Chris Lehmann: clehmann@scienceleadership.org

Mentor and a follow coach how would help with organzied the project. As well gather information on how to break the pools for the team be set up to play for first place.

Kristi Wolf: Kwolf@montcopa.org

She had a lot of information about the fields. I email her about the field and she sent back a doc for a permit which is used to have the clear for the field. She will help me updates with tournaments and space.

“UltiPlanning.” UltiPlanning, www.ultiplanning.com/.

This website that helps with information which east gather and personality help on planing an ultimate event. If you create an account and email them and ask them a question they will email feedbacks.

“Ultimate I Registration I Ultimate Frisbee College & Youth Tournaments.” Ultimate I Ultimate Frisbee Tournaments I College Ultimate I Play, www.ultiment.org/registration.

This a google form that has been sent out and helpful on how to organize the teams and gathering information. I was kinda confused on how could I create a form that fit the tournament to be sent out to invite teams.

“USA Ultimate.” About Spirit of the Game,b www.usaultimate.org/rules/.

This website gives the details of an understanding of what is Ultimate frisbee and how you could understand the full rule and how it's cool you could be self-ref and being fair.

“Home.” Philadelphia High School Ultimate Education League, phuel.ultimatecentral.com/.

Phuel is another organization of Ultimate and they have been huge on how to plan the huge tournament. The Phuel has a lot to do with youth ultimate and how they make the qualification to states.

“PHUEL Teams - Coach/Captain Access.” Google Docs, Google, docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1u5k5ogdJfG-1TpVk6px8Bfq0Y9Am1C0SH63nB6tA2Jo/edit#gid=0.

I gather information about contacts from all the head coaches and captain in the Ultimate community. This will be very useful because I will use to create the forms help people to understand.

“YCC U20.” US Open, usopen.usaultimate.org/ycc-u20/.

This summer travel group which I usually attend has a website putting every player and have info about how a player from any ages are having hard fought ultimate.


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Ryan, Nicholas Capstone

​Abstract:
For my capstone, I created and edited an allegorical animation. This wasn't something I had planned since freshman year, it was something I decided to do on a whim. I had been inspired by a video essay that I watched about Genndy Tartakovsky and his process on animation. Immediately after finishing the video, I decided to make my own animation. It turned out to be one of the most fun art project that I've done in a very long time. It was incredibly challenging going into making an animation without any real prior knowledge of animation. There was a lot of trial and error involved, and I learned a lot and developed my animation skills. It was a very valuable experience and I am ecstatic that I chose to do this and followed through.

Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmUOu76I-m8 

Bibliography

"12 Video Animation Tips from the Industry Experts." Moovly - Create Videos and Video Presentations. April 03, 2017. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.moovly.com/blog/video-animations-tips-from-experts.

This source provides personal testimonials from experienced animators currently in the industry on what helps them individually when animating something. It also includes a video created by one of the animators interviewed. The essential tips here are: not over-animating a scene, meaning don’t include so much detail in one single animation; every scene does not need to be animated/moving, simplifying scenes; and make sure when you start, to have the end in mind as opposed to winging the ending as you go. This will be used as a guide during the actual animating of the video.


Eliasson, Olafur, and Olafur Eliasson GmbH. "Why Art Has the Power to Change the World." World Economic Forum. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/why-art-has-the-power-to-change-the-world/.  

This paper details how artists have a responsibility to educate not on a psychological/mental/chemical level, but to educate on a emotional and physiological level. It also explains how the effect of art brings people together, creating a unification of people whose sole intention is to learn from whatever piece of art is being presented and to learn about each other through their reactions. This source is very important because it means that the animation needs to create this same sense of unification in its audience in order to have the impact necessary to educating them.


Tucker, Abigail. "How Does the Brain Process Art?" Smithsonian November 01, 2012. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-does-the-brain-process-art-80541420/.

This source provides a lot of information on the connection between art and the human brain and explains the scientific impacts art has on the human brain. It details how a lot of visual information can ignite other parts of the brain responsible for other senses such as smell, touch, and even hearing. It provides the example of Michelangelo’s Expulsion from Paradise and how a lot of people who go see it in person tend to tense their wrist after seeing it, and in the painting, the man has his wrist flexed backwards in defense. This source is essential in understanding how I can create an impact on a chemical level to create a more memorable experience, creating a longer lasting impact for the message that is being provided in the final product.


McReynolds, Heather. "IB Visual Arts." 30 Investigation Ideas for Biology IA. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.thinkib.net/visualarts/page/11778/installation-art.

This source has a list of tips on creating the best possible installation art. This was a source I used before I had changed my project to an animation. Previously, I was going to do an art exhibit, with the same inquiry question in hand and do a series of mixed media pieces of art. This source, however, is still useful because a lot of the ideas that this article brings up also relates with any allegorical piece of art. In installation art, one must account for the entire space, leaving no space left meaningless. This same logic applies to allegorical pieces of work because it’s important that everything in the allegory has a meaning to it and that it doesn’t mislead its audience.


Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin. Chichester: Wiley. http://arts.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Pallasmaa_The-Eyes-of-the-Skin.pdf

This book goes into a lot of detail on how to use art and any medium to engage all of the senses and how to use one sense to engage another sense. There’s a lot of material in terms of the scientific, philosophical, and physiological explanation of the relationship between art and how humans perceive and experience this sensation. This will be used as a reference for the major thumbnails that are essential in teaching the audience on the lesson the animation is trying to present. It is a reference used by many artists who aim for more meaningful products.


Schwarz, Ronald. “Before Mickey Mouse: A History of American Animation.” YouTube. September 23, 2015. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-2QwZpivVg.

This episode of an A&E show is forty-five minutes long and it provides a breakdown of the history of animation in America. It details its impact on American culture and global culture and the impact that it has on the minds of millions of people. It also gives a lot of information on what animations have had made the most impact and longest lasting impact over the course of American history. This video will be used as a guide for what styles and stories will reach a much wider audience and to learn from the mistakes of previous animators.


Sharper, Jasper. "100 Years of Japanese Animation: One Great Film per Decade." Film Forever. June 26, 2017. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/100-years-japanese-animation-one-great-film-decade.

Much like the “Before Mickey Mouse: A History of American Animation” video, this article has a detailed history of Japanese animation and its effect that it has had on Japanese culture and the people of Japan. America and Japan are superpowers in terms of animation considering the majority of the most influential animations have come from both countries. Again, this will be used as a reference of studying what makes an animation influential and as a reference for the mistakes made by many previous animators. It’s important to learn to not repeat the mistakes of those animators as is the point of learning history, and it’s extremely useful in making sure that future animations better the ones that were presented previously.


"The Top 5 Tips For Animation Beginners." Flashpoint Chicago. April 05, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://flashpoint.columbiacollege.edu/blogs/top-5-tips-animation-beginners/.

This article has a very simple, yet detailed outline on starting an animation as a beginner. It talks about starting with basic shapes and then evolving those shapes into much more detailed and complex shapes taking the forms of characters, objects, and people. That way, the animator isn’t taking on too much and is pacing themselves in constructing the animation. Then, the process is much more refined, cleaner, and easier to keep track of.


Tollast, Oscar. "Inspiring Change - Seven Tips for Storytelling." Salzburg Global Seminar. March 27, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.salzburgglobal.org/news/latest-news/article/inspiring-change-seven-tips-for-storytelling.html.

This article is another really good article that gives a lot of advice and tips on good storytelling, which is essential in animations, especially ones that have allegorical elements associated with it. It talks a lot about how the plot is very important because if there is no prominent issue, then the audience will have no reason to watch nor to be actively engaged in the story that is being presented. This will also be used as a reference in the storyboarding and writing of the animation and making sure that the animation has all of the essential elements of storytelling.


Wimshurst, Howard. YouTube. July 08, 2016. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHk3vyv9d3U.

This video provides a much better visual explanation of animation and the roadblocks that one will come across when animation, and provides a lot of tips and advice on getting over or through those roadblocks, improving the efficiency of the development of the animation and ensuring that no obvious errors are made or seen. This video will, again, be used as a reference in the beginning of the animation process, when the animator practices before delving into the actual final product. It will be used as so to make sure that the development process goes smoothly and without frustration, improving the efficiency of the animation.

Autumn Lor Capstone

I created a mini-course at Science Leadership Academy Middle School (SLAMS). Although I couldn’t do my exact idea, I used the space that I had. I wanted the kids to be as safe and happy as possible.

My original idea was to create a lacrosse sports clinic. It was supposed to teach kids how to play the sport but because of the limited space, it would have been difficult to play. I was given a small room similar to the size of a storage closet. So instead of teaching the sport, we talked about how to stay “fit”. Staying fit means a lot of things. We did stretches, exercises, and learned how to eat right.

Over the 8-week long program, we alternated between legs and arms every week. When we worked on legs, we played games like The Fox vs The Squirrel, it’s similar to tag but there’s a fox that is trying to get the squirrel, and The Great Wind Blows, a mixture of musical chairs and show-and-tell. It keeps their legs moving. For arms, we played a lot of hand games. I taught them how to play Numbers and have competitions on which group can go the longest. Along with that after the mini-workout, I gave the kids a snack as a healthy reward. Some snacks we shared were fruit and trail mix.

SLAMS would usually have a performance for their last day of mini-courses, but it was canceled because not all of the classes were ready. Instead, we passed around a basketball outside. This was a really amazing experience for me because I have a trail an error in trying to get the kids attention. I have to learn about what they liked in order for them to enjoy their mini-course. In the end, I felt like most of the kids enjoy these activities as well as learning about their bodies and health.


Here is the link to the original LAX form idea. I made it so the student can tell me a little bit about themselves. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1H6dkN7FanDkZrHm0iRVTa380f-GoUh8Uwm03h_oPHZE/prefill


Here is the link to my bibliography.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vgzn47jwXr6bFdBjjr5UozCcldyYs1tx2V2a5UoGpvY/edit?usp=sharing
Students playing Fox vs Squirrel.
Students playing Fox vs Squirrel.
Student from left to right, Imani, Megan, and Jade
Student from left to right, Imani, Megan, and Jade
Imani and Bami playing Numbers
Imani and Bami playing Numbers

Sarah Berg Capstone

My capstone was centered around the prevalence of a stigma along with general discomfort and misunderstandings surrounding the discussion of mental illness in the SLA community. To address this, I held a Mental Health Visibility and Education Day. For the educational aspect, I researched numerous disorders using the DSM-5 and created posters that provided simple definitions of each one. For the visibility aspect, I made pins and stickers that were color-coded to represent different illnesses and encouraged people to wear them on the day. The idea behind this visual identification was that mental illnesses are usually hard to see, but on that day, suffering people would feel less alone and others will see the reach of the illnesses. My ultimate goal, however, was to spark conversations about the topic. I believe that my capstone was successful. While I cannot definitively say that people are now more educated, I did see many kids stopping and looking at the posters, and there was a larger amount of participation in the Visibility Day than I anticipated, as I gave out 73 pins and more stickers. In fact, I had to stop halfway through the day and print more of the white stickers, which signified general support of the cause. Most importantly, I witnessed and took part in several conversations about mental health that I normally do not see happening.


Posters: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sICQrBXYCY35o0QVPHxMCVKSelCG25bf?usp=sharing


Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1om5hoKvv45rywnVUlgmPGo5urW-R_jRfe-ggW2Km_V0/edit?usp=sharing
Pins for Anxiety Disorders (orange) and Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders (purple)
Pins for Anxiety Disorders (orange) and Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders (purple)
Sticker to show support for the cause (white)
Sticker to show support for the cause (white)
The boys repping their pins during class
The boys repping their pins during class

Ariana Flores Capstone

I have reflected heavily on my high school experience as my graduation approaches. There were valuable lessons I have learned and skills I have attained throughout my time at SLA, such as learning how to partake in a productive conversation, understanding the nuances of group projects, and meeting demanding deadlines in short time frames can prepare students for the working world. However, I could not deny the fact that some elements could be added or modified to SLA’s schooling and support structure in order to better aid the student population in finding what they want to pursue after high school. Therefore, I decided to focus my capstone around how SLA prepares its students for life after graduation, and how certain areas of its preparation can be improved.

I constructed three surveys that I sent out to juniors, seniors, and alumni, asking them question about SLA’s curriculum, capstones, SLA’s college assistance, internships, etc. From there, I formulated charts and conducted research around life after high school on a national scale as well as information about the current and future job market in order to compare and contrast that information with the data I extracted from the responses of current and former SLA students. I synthesized all of this information into the form of a report that provides reasonable suggestions for changes in SLA from not just me, but other members of the student body.

Link to Full Report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zQ9uCVch87l8ReF1-P00TyhlvVDKgEvN14g9mIgxhm4/edit?usp=sharing

Link to Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13HsNeTTuJWlYkCvcM-NTWbZULfi4RBasn67Mz5HHCw8/edit?usp=sharing

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NMN podcast (what is the what)

         So in this podcast we are going to be talking about what went on in "what is the what." In our  podcast we are going to talk about some themes that occurred in the book that really stuck out to us. We had a brief summary of our book and main points that really stuck out to us. We also expressed our gratitude towards the author and how he depicted and described every moment that happened in the book. 

From, 
        Niyat Siyum, Mikkel Watts, Nyzariah Harris

Julia Furman Capstone

For my Capstone project, I decided to use my own personal hobby and attempt to present it through YouTube. I picked out and continued to work on two stories that I had created, and was planning on sharing them in YouTube videos. The videos were going to have the audio of me reading each “episode” of the story, and the visual component would have been art relating to it that I drew. However, this plan did not work out, because it takes a lot of time to create what I consider quality work and I also had schoolwork to do, so I was unable to make the videos in time. However, I was able to fully learn why content creators on YouTube often take so long to make videos. And I still have the stories to present as artifacts. As for the video plan, I still plan on making the videos, just not anytime soon.



Story 1: Immortal Night: The Series

Episode 1: The First Night

It is the stroke of midnight. A young boy emerges from the depths of the forest into a clear spot up in the mountains. His light skin is marked by scratches, his brown hair is unkempt, and his green shirt and light brown pants are tattered. He paused to catch his breath.

Once his breathing reached a calmer state, he looked back in the woods. His amber eyes searched for even the slightest movement amongst the trees.

I have lived up here for as long as I can remember. Ever since I ran away. I don’t remember where I came from, or why I was running. What I do remember is feeling a strong sense of fear. However, with the help of a new friend, my fear disappeared.

Suddenly, a rustling came from within the forest. Sensing danger, the boy shapeshifted into a brown-furred wolf-like creature and growled.

“Oh, a lycan!” a voice called out from the trees. A boy with pale skin, black hair, red eyes, and wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt and a red tie emerged from the forest.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” the boy said, revealing two glowing, white, sharp fangs. The wolf boy stopped growling, but did not change back.

I could tell that he wasn’t going to hurt me, but I didn’t want to lower my guard just yet. I have to admit, I was a bit intimidated by his fangs.

“I think he went this way!” a new voice yelled out from the forest.

“Uh oh, they’re here. Let’s hide!” the boy exclaimed, grabbing the wolf by the scruff of his neck and dragging him behind a large rock. The two watched from behind the rock as two armored humans wielding swords ran out of the forest.

“Are you sure about this?” one soldier, with light colored skin and blue eyes, asked. “He’s only a little kid…”

“He’s still a vampire!” the other guard, who had light colored skin and brown eyes, responded.

“I am so captured,” the boy quietly said. The wolf narrowed his amber eyes.

“Arooooo!” the little lycan howled into the night.

“Wolves,” the blue-eyed guard said. “Let’s go!”

“Don’t be such a wimp, Caleb!” the brown-eyed guard responded. “There’s only one!”

The lycan howled again. Multiple howls echoed out from everywhere, from the forest behind them to the mountains ahead. It was as though there was an entire pack, but in reality, there were no wolves at all.

“You were saying?” Caleb asked.

“Run!” the brown-eyed guard exclaimed. The two guards ran back into the forest.

“Thanks for saving me,” the vampire boy said. “How did you know you can do that?”

“Umm...lucky guess?”

“My name’s Jonathan.”

“Moonstrike.”

“Good to meet you, Moonstrike. Listen, I have to go. I promised my parents I would be back before sunrise. But, I’ll come check on you tomorrow night. See you then!”

With that, Jonathan shapeshifted into a bat and flew off, towards a huge, imposing castle on top of the mountain. Moonstrike watched Jonathan as he flew off.

I can’t remember what drove me here, but I decided to make this clearing my territory. Something about it made me feel safe. That’s possibly because it’s the place where I met my best friend.

Moonstrike turned away from the castle when his new friend was long out of sight, and howled once more.


Story 2: Minecraft: New Dawn

Season 1, Episode 1 - The First Day

A young girl, about 16 or 17, lay unconscious on the beach as the sun rose. Her brown hair was unkempt and her light skin was covered with scratches. She was clutching a plush creeper and a silver, star-shaped jewel.

Her blue eyes opened, and the sun was the first thing she saw. Her memory was a little foggy; she couldn’t remember what happened.

She stood up on her feet and looked around. A forest was right behind the beach, and she could see mountains in the distance. The ocean was just that - a great expanse of water. There was a boat floating just off the shore.

“I must have rode that boat to get here,” she said, “but why am I here? Where was I going in the first place? I won’t find out by standing around here. Gathering resources should be the best place to start.”

She walked over to a nearby tree and gathered its wood. She converted the five logs into 20 wooden planks, and decided to try to combine four of the planks together. This resulted in her creating a workbench.

With a bit of thinking, she decided that her next move should be building a shelter. She gathered more wood and turned them into planks, and used them to build a small square shelter. While she was working, she noticed that a few saplings and apples had fallen from the leaves of the first tree she had taken down. She gathered the items, and planted a sapling where the tree had been.

Suddenly, when she was building the walls of her shelter, she remembered something.

My name is Julia.

She noticed the chest next to where she woke up shortly after this realization. She finished applying the layer of wood planks she was working on, jumped down to the ground, and walked over to investigate.

Julia looked inside the chest. Inside was a wooden sword, a stone axe, a few wooden planks, some apples, some raw fish, a roll of bandages, and a note. The note read: For you, my daughter.

Though it could have been for anyone, Julia couldn’t help but feel it was made for her. It was at this point she remembered something else: her father had disappeared. Could this chest be from him?

Julia took the items and note and walked back to her unfinished house. She took out two blocks to make an entrance and walked in, as the sun was about to set. She placed the crafting table on the floor and began working with her materials. She managed to create a few sticks, and a wooden pickaxe. She used the remaining planks, aside from the two planks from the entrance, to give her house a roof.

Suddenly, Julia heard a frightened clucking coming from the outside. She ran outside to see what was going on.

A chicken was at the edge of the forest. The chicken was cornered by four other chickens with glowing red eyes. The chicken clucked fearfully as his attackers closed in.

Thinking fast, Julia drew her sword and lept into action. With a few slashes, she took down the red-eyed chickens. They dropped 8 raw chickens and 12 feathers in total. Julia grabbed the items and the chicken and ran into her house, blocking off the exit with the two remaining planks.

“I should probably put a door there,” Julia said to herself. She heard the calls of monsters from outside. She really didn’t want to fight an army of creatures of the night, and she wasn’t in the shape to do it, either. “Well, since we’re going to be here a while, we might as well get to know each other,” she said as she set the chicken down on the ground and sat down in front of him. “My name’s Julia. What’s yours.”

The chicken looked at his savior. He could tell that she wasn’t one of them, and she seemed trustworthy so far.

“Okay, I can’t speak chicken, so I’ll just call you Chester because look like a Chester. I’m having trouble remembering my past, so all I know is that my dad went missing, and he’s apparently here.”

Chester looked at her curiosity, as if to say, “Is that it?” Julia looked at the sword in her hand.

“Well, I was pretty good with the sword back there. So, maybe I was some kind of fighter, or even a soldier. That would have been cool.”

Julia put away her sword, thinking that since she didn’t really have anything else to do, she might as well treat her wounds, eat something, and sleep. Using the roll of bandages, Julia cleaned up the scratches on her face, and bandaged her arms after taking off her hoodie. As she put her sweater back on, Julia noticed that Chester’s leg was injured, and used the remaining bandages to treat it.

Julia munched on one of her apples and laid down on the grassy ground, and Chester settled down next to her, careful to be gentle with his injured leg.

As the girl and the chicken settled down and closed their eyes for the night, two watched the house. One was happy she got his message, and was longing to contact her.

The other thought she was certainly an interesting newcomer. She was able to slaughter Luther’s minions with relative ease, so she was a capable fighter. And she was cute, no question there. Those bright blue eyes could light up even his darkest night. Anyway, she should be careful, as he knew what happened to her father. As long as the girl in the dragon hoodie doesn’t get too curious, she should be fine. Otherwise, she and her pet chicken will have more than creepers to worry about…


Annotated Bibliography

Blixemi. "The Missing Light Playlist." YouTube Playlist. August 05, 2015. Accessed January 22, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFo3ju6XJ_GF2l_F2gJRwtsZxTHIgo634.

This is a playlist for The Missing Light, an animated web series by YouTuber Blixemi. This web series is actually what partially inspired Immortal Night: The Series, one of the two stories I’m writing for my capstone. The Missing Light and IN:TS share several similar story elements, such as the main character being a wolf (or in the case of Immortal Night, a lycan) and having a special light-based power. Of course, there are a few differences, such as the fact that it is set in a kingdom of vampires and lycans rather than wolves, humans play a role in Immortal Night as opposed to being absent in The Missing Light, and the fact that the main villain isn’t very prevalent early on in the series. The point is, this hidden gem of YouTube may not be finished, but it heavily inspired my own work.


"Browse 125,000 Audio Books." Audiobooks.com. Accessed January 22, 2019. https://www.audiobooks.com/browse.

The videos I plan to make for my capstone are very similar to audiobooks such as the ones found here, in the sense that it’s a recording of my voice reading each episode. The visual component of the videos would be drawings that I made in relation to the story. I was thinking of animating the stories at first, but I thought that would take too long, so I decided to go for the recorded reading with artwork approach.


"Fossils and Archeology Mod Revival Wiki." Fossils and Archeology Mod Revival Wiki.

Accessed January 22, 2019. http://fossils-archeology.wikia.com/wiki/F/A_Mod_Revival_Wiki.

This is one of the websites I use to research for Minecraft: New Dawn. As the name implies, New Dawn is heavily inspired by Minecraft, and a few of my personal favorite modifications (or “mods”) for the block-based sandbox building game. This website informs of the Fossils and Archeology Revival Mod, which focuses on adding dinosaurs, fossils, and other archeological elements to the game. I am fascinated by archeology and anything related to the ancient past, and along with allowing the player to live out their own version of Jurassic Park, it adds a number of other extinct animals to the game, which I can appreciate. Dinosaurs don’t appear much until the later reasons, but this mod still plays a key factor in the series.


"Ice and Fire Mod Wiki." Ice and Fire Mod Wiki | FANDOM Powered by Wikia. Accessed

January 22, 2019. http://ice-and-fire-mod.wikia.com/wiki/Ice_and_Fire_Mod_Wiki.

This is one of the websites I use to research for Minecraft: New Dawn. As the name implies, New Dawn is heavily inspired by Minecraft, and a few of my personal favorite modifications (or “mods”) for the block-based sandbox building game. The Ice and Fire Mod adds dragons and other mythical beasts, making Minecraft just a little more legendary. Along with archeology, I also have a fascination with mythology, especially anything that has to do with dragons. And the mod, and also the F&A mod, adds lore into the game, and lore is a game element I always love. The influence the Ice and Fire Mod has on the series is clear early on, as the main character encounters two creatures from the mod within the first ten episodes.


"Immortal Night Tutorial." Immortal Night Tutorial. Accessed January 22, 2019. https://www.immortalnight.com/tutorial_ext.php.

As the name would imply, Immortal Night is the online roleplaying game that Immortal Night: The Series is loosely based on. I say “loosely based on” because the series is really based on the image for the game I had in my head after reading the tutorial page. Namely, I had assumed that the game was an MMORPG in a similar vein as the game, RuneScape. Elements of the game mentioned on the tutorial page, such as the market and the warring Houses, are seen in the series, but that is where the similarities stop. I have done a little more research on the game itself, but the series is purely me reading the tutorial page and seeing where my imagination and my pencil took me.


Jess. "Aphmau." YouTube. August 20, 2012. Accessed January 22, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/user/ChallengeAcceptedInc/videos.

And this is Jess, or Aphmau,’s YouTube channel. I discovered her just last summer, and she has been my favorite YouTuber ever since. She mainly does gameplay videos, but the thing I really like is her roleplay series. They feature an overarching story that develops its characters as its progresses, which is exactly the kind of story I love. The reason I put her channel as a source is because I use the stories she creates as inspiration for my own, particularly the lore on the werewolves seen in New Dawn, and it would only be fair to give proper credit to the source of my inspiration. That, and Jess’s husband, Jason, gets angry if he thinks someone’s copying his and his wife’s work, and I’d prefer to avoid incurring the wrath of Jason.


Minecraft Wiki. "The Official Minecraft Wiki." Minecraft Wiki. January 16, 2019. Accessed January 22, 2019. https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Minecraft_Wiki.

This is one of the websites I use to research for Minecraft: New Dawn. As the name implies, New Dawn is heavily inspired by Minecraft, and a few of my personal favorite modifications (or “mods”) for the block-based sandbox building game. I use this website to refer to information about the game itself. While I do consider myself an expert on Minecraft, the website is always helpful to refer to when I have to double check something or I want to see if anything changed with a new update.


Mo' Creatures Wiki. "Mo' Creatures Wiki." Mo' Creatures Wiki. November 25, 2018. Accessed

January 22, 2019. https://mocreatures.gamepedia.com/Mo'_Creatures_Wiki.

This is one of the websites I use to research for Minecraft: New Dawn. As the name implies, New Dawn is heavily inspired by Minecraft, and a few of my personal favorite modifications (or “mods”) for the block-based sandbox building game. Now, this particular mod holds a special place in my heart because it is what first inspired my fascination with mods. The Mo’ Creatures mod does exactly what it says on the package: it adds more creatures into the game. In my opinion, this simple addition adds so much more life into the game. This was especially true a few years ago, when there wasn’t really a lot in the game’s oceans. Mods like this one add a new spin on an already fun game, giving the player so much more to do. That is the reason I use mods like these as parts of my story.


Stimac, Blake. "YouTube for Beginners: How to Start a Channel for Your Business." Free Website

Builder. December 19, 2018. Accessed January 22, 2019.

As I mentioned before, at this point, I don’t know the first thing about how to create content for YouTube. I do know how to film videos, but I don’t know how to edit them or how to create and operate a YouTube channel. I will be getting help on trying to figure out this stuff from Ms. Walker-Roberts, but I thought looking at this guide on how to create a channel will be helpful.


"Writing Tips to Make You a Better Writer." Goins, Writer. April 12, 2016. Accessed January 22,

2019. https://goinswriter.com/writing-tips/.

Of course, since writing is a huge part of this capstone, I have to make sure my writing is good. This website lists a handful of tips that I try to keep in mind every time I write, such as to say focused, to just write without worrying about being good, and to read. Even as an experienced writer, I need to keep following these guidelines, so I’m not just staring at a blank page for hours on end.


JALN squad podcast

Jane, Amanda, Leo and Nyree 
JALN squad
Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas AND Born Standing Up by Steve Martin.

The purpose of our podcast was to seamlessly connect the two books that we read while providing and entertaining listening experience for the consumer. We discuss both the books individually, compare them, and, most importantly, we share our thoughts and opinions about these memoirs. We enjoyed recording our podcast and we hope you love it as much as we do!

Africana Studies Capstone - Afi Koffi

When I was first challenged to come up with a capstone, I remember feeling very lost. Capstones were something I knew was there and would be quickly approaching but in September of my senior year, I still didn’t really know what I wanted to do. But one day, it kind of just hit me. This year I had the pleasure of being the SAT of an African American History class. And I felt early on like I did my freshman year, unimpressed and underwhelmed.

My inquiry question is how can students learn about West Africa in a way that surpasses African American History class? I asked this question because as a freshman I felt underwhelmed by the fact that African American History started with slavery. To me, it felt wrong to define a group of people’s history to the moment their oppression began. They were their own people before the mid-Atlantic slave trade with their own societies and cultures and to neglect that is to give in to the trend of letting white people tell the story. My capstone seeks to expose people to the culture of West Africa pre-slavery and show the influence it has on our lives today. Themes of West African cultures are present in everyday food, music, and literature. As such, those are the units present in my two mini-course sessions.

I’ve decided to do this as my capstone because I think that it is important to understand Africa as more than what it is portrayed as in the media. Many things that exist now in the American culture are derived from West African practices so it’d be beneficial to see how all these cultures connect.

This is the link to the website I created to showcase my work: https://mycapstone.wixsite.com/africanastudies 

Bibliography


"African Diaspora Cultures." Oldways. Accessed January 23, 2019.

https://oldwayspt.org/traditional-diets/african-heritage-diet/african-diaspora-cultures.

This site discusses the African Diaspora. The disopara is an important to understand whenever Africana Studies are embarked on because of how culture has spread and changed throughout the years. This site in particular highlights the major groups that have been created by the diaspora and what that means in terms of their identity.

"African Studies." Data USA. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://datausa.io/profile/cip/050101/.

This source features data on Africana Studies in universities today. It supports the fact that the popularity of African Studies is increasing. As of 2016, degrees on African Studies are increasing by 10.6%. Interestingly enough, the average wage is decreasing by 6.64% showing that although the popularity is clear, the respect for that field is absent.


Chambers, Dr. Glenn. "The Transatlantic Slave Trade and Origins of the African Diaspora in Texas." Texas

Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture. 2017. Accessed January 23, 2019.

http://www.pvamu.edu/tiphc/research-projects/the-diaspora-coming-to-texas/the-transatlantic-slave-trade-and-origins-of-the-african-diaspora-in-texas/.

This is a article by Dr. Glenn Chambers the assistant professor of history at Texas A&M University. He discusses the impact of the diaspora in Texas; specifically, the history of slavery in the state. The identity of black people has been affected by the diaspora and the relationship between these people and their environment must be highlighted in Africana Studies and in the mini-course.


GEOZIK. "To the Origins of Music - Africa, Asia (English Version)." YouTube. January 04, 2017. Accessed

January 23, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIeEAjUirY4.

This BBC documentary highlights the history and traditions of African music. This video shown on week one of the African Studies min-course. It gave background information on many instruments and the cultural significance of music in cultures of West Africa. This source allowed the avoidance of a powerpoint presentation that would have been boring. By using a video, the freshman could see how and where the instruments are played.


Hountondji, and Paulin J. "Knowledge of Africa, Knowledge by Africans: Two Perspectives on Afr..."

S.A.P.I.EN.S. Surveys and Perspectives Integrating Environment and Society. December 01, 2009.

Accessed January 23, 2019. https://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/174.

Paulin J. Hountondji discusses some of her reservations with African Studies. One of her main issues being that oftentimes, African Studies was not being conducted by Africans. Rather, it was a way for white people to “analyze” black people, generally in an unflattering and politically motivated way. By doing this, they continue to show exactly why African Studies is needed; so that black people can have a voice in regards to their own histories and cultures.


McPherson, A. Malik. "Afrobeat In Hip-Hop: The Influence On The Influential." OkayAfrica. September 28,

2017. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://www.okayafrica.com/fela-kuti-afrobeat-hip-hop-samples/.

This contemporary African site gives insight into the overlapping that exist between West African Music and current music in America. This was used to drive home the significance of the mini-course to the students. West African culture should be studied not separately in and of itself but as an entity that stands on its own and contributes to other cultures. Many of the songs on the site were popular in the US and many of the students recognized them.

"Music of West Africa: Rhythms, Dance, Instruments & Characteristics." Study.com. Accessed January 23,

2019.https://study.com/academy/lesson/music-of-west-africa-rhythms-dance-instruments-characteristics.html.

This source worked as a lesson plan influence. In this plan, they highlight the themes and rhythmic patterns that are often found in West African music. Though the full source was not available, this short excerpt gave insight and inspiration for the path of the mini-course. After seeing this site, the purpose of the course changed a little from learning to learning and performing.


Sambira, Jocelyne. "Slave Trade: How African Foods Influenced Modern American Cuisine | Africa Renewal

Online." United Nations Africa Renewal. Accessed January 23, 2019.

https://www.un.org/africarenewal/web-features/slave-trade-how-african-foods-influenced-modern-american-cuisine.

This site is a transition of an interview with Chef Pierre Thiam. As a chef, he speaks of the influences of West African food on modern American cuisine. He even states that there is a lot of ignorance when it comes to this fact. Many don’t know that things like coffee and watermelon weren’t necessarily originated in America. Using this source will encourage members of the mini-course to evaluate the food they food and their origins and influences.


Staniland, Martin. "Who Needs African Studies?" African Studies Review 26, no. 3/4 (1983): 77-97.

doi:10.2307/524163.

This source features an excerpt from Who Needs Africana Studies by Martin Staniland. It discusses the need for Africana studies, how African history was ignored for centuries, and how it exist to shed light on the perspective of black people. The creation of the Africana Studies mini-course correlates with these ideas and seeks to introduce students to a previous neglected culture.


University of Notre Dame. "Why Africana Studies? // Department of Africana Studies // University of Notre

Dame." Department of Africana Studies. Accessed January 23, 2019.

https://africana.nd.edu/undergraduate-programs/why-africana-studies/.

The department of African studies at the University of Notre Dame explain what African Studies entails and its purpose. They, like many universities have, followed the upward thread of African Studies. In many universities, it is offered as a major. Students shouldn’t have to wait to be introduced to African Studies in adulthood. This mini-course allows them to be immersed now.





Taylor Green Capstone

For my capstone, I wanted to explore how music had an impact on the lives of people in Philadelphia. I knew that for this question, I wanted to somehow document the connections that residents of Philadelphia had to music or the industry. I conducted many interviews with aspiring musicians, songwriters, or people who wanted to be in the production part of music. At first, I thought I wanted it to be anecdotal and just small blurbs. But transcribing a full interview was much more insightful. In order to present these interviews, I made a website titled “Music of Philly” where people could sign up and read the articles. I also made an instagram page for the site to promote the articles more and I posted on snapchat every time there was an update. For me, working on my capstone has been an exuberant process and overall I’m proud of the work that I have put in. You can visit the website here.


Annotated Bibliography


  1. Xu Bing: Square Word Calligraphy Classroom - The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Libraries. Digital Program Division, www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/isaacs/edit/MencherIntv1.html.

This source is from Columbia University. I will use to think of ways to prepare for my interview, such as writing my questions out beforehand and trying to get the person that I am interviewing to tell a story, while still staying on topic. However, if I know the person I should try to familiarize myself with their background as much as possible. I can do this by listening to their music before meeting them. This can also open up a conversational atmosphere. The source also talks about how you should try to read the person you are interviewing body language to try and see if they are open or more secretive, that way you know what questions to ask without being too evasive.

  1. Employment, Small Business and Training. “Creating a Website.” Business Queensland, CorporateName=The State of Queensland; 2 Jan. 2019, www.business.qld.gov.au/starting-business/internet-start-ups/online-basics/creating-websites.

This source is reliable because it is from a government site. The source explains that before you finalize your site, you should organize your content in a way that is designed easily to navigate through but also stands out to people. I want people to be able to know what content I'm posting and how to find it quickly. It suggests that you should have a professional make your site, however, I'm going to be the professional in this case and structure the content myself. The source also talks about finances, explaining that most companies that let you make a website make you pay a monthly fee. I will try to find one that is free, however I don't mind paying a fee.

  1. Green, Taylor K. “Interview with Sofian Zapf.” 8 Feb. 2019.

Although this interview hasn't happened yet it is planned for the future. Sofian Zapf has an extensive musical background and has been in a few different bands over the years. Not only does he create music, but he has experience with playing shows in front of a vast number of people and his music has accumulated a good following on Spotify and Bandcamp. He is currently trying to plan a small tour with his band. He will be one of the first interviews that I include on the website and this will give me experience on conducting interviews and what I can do differently in the future.

  1. Green, Taylor K. “Interview with Isaiah Vargas.” 26 Jan. 2019.

Although this interview hasn’t happened, yet I will use it on my website in the future. Isaiah Vargas is a Senior who attends Benjamin Rush High School, which is a public magnet school that specializes in the arts. Vargas has been playing drums for over seven years and he wants to pursue a musical career when he is older. For school, he has to complete projects that correlate to his major (music). I will use this interview to write a column on Vargas and include how going to an art school helps him pursue what he wants to do in the future, which is become a music producer and the difficulties that come along with it sometimes.

  1. “How Does Music Affect Your Brain?” Ashford University, 7 June 2017, www.ashford.edu/online-degrees/student-lifestyle/how-does-music-affect-your-brain.

This source was posted by Ashford University. It explains how music impacts humans, most importantly our brain. Whenever we listen to music, we become happy because our brains are releasing dopamine. The source also included information about how music is good for your health, saying that music is an effective treatment for many conditions ranging from premature birth to Parkinson's Disease. Music even plays a key role in the early development of the brain. Musicians have improvement in memory, learning, and auditory processing. The source also provides good ways to find new music or even instruments for people to buy. Maybe I can use this advice to find new music to review.

  1. “How to Create a Website.” Free Website Builder, Wix Photography Blog, www.wix.com/how-to/make-a-website.

This is Wix. It is one of the sources that I can use in the future to create my website. It also includes tips and advice if this is your first time making a website like this. It got me thinking about what I could potentially use the website for. It also got me thinking much about the design. Since I'm writing about something that's art and entertainment I should try to use an eye-catching website template. In the "Get in Touch" section of the source, they talk about how you should include social media icons so that people can get in contact with you. I thought about doing this for the people that I interview and maybe even including a link to their work/music.

  1. Jacke, Christoph, et al. “Editorial Introduction Music Journalism.” IASPM @ Journal , Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, 2014, www.iaspmjournal.net/index.php/IASPM_Journal/article/viewFile/737/pdf_5.

This research paper talks about how music-based journalism tends to be an "unexplored" part of the profession. It talks about the initial emerge of music journalism over 100 years ago and how it's almost become a separate form of writing and organization. Over time, magazines such as Rolling Stone has globalized music based journalism and has made it more of a norm. This source uses information from books such as "Inventing Pop Culture" and "Popular Music in Theory", and it talks about the impact of music on culture and culture's impact on music. These sources explain that the relationship that links together industry and audiences are based in consumerism. I will take this research paper into consideration when not only writing articles, but when it comes to interviewing people as well.

  1. Negus, Keith. Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction. Polity Press, 2012.

This book was written by Keith Negus, someone who has a higher education and experience in the musical field, having played the guitar and keyboard in a variety of different bands over the past few years. Throughout the book, he is explaining the theoretical components that make popular music "popular". He talks about the history of music not only in the United States but the UK as well, and the emergence of "popular music" begins with the creation of rock and roll in the 1950s. This source is important to my research and the way I will conduct my interviews because it provides insight on what music people tend to enjoy more. This will affect who I interview and how I will go about interviewing them.

  1. Spencer, Megan. “How to Interview an Artist || Learn: Storytelling.” ABC Open, ABC Online Services, 1 July 2015, open.abc.net.au/explore/95656.

Although this source is similar to a blog post, it is from a network organization, meaning that it is reliable. The creator of this source has a background in freelance writing, broadcasting and is a critic and media arts professional. She offers a lot of advice and interview techniques that I'll take into consideration, such as being polite and being yourself. You can be honest with the person that you are interviewing and if you're feeling nervous about the interview, you can tell them that. Sometimes people lose track of what they're talking about, so you might have to prompt them to speak on a certain topic more throughout the interview.

  1. Varriale, Simone. “Music, Journalism, and the Study of Cultural Change.” Warwick.ac.uk, University of Warwick, 2012, warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/staff/syrkaf/publications/music_journalism_and_the_study_of_cultur.pdf.

This source is a paper from a student from the University of Warwick who is describing the impact of music journalism and criticism over the decades and how it affects culture. Criticism provides useful data to study cultural processes, such as the tie between arts and pop culture. This got me thinking about how the music that I'm going to be listening to and reviewing is going to have a cultural impact, and that I should take that into consideration as I am writing. The source also uses an example of one of Sam Rivers' works/performances and the political engagement that it has.


My Book Club, My Barrio

Screenshot 2019-04-29 at 6.50.14 AM
Screenshot 2019-04-29 at 6.50.14 AM
*Barrio means neighborhood in Spanish* 

Members of the podcast are Damilola Akinboro, Halle Griffin, Geonni Gee, Valeria Solorio-Arreola, and Kaya Armstrong. 

The book/memoir we read is When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago. It's about Esmeralda who's called Negi going through life mainly Macún, Puerto Rico and other locations. Negi throughout the book changes as person as she grows and when see that journey from the beginning when she's a little girl to when she's in New York at age 13. 

In our podcast our objective was to focus on Negi's character development and explore the important themes and lessons put in this book. Two important themes we've discovered are self-identity and family. In this podcast we discuss the events that happen in the book how they affected Negi. We cover Negi's relationship with her parents and how they've changed through the book. We mostly talked about character for Negi because she's the protagonist and our objective was to talk about Negi and share our thoughts on her and if the message in the book was done right. 

Click on this link below to listen to our podcast. 

//Another Memory//

Books:
Book #1: Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson 
Book #2: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Podcast Members: Nadiya-Bhaktika Weld, Zahfir McCullough, Eric Casalena, Jade Njie

   Our main goal and objective for this project was to discuss major points in each of the memoirs without giving away the whole book. We wanted to make it understandable for listeners so that they can clearly understand the concept of the book and our takes on each book. Other objectives that we had were to show people how childhood plays a big part in who we become and how important memories are because the main topic of this quarter is memoirs and memories. Our group that it was best to not go off topic and through off our listeners with extra information that would take them off track. We went through with a list to follow by and we accomplished that successfully. We hope our listeners stay informed while listening to our podcast yet interested and move wanting to read our memoirs!

Click here to listen to our podcast!

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Screenshot 2019-04-26 at 10.43.03 AM

JALN squad podcast

Jane, Amanda, Leo and Nyree 
JALN squad
Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas AND Born Standing Up by Steve Martin.

The purpose of our podcast was to seamlessly connect the two books that we read while providing and entertaining listening experience for the consumer. We discuss both the books individually, compare them, and, most importantly, we share our thoughts and opinions about these memoirs. We enjoyed recording our podcast and we hope you love it as much as we do!

Life; Raw and Pure by M.A.G.S

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Screenshot 2019-04-28 at 11.02.14 PM
Life: Raw and Pure By: Melanie Lugo, Alondra Fonseca-Avalos, Ganiah Bracy, and Sharon Tyler

When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago, is the basis of the podcast by M.A.G.S. When I was Puerto Rican is a memoir about leaving Puerto Rico to start a new life in New York. This memoir deals with topics of identity, gender roles, change, growing, and poverty. We chose this book because of the rawness and unapologetic tone of the memoir. Just the title is a statement of losing your initial identity. This podcast was created to discuss the harsh reality Esmeralda went through and how common the situation is. 

Link to our podcast.

It’s Always Funny in California

Our beautiful podcast logo- Treyvon Ingram
Our beautiful podcast logo- Treyvon Ingram
Members: Grace Karlen, Treyvon Ingram, Max Gilbert  

Books: Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas and Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

In today's episode of It’s Always Funny in California, we discussed the memoirs Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas and Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. The book Funny in Farsi details Firoozeh’s life, and her experiences of growing up as an immigrant, learning to love her culture, her family, and more. Born Standing Up discusses Steve’s life, both through his jobs in comedy, and the quieter parts of his life that before now were left unknown. Through our readings, we found many interesting sections, plots, and characters that we further explored in the podcast. Today, we discussed the themes present in both, the styles of storytelling, the use of characterization and more! We hope you enjoy it!

Memoir Master

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This is a podcast created by Shenglan Qiu, Jingyu Liu, Araeon Monroe, and Phillip Lee about two books that we read in our English class. The books are The American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang and The Absolutely True Dairy of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. We been reading these books for a while and this podcast is a conclusion on what we feel about the books and what we learn from them. In the podcast, we have discussions about the theme, the characters, the structure, and etc. We hope our podcast can help you better understand these two books. Please enjoy the podcast :)

Here is the link to the podcast ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_l1H2JVYi0&t=2s

WARNING - THERE ARE SPOILERS! WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Strayed and Found Podcast

Strayed and Found Podcast

Group Members: Amaya Lam, Josie DiCapua, Ella Newburger, and Miles Menasion 

Book: Wild by Cheryl Strayed  

Today’s podcast focuses on the memoir titled Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Wild is about one woman's journey of self discovery as she hikes the Pacific Crest Trail after her mother had past away and her marriage fell apart. This podcast explores the themes, and the literary devices, along with opinions and analysis of the plot, and it’s meaning.  In addition, we also talk about the importance of the title and how people and environment have added to her character development. We wanted to further develop our, as well as our listeners understanding of the memoir as well as strike a conversation about an already thought provoking piece of literature. We try to keep a serious tone out of respect as well as a light heartedness in order to balance the overall atmosphere of the podcast. As a precaution, of course, SPOILER WARNING!  




Listen to our podcast here!

The Hirondelle Podcast

The Hirondelle Podcast

By: Max Blakelock, Solomon Stone, Iris Peron-Ames, and Lorna Elliott

Book: The Color Of Water

Author: James McBride

Through this podcast, we explored the book, The Color of Water, by James McBride. The memoir details both the lives of James McBride and his mother, and focuses on the ways his mother’s story and identity influenced his own. This podcast was designed to create an in-depth conversation analysing the structural and stylistic choices made by McBride, as well as how those decisions brought the novel to life. We chose to look at certain elements, such as the title, character development, structure, parallels, and themes, and connect it back to the impact of the story and our own lives. Join us throughout our exploration, and discover just how James McBride’s powerful storytelling brings The Color of Water to life.

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IMG_1669 (1) (2)

Strayed Away(Ep.1)

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Welcome to Strayed away, the podcast where we discuss Cheryl Strayed’s infamous memoir/book Wild. Follow Karston Singleton, Antje Cramar, and Stephanie Lorenzo in an intuitive podcast that will debrief and decompose WIld. Listen in on topics like:


  1. Kinky Cheryl moments

  2. Cheryl as a Character vs. Cheryl as a person

  3. Themes of the book


And so Much More!!


All of us have had a blast reading this book and making this podcast! There were sad moments, happy moments, and most importantly- Inspiring Moments. But enough of this, go and watch for yourself! Thank you for reading and go listen to that Podcast, Strayed away.




Music Credited too..  Gravity Falls by Brad Breek

Sashoya Dougan Capstone


 For my capstone, I taught underclassmen a mini-course on animal sciences. I researched different teaching techniques before starting. I felt I was very unfamiliar with actually teach subjects to people rather than having conversations about subjects with them. In addition to this, I researched different lesson plans and activities or warm-ups that I found interesting that the class and I could have fun participating in. For example, for one class I made a connection to the anatomy of human muscles and features to certain animal muscles and features. We had a class discussion about what some similarities could be and why then we broke off and everyone chose one animal. I had them research their animal and imagine what kind of strength the animals would have if it were a human and why. Then I had them present to the class and we had a random animal story related discussion for the last while of class. Most of my ideas have been coming from random curiosities and theories that I’ve formed due to my fascination with animals. I wanted to share these feelings and interests with others and that's why I decided to teach this mini-course. I’ve had a lot of fun with my class and hope they enjoyed their time too.


Plumwood, Val. "Animals and Ecology." In The Eye of the Crocodile, 77-90. ANU Press, 2012. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt24hcd2.10?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.


This is a primary source that speaks on the inclusion of animals within the human world, it highlights what it was like when the human race and the animal kingdom were closer and what it's like now. I feel it is important for my students to learn how different species are able to coexist and what it may look like when forced inclusion can go wrong, and how proper inclusion can go as well. I hope that they get a good sense of how to treat animals as well since this topic can probably go into animal cruelty as well.


Milner, Nicky, Chantal Conneller, and Barry Taylor. "Animals in a Wilder COntext." In Star Carr: Studies in Technology, Subsistence, and Environment, 335-44. White Rose University Press, 2018. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv9b2vq9.16?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.


This link discusses and shows examples of the scientific meaning and makeup of different species of animals. I feel my topic can get a bit confusing ur to the fact that there is a high demand to know every subcategory scientifically. Hopefully, if I use this right and implement it effectively into worksheets that I provide for my students, they can get it right. I feel like this might be a bit intense for some people since it's isn't really modified for younger viewers and it just throws you into descriptions but I believe that I can make it work.


Dawkins, and Marian Stamp. "Animal Minds and Animal Emotions 1." OUP Academic. August 01, 2015. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://academic.oup.com/icb/article/40/6/883/187667.

This link spoke on the analyzation of animals emotions. It related their emotions and actions and dealt with how we as people should go about interpreting and respecting them. This is also a very important topic to me because in order to work with animals you have to understand them and one of the most difficult aspects of working with animals is figuring out their behaviors and what not. With this, I can more easily guide the students.


Kelly, Morgan. "Understanding Animal Coexistence with a Little Dung and a Lot of DNA." Princeton University. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2015/10/26/understanding-animal-coexistence-little-dung-and-lot-dna.

This topic mainly covers how we as humans can understand and learn why animals are able to coexist the way they do. I have always been interested in why and how we have so many different species and breeds of things some of which we have not even discovered yet. With this article, I was able to dive into the vast makeups of certain animals habitats and how they are able to smoothly blend into the habitats of others without causing too much commotion. I really believe my students will enjoy this because it covers a lot of questions that I myself have always had.


Nyhus, Philip J. "Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence." Annual Reviews. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085634.

This site also talks about the coexistence of animals. I realize that this theme has become repetitive but the animal world is so vast that there is a lot to cover. This piece covers similar aspects and content but it's written a bit differently and goes in depth further than the others. I didn't mind having so many links on this topic because it's what interested in talking about with my students and I have a feeling that they will find it to be insightful.

Poblocki, Alicia. "Animals & Habitats." The Lifecycle of a Butterfly. Accessed January 25, 2019. http://www3.canisius.edu/~grandem/animalshabitats/SOFTCHALKGOOD_print.html.

This is an education packet on how to go about teaching animals to kids, it gives examples and topics and what not. I understand that the group I will be working with will be a lot older than the group intended for this pack but I think it will be helpful for me. This can be a building block template for me so I can start very small when it comes to my courses complexity than go from there once I have more confidence in what I've taken away from this. So this is more of an introductory piece for me and less of guidance piece you could say.


"22 Fantastic Ways to Get Paid to Work With Animals." Trade-schools.net. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.trade-schools.net/ca/articles/jobs-with-animals.asp.


This link highlights different job options for people interested in some animal-related careers. Growing up when someone like animals and wanted to work with them the first thing they would go to or be told about was becoming a veterinarian. While this is an amazing option and I myself chose to pursue that option I still wish I was exposed to their option. This link will open more windows for my students.


http://hamiltonzoo.co.nz/assets/Education-resources/Animals-Classification-Teacher-Notes-Activites-and-Worksheets.pdf


This link also discusses and shows examples of the scientific meaning and makeup of different species of animals. I feel my topic can get a bit confusing ur to the fact that there is a high demand to know every subcategory scientifically. Hopefully, if I use this right and implement it effectively into worksheets that I provide for my students, they can get it right. I feel like this might be a bit intense for some people since it's isn't really modified for younger viewers and it just throws you into descriptions but I believe that I can make it work.


"Classifying Animals." Mensa for Kids. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.mensaforkids.org/teach/lesson-plans/classifying-animals/.


This link simply outlines a bunch of lesson plans that I can build off of and get inspiration from. I am not very good at coming up with certain things from scratch so this outline can help me a lot of navigation wise. I do not intend on using the exact examples within the sheet but I would like to incorporate some of the things they mentioned within it. This link is primarily for my activity portion of my mini-course so it isn't as crucial as the informative links.


The Rom 241 Team. "3 Innovative Methods of Teaching for High School Educators." Concordia University-Portland. April 06, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/3-innovative-methods-of-teaching-for-high-school-educators/.


This link is an informative article that instructs people on the basis of teaching other efficiently. I was very worried in the beginning because I am not so used to teaching people fairly close to my own age. I need to figure out how to input my authority within this group without overstepping but also keeping their respect. This link is more for myself rather than my students I want to better prepare myself as much as possible and with this research, I will be able to achieve that.


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Screenshot 2019-04-26 at 10.47.22 AM