The China trip really reshaped my view and understanding of China its culture. I went into the trip expecting it to be alright but within the first two days, I was completely amazed. I thought China would be like a constant rainy day because of the smog and that feeling of a bad day would always be present, but I was definitely wrong. I’m so glad I was able to remake my foundation of my understanding of China.
McLean
blog post
I had a good week
New Schedule
The new schedule is pretty good.
My Birthday
I am 14.
MLK Weekend
I had a very enjoyable long weekend. I relaxed with my friends and played lots of Fortnite.
Social Justice Book
I read my social justice book, Dreamers, by Elien Truax. It gave multiple first-hand accounts of what it is really like being an undocumented immigrant and living in America. I learned that many undocumented immigrants are unaware of the limitations their immigration status places on them.
Stress Difuser
- Develop skills I need to help me in other areas of my life
- Learn about topics that matter to the world
- Show leadership
Our end of the trimester science project was the Stress Diffuser. You can see it all here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1l0DPbrdZUcXyd7o7CS5VBGAwy9rY6jfQikdLu9EFkk8/edit?usp=sharing
This is a good example of me executing my learning values because I learned how to use an essential oil diffuser, help people manage negative emotions, and I was able to show leadership by basically doing the whole project myself because my other group members wouldn’t pay attention.
Social Justice Update
What I did:
We interviewed Candice Cho, Deputy Chief of Staff of the New York government. Candice is a lawyer that advises many people in the New York government including Mayor DeBlasio. She helps these people make important decisions and makes sure that those decisions are within legal boundaries.
What I learned:
This interview gave us lots of information from the legal standpoint of DACA and immigration that we did not know before. One of the most important things that we learned was the legal process regarding immigration laws. As we previously learned, State v. Federal Law has always been an issue, and immigration laws are in the middle of this debate. New York as a state is saying no to the government. If ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) requests to enter a state jail, New York says no. This is a huge part of why New York is a sanctuary city.
What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:
Through the fieldwork, I learned that it’s extremely hard to help everybody instantly. DACA only helps some of the illegal immigrants in America, creating a belief that there are bad immigrants and good immigrants. This belief divides the immigrant community. DACA is the best thing there was even though it couldn’t help everybody. This is what Candice calls “gradual change.” “You have to start by picking the lowest hanging fruit before you can continue.”
I was able to exercise two out of three of my learning values with this fieldwork. I showed leadership by directing the interview and asking lots of questions on the fly. Our group was unprepared and only had a few questions, but I was able to ask lots of good follow up questions that extended the interview and gave us lots of helpful information. I was also able to learn about a topic that matters to the world. Immigration is a hot topic currently effecting countries across the world.
Learning Values
- Develop shills I need to help me in other areas of my life
- Learn about topics that matter to the world
- Show leadership
3rd Quarter Music
I chose reggae because I wanted to get experienced with a type of music that I am not familiar with. The organ plays the part of the “bubble.” It plays against the beat. The guitar completes the whole song and the bass is always groovy and repetitive. Composing to a certain style is hard. You have to map your piece out around reggae. After you get into a rhythm (pun intended) while composing your piece, you can kind of drift away from only reggae.