Chocolate, and the story, you never knew.

On my spring term in GCE Lab school, I started at studying the history of how food travels throughout the world, and how much manpower it takes for a 99 cent burger to get to your home. We have gone though multiple projects and assignments, as well as multiple field experience. For this class , my class and I had to create a presentation that needed to talk about the history of a specific substance or food. Our course, I had decided to go a bit further, and animate my project in order to relate to myself more.

I had multiple challenges with this project, mainly with the time. When trying to do animation, it would take a large amount of time in order to do so. Sadly, I didn't gain high animation quality. I did however tried to animate the project, and that is what is my succession. While most of my classmates tried to do their project on a slideshow or prezi, I decide to go a step beyond, which I am proud of.

I just a talk about my family, and how they relate to this project. In order to create this project, I had to interview my family in order to gan a better understanding of the food. My family was a bit more related to my food, chocolate, do to their hispanic origins of Colombia, as well as my father being digesting more natural substance of chocolate, the cocoa bean. I just want to say that I am happy about my family's origins, since they had such an interesting history, and is great to explore.

AP Food for Thought 2 from JN on Vimeo. 

 Pucciarelli, Deanna "The History of Chocolate"  ed.ted.com , TED,  March .16. 2017. Web., April 26, 2017

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-history-of-chocolate-deanna-pucciarelli

Klein, Christopher "The Sweet History of Chocolate."

Guerrilla Gardening..... for one person

Gardening was the first evolutionary step as people went from living in the stone age as scavengers, to becoming people with civilization and buildings and such. Agriculture and gardening have affected the human race so much, yet, in this time, many people don’t even know what agriculture looks like. People just eat what they get as long as it looks good, taste good, and can be easy to find. This is why I am planning out a garden. Since I am trying to eat healthy, the best way to do it is to prepare a garden so that I can have food ready for myself and others if needed. We need to have food available to use, and not just the food that costs a dollar and uses artificial flavoring.

I decided to create a guerrilla garden, and placed it in my backyard as the perfect space. The reason I choose this is because it has a well made structure, as well as it can shine the right light onto the plants. It also has poles which could be used as poles for vines. But before I could use the space, I need to know how big the space is. Using several calculations, I have depicted the area of my porch to be about 184 feet squared.

(190 inches x 140 inches) /12= 184ft2

My plan was to get small plants, so I first had look at what small containers I had around me, and what I needed. In the end, I decided to use 4 pots, 4 buckets, 10 milk cartons (cut), two cereal containers, and two violin cases. I tried to find the volume of each container in order to find out how much soil I will need. Here are the calculations.

Violin case = 32 x Width;9 ½ x Height;3 ½ in= 1064 in 3

Bucket= pi x 52 x Height; 11 inch= 863.9 inch3

Pot= pi x 52 x Height; 7 inch= 549.7 inch 3

Cereal Container=Length;10 in x Height;6 ½ inch x Width; 6 inch = 390 inch3

Milk Carton= Length; 7 inch x Height;4 inch x Width; 6in = 1683

I then need to find the surface area in order to find out how many plants I would need to grow per foot. I got the final answer 119 feet squared as my total surface area.

(4)pots=(4) pi x 52 = (4) 78.5 inch2= 314.15 inch2
(4)buckets= (4)pi x 52 = (4) 78.5 inch2 = 314.15 inch2
(10) milk carton= (10) 7 inch x 6 inch= (10) 42 inch2 = 420 inch2
(2) violin cases=(2) 32 inch x 9.5 inch= (2) 304 inch2
(2) cereal container= (2) 7 inch x 6 inch = (2) 42 inch2= 84 inch2 +
628.3 + 420 +608+84 = 1740.3 inch2 / 122 = 12.08 ft2

There are three essential elements that are needed in the soil in order for the plant to survive and grow. These are known as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. In my soil, I was able to find that I had high amounts of both nitrogen and phosphorous. The only problem was that it needed more potassium, as its levels was about 109, which is very low. In order to increase my potassium level, I needed to find out how many pounds were needed for my surface area. Apparently, it takes about 1 pound per 200 square feet in order for the potassium levels to even out, thanks to my CEC (Cation exchange capacity) being at 6. After doing several calculations, I was able to find that in order to even out everything, I would need to add about 0.06 pounds worth of potassium. How I can do this is that I will try to spread the surface area with about 0.595 pounds of compost in order to even things out.

xpd 1pd = x X 1 pd 2oox = 12ft = x=0.06pds

12ft 200 ft 12 ft 200 = 1 pd 200x ft

The number of plants in this area are small, since we have very limited space. So far, I am planning to grow onions, garlic, strawberries, carrots, tomatoes, eggplant, chile peppers, beans, mustard seed, and cherry tomatoes. Of course, if any of the nitrogen were to fail, I would add peanuts in each container as a nitrogen fixer. I will also be using companion planting, mainly with onions and garlic. What I will do is that I will plant the onions/garlic with strawberries, and cherry tomatoes, and place them all on a pole so that the vines could be able to grow. This represents the symbiotic relationship of mutualism, since each plant works for each other. I have other companion planting, but my main criteria is with the onions and garlic, since a lot of my plants are companion plants with them. One of them is carrots and onions being commensalism since one is neutral while the other is gaining benefit.

In the book “One Straw Revolution”, there were four principles or guidelines meant for natural farming. The principles were no plowing, no chemical fertilizers, no weeding by tillage or herbicides, and no dependence on chemicals. If a farmer were to follow these guidelines, then they would be considered natural farmers. I believe that, in my case, I would be able to follow the no chemical fertilizers, no weeding by herbicides, and no dependence on chemicals. The main reason I don’t follow the no plowing is I am already changing my environment by putting soil and plants where it is not natural. But I am not really trying to create a complex farm to feed others. The garden will be about feeding my family certain type of vegetables. I don’t plan on making money from any of my vegetables, but rather focus on bringing food to my family.

This is just an idea of creating a garden. If I would actually do it, then it would be great. It could be possible, only during certain seasons. I really want to do this sort of full on project, but I would first have to put some dedication into working, and some time as well. Even if I had the dedication, I wouldn’t necessarily have the time. I could possibly do it during the summer, but I feel like it would take time out of my schedule to work on trying to stabilize this garden.

       Tomato from JN on Vimeo.

Undertale the Musical

My name is J.N. and I learn at GCE Chicago. What my class and I do is that we learn differently compared to CPS schools. We go on Field Experience (FEs) and gain what we learned from outside of the classroom. What we had to do for an assignment now as an action project is that we had to create a model stage based on the stage from our last AP which you can click on the link to view.

We have went on multiple FEs for these two Action Projects, such as the Goodman Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre. We have also learned from inside the class, with physics, math, measurements, and much more. There were multiple achievements for this action project, such as the animated gifs, and stage itself. The main struggle however was the stage sticking together and the props/stage getting ready on time. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy my blogpost.

Creating
The experience for me creating the stage was somewhat a bit difficult at times. It mainly had to do with time and that I was also inexperienced with the tools I had. So, in the end, the project was acceptable, but not what I had asked for. I started with creating the main stage at home, with only certain essential materials, such as the utility knife, ruler, pen, and glue (which didn't stick well). I finished the stage at the last minute on Monday, and then on Tuesday, tried to do the gif, and the props. On Wednesday, I did the writing on the last minute and finally finished the project on Thursday after finishing editing the draft.

J.N.  "Skeloton Bros"  Own Work  3/31/17

J.N.  "Side Stage"  Own Work  3/31/17

The main idea for the stage was that it was going to be a proscenium stage, which meant it faced only one way. In my first AP, the wasn't much thought on the stage itself, but rather the measure for the building. So, beside the measurements, there was more creativity while creating the stage, compared to the last AP. Anyway, there where two things I wanted for my stage. The first being moving walls, so it would allow things to be pinned down, and a more realistic atmosphere. Finally, I would like to have some spinning spikes, so when a musical number comes to play, it would make the setting feel more exciting for both the actors and the audience.

Spinning Spikes
The spinning spikes is an add-on to the stage, and the show could function without it. But it is used in songs, so it can bring up some life to the musical. The main idea was that as Toriel (one of the characters) was singing her lines, the spikes would be brought up to life in order for the song tor bring a better experience. The spike could also be used in different scenes, such as waterfall scenes, and much more songs since the play is meant to be underground. Just to bring in, the spikes can be movable, so that they can be used for later use.
 How it works is that it will be using a spinning motor that is both movable and weighs about 60 pounds. It also turns around completely 8 times in a row, and then starts all over again. In order to find how much work it produces, we would to use the formula Work(Joules)= Force(Newtons)x Radiants. First, we would have to convert 60 lb into newtons, which would be 266.8932. Next, we would have to find the radiance, which is 2pi, or 360 degrees. We would then multiply it by 8, since the spike turns 8 times in a row. We would get equation of pi, and get the answer 16pi(radiance). After finding the radiance, we then multiply to get the final answer of 13415.515 joules.

266.8932(newtons) x 16pi(radiance)= 13415.515

I have also created multiple protocols for the spinning spikes. These are very important, since safety is the number one priority.

J.N. "Protocol Motor" own work  3/20/17

Moving Walls
The moving walls is one of the best things about my play. It not only allows to change the setting, but also help customize the space for different times in the play. It is personally one of my favorite parts about my stage. The one problem with the walls would be that in the blueprint, the building is too small for the walls to be taken out of the stage, so it would only make sense if the stage was in a bigger area. But besides that, the walls are a pretty nice touch for the stage, it's what make my stage stick out from other stages in my class.
 

J.N  "Diagram"  own work  3/20/17

How it works is that it is man powered or at least man pulled manually. Taking in and out of the wall could be done at any time, while it is the play, or rehearsal. It has wheels on the bottom, so would be easy to take it out. It is also 20 feet long, and 10 ft tall, so it has a flat area of 200 ft 2.  The formula for finding out how much work is needed to do this would be Force(N) x Distance(M)=Work(J). The Force would be about 30 lbs, or 113.4466 newtons, since that is how much the walls weigh. The Distance would be 20 feet, or 6.67 meters, since that is how long the walls are each. If we multiple all of that together, we would get the final answer of 756.3106 joules of work it would take.

113.4466n x 6.67m= 756.3106 j.

I have also been able to create a sign for the walls, as well as the protocols so that people know what not to do.

J.N.  "Wall Danger"  own work   3/20/17

J.N  "Protocol Wall"  own work 3/20/17

The Stage (That Of Which It Came)

Hello, my name is J.N., and I am from a school in Chicago called GCE(Global Citizen Experience). What we do is we learn differently compared to Chicago Public Schools. We try to learn and experience outside of the classroom, and use that experience later on in life. Right now, I'm taking a class known as Stage Chemistry, and what we do is that we learn the science behind creating theaters. For an assignment,we were suppose to measure and draw factors from a space/building that could be potentially used as a stage, to demonstrate our learning.

I had multiple achievements and struggles while doing this action project. One of my struggles was getting measurements, since I had to areas that I couldn't reach, as well as areas that needed two people to measure. The other struggle would have to calculations, since sometimes I would mess up, and I would need to change large parts of my assignment because of that one flaw. But still, even though the action project took more time than I thought, I am proud of my action project, and I hope you enjoy.

Rationale

If I ever create a theatre I would build it at my tae kwon doe gym, BMA Martial Arts. The reason being is that I knew and memorised the place well, since I go there about three times a week in a row(Wednesday, Thursday, Friday). I also believe it had the perfect elements to create a stage, with a high ceiling, and carpeted floors. It also had some potable sound equipment, as well as storage room, an office that can be used as a lounge, and multiple bathrooms.

Since the project was all about finding a stage for any play, I felt that this building would be the perfect place. Even though there is no stage, that does not mean a stage could be built inside. It was especially perfect for the play I wanted to show called Undertale. It has a large ceiling, so it brings the idea of monsters being trapped underground.

The one problem with this stage would be the structure of the ceiling. The ceiling could have the potential to for curtains, but then we would need to modify it first to make it work. But besides that, everything would be perfect for the play. There is enough rooms to be used, enough room in the gym to have several seats and build a stage.There is even extra parking space outside. This building would be perfect for a proscenium stage.

Eric B. "BMA Martial Arts" bmamartialarts.net 3/20/17

Comparisons

Albert’s Theater	My Theatre	Percentage
Carpeting(sound absorption) 546.25 feet for carpeting	Carpeting(sound absorption) 1416 feet for carpeting	1416/546.25 x 100 = 259%
Seating(fullhouse) 856 seats in the theatre.	Seating(fullhouse) 56 seats in my theatre.	56/856 x100= 6.54%
Stage(feet) 4000 feat for the stage	Stage(feet) 500 feet for the stage	500/4000 x 100= 12.5%
Actor’s lounge/room(largest one)   115 ft	Actors lounge(largest/only one)   109 ft	109/115 x 100= 94%
Prop Storage 312.5 ft	Prop Storage 35.6 ft	35.6/312.5 x 100= 11.3%
Nearest Restaurant (Corner Bakery Cafe) 384 ft	Nearest Restaurant (Zacarelli's Pizza) 22.5 ft	22.5/384 x 100 = 5.8%

Dreams, Dreamcatchers, and So Much More.

My name is J.N, and I learn at GCE lab school. For a class, I take WAI(Who Am I), which teaches philosophy, philosophers, history, and much more. Wha we had to do for our action project is that we had to create a dream catcher, and symbolizes what the dreamcatcher represents. What I am mostly proud of is that I worked on creating the dreamcatcher in a different style than most dreamcatchers in my class. I hope you enjoy my explanation.

When think of a "great creator" or "a force of nature", one thing came to mind. I have always had the idea that life was not centered around ghost, spirits, or even god. But rather, it would mainly be between cause and effect that we presume is something spirital or magical. For example, if a very religion person was almost killed by a bullet out of nowhere, they would somewhat say that god wanted them alive. To myself, that is simply not the case. There were certain factors that lead that person being alive, without us recognising them. It could have been that the shooter was a lazy shoot, or that he had a second thought do to past experiences. Either way, it's more possible for someone to change their mind about shooting someone, rather than a spirits moving the bullet in an angle farther away while defining the laws of physics. Which is why my center of my dream catcher is a die. It represents cause and effect mistaken for unexplained forces at it's best. One could say that the die rolling on a retain number would be consider luck, but in reality, it would be how fast the person's arm movement is, how heavy the die is, and what is the distance the die was thrown, resulting in loss of energy. The die is supposed to represent math and science mistaken for magic or luck.

How my dreamcatcher is shaped also helps with my idea of math and science being the true force of nature. My dreamcatcher(unlike others) is shaped like a pentagon. It represents two things: separation of traits, quality of the dream.

"Separation of traits" is supposed to represent the relationship between the colors on my dreamcatcher. As you can already see, the main colors are red, yellow, orange, purple, and black. Each has a certain trait that I want my dreams to have. Each dream I want needs to have morals or lesson that my psyche is trying to tell me. This theme would have to be a trait from my personality. This allows the dream to be more familiar and easy to understand. For example, the color red represents determination or passion. If I dreamed about something or someone being determined, this trait would follow me until the end of my dream, trying to teaching me a lesson about being a better person. The same idea is with all the colors on the dreamcatcher. Yellow represents cheerfulness, orange represents enthusiasm, and purple with creativity. Each one represents a certain dream that must mainly have this trait in order for the lesson to work. The final one, black, would be my last resort to learning a lesson if I refuse to understand it. If a dream or multiple dreams couldn't teach me a lesson, then the black trait would need to come in. Black is supposed to symbolise depression, death, and darkness. Black would be the trait that wouldn't create a wonderful dream, but a dark nightmare. The reason black has to exists on my dream catcher is sometimes a person needs a bad experience in order to learn something. If I was stubborn to learn this lesson, or didn't gain the lesson at all, I would rather suffer multiple nightmares, then to not learn anything at all.

"Quality of the Dream" is another reason why the dreamcatcher is shaped the way it is. Between the colors or "traits" of the dream catcher, there are golden. Then, there also the spider net, which is also a golden color. Gold is supposed to represent quality within an item. So, when creating the dream catcher, I thought that in order for it to be successful, it needed to have some quality. This is why their are five points within my dreamcatcher. These gold points represents quality, but separates the other traits from mixing within each other, allowing focuses on each dream to have an individual trait. The dream catcher also has the sides each evenly measured, so that each trait could have an equal, but large amount of influence on the dream. Yet, depending on which part of the pentagon it's on, is used more and less. For example, red or yellow would be the traits in order to teach me a lesson the first since it is at the top, while black is the last to teach me since it is at the bottom.

When I was eleven, there was this dream that was the main inspiration with for the dream catcher to bring nightmares. It starts of with my friends in a circle, playing a sort of game. We were near a church site, and it was snowy. My sister was in the background, reading. Eventually, she walked out on us to a near by gate, and left without a trace. After an hour, my mother told me to find her. I was walking around, when I found red snow. I followed it, and as the more I followed, the more I saw of human remains. I eventually got to the edge of a dark ally way that didn't have much length to it. Right there, I saw my sister, and the remains off what she once was. Her face was torn, and you could see her flesh, as if she didn't have any skin on it at all. The dream then faded into a church room. Where my mother was wearing funeral clothes, and at the middle of the back of the church, stood a coffin resting on a marble table.

This dream is was so memorable. It felt so real, that after I woke up, it was hard to realise that it was fake. When I was eleven, my sister ignored me, and sometimes called me idiot. Not only that, but most of the time, she would admire my younger brother like he was a prince. She would always look at me as if I was some kid that ruined everything. I always wondered why couldn't she like me more. I always wondered if she hated me. I felt like this dream was trying to ask me this question in order to learn a lesson "Would you really be happy if she was gone?". I had always been questioning if I loved my sister, and I never got a true answer from myself.

My reaction to this dream proves that, no matter what, I will always love my sister. I wouldn't enjoy her being gone, I would be terrified. I don't remember having dreams like that anymore, but I wish I did, because it was not my ego controlling this, but a mixture between my id and my superego. The id being that I love my sister as family, and the superego telling me that I wouldn't enjoy her being gone. I feel like their was no ego, there was no comprise, only a trait a mystery and dread throughout my dream. I feel like this dream was, possibly, the most important dream of my childhood. This is why I want nightmares that teach in dreams. I want to have a nightmare to teach myself to become a better person. I would like to have more of these dreams. I would like to have more of these nightmares.

Citations
"Color Meaning"  color-wheel-pro.com   Feb 27, 2017
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

J.N  "Dream Catcher" Own Work  Feb 27, 2017

J.N "Dream Catcher 2" Own Work  Feb 27, 2017

Pollution, and How to End It

My name is JN, and I go to GCE Lab School. I take multiple classes, including Fuel. Fuel is my math and science class, in which we try to learn subjects such as pollution, resources, slope, data, and much more. For my Fuel class, what my class and I had to do is that each of us needs to create an essay about ways to lower pollution. I am happy that I finished my assignment on time, and I am proud of the solutions I had for this essay. I hope you enjoy.

2016 Geothermal Election.

My name is JN, I am student at GCE lab school, and my science/math class is called fuel. We learned different types of resources, elements, graphs, and much more. What we had to do for our action project is that we had to create a presentation on a renewable energy of our choosing. I choose geothermal energy as my resource. But my presentation also contains stop motion, unlike other presentations in my class. I am mainly proud of the content, and how much work I put into creating the animation. This video will just mainly be about explaining the benefits of geothermal energy, and why you should buy it.

"Geothermal Energy"renewableenergyworld.com  Feb 5, 2017
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/geothermal-energy/tech.html

"How Geothermal Energy Works"  ucsusa.org   Feb 5, 2017

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/how-geothermal-energy-works.html#.WJSpXRIrIWI

"Advantages and Disadvantages of Geothermal Energy"  greenmatch.co.uk   Feb 5, 2017

http://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2014/04/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-geothermal-energy

"Geothermal Heating Cost Installation" fixr.com    Feb 5, 2017

https://www.fixr.com/costs/geothermal-heat-installation

"Geothermal Energy Association"  energy.org/   Feb 5, 2017

http://www.geo-energy.org/geo_basics_employement.aspx

"geothermal energy" nationalgeographic.org   Feb 5, 2017

http://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/geothermal-energy/

"The Hydro and Geothermal History"  askjaenergy.com   Feb 5, 2017

https://askjaenergy.com/iceland-renewable-energy-sources/hydro-and-geothermal-history/

"Installation" "Cost" energyhomes.org   Feb 5, 2017

http://www.energyhomes.org/renewable%20technology/geoinstallation.html

"Estimating Geothermal Cost and Payback"  esquire.com  Feb 5, 2017

http://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/money/a11008/geothermal-cost-payback-0911/

Toby Fox  "Undertale OST- Hotel Extended"  youtube.com  Feb 6, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMbe6C9dLyI