Category: Grade 10

goodbye (but romantically).

chihsi22Leave a comment

Goodbye. Something you don’t expect fairytales to end with – especially for fictitious romances that are supposed to be a whirlwind and last forever. In this unit, we analyzed the cinematic elements (music, lighting, framing, etc) of two films and compared how they utilized them to further their plot. Both my films, La La Land and Edward Scissorhands, were romance films, but they don’t end with a happily ever after. Instead, elements such as lighting and music were purposefully contrasted to foreshadow the inevitable separation of both relationships.

In this unit, I was grateful to learn the importance of music (or the lack thereof) can influence the atmosphere of a scene. Music is usually thought of as being one-dimensional, such that if there is sad music, the scene is sad; if there is happy music, the scene is happy. However, throughout this unit, I was able to learn that music in films isn’t as clear cut as day and night. first off, there is both non diegetic and diegetic sounds, which can also play at the same time, lead into each other, overlay, etc. Also to factor in, the volume of these sounds and how even silence can be utilized to invoke a message. Repetitions and variations of the songs exist as well and can change the mood of a scene despite having been played before. All these factors of music/sounds contribute to the atmosphere of the scene, but it is rarely thought about when being discussed.

Fundamentally Human

chihsi22Leave a comment

Who we are and our identities are deeply rooted in what we believe. For if we are stripped of everything else that physically defines us, we still hold on to our beliefs. They govern all that we do, think, and say. They develop as we grow and learn from our environment and experiences. However, beliefs are very personal as they’re built on faith, not being necessarily true or false, but instead, something you accept. To explore what makes us fundamentally ourselves and what makes the people around us, we were asked to explore about a belief we hold and how we came to it. This was accomplished by writing numerous drafts, an essay, editing, and eventually, creating a video.

This I Believe Video

 

This I Believe Essay

Unit Reflection

Live Forever, Or Die Trying

chihsi22Leave a comment

Summary

This unit analyzes The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and how the historical context enabled for mistreatment and discrimination to occur to the Lacks family. Using the insight of patient privacy that we have now, it is easy to see what injustice the family suffered, however, at the time, it was debatable as to whether consent was required. We presented our knowledge in a variety of ways: fishbowl discussions, TIEAs, blog posts, verbal analysis, and reflections.

In this, you’ll find how a woman who died so young, was able to live forever.

Discussion

TIEA

Blogs on ILOHL

Discrimination Blog Post: Culture Shock

Privacy Blog Post: Money Grows on People

Verbal Analysis

Unit Reflection

 

Culture Shock

chihsi222 Comments

;Fear of racial discrimination acts as a barrier to human connection.

As a young asian kid who just moved to sunny California, you’re not taught much about culture. All I knew was that I had to leave my childhood home, boarded on a plane with my teddy, and all of a sudden, I found myself in a new continent, in the middle of the brightly colored cereal aisle, white lights glaring off the reflection of the floor. I jumped in the shopping cart excitedly, whoops and cheers as the promises of my brother to push me around the store was blurred by the wind rushing past my ears.

Thanks to the emptiness of the aisle, we were able to dash down to the end before we were met by our mom’s glare. Not quite sure what exactly we were doing wrong, just assuming we were just not supposed to roughhouse in the store, the smiles dropped from our faces and we became serious once again, pretending to discuss the intricacies of Frosted Flakes vs Coco Puffs.

She reprimanded us for being loud and disturbing other shoppers, and we behaved for the rest of the trip; all the way from the cold freezers of milk to the pyramids of apples to the hot rush of air that spilled out from the heated car. Once we settled in the seats, she explained that we had to be careful with how we behaved, not only for the sake of how we were perceived, but also for the sake of how asians were perceived.

The underlying fear of being racially stereotyped or discriminated against is magnified by Henrietta’s family. After a history of doctors experimenting on blacks and being taken advantage of because of lack of education regarding cells, they were justifiably weary of Skloot.

“He warned her not to talk to white people about her story. She panicked and called her brother Lawrence, who told her the man was right.” (250).

They’ve had a bad time with reporters and doctors previously, so when Skloot, a white reporter, wanted to interview them, the family was against the idea. They’ve developed a skepticism to white people in fear of being stripped of their rights because of their race.  

Since black oral history has been filled with tales of ‘night doctors’ who kidnapped black people for research” (165).  

It wasn’t just the Lackses, the black community was afraid of being used by doctors because of the extensive use of black bodies in experiments.

Recently, due to coronavirus, the asian community has similarly begun to fear racial stereotyping. People are afraid of being discriminated or made fun of because they happen to be asian.

 

Quote Citation: Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Books, 2010. Print.

Image Citation: Rothstein, Arthur. “A man is tested for syphilis in 1935.” History Collection. Corbis. https://historycollection.co/20-photos-tuskegee-syphilis-study/

Money Grows on…People

chihsi222 Comments

In the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the idea of ignoring someone’s privacy for personal benefit becomes a big issue as her cells were cultured without her consent, then sold and mass produced, making big pharmaceuticals a lot of money. On the contrary, Henrietta’s family still remains poor, not being able to afford health care. 

Today, we will explore how the American people are exploited by corrupt systems that violates the people’s privacy for personal benefit, both in the medical field, and the law.

Henrietta Lacks

“Henrietta’s cells helped launch the fledgling field of virology…researchers around the world made several important scientific advances in quick succession (98).”

Through HeLa cells, doctors were able to conduct research they had never done before and advance further in science in just a few short years. However, this all happened without the family or Henrietta’s knowledge.

“Like many doctors of his era, TeLinde often used patients from the public wards for research, usually without their knowledge. Many scientists believed that since patients were treated for free in the public wards, it was fair to use them as research subjects as a form of payment.”
(30).

Back then, consent was not always required. Although there were standard practices that suggested the consent of patients before treatment, no one enforced it because the ethics of patients’ rights were of big concern. This rang especially true in places like Baltimore, where Henrietta lived, because black people being used by doctors was nothing new. Decades of non-consensual research near the Hopkins area that killed and violated the black population had brought on the idea that any research stemming from the use of the black people was only fair for the treatment that they got in return.

Police Brutality

In the song Love It If We Made It by the 1975, the band uses the phrase,

“Start with misdemeanours and we’ll make a business out of them.”

This is believed to be talking about the wrongful, racially motivated incarceration of black people in America.Stop Killing Black People by Alexandra Jones via Flickr/ CC BY-NC 2.0

In the US, 34% of the incarcerated population is African Americans, many of those arrested for nonviolent drug charges but still given sentences that deal time more than that for a typical misdemeanor sentence. Due to high rates of incarceration, the U.S. prison system is allowed to rake in billions of dollars in revenue every year, by using prisoners as free labor. They benefit and profit off of minor crimes committed by black people because often there is stigma and pre-determined bias surrounding the African American community. They ARE more likely to be stopped by police when they aren’t doing anything unlawful just because they are black. This can result in the officer violating their privacy in efforts to arrest them, ex: killing unarmed black people.

End Police Brutality by Jamelle Bouie via Flickr/CC by 2.0

Why? Personal benefit

Both in Henrietta Lacks and Love It If We Made It, there is clear exploitation of corrupt systems by using the bodies of the people for personal benefit. They are being taken advantage of by the same systems that were supposed to take care of them and protect them. This is where personal benefit supersedes a person’s right to privacy.

Citations:

Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Books, 2010. Print.

Daniel, George., Healy, Matthew. “Love it if we made it.” Genius Lyrics. 2019. https://genius.com/The-1975-love-it-if-we-made-it-lyrics.

Personally speaking…

chihsi22Leave a comment

Who are we? What do we want to express? How can we show that?

This poetry unit was centered around self expression and methods to help us convey our thoughts to the audience. Whether it was through discussion of author’s intent to reading our memories out loud. Through reading, writing, and listening to poems, we got to feel the all emotions of the poets. The joy of going to a basketball game, the grief of losing someone, every heartbreak. Poetry is powerful in that it helps people connect.

Dramatic Reading – “Ants” from Poet X

TIEA – Compare and Contrast

Poem Performance

Poem Annotation – “For Teenage Girls With Wild Ambition and Trembling Hearts” by Clementine von Radics

Innocent Until Proven Guilty…

chihsi22Leave a comment

Overview of Unit

During this unit, we learned about the Salem Witch Trials through reading The Crucible by Arthur Miller. We annotated the text and analyzed it in a multiple of ways including TIEA, blog posts, dramatic readings, sketchnotes, post its, and book snaps. The historical significance of this book was brought back to life through the characters and imagining of what their lives were like. By reading this book, we learned about how people’s morality were judged by people in charge who abused their power and took advantage of their position in order to benefit themselves.

Dramatic Reading

 

TIEA

Blog Post – To Do What’s Best

Unit Reflection

To Do What’s Best…

chihsi222 Comments
Introduction

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Danforth’s rigid beliefs in the proceeding trials highlights Hale’s conflict to reach eventual altruism.

Foils

Hale starts off being confident and certain in his work and what he teaches people. He follows the Bible completely and is sure that his life’s work is to identify and bring to trial witches. He forces Tituba into confessing she’s a witch and accuses many others. However, as Proctor makes Hale question the integrity of Abigail and the girls,

HALE: …I dare not take a life without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it (92).

Hale starts to doubt in his abilities and everything he knows to be true. At the end, he comes to the conclusion that living is more important that anything, so he has to save the condemned by convincing them to lie about partaking in witchcraft.

HALE: You know, do you not, that I have no connection with the court…I would save your husband’s life, for if he is taken I count myself his murderer (122).

Hale goes from emphatically convicting those of witchcraft due to naivety to wanting to prevent those accused from being hung. After Hale thinks over the trials, he realizes and doubts the righteousness of the court. It leads to him losing confidence in the fact that he is doing good work. He then counsels those condemned to lie in order to save lives. He loses faith that the law and those in charge are doing things for the good of the people. Having changed his mind, he tries to be altruistic, going against his religious beliefs in order to save the condemned.

“Blindfold Justice” by Shutterstock on Pixabay

In the trial, Danforth considers himself to be the righteous and neutral. However, due to his belief that he is not biased, he fails to see both perspectives as he is not open minded. As Hale doubts the validity of the trials, Danforth refuses to listen to his worries, thinking that he is right.

HALE: …and I dare not take a life without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it.

DANFORTH: Mr. Hale, you surely do not doubt my justice.

Danforth’s rigid belief in the girls makes it all the more obvious of Hale’s change from overconfidence to being humbled. Danforth thinks of himself as fair-minded and refuses to fathom that the court is unjust. This results in him taking on an authoritarian role who can’t see the other perspective due to his own beliefs that the court is altruistic and has the people’s best interest at heart. Meanwhile, Hale has opened up from being confident in his abilities, to going against his own beliefs that he is correct in order to save people.

In the show The Politician, River helps Payton to realize his own altruistic nature by helping him find strength in vulnerability/wanting to help people. Although Payton is a political man, manipulating and deceiving to get what he wants, his motivations are altruistic. He manipulates in order to be able to do what is best for the people.

via GIPHY

Citation

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play In Four Acts. New York : Penguin Books, 1976. Print.

An Act of Survival 

chihsi224 Comments

A restrictive society, like in The Crucible and The Handmaid’s Tale, drives people to hide themselves from others. When there are deadly consequences for any small mistakes you make, it forces individuals to put on the guise of being perfect in fear they will be killed.

Reputation 

In The Crucible, any act that goes against the Ten Commandments will immediately put one at risk of danger in their religious town. John Proctor, a respected man in the town holds a dark secret; his affair with former servant Abigail Williams. As Abigail charges Mrs. Proctor with witchcraft in attempt to get her out of the picture, John forces Mary Warren to confess Abigail’s lies.

PROCTOR. …you will tell the court what you know

…

MARY WARREN. I cannot do it, I cannot!

PROCTOR. Make your peace with it! (76).

He is too cowardly to claim Abigail is lying for then she will expose their past affair, thus ruining his reputation in the town. However, he has no trouble terrorizing Mary Warren into exposing Abby, even at the risk that the girls will turn on her.

hypocrite“Hypocrite” Photo on Flickr / CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)

PROCTOR: Because it speaks deceit and I am honest! But I’ll plead no more! I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free! (59).

John Proctor desperately wants to be a good person and tries to convince himself that he is good, despite his mistakes. However, he isn’t able to tear free from his mistakes because the only person that focuses on it is himself. He is scared the town will find out about his affair because it will ruin his honest reputation. At the same time, the fact that the town doesn’t know is what makes Proctor torture himself with the idea that he is a hypocrite who puts on the facade that he is honest, when in reality, he withholds the truth due to his fears.

Paranoia

In Gilead, the people are in constant fear that they are being watched in case that what they have done is not orthodox. The government makes handmaids travel in pairs so they are able to monitor each other in case one of them goes against the rules. Offred thinks of her new handmaid partner as a goody-two shoes who truly believes in the Republic’s ideals.

I think of her as a woman for whom every act is done for show, is acting rather than a real act. She does such things to look good, I think…But that is what I must look like to her, as well. (31).

They must both follow the strict rules expected of them if they wish to survive in Gilead, but Offred complains that her partner is too virtuous, when she herself has also only ever followed the rules and said what was expected of her because she is scared to be punished for anything otherwise.

via GIPHY

Citations:

  • Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play In Four Acts. New York: Penguin Books, 1976. Print.
  • Atwood, Margaret Eleanor. The Handmaid’s Tale. New York : Anchor Books, 1998, c1986. Print.

Manipulation Leads To Power

chihsi224 Comments

In The Crucible, Abigail was able to manipulate people and events in a way that helped her to take control of the community similarly to how Hitler and the Nazi party seized reign over Germany through intimidation and manipulation.

What Caused It?

1. Hatred –> Pushing the Blame

ABIGAIL: She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman! (13).”

via GIPHY

When Parris accuses Abigail of having tainted her own name in the community, Abby immediately jumps on the defensive and states that the cause of her unemployment is the fault of Mrs. Proctor. Abigail holds a deep hatred for Elizabeth Proctor because she is the wife of John Proctor, who Abby is in love with.

Her jealousy and hatred of Elizabeth is what causes Abby to accuse Mrs. Proctor of witchcraft, since she knows that the only person who could prove otherwise is John (who is held back by his reputation).

The Germans were in a political and economical crisis. Rather than admitting their own faults had caused the current struggle, it was easier to push the blame onto the Jews. Gradually, their own frustrations and hatred against the Jews built up and violence was used in order to express their anger (which was really against their situation, but they chose to believe the situation was caused by the Jews).

 

How Did It Succeed?

2. Manipulation/Sharing of power

MARY WARREN: I cannot charge murder on Abigail.

…

MARY WARREN: She’ll kill me for sayin’ that! Proctor continues toward her. Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor! (75).” 

via GIPHY

Abigail and Hitler both held the image of being strong leaders who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. This appealed to and scared people into doing what they said.

They were also good at making people feel like power is shared amongst everyone, which is technically true because Abby and Hitler both needed the others in order to keep them in power. They were the ringleaders and perpetrators, but the true power is always in the hands of the majority and the majority chose to keep them in power because it also benefited them.

 

What Were The Consequences?

3. Baseless Deaths

HALE: The jails are packed-our greatest judges sit in Salem now-and hangin’s promised (75).”

Low Angle Photo of Concrete Cross Under Clouds

“Low Angle Photo of Concrete Cross Under Clouds” on Pexels

Abby and the girls just keep accusing anyone and everyone they dislike. This leads to many innocent people being held in jails and then hung if they did not confess to the crime they didn’t commit. Those who did not confess did so out of their belief of keeping their integrity and the truth sacred.

In the Holocaust, the Nazi regime senselessly tortured and killed millions of Jews because of their belief that the Aryan race was superior and Jews needed to be eliminated. Like Abby, they just killed those that they did not like.

MLA Citation:

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play In Four Acts. New York: Penguin Books, 1976. Print.