Katelynn Jasmine Vessels was born on September 18, 1998 and died July, 27, 2015. Katelynn was my best friend, my other half, my girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband. She’s my sister, not by blood but by soul; half of my heart and everything in between. Katelynn was the epitome of a fighter. If you went up to her and had a simple conversation with her, you would never think anything negatively about her life at home. She went through the saddest things but never let that affect the people who made her happy. What made her even more special is that she wasn’t one to complain. She constantly had people on her back, she constantly had people bringing her down and judging her. Telling her how to run her life. Even still she never let it stop her from living her life. Now that I look back, I feel awful for all the things that I would talk to her about because I feel like I sounded ungrateful. The things I thought I was going through couldn’t compare even the slightest to what she went through. Things got worse for her when she found out she was pregnant only at age 16. Of course finding out a loved one is pregnant at such a young age is disappointing to hear, however I made it my priority to make sure that I supported her because that was something that she needed the most. She carried the baby for about 6 months until a tragedy happened which caused her to lose baby Adrienne on June 3, 2015. Her reaction to the death of her baby was devastating. Katelynn was in the hospital for about 3 weeks then was instructed to go to a depression center to make sure she was taking care of herself physically and mentally. During these situations, a child wants their mother there the most, no matter what kind of relationship you may have, you always want your mom right there by your side. And she didn’t have that. Watching her go through that breaks my heart everyday. It was so important that I returned all the favors she's done for me. When a person doesn’t understand why things are happening, they start to blame it all on themselves. And that’s exactly what she did. She blamed herself for why her father left, she blamed herself for why she thought her mother hated her, she blamed herself for why her boyfriend of 3 years hadn’t visit her the entire 2 months of her being in the hospital, and lastly she blamed herself for the lost of her child. Her exact words were “I refuse to continue living my life in this terrible way.” At that moment, she became a person who I was unfamiliar with. To me, those were just words of her grieving. But to her, those were the words that made her decide to take her own life just a few days later.

When she was alive, I would always tell her that I didn’t know what I’d do without her and now that she’s gone, I really don’t know how i’m doing it. I guess it’s because I don’t have any other choice. I can’t say that it has been easy learning to live without her. I’ve come to the understanding that when I go to her house, it won’t ever be her who opens the door, or when I call her phone number, it’ll still just be her voicemail. I decided to create my sugar skull in remembrance of her because what I have learned is that Dia de los Muertos is for celebrating a person’s life not dwelling on the fact that they passed. I feel as though she deserves to be celebrated because I know that’s something she would do. She was such a joyful person, she would want me to remember her as an inspiration and i’m trying my hardest to keep that in mind. I truly want all of my words that I used to describe her to give off nothing but good vibes to people. And in the end, that’s really all I want for her, is for people to accept and respect her. I made my sugar skull to reflect Katelynn by painting the entire thing yellow. I chose yellow not because it was her favorite color but because yellow represents happiness and like I mentioned before that was an instant vibe that you got from her. I also chose to include red as a representation of strength. And lastly, I put glitter over the yellow for a super special reason. I think the glitter represents a covering for what’s on the bottom. If you think about it, when someone shows you something sparkly, you don’t think to ask what’s under it; all you see is that it’s sparkling and you like it. Katelynn put “glitter” on herself so that all you see is something pretty, she didn’t want people to know what’s really under it. She hated when people felt bad for her. She just wanted people to see her as your typically happy teenage girl.

Dia de los Muertos has opened up my mind to celebrating the passed loved ones because all the people whose deaths we care about i’m sure just want us to be happy. And this holiday isn’t about being sad. It’s about remembering all the good times that you have shared with that person. You think about how much joy you guys brought to each other. When someone you love and care about passes away, there is a strong temptation to remember them. Misdeeds are forgotten, offenses are forgiven. The hardest part of her passing is that I don’t feel like I told her I loved her enough. I use to blame myself and say “well maybe if i said it once more, that’s another day she’d be here” And I’d give anything to turn back time to do so. People say all great minds think alike. But I like to say all great hearts share a bond. And at the end of the day, she may be gone but our connection will remain unbroken.

Origen:

Ella nació en la Estados Unidos

Ella esta de Chesterfield Missouri

Katelynn asistió Hollenbeck mitad escuela

fuimos a Archbishop ryan para de la preparatoria.
Ella fue dieciseis anos

Mi hermana esta Afroamericano y somalí de su madre

Ella fue dominicana de su padre

Katelynn fue cinco pies, cuatro pulgada

Mi hermana esta musulman

Mi hermana fue alegre

Ella fue extremadamente confiable y muy amable  

Ella amado a comló

Katelynn’s favorita color fue verde

Ella gusta de baile

Yo soy en Filadelfia

Yo esforzarse por a guardo a positiva y acordarse bien memoria

Yo soy triste y emotiva

Yo soy afligido

Mi mensaje a su es:

Eres el mejor hermana del mundo

Gracias por estar siempre ahí cuando te necesito

Estoy muy orgulloso/a por tener un padre como tu

Siempre estás en mi mente

Te quiero mucho

Día de los Muertos

Día de los Muertos is one of the most celebrated holiday in the Mexican culture. It’s a day where we celebrate the lives of our loved ones who we have lost. At first I thought it was just a sad and creepy day for everyone but when I actually got to watch a few videos and learned more information about the holiday I realized that it’s not a sad day. It’s a day where you’re surrounded by food, music, family, and flowers. We get to cherish all the little things that make a person the way they are and what we took for granted about the person when they were alive. I love all of the creativity and thought that goes into Día de los Muertos from the different foods to the different ideas people use to present their ofrendas and altars. I know what you're thinking what in the world is an ofrenda? Well an ofrenda is a decorative stand where it would hold pictures of the one that passed with all the things that the person liked and enjoyed the most during their time here.

I was glad that I got to get a feel for this holiday and the way another culture deal with the feeling of losing a loved one. In class I based my project off of my grandmother her name was Carol Washington she was the third oldest out of eight children but she was the oldest out of four girls. She was born February 10, 1956 and past April 19, 2008 she lived until the age 52. She was born in North Carolina but was raised in city of brotherly love Philadelphia. Married my grandfather Raymond Washington in May 1972 and had five children. She was into dental and health care for many years and decided to pursue a career in dental.

Me and my Grandmother weren’t as close as when she was live but doing this project it showed me that we were just alike in so many ways. As a younger child I did not always get to see the greatest parts of my grandmother due to my behavior and what they would call a “smart mouth” and as old fashioned woman I was disciplined for my actions. However after participating in my first Día de los Muertos I have gotten to refresh and preserve my memory of her taught me that she means a great deal to me. Making me wish that I had more time to spend with a person who was just like me in characteristics and personality.

I decided to create my sugar skull in the remembrance of my grandmother because one she is my grandmother. Also, because she was my mother’s mother and my mother loved her dearly. My mother means a lot to me so I wanted to do this project for her to remember her mother since she can’t reflect herself doing this project. So I believe that my sugar skull reflects my grandmother because the colors I used reflected my favorite memory of her which was during Easter. Which she let me decorate all the eggs and hide my cousins and my brothers easter baskets all around the house. So I decorated my skull and mask in what I believe are easter colors. I also added braces on my skulls teeth because that reflected her being a dentist and when I think of dentistry I think of braces.  

Día de los Muertos open up my mind a lot for celebrating my loved ones because it let us do what our loved ones enjoyed. We can kind of get to walk into their shoes for the day by eating everything they loved and doing activities that they felt were stimulating and fun. I think that this is something that everyone could enjoy after they finished grieving or if they want to use this holiday as a grieving resolution. Because it lets you have a day where you get to talk about the person and get out all of your final cries till next year or their birthday. I feel as though this was a great exercise for the class it let us do exactly what the holiday encourage you to do. I would like to bring this holiday home with me because it let me get to know more about my grandmother even though I didn’t know her that well it gave me time to actually sit down with my mother and learn a lot more to my grandmother then what I knew previously.

Panegírico

Hola mi nombre es Lamira Jeffreys y yo hecho este panegírico para mi abuela. Yo tenía nueve años de edad cuando ella falleció.

Mi abuela Carol nació el diez de febrero de mil novecientos cincuenta y seis. Ella para realidad nació  en North Carolina pero creció en Filadelfia.

Ella fue una dentista y involucrados con atención médica. Ella fue la tres vieja de ocho niños.

Mi abuela fue de marrón piel y muy alta y flaca. Ella también fue enérgica y cariñosa.

En el momento no era lo suficientemente mayor para saber lo que estaba pasando. Yo aún tengo amor para ella pero son no como sólida debido a mi edad. La sola cosa yo deseo yo podía  tener con mi abuela es más tiempo. Más tiempo que yo podía usar a obtener a saber ella mejor.

En un sentido yo siento a la izquierda hacia fuera porque mi hermano y primos tienen mucho memorias de mi abuela pero yo no tengo muchos.

Así que cuándo de familia encantarse y hablar sobre ella yo no llegar a decir mucho

Día De Las Muertos

The person I decided to focus on for this project was my older sister Jasmine Lewis.  She was the second oldest out of my 5 siblings and honestly one of the most fun.  Jasmine was the one I went to when I needed someone to talk to but didn’t really feel like anyone else would have the answers to what I needed help with.  No matter what the situation was she would be there to help me out in it whether I was at fault or not.  She was a full supporter.  Unfortunately Jasmine was one of my sisters that had sickle cell.  The trait of this disease runs through my family but not everyone was born with it.  However, her case of sickle cell grew more severe as she went on with life.  The older she got the more she ended up in the hospital due to pains from this disease.  She always wanted to treat someone just because of the simple fact that she enjoyed making people happy.  She has passed away on March 29, 2014 before her 27th birthday and it was one of the largest wake up calls that my family could have received because no one was expecting it and it seemed like we almost took our moments with her for granted.  She was always a giver and would rarely expect something in return.

Jasmine meant a lot to me as do all of my older siblings.  We seemed to have this connection of some sort where she would always understand my point of view or where my reasoning was coming from.  She was also a very positive person almost all the time.  She did have her moments where she may not have been the most positive if she was made angry but that’s just human.  Jasmine was a huge source of knowledge for me.  Whenever there was a time where I felt like almost everyone was against me in a situation, she was always there by my side.  I always tried my hardest to do the  same for her as often as I could.  Jasmine and I were a team.  I had most of my first time experiences with her such as visiting Penn's Landing, going to Love Park downtown, and visiting the Philadelphia art museum.  She was a curious explorer when it came to certain things.  If she heard about a place that she thought one of her siblings would like, she would eventually arrange plans to visit that place with them or even the rest of the family.  She sometimes even was a connector for our family.  There would be times where she would bring us back together if we had not spent time with each other in a while.  For example there would be times where Jasmine would visit and encourage us to come together and eat dinner as a family to catch up on times that we missed and just to spend quality time with each other.  

I honestly decided to create my sugar skull and mask in remembrance of her because she’s the closest family member that I have lost.  She is on my mind almost every day and I know everyone misses her dearly and they are holding in a lot of emotions so I felt that it would be good to express some of those emotions in this skull and mask portion of the project.  I felt that she was the most necessary to base this project on because she was a huge part of me and she was one of my largest sources of joy and happiness.  I believe she was that way for just about everyone in the family.  She spoke nothing but positive words and honored almost everyone she knew dead or alive so I felt that it was a great idea to honor her in this project.

In this project, my sugar skulls was painted a greenish blue.  This greenish blue represents one of her favorite colors besides pink.  This blue is painted on most of the skull because of that.  There is also a red trip down the back of the head.  This represents the hairstyle that Jasmine had which was a mohawk that was straightened and leaned toward the side that was dyed red.  If you look at the front of the skull you’ll notice that mouth area of the skull is a different color from the rest.  I decided to paint this part yellow because Jasmine was almost always speaking positive words.  The yellow is supposed to point out that her words were always either bright and encouraging or brought some sort of happiness. There are also yellow highlights on the outline of the mohawk to represent the bright parts of her mindset and the way she thought about things in a positive way.  The red strip borderlining the bottom of the skull is there to represent her strength from being able to deal with the pains of sickle cell almost all day, everyday and yet still remaining a positive person overall.  There are also simple red designs on the side of the skull that represent the red glasses she had but the eye part is sparkling and defined.  This represents the amazing way that she looked at different things and situations in life.  

My mask for this project is also a reflection of my sister’s characteristics and tendencies.  The blue highlights that go throughout the mask design are to represent her favorite color once again.  I was sure to put the blue highlights in more than one place in the mask and also make it stand out in contrast with the red background.  There are 2 bright blue stars on the design of the forehead of the mask that represent how she found a way to see things the positive way and how she liked to explore.  The stars represent exploration because there are many stars and there is so much to explore in the universe.  The reddish pink color of the background of the mask represents how bright of a person she was overall because even though she dealt with a severe illness, she always managed to bring joy and stay bright.  The overall colors of the mask are meant to represent her bright the positive characteristics that Jasmine seemed to have almost all of the time.

The Day of the Dead has opened my mind up to the positive idea of the celebrating the passing of loved ones.  Usually I would only think of death as a bad thing and I would really hate it if a family member passed away but the Day of the dead has opened my eyes and has encouraged me to think of the positive that could be in the situation.  There are benefits especially for my sister such as the fact that now that she has passed away, she no longer has to deal with any pain or hurt that may have been caused by the sickle cell she had.  She also does not have to deal with any drama or tragedies caused by humans in general.  I know that my sister Jasmine Lewis has moved on to a better place and I and actually very glad that she did.  I am still sad and angry to have lost her in the first place but I am now able to remind myself of the positive fact that she no longer has to suffer at all anymore.  She has moved on into a better place and I am able to use that as another source of joy.

Panegírico

Hola, me llamo Jordan Lewis.  Yo soy un estudiante de grado diez.  Yo asisto ciencia y liderato en Beeber.  Esta mi panegírico.  Jasmine fue nacer la ocho de junio.  Ella es de Filadelfia.  Jasmine es mi grande hermana.  Ella es el segundo mayor hermana en la familia.  Ella es cómica y alta para una chica.  Jasmine es muy inteligente.  Ella disfrutó provocar gente feliz.  Yo soy en a bueno condición.  Yo sé ella está en un lugar mejor.  Yo extraño mi hermana, ella era muy importante.  Ella era a bueno hermana. Mi hermana Jasmine era a grande parte de mi familia. Yo soy feliz porque ella no sufre. Nosotros extrañamos ella pero nosotros somos feliz para Jasmine.

Spanish 2 Quarter 1_Benchmark_Día de los Muerto

Aaliyah Ellerbee

10.02.2015

The project was to write about someone who passed also celebrating Día de los muertos. We had to go in depth answering all questions with heart felt answers. We had to create sugar skulls and mask reflecting the person either looking like the person or with the favorite things. We were able to learn about the day of the dead or Día de los muertos. Also we learned new vocabulary and when day of the dead occurs. I did my project on my dad who recently passed it was't as bad as I thought.

I am dedicating my skull mask to my Step Father that passed recently.The person that passed away was my Step Dad (Abdul).  This person was a positive father figure to

me. He showed me hard work and dedication pays off. Even if he didn’t do everything by the book he showed me how to become independent and don’t depend on anyone. My dad taught me do not allow anyone ever to walk over you have a voice at all times, “Closed mouths don’t get fed”. I decided to create my sugar skull  for my Dad because he passed this September.  He was a big impact in my life, he showed me that education gets you far in life. I say that he demonstrated that school and education will get you far because he only went to school until 6th grade. My father was a successful  businessman. He did very well to only have elementary school education. My dad had many real estates companies everything wasn’t always legal or  properly handled.  but didn’t know how to alot of   Always treat people how you want to be treated because Karma is real.  The passing of my dad impacted my mom in negative way because she often misses him.  My father's passing left a hole in my family even though he and my mom weren’t married he was still a father figure. It is a hole that my brother, my mom and I have will try to fill, in our own ways. For years I have coped with the loss of my father by dedicating very little time to thinking about it. Though this method may seem heartless, it works for me.

On September 28, 2015  I attended my dad’s funeral. This was one of the hardest day in my life, I would  never in a million years expected to be burying my Dad. At my dad’s Janazah it was bittersweet. I was able to see him peacefully rest one last time. I was able to see how much of an impact my dad made in people's lives.  I loved being my dad’s daughter he helped raised me. He was  apart of my life for majority of my life. Most knew my dad by “Abdul Mateen”.

You will Never ever meet a greater man, a man who was lived by  his values. My father was  taught by experience . His method was simple. He always did favor even if no one returned the favor.I admired my dad because of the kind of father and man  he was to my brother and I. Yes, he loved us very much. He also instilled in us a core value system that defined who we were. My dad  was a man who kept promises.

Things that my dad taught me are savor and cherish  every moment. Savor every moment you have together. Some day hanging out with my dad won’t be that interesting. Life happens pretty fast.  cherish it while you can. It’s never too early to start teaching me about money. She will still probably suck you dry as a teenager. My dad means  everything to me. Dad, words cannot express how much I adore and treasure you. You are one of the best things that ever happened to me, you were such a great father figure at a young age taught me how to be my own person. You were a good husband and father figure. You help raise me in the way of  Allah beliefs, taught me how to believe in myself, you taught me the morals I need.  You have been my source of joy and inspiration. My dad has seen me grow up from the age 4 on up.

What Commemorate means to me is honoring and showing respect to someone who has passed. What the Definition of commemorate means to my mom is to honor a person memory and treasure the moments you share.  How do you or your family commemorate the passing of a loved one? This could be the wake, funeral and/or anniversary of their passing. In the passing of my father we had janazah which is relatively similar to a funeral but much shorter in time. In the Islam religion you are not to mourn over the death of someone near in public you are not suppose to have candle lights. So for our family we prayed and said the Shahadah. My mask reflects my dad because it has the components  of his life. My dad owned many businesses such as clubs, construction company, real estate and car dealerships.  My father was all about his business.   

How does your sugar skull reflect this person? I believe that my sugar skull reflects my dad because he was very flashy person. I used the glitter to show his flashiness also the color green because he was “ about his business”.  I  think that the sugar skull represented him

because I wrote in Arabic “Family” which he cared deeply about. Family is all you have at the end of the day.  Another way the skull is a representation of him is because I have the Islam symbol which is a crescent and star. To show his religion and love for Allah. My dad was a proud Muslim. Islam is the right religion and he was on the right path. Now you are with Allah everything belongs to allah  'To Allah we belong and to Him is our return (Inna lillaahi wa inna ilayhi Raaji'oon).

I think my video reflects my dad because, I have pictures edited to look as if he was all over the world. I did this because he did like to travel so this depicts that. I also added many pictures of his religion which is Islam. My dad loved and enjoyed his religion even though sometimes he didn’t do everything correctly he still has a strong Muslim man. In my slideshow of pictures I have a video of my dad  showing off his new car saying “You can’t rent these”. My dad was a very flashy guy. He worked for his success, but he did cheat people and did many of his clients wrong.

How has “Día de Los Muertos” opened your mind up to celebrating the passing of loved ones?Día de Los Muertos has helped me think all of the positive things my father has done and the impact he had in my life.  This day brings to my mind that my dad  who passed away and left a mark in my heart. This is my first time actually celebrating Día de Los Muertos but, Dia de Los Muertos for me now is  a time when I stop and reflect on my dad . I reflect on his love, and friendship and how it helped  me to get where I am and become the person I am.  I will  try to always honor his life and cherish our memories and making my dad proud  I know he is watching over me.

Eulogy  

Yo soy Aaliyah Ellerbee. Yo estoy quince años de edad. Estoy hablando de mi papa

El , señor Abdul Mateen , mi padrastro .

Él estuvo un empresario

Mi Papá fue muy cómico y absurdo

Mi Papa tuvo bastante hijos

El amor de la familia

Mi papa disfrutar dinero

Él siempre mirar molesto

Mi papi abdul estuvo de Filadelfia

Él disfrutado de ir de compras

Él fue estricto

Mi papá disfrutar a viajar

Mi papá era un gran trabajador

Yo estoy en Filadelfia

Yo soy en  mentalidad positiva    

Yo respeto mi papá y amor le

Esta proyecto mi hacer  triste

Ayúdame pensar de bien tiempo

Yo estoy al corriente  a valor mi vida.

Él está con Allah.

Yo creo que Acerca de mi papa

Su ejemplo mi inspira

Eres el mejor papá del mundo

Gracias por estar siempre ahí cuando te necesito

Gracias por todo

Porque siempre estás ahí.

Por ser modelo en mi vida.

Amor Tú Por siempre creer en mí.

A Dios gracias por ser mi padre.

Papá  Eres lo mejor!

Yo honor mi papa

El fin

MASK AND SUGAR SKULL