Dia de los Muertos Benchmark
Jake Ashenfelter
https://www.wevideo.com/hub#media/ci/510549127
English Paragraph:
Who is the person?
What did this person mean to you?
Why did you decide to create this sugar skull in remembrance of this person?
How does your sugar skull reflect this person?
How has “Dia de los Muertos” opened your mind up to celebrating the passing of loved ones?
Charles Ashenfelter was many different things to me even though I only knew him for the first few years of my life. The most important thing was that he was my grandfather. I always called him Pop, I’m not sure why but I just did one day and it stuck. Pop seemed to be an average man that just did the same thing everyday, but he was much more than that. He was a caring man that loved his family and spent all of his time providing for his family. He raised several kids, one of them being my dad who is the most important person in my life and I look up to more than anyone, so obviously he did a good job. However there are some things about Pop that I heard were not amazing. He had to work several jobs in order to provide for all the kids, so that meant he was around the house for them much. My dad's siblings would smoke and drink with their friends in the house and my grandfather didn’t have time to tell them to stop. When my dad was my age he was on the all star team for the city of philadelphia for high school football players, however Pop never went to see any of his games. My dad brings this up many times and tells me how much it hurts him that he didn’t come to any of them. It makes me appreciate that my dad comes to every single game of my life, even when he is sick or hurt. However, I never experienced this side of my grandfather. He was always so nice to me. He came to every baseball and football game I ever had. He took me golfing with him. He took me shopping with him. All I have are good memories of him. I’m thankful for the person that Pop was to me but it also disappoints me the way he was to my dad. Pop was the only person that showed me what it was like to experience death because he is the only person I was close to that passed away. Now, enough for all the ranting and getting off topic. What does my grandfather mean to me? I’m not really sure to be honest. My grandfather was always great to me but I only have so many memories from him. All I can remember him by are the things that people say about him. When I go golfing, I get greeted by everyone there and everyone tells me how great of a man my grandfather was and sometimes we even get to play for free or a discount. I listen to the stories that my dad says about him with him and with me. To me my grandfather is a man that cared a lot about me and cared a lot about his family. He may not have always been the best because he wasn’t always around, but the only reason he wasn't around is because he was working to provide for his family. The main thing that I remember my grandfather from is golfing, He volunteered there for the last couple years of his life. I would go there with him and find missing golf balls, then we would bring them back and try to sell them to the golfers for cheaper. So obviously my grandfather was somebody I loved and only had good memories with. I get upset that I forget about him a lot and don’t remember much about him, but that just makes me cherish the moments that I did have with him.
I decided to do my grandfather for this project because he was one of the only person in my life that passed away. Dia de los Muertos is a day to celebrate the dead and to honor those who have died. My whole life I have been sad and disappointed that my grandfather passed away when I was so young. However, I think it is good that I do this project on him because it is time I stop being sad about his passing and use this time to appreciate him and celebrate him. Instead I get to remember the good memories that I had with him. My sugar skull can reflect this person because of everything I put on it. The main thing I remember him by, as I said before, is golfing. This is where I had my best memories with him and I enjoyed it. I didn’t know how to represent golfing on a small skull like this so I remembered the hat that he always used to wear. Everytime I saw him he wore a hat for the golfing club that he went to so I decided to make that hat and put it on the skull. The other thing that I represented him by was his old white hair. I put this on here because this is another thing that I remembered him by. It was always really funny making fun of his hair because of how ridiculous it looked. The only other thing that I tried to represent him by was his favorite color which is why I painted the skull. I asked a few people what his favorite color was and I never really got a clear answer so I decided to put the three answers that I received onto the skull. Yellow, blue and red. I wish that I could have added a few other things to my skull but I couldn’t fit much else onto the skull. The same reason goes for the mask that I created. In the mask there are several different reasons that I drew what I drew. The first of which being the flowers. I drew the flowers to represents life and how nice my grandfather was. Another thing is the flower at the top. I made this one of the brightest points on the mask because it shows how intelligent my grandfather was since it is where his brain would be. I also put a golf ball in his mouth because I needed to show his love for golf somewhere since that is how I remember him the most.
Dia de los Muertos definitely opened up my mind to celebrating the passing of a loved one. Before learning about this, the time of year that Dia de los Muertos takes place would usually be me just celebrating Halloween. Instead, I took this time do remember some of the people that have passed and enjoy the memories I had with them. I never really thought about my grandfather much before Dia de los Muertos. Now I think that I will want to go visit him and remember all of the good times I had and celebrate.
English Eulogy:
Write an introduction that includes who you are
Write 1-2 sentences for each of the following categories
Reflecting the person:
Origen
Identification
Characteristics
Reflecting Yourself:
Location
Condition
3) Write a conclusion of 3-5 sentences.
Hello, my name is Jake Ashenfelter. When I was 7 years old my grandfather passed away. I loved him very much and will never forget him. He was always smiling and made me smile as well. My grandfather was born and lived in Roxborough his whole life. He was a family man and everyone that knew him loved him. My grandfather worked in a factory his entire life. When he was not in a factory he would spend his time golfing. My grandfather was a kind and friendly man overall. He was funny, caring and humble. I will never forget my grandfather because of these reasons. Today I like to remember my grandfather in many different ways. I try to visit his grave because it will help me remember him and enjoy the memories more. I am not sad anymore about my grandfather passing away. Instead I remember everything we did with each other. I remember how much I love him and how much he loves me and I become happy.
Reflection
The person who I chose to do is my dad. The thing that makes this project so emotional for me is that my dad passed away not too long ago, September 24 of this year in fact. I chose to do my dad because he was one of the most important people in my life, if not the most important. He was the closest person to me by far I don’t know of anyone who was like him, and it hurt me so much when I found out that it happened, and what made it even worse was that he was on his way down to see me and my sister when it happened. I will forever regret not saying “I love you” before he left the day before. He wasn’t really perfect I think the reason that he died was that he wasn’t perfect, but he was the perfect dad. He did everything that he should have did as a dad. I never really knew anything about his personal life, but I didn't really care about that. I know he didn't have a real career, but he always had a job. For as long as I can remember he had a job that provided for me and my family. He was also one of the toughest people I knew. My dad would put his life on the line to protect me and my family. I really looked up to him for that. No matter what anyone says I think that my dad was perfect, sure he had his flaws, but who doesn't. I’m always going to love him and miss him very much.
My dad meant everything to me. He was the one who taught me what I know today. I have nothing against my mom, but I feel like my dad was just a more dominant figure in my life. He’s the -reason why I am such a big sports fan. From an early age he exposed me to sports, mainly football. One of the main reasons why I’m a diehard Eagles fan was him. Whoever took my dad away from me took everything away from me. He was the only one who understood me and I was the only one who understood him. Sure he got on my nerves, but he was my dad, so I really didn't care because I loved him so much. I know that I said that he means everything to me, but he meant more than everything to me, if that is even possible.
I decided to create my sugar skull in remembrance of my dad because it was so recent, referring to his death. He was such an inspiration on my life. Most of the things that I do revolve around him. Like he taught me different things that a female couldn’t teach. There was nothing that I couldn’t tell my dad. I regret not talking to him more than I did. I can't even tell him the things that I wanted to tell him as I got older. Before this abrupt end to my dad’s life, I was going to talk to him more than I did. He was always at my house although he didn't live with me. This gave me the satisfaction of having my dad around more than other people whose parents are separated. Overall the main reason why I decided to make my sugar skull in remembrance of my dad because of how recent his death was, how big of an inspiration he was, and to get over all of the regrets that I have.
My sugar skull represents my father because the colors on the skull are the colors of our favorite football team, the Philadelphia Eagles. My dad and I were diehard Eagles’ fans. He would always come to my house and watch the games with me, sometimes spending the night if it was a very late game. There has been countless times where me and him would watch the games that come on throughout the day just to see the Eagles play. I grew up watching the Eagles and he was the main reason for that. There is also a little blue patch that is on the side of the skull. I only did this because there wasn’t any more black paint, but it does relate to my dad. His favorite color was blue, so I decided to use the blue paint to fill the rest of my sugar skull. The blue is too light though, his favorite color is like a navy blue color. My dad really wasn’t the person to go over and beyond with things, so that’s the reason my skull is so plain. If it was up to him he would have left the skull all white and not had did anything to it. If it wasn’t required to decorate it I probably wouldn’t have done anything because that's how he would have wanted it. I decorated my mask the same way with the same colors. My dad probably would have just colored it blue and left it at that.
“Dia de los Muertos” opened up my eyes to celebrating the life of a pasted one by having me realize that you shouldn’t mourn the death of people, but celebrate it. Really I already knew that I should do this. At his funeral I actually said that. While everyone else was crying all I could do was smile, not only to keep from crying, but to show that we should be celebrating his death. I’m extremely hurt and sadden by this, but to this day I haven’t cried, well at least not yet. I don’t think I’ll do everything that is usually done on “Dia de los Muertos”, I don't know if I’ll do it at all, but I definitely know that I’m not going to mourn the loss of my dad, but celebrate it.
Español Panegírico
Me llamo Rymir Vaughn y yo tengo quince años de edad. Yo soy el hijo de William Vaughn. Mi padre fue de Filadelfia, específicamente el oeste de Filadelfia. Él vivió con su madre y dos hermanas. Yo nunca supe eso su padre está no presente. Él fue muy cómico. Él fue un trabajador dedicado. Él fue un hombre diligente. Mi padre fue un hombre bien
Yo estoy muy triste. Yo quiero mi padre aquí con mi otra vez. Yo necesito más tiempo con mi padre. Amo a mi papá y lo extraño. Mentalmente yo estoy dolido. Yo necesito a deco te amo uno más tiempo. Eso es el más importante cosa a me. No diciendo te amo estoy me lastima. lo extraño tanto.
Cyrus Foster 11/11/15
Spanish 2 benchmark English reflection
My Grandfather
My grandfather passed away when I was younger. I don’t remember the exact day or year but i’m pretty sure it was between 2011 and 2013. Most of my life I lived outside of the city where I never really got a chance to talk to him or know him. Around 2008- 2009 my family moved back to Philadelphia and I still didn’t get to meet him until maybe a year later. When I finally met him he was very happy to see me. I had some very old memories of him from my younger years but it wasn’t anything I would say was important. When I met him we connected a lot because we had many similarities and similar interests. He played a role to create the way I am today.
My grandfather meant a lot to me and still does. I feel like without him I wouldn’t be the person I am today. He is the one who got me interested in technology. When I was younger I liked technology but I never really knew what it could do or how things worked. Whenever I came to his house I always learned something new. He always showed me new things about phones, computers, and other technology. I remember one time he gave me a keyboard piano and I started learning how to play it. I think that really started my interest in music and instruments. He taught me a lot about phones and computers and how they work. After that I have always had an interest in how technology work. Finally, he was a very religious person. He always talked about the bible and church. He taught my family and I to stay positive and what we should and shouldn’t do. Everyone in your life teaches you something and I think he taught me a lot.
I decided to create my sugar skull in remembrance of my grandfather because he’s the only one I was pretty close to that died. I knew him enough to be able to describe him and share my thoughts on him.
My sugar skull reflects my grandfather by using two basic concepts to describe the overall type of person he was. I used a lot of glitter on the skull and I put a cross on the face. Glitter is very bright and colorful which is how you could describe him. He was a very smart person and it was very obvious even if it was your first time meeting him. He had many interests and was a very curious person. My grandfather used his interests to gain more knowledge and pass it on. I rarely ever saw him in a bad mood. He was the one who the family would always come together to see and he brightened many people's day. I put a yellow cross on the forehead of the skull to represent religion. He was a very religious person. I used yellow because it is a bright and noticeable color. He made it very noticeable that religion was something he followed to the max because he would always talk about it. I remember he had a group of friends that he studied and discussed the bible with. He would always have them over or be on the phone with them. His good spirit and participation in religion is what I tried to show on the sugar skull by using bright colors, glitter, and a cross.
I guess Día de los Muertos has opened my mind up to celebrating the passing of loved ones by making me think about the positive. Most people here in America take death as a bad or scary thing. People think about dead people as just not physically being here anymore but I think we should think about the good they left behind. Everyone leaves something behind whether it’s good or bad and people should remember that. Nothing lasts forever so you should enjoy the time it’s here and celebrate the fact that it lived as long as it did when it goes. I think I've learned to enjoy things why you have them and to never forget the impact that was left on you. If you ever get close to someone that means they’ve put a part of themselves in you. Never forget that and pass it on. There’s a positive in every negative and I've learned that it’s up to me to choose which one I think I should look at.
Cyrus Foster 11/11/15
Spanish 2 benchmark Eulogy
My Grandfather
Hola mi nombre es Cyrus Foster. Yo soy dieciseis anos. Mi abuelo fui a muy importante persona en mi vida.
Mi abuelo fui de Filadelfia. Él fue de el norte de Filadelfia. Mi abuelo es el padre de mi madre. Él es el marido de mi abuela. Él nombre fue Michael. Él fue a muy inteligente persona. Mi abuelo fue también a muy calmado persona.
Yo gusto aprendizaje en el tienda de la computadora. Yo soy muy feliz el enseñar me de computadoras.
` Él enseñar me mucho más de el algos yo soy interesado en. Yo soy orgulloso de lo.
Video:
https://www.wevideo.com/view/510073288
This project was made for Day of the Dead and I celebrated the death of my grandfather. I created a reflection, eulogy, and video for the project. The video also includes pictures of the physical part where we had to design a mask and sugar skull.
In October 16th, John woke up at 8:00 in the morning. John panicked because he knows that he has school today. His mom yelled “We’re leaving in 15 minutes” and that made him quickly get ready for school. He brushed his teeth, washed his arms, and put clothes on. With no time to spare, he ran downstairs to grab a banana and left the house.
When John was in the car, he had a weird feeling in his stomach and he made a weird noise. “Are you okay?” his mom asked him. “Yeah I’m fine…” he said said in a painful tone. John was trying to survive in the car because his stomach was hurting him. When he got out of the car, the pain went away. John was very confused; it was like nothing was wrong with him.
During school, John’s stomach pain started coming back. His friends thought he had a disease, so they did not talk to him. John didn’t care that he was sick, but he was walking like a dead man. He realized that his stomach was a problem, so he wanted it to stop. He drank water, ate food, and went to sleep, but nothing worked.
He went to the office, “I need my temperature to get checked.” he said. The nurse checked his temperature and he found out he has a 104.3! John was shocked and nervous when he found out because a temperature like that is rare. The nurse ran to the phone and called John’s mom telling her to pick him up because of the temperature.
John was waiting for his mother in the office. The nurse was constantly watching over him being scared of what could happen to him. “I’m not feeling good.” John said in a disgusting tone. The nurse panicked even more and ran out the room so she won’t pass out. 5 minutes later, John’s mom came.
John’s mom was in shock. She didn’t know what to say. John couldn’t tell if her she was going to pass out or cry. All she did was grab John and ran out the school. When they got into the car, John’s mom drove to the hospital.
John couldn’t breathe when he reached the hospital. He never seen his mom cry that much before. John’s mom knew his son’s life was in his hands. All she could do was sit down and pray. John never felt so bad for his mother.
Things were not looking good for John. The doctor was worried what could happen to him. John looked like he had a disease instead of a cold. The doctor did all that he could do for John, then left the room. John’s mother was looking for answer from the doctor, but he didn't say a word.
John’s mom went in the room with tears on her face. John saw her, so he tried to smile for her. John’s mom started crying harder. John closed his eyes ending his life, but he opened his eyes again. He was in bed and it’s Saturday; John noticed it was a dream.
John got out of bed and went downstairs to eat breakfast. He bumped into his mother saying good morning. While he was eating breakfast, he told his mom the dream he had. His mom had a few reactions to the dream saying that’s scary. John said “Yeah it was, but I'm glad that is was only a dream.”
Spanish:
El 16 de octubre, John se despertó a las 8:00 de la mañana. John entró en pánico porque sabía que tenía escuela hoy. Su madre gritó: "Nos vamos en 15 minutos" y lo hizo llegar rápidamente listo para la escuela. El cepillo sus dientes, lavó los brazos y ponío su ropa. Sin tiempo, él corrió abajo para tomar un banana y salió de la casa.
Cuando John estaba en el coche, él tenía una sensación extraña en el estómago y hizo un ruido extraño. "¿Estás bien?" le preguntó su mamá. "Sí estoy bien...", dijo en un tono doloroso. John estaba tratando de sobrevivir en el coche porque su estómago le estaba lastimando. Cuando salió del coche, el dolor se fue. John estaba muy confundido; fue como si nada estaba mal con él.
Durante las clases, el dolor de estómago comenzó a volver. Sus amigos pensaron que tenía una enfermedad, y no hablan con él. John no importaba que estaba enfermo, pero caminaba como un hombre muerto. Se dio cuenta de que su estómago era un problema, y él quería que deje de molestar. Él bebía agua, comía comida y se fue a dormir, pero nada funcionó.
Fue a la oficina, "Necesito mi temperatura revisado" le dijo. La enfermera revisio su temperatura y se vio que tenía un 104.3! John fue sorprendido y nervioso cuando se vio porque una temperatura cómo eso era rara. La enfermera corrió hacia el teléfono y llama la mamá de John y le dice que necesita recoger a él debido a la temperatura.
John estaba esperando su madre en la oficina. La enfermera estaba constantemente mirando sobre él porque estaba asustado de lo que podría ocurrir a él. "No me siento bien" John dijo en un tono desagradable. La enfermera aún más pánico y funcionó hacia fuera de la habitación así que ella no pase hacia fuera. 5 minutos más tarde, vino la mamá de John.
La mamá de John estaba en shock. No sabía qué decir. John no podía decir si ella se iba a desmayar o llorar. Escogió John y corrió fuera de la escuela. Cuando llegaron al coche, la mamá de John llevó a John al hospital.
John no podía respirar cuando llegaron al hospital. Él nunca vio su madre llorar mucho antes. La mamá de John sabía que era la vida de su hijo en sus manos. Lo único que podía hacer era sentarse abajo y llorar. John nunca se sentía tan mal por su madre.
Cosas no miraban buena para John. El médico estaba preocupado lo que podría suceder a él. John parecía que tenía una dolencia. El médico hizo todo lo que podía hacer para John, y luego salió de la habitación. La madre de John fue en busca de la respuesta del doctor, pero no dijo una palabra.
La madre de John fue en la habitación con lágrimas. John la vio, así que trató de sonreír para ella. La mamá de John empezó a llorar más fuerte. John cerró los ojos poner fin a su vida, pero abrió los ojos otra vez. Estaba en la cama y era el sábado; John notó que era un sueño.
