Alexus Tomlinson Public Feed
Alexus Tomlinson Capstone Project
Q3 Benchmark: Comparative Ethnobotany Project
Why Do Leaves Change Color?
La Poesía Española Project
The purpose of this project was to research a famous spanish poet and analyze their life and a poem that they made. I chose to focus on Octavio Paz. He was a Mexican poet and writer. He loved literature and he grew up surrounded by it because his grandfather and father were journalists. He wrote many books and poetry collections and he is the only Mexican writer to win a Nobel Peace Prize in Literature. I chose Octavio Paz because I found it intriguing that he was the only Mexican writer to win a Nobel Peace Prize in literature so I thought he must be a very good writer. He died in 1998.
I like his poem The Bridge, because it explains perspective and how the same moment is different for everyone. This is my interpretation of the poem. Please feel free to read it and interpret a different meaning. I included his poem in English for non-espanol readers.
Nombre: Alexus Tomlinson Clase/Banda: D
La Poeta: Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz fue un poeta mexicano y escritor. Él nació en una familia de escritores en el treinta y uno de marzo mil novecientos catorce. Él es el único autor mexicano para ganar un premio Nobel de literatura. Él publicó su primera colección de poemas en mil novecientos treinta y tres. Durante su vida, escribirá más veinte libros y colecciones de la poesía. Él murió en el diecinueve de abril mil novecientos noventa y ocho. Octavio aprendió a amar la literatura a temprana edad después de que se expuesto a biblioteca de su abuelo. Su padre y su abuelo eran ambos periodistas políticos activos. Su abuelo, con su padre al lado de él, se unió a disturbios de la agricultura. Cuando Octavio se convirtió en un escritor estaba siguiendo la tradición de la familia. En mil novecientos treinta y siete, él viajó a Valencia, España para estar en el Segundo Congreso Internacional de Escritores Antifascistas. Cuando regresó a México,Octavio Paz fundó y dirigió una revista literaria llamada Más alta. La revista reconoció la aparición de una nueva generación de escritores mexicanos. En mil novecientos cuarenta y tres, él viajó a los Estados Unidos para estar en la poesía modernista angloamericana. Dos años más tarde él ingresó en el servicio diplomático y fue enviado a Francia. En Francia, él escribió su estudio de la identidad mexicana, El Laberinto de la Soledad, que es un clásico de América Latina. Un momento importante en la vida y obra de Octavio Paz fue en mil novecientos sesenta y dos, cuando él fue nombrado embajador de México en India. Él escribió muchos libros durante su estancia en la India. Él dejó el servicio diplomático en mil novecientos sesenta y ocho. Él salió él protestaba contra el gobierno porque fueron suprimiendo las manifestaciones estudiantiles durante los Juegos Olímpicos en México. Después de este que continuó trabajando para dos revistas importantes como un editor y publicador.
En Espanol
El Puente
Entre ahora y ahora
entre yo soy y tú eres
la palabra puente
Entras en ti misma
al entrar en ella
como un anillo
El mundo se cierra
De una orilla a otra
siempre se tiende un cuerpo
un arcoiris
Yo cantaré por sus repechos,
Yo dormiré bajo sus arcos
Between now and now,
between I am and you are,
the word bridge.
Entering it
you enter yourself:
the world connects
and closes like a ring.
From one bank to another,
there is always
a body stretched
a rainbow.
I'll sleep beneath its arches.Alexus Tomlinson nació en el séptimo de diciembre, mil novecientos noventa y nueve. Ella asistió Escuela Wissahickon Charter. Su madre es una profesora pero ella va a la Universidad para trabajo social. Su padre es un trabajador de la construcción. Su familia siempre animó a ir a la Universidad. Por lo tanto, ella está trabajando duro en la escuela para mantener sus notas. Alexus tenía grados buenos del tercer grado a octavo grado. Alexus ganó concurso de ortografía de la escuela en séptimo grado. Cuando alexus era más joven quería ser un cantante. Alexus está estudiando en la Academia de liderazgo de la ciencia en Beeber. Alexus es un estudiante de segundo año en preparatoria. Alexus estudiarán negocios cuando ella está en la Universidad. Alexus es pensando en convertirse en una pediatra de emergencia. Ella se encarga de sus tres hermanos menores. Ella comenzará a practicar la conducción en el verano. Ella ganó el primer lugar en pista y campo en la tercera, cuarta y quinta grado. Ella tenía el libro máximo récord de lectura en su escuela secundaria por tres años. Ella aplicó y fue aceptado en un prestigioso programa llamado Avance.
El Dar y Recibir
Las flores nunca dicen, a la gente
“Usted nos debe”
¿por qué?
Porque damos el dióxido de carbono de flores
y nosotros obtenemos el oxígeno de las flores en cambio
Sin otro nosotros no podríamos sobrevivir
Este es el dar y el recibe
algunas personas dicen, preguntar y tú deberá recibir
Yo digo, lo que da es lo que recibir
porque eso es lo que nosotros conecta
Qué compartimos con la tierra y de los demás es lo que nosotros conecta
Si es bueno o malo
Si es cosas físicas, mentales ideas o sentimientos mutuos
Nosotros damos y nosotros obtenemos
Y eso es lo que nosotros conecta con el mundo
y a uno del otro
This project was simple enough to complete and I enjoyed writing my own poem with the same theme as one of Octavio Paz's poems. I learned that writing a poem in spanish is even harder than writing it in English because you have to choose your words carefully so that they translate and still have the same meaning. I also like writing about myself because I haven't done it in a while.
Spanish Travel Around the World Project
Las Noticias by Alexus Tomlinson, Sakura Seals, Theresa Debrah, Ashton Woodson, Neimai Smith and Stephanie Delvin
News Broadcast in Spanish
Objective:
The goal of this project was to make an aesthetically pleasing news broadcast video about a city in Spanish. Using the basic communication skills we have mastered so far in the course, we had to create a research based presentation relevant to our school, community and world.
Requirements:
There were many requirements for this project. This included using ten concepts we learned in Spanish which were
Clothing (La ropa)
The Body (El cuerpo)
Past and Present Tense Verbs (Los verbos (presente y pretérito)
Feelings (Los sentimientos)
The Climate (El clima)
Los pronombres
Basic Conversation (Conversación básica)
Adjectives (Adjetivos)
Ser y Estar
Preposistions (Preposiciónes)
The video had to be a maximum of 10 minutes. The video had to include a weather segment, a fashion segment, a health segment, and breaking news segment. It had to include pictures that correlate with the segments. Everyone in the video needed to wear professional attire and our pronunciation of the dialogue had to flow.
Process:
The process of this project was long and stressful. We had to set many deadlines and stay on task in order to get everything done on time. In the end we received a B, I would have liked to get an A but I will work harder on future projects so that I can get an A and exceed expectations on the next project.
Dia de los Muertos
The person that passed away is my great grandmother on my mother’s side of my family, Ophalie Bonner Bennett. She was born November 11th, 1930 and she died December 14th 1999, a week after I was born. She was a very loving person to everyone around her, especially to her grandchildren ( my mother and uncles). She was a strong mother of 6 children. She had 5 children while she was married but then her husband left her while she was pregnant with their 6th child for an unknown reason. But she found a way to independently survive and raise her 6 children by herself after her ex husband left. She worked as a seamstress in a factory and always encouraged her kids to go to college after they graduated. Her favorite line was “be better than I was”. Even though I never got she is my role model because she worked so hard without complaint for the people she loved. I am amazed that she was able to raise six kids alone who to my knowledge have never been to jail and have decent jobs. For example one is a teacher and one is a police officer.
This person is my mother’s grandmother and my great-grandmother so she is a very important part of my history. She means alot to me because I never got to see her and experience first hand what a loving person she was. I will always want to meet anyone who was apart a positive contributing part of my family and that was what she was according to all of my family who knew her.
I decided to create my sugar skull and mask in remembrance of her because my grandmother was one of the most recent people to die that was closest to me. Also, she sounded like a great person and the fact that she independently raised 6 children made her one of my role models. I am very proud to call her my grandmother and I think she should always be remembered positively and I like the idea of broadening my horizons. So instead of doing a traditional funeral like mourning session I like decorating things in a pretty way to represent her because she was a pretty person.
My skull reflects my grandmother because it is shows some of her features and characteristics. For example, my skull sits on a white foam paper with a red heart border to represent that she was full of love and that love surrounded her because she was a loving person. She was loving because she always invited the people on her block to come in and have some food. Whenever her family came over, despite her lack of a lot of money and six kids, she always fed them. I also put black and white fur and feathers on her hair to represent her hair but I gave her a little more white than she had to represent how wise she was. I also painted the entire skull brown, except for the teeth, to represent her dark brown skin color. Also, behind the skull on the white paper and inside the heart that is surrounding it is my grandmother’s name “Ophalie Bennett” because that is her name and I think it's a pretty name. She also has a flower on her head because I wanted to show that she was a woman and always beautiful inside and out like a flower. My mask has blue,white and black teeth because she was born and raised most of her life in North Carolina so I wanted to use North Carolina’s colors to show that. Most of the mask is colored brown to show her brown skin color. These is also the color red and glitter to represent that she was a girl. Then the mask is colored with a lot of green and white because those were her favorite colors.
“Dia de los Muertos” has opened my mind up to celebrating the passing of loved ones because it makes it easier to remember your loved one without being so sad about it. I like the idea of celebrating their life versus mourning their death because you can’t take away that they are dead but you can always remember why you loved them so much. I also liked how the video we watched in class about “Dia de los Muertos” showed that these were so many colors and food when remembering their loved one.
Spanish Eulogy
Wevideo Link: https://www.wevideo.com/hub/#media/ci/510734169
Panegirico
Buenas tarde, damas y caballeros. Mi nombre es Alexus y yo soy Ophalie’s bisnieta. Aunque, yo no llego a conocer a (her), ella fue una persona increíble y modelo.
Ella era de Carolina del Norte y mudarse a filadelfia cuando ella (had) doce (years). Ella fuimos a Gratz High School en Filadelfia.
Ella trabaja (in) una fábrica como costurera. Ella fue una madre soltera con seis hijos.
Ella fue muy independiente y fuerte. Ella fue muy cariñoso y generosa.
Yo vivo en el noreste de filadelfia y ella viejo casa es en Oeste Filadelfia. Pero de ella sepultura es más cerca a mi en Noreste Filadelfia.
Yo era nunca muy triste por de ella muerte porque yo nunca conocí ella. Yo tengo encanta la conocí ella mi bisabuela. Me hubiera conocer a mi bisabuela. Pero desde entonces no puedo, quisiera decir te amo aunque no te conocía me.
Humans of SLA Beeber: David Gladney
Humans of SLA Beeber: Kemet Musgrove
Alexus Interviewing Kemet Musgrove
Question: If you could go back in time and change something what would you change?
Answer: I lost my phone in February... I dropped when I was running for the bus with a old friend...so when I dropped my phone I asked her to pick it up and I would catch the bus and I ran on the bus and then I got on the bus when she got on the bus she said she didn't see it and she didn't get it. So I wish I had gone back and gotten that phone I felt really bad about it.
Question: Who is your idol and why?
Answer: My idol is my father. The reason for that is that he is very inspirational and he motivates me everyday. My dad is a really silly, intelligent, and charismatic. He is someone I would want to be when I grow up and he is just the BEST.
Question- What is the best thing about being a teenager? What's the worst?
Answer: OMG! That’s so hard to answer. I don’t even know how to sum that up. So there are lots of things that are so great about being a teenager. I guess the best thing about being a teenager is I’m able to get more responsibility from my family and especially my mother.
The worst part is that I have a lot of more responsibility to deal with especially with my Brothers and sisters and when I’m babysitting kids. I also think that that the hard part is with having to do more work and chores basically stuff like that.
Tips For Teens By: Alexus Tomlinson, Ngozi Enwereji, Khafren Smith, Chris Jones
Tips For Teenagers
By: Alexus Tomlinson, Ngozi Enwereji, Khafren Smith, Chris Jones
Tips:
Surround yourself with good people and stay in the right crowd or you will become more susceptible to negative peer pressure.(Khafren)
My tip was more as so geared to adults more as so parents. Be aware of how you are acting in a relationship ,it can have a huge affect on teens and kids. Give them expectations but no unrealistic ones. (Chris)
Listen to your parents advice too, not just your peers. (Alexus)
Set goals for your self. Make sure you have longterm goals and short time goals but dont overwhelm yourself with too many. (Alexus)
If there are problems at home, ask our counselor at school for help.(Ngozi)
A How to Deal With Your WiFi Infographic By Alexus Tomlinson
Electric Arts Project: Bright Glass
Alexus Tomlinson and Anaya Gomez
Artist Statement:
Alexus: I first got glasses in 3rd grade. At first I thought it was this cool thing to have. It made me unique and I felt like a superhero. But this idea didn’t last long, people started calling me four eyes and when I got braces people called me UGLY BETTY. I felt so bad and I want to get rid of my glasses but I still had to wear them. The bullying didn’t last super long anyway because other people got glasses too. Sooner or later I realized that soooo many people wear glasses they just don’t wear them. Wearing glasses has played a big part in shaping my personality.
Anaya: I chose to do a pair of glasses because i wear them everyday. I have been wearing glasses since I was in first grade. When I was younger I was scared to wear my glasses because i wasn't used to wearing them. As i got older i started accepting the fact that i have to wear glasses in order to see. Today I love the fact that I wear glasses and i'm happy that I do wear them. It makes me feel smart and different.
Our: We chose this sculpture because it reminded us of ourselves because we both wear glasses. Glasses are an important part of our character because it is apart of who we are and glasses can change the way a person perceives you. Glasses also shows that we are different. Not everyone wears glasses so this separates us from others.
Alexus Tomlinson A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words
Alexus Tomlinson, Samihah Maven, Cristian Fernandez,Trey Hollinger, Makyle Wyche
Group Artist Statement
By Cristian Fernandez, Alexus Tomlinson, Trey Hollinger, Samihah Maven ,Makyle Wyche
What we learned throughout this unit was who we truly are without a mask. We believe this was a lesson learned because of the videos we created and the research behind the poem. When creating our individual and the group videos we explored the possibilities of how an identity shown in just a picture can be actually be assumed as mainstream or fringe. The poem We Wear The Mask, helped us with this understanding because of its intake of mainstream and fringe acts and self consciousness can change the way we think and view ourselves.
To continue, this unit was about having a better understanding of our true identity and how to express it. We learned about the different mainstream and fringe ideas, cultures, and values. We learned that society discriminates against fringe ideas, values, and cultures but society accepts and praises mainstream ideas, values, and cultures. The knowledge gained from this video, is our interests in different things and our hobbies. We used these different hobbies and interests to come to a point where we could all relate to how we all feel so strong towards the things we love to do.
In conclusion, we learned a valuable lesson, that we all wear masks to protect our identities from discrimination and to be without one is to fully express your true self, but normally the way that we act around other people is masking who we are and how we act internally. To be without a mask in todays society is to be defined as insane by the rest of the world, and these people are secluded by the rest of us, because we are all truly scared to express our true selves. The way that we interact with people in society is much different than that of the way that we internally feel and the way that we truly feel is sometimes, if not all of the time, the way that society deems us as mentally inefficient.
Artist Statement
By Makyle Wyche
I believe we express ourselves because it shows people who we are. I think that a lot of people like to see other’s reaction to them. I believe that even if people say they don’t, I think everyone wants some attention to be paid to them. That’s why people post stuff on social media. If you post a status update on facebook, and you get no likes or no comments, you might feel a little bit upset. If you post a picture on instagram, and get no likes or comments, you might also be little bit upset. If you tweet something and get no retweets or favorites then you might also be a bit upset. We express ourselves to get things off of our chest, if you have a problem with someone, we might go to that person and express how we feel about the situation.
Technology affects the way we express ourselves a lot in todays world. Technology is always around us, and it super easy and simple to just post a quick vine of a rainbow in the sky, or take a picture of your pet and upload it to instagram. Technology also helps us connect with people. You can comment on friends pictures on facebook and instagram. You can talk to friends directly online with things like twitter and kik. Since it’s so easy to connect with people today, it’s also easy to make mistakes online. People express themselves so much, it has gone to the point that people can express themselves too much in my opinion. People say things to get them off of their chest and sometimes they end up forgetting that people have feelings and can be offended.
What you should know about my video in order to fully understand it is that I had a lot of fun creating and working on it. It was really fun. What I learned from the project is that I have a lot of fun in my life. Most of my pictures are of me having a good time. I took pictures with friends and I was having fun most of the time. One other thing that I included in my video as well are pictures of some of my favorite athletes, and I have fun watching them.
Individual Artist Statement
By Samihah Maven
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
One aspect in myself in which I am comfortable and starting to become secure with now is my appearance. But, this comfortability did take a long process. Growing up, I was not the most popular or the most aesthetically pleasing girl in the world which began to occur to me when I was enrolled into elementary school. I was teased and poked at for my teeth structure , nose structure and even my weight. I chose not to include this in my individual or group Wevideo project because of my self consciousness. My self consciousness allows me to hide my imperfections. Or, how the poet who wrote the poem, “We Wear The Mask” states it as wearing a mask.
To continue, when first constructing my Wevideo I thought about my classmates and what my instructor would think and they’re opinions on my piece of work, but I did not include my thoughts and opinions on my own art work. I began to wear a mask to hide the hidden. To hide my imperfections… But, this isn’t just done by myself either. It has been done by many artists, students, teachers and even parents. We are all hiding behind a mask for a specific reason…
My reasoning for hiding behind this mask is because of my past. Being judged for being different is not the ideal situation for a fourteen year old, which is the reason why i chose to go mainstream with my video instead of fringe.
In conclusion, the lesson I believe that is presented in my individual Wevideo is you should not compare your imperfections nor ignore your flaws. You should embrace who you truly are and not fall into the hidden mask that the mainstream offers.
Artist Statement
By Trey Hollinger
I express myself in many different ways. Many of them are shown in my video. People express themselves in many different ways like emotions, feelings, talents/hobbies, personality, appearance, interests, inspirations, and so much more. This is what I want my audience to get out of this video, I want them to understand how I have bettered myself in my life to and learned how accept others for who they are no matter how different we are. I have learned how to write with more emotion, how you should not judge others based off of appearance and that no matter how much you think you know someone it could be completely different behind closed doors We all express ourselves so people can get a better understanding of us from a different point of view than just perseverance. Technology plays a big part in how we interact with each other.
In addition, technology does affect the way people socialize and how people express themselves. Where as though before people may have described themselves in writing the technology we have now makes it so much easier at a push of a button. I use technology daily to express my complexities of myself. Including, my video I used it to explain my emotions without words, point out hobbies and interests I have, and show sides of me I know if it wasn’t mandatory I probably wouldn’t do it on my own. Though I may not have understood the things I do now, throughout this project I have learned much.
In conclusion, I have learned to express myself in many ways I didn’t before
Individual Artist Statement
By Alexus Tomlinson
What did you learn doing this project?
From this project I learned that myself and my peers wear masks to hide our true identities because we are afraid that society won't accept who we are. I also learned that society will discriminate against you if your ideas, values and cultures are not mainstream. I also learned that I am not ready to take off my mask because I am still afraid of discrimination from society. I also learned that wearing a mask make me feel comfortable and safe. It makes a person feel like they are not risking no being accepted.
What does the audience need to know in order to fully understand your video?
The audience to know that I didn’t include my self singing in the video because I am afraid of putting myself out there. It is a mask that I am not ready to take off so instead a singer in our video is supposed to represent me. Our video revolved around our interests and hobbies so my hobbies are listed below my picture. We chose this topic because it was safe and didn’t need to be masked versus if we chose sexual orientation it would have been difficult to share because society discriminates against non-straight people.
Why do we express ourselves?
We express ourselves because self expression allows you to show who you are. Self expression is a great way to be at peace with yourself and truly be the person you want to be. People can use music, writing, the way the dress. etc. Self expression makes each person unique. It it how we have different personalities and how we can create success. If you do not express who you are than you are are not helping yourself develop and we should always be developing into better people. If we do not express ourselves we cannot define who we are. We express our selves to show who we are. Since everybody is different it is important that we show the distinction between each other. That is how we show our importance to the world.
How does technology affect the way we express ourselves and connect with others?
Technology affects the way we express ourselves a lot. It causes us to have a lot less personal interaction. We can use social media to show our interests and hobbies such as fashion, animals, community service etc. Things like phones, facebook, twitter instagram etc allow us to easily share an emotional moment with the millions of people. I think the shield that a screen provides for people allows people connect more with themselves making them even more social than they might be in person. Technology is no longer simple and slow. It is complex and fast, with a few clicks you can document your how life and share it with others. Technology makes self expression easier because it requires less time and effort.
How have I expressed the complexity of myself in this video?
In this video I use a song to play in the background because I love music. For me being a music lover and natural. Music makes me feel connected to an artist and I like sharing the same emotions with someone. The song does not have to have specific words it justs needs to make me want to dance and it needs to make me feel happy. Happiness is a big idea or theme in my video. That is why I show pictures of food I like and pictures of me with friends and family. These are most happiest times and right now in my life one of my greatest goals is to do my best to stay happy. Without happiness I cannot function correctly. Sadness or angry disrupts my entire life by making me do things I wouldn’t normally do, like not do my school work. When I am happy I am not trying to hide my feelings or critique myself. This is when I am my true self as shown in my video.