Parkour Teach-In

This is my first and final action project for my Global Peace class. This unit was about the different kinds of violence we see in the world and how we as a community can stop it. For this action project I first I chose a topic about violence that I could fight. Then I created a Parkour presentation and made a slideshow of me presenting Parkour in order to help involve kids in a new hobby. My favorite part of making this project was editing the slideshow because it’s always fun for me to see myself doing Parkour. For example I don’t normally get to see what I’m doing from a 3rd person perspective. Even though I had fun, the biggest problem I had while making this project was the weather on the day I had to present my Parkour class. I ended up having to do it without anyone being there because the weather was too cold for anyone to want to come.

One of the worst things anyone can do is be unproductive. Being unproductive can lead to growing up and not graduating high school or college. One of the worst things it can lead to is juveniles joining gangs. Around 40% of the gang members in the United States are Juveniles (under 18), while the other 60% are over 18. In other words this means that around over 400,000 teenagers are in gangs and 600,000 are adults. This is the product of not being productive. If we could get every child and teen to find a hobby that gives them something to do then this could substantially lower the amount of juveniles in gangs.

The issue that I am addressing is children who don’t have any hobbies. While it may seem like it is a small issue, I believe that is at the root of many other issues in the world and leads to to constant violence that can hurt their lives as well as those around them. The type of violence I’m trying to address is both cultural and structural. This violence is cultural because once teenagers see that they aren’t being productive then they see that a large amount of people in American culture are in gangs. It is also structural violence because the way the US has been built prevents certain people from being productive.

I used the Tree Model of Conflict Analysis to diagram the causes and effects of not having a hobby. Not having a hobby is terrible because the effects can lead you into a terrible life. The causes are not good either since a lot of them revolve around lack of self worth. For example, some of the causes include not thinking you’re good at anything, being lazy, and a lack of confidence.This conflict is happening because some children are being manipulated into not having a hobby.

The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is fighting the same problem as me while also helping clean up the earth. What they do is gather kids in both middle school and high school, and take them to a place in Chicago and work on removing invasive plant species, pick up trash, etc. After that, they do something fun like Ice Skating, Rock Climbing, etc.

One of the nonviolent actions I chose to use as a tool to intervene with my conflict was a teach in. I decided to teach people how to do Parkour as a hobby. Parkour is a sport where you use different movement styles to get from one point to another. Normally, Parkour includes gymnastics, but it can also include martial arts and dancing. The reason I wanted to use Parkour as an intervention was because I think I’m pretty good at making Parkour something that people want to do. It also gets people in shape while given them something to brag about.

There are four principles that Gandhi used to promote world peace. The principle I used for my action project was Swadeshi. The meaning of Swadeshi is “local economy”.My intervention relates to Swadeshi because I was able to use the local economy in order to promote a peaceful way to get kids to find a hobby. I was also able to use Sarvodoya (meaning “rising of all”) because I was able to get a group of people who didn’t have a hobby to start looking.

Works Cited 

Ojotriste, Jimmy. "Gang Statistics Last Update 2012 - New Update in Progress." Helpinggangyouth.com. Arturo Hernandez, 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

"Shedd Stewards." Shedd Stewards | Shedd Aquarium. Shedd Aquarium, 2016. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Dreamcatcher

This is my final action project for my “Who Am I?” class. This unit was about dreams a very important philosopher named Sigmund Freud. For this action project I created a dreamcatcher based off of a dream that I once had using color and what I decided to put in the middle. I used sued string and a wood loop to make the outside edge to my dream catcher and used wool to do the web of the dreamcatcher. My favorite part of this project was seeing how other people in my class represented their dreams using just color size and materials. I had two problems while making this project. The first was that my computer stop working so I had to finish it on my phone. The second was that I started my hoop too big so my AP took way longer than I wanted it too. I eventually got a new computer, and besides that this AP was pretty fun.

In the center of my dream catcher I have a second dream catcher. A second dream catcher was my choice to put in the center of my dream catcher because I wanted to show how complex my mind is. I want feelings of reassurance to pass through my dreamcatcher since I can feel anxious during the school year. While I sleep the dreams I am have are being controlled by my id , and I don't want my dreams to be filled with messages that I don't want. I chose the colors of white and gold because I wanted to convey mystery so it was a slight reference to a dress that was created recently which was also white and gold but could look black and blue. This element contributed to the dream that I analyzed, which I want those to be filtered by my dream catcher. I made my second dream catcher that I put in the center of first out of green thread because green is favorite color meaning that I'll feel comfortable sleeping with it over my bed.

The dream that I chose that has really affected me was a nightmare when I had it. Here is the story: I woke up on a single mattress in the middle of a room filled with candles. As I was looking around the room I had on thought in mind, “Where are my parents?”. Suddenly I was in a hallway from the house that I was in when I was having this dream. I wandered around the house for a little bit until I found my parents bedroom. When I got in there I saw that my parents were sleeping. I felt an urge to wake them up, and when I did they said good morning in perfect unison. When they said it I noticed something funny, their voices had switched. This made me want to look at them closer and when I did I noticed that their torsos switched as well. When I had this dream I was 9 so this was the point where I started freaking out. I ran to my bed and forced myself to go back to sleep.

If I could go back to that dream, then I would never have gotten out of bed so I wouldn't be traumatized. This dream really changed me because I assumed that it all had to mean something. If this dream was sending me a message or lesson it would be that people in my life are changing.

MJF Dreamcatcher (2016)

Doubt

This is my second action project for my 'Who Am I?' class. This unit was about doubt and different ways philosophers use it. For this action project I created a guiding question that has to do with doubt. The guiding question also had to be a good guiding question that accords itself to Jeffery Wilhelm's rules. My favorite part of this project was going on a field experience to a church and getting feedback from the priest. It felt pretty good to get some help that isn't people that you see all the time. The hardest part of this project was putting all my information into seven slides for the rubric. Eventually I just spread out all my information throughout the slides an it kind of worked out.

Geothermal Energy

This is my second action project for my fuel class. This unit was about different kinds of energy, and how they transform into other types of energy. For this action project I looked at a renewable resource that we can use for electricity, and tried to promote this resource to a business. My favorite part of this project was making my diagram. I'm not normally good at using technology to make a drawing, but in the moment I created the diagram I was like an artistic tech genius. I had some trouble finding some relevant pictures, and the pictures that I did find sometimes didn't have a title or author, therefore making it hard to cite. Eventually I was able to find good pictures; and besides that this AP was pretty fun.