Can I Build an AI?

 Hello and welcome to the first Action Project of my class, Computer Science. In Computer Science we are studying a coding language called Python and learning how to write simple code. I have been having a blast experimenting with code. For this AP, we were asked to create a code for solving a math problem and a code for writing a letter to an Alderman. I hope you enjoy these codes

Farenheight to Celcius Letter to the Alderman   

Hello and welcome to the first Action Project of my Senior humanities class, Journalism. In Journalism, we have been reading from a book called Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago by Lealan Jones and Lloyd Newman. Our America takes a deep dive into the housing project where Lealan Jones and Lloyd Newman lived. We also had the opportunity to virtually attend two Northwestern University panels on journalism. These panels prepared us for our Action project, where we interviewed people who understand the issues in our world. Our America has been our first step into taking on the role of journalistic reporters for this AP. For this AP we were asked to take an issue that is present in our respective "Americas" and turn it into an article. I decided to use the racist and sexist culture around social media as my issue. I hope you enjoy this AP.

          CNN "Breonna Taylor" 2020 @megantheestallion Instagram @thedigitaldash Twitter 

      Misogynoir in My America

On August 8th, 2020 Dash uploaded a selfie to Twitter, and immediately they were met with a mixed reception. The post became a topic of discussion because Dash, in their own words, doesn’t meet the standard of beauty that is usually accepted by the masses on the internet.

“Of course my girls were hyping me up as always, but then the post started getting more attention.” People began to compare Dash to Gunna, a male rapper. Dash didn’t bat an eye at first. Until the posts comparing them became relentless, then Dash spoke up. “I know that the hate was coming because I am a dark skin femme, and I’m not skinny.” In 2010, queer black feminist Moya Bailey coined the term Misogynoir. Misogynoir is the hatred, dislike, distrust, and prejudice of black women. “It does break you down, to see black women and girls torn apart on the internet everyday… especially when it's black men doing the most”, says Dash (@thedigitaldash on twitter)

Incidents like this happen all of the time on Twitter, a social media platform that is mostly text-based. Due to Twitter’s algorithm, it is relatively easy to go viral. If a post is getting a lot of attention, the racist, colorist, and sexist trolls are not far from attacking. Even extremely famous and popular black women are not protected from the hate that comes from this platform.

Megan Thee Stallion is arguably one of the most influential female rappers of 2020. Tragically, on July 12, she was verbally attacked and shot by a Canadian male rapper, Tory Lanez. Her fans instantly poured support for her. However, people (mostly men) flooded her comments with hate. “The worst part of it [the hate] is that young girls are seeing these comments and they will think they have to do the most just to prove that they were attacked,” says Rachelle, an avid fan of Megan Thee Stallion. People accused Megan of attacking the Canadian rapper first because of her size. The biggest problem with the attacks were the claims that Megan Thee Stallion was not a cis woman. This statement is rooted in transphobia. It villainizes trans women making it seem like their goal is to trick men into being with them. And that is extremely far from the truth.

Recently, The Daily Mail released images of Breonna Taylor holding her boyfriend’s guns that were owned legally. These images were purposely released to villainize Breonna Taylor and justify her murder. According to US News and World Report, Black girls are twice as likely to be suspended from school than white girls in every state. Black girls are seen to be loud, angry, and overdramatic in most situations. Microaggressions plague the everyday life of black women and when these microaggressions are confronted head-on is when the harmful stereotypes are brought up.

The way black women are treated in our America is harmful and deplorable. It is imperative that people speak up and start protecting black women.

Snapshots of Civil Unrest

It is the end of the spring term at GCE which means it is the end of my junior year. Next year I will be applying for colleges and thinking about the rest of my life from high school. People always say that junior year is the hardest year and it was, but not for the academic reasons people may expect. In April the world began to shut down due to the pandemic we were rushed out of school not really getting the goodbye we all wanted. We have celebrated birthdays, mother's days, and veteran's day through Zoom calls and facetime. Now we celebrate graduation 

The past two weeks has been full of emotions. Anger, Sadness, Grief, Joy, Vindication. It's hard to put into words all of the ways that people have felt at this time.  This has been the first time that I've seen Black Lives Matter so widely accepted in the mainstream media. Its the first time that I've seen musical artists and influencers recognize the impact that black culture has on them. And for that I am happy. It seems like a cultural reset. It seems like something is changing for the better. And yet when I leave the echo chamber of my social media, I still see blatant racism spewed everywhere. Below is a collage of images that remind me of the Black Lives Matter protests. In these pictures, I see beauty, depth, and joy behind all of the pain people are feeling. 

In conclusion, although this is not what we expected out of 2020 I think that a new revolution was bound to happen with my generation of changemakers. I am no longer sad that we missed out on a lot of this school year, I am glad that we had the experience of distanced learning. However, I can't wait to get back into school albeit maybe in a mask!

On My Block| Reimagining a space for good

Hello and welcome to the final action project of my Junior year! For this action project, we were asked to take space from any city in the world (including our own) and imagine it. I decided to use a closed/abandoned school in my own neighborhood. This used to be a special needs elementary school that was also a place for neighborhood kids to sled on snowy days. Ever since the school shut down no one has been allowed to use the space for anything. I wanted to design the space so we can give it back to the kids of the neighborhood and I also made some age-appropriate changes since everyone that used to sled there has grown up.

TN Sketch 2020

This is my rough draft sketch of what I feel like the area should be turned into. The unused buildings from the school can be turned into a cafe, a restaurant, and a bookstore and the playground in the back can be upgraded to a skate park to fit with the growing ages of the neighborhood teens.


Below are images of a 3D model I built using the Sims 4. I thought using sims would replicate the feel of the future construction billboards that you see at construction sites

TN park 2020

                             

TN park 2020

TN park 2020

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this project. To begin I sketched out an idea for the empty space in my neighborhood. Then I made a 3D model and made my slideshow. The hardest part of this project was finding a medium for my 3D model. I started out in Minecraft but quickly realized that I did not have enough time to place each block piece by piece. That's when I came up with the idea to build my model in The Sims. In The Sims, it is easier to build because you are able to place a whole wall in one click. The hardest part of that was posing the models. I think that this was a perfect AP to end off my Junior year. See you all in Senior year!

How Shocking! | Ideas for an Energy Efficient Home

Hello and welcome to the second action project for my STEAM course, Urban Planning. In this unit, we discussed electricity, circuits, and energy-efficient appliances. The goal of this action project is to share and explain SDG 7. I hope that you enjoy this action project and can take some of the ideas into consideration!

Who Polices the Police?

Hello and welcome to the first action project of my humanities course, Policy. In this unit, we've talked about policing and legislation. We had the opportunity to speak with Connie Jordan again. Connie Jordan is a public defender for Illinois. It is always amazing and informative to talk with her and I am so glad that she has chosen to speak with us twice. For this action project, we were supposed to take a piece of pending legislation and lobby for it. Meaning we were to write a letter in support of the legislation in order to show public need and want. I hope you enjoy this action project. 

Tymony

1535 N Dayton

Chicago IL 60642

May 5th, 2020

Senator Emil Jones

507 West 111th street

Chicago IL, 60628



Dear Senator Jones,

On April 29th, 1992, four police officers were acquitted for the use of excessive force on a man named Rodney King. What came after the acquittal? Riots around Los Angeles mimicking the violent beating of Rodney King. This is a story we as people of color are all too accustomed to hearing. Unrest and protesting calling for action and begging the question: who polices the police?

It is a known fact that the data surrounding police officers’ use of deadly force towards black men and women, in particular, is grossly underreported or misreported if at all. Only 35 officers have been convicted of fatal use of deadly force since 2005. Just by looking at the news, we can see that this is grossly disproportionate to the number of unarmed people losing their lives to misuse of police power. Since I’ve started high school in 2017, there have been 1,196 killings of black and Hispanic people by police. That is approximately one killing per day. Just one shift.

Illinois does not have legislation protecting or providing justice from these acts.
There is an act that has been stagnant since 2017. The act calls for a thorough review of police activity after a police related shooting. It is labeled session sine die. The people who have seen this legislation have no intention of giving it a second glance.
Why not when in Chicago, a city where in the past 3 months there have been 3 unjust police shootings, have legislation like this in place?  That is why I am lobbying to give this act life once again. It is so important to have accountability not only for the officer who committed the crime but also for the CPD in general.

There are counter-arguments that cite cases like Laquan McDonald or Eric Garner who say that since they were doing something technically that the officers should be vindicated. To that I ask, should death be the price of a mistake?

Senator Jones,
I am black, I take the red line home, I hang out in groups of 3 or more, and I carry a backpack. These are all reasons, according to CPD, that I am threatening to the public and especially to the officers.
In 20 years, I plan on having children. I hope that by then I can tell them that there is protection for them if they ever encounter the police and feel unsafe. I hope that this letter has convinced you to push forward to give this legislation new light.


Sincerely,

Tymony 

Mind The Gap

Hello, and welcome to my first action project in the STEAM class Urban Planning. In these unprecedented times, we have been moved to an online school experience this has led to many challenges that our class has had to overcome. For this AP, we were given the task of building a popsicle stick bridge that is able to hold up 8.5 pounds of water. At first, my bridge did not hold up due to the top and the bottom connections. In the end, I was able to overcome this. I hope you enjoy my AP.



 

This was a very time consuming action project. Due to the times we are facing currently we were not able to build our bridges in school so we didn't get the assistance we usually do from our peers. In the end, I'm glad that I have finished this AP.