Compare and Contrast Brainstorming

 Things I want                                                                  

• A Macbook                         

• New makeup 

• Jordan 4s

• A new phone case 

• A week off of school 

• A new job 

• Straight As

• To see my cousins 

• New hoodies 

• Wing Stop

• More sleep 

• To be able to sleep in 

• A trip to the beach 

• New AirPods 

• PJ pants 

• New hair products 

The Jury is Still on 

• Whether people should smoke or not.

• Why people wear shorts when it’s still very cold outside.

• My opinions on the Hunger Games movie I saw a year ago and don’t remember much of what happened.

• Why it’s so hard to wake up early even if I go to bed early.

• Why high school’s have been getting stricter every year

• Why Sunny days are happier than cloudy days. 

My Media and My Obsessions 

• The show “Outer Banks” 

• Taylor Swift’s music 

• Beta Squad on YouTube 

• Marvel movies (specificity Avengers Infinity War and Endgame)

• Sza’s music

• The book and movie “The Hate U Give”

• The movie trilogy “To all the Boys I’ve Loved Before”

• Basketball 

• Molly Mae on YouTube 

• NDL on YouTube

• The show “The Summer I Turned Pretty”

Things That Bother Me

• When people walk slowly in the hallways.

• When my ride makes me late to school.

• When it’s really cold in the mornings but hot later in the day. 

• When my alarm goes off while I’m in a deep sleep. 

• When the Wi-Fi stops working. 

• When people are rude to waiters 

• When kids pick in my little sister 

• When my little sister comes into my room to bother me while I’m doing work. 

• When there’s loud construction near my house when I’m trying to sleep. 

Compare and Contrast 

           The show “The Summer I turned Pretty” and the trilogy “To all the Boys I’ve Loved before” were both written by the same person, Jenny Han, who is an Asian-American author and screenwriter. You would think that they would be very similar, but they do have many differences. To start, they both have an Asian-American Lead which represents Jenny Han. The stories are similar in a way that they’re about the lead girl finding her love interest. In both stories, the lead is conflicted at some point on who to choose. The main characters in the stories are portrayed as shy, unpopular girls that don’t go out, or party,  but that changes as they step out of their comfort zone. Both stories have three main love interests for the protagonist, but ultimately two got left behind. 

           On the contrary, the two stories have many differences. In the series “The Summer I Turned Pretty”, the main character, Belly, is conflicted between two brothers. She has liked the older one her whole life, but the younger one suddenly showed interest which turned her head. She has changed her mind multiple times on who to choose, ultimately hurting both of the brothers. She is much more indecisive than Lara Jean, the main character in the trilogy “To all the Boys I’ve loved before”. Lara Jean has liked her older sister’s ex boyfriend for a while, but once he started dating her sister she stopped liking him. When they broke up, he started showing more interest in Lara Jean. By that time it was too late because she had already found someone else who happened to be the most popular guy in school, Peter. Lara Jean is very different from Belly because she knows who she wants. At the end of each movie in the trilogy, Lara Jean always ended up with Peter, even after everything they went through. On the other hand, Belly switched between which brother she wanted for all three seasons of the show. By doing that, she hurt them both in the end. 

Sherlock Holmes, Fairies, and the Devil Baby of Hull House

1. Although Conan Doyle created the words famous fictional detective, he makes big mistakes doing detective work himself. The first mistake he made was not being at the scene of the investigation. He told another believer in the fairies ,named Edward Gardner, to go and investigate the girls who took the fairy photo. In order to get real evidence and prove his point, he needed to go and see for himself. Gardener could have given him false information or misinterpreted something. This would mess up Conan Doyle’s investigation and question the credibility of his work. The next mistake he made was misjudging Elsie Wright, the photographer of the fairies. Elsie Wright was an 18 year old artists that paints very well. She had many watercolors on the wall that showed her art skills. Gardner had seen those but refused to believe that she was talented enough to paint fairies. Conan Doyle agreed. When doing an investigation, it’s best not to make assumptions because you’re trying to find out the truth. If they had taken the time to understand and get to know Elsie Wright they wouldn’t have made the mistake of assumption. They were blinded because they really wanted the fairies to be real. 
2. Many of the woman that seek to see the devil baby share lots of commonalities. They have all been through trauma, and tragic experiences. Most of them are old and don’t believe in tales, but they related to the devil baby in some way. The baby has many imperfections and flaws like horns, pointed ears and a furry body. Many of these women consider their lives to be as ugly as the devil baby is. They found comfort in knowing that there is something else in the world that is just as messed up as them. Most of the women’s stories shared a common factor of their husband behaving and treating them badly. The men were never good fathers to their kids or good husbands to them, and they would often get abused. One woman shared her story about how she had eleven children and all of them died except for one. She was a child her father chased her and her mother around with a knife before taking his own life. That’s a very traumatic thing to see, especially at only twelve years old. After a while she started to go back to school and everything was normal, and her mother was very happy to see her doing well. That was until her child started acting in weird ways and needed to be sent to an asylum. The woman was able to visit her daughter once a week which gave her peace of mind. That was until her daughter suddenly died of heart failure, and she didn’t find out until the next day. All these women have traumatic stories like this one, and it is as if they believe that the mother of this devil baby also had a very tough and painful life. I think people are drawn to believing things that don’t exist because they have some underlying issues that make them find comfort in fake stories. Conan Doyle lost close family members in World War 1 which is a painful thing to endure. This caused him to believe in spiritualism. The women at the Hull House have been through the most painful of things, and they want to see the “devil baby” because they feel it represents them in a way. They feel they can relate to it. One woman talked about her son, and how he learned terrible behaviors from his dad. She states, “The ugliness was born in the boy as the marks of the devil was born in the poor child upstairs”. She felt as though the devil represented her son, and how he was made to become a bad person, like how the devil was put inside the baby. I think that when people go through such tragedies it can mess with their state of mind, and cause them to feed into their delusions.  
3. I agree with Doyle on the fact that science will never go to the lengths to find truths as someone who believes in spiritualism would. Science would most likely shut down the idea without doing substantial research first. Doyle also was a person that got clouded by his ideas which caused him to create false evidence. When you want something to be real so bad, you will find a way to convince yourself it is. I believe that spiritualism sometimes comes from a place of delusion, or a wrong state of mind. Most of the mysteries people wonder about are things that are so far from reality. Most mysteries would be able to have factual evidence to back it up if it was true, so I don’t really believe in any spiritual myths. 
4. Is Bigfoot real? Many people have pondered this question for years. Since 1950, some people believed in the existence of a tall, hairy, human like creature. According to history.com, Director Peter Byrne of the Bigfoot Information Center sent the FBI 15 hairs attached to a small piece of skin. He wanted the FBI to investigate it because he couldn’t identify what kind of animal it came from. Byrne was one of the better Bigfoot researchers, and he wanted the help of the FBI. In 1967, Robert Gimlin and Roger Patterson release footage of what was supposed to be Bigfoot running around in Northern California. This was the evidence that made everyone at the time obsess over this creature. Many people didn’t believe it. They came to the conclusion that it was just a prankster in a costume. Peter Byrne on the other hand, believed it was true. The FBI did in fact investigate this mystery, but they didn’t find any substantial evidence to prove it. Bigfoot believers convinced themselves that it must be real because the FBI wouldn’t have taken it seriously if it wasn’t. Those 15 hairs that Byrne sent to FBI to investigate turned out to be only deer hairs. Byrne didn’t want to believe it, or publicize it. Radford stated, “if you’re going to make a big enough deal about this unknown specimen to give it to the FBI, then you’re not going to want to publicize the fact that it turned out to be deer”. This proves how badly Byrne wanted to be correct, and prove that Bigfoot is real. The evidence of this myth is not very strong or convincing, but some people still choose to believe it. They will find anyway to make it real. There’s evidence, and there’s things that prove it wrong. Personally, I don’t think there’s enough evidence for it to be real. But it’s up you to decide, do you think Bigfoot is real?

Source 1: https://www.history.com/news/bigfoot-fbi-file-investigation-discovery 

Source 2: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-so-many-people-still-believe-in-bigfoot-180970045/ 

Institution of Art Response

Institution of Art Response 

 1. Three women sitting in their garden of flowers as bright as the sun, shining hope on the people every day. 

The hardship of immigration these women endured is walking on a path of spikes, forced to continue the journey. 

The graceful, green, gardens show community and hope. 

Their hijab shows the world how strong they can be, crushing down every brick wall that stands in their way with the touch of their hand. 

The flowers of the garden speak to people, welcoming them to their community. 

The wind comes crashing down on the garden the women built, whoosh, but it will never be knocked down. 

2. Seeing these hardworking determined women make a community is very inspiring. Immigrants from Somalia representing their culture while promoting health, community, and land stewardship. Their Hijab shows the world how strong they can be, crushing down every brick wall that stands in their way with the touch of their hand. The hijab represents them and their religion. Creating a sense of community for people who look like them is very touching to the heart. The hardship of immigration these women endured is walking on a path of spikes, forced to continue the journey. Immigration is not easy, and it’s especially hard to create a life for yourself in the new country. These generations of women experienced this hardship and were still able to built communities with grace. The flowers of the garden speak to people, welcoming them to their community. Their work with community gardens is a symbol of sustenance and self-sufficiency. It is proof that they are capable of whatever they set their mind to. 

3. Three generations of Somali immigrants who built a community for themselves. They are surrounded by their work with gardens, and their workshops which promote community and culture. They have welcome signs in multiple languages including their native language Somali, encouraging people to participate in their workshops and connect with their community. People of all backgrounds benefit from this, but it is especially important to those from Somalia and those who wear the hijab. These women are incredible representation. These immigrants have endured many hardships on their journey, but they made a life for themselves. The flowers surrounding them are proof of their work and their determination.

Art Work: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/127308/nimo-aliza-nisenbaum 

Adventure

 Ikram Samat

Thomas Maltman 

College Writing 

05 September 2024

Out of My Comfort Zone

There have been so many times my friends and I have been bored looking for things to do. We always complained that Minnesota is too boring and there’s never anything to do. Honestly, I think we’re the ones who make it boring because we never want to try new things. An escape room was always an idea someone suggested but we never go through with it. It’s either too far, or too boring. I finally decided to stop complaining and actually try it. 

I did my research to find a good escape room that sounds fun enough to convince my friends to go. Once I did, it didn’t take much to convince them. They didn’t have anything better to do so they agreed. We got inside the room and it was very spooky and old looking. A felt a rush of what smelled like an old abandoned basement. Not to mention the room was very small as well. It almost felt claustrophobic in there, there were so many tables and pieces of furniture. That alone frightened me. The room looked old and rusted, everything was brown and looked like there would be cobwebs on it from the 1920s. I took a minute to scan the room looking for anything that could possibly be a clue, we didn’t expect this to be easy. The worker walked in and explained the rules, then she left and shut the door behind her. That’s when it hit me that we were locked in there until we either escaped, or the time was up. 

The timer was displayed on the TV at the front of the room. Then a video played giving us our first clue. The voice was of an old weary man. It gave the dark and twisted backstory of the escape room. The voice sounded very frightening and sinister, only making the room feel even more hostile. I felt chills down my spine as I awaited the “go ahead” to start. We all had a sense of determination to work together and solve this. The website said it was a 9/10 difficulty so we knew we had a journey ahead of us. I wasn’t feeling too confident that we would get out of this but I was willing to try my best. 

My friend that went with me enjoys this kind of stuff much more than I do. She loves horror films, and things that raise your arm hairs. Me on the other hand, I will stay away from watching horror movies at all costs, it’s the last thing I would ever want to do. You could imagine I was pretty shaken while being in this room. The overwhelming feeling of having to solve extremely difficult problems in only 60 minutes combined with the eerie feeling of the room didn’t sit well with me. I felt as though the pictures on the walls of old deceased people were staring into my eyes, almost as if they were watching me struggle. My mind was paranoid, thinking they had to be clues. I thought everything in that room would be a clue. Every part of me wanted to search everything in sight, but that would’ve just wasted time and I tried to think logically. 

There were a total of four of us scrambling around the room, looking for clue after clue. In order to break out of the room we had to work together, I think we were doing a pretty decent job at that. Everyone was putting together their ideas and it was honestly very helpful. Although sometimes it got very loud in my head. Everyone was talking over one another and their voices were getting muffled up in my mind. That made me even more overwhelmed. My heart rate was definitely very high for not having done any physical activity. You’re probably thinking that I’m getting too stressed out for something that’s meant to be a fun activity. That’s just how I am. I want to do everything perfectly, but I get stressed out easily. I didn’t let that affect me though

The last ten minutes were hectic. We ran around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to escape. There was a puzzle that really stumped us, we couldn’t even figure out what it was or where to start. It barely even seemed like a puzzle. It felt like staring at a blank wall waiting for the answer to magically appear. Giving up hope was not an option, we have come much too far. That took up a lot of time so we were rushing to finish a lot of steps in only ten minutes. I felt a rush of hope and excitement course through my veins as we came so close to the end. My brain was going a million miles per hour as we approached the last step. We completed it with less than two minutes to spare. The look of pure shock on everyone’s faces was so priceless. I would’ve loved pictures of it framed and hung up on my wall. I felt the craziest feeling of relief and accomplishment, I knew everyone else felt it too. 

Escape rooms are a real test for not only your brain, but also your patience. I was not prepared for that and I know for a fact that my friends weren’t either. Situations like this stress me out sometimes, but overall I really enjoyed it. It requires a lot of critical thinking and patience, which I forgot to use quite a bit. Finally coming to the decision to try an escape room is hands down one of the best decisions I have made. It unlocked a new thing to do for my friends and Ihat I actually enjoy.