Google 20% Proposal #2

For our 20% Project, Hailey and I are working together to make a collection of unconventional fairy tales. We will collect stories from classmates that their parents told them when they were little. These stories aren't your everyday "Cinderella," or "Little Red Riding Hood," they are the stories that parents creatively came up with to tell their children that should live on like the classics. We will rewrie these stories and illustrate them in a book. Some obstacles that we could face are not finding any stories and making the illustrations. Some people we could be our possible consultants are Hailey's mom(she is an artist), my dad (he paints and he is good with paper), and our classmates(for the stories).

Terri Schiavo Case

In the Gifted and Talented class, we have been working on a bioethics unit mainly about the Terri Schiavo case. This case was about a 26 year old woman named Terri Schiavo. She collapsed at home and oxygen was cut off to her brain for several minutes. She went in a coma due to the loss of oxygen. She got a little better and was able to breathe, maintain a heart beat and blood pressure, see, and slightly move her limbs. The only problem was that she needed a feeding tube to survive. Michael Schiavo(aka her terrible husband) wanted to end her life for several selfish reasons. There was a big debate between the husband and Terri's parents for her right to live. In the end, Michael Schiavo won and Terri's feeding tube was removed.

I believe it was right to remove the feeding tube and end her life for many reasons(even if the husband was a bad person). Even though she improved a little bit by moving her eyes and smiling her life isn't really worth living. I believe you should have a right to live, but to me her life sounded awful. I couldn't live for 15 years without tasting food, talking to friends and family, traveling, etc. Terri couldn't do any of these things. Her life was in her bedroom where she sat in all day. She couldn't taste food or fluently communicate with other people. I feel bad for her. She was probably lonly and depressed.

 

Is Terri Schiavo still a person? Is she the same person? I believe that Terri us a human being, and partially a person. She can still express some emotions, but she can't enjoy life. The first definition of person is a human, individual. Terri wasn't an individual to me because she couldn't express her feelings and be herself. She is not the same person as before. Terri had no freedom to choose what she wants. Her husband, parents, doctors, and nurses decided her life after the accident. She isn't really living her life.

 

*****Here are some reasons why I dont like Terri's husband. If you want to read more, click the link in the first paragraph(it is the one that says terrible husband).*****

 

Has not allowed therapy or rehabilitation since late 1992, despite medical records indicating Terri is responsive.

Has prevented swallowing tests or swallowing therapy since 1993, despite medical testimony Terri can be taught to eat.

Ordered caretakers not to clean Terri’s teeth since 1995, resulting in removal of five teeth in April 2004.

Placed Terri in hospice in 2000, despite the fact she is not terminally ill.

Refuses to allow Terri to leave her room. She has not been outside since 2000.

Has refused to fix her wheelchair since 2000.

Refuses to allow Terri to practice her Catholic faith by attending weekly mass.

Ordered Terri’s shades down at all times.

Ordered doctors not to treat Terri when she had a life threatening infection in 1993 and 1995.

Removes family pictures from Terri’s room, denies flowers from family and friends, denies certain CDs to be played for Terri, and refuses to allow her to listen to music with headphones.

Refuses to release medical information to her parents since 1993, despite a court order requiring him to do so.

Has limited the visitors list, requiring they must first be approved by him and removes visitors at his own discretion. Schiavo removed the Schindlers from the visitors list a total of eight months between 2001 and 2004.

Denies all requests for Terri to attend nursing home functions and refuses to allow therapeutic animals to visit with her, knowing that she is an animal lover.

*****Ms. Mystrena I have links, but they are pink and you cannot see them. I have three links.*****

 

My New Year Reflections and Resolutions

      I learned this year that high school is a lot different from middle school. It's more difficult, but I like it much more than last year. The teachers seem nicer and there are a lot of new clubs to join. This year I resolve to work harder and get better grades. I have been slacking, even though I have good grades. What I really don't want to do is get any this under a 90. Another resolution for this is to procrastinate less. I always turn in projects and essays last minute, but his year I will try to get them done right away.

       Today I read one of the most depressing article called Cyberspace When You're Dead. It is about what happens to your social media account when you die. Today we have to discuss about what would happen to our online accounts. Could our accounts live on? To me if that happened and I saw it, that would just make me more sad. I believe that it should not live on. One guy who did a TED Talk discussed about if machines could analyze your Twitter, Facebook, emails, and etc. and create holographs that had your personality. To me that's just creepy. It makes it feel like the person is a fake.

        I believe that our social media accounts should live on only if we want them to. It isn't fair to the person who died if their account is still up even though they don't want it. Or, if a person wanted their account up, but a family member shut it down. Families should only save the account or make it an archive so other people cannot change it. As you can see, I believe that social media accounts should not live on.

My 20 Percent Project

Today we have to talk about our 20 Percent Project. I'm going to make a website about music. I was thinking of writing about different genres of music, but now I'm thinking if I want to write about how music affects your personality and how you act. I choose this topic because music is my life and I love it.  Some things I need is an I pad(or a computer),  subjects(I am hoping I can do a test on people how music changes their mood), and music. Some roadblocks that might get in the way with my project is the baracuda web filter because if I want to look up something it might be blocked. Also, if I don't have enough people, I won't have accurate results for my project. Some people who can help me in my project are my friends(they can be test subjects), Mr. Pinto and Mr. Taylor(the music teachers), and the psychology teacher. I you want to find more information about my project click here.

Is Chris Langan Successful?

After watching Chris Langan on 1 vs. 100 and reading chapters 3 and 4 in Outliers, I believe he is not successful. Many people beleive that being happy is part of success, but I do not feel that way. To me success means accomplishing important goals in life and working to your full potential. Chris Langan could have been more successful then he could have been. He has an IQ of 195, but he lives an average life on a farm with a simple job. Eventhough he is content about his life, I believe he did not work to his full potential.

The Kindergarten Debate

In the book the Outliers Malcolm Gladwell discusses the advantages of letting your child start school late. This is supposed to help your child have an "accumulative advantage" in class. He believes this can help them be more mature at a younger age and help them succeed. But according to Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt delaying school for a year causes a problem. They state that starting school at a younger age helps kids instead.

I agree with Malcolm Gladwell for several reasons. For example, I have a friend who is one of the oldest people in our grade(she didn't start school late, she just missed the cutoff date). She was able to read the entire Harry Potter series in the fifth grade and has amazing grades. I think this happened because she has the advantage of being older and mature.

 

Also, Gladwell discuses that hockey players born right after the cutoff date had a better chance of making the national league. This is because they are older then everyone else so they are bigger and more skilled then the others. This keeps growing and gives the kids an "accumulative advantage" against the other kids. As you can see, I am one Malcolm Gladwell's side.