Honors Vocabulary- Week 4

For this week we only had to choose five words and do "photo vocabulary entries," where we describe a picture depicting the word and expand with our thoughts about it.

1. intrepid: fearless and courageous. To be intrepid means to be bold and dauntless. This is a word typically used to describe superheroes or someone who stands up for others. The picture I chose is of Chuck Norris, popular icon in television show Walker, Texas Ranger. In the show he plays a police officer who chases villains. He is amired widely for his bravery and intrepid risk-taking style to conquer evil and restore justice for humanity.

2. decorum: politeness. Decorum is dignified habits and speech, used often to describe good manners. In the days of the monarchy in England, young figures of royalty such as Princes and Princesses were taught decorum at an early age. The picture I chose was from a scene in "The Princess Diaries." In this scene she is learning to walk down stairs in a dignified manner to practice for her coronation dinner. She is learning decorum for her new lifestyle.

3. aspire: to desire or aim for something. It is often used in the place of the word "dream," it is something aimed for or wished. On college applications, it is common for the school to ask about the student's dreams or aspirations to determine the level of ambition in applicants. This picture is from the movie "Goal: The Dream Begins." The movie is about an aspiring soccer player who starts his adolescent life as a gardener. An agent sees him playing and eventually his greatest dreams are realized as he starts to play professionally.

4. fallacy: a falsehood. A fallacy is a misconception, deceptive or misleading, that is essentially false. It is often used to describe oximorons. The photo I chose is of a newspaper ad, stating that doctors smoke Camel cigarattes. By looking at this ad, you can realize that this headline is obviously a fallacy, as doctors in general do not condone smoking in any way. It is completely counterproductive to their profession.

5. formidable: causing fear or apprehension. Something formidable often arouses awe and admiration because of strength. It is often used to describe a worthy, powerful opponent of some kind. This picture is from the movie "Rocky." The storyline describes an aspiring boxer who slowly rises to fame. In the movie, famous boxer Apollo is trying to find an easy win in a match, but ends up facing the formidable Rocky and wins only by a small margin, proving Rocky's power and determination.

Project Abstract

This next assignment is a requirement for our Resource Management Project. We had to research resources being mismanaged by the world's governments. After writing an in depth research paper, we were supposed to create a shortened abstract highlighting its main points.

Brazilian Sanitation Abstract

Unfortunately, many countries fail to offer the vital necessity of sanitation for their population. The Federative Republic of Brazil, in particular, provides one of the worst public health systems known to man. According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization, 46 million in Brazil do not have basic access to sanitation. This lack of public cleanliness is characterized by a shrinking amount of potable water, unorganized waste management, and industrial pollution. Brazil’s national hygiene system has been going downhill for centuries, and in some regions citizens now fear for their future water supply. Of almost 200,000 inhabitants in Brazil, about 2/3 do not have access to basic sanitation. Most of these people do not dispose of their waste properly; an estimated 53% of the population is not connected to the main sewage system. People are dumping tons of waste into the rivers without realizing the consequences; this is contaminating their drinking water supply. These issues are causing further problems with the health of the people; they have contributed to approximately 700,000 extra hospitalizations. Death from infectious, waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid, and cholera, are extremely common among children. Public ignorance and government withdrawal are only adding to the problem and rendering the population helpless.
However, the fact remains that there have been several tentative steps from the Brazilian government towards fixing the problem. In the early 1970s, it launched its national sanitation plan, PLANSA; its main achievement has been to distribute the sanitation responsibilities throughout the country, giving them to state powers rather than local municipalities. This resulted in the creation of new water and sanitation companies in each Brazilian state, which in turn became responsible to fund sanitation systems. In the end, the system backfired because the state rejected its duties, claiming they fell to the companies who couldn’t fulfill them as the power remained in local management. In the year 2000, the Brazilian government joined the Millennium Development Goals initiative, aimed to decrease by 50% the number of people in need of sanitation and clean water by 2015. However, at its current rate of improvement, only half the goal will be reached, the government needs to put as much emphasis on sanitation as it does on water access.
Sanitation is essential for all human beings. Every community requires clean water and a certain level of hygiene to sustain itself. Water and hygiene are essential to human health and sustainability, and without a solution these increasingly helpless civilizations will soon hit rock bottom. Although the government is making attempts to remediate, Brazil’s situation isn’t progressing fast enough. Drastic measures must be taken to create restrictions on companies to implement water-purifying techniques and better water drainage and waste treatment systems, and to educate the public about the importance of sanitation. To finance these potential projects, the government needs to encourage and create incentives for companies to invest, such as tax breaks and grant money. We must strive to show Brazil that sanitation is not a commodity.
In order for Brazil to achieve universal sanitation, we must offer assistance. The United States should step forward and provide support and request to the U.N. to pressure Brazil to come forward with a plan for public health. With many nations encouraging immediate change, the Brazilian government will undoubtedly take a firm hand in solving this crisis.

Honors Vocabulary- Week 3

For this week's honors vocabulary, we are supposed to define the words and then write them in a sentence; 5 of the words must be described with "photo vocabulary".

1) subtle - something mysterious, subdued, indistinct: Her smile was subtle, he couldn't say he had seen it for certain.

2) vehement- passionate, vigorous, emotional: She vehemently exclaimed she hadn't stolen the watch, her intense emotion led the security guard to release her.

3) adverse- to hamper success or contrast one's desires, unfavorable: The adverse winds forced them to take a different course, the sails were pushing the boat in the wrong direction.

4) averse- to feel strongly against or opposed to something: She was averse to her sister's pleas to take her to the mall, she felt disinclined to leave the comfort of her warm bed.

5) alleged- to be declared/claimed of doing something something, it is supposed: The alleged murderer confirmed the judge's suspicions by accidentally revealing unknown information about the victim's death.

6) aggravate- to worsen, to annoy or irritate: The neighbor became increasingly aggravated by the screaming children in the pool next door, the next day she told their mother how annoying they had been.

7) discreet- careful, showing prudence: The robber tried to be discreet as he broke into the house; he wasn't very successful as the homeowners noticed the disturbance immediately and phoned the police.

8) factoid- a trivial or insignificant fact: The essay was just a long list of factoids; the teacher told the student to try to focus on the main idea and use relevant information.

Photo Vocabulary:

1) blatant- obvious, undisguised, shameless. The word blatant comes from the word babble, to talk foolishly. This picture shows a collar of a man with a bright red lipstick mark on it. It is the typical, blatant sign suggesting that a man is cheating on his wife (if the lipstick mark is not from her). The mark stands out, almost proud in its betrayal.

2) zealous- devoted, eager. When someone is zealous, they are fanatical and passionate about what they do; it can be characterized as an obsessive trait. This picture shows Michael Scott from the popular show The Office. Michael is the manager of the Dunder Mifflin paper company, and is known by the show's viewers to be zealous and eager about everything he does, and tries enthusiastically to excite office life for his employees.



3) flout- to refuse to obey. To flout something is to treat it with scorn or disdain, to blatantly ignore. A common use of the word is "to flout the rules", that is, to break or go against. In this picture, a man is flouting the no-smoking rule. You can see that he shows disrespect and contempt for the rule by lighting up.



4) forte- talent or strength. This word originates from Italian, forte meaning strong. A forte is the strong point at which someone excels. This photo depicts the professional soccer player Francesco Totti. He is the captain of the team and is considered world famous. He treats the ball delicately, his particular forte in soccer is hitting the ball with his heel in strange, awkard positions.



5) disinterested- not interested. This word means exactly what you think it means. To not be influenced or attracted by anything, to be impartial or neutral. The photo I selected is one of a boy on a train. He presents the stereotypical teenager: disinterested in everything but his own affairs. By listening to his ipod, and looking away from the photographer, he suggests he is off in his own world, not caring about the rest.

Civic Duty

For this assignment we were given a reading about "the meaning of citizenship" and asked to answer the following question: What is civic duty and why is it important?

The reading presented an interesting idea of "New Citizenship." It advocates for people to take their citizenship seriously, to work towards actively helping the country and governmental system. It suggests that people are depending too much on the government and aren't taking adequate responsibilities to actually contribute. People are complaining rather than helping to alleviate the work of politicians, who can't possibly be expected to address everything and make so many improvements on their own.

Civic duty is learning to work together to solve problems and understand each other in our differences; to cultivate our different backgrounds as the driving power to restore the true sense of democracy. Citizens must collaborate to "adapt our natural institutions to the new realities we face" and unite against our nation's problems. Civic duty encourages us return to our American pride and national bond.

Honors Vocabulary- Week 2

For this week we only had to choose five words and do "photo vocabulary entries," where we describe a picture depicting the word and expand with our thoughts about it.

1) incognito: The meaning of incognito is to hide one's true identity. Sometimes this means creating a fake name or image to deter people from discovering it. This photo shows the "big nose and heavy eyebrows" glasses that represent the typical disguise. By wearing these, one is "incognito." For example, batman must go incognito in public, and become is "normal" self, so people can't discover his real identity as a superhero. On the other hand, you could say batman is the incognito character, hiding Bob Kane's true face from harm as he fights crime.

2) empathy: The word empathy means in simple terms: "to understand and share the feelings" of others. This word goes hand in hand with sympathy (to feel pity) and apathy (not to feel) for other people. They are derived from the Greek word "pathos" to feel, suffer, pity, praise (or whatever has happened). This picture shows a pregnant woman next to a man in a pregnant suit. This indicates that he is trying to empathize with the woman, to try to feel and understand her burden of carrying a child (even though the woman is actually wearing a suit as well).

3) deduct: The word deduct means to deduct or take away from, to solve. A common form of the word you may have heard is deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is a from of critical thinking or scientific thinking used to reason from a general topic to a specific one, to take away from the broad discourse to reach a more precise idea. This picture shows an abacus, which is a kind of counting frame used to make mathematical calculations and deductions, originating in 2700 B.C.E. in Asia.

4) precipitous: The meaning of precipitous is "dangerously high or steep." There is an actual mountain range called The Precipitous Mountains, which are especially steep and found in Canada. This picture is a warning sign informing hikers of the danger of the mountains they are hiking and of the harmful consequence that awaits them if they get too close to the edge. Precipitous can also mean sudden or quick, as in the phrase: The constant hunting of the villagers led to a precipitous decline of moose.

5) plagiarize: Plagiarism is the act of taking someone's work or ideas and displaying them as one's own. Plagiarism is a constant problem at schools, and is always addressed at the beginning of the year to discourage kids from "cutting and pasting" as the photo shows. It used to be looked down upon and punished, but is now actually considered a federal crime! Students can earn an immediate expulsion hearing with only one offense. With so many people in the world, it is important to distinguish our ideas from one another and make them original.

Honors Vocabulary- Week 1

For the honors vocabulary lists, we are supposed to define the words and then write them in a sentence; 5 of the words must be described with "photo vocabulary".

1) flourish - to grow and prosper: The plant flourished under the optimal weather conditions.

2) guerilla - a member of a group of unorganized fighters: The guerillas quickly fell to the structure and power of the military.

3) renegade - a person who betrays their country, group, or principles: The renegade was shunned by all his former teammates; everyone was upset when he switched to a different soccer club.

4) tariff - a tax on goods: Governments sometimes place higher tariffs on imported goods to encourage domestic spending.

tranquility - peace, calmness: The baby was very tranquil after a warm bath and milk.

5) tumult - a loud commotion or disturbance: The tumultuous crash from the kitchen startled the dinner guests.

unanimous - united, in agreement: The citizens of University City unanimously voted him to be a town council member.

Photo Vocabulary:

6) stereotype - a widely held view of a certain group. This picture depicts some of the stereotypes commonly linked with French people. For example, many people assume that all the French eat snails and baguettes and are heavy chain smokers and drinkers. He is also drawn with a stereotypical French hat, the beret. The speech bubble indicates the general feeling that the French are rude people. Stereotypes are most often wrong and can be hurtful and judgemental. It is considered a good practice to abstain from using them.

7) tempo - speed of motion or activity. The photo to the left is a picture of New York City, I chose it to depict tempo because of the general lifestyle of the inhabitants. New York's city life has a very fast paced tempo, things are always going on, life does not wait. People are always moving, faces are always changing; it is a tempo many can't keep up with.

8) tundra - expansive area of "treeless plains" in arctic zones. This photo shows a snow deer in its natural habitat; other animals that live in the tundra include arctic foxes, white owls, hares, and moose. The tundra is the coldest biome, or natural living area and has low biodiversity because of the limited number of creatures that can thrive there.

9) repose - to rest. This picture is one of the illustrations in the children's book The Tortoise and The Hare. In the story, the tortoise and the hare agree to race each other around a park. When the race begins, the hare takes off at full speed, leaving the tortoise trekking slowly in the dust. The hare goes to repose by a shady tree, thinking he can outrun the tortoise at the finish line, but mistakenly sleeps for too long and loses the race.

10) symbiosis - interaction between organisms living close together. This photo shows a picture of actresses from popular show series Desperate Housewives. Their characters represent the perfect neighbor: offering to babysit, bringing fresh baked goods to mourning friends, and just being there to talk to. These housewives live in symbiosis: they live the same neighborhood and help each other in their time of need, they are best friends.

"What to eat?"

After reading certain excerpts from In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and the recently introduced "Ban Poisonous Additives Act," we were assigned to answer discussion questions about eating habits and government involvement in public health.

First and foremost, I think people eat unhealthy products because as a population, we are very uneducated in matters of food. The people of society aren't all aware of the calorical intake and nutritional balance we are supposed to maintain. We aren't very well informed of the consequences of our food choices. On the other hand, I do believe that many people eat based on convenience. What I mean by that is that we tend to eat what's most available and cheap, without considering our nutritional needs.

I think the government should be involved in our eating decisions to a certain extent. I don't think they have the right to tell us what to eat; it is essentially a free choice. I do however believe that it has the responsibility of keeping society aware of the ideal nutritional meals and suggest specific foods, as well as warn us of potential health risks. I think the government's duty is to protect us from the food industries and their desire to exploit and sell; our health is the prime concern, not production revenue.

Social Deviance

For this project we had to film people's reactions to deviance in society. For our group, we chose to record the reactions of people when we approached them requesting to eat lunch together. The video quality isn't too great, so to see the subtitles you should try to watch it full screen if possible.

Finding a Voice

For this assignment, we were all supposed to write a biography about the same person; our teacher introduced us to Novelina Betancourt, who later gave us a speech about her life. The purpose of this piece was to learn how bland personal statements can be when they all sound the same, it emphasized for us to find our own voice in writing.

Biography

Who is Novalena Betancourt? You may not know her, but she already wants to help you. She’s a family-oriented Puerto Rican raised in San Francisco, taking life one step at a time. She takes each and every experience as a time to reflect and a new way of learning about herself. She’s even created her list of five values to focus on: love, connection, growth, authenticity, and relationships. She’s taken life by the reins by following her self-created philosophies without regret.

Like all of us, Novalena has had her share of struggles. Family life took a toll on her from a young age, the frequent “chemical imbalances” made it difficult to establish good relationships. Although her two long-term relationships ended abruptly, she has held her head up high and moved forward with her interests. After an exciting college experience at UC Davis, she was left frustrated and without a job, disappointed with what life was offering.

With her smooth, instantly likeable voice, she landed a job at a radio station promoting female empowerment. The callers she often spoke with gave her a desire to help and apply her philosophies. A lover of reading and self-reflection, Novalena decided to but the two together and try her hand in the writing business, and is now in the process of writing her second book The Total Female Package. She promotes introspection and the mindset that women have the inner power to do anything.

Like Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, Novalena has used her past to dissect human nature. She believes that authenticity is key; from a young age her father taught her to be true to whatever you believe to “have faith in action”. She encourages people to love themselves and harvest their underlying feelings to create their ideal happy lifestyle.

Though young and spunky, Novalena Betancourt has developed countless philosophies and ideas about the course of life. She hopes for everyone to find a balance in their life and ultimately find happiness. She has used life’s experiences to her advantage and hopes to inspire others to do the same.

"Barder the Flying Dog"

Our prompt was to create a story from this image. The only restriction was that the dog's name had to be Barder.

One day Barder saw a long, orange silky scarf falling out of a tree. He bit it and tugged. The silky cloth did not budge. He tugged harder and harder until he thought his teeth were going to be yanked out. Finally, with a sickly shredding noise, he was able to pull it out of the tree. His owner Jackson, saw the scarf's beautiful orange glow. He ran over and picked it up, stroking it. It was so soft, he just wanted to press it against his face. He wound it over his head as if it were a turban, and suddenly felt a kind of strength and happiness he had never felt before. On his first impulse, he went over to Barder and straddled him. Barder seemed to get the same sensation, he broke into a kind of dog-smile and started running as fast as he could; he felt he could run forever. The orange scarf glowed brighter and brighter and slowly seemed to rise. Barder and Jackson started hovering above the ground, higher and higher! They rose, running through the air, Jackson on Barder with the happiest feeling they had ever experienced. They circled trees and reached the one where the mysterious magic scarf had been pulled out of. From between branches, Jackson and Barder saw the most amazing thing: A fallen lifeless angel, without any hair! Bald except for a few glowing orange silky strands, flowing in the wind.

*This picture was taken from Jan Von Holleben's photography site

International Interference: When is it ok?

For this prompt we had to research a national problem of another country and discuss whether or not we believed the U.S. should become involved.

Over the past eight years, drug use in Mexico has skyrocketed. Crack and meth aren't hard to come by, and addicts often commit violent crimes or prostitute themselves to acquire a fix. The Mexican government is worried about the country's evolution from selling to using; recently there was a movement to test all high school students for drug use. Many people are realizing their dependance on drugs is unhealthy, and are trying to seek help at rehabilitation centers. The problem is, there aren't nearly enough centers to accommodate those who want and need them. The situation is clearly getting out of hand; the question is, should the U.S. interfere? I personally believe that we shouldn't become involved with another country's problems. This usually serves to strain the international relationship between the countries, and undermines the authority of the struggling country to solve their own problems. On the other hand, I do think it would be appropriate to help Mexico (or any other country) if they asked us for help. I believe in helping those who need it, but not imposing our ideals on countries that haven't specifically requested for assistance. I truly hope for Mexico's citizens to recover and to overcome this situation quickly, if they need help they know they can find it with the U.S.

Writing in Reverse: A Model Employee

The following passage was assigned for our English class to practice telling stories with creative writing.

Nick is about to be ten minutes late for work for his bellhop post at Le Chocolate Crossaint hotel. He's been working there for seven months, two weeks, and three days. Words cannot describe the passionate hatred he feels for his occupation and boss.

He woke up after letting his 6:30 alarm ring for fifteen minutes and took his sweet time ordering his usual hazelnut coffee at the neighborhood cafe. Nick finally took the subway, two trains after he should have embarked. He sat and stared while blasting Pepper from his earphones. The seconds ticked by, giving him too much time to think.

Getting up at his stop, passing the turnstile, he knows: Today's the day. Now here he is, swinging through the swiveling glass doors of the hotel. He interrupts the man already yelling at him about the uniform he's not wearing. With three quick steps he delivers a blow stopping him mid-sentence.

With his boss' blood streaming down his fist, Nick is now unemployed.

*This picture was taken from Bill Sullivan's Turnstile Photography Project site