in-depth post 1

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My chosen skill is… 

The skill that i have chosen for my in depth project is writing a fiction novel, some of the smaller areas under this large umbrella that I want to work on are adding details to fill out my stories and “transport” the reader to how I see the world in my story, character development, there’s a big difference between giving a character a name and a few basic hobbies or interests and actually making the character seem like a person with depth and emotions I want to work on creating a character that truly feels like a real person. The specific type of writing I want to work on is first person narration (  famously used in books like Percy Jackson)  this type of writing has always seemed very difficult to me since the character ( or even multiple characters) in the narration roll have to be so incredibly developed you have to be able to write everything from there perspective and see the world through your characters eyes and not your own. 

 

 Why did I choose this? 

 I chose this because I’ve always wanted to try writing, I’ve always come up with what I think are good short stories but I’ve never really tried at writing a full length novel even though I’ve always wanted to. The in-depth project is a good way for me to really make the time for me to do something that I really, really enjoy  

 

How can I learn this skill? 

I plan on learning this skill through having conversations with my mentor (who writes stories and actually did a similar in depth project to me and utilizing several resources such as reading a lot more novels that fit a similar criteria to my project ( fiction, first-person narration and very descriptive) some books that I think fit this are every soul a star, any of the Percy Jackson books or spin off series and “me and Banksy” to name a few more popular books I will also use  the creative academy of writing a website recommended to me by my mentor that has classes on writing skills, talks by writers ect. 

 

 

How can others help and support me? 

My mentor can continue to recommend amazing resources ( like the creative academy of writing) and teach me about some of the things she learned in her own in depth project as well as giving me tips and knowledge she has gained through here own writing experience. My peers could be “lab rats” for me to present small amounts of my book to and receive feed back and criticism ( I will be putting a page or two of a chapter from my book every 2 weeks on my blog). And society can just keep being the same society that gives me inspiration and real events to draw from. 

 

progress report 

 As far as progress I’m working on a few rough drafts for a story Idea that I had to present to mentor so she can create a lesson plan based on some of the points I’ve specifically told her I want to hit. The rough drafts are coming along nicely I’m currently working on a basic over view of the first 8 chapters ( I plan to write 10+ but the plot dramatically changes around chapter 8 and I want to see how a few rough drafts play out before giving the last two or three chapters an over view) and a rough draft of the first time my characters meet and one of the first more dramatic adventure scenes as well as a very rough draft of the first chapter. I’m actually ahead of schedule for my rough drafts by a few weeks so I’m very happy with how my project is beginning. I am also currently working on some character development where I am essentially working on taking my characters from a name and possibly a visual plus a few hobbies into a person and giving the characters as much depth and backstory as possible. I believe that I’ve completed a rough draft of “filled out character traits” for 2 out of my 3 characters and am working on the third  

 

 

Information on my mentor and how the mentorship is going 

My mentor actually ( as mentioned above) did a similar project to mine for her in depth project and is a TALONS alumni, so far we’ve manly had conversations over email working out what I need to get prepared for our first video chat and just generally what I should look into for writing tips, so far I think all of our email conversations have gone well. 

 

Any frustrations? 

Honestly no. The project is going beautifully so far I’ve loved the little bit of writing I’ve been doing, my mentor seems great and has given me some awesome resources so I’ve had no frustrations so far. 

 

What about obstacles? 

I’ve been very fortunate in that I don’t think covid-19 will affect my in-depth to much given that so far it seems most of the discussions can be done virtually quite well, me and my mentor are working well so there are no obstacles there,. So far I think the biggest obstacle for me is being new to writing I don’t necessarily know what chapters to write first initially I’d just planned to write rough draft chapter one, finished draft chapter one, rough draft chapter 2, finished draft chapter 2 ect. But upon further research I found that many books are written from the end to beginning or from the middle out so I am trying to balance  out which chapters I should write first. 

 

Evidence of progress 

Here are some character detail on my main character from a character development work sheet ( not the whole sheet I don’t want to give away to much) ( the person narrating) 

 Character “ pitch” safina is kind of your classic “quite kid in the back” who also is really, really smart and has a semi photographic memory, once you get to know her better she is a very different person and can be out going and adventurous. 

Name: Safina  Annmarie  Dupont  

Age:14 

Birthday: march 23  

Height: 5 feet 4 inches 

Hair: waist length, wavey, light brown often dyes temporary streaks of bright colors 

Eyes: dark amber 

State of health: severe almond allergy but otherwise healthy 

What does there voice sound like: relatively monotone a tiny bit low pitched 

Nickname: no, reminds her of how much she was teased 

Town where they were raised: Milwaukee Wisconsin 

Moved to: black pine Wisconsin 

School: straight A student very nerdy, hated all of her peers for teasing her  

Ethnicity: half Malaysian quarter Spanish quarter French 

Relation ships status: single 

Do they have a job: occasionally babysits for neighbor 

Greatest failure/regret: not trying harder to follow her passion for song writing  

Greatest success: getting straight a’s four years in a row ( school record) 

Best and worst memory: worst getting beat up and left in a forest by her peers.  best memory going to Disney world  as a really little kid  

Favorite music type: alt pop  

Project modifications? 

 

As mentioned in the obstacle section I’ve had to modify the order that I’m writing chapters, but the project is so new that I think that is the only modification I’ve had to make so far.  

 

Relevant resources 

Many of my resources were recommended to me by my mentor as things that she’d found success with in her own project, some are resources I’ve compiled through my own research, right now we are working on character development so many of my current resources pertain to that.  

 

 

 

The emotional wound thesaurus ( website) 

A thesaurus of sorts on how to develop tragedy into a plot or characters back story such as how to add bullying into a plot line: give the character(s) trust issues make them anti social, have them spend free time in non-crowded space I.e parks forests or there own home. 

There are other scenarios as well that range from over protective family to deaths each with specialized tips from writers on what attributes and coping mechanisms to give your character. 

 

The creative academy of writing 

This website essentially offers advice and tips from people who have also written books in a master class format. 

Several famous novels that follow the same format I wish to use 

Percy Jackson, me and Banksy and every soul a star are definitely my favorites from what I’ve read so far. 

 

And several ted talks including  

How to build a fictional world by Kate Messner  

What makes a hero: Matthew Winkler 

 

a character development sheet ( the same one as shown in the evidence of progress section ) which I will be using for all of my characters.  

 

 

I am continuing to add more websites books ted talks ect.  to my resource collection these are just the first few I’ve had success with. 

 

 

 

AOC media influence

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  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has changed the face of politics by incorporating a media image into her campaign and even streaming videogames such as among us to generate interest and attention 
  • She is finding a way to reach out to youth through being relatable  

She has become a bit of an influencer after mentioning her favorite lipstick it was sold out in days. While this has rubbed some other politicians the wrong way AOC has done an amazing job of promoting her campaign through media influence and its paid off, while to some people copying her make up may seem a little strange for a politician I think it shows that she’s inspired so many people and in so any ways the want to reflect her.  

 

AOC achievements and awards

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-AOC is the youngest congress woman in American history  

-She came 2nd in the 2007 intel international science and engineering fair , and as her prize had an asteroid named after her  

-The Adelle Foley award ( an award for American multicultural writers)

–The 2019 100 BBC women 

-The 2017 national Hispanic institute person of the year   

 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Grassroots campaign

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What exactly is a grass roots campaign? The definition of a grass root campaign is when you build something (usually a political issue) up from the bottom it is often at first community funded  with the hope of making a change, grassroot campaigns often act as a call to action showing people they would benefit from supporting a new cause. Grass root campaigns usually grow to be massive world wide phenomenon and often take on issues like racial inequality and climate change. 

In the case of AOC her average donation was 17 dollars because mainly collected donations from the community and did many small gatherings in neighbors houses to raise funds and spread her message. 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez early life

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ( AOC ) didn’t start from a political family, before she became a congress woman she was actually working as a waitress and bartender to help her mom avoid fore closer on her house, in fact in the documentary she was featured in ( bring down the house), several scenes are shot in her previous place of employment ( a small restaurant) or interviewing her regular costumers. 

While she does not have a traditional political background she does have a bachelors degree from Boston university in international relations and economics. 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) political stand point

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is probably best known for some of her political views she believes in LGBTQ+ rights, agreements towards making the planet greener, the abolishing of ICE (immigration and customs control), gun control, more affordable post secondary education for all and believes that health care should be affordable for all. She considers herself to be a democratic socialist. 

 

ecological foot print project

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   ecological footprint 

 My current ecological foot print is about 7.9 hectares 

The average Canadians ecological footprint is 7.25 hectares so mine is not too much higher than the norm, how ever it is higher than average which is not a good thing and I will definitely start trying harder to find ways to make my ecological foot print smaller, since the average is lower than my ecological footprint it is clearly possible to get my ecological foot print lower. 

class mates ecological foot prints compared to mine

Jordans foot print  7.6 hectares

Natalies foot print 12.16 hectares

my foot print 7.9 hectares

compared to my class mates footprints mine seemed in the middle of every one else’s it wan’t the highest it wasn’t the lowest, it was clear to me that  there are definitely steps i can take to lower my foot print and i can possibly talk to my class mates about how they got there foot prints lower.

https://www.peelregion.ca/planning/bulletins/ecological.pdf 

 

                    Ten thing I can do to cut down on my eco footprint 

 

  1. Buy more clothes from thrift stores 
  2. Try to make less garbage  
  3. Try to grow more of my own food 
  4. Try to walk to more stores ( the grocery store is really close to my house so It shouldn’t be hard) 
  5. Use reusable produce bags 
  6. Try to take short showers all the time not just some of the time 
  7. Try to buy products that come in less packaging  
  8. Work on turning off lights when I leave a room 
  9. Give up dairy 
  10.  Repair stuff when it breaks instead of throwing it out 

 

 

                                   5 things I will do ( and there benefits) 

1.Plant some seeds I can grow inside ( basil, oregano and other herbs) 

      If you plant and grow your own food ( to name a few benefits there are many) there is much less pollution as food doesn’t need to be shipped to you if it’s already in your backyard  

2.Go to a thrift store to buy some of my clothes/ fix up old clothes I already have that my have holes or tears 

Buying clothes second hand means less clothes being made in factories, and factories needing to make less clothes cuts down on pollution as well as making even a single garment can take liters and liters of water so buying second hand clothes cuts down on wasted water as well 

3.Use reusable produce bags instead of plastic ones when I go to the grocery store  

Plastic bags are one of the biggest polluters and often end up in the ocean so reusable grocery and produce bags is very good for cutting down on pollution. Plastic bags can take hundreds of years to break down so the faster we can cut plastics that end up in the ocean the better 

4.Try to take shorter showers 

Only about 1% of earths water is safe for humans so using less water when we can, leaves more water for drinking 

5.In will work on turning off light when I leave a room 

Using less electricity cuts down on the amount of toxins released into ecosystems near power plants, so using less electricity creates less pollution 

https://www.saveonenergy.com/learning-center/energy-saving-tips/how-does-saving-energy-help-the-environment/#:~:text=Save%20energy%2C%20save%20the%20environment&text=When%20you%20consume%20less%20power,a%20healthier%20and%20happier%20world. 

 

I choose to change all of these because all of them are either something I’ve noticed myself not doing or not doing very well, for example last year I decided to grow my own food but only grew kale which is something I don’t particularly like to eat so this time I grew a lot of  herbs which is something I use in cooking almost every day. I really reflected on things I don’t need ( like unnecessarily long showers) or actions that simply require changing a bad habit( like leaving the lights on when I leave a room.) 

            

                            Being more eco- friendly journal  

day one: 

i plan on starting the seeds, they probably won’t have done too much before the project is due seeing as there’s only a week between now and then, also pertaining to the fact I started this a little late, I may not have time to go to the thrift store so I will continue to work on fixing up some clothes ( need some altering) I just happened to pick up in a thrift store a few weeks ago ( I don’t usually do that so it’s a happy coincidence). at first it was hard to remember to turn off light every time I leave a room, I’m so used to leaving them on, but I think I’ll get the hang of it soon. We went shopping today and I used the reusable produce bags, we didn’t have quite enough but they were quite easy to use. 

 

Day 2: 

I didn’t end up planting the seeds yesterday I got very busy with some other stuff and didn’t have enough time so I planted them today. I’m still getting used to remembering to turn off lights. I‘m still trying to figure out how to alter the clothes I got from the thrift store ( I’m pretty knew to sewing) but I’ll figure it out soon. I going to shower tonight  (  I won’t be able to edit this again today afterwards) I plan to keep the shower between 2-5 minutes. 

 

Day 3: 

 The seeds seem to be doing well after I planted them but I wont know until they sprout. The clothes I got from the thrift store didn’t need as many alterations as I thought that they would, but I do have some old clothes that have holes in them I was going to throw out but I will ( try) to fix the holes, we also went to the store to pick up a few things and used our reusable bags. 

 

Day 4: 

I didn’t do a lot today but I did make sure to turnout light once I left a room, I continued to water my plants and put them in a warm bright place I fixed all the clothes I could find that had holes in them, I definitely need to work on my sewing skills so I will definitely continue to work on fixing clothes when the rip even after this project is over. 

 

Day 5:  

My plants still seem to be doing well they still haven’t sprouted but it’s supposed to take 9 days for them to sprout so I’m not too concerned. I have been keeping shower times super short 2-3 minutes, the hardest thing to do remains remembering to turn off lights every time I leave a room I guess I got in the habit of not doing it and it is quite hard to break habit 

 

Day 6:  

today was pretty uneventful as far as times when i can choose a more eco friendly option, I’m still watering my plant seeds daily, I’m getting more used to turning out lights as I  leave a room. I’m still trying to use reusable bags for everything, but I don’t have very many reusable bags so I my try and make more to practice sewing skills. 

 

Day 7: 

today is the last day of eco- foot print changes i will be recording i will definitely continue with the changes i’ve made over the last week as i’ve really enjoyed doing all these little things that can help the environment i a big way

 

Probably the easiest change to make was to grow some of my own food I already had a planter so planting some seeds in it and watering them daily really wasn’t that hard to remember ( especially because at first the planter was on my kitchen table). Me and my mom have also gardened in the past although this was my first time growing herbs I used the skills I’d already learned with the flowers and stuff  that I’d grown in the past. 

 

 

 

The hardest change to make definitely was to remember to turn off lights when I leave a room, I just couldn’t get it to stick in my mind that I had to turn off lights every time I left the room. I never made the habit of turning off lights when you leave the room when I was a little kid, and it was hard to change a bad habit I had, had for so long with many of the other things I decided to change in my life to help the environment they either didn’t occur as often as leaving a room or I’d done it before ( like gardening), so that definitely made remembering to turn off lights the hardest. 

 

One of the obstacles I encountered was  that I didn’t release  I didn’t start making the changes for my eco foot print soon enough so I didn’t have enough time to collect the full two weeks of data, so then I didn’t have as much data as I would have liked to do this write up, the fact that I started to late was definitely the biggest obstacle I faced. 

 

the steps i will continue to take in the future are, i will continue to fix holes in my clothes, i will keep growing my own food( i found that really fun), taking short showers and using reusable shopping and produce bags, i will definitely need to keep working on remembering to turn off lights, the fact that i struggled with it so much only shows to me that it is very important for me to  break old bad habits. so in short i will continue to do everything i’ve been doing for the last week i’ve found it relatively easy to  change my habits in ways that i think will help the environment lots ( every little thing helps).

 

 

Digital Footprint Assignment

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1. How might your digital footprint affect your future opportunities? Give at least two examples.

  1. if you post something online that shows you doing something illegal a future collage or employer could see that and not offer you a job/ spot at a post secondary school
  2. if you have positive things that you’ve posted online you can use that as a way to get a job in the future ie. sharing a website on your resume

2. Describe at least three strategies that you can use to keep your digital footprint appropriate and safe.

  1. think before you post that what you post could only ever be viewed in a positive way.
  2. wait a few hours from when you make a post to when you put it online, it can never been erased once it’s online so it’s best to take some time to think about it before it goes online
  3. making sure what you post online doesn’t violate any contracts you’ve singed is very important people have lost jobs and scholarships because the posted something about the job/scholarships

3. If you could go back in time, is there anything you would do differently online? Think of what type of advice you would pass on to your younger self or other students. How could you go about explaining it to them?

i’ve never actually posted anything online so , no i wouldn’t do anything differently, the only advice i would recommend to someone younger than me is that they wait till there a bit older 12 or 13 till they get social media, personally i didn’t get it till i was 14 and personally i think that was when i was mature enough to understand how best to be safe online.