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“We are innovation, we are spontaneous.”

This post is an adaptation of my Dreaming in the Clouds poem, instead it tells about my mother and her experiences. Happy Birthday Mom.


“We are innovation, we are spontaneous.”

“I am innovation, I am spontaneous.”
I am a middle child with one older sister and two younger brothers. Though, I felt like the oldest. I was a rock, I supported my younger brothers when things were rough, and I wasn’t afraid to through the first punch. I was my sister best friend now, and I still am today.
“I wonder what will happen as my future unfolds…”
I went on from Redford High School to graduate from Lawrence Technological University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Interior Architecture and later on a Master’s of Science in Construction Management from Eastern Michigan University.
“I hear snow prance with gentle footsteps across my bedroom floor”
I am the mother of a seventeen year old daughter. She’s vibrant, intelligent and beautiful.
As a young girl she would prance across my bedroom singing songs and telling stories of her miraculous and imaginative dreams.
“I see buildings and remnants of what once were…”
I was born in Mississippi but moved to Detroit at a very young age. My mother and father owned a farm in Mississippi, where they lived near the reservations of our ancestors.
“I want love and a reason to believe”
I have love, and a reason to believe. I love my daughter and I believe in her and her bright future.

“I am innovation, I am spontaneous.”
I am 46 years young, young at heart and I have a youthful appearance. I am spontaneous and full of spunk. I am innovative and always thinking of something new and problem-solving.
“I touch clouds full of dreams, I worry that someday I will no longer dream “
I lived through the election of President Barack Obama, which has shown me that hard work does pay off and that timing is everything.
“I try to imagine the worlds I see in the clouds full of dreams…”
The biggest change in the way people live their everyday lives is how social media has taken control over how we communicate and express ideas.
 The best years of my life so far are the past seventeen years of raising my daughter.
“I cry when I look at my reflections and no longer see… me.”
Today, I see a change in youth morals and elderly respect is not common. I advise my younger reflections to take advantage of all the opportunities that are available. Attentiveness in school and developing skills to be a critical thinker are skills that make life easier and successful.
“I understand what it means to live.”
Do not be afraid to succeed and that it is okay to stand out and be different. I have experienced discrimination, but I have learned from the mistakes of others and make myself stronger.
 
Become innovation, Stay spontaneous.


 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I LOVE YOU.
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My Senior Artist Statement


  I make art because it makes me feel complete. I aspire to be an Industrial Designer. When deciding what to do with a piece, I try to think about what will allow me to express myself or my idea best. I taught myself to draw and be creative growing from crayons and coloring books to pencils and sketchbooks. Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies helped me further my skills and understand the design process. My work embodies what makes me happy, and represents my broad interest within the arts. Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies also opened up a plethora of opportunities to be involved in various programs with the College for Creative Studies and other organizations.
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Night Of The Arts

Come support my friends and I at Night of the Arts! As a senior, this will be my last year participating in NOTA.


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Hamlet Literary Essay



Hamlet Literary Essay
The tragedy, Hamlet, by Shakespeare is a dramatic tale of murder, jealousy and revenge. Hamlet takes place in the late 1500’s in a castle of Denmark when the protagonist, Hamlet, discovers that his father, the king of Denmark, was murdered by his uncle. Hamlet creates an elaborate plot for revenge that quickly turns sour. Hamlet’s plot for revenge leads to his traumatic downfall because everyone who he had no intention of hurting dies, and so does he. Shakespeare’s intent is to show Hamlet’s dynamic character development in which Hamlet transforms from a sarcastic, mournful, and confused boy, to an arrogant, angry and paranoid man because of revenge. Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation captures Shakespeare’s intent best because of how he displays Hamlet’s traits of arrogance, paranoia, and anger all of which bloomed from revenge. Branagh shows this in the Mousetrap Scene, Spy Scene, and the Bedroom Scene best through setting action, language and tone.
            In Act 3.2, the Mousetrap Scene, Shakespeare shows Hamlet’s traits of arrogance, paranoia, and anger through language and tone. For example, when Hamlet says to Ophelia, “It would cost you a groaning to take off mine edge,” this shows Hamlet’s signs of paranoia and arrogance because he openly admits that he is on edge and arrogantly asks Ophelia for sex. Another instance of Hamlet’s anger and arrogance is in Hamlet’s aside when he has his first opportunity to kill his Claudius, he says “When he is fit and seasoned for package… when he is drunk, asleep or in range or in th’ incestuous pleasure of his bed.” This shows arrogance because he wants this murder of Claudius to be grand, and therefore Hamlet ignores this opportunity reflecting paranoia because he was hesitant. Additionally, Hamlet shows anger and paranoia when he says, “as woman’s love” in response to Ophelia saying “tis short,” this reflects his anger at the situation at the situation of his mother marrying his uncle, but it also shows paranoia as it does not seem directed at Ophelia in their conversation, it is said more to the air.
            Similarly, in Branagh’s film adaptation Hamlet is shown as a paranoid, angry, arrogant man, during the Mousetrap Scene using tone, action, language and setting. The first example occurs when hamlet arrogantly flirts with Ophelia, asking to put his head in her lap. Branagh shows Hamlets arrogance when he portrays Hamlet narrating the play as well as climbing over the seats to speak to
What seems like the entire audience. Hamlet also shows anger with his tone and language when he talks back with Gertrude and Claudius with rude remarks. This all shows how Branagh uses language, tone, setting and action to show Hamlet’s arrogance, paranoia, and anger.
Moreover, in Act 3.1, during the Spy Scene, Shakespeare continues to show Hamlet’s traits of arrogance, paranoia, and anger through language and tone. For example when Hamlet says, “Ha, ha, are you honest?” to Ophelia this shows anger and arrogance because he knows of Ophelia’s deceit and is aware that he is being spied on so he arrogantly says this is his language and shows anger in its tone. Later within the spy scene Hamlet openly says “I am very proud, revengeful, and ambitious with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in”, this also shows anger, arrogance, and paranoia because Hamlet is arrogantly admitting his traits all of which are expressed in an angry tone. The quote continues with hamlet saying “What should such fellow as I do crawling between earth and heaven?” this shows paranoia because Hamlet is questioning the value of his life by comparing its value to that of a criminal, furthermore he is alluding to Claudius criminal acts, which in return ignites his traits of anger and arrogance as well.
In analogous to Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation he also displays Hamlet’s traits of arrogance, paranoia, and anger throughout the Spy Scene using language, action, tone, and setting. This first happens when watching how Hamlet gracefully walks towards Ophelia, in a longing passion, he kisses her showing his passion while still aware of the fact that he is being watched by Claudius and Polonius. This continues in Hamlet’s tone in how he speaks to Ophelia, his words turn from loving to condescending, as he questions Ophelia’s honesty, much like the text when Hamlet says to Ophelia, “Are you honest… are you fair?” Hamlet also shows his when he arrogance anger and paranoia, in his tone when he confesses his once pure love for Ophelia; this is emphasized by Branagh’s music selection because it is sad and conveys a feeling of sympathy for Hamlet, almost justifying his emotions. This all shows how Branagh uses language, tone, setting and action to show Hamlet’s arrogance, paranoia, and anger.
          Shakespeare really emphasizes Hamlet’s arrogance, paranoia and anger through language and tone in the Bedroom Scene, Act 3.4. The first time this occurs is when Hamlet says to Gertrude, “come, come and sit you down. You shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass where you may see the inmost part of you” this shows Hamlet’s arrogance as he speaks to Gertrude in a condescending matter. This is followed by more erratic language and the tone set by Shakespeare’s chose of words, Hamlet begins to scold Gertrude when he says, “What devil was’t? That thus hath cozened you at hoodman-blind? Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight, Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all, or but a sickly part of one true sense. Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush?” Hamlet is confronting Gertrude out of all the anger and arrogance in his heart, and when he ask in an angry manner “…where is thy blush?” Hamlet is asking why Gertrude isn’t embarrassed or ashamed of what she has done.  Hamlet continues in a short monologue, “Not this, by no means, that I bid you do—Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed, Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse, And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers, Make you to ravel all this matter out: That I essentially am not in madness But mad in craft.’Twere good you let him know, For who that’s but a queen, fair, sober, wise, Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,Such dear concernings hide?  Who would do so? No, in despite of sense and secrecy, unpeg the basket on the house’s top. Let the birds fly, and like the famous ape, to try conclusions, in the basket creep and break your own neck down.” Hamlet says this out of arrogance thinking that he can control his mother’s actions or as if he knows what is best for her, as well as he shows anger through the language and paranoia at the fact that he feels that she needs to be controlled, especially after he murders Polonius.
In cohesion with Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation he also displays Hamlet’s traits of arrogance, paranoia, and anger throughout the Bedroom Scene using language, action, tone, and setting. This first happens when Hamlet angrily storms into the bedroom speaking to Gertrude in a dramatic tone that is powerful but not overbearing. When Hamlet realizes that he has just murdered Polonius, he shows a sadness or regret that he acted so furiously but this is immediately followed by a change in tone and language as he no longer feels remorse but anger once more, maybe at the fact that he did not just kill Claudius, but that Polonius actually deserved this death. Hamlet then continues to throw his mother forcefully on the bed, continues to speak at her in a lecturing manner, angry and  paranoid because his mother is unaware of her actions and paranoid because he just killed someone outside of his goal for revenge. These all show how Branagh uses language, tone, setting and action to show Hamlet’s arrogance, paranoia, and anger.
Some may say that Branagh did not do the best job of showing Hamlet’s dynamic character transformation from a sarcastic, mournful, and confused boy to an arrogant, angry and paranoid man through setting, action, language and tone but that Franco Zeffernelli more accurately depicts Shakespeare’s intent best. This adaptation does in fact; display the theme of Hamlet visually beautiful.  This adds to the medieval theme of Denmark, and sets the mood for Hamlet well. Hal Himson from the Washington Post argues that “as a director, Zeffernelli is better with furniture than after the camera.” Throughout Zeffernelli’s film he eloquently recreates the depiction of Hamlet in the text through the film through setting and set design, where as Branagh’s art direction overly exaggerates the setting. However Branagh’s adaptation is still best because Zeffernelli leaves out the subplots throughout the film which loses the depth of the play. Zeffernelli attempts to make up for the loss depth in the story, to recover through immediacy and action however the film feels bare and the actors and actresses hold the film up rather than the direction of Franco Zeffernelli.
Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation portrayed Hamlet best in accordance to how Shakespeare originally intended so. Branagh successfully captures Hamlet’s anger, paranoia, and arrogance develops from mourning, confusion, and sarcasm because of revenge through language, setting, action, setting, and tone on film. Other adaptations fail to show Hamlet’s dynamic character development, portraying as irrational and in experienced. At the beginning of the play, however, I viewed Hamlet’s action and motives as it being justified. However, towards the end of the play, I started to realize that while Hamlet’s original intentions for revenge were not horrible, in context to what happened to him, what ends up happening at the end of the play is worse than anything that Hamlet expected. This tragedy shows the importance at looking at the whole picture before reacting, and that revenge is definitely not the best solution.
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Short Essay: The Congress of Racial Equality



The Congress of Racial Equality had a great idea, to liberate African Americans during the times of heavy segregation in Chicago and eventually throughout the south. The main people involved in the Congress of Racial Equality were; Floyd McKissick, and Roy Innis, who wasn’t the most positive leader for the group.
The Congress of Racial Equality pioneered direct nonviolent action in the 1940s before playing a major part in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. CORE was founded by an interracial group of pacifists at the University of Chicago in 1942. The Chicago Chapter of CORE had success integrating races in several Chicago public accommodations and recreational areas, including the White City Roller Rink in 1946. It also mounted campaigns against the Chicago Board of Education to protest the installation of mobile classrooms as a solution for overcrowded African American schools and demand the full integration of public schools. The Chicago Chapter of CORE Archives at the Chicago Public Library, Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature contains the papers of Chicago CORE, its Southside chapter, Metropolitan CORE, and National CORE. 
They used nonviolent tactics to challenge segregation in Northern cities during the 1940s. Civil rights activists from other organizations used CORE’s nonviolent tactics during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but CORE did not establish a presence in the South until 1957. The next year CORE volunteers participated in Freedom Summer, a project that brought white Northerners to Mississippi to register black voters. With the help of local police, Ku Klux Klansmen in Philadelphia, Mississippi killed three CORE volunteers at the beginning of the summer. The horror of Southern violence and the radicalization of other groups led many CORE members to move away from principles of nonviolence. In 1966 the CORE chose a new leader, Floyd McKissick. With McKissick leading the group they began to start short lived programs to end poverty. Two years later CORE removed whites from membership and chose Roy Innis as its national director. Roy was all for black leadership, but his misuse of the organization’s funds make the group fall. During the Reagan and Bush administrations, Innis became less active with the community. He moved CORE out of the mainstream of civil rights organizations, opposing busing and supporting welfare reform in other words he drove CORE in to the ground.
The CORE was significant to not only life for African Americans then but today as well. Most people believe that nonviolent actions against segregation came strictly from black-southern leaders much like well-known Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Contrary to those ideas CORE in a way paved the nonviolent approach for activism against segregation in the 40’s and 60’s. The unfortunate fall of the group set the movement back a bit, of course. However because the acts caught on it was easily continued leading to segregation being illegal today. In conclusion, to my short essay The Congress of Racial Equality was positive because it started the snowball effect for nonviolent actions to rebel against segregation in the 40’s and 60’s.
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Short Essay: What does the National Honor Society Mean to Me



The National Honor Society is an organization known nationwide, it’s an opportunity for individuals to connect share and explore different cultures. I recognize this opportunity and I will put forth all my effort to be a successful and contributing member of the Nation Honor Society.
 The essay question asks me what scholarship, leadership, service, and character means to me; the thing is, these four traits are not something that a person is simply born with. It is something that person develops over time due to experiences and just living life. Scholarship is important to me, it’s a characteristic that can define and create a person.  When I think of scholarship I think of academics, extra circulars, being a successful adult, and school in general.  Scholarship is important to me because even though my grades don’t define me, they definitely make a difference in the long run
. Leadership is also important to me, and my future. They say people are not born leaders, they become them; I agree. I was never born a leader in fact I was never “born” with any of the four traits a National Honor Society Member would possess. It took time, influence, and experience for me to become who I am today. Leaders inspire individuals to achieve greatness and to improve on greatness. Leaders have to possess strong and positive beliefs, good morals and values, ethics, knowledge, and a calm level headed mindset. When in group assignments I often take lead leading my group members and making sure that everything is being accomplished, everyone is on task, and most of all we’re all having fun doing it. Service is yet another trait that someone in the National Honor Society should possess.
 To serve and be of service is strongly synced with volunteering and helping the community and people around it.  I am involved in many things to help my community, I am in  D.N.A.W. (Detroit Neighborhood Arts Workshop), a program affiliated with the  C.A.P. (Community Arts Partnership); The 10th Grade Board; and Mustang Ambassadors, a group within the school who connects to help local organizations like Walk for Wishes, Adopt a Child, Gleaners, American Heart Association, R.E.A.D. and Bully Week. I strongly believe in giving back to my community because that is what shapes our future leaders and scholars of today.
Character wraps all the traits in one.  Character is what makes you, you; what people think of you, how you define yourself. Character and integrity go hand and hand; it’s what you do when no one is around to see. Having good morals and a great definition of who you are, what you are, and who you want to become keeps you on the right track to being a successful young adult and someone with good character. Character is what sets me aside from the rest, I believe that being different expressive and having individuality makes me a great asset to being a member of the National Honor Society.

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