From Oppression to Liberation: Mexico’s Revolutionary Struggle.
Miguel, a devoted follower of Emiliano Zapata, finds himself caught up in the midst of the Mexican Revolution as a peon. From the early days of the uprising, he witnesses the struggles and triumphs of the Zapatistas as they fight for land reform and social justice. He participates in battles, sees the horrors of war, and experiences the exhilaration of victory. Through it all, Miguel remains committed to the cause, even as he grapples with the personal costs of revolution. As the conflict rages on, Miguel must confront difficult questions about loyalty, sacrifice, and the true meaning of freedom.
The Mexican revolution was successful in that it resulted in the overthrow of the long-standing dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz and the establishment of a more democratic government. The revolution also led to the adoption of a new constitution in 1917, which included important provisions for land reform, labor rights, and social welfare.
However, the revolution did not completely solve all of Mexico’s problems. The country continued to face challenges such as poverty, inequality, and corruption in the years following the revolution. Additionally, the revolution was marked by significant violence and conflict, and many of its promises were not fully realized.
The Battle for Democracy: A Retrospective on the Mexican Revolution.
“A rebellion against tyranny, a triumph of democracy, and a testament to the power of ordinary people to change the course of history.”
— Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, President of Mexico.
Bienvenidos! Get ready to embark on a journey to one of the most fascinating but chaotic periods of Mexican history: the Mexican Revolution. This was a time of tremendous change, as people from places all across the nation came together to fight together against injustice, oppression, and inequality. The period of revolutionaries fighting against the old regime to determine the country’s future. In this video, we’ll explore the key events, figures, and ideas that shaped the Mexican Revolution and discover how this epic nation transformed from a powerful dictatorship to a justice democracy under the influence of peasants and the fall of the middle and high classes. Thus, fasten your seatbelts and get ready for an unforgettable ride through one of the most critical chapters in Mexican history. Vámonos!
Photo Citation:
Admin. The 1914 Convention of Aguascalientes – Pedroza Place. 12 May 2014, www.johnpedroza.com/blog1/the-1914-convention-of-aguascalientes.
Quiet.
“Open your suitcase for others to see, because the world needs you and the things you carry.” — Susan Cain
In Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverted Kids by Susan Cain, introversion is portrayed throughout the story. This book addresses commonly held stereotypes, misconceptions, and individual definitions through various narratives of students across the globe and the challenges they encounter in their specific “introverted” behaviors. Through these anecdotes, the hidden power of introverts gradually reveals, indicating their immense value under the layer of bias and misinterpretation. Susan Cain’s valuable advice and elucidation of bias against introversion indeed grant readers a more profound comprehension of this specific characteristic.
1) “Both introverts and extroverts are uniquely suited to meet the demands of a complex workplace and were born to rule.”
The first theme I have identified in this book is “Introverts can do anything that extroverts do.” In just the first few pages of the book, I realized that some characters had faced a challenge because of their introverted characteristics, and they wanted to change. By accumulating enough courage and dedication, they took a step many could not do and proved their worth by performing something that extroverts could do. Inevitably, it is true that extroverts have the tendency to exhibit particular strengths, but that does not exclude introverts from claiming those strengths as well. Susan Cain also addresses that introverts are not antisocial; they are just differently social. It is not something that needs to be fixed, but rather a quality with unique advantages. Introverts have the same traits and potential as anyone else, but sometimes it might take a while to shine like the others.
“Don’t think of introversion as something that needs to be cured…Spend your free the way you like, not how you think you’re supposed to.”
Meanwhile, talking about social issues portrayed in the book, judgment, misunderstandings, and bias is present. “Introverts are misunderstood due to the negative stereotypes, unawareness of the introversion spectrum, and the pressure of society to abide by extroverted characteristics.” Moreover, because of the misinterpretations towards introverts, challenges and problems were produced that were confronted by the characters in the story: struggling to speak up, being bullied by others, not gaining enough attention/trust from teachers, etc. However, because of these stereotypes and misconceptions, introversion has gained enough awareness in society and has proven introverts’ value along with extroverts.
“Quiet is might. Solitude is strength. Introversion is power.”
Introverts have the potential to become leaders. In the previous paragraph, I mentioned the majority’s common misconceptions about introverts. When the word “leader” is mentioned, people often think of those who are active, outgoing, and talkative, also known as extroverts, as they mostly suit the expectations of leaders. This is often true in most cases, as introverts are also routinely passed over for leadership positions. However, in Susan Cain’s Ted Talk speech, she claims that introverts could sometimes deliver better outcomes than extroverts regarding leadership since “they’re much more likely to let those employees run with their ideas and listen.”
“The most effective leaders are not motivated by a desire to control events or to be in the spotlight. They are motivated by the desire to advance ideas and new ways of looking at the world or to improve the situation of a group of people.”
Speaking of leadership and its mutual relationship with introversion, some famous leaders have made it to the peak of success as introverts themselves: Bill Gates, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eileen Fisher, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, etc. In the story, Susan mentioned the term “stretching one’s rubber band,” meaning that introverts could stretch themselves for a while but must take a short break as the rubber band loosens. For instance, I, who identifies as an introvert, can also be that kid who leads classroom projects, speaks on stage with pride, and is the leading actor in theater performances. This unique skill strengthens the flexibility of introverts as they practice “stretching their rubber bands” and ultimately become more comfortable in their situation.
In conclusion, this book details how society vastly underestimates introverts teaches us what introverts and extroverts can learn from one another, and proves the value of introverts. Please check out the other books Susan Cain has written if you want to read more!
Works Cited
Vaults, Makayla. “Introverts Are Misunderstood.” North Texas Daily, 11 Feb. 2020, www.ntdaily.com/introverts-are-misunderstood.
Kahnweiler, Jennifer B., PhD. “Stereotyping Introverts.” Jennifer Kahnweiler, 8 Sept. 2020, jenniferkahnweiler.com/stereotyping-introverts.
inc.com. www.inc.com/larry-kim/why-introverts-now-rule-the-world.html.
Rowley, Luke. “Quiet Power Summary and Review.” Four Minute Books, 21 Sept. 2022, fourminutebooks.com/quiet-power-summary.
Am I a Renaissance Humanist?
To start, I have rated “Control Own Life, Achieve Greatness” and “Education” as the two beliefs I agree with the most. Humanists believed that they could take control of anything in their lives and not be constrained by religious beliefs and so-called rules. I agree with this belief that Humanists had because nowadays, in the modern world, people always seek freedom to do whatever they like or enjoy, but in the meantime, not get bothered by any external factors or beliefs that are rigid and strict. For example, I usually obtain the right to decide what I want to do, like trying out for a sport, reading different books, etc. I could imagine how people lived under strict laws and rules before Humanism appeared when religious ideas sometimes restricted one’s actions.
I also agree with the importance of education because it could ultimately decide a person/society’s future and influence. Humanists took responsibility for their own lives and enjoyed being part of discoveries, seeking new knowledge, etc. Multiple famous figures were also brought up to realize the importance of education and gathered texts from all over Europe. By doing this, they have promoted art, languages, architecture, government, anatomy, etc., which has affected the education route. I believe education could make people more open-minded about situations, gain practical knowledge in future years, and possibly influence others.
I have rated a four (agree) on “Focusing on individual achievements over social class” and “Renewing classical texts/arts/ideas.” I believe people should be valued and graded on their achievements rather than their given social class at birth. Social classes shouldn’t be the frame of a person’s inner wealth and intelligence. What a person contributes positively to the society or their potential and power should be more critical.
Renewing classical works is also important to me because by improving on old classical texts, more modern ideas could be added to them, and people would see the contrast and difference within them, possibly combining ancient and modern ideas to create the best and definitive texts and theories that could influence the society better. For example, there might be a theory in the past about how governments should work. However, some ideas in that theory might be outdated and could not be accomplished within the setting now. Thus people could renew this theory, possibly keep a little of the core idea, and propose more information about how modern governments work.
Last but not least, the changes in government. The humanists separated the state and church, thus creating more chances to invite modern thinking about government and politics. I feel this is crucial because if people didn’t do this, it might take a while for modern thinking to appear in governments, which could have considerably changed the history of Humanism.
Overall, I agree with most ideas that humanists have believed. And this is why I gave myself the percentage of 99% humanist.
Mary had a Bloody Lamb…
“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl
I created this found poem by the actions of Mary, the protagonist (and possibly an antagonist because she killed her husband), in the story “Lamb to the Slaughter”. In the story, A challenge was exposed to Mary: her husband, shown slanting to the protagonist in the story, comes home after a busy day of work and acts odd by refusing all the proposes Mary makes; then, he announces that he will be leaving Mary because of some personal affairs. Mary is pregnant and has to care for an unborn baby by herself daily. Thus, Mary isn’t satisfied with this announcement because she does not want her husband to leave her, and here she encounters an external conflict between her and her husband.
This conflict is shown in Paragraph 30: “And he told her. It didn’t take long, four or five minutes at most, and she sat very still through it all, watching him with a kind of dazed horror as he went further and further away from her with each word. This is also the rising action leading up to the conflict.
Paragraph 35: “Her first instinct was not to believe any of it, to reject it all. It occurred to her that perhaps he hadn’t even spoken, that she had imagined the whole thing…When she walked across the room she couldn’t feel her feet touching the Floor. She couldn’t feel anything at all — except slight nausea and a desire to vomit.” At this point, Mary has eventually decided to kill her husband, using a Leg of a lamb. Maybe this is the only way that Mary could keep her husband staying with her forever. (creepy)
After Mary has killed her husband, another internal conflict emerges. “It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden. She began thinking very fast. As the wife of a detective, she knew quite well what the penalty would be. That was fine. It made no difference to her. It would be a relief.”
On the other hand, what about the child? What were the laws about murderers with unborn children? Did they kill them both — mother and child? Or did they wait until the tenth month? What did they do? Mary Maloney didn’t know. And she certainly wasn’t prepared to take a chance.” As Mary killed her husband, there were two opposing forces inside Mary. One is to let the detectives and cops find out or try to obscure the weapon, fake everything, and act innocent. Mary was relaxed and didn’t worry much about getting caught, but thinking of the unborn baby inside Mary, she decided to act it all out.
The artwork in my found poem could be easily understood. It shows the leg of a lamb, which portrays the wrong side of humanity and the potential selfishness, while the hand with scars reflects us humans being hurt, again and again, being forced to do something that we didn’t wish to at first.
This shows both the virtuous and evil sides of humanity. Being selfish negatively affects things to bring benefits to oneself, and the importance of love and the motivation it grants to persevere.
Shark Shooter—Cardboard Arcade Game
My biggest success is that the whole thing worked very well, everything worked and the 4th graders enjoyed our game. The entire game and its parts (sharks, gears, ping-pong balls) are fitted very well on the base.
My biggest obstacle/challenge was probably the gears. Some of them didn’t fit in space, some didn’t spin properly because of the uneven circle. It was really hard to spin them because of the force, so I had to fix the whole spinning thing (blue popsicle stick) on the side of the arcade.
One thing I’d like to change is the shooter (launcher). The 4th-grade kids were throwing the balls in the mouths because we thought it was hard for them to get the balls in. But turned out that they can easily just put the balls in because they could reach the mouths.
Another thing I’d like to change is the gears. The gears were not a complete and even circle, and that caused the “100 points” mouth to open for a long time because the gears didn’t interact with the other ones.
Cup Insulator Design Challenge
Reflection
PROBLEM
The problem we’re trying to solve here is that it is turning cold, and the teachers are drinking hot drinks, but it gets cold really easily, so we’re trying to invent something that keeps the drinks hot.
PROCESS
I used the engineering and design process and first we investigated the materials, and then we talked to each other, discussing which materials we should use. Then, we drew a model and included all the materials we needed. After that we collected and started our 1st prototype. We found out it didn’t work really well so we made another model and started our 2nd prototype.
C.E.R.
Claim: Our project kept the heat for a long time and worked really well.
Evidence: Due to our data, the temperature of the hot water only dropped 11.1 degrees (from 89.7 to 78.6) and without our product, the temperature dropped 20.9 degrees.
Reasoning: Our product kept the heat for a really long time and worked really well because of the layers and designs we made. The first layer, which is a little EVA Foam, which keeps the water hot, the second layer is the Tin foil, and it helps trapping the heat inside. The third layer of our product is another layer of EVA Foam, but lots this time, the fourth layer is Styrofoam and the last is cloth with tin foil tape wrapped around. All of this all either traps or keeps the heat inside because the heat cannot go through the materials and bounces back. So, the heat wont easily escapes from the mug.
What are you proud of?
I am proud of myself finishing this product while collaborating and compromising with my group mates. We went through many difficulties during the designing part, but we’ve overcame it. I am really proud that it was a success.
What is the hardest thing about this project?
Some difficulties were that it was hard to communicate with each other, because we had different views and ideas of how to make/design our product, but at last we came with 1 idea that combines each of our ideas. Another difficulty was that we found out we couldn’t use the hot glue as our cap, because it will melt. So, we tried with another material and it turned out great. We observed the things that should be improved, and we did it.