JOURNAL #1

"1. Pretend that you are talking to a blind man and have to describe for him what "red" is. You should use narrative and descriptive writing techniques, and try to appeal to his other senses!"

Carelessly, I misunderstood that the man before me was actually stricken with blindness, asking him a few seconds ago that I was looking for a red scarf. Flustered in an apologetic sense, he still persisted in asking me, "What is the color red?" with a wise smirk as if challenging me a question, a type of question that provokes profoundness in thinking and description. Of course the incapable would succumb and reply with "Well, red is... a color that you see- oh right you're blind, so sorry. I best be on my way and carry on with my life", leaving the challenge out of the matter of which only the determined would be willing to pursue and with a sense of creativity if they wanted to get the job done right. "Red is", I start, "Red is ripe. It is what makes the strawberries and cherries sweetest at their fullest intensity upon biting into an apple exploding with juices and their fruity taste become so overwhelming that the remains stream down from your mouth. As the strawberries indicate ripeness, red indicates warning and danger as well. Cars stop when they see the red light which forebodes their imminent deaths if they continue on. The aggressive bull charges at red with fury bringing the tension between the bull and bull fighter into excessive pressure. Some people choose to be in the red for red can be the best feeling of great passion and intense emotion, the strongest emotion called love. The warm feeling is welcoming as you jump into acceptance to its familiarity like gathering close to a fireplace in a cold, blue, winter. Red is so extreme that it is the only color in the hue spectrum repeated again in opposite ends, from love to hate. Red is experienced when hate consumes your body, heatedly shaking fists and heavy breathing. Eyes go bloodshot, and then there's a strike, thick warm liquid riddled with red trickles down your hands. Intense, extraordinarily vivid, and the inversion of blue; calm and dull, that is what red is."

JOURNAL #2

2. How does competition function in our society? To what extent is it healthy/unhealthy? Offer some real world examples taken from your life, community, culture, state, nation, or world.

Competition is what strives and pushes the human mind to the best of their abilities. As a developing artist, the people who had similar skill to me were pitted against me as competition. The surreal moment of seeing your idolized favorite artist since you were a kid eye to eye hits you which could not be achievable without competition, and competition is always present then, always wanting to be on top, a way of unrest because there is always someone better. As a child, I recall that most of my relationships involved competition. The jealously grew for the need of looking down with a condescending glare with a smirk of triumph, the desire to be better, and the way we foolishly push ourselves to best the other, forming a rivaly. That is not to say rivalry is unhealthy as there are friendly rivalries unless turned rotten if there are no accepted truces and forgiveness. Competition may obstruct a pure relationship; however, competition provides self improvement in skill and character when it makes people realize that they are not the best and provides a reason to enact in efficient work ethics if they actually acknowledge the competition. People can take competition in both ways, to climb higher or remain in their spots with no will, and acceptance to their position. 

Growing up, there is a broader sense of competition in the outside world than personal conflicts. Competition is undesirable when it comes to the search for careers. The fear evoked when there is high competition for a certain profession cause students to stray away from that profession when they think of their future in such a dilapidated economy. Even with a mindset to fight efficiently in the game of competition, the high competition would not make them rise to where they could have been if competition was at a decent level. High competition actually challenges people to do the impossible, and whether that is achieved depends on the determination of the person. Competition is present in business enterprises, as companies try to sell out others and when there is no more competition at the moment of time, a monopoly is formed. The absence of competition, in a sense, is harmful to society. While competition may seem brutal, competition is necessary for order in society and self-improvement.

JOURNAL #3

3. How have you taken something that you have learned in the classroom and integrated it into your nonacademic life?

I tend to fictitious world-building and story making to further develop my creativity; I do this in my free time and self leisure, and for no one else. To create my own fiction world I must consider the historical elements from the presumably beginning of time to the possible end of the story line. Cultural implications arise first for language is contingent just as culture, and how beings unite is a matter of politics of which learned throughout my history classes, reflecting with the real world's history; however, with a twist because that is how original concepts are made. When getting into the specific stories of certain constructed characters, the Theory of Knowledge class is integrated into how problems arise just as knowledge issues. If a story cannot be seen through the light of TOK then how is it considered infallible (in my tastes) then? Considering knowledge issues help in preventing plot holes and fallible conclusions; yet, in a way, make the littlest of issues into a broader and significant implication that parallels real life. The TOK class also helps in identifying conflicts. In one of my most recent projects, a character is conflicted with ethical implications based on her own perception in brash conclusions of what she observes. Of course, English class can be implemented in actually putting down the ideas in acceptable prose, and to consider figurative and literal writing; and rhetorical analysis in appropriate language with a wide range of vocabulary at hand. Science also plays a role, with the field's consistency to compare its own concepts to similar ideas to make their's understandable to allow creation of eccentric characters that personify those ways of acquiring scientific knowledge and the concepts of science itself at hand. Studying scientific models, in biology most specifically, guide a more distinct drawing style as the microscopic figures retain a surrealistic style with an adorable sense such as the color-coded and possibly symbolic figures of animal cells and blastulas appear. Sometimes I think I am only excited to learn in all fields of education just for the sake of somehow implementing it in a story.

JOURNAL #4

4. If you could go back in time and be someone in history, who would you choose to be? Why?

If I could go back in time and be any historical person in the past, I would be Jesus, to fulfill the science/religious theories explaining the phenomenon of Jesus involving time travel, especially developed in the book, Mission. I will be the one to succeed this mission ... yes... it will be me.

JOURNAL #5

5. If you had the responsibility to decide where $1 million should be spent to improve conditions somewhere in the world, what project(s) would you choose? Why?

JOURNAL #6

6. How have you tried to effect change in relation to an issue of personal, local, or national significance?


Addiction is destructive as it gnaws the human mind to make unnecesary leisure a neccesity. One thing I had to change if I wanted to be successful in the adult world was ridding of internet addiction. This is the new age of distractions because of these new technological innovations that were made only for the sole purpose of leisure. We don't neccesary need these devices such as music players, iPads and iPods, and most entities of the internet; however, a devoloped addiction to these time suckers make our minds make it a necessity. Internet addiction is destructive because being prone to it enacts extreme laziness than doing more important requirements in life such as homework or even caring for yourself; however, quitting is hard because the internet is tempting and alluring. The internet offers an overwhelming amount of entertainment and information that can be easily mismanaged and misused. The internet makes it even harder so to stray away from if a class requires an assignment that utilizes the internet. In recent years, it seems that people are blaming the internet for our developed short attention spans; however, the internet is too much of a guilty pleasure for anyone to take extreme action on the issue. In statistics, work enviroments that have access to the internet are more prone to have employess spending time on it ineffeciently for almost more than an hour a day.

In partaking in the IB program, I had to change my work habits drastically and one of the main things I had to change in effect was my internet addiction, of which I'll miss the days of hours of entertainment and conversing with internet peers; however I would be able to see a future of productivity and a lost of self regret and depression if I gave up the internet.To take action on changing internet addiction within myself was to lock my laptop in my closet and out of my sight on weekdays, and I could only access it on the weekends if all work was done. The addiction of the interet is not fully terminated in my mind; however, I have taken the first step of identifying the problem and admitting it. Unfortunatly, the rates of internet addiction seem to be increasing nationally and almost internationally, so I am not the only one alone. Fortunatly, there are organizations that formed in the last couple of years to provide treatment and recovery to internet addiction.

JOURNAL #7

7. If you could introduce one new idea or material thing to a primitive culture, what would it be?

There are some mistakes made in history that later roll into a gradually growing ball of more problems, grown too large to handle and mend to a pure state in the present. One concept that would be helpful to introduce to a primitive culture is the equality of all regardless of gender. This especially applies for mending misogyny. The first concepts for gender roles in primitive societies were divided into hunting and gathering and then along the road came patriarchal societies. Because of the long bane of existence of patriarchal societies, women are still discriminated to an extent today. Appalling as it seems, some present men are literally led to believe that women are useless and only meant to serve men. Just as well, patriarchal societies create gender roles and social constructs between men and women, dividing the gap of equality even more. Gender roles are gradually changing today and sexism is starting to be less harsh than before; however, if it weren't for patriarchal societies, then this type of thinking would not have ever arisen, as seen in the past where women were told to be solely dedicated to their domestic household and husband instead of outreaching and dreaming of bigger aspirations.