Anika R's SAS Blog (2015-22)

1. Gun silence is on a steady and dangerous rise in US, and is only becoming a bigger national issue with the opposing perspectives on gun control; Some people believe gun laws should become stricter to protect the public, while many others believe it is their constitutional right to be able to own guns. 2. The issue is formed from many different perspectives that clash, which include power control and safety. Many argue that the Constitution (Second Amendment) allows them to own guns, although many people will say the Second Amendment doesn't apply anymore because it was written almost 200 years ago (1787). 3. There are two major parties in this conflict: for and against guns (in some perspective, it is Democrat V. Republican). If a mediator were to come in and attempt to settle this, it will case even more chaos amongst the people because it is very difficult to find a solution that appeals to all sides. 4. The powers amongst the parties is very unbalanced: the parties...

cow eyeball dissection - photo not of me ( credit link ) In our second semester of Science, we finished the chemistry unit, and covered biology (genetics, DNA, and heredity) and physics (simple machines). As we should, we did many labs on these topics; some examples will be linked in the following passage. Each lab required the use of the SAS Desired Student Learning Outcomes (DSLOs*), which will be explained below. This is a continuation of my Semester One Science Reflection . Throughout the year, collaboration has become increasingly important especially when conducting large lab activities that have parts that not everyone would want to do. For example, when we had had to do a cow eyeball dissection. Cutting open an eye isn't up everyone's allies, and many, many  people *The DSLOs include: cultural competence, creativity, content knowledge, communication, collaboration, character, critical thinking.

Ephemeral (adj.): lasting for a very short time. This is my definition poem from this year. I could've easily chosen a word like 'despair' or 'warmth', like I was going to originally, but I didn't. To be honest, I didn't even know the word 'ephemeral' meant at first. Which is why I chose it; it's a very obscure word, so someone who doesn't know the word would probably search up the definition, and then read the poem (or vice versa). Thus, the reader will realize why the poem is so short. I don't mention the word ephemeral at all, or the words 'short' or 'limited', which (I think) gets the meaning of ephemeral across better. --- Ephemeral A breath, A touch passing, An air of rose Wiffing through your hair, Hypnos and Thanatos and their Wavering grasp, A silence smoothly slicing into time, Still, And still, And gone.

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Why is bus segregation even a big deal? Who cares who sits in the different parts of the bus? Why does this matter at all?  It's a small step that needed to be taken. The fact that some of the smallest yet necessary things couldn't be done without segregation is very frustrating. Riding the bus was needed for people to get to work, especially if it wasn't walking distance or they didn't have a car.  Put yourself in Rosa Parks’s shoes: You’re going home from work. You have a family. A small incident arises. What do you honestly do? How far would you go? (Jail? Pay a fine? Lose your life? Explain your limits.)  WIP WIP  Parks’ words are very deliberate. She says, “You may do that.” What do you think about the wording of her statement? (p. 116 -- the star with a #4 in it) It depends on which word she put emphasis on: ' You  may do that' is more of a warning; Rosa is saying that even if you call the police, that's not going to change anything abou...