ACADEMY OF ONE

Isolation over the last couple of weeks has been tough. I am still getting used to just not going out and making it on time for my online classes as well as having my home clean by the time my parents come home from work. Today, I finally went out just to wash my clothes but I don't think I have felt so out of place before. It just felt super weird being outside after a couple of weeks. I felt like I was running a huge risk and it took me a while to adjust to. Also, this situation is really helping me out with my big question because now that we can't go outside, suddenly everyone wants to. I see daily posts on snap chat, Instagram and other places where teens are complaining of not being able to go outside and just a few weeks ago they were complaining about there parents telling them to leave their internet life and go outside to have fun. Like could this get any better? Many people are realizing what they took for granted ( just going outside) and now they are desperate to do so.

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH

Even though we weren't in class today, I believe that I am showing my strength of character by just going with the flow of things right now. As of now, we can still go out but we must be careful because we don't know who is sick and who isn't. Around my family, I try and talk about a different topic especially with the young ones so that they continue to have fun, but at the same time I do let them know what they should be doing if they want to remain healthy during this time. With friends, I continue to encourage them to just keep trying to live as normal a life as possible.

LEARNING IN THE AGE OF THE CORONAVIRUS

While this pandemic spreads, there are a lot of things changing in the world and in our everyday lives. We now go to school/work and wonder, "If I get close to this person, will I get infected with corona virus?" or " Does this person have the virus?" Its quite hard to avoid this question that just floats in our minds all the time and even harder when everyone is talking about it. It is quite difficult to have to learn how to continue learning online and not in a school setup anymore. Yet, we must see the good in the bad and even if it is hard, we just have to keep trying the best we can.

DEAR MENTOR

Dear Mr. Dowell,

          Hello, my name is Yazmin Santiago and I am doing research on a topic that I am really interested in. A question that I have for you is, How do you know when the world is using up all its resources and you know that there will be a shortage soon? As a biology teacher, I thought that you would know something about nature and it'll really come in handy to me when I need to have an answer as accurately as possible. If it is possible I would like to meet with you to discuss my question further in depth.

Thank you,

Yazmin Santiago 

WORTHY MENTORS

Mr, Dowell

He was my science teacher when I had biology, and I think that he would be a good mentor because biology is part of life and nature and its in us and all around us as well.

My grandma

Besides being my grandma, she has lived for a while and has seen many people and how they act around nature. I think she would be a good mentor because she can tell me how people have taken things for granted as a she was growing up.

Carmen

She is my mother, and I think she is a worthy mentor because she is always working in the fields, and she sees how workers treat the earth on a daily basis.

RESOURCES

1. http://shyleader.com/taking-things-for-granted-in-life/
2. https://www.quora.com/Why-shouldnt-we-take-nature-for-granted
3. https://www.quora.com/Why-is-that-my-good-and-forgiving-nature-taken-for-granted
4. https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-take-others-for-granted-and-consider-them-less-important-I-mean-they-can-be-wrong-also
5. https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-to-take-things-granted-in-life
6. https://www.quora.com/Is-it-human-nature-to-only-really-appreciate-anything-once-its-gone
7. https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-take-some-things-for-granted
8. https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-take-things-for-granted-This-is-the-source-of-most-of-the-issues-among-the-people
9. https://www.quora.com/Is-it-human-nature-to-take-things-for-granted
10. https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-take-for-granted-the-people-who-love-us-the-most

CUE THEME MUSIC

I think the central message of the book is to live in the moment and not try to change the past because you can't relive that in order to have the "American Dream. " My reasons are that Gatsby was trying to change his loves past, Daisy, so that they can be back together and she will only be Gatsby's and no one else. He also changed many things from himself to be a wealthy man for example his name. 

PREVIEW OF GATSBY ESSAY

The prompt that I chose is :     Is Gatsby’s desire for success—however we define it—evidence of the American dream, obsession, a personal sense of honor, or something else? Does Gatsby symbolize our culture and even our own desires, or is he an outlier? 


- The American Dream is something every American has in their mind.  We come here to America just like the first settlers did, to better our lives and the lives of the people we care about. Also, many people are obsessed with something, or the idea of something, just how Gatsby was with the idea of him and Daisy being together again. He shows us what many people today do, for example how he is blinded by the love he has for Daisy, he can't think clearly on what is happening or what he is doing. I think that Gatsby symbolizes the life style of the rich people because they think they can do anything because they have a lot of money. 

WHATS SO GREAT ABOUT GATSBY

1. I think that Gatsby is pretty good. He is kind of showing us the "American Dream" in his life and his perspective. 
2. I don't think that Nick is honest with himself. I think that he constantly hangout with dishonest people because he doesn't want to be alone. He respects them because they are people that have a lot of money and he wants to be known as well. 
3. I agree with the description that Fitzgerald gave Tom and Daisy because they do things that mess up other people's lives and they'll just walk away like it wasn't their fault. Daisy could've said that it was her that ran over Myrtle, but instead she let Gatsby take the blame and didn't say anything. 
4. I don't agree with her choices at all. She is definitely not a person I would let my brother date because she is toxic in a very negative way. 
5. I think that the last line of the book is saying that many dream of having something and they spend their lives trying to get it, but in reality you must go with the flow of you life (boat against current) and not force stuff to happen or what could've happened. 

GATSBY NOTES AND THOUGHTS CHAPTER 9

• nicks describes to us what happened at Gatsby's funeral
• almost nobody went 
• there was a lot of reporters and journalists swarming the house 
• many of his "friends" have disappeared or moved 
• also many just refuse to go to his funeral 
• only people to attend are some servants, Owl eyes, his father and Nick 
• nick decides to move back to the Midwest 
• he breaks his relationship with Jordan who then tells him that she is engaged to another man 
• nick concludes that Daisy and Tom are heartless people and that they leave others to clean up the mess that they left 
• nick is telling us how the first people that came to america and discovered it must have felt when they first saw it

CHAPTER 8 NOTES AND THOUGHTS

• waking up from a bad dream can be a worse feeling than the dream itself 
• nick suggest to Gatsby to forget about daisy and to leave long island but he refuses to leave her behind
• Gatsby lets us know that he and Daisy made love and he felt somehow married to her afterwards
• Wilson stays up talking to Michaelis about his wife, Myrtle 
•  Wilson tells him that he confronted his wife about her lover, and that she can't hide the truth from God 
• Wilson at first thinks that Tom is the one that killed Myrtle, but then realizes that it can't be him since he arrived after the accident happened in a different car with Nick and Jordan

Gatsby is one to function like a person from the 1920s since wealth and class still plays a big role. Like the American dream that everybody wants, Gatsby dreams of his life with Daisy which leads him to do criminal things. 

Guiding Questions :

1. Gatsby tells Nick that he waited outside Daisy's house until 4 in the morning and that Tom didn't try to hurt her or that she went outside. 
2. Nick suggests that Gatsby should leave Long Island and forget about Daisy. But Gatsby rejects Nick's suggestion because he doesn't want to leave Daisy behind. 
3. Gatsby lets know about the time he was trying to catch Daisy's eye in 1917 before he went to war. He confesses that her and him made love and that he felt married to her. She promised to wait for him, but she ended up marrying Tom. 
4. I think that the pool is mentioned because it was letting us know about the change in thing and about the FALLing of others. I think that Gatsby swimming in his own pool is like letting us know something that we aren't sure of yet. 
5. Nick goes to work, but he is to distracted and he doesn't want to see anyone. Wilson, has gone crazy thinking that God wants revenge for the death of his wife Myrtle and he finds Gatsby and shoots him while he is in his pool, and then he shoots himself as well.