Caleb Johns Scheme

The other day I was flipping through the endless titles of Netflix when I found this documentary that caught my eye. It had been talked about a lot on social media so I decided to give it a try, and I am glad that I did. First of all, the story is probably the craziest that I had heard of in a long time. It told the rise and fall of an exotic animal zookeeper, Joe Exotic, who became a featured attraction along with the rest of his tigers at his zoo. He was known for his unpredictable behavior and humor, and his long-running feud with Carol Baskin. Carol Baskin was the owner of Big Cat Rescue, a zoo designed for the safety of big cats in America. She made it her mission to shut Joe Exotic’s zoo down and acquire all of his big cats. The two exchanged in death threats, protests and media attacks that were nothing short of entertaining and goofy. But their hatred for each other was evident. Now I’m leaving so much out because of how much is involved in the story, everything from a murder-to-hire-plot to running for president of the United States. 

But at its core, the documentary deals with the morality of animal treatment and how money can corrupt people away from their own values, as it did to Joe Exotic. The documentary shows how Joe Exotic, during the founding of the zoo, wanted the zoo to be a haven and rescue for animals, but it turned into his way of getting rich. 

Anyways, this documentary was a great distraction from the world outside and the boredom and anxiety of the household. I think now more than ever people need an escape, and I think this documentary delivered. 

Nigohosian Schema

Category 3:

Today I decided to watch a TED talk for my schema builder, and it was Bill Gates talking about the dangers of a future outbreak and how we aren’t prepared currently. This video was made in 2015 as he talked about the recent ebola virus outbreak and some of the issues with pandemics and how we weren’t prepared for it. He used this as a lead into how an outbreak would wreak havoc on the world if we continued to disregard creating plans for future pandemics. After watching the video, it was scary how accurate some of the information he presented was. He explained ideal conditions for a virus to spread, and the coronavirus has many of the characteristics that could prove to be dangerous to the world and so far it has been.

It’s ironic how we were given the knowledge to prepare for an outbreak through the experience of dealing with the ebola virus outbreak, and we were even lucky with how little it spread because of the conditions of the virus. In spite of this happening, few precautionary measures were taken when the possibility of a potentially dangerous had broken the news, and its as if history is repeating itself again. I think that Bill Gates has taught some very valuable information that we should heed when dealing with future outbreaks in order to prevent something of this magnitude or even worse from happening again.

Alora Kutzler - Schema 1

Universal Truth:

Throughout this time I have really looked at my faith, this time of isolation and trial has put a damper on everyone's lives. It is a scary time, and we do not know when its going to end. A bible verse that has helped me throughout this time is Isaiah 4:10 ¨So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

 Even though we are in a scary time, my faith in God has helped me and has given me support and strength. When something has wrecked havoc on the world, we always ask ¨Why¨ or we pray for it to stop. So as we go though this Pandemic, and we have all these emotions I urge you to find solace in if not your faith then with your family. This bible verse is something I lean on time and time again not only in the hard times but when things seem to be going good too. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!

Alicia Zhang: Schema 1

Category 4: Watch a documentary on a historical time, place, event, or person

   Going into watching the animated film Waltz with Bashir, I really didn't know what to expect. From the summary, it appeared to chronicle the journey of a former soldier rediscovering his lost memories of the 1982 Lebanon War. I had been previously aware of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is still ongoing today, but it never really struck me how much blood must have been shed on both sides, and the atrocities that must have occurred because of the conflict. You see, the soldier had been at the Sabra and Shatila massacre, but he did not recall anything of it but a single scene in which he and his comrades are bathing in the sea while flares fall upon the city. By the end, he remembers it all, and comes to understand exactly why his mind has suppressed those memories for 20 years.

   Waltz with Bashir is composed of interviews, flashbacks, and dreams. It feels unreal at times, with its beautiful animation depicting scenes of vivid horror and strangeness alike, like Arabian horses dying while flies pick at them, and singing men on a "Love Boat" that soon bursts into flames and sinks to the bottom of the sea. There is a heavy sense of guilt and uncertainty that plagues both the travelling former soldier and those watching until the very end, when suddenly, the animated film is no longer 2D, but rooted in ugly reality. There is no happy ending, and war is shown in all its cruelty and insanity. Waltz with Bashir provides viewers an unfiltered experience of war, and does not make any compromises or present any false kindnesses.

   I think Waltz with Bashir is well-worth the watch, but it's definitely not for everyone. It deals with uncomfortable themes and moral ambiguities, and there is no hero to root for against a villain cut out of cardboard. It just leaves you hanging with a lot of questions, and no well-defined answers. When the film's credits started rolling, I just sat back thinking, "Is this really it? It can't be, can it?" I knew that war is hell, but this film really hammered in that message for me, and now I just feel bummed out about just how horrible human beings are sometimes. After all, Bashir from the movie's title was a real person. He was the president-elect of Lebanon, but was assassinated before he could take office. In his name, the Sabra and Shatila massacre occurred, and countless innocent Palestinian civilians were killed in front of the eyes of Israeli soldiers. I am going to go to sleep tonight, and my dreams are going to be haunted by this film's scenes. Staying at home unable to go out for anything but shopping trips has been an awkward experience, but I am truly glad to have never experienced war, and I hope I never will in this lifetime.

Conklin Category 5: Observe a Situation

If we weren’t required to go to school anymore, would we miss it? 

On January 6th, after reading “Superman and Me,” which addressed the importance of education within Native American communities, we had a class discussion. We began to debate whether people are born curious or grow to value education as they experience the world. As the discussion progressed, we questioned: if students weren’t required to go to school anymore, would they miss it? 

The class was pretty divided on this issue, and I honestly wasn’t sure of my stance.

On the one hand, school is a stressful environment for many of us, not to mention the fact that it requires us to wake up before the sunrises five days a week. Still, it provides a routine, purpose, and when the immense levels of stress are removed from the equation, perhaps we would even enjoy learning. 

Well, it’s been almost three weeks now, and from the Instagram posts, Snapchats, and text messages, I think that it’s pretty safe to say that we miss it. 

For me, it’s the little things. I miss the way that Mrs. Strouse would always nag us to sign in for study hall. I miss Mr. Novak keeping us 3 minutes after the bell. Every. Single. Class. I miss real-life smiles and frowns. But more than anything, I miss seeing my friends every day. From hearing about one friend’s new Vans to hearing about another friend’s latest sketch assignments and everything in between, I miss it all. 

In a weird sort of twisted way, this is a blessing. We’re juniors. We have one year left here, and that’s it. How lucky is it that we get a sneak peek at exactly what we’ll be leaving behind when we go off to college. With this knowledge, next year, I’ll be able to appreciate all of the little things a little bit more. When my friend’s face lights up as she talks about her new Vans, I’ll hold onto that moment just a little more, and if I’m lucky enough to get updated on next year’s sketch assignments, you can be sure that I’ll be all ears. 

Things are scary right now, but nothing bad can last forever. Stay safe, everyone! :)

MaryJo Schema

Category 7 - Find a new recipe and voluntarily cook a meal for your family

Yesterday I decided that I should do something special for my parents’ birthday since I have no money to buy anything for them. After some consideration, I settled on making them a nice breakfast. I bookmarked a recipe for Japanese souffle pancakes (something I’ve been wanting to try for a very long time and finally had an excuse to make) and set my alarm for 5:50. I knew that my dad normally gets up around 7:00, and I wanted to make sure I had enough time to get everything done that I needed. Usually I wouldn’t think about willingly getting myself out of bed before 9:00 if I didn’t absolutely have to, but I knew it was a sacrifice I needed to make for the sake of my parents.

When the day of reckoning came (this morning), I pulled myself out of the comfort of my bed and made my way downstairs and into my kitchen. The burning sensation in my eyelids quickly lifted as my natural excitement for cooking took control of me. I took out all of the ingredients and utensils I needed and got to work. Slowly leaving a trail of each process that I completed on my counter, I successfully produced a beautiful, fragrant bowl of pancake batter. My favorite part was whisking a bowl of egg whites and folding it into the rest of the mixture, something I’ve seen done countless times on Food Network and finally had the chance to apply what I’ve learned. However, cooking the pancakes was a different story. The particular style of pancakes I attempted required stacking layers of batter in increments and flipping those tall stacks after around 6 minutes. I found that I was too ambitious and tried to fit 3 into my modest pan, which made it hard for me to flip the pancakes and resulted in lopsided, awkward versions of the pancakes pictured on the website (that I ended up eating for myself).

Eventually, I grew used to the process. My end product was two plates of perfectly average pancakes topped with powdered sugar and syrup with cream and banana slices on the side. I had a lot of fun making them, and it gave me time to relax and just enjoy doing something I love. It all especially became worth the work once I saw how happy my parents were with my surprise and watched them enjoy something that I made. Being stuck in the house with my parents has raised a lot of fights and arguments between us, and I figured it was the least I could do to make it up to them. After all, I am really grateful for all that they do for me, especially on a day like their birthday.

Schema 1- Katie Madson

I do not mean to be religious, but in a time like this, I have relied a lot on my faith.  For my universal truth, I am choosing a bible quote I try to live my life by:

"Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

When I was confirmed, my confirmation mentor gave this quote to me.  It means a lot to me because at the time I was in a bad place.  It reminds me to have faith and that everything will be okay. 

I think that this is extremely important to remember in a time like this.  Even if you do not have faith in God, have faith that everything is going to be okay.  The world, and you, will come out of this pandemic stronger.  People get lost in this craziness, and I can not help but think of the mentally ill.  How are they handling this endeavor?  I am beyond thankful that our doctors and first responders are so brave and working to save our lives.  It all comes back to being strong, courageous, and not afraid.  We will be united in surviving this hardship together.  So it will be okay and I truly believe that.

Gianna Schema 1

Schema 7:

This morning, I decided to try to do some yoga. I have very, very minimal experience with yoga. I did yoga once with Lexie Z. and our teacher in Gifted Seminar earlier this year, and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. 

I know that at least some forms of yoga are meant to be a mind and body connection. With this ongoing quarantine, it has been a bit difficult to feel grounded. I thought that you might be a good way for me to get some physical activity/stretching in while also doing something that might be useful for my head. 

I found a 15-minute beginner yoga video on youtube. It started fairly easily. I felt as though I kept up well for the first half of the video. It felt surprisingly relaxing doing many of the positions. I felt like my body was stretching it very well. By the second half of the video, the positions got pretty complicated. Some of them were harder than I expected, but I managed. 

By the time I finished, I felt very relaxed. I felt awake, alert, and focused. It was a surprisingly really nice way to start my day. I felt like it cleared my mind and helped me complete my schoolwork. 

I didn't really expect to see myself appreciating it as much as I did. I've never been much of a "mind and body" thinker, but this was something new that I enjoyed trying. Yoga is something that I’m definitely going to consider trying again, and I think that others should give it a try as well!

Muskan - AP Lang Adventure - Quarantine Edition 1

For the past week, I’ve been working on and off on a 1,000 piece puzzle. I started this puzzle because this quarantine has left me bored with nothing to do. Before I began, I asked my sister and my mom if they wanted to help me put it together, and they both agreed. 

Throughout the process of putting the puzzle together, all 3 of us saw the most annoying bits of the others. For instance, my mom easily gets frustrated and gets all negative when she can’t figure something out. My sister, on the other hand, has a short attention span and loses focus or interest in something after about 10 minutes. I’m not any better either, my mom and sister constantly asked me who I was talking to when I started mumbling to myself. I tend to do that a lot and I could see it was annoying my sister and my mom, but I honestly didn’t even realize I was doing it most of the time. 

Even though both of the people helping me were slowly annoying me the same way I was to them, it still felt nice to sit down with them and talk to them since my mom and I both have busy schedules and barely spend time with the three of us all together. The best feeling was finally putting in that last piece and completing the picture. My mom, my sister and I were all happy that we successfully managed to finish the puzzle without losing a single piece. 

While the process was a little annoying since I’m going a little crazy from being stuck in quarantine, the overall time I spent with my family was nice and the result was a pretty completed puzzle.

Gabe Schema 1

Category 4: Watch a fictional movie based on historical events

Badland (2019)

Badland is one of those gems that no one’s ever heard of that randomly pops into your Netflix recommended, and you end up watching it because you’re bored, only to be surprised that it’s actually a pretty decent movie. First and foremost, Badland is a western, inspired by the older Clint Eastwood and John Wayne movies. The movie dips into plenty of spaghetti western cliches throughout its runtime, going so far as to have a climactic duel at the end that involves the camera zooming in on the characters’ narrowed eyes while a slow, ominous maraca rattles in the background. Despite this, the movie manages to follow a coherent, interesting plot with well developed characters that managed to keep me engaged and on the edge of my seat for the whole film. 

I was surprised to find that history played a major role in the story, which is not always the case in westerns. Set about ten years after the Civil War, the movie follows Matthias Breecher (which is an amazing name for a character in a western), who works for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. If you are unfamiliar, the Pinkertons were a real private organization from that time period. They were essentially made up of hired guns who could be paid to do all sorts of jobs. Eventually the Pinkerton Detective Agency would become part of the government and evolve into what is now known as the FBI. In the movie, Breecher has been hired by two African American senators to track down and apprehend a number of high ranking Confederate officers who were convicted of war crimes in the Civil War. I’m not sure if that actually happened in real life, but it is very plausible, which is why it serves as such a great plot for this historical movie.

There are a number of other historical references throughout the film. For example, Breecher’s personal goal is to earn enough money to buy some fertile land on the frontier where he plans to live peacefully as a cattle driver. He is seen carrying around a flyer advertising land for “$1.25 an acre,” which is historically accurate. The US government wanted people to settle out west, so they divided up the territories into acres and sold them at low prices to incentivize people to develop the frontier.

In conclusion, Badland is a pretty decent historically inspired western movie that is worth the watch.