Marsha P. Johnson: Fighting for LGBTQ Rights

For our class Global Peace, we studied worldwide issues and how we might go about solving them in peaceful ways. To dive further into this, we learned about Mahatma Gandhi and his principles of nonviolent actions. The principles or pillars that we studied were: Sarvodaya, Swaraj, Swadeshi, and Satyagraha. Sarvodaya means the uplifting of all or the progress of all. Swaraj means self-governing or self-rule. Swadeshi refers to local economy and self-fulfilling resources. Satyagraha is the practice of non-violent political protest. Along with Gandhi's methods, we learned about Sharpe's Methods. This is a list of 198 ways to protest nonviolently. We also learned about different types of violence. There are structural, cultural. and direct. Structural violence is violence through a large institution or bigger power. This could be through schools or even prisons. Cultural violence is violence through cultural beliefs. This could be something like honor killings in some cultures. Direct violence is direct aggression like murder or any other one on one violent actions. We studied conflict analysis tools as well. We learned about the conflict analysis tree and iceberg. The tree refers to 3 stages of analysis with the causes as the root of the tree, the core problem as the trunk, and the effects as the branches. The iceberg tool shows the hidden problems under the waterline and the visible problems above the waterline. Both of these tools can be used to analyze most conflicts.

I studied Marsha P. Johnson who was a famous LGBTQ activist and Drag Queen. She was born as a male in 1945. Johnson moved to New York at a young age and lived on the streets. She made a living by being a drag queen and prostitute on Christopher Street. She soon joined and created various organizations such as STAR and ACT UP. She was one of the key figures in early LGBTQ rights movements. I learned a lot from Marsha P. Johnson. I realized that no matter how poor you are, or how much of an outcast you are, you can still make a big difference in this world. I also learned that you can be confident in who you are no matter what. Johnson was a social outcast and part of a very small minority in New York at the time. She was a confident progressive activist who didn't let anyone tell her how to live her life.

Pay It No Mind. "A Photo of Marsha. P Johnson." 7, Oct 2017.

Can Animals Help Us Live Sustainable Life?

For our second action project for my elective class, Biomimicry, we created designs of homes and transportation inspired by animals. In the second unit, we focused on the animal side of Biomimicry. What can we learn from animals? We discovered that we can learn from animals through Biomimicry in 3 ways: Form, Process, and Ecosystem. These are the 3 things we are inspired by. Form - the build or physical structures of the animal. Process - the behavior or processes of animals. Ecosystem - how animals interact with their environment. We also looked at how different animals move and build. We studied how wings work with Bernoulli's principle and lift, weight, drag, and thrust. We had a guest come in from Biomimicry Chicago. She showed us various animals skins, and how these skins show adaptations. She also lead us in an exercise of Biomimicry. For our action project, we had to create an architectural design and transportation design. I picked the Namibian Beetle, and the Shovel Snouted Lizard. We had to make a design, and then draw a diagram and build a model. I am proud of how my project turned out!

In the end, I really enjoyed this project. This was probably the most work intensive AP I have ever done. I was a lot of work, but it didn't feel overwhelming. I liked the challenge of this project. Unlike the last Biomimicry Ap, I really liked both of my ideas. I thought both of them were very strong and very practical. I wish my model turned out a bit better and that I could have added more detail, but we only had about 2 hours to build a full model. I am proud of this project and I thought it was very though provoking.