Coaching Skating 2016 - 2017

I never really thought of myself as someone who could ever teach kids. I have never really babysat and I have only one younger sibling. Let's just say my experience is lacking. In the fall, in the beginning of the skating season, I was asked by the head of the rink to become a coach. The rink was in need of a new coach and they probably wanted cheap labor, which I am. I started in October and I was asked to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Thursdays, I would teach 3 classes and on Tuesdays, I would teach 1 class. My first session I taught the little kids for the first 2 classes. I would then supervise a free skate and then teach an advanced class. I was often rotated throughout the year to provide additional help. As I got more advanced as a skater I started needing additional help with my more advanced jumps. I talked to my supervisor and I switched out teaching my third class for an axel class for me. For my Tuesday class, I taught one of the most basic levels and then went to skate my class. When the ice show time had come around I had been working for about 7 months. I was a feature performer, which meant I was one of the most advanced skaters in the show, and therefore got to do a solo. Part of this meant I had to bring out the littlest kids. The most basic levels in the Learn to Skate program are for tots under 5. These classes are called "Snowplow Sam 1-4." Each number is a different level with 1 being the most basic. They were split in half with the Sam 1+2 kids doing the limbo, and the Sam 3+4 kids doing the hokey pokey. I was there from day 1 helping choreograph and lead the routines. The kids did well, the bigger kids caught onto it quicker and really liked performing in the show. In the end, I have made a lot of new little friends with this job. I also have learned how to work with kids. I think this connects back to my learning at GCE because I have taken leadership, and have taught people how to do things they didn't know how to do. If you want to learn more about classes or sign up go to: Learn To Skate USA.com If you want to view my hours of teaching, click here

CM Put Your Right Hand In (2017)

CM  Do The Hokey Pokey (2017)

CM Circle Up (2017)

Figure Skating: 2016 - 2017

I have been figure skating for the past 3 years. I started off rough. When I was 7, my dad took me ice skating for the first time at the rink I practice at today. While we were skating I fell and broke my leg. My parents thought I would never have the courage to ice skate again. Years later when I was 12 years old I asked my mom to sign me up for skating lessons. I was enrolled in one of the most basic levels at the rink. I skated once a week for an hour and soon enough it became ice show time. Every year my rink puts on a huge show to showcase skaters from tots to triple jumps. I was in an ice show for the very first time and I liked it. I continued skating and started to learn how to jump and spin. Before I knew it I was a competitive full-time figure skater. I have also been on a synchronized skating team for 2 years. We compete at least 3 times a year and practice twice a week. Currently, I am at the Preliminary level and am still going strong. I am learning my double jumps and axels, which is a huge milestone for skaters. I am getting so much more flexible and so much closer to consistent axels and doubles. I am getting better and better every day, and couldn't be happier with my sport. My skating friends and coaches are my families and I love my rink. I have learned that as a figure skater you need to be strong, graceful, kind, and most of all confident.Figure skating is a frustrating sport that takes time and patience.If you are interested in skating visit Learn to Skate USA here. To see a log of my hours click here.

Here are some photos of me practicing:

CM "Spread Eagle" (2017)

CM "Ina Bauer" (2017)

CM "Spiral" (2017)

CM "Flexibility" (2017)

Deforestation, More Like An Abomination

For our second unit in Food for Thought, we learned about death. It may seem morbid, but it wasn't directly related to death. We learned about global trade history and colonialism. We learned how people treated other people and how our food got to us throughout history. For our field experience, we went to the French City Market in Chicago and talked to different vendors about the history of their product and where they get theirs from. For this action project, we were asked to look back on the past, literally. We looked back at our first humanities class, MDG's & You. We looked back on the MDG's and SDG's and decided on a topic to correlate with food. I wanted to challenge myself and do something not so directly related. I chose deforestation and I found it to be challenging enough but not impossible. I thought the most difficult part of this project was typing and researching everything. It was also nerve-racking to film, but in the end, I am very proud of how it came out.

Food for Thought AP2 CM from CM on Vimeo.

CM
5-23-17
Food For Thought
AP2

Did you know that out of this planet’s 18.9 million square miles of cropland, most of it is deforested land?

In today's global food system, it is growing harder and harder for us to feed and sustain all the people on this planet. With 7 billion of us, there isn't always enough food to go around. Sadly, people go hungry and many people, even in developed countries, struggle to find or buy food. My question is: How does deforestation affect food security and sustainability, and if it does, how do we control it?
Deforestation is a huge problem and many species of plants and animals are losing their natural habitats. I want people to be aware of what they buy and think about the impacts that that product might have on the world.

There are many factors that contribute to why this happens. One of these is something that you generally wouldn’t think of when it comes to food shortages: deforestation. According to Weforum.org, we deforest an area the size of Panama every year. This is mostly because of our need for food. Forests are getting cut down to make room for farms, for meat, and produce. Without forests, animals die because they don’t have a place to live. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the Amazon rain forest which takes up more than two-thirds of Brazil has the greatest density of plant and animal species of any ecosystem. With the Amazon rainforest being cleared at alarming rates, and with more than ⅔ of the world’s species living in forests like these, scientists believe there could be a mass extinction. Without some of these plants and animals, native people who live in these forests will starve.

Without forests, the normally wet and humid climate of the Amazon will turn drier and will be more susceptible to droughts. Droughts in Brazil are becoming more and more common. Sao Paulo, a city in Brazil has been struggling with droughts in the past few years. Rainfall is less common and water is becoming a scarcity. Farmers are struggling to keep their crops, and restaurants struggle to stay open, says NPR

In the Amazon, lots of the forest sits upon steep mountains. Without the tree roots to hold loose soil in place, landslides are becoming more common, which can destroy farmers fields. The areas that have been burned to clear trees have extremely bad soil quality because most of the nutrients were burned away, allowing for a difficult time to farm, and more farmers raising meat on these grounds

There are many indigenous people who live in the Amazon. These people live a completely different life than most of the modern world. When companies come into their forests that they have inhabited for thousand of years, they are essentially hopeless.

The Kayapo people are an indigenous group to the south amazon. They have only been in contact with the outside world since the 1960s. The Kayapo, as well as many other tribes, have been facing the problems of deforestation head on. Companies have been taking away their land and causing them to flee. According to the Kayapo Project.org, the Kayapo live in over 50 villages across 11,000,000 hectares that are legally protected for them.

To show just how bad it is, according to Empires of Food: “In the Amazon an average of 17,500 square kilometers is converted for agricultural use each year, mostly to be used as pasture for cattle and soy used mostly for oil and livestock feed. The soybean industry is particularly greedy, and harvests of it have doubled in Brazil between 1994 and 2004.” This just shows how fast we are turning over land and threatening the native people.

Many native people have tried to fight off efforts to take away their land. Unfortunately, many of these tribes have had little or no contact with the outside world and are easily fought off. The Kayapo people have not been in contact with the outside world for very long. They as well as many other tribes joined with conservation efforts to supply security around their borders. The Kayapo people joined with Conservation International and they have been helping the people with security since 1992. Conservation International helps the Kayapo people by surveilling their borders with boats and helicopters to keep out the industries. They also act as a voice for the people to negotiate with corporations. They also help the people maintain their rich culture and biodiversity by helping them use their traditions and profit off of them. The Kayapo people have a tradition of harvesting Brazil nuts and the conservation efforts help them make a small profit off of those nuts to help sustain their villages.

We can learn from these experiences with native people. Companies need to think more about native people and native people should reach out for support. We should also think about the effects of deforestation. The thing about deforestation is that deforestation is a short term solution. We clear out forests because we want to grow more food, but in the long term is affecting our environment and contributing to climate change and environmental changes which would jeopardize our ability to grow food anywhere.

What can we do to help? If more people ate and bought local, produce and meat wouldn't have to be raised across the world and shipped to supermarkets in the U.S. and other countries. If more of us ate local, and local food was more accessible, fewer forests would have to be cut down. If more people went vegetarian we could save a lot more grains, and therefore less forest space lost. According to Weforum.org: “For example, in the US, it takes an astounding 25 kg of grain to produce 1kg of beef, pigs require a grain to meat ratio of 9:1 and chickens, relatively less wasteful, are 3:1.” Also, if more people donated to causes to help protect against deforestation and conservation of tribes and land, we could have a stronger fight with corporations. Also, if people researched the brands they bought and saw what the environmental impact is, and avoid buying those products.

In the end, we have to think about our earth as a whole, we need to think about the habitats, the people, and the ecosystems. It may not seem like it but, the earth is one big cycle with each thing relying on the other. My main argument is that we need to be more conscious about the brands we buy, and where we get it. If more of us ate local or ate more vegetables and fruit, and less meat, we could have hundreds of acres of forests around the world. My plans and goals will help achieve one of the eight millennium development goals which is environmental sustainability. By conserving forest, we can ensure habitats for many species across the earth. I want everyone to think about what they buy and how it contributes to the world, be conscious and be aware.

Works Cited:

      “About the Kayapo”. Kayapo.org., The Kayapo Project. N.d. Web. 23 May. 2017
    

      “Brazil’s Kayapo: Stewards of the Forest”. Conservation International., Conservation International. N.d. Web. 23 May. 2017

      Carter, Cavarrio. “Deforestation: A New Threat to Global Food Security”. Borgen Magazine., Borgen Project. 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 23 May. 2017

Faser, Evan & Andrew Rimas, “Empires of Food.” Counterpoint., 2010, Book. 23 May 2017

     Garcia-Navarro, Lulu. “As Brazil's Largest City Struggles With Drought, Residents Are Leaving”. Parallels., NPR. 22 Nov. 2015. Web. 23 May. 2017

     Kehoe, Laura. “Could this improve food security and stop deforestation?”. We Forum.org., World Economic Forum. 22 Apr. 2016. Web. 23 May. 2017

     Pimm, Stuart. “Deforestation”. Encyclopedia Britannica., Encyclopedia Britannica. 1 Mar. 2017. Web. 23 May. 2017

Yeasty Beasties

For our second action project for our Food class, we were asked to bake bread. In the class, we were on our unit "cooking" so we learned all about leavening agents and baking science. For our Field Experience, my Grandma who has been a cooking instructor for the last 40 years, came into our class to do a baking demonstration and help us make different kinds of baked goods. We learned how leavening agents work and how unleavened bread tastes and feels. For this action project, we were asked to bake bread in 3 different groups and analyze the results. We baked loaves of bread with different kinds of leavening agents, they were: yeast, baking soda, and sourdough starter. My group was the yeast group. I really liked this project, I thought that it was very interesting and I really liked the hands-on aspect of this project. I thought the most challenging aspect was analyzing everything. There were a lot of steps, but I am very proud of how the bread came out.

Wild About Rice

In our 3rd humanities class, Food for Thought we talked all about food and where it comes from, we made personal connections to our food and traced it back. We went on a field experience to Metropolis Coffee, where we learned about the origins of coffee. In class, we made a map and traced back different types of food to different ancient civilizations. For our action project, we were asked to pick an ingredient that correlates to a traditional family dish. I chose wild rice because my family is Canadian and lots of us have grown up in northern Wisconsin, it has been a key part of our family meals for generations. I researched and traced back wild rice, as well as interviewing my grandmother who is a famous family cook, about her fondness and experience with wild rice. In the end, I think it came out really well and I am very proud of my video and research. I think the hardest part  was making the presentation since it was a prezi and I am really bad at them. It was also hard to record as I kept messing up. In the end I am very proud of my project and I am happy I could research something personal.

My Script:

Hello, my name is wild rice I am a delicious grain that has been growing right here in North America for thousands of years. I also have been known to grow in China along with many other rice species, although I am not related to any Asian rice species. I have always been most popular in North America

I appear as a grass and I like to live in and near marshy and inland lake areas. I am most commonly found in the lakes and streams of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. There are actually 3 different species of wild rice grown in North America and 1 in China. The most common type is northern wild rice, which I am.

The others are Wild rice, which is native to around the St. Lawrence river and along the Gulf and Atlantic coast of America. Texas wild rice is native to central Texas. And Manchurian Wild rice which is native to China.

I was first harvested by The Ojibwe, as well as many other tribes when they discovered me while canoeing. I was most commonly eaten by dabbling ducks but when native American discovered me I was harvested, and all of me was put to use. Not only would they eat my grain but they took my stalks and made satchels, bags, and tools out of me. I was used in many traditional Ojibwe and native American dishes. I was traditionally cooked in deer broth or maple syrup. I was also made into sweets like rice cakes and rice puffs.

I was harvested by two people in a canoe one would row while the other would use a “knocker” which is a wooden pole that they would push the flowering bud on top so the rice would fall into the canoe. In many native American cultures, wild rice harvesting is a sacred & cultural event. The Ojibwe people refer to me as manoomin which means “harvesting berry” or “good berry.” I am known to be a sacred food believed to be a gift from the Great Spirit.

I was mostly used by native people but due to my nutritional value and taste. I gained popularity in the mid to late 20th century. Commercial harvesting started in the U.S. and Canada.

In 1950 James & Gerald Godward started the first wild rice paddy near Brainerd, Minnesota. They discovered that I did not need flowing water to grow. They only had a one-acre meadow that they dug dikes and constructed drainage ditches and flooded the tilled soil. They spread my seeds and the crops grew. They were the first to grow me not in the wild.

The U.S. and Canada produce much of the world’s wild rice In the U.S. California and Minnesota are my biggest producers and I am grown in paddies. In Canada, I am usually harvested from natural lakes in Saskatchewan.

In 1974 my cultivation began in Hungary on the rice fields on Szarvas. Hungarian wild rice is cultivated under its own company and ships around the world.

Today, I am used in many dishes in north America, and I am usually associated with Canadian or northern culture. I am still harvested in the traditional native American ways in some places. In the Moody family, I have been an important part of their family culture for generations. The Moody family is originally from Quebec, but many of them grew up in northern Wisconsin. Yvonne Moody grew up in northern Wisconsin and has been a cook her whole life. One of her favorite recipes to make is wild rice pilaf. According to Yvonne, “It is important to the family because it has been served at many dinners. The history goes back to the area where I grew up and enjoyed the wild rice harvested by the Native Americans in our area. The value is extremely high because of our fondness for it. Priceless.”

The Moody family gets their wild rice from North Bay Trading Company, company based out of Canada where they buy me in bulk.

Food for Thought AP1 CM from CM on Vimeo.

Sources:

"About Us." North Bay Trading Co., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017

"History." White Earth Wild Rice. White Earth Nation., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

lucy_sarson, "China Flag", Flickr, Web, 2011, 27 Apr. 2017

Nicholas Raymond, "Hungary Grunge Flag", Flickr, Web, 2012, 27 Apr. 2017

"Louisiana State Flag", Wikimedia  Wikimedia Foundation. n.d, Web, 27 Apr. 2017.

vejoyce, "Texas State Flag", Flickr, Web, 2011, 27 Apr. 2017

"Wild Rice." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Apr. 2017. Web. 27 Apr. 2017

Growing Groceries

For our first unit of our Food class, we were asked to create a garden. In our first unit, we studied plants and how they grow. We also learned about ecosystems and symbiosis and how plants and animals work together. We also learned about systems of equations and graphing inequalities. We took an FE to a restaurant and garden called Big Delicious Planet where we got tips on how to start a garden of our own. We were asked to find containers and a spot to put them in as our garden. We also had to find 10 different companion plants to plant in our garden. We then had to test our soil and calculate how many different nutrients to add. I thought this project was cool and really connected with both the math and the science we studied in our first unit. My favorite part was picking out the plants and the containers for our garden. I am most proud of my design and location of my garden.

CM "Garden Plan" (2017)

When I was first asked to create a garden, my mind jumped to my somewhat successful real garden that does produce a fair amount of crops. I wanted to do something a little different than your traditional raised beds. I wanted to do something compact that still could produce plenty of crops. I chose my front porch. I think it needs a little bit of greenery. I have lots of plants and crops in the garden and in the backyard as well as in the front yard, but not much 0n the porch. My front porch is decently big, but I chose just a small section left of the door. The space is only about 3ft by 6ft but I could still fit a decent amount of pots, besides, all the rest of the porch is taken up by furniture.

I chose to use 5 ceramic pots that I have in my garage that we usually use to plant flowers in. Each pot is 1ft high with a radius of 6in. They each hold about 226 cubic in of soil and all together they hold 1130 cubic in of soil. I know this by taking the formula of volume of a cylinder which is pi x r^2 x h. Then our formula is 3.14 x 6^2 x 12 = 226. If you multiply that by 5 you get 226 x 5 = 1130. For the surface area, I took the area of a circle which is pi x r^2. Our equation is then 3.14 x 6^2 x 5 because we have 5 pots. Our total surface area is 562 sq in.

When I tested my soil I found out that my Nitrogen level was 25, my Phosphorus level was 2, my Potassium level was 272, and my CEC was 0. According to the Peaceful Valley Farm Supply’s guide to soil, my nitrogen levels were at a medium level which means I would have to apply a moderate amount of additives to my soil. I chose blood meal because it was the lightest. The meal is 4lbs per 100 sq ft. I first had to calculate my square footage: .5 x .5 x 3.14 x 5 = 3.925 sq ft. To find out how much to use, I used this calculation: 4 lbs/100 sq ft = x lbs/3.925 sq ft x = .157 lbs. My Phosphorus levels were very, very low so I need 5lbs of soft rock phosphate per 100 sq ft. My calculation is: 5 lbs/100 sq ft = x lbs/3.925 sq ft x = 0.19625 lbs. My Potassium levels were medium and since I have a CEC of under 15, I don’t have to add anything.

The plants I chose were: radishes, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, peas, onions, beets, cabbage, beans, and garlic. I chose these plants because they are all vegetables that are companion plants to each other. In the first pot, I put peas & radishes, in the second pot I put onions & beets, in the third pot I put carrots & lettuce, in the fourth pot I put beans & cucumbers, and in the fifth pot I put cabbage and garlic. All of the plants that are put together are companion plants. Companion plants mean that the plants support each other. This means they also have a mutualistic relationship meaning that they help each other.

Fukuoka’s 4 principles of natural farming are: no pesticides, no herbicides, no cultivation, and no fertilizer. In my garden, I will not use any of these and will go all natural like Fukuoka. I will do this because I don't believe in chemical pesticides and herbicides, and since my garden is so small there is no need for cultivation or fertilizer.

I might actually implement my garden. The pots I used are supposed to be for flowers so I might have to find different containers. I would also need to find a different space because that space is full of pots usually. In the end, this project taught me how complicated it actually is to decide what to plant in a garden. The garden I actually have was decided by my dad a number of years ago. I also thought about how hard it is to find the right containers and space.

Works cited:
"Companion Planting Guide." Growing Tips Article at Burpee.com. Burpee, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

Nemo on Ice come to Life

For our 2nd unit in our class Stage Chemistry we learned all about the mechanics above, below and all around the stage and set. We learned about work and force and how they can be mathematically used to calculate different effects on and off the stage. For our 2nd Action Project we were asked to create a 3-Dimensional model of our stage form our 1st Action Project (which you can view here.) I usually go all out, but this time I really went all out. I made my stage which I got to a good size but I had to make it a very small scale since my stage in real life is so large. We also had to create 2 moving set pieces and animate them into a gif showing how they work. We also had to create safety protocol for our moving pieces because we learned all about safety in the workplace and safety for the tools we were going to use. I really enjoyed making the stage, because I love doing hands on work. I also really enjoyed decorating it as it is an underwater scene. I am most proud of how it looked in the end, as it came out much better than I thought it would.

Stage, CM, (2017)

This is my stage. In all it is 19" long, 10" wide, and 6" tall. My stage is technically a thrust stage as it jets out to a point between the two audiences. I think my stage is very consistent with my drawing but looks a lot more interesting now that its in 3-D. In my model you will notice that I have included the ice rink boards that I didn't include in the blueprints.

Stage Blueprints, CM, (2017)

My Effects: My first moving effect is a stage deck with the character Mr.Ray on top of it, the characters will reenact a scene from the beginning of the movie where Marlin is dropping Nemo off at his first day of school. Mr.Ray is the teacher and they are going to go on a field trip to the “drop-off”. All the little sea creatures hop onto Mr.Ray’s back and they go on the field trip. In the play characters dressed as sea creatures will sit on top of Mr.Ray’s back. The backstage attendant will slide it out onto the stage where the actors will then say their lines and get on his back
. This production isn't supposed to look very realistic, and that is my goal so it is okay if it doesn't look realistic.

Wheels, CM, (2017)

Mr. Ray, CM, (2017)

This is my animation showing how the piece is moved by the stage attendant.

Mr.Ray, CM (2017)

In order to operate this piece safely, there are some safety rules attendants need to follow. These are as followed:

1. Ask for and assistant when trying to move the piece
2. Watch your fingers, feet, hands, etc when moving the piece
3. For actors: get on and off the piece slowly and carefully minding where your skate blades are.

Caution Sign, CM, (2017)

How will this work? I figure that our Mr.Ray prop weighs 100lbs + the deck also weighs 100lbs with a combined wright of the whole prop of 200lbs. To find how much work it would take to push the prop halfway across the stage which is 90ft.

First, we need to convert 200lbs to Newtons. To do this you multiply 200 by 4.4288 to get 889.644 N. We also need to convert 90 ft to meters which is 27.432 m.

Now we can do:
889.644 N x 27.432 M = 24,404.7 J
Our final answer to how much work it takes is: 24,404.7 Joules or work.

Deck Calculations, CM, (2017)

My 2nd effect is 2 rotating set pieces. For the rotating set pieces there will be one on each side. There will be a different picture on each side, as well as different pieces of sea themed decor. They can be rotated to set the scene. One side will be just water and regular coral, and one will darker and have shipwreck pieces on it. They can be rotated manually by actors or attendants on stage. The pieces will be made out of wood and will be attached to a Lazy Susan system

This will give the effect of a brighter scene and change the mood to a darker scene, as well as giving the set a more underwater effect. It will also give an area for actors to be somewhat concealed but still be on stage.

Set Pieces, CM, (2017)

This is my animation showing how the pieces will be moved by stage attendants.

Rotating Set, CM, (2017)

There are some safety protocol associated with operating these pieces. They are as followed:

1. Never rotate pieces when actors are near
2. Make sure coral and decor pieces are stable before rotating
3. Wear grips or skates, never go without to move.

Falling Pieces, CM (2017)