Humanities This week we were required to read a story, Everything that Rises Must Converge, and respond to some questions for our zoom seminar on Thursday. Below I have linked the pdf version of the story as well as the Sparknotes and Cliff Notes. Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor (PDF) Cliffs Notes-"Everything That Rises Must Converge" Sparknotes-Everything That Rises Must Converge: Study Guide Summary from first read through- (my apologies if it doesn't make any sense, just a rough summary) The story begins by talking about how this woman needs to lose 20 pounds. She does this by attending a “reducing class” at the Y. On this day, she wanted her son to go with her to the class. She makes a lot of comments towards her son like, “rome wasn’t built in a day”, and that soon he will be successful. Through the dialogue, it seems that her son doesn’t feel that way. While they were waiting for the bus, the woman straightened her hat and stood tall. Her son takes off his tie. She gets mad at this and he puts it back on. I feel that he wants to blend in, he doesn’t want to be seen as above anyone. Whereas his mother seems like she’s trying to flaunt her “wealth” or maybe “class”. As they got on the bus, his mother smiled and sat down. She made some sort of comment to her son about how they had the bus to themselves, implying that there were no black people on the bus. The son then reads the newspaper to avoid listening to his mother. That is when the story talks more about how his mother made “sacrifices” for her son's education,for him to get straight teeth, kind of a summary of how she thinks she “brought him up”. The bus made a stop and an African American man got on. Again his mother made some sort of racist comment, like “this is why I don’t ride the bus alone.” Her son got up and sat next to the African American man. This was his way of teaching his mother a lesson. At the next stop, an African American woman and her son got on the bus. The African American woman was wearing the same hat that Julian's mother was wearing. They arrive at their stop and get off with the African American woman and son. Julian's mother digs through her purse looking for a penny to give the little boy. The African American woman says that he doesn’t want the penny. Julian's mother says that they aren’t going to the Y and they start walking home. Julian yells at his mother about her behavior. At the end of the story his mother collapses, and she seems to have had a stroke. Julian feels guilty and sorry. Questions I had after first read- Why did his mother collapse? Is it because she knew he was right? The title of the story is kind of tricky to break down. I see that there were many ups (“rises”), this could be the fights, or when Julian was happy to see his mom so uncomfortable by him moving seats. I am unsure when they came together, convergence usually means to come together in ideas or characteristics. Maybe the death of his mother shows that she finally understood what Julian was trying to tell her. {this was only after my first time reading it, so I had a lot of different ideas and wonderings. What at first seemed to be a simple story unravels into a much deeper meaning} Our Questions: What inequities of care and security feel most exposed during this time? In a time of crisis we should insure that everyone is receiving the same quality of care they deserve. A quote from an NPR article states that, “"Experience has taught all of us that if you're poor, if you're of color, you're going to get services second," he says.” This shouldn’t be the case. Healthcare should be provided to anyone who needs it regardless of their wealth or racial background. Taken from a New York Times article, “The coronavirus is spreading quickly in America’s jails and prisons, where social distancing is impossible and sanitizer is widely banned, prompting authorities across the country to release thousands of inmates in recent weeks to try to slow the infection, save lives and preserve medical resources.” This quote shows that it is inevitable for those in prison to contract the corona virus. Some have been fortunate enough to have been released early, but those stuck inside aren’t so lucky. There could also be carriers of the virus who are released and infect others without even knowing it. Links to article I quoted - Racial Bias Showing Up In Coronavirus Testing And Treatment : Shots - Health News How do worldwide events impact generation gaps? Or vice versa? This pandemic has exposed a variety of generation gaps. We know that those who are older and have pre-existing medical conditions are more at risk of developing more severe cases of the virus. Most people have been following the stay at home order which has helped “flatten the curve”. One of the articles that I read explained the struggles one woman had with trying to keep her family members following the stay at home order. A quote from the article states that, “Health officials say older adults may be among the most vulnerable. But anecdotally, they’ve sometimes shown as little caution about their health as youth, earning reprimands from their children as they continue to attend exercise classes at the pool or meet friends at coffee shops.” This quote struck me the most because it is something I can relate to. My 80 year old grandma suffers COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) from years of smoking. If she were to get the virus it wouldn't be something she would likely recover from. We have delivered her groceries each week and talk on the phone with her everyday. Yet she has left the house a few times to get non essential items from the store. It seems as though she is unfazed by the fact this virus could potentially kill her. I think that it is so important for all of us to remain safe and distance ourselves from others. I think of the younger generations like mine. If we were to get the virus, we’d probably recover. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn't still distance ourselves from others. On the other hand, something I’ve been thinking about a lot is the carriers of the virus. My parents, for obvious reasons, wanted me to stop working (chick fil a). I think about someone coming through the drive through infecting one of the employees who has taken their order. And then that employee now exposes each person having their order taken after that. It seems I have gone off on a tangent. Link to the article I quoted - https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2020/0324/Coronavirus-generation-gap-Mom-fights-to-keep-kids-and-grandma-home Math This week in math we had some derivative practice. These problems ended up being much harder than any of us had anticipated. Me and a few other seniors had a zoom call with Brian for him to help us with the math packet. This was extremely helpful to see some examples worked through. I am feeling much more confident in my derivative math capabilities ;) Below is a link to my work. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PWp_PBboEvW5-oJzZByt20iCWtntGcGtwFcNKTCeHUE/edit?usp=sharing Science This week in science we studied Life, and what defines something as living and non-living. We showed our work by creating sketchnotes. Without research, first respond to the question: What do you believe defines something as “living?” What about “nonliving?” -I think that living things are made up of either one or more cells. They may be defined as something that has the ability to change, grow, adapt, and maybe even reproduce. Something that is nonliving would then be something that doesn’t do these things. More specifically, I’m thinking of a plant (living) vs. a rock (nonliving). The plant needs water and sun, and adapts to changing temperatures to achieve homeostasis. Whereas a rock doesn’t do any of these things because it’s not a living thing. Review common characteristics of life by reading the attached Kahn Academy Article titled, “What is Life. Create one page of sketchnotes about the article. Be sure to define any words that you are unfamiliar with using words, doodles, or both! Sketchnotes from video, What is Life? Are viruses alive?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phgASkTaIW0 Are viruses alive? -A cell has numerous components that go together to create the cell. These components when separate from the cell would be considered non living. Yet, a virus which has DNA, and on its own is not living until it enters a cell. Kind of a turning point for me was when he said in the video that, “But a virus inside of a cell is performing life just like the components of that cell.” I still think that a virus is non living because it needs the cell to perform life. Another comparison made in the video was a parasite infecting a host, which is kind of similar to a virus. Here's what I've been up to besides school work...
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