Humanities -This week in humanities, we had another short story followed by some questions. This story, Marigolds, was my favorite so far. Below are my responses to the questions. Marigolds by Eugenia W. Collier (PDF) Discuss the idea of “coming of age”? The literary term is Bildungroman...How do we know that a character or a real-life person has “come of age”?-I think that there comes a point in one's life where something clicks. You are no longer a child, yet not quite ready to fully be an adult. In Marigolds, we see a “coming of age” in Elizabeth that happens rather suddenly. One moment she was having fun tormenting an old lady, and the next she was feeling ashamed. Her feelings shifted into bewilderment when she overheard her father crying. “Everything was suddenly out of tune, like a broken accordion. Where did I fit into this crazy picture? I do not now remember my thoughts, only a feeling of great bewilderment.” This quote shows the moment leading up to the destruction of Miss. Lottie's marigolds. “The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility.” After Lizabeth had destroyed the flower garden, she had an epiphany. This was the moment she had matured into a woman, and finally understood Miss. Lottie for who she was. How might we connect the generational struggle found in “Marigolds” to that in “Everything that Rises Must Converge” and Barn Burning”? -In each of these stories we see characters similar in age, young adults. In Marigolds, we see the main character, Lizabeth, starting to question why someone would grow marigolds amidst the squalor they live in. In the story this is described as, “Miss Lottie’s marigolds were perhaps the strangest part of the picture. Certainly didn’t fit in with the crumbling decay of the rest of her yard.” Lizabeth and the rest of the children share a hatred towards this old woman. This could be described as an age gap/ generational struggle. This also shows that you can never understand someone by what they look like. In the other two stories, “Everything that Rises Must Converge” and “Barn Burning”, we see disagreements between children and their parents. The parents and children live in completely different times and this comes across as a generational struggle. On the last page Collier writes: “In that humiliating moment I looked beyond myself and into the depths of another person. This was the beginning of compassion, and one cannot have both compassion and innocence.” *Take a position here. Agree or not? -I agree. I think that the innocence as described by the author is a sort of a feeling of being unaware as a child. The feeling of compassion describes a maturity that you gain as you grow up. “People think of the loss of innocence as meaning the loss of virginity, but this is far from true.” This quote squashes a popular belief, and shows that innocence may be described as something else. In the story we see Lizabeth gain compassion towards Miss. Lottie, by finally seeing her for what she was. I’d imagine that after this moment, Lizabeth would continue to be compassionate towards other people. Science -This week I chose to do the "Glowy Waters Assignment". This assignment consisted of me explaining my experience with the red tide as well as answering some questions about red tides and bioluminescence. You will find those responses below :) -I went to see the red tide last Friday. This was before the beaches opened, so I couldn’t get too close to see it. When waves crashed, you could see the glowy blue water. I was near impossible to capture this on my iphone camera, but I’ve attached an image of what I got. It’s been pretty foggy the past few nights, so I’m going to try to capture the red tide again with a better camera. Image of bioluminescent waters @ Powerhouse park/beach in Del Mar. Really bad quality photo but you can kind of see it, right? These were taken in Carlsbad. What organism causes the red tide? And why are they glowing at night? What causes them to glow? -The red tide is caused by a bloom of algae. More specifically phytoplankton known as dinoflagellates. The movement of the ocean causes them to react with the glow. We are only able to see them at night, because during the day they are photosynthesizing. The phytoplankton collect energy during the day and then use this energy to produce bioluminescence. Link to article I used for research- https://scripps.ucsd.edu/labs/mlatz/bioluminescence/dinoflagellates-and-red-tides/ Here are some photos I found that exemplify a toxic algae bloom. These are from a bloom that happen in Lake Erie last year. Are there any environmental dangers to this event? -Some red tides can be harmful to birds, animals, and humans. This is known as a toxic red tide. The dinoflagellates during a toxic tide produce neurotoxins that can be harmful to other species. These toxic chemicals accumulate within shellfish. When shellfish are consumed by other species it can lead to neurological effects. Where were the images taken, what day/time specifically? -My image was taken near Powerhouse Park in Del Mar. I also drove past Torrey Pines beach and was able to see the bioluminescence, but couldn’t capture it on my phone. [update this if you end up going again] How did witnessing the event make you feel and what questions does this make you think of? -I thought that seeing this event was really cool. I feel glad to live in a place where I was able to witness this. I’m curious about the function of bioluminescence. When researched, I found that bioluminescence can help attract and find prey. A quote from a Scripps Institute of Oceanography article I read states that, “In the dark ocean, dim glowing can be used to attract prey. Fish such as the anglerfish use a light organ filled with bacteria that dangles from their forehead. Prey are attracted to the light in the same way that a fisherman might use a glowing lure for night fishing. When the unlucky prey gets near the anglerfish it is engulfed whole.” I thought that this was really interesting how other fish are attracted to the light. Which makes sense why fisherman use the bright colored lures. It’s also crazy to me how angler fish have their own bioluminescent powered “fishing rod”. Math -This week in math we had some more derivative practice and some implicit differentiation.
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