3rd Denver

 Week 11 -  Is Procrastination a Drug? Procrastinating, I’m sure, is a familiar term to all of us. In fact, the only thing consistent about me, other than my unfortunate height, is my procrastination. However, lately, my procrastination has reached new levels of chaos. Cramming in assignments like the GALE Essay and POAS on the days they are due are just a few of the disastrous outcomes of my procrastination. I’ve tried to cultivate newer and healthier habits to try and stop procrastinating, but none have ever been successful for longer than a few hours. This, I’m sure, is the case for many students and adults alike. So the question remains, why can’t any of us stop? To understand this phenomenon, we’ve got to break it down. The word procrastination by definition means to “put off doing something.” Often procrastination can be associated with being lazy or unproductive, but this isn’t necessarily the case most of the time. We often replace pressing matters of urgency to do les...

https://katiecouric.com/health/mental-health/what-is-toxic-positivity/                     What is toxic positivity and how does one avoid it? These are the questions that I came across while reading the article Toxic Positivity vs Healthy Positivity by Sarah Jeanne Browne. She describes toxic positivity as a term that disregards a person’s struggles or mental health and suggests that the person “didn’t try hard enough.” Examples of these terms are “stop being negative,” “others have it worse than you,” or “you’re exaggerating.” Toxic positivity causes the person to feel “repression, shame, regret, failure” etc. because they feel that they are being weak or insignificant to society. Additionally, Browne discusses solutions to counter these feelings and resolve the pain or anxiety that they may be experiencing.  Listening to someone’s struggles and coming up with useful solutions to fix the root of the problem or just remi...

Wordle—part time five-letter word guessing game, part time home-invasion life-saver. According to the Washington Post , on the 5th of February in Lincolnwood, Illinois, 80-year old Denyse Holt, asleep in her bed, woke up “to a naked stranger standing just feet away … armed with scissors” (Edwards). Holt explained in an interview how the intruder threatened her, saying “If you talk, if you yell or you scream, I’m going to cut you,” (Edwards); believing this was her best chance of survival, Holt obeyed his demands. Not only threatening to cut her, the intruder demanded he was cold and needed all her blankets; however, that wasn’t enough to stop his shivering. He made Holt take him to the shower, and “when that didn’t warm him up enough, he made Holt, still dressed in her nightgown, lie on top of him in the tub” (Edwards). Eventually, he locked her up in her basement bathroom where she was trapped for nearly 20 hours. So what saved Holt? The daily Wordle results she failed to send to her ...

  Photo Credit: https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/powerful-man When examining people who are corrupted by their power or abuse it, we tend to attribute it to their personality. However, according to an article from LSE Business Review by a behavioral scientist, there is more when it comes to understanding the behavior of people in power. Psychologists define power in many different ways, but commonly accepted definitions are usually: one that has control over their own and others' resources (financial resources, land, food, or even recognition and status), and someone who has the capacity to influence someone else and stay uninfluenced by others.  Acquiring power comes with psychological consequences not just on those it is exerted on, but to those that hold it as well. Research shows that power holders get less distracted by surrounding information when asked to focus on tasks, and they are more focused on their own internal states and emotions than on those of o...

  Week 11: A Powerful Word   – 2/16 - [4:52PM].        Recently, I came across an article from Psychology Today named, “The Power of Saying No.” When I first read the title of this article, I found the concept to be very counterintuitive. My whole life I have been taught how important it is to say “yes.” I was always told to challenge myself and never be afraid to try new things. How will I gain anything if I said “no” to a new opportunity? This article basically went against everything I have been taught.      However, as I began to read deeper into the article, it began to make sense. The main point that the article brought up is that saying “no” can help you set guidelines that will create healthy relationships. In a relationship, one person should not have to bend over backward for the other person; people need to set a limit and say “no” when others are asking for more than they are willing to provide. Knowing when to say “no” can also ...

     While procrastinating my English homework by watching YouTube, I stumbled across this certain video by CGP Grey: " This Video Will Hurt ." Out of curiosity, I clicked on it.     The narrator begins by stating multiple scientific jargons on "hypersounds" and how the beginning of the video is filled with them. He states that these hypersounds are inaudible through the human ear, however, they can still be sensed. These sounds, he describes, are extremely painful and start causing headaches in the recipient as soon as they begin playing. I was skeptical of this, thinking there is no possibility a video on YouTube can cause physical pain. However, sure enough, I soon began to sense this "pain" that he describes to be felt in your ears.     Then, with sudden calm and silence, the narrator exposes this "hypersound" as actually nonexistent. There was no special audio embedded within the video that causes intense pain in the recipient's ears. Ho...

The Power of Music  Music is a part of our everyday lives. I am 99.9% sure that everyone listens, at least once, to some form of music every single day, whether it be an advertisement, background music, or an actual song. Music has helped people channel their emotions when it comes to creating or listening to it. Music, personally, helped me to release my pent-up emotions, concentrate on my homework, or just have fun with friends and family. To add on, I recently learned that music can also help medical diagnoses such as Parkinson’s disease and strokes and help treat diseases. In the novel The Power of Music , Elena Mannes explains how music has helped various groups of people and how it could potentially be useful in the world of health care. She says that “scientists have found that music stimulates more parts of the brain than any other human function” (Mannes). There was a study on newborn babies to see how they would respond to music being played in their ears and after a w...

 From the moment the first computer was invented, everyone knew that it would revolutionize society. Computers are extremely powerful and could accurately perform many operations in a short amount of time, and their power has continued to grow exponentially. Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, created Moore's law, which states that the number of transistors on a silicon chip doubles almost every two years. This encapsulates the ever-increasing power of computers. However, Moore's law was an observation over a period in history, and we are starting to reach the limits of its application. In 2010, Moore declared that "the laws of physics would call a halt to the exponential increases." This is because the sizes of the transistors are "approaching the size of atoms, which is a fundamental barrier." He predicts that we will reach that limit in another 10 to 20 years. As the computer power was growing, programmers were observed to have gotten lazier in writing...

Pranav Sreejayan APENG 11 Ms. Benedetti  The road to hell is paved with good intentions A sad fact that I will never admit to myself except late at night or while on anesthetic (the former being the case right now), is that I’m kind of a nerd. Comics and manga are definitely my go to pieces of literature to read, and I had a dark phase where I would read insane amounts of them per day. One of my favorite comic storylines comes from DC comics and is called “Injustice”(I will admit some inspiration from the activity on Batman killing the joker this week). The concept is simple: what if Superman, America’s golden boy and all around paragon of virtue, were to let go of his morals?  The story starts out with Lois Lane finding out she is pregnant, only to be kidnapped by the Joker. In a truly dastardly plot, the clown prince of crime sets up a nuclear bomb in Metropolis connected to Lois Lane’s heartbeat, and drugs Superman with a psychotic agent, leading to him killing her thinking...

Week 11: Winter Abernathy - 16 February 2022 [10:07am] Isn't it interesting how much power people have over us? I remember an idea I read that was about our souls, what if we truly do have souls and everytime we breathe out, we breathe out a part of our soul. And when we breathe in, we breathe in the souls of those around us, making us quite literally a whole of the parts of those around us. Now in a less theoretical sense, I don't know where to put this arbitrary knowledge. I still know my childhood best friend's favorite fruit by the foot flavor, and his sisters middle names, I still remember my other used-to-be friend's opinion on love languages and his favorite flowers and I still remember the song that would always put my baby cousin to sleep when she was 6-weeks-old As we get older and relationships fade, where do we put those weeks, months, years of knowledge? I don't want to forget, so they sit filed away in cabinets with varying amounts of dust and every no...

 Week 10 - “Cancel” Culture We’re all familiar with social media and its norms, but what about its etiquette? Influencers and celebrities alike have their lives on display for the world to see …and judge.  Nicki Minaj, Kevin Hart, and even Michael Jackson are all stars who’ve been “canceled” by the media, or been berated and criticized for saying and voicing some not so popular opinions. But what has this done? On social media platforms, we all hide behind our usernames and get to call out influential people, in the hopes of potentially bringing awareness to the source of many issues, but the reality is that “cancel” culture doesn’t always work. The practice of “canceling” individuals has really led to only shaming them into silence, sometimes even out of fame. Other instances, like canceling Kanye West when he called slavery being a “choice”, was almost 100% ineffective. Sure he garnered some bad press, but his overall image and career in the music industry remained untouched...

I was thinking about power dynamics in movies when I came across an article from 2017 discussing how researchers discovered a method to assess the power imbalance in Hollywood movie scripts’ between female and male characters. According to the University of Washington, using machine-learning tools, UW researchers were able to discover “subtle but widespread gender bias in the way male and female characters are portrayed” ( Langston ). What they found was that female characters had lines that portrayed women in "submissive positions and with less agency than men;" female characters were often limited to more modest statements (“Maybe I am wrong”) while male characters had the more imperative lines (“Bring me my horse”). The researchers used connotation frames that “[analyzes] subjective roles and relationships implied by a given predicate” ( Rashkin ). For instance, if a female character “implores” someone to do something, the person at the receiving end would be in a position...

https://hart.sanford.duke.edu/2020/11/18/hysterical-strength-by-nicole-sealey/             When I was in the 5th grade, my teacher told my class a story about how a woman lifted a car to save her son who was trapped underneath. This story fascinated me and made me wonder where and how some humans could achieve such superman-like powers in a life threatening event. After doing some research, I found that in an article from Healthline , this effect is caused by hysterical strength which is released during fight or flight situations or when there is a rush of adrenaline in one’s body. This allows humans to reach their maximum strength which is much greater than the power humans use on a daily basis. This strength is not commonly used at one’s will however, because it requires an immense amount of energy that can not be restored at a normal rate. In addition to this, scientists have not been able to do research on this topic since this effect can not be re...

                                    Photo Credit: https://www.kidsintransitiontoschool.org/building-the-habit-of-positive-self-talk-infographic/ It is easy to feel stressed in high school, and this is an especially stressful time for us juniors. Today, hearing the Junior Jumpstart presentation in history class struck me very deeply. The material covered in the presentation was all basic information that we know well or are at least familiar with, but I came to the realization that it is now more relevant than ever. I realized that we are currently in the midst of the "summer" season (despite it being winter) because everyone at this time is applying to summer programs and internships, figuring out what they want to do, and planning how to optimize the vital summer before our last year in high school.  Since we are all buried in schoolwork, self-discovery, and everything else in between, I...

  Week 10: The Power of Her Voice   – 2/02 - [4:15PM].             The Person of American Significance project in APENG gave me the opportunity to get to know a powerful woman who kickstarted the civil rights movement with her voice. Billie Holliday was a famous jazz singer of the 20th century.       Billie was born into poverty to a mother that worked as a servant for a white household and a father that left his family and remarried. As a poor African American girl in a time of severe segregation, Billie struggled to make a living. Billie worked as a maid, a call girl, and even a dancer to put together dimes and pennies until she finally found her forte in singing. As Billie worked to make a name for herself and travel on tour, she became exposed to the frightful racism of her era.       At the peak of her career, Billie made a decision that would change her life forever. Billie began singing a politic...

      How to attain power? This question has been raised constantly throughout the course of history, as kingdoms and nations institute countless bloody wars and conflicts over one simple desire: power.     Safe to say, this question, if can be perfectly answered, will guarantee the answerer influence and jewels to any extent they wish.     Consequently, throughout centuries across the world, this question has raised numerous answerers trying to accomplish such a task. From Renaissance philosopher Machiavelli to Chinese general Sun Tzu, the question of attaining power has struck the mind of ingenious individuals endlessly, almost creating a fervor of desire surrounding this seemingly chimerical task.     Fairly recently (when compared to the 500 year age of Machiavelli and centuries of Sun Tzu), one such author has attempted to again visit this eternal question. American author Robert Greene, committed to defining the strategies of power and ...

As you all know, the famous Stanford Prison Experiment was an experiment where 10 prisoners and 11 guards were put in a simulated prison environment that lasted six days. This experiment showed that when put in the roles of prisoners or guards, the ordinary people that participated conformed to their roles and acted very much so like real prisoners/guards. The guards became aggressive and controlling, while the prisoners were forced into submission and had to listen to the guards' orders for fear of punishment. This experiment produced very interesting results and proved a lot about human nature. Before the experiment took place, the two dozen men that participated were just normal, civilized people that volunteered to take a part in an experiment that would pay them $15/hour. After only a couple of days into the experiment, the guards started taking their roles very seriously and did not hold back in making the prisoners do grueling exercises, clean toilets with their bare hands, ...

The Power of Social Media Living in the 21st century, it is no surprise to any of us the power social media holds over us. For many of us, social media dictates our next move, what to wear, how to act, and many other decisions about ourselves. It can be a place of acceptance; where people find communities and help each other feel accepted in this society, a place of hatred; where people diminish people's character, looks, etc., and a place to build a career. TikTok , a social media platform that has blown up this past year, has helped dictate the growth and future of many young influencers and music artists. Lil Nas X and Doja Cat are two music artists whose fame is due to TikTok. As their songs got popular on the app and shared across huge and various audiences, the number on the Billboard Music Charts got higher. These artists can have successful careers due to the app and grow their brand to larger and never-before anticipated lengths. Tiktok has also instigated the rise of a ne...