PIE Week 2

The mission is to try to share films with people and get them to come to the theatre. I am helping my manager market some films by posting things on social media and telling people about the many films we show in one month. I contributing by reaching out to different people who have an interest. Yesterday, I dropped off our January Gazette at the Czech Republic office. They wanted gazettes because I believe we are showing a lot of Czech films in January. My manager got in contact with the console and a good way to get people to come to see us is if we reach out to a certain audience. My biggest takeaway is a lot goes into working at a theatre, especially an independent theatre because there aren't really commercial movies playing at the theatre. I think there's a different approach in marketing independent films because you have to reach certain groups of people to get them to watch the films we play.

This experience will help me in college because I definitely want to study film in college and work at a production studio as an intern or have that as an actual career. I will have to market movies, and if I'm a filmmaker, I'll have to figure out how to market my own movies.

My Experience at the Gene Siskel Center: WEEK 1

One unexpected thing that I've experienced at my PIE is having to make phone calls to different Chinese organizations around Chicago to get them to spread the word about a movie called White Snake. White Snake is a Chinese animated film, and our goal is to make sure it's an open house and people buy tickets. This was unexpected for that day because I thought I would mostly be doing emails or writing letters but they had me make phone calls and actually ask these organizations of they could try to share the film with others.

Week one works toward my goals because I'm connecting with people through the media to get them to watch films. One of my goals is to be more connected with different people and I'm able to do this through sharing films.

Getting Savvy with Sustainablity

This term in Economics, we are reading the book, Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth, which discusses the seven ways you can think like a 21st economist. In class, a partner and I read the chapter, "Getting Savvy with Systems", which described the difference between an adaptive system and a mechanical system, and how economists before the 21st century approached economics. It turned out that through history, economists were finding new and improved ways to study the economy's behavior and the market world. In this Action Project, I am finding the 8th way to think like a 21st economist. We visited Rehapply, a company that uses sustainability to circulate resources that other companies need. Their company inspired me to add on to Raworth's chapters, "Getting Savvy With Systems" and "Create to Regenerate" because I believe that reusing resources is the best way to be sustainable as an economy. Learning about adaptive systems really made me realize that economics is about the behavior and interactions we have with the environment and the people around us. I really liked that the world would basically be sharing materials to make the environment a better place.

Cycle Logo that represents my principle.

Where Did All Our Resources Go?

When people have trash, clothes, books, electronics, and more, sometimes they throw those items away. Trash can be thrown away, but if you have materials people can actually use, the economy would become a lot more sustainable. Although there are several sustainability projects around the world, waste is still our biggest issue. Every year, the US generates 230 million tons of “trash” and less than a quarter is being recycled while the rest is sent to be buried in landfills. A lot of that “trash” not only includes items that people around the world can reuse, but we pay for some of these resources to be sent away to landfills.


As a 21st economist, we must look at the world through complex systems, and push the economy towards a closed-loop and adaptive system by encouraging people to be more sustainable. I would be focusing on the nature of our economy, the behavior of different people, and the environment while following the law of nature, not the laws of physics. According to Raworth, many economists like William Stanley Jevons looked at economics as a science that resembled the science of statistical mechanics and physio-mathematical sciences. Economists focused on economics too similar to the way Newton studied the falling apple through his own laws of physics. This isn’t the best way to approach economics because when the world turns out to be unpredictable, looking at economics in terms of mechanical systems can leave us ill-equipped. Newton could have easily transformed the world of economics if he also looked at the falling apple through the nature of complex systems. This made economists talk about market mechanisms rather than market organisms. After all, these economists only explained the economy as a stable mechanical system because they believed it was the perfect system for statistics. An adaptive system is a cycle made up of interdependent humans living in a dynamic world. A mechanical system is linear and we can predict what each part will do in response.

Technology is one of the strongest sources of our economy and the fastest way people can get in touch with one another. Since the mechanical age, technology has improved tremendously. We can use technology as a resource that can help our economy if we create a technological system that allows people to not only throw out their trash, but people would be able to depreciate the things they no longer need like clothes, different products, and materials. Anything that is composted or biodegradable can be used to plant different foods, which can be given to homeless or starving people that don’t have access to food. This system can help everyone around the world communicate and share resources and our economy would become almost like an eco-cycle. People in need of food, clothes, and even simple things like glass, cardboard, a bed frame, an old television, a box of records, lab equipment, etc, can use those materials, and when they’re done they can pass it on. Instead of investing our money into getting rid of things, we need to invest what we have into systems that will help the economy flourish and fulfill the needs of everyone.

The system could look a little like Reheaply, a company that connects people by letting companies post the assets they don’t need. This allows companies to put their unused materials on the site so that other companies, schools, etc. can use them. It also saves people money because they don’t have to invest their time and money into resources that they already have in their building. Garr Punnett, a Sustainable Business Development Manager at Rheapply states that waste ending up in landfill is only causing, “economic barriers” because “our things can simply be recycled or reused.” Overall, Reheaply uses their software to communicate their vision to buyers that connect to the “future focus”, pushing companies towards the same mission, sustainability.

Other examples of businesses focusing on sustainability are two businesses in Chicago called, “Plant Chicago” and “Wasteshed”. Plant Chicago’s mission is to cultivate local circular economies by making a waste stream that gives to other resources they use in the factory, like plants, fish, different insects, beverages, food, etc. It all creates a closed-loop model of material reuse because everything in the factory is connected and receiving natural sources.

“The Wasteshed”, a sustainable art center in Chicago provides cheap repurposed art and crafts, school supplies, art supplies, and more. Their goal is to create art sustainably, and connect with others around Chicago who want to do the same! They also educate people on creative reuse through economical activities.

Raworth made a good point in Doughnut Economics when she said, “Industrial activity has broken these natural cycles apart, depleting nature’s sources and dumping too much waste in her sinks.” That quote motivates me to communicate my thoughts and ideas about sustainability in the world because we can save the world just by using products that we already have. I believe that people are either lazy or obsessed with how “new” and item can be over how natural it can be. Over time, things would become less expensive because we are reusing items and remaking things that came from our backyard or closet. Food would become fresher, and people could eat healthier if we didn’t throw everything out that could be valuable to our planet. As an economy, we don’t know how useful everything is, including the people around us. We need each other to save the world. Like Rawworth said, “Economics, it turns out, is not a matter of discovering laws: it is essentially a question of design.” So let’s start designing a system that won’t only save the world, and the several global warming and waste issues we have, but will save the daily interactions we have with the environment and different communities.

Basquiat, The Visual Story-Teller

For my last Action Project in Journalism, I made a podcast about the voice of Jean Micheal Basquiat and how his art has influenced other people. Through this unit, we've discussed what is considered "real news" and "fake news", photography in journalism, and how we can tell other people's stories while making it intriguing for the listener. We listened to Ira Glass' different ways to tell a story whether you're broadcasting or making a podcast. Broadcast journalism is about telling people a story that they can feel apart of, and opening eyes and ears to the world's many possibilities. Through this project, I made a podcast about Basquiat's voice because as an artist he could paint a picture based on the simplest observations or words and it's always exciting to look at. His art is also very chaotic sometimes, so I want to relate that to his actual voice and views as an artist. I wanted to compare his artistic voice to his actual voice and how that inspired people.


My Podcast:
The Visual Story-Teller

Independent Study: Avant-Garde Film

I did an Independent Study on experimentalism in filmmaking because there's a different wonder and mystery to the making of films that excites me. I love artists like Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Stan Brakhage, and Jonas Mekas because of how they tell stories with a camera. Jonas Mekas especially makes me feel at peace when I watch his films. His writing is filled with nostalgia and memories that allow us to look into his life as a creator. Avante-Garde filmmaking introduced me to a brand new world. It showed me that I have a strong voice and I can present that in any shape or form. It made me think about everything critically while also allowing me to observe society. After this study, I created a film called "Home". I moved to Chicago a year ago and felt alone every day. Chicago never felt like home to me until I learned to appreciate what I have in the world. I have a camera, a pencil, paper, beautiful friends, and a crazy imagination.

What’s Your Meaning of Life?

This assignment is focused around photography and how it is used in Journalism. We used four different camera techniques for this project which include lighting, aperture, shutter speed, and the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds can either make or break a picture, depending on how visually appealing it is and how you’re trying to focus or center you subject. Through these photos and the interview we are having with this person, we are answering the question, “What’s the meaning of life”. Through this interview, my friend answers the question along with other ideas about his meaning of life.

Economics: My Future Investments

This term in Economics, we've been discussing the book Freakonomics, and connecting the situations and ideas that we were reading about to the real world. We've also been discussing opportunity cost, real cost, loans, interest, compounding interest, and more. Through these lessons we've learned about supply and demand and looked at how they both can shift overtime.

We visited the Lyft company in Chicago and they talked about their supply and demand with us. During that field experience, I learned that the higher the demand, the higher a price on a ride may be. But the lower the demand, then the lower the price is. If there aren't a good amount of suppliers then the demand may be somewhere else. For example; Demand may be higher downtown Chicago during rush hour because so many people are trying to get home all at once. We also listened to people at Chicago Ideas Week talk about algorithms and how data on the internet is used and collected by other companies or social networks. Chicago Ideas Week is when influential people from any field discuss important and relevant topics. At the end, the youth can ask questions about the topic. In this project, we are calculating our true cost of college, lifetime earnings, and how much those decisions will cost us. Through these decisions there are assumptions about your future career path. These assumptions help you decide what choice is best and how much money and time you could be saving and making. At the end, this project demonstrated my life investments and what I'm gaining from investing my time and money into college and my career.

Introducing my career choice (AS,2019)

I interviewed Fred Camper, a film professor at Columbia College and asked him about the several decisions he has made throughout his career. He told me a story about one of his most important decisions and the incentives that were involved with the decision making.

"Most of the college courses I teach are in film. In the last two or three years, I decided to place ever more stress on precise description and factual accuracy. This includes things like many points off for spelling a name wrong, calling a camera movement a zoom, and so on. My assignments now require precise descriptions of individual shots, perhaps a list of a few shots in a sequence and an analysis of how they function, of what their effects are, not based so much on content as on camera angle, rhythm, editing, lighting, and other cinematic elements.

Only gradually did I come to realize that this decision was a response to the toxic political environment created in part by the current American president, in which lies are said to be facts, actual facts are disparaged, blustering emotion substitutes for reason, and, lately, those who strive to uphold our democracy and our Constitution are threatened with the death penalty. Cinema is often, and for many, a highly emotional medium, and I think one way to approach it, and one way to fight the culture of rage and lies that seems ever more dominant, is to ask students to view films with great care directed toward an understanding not only of the emotions and ideas they bring into being, but of how the process of creating emotion and meaning works. The hope is that thereby they learn to get some distance from immediate emotional stimulation, and come to understand how it can happen, and also learn the value of starting with accurate facts.

The alternatives were to continue on as I had been, doing what was described above but less of it.

The incentives were that my boss offered financial bonuses for every student who learned film better. No, that was a joke, a kind of bitter parody of the management-business bias behind the question. The incentives that went into the decision were my seeking a way to mitigate the utter despair at the current downward spiral that human civilization seems to be to be locked into, and my thought that I could make some small contribution in the opposite direction."

- Fred Camper

I really enjoyed this project because it gave me a new perspective of what my life would be like after high school and college. It also made me think more about the path I want to be on in order to be successful and accomplish my goals. This project motivated me and allowed me to think critically about each choice I was making. 

Citations:

“Archivists, Curators, and Museum Workers : Occupational Outlook Handbook:” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/curators-museum-technicians-and-conservators.htm.

“How Much Successful Archivists Make In 2017.” OwlGuru.com - Find A Career That You Love, www.owlguru.com/career/archivists/salary/.

“Interest Rates and Fees.” Federal Student Aid, 1 July 2019, studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/interest-rates.

“New York University Tuition And Fees.” College Factual, 13 Sept. 2019, www.collegefactual.com/colleges/new-york-university/paying-for-college/tuition-and-fees/.