Henrietta Lacks

Reading the Henrietta Lacks story reminded me of an interesting article we read in Levy’s class this summer:

WarDogOakwoodisStrong

The You Don’t Need a Cooking Show to Cook Show

 

I am a cooking show junkie. When offered this assignment, I knew it was right up my alley! I had my daughter record me making a chocolate cake for Thanksgiving. Along with giving the recipe and walking through the preparation step by step, I also added baking tips, a little nostalgia, and advice on nutrition. My son helped me splice the flipcamera segments together.  We then posted the video on YouTube.   Bon appétit!

 

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

1 3/4 c. unsifted all-purpose flour,   2 c. sugar,  3/4 c. Hershey’s Cocoa,  1 1/2 t. baking soda,  1 1/2 t. baking powder,  1 t. salt

2 eggs,  1 c. milk,  1/2 c. vegetable oil,  2 t. vanilla,  1 c. boiling water

Combine dry ingredients in large mixer bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat at medium speed 2 minutes.  Remove from mixer; stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).  Pour into two greased and floured (I line mine with wax paper) 9″ or three 8″ layer pans or one 13″ x 9″ pan.  Bake at 350◦ for 30-35 minutes for layers, 35-40 minutes for 13 x 9 pan, or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes on rack.  Remove from pans; cool completely.

Mocha Frosting

3 1/2 c. confectioners sugar,  1/2 c. cocoa,  1/2 t. salt,  1/3 c. butter (I usually use a whole stick and add a little more sugar and cocoa if too thin),  1/3 c. hot coffee (or hot milk—-I use coffee with a touch of evaporated milk),  1/2 t. vanilla
Combine sugar, cocoa, and salt.  Cream butter and vanilla.  Add sugar mixture alternately with hot coffee, beating til smooth.

Bad Guy Business Card

Planning to use this idea when we wrap up our Gatsby unit with a tea party.  Students can come in costume and pass out their cards.  Come join us, Old Sport!

#DesignAssignments #DesignTutorials322

Ringtone remix

Boys.  Where would I be without them.  My sons helped me with this project.  I owe them BIG TIME! #AudioAssignments #AudioAssignments152

http://t.co/2rkGcfO

“flash” in time

Okay——–This will definitely NOT earn me a “Grandmother of the Year” award! Anyway, my visual remix is a picture of my grandsons at Orange Beach this summer.  I used pixlr for my project as a last resort.   My initial plan was to “creep” this photo into the final beach scene from the original Planet of the Apes movie.  Unfortunately, my creative brain far exceeds my technology brain (which isn’t saying much!), so I turned to plan B.  I guess I still had the juices flowing from my American Lit class earlier this morning.  We were discussing Native American origin myths and their belief in the spiritual connection between man and nature.  This sent me on a rabbit trail of how we are polluting the earth, and down the trail further to a nuclear blast that destroys the planet, and voila!…my grandsons witnessing the “flash” that ends the world.  For the picture, I adjusted color, contrast, and focus to imitate a nuclear flash, and then used a crinkled overlay to make it seem like the film of the photo was melting.  Finally, I added the text as verbal irony.

p.s.   May it never be…

Wikipedia Authors!

Brandon, Wendy, and I searched Dine and Dash on Wikipedia.  Using  information available on the site, we added that it is part of pop culture as seen on a recent episode of NBC’s The Office.  We checked afterwards to see if it was there——and it was.  Unfortunately, it was there only a view seconds before it was deleted.  So, we can’t claim to be published authors!  Fifteen minutes of fame?  We didn’t even get 15 seconds of fame!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dine_and_dash

Wikipedia Project

We found the Encyclopedia Americana to be concise and reputable.  The author of the information is a professor Johns Hopkins, are very prestigious school, leading us to think that the information is creditable. On the other hand, the Wikipedia site offered more information and photos, as well.  Linked with the article (at the touch of the TALK tab), are comments posted by interested parties.  The comments lens credence to the information posted. The Britannica site contained less information that Wikipedia, but there were links posted and a sidebar of photos that could be uploaded.  This would be helpful to add photos to presentations in class.  Both Britannica and Wikipedia are more memorable due to the images posted, such as the photo of the Dogon woman baking bread and mosque.

 

My photo montage reflects who I am.  The picture is a photo of the Ohoopee River in South Georgia.  It is a very slow-moving river that has withstood the tests of time. If my life were “The Tortoise and the Hare—REMIX!”, I would be the tortoise’s grandmother.  I live for a slower-paced life!   The border to the right shows snippets of the river photo and indicates the various dimensions of my life—mother, grandmother, friend, teacher, student. The clock is symbolic of the brevity of life, and the text is a reminder of that sentiment.

What would your photo-of-life be?  What would be at the heart of it?  What would be your life symbol?  What words of wisdom would you give others?

Land Before Time

The older I get, the younger everyone else seems.  Ever have that feeling?  Like you could be Barney, Dino, or Little Foot’s grandmother?  Welcome to my world with these young “whipper-snappers”…But I am bound and determined to come along for the learning.  Want to join me in the journey?