I Am a Peacebuilder

This post is for the Civic Term class Global Peace. In the three weeks of this class we covered sarvodaya, satyagraha, and Sharpe's 198 Nonviolent Methods of Nonviolence. Sarvodaya and satyagraha were concepts by Gandhi. Sarvodaya explains that all are rising and is supposed to be an answer to all "isms" such as capitalism or communism. The large list of nonviolent methods consists of speeches, marches, strikes, physical interventions, peaceful noncooperation, boycotts, and more. For this project I chose to focus on homelessness in Chicago. In the large city you can find tent cities or people camped on the street in many places. With the weather in Chicago living outside with only a small shelter or none at all can be difficult for surviving. The city is also dotted with empty lots or abandoned land. I believe these plots of land can be redesigned into housing for the homeless. Each person or group of persons depending on their situation would have a small residence where their basic needs can be met. These small homes can be made from shipping containers or regular house materials to provide a safe shelter. Below is a presentation further explaining this idea.

At this stage when this post uploads I am not fully complete with this project or movement. I would like to continue working on this because it is very important that we help our fellow citizens. Not only could this add some new flair and meaning to our neighborhoods, we are creating a private space where Chicagoans can have access to food, water, sanitation, etc. I encourage helping the homeless when you can and perhaps creating small talk if possible. I have also done some volunteering before to provide meals for the homeless. If you like this idea of course share it in your city wherever you are in the world. Thank you for reading.

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Building GCE's New Laser Cutter

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for my elective class Digital Fabrication. In this class, we have been looking at all things digital. More specifically 3D printers, silhouette cutters, CNC routers, and laser cutters. 3D printers are machines that can create three-dimensional objects from CAD models by layering filament to create shapes. Silhouette cutters are small electronic cutting machines that can take a file on a computer and cut it out on vinyl, acrylic, paper, and more. I have used the cutter to create stickers on vinyl. The CNC router we used in this class was a machine called the Carvey. The Carvey uses a drill bit mounted on an operating system like a 3D printer to drill into wood, foam, and other materials to create designs or molds. For each of these machines, we learned how to use their programs and later work with the machines to create things we made on the programs. Last but definitely not least, laser cutters. A laser cutter is a machine similar to the Carve...

Redesigning Chicago, One Neighborhood At A Time

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the third Action Project of the STEAM class Urban Planning. In this third and final unit, Flow, we focused on how cities and urban areas have developed over the years. We first learned about how cities have always been centered around trade which has always relied on transportation and studied different modes of travel over the years that all contribute to urban planning. We took some time to learn about eminent domain which is something the state can use to claim private land from a private citizen for its own use if it has a strong case such as public use. We then looked at INVEST South/West, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's community development initiative to reverse disinvestment on Chicago's South and West Sides. This initiative is trying to bring together multiple city departments, community organizations, and corporate partners and so far the city has aligned more than $1.4 billion in public and private investment. We then moved on...

United States Refugees: What must they go through?

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the workshop class, The War on X. The War on X is a new elective class at GCE this Fall term that focuses on current events that their own small battles and large levels of importance. Some topics that were up for discussion were the War on Afghanistan, the War on Immigration, and Critical Race Theory. For this first unit the majority of the class decided to talk about the War on Immigration. More specifically we focused on the United States-Mexico border and the situation there. We looked into the history of a border and eventually wall being at the border in the first place and moved on to examine more recent events from the presidency of Donald Trump. We also looked at the entry process for immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees to enter the United States. In this small Action Project we were asked to choose one of the three groups trying to enter the US and look at their entrance process further. I chose to study refugees more because the...

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