Quote Comment Question (QCQ)

The quote, comment, and question (QCQ) method of analyzing text is supposed to be a good way of connecting your ideas to what you already know and to expand your thinking. This technique is not necessarily used to analyze text but you are supposed to use the text as a certain starting point to bigger ideas. When I analyzed chapter 14 of the book titled Because of Romek, I was a bit confused as to what I was supposed to connect my ideas to. So I just analyzed the quote I chose. Because of Romek is actually a really great book. What captures readers into that book is the amazing story that David Faber tells. It seems almost impossible that humans would do that to one another. That they would torture each other, force one another to work to death, and enjoy seeing them die. Perhaps of where I live affects my attitude towards this, since I am not exposed to humans slaughtering one another it makes me believe humans do not do that to themselves. Anyways, since it is an amazing story it contains a lot of amazing quotes. From those quotes I somehow began heading towards the direction of why? Why would people do that to one another? Lots of questions spawned from that topic. I got from the topic of the holocaust to many other topics, one that included aliens. This QCQ method, that I was introduced too, is very great in analyzing text. From experience, I know that asking lots of questions on a text and commenting on it can connect my ideas to many bigger things.

Art Interview

To enhance my knowledge of the art world I interviewed one of San Diego’s very own artists. I looked at a variety of artist’s works but none were as interesting as Daren Cohen’s paintings. He uses many vibrant colors that really stand out and seem like something out of a dream. He is a master with oil paints and he works at the San Diego Art Department. His art was understandable to me and so maybe that was the reason why I was so intrigued by his work. Cohen’s art, as he says, tell a story which always relate to human nature and all the common experiences humans endure. For example, on one of his art pieces titled The Devil and the Bluebird Cohen depicts a strangely benevolent demon. The devil is showing compassion to a small bluebird even though we all recognize the devil as the embodiment of evil. According to the author’s note, Cohen was trying to tell us that there is always good everywhere. Nothing is all evil. The main thing is, is that his art tells a story it has a meaning behind it. I like that kind of art. To add to that, Cohen layers colors different colors together to create a unique visual effect. His art is definitely worth a look so here is his website: http://www.deroncohen.com .

The Chemistry behind color

I have been doing some fishing for the reason behind color in pigments. Of course, there is a physics portion to it, in which light waves are detected by the wave and interpreted by the brain as a certain color. But that is what I am not looking for, but instead I want to find the reason for how the chemical configuration has to do with color. It was an interesting search for it in which I encountered lots of information that contained advanced scientific language that was unfamiliar to me. But after some deeper investigation, I managed to place together pieces of the “puzzle” to create an explanation on how electrons help determine color. In chemistry, there are particular groups of atoms that are called functional groups. These functional groups help classify a compound because the functional group determines how it will react and similar things like that. There is a functional group in pigments called chromophores which are the ones responsible for the color of a pigment. Chromophores alter the amount of energy electrons absorb from light waves, enough so that the light they reflect back to us is enough to see. Electrons tend to be associated in the nucleus of as single atom, but chromophores mostly exist in systems where the electrons are not associated with a single atom but instead orbit around lots of adjacent atoms. Delocalized electron systems usually have a stable configuration. An example of a delocalized electron system would be one such as an aromatic. An aromatic is a hexagon shaped chain of carbons. In this system, the carbons are equally spaced from each other and there are non-adjacent double bonds anywhere inside the aromatic. The electrons in an aromatic travel in a circular path all around the aromatic instead of just a particular atom. Chromophores can alter the energy that the electrons absorb until so it is in the visible spectrum of color. Chromophores are a complicated topic and that is why it is difficult to understand the whole aspect of molecular structure affecting color. So many questions generated from the information I gathered. How do electrons actually absorb energy and why? Why do they absorb some light and reflect others? Delocalized electron systems are also complex and require a bigger understanding of chemistry to completely grasp. I understand what they are, but why do they happen? Anyone know?