The First Bill

We continued our reading of House on Mango Street with a more pointed story highlighting the socioeconomic gap between two neighborhoods and the way that visitors from either to the other feel afraid in the neighborhood that is not their own. Sebastian noted how poetic these stories are, so we reveled in the poetic devices used in her writing to illuminate theme, meaning, and feeling.

We hopped on CalTrain to Millbrae in search of the Peninsula Museum of Art.

Our goal at the museum was to notice various materials and mediums that artists use and how those choices compliment the subject. While murals will be one form to focus on for the semester, we have a great opportunity to explore and create art through any medium.

We were able to tour artists' studios and chat with a few of the resident artists.

One of the artists gave us an impromptu mini lesson on 3-D drawing and painting on a 2-D surface. She shared many pieces that her students or she herself have made.

Back at school, we co-created a template for proposing bills to be passed as laws. Using our new template, we wrote half of our first bill proposal outlining how NOMAD students can spend NOMAD money.

Anxious to pass our NOMAD money bill, we dove right into the review process of what we had already written. Though we haven't elected senators or a speaker of the house yet, we moved forward with voting on our bill. Despite the fact that the bill allows students to buy items even if their parents haven't approved of everything on the items list, the bill unanimously passed.