Service Learning 5/28

1) Reflect on your Independent Service Experience

Okay well my Service Learning consisted of many events. The most significant one was my Committe of Seventy experience. Morgan, Charifa, and I went down town on election day and volunteered to answer the phones. I thought it was going to be all easy and simple you know. Just type in the address and tell people where their polls were. WRONG! I ended up learning so much about the voting rules that day. I had to answer outrageous questions and calmn down INSANE people! What helped me get by was Charifa and morgan of course! But mainly the adults around.



2) PLAN for extended (90 minute) service meetings on Wed. May 28 and Thurs. June 5th.
Well we have our plans around mapped out. Charifa and I called the seniors center and told them that we planed on hanging out with the seniors during the times of 2- 3:10 and they agreed. We asked for a few games, and advice on what we should bring them to eat. We will be going to see them June 4th 2008.

3. Catch up on all/any missing blog posts. Make sure your reflections are complete and professional.
I am all caught up! Grade me babyyy!

Of Mice And Men Quiz

Analysis
1) At the end of the movie when George finally met up with Lennie what could have happened instead of George killing him?
- George could have ran away with Lennie once more. They could have ran away together and still worked on their ultimate goal of their dream house. They could have also eventually got Candy too. They could have portrayed the though of 'brotherhood' as a genuine one.

2) What were some of the motives behind George's assiantion of Lennie?
- George could have murdered Lennie do to several reasons. It could have been his new loyalty and 'brotherhood' to the new workers his befriended. It could have been because he knew that no matter what he said or did Lennie would always get into some type of trouble and it would eventually only get worse. He could have one it because he didn't want Lennie to suffer. Another reason might be because he could have been sick and tired of Lennie after so many years.

3)What was the underlying theme of the ending plot(Curley's Plot)?
- The theme of the plot could have been revenge. It could have also been the downfall of brotherhood. It could be to show that workers follow under the leader of one. Kind of like a dictatorship, it shows that if one person promises you something (money) that if you follow them and do as they say you will eventually follow them even if it goes agianst your will.

4) Why was Curly so Mean and Arragant?
- Curly could have been this way for several reasons. He was the smallest person on the ranch. He always felt that he had something to prove due to his small stature. He could have felt that the world was always agianst him. He wanted the bigger men to fear him. He flaunted the fact that he had a wife, and money. He wanted everyone to feel as though they were inferrior to him.

Application
5)Do you know another instance where someone like Curly did things in order for them to feel good about themselves?
- Yes. In the book Native Son the main character Bigger Thomas was the same way. In Native Son Bigger would kill small innocent women in order for him to feel as though he had control. He was truly a coward inside just like Curley. Bigger Tomhs and Curley do differ in very serious ways though. The main thing they have in common is their need to feel superior and be in control of situations.

Make Up Work- Service Learning

Make-Up Assignment May 19-23 (double credit):




I just read a article by Fareed Zakaria titled:” The rise of the Rest: Living in the Post-American World”. When I started it was pretty boring until I really got into it. I’ve never looked at America in this way! Little did I know how much we went downhill. Fareed gives many examples of how everyone else is better than us, he also talks about the positive outcomes of the rest of the world coming out of poverty. He goes into globalization, its positives and negatives.

In this article there are many examples of how the rest of the world is rising about America. The article states that,” The world's tallest building is in Taipei, and will soon be in Dubai. Its largest publicly traded company is in Beijing. Its biggest refinery is being constructed is in India. Its largest passenger airplane is built in Europe. The largest investment fund on the planet is in Abu Dhabi; the biggest movie industry is Bollywood, not Hollywood.” These are prime examples of how other countries are outshining us Americans in territories that we use to dominate in.

Yes it is true that this could be a good thing because other countries are coming out of poverty. Maybe were just being selfish. “In 2006 and 2007, 124 countries grew their economies at over 4 percent a year. That includes more than 30 countries in Africa. “ A specialist predicts that 25 companies are most likely to be the world's next great multinationals. The list includes four companies from Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, and Taiwan. Three Will be from India, two from China, and one each from Argentina, Chile, Malaysia, and South Africa.” The good thing about these countries growing is that they will now how more money for their people which could make their lives easier and give them better opportunities at life. The world as a whole does benefit from these companies also. By these countries prospering it takes away from our shine and we end up looking bad.

Globalization was talked about in this article. It can effect America in a positive and negative way. The positive way could be that since everything would be shared that the cost for important items would be much cheaper. Making gas prices more likely to drastically decrease. A negative is that America would personally loose money because they wouldn’t be profiting from other countries buying our goods. American social life would also be better in a way because gas prices would be cheaper along with everything else. More common American needs would become much cheaper, that could ultimately leave many out of a job in the future.

I personally never thought about how low America has been portrayed. We’ve lost a lot of our hype. Were no long seen too much as a superior country. Other countries are advancing and making us bad, but can we really get mad at that? I mean their success is bringing their people out of poverty. We’ve always been the best of the best do we really need all of this shine? I’m not sure I think it’s a matter of American’s always want to be overachievers. It’s the peoples greed. I guess its not bad to be the second best right? Taipei can have the tallest building! Is it really that important? South Africa will have one of the highest profiting companies, is it wrong for them to have a way out of poverty? Globalization could be an option. Or do we not want to come together? It a matter of opinion, I’m sure that everyone will say something different you know? I personally believe that America is great no matter what. Even though I would like us to eventually be on top of the charts again. ;]

Of Mice And Men Themes [qrade it dawg]

"An' why? Because...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why." You see that quote? That’s a true symbol of what we call "brotherhood". A strong sacred oath that guys share when they come together and stand by one another. In the book 'Of Mice and Men' we see many examples of brother hood. Mainly between the two characters Lennie and George. Not only that but the guys who work together unite and show a sign of brotherhood. They unite and play games such as horse shoes or flop house. They also united when it came down to killing Lennie; but doesn't go against what "brother hood" symbolizes? Is Steinbeck trying to tell us that brotherhood is a good thing but doesn't always last?

So through out the book you read about all the situations that Lennie and George go through. They form a tight bond known as 'brotherhood' between them. They meet years ahead of the book when Lennie was still being taken care of by his aunt. When she passed away George promised her that he would take care of him. They stick together through thick and thin, but dealing with Lennie there seems to be much more "THICK" then thin that they have to go through. Even though George could be a free spirit and roam around the world as freely as he would like; he doesn't. Since he's handicap free he bounds himself down to Lennie. We may ask ourselves why would he do this since he complained through out the whole book that Lennie held him back. Crooks once said,"'A guy needs somebody-to be near him.' He whined, 'A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.' Could this be the reason why brotherhood is ultimately formed?

Brotherhood could be shared through a small group of people like Lennie, George, and Candy. Or even a large group of people such as the whole work force. Those group of guys lived together in a flophouse and also came together to play games such as horseshoes. Horseshoes is a game that’s been around for many centuries. It was played by the Romans (then called 'discuss throwing') and even by the guys in the revolutionary war. Its been an ultimate form of companionship through games. In order to play two groups of people must come together and try to get the highest amount of points in order to win. I believe that this is a way that Steinbeck attempts to show that all the guys in the work force are together as one big team.

Towards the end of the book we see examples of how the 'brotherhood' among the group of men have strengthened and pulled through. By the end of the book we also see it take a turn for the worse. Steinbeck leaves us with a baffling though towards the end of the book. Did the oath of 'brotherhood' end or get stronger? Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife. Out of rage and a prior dislike to Lennie, Curly flips and forms a party to go search and kill Lennie. The men that once stood by Lennie were now on their way to go KILL him. Out of panic George is determined to find Lennie and kill him first so that he doesn't have to go through misery. In the end did 'brotherhood' as we know it end? Or did it get stronger? Was the brotherhood between the workers and Curly strong enough for the workers to override their brotherhood towards Lennie? Did George kill Lennie despite their own personal brotherhood and love for eachother? Or did he do it because of his new 'brotherhood' with the workers?


In the end of the book we may never know why these things happened. Does 'brotherhood' have certain levels of trust, or made to one day completely crash and burn? Is it a good thing or will you end up being 'shot in the back' by someone that you once cared about. Throughout the book the brotherhood between George and Lennie, and all the workers seemed to be strong but eventually took a drastic plunge. Steinbeck! You crazy ol' dude, what are you trying to tell us? I guess is up to the reader to draw their own conclusions. What do you think huh?


Quotes
#1(Chapter 1, pg. 14)
#2(Chapter 4, pg. 72)

April 18th 2008 Service Learning

Okay well here we go, three postives and negatives:
POSITIVES:
1) Our group is detemined
2) We plan on successfully completing our goals
3) We want to have fun.

NEGATIVES:
1) Our group was confused about our overall topic.
2) Majority of the class is split into two subjects.
3) Were pretty confused! ahh.

One site that relates to our topic is the philadelphia library link for the ESOL classes. =)

May 15th, 2008 Service Learning Meeting

Okay what we did this time was went to the seniors center! We went there and Charifa, Ashley, and I spoke with a woman named Agness. She was occupied at the time so she ended up giving us her business card. Charifa and I sent her an email talking about the schedule that we planned out. I believe that she's going to try and work with us. Lets hope it all goes good!


A. Three moments of emotions that I went through that day were:
1) A moment of realization was when we went to the senior citizen place to go and speak with someone face to face. We decided to take ignitative instead of just laying around.
2) A moment of frustaration happened when we finally go there. When we got there she was on the phone and we waited for a good 20 minutes and she wasn't able to meet with us. This was frustrating because we took action but nothing ended up happening! We basicly wasted our time! Grrr.
3) We were also indecisive during this time too. This was because were weren't sure what we should do because we were unable to talk to her and she never emailed us back. We didn't know whether we should give up or what!?

B. Through service learning I learned about the issue ofL: "taking action". You can't just sit on your ass and do nothing. If your not getting the results you want then you have to go out and do something about it. You can't just make a few calls and expect everything to work out the way you want it.

C. The way that my stereotypes have changed is towards senior citizens. For a moment in time I believed that they would be easy to work with and be up to do anything. Pretty much laid back people, that will go with whatever you told him. I was so wrong. I found this out when I went to the senior citizen place. I spoke with a few people and they were completely up to beat! Just about as energetic as me! This just made me more excited to work with them.

D. Through service learning I have learned the following about myself: I learned that I am a patient person, and that I sometimes need a little push when I want to do something. =)

May 2nd, 2008 Video Service Learning Reflection

This is the video one.

April 24th, 2008 Service Learning Meeting

Thursday, april 24, 2008
Schoolwide Service

My group came to the conclusion that we are going to teach the senior citizens english. Two peers in my class are going to teach people Manderin. We decided to take action and contact the ESOL class ourselves in person since its at the library downstairs. Two other peers and I along with Mr.Todd went into the classroom and spoke with the teacher about our idea. He openly agreed and happily welcomed us to come along help.

In my group I offered to be the Co-Faclitator along with Ashley Brown who is the Head faclitator. I volunteered this because she is a mess and will need some assistance. I forget what everyone else is but we all have assigned roles.
We got a lot done on this meeting. YAY.

May 1st, 2008 Meeting

monday, april 28, 2008
Reflection On Service Learning

The Elderly Care group talked about our schedule. Were scheduling out the days that we plan to meet the seniors and the day that we plan on going to the library. It was really chaotic because the class was divided into different sides. Majority of the class wanted to work with seniors and Mr.Todd and a few wanted to work with the ESOL class also. THere's some chaos but now were just working on contacting people.

Empire Of The Sun

Empire of The Sun is an emotional movie about a young British boy, James "Jamie" Graham living in Shanghai, China with his wealthy parents in the 1940s. Throughout this movie Jamie struggles to find his own identity. During this journey Japan invades the country and World War II begins. He goes through many challenges through out the movie, such as finding shelter, a place where he feels as though he's accepted, and even his parents. Interested? Good cause i'm no where near done.

We first meet good ol' Jamie when he's singing in his school choir. Later as we get into the movie we learn that he has a extreme fascination with planes. Jamie is a young, sheltered boy that doesn't know much about the world. This all changes when he gets seperated from his parents in a huge crowd of people running away from the attacks that Japan is putting upon China. After this moment he realizes that he must fend for himself. He later comes across two americans one named Baisey, and another man, who take him under his wing. For a while they give him what seems to be shelter, and make him feel as though he belongs. Jamie then feels as though he wants to be an "American". Despite the fact that he wants the Japanese to win because of their planes.

Throughout this entire movie Jame an already confused boy struggles to find his own identity due to the fact that he's British living in China. He also demonstrates his confusion by cheering for the Japanese due to the fact that he loves their planes. He knows that if the Japanese win the war that he's likely to never find his family again. Even though this is true he wants the japanese to win because the feels at one with their planes. As long as their planes fly so does his soul. This all changes when America finally stepped into the war and Jamie saw the americans flying his favorite plane of all time a P-51 "Cadillac Of The Sky". He jumped ship and began to root for the Americans!

Over the course of time that Jamie was living on his own he needed to find shelter. He originally went back home due to his instincts. That worked until began to run out of food, and realized thats nobody was coming back. He then went in search of finding food when he found Baisey who took him to his temporary home. From there they went to the concentration camp that was set up for the British people living in China. Then at the end of the movie he found his true home when he found his parents.

In conclusion this young british boy went through basic hell trying to find his inner being. He went from loving the British, to the Japanse, then later the Americans. Throughout all of this soul searching he stayed true to his original love, his love for planes. He truly laid his soul down to rest when he saw his favorite plane. He found himself deep down, he found identity and eventually found a place for his shelter no matter how many times it changed. This movie was extremely great.

NHD Reflection

1. Topic.
For NHD i worked with Marquis. He was interested in my topic so we decided to pair up and do a exhibit. My topic was on unit 731.

2. Details
I learned that Unit 731 was when the Japanese conducted chemical warefare and live human testing. It happened over in China and Japan during World War II. The American connection to the topic was that the United States gave the scientists a break if in exchange for their information.
Working in a group actually was nice, it could've been better since my partner was MARQUIS! But he came through and did what he had to do. Even though we argued sometimes, it was never serious he was a good partner. Our project came out really good from my point of view.
The whole entire NHD process this year was very calm. I felt that this year it was slow and gay. I only say this because it seemed as though the entire thing was completely unorganized .I didn't like that fact that we had the competition held in our school.


3. Successes
Marquis and I had a lot of success we found a lot of useful images. The greatest accomplishment that we achieved was that we found information, and documentation that actually proved the connected the united states' had with Japan. Must files were extremely confidential but leaked on the internet.

4. Challenges
The biggest challenge was attempting to find the documents that connected the united states some how. Even though my partner and I successfully did so. Another challenge that we had was finding an image that we could agree to put on the board. THere were a lot of Gory, and disturbing images that we had to choose from. We had to tame what we put on our board but get our point across at the same time. I can successfully say that we did come to an agreement.

5. Changes and suggestions for next year.
A challenge that may come up next year is finding a partner and a topic.
Suggestion is don't work with your friends. I saw a lot of fights this year.

EXTRA, EXTRA Read ALL ABOUT IT!

Author: Jay Walton
Published: December 12, 1931
Time Magazine

Chicago Freenzy

A sudden increase in crime has been sprouting in Chicago. There has been an outrageous amount of criminal activity down in the southside. Murders, robberies, assults, and more straight up chaos have been going on! What is this possible source? Well it never started until these niggers started getting some advantages. Give a nigger an inch and they'll take a mile.

New studies have shown that the crimes occuring in Chicago have taken a signficant increase. Great Chicago families such as the Daltons, the Washingtons, and Bankermins have experienced at least one heinous crime. Each family employed at least one negro person in their household and something terrible occured after the niggers got there. Even the philanthropist Mr.Dalton, who gives charity money to "black schools" was effected. A man by the name of Bigger "The Nigger" Thomas is believed to be the cause of Mary Daltons death. He raped Mary before killing her and burned her body to hide the evidence of the rape. He should be placed to the death sentence immediately without trail. Those Niggers down the southside better watch their backs.

Many men such has Mr. Tom Isley, and Richard Messenger have reportly been attacked by a group of negro men. Not only have these negros attacked whites but their own population as well. Whats the point of them attacking us when they keep destroying eachother so well?

A young negro woman of the name Bessie was found raped and body was mutilated by what seems to have been a brick. A LeRoy Jones, head of a negro gang went to "war" with an opposing negro gang killing at least 30 men. These Negro's are robbing, killing, and attacking each other so much its riduclous. Why should us white folks attempt to stop them when they'll eventually kill themselves off? Let those stupid Coon's get rid of themselves so that our world will be a better place.

Negro's have been bringing our white america down and this is best seen in the south side of Chicago. They have killed, robbed, and performed more hectic crimes. This needs to end! They are giving us a bad name. So lets all stick up for whats right and protect our people while they kill theirs.



** This was written to imitate the style of writing, Time Magazine utilized in the 1930's.

Chapter 5 "A Kiss Of Death"

Bigger, Mary Dalton and her boyfriend Jan all go out to eat agianst Biggers will of course. They drink and Bigger talks about the past and his childhood. Bigger opened up about his dad dying. Jan and Mary tell bigger that the really want to become friends with him. When there done eating everyone is really drunk. Bigger drove Jan home and took Mary in the house. Bigger started to get turned on by Mary when he takes her to her room and starts to touch her. He laid her down on the bed and kissed her just then Mrs. Dalton walked in the room. Bigger knew she was blind and couldn't see anything so he puts a pillow up to Mary's mouth so she couldn't say anything or move. He then accidently kills Mary. Just when Mary dies, Mrs.Dalton kneels down and prays to the lord to watch over her child and stop her from commiting horrible deeds.

Analysis:
I think that the deepest part of this entire chapter is the time where Mary dies. Just as she dies her mother prays for the lord to watch over her, not knowing she's dying. One of the best parts of the book.

Chapter 1 "WAKE UP"!

Chapter 1:
WAKE UP!

This chapter starts in Bigger Thomas' house. Him and his family wake to the sound of an alarm clock going off. They are then terrorized by a large black rat running back and forth across the floor. Bigger, with the help of his brother kill the rat that made his sister faint. Bigger and his mother later have a talk with each other. She yells at him about where he is in life. She tells him that he needs to start acting like a man and get with his responsiblities instead of sitting around doing nothing. The family needs extra money coming in and he's not doing anything about it. They then talk about a great job that he has the oppurunity to take he agree's to it.

Analysis:
I believe that the alarm clock that goes off is a sign for Bigger, along with the rest of the world to wake up! They must wake up and see what is happening in black america. The fact that bigger kills the rat instead of throwing it outside shows how he handles pressure and his own fears. By Killing. He's too afraid to own up to his responsiblites as man and is a true coward.

Blooms Taxonomy Questions.

Blooms Taxonomy.

Knowledge
1) Who was speaking to mary not knowing that she was slowly dying?


Comprehension
2) Who were the two key characters in planning the Robbery?

Bigger & Guss

Application
3. What questions would you ask of Bigger Thomas, if you had the chance to meet him?

If I had the to meet Bigger Thomas I would ask him,
Why did you try to rape Mary Dalton? Also does he think of himself more of a man by killing innocent helpless women.


Analysis
4. The relationship between bigger and his mother is obviously rocky. In the first chapter, she tells himt hat he’s a dissapointment and needs to do something in his life. He ignores her and continues with his regular thought process. What do you see as other possible outcomes of her reasoning?

He could actually get up and listen to her. Do something with his life, if he did he would not have done the evil things he did. He would’ve been able to feel like a man by taking the responsibility that a man owns up to.


Synthesis
5.What would happen if you accidently killed someone?

If I was in Bigger Thomas's place I would set out a very elaborate plan.
I personally would have to think about it.
I’d think about the type of person it was, if they were type of person that would be widely missed or not. If it was someone that nobody would go looking after and I knew that I could get away with then I would probably try and find away to get out of it. I would have to put together an alliby, and get people to cover for me. I would then attempt to dispose of the body and look as if it was a robbery of some sort.
That is what i would do if I was in BIgger Thomas's place. First see if I could get away with it, then set up the perfect alliby with people that would cover for me. I'd then attempt to dispose of the body making it look like another crime had taken place.

Evaluation
6. What do you think of Bigger Thomas as a person, is he a bad person?
He has stolen, killed, lied, and decieved many people.
I personally don't believe that he is a bad person. I think that he's a coward. He's someone that feels he needs to prove himself to others because he doesn't truly know who he is. A prime example of this is the chapter where he and Gus got into an arguement about robbing the white man. Bigger was very arguementive because he deep inside he was afraid. Everyone has fears and have to find themeselves in life. Bigger Thomas has not done such in life.
He's very confused and doesn't what path he wants to complete. One minute he's robbing a person the next he's working an honest job.
So in conclusion. I do not think that Bigger is a bad person. He's just confused, and doesn't know where he belongs in life. He's still going through phases in his life.

English

Sat words

Word:Astonished (adj.)
Definition: To fill with sudden wonder or amazement.
Synonym: Surprise; Thrilled
Antonym:


Word: Desolate (adj)
Definition: Barren or laid waste; secluded; devastated: A treeless, desolate landscape.
Synonym: Ravaged; Lonesome
Antonym: Delighted, Happy

Religion In School

Religion in schools. This has been a very conterversal topic, throughout the our nation. There are schools in the world that major in specific topics such as religion. There are schools for every major religion in the world.




"On February 7, 2003, the Secretary issued guidance on constitutionally protected prayer in public elementary and secondary schools. This guidance explains the responsibilities of state educational agencies and local educational agencies with respect to this aspect of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001."

NHD Blog

For NHD im working with Marquis and our topic is Unit 731.
Unit 731 was about Japanese warfare. Which is when the Japanese tested on humans during world war 2.

Links
http://www.crimesofwar.org/thebook/medical-experiments.html

http://people.howstuffworks.com/axis-conquers-philippines8.htm

http://www.geocities.com/wallstreet/floor/9597/med.html

http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=23637

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDQ/is_2000_August_14/ai_64163079