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.