Journal 4_3

Question from last week:

As of September 2010, niether side was willing to compromise their originial positions on the conflict.  Israel is unwilling to split Jerusalem, saying that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel."  The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital because it contains the third most holy shrine in the Islamic faith, even though it was originally controlled by Jordan before the Six Day War. 

In Palestine, just a few days ago, two major political factions--the Farah and Hamas--signed a peace agreement.  Alothough this is not necessarily dealing with Israel, Palestine's new leadership should be elected in 2012 under both political factions.  Before the peace talks, these two parties had been competing among palestine, taking away from any chance at peace between Israel and Palestine.  Perhaps the new Palestinian government will be able to reach a compromise with Israel.

This week in class:

We began watching the show "30 days" where a West Virginian man goes to live in Deerfield, Michigan--the Muslim capital in the United States.  I think this show is controversial and important for Americans to see. So many of us live in fear of the Arabs and Muslims, when really they are people just like us!  It is hard to not be xenophobic in today's society, but one must keep in mind that only the extremists are out doing the terrorist attacks.  Many muslims integrate into society with us.  Others are harmless, and are simply preserving a culture that millions of people love and treasure around the world. 

Question for next week:
What muslim community is there in Richmond, Virginia?

Sources:

"BBC News - Middle East Peace Talks: Where They Stand." BBC - Homepage. Web. 01 May 2011. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11138790>.

Question from last week:
Find another international peace-making operation that has worked in the past or is working in the present.  What is it about?


An organization I found is called the "International Peace Research Association."  IPRA has been working and researching issues in the world and how to create sustainable world peace since 1964.  Through the collaboration professors, political leaders and other world leaders they create publications, conferences and peace eduation to bring throghout the world in over 200 countries. 

Based out of Belgium, it has a much stronger influence in Europe, however, I found access to one of their journals through George Mason Univeristy.  The current Secretary Journal, Keven Clements, was appointed in 2010 and has begun to branch the organization out more.  There are several committees and working groups that have different professional minds working toward the common goal of peace.  A few of these committes include:

Art and Peace Commission Conflict Resolution and Peace-Building Commission Eastern Europe Commission Earth Charter Commission Forced Migration Commission Gender and Peace Commission Global Political Economy Commission Indigenous Peoples' Rights Commission Internal Conflicts Commission International Human Rights Commission Nonviolence Commission Peace Culture and Communications Commission Peace Education Commission Peace History Commission Peace Journalism Commission Peace Movements Commission Peace Theories Commission Reconciliation Commission Religion and Peace Commission Security and Disarmament Commission Youth and Peace Commission

This week in class:

This week in class we finished the documentary "Promises."  It was interesting to see the ending and what came of the children after the intial interviews.  They all changed signicantly in the interviews after the film.  When the children, two Israeli and several Palestinain, met in the film, they realized that the two races can coincide and live together.  That no matter their differences, many of them wanted to be friends.  They were all children, with the common pure purpose of finding cooperation and peace.  I found it interesting that only two Israeli children, who were twins, wanted to meet the Palestinian children and yet there were at least four or five palestians ready to meet and converse with the Israelis.  It is evident who wants change and who wants to ignore the conflict.  One Israeli boy, when asked if he wanted to converse with the Israelis, told the camera he had no interest.  Either way, the meeting was successful in the film.  However, it was identified that after the meeting the children would go their separate ways and their stride to peace would be forgotten.  That is exactly what happened, and several years later, the Israelis are serving in the army and the Palestinians and seperated and still supressed.  It is a realistic, meaningful ending.  Something must be done to stop the circle of the Palestinian conflict.  Parents teach their children to hate the other race, and by the time they are grown, they do.

This is why I think that the filmmakers kept showing a shot of a tire rolling through the dirt, never stopping, caught on fire.  The Iranian-Palestinian conflict is a reocurring cycle of hatred.  The only thing that can break it is a new generation who is able to cooperate and learn from each other.  Palestinians and Israelis should be able to share the land and their holylands in peace.  Much of the land that the Israelis took from the Palestinians is not even being used!  Why should it matter if the land was returned to those who owned it before? 

In a completely different discussion, I vacationed in St. Augustine, Florida over springbreak this year.  While there, I realized that they was a strong deaf community in the town.  There is a prestigious deaf school there and due to our viewing of the documentary about the Cochlear Implant, I was immediately interested about these people.  I ended up seeing a group of twenty deaf students on the beach for three days in a row.  I played soccer with one who had a cochlear implant and could understand me perfectly.  It was interesting to see something we learned in class so very real.

Question for next week:
What is the current situation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Sources:

The Promises Film Project. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. http://www.promisesproject.org/.

International Peace Research Association." Redirect. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. http://soc.kuleuven.be/iieb/ipraweb/index.php?action=page.

CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. http://www.cnn.com/.]

Journal 3_9

This weekend...: TEDxTeen

I walked into the TED conference not knowing what to expect.  I arrived early and realized how many different types of people were there.  I had no idea this was going to be an international event, or that all the people would look so professional.  It was daunting.  And then, out of nowhere, this little teeny bopper girls comes over to me.  I immediately felt relaxed...until she asked me, as serious as can be, "so...What do YOU do!?"  I replied that I was a high school student in virginia, and she repeated her question, "No, but what do you DO?"  I didn't know how to respond.  Thoughts raced through my head: what does she mean? whats she trying to ask?  What DO I DO?? It was a question I soon realized I needed to answer. 

My trip to TED made me understand how tangible global change really is.  The idea of kids younger than me and other young women and men going out and taking control of the future is infectious.  These speakers before me were not very different from myself, and had taken the intiative.  They provided examples, advice and connections to becoming an activist.

One man, an artist in New York City, gave me the idea of how the purest meaning of an idea or message will become contagious.  His message: Love me, has spread throughout New York City in graffiti and can now be found all over the world.  His simple idea can be teh same as Farah Pandith's (another speaker at the conference) "Youthquake."  A ripple effect young people have on society through social media and the information age.  A theme throughout the conference was how the connections on line have broke division and barriar in creating social change.  It has also elimanated a strong factor of fear.  One of my favorite speakers, Jeremey Heimans stressed the importance of the web over social change. Politicians are chanied by compting parties and re-elections.  They are a face in the public eye: an effective movement is not a face, but an idea.  A true social innovator, a disruptive innovator, someone who solves problems with news inventions and ideals instead of directly solving the problem--is effective.  These people are most effective when they are a so-called "anonymous extraoridanary," letting their idea lead instead of themselves. 

The first woman I met at TED, Tammy Tibbets, is a prime example of this new-age leader and changer.  She is the social media worker for Seventeen Magazine by day, and presdient of her own non-profit organization "She's the First" by night.  Shes's the First is an organization celebrating young women in education or the working world.  They partner with schools in Uganda, India and Tunsinia- to name a few.  Tammy was a college graduate, but her story made this life and actions seem so accesible.

These men and women have led me to my own beliefs about creating change.  They have made me feel as if I can do something.  That I need to focus on something.  That I can be the change they are, and that I really need to get going on it.

Creativity is key to the process.  Without a creative mind, and the idea of accepting failures with perserverence you will never achieve your goal.  The creative, ready and active minds of youth today are leading the world.  The effective change happening is inevitable.  Revolutions, such as the Egyptian Revolution, have been spurred by the ideas flowing at this conference.  Our generation has more technology and means to create movements than any previous generation.  Innovation, however, is the key to a progressive and prosperous future.  One quote that they showed at the conference that stuck with me was a quote by Steve Jobs: "The difference between a leader and a follower is innovation."  To be a leader today, you don't need to get up on a podium and make some big long speech and run for election, you need to be active.  You need to be communative.  You need to let an idea speak for itself.  And if your idea is good enough, it will create the change it needs to.

I have to begin to answer the question of: What do I do?  Right now, I am creating a sufficient list to What will I do?  I want to spread my ideas about the power of youth that I learned from this conference.  I want other kids to see that how plausbile it is to really, actually, change the world. 

Journal 4_1

Question from last week:
Research one of the TEDxTeen speakers.  What are they doing?  How did their talk relate to the infromation on the web?



Jeremy Hermiens, a speaker at TEDxTeen, is actually very similar to how he spoke to how he is on paper.  His work includes, purpose.org, LIVESTRONG campaign, Avaaz.org and GetUp.org.  He is from Australia, and talked mainly about creating a movement that is about the people, not a leader.  He has sucessfully done this in his work.  Through his campaigns and websites, he has given the people the means to create political revolutions and "get-up" in their own country.  He has made a campaign about fighting cancer about a band, not a figurehead. 

This week in class:

This week in class we did a few various activities--all of which I can relate back to my experience at TED.  The first class Kari and I spent a lot of time talking to everyone about everything we learned and how excite we were about TED.  I wish that the other students could imagine just how spectacular that conference was.  We also watched a TED talk this week about a french artist who changed the world with huge photographed posters of people's faces in need.  He was spreading the stories of the people of drug-ridden towns in Africa and poverty districts of Paris.  It was an amazing project, and segwayed perfectly into our next documentary, "Promises," which is centered around the Isreali-Palestinian conflict.

My favorite part about what we did this week was relating what the French artist did in Palestine to the documentary, "Promises."  Both have the same message.  The French artists decided to take you posters of Israeli and Palestinian people and post them anywhere with high visibility.  The project was called "Face to Face" because he would always post the a picture of an Israeli and a picture of a Palestinian--Face to Face.  When he asked the citizens which was which, most could not tell.  In Promises, the filmmaker is comparing the childhoods of several children who live within 20 mintues of each other, and yet lead different lives.  Though we have not finished the documentary yet, it would be interesting of the documentary's main point was that the two chilhoods were relatively similar except for religion. 

It is interesting to me that so many regions and countries where much of the culure is the same, is where fighting begins.  The Mexican drug wars are a good example of this.  Gangs, who share the same heritage, language, culture and country, are ravaging their homeland because of drugs.  They are bringing their children, their future, into the conflict and not thinking twice about it.  What would happen, if the Face to Face project compared two leaders of different factions of the drug war?  They are so similar, they have the same goals, why does humanity always have to fight?

Question for next week:
Find another international peace-making operation that has worked in the past or is working in the present.  What is it about?   

Sources
Jeremy Heimans." TEDxTeen.com. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. http://www.tedxteen.com/jeremy-heimans.

"Avaaz - The World in Action." Web. 12 Apr. 2011. http://www.avaaz.org/en.

The Promises Film Project. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. <http://www.promisesproject.org/>.

Journal 3_8

Question from last week:
Find a phenomenom of the natural world and how it works.  What ethical environmental challenges come from this phenomeon?

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/03/25/lah.japan.town.leaders.gone.cnn

This video is one of many of the natural disaster that took place in Japan this past week.  The earthquake and tsunami were two of the most extreme natural disasters seen in a long time.  Astronomers believe the quake and tsuanmi were so severe because the moon was closer to the earth than it has been in twenty years, causing the tides to change drastically.  Japan is also situated on a fault line.  The destruction was already massive, but then nuclear plant problems increased the damage even more.  As the destruction caused lack of available water in the cooling systems of Japan's nuclear plants, more explosions caused radiation and destruction.  Right now, the radiation in Japan's sea water is 1,250 times the normal amount. 


Many Japanese have been faced with the dillema to stay and help or leave their hometown and country.  Staying with that kind of exposed radiation is dangerous for the human body, and yet some people don't know anywhere else but their small towns in Japan.  It is a tragic loss of an emerging country.  The world sends hope to those survivors as they make life changing decisions.

This week in class:

A) This week we began the study and watching of a documentary about the deaf community and a new invention called the cochlear implant.  A cochlear implant, or bionic ear, is a surgically implanted electornic device that provides a sens of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing.  Many deaf, especially young children, are beginning to turn toward this device as a means of hearing.  The younger a person has the implant, the more successful it is.  This documentary focuses on the debate between two deaf parents allowing their five year old to recieve the surgery.  The father is against the surgery, as he believes that the deaf community is more beneifical and that his daughter can find a home within that specific culture and community, while the mother think it may be beneficial for her daughter. 

B) As a "hearing person" I know I don't fully understand why a deaf person would want to remain deaf.  The father says that he, "likes being deaf, it's peaceful."  But he also believes that life started for him when he learned sign language, his form of communication.  Though this family seems to get along fine with sign language, in today's society communication and information rule, and this five year old could learn to speak the way that the rest of the world does, what is the harm in that?  Today, over 188,000 people have recieved the surgery sucessfully, so why not give it a try?  It is a completely different perspective.  Before this documentary, I never knew the extent of deaf culture and deaf communities.

C) To bring another disability into the discussion, my family has a family friend who is blind.  She has been blind since she was four years old, and can only sense when it is light or dark outside with her vision.  She is also a graduate of Jullliard and a professional pianist and composer.  She lives with another "legally blind" man and they take care of each other.  Their culture of blind muscians is strong, and they are happy people.  When I think of them, I understand the point of the father of the deaf child in the documentary.

Question for next week:
Is there a deaf community in Richmond?  What kind of work do they do?

Sources:

"Radiation in Seawater off Nuclear Plant Spikes to 1,250 times Normal - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 26 Mar. 2011. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/26/japan.nuclear.disaster/index.html.

Cochlear Implant." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 26 Mar. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant.

Herskovitz, Jon, and Paul Eckert. "Tsunami and Radiation May Sink Japanese Fishermen| Reuters." Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters.com. 26 Mar. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2011. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/26/us-quake-japan-fishing-idUSTRE72P0ZK20110326>.

Journal 3_7

Question for next week:
Find a news article that interests you.  What interests you about it?  How does it effect the rest of the world?


 As we talked about new inventions in class this week, I stumbled upon this "Light Radio" which is going to revolutionize the cell phone industry.  Many of the lead phone companies are going to being using this technology.  Basically, this 2.3 centimeter rubix cube sized box will become the replacement for old, inefficient cell phone towers.  They can be placed anywhere with their size, and cell phone companies wiill be able to control them virtually.  It will be saving money and time for everyone.

This week in class:

A) This week in class we discussed the ideas of new inventions and how our world will revolutionize in the next years.  I was asked to decide what technology I relied on most...and I honestly couldn't give a straight answer.  To me, technolgoy is a part of every day life.  Half the time I'm using it I don't even give it a second thought.  Cell phone, laptop, printer, wireless internet, GPS, cars, radio...all these things I use on a dialy basis and don't give more than two seconds thought to.

B) Throughout class, we also watched an amazing TED talk about an inventor merged the world of the computer with the physical world.  This groundbreaking idea is where technology should be headed in the future.  Though technology is so much more efficient and necessary in todays modern world, one of my greatest fears is that the human race will succumb to sitting in front of screens all day.  This inventor found a way to connect that screen with traditional moving around and exploring the physical world with the virtual at hand. 

C) The most important new technology we can create in the generation is a better rechargeable battery.  This will make electric cars affordable and effect the green movenment greatly.  Smartphones have a battery life of 4 hours!  How ridiculous is that!?

Question for next week:
Find a phenomenom of the natural world and how it works.

Sources:

Goldman, David. "LightRadio: The Tiny Cube That Could save Wireless - Mar. 21, 2011." Business, Financial, Personal Finance News - CNNMoney.com. 21 Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/21/technology/light_radio/?npt=NP1.

 

TED: Ideas worth Spreading. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.ted.com/.

 

Benway.

Question for next week:

Journal 3_6

Question from last week:
Research for my Hero Imagination Project about successful mentor programs for children who have been through traumatic situations, such as Rwanda.  What methods did they use?  What were their mentors like?

There are thousands of mentors programs connected to the fellowship on mentoring.org.  There are twenty on that site just from Richmond.  It's amazing to me how many there are and yet how they must not be that effective.  I also talked to my aunt who is a "big sister" mentor in New York City.  She and her little sister, and girl with a hard life at 18 years old, meet twice a month.  My aunt helps her with jobs, taxes, finding people to help sit her kids etc.  She says that she has learned so much from her little sister, and believes that the girl has beneffited a lot from the relationship.

I think that the New York City big brother/big sister program is a fairly effective way to mentor.  My aunt said it was easy to sign up and find someone she was compatible with, and that they have helped each other survive life in the big city for over a year now.

This week in class:

a) This week in class we talked about Tank Man and Tianamen square. Though I missed a lot of class this week, the sections of the Tank Man lesson I got to see were very interesting.  Tank man is a symbol of a citizen standing up to communist China for a voice and better standards of living.  In a peaceful protest, he sparked what turned into at first the biggest peaceful protest in China, to the most bloody massacre of the modern age.

B)  Learning about China was very interesting to me.  The idea of the mass production and focus toward economics is mindblowing.  Having entire cities dedicated simply to one industry is effective and efficient, but makes life in China very mundane for its citizens.  When the documentary we watched in class interviewed three chinese women between the ages of 17 and 22, my perspective changed drastically.  These women worked in a factory where they sewed one line of stiches on to pillow cases for twelve or thirteen hours each day for very low pay.  The company provided them with room and board, and so all the money they made was shipped back to their families hundreds of miles away.  What a selfless, unfufilling, mundane existence!  Why has the world come to this? The other thing that fascinated me about China was the idea that the top students at the University of Beijing had no idea about Tianamenen Sqaure, the Tank Man held no resemblence to them.  How does China believe they will shape their new generation of world leaders if they are not fully informed on the issues of the past, present and future. 

C) It is a known fact that the U.S government keeps information and government projects from the citizens it watches over.  My question is: are we as bad as China if our government does not keep us fully informed?  In a democracy, aren't the people supposed to be aware of the government's actions and be able to vote on them at all times?  What goes on behind the doors of congress?  Is it unethical?  I believe that in some ways, yes, it is unethical, but also pratical.  It is for the greater good.  The confindential information keeps our country safe.

Question for next week:
Find a news article that interests you.  What interests you about it?  How does it effect the rest of the world?

Sources:

"Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City." Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.bigsnyc.org/index.php.

 

"FRONTLINE: the Tank Man | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/.

 

MENTOR. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. <http://www.mentoring.org/>.