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/>.

Journal 3_5

Question for next week:Find a TED talk that is particularly interesting to you.  What is it?  Why did you pick it?  What can be done with it?

This talk is not what I was looking for when I thought of the question last week, and I know I have already talked about Wael Ghonim, but this talk connects with so much we have talked about in the last few weeks that I had to write about it.  Wael Ghonim was one of the leaders in bringing the Egyptian people through technology in order to start the Egyptian Revolution.  He is an inspiritng figure and a great example of the power of youth and new technology. 

In his TED talk, Ghonim talks about the phsycological barrier of fear.  As we studied weeks ago in Ethics through the Solomon Acsh Experiment and Milgram Experient.  Both these experiements prove exactly what Ghonim is saying: that with the use of new technologies and virtual communications, the people of Egypt broke the barrier of fear and were able to revolutionize successfully.

This week in class:
A) This week in class we are learned about the Rwandan genocide.  The genoicde is one of the most terrible things to ever occur in human history.  I must admit, the footage of the documentary we watched shocked me.  The brutalness of killing with machetes and leaving dead bodies on the road is just completely foregin to me. 

B) The most interesting aspect of our untit was the letter sent by a Rwandan to the U.N that described what was going on in Rwanda at that time.  It amazes me that even with that letter, the U.N decided to pull toops out of the country and not supply the remaining troops with more supplies.  I do not believe that the United States should necessarily be to blame for not intervening, even though it is a responsibility of a superpower, but the U.N. should have certaintly advocated more peacekeeping troops to at least save more innocent lives.

B) To compare the genocide to a personal story,  last friday, March 4, 2010 I witnessed something that will stick with me for a long time.  My friends and I were driving to a birthday party on a Friday night, when there was a road block with several police cars stopping us from getting where we need to go.  We had to take a detour and turn around and go back the other way.  When we passed by on the other side of the road, we witnessed a dead body laying in the middle of the street.  The body we saw was a man who had been hit by a car.  The paramedics were already placing a white sheet over him, and the sheet was already stained with blood.  It was a tradgedy and one of the most shocking things I've ever seen.  My friend who was driving had to pull over, none of us had ever witnessed a dead body before...espeically in the street.  When I think of the children in Rwanda, and the footage I saw in the documentary, I wonder how they must have been affected.  One covered body will stay with my friends and I for a long time, if not forever.  What did the children, men and women of Rwanda do?

Question for Next 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?

Sources:

"Wael Ghonim: Inside the Egyptian Revolution | Video on TED.com." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. http://www.ted.com/talks/wael_ghonim_inside_the_egyptian_revolution.html.

 

"BBC NEWS | Africa | Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened." BBC News - Home. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1288230.stm.

 

"Solomon Asch, Opinions and Social Pressure (1955)." Panarchy.org : Index. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://www.panarchy.org/asch/social.pressure.1955.html>.

Journal 3_3

Question from last week:
Follow the story of Yemen's protest. Are there any other protests in the Middle East as well that are sparked from Egypt?
To answer the second part of the question first, CNN has complied a large list of uprisings that have resulted from the Tunsinia and Egyptian protests over the past month.  Uprisings are relevents in the following countries according to CNN:  Sudan, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, Algeria, Palestinian territories, Libya, Bahrian, and Libya.  Though the success of most of these uprisings has not yet come, many have become violent.  Most protests are lead by youth and students who are enraged by the government or economy in the country.

Yemen, is just one specific example of this crisis.  There, the protests turned violent quickily. Within the first few days, 12 were dead and many more in serious condition.  Now, hundreds of anti-government protesters gathered Sunday near a university at the Yemeni capital for a 10th consecutive day, witnesses said on February 20th.  Some of them chanted, "First Mubarak, now Ali," referring to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Hosni Mubarak, who recently resigned as president of Egypt after nearly 30 years in power. Pro-government demonstrators were also gathering near Sanaa University, according to Adnan Al-Nahari, a student at the campus.  So far nothing else has been accomplished.

This week in class:

 This week, take samll occasions when you have the oppurtunity to speak up, go for it.  Then in your journal, write about how it went.  What did you learn?  Give yourself feedback.

This week was a busy week for me.  Finishing my first day of softball tryouts today and interviewing for leadership a few days ago are two highlights where I was put in a position where I had to speak up.  During interviewing for leadership, I was required to ask a question every interview.  It's not that I minded asking a quesiton, and by the third interview I was having so much fun I didn't even notice.  But the first interview I was so nervous...I don't know why I but I felt like I was being interviewed.  I was so awkward and did not make that interview any easier for the girl I was interviewing...but once I broke through and became confident, I can confidently say my interview room was very successful.  The same thing happened in my softball tryout today.  Once I finally broke through and "stepped up," during the tryout, my confidence skyrocketed.  My performance increased because I was calm and focused. 

I think the main thing I learned from these two experiences was that stepping up gives one a sense of accomplishment, and that accomplishment leads to confidence and better actions.  Confidence is something that I lack in from time to time, and finding the amount of confidence needed is not always there.  With time, however, I think that that confidence barrier will wear down, and the stepping up will come naturally.  This will make me a better citizen, more proactive person, and much better accomplished.  Stepping up is like starting a wheel at a top of a hill, the second you get it rolling, it speeds up and speeds up as it gains momentum. 

The "step up" program from the University of Arizona would make for a great capstone project, especially for incoming freshman and sophomores.  However, I personally don't like how it is catared to student athletes.  It should be catered to everyone.  The idea is great, the implementation of it is lacking.  With a little work I think this program is something that could be very effective and also greatly needed in high schools today.

Question for next week:
Find a TED talk that is particularly interesting to you.  What is it?  Why did you pick it?  What can be done with it?

Sources:

Heroic Imagination Project — Transforming Compassion into Heroic Action. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. http://www.heroicimagination.org/.

 

"N. Africa, Mideast Protests – Gadhafi: I'm Still Here – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs." This Just In - CNN.com Blogs. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/21/live-blogging-north-africa-middle-east-protests/?iref=allsearch.

 

"Strategies for Effective Helping | Students." STEP UP! A Prosocial Behavior / Bystander Intervention Program for Students. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://www.stepupprogram.org/students/strategies/>.

Journal 3_2

Question from last week:

What's the new status on Egypt?  Where does the U.S stand?

After watching a 60 minutes special tonight on television, I learned some useful information on how the Egypt revolution got started, what is happening now, and what will happen in the future. Wael Ghonim is a Google executive in Egypt that is responsible for the beginning of this history-changing revolution.  Using social media: facebook, twitter, etc. he was able to spur an entire country into Tahir square to rebel against an oppresive regime of Mubarak.  He told 60 minutes that the entire thing started with a campaign of rebellion caused by the death of man who was beaten by the police.  Ghonim started a facebook page that united Egypt against the government, and from there, told his followers to meet in Tahir Square. 

Now, 18 days later, Mubarak has resigned and a new military government has taken power in Egypt with the promise of demeocracy in the days to come.  The people of Egypt are happy, and thankful for the United States' influence on Mubarak resigning, however, during the interview Ghonim stated "we are thankful for the US and Obama's influence, but you have done your work, and now you should get out."  The Egyptians want to finally be independent of outer influences.  Consequently, today there was an uprising in Yemen very similar to the one in Egypt.  The protesters chanted "First Mubarak, now Ali."  When asked how other middle-eastern autocrats or dictators should feel about the Eyptian revolution, Ghonim replied "You should be very afraid."  As such, Ali is probably in a panic over Yemen as the people of the middle-east revolt against their oppressive regimes.

This week in class:

A) This week we studied Ethics and Social Psychology through the examination of famous social experiments such as The Milgram Experience, The Asch Experiement and the Standford Prison Experiment.  Though very different, all the experiments target the reactions of human nature in challenging situations.  The Milgram Experiment, conducted in 1961-1962 at Yale by Stanley Milgram, tested the effect of power of authority in a ethical demanding situation.  Two subjects are taken into a room, the "teacher" is the person being experimented on and the "student" is a fixed person.  The experimenter takes the student and teacher into two sepearte rooms, and sets up an electrical circuit that shocks the learner when a switch is pressed by the teacher.  The teacher is instructed by the experimenter to shock the learner every time they get a wrong answer, and the shock level moves up every time.  The learner purposely gets answers wrong to test the largest shock the teacher will administer them, even when they hear signs of discomfort from the learner.  The experiment showed that many teachers moved on because of the power of authority over the experimenter, and the reason was because they didn't think they were responsible for the harm of the learner.  As long as the responsibility was put elsewhere, many people did not think about the harm to the learner. 

B) The Second Experiement we studied was the Solomon Asch experiment, a study of conformity.  Similar to the Milgram Experiement, the Asch experiment tested the ability of a subject to stand by and assume responsibility for their answer, even if everyone else says a different answer that the subject knows is wrong.  Basically, these experiments show that in social physcology it is human nature to not assume responsibility even though it is the ethical thing to do.  Both experiements also tested with a partner, and with a partner the results drastically changed in favor of ethics.  With even one person agreeing with the subject in the ethical choice, the subject could follow through on the ethical choice with ease.  Humans are conformists and don't like taking full responsibility, that is the biggest problem with ethics and human nature today.

C) Applying the revolution in Egypt to these experiements easily compares.  Ghonim stated in the 60 minutes interview that the whole reason the revolution started was because people realized on social networking that there were other people who wanted the same thing.  Once the fear was broken, that there were too many people for most to be held responbile, and the power of conformity came into play, Tahir Square filled up. 

Question for next week:
Follow the story of Yemen's protest.  Are there any other protests in the Middle East as well that are sparked from Egypt?

Sources:

60 minutes, television ABC

Blass, Thomas. "The Man Who Shocked The World | Psychology Today." Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness Find a Therapist. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200203/the-man-who-shocked-the-world

"Solomon Asch, Opinions and Social Pressure (1955)." Panarchy.org : Index. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://www.panarchy.org/asch/social.pressure.1955.html>.