Lee McKinnis (57)
Kristina Marynczak (37)
Killian Noonan (36)
Melissa Castillo (32)
NikoVelazquez (27)
Shannon Ratzel (23)
Michelle Reyes (22)
Kyle Barczak (21)
Maura Bilek (21)
Susan Bayaa (21)
Project #5 A Story of Service. Pilgrim Faith food pantry
Project #5: A story of Service
Entering the Field:
I was running late as usual leaving me only an hour and a half before my Psychology class would start. I pull up to the Gothic Renaissance like church and am happy to find a parking spot right away. I step out of my car and notice groups of people rushing in and out of a doorway in the back of the church. I fallowed them, as I noticed the huge grocery bags they were carrying, I decided to fallow them. As I walked through the huge doors, down the stairs and into a darker hallway I felt a little uneasy not knowing what to expect. It smelled like an old person’s home. I thought to myself this is going to be the longest hour and a half of my life. It was eerily quiet as a walked into this small room. I looked over and immediately noticed three tables organized with sections of bread, canned goods and sweets, and about four or five people helping themselves to the items laid out. Then I walk into an old man with stern eyes and think to myself great this is the guy I have to interview, he probably won’t want to talk to me. Most older people don’t like people in their twenties. He looks at me and says “hey hun, you must be Katie from Moraine right? Have a seat I’ll talk with you in a moment.” I sat down on a burnt orange colored sofa that looked like it popped out of the seventies…along with the rest of the décor of the room. The older man walked back to the spot in the doorway where he greeted everyone who walked in at the same time keeping a close eye on the people helping themselves to the food. “Two loaves of bread and only one sweet this week Ed”, said the older man to one of the people. A petite little woman came scurrying up to me and sat down. She introduced herself as Grace, “I’m Russ’s wife. You must be Katie, nice to meet you.” I noticed as she spoke she had the body of an older women but, I couldn’t help but notice her shockingly bright blue eyes, were so filled with life. She had such a strong personality. It felt as if I were talking to someone in the twenties. I enjoyed talking to her about the pantry and learning more about her and her years of being an teacher, which is what she had spent most of her life doing before her and her husband retired and opened the pantry. After talking to Grace for a while, Russ the older man that had grated me at the door sat down next to me and introduced himself. They had a way about them that made me feel at home. I had felt as if I had known them for a while, even though I had just met them. I enjoyed being there and was interested in learning more about them and their ongoing mission to end hunger in the community.
Background and current story of Pilgrim Faith:
Grace and Russ have retired from their careers back in 1993. Grace was an elementary and junior high school teacher, and I’m not sure what Russ did exactly. I plan on finding that out tomorrow when I go back to volunteer again. Anyway, the couple had opened the pantry only a year after they had retired. They have been successfully running it ever since. Pilgrim faith acts as one of the main headquarters of food pantries in the south side. A lot of the Catholic schools and churches donate food to Pilgrim faith most donate the food once a month, others only once a year. Some of the schools that donate are Oak Lawn Bible School, St. Linus, St. Catherine, and St. Gerald. Russ and Grace get their bread supply from Wholesome foods, and Costco, and their sweets are donated from Peggy McGinnis, the manager and Starbucks on 103rd and Cicero Russ has a separate bank account he uses for donations given to the church to buy groceries. Just yesterday he spent over $680 on groceries alone. Due to the outrageous fall of the economy, the number of bags has plummeted from giving out only 3 or 4 bags a week back in 1995, now up to 79 to 80 bags. The couple has told me that they have been going through some hard times trying their best to supply people with food. But they always manage to pull through. Pilgrim Faith helps supply food for anyone who lives in Alsip, Burbank, Worth, Chicago Ridge, Oak Lawn, and Bridgeview. Every Tuesday, and Friday Grace and Russ get the usual people who come in, (despite the sign hanging that states FOR EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLY ONLY) they still don’t have the heart to turn down people that have been coming for years. This is easy to understand when they did state that most of the attendees are homeless or disables and can’t work. They don’t only run a pantry but they are also concerned with the issue of homelessness. Every Friday night the church offers dinner at 7pm, cots laid out in the church basement, with breakfast and lunch served the next day. They can serve 60 people for dinner, and have room for 40 people to spend the night. If they over exceed the number of people the volunteers themselves will drive the homeless to the church of Nazerine, were they can stay the night there. They offer these accommodations from October till the end of April.
Understanding the Culture:
While interviewing the couple that had run the pantry, I was able to talk to Ruth the churches secretary. She was a short middle aged woman with enough charisma to light up a room. Like the other that I have talked to I found it easy to talk to her as well. I suppose when you’re surrounded with people with good energy it rubs off on you too. Anyway, she had told me that she has been working with Grace and Russ for a few years and is also retired. The other three women who volunteer at Pilgrim Faith are older and take turns working, by switching weeks with each other. While listening to her I noticed piles and piles of canned goods meticulously organized into specific sections in the back of a tiny room. Then a tall thin man quickly moving boxes from one side to the other. Being the curious person that I am, I asked who he was and she said “oh that’s Andy, very busy Andy”. He noticed me staring at him, as he looked up he had to most sincere look on his face, smiled and walked away. “He doesn’t talk very much.” “He just keeps to himself and enjoys the work”. Ruth goes on; Andy had lost his second wife to cancer less than a year ago. They were married for quite some time and were very close. One of the priests at our church had asked Andy “what do you do to get over the grief?” He replied “I work every day to help people, that can’t help themselves”. This was surprised me, since I learned Andy celebrated with 89th birthday yesterday (Thursday the 12th). Ruth told me that Andy into work with a smile on his face and is always willing to go above and beyond to help Pilgrim Faith in any way. The three people that I have met allowed me to gain an insider’s perspective on the issue of hunger in the community. I am looking forward to learning more when I make my second trip to Pilgrim Faith. I was able to take a deeper look on the issue develop a firsthand understanding on huger and the actual number of people being affected. More importantly I was able to learn this through this experience rather than at GCFD. There I had talked to Volunteer coordinator, Owen briefly on the issue overall on hunger in the Chicago land now I have a perspective on the issue directly.
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Katie Murphy
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Katie Murphy
For this week’s journal entry I chose to write about the article ruptura: Acknowledging the lost subjects of the service learning study. This article caught my attention when the author had mentioned they had students write about the non for profit agencies they had volunteered at, and talking with one of the tutors from an adult literacy program. The reason why this had caught my attention was, because I had recently become an adult literacy tutor here at Moraine. The author asks the question of how we theorize the ethical complexities of service learning, or how do we as teachers encourage students to want to learn through experiences why service learning is important. He gives the definition of ruptura, which is a conflict that forces us to make a decision, to act or break away from the familiar. I have learned through experience that service learning is actually does force you to learn from something you are not familiar with, which in return you learn more about yourself. There are people that deserve to have someone help them weather its helping someone in need of a meal, or someone wanting to learn how to read, in order to read a story to their children. Everyone needs help at some point in their life. It’s up to you whether or not you’re willing to take a part from your busy life to help someone else. The author goes on to describe how ethnographers have the responsibility of representing people, in order for others to have a better understanding of them. The author states that people may not like volunteers or the idea of being helped or “giving back to the community” he then goes on to describe some of his students papers that they have written pertaining to the service learning projects their working on in class. One of the stories I liked most was a girl that took a trip to a day care. She asked herself the question of “if the children are homework what am I?” The author said that his students where making assumptions of the non for profit agencies, and recalling their own childhood experiences with day cares, at nice private schools. They realized they were different from the ones they are observing and assumed these children might not have the love and attention they had when they were young. Some of them were not “telling it like it is” they were only looking at it through their own middle class upbringing. He then goes on to understand that his students were placed for 20 hours in a setting were they weren’t comfortable in. He’s reminded of his childhood and goes on to describe other papers and how students were experiencing anxiety, and discomfort when working on the projects. That is understandable to have discomfort when you get the chance to realize the impact of social issues.
— Carrick Tracy, Himley Margaret, Jacobi Tobi. “Ruptura” Language and Learning Across the Discipline. Pg 298-308. http://www.splatter.writing101.net April 11, 2012. -
Katie Murphy
This week I chose to write about Chapter six, Existential Angst, Orgasm(s), and Jazz recognizing that All Writing Is Creative Writing. The first article in this chapter was interesting, because you first go on to talk about home schooling you son Aiden. You descried that he is only 5 and is and how you and your wife Chris are talking about his progressing development. While having a glass of wine she brings up that you should build a play house for him in the backyard. Even though you knew in the back of your mind that you are far from a construction builder type, you did not allow yourself to say you couldn’t do something. That is something everyone can learn from. I also find myself in the position that I do not have the type of personality to do something. I have learned that if you set your mind to something, it will get done. With that being said, you went ahead and built not just any play house, but one with a loft and grass for the roof…I’m sure your neighbors do think you’re crazy! Towards the end of the article you talk about how students first start out in your class saying that they are not creative and that they can’t write very well, it’s just not in their character. This goes along with your story of the play house sometimes people can shock themselves with what they can accomplish if they sat aside negative connotations. “Love will find a way” There are a lot of people that have tried to tell me who I am and what I can and cannot do. I agree that the only person’s voice that truly matters is your own. And that sometimes is the loudest voice telling us what we can’t do is our own. When you have the mind aspect of having not limits to what you can accomplish, you will surprise yourself every single day.
McGuire Michael, “Exstential Angst, Orgasm(s) and Jazz Recognizing that all Writing is Creative Writing.” WWR? pg 133 -135. -
Katie Murphy
For this week’s journal entry I would like to discuss the book I have read and the sequel, the Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins the book is now a well know motion picture. Millions of people across the county went to see the film Friday night. The film was shockingly rated pg13; it was very gory and terrifying almost in some parts. As usual the book was different from the movie itself. I found the book to be more interesting, because of the discretion of the characters and the book always described how the characters felt more than the movie. The huger games is a long story, but to cut it short, it consists of another world war which separated the United States into twelve separate districts ruled by one district. Each district has thousands of people. The interesting fact is that there are no longer classes of people there is only the district one which is the richest most powerful and then the rest of society. This reminds me of two specific eras the Renaissance era where they would have the upper class politicians and the middle, and lower class all one working class peasants. The country has been like this for over 75 years, they choose two contestants from each district to compete in the annual hunger games resulting in 25 contestants all together. Each person has to enter their name in a lottery and they pull out the names by random. The main character Katness whose father died in a mining accident, is left to take care of her unstable mother and younger sister Prim. Her younger sister’s name popped up in the lottery, Katness decided to volunteer in her position, knowing her sister wouldn’t make it through the games. Her and her parter Peeta go through out the games with many trials and tribulations they end up winning the games against all odds. The games seemed very unrealistic and ridiculous. Although the main characters will was what kept me interested. Her hunting skills are what kept her alive along with the fact that she is very smart. These were the things that kept me interested. It was devastating to read as the other contestants are murdered in the beginning, the small children didn’t have a chance.
Collins, Suzanne, The Hunger Games-
Prof McGuire
Connection to our class? Full MLA citation?
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Katie Murphy
This week’s journal entry on the article “the cycle of socialization” by Bobbie Harro, started out explaining the definition of oppression and how it effects everyone. When I started reading I thought that this is just another article one in a million on how someone wants others to understand the effect of a social issue they’re concerned about. I believed that the article was going to be very predictable, and not very interesting. Most people do have a good amount of knowledge about oppression and racism and everything else that is wrong with society…because, like the author stated “ we get socialization training on how to be” our entire lives are a result of our surroundings. Yes we live in a scary, unfair place at times. We don’t need someone to explain to an audience how we are affected and what goes on, it is not difficult to figure out. One can just walk outside their house to learn this. When the author stated that “there are social groups in which little or nothing is known, because they have not been considered important enough to study, some are seen as virtually invisible, gays, lesbians, transvestites, women, Jews, etc.” I agree with him that these groups are dehumanized, and “unlucky” I understand this, simply because I am a girl and it is not difficult to understand the cookie cutter image the media portrays every women should look like. Unfortunately, society knows that the computer generated models and actresses seen on television are not what they really look like, although they choose to agree with dehumanizing ads forcing society to see women as objects rather than a people with minds and feelings. Men are not the only ones to blame for things being the way they are. The women that choose to get breast implants, face lifts, Botox, are choosing to change their appearance to feel better about themselves. Therefore I disagree, I don’t feel unlucky that I was born a female, nor do I believe that I have to change the way I look to feel better about myself. I have more to offer than what I look like. This is also goes for anyone, anywhere, thinking a certain way about someone because of your perception of their looks, weather gay, strait, color of skin, does not have anything to do with who they are as a person. “Children do not have the ability to think for themselves. Therefore they conform to the views of their parents” and the people they are surrounded with. I have learned this in countless classes, but the one thing that truly made me understand this was with my niece, children take things “grownups” say literally, and they not only mirror our words, but also our actions, if they see you talking to different people and see you treating everyone the same, they will do the same. Leading by example is literally the only way kids will learn to listen. This is also a problem I see with “grownups” now a days, you would be surprised the extent of maturity some children exceed to their parents.
Harro, Bobbie, “The cycle of socialization”, p. 16- 21. 2012, splatter. writing101. Net -
Katie Murphy
For this weeks journal entry I would like to discuss the article that I had read in the news paper pertaining to Illinois giving the Department of housing money to allow more houses to be built around are area. This is important, because as many people know that homelessness is a serious problem here and everywhere in our country. Most of the funds awarded to HUD-approved groups in Illinois will go toward comprehensive counseling efforts related to rental and purchase. There will be more than $46 million in grants that will be given for counseling and housing. It is important that people have housing, to lower the crime rate and establish a better learning environment for the children of the community. Lowering the crime rate will cause less gang activity and dealing in that certain area. this is a small step that will continue to positively effect surrounding neighborhoods.
Illinois groups get $517,000 for housing help, Chicago Tribune, Mary Ellen Podmolik, March 16, 2012 -
Katie Murphy
I would like to write this week’s research journal on one of the articles that I have read on the Chicago Tribune website. I understand that most people know that no a days the headlines usually consist of suicide, homicide, burglary, gang related deaths…and the list goes on and on and on. Although, I do have to admit that this class in particular has actually opened my eyes to the possibility of change. I like most people, had always thought that one person is incapable of making a difference. I did not take into consideration that it all starts with one person, than another to think the same, sooner or later there will be a whole group thinking the same, acting on issues that affect everyone. The article that I had read was a story of a string of shootings, leaving one person dead. They all happened around the same area, which leads me to believe that it was caused by one person. “A 34-year-old man was shot in the chest and thigh while in the 2200 block of South Wood Street about 5:40 p.m. and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he later died, police said.”- Chicago Tribune. This story sounds all too familiar; this makes me want to do something about what I see and read online. This also ties in with my topic for the Portfolio piece, domestic violence. I am still looking for an opportunity to volunteer at a Domestic shelter, to learn more about preventing things like this from happening.
Staff report, 1 dead, 4 hurt in shootings on South, West sides,Chicago Tribune, March 4, 2012-
Prof McGuire
citation?
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Katie Murphy
Letter to the editor: Voices
This is a response to Chicago Tribune reporter Lolly Bowean’s article: “Professional women, Poor girls from sisterhood” (March 3, 2012). The mentors from Voices have not only successfully changed the lives of seven young girls, but have left an impact on Chicago. These girls will now move onto college, this will affect the younger children in the neighborhood, by showing them that it is possible to make a difference in who you will become in the future. When I had learned that the mentors were not exposed to the same upbringing as the children, yet they were able to make a difference. It was then that I realized that Society needs to take the dream of the women from voices and continue to make a difference. In your article: Poor girls from sisterhood, you had stated that “we need more like them” I agree, I believe that there are people that are out there like me who are willing to make changes, they just feel they don’t know where to start. We need to educate communities around Chicago of the importance of higher education and more importantly, how to become a good influence on younger children who do not have positive influences to look up to. I would like start by attending town meetings to learn more about organizations similar to the Voice and learning how to raise money to help mentors that offer grants for more teens to get the chance to attend college. . It won’t stop there, I plan on using the information from the town meetings and taking it a step further, by talking to staff here at my community college, Moraine Valley to hold conference open to the public. There we will share the success story of the mentors from the Voice, provide more information on ways to donate money and how to volunteer, lastly answering any questions students at Moraine or the public might have pertaining to the issue.
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Kristina Marynczak
Your Letter has a good start. Referencing your letter from a prior article in the paper is also very good. To understand more I will reference the article it’s tied to. But I feel like the only way to completely understand your point or understand the Voices is to find Bowean’s article, but what if iI can’t find it? Then all I have to go is off your letter which isn’t cleary detailed for a reader. I do get the feeling that there is some vagueness in your letter though. What I mean by this is I get lost and confused in some parts of it. As a reader that had not read the Prior article, “Professional women, Poor girls from sisterhood,” you need to keep on track for those like myself that have not read it when referencing back to it. For example, what is the Voices? You capitalize it one time and not the second time; so is one like a group and the other one voices put through ones head? I understand the main point of someone trying to help provide higher education for children who don’t have the opportunity or resources but that’s it.
The mechanical errors and sentence structure needs improvement because it makes it hard for the reader to follow. You have run-on sentences and incomplete sentences. One example is, “These girls will now move onto college, this will affect the younger children in the neighborhood, by showing them that it is possible to make a difference in who you will become in the future.”
You seem very concerned which is great for the reader but what about the reader? One suggestion may be to try and get the reader to understand your point of view or concerns. I feel your passion but it doesn’t really influence me, All I understand is girls that don’t get the opportunity to get a higher education should, which I already agreed with prior to the reading. I get more of your options out of this letter then persuasion to your audience. After the first three sentences the rest is about your thoughts/what you want to do. This brings me to the taking action part. You do a great job stating how you want to talk to people around you about this organization which is awesome but you are only one person. If the persuasion was more in dept and got me to want to get involved with helping girls get a higher education, How can I do that? Is there somewhere I can go like maybe this organization you talk about or is the organization not a place? Once again you do a great job talking about your goals but what specifically can I do? Should I contact you?? Do I need to just be a positive influence to younger children? (All these questions are just of a few that go threw my head when thinking about the audience that may want to get involved but not specified how to) -
Melissa Castillo
I just finished reading you letter to the editor. I thought it was a little confusing at first, but as I read along I understood where you were going with it. I commend you for wanting to make a change in young girls lives and showing them that there is a way to succeed if you believe and with a little help from others. Many girls out here need someone like you to just care and make an effort in supporting them. They may feel alone and or have no one to support them. Reaching out would be a great chance to help and explore new things with a new friend.
I grew up with little guidance and I wish that there was a way to reach out to someone. I felt alone at times and I was embarrassed with my situation at the time. I was living on welfare and I knew that there wasn’t a chance for me to go to college. I was told by a lot of family that I will never be anything and they expected me to have a child in my teenage years.They were wrong. I dropped out and it was okay in my home to do that. I had to make that decision on my own to go back and then go to college. I still didn’t have any money to go. I had to apply for financial aid and I got it. I was blessed.
I know these young girls need someone to look up to other then their friends and sometimes their own family members may be making bad decisions and that will never show the young lady from right and wrong. She will be confused and think that the wrong way is the right way. By having a mentor they will have an opportunity to reach for the stars and have goals. They can be taught life lessons from a positive view. These young girls these days are being put down by friends and boys and that will tear down there self esteem. They will want to run away and give up on their dreams.
Helping the young girls to reach their goals and mentoring them to go to college is great. This way they can focus on a prize. When all is said and done, it will be over and they will be heading out to college. What is it that we can do to make a difference? How can I help with these ladies? How do you know who is in need of the mentoring? You are making a very bold step in wanting to help. I hope you can achieve all that you seek to do for these girls. They need someone like you to take a stand for them and be by their side and help them become strong women of tomorrow. I hope you continue with this topic and I hope one day to see your name on something referring to helping young girls making it to college with a little mentoring and aid.
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Katie Murphy
I thought that I had good understanding of the starving children all over the world. Everyone knows that there are children dying from malnutrition and illness, but I realized to what degree they are suffering when I went to the FMSC service opportunity. When my seven year old niece and I first walked in the doors, Kailey (my niece) points out a few girls around my age, and asked why are they wearing shower caps? We have never been to a service opportunity before, so we didn’t know what to expect when walking in. I explained to her that “we were going to be packaging food, to distribute it to kids that don’t have food like you and I do”. After putting on the hair caps, we walked into a room filled with families and surprisingly a lot of children Kailey’s age. After that, we watched a short film on what type of food we were going to be packaging, where it was going, and why we were doing this. There wasn’t one person talking, or a child not intrigued by watching kids they’re age suffering. After the film a girl maybe, 21 walks up to the front of the room with a poster with an almost scary picture of what looks like a body of a baby girl. She looked like a skeleton. It was horrible, the girl goes on to say this is a picture of Malia, she is 8 months old, dying from malnutrition. Then puts up another picture of healthy vibrant little girl. “This is Malia after only 7 months of eating the vitamin rich powdered chicken, soy, and vegetable pack food that you guys will be packing tonight. We then moved to a room, started filling, weighing, and sealing 4 ounce packages. After that, we counted all of the boxes that we filled in an hour’s time, fifty of us were able to fill over sixty boxes, forty bags in each. This was a great way to not only learn more about what goes on in our world, and also to try and make a difference.
Feed My Starving Children Service Opportunity, Febuary 29, 2012-
Prof McGuire
source? citation?
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Katie Murphy
There were a couple different sections of chapter two in “Why white rice?” that I wanted to write for my journal entry this week, one in particular was the section: Make love to your writing, written by Anthony Stafford. I had started reading the article, because he had mentioned reading a psychology book in the basement of the library. I could relate, like many other college students when Stafford stated that “I had taken the persona of a computer that calculates information and produces a product” when reading any text book from school, it seems that we not written by people, but in fact computers, mindless in the sense of lacking the emotion of the writer. I can relate to this in particular when I had met with Mr. McGuire and asked him to look over my paper I wanted to have the class read for a writing workshop. I glad I met with him before turning my work over to the class, because he opened my eyes to really see how my writing was just an overview of quotes other people had written and other people’s perspective on what “should” be important simply because their well known quotes. I rewrote my paper with actual meaning and learned a lesson to not write the way I was molded into writing for the past 12 years. Another part of that section that I enjoyed was when “ A wise friend once told me that I should appreciate everything that happens in life, sorrows, joy, heartbreak, parties…” This was interesting to me, my interpretation is that he is saying we need sorrows, deaths, parties, friends, and everything in between to really appreciate life and learn what is important, everything needs to balance out, without death, you wouldn’t appreciate life.
DeVillez, Eric R, Michael McGuire, Thomas P. Dow, Troy A. Swanson. “Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing”. Kendall Hunt. 2010. 43- 45. -
Katie Murphy
Elevator Speech Outline
The cost of Love?
Problem: Domestic Violence
- “Love don’t do nothing for me, but beat me, rape me, call me an animal, make me feel worthless”… Claireese Precious Jones. Oscar nominated, academy award winning movie paints a picture of the reality of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. Based on a true story of a girl impregnated twice by her abusive biological father, simultaneously beaten by her jealous mother. Precious like many other victims of abuse escapes to half way house, where she is protected by social worker and teacher at an alternative school.
- Precious is given a second chance, because she makes the vital decision to leave her violent household. Many people believe that they cannot be helped and are trapped in the mental cage brought upon by their abuser. ” 95% of abused women who have been physically abused never never contacted agencies, shelters, or the police for help.” – domestic violence.org
- It is more likely that a victim will continue to stay with their abuser, no matter how bad it is. Through low self esteem, the abuser gains complete mental control over the victim, making them feel helpless.
- film “The children are watching” women choose unfit relationships when they observe mom consecutively dating abusive men, or numerous failed relationships with father figures. This state of mind is passed down to children, a boy would grow up with the perspective that he can treat women poorly, girl will consequently grow up to make the same devastating choices as mom.
- Domestic Violence is not just against women, in December 2010 Amber Portwood in the MTV show Teen mom is convicted of a felony Domestic Violence charge against fiance Gary Shirley. Police investigate the couple after she was caught on tape punching, kicking and slapping fiance in the presents of their 2 year old daughter. The couples two year old daughter has been exposed to the violence and will most likely repeat what she knows to be “love” in future relationships.
Background
- According to Liam Ford, in the 08 issue of the New York Times, Domestic Violent court was est in 1984, advocates would help people understand the complexities of the court system, provide counseling, half way houses, ad employment.
- The issue with the Court systems advocates is the drastic emotional toll left of the social workers, unfortunately this problem is consistent with issues we are faced with today. The mental toll left on the workers leads to huge staff shortages. There simply aren’t enough social workers to help people in need.
Get involved
- Professionals can’t do it alone! If the victims of this disgusting crime are not able to seek help by fleeing to a shelter, or contacting authorities, we need to step up and be their voice!
- in order to stop this viscous cycle of violence, become an investigator yourself, by calling the police, or the Department of Child and Family Services. DCFS is not only for children in need, if you call they will take the matter into their own hands to properly, and professionally investigate the situation.
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Katie Murphy
How do you post pictures and videos onto your activism portfolio piece for work for review, I went to the Dashboard and tried it there..the pictures won’t post!
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Katie Murphy
Domestic Violence
Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones: “Please don’t lie to me, Ms. Rain! Love ain’t done nothing for me… but beat me… rape me… call me an animal! Make me feel worthless! Make me sick!
Ms. Rain: [Tears begin falling from her eyes] That wasn’t love, Precious. Your baby loves you. *I* love you!”Domestic Violence
Some people choose to believe that bad things simply just don’t happen or if it doesn’t happen to them, why worry? Although there are people out there that do see it everyday and don’t understand that its happening to them.
Verbal, emotional , physical and sexual are all forms of Domestic abuse, have you ever seen a parent hit a child or a fight break out between a couple? Most people think to themselves, I just don’t want to get involved, some may not like to admit it, but unfortunately its true. I have seen acts like these and it is so much easier to just walk away rather then stopping it from happening. Domestic abuse is an vicious cycle, it is inevitable that the child of the abusive parent will grow up and become abusive towards their children as well. Social workers, Police officers, teachers and all other professionals with in the field of social justice cannot see everything that goes on behind closed doors, it is our job as human beings to at least try and take care of one another. Another issue related to violence would be knowing someone or maybe having the problem pertaining to yourself and being afraid to take the step to not this terrible crime. There are countless hotlines, safe houses and people that are willing to help. For example the Family Service shelter is a confidential home, that allows residents and their children to find a safe place to stay until they get on their feet.
http://www.familyshelterservice.org/ there are social workers here that offer counseling, food services and much more.
Background Research
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Burses fade but the pain remains the same, I still remember how you kept me so afraid”.
Video
On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every single day -
http://domesticviolencestatistics.org/ The video on this website was hard to watch, although it made me realize the degree of how things can spiral out of control. The statistics in this video an website are shocking,
“Based on reports from 10 countries, between 55 percent and 95 percent of women who had been physically abused by their partners had never contacted non-governmental organizations, shelters, or the police for help“.
I have found that it is more likely for an abuse victim to allow the abuse to go on rather than look for help. Most people are convinced that the abuser will kill them if they choose to seek help, they have complete mental and physical control over their victim. The victim feels helpless and believes that that there simply isn’t anyone that can truly help them.
Current Situation Challenges
I have wanted to start my research with less current issues on Domestic Violence and compare them to current situations locally. In the article, “Courts are failing battered women“, by Liam Ford, 2008, Chicago Tribune reporter. He interviews a woman named Nakia Adams who had battled her abusive boyfriend in court for over two years, enduring years of harassment from her former boyfriend, even though he had a court order for no contact. She started to give up on the court system, she gained her hope for justice through support groups, victim advocates, and private attorneys. She later was able to push prosecutors to convict the man of Domestic abuse. Her advise for women was to “
Just don’t be afraid to get help!”
Domestic violence court was established in 1984 advocates that work for the cases pertaining to this issue help the abused understand the complexities of the court system, find a safe place for them to live, and arrange, counseling, health care, and employment for the victims. Unfortunately I have learned from my cousin who works for the Department of Child and Family Services that it takes a great emotional toll on even the strongest social workers in this field of work, which leads to a huge amount of staff shortages, it makes it hard for people to gain the help they need. The issues with Domestic Violence keep getting worse.
How can you get involved?
You can become involved with the fight to stop and prevent domestic violence from happening and to continue to happen, just by simply being active in your community. You don’t have to join a committee of spend countless hours volunteering at a shelter to make a difference. Everyone just needs to keep in mind that if they in fact see someone committing the act of abuse report it! This doesn’t mean you have to go up to the offender yourself and stop the act, notify the police, call DCFS if needed. A common misconception of they would know it’s me if I were to call isn’t necessarily true, anyone can call anonymously.
Work Cited
Domestic Violence Statistics, lets put a stop to abuse 2012
http://domesticviolencestatistics.org/
Chicago Tribune Article “Courts are failing battered women“, by Liam Ford, 2008, Tribune reporter. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-domestic-violence
Family Service Organizations http://www.familyshelterservice.org/
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Kristina Marynczak
I like the topic you picked and can feel the need to want to help stop this issue. I enjoy the beggining because it caughts my attention right away. I also like how you included the website to watch a video which I watched and they are a little intense. Now in the beggining you mention right away the four forms of domestic violence and then stop. I think you should elaborate on it more. I never knew anything about domestic violence until i attended a workshop/speech on it at school. I still don’t know to much and as a reader regardless of my frame of reference I thik you should write a few more sentences on describing it. besides your first sentence, “Verbal, emotional , physical and sexual are all forms of Domestic abuse, have you ever seen a parent hit a child or a fight break out between a couple?” Is all the only information you give about it. Some suggestions might be giving the reader more examples of the types beause all i think about while reading your paper is a parent hitting their kid or wife and husband/boyfriend and girlfriend hitting or argueing. There is so much more to it then that. You do give exxamples of certain peoples situation which keeps me as a reader interested and it’s good backround information. But like I said earlier I think you should give more information about domestic violence itself. I know a lot of people that aren’t informed think its just about hitting or verbal abuse and that the women aren’t smart enough to get help since their afraid so maybe inform the reader a little more and elaborate. I see in your post before the paper you mention a lot of organizations and then in your actual paper you only mention one or two. Providing more resources for someone to turn to might be able to help the reader help others that he/she might know who is in danger of domestic violence. I have a personal seggestion as well; when I attended a domestic violence class in school I learned that some women or men ( since gays can be victims as well as men being victims from women, although not as common) don’t even realize they are victims of domestic abuse until it’s too hate or they me think the abuser is just controling. So maybe do research into that. Also,
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Kristina Marynczak
, maybe elaborate on who can be a domestic violence abuse victim. (since it can be anyone) To add on to the vidiness you have in your paper you might want to add what happens to victums of domestic violence. For example, physcologically, mentally, physcially as well as to families and friends of the victium. Your piece has a clear understanding to me as a reader but if you just add a few more things and elaborate on domestic violence itself your paper will definatley improve for the best, keep up the great work!
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Melissa Castillo
I really commend you on your research report. I watched your video and had to hold back from crying. The women on the video are crying, bruised up, bleeding, and scared. I see this all the time and I also was a victim of domestic abuse for over 5 years. I understand the confusion a woman feels and the feelings of not knowing where to go to get help. Sometimes family members are not so supportive and that makes a person feel useless and they think they deserve what goes on. The person being abused might think it’s a no win situation if they try to leave and get some help. They feel at first the guy loves them and they are only doing it because they care. It’s all bull! A man does not care about the woman if he is abusing her. He has anger issues and needs help himself. It’s a very scary situation and women need to know that they are not alone. Most of the time I feel that women think they are being loved and that’s all life can offer them.
The beginning quotes of Precious was so heart breaking. She thinks that love hurts and she has no place to receive it. But there is her counselor telling her that it is not love. She has love from the counselor and her child, but can she really believe that? Society is a dog, they tend to bring you down when you are at your worst. Precious didn’t know any better and thought it was all normal. She was pushed around and made fun of. her own mother raped her. How sad? She was abused by so many. I know she is going through some rough times and I know she is still struggling, but what I admire about her is that she didn’t give up. She is still fighting for her life and just to live a normal life for her and her child.
A lot of women don’t know where to go to get help. It would have been nice if you would have given more information on how to be more aware on or when domestic violence is going to occur. What are the signs to look for? What should one do in case of an assault? What can one do to get help if they have an anger problem? How can a parent be more assertive and not so abusive to a child? Domestic violence is almost everywhere around us. I’m glad that you did your project on this. I hope you do well with this project and I hope you can kind of five more resources to help those in need. I would love to read more and possibly learn from your postings and share the information you provided. I can share it on Face Book and tell others about your research. The one video you referred to is touching and I can post that. Women need someone like you to put this out there so others can be more aware.
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Katie Murphy
After doing some research on Domestic Violence I have decided that in order to have a good understanding on what Domestic violence is like first hand, I am going to volunteer at a Domestic Violence shelter. I chose a couple that I would like to attend. For example, The National Collition Against Domestic Violence, is an organization that works hands on with cases of domestic abuse. I also want to research half way homes for mothers and children, I want to work directly with them and the shelter, so I can gain an honest prospective for my portfolio piece. Unfortuneately, I have called SGA, youth and family services and a few other organizations, and they have not called me back. I understand these places and extreamly busy, I will just have to keep trying. I did talk to a women working on the law side of the issue, she told me that I would be allowed to observe at the Bridgeview court house, under cases involved with domestic violence. I amlooking foreword to learning more and becoming more involved with the issue.
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Katie Murphy
I thought that I had good understanding of the starving children all over the world. Everyone knows that there are children dying from malnutrition and illness, but I realized to what degree they are suffering when I went to the FMSC service opportunity. When my seven year old niece and I first walked in the doors, Kailey (my niece) points out a few girls around my age, and asked why are they wearing shower caps? We have never been to a service opportunity before, so we didn’t know what to expect when walking in. I explained to her that “we were going to be packaging food, to distribute it to kids that don’t have food like you and I do”. After putting on the hair caps, we walked into a room filled with families and surprisingly a lot of children Kailey’s age. After that, we watched a short film on what type of food we were going to be packaging, where it was going, and why we were doing this. There wasn’t one person talking, or a child not intrigued by watching kids they’re age suffering. After the film a girl maybe, 21 walks up to the front of the room with a poster with an almost scary picture of what looks like a body of a baby girl. She looked like a skeleton. It was horrible, the girl goes on to say this is a picture of Malia, she is 8 months old, dying from malnutrition. Then puts up another picture of healthy vibrant little girl. “This is Malia after only 7 months of eating the vitamin rich powdered chicken, soy, and vegetable pack food that you guys will be packing tonight. We then moved to a room, started filling, weighing, and sealing 4 ounce packages. After that, we counted all of the boxes that we filled in an hour’s time, fifty of us were able to fill over sixty boxes, forty bags in each. This was a great way to not only learn more about what goes on in our world, and also to try and make a difference.
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Katie Murphy
Just made reservations for FMSC for this Friday, I’m excited to see what it will be like.
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Katie Murphy
As I am reading Hessler’s Village voice, It makes me happy knowing that we get the opportunity to do take part in Service opportunities like FMSC I’m looking foreword to attending this and possibly other service opportunities.
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Lee McKinnis
remember the put up the citations.
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Katie Murphy
When I first started reading this story, I believed that the man sitting in his house alone was a war veteran that suffered from Post Tramatic Stress Syndrom. He suffered from severe anxioty and seemed that his mind was playing tricks on him. This made me think two things, he was unable to fit in society and that he believed that citizens did not appriciate the men and women who give their lives to protect their country. It is easy to see where he is coming from, because no citizen would know what it’s like to be a soldier giving your life to protect your counrty, unless you have been there yourself. This story was very toutching, especially when he stated he had felt revulsion. ” He doesn’t feel this way way when hearing of trains colliding”, when he describes the fact that these tragic events don’t effect him as much as a hate crime on a soldier does, this is when you know he feels strongly on this subject, another factor to why I believe he might be a vet. It was disturbing when he said the citizens from this far away coutry were not there in the picture, and how could this happen to him in his own country. That part even made me angry.
— Eggers, Dave. “What It Means When A Crowd In A Faraway Nation Takes A Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots Him, Drags Him From His Vehicle And Then Mutilates Him In The Dust,” Splatter.writing101.net 2012 -
Katie Murphy
What’s important?
Life is what you make it, “ An eye for an eye, leaves us all blind” Martin Luther king. Improving the quality of your life and caring for others around you, will only result in positively influencing society. If everyone valued other people’s lives as much as they did their own, we wouldn’t have the same conflicts that we see each and every day of our lives. Children are the future of the world, it takes a community: family, environment to raise a child. Negative actions will result in an unhealthy child, thus he or she will grow to become a key factor of a terrible world. When one realizes what he or she would kill or die for is when they realize what they truly care for in life.
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Kristina Marynczak
The examples and your philosophy of life are very detailed and keeps me, as the reader, interested. I think the structure of the paper need a little fine tuning though. I can point out your thesis but can’t find in the essay where you discuss what you would die for. Did you mention what you would die for, because my only guess is if you did include it into your paper it’s the last body paragraph but I am unsure. You explain what you live for throughout your entire paper with lots of support and also what you would kill for. Which to my understanding is nothing because you don’t justify murder but since you think life is very precious would you kill for to save your precious life? Although your essay ha dlots of support and is nicley detailed I loose your opinoin throughout your body paragraphs. I think if you add a little more of your personal opinions about what you would die for and kill for it would add more to your paper. I think you did a really good job on your conclusion and overallI enjoyed your paper. My favorite part is where you added a quote by Martin Luther King since the readers probably know who he is and it kept me in tune to know your paper wouldn’t be boring.
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Katie Murphy
Thank you for reading my essay, I am happy to see that my essay has kept your interest, and that I had supported most of my main points with details. I also see how you may be unclear is to why I had not stated what I would die for and who I would kill for. That is because, I believe life is too precious of a gift to take and no one is at the authority to take another. I did, however state that I would not kill for another, I had tried to make my essay unique in the sense of furthering away from simply listing reasons to die and kill. I believe, it put more of a non-conventional approach to writing in perspective.
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Kristina Marynczak
oh ok, I see your point
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Melissa Castillo
I just finished your paper and I like it. I can see how you feel from deep within. All your questions of “Why does all this negative stuff happen?” “Why aren’t we trying to be a better place?” I feel that you are fed up and you want to make a difference. I admire that in you. This essay made me think about our current events happening all around us and where we all came from. We have come a long way and when I do turn on the tv I see nothing but negative news that saddens me. I can relate to what you say in this thesis. I understand what you meant about not living for an eye for an eye. How can we ever evolve in this world if we are constantly doing wrong? I encourage you to keep up the positive attitude. You are very inspiring. I hope you can spread the word of all the positive feelings you have. You seem to be a true person and I hope you can get it across others as you have done for me. Thank you!
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Katie Murphy
Thank you so much! I’m really happy to see that my writing gets through to people! A lot of time is seems that people listen but don’t truly listen, if you know what I mean? I’m glad that you like my writing especially since you write very well yourself! :) Hope to see more comments from you in the future.
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Melissa Castillo
My advice is just find a main topic that you are extremely passionate about and focus on that. There is nothing wrong with talking about different interests of yours but keep it consistent and fluent with your paper at hand. Great work though and good luck with the rest of your semester.
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Leoncio Salgado
After reading your paper I was left with many questions to think about. Your writing is fluid and efficient, but could use some work, especially with the support of your quotes. I think you could have made them fit in better by explaining how, for example, “an eye for an eye, leaves us all blind” conveys that revenge will not make any person feel better for the wrongs done unto them and instead leave the person worse off. And also your title opens up with children and how they are key to the outcome of a society, but then you veer off and not mention them throughout the paper. Other than that I can see how not killing or dying for anything or anyone is important to a person. I think we all would be in a better place without having to ask or answer these questions but unfortunately we must consider them as our society is not perfect. I was stuck thinking about the children and how they are involved in society. I remember watching “Freakonomics” and how they explained that the crime rate dramatically fell after the legalization of abortion in some states. The idea was that many children were unwanted and ended up being treated as unwanted, but after abortion was legalized these kids weren’t born. It certainly brings up a conflict in my mind because I am strictly against abortion. The paper is a good rough draft and brings up your points very nicely. Good work.
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Katie Murphy
Thank you for your constructive criticism, I do talk about children in the beginning of my paper I need to work on the format of my paper, when I write papers especially this one I find that there is so much that I want to talk about! so many different points to be made. I need to make them clear and more importantly have a hard time actually connecting my points in my paper as far as transition sentences. Do you know of any suggestions that would make my paper more clear as an audience? Thank you :)
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Katie Murphy
Ecologically Literate, is the establishment of a true understanding and use of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, actions speak louder than words. Society as a whole needs to think logically about our future here on our planet as well as for future generations. People need to understand the works of our ecosystem. Surprisingly shocking to others, if we keep depleting our fossil fuels and polluting our planet, there will be consequences. Society needs to redefine our actions and put forth effort to make changes, small yet significant. Individualistic thinking is another key factor towards nurturing our planet. I am ecologically literate, because I take steps to reduce, reuse and recycle; for instance, turning off the light when I leave a room, using public transportation to get home from school, car pooling as much as possible, using eco friendly reusable grocery store bags, and even growing a garden in the summer, with fruits and vegetables. I have learned in my Environmental Science class that The U.S imports 66% of crude oil; the demand for oil and other major fossil fuels is insane. Public transportation and car pooling or walking will lower the demand for oil and actually lower gas prices. Society needs to come to a realization that people need to make a difference in taking care and building back our home.
Capra, Fritjof from The Web of Life
NikoVelazquez is discussing. 
Melissa Castillo, and 
Kristina Marynczak are discussing. 
Lee McKinnis is discussing. 
Katie Murphy, 
Leoncio Salgado and one other person are discussing. 
NikoVelazquez 9:51 pm on April 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I don’t normally comment on your essays, I hadn’t done a third peer review and I saw your name and remembered you were in my class so I decided to do a peer review for you. I really enjoyed reading your paper. It was a lot different from the papers I normally read within my group for peer review. Your experience with the Pilgrim Faith Church seemed to really follow through with you well. I guess the issue you’re focusing on is also concerning food. Same issue my group is concerning. Your experience there sounded very pleasant, I wish when I called them that they would allow me to work with them. They just didn’t seem interested with me when I did call them. Glad to know you were able to get involved with them. One thing that caught my attention in your paper was talking about that Andy guy. Happy Birthday to him by the way haha. You really heard a touching story about his life. I wont lie, if that happened to me, I would give my time to help others as well, yet I hope I still get involved with big charities and such. I still want to be that person who wants to make a difference in the world. I felt bad for Andy when you mentioned that he lost his second wife to cancer. Cancer was going to be one of the issues I wanted to work with but it didn’t seem like there was nothing I could do to help benefit it unless I helped out in a hospital or the cancer walks, or a Relay for Life event. How was your second trip back to the Pilgrim Faith Church? I’m assuming it went well since we did that inclass activity for the poster boards and had to critique everyones, and telling from your poster it went well and you did well. I said it before and I’ll say it again, your poster and presentation about what you learned was good, a well deserved 100%. Overall on this paper, I think it was well written for being a draft. I couldnt tell if it met the criteria for the amount of words, Im guessing yes. You expressed a lot of emotion in the end while talking about Andy, that part of your paper really got me. It was sad to hear it. You really gave a good essay, it was very detailed with what you had written down from the experience there. I’d give this a 100% as well haha. Keep up the good work Katie. See you at the fair and good luck!