Lee McKinnis (57)
Kristina Marynczak (37)
Killian Noonan (36)
Melissa Castillo (33)
NikoVelazquez (27)
Shannon Ratzel (23)
Michelle Reyes (22)
Kyle Barczak (21)
Maura Bilek (21)
Susan Bayaa (21)
I will be writing my journal entry on the Act Out Volunteer Fair, just like everyone else has. In my own mindset this was soemthing entirely new for me, and it seemed like a great idea to get the word out there to volunteer. My group had an amazing display board, even though the Little Red Schoolhouse outdid us, we were very proud of our work. We didn’t have Julie come out to the fair as planned, but she sent a very inspiring woman. She was so upbeat and proud of what she did that you couldn’t help but be around her. Overall I believe the fair went well, everyone had done what they were asked to do, and we all had put in our best effort. Unfortunantly our guest speaker had arrived late on our day, and many of us had things going on after the fair that we couldn’t stay any longer. After it was all said and done I recieved a job well done text from my group member which was very uplifting because we were proud of how far we have come. I think Mr.McGuire should keep the fair going, and build on this first experience and create it into a huge event. We had left our poster with the woman from the Little Red Schoolhouse, and although I can’t recall her name because I am writing this late after getting home from work, I am glad to say that her eyes were brightened up with excitement to recieve the poster. Who knows, maybe it could lead to great things and mroe volunteer work from them because after all they are an entertaining and friendly group of people doing what they love over there.
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Shaun Smith
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Shaun Smith
Today, I would like to review the video that we saw with Taylor Mali, and his description of our new human language we are forming. I found the video to be quite interesting, and hysterical considering he used three common based words over and over again to try and get his point accross. It;s true when you use words that are totally, like, and whatever that you do lose your credibility no matter what you are doing. They also disrupt how people have their flow of a sentence. I really loved that fact that at one point in the video, he uses all three of those words after he makes a statement, and then he subjectively questions his confidence. He was very good at changing his tone, and when he spoke about conviction you really begin to hear the point he is trying to get accross. He didn’t want people to not be confident in what they say, and he certainly doesn’t want us to not back any of our ideas. Instead he would like us all to convict people of our points, and have us sound like we know what we are talking about. I learned a lot from Taylor, just from this simple poem that he wrote which makes us laugh, but at the same time teaches us a valuable lesson.
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Shaun Smith
Community Service at the Little Red Schoolhouse
I remember thinking that this project wasn’t going to be so bad when we first began our journey. It seemed as if everything would fall right into place, considering I had chosen a good group and everyone was anxious to get started as soon as possible. We picked our place, and we finally all agreed we would go to the Little Red Schoolhouse, and do our service work there. That was the easiest part of the entire thing. From then on between my group members and I conflicting schedules has had us pinned down. Even my schedule as open as it may be has been conflicting with the work we were trying to achieve. We opened up by giving each other our contact numbers, and even our email addresses. Our next step was to contact our organization and arange a meeting with them. This is where everything became extremely hard. We had spoken with a woman named Julie, who was one of the lead people at the Little Red Schoolhouse and was very excited about our involvement. The very next day we had agreed to meet with her, the only problem was half of our group couldn’t make it due to work schedules. In this case me and Alex from the group chose to go and represent the other two, and relay any information that we would recieve back to them. I remember when I had first shown up the next day, everything I knew about the Little Red Schoolhouse had changed so much over the years. They now had a new building which was huge, and environmentally friendly. They also had more live animals, and so much more things to do and keep you involved around the preserve. I remember first meeting Julie, the smile on her face as she approached and we had exchanged greetings. Julie was a very upbeat person, and she loved everything about the schoolhouse. She offered us to come into the conference room and exchange our ideas for our project. Julie had been thrilled that we had chosen to come here, mainly because with all of the construction and remodeling they had done she wanted everything to get around and to be noticed. I began to look around and I saw a whole whiteboard full of notes written on it. She explained to Alex and I that soemthing very exciting had been going on, that her and her colleagues were working on. They had managed to find one of the first people to attend the schoolhouse, and they were recording everything he had to say about it to document the history. They really want people to get an inside look at what went on during the first golden days of the place. As our meeting continued with Julie, we began talking about possible things we could do to imrpove the schoolhouse. She had so many different ideas using paperwork and brochure making, but all of those plans seemed to change as we were there to do sort of laborous work. As we finally agreed she would set up dates and times and contact us through our email’s, and later on we began to schedule our work dates. We finally had a date set but yet again the only people who were able to attend were Alex and I. We both agreed to meet their at ten am on saturday April fourteenth. We had no idea what to expect, but waking up that morning and looking at the weather I had prayed we weren’t going to get poured on. We had finally met with Jim, who was a caretaker for the schoolhouse. He had a volunteer hat on, but when we asked him about it he said I have worn through all my other ones. Jim had a very tedious task set up for us for the day. At the entrance of the schoolhouse they had a certain section for only their prairie plants. The only problem was that it was set right next to the forest, and many of these evasive species had began to grow inside of the prairie. The job we had to do was cut the evasive plants out, and Jim was going to but herbicide on their roots. He told us that if we don’t herbicide them, then they will grow back and multiply. It seemed quite simple, but as we got started things were much more than I had expected. The cutting of the plants wasn’t really the problem, more or less it was pulling them out of the prairie. One of the plants had so many thorns on it that would just get stuck right in your skin. I couldn’t bear picking it up after a while, because after so many rimes my hands were just cut in every direction from them. We had finally cleared out a large enough portion, and cleaned all of the plants up. Jim decided we should dump them through this place that visitors were walking through instead of using the path. They were killing the plant life by not going around. After we had dumped them their was no room for them to grow anymore. We went inside to wash up, just incase we had made contact with poison ivy, and Jim gradually shook our hands and thanked us for our work. He asked if we needed hour sheets signed, and we explained to him that it wasn’t court community service, but rather for school. He laughed as we casually said goodbye, and said we would try to arrange to meet with him again. The rain had stayed away that day, and I had felt like I had done something good.
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Shaun Smith
This week for my reading journal entry, I wanted to go ahead and comment on the article “Ruptura”. It seems as if by posting this Mr.McGuire is showing us what he is trying to teach us with our service learning projects. When i first started reading the paper they began talking about what they were going to study. They wanted to find an undergraduate class and begin to teach them about how to properly write about real world experiences. This is what Mr.McGuire has been trying to teach us, that when we are faced with a real world situation that we have a hard time writing about it. Anthropologists are trying to find the link between community based service learning projects, and why they have people throw away perspectives and help to benefit someone else. The real point of the service learning projects is to throw ourselves into the real world, and to go out there and actually do some community service work. Then when we come back and write about the experience we have such a hard time because we can’t figure out how to relate our experiences to the things we had just done. We all have trouble getting those thoughts and ideas down on paper, and this will prepare us for the future in life. IF we can write about real world experiences like they are a piece of cake, then we will have a valuable skill later in life.
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Shaun Smith
I really enjoyed the newest edition of the Invisible Children Roadies crew. For me, i first had been started on this topic as a Senior in High School, and thats when I had first been hooked into it. Their have been so many leads since then, especially the number of people who have been joining to help the cause each and every day. It is surprising that Obama had sent advisors their to help the Ugandan Army track Kony. At first Obama had not wanted a single thing to do with Africa and the trouble that was going on their. I am also shocked that the African Union banned together and decided to send 5,000 of their own troops. Invisible Children has really come a long way since they first began. They were simply just a bunch of graduated high school students who decided to travel to Africa. Little did they know that what they would see their would change their lives forever. They have really made this an international case, and the ICC was formed in 2005 to help catch Kony because he is number one on their top twenty five war criminals list. I really think we need to push now to find Kony. His escapades have been going on for too long, and the time is now or never to get him. I think we have strength in numbers, and that sometime this year in 2012 Kony will be caught.
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Shaun Smith
Sunrise Senior Living Service Learning
I would like to begin by saying I have chosen a different sort of service learning to partake in. I have visited the Sunrise Senior Living Home, and have spoken with some of the members there in order to tell their stories of history. I learned many different perspectives on different issues, and what people were doing on some of the biggest issues in history.
First off, I would like to introduce to you Warren S. Koerner, which is the fascinating man I had the chance to interview with. Warren is not a member of the Senior Living Community, but rather he has family who has been staying their and visits them once a week. Warren started by telling me that his name is linked the St. Claire’s of the late 1300’s. I thought at first it was a little far fetched to believe, but I let him continue on. He told me that his family from a long time ago had lived throughout parts of what is now England, France, and what is now Sweden. Throughout him telling me all this information he provided me with documents of what the St. Claire’s did throughout their lifetime. They had one of the strongest armies, conquering just about anything that had been in their way. As they had conquered most of the land in that region, the nine royal St. Claire’s were each given their own separate sections. Warren went on to tell me that one of the St. Claire’s was given the opportunity to sail with the King of Spain. As they ventured on they had reached unknown land, that of which is now Boston by the late 1300’s. Many of their ships had been ruined, and the St. Clair had stayed behind to rebuild some of the ships to get the men home. Warren went on to say that this adventure truly means that they had discovered America before Columbus did. Warren is a proud member of his late family. He partakes in these around the world celebrations of the St. Claire clan. Although he lives alone, he travels and meets new exciting people every time they gather.
Although Warren gave me some history his elders, he could only tell me so much about what he had done in his lifetime. Asking him for information the only thing he could really tell me was that he had taken part in the Air Defense of San Francisco during the Cold War. Warrens Uncle was sitting besides us, and he went on to speak about his experiences in World War 2. From his recollection he had went on to say that he had taken part in five landings during the war. His most famous one was when he went on to land at Normandy. He also said that he was very lucky to be alive because every other troop carrying ship during the landings had either been bombed or shit at. Neither of those had happened to him throughout the war and he seemed to make it just fine. He was shot in the leg, and couldn’t take part in the sixth landing. He had to be sent home, and just as he was healed and ready to go the practical war in Germany was over. Instead of being sent their they had him sent to the islands of Japan. He went on to say that he would island hop, and continue to fight their way into the Japanese homeland. This was about as much of his life he could remember, as he begins to grow older the only memories he has are of the war. Warrens stops by every week and spends time with him, which also his Aunt Ruby lives in the home as well.
Also, Warren went on to say that most of his life was spent in the armed forces as well, but that’s not where all of it was spent. Warren had just graduated High School when he couldn’t figure out what he wanted to do in College. He decided that he would attend the University of Illinois at Chicago for two years. He worked their part time as well, which is how he managed to pay his way through College. He studied electricity, and worked as a servicemen for the College as well. After his second year at UIC things had began to grow ugly with the Cold War. Warren knew he was going to be drafted, and instead of sitting around waiting for it to come, he decided to push his draft card through and join the military. Most of Warren’s recollections are of the military as well. The only other things he could think of telling me was that his wife had died ten years ago. He also has three kids, two boys and a girl, who sometimes come along to visit the family at Sunrise.
To conclude, it really seems that as we grow older we forget the stories that we hold onto. If we don’t do something about these stories then they will just fade away and we can never know what really happened. It’s important for us to document our history because it is what makes us who we are. Warren’s stories are important just as anyone else’s. Warren is a magnificent man, and if you ever get the chance to visit Sunrise you can usually find him upstairs sitting with his Aunt and Uncle.
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Shaun Smith
This week for my ninth journal entry I would like to go ahead and write about our grouping experiences and learning service opportunities in the classroom. I really think that doing the speed dating to find people’s strengths and weaknesses was a great idea. It helps us to find people who can balance out a group and make things work in order to get a huge project done. I like the idea of being able to choose which place you want to do service learning for. My group has chosen the volunteer for The Little Red School House, which is a place that I have been too many times throughout my years of school. It seems we have an interesting place on our hands considering they have grown so much larger over the years, and they are always looking for help to do different things. I think that is why im going to enjoy it so much because we aren’t just focused on one kind of work to do for them. We have already spoken with the head director, and she is very excited to have us there. She also wants to attend our job fair at Moraine, and is looking to get on board with them to do a partnership. This is not only just a good thing for us as students to fulfill our project, but we may have been able to start a long term partnership for the rest of the students who choose to go to Moraine. I am excited to get the ball rolling and see what we can accomplish.
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Prof McGuire
citation?
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Shaun Smith
After reading “The Cycle of Socialization”, it had me thinking again about my sociology class that I had taken last semester. The truth is we are truly born into our own roles in society, wheter we fit them or not. Some have argued that our roles in life are predetermined, but i think differently. Sure we aren’t picked to fill a certain role, but neither do I think that what gender, sex, or race we are should put us in certain positions. By all means I believe we begin to find our niche in society as we begin to grow older. When i say older i don’t mean throughout our teenage years, but rather when we are finishing up College and we begin to realize who we are as a person. Harro makes us think critically about what is actually being said if we comprehend his message. He tries to show us that what we do is not predetermined, but we have a choice in who we want to become. Socialization for others may be viewed differently, like so many of us think we are predetermined before we even make one decision. Socialization begins to look into a deeper issue of the difference between the belief in destiny, and begin guided with our lives. For the one aspect of the situation, those of us who believe in destiny feel that although we seem to make choices in life, that these choices have already been made for us. I feel as if this is wrong certainly because we do not give our consent on the choices, and the fact that if these are the wrong choices then why should we be punished for something we did not sign up for. I believe in socialization through our own guidance. I believe that making mistakes is what makes us human, and allows us to learn. By making these mistakes we can then chose our own path that is laid out before us, because we as human beings have a choice. Socialization opens up our minds, and we start to look at the bigger picture rather then just letting it pass us by. Each day you are faced with choices, choices that you process and chose from one or the other. Each day you construct your own path, wheter it be through destiny or self guidance.
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Shaun Smith
Reading Journal Entry 7
This week for my reading journal entry I have decided to start doing my posts upon my readings of Professor McGuire’s “Why White Rice?”. The opening chapter to the book is very interesting and comical, as it blends the general perspective of writing with very common misconceptions and humor. I have learned one major thing from the beginning of the book, and that is that you shouldn’t write something for the reader. It says that when you write you should believe in your writing, and make it your own. Now believing in your writing doesn’t make it good just because you say so, but rather it would show more care for what you put into it. It showed me how to work conveniently with my Professor, whether or not he or she is a good one. I also have learned that writing is not always as clean and simple as you would like it to be. You simply can not create a good piece just by sitting their, but rather you have to put effort and time into it. Outlines can help you get moving quickly, and they organize your ideas for you at the start instead of going back and fixing errors and paragraphs after you have already written it. One of the most interesting facts I read about was how the human brain is able to understand words that are scrambled as long as the first and last letter of the word are in the right place. It’s interesting to think that we can grasp words just by seeing two things in the correct spot, and to think that we read words as a whole, not as individual letters. This book is an eye opener into the writing world, and I would like to thank Mr. McGuire for writing a piece of literature that we can all relate too.
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Shaun Smith
Dear Editor, What has happened to our generation?
Dear Editor,
Teens and kids now a days are getting their lives off on the wrong foot. We struggle with drug abuse, alcohol problems, and anger issues unlike any other generation before us. Today we see kids in the news about full suburbs dealing with a massive heroine addiction. All I can say is what has happened to these children, and what can we do to fix it? It is appalling that kids now a days are discovering things like sex, drugs, and alcohol before they even enter high school. Are we going to be able to stop this issue before it becomes an epidemic, or are we going to sit by and just let it unravel as we go about with our daily lives. Parents need to come down harder on their kids, and schools need to keep a better watch over them as well. For example, just today a child in a middle school had brought a gun to school. What was his intent nobody knows, but the fact that he was even carrying the gun should send a shock around the world. Our generation is the future, and if we don’t do something now to fix it then we will all lives in very dark days.-
Selina Littlefield
I really liked your topic. I must say that I agree with you fully about this next world generation. Kids are so advanced these days it is ridiculous. Children do a lot more things now then they use too. I know when I was a kid was not thinking about any of things that are going on today. People in the city are killing each other over stupid gun violence. It is appalling to hear about what kids are doing these days. I know when I was younger all I cared about is watching Power Rangers and Scooby-Doo. Kids these days have shows like Jersey Shore to watch. I believe media also have a lot to do with it. All on networks like MTV, VH1, BET it all revolves around sex, drugs, and alcohol. Watching things like that on TV is pretty much all we watch. We really don’t have much of a choice. Parents do need to pay attention to what their kids are doings and making sure they are involved. Kids these days are cruel. I believe that Middle School is much more dangerous than High School. Kids can say the meanest things and do not realize the effect they have on other people. Things are not the way they use to be and I feel like it is just going down from here. We want our world to be a safe environment for our children. It is just crazy to wonder how things are going to be in the future because the way it is looking now is no good. Even music have a huge impact on our kids because they all are talking about the same thing. Glorifying the bad things that are not important. Kids so look up to celebrities that are on Disney Channel getting locked up for DUI’s and drug possession. Even the way that some kids talk to their parents. I would not dare yell at my mom or dad or else I wanted to get punished greatly for it. Nowadays parents do not care or get involved in their children’s life and that also might have an effect on them. Make our children of today feel loved and cherished. Many think that they are not important. Also, we need to teach them to treat others how they would like to be treated. Kids are always bullying or criticizing in other person. All we can really hope for the future is to pray that things go okay and that it does not go down hill from here. I have a 15 year old cousin that stole gun from some people that can cause many problems for her in the family. She even drinks and smokes now. It is just crazy to see that because at that age I violence like that never crossed my mind. Innocence is defiantly wearing off in our society today little by little. Kids do not realize what they are doing because they can not help it. Overall, great topic and I enjoyed talking about it.
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Susan Bayaa
I can’t lie I did notice that that has become an issue. I know some people that have overdosed on drugs and passed away. People have a problem with trying to find something interesting to do. Everything has become more expensive and because of that kids needed to find a different way of to have fun and that is what they turn too. I also think the parents don’t really pay attention to the younger kids and don’t really understand what they are doing or what is going through their head. Parents should be able to understand their children and they should be able to talk to their children. Maybe if parents paid more attention to their children they would not be having this problem but at the same time it is the child’s choice and there would not be a way to try to change a child’s mind unless they truly understand why it is bad. Or why it should not be done. Children and parents should really become more involved with each other. The thing that I disagree with you on is that parents shouldn’t come down hard on the kids because they will just do it behind there back. They should become friends with them and or talk to them in an understanding way. The only way a child will really understand is when they truly understand and agree with what you are saying. The only thing parents need to try to figure out is how to get the child to understand why it is wrong and what is bad about it. If they are not very understanding the child is not going to listen and they would just do it but behind the parents back. But I do agree that younger children have been in activities they really should not be in. I also do believe that if they have older siblings that are involved in those activities they are more than likely to be in them too. Drug abuse is a very huge problem and a lot of people have dies from overdosing and there is no excuse for it but sometimes people have drugs as there get away. For example if they are having a bad day they will probably go and do something to try to get there mood in a better one. Or they go and drink. Which a lot of people do but the only problem with that is that people who drink should not drive. Why would you risk your life and someone else’s at the same time if you can just prevent it. Children have too much time and too much that is presented in front of them that might lead them into doing things they really should not be doing. Again children should not be forced or screamed or pushed into not doing things they should be taught in a nice understanding way why they should not be doing certain things and why it is bad to do it.
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Rami Ali
Your letter bring a very interesting topic,but the problem with kids has been going on for years and years. I think its getting worse do to the media these days,for example shows and movies that were rater R a few years ago are now PG-13. Sexual sense are becoming more and more epic with each year,of course this is going to arouse and innocent kids mind and have them wanting it. The only thing we can do is send letters like yours to the media for them to try and control the matter.
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Shaun Smith
Reading Journal Entry 6
I am going to be reviewing about my conference with Mr. McGuire, and all of the things that I have learned just from having him read my piece. To be honest, I thought my piece was well written to begin with, but after sitting down with Mr. McGuire I learned that i haven’t even scratched the surface of the potential about the issues. I had him review my Live, Kill, Die paper, and although he had said it was very interesting thus far, it was also abstract. I remember thinking to myself I have never heard anyone of my teachers say that about a piece before so it started to get my mind thinking. My points were generic, and he told me to think about what I could do to make them my own. I could use my own stories, and help my readers be able to see it in a more personal sense. As i went home the next day i started my revision, and I began to recall stories which had brought about these values. With all of those in mind i went to work, and eliminated the things that had been keeping it abstract. It wasn’t a fully new written paper, but i had edited a lot of things and began to grasp the concepts i was trying to get at all along. I appreciate the feedback that I had received because you really don’t see for yourself these points when the piece is your own. It has been essential into rewriting this story, and making it even better for my final portfolio.
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Shaun Smith
My journal entry this week is about my research topic on the organization of Invisible Children. After reading many articles about the topic I have found out a lot of new information that i was never aware of. To begin, Invisible Children is a group that is working to free children of the reign of terror that Jospeh Kony has created in Uganda, and now Congo. Joseph Kony is the leader of the LRA, and abducts children at young ages and forces them to fight in his army. His mission is simple, he is killing his own people because he simply believes he is a spiritual medium, and believes that they have broken the ten commandments. Ironically speaking he himself has broken every single one of these laws, but he still unleashes his terror. his war has been going on since 1985, and he still continues to grow stronger. Now for what I have found out is that he is being supplied by the country of Sudan, and in return he puts dents into the Government in which Sudan is argueing with. They supply him the weapons and safe houses as he continues to march through central Africa. I have also learned that the United Nations is no longer sitting back on the issue, and they have began to speak about it more and more recently. The only problem they are facing is finding a diplomatic solution to help escape bloodshed. Invisble Children has set up many opportunities to allow these children freedom, yet they only truly ask for one thing in return from us as citizens. They ask for us to spread the word about the situation, and let it not go unheard as it grows more and more serious everyday. We may not be activists, but we can do a small part to make sure that people around the world have the ability to live their life to the fullest extent.
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Shaun Smith
Elevator Speech Outline
Shaun Smith
Speech Outline
I. Invisible Children, and what their situation is across the world.
A. Abductions of Children, and the slaughtering of innocent civilians
B. What the children are forced to do when they are abducted
C. The children are stripped away of everything they know
II. Who is Joseph Kony?
A. Leader of the LRA
B. Has waged this war in Africa since 1985
C. Considers himself to be a Spiritual Medium
III. What is being done to help the children?
A. Invisible Children is the only organization set up to help these kids.
B. The United Nations continues to debate on whether or not they should get involved.
C. The United States has chosen not to really accept that fact that this is going on.
IV. What can we do to help?
A. Spreading the word about the importance of this problem is our main concern. Not everyone is aware of the issue.
B. People have donated even a dollar to the Invisible Children fund, in return any money received goes to building safe havens for kids who are fleeing, supplying the ransacked villages, and attempting to disband Kony’s army.
C. Towers and Cameras have been put into place to help warn other villages of Kony being in the area. -
Shaun Smith
Invisible Children Who are we as a nation…
Invisible Children
Who are we as a nation, that only seems to sit by and watch as the world around us crumbles below. Who are we to say that things are not our problem. The matter of fact is that there is so many other issues going around the world, but the only ones we take the time to see are the ones that effect us. Invisible Children refers to the kids and teenagers of Uganda, a small country in Africa. These children are being stripped from their homes, and taken away by a vicious military Dictator by the name of Joseph Kony. He controls the military referred to as the LRA. This problem goes unforeseen, as he simply abducts children from their home, and forces them to partake in his conquest of the regions of Africa. Children who are able to hold a weapon are abducted, beaten, and tortured into thinking that they have nothing left for them besides the military. He doesn’t just abduct young men either, when he captures young women he uses them as his sex slaves. Joseph Kony is responsible for the longest running terror campaign in history. He began his triumph in Uganda in 1985. His power is said to be derived from the Biblical Ten Commandments, and he believes that he can talk to Prophets. Although the United Nations have addressed the problem, they have tried to negotiate with Kony delicately. It seems as if every time they are about to get him to settle on Peace Talks, which he had been promised not to be prosecuted for his crimes, he regains his strength and begins to fight again. He is ruthless with his tactics, as he moves from one village to the next he rarely leaves survivors, and takes everything from the people there. As he leaves he sets the villages aflame and simply moves onto the next one. The United Nations has talked frequently about the situation in Uganda, but as they keep talking and do not take any action, Joseph Kony then moves into surrounding areas, including his recent occupancy of Congo. The only problem that everyone sees with the United Nations is that they have not taken any action because Congo is one of the lowest Nations of the list. Will anyone try to save these children, as everything they know is stripped away from them? What can we do to help in this struggle that seems to go unnoticed?
Joseph Kony began his military operation in 1985, but this was shortly after he had suffered defeat from a rebel group he had supported. Him and his people the Acholi had felt suppressed by their new northern leader, and had looked to change that. He had joined the rebels following a Ms.Lawkena. She had promised the immunity from the bullets in which they were going to face, and as they believed so they had been slaughtered rather quickly. It was not long after this that Kony had felt he should begin his own uprising. He believe that he was a Spiritual Medium, and had been connected through God to fulfill his mission. Kony was known to have as many as sixty wives, and he would even rape the young girls he captured giving the rest to his officers to pick out. He would often preach to his followers that his orders were given to him strictly by the Holy Spirit. In this sense he created an aura of fear around himself, and his followers feared that if they had turned their backs on him that they would be killed as well. As Kony soon built his rebel army, he had began a wave of mass destruction throughout Uganda. His grounds for all of the destruction was that he wanted to turn Uganda into a Biblical Country. Many of his leaders were abducted ten to twelve years ago, and share no hope of a future. The only thing they know is death, and that is what makes them so ruthless. Kony’s army is supplied by the Sudanese Government. They believe that if he conquers his mission then they will be prosperous when Kony takes over the entire country. The other reason that Sudan supports Kony was because Sudan was locked in a battle with President Museveni. The Sudanese Government began to use Kony as a pain in Museveni’s side. Kony had begun his abductions from schools, and as he moved from village to village he had fought off everyone in his way. This would include the men that had followed Museveni. The Sudanese would support Kony’s militaristic goals because they had been putting major dents in Museveni and his Government. The issue is present today with the Sudanese Government. As of 2009 President Bashir denies the claims that he funds any weapons to Kony and his army, but the irony is that he and Kony have both been indicted by the International Criminal Court. The issues presented are ongoing, and still effect the families of Uganda, and now even furthermore Congo. These kids have to live in fear day by day, and parents have to hide their children from the hands of this ruthless leader.
The need in Uganda has always been urgent, and help is always welcomed. The present situation is that Kony has moved throughout Uganda and is now into the neighboring countries as well. He is abducting more and more children each day, and his tactics grow more merciless as time goes on. In the past month alone Kony’s army is responsible for the deaths of two civilians and the abduction of more than forty children. Overall he accounts for more than a thousand civilian deaths and more than two thousand child abductions as his war continues. A helpful group known as Invisible Children has taken a stand against Kony and his actions. They have began to place help centers in most of Uganda for children fleeing from Kony. They also continue to bring in supplies and resources to the villages who have been attacked by this devastating tragedy. Many of us can help simply by not even going to Africa and helping constructing these towers or delivering supplies to the needy. The most important thing we can do is contribute small amounts of money to help this organization keep funding it’s relief tactics. The situation is growing dire as each day passes, and help is needed now more than ever. The United Nations has began to increase it’s efforts in Africa, as they present the situation to be of more importance. They have worked together to help eliminate Kony’s military bases in the regions of Congo and Sudan. Most importantly they have had air strikes take these bases out cleanly with no civilian causality. Now that Kony has no where to run to the time is now to strike, as he tries to re group we can all donate to help provide safe havens for these children who are fleeing from him, By doing so we can help advance the destruction of his army once and for all.
Their has only been one organization to step up to the challenge of helping out these children. As I had shown earlier the organizations name is Invisible Children. Invisible Children was created by three college guys who were just taking a normal trip to Africa because they had graduated high school. They didn’t know that what they would see their would impact their lives so deeply that they would work for the rest of their lives to change the events going on. They have focused on three main goals for the people of Uganda. Their first goal is to post radio towers, or hideout shelters anywhere they can so that fleeing children can run to them and get out of Kony’s Army. Along with these safe havens they also put up radio towers along with them so that villages may contact one another if Kony is heading their way. Their second goal is to keep working to improve the safety for the children. The mission is too produce as many warning signs and rescue options as possible so that they can start to destroy Kony’s Army little by little. If they work to improve their tactics, then we may possibly see no more children being abducted and no families living in fear. Their last mission is a simple one, but it is also the most important. Their mission is to supply the villages that have been ravaged by the LRA, and bring them fresh supplies to help them get on their feet and moving again. They have had rarely any food because when Kony moves through the village he leaves nothing behind.
We might all be sitting here thinking that we are just one person and that we don’t make a difference. If we all had that thought process then the group Invisible Children would never have been founded. If those three young men had simply just gone to Africa and thought that the things they had seen were terrible but took no action, then many more children would be gone, and the worlds eyes unopened to a very horrific problem. We don’t necessarily have to go to Africa and help construct the radio towers or deliver supplies to villages. We can work from home and still deliver a huge message. Invisible Children is based out of San Diego, California but they move throughout the United States traveling and showing others the situation in Uganda. They don’t necessarily ask for any donations although it is often appreciated, but rather they look for volunteers. They do not ask these volunteers to come to Sand Diego, or fly to Africa, but rather they have them follow along in groups amongst each other and help tell their stories to the rest of the United States. They are working with the United States Government and petitioning in lobbies to help fight for our Country to intervene in the situation. As well as telling their story any donation that they might receive goes towards the supplies, transportation costs, and people of Uganda. If you also chose to buy a piece of their history by simply purchasing a bracelet or a shirt, then those also benefit the cost as well. We may all believe that we are small, but if we band together then we are larger than life.
There are many different websites that you can learn about the ever growing situation of Uganda, but I would like to provide you with the main ones. If you simply Google anything about Uganda your main topic that pops up is the effects of the war. If you search for anything Joseph Kony related then you will find his personal history as well. The main website you should use http://www.InvisibleChildren.org, mainly because it has the most up to date information about what is happening in Uganda. It updates every hour, and shows if someone has been attacked or been abducted even quicker then the news can report it to you. It also shows you a list of options on how you can respond or help to do your part to end this crisis. It has detailed explanations of the overview of the conflict, and how it has led up to this point. It shows how children have escaped from the LRA, and what many of them do once they find themselves free. They have real time video footage which in some cases may be graphic but is reasonable to actually show what they are dealing with. Another website I would like to provide you with is http://www.kabiza.com, and if you simply search for anything related to Joseph Kony you pull up his whole history. This website tells you how Kony was raised, what he did as a child, and what brought him to the point of mass murdering his own people, and abducting children. It also shows us an explanation of why Kony started killing in his own town, and that whenever the village people of Lira hear that Kony is coming they run and flee until he is no where even close. The last website I would like to provide to you is http://www.LRAcrisistracker.com, and I believe this is a very important website for many reasons. First it pinpoints on a live feed map whenever Kony has made any advancements, whether he has killed someone, or abducted a child. It also shows if a village has been looted or a child has escaped from the LRA and can not find his way back to the village. Along with pinpointing the situation on a map, also on the side bar they provide you with a detailed description of the incident from eye witness accounts. The thing I like the most about it is they provide a timeline of how many incidents take place week by week. Overall these websites have the best and most accurate information in guiding you through any questions you may have about the situation.
In conclusion, Joseph Kony is a monster who is stripping away the lives of children. Although we don’t pay much attention to it because it doesn’t affect us, we shouldn’t turn our heads on the problem. These are people too, and they deserve the same respect as we do. If we all played even just a small role in today’s society we could accomplish greater things, we just need to remember that their’s power in numbers.Works Cited
“Another Town in Africa â âLiraâ.” Uganda’s Child Soldiers (Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army). Web. 08 Feb. 2011. .“Invisible Children.” Invisible Children. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. http://www.invisiblechildren.com/.
“Joseph Kony’s Children Soldiers.” 07 Oct. 2005. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.
“Military.” Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). 07 Sept. 2011. Web. 05 Mar. 2012.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/lra.htm.
http://www.un.org/events/tenstories/06/story.asp?storyID=1300.
“Uganda.” Uganda: War, Conflict & Peace. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .
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Selina Littlefield
I fully agree with you when you said that people don’t realize what is going on in the world. It only takes a toll on them when it effects them. We as a society should all be aware about what is going on around us. It is a shame to know that someone so evil could dictate other people. Its sad that these innocent young men had to go through so much at a very young age. They had to experience so many things such as trauma, suffering, and torturing. No human being should go through anything like that. I think there were some run on sentences that could be cleaned up. I think you expressed greatly about how u feel on this huge topic. I loved the way you started it off and the subject really enthused me. It was very informational and I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know before. People should be educated on what is going on in the world. We are so rapped up in our daily lives that we don’t take the time to see what is going on in other places. “He would often preach to his followers that his orders were given to him strictly by the Holy Spirit. In this sense he created an aura of fear around himself, and his followers feared that if they had turned their backs on him that they would be killed as well.” It is amazing to see how this one man, this one individual, could create so much evil in the world and to actually have people following him. “As Kony soon built his rebel army, he had began a wave of mass destruction throughout Uganda. His grounds for all of the destruction was that he wanted to turn Uganda into a Biblical Country. Many of his leaders were abducted ten to twelve years ago, and share no hope of a future. The only thing they know is death, and that is what makes them so ruthless. Kony’s army is supplied by the Sudanese Government. They believe that if he conquers his mission then they will be prosperous when Kony takes over the entire country.” This really showed me that you really did your research and tried your best to make this a great paper. And you really did just that. This paper really made me want to help the cause and learn more about this. I like that you had good credible news added to it so we know what has been going on throughout the recent years. Its sad to see what the families have to go through when their loved ones is taken away. They have to live in fear everyday of their life. I really hope everything turns out okay over there because this is ridiculous. We all should try to take a stand and help these people that are in need. I am very happy to know that they are getting helped slowly but surely. Hopefully this problem will be completely gone in due time. Great use of citations and overall great paper!
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Susan Bayaa
I hate when I hear stuff like this. People that have power really abuse it. I don’t understand how people can be so heartless. You are taking away peoples’ homes and using women as sex slaves. That disgusts me. I do agree that that is an issue. People shouldn’t be treated like this. I sometimes forget what is going on because we are so lucky living here. We are lucky for our rights. The United Nation gave him chances and told him to stop what he’s doing and make peace. The way I understood he kept doing it after he got his power back. Maybe he should get his power taken away from him. He wasn’t going to be prosecuted because they gave him another chance but he should be sentenced to jail that is what I think but without him being able to get out. The things he has done is unforgivable. It is so sad and unbelievable. He has abducted and tortured people. Not to mention again has made women sex slaves. That is not right. It really needs something to be done. People should not have so much power it makes them act in an unbelievable way. He is abducting kids. Parents have to hide their kids. Imagine living like that. When you were little always having to hide because someone was going to take you away. I feel bad for the parents, their kid being taken away. I know if I had a kid and someone took him or her away from me I would go insane. I probably would try killing them. It’s sad that they think they can do that. If he really believes that he is talking to the “prophets” wouldn’t it be weird for the “prophets” to tell him to be doing that. If he really was talking to the “prophets” they wouldn’t be telling him to be abducting children, having women be sex slaves, or any of that. There is something wrong with this man’s head and he needs to go to the mental hospital or something because that is just cruel and viscous. Another thing that pissed me off when I read it was that he would actually rape the young girls that he took too. Then he would let his officers pick who they want to. I swear sometimes I wonder what is wrong with peoples head. How do you think that is right? He had what sixty wifes and that wasn’t enough for him. He should really be tortured. He should be put in a cell and be tortured slowly but shouldn’t be killed. He should just suffer. That is so wrong. You had a lot of good information and supporting too. You gave background information and what was going on right now too. You said how a person could help. I really liked your essay because I forgot that stuff like this is still going on and you got me to realize that what is going on. Great essay.
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Rami Ali
This is a very strong topic to write about and gives many students a better view of whats really going on in the world. Many people think that stuff like this only exist in movies but we have to accept the truth and agree that this is reality. Th person in charge of capturing children and making them into military dogs should be put down and punished for his crimes. This is pretty much a business act to make money rather then the believe of a religious effort. He is only using the name of god in vein and telling people these are religious views is all an act. A act because he’s using there cultures religion as a means to hide his true intention and to cause many people not to act in means to stop him. This is been going on since 1985 and the united nation has not done anything to prevent it? That is ridiculous. Our world leaders just don’t want to interfere in a poor countries problem just because they thing its not there problem,but really its everybody’s problem. No leader should be called a leader if there letting something big like this slide. I respect the 3 young men that would risk their lives to protect the lives of innocent children. I agree with you when you say we have to do something about this. It might become to big and by the time its to late it will be a crises not just in Africa,but in the whole world. The messed up part about this whole scenario is that there are not enough groups to support brining this terror to a stop. Many celebrities have lots of causes and programs in Africa supporting hunger and diseases. But none of them are doing anything against the abductions of children simply because they are scared, just like everyone else. Governments in many strong countries should relise the problem and do something about it. They have the power to stop it,we as regular people do not have enough power to stand up to a terror this big. The only thing we can do is to donate money and help the little groups that support this problem,but even that is not enough. This might be a challenge for lets just say America if they would stand up to this criminal,but it is not impossible. You did a great deed writing about this topic and you kept us the reader interested and filled use with hope and excitement to reply to you.
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Shaun Smith
This week for my reading journal entry, I went back and re read the other story written by Dave Egger’s. “Your Mother and I” was a much different story then when i read the other posted one. This time around Dave Eggers made it a very humorous story, instead of showing the darker side of things. Although the story isn’t so factual, it begins with a man telling stories with his kids. He explains how he can solve many problems with the world, and is making food with his children while doing so. The issues that he seems to solve seem a little out there, but overall he explains in detail how he is solving them. He then begins to touch up on the subject of Rwanda, and complains that the United Nations had only sent twelve troops to their aid. I have read the stories on Rwanda and could not agree more that they could have used more help then what they had. Many people died in that mass genocide, and all we did was stood by and watched as it happened. He also speaks of getting medicine to people in Africa with AIDS. Dave Eggers sees the problems in the world, and he think of solutions through writing. It seems as if he can’t change the world single handedly, but if he gets their stories out there then at least they will be heard.
— Eggers, Dave. “Your Mother and I.” How We Are Hungry. McSweeney’s. 2002: 115-123. “Splatter: The Messy Art of Writing”. Web. 16, Feb 2012 -
Shaun Smith
The difference between service and activism can be very controversial. Service is the actual taking part in something, its not as much of a committment then activism is. Service is pretty much just volunteering and doing something charitable for a timed schedule. While activism means you are taking much longer strides. As an activist you tend to look at the larger picture of something rather then to just go ahead and do it. If you are an activist you plan out how you want to achieve these long term goals, and when you are participating in service you achieve a short term goal. The two can be confused quite easily, but the main thing is that they both work to achieve a goal no matter which scale it is on.
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Shaun Smith
After reading “Village Voice” by David Hessler, I have seen volunteer groups and organizations through a different light. The story follows Rajeev Goyal, who is a second class immigrant volunteering in the Peace Corps at Nepal. Rajeev was a premed student, and had moved on to do something better with his life. He would stay in Nepal and help the villagers in whatever way he could possible. He would teach them everything he knew with his education. He would provide an irrigation system for them high up in the mountains. Rajeev’s biggest challenge was organizing the piping system for the people of the village. The only help he had was a boy who was as good as any engineer, but only had a ninth grade education. It took them sixteen months to build these piping lanes to the pumping stations, and they also had to construct a stone staircase to avoid hammerhead. As soon as they had finished, they had tried to turn it on but nothing would happen, thats when a local told them they would have to wait until night for the water to come. Eventually as night settled the water did come, and Rajeev was relieved. After leaving Nepal Rajeev had went on to law school, and eventually gave up trying to seek politicians help to fund the Peace Corps. He had soon learned that in order to get the help he needed he would have to go through committees. He began to organize software that would show him if it had been read or not, and it would allow him to see what would influence people to read it. He would soon help to get the funding to the Peace Corps that they needed.
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Shaun Smith
The “Who should Survive” activity was very well written one to help us open up our eyes, and to think critically about tough situations. My group had a hard time picking because everybody was beneficial in some way. When it came down to it, I picked the people who would create trouble, and some of my picks were based on age as well. I had to pick Bobby because he was legally retarted, and if they had to rebuild the world he would be of no use to them. I was never racist, I just assumed the worst had happened, and that when the radiation cleared they would have to rebuild everything. Thats why when I picked people to keep I looked at their value. For example, I didn’t see the Priest as to having any certain skills, and it said he would fight with the others based on religious views. I sacrificed him to save the other with important uses. This activity does open our eyes up critically, and i did how racism and prejudice came into play. Overall it was a very difficult decision to make wheter or not this was a real or fake.
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Shaun Smith
Dave Egger’s clearly defines the line in war, and when things become to drastic for people to see. As the man is reading the newspaper from his own country he realizes the soldier is one of his own, and that if someone were to be shot and killed in his own country that they would not receive this mutilation. Eggers clearly shows the sorrow of the man reading the article, and how someone else’s death, who he has never known impacts him as well. I believe this story is very sorrowful, with the indecency of how the human was tortured before he was killed. They say that war is hell, but this brings a whole new definition to the meaning. When you are fighting for your country you are killing other human beings, not only are you bringing death to others, but why do you have to rip their honor to shreds as well? When the United Nations was put into place they made strict guidelines for prisoner treatment. As we all can see by reading this article, these guidelines were clearly disobeyed. It troubles me how any other human who thinks, acts, and defines themselves as the way I do could ever do this to someone. The article reminds us of what our men and women in the armed forces are truly fighting for, and everyday we take for granted what we have. I believe we should all take the time to think of what they are risking for us to go on with our daily pleasures.
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.” How We Are Hungry. Canada: Vintage, 2010. Splatter: The Messy Art of Writing. Web. 2 Feb. 2012. -
Shaun Smith
Everyone defines living in their life on their own terms. To many people, living their life means to follow God, and to do as he commanded. In my own opinion living is so much more then following God, essentially it is a huge part of the process though. I live for many different things, and they help me to stride and persevere in everyday life. I live for my family everyday, because without them everyone would be miserable without someone to talk to or share their personal feelings. Family is a key concept to the matter of life, because family is one of the main reasons for us to be happy. I live for my family to help them with whatever they need, or even just to cheer them up when their down. I live for myself as well, by being the best person I can be everyday. Being alive everyday has been taken for granted by many, as they all focus to achieve the same goal of making the most money throughout their lifetime. I believe that living is the matter of achieving the fullest quality of life that you can actually achieve. For example, instead of just making money and working all the time, you should sit down and take into account the little things that bring you pleasure in life. For me it’s as simple as being with friends and family, or trying new things from day to day. I live to be happy, and for those of us who believe in God, then we all should know that this is what he intended for us to do when he created us all as individuals. I live to see each day come and go, and to make the most of my time while im alive. I live for adventure, whether it brings me to new and exciting places, or im simply fooling around in my backyard. I live for the sake of enjoyment, to take each day in as if it could be my last. As I stride to be the best that I can be I understand that life has it’s own hardships, and that days can sometimes be miserable. I simply do not allow myself to reminisce in the trials of life, and to simply face them head on, and conquer each and everyone as if I am succeeding a challenge. Above all, I live to be a free spirited, and open minded young man with new challenges waiting for me everyday that I will soon take on and accomplish.
The thing we fear most in our lives is death, but the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The only reason I fear death is because it is so unpredictable. All of us were created somehow, and all of us die and go somewhere. We as individuals find our own questions for death, and we seek help to try and overcome our fear. I believe death is an opportunity when my life here is finished. I believe that when I do I will finally have all of my questions answered, and that I may live somewhere more peaceful without all of the problems in our world now. The only thing in this world that I would die for is my family or friends, and in doing so I would hope that they would live a successful life. I listen to the words of music, and I believe in the power that how we survive is what makes us who we are (Rise Against 2001). In all other sense this would be the only thing I am willing to die for because my main goal in life is to live it to the fullest until it is my time to go. I believe that the people who care too much for money often end up dieing unhappy, and unsatisfied with the way they lived. I believe that if we focus on something too much, then we eventually lose sight of ourselves and our identity. there are certain situations that we are unable to predict in life, and the main one is when we will die. People often forget that we are not as invincible as we all may seem, and that our lives can be stripped away at any given moment. For example, we could lose our lives every time we step onto the streets, as we have many people out their who are trying to make their lives better. Without thinking they could make a drastic decision that would not only lose the life of a human being, but kill the soul of another. Without death in place no one would be in control, and we would all become uncivilized and unpredictable, but with death we have that fear lingering over our heads. With this fear comes great power over all of us because it keeps us focused on what we are intended to do to succeed in our world.
There is only one situation in the world that I would ever kill for, and that is if someone else had intended to hurt someone of importance to me. I was born and raised as a Catholic, and brought up on the immortal sins of the world. The main one is killing another person is said to be an immortal sin that can never be washed away from your soul. We as Catholics believe that everyone sins, but God is forgiving so that when we may die we would be forgiven of all our sins and put into a better place. Killing someone is the worst possible thing you could ever do with your life. Not only does it strip away what someone else could accomplish with their time spent on Earth, but it is so drastic that you would never be able to put it in the back of your mind and leave it there. You would never be able to forget how you stripped someone of everything, or how you hurt the other people who were near and dear to them. You would never forgive yourself for it, unless you were born without a soul. The worst part about it is when you soon begin to realize what you have done and wish to change your decision, well that’s when you finally realize that there is not a single thing someone could do to ever change that someone is dead. As I said the only thing I could ever kill for us to keep my family safe, and even with the thought of them trying to hurt my loved ones, it would still be on my conscious for the rest of my life. We are given a privilege each day that we have to live. Although some days may not be as great as others, we should stop and ask ourselves. Am I really doing everything possible to help change my life? If not, then what can I do to improve myself, instead of making hasty decisions in a time of need.
These questions enable us to think outside of the box, and they were intended to help us realize who we are, and find our identity. I had to stop and think about what death, and how it impacts not only me, but everyone else around me. I knew in my right mind that there is only one thing I would ever kill for, but with these questions they made me open up my eyes and see what I live for. It gives us insight about ourselves, and what we really want to do with our time. All in all we start to see ourselves differently as we begin to find the answers to these critical questions.
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Selina Littlefield
I understand completely where you are coming from about your family. I am a huge family person and I put my loved ones before anything and everything. Family is always going to be there for you through thick and thin. Friends come and go but blood lasts forever. Unless you are lucky enough to find an everlasting friend that will be there for you forever. However, involving God I believe that everything we do should be through him. Although many do not think of it that way but we should always have God on our minds because when we need help we always come to him. I agree that we should all take the time to think about our life and be thankful what we have. Many take it for granted but we should all realize luxury things can be taken away from us in an instant. Life does have many obstacles but then again God would not throw anything at you that you could not handle.
“The thing we fear most in our lives is death, but the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The only reason I fear death is because it is so unpredictable. All of us were created somehow, and all of us die and go somewhere. We as individuals find our own questions for death, and we seek help to try and overcome our fear” I agree with you 100% because we do not know what is going to happen to us in the afterlife. The whole matter dealing with death of a loved one is one of the most difficult things to deal with but they are in a better place. And soon one day we will be able to unite with them but we don’t know what to expect. We just have to wait for that point in our life to occur and just hope for the best.
I also agree with you about someone having it in their heart having the ability to kill someone else. I myself could not imagine taking the life of someone else. Everyone was born with a family and loved ones. When people kill they do not think about the impact they have on the people that care about them. Everyone has the right to live up to their full potential and it just saddens me when I hear about someone being killed over a senseless crime. I have lost many good friends myself and it is very hard to deal with. Many people do not think about their actions and how it will affect others.
Overall good draft. It is made in first person and organized in order of Live, Die, and Kill. I believe you explained what you live for, what you would die for, and what you would kill for well, but could have given more examples or reasons. I think your words were very down to earth and I understood where you were coming from completely and enjoyed the reading. -
Susan Bayaa
You sounded like a very confident person in what you were saying which made me want to see what you thought about things and what you had to say. I have read about people living for and caring about their family including myself, but funny enough I havent read any of them talking about themselves too. Im not saying it in a bad way, no that is actually a good thing. You arent being selfish about it. What I mean is you arent just saying you care about yourself but you also considered yourself too. The people that are good and care about people sometimes forget themselves. I can say that I do know something about that for a fact. I like helping people out but sometimes I care about them way more then I care about myself and that isnt really good because how would I be able to help other people when I wont be able to help myself. I learned that the hard way, but at least I did learn that. You helped me remember that.
I also feel the need to tell you that you are on the right track, when you said you dont care that much about money. You are happier when you are spending time with your family and friends. Alot of people let money take over them and thats when they become not so good. I agree with you when you said something about when people die caring about money they die unhappy and unsatisfied.
I do believe that you should live each day like is your last. I agree with that 100 percent. First why should we have any regrets, it tought us something and we truely do not know when our last day is. So why not be able to sleep saying that you did what you wanted today. We never know if we are going to wake up the next day or not. It is a good thing that you are an open minded and like faces challenges because in life there a lot of challenges we are going to face. The thing is we cant give in no matter how hard it gets. For death you mentioned soemthing about figuring out everything. I wasnt sure if you meant that we die once we have figured out everything we needed to know about life but I am also a open minded person. I can actually believe that. I do think that there is something else after we die I just dont know what it is. We do forget that we are capable of dieing sometimes. We take advantage sometimes. Like when we sneeze doesnt our heart stop for that second. I do like how you basically made whoever is reading your essay think about a lot. You also gave them a different way of looking at things which makes your essay interesting. I know I dont like reading the same thing over and over again and that is why I believe that giving your true opinion can be very useful in an essay and very addicting to reading. I really enjoyed reading your essay, nice job. -
Rami Ali
I respect the fact the you brought in that that we life for god,but understand that god wants use to live happy and enjoy the family and people around us. Its pretty cool that you mentionen that you live day by day and enjoy it to the fullest because we dont know when are time is up. If were misrable and down we dont want to die because we still want tio enjoy our happenies,but if were happy and everybody that knows you respect you as the person you are then I say you have lived life to the fullest. Like you said it happenies doesint envole haveiong so much money that you become rude. Happenies is when your parents and friends look at you and say thank you for the person you are. If we as eople didnt fear death then the world would be a massacure. Death is the only rule we must understand and relize it binds us with the reality of fear. Dying protects us from our self and nobody else. I agree with you about when a person has money they loose that main reason why they pushed them self to make it. Friends,family,girldriend,wife,kids,living just comes as a pitful thing to you and power and greed take advantage of the person you dont want to be. Killing is a sin your right and I understand that If someone ever did harm to your loved ones you would want to return the favor,but is revenge going to change anything? Its going to make the situation worse. Im pretty sure the person that you are aming revenge for does not want your life to get throw away for revenge and hatred. But it is what it is words are alot diffrent then actions. I Really enjoyed reading this essay. If we were graded on these essays I would give you a 100 percent.
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Shaun Smith
I believe that ecological literacy is our understanding of the way we work as a society, and how decisions, choices, and the lifestyles we choose do not just directly impact us. In order for us to understand each other better, and to realize the effects of our decisions we must open up our eyes, and view our society as one with multiple linking parts. For example, we can look at this as the “Web of Life.” Our society functions as a whole, but individuality is a nonlinear impact on just a single person. In fact, when we choose not to open up our eyes to understand each other, we destroy each others chances of becoming more open minded with one another. I am ecologically literate, and i express this through the most expressed point. That is in order to better our society and reach our ultimate goals, we must learn to function as one. I believe in driving out language barriers which withold us from so many different people. This is my main goal because i believe we all have so much to learn from one another, and that if we combined just some of these thoughts or ideas then we could better ourselves. We can only strive towards the world being ecologically literate because our self awareness pins the blame on other rather then ourselves. the problem is forseen as a small one, we all believe that if everyone else would change then we would be fine. The truth be told, we are the one to blame for our problems, and in order for us to solve them we must first open our minds, and learn to let in all the other great ideas that are in someone elses head into our own.
— Capra, Fritjof. “From The Web of Life.” Splatter.writing101.net. Web. 25 Jan. 2012
Susan Bayaa, 
Shannon Ratzel, and 
Selina Littlefield are discussing. 
Rami Ali, 
Selina Littlefield 10:59 pm on April 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I liked the way you showed what you went through to get this project started. You were very specific in your altercations with the coordinators. When you told us the name of the organization I didn’t know what that company was about. You could have made it more clear at the beginning of the paper but I was confused on what your volunteering for. I was happy to hear that you guys did not waste time on kicking the project off. You stayed persistent and you did what had to be done in a timely manner. You told some details that were not very important. I think that you organized it quite well. I would have liked to know more history and back group information. You did not really give details about what this organization is all about. I would have to look up the organization just to see what their purpose is. How are they helping the community? “It seemed quite simple, but as we got started things were much more than I had expected. The cutting of the plants wasn’t really the problem, more or less it was pulling them out of the prairie. One of the plants had so many thorns on it that would just get stuck right in your skin. I couldn’t bear picking it up after a while, because after so many rimes my hands were just cut in every direction from them.”
It seemed like you did not really like doing the service. What they had you doing seemed very stressful. It was a physical, hands on experience that you had to do to complete your project. “In this case me and Alex from the group chose to go and represent the other two, and relay any information that we would recieve back to them.” I was glad to see that you and your other partner did not slack on this. You guys took responsibility and took this project head on. Just because your other group members did not participate, you were not side tracked by it. It did not keep you guys down for taking care the business that had to be done. Your title seemed appropriate but it could have been a tad shorter. I liked the way you guys knew exactly what you wanted and you achieved it. You had your eyes set on this organization and you guys had no problems setting it up, unlike my group. We had tried 3 different places and the last one finally went through. I liked how you included the weather. It added some atmosphere too it and some what of imagery. We shared the same mutual feeling not knowing what was going to be coming at us, but we got through it. It was defiantly a different experience and does have some what of an effect of you because your getting your self involved in something you possibly have never done before. Overall, alright paper just lacks background info on the topic.
Shannon Ratzel 1:55 pm on April 23, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
This is the second paper I am reviewing about The Little Red School House and honestly I am happy I get to do another one. I love The Little Red School House because it is such a quaint little place that does so much for nature and the forests around cook county. In the last paper I read they explained so much about how The Little Red School House was built and how they moved the building around a few times and how it even used to be a school.
I share your frustrations when you say you could not find time to work all together with your group. We had the same problems and did not really know how to fix it but we worked together and found something we could all do.
“Everything I knew about the Little Red Schoolhouse had changed so much over the years. They now had a new building which was huge, and environmentally friendly. They also had more live animals, and so much more things to do and keep you involved around the preserve.” That is really interesting because I want to go over the summer and I have not been to The Little Red School House in a long time. From what I remember of it, it is a small little house with a few animals and a glass beehive. I cannot wait to go back this summer to see the changes.
“We had no idea what to expect, but waking up that morning and looking at the weather I had prayed we weren’t going to get poured on.” That is funny because I feared the same thing. We had to help build and paint a house and I was terrified that it was not going to be able to happen because of the weather.
“One of the plants had so many thorns on it that would just get stuck right in your skin. I couldn’t bear picking it up after a while, because after so many rimes my hands were just cut in every direction from them.” Man, the things we will do to pass a class. I would be so pissed off if I had to do this. I hope your hands heal properly.
I did not do this either but our papers are supposed to be separated into sections with headliners and titles. Do you think you would ever go back to The Little Red School House? Did you enjoy your time there? It does not sound like it due to the thorns in your hands. They should have paid you to do that ha-ha or at least given you lunch or something. Did they even give you gloves? Did the rest of your group get to go at all or were you and Alex stuck doing everything? Hopefully they got some thorns in their hands as well.
I really liked your paper and it kept me engaged the entire time. Watch some grammatical and spelling errors, otherwise it was pretty good.
Susan Bayaa 10:15 am on April 24, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I can relate to your project or community service almost all the way. In the beginning my group also had a hard time trying to schedule an appointment that we can all attend. That was a big issue. Then we tried saying maybe we can go by ourselves each time we are free and tell each other about our experience. Well that also did not work. The time the lady that we were in contact with was available was not a good time for any of us. We all had work and could not take off. We began to worry I did not like the idea of not being able to do something to help but I did go and visit it to see how it was. I am sorry I forgot to mention that we also were going to do our project on the Little Red School House. When I went there I also did realize that they have changed it. I remember going there once and I never knew the name of it. Once I got there it looked familiar and I realized that I have been there before but it also did change. I learned a lot about how they built the new building. Did you know they used 20 percent of recycled things to build that building and they also did recycle the rest they had instead of dumping it somewhere. I thought that was something good that they had done. We were also going to be cutting down the shrubs but unfortunately I was not able to do that. I was actually very excited about it and then disappointed. The good thing though is that I learned what was being cut out and why they were being cut out. I found that interesting as well. The shrubs that were being cut out were two kinds of shrubs; they were the grey dog wood and the buck thorn. Judging by what you were saying I am almost positive that you were taking out that buck thorn just because it sounds like it has thorns and it sounds like that would hurt. The reason why they were being taken out or cut out is because it is a process of restoration. The guy I was talking to explained to me that restoration is basically restore how the nature is really supposed to be. What I mean is that it is restoring what plants that are supposed to be growing there stay growing there and what plants are not supposed to be not be there. They might have left those plants or shrubs if they did not affect their surroundings but what they do is they start taking over and the plants that are supposed to be there are not growing because of those shrubs. That is the reason the restoration is. I am sorry to hear about the thorns getting into your skin but I wish I was able to experience the act of it. It was interesting learning about the School House.