Energy and Place Project
Essential Questions:
1. How does energy production impact* place?
2. How does your sense of place**, environmental ethic and understanding of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions regarding energy production
1. How does energy production impact* place?
2. How does your sense of place**, environmental ethic and understanding of our energy needs influence your perception and decisions regarding energy production
Project Reflection:
We learned about what used to be local Uranium mining, nuclear energy and the areas that are affected. We saw how in the reservation how the health conditions are considerably bad. In a town just south of Albuquerque and how they have a coal mine that just supports the impoverished town. We had guest speakers from Trout Unlimited come in and talk to us about water conservation. Another man cam in as well from the oil and gas industry talk to us about the statistics of energy use. For my Sense of Place Essay I had to think about where I am connected and why I am connected to that place. In my creativity journals I had a reoccurring theme of the Rio Grande River, and I knew that this is my Sense of Place. My Sense of Place Essay had a Biographical Connection, as well as a Land Ethic of Preservation-ism. Biographical Connection is where you have an emotional connection to a specific place. Preservation-ism is where you want an area to be in pristine condition and practically untouched by man. This project has made me take a step back and really think about how I feel about the land that I live in and the land that other people live in. Learning about how Durango used to have an Uranium Mill that emitted radiation and how there is now a dog park there, was really cool to find out about that history. |
My Sense of Place Project.
|
My Take Action Project.
|
Happiness and Meaning Project
Essential Questions:
What is the purpose of your existence?
What is happiness and what makes you happy?
What does it mean to live a meaningful life?
To what extent can literature shape your personal philosophy on happiness and meaning?
What is the purpose of your existence?
What is happiness and what makes you happy?
What does it mean to live a meaningful life?
To what extent can literature shape your personal philosophy on happiness and meaning?
Native American Historical Inquiry Project
How can an examination of multiple sources and perspectives lead to a more enlightened understanding of history AND contemporary social, cultural and political realities?
Seminar Prep
Part 1:
1. How do you think America would have been if Columbus wouldn't have found it?
2. What if the Indians had fought harder and actually beat some of the white invasion, would they have more of their land today?
3. Does America continue to oppress native peoples today, Not only in this country but around the world?
1. The first lesson is to not force your will upon people.
2. White supremacy.
3. Genocide.
Part 2:
The way that the media has portrayed Native Americans is as different people which we can’t relate to. In Sherman Alexie’s book of short stories he has a story called “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” that describes the struggles of being a Native American in Seattle. The main character in this story walks into a 7-11 and orders a slushy; the cahier that was white turned around and tensed expecting to hear a gunshot. The fact that the cahier tensed up made the main character think very lowly of his self and how he wasn’t being treated like a human but an alien.
Learning the history of what happened to the Native Americans helped me realize that there was a lot of racism that wasn’t just towards African Americans. I used to be a little bit racist towards the Native Americans that lived in poverty on the reservations. I was racist because I didn’t understand why they would live like that and how they could live like that. But through reading Sherman Alexie’s short stories, they gave me insight they those people are doing the best they can with they have and what they are being given.
1. How can the Natives make another agreement with the U.S. Government to make investments instead of selling their land?
2. How can you keep your identity when you have everyone trying to define a new one for you?
3. What if Caucasians were the minorities for once? Would the majority treat us kindly or badly, knowing and not knowing what had happened to them?
The Morality and Politics of Justice
Artist Statement
My political campaign poster represents my perspective on rape culture, which is how society has adopted rape into its societal norms, degrading women into objects, and turning an average woman´s fear into a joke. I had my model put her hands up because I wanted to have the action of ¨NO¨ and her face turned away from her attacker. I wrote the words on her hands because I wanted to make a more personal connection to my audience showing that her actions are louder than her words (pathos). I put sparkled barbed wire around the pictures because barbed wire is an ugly and hurtful object, and it resembles rape. The sparkles that I put on the rape represents how society has covered this ugly and hurtful thing and turned it into something pretty and more acceptable. That does not mean that the sparkly barbed wire cannot still hurt you, because it can. It’s still this harmful and ugly object, only its aesthetics have changed (logos). I originally had my visual piece not on poster board but hanging, and when a peer told me that it would be more functional to put the visual pieces on poster board.
My political campaign poster represents my perspective on rape culture, which is how society has adopted rape into its societal norms, degrading women into objects, and turning an average woman´s fear into a joke. I had my model put her hands up because I wanted to have the action of ¨NO¨ and her face turned away from her attacker. I wrote the words on her hands because I wanted to make a more personal connection to my audience showing that her actions are louder than her words (pathos). I put sparkled barbed wire around the pictures because barbed wire is an ugly and hurtful object, and it resembles rape. The sparkles that I put on the rape represents how society has covered this ugly and hurtful thing and turned it into something pretty and more acceptable. That does not mean that the sparkly barbed wire cannot still hurt you, because it can. It’s still this harmful and ugly object, only its aesthetics have changed (logos). I originally had my visual piece not on poster board but hanging, and when a peer told me that it would be more functional to put the visual pieces on poster board.
Final Draft Op-Ed Article: "Rape Culture: The New Moral Standard"
The organization RAINN claims that,”97 out of 100 rapists receive no punishment”. RAINN also says that only 46% of rapes get reported, 12% will lead to an arrest, 9% get prosecuted, 5% lead to a felony, and only 3% of rapists will spend even a single day in prison.
Society’s evolution of rape culture is forcing women to live in fear, while most men are able to navigate their lives without this hindrance. Rape culture is like barbed wire, it’s just as hurtful and ugly but it has been covered by reasoning that is like glitter to put on top of the barbed wire to make it seem okay when it can still hurt you.
The Marshall Universities Women’s Center explains, “rape culture affects every woman. The rape of one woman is a degradation, terror, and limitation to all women. Most women and girls limit their behavior because of the existence of rape. Most women and girls live in fear of rape... That’s how rape functions as a powerful means by which the whole female population is held in a subordinate position to the whole male population, even though many men don’t rape, and many women are never victims of rape.”
A recently published YouTube satire video entitled, “Rape: It’s Your Fault” has the actors tell you that you are raped is because it doesn’t matter if you’re wearing a track suit or a bathing suit, or even an astronauts outfit you are still asking for it. The video also shows a police man telling women that they should always be with men if they don’t want to be raped by men, which is extremely redundant because what if the man that you are with to help protect you rapes you? Do you go to the police just so that they could tell you that they “told you so”.
Marshall Universities Women’s Center continues to explain the effects of rape culture on young girls and women as they argue, “Most women and girls live in fear of rape.” The fear starts from a young age because these girls are taught how to dress properly and not to show a lot of skin, and how to act when around people that are in your day to day life.
Girls are also taught that women are less important than men in school, because you hear about men and how they have changed the world, and you very infrequently see women discover something, or change the way the world works, or start a movement that changes the way you live. This history can oppress girls to think of themselves lesser than of those who are boys or men; because they think that they can’t change the world in some way.
The psychological impact that rape culture has is huge on women. It’s the reason that we women walk with our keys in between our fingers at night, it’s why we ignore men when walking down the street and look at the ground trying to not to show any sign of interest as they pass by. It’s the reason colleges give freshman girls pepper spray as a part of their orientation packages. It’s the reason why we have apps on our smartphones that alert the police of our uneasiness of our security. All of these tactics are in the effort to avoid rape. However, these efforts are ultimately in vain if we don’t also teach our young men how to respect the inherent dignity of women.
Women have to take extra caution and plan everything out if they are going somewhere, because as said by Jessica Williams from the Daily Show with John Stewart asserts, “Girls don’t be a doofie watch out for a roofie… Don’t get into a car that has doors that lock automatically… No earbuds. Okay? You might as well wear a sign that says “I can’t hear anything attack me from behind please””. Jessica Williams speaks to a reality that most women encounter day after day, to the point that we don’t even think about because it has become the norm for women.
The saying of “boys will be boys” is an excuse to justify the wrongful actions of young men, so that it is distilled in their brain that it is okay to mistreat others. All that young women are given is “act like a lady” which teaches them to have respect for everyone except themselves.
If we were to raise children with the Veil of Ignorance then maybe we could eliminate this outlandish expectation for girls and create equality within our next generation, teaching them that they have to treat each other with respect and that no one is superior to the other.
Along with the Veil of Ignorance we should also teach the next generation Self-Ownership. Self-ownership is where you are entitled to your own decisions and other people need to respect that, so if you do not give your consent they cannot force you to do it. This applies to rape culture because if you do not give your consent to have intercourse then they should respect your decision and stop, reducing the threat of rape.
There are many songs that promote rape that the next generations are listening to. Songs like “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, say “I hate these blurred lines, I know you want it,” the lyrics tell me that even though it goes against his better judgment he was still planning of coming onto a girl who was intoxicated, because he thinks that he could make the decision for her, when she can’t.
The 14th amendment promised that everyone who was a citizen to the United States is entitled to laws of life, liberty, and property. Society has ignored the 14th amendment when it comes to women; maybe the reason the amendment is ignored is because women are still seen as objects. Women are citizens of the United States, so why are we not given the same opportunity to live without fear?
The organization RAINN claims that,”97 out of 100 rapists receive no punishment”. RAINN also says that only 46% of rapes get reported, 12% will lead to an arrest, 9% get prosecuted, 5% lead to a felony, and only 3% of rapists will spend even a single day in prison.
Society’s evolution of rape culture is forcing women to live in fear, while most men are able to navigate their lives without this hindrance. Rape culture is like barbed wire, it’s just as hurtful and ugly but it has been covered by reasoning that is like glitter to put on top of the barbed wire to make it seem okay when it can still hurt you.
The Marshall Universities Women’s Center explains, “rape culture affects every woman. The rape of one woman is a degradation, terror, and limitation to all women. Most women and girls limit their behavior because of the existence of rape. Most women and girls live in fear of rape... That’s how rape functions as a powerful means by which the whole female population is held in a subordinate position to the whole male population, even though many men don’t rape, and many women are never victims of rape.”
A recently published YouTube satire video entitled, “Rape: It’s Your Fault” has the actors tell you that you are raped is because it doesn’t matter if you’re wearing a track suit or a bathing suit, or even an astronauts outfit you are still asking for it. The video also shows a police man telling women that they should always be with men if they don’t want to be raped by men, which is extremely redundant because what if the man that you are with to help protect you rapes you? Do you go to the police just so that they could tell you that they “told you so”.
Marshall Universities Women’s Center continues to explain the effects of rape culture on young girls and women as they argue, “Most women and girls live in fear of rape.” The fear starts from a young age because these girls are taught how to dress properly and not to show a lot of skin, and how to act when around people that are in your day to day life.
Girls are also taught that women are less important than men in school, because you hear about men and how they have changed the world, and you very infrequently see women discover something, or change the way the world works, or start a movement that changes the way you live. This history can oppress girls to think of themselves lesser than of those who are boys or men; because they think that they can’t change the world in some way.
The psychological impact that rape culture has is huge on women. It’s the reason that we women walk with our keys in between our fingers at night, it’s why we ignore men when walking down the street and look at the ground trying to not to show any sign of interest as they pass by. It’s the reason colleges give freshman girls pepper spray as a part of their orientation packages. It’s the reason why we have apps on our smartphones that alert the police of our uneasiness of our security. All of these tactics are in the effort to avoid rape. However, these efforts are ultimately in vain if we don’t also teach our young men how to respect the inherent dignity of women.
Women have to take extra caution and plan everything out if they are going somewhere, because as said by Jessica Williams from the Daily Show with John Stewart asserts, “Girls don’t be a doofie watch out for a roofie… Don’t get into a car that has doors that lock automatically… No earbuds. Okay? You might as well wear a sign that says “I can’t hear anything attack me from behind please””. Jessica Williams speaks to a reality that most women encounter day after day, to the point that we don’t even think about because it has become the norm for women.
The saying of “boys will be boys” is an excuse to justify the wrongful actions of young men, so that it is distilled in their brain that it is okay to mistreat others. All that young women are given is “act like a lady” which teaches them to have respect for everyone except themselves.
If we were to raise children with the Veil of Ignorance then maybe we could eliminate this outlandish expectation for girls and create equality within our next generation, teaching them that they have to treat each other with respect and that no one is superior to the other.
Along with the Veil of Ignorance we should also teach the next generation Self-Ownership. Self-ownership is where you are entitled to your own decisions and other people need to respect that, so if you do not give your consent they cannot force you to do it. This applies to rape culture because if you do not give your consent to have intercourse then they should respect your decision and stop, reducing the threat of rape.
There are many songs that promote rape that the next generations are listening to. Songs like “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, say “I hate these blurred lines, I know you want it,” the lyrics tell me that even though it goes against his better judgment he was still planning of coming onto a girl who was intoxicated, because he thinks that he could make the decision for her, when she can’t.
The 14th amendment promised that everyone who was a citizen to the United States is entitled to laws of life, liberty, and property. Society has ignored the 14th amendment when it comes to women; maybe the reason the amendment is ignored is because women are still seen as objects. Women are citizens of the United States, so why are we not given the same opportunity to live without fear?
Reflection
For this project we had delved into the topic of racism and how racism affects everybody in some way, whether you are involved in it or the receiver and even just around it, we have all experienced it to some extent. We watched the movie Crash that broke a lot of race norms, like for example there were rich African Americans, a cop who was scared to stand up to another cop, a cop who is sexually assaulted a women in front of her husband, a Persian family who were not terrorists, a Latino who had integrity, and a white couple who were robbed and felt scared. We also read the play, The Night Theroux Spent in Jail which talked about transcendentalism and civil disobedience. We learned about many philosophies like Libertarianism, Deontology, Rawls’ Justice as Fairness, and Utilitarianism.
This project has helped me learn that you need to apply a philosophy to solve an issue; it will help make a base to start building your perspective. Learning about rhetoric has made me more skeptical about what I see in political campaign commercials and posters because they are a way of convincing you that their beliefs are the one and only correct belief. I used Evidence the most because I had so much evidence to back up what I was saying, so if someone disagreed with me I could respectfully bring up facts and examples. At Exhibition I presented my issue with a strong opinion, and everybody that came up to me agreed with me.
I think that I did best on Proof-Reading because I have no spelling errors in my Op-Ed and my Political Campaign Poster. I know this because I was thorough with my spelling and read over the projects many times with scrutiny, looking for an error, and sent in the project when I was confident that I had no spelling errors. My weak point on this project was organization of my Op-Ed because I had kind of had evidence in at random, and even though I tried to make my Op-Ed flow, it is still a little bit choppy.
If I had another week to work on my project I think that I would be able to refine my project more, by making my Op-Ed flow a lot better and include a better definition and examples of The Veil of Ignorance and Self-Ownership. I would retake pictures of my model with the words “There are no “Blurred Lines”, NO means NO.” instead of having to type them over her hands, giving the pictures an almost cheesy look to them.
For this project we had delved into the topic of racism and how racism affects everybody in some way, whether you are involved in it or the receiver and even just around it, we have all experienced it to some extent. We watched the movie Crash that broke a lot of race norms, like for example there were rich African Americans, a cop who was scared to stand up to another cop, a cop who is sexually assaulted a women in front of her husband, a Persian family who were not terrorists, a Latino who had integrity, and a white couple who were robbed and felt scared. We also read the play, The Night Theroux Spent in Jail which talked about transcendentalism and civil disobedience. We learned about many philosophies like Libertarianism, Deontology, Rawls’ Justice as Fairness, and Utilitarianism.
This project has helped me learn that you need to apply a philosophy to solve an issue; it will help make a base to start building your perspective. Learning about rhetoric has made me more skeptical about what I see in political campaign commercials and posters because they are a way of convincing you that their beliefs are the one and only correct belief. I used Evidence the most because I had so much evidence to back up what I was saying, so if someone disagreed with me I could respectfully bring up facts and examples. At Exhibition I presented my issue with a strong opinion, and everybody that came up to me agreed with me.
I think that I did best on Proof-Reading because I have no spelling errors in my Op-Ed and my Political Campaign Poster. I know this because I was thorough with my spelling and read over the projects many times with scrutiny, looking for an error, and sent in the project when I was confident that I had no spelling errors. My weak point on this project was organization of my Op-Ed because I had kind of had evidence in at random, and even though I tried to make my Op-Ed flow, it is still a little bit choppy.
If I had another week to work on my project I think that I would be able to refine my project more, by making my Op-Ed flow a lot better and include a better definition and examples of The Veil of Ignorance and Self-Ownership. I would retake pictures of my model with the words “There are no “Blurred Lines”, NO means NO.” instead of having to type them over her hands, giving the pictures an almost cheesy look to them.