Group Work Experience

I think about that group work I did one semester. Our assignment was to introduce a new product into a foreign country. Despite us facing cultural differences that was led to some ups and downs, I have to say that it was one of the best teams I have been in. Every single assignment we did, we tackled. Everytime...bam...bam...bam! And down went another assignment. We were motivated. We were ambitious.

You, me and the orangutans

I laugh to myself trying to describe the orangutans hair color. Brown or reddish. And I remember a book I once read speaking of the natives description to the early British settlers who came to the island of Borneo - red haired like the orangutans. But coming back to the orangutans of Sabah, I can't help but think about their similarity to us humans.

32 teeth. I open my mouth to count mine, and decide that I have about the same numbers minus of course those wisdom teeth whose wisdom I can very much do without. I'm sure that like us, these teeth help with their speech to communicate among themselves.

'What else?', I think. 'Our hands!'.The same hands with 10 fingers. The thumbs opposable. Of course our feet unlike theirs aren't engineered for climbing and swinging from trees to trees and that their hands can extend to as long as seven feet and are one and one half longer than their legs. I can't help but think of this as an advantage for them and us left with a disadvantage. And if you're thinking about their nails, orangutans nails are pretty much like yours and mine. No claws, but beware of scratching.

One more thing. Don't be fooled at how cute these small tail free creatures are. Between you and me, even if they aren't as strong as gorillas, they're seven times stronger than a human. So consider yourself warned.

"Manifesto" and "The Making of a Marginal Farm" by Wendell Berry

Respect. The main thing I gather from Berry's writing. From what I have deduced of his writing I believe his intention is to create awareness on how our disrespect towards the land by developing it into modern living has caused almost irreversible damages. Those that are reversible, requires not only a long period of time to restore but also expensive to carry out. Not only that, but despite restoration the land would forever be scarred by the selfishness of human's wants of a "better living".

From his writing I gathered that modernization is not necessarily a good thing. This I think is because when we develop an area, we fail to consider it's implications. Everything done today always leads to monetary profits that blinds us from the threat is poses. We are only aware of these threats once a problem is well underway.

Group Discussion - Steingraber Issue

People often say that ignorance is bliss. However, ignorance could be hazardous for health as in the findings of Steingraber's research. Although not much research has been done to understand the effect of dioxin in a human body, the much that is known is enough to have public be aware and concerned about the danger of ingesting it. From our group discussion, we suggest some simple actions that should be implemented.

Create Awareness - Hospitals

Public health care plays an important role in creating awareness regarding health issues. Therefore, hospitals is an important location to where the public could obtain informations on such matters. Brochures creating awareness to dioxin should be made available easily as well as lectures that could help answer questions concerning the chemical. Also, doctors play a crucial role informing mothers of the potential contamination of dioxin in breast milk if they choose to breast feed their babies.

Create Awareness - Media

Media plays an important role in reaching out information. The danger of dioxin could be relayed to the public through this medium via TV commercials, websites, advertisements as well as the newspapers.

Create Awareness - Universities

Colleges are very influential and could reach out to a big number of people to create awareness. Posters or awareness campaigns would be a very good method to bring to attention the dangers of dioxin.

Actions

In coming up with actions, our group has recommends that better food consumption should be at the top of the list. The public should be aware of aware of where their food comes from, such as how the livestocks are kept and the food that they consume. Most importantly, further studies should be conducted to studying the effect of dioxin particularly TCDD. Alternatives, need to be found soon in order the prevent further problems that what is already faced today.

"Having Faith" by Sandra Steingraber

The purpose of this writing is to create awareness to the missing link of the food chain, the missing top of the flattened out food pyramid. Steingraber, pointed out the neglect to the pinnacle of then food pyramid, which are breastfed babies. She points this out by laying out a map, on how the ingestion of harmful poisons multiplies in affect as it moves towards the top of the pyramid. Therefore, as babies are considered to be at the top, they are facing a lot of health issues than would only lead to further health concern not only on individuals but also towards the government.

I would consider Steingraber to be an activist as I feel that she is making an effort to create an awareness to the issue. Also, as she tries her best to practice what she preaches, it shows her commitment in making a change to the situation and her belief that these changes would make a difference.

Things I've Done So Far

I've always felt that sharing is a good thing and that helping others is a necessity if not compulsory. So even though I'm not a religious person, I jumped to the opportunity to join the youth group in church for some of the charity work they organize. At the moment, we are looking to planning to collect donations or pledges for the youth in Telupid - one of the poorer district in my home state. Despite not able to be there physically, I work as close as I can with the committee brainstorming ideas to launch this project by the end of this summer.

Personal Mission Statement

I have always believed that wealth should be equally distributed for the world population. It is undeniable that some might be more financially better than the majority. However, that does not mean that others should be denied the comfort of basic necessity from a situation that they are unable to control. For this, I try my best to be involved in organizations and try to make a change to the less fortunate.

Sociology and Social Change: Creating A More Just And Sustainable World

I both agree and disagree to the reading. However, when discussing about a just and sustainable environment I feel that it depends on an individual for changes to be made. An environment can only go so far to shape a person, in the end it relates back to how a person interacts with the environment and the compassion the person feels towards the environment.

Still, educating a person since young on the issue of the environment would definitely work better. This because I believe is due to how rigid people tend to be towards changes as they get older. They become more difficult to persuade, especially when they are comfortable with how things are going with them.

"Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Substance

Carson uses statistical evidence from previous studies on the issue in pleading with the audience's logic (logos). This helped fulfill the purpose of the text, as audiences are able to analyze and understand the severity of the issue at hand. By appealing to their logic, she was able to plead to their pathos. The numbers quoted in the writing, was significant enough to create a sense of alarm due to the use of DDT. Due to this combination of logic and emotional appeal, it provided a strong and valid argument to convince her audience to take action.

"A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf" by John Muir

What specific details stay in your mind? Why? How do these small details lead to larger ideas?

"The world, we are told, was made especially for man". This sentence stuck with me throughout the reading because it has always been a belief of man that we own this world. This lead to Muir's bigger idea in the essay, because from there on he leads the discussion of what men find useful and useless in nature. His writing although boring and too flowery before getting to his point, led to the debate of the role of of every living organisms in this world. That their existence although not directly observable (and sometime not at all), should be present because God put them into existence.

"Polemic: Industrial Tourism and the National Parks" by Edward Abbey

Does any particular image run throughout the essay? If so, why does the author chose it? Does it have any "metaphorical significance"? Does it transform in any way the beginning to the end of the essay?

Abbey provides an image of natural beauty. A natural environment meant for nature lovers and an escape by the modernization of men in the world today. Later, as government began to get involved in the development of the National Park, he paints a picture of a congested place. A metropolis within a preserved environment. It was no longer an escape from civilization, but a false pretense of connecting with nature. This is an important metaphorical significance because it gave a clear transformation of the essay from the beginning to the end. The audience are aware of what is lost due to progress and the pollution that comes with it. There's a sense of lost, and anger to what can never be brought back for the future generation.

Music Video Assignment

Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter (OST Closer)

"A First American Views His Land" by N. Scott Momaday

What kind of rhythm does the writer create? Is there a variety in the sentence structure? Read the piece aloud to get a sense of the writer's voice. Write about the writer's rhythmic choices and their effect on the overall tone of the piece.

I feel that the writer builds the intensity of the essay from beginning to the end. He uses a more abstract sentence structure in making the essay more vivid to the readers' imagination. The combination of long and short sentences in writing the essay, gave more impact to the explanations in the essay. With the help of the poems embedded within the essay, it helps to emphasize the message the writer wants to send across about the Native American's view of their land as opposed to the disrespect the land is now facing.

Chris McCandless vs.Thoreau.

How might Thoreau's view of, and relationship with, nature be similar to McCandless's?

Both Thoreau and McCandless view nature to be an escape and at the beginning, neither of them know or understand what they were about to embark on by interacting with nature around them. However, as time progressed their relationship towards nature changed. They both sought nature as a place to seek answers to their questions in life and believe that to achieve this, they would have to get down to the very basics and leave behind society's materialistic lifestyle.

For both McCandless and Thoreau, consider the tradition of idealizing the American wilderness experience.

Moving to the wilderness was a rising action to the greater things to be later explored for both McCandless and Thoreau. It was a place where both began to really connect with the purpose they sought for, even if it was vague to both of them in the beginning. However, I feel that being in the wilderness helped them both find peace that satisfied the inner purpose that they both did not know they were searching for in the beginning.

How might Thoreau's work have affected McCandless (if it does)?

I feel that assuming McCandless read Walden, Thoreau's idea and the experience he had moving away from civilization into the wilderness inspired McCandless to take the same step. That by reading it, he felt that it would help him deal with the ghosts that haunts him living among the society he grew up in namely his family and their friends. It suggested to him an escape route to which perhaps had he lived, he could return back to with better understanding and call a truce with.