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Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Dervaes
http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/01/06/100-foot-diet-challenge-launch/
What really strikes me about this movie is how extreme a step their family was willing to take to keep his children safe from the toxins in food and to start a movement against the affects of the industrial revolution and the killing of our planet. Though my mom STRONGLY disapproves of the toxins put in our food she has not made a huge stand against it like this family, and I think you don't see a lot of people who are that willing to take a risk like that and depend totally on themselves for most of their food. I believe the Dervaes family needs vs. wants sheet would have a lot less wants then most people's or it is just totally different. I think they would have the same basic needs as most people, like food water and a house. I don't believe they would have wants like most people have like ten pairs of shoes and stuff like that. If they did have a lot of needs it would probably be just needs like some clothes, yarn (i saw them knitting) ethanol fuel etc. The Dervaes family fits into what we're learning from My Ishmael in one main way. They are going against the whole "you have to lock up the food". My Ishmael has showed us that when the government or leaders lock up the food, they have power, and people follow them. Like it said in the beginning of the movie, the father said "I think this is the most dangerous occupation on this earth because you are in danger of becoming free." This family has freedom along with growing there own food because they are not working to get the locked up food, they are not buying into the whole "takers" plan. Overall, I think it's really interesting how this family lives and it was a huge risk. I think I would be scared to try to live like this because I've grown up with other food, and depending on the "takers" system.
What really strikes me about this movie is how extreme a step their family was willing to take to keep his children safe from the toxins in food and to start a movement against the affects of the industrial revolution and the killing of our planet. Though my mom STRONGLY disapproves of the toxins put in our food she has not made a huge stand against it like this family, and I think you don't see a lot of people who are that willing to take a risk like that and depend totally on themselves for most of their food. I believe the Dervaes family needs vs. wants sheet would have a lot less wants then most people's or it is just totally different. I think they would have the same basic needs as most people, like food water and a house. I don't believe they would have wants like most people have like ten pairs of shoes and stuff like that. If they did have a lot of needs it would probably be just needs like some clothes, yarn (i saw them knitting) ethanol fuel etc. The Dervaes family fits into what we're learning from My Ishmael in one main way. They are going against the whole "you have to lock up the food". My Ishmael has showed us that when the government or leaders lock up the food, they have power, and people follow them. Like it said in the beginning of the movie, the father said "I think this is the most dangerous occupation on this earth because you are in danger of becoming free." This family has freedom along with growing there own food because they are not working to get the locked up food, they are not buying into the whole "takers" plan. Overall, I think it's really interesting how this family lives and it was a huge risk. I think I would be scared to try to live like this because I've grown up with other food, and depending on the "takers" system.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Erratic Retaliatior
"an·thro·po·mor·phism (ān'thrə-pə-môr'fĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
n. Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena." -www.dictionary.com
When Ishmael mentions anthropomorphism in this chapter I believe he is talking about how humans (and the people of "our culture") assume that animals have human characteristics, perform human like actions, and should be like humans because we believe that there is no other way to live, that we are civilized and living the way that humans were supposed to live (like Ishmael mentioned earlier when he talked about Tunes and Dancers). I think this because he says that "this anthropomorphism leads to much confusion. This is not only because animals are incapable of this level
of abstraction, but also because they know nothing about territories and have no interest in territories". This means that humans think that animals view territories the same way we do by actually claiming the land, but it turns out that they think entirely differently and it works for them, and that we should not assume there is only one style of doing things.
"This might be described as a strategy of erratic
retaliation: 'Give as good as you get, but don't be too predictable." When Ishmael says this he means if someone bothers you (like one of the tribes of Cawks) then bother them back, but if they aren't bothering you then it won't be a big deal if you bother them occasionally (because they will return the favor and make it even). Erratic Retaliation is a peacekeeping method because all who practice it understand the terms of it, so if someone attacks they just attack back and it never gets to out of hand (like annihilation). The reason Cawks just perform occasional attacks and don't just annihilate each other is because it does not follow the rules of Erratic Retaliation, and if one tribe started killing everyone then all the other tribes would take up the same practice, and soon there might not be any Cawks left. Another reason this wouldn't work is because if one tribe had five members left, and another only had two members left and they decided to unite against a greater enemy both of their tribes have different laws and customs which would clash and may cause conflict between them which would totally eliminate the purpose of uniting to kill the greater enemy.
n. Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena." -www.dictionary.com
When Ishmael mentions anthropomorphism in this chapter I believe he is talking about how humans (and the people of "our culture") assume that animals have human characteristics, perform human like actions, and should be like humans because we believe that there is no other way to live, that we are civilized and living the way that humans were supposed to live (like Ishmael mentioned earlier when he talked about Tunes and Dancers). I think this because he says that "this anthropomorphism leads to much confusion. This is not only because animals are incapable of this level
of abstraction, but also because they know nothing about territories and have no interest in territories". This means that humans think that animals view territories the same way we do by actually claiming the land, but it turns out that they think entirely differently and it works for them, and that we should not assume there is only one style of doing things.
"This might be described as a strategy of erratic
retaliation: 'Give as good as you get, but don't be too predictable." When Ishmael says this he means if someone bothers you (like one of the tribes of Cawks) then bother them back, but if they aren't bothering you then it won't be a big deal if you bother them occasionally (because they will return the favor and make it even). Erratic Retaliation is a peacekeeping method because all who practice it understand the terms of it, so if someone attacks they just attack back and it never gets to out of hand (like annihilation). The reason Cawks just perform occasional attacks and don't just annihilate each other is because it does not follow the rules of Erratic Retaliation, and if one tribe started killing everyone then all the other tribes would take up the same practice, and soon there might not be any Cawks left. Another reason this wouldn't work is because if one tribe had five members left, and another only had two members left and they decided to unite against a greater enemy both of their tribes have different laws and customs which would clash and may cause conflict between them which would totally eliminate the purpose of uniting to kill the greater enemy.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Ishmael Questions
Ishmael’s two general rules on how to identify people from our culture are “You’ll know you’re among people of your culture if the food is all owned, if it’s all under lock and key.” The second rule is “They perceive themselves to be members of a race that is fundamentally flawed and inherently doomed to suffering and misery.” (Pages 39-40). I do not believe Ishmael when he says that all the world’s people are part of the same culture. I believe culture is something that differs depending on location, resources, people, religion etc. For example, if you lived in Antarctica a long time ago your culture might have been eating fish, fishing for food, building igloos, wearing fur to keep out the cold. When Ishmael says that people from all over the world are part of the same culture it could make sense from a very broad point of view if he meant that we all wear clothes, speak a language, eat food, drink water, and are all influenced by mother culture.
Like Ishmael, I too disagree with mother cultures voice that tells us we are inherently flawed. Ishmael’s whole purpose is to teach a pupil how to save the world and if he thought we were totally flawed then we couldn’t be saved. Ishmael also recognizes the root of all our problems as being how we decided to lock our food away from ourselves and the agricultural revolution. If he and others across the world understand the root or the problem (which is something we caused, and we were not born with) than he knows how to abolish the root and then the rest of the problem at hand. After watching The Story of Stuff, I also realize that there are other ways of helping the human race so we are not doomed. It seems to me that we are not flawed, but its what we are doing that is flawed, and we have been doing it for so long and do not recognize the problem, so we accept it into our lives and believe that is how we were born to be, and will always be.
The takers and leavers are a metaphor for hunter/gathers/foragers compared to farmers. These relate to American culture because the first Americans, the Native American Indians were hunter gathers and foragers until European settlers came from the outside world. The Native Americans were perfectly content with their lifestyle but the Europeans had lived in a world where farming and modern inventions seemed totally necessary, and they told the Native Americans that is how they were supposed to live. If they didn’t comply they would take over the land, but some Indian Tribes liked the new foods they could grow with agriculture and were jealous of the Europeans and so they complied and joined the Europeans and helped them make new modern villages, and converted to a different lifestyle. This has grown into what American culture is today, with agriculture, grocery stores, factories, cars, clothing, money, government and more.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sustainability
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the words “sustainability” is the ability to keep something or sustain it, for it to be kept constant and within certain boundaries. When most people think of living sustainably can be found from the dictionary “Any lifestyle based on energy-saving and environmental responsibility” but I also think this term is limited to living based on saving energy and land but can be applied to government, or money and freedom. What I mean by this is if you look at the actual definition of the word “sustain” it means: to support, hold, or bear up from below; bear the weight of, as a structure. To keep (a person, the mind, the spirits, etc.) from giving way. If you apply this to a society it could mean being able to keep money within the community or distributed equally so no one is too drastically affected by poverty, or so the whole society’s money doesn’t lose value. It could also mean that government or freedom is kept throughout the community and that everyone is supported and happy.
When I think of my freedom the first thing I think of is the freedom my parents allow me to have. If you base it on that I don’t have much freedom due to my parents paranoia that I am going to get kidnapped and die… If you look at a larger scale like the freedom the government gives me compared to adults we don’t have a lot. We can’t vote for who leads our country, we can’t really drive freely, we aren’t allowed to drink, work most places, buy a house, stay out on the streets past 11 pm (well at least in San Diego) etc… If you compare our freedom to other countries we actually do have a lot of rights. Boys and girls are allowed to go to school, we can wear anything we want, we can have any religion, we are allowed to participate in numerous activities etc. It just depends how you look at it and from what point of view you are taking.
As a 14/15 year old I think I can live my life more sustainably by paying more attention to world issues and problems America or my community is having and trying to help them and play my part in the solution. If you look again at the definition of “living sustainably” : “Any lifestyle based on energy-saving and environmental responsibility” If you look at our world today we are obviously experiencing major issues with our environment due to global warming, pollution and lack or recycling. If I wanted to help that I could recycle more or pick up trash, try to convince my parents to buy hybrids.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Reflection HW
1. How are you different now than when you started school in August?
I am different now because I have learned a lot more then I started school knowing, and have acquired many new skills. Many of these skills come from the projects we have done and project process. Some examples of this are during the Time Travelers project I have learned how to write a bibliography and how to cite in MLA format, which are two skills that I will have to use for the rest of my life. Another example is I have learned everyday things like how to put pipes together and simple construction through building a water filter. I have also learned to work with different types of people, and how to budget my time, thanks to task lists and group work. Working with different types of people is something incorporated in the HTH learning style, and it has opened my eyes with how to deal with certain situations that come with different people.
I am really curious about mysteries in history. Like how certain people died or were mysteriously murdered, or how archaeologists have never been able to explain how certain cities or civilizations have just disappeared. This is really interesting to me because there are so many different theories and research/project possibilities.
I am different now because I have learned a lot more then I started school knowing, and have acquired many new skills. Many of these skills come from the projects we have done and project process. Some examples of this are during the Time Travelers project I have learned how to write a bibliography and how to cite in MLA format, which are two skills that I will have to use for the rest of my life. Another example is I have learned everyday things like how to put pipes together and simple construction through building a water filter. I have also learned to work with different types of people, and how to budget my time, thanks to task lists and group work. Working with different types of people is something incorporated in the HTH learning style, and it has opened my eyes with how to deal with certain situations that come with different people.
2. What skills do you think are the most important for succeeding in Humanities? Why? I think time management is an important skill for getting work done and succeeding in humanities. Time management is very important because if you include time for studying and projects then you will not be rushed and you will learn everything without taking shortcuts which could cause information to be lost or forgotten. Another important skill is trying to incorporate what we learn into your everyday life. An example of this is trying to incorporate different literary devices into your everyday writing so you become familiar with them and are comfortable using them in class, when you are required too.
3. One thing I would like to improve on this semester is....I am going to do this by.... Finishing DP work on time, and starting it early at the beginning of the project so I already have the basics on the page ready to go. I am going to do this by making a basic page and linking it, then looking through what I already know about the project, so I can have the basic steps already up on my DP. This is will really affect my grade in a positive way because so much of our grade is affected by our DP and DP reflections.
I am really curious about mysteries in history. Like how certain people died or were mysteriously murdered, or how archaeologists have never been able to explain how certain cities or civilizations have just disappeared. This is really interesting to me because there are so many different theories and research/project possibilities.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Dialectic Journals- Book Eight
"....so free from care was the posture the king assumed upon the earth, cushioned upon his cloak as a ground cloth, legs crossed at the ankles,arms folded across his breast, his eyes shaded by a straw sun hat and his head pillowed insouciantley on the bowl of his shield. He might have been a boy, herding goats in some sleepy summer dale." I think the author is trying to make the point that though Leonidas is a king, he is still a real person and can't be expected to be regal all the time. It seems that he is trying to escape the horrors of war and the time of his death through sleep, and just wants to relax in his final hours, and not just renew his energy. This passage is interesting for me because in books it never explains the small details, like people sleeping, but the author makes a point to describe how the king is sleeping, and how he looks while sleeping. I also think the comparison to a boy herding goats is interesting because i can totally see that image in my head, which helps me envision Leonidas.
"A king does not abide within his tent while his men bleed and die upon the field. A king does not dine while his men go hungry, nor sleep when they stand at watch upon the wall. A king does not command his mens loyalty through fear nor purchase it with gold; he earns their love by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endures for their sake... He serves them, not they him." I think this quote is really moving and really easy to connect to. The Spartans view of a king is a hero, and a patriot. Leonidas died fighting for his country, taking all the pain so others could live. He did not watch men die for him, he died so they and their families would be saved. I think it's better to have a role model and leader that has endured the same hardships you have, and can help you through them because of their personal experience. You also want someone who does not view themselves as high above you, but someone that is comfortable talking to you and taking time to see and help you through life and struggles. All of this Leonidas did, and the Spartans loved him in return, and were happy to follow him into war, even though they knew they would die.
"A king does not abide within his tent while his men bleed and die upon the field. A king does not dine while his men go hungry, nor sleep when they stand at watch upon the wall. A king does not command his mens loyalty through fear nor purchase it with gold; he earns their love by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endures for their sake... He serves them, not they him." I think this quote is really moving and really easy to connect to. The Spartans view of a king is a hero, and a patriot. Leonidas died fighting for his country, taking all the pain so others could live. He did not watch men die for him, he died so they and their families would be saved. I think it's better to have a role model and leader that has endured the same hardships you have, and can help you through them because of their personal experience. You also want someone who does not view themselves as high above you, but someone that is comfortable talking to you and taking time to see and help you through life and struggles. All of this Leonidas did, and the Spartans loved him in return, and were happy to follow him into war, even though they knew they would die.
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