Respond to these questions, and answer one more:
I rather enjoyed almost all of my notebooks. In some cases, I found them more informative and alluring than my major writing assignments for the course. Right off the back I was feeling stumped about what to write for the first notebook. Writing about what I already knew about poverty using pictures? What did I know? At first I felt I knew nothing about poverty other than the experiences I had throughout my young life, but those moments helped guide me to focus on each one individually until I started to uncover a bigger picture which soon webbed a connected design. Notebook 2 was a cartoon strip about differing views which began to draw a picture of why the improvement of poverty was at such a standstill. When you know what people are fighting for from their point of view, you can better accommodate or better know how to combat it. Notebook 3 is when I first learned about CCT (Conditional Cash Transfers) programs. This information was a staple in my Infographic and trickled throughout many future assignments. Notebook 4 gave me insight to one of the major ideas when it comes to alleviating poverty and that was the two-generation approach, which focuses on bettering those currently living in poverty while simultaneously preparing younger generations for a future of living above the poverty line. Notebook 5 surprised me when I learned Japan had the lowest poverty rate (Worldmapper.org). As I was forced to think deeper about the economy and goods produced in Japan I began to realize I knew more than I gave myself credit for. Notebook 6: Haiku. The first haiku described what we think poverty is about and the latter described what poverty is really about. So many of us want to believe that those living in poverty will have an “awakening” and work hard to climb out. “If the world would just work together we could end poverty!” But in the end how many people believe they could make the difference themselves? If we did, I believe more people would put in a bigger effort. For example, when you see someone who is homeless on the street corner asking for handouts, even if you don’t have cash or food, do you smile? How often to you look someone and greet them with a hello? Fact is we’re scared and ignorance is easier. The longer we remain ignorant of the amount of true poverty in the U.S. and in the world, it will remain. Notebook 7 was demonstrated to help guide us into digging deeper into our research. Honestly, Notebook 8 was a nightmare at first, “Create a meme about your social justice issue”. How in the world could I create a meme about poverty without being highly insensitive?! So I didn’t. I couldn’t find the right angle and therefore I learned to be creative and focus on major affecters on poverty: health care, education, nutrition/health and government aid. Education, health and health insurance continued to play a massive role in the continuing of poverty I learned. Notebook 9: Sketch currents events in your social justice issue. As a man who lived through poverty as a child and went on to become one of the greatest neurosurgeons of all time, Ben Carson’s inauguration on March 2nd, 2017 as the new U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development could be significant to our country’s future poverty rate. Notebook 10: Create a playlist. I wasn’t sure how this one would turn out, but I really ended up enjoying this project. For one yes, I got to listen to music, but this assignment helped me broaden my horizons of African American music. Not too often do I truly sit down and listen to the lyrics of a song, and this project helped me focus on what musicians feed us and how much potential power they hold. Notebook 11 and Final Notebook: Both question answering and insight oriented. I enjoyed notebooks 1 and 10 the most at the time of creation. I think notebooks 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 10 are my best work. I would probably try using the technique from notebook 1 again in other circumstances—before brainstorming ideas for a writing assignment, write down everything I already know about the subject and attempt to make connections. Using the technique in notebook 1 has previously stated, I hope it will drastically help guide me towards the direction or purpose of my writing with ease. Another technique might be after I’ve already researched a topic, think about what you don’t know about the topic and research that further. And finally, to use a multitude of mediums like comic strips, picture essays, haiku/poetry, musically founded, and more.
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1) Analyze group work in the context of civic engagement. How might working in a group affect your writing positively and negatively (think about rhetorical elements like your credibility, your perspective, your message, your purpose, genre, etc.)? 2) How might working in a group impact—both positively and negatively—your own level of civic engagement? From the moment the words, “group work” arises an undesirable gut feeling sulks in almost immediately. I know I am not alone with this feeling. Too often there is a group member that doesn’t excel in completing assignments. Almost worse, members may complete assignments yet their quality of work doesn’t match yours. In my statistics class this past summer, a student in my group never responded to messages and when it came time for his assigned section to be turned in, it was unknown whether or not he would actually accomplish it. Luckily he did, but for each group member’s section, mine was the only which scored 5 out of 5 points. Now, this is not said in a cocky way, but when you can’t guarantee the quality of work which your grade depends upon, it’s understandable why “group work” coincides with dreaded memories.
Writing-- While I haven’t always received the most helpful peer reviews, I am looking forward to receiving some further feedback on my pieces. I have been consulting with a coworker whom is getting ready to start her Masters in Public Health and while both her and I have similar ideas in quality work she has helped me see and understand that while some of my work provided detailed and useful information, not all of it was always pertinent to my purpose in the specified essay. Other members in my current group have been using a variety of mediums as well and as we discuss what modes worked best for us and why, my desire to adapt certain pieces into new mediums has me excited for the final results of our group’s online magazine. One lovely woman in my group, whom is the Research Manager, will be double checking that all of our group’s illustrations and written work are properly sourced. As I am still learning how to appropriately source and cite resources, I’m sure our Research Manager will catch my mistakes and help me not only address them, but also better understand what I did incorrectly for the future. Another benefit of working in a group is getting a variety of perspectives. These perspectives arrive not only by age differences, but also by a person’s background: where they grew up, where they went to college, the social class of their family and more. While some concepts are comical and entertaining to some, others find offensive and misrepresentative. Understanding these differences may help my writing purpose reach broader audiences and apply to more than a select group. The only way I could see working in a group negatively affecting my writing is if a group member confirms the initial fear of working in a group stated earlier. Civic Engagement-- Throughout this English course each student was to pick a social justice issue to focus all of their writing on. I chose poverty. While poverty is a common topic, the more I attempted to discuss the issues at hand I felt uninformed. What are common causes of poverty? Why do people often remain in poverty? What are the mainstream views on poverty? What is being done to combat poverty? Is there even anything being done to combat poverty— there must be, but there is still so many people living in poverty. While feeling much more informed as we near the end of the semester, each individual in my group may provide new insight on poverty which could help lead me to further research and understanding. Has someone ever asked you a question that you should know the answer to and the moment they ask you feel absolutely incompetent? Just me? Never mind. Well, that feeling sucks, to be honest. Personally, I don’t like this feeling and find myself later attempting to make sure I don’t find myself in the position again. I am not only looking forward to hearing more about my own issue from others, especially if they have first-hand experience, but also to gain a more in-depth understanding of the social justice issues of others in my group. For example, the other social justice issues being presented are vaccinations, Medicaid and medical marijuana. While all of these are medically related, many of those living in poverty lack access to medical care. Learning more about these other medical issues will not only offer a better understanding of these issues, but may also help me understand how the medical field does not properly aid those living in poverty. Understanding issues in depth is the first step to civic engagement. When we know more, we know how to better help and assist those affected by these social issues. We then know where our resources will be best benefited in society. Negatively, learning more about these issues may create a differing view on a topic that we didn’t recognize before. Sometimes when we learn more about an issue and its causes and inner workings we begin to see the problems of the issue and may even lose hope for change. One thing I can say as I have learned more about poverty, is how I have become a little more saddened by the lack of effort we as a human race, especially in the U.S. put forth into not into accommodating poverty, but the lack of focus on truly alleviating it now and for the long term future. Sometimes ignorance is bliss…but would anything ever change without throwing these issues in front of us? Probably not. Poverty’s Paradise by 24-Carat Black (1973) Lyrics at: https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/24-Carat-Black/Poverty-s-Paradise This song travels through the cycle of poverty starting with how one is hungry as a child and then as a parent can never seem to find a way to keep their children fed. Continuing on about living on welfare throughout the entirety of life and how food stamps remain barely enough. As quoted below, the lyrics proceed to describe how poverty is a more vicious cycle than those of us living outside understand. Imagine not just living through a few months of coupon clipping, but rather a lifetime of seeing generations, neighbors, family and yourself living the day to day stress of life on welfare without end. The amount and or level of motivation and optimistic thoughts must at some point drain completely. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness--That's what they tell me--Liquidation and distress--That's what they sell me--Free speech, constitutional rights, ain't nowhere to be found--Only hunger and grind--Global fight after fight--Look around--The president said, the president said, the president said--Don't worry, Don't worry, Don't worry, Don't worry--But worry's all I know” Inner City Blues by Marvin Gaye (1971) Lyrics at: https://www.google.com/search?q=marvin+gaye+inner+city+blues+lyrics&oq=marvin+gaye+inner+city+blues&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.4503j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 In the topic of poverty there are typically two general mindsets. One, that those living in poverty are responsible for the life they live and two, that there are circumstances which can cause and keep people living in poverty and that the government is responsible for helping alleviate poverty. This songs mentions inflation, bills piling up without increasing wages, bad breaks and setbacks, not being able to pay taxes, crime spreads, people panic, “trigger happy policing” (find this particularly interesting as the Black Lives Matter movement is a current issue meanwhile this song was released in 1971). And throughout the entire song the line, “Make me wanna holler” repeats and always followed by a line like, “The way they do my life” or “They don’t understand” referencing what sounds like those not living in poverty, or specifically those who believe people living in poverty are not necessarily victims, but rather the responsible party. Little Ghetto Boy by Donny Hathaway (1972) Lyrics at: https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tkgatljp2izthuynluotbksz5bi?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-songlyrics This song has such a beautiful tune. Very soulful. And yet Hathaway seems to be crying out for change. He cries to the next generation claiming the world is such a disheartening place and that it will not change. As each child lives through the pain and misery, Hathaway asks the youth what they will do when they enter adulthood. Hathaway tries to express the world can only change if they take a stand and fight for the improvement of life. We’re always hoping that with time things will change, that the next generation will make better choices, that our children will be stronger than we were, but if this were always true, then the world would look much different today. Not only do we need to educate our children so that they may be stronger, but we must also set an example for them ourselves. We must begin the fight and carryout until the time comes for our children to follow. The Ghost of Tom Joad by Bruce Springsteen (1995) Lyrics at: https://www.google.com/search?ei=SZAKWp-JJufV0gLQmKjIBA&q=Ghost+of+Tom+Joad+lyrics&oq=Ghost+of+Tom+Joad+lyrics&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0j0i67k1j0l2j0i22i30k1l6.2118.3037.0.3220.7.7.0.0.0.0.90.597.7.7.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.7.597....0.rZjG_JnFKMg This song is unique in that its send Bruce Springsteen was thinking about the Great Depression and life in the 1930s when he wrote this song. A time of great poverty and emotional stress by many. During this time, many men were known to have left their families in search of jobs and ways to provide which is the spinning image of the first lyrics about men walking the railroad tracks and “hot soup on a campfire under the bridge, Shelter line stretching 'round the corner”. This song creates a question for me. As I’ve mentioned above, there are often two mindsets on poverty. Defining poverty is difficult. I thought it would be easy, but it’s not. The more I’ve learned the more I’ve found it difficult to define. Is homelessness poverty? Is poverty simply a lack of cash? Is poverty and emotional state? Is poverty the cause or the outcome? If so, what does it cause or what is it the outcome of? Those living in poverty are responsible for their own fate. If that is what some believe I cannot help but wonder what their views on the Great Depression were. Would you say that those living in poverty during the Great Depression were entirely at fault for their situation or could we admit there are circumstances which can hinder poverty? Is poverty today similar to what it was during the Great Depression? If circumstances kept people from providing during the Great Depression could circumstances be lurking in today’s poverty? A sketch of Ben Carson signing in as the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Ben Carson was raised in poverty by his single mother. He turned his violent and angry childhood around after his mother enforced the importance of education on him (his mother was a 3rd grade dropout). He graduated in the top of his class, attended Yale University, medical school at the University of Michigan and completes his residency at Johns Hopkins. He became an infamous neurosurgeon for his success' in separations of conjoined twins. Why did I include hurricane Maria's influence in Puerto Rico in response to a sketch about poverty? Before hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, almost half of the population at 43.5% was living in poverty. Once Maria made landfall on September 20th, 2017 the entire island's electricity was wiped out and much of the island's population relies on eclectic power for clean water. What I want to know is this...
It makes me wonder whether or not the place of disaster has any affect on the amount of aid it receives.
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AuthorAnne is 25 years old and originally from the Bay Area, California, but grew up in the small charming town of Horseheads, just south of the Finger Lakes Wine Country in Upstate New York. Archives
April 2019
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