The Handmaids Tale

So far, the book is relatively slow. I love the writing and the plot really makes you think. Something that has been bothering my group and I (more specifically Paloma and I) is how little background knowledge the author gives us. It wouldn't make sense for her to give us any background information because the story is written from Offreds perspective, and her deeply reminiscing on the past would be somewhat irrelevant to the current story. Still, we would like to know some more information on how the society became the way it is. Slowly we are getting more clues but I think that everything will click into place once the author reveals some of the past's secrets. On another note, I have a feeling that Offred is going to start breaking the rules. She has showed many signs of a rebellious alter-ego. She talks about stealing, smoking, and just breaking the rules. This is rebellion because the society she lives in is extremely protected and breaking the smallest rule could have a sever punishment. I am wondering if she is going to concieve. If she doesn't it wouldn't be a disappointment because then we would get to see where the "unwomen"go. This is almost my preferred plot change because we can already safely assume that once she gets pregnant, it will be downhill from there and not the most exciting story. I am eager to see what happens with her and Nick also, they seem to have a little bit of a thing going on. The main theme in the book so far is brainwashing in my opinion, and Im sure it will continue throughout the book.

Mexico School Part 2

This is just a continuation of my last blog, if you want more information then you can read my previous post.

What I learned from this section of the article:
1. Text books are provided for free for primary levels of schooling. Grades 7-12 have to pay for their books, similar to the U.S.
2. The grading scale is different than our though. In Mexico, they are graded on a scale of 1-10. Teachers give exams 5 times a year, similar to state testing in the united states, because this exam must cover national curriculum. But then there is an additional national exam at the end of the year. If students score below a 6 on this test, they are required to repeat the grade.
3. The secondary schooling is divided into strict content areas. Grades 7 and 8 curriculum includes geometry and algebra. All 9th grade students must take trigonometry. All students must take a foreign language 3 hours a week. Science is also a requirement but because of the lack of laboratories, it is hard for students to engage in hands-on science. All students take 2 hours of art a week and 3 hours of technology. But again, because of lack of resources, sometimes these are subject to change.
4. By the time high school arrives, students are required to choose a school that will specialize in a certain career option. The school they attend will also prepare them for college, where they will continue to study in the same field.

Mexico School Part 1

I realized today that I didn't know very much about the Mexico education system in general, so I did some research and I found a really good site.
It stresses that most educators keep in the front of their mind, the background of their students and where they have come from. This is especially important in San Diego, and specifically at Bell because so many students were born out of the United States. Not only from Mexico, but from other places around the world as well.

Here are some things I found :)
1. The first education law was created in 1867 and it stated that education should be nonreligious, mandatory, and free.
2. Although Mexico has come a long way in creating a school for all children in Mexico, they still struggle with educational failure. Millions of students drop out after primary school, up to 9th grade.
3. Very rural communities struggle with this because the people are indigenous and speak Spanish as a second language. Most of the children only do the required amount of schooling time so that they can help support their families. Unfortunately, this contributes to lowering Mexicos' literacy rate.

The organizational structure is as follows:

Primary school

- Pre-escolar: Federally Funded programs for children ages 4-5.
- Primaria: Schools with grades 1-6 and at aleast one teacher per grade.
- Multigrados: One-room schools with one teacher for grades 1-6 or multigrade schools with several teachers, each teaching more that one grade.

Preschool and Primary

- Pre-escolar: Federally Funded programs for children ages 4-5.
- Primaria: Schools with grades 1-6 and at aleast one teacher per grade.
- Multigrados: One-room schools with one teacher for grades 1-6 or multigrade schools with several teachers, each teaching more that one grade.

High School (Grades 10-12)

- Preparatorias and Bachilleratos: Schools for college-bound youth, where students must choose one of 4 professional areas: physical-mathematics, chemical-biological, economic-administrative, or humanities.
- Tecnnologicas and Comercios: Schools for students who have a particular vocational career in mind.

There is a lot more that I will blog about tonight, but for now, class is over :)

http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-4/mexico.html

10 tons of cocaine seized in Mexican port town!

In Mexico City, Mexico, 7 suspected drug traffickers were arrested for posession of over 10 tons of cocaine. They are part of the Gulf Cartel, one of the two biggest drug gangs in all of Mexico. A cartel is a group of people or a business that come together under a common cause, or goal, in this case; drug trafficking. Felipe Calderon, the relatively new president of Mexico, has made an effort to put together a group of troops whose specific focus is to go after drug traffickers. He spoke of this effort in Tamaulipas, it is a big problem because people are smuggling mass amount of cocaine and marijuana into the United States. This has been an successful operation because recently, a big time drug trafficker Sandra Avila Beltran, nicknamed "Queen of the Pacific," was arrested along side of her boyfriend, another celebrity in the world of drug trafficking, Juan Diego Espinoza. When put in front of a judge, Beltran claimed to have made these mass amounts of money by selling clothes and renting houses. She is being charged with organized crime, money laundering and conspiracy to traffic drugs.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-fg-mexico6oct06,1,2033087.story?coll=la-latinamerica

Our interview today! Beyond the Border update

It went really well, incase you were wondering. Maddie and I got picked up from school at 10:30 and we headed over to Bell Jr. High where we got to prep for about an hour. Then we got to get some really good footage of Mr. Essex's 7th grade english class in 5th period. They were really cooperative and acted like we weren't nervous or anything. Then for 6th period we got to interview Mr. Essex, who seemed to be most of the kids favorite. He also let us pull 7 kids from his class so we could interview them. We did a group interview of 4 kids, which was really sucessful, and then 3 individual interviews which also went well. However, we didnt get to interview the vice principal because she was out sick today, but we will be going to her house on thursday to get that final interview done.

Over all, we got some really good footage and Im glad everything went well.

Bottled Water - How it is effecting our planet (pt. 2)

My last post was more about why bottled water is an over priced joke, and this one will actually about how bottled water is accumlating too much plastic than our planet knows what to do with.

Worldwide about 2.7 million TONS of plastic is used to bottle water, anually. The most commonly used source for plastic polyethylene terepthalate (PET), which comes from oil. That means that 1.5 billion barrels of oil is used to package water each year. That amount of oil could fuel about 100,000 cares for a year. This wouldnt be such a big problem if people recycled more. Byt some 86% of bottled water is trashed or littered. Plastic can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. Thankfully, some companies are trying to take a more earth friendly approach at bottling their water. An example is BIOTA which puts its spring water into an eco-friendly, biodegradable plastic called polylactic acid, which comes from corn. This bottle will only take about 80 days to dissapear, as opposed to 1,000 years. So if youre going to bottle your water, at least think about the earth before yourself.

Bottled Water - How it is effecting our planet.

National Geographic explores!

James Owen
for National Geographic News

February 24, 2006
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/02/0224_060224_bottled_water.html

Heres what I got out of it:

Putting a bottle around some water is not only taking unessecary cash out of Americans pockets, its hurting our planet too! It is producing mass amounts of garbage and using a ton of energy. A report by the Earth Policy Institute (EPI) says that the amount of bottled water consumed by the world doubled between 1999 and 2004, reaching an all time high of 41 billion gallons a year. Bottled water is proven to cost more than gasoline! It doesnt make sense that people complain so much about the sky-rocketing gas prices when bottled water is even more expensive! Most of the money that goes into bottled water is through transportation. An example: 1.4 million bottles of a finnish botted water company were shipped to Saudi Arabia, which is about 2,700 miles away. Evian water delivers 60% of its water to destinations across the globe as well. The united states, not so schockingly, is the biggest consumers of bottled water, 7 billion gallons a year, followed by Mexico, China, and Brazil. Although this is true, Italians drink the most bottled water a day, per person; the equivlant of about 2 glasses a day.
Even the The Natural Resources Defense Council, says that there is no assurance that just because water comes out of a bottle, it is any cleaner or safer than water from the tap." A activist group in New York concluded that 25% of bottled water is just tap water, sometimes treated, usually not. In fact, if the water is treated, the amount of chemicals put into the water to "purify it" can actually make it unsafe for babies or younge children to drink it. The only places where bottled water would be a batter alternative to the tap is in 3rd world countries where healthy tap is not available.

Bottled water - An ABC special

Is bottled water better than tap?
"Americans are spending Billions on a drink that is virtually free."
John Stossel reports!
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=728070

Here is what I got out of this online report:

Many americans claim that they drink bottled water because it tastes better, but what if they filled up a glass of tap water and popped in a few ice cubes? Would it taste the same? 5 brands of bottled water were compared to a sample of tap water from a drinking fountian right smack dab in the middle of New York City. Surprise! There wasnt a single difference, yet Americans are paying 500 times more for their brand name water to be put into a bottle. Did you know that Everest water in fact ISNT transported all the way from Everest? Nope! It's from the oh so refreshing Chorpus Christi, Texas. And Glacier clear water isnt from a glacier in Alaska but is simply tap water that got put into a bottle that fooled millions of Americans into believeing it was "fresher" than the tap. More popular dasani and aquafinas' sources are from scattered cities around the world. A few people off of the streets of New York (Bottled drinkers) were asked to taste samples of 5 different bottled water companies and tap, without knowing which was which. Most of the people liked tap water when they were the ones who claimed tap is "dull and flat." They were asked to rate the water with a good, average, or bad. The K-mart brand or bottled water came in 1st place, Aquifina in 2nd, Iceland Spring and tap tied for 3rd, 5th place, Poland springs bottled water, and in last place, by far, was the chic, overpriced french water; Evian. In conclusion, test after test has showed that bottled water is of equal level on the health scale. And if you are purchasing trendy bottled water such as Evian, you're probably just believeing the social hype, and wasting your money.

Balboa Park - Art

While at the museum of man, I noticed a painting by an artist whos style I recognized. I wrote down the name of the atrist and did a bit of research.


Wiz Kudowor, Wisdom Edinam Kudowor is a contemperary artist from Ghana. He graduated from Ghanas College of Art at the University of Science and Technology in 1981 with flying colors. His work has been sold in individual auctions all over the world. When you first glance at his work, you see his Ghanian culture, and a bit of Africa. If not seen at first glance, if you look a bit deeper, you will find a bit of Africa in every one of his paintings.
Here are some of my favorites :)

Balboa Park - The Mayans

I really wish we had gone to this museum for the indigenous peoples project because I was a Mayan, and this exhibit would have been really helpful at the time.
I saw a lot of things that I alread knew from researching the Mayans for Spencers class, but here is some information I gathered from the exhibit:

There were 30,000 - 50,000 subjects in the Mayan society. They were accurate in the areas of mathematics, calander making, and they had a lot of skill and proficiency in architecture.

The mayan civilization began around 1000 BC and collapsed around 900 AD.
Pre Classic Period -> 1100 BC - 250 AD
Classic Period -> 250AD - 900 AD
Post Classic Period -> 900 AD - 1541 AD

The Mayans had the ealiest record of pottery which was in the Pre-Classic Period. Things were found such as; necklaces, bowls and clay figurines. These items gave historians a really good idea about what the following social aspects were like in the Mayan era: daily life, male and female roles, social structure, clothing and rituals.

Today, about 7.5 million Mayans are living and they live over approximately 125 acres of land.

Balboa Park - Copper

I learned a lot from the balboa park trip, more than I was expecting. I read every single thing possible in the copper exhibit, because it was reall interesting. The part I enjoyed reading about the most was how they perserves the copper and made it more appealing to the eye. Here are some things I learned:

The expedition was lead by Professor Levy in 1997. He took a group of college students to Jordan to collect copper. They traveled on the backs of Donkeys and with only the nessesities. They traveled nearly 100 miles just to reach their destination. Most of the copper was found in Faynan (southern Jordan), Timma, and Sinai (both in southern Isreal). The copper they found was completely homogeneous which means pure, hasnt been touched by man. The prosess in which they preserved the copper goes as follows:
1. The copper is crushes using a stone tool in a stone bowl.
2. The crushed copper was then smelted. Smelting is when the copper is put into a small fire and blown on with hollowed out bamboo pipes. The copper has to reach a temperature of 1083 degrees Celcius when it becomes liquid.

This prosess takes 30-45 minutes. Then the copper is left to dry.

In its natural state, copper is a soft, pinkish red, metalic element. When exposed to oxygen though, a thin, blueish green layer of copper sulfate is formed.

Agent Moffit

I have mixed feelings about Agent Moffit. I didn’t really have an opinion on the border patrol because I had not heard any positive or negative opinions on the subject. I got an interesting vibe from him, it seems like he says things like “we are trying to keep everyone safe,” but that’s scripted, like he has to say that. I felt like he was doing what he’s doing to “protect the United States,” because he thought of himself as a “patriot.” But I’m not one to judge, because I don’t know enough about him. Overall, the border patrol seems pretty fair though. It was good to hear that he had never shot his gun, and he only would if it was completely necessary. I thought it was interesting to hear that the bike and ATV patrol mechanisms were the most effective. I would assume that a car would be the most effective because of its speed, but then he explained how smaller ways of transportations such as bikes, ATVs, and even horses are easier to hide, and can cup corners and maneuver better than a car. I wouldn’t want to be a border patrol officer for man reasons. It seems like a job that requires a lot of patience and courage. Patience because as Officer Moffitt told us from his own experiences, he has had to hid in one spot for hours on end, just waiting for that perfect moment. And you need courage because he also said that he is out numbered by up to 50 people at one time, which put him in a lot of danger. It was really surprising to me how he told us of his weirdest incident. This was when he pulled over a truck with 70 people piled into it, and a mini van with 50. He said there were only two officers to keep an eye on these 120 people. I guess I have a lot of respect for him because I certainly couldn’t do his job, but I just hope he’s doing it for the right reasons.

Water Quality Project

http://www.sfdph.org/phes/water/FactSheets/bottled_water.pdf

This website was really helpful because it gave one really strong side of the argument of which is better, tap or bottled. It shares information that is purely factual, and not opinion. It mentions the price of bottled water vs. Tap, and although it favors one side, it still is stating facts. I found it interesting how it said that tap water costs only .003 dollars per gallon while bottled costs between 1 & 4 dollars a gallon. That is one of the may facts shared on this website.

Water Quality Testing

http://www.valparaisoutilities.org/water/water/tapvsbottle.htm

This site gives a direct table comparison of bottled water and tap water. It states the exact requirments of tap and bottled water before they are available to the public.

Tap Water Regulated by EPA Bottled Water Regulated by FDA Cannot have confirmed E. coli or fecal coliform bacteria. A certain amount of any bacteria is allowed. Filtered and/or disinfected No federal filtration or disinfection requirements. Violation of drinking water standards are grounds for enforcement. Bottled water in violation of standards can still be sold. Cities must have their water tested by certified labs. Such testing is not required for bottlers. Tap water results must be reported to state or federal officials. There are no reporting requirements for bottlers. City water system operators must be certified. Bottled water plant operators do not have to be certified. City water suppliers must issue consumer confidence reports annually. There are no public right-to-know requirements for bottlers. Costs pennies a day Costs $.80 to $4.00 per gallon. Fluoridated Contains no fluoride Contains essential nutrients for the body such as calcium and iron. Natural minerals are removed by filtration. Chlorine residual in water to prevent bacteria growth. No disinfectant present to kill bacteria in bottles.

Water Quality Project

http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2002/402_h2o.html

This website gives an example of someone who uses bottled water vs. tap on a daily basis, as a mother taxi driver. It also shares what the standards are for bottled water. Ex: The amount of chemicals allowed in the bottle, the sealant mechanism, and groups that are responsible for monitoring labels and nutrition facts etc. It also asks the question; Is the extra expense of bottled water worth it?

Beyond the border

Today I payed a visit to Ms. Mcbain, who is High Tech Highs' statistics analyzer to see if she had any helpful information on Bell Jr. High School. Although she didn't have any of Bells statistics at her fingertips, she gave me two really helpful websites that gave really specific data reports from Bells past years. She also printed for us the S.A.R.C. report for Bell, which stands for School Accountability Report Card which gave some basic yet very helpful information in areas such as enrollment ethnic breakdown, attendance rates, and State Testing results.
Here is a link to the longer version of the S.A.R.C. report;

http://studata.sandi.net/research/sarcs/2006-07/SARC302.pdf

The information is overwhelming!
Hopefully we can find a report similar to this one for the Mexico school.
Please let me know if anyone knows anything about a middle school in Mexico, we are really struggling to find one.
Thank you :)

Script!

1. Introduction
2. Film the school.
1. Teacher teaching with narrator in background

i. Talk about attendance rate and graduation status

2. Interview with teacher or principal.

i. Students’ attitudes towards school and in social behavior

3. Interview with student?

i. How they like their school overall

4. Show students doing work

i. Testing scores

5. Recreational activities

i. Clubs and sports

(Transitional slide)

(Lincoln high school San Diego, CA)

3. Cut to interview with Principal of Lincoln.
1. *How long have you been working here?
   Why did you choose to work here?
   *How many kids are enrolled?
   *What's the attendance percentage each day?
   What is your punishment policy for truancy?
   What is your policy for drugs, alcohol or weaponry that is brought to school?
   How many kids get suspended each year?
   What is the most common reason for suspension?
   *What is the percentage of students that graduate?
   *What is the percentage of students that continue on to College, including
   J/C?
   What percent of your teachers are bilingual?
   What makes a teacher qualified to teach at your school?
   *What is the ethnic diversity of you school?
   How many students, on average, are in each class?
   What percentage of students parents when to college?

*At what level on average are your students when it comes to state testing?

4. Show Lincoln, Same clips as Mexico High school.

Yes, our script is kind of short, but it is just a general outline. We dont have what we are going to say word for word because the base of our documentary is the interview. So without the interview, we just have a general idea of what we are going to talk about.

Beyond the Border

I went to one of my partners blogs, maddie, and saw that she had some sources that helped her out a lot.
I went to the site http://www.solutionsabroad.com/a_schoolsmexico.asp
It gave a lot of general statistics that I think we will definitely share in our documentary.

Some information I found out:

1. The only schools that offer bi-lingual education are private schools, and these schools are only in the main cities of Mexico; Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
2. Children begin school at the age of 3 or 4, similar to the united states.
3. School beings usually around 8 and gets out between 2 & 3.
4. The Majority of schools require the students to wear a uniform every day.
5. Some schools, such as the American School Foundation, have a large population but it is very diverse. The student body is about 2400 and approximately 60% Mexican, 30% American and 10% from some 40 other countries.

Mayan Culture

Culture- The Mayan culture is believed to have begun around 300AD. Teotihucan, a nearby city in Central America, influenced the Mayan culture by trading with them and helping them begin to thrive. When Teotihucan collapsed, the Mayans showed signs of struggle because they Teotihucan civilization was like a piece of their culture. The classic Maya began to do really well in the “southern lowlands,” But then suddenly collapsed in around 800AD, and there are many reasons for this. These include; over-population, too much warfare, rebellion of the farmer/laborer class, or unexpected natural disasters. But different areas still were flourishing. Because the Maya didn’t want the rest of the civilization to fail, this is when they separated into city-states. Unlike the Aztecs who were ruled by one governing system, the Mayans were split up into individual city-states and because all these city states had similar ways of life and beliefs, they were all considered part of the Mayan civilization. The city-states were also the reason that the Spaniards were unable to conquer the Maya, and traces of Mayan culture still clearly remain in areas of Central America.

Some info I have so far

Religion- Mayan religion revolves around time. They developed a number of different calendar systems. One of their man calendars was one called tzolkin, which means sacred calendar. It consisted of 260 days. In addition to tzolkin, they had another one called tun, which had 360 days, plus an additional 5 days that were considered unlucky days. These were the 2 central calendars, but they also had, a half year lunar calendar, a Venus calendar, and a cycle of the gods. These calendars made the Mayans the most accurate predictors of time; they were only off by one day, every 6,000 years. These calendars marked many days of religious celebration. Religious ceremonies consisted of the following; dancing, sacrifice and prayer. The reason for sacrifice was this; the gods needed support from the Humans otherwise, they would but be capable of upholding the duties of a God. The two most often sacrificed things were food and human blood. The amount of blood that the person had to give depended on the social rank of the person. The higher up you were on the social ladder, the more blood was expected during sacrifice. Sometimes a person would even have to give their heart to the gods in sacrifice. They would be held down, cut open, and they would be required to rip out their own heart. The mayans believed that only people who had been sacrificed, hung, or died on childbirth would be the ones to go to the afterlife. That’s why people were so willing to donate themselves to the gods, because everyone who didn’t went to hell. The cross was a symbol for the tree of life. They worshiped Nature Gods, especially the gods of rain, sun, and maize.

recipe!?

I was going to make salsa for my artifact but Ryan took my idea!
Im looking for a recipe so if anyone happens to look over one let me know.


Today in class I thought it was interesting to review the various maps from the past. Its strange how the map makers went from having South American being way too small, to being way too big, or too wide, all in a matter of as little as 3 years! Some of them were completely off and some were surprisingly accurate. Also, it was cool how in just about every map, no matter what year, Africa and Europe looked very accurate and hardly ever changed. I think it would be neat to see how they figured out exactly how wide all the continents were.

Conquistadors!

Today, in class I learned a little more about Francisco Pizarro.
Here are some bullet points that we included on our poster.

- He was born in Trujillo, Spain in 1478.
- His parents were never married so he was raised by his Grandparents.
- He was illiterate, so he could do no job that required any education.
- Because of this, he herded pigs for a living.
- He went on his first expedition in 1509 as a first mate to famous explorer, Balboa.
- They landed in panama.
- On his second expedition, he went to Peru where he came in contact with the Incas.
- He knew they had gold so he killed them all and destroyed any remains of the city.
- When he died, his body was just left where he died because the country-men had no respect for him, therefore, decided to not have a burial.

Mayans :)

http://www.indians.org/welker/maya.htm
&&&&&&&&&
http://www.jaguar-sun.com/maya.html

Both of those give a lot of information on culture and history, and just general information. I used this for the history portion of the mini project :)

Mayan Religion

I was reading about the Mayan religion, and I found some interesting things on this website:
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAMRCA/MAYAS.HTM

I used this site to find information about religion, sacrifice and The Mayan calendar system. But in addition to those topics, this site has information about Economy, History, and the Region.
I found out that Mayans sacrificed to the gods because they believed that the gods needed their support to be able to uphold the duties of the Gods, and without their support, they would not respond to the people. Some mayan citizens actually had to rip their own heart out and give it to the gods. You would think many people wouldn't be willing to do this, but that is not the case. People would want to be a sacrifice because if they were, they would go to the afterlife, as for everyone else, they would go to hell.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

I have yet to find a really helpful research site, so I decided to blog about tonights reading.

Although it was a little confusing at times, there was a fact that stood out to me.

I found it very, very interesting that there were only 168 Spanish soldiers, and thousands of Indian soldiers, yet the Spanish army completely defeated the Indians simply because of better resources. Not only were the Spanish soldiers on "unfamiliar terrain and ignorant of the local inhabitants," but they also were more then 1,000 miles from any fellow Spaniards, that would be helpful in case of their need to reinforce the army. Also, they didn't only defeat them, they crushed them without losing a single Spanish Soldier. Although they out numbered the Spanish by nearly 500 times, that didnt matter because all they had for protection was quilted armor, and clubs, in which they were lucky to badly wound the Spaniards with. Plus, the Spanish had steel armor, which gave them plenty of protection against the Indians clubs.