1.) http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/looking-to-the-children-for-guidance-in-afghanistan/?ref=world
(Focus Article)
This article was about the children in Afghanistan, and how they are extremely strong willed and knowing of what is going on. They are used to fights and such, and all have different reactions to the soldiers, depending on what sort of area they live in. For example, if the area is well off, thanks to the soldiers, the children will greet them with smiles and a raised hand. If the area is worse, the children might even greet them with their middle fingers raised. The article was written by a man who had been to Afghanistan as a soldier. It relates to Human Geography because it shows how dichildren react to US soldiers in a different part of the world.
2.)
This is a picture of a two week old baby rescued from the rubble in Turkey. Turkey recently suffered a severe earthquake, and is asking for help from the world for recovery.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-15453272
3.)
This picture shows Afghan girls going to a makeshift school to learn how to read verses of the Koran, which is a sacred book for the Islam religion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-15453272
---Learning Reflection---
This week was interesting, because we presented our projects. It was cool seeing all the different clothing and music of other countries, and the different food (although I didn't eat any of it!) I liked that we got to do google documents for the projects. That's all we did this week.
1.) Car Crash
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3842331/ns/us_news-the_week_in_pictures
This is a picture of the Indycar World Championship race at Las Vegas. There was a horrific crash, which resulted in Dan Wheldon, an Indianapolis 500 champion, losing his life.
2.) Soldiers in Kunar
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/
This picture is of several United States Infantrymen in Kunar. Over 130,000 soldiers of many different ethnicities are still there, fighting a war that has been going on for 10 years and resisting the Taliban. They are trying to help the Afghan troops regain control of Kunar.
3.) The Joy of Freedom
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-15391289
This picture captures the happiness Palestinians felt when about 1000 of their prisoners were released in exchange for one captured soldier. The deal is called the Hamas- Israel deal, and has sparked a lot of controversy. Was one man really worth 1000 others?
4.) Paint and Protestors
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-15383765
This is a picture of the Greek police that are trying to stop the protesters. There has been a 48-hour strike which severely hurt the country’s production. While the police have started using tear gas to control the protesters, they (the protestors) have been firing back with stones and paint.
This picture is my “focus” picture and my favorite. It shows the reality of the life of a soldier that is fighting against the Taliban. They’re thousands of miles away from home, but they still find joy in small things from the US, like candy. The soldier’s name is Andrew Ferarra. This ties in with Human Geography because it shows how little things from countries can easily travel and be important somewhere else. Also, the picture is of the war in Afghanistan, which is a huge thing for us to think about when we are learning.
~~~~~Learning Reflection~~~~~
We started this week with our test, which wasn't too bad. I liked being able to take it online, but the clock counting down in the corner freaked me out sometimes when I was trying to think of answers. I like the cultural unit, and I really like that we're using twitter as a way to expand on what we are learning about. The project for this unit seems okay, but it's just more clicking and finding information. I think it would've been better if we could have chosen our countries, because then we would be looking at things that we are interested in and learning more about it. The only thing I didn't like about this week was that I think we went through the notes a bit too fast. I didn't have enough time to get everything down and to fully grasp the concept before we moved on.
This week was pretty interesting in terms of what we did in class. I really liked the first video we watched, about the different populations in each country, but it was really depressing. The things we took notes on were easy to understand. The population pyramids kind of confused me, but going over them a lot helped. What I really didn't understand was the different stages of population growth. Our project was tedious and kinda boring, and took a lot of just clicking and reading, which wasn't that great.
The best part of this week was the badges on Edmodo. I still want that "YASDFR" award, Mr. Powell!
This article talked about the harsh criticism America now has for the Italian justice system after the Amanda Knox trial. It discussed how the media wrongly painted a picture of the Italian police being too lenient, and the court system too corrupt. This made Italy come back at America, saying that their justice system was wrong, because, “they have the death penalty, which is wrong to most Italian Catholics.” Basically, the faults and trials of the Amanda Knox case have created quite a controversy in both countries, and the aftermath isn’t about to go away anytime soon.
Bringing America Back: Up to 3M New Jobs Possible as U.S. Manufacturing Makes Comeback
This article was about how almost three million jobs could be coming back to America from China. This is due to the rising labor costs in China. This, combined with the costs of shipping goods back and forth, makes it a better economical decision to produce a majority of goods here in the United States. People are asking the consumers to try and focus on buying things that have the label of being “Made in America”, so that companies will want to move their businesses back into the country, thus creating more jobs for Americans and less for other countries.
Steve Jobs’s secret legacy: Dying Apple boss left plans for four years of new products
This article was about Steve Jobs’ recent death and the affect it had on the Apple company. According to recent reports, as Jobs’ knew how severe his disease was, he made sure to create ideas for enough products to keep the company going for at least four more years. At the moment, that isn’t needed, because Apple sales have increased about 100% as people buy products in memory of him. There is a huge demand for all products, and a large number of preorders for his first biography. The point of this article was that Steve Jobs’ made such a huge impact on the way we live today, that he and his company are not going to be forgotten anytime soon, even with his death.
Hunger crisis grips North Korea as food runs short
By: Thomson Reuters, with contributions from Jeremy Laurence.
This article talked about the severity of malnutrition in North Korea, and how it is downplayed by the media. They have requested food aid for an extremely long time, but only about 30% of it has been granted, because other countries, such as the US, think that they shouldn’t give aid until they can be absolutely positive that the food will go to the people and will not be seized by the corrupt government. Accusations from South Korea, saying that North Korea is lying and exaggerating how much trouble they are in, has stopped help even more. People who have visited North Korea also downplay the worsening conditions. This article didn’t hide from the truth and really put into perspective the troubles that North Korea now faces, due to lack of food from natural disasters.
I chose this article as my focus article because it was super intriguing and really made me think about what America claims to do, and what it really does. This article was written by a war veteran named Matt Farwell, and it was about his life now as a homeless person. Due to his times in war, his mind wasn’t in the best place when he was sent back to America. Therefore,he’s been unemployed for about a year, and sleeps in parks, bushes, and sometimes in a twenty-four hour library. A startling number of veterans cannot find proper work or housing when they come home, which forces them to live out on the streets. The government does not do enough to help these soldiers, and thank them for serving our country. Many of these veterans need counseling, which is offered by the VA, but is still hard to get. Matt Farwell even said that he would “honestly rather be in Afghanistan.” At least there, he had a place to sleep.
