my reinventing the nation friends.... :)

I am abandoning this blog, but only because I have one I was using before our beautiful class started. Please follow my blog called Now Roll Kid which you can find if you click on my complete profile :)

Talk to you soon,

alice*

(p.s. I am expecting my Wednesday nights to feel empty from now on)

3 things I like to do & 3 things I'm good at..

like to do....

* take photos

* traveling

* enjoy the people & things that I have in my life

good at...

* taking photos

* keeping a busy schedule with many obligations

* learning

The things that I like to do & that I am good at many times do overlap because I feel like in order to be successful & truly good at something you must love it. My photography and interest in learning is what has gotten me to where I am today. I want to continue to learn & take photos for years & to see whatever comes my way as I go. I want to help people find their niche & passions in life as I go because I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunities and tools to do just that.

Barbra Boxer

After taking a lot of time researching potential American Heros for class I got interested and stuck on all of the things that the Senator of CA Barbra Boxer is trying to improve. She is trying to make college more affordable ......

http://boxer.senate.gov/en/press/updates/040710b.cfm

and public schools with more after school programs to keep kids learning & on the right path among many things. Barbra has spent most of her life committed to improving the rights of Americans and the environment. She is on a coalition to increase medical research to find cures for diseases and wants to let any American buy into the same health insurance that members of Congress have. Barbra believes that all consumers should be able to purchase lower-cost perscription drugs.

She is also trying to encourage companies to bring the work back to our country by giving them tax credit. Another thing that I look up to her for is that she authored the original Violence Against Women Act while a member of the House of Representatives.

I look at Barbra Boxer as an American Hero because she has dedicated her life to standing up for what she knows helps many many people. I agree with the values she represents and honor the effort she makes for our country. I relate to her when I read about the changes she makes in the U.S be them big or small and hope that I can spend my time supporting the things I truly believe in.

Mentoring 1st graders in JP :)

Today at 10:00 am I headed down to the Hennigan Elementary School in Jamaica Plain for my first day helping in a first grade classroom. Oh I was not quite sure what to expect but it turned into a very rewarding experience. I was a little early so I sat and waited after I signed in until the principal introduced me to a little girl named Stacey who escorted me to her classroom. The teacher introduced me as Ms. B since I advised against the 19 children struggling to pronounce Bialobrodec ;) Most of the children were surprisingly welcoming and accepted me into their environment.

I ended up giving them mini reading tests & helping them sound out short words. Then we read a short story twice....the hardest part of the two hours that I was there was to gather and successfully bring back all the kids from our bathroom trip. Right before lunch the teacher asked them to say their goodbye's to me & they proceed give me a bunch of hugs and ask if they can be my helper and hold my hand, awwww.

Almost all of them were helpful and attentive and had good skills when it came to sounding words out. Also most of them were having some trouble differentiating their b's from their d's as I also did when I was their age. My mom taught me by reminding me that the letter b had a belly which I passed along, we will see if any of the kids use that strategy next Tuesday morning.

I got a big thank you from the teacher who normally has to manage 20 children on her own and teach them as best as she can. It was clear that she was excited that the kids would receive some extra attention. I hope that I can continue to be helpful.

sent my letter to Senator Kerry :)

Dear U.S Senator Kerry

Thank You for taking the time to take a look at my email & group of five photos about Education in America. I am a graduate of the New England School of Photography in Boston and currently attending classes at Bunker Hill Community College. I have been struggling with loans and working through college for years now and wanted to share some of our stories with you. Please take a look at the faces and stories of some college students in Massachusetts at

http://bhcc.digication.com/reia/Welcome/

Education in America is so very important to me as I am sure it is to you, that is why I am trying to raise awareness on how hard many young Americans have to fight to further their education. If the average college education was much more affordable then it would be more accessible and appealing to the average American. America would have many more college graduates if once you graduate you are truly ahead of the game instead of buried in debt for years to come and struggling financially just like someone who has only graduated from highschool.

Having more educated citizens would solve so many of our social problems and improve the quality of life in our country. I am currently a teaching assistant at the New England School of Photography and see students every week worried, stressed out and not being able to put all their energy into their studies because of having to work full time to support themselves and their education. It is an unfair problem and this country should be begging people to learn instead of deterring then with thousands upon thousands of dollars of debt. Why are their people making money off of students who are struggling to fund their education?

The direction that I think education in our country should go in is to lower the cost of education by having more government funding to support students and colleges, lowering interest rates and cutting out more of the middlemen who profit off of student loans.

Thank You for your time,

Alice Bialobrodec

finished my DIGIcation portfolio :)

check it out...... this is the link that I will be attaching to my letter to a senator.

http://bhcc.digication.com/reia/Welcome/

I also just got the email telling me that I will be start helping at the Hennigan, James W. Elementary School in Jamaica Plain Tuesday (27th) with kindergardeners!! aww they will be so little :)

Steven

" Almost being finished with my architecture degree & planning to receive my masters, I cannot help but dread and fear the toll that the debt I have accumulated has and will continue to have on my life. The program that I am in is so demanding that it is close to impossible to hold a job so the loans just keep pilling up. It is a battle many Americans fight for decades after college."

- Steven Cormier

Jessica

"One year ago, I was very excited to be accepted into a well recognized health science college. I was much less excited to find a way to afford it. After begging a distant family member to co-sign my loans, I received a letter stating my payment plan that would span from 2010 to 2030. The plan is a monthly $900 payment that would only end in 20 years if there is not one missed or late payment. Now already thousands of dollars in debt I've found myself struggling to work and afford rent on top of supplies. I work to support myself but need to maintain my grades to not get dropped from my financial aid, I am worried that not being able to fully dedicate myself to either will catch up eventually. This being the case my biggest anxieties come from thoughts on my life after graduation, with $900 monthly necessary for payments how will I afford rent and the general costs of living?"

-Jessica Labonosky

Reinventing the Education in America part 2

" In today's social stratum, a good education is the ticket for someone to transcend their current rank into the upper echelons of society. This is America, where everybody is supposed to get the same shot at success, regardless of the income level they are born into. Marking education available to everyone is the best weapon against social division and will ultimately bring this country closer together. "

- Nick Scotti

" The act of "working your way through school" is non-existent in this country anymore. We have become the United States of debt and the only way to get a better future is to sign away your life to a bank. If you are one of the unlucky majority to put yourselves through school, loans offer the only bridge to get you to your degree.

After graduating college I found that without my knowledge my loans were sold to banks I had never heard of and separated between those lenders. Now I pay banks that deliberately obscure payment information from me so that my account incurs fees. Loans should not deter people from educating themselves, and they do. "

- Jackie Puwalski

Boston Partners in Education*

So last Wednesday before class I went to my training session with Boston Partners in Education :) I was looking forward to it because I got to learn how to be better at something for free.......huh I feel like that should be happening more offten!!!!!!!!

Anyways, it was interesting and helpful, I feel more prepared to step into a public Elementary School system & see how I can help the teacher, students & environment of the classroom.

Some things that we talked about in our training session was what exactly makes a great mentor. I think one of the most important qualities of the mentors that I have had in my life were to be able to explain something in a different way that will be more compatible with my brian & to be able to sense when there is a problem. I hope to accomplish these two things among many others. We also discussed tips on how to communicate with children which lets hope will be effective. They said to begin with a foundation of the child's life & to ask a few simple questions about them to understand more so of what kind of a child you are working with. I hope this will help me understand what kind of teaching the child will respond best to. They also said to begin with praise but specific praise on what the child has done successfully and then go into asking them what they think they could of done better and then guide them into improvement.

I am excited but a little nervous to get started, hopefully the children, teacher & I can all benefit from this!

Education in America

So it didn't take me very long to pick an issue that I am passionate about to work on for my service project. The way that $$ limits education for many people is sooo detrimental to our country for countless reasons. Having to work all the way through college is a great way to stay busy but takes away time & energy from studying. You can not truly dedicate yourself to one thing which many times means you can not reach your full potential in either school or work. Hard work is essential for everyone but struggling to get a college education is unfair & harmful to our country.

" There are some major flaws in the education system in this country. More and more people are finding it harder to pay for all of the expenses that college brings on. I just turned 20 and I've been working since I was 16 still don't have enough money for a college education. Since my parents never had a college fund for me I am forced to go into the Army to further my education. Education should be significantly cheaper, if not free for most Americans, so we can join the workforce and start our lives."

- Justin Warren

American Faith: week 7

My reaction to the readings about American Faith this week were pretty simple. I believe that religion helps & guides many many people into proud lives but should never be used to judge and fight. I strongly disagree with people that preach to others about how they are going to hell if they do not believe in their God. To me that is not what religion should be about, I do not think that people should hate & kill others because they have different beliefs. People killing for their God is so absolutely backwards and makes me back away from religion.
One line that stood out to me from our Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God reading was "In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites." This represented to me exactly what religion should not be, it makes me very upset to see religion creating & spreading hate. I wish that religion generated only feelings of acceptance & understanding.

I believe that American Religion should be unrelated to politics and our government, they are two very very different things that should not overlap.

War & Protest: "We are saddened, we are stunned, we are perplexed."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Ve5GoHFDg#watch-main-area
Silence is betrayal (MLK anti-war speech)


It was difficult for me to get through all of our selected readings and videos this week, there were so many powerful ones that grabbed onto you and would not let go. Barack Obama's 2009 Nobel Peace Prize speech was humble and realistic. he talked about how we have now come up with such a thing as a "just war" which reasons the wars that we fight for years. Instead of invading I wish we could hire & train people of that country to mediate and reason with their own people. I think the country's we are fighting and killing would respond to something like this instead of American troops putting their feet down on their soil and shooting away.

"Violence never brings permanent peace, it solves no social problem it merely creates more complicated ones"

The speech from Patton that was givin in 1970 makes you understand more so how many Americas view war as the way to solve & govern the world the right way. He talks about how traditionally American's <3 to fight & how all real American's <3 the sting of battle. People think they are doing right & solving important issues with their weapons but instead we are created deeper rooted issues that are much harder to undo. I wish people were not so PROUD to fight & kill. I wish people were proud to stand up and guide, reason and teach. I wish more people were proud and had the ability to not jump into their tanks when threatened.

LGBT, week 5 of Reinventing the Nation at BHCC

After listening and reading through a few of our selected pieces for this week I have thought more and more about how the privileges of heterosexuals one day can be the privileges of the LGBT community. Many of them are never thought about or mentioned but longed for if you are not straight. Every single person has numerous struggles throughout their life but the ones of the LGBT community in the past have been so very hurtful and abusive. The problems that they face are simply those of basic human rights and needs, this is something that I wish did not have to be fought for anymore but just came to everyone.
In my lifetime I have seen same sex marriages be let into some states which makes many believe that it can be understood and let into America as a whole. There are many things that we labeled wrong & illegal that now seems to be a basic right and I hope that this is the case for the LGBT communities rights.

reaction to Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union"

Barack Obama's speech about race and how to work on a more perfect union addressed problems that many like to pretend do not really exist anymore. It is easier to do that, and much less scary to think that the nation that we are living in has changed to the point of equality for all that live within it. Obama said, 50 years after Brown v.s Board of Education many of our schools are still segregated which means they are much weaker than they could be." We still have much further to go to eliminate racism, we have gotten so so far from slavery but the minds of some still spew hate. Instead of simply being angry and blaming different groups and classes of people we should be getting to the root of the problems and asking why.
This speech expresses what race means in this specific moment in time by reminding people that we can go further and further away from the way America was when we believed in slavery. This speech reflects on what it is like to be African American in this country because it is for many a silent struggle. Obama was saying that he does not hear the topic of racism come up when he is around his white friends but in the barber shops and occasionally on Sunday's. He also mentioned that the most segregated day is Sunday.

Margaret Sanger-American Woman

"The Morality of Birth Control"
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/margaretsangermoralityofbirthcontrol.htm

"We claim that women should have the right over her own body & to say if she shall or if she shall not be a mother, as she see's fit. We further claim that the first right of a child is to be desired."

"We know that the masses of people are growing wiser & are using their own minds to decide their individual conduct. The more people of this kind we have, the less immorality shall exist. For the more responsible people grow, the higher do they & shall they attain real morality."

-Margaret Sanger

Why would we ever not trust women with the knowledge of their own bodies? We are not cavemen, we have the ability to choose when we create a child and build a strong prepared family, why would we not use that knowledge? The ultimate goal is to have a world that can handle and support all the people in it, birth control is a major part in creating a place where everyone is taken care of. A child does deserve to have a family that praises its existence and is willing and able to provide everything possible for them.
This article by Margaret Sanger represents what it means to be a woman in America because we do have the right and ability to stand up and demand our rights.

Richard Frethorne, Letter to His Parents

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6475 = site to read the letter

This is the source that I chose to read for my reinventing the nation class, it is something that I would of not chosen to read in my own spare time is important to remind us how we got to where we are today.
Reading this letter is a reminder that change does and always will involve risks. It shows you how much suffering people ended up going through to create a new country that stood for more of what they wanted. I think that is how it expresses what it is to be an American, people who were brave enough to leave what they had in order to try and build a place that represents what they stand for. I am a first generation American, my family is from Poland and my parents came here with my sister for the opportunities that were offered. They came because America was the land of the free, the promise land, for the unlimited space and for the challenge to learn a new language and culture. These are all things to be proud to be an American but I do not think that means that now we are done improving our country. We should keep reinventing our mindsets, keep pushing to be the best and keep thinking about our country as a whole, as one country.

Barack Obamas first State of the Union Address

"Our constitution declares that from time to time the president shall give to congress information about the state of our union, for 220 years our leaders have fulfilled this duty"



"We recovered most of the money we spent bailing out the banks, most but not all, to get back the rest I have proposed a fee on the biggest banks. Now I know that wall street is not keen on this idea, but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again they can afford a modest fee to pay back the tax payers that rescued them in their time of need"

-Barack Obama


Obama's speech last week did catch me up to date with all the things that he is trying to change about America, but it also makes you want most of it now.... I guess that is why he later said " I never said change would come easily or that I could do it alone." Two of the biggest things that he mentioned and that I want now are to not give tax breaks to companies that outsource but to the companies that stay within out boarders and to STOP INSURANCE CARE ABUSSES....it makes me wonder if that is possible living in a country that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer....