WEX Journal

(Image of Bigfoot)

WEX #1: Using Our Skills

This was a WEX that we passed around the table and each person contributed to. Try and find where we switched places!

Traffic was unbelievably horrific across the nation west and south bound towards San Diego. Nothing but loud and colorful audio blasted out of speakers everywhere.

"Hey move out of the way stupid!" said the guy in the beige shiny car, trying to get to work as soon as possible.

His car thumped up and down because of the loud music. Each time the car turned the tires seemed to release more and more air, until the air whooshed out in one big burst. The car stopped bouncing and screeched to a halt. The driver of the car's hands tightly griped the wheel.

"Oh no!" he thought.

The air was filled with the smell of rubber, making him feel sick. Slowly and unwillingly he got out of the car.

"Dang a flat!" he shouted.

For the rest of the day he hung out inside his car, waiting for his wife to pick him up.

WEX #2: FANBOYS

This is a fun story I made when I used to sit next to Summer. Enjoy!

I won't be mean, but I will point out Summer is super tall. The second I saw her the first thing I thought in my head was,

"Oh my god she's tall"

And she is. I've come up with all sorts of names, but the one that fits her best is "Bigfoot". Not only is she a size 8, she's almost as tall as him too. They both have alot of hair. And they both make me laugh, yet for two different reasons. Bigfoot is because he liked that one song in the Goofy Movie that I liked, and I don't know what about Summer because she makes me laugh too much.

Another comparison I would like to make is with the Empire State building. It is huge like Summer. But you know what they say (Well I say), "A huge body needs a huge heart or else blood can't be distributed properly resulting in a significant loss in body function collapsing the internal human system which makes you die."

WEX #3: More Summer!

Since June is in a couple days, and summer's around the corner, I thought I'd continue with some more Summer!

In a land far, far away there lived a girl named Summer. She's tall. Yah I point it out every day. Now, I don't know about you but don't tall people seem scary? Well I really couldn't care less what you think, but I thought it would be polite to ask. The point is, don't judge books by their covers. Summer is a fantastic person, and it is important that we put aside prejudice in our society!

(The story is short in length due to a time restraint)

Cooking Blog - Using our Herbs!

WONDER

After what seemed like forever (Well maybe a couple of months) our herbs were finally ready to eat! Thursday after class everyone rushed to take their garlic and basil and whatever else people grew home before Rosskopf or Johanna's classes. I say that for a reason - these things are seriously "Fresh"! Before I make your mouth water and your stomach grumble I have to sit here and think, why? Why did we have to constantly listen to Charlotte say "Water your plants" and "Plant people" and "Turn around your boxes!"?

Growing our own herbs was a part of the LULS (Let's use less stuff) project. But why? I think it was to provide an example for us that we can grow things at our homes and it's not that hard to do. It might even save you money! And with the economy dying faster than..... something fast, it's important! So we grew our herbs to be sustainable and save money but why did I need to waste my four day weekend finding an easy simple recipe that I was sure I could use? It basically a continuation of what we did in class, except now we get to do it at home! I don't really mind that as long as today's lunch tastes great.

I know that an essential question of the LULS project was why don't people grow their own herbs? I can tell you why. It's a ton of work. And people are LAZY. Including me. When you tell someone that if they want to be sustainable that they have to go buy seeds, planter boxes, and gardening tools, bring that home and plant the seeds, water the plants every few days for several months, hand pick the herbs off, still have to run to the store for other ingredients, then find a good recipe and cook it, people aren't really excited. They might say "ugh" or give you a look. But they're secretly thinking about running off to Burger King. That's the problem. That's why people aren't sustainable. It's because they are LAZY.

PROCESS

So now that we know why on earth we are growing some Basil, let's talk about the process! The last paragraph gave you a pretty brief summary behind the process of harvesting and cooking our herbs. For harvesting the herbs, I just walked up to the plant and took off the leaves one by one (Basil). It was actually much much easier than I expected. Then came finding the recipe. I went to Google and typed "Basil Recipes". Everything was incredibly difficult. It wasn't even funny. Finally after what seemed like forever I found a pretty simple Spaghetti recipe.

Let's start by quoting the recipe and providing a link to the source:

Link to the Source

Quoted Recipe:

• 1 (16 ounce) package uncooked spaghetti

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped

• salt and pepper to taste

• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place spaghetti in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.

2. In a large bowl, toss the spaghetti with the olive oil, butter, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper until evenly coated. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Two very simple steps. Boil some noodles and add some ingredients. This just proves anyone can do this. I'm going to be more detailed and cover this step by step now, and include some pretty pictures.

Step #1: Chop The Basil


















I just got a cutting board out and chopped away at the basil.

Step #2: Boil the Spaghetti

I boiled water, put noodles in the water, and finally drained.

Step #3: Put everything together


















As a replacement for the butter (I'm assuming they wanted you to use a stick of butter) I used margarine. I also didn't use pepper because I really hate pepper. But other than that i just mixed the pasta and the ingredients. Please notice I did all this without running off to the store and spending money.

Step #4: Parmesan


















Just sprinkle on top and Bam! You're done. Oh yeah don't forget to mix.

REFLECTION

How did it taste? Well......

Maybe you imagine me shoving it in my mouth, letting the delicious flavor fill my mouth with joy. It didn't actually happen that way. I ate it because I was.... hungry. But really It was a complete disaster. For starters it was really wet: Way too much olive oil and butter and not enough pasta. I couldn't taste any basil at all. It was really cold. Out of a 10 I give my cooking a 2.5. Yes it was that bad. Then 75% of my pictures didn't even work, so I was disappointed.

If there is a next time I would try to do exactly what the recipe says - not change a little thing here and measure off here. Honestly it tasted really really bad.

So after all this will I try and be sustainable? In the short run..... No. After all that work I was greeted by a very disappointing meal. Not my idea of fun. Plus the environmental impact I made seemed so insignificant that I'm not sure it was worth it. Actually I take that back. It wasn't. I could have probably made a bigger impact going to a farmer's market or something and buying the basil there. That way I support the farming community.

All this and I haven't changed at all. It's amazing isn't it?

This I Believe

NPR (National Public Radio) has a program called This I Believe that involves connecting people around the world through writing essays about what we believe. Young, Old and anything in between are all over the website. It was hard to choose a favorite, but here is one of my favorites:

From the NPR Website: (http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=30773&themelist=pets,animals,pets,animals&yval=0&start=10)

Contributor: Jennifer
Location: Atlanta, GA
Country: United States of America
Series: Contemporary

"I believe in walking my dogs every day. But, to be honest, I’m not at all sure how this simple, daily activity turned into a sustaining belief.

It began with Phoebe, our family’s first dog. You see, when I married my husband I married his boys too. Todd and Daniel were 7 and 5 when we married and I moved into their house. I decided to get a dog not too long after that for a number of reasons – one, I’d always wanted a dog and now I owned a house with a fenced-in yard. Two, I wanted something in this new and sometimes awkward family situation for us all to share, something that hadn’t belonged to any of us before. Three, I wanted a reason to get out and be by myself. Phoebe was happy to be all those things for me and for us.

Phoebe became a reason for us, as a family, to go to the park or to go for a hike. I’d grown up in a family that believed in Sunday afternoon walks and it felt comfortable to have walks be a part of my new family life.

Walking Phoebe officially was my job, but at some point my husband started taking her for walks. Howard had grown up with cats, but discovered walking in high school as a way to think more clearly.
We also started walking Phoebe together.

In a couple years our daughter, Taylor, was born. The beautiful fall day we came home from the hospital I put her in a front pack, put the leash on Phoebe and we all went for a walk.

Susie joined our family two weeks before we moved. I don’t know why it was so important to me that we get another dog then. Phoebe was about 10. But now we had two dogs to walk in our new city, our new neighborhood. Soon our new neighbors became friends.

Life was always hard for our son, Daniel. His struggles were our struggles. Walking the dogs gave Howard and me time to talk, to be silent, to take a break. In August, 2000, Daniel took his own life. He was 18. I don’t remember anything about the walk we took that afternoon, after we came home, except that it was the only thing we could do.

Susie is 10 now. Phoebe died shortly after we moved to our current home and not too long thereafter we adopted two homeless puppies. Gracie, Mack and Susie all need walks now. Together Howard and I take all three but when he’s out of town I walk twice a day. Taylor is 16. Sometimes she walks with me and takes a dog and we talk.

I was surprised to realize that this simple act has somehow become a belief. It is just something I do every day and have done my whole married life. Just like getting up in the morning – it’s no big deal. Yet somehow it is."
________________________________________

I read quite alot before this and to be honest I didn't really like any. They all seemed to well.... boring. Then I started reading this and I felt like I was listening to an actual person tell a realistic story. That's what makes it one of my favorites. It's just an average person from Atlanta who went ahead and wrote a paper.

Inspiring Blogs

I went looking around at quite a few different blogs about food, some I really got annoyed with and some actually interested me. Here are my 2 favorite ones:

http://orangette.blogspot.com/ - This blog is so random! The first thing I read is about cake and suddenly I'm reading about onions.

http://arundathi-foodblog.blogspot.com/ - Everything looks really good! My stomach actually grumbled when I started looking at this blog.

3 Recipes

Here are some ideas of things we can make out of the herbs we grew:
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001329fresh_basil_pesto.php
http://homecooking.about.com/od/appetizerrecipes/r/blapp93.htm
http://www.garlicrecipes.org/lemon-garlic-bread.html

The Farmer's Market

I went to the La Jolla Open Aire Market in San Diego, CA to see what a farmer's market is actually like. I was shocked to see so many people! There was no place to park, it was really crowded and there were so many other things besides fruits!

Will I be going to one more often? I don't know. It does seem really inconvenient being able to go a certain time frame once a week, having no place to park, etc. They need to make these more convenient!

That's exactly what the answer is to our essential questions of "Why don't people live more sustainably" and "How can I convince them to do so?". People don't seem to have the motivation to put a little effort in. Anyways I Interviewed someone that worked there. Here is the interview transcript:

Q: What is your name and what is your role here at the farmer's market?

A: I'm Jose and I'm here representing Heritage Fam. Farm selling citrus fruits

Q: Why did you choose to support this farmer's market?

A: Because the weather here in San Diego is beautiful and the people here are friendly and nice.

Q: When did you first start coming here?

A: Last Year.

Q: Do you garden at home?

A: Yeah, I have a tree of every type of fruit. We grow them year round.

Q: How did you find out about this place?

A: My brother was the one who found this market.

Q: What would be your advice to get others to do what you do?

A: Just try it! You have to have some passion for growing your own fruits if you want to be successful.

If you want to see a picture of me there (for proof) email me @ wsefcik@gmail.com (The blogger uploader isn't working!)

Ecological Intelligence

Link to the article: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884776,00.html

What is ecological intelligence?
Basically ecological intelligence is a way of describing someone's knowledge of the environment and how to conserve. For example someone who has a little amount of ecological intelligence might not understand the process of how their ipod is made, or might not be able to describe what global warming is.

So how does this connect to our project?
The idea of our project is finding out why we don't live as sustainably as we should. This is a good example: we don't know when we're making a negative impact. We aren't as informed as we should be; and as a result we make decisions without having a clue about it's true impact.

Am I "ecologically intelligent?"
No! I'm not. I buy and buy and don't really think for a second how I'm contributing. I don't ever ride bikes or walk. And I can not describe the actual process of global warming. No way am I ecologically intelligent.

Survey Analysis - Thrift Stores

I was shocked to see how many people participated in the poll - around 30. I never thought we could get so many people to do the poll. Unfortunately a couple of the answers were unrealistic and unprofessional but thankfully we did get alot of honest helpful answers.

I was surprised at some of the questions that dealt with your feelings. For example many people wouldn't be embarrassed to shop at a thrift store. I thought for sure at least 90% would have said yes to this, but it was around 30-40%.

All my expectations were exceeded. From the number of people who took the survey to their answers. Even their willingness to take a survey without complaints! (With a couple exceptions)

For our campaign I think it would be best to encourage people. This way people are more motivated to shop at thrift stores.

Homegrown Revoloution

"Beginning as soon as you can, prepare a meal at least once a week with only homegrown vegetables, fruit, herbs, eggs, dairy products or meat, using as few store bought ingredients as possible."

Sounds easy? Compare that to the lifestyle of the Dervaes family's homestead in Los Angeles, California.

What strikes me about the Deravaes' documentary is how delicious everything looks. The vegetables were crunchy, the bread toasty warm. What simply amazed me the most though was how someone can live in the middle of Los Angeles without a job.

I think the Dervaes’ family had a Needs vs. Wants sheet it would look like my sheet held in front of a mirror. (There would be more needs than wants). This is because in their home they don't seem to have anything that seems unnecessary (With the exception of their refrigerator, which is energy efficient).

The Dervaes family fits into what we are studying in My Ishmael because they are living with a supply of food that suits their needs instead of a surplus. This makes it so they don't spend their entire day working just to suit our society's desires.

This family did something I never knew existed. Before I watched this video I wasn't able to imagine a way to live in an urban society and not contribute like everyone around you in order to survive.

(Here is the link for the 100 foot diet challenge discussed at the beginning)
http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/01/06/100-foot-diet-challenge-launch
(Copy and paste the URL into your web browser)

My Ishamel: Blog Post #2

What is Anthropomorphism?

According to the dictionary:

1. Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena.

Also:

1. The representation of the Deity, or of a polytheistic deity, under a human form, or with human attributes and affections.

2. The ascription of human characteristics to things not human

("anthropomorphism." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 01 Mar. 2009. )
("anthropomorphism." Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc. 01 Mar. 2009. .)

On page 82 of My Ishmael Ishmael is discussing how humans assume other animals are just like them regarding territory. They think that animals claim territory, but Ishmael points ou that most animals don't really have an interest in territories. This seems to tie in with the last definition stated above.

Erratic Retaliation

1. Ishmael describes "Erratic Retaliation" as being kind of like a game that the tribes played. They agreed to a certain set of rules and followed them. In the case of the Cawks if one tribe bugged another, they expected to get bugged back.

2. Erratic Retaliation is a peace keeping method because it's what they have left. According to Ishmael they've eliminated all the other peace keeping strategies, and this is what works for them.

3. If the Cawks annihilate someone, they'll probably succeed. But the other tribes see this, they'll fear their own tribe is at stake, especially if their annihilation is repetitive (They could probably get away with destroying one tribe). In turn they would feel this is the new game and they would all team up and annihilate the tribe that started the problem.

My Ishmael: Blog Post #1

1. The first rule Ishmael has for identifying if someone is from your culture is whether or not your food is owned. He claims that if our food wasn't under lock and key that people would not work. His other rule is that people in your culture feel that their race is flawed and doomed to suffer. Do I agree? Yes I do. Why? Because we all live on the same planet - and whether we like it or not we all have to share it.

2. I agree with Ishmael when he says that humans expect certain things to be difficult. It doesn't puzzle or confuse or amaze them at all. Human's inherent flaw is not being able to overcome flaws. So no I don't agree with Ishmael because humans are not born without flaws, they are.

3. Ishmael's takers and leavers explanation is very relevant to American culture. The idea of all day labor to receive lock and key food originates from 1 small society a long time ago that spread it all around. Today in America we work all day to buy a surplus of food while hunter gatherers work a small portion of the day to receive just the food they needed to survive.

Sustainability in Society

I. What does it mean to live sustainably?

First I'd like to start with the dictionary's definition:

1. to support, hold, or bear up from below; bear the weight of, as a structure.
2. to bear (a burden, charge, etc.).
3. to undergo, experience, or suffer (injury, loss, etc.); endure without giving way or yielding.
4. to keep (a person, the mind, the spirits, etc.) from giving way, as under trial or affliction.
5. to keep up or keep going, as an action or process: to sustain a conversation.
6. to supply with food, drink, and other necessities of life.
7. to provide for (an institution or the like) by furnishing means or funds.
8. to support (a cause or the like) by aid or approval.
9. to uphold as valid, just, or correct, as a claim or the person making it: The judge sustained the lawyer's objection.
10. to confirm or corroborate, as a statement: Further investigation sustained my suspicions.
(Dictionary.com, "sustainable," in Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Source location: Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sustainable. Available: http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: February 23, 2009.)

What do I think it means? In terms of your lifestyle living sustainably can mean two things: environmentally healthy and balanced. For example you are living sustainably by reducing your impact on the environment. You can do this by recycling, driving less, etc. This is the more common interpretation. On the other hand I also think it can mean living a balanced life. balance exercise, family, friends, and fun! Once you can balance these things out (like not over doing one) you'll probably be pretty happy.


II. How much freedom and independence do you have as a 14-16 year old in our society?

I'm going to say not all that much. It actually varies by family: some can have very strict invasive parents who carefully monitor you while others may have parents who are much more careless and allow more freedom. The law in our country restricts a minor from participating in certain activities such as drinking, driving, drinking and driving, voting, smoking, gambling, etc.

III. As a 14-16 year old, how can you currently live your life more sustainably?

Well you can do the two different types of sustainability described above. Reduce your impact on the environment by throwing things in the blue bin instead of the black, riding your bike instead of being driven in a car, unplugging things, etc. You can also interpret it as balancing your life and reducing stress!

Goals

When I began the school year in August I feel that I was less prepared then I am now. I understand the way the school works now and the system of learning. I also am able to complete assignments more quickly. And I grew 2 inches!

I believe the most important skill of all for Humanities is just to pay attention in class. There is so much you can learn by just loaning your ear to the teacher for just a couple hours.

One thing I would like to improve on is cooperating with group members I do not like. Especially during the Time Travelers project when I had an especially difficult time completing the project.

I would really like to read more books such as the secret life of bees that were somewhat non-fictional and inspirational. I also want to learn more about American history and how our country was founded.