kelseygrabow

As much as I would like to tell you different, the service learning experience was not what I had in mind. I had signed up for a service learning site over in North Minneapolis where we were going to tutor high school aged students with their basic skills. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to tutor any students at all. Every day that I would come, no students seemed to want any help. I did find out that a couple of days that I couldn't make it, students did come into the homework room to ask for help, and recieved it from the other service learning students. This became very frustrating to me because I wanted this experience to open my eyes, make me a better person, teach students, and have them teach me something in return. I can definitely see how this problem happened though... The school where I went was an alternative high school where high school dropouts came to or kids with special circumstances went. So, to say the least, most of them were not motivated to do their homework let alone come into the homework room and ask complete strangers for help.
I did get a chance to see a fellow service learning student help one boy with his homework for a little bit, so I did see how it goes. But other than that, nothing.
I like the fact of how I was able to be there for the kids just in case any of them needed help, but I feel as though my time was wasted at this service learning site. The problem was a combination of the days I couldn't be there and the students will to ask for help. Hopefully next time it will be more of a rewarding experience.

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Here is the cover page I made up, and we ended up using it for our final project.

Download file

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Powerpoint can be a very good presentation style. With some of the new graphics and options they have, it makes the slides 10 times better. Here is a link that gives demonstrations... Although Powerpoint can be good, I don't like it and hope not to use it. But our presentation can have inspiration in which stems from it.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/newday/default.mspx?nav=v1xcsubmenuxi2&?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=9F634A5E-3E61-4EC4-9833-0CCAD3D759F5

This next idea would be wildly inapropriate, but has a very good point in trying to get the attention of the audience.
http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/10/make_your_next_.html

http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/11/the_zen_estheti.html

This website is for documentation.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

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Within our Built Environment, there are a few aspects that we covered in lecture that would support who I am as a person. To demonstrate how this is true I will start with an example from the Opposition #1: Opposition of Man and Physical Nature. I am the type of person to really appreciate and admire what nature has given us. I like to look at what nature has to offer as well as how man collaborates and adjusts to it. Some examples of how I appreciate nature are thatI like to sit on tramplines in the summertime and look at the stars, I absolutely love to be in the Rocky Mountains and stare at the endless mountain ranges. This opposition deals with how man interacts with nature. We take nature's rocks and build dwellings right out of them. I have never been fortunate enough to see such dwellings in real life, but the pictures that Ozzayr showed us were amazing enough.

This image demonstrates how humans use and interact with what nature has provided us with. We use the mountain for recreational purposes too, not just building out of or on top of.

This image shows just what Ozayr told us in lecture. Dealing with the concept of perch, cling to and so on. This dwelling is carved out of the rock

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A long time ago, about 10 years ago to be exact, I ecperienced first hand what it feels like to help out in the time of a disaster. In Fargo, North Dakota there was a major flood from the Red River. With me living only an hour away and having family who currently lived in the area, my family and I thought we should help out with sandbagging the crap out of Fargo. So we did. I don't remember a whole lot about the experience but I do remember how good it made me feel knowing that I was helping out total strangers in a time of need. So I guess this is where my inspiration stems from on what I would do if the arcitectural program released me.. It wouldn't matter what kind of work I did, just as long as someone would benifit from my services. It would be nice to reach many people, but the first few times it would be more rational to be small scale. Even with our service learning organizations I feel as though I'm helping these students....... more to come

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"No man can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach."
-Woodrow T. Wilson

"The statistics are staggering. In the world’s poorest countries, over 30,000 children under the age of five die each day from preventable causes related to conditions of extreme poverty."

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The University Of Minnesota is a school that is known for it's students to be mainly padestrians when it comes to their transportation around campus. When thinking about getting from one place to another around campus the first thing that comes to my mind is, how long is it going to take me to walk there? And I find this common among the majority of my peers. But what about those cold winter days and nights when it is -8 degrees with the wind blowing straight in your face? I don't feel like I wanna walk anywhere, I wanna jump in my car and drive where I have to go. But there is one major problem with that decision. Parking. Trying to find a parking spot on this campus seems almost impossible, and getting one close to your destination is even harder. Then we must think about cost. If you don't have a quarter on you for every 12 minutes you plan to be gone, it's a parking ticket on the windshield. But if you prefer or have to park in a ramp, be prepared to get multiple bills out and ready to hand them over. I realize on a large campus like ours with limited space parking is hard to accomodate for, but lets get real, we do live in Minnesota where it gets pretty cold and sometimes I just don't feel like freezing my ass off. But I realize we can't forget about the busses. I do use the campus connector busses multiple times a day to get to St. Paul, but the city bus not so much. A few weeks ago I went to Walmart on the city bus and the whole trip took 2 hours and 15 minutes. I only spent 30 minutes actually shopping. The walk to the bus and back along with the 45 minute ride to Walmart all added up to take up way too much of my day. I would rather drive (when it's freezing outside, a little fresh air in the nice weather is good for the soul) but that's just me.
Part of my advocacy for this topic stems from me growing up in Northern Minnesota where we drive everywhere we go, even in the summer.

I'm not sure if I really have a solution to this issue because of the lack of space, but I'm sure someone can think of something to make it a little better.

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Andy Goldsworthy delt with energy flow and transformation with the creations of his art work in nature. In his work, with the use of natural elements he presented the idea of energy flow. An example, through the repeating path of the camera through the river he showed us how nature flows together. All the elements become one with each other. This also has correlation with the technology enhanced city. Highways and roads intertwine and progress with movement into one another.

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