Through out middle school and high school I continuously picked up more volunteering opportunities, ranging from face painting at elementary school carnivals, to handing out water at the Twin Cities Marathon, to picking up trash in local parks.

None of these events though have come anywhere close to my experience at Skyline Tower. All of my previous volunteering experiences have kept me within the realm of hoidy-toidy suburbia. This volunteer experience has allowed me to experience a completely different culture and develop great respect for these people. It has been amazing to see how much effort some of the students I have worked with put in.

It was also amazing to be able to give back to the community with my knowledge instead of artistic abilities or sheer labor. Helping someone understand math, or even understand how english words are said and what they mean is truly rewarding. Teaching truly is rewarding...difficult at times, especially when you have tried to explain a concept in so many different ways and yet a student still does not understand, but wants to understand, but truly rewarding.

Some of my favorite times at Skyline Tower are as follows:

~Watching one of the girls draw a cheerleader costume on a gopher in my copy of the Minnesota Daily under the Daily Doodle portion and turning it in for her as a chance to win passes to Underwater World.

~Playing Clue with the kids and teaching them that its an "accusation" instead of an "accusion"

~Teaching a girl how to pronounce words in english and helping her put them into contextual sentences in her workbook

~Helping a girl with her algebra homework, and another girl with her statistics homework. It took me back to middle-school...when math was still easy.

~The girls trying to convince me every time I was there that we should go play badminton.

~Playing Rummy 500 and Mancala.

~The janitor saying every time I walked into the building, "Hey miss, you dropped something...Your smile! Have a good day now."

I thank everyone at CommonBond Skyline Towers for their co-operation with my schedule and allowing me to be a part of their program. I truly had a rewarding time volunteering there and would definitely consider volunteering there again next year.

The only question that arose in my mind during the presentation was: how will these technologies be fueled or recharged without a method of electricity? They very gracefully had thought of a solution to that though, suggesting personal solar panels on top of home, solar panel fields or even wind farms, stating that the sunny and flat, windy climate would be perfect for both of these sources of energy.

My only criticism of their presentation was that I think they could possibly have been a little more passionate with their work and their project. I felt like they showed that they were nervous to present to the class and that though their presentation was very good, it didn't exactly sell itself to the crowd. A bit more enthusiasm in their presentation would have pushed their presentation from very good to excellent.

As for the presentation during my section, the group presented their solutions for creating a safe water supply for the population of Mogadishu. I thought this would be an interesting pair to compare and contrast considering that by random chance they picked the same location to base their studies and solutions out of. This group was very well organized as well. The all spoke clearly and provided quite a bit of information. For their projects they designed structures where the roof of a pavillion could collect rainwater which would run off into a storage basin as well and personal homes' roofs that would collect rain water in storage basins and a wheel that stores water for transportation of water from the center pavillion to the homes.

Though their ideas were well thought out and their digitally created images were very professional, I have to wonder how much thought they put into the project besides these structures they designed. The material these storage bins were made of were not addressed, nor was there a size shown. What happens if there is more water than the bin can hold? Does it go to waste? How is the water kept clean and sanitary to drink? Is there a filtration system or do the people need to boil it before they drink it? Are these storage basins animal and insect proof? And most importantly...how good is the air quality of this area? Will this be acid rain from nearby factories? And if so is there some sort of filtration system to prevent the citizens from drinking toxic chemicals?

I feel like their ideas were in the right place, and the solutions were impressively thought out, especially the water wheel to transport water from the pavillion to the homes, but I feel like they were missing that extra step that the honors presentation took care of. They did not think of the external factors that could make or break this plan. I was just reading an article about how the UN dug wells in some area in Africa to prevent citizens from drinking the contaminated surface water to only find out that the water tables they drilled down to contained naturally occurring arsenic which had worse effects on the citizens than the surface water.

Overall this was a good presentation, slightly less visually entertaining as we did not have facilities in our class room to present power points, thus limiting us to solely verbal presentations. I feel like it could definitely be on the same level as the honors presentations if only they took a little extra time to consider these questions that came to my mind about their project.

Look for and document some examples of presentation and documentation styles that your term project may take as inspiration.

www.core77.com/blog/

If we were to create a magazine type article for our term project, documenting in a more corporational, almost advertising and biased way I would reccomend our group to look into due to its creative and colorful graphic depictions:

http://www.cmykmag.com/site.cfm?sect_id=22&page_id=38

Ifwe were to create a web site for our blob entry for our term project, there are a variety of sites I believe we could look into to take inspiration from including:

http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/who/index.htm

And if we decide to do a report I believe it would be a good idea for us to take ideas from the United States Department of State's reports. We could create stationary that the U.S. government would use and create a formal proposal from a deparment of foreign affairs to the president or congress. Our introduction could be a letter to the president/congress and then we could procede into our formal document.

As for my volunteering experience so far it has been good. Today was rough as it was pouring ice cold rain and after riding the cramped the cramped bus for a half hour down University Avenue. I walked five blocks in the icy hurricane to arrive at the CommonBond Communities Skyline Tower dripping wet. Like to to the point where you could have wrang water out of my jacket. It was a rewarding experience though because I helped a girl learn the difference between interrupt and interpret and I explained to two middle schoolers the importance and use of box and whisker plots.

For my designs I wanted to embody values of simplicity, elegance, professionalism along with the Iraqi and Islamic clultures. Attached is what I have created.

My groups topic is UN goal 2: Primary education for all.

Download file

Download file

The built environment affects my life every second of every day...the built environment allows me to live in Minnesota in the winter without freezing to death. The built environment lets me attend class in a room with walls seperate from the class next to me. The built environment, brings water to me every time I wish to wash my hands or brush my teeth. The built environment allows me to flip a switch and automatically have light. The built environment, gives us parks to walk in in the city, roads to drive on to get from point A to point B, and defines what we do where and why. It is a phenomena that we follow...

This structure for our lives has both positive and negative affects. It allows us to function, it gives us the structure to live comfortably, but really what is living comfortably? Is the system we are currently living in what is best for us? Have our adaptations to nature really helped us? Is the pollution and destruction of our planet and environment really worth the built environment we live in day to day?

I realize that I have posed more questions than answers on this topic, but really there are no definite answers when examining our built environment. It affects each and every person differently and each and every person has a different opinion on what is good for our built environment. No one really knows how else our environment could be built because we've never experienced anything else. How do we imagine anything else than what we already know? Nothing really seems all that better than what we currently have in place. To completely reinvent our built environment would be like making up a completely new alphabet with new symbols making new sounds.

Try this: Try to make a completely new noise that could be represented by a symbol that does not consist of or relate to any current letter or their sound. I bet you cannot. It's impossible because we think of new thing through what we already know.

We are already accustomed to the current built environment we live in and there is no way of entirely escaping it. We, to an extent, are stuck with what we currently have. We can make revisions, make innovations, but in the end we just have a tweaked version of what we started with. Therefore, I am content with our current built environment, our current system of frameworks and clockworks that we live our day to day lives in. To me the evolution of the way we live from fire pits and clubs to ipods and airplanes is impressive, even more phenomenal is our continuing knowledge and understand and our acceptance of these advancements.

until next week...kate

First of all, let me me announce that I am SOOOO PROUD of myself for finally figuring out how to make my blog look all organized and beautiful instead of just white and black and blah. snaps for kate!!! ps i really really hate the format of this blog...its wayyyyy too complicated of a method to just simple explain ones ideas, but regardless I find this weeks blog topic extremely interesting, an idea that can go in an infinite amount of directions depending on both ones personal feelings and perspective on life...

If I were completely released from the currently enstated rigorous and well defined "architecuture school" I currently am part of, I believe I would be completely lost. I would feel like an immigrant coming to the United States trying to learn english and the American culture. I would FLAIL for quite some time I believe, maybe even shy away from the idea of architecture because in fact architecture is such a broad, yet well defined field. Their are no boundaries, that is the glory and downfall of this discipline. We can take architecture in whatever way we desire, press every new boundary that lies in front of us, but if we have no foothold, no base to stand on, how do we reach out to break those boundaries and bend those rules that once lay in front of us????

One could easily argue with me, but I feel that the structure of architecture school, the necessity of immersing ourselves in University culture is important because everything can potentially tie into our designs and influence what we choose to build. There are so many interesting topics and questions to pursue....so many great ideas that flit across our imagination, but how in the world to we tackle them if we do not have a place to start?

Like I said, I know I would personally struggle, maybe even diverge from the discipline if there was no "architecture school" seeking a more tangible task, a position that does have well defined boundaries, possibly become a statistician or mathmatician where everything can easily be explained through a series of numbers and equations, but I believe I would soon miss the challenge architecture presses forward, and revert to how I started my passion as a child....drawing, sketching whatever floats my boat at the time, and then moving on to studying how ancient society worked and how phenomenal ancient buildings such at the mayan temples were built. I would study astronomy because I find it fascinating and I would walk around the city gawking at the skyscrapers almost tipping backwards in awe of how something so magnificent was constructed.

I am fascinated by how much time, effort and thought goes into each and every building., each and every object around us someone devoted brainpower, sweat and tears to make it work just right. Think about it...this laptop I am right now writing this blog with....somehow every time I press a key the computer transmits a message so fast that I immediately see the letter I pressed. How does a computer do that? How did anyone know that if they put certain substances together they would create these computer chips that communicated and transmit these things, perform what we think as simple task and take for granted.

If I was not preoccupied with "architecture school" I would study whatever intrigued me at the time and let that influence my design, but as I think about it isn't "architecture school" just an orderly way of dealing with my fascinations???? Maybe in a different sequence and not including all that I want to study or including things I have no interesti in, but "architecture school really is just a formal way of exploring all things that are interesting me and hopefully taking from it ideas that can influence future designs that cause future generations to be awestruck.

until next time,

kate

MY GOAL: ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION

There are many answers of how to achieve universal primary education, but no one single answer will be a quick fix or an easy solution because there are many facets to this problem. This blog entry will solely display my values and ideas of the topic.

Education is the best provision for old age.
Aristotle

learning how to interact with peers at a football game

graduation

The feeling of graduation is an empowering experience that everyone should be able to experience. As I look back, I feel honored to have had the ability to be a part of something so exciting, enlightening and wonderful. This is what is going to drive me to work on this goal. I believe that everyone should be able to experience the learning process no matter what their economic stand is or the beliefs of their nation.

It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, not from our own time -- for we are bound by that -- but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time.
T.S. Eliot

If I were to pick a theme song for this project I would choose "CALL ON ME" by Eric Pyrdz because its a motivating and catchy song that very simply translates the message that "I am ready to help"...."Call on Me..." Which is exactly how I feel about this project. Until next time.

Kate

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rros3Rimdqo

The issue of enviromental justice is a huge problem in the Twin Cities as well as across the United States. In this blog entry I will not only be providing a brief overview of how it is affecting the Twin Cities, but will take a stand against environmental injustice against the minority and impoverish communities.

Environmental Justice for those of you who have not heard of it is defined as a social and environmental movement, dealing with the inequitable environmental burden born by groups such as racial minorities, women, the elderly, or residents of developing nations.

In a nutshell, this movement is fighting for an equal distribution of pollution. It is calling for toxic waste sites and toxic factories to not solely be placed in minority or impoverished communites. It is fighting for equally clean water for minorities to drink, equally clean air for minorities to breathe, and an equally clean neighborhoods for their children to play in. It is calling for EQUALITY...something that the United States is SUPPOSED to be all about; something the United States is supposed to be supporting.

One can use the EPA's enviromapper of TRI sites and hazardous waste sitess and the Census Beareau's demographic plotter to see exactly how injust this issue is. When one looks at both of these, one can CLEARLY see the direct correlation between where minority races and impoverished citizens live and where hazardous waste sites are located. Where every hazardous waste site or factory is located there is a dense population of minority and/or poor people.

This topic was first researched by upper class white men, and still the majority of activists in favor of this issue are upper class because they are the ones with the means to take control of this situation. Props for them to take a stand and stop worrying about making a buck from the whole ordeal.

The whole ordeal started with "white flight" (the moving of whites from the city to suburia when they obtained to means to do so to provide a better life for their family: "suburbanization"). As the whites moved out of the city and gave up the factory level jobs for more powerful positons with higher pay and better working conditions. This left behind plenty of easy to obtain manual labor jobs and plenty of cheap housing near factories for minorities and immigrants to move into. At the time it seemed perfect...CHEAP and CLOSE TO WORK....what more could you ask for...right? Little did they know that they were endangering their health and their lives.

But really this is not an issue that minorities dwell on. If they in fact are being affected by this situation and are educated enough so to know that where they are living is endangering their health...they do not have the time or means to take action on this. They are too busy trying to make ends meet, pay their bills, sometimes working multiple jobs, raising their children and keeping their family together.

There really isn't a good solution to this problem. Environmental injustice doesn't have a quick fix, a good solution, an easy "rip the bandaid off" answer, and almighty cure. There is no good way to fix this problem. We cannot move the factories: that costs money that the companies don't want to spend, that moves jobs away from their minority workers (now workers can't easily get to work), that creates inconveniences. We cannot relocate all of the people that live in these areas...for all the same reasons. And we cannot, in reality completely stop pollution: some of our most important technologies and energies need to have pollution. ie: How can we build a bridge without a steel treatment plant??? We can't!!!!

Its a tricky issue and that is why we need to continue to study it and continue to brainstorm ideas to fix the problem. Until we run across a solution though, we need to keep pollution to a minimum, consume as little energy as possible and push for pollution policy control to prevent hazardous toxins from being releases. As far as I know that is ALL we CAN do. As long as peoples lives are injustice in danger though, I believe we need to continue working on a solution to this problem...hopefully eventually we will find an answer to prevent further struggle and inequality.

As referenced by Andy Goldsworthy in the film, rivers are full of energy. They embody the concept of the flow of nature. The concept that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred from one form to another. Through his artwork, Goldsworthy seeks out what lies underneath the surface, also known as "the wolliness of the sheep."

In this blog we shall combine the indepth idea of "what lies beneath the surface" and the importance of rivers and the energy they hold in the development of our society. This occurs in vast amounts of rivers around the world, but for our own reference, we shall use the Mississippi River and our own Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The Mississippi River, and the area around was once a barren and desolate area long ago. Over time though, indians and then colonists chose to settle in the area we now know as Minneapolis and St. Paul due to the energy the Mississippi River provided including: transportation, trade, energy and a source of fresh water. This very simple body of flowing water, transformed a once barren land into urbanized industrial center in which now over 2.82 million people live and thrive. A land that once was solely occupied by deer, bear and other wildlife, is now a central hub for business, trade and commerce. A diverse city full of schools, restaurants, and nightlife attractions. Full of flour mills, steel plants, hospitals and sanitation sites. A city so diverse and complex that one could spend their whole life investigating and experiencing the city and still not know all that Minneapolis and St. Paul have to offer.
That simple flow of energy through the Mississippi River has been channeled into the everyday life of our now very busy and very intricate society. Something as simple an naturally beautiful as the river, has created something so wonderful and complex as the city we all live and thrive in and it all started with a swift current.