Thursday, November 19, 2009

Polished notebook entries, end-of-term assignments, and notes toward a happy conclusion to Humanities 120

Greetings from the end of the semester,

As promised, here's the run-down on the end of the term and a forum for you to post your polished notebook entries.

First, then, some reminders:

On Tuesday Nov. 24 you should arrive in the lecture hall with your course notebooks ready to submit. In these notebooks there should be at least 10 clearly marked entries of roughly a page each. These should be numbered and easy to find. You should choose your best entry, type it, polish it, and then print it and place a copy in both your notebook and in the comments section here.

In the front of this notebook you should also include your end-of-term assessment of your participation. For this assignment you are charged with composing a paragraph or two in which you quickly state what grade you believe you have earned for participation and why you think you've earned this grade.

Under this assessment you should place a print out of all of your blog entries for the semester, numbering and dating each entry.

Finally, you should also arrive in class on Tuesday with your final paper--Jeremy's character analysis assignment described in class this past Tuesday--printed with both your name and your section number.

As always, e-mail your section leader with any questions, concerns, or comments--or, better yet, grab them at the museum tomorrow morning.

So finally, finally: we'll see you either out front of the Egan building tomorrow (Thursday) at 9:30am or at the State Museum at 10:00am sharp.

Until then,

kevin m

28 comments:

  1. Ross Douglas J02

    The issue of predator control is one that should be handled directly by scientists. Scientists are infinitely more qualified to deal with environmental issues than politicians. Predator control is authorized by the Alaska Outdoor Council, a group of less than ten individuals who are appointed by the governor and have, depending on the governor in office and especially since Murkowski took office and through Palin’s term, have more or less consistently advocated predator control to increase the populations of game animals. They only do this because recreational hunters want an excuse to hunt something. They ignore anything that might interfere with their one-sided decisions, including actual statistics compiled by scientists who know what they are talking about. This is largely due to the fact that politics and science are nearly mutually exclusive. In politics, appeals to emotion always trump rationality, whereas in science, facts and logical conclusions derived from data are all that hold sway. Unfortunately, it is too easy to make a self-serving decision than a rational one. I have often said, jokingly, that scientists should have power, not politicians. Perhaps I shall say that a bit more seriously in the future.

    Ross Douglas J02

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  2. This thing won't let me paste anything. I'll bring it all into class on Tuesday.
    --Sarah Ryan J03

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  3. I also cant copy and paste. I will bring this in on Tuesday.

    -Westin Dollmont J01

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  4. Chelsea Green
    Humanities 120-J03
    November 16, 2009
    You Don’t Know Alaska
    I grew up in Interior Alaska. The Alaska I know has moose, caribou and buffalo. There were mountains and trees, but I never spent much time by the ocean. I took the occasional ferry ride to play sports in Cordova, but as far as the ocean goes, that was the extent of my experience with it. I didn’t wake up every day to salt water and the marine environment. The Alaska that I am familiar with is the Arctic desert. It is cold and has long, harsh, and dark winters. The summers are gorgeous and the sunlight is endless. I know what it means to live in the heart of Alaska. After all, after spending eighteen years there, I should.
    Since moving to Juneau on September 1st, I have experienced a cultural and environmental shock. Everything here is so green, and now, at the beginning of October, the leaves are just starting to turn colors. I see the ocean every day and most people have a great interest in fishing. The attitudes are different from what I grew up around. As far as the rain goes, bring it on. If I survived -50 degrees Fahrenheit for weeks on end, I can take the rain.
    I’ve seen many marine mammals that are unfamiliar to me. The ability to see humpback whales surface and blow is a pretty cool experience. Just this morning I saw my first deer. It was so tiny and cute, I couldn’t decide if it was a baby or an adult. I finally decided that it must be an adult because it was the only deer around. It was so unlike the moose that I am familiar with. Even the glaciers are different from the ones I have known. Everyday I see something new, and I learn more about Alaska every day. There is so much to learn, I guess I’ll just have to keep exploring.

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  5. Interesting...when Icopied and pasted it took out all of my indentation...
    Chelsea

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  6. Feeling Art Again

    Art has truly hit my heart and is all around the university. There are so many different art programs that you can go for, it would be hard to chose just one if you don’t have your mind set on something already. If one is to every have the opportunity to see for themselves the wonders of art, just look around the campus and take in to consideration of how much heart and effort went into that painting or ceramic cup that you may stumble on. It is a very beautiful thing to look at every now and then.

    At first, I never really looked at paintings and thought about what might have been going through an artist’s head, why did they paint this or what does it mean. I always thought as art as being something to fill the wall with colors. In some cases it is, but for the most part it is to bring emotion and capture our attention, engage our emotions, cause us to empathize with characters, and challenge us to reflect on provocative ideas. This goes for all forms of art; music, writing, sculpting etc. There is no boundary when it comes to the power of art.

    They say that "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" and how true this is when it comes to art. I have been in ceramics for two years and through these past two years it has brought out my feelings and thoughts on what a chunk of clay can do. I have created many interesting and useful objects that with some inspiration and beautiful glazes, a simple cup can become a masterpiece. It doesn't matter what you make really, as long as it comes from your heart. I recommend stepping inside either the painting studio or the ceramic studio and be amazed and inspired to create something just as amazing, whether it’s another painting, bowl, or even writing. Art can do wonders for a person who is in doubt or confusion. It can be a form of therapy, no joke.

    As the years go on the more I am around art the more I fall in love with it. I might not understand what it means but that is what makes it so unique and interesting. Art makes me feel comfortable and free because there are no rules in art. Art is my biggest passion and it makes me feel like I'm unstoppable. It puts me in a place where I lose myself. There is no time or place. I feel peace and very alive. It connects me to the universe. It can be so beautiful and creative, there are no boundaries you can just be yourself.

    My point is one should not look at art as something that is just there to look at. Think of what is it there for, what it stands for what it means, what was done to make it so unique. In order to take on these entire questions try joining an art class yourself, it will be an experience to remember. You will be surprised at what you will learn and accomplish. I know I did in my ceramic class.

    Kelly Fernandez, JO4

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  7. Leah Gregg
    Humanities 120-J03
    No Plastics Week (October 16-21)

    Going a week without using any plastics whatsoever is an extremely daunting task to undergo in America, where plastic is just about everywhere. I slipped up several times during the week. It blew my mind to realize how much we rely upon plastic for seemingly trivial, everyday things. The frequent times I messed up, I had been using something made of plastic and I hadn't been thinking of what material it was obviously made of. Going into the week, I bought a thermos for my coffee (so I wouldn't ahve to use the paper cups with the plastic lids) and a water bottle so that I wouldn't have to resort to buying the purified water that came in a plastic bottle. I believed I was set for the week and that it was going to be a cinch. This was all before I caught myself using a Dixie cup full of sour cream from my work on my waffle; microwaving a burrito that came in a plastic wrapper; using a plastic fork; taking my food to go in plastic containers...the list goes on. I was perpetually mentally scolding myself for slipping up and being so unaware of all the plastic I was using that week. Although I certainly wasn't capable of abstaining from plastic during this time, I became infinitely more aware of all the plastics we as a society use and how much we rely upon them because they're cheap to make things out of and they are extremely easy to mass-produce in everyday products. This cahllenge has left me with a more conscious prospective of the plastics I use every day. Now whenever I happen to catch myself using something plastic that isn't really necessary, I stop myself, and resort to accomodating methods. Now that plastic is so heavily relied upon, I believe it is impossible to completely stamp it out of our world. But we can certainly make adjustments to how much plastic we use and be responsible about at least recycling the plastic that is necessary to use.

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  8. Chelsey Welch, J02
    JDHS Theatre: Little Shop of Horrors
    (I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar errors. I am also not able to copy and paste, for some reason, and typed it all up in this little box.)

    I wasn't quite sure how well this production was going to play out, because they only had about a month and a half to practice and perfect everything. Upon seeing the performance, however, I was impressed. The entire show in general seemed like it was pretty difficult to put it together. The set looked nice and the choreography was clean and precise. The completed plant was extravagant, and the girl operating the plant did an exceptional job as well.

    Watching the performance reminded me of the short video we viewed in class towards the beginning of the semester, regarding the music and drama departments within public schools. When budget cuts arise, these departments are typically the first to suffer, or disappear completely. It's very disheartening that this happens, especially since there are so many kids who excel in these areas and have amazing potential. Eliminating these sections takes away a great opportunity for many, and I can't comprehend how people could think that it is permissible. I know that every situation is different, but I wish that it didn't have to come to this for so many schools.

    I think more people should pursue the things that interest them, especially music, acting, and art. Since I am not blessed with any of these talents, I support those who do 100% of the way.. Many people are too afraid to try and live their dreams, but I think it is worth taking a risk. I hate to see talents go to waste because they weren't given the chance to go further or they didn't have enough confidence. I'm very thankful that Juneau has an active music and theatre department. I can see how satisfying it is for both students and parents when they are playing music or a part of a theatrical production, and I hope that this will continue for countless years to come.

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  9. It wont let me paste anything on here. Ill just bring it to class on Tuesday.


    Jo4 Xuyen Nguyen

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  10. I can't paste anything as well, so I'll just bring it to class.

    Dominic Lodovici J01

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  11. Grizzly Man
    For my humanities class we watched the Grizzly Man, a documentary film on Timothy Treadwell. At first, watching the movie my impression of Timothy was that he was just a guy who couldn’t take life with the humans anymore. He was tired of being turned down for jobs and by women. So, he thinks to himself where can I go to escape it all? Alaska! To go be with the bears.
    I think the way the video was directed and set up, you are only getting one side or view of Timothy. The movie only showed a few clips of all the years he was there. It also seemed like the people, that weren’t Timothy, tried to come off as bad actors. They seemed fake, they would just stare at the camera without saying words, or randomly say something that made no sense. I think if someone else had made this video, someone that liked Timothy or supported what he was doing, a completely different movie would have been made. People would have a different view of him.
    My overall opinion of Timothy is that his life wasn’t going the way he wanted it to so he had to do something drastic. He came off as bipolar. Sometimes he was really happy but others he seemed very depressed. I do believe that Timothy really did care for the bears and think they were his friends. However, I don’t believe that was actually helping them. Maybe more hindering them if anything, because bears are wild animals that are suppose to fend for themselves and he was trying to do things for them and confusing them about humans.

    Johanna Christensen- J01

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  12. Glacier Fun

    After reading Nick Jans The Glacier Wolf, I was inspired to write my own experience that took place this summer with Alaska’s wildlife.

    My sister and I, with camera in hand, weaved our way through the viewing boardwalks at the Mendenhall glacier. I point out a porcupine in the trees to few tourists then continued on. We came across the Moraine Ecology Trail and decided to go exploring. After taking a few puddle jumping pictures, we stumbled upon a beach and looked around. Far to the right, I could see the tourists bustling around the visitors’ center like ants. We wandered down the beach and found an ice chunk that washed up on shore. My sister wanted to take a picture of me with the ice. After I positioned myself, I looked up at my sister and noticed her eyes were stuck to the woods behind me. She called my name and louder she spoke that there was something behind me. I whipped my head around and peered into the thick brush. Through an opening in the bushes I saw a wall of moving dark colored fur. Feeling my heart jump into my throat, I instantly knew it was a bear less than 20 feet away from me. I quickly abandon the ice and retreat down the beach to rejoin my sister. We continued to watch the moving bushes as the black bear worked its way down the coastline. He walked across the trail, positioning himself between us the boardwalks. Not wanting him to block our path out of the woods, we quickly left the beach and trekked back towards the boardwalk.

    Thankfully, we made it back to viewing boardwalk without seeing our fuzzy friend who was probably still on the coastline. We scouted the decks to see if the bear made his appearance, but he was no where to be found. My sister and I roamed to the front parking and found a clump of tourists leaning over the small rock wall by the park’s entrance. The bear was trying to be invisible by walking through the thick summer brush but had no luck.
    Instead of taking photos of the black bear like everyone else. My sister secretly took pictures of the tourists. They were pushing and shoving their way through the crowd to have a quick glance at a real wild Alaskan bear. When the bear would continue walking, the herd of people would faithfully follow. I remember watching a teenager kneeling down at the edge of the hill trying to take a picture with his camera phone. The teen’s father held onto the strap of the teen’s backpack so he wouldn’t tumble down the hill. Alaska wildlife, and the foreign species that travel by cruise ship, will never cease amaze me.

    Danielle Orbistondo, J01

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  13. Hannah Massey
    HUM 120
    Prof. Kane
    November 17, 2009
    Idiotic Grizzly Guy
    The review I read was by Roger Ebert. He basically summarizes the movie, highlighting certain outstanding events. He begins with a quote from Timothy Treadwell, “If I show weakness, I'm dead. They will take me out, they will decapitate me, they will chop me up into bits and pieces -- I'm dead. So far, I persevere. I persevere,” followed by referencing the tragedy that occurred and an opinion about Herzog’s point of view. He explains the uniqueness of the film due to the fact that Treadwell was negatively portrayed.
    I agree with the review. It essentially states that the documentary is entertaining and features amazing footage of bears in their natural environment: fighting, playfully interacting, and the heartbreaking ways of dominating, male bears. Ebert also talks about how the documentary is unlike any nature documentary because of the way the filmmaker does not approve of Treadwell, but instead, he is sentimental towards the animals. In the last paragraph, Ebert states that Treadwell deserved Herzog’s critique because he ultimately got himself, girlfriend, and a bear he vowed to protect killed. This is something I completely and fully agree with.

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  14. All semester I have had a lot of trouble using this blog especially when it comes to posting something. I've been trying to publish my good journal entry for the past twenty minutes and have finaly given up. I will print it out and turn it in with my notebook. Sorry

    Fernando Valero J04

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  15. Ever since the beginning of this class it has not let me post things to the blog. I tried to post my polished up journal for about twenty minutes before giving up. I will print off a copy and attach it with my note book. Hope thats fine.

    Fernando Valero J04

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  16. I didnt think it worked like usual but I guess it did. Sorry for posting two.

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  17. LaTia Jackson
    Humanities, JO3
    Polished Journal Entry:
    Fall Has Arrived
    11/23/09

    I feel like fall as snuck up on me. In a matter of 30 days, the trees have turned beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow. I noticed today that those same trees are also losing leaves. When I went for my morning walk today, there was frost on the ground. It made a nice crunching sound as I made my way down the narrow footpath. I wonder when it is going to start snowing? In Northern Alaska, the snow has already started to fall. This is my first winter/fall in Juneau and I feel that we are a little behind schedule. Right at this moment, it started to rain. I like the rain. I lived in Sitka for four years and I have to say that Sitka weather is a bit milder than Juneau weather. Which is a little weird considering the distance between Juneau and Sitka. I noticed that all the birds that were here a month ago are gone. All I see now are Ravens. How do these birds survive the cold winters? My uncle Robert said that the Raven were survivors. In my Inupiaq culture, we have many stories based on the Raven. The Raven was our creator.

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  18. Well, it was a nice diversion to get out of the town for at least a day. Even though I'll be making this trip next weekend also to Tracey Arm. We left early, my girlfriend and I, to board the ship that left at 8AM. Suffice to say, neither one of us felt much enthused about getting up 6:45 in the morning to board a boat full of the very same tourists we try to avoid downtown. Once we departed though it was a different mood that kicked in. It got a little exciting to be among new scenery, especially once we got to our final destination at the southern glacier. The rock walls among us dropped straight to the icy seas, in front of us lay Southern Sawyer Glacier, It towered at least 150 feet above the waters. We all stood there in awe for hours, waiting in the silence. Until that is, we heard the crack of moving ice. It was amazing to see the immense power involved when witnessing chunks of ice the size of buildings slam into the ocean, crackling like thunder. It was a sight that is hard to get bored of. That was also a chance to see the beauty of Southeast Alaska again. Something which goes forgotten after seeing it everyday. Knowing that I'll be making the same trip next week for class does make me wonder if I'll have the same trill, but I shall have to find that out next Saturday.

    Stephen Bishop J03
    -Doesnt seem to copy in FF, had to use IE

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  19. Sorry, above is titled: Tracey Arm Round 1

    -Stephen Bishop

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  20. Richard Ringle jo2

    I chose to write a poem for my journal entry.

    Class

    Three Months
    Endless messages
    Boundless lessons
    Weary students
    Attend taxing lectures
    A fire of curiosity
    A greater knowledge
    Many friends
    Many adventures
    All Important

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  21. It would not let me copy paste it so sorry for errors in advance.

    Polished Journal Entry

    Over the weekend, my fellow S.L.I.R.P members and I went on a retreat. It was to help build team trust and leadership skills. It was about a half an hour drive from the dorms. We left on Saturday morning and returned on Sunday afternoon. Even though the trip was short it definitely made a difference, at least to me it did. The group and I hung out together practically the entire time. We went from one activity to the next, we got breaks in between and meals of course, but they were together. It was like building a family. I have gotten to understand everyone just a little more than I did before. It may have been because I had no choice. There was no satellite signal or cell phone service to talk or communicate with anyone. At least to converse with anyone who was not there in person.
    What I enjoyed most was the games, food and the scenery. It had snowed before we got there so everything was like a storybook Christmas winter wonderland land. All it need was a tree decorated and some lights. The snow covered everything, icicles daggled from the housetop and people were playing joyful outside. The people were my fellow members and I completing in different tasks. We had gone though serial mind challenging events, that had to have everyone in the group corporate in order for it to work. Some challenges were a race, a mimic game but without words (like Simon says) and a game where everyone had to use a finger to hold and put down one single pole. We did and we got though the challenges quickly and effectively. It helped that we already knew each other and were friends. Later on, we had dinner and watched movies together until it was time for bed. The next day we had two more challenges like walking on the wire in the air and moved across mini-islands without touching the water. After that, we left packed our stuff and left.

    Angelia Normandia - J03

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  22. I cannot paste it on here so I will be one of many who bring it to class.

    Edith Grover J04

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  23. Malcomb Vrecenar
    Humanities 120
    Finial Journal
    11/24/09
    The Lake
    As I sit here in the cafĂ© and I look out at the lake it makes me take a step back, and really good at it. It looks as if it has never been touched, there is the amazing sense of calmness that’s seems that it will last forever. As a slight fog settles over the lake, I look out and can see a camp fire glimmering in the distance. I wish I could just sit by the camp fire now after sleeping in a warm sleeping bag under the stars. I really want to spend the night in the “nature.” I need to get to that before winter.
    I have, since my first day I wanted to go out on the lake and just sit in the boat and just relax, bring some food out and just sit back and relax. Even take a nap out their I could use that now more than ever. Take a pole out and make a few cast and possibly be lucky enough to catch a fish from this body of water that has been there who knows how long.
    The air around the lake just seems so crisp so clean. It looks just perfect and it is bubble that is protected from the outside world. It seems so free from pollutant, trash, and plastic. It seems free of the hurtful ways of man kind. The lake seems like almost perestroika time, aside from the view house along the shore the lake seems like a bubble from the past, a bubble in time.

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  24. Kymberly Hoyle could not paste her assignment.

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  25. Amanda Banh
    November 23, 2009
    HUM 120 – J02
    I think Project Grizzly was a nice movie to laugh about. Hurtubise was deeply fascinated by his interest for bears and he built a suit to prove it. Undoubtedly, he was fascinated by bears and their strength. However, he was so caught up with his enthusiasm for the awesome suit that could take the impact of the mighty grizzly that he had forgotten the essential, the ability to move. He said that he used guns but prefer knives more but how did he expect to go against a bear when he has no mobility, let alone enough to use his arm to throw a knife at a bear? In my own opinion, I feel that had he worn that suit and actually came across a bear the best he could do was to lay down and let the bear attack him. With all that material built into that expensive suit, I think he was better off just letting the bear go at him. With limited mobility, there is no way for him to fight back and who would save him? The four same buddies, who helped him in and out of the suit, would save him by shooting the bear. What was Hurtubise expecting? Did Hurtubise really expect to fight the bear?

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  26. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  27. Like others I can not copy my polished journal entry to the blog. So you need I have it in soft format on a flash drive and a hard copy to hand in in class.
    Jenny Danner
    J03

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  28. Sammy Becker
    Humanities 120
    J01

    For the week of Thanksgiving I went home to Wasilla. I hadn’t planed on going home, because I figured that I would be going back for over a month two weeks after Thanksgiving. Surprisingly enough my best friends mom bought me a ticket Sunday afternoon immediately after I returned from a backcountry navigation outing and I was in Anchorage by ten o’clock that night. Sunday was my best friends Chelsea’s birthday and she had no clue I was coming in. When she came into the airport she was expecting to see our other friend’s cousins, and was totally stoked to see me. At first I was really excited to come home and thought it would be a lot of fun, but then as the hours and days past I really just wanted to come back to Juneau. I never thought going home would be so brutal but as I looked around and spent time with a lot of my friends from years past I realized how good it was to get away from it all.
    I have really come to find a place for myself in Juneau, and I think that it has a lot to do with the University but also with just getting away from my comfort zone of home and being around new people, and creating new experiences. I have really enjoyed this semester, and UAS and the ODS program were some of the best choices I have made in my life thus far. Throughout this class we have talked a lot about sense of place and I think that this kind of ties in to what Nick Jans said about how “you don’t know Alaska.” I grew up in Wasilla, Alaska and I think that being in the same place for all of my life was really starting to get to me and by the beginning of my senior year I had a major itch to get out as soon as I could. Coming to Juneau is just what I did and I think that by being here I have found out a little bit more about myself, and the person that I want to be. Being here, and learning from this class has been a really cool experience, and for right now I think my place is here in Juneau at this University.

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