Journal 12.6.17

I think this quote is very accurate. We as human beings tend to look at a situation with "last event goggles" and try to act as if it's the same. It never is. I took a class called World Crises in high school which is essentially an international relations class. We built our foundations through analyzing the decisions and policies in the historical context of major wars and events. So incredibly often when looking at one crisis, policymakers inherently attempt to treat it using the lens of the last major crisis. We do not feel comfortable with the unprecedented, but in many cases, trying to figure out something new is more effective than retrying a failed tactic. That is not to say we can't use the past, but instead of replicating, we should learn. We are also not good at predicting events that have never occurred, as Al Gore says.

This reminds me of the responses to the major threat in "The Really Big One" and how many live in a state of ignorance of some sort. All the science points to mass destruction and an unparalleled amount of lives lost, and yet because there hasn't been an earthquake to quite that level, many just simply can't wrap their heads around it. They refuse to take as many, or if any, precautions as necessary because of the human mindset that Gore describes.
-Katie Hession (WRI I 21)

Journal 11.6.17

Hearing this poem spoken alongside the visual emphasizes the unique structure. Not only is the physical structure changing visibly but hearing the lines not fully finished spoken enhances a point of the poem. Many of the lines lack the last word and it seems to get closer and closer to finishing the sentences, especially those ending in "our" as the poem goes on. The poem could represent white oppression in the United States, made clear by the second line. I think the structure of the changing placement of physical lines represents the journey to overcome this oppression in a two steps forward-one step back kind of way. Placed alongside unfinished sentences that represent the fact that, while things are better than say times of slavery, they are unfinished. Even without knowing the final words of these sentences, the story told sets the reader/listener's mind to immediately jump somewhere. The repetition emphasizes the closeness of progress, but also the lack.
-Katie Hession (WRI I 21) 

Journal 3 (Late Post)

I think this asks a question that is very prominent in today's era of developing technology. Much like in "Generation Why," with the question of simplifying ourselves to fit technology, this quote implies a transition from strong innovators and thinkers to people that are lazy and reliant on technology. This building reliance could create an interesting contradiction. If today's technology is the outcome of great innovation, but influences a lack of innovation, what does the future of technology look like? Will we have to snap ourselves out of this or will we turn the upwards trend of development into a plateau? Will we get to a point where we have so reduced and simplified ourselves that the emotionless technology becomes the strong thinker in comparison to these people influenced by these new beliefs?
-Katie Hession (WRI I 21)

Journal 12/11/17

That's really sad. I think there is a cub under the polar bear but I can't tell. The polar bear looks out of place, but the sad thing is, I'm sure it's in the exact place it's supposed to be, geographically. That's the bear's home, and it's been taken away. They're not humans, they can't just hop on a place or car or boat and find a different place to live. The best situation may be that they are found and brought to either a zoo or a some rehabilitation place with others of its kind. But that's only hoping that the bear is found. The system is not perfect, there are animals that are missed, and they have no way of communicating with others in a cry for help. The bear looks defensive and distressed. I always get annoyed when people tell me animals get stressed. Like when a fish gets transferred from one tank to another it will get stressed and not eat, but when I do that when I'm stressed, I'm being dramatic. But this bear is actually stressed, you can see it. We'll call her a mama bear, because there is a potential cub. I'm sure mama bears are stressed anyway, imagine what kind of state of mind she's in now.
-Estelle Boo (WR1-21)

Wildfire

I think there are some really despicable people in the world, but the most despicable are the ones who "don't believe in climate change." That is active ignorance. I think those people know that climate change exists, they just don't care because it isn't visibly threatening to them right now. It is, though. I'm from Los Angeles, and there are some pretty massive wildfires happening there right now. I'm really freaked out. The winds have died down a bit, which is really good, but to see the place I grew up in flames is devastating. I keep seeing photos and videos on the news of the 405 - this one particular stretch I always drive on - it is being scorched. A ton of my friends families have been evacuated, and they are all getting calls from their families asking them what they want from their houses. My house and family are fine as of now. The fire is on the other side of the 405 from where I live. It's so scary watching that footage, though. I know a girl whose house burnt down. My sister was telling me about this barn that had to be evacuated, except they left the horses. 40 horses died. So crazy. Roads that I drive, trails that I hike, places I love - burning. It's even scarier that I'm not there and my family is. I feel remarkably helpless. There is nothing I can do. The last time I checked it was only 15% contained in LA. That's just LA. There are 4 fires in California right now. Maybe it's 3 now, I'm not sure. 

Journal 10/30/17

(5 minute, half journal)
I won't like the fact that I have to write that word, so I won't. I'll call it the n-word. This is an old KQED segment with a young looking African American man describing the n-word. I agree. White people invented it. Invented it due to fear. But it's completely made up. This guy was saying how this thing that they've made up and feared so bad wasn't him, so then who was it? Who exactly are they so afraid of? Kids make up monsters in their head that don't exist, yet they're so afraid of it, why is that so? I can't jump into child psych, can I phone a friend? I've got multiple friends who aren't awake right now studying psych. I guess when I was a kid the media helped me invent my monsters under my bed. There wasn't much media back then, so how did this mindset occur?
-Estelle Boo WR1-21