No worries. The full draft due today, the one that everyone spent hours trying to perfect and stayed up until all hours in the morning to finish was not the final draft!
We did a peer revision instead.
All jokes aside it was a very helpul 80 minutes of class with very constructive peer editing. The best thing is to have someone else who doesn't know your topic read your paper so you can see if it makes sense. When you are so caught up in your research, you sometimes can forget that other people don't know what you're talking about because they haven't been looking up your topic for over 3 weeks. It is very helpful to have someone read over your paper and suggest what areas need some improvement and how you can make that huge important paper the best it can be.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Monday, April 27, 2015
Freakout #2: Full Draft Due Thursday
I am stressing a little because today in class Doc Oc told us that we would have a full draft of our entire paper due Thursday. I am very stressed because I still feel like I haven't read "widely or deeply" enough as we have been told to do. Reading widely and deeply means covering all potential answers to your why questions. It is Monday and I have 3 nights to feel confident about my research and write this essay.
On top of that, we have to interview an expert in the field, which is really fascinating and I think I will learn a lot. The problem is I've sent about 8 emails, and have gotten exactly 0 responses. I am still crossing my fingers for Bernardine Dohrn, but I really get the feeling she will follow through.
I probably shouldn't be publically admitting this, but I have only written my introduction thus far and I really am feeling very overwhelemed. It is so funny to me that everyone defines junior year with the dreaded Junior Theme. It is odd that so much of your grade in the class depends on the one paper. I have friends in other classes whose Junior Theme was worth 25% of their final grade. That seems crazy to me. People always warn you to prepare yourself. I think I am really starting to understand why people hate this dreaded paper so much. Wish me lucck.
On top of that, we have to interview an expert in the field, which is really fascinating and I think I will learn a lot. The problem is I've sent about 8 emails, and have gotten exactly 0 responses. I am still crossing my fingers for Bernardine Dohrn, but I really get the feeling she will follow through.
I probably shouldn't be publically admitting this, but I have only written my introduction thus far and I really am feeling very overwhelemed. It is so funny to me that everyone defines junior year with the dreaded Junior Theme. It is odd that so much of your grade in the class depends on the one paper. I have friends in other classes whose Junior Theme was worth 25% of their final grade. That seems crazy to me. People always warn you to prepare yourself. I think I am really starting to understand why people hate this dreaded paper so much. Wish me lucck.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Common Themes Within my Junior Theme
As I am continuing to embark on this journey of writing my junior theme, I have continually noticed two major problems that crop up in a lot of my readings. The first problem is that without a proper definition of homelessness, it is very hard to get a direct counting on the amount of homeless people. A term called doubling-up is also something that is over-looked in many counting proceses. Doubling-up is where a family or person no longer has a home and they move in with family or friends. Because there is no proper definition of homelessness, that leads into the second common problem I have seen of it being extremely difficult to get an accurate number on homless people.
It is almost impossible to get an accurate number of homeless people. A major reason why it is so hard is that many people have found different refuges besides formal shelters. Clearly, if people are in shelters, it is easy to count, but those who are on the streets can be constantly moving around and hiding.
Because of this, it is obviously very difficult to get statistics on homeless people in the country and especially homeless children. It is especially difficult with homeless children because they tend to run away or hide places where it would be difficult to find. For example in the book, Ask Me Why I Hurt, by Dr. Randy Christensen, children go to such extremes to hide as to dig a hole in the middle of the desert and call that their home.
It is almost impossible to get an accurate number of homeless people. A major reason why it is so hard is that many people have found different refuges besides formal shelters. Clearly, if people are in shelters, it is easy to count, but those who are on the streets can be constantly moving around and hiding.
Because of this, it is obviously very difficult to get statistics on homeless people in the country and especially homeless children. It is especially difficult with homeless children because they tend to run away or hide places where it would be difficult to find. For example in the book, Ask Me Why I Hurt, by Dr. Randy Christensen, children go to such extremes to hide as to dig a hole in the middle of the desert and call that their home.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Freakout #1
Junior Theme is a project that causes continual stress. Today I had my first meltdown of I'm sure what will be many to come. I started feeling the stress and pressure of getting this project done, and it has not been very long. We have to have 5 annotated bibliographies by Monday and I feel like I am so far behind. But there is one particular source I have really enjoyed and wanted to talk about.
I have been reading a book called, Ask Me Why I Hurt, written by Randy Chirstensen with Rene Denfeld. The book is a first hand account of Dr. Randy Christensen who devoted his life to caring for the homeless children who live on the streets and have no place to go. He travels from town to town in Arizona, in a Winnebago as a portable doctor's office, treating the homeless children.
Within the first 50 pages of the book, we meet a young, very reserved girl, named Mary, who wears a bracelet around her wrist that says, ask me why I hurt. She is very skeptical to tell Dr. Chirstensen or his assistant Jan anything. As she begins to trust them more, she finally tells them the story of why she hurts. Turns out, she had been sexually abused by her father,and was so scared because he threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She ran away and found shelter in a hole dug in the ground. Dr. Christensen was able to find out all of this information after weeks, waiting for Mary to trust him. He ended up helping her find her aunt who would take care of her and give her a nice home, rather than a hole in the middle of the desert.
This is just one of the heart throbbing stories of the patients that Dr. Christensen helped. There are many others in the book along with the doctor's own personal conflicts and how he feels helping these children. It is a very easy read that is very hard to put down, but hard to read at the same time because of the sadness of the topic. I don't know if I will end up using this information in my paper, but I think it will be good to get an emotional account of the serious issue of child homelessness.
I have been reading a book called, Ask Me Why I Hurt, written by Randy Chirstensen with Rene Denfeld. The book is a first hand account of Dr. Randy Christensen who devoted his life to caring for the homeless children who live on the streets and have no place to go. He travels from town to town in Arizona, in a Winnebago as a portable doctor's office, treating the homeless children.
Within the first 50 pages of the book, we meet a young, very reserved girl, named Mary, who wears a bracelet around her wrist that says, ask me why I hurt. She is very skeptical to tell Dr. Chirstensen or his assistant Jan anything. As she begins to trust them more, she finally tells them the story of why she hurts. Turns out, she had been sexually abused by her father,and was so scared because he threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She ran away and found shelter in a hole dug in the ground. Dr. Christensen was able to find out all of this information after weeks, waiting for Mary to trust him. He ended up helping her find her aunt who would take care of her and give her a nice home, rather than a hole in the middle of the desert.
This is just one of the heart throbbing stories of the patients that Dr. Christensen helped. There are many others in the book along with the doctor's own personal conflicts and how he feels helping these children. It is a very easy read that is very hard to put down, but hard to read at the same time because of the sadness of the topic. I don't know if I will end up using this information in my paper, but I think it will be good to get an emotional account of the serious issue of child homelessness.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
For a town of one sqaure mile, there is not always a lot of excitment in Kenilworth, Illinois. However, yesterday afternoon experienced a shock that had Sears School students on lock-down. Sadly, right before the schoool day was let out, a man was found dead with a bullet wound on Townly Field.
Kenilworth Police Department
***Information Bulletin***
Sent: April 13, 2015
Deceased Subject Discovered – Townley Field
On 4/13/15 at 3:04 p.m. the Kenilworth Police Department was notified by the Kenilworth Park District staff that a body was discovered in Townley Field. The Joseph Sears School was immediately instructed by the Police Department to initiate security procedures for precautionary purposes while the incident was being investigated. Upon arrival, Police personnel discovered a deceased male white in his 50’s with a gunshot wound. The investigation into this matter continues however, preliminary investigation into the matter supports that the wound was self inflicted and there is no danger to the community. It is unknown at this time the exact time of occurrence. No reports of suspicious subjects or the sound of gun shots or fireworks were received prior to the discovery by Park District staff. The name of the subject is not being released pending notification of the family. The subject is not a Kenilworth resident and it is unknown at this point if they have any connection to the community.
Kenilworth Police Department
419 Richmond Road
Kenilworth, IL 60043
(847) 251-2141
Kenilworth Police Department
***Information Bulletin***
Sent: April 13, 2015
Deceased Subject Discovered – Townley Field
On 4/13/15 at 3:04 p.m. the Kenilworth Police Department was notified by the Kenilworth Park District staff that a body was discovered in Townley Field. The Joseph Sears School was immediately instructed by the Police Department to initiate security procedures for precautionary purposes while the incident was being investigated. Upon arrival, Police personnel discovered a deceased male white in his 50’s with a gunshot wound. The investigation into this matter continues however, preliminary investigation into the matter supports that the wound was self inflicted and there is no danger to the community. It is unknown at this time the exact time of occurrence. No reports of suspicious subjects or the sound of gun shots or fireworks were received prior to the discovery by Park District staff. The name of the subject is not being released pending notification of the family. The subject is not a Kenilworth resident and it is unknown at this point if they have any connection to the community.
Kenilworth Police Department
419 Richmond Road
Kenilworth, IL 60043
(847) 251-2141
Monday, April 13, 2015
Think Before You Act
Accusations of rape are not something that should be taken lighlty. The heart breaking statistics show that about 68% of sexual assults are not reported to the police, and that every 107 seconds another American gets sexually assulted. People deserve to have their tragedies reported and not have to live with the burden of such a horrible secret.
However, claiming you have been raped when in reality you haven't, is also a heinous crime. 9 years ago to the day, four Duke Lacrosse players were accused of raping a stripper at a party. The problem is, once these accusations were made, they followed these four innocent young men wherever they went. Last night there was a special 60 Minutes story that ran on this subject and Mike Pressler, the head coach of the Duke Lacrosse team at that time said,: Google up one of the boys' names, my name, and then, you know, on the computer you saw the word "rape," "sexual assault" next to your name. That, to me, that just was-- even today, I get emotional about it. Because it just-- everything you built, everything-- all-- everything you stood for. And to have two of those type of phrases or words associated with your name just-- even right now, as I speak to you, Armen, I'm getting angry over that.
Not only did it effect these young men, but it also had a huge impact on Pressler's life. He was told he either had to resign or risk losing his job. Being stuck in a spot, he resigned. However people turned on him as well. People would come to his house and put signs all over his yard that said "Rapist Lover" and "Do your duty. Turn 'em in" and his daughters and wife's personal lives were completely exposed. He had a ton of trouble finding a new job because no one wanted to hire someone involved in this scandal.
In the way it played out, the four players were proven innocent and Pressler was able to land a new coaching job and completely change the culture of the school. He continues to be a very successful coach.
To me, it is absolutely unnaccaptable to be accusing four people of such a horrible crime. Rape and sexual assult should never be taken as a way to get attention or money or whatever else might be the case. You have to think about the consequences that could come from your actions. The stripper could have seriously ruined a lot of people's lives and it is very lucky that things worked out in the end the way they did.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
So It Begins
That dreaded time of year has finally arrived. For the next few weeks I will be working on what every student tries their hardest to avoid: the Junior Theme. I have been wracking my brians and reading for hours on end to try and find a topic that seems interesting enough to persue and write this unseemingly endless paper.
I think I have finally decided that I am going to explore the continual issue of homeless children in America. From the reading I have started to browse through, I have seen repeatedly how homeless children have perhaps a record or have a parent who has been incarcerated. I want to continue to explore the possibility of a cycle of having a child who has an incarcerated parent and are left homeless and see if they are more likely to end up incarcerated themselves.
As of right now I have a very broad question of which I am attempting to answer which would be, why are their so many homeless children in the United States?
I think I have finally decided that I am going to explore the continual issue of homeless children in America. From the reading I have started to browse through, I have seen repeatedly how homeless children have perhaps a record or have a parent who has been incarcerated. I want to continue to explore the possibility of a cycle of having a child who has an incarcerated parent and are left homeless and see if they are more likely to end up incarcerated themselves.
As of right now I have a very broad question of which I am attempting to answer which would be, why are their so many homeless children in the United States?
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