Jonathan Kozol

To be honest I was a little pessimistic about going to Dr. Kozol's lecture last night, but only because it started at the time I usually go exercise. But I grabbed a couple of friends and headed down to the chapel, to listen to Kozol's lecture. I was not disappointed at all; he spoke of many things concerning our youth today, especially state testing. Jonathan Kozol believes greatly that children today have these tests forced upon them too early, thus taking away their childhood. Children should be able to be children not, as some schools prefer to refer to children, "products" in a business like environment. Many teachers, most at the elementary level, are put under alot of stress, what with all the state standards, that they do not always teach in a way children can understand, but rather by the template the state has provided them. They force children to predict "what Sad Sam will do after sitting in the sand." THERE IS NOTHING THERE TO PREDICT! Even I would say, "He kept sitting?" All of the state standards are to be posted on the whiteboards in every classroom in California (and other states as well) so the students can know what they are expected to learn from each lesson. The flaw in this idea is that children do not understand what is meant by the words used in the state standards ("proficiency" for example). And to make it worse not many adults understand exactly what is expected from the students for each state standard. These standards have also created another, extreme problem in elementary, middle school, and even high school levels. These standards force teachers to read books that are not the most interesting, and at a quick pace; thus children who understand why they must complete the standards (to save the school from getting into trouble with the government) do not learn to read for the joy of reading.

One last topic Kozol touched on: the government insists that classroom size is irrelevant to learning. They try to cram as many students as possible into already full classes, and even go so far to send the overflow to trailers/portables/bungalows which are sometimes off campus, or to hot/smelly or otherwise distracting to learn anything of value.

Gab Cast Blog

This is my gabcast blog...I finally figured out how to put it on blogger: http://gabcast.com/index.php?a=search&query=crystalfys

Eat Local

Locally grown foods are advantageous because they can be delivered to grocery stores fresh. Whereas imported foods aren't as fresh because they take longer to ship. I prefer imported foods because I cannot always eat local foods due to food allergies. However I do enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables, especially apples from Oak Glen! I don't think I would be able to make my fresh salsa if I was only able to buy locally grown food, because the ingredients are not purely local. I did not attend the "Eat Locally Challenge" because I woke up too late, but from what I heard students did not enjoy the food, but I don't know whether this was due to inefficient food preparation or food quality. A good reason to eat local is that it helps support the local food vendors (like the shops in Oak Glen, or farmers/gardeners). I truly wish that I had gotten the chance to "Eat Locally," simply to experience something new.

Menu Meal

To start off the meal, guests are given complementary bowls of chips and salsa and their choice of bebidas: Pepsi product soft drinks and/or water. For an appetizer our chef has prepared a delicious sopa de vegetal consisting of: pasta, juicy roma tomates, cebollas, and sabor de pollo to compliment the vegetables. For the main course, guests are served a Build-Your-Own-Tostada: corn tortillas, roma tomates, cebollas, lettuce, frijoles refritos, cuatro quesos, and sour cream. And finally for dessert, creamy Tampico brand vanilla ice cream served with Suavicremas (which are vanilla waffle cookies). The meal for one person costs $8.50 plus tax.

A supply of ingredients for a group of five people costs $38.75 plus tax (including cooking oils and butters).

I thouroghly enjoyed going to the market because it has many of the same things a store like Albertson's or Von's would have, yet in most cases, the Ranch Market's products are priced lower. The Ranch Market also sells pre-marinated meats (beef, pork, chicken) that one can take home and cook up with out having to do much preparing. The restaurant in the back of the market, Fiesta Grille, offers a variety of mexican entres, such as burritos, tortas, tostadas, and many different side orders (I got the rice which was delicioso if I may say so myself). It was definitely a new experience for me, as I always shop where my mother buys her food, and there are no Mexican markets near our home.

Reflection of The Inland Empire

The Inland Empire today is somewhat different than it was a hundred year ago. For instance there are no long the vast quantities of crops; there are still some farming areas but not as many as before, and the only crop (if that is the appropriate word) that still covers the majority of the Inland Empire, is the orange groves. The orange groves stretch from Riverside to Cherry Valley, and even farther on both sides (I don't know exactly how far). The pitiful thing about the orange groves, however, as they are a part of Inland Empire history, is that they are no longer being harvested; they are left where they are standing, dropping fruit that is left there to rot. My theory about this terrible fate of the orange grove, is that the land owners of the oranges might be planning to sell the land to real estate but don't want to (or can't) tear up the groves. Thus they are simply depriving the groves of proper care in hope that they will soon die. It is pitiful to let such a great resource go to waste.

Our Inland Empire has also changed somewhat for the better; Redlands is nearly famous (Jerry Bruckheimer recognized the city when he chose the cities in which there would be an eight o'clock showing of Pirates of the Caribbean), and there is plenty of tourism to the historical downtowns of Inland cities. With this popularity of much of Southern California comes problems, however. Much of the Inland Empire is located in the middle of a valley, therefore, every time the heat bears down and the wind blows from the west, the smog rolls in and gets stuck in our valley. This often causes health difficulties (people with sever asthma cannot linger outside for too long, is one example), and makes me realize that we need to do something about the smog problem in California.

In general, the Inland Empire is much more developed than it was (there are elementary schools and universities, for example), but it still contains many of the elements that molded it into what it is today. San Bernardino still has a Methodist, Presbyterian, Mormon, and Catholic Church, for example. There are also numerous refurbished Victorian homes in Redlands. The Inland Empire will continue to grow for generations to come, forever making new traditions and holding on to old ones.

Inlandia

There is much information included in the first few pages of Inlandia, and most of this information seems to discuss the creation of the Inland Empire:

The first two authors (Katherine Saubel and Francisco Patencio) describe the way their people, the Cahuilla, have been told how the tribe came to be. Both authors mention a tribe with supernatural powers, and how the death of their leaders caused them to become mortal. The deaths of these leaders are quite different from each other, however; Saubel explains that the leader (a god) in her version of the story becomes a bit of a menace to his people, and they decide to do away with him, whereas Patencio describes the first leader in his story as being attacked and killed by a mountain lion, and the second tribal leader gives up on living and turns himself into a rock (which is rumored to still contain the body of the leader). Both tales, however different, also discuss the lives of the tribe members after the death of their leader(s); both authors agree that the people settled into the land they finally had chosen as suitable for living, and started families on that land, thus continuing the growth of their people. In both stories, the death of the leader(s) marked the end/loss of the tribes'supernatural powers.
The second two authors (Juan Bautista deAnza and Jose Romero) both made trips through Cahuilla territory, and both believe the Cahuilla to be heathens. De Anza suffered a few casualties caused by the Cahuilla near the river (which caused the riverbed to be fertile enought to sustain the life of much vegetation) he had traveled by, and therefore thought the Cahuilla merciless heathens, but Romero, on the other hand, described them as "friendly heathens," because the Cahuilla acted as guides for Romero's group so as to not get too far away from water during the groups travels through the area (they had already lost a number of horses to a lack of water).
All the stories seem to agree that there is someone or some thing that is the creator of life, whether it was a god, a tribe leaders death, a river, or a local guide (who gave them life by leading them to water).

First Blog

This is my first year seminar Blog #1. Hope this works! (Testing 1..2..3.)