For this project, I will be working with Barbara Vanbenthuysen.  We will be focusing on the topic area of the governmental decreasing its funds to NPR, PBS and public schools.  Instead, he is redirecting the funds to other areas such as private schools.  The first way that we will engage the audience will be reminding the audience of childhood memories.  Such memories could include listening to NPR, specifically when they were in the car and their parents and grandparents would always have it on in car rides.  Furthermore, many people will know of TV shows that were present on PBS that were the favorites of children, and taught them basic morals of right and wrong.  The main problem that we will be addressing is Trump defunding of NPR, PBS, and public schools.  There are multiple articles regarding how Trump is actually defunding these areas, and some of these include the following:

Trump’s Budget Plan Cuts Funding For Arts, Humanities And Public Media

is an article written by National Public Radio.  There are of course other articles that say

Five Reasons Trump Is Right to Cut NPR, PBS.

It is clear that there are varying opinions, and they will all be expressed equally.  All of this evidence will be used to help propose a solution for the problem.  One solution would start a petition.  This would hopefully gain the attention of politicians to act in the favor of the public, and the policy suggestions that we are writing about will hopefully create change.  The audience can engage easily by joining the petition and gaining the attention of other politicians to collect support for the cause.

It all happened so quickly, so unexpectedly.  I have always had an interest in medicine, especially emergency medicine.  Hearing distant sirens or even seeing ambulances always gave me a rush; a rush because someone was in danger, and those trained individuals in the ambulance were about to save a life.  When I received my CPR certification from high school health class, I knew that I could now make a difference in the actual lives of people in my community.

With this certification, I decided to apply to volunteer at my local ambulance squad.  I know I did not have all of the qualifications, seeing as I could only perform CPR and mild first aid; however, I felt that this could be my chance to get involved in the emergency field and shine.  After a month of an interview, drug test, background check, and a tour, I received the call and scheduled my time that I would volunteer.

My first day.  I was beyond excited, and honestly, somewhat surprised that I was where I was.  The tones dropped.  I looked around and watched my partners move to the ambulance, as I hop into the back.  When the tones dropped and the voice came over the loud speaker in the squad building, I was too excited to listen to what the dispatcher actually said.  I was essentially going into this call blind.

Zooming around with lights illuminating the surroundings and sirens blaring, the crew and I made our way to the scene.  I leaned forward and looked through the hole connecting the back box to the driver cabin, and looked out the windshield.  I was surprised to see too many police cars to count, and multiple fire trucks.  I was confused tremendously, but at the same time excited because this could be the first time I saved a life.

The ambulance quickly stops, and I exit the back like I was trained to, and took out the stretcher with the first-in bag and monitor on top.  The moment I turned around and looked where we were, I froze.  I never thought this would happen.  I thought I was ready to face any and all situations.  I froze.  There was a man lying on the grass next to a swing set, not moving, with a bullet wound.  One police officer came over to me and tried to bring me away from the scene because she knew it was my first day.  Next thing I knew, my partners were yelling to me to get the equipment and begin CPR, both tasks that I knew well and was trained for.  Everything changed from that point on.  No longer was I scared, or frozen; no.  Now, I was a man with a mission, knowing what my job in the world was.  This moment clarified everything I thought, and everything I believed.  From this point forward, I believed in actively helping others.

For This I Believe essay and podcast, my first choice would be to write about helping others.  “I believe” in helping others.  As a young child, I was like every else playing outside having fun.  It was not really until 7th grade that I developed this belief and became very passionate about it.  I began volunteering at my ambulance squad where I would respond to 911 calls in my town.  This opened my eyes to the world, and helped me understand my place in my community.  Now an EMT, I want to dedicate my life to helping others because I believe in it more than anything.  The second choice is my belief in change.  People have the potential to change, but only if they want to.  My personal experience is when I attended college.  I knew that I wanted to change who I was, and I was willing to let the change happened and run its course.

For my passion blog, I would like to either continue my food blog, or talk about rare/obscure diseases and disorders.  My food blog talks about how different types of dishes became popular, and how I encountered them in my life.  If I were to talk about different diseases, then I would talk about the disease itself, the history of it, and its impact on society.

For my civic issues blog, I want to write about the environment, since I am most passionate about that out of all of the options.  My first choice would be to talk about fracking.  I have always been interested in fracking, and its impacts on society.  In previous years, I have done research on the subject, so this would only further my investigation on the topic.  My second choice is about water.  Water is obviously an important, required, aspect of life; however, many people in the world have extremely limited access to it.

The scene featuring the Mariana Trench organisms all joining together in one large tank was highly symbolic to the Circle, as well as society (471).  The whole purpose of combining the three organisms, the octopus, seahorses, and shark symbolized the parts of society rejoining together just like the organisms are joining together just like in their own natural habitat.  The vivid descriptions of the tank, however, began to foreshadow something peaceful.

After both the octopus and seahorses were placed into the tank, they began to easily acclimate themselves to the coral and seaweed environment.  Immediately before the shark was released into the tank, Eggers takes time to describe the serenity of the tank.  He calls it beautiful, as the seahorses drop like golden question marks; all of the imagery foreshadows peace (476).  It is not until the shark is placed into the tank that all of the peace is suddenly broken.  Furthermore, the peace is destroyed more than imagined.

When the shark is placed in the tank, it devours the tuna in only a few bites.  But of course the shark does not stop there.  The shark needs to keep eating because it keeps Circling.  The shark breaks the coral and devours the octopus quite destructively and gruesomely, and then goes after the seahorses.  At the end, the is nothing left in the tank except the dust on the ground created by the shark.

One of the main symbols that this whole event shows is how the tank situation is very similar to the Circle situation.  Placing all organisms in the same tank is strangely similar to Completion that the Circle is about to undergo.  This can almost be seen as a test run for Completion.  The fact that everything is destroyed frightens Ty significantly.  This is one of the reasons he goes against everything he once created and feels the need to destroy the Circle before Completion occurs.

He warns Mae that what she saw occur in the tank is what will be seen in society.  If everyone knows everything about everyone, DNA, health, mental state, more than the individual would know about themselves, there is nothing left.  People can be destroyed instantaneously (485).  After Completion, Ty believes that the Circle will be nothing less than a complete totalitarian regime that has control over everything.  We, the reader, know the suppression of this type of regime so we gain a sense of distaste in the Completion stage for the Circle.  We believe it must be stopped, Ty believes it must be stopped, but he needs Mae’s help to actually stop it.  It takes immense amounts of convincing to let Mae see the truth about the Circle, and what can really happen if Completion occurs.

Luckily, Mae does see what will happen, and claims that she will join sides with Ty to stop the Circle.  In fact, he wants to reverse the Circle’s progress since it is not what he ever wanted.

As The Circle is becoming more powerful as time progresses, and an example of this progression is seen with the shark.  The transparent shark symbolizes something that has the ability to destroy, even though it is transparent.  The shark is a symbol of fear, and now that it is transparent, it is even more frightening.  This is very similar to The Circle, and we see that Mae is beginning to become transparent, unleashing who she really is without knowing.

One of the drawbacks to being so heavily involved in The Circle is the lack of privacy.  Mae is constantly exploiting herself through her sexual actions, and when she does so, she reveals to everyone all aspects of her life, even the personal ones.  Therefore, she begins to have the appearance, or lack there of an appearance.  She is, in turn, becoming transparent just as The Circle is, and just as the shark symbolizes.

As time goes on, Mae becomes even more heavily integrated into The Circle.  She has moved past the point of return, abandoning in her family, and her old friends.  She has been extremely focused on improving her status in the business instead of keeping her status with her relationships.  As for her romantic relationships, that is an entirely different story.  She is becoming a part of Circle, so much that she has nothing else without it.  This is very dangerous because after The Circle essentially takes over the world, which is predicted, she will be high up in power.  But if it comes crashing down, she will have absolutely nothing left.

In order to better understand Mae’s transparency, we must first look at the Circle’s transparency.  To everyone inside and outside of the Circle, it seems as if there is nothing to hide.  All of the social media aspects, the games, the shows, everything is out in the open.  This would normally be good; however, when an organization has so much power, one must be careful not to trust it too much. Mae is slowly following this path.  She is gaining increasing power as she spends more and more time in The Circle, and is acting more transparent.  She seems to be hiding no secrets because she lets everything get uploaded.

All aspects of Mae’s life are on the internet, she has no secrets, and she is becoming more powerful.  She is, in a way, becoming the Circle.  She has now created a perpetual role for herself in the Circle and can do nothing about it.  This aspect of her life she has no control over anymore.  She only has power within the organization, now over herself.  This is almost like the Circle itself.  It is moving in such a way that cannot be stopped, but at the same time, the workers aren’t the ones pushing it.  It seems to move forward on its own and not have any control.  It will be interesting how the book finishes and shows whether or not Mae is stuck with the Circle forever.