Extra Credit Reflection Post
I was so intrigued by what Dr. Ibram X Kenedi spoke about in this stream about his recent book and the elements of being anti-racist. In all of today’s ongoing issues with systemic racism in our country, I had never heard the term antiracist until tonight. When I first heard the term, I definition I associated with it was what most other people assumed about it at first, which was not making any racist comments or committing racist actions and showing support for the African American community and other minorities. But it is much more than that, it is about showing courage and vulnerability to step up to these racist thoughts and put more of verbal stop them, saying “I’m not racist” is not enough. By saying “I’m not racist”, I learned, that you are being racist because you are being complicit to others racist actions. I like how Dr. Kenedi mentioned that this common excuse is also rooted in teaching people how to deny being racist. I think this was a powerful statement and has open my eyes to those around me who use this phrase quite often and I finally see the problem with it. Another part of this stream that I like that he touched on was that white people have a hard time recognizing how they are not being racist. This is an ideology that has been present for while, something that ties to it is white people not recognizing their privilege. I think both of these concepts are deeply rooted within the home or neighborhood and then carried on into the school and higher institution settings. Today in society, white people are progressing more to understand their privilege and what it has granted them in life, for example being able to go to a better structured school, have more access to medicare and even live in better neighborhoods. Curriculum itself is the main problem in that it provides continuing structures and conditions that feed into racism.
Dr. Kenedi had me so intrigued the whole time because he is just so genuinely passionate about what he is fighting and demanding justice for. One point that got my attention was when he mentioned whites and African Americans can make a difference inside and outside the system. I was intrigued by the notion that in order for people to actually be part of the cause they must consider if they have the time, expertise, and funds to give to local and national racial justice organizations to help them fight on the frontline. Now within the system he brought up great examples of when people are in positions of power and they use those positions to benefit the collective group of African Americans or just to benefit themselves. One intersectionality of it was when African American Individuals are in high positions of policy making and they use that power to reinforce racism. By reinforcing this racism onto their own group they are only doing this to selfishly benefit within their work field and don’t care how the outcome will affect their society. The major take away I have come to agree with from this speech was we must start raising children in an anti-racist society so we protect them from entering a higher racist community. I really enjoyed Dr. Kenedi’s speech and I hope to hear more of him in the future!
TED Talk Feedback
Going into my TED Talk i was very nervous to perform it because I felt it had to be executed rather differently than how I presented my speech for the previous assignment. From my point of view I believe I did a better job than I expected with executing my information and articulating my speaking points. Memorizing it was much easier when I had the visuals to aid me. I did have a hard time cutting down how long I was speaking for to make sure I did not go over the grace period so in some points I feel as if I was speaking too fast. The feedback I received from my peers was very helpful and I appreciate their perspective and ideas about what I can incorporate into my paradigm shift paper. Some positive comments I received was a good job on including COVID and how it has affected the quality time families are spending together. Another positive was that I did a great job explaining the meaning and outcome of this shift. A aspect I would need to focus on, importantly in the paper, is explaining WHY the paradigm shift is occurring. I touched on it briefly in my speech but I should go deeper into it within my paper. Some examples I am looking into diving into are both parents working/being tired and spatial layouts of modern homes. I also need to elaborate more on how this shift impacts society such as people and children in my paper. I am not sure really how i am going to tackle this yet but hopefully some more research leads me into the right direction. One final thing I would have to avoid saying in my paper is that “white isn’t the norm” anymore. Instead I should phrase it as we are progressing towards a more diverse and accepting idea of family structures. I will be looking to apply these changes and strengthen my weak points for my paper.
The Next Location
Another location I will hopefully get to travel to in my lifetime is the island of Santorini in Greece. I have always wanted to go to Greece because within my nationality I am a little greek and it is one culture in my heritage I never got to fully experience. For example I am also Italian and Irish and I am able to celebrate those cultures through holidays celebrated here in the United States that are still linked to those countries across the Atlantic. There are also designated places in New York City that have roots of Italy and Ireland that you are able to experience, such as Little Italy. I have had Greek food maybe once or twice but I would really like the opportunity to travel their and experience the culture first hand. Santorini is part of a chain of islands known as the Cyclades in the Aegean sea consisting of Thira, Thirassia, Aspronissi, Palea, and Nea Kameni. The islands that form Santorini came into existence due to intensive volcanic activity. The most recent volcanic activity that has occurred on the island was in 1950 and this place is now a huge natural geological/volcano museum where you can observe a wide variety of geological structures.
Santorini is known for its’ low lying cuboidal white house with royal blue roofs, made of local stone and lime-washed or whitewashed with various volcanic ashes used as colors. These houses are high up and can overlook the beautiful blue Aegean sea and it a very aesthetically attractive sight that appeals to many tourist. In recent years, Santorini has had a growing reputation of being a wedding destination. It is unique fro couples to get married here because not every wedding location or even travel destination for weddings will have exquisitely clear waters while perched on the rim of a massive active volcano in the middle of the sea. Although you can participate in all water sports/ activities that I mentioned were possible in the previous destinations, this is more of a location were you can relax and get to explore the history through meeting locals in town. Some of the villages offer more night life activities while others are more calm and peaceful. They can surrounded by vast vineyards, white-washed clifftops that overlook the Aegean. Another unique experience is the culinary aspect including trying goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, capers, and fava. You can try these varieties of foods at vineyards or local restaurants. Finally another attraction is to venture into Santorini’s seaside highlights which have red and black sand beaches, spectacular rock formations and impeccable lunar landscapes.
Another Worthy Site Seeing Location!
I think the best natural wonders are ones that are right in our backyard and don’t need a an expensive plane ticket to get to these locations. It is always fun to have a road trip once in a while with family or friends, even though your family may get on your nerves very quickly. I encourage people to also start taking more road trips that require a car ride that is longer than 4 hours. Especially during these trying times of COVID19, staying within your own car to travel may be the quite best possible option, rather than going to an airport or train station. The place I recommend to travel to in this weeks blog is Apostle Islands located off the coast of Wisconsin. I had never been to Wisconsin before but I all I ever heard about it was they have great cheese and it’s cold. The Apostle Islands are a group of 22 islands in Lake Superior, off the Bayfield Peninsula in Northern Wisconsin. The majority of the islands are located in Ashland county- only Sand, York, Eagle and Raspberry Island are located in Bayfield county. Fun fact, this chain of islands was named by a New France historian who chose the name based off the twelve apostles (for the twelve largest islands).
Enough about the history, I will now try to give the most accurate description possible of what this location is comprised of. As I mentioned before, it it nice to take a road trip with friends to this location, and it is but once you drive to the shoreline of Lake Superior you will need to take a boat or paddle out to the islands to stay there or just take a look around. The islands are surrounded crystal blue-green water, which is such an interesting combination for me to see. There are underwater rock formations and above ground reddish cliff, rock formations, similar to what you would see in Arizona and Utah. The interesting feature part of these islands is the Sea caves. The sea caves such as Swallow Point on Sands Island and the North Shore on Devils Island have such prominent arches. In the winter, visitors are able to see the caves freeze up and can also see frozen waterfalls and chambers filled with delicate icicles. Like all the other places I have previously recommended, there are a multitude of activities to partake in. There is kayaking, water taxis, and even sight seeing cruises. Travelers are allowed to walk along the shorelines, hop from island to island and swim/walk in the sea caves. Visitors are also welcomed to utilize the camp grounds provided if they want to spend the night. If you are not quite comfortable traveling to this location yet, they also offer a virtual visit of the park found on their website that I will link below.
https://www.nps.gov/apis/index.htm
Resources for Paradigm Shift paper
As of now, I believe I will be focusing on the shift in the components of the nuclear family in the United States. There has been evident and rapid decline in the average family members per household and I will also try to connect to this how this comes hand in hand with the decline in the amount of quality family time spent together.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/nuclear-family-progressive-critique/ This article talks about the shift away from the nuclear family and what comes next.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/02/nuclear-family-multigenerational-cohousing-depaulo/606511/ This article is similar to the previous one but also talks highly of what attributed to this shift.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/183657/average-size-of-a-family-in-the-us/ This article is one that displays the statistics of the average number of family members in the standard United States household.
https://online.csp.edu/blog/family-science/the-evolution-of-american-family-structure/ This article shows the evolution of structure in the typical American household.
https://nypost.com/2018/03/20/american-families-barely-spend-quality-time-together/ Finally, this article touches upon the decline of the amount of quality time a family spends together during the past couple of years.
Where to next?
Although I have traveled outside the country, I have never had the luxury of experiencing a cruise or traveling to a tropical island. I’ve always wanted to travel to a tropical island because I think they offer one of the most authentic sceneries than other places I would have visited. Even though these tropical islands have been touched by corporations that set up resorts and hotel chains there is still something about the landscape that seems to never change. There are so many tropical islands to visit and I honestly could not narrow down where I would want to travel to in the future and I had to ask my friends to give me ideas. One that stuck with me was the Maldives, I have always heard good things about this location but I can never remember what it looks like because no one I know has traveled there or I can not recall any celebrities traveling there. The Maldives is a small archipelagic island country in south Asia located in the Arabian sea of the Indian ocean; now this is a long hike all the way from Long Island, New York. I know for some people when they see how long a flight will be, it immediately deters their desire to travel to that location anymore.
The Maldives is known for their natural environment of crystal blue ocean, white sand beaches and clean air. The climate is ideal for tourists to engage in water sports such as swimming, fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling or water skiing. It is important to note that the Maldives is not just one large island, it is a collection of smaller coral islands with each being surrounded by their own shallow lagoon; which makes the location so unique from other island destinations. The Maldives is not the cheapest location to travel to and has become listed as one of the most luxurious places to stay, which explains why you will not see most of your friends traveling their during their summer breaks. It is also not the easiest place to get too, it includes a lot of connecting flights which is tough of travelers coming a long distance. Additionally, there has been increased terrorism conduction remote attacks on surrounding islands around the Maldives which also lengthens the time for authorities to arrive at the attacks. I am not trying to discourage you from visiting this gorgeous place, but I feel it is important now to include all the positives and negatives from visiting this beautiful, hidden location. I hope once COVID19, the attacks and financial issues lighten up, I will be able to travel there and capture so many images that document my trip.
Ted Talk and Unit Two Project Blog
A TED talk that I came across while browsing on their website was one back in 2015 titled, “What Makes A Good Life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness” spoken by psychiatrist Robert Waldinger. I was immediately drawn in by the title of the video because I honestly really wanted to know the answer to that question. He first discuss that all a majority of millennials he surveyed, their goal was to earn a vast sum of money or become famous; we are given the impression that these are the thing we need to go after in order to have a good life. There was a study done by Harvard on adult development and it was the longest study ever done, tracking the lives of 724 men for 75 years. The researchers do more than just send their participants questionnaires to keep them updates, they sit with them in their living room, record interactions they have with family members and have access to their medical records. The clearest lesson they get from this study is good relationships keep us happier and healthier, social connections are really good and loneliness kills. The quality of your close relationships matter, this really stuck out to me. The information given in this TED talk was really engaging but besides that, I really liked how Robert kept the discussion light hearted and optimistic.
As for my paradigm shift research paper, I’m not entirely sure what topic I am looking into researching yet. One idea I have in mind right now is how the idea of spending quality time with family or past times have changed over the course of 100 years. I am open to looking into other options but right now I will stick with this one. I think the topic could work because it is something everyone can look to relate to and compare how they spend time with their family now to what my findings show. It would be able to reach all of my audiences individually but unanimously at the same time. I would discuss how certainly quality time with family has fluctuated over the years, but most evidently there has been a decline in it. I could tie in aspects such as work life, technology and even COVID19 affecting the time families have spent with each other.
Travels after quarantine…
A place that I have recently come across while looking for the next place to travel to in Banff National Park located in Alberta, Canada. It surprises me and makes me disappointed that I am so close to the Canadian border, yet have never had the privilege of traveling there. But frankly I am not too aware of what Canada’s landscape has to offer besides housing half of Niagara falls and now Banff National Park. The images I have come across of this park seem to replicate a similar familiarity around parks present in Colorado or Washington state. The pictures display this great big crystal, aqua river with a background of this gorgeous mountain range, the picture really draws you in to wanting to visit. Banff park is also known to be called “The Rocky Mountains Park of Canada” , it was Canada’s first national park and the world’s third. Originally, three Canadian Pacific railway workers in 1883 stumbled on a series of natural hot springs and what is now called Sulphur Mountain. The cave and basin hot springs were soon identified as a potential hot tourist attraction. In 1885, Canadian government created a reserve to protect the springs and surrounding area.
Ever since 1885, Banff park and its tourist attraction, Lake Louise, have continued to attract tourists from around the world same as the first visitors, because of its easy access to stunning mountains, lakes and valleys. Now I would like to discuss the type of activities that can be held within this park. I am immediately drawn to this location because of its accessible terrain to allow outdoor activities to transpire. Within this national park, there are many adventurous activities you can participate in with friends and family such as hiking, canoeing, fishing and paddling. One excursion the park offers that I found to be different from the rest was taking a gondola ride to get a birds eye view of the park. This is a great option for those who are not in shape of do not have the proper endurance for a strenuous hike. Travelers are immersed in the rugged peaks and alpine from such a high altitude, it truly gives you another great view of the park just from a different angle. The Banff hot springs are another high demand tourist attraction that allows guest to emerge themselves in the steaming hot springs. The hot springs are a great stop in the park because you are able to enjoy them during any season of the year! I hope I have the opportunity to see this place in person one day because it is not comparable to any other national park we have in the United States.
Speech Reflection and Feedback
I was very nervous to perform my speech even though I was just speaking in front of my computer and no one in person. I was having difficulty memorizing my speech and i felt that was shown within my recording, no many how many times I tried to perfect it. I think it is easier for me, and the majority of my peers to strongly remember the beginning and end of their speeches, since it is the last and first things spoken. I think I came off strong and enthusiastic in the beginning portion of my speech and when I posed my final question to my audience. Once i got to the middle portion I started to become anxious and fidgety, not portraying a strong standpoint. One of weaknesses I would like to try to fix for the future is having good posture and not playing with my hands as much. I believe with a good appearance, it is easier to deliver a speech and come off with a more effective tone.
I did not get quite a lot of feedback from my peers but I took what I can get and those that did respond were very nice. One of the strengths that my peers had brought up was how they liked that I brought up the notion of how my advertisement truly affected the civic lives of a society and especially women. They believed i brought up a strong connection between my artifact and civic life back in the 1950s. Another strength that they highlighted was that they were persuaded that I seemed very knowledgable in the facts I presented and knew of the historical context very well. Finally, they mentioned how they thought i memorized it very good, despite me not feeling so confident in that area, and that I knew all my information very well. I appreciate their feedback and look to keep up the parts that were good and work on the parts I felt I had struggled with.