First, to say what I liked about this article, brief because I disliked most of it- I appreciated that the author tried to contextualize Camden within larger national and global processes of politics and nationalism.  There was a lot about the history of Camden in the article that I didn't know, though of course I am as skeptical of the historical information provided as I am about everything else in the article.  But otherwise, I have to agree with Ari's letter to the editor in that the article "Apocalypse, New Jersey" shows the danger of a single story by portraying Camden only as a broken and crime-ridden city.  As someone who doesn't know much about Camden besides what I've read and seen on my two visits as an outsider, I don't know enough about Camden to say exactly what is wrong about the article, to propose another story that can be told.  It's not my place, not my right, to tell a story about a place I don't know- if I tried, the story would only be representative of me.  But as someone who is interested in crime rhetoric and our prison system, I am irritated by and skeptical of the discussion of crime in this article.  The article reads like it's making a half-hearted attempt to contextualize crime, to explain that there's more crime in Camden than in other places because a lack of jobs forces people into the illegal economy, but the article still ends up reading like it's villainizing drug dealers and other people who commit "criminal" acts as horrible people.

To be entirely honest, before we arrived and started working with the 5th grade students, I wasn't looking forward to this trip.  Because I was exhausted from the past few weeks and had little experience with teaching, I was very nervous, both about messing up the lesson and about being too tired to connect as much as possible with the students.  When we were told that we'd be working individually with students in the greenhouse, I grew even more anxious, worried that I wouldn't be a good teacher or learning partner to whomever I was paired with.  But, once we started our introduction activity and I saw the students' enthusiam, and their awesome dance moves, my worries dissipated and I felt better than I had for days.  Their energy and enthusiam was infectious, and I found myself increasingly engaged in everything we were doing.  It turned out that my worries about working one-on-one with a student in the greenhouse were unfounded- I really enjoyed working with and talking to the student I was paired with, and I loved hearing about how she likes gardening and math (it always makes me so happy to hear that students like math, since too many educational systems are far too good at teaching students to hate it).  One of the most powerful moments for me was when I was standing with the student I was paired with and another student and, when they asked if I made rubber band bracelets and I said I wasn't sure what they meant, the other student showed me the one she was wearing and said I could have it.

http://parkeharrison.com/

Artist Statement: "We create works in response to the ever-bleakening relationship linking humans, technology, and nature. These works feature an ambiguous narrative that offers insight into the dilemma posed by science and technology's failed promise to fix our problems, provide explanations, and furnish certainty pertaining to the human condition.  Strange scenes of hybridizing forces, swarming elements, and bleeding overabundance portray Nature unleashed by technology and the human hand." 

ECON 136:  Week 7 Tasks

A underlying theme for this week is the difference between private and public.   When is/should a transaction between two individuals purely a matter for the two of them and when does a wider community have a stake in the transaction?    In the latter case, how does the wider community allocate resources to promoting/protecting its interests?

Monday:  Externalities

Preparing for class:

All:       Read Taylor Ch. 14, pp. 259-263

            Watch Khan Academy video on Negative Externalities

Non-360 Students:   Review you notes  from Friday’s class.   Be prepared to explain how taxation to fund amenities in the consumption of a good or service could be economically efficient.

S.A

Intertwined Threads

Mexican-American, I’m both, not one stepping over the other. My skin radiates historical adventures that trace back beyond what my spoken memories can share. My speaking tongue and my perking ears can understand both sides of the spectrum as I walk on the land of the free, America the brave. I walk each step with fluidity and flexibility, making sure I don’t get too tight on one niche. As a Mexican-American, I carry both threads in me, I’m “heterogeneous and a complex network of entities.” I’m absorptive of both cultures and my existence as a whole is porous and permeable, for both cultures to flow in and out of me but never dissipate.

I have the privilege of being able to jump from one niche to the other. The access and ability I have to be flexible between both worlds is undeniably one of the best advantages of growing up in two different cultures, two different homes fostering me into a young woman with insights in both worlds.

When I was first asked to write about home, I wrote about a place, a school that sheltered me and offered me the landscape to feel safe and free of judgment. But after analyzing the works of Yinka Shonibare’s Magical Ladders and the reading article by Stacy Alaimo: Porous Bodies and Trans- Corporeality, my thoughts on home have altered. My home, my environment, my ecosystem is the intertwined threads of my identification as a Mexican- American.

Since we’ve written our first papers about home, I have realized that there are more factors that go into a home and what defines a home. In my first paper Anne mentioned whether I would consider geologic and natural disasters as part of my home. After reading Exile & Pride by Eli Clare I saw natural disasters as being part of my definition of home. However, in my opinion, natural disasters try to exiles humans from their homes. 

In Exile & Pride Eli Clare talks about his physical disabilities but how he still embraces nature through hiking regardless of the fact that he has a “disability.” People don’t choose to be born with a disability, but if they do have one they learn how to work with it to live a “normal” life. Eli embraces his disability just like he embraces nature. He works with his disability to be able to do what he loves and wants to do. This ties into the idea of where we choose to have our homes and what events will try to “exile” us from them.

Natural disasters are a part of the planet. They affect various areas of Earth mainly along coasts or on plate boundaries where two plates (oceanic or continental) collide, separate, or slide past each other. Natural disasters include volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. In most cases, these events cause property damages, injuries, deaths, and in the long run economic issues due to the rebuilding of the area(s). In particular I wanted to focus on Hurricane Sandy.

this guy (robert fairbanks) is teaching in bmc's soc dept now!
--maybe we should ask him to come and talk w/ us???
sounds like he has some interesting ideas re: the "recovery model":
http://www.ssa.uchicago.edu/end-mass-incarceration