Stress.

There is no doubt I have been neglegent with the blog recently. Last week was absolute mayhem with all the fires and uncertainty. I'm glad it's over, but I now realize all the catching up on blog posts I have to do.

I'll start with baby steps considering there is much work to be done elsewhere.

Today in chemistry we learned about polyatomic ionic compounds, which was very interesting, and difficult.

Also, Vanessa, Mari, and I have yet to locate the interview tape from our expert interview source which is very distrubing and a great source of stress right now. However, we were productive with our work time today and completed the narration part of the video.

Water Field Trip!

Today was the day of our water quality field trip! We ended up testing two of the three locations, the latter not even being one of the originally designated stations, because the military base was closed to civilians. We got 3/4 of the way to shelter island, when Anne called Spencer and said that maybe it was a bit too long of a walk, so we tested the closest water supply we found.

Overall, testing the quality of water turned out to be surprisingly easy (and fast!). I was expecting it to be very tedious, but reaching the location was probably the hardest part.

Interview with an Angel

Well Vanessa and I just finished editing and revising our questions for the interview with Enrique Morones (which is tomorrow). I'm pretty excited about it, because some of the questions are rather "spicy".

Here is a list of the questions as they stand:
Questions for Enrique Morones

Mari: First of all, how did you become interested in this line of work?
Enrique: (answer)
M: What was your reason for founding Border Angels, and what exactly does it accomplish?
E: (answer)
M: So, what is a typical scenario for someone traveling from Mexico to the United States, who is hoping to create a better living situation for themselves and their families?
E: (answer)
M: Is it typical for families to travel together, and camp together? Or do they often get separated? What is the living situation like in the camps?
E: (answer)
M: Is there a lot of violence directed towards these immigrants?
E: (answer)
M: Do you see a lot of obvious prejudice and people talking poorly to migrant workers, even those who have obtained legal status?
E: (answer)
M: You’ve been openly received by many human rights’ advocates, what is it about Border Angels that makes it so successful and sets it apart?
E: (answer)
M: Now, on the other hand, you’ve received some pretty harsh criticism from your sort of rivals, the minute men. What would you say to them and the people who believe that what you’re doing is anti-patriotic, and hurtful to the United States.
E: (answer)

Life Lesson!

Well I just had a nice little ego boost after looking at my good friend Andrew Sorenson's blog (which is probably why we are such good friends! There are other reasons of course, do not be alarmed, I'm not that superficial). I digress, the point is that I was inspired that he mentioned my blog in his and I felt compelled to write something.

I just finished adding my subscriptions list into Google reader, which is what led me to Andrew's blog. I realized that had I downloaded the list right away, I may have even come across more helpful and relevant information earlier. Then I got to thinking (which is always dangerous), the thing with this whole blog bit, is that it can be as beneficial as we want it to be. Much like our learning experience at HTH as a whole; it is what we make it.

That being said, I should probably finish up my homework and work on my SLC.

Weekend Recap!

This weekend I worked on formatting my agenda for the upcoming Student Led Conferences. Interestingly enough, in the five years I've been in the HTV I've never had an SLC, because my teachers preferred to have parent teacher conferences.

Because of all the work time we had on Friday during 4th and 5th period, I didn't really need to work much on the script. However, I did review it a couple times for visualization purposes. Our storyboards will be quite helpful, but I like going over the script every so often just to keep that artistic visual fresh.

In terms of chemistry I didn't have much homework either because we finished our presentations, and had the quiz on Friday. I suppose it would be helpful to go over my notes just as a reminder, that way I really internalize the information.

Well, that's a recap of my weekend (academically speaking).

I would much rather continue doing lenghtier posts like this at the end of a weekend, because otherwise they feel a little incomplete. Just for the record.

Script Revised!

Migrant Workers Script

[Stationary shot, “chair scene”]
(Nicolette) The term “migrant workers” has been appearing more frequently and more consistently in the headlines. Usually preceded by the words “illegal” or “exploited”. So what is the reason behind the sudden controversy that seems to surround migrant workers, and more importantly, why has exploitation of them become an understood necessary evil for the United States economy? Tonight, Working Class Heroes answers these questions and more as we take an in depth look at the lives of migrant workers.

[shot of crowd milling through HTH](Mari) Most people have a pre-formulated concept about the lives of migrant workers and illegal immigrants in the United States.[shot of Mari in front of interviewees](Mari) So, __________, what kind of lives do you think that illegal immigrants lead?(Three peer interviewees) _______________________________[photographs of Great Depression](narration) Latin American workers, which will be the main focus of our segment, started coming to the United States during the Great Depression. Due to the ruined financial state of the country, their wages were often extremely low, and the labor was time-intensive and rough. Conditions were unforgiving and workers were rarely able to better their lives, having to keep working to barely escape bankruptcy.[pictures of newspapers with articles on illegal immigration]In the last decade, the issue of illegal immigration has become more and more pressing, and more awareness has arisen towards the problems that occur with the increasing presence of a migrant labor force.

We are going to discuss the problems that specifically affect those workers, such as housing and wages.

[Statistics on a background]Economically, the United States is more dependant on the flow of migrant labor than many would imagine. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, migrant workers in the United States sent home a collective $62.3 billion dollars in 2006, which is a 14% increase from 2005. Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia have the highest receiving rate of remittances. With the pressing issue of illegal immigration however, the INDB estimates that the number of remittances will begin to decline, which could have negative effects on the economies of not only the recipients, but the United States as well.

Migrant farm workers as a whole do not have adequate housing, and the issue is often glossed over by the government. In some circumstances, employers are not required to provide housing for their workers, and thus, it is upon the migrant workers themselves to find shelter for their families, often on a sub minimum wage. Also, if the worker does not have legal status, housing seems an even bigger nuisance, as many land lords mandate that tenants provide proof of legal residence. Those who speak out against the assimilation of illegal immigrants into US society, such as groups like the minute men, argue that these are conditions that all illegal immigrants choose to accept, and that they should obtain legal citizenship the proper way. However, the current legal process is a taxing and time consuming affair that can take several years. Meanwhile, outsourcing of work seems to be increasing at a rapid pace, which creates difficult situations for the people in countries from which many migrant workers originate, creating a cyclical pattern of opportunity forming into exploitation.

But this exploitation has not gone unnoticed. Groups like Border Angels, run by Enrique Morones, are working to do the exact opposite of the minute men. That is to say, they are working to preserve the rights of those caught in the middle of this predicament.

[Cut to interview with Enrique Morones from Border Angels.]

[Closing chair sequence]
Tonight, Working Class Heroes has covered the basic information on migrant workers and the hardships they go through each day. Being a migrant worker makes seemingly easy tasks that most people take for granted, a lot harder to accomplish. Such as finding a house to live in and earning enough money to support your family. It’s our community to become more aware of these things, and take measures to remedy them. Until next time, this Working Class Heroes signing off, I’m Nicolette.

busy bee.

Welllll today Mari, Vanessa, and I had our presentation on the properties of water (three of them to be exact). I felt it went rather well, except I realized afterwards I forgot to mention that another unique quality to water is that it can be considered an acid AND a base. Regardless, I felt good about the whole ordeal.

Now I am off to study for the chemistry quiz tomorrow, which will contain questions on chemical compound names.

Before I go, here is a link to an informative website that my group and I used to form our presentation:

http://www.btinternet.com/~martin.chaplin/explan.html#158


Enjoy!

Raindrops

Today Anne was VERY kind and gave us the entire period to work on our water quality PowerPoint presentations.

My group mates and I were uncertain as to what information we could include without boring our audience to tears, however, we did learn that raindrops are apparently NOT shaped like tear drops (are you feeling as betrayed as I was?), and that they resemble more of a "miniature hamburger bun". Strange. In any case, another interesting bit of information is that water can be observed in all three states; liquid, solid, and gas.

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/waterproperties.html

^^Test your knowledge with the "True/False" quiz, like Vanessa and I did.

Recap: Thursday-Sunday!

As you may have noticed, I have fallen behind tremendously in terms of my blog updates, therefore I will try to make this post as "meaty" as possible to compensate.


Thursday we took a field trip to balboa park, to visit the Museum of Man (specifically for the copper age exhibit). In addition to the copper display, I also saw an exhibit on evolution. I actually enjoyed the evolution one more so than the copper age. Mainly because it was much more engaging, and I could relate to it easier. However, the copper age exhibit was interesting and very informative. After the museum we went and sat by the coi pond in balboa park, and wrote about the trip in our journals. When we finished with this, Anne had us take notes on water quality testing, to prepare us for when we take samples of water in various places around San Diego. It was a lot simpler than I had anticipated, which was a relief I suppose.

Friday was a long and project packed day! In the morning I worked through periods 1 and 3 to complete the powerpoint presentation on Chile with my partner, Kerstin Fuller. Then, in Anne's class, I worked on some CPM and molarity problems in preperation for the quiz. I finished both this, and the actual quiz, much earlier than I anticipated, and was fortunate enough to have time to work on completing the DP requirements for the digital portfolio.

This weekend in general I tried to focus on the water quality project, for which my prompt deals with the physical properties of water.
I came accross this website:
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/waterproperties.html

I found it to be helpful because it was formatted in a very simplistic and easy to follow manner. Also, the source seems to be reputable because it is sponsered by the US department of the Interior. This may not always be the case, but seeing as the website pertains to the chemical properties of water and not something with a political agenda, I'll have a little faith in my government.

standard deviation

Well, evidently I am supposed to be blogging about chemistry, which I had forgotten entirely up until this point. SO, here it goes.

Today in class we had an experiment revolving around measuring the accuracy of glassware. I thought that the end results were very interesting, because I was not familiar with "standard deviation". I assumed that there was a term for it, but I didn't actually know up until today. It was pretty cool that one of the standard deviations was only 0.002% which is incredibly small.

script: second draft

Migrant Worker’s Script (Second Draft)

[stationary shot, “chair scene”]
(Nicolette) The term “migrant workers” has been appearing more frequently and more consistently in the headlines. Usually preceded by the words “illegal” or “exploited”. So what is the reason behind the sudden controversy that seems to surround migrant workers, and more importantly, why has exploitation of them become an understood necessary evil for the United States economy? Tonight, we answer these questions and more as we take an in depth look at the lives of migrant workers.

[shot of crowd milling through HTH](Mari) Most people have a pre-formulated concept about the lives of migrant workers and illegal immigrants in the United States.[shot of Mari in front of interviewees](Mari) So, __________, what kind of lives do you think that illegal immigrants lead?(Three peer interviewees) _______________________________[photographs of Great Depression](narration) Latin American workers, which will be the main focus of our segment, started coming to the states during the Great Depression. Due to the ruined financial state of the country, their wages were often extremely low, and the labor was time-intensive and rough. Conditions were unforgiving and workers were rarely able to better their lives, having to keep working to barely escape bankruptcy.[pictures of newspapers with articles on illegal immigration]In the last decade, the issue of illegal immigration has become more and more pressing, and more awareness has arisen towards the problems that occur with the increasing presence of a migrant labor force.We at Working Class Heroes Productions are going to discuss the problems that specifically affect those workers, such as housing and wages.[statistics on a background]Economically, the united states is more dependant on the flow of migrant labor than many would imagine. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, migrant workers in the United States sent home a collective $62.3 billion dollars in 2006, which is a 14% increase from 2005. Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia have the highest receiving rate of remittances. With the pressing issue of illegal immigration however, the INDB estimates that the number of remittances will begin to decline, which could have negative effects on the economies of not only the recipients, but the United States as well.Migrant farm workers as a whole do not have adequate housing, and the issue is often glossed over by the government.[shot of immigrant housing, taken while in Mexico]In some circumstances, employers are not required to provide housing for their workers, and thus, it is upon the migrant worker themselves to find shelter for their families, on a sub par minimum wage. Also, if the worker does not have legal status, housing seems an even bigger nuisance, as many land lords mandate that tenants provide proof of legal residence. Those who speak out against the assimilation of illegal immigrants into US society, such as groups like the minute men, argue that this is knowledge that all illegal immigrants choose to accept, and that should they obtain legal citizenship the proper way. However, the current legal process is a taxing and time consuming affair that can take several years. Meanwhile, outsourcing of work seems to be increasing at a rapid pace, and creates difficult situations for the people in countries of which many migrant workers originate from, creating a cyclical pattern of opportunity forming into exploitation.[group member in front of interviewee]Here, we interview ___person___ on the subject of migrant workers.(interview questions here).


[closing chair sequence]
Here at Working Class Heroes production we have covered the basic information on migrant workers and the hardships they go through each day. Being a migrant worker makes seemingly easy tasks that most people take for granted, a lot harder to accomplish. Such as finding a house to live in and earning enough money to support your family.