Grayson Mooney
10/28/12
Period 1-2
Project Reflection
We began this project by choosing a relevant political issue that is a controversial issue today, and then discussed what was the best way to both morally and justly solve it. I chose same sex marriage because I found it interesting that it was one of the few issues out there which both sides claimed the moral high ground. The liberal perspective claimed the moral high ground because of the equal rights granted by same sex marriage, while the conservative perspective claimed the moral high ground based upon religious laws forbidding homosexuality. I am personally, perspective wise, on the liberal side of this issue, so I already knew roughly what I was going to write about. However it all took an interesting twist when I started doing my research on the very early days of the LGBT movement. What I found shocked me because while I knew that America has traditionally not been very friendly to homosexuality, the sheer amount of resources that the judicial system burned through, and the flimsiness of some of the cases against homosexuals that were found guilty or various sex related offenses was just mind blowing.
So while other students wrote primarily about what they thought about their issues, I kind of broke the mold and decided that if I was going to write about an issue, like same sex marriage that had such a dark history, then I was going to try to convince other people to think benevolently or at least indifferently towards the LGBT community rather than angrily.
Once my op-ed article was done, I immediately began work on a poster, which I did on a trifold piece of poster board (I recommend using these, they stand up on their own, so you don’t need any props). Once again I looked over at the other posters and what they were shaping up to be and decided to go in a different direction. In comparison to my article, which is rather dark, my poster was comedic and satirical because I didn’t want to go the route of those dog shelter commercials that air late at night and blast you with abused animals in an effort to guilt you into volunteering there once or twice. I felt that my op-ed article was kind of flirting with that at times and didn’t necessarily want to follow that path with my poster as well. So instead of prison bars and horribly ignorant quotes from judges and pastors, I covered my poster with cartoons and appeals to logic.
So in conclusion, this project was a very valuable experience and I enjoyed doing it very much. However, if I had to complain, I would suggest we get a bigger place to hold our exhibition in because the Durango Joe’s was pretty packed at times and having to move out of the way of impatient people while doing your spiel and avoiding tripping over the baby somebody left on the ground is a bit of a balancing act. But apart from that, I really have no complaints.
HUMANITIES TRIAL PROJECT
For this project we reenacted a trial from 1944 called Korematsu v. US. The trial was about the constitutionality of the Japanese Internment Camps of WW2. In the trial I was a prosecution lawyer whos job was to defend the US government and the internment camps.
I was in charge of three witnesses, two prosecution witnesses, (Major Karl Bendetsen and J. Franklin Carter), and one defense witness, (Fred Korematsu himself).
Descriptions of the witnesses can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ny_f9TVw_T_ssArYkhpkIjuVOLUgOdBNAWS0p0JVTyw/edit
A script of what these witnesses said in court can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gg1y_uo4qsAoAMKi9Gf-k2t0dj1DWy2JAaxCfL1TXa4/edit
For this project we reenacted a trial from 1944 called Korematsu v. US. The trial was about the constitutionality of the Japanese Internment Camps of WW2. In the trial I was a prosecution lawyer whos job was to defend the US government and the internment camps.
I was in charge of three witnesses, two prosecution witnesses, (Major Karl Bendetsen and J. Franklin Carter), and one defense witness, (Fred Korematsu himself).
Descriptions of the witnesses can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ny_f9TVw_T_ssArYkhpkIjuVOLUgOdBNAWS0p0JVTyw/edit
A script of what these witnesses said in court can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gg1y_uo4qsAoAMKi9Gf-k2t0dj1DWy2JAaxCfL1TXa4/edit
ENERGY AND SENSE OF PLACE PROJECT
For this project we wrote an essay, made a visual piece and wrote an artist's statement. The visual piece can be found here: http://imgur.com/sY5MgmS
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
This piece shows my sense of place by displaying the site where the majority of events in my essay took place. The piece shows a lake and a mountain bordering it. The area is largely treeless although it is dotted with brush and shrubs. The lake itself is fairly small, contrasted greatly by the vastness of the mountain and colored by the setting sun. The simplistic nature of this piece serves to show that nature does not have to be especially detailed in order to show its intrinsic beauty.
I made a sketch of this piece on a separate sheet of paper in order to make sure that my idea would look alright before actually implementing it on a real sheet of paper. What inspired my visual choices was how the camp site I camped at looked from a distance, because I think that that view was the best choice for really capturing what the site looked like and thus helping the readers of my essay really appreciate what the site looked like.
What inspired my work the most however was that the site where I camped was simply an amazing place that I would want to capture artistically. However, as is true with nearly anything, trying to portray something through artistic venues usually does not do it justice and as such it is almost always better to go out and experience it yourself.
ENVIRONMENTAL ESSAY
I will admit, I do not often go outside for extended periods of time. While I am fond of hiking and walking around town and the surrounding areas I do not camp often or do much of anything that would require me to stay in the great outdoors for days at a time. The last time I went camping was last summer, almost a full year ago in the mountains east of Purgatory.
My brother and I hiked for five miles up and over a ridge to reach our intended camping spot; a lake near the base of a mountain. Once we reached our camping spot we set up a tent, arranged a fire pit and gathered water from the lake, using a bandanna to filter the algae and tadpoles from it and a UV light-emitting probe to kill any bacteria that lingered in the water.
The lake bordered a small ridge that went up a few hundred feet before plateauing out into a field that was speckled with flowers and small trees. The mountain itself was nameless and rose a further two thousand feet into the air before ending in a frost-speckled peak rife with scree and lichen that looked like a golden smear from the lake.
For the first day we mostly just set up camp and got ready for dinner. I gathered wood for a fire, stripping branches off of a dead tree that stood near the lake and gathering long strips of bark and Spanish moss for tinder. We started a small fire and broke up the branches into smaller, more manageable bits of fuel.
As the sun began to set, throwing purple shadows across the lake and over the forest, we assembled a little gas cooker that we had brought along, boiled a pot of water and made Beef Bolognese from a freeze dried survival foods packet. As we ate we exchanged small talk but mostly just watched as the sun faded from sight and the stars became visible.
The fire we had lit earlier kept the worst of the bugs away and we took our time, admiring the wilderness around us. One thing to understand about the forest at night is that it is disturbingly, almost supernaturally, quiet. A few hardy frogs croaked from the frigid waters of the lake but apart from their acknowledgments of one another, there was very little noise coming from the forest.
It rained a little bit that night and I was distinctly grateful that we had taken the time to put the rain fly onto the tent before going to sleep. We had granola for breakfast and then took a long look at the mountain on the opposite side of the lake and debated whether or not to climb it. It was a fairly tall peak and its tip seemed immensely far above us but ultimately we decided to go closer and then decide.
Donning our packs, we walked up the little ridge that separated us from the base of the mountain and emerged onto the plateau, staring up at the mass of rock and lichen before us.
After a few minutes of debate, we looked up at the clouds, which still looked threatening from last night’s rain and decided that the mountain would have to remain unclimbed at least this time around; the chance of being caught in a lightning storm halfway up the side of a sheer peak was a prospect that we both wanted to avoid.
We ended up hiking around the little plateau for a while longer, talking about life and looking at the plant life that was everywhere, dripping with morning dew and the remnants of last night’s rain. We poked at a few gargantuan mushrooms that poked out of a rotten log and aimlessly meandered all along the plateau and surrounding forest, occasionally pausing for a drink of water or a snack break.
It was almost lunch time when we returned to camp; our legs below the knees soaked in dew from the plants that we had passed through time and time again. As we sat down and restarted last night’s fire in order to dry off, we lit up the gas burner again and made lunch.
The second night was even quieter than the first and when I awoke in the morning I packed up my sleeping bag with a sort of discontented sigh, we would have to leave today.
Packing everything up went quicker than I thought it would and as we hiked up and over the ridge, back towards civilization, I took a look at the forest that surrounded us. It was noisy now, full of birdsong and animals moving around, just far enough back to be out of sight.
We got to the trailhead at around noon; there were people there, a church group out to take a hike and enjoy the forest, same as we. They were chatting and laughing as they walked and we exchanged greetings as they went past, looking past them to the parking lot, an expanse of asphalt that somehow seemed a bit foreign.
As we drove home, I looked out at the forest and thought of what a nice time I had had out there, staying amongst the trees and mountains of our camping spot. After that I didn’t give much thought to the wilderness for a long time; I was more focused on school and the inherent complicities of life. But when this project came around I immediately thought back to that camping trip and thought of what a shame it would be if the section of wilderness I had camped in was defaced or destroyed.
Thinking about that I let my thoughts wander and wondered what could be done to prevent such environmental devastation from taking place. I thought of the gas pads dotting La Plata County and wondered how I would feel if gas pads were to sprout up at the place I had camped just a few hours before. I thought of the various forms of energy that gave us our comfortable modern lifestyle; three seemed to stick out, coal, natural gas, and nuclear.
Coal was dying, that much was apparent, and with that now out of the question it looked like only natural gas and nuclear remained. After some thought I eschewed natural gas in favor of nuclear as the energy source that should carry the future. Nuclear is cleaner than both natural gas and coal and even the mining process is significantly cleaner than coal mining.
And as long as uranium mining stays far away from any environmentally important places then I am perfectly content to see nuclear power carry us into the future.
For this project we wrote an essay, made a visual piece and wrote an artist's statement. The visual piece can be found here: http://imgur.com/sY5MgmS
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
This piece shows my sense of place by displaying the site where the majority of events in my essay took place. The piece shows a lake and a mountain bordering it. The area is largely treeless although it is dotted with brush and shrubs. The lake itself is fairly small, contrasted greatly by the vastness of the mountain and colored by the setting sun. The simplistic nature of this piece serves to show that nature does not have to be especially detailed in order to show its intrinsic beauty.
I made a sketch of this piece on a separate sheet of paper in order to make sure that my idea would look alright before actually implementing it on a real sheet of paper. What inspired my visual choices was how the camp site I camped at looked from a distance, because I think that that view was the best choice for really capturing what the site looked like and thus helping the readers of my essay really appreciate what the site looked like.
What inspired my work the most however was that the site where I camped was simply an amazing place that I would want to capture artistically. However, as is true with nearly anything, trying to portray something through artistic venues usually does not do it justice and as such it is almost always better to go out and experience it yourself.
ENVIRONMENTAL ESSAY
I will admit, I do not often go outside for extended periods of time. While I am fond of hiking and walking around town and the surrounding areas I do not camp often or do much of anything that would require me to stay in the great outdoors for days at a time. The last time I went camping was last summer, almost a full year ago in the mountains east of Purgatory.
My brother and I hiked for five miles up and over a ridge to reach our intended camping spot; a lake near the base of a mountain. Once we reached our camping spot we set up a tent, arranged a fire pit and gathered water from the lake, using a bandanna to filter the algae and tadpoles from it and a UV light-emitting probe to kill any bacteria that lingered in the water.
The lake bordered a small ridge that went up a few hundred feet before plateauing out into a field that was speckled with flowers and small trees. The mountain itself was nameless and rose a further two thousand feet into the air before ending in a frost-speckled peak rife with scree and lichen that looked like a golden smear from the lake.
For the first day we mostly just set up camp and got ready for dinner. I gathered wood for a fire, stripping branches off of a dead tree that stood near the lake and gathering long strips of bark and Spanish moss for tinder. We started a small fire and broke up the branches into smaller, more manageable bits of fuel.
As the sun began to set, throwing purple shadows across the lake and over the forest, we assembled a little gas cooker that we had brought along, boiled a pot of water and made Beef Bolognese from a freeze dried survival foods packet. As we ate we exchanged small talk but mostly just watched as the sun faded from sight and the stars became visible.
The fire we had lit earlier kept the worst of the bugs away and we took our time, admiring the wilderness around us. One thing to understand about the forest at night is that it is disturbingly, almost supernaturally, quiet. A few hardy frogs croaked from the frigid waters of the lake but apart from their acknowledgments of one another, there was very little noise coming from the forest.
It rained a little bit that night and I was distinctly grateful that we had taken the time to put the rain fly onto the tent before going to sleep. We had granola for breakfast and then took a long look at the mountain on the opposite side of the lake and debated whether or not to climb it. It was a fairly tall peak and its tip seemed immensely far above us but ultimately we decided to go closer and then decide.
Donning our packs, we walked up the little ridge that separated us from the base of the mountain and emerged onto the plateau, staring up at the mass of rock and lichen before us.
After a few minutes of debate, we looked up at the clouds, which still looked threatening from last night’s rain and decided that the mountain would have to remain unclimbed at least this time around; the chance of being caught in a lightning storm halfway up the side of a sheer peak was a prospect that we both wanted to avoid.
We ended up hiking around the little plateau for a while longer, talking about life and looking at the plant life that was everywhere, dripping with morning dew and the remnants of last night’s rain. We poked at a few gargantuan mushrooms that poked out of a rotten log and aimlessly meandered all along the plateau and surrounding forest, occasionally pausing for a drink of water or a snack break.
It was almost lunch time when we returned to camp; our legs below the knees soaked in dew from the plants that we had passed through time and time again. As we sat down and restarted last night’s fire in order to dry off, we lit up the gas burner again and made lunch.
The second night was even quieter than the first and when I awoke in the morning I packed up my sleeping bag with a sort of discontented sigh, we would have to leave today.
Packing everything up went quicker than I thought it would and as we hiked up and over the ridge, back towards civilization, I took a look at the forest that surrounded us. It was noisy now, full of birdsong and animals moving around, just far enough back to be out of sight.
We got to the trailhead at around noon; there were people there, a church group out to take a hike and enjoy the forest, same as we. They were chatting and laughing as they walked and we exchanged greetings as they went past, looking past them to the parking lot, an expanse of asphalt that somehow seemed a bit foreign.
As we drove home, I looked out at the forest and thought of what a nice time I had had out there, staying amongst the trees and mountains of our camping spot. After that I didn’t give much thought to the wilderness for a long time; I was more focused on school and the inherent complicities of life. But when this project came around I immediately thought back to that camping trip and thought of what a shame it would be if the section of wilderness I had camped in was defaced or destroyed.
Thinking about that I let my thoughts wander and wondered what could be done to prevent such environmental devastation from taking place. I thought of the gas pads dotting La Plata County and wondered how I would feel if gas pads were to sprout up at the place I had camped just a few hours before. I thought of the various forms of energy that gave us our comfortable modern lifestyle; three seemed to stick out, coal, natural gas, and nuclear.
Coal was dying, that much was apparent, and with that now out of the question it looked like only natural gas and nuclear remained. After some thought I eschewed natural gas in favor of nuclear as the energy source that should carry the future. Nuclear is cleaner than both natural gas and coal and even the mining process is significantly cleaner than coal mining.
And as long as uranium mining stays far away from any environmentally important places then I am perfectly content to see nuclear power carry us into the future.
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