ECON 136:  Week 2 Tasks

Monday (postponed from January 24):   Community Profiles:  Counting what we can Measure

Preparing for class:

Take a few minutes to brainstorm a list of the sort of facts you would want to know about a community you might be visiting or where a friend lives.  The rest of your preparation will consist of looking at what others think is important to note about communities.   Note on the sheet with your list those items you did not include and items and items others failed to include.

Read this profile of Camden’s Water Front South neighborhood http://www.heartofcamden.org/publish/community_about.html

which our Eco-Literacy 360 group visited on Monday.

Read the attached profile of West Nottingham Township, where David Ross lives

Go to http://factfinder2.census.gov, enter West Nottingham township, Chester County, Pennsylvania in the search box and note the sort of community data collected by the US Census Bureau.

After Class:

Start thinking about the Profiling Your Community Assignment (attached) due February 3.  

Barb is talking right now about restorative justice on the rise....

some notes made while listening:

The program began by describing the “extraordinary contribution,” of the “amazing” Barb Toews, to work that attends to the relation between environmental design and behavior. Barb kicked off the program by talking about “changing the metaphor” from criminal justice as a “boxing match,” to imagining “restorative justice as a mountain lodge, a room in which you need to face the harm you had caused, and become accountable to victims…” so that in workshops she might ask, “are you sitting in the boxing ring right now? Then go to the ‘do no harm’ room…”

I chose to make my username what I usually use to help people pronounce my name. I really like the fact it has "smile" in it because when I was younger my nickname used to be smiley and because I really do just love smiling and laughing. It is one of my automatic responses to many things; and I feel as if my day is always made when people smile at me so I try to do the same thing back! I chose this username because it still is connected to my name and my identity, without explicity stating it. As for my image, I chose an image of 'churiya' or glass bangles found in the markets of Pakistan. I really liked this image because of how colorful and vibrant it was, it really reminded me of being in the bazaars in Pakistan full of colors, lights, and smells. The bangles are also hanging with prayers beads which I also think reflects an important part of myself that I value greatly, which is my faith. 

In all honesty, I've been struggling to decide whether to present my full (and real) self to the online world or make up an anonymous symbolic name-- and it seems I've decided to use my real identity. Maybe this is me trying to take ownership over something I don't usually express with such marked intention, my words and ideas. I've never written anything with the explicit purpose to be read (except by a professor or a potential boss). So, here, I'm curious to see how this new ownership of expresssion will develop, and hopefully how it will contribute my growth as a writer and thinker.

Choosing my avatar was also difficult (can one image really represent someone's identity?) and while sifting through old facebook profile pictures, I was surprised to realize how much I have changed over time. None of those images resonate with me strongly anymore, I feel more like an outsider looking into (and judging?) someone else's life. I am no longer in any of those spaces, physically or mentally. So instead, I chose to go back to my roots, my childhood, and maybe all my different identities really are within that same little girl.

Please post here, tagging with your group's name.

Thanks!

I originally chose the photo for my avatar because it was taken outside by the sunken garden which is one of my favorite places to go on campus. It is a great area to sit when its warm and I can take in the beauty of the campus and the surrounding area. The other option I had was a photo of me with a wind turbine, which I have always had a love for (I studied the mechanics behind them in my last 360 on Renewable Energy). However I wasn't able to change the photo for some reason.