(This was originally written for my class second semester 2 years ago. More timely last year was the following video which created quite the controversy on BT this morning. It was going to be a superbowl ad, but GoDaddy pulled it. What do you think? distasteful? funny? satire?  Jan 28/15. I am not adding anything Feb2/16- sorry.)

When you are done posting your comments, you can watch these videos.

1. I really like Upworthy.  They show some great, feel good, make you think type videos that aren’t as heavy handed as TED Talks (although I love those too).

This one I just found Tuesday night.  It is great for a couple reasons.  I like the feel good message it has.  I also like that it demonstrates how impactful putting a new spin on something can be. Click on the link. I couldn't find the same video on youtube, so I couldn't embed the video.

2. You may have seen this one…  And whether you have or haven’t seen it, you may be prejudiced against the speaker (I don’t know if Ashton Kucher’s still ‘cool’).  I suggest skipping to 1:30 when he actually gets to start talking without the fan screaming stuff.

3.  And interesting take on what education is about.  I like what this guy says.  He is a little full of himself, but I agree with much of his rant.  What do you think?

4.  Michael Jordan (hugely successful) about failure:

5.  Ok, this next one I’ve been thinking about for a while… It feels a little creepy being a teacher and sharing this with you, but I think it is such an important message I need to share it.  Especially as some of you go away to school and live on your own and feel ‘adult.’  I’m sharing one of Laci Green’s videos, but I strongly suggest that you take the time to watch others by her as well.  And  share them with your friends.  These are important messages.

Feel free to comment on any of these to create conversation.  But these don't count as your blog comments.

I hope you have a great second semester! Be safe!

Mrs. Unger

Famine in Africa

Caitlin Connors

January 25th. 2015

Famine in Africa

One of the most important things a person needs to survive is food. It is so incredibly important and some people in the world are without access to resources of food and water. In Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya there has been a famines that have lasted a very long time. Although there has been help from organizations like red cross, these acts barely put a dent in the whole issue since this is a continents problem. So ultimately, I do not believe what we are contributing at the moment is having much help.

In the past, the western people didn’t have many positive impacts on Africa. Africans had their own way of doing things and getting resources that had worked for them perfectly fine. Though, the West believed that they had a better way of doing things and that they could help them evolve into their lifestyle to “improve” their way of living. In the 1600’s, settlers from Europe, took over land in Africa and began to try to improve agriculture. Though, the settlers that came were immune to the diseases the livestock they brought with them carried, the Africans were not. This caused many Africans to die as an diseases like smallpox spread (Diamond 1997).

In the diagram below it is easy to see that most of the areas where hunger is a problem is in Africa. This visual was created using data from 2013, 2016’s data should be the same, or even worse than depicted in this image. A lot of major fundraisers and campaigns have been going on for years to help feed the people of Africa, many countries in the continent have not solved their hunger despite the efforts of the west. The Oxfam International organization donated water, food and money that was meant to reach about 3.5 million people, but still years later there is not much change in the hunger. (Oxfam 2011)

I believe that since the west have always tried to cause change its never been in the best interest of anyone else but themselves which has made no change truly happen. If we just keep doing what we are doing now, although it does help some lives, it is not changing at as large of a scale as it should. There is just about 500 million people in North America alone (statistics time). If every person in that population gave 10 dollars a year, that would be 5 billion dollars helping solve hunger every year.

In order to truly solve this problem the western world needs to actually contribute in big enough ways that may affect their lifestyle slightly but save the lives of others and to help build back up Africa. Instead of just using Africa for the land or helping in order to feel better about themselves while making small changes. Although small changes do help, this is a big problem. This will hopefully help Africa become a safe place to live with resources and choices for the people living there.

Guns, Germs and Steel. Perf. Jared Diamond. 1997. DVD.

"Famine in Somalia: Causes and Solutions." Famine in Somalia: Causes and Solutions. N.p., July 2011. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.

"List of North American Countries by Population (2015)." North American Countries by Population 2015. N.p., 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.