Wei Fang Kite Festival

 

In one of the autobiographies I read, there was a kite festival in China that was mentioned. I decided to do research over this event that is very well known around their area. This festival is held every April in Shandong, and is a must-see for people who love seeing beautiful kites. There is an opening ceremony that contains around 80,000 people, which the stadium holds, as well as 40,000 plastic chairs on the floor. There are over 40 different countries that have kites presented and there are over 10,000 different kinds of kites there. As the festival continues, there is a giant stage that has acrobats, dancers and singers performing, which is a huge hit. After the festival has ended, there is a museum dedicated to the best of the kites shown at each festival. That is so the visitors can get a sense of the festival at any time they would like.

I chose this topic because I figured that it would be very interesting and fun. After reading more about it, I learned that it is quite the event to many people. I believe it would be a very fun event to attend if I ever got the chance to.

Sources:
Primary source: Lavender's autobiography
Secondary source: http://www.chinatravel.com/facts/weifang-international-kite-festival.htm

Service Learning

I believe that this project was very successful. From going to Missouri State for help and ideas, to working on it in class until the last minute. I enjoyed the topic that we had because Hannah, Kaitlyn and I were very passionate about children and keeping them safe. We wanted to spread awareness and we decided to make a powerpoint presentation over all of the research that we did. I enjoyed this project as a whole, and I'm glad we got the opportunity to take it on.

Here is a link to our presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B85K6dZoY0b_ZV81N0JOaVJvRGs/edit?usp=sharing

Global Perspectives

The trip that we all went on to Missouri State last week was very enjoyable, for all of us I do believe. There were different options on what you wanted to hear, which was a good variety of topics. The first one I went to was over poverty in a society and if it is achievable. I wrote down many facts from the four different speakers, but a specific few stuck out to me. The first woman speaker said that there is a hope for poverty to end by 2030. She was very relatable as she made references to modern television shows and news that we all would know. The second speaker said that 150,000 barrels of oil a day are stolen from pipe lines etc., and that money being wasted should be going to other things that can help locally. Also, that the world simply needs to focus on stigmatizing these countries. This speaker wasn't as easy to follow, as it was unrelatable and didn't fully hold my attention. The third speaker was actually very hard to understand but I did recall her saying to sympathize with the poor in other countries, but also think about the poverty happening here in America. The fourth speaker was an older man who was mostly talking about poverty here in America, where he stated, "solving poverty needs acting locally and thinking globally." He said that 14% of people here go hungry everyday which was completely shocking for me. You don't always think of the things you see happening in other countries, as actually happening in your own life. This specific topic could have been related to many presentations and topics that we had in our class, and hearing more about it, definitely opens your eyes.
 The second session we went to was viewing the film, "The One Who Builds." I had no issue keeping my eyes on the screen and listening intently to what was happening in the movie. Although it was quite a short film, it was very impacting to me, as well for others I'm sure. It brought questions and concerns to my mind but I do believe it was a very well done film. I started out very confused, but as it went along, I realized what it was all about and the fact that it happens almost everyday here in America. I believe it is a film that is made for the purpose of raising knowledge of stories such as Omer's and the refugees he encounters. I can't even imagine being put in that position, leaving your home, and coming to America in general would be a crazy change. I was grateful to have the chance to watch this impacting, eye-opening film.
There is a large amount of importance with each of our project topics. Overall, each topic related with another in some sort of way. There might be a global concern for any of our topics, but we were just doing our part to make them known in our own lives. This conference just added to our knowledge and I believe that even if we can't go through with our ideas completely, we will always remember what is happening around us everyday.