Thanksgiving Poverty Project

The professor for my economics class gave us an interesting assignment this Thanksgiving, and I would like to share my results with all of you.  The assignment was to look up pictures and videos of poverty and write a response.  The writer of our book started his study of economics after studying the poor in our world.  We started with a study of economics and now he wanted us to "take a tour" of the world's poverty.  Here is what I wrote:

Images:
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5
Image 6
Image 7
Image 8
Image 9


Videos:
Video 1 - 9:01
Video 2 - 2:40
Video 3 - 1:01
Video 4 - 4:06
Video 5 - 1:39
Video 6 - 3:36
Video 7 - 4:32
Video 8 - 5:03
Video 9 - 8:02
Video 10 - 4:24
Video 11 - 5:09

Video Time Total: 49:13

Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger, usually a child under the age of 5.

I really enjoyed this project.  A year ago, I took the LACI Senior Capstone class, the subject that semester being “Majority World and the West.”  We did quite a bit of studying of those citizens of our world that live on less than $1 a day.  This was a powerful reminder of what we studied and the things that I’ve continued to learn since then.  One thing that I’ve observed is that even in the poorest of the poor, there are still some smiles.  When you research poverty, you expect to see only despair, destruction, sadness.  You don’t expect to see a child smiling.  It was a reminder to me that even in desperation, someone can be happy, especially with God.  I also saw people worshiping in their desperation.  It’s pretty amazing to think of how we can sometimes be “mad” at God for not granting our every prayer and these people can be so full of love and worship for their Creator.  How awesome is their faith!  I don’t really have a resolution to make at this point in my journey through this topic.  It does cause me to think and to use new methods of judgment when making decisions.  I grew up in a not-so-rich household and we were able to work our way out of debt and finally into a home where we could be comfortable.  I know that it doesn’t compare to what many citizens of our world endure, but it does give me a minute capacity to relate to them and the push to be better.  I am impressed by their strength and endurance through hard times and it gives me the courage to have strength and endurance through my hard times.  I am thankful to have had this experience.  This Thanksgiving, I thank God for those people that decide to stand up and be strong in the face of oppression.  That is what I have decided to be thankful for this year.

Day 1 of Iron Composer!

So, the Iron Composer competition started today.  As of 11:08 pm, I have 32 seconds of music.  Woohoo!  The instrument this year is clarinet and the performer is Cindi Bartels (who just happens to be my former instructor). Since clarinet is one of my primary instruments, hopefully I can come up with a cool and unique piece to knock the socks off those judges!  So excited!  48 hours and 52 minutes....let the countdown commence!