Thursday 23 May 2013

The treaty project experience

       Working with a group of four people was a good change. Most of the time I either work by myself or with one other person. Having the extra help made the project a lot easier. On Wednesday, I'd had morning practise and was completely brainless by last block. I was not understanding the assignment and neither was my group but when they asked people about it, the rest of my group understood and still, I did not:( So they started off the format and I followed. Being in a group also helped the project to be finished faster. It was a lot of fun to be in the group.
       The project was very confusing because our documents were not exactly the treaties themselves but stories told about the reactions to them. I like doing projects that involve more creativity and less confusion. My being was struck! The confusion, misunderstanding, not knowing what to do and ultimately feeling stupid! The situation was horrifying! Only my group pulled me throught it!:o

Saturday 4 May 2013

Louis Riel

        Louis Riel was a man who lived between the years of  1844-1885. Many people think that he was a villain or a traitor, however, I believe that he was doing what he could to help his people. He may not have made the best decisions according to the settlers or our standard today, but did not know that there were any other options.
        Riel realized that the Metis were not very organized so  he took leadership of the movement in efforts to protect and preserve the rights of his people. He organized bands of Metis to observe and confront he surveyors. Louis formed the Metis National Committee to fight for concerns about their land. He commanded  the group of Metis to occupy Fort Garry and seize its munitions. He wanted to retain their rights and traditions so on December 8th, 1869 he established a provisional government to manage the settler's lives and protect their material goods. Riel feared that if McDougall was allowed to take charge of the area, he would give all the power to the Canadian Party and ignore the Metis. He also feared of civil war because the Canadian Party was already armed and ready to fight the Metis. Riel did what he thought was the only possible solution to save his people; executing Thomas Scott. He proclaimed that the crisis had passed.
       In 1869, a series of articles were published insulting the Metis people.Riel wrote a reply in the "Le nouveau monde" magazine of Montreal to defend the Metis. This was one of the situations that lead to him taking leadership the Metis' movement. In August of that year, from them top steps of St. Boniface Cathedral, he declared that surveying the land was a threat to its existence. Riel created the four "Lists of Rights" which constituted the basis of the negotiations leading to the entry of Manitoba to the Canadian Confederation.
       Although he tried to do the right thing, many people opposed to what Louis Riel did and thought that he was cruel and villainous. When Schultz and 48 of his followers were imprisoned, Thomas Scott was extremely belligerent. He loudly publicized his anti-Metis views, physically abused the guards and threatened Riel's life. For this and to prove his point, Scott was put to death. Many people said that he had been brutally murdered by the Metis because Scott was not killed instantaneously  Though the guards were lined up and fired at once, Riel had to shoot him once more to kill him.
       Louis Riel thought that there was only one option to save his people and took a brave step to lead the movement. He helped to get  his people out of a tight situation and give them land of their own. Many other people believe that killing Thomas Scott was wrong no matter what the outcome or other possible options. But, everybody mistakes and Riel did other things that made him a hero.

Monday 1 April 2013

Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill

       Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill were sisters born only 23 months apart. They both became writers before they were married. Then they emigrated to Ontario Canada with their Scottish husbands. Neither girl received a formal education. Only what they had been taught by their parents.Their English life had been quiet and isolated.
       Susanna had four children while keeping up her writing career. She sent letters and poems to magazines across North America. Several of her poems ended up in the Toronto newspaper and she was asked to write for a Montreal magazine. Susanna moved to Belleville when her husband John was appointed the first sheriff. Life there was difficult due to strident local politics. She and her family endured attacks from the conservative press and from local tory lawyers. In 1852, Her book "Roughing in the bush" was published and her publisher wanted a sequel. However, she grew tired of literary prominence and criticism and turned to painting. This skill was passed on to her daughter Agnes. Susanna published her last novel in 1867. John resigned in 1863 and died in 1869. Susanna herself passed away on April 8th 1885.
       Susanna's sister Catharine was so "full of hope" for their future when she emigrated with her husband Thomas. However, Thomas was not suited for the hardships of pioneer life and wanted to sell their bush farm. He eventually did and bought a property in the "Oaklands" where them and their seven children moved. Unfortunately, the "oaklands" burned down in a fire forcing the family to depend on close friends and family for help.Thomas died in 1859 and Catharine moved to her brother's cottage in Lakefield where she lived the rest of her life. She helped to create a valuable record of the family and community. As the family dispersed, letters maintained the ties.Catharine kept journals where she recorded descriptions of Canadian life, landscape, and penned drafts of botanical essays and stories she wanted to publish. She worked well into her 90's and died August 29th 1899 at the age of 97. 

Thursday 7 March 2013

Socials 10 Experience

       My socials 10 experience so far has been kind of chopped up and hard for me to connect to. Seeing films and clips has deffinately helped but by being away so often, I feel as though it is hard for me to find the connections. In my previous socials class, it was easy to remember and learn things because I attended most of my classes and found links to my own life that stayed with me.
       I did enjoyed doing the project with Gurpreet. I found that it was a fun way of making things stick. I also thought that doing activities that have to do with the topic that we are learning is a good way of studying. I like the way that this class is laid back and a lot less stressful than my other academic courses. It makes the day more manageable.
       If I could change anything about this class though, it would be to not rush through sections and notes. if things get rushed, it just slips out of my mind. I would like to have more in depth class descussions and more activities to do involving the topics. Also, I enjoy doing group or individual projects that invlove some level of creativity.
       Over all, socials has always been my favourite academic course and it is no different this year.
      
      

Monday 11 February 2013

"An Inconvenient Truth" or "The Great Global Warming Swindle"?

       Al Gore says that we are the cause of global warming, but is he right? Many professors and scientists have proof that he is wrong. These people prove that CO2 is not the cause, how the media and government affected the theory and what they believe to be the cause.
       According to these scientists, global warming cannot be blamed on CO2. Earth's temperature has always changed without the help of humans. If you  go back through history, you can see the Holocene Maximum, a period with extremely hot weather conditions, the Medieval warm period,then the little ice age. Most of the resent climate warming occurred before technology. During the post war economic boom, the temperature did the opposite of what was expected. When all of that carbon dioxide was being produced, the temperature dropped. The facts simply didn't match the theory. CO2 is only 0.5% of the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are a very small part of the atmosphere and 95% of it is water vapor. Al Gore tells us that the relationship between carbon dioxide is complicated but he never explained why. The truth is that the temperature leads CO2 by 800 years. Carbon dioxide did not cause the warming, the increased climate caused the rise of carbon dioxide. If CO2 is how living things grow, it seems impossible that it is to blame.
       If it is so obvious that carbon dioxide is not to blame, why are people so uninformed? It all started with a media scare that became like a religion. Now, tens of thousands of jobs depend on global warming and tens of billions of dollars have been spent on it's research. However, the computers were created to assume that CO2 was the cause without thinking of any other possibilities. All that the media cares about is interesting results. They do not care if it is correct at the moment because it will not occur until far after we are gone. All they have to do is add a little more of something and they get a far more fascinating result. There is a bias within the media of dramatized results. The government and media want people to believe in their roles in global warming because it attracts attention. 
       Scientists believe that the media is missing the largest part of climate change, the sun. Global warming is not caused by greenhouse gases. In fact, volcanoes, animals, decaying plants and the ocean emit much more CO2 than humans ever have. These scientists have made a connection between the sun's solar activity and earth's climate change. The more sun spots there are on the sun, the more solar activityand the warmer Earth was that year. Clouds also can affect the earth's temperature. They have a cooling affect and are controlled by cosmic waves which are controlled by the sun. The conclusion, the sun affects earth's temperature and is the main cause of climate change.
       Al Gore in "An Inconvenient Truth" explains how we are the cause of global warming, however, the scientists and professors in "The Great Global Warming Swindle" disagree. I believe that we are to blame for ruining our planet in that we created deforestation and contribute to the extinction of species but not global warming. "The Great Global Warming Swindle" has many more qualified people and more proof to back it up. The government may want us to believe that we are but we are not the cause of global warming.

Thursday 7 February 2013

Start impression of socials 10

In the past, Socials has been my favourite academic course. I find it fascinating. I am excited to continue this semester!!