Human Geography

     The past week and a half we studied a unit in class on thinking geographically.  In this small unit we went over region and place, mental mapping and site and situation. I'm using this blog to recap these topics. A region is broad area of land that has similar characteristics to other parts of itself. A place is a small area inside a region that has consistent characteristics throughout. Mental mapping is used to describe how people classify places based on past experiences. An example of this is that New York is cold in the winter because you vacationed to a state bordering New York during the winter. Finally site is a specific places characteristics. A places situation is what could be some of its characteristics relative to other familiar places. These topics link together to help geographers classify how every place is unique.

     Today in class we reviewed the region worksheet and talked about world events. The region worksheet was so easy I don't know how people got answers wrong. After going over the worksheet we talked about world events especially pertaining North Korea. You said in class that it was not unlikely that world war three could happen. Now i'm not extremely caught up in world events but, I don't think there will be WWIII any time soon because only North Korea is the country that has "reason" to start a war and doubt that if they did act against us that other countries would join them to create a world war. I also doubt that North Korea will do anything with their missiles because the leaders of the country know that they will be immediately destroyed. What I think will happen in the following months and years  is that North Korea will grow their arsenal until the United States has to take political action to stop them.

    I missed yesterday's class so I do not have complete notes on this topic. Today in class we took notes and discussed the geographic topics of site and situation. The basic definition of site is the physical characteristics of a place including Water, topography, soil, elevation, latitude, and vegetation. Sites are used by geographers to tell the characteristics of a small place. Sites can also be manipulated and modified by human activity. This human activity can have a great effect on the characteristics of the site.  A situation by definition is a location that is classified based on its relation to other familiar places. This can be helpful for geographers because they can make inferences based on sites they already have discovered. Inferences on sites based on their situation are not always correct.

     Today in class we continued on the unit of thinking geographically. At the beginning of class today we wasted 20 minutes going over homework, and I had an idea to fill out a blank map of the world and have a competition of who can fill the map in the most. I had this idea because I am confident that I would win this competition and win the small prize associated with the competition. After the beginning of class we started to go over how every place on earth is unique. A region is a broad area that the places inside the region are similar to each other. A place is a specific point inside a region. Different places inside a region differ from each other but comparatively are similar to other places around the world.

   Today in class we continued to unit on thinking geographically. We started on mental mapping. Mental mapping is how you see the world around you based on your routine and past experiences. To practice this we had a talk in class about how we view the other parts over the world. In the practice we talked about France which I had already been to, but I was to young to remember. We talked about how French people are sometimes classified as rude, but that statement was probably false because There are many rude American tourists in France and they give a jaundiced view of the people there. For classwork in our notebooks we drew a map of the world and labeled all of the continents and oceans and other geographic features like countries and states. I already have more knowledge on geography so this assignment was easy for me. The hard part was drawing the map because I am very bad at drawing maps from memory.

     Instead of starting the new unit today in class we had a quiet period while students who needed to take the test can do so and some of the other tests can be graded. I'm using this time to write this blog even though nothing significant has happened. I have no other work I can get caught up on so i'm going to spend this class doing nothing. I also don't have any material to study for the math test I have in two mods so I'm stuck doing nothing. I hope we don't sit in silence for the whole class because I might lose my mind or fall asleep. Friday, I forgot to do my blog because I had a lot of homework this weekend and I thought that I didn't have to do any work After I left the football game. Even though we don't have the test results back I feel like I did well on the test and probably got an A. I doubt that everyone in the class got an A so we probably will not be getting any cookies for that.

     Today in class we started a new unit after the excellence unit and test. To start the unit off we had a work sheet on the different regions around the world. I felt like this work sheet was very easy, I only had to research one name of a region. I believe I did so well because I used to be very interested in geography and at one of my old schools, which was a K-8 school I came in third place in the geography bee when I was in third grade. I have since stopped studying so far into geography, but still retained some of the knowledge I had learned in the past. This makes me hopeful for this new unit because I fell like I know more than most of class. I am also hopeful for this unit because I had previously had a passion for geography and might be able to bring some of that passion to learning again.

     I'm writing my blog right after my test to have it clear in my mind and to not have as much homework when I get home after practice. I felt pretty good about the test today and that I hope everyone did well because I would like cookies. After reviewing and blogging for so many days I knew most of the four point questions. The one question I didn't know was the profession that used shorthand. I answered secretary because I remember the impression in the front of the class but I didn't know for a fact that I was right. I feel confident on the short essay questions because I had mapped out what I was going to write and I felt like I had a good answer. Overall the test was fair the only difficult parts were the essay questions if you didn't know what to write or if you were sleepy.

   As a review before the test tomorrow we went over some of the questions that could be on the test. After so much review and so many blogs I had a good idea on most of the lesson. Through the review I found that I hadn't studied enough on A message to Garcia. to be successful on the test tomorrow I need to remember that it was written in 1899 during the Spanish American war. the book shares a story of an officer who was told to deliver a message to Garcia which was a leader of the Cuban revolution. Rowan excellently delivered the message without asking questions. Elbert Hubbard the author of the story emphasized that all people should look up to how he worked. This book became so popular because people wanted a reminder about how they should give their best on their day to day lives.

  In class Friday we reviewed A Message to Garcia and Socrates's life. As a reminder A message to Garcia define excellence as someone who always does their best without thinking twice and doing something to the best of their ability. This ties into the Ancient Greek word Arete' which means excellence in everything you do. Arete' also means to fulfill your purpose or job with all abilities and potential. In class we also focused on the Greek philosopher Socrates who is known as one of the founders of western philosophy. He was also a supporter of democracy and wanted everyone to have a chance to share their opinion. One of his more famous quotes is, "The examined life is not worth living." by saying this he means if you are someone who lives a life where you do not think about your future and the futures of others and societies you are not living your life up to the full potential. This links to the Greek word idiot which is not referring to a dumb person but to s

      Today in class we went in farther into the topic of excellence. Today's class was mostly centered around Socrates and his death. Before Socrates the people of Greece decided to revolt against their leader. When they overthrew the government the people with the help of a man named Cleisthenes made the Athenian government a democracy which is the first in the world. After democracy became successful a philosopher named Socrates started to become with his method in making people think. His method was to ask people a series of questions about their beliefs to figure out how the person really felt on a topic. Unfortunately this did land Socrates in trouble, the government accused  him of corrupting the youth and impiety which is the non-belief in the Greek gods. During his trail Socrates did not feel like he had done anything wrong in the contrary he felt like he had done the government a favor by making the youth think. He was sentenced by a jury trial of 500 jury members to deat

     While discussing A Message to Garcia in class we talked about when it was written and how it affected the society of that time period. The story was written in 1899 during the Spanish-American war and it became so popular through employers and through the military that 1/5 of Americans had it and more had heard about it. This story was used to inspire people to work at their full potential which is why employers used this to get the most out of their employees. This story also is linked to the Greek word arete' which means to have the excellence to work at your full potential. This was the theme of A Message to Garcia because the author is trying to show the audience what you should strive to be. The Greek word also means to fulfill your purpose which is one of the reasons the story is so widespread because employers or employees wanted to get the job done to the best of their ability.

     While reading A Message to Garcia I had much to think about and many emotions. During the reading I almost felt guilty because currently I would not be able to carry the message. I am not the most hardworking person who goes out of his way to accomplish a goal the way it should be accomplished. I always finish something with the required work and will definitely find a way to do minimum work possible. I felt like A Message to Garcia was speaking to those who don't do the most work and to inspire them to better themselves not just for them but for others.            The story also tries to convey how people who are able to carry this message are what all of society needs. In the story the author states that " If men do not act for themselves, then what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all." This explains if you do not do the work for your self how will you be able to work for other people, and if you can not do work for others what good are you to