BUS 374 Week 2 Be the Change

 This week I studied the topic: Be the Change. A few key points I learned about were about Social innovation, becoming a social entrepreneur, and becoming a social innovator. I also studied about what I think I will choose when it comes to social innovation, will I be a volunteer, an implementer, or the innovator? Lastly, I studied about how Fabio Rosa changed the Brazilian countryside by bringing electricity to rural farmlands.

When I was reading about Fabio Rosa, I can remember seeing monophase signage in the countryside in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I had served my Church mission in Brazil and I remember many people attaching to electricity (illegally) in certain areas to help bring them out of poverty. What also spiked my interest was when I reflected on my own skill set. What can I do to change the community around me that could create permanent change. I felt inspired to figure out attainable ways to bring secure roadways to places where the rain washes out the roads constantly.

A key point Thompson spoke about was a reference from Martin Luther which states, “Luther believed that virtually any type of work could be a calling, so long as it rendered service to mankind.” This concept brought Thompson the illumination required to understand that He could make a difference. Thompson taught, “finding our calling in life involves the same process as discovering our spiritual gifts.” I see the connection of find a career that suits your needs, but do it to the capacity where you can make small changes that can lead to a positive quality change in your workplace, community, or country. Social innovation is more than just helping people, it is fixing the problem not just the symptom of the system.

BUS 374 Week One: What is Social Innovation

 In this first week of classes, I studied at becoming a social innovator. The purpose of a social innovator is to assess a problem caused by one of the systems we have created for the community, and figure out how to resolve the issue at it's roots. Social innovators are able to work with multiple factions of innovators to understand and respond to issues to the best of their abilities with what funding they are given. Social innovators work to improve their communities and hope to influence future innovators in the world to adapt their understanding for the same issues. I also reviewed videos about social innovation and how multiple students from the university have used their education to solve crises around the globe.

After reviewing the materials provided, I became engrossed to the knowledge provided in the article, The Meaning of "Social Entrepreneurship" . The article referenced that social entrepreneurship is difficult to work on due to limited funding:

Markets do not work as well for social entrepreneurs. In particular, markets do not do a good job of valuing social improvements, public goods and harms, and benefits for people who cannot afford to pay. These elements are often essential to social entrepreneurship. That is what makes it social entrepreneurship. As a result, it is much harder to determine whether a social entrepreneur is creating sufficient social value to justify the resources used in creating that value.

This excerpt explains that if I wanted to participate in social entrepreneurship, I need to prepare to put all of my time and effort into proving why this problem should be fixed. This is what I gleaned from my studies this week.

In response to why I think social innovation is more prevalent today, I can provide a couple examples as to why I think it is more prevalent. Social innovation is needed when a social system is creating a problem that need to be resolved. In today's world, there are more complex systems than there once were and that causes an influx of innovators to change the world. Also in my opinion, there are more opportunities to provide assistance to in need communities than there once was due to the increase in outreach programs and social media information that shares issues.

The Accident

    As many know, The team has been plagued with injuries in almost every position. I played starting position for defensive linemen. After one of my teammates got injured in the beginning of the game, the game continued on. In the end of the same quarter, I tackled the runningback with some help from my teammates, and all of the weight of the O'Dowd players plus my own teammates was too much for me to bear. I felt a crushing sensation in my ankle area of my leg, and i heard like the sound of rice crispies in your mouth, coming from my leg. It was excruciating pain. Not many people noticed that it was that serious of injury, but i knew something was wrong. I then got surgery at the children's Hospital in oakland, where they knocked me out, and they drilled into my tibia and fibula and inserted 2 three inch stainless steel screws.
     Well even though I wont be able to play until next year, i get my screws out november 30th and from there, i will be going through Rehabilitation. Sometimes I wonder if I would have made a difference in certain plays when I go to the games, but I realized that sometimes all the guys need is a little Hornet Pride, and that is something I can help them obtain. Next year I will protect myself better by wearing ankle braces and high top cleats. I am very proud of my team for supporting me and my fellow injured players, as we battle the pain and the hardships we go through.
     My family keeps me alive. Without them I don't know what I would do. They help me carry my food, because i cant use my hands, they help me with carrying up my laundry baskets up and down the stairs, help get me to my appointments so that I can have a speedy recovery. Truthfully I can say that I love them, and am glad to have them as my family. My friends kept me alive at school, even though some of them are players, They kept my spirits up at school, which really helped me stay on task and get my work done.
     My injury has taught me that I really should play every play as if it my last. Go 110% every time and learn from my mistakes. In the years to come especially next year, I think that this will be a reminder to me, my family, my friends, and my team, to always try your hardest, and keep the Spirits up and your head held High.

Semester Final

Over this year I have blogged about football, music, my life, and many other topics. As I look back on my blog post I realize, that they are all related to another. My song post goes to another song, and those songs go to a blog post for a girl. It has been a difficult journey this year going every week blogging about a topic, and then it actually being true, just makes it a better blog post. As I write about my blog, and answer these questions, the real me will show to you, and you may be surprised what you see.

1. How do you like having a blog? How has blogging changed the way you write, the way you think, or the way you think about writing?
• Has blogging had any other effects on your life beyond strictly your "school life"? If so, explain.
  
• For the second semester only: Do you plan on continuing to publish writing on your blog this summer, next year, or beyond? If so, what are your writing goals and how will you use your blog in the future?

Blogging this year was a great deal of fun, even though it took a large sum of effort. At first I had nothing to talk about because I could never think of a topic I could blog about repetitively, but, by the end of the semester I learned what I can do. I began writing about my life, my songs, and the books I was reading.

Blogging has changed my life over this semester. During the middle of the year I became an outcast, a loner and it was not fun. I felt depressed but I was able to push through the barrier with the assistance of my family and counselor. I would blog about my family life and all of the problems in my life. Now as I look back on my blog, I can see the drastic changes in my writing and in my life. This experience in my life has helped me through the troubles of adolescence and all of the many challenges of schoolwork. Blogging has helped me vent my feelings, kind of like a psychiatrist makes you lay down on the sofa and just lets you talk about your problems.

Beyond my school life, I was able to keep my emotions in check and try to hide them, to keep myself on track for college, and for my future career. Blogging has helped me share emotions with other people that I care about. Blogging made me a more outgoing person, and a better person.

I plan on blogging throughout the summer and blog about the days of summer. Maybe even after the summer I will attempt at keeping up on writing and posting on my blog. My summer is looking busy, so I will write about it in a journal, and after put in in electronic form for my blog.
Some of the goals for my blog are : first, To write about my life, second, to write a blog post every week, and finally, to finish the story of me and a girl.

1. Explain one or two ways your writing has improved (or not) over the semester. Include a few examples from your posts over time, with analysis and links to the original posts, to illustrate how the improvement(s) happened.
   
• For the second semester only: If you want, you can reflect on improvements you've noticed over just the second semester, the entire year, or even multiple years if you have examples of your writing from the more distant past.

In the beginning of the year, my writing was repetitive, redundant, and boring. Now at the end of the year you can tell the difference in my writing, because it is better structured, and interesting. through out the year my writing has improved postdramatically, and it has become more stimulating if you read it. Certain aspects of my blog posts have changed the way I have written a post, but that was because of the challenges in my life. The difference between the first and the second post here can be shown. From the beginning of the year post:

Throughout this experience, I was able to grow and become a stronger person mentally and physically. I am now able to be more responsible for myself and my actions. As I waited for this week to end by marking days on my calendar, I realized that I should work harder for the good things in life. Now I can be in situation where I am alone and can get over the factor of fear and use its conquest for good use. I hope that I can remember these days and look back on them with a positive light.

From this excerpt of my writing you can already tell how it needs to be more structured and condensed into fewer sentences to reduce the amount of redundancy. It should be

"By this experience in my life, I grew stronger mentally and physically, and became responsible for my own actions. I waited, marking everyday on a calender, then realizing that if I work harder in life I will succeed. Now in any situation, I will get over my fears and remember the days in a positive light."

The second post:

When you live in an overpopulated area such as the San Francisco Bay area, it is hard to get a job. The competition of job hunting i9s not an easy one while you live here, but you have to get one to survive. From morning to night, you have to search Craigslist.com, and Monster.com, and Ladders.com for all of the job opportunities around. But for a simple job, the best way to get one is to stroll the businesses in your community. My sister did this for weeks until she landed one.

This is a way better structured post, with detail, that is exemplifying the enormity of job hunting, and how to do it. This post needs only one real change and that is on the sentence, "The competition of job hunting is not an easy one while you live here, but you have to get one to survive."

I am grateful for the opportunity to have a blog, and have followers, and I hope that Mr. Sutherland keeps on following me on blogger to keep up with my experiences, and anything he likes about my writing. Now that the year is over, tune into me next week by Thursday and I will have a new post about my life, and the people in it.

What are the Rules to dating?

Some of the expectations of what girls want guys to be like, come from the mass media. For example, "Jacob" the wolf-man from the twilight series, and "Ryan Sheckler" the professional skateboarder. Girls seem to be disillusioned that a guy has to be perfect for them to like the guy or even give him a chance. Pressure is put on guys who do not look a certain way, for instance, guys who aren't muscular, have a six pack, and who are balding, don't really have a chance. It always seems like the girls are searching for the best looking, not personality. It is the same for some of us guys. We go after the pretty girls, but if you are average, and have a good personality, most likely we would date you.


Some girls get the impression that if the guy pays for everything (lunch, movies, etc.) the guy wants to be reimbursed somehow. The one thing that we don’t realize is that a dying race called chivalry, treating women with respect, is almost no more. Now-a-days guys can be filthy saying, “I’m gunna tap that!” or “I be spitting game!” (Roberto) or “Mackin’” (Another Roberto), but all it is, is a guy looking for a “good time”, not a girlfriend or potential wife.

Some of the rules I have heard of in the girl community (my sisters), is that a girl cannot date a friend’s ex-boyfriend. Unless the two weren’t “going steady” (Mr. Sutherland), that entire rule really is a silly girl code, also known for secrets and gossip. Even though the times have changed, now it is known as “going out” and dating for months even years before moving onto new people, and it creates a lot of stress in someone’s life. That is why there are so many divorces, because people went “steady” for so long they realized after they were married with children the other wasn’t “the one”.

Inkheart Book Review

2. For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In there words, for whom would you recommend this book?)

Even thought the book is one of the longer books out in the world, it is mainly aimed at children, and young adults. With its language use, and the extreme qualities of fantasy and adventure, it attracts all ages. This book is intended to make you feel like you are in the story with the action and traveling all over the world. There are people out there that like action and adventure, and that makes this book a great novel to put on your list to read over the summer or for when you want to read to lose yourself in a field of dreams. The distorted way of characters personalities, make them seem like a real person, good and bad.

"You met him once," said Dustfinger. "It's a long time ago, you won't remember you were so little." He held his hand at knee height in the air. "How can I explain what he's like? If you were to see a cat eating a young bird I expect you'd cry, wouldn't you? Or try to help the bird. Capricorn would feed the bird to the cat on purpose, just to watch it being torn apart, and the little creature's screeching and struggling would be as sweet as honey to him"

I recommend it to readers of all ages, because it is fun and interesting, it is one of those books that once you start it you can't put it down. The only problem for the readers that I am recommending it to, is that you must have a strong imagination to visualize the story. The book is amazing and get a five out of five on my scale.

7. If you've read other books in this same genre, how does this one compare?

Inkheart can be compared to a Harry Potter book, because of the similarities between the fantasy and real person relationship. In Inkheart, there are strange creatures resembling mythical animals that were portrayed in Harry Potter books. Inkheart is strange in its storyline because of the complex ideas and portrayals of the character's in different ways for the same person. In Harry Potter, the characters grow and mature during the book, same as the characters in Inkheart. The real difference between the two books is that one is a series and one is a book. Inkheart has such a complex plot that it is sometimes hard to follow, when Harry Potter is predictable. In Harry Potter the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher is the one leaving, Voldemort loses, and somebody dies. In Inkheart it is unpredictable, and has twists around every corner. Just like when Mo goes to the author of Inkheart's house looking for an answer.

"A very particular book," Mo went on. "Inkheart. You wrote it quite a long time ago, and unfortunately I can't buy a copy anywhere now." With the mans icy stare still resting on her father, Meggie could only marvel that the words didn't freeze on Mo's lips.

As the two different stories collide with each other, the two change the perspective of how the reader views the story. In Inkheart, the story unravels into a mystical arousal of creatures, magic, and suspense. In Harry Potter, the story starts off slow and gets to the good parts in the middle.
The reason I chose Harry Potter for the comparison, is because it can't really be compared to Inkheart, because Harry Potter is so inferior to it. Inkheart is one of the most interesting books I have ever read, and I have read a lot of novels in my days.

8. Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.

In Inkheart, the major character is Meggie, the daughter of Mo. Meggie in the beginning, is a shy girl being moved around every year or so, and is learning a lot about books. Meggie has a deep relationship with her father, since her mother wasn't around. Meggie learned everything from her father including how to read. Even though her father never read books aloud to her, and she never noticed that he wouldn't and she read to herself. Her father would tell the best stories around, them being so descriptive, that they would come alive after the words rolled off the tip of his tongue.
Meggie didn't have many friends, she normally kept to her books, where she would escape the real word and submerge into a better place. Over the distance Meggie and her father go, they try to get farther and farther away from Capricorn. Meggie learns about a gift that she and her father share, but she does not realize it until it is pressured on her in a time of need. Meggie is a complicated personality, because over the course of the book, she starts of shy and somewhat of a loner, but further down the line, her enthusiasm picks up, her knowledge is shown, and she becomes brave enough to stand up against the antagonist.
The growth of Meggie and Mo reminds me of a child being raised by a single parent. It is a hard life for both of the people. it is extremely difficult for children to get over their childhood, and somehow Meggie was somehow able to do that. She was a strong girl in the beginning but throughout the book she matured, and was able to overcome her fears, and remained steadfast and immovable in what she believed in. She showed us how to overcome the challenges of our daily lives not just hers, and the way she was able to overcome them in such a short amount of time made me be in awe. As the two Meggie and Mo, bonded in the book, the story became complex and interesting, and made me feel like I wanted to be doing what she was doing and win the fight against evil.

What is this? Reality? or Fantasy?

Following up on my previous blog about the curious case of Jared, I have written another song. This one is shorter and simpler.

Title: For You goes to the chords of Soul Sister By:Train
1st verse:
She got the golden ticket to my heart!
she too young our love can't start.
I get torn up by a beastly foe.
with a plunge I dare not go.

Chorus:
now I feel it in my soul,
in my heart, in my bones.
Daughter of god come to me.
Love together, to be free.

2nd verse:
He shows unto us the way to love,
my tender flying winter dove.
oh, how you needed to know,
that I really like you woah.

Chorus:
now I feel it in my soul,
in my heart, in my bones.
Daughter of god come to me.
Love together, to be free.

3rd verse:
Now there is no reason to fear,
just hold on, I will steer.
Every day I fall in love,
with a tender flying winter dove.

Chorus:
now I feel it in my soul,
in my heart, in my bones.
Daughter of god come to me.
together forever, you and me.