Minute Paper 2/28

All of the groups had good ideas. I think it would be hard to actually do all the things to be prepared because of the cost. I liked the article about how us humans worry about concerns that could happen rather than a future problem that is going to happen for sure. I also disagree a little because the author used the example of how we use so much money global terrorism when the probability of it actually happening is small, instead of using it for global warming prevention. I think everyone would not want to travel or have a loved one travel after 9/11 if there was nothing done to make traveling more safe.

group work thing for Mino's group.

Today in class, discussed about what we can do to inform people about the danger of the Hurricane Katrina. But under the condition of us having only $10000 budget. Our group had 2 seperate plans that went very well together. My partner and I thought that the most important thing to do is to make people aware. We said that what we should do is to do something like what Political Science students of UHM did at China town. We thought that approaching the public directly will be the best approach because if we can get millions of people in the city aware, we can get attention from the government. Some of the things we came up with was like build a fake hurricane damaged house to show the potential damage and stuff like that. Andrew and his partner thought that they needed to go around informing people door to door to make them evacuate because of the dangerous and seriousness of the situation. They said that they will use the $10000 to set up a refugee center to aid the evacuated citizens. All in all it was pretty great idea. I don't know the name of the group people so I hope Stuart knows who was in this group.

Potential Disaster for New Orleans! (Nichole, Camille, Paula, Virginia)

In order to ensure complete public awareness and concern for the potential disaster in New Orleans, our group thought that a few different methods would be effective.
A series of public service announcements should be aired on TV months before the disaster is predicted to affect the area. The announcements should be aired on prime time television, so that everyone will get a chance to see them.
As the storm moves closer, and the levees are more likely to break, a 20 minute "mini-movie" if you will, should be aired once or twice daily showing successful evacuation procedures.
Another idea would be to organize a large public performance or simulation of the disaster in front of the mayors office building. This would be done to grab the onlooker's attention as well as the mayor him self's interest. This concept could be likened to the "truth" commercials that air on Mtv.
Billboards could also be put up around high-traffic areas. The billboard wouldn't be too complicated, just a bold statistic plainly written in black and white regarding "what if" the levees were to break.

feb 28th

     after todays class i am excited to hear that we will begin our art project soon. the digital media examples given today like the diesel adds are the coolest thing i have seen in a while. i saw the picture of the parrots in some square in england in a magazine somewhere and i really thought it was clever. i didn't realize there are a whole line of commercials like that. however silly it may be.. i think they aren't meant to be taken too seriously... though they are fantastic examples of what we are trying to do in our class. as for today, everyone is coming up with such original ideas. the most striking idea was the one about using a vacant lot to illustrate exactly what it would look like post-tsunami. it would be funny as well if we were to post over the signs on the hotels being built saying demolition instead. we could fake disassemble the city because it is in a risky spot. i thinks it is a bit out of place to get so heated about people who live in dangerous place. my bet is that the cities were built in those places far before the settlers could realize they would even become cities, and before they had the knowledge perhaps to recognize a dangerous zone. oh well, i am a bit bummed i missed the video so i will have to borrow it and watch it soon. hope you all have a great weekend. 

Minute paper (2-28-08)

Class is getting interesting every day and today was one of those days.
More activities and exposure to future studies impact great influence
to the area of the futurists. We worked in groups to come up with an
awareness plan for the futures of Hawaii and New Orleans if a hurricane
and tsunami hit them. There were a lot of good ideas to go about
executing the awareness plan based on different scenario in Hawaii and
New Orleans. The most part that catches my attention today are all the
different methods of how to approach the scenarios of the future to the
people by using every forms of media notification. Some of these
approaches are very unique and it's something that most people would
not think about it. For example, using hypothetical, technological and
commercial as a medium exchange to display the reality or assumption of
different future scenarios. Going back to the argument raised by the
idea bring out by Shane that the whole problem about Hurricane Katrina
in New Orleans shouldn't be to blame who is responsible and who did
wrong or right, but it all goes back to the past that New Orleans
shouldn't be there at that location in the first place having that the
location is below sea level. Turning around the reality of the city of
New Orleans to be at this location the people should all work together
to solve the problems not blaming one another. Plus, awareness plan and
hurricane evacuation plan drill should be mandatory and for the people
to be knowledgeable of the situation.
ruta..

02.28.08

i enjoyed todays exercise. the ideas that we came up with today felt
much more relevant because they applied to current day issues that we
are faced with, rather than a far off fictious future. the scenarios
that we have dealt with before this are definetly all possible, but a
tsumani hitting the hawaiian islands sometime in the future is
something that cannot be debated, so for me it definetly roused some
emotion. It's just a more tangible issue that i was really able to wrap
my head around and think about seriously because it poses such a large
threat to this place that i call home. it got me excited about our
upcoming project and the opportunity to potentially change people's
views of the future. virginia had mentioned in class that preparation
for future events of such great magnitude really require a change in
one's lifestyle, and i think she's right. Pro-active behavior of this
type cannot be accomplished by a few simple actions, it's a movement
that requires continous progression toward a common goal. The article
that we were read today in class by the professor at harvard also
caught my attention and got me thinking. the human brain has many
strengths and weaknesses, and the fact that it is not equipped or
programmed for actively thinking and preparing for the future due to
the path of evolution definitely explains a lot. hopefully by
exercising and utilizing this part of our brain we will help future
generations by providing them with brains more capable of dealing with
the future.

In order to raise public awareness about the potential devistation that
could arise seems like a good place to start, but our group believes
that there must be an organization of people, seperate from the federal
government, that will listen to the public ideas and organize plans to
minimize the negative effects of a huricane hitting hawaii. We invision
a media campain raising awareness, but using TV, radio, newspaper and
poster public service announcments. We believe using images of from
past hurricanes is a good way to get a persons attention, but once we
have there attention it is important to teach the current problems with
Hawaii's Huricane evacuation plan. To show them the amount of food,
water, transportation, shelter, and medicine will be needed to support
the population for X amount of time. Then ask for help solving this
problem that effects us all, and give a number to call. This was we
reach the majory of the population, inform them of the problem, and
give them the ability to help solve it.

Minute Paper 2/28/08

In today's class, we focused more on what we could do in the future in the event of a natural disaster rather than pointing out the flaws in the system of past hurricanes experiences. Our class formed groups where we tried to come up with ideas in preventing chaos or how to prepare people when a natural disaster strikes. I liked our group's idea in being prepared for a disaster part of a lifestyle instead looking at it as a dramatic change. I think that by accepting the idea that a natural disaster could strike anytime is a much better than pretending that it's not possible because we are able to be fully prepared for it. I thought all of the groups had very creative ideas in spreading public awareness in the event of a natural disaster.

Tsunami Awareness Plan In Hawaii (Hanna, Shane, Mark A., Nick)

Our group’s plan for getting the citizens of Hawaii prepared for a tsunami was quite simple. Basically our plan comes in two parts, the first being to simply shock the public into caring, but instead of using over dramatized scare tactics and warnings we would show the public what kind of potential damage a tsunami could inflict on the islands using simulated examples of before, during, and after pictures from a faux tidal wave and also by putting posters and plaques in the streets to keep the idea of a potential tsunami constantly in the public eye. The second part of our plan has to do with educating our youth. I believe it was Shane who pointed out that every kid remembers “stop, drop, and roll” so with that in mind why couldn’t we make tsunami preparedness equally important in a young and impressionable minds through commercials, cartoons, and in school campaigns?

Mark Alexander

minute paper

Hurricane Katrina could have been less sever. But it is in the past and
we need to prepare for the future. For our future. If things can be put
in place to raise awarness to us, as well as other cities in risk, we
can save a lot of time money and lives. THis should be a big enough
change in global warming for people to start wanting to change, and
help the earth.

minutemen feb2808

today we discussed possible alternatives for Pre- Katrina warnings and Pre-Tsunami Hawaii warnings. I think these are really good exercises to get us thinking like futurists and i am enjoying this class a lot. I believe organizing a campaign for lifestyle changes is the most impactful and long term way to really reach people and ensure their better preparedness for any future event which will occur.

Andrew's Minute Paper 2/28

Something that registered with me both prior to class looking for information about potential hurricane risk in New Orleans as well as during the comments others made was how blatant the government misinformation was post-Katrina. Just by typing in "hurricane risk new orleans" I was able to find a quite plentiful resources detailing the risk to New Orleans, and yet various government officials claimed this was a surprising event. It can't be that their information is that poor, so it seems it must have been officials trying to make sure someone else took the blame for not informing them, rather than taking the blame for not having heeded the warning.
Again I found myself amazed at how differently the class went about the same task, raising awareness of a potential disaster. While the group I was in opted for a sort of scare/surprise tactic to get attention, others seemed to favor just the obvious, to avoid the scare.

Re: 1 Minute paper 2/28/08

talkin about katrina makes me sad all those people who lost everything and nobody would help them. In spike lees movie those people are starving on the street the cops are woried about one person stealing and the cops themselves are stealing. I saw the show cops post katrina and they where setting prostitution sting operations. I mean this is serious business we are talking about peoples lives for christ sake. the Republican party most notibly the Bush Administration doesn't care about people who are wealthy they 'ree administration is set on getting rid of the middle class so they can get richer. The Army Corps of Engineers had already launched a 748 million dollar contruction project in that very location (the 9th ward) but theyt spnt it on Barge Traffic? yeah right the corruption down there is astronomical. Over the past 5 years The Bush Administration  has given the state of louisiana about 1.9 billion(ACOE) dollars and they waste it on BULLSHIT!!!! what can we do as Americans to make sure are fellow countrymen dont die at the hand of some fool who cheated in the Election of 2000 against Al Gore. MY love gos out to the people who died in the wake of Katrina i will not stop until i make a difference in this world most specifically for my fellow man and woman.

minute paper thursday

today in class we were talking about how we might have better informed the people of new orleans before katrina, and i can't help but try and make a rebuttal that people all around the united states are already well informed. When i was in kindergarten i remember my teacher telling me how new orleans was below sea level , and the people there could not bury their dead, they had to bury them above ground somewhere. I can remember many times throughout my entire life how new orleans was vulnerable, and the levees weren't strong enough, they could only handle a category 3 hurricane. People want to blame the government for not being prepared or trying to hide potential disasters, when they are in the ocean, it just hasn't filled up yet.Anyway the civil engineers who mapped out the city must have taken this class, because to build a city under sea level you must be thinking ridiculously. That idea would sound ridiculous even today. Some might say it would be ridiculous to try to move a city, but it is more practical thinking then sitting in new orleans(the ocean floor), waiting for the water to come in. So if you think it's ridiculous, you move there make sure to bring a bucket, and a garden hose so you can siphon the water uphill.

Minute Paper 2/26

Well I did not attend class today and it seems like I missed an interesting and touching video about hurricane Katrina. That is something that is sad to see but yet nice how people come together and help each other. It is sad thought that it takes a disaster to bring people together. I guess I missed a good class.

Minute paper (2-26-08)

There were different feelings starting from the beginning of the video
to the end about Hurricane Katrina. Some of the feelings are sad,
scary, madness, tears, despair and compassion just to name few. I
arrived to Gulfport, Mississippi on August 31, 2005 for my advanced
individual training after basic training. Right when I got there, a
drill sergeant gave out a packing list and at the top of the packing
list it entitles "Packing list for Hurricane Katrina". I witnessed the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for two weeks we had to clean up and
assisted the community people by cooking them hot meals. It was an
honor giving this opportunity to interact with them and see how much
this people have been through was a lot. It makes me feel devastated
and all the further planning before, during, and after Hurricane
Katrina was not properly carried out. The citizens were heavily
affected physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. There was
not a good communication between the affected states with the federal
and support services for assistance. The situation leads up to a
"pointing finger" kind a scenario which somehow is right because the
actions to followed up Katrina involves a responsible number of people
to solve the problems.

Minute Paper 2/26

"When the Levees Broke" was a very impactful movie since it was talking about a natural occurance in our own country. Seeing all of those people without homes, food, and water, makes you feel for them and makes you want to help in any way you can. I remember after hurricane Katrina hit, one of my friends was living in the states and decided to go down there and try to help the people in anyway that he could. The movie also showed how shallow-minded and cold our government can be.

Andrew's Minute Paper 2/26

After seeing the video about the aftermath of the disaster, I can only really express shock. In part, unfortunately, this is because I am somewhat oblivious to much of what happens in the news sometimes. As such, though I had heard at the time that something had happened, it never truly registered how devastating it was. But even worse was seeing how little had been done to help. Probably what got my attention the most was the parallel to the tsunami. How is it that within two days aid can be gotten somewhere else in the world, and yet in the United States it took so long? And not only did it seem to have taken too long, it took the outcry on the radio of the mayor to really get federal attention. I can only say, it further emphasizes the many problems of the Bush administration.

Wow~

The movie we watched today was abosolutly touching. Hurricane Katrina is such a tradegy to New Orleans, the churchs in my country got groups of people together to go down there and help and it didnt even do a minor dent in what needs to be done. It really is sad to think that if somthing like that happend to us our country wouldnt respond in the right way. I can only hope that somthing for our future changes because at the way it looks in our future many more devistations will happen and it would be comfortable to know that our country would be there for us. That movie was amazing and im really glad I got to see it, for all of those who missed class-really missed out.

minutemen feb2608

today we watch the video about Hurricane Katrina. I thought the video was interesting and I'm glad we had time at the end of class to recognize what a good job the groups did!

Minute Paper 2/26/08

The documentary that we viewed in class today, "When the Levees Broke" portrayed the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans. It is funny how most Americans don't know the actual truth behind what really happened in August of 2005. This documentary definitely cleared up the many questions I had about this disaster. I felt that this documentary really moved me in a way that it got me really questioning about our own government. It was definitely uneasy to see people in my own country suffering and dying in need of help as it took so long for our own government to respond. I hope that by watching documentaries like this actually tells the American people the truth in how exactly our own government responded in the time of desperate need.

Minute Paper 2/26

I remember back in 2005 sitting at my grandma’s house in Virginia a few days before heading up to Arlington for my grandfather’s funeral and watching as Katrina hit the Gulf Coast with my aunt and uncle who are Louisiana residents. Other than September 11th it has to have been the most surreal event I have ever experienced, with us calling cousins to confirm that they where alright and my uncle realizing that his car would be underwater as we watched the storm rage on TV, will forever be ingrained in my memory. Yet as terrible as those events where we had barley even touched on the magnitude of the disaster until we began to see pictures and videos of its aftermath with communities completely destroyed and many lives lost. Days lingered on and I could not help but wonder how there could have been so many failures by so many different government officials from Governor Blanco, Louisiana Governors before her, FEMA, Homeland Security, President Bush, and into former President Clinton and presidents before him all of whom ignored the potential dangers that New Orleans faced, and in the case of those in power at the time of Katrina (Blanco, Bush, ect…) their insufficient response before and after the disaster is still shocking to me today.

Oh, and as honored as I am that my group won today I just wanted to say that the group who presented the excellent 4 different goverments skit, in my opinion, was just as deserving of a victory today.

Mark Alexander

Minute paper for February 26, 2008

Today we were given the opportunity to watch Spike Lee's groundbreaking documentary "when the levees broke" about the tragedy and effects of Hurricane Katrina on the people of New Orleans. Previously, as a former dedicated viewer of Oprah, I had heard about the film before it was released and had always wanted to watch it just as I still need to watch "An Inconvinient Truth." So I was very pleased to hear we'd be watching it, and intend on buyig it after seeing what we got to today. Even without watching the video I had been aware of our government's slow response to the tragedy that was Hurricane Katrina. In fact, I used my knowledge as examples to attack our government in some of my newspaper articles in high school. Anyway, I remembered just watching the news about the whole situation and becoming more and more infuriated due to the fact that the tragedy occurred only six months after we hurriedly came to the rescue of the tsunami struck Thailand. I remember losing more respect for my government in witnessing that they could quickly come to the aid of other countries like Thailand or Iraq, yet when it came to a disaster on our own soil, they allowed our people to suffer for days before they really showed their presence. I remember hearing on Dateline that vice president Dick Cheyney had been hunting while all te devastation was going on. I remember Kanye West's statement "George Bush doesn't care about black people!" I remember debating with myself about whether those people had any right to be looting the stores. I remember sympathizing with them for having to steal food because for some reason none was being sent to them. I remember hearing that our government had been aware that the levees weren't strong enough to withstand the hurricane. Honestly, the video today allowed me to know so much more about the pathetic way in which the tragedy was handled and how badly the people of New Orleans suffered and still suffer. Also, the story of the man who had to let go of his wife in the wheelchair, just broke my heart. I believe Mayor Nagin did the best he could with his resources, to take on such a tragedy as widespread as that, just in the position he has, I believe he did well and should be commended. There were many parts in the video that built up my disappointment, moreso anger, with the government, but i have to say the part that infuriated me the most was the shot of President Bush hugging and kissing some of the victims. It's like 'oh hey I'm five days late, assuming I had no idea about the possibility of this happening, and I could've saved the lives of more than a thousand people, but I was too concerned about what was going on Iraq and I just don't have the capacity to deal with two major things at a time, unless it's in another country, but I'm here now so give me a hug.' Just dumb. Obama for president!=)

minute paper

today in class we saw the spike lee documentary "when the levees broke." The movie was about the impact that hurricane katrina had on new orleans before durind and after the storm. It showed how 80% of the city was under water and the city was devestated. It wasn't even declared a state of emergency for quite some time. Some people said that they had heard explosions inferring that the governtment blew up the levees intentionally. Many people were aware of the apparent danger, and many fled to high ground, while others could not, or chose to stay. The damage done by katrina was enormous and unfathomible and most of the damage caused by katrina to this day has not been restored. People want to point fingers at who is responsible, but in all actuality the city is 6 feet below sea level, and should have never been built in the first place. New orleans will continue to flood forever and ever, just as did at least 3 time in the last 100 years, the 20s, 60s, and with katrina.

2.26.08

Watching that movie today was intense. When Katrina happened I was
living in a place without TV or radio. I knew that it happened, and
that it was bad, but I had no idea how bad it really got. To see
America fail so badly at responding to such a huge situation is scary.

katrina

The film " when the levees broke" is amazing. Spike Lee put everything
together perfectly. It is such a sad thing what happened and how it was
handled. I believe that it all could have been handled faster and those
people in the superdome would not have had to suffer, or anyone else.
How can we fix other countries when we cannot even fix our own? How do
you defend your own country when the inside is failing. It is like have
and building but forgetting to stablize it, so therefore it just falls
because nothing is in the inside. I just hope that the next president
will be able to help the people, then help other countries.

02.26.08

that video today was so sad. the amount of damage caused by Katrina is
absolutely staggering, and the federal governments response is
infuriating. it is so wrong how politics and power can take priorty
over human life, and it just goes to show how twisted our current
political system is. there was a comment made on the film about why
bush didnt react sooner and one of the reasons given was the "arrogance
of power," and i think that was a really good way to put it. i think
power can definitely blind people to the things that really matter, and
hurricane katrina is a good example. i cant wait until bush is out of
office, he has in many ways very clearly illustrated that he does not
deserve his current title. another thing that the video ellucidated is
the fact that litte to no pro-active behavior was taken to preven this
type of damage from occuring, all of decisions made were re-active. Had
the people from the past taken a serious look into the future to
evaluate the possibilities, some of which are gaurenteed to occur (such
as a large storm), maybe the aftermath of katrina would have looked
very different. it was pointed out in the film how lightheartedly the
levees were taken, with no serious effort or concern being placed in
their completion. it just goes to show how important and absolutely
necessary it is to contemplate the future and find ways to plan ahead
in order ensure our survival and well-being.