Reflections Post: Weeks 13 & 14, Overall

Reflection Week 13:
So this week our big thing was a tour of Goodwill on the west side of Duluth.  I have visited this store many many times, to donate items, and to shop.  Being a college students and having so many thrift stores in Duluth is awesome.  I love finding cool used stuff, and paying next to nothing for it.  This field trip was so much different though than any other time I have been there.  Driving up to the store I looked at it like I always do because its such a HUGE building but it never actually crossed my mind as to what goes on in the rest of the building.  It was amazing to take a tour of the entire place and see all the stuff that actually goes on!  I felt like one of the more educated people on the topic of goodwill, which was kinda cool.  I always knew that they provided a jobs to the mentally disabled, and that they are non-profit.  The mattress thing blew my mind.  The fact that they take goods that no one wants and are 1 step away from going to a landfill, and then have some guy from the Twin Ports area design a machine to compress old mattresses into a 2x2x2 brick that they can sell is awesome.
On Wednesday I did my final post for my SMART goal, overall I am super stoked on how I did.  My goal to eat red meat only once a week proved to be a lot easier than I thought, and also over the course of this class I have a completely new outlook on food.  I am taking small steps toward become a nutritionally sound person.  Next things on my list, cut out the alcohol, and hopefully have some type of a garden this summer!  Eating less red meat, and getting my proteins from other more eco-friendly sources will always be going on in my life.
Friday I did my final post the Read 'n' Seed.  All in all the book wasn't bad, I struggled with the style of writing the author used.  When picking out books I should have looked at some less "scientific" ones.
Week 14:
Monday we had our last class :'(.  I'm not even being an ass kisser when I say this is one of the best classes I have ever taken.   You know going to college and taking all these stupid generals that no one is actually passoinate to learn about.  Its refreshing to learn life lessons in class, and not some stiff blabbing at you with a powerpoint straight out of your extremely over priced textbook.  We all brought in our junk projects and there was so many cool ideas!
Wednesday, I did my other group members Online learning activity and learned about the negative effects smoking has on people's health, and how it discourages them from exercising.  I also learned about some Water sanitation issues from around the world, and how the gov't can control what consumers buy so much, that they can damage farmers business by just saying there is a possibility of contamination of a certain crop.

So today is my last post.  Did all the share and voices, eye openers, junk projects, blogging and all the other stuff for the semester.  Which I feel like I learned from definitely.  My favorite parts of the class had to be the documentaries.  They were very eye opening and just kind of inspire me to be a better person and take action on issues.  It also makes me want to be a more educated person on things so that I can in turn educate others.  Which is exactly what the makers of documentaries are trying to do, is create a chain reaction in us, and to be completely honest I probably would have never watched any of those if they hadn't been shown to me in this class.  So now that I had all this information conveniently presented to me I will take it as my responsibility to get it out there to others throughout my life.  This class has honestly changed my life.

Pam