The Road not yet taken....or is it?

Hello dear Readers,

Sorry for the late update, but I needed material to write this blog entry (and the next one). Yay for me! I have told you the countless times that the MDG project encourages (sometimes demand) a student to be active and engaged in their learning. This is the topic of today's blog. A secondary (yet still very important) project towards the road to IB has been handed down to us by my SS teacher. It is called IA, for Internal Assessment, a 2000-word essay about a specific question for a historical figure, event or movement. We don't get to write the essay (Hallelujah!) but we do have to provide an 8-page research on our particular topic. At first, I was confused because I thought the MDG topic and the IA topic was one and the same. They were not. It's funny now but I panicked when my teacher cleared it up for me. 

After much careful deliberation I narrowed my topic down to Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. I picked this particular event because it is one of the last remaining "Communist" country and it sits like 90 km of the Coast of Florida. That latter reasoning is especially intriguing for me because it's the "personification" when I think about Communism (Cuba) staring at the shining face of Capitalism (the USA). Another good example is the tale of the Two Koreas but that's for another time and place.

 "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist."
–Dom Helder Camara, Brazilian archbishop

Anyways, I have (again) taken the road not yet taken (if it makes sense). For the research for the IA topic we had to find 10 scholarly sources. Our teacher said we can go to our local libraries and the University's library to find the acceptable sources. I went to my local library and found none. So, I had to quickly concoct a plan to find those sources and start doing the research. I finally made up my mind and decided to independently (like by myself) go to the city's Central Library. I went to our local library on Thursday, I went to the Central Library on Friday, the next day. I know it doesn't seem much but to me that's a huge deal. I did for the sake of finishing the research and because I wanted to be engaged (for some odd reason). I actually went out and not hide in my very comfortable nest. I don't want to sound or brag about being this really independent guy because an acquaintance of mine appeared at the last minute and we journeyed to the library together. I just want to point out that every single librarian was sooooo soooo nice, so don't judge the book by its cover!

The next day, two my buddies traveled to the University's Library. Yes, that's right. Back-to-back library "field trip day". It sounds nerdy but it was awesome. It was my first time at the University campus, so it was very memorable for me. That could not have been more true when we reached the sign-out counter (to ask questions on how to borrow University books). The very polite librarian (I mean it) informed me that I needed an ID to sign out books. I froze. My two buddies had their ID and special card to borrow books. I only had the special card but everything became cheery again when my two smart buddies suggested that they'll borrow the books for me. I was totally relieved. After two hours at looking at books, we found our respective sources. We signed our books out and went to this special place that I shall be talking about in tomorrow's blog.

(Branching Out)


I know it may seem very irrelevant to you that I blogged about my experience but its very rewarding for me. I have to the final realization that I can be engage, that I can be active and that I can be both an observer and participator. And that's a huge step even though I just realized that in the waning days of the first semester.

Sorry for not putting a Youtube vid, I'll re-compensate by putting 2 next time.

Until next time,
MDGProject......