Five more days until the big event…

What we have left to do? We, the class, did accomplished many things on our list to do such as discussed/planned for the event, worked on ASKS, participated outside events in the local community, and completed documentation projects. However, we have many things to do before and during the big event. Some of us need to work on food preparation before the event arrives. Others need to get ready for the set up and decorations.

What tasks do I need to accomplish or finish up this week? The major tasks are helping whatever I can with the event and writing my final papers for the class and internship.

The history committee is almost done with the program. I already saw the program and I’m happy with the result. We, the committee, need to discuss about the set up on our station and what we need to do.

I’m looking forward for the big event in five days. I hope we will reach our fundraiser goal and enjoy ourselves during the event.

http://preservingplaces.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/t-shirt-design-revised-022514.jpg

Committee and interpreters

Over the past week, my history committee worked on several different projects. Katie is working on design of the gala’s program. I am assisting her. Brendan is working on the green map. The program and the green map will join together as one copy. Calvin and Dustin are working on radio show with others. So far we are still in the process of developing the program and green map since we need information, stories, and letters to complete it soon.

For my internship with Dr. King, I’m working on a project that pulls interpreters to the gala hoping to draw the Deaf community (for example, ASL Baltimore Region Meetup) in Baltimore to attend. I’m working with my interpreter coordinator (from UMBC) to ask CCBC students who are practicing to become interpreters to accept the job without payment. But these CCBC students will benefit from this since they need the practicing hours for their course and mentoring from experienced interpreters. The experienced interpreters will get paid through UMBC by interpreting for me as a UMBC student. It is a win and win situation with no necessary expense.

Garden Work Day

http://filbertstreetgarden.blogspot.com/2013/04/grand-opening-fundraiser.html

On Saturday, April 19, I went to the Garden Work Day with some of the class. One fun occurrence happened when I was about enter into the garden and several children stopped me. They told me point-blank that I had to sign my name on the sign-up sheet before I went in the garden. It was funny and happy that they took their jobs seriously.  Most of time I was helping with the garden and following the orders of Jason and Stephanie. I did plant some of strawberries in the new area to help spread the strawberries. I helped set up with the wood poles for a different area of blueberries plants.  All of the AMST students and Dr. King helped with planting four plum trees. We then worked putting mulch on several different areas of the garden. It was a good and beautiful day to work outside. At the end of the Work Day, I was satisfied, tired, and happy to help some with the garden.

                On the committee, the group is still in the process of designing two different projects which are the garden gala program and green space tour brochure . Hopefully, we will get the information that we needed to put into our project soon. We desire start to our projects this week.

http://www.ubalt.edu/about-ub/offices-and-services/university-relations/portfolio.cfm



http://ian.umces.edu/blog

As my partner Bonnie said on her blog, “Trying to get donations for our event is easier said than done.” Bonnie and I decided to work together as a team to try to get donations from Annapolis’ local businesses. At first, I emailed about 17 businesses on April 7^th and 9^th. Unfortunately, we received no responses except one response to decline. On Saturday April 12^th, we decided to go to hit the streets in Annapolis downtown. We visited the businesses that I already emailed and stopped by any local business. Most of people we spoke to were willing to listen to us and often gave a name to follow up on Monday or Tuesday. We were able to get donations from two local businesses. First was ARMADILLO’s, the owner was very friendly and enjoyed talking with us about the Filbert Street Garden. The second donation was from a restaurant called Crush Kitchen &Winehouse. It was a good day of hard work and a learning experience for us.

On the committee work, the group continues to work on several divided projects. The projects are a brochure of green space and a program of local history and art. This week, the group will work on a design for both projects.

On my documentation/written projects, I continued to go to the Pratt library for sources in hopes to find some background and information on my two places. My two places are Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard and Sparrows Point. Hopefully, I will finish it soon as possible.

Projects and ASKS

In the next few weeks the committee will have the group work separately on different projects. Katie and I will work on making a program for the fundraiser. Brendan and Calvin will together to create a booklet highlighting Brooklyn history. Dustin will continue working on making video.

http://www.civicartsproject.com/2011/12/20/downtown-annapolis-maryland/

                Bonnie and I are focusing on Annapolis for the ASKS. We are planning to hit the streets this week. We will go and meet businesses in person that are on our list of contacts. One of our ideas is to walk downtown and meet additional local businesses to see if they are willing to support the fundraiser through ASKS. Another idea is go to the farmers market and meet people there. We are hoping to pass out the ASKS and get information about local green produce.

http://thrutheatticdoor2.blogspot.com/2011/08/annapolis-royal-farmers-market.html



History Committee, the ASKS, and spheres of influence

On the history committee, the group continues the work on a tour brochure of the green spaces and a booklet highlighting local history. However, our process is going slowly. We need to gather more information, especially history of Brooklyn. Our work will begin to come together days before the fundraiser day.

For the ASKS, the class talked about asking businesses especially local ones to support our campaign. The class will spilt the work for the ASKS by putting us in different areas such as inner Baltimore. I would work with Annapolis area since I live close. For the businesses, these should be local and green.

My spheres of influence are somewhat small. I am involved with taekwondo. I am planning to ask the owners of the Taekwondo School to consider donate since the owners grew up in Brooklyn. I might ask my neighbor since some have their own businesses. I am planning to go downtown Annapolis to give the ASKS because it has many local businesses.

http://www.historicinnsofannapolis.com/chesapeake-bay.aspx

 

Marc Steiner and the Pratt Library

http://www.steinershow.org/about/marc-steiner/

I watched two videos which were introductory video on Marc Steiner and video of Steiner’s lecture at UMBC.  First, I watched the introductory video about Marc Steiner. It was very interesting. My thoughts are that Steiner did a lot of social activism for many years. I can see that he was very passionate. I never knew that Steiner was the youngest civil rights worker in Maryland. It was obvious that he began his social activism at a young age. I thought it was cool that Steiner went to Baltimore City College (high school) since my dad did attend the same school during his teenage years.

The second video I watched was Steiner’s lecture at UMBC. Steiner talked about CEM (Center for Emerging Media) and “the importance of developing deep listening skills.” He addressed many things such as social activism, social justice, housing issues, history relating to Baltimore, and Baltimore itself as an important part of growing issues within the community. Overall, I thought it was interesting and learned several things that I never.

http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/central/



                On the separate subject, I went to the Enoch Pratt Library last Thursday. I got my library card with the help of Prof. King. She and I went to the Maryland Dept. to look for information relating to Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyards. Both of us found many old articles about the subject. I uncovered numerous interesting things (facts and stories) about shipyards. I enjoyed reading and learning about it. I planned to come back to the library to look more. Plus the library itself is very beautiful with many architecture aspects.  

                While I was looking at the articles at the library, one of my interpreters and her husband were with me. Both of them were also reading the articles. As we were reading together, I discovered that both of them have connections with Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyards since both have uncles that worked at shipyards years ago and during in World War II. At one point, my interpreter’s husband saw a picture of an article containing several women who were labor workers at the shipyards. He thought that one of several women in the picture could be a former girlfriend of a family member. I thought it was very interesting!

Committee Work and Mapping Baybrook write-up

http://www.weymouthdramaclub.com/members

                For the committee work, I am involved in the History committee with Katie, Brendan, Calvin, and Dustin. Our committee focuses on local history, connecting with the community itself and selling products.



                For local history, we plan to have a walking tour brochure of the green spaces and a booklet highlighting local history. Both products are planned for people to take it home with them. Our committee plans to give a digital story of the garden since the event will have Wi-Fi. We thought about using layered transparencies to create a map that shows the changes over the years.

                For products, we plan to hold a bake sale and produce sale. We also discussed selling buttons and stickers. The designs of buttons and stickers could be pictures of Baybrook maps or our title of garden fundraiser.

                Overall, I thought the committee work was very interesting and gave the members of the class opportunity to learn to work together for the benefit of the Baybrook community. Hopefully, our work will be a success at the event along with our other committees.

                My Mapping Baybrook write-up is a challenge since my topic is Bethlehem Fairfield shipyards. It is a large subject to tackle. The shipyards have many stories local and general. It also has a long history that began in late 1880s. My goal is to take all the information and create a good story about the shipyards and how they affect Baybrook itself.

Committee work, Craft Fair, and Research...

Last week, the committee work is interesting to watch and participate. I have little experience with the committee work and I’m curious how it works within the class. Hopefully, the group I am participating in will have success with the craft fair and fundraiser.

             The craft fair is a good idea for AMST class to start on a small scale. Hopefully, the class will learn from it and apply the experience on next one which is the fundraiser. I hope the craft fair will be a success for AMST class.

My research is very fascinating so far. I learned many things I never know before about Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard. The shipyard itself has a rich history and linked to the community and the events such as World War II. I will continue to research more since the shipyard is a critical part of the Baltimore and Baybrook community’s old memories of a thriving city that is all but forgotten.

http://www.baltimorebrew.com/2013/05/03/a-blue-collar-future-proposed-for-sparrows-point/

The field trip to Baybrook, last Saturday, was very interesting. It helped me to better visualize the image of Baybrook and understand the reasons to support the project’s fundraiser for Filbert Street Garden. I enjoyed Filbert Street Garden’s tour by Jason Reed. I liked the methods of using the garden to support the community itself such as school children learning about gardening and teaching the adults as well. Later, I glimpsed where Fairfield-Bethlehem shipyards. This was helpful since it is my research assignment. The shipyards were used in World War II to build Liberty ships. At the end of the war the ships were stripped apart for metal then sunk in the Baltimore Harbor which polluted the water. This caused a problem which continues to today.

                                

                           http://mappingbaybrook.org/?people=794

The oral history readings were fascinating and an important part to understanding Baybrook’s past. I can see how much effort is involved with oral histories and building stories to tell the audience about Baybrook. Catherine Leocadie Benicewicz’s oral history was a good one since she was lived and grew up in Curtis Bay. She provided the stories telling how Baybrook was in the past.  

For the research assignment, Katie has kindly given me some information about Fairfield-Bethlehem shipyards from her own research to start my own. The Fairfield-Bethlehem shipyards are certainty full of rich history. It was a vital part of World War II and Baltimore’s past that is slowly fading and being forgotten. I will continue to work on it. I plan to gather more information from the library, internet, and newspapers especially Baltimore Sun.  http://ghostsofbaltimore.org/2013/10/16/great-photo-bethlehem-fairfield-shipyards-1941/

Blog 3 Prompt

I am looking forward to meeting the art students today.  Unfortunately, I did not attend last Tuesday’s class so I’m curious what ideas they offer relating to creating a logo for Baybrook project and image(s) for the t-shirts. I’m interested how AMST students and art students will work together on numerous projects. I’m interested in how the two groups will work on the present and the past to represent the future of Baybrook’s history through art and documentation.

The Bringing to Life Baltimore '68: Riots and Rebirth—A How-to Guide by Jessica I. Elfenbein is very interesting to read. It shows lots of work and effort to provide an overview of Baltimore ’68. I noticed the documentation was difficult even with history information. It encouraged the universities and communities to work together for public history projects especially ours.     

For the research topic/focus, I found several topics of interest to me. First is Fairfield-Bethlehem shipyards WWII since I enjoy World War II history. The shipyards have a rich history with shipbuilding especially Liberty Ships for military assistance during the war. I’m curious about the shipyards’ past and present with Baybrook. I’m also interested in the neighborhood’s opinion of the shipyards such as is the shipyards a curse or blessing from the past to present. Overall, I hope I will learn more about the history of Fairfield-Bethlehem shipyards and how use it to support the fundraiser.

Second topic is food deserts. I’m interested in Baybrook’s history of deserts, the timeline of such as when it has their development, pre and past war. Food deserts are defined as:

“An area where the distance to a supermarket is more than ¼ mile, the median household income is at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level, over 40% of households have no vehicle available, and the average Healthy Food Availability Index score for supermarkets, convenience and corner stores is low (measured using the Nutrition Environment Measurement Survey).”
http://www.baltimorecity.gov/Government/AgenciesDepartments/Planning/BaltimoreFoodPolicyInitiative/FoodDeserts.aspx

I’m curious about the neighborhood’s opinion concerning food deserts. For example, how did they feel about their deserts in Baybrook. Same with the shipyards, I would like to learn more about food deserts.