After gaining and collecting information pertaining to my project, I finally decided on what exactly to do for my project. I chose to use the interviews that I conduct to post on a web page that I create. In addition to posting the interviews, I plan to identify the proper government officials to send these interviews to. Also, the interviews will be sent to the current presidential candidates in order to provoke a new perspective on initiating warfare with any opponents. So far, I used the popular internet Facebook network to create my web page which includes a group name, logo, description, my email, my physical address, a “recent news” category, and a discussion board. I think this site was optimal for my needs in carrying out half of my project. The web page also allows people to post photos and videos of their own, along with their comments regarding peace and war. I provided a name and description of the new group which are:

Name: We Are One

Description: “World peace through communication:

Perhaps we are the ignorant ones, those of us who embrace the simplicity of a dilemma whether or not to go to war. Of the countless crusades, battles, civil wars, and world wars, can we easily say that the majority of these conflicts have been suppressed and eliminated? Has deadly combat resolved these disputes in a manner that is complimentary to human-kind?

This Facebook group is merely an introduction to improving the beautiful world that we live in by consciously erasing the perverted concept of initiating warfare to solve national and/or international discords.

I am looking for open minded members, as well as some closed minded members, of literally all different races, religions, nationalities, and any other ideology that our human race has come up with.

Also, I am searching for at least three people to interview: one Iraqi, one North Korean, and one Vietnamese.

– A new anti-war and peace activist,

Justin Frederick

The long-term goal is straightforward: world peace.”

On the web page I posted an article relevant to peace and war describing recent events in Iran’s president, Ahmadinejad’s, failed attempt to visit the World Trade Center site. Following the article, I posted some questions for readers to respond to about the article. I asked the readers:

1. Do you think the NYPD’s decision was fair? Why or why not?

2. Is the article biased in your opinion? If yes, how is it biased?

3. Identify the positive aspects about Iran and its president that were mentioned in the article. Compare the number of positive aspects mentioned to the number of negative aspects.

4. Do we know what “arrogance” Iran’s president is speaking of in reference to the United States?

Personally, I feel like the article was slightly one sided, partially because Ahmadinejad’s opinions and statements were not integrated into the article. In addition to the article, I mentioned that their was a very interesting interview that aired on United States television some time last weekend, which allowed Ahmadinejad to explain himself and how he feels about the United States and our president.

While remaining up to date on current events involving issues on war and peace, I must carry out several other tasks: I am still looking for the relevant people to interview, I need to get into contact with the local senators and presidential candidates or someone in their offices, and I need to come up with the specific interview questions that will tackle the problem of warfare and prove to governments and citizens that we suffer as a human race from deadly combat.

In each of the twelve years of grade school, my favorite subject was always mathematics. However, once I reached college I needed to pick a major from a list that included ten times as many subjects as in grade school. I was incredibly indecisive in the beginning, after seeing my options. After considering all of the amenities that came with each major, I finally chose physics. Right now I plan to pursue a Ph.D. in an undecided area of physics, conduct research in that area, and teach students as a college professor in either physics or math. The theology class, that I am currently taking, pertains to my career goals partly by improving my writing and communication skills. Conducting research in physics involves writing very detailed and comprehensive research papers explaining what you have concluded from your experimentation. Also, scientists must periodically write proposal letters to boards which either approve or disapprove of the scientist’s proposed research. In order to receive my Ph.D., as a graduate student, I may have to help my principle investigator (of the research) to write some research papers. In addition, I will be expected to write my dissertation to complete the Ph.D. program. As a university professor, clear communication skills with the college students will be crucial to getting the class topics across to the students in an understandable manner. Explaining new concepts in any subject demands clear teaching methods. For an informative speech presentation in my freshman speech class here at Xavier, the topic I chose to speak on was the relationship between physics and religion. The title of the presentation was “Parallels between Physics and Religion”. In this speech, I gave several examples of how there are similarities between the beliefs of some religions and fundamental concepts in physics. The examples that I gave may be considered abstract, but my older sister and I were still in the process of collecting more clues of similarities in the two areas. One example included how Christianity teaches followers that there is a “Trinity” system with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. My older sister and I compared this idea to physic’s “trinity” (the three basic atomic particles): the neutron, proton, and electron. Within the speech, and from extensive research, I went into much more detail explaining the uncommon relationship.

Feminist criticism is a useful tool because it allows readers in general–that is readers of any sex, race, etc.–to take their text and to criticize it from several different point of views. Feminist criticism shows us all how to ask specific questions about our text like: How are women portrayed in this text? Do they speak? And are we given access to their point of view? We can use this criticism to expose how stories in the Bible portray a secondary position of women to the male’s superior role. This discrimination is seen in many stories throughout the Bible.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 30th, 2007 at 8:28 pm and is filed under Week 06: Related Readings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.