Your Tax Dollars At Work.... Or Are They?

      
            I recently had the opportunity to attend a screening of ethnographic films created by UAB students shown during the Collective Perspective film series at Vulcan Park in Birmingham, Al. The screening titled “Your Tax Dollars at Work: Documenting Federal Programs in the Magic City” highlighted documentaries that illustrated the effect of federal stimulus spending on Birmingham residents. This series was part of Vulcan Parks “Birmingham in the 1930s” and it examined life in Birmingham during the great depression.
          Before attending this documentary, I have to admit I was not very informed with what happened to the stimulus money in Birmingham and how the federal grants affected its residents. I do not live in Birmingham, Al and many of the topics covered did not and would not affect me personally. However, it was very interesting to see the hard work the students put in and finding out what actually happened to this money.
          To give a little background information, 15 students in UAB’s Ethnographic Film class taught by our very own Mrs. O’Beirne, MA and Michele Forman, MA recorded and produced seven short documentaries following stimulus money throughout Birmingham. The students, paired up in groups of two or three, each picked a specific project or organization that received federal funding and followed how they used the money. Even though all the documentaries were very interesting and important, the one that stood out to me the most was "Birmingham: YouthBuild."
          YouthBuild is an organization that offers second chances to many young adults that often do not have a college degree much less a completed high school education. They offer GED courses, construction classes and the chance to build homes for homeless families. This organization took the stimulus money and was able to keep doing great things for their organization that truly change lives everyday.
          These young anthropologists engaged in the new information technology phenomenon that is now more widley available to more contemporary anthropologists. This allowed them to use new data-gathering methods to achieve their ethnographic fieldwork.
          In the end, it was great to see many of the different ways that the stimulus money was used for the residents of Birmingham and a bit disheartening to find out that some of it was not used in the way it was intended. Overall, It was a great screening and I enjoyed seeing the film work of these students!


This is the screen where the documentaries were shown.

Me in front of a beautiful view of Birmingham at the top of Vulcan's mountain.

This is the statue of Vulcan with his spear touching the rainbow!

                                                                                      This is a replica of Vulcan's foot and is located inside of the museum. I thought it would be amusing to see my foot compared to it! lol :)

The Importance of Vocabulary During the French Revolution

   

        On Thursday, February 18, 2010, Phi Alpha Theta presented a lecture by Dr. Michael Fitzsimmons, a specialist in French history and a distinguished research professor at Auburn University-Montgomery. The stated purpose of the event was to examine the vocabulary of the French Revolution. The title of the lecture was, “Vocabulary of Revolution: Political Engagement and Linguistic Change in France, 1789-1799.”

          My expectations before the lecture were to learn about specified words that shaped the French Revolution and their respected meanings. However, Dr. Fitzsimmons directed his lecture towards the writing and publishing of the fifth edition of the French Dictionary. The dictionary, published in 1798, included an added “supplement” that contained new words since the revolution. It was believed this specialized vocabulary, known as the “revolution’s” language, contributed to the chaos of the French Revolution. The twelve editors of the dictionary, who chose to stay anonymous, believed the mixture of the universal French language and the “revolution’s” language is what brought around much pain and strife to the people of France. They used the dictionary as a way to standardize the French language and legitimize the revolution’s language. They not only studied words, but everything that was done with those words. They believed that one language combined with the principals of the revolution would bring about a unified state. There were linguistic wars against the Patois’ language. Dr. Fitzsimmons emphasized on the strong sense of nationalism displayed by many of the powerful political leader. The reason there was so much hostility towards the people who spoke Patois’ is that it signified loyalty to each other instead of loyalty to the nation. The dictionary’s purpose was to establish a lawful republic that once again would be loyal to the French nation.

          I enjoyed learning about the importance of language in other cultures. This specific situation exemplified the difference between the culture of France and the United States. France was trying to unify the nation around language, but here in the US, we tend to revolve our nation more around democratic ideologies. France believed that one language would create a nationalistic spirit within the inhabitants of the country. However, In the US, there are over 300 languages spoken and one can often find the same nationalistic spirit the French strived to achieve.

Waiting on the Lecture to Begin.                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                       Dr. Ftizsimmons in the middle of his lecture.

A Glimpse Into My Life

¡¡Hola!! Bonjour!! Hello everyone!! My name is Jessika Noriega-Alvarado. I am a sophomore majoring in International Studies with a minor in History and French. I would love the opportunity to serve my country as an ambassador to France one day. After I receive my bachelor’s degree, I would like to pursue my masters and doctorate. Graduating from college is a big deal in my family and I am very honored to have the opportunity to better my life and the life of my daughter.

I am a 23 year-old, single mother of a beautiful, amazing, intelligent 3-year-old little girl named Jazzlyn Amely. She is my whole world! Completing my degree and making a good life for us is very important to me because I would like my daughter to see that regardless of the tribulations that have come my way, I overcame, with the help of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I was able to accomplish my dreams. I have been blessed to have no physcial or mental disabilities to overcome. I am also a daughter, a sister (I have 2 younger sisters), a niece, an aunt, a sister-in-law, a friend, a student, a worker and most importantly a Christian.

My family moved to the United States from Guatemala in 1989 when I was just 3 years old. I was born in a small town named Coban, and most of my family still lives there. Spanish was my first language and I did not learn English until I started Kindergarten! Now my English is better than my Spanish, in fact, I even have a country accent when I speak Spanish! I may have been born Spanish but I was raised country! I am a Latin Southern Belle if you will!!

I had the blessing of being born into a missionary family and have been raised a Christian my entire life. I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal savior at the tender age of 10. We moved to Cullman, Alabama with some help from members of the First Church of the Nazarene in Cullman. We moved here with the hope of being able to reach the Hispanic population in America and so far, we have started 13 Hispanic churches of the Nazarene in North Alabama!

However, being a foreigner, especially in a small town in the south has had its share of difficulties. I was the first person of a different race to attend the school from where I later graduated. So at only 5 yrs old, not knowing a smidgen of English I made my mark in history. Many of the students I went to school with were not sure they liked someone different “invading their territory,” and by the time I was in 4th grade, I had already experienced racism to its violent truths. I was beat up by two 6th grade boys for trying to drink out of the water fountain at school! Throughout my life, I have experienced numerous amounts of racist acts towards me, but because of this, the Lord has given me the strength and desire to want to accept people from all walks of life. That diversity is what makes the world a place worth living in!

Living here, I grew up in a middle class family. I have worked since I was 15 and have earned everything I own. I am currently working as a hospice aide for Wiregrass Hospice in Cullman. I love my job and love my patients! Working, going to school and being a single parent all at the same time is one of the hardest things I have ever done! I wish I was lucky enough to just go to school and hang out with my little girl, but life is hard and sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to survive! However, when I do have free time (I forget what that is from time to time!) I love to hang out with my friends, go shopping, doing anything outside, I love to work out, cook, try new foods, travel, watch college football (ROLL TIDE!), and I always love a good movie! I love meeting new people and even though I can be shy at first, I quickly loosen up and become my goofy, outgoing self! I am a heterosexual female  and am currently single but I would love to find that special guy!  For now, I am just enjoying what life has to offer! A motto I like to go by is “Count your blessings, Learn from your mistakes, Love deeper, Dream bigger and make YOUR future amazing!!”

                  Me :):)                          Me and my daughter!! 

 The love of my life, Jazzlyn Amely!!