Discussions

At the William E. Norris Elementary School in Southampton, Massachusetts, our sixth graders took some time on the first day of school to ask some questions about the Gulf Oil Spill. These questions will guide our inquiry over the year ahead.

I see a BP ad in my local newspaper EVERY DAY! I think that they are just taking up space. We know what they are doing. They update us on the Oil Spill on the news pretty much every day. In one ad they say that their job is to listen to people's frustrations and needs, then put those thoughts into action. If they did listen to us, then this problem would most likely already be almost fixed because we would be able to help. Instead of taking up space for something we already know, let a new electronic devise or TV show take up the space.

Alexis 6th Grade

Despite all of the latest technological advances, people are beginning to think about the negative effects of relying on the internet. Sites like Google can sometimes impair a person’s need to think or remember a certain fact because they can simply search it, attaining results in a very short amount of time. Does this cause us to not utilize our brains to greatest extent? Perhaps, but when the world of information is on our finger tips it seems much more convenient to search the information rather than dispute it in one’s head. The article similarly says that Twitter is also taking over, limiting users to 140 words per posts that discuss ordinary aspects of everyday life. When a user has a very exciting life, then maybe it is worth reading, but to what extent is knowing where a person is every second of the day advantageous for yourself? If people spent the same time that they do reading Tweets, reading books or going to museums, or having conversations with people rather than the computer screen then perhaps it would be better off for them overall. Mainly, I think it is interesting that for a society that is fully engulfed in this technological era, we have a good grasp on pointing out the flaws in our activities, yet we rarely see major changes that would help them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/technology/21ping.html?_r=1&scp=14&sq=IT&st=Search

I think that this is one of my best and favorite pictures I have taken this year, because it had just snowed and there was little bit of snow on the ground and trees, and it was sunny out with some clouds in the sky, which I think that made this picture look good, and I also used photoshop to edit the photo which gave it kind of a cool effect.

I think this is one of my best photos from this year because it is reall intriguing and I htink that is shows off the skills I learned in Photoshop. This was photo was taken outside school and it is my friend's eye.

I feel that my work has progressed over the year and has become more interesting and thought provoking. In the beginning of the year I had little knowledge about lighting and object placement in a picture, but now I know the fundamentals of these concepts and I know how to incorporate them into my work. I like to take photographs of cityscapes with different sorts of lighting provided by the sky and reflections in the water. The reason I take photographs like this is because I like to see the way the different natural environments react to and contrast the urban environments. In the future, I wish to further my knowledge of lighting and weather because I feel like these elements of lighting and different weather will contribute to my urban photographs and give them a natural element to balance the not-so-natural urban environments.

I have to decide at what time it would be best to take photographs with the most primal lighting or sky. It is difficult to pinpoint the time of day with the best looking sky or the best lighting for photographs, and that is where Photoshop lends a huge helping hand. I will at times take a photograph of an area and then be in a completely different area where I like the look of the sky better. I'll take a picture of that sky and use Photoshop to incorporate that sky into my original picture to make that photo more dynamic. This is also where a knowledge of lighting comes into play. If you put a different sky from a different photograph onto another one, there might be differences in shadows and light sources. Different Photoshop techniques help in this respect because I am able to change the lighting of the photograph to better suite the changed light source. All of these things cross my mind when creating a new piece, because all of these things help to create a better piece.

Before this year, I would take photographs with little thought about the real position of the camera, or of the lighting and of the weather. This is mostly because I would take pictures whenever I saw something that I thought was interesting, not when I would set out to find photos. Though I do still mostly take pictures when I see something that I think is interesting rather than setting out to take photos, I now pay more attention to the placement of the camera according to the subject I am picturing, and also I pay attention to the lighting and most other things. Though things like these aren't easy to control, I'm always able to use Photoshop to edit these things to make them more appealing to viewers. I hope to explore in the future some more extreme weather conditions, which will make the settings I take pictures of pop out more and be even more interesting. I'm still growing as a photographer and I'm looking forward to taking more photographs.

Over the year I have taken hundreds of photos.  I think that my photos have greatly improved over the year, but I think my best one came off luck.  I was riding in the car and was taking pictures of things that looked interesting.  It turned out that as I took a photo of two trees, I didn't realize how good the picture would come out.  The tree on the right is very unique as it splits and makes the shape of a Y.  I think that the sunset makes the lighting perfect for that photo.  I also like how in black there are the buildings and the other road, even though it looks like a bridge.  When all those characteristics are put together, I think it makes a really good photo. 

On this episode of  Teachers Teaching Teachers,we talk to teachers from the Gulf Coast again. School has started in many places along the Gulf, and there are many different and mixed reactions as the emergency has turned into a long-term clean up effort and part of a chronic crisis in the region.

On this podcast you’ll learn what teachers and students on the Gulf were thinking about the BP oil spill in at the beginning of August, about 3 weeks after the cap was put on the Deepwater rig. You’ll also learn why they believe that the “Voices on the Gulf” project is more important than ever. If you haven’t signed up yet. We’d love for anybody who listens to Teachers Teaching Teachers to join the site!

We expect that students’ voices will dominate on the site once more schools start up, but we’d love to hear your plans, your thoughts, your voices on the site right now! Thanks!

On this podcast, Matt Montagne and Paul Allison are joined by:

• David Pulling, National Writing Project of Acadiana, Louisiana
• Stacey Ferguson, Live Oak Writing Project, Mississippi
• Catherine Tibbs, Live Oak Writing Project, Mississippi
• Lynette Herring-Harris, Program Associate, National Writing Project, based in Mississippi

Go to EdTechTalk to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

Photo: Creative Commons - Formation of the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, By eutrophication&hypoxiaNo real name given This image was created on August 20, 2010.

The BP oil spill didn't affect my family and me(that I am aware of) as far as having a family member injured, or not being able to eat seafood because of a shortage. I have a cousin who is helping with the cleanup now. He hasn't been back home since he left in May. As for the families who have lost their loved ones, their livelihood, or have been affected in any kind of other way that I have failed to mention, my heart goes out to all of you. It also pains me to see commercials of our wildlife that was and/or wasn't saved due to the tremendous amount of oil that spilled onto their homes and habitats. Once this matter is completely resolved, God bless that it never happens again.

My coworker's son lost wages within days of the oil spill.  Due to the uncertainty in the first few days after the explosion, the platform that he worked on was shut down and there were no shift changes.  Therefore, he and others spent 2 weeks at home without pay.  All wages were lost.

Photo: Creative Commons, Offshore platform located in the Gulf of Mexico, port location Cd. Del Carmen. Chad Teer on Flickr.

BP oil spill has affected my friends, family & love ones. My friends & family have lost their jobs. Their not making the same salary like they were before the BP oil spill. My uncle was working for an offshore company making $1800 a week, now my uncle is laid off and can't provide for his family. They are having financial and marriage problems. They were suppose to call him to help with oil spill but they haven't call yet. I believe its important for other countries to understand a disaster affected us. Other countries are going through disasters also that affect their lifestyles & salaries. Its informing information because you never know what a person going through when they experience a disaster. A national disaster should always being our people of america together. America is one nation under god and countries should help each other in grieve and salary cuts. I believe people have done a great job helping each other with disasters like katrina, haiti, and also BP oil spill.

I have such mixed feelings about the oil spill, it tears my heart to see our beautiful coastland corrupted by oil. The delicate beauty of nature tarnished. However oil is so vital to us, our livelihood, it is how my father provided for five. My brother, and many  cousins are in the oild field. My sister is a geologist who maps out oilwells. Life would certainly be different for us if this was no longer an option. Then there is the moratoreum, the spill is tragic but is this going too far? A larger percentage of our state makes it's living in the oil industry. Choosing between feeding your family and losing precious wildlife is not a position we should be in.

Photo: Creative Commons - BP Dead Pelicans Oil Spill Dead Fish Cupcakes, By InfrogmationInfrogmation of New Orleans on June 5, 2010

Animals panicking,
Sticky feathers,
Trying to wiggle free,
Sticky and icky,
A black sea,
A horrible oil spill.

Very lonesome,
Oil carrying me away,
Shifting me gently,
Making me sick,
I don't know what to think of.

Trying to flee away,
Too fierce to fly,
Securing me to the black oil,
A long tour across the ocean,
Separated from the others,
Sad and lonely,
Stuck in the ocean.

I don't have anything to eat,
I'm going to die,
No one here to protect me,
Afraid and scared,
Nothing to do, bored.

by Esther,
2010 LA Writes 3rd-4th grade poetry
Third place

Photo: Creative Commons - Oiled Pelicans - This photo was taken on May 8, 2007 By lagohsepLouisiana GOHSEP

louis_armstrong_-_do_you_know_what_it_means_to_miss_new_orleans_www.keepvid.com_.mp4

Imagine a world without New Orleans.  Would we "know what it means / to miss New Orleans?"

Take it away, Louis!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXFFI9budNI

August 29 five years ago is Southeast Louisiana's Day of Infamy.  The national media has given that event a lot of coverage in the past few days.  True, horribly true: watching those incredulous images from five years ago and acknowledging that the human tragedy resulting from that national disaster took place in the United States of America is unbelievable. And as a Louisianian with strong ancestral ties to the Greater New Orleans area submerged in Katrina's after-waters, the emotions are personal.

Aren't we as a nation better than we seemed to be in those intense days of horror?

And now, on the fifth anniversary, the oil spill has added a chapter to the region's hard-luck saga.  Katrina was a natural disaster, the oil spill man-made: But how and where do the two events intersect in the Gulf Coast's past as well as future?

I suspect there numerous points of discussion, but one that I believe we must pursue is BP's repeated promise in its multi-million dollar media blitz to "make it right" for the Gulf Coast.  To me, "making it right" includes addressing the environmental damage done to the barrier islands and wetlands along the Gulf Coast where hundreds of acres of marsh are claimed by the sea every month, indirectly at least because of the environmental impact of oil exploration.  If BP is going to "make it right," they (along with Chevron and Exxon and all the others, for that matter) should contribute massively to restorative efforts and projects that will protect the historical and cultural treasure of the New Orleans area from future hurricanes by rebuilding the natural barriers and protections destroyed or weakened not by Katrina (or Rita or any other storm), but by the industry's rapacious intrusion.

Big oil can afford the cost.  Until the industry repents for the vanishing wetlands tragedy and addresses the environmental issue head on, BP (and the rest) will fall short of "making it right." 

The oil spill did not affect me in any spacific way. It has, though, affected many people all over the state. People who worked in the oil field, restruant owners, fishermen, and so on. I think it is important for Louisiana as a whole to be supportive of everyone and come together as a big family. Our state, depends on the oil field for alot of incomes throught out the state.

I also feel that not only Louisiana should come together, but people all over the world! Because, its not only in Louisiana that had or has seafood on the menu, or sold gas, or plastic objects, drive cars, ride the bus, and so on. All over the world people use something at some point in the day use something that was made with oil. Not only the people that live on the gulf should have to worry about the clean-up or wonder what is going to happen. Everyone is affected by this everyday, whether they realized it or not.

The state bird of Louisiana only came off the endangered species list last year, and their reproductive rates are low. Breeding season just started, and the oil could pose a threat. How beautiful are the Brown Pelicans? I am no member of PETA but, we must do what we can to help the Louisiana Brown Pelicans. CNN news article said long before the brown pelican came to symbolize the tragedy of the Gulf oil spill, the giant bird stood for something much greater: survival against all odds. The state bird of Louisiana was nearly wiped out by pesticides in the 1950s and 1960s. With the risk of sounding cheesy we are all survivors, just a few months short of the 5 year mark of Katrina, the oil spill happened! Louisianian's we are survivors!!! So may I ask the question, who dat? WE DAT!!!

Hi, I am a Louisiana resident that have been affected by the gulf in many ways. I enjoy eating seafood. However the availability of my favorite seafood, oysters, has been scare and many restaurants are not serving them. On the other hand, I have friends that lost their jobs in the oilfield. I can only listen and sympathize what their are going through physically and emotionally. I consider the oil spill to be an devasting disaster amongs oilfield workers, but mostly the wildlife habitats and the species within them. Without them there would be no evolution!!!

Some people may think that the recent oil spill in the Gulf is no big deal, but if they would take the time to just listen they would see just how traumatic this situation really is. My prayers go out for all of the oil field workers and fisherman who are currently unemployed. I know its not easy to get up and not know how you are going to make ends meet financially, not knowing if you will be able to feed your families. I really think that the President needs to re-think his decision about drilling in the Gulf, because not being able to drill for oil is literally taking food out of all the tax payers' mouths.  

Photo: Creative Commons - Transocean's Development Driller III - By uscgd8
U.S. Coast Guard Eighth District External Affairs

ocean_dreams.mp3

Note: As someone who dabbles in songwriting, I have been trying to articulate some of my own perceptions and reflections about the Gulf Oil Spill. A news story this morning about the ineptitude of BP officials continued to frustrate and aggravate me, as it is clear they have never learned about past mistakes and only see drilling in terms of money. I suppose when writing this song, then, I was thinking how the ocean is this powerful entity that we don't quite understand, and yet still, we use it and the resources within it for our means.

Consider this more of a demo song than a finished product ...

Mr. Hodgson

Ocean Dreams

In the light where the moon cuts in-between
in the shadows of firelight, that’s where it seems,
we hold on to hope .... as the ocean dream

Down in the bottom, like a knife in our skin,
like a tattoo that’s broken - let the bleeding begin
We hold on to hope ... let the ocean breathe

We take what we want
We take what we need
we take it and try to believe
that there’s no harm in what we do

I think of the ghosts that swim in the graves
I pray for the people who live near the waves
I pray ... let the ocean dream

We take what we want
We take what we need
we take it and try to believe
that there’s no harm in what we do
that there’s no harm in what we do

(image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4563297509/)

"Mama ya don't say, uh/Oil and water don't mix/petrilio ain't good for no fish."

I lived for four years in New Orleans (got my elementary teaching credential through Tulane). When I headed back to the West Coast, one of the things I missed most about New Orleans, was the music, which was everywhere! It's been many years now since my last visit to Preservation Hall, but how fitting that this historic site would be the setting for a remix of a Mardi Gras standard, It Ain't My Fault - turning it into oil spill piece. It's almost as good as David Pulling's La Valse Criminell:-)

Note to self: Start collecting links to oil spill songs and add them to Classroom Resources for Investigating the Oil Spill.

Every Tuesday and Thursday Our School at Blair Grocery’s staff, students, and volunteers wake up at 5:30am to begin harvesting sprouts for our sprout runs. It is important to us that our sprouts are harvested just in time for delivery so that they are as fresh and nutritious as they can possibly be for the consumer. On the sprout runs 5 of the harvesters go together to the many restaurants which we have partnerships with all over New Orleans. At these restaurants we sell sprouts that have been grown by students, staff and volunteers such as basil, raddish, Sango, sunflower, etc. Throughout the seasons we change what we grow based on the weather so the menu changes from time-to-time. While this is necessary to keep up production it also acts as an educational tool, demonstrating that seasonal dishes are more sustainable and cost-effective...and still just as healthy and delicious. Moreover, our students get marketable skills for their future as they develop approaches to marketing and make sales directly to the chefs who use our produce. When we were harvesting this morning someone joked that we're taking that old "sowing the seeds of change" phrase to a new level.

Originally posted at/by Our School At Blair Grocery. August 12, 2010

by Mike Hoss / Eyewitness News

wwltv.com

For video story, see http://www.wwltv.com/home/Southeastern-dedicates-football-season-to-Chil...

Posted on August 19, 2010 at 10:21 PM

HAMMOND, La. -- Mike Lucas has been Southeastern's head football coach since 2006, but he's also got another job. For the last 20 years he's been a Sunday school teacher.

And recently a woman deeply affected by the oil spill spoke up.

"That was just totally tore up crying. She's got three children and she said the best times of her life were days down with her grandfather at his fishing camp,” Lucas said.

That day Lucas got an idea, and it centered around one victim of the oil spill: the children.

“But what is this, the spill and aftermath of it, doing to the kids? Who are losing out on the experience of growing up in Louisiana? The best thing, let’s go fishing, let’s go water skiing, let’s swim,” Lucas said. “And they can't do it.”

Lucas’s idea was to dedicate the upcoming football season to the children of the Gulf, reach out to those communities in need and touch the lives of those affected.

He brought the idea to his team, and it was unanimous: they were on board.

“Our eyes lit up and it was unbelievable to be a part of a program that’s willing to give back,” said Luis Sobalvarro, a wide receiver at Southeastern.

“There was some real teary eyed kids in there. You know it hits home,” Lucas said.

And it should hit home. Of the 90 Southeastern players, 65, or nearly three quarters of the team, are from Houston to Mobile. These are the children of the Gulf.

So Sunday the team loaded onto buses and headed for south Plaquemines Parish for a church service in Buras. Then they signed autographs and took pictures with area youngsters and got to meet the people hurt by the spill.

"Anything that support the people who need it, and coach let us know how blessed we really are,” said Tommy Connors, a safety at Southeastern. “So it feels good to be able to give back to people.”

And some of their support is sitting in boxes in a campus office. The team is selling "Children of the Gulf" t-shirts with all proceeds going to kids in need whose families are hurting because of the spill.

After an initial order of 1,500, they just ordered 700 more – an idea that’s gaining momentum.

“Maybe the folks down there will realize, hey, there's some folks up in Hammond that really do care and people that really do understand what we're going through,” Lucas said.

And who came up with the design? Who else? The head coach. “And that’s what southeast Louisiana is. You're gonna fish, you're gonna play some football, gonna do some water skiing. You know, that’s what kids in our area do,” Lucas said.

The awareness is a lot more than just selling t-shirts. Every southeastern football player this year will have an emblem on the back of their helmet: “COG,” or Children of the Gulf.

“The more games we can win, the more attention we can bring to the children. And for our country to realize how this part of the nation is really, really suffering,” Lucas said.

But the desire to win games, since you're playing for an entire region, will add more pressure to a pressure-packed job already.

“I don't know if it's pressure,” Lucas said. “Maybe more responsibility than pressure.”

“To be able to win that championship to recognize the Children of the Gulf, then it’s more of a complete season than we could ask for,” Connors said.

If you'd like to help out with the Children of the Gulf program by buying a t-shirt, they're $10. For more information call 985-549-2395 at the Southeastern football office.

By Heidi Rogers Kinchen of the Hammond Daily Star

Thursday, August 19, 2010 11:34 AM CDT

Environmental testing in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin has found no oil up to this point, though monitoring is ongoing, says Robert Moreau, director of Southeastern’s Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station.

Turtle Cove began water sampling in response to the spill in mid-June, Moreau said.

After tarballs were found in eastern Lake Pontchartrain, the research station added visual shoreline surveys of the western edge of the lake from the Tangipahoa River to the Peavine community, he said.

With the
first three rounds of water sampling completed, no oil has been found in the lake up to this point, and the visual surveys have had the same results, Moreau said.

Testing of clams taken from the bottom of the lake, as well as amphibian and vegetative monitoring efforts, remain ongoing, he said.

Moreau said the lack of oil in the basin is very good and unexpected news that he hopes will continue to be the case.

“I said before that the environment would recover a lot quicker than the economy,” he said.

“We’re hoping to carry out our work further, hopefully for the long-term,” Moreau said. “It is very difficult to take on projects like this with limited funding.”

Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess said local leaders have worked for years to try to clean Lake Pontchartrain and are now concerned about the possible damage that could be incurred from a hurricane.

“In the event oil comes into the Rigolets and Lake Catherine, what is in place to corral it from getting to our shoreline?” Burgess asked the BP representatives.

Lt. Timothy Pratt, of the U.S. Coast Guard, said 11 barges have been put into place to keep a scenario like that from happening.

If oil did get into the lake, however, “you would go to your contingency plan for a normal hurricane at that point,” Pratt said. “The main thing we’re looking at is keeping the oil out.”

CHILDREN OF THE GULF SHIRTS SELLING LIKE HOTCAKES - During Lionpawlooza,
representatives of the Southeastern Athletics Department sold "Children of the
Gulf" t-shirts for $10 each to benefit the "Children of the Gulf"
initiative. Founded by Coach Mike Lucas with buy-in from the 2010 Lion football
team, the initiative benefits children of the Gulf who are affected by the BP
Oil Spill. The shirts have been so popular that the Athletics Department placed
a second order for additional shirts. T-shirts can be purchased through the
Athletics Department. For more information contact the Athletics Department at
549-2395.

I am teaching 2 English 101 50% online courses this term, and the students are working on their first assignment -- a memoir. I have encouraged them to write on the Gulf Oil Spill, but I don't have a sense yet of who has taken me up on this topic. I will see them again next week and what they have started writing.

This morning, as I was reading a guest column on NOLA.com by Ray Mabus, I was hopful that between the lines of platitude, I would find something that would indicate what the plan would be to restore the Gulf. My hope was restored by reading the comments.

Mabus is in charge of formulating a gulf restoration plan, as promised by President Obama.

That's good!

But why does this guy's prose have to this sound like a BP commercial?

I grew up in Mississippi, which is one reason I was so honored when the president asked me to lead the effort to create a long-term recovery plan for the Gulf. It is also why I was so appreciative of his insistence that a recovery plan come from Gulf citizens themselves,
rather than imposed from Washington.

The Gulf is my home, and I understand the challenges the region faces. Without question, this is going to be tough. It will demand that all of us work together in innovative ways to make sure the right priorities are receiving the most attention. The Gulf community has always drawn together in tough times. It's what the Gulf does. It's what America does.

Where are the specifics, the mention of where things went wrong, and what has to change in this prose?

America needs a healthy Gulf. It needs the Gulf's environment, economy and communities to be healthy. While the Gulf region has suffered from this catastrophe, this administration has made it a national priority to make the Gulf healthy.

Compare Ray Mabus with one of the quick responses.

lsufanfemale posted this response to  BP must look at long-term impacts: A guest column by Ray Mabus on August 24, 2010, 7:04AM

Where's my compensation, BP? I was born in New Orleans and grew up in Metairie. I have lived my entire life here and I have always counted myself lucky to have been born in the city which I consider "home of the best food on earth". I am not alone in this opinion either. Sharing an oyster poboy and a cup of shrimp and corn soup for lunch with my daughter was a regular occurrence. You took that away. Walking into my mother's kitchen on a Saturday or A Sunday to a bowl of shrimp and okra gumbo was a way of life. You took that. Going down to da parish for a shrimp poboy at Rocky & Carlos on somebody's birthday was cause for celebration. You took that, too. Friday night at Acme oyster house with friends after work. You took that away. And the beaches---some of my fondest memories I have are of when my kids were little and I was supporting them of my job as a waitress. God knows I couldn't afford to take them to Disney, but I definitely could pack an ice chest with sandwiches and head off for Biloxi for the day. You took that away. You took that way of life that I hold so dear to my heart away from me. And you also stopped me from being able to enjoy it with my children. You destroyed our way of living and that is something that you can never replace. And to add insult to injury, you are now trying to tell me that the oil has suddenly disappeared. Are you freaking insane??? It will take years for the oil to vacate the gulf but who knows how long it will take to erase the doubts from my mind about whether what I am eating is truly safe. For some old-timers, that day will never come. So although I did not make my living from the water, I did LIVE here and now my way of life is GONE and it is all your fault. Where's MY compensation, BP???????? Seriously.

Thanks lsufanfemale!

Photos: Davis Pond, Louisiana: November 18, 1999 and December 15, 2003, Visible Earth: A catalog of NASA images and animations of our home planet. (These photos and the text under this link are here to suggest that "restoration" is not something new to the folks along the Gulf. It was an issue long before the BP oil spill.)

I'm mainly an adminstrator, so I only teach one class.  I shared earlier in this process about how I might try to involve my  comp class in this project this semester.  Early on, I was concerned that the mandatory "curriculum" on my campus doesn't allow enough wiggle room  to do much, but I've applied some creative  thinking and figured out how I can cover the syllabus and integrate Voices on the Gulf. By the end of the next week, in fact, VotG readers should be meeting quite a few LSU Eunice students who are joining the site and posting their own stories of how this catastrophe has affected them and the ones they love. We're going to revisit the site throughout the semester, and their culminating research paper later in the fall (the obligatory second semester comp project) will stem from their involvement with this website. I'm going to ask them to identify one of the channels of the site with their chosen major/career and find an "I-search" topic they can research and develop into a formal paper.  Around mid-November, they'll first develop an annotated bibliography as they explore their topic, and then they'll write the formal research paper that's due in early December. 

So when these students start showing up next week, not altogether sure of themselves and what they're posting, please make them feel welcome! 

Our first class meeting is Tuesday.  WIsh us luck!

Driving along La. Hwy 14 in coastal Vermilion Parish earlier this week on official errands, I was drawn to a roadside marker that reminded me how long the Cajun culture of this region  has endured.  At the same time, in considering the impact of BP's debacle, I was impressed with how tenuous  is  our grasp on this culture and the ways of life that attend it.  Even without the oil spill, the threats and challenges of the global 21st century are tough enough.  Greater than the economics and the environmental catastrophe, to me, is the threat of losing our cultural identity: much is at stake.

School started - with students - on August 11.  So far I have not found any students who talk about being affected by the oil spill.  Remember I teach in a small alternative school.  The students' responses can be summed up by one student who said, "I was in jail all summer, that oil did not affect me." When I asked him if they served seafood, he said, "No." Most of the students come from low-income families who are not even working.  I continue to ask.

The clean up crew on my street worked from the end of June to the first week of August and they are gone now.  Their port-a-potty has been removed, and I have not seen the Department of Environmental Qualtity trucks. Perhaps it is over now that the well has been capped. But I would not be surprised if the missing oil appeared one day off the
beach.

Our writing project, The Live Oak Writing Project has a writing retreat in October on Horn Island.  We are anxious to visit this fall in order to compare the island to its
pre-Katrina/pre-oil and then post-Katrina/post-oil environment. There have been
so many changes since we started visiting Horn Island in 2003. We want to compare our
observations of Horn Island to years past.

I was very disturbed to read in the newspaper Sunday that oil had been found in a pond on Horn Island. It was not a tidal pool which I could understand, it is a pond in the interior. I plan to investigate that. You know, people should really should come down for a visit, see it for themselves.

I'm happy to have this forum for student voices. I have enjoyed the national conversation around the BP oil spill this summer, and am working with my writing project site to collect student writing.

Photos from Anatomy of an Oil Spill: Part I, American Zombie, July 27, 2010

DoSomething, a nonprofit that uses online tools to encourage real-life action by young people, is one of the sponsors behind the upcoming Weekend without Oil. There's more going on here than riding your bike instead of hopping in the car (although that's top of the list). Even if your students don't take the pledge, I'm guessing the list of no-nos would generate an interesting class discussion. Or imagine a social media campaign around saying no to makeup, DVDs, electronics, and other products that contain petroleum.

I teach graduate and undergraduate art education classes for elementary majors. Our classes at the University of South Alabama (USA) start Monday and I'm interested in the personal/community impact (if any) my students have experienced as a result of the oil spill. I'm developing a simple, open-ended questionnaire to have the students respond to on their first day. Any suggestions for good questions?

For most of us along the Alabama coast, summers include visiting the many beautiful beaches: Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Dauphin Island, and Mobile Bay. My nephews at 4 and 5 years of age already consider “going to the beach” a wonderful norm of our culture.

Enjoying the "sand slide" and water at Orange Beach, AL prior to the oil spill.

The oil spill has caused many concerned parents to eliminate enjoying the water of the Gulf of Mexico this past summer and as a result, providing rationale to their disappointed children. My sister explained to my nephews that they couldn't swim in the Gulf this summer because there is oil and tar balls in the water. Imagine the disappointment!

My 5 year old nephew Josh is a creative kindergartener who has drawn and created images of the sea life of our coast ever since he could hold a crayon. The impact on even our youngest in the community is apparent when he asked his Mom as he drew, "what color is oil?," and then proceeded to collage his sea life picture with brown construction paper tar balls; visually representing his new reality.

Here is a brainstorm I just had...take it or leave it!

In order to broaden and deepen our membership in the Voices on the Gulf community, how about a letter/email writing campaign to scientists, university professors, fisherman, moms/dads, environmentalists, etc? 

I'm about to write an email to Carl Safina of Blue Ocean Institute asking him to join, and I thought that this would probably be an activity that our youth would have more success with. I could see some brazen youth writing letters to politicians, oil company execs, etc, trying to get them to join and contribute to the discussion in this space. 

*Image Courtesy of SPangborn on Flickr (Creative Commons License)

We're all struggling with the big question, "How can we help with the oil spill?" Well, here is one way. Project Noah for the iPhone allows individuals to collect and submit data directly from the field. Don't have access to iPhones? No big deal...just take notes with pencil/paper and a few photos with cheap cameras and post to the Project Noah Website via an Internet connected computer.

I'd imagine this could be an empowering and engaging activity for students in the region to help document flora and fauna affected by the BP Oilspill. If you are not in the region, this still would make for a fantastic opportunity to engage your students in the process of scientific field observation and data collection. 

Julie Dash:

Rewriting Identity

A hero is anyone who benefits any living thing in need. Whether it is curing a tiger that has been wounded or helping a person that has lost shelter. Heroes are kind-hearted, fearless and determined to do a good deed. They are also selfless and give up anything to keep a person out of harms way. Their work possesses the power to inspire anyone. Heroes are brave, helpful and act as role models for the whole world.

Most of the time heroes do not look for fame like Spiderman or Superman. Being in the limelight is insignificant to those who enjoy saving lives such as philanthropists. Everyday heroes are more like Captain Planet and the Planeteers. They saved the earth and never asked for anything in return, helping people around the world. Some heroes in the real world of today are army men and women, reporters and world leaders.

Not all heroes have to save lives to become worthy of the title. She was born on October 22, 1952 in Long Island City, New York (NY times). Her name is Julie Dash and her parents came from South Carolina and resided in the projects of New York City. Her father’s side of the family practiced the Gullah culture. Gullah people live around Wilmington, North Carolina, Georgetown and Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah and Jacksonville, Florida. Geechee is a name commonly used for Gullah people in Georgia; this is also the name of Julie’s website. (Michael T.) Living in the projects is the reason she makes films, it is because of all the ideas and stories, which are at times funny and sometimes serious. (Welbon)

At a young age Julie Dash was a big television watcher and movie-goer but she was never satisfied with what she saw on screen. Living in the projects and then seeing it on a show were completely different. So, she decided to redefine the image of African American Women. She admires Alice Walker and looks up to her peers such as Cathleen Collins and Michelle Parkinson. (Welbon)

Dash’s education in film started at the studio museum of Harlem in 1969 with an after school program. Once high school was over, she was accepted to the City College of New York at the Leonard Davis center of performing arts to major in film production. After receiving her bachelor’s degree she moved to Los Angeles, California. There she studied at the American Film Institute, and then went to UCLA. While at UCLA Dash directed the film Diary of an African Nun, it “was screened at the Los Angeles Film Exposition and won her a Director’s guild Award for a student film.” (Arntzen, Eby, Lee, Rivkin)

 Julie Dash, a filmmaker, producer, writer and director has many titles and deserves all of them. She is a hero in her own right. You might be thinking, what does film making have to do with being a hero, right? Actually her films have opened up the eyes of the general public. She has shown American history from the perspective of African Americans. Although her films do have African American actors, they are not films about race, they are films about relations. Through her films, we can forget all the misconceptions, about African Americans. 

Usually what is seen on screen is from another’s point of view and not from the eyes of an African American. “Now I am an illusion, just like the films. They see me but they can’t recognize me.” So states the protagonist of Julie Dash’s 1982 film, Illusions.” This film critiques Hollywood history and was an attempt to disrupt the history itself by calling attention to the lack of African American women in films during World War II up until today.

The movie “Illusions” was a critically acclaimed short film and Dash is known best for her work on this film.

margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:200%">“These illusions that Dash discusses in her short film attempt to call attention to the illusion that African-Americans were not a part of Hollywood history and seek to end the illusion, to finally make things right, by re-writing history…Illusions explores questions of race, representation, and gender in Hollywood cinema-in particular, the absence of ‘meaningful’ and ‘realistic’ images of our lives.” (Felton)

“Illusions” was recognized as the best film of the 1980s by the Black Filmmakers Foundation. (Arntzen, Eby, Lee, Rivkin)

 Julie Dash broke the barrier by being the first African American woman to release a full length general theatrical film. This was her legendary film, “Daughters of the Dust,” which is a story about a Gullah family on the Sea Island of Saint Helena. Daughters was first a book and “Julie Dash has created a stunning celebration of family and heritage.”(About Julie Dash)  It was claimed to be visually stunning and surreal. (USA Rockefeller) The film exposes a different kind of African American woman, unlike the women shown in movies and in soap operas. It is about women talking about their stories and passing down “scraps of memory,” to the next generation.

For Dash it was extremely hard to make this film. The weather conditions at the location kept changing due to the tidal waves. The location was very far in so the team had to carry all the equipment; therefore could not bring lighting. She also struggled with larger distribution because she was told by white male distributors that the public would not want to see a film of its kind. In other situations when she has an advisor come and look at her work, she has to sift through comments. Usually advisors have a different background and different experiences that they bring along with them to judge a piece. In this way the person watching becomes disengaged because they cannot step into the characters shoes. (Welbon)

 “Daughters of the Dust” won Best Cinematography at the Sundance Festival. This film in the National Registry also joins the few American films in the group of National Treasures. (Geechee)

Another significant film was: A Rosa Parks Story released in 2002 as a television movie. It is about the brave action of an amazing person that made the civil rights movement sky rocket when the pace was slow. (NY times) This film received five nominations and won eight awards including the Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, to Angela Basset who played Rosa Parks. The Rosa Parks story also won NAACP Image Award and Family Television Award. Ms. Dash “became the first African American woman nominated in the category of Primetime Movies Made for Television at The Directors Guild of America.”(Geechee)

Dash had completed a segment for HBO’s subway stories, which was produced by Rosie Peres and Jonathan Demme. (About Julie Dash) “She has also directed a few music videos with artists such as Adriana Evan, “Sweet Honey in the Rock,” and Tracy Chapman, “Give me one reason.” The song was nominated for MTV’s best female vocalist. Chapman’s song went on to win a Grammy for best rock song in 1997. (Grammy)

“Julie Dash is an innovator and trailblazer. She has opened up avenues for independent cinema.” Dash has provoked the change in how African American Women are seen and how they see themselves. She has renewed the identity of the African American Woman on screen and through her novels.  (Arntzen, Eby, Lee, Rivkin) Every piece of her work shows a glimpse of what it is like to be a woman specifically African American in society, yesterday, today and in the future.

Yes, African American Women’s work is being suppressed and it is due to people who do not like to be exposed to stories like the ones Ms. Dash writes and directs. Julie Dash herself said it is not good to be invisible. (Welbon) She is absolutely right and should be given more recognition. Her films and novels have shown women in a different light. She continues to inspire young people. Everyone should learn from her point of view, her understanding of things happening in society. Her program: “Smuggling Daydreams into Reality” has made many teenagers realize how beautiful the filmmaking world can be. She has managed to rewrite the identity of African American Women in history and therefore is a hero in the film industry. 

My first comp class of the new semester meets week after next.  As part of our "warm-up" for writing and community building, I'm going to bring them in on Voices on the Gulf with a reflective prompt that I'll give out the first day of class, asking them to post an online response in a dedicated forum within the course management system.   I haven't created the prompt, but it will be one to evoke true "voices on the Gulf" by asking these students to share stories about how the events of the last spring and summer on the Gulf have affected their lives or the lives of those close to them.  I'm not sure how I'm going to present those responses here at Voices on the Gulf, however.  Should I post a collage of their responses as a new discussion? (Rather than each student individually joining the site to post his or her own?).  Or should individual students join the site and post away?  I will end up with 20 or 25 reflections at least, and I think this will some unpolished, relatively unedited, yet honest writing that we're hoping to gather.   I'm asking for help--Suggestions are welcome!

The Oil Spill

I'm stuck here in the ocean because of the drippy oil spill.  My food is gone, and the oil smells horrible.  It feels sticky. The taste is like glue.  I don't know how I'm going to live my life.  It is just me and my family.  We can't fly away or swim away.  The oil is stuck on my feathers.  My friends are gone, alone.  I feel like I'm dying.  It's getting worse each day. But at least I know they're trying to help.

This is how bad my life is.  My duck family is very sad and worried.  I'm starving and can't take it anymore.  The only thing we eat are dead fish floating on top with us.  The tide is getting higher.  Time is running out.  My ears are beginning to hurt.  I can only hear out of one ear.  If you know how bad it is, please help.

Finalist in the Louisiana Writes youth writing contest

Baton Rouge Center for Visual and Performing Arts

Photo: Creative Commons Duck Reflections by  Adam Melancon taken on June 18, 2008 in Arbolada Addition, Lafayette, LA, US

This report describes the toxicity of chemicals in crude oil and dsipersants associated with the Deepwater Horizon Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Sciencecorps Lexington, MA

June 14, 2010

http://www.sciencecorps.org/gulfspillchemicals.html

The series of podcasts about the Gulf oil spill that we started at the beginning of June continues on this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers.

We are joined by Alicia Blair a 5th grade science teacher from Mississippi who has been an important voice on many of these podcasts this summer.

It was also a delight to listen to Ann Dobie, author, professor, and former Writing Project Director from Louisiana.

Ann Brewster Dobie taught
at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for thirty-eight years,
where she is now professor emerita of English. She directed graduate
studies in rhetoric and the university’s writing-across-the-curriculum
program. She is the author or coauthor of six college writing textbooks
and author of numerous articles on literature and composition. She is
the editor of Something in Common: Contemporary Louisiana Stories, Uncommonplace: An Anthology of Contemporary Louisiana Poets, and Wide Awake in the Pelican State: Stories by Contemporary Louisiana Writers. Ann received her doctorate in the teaching of writing from Columbia University.

Biography on http://anndobie.com

Given our interest to work with teachers in the Gulf to collect the stories of students there, take a look at this description of Ann Dobie’s newest book, Fifty-Eight Days in the Cajundome Shelter, which was published in 2008.

Fifty-Eight Days in the Cajundome Shelter

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed thousands of homes, schools,
and businesses across the Gulf Coast and changed the face of southeast
Louisiana forever. However, nearly a hundred miles northwest of New
Orleans, in Lafayette, Louisiana, a different story was unfolding. As
men, women, and children waited on their roofs for rescue, executive
director Greg Davis hurried to prepare the Cajundome in Lafayette as an
emergency shelter.

The workers and volunteers in the Cajundome provided food, showers,
and medical care to more than eighteen thousand evacuees that came to
Lafayette. From the first busloads of newly homeless to the disasters
caused by Hurricane Rita, “Fifty-Eight Days in the Cajundome Shelter”
shares personal accounts of heartache and joy, tragedy and triumph.
For the first time, here is a collection of the stories of the
volunteers and evacuees. Their heroism, courage, and despair are
etched into these stories as they endured the first few weeks in a
hurricane-ravaged world.

Retold here is the bravery and leadership of Donald Williams as he
took charge and led a convoy of handicapped and elderly to safety.
Readers will also be captivated by the unforgettable story of the
Prevost family as they climbed their way to the roof of their home and
their heartbreaking journey to dry land on I-10. The author includes
her own personal accounts of what really happened in the aftermath of
Katrina and the bravery and selflessness of countless people who
struggled to make a difference.

We are excited about the number of teachers who have joined us this
summer for this exploration into how we can be good neighbors with our
friends in the Gulf Coast. Al Doyle, a NYC teacher of gaming, joined us from the woods of a summer camp in Maine, and a new teacher Rebecca from Pennsylvania, had some things to say as well.

Some of the things to listen for in this podcast are some of the reasons we have been working with Bill Fitzgerald at FunnyMonkey to build an extension of our Youth Voices site. Two quotes from this podcast help define our mission for Voices on the Gulf:

I think sometimes when your there at that Ground Zero, if
I can borrow that phrase, it’s a little overwhelming. But I talked
with several people and got together with our [Writing Project]
director, and we just had a real brainstorm. And we went back again to
our experience with Katrina. What did we end up doing? Not that we
ever planned any of these things. It was more the spontaneous improv
sort of thing. So we went back and we looked at the things that had
been successful, and thought about what we would like to do for the
oil spill. This time planning, with the goal being: We want to
publish! We would like to do that this time…. This whole experience
that we’ve had this summer in trying to brainstorm how to bring
student voices out has really inspired us to take the initiative,
instead of waiting until we see it through like we did with the
hurricane, to make those efforts.
–Alicia Blair, high school science teacher and member of the Live Oak Writing Project, University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast

In Louisiana after Katrina and Rita our [Writing Project]
sites published any number of anthologies of student writing about
those hurricanes, and about what it meant to live through the
hurricanes, but even more so, through the clean up and the rebuilding.
I have no doubt that that’s going to happen again because our
teachers always capitalize on those things which are happening in
students’ lives and their families’ lives, and use those as sources of
writing and a kind of catharsis. I have no doubt that it will happen.
–Ann Dobie, professor emerita of English, University
of Louisiana, director of the Louisiana Writing Project State Network
and former director of the National Writing Project of Acadiana

Also, please read:

• Matt Montagne’s Copy of the email I sent to my school about VOG (August 2010)
• Gail Desler’s Sample Parent Permission Letter (August 2010)

Go to EdTechTalk to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

File: 

ncdp_oil_impact_report.pdf

The study, Impact on Children and Families of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, presents the preliminary findings of a coastal population impact study. It uses data gahtered from interviews with coastal residents in Louisisana and Mississippi with a particular focus on the short-and potential long-term impact of the disaster on children.

read more

I used a new site called Juxio to create this poetry postcard, inspired the view of oil rigs. I'm thinking this might be a useful tool for students to write and share.

Dr. Bob Thomas, the Director of the Center of Environmental
Communications for Loyola, and Dr. Nancy Rabalais, the Executive
Director of Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, discuss the
environmental impact on the Gulf

[mp3 file="http://audio.wwl.com/hosting/media/wwl/981778/h-show-chop-08-11-10-garland-11am.mp3"]

I've drafted a sample parent permission letter because I'm sure many teachers - especially in our K-6 community, will want some ideas on how to describe the project to their parent community.

Dear Parents:

read more

The Fine, Blue, and Beautiful Gulf of Mexico

“We can’t go to the beach today,”

 My mother’s words echoed in my head.

The Gulf of Mexico was fine, blue, and beautiful.

Three years later…

“We can’t go to the beach today,”

She said to me.

The gulf was still fine, blue, and beautiful.

Two years after that...

“No one can go to the beach today,”

The news reporter says.

The coast and Gulf of Mexico are black with oil.

read more

You might think that folks from Portland, Ore., are too far removed from the Gulf to have much of an interest in what's happening on the other side of the country. You'd be wrong. A team of Oregonians decamped to Louisiana a couple weeks ago, with twin goals of gathering stories and building relationships. They're tracking the experience on a blog called PDX 2 Gulf Coast. 

It's an interesting team, including newspaper reporters, urban wildlife experts, environmental educators, and a disaster response expert, among others.

read more

Back in July, we kicked off Edutopia’s first-ever Project-Based Learning Camp by posing a big question: How can educators turn the Gulf oil disaster into meaningful learning for students?

Four weeks of brainstorming and collaboration later, participants have emerged from this online experience with some inspired ideas. Our final webinar turned into a celebration as teacher teams shared their innovative projects and reflected on their process.

read more

This article, from NPR, describes the use of "virtual shellfish" to determine the long-term impact of the oil spill on sea life.  While one way to determine the impact of the spill is to look at the amount of dead animals, scientists are also considering the impact of the spill and dispersants on the animals' resistance to disease and ability to reproduce. 

Please listen and read to find out more.