Stingrays and Cake

Tuesday

Yesterday I got to work with Bruce, one of my absolute favorite people that I have gotten to know during my time at the aquarium. Unfortunately, Bruce had a really nasty fall last week when he was working on renovations for the new exhibit and he tore his rotater cuff which requires surgery next week. So I helped him out all day to repair one of the waterfalls in the new exhibit. In the past few days we realized that it started to leak pretty badly behind the exhibit. In order to better waterproof the Styrofoam rocks, I mixed together a brown and grey two-part epoxy that we pasted over the existing rocks. It was a really sticky and messy process, but it was fun nonetheless!

Wednesday

Today was a really great day and it turned out to be a really great (but also really sad) end to my project. I worked with Education this morning, taking a group of high school seniors on a tour of the aquarium and of the back of house areas. We showed them not only the aquatic life that is in the exhibits, but also the filtration rooms and the food preparation area. I spent the rest of the day hanging out with my favorite animals, the stingrays, in the coastal exhibit. I got to feed them one last time before I headed out. It was so bittersweet because I absolutely loved this experience and I met some amazing people! They even made me a going away cake to celebrate, it was delicious! I can't wait to go back soon to visit!

Jackson Goldberg - Final Day Thoughts

So what have we learned here? I went into this project with an essential question regarding selling ideas, and I'm walking away with a whole lot of answers. From Sundance I learned about knowing your audience and crafting a presentation that simultaneously piques the interest of that audience and underlines what distinguishes your product. That's all great, and what was unexpected about Sundance was how directly my experience there related to my two weeks back in Cleveland. As it turns out, a major part of the creative department is script reading and evaluation, so I got a glimpse at a whole other side to the screenwriting submission process that I thought I wouldn't get to see. That connection proved to be a great asset towards my own writing, as when I sat down to work on my script I had already been given a rundown on the crucial elements of a screenplay. Having an eye-catching opening, using concise language, establishing motivation and distinguishing characters early on, these are what makes a script stand out and convince readers that you have something important to say. Right now I have a completed draft of a thirty page script, and I'm incredibly excited to see where this project goes from here.

The Giant Squid and the Pirate Ship

Monday

On Monday I was with the education department again. I got to participate in my favorite program, the Coral (De)Construction program which teaches elementary school children about just about everything there is to know about coral reefs. Not only is it great to watch the presentation, which I find absolutely fascinating, but it is really amazing to see when the kids are really enjoying themselves and are really immersing themselves in the information.

So, I was about to join a group on a guided tour of the aquarium after Ben had finished with the presentation when my sponsor showed up to ask a favor. He explained that the Guest Services team was short a few staff members and did not have enough people to work the floor and help with the tours. So, I along with the other shadow, was asked to be in charge of the Exploration Station (ES). This is the room where families can come with their little kids to play with toys and color and look at some smaller tanks. It was a little boring at first because there weren't any families in the room. So to pass the time I decided to draw a little bit. Throughout the day I managed to complete my drawing, which is a giant squid clutching a mast of a sunken pirate ship!

After we were relieved, Darwin (the other shadow) and I helped to prepare materials for a new program that the education department is going to run. That basically consisted of cutting turtle limbs out of construction paper for a build-your-own-sea-turtle type of activity. It was a pretty quiet day overall but it was nice and calm for a change.

Cameron Bell - post 7

To change things up a bit, I’ll tell you guys about my first experience where I thought I was about to faint! I have seen some gross things from infections, deep and bloody wounds, to even following an OBGYN (lady-parts doctor) in Guatemala. None of it made me feel like I was going to pass out - this is part of what made me think I was supposed to be a doctor. What 18 year old girl didn't get nauseous at the sign of blood? 

However, on one normal night in the ER, a small thing gave me my first experience. A woman came in very intoxicated with her boyfriend. She was hilarious, but not very nice, making snappy jokes and remarks at both her boyfriend and Dr. Rose. As the professional he is, Dr. Rose laughed with her at her jokes and brushed them off. Through her humor, it was hard to miss the bleeding laceration that was on her forehead, right over her eyebrow. The gash allowed us to see her skull and muscles when pulling on either side of it slightly. She explained to us through slurred words that she had tripped and fallen in her drunken state, hitting her head on their glass table. Dr. Rose took a look (I stood close behind him, still feeling fine) and he quickly told her that she was going to need stitches. She complained and said she wasn't going to let him touch her face. He joked back as we walked out of the room to take care of a few more urgent patients and grab the supplies to stitch her up. 

I was not grossed out by the wound or anything. It was just another cut to me. However, it was 4 am and I hadn't eaten since dinner time the night before. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling my absolute best. We went back into her room and after setting up, Dr. Rose began to stitch her up. I stood directly behind him, in clear view of his work. I watched closely as the needle punctured her skin, the thread was pulled through, and he tied his efficient knots (still felt fine). Six stitches later, her skin was closed and I put on gloves to wipe the blood and put a bandage on her forehead. I was still feeling steady until we made our way out of her room, and I suddenly saw black take over the left side of my vision. I felt wobbly and had to grab onto Dr. Rose’s shoulder to steady myself. I was going down…but I didn’t! I kept myself conscious and took a seat, sweating and dizzy, but I stayed awake! 

I have no idea what caused this weird episode. Throughout the stitching I felt completely fine. I assume that it was a combination of my lack of food and sleep with very closely watching a deep wound be stitched. I had always been so proud to say I didn't get grossed out! Hopefully I can go back to living up to that! 

Jackson Goldberg - Day 21

With the first draft of the script nearly done (it should be completed by tomorrow, and I'm going to continue working on it after the project wraps up), we made time for a table read today. The truth is, dialogue that sounds great in your head can sound completely ridiculous when spoken. I know in my case, I like to put in a lot of verbal imperfections i.e. repeated words, pauses, "um"s, "you knows" in my dialogue to make it sound more natural, but sometimes that goes overboard and ends up sounding really artificial. So there is definitely a lot of value in these sort of read throughs and hearing the stuff you write spoken out loud. Also important is getting to see and hear genuine reactions from others regarding your script. If someone laughs while delivering a line you thought was particularly funny, obviously that's an encouraging sign. Today I was particularly pleased by the reactions to the central dynamic between the three main characters. I think of it as kind of a riff on the three men from Jaws: the grizzled expert, the overly zealous adventurer, and the straight man who gets reluctantly pulled along. Everyone seemed to enjoy the banter between these characters, which was great to see.

Mac Lesnick - 9

Gradually Faster

     Although I was told that this morning was one of the calmest mornings all year, it eventually picked up in the afternoon. Today I shadowed a nurse, Maria, in the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED). Yes, there were adorable babies there, but there were also kids up to the age of 18. I absolutely loved every minute of it! Even the slow part was nice because it was only in the morning, so I got a bit of time to wake up :). There were only four patients admitted before lunch, but they were minor issues. In the PED, they rate each patient 1-5, 1 being immediate attention/very critical and 5 being someone who probably could have gone to their regular doctor or a minute clinic. Regardless of their sickness, we did treat everyone who came in - even if it was just for a small dose of tylenol. While Maria and I were coming back from our lunch break, at patient with a care number of 2 was being carried in by his mom. This was the first major patient of the day, all of the other patients were 4's or 5's. So we set our bags down and rushed over to the patient's room to help the other nurses and doctors. The boy was unresponsive when he first arrived, but eventually came to as his mom put him down on the bed. All of a sudden, he started thrashing his arms and kicking his legs. No one was able to calm him down besides his mother, and it was only when she would pick him up. Maria told me that the boy have been a preemie when he was born, and it is very common that the NICU kids have to come back to the hospital every so often. Unfortunately, my day ended before I could see what would happen with the boy, but I could tell he had calmed down slightly before I left.

     Another patient, who was admitted later in the day, was possibly the cutest little girl I had ever seen. A few months ago, she was told that she has diabetes. So her parents and she were still getting used to the different eating habits and sugar control. However, that's not why she was there today. She had swallowed a marble and it got stuck in her esophagus. Her blood sugar was also very low, so she needed an IV out in. However, if the girl would've gotten scared while Maria was putting in the IV, the girl would have either thrown up and the marble would've come with it, or she would've inhaled and the marble could've gone farther down and into her lungs. So before we did anything, the doctor decided she wanted to have another x-ray taken to see if the marble had moved at all. It was a great call by the doctor because while Maria and I were preparing OR admittance papers, the x-ray came through and showed that the girl had completely swallowed the marble and it went all the way down into her stomach. Now, instead of needing surgery to remove the marble, she can go home and carry on with her day while waiting for the marble to pass. It was a perfect ending to a very exciting and rewarding day.

last self defense class

Today was extremely bittersweet: it was my last day of self defense. My body is looking forward to the break although my mind is still eager to learn more. I've been spending around 13 hours at Fight Fit a week and with my show, around 20 hours of dance this week. So I am ready to be done moving around so much. For my final class, I brought my sister in. She absolutely LOVED being in class with me and definitely messed around a little. We warmed up doing a rotation that included 30 jumps with a jumping rope, 10 push-ups, and 10 mountain climber runs. After this, we dealt with what happens when someone comes at you with a front facing choke. With your left hand you move their hand ove renough to throw a right cross.

After this, you have to get into a power position (like an under hook and pivot out OR grabbing their shoulder and elbow with your elbows tucked in). It is much easier to show than to explain.

After this, we did a scary activity where half of us close our eyes and the other half randomly comes up to you and chokes you. You have to respond and then have them end up in a hold or on the floor. My sister hated this activity as did I but we understood its purpose. We did this ebcause no one is going to hold their hands out, walk up to you, and choke you. They are going to get you by surpise. Although it did not make this experience less scary. It was empowering to throw a 200 pound guy to the floor though.

Mac Lesnick - 7/8

It's About Time

     Finally! I was waiting to visit this department for almost 3 weeks! I shadowed in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) today, and it was just as amazing as I remember it from last summer. Similar to RBC 4 which I wrote about a few days ago, the NICU is where the babies start. Once they are born, they are sent up in order to provide the premature baby with the best chance possible. I got to spend 3 days in the NICU: Thursday and Friday with RN's (registered nurses) and Monday with NP's (nurse practitioners). The RN's spend the most time with the patients and their families. They are the ones at the bedside every morning and night helping to keep the patient stable and increasingly healthy. At the beginning of their shifts, the RN's do the morning assessments, which consist of weighing, feeding, measuring the head and abdomen circumference, and cleaning the patient. It's almost like taking care of your own child...except there's more than on. Most RN's have 2-3 patients, so their days are kept very busy. After morning assessments and rounds with the doctors, it's time to chart...ugh. That is the least appealing part about the NICU. The premature babies require charting every 30 minutes, so it is very hard to keep up with it while also taking care of multiple patients. However, it is a very important part. The nurses always say, "if you didn't chart it, then you didn't do it." Charting is the only way other doctors and nurses know what has been done, what needs to be done, and if there are any changes about the baby. Some days can seem quite slow for me because the patients are recovering and doing well, so the nurse charts and I watch her chart. However, most days are fairly busy. One day, several babies were being extubated (removal of a breathing tube from the patient's trachea/windpipe). So many nurses and respiratory therapist were running back and forth from room to room in order to get them all done.

     On Monday, I was with several NP's for the entire day. Most NP's are older because they have to work at RN's and then go back to school. They are more like the hands-on supervisors of the floor. Instead of having 2-3 patients and always being at the bedside like the RN's, the NP's look after all the patients, but 2-3 of them are their primaries. So they know at least a little bit about each patient, and everything about their 2-3. Also, many nurses choose to become NP's because they hours are more suited for family life. So my day started off going on morning rounds and listening to them and the doctors come up with each patient's plan for the day - boost meds, lower oxygen levels, discharge, etc - which took about 2 hours. After lunch, I watched one of the NP's take blood in order to run some tests to find out if the baby had an infection. Most people would think that the baby not crying was a good thing because that means it didn't hurt them. Actually, it is very concerning because it most likely means that there is something neurologically wrong with the baby. Afterwards, I got to sit down with one of the NP's and ask her some questions about the NICU and her job specifically.

Mac Lesnick - 6

My New Favorite?

     I've been excited for this day for the past two weeks! The OR has always interested me so much. Maybe I watch too much Grey's Anatomy, or maybe I could actually be cut out for the department. After an hour orientation on the history and rules of the OR, I got to put on scrubs for the first time - wow they are comfortable! Once I got changed, I happened to run into one of my fellow classmates, Elise. She ended up spending half the day with me and the nurse! The one thing that disappointed me was that students aren't allowed in the operating rooms anymore because too many of the have passed out or gotten sick. This was really interesting to me because I learned in my orientation that operating rooms used to have stadium seating for all of the medical students to watch. Now only experienced students are allowed in. So all of the surgeries I saw, I watched from the outside through a window. The nurse and Elise would always laugh at me whenever we saw something part of an open body because my face would be about an inch away from the glass window. I was so intrigued by everything going on in the rooms. The nurse explained what each machine is used for and what each person was in the room for. Since she was a nurse, she of course explained, in greater detail, what the OR nurse in the room was responsible for. She not only was another set of helping hands for the surgeons by passing him the instruments (tools) or helping with parts of the surgery, but she also played a much greater role. The OR nurse is responsible for the patient. She is the one who sees the body on the table, not as muscles and bones, but as a human being who is in very critical care. They take into consideration the needs and care of the patient and what is best for them in the moment. Surgeons have enough to worry about, so the nurses take the stress of the patient off of their hands during surgery. The one downfall about this department is that there isn't much patient-worker interaction like there is on the long-term care floors. However, the excitement and variety of the OR was enough for me!

Julia Ullman 3:3

Because of a Jewish holiday that will fall on Wednesday, today is my last day in the office.  As I begin to wrap up my time in the temple office, it feels like I have been here for a really long time. I have gotten through basically every single task I had set out to do with time to spare! This morning I labored over the last calendar formatting…this was definitely quite frustrating to try to tackle.  I am quite happy to have accomplished it.  I looked at the long list of everything I have gotten through in this project. I feel quite accomplished!

The new education administrative assistant started this morning.  She will be working in the office now and once Kate is back.  I worked with her this afternoon to organize the bins of school supplies that are in each classroom.  I thought it would take much longer to do this, but working together it wasn’t too hard.

I already know that I will stay involved even in the administrative aspects of the temple long after my project is finished.  I volunteered to write a D’var Torah (a Torah lesson essay or speech) that will be sent out to the congregation in a couple weeks.  Each staff member takes on a couple weeks throughout the year to write one of these, so I will be writing one to conclude my time here at the temple.  I am quite excited to do this!

This being my final blog post, this was a fantastic experience.  It was not without its challenges, but it was definitely a worthwhile, educational experience.  I am quite glad that I decided to do this as my Hawken Project.  

Saturday Catering

The catering event on Saturday started off differently. The person doing the deserts heard we were leaving the diner at four thirty when we were actually leaving at four so he was crunched for time. While the catering van left, Jacob and I stayed behind to wait for the deserts to finish. Once we were able to leave we headed to Beachwood to meet up with everybody else. We got there and everything was unloaded from the van and all we had to do was help prepare the dishes. We started preparing the appetizer, but after that there was not much for us to do. All the main courses needed no extra prep besides heating them up and plating them, but we had to leave before we even had to get to that. After we plated the appetizers we were all talking and getting to know each other better. It was a great way to end our project (even though we still had Sunday) while we ate the sandwiches that had been screwed up. Overall, I really enjoyed doing the catering events and it was a great way to see how it all functions.

Friday Catering

On Friday Jacob and I went to two catering parties. The first one was at a church about five minutes away from the diner for an event called “Shaking from Laughter”. It was for a charity for Parkinson’s disease. The way the food was set up was something I personally had never seen done before. It was buffet style, but nothing was on plates. Everything was placed across the tables in different directions. About half way through setting up the party Doug says that he needs me to go back to the diner and get from one of the chefs about five pounds of cubed cheese. I had to go back and grab the cheese, and we left the party before the majority of the people showed up. We then headed over to Moreland Hills for the second party of the night. After almost losing Doug on the road, we made it their, but there was not much for us to do. We plated some of the appetizers when needed, but they told us we were able to leave because everything had already been prepared before we got there. It was a busier night for us than usual, but I enjoy going to the catering events. 

Brunch at Fire Food and Drink

Brunch at Fire Food and Drink was completely different than working there at dinner. Instead of working upfront like I usually did, I was helping in the kitchen. The atmosphere in the kitchen at Fire is so different from that at the diner. In the kitchen at the diner is the food line, the prep stations, and a spot for all the catering dishes to get prepared at. At Fire Food and Drink the food line is upfront and the kitchen is much smaller. Since most of the food is prepared on the food line, they had me preparing the sticky buns (which look amazing) and the soup. You top the soup with croutons and shredded cheese. When I asked how many croutons I should put on, they told me to always do odd numbers because they are more visually appealing. The sticky buns were a bit more complex. Pulling them apart was a real struggle, but after that all you have to do was at toffee syrup and a bunch of powdered sugar and bring it up to the food line. The brunch atmosphere was completely different than dinner. It was very crowded, and it seemed less casual. 

Mac Lesnick - 5

Not Your Average Person

     Blood and guts have never bothered me, and today I found out that this is still true. The Hanna House is a skilled nursing facility, which provides care for patients who do not need to be hospitalized, but are not yet ready to return home. Much of this day was spent checking in on the various patients on the floor. Many of the patients were staying at this hospital because they were still recovering from surgery. One man stuck out to me. He not only had cancer, but he also had another illness that required him to need reconstructive neck surgery. In order to rebuild the skin and muscle in his neck/jaw area, he needed a graft to be taken from his thigh. The way the body works is mind-blowing to me. Certain muscles from different parts of the body are able to be cut out, moved to another part, and work effectively. After some time, these muscles will train themselves to work as if they were the old ones. In order for his thigh to heal quicker, he also had another skin graft taken from his lower calf and used for his thigh. The nurse explained all of this to me while she was changing the dressing on his calf. She told me to come around to the other side of the bed so I could see it, an when I did, I was amazed that this man still had his leg. It basically looked like someone had just cut out a deep chunk of his leg. I could not only see the muscles and tendons running down his leg, but part of his fibula could also be seen. The nurse continued to swap out the gauze and clean the graft site, and I just stood there in amazement. It is unbelievable how the human body works. Although I would prefer to work with children, my experience in the Hanna House was one that will stick with me through nursing school.

Friday at Fight Fit

On Friday, I was super lucky because Ms. Roark joined me at Fight Fit and actually took a self defense class with me! Not only was it fun to partner with someone who wasn't a male two times my size, but it was fun because it was someone I knew! So we got to the gym and we started our class by running small laps around the gym and then stretching in the circle. Then we did our first activity: each pair of partners stand on opposing sides and faces inward. Then the pair lunges towards the center where they high five then do ten push-ups and lunge all the way back. We repeated this exercise a few more times and instead of the push-ups, we had to do jumping squats or toe-touches. After this exercise, we did one where you throw a right cross at your partner and keep throwing it across the floor as they move backwards. This exercise was exhausting! We also did various exercises practices our palm strikes and our punches. I remember Ms. Roark missed the pad a little and hit my neck on one of her palm strikes, which was more funny than hurtful. In addition to offensive punches, we reinforced the defense for a haymaker punch. Overall, it was a pleasure to have Ms. Roark come in and take class with me!  

Thursday at CRCC

Sorry this weekend has been crazy so I have not had time to post! But this post is going to be regarding my day on Thursday at the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. I got there at 10 and my proctor, Mr Leslie, was running a little late so I started cutting more posters (as usual). By the time 10:30 came rolling around, Ms. Roark came! Mr. Leslie was still not there but came very shortly after. Together, all three of us walked around the office. We gave Ms. Roark a tour that included showing how many offices there are, where the hospital bags are kept, where therapy sessions occur, where the childrens waiting room is, and the art therapy room for survivors. Then Ms. Roark had some questions for Mr. Leslie and I regarding rape. After we had our discussion and Ms. Roark left, I was given another small task. For the rest of the day, I was finding and evaluating different self defense schools in the area. Obviously, the one I am attending for project now was on the list although since it is far away, I was trying to find closer schools. I had a pretty good list and sometimes would call the different academies to see how sensitive they are to working with survivors. After that, I was able to pack my bag and prepare for the exciting Friday that I had!

Ending Post

Working at both Fire and Katz Club have been very unique experiences. At Fire, I learned what it is like to work in a fine dining restaurant. I saw that to be successful, it is important to have a waiting staff that works together. THe employees at fire act as a family. They are incredibly close. I followed Turan for most of the time at Fire, and learned that the food runners really put everything together. Food running is more complicated than one might think. There is a certain angle to place the food so that the entree is complemented nicely by the side dishes. When working is pastry, I learned about preparation and how it is important to have your station completely set up before the night, along with having some of the pre-made food readily available. At Katz Club, though a different experience, I learned a lot of the same things. The employees at Katz Club also work as a family. They hang out with each other outside of work and are really comfortable with each other. This is incredibly important as they are always willing to help each other. They really work as a team and it is impossible to run a successful restaurant without a team of people who just work well together. Through catering, I learned the same thing. Team work is very important and it is so important to just keep moving. Sometimes it is even important to improvise when you are put in a tough situation at some of the parties. All in all, I had a fantastic time working at both restaurants.

Week 3 Day 2

May 29




Today was a little different than most days. I worked at Fire today but instead of food running, like I usually do, I was working with the pastry chef. It wasn't too busy of a night but the pastry line was still moving. Annalise, the pastry chef, explained to me how to make each dessert. She explained that with every dessert at Fire, there is a certain order that every piece goes onto the plate. She also explained to me the cheese plate. In the center of the plate is a berry compote but it changes in the different seasons. For most of the night I was rolling balls of cookie dough and putting it on way paper. After every meal at Fire comes with two free warm oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies. It is one of the aspects that makes Fire a little unique. I had a lot of fun working in the kitchen. I was able to see how the restaurant runs through the eyes of the chefs. I also learned how to make pasta with a mushroom filling. Watching how much preparation goes into making the simplest items on the menu is just amazing. It gives me a different appreciation for being a customer at a restaurant.

Week 3: Day 1

May 28




Today was a normal day at Katz Club. It was the first day that Lauren and I worked together at one of the restaurants. It was a lot of fun. We switched between food running and helping make boxed lunches for the diner. At first our jobs were just to put the brownies in a little paper and put the paper in the bag. It then progressed to little gougere sandwiches. Whenever Katz Club caters, gougere sandwiches are their go to. Gougers are basically savory creme puffs with gougere cheese in the bread. My favorite gougere sandwich that I've made is a shortrib sandwich with a horseradish sauce. Most of today was spent behind the coffee counter because of the small amount of customers due to it being a wednesday. The servers and the employees of Katz Club really make it a fun environment to work. Everyone is so friendly and willing to help when there is confusion. I like the baristas a lot. They are really easy to talk to and attempt to teach me how to make some of the drinks. Everyday I learn a little something new that goes into the drinks to make them unique. Working at Katz Club has been a great experience.

Mac Lesnick - 4

Not Cut Out for This Job

     Don't worry, I'm not talking about nursing in general, just one specialty! I spent the day in the Seidman Cancer Center. Most of you probably think this would be absolutely devastating hospital, so luckily I was place on a temporary stay floor. The patients who were admitted to this part of the hospital obviously had cancer, but that was not the main reason for their stay. They come in because of various other issues (broken bones, cysts, etc.). However they are still considered critical care patients because they are affected by cancer at the same time. Usually these patients don't stay in the hospital for more than a few days, a week at most. So now that I've explained how this floor is not nearly as bad as the others, let me tell you why I could never work in this hospital.

     For the most part, the day was moving slowly. The nurse and I passed out medications almost the entire morning. Then we had a discharge, which made me sad to see this man go because he was such a sweetheart, but I knew this was a good thing because it meant he was at least somewhat healthy. So here starts my first reason: Usually when patients leave the hospital it's because they are healthy enough to go home or to a rehab. At Seidman, even though their small problems may heal, they still have cancer when they leave. This will almost never go away and will usually cause the patient to have a shorter life than they deserve. I couldn't imagine working somewhere, knowing that no matter how much I help, they will never be completely healed.

     Later in the day, we were assessing an older women who I was told is usually cheerful and very talkative. She was like this a bit in the morning, but as the day went on, the cyst by her kidney was causing more and more pain. This woman was very funny and was making jokes with the nurse that morning. It only took a few hours for her to completely turn 180 degrees. As the nurse and I stood outside her room and charted, we could hear her moaning and having a very difficult time breathing. The nurse was growing frustrated because she had already boosted her pain medication and knew that she couldn't do much else. I could hear her praying that she was ready for whenever the Lord wanted to take her. After this moment, I knew I couldn't handle working in the department. It takes a very strong person to work with cancer patients. Although I have the will to work with sick patients, I couldn't imagine trying to help them and failing more times than succeeding.

Beneficial Experience

Today was one of my last days and it my project is finally all coming together. I pretty much knew my answer to my essential question about halfway through my project but it was more of having everything come together. I met with my sponsor on Friday to ask any questions I had about my question or about the zoo in general. I really enjoyed our conversation together because it really put to rest my feelings about zoos in general. Well maybe not all zoos, but it definitely helped. I really enjoyed finding out in greater detail what they do at the zoo and how they go the extra mile for their animals and the guest that come. But you all will find that out in my presentation. I am really excited for everyone to listen to my presentation and hear everyone’s opinions and see if I will actually change anyone’s opinion. This experience has been a positive one and has had a positive outcome to my essential question and I am glad, since I love animals so much, I have been doing something that has benefited the animals as well in doing a Hawken project. 

Jackson Goldberg - Weekend 3/New York Photos

Something I've been thinking a bit about is that I really don't have a whole lot of project-related pictures to share, which is disappointing. It makes sense, though, since lately I have mostly been writing/recording on professional cameras that are not my own. And then I remembered- I actually do have quite a few from the New York third of the project.

Before I left, my Cleveland-based sponsor gave me the assignment of photographing "characters" that I found throughout my time in NYC, which I could potentially use as inspiration for writing. So here is a small sampling of these images, along with brief explanations as to why I found their subjects worthy of being photographed. 

I call this one "Don't Talk to Me". You cannot really tell here, but this guy had two phones stacked on top of each other, and he alternated every couple of seconds. Whatever he was doing, it was quite urgent and required his upmost concentration. Or at least, he thought so. I don't know, maybe he was playing against himself in online checkers or something, but even if that was the case, he was doing it in the most professional and focused manner possible. 

I liked how this guy was holding his little lap dog right up to his chest and at the same time turning away from what appears to be an empty stroller (I'm assuming it wasn't empty because that makes no sense, but it certainly looks like it from this angle). It's a visual that, if it were staged, would lead me to believe that the dog is the center of this man's life, and not his family. Of course, I'm not going to judge this particular individual based on his completely unintentional positioning of himself, but the image still ignites an idea for a potential character trait. 

This poor guy had (or was having) a really bad day, and I want to know why. I can tell you with absolute certainty that he is sulking here, and not sleeping (trust me, I was there). Maybe he lost his wallet on the subway? Maybe he stepped on some gum while wearing his favorite pair of shoes? Was he just really disappointed by the annoyingly overlong title of the upcoming Batman/Superman movie? While there's obviously only one reality that lead to this particular moment in time, I could speculate endlessly as to how someone could arrive at this exact point. I think that's pretty fascinating, and definitely good fuel for a story.

Julia Ullman 3:2

The end of this last week was a lot more focused on the task list than I had previously been.  On Friday, I battled the huge master calendar that is given to all Religious School teachers and teen assistant teachers.  The format is quite frustrating, so it took a lot of time and patience.  I went month by month, and on Monday I will finish the last couple months of the year. I don’t have much left to do, as well as not much time left to spend.  On Monday, an education assistant is starting in the office.  After Kate’s maternity leave, she will be working a lot less hours so they basically hired an administrative assistant for the Religious School.  I will be showing her the ropes Monday and Tuesday and working with her to acclimate to the office and explaining a lot to her about the projects and processes. 

On Thursday, the new NFTY NEL (Youth Group) Regional Advisor came into Cleveland to get to know the area and have some meetings regarding his youth group and camp jobs.  He is from North London, but earlier this year moved to Toronto when he was hired as our new Regional Advisor.  If Kate had been here, she would have met with him and walked him through a lot of the Temple Religious School and Youth Group information, so I did a lot of that along with Beth.  I sat in on a meeting with our current youth group officers as they planned an upcoming event.  Over the weekend, we have shown him around Cleveland and helped him understand Jewish Cleveland as well as North America!