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Harrison Talese-Rhodes Public Feed

Harrison Talese-Rhodes' Q4 Benchmark Reflection

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Globalization - Laufenberg on Friday, June 3, 2011 at 9:48 am
  • What did you find most challenging about this project?
The most challenging part was definitely finding picture that I could use. Once I fully grasped the purpose of the benchmark it was easier to identify things, but it's still a hassle to travel around the city and find the things. I also had a problem with the camera aspect-- namely, I didn't have one. I was forced to use my old camera phone, from which I had to text the pictures to a friend in order to gain access to them on the computer. It was also sort of tough to embellish on the globalization for each topic.
  • How did you go about collecting the images or selecting the images?
I used recommendations from peers, teachers, and my own ideas to assemble a group of appropriate topics as I understand the subject.
  • Which image is your favorite? Why? Elaborate.
I like the picture of the Italian Market sign because I feel it is a perfect example of the topic and I have grown up in that area for my entire life, so it feels really special.
  • How prevalent is the evidence of globalization in Philadelphia? Do you think it is more or less so (evident) than in other large cities in the US? Why Why not?
It is evident in many ways that we don't normally consider, definitely. Any time we use technology or eat food, we are touched by globalization in some way. This project has definitely gotten me thinking about the whole process of product from beginning to end.
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Harrison Talese-Rhodes' Q4 Globalization Benchmark

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Globalization - Laufenberg on Friday, June 3, 2011 at 9:43 am
​Here it is!
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~

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes on Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 6:07 pm
When I was walking through the city the other day, I dropped an empty bottle I was holding onto the ground and it rolled under a street pole cover-thing. I looked to the left, and then I looked to the right, and then I walked away. True story.
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Hooooooooooooooo

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 9:33 am
When I was an owl, I used to go only for white mice. I hated barn mice. They tasted like hay and they made my saliva all gritty. White mice go down like butter. Seriously.
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Bus occurences

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Today, while riding on the bus, a woman asked if she could use my cell phone. I was afraid that she would take it and run away, but I lent it to her anyway, mainly because it's a crappy phone and if anything her stealing it would be a good thing for me because then I would have an excuse to buy a new one. Alas, she made her call and gave the cell phone back. True story.
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True story bro.

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Today I got a chair at a yardsale and brought it to my house, but it wouldn't fit through my door, so I just left it on the sidewalk.
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Bad jokez

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Monday, May 2, 2011 at 2:20 pm
I live for bad jokes. Seriously. What do you call an alligator in a vest?

An investigator.

Come on, now; admit it. That's comedy gold.

I love telling jokes that I know other people won't find funny, because it leaves me with the unique challenge of making them laugh with my own reaction. I've pretty much mastered as many funny laughs as I'm ever going to use. And I've a relatively good track record when it comes to over-explaining the joke and getting laughs that way. It's easy to be clever when you start at a jaw-droppingly unfunny baseline.
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A day in the life; Cuba

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Globalization - Laufenberg on Monday, April 25, 2011 at 2:37 pm
​The average 12 year old in Cuba probably begins his day waking up in a house full of relatives. Cuban homes are commonly made up of persons from multiple generations in one family. Many extended family members may live together in a home meant for just one small group. He will put on his school uniform whose color is decided by grade level.

After waking and eating what would probably be a government breakfast made up of eggs and maybe cheese, bread, and fruit (if you're rich) the kid would probably walk to school. The chances are very low that they would drive-- cars are notoriously scarce in Cuba due to the embargo enacted by the United States against the country 50-some years ago. Even if there was a car, it would be a very old model.

Once he arrives to school, and he probably will arrive to school, because most Cuban citizens are given at least an elementary education, he will learn subjects crafted around the idea of country, hard work, and knowledge deemed valuable. He will have to recite the Cuban pledge of allegiance.

After all this, depending on the social standing of his family, the kid will either work or play. If he needs to get groceries, he will do so from a government establishment, and will probably only be able to take home certain goods.

"Unicef - Cuba - Statistics." UNICEF. N.p., 02 March 2010. Web. 25 Apr 2011. <http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/cuba_statistics.html>.

Merz, Chelsea. "Harvard Public Health Review." Harvard University Summer, 2002: n. pag. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/review/review_summer_02/txt677cuba.html>.

"Life In Cuba." Essortment.com - Your Source for Knowledge. Essorment, 2010. Web. 25 Apr 2011. <http://www.essortment.com/life-cuba-19872.html>.

A. Chandler, Kenneth. "Brutally honest assessment of current life in Cuba." Havana Journal. New York Post, 2010. Web. 25 Apr 2011. <http://havanajournal.com/politics/entry/brutally-honest-assement-of-current-life-in-cuba/>.

"Photo Gallery: Life in Castro's Cuba." Natoinal Geographic. Web. 25 Apr 2011. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060804-cuba.html>.

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Why aren't the fish dead?

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Monday, April 25, 2011 at 8:41 am
It has been 9 days total since the 2 fish in Mr. Chases room have been fed, yet they are still alive. I attribute it to cannibalism and the fishies' veracious wills to live.
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Oh Raphael

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 9:47 pm
I keep telling my cat that he won't be able to sleep in his shoebox if he continues to eat it but he probably won't change his behaviour because he's a cat and he doesn't understand English.

True story.
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Kindergarten

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 9:20 am
I was sitting in my kindergarten classroom watching a movie with my class and I found a gummy bear on the floor. In my 5 year old mind, since I couldn't have more than the one if I were to eat it, then hell, I might as well stick it into my nose. I did so, giggling, amused at my own silly antics.

But when I tried to take it out, I found that I could not-- my attempts to pull it out only pushed it farther into my nasal cavity! Soon enough, it had disappeared into what I could only imagine was my brain.

I never saw that gummy bear ever again.
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This Days Story Sort Of

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 12:46 am
Today was lame. I feel like I'm tired all the time, no matter how much sleep I get. Can I stop being a teenager now? It's fucking terrible.

But on the plus side, the story slam tonight was pretty cool. I guess it running so late doesn't help with the whole tired thing, but whatever, I don't want to waste my youth.

I feel like if I write more I'll ramble out something stupid and regret it later, so just good night.
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Pizza Bagels

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Friday, April 8, 2011 at 10:17 am
Yesterday morning, I missed my chance at getting a pizza bagel.

There are always precious few. I walked past the breakfast line and they were not yet ready. I left. When I returned, I was too late-- they were all gone.

I was very sad. I thought that I would have to wait an unfathomable amount of time, days, maybe, to eat another pizza bagel.

But, hey, what do you know, they had pizza bagels for breakfast this morning too. It was a sign from the universe that I am cared for.

I was sure that there would be enough for me, but I budged in front of the long line for good measure.
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And now for education... gapminder picture

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Globalization - Laufenberg on Friday, April 8, 2011 at 10:09 am
Screen shot 2011-04-08 at 10.02.25 AM
Screen shot 2011-04-08 at 10.02.25 AM
Screen shot 2011-04-08 at 10.02.25 AM
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My Kitten Escaped

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 8:42 am
I arrived at my home early Sunday morning after sleeping over at a friend's house. To my dismay, my kitten, Raphael, was nowhere to be found. Usually I would walk in to him bounding about the living room, biting and scratching anything and everything he could get his paws on. But not that day.

I began to panic. Had he silently slipped out after my mother when she had left the house earlier that day? Was he locked in a room or closet somewhere in the house? Had he died?

For about an hour, my mom and I scoured our neighborhood with cat food calling for him, looking under cars and the like. But he was nowhere to be found.

When we returned home, I went into my kitchen to check if he had been trapped in the refrigerator (that is my nightmare). As I opened the door to the fridge, I heard a slight sound.

"Raphael?"

The sound grew louder. I followed it through the back door in my kitchen into our very small concrete backyard.

Alas, Raphael was in my neighbors connected yard, huddled in a corner, mewing pathetically. I hopped over a low wall and ran to him.

"Raphael! How the hell did you get here?"

I grabbed him and put him inside. His tall tail bristled and he trotted into the house and began playing with his toys, please with himself for being found by so cleverly mewing. I assumed that he had gotten out after my mom and resolved simply to operate more carefully when opening and closing my front door.

Alas, it was a Saturday, and I left the house again for the day, very carefully, mind you, for I did not want him to escape again. Several hours passed. By the time I got home, it was mid-afternoon. Again, Raphael was nowhere to be found. But this time, I knew where to look.

I opened my back door and, alas, there he was, huddled in my alleyway against a snow shovel.

"How are you doing this?" I asked him.

"I can't answer you, I am a cat," he replied.

At this point, I was sure that he had some means of escape other than my house's doors. I searched through the house for the culprit opening.

Long story short, there was a hole in my basement. I put a wooden board over it and left it at that.
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Harrison Talese-Rhodes' Benchmark Reflection

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Globalization - Laufenberg on Monday, April 4, 2011 at 11:10 am
For my Q3 Collapse'ability benchmark, I focused on Australia and Myanmar.

Beginning this benchmark was very difficult for me. When I finally started, however, my strategy was to write a section for each of the 5 pieces of framework for each country separately, and then combine the sections in a fashionable fashion and add a paragraph or so of comparing and contrasting. I then added pictures to each. This strategy worked well because, as I predicted, once I found some interesting leads in my research, each of the sections sort of developed themselves.

The 5 point framework cut my work out for me for the most part, but some of the sections were difficult to complete because the country didn't really have anything of note to say in certain categories. Even this was a minor problem because all I had to do for those was write a paragraph on why that factor wasn't relevant for the country and then give it a 10/10.

If I could add something to my final product, it would be better organization and cross-analyzing of both countries. It was difficult to put text that I wrote in text edit into pages and organize it with pictures because of formatting troubles. Once I got it all in, I didn't want to disturb it, so I held off from comparing and contrasting too much.

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Harrison Talese-Rhodes' Q3 Globalization Benchmark

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Globalization - Laufenberg on Friday, April 1, 2011 at 9:48 pm
​Here is a download link to my benchmark.
Here is a download link to my bibliography.

Enjoy!

Harrison
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Life

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Monday, March 28, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Thirteen men, two women, and a cat sit around a table, pondering life, all of them wearing tin foil hats.

   "Sex, money, alcohol, work, sex," say the men, breaking the silence.
   "Nay," say the women. "Sex, money, clothing, hair, sex."
   "Meow," say the cat. "Meow meow meow meow meow meow."
   "So very wise," say the men.
   "Brilliant," say the women.
   The cat purrs.

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My 5 Photo Story

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes on Monday, March 21, 2011 at 10:38 am
​Here it is.
Enjoy!
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South of the Border.

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes on Sunday, March 20, 2011 at 10:23 am
When I was little, my family would take lots of vacations. Road trips, mostly. We flew to Disney World and Florida a couple of times, but our tradition was to pile into a car and drive for hours to visit family friends along the east coast.

I loved it. I loved being tuna-canned into a car with the people I liked most. I loved driving everyone insane. I was hyper as a child-- and not your run-of-the-mill-every-kid-is-hyperactive hyper. I had ADHD. My body generated more energy than a nuclear power plant. By the end of most of these trips, everyone in the car would hate me. I was that annoying.

One summer, we decided to take advantage of my mom's friend's cousin's timeshare. Anything to save a buck or two. So my little makeshift family, made up of my me and my best friend and my Mom and her best friend and her best friend's daughter and her best friend's daughter's best friend, piled into our minivan and went on our way.

I don't remember how long the trip was. All I remember iss that I was endlessly distracted. My mom brought toys, books, videogames, and even a T.V./VCR that we plugged into the car and played movies on. A couple of times, we played the quiet game. But that never lasted long. I sucked at the quiet game.
 
When we finally arrived at the border between North and South Carolina, my friend and I, being video game fanatics, begged my mom to go to an arcade that we had found. There was a giraffe statue outside of it. It looked awesome.

When we got inside, though, we found out that this was where games went to die. More than half of them were out of service. The rest were either missing pieces, broken, or lame. There was a game that had a giant, smiling clown face with comically (or terrifyingly, depending on how you feel about clowns) large teeth that you had to hit with little foam balls to get points. Except half the teeth were missing. This clown's mouth looked like piano keys. I think he had more teeth missing than actually there.  
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A rant inspired by Tracy Morgan

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 9:23 pm
You can't even imagine the things that I've seen. A cat climbed up the side of my house and ate my window plant!. I once witnessed a petite Chinese florist tackle a homeless man who stole a bouquet! The Kool-Aid man broke my chimney! Paula Deen used Pam. This is the best I can do on short notice. The rest are exclusively about cats and I don't want to get repetitive.
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Mario to the Castle

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 8:06 am
The plumber trudged up the long twisting driveway towards the looming mansion. This was exhausting. It felt like he was called up to fix this lady's problems every single day! He had better things to do. He had family; brothers, cousins, more brothers. He had a pet whose eggs would go bad if they weren't harvested in a timely fashion. He had little mushroom friends. But this wouldn't stop Mario. He had to help the Princess Peach.
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A Bird

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Monday, February 28, 2011 at 11:48 am
​A bird walks through the desert. Why is it there? Birds don't belong in the desert.
The bird flaps its wings but cannot fly. Why can't it fly? Because this bird is a penguin.
A penguin walks through the desert. Why is it there? Penguins do not belong in deserts.
It turns out that this isn't a desert. It is the arctic tundra. All is well.


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Aidan and the

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 9:23 am
Aidan walked into the wood, wielding only his trusty axe and a thermos of coffee and whiskey. He made sure to step on each of the individual crusty brown leaves lying on the forest floor. He was thinking about his cabin, deeply secluded in the mountain several miles away. He couldn't quite remember if he had covered his logs with the tarp. He wondered if his dog, Bruce Springsteen, was still howling at the oven.

"Fucking dogs," Aidan thought.

If only he didn't have to travel this far everyday. If only Montana hadn't recently passed the Land Protection Act, Aidan wouldn't have to travel several miles by foot every day to avoid cutting down trees in an "environmental preservation zone."

"Fucking treehuggers," Aidan thought.

He finally stopped next to a tall tree with ripe red leaves. He looked up, savoring the view of the sun shining through the beautiful red leaves. For a moment, Aidan remembered. He remembered climbing in these trees as a youngster. Sharing a picnic with his family in this very spot. For a moment, Aidan was not Aidan the lumberjack, but Aidan the human being.

He then swung his axe into the tree until it fell heavily to the ground.

"Fucking nature," Aidan thought.
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Chris and the Diner

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 9:03 am
"And don't come back!" she screeched as she threw Chris to the ground. "Ouch," Chris thought, "what a strong woman. She just threw me!"

Chris had just been thrown out of his favourite diner. He had been hitting on the waitress, Carmella, yet again. She told him that he was making her uncomfortable, but he didn't listen. He couldn't. Hard as he tried, he could not manage to stop the steady stream of sexual innuendo and just outright profanity that flowed out of his mouth.

With the help of the handrail against which he fell, Chris pulled himself up, lit a cigarette, and walked away. Like a boss.
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Alex and the Accident

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 8:56 am
Alex ate her macaroni and cheese in silence. This silence was not one born out of upset or anger, however-- no, this silence was forced. In fact, if she could have it her way, Alex would be talking. Yelling. Singing. She could not, however, because Alex was a mute.

She had been a mute for only 1 year, since the accident. The accident that changed her life. The accident... that changed her destiny.

No, but seriously, it was just a car accident. Her destiny is still probably the same. She just can't talk now.
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Christine and the Avocado

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 8:52 am
Christine walked to the supermarket to buy an avocado. She had to stop several times on the way there in order to tie her shoelaces. This did not bother her, however, as the weather was, as she would say, "positively delightful!"

When she got to the store, Christine bought her avocado. On her walk home, her shoes became untied again. She screamed a scream of anger, threw her shoes to the sidewalk, and walked away. Like a boss.

But man was that avocado ripe.


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Horses

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Friday, February 18, 2011 at 12:33 pm
There once lived three special horses atop a very high cliff in Northern California. But these were not your run-of-the-mill-carriage-pulling-neigh-neigh-whinny-snicker-clippity-clop horses. No, these horses were so much more. These horses... had a destiny.

The first horse was named Job. Job was an admittedly clumsy horse, always tangling his hooves and inhaling flies (yes, this was due to clumsiness). In fact, Job was more than clumsy; he was out of his mind. Like how I made that jump? Yep, Job was sick in the head.  Off his rocker. Not all there. Nuts. Bamboozled. On crack. Well, maybe not on crack. Job tried every day to impress the ladyhorses, but he would inevitably trip over a crack in the ground or inhale a fly and scare them away forever.

The second horse was named Buster. (Yes, I know what you're thinking. Just like Arthur's cheeky rabbit friend.) Buster was a gentleman if there ever was one. He would always clack his hooves politely at horses he passed in the street, and he would always be seen with a shiny mane and, of course, his trusty monocle. Buster owned and managed several successful businesses and, unofficially, one night club.

I never did catch the third horse's real name. I knew him only as Colonel Tom. When I tell you that this horse had a mustache, I mean this horse had a mustache. I mean, seriously. This horse had a mustache! Right above his nose. It was possibly the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I never did catch how he managed to grow that mustache. Huh. Anyway, Colonel Tom never talked much. When he did, it was usually in the form of strung-together profanities aimed at someone named "Annabelle." Probably his sister. Horses are largely familial creatures.
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6 Word Stories

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Friday, February 18, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Repent now-- avoid the Doomsday rush.

Short skirt, tall drink, fun night.

Dancer seeking employment; significant serving experience

He parts the sea of wine.

Dead hooker. Bloody sheets. Burn everything.

Underwater wedding, no suits. You're invited.
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Harrison's Story a Day: Pieced Together

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 8:22 am

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Harrison's 256-word-sentence story.

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 8:36 am
Once upon a time, and quite a time it was-- a not too terrible time, a time in which there existed not violence nor war nor murder nor lies nor death nor hate nor the word “moist”, but rather a more desirable time, one with a more peaceful disposition, one in which there existed no solids nor liquids nor gasses, which is, perhaps, to say that there existed nothing as we, humanity, perceive existence-- there was a being; moreover, this being was not a very manly being, which is, of course, to say that this being was not a man, and this being was not quite a womanly being, which is, of course, to say that this being was not a woman, but this being existed as a genderless being, a godly being, one living beyond any fathomable boundaries that exist for humanity, a being that, if asked by me, Harrison, what it thought about Earth in the year 2011, would say, “well, Harrison, you question asking human you, so bound by your physical form, your perception of existence, I would answer your question, but I’m afraid, good sir, honest sir, that I just don’t give a damn,” a being comprised solely of peace and positive energy, a being that was not light nor dark nor tall nor short nor good nor bad, a being that lived not in one time nor one place, but a being that quite simply lived, a being that quite simply existed, a being, if you will, that quite simply was.
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My iTunes Story

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Screen shot 2011-02-08 at 2.49.53 PM
Screen shot 2011-02-08 at 2.49.53 PM
Here's my story. It's written as a conversation. Everything is dialogue. I apologize for the bad language.

"Is he ill?"
"Hell yes!"
"Oh my god. I'm so sad, so very, very sad."
"Just don't give a fuck..."
"What we talkin' about?
"JUST DON'T GIVE A FUCK!"
"Soul suckin' jerk…"
"Still don't give a fuck."
"Hateful. Thank god it's not Christmas."
"Fuck you. We hate you please die"
"I'm a slave 4 u. Don't leave me blue."
"No other way. Kill you."
"I will survive."
"I won't back down."
"I'm not calling you a liar."
"I ain't no joke. I am the highway. I am the walrus. I am not a robot."
"I can't feel my face."
"Why?"
"Still blazin'."
"Oh yeah. We can get down?"
"We can get down. Only god can judge me"
"They're all gonna laugh at you."
"Why?"
"Because. Ugly"
"Fuck this shit. I want to break free."
"Respect"
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Bad Night

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Storytelling - Chase on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 1:17 pm
O.k.-- this is my first story post. I'll admit, this is not an original story. I wrote this a couple years ago for a creative writing class I was taking. It is not a true story. Hope you like it.

----------------------------

It was just one of those nights. You know what kind of night I'm talkin' about. One that pushes life back into perspective. The one you look back on and then wish you didn't. I call them balancers.

It could be as subtle as losing something. Your keys, your wallet. Not the end of the world, but it might help you realize something big. It m≠ay remind you that you had all your money in cash and now from then on you should only carry a certain amount at all times. Or you can't get into your car now that you lost your keys, but now that you're at the mechanic getting a key made, you might as well fix up that dented bumper.

Potentially, your balancer could be as damaging as a relative dying. Your mom was in the hospital for her routine chemo. No biggie. But when something goes wrong, she dies on the spot. And so notes serious doctor so and so. Serious doctor so and so calls up you, her next of kin. She had died rewriting her will, so it seems that your inheritance goes to her abusive ex-husband instead of you.

It's the kind of thing that happens only when you least expect it. The night that you're walking down the dingy, badly lit street in the neighborhood that your parents warned you about. Every other night you'll look around; have your guard up. But not this night. Tonight, your thinking about the comment she made about your haircut. You're hoping your dad remembered to pick up your new boom box from the UPS warehouse.

You're in the zone. Not paying attention to the dangerous looking mob that appears to be materializing behind you. If you'd noticed you could have pretended to call someone and come up with a comment like "Gee, I'm sure glad I remembered to bring dads GUN with me tonight," to keep them at bay.  The group of scary looking guys behind you would instantly disappear. You would've thought yourself witty for coming up with such a clever idea. You would have to laugh about it with your friends on AIM that night.

But you didn't notice. Not until the guy with the dodgers cap comes up to you and ask if you got any smokes. You start to say "no," but before you can even get out that one syllable you get grabbed from behind. The dude that asked you for the cigarettes grabs your hood and pulls it over your face. He presses it against your mouth, causing you to panic, writhe against the steely grip of the two guys holding you from behind. They're pulling you into that standard, inner-city alley, the one with the hobos warming their weathered hand over the fire barrel. You're a strong guy, normal build and around five foot nine, even though you like to tell girls that your five eleven. You fight back, but how much could any tenth grader do? They push you up against a wall, with one guy holding each arm and one guy spitting words at you. He's obviously high. You manage to get an arm free and give one of those jerks an elbow in the gut. This doesn't go over well with his buddies. The one with the hat lashes out at your face. You hear a cracking sound. Your nose is broken. The one you hit gets out his knife. Crap. He starts slashing your arm, then your stomach as you fall onto your back. You try to put your hand out to stop him, but all this gets you is four fingers on your left hand. "What the hell?" you think. You didn't do anything terrible. Nothing to deserve getting stabbed. Suddenly it stops. The thugs ran away, only after taking your phone and iPod though.

And so there you are. Middle of the city, bleeding out in generic alley number twenty-three.  You recall your biology teacher saying that it can take anywhere from days to a couple of minutes for the human body to bleed out when it takes wounds like yours has. You try to roll over onto your stomach. Ouch. Crap. You forgot. The thug cut your hand up pretty bad. You try to roll over the other way. You can't move your arm. Its probably broken. Or maybe they cut a major artery. Maybe you're just to weak to move period.

You almost smile. The one night. The one night you aren't paying attention. You always pay attention. You suppose that this is what happens when you don't. You wonder if you're going to die. Will you see your life flash before your eyes? Okay, now you do smile. "Only in movies," you think. "But hey," you think. "This is kind of like a movie." You chuckle quietly to yourself, only to find that it hurts to do so. "Tragic," you think. "Here I am, paying for the consequences of being stupid and I can't even appreciate the humor of it. After that thought you feel yourself losing energy. As you slip out of consciousness, you wonder: will I ever wake up?

You don't hear the sirens of the ambulance and cop cars. You don't feel the latex covered hands ripping your Gorillaz t-shirt off in the fluorescently lit ambulance. You aren't awake to feel the ever-so-joyful sensation of being pulled up by your broken arm, onto your sliced-up back.

You wake up the next day at around two PM. Your dad is sleeping in the chair next to your bed. You move your hand, pushing the pain button attached to your finger. Three nurses immediately rush into your room. Two of them reposition you in your bed. "Ouch," you think. Then you realize that there is no ouch. Just numb. The last nurse shakes your dad awake. He stands up diligently, as though he had just drank three espressos. They rush up to your bed. You find out that it isn't the next day. It's actually the next year. You had been in a coma for fourteen months.

"For what?" you wonder. Your hand me down phone? Your outdated, cruddy iPod? A year gone. And just because some people decided that it would be fun to fuck up someone's day. What kind of screwed up society do we live in that people almost die because others don't feel like living legitimately. "A bad one," you think. But the only thing you can really think about, is that all of that wasted time came from one tiny moment. From one second of savagery. From one bad night.

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Q2 Benchmark Reflection

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in American Government - Laufenberg on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 10:48 am
I had a little bit of trouble starting this project. I began by organizing the 12 different examples that we had to make into positives/negatives and legislative/judicial/executive. I chose to focus on Philadelphia laws for the executive branch because they have the most noticeable, direct effect upon my life. For the judicial branch, I found my different examples/sources by collaborating with other SLA students and researching on various supreme court case organizing websites. For my legislative examples, I simply thought of positives/negatives in my life that had to do with the government, and traced them back to the legislative process.

When I began, I worked very quickly and thoroughly. I chose reputable sources and researched well before writing anything down as fact. It was difficult to find sources that had information on the example, result, and an example of the example. I wrote appropriately long, coherent paragraphs describing my examples, and then, at the end, I reflected on the effect that have on my life.

It was most difficult to find the different examples. There isn't a website that you can go to and just *find* different examples of government functions separated into the three branches. If I were to do something differently, I would have done more in-depth research on court cases, and hopefully would have found a more diverse group in terms of federal/state/city courts.
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Lobbying for a Greener Philadelphia #5: How YOU Can Help!

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in American Government - Laufenberg on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 9:10 am
For the past two quarters, I have been lobbying for a greener Philadelphia. It began with a seed being planted, if you'll pardon the pun-- the tree that had stood outside of my house since my childhood was cut down. Although it was already dead and slowly falling apart, it was the only tree on my entire block. I wanted to be able to go outside and see something organic. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently not, because soon after that tree was taken away, another was planted in its place. A live one, this time. I wanted more of these trees, so I decided to do something about it.

My lobbying research eventually lead me to Greenworks Philadelphia, a project lead by Mayor Michael Nutter calling for an exponential growth in urban trees over the next 5 years. I expanded my topic to include other green aspects of Philadelphia-- carbon footprints, natural energy supplements, etc.

I have created 4 blog posts total. Each of them serve to educate, explain, or notify the public as to the environmental situation in Philadelphia.

My final blog post is in the form of a flow chart. Through answering a few yes and no questions, it allows citizens of Philadelphia to figure out the way they can best help to green Philadelphia.

​Click here to see my (somewhat interactive) "How YOU Can Help Green Philadelphia," flowchart.

The earth, much like the human body, will only tolerate so much abuse before it gives in and dies. We will not be able to continue living here if we do not preform some much needed maintenance. Even though I am done lobbying,  I hope to continue being part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
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Bureacracy Flowchart Reflection

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in American Government - Laufenberg on Monday, January 3, 2011 at 10:33 am

The bureaucratic task that my partner, Christine Walden, and I researched and flowchart-ed was filing for income tax. In the interest of keeping it simple and clean, we decided to focus on first time income tax filers (under 65 years of age, non-home owner, etc).

We began by narrowing down our subject. We decided on making a guide for first time income tax filers because, quite simply, they are the ones who need the most help. We downloaded the forms, and using the W2 of a generous donor, we completed them. We then created, edited, and submitted the flow chart. 

The paperwork that we needed to fill out was relatively short but tedious. We first made the mistake of printing the forms and the directions, after which we were left with 50 some pages to deal with. I personally mis-marked two forms before realizing that it would be easier to complete it digitally. After matching the correct directions to each sheet, it was pretty easy to enter the numbers and do the addition.

I think the most difficult part of the process was locating the correct paperwork and directions. The forms are labeled in a way that makes it difficult to find the one meant for your situation. If I could change it, I would make the online linking to the forms more user friendly.

The system was, at first, very simple, I'm sure. However, with the development of technology, government, culture, and economics, the process became appropriately tangled. It had to do with the country changing more quickly than the process could, so the powers that be settled for reformatory rather than flat out change.

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Lobbying for a Greener Philadelphia #3

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 10:56 am
greenbuilding-300x274
greenbuilding-300x274

     In the past year, Greenworks Philadelphia has traveled leaps and bounds towards its 2015 goal. Originally funded solely by Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability, Greenworks has developed into a collaborative effort between dozens of benefactors, ranging from federal and local government entities to various private non-profit organizations. As Katherine Gajewski, Philadelphia's Director of Sustainability, stated in the 2010 Greenworks Philadelphia progress report, "In an impressive display of coordination, leaders from numerous City agencies as varied as the Streets Department, the Zoning Code Commission, and the Department of Health, came together in our Sustainability Working Group and committed to bring champions of sustainability across city government."

    What seems to be stopping Greenworks Philadelphia from making a true impact on the public is its lack of media attention. Thus far, Greenworks' online presence is limited to a couple of blog posts, several press releases, and a smattering of miscellaneous posts on "green" websites.

     People see and use Greenworks' products, sure-- over 500 solar-powered trash and recycling bins scattered throughout center city, energy efficient building materials and methods used to make government buildings, 14,000 residents employed as"green" workers, with plans to add 15,000 more. But this isn't enough. The citizens of Philadelphia need to know more than the what-- they must know why it is important. In order for the project to continue to develop and receive further funding, Greenworks must be publicized on a larger scale.

Philly-recycle
Philly-recycle

     This is where I come in.

     Over the next few months, I'm going to be exploring several options for my lobbying campaign. Here are some of my ideas.

     - Publicizing Greenworks Philadelphia on the internet. I would raise awareness of the project via various social networking and link-sharing sites.

     - Contacting Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability. I would reach out to the local government in hopes of helping to organize a media outreach program for Greenworks.

     - Start a public campaign by means of paper fliers. I would create and distribute throughout philadelphia appealing paper "advertisements" in order to put Greenworks into the public eye.

     At this rate, there is little question in my mind that Greenworks will have achieved its goals by 2015. But we must think ahead-- when there are thousands more trees, environmentally friendly building materials available, cleaner energy resources-- who will be relied upon to maintain the green-ness that has been created? The answer is clear-- it will be up to the public to preserve what Greenworks has created.

     The only way that they will be equipped to do so, however, is if they are taught how.

      Only through education on the issues being addressed by Greenworks Philadelphia will the public come to fully understand the severity of our current environmental situation and the importance that we all work to change it. My next blog post will focus on how I plan to contribute to this education.

Phillip, Jose. "Philadelphia Sports Solar-powered Trash Bins." GreenPacks. Greenpacks.org, 1 July 2009. Web. 23 Nov 2010. <http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/06/01/philadelphia-sports-solar-powered-trash-bins/>.

Gates, Kelly Patrick. "It's a green scene for the city." PlanPhilly: Planning Philadelphia's Future. PlanPhilly, 29 April 2009. Web. 23 Nov 2010. <http://planphilly.com/node/8791>.

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Dispelling Some Common Misconceptions About Evolution

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Science and Society - Best on Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 11:01 am

Here are some frequently made claims evolution followed by why they are false.

Evolution claims that humans are descended from monkeys

While it is true that humans are somewhat closely related to modern apes, it is not true that we are “evolved from dang-dirty monkeys.” The truth is that humans share a common ancestor with monkeys; it is believed that this ancestor existed between 5 and 8 million years ago. At some point in time, this ancestor’s species evolved into two separate lineages.

So, to provide an analogy, monkeys are more like our cousins than our parents.

Evolution is entirely random

Evolution is the result of natural selection; this means that organisms are more likely to pass on dominant gene traits than recessive gene traits.

Now, to clarify—natural selection does not determine dominance of genes directly based on interactions with the environment.  What happens is very simple—

Organisms with “dominant” genes survive.

Organisms with “recessive” genes do not survive.

Science!

Evolution is just a theory

Yes, evolution is classified as a scientific theory—this doesn’t mean that it has not been proven. It is it is important for one to note the difference between the scientific definition of theory and the contemporary definition of theory.

Contemporary definition of theory: A supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, esp. one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained.

Scientific definition of theory: A scientific explanation of an observed phenomenon. 

The theory of intelligent design is as feasible a theory as evolution

This is false; if not for many reasons, then for one:

Evolution is backed by empirical evidence.

Intelligent is not backed by empirical evidence.

More science!

Citations

Harding, Ken. (1999). But it's "just a theory!". Retrieved from http://www.evolution.mbdojo.com/theory.html

PBS. (C 2001). Evolution: frequently asked questions. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/faq/cat02.html

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To Kill A Popstar

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in Digital Video -4 day a week - Herman on Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 9:27 am

This is the Q1 Digital Video project for Graham Davis, Camille Maldonado, Harrison Talese-Rhodes, and Devon Thomas. It is a trailer for our film To Kill A Popstar.

Song is Toxic by Britney Spears

To_Kill_A_Popstar_Q1_Benchmark_DigVid
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Q1 Benchmark - Legislative History of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 9:56 am
Here is the timeline I created. It outlines the legislative history of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)



And here is a document containing the sites that I utilized in the making of this timeline.

Enjoy!

-Harrison
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Harrison's Polling Adventure

Posted by Harrison Talese-Rhodes on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 at 7:24 pm

Today I went to my polling place.


photo


I helped a very nice volunteer named Jack hand out voting literature for about an hour. Afterward, I interviewed a woman named Nina about her polling experience. 

 

1. What motivated you to come out and vote?

 

I don't want the republicans to win—so part of it is a defense-- a defense vote. And plus, I always vote. I feel it's my civic duty.

 

2. Do you vote in every election? (How regularly do you vote?)

 

Yes.

 

3. Where have you encountered the highest amount of ad campaigning? Radio, TV, print, etc.

 

T.V.

 

4. What was the most memorable campaign ad that you have encountered?

 

An ad against Onorato saying that there were jobs lost in his county-- that was part of the economy! That had nothing to do with him. Oh, and Christine O'Donnell.

 

5. Are you always sure of who you are going to vote for when you walk into

 the booth or are you still deliberating?

 

It's a mixture. Some people I know, others I don't know are running until I get there, haha.

 

6. What impact do you feel that your vote will have on the election?

 

'I know I'm only one person, but together, we can make a change. Blah blah blah.' Something like that.

 

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photo
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