Bonanzaville Village

1. What themes are displayed in Bonanzaville Village?
The display of Nazi German is one of the themes. It shows some pictures of the Berlin book burning and the violence of Nazi. Besides, the life of native American Indian is another theme. It shows the clothes, food, representative persons and tools then. The whole exhibition is displayed in a native American town.

2. Describe the most interesting artifacts of the exhibition and reflect on their significance.
I think the most interesting artifact is native American's clothes. The clothes is made fur and skin of animals. And the bones are used as decorations. Even now, I think the clothes are beautiful and practical. They can protect the body from cold and hurt, which is very important for the native American at that time. It is the result of ancient people's wisdom. We, modern people, should learn from them.

Visits to Nursing Home

   Today, I went back to the Nursing Home again. This time I had a different feeling. I remembered that the first time we went there when the old hardly wanted to talk with us. So, I felt very hurt then. However, this time I just found they became more friendly to us. The old man who I helped with Bingo was called Ray. At first, he said to me "you can play yourself". I thought I bothered him and he disliked me, so I was really upset. But, I didn't give up. I helped him with Bingo because he could hardly hear the number. After one round, he turned his head to me and smiled, saying "Thank you for your help. I can't hear it clearly." At that time, I was so happy that I forgot all sadness. Then, I realized that they may love us so much that they don't want to ruin our game. They may want to talk with us desperately but they just cannot even say a word because their illness. I was touched again.

Thanksgiving Day

 What are the American people giving thanks for ?
 

    As said in the history book, the local American helped the white people when they first came to American continent. So, in order to thank for local Americans and the God, white people regard the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. It used to thank local Americans for their help and thank God for the harvest. Now, Americans celebrate thanksgiving day to thank everything they have: the happy life, the nice family, the stable work and so forth. So, at that day, all Americans will have dayoffs. Family members will meet together for meal.

Lynn Brakke Organic Farm

Please answer the following questions based on your visit to the Lynn Brakke Organic Farm and the article "What is Organic Food and Why Should I Care?"

1. How is organic farming different from conventional farming?

First, organic food is defined strictly by Federal law. And the farming process, field and fork are regulated through an extensive certification process.

Second, organic farming responds specifically to site conditions.

Finally, organic farming combines a lot of areas together, such as cultural, biological, and mechanical practices. And it is environmentally friendly because it can help cycle resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity.

 

 2. What is the nutrition value of organic food? Provide examples from the article.

The nutrition value of organic food is much higher than other conventional food. For example, women eating organic products were found to have around 50% higher levels of rumenic acid in their breast milk. UC Davis researchers found that the content of flavonoids in organic tomatoes were 79%-90% higher than normal tomatoes. Scientists realized that organic brands of catsup have 57% higher levels of antioxidant lycopene.  

3. How do organic practices improve the soil quality?

Organic practices improve the soil quality by the use of “manure and cover crops more than offet losses from tillage”.

4. Why is organic production expensive?

It costs a lot to foster organic food. The special knowledge of organic farmers is required. The fostering process and the limited quantity of planting are also the reason why organic production is much more expensive.

Comstock House

Why is Comstock House an important landmark of local history?

  One of the reasons why Comstock House is an important landmark of Moorhead history is that this house is the first house in this area. The family lived in Comstock house was rich at that time and they made great contribution to Moorhead. So, they were respected by other local citizens. Besides, the house is very beautiful even at present. The decoration inside the house is very splendid and it is saved such well. The house conveys local history and influences later generation.

 

Nursing Home

Please write a short paragraph about your impressions from visiting the nursing home. The paragraph must contain a topic sentence and the details to support your claim. Word count: 200 words.

 

The visiting to the nursing home today was a very special and meaningful experience for me. It was my first time to visit such a place. At first, I felt very nerous because I was not sure if my English could  be understood by the old. I worried a lot about our communication. However, when the lady came, I found even if we indeed had some trouble with communicating she was so friendly and tired to understand our words. Her attitude made me relax a lot. When we were playing game, I just found that she was just as cute as a child - she wanted to win the prize. Seeing her smiling face just made me so happy. And then another lady came. We attempted to greet her but she could hardly response anything maybe because of her illness. She just sat there so quietly that we thought she might not like us. But what happened next touched my heart deeply. When she would like to drink her coffee but couldn't reach it, one of the voulunteers helped her. Then she smiled and watched her with love in her eyes, saying "Thank you". Just at that moment, my tears almost went out. I understood that she would like to talk with us but she just could't somehow. I could even imagine how sad she was.

It gives me a lot. I cherish my family even more.

Habitat for Humanity

1. What does Habitat for Humanity do?
Habitat for Humanity is an International non-profit organization, which is found in 1976 by Millard Fuller and Linda Fuller. The organization concentrates on solving living houses problem for the poor with the help of volunteers from the whole world. They build and repair safe and comfortable houses for poor people around the world. Until now, they have built over 400,000 houses  for 2 million people

 2. Does the organization help all applicants equally? What are the eligibility criteria?
Yes, the organization helps all applicants equally. Habitat for Humanity will not have discrimination on different religions, countries and races. They just help who really need help and accord with the eligibility criteria.
The organization has criteria for applicants. It will pick applicants according to the applicants’ requirements for houses, ability to pay money back and willingness to participate in the building process.

3. Read about the activity of Habitat for Humanity in your country and provide some statistics.
From the Habitat for Humanity China 2013 Annual Report, the organization constucted and repaired over 100,000 houses for people in need globally. Since then, they had helped more than 750,000 families aroud the world. In 2013, there were over 1 million volunteers all around the world joining the organization to give their efforts for poor people.

4. What are the volunteering options for those who are willing to help?
For those who are willing to help, they can just visit the website to donate money through the Internet. Besides, you can also be one of the many volunteers in the organization, then you have the chance to help others with building their houses.

5. List the benefits of having a healthy housing and explain how this can impact the lives         of home residents.
1. Having a healthy housing can give the poor family a chance to live a better life in the future. Living in a comfortable and safe house is especially important for kids, as they can concentrate more on their study or work. By doing this, they may make a difference in their future and to escape from the poor family.
2. Second, it can form a harmony and peaceful society. When people can not even live a basic life, they may use some violent way to revenge to the society. The safe and comfortable houses can make people who are helped appreciate what they've gotten and deliver the kindness to others.

Dorothy Day House of Hospitality

1.Dorothy Day is one of the most influential human rights activists in the 20th century in the United States. She is the daughter of a journalist and she uses her lifetime to advocate freedom. Besides, she tries her best to protect the rights of homeless and poor people and advocate for them.

2.The food pantry we've visited today serves for poor and homeless people. It has some missions - both basic and further. Its basic mission is to give those who are so poor that they can't live a life by themselves the foundational life product, like food, clothes and so forth. All of the pantry's money, clothes and other things are donated by people because it is an non-profit organization. For the further mission, it include individual and social mission. The government of the US doesn't forget the poor people. So, the individual mission is to make each homeless or poor people feel that they're not abandoned so they can try to find their life back. And the food pantry convey a lot of social meanings. It should proclaim to the whole society the virtue to help and care about the poor or homeless.

Race and Diversity

1. Is racism something you experience or have experienced in
your home country?

 No, I think in my country racism is not usual in
China. In China, there are few foreign immigrants, so we are almost the same in
every aspect – appearance, language, clothes, habits and forth. But, sometimes
it may happen when a person who is originally from a poor city travel to a big
and rich city.

 

2. Do you believe the USA is a country where the instances
of racism are more rare than common?

No, I don’t believe the USA is a country where there are
more rare instances of racism than common. First, the USA has a lot of
immigrants there. The different appearances, languages and others may be the barriers
between local people and immigrants. So, in this situation, racism is formed.
Second, in America history, slaves from Africa and other places are very
common. Even now the social position of these people is very low. Me, as a
foreigner, I have watched several American movies about racism. And I think it
is just the reflection of the real society.

 

3. What does race/color discrimination involve?

The discrimination involves that for black people,
immigrants from Asia and other countries.

 

4. Does the concept of diversity include only racial
differences? 

No, the concept of diversity does not just include racial
differences. It also includes all the differences within a society, for
example, color differences, cultural differences and even personality
differences.

 

5. Based on the movie Crash, why do people become
violent and biased toward others? Why is their prejudice based on racial or
ethnic bias?

 

The reason why people become violent and biased toward
others is not because they are bad at first. Instead for most time they are
kind to others but getting bullied from others. And they just think it is
unfair and then they become violent.

Because these people used to be not very good, so people cannot
change their opinions to them.