User:CamilleFunk

bio
Camille Marie Funk began her life in the beautiful city of Seattle. There she attended an illustrious Catholic school and wore an ugly uniform until her parents decided, by no folly of their own, to move back across the mountains to the desolate city of Yakima so that Camille and her younger brother David could go frollick amongst the tumbleweeds and play in the dirt. After many humiliating years in another Catholic school where she wore another ugly uniform and where the main lesson to be taught was compliance, and individual thought/ expression was feared by the administration, Camille continued her education at Davis High School, the intercity school for fuckups and migrants. Camille enjoyed school for the first time in her life and was influenced by some amazing teachers. She ran cross country and dyed her hair red and painted some pretty sweet shit. Soon it was time to pick a college. Her parents wanted her to go to another Catholic school and for some ridiculous reason she did, for a little while. Then Camille started to work. Alot. She took whatever job she could find, picking cherries, selling chocolates, selling movie posters, selling underwear, leather jackets, makeup, the list goes on and on. She eventually decided to continue her education at the Art Institute of Seattle and study fashion design. She now lives downtown with her wonderful boyfriend, works (unfortunately) for Starbucks for the time being, and just turned 21 and is enjoying herself immensely. Camille wishes she could make the better place right now, that's kind of her driving force, but she doesn't quite know what to do until school's over. It's taking up a lot of her time.

CamilleFunk 21:01, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

final
There are obvious religious objections to population control in all nations. These must first off be respected no matter what the oppositions’ religious views entail. While there may be a way to control a nations population by appealing to their religious beliefs, why not instead appeal to the nations’ religious beliefs regarding the land, their source for resources? This seems a much more effective way for mothers and families to protect the resources they have and understand the effect that a growing population has on these resources. That way, they can manage their own procreation. The people of Ghana believe that they have a spiritual connection with the Earth. Small interest groups have begun to combat the slash and burning of Ghanian forests by individual farmers, because of Western influence. In order for a person to cut down a tree, the person must recite a prayer in the local language to the tree, explaining why they are cutting it down. This has helped in dropping the numbers of burned forests and keeping the Ghanian tradition of stewardship alive. Anyone should have birth control made available to them. However, this does not give governments the right to mandate forced abortions or simply killing infants and orphans through neglect. The distribution of birth control among over-populated countries would reduce abortion and child neglect in the long run. Birth control should be made available in clinics across the the world to provide a safe alternative. In first world countries, we are brought up to believe that population control is supposedly necessary for keeping the planet inhabitable for everyone, and vital for making sure there is enough food and land to go around. However, those of us living in first world countries fail to see that the Earth could in fact support the current population of 6.7 billion people, and, with a possible future emphasis on supplying actual resources rather than the current consumer’s transient whims, could support several more billion people. Population control seems the obvious answer for those of us unwilling to sacrifice getting the flyest Nikes, state of the art computer, or the latest in cosmetic surgery. It both assumes that the third world countries in question are responsible for being unable to take care of their children, and are taking up the most room and using the most resources by their sheer numbers. That is simply not true. Consumerism and greed in the first world has kept third world countries from being able to have access to the resources they need to take care of their children. Out of six billion people, the one billion people in developed nations are using up 86% of the Earth's resources, while the other 5.7 billion people are left with just 14%. The infant mortality rate in third world countries is incredibly high as well. According to the CIA World Fact Book, In Sierra Leone, the infant mortality rate is 156.48 deaths per 1000 live births. If your child had a 16% chance of dying early, and you needed your children to help with farming and finding fresh water, don’t you think you would procreate with a bit more urgency? Again, this brings us back to the real issue, why are the mothers of Sierra Leone giving birth in such conditions that their babies are unable to receive the same chance at life as a baby born in the United States? Why must the mothers rely on having many children in order for them to sustain their family’s meager conditions? The ugly truth of the matter is under the guise of irresponsible, uneducated parenting in the third world countries. The truth is that the resources to make a child’s life in Sierra Leone possible are littering first world garbage dumps. The money spent on making the Xbox, played only a few times until the Wii came out, the money spent on making the Toyota Corolla, replaced six months later, the money spent on making the countless Gucci bags, no longer in style-- all of that could have gone toward ensuring several thousand babies would have a better shot at life in Sierra Leone. In order for people in first world countries to understand how imbalanced these numbers really are, global and environmental responsibility needs to be emphasized from a very young age in school. That way, people actually have a decent understanding of the affects of their actions as both consumers as well as stewards. The reality that we are members of a whole race of humans might give people more compassion for other of cultures, and would hopefully make them more responsible with resources in the future. While I do think that people should be able to make their own spending choices, I propose that the future of education puts all of their efforts into making the unhappy reality of the state of the world abundantly clear to children and quit protecting them from the truth just so they’ll grow up to be good little consumers. Parents and schools must reclaim children from retailers, it is the only hope for the future. In addition to blatant consumer denial of our role to play in this issue, comes the role of the World Bank. According to its very own website, the World Bank is made up of two different development institutions owned by 185 member countries—the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The IBRD focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries, while IDA focuses on the poorest countries in the world. This organization provides loans and credits for developing countries. This may sound like a godsend for impoverished nations, but the World Bank is actually responsible for the unforgivable conditions and continued lack of resources in these countries. A prime example is Ghana. There, the people believe that they have a spiritual connection with the Earth. However, this is being destroyed by Ghana’s government’s desperate choice in accepting a loans from the World Bank to export their timber. Now, the forests are being slashed and burned for profit by farmers. This leaves the land nearly unable to sustain life or agriculture, as well as disrespects the relationship Ghana’s people have with the land. In addition, the timber yards of Ghana are very simple from continued intuitive lack of funding from the World Bank, and so they only process 15% of the tree, while almost anywhere else in the world would process 86%. In order for the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund to actually be an aid for poor nations, there must be reform regarding the the use and nature of credit. these institutions simply dangle a small prize in front of these poor nations governments, leaving just barely enough for the countries’ populations to survive. How do we enforce a more balanced system? I think this can only be done by people once again, being educated as to why the goods bought are so inexpensive, and beginning to become self reliant again on their own countries. This would create jobs for more people, which would create less needs for government loans and credit. First world countries do not have the right to limit the procreation in third world countries. The answer to the population problem starts on first world grounds. The whole issue is lack of resources for everyone on the planet. If each of the 1 billion people in the first world countries humbled their extravagant lifestyles, then the rest of the world, 5.7 billion people, would not be scraping to get by. The answer to the population problem is to allow each community, including those communities in first world countries, to become stewards of their own individual populations and grounds-- to become self reliant sources of agriculture and resources.

Works Cited: www.overpopulation.org http://www.worldnews.com/ www.greenpacks.org www.grinningplanet.com

reflective assessment
Almost every time I left class, I felt like we needed to start some kind of revolution. It is a wonderful change to have a class that challenges me to actually consider world events from a non business standpoint. While I felt that some of the movies we watched in class were one sided, it did make me go home and do research of my own. I also liked that we discussed the movies during class to try to find out what we could take from them and what could possibly be done to improve their arguments. The population issue really left an impression on me just how much of the lack of resources is the elite's fault. I was also faced with the fact that the fashion industry plays a crucial roll in depleting the Earth of its resources, something I've kind of known for a while. I am unsure of how I want to proceed from here in school and a career. I almost quit my major this quarter, due to this class. It made me consider whether or not I wanted to be responsible for contributing to the fashion industry's effect on the planet. Then I realized that I am just a responsible whether or not I continue my major or not, because I am living in a first world country and by default, a consumer. I have decided from here on out if I have to work for a big fashion company for a while, I want to work for one that uses sustainable fabrics and whose factories are less harsh on the environment. If the company isn't committed wholly in action to trying to reduce waste, I will pilot it myself. I would rather have my own small business that uses sustainable fabrics and production methods. This class has made me look to small businesses like left bank books for guidance. I thought that the Wikiversity format for homework was a useful and cool way to post our homework, but I think that we needed more of a basic understanding of how to post stuff first. I realized that the school expects us all to have computer skills that a lot of people were never taught, so that needs to be introduced, and I need to brush up on mine. As a side note, I have to say that I thought that the group who did the project on sexuality in advertisement could have shown less videos to get their point across. I am not conservative, but I wonder if the point of your paper was lost on the first Guiness ad. You explained it very adeptly, but sitting with a bunch of guys laughing and making sure they weren't getting boners at something that degrading wasn't exactly an invitation for me, as a woman, to hear what was going to be said. I thought that the rest of your presentation was well researched and thoughtful. It was probably my favorite. I don't know that ladies were your primary audience, but if they were, maybe just include the Guiness ad at the end of the presentation, or not at all.

Bio
see above.

Midterm Research Project
I researched the Tonybee tiles.

Final Public Art Project
I created a self help flyer encouraging people to just think for themselves.

Self-Assessment
I had an interesting quarter. A lot happened that was beyond my control, but this class gave me a better outlook on what was going on around me. It made me recognize art in a whole new way, which was a lovely distraction from the rest of everything that happened this quarter. I feel like I have a better grasp on what it means to be public art, something that I will remember and that will challenge me to create art more often. Without its lofty associations, there is no excuse not to be creating public art every day. I guess that's what I liked the most about this class. I feel like it really did pose the question, what is art? in a way that wasn't cheesy or cliche. I have been struggling with finances this quarter and I realize that it really doesn't matter if you have very much at all, you can create art simply by using your body and conveying ideas. I still have a horrible problem with procrastination (sorry steve) but I realized that the reason I procrastinate is because I am afraid of failure so instead of a success, I turn something out at the last minute with the excuse, "oh, if only I had had more time..." which is total bull shit. I also need to improve my public speaking. It freaks me out.