See Both Sides

“AHCCCS Arizona”

Royce Cons.                                                   

1. Strains the medical and EMS system, people use ambulances as personal transportation for non-emergency medical problems.

2. People abuse the AHCCCS system and use it as a way of life. They support their families   instead of seeking gainful employment.

3. AHCCCS spends millions of dollars a year on healthcare and cash assistance for non-legal citizens which only adds to the states deficit.

Kurt, Pros.

1. The program provides medical care for the less fortunate, un-employed and those who are employed but are not offered insurance at all.

2.  The AHCCCS offer`s a Nutrition Assistance program for low-income individuals, children and families.

3.  The AHCCCS offer`s a Cash Assistance program for children and their families to meet their needs until they can re-establish their lives.

Royce’s opinions: My opinion on this healthcare disaster is to try to re-vamp the AHCCCS system. I tend to be a bit jaded on this issue, due to the fact that I work emergency medicine and see the system abused on a daily basis. I do have a large amount of friends that work in the EMS system also, so this tends to be a chiefly shared opinion among many of the people I associate with. Not that the whole system is bad, but for the most part it sucks. My personal actions do not affect the way I perform my patient care while on the job, but it has made me a little crass towards people when I’m not at work. When I see the people in line at the store that are buying more booze than food and a food stamp card in hand with three dirty little kids in tow, I do get bothered and a little pissed off. I hate to say it but I may even look down on them a bit.

Kurt’s opinions: I believe without this program and services that the AHCCCS provide that many or a lot of the Arizona residents would be in much more dire straits than they already are. It provides opportunities or a hand out to get back on ones feet after experiencing a crisis, layoff, disability, or financial burden. I personally believe and feel that these services that AHCCCS has been providing for Arizona residents over the years has made a difference in a lot of people’s lives. This state truly believes in personal health being of upmost importance for the less fortunate.    

Royce’s sources for information: I read JEMS (journal of emergency medicine) which addresses this issue quite frequently in its monthly magazine. I also use the internet, http://www.azahcccs.gov/fraud/default.aspx, is a very insightful source. Updates through my employer on these issues, also is a great source of information, since it affects our jobs directly and is a daily issue.

Kurt’s sources for information: I stay current with the AHCCCS through means of local television, newspapers, radio and the internet. I have seen how and what they can and will provide for with a neighbors cancer condition. I have also gained further and in-depth knowledge of these programs by personal means of applying for medical assistance myself recently.

In Summary (Common Ground): This tends to be a very touchy subject for most people. It is a highly opinionated and controversial issue that many find personal to their beliefs. We discussed this issue for quite some time and had a plethora of opinions on all of the issues that are encompassed in the AHCCCS system. It is such a broad spectrum of issues it is sometimes hard to pin down what is right and wrong with the system and how it works. Even though we had quite a difference of opinions on these issues, we did see some things eye to eye.

 One cannot disagree that some type of public assistance is necessary and there are several people that rely on this help for their lively hood and day to day needs, this we both could not deny. We also agree that it’s not perfect and people do take advantage of the system. It was created to help people get back on track with their lives, not a way of life. People do use it for the better good when they have ongoing medical conditions, need to feed their children or are laid off of a job. We both are in agreement that the non-legal citizens that are in our state should not be entitled to apply and receive these benefits, as to the fact that this costs millions of tax dollars a year. We both respect and honor each other’s opinion and realize neither has all of the answers, but then who does. The main point we could really come to an agreement on is, the system is in desperate need of being overhauled and restructured so those that truly need it are not being denied because of those that abuse the system. Through doing this quest we have learned one lesson that everyone is entitled to their opinions whether right, wrong or indifferent and as long as we respect each other, we can all agree to disagree.

3D GameLab - Wrap-Up

The 3D GameLab experience this semester in Humanities 101, was an enjoyable experience in my opinion. It was definitely new and somewhat awkward in the beginning for me. I did not know what to think of this new way of teaching/learning from the traditional way that I have come to know or was taught over the years of my schooling. The major difference that I found and liked, was the grade scale going up instead of down or maintaining. I had a sense of urgency, and my final grade really depended on me putting in the time and effort to achieve and capture the grade that I desired. Another point about this new style of teaching/learning would be that I found myself in a competition, kinda like a race or game. I could watch and examine my weekly individual progress as well as the whole class or group. Which for me, made this class not so easy to procrastinate and wait until the last minute.

Far as changing or enhancing my personal 3D GameLab experience, I have come up with a couple of ideas. First, it would have been nice to have the Your Treasure Map built into my personal work page and have been able to watch my progression live as I advanced through the course. I believe it would have been a nice visual way of seeing and rewarding a student for their accomplishments. Second, I think it might produce more group competition if the group page automatically listed the top achievers in descending order. It might make other students try harder to achieve better scores to advance higher in the order, promote competition.

Overall, I found this experience very fresh and new. I like change, and this was definitely a class that allowed one to be in control of their own progress through a video game style format. I would personally recommend this style of teaching/learning to anyone.      

My Tweeps

This mastery quest was fairly simple for me, far as who I should choose for My Tweeps Widget.

As a child I always liked and looked, and sometimes read the National Geographic Magazine. But, as I moved into my later years, I pretty much gave it up and switched over to the Wired Magazine. I would find myself reaching for the Wired Magazine in coffee shops, office buildings, and in waiting rooms of medical/dental offices if they were available. I eventually purchased  subscriptions as the years went by. But, over the past four years or so I have dropped my subscription. In my opinion and Wikipedia the Wired Magazine is about technology and how it affects our economy, politics, and culture. The main reason I liked the magazine was it stayed current and present with new technologies and inventions. And, like my old favorite National Geographic Magazine the pictures are amazing at times. So, this quest and choosing Wired Magazine for a tweep has brought me back to them and the cycle begins again, but now its free to read some of the random articles that are posted on my widget.

 My second choice was the good old NFL. I have always been a football fan, and is my favorite sport. The only magazine subscription that I currently pay for is Sports Illustrated. Honestly, I tend to through the issues in the magazine rack when it is not football season. On occasion, I might find myself reading an article that has been on the television news or made the internet news columns on yahoo during off season football. I play fantasy football with my buddies through the internet. I have done this for the past ten years or so. I believe with this NFL widget it well help me stay current and up to date when making my decisions for fantasy football even more so than before with out it.

I have to admit that the Twitter Widget is new to me and my computer. Since the installation I have caught myself reading articles through the add on and then looking up to find that a fair amount of time has gone by.

With out a doubt this new window of reading has increased my daily computer/internet time, but I believe it can only help me. "To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries." - Alberto Manguel

Pop Culture Website

For this mastery quest I wanted to go out of the box and research a pop music website that was totally new and unbiased for my opinions. I tend to listen to anything but country and grew up with hard rock and metal back in the late 1980`s. Music of today has change with technology pushing it into more directions than ever before. One instance of this advancement would be the ReactableTable, which is amazing.


 So, I jumped on youtube and started to search for DJ sounds. As I looked over the search results, the Laidback Luke – Djsounds Show 2011 caught my eye. I proceeded to listen and watch this video/mix and thought to myself; damn this kid is really good. In my opinion it is just crazy what today's kids are doing with mixing compared to my generation of club mixers. I was like this kid must be a star in the DJ mixing world and have a following. So I decided to search for his website and complete this master quest with laidbackluke.com.


After interacting, reading, listening and viewing Luke`s webpage, I found it to be, for the most part simple and very informative. It was simple in the sense that it was not overly done and confusing to navigate through The webpage header basically list what is all on this webpage and allows you to shortcut straight to a particular area if need be. Unlike most websites it did not have a million different colors, and was very user friendly.I like the fact that Luke had his own Biography and Discography built with in the site, which gave the first time user or listener a bit of personal information about him. In my opinion he has gone a bit overboard with all the videos, but I believe that with his following being of the younger age, this allows them to stay current and see and listen to Luke`s latest works. Another aspect of him staying current would be his Upcoming Events Column which caught my eye right away upon viewing the site for the first time. I could tell that he seems to really want to participate in his fan following, due to his Contact Section. If one like`s they can join his e-mail list, drop him a line, join Twitter or Facebook. Within the webpage I found a sub-header, which allowed me to view News, Schedule, and his TOP 10. I liked this feature because the viewer is not forced to look at them, only if they are opened will you see them.


I found the overall graphic style of the website to be some what of a party or Rave atmosphere. With streamers and stars being a heavy influence and some abstract designs mixed in throughout some parts of the site. The graphic of a big city at night with the stars shinning bright portrayed a sense of one of his shows could be coming to a city near you.  


 So, if I was some kind of website critic, I believe I would rate Luke`s webpage with an 7. It was not the best I have seen, but I was overall pleased with the content and information.

Beyonce Syndrome

I recently gave up and resigned my position with Hope Communities in Denver, CO. It is a company that works in the low urban housing industry. I held a maintenance supervisor position for a year and a half with them, in the downtown area called Five Points. After reading this quest and trying to decide what negative effects of pop culture have on society, it was clear to me that I should speak of the so called “Beyonce Syndrome”, because I was able to see and experience it myself first hand.


 After doing some research, I found this article that hit the nail on the head in many of my sightings and feelings for this new younger African American culture. In this article Brian E. claims that, “The Beyonce Syndrome” is a system of beliefs, behaviors and values that: 1). Has implanted into the collective sub-conscience of young women, especially young women of color, the idea that thugs, rappers, drug dealers, gang bangers, criminals, abusers and womanizers are not only acceptable as mates, but should in fact be the ideal. 2). Has completely changed the perception for women of what the ideal man should be, with disastrous consequences.3). Has given young women a value system void of substance, that cheapens their image/bodies, and works against establishing good strong families. 4). Teaches women to put undue value on material possessions and looks.5). Teaches women of color to use sex/their bodies to get what they want and show as much skin as possible.


 Now with that said, I have gone on many after hours calls where I would physically observe African American girls acting, dressing, speaking and playing like they were in fact a mini Beyonce, Mya, or Rhiana. They would not just pretend or imitate these role models behind closed doors, but in the community playgrounds, basketball parks, and even in the apartment building parking lots as well. The problem that I have is that the music, in which these girls do sing about at times, has to do with “thug” or thug image, mentality. These songs normalize thug culture; today`s kids do not even understand and are way too young in my opinion to start acting and imitating women that obviously do not care what they are really doing to their own kind through their music. Even young boys are influenced by this music and want and become thugs even more so. They are at as much risk as the girls or even more so I would say. They are encouraged to act out, join gangs, sell drugs, and disrespect authority. Knowing that this is what the mini Beyonce’s want, so they try to impress girls with this new pop culture of being a thug is normal, cool and accepted.


 One of the things that bother’s me the most is our first lady Michelle Obama and her total support of Beyonce and her music, and giving the younger African American girl the go ahead, stamp of approval on this negative pop modern culture influence. Now, I am not saying or agreeing that all of the music is bad or making are younger society act in a thug manner, but to a certain degree this is in fact doing exactly what Brian E claims. By listening to certain songs and then relating to them through personal experiences and intimidating female role models in these manners can and will influence the younger generations over time and effect the decisions that they will make. This is what scares me about growing old, and leaving our countries future in the hands of children and younger adults with these influences.


 I would also like to add that this is not only going to influence African American culture, but all cultures. One could say that we have a "Hilton Syndrome" and a "Kardashian Syndrome" that adresses different issues of negative pop culture on our society. 

Everybody Google's

For the first part of this quest, I went straight to Google.com and did a search for Daughters of the American Revolution and included the date of Feb 26, 1939. Four out of the top ten search results had Eleanor Roosevelt in the title of the search link response. The number one or most popular search link was  http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/tmirhfee.html, which shows in detail the letter and a picture of the opera singer Marian Anderson and also was included is Eleanor Roosevelt's My Day Column. I believe that this link was credible, but second most popular link was a .gov link which is probably more credible in my opinion. http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=22


My second Google.com search was for the Background Map. I searched for 9 arrested (May 17) and released Birmingham, Alabama, which lead me to a couple of  Wikipedia links. After reading them I then did another search for CORE and SNCC map, that was in Wikipedia, which lead me to http://www.crmvet.org/docs/dochome.htm and from there down a few links I saw http://teachersites.schoolworld.com/webpages/RHolloway/files/24%20-%20map%20of%20freedom%20riders.pdf which is a pdf/map of the Freedom Rides, 1961. I believe my final stop which stated how and showed the routes that they took was a credible source of information. Even has an activity section to compare and contrast the different routes taken by the two groups.


On my third Google.com search for the police report, I search for the city of Montgomery police department 12-1-55. The top search was http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/rosaparks/0/inquiry/intro/, a link about Historical Thinking Matters: Rosa Parks. I did in fact see and read the document in full. After reading I proceeded a few links down to the http://www.archives.alabama.gov/teacher/rights/rights1.html link. Where I double checked the incident against a .gov website. I do believe after comparing the two different sites that the first or top of the list link was credible after the comparison.

As for the final search on Google.com, I searched for House Feb 10, 1964. The number one link was for The Civil Rights Act of 1964. I then saw the number two link which was "Roll Call 32", and after I opened that link I saw the same picture that is in the quest. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Both sites where of the .gov and do believe them to be both very credible. 

Through this quest I have discovered that it is important to double check websites for facts and accuracy to determine if it is in fact true and legit. Google.com does have its imperfections, one of which is Wikipedia, and one can not always believe what they read. So, don`t always take the top/popular or number one link for granted that it is always correct with out a doubt. 

My love for Nike

After reading this quest and then trying to figure out what to pick, I caught myself in semi-deep thought going through all the things I have purchased over the years and why. While I was contemplating this over and over in my head I began to digress into to all other kinds of things. I then was like ok, back to the basics of this quest. I decided to think on a larger time frame, or go back further than what was in now far as a lovemark. During this process I caught myself staring at my shoes that I had propped up on my bed. As I went to cross my feet, and looked at my shoe logo, it hit me like a ton of rocks. I have been wearing Nike shoes all my life, and have actually only bought Nike shoes and no other tennis shoe since I starting playing sports in school. I said to myself that this is the longest lovemark I have ever had without a doubt. It all began back in junior high school after joining the football team, where I received my first pair of Nike’s. Before that point I was a little skate board, surf rat and wore Adidas, Converse and Pumas from what I can remember. Back to junior high, my first pair of Nike’s was a pair of football cleats that were issued to me by the athletic department in the seventh grade. I also played basketball in Nike’s and was issued Nike shoes in my eighth grade sports activities as well. When I hit high school we were given the option to purchase are own shoes, as long as we stayed with in the same color scheme as the rest of the team sports were issued. I in fact had my parents buy me Nike’s through my four years of high school sports. Now that school is over I still stay some what active playing basketball,golfing, going to the gym and riding bikes. Over the years, I honestly can not remember buying some other athletic shoe that has not been Nike. I have even bought sandals that are Nike made over the past years.

            I believe I have stayed with the Nike sport activity shoe brand my whole life because it was my first issued sport athletic shoe and it has had a very long lasting affect on me over the course of my life. When I was a sophomore in high school, Michael Jordan signed with Nike and developed the Air Jordan in 1985. It was an instant pop modern culture hit of the time, and still is. It seemed as if everyone wanted to "Be Like Mike", which even morphed into more commercials by Gatorade sports drink.. If you played basketball in my time and sported Air Jordan shoes, it was as if you were in a club that had no individual school ties. Whether you played sports or not, a lot of people both male and female wanted and wore Air Jordan shoes. Nike also came out with flip flop/sandals. And, yes I ran out and bought a pair because it was the latest and greatest, and I am truly love marked by Nike. Today, pretty much anyone that watches television knows the Nike “Just Do It!” motto, and can recognize their logo on anything to do with sport accessories and clothing apparel . I myself have bought a Nike t-shirt or two from impulse shopping, just because I can relate to their motto or want other people to see that “I Can Do It”.