Makengue Communications Group (Week 2)

Hello Everyone!

This is my first blog entry on the Makengue Project and after our second last after finally meeting up all together as a group. We switched classrooms, but I like the new classroom better because of the computers, which have awesome programs such as Final Cut Pro and Photoshop. I can definitely see those programs coming in handy throughout the semester. During our last class we organized ourselves into three main groups: Communications/Education/Arts, Policy/Law/Business/Social Justice, and the Sciences. While we all agreed that all the groups would cross-over and that we would be working closely with the other groups, I am working in the communications category.

So far, we have separated our ideas between what we can research and develop the university versus what will need to be done in Nicaragua. We decided that The Makengue Project should have a symbol to associate with it as well as website. We are considering using Wix as website domain as it is quite easy to use and looks professional. Some other ideas that we are toying with are recording audio clips of animals to put on the Makengue Project website. We would also like to contact local artists, poets, writers, and so forth to feature on the website. However, we also are further investigating another form of PR that we could provide or suggest that does not involve internet usage. Our group would also like to document the whole process. (I think I will probably bring my camera in next week, so expect some fun photos!) These photos and videos that we plan to make throughout we hope to make into a documentary. Another idea we had was identifying animals and taking photos of them. It would be wonderful if somehow we could combine this effort with our Elementary school lesson plans. Learning about your surroundings and maybe evening visiting the reserve would be a wonderful experience for the children. All these thoughts have left us with a whirlwind of questions that can only be answered by working further.

After organizing our ideas, posing questions, and making suggestions for the project, the class then refocused our attention on learning on a broader scale. Because we are flying to Nicaragua, we are learning more about the country and its history through readings (in particular, a book called Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua). I believe that broadening our perspective about the country will also aid us in our project decisions and ideas.

One of the most startling realizations about this project is that we really only have about six more classes until we actually go to Nicaragua over spring break. I really need to brush up on my Spanish! Maybe our class can setup Spanish lessons as we get nearer to going to Nicaragua. I am excited to see what we will come up with and create in the next few months!

Un abrazo,

Lisa

The Makengue Rap

Hi there!

For my first blog entry I wanted to give you some background information on what we have done up until now. That was when I thought: “Why tell you, when I can rap it to you?” It was one of those early morning ideas that sounded great at the time.  Please enjoy at my expense the embedded video, lyrics, and explanation.

Now this is the story all about how,

We are going to Nicaragua—ow!

Now I would like to take a moment, don’t close the clip,

To tell you what you need to know this amazing trip.

At American University straight up in the DC,

Was where we learned about this opportunity.

Professor Menke-fish gave us the 411;

Developing a proposal for land was what had to be done.

We wrote essays and applied;

Waited for acceptance with our emails by our side.

11 of us were chosen and we cheered!

However what precisely we were doing was not so clear.

We had lunch with the land owner Becki,

Establishing our focus of sustainability.

We found out that our group was filled with many quirks,

Before finally getting to the whiteboard to do some work.

Our list of ideas is far from dim;

To help us manage them are PA Angela and Professor Kim.

M-a-k-e-n-g-u-e,

That is the way you spell Makengue.

In the first section of lyrics, I mention that we are traveling to Nicaragua. The trip will take place in the middle of March; during this time we will explore the area, conduct research, and add to and present our proposals to the landowners and other members of the community. The next section identifies us as students at American University. We are hoping as a group to set the foundations for other American University students to go to Makengue and make a positive impact on the community on a yearly basis. Hopefully, as time progresses, other universities will be able to participate. I also mentioned Professor Menke-Fish. Although she will not be traveling with us, she organized this trip. At the initial interest meeting, she informed us that we would be developing a proposal of what to do with this privately owned track of land. As I try to convey in the next section, we didn’t know much about developing a proposal. It wasn’t until our first meeting as a class that we learned all of the steps we needed to take—steps that I’d never thought of. Before that, we had lunch with Becki—the owner of Makengue and friend of Professor Menke-Fish. This was when we heard her take on the project, and established that whatever we plan to do, it has to be sustainable. On the first day of class last week, we did a couple of ice-breakers, and found out the many quirks members of our group have. Everyone has something fun and unique to bring to the table. This was especially shown when we did what Angela likes to the call the “power hour” where we attacked a whiteboard with dry erase markers to get all of our ideas out. Here is a picture of the finished result:

This was the first step in many to our proposal—now we can get started with organizing our ideas and researching them.  Finally, in the last section I mention Professor Kim, who is our Professor, appropriately specializing in sustainability. Additionally there is Angela, our brave Graduate Assistant, who is a graduate student here at AU. She will be conducting class, assigning and grading us, and keeping us in line. Hopefully that takes care of everything you wanted to know about the project. Thanks for following us and I hope you enjoy everything else this blog has in store!

-Alison