A Little Down on my Luck

     Unfortunately, I was unable to meet up with a group like last time, so I had to do this walk on my own time with friends not in my English class. While the walk was still fun, I didn't get to see the expressions of the students from out of town since all my friends were locals, like me.

     Just like on the river walk, I tried to see the casino district in a new light, a new point of view, and how I am a part of it. It was actually pretty cool because as I was coming back, the sun was setting and I got to see the casino lights illuminate the twilight. Spectacular. While, downtown Reno is a bit dirty and everything, it is based off gambling and the casinos around here do a good job at trying to pull people in. These casinos aren't as impressive as the Peppermill or the Atlantis, but they are impressive now the less. It made me wonder how gambling really took root. I get that it started kind of small like cards in a saloon, and I get where it is now, the massive buildings with the flashing lights and themes from Ancient Rome to a future with flying cars, but what happened in between? How did it get to be so big? Maybe it was the gold rush or the Comstock Load that industrialized gambling just the same as steel and coal industrialized the world. Maybe it was the get-rich-quick schemes that made people think anyone could be a winner. Maybe its simply because Nevada is a desert and there was nothing else to do than mine and gamble.

     But back to me. How am I a part of this whole thing? I suppose that my future I could be working at one of these casinos, programming the slots or rigging the odds. Or my future could take me miles from here and somehow my experience with these huge, flashing buildings will be of some use to me there. I can't really tell yet. Could I be connected now? Has been exposed to gamble jaded me in a sense? Or has it made me prone to gambling? I don't really know but I think its more jaded than prone at the current moment.

      Gambling is part of Reno and I am part of Reno as well. Just like me, casinos are here in the community and they have created it just as I can change it. We share a common space with them and we have to accept it. At this point there is little we can do about it but maybe in the future...

Walking by the River

     Question purposed: Is the river walk worth the money? Answer: I believe so. Even though the walk is slightly sketchy in the sense of unfamiliar people EVERYWHERE, it really isn't that bad when you're with others. It was actually really fun going down to the river with half our class. Bonds were formed and I felt everyone got along very well. Bonding experience!

     What did I see? It was actually really cool walking downtown with everyone and kind of seeing the town in new eyes. Even though I'm from here and I see downtown on a somewhat regular basis, when I went down with the class it was like seeing it with fresh eyes. I had to actually experience the place and not take it from granted. We saw wedding chapels, casinos, bars, a movie theater, coffee shops, and even a guy kayaking on the river.

     I think the river represents the clean part of our town. The constantly flowing river seems to wash the scum away from the dirty casinos and the filth from downtown. It was a refreshing feeling to escape the clutter of downtown and to experience nature in the heart of town.

     As for my role, I believe it as a scholar since I am connected to the town through the university now. I feel as if the town sees me as a student but also as a scholar with a bright future.

Yay exercise!

In the Eyes of Perspective

     First, I want to start off by saying that it is really bright outside around 1:00 in the afternoon. I then want to follow it up by saying there are not a lot of people around campus at 1:00. It was actually kind of peaceful doing my walk around this time partially because of the lack of people but also partly from the setting. It seemed to be the perfect scene for what you would see on a university's website. In retrospect, I probably should have taken pictures and then posted them up here for everyone to see. Sorry everyone. 
   
     So perspective...Besides there being different lighting I suppose I did get to see the campus in a fresh perspective, a new viewpoint. I always try to see things differently and open my mind to new ideas. It's actually really refreshing. Anyways, I think this prompt is kind of hard to write about. I hope everyone else had an easier time than I did.

The Movement of Motion

     Ok, well here's another attempt at a cool and witty title, personally I think its quite clever.

     Anyways, I'm going to continue on with my blogging and try to stay mostly on prompt...hopefully. So the prompt is about transportation and how we use it, how we are affected by it and what we think about it. The first question prompted to us is how I get around. This is simple, I use my feet and legs. Okay! moving onto my next question, what obstacles do I face. Sliding into a more serious gear, I believe that we all face obstacles in our daily lives and we need to overcome them. Personally I face obstacles like walls, streets and buildings when I am out walking. Each of these things are obstacles in my path and each one I must overcome...or walk around.

     I suppose I have many different types of transportation available to me even if I don't use it. I have the campus shuttle, the public bus, my car, my feet. Each at my disposal and yet I choose not to use them. I have a bike and yet I didn't  bring it. I ENJOY walking around. There is so much to see and we don't really see it when we go speeding by in our cars traveling 16 meters per second. I've never really rode on public transit so I can't say what needs to be improved but I guess it could.

Ta ta for now

The Presence of the Consumer

     So I tried coming of with something cool and witty at the same time, you know, something other than "Walking Journal #X" where X is the prompt number we're working on. Anyways, since this prompt was about advertisement and its presence around campus, I felt this was an adequate title for this blog. Just a warning though, don't expect me to be this witty and clever all the time.

     Now, on to the prompt. We were asked to consider the role of advertising as well as where we encounter them and what effects they may have on our views of the community/neighborhood; but you already know that don't you? To start off, I want to say that it was fun to look for something that we tend to over look. We had to observe and not just see. Advertisements are everywhere but we tend to just filter them out, ignore them, but we still find ourselves noticing them subconsciously. Actively looking for these kind of turned into a life-sized game of I Spy and turned out to be very fun.

     There are fliers, posters, ads, EVERYWHERE. Just leaving my dorm I must have passed at least 20. Most of them did reflected our neighborhood. There were posters about Bill Nye, the science fair, election posters (for those not in the Nevada LLC there is an election...correction, there was an election for Student Council positions coming up), food places as well as other random fliers for something to check out. Overall, most of these advertisements knew their audience (us) and posted where they knew we would see them. One can't even leave the elevators without see the bulletin boards covered in advertisements. Which brings me to mention Humans vs. Zombies, the poster looked pretty cool, couldn't make the meeting but I was informed by a friend that it sounds fun.

     Anyways, I think the advertisements around campus are mainly focusing on getting us involved in the community here at UNR. You know, make us one of them...or would it be make us many of them? Something to wonder about.

Journal #3

     After browsing everyone else's blogs and journal posts, I have come to the conclusion that I need to think of better titles for my posts. Good job to everyone who thought of clever title for their posts, you've done good.

     This prompt really made me rethink my route. Instead of my usual route up to the Joe and around the Quad, I decided to focus more around the dorms and the people that interact around them. Leaving my room and progressing down the wing, it came to mind that the very floor I live on is segregated by male and female, mostly because the other wing is WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) with the keyword being "Women" where as my wing is the Engineering wing and is predominately male. While we do share a floor together, there isn't very much mingling between the groups, well yet, I think the lines will blur with time. I don't think we have been here long enough to personalize our spaces into a framework of male/female only spaces but given adequate time we might see a morph in the personal spaces as well as the wings in the dorm.

     Continuing my walk, I began to notice a connection between the ability of mobility and a sense of what is personalized. The students that don't have a direct connection to the dorm, like some of us, seem to have a lack of what is personalized. They don't feel as connected as I might since I live on campus and am more directly involved with school stuffs. Now I'm not saying that students that don't live on campus aren't involved or are disconnected, I just feel that they seemed more distant while observing them today.

     I feel I should write some sort of catchy and witty conclusion here but I'm not really sure how to do that. Either way I need to wrap this up and look forward to seeing my classmates in class.

Walking Journal #2

          As I mulled about the campus late Saturday evening, I contemplated about how I am involved in this place. I am involved, obviously through school and through classes but I feel I am connected more than just that. I am connected, I suppose, in spirit with this place. When everyone was excited for the game, I too was excited and when we lost in the last 30 seconds, everyone felt the effects. I reflect now upon these emotions and come to the conclusion that I don't really get worked up about things like this; maybe being in the epicenter of such an event, of being so connected to this place, I leeched the energy off those around me and made it my own, which I then gave back to the community. I also feel connected to the random people I pass walking around campus and I think this is because we are here, we are tied to this location, in a sense, we are neighbors.
       
          I don't really think I make a physical place for anyone really. More of a emotional or mental place. A place where people want to be, a place for my friends to fit in, to feel welcome. We are this tightly knit group of people but we always welcome more into our folds, I suppose this sounds a bit cliche but I think it works well. It feels right to say it that way.

         As for politics, I'm not really sure where I stand or how the system is set up. Obviously there's politics like the one during the game. Us versus Them, but its not always so clear cut. There are all these groups and clubs and circles that are all intertwined and connected in many different ways. Some are obvious connections while others are more subtle. One can never always tell.

        I near the end of my walk and it leaves me with a sense of belonging and pride. I am happy to be here and be apart of what UNR stands for. We are the Wolf Pack.

Walking Journal #1

                Neighborhood: A district, esp. one forming a community within a town or city. But the question is how I define neighborhood; I suppose I define a neighborhood by the people and places in the vicinity. Since I live in the dorms my neighborhood would be the campus and the people within it. My neighborhood is a mixture of locations and landmarks. I feel safe within my neighborhood because I am familiar with it as well as know that it is a relatively safe place. Looking around campus I often see bicycles which helps define my neighborhood and makes me feel at home even though I, myself, do not bike.

          How do I determine my route? Well between classes, and usually normally, I just take the fastest route between point A and B. Sometimes I go out of my way to find my fellow class men for social interactions and healthy exchanging of information. So my routes actually come down where my friends are at a given moment but also in quickness between the two points.

         My impressions of my neighborhood are mostly positive ones. This place makes me want to learn more and it provides a secure environment to enhance my learning. I feel apart of the place and not like an observer simply standing outside looking into the fishbowl. This community is a part of me and because of this, I am a part of the community. 

Cheers,
Brian