Week 12: Halfway There!

Looking back over these past twelve weeks, I am certainly in awe of how far I have come.  I started this project as a naive, optimistic, uneducated 16 year old, and have transformed myself into a still-optimistic slightly more educated 16 year old.  However, I am only halfway up my mountain. I plan to continue to work on my independent project over the summer and into the first semester of senior year.  In this new phase of my project, I plan to continue to keep up with Syria in the news as well as watching interviews of the refugees online.  I was also recently put in touch with a local Syrian refugee organization not far away from Westtown so I will be looking forward to hopefully being able to get some interviews there.  If all goes well, I hope to be finished interviewing and putting together my final product in time to present to the entire school next winter.

Speaking of interviews, I am happy to announce I have conducted my first official interview with a Syrian refugee! As I mentioned in previous posts, I have been hoping to get in touch with a Westtown alum named Jamal for a while, and as of last Tuesday it finally happened.  The questions I wrote up with Teacher Pat proved extremely useful, and I am very excited to see what other information my future interviews will bring in.  Jamal was able to give me a broad overview of the conflict from his perspective, as well as tell me the hardships of his own personal journey to the United States.  If you are interested in watching it, I have attached a link to a teaser of the interview at the bottom of this post.

To sum things up, I have learned a lot this semester.  From always double checking to ensure your video camera is on before conducting an interview to the value of persistence, the hands-on factor of this project has taught me so many things that cant be learned inside a classroom.  I am immensely grateful for the opportunity I was given to study Syrian refugees this semester, and am looking forward to seeing where it will take me in the coming months!

Watch my interview with Jamal here

Image credit: https://wvuimc.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/capstone-survival-tips/

Week 11: Productivity

This past week has been an exciting one.  After a bit of a lull in activity for my project, I have finally gotten back at it and am looking forward to productive last few weeks of this semester.  My anticipation all started with discovery of the wealth of online interviews of Syrian refugees last week.  Since then I have watched more than a half of dozen, and am aiming to try to watch one each day.  This will not only keep me updated with the crisis, but will allow me learn more about my subjects too.

One interview in particular stands out to me (you can find the link at the bottom of this post).  It was published by Middle Eastern news channel Al Jazeera, and followed a Syrian woman who was recently resettled along with her family in Sacramento, California.  It stood out to me because it challenged the way I see refugees in the US.  Before watching the interview, I assumed that refugees would always be happy to be resettled in the US, and that it was the best option for them.  However, the woman in the interview was not happy to be hear.  She desperately missed everything about home, from her neighbors to the food. She would have rather been resettled in Europe because at least it felt a bit closer to home. After watching the interview ,  I was able to create some additional interview questions to help me delve further into that emotion.  A sample of them are listed below:

• What was your life like four years ago?
• Would you have preferred to been settled in an Arab country rather than Sacramento?
• Do you think the US should resettle a larger amount of refugees?

Before I sign off for this week, I have one final piece of good news I would like to share.  I have recently herd back from Jamal, the Westtown alum from Syria who graduated a few years back, and he is willing to interview with me over Skype this week. Stay tuned!

Interview and Image Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcn7CZHA6t8

Week 8: I Did Something!

It has taken eight weeks, but I finally have something to show for all of my handwork. After talking with Teacher Pat at our most recent meeting last Thursday, I decided that it was time I produced something from my work.

Week 7: Adjusting Expectations

Throughout the two months in which I have been working on my independent project, I have seen it evolve from a naive dream to a concrete vision.  I have quickly learned of the challenges pursuing independent work ensues, and have adjusted my project according to them. The most recent issue came up in a chat with Teacher Deb. We were speaking about the next steps of my project, as I am nearing the end of my research phase.  She knew of my plan to create a documentary style film focusing on the stories of the Syrian refugees I would interview, and raised the concern of where I would find these people in he US. 

Hard at Writing– By Nate

I want to begin by giving special credit to Isabel for a fantastic performance on Friday.  I too am working towards the end, though with more than one “all-nighter” pushing me along.  I have nearly 75 pages of writing, and another twenty of annotated bibliography, and I have slowly worked my way up to the present times, though now I am adding a part of my essay designed to bring together all the themes I discuss in the sections devoted solely to the history.

More Excerpts – by Nate

Recently, I have just been working on finishing my project, so rather than spend time here telling you how it has been going, I am going to post a recent excerpt.  I will say, however, that I am finding progress easier, and am anticipating wrapping up the history section by sometime this Friday or Saturday.  I have also been trying to get the point of view of important magazines, so recently I have spent a lot of time reading articles on Syria in The Economist.  

A Hopeful Weekend/ A More Directed Focus – by Nate

This weekend, I am hoping to get a lot of work done, although I have some other work I must get through first.  I have basically decided to break down my project into three subsections, which I described in a previous blog, but I am planning to make these distinctions even larger.  In our meeting, T. Margaret and I discussed how voice fits into a project like mine, and I will say that while I write with voice, it has always been difficult for me to find the perfect amount of voice.

The Next Steps: Midway Blog

As I have reached the halfway point in Independent Seminar, it is time for me to reflect on the past half, and what needs to happen for the second half.   I will say that, while I have made a ton of progress in the past couple months, the project I am undertaking is so massive that I have some doubts as to how I am going to finish it.  Really, it comes down to if I am accepted or denied on December 15th (that dictates most of what I will do over my winter break).

Excerpts – by Nate Urban

I am too busy with college appellations to submit a midway report this week, but I will do so after applying to college this Thursday. Instead, I will post some very rough, unedited excerpts from the beginning of my paper.

Syria’s Downfall: Why No One Can Win but Assad Can’t Lose — by Nate

This week, with college deadlines fast approaching (the Thursday after this upcoming Thursday) my Independent research fell completely by the wayside, to be completely, painfully honest.  I did, however, finally come up with a title that I like:  Syria’s Downfall: Why No One Can Win but Assad Can’t Lose.