Immokalee's Intersting Past and Exciting Future

I like to think I watch the history channel but honestly my television is rarely plugged in, much less watched. It’s safe to say I was stunned by how engrossed I was in the Immokalee videos assigned; I even enjoyed the assignment, shocker! This tremendous amount of history literally in our backyard, I had no idea how colorful Immokalee’s past is and how bright a future it has.

There were many communities represented in the video, most of the early years focused on the old Florida farmers. These are the men that built Immokalee and started the agricultural industry that is still in effect today. The Seminole Indians were a huge part of the birth of Immokalee; it was even named after the Seminole word for “my home”. Immigrant workers were also depicted in the video near the end, regarding the people who harvest the crops now and how machinery is changing this custom. The whole story has a sense of teamwork between all the communities that share Immokalee and through history these people have come together to help this area prosper.

Compared to where I grew up Immokalee is like a whole different planet but there are some similarities I can relate to. In Holland there are a lot of cows and farming is widespread, but I grew up mostly in the city. Furthermore it’s hard to imagine having a community with only 47 farmers and a land that’s hardly been touched by humans. Most of the land in Holland is manmade and has been farmed and lived on for hundreds of years by thousands of people, and good luck finding anything like and Indian! One thing I could relate to was the community all knowing each other and helping one another, most of the people that lived in my community were like a family and were similar to the structure of people in Immokalee.

I think Immokalee is both the new and old American Dream, it was uncharted territory for farmer to come and make their own, which was the American dream. With its evolving communities and adaptations to the changing industry economy it’s becoming the new American Dream. I think the Farming industry will never die in Immokalee and the introduction of other industry will grow exponentially. In the video the army noted that it’s a very central location in Florida that once this is noted by business will move in and around this budding community. I think in ten years Immokalee will grow more than estimated, I feel the people of Immokalee want expansion and will embrace it. In ten years Immokalee will be a beautiful city with a whole style and mindset of its own.

Overwhelmed?.....Im there.

Originally this semester was proposed as amazing, I would flawless glide through life with grace, Wrong.

I'm having a hard time managing a full time job with a boss that has no concept of the amount of time university requires.

In addition to the heavy work load I took on for myself with 18 credit hours.

Not to mention my ethics professor, who tells me I will never reach excellence if I do the norm each day.

Tiring to find anytime for fun, when I'm required to upkeep 2 houses and watch a 4 year old, from 3 pm on!

So rather than complaining, the soul purpose of this post is for feedback, I'm sure many of you have crazier lives than mine. How do you do it? Seriously, whats the key to juggling all this and not dropping the ball?

Overwhelmed Amber

MLK day....a day of speeches?

Today seemed ideal to tackle the assignment at hand. No, not because I was off work and procrastinated, although its not entirely false. After starting my day by watching the whole "I have a Dream" speech I was inspired to read Citizenship Now.

"Who and What is American?" is an extremely interesting piece that's focus is on the divides in the American people. Despite this dark undertone of division the article is almost more of a call to action, and its quite convincing. Its well written and witty in examples of primarily how political parties segregate Americans by their "modifying adjective" and urges people to look past that. It refers to different stereotypes and walks of life, making it relate to nearly every person. With a focus on setting aside the things that make us different and embracing the unifying American traits, Lapam captivates his audience.

While reading this article, I couldn't help but picture a younger man at a podium influencing the people. I felt like Lewis Lapam was directly talking to me and every other American citizen. It was longer than the other selection but I was never bored and found myself enjoying it, Oh sin of sins! All together it was intersting and very fitting for the day!

Welcome. This is my first blog ever, thank you MLE for expanding my horizons, more later. Good Night kiddos!