This isn't so much a reflection, as a brain dump of ideas for next semester's project that was brainstormed with Erin.
First of all, as much as I love research projects, I am definitely taking the opportunity to do "field research" in the form of community service.
The first of three ideas (and my least favorite) is concerning women around the world. For our service part, we could visit battered womens shelters and explore the treatment of women in the United States (lower pay, "housewife", educated/working women vs. soccer moms). The international aspect would probably be focused in the Middle East and the treatment of women there.
The second idea concerns water. As we all know, the Potomac is pretty dirty and for the community aspect we can participate in the clean up programs. Dirty. Shudder. We can compare the relative abundance of water in the north east to the lack of water in the west and how people in the developed world expect it. We can also compare uses of tap water around the world. And then there are water wars.
The final idea, and my favorite, is about the governments treatment of the mentally ill. We can volunteer at St. Elizabeth's and read foucault to understand the United State's treatment of the mentally ill and the public's perceptions. In international terms, we can explore how it is taboo in many other cultures and the side effects of trying to ignore mental illness. See: China.
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