Moorhead Fire Department

Today we went to the Moorhead Fire Department. Besides knowing the place they work and the truck, we could know a little bit more about what they do during their routine. It is not an easy profession and they have to dedicate their life to prepare themselves to an emergency. I think that many people do not know the job of a firefighter. It is common to think that firefighters only acts when there is a fire going on, but they do a lot of things besides this. When there is someone stuck in car during an emergency, the firefighters go there. When someone needs to be rescued, there they are. So, besides the fire, they have all the equipment to save someone’s life. They usually act together with ambulance and doctors, because maybe the ambulance would not rescue someone because they do not have any tools to do so. 

Bonanzaville

1. What themes are displayed in Bonanzaville Village?

Bonanzaville displays the old Midwest. 

2. Describe the most interesting artifacts of the exhibition and reflect on their significance.

There are a lot of interesting things in Bonanzaville. The exhibition about the Germany in II WW was pretty interesting. It showed a lot of things that many people would not know, like the books that were burned in Germany. Another interesting thing was the ville itself. See the old stores and the old cars and planes was good to feel the atmosphere of the past. 

The Sound of Music

1-The story is about a family in Austria during the Germany’s invasion. There are two main points. The first one is about Maria. She was training to become a nun, but she went to the Captain Von Trapp’s house to be the Governess. She falls in love with him after a while and besides all the conflicts, they get married and stick together until the end. The second main point is about the persecution of Captain Von Trapp. The Von Trapp Family had to run away to Switzerland so the Nazis couldn’t catch them.

2- The protagonist in the story is Captain Von Trapp and Maria Von Trapp. First Maria went to the Von Trapp’s house to work as a Governess. Later then, she became Captain’s wife. She realized she has fallen in love with Captain and because she has changed all the kids and also the Captain’s behavior a lot, he also fell in love with her. The antagonists in the story are the kids (Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta e Gretl), Elsa Schraeder, Max Detweiler, Rolf and Mother Abbess.

3- I think that there are two main conflicts in the story. First is about Maria’s feeling. She left the abby to become a governess in Captain’s house and then she fell in love with him. She didn’t know how to act and I think this is the first conflict. The second is about the invasion and the persecution of Captain and how they ran away from Austria.

4- Because “The sound of music” is a musical, the voice and the songs are essential. Besides that the music that characters sing shows about their feelings, the music can also show about what is going to happen next. For instance, the scene can be changed from drama to comedy because one tone was changed. Another important tool is the prologue because it shows the public what the play is going to be about.

5- Light: To draw attention to the main actor in that moment.

Music: To indicate that a scary, drama, funny, love, etc, scene is coming up.

6-

1) When Liesl sang the song telling she needed a man telling her what to do. It shows how fragile women were seen by others.

2) How Captain was strict to their children. It shows how military was with family.

7- Happened: The Germany’s invasion and also the imposition above all the Austrians to join a nation between Germany and Austria.

Not happened: In real life Captain and Maria took around 5 years to get married, and in the theater they married as soon as they noticed they were in love. Captain did not run away as was represented in the movie; the family’s scape was much easier because the army did not want Captain Von Trapp specifically, as represented in the movie.

8- Ideological effects: the couple, Liesl and Rolf, could not be together because they both believed in different things. Liesl agreed with her father and Rolf was Nazi.

9-

1    1)When you don’t agree with a political decision, you can run away from your country, as represented in the end of the movie.

2     2)Being more careful can help relationships between families and friends. This was represented when Maria came to Captain’s house.

1   10- Yes. It gives the audience a notion of what happened and also portrays the way family lived in Austria during the war.

Visits to Doroth Day House and Nursing Home

Today we went to the Doroth Day House, a temporary shelter for homeless. We went to see how people live there and also the way they keep the house in order. They showed us their jobs and how they do to get clothes, to help the homeless to get their new employments, home, etc. After that, we went to the Nursing home again. We played bingo with the elders and talked to some of them. They were really happy to have us joing again. I think that the importance of these two institutions is both giving better quality of life to people. At the nursing home, some of the elderly people have better lives than they would have staying home. At Doroth Day House, they have an amazing job giving not only employments and homes back to homeless but also giving life back to the people. Staying in cars or under the bridge, hungry, almost freezing and etc, definitely isn’t a good way to live.

Thanksgiving Day

Nowadays, when people celebrate the Thanksgiving Day, they say during the dinner what they are thanks for, like their lives, their health, their family and friends, etc. In the past, although there are some contradictions, usually they say that the Thanksgiving was a huge celebration between the Indians and the Europeans that lived in America. The “party” happened because the two nations were together living in peace, sharing foods and sharing homes. No one was hungry, angry or dying frozen. Indians and Europeans then had this date to celebrate all of these things. The Thanksgiving is originally celebrated on November.

Lynn Brakke Organic Farm

1. How is organic farming different from conventional farming?

Usually, conventional farming uses different types of products, like pesticides. Because of the chemicals, the plants tend to grow faster.

2. What is the nutrition value of organic food? Provide examples from the article.

The article says that mothers consuming organic milk and meat products as part of her diet has higher levels of rumenic acid in their breast milk. Another example is that scientist have found that strawberries, the organic ones, have higher levels of antioxidants and higher concentrations of Vitamin C. Besides, another research shows that organic crops contain fewer nitrates, nitrites and pesticide residues, but, on the other hand, they have more vitamin C, phenolic compounds, essential amino acids, minerals, more dry matter and more total sugar.

3. How do organic practices improve the soil quality?

Because crops and manure are used, it improves the offset the losses from tillage. Besides, the article says that the organic farming also improves the quality because there are more soil organic matters, it enhances microbial activity and reduces soil acidity.

4. Why is organic production expensive?

In organic farming pesticides and chemical products are not used. Because of this, usually it takes much more time to labor work be done, so, it takes more money. Besides that, plants do not grow as fast as in conventional farming, and time is money; so, if it takes more time, it takes more money.

Comstock House

Comstock House is an important landmark of Moorhead history because this family was one of the first families that came to live here. Besides, all the furniture, some wallpapers, dolls, clothes and etc, belong to Comstock Family; all the furniture were from Victorian Era. By visiting the house you can have some ideas of how life was in Moorhead some years ago. Solomon Comstock was the father and he also built the house. He was married with Sarah Ball and they raised three kids at Comstock House; his son, the youngest, latter gave the house to the government and then it became a museum.