Irish Immigrants

This class really exposed me to the idea that we were all immigrants from somewhere. In a sense one of the most shocking things to me was that the Irish were originally discriminated against in America. Unfortunately discrimination still occurs in the world today and sadly much of it is based on color. While growing up as an Irish/Russian I was never discriminated against but at one point I would have been subject to as much racial discrimination as any other culture that has had to endure it. I found this very odd and it has inspired me to look further back into my lineage and learn more about the history of the Irish and how they came to America.

Final Project and Farewell to Escuela Vieau and FIlm 150

Final project

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For my final project I wanted to continue with the idea that I used in my first multimedia essay. It is all really based around the feeling of hope and prosperity that the boys and girls clubs brings to South Milwaukee. It is not to say that they are the only contributors who have made the area as beautiful as it is today but since it was where I did my service learning they were the ones I became the most familiar with. Not only did I attempt to show how these people were contributing to the community I also wanted to show the contrasting side of it. The boys and girls club brings a message of hope, but if everything was fine there would be no need for hope. I also attempted to show a little of the darker part of the south side in order to highlight what it was that Escuela Vieau was doing.

In order to obtain the materials I needed for my slide show I had been taking pictures through out my service learning experience. It was easy enough to get pictures of the kids studying and doing crafts but there was much more than that to this community and it was difficult to find the right way to represent it. My goal was to show how the area had done an amazing job of mixing its cultures. They were by no means assimilating, they were taking the best of values of both cultures and creating a new culture that was better than either standing alone. The best way I found I could do this was photographing some of the surrounding area. They have many beautiful murals especially by the “United Community Center” which showcase both architecture and style mixings from the US and Hispanic cultures. With those photos in my arsenal it was much easier to display the beautiful melding of societies.

In order to show the contrast between some of the nicer more upbeat and well kept areas of the south side and the more grim areas I decided to look up articles about local crimes there. I was somewhat aware that there is a considerable amount of crime on the south side from spending time in the neighborhood during a previous internship. Unfortunately I found many articles about shootings and violent gang rivalries. There were also many involving police have to use lethal force on some of the residents of the south side.

There has to be a bad to have the good, a ying to the yang. I think that the boys and girls club of Escuela Vieau is just that, the counter measure to the gangs and violence that the community has been subjected to. By getting the children on the right track and instilling good values and work ethic in them it builds a brighter future for the neighborhood they have already been so philanthropic to.

Journal entry number 3

My time at Escuela Vieau has come to an end and it has been a wonderful experience. Although my time ended about 3 weeks ago, while I was in the neighborhood today I decided to stop in and make sure all my hours were completed. Even though I hadn’t been there in 3 weeks when I walked in I was greeted with the same warm smiles as I was the first day there. While walking around I ran into the arts and crafts instructor that I had been working with most of the semester. She smiled and we talked for a while and at the end helped me get a group photo with all of the 1st graders. The kindness and generosity that all of the staff showed me throughout the year was really inspiring. They didn’t know me and they had no reason to care about my project but they all did their own part in helping me get the photo’s and Ideas I needed to complete it. Although I felt a little sad while Yesenia was signing my final papers I had a strong feeling that I would be back again. The neighborhood alone is reason to go back, when you add in the great kids and warm welcoming staff it seems hard to stay away.

Final Project

I have decided to do my final project on the hopefulness that the escuela vieau boys and girls club brings to the south side of Milwaukee. While it is a beautiful neighbor hood it is sometimes not the safest of places to be. I remember during an internship I was walking to a house to do a home visit and my partner and I found out that right across the street there was a man transporting large amounts of drugs who while running from the cops in his jeep slammed into three cars and destroyed them. There are other stories like this from the south side and for my final project I want to showcase these stories and then show how Escuela Vieau helps to give hope to the children and ensure a better safer future for this neighborhood.

Multimedia Essay and Artists Statement

Multicultural America Media Essay Project

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Artist’s Statement
Ryan Feldman


The aim of my media essay was to bring attention to the key factors involved in building and maintaining a strong and prosperous community. At times the behind the scenes effort that is put forth in improving a community is overlooked and it seemed a showcase of the key contributors would be due credit at the least. Before I began this project I thought I was familiar with the south side of Milwaukee. I had spent a great deal of time on the south side during an internship that often held weekly meetings at café el sol, a restaurant and community center that is only a few blocks away from the school. I soon discovered that I really had very little knowledge of the intricate community that has been built.

To begin the process of my presentation I began to explore and photograph the neighborhoods surrounding Escuela Vieau. The architecture and design was truly beautiful and intriguing. On one side of the street there would be beautiful houses with grand entrances and gates yet on the other side there were abandoned office buildings and industrial areas, memoirs to the establishment of the now thriving community.

After photographing the surrounding community I took my camera into the school to try and capture some of the ways that the members of the community interacted and show my experiences volunteering there. Service learning at Escuela Vieau taught me that a strong community does not develop overnight, nor will its foundation stay solid without the help and dedication of its members. Watching the devotion and hard work of the community members as they planned their lives around ensuring that they were present every day for the boys and girls club was very inspiring. As much as I tried I discovered this was not the sort of thing that could be capture with a mere camera. I decided instead to photograph the children; I believe that the potential for good things that they show is a direct reflection of the effort that the boys and girls club gives everyday.

A power point slide presentation was the end result of my media essay. It attempts to show the strong community that has been built and the people who helped build it. The pictures in the presentation start off displaying the external community as a whole and then slowly move to its inner workings and the people who make it possible. Escuela Vieau doesn’t just provide a safe and developmentally encouraging environment for children. It provides an invaluable resource for working families that want to know their children are safe and being driven to success while they are away at work. This whole experience has taught me that communities are not just a place to live and work; they are a place experience life and guide others through it.


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http://film150spr101pm.blogspot.com/

Service Learning Journal 2

I have now been doing the service learning for a few weeks and the whole experience is still going smoothely. I think that the boys and girls club here provides an extremely valuable resource. The kids all get something to do and they all seem to have a great time while they are there, it helps them with their homework and academics and gives them an outlet to express their creative sides as well. While all this is going on the parents know that their children are safe while they are at work or attenteding to other obligations. This sort of a resource can be invaluable to a hard working single mother or even a family with two full time working parents. I am extremely happy to be a part of that service, working with the kids on their homework and their arts and crafts has been very rewarding for me and has even taught me a couple of things about patience and being a good role model. I have been doing a lot of arts and crafts with the children and they have to tell me one thing they admire about their mom or dad so I can write in on their picture in paint. They all have really great things to say about their parents and its inspiring to see that, and even though my art skills are sub par they all seemed to be impressed with my painting skills! That’s all for now but another exciting week starts Monday.

Service learning journal

My first experience with Escuela Vieau was a great time. I was a summer camp counselor for a long time and was also tutoring children of the same age group on Sundays up until it ended recently so it was very nice to be back in this sort of an environment again. When I tutored before I helped many kids but I did not feel certain I was reinforcing their learning as much as giving them information to recapitulate. When I arrived at the school they immediately through me into tutoring, I only tutored one child but I really felt I made a good impact. His name was Carlos and he was supposed to be on his way to boy scouts but was being held until he finished his essay about how to make Milwaukee a better place. He was clearly anxious to leave but after sitting with him and helping him for a while he seemed to be having fun with it and became interested again. As he worked I saw him applying the things I showed him as well as being able to correct errors he had made after I had shown him why they were wrong. I felt as if I had taken a large part in helping him do better in that class and it was a great feeling I hadn’t felt in a while. All in all it was a really fun time and I am excited to go back next Monday and do it again, hopefully I can branch out into arts and crafts this time!