Reflection

I think my project turned out pretty well. I really liked the topic, and really care about the outcome. This is on of the images from my project. This is where Curtis Granderson took a picture with all of the volunteers. He was extremely happy about the turnout of volunteers and runners. I really hope that the amount of money we were able to raise can help some young children in need of a good education. Another photo that I felt was really important was the one with the people running. I think it showed how people like to actually get involved in volunteering instead of just donating. It is one thing to donate money, but it takes so much more out of a person to donate time. I personally think it means a lot more. The whole thing was great, I really enjoyed being there. These little efforts by several people who really care, may be able to one day change the public schools of Detroit.

Visual Advocacy Project

I have thought long and hard about things that I have an interest in, or things that upset me in today's world. I have decided that there is one thing that effects me and my community very much, and this is high gas prices. When I started driving, only 5 years ago, gas would cost approximately 1.72 a gallon and this was an all time high. Today, a gallon of gas in Farmington Hills costs 4.07. Even a year ago at this time, gas only costs 2.97 a gallon. I consider myself lucky because I do not drive a SUV or a car that consumes a lot of gas. I still cannot keep up with the price of gas and I cannot even imagine what I would do if I did drive on of these gas guzzlers.

Now, I understand that this effects people everywhere, not necessarily just in my community. According to the USA National Gas Temperature Map, it shows that Michigan is one of the states with the highest gas prices. This effects my community a lot because of several reasons. First of all, because we do not have good public transportation. Second, Farmington Hills is a suburb so most people have to drive far to work in the larger cities, such as Detroit, Troy, etc. Also, people have to drive further to go a university such as U of M Dearborn, Eastern Michigan, Wayne State, etc. Now, for my project I plan to show you how bad this problem has gotten and how it affects people. I plan to show pictures of how high the prices are in different locations, how much it has risen, and how it effects people today.

I would really like to express my opinion about my problem and talk about reasons why it happened. I will discuss different people's opinions for the start of the problem, why it has continued for so long, and what, if anything, we can do to help the problem. I live on my own and I pay for my bills, my rent, and other various living expenses. I work as much as I can but I cannot seem to keep up with the rising gas prices. I had to quit my last job, as a pizza delivery driver, because of gas prices. I will talk about how jobs like this may be in jeopardy and how companies are losing profits because of the high gas prices. Hopefully something can be changed in the future because I, just like many others, do not know how much more I can take.