Humanities

 Energy and Place and Essential Questions

link to artist statement

What’s up with those mountains?

Isaac Korce

Mountain air has a certain uplifting and euphoric feeling that I know others had experienced. In order to recall the magnificence of mountains, one must understand what they mean. Others babble on about a never ending pool of blue, skyscrapers, and awful Chinese food, but I know I belong in the oversized rocks. This reason alone drives me to protect and allow others to experience the same things I have. I have been asked, “When do you get this feeling from the air?”  To such a question, I often respond with an elaborate answer to whomever asked. My reply would be long and descriptive. I could feel the warmth of the sun against my eye lids, this healthy radiation gave me the inspiration to get up at six o’clock in the morning before everyone else. I slid out from under the tarp and quickly laced on my hiking boots, grabbed my friend’s fly rod that I had prepared the night before. I snatched up my half-full Nalgene full of Kool-Aid, which had been used to remedy the harsh taste of iodine I had been forced to poison my water with. I make my way down to the shore of Moon Lake where I prop my Nalgene in the rocks before continuing across a creek and to the shore to catch some magnificent brook trout. 

Very first cast the tension in the line is evident as the brook trout struggles to avoid capture in its confused daze. I quickly release the trout and look at my fly to see how it faired from the vigorous thrashing of the brook trout. As I raise the fly in front of my face, I look up to see the face of another one of my backpacking comrades. She was from Florida and was not necessarily in her element among the mountains. I beckon for her to come over, to see if she wanted to try fly fishing. She made her way past my Nalgene and continued across the little stream that trickled out of Moon Lake and down to the slightly larger lakes below that eventually flow into Vallecito Reservoir. As she approaches me, I order “catch a fish”. To this she hesitantly replied “I don’t how to fly fish”. I then asked if she had ever been fishing and she had said she had been on a number of deep-sea fishing trips with her grandpa in Florida. I quickly slipped the rod into her hand before she could refuse and gave her some basic pointers. Her first cast struggled to even leave the shore, so I decide to assist her by pulling more line out of the reel for her to use because there wasn’t any leader out of the end of the rod yet. The second cast came along and she snagged a bush directly behind her, which I quickly unhooked and made a joke that the fish were in the water. I could see she was embarrassed so I explained how if she cast parallel to the shore, she couldn’t snag her line. As she reached back in preparation to snap the line back towards the lake, the sun finally climbed its way over the lumbering peak that was blocking the sunlight’s path to the part of the lake we were fishing. The fly landed with a burst of ripples the sign of a novice caster, not a second after the fly landed a fish quickly took the line and dove back under the water. I watched her face as I excitedly yelled to keep tension or else the fish could unhook its self. As if she were an experienced mountain angler she rinsed her hands in the water grasped the fish and let it go. The second the fish darted out of sight in the translucent water, I heard a shout from my counselor indicating that breakfast was more than likely ready. She handed me the rod, I hooked the line on the pole and made my way back across the gushing outlet. I grabbed my Nalgene and made it up the hill and turned around to see where my fishing comrade had gone. I saw her staring up at the mountain as if she was taking to it. The sun had decided to conquer the peak earlier that morning and I turned back around to a bowl full of oatmeal and warm rays of sunlight. With a smile and a feeling fulfillment which came from knowing someone else had the same feelings for the place in which I call home.

Another equally confident answer l would give to someone begins with  the sound of my counselor yelling into our tarp grab your day packs and come get some breakfast before I steamroll all of you. We had all been steamrolled in the past for morning laziness and for one was not looking forward to that again so I grabbed my headlamp and my daypack and scurried over to the kitchen for powdered milk and cereal and a handful of dried fruit. I managed to stomach all of the food in less than ten minutes, fill my Nalgenes, and purify the water without the help of the sun. We quickly met our climbing guides and headed to Jagged Basin to begin our trek up the mountain.

 We climbed over several large scree and snow fields and found ourselves at the base of the peak. Looking at the peak it was sloped steeply but definitely not something that would take all day. It was probably only 400 feet to the top I could easily climb that which was a similar opinion to most of the experienced mountaineers in the group. We put our climbing harnesses and hardhats on, and strapped down our backpacks. The slower members of our group went first as we worked up the mountain and slowly climbed the steep and slippery slope. I glanced across the basin as the group slowly free climbed an eight foot section, to see the sun shining on the opposite side of the basin. I knew it would be a long time before the sun would grace us with its warmth. Our group worked quick to my surprise and we were soon headed up the last few sections of climbs. The first section was a wrap around the side of the mountain which we were roped in for good reason; the consequence of falling off the cliff was a hundred foot drop to jagged rocks. We all slowly but surely made it around this section and began to look at the last twenty foot face we had to climb. The main climbing guide destroyed this wall in about two minutes, leaving the rest of us a little disappointed in ourselves as humans. Several people worked their way up the wall ahead of me, falling and getting help from the guides. I watched one of our most capable and best climbers out of our group clean the wall without help and do so in about ten minutes. I told myself that I would do it alone and without help and try to not fall.

 I began climbing and found that the wall was rather cold, which after being in the shade that the mountain had provided for us all morning, was rather uncomfortable. I tried to work fast and just go straight up, which worked rather well until I got to a section with no handholds and I had to work sideways. It was rather unfortunate that my hiking boots were  bulky it made using little cracks almost impossible so I decided to pull a shifty maneuver and down climbed five feet. Then I worked back up a different route. I began on this new route which provided me with success in reaching the top. I reached the top and realized that the sun had come out allowing me to take off my NorthFace wind breaker and relax in the sun on top off Jagged Peak.

 After the satisfaction of eating my snickers which I had saved for almost a week, I began to look across at Windom, Sunlight, and Eolus peaks. I turned around and stared at Leviathan Peak and the basin we had come from. Just above the small lake in the basin I could see several mountain goats playing and enjoying the immense amount of life the sun had on this particular day. I could hear the sounds of pikas scattering through the rocks and hear the groans of fellow campers as they reached the summit. At the current moment in time, I appreciated everyone and everything. It was almost as if there were nothing that could possibly go wrong. We all seemed to enjoy ourselves on the mountain. My fellow campers, counselors, and mountain guides. Excited for the repelling ahead and with the encouragement of the cold gusts of wind and dark clouds, a guide suggested heading down and off the peak. I gathered my items in agreement and before I knew it I was repelling myself off the mountain.

The descent consisted off three repels. The first repel was self-repelled which took a significant amount of time. We then all gathered at the next ledge and were repelled by the mountain guide. The guide seemed intent on a quick pace which caught me off guard as I stopped on a ledge and then continued with too much slack slamming into the Cliffside harder than expected. I made it to the bottom in one piece and threw a smirk at my friends who found my collision comical. At this moment in time I realized that it was slowly getting dark again compromising the satisfaction and life the sun had brought to us. Realizing that it was going to be a long trek for the group the counselors decided to send a few of us faster climbers down first. To finish the last repel, down climb, and head the two miles to the next basin over and begin cooking dinner for everyone else. Two of my other more sufficient hikers and I bounded to camp, headlamps on, hoping to find our food with its marmot virginity intact. This is a joke I and a few others used when hoping marmots had not touched our food. We were quickly slicing and dicing peppers, onions, sausage like a cartoon sushi chef, which were then poured into a big pot of rice. We then flavored the alpine jambalaya with Cholula and black pepper. As we finished the meal the group appeared out of the darkness at sat in the kitchen circle, bowl in hand ready for a meal. We served up our pot of gold and confirmed our cooking skills by the fact that not one word was said until someone asked if there were enough for seconds. The food was put away and I headed towards my sleeping bag. I unzipped the bag, ripped off my boots, and lost consciousness to my counselor saying he was happy he didn’t have to steamroll us.

The entity that makes the mountains so special or gives the air qualities that can’t be measured is not just the mountains but also the experiences that are enhanced by the raw naturalness of mountains. Experiences have a way of building on each other to create a perspective of a certain place that only an individual will fully know. The experiences I just shared were partly a product of being in the mountains but also the fact that I was able to connect different experiences with other people. I connected fishing with someone who had also had fishing contribute to their own sense of place and was able to work as a group to get up and down a challenging mountain safely. The place my fishing comrade was most comfortable with was the ocean.  Location is just part of building a sense of place, the ability to do things you enjoy and that create memorable experiences can happen anywhere. There is more to sense of place than just the location. The thing that is most disappointing about living in southwest Colorado is all of the water problems that we have. All of the problems we have are created by others that live in the surrounding states who do not personally feel the impact of what they are causing.

The Four Corners area is traditionally important to sportsmen and anglers. Coal contamination is putting endangered fish in the San Juan River at great risk and with them, an entire river that tens of thousands in the Four Corners region depend upon. Coal also affects fish in other parts of the Four Corners region. Fish even in remote alpine lakes in Southwest Colorado are affected by the coal power plants. As someone who respects the mountains and understands what it takes to truly connect with a place, it concerns me that the damage from the coal power plants on the fish in the Four Corners Region has been so impactful. As my fishing friend truly connected with the mountains for the first time, it was evident that she not only understood how special the mountains are, but also how important things like the fish are to people. The ability to connect with a different place than where you live is something that a lot of people don’t get to experience. The Coal Plants in the Four Corners Region employs a lot of people and creates a system where people are relying on the coal fire power plants for everything. This relationship is unhealthy; sense of place is more than just money and convenience.

As I approach the shore of the river I quickly un-ravel my line and prepare my blue and silver nymph for the rare chance of a fish grabbing the line. All the fish that were left in the river lost their elegant coloring and patterns leaving dull and weak fish. On top of that I could not end a fish’s suffering and kill it because the mercury concentration in the fish is much too high. I stare up sadly from the river past the eddy which normal holds a dead fish carcass and up to the dust stained La Plata Mountains. As I snap back into reality I realize that there are ways to prevent further fish contamination and stop the pollution of local waters. Mercury affects the immune system, alters genetic and enzyme systems, and damages the nervous system, including coordination and the senses of touch, taste, and sight. The only place where mercury should serve us a purpose in Southwest Colorado is in a thermometer. Two thousand pounds of mercury are released into the air from just one local coal fired power plant. There are three currently operating within sixty miles of Durango. To create another coal power plant would have devastating results on the fish in our area. Two species are already on the verge of extinction in the San Juan River, to continue pursuing such harmful power resources is ignorant and prevents people from connecting with where they live. I would never have shared such a memorable and defining experience without the help of the fish found in that lake. As we move further into the future we must consider how we are affecting each other and the planet we live in. Pursuing more renewable and clean energy would benefit both humans and the animals that share our planet. To provide others with experiences I have had in the Four Corners, coal fired plants must be made cleaner and made responsible for the damage that has been done.

  link to chemistry project

To see my project reflection please click here.

Korematsu v. U.S. (1944)

Senator Kilgore  [PATRIOT]

Josh Senator Questions

What is your occupation Mr. Kilgore?

I am a the senator of West Virginia.

Can you tell us how your career progressed from your first job to your current occupation?

I was a teacher first for one year and then a principal for a year. When world war One Occurred  I joined the Army. I was a captain in the infantry in World War One.  After the war I got a job in the coast guard as a colonel. Then proceeded to get a job as a judge in Raleigh. Then I decided to run for senator and was elected in 1941.

Do you feel as though your occupations have contributed to society?

Well I feel confident that all jobs i have had, gave back to society and made the United States a better and safer place. My job as Senator gave me the ability to serve the American People.

Mr. Kilgore, you are far too modest!  As a captain in the ?Army? you led men into battle, as a judge in Raleigh you regularly exercised the constitutionality of cases that many people would not know how to decide.  You’ve worked with people all of your life and are obviously a successful person.

Information about his credibility-
Can you explain to us your involvement with the Exclusion order?

As well as being senator I also serve on a Subcommittee Mobilization on war of the Military Affairs Committee.  When executive order 9066 came to the table I wrote a letter to The president expressing my opinions about the order. I pressured the president in my letter to execute the order due to requests from the people, who felt unsafe. My job is to represent the people and by protecting them from imminent threat I am doing my job. Pearl Harbor was an example of how dangerous and real the threat of an attack is. It would be wrong for our country to take no precaution when it comes to the Japanese immigrants.

How did you advocate for the people in the internment camps?

Well in my letter to the president I made sure to stress that the conditions in the camp were suitable for the Japanese People.  The president assured me that the government was following international law with the conditions of the camps. The 1943 War Relocation Authority report shows the government did follow the requirements for the internment camps.

Me- Thank you senator Kilgore for your time.

Francis Biddle.  He is the Attorney General for the United States and the man who approved the Civilian Exclusion Order.  However he is now against the very order that he signed and thus can easily be painted as an incompetent who cannot make up his own mind on important measures such as this.

Senator Harley Kilgore.  He is a West Virginian senator who has long labored to prevent the spread of cartels in the world and has been a major force in severing American and Japanese interests.  He believes that the presence of Japanese-Americans on the West Coast amounts to a clear and present danger in the form of spies and possible cartel operatives.

Project Reflection

The Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) project is based off a real life process. There are prosecution lawyers and witnesses as well as defense lawyers and witnesses. Judges were also present in this project. In this project I was chosen to be a prosecution lawyer. Each one of the prosecution lawyers chose different witnesses to examine and cross-examine. The task of this project was to recreate a court case that occurred in 1944 to the most similar situations and thought processes. My tasks included finding information about by witnesses as well as finding ways to take away from defendant witnesses. This job was very difficult because the evidence needed was buried deeply in historical online websites that were hard to find. I learned a lot about the difficulties lawyers go through but also the fact that anything you want to prove you must back up with evidence. I also realized how hard it would have been to find concrete evidence when this case actually occurred. Understanding all objections and court etiquette would also be something that is extremely difficult to accomplish.

Teamwork was a key in this project. We all relied on each other to have our main objectives summarized so we could build the case collectively. We as a team also went over each other’s interview question that way we could critique each other’s work so that it would be as effective as possible. We especially had to work with our witnesses and make sure that we were on the same page that way in the courtroom we all looked professional and prepared. Teamwork was key in this project especially when it came down to having a successful and prepared court case.

During the pure revision my work had many changes that were suggested and implemented but one of the most important changes that occurred was when we realized defense lawyers were going to say that the internment camps were un suitable for people to live in. So me and my fellow prosecution lawyers went ahead and found evidence that supports how my witness specifically advocated for the Japanese people and was assured by the president that the camps were suitable and legally met the international standards. We also made my witness sound like a genuine contributor to society creating a tone for the court case which also gave my witness a credible background.

This project overall was extremely useful to my understanding of the law system it also helped me grasp the concept of evidence for everything. There were several things I should have done differently. One of these things was figuring out what I wanted to accomplish with the witnesses without having any evidence for it. Finding evidence is extremely important to the case. Also create a timeline at the beginning take a day even if it feels unnecessary I found there was a ton of time crunching at the end that could have been unnecessary if goals had been set. Make sure you practice and understand what your main objective is because there are many curve balls that appear in the courtroom.