Blog Post 1:
1 October 2021
This was my first week working on my project, and I would say it was a partial success. First of all, my website was published! Now I get to record my Legacy Journey here, which I’m looking forward to. Once my initial website was created, I created my list of Weekly Goals, wrote them in my planner, and began work on my proposal. The most difficult part of this week was definitely trying to create an accurate timeline for my proposal, based on how much time I think I will need for my research, meetings, and goals. I spent Monday and Tuesday working on that, and I also edited it slightly on Friday. On Wednesday, I worked on trying to complete and publish my website, which proved to be harder than I thought. I actually had to remake it a few times but I think it’s working now! Thursday I did some research about who I could potentially meet with that would be open to Zoom and knew a lot about the judicial system, and Friday I put it all together.
Stay tuned for next week!
1 October 2021
This was my first week working on my project, and I would say it was a partial success. First of all, my website was published! Now I get to record my Legacy Journey here, which I’m looking forward to. Once my initial website was created, I created my list of Weekly Goals, wrote them in my planner, and began work on my proposal. The most difficult part of this week was definitely trying to create an accurate timeline for my proposal, based on how much time I think I will need for my research, meetings, and goals. I spent Monday and Tuesday working on that, and I also edited it slightly on Friday. On Wednesday, I worked on trying to complete and publish my website, which proved to be harder than I thought. I actually had to remake it a few times but I think it’s working now! Thursday I did some research about who I could potentially meet with that would be open to Zoom and knew a lot about the judicial system, and Friday I put it all together.
Stay tuned for next week!
Blog Post 2:
8 October 2021
Foundations of the Judicial System
This week, I spent my time beginning to research the foundations of the major American judicial system. To do this, I first looked for reliable sources that were able to explain the five W’s (Who, What, Where, When, Why) of the judicial system in simple terms. I spent the whole week researching (aside from working on my website!) and ended up learning a lot! The judicial system is actually composed of three courts: the district court, circuit court, and Supreme Court. Cases are only taken to the Supreme Court if they are directly related to the government, or very high profile/nationwide. Something I found interesting is that the Supreme Court is actually allowed to decide how they want to interpret different laws based on the case. It’s not just black and white, as I had previously thought. Finding out this in particular was what some may call a struggle, but I would call an opportunity to learn more. I will have to replace a few of my Inquiry Questions, or at least reword them, but I’m one step closer to the goal! Speaking of goals, I accomplished most of mine this week. Like I said earlier, I have a way better understanding of how the entire American Court System runs. However I’m still behind on fixing my website. I think I need to switch from the IPad to a laptop, and then formatting should get easier! Alright blog, until next week!
Thanks for reading :)
8 October 2021
Foundations of the Judicial System
This week, I spent my time beginning to research the foundations of the major American judicial system. To do this, I first looked for reliable sources that were able to explain the five W’s (Who, What, Where, When, Why) of the judicial system in simple terms. I spent the whole week researching (aside from working on my website!) and ended up learning a lot! The judicial system is actually composed of three courts: the district court, circuit court, and Supreme Court. Cases are only taken to the Supreme Court if they are directly related to the government, or very high profile/nationwide. Something I found interesting is that the Supreme Court is actually allowed to decide how they want to interpret different laws based on the case. It’s not just black and white, as I had previously thought. Finding out this in particular was what some may call a struggle, but I would call an opportunity to learn more. I will have to replace a few of my Inquiry Questions, or at least reword them, but I’m one step closer to the goal! Speaking of goals, I accomplished most of mine this week. Like I said earlier, I have a way better understanding of how the entire American Court System runs. However I’m still behind on fixing my website. I think I need to switch from the IPad to a laptop, and then formatting should get easier! Alright blog, until next week!
Thanks for reading :)
Blog Post 3:
15 October 2021
Hi Everyone! Welcome back to another blog post. So, this week went pretty well! Looking at all the information I gathered last week, I decided it was time to make a list of people in the area I could potentially set up a zoom meeting with, to discuss their experiences in court. This list is mostly comprised of lawyers. I don’t want to reach out to these people just yet, because I would like to develop a list of questions first, but I think I have curated a pretty strong list of people. I actually ended up finding out that my best friend's uncle is a local lawyer, so I fully intend on reaching out to him in the future! Towards the end of the week, I tried to develop the aforementioned list of questions. I will admit, I have been struggling with this as I want to sound professional, but also realize I will have limited amounts of time to gather the information I need. Despite this struggle, I did accomplish my goals for the week, which were to have a list of lawyers, and have a general idea of what questions I wanted to ask them. I was a lot more organized this week and I think it helped a lot. Okay everyone, thank you for reading!
See you next week :)
15 October 2021
Hi Everyone! Welcome back to another blog post. So, this week went pretty well! Looking at all the information I gathered last week, I decided it was time to make a list of people in the area I could potentially set up a zoom meeting with, to discuss their experiences in court. This list is mostly comprised of lawyers. I don’t want to reach out to these people just yet, because I would like to develop a list of questions first, but I think I have curated a pretty strong list of people. I actually ended up finding out that my best friend's uncle is a local lawyer, so I fully intend on reaching out to him in the future! Towards the end of the week, I tried to develop the aforementioned list of questions. I will admit, I have been struggling with this as I want to sound professional, but also realize I will have limited amounts of time to gather the information I need. Despite this struggle, I did accomplish my goals for the week, which were to have a list of lawyers, and have a general idea of what questions I wanted to ask them. I was a lot more organized this week and I think it helped a lot. Okay everyone, thank you for reading!
See you next week :)
Blog Post 4:
22 October 2021
Welcome back to my blog everyone! It is officially Week 4. Unfortunately, I did not have as much time to work on my project this week as I would have liked to. My class only met two times, so that was definitely my struggle for the week! No worries though, because we’re still operating on schedule. The main thing I accomplished this week was developing my list of questions to ask a lawyer (through zoom) once I set a meeting up. I think there is some information I just can’t find on the internet, and I feel like asking someone who has actually been in court is my best bet. The list is almost totally complete, but I still want to add one or two more questions and thoroughly revise it. After all, my time will be limited here! Sadly, I cannot say my goals for this week were accomplished. While I did get a lot done regarding my Inquiry Questions, they are still not up to my standards and I’m going to need to do some more work on them next week. I think I could have planned to spend more time working on these at home, which is what I plan to do in the future! Alright everybody, hopefully more good news will come next week!
Thanks for reading :)
22 October 2021
Welcome back to my blog everyone! It is officially Week 4. Unfortunately, I did not have as much time to work on my project this week as I would have liked to. My class only met two times, so that was definitely my struggle for the week! No worries though, because we’re still operating on schedule. The main thing I accomplished this week was developing my list of questions to ask a lawyer (through zoom) once I set a meeting up. I think there is some information I just can’t find on the internet, and I feel like asking someone who has actually been in court is my best bet. The list is almost totally complete, but I still want to add one or two more questions and thoroughly revise it. After all, my time will be limited here! Sadly, I cannot say my goals for this week were accomplished. While I did get a lot done regarding my Inquiry Questions, they are still not up to my standards and I’m going to need to do some more work on them next week. I think I could have planned to spend more time working on these at home, which is what I plan to do in the future! Alright everybody, hopefully more good news will come next week!
Thanks for reading :)
Blog Post #5
29 October 2021
Welcome back everybody! Week 5 has commenced and ended, so I’m here to fill you in. Overall, I think this has been one of my more successful weeks as I tied up a lot of loose ends that have been sitting in the back of my mind. My greatest success was that I completely finished and revised the list of questions that I want to ask the lawyer, and although it took me a while I think it’s perfect. I needed the questions to be direct yet concise, and they do just that. However, no week is finished without a few struggles. To be honest, I feel like my struggles this week were more so blessings in disguise, because I decided to take some time to identify how I can relate this project back to Portrait of a Learner. After some time and reflection, I think that the competencies “Solution Seeker” and “Global Citizen” work well. Previously I had trouble deciding which of the competencies fit my ideas, but after talking to a few classmates I realize that this project allows me to do research on other cultures, and requires me to find a solution- so these two are a perfect fit! I’m very happy to say I did accomplish my goals for this week. I am going to continue working on this project both in and out of school next week, and I am excited to update you all again soon!
Signing off for now,
Clara Scott.
29 October 2021
Welcome back everybody! Week 5 has commenced and ended, so I’m here to fill you in. Overall, I think this has been one of my more successful weeks as I tied up a lot of loose ends that have been sitting in the back of my mind. My greatest success was that I completely finished and revised the list of questions that I want to ask the lawyer, and although it took me a while I think it’s perfect. I needed the questions to be direct yet concise, and they do just that. However, no week is finished without a few struggles. To be honest, I feel like my struggles this week were more so blessings in disguise, because I decided to take some time to identify how I can relate this project back to Portrait of a Learner. After some time and reflection, I think that the competencies “Solution Seeker” and “Global Citizen” work well. Previously I had trouble deciding which of the competencies fit my ideas, but after talking to a few classmates I realize that this project allows me to do research on other cultures, and requires me to find a solution- so these two are a perfect fit! I’m very happy to say I did accomplish my goals for this week. I am going to continue working on this project both in and out of school next week, and I am excited to update you all again soon!
Signing off for now,
Clara Scott.
Blog Post #6
5 November 2021
Welcome back to my blog, and thank you for tuning in for week 6! When writing this blog today, I am going to format it a little differently than usual, and start off with some good news- I accomplished all my goals for the week! Because I finished my list of questions to ask the lawyer last week, I was ready to send him an email asking if he would be available to meet with me soon, over zoom of course. This is kind of funny but I am going to label this as my success, because I get super nervous talking to new people and I was proud of myself for writing this email. Unfortunately, when I went to send it I realized that the firm does not put their email online, so that was a struggle. Luckily, I was able to put in a request to be emailed back and I’m expecting a response soon! I would also like to mention that my time management skills this week were better than normal because I tried to work on this a lot more at home, which I will continue to do next week. I have left a picture of the email I wrote below, for reference. Thank you all again for keeping up with my journey/project… hope to see you next week!
5 November 2021
Welcome back to my blog, and thank you for tuning in for week 6! When writing this blog today, I am going to format it a little differently than usual, and start off with some good news- I accomplished all my goals for the week! Because I finished my list of questions to ask the lawyer last week, I was ready to send him an email asking if he would be available to meet with me soon, over zoom of course. This is kind of funny but I am going to label this as my success, because I get super nervous talking to new people and I was proud of myself for writing this email. Unfortunately, when I went to send it I realized that the firm does not put their email online, so that was a struggle. Luckily, I was able to put in a request to be emailed back and I’m expecting a response soon! I would also like to mention that my time management skills this week were better than normal because I tried to work on this a lot more at home, which I will continue to do next week. I have left a picture of the email I wrote below, for reference. Thank you all again for keeping up with my journey/project… hope to see you next week!
Week 7
12 November 2021
Welcome back to my blog everybody! This week I am trying something relatively new. Since I never received a response back from the lawyer I reached out to (definitely my struggle of the week), I have decided to rework my project into a more research based style so that I can be as fully informed on the topic as possible. I believe this will be helpful in the long run as it allows me independence, and when it comes time to create my project I will be able to compile mass amounts of information into something I hope will be not only informative, but interesting. This was a rather laid back week for my project, as I eased into my new research based work. I decided to find two cases that I wanted to learn more about. I only set one requirement: there had to be widespread belief that they were judged incorrectly based on racial prejudice. I was able to find two cases, those of Elijah McClain and Breonna Taylor. I would consider this a great success for the week, because through trial and error I found some very reputable articles that I can use for my final project and to take credible notes. I even included my thoughts in the notes which is a new method I am trying, as opposed to just fact. I would say that my goals were definitely met this week, as I completed my goals and blog post without having to stress out over them. I think my new method worked very well. However, continuing to learn about the racial injustice of America is consistently depressing. I hope that in the near future there is a solution.
Thanks again for reading, don’t forget to check back in next week!
12 November 2021
Welcome back to my blog everybody! This week I am trying something relatively new. Since I never received a response back from the lawyer I reached out to (definitely my struggle of the week), I have decided to rework my project into a more research based style so that I can be as fully informed on the topic as possible. I believe this will be helpful in the long run as it allows me independence, and when it comes time to create my project I will be able to compile mass amounts of information into something I hope will be not only informative, but interesting. This was a rather laid back week for my project, as I eased into my new research based work. I decided to find two cases that I wanted to learn more about. I only set one requirement: there had to be widespread belief that they were judged incorrectly based on racial prejudice. I was able to find two cases, those of Elijah McClain and Breonna Taylor. I would consider this a great success for the week, because through trial and error I found some very reputable articles that I can use for my final project and to take credible notes. I even included my thoughts in the notes which is a new method I am trying, as opposed to just fact. I would say that my goals were definitely met this week, as I completed my goals and blog post without having to stress out over them. I think my new method worked very well. However, continuing to learn about the racial injustice of America is consistently depressing. I hope that in the near future there is a solution.
Thanks again for reading, don’t forget to check back in next week!
Week 8
19 November 2021
Hi everybody! Welcome back to another blog post. To get right into it, I spent nearly the whole week researching the cases of Elijah McClain and Breonna Taylor. Both of these people were black Americans, fatally killed by the police under circumstances that are widely criticized. Going into this project, I didn’t expect to feel as emotional as I do now about these occurrences. Although I never met either of these individuals, it feels as though their death has deeply impacted me and I know many other Americans think the same way. The worst part is that no arrests have been made for their death. This once again prompts the idea that the judicial system must be reformed if justice is truly important to this country. Hearing about these tragic deaths was definitely a struggle for me this week. However, I do feel that learning more about these innocent victims of police brutality strengthens my desire to make a change here, and that’s what this project is all about- so I would call that a success. Aside from that, I did meet all my goals by following the schedule I set for myself within my agenda, and I will continue to use that method next week.
Make sure to tune back in soon!
Thanks for reading.
19 November 2021
Hi everybody! Welcome back to another blog post. To get right into it, I spent nearly the whole week researching the cases of Elijah McClain and Breonna Taylor. Both of these people were black Americans, fatally killed by the police under circumstances that are widely criticized. Going into this project, I didn’t expect to feel as emotional as I do now about these occurrences. Although I never met either of these individuals, it feels as though their death has deeply impacted me and I know many other Americans think the same way. The worst part is that no arrests have been made for their death. This once again prompts the idea that the judicial system must be reformed if justice is truly important to this country. Hearing about these tragic deaths was definitely a struggle for me this week. However, I do feel that learning more about these innocent victims of police brutality strengthens my desire to make a change here, and that’s what this project is all about- so I would call that a success. Aside from that, I did meet all my goals by following the schedule I set for myself within my agenda, and I will continue to use that method next week.
Make sure to tune back in soon!
Thanks for reading.
Week 9
3 December 2022
Once again, welcome back to my blog! I simply cannot lie to you, my readers… this has been one of my favorite weeks so far- perhaps even my #1 favorite! Although I did mainly spend my week doing a lot of research, it was a slightly different subject change. My goal for week 9 was to figure out exactly what role social media has in the spread of information- particularly information that pertains to prominent courtroom cases (especially those that are racially motivated). After several days of looking into this subject, I am feeling very confident that social media could be a viable way to actually make progress in the journey towards abolishing out of date, racially motivated, courtroom laws. That find was definitely my biggest successful accomplishment for the week! Although this was quite motivating, I am still feeling a little set back with the knowledge that it would take a massive amount of people to contribute in order for this to even be slightly relevant on social media. However, I think with the right marketing it can be done. This project is really starting to give me so much insight on where I get my beliefs from, and how my personality is formed… I believe a lot more of it comes from social media than I realized. Alright everybody! Tune in next week for more updates…
3 December 2022
Once again, welcome back to my blog! I simply cannot lie to you, my readers… this has been one of my favorite weeks so far- perhaps even my #1 favorite! Although I did mainly spend my week doing a lot of research, it was a slightly different subject change. My goal for week 9 was to figure out exactly what role social media has in the spread of information- particularly information that pertains to prominent courtroom cases (especially those that are racially motivated). After several days of looking into this subject, I am feeling very confident that social media could be a viable way to actually make progress in the journey towards abolishing out of date, racially motivated, courtroom laws. That find was definitely my biggest successful accomplishment for the week! Although this was quite motivating, I am still feeling a little set back with the knowledge that it would take a massive amount of people to contribute in order for this to even be slightly relevant on social media. However, I think with the right marketing it can be done. This project is really starting to give me so much insight on where I get my beliefs from, and how my personality is formed… I believe a lot more of it comes from social media than I realized. Alright everybody! Tune in next week for more updates…
Week 10
10 December 2022
I’m sure by now you all know what time it is! And if you don’t… It's time for the weekly update on my journey to find out what the best way to abolish racially motivated laws would be. I spent a lot of time this week reviewing (what I believe to be) racially immoral laws that are already in place, and to be honest it has left me feeling a bit downcast. I don’t think many people realize just how many laws there are that negatively impact virtually anyone who is not white. The ratio of white to black prisoners compared to the ratio of white to black citizens is almost unbelievable… and once a person enters this systematic cycle it is incredibly difficult to leave it. When reflecting on my week, it can definitely be said that I had success in the findings from my research. However, it is also extremely clear to me (now that I have gained some insight) how detrimental many of our set laws are to the people of America. From now on my goal is to spread as much awareness on this topic as I possibly can. And just a quick side note… my time management was much better this week! No failures here. Thank you to my readers for returning, and don’t forget to come back next week for more updates.
10 December 2022
I’m sure by now you all know what time it is! And if you don’t… It's time for the weekly update on my journey to find out what the best way to abolish racially motivated laws would be. I spent a lot of time this week reviewing (what I believe to be) racially immoral laws that are already in place, and to be honest it has left me feeling a bit downcast. I don’t think many people realize just how many laws there are that negatively impact virtually anyone who is not white. The ratio of white to black prisoners compared to the ratio of white to black citizens is almost unbelievable… and once a person enters this systematic cycle it is incredibly difficult to leave it. When reflecting on my week, it can definitely be said that I had success in the findings from my research. However, it is also extremely clear to me (now that I have gained some insight) how detrimental many of our set laws are to the people of America. From now on my goal is to spread as much awareness on this topic as I possibly can. And just a quick side note… my time management was much better this week! No failures here. Thank you to my readers for returning, and don’t forget to come back next week for more updates.
Week 11
December 17 2021
Hello my readers! It’s that time of the week again. Let’s get right into it. As the college application deadlines approach and I begin to think more about my future, I always find my mind lingering back to this project. Doing all this research on laws and the government has really sparked my interest in pursuing a career as potentially an attorney, maybe a judge, etc. So this week I decided to look into all the credentials of becoming a lawyer. Also, I wanted to see just how much education it takes to do this job so I could figure out if under qualification could be the reason behind our country’s plethora of biased laws. Because this is a widely researched topic, there were many valuable news articles for me to read here. I was very successful in finding all the minor educational details that law requires, but here they are explained very briefly: A high school GED, 4 years of college earning a degree in something that shows critical thinking (philosophy, physics, business…) then roughly 3 years at law school, numerous internships, and finally you can get a real job in the world of law. While my research went well, I was shocked and even disappointed to find that under qualification could not be the cause of America’s extremely biased laws. I was almost hoping this was the case, as it would provide a better explanation than just pure racism. Oh well. Join me next week for further discussion of law reform, and once again thank you for reading!
December 17 2021
Hello my readers! It’s that time of the week again. Let’s get right into it. As the college application deadlines approach and I begin to think more about my future, I always find my mind lingering back to this project. Doing all this research on laws and the government has really sparked my interest in pursuing a career as potentially an attorney, maybe a judge, etc. So this week I decided to look into all the credentials of becoming a lawyer. Also, I wanted to see just how much education it takes to do this job so I could figure out if under qualification could be the reason behind our country’s plethora of biased laws. Because this is a widely researched topic, there were many valuable news articles for me to read here. I was very successful in finding all the minor educational details that law requires, but here they are explained very briefly: A high school GED, 4 years of college earning a degree in something that shows critical thinking (philosophy, physics, business…) then roughly 3 years at law school, numerous internships, and finally you can get a real job in the world of law. While my research went well, I was shocked and even disappointed to find that under qualification could not be the cause of America’s extremely biased laws. I was almost hoping this was the case, as it would provide a better explanation than just pure racism. Oh well. Join me next week for further discussion of law reform, and once again thank you for reading!
Week 12
7 January 2022
Welcome back everybody! I really appreciate your support on this journey to abolish racially biased laws. Unfortunately I did not have much class time this week, so I kept my goals relatively simple. I spent some time at school and a few hours at home researching the age and origin of a variety of American laws, and while I was able to find the basic information it was not nearly as much as I would have hoped. I definitely felt like this week was a little bit of a failure but I’m hoping to make up for it next week. Despite this, I did manage to get a fair amount of information in my favor. The majority of American law was made towards the beginnings of the country, a time where slavery had not yet been abolished. This is extremely helpful to my case because it proves that the racist courtroom laws in place are truly outdated. Thanks again for reading everybody, and don’t forget to tune in next week!
7 January 2022
Welcome back everybody! I really appreciate your support on this journey to abolish racially biased laws. Unfortunately I did not have much class time this week, so I kept my goals relatively simple. I spent some time at school and a few hours at home researching the age and origin of a variety of American laws, and while I was able to find the basic information it was not nearly as much as I would have hoped. I definitely felt like this week was a little bit of a failure but I’m hoping to make up for it next week. Despite this, I did manage to get a fair amount of information in my favor. The majority of American law was made towards the beginnings of the country, a time where slavery had not yet been abolished. This is extremely helpful to my case because it proves that the racist courtroom laws in place are truly outdated. Thanks again for reading everybody, and don’t forget to tune in next week!
Week 13
January 13 2022
Hi readers! Welcome to week 13 of my blog. Thanks for sticking with it! This week is a little different than most, because I am finally ready to move out of my research phase and try again to find a lawyer to interview, potentially. As you all likely know, I did try once before to reach out to a lawyer but it ended up not working out. At this stage of my project I feel that the most beneficial thing to do (after so many weeks of research) would be to pursue another lawyer. I actually had a lot of success in finding some great lawyers around here, and this time I will be reaching out to more than one of them just in case! Although I experienced initial failure, I’m so excited to continue my project in another way. See you guys next week!
January 13 2022
Hi readers! Welcome to week 13 of my blog. Thanks for sticking with it! This week is a little different than most, because I am finally ready to move out of my research phase and try again to find a lawyer to interview, potentially. As you all likely know, I did try once before to reach out to a lawyer but it ended up not working out. At this stage of my project I feel that the most beneficial thing to do (after so many weeks of research) would be to pursue another lawyer. I actually had a lot of success in finding some great lawyers around here, and this time I will be reaching out to more than one of them just in case! Although I experienced initial failure, I’m so excited to continue my project in another way. See you guys next week!
Evidence Website Linkshttps://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-judicial-branch/
This is the official US website I used to gather most of my information. |