Thursday May 17 - Friday May 18, 2018

Okay so it's that time of the year when I take the senior geography students off to Mount Saint Helens (year 13!). I leave you in the more than capable hands of Mr. Hillian.

Thursday's schedule is D-C-B-A and Friday's schedule is A-B-C-D

D Block Human Geography 11 - Today we'll continue to look at the Key Issue "Where Is Agriculture Distributed"? this time focusing on developed countries. In developed countries "agribusiness" include mixed crop and livestock; dairying; grain; ranching; Mediterranean; and commercial gardening. Agribusiness is a broad area that includes food production and services related to agribusiness like food processing, packaging, storing, distributing, and retailing. Canada is the 5th largest agricultural exporter in the world, and the agriculture and agri-food industry employs 2.3 million Canadians (that's 1 in 8 jobs)


We only have two questions to add to yesterday's work:

1. Why do some regions specialize in “milk products” like cheese and butter rather than fluid milk?  Identify some of these important regions.
2. What country is the world’s largest producer of dairy products?

We'll try to look at the problem of overproduction of food in the developed world and food waste




 Next, we'll look at the key question "Why Do Farmers Face Economic Difficulties"? Commercial and subsistence farmers face comparable challenges. Both commercial and subsistence farmers have difficulty generating enough income to continue farming.

Rice farmers of the Philippines from Dan Chung on Vimeo.



 The underlying reasons, though, are different. Commercial farmers can produce a surplus of food (as we saw yesterday), whereas many subsistence farmers are barely able to produce enough food to survive. Because the purpose of commercial farming is to sell produce off the farm, the distance from the farm to the market influences the farmer’s choice of crop to plant. A commercial farmer initially considers which crops to cultivate and which animals to raise based on market location and the von Thünen model tries to help explain this.

Answer the following questions about von Thünen’s model:

Who was von Thünen?
According to this model, what two factors does a farmer consider when deciding what to plant?
How does cost determine what farmers grow?
How does transportation cost influence profitability of growing wheat?
How could von Thünen’s model be applied at a global scale?

C Block Criminology 12 - Today we'll connect our look at media theory Agenda Setting, Framing, the Hypodermic Needle or Magic Bullet, Cultivation, the Knowledge Gap, Uses and Gratification as well as Dependency to the 48 Hours Mystery episode on the Highway of Tears. From CBS:

Since 1969, at least 18 women have gone missing or have been murdered along Canada's infamous Highway 16. Locals call it "The Highway of Tears." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Highway of Tears task force, Project E-PANA, consists of 13 homicide investigations and five missing peoples investigations. 

So we'll watch the episode and then I have a few things I'd like to talk with you about...We'll try to understand how media reports crime and try to take a theoretical perspective on the show and why it was made the way that it was presented to the audience. I have three questions for you to work on (and I'll give you time to work on them today):

1. What main story do you think Investigative Reporters Bob Friel and Peter Van Zant wanted to tell?
2. Why did the show focus on Madison Scott first, Loren Leslie next and then the victims along the Highway of Tears afterwards?
3. Why do you think the producers and editors framed the story the way that they did?

For some more recent coverage check out the CBC Virtual Reality documentary on Ramona Wilson and the Highway of Tears...
 
or Vice TV's Searchers: The Highway of Tears

or Al Jazeera

or How Stuff Works on the Highway of Tears

or if you get VICELAND as a television channel there is a great show called WOMAN and there is an episode on murdered and missing Aboriginal women; here's a preview:


Highway of Tears from Natanael Johansson on Vimeo.

And of course don't forget the REDress project

Don't forget to look at Agenda Setting, Framing and now Two-Step Flow media theories to help with your ideas. After a bit we're diving back in to media...this time, however, we are going to watch a Dateline video called "My Kid Would Never Do That: Stranger Danger".This episode deals with the fear associated with stranger abductions and tests whether kids would know what do to when confronted by someone who attempts to lure them. The Dateline website says:

While stranger abductions are rare, all parents worry about keeping kids safe. In this special report, parents and experts watch as the following scenarios unfold, testing whether or not children know what to do when approached by a stranger.
DATELINE NBC: MY KID WOULD NEVER DO THAT: STRANGER DANGER from Loren Burlando on Vimeo.

Check out these Facebook and Twitter posts in response to the show

So now for the reality of stranger danger and abductions...

• Stranger Danger doesn't teach what a stranger is
• It doesn't account for trusted adults and
• It can demonize all adults to children.

A 2000 Justice Department study found that of the 800,000 kids who were reported missing that year, half turned out to be runaways. MOST abductions turned out to involve family members; only 115 of all the cases reported were a version of the nightmare scenario that most troubles parents - abduction by a stranger. For more information look at kidshealth.org; yahoo.com; ncpc.org; ncjrs.gov; or keeping children safe OK so now what? Here's what I'd like you to answer:

1. What do you think the purpose of the "My Kid Would Never Do That: Stranger Danger" show and what assumptions or beliefs do its creators have that are reflected in the content?
2. Who and what is shown in a positive light? In a negative light? Why might these people and things be shown this way? What conclusions might audiences draw based on these facts?
3. What techniques does the Dateline show use to get your attention and to communicate its message?

B Block Introduction to Law 10 - Just a note for you...you have a test tomorrow on the introductory section of the course (criminology and victimology); it will be multiple selection, true/false and a short answer (paragraph) in structure. Don't forget you may use your notes! Today, however, we'll look at Geographic profiling. I'll ask you to brainstorm a list of locations in the Comox Valley that you feel crime will be more prevalent in and you'll have to justify your reasoning. For more on Geographic profiling check out:

Mapping Crime by Keith Harris
Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation
RCMP Geographic Profiling

After, we'll work on a Geographic Profiling Comox Valley crime Map with data from the Comox Valley CrimeStoppers website. We'll look at Residential Break & Enters for the city of Courtenay. There are two basic types of residential break and enters: opportunistic and organized (you could also say amateur and professional). What are the differences? The scale of proceeds (size/quantity/value); the ability to dispose of proceeds (quality fences who will purchase stolen property); the capacity to store proceeds (hold on to stolen items); the level of planning/complexity (how much time is needed to organize a plan of attack for the size of the and challenge of the residence); and the level of risk involved.

If the B&E is done to commit another offense then the motives can range from intimidation/extortion to negatively impacting the business of another or to commit a further offence (eg domestic violence, sexual domestic violence, sexual offence, assault, mischief). If the B&E is done with the intent to steal then the motives can range from boredom to profit.

I want you to think about data here; I'll give you a list of the 61 incidents in 2016 and first I want you to map them out. After, consider where they are located and what kinds of neighbourhoods they are a part of. Think about where the 24,099 people live in the 29.38 square kilometer area that is Courtenay. The 2011 Census Data for Courtenay and the National Household Survey both reveal some interesting data about our city.

1. 58.2% of our city's population was participating in the labour force (employed or unemployed) that means 41.8% were retired or not old enough to work.
2. Our unemployment rate was 11.1% and most people were employed in retail (19.54%), health care and social assistance (12.2%), or public administration (9.55%)
3. The average yearly income for each person in Courtenay was $33,737 (when you blend part and full time workers together - those who worked full-time their average yearly income was $48,302) and the average family income was $72,186. Only 5.4% of the city's population made over $100,000 per year, 17.55% of the city's population made between $50,000-$99,999 per year, 39.4% of the city's population made between $20,000-$49,999 per year, while 36.6% of the city's population made less than $19,999 per year.
4. Of the 10,890 dwellings in Courtenay 7,575 were lived in by owners while 3,315 were lived in by renters (2,115 of those dwellings were a part of a condominium development).

So there's a little info about housing & income for people in Courtenay and when we match some of that data to your map, I want you to figure out where you think the Comox Valley RCMP should focus their attention to aid in community-based crime prevention for the city of Courtenay. Where would be a good place to start a Block Watch? Why?

Both the "Residential Break and Enter" and the Commercial Break and Enter" Heat maps to the left were completed by the VPD (Vancouver Police Department) for February 14th through 20th this year and should help you in terms of what your map should look like.

For our map we will need to use colours that show areas of high, moderate, minimal and low risk for B&E (if one street has 5 incidents out of 61 in a year that's 8% of all Courtenay's B&E incidents...is that a lot? What if it's Crown Isle or Mission Hill or Valley View or Punteledge or the Old Orchard neighbourhood rather than just a street? How many incidents took place in a neighbourhood?)

A Block Law 12 - Today we'll be in the class watching the documentary Hot Coffee. Seinfeld mocked it. Letterman ranked it in his top ten list. And more than fifteen years later, its infamy continues. Everyone knows the McDonald’s coffee case. It has been routinely cited as an example of how citizens have taken advantage of America’s legal system, but is that a fair rendition of the facts? Hot Coffee reveals what really happened to Stella Liebeck, the Albuquerque woman who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald’s, while exploring how and why the case garnered so much media attention, who funded the effort and to what end. After seeing this film, you will decide who really profited from spilling hot coffee.


Your textbook states: Many Canadians regard civil suits like Stella Liebeck’s as frivolous (silly or wasteful). What do you think? I'll ask you that question after we watch the documentary.

Consider this story...An Ohio man, Arnold Black, a 48-year-old black man from Maple Heights, sued East Cleveland after he was stopped by police in 2012 for suspected drug activity, handcuffed, left locked in a closet for four days without food, water or access to a bathroom and beaten so severely that he suffered memory loss and required brain surgery was awarded $22 million in court.

Or this story where a B.C. judge has awarded a disabled 16-year-old more than $5.2 million in damages after finding her cerebral palsy was the result of the failures of a nurse and doctor involved in her delivery.