Northeastern University

Jesse Axelowitz

“About a Boy Who Isn’t”

November 9th, 2009 by axelowitzj | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The article “About a Boy Who Isn’t” by Benoit Denizet-Lewis, is about the life of a transgender middle school student who is a girl living life as a boy.  The 13-year old, who is referred to as M., has the usual things to deal with as a teenager plus the issue of living life as a boy. The story did surprise me, because I really had no knowledge that this could occur and I had no understanding of it, but now I know better. I can’t image what he must go through and all the struggles that he faces in his everyday life, and understanding who he truly is. I am interested to know how the story continues and where he will end up. I believe that no matter if the boy lived in America or Greece he would have a better experience than other less-accepting countries because of the progressiveness of Greece and America.

Exercise 7.4

November 9th, 2009 by axelowitzj | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

      I had a misunderstanding with one of my friends a couple of months ago. We got involved in an argument over where to go on a Friday night: I wanted to go to another friend’s house and he wanted to go to a movie. We ended up arguing for hours and finally realized that we wasted all of our time arguing and that now we didn’t have enough time to go out for the night.  I realize that both of us could have agreed to the other’s idea and we would have a good time either way.  Because we continued to argue we went nowhere and we both ended up having a bad night. I believe that if I had stopped and thought about it and listened to what the other wanted we could have worked out our differences and both had a good night.

Exercise 6.1

November 4th, 2009 by axelowitzj | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

My service learning experience has been to help write a Newsletter for The American College of Thessaloniki.  Along with 5 others student I contribute weekly to the newsletter. Each week we meet as a group at 10:00 AM every Wednesday morning.  We get together and discuss what articles we want to write for the upcoming newsletter. I believe that the group gets along well together, making it easier to agree on the articles, and for the newsletter to come together smoothly. I have observed that everyone in the room respects each other.

I didn’t really know what to expect from my service learning project. When I arrived at Thessaloniki I had mixed feeling about writing for a newsletter. I have never worked for or even considered writing for a newsletter, and I thought I would really dislike the experience, but as time passes I find that I do not particularly mind the writing process. Although I don’t necessarily hate writing I never considered myself good at it, but with this experience I am helping myself become better at writing.

Culture plays a key role in any interaction no matter its location or people. My plan for future community partnership hasn’t really changed much from what it was when I first arrived. The experience hasn’t changed my personal understanding of “service” but it has allowed me to gain a new point of view. My current understanding of “culture” and “power” will help me to understand my future community service partners, although I would not do a lot differently next time; I believe I gave this experience my full and active support and will do so with any community experiences in the future.  

Gender experiences

November 2nd, 2009 by axelowitzj | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

My time in Greece has been great, and I believe that both the male students and female students have had the almost the exact same experience. There is some common courtesy that occurs for girls only, such as holding the door open and moving for a girl to have a seat on the bus, and you do not see this so much in America. I feel there may have been more differences in gender attitudes towards guys and girls a couple of years ago, but as time goes by the differences are becoming less and less. I do not feel there is any major difference between how the genders are treated here in Thessaloniki.

Exercise 5.1

October 19th, 2009 by axelowitzj | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

To me, service learning offers a feeling of unity that people get by people working together for one cause as they strive to achieve a common goal. I believe that volunteering plays a vital part in a person’s education. Volunteering allows an individual to gain a sense of working with others in a community for a universal objective. Service learning is a way of learning things hands-on and working with others; you start to look at things from a different point of view and gain a fresh understanding of situations through working with other people. I volunteered for various service learning projects during my high school career. One of the main activities that I was involved with for my high school service experience was teaching elementary children how to play chess and understand all aspects of the game. My main volunteering takes place at Winthrop Children’s Cancer Center on Long Island, New York. I contribute the Center by helping set up fundraising events to benefit the hospital and participating in those events. When it comes to service learning, the most influential people in my life are my parents; they have taught my brothers and me everything we know about service learning. My parents participate with us at Winthrop Children’s Cancer Center. They are also involved with various other organizations for various causes. I believe their view of service learning is very similar to mine and in that we share the same cultural values. We agree that service learning plays a key role in all of our lives.  
 

Time in Greece So Far

October 19th, 2009 by axelowitzj | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

            So far my time in Greece has been a great experience. Thessaloniki is a great city to live in and explore. I haven’t been very good with all of the street names around Thessaloniki, but I am starting to get the hang of it. The new thing that I’m doing is attempting to read the Greek streets signs, so that I can get a better understanding of the local streets as opposed to the better known ones. Originally, I felt that the Greek people didn’t take too well to Americans, but as the time has gone by, I realize that the locals are very kind to most Americans – we just needed to get to know each other.  Living here has been a impressive experience, from the city itself to the people living in it.     

Service learning Site

October 12th, 2009 by axelowitzj | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

For my service learning I, along with Connor, Tony, and two other A.C.T. students, am writing the A.C.T. Newsletter. The first couple of times we got together, Connor, Tony, and I met with Kate at the International Students’ Office, where we discussed everyone’s weekly assignments. Recently we decided to meet at A.C.T. College at 10 o’clock on Wednesday mornings. These meetings are led by Igor. At this time we all sit together and go over the newsletter for the week and articles get assigned for the upcoming issue. 

Blog 3.3

October 12th, 2009 by axelowitzj | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Describe Background-

·         White American Mutt

·         Male

·         Jewish

·         Mental

·         Middle Class

·         17

·         Short

·         Straight

·         Open-minded and Quiet

Being open-minded is probably my greatest strength because it allows me to understand and accept everyone’s differences.   I guess being shorter than most people is a difficulty, especially when playing some sports.  My background and identity has not really affected my time at the university in a negative way; it has allowed me understand other people and get along with everyone which is a positive outcome.

Service Learning Experience

October 5th, 2009 by axelowitzj | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

My service learning experience has been quite unique for me. My service learning experience is to help write the A.C.T. Newsletter. For me this is not something I would normally do, I do not consider myself a writer, but is has been a new experience for me. I usually prefer to think out an idea, rather than to write and research it. Yet, I have been getting more involved with it and I’m going to try and work hard on it too get better at it.  My first task was to research and record any findings on found on the impact of the America economy on Greece by any American Press group. This brought up a number of challenges for me, but I think it allowed me to gain a new understanding of journalism that I never know of before. Overall I think my service learning experience is going to be a challenge, yet rewarding in the end.

Millennium Development Goals

October 5th, 2009 by axelowitzj | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Millennium Development Goals are eight goals that the United Nations agreed upon to be achieved by 2015. These goals are meant to better the world in which we live. Most of these goals are noble goals worth achieving, but it seems very unrealistic that they will all be achieved by 2015. One example, the fourth goal set out by the United Nations, is to reduced child mortality rates around the world.  I believe that this is truly possible by the year 2015, and I strongly believe that if the United Nations gets nations to work together they can achieve this goal. As of now this goal is feasible; as of 2007 the number of infant mortality deaths was decreased by 1 million. I truly believe that this goal can be accomplished by 2015 if the pace continues.