Connecting with Mother Nature

October 11, 2016. Call to Action Day. A day where the community of Notre Dame de Namur University faculty and students goes out and gives back to the community outside of their own and learns about what their community is about and what they do.

Out of all the choices, I chose to go to San Bruno Mountain. San Bruno Mountain runs through four parts of the Bay Area: South San Francisco, Daly City, Colma, and Brisbane. Before the cities and building were built, San Bruno Mountain was home to the Ohlone Tribe. The Ohlone Tribe used San Bruno Mountain as sacred burial sites and as shell mounds. "Shell mound, also called Kitchen Midden, in anthropology, prehistoric refuse heap, or mound, consisting chiefly of the shells of edible mollusks intermingled with evidence of human occupancy" (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The shell mounds that we saw contained mainly shells and animal bones. 

What I learned about San Bruno Mountain was how simple the Ohlone Tribe lived. They used the plants and trees for all their uses and used them as if they were their own ancestors. The experience was truly beautiful. 

After our 2 hour hike, we went to the sand dunes of San Bruno Mountain. There I learned that one flower that is going extinct lives there. This flower grows in only 2 places out of the entire world.  What is preventing the flower from growing are ice plants indigenous to South Africa. Because the ice plants can grow in any conditions, it overlaps and takes up all the space of the sand dunes. So what we did was take out the ice plants. Doing this allows the flowers more space, so that they have adequate room to grow and allows it to makeup the resources that the ice plants were taking. 

Overall even though it was tidious and a lot of work, giving back felt good. It makes me feel accomplished knowing that I helped the world even just a little bit. 

Who is the ACLU?

On Engagement day, I did not know what to expect. When I got to the chapel, I learned that we were going to meet our freshmen year seminar professor and group. When I heard that, I thought "oh ok, that doesn't sound too bad." We walk into the room and it is hot from the summer heat flowing into the room. For about 15 minutes, we talk about the syllabus and what the semester brings. After that, the ACLU walks in.

ACLU is a nationwide group in which they are based on principle. This group is guided on principles and morals to protect all the rights that were given at birth, and which were given to us from the people of the past. What the ACLU does is try to change policies and laws, but mainly change hearts and minds.

The reason why they want to change policies and laws is to protect all people and all conditions possible. They are doing this, so that when in need anyone can use these laws and rights for protection.

Before meeting the ACLU, I knew nothing about this group. However when I met a few of their representative, my eyes were opened. I never knew how many rights I had as a person and the extent of those rights.