Redistricting Game

The Redistricting Game was very interesing to play. The main issue during the game was the topic of gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is in a sense cheating. The game proves to us how easily candidates can manipulate the election making the candidate that you want to win. Gerrymandering is unjust, and should be illegal. This game is a proof that politics now a days are not always what we think they are, and never garuntee everything they say they are going to do for the citizens, and supporters of that political party. Without equal population districts, voting would not be fair, and politics would not be just when it comes time for an election in regaurds to who is selected.
This week in class we discussed many interesting topics. We first talked about Hmong who said that we relyed in information from our allies during the Vietnam War. Next, we discussed on how we are apart of a map imersed society. Everyday we are surrounded by some sort of map, or some sort of geography. Reference maps are fast, on the internet, used to get directions from A to B, provide location and direction, and can be an invatory. Often times reference maps are used to lie. The other type of map we discussed were data/thematic maps. Data/thematic maps look at place and the characteristics in that place. Housing, population, and income are intensible, and fall under the category of data/thematic maps. When in the process of making a map you need to think about labeling and design. As the week came to a close Julio was able to find out an immense amount of information about the students in class with just our address. With your name, address, zipcode, or telephone number, you can find out a lot of information on that person.

Ryan Matuszewski Blog

This week in class we discussed many interesting topics. The most interesting topic I think we discussed this week was the topics about migration and immigration. I thought it was very interesting to find out why people move to where they do and why people come to the United States from where they previously lived. Migration is the movement of place and immigration is when you cross boundaries. People migrate to other places for many reasons such as climate, location, size, family, friends, or job opportunities. Many people immigrate to other countries for a better way of life. When it comes to migration and immigration push and pull factors always influence movement to a place. Today we face a problem that so many people are coming to the States that there could possibly be a large problem due to overpopulation. Research shows that one day Arizona State University is expected to have 90,000 students, and Phoenix is expected to have seven to nine million people. Immigration today is sometimes seen as a problem, but it is actually a good thing. Immigrants do the cheap labor jobs that keep this country functioning that most born American citizens would not do. Data reguarding population and migration can be discoverd through the models we made, and learned about. These models used math formulas and calculations to find out the population. Although not all models were accurate, they were interesting to create. As a result of this data we found out that a healthy normal population is 51% women and 49% men.

Chapter 4 Newton's First Law of Migration

Chapter 4 Newton's First Law of Migration states why people come to the United States. The United States has so much to offer for its citizens, and everyone wants to use those resources for a better way of living. The other day in class we discussed that the small towns in the Great Plains are getting even smaller because more and more people are leaving the area due to low opportunities for work. In class we asked who grew up in a big city or town, and who grew up in a small city or town. We then asked the people who lived in the big cities or town if they would ever live in a small town. Next we asked the people who lived in the small cities or towns if they plan on returning to that location in the future. As a result, most who lived in large cities said they would not move to a small town, and most that lived in the small towns said they would not want to return to the location in the future. The reason these people who lived in small towns growing up said this is because unless you own your own buisness, job opportunites are very scare in the small town location. The chapter later goes on to talk about what immigrants look for when they come to find work in the United States. They usually move to bigger cities because there is more opportunities for work and a better way of living. In other words, the more people you have in a city or town, the more job opportunites there is going to be, and the higher level of education one recieves, the opportunity to have a better career is higher.