rachel's grad project 08

Me in Asia

2011-06-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

Matsuyama, Japan

We had some good luck as we arrived in Matsuyama. Taking the Willer Express night bus from Shinjuku, Tokyo was a relaxing experience, once we were on the bus. They have not just reclining seats, but ones that go all the way back. They also have a head shield that comes down over the top of the seat, if you want to cocoon yourself in a dark place. It was the most comfortable bus I've ever been on and I slept on a moving vehicle for the first time that I remember since I was a kid.

Our good luck came with a fairy godmother - Japanese style. The woman across from us asked us where we were going and she offered us a ride to our hostel. Not even knowing where the hostel was, she and her husband took us right there.

The layout of Matsuyama is like this: The centre of town is a hill with Matsuyama Castle perched on top. The surrounding area has a historical garden, an art gallery and if you go down to the main street, a shopping mall and municipal government building. This building is impressive. It's huge, white and dominates the street.

The neighbourhood where our hostel, Eco Dogo Hotel, is located is in the northeast section of town, in the area around the oldest hot spring bath, onsen, in Japan. Next to the bath is a strip of stores and along the streets there are expensive hotels, but there's quite a mix of old, new, rich and not-so-rich.

We hiked up to a shrine today and wrote wishes onto pieces of paper. Then we tied them to prickly little trees. It was a shrine to the God of War, so I hope that gives me the strength to fight this humidity. And any spiders that might crawl out from toilet paper rolls (this happened to Brittany).

At the next temple we went to, a sweet Japanese women got so excited that we were from Canada that she immediately stuck out her hand and wanted to shake ours. We're understanding certain words like 'doko' (where) and 'nihongo' (Japanese). It seems to get us by. I've learned to point at something on a menu and say 'kore o kudasai' (this is what I want please).

We're still wondering what the difference between 'arigato gozaimass' and 'arigato gozaimashta'. That might remain a mystery...

Best places we've found to eat breakfast:

A small restaurant in the shopping mall close to the Onsen. They lead you to a room overlooking a garden where you sit on cushions in front of small low tables and serve you Westernized breakfast like ham and cheese sandwiches with veggies and pasta salad. But you can still get a small bowl of frothy matcha tea and no one there speaks english. It's very peaceful.

The other place is on the second floor above the Lawson convenience store near the historical train station of Dogo-onsen station. There, they serve the most amazing waffles. If you try the fruit waffles, they put sprinkles on it! And it comes with a bright orange sauce, whipped cream and lots of fruit. I had a chocolate waffle with ice cream, whipped cream and banana. I could die happy now.

We haven't only eaten Western food. Last night for dinner we had ramen noodles. We've tried octopus in vinegar (with beer) at a local bar. We're had dinner with rice, katsu (fried pork cutlet), veggies etc. And we've snacked on balls of jelly flavoured with matcha, orange and something else (it was brown. That's all I know). We've had matcha flavoured gelato. And I've had orange flavoured gelato, which doesn't sound exotic at all, but it's a local favourite. Everywhere we look, there's orange candies or drinks.

There's a tourist office located on the shopping street nearby and we picked up an english map. Nothing is in english here and no one speaks it, so we've been getting by with a lot of smiling and nodding.

This morning we were daring and went to a local onsen. We entered and looked lost, so a Japanese woman showed us where to pay at a machine. We figured out the character for womem and men. Also, we saw that the price chart had the cost for children, adults and seniors. It's confusing when you don't know how much something is supposed to cost and you don't speak the language.

A woman who worked there showed us the room where we needed to put our things in a locker. We went into the bath room and saw that we should have brought our own soap, shampoo and something to scrub with. We felt a little ridiculous, surrounded by old Japanese ladies, but we were mostly ignored.

The water was very hot. We hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so I felt quite light headed. I won't go back to an onsen unless I've eaten something first. There's a bar nearby where they say "have a beer after bathing' but I'm thinking it would make me tipsy ridiculously fast to drink right after. We went to this bar last night for drinks and appetizers and there were a lot of people dressed in bathing robes. It made us want bathing robes. They look so comfortable.

The people here are so amazing. If we get lost, someone will approach us and try to help, even if they speak no english. We have only encountered friendly people.

Rachel

Jan.9,2009--Reseach and proposal

2009-01-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

‘Who’s Minding the Mind?’--Carey, Benedict--The New York Times--July 31, 2007--Rachel Champagne--Jan.12,2009
The article discusses the similar results of studies conducted by American Universities like Yale and Stanford about the subconscious mind. At Yale, a research assistant carrying too many things asked people to take a cup of coffee from him or her. Later, when asked to rate a hypothetical person they read about, the people would answer favourably if the coffee was hot and unfavourably--rating the person as being more selfish and less social--if the coffee was cold. The temperature of the coffee seemed to have effected their mind. It seems to suggest that people form opinions based on stimulus that may not be filtered through the conscious mind.

On a side note, I think I could make an interesting game if I had and image of a face and then used the same face, but added glasses or blond hair. I wonder how people would react or if they would notice. What if they were asked to describe the person? Would they use preconceived notions about people with glasses or blond hair?

What if I created a game where there would be images of objects and people and places and the game would have adjectives that people could match them up. I wonder if there would be a trend in the matches of images and words?

Or a game like “Life” where there are cards that show houses and even though a house might be worth less, it will still be a valuable house because people will think it looks valuable.

There needs to be a clever trick to the game where people will see how they are influenced by the subconscious mind.

Happiness
Before I do anymore research about stress, which may change how I see my project, I want to define the core concept of this project. I find that happiness is simple. To be happy, there has to be a inbalance of more good events and emotions than bad events and emotions. That’s it. Do what you love.

I try to live by this, but lately I’ve become more stressed than usual--graduating from Emily Carr University without being stressed is probably impossible--and that has effected my happiness. I feel like staying in. I don’t put myself out there for the jobs that I know should be mine. I ignore my gym membership.

But during the holiday season, I played a game called ‘Apples to Apples’ with family and I became addicted, so I made my own version of the game when my brother took the card game home with him. It’s a simple game. A person puts a card down with an adjective on it like ‘luxurious.’ Players will have 5 cards with nouns on them and will choose one that matches ‘luxurious’. The person who put the adjective down will choose which noun they think matches the best and the winner will keep the adjective card. The person with the most adjective cards wins.

‘Apples to Apples’ is hilarious. Players will learn things about each other that they didn’t before and some cards will stimulate long conversations. The interesting thing is the connections that people make. If the adjective is ‘luxurious’ and someone puts down ‘meat,’ everyone usually wonders who put that card down and why.

This game stimulates the subconscious mind through word association and I began to think about the benefits of uncovering thoughts and feelings that are usually ignored. The effects of subconscious negativity and surpressed fears on stress interested me. What if I did a project that could relieve stress through the subconscious mind?

Stress--Psychology by David G. Myers. New York, 1992-Worth Publishers--Jan.8, 2009
There are different types of stressful events: catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles.

“In the last month, how often have you felt:
a. Unable to control the important things in your life?
0. Never
1. Almost never
2. Sometimes
3. Fairly often
4. Very often
b. Confidant about your ability to handle your personal problems?
c. That things were going your way?
d. That difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?

4.7 is ok for women
4.2 is ok for men

To manage stress, you can use excercise, biofeedback, relaxation (through meditation, in particular) and social support networks (“feeling liked, affirmed and encouraged by intimate friends and family--promotes happiness and health.”).

A subject in a study by health psychologists James Pennedbaker and Robin O’Heeron (1984) (p.533) said “I was finally able to deal with it, work through the pain instead of trying to block it out. Now it doesn’t hurt to think about it.”

A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Canfield, Jack and Mark Victor Hansen. Deerfeild, FL 1996: Health Communications Inc..--Jan.9, 2009--Rachel Champagne

Intro--Chicken Soup Stories
Ths basis of this book is that these inspirational stories will cause people to live happier lives through examples. It seems to be full of Christian values. I think that it is interesting that just the thoughts of hope, love and encouragement is beneficial, as if any positive thinking can make people happier. Maybe it’s as simple as that--The Secret says that it is--but I’m skeptical.

I agree that a story can “provide a new perspective, a new way of percieving the universe,”--Ruth Stotter. I don’t want to focus on storytelling for this project though.

Cards--wikipedia--Jan.9, 2009
I’m more interested in the effects of cards on our subconscious. There are many types of cards, created as early as the 7th century in China. The design of French cards became the most popular, using four suits and the King, Queen, Knave and Valet being the court cards. There were 52 cards per deck--and 52 weeks in a year. The four suits represented the four seasons. And if you add the cards together, with a joker card as 1, then you will find the number 365.

The Dream Deck--Jan.9,2009
This is what the dream deck includes: “beautifully illustrated cards, designed to offer both cues and clues about your sleeping mind. With simple instructions on how to both interpret the symbols and influence the nature of your dreams--plus 50 evocative images that capture the surreal quality of night visions--The Dream Deck will inspire self-discovery and enlightenment, night after night.”

There are 8 cue cards that offer ways of influencing your dreams through visualization. For example, a card is titled ‘battling the dragon’ and says to visualize a dream adversary and gain confidance as you defeat the foe. You should feel a sense of victory in your dream and this will relate to your “current, waking circumstances.” So the point is that your dreams influence you life. The fantasy will effect the reality, similar to a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the back of each card is an image representing the cards concept, like death.

Subliminal Messages--wikipedia--Jan.9,2009
Subliminal messages are signals or messages imbedded into another medium, “designed to pass below the normal limits of the mind’s perception.”

Interplay: The process of Interpersonal Communication. 6 ed. Adler, Ronald B., Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and Neil Towne. Toronto, 1995: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.--Jan.9, 2009--Rachel Champagne

p.48 Influence of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
To summarize, self-fulfilling prophecies are situations where a person has already made up their minds what a person, place, or thing will be like, so that when they see the reality, their preconceived notions will end up being true. If they think they won’t like a person, they will act like they don’t like them and the person will respond negatively, which makes it true--they won’t like each other. If a person knows that they will be nervous and that an interview won’t go well, then they will become nervous and it will become true.

Of course, it won’t effect something like the colour of the sky. Keeping this in mind, and all of the other things that are out of our control, trying to think positively is still a good strategy, especially about your self-concept. High expectations of yourself will only make you unhappy because no one is perfect. Self-fulfilling prophecy just means that you shouldn’t assume things that aren’t true and you shouldn’t jinx yourself by allowing your fears to influence you.

Introduction

I am designing for health and well-being because I want to be mentally, physically and emotionally healthy and happy and I want other people to be healthy and happy as well. At the moment, many people I know are not healthy and happy. I think that this is connected to stress. For creative people, like designers, I have noticed that the stress is caused by a lack of inspiration, leading to procrastination--you’re just going to do it later when you feel more creative--or frustration--you believe that this project is impossible and insurmountable. There is an opportunity to create a tool to help these people be more creative and less stressed out.

Design opportunity

The problem is that creative people are searching for solutions but thay can’t think of anything productive. There is a blank and they stare at a computer screen for hours not getting any ideas. The work that they do do is repetitive and cliche. I find myself having this problem and my body becomes uncomfortable and distracted, so I shift in my seat and start wondering in the back of my head if it’s time for a coffee break.

I think that the solution for this problem is the subconscious mind because the problem is the conscious mind putting restrictions on problem solving. The subconscious mind is basically linked to finding solutions to problems. The subconscious is stimulated by everything around and forms instinctual responses to this stimuli. It’s connected to the fight or flight response. What creative people need is a way of turning off the judgemental conscious mind and tapping into the subconscious. I think that creative people would feel less stressed out and would get more productive work done if they could use their subconscious mind more.

Most designers will agree that creative solutions will sometimes pop into their heads at weird moments. For example, they are just falling asleep. Their brains are in the ‘Alpha State,’ which means that they are very relaxed and their brainwave frequency is around 10 Hz. The ‘Alpha State’ is the ideal awareness state for the brain to think about solutions because the brain is relaxed and their is a greater feeling of well-being. If my project could cause the audience to be in this ‘Alpha State,’ then they will shut off the conscious mind and tap into the subconscious mind. While their conscious mind is effectively turned off, they will be more creative and feel happier. I think that my project could end creative blocks and cause a long lasting feeling of well-being by creating a tool that will stimulate the subconscious mind.

Design Objective

I intend to create a tool that will stimulate the subconscious mind so that my audience will be able to create solutions that are more creative. They will feel a greater sens of well-being because I want to relax their minds enough for judgement to be turned off. I want to create a tool that is entertaining and enjoyable to use, like a game.

Solving the problem of what the tool will be will require creating prototypes and testing the outcomes on real people. I will need to do research on existing tools and studies being done around the world. I will need to also research my audience: their needs, experiences and environments. During the research phase of the project, I will find experts who can help me find insightful solutions to the problem. Then I will analyze the findings and create a visual language that will appeal to the audience. The prototypes will be tested and refined until I have found the right solution.

Design Criteria

My senior project will fulfill the following criteria: It will...
- stimulate the subconscious mind.
- encourage unique solutions and ideas by creating a time and place that is appropriate for new ideas.
- be suitable for adults, especially creative people like designers.
- be entertaining and stress-relieving.

Target Audience

The person who will use and enjoy this project the most will be young adults between the ages of 20-30. This project will help both males and females. The target audience will value self-improvement and stress relief. They would admit that they are procrastinators. They would also admit that they often feel stressed due to creative problem solving problems at work or at school. They often feel unproductive. They are focused on their career and their friends. They love to have fun and are very social. Their careers are related to problem solving, whether they are creative professionals, business people, scientists, or tradesmen. They want to feel more relaxed, happy, healthy and productive.

Education Goals

In the Spring Semester I hope to learn more about how I can help people feel happier. Since I, myself, also want to live a happy life, I feel like this exploration is very important to my future. I have aspirations to be a teacher as well as a graphic designer, so this project can benefit my future students as well. I hope to learn about what causes problems in our lives, like stress and creative blocks. I want this project to teach me about what I can do to deal with stress and creative blocks, so that I can feel more productive.

Research

I have researched the Subconscious and it led me to Alpha State, Binaural Beats, Affirmation, Subliminal Messages, Tarot cards, Stress, Emotions, and Happiness. I defined each of these things and learned a little of the history behind it. I have been listening to binaural beats and find that it has a calming effect. I have looked at cards and found them to stimulate the subconscious in my dreams.

I have also researched studies on the subconscious and how the subconscious mind influences psychology and social interactions. I found information on the internet, in books, textbooks and articles. I also used ‘Dream Cards’ and ‘The Sacred Circle Tarot” to explore the tools that already exist.

In the future, I will continue to explore books, articles and the internet. I will also find a variety of tools and games to see which ones work and which do not.

Bibliography

Adler, Ronald B., Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and Neil Towne. Interplay: The process of
Interpersonal Communication. 6th ed. Toronto: Harcourt Brace College
Publishers, 1995.

“Binaural Beats”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.

“Brainwave”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.

“Brainwave Synchronization”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.

Canfield, Jack and Mark Victor Hansen. A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Deerfeild, FL: Health Communications Inc., 1996.

Carey, Benedict. ‘Who’s Minding the Mind?’. The New York Times. July 31, 2007.

David G. Myers. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, 1992.

“The Dream Deck”. Cards. Designed by Kirsten T. Hetland. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2002.

“Dreamachine”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.

“Emotions”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.

Franklin, Anna. Illustrated by Paul Mason. “The Sacred Circle Tarot.” Cards.
St Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 1998.

“Stress”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.

“Sunconscious”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Jan.8, 2009.

Grad Project 09 research

2009-01-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Jan. 8, 2009--Rachel Champagne--Study of Binaural Beats

Alpha State

Initially, I found information about binaural beats on the internet (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subconscious) while I was researching the subconscious mind.

Subconscious
Subconscious is defined as an awareness that exists in the mind that is not conscious. An awareness that humans aren’t aware of.

The subconscious could be considered slightly different from the preconscious mind, which is information that can be recalled as soon as you bring attention to it, like memories. The subconscious mind seems to be information that you are not aware of possessing--information that effects your behaviour and attitude.

Although wikipedia didn’t mention this, I would predict that body language and other non-verbal things that you notice about other humans are incorporated into the information that you percieve and store, yet don’t consciously understand. When you first meet someone, you learn things from them but you don’t realize you do it. Also, sometimes when you are feeling stress, you don’t understand, on a conscious level, why. I think that it is linked to emotions. I haven’t done the research yet, but I predict that emotions are usually subconscious. Emotions can’t be controlled and neither can the brain be controlled when it works on a subconscious level.

What I wonder is if you can become more aware of the subconscious information that your brain is storing--like emotions, thoughts, assumptions and perceptions--and find a better way of controlling the negative effects of stress and fear?

Wikipedia lists a few methods of affecting the subconscious mind: Affirmations, Binaural Beats, Hypnosis, and Subliminal messages.

Affirmation
Affirmation is a “declaration that something is true,” (Wikipedia). What I understand about this is that the effect of positively thinking that something is true will make you believe it’s true, therefore it is true. Either the individual will make it true or else truth is anything that you percieve to be true--a concept linked to the idea that reality is perception. How a person percieves reality is their reality. It’s not my reality, but it’s their reality.

I can see how this could effect a person’s subconscious mind by challenging old assumptions--how a person sees themselves, whether beautiful or ugly, for example. As long as the ‘truth’ is subjective, like beauty, the perception can be altered. If a person says to themselves, “The sky is yellow,” then I can’t see how that could effect the subconscious mind because the subconscious specifically stores emotions and perceptions.

So, what if I used this project to handle stress. If so, I have to prove the idea that stress is caused by emotions and perceptions, rather than by scientific facts like ‘the sky is blue.’

Stress
Stress is defined as the failure of the human body to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether real or percieved. Biologically, it makes you anxious and produces adrenaline. Stress can commonly cause exhaustion, irritability, headaches and an inability to concentrate. There are many things that lead to stress, but any type of conflict or fear can be stressful.

How to deal with stress? I propose that if the opposite of a stressful situation is a relaxing situation, then relaxation techniques are a solution to stress. If stress is caused by emotions, like fear, then a tool that can change emotions and perceptions hidden deep in your subconscious would be another excellent solution.

I’m confidant that I can relieve people’s stress levels using a tool that taps into the subconscious mind. Now, I need to understand what those tools might look like.

Binaural Beats
Binaural beats are two sounds, both under 1,000-1,500 Hz, and the difference between the two sounds must be small--less than 30 Hz. While wearing headphones, each ear listens to one of the sounds. The interesting thing is that the brain will produce a beating tone, very much like someone meditating to the incantation ‘ohmmm,’ that will relax and slow down the thinking process.

I listened to the binaural beats from Wikipedia and found that it relaxed me enough to eliminate a pounding headache in thirty minutes. I am now a believer in this phenomenon.

To understand how binaural beats work, I had to learn a bit about brainwaves and sound frequency. First I learned that the brain produces tiny electrical signals generated by individual synaptic connections that can be measured using an Electroencephalography (eeg). The frequency of the brainwaves differ depending on the brain’s state of awareness: above 40 Hz is Gamma waves, associated with higher mental activity like problem-solving and fear. 13-40 Hz is Beta waves, associated with active, busy, anxious thinking, or active concentration. 7-13 Hz is Alpha waves, associated with relaxation while awake and pre-sleep or pre-wake drowziness. 4-7 Hz is Theta waves, associated with dreaming or deep meditation. Under 4 Hz is Delta waves, associated with deep dreamless sleep.

Binaural beats may effect brainwave frequency due to a concept called ‘frequency following response’. If the brain recieves a stimulus--like a sound--that is in the same frequency range as brain waves, the brain waves will become closer to the frequency of the stimulus. Our brains are susceptible to stimulus like light, sound, pain, and temperature. It seems that by changing our environment, we can lessen the effects of stress, including pain and tension. Not only changing our environment, but using any stimulus--whether visual, audio, oral or verbal--we can effect our level of stress.
Emotions
I believe that stress is connected to emotions. From wikipedia, I found a list of emotions: Euphoria, Fear, Frustration, Gratitude, Grief, Guilt, Happiness, Hatred, Hope, Horror, Hostility, Hysteria, Interest, Jealousy, Loathing, Love, Pity, Pride, Rage, Regret, Remorse, Sadness, Shame, Suffering, Surprise, Wonder, Worry.

To effect the subconscious mind, I think that these words could be helpful. Word association games--one person says a word and another person immediately says a word that comes to mind without thinking--bring out connections that may not be obvious. The brain is making connections without consciousness. If a person heard or read the word ‘fear,’ would they respond with the real reason they feel stressed? Would consciously acknowledging a fear, problem or stressful situation effect someone’s level of anxiety? If affirmation and positive thinking theories are correct, then it would.

Bound

2008-12-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

So as you can see below, I've finished a hard cover bound prototype. This isn't finished because there were a few things I needed to alter.

Spreads

2008-12-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

Dec.6

2008-12-06T21:50:00.000-08:00

I've got a lot done this week but haven't found the time to post anything. After getting feedback from Don the week before last, I decided to add space at the top and bottom for the type. That fixed the problems I had with readability and consistency, when I had the type on the illustrations. Each page was different, so it was difficult.

I made an appointment at the Digital Output Centre and spent three hours preparing the files for printing. The problem was that I had images from Illustrator in my inDesign files. They were making my files really big and Carlos said that they might not even print. So we flattened the files and it worked. I chose to print the cover in an enhanced matte paper, which was very smooth and lovely. I printed my spreads in the least glossy paper they had, but they were still coated. I just wanted to try it out and see how it looked. Unfortunately, my search for an uncoated (and maybe slightly textured) paper hasn't worked out very well.

I talked to Don again on Thursday and there were a few things I needed to change. I decided to still bind my book with what I had (coated paper and all). So that's what I did today.

I'm binding it with a hard cover. First I stitched my pages together. I taught myself how to do this online. I just went to Wikipedia and found a link at the bottom that said "How to make a simple hard cover book." Then I took Book Media over the summer, so I've had enough practice that I felt comfortable doing this myself. This is the fun part! I'm not going to let someone else bind my book.

I created the cover. I wanted to use a soft, velvety grey paper that I found at Opus a few months ago. I already owned some dark grey fabric for book covers, so I used that on the spine, then covered it with the fuzzy paper. The book jacket is going over top of it, though.

Map

2008-11-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

So this is the map. It reminds me of Winnie the Pooh a little.

Spreads

2008-11-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

Type I

2008-11-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

cover concept

2008-11-19T15:00:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about the cover this week. And the type. I thought the type should be expressive. More expressive than the average kid's book. I'm expecting the parent to read this, not the child, so readability is not quite as important. I'd rather readers looked at my book and enjoyed it because it was different and fun to read even if it was a bit more challenging. The story itself isn't hard to understand. And the illustrations are straight-forward. So it could use something interesting.

I like the quirkiness of Cochin. I mixed it with a script and a bold font (Rosewood Fill).

After I get some feedback on the type, etc. I'm going to work on the cover more; write a description for the back cover, a blurb for the flaps, and add all the little touches it'll need.

new inspiration explanation

2008-11-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

Below is some work by Nessim Higson, a designer working in New Orleans who is found under www.iamalwayshungry.com. What I found inspiratoional is the way he layers photocopies and illustrations.

I've been doing some visual exploration. I'll post it above.

New Inspiration

2008-11-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

Today's illustration

2008-11-03T18:27:00.000-08:00

This could be one spread, without the text and embellishments.

watercolour sketches

2008-11-03T18:21:00.001-08:00

These are rough sketches only, for me to plan out spreads and colour. This is not how I am illustrating the mushrooms, for instance. There will be text over top of these illustrations, too.

The bottom image is a copy of Arthur Rackham's Alice in Wonderland.

Sketches

2008-11-03T18:14:00.000-08:00

I only uploaded some of the sketches from my sketch book. Although the sketches aren't very good, they were very helpful to me because they let me figure out how to position my characters in my scenes. I caught myself when I started to draw Leon smaller than Rudge (a vole isn't smaller than a mushroom), I redrew the hawk until its swooping attack looked more accurate, and I started to picture all of the spreads in my head.

I also sketched with watercolour, to figure out my colours and how it would look. I'll upload the photos above.

Sketches

2008-11-03T18:02:00.001-08:00

My story

2008-11-03T17:26:00.000-08:00

This is a story about Burns Bog and
Leon the vole.
He was a very lonely creature,
living in a hole.

One day, Leon woke to find
his house filled with garbage!
Humans had covered his home with their trash.
Poor Leon had to find a new place to live.
On his journey, a hawk caught sight of him.
Running for his life, Leon entered Burns Bog,
which was the only safe cover in sight.

---

Running into the bog,
Chased by a hawk,
Leon looked for a place to hide.
He saw a group of mushrooms that looked safe.

Running into the mushrooms,
chased by the hawk,
Leon bashed right into a little mushroom named Rudge.
All the mushrooms abruptly woke up
and yelled, “Hey! Get outta here!”
“Oh I’m sorry,” said Leon, who began to leave.
“No wait! Can’t you see he’s in danger?
Let him stay,” said Rudge, the forgiving mushroom.
“Thank you,” said Leon, the relieved vole.

---

“Ignore them.” Rudge said.
“They’re grumpy
because if they could just
get to the centre of the bog,
they could meet the Great Sandhill Crane
but we’re stuck in the ground
and can’t go anywhere.”
“Why would they want to do that?” Leon said.
“I can’t tell you.
The other mushrooms would be angry.” Rudge whispered.
My name is Rudge by the way.”
“CAW!”
“I’m Leon. It’s nice to meet you.”

---

“Leon, don’t move.”
“Why?”
“The hawk is right behind you!”
“CAW!”
“Run behind me now!”
Leon hid quickly behind Rudge.
The hawk attacked.
It’s beak landed in the dirt and uprooted the mushroom!
It pecked around, but couldn’t reach Leon,
so after a few minutes, it flew away.

Leon came out of hiding and
found Rudge lying on its side.
“It’s okay, Leon. I’m fine.
but I’m not stuck into the ground anymore!
That silly hawk dug me up
so that means you can take me with you!
We can find a home for you
and I can see the Great Sandhill Crane!”
Leon realized that the mushroom was determined to come. “Alright. Let’s go!”

---

Leon picked Rudge up
carefully with his tail
& they began their journey
to the centre of the bog & to find a new home.

“We can’t stay on the boardwalk,” said Rudge.
“This is where the humans walk.
They’ll step on us.”
They jump off the boardwalk.
“The ground is so springy!” Leon noticed
after they had hid from humans and hawks under the boardwalk.
“That’s because the ground is made of peat moss.
If you jump, the ground will jiggle like jelly.
It happens more in the centre of the bog.
Right now, we’re just at the edge of it,” Rudge explained.

---

“What’s so special about
the Great Sandhill Crane anyway?”
asked Leon.

“He has magic that’s connected to the bog.
He only comes to the bog once a year to nest
& he grants one wish!
He’s always wise and he sees everything.
I’m telling you this because you’re my friend.”

“I would wish for a home.
What would you wish for?” asked Leon.

“Feet,” said Rudge.
“So I could go anywhere I wanted to.”

---

Leon and Rudge were on their way again when,
CAW!
They heard the hawk.
“Over there! There’s a tractor I heard about
because it’s stuck into the bog.
Some human tried to steal it
but got caught by the bog’s squishy ground,” said Rudge.

“Let’s hide under it!” agreed Leon.
They huddled under the tractor.
CAW!
SCREECH!
“Wait! Leon, don’t go out there!” yelled Rudge.
Leon came out from under the tractor.
“Look! It’s not the hawk!” explained Leon.

---

There was a commotion in the sky.
Two birds were fighting each other
& one quickly vanquished the other.
A bird appeared in front of Leon.
It was a blue-grey colour.
It was tall, with a long neck.
On its head, there was a patch of red feathers.

The hawk was gone.
The Great Sandhill Crane bowed in front of Leon the vole.
Leon stared.
“Th-th-thank you for saving us,” Leon stammered.

---

The Great Sandhill Crane spoke.
“I saw something strange on the way
to my nesting ground.
A vole and a mushroom traveling together
& helping one another.
I also saw the hawk stalking you.
I think that you’re worthy of a wish, Leon.
What is it that you want?”
Leon thought about it.
He looked back at Rudge.
“I wish Rudge had feet so he could go anywhere.”
“No! I wish you had a home!” Rudge exclaimed.
“I’d be happy to stay with you, Leon.
I don’t need feet.
We have so much fun already.”
The Great Sandhill Crane nodded.
“Your wish, Leon?” he asked.
Leon thought for a second.
“I wish... just that Burns Bog will always exist.
I want it to be protected forever.”

---

“No one has ever asked me for that,”
The Great Sandhill Crane said approvingly.
“It is done.
Good luck on your search for a home...
You might want to look North.”
The Great Sandhill Crane flew away
leaving Leon and Rudge happy to go North
in search of a home.

They do find a home to the North...
but it’s a secret spot that you can only find
if you look very hard.

The End

What I've done lately so far

2008-11-03T16:54:00.000-08:00

I'm going to finally post my whole story. I finished writing it over a week ago, but I wanted to edit it and also decide on what text would go on what page. And I had to decide how many pages I was doing. So I've done that. It's going to be 10 spreads (20 pages) plus a cover dust jacket plus a title page, etc.

I have left out some of the story that happens in the middle, because if there is time, I'll add some more spreads. These parts detail some different plants and animals that Rudge and Leon encounter along the way. They can be left out. So I did. The book still achieves the goal of getting kids to want to go to the bog. I think that any book I read that takes place in an actual spot, I'd love to go to that place, as long as the book doesn't suck too bad. I hope my story isn't THAT bad.

So the next step is the illustrations and I had started those a few weeks ago. I began by sketching the animals and plants that are featured in my story. I looked up pictures of voles, hawks, cranes, and mushrooms mostly. I took pictures in the bog to get a sense of where my story will take place. For every page in my book, I'm going to show an actual place that I've photographed, so that kids can find these places too, if they want to.

The style I had decided on was going to directly reference Arthur Rackham's illustrations of "Alice in Wonderland." That meant muted earth tones in watercolour/ink and a thin black outline. It also meant putting human expressions onto animals and plants. My own style lacks the attention to detail Rackham used and the originality of his characters (I don't have the patience or talent) so I've decided to use brighter colours and a different style. I still like the look of wet (watery?) colour because it seemed appropriate to illustrate a bog with watercolour/ink. The bog is very muddy and wet.

Because my illustrations were of places I photographed, I tried out some things with the photos I took. I thought about taking the photos and adding my characters into the scene. This seemed a little inconsistent. My characters aren't realistic. And my photos aren't amazing either.

So what I decided to do is to trace the photos I took, then add my characters into it. It was the easiest way of adding detail and realism to my illustrations while keeping a consistent style.

I tries not to cover the entire page with my characters, etc. because I needed space for the text of the story. I transferred my tracings onto a thick piece of paper that could hold watercolour without warping too bad, by photocopying the images backward and using a blender pen to get the faint outline of the drawing. Then I painted on top of it in a sketchy way (I love things that look sketchy). I didn't worry about the outline of everything, because I wanted the look of a bleed. Everything was supposed to blend together a little bit, as if in a dream.

Then I scanned it onto the computer and manipulated the levels and curves so that it was as bright as the original. I faded the edges so that my text would be fairly readable. I chose a typeface that was large so that kids could try to follow along and so that it was very easy to read and see. For instance, if a child wanted to bring it into the bog while they go on a little walk, they could still read it even in low light or even if they were walking around.

When I started playing around with typefaces, I thought I would use something clear and traditional, like Garamond. But when I saw how boring that looked with my illustration, I decided to try something different. I noticed that when I used a retro typeface from the 60s or 70s, my illustrations reminded me of some of the illustrations from that time period. I don't know anything about illustration from the 60s and 70s, but it just reminded me of it. So I thought about using Gill sans for my body text, since it's a "friendly" humanist typeface and I thought I could use it with Cooper Black as display type so that the page looked a little retro. I need some advice on this.

One of the things I'm going to do in the future is play with the typeface (colour, font, placement, etc.). I have only illustrated one spread in watercolour. I have 9 more to go, plus the cover, etc. I also want to create a map of the bog, including the trails and Leon's journey and markers for areas of the bog that kids should look at or pay attention to, like the tractor, plants, etc. I want them to find markers in the bog that have more information about animals and plants in the bog, so that they can learn more about the bog if they want to. My book is supposed to entertain them, not bore them with facts, but if they choose to, I want there to be facts available for the curious child.

Bog map

2008-10-28T15:32:00.001-07:00

I tried to find a map of the trails in Burns Bog online. I thought there had to be one somewhere! But I found nothing.

Then today, when I went into the bog and found this map posting ten feet high on a tree at the entrance of one of the trails. It's not very clear or readable, but it's what I was looking for. I also appreciated the drawing of the crane. I don't know how accurate the map is... But I did notice that the tractor is drawn on it. I wonder why there's a skull and cross bones near the tractor?? Maybe that's where they found the criminal who stole the tractor's mummified body?

Kids books

2008-10-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

I went to the kids section of Chapters and looked around. There are some cool books out there! A lot of them use really fancy printing techniques that I don't have the budget for - like sparkly bits, pop up elements (although I could do that if I wanted to...), glow in the dark stuff, dye cuts, dolls, puzzles, etc. But some are lacking good storytelling, which I feel is very important. Especially as a bedtime story, it needs to have a great story not just fun little sparkly things to play with.

The books that I loved were the ones I remember from my childhood like Dr Seuss, Fairy tales (even the Disney ones are good), Shel Silverstein, Robert Munsch and Roald Dahl. I noticed that the illustrations for Dr Seuss and Shel Silverstein are very simple (lots of white space) but fanciful and fun. I think that's the direction I want to go in (with a little bit of the Gothic fantasy woven into it). I didn't notice any books about the environment, but I'll have to look a bit more to find it...

More research, etc

2008-10-28T15:10:00.000-07:00

So I've finished the story and now I'm working out the illustrations, in pencil for now. Then I'm going to buy some heavy paper and do the final illustrations in ink and paint. First though, I felt like I needed a bit more visual research.

I found some pictures of voles, mushrooms, hawks and great sandhill cranes. I sketched them a bit and created the different scenes in the story. There were a few things missing, like detailed images of specific points in the bog. Since I want kids to actually go to the bog and experience the places in the book, it has to be specific.

So that's what I did today. I went back to the bog and took pictures of the tractor stuck out of the mud and other areas. As I was walking, I realized that instead of placing markers into the bog myself, I could use something that is already there - the benches that line the boardwalk throughout the trails. I'm still thinking it through, but why don't I use the benches as "benchmarks" (hah) for the story. In the map I want to create, I could show the places of all of the benches, colour code them, maybe paint the benches or a part of the benches and have kids stop at each one to observe something or do something.

I feel like my idea for kids to go to the bog and experience it is why my project is unique, but I can't forget to put time into the story and book, or else it will fall flat. That's why, although I'd love to start working on the map and the markers, etc. I feel the need to finish the book and illustrations first. I hope that that's ok at this stage. (The markers are there to support the book. The book isn't there to support the markers.)

Story explanation

2008-10-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

My story is about Leon the vole and Rudge the mushroom. Leon is running from a hawk when we meet him. His home has been turned into a human landfill and he's all alone. He doesn't have a family. He reached Burns Bog and meets Rudge, who is a mushroom living in a small group of mushrooms just under the boardwalk. Rudge wants some adventure and he has knowledge of the bog that Leon doesn't have.

When the hawk attacks, Leon hides in the mushrooms, and Rudge gets uprooted. This gives him the excuse (after the hawk has given up) to go with Leon to the centre of the bog, (ahem) I mean to find the other voles and a new safe place for Leon to live. All of the bog animals are going to the centre of the bog (which is an otherworldly place. It's very unique.) to see the Great Sandhill Crane, who only nests there once a year. When he arrives, he grants one wish. Rudge really wants the ability to go anywhere he wants, so he wants "feet."

Rudge and Leon become friends, so Rudge tells him about the Great Sandhill Crane and Leon thinks he'll ask for a home or a family. What they will both find out is that they don't need wishes to get what they want.

The hawk will appear later on to attack them again. There is an urgency to the story about when the crane will arrive. And farther and farther they go, the more animals will appear to them, some helpful and some not. They will make it to the centre and the Great Sandhill Crane will appear.

With the story, there's the idea of safety and home vs adventure. Kids would understand this. Most children are protected by their parents and live in isolated neighbourhoods, but they appreciate adventure and fun in fantasy stories. I chose to do a story about animals and plants because 1. I want kids to learn more about these two things. 2. They personify humans very well, but they don't have the restrictions that humans do, like conventional lives with families, parents, school etc. I didn't want to write a story about a kid in the bog, all alone, making friends with birds and things because the thought of someone alone and lost in the bog is a bit too terrifying. 3. Different animals and plants have their own personalities that are easily identified.

The characters and story comes from other sources that are swirling in my head. A little bit of Narnia, Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, the Secret Garden, every Disney movie, Watership Down, etc. I don't want to be too cliche, but I know that good stories have similar topics and motifs. The idea of someone without a home, the outcast. The idea of friendship and family. The idea of making your dreams come true and getting the thing you want the most, whatever that is. Learning about survival. Learning about danger and the world around you.

And it all comes down to nature and how the world is full of interesting plants and animals that we need to appreciate and help. Also, that these things aren't far away. They are right in your back yard (Burns Bog is just one example).

First bit of story, unedited

2008-10-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

What is this vole running from?
He seems scared.
Head for the trees buddy!
You'll be safe in Burns Bog, undercover
where it's very easy to get lost
but it's also easy to hide in.

In Burns Bog, the trees are thick
and there is plenty of cover
When you walk on the ground,
it's firm and squishy.
When you jump on it,
it jiggles like jello
but you have to pay close attention to see it.

All of the trees have needles
and get scraggly the farther into the bog you go
Some plants are smelly,
some are vine-like moss hanging from thin tree branches
Some plants you can make tea out of,
by boiling them in water and taking the leaves out.
Some plants you can eat while others are poisonous.

Most of the plants are unique to the bog,
and grow only in secret places.
To find them, you need to look very hard,
under and over things.

But the vole running into the bog doesn't care about plants.
He doesn't plan on making tea.
He's not thinking about food, poisonous or not,
because human beings have stolen his home.
They've built a landfill over it
without even asking him!

"They took my home.
I'm feeling so angry and sad
because I don't know where I will live now.
Where will I cook, sleep and play?
And now I'm also being chased by a hawk.
What else could go wrong?
At least I've reached the trees!
That will cover me and keep the hawk from finding me.

Up ahead, I see a group of mushrooms
that could hide me even better
than running on this wooden boardwalk."

The vole ran and hid in the mushrooms,
disturbing them from their sleep.
"Hey! Don't push us!" They yelled at the scared vole.
"This is our home!"
The vole apologized, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
but he didn't want to go out.
SCREECH
The hawk is close by.

One of the little mushrooms feels pity for the vole.
"It's okay, they're a little grumpy.
You can stay here until the hawk goes away, mouse,"
Said the little mushroom.
"I'm a vole and why are they grumpy?"
Whispered the vole who was calming down.
"They're stuck here just like I am
and they know that it they could just
get into the centre of the bog,
they could meet the Great Sandhill Crane,"
the mushroom said.
"Why would they want to do that?"
The vole asked.
"Don't tell him! Don't tell him" yelled the other mushrooms.
"I can't tell you," said the little mushroom.

SCREECH
The vole and mushrooms shrank into their hole,
because the hawk was closer than before
and obviously searching for the vole.
"My name is Rudge. What's yours, Mouse?"
whispered the mushroom.
"I'm a vole and my name is Leon."
"What's the difference?" asked the mushroom.
"A vole and a mouse are two different species of rodent,"
explained the vole quietly.
"Voles are unique. That's my problem. I can't find any other voles."
"So you're all alone?" The mushroom asked.

SCREECH
"I could't find other voles, so I lived alone.
And now that my home is full of garbage,
there's no going back now.
I want to find a safe place,
hopefully I'll find some more voles... a family,"
Leon whispered.
SCREECH

"Don't move, Leon," The mushroom warned.
"Why?"
"Because the hawk is right behind you!"
The vole froze.
"Run behind us!" the mushroom yelled.
The vole ran and hid in the farthest part of the hole as the hawk attacked.
It's beak landed in the dirt and uprooted the little mushroom.
It pecked around, but couldn't reach the vole
so after a few minutes, it flew away.

The vole came out of its hiding place,
worried about Rudge, the mushroom.
He found the mushroom lying on its side,
its roots in the air, helpless.
"Rudge!"
"Leon! I'm okay."
"I'm sorry I brought the hawk to your home!"
The other mushrooms were silent.
"It's alright. I don't like living here anyway.
I've always wanted to travel
and now I can!
You can take me to the centre of the bog!"
The mushroom said enthusiastically.
"What?" The vole asked confused.
"We can find a home for you with other voles
and I can see the world!" said Rudge.
"How? You're uprooted!" Leon exclaimed.
"Exactly! I'm not stuck to the ground anymore.
I'll just have to stay moist." Rudge explained.
"But it's dangerous!"
"Even in my home, It was dangerous," said Rudge.
Leon thought about it for a moment.
"You're right. Even my home wasn't safe from the human landfill.
Okay, let's go."

-

Carefully, Leon picked up Rudge by his long tail
and started to run along the boardwalk.
"We can't stay on the boardwalk," yelled Rudge as he bounced along.
"This is where the humans walk.
They'll step on us.
Besides, the path doesn't go to the centre of the bog.
We're going to have to go off the path."
"Why the centre?" Leon asked.
"Everyone is going there to meet the Great Sandhill Crane.
He only comes once a year.
The mushroom didn't want to tell you
because they didn't like to share with strangers,
but you're a friend now so I'll tell you.
...
The Great Sandhill Crane grants wishes.
One wish a year, exactly."
"Wow," Leon said.
"I'd wish for a family and a home,
what would you wish for, Rudge?"
"Feet," Rudge said.
"So I could go anywhere I wanted to."

-

The vole and the mushroom travelled for a day
through shrubs and over moss.
They became tired and hungry.
"I'm thirsty, Rudge."
"Me too. Stop. We can get water."
"How?"
"The ground is made of peat, a type of moss that is special.
The moss can hold water like a sponge,
and it filters bad things from it,
so if you grab some peat and squeeze,
fresh water will come out of it," Rudge explained.

Leon squeezed and drank.
"Wow, that's the freshest water I've ever tasted!"
Rudge bobbed its head,
"Have you noticed how fresh the air is?
The bog also filters pollution out of the air."
Leon breathed deeply.
He felt so mush more happier since he came to the bog.
The hawk did him a favour by chasing him here, he thought.

-

After a snack of bog cranberries and bog ---------
the vole and the mushroom noticed that the trees were thinning
There was space to run and jump,
but the vole was nervous
because there were less places to hide,
if the hawk came back.

What I got from the inspiration

2008-10-16T16:04:00.001-07:00

So my inspiration seems a little scattered. If you don't understand where it comes from:

1. Illustration by Arthur Rakham. He was amazing! More specifically, he drew fantasy. Pen, ink and gouache. His scenes are spooky and creepy sometimes. The way that he draws trees, all spindly and curvy is really interesting. The colours he uses are earthy, because his images are of nature. He uses a lot of brown and black. He illustrated an edition of Alice of Wonderland and the animals are very detailed and playful.

2. "Gormenghast" by Mervyn Peake. A fantasy novel about a small kingdom enclosed in a castle where no one leaves the walls of the castle. Each person is born to a role, whether a kitchen boy or the future duke, and they stay in that role no matter what they want. The main character is Steerpike, a kitchen boy who is beaten and wants a better life so he schemes and flatters his way to power. He drives the current duke mad (the duke starts to believe he is an owl) and locks up two noblewomen after taking their power. Anyways, it's a gothic fantasy novel that was made into a Masterpeice theatre movie and has a lot of interesting gothic visuals, such as the wild girl, the castle itself, the room of cats...

3. Ruby Gloom is a kid's cartoon in the gothic style. It takes a housefull of odd characters, like "Poe" the raven, a ghost, a bat, a black cat, etc. and creates kid friendly stories about them. What I like is that it takes something scary and makes it friendly. There's an edge to it. It isn't the teletubbies.

4. Rudyard Kipling was an author and illustrator of "The Jungle Book." The way he drew animals were very decorative. (Black ink, mostly). It was sketchy. It was exotic. His short stories are really creative.

5. Tim Burton has an amazingly distinct style. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" entertains me as much now as it did when I was 7. It's attractive yet dark. It's heart warming but not sickeningly sweet.

6. Edward Gorey was an illustrator who also mixed cute and creepy. His images are bold. I really like the detail he put into his work.

7. "Alice in Wonderland". This story is messed up but it's entertaining. I want to design a story that also follows a journey into the unknown. (And you learn all about the bog at the same time).

What do they all have in common? They are fantasy and use gothic motifs.

I think kids can handle stories that are a little scary.

Why did I choose this aesthetic? I love anything gothic and fantasy, so it makes me more engaged in the project. I like it because it's emotional. It can give me the shivers. Fear is a powerful emotion. I'm not saying I'm going to frighten little kids because I still want them to want to go to the bog. I think a little suspense will make them more interested. I also think a happy ending contrasted with a harrowing story will create a greater impact. So my book is going to have illustrations that show the bog as being mysterious and unusual.

Inspiration

2008-10-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

Bog research

2008-10-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

The photos below of just some of the pictures I took in the bog yesterday. I wanted to collect details of small things, like mushrooms and ferns, and larger pictures of the entire landscape. I noticed a lot of variety in plants. Parts of the bog are just like a forest. Other parts are full of shrubs but no trees. Some parts are full of ferns and plants on the ground and other parts don't see enough sun so the ground is just dirt and pine needles.

The ground is surprisingly squishy when you walk on it. It would be a great terrain for jogging.

In the Delta Nature Reserve, the bog is similar to a forest, not a bog. The centre of the bog is different because large trees don't grow there and the ground is firm but like jelly when you jump. Unfortunately, the centre of the bog is off limits. I went there on a hike about ten years ago but now, it is virtually unaccessable. What was frowned upon is now impossible. I tried yesterday, but couldn't find the trails that used to exist. I think that that sucks because the centre of the bog is a really unusual place that would be exciting for kids to visit if they could.

Bog research

2008-10-11T14:24:00.001-07:00

Concept development

2008-10-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

What if I made a book that included a collection of 'specimens' (found objects) from the bog.

What if I created a book that included a story about the escape of a mouse from prison and a horrible life, to a secluded refuge in the bog (This was actually a dream I had about a year ago).

What if I connected Burns Bog to a hip and cool lifestyle (inspired by Michael's project), music etc. all geared for kids.

What is the bog's unique position? It is a special spot on the planet. It's a home for many animals and plants. It's personality is: mysterious, unusual, full of small natural wonders, freedom, fascinating little systems and activities, magical (it could be...). All I need to do in my project is create clues that will lead kids into thinking the same thing. Why do I think it? Because I learned about survival and about amazing things (like filtration and almost extinct animals) as a child in the bog, when I hiked there with my girl guide group for example.

Actually, when I was about 13 years old, I went for a walk with a friend into the bog. This wasn't unusual. What was unusual was when we got down to the train tracks (we weren't even in the bog at this point, just on the edge), I suddenly spotted something through the trees. There was something moving. It was making the strangest sound, like a monster in pain, high pitched yet quiet. I froze and grabbed my friend's arm. We both crept closer until we saw it - it was a great blue heron.

We just watched it with wide eyes for five minutes. It felt like a magical moment. It flew away and we tried to follow it, but the trees were too dense. So although it was in my imagination, I feel like the bog is a special place. Like it was good luck to see the great blue heron, even though I'm not superstitious.

Some facts about the bog, (taken from http://www.wildernesscommittee.org/campaigns/historic/burns/reports/Vol18No03/burns):

purifies our air, produces oxygen, stores carbon and absorbs excess rainfall (which lessens flooding).

evidence of repeated fires. The most recent fire, which burned about 160 hectares, occurred in 1996.

the largest domed peat bog on the west coast of the Americas - an internationally unique ecosystem.

The Delta Nature Reserve covers 148 acres (less than 2 percent of Burns Bog) and is located in the northeastern corner of the bog. The reserve has boardwalk trails and gives visitors a chance to see some of the unique and wonderful plants and animals of Burns Bog.

the highest point of the dome (5.5 metres above sea level) is just south of the centre of the bog; water flows north and south from there.

the bog contains fish habitat, including an historically significant salmon stream, Cougar Creek.

sphagnum moss is the bog's main plant species and occupies the central portion of the bog; pine woodland occurs just south of the core; the bog is ringed with mixed deciduous and coniferous forest.

other interesting plants in the bog include sundew (a small insect-eating plant), cloudberry (a unique plant species), the rare bog rosemary and crowberry, labrador tea, bog laurel, bog blueberry, huckleberry, pond lily, mushrooms, fungi and lichen, including fragile reindeer lichen that can grow to two feet high.

24 species of mammals are known to use the bog. Bog animals include black bear, black-tailed deer, red fox, beaver, bobcat, coyote and spotted skunk.

20 species of waterfowl, 18 species of raptors, 9 species of gulls, 9 species of shorebirds and 87 species of passerines and other birds are known to use the bog. The greater sandhill crane, found in the bog, is threatened with extirpation from the Lower Mainland. Other vulnerable bird species include the bald eagle, barn owl, great blue heron, gyrfalcon and peregrine falcon.

Burns Bog is home to some rare and beautiful species of insects, including the blue darner dragonfly, mariposa copper butterfly and a rare beetle (Beller's ground beetle).

2,283 hectares (over one-half the bog) is owned by one private company, Delta Fraser Properties.

the City of Vancouver owns 627 hectares for use as a sanitary landfill (garbage dump).

the rest of the bog (about one-quarter) is owned by various public and private interests, including Delta School Board and the Fraser Harbour Commission.

the majority of the bog is zoned for agriculture and peat extraction.

148 hectares (less than 2 percent of the bog) is currently protected, as the Delta Nature Reserve.

Why else am I doing this project?

2008-10-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

I want to learn about education because I'm thinking about becoming a teacher (some time in the far future).
I want to explore book making and writing and book design because I love it.
I want to become better at communicating a message and in-class discussions will help me.

That's a few things I want to learn.

Why did I choose to do this project?

2008-10-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

I'm passionate about sustainability, about preserving human life on Earth and about educating kids because I see how people DON'T CARE. They live as consumers and act selfish and silly (Paris Hilton comes to mind). I believe that human values haven't changed but people are now disconnected from nature due to technology. The environment shouldn't be separate from humanity. So I want to protect life by protecting Burns Bog. It's the most important natural environment in my life/neighbourhood/childhood. To me, it represents the values that are missing in life - fundamental needs like food, water, health, harmony, piece of mind and connection.

Books

2008-10-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

Some forms that my book can take:

Accordian style
Exterernally bound
Box book
Pop up
Foldouts
Weird shapes
Viewfinders
Cards
Transparencies

Include maps and info graphics
illustration

It could include a map of Burns Bog and a wayfinding system so that kids could go into the bog and find these clues that are in the book. It could guide a tour of the bog so that the class will observe, learn, it's local!, available and healthy.

It could be made of unusual materials (from the bog? From the landfill close by?)
like plastic, plants, cardboard, etc.

Next step

2008-10-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

Some of the things I learned from the presentation:

Talk to kids and find out what they really like and value. What I'm worried about is that I'll spend a lot of time with kids and get bogged down in it (because it's time consuming and kids like to do things their way, not mine). Then I'll try to learn something insightful from the time I spent with them, but I won't find anything new. I'm not around kids, but I babysat some, I have a young cousin, and I was one (I think I still am one, actually). So how much time do I need to spend with kids (in a classroom, say)? I am interested in spending some time in a kid's book store. I've never heard of the bookstore mentioned in class, so I'm going to go there this weekend hopefully. It will give me a chance to see kids with books and also what kinds of books are out there. I checked out the kids books at my local library and it had a pitiful selection.

I'm going to make the project fun, not preachy. That was why I wanted to do it in the first place, so I'm glad that I can now, finally start figuring out the entertaining content. I'm going to go into the bog and take pictures today. I've gotta find I way into the centre of the bog... it's really hard to get to and might be blocked off. I'm going to ask someone at the Burns Bog society how far and where can I go in the bog? Inspired by Maggie's project, I'm going to take all the content I find interesting about the bog and make it cool.

I think I'll be successful in this project if I get kids to want to help the environment and save the bog. Also, to treat it respectfully and lessen the impact on it by living sustainable lives.

Next step

2008-10-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't forgotten about my other project ideas. Right now, I'm looking forward to the class' feedback. I want to choose one of my ideas and actually start thinking about the visual language. I don't feel comfortable thinking about the content of an idea until I've picked one. I've gone through each one. I see how there are challenges with each of them and some interest me more than others. I find it hard to storyboard each idea using drawings, even though I used to draw a lot. I'm much more comfortable using words now. Since my ideas are based on storytelling, verbal role playing and decision making, they don't make very interesting drawings so my storyboard for the presentation is mostly step by step written explanation. But I did find it very helpful to clarify my ideas (maybe because I used a big colourful felt pen and a huge sketch book) and I saw a lot of the holes in my ideas. I know that tomorrow, the class will see even more holes which will help me decide the best way of proceeding.

Burns Bog information

2008-10-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

I've got some more information from Manpreet Nigah, who is the education coordinater at the Burns Bog Conservation Society. She told me that they do displays at community events and festivals and that one is happening Oct.21 and 23. I think it would be really interesting to check this out.

Also, she told me that they have "Burns Bog: A comprehensive guide", a teacher's guide to Burns Bog (which is under review she said), and some activity booklets for kids which are based on the animal characters in the bog. I want to look at these and find out how the effective these tools are. Are they interesting? Are they informative? Clear? Organized? Fun?

Why Burns Bog?

2008-10-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is the reason I want to create a kid friendly Burns Bog society. It should be fun and friendly so that kids will want to get involved. Right now, the website (and educational material) are very serious and elegant. It doesn't translate to a young audience.

Problems and changes

2008-10-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

I saw that their are some challenges with these ideas.

With my observation logbook idea, it would make more sense to do this in a classroom instead of in a home, because kids don't focus on these kinds of activities unless they are forced to in school. At home, kids like to watch tv, play on the computer, play barbies, play dress up and be read storybooks. This is what I found while babysitting a 6 (girl) and 8 year old (boy).

So it would need to be in school, probably. I thought the kids could go on fieldtrips (to the bog perhaps) and observe a certain tree or plant throughout a school year. The school would have to be close to a forest or the bog. My elementary school was very close to the bog, but we never went their to learn about nature.

This project would be about understanding and appreciatig nature. It wouldn't actually change people's behaviours, just their attitudes a bit. Hopefully, they would be inspired to grow more things and to love nature. Maybe this would be a good activity to facilitate other environmental learning. Watching things grow is fun...

Validation!

2008-10-07T08:33:00.000-07:00

I went through my top four ideas:
1. Creating a rebranding campaign for the Burns Bog society geared for kids, similar to how David Suzuki has one website for adults and one for kids. The website for kids is very friendly, colourful and animated. I'm thinking I could redesign the logo and create kid friendly educational tools (I could take one of the ideas below and use Burns Bog as a case study).

2. Create a game where a parent would become a storyteller/game master. That adult would read out the story and the child or children would become characters that would make decisions in the story. The book would be nonlinear and might include a board game, as the character moves through the story. The focus of the story would be explaining an environmental system such as the bog. Characters could be a plant or and animal or even an element (What's the role of water in the bog? It gets filtered... it feeds plants and animals... it gets polluted). Kids would start to understand how these tings work and they would have fun playing a role playing game. The story would be different every time.

3. Create a classroom activity book that can be used as a journal to record all of the observations a child has as a plant he/she planted grows. It could be an evergreen tree that they could replant outside or it could be a bean sprout that grows very quickly or it could be something edible that could become part of a meal. Seeds would be included. A recipe would be included if it was an edible plant. Kids could start to understand how things grow. They would feel responsible for the little plant.

4. This is the one project that couldn't be connected to Burns Bog (it stands alone.). Daily habits like turning lights off, using less water, and creating less garbage, are things that people don't feel motivated to change because they don't think about it. If a family had a communal board where each person (adults and children) write down their daily habits, like how many seconds of running the tap do they use in a day, how many pieces of garbage, how many appliances do they use, how many lights do they have on at one time... And then they could swap with someone else in the family and try to improve the amount of electricity, water and garbage that is used. So they would take the challenge of 5 pieces of garbage, 2 appliances, etc. and then they would beat it. It would become a bit of a competition. This could become a global swapping game if it was put onto a website. People could try to use the same amount of energy and water as people from around the world.

Next phase

2008-10-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

I've contacted the Burns Bog society and plan on meeting them some time this week or next week (depending on how I can fit it into my schedule). I noticed on their website that they have research material about Burns Bog that is open to the public so I want to take a look at that and also talk to the education coordinator about their educational programs for elementary school children. She might have some insight into how to teach kids about the environment. I'm hoping she might also have examples of educational material like booklets, books and maybe activities that they do when they take people on nature walks.

Websites that promote sustainability

2008-09-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.sustainablebuildingcentre.com/

http://www.rcbc.bc.ca/

http://www.greenzebraguide.ca/Resources.php (This is a good one! It has links to websites that teach you specific things like recycling and where to shop for organic food)

http://www.burnsbog.org/greenzebra.htm (This is where I originally found these sites.)

The Burns Bog Conservation, in North Delta, is trying to protect the peat bog. The great thing about the peat bog:"

Peat bog store and filter 10% of the world's fresh water.
A typical peat extractor will take up to 22cm of peat per year, however it grows at approximately 1mm per year.
Carbon dioxide emissions from peatland exploitation are estimated to be 3 billion tonnes per year.
A recent United Nations report estimates the preservation and restoration of peat bogs can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 10%."

So saving Burns Bog will actually improve the Earth's atmosphere and water. That's impressive.

Teaching kids about life

2008-09-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

"Family Learning: How to help your children succeed in school by learning at home" by William F. Russell. 1997. First World Learning Systems, Inc., St. Charles, Illinois.

This book talks about all the ways that a parent can help their child learn at home. There is a chapter on character building that I find interesting because, although it doesn't talk about saving the environment and being environmentally informed, it does talk about self improvement and how to encourage 'good' behaviour in children. Since a large part of my problem is about changing behaviours, I thought that this was relevant.

Russell believes that the media gives kids ideas that:
- Happiness comes from owning things
- Get all you can for yourself and get it quickly
- Win at all costs
- Violence is entertaining
- Seek pleasure and avoid boredom

A story he mentions is King Solomon, who had 'everything' (money, power, etc.) and wasn't happy at all. Similar characters I remember: Mr. Rochester in "Jane Eyre," King Midas, etc.

What will bring happiness (says Russell) is beliefs and behaviours that are universal.

Scouts have 12 virtues that they try to instill:
- Trustworthy
- Loyal
- Helpful
- Friendly
- Courteous
- Kind
- Obedient
- Cheerful
- Thrifty
- Brave
- Clean
- Reverent

Heroes can be confused with celebrities these days. But celebrities aren't good heroes. They don't encourage good behaviour. Kids need heroes and they need stories to reinforce virtues.

Stories give something for a child to remember. Heart and mind. Everyone enjoys stories because they are entertaining and teach without seeming to teach. Heroes are people who are extraordinary, because doing the right thing is difficult and therefore, rare.

Monkeys and assumptions

2008-09-16T17:04:00.001-07:00

From 'Tinkertoys', a story about monkeys:

Five monkeys were put into a cage with a platform that had a dangling banana on it.
The first monkey decided to get the banana and hopped up onto the platform to grab the banana. When he did that, all of the other monkeys below got sprayed with cold water.
After that, researchers replaced the banana and the second monkey went onto the platform to grab the banana. The other four monkeys got sprayed with cold water. When the third monkey tried to go onto the platform, the other monkeys attacked it because they didn't want to get sprayed.
So none of the monkeys would go onto the platform to grab the banana dangling there because the other monkeys would attack.

They replaced one of the monkeys with a new monkey. This new monkey saw the banana and tried to go onto the platform to grab it, but the other monkeys attacked it. It didn't know why it was attacked but it realized that if it tried to get onto the platform, it would get attacked so it stopped trying.

They replaced another original monkey with a new one and the same thing happened. But the monkey who didn't know about the cold water joined in and attacked the new monkey when the new monkey tried to go onto the platform to get the banana.

Eventually, they replaced all of the monkeys with ones that had no idea about the cold water. The monkeys didn't know why they attacked any monkey who tried to get onto the platform, but they continued to do it even though the cold water mechanism was turned off. This is a lesson about assumptions. Just because something is done a certain way, doesn't mean there's a good reason behind it.

Tinkertoys: a handbook of creative thinking techniques

2008-09-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

Everyone should read this book if they want to get ideas!!

It talks about a lot of things we talk about in class. Here's what I learned from it:

Prescott Lecky explores self-image psychology. He gets people to see that some "negative concept of his was inconsistent with some deeply held belief." He thinks that people inherently need consistency. There were two things that people generally and strongly believe:
1. Doing one's share, exerting independence.
2. You are equal in ability and talent to the rest of the world and you shouldn't belittle of suffer indignities.

Idea Quota: Think of a set number of ideas each day. It's what Thomas Edison did.

Deliberately change your everyday habits. Do something different. Take a different route to work, eat something different or take a bath instead of a shower.

Halfway through a book, outline what you have read and think about what you will read in the second half. This will help you retain what you're reading. Might not be relevant to the project.

Keep a box of ideas and pull ideas randomly out of it if you get stuck.

Problem definition: I want to entertain children and make them live with the environment in mind. or. I want kids to feel closer to nature, so that they will lead fulfilling lives that doesn't negatively effect the environment.

A solution: They should be outside to enjoy it.
1. Game of tag event
2. Be the predator/prey
3. Camping/guides/scouts
4. Get rid of house, live outside
5. Be homeless
6. Design a playground

or What excites me about BC's wilderness is the mystery, unknown and unusual aspects of it.
8. Create a myth
9. Create a mystery story to be solved
10. Do a scavenger hunt
11. Pop up book
12. A book where you can't predict the outcome
13. An upside down book
14. A book ON trees. Go to a tree in Stanley park, read one chapter and go to the next tree.
15. A book with blanks that need to be filled in (using words on trees in a scevenger hunt or by the kid themselves)
16. A book in a space. An exhibition design
17. A story on clothes
18. A message only revealed in the sun
19. A tattoo that blocks out a tan, so it is only revealed when someone gets a tan.

What I want to happen is for people to:
turn lights off, stop buying consumer goods, no fast food or food "to-go", recycle, bicycle, be active, love the environment, love animals and nature, be kind, grow gardens, pick fruit off trees, love BC's wilderness, explore unknown areas, be wild, be adventurous, love who and what you are and where you are from and where you live, even if those are two different places.
Start your life right, kids. Give this gift to your children.

What's stopping me from doing all of this (and living near a forest, only eating what I grow, simple, clean, relaxation, walking dogs and digging for clams)?
My routine. The city that surrounds me. Transportation. Distance. Lack of space. Lack of time. Lack of energy. Weather. Distraction of technology.

What if I changed my routine to incorporate Nature Time. Time to grow plants, play and watch animals (bird watching, maybe...?), and explore wilderness.

1. Fill in the blank book. Choose a character or personality. A crow for instance.
What do crows do? Fill it in after you've observed a crow.
What do crows look like? Fill it in. Colour, size, sound, texture, smell?
Ok, now describe yourself. What do you do? What do you look like?
Choose a tree. Do this again. Everything BC related.
Benefits: Kids would see similarities in themselves and the world. They will start to pay attention to nature.

2. Roleplaying book (similar to D&D but about BC's environment). Kids would become the character. It's like a video game, but with a message.

3. Online database where people post their daily routine and their energy saving habits and people would swap routines with someone else. They would learn to be more tolerent of change and they might start to implement recycling, saving energy etc into their lives. Kids might have trouble with this one, so it might have to be for adults.

Some (Brilliant) Ideas

2008-09-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

I was brainstorming different approaches I could take with my project (Teaching children about the environment so that they care about it enough to live sustainable and healthy lives, because a huge part of BC's culture comes from the environment. It's what makes BC special and different.)

I thought about using materials from the environment, but that's just one formal aspect of my project and has nothing to do with the concept. Wood. Plants. Flowers.

Ownership: What makes people feel like they own things? What do I own?
My identity, my $$, my freedom, my family and friends, my pets, my stuff, my music, my laptop, my art
Why do I feel like I own it?
I bought it.
I wanted it.
I just had it. It was given to me. or I earned it through actions.

The GIFT of owning your identity. Earned through actions that you did.
- I could organize an activity like planting a tree and I could design a gift to give each child, like a toy, a book, a t-shirt, a plant to take home,
or an art project.
- The child could monitor the growth of a plant. (I did this in kindergarten)

Kindergarten: I learned about the senses. How to read.
My kindergarten teacher wrote in my report card that I easily learned "Sight words" like colours, the Sound/Symbol relationship of writing, the structure of a word and the sequences of numbers to 20.
Since my audience will have a big factor in my project, what if I incorporated the senses - Sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. to my project.
(Or what if I created an instruction manual for kids to learn from?)
Instruction, Colour, Sound, Symbols (Sounds are very important for when it's read aloud to a child!!) (Ex. Dr Seuss) Include a pattern kids can pick up on, like page one has words that start with the letter A, page two is B,...

Ownership - Daily Rituals - Growth of a plant. Journal. Reading at bedtime.
Role Playing. Create your own book of scenarios, like a game of Dungeons and Dragons.

Dungeons and Dragons. How it works:
You have a Dungeon Master (DM) who is the storyteller and the referee. DM describes the setting and potential choices.
You solve dilemmas and engage in battle or gather treasure and knowledge to earn experience points.
Adventure. Campaign.

Required, Character sheets and dice.

Idea 01: What if I designed a kids book that is like a game of dungeons and dragons, but instead of warlocks and monsters, I'll use BC's animals and BC's settings. The scenarios would be BC related and you could try to save the environment or make a journey or something that would give kids the chance to make choices. Kids could choose a character, roll the dice, go through the book with their parents and they could do it again the next night because the story would be changing.
Explanation of characters (BC animals), Explain setting (BC), Choose to go somewhere,... and keep track of score. Add pop up elements or miniature people with personalities and names.

Next, I want to investigate why people don't care very much about the environment and BC.

2008-09-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

From
http://www.currentresults.com/Facing-Extinction/CA-US/canada-animals-gone.php

Extinct animals of BC:

1. Hadley Lake Limnetic Stickleback. BC. Fish. Last seen 1994.
2. Vancouver Island Wolverine. BC. Mammal. 1992
3. Lewis's Woodpecker, Georgia Depression Population. BC. Bird. Mid 1970's.

Animals no longer in Canada but who still exist:

Dawson Caribou. BC.

Some animals have left BC but still live in other parts of Canada:

Greater Sage-grouse. BC.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo. BC

'The distribution of many animals in Canada has shrivelled. Some wildlife species have even vanished entirely from a province or the whole country.

Thirty mammals, birds, reptiles and fish that used to live in Canada no longer do. Biologists suspect that another four species or subspecies of animals which haven't been seen recently may also be gone.

Some of these animals continue to survive in other countries, particularly the United States, and so are considered extirpated from Canada. Many others are globally extinct.

Several of the extinct animals were isolated or endemic to Canada such as Dawson caribou on BC's Queen Charlotte Islands, and Banff longnose dace, a fish which occupied only one marsh. Others, including eastern elk and Atlantic gray whale, were exterminated from their entire range that extended well outside of Canada.

Besides these, at least another 25 species and subspecies of vertebrates: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish are depleted and now considered extirpated from one or more provinces, although they still live elsewhere in Canada. The lack of any recent confirmed local evidence of another ten birds and five mammals suggests that they might also have died out from at least one province in their former range."

from http://www.britishcolumbia.com/wildlife/?id=74

"Wolverine
Gulo gulo

There is probably no other animal that has generated as much legend for its size as the Wolverine. Males can weigh almost 15 kilograms, which is much less than many family dogs, but there are reports of Wolverines taking down deer. Their ferocity when cornered is awesome. Wolverines are not common, and this, along with their secretive habits, may be why they are rarely seen. They live in forested areas, where they capture small mammals and birds.

Wolverines depend heavily in winter on carrion, and their jaws are incredibly strong, and well suited to feeding on frozen animal carcasses. They are well known, too, for their predation on trappers' catches, and cached provisions. The pelt of the Wolverine itself has traditionally had a unique value - it is considered the best fur to trim a parka hood, because it sheds frost without becoming wet.

Wolverines mate in early summer, but implantation of the egg is delayed until winter. After a gestation of about two months, the litter of two to five young is born in spring, usually in a den under rocks or tree roots.

And if you should ever see one, it will be short legged, and dark all over with two buffy stripes running along its sides and joining over its tail. Wolverines are scattered in suitable habitat throughout British Columbia, except the Queen Charlotte Islands. The Vancouver Island race is little known, and sight records are very few."

Another legend - Bigfoot

2008-09-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

I found information about Bigfoot on Wikipedia:

"Bigfoot or Sasquatch is alleged to be an ape-like creature inhabiting remote forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal ape. Believers in its existence contend that such an animal, or close relatives of it, may be found around the world under different regional names, such as the Yeti of Tibet and Nepal, the Yeren of mainland China, the Orang Pendek of Indonesia, and the Yowie of Australia.

Bigfoot is one of the more famous examples of cryptozoology. The scientific community considers the Bigfoot legend to be a combination of folklore, misidentified animals, and hoaxes. Despite its dubious status, Bigfoot has become a popular symbol (see Bigfoot in popular culture).

Bigfoot is described in reports as being an ape between 6–15 feet (1.8–4.6 m) tall weighing in excess of 500 pounds (230 kg) and covered in dark brown or dark reddish hair.^[1]^[2] Alleged witnesses have described large eyes, a pronounced brow ridge, and a large, low-set forehead; the top of the head has been described as rounded and crested, similar to the sagittal crest of the male gorilla. Bigfoot is commonly reported to have a strong, unpleasant smell by those who have claimed to have encountered it.^[3] The enormous footprints for which it is named have been as large as 24 inches (61 cm) long and 8 inches (20 cm) wide.^[1] While most casts have five toes—like all known apes—some casts of alleged Bigfoot tracks have had numbers ranging from two to six.^[4] Some have also contained claw marks, making it likely that a portion came from known animals such as bears, which have four toes and claws.^[5] Proponents have also claimed the creatures to be mainly nocturnal and omnivorous.^[6]

Sightings of Bigfoot are reported mainly in the Pacific Northwest but there are also reports in every other state in the United States and many other regions of the world.^[5]^[7]^[8] Cryptozoologist John Willison Green has postulated that Bigfoot is a worldwide phenomenon.

Before 1958

Bigfoot descends, more or less, from wildmen stories of the indigenous population of the Pacific Northwest. Its origins are difficult to discern as the legends existed prior to a single name for the creature.^[10] The legends differed in their details both regionally and between families in the same community. Similar stories of wildmen are found on every continent except Antarctica.^[10] Ecologist Robert Michael Pyle argues that most cultures have human-like giants in their folk history: "We have this need for some larger-than-life creature."^[11]

Most members of the Lummi would be able to tell a tale about Ts'emekwes, the local version of Bigfoot. The stories were similar to each other in terms of the general descriptions of Ts'emekwes, but details about the creature's diet and activities differed between the stories of different families.^[12]

Some regional versions contained more nefarious creatures. The stiyaha or kwi-kwiyai were a nocturnal race that children were told not to say the names of lest the monsters hear and come to carry off a person—sometimes to be killed.^[13] In 1847, Paul Kane reported stories by the native people about skoocooms: a race of cannibalistic wild men living on the peak of Mount St. Helens.^[5]

Less menacing versions such as the one recorded by Reverend Elkanah Walker exist. In 1840, Walker, a Protestant missionary, recorded stories of giants among the Native Americans living in Spokane, Washington. The Indians claimed that these giants lived on the peaks of nearby mountains and stole salmon from the fishermen's nets.^[14]

Not all of these creatures were viewed as animals. The skoocooms appear to have been regarded as supernatural, rather than natural.^[5]

The local legends were combined together by J. W. Burns in a series of Canadian newspaper articles in the 1920s. Each language had its own name for the local version.^[15] Many names meant something along the lines of "wild man" or "hairy man" although other names described common actions it was said to perform (e.g. eating clams).^[16] Burns coined the term Sasquatch, which is from the Halkomelem sésquac meaning "wild man", and used it in his articles to describe a hypothetical single type of creature reflected in these various stories.^[5]^[16]^[17] Burns's articles popularized both the legend and its new name, making it well known in western Canada before it gained popularity in the United States.^[18]

After 1958

While the idea of Bigfoot had been around for decades (if not centuries) in legend and had been unified by Burns, it was not until the 1950s that Bigfoot truly came to fame. In 1951, Eric Shipton photographed what he described as a Yeti footprint.^[18] The footprint was published shortly thereafter and gained wide attention.

The notoriety of ape-men grew over the decade, culminating in 1958 when large footprints were found in Humboldt County, California by bulldozer operator Gerold Crew. Sets of large tracks appeared multiple times around a road-construction site in Bluff Creek. After not being taken seriously about what he was seeing, Crew brought in his friend, Bob Titmus, to cast the prints in plaster. The story was published in the Humboldt Times along with a photo of Crew holding one of the casts.^[5] The article's author, Andrew Genzoli, titled the piece "Bigfoot", after the 16 inches (41 cm) footprints.^[19] Sasquatch received a new name and gained international attention when the story was picked up by the Associated Press.^[5]^[20] Ray Wallace, who was at the site at the time the footprints appeared, was later attributed with making the name-sake footprints by his family shortly after his death.^[2]

The year 1958 was a watershed not just for the Bigfoot story itself but also for the culture that surrounds it. The first Bigfoot hunters began following the discovery of footprints at Bluff Creek. Tom Slick, who had previously funded searches for Yeti in the Himalayas earlier in the decade, organized searches for Bigfoot in the area around Bluff Creek.^[21]

Proposed explanations for Bigfoot sightings

Various types of creatures have been suggested to explain both the sightings and what type of creature Bigfoot would be if it existed. The scientific community attributes non-hoaxed sightings to misidentification of known animals and their tracks. While cryptozoologists explain Bigfoot with an unknown ape, some believers in Bigfoot attribute the phenomenon to even less mundane sources such as UFOs or other paranormal sources.^[22] A minority of proponents of a natural explanation have attributed Bigfoot to animals that are not apes such as the giant ground sloth.^[23]

Bears

When standing on their hind legs, bears are roughly the same size as Bigfoot is supposed to be. Along with their prevalence in regions said to also be inhabited by Bigfoot, they are a likely candidate to explain some sightings.^[24] Similarly, a tale presented in Theodore Roosevelt's 1900 book Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches about two hunters encountering a violent bear, is sometimes used by Bigfoot proponents as historical evidence of the creature's existence. ^[25]

Gigantopithecus

Bigfoot proponents Grover Krantz and Geoffrey Bourne believe that Bigfoot might be a Gigantopithecus. Bourne points out that most Gigantopithecus fossils were found in China and that many species of animals migrated across the Bering land bridge, arguing that it is not unreasonable to assume that Gigantopithecus might have as well.^[26]

The Gigantopithecus hypothesis is generally considered entirely speculative. As the only known fossils are of its mandible and teeth, there is some uncertainty about Gigantopithecus's locomotion. Krantz has argued, based on his extrapolation of the shape of its mandible, that Gigantopithecus blacki could have been bipedal. However, the relevant part of mandible is not present in any fossils.^[27] The mainstream view is that Gigantopithecus was quadrupedal, and it has been argued that Gigantopithecus's enormous mass would have made it difficult for it to adopt a bipedal gait.

Matt Cartmill presents another problem with the Gigantopithecus hypothesis: "The trouble with this account is that Gigantopithecus was not a hominin and maybe not even a crown-group hominoid; yet the physical evidence implies that Bigfoot is an upright biped with buttocks and a long, stout, permanently adducted hallux. These are hominin autapomorphies, not found in other mammals or other bipeds. It seems unlikely that Gigantopithecus would have evolved these uniquely hominin traits in parallel."^[28]

Bernard G. Campbellin wrote: "That Gigantopithecus is in fact extinct has been questioned by those who believe it survives as the Yeti of the Himalayas and the Sasquatch of the north-west American coast. But the evidence for these creatures is not convincing."^[29]

Extinct hominans

A species of Paranthropus, such as Paranthropus robustus, with its crested skull and bipedal gait, was suggested by primatologist John Napier and anthropologist Gordon Strasenburg as a possible candidate for Bigfoot's identity.^[30]

Some Bigfoot proponents suggest Neanderthal or Homo erectus to be the creature, but remains of either species are not found on the North American continent.^[31]

Hoaxes

Many proponents of Bigfoot admit that many of sightings are hoaxes or misidentified animals. Loren Coleman, a cryptozoologist, and Diane Stocking, a Florida Bigfooter, have estimated that as many as 70 to 80 percent of sightings are not real.^[4]

Bigfoot sightings or footprints are often demonstrably hoaxes. Author Jerome Clark argues that the "Jacko" affair, involving an 1884 newspaper report of an apelike creature captured in British Columbia was a hoax. Citing research by John Green, who found that several contemporary British Columbia newspapers regarded the alleged capture as very dubious, Clark notes that the New Westminster, British Columbia Mainland Guardian wrote, "Absurdity is written on the face of it."^[32]

On July 14, 2005, Tom Biscardi,, a long-time Bigfoot enthusiast and CEO of Searching for Bigfoot Inc., appeared on the Coast to Coast AM radio show and announced that he was "98% sure that his group will be able to capture a Bigfoot which they have been tracking in the Happy Camp, California area."^[33] A month later, Biscardi announced on the same radio show that he had access to a captured Bigfoot and was arranging a pay-per-view event for people to see it. Biscardi appeared on Coast to Coast AM again a few days later to announce that there was no captive Bigfoot. Biscardi blamed an unnamed woman for misleading him, and the show's audience for being so gullible.^{[citation needed]}

On July 9, 2008, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton posted a video to YouTube claiming that they had discovered the body of a deceased Sasquatch in a forest in northern Georgia. Tom Biscardi was contacted to investigate. Dyer and Whitton recieved $50,000 from Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., as a good faith gesture.^[34] The story of the men's claims was covered by many major news networks, including BBC [1], CNN [2], ABC News [3], and FOX News [4]. Soon after a press conference, the alleged Bigfoot body arrived in a block of ice in a freezer, estimated to weigh about 1500 pounds, with the Searching for Bigfoot team. When the contents were thawed, it was discovered that the hair was not real, the head was hollow, and the feet were rubber.^[35]

View among the scientific community

Scientists and academics overwhelmingly "discount the existence of Bigfoot because the evidence supporting belief in the survival of a prehistoric, bipedal, apelike creature of such dimensions is scant."^[2] In addition to the lack of evidence, they cite the fact that Bigfoot is alleged to live in regions unusual for a large, nonhuman primate, i.e., temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere; all recognized nonhuman apes are found in the tropics of Africa and Asia. Great apes are not found in the fossil record in the Americas, and no Bigfoot remains have ever been found. Indeed, scientists insist that the breeding population of such an animal would be so large that it would account for many more purported sightings than currently occur, making the existence of such an animal an almost certain impossibility.

Most scientists do not give the subject of Bigfoot's existence serious attention, given the history of dubious claims and outright hoaxes. Napier wrote that the mainstream scientific community's indifference stems primarily from "insufficient evidence ... it is hardly surprising that scientists prefer to investigate the probable rather than beat their heads against the wall of the faintly possible."^[36] Anthropologist David Daegling echoed this idea, citing a "remarkably limited amount of Sasquatch data that are amenable to scientific scrutiny."^[37] He advises that mainstream skeptics take a proactive position "to offer an alternative explanation. We have to explain why we see Bigfoot when there is no such animal."^[38]

In a 1996 USA Today article titled "Bigfoot Merely Amuses Most Scientists", Washington State zoologist John Crane is quoted as saying: "There is no such thing as Bigfoot. No data other than material that's clearly been fabricated has ever been presented."^[39]

George Schaller is one of a few prominent scientists^[39] who argue that Bigfoot reports are worthy of serious study. A 2003 Los Angeles Times story described Schaller as a "Bigfoot skeptic," but he also expressed his disapproval towards other scientists who do not examine evidence, yet "write [Bigfoot] off as a hoax or myth. I don't think that's fair."^[40] In a 2003 Denver Post article Schaller said that he is troubled that no Bigfoot remains have ever been uncovered, and no feces samples have been found to allow DNA testing. Schaller notes: "There have been so many sightings over the years, even if you throw out 95 percent of them, there ought to be some explanation for the rest. I think a hard-eyed look is absolutely essential."^[41] Napier argues that some "soft evidence" (i.e., eyewitness accounts, footprints, hair and droppings) is compelling enough that he advises against "dismissing its reality out of hand."^[42] Other scientists who have expressed guarded interest in Sasquatch reports include Russell Mittermeier, Daris Swindler, and Esteban Sarmiento.^[43]

Although most scientists find current evidence of Bigfoot unpersuasive, a handful of prominent experts have offered sympathetic opinions on the subject. In a 2002 interview on National Public Radio, Jane Goodall first publicly expressed her views on Bigfoot, by remarking, "Well now, you'll be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist... I've talked to so many Native Americans who all describe the same sounds, two who have seen them. I've probably got about, oh, thirty books that have come from different parts of the world, from China from, from all over the place...."^[44]

Anthropologist Carleton S. Coon's posthumously published essay Why the Sasquatch Must Exist states, "Even before I read John Green's book Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us, first published in 1978, I accepted Sasquatch's existence."^[45] Coon examines the question from several angles, stating that he is confident only in ruling out a relict Neanderthal population as a viable candidate for Sasquatch reports.

In 2004, Henry Gee, editor of the prestigious magazine Nature, argued that creatures like Bigfoot deserved further study, writing, "The discovery that Homo floresiensis survived until so very recently, in geological terms, makes it more likely that stories of other mythical, human-like creatures such as Yetis are founded on grains of truth ... Now, cryptozoology, the study of such fabulous creatures, can come in from the cold."^[46]

Prominent reported sightings

There have been many hundreds of alleged Bigfoot sightings. These are some of the most notable ones:

1924: Fred Beck claimed in an 1967 book that he and four other miners were attacked one night in July 1924, by several "apemen" throwing rocks at their cabin in an area later called Ape Canyon.^[47] The men went outside and shot at what Beck described as "mountain gorillas". The next morning, large footprints were claimed to be found around the cabin.^[5] Speleologist William Halliday argued in 1983 that the story arose from an incident in which hikers from a nearby camp had thrown rocks into the canyon.^[48] There are also local rumors that pranksters harassed the men and planned faked footprints.^[5]
1941: Jeannie Chapman and her children claimed to have escaped their home when a large Sasquatch, allegedly 7½ feet tall, approached their residence in Ruby Creek, British Columbia.^[49]
1958: Bulldozer operator Jerry Crew took to a newspaper office a cast of one of the enormous footprints he and other workers had been seeing at an isolated work site at Bluff Creek, California. The crew was overseen by Wilbur L. Wallace, brother of Raymond L. Wallace. After Ray Wallace's death, his children came forward with a pair of 16-inch (41 cm) wooden feet, which they claimed their father had used to fake the Bigfoot tracks in 1958.^[2]^[5] Wallace is poorly regarded by many Bigfoot proponents. Napier wrote, "I do not feel impressed with Mr. Wallace's story" regarding having over 15,000 feet of film showing Bigfoot.^[50]
1967: Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin reported that on October 20 they had captured a purported Sasquatch on film at Bluff Creek, California. This came to be known as the Patterson-Gimlin film, which is purported to be the best evidence of Bigfoot by many advocates. Many years later, Bob Heironimus, an acquaintance of Patterson's, claimed that he had worn an ape costume for the making of the film.^[51] Organizations such as Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization have suggested that that Heironimus himself is a fraud.^{[citation needed]}
2007: On September 16, 2007, in the Allegheny National Forest near the town of Ridgway, Pennsylvania, hunter Rick Jacobs captured an image of an animal using an automatically triggered camera attached to a tree which some claimed was Bigfoot.^[24]^[52]^[53] A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Game Commission challenged the Bigfoot explanation, saying that it looked like "a bear with a severe case of mange.""

More about Ogo Pogo

2008-09-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia, I found out that the name comes from a 1920's comic song.

I'm looking for the Ogopogo,

His mother was a mutton (or sometimes earwig),

His father was a whale. (or sometimes Snail)

I'm going to put a little bit of salt on his tail.

Story of the Ogo Pogo

2008-09-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

This story is from http://www.tourcanada.com/ogopogo.htm:

"Canada's most famous water monster is Ogopogo of Lake Okanagan in the south central interior of British Columbia. Although Indian legends support a monster living in Okanagan Lake long before white men arrived in this country, Ogopogo is very much a present day phenomenon. Each year, sightings are reported of a creature some 20 to 50 feet long, with a horse shaped head and an undulating serpent like body! Okanagan Lake is about 80 miles long extending from Vernon at the north end to Penticton in the south with the fast growing city of Kelowna in the center. Sightings have been reported throughout the length of the lake but the monster appears to favour an area just south of Kelowna in waters near Peachland.

The first recorded sighting by a caucasion was by Mrs. John Allison in 1872 and such instances have continued to this day with many credible, rational and sober people becoming absolute believers. Indian folklore specifically places the lair of the lake monster which they called N'ha-a-itk, or lake demon, at a cave under Squally Point near Rattlesnake Island which is offshore from Peachland. The Indians would never paddle a canoe near this area without an offering because too often a storm would spring up and N'ha-a-itk would rise out of the waters to claim another life! When white settlers first came to this area in the mid 1800s, they were not superstitious but gradually changed their views with ongoing sightings of the monster. An early instance tells of two horses swimming behind a boat that were mysteriously pulled beneath the waves and the owner barely saving himself by cutting the rope attached to the horses! Today's sightings, often from modern power boats, indicate a much friendlier monster but still very large in size. It has been filmed a number of times but other than people agreeing there was something in the water, no absolute conclusions have been made. It is usually reported as dark blue, black or brown with a lighter underside. It can move with astounding speed but many sightings in calm weather have been made of the creature apparently feeding on either fish or aquatic weeds. People very close, between 50 and 100 feet, report seeing fins or feet on the animal.

A figment of the imagination you say? Not according to several authors who have investigated dozens of sightings over the years and interviewed many, many people. For more information, try the book "Ogopogo" by Arlene Gaal or "The Okanagan Mystery" by Mary Moon."

Some laws

2008-09-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

Girl Guides of Canada is a great organization for spreading a love of nature and knowledge about the wilderness.

Guiding laws from http://www.bc-girlguides.org/welcometoguiding/aboutguiding.html

The Guiding Law challenges me to:
- be honest and trustworthy
- use my resources wisely
- respect myself and others
- recognize and use my talents and abilities
- protect our common environment
- live with courage and strength
- share in the sisterhood of Guiding.

What does the environment in BC mean to British Columbians??

2008-09-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

I am going to make a survey and talk to people about what the landscape of BC means to people who live here.
How do they interact with BC's wilderness and wildlife?
What activities do they do?
What do they do to lessen the negative impact they have on the environment?
How would they describe BC and its nature?

My own keywords:
mysterious
private
unknown
dangerous
but...
refreshing
invigorating
healthy
active
beautiful
changing
surprising
curious
fun

A project that incorporates these words could be a massive outdoor Capture-the-Flag-to-Save-the-Environment event for kids and their parents (perhaps). I think if I make it fun, people will be more inclined to appreciate the message. Also, being outside and experiencing nature will make people more aware of the importance of it.

BC's personalities

2008-09-09T13:43:00.000-07:00

I'm going to figure out what BC's personality is. One way of doing this is finding famous British Columbians and learning how people perceive them.

1. David Suzuki. I chose him because I've already researched his cause. He has a link to my main idea of saving the environment in BC because it is crucial to BC's identity (there's lots of reasons to save the environment. That is one of them.).
He comes across as:
slightly westcoast hippy
socially responsible
intellectual and educated
practical
Friendly, kind, compassionate

He has traits that seem 'Canadian': friendly, kind, polite, responsible.

With a little research...

2008-09-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that British Columbians love the environment; Most of us ski, snowboard, hike or do some activity out in the wilderness. Personally, I like going for walks in Burns Bog (in Delta) and its nature reserve. BC's forests feel mysterious and private. I'm afraid that the next generation won't be able to enjoy BC's nature because: People are used to spending most of their time indoors in front of TVs or computers. BC's resources are being threatened and changing (animals are moving farther away to escape expanding city boundaries, plants and rivers are being effected by pollution, etc. I want to do more research on specific changes.)

I explored David Suzuki's website (which is really well designed. It's accessible, easy to navigate, simple and attractive) (http://www.davidsuzuki.org)

Kid's website, a link from his main website. Graphics become cartoons. Very friendly.
Text becomes easier to read. Simple.

As a PDF, I downloaded this brochure that has practical tips on saving energy and resources.

He even uses Design to promote his message by letting anyone download some posters. He wants people to live with these things, as a reminder.

And he has teaching tools. There are lots of activities that students can do to learn about saving energy. It's fun to learn tricks like this one: it's a tool for finding drafts so that they can cover it up, heat the house more efficiently and save money and resources.

rachel's grad project 08

Me in Asia

Jan.9,2009--Reseach and proposal

Grad Project 09 research

Bound

Spreads

Dec.6

Map

Spreads

Type I

cover concept

new inspiration explanation

New Inspiration

Today's illustration

watercolour sketches

Sketches

Sketches

My story

What I've done lately so far

Bog map

Kids books

More research, etc

Story explanation

First bit of story, unedited

What I got from the inspiration

Inspiration

Bog research

Bog research

Concept development

Why else am I doing this project?

Why did I choose to do this project?

Books

Next step

Next step

Burns Bog information

Why Burns Bog?

Other Problems and Changes

Problems and changes

Validation!

Next phase

Websites that promote sustainability

Teaching kids about life

Monkeys and assumptions

Tinkertoys: a handbook of creative thinking techniques

Some (Brilliant) Ideas

Another legend - Bigfoot

Before 1958

After 1958

Proposed explanations for Bigfoot sightings

Bears

Gigantopithecus

Extinct hominans

Hoaxes

View among the scientific community

Prominent reported sightings

More about Ogo Pogo

Story of the Ogo Pogo

Some laws

What does the environment in BC mean to British Columbians??

BC's personalities

With a little research...