Time to hit the Texts!!

I'm sorry for missing out on the Baybrook trip over the past weekend; unfortunately, I had to work after requesting the day off. However, I plan on taking a journey to this mysterious place this Friday and get a feel for the community. I did view some pictures of the area to make it seem like i experienced a virtual Baybrook. 

 
With regards to my documentation project i chose to research the history and effect of Guano Industry within the Baybrook area (mostly Curtis Bay). I have been supplied with one company by Prof. King and that is the Standard Guano Co. in Curtis Bay, MD. When looking up this company on online databases I was led to what looks like an list of all or many of the fertilizer companies within America (The American Fertilizer Handbook). I did find many within the Baltimore area and of course a company name in Curtis Bay (The United States Guano Co.). Although I have these names i have yet to determine if they are still open or the history behind them. It seems. In addition it seems as though these companies produce guano as a fertilizer for plant growth. Its main three essential nutrients are nitrogen, phosphate and potassium.

On another note, I really enjoyed reading the Oral Histories especially those pertaining to Baybrook history. Milton Breager described the Curtis Bay Athletic Club as being a sports-based organization that competitively challenged other clubs inside Maryland and encouraged youth leagues for children. Yet now since some of the first sponsors of club club have moved on, the club has converted into more of a social organization or a space used for community parties or festivities. The CBAC even accepts memberships from individuals who live outside Curtis Bay to help earn a revenue for the club. The club like the majority of Baybrook has lost its sentimental value and the older generation has nothing meaningful from their history with this place to embrace anymore.

Also Linda Shopes gave us a great presentation on the ethics of conducting an oral history interview. I learned several factors from her reading that would help a student willing to participate in these interviews. First, having a intended theme or topic in mind throughout the interview is beneficial to prevent more of a chronological type of timeline; however, chronology can be relevant if the information can lead you to a touchy subject or one that relates toward your topic. For example, in the reading Shopes's interviewees were failing to place their stories in a social context that was specific to her study. Secondly, the interviewers need historical background information of the place and an analytical framework to pursue their themes. Lastly, oral historians must appreciate the value of each member of the community in which they are studying. Unlike professional historians who tend to fail to give the street interviews the sensitive interpretation they demand and upon do not appreciate the interviews due to their

Nothing Better than a Collaboration

I am really looking forward to our meetings with the IRC students to develop an ideal logo for our Baybrook projects and also what imprint will be placed on the t-shirt's. During our meeting last tuesday i was surprised to see such a variety of specialities among the IRC students. We will be working with students whom are knowledgeable in film, photography, graphic design, and many other art forms. In addition, these students will have a strong connection to the Benjamin Franklin High School art students located in the Baybrook area, which will allow them and eventually us to acquire some ideas as to what the youth would like to be accomplished. I am a huge fan or murals and especially the ones that have a deeper meaning and rich history behind them. For example, since Baybrook is such a highly polluted place, we can create an image representing some sort of wildlife or green that overpowers this industrial plague and depicts life for the future. I'm just going of on a tangent but I do love art. Even at the fundraiser we could have the Benjamin Franklin art students showcasing their work that could potentially represent present day Baybrook or its rich past. 

http://blog.globalstreetart.com/post/31453108183/this-is-called-pollution-by-brazils-gifted

A solid and confident set of students and leaders with a mindset for success can revitalize the BayBrook community!!!

Similarly to the "Baltimore 68'" project, the history of the Baybrook area should be incorporated into high school curriculum in Baltimore. Including the pre and post World War II movements with the establishment of shipbuilding then later ship-breaking; also with the socio-economic issues added. I found the "Constructing Public History in Classroom: The 1968 Riots as a Case Study" article by Elizabeth Nix very intriguing and easily comparable to what our efforts are within the Baybrook community. Documentation will be hard to come by with a lack of secondary sources; however, with access to historical archives and oral histories we will be able to accomplish our goals. Even though many scholars believe environmental justice is a controversial topic to be placed within an educational system, the article by Elizabeth Nix made me a believer. The way to find what really happened at certain times is to retrieve stories from those who were there to witness the events. Like in the article the students talked to clergy men, young mothers, business owners, rent collectors, and public interest lawyers in order to develop a clear understanding of the events during the 1968 Baltimore Riots. Our AMST 422 class must use similar techniques in choosing whom to gather information from and how to track those whom only leave behind trace information. 

My Research Topic

http://www.economist.com/node/18929190

Since i've been in the restaurant business for a while and have acquired a solid amount of knowledge about nutrition and wellness, I envision myself researching Baybrook's food desert. This term was unclear to me before taking this class and I am shocked to hear that this area lacks the presence of a grocery store with fresh produce. I live a substantially healthy lifestyle and believe that fitness and proper nutrition are the key aspects to disease prevention and living a longer or better quality life. I understand that the Filbert Street Garden produces fresh goods; however, this area is still in need of a larger and stable source of nutrition. In addition, the places that do sell food would most likely be using processed foods or those that are genetically modified for longer shelf life, which can lead to more diseases that are not caused by the surrounding pollution in the air. In conclusion, i would like to document how Baybrook came to become a food desert and the disappearance of food establishments that provided the community members with proper nutrition. 

Rather than focusing on the construction of the new Energy Answers incinerator, the state and city should center its attention towards the area's food desert issue. With the creation and collaboration of food desert activists these problems could be contested and eventually solved for future generations. Using certain methods such as bottom-up organization or the inside-outside game from the "What Winning Looks Like" article should aid in the the strike against the city's failure to develop grocery stores for fresh produce. In the end the stores would create jobs and an overall better quality of life for the community. 

Mission Fulfillment

As we approach our primary goal of creating a successful community fundraiser for all parties involved, we will collectively use our learned strategies to generate a profit for aiding in the development of the Baybrook community and the Filbert Street Garden. However, the generated profit alone will not measure our success because as social entrepreneurs our success cannot be measured growth. Rather our progress will be assessed in the long run by means of "social, financial, and managerial outcomes" (Dees, "The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship"). 

After reading the article "The Church at the End of the Road: First Baptist Church Of Fairfield Ponders Giving Up The Ghost, But Not The Spirit" by Chris Landers, I realized how important preserving this place is for its past community residents. If nothing is done there will not be any reason as to why past residents would want to visit their hometown. The warm sense of "home" will be forever lost and it wouldn't be long before industry casts a dark shadow over its future. 

As a student i would like to learn how to preserve the history of the area and help develop the necessary skills for innovating Baybrook's future. I will contribute my knowledge of restaurant management or services, nutrition, and physical labor to help our mission succeed. 

Our AMST 422 Mission Statement

"Preserving Places, Making Spaces in Baltimore" encourages students to identify the social problems that affect the community members of the Baybrook (Brooklyn & Curtis Bay neighborhoods) area in southern Baltimore, in order to promote environmental justice and use entrepreneurial techniques to form a social event with the intentions of cherishing past memories and praising future innovations. Throughout this experience our fellow UMBC students will develop an understanding of the diverse culture and the written or spoken histories that cultivated the neighborhoods of the Baybrook community while striving to find a Filbert Street Garden manager.

The Filbert Street Garden is not just a garden but an educational system!
http://filbertstreetgarden.blogspot.com/