They Say I Say-Response #1

Madi Rink

Period 1

3/6/2017

They Say I Say- Response One Pager

It’s a saturday night, and no plans have been made yet. The question on everyone’s mind is what is their to do around Cedar Rapids that isn’t completely boring? The majority of teenagers who live in Cedar Rapids would answer that with a blunt “nothing.” Typically they feel that Cedar Rapids is a town with nothing to offer besides the ever obvious smells and local Pancheros. However, there are at least a few Cedar Rapids’ residents who would disagree with these teenager’s close-minded thinking. These people would say that their are plenty of activities offered by the City of Five Smells.

Not only is there just a few things to do around Cedar Rapids, there is over 50! According to the ‘GO Cedar Rapids’ organization, Cedar Rapids holds a plethora of activities and experiences throughout the year. Their list includes anything from buying delectable food at Newbo City Market, to “[walking] through the grounds and gardens at Brucemore. Not only does it provide different seasonal events, like watching one of our many local sports teams play, but it gives a list of varying restaurants that are worth trying out! Along with that, ‘Go Cedar Rapids’ lists year-round activities, such as ice skating at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, or “[touring] the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library’s Faces of Freedom exhibit.” There are plenty of things to do in Cedar Rapids, and this list is just a start.

As a teenager who lives in Cedar Rapids myself, I can verify that some of those listed items are indeed fun. However, there are some that really aren’t, especially for someone my age. Yes, watching “fireworks at Freedom Festival on 4th of July” is fun, or going to a Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball game is a good time, but “[enjoying] a Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre performance” or “[learning] about maple syruping at Indian Creek Nature Center” isn’t exactly  my cup of tea. I suppose that is the beauty of this list; it is tailored to everyone. Though you may not enjoy some of it activities it suggests, there are plenty of other items listed to choose from!

‘GO Cedar Rapids’ are not the only individuals who feel that Cedar Rapids has plenty to offer! Only occasionally do I find myself bored out of my mind, and when I do it doesn’t take me very long to come up with some impromptu plans that are actually loads of fun. Now don’t get me wrong, there were a few items on their ‘50 things to do in Cedar Rapids’ list that I didn’t particularly feel are that fun, especially to a 17-year old yearning for adventure. On the other side of things, the list offers some new ideas I hadn’t thought of before, which is exactly what I was looking for. From star-gazing at an observatory to eating at one of the oldest restaurants in Iowa, these 50 activities are some I’ve never thought about, and would consider trying.

This list is perfect for conjuring up plans around Cedar Rapids, for an assortment of all ages. It caters to everyone’s taste. Whether you’re a sports fan or have a love for arts, there is an array of experiences for all Cedar Rapids residents. As ‘GO Cedar Rapids’ has demonstrated, Cedar Rapids is not the boring city some believe it to be. It provides various amenities for everyone to enjoy. So, to the bored teenager sitting at home on a Saturday night, complaining about the lack of fun in Cedar Rapids, there is so much it offers, just go out and search!

Works Cited

“50 Things to Do: Take the GO Cedar Rapids Challenge!” GO Cedar Rapids. Web. 6 March 2017.

Week 6: Finding a Mentor

As someone who frequently reads through food and travel blogs, I thought the best mentor for Destiny and I would be someone from those blogs. We emailed Kristin from "Iowa Girl Eats," (an Iowan blog about healthy recipes, travel, and lifestyle) to see if she had any suggestions for places to travel in Iowa, as well as if she had any tips for us when we do our blog about travelling. This will hopefully give me more personal tips than what an article may do. However, we are still waiting to hear a response back. As for "field experience," we have begun to go out and actually travel around Cedar Rapids to the places on our list. As we make our way around town and all across Iowa, we hope to gather recommendations from "experts" (possibly locals) on other places we can add to our list. The progress we have made so far has made me very excited to see where the rest of the project will take us.

Week 4 Blog Post

Madi Rink

Period 1

3/6/2017

20 Time One Pager

    It’s a saturday night, and no plans have been made yet. The question on everyone’s mind is what is their to do around Cedar Rapids that isn’t completely boring? The majority of teenagers who live in Cedar Rapids would answer that with a blunt “nothing.” Typically they feel that Cedar Rapids is a town with nothing to offer besides the ever obvious smells and local Pancheros. However, there are at least a few Cedar Rapids’ residents who would disagree with these teenager’s close-minded thinking. These people would say that their are plenty of activities offered by the City of Five Smells.

    Not only is there just a few things to do around Cedar Rapids, there is over 50! According to the ‘GO Cedar Rapids’ organization, Cedar Rapids holds a plethora of activities and experiences throughout the year. Their list includes anything from buying delectable food at Newbo City Market, to “[walking] through the grounds and gardens at Brucemore. Not only does it provide different seasonal events, like watching one of our many local sports teams play, but it gives a list of varying restaurants that are worth trying out! Along with that, ‘Go Cedar Rapids’ lists year-round activities, such as ice skating at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, or “[touring] the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library’s Faces of Freedom exhibit.” There are plenty of things to do in Cedar Rapids, and this list is just a start.

    As a teenager who lives in Cedar Rapids myself, I can verify that some of those listed items are indeed fun. However, there are some that really aren’t, especially for someone my age. Yes, watching “fireworks at Freedom Festival on 4th of July” is fun, or going to a Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball game is a good time, but “[enjoying] a Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre performance” or “[learning] about maple syruping at Indian Creek Nature Center” isn’t exactly  my cup of tea. I suppose that is the beauty of this list; it is tailored to everyone. Though you may not enjoy some of it activities it suggests, there are plenty of other items listed to choose from!

    ‘GO Cedar Rapids’ are not the only individuals who feel that Cedar Rapids has plenty to offer! Only occasionally do I find myself bored out of my mind, and when I do it doesn’t take me very long to come up with some impromptu plans that are actually loads of fun. Now don’t get me wrong, there were a few items on their ‘50 things to do in Cedar Rapids’ list that I didn’t particularly feel are that fun, especially to a 17-year old yearning for adventure. On the other side of things, the list offers some new ideas I hadn’t thought of before, which is exactly what I was looking for. From star-gazing at an observatory to eating at one of the oldest restaurants in Iowa, these 50 activities are some I’ve never thought about, and would consider trying.

    This list is perfect for conjuring up plans around Cedar Rapids, for an assortment of all ages. It caters to everyone’s taste. Whether you’re a sports fan or have a love for arts, there is an array of experiences for all Cedar Rapids residents. As ‘GO Cedar Rapids’ has demonstrated, Cedar Rapids is not the boring city some believe it to be. It provides various amenities for everyone to enjoy. So, to the bored teenager sitting at home on a Saturday night, complaining about the lack of fun in Cedar Rapids, there is so much it offers, just go out and search!

Week 3 Blog Post

I'd say so far that my partner and I have made a lot of progress, and that we are meeting the timeline that we created for the implementation guide. What we have done so far is create a specified list of places that we would be interested in going to because they offered something unique or new. I'm hoping that by next week we will have decided exactly where we want to go and that we begin to make plans for each trip.


Of course we have run into some problems. First and foremost, we are unsure if we really should include all of Iowa or just major cities, or even just Cedar Rapids. By including all of Iowa we broaden our options, but we would also be taking three hours or more trips, which might defeat the purpose of finding something fun for people to do on a whim. However, by just doing select cities, or even just Cedar Rapids, we may miss some places or activities that are quite interesting. Our second problem is knowing how much is enough. We want to have visited enough places that our vlog has a variety of places that piques everyone's interests, but with that we also have to think about time. We only have a certain amount of time to visit these places, and we only have a limited amount of time that we can present these places as well. It's going to take careful consideration when deciding how far we are willing to travel for these places, and how many of these places we actually plan on visiting.

Week 2 Blog Post

20 Time Project- Research Questions
1. What are interesting or unique places to eat in Iowa? What makes these places desirable?
2. What activities are there in Iowa that are teen friendly (don't include an age restriction of 21+ or 18+)?
3. What types of nature areas in Iowa offer beautiful views and lots of adventure? What other ac

Checking in

Madi:

This sounds like it would be such a fun project. Here are some ideas, suggestions:
- Could this be things to do that are free?
- Could you interview people who know about secret spots?
- Who could be good mentors for you who know about really cool places and things to do?

I have a book in my classroom about hikes in Iowa you could borrow if you are interested. Also, maybe check out Little Village!

Week 1 Blog Post

Our proposal for our twenty time project is that we are going to research places in Iowa that worth visiting, in order to create awareness for others about the special characteristics and  locations the great state of Iowa bestows. Our final product will be a travel vlog of sorts that documents where we went. Some helpful feedback that we received is that we need to have a more focused list of places or activities that we will be looking at, or that we at least need to narrow down to a few types of places we are researching.
My process is to search "Things to do in Iowa" or other variations of this statement. Finding multiple sources has been hard, especially when it comes to finding sources that have different information than the last website I checked. However, I have been successful in finding useful websites that provide reviews and ideas of places in Iowa that are excellent travel spots.
So far, I have finished making a list of the types of places we are looking at, and I have also started finding restaurants for the "places to eat" category.
By next week I hope to have more of the lists completed.