Sorry...Don't hate me!

 Photo courtesy of http://www.Wikipedia.org.

I have not posted in weeks. But the blog and adding a new post as been sitting on my head for weeks. I will have great geo-tastic blogs up in regular posting soon! 

Again, I apologize for' please forgive :-)

Thanks for Reading!

Geo Jessica B

Planning for Parks

1. I need to beautify the title post.




Prior to last week, I had never been to Girvin Road Park, Zeta Phi Beta Park, or The Jacksonville Baldwin Rail Trail. Before Last week, I had never even heard of the last two.

________________________________________________________________________

Updated on 05/10/2012

I have made my first big mistake with my career as a blogger which as committing to post a blog on a certain date and being extremely tardy. The main reason for the tardiness and procrastination is due to the fact that I had a major writers block and I am not sure how to translate the notes. What I will do is I will summarize the notes and once the photos are developed I will go through them and I expect them to help me connect the dotes and come up with a common thread or two. Check Next post.

Map of the rail trail from MetroJacksonville.com

Thanks for Reading!! And I apologize for the delay.

Geo Jessica B

Side-Step Time: Master's Mania!!

Hello!

"Trust Me, I have a Master's Degree"*

I plan on obtaining a Master's degree for several reasons, the first and second being that I feel that I need to time to stall. I've looked into programs before but I this afternoon I did a quick look into ~18 schools to see what degrees they offered. I have compiled a list of seven schools. This is by no means final, but take a look and tell me what you think!


In no particular order:


Rutgers


Princeton


Univ of Penn


Penn State


Univ of Washington


UNC


and...


university of miami


...with that being said, I have 11 classes left until I earn my Bachelor's of Arts in 
GEOGRAPHY (and environmental studies minor!) from THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY!




*Pic found on Google search: Master's degree


Thanks for reading!!!!


Geo Jessica B

Parks em Progresso!

On Mayday, went to Zeta Phi Beta park and the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail to round out my first official blog post.

My goal in visiting these three parks (Girvin Road Park, Zeta Phi Beta Park, and The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail) was to understand their purpose and function within their community or who they attracted. I tried to spend enough time to attempt to interpret what the place was trying to convey.

The post right before this gives some of my experience at GRP.

For the Zeta Phi Beta park, I was unsure of what to expect. I had never heard of it and I found it only after I stumbled across it on an online search. The name of the park stood out to me because it is named for the sorority, Zeta Phi Beta. I found this park interesting for several reasons. The most important thing that stood out to me was how calm and tranquil I felt being there.

The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail was definitely the most unique, and I did not even know that such a park existed in Jacksonville--I only learned about what a rail-trail was a couple of weeks ago in my Ecotourism class (GEO4930 @ FSU, GREAT class!!) and one of my classmates did a project on the rail trail between Tallahassee and St.Marks. This also peaked my interest in a trend in urban planning that utilizes spaces and edifices abandoned in the the wake of post-industrialism. I first learned about such efforts when I saw a special on TV about the High Line in New York City, which is an urban green space that uses the old railways that once allowed trains to ride through the city. Back on the JBR, I enjoyed it (although it was hot), but I definitely wished that my bike tire was fixed, because it is great for cyclists.

Pic from the Rail Trail. It is a picture of the ground. There were all these sticks stratified on the ground...I don't know why but it caught my attention. While this is not an exciting picture, I am fulfilling the promise to always have a picture. And, if my phone allows me, I'll upload a video of me a turtle!!

I will have my post(s) about the parks up on Monday (05/07/2012). I'll admit, I may be a little rushed because I'll be heading to Gainesville this weekend because my bestie is graduating from UF!! :)

Thanks for reading!!!!

Geo Jessica B

What is ahead: Ideas for possible layout and agenda; peak at first project post.

I, GeoJessicaB, will attempt to blog 3 to 4 entries per month, or roughly once per week. A topic may be revisited multiple times per month, if not the entire month. Or, if I'm really hustling, a completely new topic every week. For the next week, and possibly the one after, I will focus on parks.

Peak into next week:

Girvin Road Park.

http://www.printablesigns.net/preview/Posted_No_Trespassing



GRP is a small suburban park located in the area of Jacksonville that I have grown up in. Of the hundreds of times that I have passed the park, I never went in. We never went in. It had a bad reputation. And it was dangerous, according to me. Alas, I wanted to look into this particular park and feel it out for what it is. What could be a nice park, if the trash were picked up and the city beautified the landscape, is bland and unsettling. I kept looking over my shoulder, and it is a nice area of town. But this is just my view; it is still used by the residents of the area. I had not been by in a while, especially since I moved to Tallahassee in January. Maybe the park has changed?

P.S. An explanation of the picture with the accompanying post.


Thanks for reading!!!!

Geo Jessica B

First Post: Get to know me from all Quadrangles!

I shall start by introducing myself:

My name is Jessica. I am a senior at the Florida State University (Go Noles!) majoring in Geography with a minor in Environmental Studies. I am a student of the Earth and have always been interested in people and place, and more recently the physical environment. P.S. I am on the prowl for internships!

Confession time:

As of this second, as I type this introduction, I have no solid goal to achieve in this blog. However, I do know that I want to improve my writing and communication skills, as well as learn as much as possible about my areas of study. So, in that sense, I do have a goal which is to blog about various topics related to geography, the environment, nature, global issues, culture, etc. And I am no photographer, but I will add a pretty picture every post.

I have no idea what my specific "writing style" is, but if there is one thing that I have learned during my first semester at Florida State, it is to think deeper and think critically. I hope to devour every blog post with deep and critical thinking and broach underlying subjects, issues, and topics.

Enjoy the posts! And thanks so much for reading!

Tweet me @GeoJessicaB!

(That's me!--> )