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Thearmysdaughter's facebook and blog are full of flaws, alot of them are mental blocks that are author/user centered. My pictures are crap quality, my profile picture is lousy, my computer skills are laughable, the important thing is that the heart is there. Even if I am privately reluctant about this endeavor, still I'm passionately attached to it.This project makes me cry because I did not realize how personal, it would and could become. I think I forgot somehow that my big Army years, are seven years that I can't even talk about, and shouldn't talk about. This inhibited access to my readers is not what I had planned on because I think those are the years I wanted to write about. The research I did for this blog reminded me that I am not the normal Army kid, and speaking to the masses pretending I am is so much more difficult than I imagined. I hope the message of the blog/Facebook page is clear none the less, I love our military and I am so proud of this culture. I wanted 100 likes out of this page badly, today I have 207. One of the biggest portions of this project was the TalkingPoint interview. That one hurt, the evening before the show, my dad recieved a call from a former troop whom he had mentored through his deployments and afterwards. This soldier came over for dinner often, and knew to run to my Dad at any roadblock or sign of turmoil. He called me Dad in shambles the night before the interview and my dad spoke to him well into the night about some of his afflictions and his personal struggle with PTSD. When this topic surfaced right before the interview I felt my Dad shrink down, in this life you'll be dumbfounded by how ironic life is sometimes.  I put my Dad into that situation with the interview, since then I have been sort of scared to even bring him up on my blog now, I don't like to see my Dad worried. My dad wouldn't look worried before battle, or staring the adversary in the eyes, I know that truly, but his worry shown over a fellow soldier just yanked my heart. That was something different. It wasn't something I haven't seen before, but still it's hard to see. I wouldn't do the interview differently, it taught me something special, and reminded me to not be so scared. Things will turn out fine, I don't have to prepare perfectly, and I need to have more confidence in myself because when I don't, it shows. Being an Army kid and putting my best foot forward has left me exhausted at age 22, I can't be outgoing and pour out confidence anymore like before. I have spent so many seconds trying so hard to be there that I've become the complete opposite and reverted to a unfounded shyness I do not recognize in myself. The outreach and messages and pats on backs with this project have shifted my perspective.


A neighbor from North Carolina, a neighbor from the hard years emailed me after she watched the show and it really got me. I forgot that people that knew me would see this. Her first email is the one I am going to share, the rest are just for me.

Hey Bette. I just wanted to say that I have been following your blog since the beginning and watched you on Talking Point today. I heard the host say that you are doing this blog as an assignment. I wanted to make sure I told you how great I think your blog is. It tells the story of us Army Brats in a way that most people can't understand. When your assignment is over I really hope you continue your blog. Our way of life is something that should be shared and our stories should be told! Keep up the good work and let me know if you ever want a guest writer!

All posts were a success, because they shared a little bit of the military life as I know it. And even if it didn't help someone else, it helped me through a hard transition. This blog is going to live a very long time.




Time for the number crunch!

My momma shared most everything, and she knows a ton of military mommas, so that was a great outlet, and she was so good about our TalkingPoint interview, she was on it for photos and sharing the link so people could watch it! She tagged me in a billion pictures, there was no way people could ignore them, and not be curious to watch me talk on tv. Ya know, like my grandparents and stuff... 

Inviting people was hard but it worked! I was nervous and apprehensive, most of the people you know don't get to see your writing, they simply see the "youre a babe" or "lookin great" comments you make, so exposing people to my writing was scary. But I did it, and I'm so so proud of the 200 something likes. 

The links for readit sites, or buzzfeed, with the "23 signs you're an Army brat" or "12 signs you lived overseas", those kind of shares did well, they got reshared and clicked on, with reaches in the thousands. It inspired me to one day spiff up my writing and be more clear like those sites.

The biggest disappointment is how big of a gap there is between men and women users. Whyyyyy such a female presence ?!?! Like where are the male troopies at?? 72% to 28%, that gap is enormous, which is why I started posting more photo-memes, guys seem to like those.

This puzzled me huge, the sites people got to my page that weren't on Facebook.... Ldsmatchups.com? Huh?

Contextual Analysis

I pulled the plug on my former topic for the Contextual Analysis, someone from the base I was stationed on contacted me and asked me to address a controversial book that had hit the streets and schools of Caserma Ederle. I started the research, and hit some roadblocks due to the official website being taken down. This approach was maybe a little different than what we were asked to do, but the context of this book hit a culture really hard and I couldn't ignore all the fuss that was hitting this book back. As a member of this culture, I was personally offended and that is quite clear within the text of my blog. With that being said, I wanted to highlight the idea that people were commenting on this matter, they contacted companies, they banded together to throw this book away, and they didn't brush it off... 

For a culture that is considered "invisible" on Wikipedia, they've sure been loud lately..... I gathered that as the importance of this assignment, people adovcating in a responsible way. This is my idea of a perfect example of such.  Go to my blog thearmysdaughter to read all about a stinky book that I don't like at all.

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A glimpse into the life of an Army kid, the perspective, the humor, the hurts, the triumphs and the way we understand a life is that always changing, Visit the blog of a real brat Thearmysdaughter via the Thearmysdaughter page.

Have you ever overheard Military jargon? Wondering what PCS means? Ask Thearmysdaughter, she'll shed some light on acronyms she's as familiar with as the back of her hand.

Sustainability can be conceptualized as an effort to achieve a balance between social, economic, and environmental goals. 

St. George: 

Suburban 

Growing population

Livable winters

Dixie State College turned Dixie State University (influx of college students transferring to a small school with better accreditation, while still boasting small school tuition prices) 

Close proximity to Vegas, comfortable drive to California and home to Zion National Park

Good area for experimentation. 

Commerce: Use education to inform people about creating a better balanced system of survival in St. George, use education to let people know that the law will start to buckle down on conserving. Officers can start to issue more wasteful tickets. (My brother in law just got a "waste of fuel" {speeding} ticket)  that name game verbiage alone is eye opening. This ticket was for harming the environment instead of putting the rest of the public in danger by going too fast. These tickets can all be sanctioned for use in creating a more sustainable city. Hold people more responsible using the law. If we overuse, not only do we have a high bill, but we also get a ticket. My brother in law has to fork over some dollars, and he also has to shrink back at the claim that he hurt Earth.
Rebate incentives for conservation efforts:
http://www.sgcity.org/departments/water/conservation/#tab-2

Energy: think about food waste, perishable goods often get thrown out in the fridge clean out every couple of weeks, keeping a stocked fridge means that there is a likely chance food will be wasted. Make more trips to the grocery store, keep a smaller fridge and see the amount of money saved on energy and grocery costs. Food goes bad before we know it and we end up wasting many of our grocery trips anyways. But what you will use over the course of three days , and monitor  what percentage you actually use. Just because a gallon is a better deal for milk doesn't mean you should buy it if you're only going to use half a gallon and then throw out the rest of it. Having a massive fridge sucks up energy, think about how expensive air conditioning is and then times that by a million and think about what it costs to run a huge refrigerator. 

Technology and development has improved these obvious versions of solar energy (almost throwing the idea that the earth will become obsolete and unlivable- but no worry you'll be able to tell what folks are loving our earth because their big ugly solar grids on top of their homes...)  new shingle solar panels created to look normal, and similar to ordinary shingles. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/im-getting-my-roof-redone-and-heard-about-solar-shingles/

Reduce the need to travel for business.. use this site to help you find communication avenues to avoid a face to face meeting.
http://www.techsoup.org/green-technology?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc-gg&utm_term=GreenApp&utm_campaign=GG_GreenTech

Economy:

creation of jobs

Dixie State University may not have harsh winters, but they do have hellish summers. We may benefit from a connected campus, a hallway or walkway that allows you to travel from building to building in an AC structure so you don't have to walk out to your car crank up your AC to avoid back sweat while you're walking up to the testing center. These walk ways wouldn't build themselves, and we might want to hit up some contractors and construction teams before the housing market kicks back up. We could buy/order local material through ACE hardware. 

Could influence more students to attend Dixie without being scared of the heat come August and July. Students may stay for summer time which would allow for Dixie to offer more classes and the apartment buildings here to not sit vacant for the hot months that students return home. 

Create a sustainability resource center at Dixie where students can learn more about creating a less wasteful community. Like the University of Utah http://sustainability.utah.edu/resource-center/
and adopt some of their current practices within housing here at DSU http://housing.utah.edu/life/sustainability.php

Transportation- use non-conserving citizen ticket revenue to line the bike paths with solar panels along the side edges of the path (it's a double whammy of safety, by providing solar charged lights along the path, and contributing to the power grid). http://www.sgsunsmart.com/energy.php This is a link to a pre-existing solar company in St. George and the power generated specifically on December 4th, include this in the curriculum for schools, teach students how to read and understand a chart like this. They won't ask you that dreaded question, "why do I need to know this?" (um because do you want to live on earth? okay then this is your future) Look at how much CO2 isnnnn't output because of solar energy.

Personal solar energy panels for households.  FAQ for the Rookies like me!
All highlighted portions are copied from http://www.sgsunsmart.com/faqs.htm St. George Energy Services Department 2008.

(Commerce/Economy)

1. Why is there no federal tax credit?
   This type of program is so innovative that legislation on a federal level has not been created yet

(Commerce/Economy)

1. Why is it only available to people living within the St. George city limits?
   The bill that was passed to make this program possible was for a municipal project so the tax credit is only available to St. George residents

(Commerce)

1. Why did St. George choose solar?
   St. George looked at all of the renewable sources of energy and performed multiple studies; it was determined that, due to the weather and the landscape, solar was the best choice.

(Commerce)

1. Are there any fees after I pay the initial fee?
   No, only monthly credits on your energy bill!

(Commerce?)

1. Why should people participate if there is not a good return on investment?
   There is a return on investment, but not a financial one. By participating in this program you are investing in your community.

1. It seems kind of expensive, why isn't it cheaper?
   Each unit is priced to cover the cost of the equipment and installation. The city is not making any money off of this project; all of the savings go to the purchaser. By having a solar farm of this size the purchaser benefits from the economies of scale.

Education: 

Teaching the newer generations how to farm (not on the Fb FarmVille app), how to grow a cucumber and water tomatoes. At school they can include agriculture into the curriculum. Instead of reading about photosynthesis they can watch it occur as they watch a radish seed sprout. 

If you want people to utilize various types of recycling, captivate them and generate interest using social media. Make YouTube videos to educate them, or show them how to install lowflow shower heads, don't expect them to stack on more bills by having them installed in their homes. Don't just send someone a letter with recommendations for how to save a few bucks, be interactive. Show you care by really putting in the effort. Flood twitter with conservation and sustainability concepts that people are going to see over and over, so much so that they will think of them when they are leaving their home and don't turn down their A/C. The television commercials that display apps that allow you to turn off lights while you are away from your home