Research Process

       This (last) week my group almost completed our research stage of our CBL project. The different research methods we used were polling people on the street and surveys for students and teachers at school. We are waiting on an email back from the OSPCA with questions about puppy mills, and I am going to set up a phone interview with a woman in the community with information about puppy mills sometime this week (fingers crossed).

       Our research process went pretty well, the surveys gave us a good idea of what our school knows about puppy mills and how many pets of fellow students and teachers came from puppy mills. I think that the surveys were the most valuable form of research that we did, because we got to hear from the students and teachers directly. I was surprised to find that 4 people in the school claimed to know of puppy mills in the area, and that there were equal amounts of people aware and unaware of the conditions of puppy mills. However, if we were to do this again, I think that it would be more effective to make a survey that focuses more on dogs, since our pet survey is about all pets not just dogs, which are our main concern since our project is about puppy mills. This would give us a better idea of how our community gets their pet dogs, how they behave, and if the two are related. 

Marketing Strategies

Here is a link to my marketing strategies report with the announcements and posters I will be using to market in-school:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AgJFJAhPQZwxyiGqCxo12M2fWhoaN0L1jVaMBOLpUto/edit?usp=sharing

(2 combined deliverables)

Monday's Goal: Continued

I did achieve Monday's goal, with the exception of the format for my button designs which I was having trouble with. I emailed the company for assistance so that goal will be accomplished soon, and then all of my products will have been ordered.

I find it really helpful to set goals for myself at the beginning of class, so I can stay on track and complete tasks with efficiency. When I don't set goals for myself, I kind of get lost in a task and spend the whole period working on it, but at the same time not getting much done. By setting a goal for myself on Monday, I increased my productivity and was able to monitor how quickly I completed my tasks.

Monday's Goal

My goal for today’s class is to finish converting my files to CMYK and place them into the templates for the manufacturers. This is a good goal for me because I am still really new to adobe illustrator and need to learn how to place files into templates. Learning how to do this will be beneficial to me because I will be able to use this skill in the future when I am ordering more products.

Once the files are converted and placed into the templates, I will be able to order the products. I am ordering 50 patches, 300 buttons, and 90 stickers. I will be dividing these in half, one half to sell on my etsy shop and the other half to sell at school for a Fearlessly Girl fundraiser.

I am excited to see the finished product, and see my designs brought to life. I think that my favourite design is my “Girl Power” design. I think that it has a clear style, and it is a classic phrase that I personally really like, and think that potential customers will also like.

Feminism, Veganism, and Puppy Mills.

This week we changed our Action Project topic. We were doing our project on deforestation, but nobody in our group was very interested in the project and just wanted to work on our independent ones. We are now doing our project on pet mills and finding out their impact and presence in our community.

I think that this is a topic that interests our group more than our previous topic, and is also something that will allow us to make a change in our community.

Since doing research on this topic, we have found out that puppy mills are very present in southern ontario. I was surprised to hear this, I thought that they were a big issue in Asia but I never would have thought that animals so close to my home are crammed into dark, windowless sheds and used as slaves to breed as many litters as they can. They have never seen a human hand do anything but evil, and cringe and cower whenever humans are present. 

They suffer this reality until can they barely stand on their own legs, or cannot produce as many pups per litter as their owners require of them. When this day comes, the dog is taken out back and shot. 

Current animal rights laws can do nothing to save these dogs, only requiring that they have access to food, water, and shelter. No current laws are regulating the condition, sanitization, or treatment of these animals.

I have seen this harsh reality in the dairy industry, animals artificially inseminated (a nice term for raped) just to have their babies taken away soon after birth.

All so that people can eat the milk that belongs to that mother and her baby. 

This happens repeatedly, until the mother cow is so damaged and distraught from years of being exploited by the dairy industry, that she too cannot stand on her own legs and is sent away for slaughter. 

Or in other cases, she just can’t produce as much milk as she is expected to, and in the end suffers the same fate.

A "downed" dairy cow being dragged to slaughter.

Unlike the dogs in puppy mills, dairy cows have absolutely no laws looking out for them. The most exploited creature to walk the earth, only roaming free in a few remote villages in India, cows are not protected under ANY animal rights laws.

I see a big connection in the feminist aspect of this project and my independent project. I stand up for the mothers trapped on dairy farms every day, and this project is showing me that there are other animals whose cries are falling silent very close to my home. This project is tying the feminism and veganism in my life together, and showing me new connections that I never would have thought of before.