The Charm Of Exoticness

The last place I ever thought I would be able to work at is the San Francisco Zoo. When I was attending Benjamin Franklin Middle School some of the staff form the zoo came to do a presentation at our school and eventually ended up telling us we had a chance to work at the zoo as volunteers for the summer. I was ecstatic, because I absolutely love animals. When I was little I really wanted to be a zoologist/archeologist that traveled the world. So I saw this as an opportunity of a life time. I was one of the first people to put my name on the list.

I volunteered for two summers, and loved every minute of it!  One of the best responsibilities about the job was getting to be up close and personal with the animals, but I always looked at it as a perk. During our 2^nd training week the staff took us into the Giraffe enclosure to feed them. I was so excited because Giraffes are my favorite animals in the world. I’d been in love with them ever since I was a kid. The animals were so special and extraordinary; and even some I thought were never safe to be around. We worked with anything from baby alligators, chinchillas, possums, ferrets, old world rabbits, and more.

We were expected to study the handbook and really learn the info so that when we were with our assigned animals and the public came up to us we had to teach them.  This came in as being accountable and constantly developing my public speaking skills. I learned that it’s a lot of hard work to have to deal with a wild animal and the general public at the same time all while keeping a positive attitude and staying vigilant. Overall I loved seeking new experiences and learning. So I feel that whatever comes my way in my internship is a new chance to broaden my horizons.

Freakanomics

Freakonomics is about a diverse and random pool of topics and how they strangely relate to each other.  I believe that the authors’ wrote this book to try and open people’s eyes to many different things. One passage that had a negative effect on me is the chapter that focuses on “What Makes a Perfect Parent.” I felt that it was very biased. It was speaking more on how older parents are more likely to have their children succeed more than younger parents. I felt offended by this because I’m a parent myself; I’m only 20 years old, and for me that’s not the case at all. In reality if you are a good parent, and you truly appreciate the opportunity to have a child; you would want to make sure that your child succeeds. No matter what the age of the parent, you’re going to take every opportunity to better yourself as a person and to better your child’s life. When I first started to read the book it was very interesting and I liked it but the farther I read the more I started to see that it was more opinions covered up by excess facts. It also had prejudice on the low. Even though I was intrigued by certain subjects, I wouldn’t want to read other books from the writers.  I wouldn’t recommend this book to a person who likes to read unless they love statistics and facts, but if they’re not a big reader maybe if they would like to know new things.