LBGT Rights by J.Long, S.Skelton & B.Thompson

To see our full project please refer back to Jareese's  blog post 

Reflection

When choosing a topic for our project we wanted to choose something that meant something to all of us. We felt as though it we were going to make a video about something why not make it about something that has an impact on us. So we collectively decided to make a video based around LBGT rights and the 14th amendment of the constitution because we each have friends that are either LBGT. And we see how there treated everyday because of their sexuality. When creating the project I liked the actual filming the most and coming up with the concept of the project. The most challenging part of the project by far was agreeing on ides with my group members because we had ideas that conflicted with each other. The most interesting fact I found when creating this project is that same sex marriage is only granted in 6 states across the US. I found this interesting because in the 14th amendment it states, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States". But the states do just that. They take away the rights to marriage. 
         I feel as though we put together a quality project but I do think there is room for improvement. For starters I would only work with one person and I would or myself because I feel as though our ideas conflicted. We ran into trouble with the project when getting everything finished on time. After completing this project I learned that everyone isn’t granted the rights, as they should be. 

 

"Maybe She's Born With It" Advertisement- Nia Berry

My product is a print ad directed to women in society who heavily use make up. The message I am trying to convey is that make up is advertised to the young for the wrong reasons. Such products as "Maybelline", with their slogan, "Maybe She's Born with It, Maybe it's Maybelline!", are suggesting that beauty is born with and if you do not feel beautiful, their products will fix that. This ad is an effective way to reach my audience because it takes the innocence of a little girl playing in make up to a level of enlightenment, showing the reason why the little girl feels the need to cake on make up to feel like a pretty model from the commercial. If I was to do this again, I would like to take my product more public and with greater design and narration to fully explain the concern of my advertisement.

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Screen Shot 2012-01-25 at 10.18.18 AM

Quarter 2: Emma Hohenstein

​Most often I find desire to create art when I am alone by myself. The situation I am relating upon is one late afternoon when I was alone in the art room at school and watching the reflection of a late autumn sunset on the buildings across the corner. The shapes of the orange and browns were beautiful. I took an old side panel from a restaurant that was sitting around the room and sketched out the shapes of the buildings. It was a strange three foot by five foot board but my comfort level is always much greater when the things I am working on are large. I never considered myself a painter and, to be fair, I still don't. But this was my first honest painting. It was a little uncomfortable and certainly more impressionist than realist. However, I'm proud that I was able to direct myself in such a big endeavor. 

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After completing my painting I felt a little blank because I had sort of exhausted my visual powers. As a simple project I took out linoleum blocks in order to abstractly replenish my ability to view things artistically. It was not something I expected to require quite as much work as it did. It was a long, methodical process and I have a scar or two left over from the harsh tools. I wasn't too satisfied with my final product, even after a few variations of it and that dissatisfaction was what lead me into my next project.

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Previously I had worked on wood block cuts so I wandered around the engineering room looking for something large to cut onto. The closest I found to a block of wood was an old, particle board table with lots of left over holes from the legs. Excitedly, I carved a large figure in repose into the wood. I found out as I carved and accidentally perforated the board that the table was hollow and full of honeycomb cardboard. I punctured the back behind the figure so often that in the end I began to peel off the board completely. With this project I feel like it completely had a life of it's own and the more I worked on it the more it asked of me. But the more I did the more complete it also began to feel. I still don't think that it is as finished as it should be. I really appreciate the emotion that is so expressive in it, the way the color and the shapes work with the holes and carved areas. I would really like to attach small LEDs behind the body and have light that comes through the holes and around the edges. 

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Large Clear Object

This is something similar to what we did in the first quarter, except on a much bigger scale. The paper is 24x36", the drawing itself is roughly 8x18. We were supposed to fill the paper, but after I had started I liked the direction I was heading too much and just kept going.
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Q3 Benchmark - Deaf Evolution

FIRST COLLEGE OF THE DEAF

In the third year of the Civil War, there isn’t much to look forward to. In a time of distress, nothing seems possible, but yesterday was something different. April 8th, 1864 President Abraham Lincoln approved the Columbia Institution college status. This action, although unnecessary, made the Columbia Institution the first college for the deaf. Many people look down upon the deaf and think that they are dumb. However, many can not say this because of the fact that Edward M. Gallaudet is allowed to award degrees to his students. This shows that the deaf community is to be respected in a huge way, considering that Abraham Lincoln signed the bill.

Edward Miner Gallaudet didn’t always want to be the president of the Columbia University (later called Gallaudet University, in honor of E. M. Gallaudet’s father Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet). In fact, he wanted to be a banker. His father encouraged him to become a teacher of the deaf, but still lead Edward in the right direction. After his father died, a man named Amos Kendall told Edward about an opening as a superintendent of a school. He took it and became very successful. After that, Edward was looked at as having an altruistic soul; a colleague once said, “Several times when Dr. Gallaudet wanted appropriations, while I very much desired his success, I felt that he had undertaken more than could be accomplished; but somehow, under the influence of that earnest zeal, that even temperament, and the strong arguments which have always characterized his efforts, before the close of the session he would get practically what he desired.” Edward Gallaudet does everything in his power to make his college the best it can be to his staff and his students. He is a selfless person that wants to improve the community and the standards of the deaf.

Edward’s story goes back before he was born. His interest with the deaf started long ago as well. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet saw a little child standing in a playground. He wonderd why she wasn’t doing anything. He went over to her, and noticed that she couldn’t hear. He began to gesture to her. That little girl’s name was Alice Cogswell. Thomas helped her learn new things. He was later approached by a man named Laurent Clerc who was from France who taught Thomas a new form of Sign Language to teach. They established a new school and it attracted a lot of students of many different varieties and backgrounds. This was the beginning of a new era of Sign Language.



A “UNIVERSAL” LANGUAGE
   

Sign Language was not always here. Sign Language was not always popular. Sign Language was not always used. But, it’s different now. From France we have a whole different language. It’s helped so many people learn to communicate their ideas through so many different outlets such as schools, jobs, and other things.

    Laurent Clerc was the best student in the Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets, and he was taught by Abbe Sicard. With Thomas Hopkins Galluadet, he co-founded the first school for the deaf in North America. Since then, sign language has really taken off. In Martha’s Vineyard, which is an island off the coast of Massachusetts, has one of the most famous population of deaf people. Through inbreeding and a genetic mutation deafness became present and was around for over 250 years.
    Sign Language is continued to be thought of as a universal language, when its not. Though people all over the world sign, there is no one language for all the deaf. In Brittan, there is British Sign Language, in Australia, there is Australian Sign Language. Even though signing is worldwide, there are different variations of the language.
    Because of Laurent Clerc and the doings of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, there wouldn’t be a standing for the deaf in America. Right now Gallaudet is the only deaf college in the world, and it’s home to many of the deaf population who want to go out and make something of themselves. Gallaudet University would not be here if it wasn’t for the collaboration of Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, in addition to his son, Edward Miner Galludet.

CLOSED CAPTIONING

    It’s 1972, and accomplishments for the deaf are sort of unheard of. However, yesterday, a huge event happened for the deaf community and those who are hard of hearing. The first television show that now has closed captioning is The French Chef on PBS. This is a monumental achievement for the deaf community. Other shows that have these features Zoom, Once Upon a Classic, and ABC World News Tonight.
    Deaf are now flocking to the stores to buy their new decoders to transmit the closed captioning onto their televisions. Due to this surge in appliances, the companies who provided the decoders did not want to sell more, until more people bought them. But the people did not want to buy them until there were more closed captioned shows. It’s a chicken and the egg situation.
    Although the deaf liked the closed captioning, they wanted more programs to have this amenity for them. Later, though the companies who provided closed captioning gave more shows that had the captions on screen.
    The deaf were pleased about the fact that they could access more shows that had closed caption. There wasn’t anyone who was against this, since a lot of people can benefit from words being on screen. Not only did the deaf benefit but people who didn’t know English could learn how to speak it/read it. It’s an amazing accomplishment and it’s going to be around for a long time.

Donna Survillo CSPAN - 14th Amendment & Reflection (Q2 Benchmark)

I chose to focus on the 14th amendment because it's something that I can relate to and it effects my life if it were to be changed. I specifically looked into this certain amendment because being Asian causes me to be a minority which the 14th amendment comments on. Section 1 of the amendment states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This matters to me because even though I'm considered a minority, according to the law, I cannot be discriminated against or held from any opportunities that may be offered. 

I liked that we got to relate this project to ourselves and why these specific topics were important to us as a person. I really enjoyed the fact that we had a wide variety of topics to choose from and we were able to pick anything from the Constitution. I had a few challenges during the process of this project though. My partner and I split up because of personal reasons and she continued on with the original topic we were focusing on, so it caused me to choose another topic. Another challenge I had was that I'm not so good with video cameras and movie making so I had A LOT of trouble handling that. It was hard for me to get help because I knew I was falling behind and I didn't wanna cause anyone else to fall behind, knowing that it is benchmark season. So my project is late being turned in, but it still got done. 

The most interesting fact that I learned was that a lot of times, people don't know that they all get the same rights; even if they are from a minority group. A lot of people believe that because they are a minority, they are not allowed to have the same rights as everyone else.

This project, specifically mine, could be improved by being turned in on time. I could have used my time more wisely and asked for more help when I needed it to be able to get it done on time. I could have also asked for an extension for a couple days and stayed in touch with my teacher who knew what was going on with my partner and I. I ran into trouble with my partner and when it came to technological things, but that was pretty much it. 

Overall, a lot of things went well with this project. I learned a lot about the rights that I have as a minority. I also learned a lot more about not only my culture, but a lot of my classmates/friends cultures as well. But if I could do this project over, I would most definitely use my time more wisely.

Lola Akinsola C-Span Benchmark Amendment XVI



Works Cited:

Honan, Mat. "The Government's Gadget Habit Has Cost You Hundreds of Millions." Gizmodo, the Gadget Guide. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <http://gizmodo.com/5812233/the-governments-gadget-habit-has-cost-you-hundreds-of-millions>.

Andrews, Edmund L. "Tax Cuts Offer Most for Very Rich, Study Says - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 29 Jan. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/washington/08tax.html>.

"The First Income Tax." Civil War Trust: Saving America's Civil War Battlefields. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/warfare-and-logistics/logistics/tax.html>.

"Presidental Address." C-Span Video. C-Span. Web. <http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/165970-1>.

"Salmon P. Chase." NNDB. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <http://www.nndb.com/people/808/000031715/salmon-p-chase.jpg>.

"Lincoln." History Place. History Place. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <History Place>.

"Army Representatives." Ontario County Fair. Ontario County Fair. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <http://www.ontariocountyfair.org/pix/2004%20updates/Army%20Representatives.jpg>.

"IPad." Venture Beat. Venture Beat. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/ipad-3.jpg>.



I've always wanted to know what exactly it was that made the government take taxes out of people's incomes. At first I thought it was just a random way to get money because they had no other way of getting it. Money doesn't just come out of nowhere...unless you print it and somehow avoid inflation. Now that I've done this benchmark, I've learned what started taxes.
What I liked about this project was learning the history of how taxes started. I liked this because, like I said before, I've always wanted to know how taxes came to be. What I didn't like however, was how difficult it was putting the video together. I'm not good with iMovie (as long as I've had it) so I had to start my entire project over due to technical difficulties. What I also found challenging was not making myself sound sarcastic. I didn't want to seem mean while I was talking about the way the government spends our money. I do think I did an okay job at talking about them however. I still think I could've done better though.
The most interesting fact that I have investigated was the gadgets they bought with our money and compared that to the things that need to be done that haven't been done on roads and what not. I thought they just didn't have the money, not knowing that the money that was supposed to go to the road work was going to iPads and useless 30GB Zunes.
I just think I need to be more creative all together. I wanted to make it all pretty and stuff but I didn't know how to go about it without causing a distraction to the information being provided and the point I was trying to get across. Since this was so, I made the most boring video ever in my opinion. 
I ran into trouble mostly with my vocal recordings. I was having trouble with the noise in the background, and it kept cutting off and ding other weird stuff so I had to start from scratch because it would've been too messy trying to fix all of that. However, what went well with this project, in my opinion, was finding information about the 16th amendment and information about the taxes that are being spent and the taxes that have been spent in the past few years during both Obama and Bush's administration. What also went well was the information I got from some oft he people I had interviewed. They said some things I didn't even know about.
If you had it to do over, what would you change about your decisions or your process?
Of course, if I had to do this whole project over I would make sure it's done on time! I would also take more time to make it interesting and not just a project. I would take the time out to make sure what I'm saying doesn't sound mean or anything because I don't want to sound mean talking about the government and submitting it to a competition (even though I really should).
Like I said earlier, I've learned how taxes came to be, when they came to be, how are taxes are being spent now, and what are taxes aren't being spent on. I've learned a little bit more than I had expected to. I've also learned how to work the new adjustments that have been made to Garageband. It took a while, but I got it now.


Student Cam Reflection - Amaris Romero

            I decided to do this topic because I know I wanted to do something involving teens in high school I just didn't know what exactly it was that I wanted to do. I decided to work in a group of up to 3 students because we all wanted to do the same project involving privacy rights, the fourth amendment. I believe we are the only school in the district that does not have any metal detectors. It was interesting and we felt as a group to compare the different opinions o privacy from a school that has metal detectors and from a school that doesn't have metal detectors. It made sense for me because the fourth amendment speaks out on behalf of privacy rights and so do the students we interviewed from both schools. Overall I had a great interest in this topic because of the rights we have in our school and how independent we are.
My favorite part about this project was going to another school and interviewing the students. It was a good experience for me because I wanted to know how other students felt about their privacy rights overall. The most challenging about the interviews was the fact that a lot of the students were shy and didn't want to do the interview. We had a hard time trying to get the students to speak the first time we went out to interview. The second time we went to interview it became more interesting because many of the new students were volunteering to do the interview. It was also difficult because the principal wasn't there and we needed his opinions as well, so we just rescheduled and came back other day. The interviews I believe were the most challenging for me.
The most interesting thing I learned from this was the responses I got from the students. I learned so much on how they view privacy and how the process is for them. It takes the students about 15 minutes to get through the metal detectors, it's their process of getting into school where for us SLA students it takes about 2 seconds because we only sign in. It was interesting to see how their school life is and to see how affected the students were because of the process. The process also hasn't changed for them over the years.
I honestly don't think this project should be improved in any way except when it comes to the rubric. Maybe next time you should pass out on paper or online a rubric students can go off of during the process of the project. Other then that I don't believe anything else should be improved. I agree with the set-up and the overall process of the way the project is.
One big problem we ran into during the project was trying to interview the principal in SLA. It was difficult because at times because me and the rest of my group would get distracted and either forget to do the interview or would be to busy to do it. Also, when the time came down to us interviewing the principal we couldn't because he was busy. That was a major problem we had but we ended up interviewing another person.
The interviews with the students at both my school and at Benjamin Franklin High school went well. The process of going to the other school and being able to do the interviews with the students was great because we didn't come across any problems with the teachers or the students their. The project overall went along smoothly and well because we did have a few bumps along the process but we managed to get across and through our challenges.
If I were to do this project again I would manage my time better with the interviews from both schools. The decisions about the amendment I chose I would of possibly considered and brought up different high school privacy rights other then metal detectors and searches. I would have considered doing the topic about freedom of speech in high school and the overall views of how kids feel about it. Overall I believe we done well with the project and I would do everything else the same way I have done it now in the same process and the same decisions.
I learned a lot from this project about privacy rights and how other schools have to manage through it. How long it takes for them to go through metal detectors and how the process is. I learned that our school is the only school in the district that has no metal detectors. I also realized that our school is given a lot of freedom compared to other schools that have metal detectors and it's because our school can trust the students considering the fact that our school is an independent school.

Quarter 2 Benchmark

Link to Markia's post

Reflection: 

I wanted to have a topic that not a whole lot of other people would choose, but will still be relevant to me on a personal level. I love to talk. I am incredibly opinionated and I love to articulate my thoughts, and the same can go for Markia. You suggested the topic to us, and we thought it would be interesting to explore our rights as students in school. The most interesting fact I learned from doing this project was how the most noticeable start for this fight of students rights was with the student protestors of the Vietnam War. Shows love to reference protestors from this time, but I didn't know it was a big deal in schools. 

I liked the video format, and that it was a relatively longer video because it had to be 5-8 minutes. This left more room for different types of video tools and aspects. Of course, it then became a challenge to tie these different aspects together. When Markia and I showed our video to her older sister to proof read, she did express to us that it wasn't until the very end that everything was tied together and made things clear. The reason for this was mostly we had a lot of clips mixed around and a lot of b-role. To be honest, when we captured some of our video, we lost the audio. So, we had to work around this. We didn't want to have to much of a "pictures with our voice narration" situation because that is too typical, too boring. In order to avoid this, we had to get a little creative. I think that our end product though - especially will our little "reflection" at the end - came together to show the story we wanted to tell. 

We actually got a lot of planning in early on and did our recording not at the last minute. But, when we started putting together the video we started have ideas like "Oh, it would be cool to have a picture of Lauf teaching here." These probably would have helped make our video more interesting. So, we probably could have had some sort storyboard going on from the beginning to lay out all our brainstorming ideas. 

I didn't know the fine lines that come along with student free speech in school. According to some court decisions, we can say what we want as long as no disturbance is called. Then, in other decisions, the message can itself be a big enough disturbance or the risk of a disturbance is enough to silence the students. 

Lang-auto biography

As soon as I stepped out of the plane I noticed something different, people are speaking a different language it was neither Arabic nor French; it was English. It was so amazing to me because I usually only hear people talk English when I am watching an American movie. My eyes were widely opened as I was walking around and seeing different things and surrounded by different people. I felt like I was in a dream on a whole other planet and I took it all in. However, when I got in the car to go to the house I noticed that there were pictures of models with nothing but a bra and panties. I kind of closed my eyes I didn’t know what to say because I did not see that in Morocco. Oh, I am sorry I forgot to talk about myself; my name is Maryam and I am from Morocco. Now, as I was saying when we got to the house we ordered food and my whole family spoke English and I became upset because I felt left out; I used to get mad because I didn’t understand what they were saying. We came on July 2008 and that summer I just wanted to go out and have fun but I had to sit in the house and  listen to audio all day and read English books with pictures on them and I felt dumb and I would become frustrated and would pack my clothes and say that I wanted to go back to where I came from because it felt like I couldn’t do it or that I couldn’t make it .

My mom and step father found a pretty good middle school or at least that’s what I thought. The first day I was excited and nervous at the same time; I put on my uniform and hopped in the car and as soon as we got there the first place we walked into was the lunch room everyone was talking I was so confused at the moment it sounded like they were talking Chinese . It was kind of funny I had a little grind on my face. The first class I went to was my advisory, she spoke English and I didn’t understand her at all. The only thing I was looking at was her hand movement we had to go around saying our name. Everyone’s’ name sounded fine and as soon as I said my name everyone started laughing and questioning it . That was a little weird because in Morocco I never experienced that kind of humiliation. There were four people in my class that did not speak English, so I felt a little better about myself. A lady came into the class and pulled us out and I thought I did something wrong, but that was my ESL teacher. We had her instead of English and she helps you with your English so when get to high school you will be in the same level in English as other high school students. The first month I felt like I was not learning anything, I felt like it was just a waist of my time.
        After a while, I started getting used to the language and I did not know I had an accent so when I spoke I thought I spoke the same as everyone else and I must admit, I was proud of myself at that time. The first thing I wanted to do was sit down with my family and have a conversation in English and this time I can understand what they were saying but as soon as I started speaking they started laughing at me and they started repeating what I was saying. I just went along with it because I thought they were just joking, but when I hit 8th grade I have couple of friends and the same thing happened with them every time I tried to make a joke or say something they used to laugh at me and make jokes about the way I talked. I had a phone so I went to my room and I recorded myself to see how I sounded when I talk and when I heard it I was so shocked; I sounded horrible! I sounded like an out of planet person that just came to America; I was crying I didn’t want to speak anymore my sisters knew there was something wrong but I just did not want to talk at all and my whole family thought I was giving attitude. But I really was not, I just did not like the way I was talking and I did not like the I sounded;  it just affected me in so many ways because I never had to deal with that in my life .           
        When I came to America I was still watching Arabic movies and shows, but I wanted to change that so I started watching Disney Channel. I was watching a whole bunch of shows and that opened me up a little bit. I used to go to my room and act like the people in the show and without me noticing my accent was slowly changing into normal so by the time I was in high school, I was able to speak just the same as other students.  I have more confidence now and while my accent comes out from time to time, I do not care as much anymore. Why should I stop talking just because I don’t sound the same as other people? Everyone is different and not everyone sounds the same; it’s the diversity on earth that makes it so beautiful.

my video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ2EWcVOLnQ&feature=plcp&context=C3f3075dUDOEgsToPDskISoykW6Sc4U4pCa50W3Hwd

Laughter-Marina Stuart


My product is a print advertisement for Laughter. Laughter is something that is in need in the world today, we have wars, poverty, homelessness, and other depressing things. This advertisement it so remind people to laugh, be happy, and appreciate the little things in life. 

The intended audience is well, everyone. There is no set age, race, or class that this is aim towards, it is for everyone.  The advertisement aims to include most demographics, including age, race, and gender. 

The inspiration of this ad came from usual medicine ads. Most ads for medicine include lots of people liked their new medication but the side effects of the ads usually are worse then the illness they are trying to cure. For example some allergy ads have the side effect of a stroke...thats just not right. That is why the ads has a humorous warning label, to make fun of usual medicine ads, and perhaps make people laugh. 

This ad is also effective because of the quote used at the top of the ad. "I love to laugh, loud and long, and clear" That quote is from Mary Poppins, almost every person knows that line and reminds them of a simpler time and a movie that most kids love.

If this ad could be redone I think the pictures would focus more of the people's faces and but more laughter centric, or perhaps have humorous pictures of animals or toys, to simply funny things. 

Laughter Benchmark Mstuart

2 Dimensional Art

For this assignment we had to sketch artwork that was two dimensional. First i choose picture offline and sketched it onto a piece of poster board. Then I wanted to use paint but decided to use charcoal because I wanted to see how it would look. I know it isn't very good because I am still learning to sketch and this is my second time using charcoal but for a beginner its pretty good.
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Screen Shot 2012-01-24 at 9.03.53 PM
moonlitcedars
moonlitcedars

Tonight's Homework

1) unas 

2) el 

3) un

4) el

5) un

6) un

7) Unos

8) aviones 

9) una

10) un

11) la

12) el

13) unos

14) el

15) una 

16) la 

17) un

18) una 


1) vuestro 

2) mis

3) mi

4) tus

5) mi

6) tu

7) Mi

8)tus 

9) mis 

10) mi

11) Nuestros 

12) mis

13) nuestro

14) mi

15) tus 

16) tu

17) mis 

18) to


1) muchos

2) muy

3) mucho

4) mucho

5) muchos 

6) muy 

7) mucho

8) muy

9) muy

10) muy

11) muy

12) mucha

13) mucho 

14) mucho 

Lobbying Blog Post #5

Overall, I have been proud of the work I have done with learning about the rules and regulations of election campaigns. In my first blog post, I unfortunately did not dig down deep enough into the rules. This is understandable since the laws are constantly making small, specific changes with new Supreme Court cases and legislation. Also, public opinion is constantly changing. Luckily, through my work on my first quarter benchmark surrounding the Federal Election Campaign Act, I was able to get a better grasp on the information. I'm certain that there is still more for me to understand. There are numerous cases to look at and court decisions to examine to really understand the history of election campaign regulation and its current situation. Knowing that there was one big case (Citizens United vs FEC) just two years ago tells me that there is more to pay attention to. And what about the Occupy Protests? Surely, the citizens of America are just getting more and more dissatisfied with how the government is running. 

Disclosure is one specific subject that requires further investigation. Yes, the public has the right to know who is funding the presidential candidates and their ads. But, when do we get to know this. How much time do we have to examine these facts before it's time to elect someone to office? Is there even enough time to connect all the kinks in the chains that connect different government officials and corporate heads? I can't exactly speak out to government officials before I have a better idea of the current situation. Once I do a little bit more research, I can catch up on what I missed with the last assignment: contact. In my 2nd blog post I named the senators and representatives that have taken an active role in solving the problems in election campaign regulation. So, first up, I need to show my support. There is online petition I can sign, so I might as well go ahead and sign it. Next, I need to reach out to my local officials and speak out about my frustrations. 

I know that my best strategy to continue is to write personal letters to the government officials while at the same time increasing awareness with the public. Most people see the campaign ads on television, but most people don't understand who is behind them and how they ended up on TV. How would people feel if they knew just how many little strings corporations can to pull so they can dangle their favorite candidates in front of us for voting? I wasn't happy about it. As I mentioned in my posts, public trust in government is a huge thing. Officials know it. If they see that people are just angry, which they are, and that they are starting to lose even more faith in the government, they will be compelled to make a change. So, I can just start with my school. Just talk to students about it. With the current Republican primaries and the upcoming presidential election, this will definitely be a relevant discussion to have - especially with all the newly-18 and eligible voters in our school. Meanwhile, I can also reach out to my community through my parent's friends and connections. This is what I have in front of me in terms of my lobbying topic. 

FRANKLIN MANCEBO

Franklin MancebO


So when im walking with my friends i speak different then if i was at home and also at an interview/meeting. I think that if we speak the same way to our parents to your friends we would not be accepted in our modern society, as if we were to do the same thing in our opposite order it would either get us in trouble or would not be understandable. For example, when i am at home i speak predominately spanish because in my family our culture/herritage is spanish. Now the conflict arises when i go to school and hove to speak english to my friends because if i speak to them in spanish they well respond to me with a “Huh?” or “What did you say?” And that forces me to have to explain it to them or change my orriginal answer. Its like having one identity forwhen you are around family or when you are with “grown ups” from your “Bario” or “Comunidad” and then like a secret under cover one for when your friends and you say things like “dog.”
Unknowingly our minds are set and/or wired to speak a certain way to people in a private firm or at an importand job interveiw becaus again we are afraid that we well not be accepted if we speak “Callejero” meaning, “ghetto” or “hoodlem”, due to the fact that it is not a representable image to the modern world or to other important people in the city and/or world. “Coño” is what i would like to say when i get something wrong or when i want to say “damn” but since my spanish heritage/culture is so heavy on my tounge and and the way i speak comes out to a spiced up and edgy “ coño.”
I wish that the “discriminacion” or discrimination towards people would stop, i mean think about it for a quick second... if people from the “bario” werent afraid to be turned down at a job interveiw in a good job, the “bario” would be an actual place recognized for something good instead of “Ledónes, queros, estedores”- translation, a bad and fucked up place.

HOPE YU ENJOY https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/New%20Project%20-%20Medium.m4v?w=60b0227c

Devante Taggart's Language Autobiography

Introduction: 

In this unit we were talking about ​the connection between language and identity. I decided to talk about how the setting someone is in affects the language they use and their identity. Some other themes were code switching and how power ties in with language. In my paper you will read all these themes and how they connect with my personal life and how they might effect the life of others in ways that most people would not notice.



Settings and Their Influences


The setting a person is in for an extended period of time affects them in multiple ways. For example, I travel to the South a lot because that is where majority of my family is from. Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Virginia are the main states I travel to. They each bring a different influence into my life. Sometimes I pick up new slang, sometimes I come back with an accent and sometimes I don’t change at all.

The reason some settings are more influential than others is all based on how comfortable a person is. The more comfortable a person is changes how much it influences them and how much they can influence it.

People can be influenced by culture, language and actions/activities for example. I for one never played sports as a child until my brother and me started to hang out more. That's when i got comfortable and started to part take in the activities he was into. He played a lot of football and I wasn't into that. One summer my brother, my cousins and me were all hanging out and they started playing and I just jumped in the game. I started to like the game, but the point is that wasn't something I did but was influenced to do so by my environment.

My family in Louisiana speaks English but they also speak Creole. For those who don’t know Creole is a form of broken down French. I myself don’t know much Creole besides words that form basic conversations. The way they influence me is with an accent. Their English is spoken with an accent and that usually rubs off on me while I’m there.

When people are comfortable (or extremely upset/frustrated), they often fall back on the language they feel more comfortable expressing themselves in. This example connects with me, because when I’m in Louisiana with my mother and grandma, who were raised there, they often mix their English with Creole when talking to our cousins.

In class we discussed how people often “ code-switch “ and I think this connects with setting the most. When people are in an uncomfortable setting they get nervous and switch codes. By this I mean they change their tone of voice and the way they pronounce certain words.

I switch codes very often. I usually speak in proper English in a proper tone with a few slang words thrown in.  When I’m talking to people in powerful positions (i.e. principals, teachers, staff) I speak strictly proper English. This happens with most people who get into a setting that involves lots of people who have great effects on their life.

When I’m around my peers I speak slang, because I don’t have a reason to speak proper. I think the main reason people speak slang around their peers is because they feel comfortable enough to speak how ever they want with out fear of critical judgment. For example, mispronouncing a word with my friends doesn’t affect me as much as mispronouncing a word during a presentation.

That’s when setting connects with “ power “. By power I mean they have a very important position in the community. Peers don’t have much power because the judgment they pass doesn’t affect a person’s life as much as the judgment from a principal or a parent.

Some settings don’t influence people at all. Someone traveling to a job that they don't enjoy will come back the same, because if a person doesn't enjoy their work environment then they must not be comfortable.

People often influence the setting they are in. I influence my school and home setting a lot. One example would be when I come home speaking slang that I recently picked up at school or while I was out and after I say it a few times it rubs off on my family.

Me: Wassup?
Devon (brother): what you getting into today?
Me: I don’t even know fam hbu?
Devon: Chilling, now ride out.
Me: What
Devon: Ride out nigga
Me: Stop playing!
Devon: Whatever boul
Me: That’s not you.

Neither one of use really knew the slang the other was using but context helped out a little. That scene involved us both exchanging slang. The phrases “ ride out”, “ That’s not you” were exchanged and now we both use them in everyday conversations.

All of these ideas connect making a setting seem more complex than most people think. Many people don’t think that their setting influences them as much as I expressed in this essay. Most people don’t notice the little changes in their language when their environment changes, maybe now they will.

The Right to Assemble

1st Amendment (Right to Assemble)
We can come together and act as a collective voice. We bring awareness from a grass-root level to what we think the issues are and how to solve them. Our unity can convince the government and officials to reform policies and have the interest of the people in mind.



·       Why did you choose this topic?

    • With Phresh Philadelphia and the things that I’ve been interested in lately, the right to assemble was something that I think is very important. Lately I’ve been into African American society and the problems within the African American community and the right to assemble is something that should be utilized within the community.

·       What did you like about this project? What was most challenging?

    • I liked the video aspect of the project. The most challenging part for me was the editing and putting it all together. The question I had was, “What do I say?” because the right to assemble is important.

·       Describe the most interesting fact or event that you investigated.

    • The most interesting event that I investigated would be Fracking. I know it is pretty overdone however I liked the approach that certain people made. I loved Gas Lands and the fact that people actually are trying to assemble and fight off this abomination.

·       How could this project be improved?

    • I don’t think we had a lot of historical evidence. It was unclear as to how much we needed. We were unsure of whether the project was what does this amendment mean or was it what does it mean and information.

·       Where did you run into trouble with the project?

    •  Changing Partners.

·       What went well with this project?

    • The videos and the things that were used and put together.

·       If you had it to do over, what would you change about your decisions or your process?

    • I would have definitely started the project a bit earlier just to establish more historical fact.

·       What did you learn?

    • I learned a lot about partners and equal work ethic.

 Righttoassemble

http://scienceleadership.org/users/tkidd   <-------The video don't work





The Right to Assemble

1st Amendment (Right to Assemble)

We can come together and act as a collective voice. We bring awareness from a grass-root level to what we think the issues are and how to solve them. Our unity can convince the government and officials to reform policies and have the interest of the people in mind.

http://scienceleadership.org/blog/Right_TO_Assemble

I liked the fact that I was able to go over the things I already do in my city. We were given the ability to create a video that took the form of anything we wanted it to be, which is one of the easiest ways to express yourself and your opinion. Specifically to me, I embody my opinion so personally, I feel like what ever I have to say actually holds some weight to it.

It's always interesting knowing that even after you assemble as a people, there's the possibility that your collective voice might not make an actual difference. There are many times that is the case, which makes me think of the best ways to come together with people and bring people to together. An example of this is Occupy Wall Street, which didn't seem to do much but make a lot of noise, but that's not to say it was pointless.

I could have improved my project by going deeper into the work I do and try to get done in my city. People would then get a serious feel for how deeply the right to assemble actually is to me.

Normally I do all the project myself if I'm working with a group, but this time I didn't because my computer was down. My partner and I added a member to the group after we were already established, my group and I were late, and the communication seemed good, but everyone had their own agenda, which shows of course in the overall work. What did work was the fact that the project came together, and for all the issues we had as a group, it isn't terrible.

If I had to do things over again, I might have worked by myself or took lead more. I normally do, but this time I decided not to be "that guy" which didn't work to my favor too well.

This project reenforced my knowledge that with the right to assemble, there most be movement there after. Without it, a collective voice speaks loudly, but doesn't make progress.

200 Photos

For this assignment Ms. Hull wanted us to edit 5 photos. For this project Ms. Hull showed us how to use photoshop. I happy she did because I HAD NO IDEA HOW TO USE IT! Now i am sorta good at it.I played around with the effects for awhile because I liked using different lighting to make it a whole new picture. For my pictures I either changed the lighting or cropped it. Or added more tones for it. It was very fun to do. Now photoshop is simple to use.
normal_nature%2Bscenery%2Blanscape%2B1024x768
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Screen Shot 2012-01-23 at 8.38.37 AM
Flowers-Pictures-1
Flowers-Pictures-1
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most-beach-scenery
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Screen Shot 2012-01-23 at 8.35.17 AM
Rocky-Mountain-Scenery
Rocky-Mountain-Scenery

Q2- Relationship Questions and Answers ft. Freshman

        This project required me to take a topic and ask students about it. I asked the upperclassman at Science Leadership Academy the questions that I should ask the freshman at Science Leadership Academy. Once I found out what questions I wanted to ask, I asked 6 different freshmen for all four of the videos and one senior for one of the videos. I filmed this video in the same space so that the background in this video is constant. Also, the videos have the same overall flow. Below is a list of the questions I used with a link to the post that contains the videos.

 

Questions:

 

1.     How do you think women should be treated in a relationship?

2.     What would you do if someone hit you/ How do you feel about being hit?

3.     What are your views on sex?

4.     How do you feel about relationships in High school?

 

VIDEOS!!!!

Q2- Internet Sculpture


           This Project required me to take a photo from the Internet and try to recreate it but keep a certain aspect about it. This picture, the first picture below this post, shows a girl standing in front of birds on a clothesline attached using clothespins. The picture below is a recreation of the picture above. The aspect of the picture that remains the same is that the birds are secured on the clothesline using a Clothespin. Also, my recreation still has a vintage and rustic feel to it. The color of the birds is the true color in this as it is in the picture that I got from the Internet.  However, I did take out the person standing in the picture that I got from the Internet. I wanted the birds to really stand out.


           The remaking of the picture from the internet took a lot of time. First, I dyed clothespins different colors and let it dry over night. Then, I cut square sheets of different color construction paper and made origami swans. Next, I used hemp rope as a Clothesline and tied it to the tree in my front yard. Then, I tied hemp rope around the neck of the origami swans. Then, I attached the swans to the tree using the dyed clothespins.  Overall, this project was a great learning experience.

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