The  Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 was first introduced to the House January 5, 2007, by George Miller. The first thought would be to write his office a letter about how more change needs to be made, but as of January 3, of this year (2011) he is no longer in office. The next person of power who was one of the bills largest supporters that I would write would be Arlen Specter, as well as Chaka Fatah. As they are huge supporters of the bill and they are the senator and state representative of my district. I chose to write a letter because any other method, such as a PSA or ads would be difficult. A PSA would be difficult jus because Id like to show the suffering people go through from lack of income firsthand and I doubt there is anyone who’d like to volunteer their life to be shown on TV. I also feel as though, ads are very ineffective because I myself see a million ads a day, and remember very few of them.

So, I wrote a letter to the Chaka Fatah, as well as Arlen Specter:

“Dear  ____ :

Hello, my name is Alexis Montgomery and I attend Science Leadership Academy. Recently, one of our assignments in our American Government class was to choose a topic we felt strongly bout and lobby it. I chose to lobby Minimum Wage. From the beginning of time, when people decided to start trading money, jewels, valuables, etc in return for labor, one of the biggest issues was the amount of wages the laborer received. This problem had reached such signifigance in the US that the Fair Labor Standards Act was initially introduced to the House in 1938. The Fair Labor Standards Act applies to "employees who are engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or who are employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce", unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage. This first act opened the doorway to change in America, from then on every few years, new acts were created to change the amount of wages paid to workers through bills such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Department of Defense Authorization Act of 1986, etc.

In 2008, the wages reached an all-time high of $7.25 due to the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. This change created  a large jump in the poverty line graph from year to year. Although we’ve made such progress, we haven’t made enough. I’m sure your already aware that 15% of the United States lies below the poverty line STILL. Yes, we cant save everyone, but if we can lower that number as much as possible at least we’ve accomplished something.

Through examination of minimum wage, I’ve researched, in the 2009/ 2010 Poverty Guildlines, that the poverty line, or “poverty threshold” in this country for a 3 unit size household is $18, 310. This number, is considering that all three family members work. What about single mothers with children? Even a single mother with two children, who are too young to work, the poverty line would be $10,830. Is that really all a mother and her children can live off? If the minimum wage is $7.25, and the mother works 40 hours a week, she only makes $7,540. That is still $3,290 below the poverty line. How is the minimum wage effective, if this still leaves some people working their tales off, but still coming below the poverty line. I applaud your effort in helping and voting for the Fair Minimum wage Act of 2007 and I ask that you please take this consideration. I hope that you reply to this email.

Alexis Montgomery

Science Leadership Academy

55 N. 22^nd St.

Philadelphia, Pa 19103

(215) 910 0637

Hello, I'm not sure if you got my email but I'm going to send it to you again. My apologies for responding late but you said an volunteer opportunity was "If you have any connections at area grade schools or high schools, let us know; we are always trying to get into schools with our Humane Education Presentations." What does this mean or involve actually? I am asking because I attended Science Leadership Academy and many people here are vegetarian, and not to long a go in a history class was playing a move on how our food is produce and what they do to the animals. So, if you or any of your members of the Humane League would like to come and talk to our school that be grate. Just let me know. Have a blissful rest of the week. 

Sincerely,

Leeann Nguyen. :]

It took Lydia until today to message me back on the topic. She was happy I followed up to make sure she got the email and responded with this email: 

Hi Leanne,

Thanks for following up with me! I did indeed have miss  your earlier email so I appreciate  your reaching out again.

Our Humane Ed presentations   focus on the ethical issues of factory farming and its impact on animals, the environment and human health.  They are free and virtually always get great feedback from students. You can learn a bit more from clicking on the link above.

The most important information we would need from you is the name and contact information of a particular teacher who would be interested in devoting his or her classroom time to one of our presentations. Appropriate teachers might be biology teachers, ethics teachers, social sciences teachers, or perhaps in your case, the history teacher who showed the movie you described. If you can provide a name of someone who would be receptive to the idea of a presentation, let  me know and I will follow up from there.  

If you need any more information or have other questions, contact me!

Thanks again,

Lydia

I'm thrilled she had messaged me back on this matter but a little disappointed in myself that it was to close to the due date to make this an event for people. If I had more time I would have liked Lydia to come in and talk to students that are interested in the topic as well and go and volunteer at an event with her. I should have followed up with my first email sooner then I did. I know that their are a lot of organization out there that deal with animal cruelty that I could also contacted for example PSACA, WSPA, and FoA. I reflect on this and am glad I had the chance to be in contact with Lydia and for her to give me information on what their organization does to help prevent animal cruelty and I wouldn't change my topic, I would just have wished I could have done more. 

Nasir was the biggest bully in the 5^th grade. I didn’t know what he meant so I responded with “Whatchu mean?”

 “I heard you talk like me mane. You talk hood.”

“Uhm Ok?” (But I didn’t understand what he was talking about).  “I do because I’m from the hood.”

          “Well you need to turn dat around cuz I’m da only white boul dat talk black up in here.”

“Yea whatever u say. I talk the way I talk and if you don’t like it we can walk to walk.”

“I was just saying cuz everybody in this jawn think and call you a ‘wanna be.’”

         “Really?”

“Yep just thought you would like to know.”

From then I reacted thoughtfully and feelingly. I felt as though I wasn’t welcomed or wanted. I was pretty much the only kid that didn’t talk to anyone except for when I was doing my work and the teacher called upon me. I didn’t bother talking to anyone because the kids were all rude and whatnot. I already knew how I was and if I got into trouble with anyone it would not be pretty. So I sat aside from everybody. Then I come to find out no one really liked me in the first place. Consequently I reacted like I cared a little bit but not in front of Nasir’s face. While I was talking to him I acted like I didn’t really care but deep down inside I did. I should have just accepted it originally because I shouldn’t care what people would think. The voice is the power of me, and the power of me makes my internal identity wise. This is important because I’m different from the inside to the outer edge of me. I may act tough externally. But I have a sensibility side inside of me. Therefore, my internal identity is the voice and accent I hold. Even though people didn’t buy/accept my speech, it was just my identity. 

In the words of James Baldwin, “The price for this is the acceptance, and achievement, of one’s temporal identity.” He believes that identity is rated from acceptance and achievement. By rated I mean its settled between acceptance and achievement. Voice is the stability of acceptance. Back to my case I accepted my own act but no one else did. My vocals grew into me by the surroundings and areas I live in. I speak “black English” because of some of my brothers, the people I grew up with put together my voice.

 I really don’t care about how I talk anymore, unlike when I was in the 5^th grade. This changed overtime by maturity levels. From starting off caring at a non-mature level to concerning-free at a matured level. I used to feel embarrassed until people started talking to me. Without this characteristic, I wouldn’t be the person I am now. So the way I speak defines who I am and who I am defines the way I speak. Now the way I look at it, as it’s the trait that makes me internally; it makes me feel good to know whom I am!

After a very long night of fun, my cousins, Josh and Joel and I fell fast asleep while trying to stay up all night.

“Hey, wake up. Get up man.”

“Whaaat,” Josh replied in a dying voice.

“I said get up, me and your brother have been up for a while waiting on you. Why are you so tired anyway, we only stayed up until like 6 in the morning.”

“It’s actually your brother and I,” Said Joel in a joking manner. “You have to say it proper, replied Joel while smiling.”

“Oh my bad, didn’t mean to offend you.  Ard, Josh your brother and I have been up waiting for you to get out of your slumber for a while now. I would really appreciate it if you got up,” I said in a proper voice. “Was that proper enough, Joel?”

             “Oh yeah, that was chillin cous,” answered Joel in a joking manner. “YO JOSH, Get yo butt up now, you hear boy.” “I’m not gown tell ya no mow,” screamed Joel in his best southern enunciation. “Get up Now!” roared Joel while hitting Josh with a pillow.

“Oh My God, I’ll get up if you stop talking like that Joel,” Josh grumbled irritated.

“Is my southern accent getting to you boy, didn’t mean it, sometimes it just comes out, like a fart,” Joel said in a kidding manner.

“Oh would you stop already.” “You sound so stupid,” grumbled Josh. 

“Hahahah, I thought it was pretty funny, come on lets get going. I want to check out your area’s mall, haven’t been there yet,” I said.

“Wait, we have to go get Juan. I told him we would go get him,” said Josh.

“Ok, lets go,” replied Joel.

“Who is Juan,” I asked.

“A kid we met at our new school,” answered Josh.

While walking over, the three of us enjoyed some Laughs, talking about all the good times we had on our old block. Knock, knock, knock. The door opens.

“What sup dudes and other dude who I don’t know,” said Juan. 

“Sup,” Josh and Joel replied.

“Hey I’m Jarred, nice to meet you.”

“Hey, I’m Juan, if the twins didn’t already tell you.”  “Lets go out and rock this place.” “Where are we going exactly?” Asked Juan.

“To the mall,” answered Joel.

“Lets go to the Mall, yeah lets rock and roll dudes,” yelled Juan.

“If you haven’t noticed he’s a really hyper guy,” Joel whispered to me.

“Yeah I see DUDE,” I whispered back in a mimicking way. 

We start walking to the mall. All four of us, full of energy, ready to go hang out and seek out girls to talk too. While entering the mall, Juan began to talk again. 

“Oh yeah ladies, Juan has arrived; gentlemen lets get started shall we. Wow, aren’t you modest, I replied.  I try, answered Juan in a goofy way.

We all started laughing.

“Just kidding, Oh yeah I meant to ask you, where are you from, Jarred?” Asked Juan. 

“Philly,” I replied in a nonchalant way.

“Oh just like Josh and Joel, Philadelphia, the city of Brotherly love. Makes sense,” said Juan.

Why does it make sense, I asked.

I don’t know, because you have an accent, just like the twins. You all sound like city boys to me,” answered Juan.  

Just as he spoke those words, in the back of my mind the word accent rang and rang. I thought me, an accent, this guy talks so weird and he claims that we have an accents. Also I thought, I’m from Philadelphia, no one who speak with a Philadelphian dialect has an accent. I couldn’t believe what he was saying, I wasn’t angry, I was just really surprised of the fact that he said we had accents.  I guess me being so accustomed to the way I speak made me feel that I spoke a natural dialect. I thought that everyone who spoke normal, spoke like us (Philadelphians), and if you didn’t you were not normal and you had an accent. I never thought of myself as being the one who sounded different. But then again, when I thought of accent I thought of southerners and their twang.  My closed-minded thoughts of different dialects, kept me believing that “Philadelphia talk”, was the proper way to speak.  But I wasn’t going to change my diction just to fit in this area. The Great writer, Richard Rodriguez said, “ In public, my father and mother spoke a hesitant, accent, not always grammatical English. And they would have to strain their bodies tense to catch the sense of what was rapidly said by los gringos.” His parents changed the way they spoke in order to fit in with a group of people, and that just wasn’t me. I couldn’t image changing the way I speak, think and act because of some kid! My so-called accent was what made me, me, and I wasn’t about to give up my 14 years of “Philly talk”, erase my speech just so I feel more accepted. I thought about it and said to myself, your own dialect helps to express what you feel. It also helps to make you, who you are and I wasn’t about to change, who I was.

“Wow, city boys, really,” replied Joel. 

“You’re the one with the accent, and you talk weird,” said Josh.

“What, no way dude, I totally talk normal, replied Juan shockingly.

“You say dude, like every 5 seconds, now tell me that’s normal,” answered Joel while laughing. 

“Whatever, I’m not the one who can’t pronounce the “ing” part in my words.  I’m “trippin cous”,” Juan said, in a mocking tone.

“Laugh out loud, you’re pretty funny.” “He is right about that, I admit we don’t pronounce all of our words correctly.” “But at least we don’t start off every sentence with ‘Like’ or ‘Dude’.” “‘And like he totally wrecked Dude’,” I replied mocking Juan in a playful manner.”

“Whatever, man hey you don’t even know me,” answered Juan.

“Oh, I was just playing man,” I replied. 

“I know, I’m only kidding. Now lets go hunt some girls,” shouted Juan.

“Oh My Gosh, we are not hunting girls, we are just here to chill, I said.

“Hey speak for yourself,” replied Juan.

We all burst into a loud uproar of laughter while walking and enjoying ourselves in the mall. 

Silver Stream

1/04/2011

The Identity Behind Speech 

“What rice want?” He snapped at me. 

“Pardon?” I asked. 

“What rice you want?” He asked a little louder. 

“Sticky.” I responded after a long pause. 

Besides the obvious facts like that he had Chinese characteristics and worked at a chinese store, you could tell he was from China. The way he spoke brought that out. He wasn’t a typical Asian-American but born and raised in China. Probably came to America as a teenager. He couldn’t have been older then 20. 

I got my food and left, pondering for a while. You could tell a lot by a persons speech. Walking home, I saw some guys standing at the corner. I don’t have a better way of describing them then ‘gangsters’. Oversized jeans closer to the ground then their bottom, boxers hanging out, nike high tops and dark hoodies. 

“Damn, tha jawn bad.” One of them announced, eyeing a woman that was now crossing the street.

“Yo, she hot.” One of the guys agreed with him.

“She ‘ard.” The third smirked. 

“You just salty cause you know you couldn’ land a chick like that.” The first guy teased. 

They were obviously from Philadelphia. Born and raised in the general area. The little bits I heard of the conversation indicated a clear understanding of Philadelphian slang.  Words such as ‘jawn’ and  ‘salty’  aren’t used anywhere else. And their accent sounded it too. Probably from North or West Philly. Not really surprising since I was in West but it was still fascinating how much the way they spoke gave away. It also made me think of who they were trying to be. They wanted to sound tough and chill. Class didn’t matter but they still managed to get across that they owned the place; Just by the tone in their voice. 

James Baldwin said that “A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey.”  He is stating that a language develops when it is needed, when people don’t have the ability to communicate with each other. This shows that with every language comes a history. A reason why it was created and a reflection of the people who speak it. An example would be ‘Black English’, which was pieced together by slaves who came to America from Africa and couldn’t speak to each other. Referring to this example, Baldwin also stated that “...And (he; African Americans) enters a limbo in which he will no longer be black, and in which he knows that he can never become white.” It means that with the language that a person speaks comes not only with a history but an identity. Language reveals a person, but also creates them. 

In the streets of London, England, the way one speaks gives away everything about them. The formality in their tone reflects their education which goes as far as signifying their wealth and the status of their family. Their accent shows the region they are from and their vocabulary gives of what they aspire to be or what they have become. 

The way I speak just as much reveals who I am. I speak a clear, proper English without too much of a specific accent. This makes sense considering I learned to speak the language in pre-school when I was two. I was taught standard textbook English. If you listen to me talk long enough though, I sometimes let German slip, that’s because I was born in Austria and it was my first language. Even odder, I switch between accents and slang when I speak fast. Since I live in Philadelphia, I’ve picked up some Philly slang but I also use Australian words and phrases, having lived there for a fair amount of time. If you heard me for long enough, you could probably guess my life story.

Speech is a dead giveaway when it comes to a person. It reflects your history and your current status as well as your emotions. The way you project your voice signifies how you feel in a situation. Your vocabulary shows who you are as a person. Your accent reflects your history. Though just simple words coming from a mouth, language is an identity. 

Keanu Farrow

January 10^th, 2011

English 10^th:

“Stewed Language”

 My language describes whom I am as and individual. It shows people how I can manipulate myself to not only understand other dialects, but also use them to my advantage to either speak to someone of lower power and higher importance.

Coming from a family of inhabitants with an education level of an esteemed college student, it was very easy to learn the “gifted tongue” of a politician.

Possibly the best demonstration of this was when I was in my last year in junior-high. Back at Cook-Wissahickon, a newly formed student government was formed and in need of a senator, vice-president, and president. I rose to the situation ran for office. I used my intelligence to guide my speech and persuade the community into allowing me to become 8^th grade president.

According to James Baldwin, “Language reveals the speaker.” In my 16 years of life my language has revealed that I was the type of child who had no reference of “casual speech” or in this case having no recall of making the way I spoke to the audience in a more casual way whilst using slang or “Anglicism”, words distorted by the English language.

As stated before, I came from a family who spoke the tongue of highly educated citizen, but when growing up my language hindered the process of making friends.

I once lived in one of the “un-safe” parts of Philadelphia known as Brickyard located just a bit further from Germantown. The inhabitants spoke a somewhat distorted version of English known as “Ghetto talk” by many other people. Slang was a big influence in all types of speech, as Philadelphia needs its own dictionary to understand the way its settlers communicate with each other.  I was put into the environment surrounded by people who talked very different compared to me. In any conversation it would either be repeated due to the fact that barely anybody understood my vocabulary since I spoke with such big words. 

Referenced by James Baldwin, “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate.” Learning slang to communicate with others is somewhat an evolution in the way I speak. I manipulated my situation as a highly educated child in a bad neighborhood to speak the language of the other citizens in Brickyard.

There were times in my life where my language was put to the test and day by day; Anglicism was made a priority to get by. In the short story “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, the author Giona Anzadúa said, her language “Chicano Spanish is a border tongue which developed naturally.” I remember my family moving from different neighborhoods, to different cities, and eventually to a different state.

Virginia Beach, Virginia was my latest move back in June of 2004.  Back then I had mastered the “slang” vocabulary of Philadelphia and could manipulate myself to achieve power in conversations. When I relocated to Virginia, everything made a complete 180. I remember trying to talk to one of my newly made friends in Virginia. I asked him for some water, but in the Philadelphian accent I said the term “wood-er” to which raised eyebrows towards me. I never really fit in when conversing with the people of Virginia at first. To do so I had to learn their dialect as well as keeping up with my own “home-bred” language. I started hanging around children and adults who spoke a diluted version of “Cajun-country” a form of country speech that also has roots tie in from Louisiana. After about 4 months living in Virginia, I had mastered the tongue spoken in the state.

My language is really how it defines me as an individual. It shows me how I can literally alter the way I talk to gain not only friends, but power in almost everything. My language started out as one specific thing as simply one language. Throughout the course of my 16 years of life languages from all over the country have mixed in with mine and distorted my native tongue to create a “stewed-version’ of my language. To this day, my language represents who I am, and over the course of the future, I will have new languages mix into my language, manipulating my tongue and altering the way I can converse with the community.

The Problem In School Safety

On December 17, 2008 the School District of Philadelphia adopted a new bullying policy in order to increase the safety of Philadelphia schools. The school district stated the following on their website:

Resolved, that the School Reform Commission hereby adopts the attached primary Policy on Bullying and its prevention/intervention in order to ensure compliance with HB 1067 (PA), amending "Article XIII-A Safe Schools" in the Pennsylvania School Code of 1949, that requires each school entity to adopt a policy relating to bullying.

The newly adopted policy covered just about every piece of bullying, to make sure their procures were up to date with all the rules and regulations given by the state. From defining the act as:

Bullying is characterized by the following three (3) criteria:

• It is aggressive behavior or intentional harm doing.

• It is carried out repeatedly over time.

• It occurs within an interpersonal relationship where there is an imbalance of power (e.g. one person is physically larger, stronger, mentally quicker or socially more powerful).

To laying out the coarse of action if a student were ever involved in bullying. So the issue is not that the system is non-existent but the fact that most kids don’t even know that this is around. Many of the problems that are district has faced in the past couple of months could have been handled better if the schools allowed the students to know of these guidelines. Instead of making the student feel as though nothing could be done, they would have known there were many outlets in order to keep them safe.

How to solve the Problem

ENFORCE THE POLICIES!!

Many schools don’t even mention the act of bullying or violence until something drastic happens. Like the incident that happened at South Philly High that made international headlines. Things like this would not have to happen if we were to crack down on the safety in our schools.

Link to the Policy: http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/s/safety/bullying-prevention/bullying-policy3

The future of school safety

If we were to enforce the policies of anit-bullying then the numbers would decrease. Now, that these rules we’re being enforced, and setting up a no tolerance bullying system the safety of our students would take a turn for the better. If students began to understand the effect of what they have done then that would understand the seriousness of the issue, resulting in the drop of bullying.

If things were to stay the same, then the situation would have to choice but to get worse. Students would continue to act the way they do now, and the safety of our schools would never get better. If we continue to let these bullies think that what they are doing are ok, then students will no longer feel safe. It will not only hurt the schools but the future of the students. We have no choice but to enforce these rules, until kids understand.

For my final lobbying assignment I took the time to attempt at establishing communication between State Rep Ronald Waters and myself. I received the same response as before to where my request was being processed and because if the extensive amounts of emails to Mr. Waters delay was to be expected and it would take time from his office to reply on the emails. My first attempt was within either Lobbying assignment #3 or #4. Hopefully this attempt will close a line of communication between Mr. Waters and myself. 

Within the following two days time span of me sending an email to Rep. Waters communication directly with Mr. Waters office in Harrisburg and Philadelphia was also attempted. 

A message was left with one of his telephone office officials and other means of communication is underway. 

My progress will be updated on establishing a clear line of communication. 

After trying to establish a clear line of communication to someone in the Philadelphia field office of State Rep. Waters little to no progress has been made on their part. I called multiple times and due to high volumes of phone calls and emails I was placed on a list of those who will be contacted In the order at which they where received.

IN my first email i restated my objective and its purpose and once i called his office i stated briefly what my objective and purpose was again. I sent two emails and called his office twice with messages that followed after my failing attempts. 

If the office of State Rep. Ronald Waters attempts to contact me I will comply with my elegant contentions and discuses my lobbying issue in hope for change.  

David A. Buckholtz

Sending out emails to me is not effective. I would have to send out hundreds of emails to people who would not have the time to personally message me back in time to finish this project or not knowing if the person that replies to it is actually the person written to. Instead I would like to create a 30 second PSA or commercial with people from all ages and race groups that have been convicted served their time but cannot vote to say "I made a mistake but Ive changed" with a quick profile of the person running by on the screen with their age, race, what they did and how long ago. 

After making this video I would then:

• Publish on a public blogging site.
• Share the link with a News Station.
• Publish on SLA's blogging site.
• Send the link to the Washington Post
• Send the link to the congressman who introduced the law.

Reflection: 

Although I hope to still do this video, it was very hard to find people that would actually be comfortable talking about that they did, especially those who are able or not able to vote today. Instead I took their stories and anonymously wrote a word document that expressed how they felt about the bill and the fact they were not allowed to vote. There were two people who I interviewed and both stories were completely different. Attached is the google doc link.

Sending out emails to me is not effective. I would have to send out hundreds of emails to people who would not have the time to personally message me back in time to finish this project or not knowing if the person that replies to it is actually the person written to. Instead I would like to create a 30 second PSA or commercial with people from all ages and race groups that have been convicted served their time but cannot vote to say "I made a mistake but Ive changed" with a quick profile of the person running by on the screen with their age, race, what they did and how long ago. 

After making this video I would then:

• Publish on a public blogging site.
• Share the link with a News Station.
• Publish on SLA's blogging site.
• Send the link to the Washington Post
• Send the link to the congressman who introduced the law.

Reflection: 

Although I hope to still do this video, it was very hard to find people that would actually be comfortable talking about that they did, especially those who are able or not able to vote today. Instead I took their stories and anonymously wrote a word document that expressed how they felt about the bill and the fact they were not allowed to vote. There were two people who I interviewed and both stories were completely different. Attached is the google doc link.

Sending out emails to me is not effective. I would have to send out hundreds of emails to people who would not have the time to personally message me back in time to finish this project or not knowing if the person that replies to it is actually the person written to. Instead I would like to create a 30 second PSA or commercial with people from all ages and race groups that have been convicted served their time but cannot vote to say "I made a mistake but Ive changed" with a quick profile of the person running by on the screen with their age, race, what they did and how long ago. 

After making this video I would then:

• Publish on a public blogging site.
• Share the link with a News Station.
• Publish on SLA's blogging site.
• Send the link to the Washington Post
• Send the link to the congressman who introduced the law.

Reflection: 

Although I hope to still do this video, it was very hard to find people that would actually be comfortable talking about that they did, especially those who are able or not able to vote today. Instead I took their stories and anonymously wrote a word document that expressed how they felt about the bill and the fact they were not allowed to vote. There were two people who I interviewed and both stories were completely different. Attached is the google doc link.

Sending out emails to me is not effective. I would have to send out hundreds of emails to people who would not have the time to personally message me back in time to finish this project or not knowing if the person that replies to it is actually the person written to. Instead I would like to create a 30 second PSA or commercial with people from all ages and race groups that have been convicted served their time but cannot vote to say "I made a mistake but Ive changed" with a quick profile of the person running by on the screen with their age, race, what they did and how long ago. 

After making this video I would then:

• Publish on a public blogging site.
• Share the link with a News Station.
• Publish on SLA's blogging site.
• Send the link to the Washington Post
• Send the link to the congressman who introduced the law.

Reflection: 

Although I hope to still do this video, it was very hard to find people that would actually be comfortable talking about that they did, especially those who are able or not able to vote today. Instead I took their stories and anonymously wrote a word document that expressed how they felt about the bill and the fact they were not allowed to vote. There were two people who I interviewed and both stories were completely different. Attached is the google doc link.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12932727/Movie%20on%202010-10-28%20at%2009.01.flv

AJ Carter

1-6-11

Art statement 2

            For this project I selected to do superhero symbols. At first I didn’t know which one I wanted to do for my project. I tried doing superman that didn’t work out so well, I tried doing the Flash symbol and that was even worse. So generally I was have bad progress at first. So I thought why not try Batman’s because I used to do it a lot when I was a kid.

            At first I thought why not go bigger by making a poster of Batman himself. That didn’t quiet work out like I had planned. The hero was not all to good so I decided against it. After that I went back to just doing the symbol. So to practice I Just did rows and rows of Batman symbols. Then I finally shot for the big one, which turned out pretty good.

            I think for the next marking period ill try doing the actual hero. Since the period is so long I can work on how to make him. Pick up some ideas on the way on how to make it better. Practice a lot, and maybe a little copying practice so I can see how others draw him. That way the final project looks great.

Link

    I've always loved art, and I spend a lot of my life working on drawings and paintings. But this quarter, a lot of holidays and special occasions for someone special to me were coming up. So I decided to make them a present instead of buying one, and to make something different from the field I'm most used to.     I usually pick themes of emotions that are most dominant in my life. I take my time when it comes to my work, partly because I want it to be done right, but mostly because my motivation is just the satisfaction of seeing my drawing skills become more refined as time passes. This quarter I have found that when I have a more common goal of someone else's happiness as opposed to just a "good" grade, I am better motivated to take on creative projects and to spend every free minute I have to work on it.     My first piece is a bracelet with a personalized charm. It is based on the person it was made for. He has a signature of himself as a little cartoon that he likes to sign his drawings with. So I took a copy of that signature and made it from metal from a can. I had decided on a can because I wanted it to be more permanent than paper or foam. When I first thought of a charm, my mind automatically went to metal, and the next thought was that my resources could easily get me a can and scissors that could cut through metal. I used a cloth to cover the back of it so that it won't cut through the skin, and that became a birthday present.

My second piece was for the same person who happens to love video games and specifically Mario games.  So I made a personalized question block from cardboard paper using pictures from the internet and images from playing the game myself. I also cut out items that are usually found when a question block is hit: a star, a green/red mushroom, a feather, and a fire flower. After painting all of these items, I made it a little more personal inside the box, painting it my own way and making a story and picture. After glueing everything together, and putting all of the items inside the box, I added in chocolate coins. There were mess ups, and my biggest challenge was the time limit and the time the paint wanted to dry. But everything was finished the way my mind wanted it, and bringing joy to the person all of this was meant for brought a more accomplished and happy feeling inside me than any of my other work could have ever done.

En mi opinión yo creo que la marqua Nike se enfoca mas hacia los jóvenes. Muchas de las publicidades que tienen contienen a atletas famosos. Con esto tratan de vender sus productos  hacia una audiencia joven. La marqua también se trata de enfocar en vivir una vida siendo diferente a los demás y una vida esforzándose a tener mejor vidas usando productos de Nike. En algunos de sus publicidades me di cuenta que la marca se olvida de enfocarse en su marca y sus logos puestos y bien representados para atraer la atención mas.

Yo escogí hacer mi contrapublicidad en  la marca  Nike porque hay mucho gente que conozco que se sienten influidos  por la marca y lo que ofrece. En la contrapublicidad no se vende un producto si no una marca,Nike. La compañía se trata de enfocar en ofrecer productos originales y frescos. Esto ase que cada dia se haga mas popular la marca. La marca es vista mucho en SLA. No solo los que son atletas y asen un cierto deporte. Hay muchos que usan esta marca. Tienen tennis,ropa,accesorios y cosas variadas.

En la contrapublicidad que escogí se están enfocando en acerté mas fuerte. Tiene a la modelo posando un poco sudada, como si hubiera acabado de hacer ejercicio. Algo que apunta a que la modelo estaba asiendo ejercicio es su ropa. Tiene ropa que normalmente se usa para hacer deporte o ejercicio. También dice la publicidad “Hazte Fuerte”. Algo que atrae a los jóvenes a hacer deporte con ropa Nike. Algo que yo incluí que no estaba es que cambia la modelo. En el  que yo hice si esta asiendo algo. Ella esta corriendo y se ve que se esta esforzando. También la ISE resaltar porque la puse a ella en color en una foto que es Blanca y negra. No solo eso si no cambia las palabras y puse “Asta Mucho Mas Fuerte.” En algo también que me enfoco es en dejar la palabra Nika ser mas vista para la audiencia.

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La marca converse es reconocida por ser una marca que a durado mucho tiempo en uso por gente de todas las edades. Converse por los años se han convertido en una marca muy reconocida entre gente de varias edades. En mi opinión lo que converse trata de enseñar en sus publicidades es tener tu propio estilo y ser diferente. Solo ay esto en ciertas marcas que se enfocan en darle a la gente.

Converse llego a mi mente cuando me di cuente que muchos estudiantes y muchos de mis amigos en la escuela usan esta marca. No solo los tenis si no también la marca de ropa y los bolsos. Para mi esta compañía se enfoca en dejar un impacto a sus compradores, el impacto de que no tienes que caer en un moldo que la sociedad te asa caer en. En mi opinión converse es una de las pocas marcas que ase esto. Ellos tratan de crear ropa,zapatos, y accesorios para todo tipo de estilos. Lo que me gusta también mucho de sus publicidades es que dejan que modelos actúen espontáneamente para dar un visión mas natural. 

La publicidad que yo escogí de converse fue una muy simple. En la publicidad el modelo solo esta sentado, Vestía con ropa formal y con los tenis converse puestos. Le publicidad dice “Shy? Let your style talk for you.”. En mi opinión lo primero que ase que esta publicidad no llame la atención es que esta en todo blanco y negro. Este efecto solo va a servir en ciertas fotos y esta no fue una de ellas. En la publicidad que yo ise me decidí enfocar mas en los tenis. Las 4 fotos que tiene están en color para poder capturar en ojo de los clientes. Si Deje que el slogan de la publicidad original. En el mio en vez de tomar el signo de converse solo decidi ponerle el nombre de converse.