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This is my Imovie project:

Public link

 http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12879994/My%20First%20Project%20-%20Large.m4v

 For my bureaucracy flow chart project me and my partners looked into Social Security benefits for adults with disabilities. This is for helping people with financial pay or insurances like benefits. There was also a process into looking to get benefits for disabled children. Though it is similar to this in the process but we switched into looking into adults instead.

 The process for going about working in my group was each of taking a part. My partners worked on most of the paperwork and on researching the forms. I also researched and used what they did to creat a flow chart. While working on the chart they would review and give input to help. The paperwork we went through with our project was complex for the fact that there were many other things that are needed to fill out these forms. With out them the process can not take place.

 When working on the flow chart the one thing I would have changed would be that the process sometimes became hard. It was hard for the fact that at times certain forms couldn't be accessed without a really social security number. Others said there were things you needed from other sources which we needed to make up to complete this. I think that this complication it had though was in order to make sure people aren't abusing benefits for their own needs and wants. In the end though it was very interesting to look into and learn about.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12879928/spanish%20benchmark.key 

The bureaucratic task that my partner, Christine Walden, and I researched and flowchart-ed was filing for income tax. In the interest of keeping it simple and clean, we decided to focus on first time income tax filers (under 65 years of age, non-home owner, etc).

We began by narrowing down our subject. We decided on making a guide for first time income tax filers because, quite simply, they are the ones who need the most help. We downloaded the forms, and using the W2 of a generous donor, we completed them. We then created, edited, and submitted the flow chart. 

The paperwork that we needed to fill out was relatively short but tedious. We first made the mistake of printing the forms and the directions, after which we were left with 50 some pages to deal with. I personally mis-marked two forms before realizing that it would be easier to complete it digitally. After matching the correct directions to each sheet, it was pretty easy to enter the numbers and do the addition.

I think the most difficult part of the process was locating the correct paperwork and directions. The forms are labeled in a way that makes it difficult to find the one meant for your situation. If I could change it, I would make the online linking to the forms more user friendly.

The system was, at first, very simple, I'm sure. However, with the development of technology, government, culture, and economics, the process became appropriately tangled. It had to do with the country changing more quickly than the process could, so the powers that be settled for reformatory rather than flat out change.

Leah Stein Dance Co.- Art in Open 2010

Jessi Teich- "Mover and Shaker"

Edited by Dominque Miller

Down below is the Youtube link that will take you straight to my project :)

Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNKYDwebNfc

Debate is tough and awesome and frustrating and exhilarating. The 22 debaters that competed on behalf of SLA this past semester performed impressively. I am humbled to get to work with such a dynamic, fun-loving and tenacious bunch. Thanks to Mr. Lehmann, Luke Van Meter and the parents for your continued support of our efforts. Here's hoping the second semester holds as much fun as the first. Well done, team - well done.

This is late, but here is the 1st game of the SLA boys basketball game against RUSH in its entirety. 

Descriptive Essay

I walk through the living room, through the archway, look at the painting over the archway I remind myself when I was younger.  The painting is of a teacup, sugar and a spoon, which are really the only things you need for making tea except the tea itself. It reminds me how I would always end my day with a nice cup of it.   Pouring water into a mug and heating it in the microwave, the time around 1:45. Thinking of how the day went while the time passed.  Getting the black tea bag ready and bowl of sugar near by.  I would put too much sugar because I liked it very sweet.  And add little bit of milk to make it slightly less hot and more enjoyable.  Carefully bring it into the living room so I don’t spill it.  Then sitting down and relaxing by watching a good TV show, movie or doing nothing at all while I sipped the nice brew.   As I recap my childhood I can’t help but want to do that now but I’m not that much in the mood. Rest and relaxation are you need on a long day of work but pop-tarts and milk will be fine for now.  Sitting down eating I think of my day.

As my arm tires, I pull the trigger.  I drill into the drywall putting an inch and a quarter screw holding it in place. I put more screws in, so my dad could let go of the big piece. I’m not used to doing this work so I have to take breaks sometimes.  I grab more screws from my belt and finish the 4 by 8 piece of sheetrock. As I wait for my dad to finish putting in his side in, I drink some water.  There are two fans in the room but it’s still very hot. We walk into the hallway and pick up a large piece of sheetrock that was rested on top of wooden blocks. We walked back into the room and I noticed our progress so far.   The ceiling dry walled, and both of the remaining walls were insulated. We lift the piece up, held it in place and both drilled in the screws. Eating my pop-tart, I realize that it is important to know these things just in case something happens.  When I am older I might need these skills and a normal lazy person would rather stay home than work for the whole entire summer.  I’ve learned a lot of things of the summer, mostly skilled labor.  Patching roofs, framing a room and stapling installation.  One that particularly was very hard was patching the roof. 

Out in the 90-degree weather and a storm we were up on the roof trying to prevent the resistant leaks.  We weren’t sure where they were, so we decided to patch over the whole thing. I remember one time when storm clouds were moving in, we had to quickly secure and patch the whole back side of the roof.  We had most of it done when I tried to see how far the storm was but I couldn’t really tell and that’s when I felt the first drop.  Working faster I noticed I was coming down harder.  My dad and I rushed to complete out patchwork.  Having a few more parts to seal shut we scooped out the tar in the bucket and lathered in on. I got more tar on myself than the actual roof.  Trying to work together we put mesh in the seams to help strengthen it.  Doing all the work fairly decent, we deicide it will hold the water. We look at it for a second, and then rush down the ladder.  I enjoyed it very much when I think about.

When I look back at this year’s summer I feel it wasn’t at all a waste.  Learning trade, spending time with my dad and doing a good job at it was great. Of all things I learned, putting up drywall, spackling, painting, patching tarring and so on, I think just doing something for my summer was worth while. I feel proud of what I learned and the things I failed at. All in all, these things will probably help me later on somehow but for now I enjoy eating my snack. 

Catherine Nardone

12.19.10

            Its already dark and its freezing cold outside. It was a cold night, which was great for ice skating… but I couldn't go since I was already on my way home

            "Who are you talking to?" My dad asks as I pick up my phone.

            "Nobody," I sign, "I'm on FB."

            "Oh, okay, well, we'll be home soon."

            "K," I signed back to him.

            My phone is in my hand and I'm on my way back home to my mom's house for the weekend. My dad and I are talking, and then I hear it.

            Buzz!

            My mom just texted me…

6:32 pm:

mom: hi whatsup qq

me: nothing, you do do?

mom: i home feel sick… jeff here, soon home…. he go ice skate w. fam… then go home. where you? you plans for wkend?

me: oh that nice. i in car soon home 10 mins. tell jeff stay there… can i w. jeff? i text now. is okay?

mom: sure… you need money? ask don. he give will.

me: okay, we there soon. gtg. okay?

mom: okay see you here.

            So, my mom is deaf. And she's never really stepped out of that world. She grew up in the deaf community, went to school in the deaf community, married into the deaf community, and had children who grew up the same. Until, that is, I came along. My father wasn't born deaf. He get German Measles when he was 3, and lost his hearing. So when I was born, I got his genes and was able to hear. I pretty much got the best of both worlds, and it may not be the same for a lot of people. People get raised in one world, and with one language, and they speak it for the rest of their lives, while probably altering it without noticing it. I speak in my moms language, and I speak in my language. I willingly step into my mother's world, without changing anything about myself, just so that she can understand me. I do that so she doesn't have to. I know she won't, and I know she isn't good at understanding English, so I learn more about sign language to have that better relationship with her.

            Just like in "Mother Tounge" by Amy Tan… She steps into her mother's world of "broken english." "It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with." I suppose this sums it up nicely… I grew up learning two languages, and it'll stay that way.

6:47 pm:

me: Hey! Jefe… How's it going my favorite cousin in the whole wide world (not…jk)? ahaha. Are you going ice skating? Welp, if yer going, can I come? Pweasee? Let me know dude, kay? Love ya!

Jeff: Hey Catheter! Yes, we are going ice skating, and guess who else is coming!?

Me: No.

Jeff: Yes.

Me: OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE. LML LML LML LML!

Jeff: Sure it is?

Me: It really is. Okay, you need to wait for me to go get changed and be a nice little cousin for a little while to tell me if my outfit looks good.

Jeff: Ahh! Kids these days! … Okay.

Me: YES! Okay, be there soon. Love ya!

Jeff: Love ya, my little Cath!

            Most of my cousins can hear. We have lots of inside jokes, and I don't speak to them the way that I would speak to my mom. Amy Tan, once again sums it up in an easier way than I can explain. "Recently I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use." This is me. I just recently became aware of all the different ways that I speak to my friends up North. I mean, it wasn't always this way. I used to be really shy, and it wasn't until about 3 years ago, when I started to talk and form really good relationships with the people I now call some of my closest friends. We have all these inside jokes, and we yell, joke, and tease, but all in good nature. I wouldn't have it any other way.

            “Tristan... Oh my god! Shuddup!”

“Ahhh, cue me… I’m stahnding right here, you don’t have to shout!”

            We were all hanging out at Jeff and Liz’s and this was just one of the first fights between Tristan and I. Tristan, Matt, Ryan, Zach, Jeff, Liz, Rachael, and I were all jammed into Jeff and Liz’s tiny living room. Of course, Ryan, Zach, and Tristan are huddled in a corner talking about the iPhone and other Apple products while Matt and Jeff were playing Halo on Xbox. The girls and I never really feel out of place, we’re all family. It’s normal for me to be screaming at the guys with Liz and Rae tossing a few things in as well. But you know what they say, when a guy messes with you it means that they like you. But I never thought that.

            “Go, go, go!”

            “Crap!”

            “NOOOO!!!!”

            “A buhh?!?!”

            "Tristan, stop saying that!" I yelled at Tristan for saying "A buhh," for like the eighth time that night!

            Matt began to sign to me, he said "Whassamatter? You like him too much, don't stress it."

            "Aghh," I screamed… "But I've got a plaaaaaan…" I said in a singsongy voice.

            "Hahaha" he laughed, "Okay… I'm sure it'll work."

            "PFFFT!" Jeff scoffed, " that's debateable!"           

            It was going to be a long night!

            Sure enough that night dragged into next week!

“Do you have enough room?”

“Yeah, aha, I’m good, are you sure you don’t need me to move, because I can..?”

“No, I’m positive you’re good.”

“Okay, well I just have to warn you, I’m a very elbow-y eater…”

“I’ll be okay, thanks though.”

That’s how almost all of Matt and my conversations go… Rachael, Matt and I had to share chairs at Jeff and Liz’s house…

The only reason I was even there, was because Jeff was at my house building a shed for my step-dad and then when he was done, I came home… he was going ice skating with our Philly friends and my our friends from Bangor… I was upset that I hadn’t know about this (Yes I did, I stalk Tristan’s profile.)… So I invited myself, and lo and behold I was able to go. So I zoomed upstairs to get changed into my wintery clothes. Then we left to go to the River Rink and met up with our friends.

“Emmert! Stop!!!!”

“Gosh, I swear when she skates the Emmert comes out in her!”

“I know!”

“Emily… Stop!!! Please!” Rachael and I both screamed…

That evening resulted in me being able to stay over Jeff and Liz’s house for the weekend. While we were there we had some Tennessee sized adventures. We traveled 4 hours to Jersey to drop a plow off to this guy named “Plow Steve…” He was creepy. After that, Rae and I go home to find that she left Ryan 4 messages on his phone that started with “Oh Ry-Ry!” Then we picked up Zach, Ryan’s little brother, then we went to Jeff and Liz’s house to eat, only to see that 3 people had to share a seat…

“Oh crud it all!” Rachael and I said.

Later that night, we watched Matt as he downed a Four Loko, while Tristan and the other young’ns were playing the colander game. That resulted in people screaming and howling over Pappy saying that he cant understand a word I was saying, and Tristan and me making fun of Rachael saying “Pickle.”

Then a party the next day finished off the weekend

Us kids these days!!!!

            We joke and tease but we all mean well. I think that the reason that we speak this way is because I’ve formed such good friendships with them, that I can easily just be sarcastic, and they wouldn’t take it offensively, but if I used that language with my mother, she would get upset, and take it the wrong way.

            All in all, I think that I can say that the best thing about me is that I’m always me even if I change the way I speak when I’m with my friends or my mom… even if my friends know sign language, we still speak in the way that formed our friendship… I mean, just because some of my friends know sign language, it doesn’t mean we wont use it; we will if we want to tell secrets, but that’s all. To me, speaking sign language isn’t a downfall, it’s an enhancement to my personality, and it ties in my mother’s life with mine.

Catherine Nardone

September 2010

English – Iron

Descriptive Essay

The beginning of the day can start so groggy, but it can turn so easily into happy and exciting day. You may wake up on the wrong side of the bed, on a cold and rainy morning, and instantly feel groggy, sad, and terrible. Somethi5ng may happen along the way to your destination point, whether it be work, school or play, that can instantly turn your day around and make it much more exciting that it was to begin with! I know that for me this has happened to me, and sometimes it was the opposite. It sure does make me think about that one time when I was happy that I woke up, but the day then turned into such a repressed one.

The light shining in told me that it was morning… I recalled last night. Christmas Eve… That meant today was Christmas! How exciting! I crept along my hallway, and peeked around the corner to see that my dad’s room was empty. YES! I thought to myself. He’s awake, how joyous! I raced down the steps to see him sitting at his desk. I turned to face him, and he saw me out of the corner of my eye.

“Good morning, Catherine Anna, and Merry Christmas,” he said.

“Merry Christmas to you too, daddy,” I responded.

I made my way to the kitchen, with my dad who was already dressed in his clothes, while I was still in my pajamas. We sat down and I ate breakfast and drank hot chocolate while my dad sat and drank his mid-morning coffee.

My dad looked at me after I finished my breakfast and asked “Do you want to open your presents now?”

“Dad, that was a stupid question! Of course I do!” I quickly responded to him.

I ran to the living room, and glanced up at the picture frame above our little 3-foot fake Christmas tree, that’s been there as long as I could remember. I glanced at the picture frame that holds the painting that I so dearly remembered. I glanced at the painting of the two little children sitting next to each other on a hill. I could so vividly see the love in their eyes when I looked at them. The boy, he’s lying down behind the girl, smiling at her with a lot of warmth, and you could see the love in his eyes too. The girl is smiling a smirk, at the boy… They are both staring longingly into each other’s eyes, like it was meant to be. I glanced up at the painting and thought about my grandmother. Gone. Christmas day and she wasn’t there. A year had passed, and I thought the pain would too, but it came back on Christmas day, a supposed time of happiness. I thought “How could such a merry day, bring back so much sorrow?”

Looking back, and thinking about that memory, makes me think about that other time when my life was the opposite… I awoke so angry, and when I look back now, I ask myself how I could have been angry on such a great day I had ahead of me.

“FOUR A.M.!?!?!? Why so early!?” I screamed.

“All the good stuff would have been gone if we woke up later, you know that,” said Rachael. “Get up now, or we’ll leave without you.”

I stepped out of bed groggily and got dressed. I pulled on my comfort jeans, socks, and tan suede fake Ugg boots. Then my brown tank that I knew for a fact looked good on me… After that my pink ribbed Aeropostale sweater, then a soft and warm brown scarf. I went through that whole bathroom routine and I was ready to go. I thought about how I’m not able to be with my dad that year. He knew that I loved and missed him, but I just couldn’t be there. Because of that stupid court rule… But, he also knew that I did want to get tons of stuff, for more than half off the regular price. Black Friday was that day, and I was seriously ready to shop until I dropped. I took my purse, and jetted down the stairs, to see that I was really the last person up. The smell of coffee lured me to the kitchen. I went towards the cabinet and took the mug that says, “Bigger is Better.” I poured a whole bunch of French Vanilla creamer in the mug. As I poured the coffee, I felt my insides waking up just from the aroma that smelt so sweet. I took it upon myself to eat a banana out of the fruit bowl on my aunt’s counter, it was the last one, so I had to treat it like it was an impossible mission. But I knew she wouldn’t mind. I’m like, her favorite niece.

“Come on Catherine, we’re leaving now!” said one of my cousins.

“On my way!” I yelled back.

I made my way to the door and as we left, I thought about all the things that could possibly be mine that day.

Its funny how things turn out, because I knew that I was going to be happy because of all the shopping I was going to do, and I ended up being angry about being woken up early. It’s almost silly in a way that the way days turn out. One day you can be happy, and then the next extremely depressed and down in the dumps. It could be the weather, or the association that could bend the mood, we’re fitted out to have. It may be rainy, but you could be around some really great people who are influencing the day you have to make it better than any other. Or, it may be the opposite. You could be having a great day, and then the weather could change unexpectedly.

All in all, the days aren’t what you expect them to be… Days are not always what they seem.

This is late, but here is the 1st game of the SLA boys basketball game against RUSH in its entirety. 

Ashley Hinton

Blog Post: Bureaucracy Reflection

            The bureaucratic task that Brianna and I selected was obtaining a homosexual marriage license in the state of Massachusetts. At first we thought the topic would be difficult to take on, only because gay marriages aren’t accepted in most states. After finding that it is allowed in more than five states in the U.S, we were able to continue our research at ease.  After finding which states were legal and which weren’t, we then choose to focus mainly on the process of obtaining a marriage license in Massachusetts only, being as though the process is slightly different in each state. We found that the first step to becoming a homosexual married couple was to request very crucial paperwork. In Massachusetts, you must have a notice of intention of marriage, given in compliance of the law, which is a document that provides the names; genders, citizenship, age, race and occupations of both parties and along with other needed information. The paper work was pretty straightforward. There was some information we felt as though was unneeded. We also felt as though there was a lot of extra work we had to do because we were a homosexual couple getting married.

            If I could change one thing about the bureaucratic process, it would be of the last few steps in our flowchart (step 6). In step six of our flowcharted process it states that your marriage license will only be valid for sixty days. This is the only part of our process I would change. I feel like homosexual couples work so hard to get to this point and they shouldn’t have to go through the process all over again if they feel they aren’t ready in sixty days. I think this system in particular is so complicated because gay marriage isn’t something that’s necessarily accepted everywhere. It’s not something that’s happening everyday and so the process will never be easy. After completing the research on this project, I found that a flowchart is a great way to represent information that is difficult to understand. The flowcharts that were designed in our class were extremely helpful in understanding different bureautic processes and helped us to understand the systems of our world and how they function.