Work I Am Proud of.

Some work I feel proud of over the course of this humanities semester is the most recent project we have just completed, which is the H2O project. With this work I feel I put a lot of time and effort into not only the writing aspect of it, but the final product which is a painting of a crab I did across to different size canvases. When looking at the painting you can notice the attention I paid to detail when actually painting the crab. Adding the aerosol component was just as difficult even though it only covers less than a quarter of the painting. Having the extreme steady hand to be able to guide the pressure from the can to lay of the perfect layer of paint to imitate dirty water and sand fly across the canvas. Along with the artist statement going through at least 5 drafts taking the level of my writing to the highest quality it could possibly reach.

A rough draft of the final product for the H2O project in Humanities class.

The other project I am proud of from this past semester is the American icon project. The final result was a picture and artist statement. I liked this project because I had to use a program am I am semi similar with which is Photoshop CS2. in the picture I had to mock a picture of the icon which I chose. It just happened to be banksy so I found a picture of him next to a wall seemingly spraying his trademark stencil. The only aspect of the picture that was not Photo shopped was me. The background and stencil were all modified on Photoshop to match the picture. Without examining the paper completely you would not be able to see I edited the photo. Within the artist statement I went through three drafts, not quit as many as other projects but enough to accomplish writing that is at the level of an 11^th grade student.

Who is Right?

when reading the article about Paul Watson and Neptune's navy i started agreeing with him. because if whaling for the sake of study is not banned than its OK. but as i says in the article on page 2 paragraph one the Tokyo research group has virtually produced zero results. seeing how they killed thousands, wouldn't you get at least one new fact.

the most important thing i feel that is coming from this is how strong one man is in his beliefs. standing up and protecting the sea's when an organization who is supposed to do that doesn't. the international whaling commission (I.W.C) doesn't seem to find it a big deal and with Watson looking over the mammals of the ocean since it is a lawless and there really isn't any laws if he doesn't do it no one will.

especially when the picture looks like this


which i might add isnt a pretty sight.

Enlgish Language Evolving...

Responding to the first question is it time for a language to move on. I my thoughts contradict each other quiet frequently on this topic because when you think of the terms people use today it doesn’t phase them as much as it would have if we were living in a time when people were fighting for rights to equality. we all know these terms so I do not need to mention any.

when talking about classifying some one with a single race usually being the majority of what they are. i feel this is easier when it comes to feeling out a survey or doing the S.A.T. because if you included every race known to man kind it would be at least two pages of paper that could have been saved.

the side i agree with how ever though would have to be using terms. this is because you could randomly be walking down the street and over hear someone calling someone a "dirty Mexican" which is wrong but to a group of friends who talk like that it is normal. Since the issue of biracial came up it just becomes a phrase that someone uses just like, "seeing a man about a horse." it loses its real meaning. and changes over time.

If language never progressed then people would be speaking Old English and I personally think that would be weird. the point of human nature is to "change," like Obama says. over time this happens and when it does we get new inventions and new ideas to help the less fortunate.

just like advancements in every other area of life, language should follow as well. just like it has been. so terms that were created to inuslt or make some one smile can change and take on a hole new meaning. this is sometimes good and bad. it is up to you to decide.

Thanksgiving Time!!!

What I am most thankful for this year is how good of a year it was minus a few occasions. Other than that it was more laughs than anything which I am really thankful for, I am glad we had a calm year. I am also glad i ended up in randy's class. LOL

What I will accomplish before break is over is a rough sketch on a canvas of my painting partially done. Not completely though. I will also have ana rtitst statement that is almost complete but not finished after all I need it to be critiqued by fellow classmates. The final thing I will have done is the rest of the research I will have needed completed for my artist statement. tha

How the Water Project is Progressing

What I am discovering through this project is the affects humans have on the beach. Seeing how we pollute it and when it rains the run off goes to the bay and ocean leaving feces from animals and humans alike. When looking into other people’s research I have discovered new things to like I didn’t know the San Diego bay had 60 living sea turtles. This is a new fact to me.

I have discovered that the area I am researching doesn’t really have a strong following because there are so many crabs at the beach. People seem to pass by and care more about the seal’s, dolphins, or sea turtles. I understand the concern but we need to remember crabs are living creatures affected by the problem just like everyone else.

My next steps now that I have more info and an idea with a sketch, is to do another draft which should be followed by my final raft of the crab at the beach as a big part of the beach. I am aiming for the story behind the painting to be that crabs are just as big as we are and need to be taken care of just like we take care of other species of animals living at the beach

voting as a single group

an eternal revolution
By ORLANDO PATTERSON
Published: November 7, 2008

Latino Vote Was Heavily for Obama
By JULIA PRESTON
Published: November 6, 2008



I noticed as I was reading the article he says “all three groups worked together to realize, finally and fully, the ambivalent vision of the founders.” When I read that line I realized it wasn’t just those three groups even if they are broad. There is also the Hispanic group who played a huge roll in helping get him elected because they tend to vote as one group within the ethnic group. Just like the AARP tends to do.

In the second article I read notice that 64 percent of the Hispanics voted for Obama. And in the 2004 election they voted 53 percent for Kerry to win over Bush. When it gets broken down you can see how strong of group they can be when they chose to vote as one.

H2O project final product

Union Tribune

The first article I want to attempt to replicate because it is in an article format. Which is what I want to do for the final product. looking at the format it still maintains the basic format which is an Example followed by facts and it is straight to the point.

daily aztec

I like this article because it maintains the same standards except it is changed to fit the internet. and people on the internet don't want to spend to much time reading an article. the standards are still as high. and they continue to revolve around the same topic. and as well as the first one cut even more precisely to the point.

My plans to achieve the level of writing newspaper articles are at is by comparing what i write to them, but I will not just rely on the two sources i have. I will stick to some of the experience I have right now, seeing how I had some practice with the newspaper we wrote in class.
what I am following is the basic steps to writing an article and that is information followed by facts that you have to back them up.

I have more steps i need to complete and hey are actually finding the information to back up my topic which i will be getting at another time.

2 Part Bloggy

I feel the turn out of the election was exactly what everyone expected. I feel people are putting to much trust in him though.when you think about it he is a politician who is now President. need i mention only one man with a team who assists him when it comes to making decisions.



If he is as good as people believe he is though then i feel we are going to be headed in the right direction, which we desperately need in this country. my hopes is that the plans he has come through and end up becoming complete, for example all the foreclosed house become vacant again.

I think my level of civic knowledge is strong. when I talk to an adult or student who doesn't take my class I feel I have more knowledge than they due because with the blogs we usually have to find articles that deal with current events. it almost upsets me that people sometimes act like they know what they are talking about but when it comes down to it. their facts are actually wrong. then I can step in and correct them. although I'm not really sure what we could improve on when it comes to teaching. I like the setup we have right now.



BEACH PLAN:

my question is: Does banning alcohol at San Diego beaches (OB, PB,) affect the amount of visits they have received over the past year?

people I will interview are life guards, officers, and a shop owner that is close by the beach.
I don't really need anyone in the class at the moment but I will need to get to the beach in order to gather information. I for sure need to go to Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach. for the interviews.

I will gather interviews from PB on November 12 because that is when I am signed up to collect water samples.
until then I will be looking online for information and charts that have statistics regarding the amount of fights at the beach and store sakes before and after the alcohol ban.


This is as complete as I can get right now, but i will come back and revise it.

Beginning of Research

first question:
Does banning alcohol at the beach reduce tourists visits every year?

Banning alcohol at the beach has led to countless arguments one being are business sales in the area going up. Some shops according to the union tribune say their sales are going up and others say they are going out of business.



sources:
mercury news
union tribune




second question:
Why does the government let the surfers act as canary in a coal mine when they could become ill and possibly die?


Because they are in the water already, and not going to stop even when a storm hits they go out the next day. All the government can do is put up signs saying the water is bad yet people still go out due to the fact that they have the right to.





sources:
surfrider
national geographic

Voting Could Be A Waste of Time!!!

Revised 10/30/08

The two issues that I am discussing are the Acorn scandal which is about creating fake identities and using them to vote in the 2008 presidential election. The other issues is voter suppression which is a group of people finding ways around the government and stopping people from voting due to the fact that they may not have an I.D. to prove who they are.

When randy was talking about it in class I discovered that the acorn Scandal really isn’t a big issue. Because when I researched into it I found out the company wasn’t doing any crimes because when they register people they can’t deny a registration form. Only inform the election offices who pass the final call. This surprised me because if the majority voting are democratic and the people at the election office are republican they would inform McCain’s people to try and make a big deal out of it.

When looking into voter suppression and the acorn scandal I found it to be surprising that McCain and the Republicans would go through the trouble to have low income neighborhoods or cities investigated by officials, and denying them the right to vote because most of the people were aided by the Acorn Company which gets people registered to vote. Apparently the company was also creating fake identities to vote with.

All favoritism aside I would have to say what the republicans are doing is terrible and as John McCain say’s “destroying the fabric of democracy” it is far worse than the Acorn issue, the republicans and McCain are actually using the Acorn scandal as a of suppressing the votes.

When finding out this was going on I felt hurt that the government would even stand for this, unless they are actually behind the whole issue. I feel that if we continue on the same path that the country as we know it could fall apart.



sources:
washington post
examiner
google news

2008 debates

The 2008 debates were the first debates I actually watched. I tried to pay attention to the 2004 election debates but couldn't get into due to the fact that I was to young. the most interesting aspect of the debates is how one person in the debate is always in charge. for example the first debate Obama came out and spoke out for what he believed in while McCain just tried not to look stupid. another example would be with Joe Biden, when debating Palin you could tell he was in charge and palin was trying not to sure about what she was saying while all she mainly did was try to not look sad, but happy the entire time.

when the two candidates spoke you could see who they were attempting to speak out to, and that was the normal American who needs a lot of help due to losing their houses and poor medical care. watching the different techniques both candidates had was pretty entertaining. you could see that Obama and Biden wanted to go out and try to make the other person look like they had no clue what they were talking about. as to where McCain and Palins idea was to smile the whole time try to connect with audience even though they weren't at the debate. you could see Palin doing this by winking at the audience every couple of minutes.

debate 3

In debate three I noticed that Obama and McCain were playing more of a blame game than anything. none the less they were debating. i noticed though McCain kept referencing Joe The Plumber and I checked factcheck.org to find that Obama made false claims saying Obama would make him pay more taxes than Himself. i found out that he was actually wrong and with Obama's plan he is actually not going to be taxed an incredible amount.

In class we were talking about the tax increase and I found that just about everyone in our class would be exempt from that and I wondered why people wouldn't vote for Obama with something like that. but then i thought about it and realized there more things than just taxes.

I think it is funny though how McCain thinks segregation doesn't exist anymore in schools or places. He said "Well, it's the civil rights issue of the 21st century. There's no doubt that we have achieved equal access to schools in America after a long and difficult and terrible struggle"
we may have achieved equal access but when you actually go to a public school it is still segregated. Every race is with one another, but when you come to high tech though it is different. you see that there aren't any groups just a mix of people who all hang out with each other. that is the difference that we have discussed, as to where McCain saying it no longer exist. It exists but its not as big a problem as it used to be. that is the point I wanted to get across.

The Internet Could Make You Rethink Who Your Voting For

The article I read talks about the ten different things between McCain and Obama.
it mentions the Internet and protecting peoples personal information. one candidate wants to keep all information private while the other says leave things as they are. if it where my choice I would leave things the way they are. the answer is because people could always find ways around the governments rules. for example look at drugs they still manage to thrive even though the government stops them from coming in.



Peoples safety does matter and knowing that other people such as random people could steal your social security. when you read more into the article it mentions that the people incharge of the interent can shut it down but i dont think that is possible in this point of time. if they take down the internet as we know it hackers would probably try and build a whole new network or internet. it would be ran without rules.

News Paper Reflection

What I contributed to the newspaper was, I made an article, found the main picture, and actually made the layout with the help of Daniel. The Article that was written by me is the aspect I feel to be most proud of because I didn’t it by myself without the assistance any group members. The only area people helped me with the article was with critics and to check for errors that I didn’t catch.

Another area I am proud of would have to be the entire layout of the newspaper. The only thing I would go back and change to it would have to adding at least one more picture, this way it doesn’t look like a bunch of cluttered writing thrown on the paper.

One more area I would correct if there were another draft would be to fix the captions for the pictures because I noticed errors right away. For example I didn’t capitalize Douglas in the text area for the caption.

Designing the layout came together with two heads working on it sometimes with jasmine throwing in an opinion as well as Samantha doing the same. The main news paper we got ideas from was the NY Times because the layout of the newspaper is fairly simple. We have an article on both sides with a main picture in the center like the NY Times. I feel this made a pleasant view on the eye because you see the picture and realize one of the articles has something to do with the picture on the cover.


Overall I think we did a decent job finishing the article. We could have had some one revise the article to notice the little errors that we made. I feel those could cost us with the final grade if all we were getting graded on was text and grammar. Other than that I believe we made a good news paper

Dow Jones Non Sense!

the article I chose is called Dow Jones rallies 900 points.
by Jeff Clabaugh

I think it is hilarious when you read these articles and to see that are country is actually falling apart and then rising back to save itself. when we go over the topic in class I think to myself wow if our country falls apart we could actually go back to living like cavemen.
when you talk about it with someone who doesn't have as much knowledge on the topic as you and they talk in an opinion making lies in their heads I laugh to myself and wonder if they knew the real depth how would they feel about everything that is happening. the questions I want to ask them would be something around. if we were completely poor and you had no money would you resort to stealing essentials or strive for an even better living?
another thing I find funny about these articles is the faces traders make. it makes you wonder if they strive to get on the cover of a newspaper since there job is falling apart and then rising. for example.


This man in the picture above. I wonder if he is acting because the camera is there or he is serious. it makes me think if that is all he does i could do that. pretending I am sad all day.

Cage Match or Debate.

The final debate between Lincoln and Douglas was like a normal debate except for the fact the arguments were real and they were actually trying to solve problems during the debate. For example with the Nebraska Kansas bill issue and the rights Lincoln said that slavery should not even exist in response to Stephen’s words. "I desire no concealment of my opinions in regard to the institution of slavery. I look upon it as a great evil, and deeply lament that we have derived it from the parental Government, and from our ancestors.”


I think debates from 2008 were a lot different from the Lincoln Douglas debates because back then they would debate for three hours. One person would speak for an hour then the other candidate would have a half an hour to reply. In the 2008 debate they have 90 seconds to answer the question. In my opinion that isn’t nearly enough time to answer a question with detail and plans. The new debates to me are still funny though because you could literally B-S your way through the whole question and people wouldn’t know you’re wrong unless they go to factcheck.org to get the real answer. I would have to say it is interesting though to see how they argue though that would have to be my favorite part.

Demographics Affecting the Poles.

I would have to say demographics in a certain area may play a role in this years election because some people like to vote as a group. for example AARP. they are considered to be one of the strongest voting groups because they like to vote as one group. if they target certain people which would be the majaority in begger states than they could win election. An example would be in san diego, there are many latin people here so if you could convice them to vote as one you may win the states electoral votes. but you would have to continue that throught he enitire state where it is a big racial group making the area up.

A World Without the Devils Advocate

Racism still exists in today’s society just as strong as it did during the civil war. One of the famous issues that caught attention was slavery and unequal rights for African Americans. Even though the civil war was the end of slavery and racism you can still find it alive in today’s society as well as the past with Supreme Court cases. Starting with a man trying to sue for the freedom of his family but was denied the right to. An additional case being the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 for whistling at a white woman. This is a hint at today’s harsh world even 100 years after the war. The final issue to pay attention to is segregation in classrooms. Is it still considered racism in modern America if we have no knowledge of this topic seeing how there is plenty of segregation?

A man known as Dred Scott tried to sue for the freedom of his family but was denied the chance due to the fact that he was black and wasn’t seen as a person. Even though his family was held as slaves in the free parts of Louisiana were slavery was outlawed. I felt this was a touchy subject because in the constitution it states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” This makes no sense seeing how there is no difference between a white and black man except for their skin. Once you directly break the boundary’s set forth by the constitution you are considered a racist in my eye’s who shouldn’t have any power as a judicial official

Emmett Till was a fifteen year old boy who went back to the south to visit his uncle during a very racially prejudiced time, while he was in Mississippi he whistled at a white women who then told her husband. He then proceeded to find the house where Emmett was staying. Once there she picked out Emmett from his brothers. After they kidnapped him the white women’s husband and accomplice then proceeded to tortured and kill him. When the two men responsible were apprehended and went to court they were tried in front of an all white jury that unanimously declared them innocent. This really spoke out to me seeing how racist society can be. Knowing even today in the south people still feel this way about one another at times.

I was unaware of this until I read a classmates blog which stated that in classrooms today segregation is just as strong as it was in the early 1900’s. It caught my attention reading the facts seeing in 1993 southern states had a 39% mix of students in 2003 it dropped to 29%. California schools are widely integrated with Latino, Whites, and African American’s. If you look at the data you would notice that this is mainly because it is based on where you live. This could send a scare to some people but from what I see it is fixed on what is the dominant ethnic group in the state or city.

Researching these three events that occurred in different eras I can see the world is changing but slightly. You might find some racism in the news today but isn’t as alarming as it could be. Let’s be thankful it’s not the entire world.

New Privacy Law

the new privacy law my group and I made during class is "any u.s. citizen has the right to privacy. no government or local officials can invade your personal property or business property. the only way to receive a warrant is to have agreed upon by local police and neighbors."
I feel with our current system of government we have in power that this bill might actually be passed through judicial review. if not then the government is a good as i hope to think they are then they would turn down the bill just by looking at it due to the fact that it gives to much power to every individual citizen and the government wouldn't be able catch any none law abiding citizens commiting terrible crimes towards the united states.

These Past Blog's

What I am most proud on my blog is that it is easy to navigate through and find everything without a problem. I also like how it is easy to find what you are looking for. seeing how all the blogs compiled on top of each other so all you have to do is scroll down to see the next one. the article that i am most proud of would have to be Fact Checking Sex!
because i get in to detail and break down words. I really feel that is a strong point.

what I could improve on in my blog is making it more serious because the stories are mainly joking around funny that make me laugh. so I can improve this by picking articles a little more serious yet at the same time in the area I would like to write about. maybe another way i could improve upon what I already have is extending the articles and filling them with more information this way my articles aren't just a bunch of rants.

Blogging has impacted me in many ways, one being that I never really cared for politics or anything to do with the government. since we had to read the news and current events I figured what the heck. so the more I read the more connected i got and saw how much our government really bites. after reading the news articles on the Internet I turned to the local news and since we started this project I have been reading and watching the news.

fact checking sex!!!

sex ed for kids
published September 10, 2008
revised 9/25/05




the fact check I chose was an ad McCain made against about teaching sex ed to grades k-12. McCain said that Obama is bad for wanting to teach sex ed to little kids. the bill actually was going to teach kindergarten students what to do when someone touches you in the wrong places. In my opinion that is a good idea. we do need to teach all grades a level of sexual education. I know you may disagree with me but lets be honest not many high school student believe in celibacy. this is a big issue because as many people know Palin's daughter is pregnant. As some people know Palin declined a bill in Alaska about helping single teenage mothers. maybe is her daughter would have been educated and taught to have her man wear a condom this problem would never had happened. this is why i think we need to have sex ed in all grades and as the students mature they learn appropriate things for their age.

Obama Waffles Sound Delicious

video from CNN.com

The passage I chose is "the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." I chose this because of the Obama waffles.



the people who created the waffles feel that their opinion needed to be shared so they made this waffle mix. they state they are republicans which separates them from Obama who is a democratic nomination. i agree with the declaration of Independence when it allowed this to happen. even though it also states all men are equal. this does also lower the respect they have for another person saying he is not created equal. and what he believes is fake.

Banksy An Ordinary Day in New Orleans

cbcnews.com courtesy of google

So one of my favorite topics this year is the American icon. I chose Banksy a famous graffiti artist who has yet to be caught by the law on almost every continent. His most recent mission or place he wrote on was in New Orleans to mark the third anniversary of hurricane Katrina. and how there clean up process is really slow. one of the pieces was of a construction worker whose helmet was a turtle to show how show our government works. I agree with what he is saying, it has been three years and our government won' t even help it's own people become stronger.

this is one of the art pieces he did in New Orleans.

Federalists vs. anti-Federalists

the conflict between the Federalists and anti-Federalists is very big to this day. the federalist are for a head power (government) which believes that someone should run the country. as to where the anti-federalist are completely against the government and think the power should be split up into three different powers and not be souly in one person's hands. in article ten of the federalist papers it says "There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects." James Madison is saying in my opinion that if we continue to let the anti-federalist pushing lies to use then we have no control over our country but if we take control then we can maintain order in our new country.

Lets Go Back to New Orleans!

washingtonpost.com
published by Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 3, 2008

in the article it takes about how people people shouldn't go back to New Orleans even though hurricane Gustav already passed. yet people still are. In Hobbs opinion it is there land and they are going to protect it or go back to it and try and keep it with all the personal and physical power they have. so with everyone going back the government or mayor couldn't do anything about it so they said it is ok even though it really isn't safe for them. so instead of the government stopping them and taking charge they aren't going to try and stop them.

Life, Liberty, and Drinking Beer

By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: August 21, 2008
nytimes.com


the first article I read was about the drinking age it was called "2 Withdraw From Petition to Rethink Drinking Age". it made me think since I'm not 21 I can't consume an alcoholic beverage. in the article there are 128 signatures from college presidents. but there where two who resigned because they felt that people were reading it the wrong way. I though that since your born you should be able to decide when you are able to drink. that applies to the first stand life and another one is happiness. I know a lot of people who aren't 21 who drink to be happy at parties and things like that. the two presidents who took there names off mentioned that they don't drink anymore. but when they were freshman in college they would drink all they wanted because they knew that it was wrong and the government was dumb for raising the drinking age.

this article really made sense to me since my brother used to be the same way, but since he turned 21 last October he barley touches alcohol anymore. if you were to ask him if he drank when he was 18 he would tell you that he most likely did. i agree with the article as well and they should lower the age to 18 because that's when teens start drinking. if you cut it to 18 it won't be as fun anymore making the majority of teens not want to drink.