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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2) el 

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1) vuestro 

2) mis

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4) tus

5) mi

6) tu

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9) mis 

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11) Nuestros 

12) mis

13) nuestro

14) mi

15) tus 

16) tu

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18) to

1) muchos

2) muy

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

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

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

1st Amendment (Right to Assemble)

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

http://scienceleadership.org/blog/Right_TO_Assemble

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

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

Questions:

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

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

3.     What are your views on sex?

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

VIDEOS!!!!

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

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