The Civil Rights Bill of 1964 (Lola Akinsola)

       I chose the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 because I wanted to get deeper into the process of how they signed the bill into a law. I'm surprised they even made the bill. You would think that since the country was run by a bunch of prejudice men, minorities would never have civil rights and there would be nothing that they could do about it because they don't run anything. Minorities were completely powerless in the government yet they still got what they wanted.
      I chose to create a powerpoint presentation as a last resort. I initially wanted to create a video using iMovie but it seems as though my computer has some new version that it much more confusing than the original. I didn't start my project early enough to ask for help or play around with it until I knew how to work it. I feel that podcasts are just as boring as powerpoint presentations but take much more work just to get the same reaction; boredom. I don't do well with Prezi either. It just gets messy when I use it and it drives me crazy. I felt like my only option was a powerpoint so that's what I decided to do.
      The only challenge I had other than figuring out a way to present my information was finding the information. In Google I would type in "Civil Rights Bill of 1964" and get information about civil rights movements and the march on Washington that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led. It was good information to use in my project, but it only filled up a tiny part of my project. What I really needed to find was the process from a bill to a law. Then after getting help I found that I needed to type in "Civil Rights Bill of 1964 congressional debate" to get everything I needed to complete the project.
      If I had to do the project over again, I would definitely create a video. I had a lot of ideas in my mind about how to make the video that would make it interesting. To do this I would have to start the project early. iMovie is tricky so having a lot of time would be necessary to complete the video properly. I would also do more research for my topic. I felt like there were some things that were missing from my project. It seemed too straight forward for there not to be anything else to it. However, like I said, I started the project late so I could only research for so long.
      What the research and investigation told me about the creation process from idea to bill to law was that the only reasons they passed the bill as a law was just to shut the minorities up and get their votes. The nicer they were to the minorities, the greater chance they had of being reelected. That's really all it was about. I think if President Johnson did not sign that bill into a law he would have been a half-term president. One of the people who "supported" the bill was only worried about votes. Plus it seemed as though minorities were becoming more rebellious leading marches, protesting, and boycotting. It would scare me if I was a white person walking down the street looking at angry black people. I would feel like I'm in danger. Passing the bill as a law would calm them down.
      The process of passing the bill was actually just as I expected it to be. Of course there were going to be congressmen who totally disagreed and there were going to be some that were a little bit more understanding and would vote for the bill. I expected people to try and talk the bill down to death in a filibuster. I'm not surprised at all at how the process went.


Ali Ahmed Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act

I chose this bill because it was very relevant in today's political and social system. It is arguably the highlight of Obama's presidents how well it does will shape how these four years will be viewed in history books. I decided to use a keynote because it was relatively easily accessible and made text easier to view. It was hard finding information on the beginnings of the act. Most information was centered around the after math. I would have liked to know more about how this law turns out. If I came back to this topic in a couple of years I would have a lot more information. The creation of a bill is very sneaky. The politicians try to pass bills with as little publicity as possible. I thought the information would be much more easily assessable and easier to understand yet it was pretty vague and oddly worded. It would be nice if people who are experts in the topic could make more plain english translation so the general public could be more involved.

Q1 Benchmark: Sexting Legislation

The additions to this law create a whole new way of life for most teens in  America. While they may not think sexting influences their future children as young as 16 years of age are being charged with child pornography crimes and are being registered as sexual offenders. Because sexting is so prevalent in teen culture these laws can only get firmer before they lighten up.

​Additional Links:
Background Information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Walsh_Child_Protection_and_Safety_Act
Videos
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4723169n
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6011247n&tag=mncol;lst;1

Reflection

  • Explain your decision making for choosing the bill.
I choose this bill because I realized many of teens "sext" but don't think that their are consequences that can directly effect them. I think in this day and age everything has s much to do with technology it's almost the norm. Sex is everywhere and it's also children's laptops and cellphones, ipads and ipods. I choose this bill because i wanted to raise awareness. 

  • Why did you choose the particular presentation format?
I used the a prezi because in many of the cases where children and young adults are getting arrested for this crime, their story is getting told bit by bit on national television. I think the flow of a prezi has the same feel that an action news segment would or any other top news story. 

  • What challenges did you overcome in completing the project?
The biggest challenge was getting real and factual information about this topic. When I choose the Adam Walsh Act and how it related sexting I expected there to be tons of information ready to be shared, but I was wrong. It is very black and white and in many cases places are trying to revise the law or find a way to adopt something like it, but not actually enforce it. 
 
  • How would you do the project differently if you had to do it over again?
If I had to do this project over again I think I would make a video presentation instead of a prezi, I think the message would have been better portrayed if I submitted a video. 

  • What did the research and investigation tell you about the creation process... from idea to bill to law?
This benchmark taught me that when people really want to pass a bill they will do everything in their power to get it done. My bill was a mixture of two bills and was passed rather fast compared to other bills. I also learned that if bills aren't worded right down to a small detail it can impact so many lives in situations people would never think they would be arrested for. 

  • Was the process easier or harder than you imagined based on your particular bill/law research?
The process was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. After my research I had a clear understanding and the ideas of how to present just came to me.

El Muchos Lados de Mi por Chelsea Starks

​      The purpose of this project for Spanish 4 Quarter 1 was to help enhance as well as learn new ways of expressing yourself. For our Quarter one benchmark we wrote a 2 part essay explaining things that were on the surface of us and went more in depth with the second part talking about the things people don't see. The significance of masks for me is that it allows me to protect my identity as well as from other people. For other cultures masks could be a way of escape and a creative way to share oneself with the world that maybe they would not normally.


No sé totalmente quien yo soy. Soy todavía aprendiendo mi identidad. Pero yo sé que yo intento disimular yo misma porque no quiero la gente ver mi como este. No quiero ser vulnerable porque eso es cómo las personas son hieren. No soy una persona antipática, soy una persona que no tomo nada de alguien. Y yo estaré de pie para qué yo creo y no desistiré nada. Yo soy una persona muy compleja y un poquito numeros de personas me entiende. Yo tengo muchos problemas de confianza y tomo mucho tiempo para mi confío alguien.

Obviamente soy  una persona lleno de energía y optimista. A veces me pongo deprimido. Prefiero pensar sobre el bien cosas en mi vida como mi familia y mis amigos. Pensando sobre las cosas me hago siento mejor. Mi mejor amiga  le gusta mi energía y optimista costado porque es yo hago la siente como nada es demasiado. Sin embargo, ella odía cúando yo soy deprimido y ella me recuerdo que no estoy solo. Por lo general, estoy muy tranquilo y yo disfruto haciendo otras personas feliz. Por otro lado, puedo soy misterioso. No me gusta hablo mucho sobre mi porque es prefiero escuchar sobre otras personas que mi. Se dice que yo soy huraño. La mayoría de la gente no sabe nada sobre mi porque es yo no hablo sobre lo mismo nada. Mis amigos dicen que yo es desafío de verticalmente. No tengo un problema estando baja pero es un mucho problema cuándo yo necesito consigo de arriba de mi amarillo. Tengo que estoy de pie en mi amarillo mirar a arriba.


Lo que es menos obvio yo soy una persona insegura. Soy mucho insegura y yo siempre habío. Veces de mi inseguridades son mi peso especialmente, mi manera aspeto, y mi manera yo hablo. A veces yo creo que yo no suficiente bien y tengo miedo que la gente pensarán el mismo. Mis mejores amigos son siempre allí para mi. Desde que eramos del primer año hemos sido uña y carne. Yo la quiero.  Otra cosas que menos obvio son mis problemas de confianza. Había heria muchos tiempos y hube mi corazón roto también. Las personas estoy cerca de mi hube herí mi en una manera no imaginable y yo promesa yo mismo que nadie se esta cierca de mi. Desde yo había muy tranquilo y guardo yo mismo. Tengo muchos temores y la mayoría, yo intento disimular. Tengo muchos problemas de confianza y yo no quiero ser dolor. Pues, yo disimulo mis sentimientos. Yo sé no es saludable pero es cómo yo trato con el. Yo podria parece  soy mas fuerte pero es todo lo contrario. Yo es mucho corbarde. Mis amigos saben que yo dejaré ellos si yo tengo miedo  nosotros somos en peligro. Ellos saben también que yo soy muy paranoica y aseguraré alguien es aqui contrar  el cuento. ^_^ Ellos saben si nosotros somos perseguimas por zombies, yo tropezaré unos de ellos si yo necesito. Hace fresco porque son ellos todavía las quieren mi. En el fin, yo espero que más personas saben sobre mi y qué hace mi quién yo soy. Gracias para leyendo mi ensayo. Hasta la próximo :)


mask desk
mask desk

Elisa Hyder AmGov Benchmark: Federal Election Campaign Act

​I couldn't upload my video, so I put it on google docs. Here's the link


Reflection:

I chose the Federal Election Campaign Act for my bill because I had already done some research for it with my lobbying topic assignment. From that research, I knew that the bill was changed multiple times because of a variety of outside influences, so I figured there would be plenty of information to get for my project. As you can probably tell by my 11-minute video, there was indeed plenty of information to cover. I thought that a video would be the best format because I just didn't see a prezi or presentation providing a proper explanation. With topics like this, the best way for me to get the facts out, is if I verbally discuss it. Of course, visual aids would be necessary too. So, a video it was. 

When I started my project, I didn't realize just how much was done to the bill over the decades, and its history started a lot earlier than I thought as well. I had to do a lot of research to figure out all the big and all the really small changes and amendments of the bill. This took more time than I thought it would, and it was little hard to understand some of the court decisions as well. Figuring out the "why" was really the hardest part. But, I was able to figure it out the best I could and managed to put it all into words for my video. If I could do my project differently though, I would make the most changes to my video itself. It's a little dry. Because of problems with my audio, I had to keep re-recording it, and I didn't have time to really put in music or anything like that. Plus, I wanted the slides to be a little bit more animated. I didn't have time for that kind of stuff. Also, it is a longer video than I intended. I probably could have summed up my court cases and my reflection at the end a little better and more concise. Well, at least my viewers will get the information. 

I understood the basics to how a bill became a law, but (especially in my particularly bill) I didn't realize just how much the Supreme Court can play a part in appealing and causing amendments to the laws. I knew about the public opinion aspect and how the political air of the time had a major impact on the laws of the time, and this was definitely true in my law. So, I kind of figured that with this particular law it probably wasn't easy because there would be plenty of people who want to twist their money around in politics. I didn't think they would so much legal standing to just make things difficult for Congress though. 

Sources: 

http://www.academicamerican.com/progressive/topics/progressive.html

http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog/ID.124/blog_detail.asp

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/11/news/companies/supreme_court_citizens_united.fortune/

http://www.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/federal-election-campaign-act

http://www.govexec.com/basics/hatchact.htm

http://thisnation.com/question/004.html  

http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/millionaire.shtml

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2008/2008_08_205

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2006/2006_06_969

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2003/2003_02_1674

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2007/2007_07_320

http://www.fec.gov/law/litigation_CCA_M.shtml

http://www.fec.gov/info/appfour.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/

http://electionlawblog.org/archives/000520.html

The Dream Act

​REFLECTION

Explain your decision making for choosing the bill.


I know that there has been numerous discussions as to whether immigrants should recieve the same rights and education as actual citizens and after hearing Herman Cain say that he would put a gate around the border I felt the need to dig deeper into this subject

Why did you choose the particular presentation format?


I chose to do this in a format of a video because I could non-verbally communicate my ideas just as effectively as if I actually spoke in front of a class

What challenges did you overcome in completing the project?

I overcame several challenges of finding the correct research because the Dream Act has been debated in other states for many years so I had to find information about my own state and then use that information for my project.

How would you do the project differently if you had to do it over again?

If I had to do the project differently I would do a bill that was passed at least 20 years ago.

What did the research and investigation tell you about the creation process... from idea to bill to law?

It told me that we need to think for whats best for humanity rather than what is best for certain nationalities. An education should not be pre-determined by the place of birth.

Was the process easier or harder than you imagined based on your particular bill/law research?

It was actually harder because I thought that since it was debated in several other states that I could easily find information. But I soon found that the states that already passed the Dream Act hadn't debated it as extensively as Pennsylvania has/had

Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010

​http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU8Kbnle5Pk


  • Explain your decision making for choosing the bill.
    I chose this bill because it will affect the younger genrations education

  • Why did you choose the particular presentation format?
    I chose the youtube video format because it easy a easy storage place and it can be avertised more freely to promote the information

  • What challenges did you overcome in completing the project?
    The main challenge that i had was bring all the information and changing it from a slide to a video

  • How would you do the project differently if you had to do it over again? if i could do the project over i would make my presentation a lot more colorful

  • What did the research and investigation tell you about the creation process... from idea to bill to law?
    the creation 

  • The Representative decides to sponsor the bill and introduce it to the House of Representatives, and requests that the attorneys in the Legislative Counsel's office draft the bill in the proper legal language.
  • The bill is then presented to the Chief Clerk of the Ho
  • Was the process easier or harder than you imagined based on your particular bill  My process was easy i think because i was doing a recent bill


lawbilljourney
lawbilljourney

Growing up way to fast

Art thingy 2
Art thingy 2
After been giving the this test as I like to call it I found myself wanting to create more. So several of times i found myself coming home and drawing people in my household, one of them being my little brother jose. He is five and maybe not the best still model. This is what made this a challenge, which I enjoyed. I love this kid with all my heart and drawing him was a pleasure not only did he make it fun but he gave me an honest opinion through out the process. At a certain point I found him being a teacher to me.

 The ending result is one of my favorites which is why i decided it would be best to post this one. I found myself drawing random things that went along with who he is. Being a high risk pregnancy for my mom his birth is a miracle. Which is why the clouds are drawn. They represent his calm peaceful side as well as him being my little angel. Also along with the clouds are lighting striking. I find him to be this little big ball of energy that makes me want to enjoy life even more.

Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy (1993 - 2011)

DADT Policy Prezi Presentation, By: Thomas Nicolella
Reflection:

           I chose the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy to talk about because it is a policy that has had such a large impact on a large group of America's population. Ever since 1993 there has been outrage about the DADT policy and although it was made out of good intention by President Bill Clinton, it ultimately held back homosexual and bisexual military service members. I thought that a Prezi would be the best way to present this data without being boring because a Prezi presentation is thrilling to look at just because of how smooth it operates. This way of presenting made it easy for me to tell a story of the policy as it unfolded and eventually got repealed earlier this year.
          Some of the biggest challenges for me were included with the research process. At first, I couldn't actually figure out how the policy was started, as there were many attempts at starting a policy like this one that would take away the total ban of homosexual service members. If I was able to do the project differently, I would make the presentation into more of a story as opposed to a linear procession through the major events in the policy's timeline. After researching thoroughly, I found out that all of the attempts at this policy before Bill Clinton's intrusion into the topic were shot down fairly quickly. Congress even wanted to shoot down Clinton's policy when he proposed DADT. He eventually got his was and ratified the policy with a great amount of opposition from many in congress. The project basically went along as planned. I knew there was going to be a lot of information, unlike many other bills that were chosen because the DADT policy was closely monitored throughout it's life and has recently made a big splash in the media because of its repeal.

Bibliography:

Belkin, Aaron. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Is the Gay Ban Based on Military Necessity?." Parameters: US Army War College 33.2 (2003): 108. Military & Government Collection. EBSCO. Web. 30 Mar. 2010

Fuller, Andrea. "Colleges Await End of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. (Cover story)." Chronicle of Higher Education 56.25 (2010): A1-A21. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 30
Mar. 2010

Grice, Michael D. "Leading Through Change." Marine Corps Gazette 94, no. 1 (January 2010): 43-45. Military & Government Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed March 30, 2010).

Kilgannon, Corey. "At West Point, Hidden Gay Cadets" Early Bird, August 25, 2010.

McMichael, William H., et al. "How troops really feel about gays serving openly." Army Times 70.31 (2010): 10-14. Military & Government Collection. EBSCO. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.

McMichael, William H. "Mullen: Dropping 'don't ask' is 'the right thing to do.'." Army Times 70.31 (2010): 11-14. Military & Government Collection. EBSCO. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.

McMichael, William H., et al. "Service chiefs: Don't repeal gay ban during war.." Army Times 70.34 (2010): 21. Military & Government Collection. EBSCO. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.

Moradi, Bonnie, and Laura Miller. "Attitudes of Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans toward Gay and Lesbian Service Members." Armed Forces & Society (0095327X) 36.3 (2010): 397-419. Military & Government Collection. EBSCO. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.

Prakash, Om. "The Efficacy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." 2009 4th Quarter, Issue 55, p88-94. Military & Government Collection. EBSCO. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.

"The Palm Center; Summit Announced on Gay Service In Foreign Militaries. " Defense & Aerospace Business  24 Feb. 2010: 38 ProQuest Military Collection, ProQuest. Web.  30 Mar. 2010.


Blooming into an artist

Art thingy 1
Art thingy 1
During the process of drawing the clear object i had obstacles. Patience is a virtue and a virtue I don't posses much of. While drawing this I found myself doing a lot of erasing which lead to impatience and anger. When I cant accomplish something right away this happens. I also came to realize that once I sit down and block everyone out and focus on what im doing how im going to do it I can accomplish a lot, and surprise myself. 

This drawing made me realize a lot about myself as a new born artist. I found myself actually enjoying my mistakes because out of that came a lesson learned to not repeat it the next time or maybe go about it a different way. In the end im really please with my drawing and want to thank Ms.Hull for all the patience she had and wise words as well. 

Q-1: Still object drawing

I do this work because we have to draw something that is glass. Also, the sketch can be sort of a warming up for me to draw the school's yearbook cover. In this process, I am trying to make my ​drawing as accurate as possible, and this turned out to be successful.

I only use pencil to draw this drawing and I use pencil to draw most of my sketches because it is the tool I am most skillful with. For the object I drew, I drew this object simply because I think it is beautiful. It looks really nice for a white flower to put in a transparent glass pot with water in it. The skill I use on this sketch is that I shade on the frame of the picture layer by layer, from the darkest part the the lightest part, while not miss anything and not confuse the value of even the smallest area. 

This is not the first time I sketch flowers and I really enjoy it. Since flowers will soon wither after they are picken, so whenever I can draw a flower, the beauty of the flower can stay on my drawing for a long time. This is really satisfying for me. But still, I finished this picture in two class periods. In this case, I drew the shade in the second class period when I can not find the flower anymore. So I have to go and look for some images on the internet to complete my drawing. Well, from the final drawing you can all see that this worked. It's quite successful, so I write my signature at the bottom right corner of the drawing.
P1030681
P1030681

Q-1: Portrait

There is no difference for me to draw a portrait of a person from which direction or with what pose. In my point of view, as long as a person wants to draw, he can draw an awesome picture as long as he want to. I am the one who have a great passion on drawing, so I spent months and months to practice drawing skills before and up to now, I am always serious about every picture I draw. I only spent 2 hours in all on this portrait, but I hardly turned away my focus in these two hours. Well, the result turned out to be good eventually, although there are some places I think I still need to change a bit.

I first thought of using color chalks(That's how we call those things in China, but I don't know the exact name here.) to draw the big portrait. But since I am not quite familiar with how to draw on such a big paper and the color of drawing materials is limited, so I first use a light color to draw the frame of the model and than I use charcoals to put the shade. 

As I am not very familiar with drawing on such a big paper, it is a bit weird for me in the beginning of the drawing. But after I measured the ratio of different parts of the model's body, the drawing gradually became easier. Just as I said, the result turned out to be okey, but I think I have to focus on the congruity of the ratio of a person's upper part of the body to the bottom part.For example, in this portrait, the legs of the model should be longer.
photo 1 (1)
photo 1 (1)

No Child Left Behind

This is my History Benchmark that I did about the bill "No Child Left Behind"

Click image to begin PDF styled keynote presentation 


Reflection:

Explain your decision making for choosing the bill:
I decided to do this bill because I knew of the initial reasons as to why it passed through congress and why it became a bill however I never really understood the background information of it all and who was exactly involved in the overall steps and process of making it a bill.

Why did you choose the particular presentation format?
I chose to do this format because it made since when looking at ways to present it but it also made sense when trying to convey a small story to present. I decided to go keynote because I knew I could get the most out of presenting and making my points known

What challenges did you overcome in completing the project?
Some challenges that I had to overcome when completing this was finding ways to actually incorporate all the information that I had actually gathered as well as piecing everything together in something that wouldn't bore people or lose their interest in the project.

How would you do the project differently if you had to do it over again?
If I were to do this project over again I would probably create either a imovie or prezi although I'm not really familiar with how to make a prezi but I feel as though with using those I'd be able to create something in which people could become more engaged with and actually receive a clearer message overall.

What did the research and investigation tell you about the creation process... from idea to bill to law?
What the research actually told me was that it was actually a clear cut idea to begin with however when it came to actually figuring out how to make this work together and make everything flow so that in the longrun it wouldn't confuse not only teachers but school officials wouldn't be confused it showed that this idea that was going to become a bill was a little harder than first thought of. I found it interesting that I didn't read of things being taken back or parts of this idea in it's early stages being rescinded. 

Was the process easier or harder than you imagined based on your particular bill/law research?
The process was actually harder than first imagined because it took time for me to actually decide on which bill I wanted to do and then from there the steps to find credible information and what made sense to portray the information.
History BM

A Fracked Up System (Energy Act Policy 2005)

Energy Policy Act 2005 (Video)

Reps the Rep Me:
John Myers, District 201, PA House (D)
Shirley M. Kitchen, District 3, PA Senate (D)
Chaka Fattah, US House (D)

Act History
Introduced by Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican conservative Texasman, on April 18, 2005, the Chairman of the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The role of the Committee is to basically oversee the following.
  • Telecommunications
  • Consumer protection
  • Food and drug safety
  • Public health
  • Air quality and environmental health
  • Supply and delivery of energy
  • Interstate and foreign commerce in general

Interesting facts about Joe Barton is that he opposed the Voting Rights Act in 2006 and is a Tea Party supporter.

Passed by House on April 21, 2005 (249 - 183)
Passed by Senate on June 28, 2005 (85 - 12)
Signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005
Supported by President Obama in 2008

Created to solve many of America’s energy problems.
Made many changes to the Energy Policy of the United States
Is a great idea and way to make energy costs cheaper and makes the country more independent.

Dangerous for many individuals directly effected by the collection of energy efficient resources physically and mentally.
Changed the Daylight Savings time one hour ahead on March 11, 2007 instead of April 1, and set back November 4 of 2007 instead of Sunday October 28.



Links
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/

http://www.keystonepolitics.com/2011/10/republicans-divided-on-fracking-impact-fee/

http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050808-6.html

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/viewer?url=http://www.doi.gov/pam/EnergyPolicyAct2005.pdf

http://joebarton.house.gov/Default.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FeLvmZU348

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcBUkSuaVbk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW5eBfZhE4M
I chose the Energy Act Policy because it's getting a lot of press and attention from people concerned about their health and water, and even oil and gas companies. Personally, I feel directly effected by it, as all things in government directly effect me. This one I felt could effect me in a different manner, which would be my health. If the information about Fracking is true that was sen on Gasland and many more things, then the Energy Policy Act is something that needs serious attention and revitalization. along the way.

I wanted to be entertaining with the presentation, not losing people's attention as it went along, so I decided that I'd do a video and place an song behind the video. I chopped the video into frames to match the song swell because I wanted to draw the viewer in a little more from all the information they had just taken in minutes ago.

In order to really understand the Act, I had to do a lot of reading and research. At first, I thought it was directly related to water and hydrofracturing, but soon I found that it was connected to energy in just about every form. There was also information that wasn't even included in the project that I chose to understand a little more too.

If I had the opportunity to, I would most likely focus on the act in its entry and not just on water and air. I think that these are generally the most important factors of the bill because they relate to the health of the people, but there's a lot of information that isn't talked about in the benchmark presentation that isn't given in terms of money, actual companies, changes that we're made to the country and more.

This bill became a law rather quickly, and I was surprised at just how fast it was passed. Thinking about it again, I wasn't too surprised because I understand that government will work quickly when money is involved. I did more research for the person who introduced the bill and all the things surrounding it, and I found that it's goals are actually great, but it's results are selfish and causing some major controversy in the United States.

This process wasn't really that hard, it was just a lot of reading. No one seemed to really explain how the entire act worked in simple terms, nor did anyone seem to write about the act to explain it either, so that was a process for me, but a rather simple one.

Screen shot 2011-11-22 at 8.56.41 PM
Screen shot 2011-11-22 at 8.56.41 PM
This issue is getting a ton of media attention, some of it smack in the face, some of it subliminal. There are commercials and advertisements for franking as their have been people in the street and posters that are against it.

The major supporters of hydrofracturing are oil and gas companies because this is a source or revenue for them. When you investigate the actual bill in depth, you see that many energy companies and people who work with energy are supporters of the bill as well, due to the benefits that come their way.

There's no current policy written for this topic other then the actual Energy Act Policy itself. Oil companies have specific regulations they must follow and what people don't know is that when oil companies fail to meet these requirements, they get a lot of heat from the government and the oil company managers get a lot of heat from their superiors, like most businesses. Whether we see it or not, it is happening.


I know of this organization personally called Protecting Our Waters, which is a non profit organization with representation all over the tristate and East coast. Through the efforts of petitioners, and collective organizations, they said "Governor Markell of Delaware publicly announced he would vote against the proposed regulations, in the interest of science, public health and the environment." Through connecting with organizations like this, those against fracking can make sure their voices are not only heard but felt. Hopefully Pennsylvania has the same amount of support and people behind the no fracking initiative to keep our waters clean. The way we influence people is through keeping them informed with the process and find ways for them to easily get involved.

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Civil Rights Act Of 1964 (Q1 BENCHMARK)

​For my benchmark i choose to to do a pod cast on how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 came about and explain why we needed this bill and how this bill was passed. I also wanted to focus my project on African American history. I always found it interesting the history behind slavery and the negative things behind the topic. Most people don't understand their history or know about anything bout it in the first place so because I take a good interest in it I though I can help the people who don't know get to know about their history. I chose to create another Sammy show because I always have fun working with a partner and I feel I always find a pod cast easy to work with. Editing this project was one part of this project that became hard because I'm not to good with garage band but I was able to find help and get it done. Finding how this act went though its process was hard also but then I went to my teacher and asked for help she was able to look up resources for me to use and everything worked out really good. If I had to redo this entire project over I would not wait to the last 3 days to do the entire project when I had one month to work on it. But even though I waited to the last 3 days I really went hard and put my foot in this project so that I was turning in a good project and it was a really good one. From all the research that I found out about the 1964 act I found out that a lot of people had to really step up to the place and put this act into place. It took a lot of people to say we need a change for this change to be passed. Even though I waited to the last 3 days to complete this project it was not hard at all because I new what I wanted to do how I wanted to do it and all I had to do was do it and get the ball rolling. So the process and research for me was very easy.
civil rights act 1964  #(2)

Q1Benchmark


​ Sweet Home Philadelphia

I designed my Exhibit to show how my neighborhood has changed over time. In my opinion making an exhibit was a better way to engage an audience without boring them. I wanted to portray the idea and physical representations of the way the streets were many years ago. So I tired to resemble with the floor map the main idea of what South Philadelphia would be 60 years ago. But before that I went back in time further to when it all began in 1638. 

    Time Line: My time line for South Philadelphia starts back to about 300 years ago when most of the information started to be documented. In 1638 the first Swedish colonists arrived in Wilmington, Delaware. Following them the Europeans settled. The Dutch and English colonists were spread all over the Delaware Valley. The second group of Swedish colonists made a colony that consisted of immigrants in 1642.

Weccace was the name of that province and the Lenni Lenape named it. The meaning of it meant “peaceful place”. This “peaceful place” only was extended between the boundaries of the Delaware River at Trenton down to the Delaware Bay. In 1654 the Swedish and the Lenape both signed a Compact that bounded them to friendship. It was made to reinforce fair and respectful relations when it came time to trade but this compact only involved them.

Before the British came, in 1650 the Dutch were the only people that took a brief ownership of Weccacoe. Year 1677 the Swedish lead their first Christian worship in a blockhouse. To reach the destination they had to sail up the Delaware River every week.

Then in 1682 William Penn was able to establish this land only after making a negotiation of a treaty with the Lenni Lenape. Weccaoe became known as Southwark; this area was divided in to communities. The east side was named Passyunk, which meant “in the valley”. As for the west side it was named Moyamensing which meant “pigeon droppings’ and the first shipment of African slaves arrived on the Isabella in Philadelphia in 1684.

The Pennsylvania assembly aiming for the freedom of African Americans passed “The Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery” in 1780 and runaway slaves. In 1787 Richard Allen became the attraction for African American settlement. He then founded The Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was located between South and Lombard 5th to 7th street. Which is now known as the “Cedar Street Corridor”. Philadelphia then became the most important seaport on the American continent. In 1793 about 10,000 plus Philadelphia plus were forced to evacuate the city, due to the first American yellow fever epidemic that made its why through.

19th Century

During the 1800’s some Southern Italians began to migrate to the Bella Vista, which is near, happens to be near the 9th Street Market. As a resulted to that the West side of 6th to11th Street became full of Italians. Until 1910 when most of the Italian immigrants started to go to New York City then took the train to Philadelphia.

In 1801 the Navy Yard at Federal Street along the Delaware River was established but the U.S government. It was to build the U.S naval fleet and the Federal Navy Yard continued to build more ships at that location. Until 1875 when the Navy yard relocated itself, to Broad Street at the League Island. Assembling ships until it closed down in 1996. Today about eighty companies now reside in the 1,200-acre yard; has been remade into a retail, entertainment complex. In 1842 a lot of riots started to occur on Lombard Street and more than 1,000 African Americas partook in a parade that was to pay tribute to the 8th anniversary of the abolition of the slavery in the West Indies. Due to that parade with the American Americans an Irish mob attacked them and burned down the Second African Presbyterian Church on Lombard Street. As a result a Quaker philanthropist established the Institution for the Colored on 915 Bainbridge Street. This noble institute taught classical languages, literature, philosophy and mathematics. Eventually the school moved in 1902 to Chester Country, PA and then became the Cheney University. Which made it the oldest legendary African American college in America. In 1845 as a result of the riots, the districts of spring, Moyamensing and Northern Liberties were all obligated to assemble a police enterprise.

          In 1871 the first professional Philadelphia Fire Department was organized and replaced the city’s volunteer fire companies, which started back in the 18th century. The companies of the Irish Democrats or Nativist Republican often worked as if they were street gangs, challenging one another for turf.

From 1800-1920 is when all the different nationalities started to settle closer to and or within my neighborhood. The Eastern European immigrants and Jewish began to settle along Lombard and South Streets. 1887 the Lebanese immigrants started to settle around 10th and Ellsworth Street. The Polish immigrants began settling between Catharine and Christian, on Front and Second Street in 1890. In 1910 along 9th Street was where many of the Italian immigrants sold many goods such as meat, fruits and vegetables. The first Vietnamese immigrants arrived in 1975. They began to establish community organizations and businesses along Washington Ave and 8th Street.

Then in 1992 more Southeast Asian immigrants such as Cambodians arrived and started to cluster around 7th and Wolf, which was considered to be mainly a Jewish neighborhood. In the 2000’s some more immigrants that where mainly from Mexico and Asia began to settle more. The more people Philly received the more the living became lively, with rising real estate and lowering -income residents pushing the immigrants away from Center City an into the neighborhoods South of Washington and Snyder avenue, which is my neighborhood region.

The Interviews

            The way I conducted my interview was first by telling what my project was about then asking questions and writing down the answer. The two people chosen knew more information than I expected them to. So during the interview it was only necessary of me to ask a few questions. As the interviews when on a lot of other information was giving. When one questions was asked around the topic was giving. In other words unasked question were answered too. But I did some questions as the interviews went on, to clarify or to gain specific detail.

Starter Questions Q: Did any major events have an affect on you in the South Philadelphia neighborhood?Q: Did you visit to the area as a child and do you now as an adult visit the area?Q: Did you or did you have family and friends who lived in the neighborhood?

Date of the first interview: 10/18/11__I first interviewed my neighbor Lorraine Tartaglio She has lived in south Philly all her life, so she has seen more of the changes.

·       ·               Twenty to thirty years ago most of this area was filled with the Italian, polish and Jewish people.

·       ·               All of Darien street at from 9 and Oregon to 9th and Shunk where Greenwich homes for the mentally ill.

·       ·               What seem to bring all the people together was drugs.

·       ·               On the side of Oregon where Darien and Shunk is was built over a swamp.

·       ·               The area on Oregon where the School D. Newlin Fell is and Thomas was built over a cemetery.

·       ·               Certain parts belonged to different races.

·       ·               Board and South to front and south was all housing, nothing compared to the way it is today.

·       2nd Street and Front Street were the Irish.

·       10th and Carpenter were the Italians

·       9th and Darien were the Jewish.

·       ·               Broad Street was a place you needed money to be on, it was where the movies and entertainment use to be and that was mainly Italian.  

·       ·               Patterson Ave. was where the cars would drag race before the stadiums were built.

·       ·               Her best friend was an African American girl named Linda and it was not always easy to play with her because when ever she would go to see her. Some of the people from Linda’s neighborhood would want and try to fight Lorraine.

·       ·               People knew who didn’t belong in their neighborhood and if they didn’t know you or knew you didn’t know someone that would fight you until you left.

·       “As little as we had, everybody was happy”. - Lorraine Tartaglio
Date of the second interview 10/22/11

·       ·               Second I interviewed was with DennisTerico he was one who also lived in South Philly all of his life.

·       ·               1963 he went to Thomas high school and there were mainly Italian and Irish people.

·       ·               All African American people were considered to be colored people.

·       Front to 4th street were mostly the Irish and Polish

·       4th to 6th were the Puerto Ricans

·       8th to 12th, Broad were the Italians.

·       ·               As young teens if they stood on the corner the cops would pick them up take all their wallets and money. Drop them off at Delaware ave. so when they walked back to where they were. Having to walk through all the other different neighborhoods and fight their way through.

·       ·               At 8th an wolf that was a African American school with only 6 white people attended one of which was Dennis and the other 5 where his brothers.

·       ·               1964 he and his friends use to dress as rag time people and paint their faces black but then there were riots because they were not allowed in the parade with the black faces.

·       ·               9th street with Bok and 10th and Biglar would have riots.

·       ·               10th and Packer ave. use to be horse stables it was there for about 20 years then it burnt down in 1967 and people could hear the animals cry from 9 an wolf.

Civic Association

The closet Civic Association near me is Passyunk Square Civic Association  (PSCA) Is the closet one I have in my neighborhood, it was founded since 2004. I sent them an e-mail but I never received a reply. So I did the next best thing a teen could do, FACEBOOK! After doing that I received some information about their projects.

Contact: mnlogreco@gmail.com

Some projects they had:

·              “Event: Columbus Square Park Fall Flea Market

Date: Saturday, October 29, 2011

Time: 7am to 1pm

Location: 12th and Wharton

Details: Reserve a space for your table for $20 or get two spaces for $30. You can also donate your stuff to sell at the Columbus Square Park table. They are also seeking volunteers to help out during that time with set up and clean-up AND donations of baked goods for the bake sale.”

·            “Event: Halloween Pumpkin Fest

Date: Saturday, October 29, 2011

Time: 10am to 12pm

Location: 12th between Wharton and Reed

Details: Event will include pumpkin decorating for kids (pumpkins and paint provided), a children’s costume parade, candy and treats.”

·      “The Friends of the South Philly Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia presents a FREE Pumpkin Painting event on Saturday, October 22 at 11am.

·      Paint your own pumpkin at the South Philly Branch Library. Pumpkins, paint and treats will be provided. Unfortunately, large groups cannot be accommodated. Pumpkins will be available on a first-come, first-served basis so arrive as close to 11am as you can.”

Volunteer w/ buildOn

I asked Crystal a few questions about buildOn. What major projects does buildOn have? What did she consider to be a major project? Did she mind telling me about Halloween Festival, because I know that is something that is does annually? Also, what did you enjoy about the specific UnLitter us on 10/15/11? That was the event I attended myself so I wanted another perspective not just my own.

Here was here response:

“We have two regional service projects every year (one in the fall and one in the spring). Those are our biggest projects and they are not always the same kind of project.  We also have some service projects that continue to be very popular every year:  definitely the Halloween festival, the Autism Walk, the AIDS Walk, the Beach Sweep in New Jersey. A major project is a project that we do consistently every year and brings a lot of students out. I thought the UnLitter Us project was awesome for a couple of reasons. I think it was wonderful for the guest speakers at the beginning of the event took notice of all of the buildOn students that had come out ready to help out.  It was also a great project because there was a clear need.  The volunteers got a lot done and really helped to clean up the area.  People in the neighborhoods took notice of the volunteers and thanked them for their hard work.  Lastly, I love when 50 teenagers from all across the city and from almost a dozen different schools can work together to make an impact.”  - Crystal Collins, PA Program & Service Coordinator

                                    

 

 

 

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