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• http://bit.ly/xtoQR5 (Link to video)
  
  My partner and I chose this topic because it was something that caught both of our attention. We both love art and believe that censored art is something that has a deep meaning. I really liked that we could be creative with our projects. I felt as though we could go anywhere with it and expres ourselves. The one challenging thing was trying to tie it all in together. The most interesting thing that we investigated was "Piss Christ" because learning about it's background was very challenging because many people find it sacreligious. This project could have had more time put into it. The one place we ran into trouble was trying to upload it. On thing that went well with this project was gathering the information. If I had to do something over I would pick a different topic because it was hard to find things to speak about. I learned that many things in our world are looked down upon but have a deep meaning and people don't seem to be ready for it.

We wanted to look into the subject of Freedom of Speech and one of the controversial issues standing is student rights. The actual rights are not written expressly for the youth under the age of 18. Given that they are minors and in a school system that has varying rules special to each school, we wanted to get the opinions of students on what they believe their rights are and how they'd feel if the freedom given was restricted more than it is now.

The most challenging part of this project was getting the interviews and getting questions that would pull out the most intriguing answers. The length of the video was a problem i ran into and he to pull some last minute stops to get it to be an appropriate time.

I wasn't actually aware that student's rights were not a part of the constitution nor an amendment. Even after the first case regarding the rights of a student, Tinker vs. Des Moines, the supreme court ruled in favor of the students however after that many cases have taken separate courses depending on the judge or subject regarding the issue. The first amendment states "

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Adding to length and wider range of opinions and subject matters as well as narration from us the creators could make the video better all around.

Finding people who had something to say was relatively easy. Each person has an opinion of how the schools are run and each has a strong reaction to "how would you feel if you couldn't" questions.

Adding better materials. The editing wasn't hard but having something to edit was a problem that we ran into.

• I picked this topic because I have frequently felt perturbed toward any censorship to the arts. I liked the freedom we had along with the amount of information we could use. However, finding any specific information is rather difficult on google about somethings.  I found interesting the explanation for certain artist such as andre serrano who expresses his art not from the crude images of poses, but the liquids that he uses. We had a problem converting it and finding stuff. The fact we both found decent information about our topic means it wents well.
  

• Why did you choose this topic? We choose this topic because we felt as though many students in school don't feel as though their freedom of speech is granted to them.
• What did you like about this project? What was most challenging? I like the most about this project was recording people and asking them how do they feel about freedom of speech in general. I like this part the most because you got to hear things from different perspectives and got to see how people can voice how their freedom is given to them. The most challenging part was getting the cspan video that was related to our project. This was hard because we had to make sure we could tie it back to our main point. 
• Describe the most interesting fact or event that you investigated. I think the most interesting event was when it came to interviewing Ms. Hull about freedom of speech. This was interesting because she took it over the top and opened up more doors for our topic and have us look at things a little differently.
• How could this project be improved? I think the only thing that we could improve is the number of people we interview about freedom of speech. I think if we had more people it would've been better. So all and all I think we would have to improve on our timing.

• Where did you run into trouble with the project? The only trouble we had was really converting the video we made to come up correctly of slate. Other than this we really didn't face any problems.
• What went well with this project? I think the project went well over all because my partner and I work well together. We both put forth the effort in to the project. 
• If you had it to do over, what would you change about your decisions or your process?I think the timing process would be changed. If we timed it better we probably could've had more people lined up to be interviewed and it would've made it better.
• What did you learn? I think that freedom of speech is important to teachers in school just as well as it is important to the students. If they don't voice their opinion then they can't be heard. 

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  What did you like about this project?I like that in this project every member of the grouped picked each others brains to find out their outtake on religion and everyone just listened to everyones outtake
  
   What was most challenging? I think the most challenging was putting what we talked about onto the actual video because when the camera starts to roll things change 
• Describe the most interesting fact or event that you investigated.
  I think the most interesting fact that I found out was peoples take on atheism 
• How could this project be improved?I think if we would have explored other videos of other religions it would have brought a different out take instead of the you believe or dont believe

• Where did you run into trouble with the project? I think that the problem that the group ran into was how we would discuss our feelings into the camera
• What went well with this project?The research
  
• If you had it to do over, what would you change about your decisions or your process?
• What did you learn?I wouldn't have waited so late to start recording 

When choosing a topic for our project we wanted to choose something that meant something to all of us. We felt as though it we were going to make a video about something why not make it about something that has an impact on us. So we collectively decided to make a video based around LBGT rights and the 14th amendment of the constitution because we each have friends that are either LBGT. And we see how there treated everyday because of their sexuality. When creating the project I liked the actual filming the most and coming up with the concept of the project. The most challenging part of the project by far was agreeing on ides with my group members because we had ideas that conflicted with each other. The most interesting fact I found when creating this project is that same sex marriage is only granted in 6 states across the US. I found this interesting because in the 14th amendment it states, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States". But the states do just that. They take away the rights to marriage. 
         I feel as though we put together a quality project but I do think there is room for improvement. For starters I would only work with one person and I would or myself because I feel as though our ideas conflicted. We ran into trouble with the project when getting everything finished on time. After completing this project I learned that everyone isn’t granted the rights, as they should be. 

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. 

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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.