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From this project I have learned presentation zen. I have always seen billboards and slides with good eye-catching designs. I have never known the proper names for the effects until now. I have learned about “bleeding” and “kerning”. I learned about the basic fundamental knowledge of slide design. Color contrast, boldness, and font is something I improved in. I feel that knowing more about the slide design will help me with presentations in my other classes.  

¿Qué más? Mi nombre es Emmañuel. Tengo quince años. Soy arficano - americano. Vivo en Filadelfia. Se conoce como “La Ciudad de Armor Fraternal.” ¿Qúe tal? ¿De donde eres tú? ¿Qúe tiempo hace hoy en Maracaibo, Venezuela? Me gusta escuchar música, practiacr deportes, y ir de compras. Me gusta Kobe Bryant y él es basante deportista. No me gusta nada leer, estudiar, y trabajar. ¿Y a ti? ¿Qúe te gusta hacer en Maracaibo? Soy muy cómico y bobo, sin embargo soy inteligente. También soy muy delgado y lindo. ¿Y tú? ¿Cómo eres tú? Bueno, me voy porque tengo que ir al baño. Responde cuando puedas. ¡Hasta mañana!

Con cariño,

Emmañuel

Am I a Man or a Coward?

            I’m so happy we got out of school early; I had a fun time today. The only bad part of the day was that I have to attend my ILP. It’s all the way on spring garden and broad St. It starts soon so I had to hurry up and get there. I walked to the trolley and I took it to 15^th street. After I arrived at 15^th street I had to wait for the train. As I was waiting I notice about seven boys that were near me. I didn’t think anything of it the time; I just kept on playing the games on my phone. When the train came I walked on and sat in the first seat I saw. The boys that I saw at the train station walked on the train towards the far back. After waiting on the train for 3 minutes, I got up because my stop was next. Then all of a sudden the seven boys walked up next to me and surrounded me on the train. Two of them had their fist balled up. He looked like he was going to punch me but before he could the doors opened and I quickly walked out. I went up all the stairs until I was finally above ground. For a quick second I thought I lost them, but sadly, that wasn’t the case at all.

Why are those boys running towards me? Did I do something to anger them? Should I run away? I wish someone could answer my questions but unfortunately there is no one to answer them. I increased my speed and pretended like I didn’t see them, hoping they will stop running and not mess with me. But I couldn’t be more wrong, the gang of boys just ran faster towards me with balled up fist. I knew now I only had once choice, which is to run. I ran across the street, trying to dodge cars and avoid getting killed or very badly injured. I’m ducking under tree branches, jumping over fire hydrant, and hopping over gates. I never got so tried in my life. But I couldn’t help but think that I was acting like a “bitch” by running away from those boys. I started to feel like a coward or a punk because I didn’t stand my ground and fight those boys for whatever they wanted. I always called my self a man but can I still say that after what I’m doing now? A lot of men that I know would never run away from other people the way I did. Maybe I should stop running catch my breath for a little and try to flight all of them, I mean that what a man would do right? A true man wouldn’t like other people implant for into them, causing him to run. If I were a real man like I think I am, I would just flight with pride and if I lose at lease I lose being a man instead of a “pussy”. I started to slow down as I thought about it some more. Should I be a safe coward or be an injured man with pride? 

I used:

• Rule of thirds
• Make type big
• Visual theme
• Color schemes
• Keep it simple, a point from this web site. http://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-slide-design-tips-for-producing-powerful-and-effective-presentations/6117178

 The status of legislature pertaining my lobbying topic is not necessarily well this year. As for the people in council that supports the lobbying topic, there has not been much done and said that supports the issue that apparently is at hand. Honestly, if contacted possibly that would change because there even is a Committee on Streets & Services that hold Chair, Vice Chair, and Members that are dedicated to help support the streets of Philadelphia and also try hard to prevent an unsanitary environment. The opponents that may thwart the succession of my lobbying topic would of course be the people of Philadelphia. Sadly, they may be the biggest opponents that I have although, if more legislation such as founded before (http://legislation.phila.gov/detailreport/?key=9190) (https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/viewer?url=http://legislation.phila.gov/attachments/9251.pdf) the City of Philadelphia and their Philadelphians would be more submissive to keeping their city cleaner.

             Definitely the skateboarders in this issue would be the people of the Committee on Streets & Services. (http://www.phila.gov/cityCouncil/streets.html) Closer to me would be of course be the Vice Chair (Maria D. Quiñones-Sánchez). She is the councilwoman of the 7th district in which I do reside in. She indeed would be someone that I would and need to move that would be a decision maker. The issue that I do have with the city, I believe is not necessarily a controversial topic. I think it is reasonably fair and agreeable. I do not think I would have many or even at all any allies.

             A peer of mine that would definitely be someone I could possibly coordinate in this issue would be a dear friend of mines names Rashaun WIlliams.(http://phreshphiladelphia.org/Phresh_Philly/Phresh_Philadelphia.html) He is one of the founders of Phresh Philadelphia. Phresh Philadelphia is a non-profit organizations which is developed and motivated behind three very important goals; Community Development, Community Clean-Up, and Community Empowerment. Rashaun is someone as well that I do know that is passionate about the similar issues at hand in Philadelphia.

           I can and in dire need to influence the people of PHILADELPHIA. With that, some things that I should do is go to the city council meetings and go right to them and get suggestions on what I could possibly do to help with the public contribution of Philadelphia, cleaning wise. Hopefully that may spark some ideas with legislation and help move people in authority engage on my lobbying topic. As of currently there are a City Council Meeting that can be attended on December 7th at 10:00 am that is the meeting of the Whole Council. (http://legislation.phila.gov/calendar/)

        There are not any specific time frames, although I know personally I will get some information that I gather and present it thus forth at the meeting of the whole council at their next meeting. 

I made the changes to my new slide based on learning from my other classmates presentations. I learned to make my slide as simple, clean, and understanding as possible. My slide was already clean and simple to begin with, but nothing is ever perfect. So, I decided to revise my slide just a little bit more. I took out one of my pictures, because it just wasn’t necessary. I changed the color of my background because just because white goes with everything, doesn’t mean its that attractive. I changed the background to orange because its an appealing color and it stands out. I decided to even delete another picture, because the colors of the picture just weren’t clashing with my background. I enlarged the last picture I had and deleted my name and title. This give my slide a fresh and appealing look. In conclusion, this is how I improved my slide and now it looks great!

On the 17th of November, there was a hearing about the bill. I was able to find the video of the hearing online. Lautenberg opened with remarks about the bill's history. He explained that he'd talked to Republicans about making the bill bipartisan, and talked to Chemical Industry companies about their suggestions, too. He also said that most of the Democrats on the Committee for Environment and Public Works have become cosponsors of the legislation. There are 12 cosponsors in total. In fact, OpenCongress does not list any organizations currently opposing the bill! Despite all this, major chemical companies are not in full support of the bill. In the November 17th hearing, American Chemistry Council President and CEO Cal Dooley talked about his problems with the Safe Chemicals Act. He said that the bill "remains very similar to the bill which was introduced in 2010, which we consider unworkable." Most of his problems with the bill hinged on the tough standards for data and regulation, many of which would be difficult for the EPA and chemical industries to meet. However, he seemed to be willing to work with Lautenberg and other senators to make the bill more workable.

Although there are twelve senators cosponsoring the legislation, none of those senators are from Pennsylvania. I can write to Bob Casey and ask him to cosponsor the bill, or at least to pledge his support. I could also write to Pat Toomey, but I am doubtful that he will support the legislation. I recently saw an advertisement of his that was paid for by the petroleum industry. I was not able to find the ad online, but did find an article about the American Petroleum Institute's advertisements for Toomey and various other candidates. This makes me think that Pat Toomey cares more about big companies and industries than environmental or citizen health. I can still write to him, and explain my position.

When I first started to research the Safe Chemicals Act, I found the website Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. This site is an effort to pass legislation like the Safe Chemicals Act, and they have a sign-up for interested citizens. I already gave them my email, so I will be receiving updates on the bill's progress and opportunities to help. I also can write a letter to my Senators through their website. The website even has their own celebrity: Jessica Alba is working to push the Safe Chemicals Act through Congress!

I was not able to find any upcoming dates for meetings, committee hearings, deadlines, or anything like that. However, during the November 17th hearing, Senator Lautenberg said that he would be calling for a vote in the Senate soon. Because of this, I need to act now! At the moment, the only person I can influence in particular is Senator Bob Casey, by asking him to cosponsor the bill. I think that, with enough pressure from Pennsylvanians, Casey would support the bill. Pat Toomey, on the other hand, will probably not. I can still send him a message, to show my beliefs.