The country we were assigned was the Dominican Republic and the election was held on May 20th 2012. First, we got help from Uyen Nguyen who suggested that we get in contact with a man she met named David in the DR. 

And from there, I went onto Facebook and contacted David.

However, I did not receive a response from David which led us to find a new ways to get information that we needed. One of the group members, Zillah, suggested that we talk to one of the underclassmen, Franklin Mercado, because he's from the DR and has family who lives there and could help.  One Thursday afternoon, we all got together with Franklin and he phoned his cousin on Google Talk. His cousin, Carlos Mariano Mendez who is apart of the Military answered the following questions for us.

How old do you have to be to vote in the DR?

What is the voting process like in the DR?

Are you familiar with the voting process in the US?

What are some political parties in the DR?

The most challenging part of this benchmark was actually finding a story. My initial idea was to find a super tragic story that nobody paid any mind to but then I got the idea to report on something positive about a teen. I feel live negativity about Philadelphia teenagers are over reported but the accomplishments we make are under reported. I remembered what an exceptional student Shalia Wallace is and saw how good of a deed she was doing by running a blood drive was so I decided to report her story. Not just Shalia but other teens all over the city and their accomplishments are unreported because there are so many teens who are doing wrong and the media just has so much more to say about that. I think this story will get some attention but not a bunch of attention because it isn't a negative or tragic story that captures peoples attention which is sad. It's a shame that people would rather hear about a shooting rather than teens making differences in their communities but that's the reality of it. Overall, I learned that the process of running a blood drive isn't as simple as it may seem and requires time and dedication to ensure that the drive is successful.

I ran a shoe drive here at SLA. The people who actually hosted the shoe drive was Teenshop Incorporated which is an organization for girls with goals that I am actually apart of. The event “Shoes for Life” was held on Saturday May 19th 2012 at (_____) where we actually gave the shoes away. My reasoning for choosing this project is mostly because the poverty rate is growing here in Philadelphia meaning that whatever income people do get, more than likely, it is spent on paying bills and buying food, the essential needs.  That leaves less money for people to pay for other things such as shoes. Besides poverty, personally, I enjoy giving and catering to those who are in great need and this project gave me the opportunity to do so.

The countries I focused on was the Dominican Republic and Bolivia; Bolivia being located in South America and the Dominican Republic being located in North America. The process of completing my benchmark could have been much better but it went as the following. I researched information on both of the countries and noted important facts that I felt should have been included in the benchmark. I then referred back to Diamond's 5 point frame-work and compared both of the countries. I found a cool layout to use for my final product and that's how I completed my benchmark. Reflecting upon the 5 point frame-work, it was not straightforward and required me to dig deeper and perform even more extensive research than I had done already. I also I had to do some more research to thoroughly understand the 5 point framework. If I could have changed anything, I would probably change the layout of my project because I feel like I made it more complex than it had to be along with me feeling like I didn't have enough time to complete the project and in result, my benchmark is late.

​


For my three charts, I chose to focus on religion, geography and the ages of those who live in the world and for the majority of them, I was off practically.  The only category where I hit close to home was the genders where I was 5 off for both. I guessed 55/100 would be female and 45/100 for males where the correct answer was 50 and 50.

For ages, I didn't do such a bad job at guessing. I guessed 15/100 would be 0-14 but I was 11 off because 26/100 would fall between 0-14. I was super close with guessing how many would be 15-64. I guessed 65/100 and the actual answer was 66/100 so I ended up being off by 1!!! For 65+ , only 8/100 would fall into that category but my guess ended up being 20/100 making me off by 12.

For drinking water, I underestimated our world and guessed 20/100 would have access to safe drinking water & 80/100 would not but it ended up being the reverse where 87 /100 had access to safe water & 13/100 did not.

What shocked me the most was religion. I honestly thought that there were more Muslims in the world than any other religion so it surprised me to see that the majority of the world practiced Christianity. 

Completing this assignment really showed me how much I did not know about the world. When doing this, I had a mindset that the U.S and China were the only advanced countries so anything dealing with those countries, the numbers would be larger. As far as poverty goes, I thought that the majority of the world was in poverty so anything dealing with that & advancement, I felt like the majority would be below and a small portion of the world would be advanced. I didn't expect to see that majority of the world would be advancing being as though a lot of countries seek help from others and they seem very dependent so to see that a lot of the world was doing exceptionally well surprised me.

AUDITORY ELEMENTS
There wasn’t a consistent track that played in the movie but there were sounds of the street (ambient sounds) that helped make up for that. Also, there was rap music to go with the urban scenes. There wasn’t much narration in the film but the dialogue was great. There was much expression and sternness in the way Denzel Washington spoke and helped me understand how much of a low down person he was. Ethan Hawke’s dialogue let me know he was unsure of what to do at first but was a smart man. Their dialogue really got me to believe that they both became their characters.

VISUAL ELEMENTS

The acting was amazing. Starting off with the minor characters, Snoop Doog and Dr. Dre really amazed me being as though they are musical artists and their acting skills were so good. Most singers/rappers who try to go into film that I’ve seen rarely succeeds and this was one of those rare cases. Macy Gray always plays the roles of drug addicts so seeing her in this role was the perfect fit.  Denzel Washington from what I know about him as an actor, he usually plays the “good guy” roles. After seeing Training Day, I began to believe that the “bad guy” thing was for him because he did an exceptional job. Ethan Hawke is an actor who I am really unfamiliar with but as far as his role, he did a good job as playing an officer who would just take orders at first but as the day went on, he grew to not just take orders.

For me, there weren’t really any new camera angles that really “wowed” me. Not that any of the angles were really bad, they just didn’t excite me too much. The lighting worked for me. There were parts where there was a little more exposure than it should have been but besides that, the lighting really worked for me.

 

(INSIDE THE BODY OF REVIEW: Discuss overall structure of the film)

Act I- Set Up

When Ethan Hawke had the phone conversation with Denzel Washington, we got an idea of what kind of person Denzel was.

When Ethan met him at the coffee shop, it was more clear of who Denzel would be as a character. The conversations between Ethan and Denzel in the car let us know how Denzel felt as about his job which was he felt like he was above the law because he was a top cop.

 

Act II- Confrontation

 

This wasn’t shown in the movie, but Denzel got into a confrontation with the wrong Russians apparently which led to him owing one million dollars to them by midnight the following day or he would be dead. Throughout the whole day, he ran a series of schemes in order to get the money he needed which got him caught up in the end.

 

 

Act III- Resolution

 

At the end, Denzel set Ethan Hawke up and left him in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Hawke came and found him and put a good fight with Denzel. Ethan ending up beating him up & shooting him but not killing him, that job was left to the Russians.

 

I thought this would be one of those movies where the bad guys get away with what they’ve done at the end of it.

For our second quarter benchmark, we created a video about LBGT rights and had some insight from a couple peers and included brief information about what role the United States plays in this. We looked into section one of the 14th Amendment for our project.

Citations

1. y wedding of josh & ryan [Web]. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laV8nNV9EBk

This video is about a gay couple Josh & Ryan getting married  In New York city. Marry me gay specialize in gay marriages and is filming this marriage to show everyone that gay couples can also fall in love. Gay couples love is just as true and vibrant as a heterosexual couple's love.

2. Marriage for same-sex couples. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.aclu.org/marriage-same-sex-couples

This website is about gay marriage and equality. People who religion  doesn't approve of gay marriage can criticize gay couples but the government cannot. Marrying the same sex is only acceptable in 20 states (plus D.C)  and people are working hard to expand this across the country.
This website also talks about the defense marriage act and marriage in the United States.
u.s. constitution: Fourteenth amendment . (n.d.).

3. Retrieved from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment14/

This website is about the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment is broken down into 5 sections. The 14th amendment  is about babies being born from an immigrant inside the U.S gives the mother (& family) of the baby permanent residency. It is also about slaves rights being denied and so forth and so on.

4. 14th amendment rights [Web]. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6aDzJ9Eab4&feature=youtu.be
This video is about a girl who created an animated feature to discuss the 14th amendment. She wanted to get the message of the 14th amendment out to people who doesnt know about it and is living it everyday. She wanted to explore the creative side of history.

My reasoning for choosing this topic is because this is a topic that is taken lightly in the society today. We, even I myself is guilty of calling people "gay" when I feel like they're doing something out of the norm for their gender which is wrong of me. I do not mean any harm by it but I've come to realize how bad of an impact this can have on people. Being gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gender in the world today isn't easy and I felt like it'd be a good idea to make a video reminding people that they are human & their sexuality doesn't define them. 

We did stumble across one big challenge which was what exactly would we include in this video. We didn't know if we wanted to base this off of one person's life with facts or not. We ended up just making a video with facts included in it.  Aside from the challenges, I liked that we had to make a video and focus on a provision of the Constitution in a creative way.  The most interesting fact that I came across was that a Defense of Marriage Act was passed giving the states the option of rejecting or allowing gay marriages. I felt like that law should have never been passed being as though the US shouldn't regulate who people chose to love and be with.


After watching the project, I noticed the audio was not the best and it could use some MAJOR improvements. The music was higher than the interview audio which is a mess and should be fixed. If I were to do this project again, I would start the filming earlier because we probably would have more access to filming equipment and our final product would have been so much better. Also, we wouldn't have had to use many youtube videos if we would have done so. However, I did learn about the 14th Amendment and how that second section of the 14th Amendment shouldn't be taken for granted. Me, because I have my freedom and I am a heterosexual female does not go through problems where I feel as though I'm being rejected or deprived of rights. Therefore, I take this section of the 14th Amendment lightly whereas those who are LBGT take it seriously because they are deprived of their right to live in the way they want to.

    In order for my lobbying topic to come to the attention of big city officials, I have to get the attention of the council members who make up the Rules Committee  for the city of Philadelphia.  There are many methods I can take to capture their attention that will all be effective for me.

The person that I really need to get in contact with would be Anna C. Verna because she is the chair of the rules committee but if I am not able to get in touch with her, I have 8 other options of people to get in contact with including James F. Kenney who is the vice chair of the committee.


Speaking hypothetically, I send out letters, e-mails and make calls to both the chair and the vice chair and I do not get in contact with them and I never hear anything back, I’ll first contact Donna Reed Miller who is one of the members on the committee. The reason why I’ll contact her is because she serves the 8th district, which is my districts’ councilwoman.

My plan of action is the following:

1.    Write a letter addressing my issues and ways I chose to go about fixing the issue (Just in case I need to send a letter)

2.    Call Verna to get in contact with her first and work my way down the line if my plan doesn’t work.

3.    Attend a meeting to figure out their viewpoints they already have on curfew. The point of the meeting would be to be observant of
    what plans they have already made and see how can I add to it or tie my ideas into their laws.
   
4.    Set up a meeting with whoever is willing to meet with me and discuss my ideas with them and try to get them to agree with me to represent this to a larger audience.

5.    Hopefully get feedback from the larger audience and see if my issue can be brought before the mayor and see what he says about it.
   

.

Vice Chair James F. Kenney 

      

 Chair Anna C. Verna

  

 

Council Woman Donna Reed Miller

http://www.lucidchart.com/publicSegments/view/4ee243e4-2004-4861-8b01-6c450a2e55c1/image.jpeg


  

The task that Brooke and I decided to take on was the steps to obtaining a green card. The process a person has to undergo in order to obtain a green card can be a very simple process if the person follows each step correctly. Depending on the status of an immigrant the process varies from a one to two step process. MOST of the paper work was straightforward but some parts required us to really do some research to find out what each part of the application really meant. IF I were to be applying for a green card in reality, the paper work would be simple yet paying for the applications to go through would be hard. This process in total I would say costs over a thousand dollars which could be hard for immigrants to afford being as though it's a possibility they're coming into the United States for better opportunities. As far as my flowchart goes, I would have been more detailed with the flowchart. The process isn't long but I would want to map out some of the questions that would be asked on the paper.  I was reading on how simple it was to get green cards before or just enter the United States period. But now I feel like they stepped it up a notch with the process because so many people are trying to become a U.S citizen that it can soon lead to over population of our country.

For my final benchmark, I created a comic to tell the story of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and how it came into law.

    There are various council members here in Philadelphia, ten to be exact for the ten different districts. Those who represents my lobbying topic would be those who’s on the Rules Committee.  The chair of this committee is Anna C. Vera, the vice chair is James F. Kenny and there are seven members who consist of Darrell L. Clarke, Frank DiCicco, W. Wilson Goode, Jr., William K. Greenlee, Donna Reed Miller, Blondell Reynolds Brown and Frank Rizzo Jr.  I’m sure I wouldn’t need to talk to all of these people so I would first start with Anna C. Vera because she seems to have the most experience on this committiee.  In 2008 she was beginning her THIRD FULL term as council president which shows she must be really good at her job. Anna represents the 2nd district and her community interest is more so with housing. Because she seems to only oversee the Rules Committee more so than actual perform the same jobs as the council members, more than likely, I would be redirected to a council member who could represent me and my lobbying ideas.


Anna C. Verna Biography
http://www.phila.gov/citycouncil/AnnaVerna.html

City of Philadelphia Rules Committie
http://www.phila.gov/citycouncil/rules.html

Map of Philadelphia District Neighborhoods 

I am lobbying to change the curfew in Philadelphia. I am not 100% for the curfew but I am not against it neither. Personally, the curfew laws is not a bad idea but there needs to be some adjustments. I feel like it’s a bit crazy for the curfew for those under 18 is 9pm. Me personally, on Saturdays, I attend a program called Teenshop which lasts until 1pm. From there I have to go home in which I will arrive about 1:45pm then from there, I have house cleaning I must do before I think about going anywhere. Around 6:30ish, I am done cleaning and if I plan to go somewhere, it’ll take me about a hour to get ready and when I finally do get out of the house, I have to come right back inside? That’s ridiculous. I feel like we should go back to regular curfew laws but raise the fine if children are caught out past 12:00am. I find that pretty fair because for one, if kids are given an extra mile, the consequences should be more severe if they take advantage of the scenario. I feel like the main supporters of my idea would be teenagers under the age of 18 who more than likely really wish to be outside beyond 9:00pm but my opponents would be the mayor, police and many adults. There isn’t any pending legislation dealing with my topic but I would like to see a way to make these laws fair. I mean yes, I understand how terrible our youth has been in recent years but should the entire generation be punished for the wrong doings of the few? I hope soon that there’s a lot of discussion about raising the curfew fine but going back to previous curfew laws.

​1. How is sound produced by this instrument (now that you know more about sound, please try to refer specifically to the energy transfer and vibrations)?
For a flute, the referring to energy transfer and vibrations, sound is produced by having a standing wave of air in the column of the instrument. At the end of a flute, air moves freely. A flute is an example of a standing wave.

I'm changing the pitch by blowing into the different holes I will make. Each hole will be of a different frequency. 

I will be using PVC pipe for my instrument. I will play it as I said before by blowing into the different holes.

My design of the flute is different from the traditional design and I wonder will it still work as good.

Kyla Carden
Natikwa Goodwin
Jareese Long

Alexis Beckton
Kyla Carden
Samantha Boyd
Jareese Long