Tariq Smith Public Feed

Election Project Work

Posted by Tariq Smith in Globalization - Laufenberg on
(Tariq, Sam K., & Sam S)


My Group's election country was Russia. Our Election was in early March and we tried several different ways of coming in contact with someone over there to conduct interviews. We emailed an english speaking school over there, as well as we tried to get in contact with luke van meter's brother who actually taught over there. We tried following up with these actions but they were to no avail.

If we were to do this project over again, we would have tried to physically speak to luke's brother, and go deeper with pursuing someone through Serge's family. We felt that there was hardly any physical connection therefore making it extremely difficult to establish a relationship with a stranger as well as getting them to do a task for us.

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Option #1 Benchmark

Posted by Tariq Smith in Globalization - Laufenberg on
Globalization Benchmark Q4
What I found most challenging about this project was getting the quotes from the different sources. I am not in contact with these people everyday so retrieving the quotes was rather difficult.

This story was rather simple to find because I am a member of the Track & Field community so before the season started it was brought to my attention that cuts were being made to spring sports.

I do not think this story recieves more attention because out of the many American sports, Track & Field is not at the top of the list for popular sports.

I don't think this story will get more attention over the next few months because the season is coming to a close and as people stop running others will not pay much attention to how these budget problems still exist. It will be brought back into light next year if these problems still exist then.

Throughout this project I learned that although we all come from very diverse backgrounds, if we come together to reach one common goal, we may be successful in our endeavors.

322x Productions & Creations - Tariq

Posted by Tariq Smith in Capstone - Bey on
​ My Senior Capstone Project was to take the existing non-profit organization that I co-founded last year, and providing youth with opportunities to showcase their individual talents to large amounts of people. I am collaborating with two close friends to demonstrate 3 different components of running an organization. The section that I am focusing on is the production phase of the organization. This essentially is the execution the projects that we have scheduled and the process that we undergo to make these ambitions a reality.
322x Productions & Creations (Official Logo)
322x Productions & Creations (Official Logo)

Globalization Benchmark : Collapse'ibility

Posted by Tariq Smith in Globalization - Laufenberg on
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Here is a link to my benchmark

The countries that I selected were Russia and Democratic Republic of Congo. I was given Russia as my country for an election project where I had to get someone in another country to perform an interview on someone who was currently voting that year. My country for my region project that I chose was the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC is located in Central Africa and was formerly known as Zaire. For my benchmark I chose to a Google site because it was something that could easily be accessed by everyone in the viral world. The 5 point framework for my countries was relatively  simple to explain because both of my nations are very popular nations throughout the world for various different things. If I could change one thing about my product, I would add more visuals and add more interactivity so that my audience would be more compelled to stay on my site and would have more to do than just read information.

"Drive" Film Review

Posted by Tariq Smith in Digital Video -4 day a week - Herman on

After watching “Drive”, my opinion of the film was somewhat unappreciative in a sense. Prior to viewing Drive, I was informed that this was a movie that received several different awards such as Best Picture and Best Director. This gave me in some respects what many would call great expectations that weren’t fully met. I acknowledge that this was a very creative film but I felt as if at certain points in the film, I was unable to appreciate its artistic value.

    One aspect of the film that I particularly admired was its fast-paced sequences during an overall seeming slow developing plot. There were many scenes where I felt on the edge of my seat for a long period of time. Although the feeling of being on the edge of your seat when waiting for a scene to climax is an amazing feeling, Drive in my opinion kept me feeling that often for what felt like an insurmountable period of time. One example of this, being the second of the three car chases where Driver is physically driving. I understand the wanting of the scene to have its authenticity, but a scene such as this that as fast paced as it was needed to give me more time to digress after each and every plot twist throughout the entire chase.  
    I also wasn’t a huge fan of the different auditory elements that went into the film. For example, Driver, who is supposed to be the main character/protagonist in the film, had what I felt was a very insufficient amount of dialogue to reinforce his vitality to the overall concept of the film. Yes some would argue the cliche phrase “actions speak louder than words” but as a viewer I like to see my protagonist captivate me with both actions as well as words. The background noise often times did help me keep interest in what was going on in their surrounding. But as I stated earlier, there were times where there was dead silence (such as the elevator scene after the kiss) when for a dramatic effect everything was slowed down before the climax of that particular scene which would have to be the brutal killing. As far as other auditory elements such as the soundtrack and musical score, I didn’t find anything that was particularly moving in its authenticity.
    An accolade that I would give Drive is the strategic use of lighting. I felt as if many of the vital scenes in the movie contained a warmer toned light when something important was occurring. This allowed me to focus on a specific person or subject and feel comfortable during periods where I was forced to reflect on what happened in another scene. Because I am a fan of action, my biased opinion was that I appreciated the many different angles shown during driving scenes. I thought driving scenes had to have been a strong aspect of the film one because of the obvious title, and two because the driving scenes were what Drivers character was based on. After watching the extras and finding out more about many of the characters, I saw how different actors stepped outside of their comfort zone in this movie. At first I didn’t think that the acting was anything worth mentioning but after finding out a small background of them, I was able to appreciate the actors more than I originally would have.
    My overall critique of Drive is that I wouldn’t have felt disappointed that I spent money to go view it in the theaters but this is not a movie that I would want to purchase on DVD/Blu-Ray. Yes it managed to entertain me for one hundred minutes but it was nothing that I am going to remember a year from now. Perhaps I set too high expectations for it but it didn’t move me in the way that it did many other people and I would choose not to recommend it to anyone who has the same opinions as me with this genre of film.

World of 100

Posted by Tariq Smith on

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The category in which I was the most accurate is "Literacy By Gender". Out of all three of my categories this was the closest of the three to the correct number most likely because of my middle school experience. I had a very different middle school experience mainly because the school was segregated if you will into to sides. One side of the middle school, was comprised of students individually selected from other school around the district because my middle school was a magnet school. While the other side was comprised of students who attended the school in elementary school and didn't qualify to be in the magnet program due to their grades, behavior, etc. The majority of the students in the magnet program were academically gifted and their literacy rates reflected that. And the students in the regular side of the middle school had grades that were rather mediocre and when I weighed out the students in the middle school from both sides, academic and regular, I felt it gave me a fair representation of male literacy rate on a larger scale
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The correct answer that shocked me the most was the correct number for "Access to Clean/Safe Drinking water". We live in a society where recycling and conservation is almost second nature and we act as though there is a majority of the world that doesn't have access to safe/ clean water like we do in America. I felt like to have 87 of 100 people have access to clean/safe water that shows that we as a human race have been doing our part in conservation and the pollution rates have come down because years ago this was a serious problem that was taken seriously worldwide

I ended up being way off in my predictions compared to the correct/real answers. I think this is because certain morals & values were used to teach me respect and many of them are slight exaggerations of what is real. We are taught to be good standing citizens so that throws off our perception of what the real world is like and my personal opinion 

Q2 Benchmark Reflection

Posted by Tariq Smith in American Government - Laufenberg on
Please refer to Jason Davis' blog for actual video

Enchanted Video

I chose the topic of freedom of speech through censorship of music because this is something that affects my life in an important manner. Music is part of my daily schedule and when it is censored from its original state in my opinion it makes the music unoriginal and taints the music.

What I liked about this project was the fact that I could take something that I am passionate about, and use creative means to educate others on my opinion all the while academically fulfilling ones needs on a specific amendment. The most challenging project in my opinion was how to incorporate music with history and vice versa.

The most interesting fact that I investigated was while watching the C-Span footage of Joe Biden making a speech and seeing how the first amendment actually related to music in my living conditions

This project could've been improved by making the information that was conveyed slightly more academic. Although there were no requirements for how academic it had to be for the competition, for class I felt I could've incorporated more than just Joe Biden. 

I had much trouble when trying to come up with lyrics for the actual song we created because I wanted them to have controversy as well as be appropriate for a large competition like C-Span

What went well with the project was the fact that my group members and I all share an unusual type of creativity that when joining forces, it makes for a final product that others are often amazed by.

If I had to do it all over again, I would do a podcast with instead of an actual self-made music video.

I learned that everywhere throughout history and politics can relate to my everyday life in some way shape or form.

Blog Post #4

Posted by Tariq Smith in American Government - Laufenberg on
Since I am lobbying for music and athletic programs to be brought back as well as stop cutting them, I decided to try and get in contact with the superintended of the School District of Philadelphia and attack the problem right on the head. I soon noticed that this was a really hard task because it was extremely hard to find his own personal email. I then looked for a way to get in contact with someone who could relay the message and when browsing the school district of Philadelphia's website, I came across a link that provided phone numbers to the schools in the district. I wanted to get my voice heard on a larger scale so I decided to call Central, Roxbourough and Sayre. I targeted these three schools because they are larger schools that have large music and athletic programs so they can understand my concern. Unfortunately they haven't responded to me yet.

https://webapps.philasd.org/school_profile

3rd Blog Post

Posted by Tariq Smith in American Government - Laufenberg on

Currently, this has not been a good year for my legislature seeing, as though there have been thousands of budgets cuts all throughout the School District of Philadelphia. Numerous teachers have lost their jobs, several programs have been cut, and many quintessential pieces of education have been lost this year. Many of the elected leaders actually support what I am lobbying; the only issue is a lack of proper funding. In the past, elected officials haven’t been conscientious of their spending, which is why we are feeling the repercussions now. Mainly, my opponents are those who represent districts where funding is plentiful and can afford to spend money wherever they see fit. Currently, officials are getting rid of things that aren’t one hundred percent essential to the growth of the district.

            In my opinion, I would need to gain the support of state representative Ronald Waters and the superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia. With these two individuals supporting me, they most likely will have a large enough say over how money is spent throughout the district that it will have a meaningful impact or even change how the legislature is viewed by those it affects.

 

http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2011/08/23/the-departure-of-philadelphia-school-superintendent-arlene-ackerman/

 

            I don’t know anyone personally that is lobbying the same topic as I am, but my plan is to travel down to the school district building and see who has the most influence in lobbying the same thing as I am. In my opinion, seeing as though I am only seventeen people may not take me seriously when I first bring my idea to someone’s attention. But as I continue to explain and show my knowledge of this topic, I think I can get the attention of those who attend meetings to discuss what are the negative and positive things pertaining to the well being of the district. I think I can have some meaningful progress towards my overall goal by the beginning of the next fall term for students.



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M.B.Z. vs. Clinton

Posted by Tariq Smith in American Government - Laufenberg on
 

Whether courts can enforce a federal statute governing how the Secretary of State is to record the birthplace of American citizens on passports and related documents; and whether a federal law instructing the Secretary of State, if requested to do so, to record the birthplace of U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem as Israel interferes with the President's authority under the Constitution to recognize foreign nations. Some facts about this is even though Israel was declared a state in 1948, the U.S. government has declined to recognize Jerusalem as the capital, deeming this a question to be resolved through diplomacy. In 2002, Congress passed a law that provided that "for purposes of the registration of birth … or issuance of a passport of a United States citizen born in the city of Jerusalem, the Secretary (of State) shall, upon request … record the place of birth as Israel." A passport is not today considered a diplomatic statement; it's an identification of a person in order to enable him to travel abroad. The petitioner in the case, M.B.Z., was born in Jerusalem to U.S.-citizen parents in 2002.  Although his parents asked the State Department to designate Israel as their son’s place of birth on his passport, it declined to do so despite Congress’s command to the contrary. When the parents took the issue to the courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed their claim on the ground that it raised a nonjusticiable political question:  the court of appeals explained that the “judiciary has no authority to order the Executive Branch to change the nation’s foreign policy” with respect to whether Jerusalem is part of Israel.

The Dream Act

Posted by Tariq Smith in American Government - Laufenberg on
​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

2nd Lobbying Post (Who Represents Me)

Posted by Tariq Smith in American Government - Laufenberg on
I currently live in the 3rd district making my representative Jannie L. Blackwell.  Jannie L. Blackwell is a graduate of Cheyney University where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and a graduate of St. Joseph’s University where she received a Master of Arts in Education.
​Jannie Blackwell was the only member out of an entire council of 17 people to vote No on the new curfew that was passed last Thursday. One of the things Blackwell stated was

“Those people who work hard and work two and three jobs and can’t follow their children and end up with problems, you cost them out of a decent life,” she said. “You’re not going to change it.” (See Full Text Below)

http://www.phillytrib.com/newsarticles/item/1246-council-passes-curfew-despite-protestors.html

This tells me that she is thinking in the mindset of the average citizen because she once was in the shoes of the middle class citizen. She had to work her way to where she is now.

Blackwell Represents many different areas which can also be found here (19107-3290)

 http://www.hellophiladelphia.com/politics/bio/77757/jannie_blackwell.html
Jannie-L-Blackwell
Jannie-L-Blackwell

Lobbying to stop Music and Athletic Program cuts

Posted by Tariq Smith in American Government - Laufenberg on
I am lobbying to change the budget cuts in philadelphia public schools, more specifically cuts to music and athletic programs within schools. In urban areas, the music and athletic programs are a large reason why many students actually show up to school each day, if you take these programs out of schools, you lose attendance cause the dropout ratio to increase.

My motivation stems from my actual interest in sports & music. I have a strong respect for athletes and musicians who are serious about becoming great at whatever talent they posses. I feel as though these public schools are where the future professionals start and if you take away the programs then you take away the professionals.

The main supporters of my lobbying ideas are higher institutions, as well as parents. If you cut these programs, you take away the college & universities prospects. They can't recruit students for these programs at their own school because they are being prevented from displaying these skills seeing as there is no opportunity to show it.

The main opponents of my lobbying idea are the members of the school district of philadelphia. They are the ones that have put these laws into effect and I don't think that they will support spending more money on what they don't think is necessary.

Currently there is no pending legislation dealing with my lobbying idea. I feel as though there should be one proposed making so that their must be a certain amount of money invested into these programs throughout the district each year.

http://articles.philly.com/2011-04-28/news/29483260_1_cuts-in-state-aid-full-day-kindergarten-individual-school-budgets

Musical Blog Post #2

Posted by Tariq Smith in Physics - Echols on
I am choosing to create a wind chime. And sound is produced by the artist blowing through the holes at the top of the chime. The wind that I will produce will create waves throughout the wind chime and the walls of the chime will affect the pitch. Based on my understanding,  I am changing the pitch in my instrument by blowing through different holes which all would create different wavelengths. The physical characteristics that are important are that each pipe has to be a different length to produce a different sound. I will be using PVC pipe, duct tape, and pennies to create my wind chime. My plan for constructing this would be to hopefully use the time Ms. Echols allows me in class and if not then I would use my own spare time after school.

Musical Instrument Blog #1

Posted by Tariq Smith in Physics - Echols on
I am considering constructing a guitar as my instrument of choice for this band. This is played by using either a pick or my fingers to strum the strings which produces the sound. You can change a note by tuning the strings which will be located at the top of the guitar. It will be shaped like a normal guitar. Pretty Square at the bottom and the fret board will be rectangular. I believe that depending on how hollow the wood I use the guitar will produce different sounds accordingly. I feel as though the waves that will be created when I make the guitar will be large waves because I plan on making this guitar about half of the size of a normal guitar.
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