What's the Deal with Reconstruction?

- Reconstruction was a time after the civil war where the United States was in a financial struggle because the cost of the war was so great. The Unites States had to recover and reform back from the serious blow they took after the war. A good thing that came out was the Freedman's Bureau because it tried to help with African American's rights thus led to the establishment of the 15th amendment that allowed the blacks to have a right to vote. One bad thing that happened was when reconstruction was going on in the south, and it's still happening today. The south never reformed, which causes them to not have as good of an education, wealth, or land and/or property as everyone else. Since it never recovered, there is a lot of animosity going on with racism in those southern states. Hate crimes are still being committed. For example, on Sept. 12, 2009 a 51- year old Census field worker and teacher was hanged with the word "fed" on his chest:

"The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word on the chest of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and teacher. He was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky.

The Census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the investigation. An autopsy report is pending.

Investigators have said little about the case. FBI spokesman David Beyer said the bureau is assisting state police and declined to confirm or discuss any details about the crime scene."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jbzG_BlkG2Hfc818EPRRn1bBlP6gD9ATASJ00

Media Saves the Beach in the News

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jun/29/bn29spill-closes-beach/

- There was a report of an estimated 13,000 gallons of raw untreated sewage dumped into dog beach. It was only until the next day when they posted signs saying that the water was contaminated and was off limtis. You can get more information by clicking on the link above, or any newcasting website. It was perfect timing for this to happen. It was a good thing and a bad thing because on the good side it was perfect timing since we were testing the water that day which one help our results tremendously. On the down side, it was bad also because of the people who go to the beach almost daily and surf, hang out, relax, get a tan, and mostly the dogs who love playing in the water. It ties into our work for Media Saves the Beach because we will be testing various beaches water contaminents and see how dirty or clean the water is. When we tested the water it was pretty bad affecting not just see life but affecting people who love the beach.

Media Saves the Beach

For media saves the beach I was thinking about the clams and oysters that wash up in the ocean. How this pollution and garbage effect them from becoming fully grown. Aside from being eaten by the seagulls and pelicans. Another idea I had was finding out why the birds swim so close to shore. Is it because of the trash? Is it because people who go to the beach have food, or is it because they just like being close to shore. The content that interests me was the one where you go out and actually do things like Jessica Matthew's project. I might create a project where we try to figure out why the birds stay so close to the shore? I wonder if it's because of the contamination thats in the water effecting their food supply thus which forces them to move to another food source which is the sun bathers.

American Icons Final Product

Will Smith (Fresh Prince)

I remember watching a fresh prince episode where Will kept getting in trouble. As I was watching that episode I kept putting myself in his position and it fitted my real life situations a little too well. That’s how I see Will Smith (Fresh Prince). Everyone just doesn’t understand us. As I was dazed into the show, I actually feel like I’m Fresh Prince.

I call the house and they don’t know that I’m driving in the company Porsche that Uncle Phil’s friend gave to me when he gave me the job. Carlton answers the phone and he and everyone else thought that I wouldn’t be able to get the high executive job on the top floor with my own office. Well as I still feel like I’m Fresh Prince, I parked in the drive way and Carlton crumples paper up in the phone to make as if it was my new cellular phone (also compliments from the company). I walk in and he doesn’t believe that I was successful, so he walks outside turns the corner and sees… the company Porsche!

Everyone is impressed with me now that I got the job. I felt really proud of myself, then I come back to reality; realized that it wasn’t real and I smiled because I knew what I had to do to make my family proud of me and Will Smith is the perfect icon because I proved that he was capable of what he did even when the odds were against him.

So what comes next for me? Will I be able to attain my goals? Will I be able to achieve the future I want when people say it’s not possible? Well all I know is, is with the help of some relatives and friends and teachers; I will use the talents I have and ones that they help me achieve, I will hopefully be the next Will Smith

American Icons Reflection part 1

- I discovered that there were some parts of my writing that I never knew were so good. and then there were other parts where were to bland, like i was following a persuasive essay rubric. In my writing, I started it off to jump into it so once the reader read the first sentence, it would be more likely that they will want to read more. It made my writing a lot more in-depth and deep with less reading for the reader which I have never done before. It helped also because it was more meaningful when I read it and it left me wanting more. If I had one more draft I would probably make it more complex because of the audience that read it. I would have used different words that made it sound and look more professional than it had. here a sentence that stood out the most to me... " As I was watching that episode I kept putting myself in his position and it fitted my real life situations a little too well." This stood out to me the most because it was the breaking point that brought me into the entire paper and it also stood out to me because it seems like a really good way to begin my paper and it gives the reader a good idea of what this is paper is about.

Photography Techniques

Rule Of Thirds
The rule of thirds I think is the basic for all professional photos and any other photos. Me using the rule of thirds would be a great advantage because I can use the focal points that your eyes go to immediately. like in the picture above when you look at it your eyes go directly to the upper right intersection where the bee's eye is at.



Posed Portraits
I'm going to use the posed portraits technique because I feel like if I were to do a one that has me doing something in motion then it would make me look like really doing it. I'm using this technique because I know that my and my person can do the posed portraits thing really well.






Vignetting
I want to do vignetting because it always seemed like a really cool technique. But I don't want to make the really heavy look of vignetting, I want to make very light for this photo almost unnoticeable. Almost like the example shown to the right but lighter.

Artist Statements & Critiques

Critique Summary
The feedback that I got for my artist statements was that i had some really strong paragraphs in my paper. Others told me to read it over myself and see if it sounded right and flowed to me; when I read it over, there were quite a few of unnecessary punctuation marks and words that screwed up the flow and had nothing to do with the paper. But I really had some good feedback because they would show me the strong paragraphs that I had and then they gave me some ideas that led me to change the way I said certain sentences.
Plans/Goals/Ideas
Now that I have a base to start from now I can work on how I will be able to tie it into myself. For example, since my American Icon is Will Smith, I can start off with me watching a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode and then from there I can go deeper and choose the episode and then once I get that part down, I will hopefully have a strong artist statement.

American ICons: Resources

Will Smith- Music...

- In his music, well some of the songs I can relate to because some of the things he talks about is extremely accurate with what I'm going through or is happening at that moment. It will also give me a better understanding of him and how he feels about different aspects in life.

Will Smith- Email, Letters etc...

- I can use his emails adress and contact info to talk to him directly about this project. Also, it will be a great experience to be able to talk to him personally. Or I can contact his Manager or Agent and talk to them about it also.

Will Smith- Movies...

- Movies would be an excellent way for me to get more things from him because he has been in an ample amount of movies and t.v. shows that I can choose from. I will be able to improve my ways of portraying how me and my icon are alike.

American Icons Ideas

Will Smith. West Philadelphia he was born and raised. He started rapping at 12 years old. He got the nickname "Prince" because of how he was able to slide and smooth talk his way out of trouble; eventually into "Fresh Prince" when he hit high school. His rapping career started off when he met Jeff Townes (a.k.a. DJ Jazzy Jeff). He rejected a scholarship from MIT to follow his dream. His biggest idols were Michael Jackson, Malcolm X, Fred Rogers, and Carol O'Connor. his influences were Eddie Murphy and Grandmaster Flash. He and DJ Jazzy Jeff were doing really really well until Will Smith forgot to pay his tax and nearly went bankrupt. Luckily he and DJ Jazzy Jeff came out with another album He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper, the first hip-hop LP to go double-platinum. Then in the late 80's he met Benny Medina who wanted to make a sitcom based on his life from Philly to Beverly Hills called Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It became a hit and lasted for 6 years.

I chose Will Smith because he's one of the greatest actors to ever walk this Earth (in my opinion). Will Smith is a really cool nice person. When I met him at the Kids' Choice Awards about 2-3 years ago, I got to talk to him and be able to hang out with him for a little while before he had to go. He told me, "Follow your dreams and be the best at whatever you do; don't ever let anybody tell you that you can't do it."




I chose Tyler Perry because he too had issues with his dad at one point was homeless. He inspires me because of how he never gave up; he was successful in all of his plays and movies.

I chose Jaleel White also known as steve Urkel is because I can relate to his character. Steve has shown me that you don't have to be afraid to be smart.