A Tragic Story

Chris Mcandless was not brave, nor noble. He was yet another inconsiderate man who thought he could take the world by himself. In the end the only thing that could convince him he wasn’t all that was unfortunately death. People need to realize that nature is a symbol of romanticism but at a brutal cost. His death was jus another statistic; accidental death is the third highest cause of death in Alaska. In 2008 332 accidental deaths were reported. Chris was not a noble or admirable person. The pain he cost worth more that the adventure he decided to take, because of his miss judgment of himself he became another statistic and for that his family, friends and the people hew grew close to had to suffer.
John Krakauer mention that Chris came from a “well-to-do family” this means that Chris was expected to have a good life. But on day he decided to just give 25,000 dollars to charity and drop from the radar. What is very interesting to me is why would he do this if he was expected to have a good life. Thousands of people would be willing to do anything to just be able to live in a home that he was expected to live in. According to Census, in 2008 5.8% of all families in the U.S. were living in poverty, and then you would ask why Mcadless would give up his life to just end up in another statistic.
In his travel Mcandless meat lots of people, most of these people grew fond of Mcandless, only to be struck by his accidental death in the Alaska wilderness. Some of these people were pointless to him until he met them. He made attachments that cause for people to have feeling towards him.
Mcandless journey wasn’t noble or heroic. It was foolish acts that unfortunately cause him he’s life. This should be a wakeup call for many people, Mcandless was expected to do well in is live, but he threw everything away to just go on an adventure and then causing him to just become another statistic.

The Great Gatsby!

I think that the last line of The Great Gatsby is describing how we move towards the past without us noticing. The ocean is always violent in the night, but come dawn it turns silent. Ceaselessly we move forwards in our minds. But what we don’t realize is that our actions speak louder than words, such as Gatsby where he was fixed in the past. He kept thinking that it was summer and that the party wasn’t over. He wanted to stay in the past so that he could keep working on getting back the love of his life.

In the beginning of the book Nick wants to move forward. He comes in and wants to get away from the past, but he is so focused on his goal that he continues sub-consciencly to remain in the past. The boat symbolizes each of the characters and there journey that they want to do. The wave is the problems and there materialist mind. The way that the waves go up and down is the same thing that goes on with each of the characters. There sense of being on top or wanting to go above others. Trying to compete against each other, the game at some points going really high up with parties, and lower when they are in small groups.

Adopt A Beach

For this Article they are informing the public about the adopt a beach program which is run by I love a Clean San Diego organization. The program is all about adopting a beach and then going to help clean it up couple times a year. The one thing that this article is missing is the requirement that are needed for adopting a beach, and what is the time limit. this applies to the MSB work because its all about getting started in beach clean-ups and helping the public to get informed about what happens on the beach.

Article by Sign On San Diego:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/jun/26/1c27greenm133015-smartliving-love-our-beaches/

Gatsby 1-4

i think that gatsby and nick are detached from there environment around them because they like to keep there emotions and opinions to themselves. one more than the other because of how gatsby is more mysterious than nick. he likes to have people wonder about what is happening in his house and his affairs. while nick likes to just sit back and enjoy the show from the side lines because he critiques what other people say and do.

MSB Organizations

The San Diego River Park Foundation

The Vision of a River Park

The guiding vision for the River Park is presented in the San Diego River Park Conceptual Plan which was developed through a series of community meetings by The San Diego River Park Foundation. The plan was completed during the summer of 2002

This organization is connected to the state government because of how it connects with community engagement.

The great gatsby

I think that the narrator is a women. it seems that she is somehow falling for Gatsby, or as if they knew each other from long ago.

I would imagine that the author is trying to make the narrator a part of the story and also try to make it as in they are a big part of the story.

Seeking the Pro's

Save our Beach
A nonprofit organization trying to improve
the water quality in the California coast

http://saveourbeach.org/

1. The most successful element is that they have done a semi- professional website to try and inform there public about the goals. also how the are a non-profit organization yet they still do many things that could in the long run cost lots of money.

2. I think that there goal is much like CoastKeeper and other organizations like it, to try and improve the quality of the water along the California coastline.

3. I think that the biggest thing that they intend is to inform the public on the beach clean-up that they have, and also on how we can make a difference in the coastal environment, where many people don't care about

4. One of the big things that i saw is how they counted how many of specific things they have collected in there beach clean-up's and also they list how long it takes for different things t decompose.

5. The reason that this organizations makes such an impact is because of how they try to shock you with the amount of garbage that we throw away, the don't shock you literally, but in a figurative way. They use the numbers that they have come up with and try to put it in our heads and make it stay in our conscience.

6. I chose this example because of how after ten years they are still managing to make an impact on the minds of many people in America.

Lessons learned

some of the things that i learned with the newspaper project is that whatever you think is good is not even near the standard that you are held to. you need to keep pushing forward until the last minute to turn in the project. also something that i learned is that you need to keep an open mind and good communication with your team because if you don't then everything will fall apart in the last minute.

Narrowing it down.

Main Idea: How and why should americans use there business skill to clean up the beach and make money at the same time?

Sub-Questions:

1. Can you make money while cleaning the beach?

2. What is the best way to keep the beach clean?

3. How are business affecting how dirty the beach is?

Resources:

Coast Keeper, Surfrider and other beach clean-up organizations.

Picture i might use is:

Questions on my mind

1. Why should I care about what happens at the beach?

I feel that some people don't really care about what happens to the beach. You could say i am one of those people, i want to see why should i even bother to find out what or how it affects me.

2. How can making beach cleanup a profitable organization can help our current economy.

To me this question has bee revolving around my head all day because if there was a company that would clean a beach, it could create jobs and do an entire domino affect to the economy. for example it would raise house values and business and also it could keep the beach clean while creating jobs.

3. How does de-forestation affect the water quality in our beaches?

The fact that when humans cut down trees and build roads it is stopping the natural filter that accures when the water sinks into the ground causing things such as oil to not end up in the ocean.

Confederates in the Attic

Casualties in war

“In war, truth is the first casualty” Well this must be true considering that most likely no one will ever find the truth to the conspiracy of the killing of Mr. Westerman, at the of age 19. The truth that the confederate flag was waived because of a school mascot or because it matched the truck that Mr. Westerman was driving. I believe that the war in the south still continues because of how the people are not ready to move on. They need to be able to turn around and face the future, because no matter what happened in the past it cannot be changed.

Like any war there has to be three sides. The two fighting and those who must sit on the sidelines and suffer the consequences. Like most wars is the old people who start them and the young who must fight them. Civil War the south was refusing to stop slavery, causing the south, Confederacy to succeed to the union, and the Union at the north to put a big wedge in the newly born America. Mr. Westerman wife stated that the flag was put on the truck because of how the colors matched those on the truck, also how Mr. Westerman did not know much about the flags history. People should look at themselves and wonder if they really know what or why that flag was made. Some wave the flag around like its there ride and heritage when in reality they have no clue as to what it means, represents or even the simple raw history of it.

The reason that war still rages in the south, is that, it all falls back on how some people are ignorant and they don’t even know the real history about the flag. Just like the Swastika was use to represent the working class before Hitler ever came into the picture. Teenagers these days only follow what they believe to be there pride when really it’s just another excuse to be viewed as cool. A Statement that was said by Billy Laster was that it was a school symbol, that’s was all.

On the other hand, some blame the shooting on the flag. They believe that the flag is the cause of the shooting and some other problems that accured. Maybe that’s why it was ruled that the flag should be taken down from the capital building in Tennessee. The flag could be a sign of the Confederacy, and the slavery of the African Americans, or white supremacy.

All of the problems that have happened in the south could potentially be traced back to the Reconstruction Era. How President Andrew Johnson appointed governors to the southern state and allowed them to be able to made second class rights which was basically the same thing as being a slave. These governors also allowed the Black Codes, which eventually turned into Crowe Laws to be able to keep the African American from beginning to powerful. A big opportunity came when congress had pass a Civil Rights Bill, giving all former slaves what they were fighting for, equality, almost 100 years before the actual bill we know of was passed. This meant that African Americans could have equal rights 100 years before all of the countless strikes and movements. That doesn’t mean there would of not have segregation but it could have been avoided. This has been a cycle that feels like is has come and gone, but in reality it is always in the back of our minds.

In the southern states the groups such as the KKK, White League, and The Red Shirts, they have been constantly working in the shadows. They died down around the 1870’s but they came back stronger than ever around 1970’s. These are some of the groups that have been silently working to stop some of the laws that were passed such as inter-racial marriage. These people were against the reconstruction. They did not want the former slaves to have equal rights as they did, that is why they supported this idea of African American as a Second Class Rights.

Whether this was caused by a misinformation or a racial issue, we need stop looking at what the problems of early America was and start to see what is coming in our future. The American youth cannot afford to keep there eyes focused on the past, we need to make a turn and prepare ourselves for the problem that are waiting for us around the corner. If we don’t stop the ignorance of our fathers to fight for the little things war will rage in America until it takes over us.

Citations:

-“In war, truth is the first casualty.”

Aeschylus
Greek tragic dramatist (525 BC - 456 BC)

-Horwitz, Tony. Confederates in the Attic. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.

Reconstruction Era

The reconstruction era was after the civil war was won by the north.

the reconstruction was started by Abraham Lincon and went on through two other

presidents. reconstruction was a big mess. first the president that came after Abraham Lincon, Andrew Johnson began to assign governors to the southern states which then led to the black codes. then when the president started to pull the union troops from the south causing the laws that were passed not to be followed. today this is very relevant because of how in the south there is still much hate toward the other people who are not white or christian.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/08/27/anatomy.of.hate/index.html?iref=newssearch

Dont give me problems, give me solutions

"As of yesterday, we had an estimated 721,000 people at San Diego beaches and we could reach close to a million for the holiday weekend," said San Diego police Assistant Chief Shelley Zimmerman.
http://www.10news.com/news/20772313/detail.html

To me this is a major issue because it shows how beaches were becoming a trash can for party people who use all weekends to party all night. now that the city council has banned the use of alcohol it is becoming a more family friendly place to be. the place to get more information would be to just to look around blogs and see what some of the reaction are of the people who are frequent beach goers. this could tie in with the media saves the beach project by showing different sides of the argument and how they are all connected by one simple issue or a bigger issue that would or could involve the federal government.

Project Ideas:

a project that i would be interested into doing would be a video, maybe even a poster that can be displayed around the county. also i would like to make something that involved with a video.

Final Product

Artist Statement:

Leverage

Ruben Segura

September 14, 2009

To many people history is just another class to catch some sleep from the night before. I guess I would have been the first to snore in the class. It took a topic that really motivated me to not make me sleepy. On the day I read the book Band of Brothers, that book, gave me a reason to want to study more.

Movies interested me for a long time, just like many other people. After I watched the entire series I decided that it would probably be very interesting to go in and study more on the subject of World War 2. Helping me to get an interest in history, I went deeper and deeper almost to the point of obsession to try to find out more and more about it. “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom,” said by a man who also inspired my movement into history, George S. Patton.

Between going from studying the airborne movement through Germany and Patton’s third army through Africa, I was able to find a sort of leverage into my ability to get an interest into things. I focused into studying and looking up books, articles, movies just to try to get a better understanding of who these people were and why they decided to act when many just stood in the side lines.

Someone once said, “A small key opens big doors.” That was the reason for my success. I believed I had opened the doors to the kingdom of curiosity. They say that curiosity killed the cat. Well, to me the curiosity gave me a reason keep going forward. If we could all use this concept to be able to open the doors to try to motivate ourselves into the future and what we can do. Use the key to try to obtain leverage on your mind to be able to stay awake and interested anywhere from that boring faculty meeting, to that class where you simply fall asleep after the first two sentences.

The best part about it is that you never know how small that key might be. To me, a book. To you maybe a simple movie. The thing to remember: always try to find that key.

Sources:

Key Quote.

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/turkish_proverb/, Turkish Proverb quotes

September 11, 2009

George S. Patton

http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/2130, Quote DB,

September 11, 2009

Band of Brothers Book

Band Of Brothers. Simon & Schuster, 2001. Print.

Reflection

Something very interesting that I discovered with my writing is that I need to learn to better add more feeling into my paper. For example I tend to write more of a typical monotone writing. I would like to learn how to add emotions to my paper to get my readers more into what I am writing about.

One technique that I chose to use was “The Big Loop" with this technique i was able to introduce a topic, and then go deep into what it meant for me and for the reader. The reason it’s called the big loop is because in the end you loop your thoughts back into your intro and then give them the boot out to the real world, but still leaving an impression so that they remember your writing.

if I had time for one more draft I would of liked to give it to a teacher who could catch those misspells and also the grammar mistakes, that i know will show up in this blog.

The thing to remember: always try to find that key.

This sentence is very important because it is the last sentence in the writing and it gives the reader something to remember. Also this is what the big loop is all about, being able to leave the impression of what the entire piece was about.

Picture take 1

This is my first draft of my picture. any comments are welcome. thanks

"The Big Loop"

The summery today was very interesting in the way that it helped me to see that I was going the total opposite way I wanted to go. My critique was Noah and he explained to me how I could use " The Loop" to try and make my readers more interested into what I wanted to tell them. So I tried to do that in this draft. Hope you like it. Any comments are welcome.

Artist Statement Draft 2.0:

To many people history is just another class to catch some sleep from the night before. I guess I would have been the first to snore in the class. It took a topic that really motivated me to not make me sleepy. On the day I read the book Band of Brothers, that day, gave me a reason to want to study more.

Movies interested me for a long time, just like many other people. After watching the entire series I decided that it would probably be very interesting to go in and study more on the subject of World War 2. Helping me to get an interest in history I went deeper and deeper almost to the point of obsession to try to find out more and more about it. “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom” said by a man who also inspired my movement into history, George S. Patton.

Between going from studying the airborne movement through Germany and Patton’s third army through Africa, I was able to find a sort of leverage into my ability to get an interest into things. I focused into studying and looking up books, articles, movies just to try to get a better understanding who these people were and why they decided to act when many just stood in the side lines.

Someone once said “a small key opens big doors” that was the reason for my success. I believed I had opened the doors to the kingdom of curiosity. They say that curiosity killed the cat; well to me the curiosity gave me a reason keep going forward. If we could all use this concept to be able to open the doors to try to motivate ourselves into the future and what we can do. Use the key to try to obtain leverage on your mind to be able to stay awake and interested anywhere from that boring faculty meeting, to that class where you simply fall asleep after the first two sentences.

The bet part about it is that you never know how small that key might be, to me, a book, to you maybe a simple movie. The thing to remember, always try to find that key.

Picture Techniques

Focus :

To me focus is the basic form of photography.

I don't know much about photography

but to me it seems that no matter what or who

you take a picture of focus is always in the picture.

Bokeh:

I think that this form of photography doesn't

have to enhance a picture but it is a form of

photography all by itself.

Rule of Third:

The way this technique is very effect-vie is because

it forces you to have some sort of background and

something in front of the subject, making the picture

look much more high quality.

Sources Sources Sources

Biography:

George S. Patton, Bio.com

http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/375:662/1/George_S_Patton.htm

Speach:

Gen. Patton Speech; 3rd Army Speech - England; 31 MAY 1944 - 6th Armored Division

http://www.turtletrader.com/patton.html

Interview:

March From the Beaches, Time Magazine

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802867,00.html

Sources:

Documentary by History Channel.

"Star Wars the Legacy Revealed"

http://www.history.com/content/starwarslegacy/

about-the-show

Interview:

" A Life Making Movies"

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/luc0int-1

Video Interview:

Star Wars in Japan Celebration,

G4, Attack of the Show.

http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/starwarscelebration/64996/

George-Lucas-Interview.html

Biography:

Chuck Taylor, All Star

http://www.chucksconnection.com/articles/ConverseArt62.html

About Converse:

Re-Issue

http://www.converse.com/About/FactSheet.aspx?id=4

Book:

Chuck Taylor, All Star

the true story of the man behind the most

famous athletic foot in history

http://books.google.com/books?id=Q90VQiXk9RcC&pg=

PA49&dq=Chuck+Taylor,#v=onepage&q=&f=false

ht

American Icon

To me George S. Patton is a big inspiration in the way of how he scared the crap out of his soldiers. Although some thought of him as the devil himself to me he showed what many other people have tried and failed at, leadership and trying to inspire people.

He was a man that with a look of his eyes could intimidate you to the point where you just were scared like crazy. Having survived two world wars Patton was a man of respect. With time came many controversy about him being a tough commander but he still kept his head down and kept moving forward.

This man was a great American icon because so many people were inspired by his leadership and his fearless actions to create many books, movies, and other media frenzies.




The reason I think that Chuck Taylor became an
America icon is because of how he helped you could say define a generation. The reason that is could be that the shoes have sold over hundreds and thousands of shoes worldwide.

What this icon represents to me is how a single man was able to make himself a person that would probably will never be forgotten. This to me represents the opportunity that I have to leave my footprint on earth and so that I can help shape not only my future but the future of many people or things to come.

This icon became important to me because I remember seeing pictures of my dad when he was young wearing only red high tops converse. I ask my mom and she said that just about every time my dad dress casual those shoes were on, and now I always wear converse. To me and maybe my father converse were more than shoes but a part of who we are.

To me George Lucas is a man of inspiration, why? Because when everyone told him he couldn’t do it he just kept his head down and just pushed forward. The father of the world of Star Wars he went from being a person with a simple dream to a multi millionaire with just a simple dream.

The reason I think that George Lucas reformed America is because he gave nerds something to watch on those lonely Saturday nights, kids a hero to look up to, and Americans just another reason to spend money on pointless movie collectibles worth hundreds of dollars.

This icon help shaped America because of the fact that his imagination became a symbol of heroism, creating characters like Indiana Jones, and the world of Star Wars. He has worked in a range from movies to books to a new generation of online gaming and lots of video games.