Thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for this year?

I am thankful for the life I am given, my friends and family, and the opportunities I am given. Throughout this project in class, I am thankful to have a teacher who is dedicated to helping me with it, and for putting in as much effort as I am. I'm also thankful for the house I live in, the food I get to eat, and for my family. I'm also thankful for the constant support I get from my school, friends and my family. They encourage me to follow my dreams, set high expectations for myself and to follow through with them.


Post three specific things that you will accomplish for this project before TG break is over! Then, bring those things to school on Monday Dec. 2.

1- I will have been in contact with at least 3 possible sponsors and have responses from this if they are donating or not.
2- I will have the final drafts of each of my calendar paragraphs
3- I will have a final draft of my introduction to the calendar

The Red Pony

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck teaches life lessons to a boy, Jody, through things that happen in everyday life. Jody goes through hard struggles throughout the book, and overcomes his fears. He uses connections between his parents and other family members to look at different perspectives. John Steinbeck uses literacy devices such as imagery, personification and symbolism through the book.

Through his detailed and descriptive writing, John Steinbeck uses imagery to show you what is going on in the book. In the first part of this story, " the gift," the setting of the story is displayed using description. "The cowpumkpins were green and small yet. He went on to the sagebrush line where the cold spring ran out of its pipe and fell into a round wooden tub. He leaned over and drank close to the green mossy wood where the water tasted best ( Page 6.)" In sentences like these, John Steinbeck provides words that appeal to the senses. Instead of saying vague sentences, such as, He drank the best water, John Steinbeck provides background knowledge of the area without using filler words.

In the second story of this book, " The Great Mountains," John Steinbeck uses Personification, with the great mountains as the inanimate object. I perceived the great mountains as an idol and a goal for young Jody to reach. Throughout the book he asks many characters about them, and gets different answers. He asks his father, who has no interest in going there, and he asks the old man who comes to stay with them, who shares his experiences about going there. Jody is curious about what is on the other side of the objects, on the other side of life. His father explains to him how on the Great Mountains are " dangerous, with cliffs and things. Why I've read there's more unexplored country in the mountains of Monterey County than any other place in the United States (Page 39.)" The mountains portray a field of unanswered questions.

The final literacy device used in The Red Pony was Symbolism. John Steinbeck uses symbolism of loss and death throughout each of the stories within this book. They go through a pattern of cumulating all of the events together to create one. When the old mare dies, it was more than that to Jody. It symbolizes that it was his first horse. When the pony dies before it was born, this also symbolizes the trust Jody had in Billy Buck. Jody and Billy Buck had many discussions about Billy Buck was going to deliver this pony, and how Billy Buck was the best horse raiser in town. Once the pony died, so did Jody's trust in Billy Buck.

Although this book was short, It used a lot of literacy devices to explain in detail the meaning behind the story. Using imagery, personification, and symbolism, John Steinbeck successfully shares his message. He uses all the inanimate objects and characters in the story to represent a different meaning as well. The characters all rely on each other to help show the different messages.

Water Project

What are you discovering so far?

So far within this project, I have discovered a lot about my working habits. If its something I'm interested in, I've found that I put a lot of effort, and a lot of extra time in it. I feel like Ive gone above and beyond with this project, in order to complete it on time.

Ive discovered through my research how many regulations the port has on San Diego Bay. They regulate how tall buildings on the bay can be, and also what the ratio between land and plants has to be. They also put strong regulations on fisherman for how much, and what kind of fish they can catch.

What surprises you about this project?

What's surprising me about this project is how fast the deadlines are approaching. I feel like we have a lot of time left, but we don't have very much time at all. The project deadline is approaching fast, and our calendar needs to be done before hand.

What are your next steps to have a cool product and a great piece of writing?

My next steps for my project is to keep adding to my writing, to make it as descriptive as possible. Also to pick my pictures and start editing them so they are at their highest potential. Also we are beginning to pre sale our calenders and receive sponsors who are donating to our funds. We also need to begin our indesign template, insert our paragraphs, dates, tide calendar, pictures, and sponsor information. We also need to finalize a printer, get proofs from him once we are finished, receive the final calendars and then sell them

As you can see, we have a lot to do still!

Change

We have finally broke the tradition of our typical American president. By electing Barak Obama as president, his slogan, " Change" has come into effect already. Without even starting his term in office, by being elected president he has changed America.

Mr. Obama owes his victory, first, to his gift of leadership and personality: the hybrid cool of his charisma, his cathartic power to mine unity from difference. But his triumph depended on voters, first prone to see his candidacy as exotic, to recognize it as something that could (and would) only happen here. That they did stems in large part from the founding fathers’ clear vision of the ideal makeup of a democracy: an inclusive electorate, political participation and political power sharing.

- Op Ed Contributer, Orlando Patterson

Although America allows all of its citizens to vote nowadays (except for when it is taken away) it wasn't always that way. If you follow the path of woman's right to vote, you would be as surprised as I was to see how things use to be.

In 1848, The first women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York. After 2 days of discussion and debate, 68 women and 32 men sign a Declaration of Sentiments, which shows the pathway to improve women's rights movement, in hope for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women.

In 1850, The first National Women's Rights Convention takes place in Worcester, Mass. attracting more than 1,000 participants. This began activists like Susan B. Anthony, Charlotte Woodward, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone, to start organizations to help gain voting rights for women.

In 1893, Colorado is the first state to adopt an amendment granting women the right to vote. Utah and Idaho follow this in 1896, Washington State in 1910,California in 1911, Oregon, Kansas and Arizona in 1912, Alaska and Illinois in 1913, Montana and Nevada in 1914, New York in 1917, and Michigan, South Dakota and Oklahoma following in 1918.

August 26, 1920 is known as the day the suffrage battle was won, the long battle for the vote for women was finally won. In 1920, when women finally won the vote throughout the nation, Charlotte Woodward was the only participant in the 1848 Convention who was still alive to cast her vote. Eighty-one years old, she cast her vote proudly.

Resources:

1. Imbornoni, Ann-Marie. "Women's Rights Movement in the U.S.: Timeline — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. — Infoplease.com. 10 Nov. 2008 .
2. Lewis, Jone Johnson. "August 26, 1920 - Women's Suffrage Victory - Nineteenth Amendment Becomes Law." Women's History - Comprehensive Women's History Research Guide. 10 Nov. 2008 .
3. Patterson , Orlando . "Op-Ed Contributor - An Eternal Revolution - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 10 Nov. 2008 .
4. "The Declaration of Sentiments — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. — Infoplease.com. 10 Nov. 2008

H20 Project

For our calender, I have a few inspirations. I'm mainly basing my calender to look similarly to the calender produced by the biology class from High Tech High last year. Their calender includes a balance of photography, informational paragraphs, the tide calender, and important dates through out the year relating to the environment.



Some aspects I want to incorporate are the facts they used. They have strong paragraphs that give you a good overview of the picture, and the researched they determined. It isn't all text but by reading it you learn a lot. There is a good balance of negative space with the text therefor the text isn't overwhelming.

Another thing I like that I want to incorporate into my calender is the use of multiple pictures. It isn't just a main picture, with a paragraph, and a calender. There are smaller pictures that relate to the main image by being from a different angle or providing something similar.

One last thing I want to incorporate into my calender that I'm referencing from this calender is the use of environmental holidays on the calender. I want to take what they have, which is the standard earth day, and day of humanity and stretch it out. I want to include important beach clean up days, and other days that relate to the theme of our calender. I think this is a good idea because along with the typical calender holidays, our viewers will also become more educated on environmental holidays.

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As I begin to start thinking about what I want to photograph, I looked through different websites to find inspiring photography. What I have found, is the pictures I remember the most are the most intriguing pictures. Photographs with an interesting subject or a cool use of lighting is what i remember after Ive moved on from this pictures. Both of these Images are taken from San Diego Bay/ Imperial Beach, and its more than just a picture of the beach, or a picture of the San Diego Skyline. This helps me by showing me there are many more options of which to choose from when taking my pictures.

Election 2008 Reflection

Personally, I am fine with the results of the election. I didn't have a strong opinion on which candidate i wanted for president because I agreed and disagreed with all of their views. I also believe that both candidates will have there flaws, and make decisions that not everyone will agree with. When it comes to making important decisions like that, unless I have a strong opinion, I have a neutral opinion. My hopes for this country is that we get our of the situation we have adapted to. I hope we get out of our war, out of debt to other countries and our of our failing economy. I know it won't happen over night, but each day we can make process towards it. My concerns for this country is that Barak Obama was elected president because he was different, and a change of pace, rather that what he believes in.

My humanities class has taught me to realize what is going on in the world around me. By looking at the news more often than I did before, I am more aware of what is going on. I am looking at the news to relate it to U.S. History, for my blogs, to be more educated, and to keep up what is going on with the election and the proposed propositions. My knowledge of what happened during the elections was that while watching I felt like i knew what was going on, and what the race to 270 meant. If we didn't discuss it in class, I wouldn't have known what i meant and how significant it was.

Water Project Calender

For my water project, final project, my partners and I are going to create a collaborative Tide Calender for 2009. We are going to incorporate pictures, informative facts, quick did you know facts, the tides, and important environmental dates.

My research question that I am going to use for all three of my months is," What is the port of San Diego doing to improve certain beaches in San Diego?" The beaches I choose to research more into is San Diego Bay, Imperial Beach/Chulva Vista, and Seaport Village.

Group Members:
Sydney Lampe, Jade Tyler, Jeremy Sheahan, Rodrigo Arrieta, and Jake Neighbors

Calender of events:
November 7- Research important dates/ areas of photography
November 8/9/10/11: Take pictures at assigned locations
November 12: Review Picture and Retake pictures if necessary
November 13: Pick finalized pictures. have one main photograph and also 1-2 smaller photographs on the calender page.
November 14/15/16: Begin working on paragraphs. Have rough drafts for all paragraphs by beginning of class on the 17th. Find " Did you know fact" for each of your locations.
November 17: Begin basic layout/in design spread sheet.
November 18: Insert Pictures into layout/in design sheet. ( GET FINAL CALENDER LAYOUT WITH TIDE INFO FROM JAKE)
November 19: Insert Calendar with tide information
November 20: Insert paragraphs into layout/in design sheet
November 21: Insert facts/dates/did you know facts. Complete draft of calendar ready for critique.
November 22-30= Thanksgiving Break
December 1-2: Critiques for content
December 3-4: Critiques for Aesthetic Appeal
December 5: Send to Printer

Months:
1 Jade: Mission Bay/ Fiesta Island
2 Jade: De’anza Cove
3 Jade: Mission Bay/Aquatic Center
4 Jeremy: Del Mar
5 Jeremy: Chula Vista Marina
6 Jeremy: Coronado
7 Sydney: San Diego Bay
8 Sydney: I.B./Chula Vista
9 Sydney: Seaport Village
10 Rodrigo: OB Pier
11 Rodrigo: H&M Landing/Shelter Island
12 Rodrigo: San Diego River mouth


For our materials, We don't need many physical items, but our project is going to require a lot of work. Were going to need a camera with a high megapixel to take high quality pictures. We are also going to need many students to help critique our calender for aesthetics and for content. This is important because we need to produce a high quality of work. We also are going to need a printing company to print our calender.

FedEx Kinkos has a calender printing option, and it is $20, per calender. The thing with this is that you use their template. We are still looking for a less expensive option where we can use our own template that we can create. We are also looking for sponsors to have an ad in our calender to help fund the calender. Our calender will be on sale during our exhibition.

Beginning Research

As we begin to work on our water project, I have found a few questions that I would like to research further.

What are the positive/negative attributes of the OB Jetty? Do they cause problems or have a purpose beyond erosion?

What is a Jetty?

A jetty is usually a pile of rocks extending into the water to protect a small area from a tide or current, or for forming basins along the sea-coast for ports in tide less seas. Jetties can be used for regulating rivers, entrances to harbors, lagoon outlets and rivers. Jetties are built at the mouth of a river or entrance to a bay to help deepen and stabilize a channel and facilitate navigation.

Positive Attributes:
*Helps with erosion to keep beaches at the same length.
*Provides a surfing spot

It begins with a steep peak and a small takeoff zone, but then elongates into a long, fast right wall. It sections depending on the sandbar and swell direction. Both sets and insiders are similarly shaped, and the break, although preferring a mid- to low tide, will break well on just about any tide.

*To direct and confine the stream or tidal flow to a selected channel, or to prevent shoaling( The bottom effect which influences the height of waves moving from deep to shallow water.)

Negative Attributes:
*People have gotten caught onto the rocks, and had to have been rescued by boats.
*Pollution and trash gets caught into the rocks, and it is necessary for groups to go in and clean the trash.


For my piece of writing, I hope to visit the OB Jetty, and see what I can find in the rocks. When I go, I will look for trash, animals inhabiting the rocks, and other things I might find unusual. I will ask the lifeguards if the Jetty provides trouble with swimmers; does it create more rescues or help out in case of a rescue?

How is the Port of San Diego (Organization) improving the environment in San Diego Bay?




In San Diego Bay, There are many different forms of boating. There are sailboats, personal motor/power yachts, cargo ships containing cars,food and products from outside sources, cruise ships, ferry's and also harbor excursions.

The Port of San Diego States, " One of the Port of San Diego's many responsibilities is to protect the bay and its resources."

They have realized the boats are causing an issue, and are doing what they can to help. For example;
The party boat, " The Neptunes Palace" has been removed from the bottom of San Diego Bay in June of 2008. The boat had sunk in 2003. While being bellow the surface, parts of the ship rotted away and spread throughout our bay.

Although the Port of San Diego is " actively cleaning our bay" the link provided on their website to check the water quality of areas around San Diego Bay, all of the locations are labeled, " NO DATA AVAILABLE."

For cruise ships, we have a cruise ship in port for the most part every day, if not more than one every day. When cruise ships are in town, the bay is being polluted by the cruise ship itself, as well as the number of tourist attractions go up. Harbor excursions and ferries to Coronado become more popular and run more frequently to keep up with the demand.

The Port of San Diego is also responsible recreational fisheries on San Diego Bay. The Port is currently working in a partnership with the State Coastal Conservancy and the commercial fishermen of San Diego Bay on a project to enhance the commercial fishing industry in San Diego. The first step in this effort is the development of a Commercial Fisheries Revitalization & Coastal Public Access Plan for San Diego Bay. To complete the plan, the Port of San Diego and our partners will utilize a grant of $450,000 grant from the California Coastal Conservancy as well as funds provided by the Port. This money and effort is going to help increase the pollution in the bay and could be used to protect animals and other inhabitants of the bay.


For this piece of writing, I want to do it as a current news article. I want to interview people who work for the different forms of commercial and privately owned boats that occupy San Diego bay. I want to ask them and quote them on their personal views. I also want to go to the bay and take observations and data on the amount of boats using the Bay at different times.


Resources:
OB Jetty:
Jetty Video
Rock Jetties
Sign On San Diego
San Diego Reader

San Diego Bay:
Commercial Fisheries
The Port of San Diego
Water Quality
Port of San Diego Environment