Group Presentations Day 2

As I listened to the last of the groups present their topics, I was interested to learn more about such topics. For instance, I feel that the presentation about rape awareness is significant considering the dramatic increase of rape victims in our country. There is only so little our law enforcement can do to prevent rape in our high schools, colleges and in the community. The video for the group was really touching and had a lot of emotions put into the video, which made me understand how important this problem is. I was particularly interested in the group trying to legalize drugs. In a way, I can understand the negative standpoint on this issue such as age, because the government could not handle 13 year olds using drugs on a daily basis. However, the prince that people have to pay to keep drugs illegal is nearly $600 a day according to the group members. The guys in the group believe that the government could control drug problems easier. The jails could have a dramatic decrease of inmates due to the fact that many people who illegally sell and do drugs would no longer have to worry. Obviously, there are pros and cons to this debate. Overall, I was interested to hear this presentation because I have never really heard anything in the news about legalizing drugs.

Group Presentations Day 1

My group, HACC (Help Abandoned Children of China) presented out PSA first. Going first I was a bit nervous because I was unsure what to expect. First we informed our audience of information and facts of the reasoning why so many children are suffering in China. We showed our PSA and hopefully left a powerful impression on everyone. I believe all our hard work from the past couple weeks have paid off. Other presentations were very interesting to learn about as well. I was very fascinated with all of the projects. For example, the group addressing female genital mutilation was interesting because I have never heard anything in the news about this growing problem. Also, the presentation on animal testing really hit home because I realized how many products I use that are tested on animals. Overall, it was an exciting day.

Finished touches

As I am learning more and more about the life that children have to suffer through in China, I have more sympathy for those who are not as blessed with so many things. Many Americans are accustomed to the luxurious lifestyle where money is a priority and one's social status depends on how much money they have and the objects they own. Although many are not aware of the struggles that people in China face, my group members and I felt it was necessary to make a PSA that can somewhat reflect the pain and suffering that children have no way out of. As we put on the finishing touches to our project, we wanted to make our audience feel sympathetic toward the cause. We tried to grab their attention and prove to them why our organization should be recognized.

Progress Journal for PSA

Up until we finished our final draft of our public service announcement, we had a progress journal where we reflected our ideas and changes to the project in order to make it better. Throughout the preparation of this group presentation, I have gained a lot of knowledge about abandoned children in China. It is unfortunate that young orphans in this country are treated very poorly and given very little chance to live.Unlike in the United States, China does not allow families to have more than one child per household, therefore, millions of babies are aborted and unwanted.

Progress Journal

Members: Marisa Weachter, Morgan Hammer, Amanda Carpenter

PSA for Abandon Children in China

11/20/09 45 min.

We viewed several PSA’s that we found on the internet through the AD council. After viewing these powerful service announcements, we collected several new tactics and ideas that would help make our project really beneficial and powerful.

11/22/09 1.5hr

We began starting our PSA in imovie. We searched for pictures of Abandon children in China, that we could use in our project. After collecting plenty of pictures we began editing the pictures and arranging them in imovie, to create the first part of our PSA.

11/23/09 1hr

After having the basic foundation of our PSA , we began adding text and audio. We used the new techniques for our video that we found in previous PSA that we looked at.

11/30/09 45 min

today we searched and added music to our project and edited to put the finishing touches on our rough draft.

HACC Rough Copy

This is the link to our video so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1y8uX6-XGA

Group Project

After brainstorming an idea for our PSA, Marisa, Morgan and I searched for pictures that we could include in our project. We found many pictures of young asian children that seemed to be in great despair and at a loss of a supportive family or place to live. Morgan found a few facts that we included to help educated our audience of abandoned children in China and we found a song called You Raise Me Up. After reviewing our rough draft of our PSA, we have decided to make some minor changes to our project so far. We are really trying to convince our audience of age 30-50 to donate and help this cause. We are going to add pictures that can show what people's donations will go towards. Overall, we are mostly working to make our project very convincing and making it something people will pay attention to and hope to help.

Abandoned Children

I feel that this video is important because it shows how hard things are for young children and what

little resources they have. They have no family support and children only have one parent because

the other is in jail. It is nice to see that the news is showing this video because it will create

awareness of the circumstances of these children and hopefully people will want to make a difference

and donate money to build places for the kids to live.

HACC- Help Abandoned Children in China

For our group presentation, Marisa, Morgan and I are addressing the current issues developing in China that are concerning children and the lack of places for them to live. Our presentation is going to be a commercial. Our targeted audience is older people because we feel that they would understand our cause better than younger people would. Our goal is to educate them about this issue and inspire them to donate money towards the cause.

Why am I always so tired?!

It seems like when I am not doing homework or going to practice, all I want to do is sleep. I have no incentive to go out and get ready to hang out with friends because I would rather take a nap or just lay down and relax. In high school I was always about staying out and hanging around with my friends, but now I would rather stay in after classes and sleep!

Thanksgiving.

As Thanksgiving gets closer and closer, I am getting more anxious to be going home! I have not yet been able to go home because of classes and softball, which is very annoying actually because everybody else gets to see their families. Pretty much every friday I see parents here and students leaving to go back to their hometowns. I guess I can't really complain because I made a decision to come here for school and softball, but it sucks because I am all alone here. However, I could not be more excited about seeing my friends and family. I absolutely love Thanksgiving food! Too bad Thanksgiving break is not the whole week, but winter break is right around the corner!

New House

So last week 3 of my friends: Devon, Morgan and Marisa went searching for houses to live in next year when we are sophomores. We found a house that is perfect. It has 5 bedrooms, 2 stories and is one block away from the village so it will be very easy to walk to our classes. We are really excited to be moving out of the dorms mostly because we will have our own place and it is much bigger. It is weird to think that we will be owning a house and living in it with no parents. It will take a lot of responsibility but I am so excited to move into it next year and make it nice and decorative!

Uganda

My position paper is about the events occurring in Uganda and most of Africa. Many young children and their families have been forced out of refugee camps. These camps have provided underprivileged families with food and shelter and due to the governments lack of support, the camps are slowly diminishing and are not providing anything. It is very unfortunate to see that the Ugandan government is not doing much to help. It makes me appreciate the things I have here and the way our nation has its set of laws and rules.

BSU Football

Now we all know that the football season this year is not anything like it was last year. I go to the games this season and the stands are nowhere near full like they were last season when our team was undefeated. Even though our team is not as great as they were last year, I think they are improving. The team had a lot of guys graduate and they also have a new head coach, so of course this year will be a little questionable. Despite their season record, I still root for them because they represent the school. Hopefully the players and coaching staff can take this year as a learning experience and as motivation to do well next year.

Fall Break

I am so glad that in college we have fall break. High school was never as time-demanding and I was never so busy with homework and studying like I am in college. Even though fall break is only 3 days, it is still nice to enjoy the time off, relax and not worry about school for a couple of days.

Baseball Playoffs

As I am sitting in my dorm room contemplating what to blog about, my room mate and I are watching baseball. The playoffs are called NLCS, which is the National League Conference Series and it is the best out of 5 games. The two teams playing are the Los Angeles Dodgers and theint Philadelphia Phillies. I think this will be a compelling series because I am from the west coast and also a Dodgers fan whereas my room mate is from the east coast and a big Phillies fan. I have always loved watching baseball. When I was younger my dad would always take my brother and I to the San Diego Padres game. It was so exciting sitting in the stadium and watching the players and the game. Now that I am older, I still love watching the game even though I don't have much time see the games other than on television. Although the Padres are not very good, I am thrilled to see another California team in the playoffs. Actually there are two. The Anaheim Angels are also in the playoffs but they are playing the New York Yankees. The winner of these two games will eventually play each other in the World Series. I cannot wait to see what CA team will make it. I cannot remember the last time there were two teams from my area that made it this far. Needless to say, the World Series should be a very interesting one.

Mexico's drug cartels

The article titled "Mexico's growing drug Cartels seep across US border" explains that for years now, drug cartels have become an issue that is affecting our U.S. government and has become increasingly worse.. "Mexican trafficking organizations now control operations along the Mexico border, the West Coast of the US, and well into the midwest," according to a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) report. Research has shown that an alarming rate of about 90 percent of illegal drugs distributed in the United States come from Mexico. The article explains: "influence the choices that too many Americans make about where to live, when to venture out of their homes, or where to send their children to school." This is a problem to our community that is trying to stay safe from this neighboring country. The cartels are even taking advantage of our military veterans, who are experts in weapons and computer stuff.

Blair, James "Mexico's growing drug cartels seep across US border." Christian Science Monitor 17 Sept. 1997: 3. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 13 Oct. 2009.

Midterms...

I am pretty nervous for my first college midterms coming up next week and the week after. College is not like high school. The work is harder, the teachers expect more, and its up to each student to do what they need to do. I have been studying a lot for these tests and I am hoping that it will pay off.

Peer Review

I think the most important question on the peer review is the one about the significance of the song. What is the surface song? Answering this allows readers to get a better understanding of the songs purpose. The important part of this question is for each writer to analyze the deeper meaning of the song.

Random fun facts.

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.

Pearls melt in vinegar

40 to 50 percent of body heat can be lost through the head (no hat) as a result of its extensive circulatory network

Hummingbirds can't walk.

Only humans sleep on their backs

On average people fear spiders more than death.

Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt

Weather Change..

I am used to sunny, summer weather. In California, from the months of April to October, the weather is so nice and the most clothes you would even need is a little hoodie to keep you warm at night. I love the hot weather, but sometimes it gets miserable day after day when it is above 90 degrees. However, during the winter it is not as bad as some other places. It does not rain a whole lot in the winter, so it is usually a dry cold which for me is not bad at all. Coming to Ball State I knew that it gets very cold and snows. What I did not expect was that it would get cold this fast. It's the beginning of October and it is already between 45 and 50 degrees. It is a big change for me to go from sun shine and warm to cloudy, windy and cold. I hope that this winter I am not completely miserable. I am looking forward to the snow. I've been in the snow many times before but I have never lived in the snow for months at a time. This will be a neat experience.

startling news....

The other day I was flipping through the channels on tv and something caught my attention. I usually do not watch the news but what was being broad casted really shocked me. I saw on the title of the news event involving something about California, so I stopped and watched. I am from San Diego and I think its weird to see things on tv about California because it seems like it is not important way across the country here in Indiana, but to me it is important. A few days ago a large group of illegal immigrants, many a hundred or so, tried to cross the Mexico-United States border illegally and were arrested for it. In the past decade this has been an increasingly horrible problem for the US because so many immigrants are seeking refugee and illegally coming to our country because they are having so many problems like the drug cartels and the wars with the Mexican Mafia. My dad works for the county of San Diego and is working down at the border, so when I saw this happening on the television, I was so worried about what he was doing. I had no idea if he was safe or not. I felt so helpless and so distant from what was going on. I really wanted to make sure so I called me mom and thankfully she said he did not have to help out with all that chaos. I now have such a great appreciation for people such as police, sheriffs and border patrol workers because they are constantly putting themselves in danger by keeping our cities and our country safe. They are a big influence in why our countries security is so well maintained.

Where is the love?

For my synthesis and analysis essay I am going to write about Where is the Love by The Black Eyed Peas. Listening to this song and how it relates to our society today is sort of a rude awakening. A part of the song goes:

"Wrong information always shown by the media

Negative images is the main criteria

Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria"

This short part of the song reflects what our world is coming to. All the bad influences that young adults and kids are getting into. This really shows how everyday things are directing kids in the wrong direction. Another part of the song goes like this:

"Overseas, yeah, we trying to stop terrorism

But we still got terrorists here livin'

In the USA, the big CIA

The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK"

Our country has recently been greatly affected by war and terrorism ever since 9/11 and this song really focuses on the cause and affects of war and fighting.

Teaching

So I came to Ball State knowing I wanted to become a teacher. My major is elementary education. I love working with kids and I love to help people. I think this career would be very beneficial because I enjoy to see peoples reactions when they learn something new and they finally understand a concept. I want to be a role model for children and I want to be a stable adult figure in their lives and be there for them if they ever needed me. I used to baby sit back at home and I believe that it was good practice for me in terms of being responsible and taking care of somebody.

Freshman Common Reader.

Last night I went to hear Ishmael Beah speak to the freshman, and wow!! Despite everything he has been through, he is such a kind-hearted person. Not to mention a very smart man. Listening to his thoughts and emotions about his life, it makes me feel thankful for the protection and the life I have here in the U.S. One part of Beah's speech he talked about his trip to New York City and how fascinated he was that we had hot water at the turn or a handle unlike at his village in Sierra Leone. Little things like that are what makes our country seem so ungrateful. I was also very intrigued by Ishmael's demeanor when he gave the speech. He seems so comfortable with his unfortunate past and it seems like he has forgiven himself for all the bad he has done and seen. It surprises me, though that he does not have nightmares anymore. After reading the novel, I am glad to see that Ishmael has recovered from his past. He definitely has inspired so many people with his story and his desire to become a better person.

California-My home town

All 18 years of my life I have lived in San Diego and loved it. I mean when your about 20 minutes away from the beach, what could get better? I love being surrounded by people, so living in a city with nearly a million people, San Diego is the perfect place to live. When I committed to attend Ball State I didn't realize how different it would be without ANY of my friends of family. I knew I would be okay on my own because I'm not the type of girl that needs everything done for her. I also knew that I would have to learn to take care of things on my own as well. Of course I miss my friends back home, but I'm fortunate to have made so many more friends here since I've started college. Thinking back to how my life was in California makes me appreciate the great things people have done to help me be successful.

BSU Softball

This week we starting practicing and it has been very fun. I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by so many great girls and a wonderful coaching staff. Although the practices are sometimes long and tiring, all the girls encourage each other and we all work hard because we know it makes us better. Even if it is the first week, I feel as if I know the girls so well and we are all so close. I was actually quite nervous at the beginning of pre-season because I was afraid the team would look at all of the freshman, including me, and not treat them the same as the older girls, but everyone was very welcoming and the girls are very welcoming and glad to have new additions to the Ball State softball team.

Reality TV

I am a fan of watching reality television. I'm not quite sure why it is. Maybe it is the drama that is in other peoples lives that is entertaining to watch. One question I always had is why are so many people drawn to watching shows that involve people making a fool of themselves. For instance a group of girls trying to "fall in love" with somebody throughout a game show. Hollywood and celebrities are often seen as young people who party and can pretty much get away with murder. But why is it millions of people still watch and encourage it? Could it be that we have no better things to do with our lives? Or is it for the reason that we like to see how other people's lives unfold right inside the tv screen and there is nothing we can do about it but watch. That is the reason: people like to watch because they know this sort of thing would never happen in their lives so they humor themselves into watching others make a fool of themselves. Is this what our society has come to?

Childhood Experience

This is one of my pre-writes for a possible memoir of my childhood:

My family and I always do things together. When I was about 6 years old we went camping at this beautiful place with a shimmering lake. It had a thick, luscious forest full of green trees and rocky trails. I was playing with some of my friends who came along with their families. A while later, I was sitting inside a huge tent petting one of my friend's golden retriever. He had a long, silky coat that was a sandy color. I was doing nothing but admiring and petting his furry coat when suddenly he bit me in my arm. I instantly starting screaming and crying because I was so confused on what had just happened. I was so frightened and went running to look for my mom and dad. They told me I would need stitches and I thought it was the end of the world as I cried all the way to the hospital. When we finally arrived to that dreaded place, I was relieved to only receive two stitches, but at that time, I didn't think anything else could be as bad as what had happened that day while I was camping.

The start of college...

After my first week of college, I am excited for what the future holds. Being so far away from home I was sure I would already be homesick but meeting so many friendly people has made things easier and makes me realize that I am not the only one new to the school that is still trying to fit in.