MSB- A Professional Example

The most successful element of this professional tide calendar was the tide graph part of it. It was very detailed and used different colors to show different parts of the tide. They also included a blown up picture of one of the days so you can see where the best fishing times are, when not to go fishing and the rise and set of the sun and moon.

The message was just to show a tide calendar for fishing with helpful ideal fishing times, and good and bad days to go out. I know this is the message because they even have a little fish icon labeling when the fishing is good or bad.

I think fisherman were the intended users of this calendar because this tide calender has a lot to do with fishing and it also has that good or bad fishing day icon and the ideal times to go out and fish.

The small image in the calendar gives you the first hint that this calendar was meant for people on boats. As I have mentioned in the past two questions, the largest element that helps deliver the message for me is the little fish icon labeling which days are good and which days are bad. The shaded regions also look like they would be helpful to deliever the message of when to go fishing and when the sun is rising and setting.

The creator of this work used fish icons to have the reader get the information they need at a glance in a very easy to show way, and it is helpful if you dont know how to read all of the different shaded regions and graphs. I think this technique was used to be helpful and simplify the calendar.

I chose this work sample because I really started thinking about the tide part of our calendar on Friday. I think it is going to be very important that we do that part of the calendar right and in a timely fashion. It was helpful to look at an extremely detailed and professional example to give me an idea of what a full on tide calendar looks like.

Honors- The Scarlet Letter

In the novel The Scarlet Letter, initially it seems like a very calm and somewhat average book from the 1800's. As you read further into the story, you are drawn into the scandalous plot and uncivilized actions. The civilized story for this novel is about a woman who commits adultery, has a child and is sentenced to wear a scarlet “A” on her clothing for the rest of her life. As a reader you don’t expect the crazy plots and twists and without them, the story wouldn’t have the same effect or the irony that makes you think.

This book was set in the 17th century in colonial Boston. Adultery was one of the worst crimes you could commit and it held some of the harsher punishments. People were also very religious and thought highly of their priests. As soon as the book begins you already are aware of Hester Prynne, her act of adultery and her resulting child. You continue to read, turning each page trying to figure out who the father is, and why Hester is so desperate to keep his identity a secret.

The first example of a crazy idea that doesn’t fit was when she was out on public display, she sees her husband, a man missing for several years. This was part of the crazy plot because instead of revealing himself, he says “it is my purpose to live and die unknown” and to “beware!” because the father of the babies “fame, his position, his life will be in my hands.” The husband wanted to remain anonymous so he could have his crazy revenge and have the fathers mind and soul in his control.

The uncivilized part of the plot comes when you learn that the young and respected pastor is the father, something completely uncivilized and unheard of in that time period. Without the progression of the story and learning about each character, and the crazy idea that a priest would commit adultery, the story wouldn’t have any value or make you want to turn the pages.

As the story goes on you watch as the priest gets ill, in his mind and heart out of guilt for not showing his true colors and from having her husband secretly be living with him and getting his revenge by “having his soul” “His nerve seemed absolutely destroyed. His moral force was abased into more than childish weaknesses.”The battles he has within himself really make you feel weighed down by what he is going through.

This novel is written to be wild and out there because it keeps you interested and some of the ridiculousness makes you really think. I think the novel was written about such unacceptable things because the author wanted to show that these things still were happening secretly and the people involved were greatly effected. This novel gives you a look into how people who committed these crimes felt, even if it was a bit extreme.

Throughout the story you see how Hester Prynn has this weight pulling her down that “was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude!”. You see how the pastor has his own scarlet letter in his mind, and how the revenge of the secret husband ends up killing both of them in the end. With the ideas of the devil and witchcraft, mixed in with the pastor, adultery and the pure coincidence that the husband would come home the day of his wife’s punishment, make this story one of the most unconventional and uncivilized books of its time. That was what made you want to keep reading more. These wild ideas were the solid structure of the book and without them The Scarlet Letter wouldn’t be such an excellent novel.

Newspaper Project and MSB

I learned a lot about how to get a project that involves a lot of different components done on a tight schedule. I think this is going to apply a lot to MSB since I am in the calender group. I learned not to wait until we have class time to start working on the final piece and to look at the requirements before the last minute. I also learned that you always need to keep up with your group members and make sure everyone is equally contributing. I think for MSB I will let my peers step up when I start to feel over worked instead of just freaking out like I did in the newspaper project. The final thing I learned, which I think was a major lesson for me, was to make sure you are always logged into your account and that you know where you files are saved and double triple save them in a bunch of different places, and always have a flash drive because they are much more reliable.

MSB People

Organizations

Unified Port Of San Diego
http://www.portofsandiego.org/environment.html
We might want to interview someone from this organization because Im sure they know a lot about San Diegos beaches and interesting facts that we could use for our captions or did you know section. They also are potential sponsors,so they're good people to be in contact with anyway.

SeaWorld
http://www.seaworld.com/sitepage.aspx?PageID=80
We could interview someone from SeaWorld because they would know about the animals native to San Diego that might be mentioned in our calender. They would also probably know about important endangered species. They are also potential sponsors.

San Diego Coast Keeper
http://www.sdcoastkeeper.org/
Since we work with this organization for the biology testing, I thought they might be a good resource for facts on beach pollution and tips or interesting San Diego facts that we could include in the did you know section or even the caption. They also are potential sponsors.


Government People

SD City Council-Kevin Faulconer
He is my districts city council man and he is in control of OB and the point so we might talk to him about what he thinks about the beaches or try to convince him to care more about protecting the beaches after seeing our calender?

SD City Council

I might want to look at their history on environmental/beach issues and include those standings in our did you know section or in the captions.

SD City Council-Ben Hueso (City Council President)

The president of the city council could show an influential vote on beach issues that we could mention in the calender, and part of his district is also IB where the Tijuana Valley water quality issue has been going on and we could get a quote from him for a caption or a did you know fact about his stand and what action hes taken on the issue.

Honors-William McKinley Endorsement

The presidency of the United States is no small job to be messed around with. Our next president must be able to bring our country up out of our economic depression and be widely supported by the people.

Our recommendation in the upcoming election is William McKinley. We believe that McKinley will be the fresh face and party that our country needs now more than ever. The decision is clear, the Democratic Party hasn’t helped over the past eight years, and it is time for a change in the White House. He truly connects with the people of the United States, by holding events at his own home and openly greeting thousands of Americans.

At the past Republican Convention, the wealthy Cleveland businessman Marcus Alonzo Hanna ensured the nomination of his friend William McKinley as the "the advance agent of prosperity." We believe that he was completely correct; William McKinley will help America prosper.

On the other hand, people within the Democratic Party, including President Grover Cleveland, don’t approve of their nominee, William Jennings Bryan. Some have even abandoned the party or joined a new one, which isn’t a positive outlook on Bryan’s part or on his party’s confidence in him.

In this election, voters are watching the candidates on their ideas for the declining economy, currency and what they plan to do with the new possessions and territories that are now a part of the United States. Through our analysis, we have found that McKinley has fresh ideas on all subjects that will improve our country.

William McKinley has been involved in politics since he was 34, when he became a member of congress. One of his colleagues, Robert M. La Follette, Sr, said that he "represented the newer view," and "on the great new questions .. was generally on the side of the public and against private interests." Eventually he went on to become Ohio’s governor. Through of all this experience, he is the right candidate for the United States.

There are some similarities between Mr. McKinley and his opponent Mr. Bryan, both are concerned with the economic state and what the standards should be. One of the major differences is The Republican party along with McKinley, have the plans and foundations that will protect American industry and its workers, by using gold. Bryan’s plans on the other hand, are unstable by using both gold and silver, which is sure to cause problems in the long run.

McKinley said “I am a tariff man, standing on a tariff platform.” He stands strong on issues and presents new approaches to the problems Democrats have failed to overcome in the presidential position.

Bryan and McKinley are also very similar people; both have strong personalities and have a strong presence in a room. They both studied law before going into politics, but our trust is in McKinley for his sharp intellect and persistence that helped him to move through the ranks of politics so quickly. He has been the member of sub committees, in Congress while Bryan has not.

Another thing to be highlighted is McKinley’s military service. He fought for the Union Army, serving from 1861 up until the end of the war. He was a soldier on the front lines, and rose through the ranks to become a major, an impressive accomplishment.

McKinley has revolutionized the idea of campaigning by advertising and really speaking out to the American people. At times he would give 30 speeches a day, a task left only for those who are truly dedicated to becoming the president and bettering our country.

He is comfortable speaking to his supporters, and it is seen by all that he has great plans to improve our progressive nation. Not many say, “I have never been in doubt since I was old enough to think intelligently that I would someday be made president.” This confidence and natural feeling separates him from Democratic nominee Bryan.

The main question leading up to this election, is who is going to help our economy thrive and handle foreign trading and policy well. We are confident that William McKinley is the right choice. At this progressive turning point in our great nation, we need McKinley to be the President of the United States.

MSB Comments

From Tierras blog, I noticed she posted a link about pollution and its causes, effects and solutions. I think that her main questions about pollution could be applied to the calender for some good "did you know" facts and captions in the calender, since we want this to have some environmental consciousness and teach people about things they didnt know. I think it will be good if we look at more websites for good information to put in the calender.


From Bens blog, I really liked the questions he was asking and it gave me an idea for the calender. Maybe we can somehow incorporate students main questions and ideas into the calender, and even include some pictures or final products somewhere in the calender. Everyone has different questions and instead of just using them in the calender we could feature that persons project in the caption or did you know or something along those lines.

From Jasmines blog, I saw that she might want to do a photo essay and she mentions "evidence from the text portion" I think that in our calender we can apply this same idea and make sure our captions have good evidence or information about the beach, its water quality history and enviornmental information. She also talks about sea life and the beach, which I think would be a great concept to have in the calender also so people can see all the cool animal life living in San Diego!

Main Question-MSB

What kind of things are going on/living at our beaches and what can we do to help improve them and the environment?

-What kind of animals live at our beaches?
-What things can we do to help our beaches/ enviornment?
-What issues are going on?
-How can we educate the people buying our calenders about the beaches, issues and what they can do to help?

Resources::
MSB calender from last year
other professional tide calenders or tide graphs
an educational professional calender

Ideas:

-layout
-photography ideas
-did you know fact ideas
-holidays to include
-where to inculde mini picutres
-how long captions should be
-information to put in the front and on the back
-sponsorship ideas

Calender!

My final product is going to be the tide calender including the tide graph and cool student photos and sponsors!

I have been looking through last years calender and I also want to look at the style of other calenders.

I have already taken ideas from last years calender and the one done at HTH, they are:

-have did you know facts that relate to the topic
-some ideas for holidays to include/ more to add
-smaller pictures that relate to the large calender picture
-sponsorships

Our Local Beach

"the often-neglected southwest corner of San Diego County that for more than 70 years has been fouled by raw sewage, garbage and mud when rains cause the clogged waterway to flood. Homes, horse ranches and farms dot the largely undeveloped area."

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/oct/04/water-exec-leaving-legacy-teamwork/?metro&zIndex=176989

The issue that I read about was all of the pollution in the Tijuana River mouth and how it has been collecting there for more than seventy years. One man took action when it came to the pollution, even though it wasn't necessarily ours.

The only thing I thought were missing from this article was the amount of pollution there was, and the dangerous bacterias. Although it said over 70 years there was'nt that famous picture of the pollution or even an estimate.

I would look more into the water pollution and what people on both sides of the border are working to do, and go more in depth about their ideas for the future. I would also talk about the different things found in the water, not just general things like diseases and bottles.

Beloved

  In the novel Beloved many different kinds of cultures collide and not just your typical white or black conflict. There are many different kinds of different cultures that can effect characters in different ways. The idea of love and the different interpretations of it was the foundation of the story and the most important idea. There were also collisions of beliefs when it comes to slavery, parenting, a mother daughter relationship, American culture, love, spirits and especially the interpretations of values.

    This book was written in the time period where slaves still existed in the South and the characters were trying to escape. The main character Sethe lived on a farm with five other slave men and their owner Mr. Garner was pretty nice to them compared to other slave owners. “A boss who showed him them how to shoot and listed to what they had to say. A mistress who made their soap and never raised her voice.” Although this may not seem like your standard perception of love, their slave owners actually treated them like people and cared about them. This has an effect on the slaves throughout the story, they would look back on their days as a slave and the owners that they actually cared about. Some were disapproving of how kindly they treated their slaves, but they continued to anyway and it showed that people can be loving and nice even when it is looked down upon.

    One of the major cultural conflicts in this book was the way that the main character Sethe loved and took care of her children. She ending up killing one of her kids, justifying it as “how if I hadn't killed her she would have died and that is something I could not bear to happen to her” In Sethe's mind, she didn't want her children to be “dirtied” by white people, and she thought they were coming to kill one of her kids. “Whites might dirty her all right, but not her best thing, her beautiful, magical best thing- the part of her that was clean.” This cultural conflict really effected Sethe and her other daughter Denver because they lived without talking to other people in the town for 18 years. Sethe's morals were definitely out of the normal idea of love and parenting and everyone shunned her because of that. You could tell that she loved her kids, and before you find about her killing one of them, you see her as that loving mom who was always trying to do what was best for her kids. As you read the book, the author makes you begin to question her love and sanity, but she just had a different idea of what love and caring for your kids meant.

    The daughter that was supposedly killed, Beloved comes back, alive and well and ruins Sethe's life. She demanded expensive things, constant love and she laid on plenty of guilt trips. Sethe felt guilty for killing her daughter, and to make it up to her, she tried to do everything to gain her love back. This type of love was something completely different, and although Beloved thought it was justified it made Sethe depressed and sick and to most, love is not making someone miserable, no matter what they've done to you.

Because of what her mother had done, Denver never left her house, and always was fearing her mom was going to kill her. When they get to a point of starvation in the book, Denver took action. This conflict was one that she had within herself because she was always afraid of what others thought of her and her mother.“I spent all of my outside self loving Ma’am so she wouldn't kill me.” Although she was deeply afraid of leaving the house, she did so to help save her mom when Beloved was ruining her life. Denver goes out and talks to other people around the neighborhood and gets food, and more importantly tells people what’s going on in her home with her mother and sister who had “risen from the dead.” This was a major development in the book because she was growing up enough to get a job and take care of the family when they just didn't care about her. And eventually the people of her town banded together to save her mother despite what she had done to Beloved. Even though everyone thought Sethe was crazy and a bad parent, they all came together in an almost loving way to save her and scare Beloved away.

    Through all of these different kinds of cultural collisions in the book, the characters were greatly effected and it put them in the positions they were in. From more events she hated white people and that prompted her to kill her daughter, out of what she considered love. And in the end, her other daughter Denver really showed pure love by taking care of both Sethe and Beloved when they didn't care about her anymore and the town came together to save someone they had shunned for 18 years, they had always loved her a little bit all along. All of these collisions didn't just effect the person directly involved, and they all had a major impact on the story. What you do, and what conflicts you get in will always have an effect on the people around you, whether you think about it or not. Love is not just one term with one definition, they are many different kinds of love and reading thing book, I learned that there are many different ways to show them. Love is ever changing, and how you show it is too.

Media Saves The Beach Questions

1. How does the condition of the water effect the life in the tide pools?
-I thought of this question because when I was a child, I loved going down the the tide pools in sunset cliffs and OB. Since the water sometimes never drains out of the tide pool (when its low tide) I want to see if that effects the wildlife living in these tidepools.

2.What pollutants are going into our rivers/oceans?
-I think this will be an interesting question because although people know about some things that go into our waters, Im sure there are other factors that people dont know about. This question would be geared more towards the public to educate them, and even talk about how the sewage plant is allowed to pump things five miles out with a government permission.

3.Why are watersheds important?
-I think this question would be good for a project to help educate the public, and also so I can learn more. I had no idea what a watershed was before bio and I want to learn more about them and then get the information out to other people so we can take action to help save water. I think that people will care more when they get more information, not just from a bus as saying SAVE WATER.

Building Up America

In 1864, the city of Atlanta was begging for mercy from General Sherman and the Union Army. Shermans army was tearing through the South, destroying the Confederacy, saying he will not revoke his orders because they were to “prepare for the future struggles in which millions of good people outside of Atlanta have a deep interest. We must have peace, not only at Atlanta, but in all America. To secure this, we must stop the war that now desolates our once happy and favored country.” For Sherman, winning the war wasn’t all about slavery, it was about creating a better country for futures generations.

Ever since the beginning of America, in one way or another we have been on a search for equality and in some ways we still are. We would not be the country we are today without the Civil war and all of the conflicts within it. Those conflicts really started Americas ongoing search for equality. Prior to the war, the United States was stuck, they had had a young government and states that had completely different opinions and ways of living. Many were questioning whether the government should be in charge or not. From the Civil War, our government grew stronger and our laws became more solid. The economy had to be built back up and it was changed from the way it was prior to the war. And the understood values of each state were, in some cases changed. Everyone’s values were now supposed to align, America was starting to stand as one.

From the war, Abraham Lincoln began to see the United States as a collective whole and not as that group of states that associated with each other. He wanted equality for all and for the South and the North to reunite. People in the South were bitter, and some still are today. Through the generations people have passed on their feelings about the war, blacks and the Confederacy and that is still affecting us 150 years later. The search for equality still continues today, even after a major turning point in the creation of modern America. One example is a woman in Kentucky who was fighting to keep one high schools mascot a confederate rebel, she smiled sweetly and said “Slavery was not all that bad…Blacks just need to get over slavery…You cant live in the past.” Ironically, she herself was living in the past, still discriminating against blacks and trying to keep the representation of the confederate flag in our modern day schools.

The symbols from the war are still a part of our culture, even though most people may not even realize it. The Yankees baseball team, or high schools in the South named after confederate generals, the Civil war is still an influence. The notorious Confederate flag still is a widely used symbol is the South, still hanging on the grounds of the capitol building in South Carolina. However, the meaning of the flag has changed, it isn’t only the symbol of fighting for slavery or racism. Nowadays, the flag is more of a Southern heritage symbol. One heritage group leader calls the Confederate flag "A symbol of defiance, courage, bravery” People misunderstand the meaning because of the way white supremacist groups have abused the Confederate flag to make it a symbol of hate.

A large part of the search for equality was found in the outcome of the Civil War. Black people got rights, and weren’t in slavery anymore. In modern America, everyone is equal, and has equal rights and opportunities. These ideas aren’t things that arose in the 1960s along with the movement. After the Civil War, there was a Civil Rights bill trying to be passed, but President Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill. Modern America was being born right when the Civil War ended, it just took longer for the ideas to pass through and be the law today.

General Sherman had a point when he refused to retreat from Atlanta. He wasn’t trying to terrorize the people, he was trying to erase everything and give the South a fresh start to benefit the generations to come. This was a part of Americas search for equality and a lot was found here. This war was also the turning point in American history that began a new era. What we now call “our nation”, was splitting at the seams. But without this war, modern America would never have been created and we would not be where we are today.



SOURCES

Horwitz, Tony. Confederates In The Attic. Pantheon, 1998
Reply from General Sherman to the City Leaders of Atlanta, September 12, 1864
(Found in the book Primary Sources of The Civil War)
Davidson, James. Nation of Nations. Boston: Mc Graw Hill, 2005