Blog #19: Critique a Professional Example

The most succesful element of this work sample is the way the artist depicted the colors and light. The picture looks really nice and extremely professional. It depicts what its supposed to depict [air pollution] in a very strong way because of the high contrast and the colors chosen.

The message of the work is air pollution. I know this because I looked up 'pollution' is google. And guessing by the fact that he has a gas mask on, something is in the air that could harm i=his body if he was to breathe it in, therefore I guessed air pollution. Or war, but the website for this picture said this has something to do with 'industrial' so maybe industrial work pollution. I don't know. But either way it is pollution.

I don't really know who the intended audience for this work is.

The lighting, I've already explained that. The colors, becuase they are dark and gloomy, so he's not wearing the gas mask becuase he's happy or it's stylish. The shadows, and the way the artist painted him and the industrial pipe thing in the background gives it the whole industrial breathing problem effect.

technique: Lighting. And he used one factory symbol in the background that kind of gives a little hint of what the picture depicts.

I chose this art peice becuase it has the type of elements that I plan on using in my art to make the message 'pop out' more. I want to use alot of contrast, and not gloomy colors, but the right colors to show water pollution. And i like this picture. It looks really good.

Humanities Literature #2

The Scarlet Letter
by Mariyah Gillis

The wild, uncivilized stories are more captivating than the conventional stories. Conventional literature is often common and everyday events, most likely predictable and similar to real life. Wild, free stories are surprising and predictable. Uncivilized stories act as an escape from ‘everyday’ into another life.

“The scarlet Letter” starts off the story by telling about the prison door in a Puritan town. The lady inside, Hester Prine, was condemned as an adulterer because she gave birth to a child with no proof of a husband. The rest of the town thought she should be put to death in the gallows, or tortured in the dungeon chambers.

This book comes off as a predictable fable about a sinner in the Puritan community; a lady went against the laws in a strict law-abiding town, and therefore should get punished.” The end. In a civilized book, it would probably, most likely, discuss the logistics of how the trial went and the details of the punishment. No surprises, predictable, and pretty much what would go on occasionally in a Puritan town. It would be seen as a common, standard novel of the 1800’s.

But, on the contrary, the uncivilized free and unrestrained thinking in “The Scarlet Letter” is what makes the book a ‘must-read’. Just when you think the story couldn’t get any more outrageous, the baby’s daddy is revealed as the reverend; the town’s religious leader, in charge of the citizens and those who commit a sin. Who would have ever guessed the very man punishing Hester is the one that helped her in her sin to get there?! Yet, the tale continues as a strange traveling physician comes by the town and sees Hester and child, noticing the child didn’t resemble him at all, and takes revenge on the Reverend without letting the know who he really was, “under the appellation of Roger Chillingworth … was hidden another name, which it’s former wearer had resolved should never be spoken of,” Hester’s husband.

Without the startling secrets, revengeful plots, scandalous tricks, undercover truths, and completely uncultivated way of thinking, “The Scarlet Letter” would be a tame, dull, conventional book better not read.

Blog #18: Newspaper and MSB

I learned good newspaper and writing skills while completing the Industrialization newspaper article that I can incorporate into my MSB project. I plan on doing a Photo Essay or a Large-Scale Art Installation, so improving my writing skills in the Industrialization Newspaper is something I would most definitely use for the writing parts of my MSB project. I also learned organization and on planning before time. I need to make sure I learn how to use different software and equipment, before planning on incorporating it into my project. When the Industrialization project first started, I realized I would have to use InDesign, but I didn't make sure I fully understood it. So in the end, I was frustrated and rushed to learn the software in order to finish the project. With the MSB project, if i decide to do a Large-Scale Art Installation, I need to make sure I understand the equipment i plan on using before anything else.

Blog #17 MSB project

Organizations:

BlueWater Network
http://www.envirolink.org/resource.html?itemid=521104151613&catid=5
This Organization focuses on the motorized recreational, shipping, and oil transport pollutions. I would want to interview one of the workers, and ask them what kind of pollution they have had to deal with the most. I would also ask them what kind of effect the pollution has had on marine life.

Marine Animal Rescue Program
http://www.aqua.org/oceanhealth_marp.html
They rescue endangered and harmed animals. I would interview one of the rescuers or workers, and ask what are the most serious injuries and cases they've had to deal with when trying to help an animal. What type of pollution have they noticed effect the animals the most.

Pacific Rivers Council
http://www.animalconcerns.org/resource.html?itemid=1062&catid=5
I would want to know some of the stories that they've had to deal with. like the type of animal situations, and the cases they've had to see with marine animals being endangered or harmed.

Government People Involved:

California Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/grants_loans/srf/
Made interests rates low so water quality projects wouldn't be so expensive. Annually gives out $200 and $300 million to eligible projects.
-they could be involved becausse now people are a little closer to getting clean water and a clean environment, therefore helping the marine animals get back to a clean and healthy water environment.

Government of Canada
http://www.marinepollution-pollutionmaritime.gc.ca/eng/contact_us/menu.htm
The Government of Canada is steady findng ways of preventing pollution to the marine animals environment. The government is involved and backs up the marine animals' protection.
-Lots of governments, not only America, realize that water pollution is a big factor, and may affect the animals and organisms inside the water. so they are looking at the water, and making sure it's healthy to protect the living organisms that inhabitate it.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.ukrivers.net/pollution.html#govtag
They ae an organization that looks at every aspect of the marine pollution sources, and they branch into various types of marine conservation groups.

Blog post #15 MSB project

Post two different ideas of final products that you might be interested in making. For each one, do the following:

1. Write a sentence describing the final product (such as, "A documentary video that addresses the question....")
2. Post an example of a professional or other high-level product that could serve as a basis for your work.
3. List three specific ideas that you can take from your example to lead you to a high quality product. Write specifically how you will apply these ideas to your work here. Be as clear, exact & specific as you can!

Large-Scale Art Installation
-An artistic picture that represents water polluted by oil and it's affect on people and the environment.
-

Honors History Writing #2

Vote McKinley for President of 1896

by Mariyah Gillis


Our dear America is still trying to bounce back from the civil war, the violent groups, and the old financial situation. But while we sit here and hope for the best, the democratic President brings us down to a devastating financial state, unemployment rates have soared to 20%-25% as people get laid off from their jobs, and businesses have gone bankrupt all across our once thriving nation.
Many people have been wondering who will get us out of this state of turmoil; this ground breaking fall in the country’s banking and sky rocketing heights of inflation. How can America become the prosperous nation it once was? Who will bring that change?
As frustrating as times are, the decision for a new president is an easy choice to make. Governor William McKinley has proved that he is qualified to be the next president for year 1896.
For years, McKinley has governed many areas in America. He knows how to make big decisions, wise decisions, which to benefit those who he has governed. He has shown he can make good judgment and wise decisions. In the economic state we are currently in, we need a leader that’ll make strong and wise decisions that will improve our country.
Bryan was elected to congress two times in 1890 and 1892. Democrats have been in the White House for the last 4 years. Our country’s terrible state of being is a reflection of the democratic leadership skills. Do we really want another democrat in office to push our country further downhill? McKinley, a republican, will pull our country uphill.
With his genial personality, Mr. McKinley makes sure to include every organization (even traveling salesman and bicycle clubs). He includes the rich and those that are poor. He takes care of all, and uses wisdom to handle every situation.
“We sent him a telegraph, last year, stating ‘Immediate Relief Needed’. We had no food or supplies to live off of,” said one of the once impoverished minors if Hocking Valley.
When Governor McKinley got their telegraph, in a matter of a few hours, he sent a railroad car full of supplies and food (paid for out of his own pocket). Bryan has never emptied his pockets for the people he governed while he was a congressman.
Mr. William Bryan is a great orator. Great speeches do not pay the bills. Speeches don’t lead a commonwealth. Speeches don’t change large-scale economic problems; international nor national. Bryan is a man of impressive, intelligent words. And his actions have yet to show the dedication and care for the well-being of the people.
The same couple of topics are brought about when Mr. Bryan campaigns. “He speaks on the same concepts. Free silver and monitary policy is his conversation started everywhere he goes,” says one of his old fellow Congressmen. McKinley is against silver, because “it is a debased currency and overseas markets use gold, so it would harm foreign trade.”
Bryan thinks it is wise to include silver into the currency, because some people (specifically the farmers and people of poverty) can’t get much gold from the little savings they have. Using the bimetallic system was inflationary. The minors were already mining silver, so there was an abundance of silver, therefore making the U.S. currency rate goes down, and therefore causing inflation. Second of all, the rest of the world used the gold system, so using silver would complicate the international trade.
Maybe Bryan truly is trying his best to resolve the present dilemmas in our country. But the way he’s going about to solve them is unintelligent, and would cause America more problems, not only nationally, but internationally. McKinley promised to promote industry and banking. He understands the problems of our nation, and he looks at the problem from every situation, to make sure the resolution to solving the problem doesn’t worsen the situation. He also guarantees prosperity for every group in a pluralistic nation, even if it means taking the money and supplies out of his own pocket, as he has clearly displayed with the impoverished minors last year.
If Bryan promised that, would you believe he was capable? Vote McKinley. He knows what’s best for the American people as a nation, and makes sensible decisions to get our country back on track, and running the way we know our country should be.


Bibliography:

Blog # 16: msb comments, ideas, and plans

From Vaughn's blog (http://vaughnhumanityblog.blogspot.com) I thought she had a good way of looking at things. I had been thinking about how the animals cause the pollution, but i didn't think about how pollution affects the animals. I really like the question she asked. Im going to think more on how the animaps are affected. Or i'll focus on which animals are greatly affected or whatever. Something close to that.

From Madison's blog (http://mmhuman.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-common-is-it-for-people-to-get.html) i noticed she used lots of personal evidence. She made her question relevant and tied her story back to home. She had charts and statistics. She used pictures and she made he story more interesring because she showedthat it could affect me too. (that sounds really selfish but i didnt mean it like that). I wanna pick a story or a topic to write about that would be more personal and have more impact on the people reading it


From Calvins blog (http://calvinbrownhthma.blogspot.com/2009/10/15-msb-products.html) i learned a different poont of view on "how" to do the final project. Instead of just a simple photo essay Calvin plans on doing a photojournalist type thing. That's really cool and creative. So i plan on being more creative in whatever final product i decide to do. Make it more "mariyah-ish" i quess. Put my own spunk in it.

Blog #14 MSB Questions &&Resources

Is it likely to get any type of sickness from Mission Bay on an average day (when it hasn't rained)?

-What types of diseases and viruses are in the water at Mission Bay?
-How many people have gotten sick due to the 'critters' in the water?
-What types of pollution are swimming in the water alongide the marine life and humans?

Internet
Pictures
Hospital Reports
News Reports
Scientific Water Testings
Stats.

I can't really find anything on how the water's bad. So i'm guessing that the water is really healthy and good for people. but maybe i'm just looking in the wrong places.

Honors Novel Essay

Famil Problems
[The Glass Castle]


Jeannette Walls lived her life as the 'raggedy Anne' girl with the dysfunctional family. Her father was the town drunk, her mother's too focused on her dreams to care about the well-being of her own children, an older sister with brains but no where to apply them, a younger brother that wears his older sisters' hand me downs, and a baby sister that couldn't live without being dependent on someone else. Everybody's family has problems, some families just do a better job at hiding it than others. Whether it be financial problems, or a housing situation, unbearable family members, or an unforgettable past, every family has to deal with something. Jeannette's family had to deal with all of the above, and that's just a tad bit harder to conceal from the world.

Dinitia Hewitt was one of the kids that beat up Jeannette. She didn't like how Ms.Walls was always trying to be the smarty-arty of the class. The red headed white girl in a class full of blacks and remedials, unbathed, and wearing the same 2 shirts every other day. Dinitia terrorized Jeannette's walk home. Her and her crew would go up to Jeannette when she seemed alone, gang up around her, and jump her until Dinitia said the beating was over. She controlled the gang of kids. If she wanted to beat up Jeannette during lunch instead of after school, the crew would follow suit. When Dinitia didn't feel like jumping Jeannette, they all sat back awaiting her next command. Dinitia had power, and she used her power to hide the problems she had in her family. She went home every day, and every day her mother's boyfriend raped her. All the power on the school courts couldn't help her when she got home. Even the most powerful people have the family problems.

Grandma was a kind, loving, caring lady. Every time the Walls family would come to stay for a little while, she would provide them with brand new clothes, 3 meals a day, a warm bed, a hot shower, and teach them responsibility. Jeannette saw her Grandma as an angel, but her mother couldn't stand her mother. She lived her life to be everything her mother wasn't. The grandmother was over-protective,and used order to hide that problem. She controlled everyone and anyone that went into the house by making sure they kept up their appearance and learned manners for anywhere they went. 5 minutes with this lady would be a lovely day with someone who cares. But years of living with her made Jeannettes mom resilient and tired of her own mother. So despite the perfectness of Grandma's life, she had personal family problems with her own child, 'Mrs' Walls'.

Jeannette grew up and saw how everyone had problems no matter what kind of family situation they were in. Everyone in life was dealing with something one way or another, and everyone that seemed 'problem-less' were the ones that were in control of their lives and made sure their lives and behaviors resembled 'control'. Dinitia controlled the gang of kids and not once did Jeannette see her crying in the corner at school. Grandma controlled order in her house and order for anyone living with her, To con people and get the money to support his drinking 'career', Rex Walls controlled a serious strong face and an assured appearance. Jeannette then took control of her life, saved up money, and moved to New York with her sister. She left behind her parents and did exactly what he wanted to do in life, with control. She became a famous writer and reporter for a well-known newspaper in New Yorker. She covered up her childhood and family history with her achievements and her extraordinary writing ability. No one in her new life knew where she came from, and about the life that had made her who she is today. With control, she was finally able to hide it well.

Media Saves the Beach questions

How to jetskis and boats affect the water?
the boats leak like oil in the water don't they? do they put stuff into the water, or the trash on the boat, does it ever go into the ocean.. or even the cruise ships, the waste from the cruise ships, do they empty that into the ocean?

How much damage do people cause?
Is all the pollution only from people, do animals do somethings? what else affects the water, because people can't possibly be doing everything?

When they make new beaches, do they thinkg about if the health risks?
because Mission bay is disgusting, did they have a plan for it? if so, the plan apparently failed. DO they plan on making new beaches just like mission beach?

Civil War Magazine Article Thing...

The Mind of Diversity

Mariyah Gillis

On a plantation from sun rise to sun down, A small hole-filled blanket on the damp floor served as a 'comfy' place to rest each night. In 1815, blacks were put on a stage and humiliated in front of any willing bidder. Like furniture in an auction, they were looked at as an 'it' instead of a 'person'. Once sold, one wrong decision could result in discipline as harsh as an ongoing lash slashed across a bare back, or a tight noose around the neck... attached to a tree. The law did nothing to stop this, or prove that it is wrong. To have something to smile about was a blessing.  Others were persecuted as well. Native Americans were robbed of their land, and their culture. They were forced into the same slave-lives as blacks. The people, considered Americans, saw nothing wrong with this because they owned the land, the supreme all-mighty people.

Today, that same child, that would have been slaves to a wealthy white man, is sitting next to the 'white mans' child. The same expectations are put on the colored student as put on the white student. The man that would have been hanging from a noose on the tree is a doctor at Kaiser Permanente. As dark as his skin may be, he’d never have to worry about being hung or whipped because of something he might have done. Native Americans now have their own reservations, land only for them, where they can preserve their culture and won't forget their history as the first on North American soil. Labor, involuntarily and unhealthy, is against the law, and against the moral standards of most people.

Why the change? It's good to think that the civil war, "America's Second Revolution", started the beginning of modern America today. For 400 years, the United States was close-minded and couldn't look past skin color and 'non-White Christian' culture. As people started to open their minds a little, the state broke into two, the Union and the Confederates. The North against the South. The Republicans against the Democrats. Thus causing the Civil War. After 4 years, the civil war was won by the Union (the people going for the freedom of the slaves). The country made new laws to give rights to the slaves and to make sure no one else could be enslaved in such harsh circumstances. Equal rights came, slowly but surely. But with every major change, there's always people that have an opposition. In the south, the Ku Klux Klan came about after the Civil War to make sure former slaves didn't get the same opportunities as the whites. The red shirts and the white league sprouted out from the KKK to put fear across the face of every colored person that wanted to take a stance in the country. Across the nation, segregation held blacks back from the same good opportunities whites were offered. The few organizations that tried to provide support and protection for the blacks [i.e. the Freemen’s Bureau] didn't have back up from the government, because the justice system was highly unreliable. For a while, even the president, Johnson, didn't support the change. And the few presidents after him that did agree with the change wasn't aggressive with making the change possible. America started off with baby steps towards diversity and eqaul opportunity. But with every struggle and conflict, America's steps got bigger.

New ideas and outlooks came about, and people started to look at diversity and different cultures in a different way. Yes, there is still racism, and yes, there are still groups like the KKK and the red shirts who focus on white supremacy and a superior race above all others. 400 years cannot be completely erased with 150 years of trying to change. America is still a country of opinions and cultures, and not everyone is going to agree and go along with the majority way of things.     

But with the help of many, races other than white were able to make a stance in America; the country that first pronounced them an 'it'. Many new black minds came about after the civil war; like Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass. 1875; Robert Smalls, a former slave, got elected into the House of Representatives. Daniel Hale Williams, a black surgeon, performed the first open heart surgery. Cesar Chavez started a strike against unfair work, and made the country re-look at how people are paid.  Now we have a black president, and amendments that state every person is equal, no race excluded. From a nation of racial conflicts and oppression of anything different, to a diverse country that accepts every, and any race, for equality and opportunity.

What's the deal with the Reconstruction?

The Reconstruction era was a time in American history where the south had to be rebuilt and regoverned because everything they had during the Civil War needed to be rebuilt and/edited. It was right after the civil war, and it wasa time to change the South. One of the first attempts to establish order in the south was the Freedmans bureau, but that went bad, because the bureau was supposed to give protection to the blacks seeking it [with the help of the government] but the government wasn't helping. It was working at first when they started putting the blacks into governor positions and stuff, but when the Union armed pulled out, that all went down the drain.

http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/intro.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=KKK
The KKK was joined during the Reconstruction period, and  they are still going on. They have made lead-way for other white-supremicists around the country. The klan has become widespread, and has even become mobile on the internet. The klans are now cooperating with the neo-Nazi groups.