MS. HANSEN WE LOVE YOU! (extra credits)

My Thoughts About Last Year. (extra credits)

Gosh, Just a moment ago I had so many thoughts that I really wanted to write. Now, the thoughts seem to escape from my mind. What is there to say about? Being the person that I am. I have seem to just let things go way to easily. But, yet I can't stop but remember what I tried to let go of. I have thought that finally accepting me for who I am would bring me into a place where I would not be in a state where I'm sad all the time. I wish I can simply put these emotions down into words and explain to you what I really felt. I guess as human being we often tend to think that we have moved on from our mistakes, but yet we are doing that same mistake in another form that we seem not to recognize. Its almost the end of the sem. I guess I'm okay with the grades I have earned from my classes. I wished I could have done better though. It just seem that my responsibility in different clubs and organizations have demanded so much out of me. I really want to get a 4.0 this marking period so I can apply to a good Arts Universities. Sometime, I even underestimate myself and what I can really do. I'm pretty outgoing and don't like to be at home all the time. I'm more of a people's person. This year I have been very active in helping back my communities through hosting and sponsoring themed concerts. I'm currently working with the Lowell High School and AuCo Dance Company. In doing a Winter Concert in Union Square. I actually like staying busy, because it takes my mind of my personal issue that I have to deal daily. I wish that one day I wake up and these bittersweet feelings would just disappear.
Wow, I just notice that I been writing so much and didn't even know about it. Its time like this where its so great to sit down next to a cup of tea and write whats on my mind. I'm getting older and more wiser then I was before. I sometimes think to myself will I ever have a good lifestyle in the future. I asked one of my best friend, that same question. He told me something that I would not forget. He said "no one knows whats in store for you in the future. Live for today, and be mindful of tomorrow." Even, though I took his words into thought. But, I just can't stop but, keep on wondering about my life when I'm 28 or even 30. Will I find that right person?
No one knows whats its like being me. Unless they step in my shoes for the day. You don't know how hard it is, when people are actually talking behind your back, just simply because your you. Why must the world be so cruel. Why can't it accept that I want to be happy too.
I'm not saying that I'm depress and going to hurt myself. Thats just dumb. I actually love my life. Its the emotion and mental pain that I can't handle. Everyday, I try my best to put at least one smile on my face. Even when I have to force it.
I know high school is the most important time in ones life. Its when you start to finally discover who you really are as a human being. And what your skills and talent. It is also the time period where you are about to be ready to step into the "REAL WORLD". For me, I kinda feel that I have reached that level of maturity where I'm ready for the real word. I guess because of my experiences in working with adults in organizations during my whole middle and high school career. I know how to talk to people. I try my best to understand them. Ever since when I was young. I knew that I was meant to be a leader not a follower.
I'm over the fact, that when you have to change who you are to fit in. I been there, done that and bought that T-Shirt.

The PROS and CONS about a Project Lifestyle.

Does your community determine who you are?
PRO
People are just people. They all have feelings and aspirations. However, if you were born in a violent and rough community, does that determine who you are as a person? Tyre Ellison a young and inspiring individual have proved many people wrong. He was born and raised in the roughest and troublesome neighborhood of San Francisco known as Sunnydale. Just by judging from his background you'll think he's just like any other African American kid right? Wrong! You will be surprised to see how far this young man has come.

Tyre told us that his mother has always stressed the importance of getting a quality education first. He is a very smart man, that gets straight A's classes and is very talented in many varieties of sports. Which makes sense when he was offered a full ride to Berkley through a sports scholarship. I was lucky enough to have an exclusive interview with the man of the hour. His charm and passion in striving for the best is indescribable. Trye talked about how his friends are not so lucky. He told me that he is the person he is today because of his hard work. I asked him basic questions like “how's Berkley?” and then leading to more direct questions like “how do you feel about overcoming your challenges?” Tyre would always answer my questions with a smile on his face. His charisma is very contagious. His answers were brief but very clear. It got the point across.
He talked about the many stereotypes that people make about young people from the projects. “They're suppose to be dumb and stupid...o yeah poor too.” After interviewing him. I had a better sense of understanding how a person is treated if they were raised in the “projects” .
People should not jump to conclusion about another person, just based on where they come from. But how they present themselves. “I feel like I fought for my place here at Cal. I don't see my friends at Sunnydale often because some of them are gone.” mentioned by Trye.
He is one of the many people in San Francisco that beat the odds of property and is heading towards a brighter future.

CON

Why do people do the things they do? This is a common question between adults and teenagers. Many young teens are getting into more trouble then they need to. The main discussions about this would be answering the most common stereotype about people being the way they are base on where they come from.
I have noticed that kids nowadays are much more disrespectful and unconsidered to others. Do we blame their parents or their community? “Well, this is me, I'm from the hood b#$ch!” a response that I got while asking kids around my neighborhood. I personally think that kids are strongly influenced by where they come from. A baby cannot learn how to fight and cruse on his/her own. It is a shame that young potentials of the future are throwing their mind away for a pack of cigarettes and a can of beer.
As much as we try to make programs fro them to join, its up to them to want to change.

This I Believe

Minh Tran
Mr. Chow
Journalism
12/08/2008
This I Believe

Assignment #1 what do you believe in?
Write an essay explaining and illustrating in words, stories, and anecdotes, what belief you hold up as scared, and unquestioned.

What is belief? It is only relevant to the person that practices it. My vision in life would be achieving academic success. I strongly hold education near ad dear to my heart and that is why I believed that young children should get all the knowledge that they can at this age. A person without knowledge is nothing.
I was born and raised in a small town south of Saigon. My parents raised my siblings and myself as compassionate Catholics. As a young individual I quickly learned how to forgive people when they do me wrong. Compassion is one of the many necessary skill ones need to learn.
I believe that anyone can become anybody if the choose to. I remember coming to a new area and was scared to death. My family first moved to America when I was seven years old. We had to learn the basic language like any other immigrants. It was rough at first but I believed that I was capably to overcome that challenge.
Over the years of trail and error I have came to conclusion that my purpose in life is to help others. I have always had a passion in the performing arts.
One day I vision myself as being an art teacher and giving my knowledge back to my community. I am the person I am today because of the guidance of my parents and teachers. They have instilled the passion of me being interested in going college.

What Kids Don't know About Their Healths

All schools require their students to know about health once they gradate from high school. The reason why Health Education is so important, and is a requirement for most juniors and seniors is because most teenagers don’t know what their bodies are going through. Some teenagers do drugs that harm their bodies or drink alcohol underage. Many young people that are growing up are getting more and more sexually active. This means that the chance of being a teenage parent is very high!
The class offer useful knowledge that prevents this from ever happening to another teen again. There are many parts of having this useful class as a requirement to graduate. Because, when young people are exposed to information that is the actual fact. They would actually think twice from doing that to their bodies.
When we think of the word “health”, we think of living long. This term has totally changed throughout the years, because young people are not respecting themselves or their bodies. With Health Ed. as a leading structure, providing useful hints and advice to young people. It’s a great way of helping and promoting health awareness.
Smoking is known to cause cancer, and should definitely be taught in class. Interesting subjects such as these are really magnified in giving students the real hazards that it can cause in the human body.
I think having Health Ed, is a great thing. Because, I get to learn about my body and the way I think. Also, taking in the information that is good or bad for me.
The class itself will also answer any questions that I have about sex, drugs, reproducing, diseases and discovering myself as a person.
Once I learned about health. I have a better understanding of how I should live my life. Also, how I can take care of my “health”.

A New Vistior in the Month Of December

December are one of my favorite months of the year. Besides it being my birthday month. There are so many things that can talk about. I like Halloween but I love Christmas. My family has a tradition of setting up our artificial tree together. We have never missed a single Christmas. However, this year there will be somebody special at the dinner table. She's one of my relative from Vietnam. Her husband is an American solder that went back to Vietnam to marry her. I know him personally too. Because he is the son of my mother's best friend. In a way my mom and her are like best of friends. Anyways, I am so excited that we will get to start a new tradition with Mai. I hope she likes her new home here in America. I can't wait to show her around the city and take her out to great restaurants.

Web 2.0

Wow the internet! I never thought that it would go so far. I still remember when I had dial up internet. Man, that was slow. But look at it now. People can pretty much access super speed internet anytime and anywhere. I can't imagine living without internet. It has changed my life in a very drastic way. Its like a drug man. Once you get hooked. You can never quit. 

Internet was only for the military long time ago, but now the whole world is on it. You can pretty much get a lot from it. Such as materialistic objects and now even pre-order your next lunch and dinner. I think that one day our internet service will run out. Why? because its now considered a necessity in one's lifestyle. When I said the "internet will run out" I mean the speed of it. duh! lol... Internet 2.0 is slowly creeping its way to not only computer access, its on PDA's and cell phone. Where people can carry in their pockets. I think its the best innovation since sliced bread.

Handling Race and Ethnicity

During the race training workshop. It talked about how journalist label people in different areas. Like thugs are related to black and African people. While the word suburbs or more related to white people. Its interesting how people of color get published out there. The workshop gave us situation where we have to solve like a shooting relating with Sam Wong on a Tuesday night. It was gang activity that he was not involved in. I notice that asian or yellow skin people are not mentioned a lot. This course also teaches us about the relationship seeing the difference of race, heritage, ethnicity, and brackgrounds on how to handle racial discrimination. Hint the title: Handling Race and Ethnicity. I learned how to profile people during a investigation or report it to the news headquarter.

12 Questions

1. The InterviewLog in to your newsu.org account.Search for or follow the link to the class titled The Interview. Enroll in this class and read the instructions before starting the lesson. Follow the prompts until you finish the session.At the end of the session, please fill out the debriefing survey.Send a course report to chowsir23@gmail.com so I will know that you logged into and completed the course.2. Telling Stories with SoundLog in to newsu.org account.Search for or follow the link to the class titled Telling Stories with Sound. Enroll in this class and read the instructions before starting the lesson. Follow the prompts until you finish the session.

How do audio stories create a sense of place?

When people tell their stories, the interviwer creates a place for your listeners to relate to. Since radio interviews are limited to the voice being broadcasted. Listerners can't really see what the person look like.

What is the difference between primary and secondary sound sources?

The primary elections happens beofore secondary elections because each parties must have to elect who will represents them. For example Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

What are some purposes for the ‘pre-interview’?

The purpose of a pre-interview is because you need to check and test out your equpitment. Besides thay you must also test out and do a pre-questioning to your interwer. The reason why you do this before the acutal interview because you don't want the person being interviewd getting offended.

Name the five basic types of microphones.

1. Make sure the aduio is adjusted.

2. In a enviroment that is quiet place.

3. Add a external mic, don't use the build in mic.

4. Pre-record.

5. Test the equipment.

Which type of microphone is ideal for interviews of individual subjects out in public?

Portable mics are the best when traveling to different places.

What are the 3 types of digital recording devices?

1. MP3

2. MP4

3. WMA

What can you do if your subject is only answering “Yes”, “No” or “Maybe” to your questions?

When they say no, try to ask the question in another way. When they say yes, try to find out more information. When they say maybe, they might be thinking about the question. Explain to them what you mean.

What are some possible sources of “white noise” or unexpected sounds that may interfere with the quality of your recording?

White noise happens when the person is too close to the mic. You can prevent this by testing the mic before hand.

What is ambient sound?

Ambient noise level is the sound pressure level at a given location, normally specified as a reference level to study a new intrusive sound source.
What is natural sound? The sound that are around you.

Where can you get more information on fair and legal use of copyrighted music?

Get your information from sources like the free press. Or the cause itself. Take notes and record your interview for legal uses.

How can you make a voice-over sound natural?

You can make them sound natural by adjusting the balance of the tone in which the person is answering. For example: predict when they will get excited or mono-toned. Pay attention to long pauses, this is good when you are editing it. Make your interviwer feel relaxed.

My REACTIONS about this election.

4. Blog: Scan the news for stories about the Election results. Use found images from the internet (make sure to cite the sources of images, audio, video or text) to create a collage of reactions to the Elections. Post a personal response to how you feel about the results. What do you think it means for America and the world? What did you learn about democracy, the American people, and journalism?


Change has come to AMERICA! On Nov. 4th 2008 I was one of the many millions of people that worked at the polls. I was station in the inner neighborhoods of the Castro. People there were very friendly and they were all eager to vote, hoping for the best. It was a long a grueling 15 hours. But I felt that I had done the best of ability to serve this elections.

Somehow I sort of knew that Barrack Obama was going to win this election but, I was so shocked that he had such outstanding results. I would think that there might be a tie between him and McCain. He had more than 3x the votes of his running mate. I felt that we are finally accepting change. Yes, Obama might be the first African American to become president. Besides that, he had expressed his capability of governing this country. He has inspired many people that gave up hope of the government to go and vote and create change. I learned that democracy is all about the people and what they want and stand for. It is also giving an opportunity to people like Barrack Obama a chance to create greatness. We have finally shattered the racial ceiling that divided us from leaders that can change our country beneficially. It is clear that we are accepting Barrack as our president. I know for sure that Barrack Obama would not let his people down and will not fail to lead us to a glorious eight years.

Am I inspired to be a Journalist?

I love the fact that Journalist can get out there and seek out the truth to any stories they are presented with. To be honest, I'm a terrible writer. If most of you guys have not noticed yet. My grammar is horrific. Still I am enrolled in a Journalism course, why? I'll tell you the reason why. My dreams is to get into a college that major only art. I really want to become a graphic designer. I know this has nothing to do with journalism. I beg you not! Believe it or not! I feel that journalism is very artistic in it's own unique way.
Most people that joined this course must be excellent writers, right? WRONG! You don't have to right well to be a reporter. I learned that when I was in a workshop with some of the officers in our headquarter. The speaker said that there are many job titles out there, like photographer, interviewer....umm thats all I can think of at the moment. Anyways, I'm trying to say that I was inspired to be a journalist because I want to learn how to seek out the truth. Enough B.S. you see on t.v. or read in the newspaper. I don't need to write well to play a part in a paper. OMG! My brain is so scattered! LOL, I bet you guys are thinking "WTH!" is Minh writing right? Well, to answer your question. I am practicing my free writing skills. It's something I read in a book.
Back to the story. Journalism might not be my first choice to major in college. However I am willing to learn more about it. So people am I inspired to be a JOURNALIST?

The Reporter's Traning 101

3. We will be using a site called http://www.newsu.org/ to train you on Journalism as a profession. First, you need to create an account using your gmail account. You will not need to pay anything or give them any personal information. After you have registered, sign up for the Be the Reporter Game. After you have played the game, write a blog about what you see as the most important purpose for news reporting. What do you think is the main motivating factor in the mainstream media? Do you agree or disagree with that? In your opinion, what do you think should be the most important factor for reporting about news? Blog about it.

Wow, this website is amazing! I never thought that it was so hand's on. The features that I like about this training course would be the attention you get from the "game" itself. It feels like a game but its really a better way to understand the situation that a reporter goes through. The game really stress on the fact the we as true journalist must be the right information and truth. If you don't get the correct info. There is high possibility of you taking on a liability lawsuit. I really enjoy when you get the right data back to the headquarter. Because you get a good job from the boss, but when you get the wrong one she'll kill you. Its funny on how she got so pissed ahhaah...

I think that mainstream media is very important. They reason why is because we can send out so much info. throughout the world within a blink of an eye. Sometimes its helpful to us. However we must see if these tips are true. We can't stand to broadcast something that is bogus. That would go against our mission.

Polls of the safety around our neighborhood.

Question:

Do you guys feel safe in your school campus?
Safe
Somewhat Safe
Unsafe
Very Unsafe
What makes you feel uneasy around your neighborhood?
Yes
No
Has there been any violence activities around the area in which you live?
Yes (Gun wars)
No
What are your concerns about this?
More police Less Police
More After school activities
Less after school activities

After asking these questions to random students in our school campus. I discovered that some of the students come from rough neighborhoods. I can relate to this because, I live near the projects of Sunnydale. Some of my friends had witness many violence activities relating with guns. Not to long ago, there was a gun war killing two innocent victims. They were two African American young men, from the age of 17 to 18. I asked them "So what would you like to see differently" Their responses were brief, "All we really need is more things to do after school." This was a common answer throughout my interview with different students. They don't want to see police officers. Its good to have more of the officers around, but they rather have more activities to do after school.
I realized that the crimes that has been happening are related with teenagers ranging from he age of 13 and up. It makes sense to have more programs for them to do, instead of rolling down dangerous streets.

My Place in Government

Hello journal, I just recently took a quiz in where I stand in the political map.

Here are my results.

It was a bit of a shock to see that I am in the middle of it. 

Week 6: My Vision Shattered, Lets PICK up the pieces again! Shall we?

During the election I was very nervous because it was my third time running for student office. Everyone had such great speeches. I think that Leonel Sa. would make a great VP. When I see Kevin Dang as president I kinda wonder if he can be serious or not. I feel he joke and play around to much. But, there's moments that I felt that he can overcome that can be serious. When the result came, I was shock to know that I didn't get the position. I was so heart broken because I worked so hard. So many people were also disappointed that I didn't get it. In a way I felt that I kind of disappointed them. After everything I was given a choice to become the school's Public Affairs Officer. This was a great chance for me to redeem myself. Beside public affairs is all I really do anyways. I hope to continue my positive energy to people that needs it, and I will not give up trying. Lets pick up the pieces again shall we?

Below is a copy of my speech, read it and tell me what you think?

Welcome Burtonians,

My name is Minh Tran; I'm a senior for those who don't know me personally. First and foremost, I would like to thank you all for coming here and supporting me. You guys might have noticed that I am running for the position as president of student government. The reason why I am doing this is to benefit you guys and our school community. I am also doing this because I care, and I actually want to see positive change within our school campus.

Last year, I was one of the devoted candidates that ran for Junior class President. I ran against Danice Delos Santos, and we both had great ideas and opinions on how we should govern our school. The campaign left me with many great memories and experiences that I learned from, and I can apply these ideas to this new year, although I lost to a great leader and friend.

I stand here once again before you all: The Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and my fellow seniors. As I am hoping to win as ASB President, I know you guys will not be disappointed if I win, since I am a dedicated leader who never gives up and never loses focus. I think that you would want a leader who does not give up, right? I am that person, and I will not let you down. I am one of those consistant people who keeps going until I achieve success.

I have been with ASB for the past three years, showing my admiration for our school since I was a freshman. I have experiences in making difficult decisions with school affiliations, such as homecoming, boatdance, food fests, rallies, and most school activities. How many of you guys went to last years homecoming? From what I have heard, that was one of the best homecomings Burton has ever hosted. I was part of a fantastic team of planners and event coordinators, lead by the members of ASB. In fact, because I contribute so many useful ideas, the name "Puma Night Club" that I thought of last year for our homecoming, is the name that Burton will always carry on as a school tradition.

If elected president of our school, I will not fail Burton and I promise to do whatever it takes to make our school a better place to learn and socialize. As president of the school, I want to provide a better way of communicating throughout campus. Journalism is the perfect example of that proposal. Last year journalism was going to be canceled, but I fought to keep the program alive; and now, we are changing directions for the best of our school. We are getting rid of the actual paper, and publishing it online so that everyone can access information conveniently within seconds. Also, Clubs are one of our best after school activitities that need to be acknowledged. Most of these clubs are limited on funding; However, I plan to do more fundraising events that can contribute a decent amount of money to support these evergrowing clubs. This also falls under the four, different class budgets. I plan to invest in the freshmen and sophomore classes, since you are what is going to keep our school motivated. Meanwhile, I want to give the seniors something they can remember when they graduate. We, as the body of the school, need to work together in spreading school pride and self determination of what we want to do after high school.

I ask you to vote for ME, Minh Tran, as your President of not only student government, but also our school community. Please don't hesitate to come to me and express your ideas and concerns on how we can all change the school, since I am willing to listen and can easily be approached.

Thank you, once again, and remember: If you vote for Minh, you will WIN!

DON'T VOTE! UNLESS YOU WANT TO.

Dear Mr President.

Dear Mr President.

My name is Minh Tran. I'm a senior at Phillip and Burton High school. First and foremost I would like to congratulate you on winning the November election. I am hoping that you would take a closer look in the education system. I will be leaving high school this year as I prepare myself to go to college. During your campaign you mention a lot about improving the education system that will help student like myself to get better loans with low rates. How would you do this? And when can we start seeing the results? I don't want to see another Bush effect. I feel that the economy is going so slow. People are not spending as much. We are scared that more and more banks will go out of business and jobs being shipped over sea. How will you change this from becoming worse? Will you have a plan to create more jobs for the jobless? MediCARE is a huge topic that I held dear. I was an immigrant and I lived of of MediCare. Many of Americans does not have insurance. People are dying and babies are getting sick. What would you do to improve the system?

I thank you and hope that you make change.

Yours Truly

Minh Tran

Assignments for Week 5

1. Read each others' Letters to the Next President and provide comments and editing notes. You should see the shared documents in your google docs folder (and an email notification if the writer chose to send an alert). Use the editing tools and especially the commentary tool to provide feedback on the content, grammar, and clarity of the letter. Make suggestions using the comment bubbles. The writer and myself should be able to see the readers' comments and editing immediately.

2. Check out other school-based news websites. Use this form to review what you like/disliked about these sites.

3. Identify a school or community event, issue or story for your first article. Brainstorm what you already know, ask yourself what questions you still have, do some research and then come up with a key question. Then, plan out where you need to gather information and interviews.

________________WORK HERE! SEE BELOW______________

1. The Lowell website was good but there was way to much text, maybe more images would be great.

2. Washington Webpage is nice yet a bit bland.

3. The Lincoln Log seemed a bit boring. Its to bland

I live in a community that is lacking lots of motivation. I go to a school that lacks acknowledgements. As a community there are many issue that need to be dealt with such as gang related violence. Almost every other month at least one person is shot or killed near were I live. However we can try to attempt to solve this problem? After going online and doing a bit of research myself, I found out that there are many programs that help teach young children about the danger of violence. The key answer to these problems is to teach the young people that its not okay to harm someone else, also its never good to try any type of drugs. Because in the long run it will hurt yourself and the people around you. I plan to spread the word about these programs that is being provided in the YMCA learning center. Its always best to know these things at a young age.

First Amendment Mean To You? Assignment #4.

1. Blog post  - What does the First Amendment mean to you? How does it affect your life?

We live in such a free country. Many people would die to just come here. I come from a Vietnamese family. We were immigrants. Every day when I wake up I always mention to myself that I am very fortunate to have a chance to live here. The First Amendment mean freedom, freedom of speech, the right to vote, assemble and the right to protest. These are one of the many options that I have, compared to families or teens like myself in other countries, ruled by Communism. I stand here as a American. Even though I am not old enough to vote. Yet I still try to excise my first amendment by joining the student Gov. and Journalism. We still try to keep the principle of these rights when we govern ourself as a group or  a club. 

Macy's Passport 2008

I just now got home. Today was a long and enjoyable event. I went to the Macy's Fashion Show it was amazing! I loved it! Way to tired to write. So yeah here's a video enjoy.

Saturation Report

Individual assignments:
1. Saturation Report - Go to a location on campus or near the school and observe the location, people and dialogue, body language and the mood of the place. Take very good notes and write up a report on the place, group, or activity. Focus on information and facts rather than feelings and opinions about your subject.

During Sept. 13. 2008 I took part of an annually Mid-Autumn Festival or also know in asian term The Moon Festival. It was a great experience to be in. I was one of the officers that helped set up the event. It was made mostly for the enjoyment of the children that was taking classes there on the weekend. I saw so many games and kids eating cotton candy. I felt as if I was 10 years old myself. The festival started from 10AM and ended around 12AM. I think its a great thing that Vietnamese people are sticking true to their roots. The music and dancing was amazing! Danny and his company was GREAT! MORE THAN GREAT! 

The mood of the place seem to be enjoyable. The news said it might be cloudy.  The sky was so blue and not even a single raindrop appeared. 

Freewrite - Stress is slowly kicking in!

Wow, its been the third week of school already. Being a senior has not kicked in yet, but the stress is slowly creeping in my life once again. This year I am planing to run for ASB (Student Government) as president. I hope that I can actually win this time. Its not the winning part that make me want to run. Its the changes that I want to see. Or maybe just the spirit of a good competition has something to do with it. I already have so much in mind of what I can do for this school. But, what makes me so frustrated is that fact that its mostly about who's the most popular in class. I'm not saying that I'm not, haahah. But, still its true. There's really nothing much I can do about that but try my hardiest. I feel that I'm more responsible this year. I'm trying to fix my mistakes as soon as possible. I'm really excited to see what the new journalism office will look like with a fresh coat of new paint. Even though we re-designed it so many times. I have high hopes for the Journalism Team. I'm still working on the webpage design so we can start posting our articles.

I'm so excited for the Macy's Passport. Last year most of my friends went, cuss they were seniors....grr...I have always been thinking about majoring in fashion design lately maybe we'll see if the fashion show would inspire me. Well I know I want to do something in the arts thats for sure.
I wonder how my friends are doing in college? O well. I'll blog again next time. GTG back to doing Ms. Savin's homework. Man Hamlet is so hard to read!!!! =(

Week 3- Unfinished. "Minh start on it soon!"

This week, we are going to concentrate on learning to use the flash audio recording devices as well as using google docs to share and peer edit our articles for blogging. For the audio recording training, we will focus on student opinions about the Presidential campaign. As for blogging, I would like us to branch out to topics and events that are local to our school or community. We are going to try to tap into the 'buzz' on campus and write original stories about real news. In order to focus this effort, we need to begin narrowing our target reader/audience and use the appropriate language and approach to relate to them.

Individual assignments:
1. Saturation Report - Go to a location on campus or near the school and observe the location, people and dialogue, body language and the mood of the place. Take very good notes and write up a report on the place, group, or activity. Focus on information and facts rather than feelings and opinions about your subject.

2. We are going to use Google Docs to read and provide feedback and editing before we attempt to post the articles to the public. Upload a copy of your blog post as a Word file and share it with everyone in this class. After you have selected your file, click the 'Share' button on the upper right of the window and add everyone in this class as 'collaborators' for this document.

3. Begin searching websites for ideas for your Letter to the Next President. You can save your documents with Google Docs. Go to the National Writing Project website for step-by-step instructions for how the whole process will work:

Assignment: Week Two

For this week, you will have 2 individual assignments. You will have until Sunday September 7th to complete them both.
1. Scout the internet for news stories of interest. As you read through them, choose 2 of the stories and write comments in response to them. You will find the option at the end of the article, and some of the sites may require you to create a user account. That should be no problem. All you need to give them is an active e-mail address that you need to check and confirm the registration. Before you post the comment, send me a copy of the comment plus the URL for where I might find the article.
2. We are participating in a program called Letters to the Next President. With your google account, you will be able to access google docs account and learn about the presidential campaign and other political issues. We will be following the Republican Convention and the media that surround it. We will also keep an eye on Barak Obama's campaign. Eventually, you will write a persuasive letter to the next President of the United States about issues that you argue should be prioritized and why.
3. Business as usual. Write and publish another article about a current event. Gather information from multiple sources. If you are using the print or web-based media, notice that published stories are recycled and come from a handful of sources. Again, site your sources and show the URL of anything you refer to. As you write more, try to find stories outside of the popular and mainstream media

Hurricane Gustav Hits Cuba



Within these few weeks hurricanes are slowly coming back to New Orleans, Cuba and states that are within it's path. I find it SAD and somewhat intimidating that these natural weathers can simply take a family out of their home within a blink on an eye. The victims of the natural attacks are now left homeless. Some still have their houses but, the damage that the storm/hurricane did was to overwhelming. Above you'll see a small clip of Hurricane Gustav. One of the many hurricanes that had devastated people from their homes. The news tend to cover Gustav more because they said that it could be the next Katrina.

COMMENTS:

"These poor people. First they were hit with Katrina, and now they have to go through it again? They barely had time to rebuild their homes. Seeing the faces on your pictures really saddens me. We need to help people within our country first before anywhere else."-Minh Tran
-The New York Times.

"This saddens me to see children without a home."
-SFgate

My Local News

Journalism
Assignment One – In the profiles section of your Blogger account, tell a little about yourself. In the Dashboard panel, select Edit Profile, and follow the fields as you scroll down. Remember to not include any personal contact information such as address or phone numbers.

Assignment Two – Write and publish your first Post. Click New Post in your Dashboard. This will open up the window for creating a blog post. You can also edit and delete any of your postings afterwards. Besides writing text, you can use the tools in the top row of the posting window. It should look familiar to your Microsoft Word editing panel. You can also upload images and video if you wish.
The first assignment is to write about a current news event or something that you think should be brought to a discussion. If you are referring to a previously published article, include the URL link in your text.
The next step is to help each other edit and then comment on each other's blogs.
Looking forward to checking out your first Post!

Well, lets see. Since Summer went by so quick and the fact that I been working for the past 2 months. I have not notice many major local news around my community. Besides the overpopulated 2009 Presidential elections. I been keeping a close eye on the campaign. Even though I am not at the ripe age of 18. I have a feeling of who I would like to vote for. I noticed that the Summer Olympic Games has been going on. I missed the grand opening and closing event. What a loser right? Well, not really I am boycotting the games in China. Because, of all the unrightfully rules against their people. Not just that I think that China is also cheating in some of the games by lying about their performers.

Enough of me. I would like to talk about schools that are undergoing renovations. Most school in SF are not getting a piece of the SFUSD budget of fixing up school campuses.

Hello Minh,

Welcome to your bolg account. This is used only for journalism blogging experiences and assignments. Further information will be notified by Mr. Chow.