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.
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.
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.
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!!!! =(
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:
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
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 everyone, my name is Minh Tran. At the age of 18, I am now a Senior at Phillip H.S. I was originally from Vietnam. I came here when I was about 6 years old. I love photography, graphic designs and web designing. In the future I plan to own a Photography and Imagery (Advertising) Agency.
Growing up in a family that values education, more than gold. I learned how to use my unique talent to help others. For the past years, I had joined many leadership organizations outside of school to better myself and my leading skills.
I am looking forward in helping and guiding people to where I can put my skills of Arts New Media to use. I have always been passionate in designing and retouching. Especially, taking wonderful images. Even, though graphics and photography are my true talents. Here are some of the many skills that I possess.
Talking and being very friendly to people. (Communication Skills)
Good at negotiating.
The ability to adapt to my surroundings.
Managing time & well organized.
Very outgoing and not shy.
