Newspaper Reflection and MSB Ideas

I learned the importance of sharing information.

I've always known that sharing information with team members was an important part to group work, but I had never really thought much of haring information with class-mates. While working on my article, I often found myself going over to other class-mates, asking about the research they had done.

Even after the project was over, I would still ask people about their topics and what all they have learned about American history. I never liked asking people about their projects before, but now I realize that it is a good thing. This way I can gather information and sources from people that are studying the same or similar subjects as me.

MSB Interview Ideas

1) San Diego River Park Foundation

http://www.sandiegoriver.org/

I don't know much about this organization, but I have heard from multiple people that it is a reliable source dedicated to the conservation of our water's natural beauty. Plus, the it also wants to educate people on the poor water quality in the San Diego area.

2) Coast Keeper

http://www.sdbaykeeper.org/

Coast Keeper is dedicated to nothing but the conservation of our beaches and bays. The fact alone that we are already working with Coast Keeper is reason enough to interview someone from the organization, but I think that its work with the public is also a great reason to interview them.

3) Surfrider Foundation

http://www.surfrider.org/

I think that interviewing somebody from Surfrider would be a good idea. I know that High Tech High often works with Surfrider Foundation plus they are a well known group in San Diego known for protecting water quality. They are definitely both a reliable source.

US Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/ow/

The US Environmental Protection Agency is a government run agency dedicated to the protection of all things environmental, including the water. I think that somebody from the EPA would be perfect to interview since their entire job is dedicated to protecting the environment.

Council-member President Kevin Faulconer
http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/cd2/

Kevin Faulconer is a local council man dedicated to the cleanliness of our coast. As president of the city council, he would be a perfect person to interview about the state's water quality.

Donna Frye

http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/cd6/

Donna Frye is a very high up member of city council. If anybody would have answers about our city's water quality, she would. She would be another great source to interview.

William McKinley for President

1896, in the small town of Canton Ohio, Governor William McKinley continues on the path to becoming the 25^th president of the United States of America.

William McKinley, humble governor from the north. Having worked for years as a member of congress, Governor McKinley understands the inner workings of our government. He has voted on bills that have impacted our country for the better and he knows the members of congress.

“I have never been in doubt since I was old enough to think intelligently that I would someday be made president…” The governor said once, discussing his place in the race for presidency. He and several others are nothing less than pleased with his place in the political race.

Governor McKinley’s influence on international issues are without a doubt positive. McKinley has strong views on Cuban government and wants to show the Cubans that we are friends, not enemies. With McKinley’s help, Cuba can be a free, independent country that will help us in our times of need.

McKinley has promised to employ both white and black men. He believes in a new America, one without segregation or racism. Also, he has started planning ways to find new jobs for people who were left unemployed by the depression we began to suffer from just three years ago.

William McKinley is without a doubt the right choice for president of these United States. He is a strong spoken man with a plan and he can be trusted to pull us out of this depression. With McKinley by or side, we will become one of the strongest countries in the world.

1) "William McKinley quotes." Find the famous quotes you need, ThinkExist.com Quotations. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. .

2) "American President: William McKinley: A Life in Brief." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Web. 20 Oct. 2009.

3) "American President: William McKinley: Campaigns and Elections." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Web. 20 Oct. 2009.

4) "American President: William McKinley: Domestic Affairs." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Web. 20 Oct. 2009.

MSB Comments/Ideas/Critiques and More!!!

Shanna McCue

From Shanna's blog, I thought it was interesting that she had three very different subtopics to her original question. I think it is a smart idea to have three main topics to work off of that are so different. That way she can follow an exact timeline and keep her audience interested.

http://somethingthatshannawrote.blogspot.com/

Audrey Le

From Audrey's blog, I thought she asked a good question when she asked, "What are the helping organisms and hurting organisms?" I never really thought to ask about which organisms from the water might actually help us. I have been paying attention to nothing but the bad parts of the water. I think that now I might want to pay attention to some helpful parts of the water.

http://hthmaadle.blogspot.com/

Kyle Bray

From Kyle's blog, I thought it was interesting that he said, "What kinds of pollution are most common during these times?" It made me think about what might have been the main cause of pollution in the past. If we could find out what the main cause of pollution was in the past as compared to pollution now and the water quality from then and now, maybe we could find out how to solve some of our pollution problems.

http://kylebrayhumanities.blogspot.com/

Media Saves Mission Bay, Part Five

A documentary video that addresses the question: How common is it for people to get infections from Mission Bay?

I like the film "The Plastic Gyre". Even though it's studen

t work, I think that it is a great example of a short documentary.

-The script is very well written and well thought out. I want to work on re-writing and revising my script as many times as possible so that I can have a film that people can easily understand and learn from.

-The film work was well planned. Each scene looked like it had been story-boarded and planned out ahead of time. They never just took a camera and started to film something random, they planned out each scene which is what I want to do. That way I can have a well produced film.

-The statistics and facts are incredibly helpful. They don't over-power the entire film, but there are enough facts to show evidence behind what the film-maker was talking about. I want to make sure that I can find a good amount of important and relevant facts. That way there will be evidence behind my film and people will find it of interest.

A photo essay that addresses the question: How common is it for people to get infections from Mission Bay?

-Well angled. All of the important aspects of the picture are included, (sewage pipe, sewage in the water, sewage pipe coming out of the cliff etc.) I want to take a good picture that includes all important aspects of the scene like this one does.

-Lighting. The lighting is just right in this picture, it's not too bright or too dark, causing the picture to lose color. I want to take a picture that shows off all of the color like this one does, (the green sewage is very important).

-Well planned. This was obviously not the "first draft". This picture looks like it had probably been taken multiple times until it came out just right. I want to draft and revise my pictures the same way, so that I may have the highest quality product I possibly can.

Media Saves Mission Bay, Part Four

-How common is it for people to get infections from Mission Bay?

-What could be a possible cause of infection, (from the bay)?

-How dirty is Mission Bay compared to other bodies of water in San Diego?

-What other illnesses have people gotten from Mission Bay?

This is a pie chart explaining the different types and percentages of contamination in Mission Bay. The majority of the contamination comes from birds, but there is still a large percentage that comes from other sources as well. This can help give an idea as to what type of bacteria might be in the water and where it came from etc.

This is a picture of my
friend's knee. She rows on Mission Bay daily and she ended up contracting a staff infection called MRSA. MRSA is more than a simple infection, had the infection spread into the joints of her knees she wouldn't be able to walk again. Several of my friends have contracted this infection, but the girl in the picture to the right was affected the worse. The infection spread to multiple parts of her body since it got into her blood stream. She and my other friends who got MRSA are the reasons why I want to study what infections could be in Mission Bay now.

This is a chart showing how many people have both gotten and died from MRSA, (it can be lethal if left untreated). This graph is not specific to Mission Bay, but it does help give a general idea of how serious MRSA can be, considering that the majority of the people who got it died.

Industrialization's and Coastal Environments

"One of the largest environmental cleanup projects in county history is languishing, with no clear start date for work that was proposed in 2005. Details on how to handle contaminated sediment in San Diego Bay — initially pegged at $96 million — remain buried in secret mediation talks. Those negotiations have dragged on for an unexpected 16 months, and that's on top of the three years it took for regional water regulators to prepare documents associated with the case. The main points of contention include defining the cleanup area, determining the acceptable level of pollutants and forming ways to monitor progress.A schedule issued Thursday by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board set Oct. 30 as the deadline for a revised cleanup proposal to be made public."

Back in the news again this week is the ongoing postponement of any effort to clean up the sediment contamination in San Diego Bay near the former Campbell Industries shipyard near the San Diego Convention Center. While the dumping of toxic wastes in the bay has occurred for decades, the public outcry and demand for removal has been in the news for more than 18 years. Yet somehow, the principal parties involved in the largest coastal cleanup in San Diego County have managed to stall any effort to remove the toxic sludge for more than four years past schedule.

It's really frustrating when our most effective local coastal watchdog organizations like San Diego Coastkeeper and the Environmental Health Coalition have to refuse to participate in mediation efforts because of the tactics and level of influence by the big industry polluters. Why is it the the Regional Water Board has developed a "reputation for inaction"? Who's interests are they protecting? Why are they covertly negotiating with the polluters? What plans are in order to begin the clean-up process? When will it finally begin?

The next time I read an article about this issue, I want to see an enforceable deadline, soon. I want to know the game plan where, when, how, who. Who is in charge, overseeing the clean-up. What will be the temporary impact during the project? How long will it take? Who is paying for it? Most important, what policies are now in place to prevent this from happening again in our local water ever again.

Click to read the rest of the article.

1984, Honors Writing

Many stories include a conflict between one’s social environment, and one’s personal belief. There is no story that deals with this issue more so than “1984”. The radical hero Walter believed in a free world, where he could express himself and the government didn’t watch his every move. The government on the other hand felt quite differently.

In “1984” there were two main “groups”, the government and everyone else. If you followed the laws without question and you felt there was nothing wrong with the way things were, you were the government. If you believed in free thought or disagreed with anything the government said, then you were everyone else. Walter wasn’t government. He was a free thinker who was trapped between the overbearing world of “Two Minutes of Hate” and book burning, and the world he dreamed of. A calm world where you could wake up when you wanted, marry who you wanted and didn’t have to worry about hiding from the TV monitor in your living room.

Walter joined a group dedicated to taking down “Big Brother” because he wanted a free world. He secretly began dating Julia, another radical like himself. He was married, though he hadn’t seen his wife in years, so dating Julia was forbidden. Together they plotted ways of destroying the government they were raised to believe in and they protested it anyway they could, without getting themselves killed.

Walter was raised in a society that hated things just because they were told to and had a complete lack of privacy. He remembered that things had once been different, that there was a time before Big Brother. These memories caused him to feel torn, torn between the world he wanted and the world he lived in. In comparison to the world he remembered, the world he lived in was like hell. He would do anything; even risk his own life, to change things back to the way they had been.

Walter’s life and opinions were influenced by these two worlds in a way that few can imagine. He wanted freedom, peace and justice, but what he had was the government telling him that two plus two was five and he had to believe that or they would kill him. He chose to fight the government and the government fought back. They stole him from his home and beat him until he believed everything they said.

Walter’s life and thoughts were not his own. The government owned everything of his, his home, his possessions even his life. This oppressive environment caused him to act in a way that many would fear to. He plotted, planned, and acted on taking the government down. In the end, the government won, but the institution still shaped who he was and the decisions he made. Whether he chanted “Down with Big Brother” in his sleep or thought “I love Big Brother” the government influenced his every breath, his every move, and his every action. In the end, he was Big Brother.

Media Saves Mission Bay, Part Three

-What types of infections can you get from Mission Bay?

Recently, a lot of my friends have been contracting a staff infection called "MRSA". All of my friends are from my rowing club, so we aren't quite sure whether they got this infection from the water or from the rowing club itself, so I would like to further research the water at Mission Bay so that I can find out what all my friends and I should be doing to protect ourselves from this infection. I will test the water at Mission Bay and I will ask the coaches from my club what other infections/illnesses had gone around the club before.

-How often do people get sicknesses/infections from Mission Bay?

As I mentioned before, many of my friends have gotten sick from Mission Bay, so I would like to know how common this is. By finding out how many people actually get sick compared to how many people at my club have gotten sick should help give me some information about how all of my friends got sick. Was it really from Mission Bay, or is there another source that caused this issue?

-How do bacteria/viruses survive in water?

It's not just Mission Bay that people get illnesses from, so I want to know how the bacteria/viruses survives in the water and for how long it can survive. Do certain bacteria survive longer in salt water compared to fresh? Do motorboats and jet-skis affect the survival rate of these viruses/bacteria?

Honors Writing One

The Civil War is considered by many to be “the Second Revolution” ¹. It’s considered to be this because it brought forth ideas that had never been fought for. The idea of ending slavery permanently hadn’t really been a great topic of debate before the Civil War. The word “revolution” is often thought of as “cool” because being a revolutionary is different and unique. The difference between this idea of revolution and a true revolution is action. The Civil War is considered to be a revolution because it put actions behind words, rather than just talking about what could be changed.

Calling the Civil War the second revolution is definitely a valuable idea, but not necessarily for the right reasons. The idea is positive because if a change hadn’t been made, slavery might still continue to this day, completely destroying several of our amendments and the statement “All men are created equal”³. However, depending on where you come from, revolution might have a different meaning. Many from the south believe to this day that the Civil War deprived them of their rights to own slaves ². Revolution to them meant and still means a fight for liberty, justice and the freedom to own slaves ¹. Having their slaves taken away from them was the same as having property taken from them, according to the constitution a slave was only a fourth of a person to begin with, so they didn’t, understand why the idea of having slaves was so wrong.

But really, no matter what people think revolution means, it cannot be questioned that the Civil War was one, and that the idea of the Civil War being a revolution is important to millions of people. It doesn’t matter what the exact definition of “revolution” is, because it will always mean different things to different people depending on where the live. But no matter who you are or where you come from, north or south, east or west, in the end revolution only has one meaning: “A sudden, complete or marked change in something”. Whether change took place in the constitution or in your own life, it doesn’t matter what changed, but that something happened. Ideas and opinions might have been changed and norms might have been altered, it doesn’t matter what happened, but as stated before, all that mattered is that something changed. But no matter if you believe that the Civil War shouldn’t have even happened because slavery was obviously wrong and would end naturally with time, or if you believe that the Civil War is still going on to this very day, it can be agreed that it made a difference, not only in law and government, but in how people relate to and act around each other.

Some people may never forgive or forget the fact that their ancestors had once been considered property in both the government’s and regular people’s eyes, and in all honesty they cannot be blamed for still being angry, they were horribly mistreated for hundreds of years. For this, they may never be able to fully connect with people of a different race or ethnicity as them. There are other though, who may never relate to someone who either disagrees with slavery or to someone who could have once been classified as “a slave”. To this day there are several people who believe that their rights had been taken away from them the day that slaves were legally considered to be people, real people, not property ².

So was this idea of a second revolution of value? Several believe so, but all people have different reasons for believing that title to have value. Some believe it was valuable because it freed the slaves, changed the constitution and created anti-slavery laws. Others believe that it was important because they are now allowed to live their own lives freely without the fear of someone taking them away from their home and family in order to make them their personal servant until the day one of them dies. And some call it invaluable because the constitution was changed in a way that “it shouldn’t have been”. That, as stated before, by taking away slaves it was taking away their god given rights as a human being, (property, which in actuality meant ownership of self, not of physical property). But no matter what the reason is or is thought to be, the Civil War if not by definition alone, was the extremely valuable second American Revolution.

¹ McPherson, James M. Some Thoughts of the Civil War as the Second Revolution. 1 Oct. 2009. Hayes Historical Journal. 30 Sep. 2009 http://www.rbhayes.org/​hayes/​content/​files/​ hayes_historical_journal/​somethoughts.htm

² Horwitz, Tony. Confederates in the Attic. New York City: Pantheon Books, 1998

³ Jefferson, Thomas. Declaration of Independence. 4 July 1995. ushistory.org. 30 Sep. 2009