Magazine Reflection

Throughout the process of writing and rewriting my article for the ampersand magazine I learned how important it was to do an in depth and precise look at each sentence for any piece of writing. For example I read through my article sentence by sentence and looked for specific mistakes such as how to use nouns and verbs effectively, making your writing a concert, not a pancakes, and also avoiding sledgehammer words.
In my opinion my first draft was too similar to my original photo essay. What I decided to do, while still in the process of perfecting my article, was to shorten my photo essay and go more in depth on some of the subjects I discussed. Some of the many issues I had when developing my final piece of writing was having everything connect. For example, I was trying to state specific things that did not change such as the emblem on the Naval Training Center Comman Center (NTCCC), but I had not mentioned anything similar to this in the thesis or introduction for that matter. And besides that the major factor why I believe my article was at a high quality piece of writing was because the fact we went over our articles sentence by sentence almost everyday and continued to improve on them constantly.

In this reflection, you can cover (but are not required to do all of):

* Writing

* Editing

* Drafting & Revision

* Layout & Design

* Photography

* Creativity & Originality

* The printing & publishing process & industry

* Your own thoughts about your path beyond 11th grade (and beyond HTHMA... that's what internship is about, right?)

* American society

* The American economy

* History & social studies

* And much much more!!!!

What did you learn?

How did you learn it?

Why is this important?

This should be posted as a blog entry by the end of the school day on Monday 6/1

Obama and Socialism

Some of the articles that I got when I searched "Obama Socialism" on google were mainly about the controversy of Obama being a Socialist. I got similar results when I searched Obama Socialism in google news, Steele urged to label Obama a Socialist, an article I read was about the same controversy. Why Obama's socialism matters gives reasonable evidence why he could be considered a socialist in the past, but I believe that a large majority of his polocies and proposals can not be classified as socialist. Most of his proposals and policies also can beclassified as a precedent act, since he is the president of the United States.

Photo Essay

1. NTC (Naval Training Camp) was initially a boot camp for Navy recruits. It was built in the 1940’s and not till recently the buildings have been refurbished. The area is known for its historic landmarks and the event venues, owned by NTC Promenade, that were previously the buildings used for the Naval Training Camp. Special events are planned and held at many of the buildings, and more buildings are currently being refurbished because most of the historic buildings
2. The NTCCC (Naval Training Camp Command Center) is on of the most historic buildings located at NTC Promenade in my opinion because of its features and former use. Well the name says it all, it was used as a command center for the Naval Training Camp, most meetings were held there and meetings are still held there today. Inside of the building there is many different displays that talk about what the building was originally for and some of the items on display were things used by the Navy recruits. The logo outside is especially important because it is the only feature of the building that has not been refurbished, it is the original logo.

3. Quarters A was first used as a house for high ranking officers in the Navy, but has been changed into one of the office locations for the NTC Promenade staff. There is similar displays in this building that are similar to the displays in The NTC Command Center, most of them being maps, pictures and paintings, and some being of no historic value such as brochures or handouts. This gives you an idea how much NTC has really changed into something new. I also believe that the view San Diego from Quarters A shows a lot of change because the city was probably not as big 70 years ago.

4. NTC Promenade is full of historic landmarks, many of which I haven’t learned about. This statue still stands, but seems to be falling apart, but has probably been there for over 50 years. The small monuments around NTC Promenade caught my attention because it shows how dedicated the people are who are working for the NTC Foundation are in safekeeping the landmarks and monuments at NTC Promenade.

5. It has been a pleasure interning here and not only because of the healthy working environment, but I can sometimes stop to admire some of the historical landmarks and monuments around NTC Promenade and inside the office.

What I'm Bringing to the Magazine

1. What article(s) would you like to write for the magazine? What photography could you contribute? Art? List three different ideas for your major contribution. I'm not much of a photographer or an artist so I would like to write an article either about my personal internship experience, or how going to internship differs from immersion, and I could possibly write about social networking.

2. Suggest at least one (or more) possible title for the magazine. This could be a title with or without a subtitle. For example, I work for UnBoxed: a Journal of Adult Learning in Schools. HTHMA: Internship experience

3. Suggest a topic for an article that you were personally like to read in a magazine inspired by the internship semester. I would want to read something with humor incorporated into it.

Internship Immersion

Profit is not a very big deal at NTC promenade because it is a o=nonprofit and the money they make mostly goes to renovating their buildings. Socail wefare is supported at NTC promenade, they help plan events such as job fairs and other public events. Advertising is a major portion of the company because NTC is very well known. Promotion is also key for the company to function well. The market is not very important because they do not sell merchandise or anything along those lines. Politics has been important recently because they have had to ask for stimulus money according to Local Group Hopes Stimulus Will Help Project.

Immersion!!

1. I am most excited about completing the photo essay. I am not really sure what I'm going to do for the photo essay and I have no experience in photography but it will be interesting to try and tell my internship story through the photo essay. I already have some ideas for pictures, for example my desk has a really nice view of the city and I was planning on getting abstract photo's by taking pictures of things from an odd view/perspective.

2. Having to be at my internship site for 7 hours will be pretty stressful. I will be able to get a lot done in that amount of time, but I think there will be times when I will have nothing to do. One other thing that I've been worried about is using social networking sites that I have no experience on. My mentor wants me to eventually use Twitter, Ning, and other sites to increase the organizations Internet presence.

Outstanding Blogz

1. Economic advice to Barack Obama?
Jacob Harris's blog has a very good example of economic advice to Barack Obama. He decided to focus on more than one idea rather than just one. I was never confused or was wondering what his advice was, it was very clear and straight to the point. For example his first piece of advice was: "Give every major financial companies CEO/CFO/COO a government employed watcher, so as to prevent any mishaps such as Thorpe's renovation of his Merrill Lynch office. Who pays ~$1400 on a trash can? It's still going to fill up with trash."

2. Literary Analysis?

Ana Forsythe's honors blog she wrote about The Alchemist, she was very descirptive and used very good examples from the book to support what she thought was the theme. She explained how allegory was key in "tying this book together." Allegory is simply the representation of abstract ideas or principles. Her example was as follows: "The wise man tells Santiago to carry a spoon full of oil without spilling it, and look through his house full of treasures, paintings, and marvels of the world. The first time, Santiago was focused so intently on keeping the oil on the spoon, that he didn't notice any of the paintings or treasures. After he was told to look at the walls, he forgot all about the oil and let it all spill to the ground."

3. Historical Writing?

Will had an outstanding example of the relevance of FDR's first inaugural address in modern America. He expressed how speaches are only intended to raise confidence in listeners where otherwise there would be only despair. He then goes on to say FDR's first inaugural address, under closer inspection these uplifting words are revealed to be meaningless." I disagreed with him completely until i read on. Will stated "You will be convinced of this by examining the purpose of speeches and their inherent un-trustability." His view was completely different than mine and opened a new perspective for me.

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin!

As humanities students (and humans), what responsibility do we have for the understanding of science?

I believe people can choose to learn about science if they would like to or not, but curiosity is in human nature and that is what has drove scientists for all these years.

What role should scientific inquiry and scientific knowledge play in our own society?

Science can be used to make inventions to make our lives easier.For example, cell phones make communication much easier.

How should science influence our decisions, laws, and culture?

I think our culture is very influenced by science. Science is used in peoples everyday life.

If I Were obama's Economic Advisor

Part Two:

As the economic crisis gets worse regulation is something we need to consider along with a better stimulus package. Obama even depicted the current economic crisis is a consequences of deregulation, and he is not the only one. Michigan's Phil Hart, held hearings on the concentration of economic power in the United States, and proposed expanded government regulation of everything from the oil and auto industries to sports. In my opinion this is exactly what we need to do.

Ever since the 1960's when the rush for deregulation began problems have been starting ever since. Take the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act for example, it destroyed the CAB and removed most regulation of commercial airlines. Deregulation of the telecommunications industry reduced the number of major phone service providers. There is many more incidents that we should take into consideration when deciding how to solve our economic crisis.

Aside the point of regulation, the reason why our current bailout is not stimulating the economy is because how the money is being spent. A spokesman for JPMorgan Chase said, "We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it." While other banks said they simply didn't know where the money was going according to Matt Apuzzo. The next stimuli's plan must be spent more wisely and we need to know where the money is going. Instead of giving the money to banks and other companies I believe we need to use the stimulus plan to fix another problem all together, unemployment.

According to the chart above unemployment has been a rising issue. With the stimulus package we should create jobs that will decrease the unemployment rate immensely. This will also increase consumerism which will help stabalize the economy as well. When unemployment rates it has been shown to produce spending cutbacks and that alone can hurt the economy according to John Kemp.

All this may not be able to get down quickly or may not help the economy very quickly but over time it would. This plan may also prevent future economic proublems from being as severe because there would be less unemployment.


Citations:

• Ridgeway, James, and unenforcement.. "It's the Deregulation, Stupid." MotherJones.com Home - Daily News, Political Commentary and Analysis. 11 Feb. 2009

• Kemp, John. "The Great Debate » Debate Archive » Rising unemployment gravest threat to U.S. and UK The Great Debate ." Reuters US Blogs Blogs . 11 Feb. 2009

• " Chart: Unemployment rate in U.S. since January 2008." Reliable Plant Magazine and Lean Manufacturing Journal. 12 Feb. 2009 .

• Apuzzo, Matt. " CNSNews.com - Where Did the Bailout Money Go? Banks Can’t, or Won’t, Say." CNSNews.com. 12 Feb. 2009 .

If I were Obama's Economics Advisor...

Part One:

As the economic crisis gets worse regulation is something we need to consider. Obama even depicted the current economic crisis is a consequences of deregulation, and he is not the only one. Michigan's Phil Hart, held hearings on the concentration of economic power in the United States, and proposed expanded government regulation of everything from the oil and auto industries to sports. In my opinion this is exatly what we need to do.

ever since the 1960's when the rush for deregulation began problems have been starting ever sicne. Take the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act for example, it destroyed the CAB and removed most regulation of commercial airlines. Deregulation of the telecommunications industry reduced the number of major phone service providers. There is many more incidents that we should take into consideration when deciding how to solve our economic crisis.

Part Two:

My mentor interview is scheduled for this upcoming Tuesday during internship and they have recording equipment that we can use for the interview.