Extra Extra (credit) READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Clean Up San Diego!
Some of your very own class mates got involved! You can too!

On November the 22nd local San Diegans joined together at Ocean Dog Beach to clean up the beach! This is an event held twice a month by the non profit organization Coast Keeper. The beach clean up changes in location all the way from Imperial Beach to La Jolla every time, and is held on the 2nd Saturday and 4th Saturday. The group also tests water sheds once a month with trained volunteers. Like our own High Tech High internship program Monica of coast keeper got involved with the program by doing an internship with them because it grasped her interest after college. Brian, a local surfer decided he wanted to be “pro active” in helping keep his hang out spots clean so he started volunteering twice a month. Two women from PETCO volunteer once a month because raises awareness and even if they only volunteer one time a year somebody else will see that and keep the cycle of volunteering going on.

Coast keeper also works with organizations such as Surf rider, and the I love a clean San Diego non profit Adopt a Beach Program and more. Some of our very own high tech high students have joined the crew for their internships! And you can too. If you want to get involved with Coast keeper or want to look at it for an internship next semester you can contact them at: 619-758-7743 or info@sdcoastkeeper.org or you can even check out their website ate www.sdcoastkeeper.org.

TG

What are you thankful for this year?
Im thankful to not have given up when it gets hard, even if i just half way do something now adays its always better than giving up completly. taking things one step at a time. I really feel like i have grown as a learner and a person this year.

Post three specific things that you will accomplish for this project before TG break is over! Then, bring those things to school on Monday Dec. 2.

I will have my editorial written. I will have it critiqued by a few of my family members and probably middleton. and i will contact other seal groups for pictures.

H20 project check in

What are you discovering so far?

So far i have discovered that i need to have 3 plans just in case one does work. I am having a hard time changing everything last minute and it has been a real challenge fixing every problem i run into with having to think on the spot. I believe i can do this though, with my group doing interviews i really dont have to do that so im going to try to get as much as i can from them because we dont really need 2 people to do similar interviews. Im also discovering how important it is to do the research for a project because each step i make i need to know the history and it is fun getting to know the history as i go on with this project.

What surprises you about this project?

What surprises me the most is how you can give a class one project and they can take it different ways. Its very interesting to see everybody come up with all of there creative ideas and it really challenges me to do my best because everybody is outshining me. So if i want my hard work recognized i have to make it have a WOW factor. which has been my challenge. But the most surprising thing is amount of work it takes to get to one product that sounds easy. Its not..


What are your next steps to have a cool product and a great piece of writing?

My next steps are to interview people on my own time about the la jolla controversy with seals. Not to get it on camera just to get quotes so that im not using all of my classmates hard work for my final product. Setting up an interview failed because the businesses didn't want to put out there opinions but if i asked the everyday people that go all the time or live around the area it would be a lot better and i could have really nice quotes for my article that way its not "ME ME ME" and my opinion. I need to get as much critiqued as possible and make sure i make the changes and not just get critiqued to make it look like i had a lot of drafts. One thing that sets my work different than other articles is that i am going to get CHILDREN'S opinions about the beaches because it is a location made for them so its important to see what they want. im sure they enjoy the seals there so lets all work on keeping it that way!

ARTICLE NOTES

Who has priority over La Jolla Childrens Pool, Seals or People? -local hthma student researches with group to get the facts on la jolla childrens pool.

by ashley matthews

NOTES PAGES

STUFF

http://www.lajollaseals.com/controversy.html

The breakwater wall was built upon a large rock shelf known since 1887 as Seal Rock and Seal Rock Point. First hand accounts by native La Jollan's indicate the presence of harbor seals in the area before and after construction of the wall.

The first is that the City of San Diego has failed, and even actually refused, to enforce Municipal Code Section 63.0102. (b) (10), which makes it “unlawful” for anyone “within any public . . . beach areas within the City of San Diego” to “disturb, or maltreat any bird or animal, either wild or domesticated . . . . “ It is a violation of the City’s own ordinance to harm the seals at Casa Beach.

The second claim is that the dredging of Casa Beach will violate California Code of Civil Procedure Section 526(a), which provides that a judgment may be sought “restraining and preventing any illegal expenditure of, waste of, or injury to, the estate, funds, or other property of a . . . city . . . .”

More stuff

http://www.aprl.org/seals.php

In May 2007, APRL sponsored a Zogby opinion poll to see where San Diegans stand on protecting the seals at Children's Pool Beach. The results: over 80% of San Diegans and 91% of La Jollans want increased protection for the seals

BLECH

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070516-0806-1mu16seals.html

The survey also shows that 80 percent of respondents want to have a year-round rope barrier to separate the seals from humans. Currently, the rope is up from Dec. 15 to May 15 – during the marine mammals' birthing and pupping season.

LAW

http://sealwatch.org/law.html

The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was enacted in 1972, and has been amended and updated since. The last comprehensive reauthorization of the law occurred in 1994 and expired in 1999. Since then, reauthorization efforts have stalled as some members of Congress have attempted to weaken these important federal protections. The law remains in effect.

honors

The Revolutionary war was fought for the revolution of the new American people who once belonged to Brittan. The civil war was between the people who once fought for the same revolution but now wanted different resolutions to how America was ran The connection between the two is actually easy to uncover each war wanted a revolution of some kind, one side with an advantage and another destined to lose.
England had the advantage of being an established country and military. America defeated them in the name of freedom, even though they would no longer be the "United States" When America began the civil war the north had the upper hand when it came to every resource except for the number of cotton produced and this was because of slavery. The unions population was 2.5 larger, they had railroads, and 10 times the industrial Capacity.
The south feared that the "Black Republicans" would rise and "undermine" the souths leaders and political powers over their superiors. While the North worried that slavery would be spread to the free states mostly in the North. Because of Industrialization the south started to fall apart because bringing the industrial world to the south wasn't successful. Neither was agriculture. The souths economy depended on slaves. The south needed its own revolution so that they could live like wanted to and be independent from the north. Just as America did from the British.
This war only not only had things in common but it almost was a part 2 of the revolutionary war because the people still weren't happy.

____________________________________________________________________

dear randy, i know i have not met your requirements and for that i take full responsibility i didn't work on this as much as i could have and for that i apologize. But don't give up on me sir, i will make you proud with my editorial...or at least i will try. -Ashley

p.s. this wasn't really late but my computer was freezing so then i finally got it to work and my mom didn't pay our cable bill so our internet got cut off uuuugh the economy sucks when your a poverty stricken black girl. ugh i hope you don't mark me down for this last paragraph being unprofessional. Please don't i just wanted to let you know, that i disappointed myself and i said i would try harder and i did but not my best.

"the black vote"

I personally believe the author of this article only commented on Blacks, women, and young people rather than other races is because he is black. Everyday he is black every day he is black so of course he will speak on what he believes. Orlando Patterson has written other articles about blacks in america and reading the other articles you can get an idea of who he is. Also only speaking of women and young people because Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin really got women involved and women have struggled in America so if Hilary would have won she would have made history for the women who fought for her to run just as well as obama had black people die for his right too. And Young people because Obama is rather young and his ethnicity draws the young people and the hip hop leaders to get involved in the election. So these were the focus of the campaigns so apparently this is the ending focus of the article.

Blacks in America had technically had the rights to vote but they were very much suppressed and given unrealistic challenges in order to vote. However when the civil rights movement happened people had had enough. The voting rights act was passed. This was to prevent suppression from happening, for many years people died in order for blacks to have the right to vote.

Up until now a lot of black people didnt use their rights to vote and from personal accounts it mostly has been because the lack of faith in the candidates. Not all of the black people voted for OBAMA there were many non-obama believers. But With every election there isnt an obvious guy to win it was always choosing better of two evils. Even though not everybody was for obama he wasnt perfect but he was something new to america as a leader. The black community had a POSTIVE black person to look up to. So it is a really good feeling knowing your vote is going towards somebody that gives you hope to make a positive change. it even was taken so far to have BET (black entertainment) network promote "OBAMA AND THE BLACK VOTE"

top secret plan #20

Well i am going to have one final product to model and that will be an article written about my research and interviews. Basically a quick analysis and conclusion about who has priority over the la jolla children's pool according to the locals. My interview will be a part of Diana's final product and her product will be a video. If we have extra time or work that needs to be done we will make bumper stickers. So i have a pretty clear idea of where this product is going. Along with my article i will have a picture of what i feels captures the essence of my message.

the most important aspect of my article will provide San Diego natives with a pool of information and not only give enlighten them but let them know how they can get there voices heard and involved in the seal dilemma. Giving them information without letting them know how to take action is useless. Another aspect would be the my picture the purpose of my picture would draw the readers in to read the article. and my final aspect is the interviews. will they will provide opinions and information useful for my article, the interest of the reader, and Diana's video.

My plans are pretty realistic the only thing i will probably get a set back on is the transportation with interviews and testing La Jolla Waters. I made my due dates extra early that way i can give my self time to edit and revise my work . It is in a really good order and it is a reachable goal. It will help guide my work because each step leads to a really good ending product. I have planned it so that I'm making little projects for myself and making it into one.
I'm really confident i can do this.

La Jolla Childrens Pool

Well my general question for the final product is going to be "who has priority to the beach? people or seals?" from there i will expand on the background information and the questions that come up along the way. I'm going to work in a group with Diana and Yoselin who will have there own research questions about the seals. This week i did networking research, looking into spots around the location so that i can interview local people. I will work on the video with Diana for my section but i will have most control over a writing piece under dianas video. so we will definatly need a camera and a microphone. We only need 2 or 3 people in our group which we already have. Diana has her resources for who she is networking with and i have contacted these people for a start for information:

Caitlin Denham
Communications Assistant
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego
Phone: (858) 534-3624
Email: cdenham@ucsd.edu
caitlin didnt have as much information as i had hoped for but i will still keep in contact with her to find out about any upcoming projects i need to know about she also led me to the next contact

Loran Wlodarski from Sea World Orlando's Education Department.
but i will most likely find somebody from sea world san diego.

Loran.Wlodarski@seaworld.com

I made a call to the zoo but they didnt respond.

In the area of childrens pool i really would like to talk to the people from moondoggies because
they have been there since 1990 and have seen changes and they havnt been there for generations though so they may have a fresher way of looking at things. but you will never know until you talk to them.

The workers at La Jolla Cove Suits may also have a grasp on their views on seals because they are located right on the coast of childrens pool and they probably have a lot of knowledge based on observations and probably petetioners near by.
Also i want to interview random people in the area to get a feel for whos against the seals being there and whoe against the humans trying to get back the beach.


My plan for the next 2 weeks is this:

nov. 7: write all of my interview questions & get more background information on what has been done in the past

wed-fri
nov 12: call places for phone interviews or schedule live interview for the 13th or 14th
nov 13: beach interviews to people in the area
nov 14: edit the video i have of the area while diana does her interviews with her organization

mon-fri
nov 17: Video edit my interviews once more
nov 18: have rough draft of my analysis of my information so far about who has the rights to the beach and why
nov 19: make revisions on my paper and get critiqued by other class mates
nov 20: get critiqued one more time and type up the final product
nov 21: help diana with the video editing or yoselin with her project

Change!

I feel great about the election. On election Night Ralph Nader questioned if OBAMA would be an "uncle tom." This angered me and i took it personally because of personal accounts of people accusing me of being "white washed" or trying to be white. I feel pride that somebody of my color can make it this far. I feel anger at the simple minded people of today and how many people i encountered that day treated me as a black Obama supporter.

My hopes for America are that Obama really proves that he can really make change, and proves Ralph wrong of even asking himself if Obama would basically be a sell out. I hope that this encourages young people to vote in the future. Also when Obama term(s) is(are) over we can know how to research on candidates and choose somebody who will not destroy his hard work. I hope Obama can change the school systems in America i think those need the most help because yes home is where you first learn everything but some homes are broken and we all need to have a good chance at education. I hope he can make living green more affordable because it will help our environment and fix the broken communities of America.

I am worried that change wont come as fast as people expect it and will get impatient and down Obama. I am not concerned about too much though I'm pretty happy Obama won.

I feel like being in this class i have gained a new hunger for knowledge about my current events. I am really excited that i can easily identify connections between history in America and the current situations we are put in. And i am happy i have a plethora of information in my brain about things so if i make a statement it is backed up by facts, even if other facts can contradict what i say at least its not just facts coming out of my behind...

As far as conversations outside of school about the economy and different current events i feel confident. I feel like there is a really good balance between teaching history and current events in this class. i wouldn't really change anything. I have noticed that even my manager at my job didn't even know any other candidates where running for presidents besides McCain and Obama. I feel like i talk a lot with people in the high tech village about politics and it enhances my learning and inspires me to challenge myself and find more.

Beach Q's

I was searching and searching for something interesting and controversial for a topic question for our new beach project. And i stumbled upon an article on Sign On San Diego I felt like this article stuck out to me because it had one question that can always be debated one way or the other. "who has priority at this beach: people or seals?" this seems like a really well directed question and animal life on the beaches of san diego. What first got me looking into the La Jolla beaches was looking at this website because it made it seem like these sites where the best in all of san diego and i hadnt even known you could go snorkeling in san diego. Where were these beautiful beaches in san diego i see on pictures?
The idea of the seals came to mind when the article had mentioned how people scare away the seals and annoy the seals but we share the same living space. So do we have just as much right to it? Also the bacteria at childrens pool is indescribable it was closed for over a year because of the seal ..."waste" its only natural but it is horrible for the health of us humans. but should we just leave the site to seals or should we try to clean it up of mother nature? I havnt done further research just because im not sure if this is my final question but it is definatly interesting.

My second question is where is san diegos tax money going? reading this article just made me think why are we "tapped out" why do we pay taxes and i really wanted to look into it but im not sure if its to broad or not.