Senior Pictures! (observation assignment)

   Damaris Benitez

9/29/2015

Period-6

    For this assignment, I decided to observe the McCallum senior class of 2016, take their senior portrait pictures. It took place in the small gym, behind the gym where the pep rallies happen. Walking towards the shoot felt very sketchy and looked very sketchy. You would go through a small narrow hallway of bricks with dim lights, kind of like when the teens sneak into a club in the movies. As you entered the room a wind of the stench inside of the gym was not very pleasant, it smelled like brand new hardware floor, dirty laundry, and feet. As I watched from a far, there seemed to be more boys than girls in the gym. As a freshman, I found it weird to see how they take the senior pictures. The guys would only wear, a type of half-tux. I believe it was a velcro shirt and tie with a suit jacket on top. The girls had a shirt to put on too. Since the pictures only captured everything above the shoulders, the girls wore a black like cape that would slide on showing the bare shoulders and neck. As the seniors smiled for the pictures, the flash would go off and did sometimes blind me at times. However, those who were done taking their pictures were sitting down on the opposite side of where the pictures where being taking. The senior seemed to have an openness to them, or in my description a "hippie like circle", but of course as our generation was born in the 20th century, most of them were on their phones. As the pictures of the students were being taken, a nice women would go around fixing their hairs and if I am not incorrect, I saw she pulled out a bit of makeup. The students seemed to be having an "ok" time, they did not look super happy but they did not seem super depressed either. However, one of the students seemed to make the most of his time, and slid on the waxed hardware wood floor and ended up falling strait on his rare end. It made the students laugh for a couple of seconds and then they continued to carry along with their technology devices and conversations. I was pretty surprised that the senior were very quiet and used their "inside voices", but I guess it makes sense since they are older and more mature. 

Current Events Activity 1.3

  Damaris Benitez

period-6

9/25/2015

1.  Pope Francis made a speech recently about "open-wounds" in the world, which includes things like hatred, greed, poverty, and pollution. As the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics, he directed his speech towards Congress. I feel like this story illustrates the importance of this story, not only by putting it on the front page with a picture and bold letters, but by really emphasizing what he said. They used quotes and the story seemed very informational, which as a reader always makes me feel, that what I am reading is actually true. I feel like this, was historic not only because the House Speaker invited him, but because the Catholic Church is getting really involved with Congress. Being a Christian, I am very surprised that the Catholics have made it to the top with their beliefs.

2.   The broad difference of opinion that exists in the situation with the San Antonio high football players harming the ref, it that if the cause for the incident is because of racial slurs. However, harming the ref was not the correct route to take for "revenge", the students were sent back to an alternative school for 75 days, and will not be able to come back to school about a month after football season concludes. In my personal opinion, I do not think that they will come back at all because if they were still playing football, they probably wanted a scholarship for football, and after this incident I don't think they will get one. They might find school, just useless. On the side of the coaches, they more likely will come back, because that is how they sustain their families. Motheral was not happy, however he was frustrated that the football players, didn't even care to show up to, Thursday's 3 and half hour hearing. 

3.   The cause of the protest in front of Mapelwood Elementary, was because the district was shifting teachers around to prevent over-crowding in schools. The parents were pretty upset because they thought that it was a bit to early to start moving teachers, when the students are barely getting used to the school. It affected the fourth grade, because taking away a teacher and throwing a new one without having at least a month and a half with the new teacher, makes the students have to re-adapt with the new teaching ways. However, one protest did work at the Bryker Woods Elementary, when a teacher was going to move to Highland Park to relive over-crowding, the parents and students protested and she was allowed to stay. 

4.   Democratic state senators have asked for an attorney's opinion on the new law for firearms to be allowed on school property, which will take affect on Jan. 1. They were also wondering if the law will also banish the law of school districts not allowing any firearms on parking lots, sidewalks, and any other school property. Whitmire, stated that he does not think that the law will be an issue, towards the districts law, however the attorney has 180 days to respond to his question. However, it would not really matter because he will find out himself when the law is in affect, since within the 180 days Jan. 1 will come. 

5.   I choose the story about the man who drove a car, and injured lots of people at the SXSW incident, last march, while he was intoxicated. He was put in trial and proven not guilty, because he had never had any criminal record that could have led to the incident. Therefore, court said it was an unpredictable event. I agree with the court, and accidents sometimes do happen. I choose this story because it happened in Austin, and obviously I connect with it.

EXTENDED RESPONSE: 

    Obituaries, to me are very depressing to read. However, elements that you should always have while writing obituaries, is that you should have some background information and important achievements in their life. They should have a bit of a timeline type of plan. Some could include the impact they had on others life. Most important they should have their birth date and death date. I think that lots of new writers get obituaries as their first assignments because they include lots of skill. It puts their skills to the test and shows if they actually put effort into their work. By making sure that their work is honest and well thought out. If I wrote and obituary, i feel like i would feel uncomfortable about writing about someone I do not know, and because death creeps me out. 

Observation

   I decided to observe the courtyard of McCallum high school. I saw lots of cliques and laughs. Somehow, I was just there on time to see some choir students sing around a table of freshman. The fishies seemed to be a bit freaked out. Everyone seemed to have their own little groups and have their inside jokes. Lunch at the courtyard seemed to be a very positive environment.

**wow Mr.Winter it was really hard not to put any opinion.

Getting to Know: Claire Caudill!

                   Damaris Benitez

9/22/2015

Period- 6

   Claire Caudill, is probably one of the most sweetest and nicest person I have ever met. She is kind and loving, however she has one of the most tragic stories I have ever heard. While asking Claire a couple of questions, we came across the topic of the baddest thing that has happened to her. She explained to me that, "In third grade, I woke up and felt something in my throat and couldn't breath, so I went to the hospital, and my mom had told me that my face was purple." As she was asked to elaborate on how it felt she explained, "...I could feel my chest caving in and popping back out, it was that bad...". I was glad to ask the question and get such an unbelievable response, it was an honor to meet such a miracle.  

Current Event Quiz 1.2

 Damaris Benitez

Period-6

9/17/2015

1A.   Mike Perrin has become the new interim for the UT men's athletic director, this decision was made because Steve Patterson, the past director, was fired after his 22 months term with UT football. This decision did not really please the crowd, instead the crowd became angry. The crowd response was triggered because, football season just began and dismissing the director is a huge risk. However, the audience would pleased to know that Perrin is actually one of their own and he played the line backer for UT, back in the 1960's. 

2.    CIA director, John Brennan, payed a visit to the UT campus recently, for the release of some of the most sought-after documents in Washington. It triggered a bigger trend in the government by releasing the papers to the public, which can now be found in the CIA's website. The President's Daily Brief, also know as the PDB, is one of the most important and highly classified documents. It is so important because they serve like diaries to the presidents and include challenges they have had to face.

3.    On Wednesday the Hungarian police sprayed tear gas at migrants, on it's closed border with Serbia.  The affect of this action has caused immigrants to take routes through Croatia, where they will have to walk through active land mines.

4.    Yesterday, a 14 year old Muslim has detained and handcuffed because of a homemade clock the student had brought. Teachers thought that it referred to a bomb, according to his peers. On monday, he wanted to show his engineering teacher the clock he had made, however was stopped by school officials and officers, and taken handcuffed before he could. The school defended their decision by saying that, our generation has come to a point where we cannot bring our own inventions like that to school. However, President Obama and many other citizens seem to disagree and support the student by saying that he should be a role model for those students who want to explore and enjoy science in different ways. Irving community has had a history with Muslim and being offensive towards them, which is making some in the community nervous. 

     The first time I heard about the story, was actually on twitter because the hash-tag of the student with the clock was trending. However, I don not really think that social media is the most reliable source because many people can change stories online, therefore, I would trust the newspaper more because it goes through a long process before it is actually released and its reviewed by several people before actually being published, but as readers we have to keep in mind that many things can be true but we can not always trust it is the correct story. Many things can slide, like errors and it can even happen to professional editors. 

     The placement of the story, to me, it was okay that the editor left it on the front page. I honestly would have done the same because even though it is not local it is still nearby and the importance of the story makes it seem like a bigger issue. I was very glad that it was put on the front page, because I think that even if it happened a couple hundred miles away, it had a great impact not only to Texas but also the states, it was a very good and interesting story.

 

Current Event Quiz 1

Damaris Benitez

Period-6

9-9-2015

1. The University of Texas in "under fire" for hiring Darren and Glen Gay, because of their past history on assaulting a gay man in Austin, around 2004. The UT officials can't explain the hiring of publicity because both Darren and Glen Gay are volunteers and are not subject to a background check for criminal records. However, UT laws say that anyone involved in crimes within the last 7 years of an application, will not be allowed to work on the campus. I honestly think UT, had no idea of the background the Gay brothers had. Since they were both students at UT once, they might of just let them work there for good reputation of the school. To show off that past students have come back to work for UT because they liked to so much.

2. The city of Baltimore had reached one of the largest settlements in police death cases at, $6.4 million, with Freddy Gray's family. The deal was announced on Tuesday, 5 months after Baltimore police had caused the death of Freddy Gray. The mayor announced that the deal is being made "solely because it is in the best interest of the city". Not only is Baltimore struggling with this deal but so is New York, with the Eric Garner situation at the settlement of $5.7 million. 

3. Vice Chancellor Sing-mar Gabriel made an announcement by making his pledge amid signs that the migrant flow is only increasing and creating "open borders". Some criticized the policy because they believed that the European countries were not trying hard enough to address the situation. German leaders responded to the critics by hiring 3,000 more police officers and providing  a household for 150,000 people. However, Germany faced an even larger crisis with reduction in their cash handouts. So instead of handing out money, they did passed out food stamps instead.

4. The TX senator, Ted Cruz invited Donald Trump to his anti-Iran nuclear deal rally. He extended the invitation because he is playing the game, Cruz knew that wherever Trump went the cameras followed therefore he invited him so that his rally could be televised, and he did admit to doing that for that particular reason. Trump was not one of his standard targets because he does not agree with some of his statements in the Republican party.

5. Clinton recently apologized for her use of a private e-mail account as secretary of state while running for the election campaign. However other news reporters said that this still might be a story because she claims to be "allowed' by the senate to use her e-mail, but is that true? Co-mingling basically means using one thing for multiple purposes, therefore she said that she did not want to co-mingle two e-mail accounts. Therefore have one for personal issues and have one for senate purposes. She is also dealing with problems about her government issues and national security issues and did a slight but not so convincing apology.

6. Two high school students attending John Jay HS in Texas were suspended for hitting the umpire, Robert Watts, towards the ending game of the McKinney Falls football game win. Not only were the students suspended but also an assistant coach because before the game started, he stated to his football players "This guy needs to pay for cheating us." Therefore, many thinking that the students were instructed to hurt the umpire. However, they claim to have hurt the man because he was using racial slurs towards the two football players.


Current Event of My Choice:

       In the article I chose, it talked about a preposition to start funding Austin pools. It gave a great examples on why this should happen. One of them being because summers are getting hotter and longer. This year the narrator noticed that the libraries and pools both closed once a week during the summer, it was also explained because of the shortage of money the community had. Not only were those the two reasons that support the preposition but the author also included the information that the reason they built a tract around Shoal Creek a year ago, was because the community did not have enough money to update the pools. Therefore, the main point is to start saving money to redo not only the pools in the community but also the parks.
      Well in this current event I noticed that it was different than others. First of all because they didn't use any primary sources, secondary sources, or even documents. However, they did include a lot of opinion and facts to support their proposal.
       In my opinion the journalist definitely convinced me. The facts and reasoning made me realize that, wow Austin does need to remodel their pools. Especially knowing the stories behind why they haven't been remodeled. They for sure have got my vote to start a fund, I love swimming and if they can make this possible, I feel like it would make a lot of families happier! (can be found on A10)

     

Research Scenerio Part 2

    In my opinion, the author in this article uses a lot of valid research and information. The writer used a lot of primary source transcripts, by interviewing the teacher and the students who received the unauthorized information. They also used public records to enforce their statement, by adding the percentage of students that passed the EOCT evolution and creationism section of their test. Noticing that the number was greater for passing purposes just for that specific teacher whom had taught it. To me that information was very valid. Not only did they interviewed the teacher and students but also the principle to get a good perspective on what should be taught in the freshman biology curriculum. We also receive information about sunshine laws, and how the teacher could be fined. Overall, it was a very convincing piece.

Reseasrch Scenario Part 1

       In the scenario that was given to me I think there are lots of way to research the story. However, the way that I would research the story, is that I would first try to think of primary resources that can help my case. The thought of primary sources makes me think of the actual person involved in the conflict, although in this case we are not allowed to communicate with the teacher, my second thought would be to contact several students who have seen the presentation. I would ask those students questions about the thoughts that ran through their heads when they saw the presentation, and if they had a copy of the presentation. My second source would be to ask a teacher that I am on good terms with, and suggest if they could see if the school district does indeed have a creationism presentation. The last source I would go to would be the school director, and ask him or her their thoughts on the scenario. Therefore, at least I would have a story.