[CE]: Flooding in Thailand.

When natural disasters happen, it really gets me thinking, are we ever really prepared for anything of that magnitude? Even though you have flood gates and barriers, it proves to be pretty useless when floods actually happen. This was like the same thing with the tsunami in Japan. The water and waves would simply just wash over the walls and into the city. Is there even possible ways to protect against these types of natural disasters? It’s weird to see because even though Thailand is not considered to be a third-world country, the money spent on preventing this sort of situation seems to not be working at all.

Also, as stated in the video, government officials are overwhelmed with tasks to perform since the flooding has occurred. Shouldn’t there have been some sort of plan in case emergencies like this were to happen? I just feel like countries should be more prepared for these types of occurrences, especially if they know there’s a likelihood of it happening. Like California for example, shouldn’t there be more reinforcement on the infrastructures of major buildings and reinforcements to bridges if an earthquake were to happen. I mean, there has been numerous predictions and warning that an enormous earthquake will strike California in the nearby future. Instead of everybody trying to help when the emergency already took place, why can’t people be supportive so we can stop the potential damages from ever happening in the first place? Is there even a state-wide plan that will take into effect when such a disaster would occur? The level of preparedness we are scares me at times.

[Re]: School

I guess I was just in a dreamy state of mind until senior year when all the college, graduating, and applications crashed down on me. That’s when reality started sinking in. I hated myself for not being more studious. I hated that I didn’t really give a shit about grades before and now it’s come back to haunt me. -Damien

 

This was pretty much an inevitable outcome for me from the moment I entered high school. I never took into account the magnitude that my grades would have on getting into college, or that it would ever be this competitive. I guess the idea of it just never really sank into my head until it was too late. I was never the real studious person anyways.

       No matter how much I would tell myself to study, no matter how many New Year’s resolutions that I would make to get better grades, in the end, nothing has really changed. I still don’t study as much as I should. Instead, I spend my time just lounging around, or hanging out and not really doing anything. The idea of studying never really appealed to me, so I guess it just never became a habit of mine. And what a pity that is.

       If I were to give advice to any incoming freshman, it would be to take school work very seriously, even if it’s freshman year. Honestly, the work load isn’t bad, you just have to be consistent about everything. Homework is pretty much the most important thing. If you turn in every single homework assignment, it’s basically a guaranteed C in the class, because no matter how bad you do on the tests, you would still know the material from doing the homework so much and having the repetition act embedded into your mind. So, now I’m just left with regret and hope that I could make it into a good university.

[Fp]: Writing Quality.

       I feel like my writing is always inadequate or sub-par on this blog. Personally, my best writing comes out when I have inspiration or motivation to base my writings upon. Whenever I do posts on blogger, it just always feels so forced and artificial. There’s never any real substance behind it, or any real emotion even. It’s like I’m doing the assignment, just simply to get the credit, which I sometimes do feel bad about. That’s why I don’t think I would ever want to become a writer; I just can’t be pressured to produce good pieces of work when I have a deadline, or I’m forced to write on a lab day.

       This is partially my fault because given the time frame of a whole week, it should be reasonable and understandable to have some inclination to write about a subject that I have an opinion about, and yet I don’t. I feel as if I’ve lost part of my passion for writing. Before, I wrote because it was an easy way for me to express myself and my emotions, but now it just feels different. Every topic there is to be written about, has already been done. Everything that’s been relative in my life has nothing worthy of being written about. What I’m trying to get across is, I guess people shouldn’t read my blog or posts if they are truly expecting some quality material or things to be inspired by. Truthfully, if I ever do feel inclined to write, it probably won’t even be on blogspot.

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[FP]: Heh.

I hate college applications. Seriously, they take too much of a strain on my life. What's expected of a student in the present is pretty crazy compared to what it was life in the past. Honestly, we're taking out all this extra time, exerting all this extra effort just to be accepted into a world of debt. The thought in itself is enough to make me sit back and just dwell on the idea for a while. With college tuition and prices increasing annually, the average college student is just looking for a world of debt post-graduation. This is why our educational system is fucked up. I wonder if things are like this in other countries as well, because I'm sure as hell that there has got to be a better solution that what we have to settle for currently.  Isn't the point of going to college to get a better job, to have a better opportunity at the pursuit of a higher salary occupation? What's the point of everything, if the salary is just going to all go back into the education? When are the students going to ever see the efforts of their work benefit them, not for another 3/7/10 years? It's too much for me to handle sometimes. It can be really overwhelming on a person if you sit and think of everything. I just can't wait for the stress to be over. Hello world of debt, here I come!

[RE]: I Just Wanna Be Successful

Successful. Isn't that what everyone wants to be? Well yeah of course, but in this modern way of thinking the general definition of successful is having a good paying job, a family, and overall stability. When your life is set and all you have to do is take care of yourself and your family without any troubles, you're successful. And if you're successful, people are automatically going to assume that you have lots of money. But my definition of successful is different. I believe that being successful is basically being happy and being satisfied with where you are. -France

I could not agree more. Many people relate the American Dream as the equivalent to being successful.  The typical routine that everybody aims to achieve. This standard way of living has been driven into our minds for several generations having people think that in order to achieve success, one must follow these certain steps. Being successful is defined on your life. Everybody's life is different, just because you were born into wealth certainly does not mean that you are successful. Success for a person could mean being the first in their family to go to college, or another may be to ensure that their parents' can live comfortably in retirement. Success is a variable, it all depends on the person and their mindset. Success means reaching your dreams, making something out of yourself and feeling self-worth. See, my parents are stuck on this notion that in order to be successful, you need to have a high paying job, by working your ass off. I want to show them that I'll be happy with what I do, and I guarantee that I'll love it more than anybody who is earning twice my salary. Money does not define success, no matter how important it may seem in life. Happiness is something that money can never touch. The point in your life where you no longer need money to be a gateway to happiness is when you've reached that level of success. I aim to go there, for the pursuit of happiness is my ultimate goal.

[CE]: Occupy Wall Street activists remain defiant

As many of you should know about it by now, Occupy Wall Street has been going on for quite a while. With it's growing supporters from politicians and even Ben and Jerry's, the protests have grown into something much bigger than just a simple complaint from the people. This growing movement has spread throughout the country in several major cities.
However, I personally find several problems in movements and protests that are to this scale. First of all, there isn't really a clear and defined message that people are trying to get across. I mean, sure, people are mad about the distribution of wealth in our society, but it seems like people have more to say than just that. They talk about healthcare, the educational system, social security, etc. It's clearly become something more than just the 1% vs the 99%. Also, when you protest, people should act in a professional manner. This means demonstrating peacefully, and dressing up like a professional. The point of this is to get your message across to the people an build up supporters. I feel like a lot of people aren't giving the protestors support simply because they believe that they're just unemployed college graduates with nothing better to do. Wear a dress shirt and tie, slacks, look like you're actually there to be professional about your cause, not just because there's nothing better to do. Other than that, I have my full support towards this movement, and I am anxious to wait for what might become out of this nation wide phenomenon.

[Essay]: Going for the Look

                What Marshal Cohen is talking about is a hiring tactic used by retails stores to market their brand in a certain way. Popular brands such as American Apparel and Abercrombie and Fitch have built up a reputation of hiring their employees at their retail store based solely off their appearance instead of their actual performance. This tactic presents the problem of discrimination against those that do not necessarily fit the brand’s image. Often times, although these people may be hired, they will be forced to work in the back of the store, performing inventory and such instead of being on the floor. I believe that this act violates the terms for equal employment given throughout the United States.

                Robert L. Heilbroner in the article, “Don’t let stereotypes warp your judgment” insists that the human mind uses stereotypes to simplify its world, helping complex relations become understandable; therefore, it makes sense that advertisement would take advantage of this habit.  Instead of feeding the consumer with multitudes of information such as prices, materials, and sizing, it is much easier to just blatantly confront them with attractive people.  Essentially, the people who work on the floor become walking billboards for these companies.  Psychologically, this conveys the message to the customer, that if the workers look so attractive wearing these clothes, it will make me look good as well. There is no question about it, these types of hiring tactics are smart and effective. However, just because hiring based off of attractive people is not an illegal act, it does not mean it should be done.

I would have to disagree with Cohen’s quote. I think that employees should be hired based off of their performance at the store and their experience. In fact, I would even go as far out to say that it is more important to hire people based off of their personality than their appearance. Customers at stores love to be treated as nicely as possible, and even if you look attractive, it certainly does not make your personality automatically follow suit. Most of what an employer does at retail clothing chains involves interactions with customers. I would think that a person with good people skills, as well as working well under pressure would be a criteria that would be beneficial, rather than focusing on the beauty.

Personally, I think customer satisfaction is the main goal in retail. It ensures returning customers, who become loyal to your brand. Their gender and race shouldn’t be an issue in this situation because it is purely irrelevant. Although I do agree that good looking employees do capture the attention of the consumer, I can not imagine how it would directly lead to sales. For example, in Abercrombie and Fitch stores most of the male models are dressed half naked and just stand around. How does this image derive people to make them want to buy products? Simply because they saw somebody who was good looking in a store doesn’t mean they would want to buy the clothes there.  Simply by wearing the product will not cause you to become instantaneously buff, or have curves. It will not automatically make you shed those extra pounds, nor will it give you smooth skin. Simply saying, buying clothes from stores with beautiful people will not make you beautiful.

When it comes down to it, the key to getting sales should be through the product. Consumers care about basic and essential things: prices, quality, and customer service. That is why I think brands like American Apparel are selling their products wrongly, and it could be a major factor in why they are basically bankrupt right now. Their clothes are very thinly made, and are often simple colors with outrageous prices. A simple black jacket from them can cost anything between $40-$60, where instead you can buy basically the same one from a different store for $20. I always believed that the only appeal that American Apparel had over other stores was that their clothing was actually made in America. So buying the expensive clothing was somewhat justifiable because it would be feeding our own economy. Through trying to market your brands with simply aesthetic appeal will not build success.

I can understand how others would feel discriminated against through these methods. It almost gives an edge to everyone who meets the criteria of 'beauty' to the brand. Like Abercrombie and Fitch or American Apparel models are mostly white, skinny, and tall. It is almost as if you don't look like them yourself, you would be put at a disadvantage trying to work for them. Nothing in the job description does it say that looks ever had to be a requirement in the retail industry, yet brands are quickly shifting to this marketed strategy towards the average consumer.

In conclusion, the general public consumer that meet the demograph to these sort of brands are plain stupid. The only reason that this method is still ongoing and even becoming a major issue is because it's working. People buy into the idea of beauty so easily, they are so easily manipulated into spending their money to achieve this set idea of beauty. They feed these corporations, who in turn are telling them to spend more to look better. This methodology would have died down quickly if people were more open minded about these types of things and could actually think for themselves and form their own opinions. As the famous saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." If people weren't so sucked into what the media feeds them, their perspectives on beauty would be much different. Companies are just simply exploiting the insecurities of the individual by hiring beautiful people in their retail stores. It's quite a cruel tactic, but since it works, it doesn't matter. Quite sad isn't it? In the end, it's the product that makes retail companies what they are, not its employers, no matter how attractive they may be.

[BWC]: UC Essay Prompt #2

When I was ten years old, I visited my grandfather for the very first time in southeast China. Due to the others passing away before my birth, he was the only grandparent I had left. I remember entering the rural village where he resided and being shocked at how differently the environment was compared to what I was used to. The lack of technology and his simplistic style of living was new to me, but what shocked me the most was that he was happy in this condition. During my visit, much of what I learned about his life was through my parents. It was difficult for me to communicate with him directly since he spoke a Chinese dialect that was only native to the surrounding village area. My interactions with my grandfather consisted mostly of smiles, hand gestures and using my parents as translators. As a family, we spent three days in the village and left aboard a train to catch our flight back to the States.

A week after the vacation, I remember my mother receiving a phone call during dinner. Suddenly, she started bursting into tears midway through the conversation, but I was ignorant to what was going on. Later on, I found out that my grandfather had passed away a few days ago in his home at the age of 89. Upon hearing the news of his death, I was not emotionally shocked nor devastated because I could not yet comprehend the significant role that he would play in my life in the future.

In the following years, I have realized the need to treasure the people and things around me because they could be gone at any moment. I came to regret the fact that I never got to know him better as a person. Through my maturation, the love for my grandfather grew and although we were separated by a language barrier, I recognized the love he had for me as a grandson. His death has taught me to become a less passive person, that I could not afford to take opportunities for granted, and to fight harder to achieve my goals.

Honestly, this experience is not one of my proudest moments. However, the tragedy of my grandfather's passing has proved to be one of the most enlightening and significant experiences in my life.

In the past, my academic performance was just an arbitrary way to compare myself to my peers. Fortunately, my grandfather's passing changed that by bringing meaning and depth into my life. Academic excellence is no longer a meaningless undertaking, but rather each experience is another opportunity to grow, each class is another opportunity to learn, and achieve something more substantial than a letter grade.

Essentially, one of the most tragic events in my lifetime taught me that I must take a more active role in achieving my dreams and aspirations. Not only did I take my family and education for granted, but my own potential as well. I feel internally indebted to my grandfather because he has enlightened me to never stick to the norm of being an average student. Instead, I must venture out into the world and discover the many possibilities that are available to me. I will forever carry the memory of my grandfather with me, along with the lessons of his passing to guide me to reach my potentials and goals.

Honestly, I love things like this. Last week I saw a video of people using liter bottles to light up their homes. I do not know if this is becoming a trend in the Philippines, but it certainly is innovative and effective as well. Not only does it show that people can make use of what they have and find ways to live off it, but it shows the kind of creativity and love for the community that thrives from these towns. Instead of focusing on corporate industries, or making money for the individual, people are getting together to help build better schools, or rebuild roofs. This goes back and relates to my poverty post, although America as a country is more financially secure than these other countries, they are still finding ways to help others, while we are having rising unemployment and a failing housing market. It really just goes to show that people certainly do appreciate things more when they only have the bare essentials. I think that if we got rid of a lot of the unnecessary distractions in our society, we would function better as a whole and produce innovative ideas such as these to help our community, and country. I really wish people were more willing to compromise and focus on the essential issues instead of everyone just worrying about the individual. It sort of makes me want to live in other place just to see how their society differs. We need to change our mindset of things before we try and change our structure.

[Re]: Poverty

But life in Biko seemed to me, in some non-material ways, to be much "wealthier" than the life I experience in Oakland for example. The village had a much stronger sense of shared community and connection to the natural world, as far as I could tell, than our big urban jungles do. It may sound corny, but I think there are forms of wealth which we in the "civilized" world tend to ignore or devalue, much to our own detriment. -Mr. Sutherland

I believe that since we are considered a first world country, our idea of poverty itself is much different than that of second and third-world countries. I mean, we have so many liberties and rights that we take for granted all too often, whereas people in other parts of the world are risking their lives for, hoping that future generations would have these "privileges" that we already posses. Just from the fact that we have everything so readily available to us, it has made our generation a very lazy one as a result. The term "first world problems" is often used to describe this phenomenon, frustrations and complaints are only experienced by privileged individuals in wealthy countries. It is typically used as a tongue-in-cheek comedic device to make light of trivial inconveniences. Things like "My phone charger is downstairs and I'm too lazy to get it." and "I click on my Facebook notifications, but they aren't going away." are common complaints. 


I believe that the reason that communities such as those in Biko are so banded together is due to the fact that they don't have much materialistically. They have a stronger sense of community because they are actually forced to interact with one other, instead we live through a wall of social networking and texting, creating a totaly different persona for ourselves and losing touch with our community and surroundings. In some ways, people like those in Biko are richer than us in my opinion. Such as their culture, and the way they treat each other are probably held in higher regards compared to what we experience in present day America. So really, get to know your neighbors, be involved with your community, pick up a physical book, and go play outside and exercise. 

[FP]: Calvin & Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes was probably the first and only comic book that I really got into. Not only did each panel bring me constant amusement and wonder, but it also stimulated my imagination and changed my perspectives of how I viewed the world. I think it really did play a large role in my childhood as I was growing up. It all started when I discovered my sister's minor collection of the books. I started reading them for fun because they were like cartoons, and I really enjoyed reading at the time. Over time I become more enveloped in the series and it became a sort of addiction. Pretty soon I would ask my sister to order the other books online, and over a period of time I collected all of them, but one. I think I still have them somewhere, lodged away somewhere in a box in my house. Now that I reflect back on the times that I've read the comics, I think what really caught my attention was how they actually made you think. I mean, sure some panels were filled with the intent of amusement, but for the most part, a lot of them had a hidden message behind the humor. It takes a special kind of sophistication and humor to be able to create such a masterpiece like that. I really hope that I will dig up my collection soon because I feel like I would understand more of the "real" message at this age, compared to when I read it as a child. Thank you Bill Watterson, for providing me with countless hours of enlightening entertainment and shaping part of my childhood.

[Re]: Insane Bike Trip

I've been to so many places on my bike I could practically say that I've been just about everywhere. I'm always looking for new places to go, craving that adventure and trying to immerse myself in a new environment just so I could slowly figure out my surroundings. Sometimes, I don't know where I'll end up and I'll get scared, but part of that experience is conquering the fear of the unknown. I journey to become lost and make it my quest to find my way back. I found that experience during the summer--a trip I'll never forget. Enter Joaquin Miller Park. -France

 I seriously consider this to be one of the greatest physical feats that I've accomplished so far. What made it insane was that it was supposed to just be a simple bike trip that could give us something to do on a weekend, yet get in our exercise as well. I personally consider myself to be a pretty active and physically fit person, but I don't think I could have ever prepared myself for a trip quite like this. The trip was supposed to be around the 25 mile range with only one very steep hill and a couple of small ones. Little did I know that before we even entered Joaquin Miller Park, the hills would be so steep that we were forced to walk our bikes up. I seriously believe that we spent walked up hills for a good 2-3 miles that day. The only thought that kept motivation in my mind was the thought that 'If we take so much effort to walk UP these steep hills, there has to come a point in time where we could ride DOWN them as well." Basically I just kept going due to the fact that I was hoping to go down hills at a very fast velocity. All, in all I would say that the bike trip and hiking was worth it, and as an experience it was definitely something to learn from. I don't really want to go into details about that day since France hasn't finished telling the story, but it was definitely one to remember. I hope to go on that same route again sometime in the future, just because we've been through it before now and we know what to expect. I really look forward to our next bike trip, and this time hopefully more people would be willing to accompany us.

[CE]: Brazilians leading social media boom

It's interesting to see that another country is taking the social medias by storm, especially coming from Brazil, which is quite unexpected. The news of this surprises me because Brazil isn't normally a competitor in the online market, as compared to countries in Asia and Europe.However, the news that they are gaining grounds on these countries is good news. I believe that in this day and age, social medians such as Facebook and Twitter have become basically a standard in terms of forms of communication. Twitter is a very interesting site that can be used for much more than knowing what your favorite celebrity is up to this weekend. It is actually a great way to spread news internationally in a matter of seconds. During the earthquake in Japan, people living in the United States knew about the disaster before the news of it was even broadcasted on television.
I believe that the rise in users coming from Brazil for the use of social media is a good sign because the public is becoming more aware of using the tools readily available around them. Imagining one fourth of the population using Twitter is a crazy thought. Hopefully, some tech start-ups can spring from the country of Brazil and they could have a Silicon Valley effect in their country. The use of the internet and web just encourages the spreading of ideas, and creativity. It is very exciting news to hear that Brazil is starting to take serious advantage to this technology that so many of us take for granted.

[FP]: Photography.

Taking pictures has progressively grown to become one of my favorite hobbies to do. The idea that I can capture a moment, an expression, a feeling in a single moment in time and keep that moment in time in a picture has always caught my interest. At first it began as a casual thing. I received a Samsung SL202 point and shoot as my first camera. I would basically take pictures of each and everything I saw, even if they weren't interesting, I wanted to just start capturing everything and getting a feeling for using it. I even started carrying it around with me everyday because I started to do a self-photography project called Project 365, where you basically take a picture of something every single day for a full year. I ended up stopping around day 200 because the my days kept getting busier and I never had time to think of interesting concepts or compositions to take photos with. I would say that my knowledge and skills with a camera have increased dramatically over the period of a year. Over that time I've acquired a consumer level DSLR camera, which is what I currently shoot with. Through taking multimedia art in my junior year, and just experience on my own, my skills for post-processing pictures in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom have also become a useful skill. I hope to take my hobby further with the purchase of a couple lenses in the nearby future so I can take pictures of a better caliber.

A rather progressive sample of some pictures over time:

[BC]: UC Prompt Rough Draft

I come from a world bounded by traditional Asian expectations, constantly surrounded by the pressure to become successful. Growing up, I was taught that success meant focusing on school to get good grades, going to a good university to get a degree, and finally ending up with a high paying job to support your loved ones. While this became my definition of success as an adolescent, my perspectives would gradually shift as I became older.
Although my parents had high expectations of me academically, my grades were never satisfactory to them. I was never the straight A student, but I would never be below average either. As a high school student, finding the balance between academics, having a social life, and sports is the biggest challenge. While going through school, I became more self evident and formed my own opinions. I started to realize that success can come in many forms other than through rigorous schooling. However, my parents would constantly compare me to their friends' children, saying how successful they were as doctors, or lawyers. I do not know if this tactic was used to serve as motivation for me, but I never felt motivated because I had no interest in becoming a doctor, or anything of the sort.
I believe that a person becomes successful when they are doing what have a passion for. It does not have to be a high paying job, or one that changes people's lives, just as long as they are doing what they love.  Even though my views of success have differed from my parents, I still want to be able to support them when they are no longer working. My parents do not believe that success and passion can coincide. I want to prove to them that as long as there is passion and motivation behind my actions, success will follow.

[CE]: China's empty city of Ordos

This video caught my eye and really surprised me that something like this would actually exist. It's really hard to imagine, a rapidly growing town with just a few residents physically living there. I would imagine that it would be a pretty boring place to live since there really wouldn't be anything to do. Also, having the homes being invested into is quite a risk in my opinion. The increase in building infrastructure in the city, and the anonymous investors in the housing market there are all basing their actions on the fact that sooner or later, the town will be filled with people. It's a really weird concept to think about. Starting a town and trying to get a population instead of the standard opposite way. What would attract people to such a place? As the reporter mentioned in the video, it is a town in the dessert so the weather isn't exactly ideal. If the increase in the country's economy keeps rising, it will soon be the dominant worldwide powerhouse, so I suppose the investors do have a safe bet. However, the question still remain: when will people start living in the city? Without people, how can there be jobs other than construction work? If there are no attractions there, then the demand for jobs will quickly vanish, along with an insensitive to live there. I think that this thing could really go either way, but I suppose only time can it's fate.

[Re]: Changes

"It's amazing how people change over 4 quick years. I'm sure I've changed in almost every aspect, no matter how much I want to tell myself that I am the same.." -Adam

I believe that for the most part, the change that people undergo during their four years of high school is for the better. Reflecting and looking back now, I think that I was quite a naive freshman. High school is really a place for inner development. Change is inevitable, bound to happen sooner or later, and whether you like it or not, it happens to everybody. In one way or another, you do change.

As seniors, our class has had the most allotted time for development. Basically, our class should theoretically be the most mature, although there are of course a few exceptions to this. Aside from that, I believe this rule holds true throughout the entire populous at our school. Even though I believe that most of the learning you do occurs outside of the classroom, our school as a setting is a center for development. It's simply because you take all these different types of people, coming from different backgrounds, cultures, etc. and putting them all together for half a year, for 7 hours a day. Through this you learn about the type of people you dislike, the people you are attracted to, those who influence you and much more. I really think that's why a lot of people actually enjoy going to school, so you can see people.

I personally believe that I have changed a lot since first stepping into these hallways. The inner workings of my mind are far different than that of four years ago. I feel like I've become more open-minded and aware of my environment. From the way I talk to people to the way I behave in class has even differed from my days as a freshman. I view this personal growth as an achievement because as long as you're happy with who you are and what you're doing, then something is going right in your life.

[FP]: Senior Life.

The top of the food chain, the upperclassmen, senior year has finally dawned itself upon us and it feels odd to be placed in this niche of highschool society. It's hard to believe that we've walked through the orange lined hallways for the past four years. Everything feels routine at this point, from knowing the best routes to get to classes, to knowing where to meet-up with friends during breaks. In addition to all the social perks of being a senior, there comes the ever-so daunting pressure from colleges looming over most of us.

This is where things start to feel a bit surreal for me. Knowing that by the end of this year, we'll have sent off our applications to admission officers to decide on our future based off 1000 words. It's a bit frightening to think about actually. The whole college admissions, SAT, etc. process has had a weird effect on me. I've found nostalgia creeping into my mood more frequently. Perhaps I feel as if I'm not mentally, or physically ready for college yet, or it could just be that I regret not spending more of my time in these past years doing more productive activities. Whatever the reason may be, the fact still remains that each day that passes by, is just another day closer 'til the end. I won't be seeing 95% of the faces that I see currently for the rest of my life. A walk across the stage, a diploma hanging on my wall, and a giant chapter of my life will suddenly come to an end just like that. I hope these next few months will honestly be one of the best times that I will have ever spent in Alameda High, because you only go through this once so you better make the most of it.

My Thoughts on Blogging and the School Year. [English Final]

1. Explain one or two ways audience feedback helped you grow over the semester. (It doesn't have to be stuff Sutherland said.)
• Have you been tracking your blog's traffic with Google Analytics? If so, you can respond to this prompt using the rich data that Analytics provides: Where is your audience reading from? What are your most popular posts (and why do you think they got the most traffic?) There are lots of possibilities here...

    In my first literature circle blog post for "Patient Zero", the actual author Jonathan Maberry commented on it. This was a tremendously surprising thing that happened to me and it actually made me feel motivated to dedicate more time and effort into the whole Literature Circle process. For example, my Confessions of an Economic Hit Man book review took me a considerably long time compared to the other one's I've done. This is made evident in my use of multiple quotes found in the novel (which took longer than I would have liked) as well as my analysis of the quotes and some themes that are shown. Peer feedback, well any feedback in this case has proven to get me motivated. It lets me know that people are actually taking their time to read what I have to write and it doesn't feel like as much of an assignment anymore. This aspect of it has definitely made blogging/writing more enjoyable. 

    The introduction of Google Analytics really made me pay attention to my blog more often. I would check out the site every now and then out of curiosity about what kind of data it would read. Actually, I posted a post about how cool I thought it was. Since then my blogging data has evolved a lot. As of November 27, 2009 I had a total of 63 views with an average of 1:38 spent on my blogspot. Looking at it now, I have a total of 366 views with an average time of 1:07 being spent there. A surprising little fact is that my original statement of purpose has had 66 page views alone, 47 of them being from different computers. Now this is one of those things where I have no idea why it has become like that, but for some reason it's the most popular/viewed post that I have to date. My absolute favorite aspect about Google Analytics however, would be the Map Overlay feature which shows where in the world people have visited your blog. I have 366 page views from 19 countries/territories. Now this is really really surprsiing to me because I have no idea how anybody would ever find my blog out of all the blogs out there. Besides having it linked to my Tumblr, I cannot think of any other way people would be exposed to it. I've had visits from places like, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Germany, Brazil, Pakistan, Russia, India, Belgium and Norway. These countries are all around the world so it's not like only a certain region of the world has viewed my blog. These kinds of statistics simply amaze me. The power of a blog can be limitless as long as you have valuable feedback and good content. I've learned that people will find your blog and it gives me a kind of grateful feeling. It's cool to know that all the effort I put into this blog isn't all for waste and people are actually reading it. Thank you to my followers especially! 

2. How do you like having a blog? How has blogging changed the way you write, the way you think, or the way you think about writing?
• Has blogging had any other effects on your life beyond strictly your "school life"? If so, explain.
• For the second semester only: Do you plan on continuing to publish writing on your blog this summer, next year, or beyond? If so, what are your writing goals and how will you use your blog in the future?

    Well, blogging for me hasn't ever been a new thing unlike a lot of other people. I was first exposed to blogs back in 2006-2007. During that period of time I didn't write much and it was pretty boring writing. I would just write about my thoughts or my day, like a type of online journal because I knew nobody who I knew would really be reading it. Since then, I've had numerous other blogs made simply out of boredom and as time progressed I started to post more and more frequently. I would actually get to the point where I started to feel kind of bad because I didn't post anything in a long period of time. For my blog before this one (which will remain anonymous), I actually managed to produce 66 different posts spanning from 4/26/09 - 8/22/09, so a little under 4 months. That's pretty crazy now that I think about it. Now this blog that I have now is very different compared to the past ones. 

   

    I feel like it's this one that has been the most changed compared to the previous. First of all, the thing that helped develop my blog was that a post was due every week for a grade, requirements were set and I got to work. I wanted this blog to be something meaningful. When Mr. Sutherland first introduced the whole blogging process I know that I could have just BSed everything and created pointless posts, but then I wouldn't get anything out of this whole thing. The key to having a successful blog in my mind is dedication. You cannot get lazy on your posts, or skimp out on the content of it. Knowing my peers/friends could read what I was publishing, I wanted to write better. I tried to make this blog more formal than others and tried to treat each post as an actual writing assignment.

    I would say that my blogging style has evolved into a combination of daily life posts, along with content filled posts that others can relate to. This has all come together in my latest blog. I don't think blogging has has much effect on my "school life". The one thing I would say however, would be that it has helped me produce writing much quicker and more efficiently. I'm not sure if this is because of blogging itself, or the quickwrites that we do in class, but either way it's helped my writing. 

    As of now, I'm not quite sure if I plan to continue with this blogspot account. Tumblr's user interface is just set-up so much better and has made it easier to get exposed to different blogs and have contact with others. Also, since a lot of people have Tumblr accounts nowadays, (because there was some trend about it apparently....) it's a lot easier to network with a wide number of people that I know. I might occasionally return to blogspot to make a post, but I doubt I'll post more than once a month. As for my plans for blogging in general, I hope to achieve a wider audience, while writing about posts relevant to my life, and not just posting pictures and videos. As said in my statement of purpose I still hope to improve my writing and vocabulary. I plan to also create more posts that are meaningful and post them more frequently. As for now, I think I'm just going to blog when I feel like it. Summer is around the corner and it's been a long long year. Blogging has definitely changed the way I think of writing nowadays, as well as the process I go through with coming up with a piece of writing. 

I hope that this will not be the last post on this blog, but who knows?

Thank you for an amazing school year and I wish you well on your future endeavors. 

                                                                  
                                                        With love,

                                                                Alvin Lee 

Confessions of an Ecnomic Hit man Book Review

1. Find out about the author. How did they end up writing this particular book? Is the author's true life reflected in the book in any way(s)?
   
   
2. For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom would you recommend this book?)

     For my final literature circle book I chose to read "Confessions of an Economic Hit man" written by John Perkins. This book tells the life of the author, John Perkins and how he ended up working for one of the nation's top private companies as an economic hit man.

    As John was growing up, he was a pretty normal child. He was born in Hanover, New Hampshire and attended a private school there. During his teenage years, John always would hangout with the "poor kids". His town was segregated by social class and while John was in the top half of the social ranking scale, he would often play with the middle and lower middle-class children. He never understood why there had to be such a distance that needed to be kept away from the rich and the poor. It was this type of understanding and innocence that would play a critical role in his life later on. A life as an economic hit man.

    "Once you're in, you can never back out." is a quote from the book that best describes the main point of John's life. As an economic hit man, his job was to travel from country to country discussing with foreign politicians about why or how they should allow United States privately owned companies to build on their land. He did this based on methods of being an economist. He would survey the country and estimate (very accurately) how much money the country would make, or save over a number of certain years. This happens in third world countries across the world and so they eventually end up indebted to the United States. As the United States has a firm grasp on the country, they go ahead and use it to their advantages. Whether it is another vote in the United Nations, or to grant more construction projects (mostly military) on their soil.

    This type of scheming and planning is really quite brilliant in a way. This kind of "global domination" can never be traced back to the government because it is always linked to a private company. However, these privately owned corporations have very close ties with the government. The particular company that John worked for was named Chas. T. Main Inc, or MAIN for short. This quote from the book briefly summarizes how this would work.
   
    "I was initially recruited while I was in business school back in the late sixties by the National Security Agency, the nation’s largest and least understood spy organization; but ultimately I worked for private corporations. The first real economic hit man was back in the early 1950s, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of Teddy, who overthrew the government of Iran, a democratically elected government, Mossadegh’s government who was Time‘s magazine person of the year; and he was so successful at doing this without any bloodshed—well, there was a little bloodshed, but no military intervention, just spending millions of dollars and replaced Mossadegh with the Shah of Iran. At that point, we understood that this idea of economic hit man was an extremely good one. We didn’t have to worry about the threat of war with Russia when we did it this way. The problem with that was that Roosevelt was a C.I.A. agent. He was a government employee. Had he been caught, we would have been in a lot of trouble. It would have been very embarrassing. So, at that point, the decision was made to use organizations like the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. to recruit potential economic hit men like me and then send us to work for private consulting companies, engineering firms, construction companies, so that if we were caught, there would be no connection with the government."

    As time went on, John rose in his company, becoming one of the top executives, but his conscience would always remind him that he was doing something wrong. This type of mental battle can be seen very clearly throughout the book.

    " It shook me to the core. I stomped out of the room and headed for Charlie's office. Halfway there, I stopped, uncertain about what I intended to accomplish. Instead, I turned and walked down the stairs, out the door, into the afternoon sun...A huge lump grew in my throat...I fought hard to hold back the tears; I needed to figure out why I felt so miserable. You're in it for the money. I heard Howard's words, over and over. He had struck a raw nerve."

    Eventually, he decided to leave. He quit the company, gave up everything that he had and decided to get away from all of this. John felt that it was necessary that the general public need to be told this truth of the hidden motives of our government, the World Bank, etc. So, he decides to write a book about it, however he is stopped multiple times by things that suddenly seem to pop up like job offers, threats, and bribes. Finally, after September 11th, John decides for the last time that the truth needs to be told. Truth be told, he wrote this book because he felt guilty of the things he's done. John basically feels like he's owed it to the public, as well as his family to reveal this truth. Therefore, I believe that this book should be read by everyone, young or old. There might be some setbacks to the younger readers though because there is wide variety of vocabulary that may not be comprehensible at such an age.

    This book was a real eye-opener for me and I'm sure it'll have the same effect on anyone else who chooses to pick up this book. John has also done other work related to this. He's made a move entitled Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in 2009, which shows interviews with John. He's also featured in the film Zeitgeist: Addendum, which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone who is interested in this type of government conspiracy theme. This book was written very well and I'm glad I was given the opportunity to read it.