Log for December 3rd

Transcribed a good chunk of the audio of me and Sam talking about West Side Story. I'm thinking that we could put the full conversation on the website and just summarize it for the two-page spread in the magazine. I will keep working on that at home.

For next class: Write new Malcom bit. Next time I will fit it in design on InDesign. See what I did there?

Log for November 29th

I have decided to use Option three - I need three small pictures on the top of the first page, perhaps a graph on the bottom of the second page.

First page, above the title:
Malcom, Justin Chenette, Linda Valentino

second page, bottom:
Graph depicting how the youth vote has been going up since 2000

Plan of Action and Checklist

Checklist:

• Final Edit of feature
• get 3-5 amazing photos
• complete extra story and save w/ images in folder on server
• Complete design: 1-4 pgs for feature

Plan of Action:

At Home: Work on text of feature story: Find some statistics about young voters

November 29th: Visual: story doesn't lend itself well to photographs, so find interesting graphs online and perhaps small pictures of the two politicians. 

December 3rd: Finish transcribing West Side Story audio: Whip up into more concise article. Put photos and story on server.

December 5th: Lay out feature story on Indesign - if necessary just use template

December 7th: Work with Sam on deciding what will be on Artsy Spread. Hopefully have Murray's photo's by then?

Page #s: 28-29 West Side Story, Pepperell Squares, other artsy stuff
              44-45: Teens and Politics
              48-49: Issues you should know about - quad box, other fun stuff

The Second Presidential Debate

Unopinionated piece:
The second debate has been widely hailed as more confrontational and aggressive than the first. Obama, who lost the first debate by general consensus given his easygoing and weaker manner, stepped up his game by making a point of addressing Romney directly - as opposed to the first debate in which he mostly spoke to the moderator or the audience. The town-hall style setting allowed for the two candidates to interact more with each other, as well as interrupt one another on a regular basis. It felt significantly more charged than the previous debate.

Romney and Obama discussed the September attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya for the first time face to face. Romney accused Obama of taking too long to refer to the attack as a terrorist strike, and of flying to Vegas for a political fundraiser the day after rather than responding to the incident. Obama, visibly upset, said that neither of those things were true, claiming that he denounced the attack as an act of terror right away, and went to the Rose Garden the day after the attack to meet with the grieving families. ". . . .the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the secretary of state, our U.N. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive," he said. That's not what we do. That's not what I do as president, that's not what I do as commander in chief."

The candidates were both clearly vying for female supporters, and this was especially clear when they were asked a question about pay equity for women. Obama cited a piece of legislation he'd signed when he first took office that made it easier for women to seek equal pay as men. Romney cited work he'd done as governor of Massachusetts to hire women to leadership positions, which led to his soon-to-be viral comment about "binders full of women." Obama claimed that Romney wanted to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, a plan that Romney had outlined earlier in the campaign, but Romney vehemently denied this, saying "I’d just note that I don’t believe that bureaucrats in Washington should tell someone whether they can use contraceptives or not, and I don’t believe employers should tell someone whether they could have contraceptive care or not. Every woman in America should have access to contraceptives."

The most harrowing topic, however, was that of energy policy. Romney denied that Obama had increased production of American oil or coal in the past four years, but the president gave several examples to the contrary: an example of this is when the republican cited an incident where Obama had revoked an oil-drilling company's license. Obama claimed that the oil company simply hadn't been using the land and so it was going to waste. The president also stressed that renewable energy resources were the way of the future, a point that Romney largely ignored in rebuttal. 

Overall, Obama came out on top, with an altogether more self-assured air. He delivered several zingers that left Romney stuttering and caught off guard. Both candidates ended the debate, however, with confidence in their own plans for America and their chances of winning.


Opinion piece:
When watching this debate, the thing that bothered me most was how disparate the two candidate's views of the reality of the current state of America are. Obama painted a picture of steady, if slow, improvement - that he was currently in the middle of a long-term process to carefully restore America to its former glory, and that the effort was going well so far. Romney painted an entirely different picture, depicting his opponent's administration as well-meaning but dysfunctional, constantly setting forth plans that simply didn't work and were hurting America. Romney even said at the end of the debate:

Actually, that's not so bad in and of itself. They're bound to - and supposed to - disagree on the way to go about solving our issues. But in addition to disparities in philosophy, they seemed to have a plethora of disagreements on the solid facts. Romney kept saying that Obama was shutting down domestic oil, but Obama kept claiming that he was actually increasing American drilling. Romney said that he supported insurance for female contraceptives, something that Obama (and me, for that matter) vehemently denied was in the governor's policy. Romney said Obama hadn't implemented immigration reform; Obama said he had.

Do you want to know how I just came up with those examples? I found a transcript of the debate. I pressed Control+F and found out how many times a candidate used the word "true." In every instance, it was one denying something about what the other had said.

I frankly find it disturbing how truth, in politics, have become increasingly fluid. It's one thing to present facts in a misleading way; it's another to just make stuff up.

As a sort of political agnostic, I find it morbidly fascinating how liberals and conservatives live in completely different worlds. We paint the other side as evil and mystify over how our 'enemies' could possibly believe what they believe and think the way they do. All over the country, there have been instances of friendships ending and families being torn apart over these two conflicting realities.

And I don't buy the whole schpiel about how politics ultimately isn't that important and we shouldn't let it divide us. Because these issues are important, and their effects on our lives are more immediate than we might think. And SOMEBODY has to be right. I don't know who it is, because I'm a 17-year-old who doesn't intend to research this stuff until he can actually vote. But the straight-answer-dodging and the fact-distorting that this debate exemplifies sure isn't helping.

InDesign Practice

In which we practice designing.

CARPE

C - The contrast in this spread is easy to identify, with the left page depicting a healthy marsh and the right depicting one that's mostly evaporated. But the ingenuity of this contrast actually lies between the relative similarity of these two pictures: both sights are still beautiful - the grass in the distance is the same shade of green, and both skies are of only slightly variable sharp shades of blue. The tiny aesthetic contrast coupled with the huge conceptual contrast serve to stress the idea that climate change really sneaks up on us.

A - In terms of alignment, both the title and introductory paragraph are focused around the line between the two pictures in an effective way. Also, the way the title works its way downward, having three distinct lines of text and aligning the differently sized words across them, is incredibly cool.

R - The aforementioned contrast of the two pictures is a good example of repetition - the exact same location, with one key factor drastically changed. In addition, the color scheme of the title is effectively repetitive, with the transitional phrases "between" and "and a" in gray and the more important, topical phrases in white.

P - The introductory paragraph at the bottom left is grouped with the main text of the article at the bottom right. This proximity separates the title from the rest of the article, giving the spread's central information a coherent primary-ness.

E - As this spread incorporates photographs as its entire background, the issue of an eye-line of white space is not really relevant.

Vocab-news-lary story #3 (Blog Post 11): Humans and Computers

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/01/tech/innovation/computers-humans-science/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

Humans, Robots, and the Relationships Between Them
Balthasar Salazari

Humans are weird when it comes to technology: We assign our GPS's and phones personalities give them names - and get angry at them, blaming them of iniquities using them as scapegoats for our technological problems.

For example: a recent smart thermostat (the Nest) was designed to use energy as abstemiously as possible. It was set on a pre-programmed sequence, but most users despised it. They saw it as patronizing, and vehemently defied it by changing the temperature themselves, often using more energy. The designer had to return to his atelier and make a new version which had no defaults plugged into it but rather let the users make their own pattern.

In another instance, a researcher rigged two different sets of automatic doors to open differently. One set, when a person walked toward it, would shoot open in a peremptory fashion, while the other opened slowly and vacillated slightly. People perceived the slower door as more perspicacious because it looked like it was pausing and thinking before it opened.

Scientists have made strong leaps forward in the field of self-driving cars over the past few years. While the idea of going places without ever having to drive may sound practically dulcet to your ears, it's unlikely that the conventional car will ever become archaic. People don't trust self-driving cars: there is too much of a cultural awareness of fictional robot uprisings. No, really. The idea that robots will usurp us once we trust them too much, while ludicrous, is a commonly accepted axiom.

In the ultimate step in humanizing technology, one researcher is designing a robot designed to realistically resemble a human head that displays pellucid emotions. Ideally, the robots would be so lifelike that a human could form an actual relationship with them. Needless to say, this level of intimacy with a robot wouldn't be for everyone, and would probably have some people reaching for their talisman.

You make is sound like the robot uprising has begun! This is so %$#@ing creepy I can't even. Rewrite it, maybe make it so I won't have nightmares.
-Autumn

Autumn, please! Expurgate yourself! You do realize this is going on my blog, don't you?
-Balthasar

What?
-Autumn

Final Draft

Why Politics Should Matter to Teens

By Aaron Lockman

Blue = depends on election

In a world of ever-increasing frenzy and teenage angst, politics is slowly slipping down the average teen’s list of priorities. Statistically, most teens intend to vote when they come of age, but what about in the meantime? Should high school students really care about politics?

“What’s politics?” said Ari Lavoie, freshman. “Is that, like, birth control or something?”

“I just don’t have much time,” said slightly more serious freshman Kaylee Burns. “I mean, I care about who’s president, but not much else. I just have more important things to worry about.”

Both Lavoie and Burns raise an interesting point: the teenage schedule is stuffed to the brim with homework, extracurricular activities, and relationship woes. There’s just no room around the edges for knowledge of a realm that is beyond their control. And the question of whether that is a bad thing remains: if high school students cannot vote, what is the point of following the political scene? Why should teens care?

“Because,” said Linda Valentino, current Maine state representative for District 134 and hopeful state senator, “it’s your future that we’re deciding up there.”

Valentino then immediately went to fetch an article from the Portland Press Herald from the recycle bin to further her point. The article detailed a vote by the University of Maine System’s board of trustees to extend the current tuition freeze (a government mandate restricting colleges from raising tuition). They did this, however, on the condition that the state provide $176 million a year for education and general operations at the University of Maine.

Sounds boring. But, as Valentino goes on to point out, what this signifies is that the money that you will have to cough up in order to continue your education is usually decided by people like Linda Valentino: elected officials, often at a state level. The only reason many University of Maine students can still afford to attend this year is because of a vote from the Maine senate and House of Representatives.

Even if you don’t plan to go to college, politics still influences major factors of your life. The government is in charge of the wage you get at your job, how many hours you can work there per week, the age you need to be to get your drivers’ license, and many other aspects of teen existence.

“There isn’t a thing that doesn’t affect you,” said Valentino.

True enough. But at this age, when the right to vote is still out of grasp, how can the average teen possibly affect the outcomes of these decisions?

When 2009 TA graduate Justin Chenette was attending high school here, he interviewed many significant political figures on The Issue, TATV’s news and politics show. After one interview, he remembers that a woman running for office asked him his age. When he responded that he was 17, she replied, “Oh, you’re under eighteen. Your opinion doesn’t matter.”

Chenette was justifiably indignant and went on to become the youngest current member of the Maine state legislature.

“As young people, we have to make ourselves heard,” said Chenette. “You need to be informed before you turn 18 - whoever you want to be, you need to figure that out at this point in your life.”

The teen population is growing up fast - making up a third of the American electorate by 2015  - and will soon be inheriting all the political issues that are so easy to ignore now. Staying informed is the best way to insure that those issues don’t come as a surprise. And it seems to be working: according to the U.S. Census, the past decade has seen a steady rise in young voters - especially in the 2008 election. That’s one of the remarkable things Obama did with his campaign in 2008, remarks Chenette: He made young people feel like they had a voice.

Indeed, looking back at the election four years ago illuminates a stark contrast with the wildly negative campaign this fall, another major factor in pushing teens away. “It’s all just bashing,” said senior Richard Crowell. “And [the candidates] both kind of stink.”

“They always seem to kind of just go back on their word and promise what they can’t deliver,” said Hayley Hogan.

The endless negative sniping from both parties across the country has aggravated all demographics, not just teens. Has government become just another catfight?

In response to this, Valentino tells a story of a local election several years ago, in which her opponent spent a considerable amount of money on an extensive negative ad campaign against her. In local politics, however, voters don’t just get their sources from ads and debates. A large number of the constituents knew Valentino personally and immediately recognized the ridiculousness of the ads - and many who’d been considering voting for her opponent were dissuaded enough to switch sides. She won the election in a landslide.

While it is true that Washington has become increasingly negative this year, the cutthroat methods that work on the big stage don’t easily transfer to a local level. As with the University of Maine example, local politics is far more likely to influence issues that have a direct impact on you - not to mention that you’re more likely to be able to have an influence on local politics. Volunteering or interning with a campaign you support, besides being a huge resume builder, is a simple way to uphold your duty as a citizen to make your voice heard even if you can’t vote yet.

The best thing you can do, however, is simply to stay informed. Just being aware of what’s going on and what affects you will have a positive impact - even posting on your Facebook about an opinion you have encourages political discourse. “Social media can be a tool to learn to talk back, and to interact with your extended community,” Chenette noted. “And it provides a safe environment for teens to make their voices heard on issues they care about.”

In the end, the larger issue isn’t even politics. It’s about being immersed in the world around you, finding something you’re passionate about - and, if you don’t like something, changing it.

Post #12 Quick Story Monday - Contents of Mysterious Quad Box Revealed

As students began classes in September, they were greeted by a mysterious maroon boxcar-like object sitting in the quad, looming over them as they shuffle from class to class. What did that enigmatic box hold? A cache of jewels? A time machine? A portal to a magical snow-covered forest? Four adorable homeless children who solve mysteries?

"Masonry equipment," said TA Resource Officer Jeff Cook in late October. "You know how they're fixing that wall on the main building? That's what that is."

Disappointing.

According to Cook, the Quad Box (as it has come to be affectionately referred to) belongs to a portable storage company and has been rented by P&G Masonry Restoration, Inc. in order to store tools and materials needed to restore the wall of the main building annex. Over the course of the past few months,  workers have been steadily repairing the wall after school hours.

"And I think they're done," said Cook. "It'll probably be gone soon."

The Quad Box most likely contains bricks, wheelbarrows, shovels and trowels, masonry hammers and chisels, and other various construction paraphernalia. Keeping these materials on campus is easier and more convenient than lugging them back and forth to and from P&G's offices in Old Orchard Beach.

The treasured piece of TA landscape was removed at the end of October, but the dark rectangle of dirt where it once stood will forever remain as a tribute. At least until it snows.

Blog #10: Rough Draft

Rough Draft

http://www.ypa.org/about_whoweare.php

Why Should Politics Matter to Teens?

The vast majority of teens are completely apathetic about political issues and voting. For that matter, so are the vast majority of adults. I personally plan to vote when I'm older, but right now I intend to enjoy the apathy of not-being-able-to-vote while I still can (and I think that's a popular opinion). Is that bad? Is that harmless? Why should the average teen care about something that a) they can't effect, and b) has no immediate effect upon them?

Also: Effect that views of parents have on political views of teens

Charlie Conellan

Amelia Courtney

Various other politically inclined students/alumni

Interview Non-politically inclined people. See why politics disinterests them.

Mr. Beliveau

Linda Valentino (running for state senate) - ask her this question. Get the perspective of an older professional in the field of politics - probably hasn't been asked this question too often.

http://www.lindavalentino.com/home.htm

and I'll use that contact information you gave me.

Interview Cynthia Dill - running for US senate. Ask her this question for same reasons as listed above, except more so.

On the other end of the spectrum, interview Justin Chenette (running for state Rep). He has probably been asked this question incessantly, becoming involved in politics from a very young age - and I want to know why.  His name is familiar to every Thorntonite who doesn't have their head in the ground.

You wake up every morning a half hour after your alarm. You throw your things haphazardly in a backpack, skip your breakfast, and go off to spend 6 hours at school attempting to process information your brain doesn't care to process. You come home, take a nap, procrastinate on the internet for a few hours, take a few stabs at doing homework, eat dinner, text your friends, and go to bed. Even if you're not as apathetic as this introduction is making you sound, you probably simply don't have time to care about who's president or state representative or president representative. If you're like most teenagers, you also have an extracurricular activity, family problems, or a job to worry about - not to mention that thae television doesn't watch itself. Whenever you do bother to turn on the news, it's just pundits making faces at each other and presidential candidates calling each other liars. It's just like Mean Girls, but boring. Why should you, the average teen, care about politics? Maybe I should make THIS point through interviews with students. And then have Linda Valentino and Justin Chenette respond to that through their answers to the questions.

“Because,” said Linda Valentino, current Maine state representative for District 134 and hopeful state representative, “it’s your future that we’re deciding up there.”

Valentino then immediately went to fetch an article from the Portland Press Herald from the recycle bin to further her point. The article detailed a vote by the University of Maine System’s board of trustees to extend the current tuition freeze (a government mandate restricting colleges from raising tuition). They did this, however, on the condition that the state provide $176 million a year for education and general operations at the University of Maine.

Sounds boring. But as Valentino goes on to point out, what this signifies is that the money that YOU - yes, you - will have to cough up in order to continue your education is usually decided by people like Linda Valentino: elected officials, often at a state level. The only reason many University of Maine students can still afford to go this year is because of a vote from the Maine senate and house of representatives.

Even if you don’t plan to go to college, politics still affect your life (talk about driver’s licenses, length of school year, minimum wage, # of hours you can work during school week, other stuff government affects in high school student’s life: Then move on to what affects your life after high school if you don’t go to college, or for that matter after college: taxes, ???)

“There isn’t a thing that doesn’t affect you,” said Valentino.

When 2009 TA graduate Justin Chenette was attending high school here, he interviewed many significant political figures on The Issue, TATV’s news and politics show. After one interview, he remembers that a woman running for office asked him his age. When he responded that he was 17, she replied, “Oh, you’re under eighteen. Your opinion doesn’t matter.”

“As young people, we have to make ourselves heard,” said Chenette. “You need to be informed before you turn 18 - whoever you want to be, you need to figure that out at this point in your life.”

According to the U.S. Census, the demographic of voters aged 18-29 has fallen steadily since 18-20 year-olds gained the right to vote in 1972, hitting a low in 2000. The twenty-first century, however, has seen a rise in young voters - especially in the 2008 election.

That’s one of the remarkable things Obama did with his campaign in 2008, remarks Chenette: He made young people feel like they had a voice.

-Young people do care about issues. they just need to talk about it in an engaging way. Political discourse at a teen level needs to be conversation, not just someone talking at you.

“Having young people run for office or in leadership roles can inspire other young people to either get involved, or at least learn about the issues in their community or in their own lives.”

The larger issue isn’t even politics. It’s about being immersed in the world around you, finding something you’re passionate about - and, if you don’t like something, changing it.

“If young people pursue something they’re passionate about, they end up being a productive member of society.”’

Chenette listed following ways of getting involved:

• Volunteer/intern with campaign. Huge resume builder.
• communication
• leadership
• interaction
• Intern w/ City Hall
• Chenette was a communications intern in high school: Even if you don’t have a direct interest in politics, there are plenty of offshoots, if you’re interested in writing, video, or any kind of media, it’s a good place to hone your abilities/start out
• Just stay informed somehow. Just being aware of what’s going on in the world around you and what affects you. And you can affect that, even without being able to vote (see above methods)
• Just posting on your facebook
• “Social media can be a tool to learn to talk back, and to interact with your extended community”
• Provides safe environment for teens to make their voices heard on issues they care about.

getting involved in current issues helps

Questions:

1. Principal Question: Why should politics matter to teens?
2. Were YOU interested in politics as a teen, or younger? Why?
3. With all the shenanigans going on with the current presidential election, many people are of the opinion that politics is becoming petty and dysfunctional. Do you agree? Would you say that it's different on a local level? What are some key differences between voting for a president and voting for a state senator or representative?
4. What can teens who are interested in these issues do to get involved?

Questions to ask normal students:

1. Have you been following the current presidential election?
1. If not, why?
2. If so, what do you think of each of the candidates?
2. Do you have any interest in local politics?
3. Name and grade

Vocab-news-lary: Blog #9

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-obama-romney-campaign-tactics-20120927,0,1823647.story

The Obama and Romney Campaigns' Respective Tactics
by Balthasar Salazari.

The Romney campaign has been promising a metamorphosis from their current, nonchalant nature to a stygian, supercharged campaign that will land their candidate in the White House. Republican strategists, however, would seem to think that starting a donnybrook wholloping Obama's image right away would be unwise. Besides seeming contemptuous, it could very well hurt Romney's image as well. Attempting to launch  a vicious ad campaign labeling Obama as a brigand with carte blanche over the country may come back to bite Romney, and we've seen very few ads of that sort.

Conversely, the Obama campaign has been lobbing many negative ads the republican candidate's way, seemingly hoping that enough anti-Romney incantations will magically change voters' minds. One ad features Romney's supposedly procrustean view of the 47% of Americans who don't pay taxes: another depicts Romney in interlocution with one of his GOP opponents, saying "I like to be able to fire people," as well as "I'm not concerned about the very poor." These ads exhibit the worst of politics and are rife with sophistries, taking many of Romney's quotes out of context.  The current Democratic outlook seems to have only vestiges of the hope and energy of the 2008 campaign.

Okay. . . so this has got to be the most biased thing I've ever read. We don't deal in opinion pieces, Balthasar. Rewrite it. Also, are you seriously actually thinking of voting for this guy?
-Autumn

Not all of us vote the way we do just to appear as cosmopolitan as possible.
-Balthasar

Shut up.
-Autumn

Blog #7: Recommendations from the textbook

The textbook gives many examples of effective, informal-sounding leads for features stories. It also gives certain guidelines:

• A lead should be concise. It shouldn't be excessively wordy or witty, but rather direct and to-the-point. Typically it should be less than 40 words.
• It should grab the reader: the purpose of a lead is to convey the main purpose of the article and make the reader want to read it.
• Be creative when writing a lead. The book lists many different examples of good leads, but what makes all of them good examples is that they are varied. Each lead (and for that matter, each article) should have its own distinctive style and flair, and should fit the story in a unique way.
• A lead is pronounced like "leed," not "led." You are not writing a piece of metal. This is VERY important.

Blog #6: Photography

http://www.pulitzer.org/files/works_images/2009/winter03.jpg


I love this picture because it is at once inspiring and disturbing. It is a crowd of children behind the fence of a high school in 2008, waiting for Senator Barack Obama to arrive. They are so eager to see him that they are pressed up against the fence, even climbing on their friends' shoulders, craning to catch a glimpse of him.

The disturbing thing about this picture is how strikingly it resembles a zombie movie. The figures are silhouetted, and their uniform outstretched limbs connote a certain sort of hunger - reminiscent of Dawn of the Dead, a little bit, especially the bright sun in the background and the shapes the shadows cast on the fence. Mrs. Hall just came by and pointed out that it looked like some old photographs of concentration camps.

I find it very interesting how Obama supporters have been typecast as a sort of mindless mass not entirely different from zombies, believing him to be a savior of sorts. And like all stereotypes, there is some truth to that - it's pictures like this that really bring that point home.

Blog #4: Feature Story Progress Blog

1. Rough Draft
   
   
   http://www.ypa.org/about_whoweare.php
   
   
   Why Should Politics Matter to Teens?
   
   
   The vast majority of teens are completely apathetic about political issues and voting. For that matter, so are the vast majority of adults. I personally plan to vote when I'm older, but right now I intend to enjoy the apathy of not-being-able-to-vote while I still can (and I think that's a popular opinion). Is that bad? Is that harmless? Why should the average teen care about something that a) they can't effect, and b) has no immediate effect upon them?
   
   
   Also: Effect that views of parents have on political views of teens
   Charlie Conellan
   Amelia Courtney
   Various other politically inclined students/alumni
   
   
   Interview Non-politically inclined people. See why politics disinterests them.
   
   
   Mr. Beliveau
   
   
   Linda Valentino (running for state senate) - ask her this question. Get the perspective of an older professional in the field of politics - probably hasn't been asked this question too often.
   http://www.lindavalentino.com/home.htm
   and I'll use that contact information you gave me.
   
   
   Interview Cynthia Dill - running for US senate. Ask her this question for same reasons as listed above, except more so.
   
   
   On the other end of the spectrum, interview Justin Chenette (running for state Rep). He has probably been asked this question incessantly, becoming involved in politics from a very young age - and I want to know why.  His name is familiar to every Thorntonite who doesn't have their head in the ground.
   
   
   You wake up every morning a half hour after your alarm. You throw your things haphazardly in a backpack, skip your breakfast, and go off to spend 6 hours at school attempting to process information your brain doesn't care to process. You come home, take a nap, procrastinate on the internet for a few hours, take a few stabs at doing homework, eat dinner, text your friends, and go to bed. Even if you're not as apathetic as this introduction is making you sound, you probably simply don't have time to care about who's president or state representative or president representative. If you're like most teenagers, you also have an extracurricular activity, family problems, or a job to worry about - not to mention that that television doesn't watch itself. Whenever you do bother to turn on the news, it's just pundits making faces at each other and presidential candidates calling each other liars. It's just like Mean Girls, but boring. Why should you, the average teen, care about politics? Maybe I should make THIS point through interviews with students. And then have Linda Valentino and Justin Chenette respond to that through their answers to the questions.
   
   
   “Because,” said Linda Valentino, current Maine state representative for District 134 and hopeful state representative, “it’s your future that we’re deciding up there.”
   When asked this question, Valentino immediately went to fetch an article from the Portland Press Herald from the recycle bin. The article detailed a vote by the University of Maine System’s board of trustees to extend the current tuition freeze (a government mandate restricting colleges from raising tuition). They did this, however, on the condition that the state provide $176 million a year for education and general operations at the University of Maine.
   Sounds boring. But as Valentino goes on to point out, what this signifies is that the money that YOU - yes, you - will have to cough up in order to continue your education is usually decided by people like Linda Valentino: elected officials, often at a state level. The only reason many University of Maine students can still afford to go this year is because of a vote from the Maine senate and house of representatives.
   Even if you don’t plan to go to college, politics still affects your life (talk about driver’s licenses, length of school year, minimum wage, # of hours you can work during school week, other stuff government affects in high school student’s life: Then move on to what affects your life after high school if you don’t go to college, or for that matter after college: taxes, ???)
   “There isn’t a thing that doesn’t affect you,” said Valentino.
   
   
   When 2009 TA graduate Justin Chenette was attending high school here, he interviewed many significant political figures on The Issue, TATV’s news and politics show. After one interview, he remembers that a woman running for office asked him his age. When he responded that he was 17, she replied, “Oh, you’re under eighteen. Your opinion doesn’t matter.”
   
   
   “As young people, we have to make ourselves heard,” said Chenette. “You need to be informed before you turn 18 - whoever you want to be, you need to figure that out at this point in your life.”
   
   
   According to the U.S. Census, the demographic of voters aged 18-29 has fallen steadily since 18-20 year-olds gained the right to vote in 1972, hitting a low in 2000. The twenty-first century, however, has seen a rise in young voters - especially in the 2008 election.
   That’s one of the remarkable things Obama did with his campaign in 2008, remarks Chenette: He made young people feel like they had a voice.
   
   
   
   -Young people do care about issues. they just need to talk about it in an engaging way. Political discourse at a teen level needs to be conversation, not just someone talking at you.
   
   
   “Having young people run for office or in leadership roles can inspire other young people to either get involved, or at least learn about the issues in their community or in their own lives.”
   
   
   The larger issue isn’t even politics. It’s about being immersed in the world around you, finding something you’re passionate about - and, if you don’t like something, changing it.
   “If young people pursue something they’re passionate about, they end up being a productive member of society.”’
   
   
   Chenette listed following ways of getting involved:
   
   
   • Volunteer/intern with campaign. Huge resume builder.
   • communication
   • leadership
   • interaction
   • Intern w/ City Hall
   • Chenette was a communications intern in high school: Even if you don’t have a direct interest in politics, there are plenty of offshoots, if you’re interested in writing, video, or any kind of media, it’s a good place to hone your abilities/start out
   • Just stay informed somehow. Just being aware of what’s going on in the world around you and what affects you. And you can affect that, even without being able to vote (see above methods)
   • Just posting on your facebook
   • “Social media can be a tool to learn to talk back, and to interact with your extended community”
   • Provides safe environment for teens to make their voices heard on issues they care about.
   
   getting involved in current issues helps
   
   
   
   Questions:
   
   
   1. Principal Question: Why should politics matter to teens?
   2. Were YOU interested in politics as a teen, or younger? Why?
   3. With all the shenanigans going on with the current presidential election, many people are of the opinion that politics is becoming petty and dysfunctional. Do you agree? Would you say that it's different on a local level? What are some key differences between voting for a president and voting for a state senator or representative?
   4. What can teens who are interested in these issues do to get involved?
   
   Questions to ask normal students:
   
   1. Have you been following the current presidential election?
   1. If not, why?
   2. If so, what do you think of each of the candidates?
   2. Do you have any interest in local politics?
   3. Name and grade

Blog #5: Death Valley officially the hottest place ever. . . again

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9541972/Death-Valley-officially-the-hottest-place-ever.html

Death Valley officially the hottest place ever. . . again
by Balthasar Salazari

Death Valley has long been known as one of the most inarable and dangerous places on the planet - an interminable landscape of desert that easily dessicates the unprepared traveler. But did you know that Death Valley's propensity for extremes is not, in fact, ubiquitous?

In 1913, the hottest outdoor temperature ever recorded,134 degrees Fahrenheit, was observed at Death Valley. But DV's presence in the record books was tragically truncated in 1922 when an observer in El Aziza, Libya recorded a temperature of 136.4 degrees.

Wrenching, I know - especially to the staunch patriot. But maintain equanimity for a moment! Because recently, meteorologists investigating the claim discovered that the weather report in Aziza in 1922 was extremely frangible, replete with systematic errors and malfunctioning equipment. That temperature was anomalously high for the climate in that area of Libya, and the type of thermometers used back then were notoriously inaccurate. The observer may just have been a bit too zealous about getting his world record.

And so investigators declared a moratorium on misinformation and deemed the 90-year old record inaccurate, saying that it "just didn't match up." And so, with camaraderie and goodwill the world record was returned to its rightful owner, the American landmark Death Valley.

Balthasar: this is awful. Seriously. It's boring, it's uninteresting, it doesn't grab the reader, it's. . . what would you say? It's a litany. It wouldn't hurt you to use the vernacular once in a while. Rewrite it or you're fired.
-Autumn

Lugubrious much?
-Balthasar

Shut up.
-Autumn

The Lorax Review - Second Draft

CONTAINS SPOILERS: Aaron Lockman Reviews Movies

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS usually contains spoilers. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

When choosing to adapt a Dr. Seuss story for the big screen, one is faced with the precarious task of taking a very simple premise and adding an entire intricate backstory. The trick, which has succeeded in some Seuss movies and failed spectacularly in others, is to make the audience believe that the backstory really was happening behind the borders of the picture book. The plot, while it must be intricate in order to fill an hour and a half, must still be simple and effective. The Cat in the Hat did not do this. Horton Hears a Who and The Lorax did (Did The Grinch Who Stole Christmas do this? Someone please tell me. I know, I know, I’m a horrible critic).

So yes. I friggin LOVED this movie. I LOVED the story of Ted, who started his search setting out to impress his true love, but ended up getting caught into an adventure for an entirely different reason. I LOVED the friendship between the Once-ler and the Lorax, and how the Once-ler’s mostly harmless intentions ended up hurting not only the earth, but his only friend. I LOVED the idea of Thneedville being an oasis of happy, prosperous ignorance in the middle of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. And for that matter, I loved the movie’s idea of apocalypse - not a matter of impending doom and quick heroics, but of what lies at the end of gradual decline and of humanity’s insane ability to avoid thinking about the uncomfortable.

I LOVED the voice cast. Danny DeVito brought a gruff charm to the Lorax that was always present in the book. Ed Helms was very good as the Once-ler, effectively portraying both a young, sarcastic, headstrong man who is always sure of his own superiority, and a sad old man who has learned from the young man’s mistakes too late. Betty White was hilarious (as always) as the witty, insane grandmother we all wish we had. Elmarie Wendel (from the wonderful old 90’s sitcom Third Rock From The Sun) was simply delicious as the Once-ler’s surly Aunt Grizelda. Jenny Slate was adorably fun as the protagonist’s nasally, shallow mother, and Taylor Swift did a surprisingly good job of providing a voice for the love interest that was both sweet and nuanced. All the other voices were certainly adequate for the film’s purposes. The only one that really irked me was Zac Efron, the voice of Ted, the protagonist. The kid was supposed to be like, what, fourteen or fifteen? Zac sounded like the ‘teenagers’ on Glee look - twenty-four at the youngest. However, it didn’t really detract from the film and you got used to it after a bit.

And if you’ve seen the trailer, you know the visuals are stunning. The thing that made them stand out, though, is that they very much preserved the Seussian style and spirit; goofy, but not schmaltzy. The Once-ler’s house, in particular, looked completely identical to its 2-D counterpart - and, more importantly, felt identical too. Many things about the film felt like that, but the things that didn’t stood out a LOT. More on that in a moment.

I loved the animals of the Truffula forest. They were the indescribably adorable comic fodder for the film. I liked that the Once-ler interacted with them more than in the book, and so was truly horrified when he indirectly forced them to leave.

HOWEVER: I sometimes felt that the animal-related comedy really went over the top. Remember how I said that visuals kept the Seussian spirit by being goofy but not schmaltzy? The comedy in the film came awfully close to that line. It danced over that line in the most irritating manner possible, like those annoying people in fifth-grade capture the flag who dance into your territory just quickly enough so that you can’t tag them.

For instance: There were scenes when the animals, in their seemingly inexhaustible cuteness, began to eat various objects that the Once-ler had brought with him, such as marshmallows and playing cards. While it was funny, it raised an unintended issue: why doesn’t that have any adverse effects? These animals have eaten only Truffula fruit their entire lives. What if there were a scene where the Humming Fish chokes on the playing card, or if the Barbaloots become sick from the marshmallows? Humans don’t just pollute by spewing gloopity-gloop into the water. There are other, simpler ways - like littering - that the film’s young audience could better relate to. Instead of using comedy for the sake of the film’s message, oftentimes it just used comedy for the sake of comedy.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “Aaron! Stop analyzing everything! It’s a children’s movie. It is meant to keep a child’s attention span, not satisfy your need for there to be a deeper meaning in everything. Ease up on it a little bit.”

And you’re kind of right. And with any other film, I would. But that is not what Dr. Seuss would want. The reason Theodore Geisel started writing children’s books is because there was (and still is) an appalling lack of juvenile literature that didn’t seek to do more than simply “keep a child’s attention span.” He wanted children to be able to think AND have fun. Which is my primary complaint with the truly awful The Cat in The Hat film. Everybody’s primary complaint, really.

But where was I?

Oh, right, things I didn’t like about The Lorax.

The musical numbers. The music wasn’t bad, per se, but it lacked any original style or flair. It just felt like the generic happy music that most children’s films have these days. Some musical numbers were placed effectively throughout the film in a way that moved the story forward, and some were not (more on that later).

The marketing surrounding the movie. I mean, seriously? The Lorax is selling SUV’s? That is completely deplorable. BUT, that’s not the people making the movie. That is Hollywood being complete jerks. So I’m willing to waive that criticism.

To effectively explain the thing that irked me most about this movie, I must first explain three things: a) My favorite scene, b) my second favorite scene, and c) how my second favorite scene quickly descended into my least favorite after about sixty seconds.

My favorite scene came towards the beginning of the film. In it, Ted is trying to find the exit to the high metal barricade that separates Thneedville from the rest of the world so he can try and find the Once-ler. He does so by opening an imposing steel door in the side of the wall, which takes him into a huge cavern where gooey black schloppity-schlopp from the city’s machinery is being emptied into a canal, flowing to the outside. The sight is horrifying - particularly to Ted, who has never seen anything outside the safe little bubble of his world.

But that’s nothing compared to what Ted discovers outside the wall, on the threshold of the outside world. Off to the horizon, he can see nothing but barren purple soil and smog, as well as ruins - of a stone roadway, of an old bridge. Riding along at top speed on his bright red motor-scooter-mono-cycle-segway-thingy-I-want-one-really-bad, he nearly kills himself running into the dark, looming remains of an abandoned Super-Axe Hacker.

This was the sequence that defined the movie for me. By showing Ted escaping from his perfect world and finding a horrible, mysterious truth that he can’t believe he never knew about, this movie took a very simple, effective environmental message and used it to create a stunning, disturbing, hypothetical, dystopian future. As with all good modern dystopian fiction, there were echoes of 1984 and Farenheit 451 in there. The Lorax shows us a society not unlike our own, were the happy people of Thneedville live fake, plastic lives - not caring about where their products come from, or where their waste goes, or whether or not their society is sustainable. Ted, by discovering the wasteland outside, discovers that the Thneedvillites’ commercialist utopia can’t be achieved without first destroying everything around it. And that is what truly hits home for me, because that is simply our society taken to an extreme.

My second favorite scene is at the very end of the movie. Ted, Audrey, and Betty-White-Crazy-Grammy have just toppled the statue of Aloysius O’Hare and whacked a hole in the artificial turf in the middle of Thneedville town square, and are trying to plant the Truffula seed in the ground for it to grow. The people of the town are understandably confused and miffed, and start to circle our gang of heroes to stop them. But before they can, Ted climbs up on a nearby bulldozer and proceeds to knock down a portion of the city wall, exposing the desolate outside world for the whole population to see.

And I LOVE that. It’s a perfect way to expand the point Seuss made in his books; that the Lorax is not the one who is going to fix things. He merely speaks for the trees; he cannot act for them. We are the ones who must help the Earth, and the ones who must spread that awareness.

Ted gives an impassioned speech, pointing out that everything is not, in fact, perfect in Thneedville and that their society is based on a lie, etc., etc. That’s all good, but THEN the movie takes a turn for the bad. The townspeople stare in shock at the barren landscape for a moment, and instead of exclaiming “Um. . . WHY is there a desolate barren landscape outside the city? What does this mean?” they immediately launch into a musical number about how they feel like they should give the Truffula seed a chance to grow. They’re not horrified or angry or even surprised. They just launch into their Disney-esque musical number, with the bad guy Aloysius O’Hare being publicly embarrassed (via slapstick comedy) but not really punished in any effective way. All the people of Thneedville are suddenly hunky-dory, despite the complete economic and social upheaval that the ousting of O’Hare will cause. Many jobs in the city rely on O’Hare - and now that they know he’s a greedy dirtbag, will they still buy air from him? Will he go broke, like the Once-ler did? If so, the people of Thneedville are doomed because he kind of seems to have a monopoly on the bottled air industry. And one Truffula tree in the middle of town just can’t produce enough oxygen for everyone.

I am not defending the actions of Aloysius O’Hare. I am merely pointing out that, in the words of John Green, “The truth resists simplicity.” Having a complete, abrupt, simplistic turnaround as its ending diminished the positive impact of the film on me. But I LOVED the epilogue, which featured the old and scraggly Once-ler finally leaving his Lerkim and looking out into a world that is still barren, but filled with hope in the form of hundreds of small Truffula buds. And the Lorax and all his friends start to come back, and the Lorax and the Once-ler reunite, and I get chills! It is the constant contrast between amazing scenes and stupid scenes that frustrates me when watching this movie.

But the truth is that I’m coming up on 2000 words and I’ve mentioned 80% of what I didn’t like and about 50% of what I did. And that’s the final thing that I like about The Lorax: that it promotes conversation. There is so much more to say about this film - and I encourage you to do so! If you agree/disagree with anything I’ve said or have opinions of your own about this movie, please feel free to continue the conversation with me by email (aaron.lockman13@thorntonacademy.org), Twitter (@TheLockperson), Tumblr (Lockmusings), or in person (do I need parentheses for this?). Or just talk/write/blog about it yourself! You don’t need me.

Because, as the Once-ler points out, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” Caring about and talking about and discussing these things is the first step in making our world a better place, and there are so few movies that encourage us to do that these days. And that, in the end, is why I approve of The Lorax - and why I think that Dr. Seuss would have, too.