Blog 10. Reconstruction Era

I believed reconstruction was a transitional period after the Civil War, they were trying to restored government in the U.S. But in my opinion it backfire because the Democratic took over local governments and other establishments. They control the US for a while because they were controlling the government, the KKK and Red Shirts took over the National Guard because they knew they had connections with the Government.

Blog 8. Media Saves the Beach idea

What ideas do you have for Media Saves the Beach? What content interests you? What projects might you create?
For Media Saves the Beach I think I'll be interested in doing an photo ans the artist statement. I think it will be fun cause I really like to expressing my ideas through photography.

Blog 7. Final Photo and Artist Statement

Indpendent

“I feel like I’m strong because I was capable to raise my girls. I feel very independent.” This is words of. Cristina Alvarado, or like who I like to call Mama or Mami, has showed me throughout the years that single moms are strong and can be very independent. Being a parent is hard enough, but being single is much more complicated, but my mom has fought against all odds.

She came from Mexico when she was 19 years. When she arrived she enrolled in school to learn English during the day, and worked as a janitor at the Police Department at night. At school she met my dad and got married, soon after they had my sister. Three years later they had me. Seven years into their marriage they decided to get a divorce. I was too small to understand what was going on. I was only three years old.

We had to move closer to my grandma so my mom could work full time and my grandma could take care of us. My mom had to work extra hard and yet she had time to volunteer at my school, take us to Girl Scouts, and drama classes. After a couple of years my mom got pregnant and when my little sister was born she was diagnosed with the Turner Syndrome. I felt horrible and so did my sister and family, but my mom was the one that kept us together and told us that everything was going to be alright. She said she felt bad and guilty. She recently told me, “I had to be stronger because I had to confront the situation and make the best of it.” Her optimism is also something I admire about her too.

She has been put in situations that have forced her to make hard decisions. In a regular husband-wife relationship they have each other to lean on, but with a single mother they don’t have that. Single moms have to make those decisions alone and worry if they’re making the wrong ones. There were so many things she did that shaped my principals. She has taught me wrong from right, good and bad, but the most important thing is that she has given us the best example of what strong women are. Her story is one that anyone can relate to, I know I can. Now when things get though in life I don’t go crying to my mom and asking her for help. I remember when I was small and someone had punched me or taking my doll I would go crying to my mom asking for help, but now I really feel independent, I can solve my own problems

When I look back and see everything my mom has done I get so inspired. All her actions have affected me because whatever choices she makes, she always makes them thinking about my sisters and me. When I was small I always said I wanted to like my mom, because she puts her children before her and for me that’s what a mom should be. I hope that when I grow up and have my own kids I can pass on the message that women are strong, independent and that being single and alone shouldn’t make you feel less.

There are millions and millions of women that are in the same situation that she is in and are struggling day to day When my sisters and I grow up and we are struggling we can look back and see how my mom surpassed everything and see that we can go through anything. She has made us stronger

Blog 6. American Icon Reflection

1.In this project I realized that when I first write I just put all my ideas in paper. After many drafts I start to organized them and put them in order to make them more clearer. I also learned that I'm pretty bad at extending my ideas. I had trouble making my writing exactly one page.

2.One technique I tried to incorporate was the Concert, not pancakes. I tried to grab the attention by starting the statement with a quote, and in the end I finish by using a strong statement(She has made us stronger). Another technique I tried to use was was creating a relationship with the audience. I did this by giving personal experiences and relating them too other ideas.

3.If I had time to do one more draft I would first correct my grammar errors, then I'll connect more to me. I put some personal experience in the writing but I think I could have done better. For example I could put some ideas about my sisters and what they think about my mom.

4. One quote I like from my essay is "When I look back and see everything my mom has done I get so inspired." I like this quote because I think it sums up everything and the message in one sentence.

Photo

Blog 5. Critique/ Second Draft

From the feedback I got was that I need to include more how my mom affects me in the present. Also to not just talk about my mom and her struggles but to explain how she overcame then, like who inspired her.

Second Draft

“I feel like I’m strong because I was capable to raise my girls. I feel very independent.” Those are the true words of a good single parent. Cristina Alvarado, or like who I like to call Mama or Mami, has showed me throughout the years that single moms are strong and can be very independent. Being a parent is hard enough, but being single is much more complicated, but my mom has fought against all odds.

She came from Mexico when she was 19 years old with her brother and my grandma. When she arrived she enrolled in school to learn English during the day, and worked as a janitor at the Police Department at night. She mentioned that not knowing English was a struggle and admits that it still is. At school she met my dad and got married, soon after they had my sister. By then my mom had stopped going to school. Three years later they had me. Seven years into their marriage they decided to get a divorce. I was too small to understand what was going on. I was only three years old. We had to move closer to my grandma so my mom could work full time and my grandma could take care of us. My mom had to work extra hard and yet she had time to volunteer at my school, take us to Girl Scouts, and drama classes. After a couple of years my mom got pregnant and when my little sister was born she was diagnosed with the Turner Syndrome. I felt horrible and so did my sister and family, but my mom was the one that kept us together and told us that everything was going to be alright. She said she felt bad and guilty. She recently told me, “I had to be stronger because I had to confront the situation and make the best of it.” Her optimism is also something I admire about her because I think that if other people were like her and thought the same way that she does then the world could be a better place. She has been put in situations that have forced her to make hard decisions. In a regular husband-wife relationship they have each other to lean on, but with a single mother they don’t have that. Single moms have to make those decisions alone and worry if they’re making the wrong ones.

There were so many things she did that shaped my principals. She has taught me wrong from right, good and bad, but the most important thing is that she has given us the best example of what strong women are.

There are millions and millions of women that are in the same situation that she is in and are struggling day to day. My mom is a good example of someone going against the odds and, in my opinion, to the day is doing a pretty good job. When my sisters and I grow up and we are struggling we can look back and see how my mom surpassed everything and see that we can go through anything. She has made us stronger. But not just my sisters and I can look up to her; anyone in the world that is going through a similar situation can too.

Blog 4.. Photo Techniques

One technique I think its interesting is the rule of Thirds because your eyes go straight to one thing.


Macro photography I think is interesting because it catches a moment in life that not a lot of people get to witness because of how small it is, like an unknown moment in life.

I like this picture because it has the combination of the rule of Thirds and reflection. I definitely like the reflection technique because I feel it gives more interest to the picture.

Blog 3. American Icon Resources

The Climb: Miley Cyrus
1.

The song with the lyrics.
2. Interview with my sister of how she feels when she hears the song.

Mom:
1.Interview:
her experience of coming to U.S.A. her coencerns and worries and how she overcame them.
2.Picture
of when she first moved here.

Blog 2. Icons Ideas

1. What does this Icon represent to you? Why?
2. Who and what was important to this Icon? Why?
3. How did this Icon become important in American culture?
4. How did this Icon become important to you?
5. Who and what did this Icon inspire?



Stephanie Meyer is the author of the Twilight series. In June 2, 2003 Stephanie woke up and remember a dream she had about a girl and a vampire. She wrote it down and soon it became a book. She had three more installments after twilight. When I read Twilight it open doors that i didn't know even existed. I had always though that reading was boring and after Twilight I started reading more because I thought it was interesting how you can go read and step into a different world that someone else invented and made up. I think that's interesting how one dream inspire her to make 4 books.

My mom has inspired me as a woman because she had showed me that a single woman can raise 3 girls. She came from Mexico when she was 17 years old with her mom (grandma). She didn’t know any English and then she met my dad. Then she had my sister and me and left school. After 6 or 7 years they divorced. She had to work full time and we had to move closer to my grandma so she could take care of us when my mom went to work. She sacrifice herself to provide for us, she pause her life for us. She enrolled me and my sister in Girl Scouts and she always volunteer to go to school field trips. Then she had my little sister. She had struggle a lot but that hasn’t stopped her. She has show me that even with a lot against her, she had the language barrier and people trying to put her down but that didn’t stop her. So many women around the the world had to go through that, so I think my mom is one of those people that don't let those people effect her. When my little sister was diagnose with Turner syndrome we were all sad and scare for my little sisters life but my mom was the one that kept us calm and told us that everything was going to be alright, she also took very good take care of my sister when she had her kidney taken out. She has kept us strong through and i Know that i can go with her for anything i need.

The Climb Miley Cyrus

The Clmb is song that has teach me that life is hard but you need to learn to deal with hurdles in life and not let it get it to you. It’s such an inspirational song that has taught and inspired me never to give up. The Climb is a song that was written for The Hannah Montana Movie in 2009, its one of the most emotional song I have heard because I think a lot of people can relate to it because its such common and simple emotion that everyone goes through almost on a daily base. For example last week I was in a situation that I wasn’t sure I was capable and had the strength to go through. But when I heard the song I made me cry and it made me realize that I’m strong. Thats the message anyone can figure out when the hear but really hear it and analysis it.

Blog 1. Junior Year

For my Junior year I would like to gain as much knowledge as I can, analyzing everything with more thought. My mom always told me to take advantage of education while I'm still young. She wants me to succeed and that motivates me. One of my goals for this year is to be less shy and start seeing things in a deeper way, in another way get new set of eyes. What I hope to to accomplish for Humanities this year is to get an "A" because last year I had a "B" on Humanities and I could have done better so this year I'm applying myself more.