1. A True Distraction Done By Donald Trump

>>Link To The Video<<

It is a common opinion of the public today, that as a country, America has some serious issues to take care of. It is true and Donald Trump, a famous business man, TV personality, and author also agrees. The thing is, I believe he is the biggest distraction to the public currently by giving too many unnecessary yet outrageous reasons to the main media to cover about his rambles.
First of all, Donald Trump is a celebrity who is very well known but at the same time, his statements are very useless to keep the public informed. Only information that Trump allows the public to know is that he is a horrible joke of the politics today.
In the presented clip, Trump constantly states that he is proud of making Obama show his birth certificate. Yet, he also says that we have no time for this and hopes that this topic of the president's birth certificate calms down. But everyone knows that Trump is the one who caused this commotion, contributing help to republicans who are raising the questions about the birth certificate among public. At the end, with all that considered, Trump's statement became very unreasonable and weak. His statements clearly did not worth other's time and it is distracting the public and the president himself.
Currently, Donald Trump has no chance at the election at all and all he is doing is a clown show while the circus tent is on fire.
I really hope the main media stops enlarging this problem and stops giving Trump the attention his ego craves for. Obama presented his long term birth certificate so he can end all this silly commotion, not to extend the problems.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

During 1950's the practice of segregation have invaded the public life of Americans and even regarding education. The segregation was legally allowed under the doctrine of "equal but separate."
Not everything changed after the decision of Brown v. Board of Education, but the way schools were run in the South changed. I believe if a society want to change in the long run, education must change and I believe this court case was almost as liberating as the Thirteen Amendment. This was a major step to rejecting discrimination and Plessy v. Ferguson ruling and accepting public equality.

Miller v. California

 Marvin Miller, sent five unsolicited brochures by mail to a restaurant which advertised four adult book titles and an adult movie. The material included sexual languages, photographs and art work of men and women in a sexual activity. The manager of the restaurant and his mother complained to the police, and Miller was convicted of violating a California statute which prohibited the distribution of obscene and inappropriate material.
Miller claimed that California's definition of obscenity conflicted the definition of obscenity of the U.S. Supreme Court and that he should be allowed to spread adult materials, because it is allowed by the first Amendment of freedom of speech. He believed that his conviction should be overturned.

The court ruled that adult materials did not apply to the First Amendment. The court sampled the test for obscenity decided in Roth v. United States and Memoirs v. Massachusetts.

The court stated that one must apply contemporary community standards, appeal to the prurient interest, apply the state law and must have serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

This decision stated that material can be judged by the public not the presenter only and this case gave a new detail to the first amendment. I think the ruling was fair because adult or offensive materials can be harmful to the society, causing conflicts.

This decision does not respect every single freedom but it respects the majority and the public.

Plessy v. Ferguson

 On June 7 of 1892, a 30 year old Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the white car of the East Louisiana Railroad as one-eighths black and seven-eighths white person. Under the Louisiana law, Plessy was considered  colored and was forced by law to sit in the colored section of the car.
He went to the court and argued that the Separate Car Act was a violation of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The thirteenth abolished the slavery and fourteenth which granted citizen ships for the freed slaves.
 The lawyer of the case, John Howard Ferguson was the lawyer who declared the Separate Car Act. This time, he ruled that the state could choose to regulate the railroad companies that operated within Louisiana only. He found Plessy guilty of refusing to leave the white car, then he appealed to the Supreme Court. However, he was found guilty once again because the fourteenth amendment was to give full rights to both white and black races but not to abolish the distinction of two races and the previous law was not established to discriminate either race. I personally found that statement aggravating but funny at the same time. It sounds so hypocritical and ironic. How can a distinction of color of skin can not be discriminating? How can separating them give people equality? Segregation clearly was a continuing discrimination in America.
These links presents summary and more about this case: infoplease, bgsu.edu

The decision allowed segregation as long as they were equal. The doctrine of "separate but equal" took over the public life of Americans in restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public schools.
However, in 1954, the Brown v. Board of Education decision will strike down the "separate but equal" doctrine.

United States v. Nixon

Watergate scandal was a great national shame. In June of 1972,  five burglars were arrested inside the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. It appeared that the five men worked either directly or indirectly for the committee for re-election of president Nixon. However, the president and his campaign leaders denied their connection with the incident, although in 1973, it became clear in the investigation that the top members of Nixon administration were definitely involved. They were involved in a cover-up of the break in and several other illegal actions. Also, it appeared that Nixon installed a taping system which automatically recorded his conversation with his advisers.
A prosecutor demanded to present the tape at the court, but Nixon refused to release them, saying that they were protected under executive privilege. He eventually released some of the tapes after some of the portions were erased. Another prosecutor asked the Supreme Court to compel Nixon to release all of the tapes.

The court ruled unanimously that the president must surrender the tapes. I think that the decision is very fair, considering that the executive branch is a separate branch from the judicial branch. There for, the president has no power over the court and is not an exception from the law.
In the fifth amendment, it says that no person shall be deprived of liberty without due process and the sixth amendment states that every defendant in a criminal trial has the right to be confronted with the witness against him and to have compulsory process for obtaining witness in his favor. The president has no right to turn these away despite his power.
These links present the case in a very simple way: infoplease, 4lawschool

This case is incredible because it showed the clear separation of the executive branch and the judicial branch. Despite the fact that the president is the head of the country, Nixon could not get away from what he did, being a dishonest leader of a country like America. Nixon became the first president in the United States' history to resign from the presidency. Nixon did so to avoid impeachment and conviction of the Senate.
Despite his great foreign policies and relationships, Richard Nixon will be remembered for something else, the most dishonest president of America.

Roe v. Wade, a change of lives.

This is a video that is shown in our government class. This case is not only about whether a fetus' faith is controlled or not, but in the other hand, a woman's right. As a woman myself, I would say that the ruling of the case is rather a very essential to the modern society. The ruling changed the law of the toughest law in the nation regarding abortion of a woman. The striking point is that even if the woman was raped or was a victim of incest, she could not get an abortion in Texas.On January 22th, 1973, abortion was legalized in Texas, allowing women to get abortion during the first three months of their pregnancy.
I believe this was a fair because ever since the law was made, I believe big numbers of women got a second chance after their mistake and living better life. Also, many of the rape and incest victims were now allowed to end unwanted pregnancy caused by a crime. It appears from this link that since 1973 when this law was established, there has been about 39 million abortions since then. Who will take care of all these children? The unprepared parents? Can that addition to the population really be safe to the society? It is hard to admit but in a realistic point of view, I can not help but to say that the legalization of abortion benefited the society as a whole. To add more, a research presented by John Donohue and Steven Levitt shows that the legalization of abortion reduced the crime rate and they said that the unwanted babies lead to crimes in future.

The Out Come of the Show

today, I want to talk about the turn out of the art show, Inelegant Expression. The show me and fellow artists and musicians worked on for so many days; and how can I forget the parents who spend around 400 dollars for the show by renting tents and helping us print the art works. After two days of showing, we succeed to earn about $1000 for Japan. It was an unbelievable outcome for all of us. I was happy to see that everyone's hard work payed off.

To summarize the days of the shows, first, right after school on the Friday before, I started working. Ted, Alex and I went around our houses picking up materials and art works and then went to FedEx to print. For 6 hours, we were in FedEx printing and cutting papers. By the end of the day, around 12 o' clock, we were exhausted and grumpy. I did not forget to hang the "No Parking" sign at the gallery late at night.
I came home and got 4 hours of sleep and then started working again around six in the morning. I printed out the information tags for the art works and the artists which is essential for art shows what so ever. My printer kept messing up so it took me a while to fix everything up. Ted came over around eight to help me put the art works on the ready-to-go panel together. While my mom made some coffee for two of us, we hustled and Ted made a mistake by putting Laurel's abstract work up side down. After panicking a bit, I just put it the right way. After putting the art work on, as I hate to say, I started to order around Ted and my father to move the things into the car while I made sure everything was set and ready to go. That was stressful minutes since I never ordered people around so much before. I felt horrible despite the fact that I was the "director."

Ted and I drove down to the gallery and met up with other project members and parents. We had no time to waste; everyone started to move things out of their vehicles and started to set everything up. The tents were the big problem. They were big and no one was used to setting up the type of tents we had. So it took us a while to set it up and we were 20 minutes late from starting the show which was a big bummer to me. In the morning, not many people went by. I was starting to get worried. "What if no one comes?" "What if this show becomes a joke?" Many questions and paranoia appeared in my mind. However, around lunch time, people started to show up before or after they had their meal at Chow's which was right across the street from us. That is when we started to earn a lot of money. Baked goods were selling fast and musicians were getting a lot of tips in their jar. Many intrigued people showed up and walked slowly by the art tent. We sold out of our prints really fast so we had to write down customer's name and address in order to send it to them later after the show.
During this busy hours, I sold my painting to a gentleman for $100 despite the fact that it was not on sale. The thing is, he really liked the painting and really wanted to have it. So we shook hands and I said, "For Japan."
After our first day of the show, I went on and started printing more art works that we needed, and got ready for the next day. Which was not as hectic as the day before since all of us were not so unfamiliar with dealing with customers.

The second day was all about seeing new opportunities as many impressed adults came with a lot of interest in us. One gentlemen, who was in charge of the summer artist market wanted to know if we were interested in having our own booth at the market. He gave us his business card and all of us are definitely considering the event. Also, an elderly lady came by and asked me if she can buy my painting of the moon, "Unexplainable Anxieties." She wanted to know the original price and wanted me to paint her portrait which was a great honor to me. I never got an offer for a commission before so I was happily shocked.  I also met up with my third space mentor Alan Chin to talk about how the show is going in general. He showed us support and had few good conversation with all the kids which went very well.

By the end of the day, we could not believe the amount of money we managed to collect. Everybody was proud of each other and to all of us, it was a great event of our lives. Doing something on our own like this to help a foreign country in a great need, I think it is the most humble thing I have ever done.
This show changed the way I think of my passion. Now, I want to use my passion for art not just for living but for other people; To save and help people around the world. I am definitely looking out for more opportunities to have more shows like this, where young artists can show their best works and take chances.
I would say the show was a greater success than any one could have imagined, and I would love to do it again.

Another Earthquake That Changed The World

Part I: A modern economic super power, Japan's future was about to be changed at a greater scale than any one could imagine. March 11^th of 2011, an earthquake measured 9.0 struck the Pacific Ocean, generating a massive tsunami which struck the northeastern prefectures of Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi, wiping the entire area. The earthquake was so powerful that it even moved the island of Japan by eight feet and shifted the Earth's axis by 4 inches. The earthquake not only triggered big fires but left five million homes lacking source of electricity and one million homes with no water. There are more than 5,0000 houses destroyed. Nearly every businesses and jobs in the area are destroyed, school is shutdown and the future of all the family of this area is uncertain. Evacuee and homeless shelters are running out of space, clothes, food, water, and more needs for the big masses of people who are in great need of help. The death toll is believed to be about 25,000 while about 14,000 people are still missing; however the numbers are changing constantly with people racing to find survivors. Even after the major earthquake, there were hundreds of aftershock with a magnitude larger than 6.0 or even 7.0, causing non-stopping fear to the people. On top of this great burden, Japan is also facing a new danger of damaged nuclear power plant. Out of six nuclear power reactors, at Japan's Fukushima plant complex, was made to with stand earthquake of 8.2 magnitude, not enough to stand against the earthquake which disabled three of the reactors' backup cooling system. The disability of the reactor caused explosion after another. The workers stayed at the plant to try reducing the damage risking their own lives. Nearby residents were ordered to evacuate and even residents in Tokyo were told to evacuate the area. Japan relied on nuclear power for source of electricity generation, although the people are still sensitive to the nuclear hazard issue due to the atomic bombing in World War II. It is not a surprise that the Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan has called this national obstacle, the country's “Worst Crisis” since World War II. The Japanese citizens across the nation is not only concerned but enraged at the government especially regarding the radiation danger. Majority of the citizens believe the Japanese government is not revealing enough information about this nuclear threat to the people. In Tokyo, government was sending out mixed messages saying that the amount of radiation is not likely to be harmful but to stay inside as much as possible. Many people are fleeing out of Tokyo, mainly women and children to avoid the chaos, believing the the government is only drip-feeding selective information; to them, because of the fear of radiation, even breathing air was suspicious. In other hand, people are trying to reduce chaos among the common people as much as possible since Japan is a very earthquake pron country and people are educated to stay calm together.

Part II: Right as the disaster happened, U.S reached out to help. President Obama said he was “heartbroken” and pledged that the U.S. will do everything they can to help Japan. As part of the aid, U.S. military force mobilized to help with searching and rescuing the survivors, and general recovery. U.S. Navy has dispatched three aircraft carriers to Japan and American charities' relief teams are on the way. After all, Japan is a key ally of U.S. in Asia and U.S. do have military bases in Japan. Meanwhile, many American citizens are also in fear worried about the same possible scenario that could happen in main land. First, the damage in Santa Cruz and Hawaii showed that this is not just another country's problem, but global. As an earthquake pron state, there is an increasing fear in Californian of the same degree of earthquake and tsunami. Americans are staring to ask: “Are we ready for this type of disaster that even damaged one of the leading, high technological country like Japan?” Not only that, the nuclear plant emergency have raised many questions about America's use of nuclear power. Obama administration have been trying to reassure the public that the U.S. Nuclear plants are safe and there is no harm of radiation coming from Japan's disabled nuclear plant. The disaster in Japan gave new powerful ammunition to the critics of Obama and his nuclear power project. There are about 100 commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S. and quarter of them are the same type as those in Fukushima. Also, some of the reactors including two in California are vulnerable to both earthquakes and tsunamis which raised many concerns regarding safety even among experts. However the administration have stated that they are trying to speed constructing the nuclear power facilities for source of alternative energy other than carbon dioxide and gases. The White House spokesman Jay Carney have assured that the administration will incorporate lessons from the tragedy in Japan. Meanwhile, many businesses are in a dilemma as majority of manufactures in Japan are shut down; businesses such as technology and automobile do rely on parts from Japan. Also, the damaged manufacturing of automobile is affecting the American automobile industry at a great deal as many Americans drive Japanese cars such as Honda and Toyota. This is the proof that America is interrelated with Japan in many different ways.

Part III: President Obama have stated: “The United States stands ready to help the Japanese people in this time of great trial.” He is encouraging his citizens to help Japan in a subtle way during this recession. His aid by military and more was enough and I just hope that it is consistent. 

Through out the year in my economic and government class, there is a clear reason why I enjoyed the class everyday; that is because Mr. McAlister did not forget to remind us what is going on around the world and what is influencing our economy and our own government. By this way, I learned the fact that any thing that happens on earth will sooner or later, will affect the whole planet including United States. No one is alone in this biosphere and that is why the Inelegant Expression crew and I did not hesitate to choose International Red Cross as our choice of charity, one of the leading organization for helping Japan. During this kind of recession, I do not think there is a lot to be done by Americans for Japan. However, the government must keep encouraging people to help our ally and consider Japan as our big lesson; it is a lesson that teaches the whole world: even if a country is an advanced with a strict building codes, fast warning systems and 8,800 miles of seawalls and breakwaters as preparation for natural disaster, at the end, there is a limit; that is why we must prepare even more and make sure the possible future damage is reduced. At first, community service was just another burden to the crew and I. We organized a non-profit student art show so we can get graded for school; there were no strong passion involved yet. However, right when we were deciding where to donate our money to, the disaster hit Japan. Seeing horrifying images of waves of debris with houses on fire and a fireman crying looked almost alien to us. As kids who mostly grew up in a peaceful suburbia, it was hard to imagine what kind of pain and calamity the Japanese people are going through half way across earth. By then, the project was not another school related work, it was a duty to all of us as another human beings living in the same world. Another factor that moved me through out the project is the people who were so willing to help Japan through us by giving us extra donation. Many visitors at the show have told us how scared and sad they are at the same time. Some lady even said “That could be us any day.” At the end of the two day show, we earned about $1000 for Japan and we are set on sending exactly $1000 check to the Red Cross, the leading charity that took the earliest action to help Japan. After the show, many students including me felt that that was one of the most fulfilling thing we ever did in our lives so far and I definitely want to do more with my passion for art to help people around the world. It is a very humble idea to use your passion for something that is so meaningful. I think Japan has hope despite this darkness. I know Japan will re-build the country as if this disaster never happened. Just within two generations of World War II, Japanese reconstructed their country from a mess to a dynamic and innovative Asian leader of the world. I believe if they have done it before, they can do it again. I hope that the Japanese people find peace in their mind during this world wide chaos.

Citation:

"Disaster Alert: Earthquake in Japan, Tsunami Warnings." American Red Cross Disaster Newsroom. 11 Mar. 2011. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. <http://newsroom.redcross.org/2011/03/11/disaster-alert-earthquake-in-japan-tsunami-warnings/>.

"Focus On: Japan's Earthquake and Nuclear Crisis (Research Feature)." World News Digest. Facts On File News Services, Mar. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. <http://www.2facts.com/article/r00151>.

"Editorial Opinion: Record Earthquake Strikes Northern Japan, Triggering Devastating Tsunami; Struggle to Contain Radiation at Damaged Nuclear Power Plant." World News Digest. Facts On File News Services, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. <http://www.2facts.com/article/e00518>.

"Record Earthquake Strikes Northern Japan, Triggering Devastating Tsunami; Struggle to Contain Radiation at Damaged Nuclear Power Plant." Facts On File World News Digest: n. pag. World News Digest. Facts On File News Services, 17 Mar. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. <http://www.2facts.com/article/2011540241>.

Tapper, Jake, and Luis Martinez. "Obama Administration Reacts to Japanese Earthquake; Braces for Pacific Tsunami." Political Punch. ABC News, 11 Mar. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. <http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/03/-obama-administration-reacts-to-japanese-earthquake-braces-for-pacific-tsunami.html>.

The Week Before the Show.

As our show date gets closer and closer, I become more and more aware of how far I have come to making this show possible.
So far, Kailey and I have created a facebook page to promote our show and it has been quite successful. So far according to facebook, we have 94 confirmed guests, but it does not necessarily mean that all of them will show up. I remember from my last year's experience when I was part of Hayden's small art show at the frame store. Many people said that they will come, but half of them did not show up and hopefully, it is different this time.

Since our poster has been finalized, Kailey, Natalie, Ted, Alex and I have been going around town asking for permission to put our poster up. Places that are owned by corporations such as Safeway, Peet's Coffee, McCaulou's and more refused but all of them were impressed by the fact that we are only students and we are doing something like this. We were allowed to put our posters up at most of the local businesses around Lafayette.
The funniest thing was, we actually got a nerve to walk into the Round-Up Bar where we were laughed by mostly middle aged men. I asked if we could our posters up, posted three, and left as quick as possible.
I did not forgot to stop by the Gallery and drop off one.

Kailey, who was in charge of renting the tent is taking a while, but it seems like there is a storage problem. but we are very certain that we will get the tent at least by Friday, and it will be about 75 dollars. She is making me a little nervous since Friday is the day right before the show but I will keep my fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, Ted got us on the Lamorinda Patch! And it is a mystery, but some how, we ended up on the school bulletin also, I will check tomorrow if it was Ms. Taylor who has been very supportive of our show.

I have been going around school, inviting many of our favorite teachers. It seems like Acalanes has a strict posting rules so I was only allowed to post on the hallway bulletin boards. I will not complain but it was something different than what I expected; but that was my best effort to promote the show at school where most of our audience is from.

It seems like we are a bit confused on the printing of our art works. Everyone has a different plan and it is very disorganized. I will figure it out tomorrow when Kailey comes to school. She has been absent for past few days.

Television Ad: Citizens Against Government Waste

Donate to help end wasteful deficit spending at www.cagw.org. This new ad is part of an ongoing communications program in CAGW's decades-long fight against wasteful government spending, increased taxes, out-of-control deficit spending, and a crippling national debt that threatens the future and survival of our country.

I was watching television with my mom and came across this very irrational advertisement. This ad basically demonizes China to provoke nationalism to get their point across that the government spending will soon lead to end of the "Great Civilization," America. I found this very offensive because this ad will not get their point across but offend a large portion of the public. It is a similar opinion I have about the Hitler-Obama poster people.

Did Obama violate the Constitution with Libya military action?

As Ghadafi's ruling in Libya triggered many other countries, the U.S. joined France, Britain and Canada to defeat the oppressive regime. United States continues to be involved in missile strikes to establish no fly zone and it is unsure so far how far this battle or perhaps war will last.

While this is continuing, many American's question is: "Was Obama's decision constitutional?" It is a fact that in the constitution, congress must approve when it comes to declaring war as a president. 

The Constitution itself doesn't answer the question, because it gives Congress authority "to raise and support Armies," "to provide and maintain a Navy," and "to declare War." But it also provides that, "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States."
Congress has formally declared war only five times in U.S. history -- for the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, and World Wars I and II. But presidents have approved dozens of military actions with no such declaration, including the Korean conflict and the war in Vietnam. 
Some legal scholars conclude that President Obama violated the law's requirements, when he failed to seek congressional approval.
"Judging just from the pictures of what we are seeing happening on the ground, this is quite substantial, and this is the sort of thing that would have needed Congressional approval," said Professor Oona Hathaway of Yale Law School, an expert on executive power and international law.
While the president has stressed the international component of the operation, she believes that makes no difference. "The fact that the Security Council has authorized an imposition of a no-fly zone does not answer the constitutional questions," she said.
But one former official who advised President George W. Bush said that while the decision to deploy U.S. forces in the Libyan operation was a political and strategic mistake, it's entirely legal.
"Congress raises and supports the military, but the president is the commander. Declaring war and making war are two different functions. There's no question President Obama has the authority to do what he did," the official said, asking that his name not be used.

I think it is unsure so far whether if we can clearly define this a war or not. Meanwhile, Obama have stated that he will had over the command of the military intervention in Libya to allies within days or weeks; however, the media believes that it will be delayed.

The Final Product For The Poster

 

 Ted, a member of the project who is very skilled with photoshop has been helping me with designing our poster. I final edited the poster, and above is our finalized poster!

I spend all my time after school until I went to bed to finish this poster since we have shorter time to promote our show now. Ted did the background, which is a collage of one of each artists' art work and I did the text which I had a hard time fitting and wording all the information. I was really happy when I was done and I think the poster is very good looking.

All the members of the project accepted the poster. The poster will be printed so we can spread around the area including our school.

Today, I went around Lafayette looking for a place for printing service. I found Allegro Printing & Copy where I was offered 15 cents for each sheets; and I needed 200 sheets.

It cost about 30 dollars but I think that was a good deal. I did hear later that Kinko's has a better deal, which was 10 cents; I said to myself, "why didn't I thought of Kinko's?!"

The flyers should be ready by tomorrow morning so I can pick them up on my way to school. I am very excited to start putting them around. It is a mini stardom for all of us involved in this show.

And hopefully, this poster would be significantly affective for our promotion.

Meeting With The Gallery Ladies

Last Wednesday, Kailey and I were invited to meet the gallery ladies at the venue.
I went through the front parking lot where the show is supposed to be held. I pictured where the band, art tents and baking sale/cashier table would be set up; and I smiled with excitement.

As I walked in, Kailey and the gallery ladies were waiting for me. They happily greeted me we got some chairs to sit down. I had my print out of the show information in my hand and we basically went over what the students went over with me. They were okay with all the plans we presented which was very nice.
We talked mostly about our equipments: tents, tables, chairs, power and etc.

The gallery already owned two tents and a big table and they were willing to let us use.
We already had tables but they said we could just use theirs since that could be more convenient.
They also got out of their way to use their power source through their window.

They also offered to provide us with hooks for the display. "It's fine I have million of those at home!" said one of the gallery lady with such friendliness.

I did not forget to ask them about the parking issue. During the weekend, people often use the gallery parking lot to eat at Chow's which is right across. She said feel free to put ropes around the parking lot and indicate that the parking lot is not available for the weekend. That also confirmed that we are allowed to use the entire parking lot which was expected and hoped.
They also told us that at least one of the gallery managers will be with us the whole time to watch over us and help us with our community service.

They thought us donating our money to the Red Cross for Japan's natural disaster crisis was a fine idea. One of the lady suggested that some one should paint at the scene which tents to attract a good curious crowd. I volunteered to do so since painting is my main hobby; that should be very fun for me and the audience.

The ladies were willing to lend us anything we needed.
They were awfully generous; but they had a price for it which Kailey and I were more than happy to pay.
Ms. Miller owns a charity group that collects donated teddy bears which goes to police officers. When a child is involved in a stressful situation that involves the police, for example, a father being arrested, the police will give the child a teddy bear during the commotion. I thought that was a wonderful and creative charity.

She wanted us to make a facebook group for the charity and tell others. She said she does not know much about computers, and of course, we are part of the facebook generation and we could definitely help. Also, if anyone at Acalanes is interested for their community service, they could help.

The ladies said if we want to add more artists, works or anything, we could do it. They were really flexible about our planning.

One of Kailey's concern was neighboring stores and houses being disturbed by our music. Kailey was wondering if we should go around the area asking if the music at the gallery is okay. However, the ladies said that they had music around before and it seems like the neighbors are okay all the time which was a relief.
We did tell them that it would not be anything too loud or strange; our musicians are planning to play peaceful and calming songs. I thought it might be their concern since we are teenagers and youngsters are known to have a music taste that is not exactly similar to adults.

Everything was covered so far and all of us were happy with our meeting. I have told them that they can contact me if they had any questions or concerns. I could guess that they really liked us since they were being so nice and generous.

Meeting For The Show

I set up a meeting on Thursday at Acalanes Library to meet with all the people who are involved with the show.
Kailey, Ted, Ryan, Laurel, Natalie, Sonia and Alex came to the meeting. Unfortunately, Cybelle and Sarah who are involved in music for the show could not come. However, Alex and Kailey took some notes for two of the missing musicians which was awful nice of them.

At the meeting, I basically went through all the basic details about the show and we all discussed about things such as the name of the show, the kind of baked goods, the art works, the presentation of works and much more.
Here are things we have talked about in the meeting:

• The date of the show is March 26th and 27th
• The venue is Lafayette Art Galley
• We decided to name the show "Inelegant Expression"
• All the profit will go to a charity
• The show should be at least 7 hours each day to fulfill our community service hour.
• The flyers will be ready by March 18th at latest for us to put around town and school.
• Natalie is in charge of the baking sale, and the profit will also add up to our donation.
• Musicians can collect money too for the donation.
• Ryan is playing for 4 hours each day and helping out at the show and other use of hours are up for the musicians.
• We need some back up works just in case people do buy a lot of the works on sale.
• I will set up a table where an artist can make art on the spot and sell.
• Alex will also submit some art works.
• Laurel will help Natalie with baking by baking some of her own.
• Many of the art will be switched to fit the public's taste. (It sounds bad as artists but this will help us gather more money possibly).
• Natalie will print all the flyers.
• Ted will design the rough draft of the poster and give it to me for editing.
• Sonia will get a piece done by March 18th that can be on sale.
• When all the works are ready and organized, we will discuss about the pricing of the art sale.
• When all the works are collected, I will work on the information tags and presentation of each.
• Ryan, Ted and Laurel will print their own work.
• We will possibly have a mandatory meeting again.

I am so happy that all the members of the project are so engaged and excited about the show. It makes me feel strong that we are all coming together for this project. Everyone is down to hear each others' input and everyone respects each other. Many of the kids came up with great ideas such as Natalie who came up with the idea of the baking sale and Kailey who came up with the idea of involving musicians in the project. This project became not only about my endeavor as an artist but also how I communicate with others to make my day dream come to reality. 

Ms. Miller from the Gallery sent me an e-mail about her, Kailey and I having a meeting about the show. I am very nervous about this because I want her see that we are trying our best to not be a hassle but maybe a helper for her gallery to attract more crowd and engage the community with power of art. I will meet with her after school on next Wednesday. I hope it goes well.

Introduction of The Fellow Artists

Here are the introduction of other students from Acalanes and other schools who are helping me to make this charity art show possible.

Ted: A photographer, Ted shows great maturity with his pictures. His scenery work not only captures the beauty and the ambiance of the place perfectly, but also captures the color and the shade with so much control. His works are sophisticated, yet straight forward subject wise. That is hard among many young artists but Ted is successful.

Kailey: The co-director of this show, Kailey has a great social skill that I needed help with. Her friendly and open style of conversation blended well with my professionalism which made every single meetings with possible venues very smooth. Pen and Ink is what she is best at; she has control over her pen but she is never too stiff. Her work is free yet balanced with the medium very well. She concentrates on her work more than anyone I know.

Ryan: Ryan is not only submitting his photography work, but also will play his cello at the show. With out Ryan, this show would not be the same as I dream. What I like about his photographs are the details and maturity of the work. His work is above high school level. Also, when I say detail, I mean he has a lot visual offer in his pictures. He always include more than one simple subjective in his works and it works fantastically.

Sonia: A very talented girl with a wonderful Russian accent; Sonia will create one piece of art work that will be on sale at the art show. Her illustrations of animals and fantasy dragons are something that you will not forget. Her works will gently melt your heart.

Laurel: A talented girl, Laurel is not only good at photography but painting. Her subjects are dark and emotional. Her work has a euphoric effect; she successfully makes her work very memorable. Her works are mysterious and they are one of those art works that appear to have a behind story, which easily infatuates the viewers.

Tiffany: She is not one of those artsy-fartsy kids at school. Art is not a priority to Tiffany. But that does not matter; she always make very successful surrealism pieces. Artists tend to stand unoriginal when it comes to surrealism works but Tiffany's works are very characteristic, yet fits the definition of classical surrealism.

Alex: The only member of the project who is not a senior. She was added to the project last minute. She loves photography and has been taking pictures for art for a very long time. She has well thought out subjects in her pictures. She is very free and uncontrolled style that is very inviting to the viewers.

Yoko Ono on CNN?

Watch the Video

My parents and I were watching CNN's coverage on the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami Crisis, and then saw the interview of Yoko Ono. I do not know how to explain the feeling, but when I was watching the whole interview with careful observation, I could not agree with CNN's choice this time.
To be very honest, it was vulgar; This is the biggest crisis Japan is going through since World War II, and not only many people are dying but Japan is facing perhaps more disaster due to nuclear power plant failure and economic crisis; and meanwhile, CNN is inviting Yoko Ono because she is a Japanese celebrity.
And CNN, one of the most representative news media of America, decides to bring a famous Japanese celebrity to talk about the issue. Is this really CNN's best? I highly doubt it.
What did this accomplish? Majority of the people on Twitter is already unhappy with what CNN did.
If CNN is trying to engage people into the issue by using celebrities, I think Yoko Ono was a bad idea.

Tsunami cancels Toyota overtime in U.S., threatens supplies of luxury and high-mileage models

Toyota halted overtime at its U.S. factories to conserve Japan-supplied components due to the natural disaster which wiped out northeastern Japan. Many Japanese automobile company still relies on many Japanese made parts despite the fact that many of their model are driven by the Americans.

It's "too early to say" how long it would take for the tsunami shutdowns in Japan to hurt inventories of cars and parts in the U.S., but "it's a long supply chain" from Japan across the Pacific Ocean to U.S. shores, says Javier Moreno, spokesman for Toyota's corporate operations in the U.S. If Toyota were to keep running all U.S. factories on overtime and used up available components, it would take weeks to refill the parts pipeline.
Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Suzuki, Subaru and Mitsubishi have closed all their plants in Japan for varying periods, from another day to several days, and possibly well into next week, to repair damage and because tsunami damage has caused power blackouts.
One possible effect on the U.S. market -- shortages of premium vehicles and fuel-sippers. The luxury cars almost all come from Japan, as do many of the favored high-mileage vehicles, such as Toyota Prius and Yaris and Honda's Fit, and its Insight and CR-Z hybrids.

2011 earthquake/tsunami disaster in Sendai, Japan is already known as the biggest crisis in Japan since World War II. For being one of the economic power holder, Japan's crisis is affecting many other countries around the world. Everyone knows that Japan is powerful when it comes to the automobile industry. And now, that this natural disaster happened, the affect to America has become more visible.

Death of A Princess

 

Some time ago, I have mentioned a story about a princess who was executed because she committed an adultery. This article, from a British news media, talks about the princess Mishaal bint Fahd al Saud and her unfortunate fate.

Princess Mishaal bint Fahd al Saud, the 19-year-old great-niece of the late King Khalid, was shot several times in the head in 1977. Her death is thought to have been ordered by her grandfather, Muhammad bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, the King's older brother. She was unmarried but had confessed that she had committed adultery.

This is a really famous story, yet not many people know for some reason. This story is shocking in a way because it clearly shows that Middle Eastern fundamentalism does not discriminate; even the princess can be killed for being a promiscuous woman. How ever, considering what is going on in the Middle East right now, will this improve? Will this revolution fight against the fundamentalism or will the fundamentalists utilize this chaos to take more control?

Murals brighten once-blighted neighborhoods

 For me, one of the major theme or motif of this community service is to help the community with what I am good for. I am not calling myself an awful genius artist but I know many people do appreciate me as an artist, and since I present myself as an artist, I can say that art is what I am best at. This link leads to a small article that features mural artists trying their best to make their community better. This is who I want to be and what I want to do for this project.

"What it did was bring a new breath of life back into the community," said Richard Drain, 55, who has lived in Mantua all his life. In 2004, he and a friend were trying to start a nonprofit organization that would provide after-school activities for children, help families visit relatives in prison, organize food and clothing drives, and keep the streets clean.
"Then the Mural Arts Program came through, and we kind of bloomed together," he said. "Prior to getting those murals, the garden was strewed with drug paraphernalia, old tires and garbage. It was pretty messed up."

This is a great inspiration for me. Art can make a lot of changes in the community, contrast to what many people think. The mural artists are spreading art and their passion in order to take part in a philanthropy. I found it to be absolutely beautiful. I hope the outcome of my project is what I wanted or close enough. I want to raise enough money for what ever charity me and fellow artists choose to donate to.

Republican VS. Democrats: Immigration system issue.

I moved to this country in 2004. However, I am technically not considered an immigrant due to my convenience of getting my U.S. citizenship, thanks to my American-born father. But I know I can connect to the new comers into this country more than a lot of kids I know. It's not a luxurious life and I do feel for the immigrants who risk their life just to come to this land of hope.
The issue of immigration has been the major political issue to me. I feel that the solution can not be black or white. To simplify the position of the both republican and the democrats party, the republicans believe that the U.S. needs a stronger immigration system and the democrats are supportive of creating a pathway for immigrants to gain citizenship. Also, democrats support the universal health care which will cover illegal immigrants; Republicans do not.
This is president Obama's stand on the issue featured in an article:

"OBAMA: We don't want a situation in which some child, even if they're an illegal immigrant, shows up in an emergency room with tuberculosis and nobody is giving them treatment, and then they're going back to the playground and playing next to our kids.
So I think there is a basic standard of decency where if somebody is in a death situation or a severe illness, that we're going to provide them emergency care. But nobody has talked about providing health insurance to illegal immigrants. I want to make that absolutely clear."

 I totally agree with Obama; however, to make change as a better country before we make change as a planet, the America must have a cold heart and make sacrifices. What if the illegal immigrant child with tuberculosis was not in the U.S.? What if he or she never made it to the U.S. due to a strict immigration law?

I believe as a country, or any countries should choose their citizens over illegal immigrants. The ones who pay the tax, and the ones who does not. That is a harsh reality; despite the fact that America is founded under illegal immigrants (or rather unwanted guests), as a modern country, we can not get out of our way to pour money for every single people, because we are in a shaky economic era.

In the other hand, the Arizona's Immigration Law is something I am against. I believe in sacrifices but I do not believe the Arizona's law is not a sacrifice but a very not American in many wrong ways.

If I must make a choice, which I really despise to do so, I must say I am geared more to the right wing than the left, just because I believe the citizens and the illegal immigrants should be clearly distinguished but not in a discriminating way.
America is a country that has a huge population of new comers. Around the world, America is known as the land of hope and opportunity. The time changed but foreign love for America? Not as much.
This was a really hard subject to talk about and I just hope the U.S. do not rush this issue so fast. The two parties must work together in order to control the boarder and the immigration law together.

This is not exactly a friendly website, but it has some statistics about the issue of illegal immigrants: Link

Strength and weakness of the Republicans

The conservatives, G.O.P., the Grand Old Party. Before we go on to the strength and weakness of the party, let us narrow down some of their positions on issues.


I have came across this Link. I found this very helpful because I do not know much about the politics of America but this chart from the link made it much easier for me to quickly learn what the two parties' differences are all about.
Republicans are generally against gay marriage, support the death penalty, against legalization of abortions.
For more information about their stand on many issues, I found another page from On The Issues: Link.
Generally speaking, republicans support women's advancement in the military, yet against homosexuals serving in the military, promotes school choice and home schooling, they are against universal health care, supports better pay, treatment and training for the soldiers and wants to strengthen the immigration system.
Over all, the party is geared towards Americans rather than everyone including the immigrants. Also, they are supportive of the army more than the democrats. I see that the strength of the republicans are the fact that they take it slow rather than democrats who cry for change all at once. Republicans change too but they take it slowly and I believe that is more stable. On the other hand, may be sometimes too slow; their positions are geared so much on the citizens that it seems like they are forgetting what this country is all about. We are also about the immigrants and I hope republicans are very careful of what they do about the immigration law.

For more information about republican's position on issues, this link will help how the republicans represent themselves regarding the topics and political issues: Link.

Strength and weakness of the Democrats

Donkeys, liberals and dems; As a young girl in California, it is easy to find democrats or liberals around me. Despite the fact that I am from fairly a strict family with some strong fundamental values, I found this characteristic of California quite beautiful.
I found this website that narrows down some difference between the democrats and the republicans: Link. I found this very helpful because I do not know much about the politics of America but this chart from the link made it much easier for me to quickly learn what the two parties' differences are all about.
I think one of the easiest way to understand the weakness and the strength of any political party is to see the general opinion of the party about issues such as taxing, abortion, gay marriage, civil rights, businesses, education, health care, immigration, social security and more. The list could possibly go on and on.
I found this page from On The Issues, and it is a helpful and simple guideline to the general position of the democratic party on many issues including the ones I mentioned.

Some positions/opinions that makes democrats themselves unique includes many.
Democrats support pro choice of abortion even if the mothers can not pay for it. They support gay marriage, promote absolute tolerance of any race, religion and more, and support small businesses rather than big corporations. Democrats believe the justice system need tougher punishments such as death penalty, but however, they believe it should review DNA testing and post conviction record. They want tax deductible college tuition and standardized education. They are very pro-renewable/green energy and does not believe in healthy economy VS. healthy environment. They want the marriage penalty to end and wants the poor and rich nations to close the gap. They want stronger gun control to reduce violence. Also they want affordable health care for everyone. Better pay for the soldiers, create pathway for undocumented aliens to gain citizenship, cut taxes for the middle class but not the upper class and educate the Muslim world to prevent terrorism.

This Link is another good source that explains what democrats stand for.
Most of their statements and position tells us that they sure are people all about the change for future and absolute equality. However, one negative thing about the democrats are the fact that some of them could be dreaming too much of a perfect world. Democrats are the ones that wants to help everyone; but do we have enough money? Can this country be as perfect and suitable for every single people, even the immigrants?

Bloomberg’s NYC Budget Said to Include Firing 4,666 Teachers

This is another sad news about many teachers being fired, not because they are bad teachers, but there is not enough money to pay them.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will present a preliminary budget for next fiscal year tomorrow that proposes reducing the city’s 80,000 teachers by 6,166, including 4,666 dismissals, administration officials said.
An improving economy has helped pour about $2 billion of unanticipated revenue into city coffers, though it’s not enough to avoid personnel cuts, said the officials, who have seen the proposal. In November, Bloomberg said he would eliminate 10,000 of the most-populous U.S. city’s 300,000 workers to close a $2.4 billion deficit in a $67.5 billion spending plan.

This article made me consider donating money to a nation wide charity instead of local charity. I think almost every school in America right now is in at least a little trouble. This educational budget cut is a nation wide problem, not only California. It is really sad to see people who work for children such as teachers getting laid off. This is not only affecting education but employment. If this problem spreads more and more, it could lead to more problems such as crimes.
This problem is intimate with the young generation and future of our country.

Acalanes High School In California Schools Guide

Acalanes High School In California Schools Guide

So here is some information about my school.
As you can see, it is a great school. The STAR score is high and Acalanes high school is part of Acalanes School District which is one of the best performing school district in California.
I am so grateful the fact that I am gifted with this opportunity by education. And that is why I am interested in helping education related charity through my art show.

I have to decide what kind of non profit organization I want to make donation to after the art show.
I know I want to donate money for education, but which specific charity? Education where?
Should the charity be local? I am just brainstorming for now about this.
Maybe I can donate money to help the budget cut.

I must talk more about this with the fellow artists and musicians in the project.

Perviously, on my community service...

As a senior in Acalanes High school, my community service is quite different compare to my previous ones.
After a 15 hour community service, I must write an essay/report about my community service. This is going to be more challenging than any community service I had to do.

I am planning on opening an art show with some fellow students. It will be at the Lafayette Art Galley, and we will have an art sale and all the profit will go to a charity. I have not chose the charity yet, but I think relating this event to education will be appropriate since all the artists are high school students. Kailey, the other director of the show and I agree on this. Education is a big problem now days and even in Lafayette, my town is affected greatly despite the fact that we are one of the only city in California that is considered to be doing great with budgets.

The show will be on April 9th to April 10th. We will have music, food and most important of all, art from the most talented students! This event shall be a good community service opportunity for all seniors involved.

I am very excited for the show and hope everything works out perfectly.
As I said, this community service assignment is harder than the previous ones but art is a big part of my life so I will have more fun this year.

Egypt Echoes Across Region: Iran, Bahrain, Yemen

 After the revolutionary protest in Cairo, it seems like the urge to fight against the authorities are spreading though out to other countries. Iran, Bahrain and Yemen are the countries; anti-government movement is rapidly growing.

The protests — all with critical interests for Washington — offer an important lesson about how groups across Middle East are absorbing the message from Cairo and tailoring it to their own aspirations.
The heady themes of democracy, justice and empowerment remain intact as the protest wave works it way through the Arab world and beyond. What changes, however, are the objectives. The Egypt effect, it seems, is elastic.
"This isn't a one-size-fits-all thing," said Mustafa Alani, a regional analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. "Each place will interpret the fallout from Egypt in their own way and in their own context."

This is a good example of domino effect. I am glad to see all the protests in these countries, considering that it is a very repressed and strictly ruled countries. I am not a big fan of violence but I believe if you believe in something, you must fight for it and that is what people of democracy has been doing for ages all around the world.
I personally have great deal of respect towards the protesters, because Korea gained democracy only few decades ago and there were a lot of protest and violence; but at the end, thanks to all the brave fighters, Korea gained democracy and I believe it became a better country.
I am anxiously watching what is going on in the Middle East. I feel almost honored to live during this revolutionary period.

Donald Trump For President?

Watch the Youtube Video

Donald Trump has been showing some hints about him running for the presidency.
It is not clear yet but who knows?
One thing bothered me about the video, is the fact that he said he will remove Obama Care and replace it with something that makes more sense to the "people in the business." To me, this came across to me as if he wanted to run the country like a corporation or business.
He is also against U.S. and South Korea Free Trade and I personally do not agree with him. Not only that, he have called China "our enemy" and I do not want a president who is blatantly calling a country like China our enemy. We sure have a huge debt and have many economic issues involving China, but China is also our biggest ally considering all our economic relationship with China.