Letter 1
Hey Grange,
Hows it going man!!!?? You better be working your ass off at a good job and making as many films and projects as you can. This is your year! You have an entire year to work, save money, and make as many projects as you can. Get your name out their! Don't let others take advantage of you but also be agreeable and fair. You have so many ideas and lots of drive so let me see what you can do. I don't want you to talk about making films, I just want you to make films. Get out there and do what youve always wanted to do. I have a huge list of projects that Im expecting you get done!
1. Film the solstice festival this summer as planned, and make that into an amazing recap video for them! I then want you to send in your recap and promo videos from solstice to other festivals and show them what you can do for them! Use your connections with musicians! You really can do it, its not even hard, you do this shit every day.
2. Release an amazing short film. You haven't even made a film since the beginning of the year, its time to step it up and make some amazing shorts. Send them to festivals and get your name out their. Your better than most of the cliche unoriginal crap thats flooding the market! But dont be too cocky! There are millions of better filmmakers than you and their going to crush you if you don't give your everything to the project. EVERYTHING. This isn't easy but theres nothing else you would rather do. JUST DO IT MAN.
3. Make the music videos for Golden Dawn Arkestra that you planned out. This could be your big moment. Lots of people would see that, and you would be working with a very creative group of musicians who are interested in more than just music. They love the creativity and theatrics of it all, these are people you need to be working with. You see eye to eye on a lot of ideas. Lets make it happen Grange.
Now its time to reflect...
Newspaper class has truly been an amazing class for me to take. It wasn't boring and childish like a lot of my high school classes. It gave me what i wanted, it gave me a taste of the professional and real world! This class shaped me. It taught me all about shooting events and how to talk and work with people, something I find myself doing outside of school a lot. It prepared me for my future as a filmmaker and definatley inspired me for what I want to do. I love this class. Mr. Reeves seriously thank you for everything you do for me and everything you have shown me. You truly have made an impact in my life and I mean that with sincere honesty. You are exactly what teachers should be! You inspired my passions and taught me how to be a better photographer. You made me crave the real world while also giving me amazing experience that I think really has readied me for what lays ahead. One thing I would like to add about this year is that I am sorry for some of my work. This year I found myself being spread so thin I almost went crazy. I just couldn't keep up with all the things going on in my life and all the tasks I said I would do. For that reason the newspaper sometimes suffered. My time was spent on other things and newspaper sometimes only got my leftover time and that was unfair and rude. Please know I didn't mean this as an insult, I really was just spread too thin sometimes, which is no ones fault but myself. I just couldn't do everything I said I could. Looking back on my photo essays last class I realized that a lot of my work was better last year and that made me feel bad. Im sorry, please know this class was amazing and I am forever grateful for it.
13. The Most important thing this year I have learned while on staff has been effectively communicating with the new students on staff and trying to work together to create a final product of quality work. I am not saying I have learned this and know exactly what I am doing but I have learned so much more this semester in that regard then before. This year with the countless new newspaper students I had to try and work with them and guide them just like the students did ahead of me. On the first issue I did little communicating with the new photographers and just told them what to shoot and was just friendly. However by the third issue I found myself getting more into communicating with the students. Through talking about what to look for in a photo, utilizing our camera lenses, and the importance of angles I think my communicating efforts grew and grew this semester and I learned how to better communicate what we needed to achieve. I hope I continue to grow in my communicating efforts and that the students feel comfortable coming to me with any questions or concerns.
14. Next semester I aim to work on organization. I want the photography board to be more organized and easy to follow. I want photographers who are talking with page editors and our looking at the story that goes with their photos. I also want to eliminate the photo events we had posted with people signed up for that hadn't happened yet. This last issue we had lots of events with people signed up like soccer and the sport hasn't even started yet so nobody could've shot it in the first place. I want the photographers to have an idea in their head before they go out and shoot and look for images with emotion and importance. I think a more fluid organized photography set up would help achieve all these goals and more. Organization and communication our going to be my two big things going forward.
15. I don't know if I have any suggestions but some things that should or would be good to change is that students need to understand deadline. Like students just see it as something they didn't do or something that doesn't matter but if you don't meet deadline and you don't turn in your shit then it screws over the entire paper by making editors quickly put in something else of less quality which hurts the paper. Pull your weight basically. Also we need better story ideas. Our commentary is complete trash, I hate it. Last year we had a good commentary page about stuff that actually mattered and challenged peoples views and ideas, this year I haven't seen a single commentary do that. Maybe Im being too tough but I think our commentary specifically and some stories in the paper in general have gone down hill. We need to think about stories that actually matter and impact us not just fluff. Overall though were doing good, theres been a lot of changes/challenges this year and we have done a great job of maintaing stability and still producing a quality paper.
1. This year brings many new changes to Bowie from the later start and end time of the school to actual physical changes around campus. Many new digital clocks have been installed around campus as well as signs in the front entrances of the school displaying the different buildings and halls. Theres also new cops that are working this year along with new red and black tables in the halls.
2. Senior Jamie Dorsey said, "Theres lots of new things this year, its fun, I'm back to relearning new teachers and schedules, but things are all getting there," Dorsey said.
Seniors Eduardo Contreras and Kiabre Thomas said, "The new year is really good," Thomas said, "Aquatic science is really cool we get to go on field trips and the teacher is nice."
"Seeing all my friends is nice and engineering with Mr. Evans is a great class," Contreras said.
3. The Schedule is different this year with us starting and ending an extra ten minutes later. This is very helpful to people who have trouble getting up in the morning as an extra ten minutes can go a long way. Overall i like the later start time because it lets me sleep in a little later than normal and still get to class on time.
The new engineering department is also new this year and has many students interested. Countless students have nothing but good things to say about the engineering class. Senior Eduardo Contreras says, "Engineering is lots of fun and its cool because theres lots of projects we get to do instead of just working in a textbook," Contreras said.
4. The Football team has been working since the summer to get ready for this years game. The first game is against Pflugerville this friday. With countless practices in the boiling heat, the Bowie Bulldawgs take what they do very seriously and hope to have a great year.
6. Bowie Bulldawgs gear up for first game
New improvements bring in new school experience
New year new options.
7. We should write about freshman coming in. Shorter lunch. More important classes the school could offer to help people for real life.
Im doing a commentary on low gas prices so I don't have questions but heres an overview and brief description of topics ill talk about.
While low gas prices are good for the average american and families its effecting our global economy as oil is dropping at alarming rates. Local economies surrounding domestic drilling and oil
production sites stand to lose the most during the oil slowdown. "Falling
oil prices and competitive OPEC output means many domestic outfits need to curb
production to stay profitable, eroding the economic gains some states
have made in the aftermath of the Great Recession," Tom Risen of US News.
Also effects our environment as people will drive more, people driving nationally have already surged 2.6 percent according to the Arizona daily star.
1. One thing I see that I can help with is they said to crop in closer for pictures and show faces more so I can take pictures with that in mind. Also have a clear statement for writing not wishy washy.
2.Keeping the stories focus on a topic and correcting the little mistakes.
3. They said on the photo essay to avoid "cutesy layouts" like the gingerbread issue but i thought that photo essay was interesting and fun to look at and thats what a photo essay should be. It should please the eye and tell a story through images like the gingerbread issue did.
4. Yes, we have a great depth of stories and information, good writing, great in depths that have gotten a lot better through new design techniques and creativity, overall I think we have came up in every aspect of the newspaper.
1) Its a beautiful day but I can't see it
2) Made you put yourself in his shoes and really sympathize with him. Sad.
3) To show us that its more how you write your words that has the impact, we have to use our words powerfully. By using our words powerfully we can express greater meanings and our ideas.
4) Using more powerful words and making words that are important not just fluff. Be decisive and clearly state whats happening.
5) Social media, Computers, television, newspaper, reporters.
6) No its more modern and they go into the legality of the issue.
7) No one in particular but you heard the opinions of news reporters, the people, and people in the business.
8) The legality of the story like if the pigs should be arrested for killing the wolf.
9) He didn't blow down the first house and second house that were made out of weak materials he just blew down one of the houses.
10) They didn't but through hearing what the people had to say about the issue through their protests and twitter it seemed like they sympathized with the pigs but no side was taken.
11) Yes
12) By covering stories more entirely and get more involved with stories and constantly follow up with new information.
13) How to work with other people. Like how to go find people to interview and how to work around their schedule and how to work with individuals who i had interviewed who i normally wouldn't be associated with. Its super cool i like working with new people and interviewing the bowie community.
14) Work a little better on time management, ask good questions, find a goal through your story and become better with the computer.
15) More flexibility from people i don't know though theres lots of people who are very flexible maybe time management and just planning ahead.
My story is about technology and I'm gone ask people about how technology affects us and why we are so addicted to it. Why I'm choosing to interview Mr. Ruiz is because he's very into technology.
Mr. Ruiz
1. How do you feel about technology?
2. How does technology effect are lives?
3. What are the positive and negative effects of technology?
4. Are we addicted to phones/technology?
5. Is this bad?
6. Have you ever left your phone at home or someplace?
7. How did you feel when you left it behind?
8. Would you rather leave your phone or wallet at home? Why?
9. Do you think we depend too much on technology?
10. Anything to add?
1) When did this issue come to your attention and how?
2) Do you know how many parents were contacted by this scammer
3) Do you know if anybody fell victim to this scam
4) How do you think this individual got all this information?
5) What actions could be taken to prevent this from happening again?
6) Can we learn from this?
7) Anything you would like to add
KIEV, Ukraine — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia listed seven steps on Thursday that he said were necessary for a cease-fire in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Mr. Putin said he and the president of Ukraine, Petro O. Poroshenko, had a similar understanding about what was needed, and he urged Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists in the east to reach a settlement at talks scheduled for Friday in Belarus.
The primary conditions on Mr. Putin’s list are that the separatists halt all offensive operations and that Ukrainian troops move their artillery back out of range of all population centers in the rebel-held area.
Mr Putin also called for Ukraine to cease airstrikes; the establishment of an international monitoring mission and humanitarian aid corridors; an “all for all” prisoner exchange; and “rebuilding brigades” to repair damaged roads, bridges, power lines and other infrastructure.
His remarks came at a news conference during a state visit to Mongolia. After confirming that he had spoken with Mr. Poroshenko, Mr. Putin offhandedly mentioned that he had “sketched out” a peace plan during his flight from Moscow. An aide then handed Mr. Putin a notebook, from which he read the plan.
Mr. Poroshenko’s office retracted a statement it had made earlier in the day that said the two presidents had agreed to a “lasting cease-fire.” A spokesman said the initial statement, posted on the presidential website, went too far in describing the results of a telephone call between the two leaders.
The presidents exchanged opinions about a cease-fire, but there was no formal agreement, said the spokesman, who, in line with protocol, did not give his name.
Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary, said separately that Russia could not negotiate a cease-fire because it was not a party to the conflict, but that the opinions of the two presidents overlapped.
“Putin and Poroshenko did indeed discuss steps which could facilitate a cease-fire between the militias and the Ukrainian military,” Mr. Peskov was quoted as saying by the news agency RIA Novosti. “Russia cannot physically agree on a cease-fire, as it is not a side in the conflict.”
The West and Ukraine have accused Russia of providing arms and soldiers to support the separatists, an allegation that Mr. Putin has repeatedly denied.
Mr. Peskov said Mr. Putin and Mr. Poroshenko had “continued discussion regarding the military and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.”
They discussed “what should be done primarily to stop the bloodshed” in southeastern Ukraine, Mr. Peskov said, suggesting that the two leaders had found common ground.
“The presidents’ viewpoints on possible ways to overcome the grave and critical situation coincide to a considerable degree,” Mr. Peskov said.
Vladislav Brig, the head of the political department for the rebels’ Ministry of Defense in Donetsk, said in a telephone conversation that combat operations were continuing as usual.
“Nobody is holding negotiations about a cease-fire with the representatives of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” Mr. Brig said. “As long as there are Ukrainian soldiers on our territory, there will be no cease-fire.”
He echoed Mr. Peskov’s statements in saying that Russia could not negotiate for the rebels.
“The conversation was about measures for a cease-fire,” Mr. Brig said. “Mr. Putin did not agree with Mr. Poroshenko about any cease-fire because Russia is not involved in this conflict.”
Mr. Brig said the rebel leadership had not met to discuss the statement by Kiev.
Miroslav Rudenko, a member of the rebel Parliament, suggested that the cease-fire might be a trick, but also suggested an openness to negotiations.
“If the Ukrainian side will hold to their promises to cease fire, then we are prepared for a political side of the settlement,” he told the Russian news agency Interfax.
President Obama, on a visit to Estonia on Thursday, suggested that the real test would be whether Moscow was willing to rein in the separatists and stop its military support for them.
“If, in fact, Russia is prepared to stop financing, arming, training, in many cases joining with Russian troops’ activities in Ukraine and is serious about a political settlement, that is something we all hope for,” Mr. Obama said at a televised news conference in Tallinn, the Estonian capital.
“We haven’t seen a lot of follow-up on so-called announced cease-fires,” Mr. Obama said after meeting with President Toomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia.
Mr. Obama’s comments came as he began a day of private meetings with Baltic leaders and of public statements meant to reassure fretful allies — particularly those bordering Russia — that the United States and Europe were serious about defending them from a newly aggressive neighbor.
“There’s an opportunity here — let’s see if there’s follow-up,” Mr. Obama said. “No realistic political settlement can be achieved if effectively Russia says we are going to continue to send troops and arms and advisers.”
Mr. Ilves said the Ukraine conflict and its wider impact on European security was “the question on everyone’s mind.”
“This is Russian aggression,” Mr. Ilves said of Moscow’s actions in eastern Ukraine. “Russia must admit that it is a party to the conflict and take genuine steps that will lead to a de-escalation of the conflict.”
Mr. Obama’s stop in Estonia came on the eve of a NATO summit meeting in Wales where members are expected to endorse a rapid-reaction force capable of deploying quickly to Eastern Europe, their strongest response yet to the situation in Ukraine. Over the weekend, Ukraine and NATO accused Russia of sending troops and armor over the border. European Union leaders then discussed a new round of sanctions against Russia, the fourth, that could be enacted within a week.
Russia has been escalating pressure on Ukraine, demanding that it grant some measure of autonomy to the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, where groups of armed militants have been demanding independence.
Until now, the administration in Kiev, the capital, has been reluctant to engage in such talks, arguing that the separatists are a Russian proxy force who do not represent the feelings of most of the people in the east.
But in recent days, the Ukrainian military has lost ground in the east. Ukraine has said the reverses were a result of the direct intervention of the Russian military. Russia denies sending men and arms across the border.
