Hey everybody,
I think we're making good progress with the video and our media outreach. Unfortunately, we're kind of in the prep-phase so I think it is important for us to continue to be involved with the rest of the class. I want to implore y'all to let your voice be heard in the classroom when we discuss who to select (after all, we will be spending a lot of time following up with this person).
I've been trying to think of more original ways to attack the media outlets. I think if we made personal phone calls and even tried to set up face-to-face meetings, some of these places might take us seriously.
Anyone have more creative ideas?
Monday, November 30, 2015
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Group 2 Update 11/29
This week, we wanted to design the application and discuss how we are going to review applications as a group and then as a class.
Along with Group 1, we have been drafting and finalizing the application. It should be ready to go tomorrow in conjunction with the morning meeting announcement. We decided to do it as a Google Form because it seemed to be the easiest data collection method both for applicants and for us. We are engaged in a dialogue about application review, and to inform that dialogue we are asking you to fill out the following survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dR0w3N96y6L0lAL1S8VLxzd1OhUgTFS5IWdz_ue1jr8/viewform
I am not sure if it will count as your comment for the week (probably not), but regardless it is important that we continue and complete our dialogue with a knowledge of the general sentiments of the class. We also realize that the questions are a tad repetitive (we discussed them a little in class); we want to have a formal set of data on class opinions. Please respond promptly so that Group 2 can move forward.
Thanks for your help!
Along with Group 1, we have been drafting and finalizing the application. It should be ready to go tomorrow in conjunction with the morning meeting announcement. We decided to do it as a Google Form because it seemed to be the easiest data collection method both for applicants and for us. We are engaged in a dialogue about application review, and to inform that dialogue we are asking you to fill out the following survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dR0w3N96y6L0lAL1S8VLxzd1OhUgTFS5IWdz_ue1jr8/viewform
I am not sure if it will count as your comment for the week (probably not), but regardless it is important that we continue and complete our dialogue with a knowledge of the general sentiments of the class. We also realize that the questions are a tad repetitive (we discussed them a little in class); we want to have a formal set of data on class opinions. Please respond promptly so that Group 2 can move forward.
Thanks for your help!
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Group 1: First Post
Since this is the first blog post of our group I think it is fitting to state what we want to do and how we are going to accomplish it. Like all the groups we want to be able to find a project that makes LA more awesome. However, there are many steps that needs to be taken.
For group one our main job is to adversities the Awesome Project to the Poly Community. We have taken the steps to tell our advisee groups, but I think we need to take it a step further. As we discussed in class a lot of people in the Poly Community were confused by the project. I think one way to clear the air is to create an informational/creative video to advertise the project. We can also talk about it in Morning meeting and have Ms. Williams send it out in the Student Bulletin as well. In addition, I suggested to Group one of making a logo for the Awesome Project. This way we will have something to represent the project itself in a more artistic and unique way instead of just posting, "The Awesome Project".
The other goal of Group one is to create the application and the criteria itself. Like I said in class on friday, I think that group one should create an outline of the application (hopefully tomorrow in class) and then present it to the class as a whole. If you guys have an suggestions as to what the application should have please leave a comment.
Also if you guys have any suggestions on how we can spread the word around the Poly community please let us know!
Group 2: First Post
Note: This has been updated from yesterday (the updates are bolded)
For this post, we wanted to answer three questions: What does it mean for a project to be awesome? How much work should go into an application? And should we consider prior knowledge about an applicant when evaluating their application?
For a project to be awesome, some thoughts we had were that it should be creative, yet achievable. It should have an effect on the surrounding community and area that is larger than the sum of its parts. It should be long-lasting and have a good cost to reward ratio. Lastly, it should be accessible to everyone and well-advertised. Is there anything you guys think we should add?
For the application, we all agreed that the applicant should have to be able to provide a description of their project, its goal, and be able to make a case for why it is awesome. That can be in the form of a questionnaire. Rebecca brought up the point that it would be a good idea to have a second part to the application, where they outline the first few steps they would take to implement their project. In general, the application should be accessible but also informative.
*The application is drafted and we are working on sending it out ASAP
*Update: we decided to let people in the class apply. However, to keep it fair, no one in Group 2 will be allowed. We decided to keep the initial round of applications blind (we'll just cover up the name) and then we will narrow it down to 6 people to interview.
Thanks everyone! Let us know if you have any comments/concerns!
For this post, we wanted to answer three questions: What does it mean for a project to be awesome? How much work should go into an application? And should we consider prior knowledge about an applicant when evaluating their application?
For a project to be awesome, some thoughts we had were that it should be creative, yet achievable. It should have an effect on the surrounding community and area that is larger than the sum of its parts. It should be long-lasting and have a good cost to reward ratio. Lastly, it should be accessible to everyone and well-advertised. Is there anything you guys think we should add?
For the application, we all agreed that the applicant should have to be able to provide a description of their project, its goal, and be able to make a case for why it is awesome. That can be in the form of a questionnaire. Rebecca brought up the point that it would be a good idea to have a second part to the application, where they outline the first few steps they would take to implement their project. In general, the application should be accessible but also informative.
*The application is drafted and we are working on sending it out ASAP
*Update: we decided to let people in the class apply. However, to keep it fair, no one in Group 2 will be allowed. We decided to keep the initial round of applications blind (we'll just cover up the name) and then we will narrow it down to 6 people to interview.
Thanks everyone! Let us know if you have any comments/concerns!
Group 3: First Post
Hey everyone,
Being the first post for group three's role in the Awesome Foundation Project I feel that I should go over what our goals are and specific ways we can reach them.
Group three's role is to advertise the project we will have chose so that our "awesome" project will actually be used or taken advantage of in a community. Another role our group has is to prepare us for the presentation we will be having on January 4th in front of the trustees. Of course, all of us will be participating in this part of the project, but I feel as though group three should be responsible for how to organize the presentation. Please feel free to disagree and comment if you have a better idea.
Some ideas we had for advertising our project is to give each person in our group a specific medium to advertise with. Whether that be flyers, email, social media, word of mouth, posters..etc. I feel like this would be the most effective way to complete our part of this project. We would be able to work on a specific part of advertising, which seems more efficient and more likely to be completed on time. Of course there will be collaborating between each of the people in group three as well as the rest of our class. It would be greatly appreciated if any of you had any ideas or questions that could help our group out.
Thanks Friends!
Terra Magee
Being the first post for group three's role in the Awesome Foundation Project I feel that I should go over what our goals are and specific ways we can reach them.
Group three's role is to advertise the project we will have chose so that our "awesome" project will actually be used or taken advantage of in a community. Another role our group has is to prepare us for the presentation we will be having on January 4th in front of the trustees. Of course, all of us will be participating in this part of the project, but I feel as though group three should be responsible for how to organize the presentation. Please feel free to disagree and comment if you have a better idea.
Some ideas we had for advertising our project is to give each person in our group a specific medium to advertise with. Whether that be flyers, email, social media, word of mouth, posters..etc. I feel like this would be the most effective way to complete our part of this project. We would be able to work on a specific part of advertising, which seems more efficient and more likely to be completed on time. Of course there will be collaborating between each of the people in group three as well as the rest of our class. It would be greatly appreciated if any of you had any ideas or questions that could help our group out.
Thanks Friends!
Terra Magee
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Powerful Pasts
Mia Fernandez
B/E Donnell/Stogdill
City of Angels
November 20th, 2015
This past week we have talked a lot about power and background through What Makes Sammy Run?, Davis, new projects, and through our urban labs. As we brought up these immense topics I watched how people discussed the meaning of power, where it comes from, and how we all had different opinions of its true meaning. When you think of power you usually think of money, hierarchy, wealth, strength, force, and influence among other things. As we had various dialogues throughout the week I began to see different sides of power, where it can come from, and how sometimes, we don't even know we have it, even when it is there the most.
As we talked about our new project and collaboration with The Awesome Foundation, we were introduced to a new form of power that was given directly to us as a class. Suddenly the ball was in our hands, and we could throw it any direction we wanted. Some of us didn't know what to do with it, and were surprised that we were given this great opportunity. As we expressed our ideas about power in Sammy, we began to talk about a new kind of power, a less innocent one. This kind of power stemmed from Sammy's past and helped him all throughout his career. It was the one thing that kept him going and even though he didn't ask for it, it was there. This kind of power, as we saw and read, was not a blessing but more of a burden. Through both of these scenarios power played, and will play, a key role in the outcome of future situations. It could benefit L.A. with a unique contribution from one of our very own, and help build our city, but as we read in Sammy, it could also be the very thing that adds to the destruction within.
Towards the end of the week I began to think to myself, "How much good does all this power really do?" If we have the opportunity to make the best of our city, then how could people like Sammy add such disgust to it? Some people are born into power, and some people just come across it every now and then. Do we really know what to do with it, and what's best? Or is there a serious problem within L.A., past and present, that needs some fixing? It's hard to tell what's best for a city when you're the one right in the middle of it, but I think that these two examples, even though What Makes Sammy Run? is fictional, can give us some real insight into what changes need to, or don't need to, be made.
B/E Donnell/Stogdill
City of Angels
November 20th, 2015
This past week we have talked a lot about power and background through What Makes Sammy Run?, Davis, new projects, and through our urban labs. As we brought up these immense topics I watched how people discussed the meaning of power, where it comes from, and how we all had different opinions of its true meaning. When you think of power you usually think of money, hierarchy, wealth, strength, force, and influence among other things. As we had various dialogues throughout the week I began to see different sides of power, where it can come from, and how sometimes, we don't even know we have it, even when it is there the most.
As we talked about our new project and collaboration with The Awesome Foundation, we were introduced to a new form of power that was given directly to us as a class. Suddenly the ball was in our hands, and we could throw it any direction we wanted. Some of us didn't know what to do with it, and were surprised that we were given this great opportunity. As we expressed our ideas about power in Sammy, we began to talk about a new kind of power, a less innocent one. This kind of power stemmed from Sammy's past and helped him all throughout his career. It was the one thing that kept him going and even though he didn't ask for it, it was there. This kind of power, as we saw and read, was not a blessing but more of a burden. Through both of these scenarios power played, and will play, a key role in the outcome of future situations. It could benefit L.A. with a unique contribution from one of our very own, and help build our city, but as we read in Sammy, it could also be the very thing that adds to the destruction within.
Towards the end of the week I began to think to myself, "How much good does all this power really do?" If we have the opportunity to make the best of our city, then how could people like Sammy add such disgust to it? Some people are born into power, and some people just come across it every now and then. Do we really know what to do with it, and what's best? Or is there a serious problem within L.A., past and present, that needs some fixing? It's hard to tell what's best for a city when you're the one right in the middle of it, but I think that these two examples, even though What Makes Sammy Run? is fictional, can give us some real insight into what changes need to, or don't need to, be made.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
What is LA?
Hunter Harper
Throughout this class we have been searching for an answer to this broad question: What is LA? Keep in mind that this question has no right answer, but makes each of us question the city we live in and draw conclusions that satisfy our individual ideas.
I don't believe that everyone's experience during the lab focused on the negative aspects of LA like mine did, but nonetheless I feel that it was very important for me to recognize what I did. Exploring City Hall this week made me think about how secretive and fake Los Angeles can be. When we finally entered the building, navigating our way through a crowd of protesters, I was surprised to see that there was close to no interaction between City Hall workers. It seemed as though everyone was keeping to themselves, scared to reveal something.
Another very interesting aspect of City Hall that I noticed was the decrease in aestheticness as I made my way to the top of the building. The 1st floor is really the only floor that contains anything interesting. The top floors were as dull as can be.
In class today, we observed the interesting architecture of Walt Disney Concert Hall, the secretive nature of City Hall, the controversial passage on the LA Times building, and the below par praise that the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels receives compared to the cathedrals in Europe. After close observation of these buildings, do any of these buildings speak for LA as a whole? What do you think all of them have in common? Would these similarities be used by boosters or detractors? If you were to design or build a building that includes what you think the most important aspects of LA are, what would it consist of? (The last question is just for those of you who wanna have some fun)
Throughout this class we have been searching for an answer to this broad question: What is LA? Keep in mind that this question has no right answer, but makes each of us question the city we live in and draw conclusions that satisfy our individual ideas.
I don't believe that everyone's experience during the lab focused on the negative aspects of LA like mine did, but nonetheless I feel that it was very important for me to recognize what I did. Exploring City Hall this week made me think about how secretive and fake Los Angeles can be. When we finally entered the building, navigating our way through a crowd of protesters, I was surprised to see that there was close to no interaction between City Hall workers. It seemed as though everyone was keeping to themselves, scared to reveal something.
Another very interesting aspect of City Hall that I noticed was the decrease in aestheticness as I made my way to the top of the building. The 1st floor is really the only floor that contains anything interesting. The top floors were as dull as can be.
In class today, we observed the interesting architecture of Walt Disney Concert Hall, the secretive nature of City Hall, the controversial passage on the LA Times building, and the below par praise that the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels receives compared to the cathedrals in Europe. After close observation of these buildings, do any of these buildings speak for LA as a whole? What do you think all of them have in common? Would these similarities be used by boosters or detractors? If you were to design or build a building that includes what you think the most important aspects of LA are, what would it consist of? (The last question is just for those of you who wanna have some fun)
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Is Noir True?
Sitting in front of the projection of Chinatown, I was captivated by each scene. As the film progressed the secrets began to be exposed, the lies caught up with the characters, and the plot unfolded. This motif of doing what ever it takes to get to the top was again present in another text. There was something about this movie where the audience was enthralled, but also so extremely disturbing.
After class when I would dig into my backpack and pull out our most recent novel, "What makes Sammy run?", I was once again reminded of this "rat race" of a city we live in. These texts often arise questions such as "why do we do what we do?" I try to dissect the character and sympathize with them and attempt to see the situations and conflicts through their lenses, but I haven't quite figured it out. As residence of Los Angeles we should be able to relate and understand the obstacles these characters often face. The reoccurring plot idea of our protagonist being rudely awakened by the cruelties of this city and their world being flipped upside down. I am personally not exposed to all these lies and deception our city is appositely laced with, but maybe others are. Do people identify with characters like Huff, Jake, Al, Lola? Although these fictional tales were set in 80 years ago, are these ever present in this great city? As Angelenos are we quick to adapt these texts as historical data?
Al, in What makes Sammy run? explains his understanding of Hollywood when he states,
"It was no secret to anybody that she was working out on him and he was working out on her, each one wanting something and not quite admitting it. Some people call that the Hollywood tug of war, though that incept is a little narrow. Hollywood may be one of its most blatant battlegrounds, but it is really a world war, undeclared." (Schulberg, 37).
This passage reminded me of Huff's perception Los Angeles and Jake's complex feeling towards Chinatown. All these hostilities toward Los Angels made me think this is what Noir does. It brings a skeptical mind set upon people. An idea that if your in Los Angeles everyone has an agenda. No interaction with another is genuine especially if you are wealthy and/or powerful. Everyone is working on each other and tearing each other down until they are at the top. People are absolutely relentless and unforgiving. One can neither breathe nor let their guard down with out the fear of someone mistaking them as human. I have observed in both are books and the movie that once a character opens up they become human, however, they are immediately yanked down from their societal rank and their weakness is displayed.
Is this a fair representation of our city? Is my assumption of Noir correct?
We have all witnessed corruption, deceit, power of the institution, greed, etc. in these texts, but do these ideas define Noir. I've been struggling for a few weeks to really define this genre. I feel that I may identify Noir when I see it , but at the same time I'm unsure what in these texts triggers this recognition.
After class when I would dig into my backpack and pull out our most recent novel, "What makes Sammy run?", I was once again reminded of this "rat race" of a city we live in. These texts often arise questions such as "why do we do what we do?" I try to dissect the character and sympathize with them and attempt to see the situations and conflicts through their lenses, but I haven't quite figured it out. As residence of Los Angeles we should be able to relate and understand the obstacles these characters often face. The reoccurring plot idea of our protagonist being rudely awakened by the cruelties of this city and their world being flipped upside down. I am personally not exposed to all these lies and deception our city is appositely laced with, but maybe others are. Do people identify with characters like Huff, Jake, Al, Lola? Although these fictional tales were set in 80 years ago, are these ever present in this great city? As Angelenos are we quick to adapt these texts as historical data?
Al, in What makes Sammy run? explains his understanding of Hollywood when he states,
"It was no secret to anybody that she was working out on him and he was working out on her, each one wanting something and not quite admitting it. Some people call that the Hollywood tug of war, though that incept is a little narrow. Hollywood may be one of its most blatant battlegrounds, but it is really a world war, undeclared." (Schulberg, 37).
This passage reminded me of Huff's perception Los Angeles and Jake's complex feeling towards Chinatown. All these hostilities toward Los Angels made me think this is what Noir does. It brings a skeptical mind set upon people. An idea that if your in Los Angeles everyone has an agenda. No interaction with another is genuine especially if you are wealthy and/or powerful. Everyone is working on each other and tearing each other down until they are at the top. People are absolutely relentless and unforgiving. One can neither breathe nor let their guard down with out the fear of someone mistaking them as human. I have observed in both are books and the movie that once a character opens up they become human, however, they are immediately yanked down from their societal rank and their weakness is displayed.
Is this a fair representation of our city? Is my assumption of Noir correct?
We have all witnessed corruption, deceit, power of the institution, greed, etc. in these texts, but do these ideas define Noir. I've been struggling for a few weeks to really define this genre. I feel that I may identify Noir when I see it , but at the same time I'm unsure what in these texts triggers this recognition.
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