In the Words of Asya..

I created this wordle using an English paper I wrote earlier this semester on the importance of content and form in writing. Wordle is an interesting way to turn my five page paper into something more interesting to look at. With “form” and “content” being the biggest words, it’s easy to determine what my paper was about.

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6599658/See_How_They_Run%3A_Content_vs_Form_

I actually had fun doing this :0)

For Homework 5 I decided to look at the Teachers Pay Teachers website.  In relation to ethics, the website seems pretty ethical to me. It doesn’t seem to be trying to scam or harm teachers in any way. The website itself says that it is an open marketplace for educators and to me, there is nothing unethical about open marketplaces. Especially in this case because you are required to be a member in order to buy or sell any educational material and they do say that registration is free. It is up to the creators of these materials to submit the original works to this marketplace, they are not being submitted without the creators permission. If they were, then I would say that this was an unethical website. As far as it being legal, I would like to think it is. I cannot see why an open marketplace where you submit your own ideas would be illegal. However, there could possibly be  some illegal downsides to it. For instance, if someone submits another persons original work without them having an knowledge of it. With digital media in general, everything could be a potential risk if you don’t know what your doing and you do not do your research. Ethics and legality, in my opinion, tend to go hand in hand in most cases but there is always exceptions to the rules.

Have you very wondered if your grades in school had anything to do with your hunger?  These statistics can start to from very young, as early as one’s childhood.  In Fairfax County there is a youth survey that is conducted annually for all of the students in sixth, eighth, tenth and twelfth grade.  The survey includes questions that asked students questions such as, “How many times has one gone hungry in the past 30 days?”. According to the youth survey itself it reports, “One out of five students reported going hungry at least some of the time in the past 30 days.”

Most of these teens affected in these Fairfax schools are Hispanic and/or African American, and live in single-parent homes. Kids not getting the necessary nutrition is only part of the problem. According to capitalareafoodbank.org, the U.S. Census ACS 2006-2008 found that about 13 percent of people in Northern Virginia are at risk of hunger, and 1 in 6 children in Northern Virginia were at risk of hunger.

The bigger problem that we are faced with when looking at hunger is that it is an issue that directly affects education. A student’s hunger has been correlated with skipping school and lower grades. According to the Nutrition Cognition Initiative, continuous low nutritional intake affects factors such as motivation and attentiveness, which can have a negative effect on developmental processes such as learning and students attain lower scores on standardized achievement tests.   The Fairfax County Youth Survey not only asks the question of if they have gone hungry in the past 30 days, but it also surveys the grades that they have gotten and how many days of school they have missed or skipped.

When looking at the surveys conducted in the past few years, there is no question about whether food is important not only for our daily consumption, but also for that push needed to succeed and experience education to the fullest.

Charlie White a six-year-old second grader at Oakton Elementary School enjoys his lunchtime. “I really think lunchtime is my favorite! Sometimes my mom makes my lunch and sometimes if I am good I can pizza on some school days.”

Charlie doesn’t like his vegetables as much he says, “ I don’t really eat all my vegetables. I do like the apples my mom packs though.”

Charlie White age 6

Editor: Jennifer Garcia

Multimedia: Katie Pappas

Community Manager: Attie Pearsall

Data Journalist: Asya Rojas

I’ve always had an eye for a beautiful photograph but I never really knew how to take a beautiful one on purpose. The photos that I capture which I think are stunning, all seem to happen on accident. I learned some new and helpful tips in class though that I think will help me to take better pictures. For one, the “Rule of Thirds” is very important. I never knew about this secret photography rule before. Another important tip I learned is to shoot between 4-6PM because  lighting is such an important factor and you can get the best lighting during those hours. Also, it is important to be aware of the differences in the sun during the different times of year. The sun can be a great tool for great photos. A good tip that applies to not only photojournalism but just journalism in general is to start by looking at works that are good and practice replicating it.  Something that stuck out to me the most was that the iphone has camera lenses that you can purchase, just like you can for a regular camera.

1.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge
2. http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/calvincoolidge
3. http://millercenter.org/president/coolidge
4. http://www.calvin-coolidge.org/
5. http://www.history.com/topics/calvin-coolidge
6. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/calvin_coolidge.html
7. http://www.forbeslibrary.org/coolidge/coolidge.shtml
8. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/136173/Calvin-Coolidge
9. http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/ccoolidge.html
10. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/presidents-coolidge/

As you walk around George Mason University’s campus today, you see more friendly faces and more lingering amongst the students. This was not the case yesterday. The students of GMU seemed to be as cold and rainy as the weather yesterday. You barely caught a glimpse a smile or any friends that stopped to greet each other with a simple “Hello”.

Today has brought on an entirely new attitude though. The sunshine and higher temperatures have brought out the friendlier and happier side of my peers. There’s more interaction outside of the classrooms but inside the classrooms as well. It’s interesting to see how the weather tends to shapes people’s attitudes for that day.

I found it most interesting that Vannevar Bush started out his article by pointing out that this is a “war” we have all played a part in. Also, the editor points out, “inventions have extended man’s physical powers rather than the powers of his mind.”
— I find these two statements to be most interesting because I see them as being completely valid. When dealing with advancements in the digital era, everyone plays a part. Whether we completely agree or disagree, we are all playing a part. It is not something that one can simply ignore. Also, the advancements of the digital era have made it easier to physically advance almost everyone but not necessarily advance everyone mentally.
–Three potential historical topics that I may be interested in researching throughout the semester are anything regarding mythology and the way the stories have been created and passed down, Asian cultures in relations to their ancestors and they way those stories were kept and passed down, as well as the history of the physical library and it’s expected life span.

Hello :0)

My name is Asya, pronounced like the continent Asia. I will be graduating from GMU this May. Like my user name clearly points out, I’m a little lady with big dreams. I’m currently the secretary of the student org Chase Dreams, Not Boys, (feel free to look us up!), and I plan on changing the world. Cliche I know, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! :0)

I waited as long as possible to attempt to fulfill my IT requirement because I really did not want to take IT 103 and I’m glad I did prolong it because now I can take this course and fulfill my requirement enjoyably.

Here’s to a great semester!!