Last Blog... and i forget until there's 30 minutes left in the day.

So, I came in this morning at 7:30 thinking OMG, we still have sooo much to do, and the project is due at 8:15! Last night I emailed my group frantically after going in after school and review our progress. I found stories missing, and a whole spread blank. I thought to myself what the hell? But I guess it was just a communication error, because after I sent that email out, I got all my stories, captions, and pictures in. It was kind of nice to have the magazine done at the beginning of class, I had more of a double period than a single to get it done. I guess the early bird gets the worm. I was a little unimpressed by my groups lack of enthusiasm in this last week, but today I had three people come in around 7:40 to help me and keep me company. In the end it turned out well, except I think there might be just a little too much white space, that didn't show on the spread when we printed them as a smaller version. My group was priceless to me. I learned that I would much rather create a magazine with a group/staff than by myself.

Last Blog... and i forget until there's 30 minutes left in the day.

I would be no where w/o Erin Healy

I feel sort of out of the loop in the project cause I've missed a few days. But, thank God for Erin. Seriously, she has stepped up so much. We're almost done and she and I are going to stay after to school to finish the magazine. There are some key aspects missing due to the fact that a lot of our teammates like to do their french homework in class. Most of them are really great. Especially Tristan, and Erin of course, but still some of them have no idea what's going on. I guess that's just the nature of the beast. I'm jealous of the paper. Sometimes I wish I had gone to a big school, with a newspaper program set up int the traditional way. But, I'm glad I got to learn the basics this year, I have a friend who is in magazine at NC and she says she couldn't do CS3 layout to save her life. I'm sure we can finish tonight. It's gonna be good, the cover picture is really cool. We just need to think of a name.

Layouts=Done

Today I saw all the layouts. I liked them a lot. We keep forgetting that everything that has to do with one article most be near it and not below the divider. I was a little upset with Daniel today, because I asked him to get me some quotes. So, he goes off to Erin and tells her that he can't do it, and didn't give her a reason. I wish he had just come to me and we could have worked it out. Today I thought about the cover to a greater extent, and I think I know what I want to do. But, I'm afraid I don't have the tools and the abilities using CS3 to make it. I want it to be the state of Indiana with pictures sort of "coming off" it with captions underneath. I think it would be really cool. We need to think of a title. I want it to be interesting...that means maybe something more than just alliteration. I watched the paper while I was sick. I am SO glad my team is not like that. Although I do the Amanda is sort of inept, I think a lot of people could make newspaper life a lot easier if they stopped being mean. There's this one girl, I can't remember her name, but she's the one with the boyfriend and they're always all over each other, she is just a flat out bitch. That kind of person just makes team work hard for everyone, maybe if you don't like your leader, you try to be more independent or try to talk things out, but you don't not do anything or sabotage the project.

Seeing It

The yearbook looks great!! Now I have REALLY high hopes for our project. I need to find time to go to the zoo an get my article done. I wasn't able to go this weekend because I had this whole 32 page paper thing to do. Simon just said "Why am I being blogged about?" Haha, I think he defines what team work is about. How we all need to support each other and carry our own weight. There's not too much to write about today, we're working on our spreads, and people are writing their stories. However, we need to think about a cover! I'll call a team meeting to talk about what we want on it!

Things We Need To Remember

Things to Remember:
Simon needs to have positive reinforcement
Every Indy Info fact needs to be put near the story, under the divider line
The story needs to have a good lead in
We need to have dominant pictures
We're making process on the spreads, and I think everyone is coming along in their articles. Well, besides Simon, but he'll get it done. I just remembered we can use color... So we'll have to fix that.

Spread Number One

Today, the first spread was created. I think it looks really good. But, that's not really what I feel like talking about today. What Mr.Priest was talking about really struck me. Coming from a house where I was raised by a journalist of 20 years I think about the media and journalism a lot. It makes me very sad and extremely concerned for my generation that 50% of people my age think the first amendment goes to far. Like, WHAT? Who are we? I'm sitting here thinking where the hell is this country going? Have we forgotten our duty as citizens, or worst have the media forgotten their duty to inform the masses? We need to be re-engaged. We need to see what we're missing, looking over, forgetting, and take action to bring it to the forefront. The fact that newspapers are being taken over by huge conglomerates makes me sick. Just like health care, here is another field that is being taken over by companies chomping at the bit to make money. News is not a money maker. News is what keeps us free. And the citizens of the United States just sit back and watch as it happens. But then, I'm reminded of the power of the people. (As cliché as it sounds. ) When I see the seeds of change planted in people my age, hope fills my head. On election day last week, I went to the grocery store. I was proudly displaying my Obama campaign button and my "I voted" sticker. Like most grocery stores, the check out clerk and the bagging boy were both teenagers. They looked a little scruffy, but they both had the sticker I was wearing. And better yet they started talking about election day to me and my mom. It was like a revitalization of my hope. People are excited! They're talking about politics, thinking about it, and most of all seeing that it really does have a huge effect on their individual life. I feel the same way about news and politics. Both are essential things, and without one, the other fails. As citizens of the most powerful country in the world, with the best framework for a government ever created, we have a responsibility to be involved in our world.

Designing

Today Erin and I worked out the layout of the first spread. Tristan wasn't here, so it was a little difficult too work out the layouts without the layout designer. We think we have a good layout with lots of pictures and we created a few things that we can carryout through the entire magazine. Those include, the "Indy Info" fun facts that are set at an angle and the page dividers that are dots that follow the "pop art" theme. Tomorrow we're going to take our drawing and put it on the computer.

First Day Back After AP Tests

The last time I was in this class was Monday. I was worried that my group would forget me and I wouldn't have any idea what was going on. But, Erin emailed me and she took charge while I was gone. The magazine seems to be coming along well. My group is really laid-back and they go with the flow. We decided on the fonts today, and we're trying to keep a "rounded, comic-book, pop art" style. And of course, the fonts have to be stellar cause we MUST be better than the other group. Everything seems to be going well, because it is all planned. I'm looking forward to when our actual work starts, because I think my group has real potential. I'm a little worried about designing the cover, because my cover for our individual projects was only okay. I'll definitely ask for a group brain storm on that. After all the cover represents all of our work.

First Day Excitement

Today was the first day in our groups. Although we were missing a third of our group, we got a lot done. First, we planned what we wanted our topic to be. My group didn't think there was actually enough things to cover for "what to do in Indiana," but we have eight pages worth of material. I think covering these events will be fun for out writers, because the purpose of our magazine is to provide ideas of what to do here. From the start I wanted to be Editor in Chief, it was kind of like a little dream deferred in me because we don't have a newspaper. My group ended up electing me as that because I sort of "took charge," I hope not forcefully. I'm excited because I have lots of ideas, and I feel like we can really do a good job on this.
Amelia