Well, my final GPA for the first quarter is officially 3.95. I'm bummed. I really wanted my 4.0. Stupid Typography instructor and his stupid A-!!! :( grrrrrr!! But, all in all, I should be happy, I know. School is difficult for perfectionists, let me tell you. :)
I received my books and they are really interesting! My two books for my Drawing Design and Art Theory class are cool and kind of Drawing for Dummies, so I know I'm in the right place! :) Then, in addition to the books we got a drawing kit that's a real Drawing for Dummies kit! :) Has a little wooden model in it and everything! So - that should be a really cool class.
For my Introduction to 3D Animation class, it's a new software program - 3ds Max. I downloaded the trial version of the software because to run the tutorial disc you have to have the software. My poor little computer just doesn't have enough memory to run it properly - I need an upgrade - but what I have been able to try is really cool. I'm looking forward to that class.
My Intro to Business class book is ginormous!! Seriously huge book with small print that fills up pages with really, really small margins - the text practically fills the entire page! Also came with 4 CDs containing chapter audio notes - that's going to be a serious class with serious tests and stuff - I can tell.
My E-Commerce book is also pretty detailed. It's another class that I think is going to be serious and have real tests and stuff.
So....I'm working and reading ahead for the second quarter. I'm excited!!
More to come later!
Showing posts with label typography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label typography. Show all posts
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Final Grades
Hello again all.
So....first quarter of school is done. I enjoyed it overall, aside from the one class that drove me up a wall. Final grades are in and can now be reported!
Success Strategies - this class was a bit of a bore. I didn't really get anything from it, but it was a required course so - done and dusted.
Final Overall = 108.24%
Week 11 Discussion = 100%
Week 11 Written Assignment = 100%
Final Percentage/Grade = 100% A
English Composition - my favorite class this quarter. I really enjoyed it, I got a lot from it, the instructor was great, and I liked brushing off my writing skills and getting back into things. He also gave me some really nice feedback on my grades, so that was really encouraging and helpful.
Final Overall = 99.26%
Week 11 Discussion = 100%
Week 11 Final Exam = 100%
Week 11 Final Paper = 100%
Final Percentage/Grade = 99% A
Intro to Computer Graphics - this was a good class too. The instructor was awesome and really engaged with the class, which is saying something for an online course. She was helpful, available, it was a really awesome class and I feel I learned a lot.
Final Overall = 98.47%
Week 11 Discussion = 100%
Week 11 Revitalization Project = 92.73% (wish I'd had her Week 10 feedback before I turned in that final project - I could have improved it)
Final Percentage/Grade = 98% A
Typography - oh how I hated this class! I still maintain that in the hands of a better instructor, this class could have been awesome. It's no fun when you know the instructor is dialing it in. Also - this man is so in love with himself that it was nauseating! Constantly pimping his work, which if you've seen video game inspired fantasy art with half-naked females, you've seen it. Nothing original there, but don't tell him that. He believes he's the god of Graphic Design. What an asshat! I will not miss this class. I'm leaving it not knowing whether or not I've truly grasped the principles of typography. We spent the majority of the quarter trying to design things he'd like. Again, his taste is pretty basically male fantasy garbage. But, it's done now. Yay!
Final Overall = 92.44%
Week 11 Discussion = 100%
Week 11 Final Portfolio = 100% (yeah, you could've knocked me over with a feather when I saw that)
Final Percentage/Grade 92% A-
So I ended up with an A- in that last class instead of an A, that kind of sucks, but I don't think it will affect my 4.0 (it better not!).
Again, for a first quarter back in higher education, it was a good experience. The online classroom environment made the two design classes a bit difficult, as did not having the Adobe tutorial discs and books that my Intro to Computer Graphics instructor wanted us to have. I feel I could have gained a lot more from having more instruction in those programs. I also think the design classes could have been more dynamic in person. But, I made it through! I'm happy with the results and ready to head into my second quarter.
I'm looking forward to my books arriving for next quarter's classes. According to the UPS link, they should be delivered on Wednesday. My Drawing Design and Art Theory class has three books for it (!), so I'm a bit intimidated by that. I'm not a good drawer by any means, so I know this class is going to be very challenging. I'm excited to start into 3D animation this next quarter too. It will be interesting taking those two classes on campus in the regular classroom environment. I'll have to try to remember how to take notes! :) My two online classes will be E-Commerce and Intro to Business. I have a feeling those classes are going to have real final exams and tests. We shall see. All in all, next quarter looks pretty good. Once I see how it goes, I'll be able to determine if I want to add another extra class the following quarter to try to get me through sooner. I wanted to wait until I took a "real" full courseload quarter to see - - I still maintain Success Strategies didn't really count as a real class this quarter. :)
So....I might blog here again after I receive my books, but for the most part this blog will be a little quiet until classes start again, which is July 6th. My two online classes will be available then, my other two classes are on Tuesday and Friday nights. I plan to continue to blog about the return-to-school experience, so stay tuned! Cheers all and catch you later!
So....first quarter of school is done. I enjoyed it overall, aside from the one class that drove me up a wall. Final grades are in and can now be reported!
Success Strategies - this class was a bit of a bore. I didn't really get anything from it, but it was a required course so - done and dusted.
Final Overall = 108.24%
Week 11 Discussion = 100%
Week 11 Written Assignment = 100%
Final Percentage/Grade = 100% A
English Composition - my favorite class this quarter. I really enjoyed it, I got a lot from it, the instructor was great, and I liked brushing off my writing skills and getting back into things. He also gave me some really nice feedback on my grades, so that was really encouraging and helpful.
Final Overall = 99.26%
Week 11 Discussion = 100%
Week 11 Final Exam = 100%
Week 11 Final Paper = 100%
Final Percentage/Grade = 99% A
Intro to Computer Graphics - this was a good class too. The instructor was awesome and really engaged with the class, which is saying something for an online course. She was helpful, available, it was a really awesome class and I feel I learned a lot.
Final Overall = 98.47%
Week 11 Discussion = 100%
Week 11 Revitalization Project = 92.73% (wish I'd had her Week 10 feedback before I turned in that final project - I could have improved it)
Final Percentage/Grade = 98% A
Typography - oh how I hated this class! I still maintain that in the hands of a better instructor, this class could have been awesome. It's no fun when you know the instructor is dialing it in. Also - this man is so in love with himself that it was nauseating! Constantly pimping his work, which if you've seen video game inspired fantasy art with half-naked females, you've seen it. Nothing original there, but don't tell him that. He believes he's the god of Graphic Design. What an asshat! I will not miss this class. I'm leaving it not knowing whether or not I've truly grasped the principles of typography. We spent the majority of the quarter trying to design things he'd like. Again, his taste is pretty basically male fantasy garbage. But, it's done now. Yay!
Final Overall = 92.44%
Week 11 Discussion = 100%
Week 11 Final Portfolio = 100% (yeah, you could've knocked me over with a feather when I saw that)
Final Percentage/Grade 92% A-
So I ended up with an A- in that last class instead of an A, that kind of sucks, but I don't think it will affect my 4.0 (it better not!).
Again, for a first quarter back in higher education, it was a good experience. The online classroom environment made the two design classes a bit difficult, as did not having the Adobe tutorial discs and books that my Intro to Computer Graphics instructor wanted us to have. I feel I could have gained a lot more from having more instruction in those programs. I also think the design classes could have been more dynamic in person. But, I made it through! I'm happy with the results and ready to head into my second quarter.
I'm looking forward to my books arriving for next quarter's classes. According to the UPS link, they should be delivered on Wednesday. My Drawing Design and Art Theory class has three books for it (!), so I'm a bit intimidated by that. I'm not a good drawer by any means, so I know this class is going to be very challenging. I'm excited to start into 3D animation this next quarter too. It will be interesting taking those two classes on campus in the regular classroom environment. I'll have to try to remember how to take notes! :) My two online classes will be E-Commerce and Intro to Business. I have a feeling those classes are going to have real final exams and tests. We shall see. All in all, next quarter looks pretty good. Once I see how it goes, I'll be able to determine if I want to add another extra class the following quarter to try to get me through sooner. I wanted to wait until I took a "real" full courseload quarter to see - - I still maintain Success Strategies didn't really count as a real class this quarter. :)
So....I might blog here again after I receive my books, but for the most part this blog will be a little quiet until classes start again, which is July 6th. My two online classes will be available then, my other two classes are on Tuesday and Friday nights. I plan to continue to blog about the return-to-school experience, so stay tuned! Cheers all and catch you later!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Typography Final Portfolio
Hey again.
So....this is my final branding portfolio for Typography. Again, my mock company was a feminist film studio. I had to do a cover letter and proposal, but you won't see them here 'cuz they have addresses on them. But, here are the actual pieces of my portfolio for your enjoyment. Also - some things I had to redesign taking into account my instructor's feedback so - - if you've been following along, you can look back and see the changes. Have I grown? I dunno - you decide. :)
Business Card:
Letterhead:
Flyer:
Brochure Outside:
Brochure Inside:
Newsletter Page 1:
Newsletter Page 2:
So...that's it. That's my portfolio for Typography. I am, as I'm sure all y'all who have been following this will know, utterly happy to put that one behind me! Oy! I feel kind of lost without homework to do, but my new books should be arriving shortly and I will share all the goodness when they do. In the meantime, quiet time for a bit here until next quarter, which starts on July 6th. Thanks for reading! Cheers!
So....this is my final branding portfolio for Typography. Again, my mock company was a feminist film studio. I had to do a cover letter and proposal, but you won't see them here 'cuz they have addresses on them. But, here are the actual pieces of my portfolio for your enjoyment. Also - some things I had to redesign taking into account my instructor's feedback so - - if you've been following along, you can look back and see the changes. Have I grown? I dunno - you decide. :)
Business Card:
Letterhead:
Flyer:
Brochure Outside:
Brochure Inside:
Newsletter Page 1:
Newsletter Page 2:
So...that's it. That's my portfolio for Typography. I am, as I'm sure all y'all who have been following this will know, utterly happy to put that one behind me! Oy! I feel kind of lost without homework to do, but my new books should be arriving shortly and I will share all the goodness when they do. In the meantime, quiet time for a bit here until next quarter, which starts on July 6th. Thanks for reading! Cheers!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Two Down, Two to Go!
Well....this week is starting off interesting. First, I couldn't sleep for anything last night. Got up and busy early this morning, which was good. Turns out instead of everything being due Sunday as usual, it's all due by midnight on Friday. Good thing I got a head start. I am completely done with my Success Strategies class. English is completed and submitted too. Computer Graphics and Typography require waiting for some feedback, but I am making progress. The end is in sight. If things keep going this well, I should be done with my school week a bit earlier than planned and get a head start on relaxing (and worrying about my final grades). More new postings to come! Laters!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Week 10 - The End, It Is Near
Hey all.
So....pretty crazy week this week. Lots going on personally and then a lot of things going on school-wise.
My classes have been okay this week, just requiring a lot of design work. Intro to Computer Graphics was redesigning the front and back cover of our annual reports. Since we're doing this on real companies and all, I don't think I should post anything just to cover my ass as far as copyright and what-not, ya know? ;) I'm happy with my submissions though - we'll see what my instructor thinks.
Success Strategies was the usual stupid stuff.
English Composition had to do with identifying logical fallacies. That stuff sincerely messed me up, gotta tell you. But I think I did okay. The discussion was posting our final paper rough drafts for peer review. I managed to slog my way through two of them that were written with at least a semblance of knowledge of the English language. Honestly, I don't know how some of the people in that class are going to pass it, just saying.
Typography....ah yes, the bane of my educational existence this quarter. I only got 72% on my brochure from last week. I redesigned it and was going to resubmit it hoping for a better grade, but then he posted something in his usual jerkoff style on the main announcements page and I decided to just wait and resubmit all the redesigned stuff with my final project. I am so sick of this asshole, I can't even tell you.
So....this week's typography assignment is the newsletter that goes with the rest of our portfolio for our mock company. Just as a reminder, mine is a feminist film studio. So....here are the two pages I mocked up for my newsletter:
Page 1
Page 2
So....that's that. We'll see what he says.
It turns out I have a final essay exam in English, a final research paper in Success Strategies, plus the completion of my final annual report project in Intro to Computer Graphics, and the final redesigning and submission of all of my portfolio contents in Typography, plus discussions in all of these classes as well. So....this week is going to be insanely busy. But it is the last week. I shall keep y'all apprised as things move forward. So far, I am maintaining my 4.0, but the A in Typography is just by the skin of my teeth. We shall see.
As always, constructive feedback is appreciated. Cheers all!
So....pretty crazy week this week. Lots going on personally and then a lot of things going on school-wise.
My classes have been okay this week, just requiring a lot of design work. Intro to Computer Graphics was redesigning the front and back cover of our annual reports. Since we're doing this on real companies and all, I don't think I should post anything just to cover my ass as far as copyright and what-not, ya know? ;) I'm happy with my submissions though - we'll see what my instructor thinks.
Success Strategies was the usual stupid stuff.
English Composition had to do with identifying logical fallacies. That stuff sincerely messed me up, gotta tell you. But I think I did okay. The discussion was posting our final paper rough drafts for peer review. I managed to slog my way through two of them that were written with at least a semblance of knowledge of the English language. Honestly, I don't know how some of the people in that class are going to pass it, just saying.
Typography....ah yes, the bane of my educational existence this quarter. I only got 72% on my brochure from last week. I redesigned it and was going to resubmit it hoping for a better grade, but then he posted something in his usual jerkoff style on the main announcements page and I decided to just wait and resubmit all the redesigned stuff with my final project. I am so sick of this asshole, I can't even tell you.
So....this week's typography assignment is the newsletter that goes with the rest of our portfolio for our mock company. Just as a reminder, mine is a feminist film studio. So....here are the two pages I mocked up for my newsletter:
Page 1
Page 2
So....that's that. We'll see what he says.
It turns out I have a final essay exam in English, a final research paper in Success Strategies, plus the completion of my final annual report project in Intro to Computer Graphics, and the final redesigning and submission of all of my portfolio contents in Typography, plus discussions in all of these classes as well. So....this week is going to be insanely busy. But it is the last week. I shall keep y'all apprised as things move forward. So far, I am maintaining my 4.0, but the A in Typography is just by the skin of my teeth. We shall see.
As always, constructive feedback is appreciated. Cheers all!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Final Week 9 Assignment - Typography
Hi all.
Well, I finally managed to finish out Week 9's work. I don't know why I had so much trouble this week, but motivation was not my friend at all. It took a lot of time and redesigning to get this brochure the way I wanted it too. I wanted the darker purple background and the neon green type to really pop and appeal to younger, punk-type grrls. :) As such, here is the brochure I designed:
Outside:
Inside:
As I say, it took me a while to get this the way I wanted it, but I like it. Whether or not the instructor will, well....you know how that's gone. :)
I have not yet looked at Week 10 at all. I will have to do that later. Right now, my motivation is still lacking so I think it's nap time. What else is there to do really on a dreary, rainy day? ;) Laters!
Well, I finally managed to finish out Week 9's work. I don't know why I had so much trouble this week, but motivation was not my friend at all. It took a lot of time and redesigning to get this brochure the way I wanted it too. I wanted the darker purple background and the neon green type to really pop and appeal to younger, punk-type grrls. :) As such, here is the brochure I designed:
Outside:
Inside:
As I say, it took me a while to get this the way I wanted it, but I like it. Whether or not the instructor will, well....you know how that's gone. :)
I have not yet looked at Week 10 at all. I will have to do that later. Right now, my motivation is still lacking so I think it's nap time. What else is there to do really on a dreary, rainy day? ;) Laters!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Week 8 Grade Results
Hi all.
Things have been a little weird for me this week. I think part of it is just that I've hit a bit of a weird moody time, and part of it was enjoying having the house all to myself. Either way, I've had some motivational problems in getting my schoolwork done this week. Another possible contribution could be that the quarter is winding down and I'm ready to be done. :) Two more weeks and then this quarter is over.
I finally sent off two assignments yesterday (English Comp & Intro to Computer Graphics), and I'm still trying to finish Typography.
English Comp was the rough draft of my final paper. I'm not going to post it here, but I'm happy with it and will look forward to seeing the feedback I receive for it. For Week 10, we're doing peer reviews of our rough drafts so....that should be interesting (or whatever).
Intro to Computer Graphics was designing the logos for our final annual report redesign projects. We had to submit 10 different variations of our brainstorming activities, then our final logo design. Here are my brainstorming ideas:
For my final logo design, I decided to go with a simple typographic design so....here it is:
Typography's assignment that I am still working on is the brochure that goes with our final project. I will be back to post it once it's completed.
And finally, here is the grade breakdown for Week 8:
Success Strategies - Overall Class Percentage: 110.81%
Week 8 Discussion 100%
Week 8 Quiz 93.33% (no indication of what question was missed)
English Composition - Overall Class Percentage: 98.82%
Week 8 Discussion 100%
Week 8 Written Assignment 96.67% (he was supposed to attach
something detailing what was wrong with my assignment
that he deducted, but I still haven't seen it.)
Intro to Computer Graphics - Overall Class Percentage: 99.21%
Week 8 Application Assignment 100%
Week 8 Discussion 100%
Week 8 Revitalization Project 100%
Typography - Overall Class Percentage: 93.02%
Week 8 Discussion 100%
Week 8 Flyer 92% (23 of 25 points)
So....that's the latest from here. I will be back to post my Typography final brochure once I get it completed, which better be tonight! As always, thoughts? - Leave 'em!
Things have been a little weird for me this week. I think part of it is just that I've hit a bit of a weird moody time, and part of it was enjoying having the house all to myself. Either way, I've had some motivational problems in getting my schoolwork done this week. Another possible contribution could be that the quarter is winding down and I'm ready to be done. :) Two more weeks and then this quarter is over.
I finally sent off two assignments yesterday (English Comp & Intro to Computer Graphics), and I'm still trying to finish Typography.
English Comp was the rough draft of my final paper. I'm not going to post it here, but I'm happy with it and will look forward to seeing the feedback I receive for it. For Week 10, we're doing peer reviews of our rough drafts so....that should be interesting (or whatever).
Intro to Computer Graphics was designing the logos for our final annual report redesign projects. We had to submit 10 different variations of our brainstorming activities, then our final logo design. Here are my brainstorming ideas:
For my final logo design, I decided to go with a simple typographic design so....here it is:
Typography's assignment that I am still working on is the brochure that goes with our final project. I will be back to post it once it's completed.
And finally, here is the grade breakdown for Week 8:
Success Strategies - Overall Class Percentage: 110.81%
Week 8 Discussion 100%
Week 8 Quiz 93.33% (no indication of what question was missed)
English Composition - Overall Class Percentage: 98.82%
Week 8 Discussion 100%
Week 8 Written Assignment 96.67% (he was supposed to attach
something detailing what was wrong with my assignment
that he deducted, but I still haven't seen it.)
Intro to Computer Graphics - Overall Class Percentage: 99.21%
Week 8 Application Assignment 100%
Week 8 Discussion 100%
Week 8 Revitalization Project 100%
Typography - Overall Class Percentage: 93.02%
Week 8 Discussion 100%
Week 8 Flyer 92% (23 of 25 points)
So....that's the latest from here. I will be back to post my Typography final brochure once I get it completed, which better be tonight! As always, thoughts? - Leave 'em!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Week 8 Typography
Hey everyone!
As threatened/promised, I am back to post my flyer for this week's Typography assignment. This is part of my final project and is supposed to go with the business card and letterhead I made and posted last week. Personally, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. But, I am a bit biased after all. ;)
My fictional company is a feminist film studio that focuses on independent filmmaking and does outreach programs for young female filmmakers. Obviously, this flyer is an invite to come and see the first films created by the first class from the outreach program. Let me know what you think. Cheers!
As threatened/promised, I am back to post my flyer for this week's Typography assignment. This is part of my final project and is supposed to go with the business card and letterhead I made and posted last week. Personally, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. But, I am a bit biased after all. ;)
My fictional company is a feminist film studio that focuses on independent filmmaking and does outreach programs for young female filmmakers. Obviously, this flyer is an invite to come and see the first films created by the first class from the outreach program. Let me know what you think. Cheers!
Summer Schedule Is Out!
Hey all!
Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend and thanked a vet! :)
Classes this week are pretty quiet. I guess the instructors decided to give themselves a quieter week with the holiday, so assignments are pretty light. Success Strategies had a dorky quiz and discussion. Intro to Computer Graphics is all about color this week and making up color palettes. Nothing worth posting. For English Composition this week, we have to go online and find two reviews for the same movie and evaluate them. Again, not really worth posting. Typography this week is the flyer that goes along with our Final Project. I will be completing that today or tomorrow and posting it. :) So....pretty quiet week school-wise.
New schedules for Summer Quarter came out today. I've already confirmed mine and new classes start July 6th. We have about three weeks off between quarters. That will give me time to play with these Adobe programs some more, and also to play around on a bunch of different design and tutorial sites that I've found through Twitter. There are some awesome design peeps on Twitter posting some great info!
So....my schedule for Summer Quarter includes my first campus classes. I decided not to take an extra class, but to stick with the standard full-time four-class schedule to evaluate how I do with it before adding anymore. Success Strategies wasn't really much of a class this quarter so....I want to make sure I can handle the real, full course load before adding anything to the mix. That said, my four classes for Summer are:
Drawing Design and Art Theory (campus class - 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays)
E-Commerce (online class)
Introduction to 3D Arts and Animation (campus class - 6:00 p.m. on Fridays)
Introduction to Business (online class)
I think the Intro to Business class will be a bit of a snoozer, as may E-Commerce. I do hope to get some extra ideas from both for help with my Etsy and Artfire businesses though. Drawing Design and Art Theory should be very challenging for me. I'm not a good freehand drawer so....we'll see how that one goes. :) Intro to 3D Arts and Animation is an integral course for my major so I'm very, very excited about that class!
So....Summer Quarter schedule looks good to me. I should be receiving my books for those classes shortly and will be spending my time between quarters studying them, working on learning my software better, and browsing all those good design sites.
I feel I made the right choice in choosing Digital Design and Animation for my major. It's interesting, challenging, and keeps me on my toes. I certainly haven't lost interest in my classes or become bored (Success Strategies notwithstanding). I have been frustrated and challenged, yes - but this is a good thing. School has always been easy for me, so having challenge involved has been excellent. I'm looking forward to moving on with my studies!
That's the latest from here. Back later to post my Typography Flyer. Cheers!
Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend and thanked a vet! :)
Classes this week are pretty quiet. I guess the instructors decided to give themselves a quieter week with the holiday, so assignments are pretty light. Success Strategies had a dorky quiz and discussion. Intro to Computer Graphics is all about color this week and making up color palettes. Nothing worth posting. For English Composition this week, we have to go online and find two reviews for the same movie and evaluate them. Again, not really worth posting. Typography this week is the flyer that goes along with our Final Project. I will be completing that today or tomorrow and posting it. :) So....pretty quiet week school-wise.
New schedules for Summer Quarter came out today. I've already confirmed mine and new classes start July 6th. We have about three weeks off between quarters. That will give me time to play with these Adobe programs some more, and also to play around on a bunch of different design and tutorial sites that I've found through Twitter. There are some awesome design peeps on Twitter posting some great info!
So....my schedule for Summer Quarter includes my first campus classes. I decided not to take an extra class, but to stick with the standard full-time four-class schedule to evaluate how I do with it before adding anymore. Success Strategies wasn't really much of a class this quarter so....I want to make sure I can handle the real, full course load before adding anything to the mix. That said, my four classes for Summer are:
Drawing Design and Art Theory (campus class - 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays)
E-Commerce (online class)
Introduction to 3D Arts and Animation (campus class - 6:00 p.m. on Fridays)
Introduction to Business (online class)
I think the Intro to Business class will be a bit of a snoozer, as may E-Commerce. I do hope to get some extra ideas from both for help with my Etsy and Artfire businesses though. Drawing Design and Art Theory should be very challenging for me. I'm not a good freehand drawer so....we'll see how that one goes. :) Intro to 3D Arts and Animation is an integral course for my major so I'm very, very excited about that class!
So....Summer Quarter schedule looks good to me. I should be receiving my books for those classes shortly and will be spending my time between quarters studying them, working on learning my software better, and browsing all those good design sites.
I feel I made the right choice in choosing Digital Design and Animation for my major. It's interesting, challenging, and keeps me on my toes. I certainly haven't lost interest in my classes or become bored (Success Strategies notwithstanding). I have been frustrated and challenged, yes - but this is a good thing. School has always been easy for me, so having challenge involved has been excellent. I'm looking forward to moving on with my studies!
That's the latest from here. Back later to post my Typography Flyer. Cheers!
Friday, May 22, 2009
The End of Week 7
Hi all!
So....Week 7 is done! I just finished sending off my last two assignments. It took me forever to get them done, and I reworked each about five times, but I'm happy with the final results. Will my instructors be happy? Who knows?!! But I am.
Before I share my new stuff, let me drop this on you - I received my official mid-term grades and they are all A's. SWEET! :) Still have not received my quiz grade in English yet, but I received my other two grades in Computer Graphics and they are both A's. Week 7 was pretty good to me, let's hope the trend continues.
On that note, my assignment in Intro to Computer Graphics was to redesign a movie poster. This was hard for me, as I do not feel confident enough in my amateur abilities to be critiquing any professional's work. But, the assignment called for what the assignment called for, so in the end I went with Resident Evil. Check out moviegoods.com to see the range of posters for the movie that are professional. This is my redesign:
I was pretty impressed with myself there. :) Course, it doesn't take much, right? ;)
For my Typography class, this week's assignments were to create our business card and letterhead to go with our final project. Again, I impressed myself here and I really like how these came out. YMMV. :)
Business card:
Letterhead:
So....that's it for Week 7. Whew! :) I have not actually looked at Week 8 yet because I have been determined to finish Week 7 first. As I've been wrestling with these last two assignments, I didn't get much good sleep last night, so I will probably crash early tonight and start Week 8 tomorrow.
I also received word that new schedules will be posted on Monday or Tuesday for summer quarter, so I will know shortly what new classes/tortures we all have to look forward to. :)
Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend y'all! As always, comments and feedback are welcome. Constructive, please. Cheers!
So....Week 7 is done! I just finished sending off my last two assignments. It took me forever to get them done, and I reworked each about five times, but I'm happy with the final results. Will my instructors be happy? Who knows?!! But I am.
Before I share my new stuff, let me drop this on you - I received my official mid-term grades and they are all A's. SWEET! :) Still have not received my quiz grade in English yet, but I received my other two grades in Computer Graphics and they are both A's. Week 7 was pretty good to me, let's hope the trend continues.
On that note, my assignment in Intro to Computer Graphics was to redesign a movie poster. This was hard for me, as I do not feel confident enough in my amateur abilities to be critiquing any professional's work. But, the assignment called for what the assignment called for, so in the end I went with Resident Evil. Check out moviegoods.com to see the range of posters for the movie that are professional. This is my redesign:
I was pretty impressed with myself there. :) Course, it doesn't take much, right? ;)
For my Typography class, this week's assignments were to create our business card and letterhead to go with our final project. Again, I impressed myself here and I really like how these came out. YMMV. :)
Business card:
Letterhead:
So....that's it for Week 7. Whew! :) I have not actually looked at Week 8 yet because I have been determined to finish Week 7 first. As I've been wrestling with these last two assignments, I didn't get much good sleep last night, so I will probably crash early tonight and start Week 8 tomorrow.
I also received word that new schedules will be posted on Monday or Tuesday for summer quarter, so I will know shortly what new classes/tortures we all have to look forward to. :)
Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend y'all! As always, comments and feedback are welcome. Constructive, please. Cheers!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
SHAZAM!!!!!
I'm just....wow....jaw on the floor here. I received my grade back in Typography on my proposal from last week and....I got 100%! 100%! On the discussion and my proposal both! My overall percentage in that class is now over 93%! I'm just....wow. Didn't see that coming! I'm excited! Elated! And also - a little weirded out - but that's okay. :)
For my English Comp paper from last week? - 100%! He basically said it was awesome (which it was) so...yay me! 100% on the discussion in that class too. No grade back yet on the quiz.
Success Strategies for last week - 100% on my written assignment, no grade back for the discussion yet.
Intro to Comp Graphics turned up 100% for discussion so far, still waiting for grades on my application assignment and my final project assignment.
So....awesome grades for last week! Yay me! :)
This week, for English Comp we had to write a persuasive letter to a city council lobbying either for or against a book ban. Well, I'm totally against banning books so.....here's my letter:
Dear Council Members:
The American politician and writer Clare Boothe Luce once said, “Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there.” Truer words were never spoken.
Certain amongst our city’s citizens have voiced concern that their children should not be exposed to the content of certain books in our city’s public library. As parents, I agree that they are single-handedly responsible for raising their children to their own ethical and moral standards, and I applaud their determination. However, not everyone holds the same beliefs in our society, and America’s foundation as a nation is one of freedom of thought, expression, and word.
Though I admire the zeal of the parents supporting the book ban, I cannot agree with them or endorse their request. I am a regular patron and supporter of our public library, and am also a fan of the books on this proposed ban list. I am not a child that needs policing, and I take offense to anyone trying to determine what a person in our free society thinks, reads, or learns.
The concerns of these parents can be handled in a very simple way, one that does not require a vote on curtailing the rights of others. If they do not wish their children to be exposed to these books, then they need to establish that regulation at home, not try to force it on the rest of this city’s citizens.
As an educated individual with a passionate love for our country and the freedoms for which it stands, I cannot fathom how anyone could vote to turn back time and deny freedom to others in this society. Censorship at its most basic level is as un-American an action as it is possible to take. We are not in some third-world, clerically patrolled nation that needs some parental authority to tell us what to think, where to go, or what to do. We are free, intelligent Americans who can determine best for ourselves and our families as individuals what is best for us. We do not need a collective to determine what is fit for us to learn and read and what is not.
I sincerely hope that you vote not to ban access to great literature that educates, informs and entertains on the basis of archaic concerns from a radical few looking to curtail the freedoms our forefathers fought for us to enjoy. I hope you choose the right path and vote to keep our public library free and accessible to all who wish to learn and absorb knowledge in all its varied and wonderful forms.
Thank you and have a nice day.
Sincerely,
I think that's a pretty good submission for that assignment. :) For Success Strategies we are doing a stupid topic cubing thing that is annoying the hell out of me. For Intro to Computer Graphics, we have to redesign a movie poster using the 7 essential elements of design. Problem is, I'm having trouble finding a crappy poster to redesign. Seriously, they should be good and representative before anyone lets them be released as promos for their movie, right? So....that's still a work in progress. For Typography, my business card and letterhead for my final project are due this week.
So....that's what's on tap for this week and grades so far. Marvel with me at that Typography one, won't you? ;) Cheers and back later with new posts!
For my English Comp paper from last week? - 100%! He basically said it was awesome (which it was) so...yay me! 100% on the discussion in that class too. No grade back yet on the quiz.
Success Strategies for last week - 100% on my written assignment, no grade back for the discussion yet.
Intro to Comp Graphics turned up 100% for discussion so far, still waiting for grades on my application assignment and my final project assignment.
So....awesome grades for last week! Yay me! :)
This week, for English Comp we had to write a persuasive letter to a city council lobbying either for or against a book ban. Well, I'm totally against banning books so.....here's my letter:
Dear Council Members:
The American politician and writer Clare Boothe Luce once said, “Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there.” Truer words were never spoken.
Certain amongst our city’s citizens have voiced concern that their children should not be exposed to the content of certain books in our city’s public library. As parents, I agree that they are single-handedly responsible for raising their children to their own ethical and moral standards, and I applaud their determination. However, not everyone holds the same beliefs in our society, and America’s foundation as a nation is one of freedom of thought, expression, and word.
Though I admire the zeal of the parents supporting the book ban, I cannot agree with them or endorse their request. I am a regular patron and supporter of our public library, and am also a fan of the books on this proposed ban list. I am not a child that needs policing, and I take offense to anyone trying to determine what a person in our free society thinks, reads, or learns.
The concerns of these parents can be handled in a very simple way, one that does not require a vote on curtailing the rights of others. If they do not wish their children to be exposed to these books, then they need to establish that regulation at home, not try to force it on the rest of this city’s citizens.
As an educated individual with a passionate love for our country and the freedoms for which it stands, I cannot fathom how anyone could vote to turn back time and deny freedom to others in this society. Censorship at its most basic level is as un-American an action as it is possible to take. We are not in some third-world, clerically patrolled nation that needs some parental authority to tell us what to think, where to go, or what to do. We are free, intelligent Americans who can determine best for ourselves and our families as individuals what is best for us. We do not need a collective to determine what is fit for us to learn and read and what is not.
I sincerely hope that you vote not to ban access to great literature that educates, informs and entertains on the basis of archaic concerns from a radical few looking to curtail the freedoms our forefathers fought for us to enjoy. I hope you choose the right path and vote to keep our public library free and accessible to all who wish to learn and absorb knowledge in all its varied and wonderful forms.
Thank you and have a nice day.
Sincerely,
I think that's a pretty good submission for that assignment. :) For Success Strategies we are doing a stupid topic cubing thing that is annoying the hell out of me. For Intro to Computer Graphics, we have to redesign a movie poster using the 7 essential elements of design. Problem is, I'm having trouble finding a crappy poster to redesign. Seriously, they should be good and representative before anyone lets them be released as promos for their movie, right? So....that's still a work in progress. For Typography, my business card and letterhead for my final project are due this week.
So....that's what's on tap for this week and grades so far. Marvel with me at that Typography one, won't you? ;) Cheers and back later with new posts!
Friday, May 15, 2009
End of Week 6 and Mid-Term
Hi all.
Sorry I'm a bit late in getting on here and updating. Things have been kind of crazy and my brain has not been cooperating with me on functioning and deadlines and that sort of thing. Mother's Day weekend kinda threw off my study mojo too. But I do have lots to report.
So this was the end of Week 6 of classes. Week 6 was Mid-Term. I didn't have any mid-term tests or anything, just a quiz in English Comp. It's also, I think, a good time to take a look at where my grades stand and give a little review of what I think of my classes so far. So....without further ado:
Success Strategies
Overall grade so far: 115%
Week 5 discussion grade: 120%
Week 5 written assignment grade: 100%
The reason my percentages are so high is because you get extra points if you have everything turned in by Friday. Since this is my "bird" course, I tend to do all of that work first, and then I just have my follow-up posting which I do off and on throughout the week. Kinda dull. The course is boring and kind of a waste of money in my opinion. But I can see how it might help people coming to college with no higher educational background. That said, the instructor is okay, but he auto-replies to all posts with the same reply and that is kind of obviously phoning it in. That kind of stuff kinda bugs me, but - whatever. At least it's one class that I can do on autopilot this quarter.
English Composition
Overall grade so far: 98.53%
Week 5 discussion grade: not in yet!!!
Week 5 outline grade: 100%
I am enjoying this class. I love to write and I find that it is recharging my creative writing battery. Some of the assignments feel kind of lame, but they are still good for getting the creative juices flowing. The instructor doesn't engage much, but he puts up great notes every week and gives good feedback. Most of my elective options are writing classes and I hope to have him as an instructor again.
Intro to Computer Graphics
Overall grade so far: 100%
Week 5 application assignment grade: 100%
Week 5 discussion grade: 100%
Week 5 revitalization project grade: 100%
This class has been on one hand good and on the other endlessly annoying. The good: I like my instructor very much. She engages with the class, gives really great feedback, posts awesome lecture notes and you can tell she really likes teaching and wants to help us the most she can. The bad: I wish they had not changed this course and removed the software tutorials and tutorial books from the class. Most everyone is coming into these classes with no training in this software and it's been really hard to get the hang of things. But, overall, I'm enjoying the class and this is another instructor I would love to have further classes with.
Typography
Overall grade so far: 92%
Week 5 discussion grade: 100%
Week 5 written assignment grade: 90%
Typography - yeah. I think y'all are pretty clear on how I feel about this class. I am about five seconds away from having a serious discussion with the Academic Dean about this instructor. His attitude is extremely unprofessional, he pimps himself all the time, he has a really bad ego and I am not paying $430 a credit hour to kiss this guy's ass. Yes, in the work world you have to deal with douchebags. If I'm paying for a class, however, I expect my instructor to teach well, to actually do more than just decide whether or not he likes something and grade on that scale and not the lessons completed, and I expect more instruction and less egotistical asshattery. If I find myself having to deal with this instructor again EVER, I am going to have to have a serious talk with the school. Having worked in higher education and supported part-time and adjunct instructors, I know this guy's type. Most of them get fired for pulling the kind of crap he's pulling. Someone needs to be censured is all I'm saying. And also, he needs to stop posting and pimping his pedestrian naked woman art work that he thinks is so cutting edge and fly. Dude - that's the same shit everyone else is posting - you are not unique. Sorry. Ass.
So...that's the latest from there. Assignments this week were kind of standard. Standard stupid written assignment in Success Strategies. English Comp is our second expository essay that I have drafted, but need to go over again and polish up - I'll post it later. Computer Graphics was all about fonts this week and typography (irony!). Nothing really worth posting, just playing with fonts and then typing up a report on how we plan to redesign our final project annual report. Typography was doing a formal proposal for our final project. I decided to do what I want to do and what will be fun for me, and also play with an idea for a company I hope to have some day so - - I chose my fictional company to be a feminist film studio. Asshat instructor should love that. :) I made up a little letterhead and wrote a business letter proposal. I'd post it but it has personal info on it so....no. :) Love ya Internets, but not that much.
So....that's the latest for this week. New assignments should post here in about 15 minutes and I may just stay up and start classes tonight as I'm wide awake. We shall see. I may post this, take my shower, and feel like passing out. :) Like I said, once I have my essay fully polished, I'll post it here, which should be some time tomorrow. Hope y'all are having good weeks. Take care and be back later! Cheers!
Sorry I'm a bit late in getting on here and updating. Things have been kind of crazy and my brain has not been cooperating with me on functioning and deadlines and that sort of thing. Mother's Day weekend kinda threw off my study mojo too. But I do have lots to report.
So this was the end of Week 6 of classes. Week 6 was Mid-Term. I didn't have any mid-term tests or anything, just a quiz in English Comp. It's also, I think, a good time to take a look at where my grades stand and give a little review of what I think of my classes so far. So....without further ado:
Success Strategies
Overall grade so far: 115%
Week 5 discussion grade: 120%
Week 5 written assignment grade: 100%
The reason my percentages are so high is because you get extra points if you have everything turned in by Friday. Since this is my "bird" course, I tend to do all of that work first, and then I just have my follow-up posting which I do off and on throughout the week. Kinda dull. The course is boring and kind of a waste of money in my opinion. But I can see how it might help people coming to college with no higher educational background. That said, the instructor is okay, but he auto-replies to all posts with the same reply and that is kind of obviously phoning it in. That kind of stuff kinda bugs me, but - whatever. At least it's one class that I can do on autopilot this quarter.
English Composition
Overall grade so far: 98.53%
Week 5 discussion grade: not in yet!!!
Week 5 outline grade: 100%
I am enjoying this class. I love to write and I find that it is recharging my creative writing battery. Some of the assignments feel kind of lame, but they are still good for getting the creative juices flowing. The instructor doesn't engage much, but he puts up great notes every week and gives good feedback. Most of my elective options are writing classes and I hope to have him as an instructor again.
Intro to Computer Graphics
Overall grade so far: 100%
Week 5 application assignment grade: 100%
Week 5 discussion grade: 100%
Week 5 revitalization project grade: 100%
This class has been on one hand good and on the other endlessly annoying. The good: I like my instructor very much. She engages with the class, gives really great feedback, posts awesome lecture notes and you can tell she really likes teaching and wants to help us the most she can. The bad: I wish they had not changed this course and removed the software tutorials and tutorial books from the class. Most everyone is coming into these classes with no training in this software and it's been really hard to get the hang of things. But, overall, I'm enjoying the class and this is another instructor I would love to have further classes with.
Typography
Overall grade so far: 92%
Week 5 discussion grade: 100%
Week 5 written assignment grade: 90%
Typography - yeah. I think y'all are pretty clear on how I feel about this class. I am about five seconds away from having a serious discussion with the Academic Dean about this instructor. His attitude is extremely unprofessional, he pimps himself all the time, he has a really bad ego and I am not paying $430 a credit hour to kiss this guy's ass. Yes, in the work world you have to deal with douchebags. If I'm paying for a class, however, I expect my instructor to teach well, to actually do more than just decide whether or not he likes something and grade on that scale and not the lessons completed, and I expect more instruction and less egotistical asshattery. If I find myself having to deal with this instructor again EVER, I am going to have to have a serious talk with the school. Having worked in higher education and supported part-time and adjunct instructors, I know this guy's type. Most of them get fired for pulling the kind of crap he's pulling. Someone needs to be censured is all I'm saying. And also, he needs to stop posting and pimping his pedestrian naked woman art work that he thinks is so cutting edge and fly. Dude - that's the same shit everyone else is posting - you are not unique. Sorry. Ass.
So...that's the latest from there. Assignments this week were kind of standard. Standard stupid written assignment in Success Strategies. English Comp is our second expository essay that I have drafted, but need to go over again and polish up - I'll post it later. Computer Graphics was all about fonts this week and typography (irony!). Nothing really worth posting, just playing with fonts and then typing up a report on how we plan to redesign our final project annual report. Typography was doing a formal proposal for our final project. I decided to do what I want to do and what will be fun for me, and also play with an idea for a company I hope to have some day so - - I chose my fictional company to be a feminist film studio. Asshat instructor should love that. :) I made up a little letterhead and wrote a business letter proposal. I'd post it but it has personal info on it so....no. :) Love ya Internets, but not that much.
So....that's the latest for this week. New assignments should post here in about 15 minutes and I may just stay up and start classes tonight as I'm wide awake. We shall see. I may post this, take my shower, and feel like passing out. :) Like I said, once I have my essay fully polished, I'll post it here, which should be some time tomorrow. Hope y'all are having good weeks. Take care and be back later! Cheers!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Final Week 4 Results
Hello again all!
My final grade for Week 4 just came in from my Intro to Computer Graphics class. And - it's 100%! Woot! You know, the more I participate in these classes, the more I can see that there really do need to be more women actively involved in the design fields. I am totally and completely on the same wavelength with my Intro to Computer Graphics instructor, a woman. I am on completely opposite wavelength with my Typography instructor, a man. This has all really opened my eyes up to the facts of how differently women and men see things and how it really is imperative for there to be more women in the industry creating content that specifically speaks to women. That's my goal anyway. :)
So....our assignments for Intro to Computer Graphics this week were a discussion, which is done, and choosing the inner pages of our annual report that we are revising. I chose the CEO pages and some pages of data that I want to redesign into graphs - I love doing graphs. :)
Our last assignment for this week had to do with using grids in design. Personally, this was completely new and interesting to me. I got/had to learn a new program for these assignments - InDesign - and I kind of enjoyed it. It was a little bit frustrating, but the practical applications are numerous for publishing. Very cool. (See how quickly once I get the jist of things something I loathe can become something I love?) :)
Anyhoo....our assignment was to do two different grid layouts using text of our choice and sparkling it up with graphics if we wanted. I used my expository essay on how Hawaii became a state for my text and picked up some graphics on Photobucket for the pictures. The first layout I did was graphical and kind of looks like something you'd see as a feature in a magazine. I did it in two-column style and it's one-and-a-half pages. The second layout I did was not graphical and is just your standard magazine article "filler"-type piece. I did it as a three-column piece with no graphical elements. So....without further ado - here they are! (I think they came out kinda cool.). :)
So, there ends Week 4's grades and Week 5's assignments. I have already moved on to Week 6's reading and we are getting our projects for Typography introduced when new lessons post tomorrow - that should be fun (not). Also - our first drafts of our final paper for English are due in two weeks so I'm getting ahead on my reading to get prepared to write that. We are also going to have another expository essay to write this week. No required reading for Success Strategies, just dorky stuff on academic honesty. We're actually studying a typography lesson in Intro to Computer Graphics this week and working on choosing the typefaces we're going to use for our redesign final projects.
That's the latest. Hope you're enjoying the fun along with me. It will be interesting to see how the grades shake out for this week's assignments, especially Typography. :) Thoughts? Leave 'em!
My final grade for Week 4 just came in from my Intro to Computer Graphics class. And - it's 100%! Woot! You know, the more I participate in these classes, the more I can see that there really do need to be more women actively involved in the design fields. I am totally and completely on the same wavelength with my Intro to Computer Graphics instructor, a woman. I am on completely opposite wavelength with my Typography instructor, a man. This has all really opened my eyes up to the facts of how differently women and men see things and how it really is imperative for there to be more women in the industry creating content that specifically speaks to women. That's my goal anyway. :)
So....our assignments for Intro to Computer Graphics this week were a discussion, which is done, and choosing the inner pages of our annual report that we are revising. I chose the CEO pages and some pages of data that I want to redesign into graphs - I love doing graphs. :)
Our last assignment for this week had to do with using grids in design. Personally, this was completely new and interesting to me. I got/had to learn a new program for these assignments - InDesign - and I kind of enjoyed it. It was a little bit frustrating, but the practical applications are numerous for publishing. Very cool. (See how quickly once I get the jist of things something I loathe can become something I love?) :)
Anyhoo....our assignment was to do two different grid layouts using text of our choice and sparkling it up with graphics if we wanted. I used my expository essay on how Hawaii became a state for my text and picked up some graphics on Photobucket for the pictures. The first layout I did was graphical and kind of looks like something you'd see as a feature in a magazine. I did it in two-column style and it's one-and-a-half pages. The second layout I did was not graphical and is just your standard magazine article "filler"-type piece. I did it as a three-column piece with no graphical elements. So....without further ado - here they are! (I think they came out kinda cool.). :)
So, there ends Week 4's grades and Week 5's assignments. I have already moved on to Week 6's reading and we are getting our projects for Typography introduced when new lessons post tomorrow - that should be fun (not). Also - our first drafts of our final paper for English are due in two weeks so I'm getting ahead on my reading to get prepared to write that. We are also going to have another expository essay to write this week. No required reading for Success Strategies, just dorky stuff on academic honesty. We're actually studying a typography lesson in Intro to Computer Graphics this week and working on choosing the typefaces we're going to use for our redesign final projects.
That's the latest. Hope you're enjoying the fun along with me. It will be interesting to see how the grades shake out for this week's assignments, especially Typography. :) Thoughts? Leave 'em!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Why Typography Is Killing Me
Typography. Yeah. Seriously hate this fucking class. Seriously. Seriously.
So....got my grade back from my previous assignment (posted below), which I thought turned out kinda cool. Here's what my instructor thought:
Well Amy I'm liking it but I'm not sure it communicates well to your intended audience (college students) The colors are pretty and the text pretty fancy - yeah this looks more like a birthday party invite than a flyer talking about perfect attendance. Also when you're using stock photography try to find a better way to place that. Those little square boxes just don't do it. I appeciate your creativity here - you just need to think things through a bit more: the color, fonts and stock images. Please check out the work I posted on deviant from this week's project: ~T
Ummmm....yeah....I DO check out and download the examples every week! Ugh!!!! Grrrrrr!!!! So....yeah. I hate this class. What's crazy is, he's not grading us on the actual contents of the lessons, he's grading us on whether or not he likes our designs. Um - hello?! This is not a design class, it's Typography! And, again, I don't like his style and he apparently doesn't like mine. In the discussion for this week, he actually seemed to intentionally choose to post a contradictory statement to my post. Am I paranoid? I dunno, but I don't think so.
So....my grade was 25/30, which with my 100% for discussion last week took my overall percentage to 87.5%. That SUCKS!! My overall percentage in that class now is 91.87% NOT GOOD! Almost out of A contention! I'm telling y'all - he's going to fuck up my GPA and we're going to have a problem!! :(
Anyway....so....this week's flyer redesign is a flyer for senior citizens to learn about the computer. Oh! Hey! Guess what??!! I live with two senior citizens! Ho! So guess who I asked obnoxiously about feedback on the five different designs I did for this? You got it! They did give me great feedback so....that helped. Anyway, here's my submission for this week:
I contend that in the hands of someone not quite so much of an asshat, this class might actually be interesting. As it is, I shall simply endeavor to survive with an A hopefully. We shall see. I would love any feedback y'all want to provide.
Last class - - Intro to Computer Graphics - - lots going on there this week, and I don't have my grade back yet so - - watch this space! More to come! Laters!
So....got my grade back from my previous assignment (posted below), which I thought turned out kinda cool. Here's what my instructor thought:
Well Amy I'm liking it but I'm not sure it communicates well to your intended audience (college students) The colors are pretty and the text pretty fancy - yeah this looks more like a birthday party invite than a flyer talking about perfect attendance. Also when you're using stock photography try to find a better way to place that. Those little square boxes just don't do it. I appeciate your creativity here - you just need to think things through a bit more: the color, fonts and stock images. Please check out the work I posted on deviant from this week's project: ~T
Ummmm....yeah....I DO check out and download the examples every week! Ugh!!!! Grrrrrr!!!! So....yeah. I hate this class. What's crazy is, he's not grading us on the actual contents of the lessons, he's grading us on whether or not he likes our designs. Um - hello?! This is not a design class, it's Typography! And, again, I don't like his style and he apparently doesn't like mine. In the discussion for this week, he actually seemed to intentionally choose to post a contradictory statement to my post. Am I paranoid? I dunno, but I don't think so.
So....my grade was 25/30, which with my 100% for discussion last week took my overall percentage to 87.5%. That SUCKS!! My overall percentage in that class now is 91.87% NOT GOOD! Almost out of A contention! I'm telling y'all - he's going to fuck up my GPA and we're going to have a problem!! :(
Anyway....so....this week's flyer redesign is a flyer for senior citizens to learn about the computer. Oh! Hey! Guess what??!! I live with two senior citizens! Ho! So guess who I asked obnoxiously about feedback on the five different designs I did for this? You got it! They did give me great feedback so....that helped. Anyway, here's my submission for this week:
I contend that in the hands of someone not quite so much of an asshat, this class might actually be interesting. As it is, I shall simply endeavor to survive with an A hopefully. We shall see. I would love any feedback y'all want to provide.
Last class - - Intro to Computer Graphics - - lots going on there this week, and I don't have my grade back yet so - - watch this space! More to come! Laters!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Monday Again? Already??!
Happy Monday y'all!
So...hope everyone had good weekends and that your Mondays are going well. So far mine is pretty damn awesome! :) Got my results from Success Strategies and English Comp for last week - 100% on both - yay me! 100% on my discussion for Typography too. Dunno about my assignment yet. No word on anything for Intro to Computer Graphics. We shall see.
As is every woman's prerogative, I changed my mind and have decided not to post any Success Strategies stuff. It's an interesting discussion and everything this week (for once), but nothing any of y'all hanging around here would give a shit about so...just trust me - cool discussion, nothing major. MOVING ON! :)
So for English Comp this week, we have to submit an outline for our Research Essay Project. Our discussion is a peer review of our thesis statements. Considering the previous peer review adventure, this is going to suck like a Hoover. But, I posted mine anyway. My thesis statement is: 'A more diverse film industry that includes more women in higher level positions will help ensure that the portrayals of women and girls, and their life experiences, are more accurately depicted in films'. You know I'm right! ;)
The problem I am facing now is with the outline. See, I'm not one of those writers who can write from an outline, I just can't do it. So to get the damn outline, I'm going to have to write the whole freaking paper, then pull the outline from there. Ugh! Not to mention, I have three assignments this week in Intro to Computer Graphics, plus my normal torture session in Typography so....it's going to be an interesting week. :)
Anyhow....that's the latest from here. Still trying to keep up that GPA and all. I'll update with more info and assignments as I have 'em. Stay cool y'all! Thoughts? Post 'em! :)
So...hope everyone had good weekends and that your Mondays are going well. So far mine is pretty damn awesome! :) Got my results from Success Strategies and English Comp for last week - 100% on both - yay me! 100% on my discussion for Typography too. Dunno about my assignment yet. No word on anything for Intro to Computer Graphics. We shall see.
As is every woman's prerogative, I changed my mind and have decided not to post any Success Strategies stuff. It's an interesting discussion and everything this week (for once), but nothing any of y'all hanging around here would give a shit about so...just trust me - cool discussion, nothing major. MOVING ON! :)
So for English Comp this week, we have to submit an outline for our Research Essay Project. Our discussion is a peer review of our thesis statements. Considering the previous peer review adventure, this is going to suck like a Hoover. But, I posted mine anyway. My thesis statement is: 'A more diverse film industry that includes more women in higher level positions will help ensure that the portrayals of women and girls, and their life experiences, are more accurately depicted in films'. You know I'm right! ;)
The problem I am facing now is with the outline. See, I'm not one of those writers who can write from an outline, I just can't do it. So to get the damn outline, I'm going to have to write the whole freaking paper, then pull the outline from there. Ugh! Not to mention, I have three assignments this week in Intro to Computer Graphics, plus my normal torture session in Typography so....it's going to be an interesting week. :)
Anyhow....that's the latest from here. Still trying to keep up that GPA and all. I'll update with more info and assignments as I have 'em. Stay cool y'all! Thoughts? Post 'em! :)
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Final Portions of Week 4
Hey there y'all!
Whew! So I just now finished and sent off my Typography assignment. I spent a very, very, very, very, very long time on this one. I redid it about five times. I played with different elements. I made one I thought was "safer" and then I said, "Fuck it! - I'm sending the one I like!" I did this entirely in the Adobe software programs - aren't you proud of me? I'm loving Deviant by the way, I'm finding some great fonts and brushes there. Anyway, this is my Week 4 assignment for Typography:
So....that's done. Whew! :)
As for my English Comp assignment - I sent it off last night. It was the annotated bibliography for my Research Essay Project (see a few entries below for the details on that). We were required to have five sources, three of which were "scholarly". Well....y'all gotta know me a little by now - I went all Hermione on it again. I have twelve sources and about half are "scholarly". The damn thing is eight pages long - hence why it's not being loaded here. Suffice it to say that it rocks and will completely and totally help me rock my essay project. Woot! :)
So....Week 4 is finally complete. Week 5 was posted yesterday so....time for me to get to it. I've only looked at Success Strategies so far, and I may actually go back on my word and post my assignments for this week's class after all - they look like they might turn out kinda cool. We shall see.
Anyway....look at the previous entries for the latest on grades and what-not. As always, more to come later kittens! Thanks for the feedback and love! Laters!
Whew! So I just now finished and sent off my Typography assignment. I spent a very, very, very, very, very long time on this one. I redid it about five times. I played with different elements. I made one I thought was "safer" and then I said, "Fuck it! - I'm sending the one I like!" I did this entirely in the Adobe software programs - aren't you proud of me? I'm loving Deviant by the way, I'm finding some great fonts and brushes there. Anyway, this is my Week 4 assignment for Typography:
So....that's done. Whew! :)
As for my English Comp assignment - I sent it off last night. It was the annotated bibliography for my Research Essay Project (see a few entries below for the details on that). We were required to have five sources, three of which were "scholarly". Well....y'all gotta know me a little by now - I went all Hermione on it again. I have twelve sources and about half are "scholarly". The damn thing is eight pages long - hence why it's not being loaded here. Suffice it to say that it rocks and will completely and totally help me rock my essay project. Woot! :)
So....Week 4 is finally complete. Week 5 was posted yesterday so....time for me to get to it. I've only looked at Success Strategies so far, and I may actually go back on my word and post my assignments for this week's class after all - they look like they might turn out kinda cool. We shall see.
Anyway....look at the previous entries for the latest on grades and what-not. As always, more to come later kittens! Thanks for the feedback and love! Laters!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Well....Shit!
Hi again all.
Well, I got my Typography grade back finally. Suffice it to say, I do not think that class is going to be one of my better ones. Basically, the main problem (aside from software angst) is the fact that he has one style and I have another and neither of us cares for the others' style. So....where does that leave me? He thinks my flyer from last week was "stuffy" and boring. He doesn't like my boxes around my pictures and wants me to do something more interesting and "edgy". Well....for flyers like that I consider what I have done in my working life. I've done a ton of desktop publishing for jobs and never had complaints. Quite the contrary - I've been praised up the ass. So....WTF? I mean, seriously - WTH??? This dude had us all sign up for Deviant accounts where we could friend him and see examples there. He's posted some of his own and some other students have done. Only problem is - - again, I don't care for his style or style choices. So what do you do as an artist? Especially with this asshat who "is the voice of the design industry" and thinks he's God's gift to graphic design? Do I continue to do the work that I feel best represents the assignment and my tastes, or do I try to find out what he's looking for? Even more importantly, do I speak up when I submit my next project? Do I say that while I respect his opinions, they are his and mine differ? Normally, especially in a work situation, I would respectfully state something along those lines. I dunno what to do here. I'm up trying to work on this stupid next assignment, but I'm just coming up with blanks. I know how *I* would *want* to do it, but I am also trying to keep my GPA in mind. Ugh - round and round in circles I go! Geesh! What a pain in the ass! Oh - the grade was 27/30 points. With the 100% for my discussion, it's about 97%. Not too bad I guess, just sucks when I'm pulling down 100% everywhere else.
Speaking of everywhere else - - still waiting for the grade on my expository essay in English Comp. Got 100% on my discussion and 100% on a quiz we had. Just waiting to see how the essay comes out. Still finishing up my annotated bibliography for that class too. New assignments are up today and it's already looking like a hella busy week. Lots to do and lots to share. Stay tuned! Thoughts? Leave 'em! :)
Well, I got my Typography grade back finally. Suffice it to say, I do not think that class is going to be one of my better ones. Basically, the main problem (aside from software angst) is the fact that he has one style and I have another and neither of us cares for the others' style. So....where does that leave me? He thinks my flyer from last week was "stuffy" and boring. He doesn't like my boxes around my pictures and wants me to do something more interesting and "edgy". Well....for flyers like that I consider what I have done in my working life. I've done a ton of desktop publishing for jobs and never had complaints. Quite the contrary - I've been praised up the ass. So....WTF? I mean, seriously - WTH??? This dude had us all sign up for Deviant accounts where we could friend him and see examples there. He's posted some of his own and some other students have done. Only problem is - - again, I don't care for his style or style choices. So what do you do as an artist? Especially with this asshat who "is the voice of the design industry" and thinks he's God's gift to graphic design? Do I continue to do the work that I feel best represents the assignment and my tastes, or do I try to find out what he's looking for? Even more importantly, do I speak up when I submit my next project? Do I say that while I respect his opinions, they are his and mine differ? Normally, especially in a work situation, I would respectfully state something along those lines. I dunno what to do here. I'm up trying to work on this stupid next assignment, but I'm just coming up with blanks. I know how *I* would *want* to do it, but I am also trying to keep my GPA in mind. Ugh - round and round in circles I go! Geesh! What a pain in the ass! Oh - the grade was 27/30 points. With the 100% for my discussion, it's about 97%. Not too bad I guess, just sucks when I'm pulling down 100% everywhere else.
Speaking of everywhere else - - still waiting for the grade on my expository essay in English Comp. Got 100% on my discussion and 100% on a quiz we had. Just waiting to see how the essay comes out. Still finishing up my annotated bibliography for that class too. New assignments are up today and it's already looking like a hella busy week. Lots to do and lots to share. Stay tuned! Thoughts? Leave 'em! :)
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Update!!
Howdy again y'all!
So...you know what's hella fun? (not) Having two different instructors waxing poetic about their software program of choice and telling you that theirs is THE ONE TRUE WAY AND ALL OTHERS SUCK IT! Yeah, that's just such a blast. What. Ever.
Anyhoo....busy day today. I spent a lot of time online and chatting with my school's librarian on the research front for my annotated bibliography for my big English Comp research paper assignment. I found some really AWESOME stuff! I still have to wade through it and get it all typed up but....look for coolness to come a bit later! ;)
I'm still waiting on my grades from last week for both English Comp and Typography. I have another assignment due in Typography (another flyer thingie redesign), but I'm hesitant to do too much work on it until I get my grade from last week and see if I'm on the right track he wants. We shall see. I have until Saturday night so....hopefully he'll post my grade between now and tomorrow. :)
For last week's Success Strategies - A! (Did you doubt it? You shouldn't.) For last week's Intro to Computer Graphics - A! Hee! I love A's. They rock - and prove that I rock as well. :)
So....that's the latest update kittens. More will follow. To all y'all checking this blog out - thanks. Please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments - I will reply to all. I'm finding keeping this blog really helpful for this return-to-school process, not the least reason of which is that it gives me a place to let it all out, ya know. ;)
Laters!
So...you know what's hella fun? (not) Having two different instructors waxing poetic about their software program of choice and telling you that theirs is THE ONE TRUE WAY AND ALL OTHERS SUCK IT! Yeah, that's just such a blast. What. Ever.
Anyhoo....busy day today. I spent a lot of time online and chatting with my school's librarian on the research front for my annotated bibliography for my big English Comp research paper assignment. I found some really AWESOME stuff! I still have to wade through it and get it all typed up but....look for coolness to come a bit later! ;)
I'm still waiting on my grades from last week for both English Comp and Typography. I have another assignment due in Typography (another flyer thingie redesign), but I'm hesitant to do too much work on it until I get my grade from last week and see if I'm on the right track he wants. We shall see. I have until Saturday night so....hopefully he'll post my grade between now and tomorrow. :)
For last week's Success Strategies - A! (Did you doubt it? You shouldn't.) For last week's Intro to Computer Graphics - A! Hee! I love A's. They rock - and prove that I rock as well. :)
So....that's the latest update kittens. More will follow. To all y'all checking this blog out - thanks. Please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments - I will reply to all. I'm finding keeping this blog really helpful for this return-to-school process, not the least reason of which is that it gives me a place to let it all out, ya know. ;)
Laters!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Week 3 Typography Assignment
And....as threatened.... :) Here is my Typography assignment that I sent in. Basically what we're doing right now is redesigning crappily designed flyers and such that he posts on our class site. I can't show you the before documents because apparently they are SUPER-SPECIAL-HEY-THERE-DON'T-LOOK-AT-MY-STUFF protected docs and I can't so....imagine something really crappy with really crappy graphics and really stupid text and....you'll get there. :) Hint - we aren't allowed to rewrite the text so....not too much imagination required on that front.
Anyhooo.....this is what I came up with this week.
Oh...what's that? What program did I do it in? Ummm...what do you mean? Did I do it in Adobe? Uhhhh....well....sure....okay, yeah. What's that? Oh...have I figured out all those Adobe problems I was having? Well....uhhhh....sure....sure I did. Yeah. It's all squared away....yeah. (that's my story and I'm sticking to it *cough*Publisher*cough*)
Here ya go!
Anyhooo.....this is what I came up with this week.
Oh...what's that? What program did I do it in? Ummm...what do you mean? Did I do it in Adobe? Uhhhh....well....sure....okay, yeah. What's that? Oh...have I figured out all those Adobe problems I was having? Well....uhhhh....sure....sure I did. Yeah. It's all squared away....yeah. (that's my story and I'm sticking to it *cough*Publisher*cough*)
Here ya go!
Week 3 Work
Howdee y'all!! :P
Well...Week 3 of classes is almost complete. I must still finish my Typography assignment, but the rest is done. I just finished sending in my English Comp paper today.
So....here's the run-down on my last posted work - Intro to Computer Graphics - A. English Comp - A. Invisible Success Strategies (which you will never see here) - A. Typography - BASTARD!!! I got a 25/30, which isn't bad per se (it's like 83.3% or something), but if this mutherfucker messes up my GPA, I'm finding the bastard, I'm telling you now! Geez he's in love with himself!!! Ugh!!! So....that was the only blight on my Week 2. No, now that you mention it, I'm not a perfectionist - - why do you ask???
Okay, Week 3 work. Success Strategies was crap about well....something I don't even remember about coming back to college after a long time away so...moving on!
Intro to Computer Graphics was picking an Annual Report to redesign. I chose Barnes & Noble Booksellers, cuz theirs kinda suck. Nice blank canvas to play with - yay! That was it aside from the discussion - pretty quiet week on that topic.
English Composition - - ah, English Comp - yeah....English Comp started out annoying the fuck out of me, but by the end of the week was actually very educational. Our assignment was an expository essay on one of the following topics (and I hate when other people choose my freaking topics - especially when they're this stupid):
1. Explain how the Cold War ended. (Who. cares.)
2. Explain how Hawaii became a state.
3. Explain the pros and cons of nationalism. (Again.who.cares.)
4. Explain the origins of the concept of "free will". (What.Ever. That's free will!)
5. Explain the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal. (Bunch of whiny spoiled ball players threw the series for cash and then whinged when they got caught - explanation enough for you?)
Can you guess which I chose? I'll give you a minute....
Minute's up!! I chose how Hawaii became a state. It's actually very interesting. And very "whitey came and stole our land" which is true so, ya know, it's legit. I didn't know there was still a whole big to-do going on about restoring Hawaii to its own republic - did you know that? No? Well, now ya do! You learned something new today! CONGRATULATIONS!!! :)
So....here's the sitch - the way he wanted this done was kind of expository-essay-writing-for-retards or something, and I don't roll that way, so I did it my way. It was supposed to be 2 pages, but I went all Hermione on it and did almost three; only two sources needed, I cited six - that kind of thing. If he dings me, he dings me, my paper is good. Think I'm being a blowhard? Read for yourself and judge (oh - as always - this is my freaking work except where cited so DON'T STEAL MY SHIT! - I HATE that!):
The Controversial Statehood of Hawaii
When one thinks of a conquering nation, rarely does America come to mind. Founded as it was under the principles of freedom and democracy, it becomes hard to believe that the addition of one of the fifty United States is seen as an act of war. But that is precisely the controversy surrounding the annexation and addition of Hawaii as the 50th state.
Prior to 1840, the Hawaiian Islands were considered the Hawaiian kingdom, presided over by a monarchy, and rich with a culture and vibrancy of its own. In 1778, however, English Captain James Cook came upon the islands, and following his “discovery” of the islands, American whaling fleets, other explorers and adventurers, traders, and eventually New England missionaries found their ways to the islands. With the arrival of the missionaries, the culture and scenery of Hawaii began to change with the addition of the written English language, Protestant and Catholic religions, and American trades and ways of life including horse-drawn vehicles, frame houses, schools, churches, taverns, and mercantiles.
Another arrival that coincided with that of the New England missionaries was the arrival of a group of white businessmen looking to tap into the Islands’ sugar cane market to supplement the loss of America’s sugar cane plantations when the South seceded from the Union during the Civil War. These white planters began to assert greater influence over the Hawaiian King to open up the Islands to private ownership, which finally was accomplished in 1848 with the Great Mahele.
During this time, the white planter minority was also exercising its financial influence to try to reduce tariffs on their sugar cane shipments to the United States. In 1875, the Reciprocity Treaty was signed between the United States and Hawaii to give a duty-free market for Hawaiian sugar, and economic privileges for the United States in Hawaii. In 1887, the Reciprocity Treaty was renewed with the addition of granting the United States the freedom to establish a naval base at Pearl Harbor.
King Kamehameha III began to lose the support of the white planter class when he decided to start trying to reestablish the native Hawaiian culture on the islands. In 1887, a company of white troops forced the Bayonet Constitution on the King, limiting his powers and granting the white planters voting rights. When King Kamehameha III’s successor, Queen Liliuokalani, again tried to revive the Hawaiian culture and monarchy on the Islands, a group of American and European businessmen overthrew her with the help of a group of U.S. Marines from the USS Boston that had been stationed in Pearl Harbor.
United States President Benjamin Harrison had been in favor of the deposing of the Queen in Hawaii, and sent a bill to Congress requesting the annexation of Hawaii to the United States. However, his presidency ended before the bill was passed, and his successor, President Grover Cleveland, withdrew the bill from Congressional consideration. He determined that Hawaii had been unjustly robbed of its freedom “by an act of war, committed with the participation of a diplomatic representative of the United States and without authority of Congress” (“The Controversy over Hawaii”, 1893), and he attempted to help reinstate Queen Liliuokalani and the Hawaiian monarchy.
Unable to complete reinstatement of the Queen before the end of his term, President Cleveland was forced to leave the determination of Hawaii’s fate to his successor, President William McKinley. Prior to his assassination, McKinley agreed to the annexation of Hawaii, and Congress passed the measure in 1898. Hawaii was officially made a territory of the United States of America in 1900, but a vote for statehood was postponed in Congress due to racial attitudes and party politics of the time.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought both Hawaii and the United States into the Second World War. Owing to the strategic military necessity of Hawaii at that time, following the end of the war in 1945, Hawaii was kept on its path to statehood, eventually being brought into the Union along with Alaska in 1959.
In 1993, however, President Bill Clinton signed United States Public Law 103-150, apologizing to the Native Hawaiian people for the role the United States played in overthrowing the monarchy and occupying the state. As a consequence, a movement continues in the island nation for a restoration of the independence of Hawaii as its own republic, and a restoration of the monarchy.
References
Annexation of Hawaii, 1898. (n.d.) Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/gp/17661.htm
The Controversy over Hawaii (2009). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved April 22, 2009, from Encyclopaedia Britannica Online: http://search.eb/eb/article-9398256
Hawaii. (2009). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved April 22, 2009, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-79295
Hawaii Becomes Our 50th State. (n.d.) Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cg/jb/modern/hawaii_1
Is Hawaii Really a State of the Union? (n.d.) Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://www.hawaii-nation.org/statehood.html
Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. (2009). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved April 22, 2009, from Encyclopaedia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/articlr-9470906
Now, tell me that wasn't an awesome paper - I dare ya! (At this point, I've honestly been over this damn thing so many times I don't care anymore)
So that's it for schoolwork for Week 3 aside from my Typography, which I still have to complete and turn in before Saturday night and ZOMG! I getter get busy. Back laters with that for your fun and enjoyment. Cheers!
Well...Week 3 of classes is almost complete. I must still finish my Typography assignment, but the rest is done. I just finished sending in my English Comp paper today.
So....here's the run-down on my last posted work - Intro to Computer Graphics - A. English Comp - A. Invisible Success Strategies (which you will never see here) - A. Typography - BASTARD!!! I got a 25/30, which isn't bad per se (it's like 83.3% or something), but if this mutherfucker messes up my GPA, I'm finding the bastard, I'm telling you now! Geez he's in love with himself!!! Ugh!!! So....that was the only blight on my Week 2. No, now that you mention it, I'm not a perfectionist - - why do you ask???
Okay, Week 3 work. Success Strategies was crap about well....something I don't even remember about coming back to college after a long time away so...moving on!
Intro to Computer Graphics was picking an Annual Report to redesign. I chose Barnes & Noble Booksellers, cuz theirs kinda suck. Nice blank canvas to play with - yay! That was it aside from the discussion - pretty quiet week on that topic.
English Composition - - ah, English Comp - yeah....English Comp started out annoying the fuck out of me, but by the end of the week was actually very educational. Our assignment was an expository essay on one of the following topics (and I hate when other people choose my freaking topics - especially when they're this stupid):
1. Explain how the Cold War ended. (Who. cares.)
2. Explain how Hawaii became a state.
3. Explain the pros and cons of nationalism. (Again.who.cares.)
4. Explain the origins of the concept of "free will". (What.Ever. That's free will!)
5. Explain the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal. (Bunch of whiny spoiled ball players threw the series for cash and then whinged when they got caught - explanation enough for you?)
Can you guess which I chose? I'll give you a minute....
Minute's up!! I chose how Hawaii became a state. It's actually very interesting. And very "whitey came and stole our land" which is true so, ya know, it's legit. I didn't know there was still a whole big to-do going on about restoring Hawaii to its own republic - did you know that? No? Well, now ya do! You learned something new today! CONGRATULATIONS!!! :)
So....here's the sitch - the way he wanted this done was kind of expository-essay-writing-for-retards or something, and I don't roll that way, so I did it my way. It was supposed to be 2 pages, but I went all Hermione on it and did almost three; only two sources needed, I cited six - that kind of thing. If he dings me, he dings me, my paper is good. Think I'm being a blowhard? Read for yourself and judge (oh - as always - this is my freaking work except where cited so DON'T STEAL MY SHIT! - I HATE that!):
The Controversial Statehood of Hawaii
When one thinks of a conquering nation, rarely does America come to mind. Founded as it was under the principles of freedom and democracy, it becomes hard to believe that the addition of one of the fifty United States is seen as an act of war. But that is precisely the controversy surrounding the annexation and addition of Hawaii as the 50th state.
Prior to 1840, the Hawaiian Islands were considered the Hawaiian kingdom, presided over by a monarchy, and rich with a culture and vibrancy of its own. In 1778, however, English Captain James Cook came upon the islands, and following his “discovery” of the islands, American whaling fleets, other explorers and adventurers, traders, and eventually New England missionaries found their ways to the islands. With the arrival of the missionaries, the culture and scenery of Hawaii began to change with the addition of the written English language, Protestant and Catholic religions, and American trades and ways of life including horse-drawn vehicles, frame houses, schools, churches, taverns, and mercantiles.
Another arrival that coincided with that of the New England missionaries was the arrival of a group of white businessmen looking to tap into the Islands’ sugar cane market to supplement the loss of America’s sugar cane plantations when the South seceded from the Union during the Civil War. These white planters began to assert greater influence over the Hawaiian King to open up the Islands to private ownership, which finally was accomplished in 1848 with the Great Mahele.
During this time, the white planter minority was also exercising its financial influence to try to reduce tariffs on their sugar cane shipments to the United States. In 1875, the Reciprocity Treaty was signed between the United States and Hawaii to give a duty-free market for Hawaiian sugar, and economic privileges for the United States in Hawaii. In 1887, the Reciprocity Treaty was renewed with the addition of granting the United States the freedom to establish a naval base at Pearl Harbor.
King Kamehameha III began to lose the support of the white planter class when he decided to start trying to reestablish the native Hawaiian culture on the islands. In 1887, a company of white troops forced the Bayonet Constitution on the King, limiting his powers and granting the white planters voting rights. When King Kamehameha III’s successor, Queen Liliuokalani, again tried to revive the Hawaiian culture and monarchy on the Islands, a group of American and European businessmen overthrew her with the help of a group of U.S. Marines from the USS Boston that had been stationed in Pearl Harbor.
United States President Benjamin Harrison had been in favor of the deposing of the Queen in Hawaii, and sent a bill to Congress requesting the annexation of Hawaii to the United States. However, his presidency ended before the bill was passed, and his successor, President Grover Cleveland, withdrew the bill from Congressional consideration. He determined that Hawaii had been unjustly robbed of its freedom “by an act of war, committed with the participation of a diplomatic representative of the United States and without authority of Congress” (“The Controversy over Hawaii”, 1893), and he attempted to help reinstate Queen Liliuokalani and the Hawaiian monarchy.
Unable to complete reinstatement of the Queen before the end of his term, President Cleveland was forced to leave the determination of Hawaii’s fate to his successor, President William McKinley. Prior to his assassination, McKinley agreed to the annexation of Hawaii, and Congress passed the measure in 1898. Hawaii was officially made a territory of the United States of America in 1900, but a vote for statehood was postponed in Congress due to racial attitudes and party politics of the time.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought both Hawaii and the United States into the Second World War. Owing to the strategic military necessity of Hawaii at that time, following the end of the war in 1945, Hawaii was kept on its path to statehood, eventually being brought into the Union along with Alaska in 1959.
In 1993, however, President Bill Clinton signed United States Public Law 103-150, apologizing to the Native Hawaiian people for the role the United States played in overthrowing the monarchy and occupying the state. As a consequence, a movement continues in the island nation for a restoration of the independence of Hawaii as its own republic, and a restoration of the monarchy.
References
Annexation of Hawaii, 1898. (n.d.) Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/gp/17661.htm
The Controversy over Hawaii (2009). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved April 22, 2009, from Encyclopaedia Britannica Online: http://search.eb/eb/article-9398256
Hawaii. (2009). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved April 22, 2009, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-79295
Hawaii Becomes Our 50th State. (n.d.) Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cg/jb/modern/hawaii_1
Is Hawaii Really a State of the Union? (n.d.) Retrieved April 22, 2009, from http://www.hawaii-nation.org/statehood.html
Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. (2009). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved April 22, 2009, from Encyclopaedia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/articlr-9470906
Now, tell me that wasn't an awesome paper - I dare ya! (At this point, I've honestly been over this damn thing so many times I don't care anymore)
So that's it for schoolwork for Week 3 aside from my Typography, which I still have to complete and turn in before Saturday night and ZOMG! I getter get busy. Back laters with that for your fun and enjoyment. Cheers!
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