Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Extra credit assignment by Mohammed!

Here is my video for the extra credit assignment! I used my laptop for recording this video and probably my only mistake is I didn't looked in the camera directly. Unfortunately I ended up spending more time in compressing, which actually ruined the quality of the video, I hope it will look good if you watch in a small screen.  But altogether I enjoyed a lot making this video.
Thanks!!!





                                                             

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Extra Credit Assignment - Andy

Here is my video for the extra credit assignment! I used the front camera on my phone and it was a bit awkward at first, as you will see.  If you have any questions, feel free to let me know!


Monday, April 25, 2016

Interveiw Gabrial Alexander Breidenbach

       


Gabrial A breidenbach
English 1109.1, 1:30-3:30 Monday/Wednesday
Mike Lohre
4/20/2016
I interviewed a buddy of mine called Jaylen. I met Jaylen in my art class at the start of this semester. Jaylen is a tall fellow with dark skin color and black hair and often times is in some kind of superhero themed shirt with a goofy smile sprawled across his face. We became friends quickly after the semester started resulting in occasionally getting in trouble for talking. So after a bit of thinking I decided that due to his behavior he would be a good person for the interview. What I found throughout the interview was that he was rather knowledgeable about his goal. So I Originally met up with him in the art room on the 18th of April in 2016(understandably unwise on my part but I had more than enough time) and interviewed him after art ended. This is how it went even if it were unconventional.
Image
this is the knucklehead i interviewed
I started by asking what is your dream that you wish to achieve? Just to get a rather quick and precise reply from Jaylen stating I want to be a game designer. I admittedly wanted to know more so I dug a little deeper asking “How long have you wanted to be a game designer?” Jaylen just started to laugh as he quickly responded with “Since I was three years old”. Admittedly I found that odd but that got me thinking so I wondered and asked “How far are you willing to go to achieve your dream?” Jaylen paused for a moment and you could see just how he struggled to describe it . “I’d say pretty far since I’m taking classes to further my skills and already have a slight idea on how to code by messing with games that already exist”. After that I have to admit I was going to be very blunt because it really struck my curiosity and it just slipped “Would you call yourself eccentric?” Jaylen just looked confused at me and asked “Eccentric, Isn’t that the good kind of crazy and unpredictable?” I sat there wondering because he wasn’t wrong sometimes it was good and I saw it as such so I responded with “yes”. Jaylen just sat there quiet then started looking at the ceiling for a few seconds until he finally spoke” hm, yeah I’d say so, so yes I do believe I’m eccentric”.
After a few apologies for flat out asking if he was crazy I wandered back into the big topic and asked “How long do you think or at least wish to be able to achieve your goal?”. Jaylen just put went into a thinking pose with his chin resting in between his pointer finger and his thumb and after a few seconds passed “at this rate hopefully 3-4 years”. Suddenly it struck me to ask, “Any major reasons that being a game designer is your dream?” Without any hesitation he grew a big smile and Said “I grew up around videogames because there were very little options other than videogames or to, reason being there were very little we could do outside because of housing and often times just didn’t feel like going outside so I just played videogames feeling that it was more productive”. Letting that sink in though it took a bit I inquired (rather badly) “Any major influences”. Jaylen just looked confused as he asked “in the past?”. If I weren’t in an interview I would have face palmed at my failure to ask a question “No I meant in the present sorry”. He just said ok and went on with informing me “Then the yearly salary has to be the major influence because holy cow that’s a lot. I mean the lowest amount I found while researching was 700.00$ yearly salary”. Admittedly I was surprised by this responding with rather loud and unexplainable noise that made Jaylen lose it. After I collected my thoughts the game of 2o questions began again with “What is your opinion on the videogame industry?”. Jaylen just shrugged and said nonchalantly “ok I guess, I mean I feel it is doing well but commonly has publicity issues unless it’s a big title”.
Understanding the time restraints I said “okay last question any media tv, games that influenced you”. Jaylen responded with “the big popular games that everyone knows”. I kind of just mentally stopped than asked “Any particular examples?”. And Jaylen excitedly stated “Pokémon definitely Pokémon, if there’s anything bigger I haven’t heard of it”. All I could chuckle and thank him for his time resulting in him not paying attention and almost running into the door as he walked out which admittedly made me laugh even harder seriously I did not think I could laugh hard enough to struggle breathing just to see his goofy grin walk away.

Interview by Lali Lakatos

" I came to this country with only five dollars in my pocket a wife and three daughters and one of them is disabled, life was not easy moving from one country to another." This is what my grandpa said, he was born 1961 in Budapest Hungary and lived there for most of his years till he and his family moved to America in 2000. Life in Hungary was very hard, the economy there was very bad  it was hard to find a good job their and also one that pays well. One of his dreams when he was young is that he would love to move to America to be someone and start his life there.  
Once he moved with his family he said "I will do anything to make money and put food on the table for my wife and daughters." He started at a hotel where he basically was like a maid when a customer checked it was his job to go the that room and make it spotless. One of the challenges he had was that he spoke zero English and the only way he could learn was just hearing how people speak everyday and learning sentences or different type of words each day till he could have a full conversation with someone. He was not only teaching himself but he also taught his wife how to speak English, he didn’t have to teach his two daughters a lot because they were going to school and they were learning most of their English there by  teachers or either by students. One thing that he does regret is that before he moved to the United States he wished that he took an English class because it would've been easier to communicate with people,  could've found a better job, and also it wouldn’t taken a over a year to learn a language. 
His English got better and better over the years and he could now go out and go look for a better job. The job he found was being a cop, they mostly put him on security guarding places but he didn’t mind it he as just happy that he was getting paid better. He says " the only thing that makes me get up every morning and go to work is my disabled daughter, she is the world to me if I fail her then I don’t know what life is anymore." 
What I think my grandpa is holding on to is his disabled daughter. The reason I think this is he always thinks about her and making sure that she gets the best life that she could have and making sure that she is healthy. This is basically his motivation for everything he does in his life ever since he had her and if he loses that he would not know what to do. In my opinion this is the best thing about my grandpa and his story was worth the telling.  
 
Joseph Pinter's Profile Photo

Essay Three by Chad Devore

     The person that I interviewed was my very own mother, who has a dream of opening up a restaurant one day. She said that she would like for it to be mainly pink and white in color, along with having a main display case for the desserts and different types of coffees available. Essentially, she said that she did this because she enjoys making people feel comfortable and feeling loved, and that she would be successful in doing so by cooking and baking.
     However, she's had some struggles that involved trying to find a proper place for the restaurant. Where she lives, it's very hard to make a profit, and moving to a new location would be very expensive in the long run. Hopefully one day, she plans on actually opening up this restaurant and is a part of it. Paraphrased and re-worded, the interview was something like this.
     "Was there a life long dream that you've wanted to pursue?" I asked her. She replied, "Well, I've always wanted to open up my own restaurant." I follow with, "What kind of a restaurant?" She answers with, "I'd like for it to be a pink restaurant that's mainly a place for people to be at and for people to feel welcome with my cooking." I ask, "Is that what you're doing it for?" She answers, "Well, I enjoy cooking and baking, and I figured that I could also comfort people with my cooking, and basically create a place for both my children and anyone else."
     "I see," I respond. "Well, how come you haven't opened up the restaurant yet?" She replies, "Right now, I don't really have a whole lot of money to move to a big place and try to begin this business. I would do it here, but places here usually don't get much business. However, I'm still holding on and believing that I will open up the restaurant." Finally, I ask, "So with all of this, where do you see it in ten years?" She replies with, "I hope that it's open, and that I'm a part of it," she says with a sort of laughter.

Obviously this isn't her, but it gives the general idea.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Link to "Being 13" from Mike Lohre

If any of you want to watch parts of the documentary again, or share it with friends or family, here is the link.

https://youtu.be/t-9LtTtkg04?list=PL-WnhqkddCM01-Fcn0qbyWP7hkilqi00h

This film really made me think about our cultural habits and some of the challenges and pressures our young people are faced with.  I think it's a good resource and starting place for a conversation about technology and social media use.

All my best,

Mike



Anderson Cooper.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Adding Research to Active Reading Exercise. From Mike

We will create and brainstorm a list of good research questions for today's profiles.


Do your work on the profile question that you take, and post your research findings in the Comments section here.  What did you discover?  Where did you find your best source? How does this help us understand the profile better?

See you in the Comments section below. . .