Profile Re-write

Congressman23

Pires, R

Sept. 9, 2012

Alan Grayson, the 54-year-old former representative of the 10^th District of Florida, is working hard with his campaign team to be re-elected. This time he is running for representative of the 9^th District (redrawn in 2010). The election takes place Nov. 6, 2012 and Grayson says he has unfinished business that he wants to take care of as representative.

Before becoming a political figure, Grayson graduated from the Bronx School of Science. He later went to Harvard, where in only three years he earned his bachelors degree in economics, also receiving high honors. He graduated in the top 2 percent of his class at Harvard. Grayson has been a hard worker since a young age, and has an educational background that will benefit him if re-elected.

Republican candidate Todd Long is the last thing standing in the way of Grayson’s goal to be re-elected as representative.  Long is a Virginia Native who came down to Orlando, Fla in the 1980s. He graduated from Rollins in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Long is known for being a hard core Conservative, and hopes to represent the 9^th District accordingly.

By Grayson being the Democratic Party nominee, it seems that he has the upper hand in this election. The reason for that is because the new 9^th District is made up of mostly democrats. Some of Longs right wing views don’t sit too well with a lot of the minorities that reside in the 9^th District.

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Grayson, on the other hand, voted for the DREAM Act in 2010, which provides conditional permanent residency to certain undocumented residents of good moral character. “The Dream Act has directly affected the lives of many close friends, and I have seen how much good it has done in our community” Samuel Albuquerque, a Brazilian who lives in the 9^th District, said. Such political moves as these are what brought Grayson to be known as the “Congressman with guts.”

Although most of Grayson’s political views seem to match that of the people living in the 9^th District, Not everyone agrees with some of Grayson’s gutsy moves. Garrett Dillon, also a resident in Grayson’s district, says that he does not agree with Grayson on the DREAM ACT. “People who are in America illegally should be deported so that there is room for the people waiting to come here legally.”

Grayson is not discouraged by the comments of people who don’t agree with him. Instead he says that through hard work, paying attention and getting things done he will do a lot of good for the people of the 9^th District. Being hopeful of the election to come Grayson says “When I get back into congress, I will continue the work that I started”.  

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TV Essay

Raphael Pires

Oct. 24, 2012

Survey of mass Communication

Professor Carpenter

           

I’ve been watching TV since as early as I can remember. Honestly I believe that I watch too much TV. It’s easy for me to turn on the TV and drift off for hours. Sometimes it causes me to forget about homework and get to work late, but the worst part is that most of the time I couldn’t even tell you what I was watching. It seems that I am put into a TV trance. The only time I actually pay attention to what I’m watching is when I happen to be viewing one of my three favorite programs. Those three consist of “Tosh.0,” “Swamp People,” and “E News.”

            Tosh.0 is a comedy show that stars Daniel Tosh on Comedy Central. Tosh is a host that pulls videos from the internet and makes fun of them. He has certain sections in the show such as the “web redemptions” and the “Breakdowns.” The “web redemption” is when he gives people in one of the web videos a chance to fix something they did wrong. And the “breakdown” is when he literally breaks down a video frame by frame and makes funny comments on what the person in the video was thinking throughout it all. I like the type of dry comedy that Tosh presents on his show, making fun of anyone and anything. I also find it interesting the way Tosh found a way to put two of the “big hitters” of mass media ( the TV and Computer) together and make a lot of money off of it.

            “Swamp People” is literally about swamp people.  The show follows a bunch of different gator hunters who live on swamps and pretty much hunt gators all day. To many people this sounds like a boring show, but the characters they found to be on the show is what makes it entertaining. Although I pretty much try to watch any show on TV about gators anyways, this seems to be the one that keeps pulling me back. Once again I believe it’s the characters. One of the characters, Troy Landry, who has been hunting gators since he was a kid, is known as “King of the Swamp.” He is one of the best gator hunters around, and he has one of the strongest Cajun accents you’ll hear. Anything that Troy says on the show seems to be funny. When I decide that I’ve learned all there is to know about gator hunting for a day, I turn to the “E” network.

            The show I seem to like most of all is “E News.” It is a news show for everything going on in Hollywood, whether it’s about a new movie that’s coming out, or something more serious like the death of a celebrity. Back in high school I got into broadcast journalism. A big part of that was because I watched “E News” and admired the way that the hosts could captivate an audience just by the way they said something. I was amazed and the power and responsibility that a host is given once he/she is put on the air. From then on I decided that I wanted to be a host. I continue to watch “E News” everyday, and try to pick up on certain ways that the hosts use the English language to persuade and audience to feel one way or another. In some ways I consider it homework, because I watch it to learn useful techniques for what I hope will be my career.

            Of course I watch a lot of other shows besides the three I mentioned, such as “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Big Bang Theory.” The difference is that I’m okay with watching the re-runs of those shows, and not with “Tosh.0,” “Swamp People,” or “E News.” I don’t like to miss when a new “Tosh.0” comes out because then my friends will keep mentioning jokes from the show that I wont understand. I don’t miss “Swamp People” because I truly do like to watch people hunting gators. But I especially try not to miss “E News” because like every other news station, its different everyday. If I miss one of the airings, then I might miss out on some information that might not be presented again.  This is why I also pay attention to all these shows, when I truly watch all the others shows because its a lot easier than doing anything else.

Profile

Congressman23

Pires, R

Sept. 9, 2012

Alan Grayson is working hard with his campaign team to be re-elected as Congressman in 2012. Grayson has unfinished business that he wants to take care of as Congressman. “When I get back into Congress, I will continue the work that I started” Grayson said.

This is the list of things that Congressman Grayson hopes to accomplish:

(1) Full employment.

(2) Universal healthcare.

(3) Taking corporate money out of politics and government.

(4) Reinstituting progressive taxation, to reduce the deficit and the debt.

(5) Ending corporate welfare.

(6) Improving labor standards, including pensions, sick leave and paid vacations.

(7) Ending discrimination against minorities, women and gays.

(8) Providing higher education to every student who wants it.

(9) Ending the war, bringing the troops home, and reining in the military-industrial complex.

(10) Reducing the brutal and pervasive inequality in American life. 

           

“I think that Alan Grayson has really big goals, but that’s exactly what a congressman needs to have in order to achieve big things.” Samuel Albuquerque, a Valencia College student, said. Albuquerque went on to explain that as long as Grayson plans to work hard to accomplish his goals, then he has a good list.

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 “Through my work prosecuting war profiteers in Iraq, I saw how much good you could do for people if you work hard, pay attention and get things done,” Grayson said as he explained why he decided to run for Congressman back in 2006.

                                   

 Alan Grayson has been “work[ing] hard” long before he ever got into politics. Grayson graduated from the Bronx School of Science. He later went to Harvard, where he earned his Bachelors degree, in only three years, with high honors. He graduated in the tope two percent of his class at Harvard. Not to mention the fact that he was in a fraternity.

 Grayson seems to know what “hard work” is about. Although it appears that Grayson has had an easy and successful life/career, it wasn’t always the case. Grayson lost his first political race in 2006, but then came back and won in 2008. He based his term in office on “hard work”. Sometimes this so called “hard work” meant that Grayson had to go against popular decisions.

Grayson has supported “gays rights” even when it was a controversial topic, as well as the DREAM Act which he voted for in 2010. Such political moves as these are what brought him to be known as the “Congressman with guts.”

Not everyone agrees with some of Grayson’s “gutsy” moves. Garrett Dillon, a fellow tax payer and typically a Grayson supporter, says that He does not agree with

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Grayson on the DREAM ACT. “People who are in America illegally should be deported so that there is room for the people waiting to come here legally.”

           

In spite of people such as Dillon, who don’t agree on some of the things that Grayson is in favour of doing, Grayson still says that all the stuff on his list is worth fighting for. This is why he is determined to be re-elected into congress and make sure that not only the people who happen to be born in America are treated fairly. He wants to make sure everyone has equal opportunities because in fact “we are all the sons and daughters of immigrants” Grayson said.

                       

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in class writing assignment

Bar9

Pires, R

Oct. 9, 2012

            What had seemed to start out as a common bar fight escaladed into a lot more. At 10:45 pm yesterday the Fandango Bar and Grill became the crime scene to a murder case.

            Peter Wickham, age 35, was at Fandango last night when he got into an argument with an unknown person. Eventually the two began to shove each other, which is when the bartender stepped in and a kicked them out.

            The people inside the bar continued to hear the two men arguing, when all of a sudden there was a sound of a shot being fired. When people came out to see what had happened all they found was Wickham laying in a pool of blood. The shooter was nowhere to be found.

            Wickham was taken directly to St. Mary’s hospital but was classified as “Dead On Arrival.” Although unsure of the true reason for the shooting, Lt. Jane Ortlieb believes that it had to do with a possible drug deal. Ortlieb says that “Fandango is a known hangout for drug dealers and users” which is what causes her to believe that the murder is drug related.

            

Budget line 2

Congressman16

Pires, R

Sept. 9, 2012

            I got the “okay” from Congressman Alan Graysons’ Communications Director, Todd Jurowski, to ask Grayson a few questions through email. On Friday I sent him some questions regarding his past, present and future in politics and should be receiving his answers this week.

Film essay

Raphael Pires

Survey of mass communication

Oct. 3, 2012

Professor Carpenter

                                                                        Film

            Eating McDonalds every day is bad for you. That sums up about all the knowledge I've gained throughout my life from watching films. Considering the only documentary I watched that remotely interested me was “Super-size Me.” Aside from that I hated watching any type of film in high school, I thought it was a waste of time. Now that I’m in college, I seem to be more interested in the art of film making  I hope to accomplish a recently discovered goal of mine to make a documentary someday.

            “Take out a piece of paper and something to write with,” is what the teachers would say before they put on a documentary for us to watch. What that really meant to me was “nap time!” I couldn't comprehend why we would watch documentaries, they were boring and most of the time about something I could care less about. The only documentary I remember staying awake for in high school was “Super-size me,” which is about a man who decides to eat McDonalds for a whole month. Considering I like food, I figured I’d give it a try.

            Continuing to reject every documentary thrown my way since “Super-size me,” I was sad to find out that in my Survey of Mass Communication class this semester we would have a whole section dedicated to film. Hoping to gain a bit of appreciation (and extra credit) I decided to go to the film festival that is held at Valencia to hopefully find something interesting about film. In doing so I learned about the Human Rights Film Center. They are an organization that makes films to bring awareness about problems in the world. I was intrigued by the idea and began to do some research about some films they made. Eventually when my communication class got to the film portion of the class we watched documentaries about “The Doors” (the band), and the Bang Bang Club (a group of war photographers). By this point I seemed to appreciate the art of film making a lot more, which made the film portion of the class more enjoyable. The way the film makers can convey an emotion about something in the film, just by camera angles or a certain type of lighting, amazed me.

            Because of how much film has been a part of my life this semester, an idea about me possibly making a documentary has been growing on me. At the film festival held at Valencia, I saw how much the makers of the film (Khaati Suun) cared about the problems going on in their home country of Nepal. Considering I am originally from Brazil, I thought about all the problems that need to be made aware to the public that occur there. Although most of Brazil is industrialized and a lot of the problems that happen there are noticed by the government and can be handled accordingly, there is still a big part of the people who live life completely separate from modern society. In the Amazon rainforest there are people who live like their ancestors did hundreds of years ago. A lot of these people are in dyer need of medical assistance as well as housing assistance. Recently I’ve been spit-balling the idea of making a documentary on the lives of the people who live in the Amazon rainforest to some other Brazilian friends of mine.

Honestly most of my life I hated watching film. I thought that it was a huge waste of time and money. I’ve had a lot more exposure to certain types of film this year and have had the opportunity to learn why these types of films are made. By understanding these films more I have truly grown fond of the art and believe it to be a useful tool to show the people what is going on with certain areas of the world. I don’t know if I want to make films for a living, but I know that because of the films I've seen this semester, I definitely want to explore the possibility of me making one that can help people in need.

re-write man with a mic

Film25

Pires, R

Sept. 25, 2012

The Human Rights Film Center decided to use unexperienced film makers instead of a professional camera crew. Purna Singh Baraily, the Chairperson of the HRFC, was at Valencia College on Sept. 20, 2012 to explain the HRFC’s reasoning.      

           

“Give people cameras and let them show their real lives” Baraily said. He was explaining the goal of the HRFC, which is to train people from certain areas of the world in the art of film. Therefore those people can make documentaries on the problems that the certain place is dealt with.

Baraily went on to explain that they choose to use regular people instead of a professional film crew, because it allows for a more honest product. He says that people are a lot more inclined to open up about certain situations if it is to someone they are familiar with.

 “Khaati Suun,” is a documentary about two women in their 20s starting school for the first time. The movie was made by Lalu Bohara and Meena Pariyar, who were trained by the HRFC to make the film. The characters in the film are very open about their lives, and seem comfortable speaking in the interview portions.

Therefore Baraily believes that these sorts of results were achieved because the women who made the film are from the same community as the characters in it. When Joao Pacheco, a student at Valencia College was asked if he thought that the way the HRFC was making their films was effective, he said “I definitely think so,” and “I also find it cool, because it keeps the documentary raw and real.”

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The ultimate goal of the HRFC was to shed light on the issues going on in Nepal. They hoped to work on it at a local level, but seem to have accomplished more than that. Elizabeth Solis, the Peace Studies professor at Valencia College, said that “the documentary brings awareness to the struggles that women in Nepal must deal with.” With this statement being made here in America, it proves that the HRFC is well on there way to providing full awareness about problems that are normally shoved aside by the world. Although they have a long way too go they continue to stick to there risky film making techniques and ambitious goals to create life changing films.

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