Saturday, March 7, 2009

English Project 3-10-09

We all know that there is still racism in the world, even in this present day of age. But, in the 1920's racism wasn't hidden like it is today, it was out in the open. Not only were there racism between whites and blacks, but also blacks and blacks over the complexion of their skin. In the book, Their Eyes were Watching God, there were many racist statements made between the same race. I have to admit that before reading the story and finding out that Janie was mixed with black; I expected her to act as if she was better then other blacks, because she was lighter. But that wasn't the case at all, Janie could had cared less about the color of her skin or other people skin, because she was such a kind hearted, opened minded person. But I'm sure that Janie felt out of place in the world, like any other mixed person back then. She couldn't/wouldn't fit in with whites, because she was black; and she couldn't/wouldn't fit in with blacks, because she's to light. Some black women were somewhat jealous of her, because she was light and felt as if she had an advantage over them. Black men loved her, because: she was lighter, had the long hair, and looked different from everyone else and black women despised her for that. But, there was someone in the book who did believe she was better then blacks, because of her lighter skin and that person was Mrs. Turner.
Mrs. Turner was so racists against blacks that she states, "You'se different form me. Ah can't stand black niggers. Ah don't blame de white folks from hatin' 'em 'cause Ah can't stand 'em mahself. 'Nother thing, Ah hates de see folks lak me and you mixed up wid 'em. Us oughta class off." "And dey makes me tired. Always laughin'! Dey laughs too much and dey laughs too loud. Always singin' ol' nigger songs! Always cuttin' de monkey for white folks. If it wuzn't for so many black folks it wouldn't be no race problem. De white folks would take us in wid dem. De black ones is holdin' us back." The fact that she doesn't want to be put in the same category as blacks , shows a huge separation between dark blacks and light blacks. Mrs. Turner is so disgusted with blacks for causing the separation, while forgetting that she is black and the fact that its not blacks fault for the separation between blacks and whites; it's whites fault, because their making it a problem. Mrs. Turner is really letting the issue of color go to her head, she does believe that she is way better the "common blacks", and she's not; that's way whites still won't accept her, because deep down inside she's still black. All I'm trying to say is that no matter how hard you try to pretend your something or someone else, people will know or find out who you really are eventually.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The New Yorker

  1. Total number of words - 1666
  2. Total number of sentences - 54
  3. Longest sentence ( in # of words) - Sentence 39 with 96 words
  4. Shortest sentence ( in # of words) - Sentence 25 with 7 words
  5. Average sentence length ( in #of words) -31
  6. Number of sentences with more than ten words over the average - 12
  7. Percentage of sentences more than ten words over the average - 12%
  8. Number of sentences with more than five words below the average - 18
  9. Percentage of sentences with more than five words below the average - 18%
  10. Paragraph Length
  • Longest Paragraph ( in # of sentences) - Paragraph 3 with 8 sentences
  • Shortest Paragraph ( in # of sentences) - Paragraph 1,8,9,10,12,17,18,21,23,25,26,27 with 1 sentence
  • Average Paragraph ( in # of sentences) - 2

New Yorker Article

In Banking, Top Obama Aide Made Money and Connections
John Simpson, who ran the Chicago office of the investment banking boutique Wasserstein Perella & Company, had flown to Washington to meet with Mr. Emanuel at the behest of Mr. Simpson’s boss, Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and renowned Wall Street dealmaker who had gotten to know Mr. Emanuel.
“I had this idea that this could work and that it had upside,” said Mr. Wasserstein, now chairman and chief executive of Lazard, the investment bank. “It worked out better than I could have hoped.”
And better than Mr. Emanuel could have imagined as well. Over the course of a three-hour-plus dinner, Mr. Simpson and Mr. Emanuel discussed how they might work together. Shortly afterward, Mr. Emanuel accepted an offer, nudging him down what has by now become a well-trodden gilded path out of politics and into the lucrative world of business.
Mr. Emanuel, who was chosen last month to become President-elect Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff, went on to make more than $18 million in just two-and-a-half years, turning many of his contacts in his substantial political Rolodex into paying clients and directing his negotiating prowess and trademark intensity to mergers and acquisitions. He also benefited from the opportune sale of Wasserstein Perella to a German bank, helping him to an unusually large payout.
The period before he was elected to a House seat from Illinois is a little-known episode of Mr. Emanuel’s biography. Former colleagues said the insight it afforded him on the financial services sector is invaluable especially now. But Mr. Emanuel built up strong ties with an industry now at the heart of the economic crisis, one that will be girding for a pitched lobbying battle next year as the incoming Democratic administration considers a potentially sweeping regulatory overhaul.
After Mr. Emanuel left banking to run for Congress, members of the securities and investment industry became his biggest backers, donating more than $1.5 million to his campaigns dating back to 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Mr. Emanuel also leaned heavily upon the industry while he was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 midterm elections. Financial industry donors contributed more than $5.8 million to the committee, behind only retirees.
Friends of Mr. Emanuel’s from his private-sector days said he still checks in with them regularly to plumb their insights on economic issues.
“He asks me what am I seeing, what business is like, what’s the climate, where are the weak spots,” said John A. Canning Jr., chairman of Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago private equity firm that is in the same building as Wasserstein’s offices.
Mr. Canning was one of many financial executives Mr. Emanuel met with soon after he left the White House to discuss job prospects, with Mr. Emanuel’s political connections often opening doors. Mr. Canning agreed to sit down with Mr. Emanuel at the recommendation of several friends, including Stanley S. Shuman, an investment banker at Allen & Company and a major Democratic donor who once stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House as a guest of President Clinton’s.
Mr. Canning could not offer him a job, but Mr. Emanuel came to pitch deals to him and they became friends. Employees of that particular firm became Mr. Emanuel’s biggest financial supporters in Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
When the House was weighing a measure last year to significantly increase the tax rate on profits earned by private equity firms, Mr. Canning said Mr. Emanuel attended a luncheon with Madison Dearborn executives, first reported by Bloomberg News, to listen to their arguments against the changes.
Mr. Emanuel, however, wound up joining other Democrats in voting for the measure.
In an interview, Mr. Emanuel, pointed to other actions he had taken over the objections of the financial industry, including sponsoring a bill last year to curb the ability of hedge fund managers to defer paying taxes on compensation they stashed in offshore tax havens and another measure that imposed new reporting requirements on financial firms for what investors pay on stocks and mutual funds.
“I would say I’ve been as tough on my friends as others,” Mr. Emanuel said. “I call it like I see it.”
Confidants of Mr. Emanuel’s said he decided to try his hand at business because he wanted financial security for his family, before eventually returning to public service.
“He had a number in his head to make enough for the family,” said Ezekiel J. Emanuel, one of Rahm’s two brothers and a prominent bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health.
It was Morton L. Janklow, the literary agent for several former presidents, who introduced Mr. Emanuel to Mr. Wasserstein. Erskine B. Bowles, the White House chief of staff and a former investment banker, also said he recommended Mr. Emanuel. Mr. Emanuel met in Mr. Wasserstein in his New York office, where they had a wide-ranging discussion about the future of financial regulation, as well as Mr. Emanuel’s plans.
Jeffrey A. Rosen, now deputy chairman of Lazard and a former managing director of Wasserstein Perella’s international practice, said Mr. Emanuel was “both a developed and a raw talent.”
“His years in the White House and what he’d done before that really honed what I’d call deal-making instincts, which could be easily translated into the business arena,” Mr. Rosen said. “Plus, he was someone who was well connected in Chicago and highly respected.”
Mr. Emanuel turned out to be an effective banker, proving a quick study with financial concepts, even as he relied on others in his office for heavy number crunching, former colleagues said. He worked 12-hour days and was known among clients for his relentlessness, constantly on the phone or sending e-mail, and being unafraid to pitch deals. Revenue in Wasserstein’s Chicago office climbed significantly after his arrival.
There is no evidence Mr. Emanuel used his political clout on behalf of his clients, but his connections certainly helped drum up business and contributed to his hiring, former colleagues said. Indeed, a partial list of clients from Mr. Emanuel’s Congressional financial disclosure in 2002 is easily linked up to the various strands of his political career, including his time as a fund-raiser for Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago and then for Mr. Clinton’s first presidential run.
The clients included Loral Space & Communications, run by Bernard L. Schwartz, one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, who said he got to know Mr. Emanuel while he was in the White House; the Chicago Board Options Exchange, whose chairman and chief executive, William J. Brodsky, became friends with Mr. Emanuel while he was working for Mayor Daley; and Avolar, a business aviation company whose top executive, Stuart I. Oran, was formerly in charge of governmental affairs for United Airlines, a role in which he said he interacted with Mr. Emanuel at the White House.
One of Mr. Emanuel’s major deals was the purchase in 2001 of a home alarm business, SecurityLink, from SBC Communications, the telecommunications company that was run by William M. Daley, the former secretary of commerce in the Clinton administration and the brother of Chicago’s mayor.
Mr. Emanuel represented GTCR Golder Rauner, a Chicago private equity firm that was buying the business for an affiliate. Bruce Rauner, the firm’s chairman, had first met Mr. Emanuel when he was still exploring job prospects in Chicago after getting a call from Mr. Bowles, an old friend.
Instead of private equity, Mr. Rauner advised Mr. Emanuel to pursue investment banking, where his political experience might be more valuable in landing deals in regulated industries.
Mr. Emanuel called him back after starting at Wasserstein and asked if he could take over coverage of GTCR for his new employer. That eventually led to the nearly $500 million SecurityLink deal.
Mr. Emanuel’s biggest transaction came in late 1999 when he landed an advisory role for Wasserstein in the $8.2 billion merger of two utility companies, Unicom, the parent company of Commonwealth Edison, and Peco Energy, to create Exelon, now one of the nation’s largest power companies.
John W. Rowe, the former chief executive of Unicom who now holds the same position at Exelon, sought out Mr. Emanuel after he went to Wasserstein. Mr. Rowe said he believed Mr. Emanuel would offer a different dimension, providing wisdom on what might pass muster at the governmental level.
“You can’t understand utility transactions without thinking about whether they’ll play or not play in legal and political circles,” said Mr. Rowe, who was first introduced to Mr. Emanuel by Lester Crown, the billionaire scion of Chicago’s influential Crown family.
Tax returns Mr. Emanuel released while first running for office and reported in news articles, along with Congressional financial disclosures, reveal his steep financial ascent while working at Wasserstein. He earned more than $900,000 in 1999, his first year at the firm; nearly $1.4 million in 2000; and $6.5 million in 2001, when he left the firm in midyear to run for Congress. He collected $9.7 million more from the firm in deferred compensation in 2002.
Mr. Emanuel’s annual salary was not especially large but his hefty paydays came from bonuses for the business he brought in, as is customary in investment banking, along with the company’s sale in 2001 to the German Dresdner Bank, which allowed him to benefit from an equity stake, as well a large retention bonus paid to him based on his prior performance.
The bonanza Mr. Emanuel reaped would come in handy when he ran for the House seat vacated by Representative Rod R. Blagojevich, now governor.
Mr. Emanuel contributed $450,000 out of his own pocket to his campaign in the primary, and his leading rival accused him of trying to buy a seat in Congress.

Homework: Christopher Columbus Essay Response

  1. Total number of words - 430
  2. Total number of sentences - 19
  3. Longest sentence ( in # of words) - Sentence 15 with 42 words
  4. Shortest sentence ( in # of words) - Sentence 16 & 18 with 9 words
  5. Average sentence length ( in # of words) - 22
  6. Number of sentence with more than ten words over the average - 2
  7. Percentage of sentences with more than ten words over the average - 2%
  8. Number of sentences with more than five words below the average - 6
  9. Percentage of sentences with more than five words below the average - 6%
  10. Paragraph Length
  • Longest Paragraph (in # of sentences) - Paragraph 4 with 6 sentences
  • Shortest Paragraph ( in # of sentences) - Paragraph 5 with 1 sentence
  • Average Paragraph ( in # of sentences) - 4

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Homework 2 page Lit-Response

Booker T. Washington, author of " The Awakening of the Negro," wrote an autobiography about how important education is to blacks. But the education was not helping blacks to become smarter, but it was educating blacks to do work to make them a better slave. I have to say that I don't agree with Washington's school and teaching. It doesn't help slaves to break away from being mistreated and their own person.
Washington believed that if a slave continued to do well with their job and cause no problems with his or her master, they would get rewarded later on in life. I don't exactly agree with that; if a slave continues to do well and cause no problems with their masters, they're masters are going to believe that they like their job and don't mind doing it for the rest of their lives. Their masters are going to think if they're not fighting me about it, then they have no problems with it.
Washington views on not fighting just deal, bothers me as well. If slaves would have listened to him, we probaly still be slaves now. Not fighting would have made white men and women believe that the way they treated slaves was right. That they were are owners and we were their property. Not fighting would have made slaves more fearful and scared, that they would never stand up for their rights and what they believe in.
Washington's belief that white men would finally realize the good work that they done, would eventually lead to their freedom; was so wrong. It was wrong of Washington to trust that their owners would do something like that. Their owners would never ever think about letting their slaves go free, because who would do the work. Letting their slaves go means losing money, because their will be no one working on the plantation and no one tending to the owners every single second.
All and all, I don't agree with Washington's idea of becoming a good slave, will eventually lead to your freedom.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Annotated Bibliograhies


Annotated Bibliographies

Australian Job Search. ( 2001). Occupation Information: Film, Television, Radio and Stage
Directors. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from http://jobsearch.gov.au/careers/
jo_AscoDesc.aspx?AscoCodes=2536

Australian Job Search is a great informational website even though it's international, it
gives us information about the film industry outside of the United States. Though the
skills and conditions are the same as other directoring jobs, wages and pay are
different. In Australia the occupation size as an director is nine- thousand, in the
United States it's almost double that amount. The Australian Job Search also gives us
an international outlook on the weekly earnings of a director which is $1,265 an hour.
Tasks of directors are the same for all countries they have to: study scripts to
determine theme and setting, oversight creative aspects of film, television, radio or
stage production, and assess stageing requirements for productions in assocition with
specialists designers. Australia Job Search also gives information about the skills and
knowledge needed to become a director like: having a bachelor degree or higher
qualification and at least five years of relevant experience. Australian Job Search is a
great website for finding out international information about the career of your dreams
just in case you want to go out of the states.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Departmentof Labor ( 2004). Career Overview: Acting,
Producing and Directing Career, Job and Employment Information. Retrieved November
13, 2008, from http://www.careeroverview.com/acting-producing-careers.html

Career Overview is infomational site that gives you a great understanding of what it
takes to be an director, actor, and producer. Career Overview gives us information on
the outlook of each career, the qualifications, opportunities, and earnings. Career
Overview also describes a directord's role which includes: making creative decisions,
interpreting scripts, expressing ideas to designers of sets and costumes, auditioning
and choosing cast members. Directors also cue the actors when they need to enter
or technicians when they need to change lights or sounds on set. Career Overview
describes the training and job qualifications needed to become a director like: Active
listening, good judgement, health and safety awareness, entusiasm and drive. The
middle fifty percent in between $15,320 and $53,320. The lowest ten percent earned
lower than $13,330, while the highest ten percent earned higher than $106,360 some
even make millinos; are the amounts that a director earns throughout the year.
Career Overview is a great website for finding accurate information about the career of
your choice.

Bureau of Labor Statisitics Office of Occupational Statisitics and Employment Projections.
(2007). Occupational Outlook Handboo, 2008-09 Edition: Actors, Producers, and
Directors. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos093.htm

This site gives infomation about the career of your interest. It gives you information
about: the nature of the work, training, other qualifications, and advancement,
employment, job outlook, and earings. This site gives information about what directors
are resposible for in their field of industry, for example: Directors are responsible for
the creative decisions of a production. They interpret scripts, audition and select cast
members, conduct rehearsals, and direct the work of cast and crew. They approve the
design elements of a production, including the sets, costumes, choreography, and
music. Assistant directors cue the performers and technicians, telling them when to
make entrances or light, sound, or set changes. Most directors often start out as
actors. Many also have formal training in directing. The Directors Guild of America and
the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers jointly sponsor the Assistant
Directors Training Program. To be accepted to this highly competitive program, an
individual must have either a bachelor’s or associate degree or 2 years of experience
and must complete a written exam and other assessments. Program graduates are
eligible to become a member of the Directors Guild and typically find employment as a
second assistant director. This site is educational in finding out what your career is
actually about and what it takes to get there.

Careerkids,LLC. ( 2007-2008). Career Kids: Directors. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from
http://www.careerkids.com/careers/directors.html

Career Kids is a great informational website if you want quick sumarry to what your
particular career is about. Career Kids gives you: the description, working condition,
salary, helpful skills and subjects to study, related jobs, education and training, and
job outlook of that career. For instance, the description of a director is, " Directors
interpret plays or scripts. They manage the actors, crew, sound designers, costume
designers, carpenters and everyone involved with putting together a show. They use
their knowledge of acting, voice and movement to achieve the best possible show.
Directors usually approve any music, costumes, scenery and choreography. They
may work on television, movies and plays." Career Kids also tells you helpful skill and
subjects needed like: Courses in theater, arts, drama, dance and dramatic literature.
Career Kids describes the working conditions of a director, which are long and
irregular hours and frequent travel. Career Kids lets you know even though the
employment of directors is expected to grow faster than the average for all
occupations, there will be keen competition for director positions. The glamor of the
job combined with the lack of formal entry requirements, will attract many people to
this occupation. Career Kids is great site to get interesting and understandable
information about your career.

Career One Stop. (2008). Occupation Profile: Producers and Directors: Illinois. Retrieved
November 13, 2008, from http://careerinfonet.org

The site Career One Stop was created to give not only students, but adults information
about the career that they wish to pursue in life. For me it gave me information about
being a director, because that's the career I would love to have and be in. When I went
to the site, it gave me tons of information about directing and what I need to do in able
to become a director like: the occupation description, the wages, skills, education
level, knowledge, abilities, and work conditions.This site also gives you the top
schools for your career. My top schools for directing are: Columbia University,
UCLA, University of Southern California. Career One Stop also tells you how many
people are in that job industry in your state and how much they get paid. The highest
amount a director gets paid in the state of Illinois is $57.91 an hour. If you feel like
you know nothing about the career that your interested in. This site offers
outstanding information about the career of your dreams.

College Grad.com, Inc. ( 2008). Career Information: Actors, Producers, and Directors.
Retrieved November 13, 2008, from http://www.collegegrad.com/careers/proft23.shtml

College Grad.com is a site that gives you information about any career of your
interest. The site gives you information about the: nature of the work, working
conditions, training, qualifications, advancements, employment job outlook, and
earnings. This site explains what a director actually does, their responsibilities, and
the skills and knowledge needed. It even tells to how stressful and hard the job can
get. The site gives information on how many directors are hired over the years and how
much they make. The site even explains how hard it is to become a director, because
the industry is so tough to get into. This site is so helpful, because it gives you so
much knowledge about stuff you didn't know about your career and inspires you to the
point where you want to get a jump start on your career at that very moment.

Minnesota Department of Education. (2008). Career: Producers and Directors. Retrieved
November 13, 2008, from http://www.iseek.org/sv/Careers?id=13040:100423

The site gives a great overview of the careers of both producers and directors. It also
gives: the work activities, skills and abilities, preparation, wages, and jobs. The site
gives you information on the tasks of a director like: decide on the size, cost, and
content of a production, arrange financing, conduct rehearsals, direct the work of the
cast and crew, and audition and select cast members. This site also gives
information about a typical work setting; for example: communicate with others by
telephone, e-mail, and face-to-face discussions, they also write letters and memos,
but prefer quicker means of contact, often work indoors, but sometimes direct outdoor
scenes or plays, may work part time or full time, and schedules may change
depending on the project. This site also shares information about the preparations
needed; for instance: have a high school diploma or GED, be trained, have creative
ability, have experience working in theater, film, and television, and have talent. This
website is a good website, because it gives you important information about that
career.

My Future. (2007). Occupation Information: Film, Stage, and Television Director. Retrieved
November 13, 2008, from http://www.myfurture.edu.au/services/default

My Furture is a great site that gives information about becoming a director. It gives
you information about the: duties and tasks, personal requirements, related
industries, and earnings. The duties of a director are to: study scripts to determine
artistic interpretation, plan and arrange for set designs, costumes, sound effects and
lighting, select and cast for roles in the production by viewing performances and
conducting screen tests and auditions, plan, direct and coordinate filming or taping,
instructing camera operators on the position and the angle of their shots, and
coordinating changes in lighting and sound, and coordinate the activities of the
studio/stage crew, performers and technicians during rehearsals and productions. My
Future also gives you information about personal requirments needed, for example: an
artistic sense, good communication skills, able to remain calm under pressure, able
to exercise authority, and the most important one of all motivation. My Furure is a
great site, because it gives you information about the skills and duties that are
required in order to become a director.

Net Industries. (2008). Directors Job Descriptions and Career and Job Opportunities.
Retrieved November 13, 2008, from http://www.careers.stateuniversity.com/pages/
118/Dierctor.html

This site gives infomation about the career of your interest. It gives you information
about: the definition, the nature of the work, education and training, getting the job,
advancement possibilities and employment outlook, and working condition. Occurding
to this website the definition to director is, " The main creative force in the making of
films, television shows, and plays." Directors are responsible for making a wide range
of artistic decisions. Together with the producer, the director hires the actors and staff.
It is the director who works with the staff from day to day. This site also gives you
information about education and training. Did you know, there are no formal
educational requirements for directors. However, directors must be familiar with all the
different aspects of their art form. Many of the technical skills involved are now being
taught in college courses. There are many film schools in the United States that offer
classroom training and directing opportunities for aspiring directors. Working condition
are also stressful; directors do not work a regular workweek. During the making of a
movie, a film director may begin work in the early hours of the morning and work late
into the night. Television directors may start even earlier. The work is strenuous and
requires a great deal of time and dedication. Directors may be unemployed for long
periods. However, the opening of a play or the completion of a film or television show
can offer a great deal of satisfaction. This website is a great, because it is
understandable and gives many facts about your career.

PlanIT Plus. ( 2008). Director: Film and TV. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from
http://www.planitplus.net/careerzone/areas/default.aspx?
PID=nf&TOPL=7&SECL=7A&ID=621

PlanIT Plus is a great site if your looking for information about a career that interests
you.PlanIT Plus gives you information about: the work that you'll be doing, the
conditions, getting in, what it takes, training, getting on, in pay about the career of
your choice. It gives you information about the skills needed to become a director like;
enthusiasm, financial sense, and good organization. PlanIT Plus tells you what it
takes to get into that particular career, for instance;in order to become a director you
need a degree and production experience. PlanIT Plus also helped me realize that
most directors start off as runners, which are the understudies or assistants to the
director, but others start off making short independent films. PlanIT Plus is an
amazing website that gives you a great understanding and outlook about the career
of your dreams, as it did for me.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Homework

The character I choose to analyze is Shia LaBeouf's character. He was a kid who lost his father in a car accident; and began to act out. He got put on house arrest for punching his teacher for talking about his dad. While on house arrest he catches a murder who just so happens to be his next door neighbor. The visual and auditory details for this character is the way he speaks and looks. Shia's character is a regular teen that speaks like a regular teen. Its easy to relate to and understand him, because we're teens as well. He looks and dresses like a typical teen as well. We can relate to the way he acts. We can be nosy and stick our heads in stuff that doesn't concern us. We can be over protective with our family and friends, and we all have foolish friends that you can count on. All those things is what makes a character realistic.