The last post should have been posted two weeks ago.
It is now the Tuesday after Student Elections. Owen and Maya's ticket has been disqualified because of a poll they had on their website. The head of the Elections Commission, which had formerly ruled impartially on two campaign violations, had accused Owen and Maya of bribery, because their poll asked students how they would spend a small portion of the student body if they had a choice. The Student Judicial Council ruled that it was, in fact, bribery, and that the ticket was disqualified. But Owen's ticket is appealing to the Senate, which has the final say.
Tonight, the unofficial results are being announced. If either Holden and Ashley, or the other ticket wins, then that is the end. But if Owen and Maya have the most votes, the appeal will matter. Either way, this is a crazy election.
UPDATE:
And... they lost by a large margin, after getting re-qualified.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Student Elections Documentary: Part 2
First, I have to apologize. There's a video I put together that introduces the main characters, but I haven't uploaded it yet, and I don't know that I still have it. So, I'll have to do it manually. Also, the sound's a bit off, and the visuals are a bit shaky. So turn up your computer and be prepared to alternately listen closely and cringe (but only because of the sound, I promise).
The first video wasn't that good, anyway. In the video below, Amanda, the campaign manager, is in a white t-shirt. Owen, is the candidate for President, and Maya, the Vice-Presidential candidate, is in the red next to Owen. The campaign, by this point, was already well underway. Upcoming were the debates, so the night before, the Owen and Maya met with their crew late into the night in the local library. They discussed everything, from where he should stand during the debate to how he should handle individual questions. I only was there to film a portion of the planning before the debate, but I was able to piece this together. The speech that Owen gives in this is the full speech, in order.
Elsewhere on my youtube site are the rest of the candidates giving answers to questions. This year was the best attended debate in a long time, and all of the candidates had something to bring to the table.
Holden and Ashley could boast a strong resume student government. They had vision and they could reach out to the Greek Community, a large part of our University. Holden had served as both a senator and a director, and had experience in two of the four aspects of Student Government. Ashley had also been a senator, and the two of them had found a common vision for bettering USC.
The second candidate running, Alex, had little to say, but he would say it vehemently. He demanded that the Student government reach out to every student and create awareness. It didn't matter to him that through Student Government The Game, Gym Class Heros, and The Fray had performed, and President Obama had spoken at our University. He didn't care about the advances Student Government had made in advocating for the students. His frustration was that only students with initiative, only moderately interested students, knew about Student Government and what it did. He ran on the platform that, if he were elected, he would make sure the voice of the student who never read the school newspaper, never went to the events, and was only on campus for classes would be heard.
The speaker to the farthest right in the debates was Owen. Since Owen had come to the University, he had focused on improving it for the students. As a freshman, he had managed to get vending machines for basic medications in the student dorms, which meant that students in pain in the Friday night didn't have to wait until Monday morning to go to the Pharmacy to get Tylenol. Since then, he had been an assistant Director and Director in the most prestigious Advocacy Board on Student Government. His running mate, Maya, was his assistant director in Student Government, and also extensively involved in the residential housing advocacy community, itself very influential. His campaign was the one I was following.
The first video wasn't that good, anyway. In the video below, Amanda, the campaign manager, is in a white t-shirt. Owen, is the candidate for President, and Maya, the Vice-Presidential candidate, is in the red next to Owen. The campaign, by this point, was already well underway. Upcoming were the debates, so the night before, the Owen and Maya met with their crew late into the night in the local library. They discussed everything, from where he should stand during the debate to how he should handle individual questions. I only was there to film a portion of the planning before the debate, but I was able to piece this together. The speech that Owen gives in this is the full speech, in order.
Elsewhere on my youtube site are the rest of the candidates giving answers to questions. This year was the best attended debate in a long time, and all of the candidates had something to bring to the table.
Holden and Ashley could boast a strong resume student government. They had vision and they could reach out to the Greek Community, a large part of our University. Holden had served as both a senator and a director, and had experience in two of the four aspects of Student Government. Ashley had also been a senator, and the two of them had found a common vision for bettering USC.
The second candidate running, Alex, had little to say, but he would say it vehemently. He demanded that the Student government reach out to every student and create awareness. It didn't matter to him that through Student Government The Game, Gym Class Heros, and The Fray had performed, and President Obama had spoken at our University. He didn't care about the advances Student Government had made in advocating for the students. His frustration was that only students with initiative, only moderately interested students, knew about Student Government and what it did. He ran on the platform that, if he were elected, he would make sure the voice of the student who never read the school newspaper, never went to the events, and was only on campus for classes would be heard.
The speaker to the farthest right in the debates was Owen. Since Owen had come to the University, he had focused on improving it for the students. As a freshman, he had managed to get vending machines for basic medications in the student dorms, which meant that students in pain in the Friday night didn't have to wait until Monday morning to go to the Pharmacy to get Tylenol. Since then, he had been an assistant Director and Director in the most prestigious Advocacy Board on Student Government. His running mate, Maya, was his assistant director in Student Government, and also extensively involved in the residential housing advocacy community, itself very influential. His campaign was the one I was following.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Student Elections Documentary
For the past four weeks, I have been shooting, but not planning, a student elections documentary at my University. Having been an USG senator myself, I realized that the caliber of people that I was working with was amazing, and I assumed that I only had to get them on camera, and the sparks would fly.
I have only realized through doing it how woefully ignorant I was.
I tried filming Owen and Maya's campaign for USG President. I figured I would show up to one or two of their meetings, and the first night of campaigning, and it would work. The campaign officially begins in February, but I approached Owen in December. At a school cafeteria, over dinner, I asked him if he would consider letting me film his campaign, if he were considering running. There were rules about how I could phrase it, since officially, he was not yet "running" at the time, and the last thing I wanted to do was to disqualify a candidate before he had begun running. Owen said that he would consult his team, and let me know what he thought.
Amanda, his Campaign manager, later called me and asked for a few examples of what I had done in the past. I could only offer two grainy sketches:
done for class, and
She fortunately accepted.
The fall semester ended in December. January brought a new semester and a new year. Keeping in loose contact with Amanda, I tried on my own to find additional camera crew that I knew I would need. I asked friends, I asked the Journalism school, I sent out emails. I only recruited one or two people who could not commit much time, and did not care much about the project. Unfortunately, I could have, and should have, done much better and a lot more. I could have posted flyers, asked everyone, everything. Instead, I found myself as a one-man camera crew, filming on the fly in shaky HD.
I have only realized through doing it how woefully ignorant I was.
I tried filming Owen and Maya's campaign for USG President. I figured I would show up to one or two of their meetings, and the first night of campaigning, and it would work. The campaign officially begins in February, but I approached Owen in December. At a school cafeteria, over dinner, I asked him if he would consider letting me film his campaign, if he were considering running. There were rules about how I could phrase it, since officially, he was not yet "running" at the time, and the last thing I wanted to do was to disqualify a candidate before he had begun running. Owen said that he would consult his team, and let me know what he thought.
Amanda, his Campaign manager, later called me and asked for a few examples of what I had done in the past. I could only offer two grainy sketches:
done for class, and
She fortunately accepted.
The fall semester ended in December. January brought a new semester and a new year. Keeping in loose contact with Amanda, I tried on my own to find additional camera crew that I knew I would need. I asked friends, I asked the Journalism school, I sent out emails. I only recruited one or two people who could not commit much time, and did not care much about the project. Unfortunately, I could have, and should have, done much better and a lot more. I could have posted flyers, asked everyone, everything. Instead, I found myself as a one-man camera crew, filming on the fly in shaky HD.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
LOL
A testament to audacious desires without a plan for their accomplishment. I have discovered that it is important to dream big, but to plan incrementally. You cannot have as your sole goal the realization of your dream, because on the path to that accomplishment are many small and still significant accomplishments you will miss. In all likelihood, you won't even achieve your dream, but if you record your successes, you can revel in those instead of seeing only your failure.
I made a movie this summer.
I've spent my college trying to understand what I do best. I have many ideas, but they never seem to last long enough for me to implement one.
In short, this blog has become an account of my various projects, done helter-xkelter, and their results.
I made a movie this summer.
I've spent my college trying to understand what I do best. I have many ideas, but they never seem to last long enough for me to implement one.
In short, this blog has become an account of my various projects, done helter-xkelter, and their results.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Getting a Job: Part one
Dream Big, right?
Okay, guys, so this blog was erected because I figured I'd be rich by the time I was 21 because of a new business idea I had. Not True. My Naivete expressed itself in wishful thinking.
Now, I've gotten two jobs since I opened this blog, and I'm writing a cover letter for a third, or a fourth, or a whatever. I feel like I've got writing cover letters down to an art form. The only problem is how they look, but I'll get into that later.
The first thing I do is search, "sample Cover Letters" on google. Some of my favorites are:
http://www.vault.com/nr/ht_list.jsp?ht_type=9
and
http://www.quintcareers.com/cover_letter_samples.html
I think. I can't remember.
oh yeah, and an incredible index is at, believe it or not,
http://www.bestcoverletters.com/
If I find better ones, I'll double back. But what you'll notice is that they're first. But don't go to about.com. They don't have formatting, and their advice is generally poor.
Your goal here is to see a variety of different ways of selling yourself. You want to read what you think is the best pitch, and then copy-paste it to your cover letter. Then rewrite it in your own words with your own circumstances.
What do you guys think?
Okay, guys, so this blog was erected because I figured I'd be rich by the time I was 21 because of a new business idea I had. Not True. My Naivete expressed itself in wishful thinking.
Now, I've gotten two jobs since I opened this blog, and I'm writing a cover letter for a third, or a fourth, or a whatever. I feel like I've got writing cover letters down to an art form. The only problem is how they look, but I'll get into that later.
The first thing I do is search, "sample Cover Letters" on google. Some of my favorites are:
http://www.vault.com/nr/ht_list.jsp?ht_type=9
and
http://www.quintcareers.com/cover_letter_samples.html
I think. I can't remember.
oh yeah, and an incredible index is at, believe it or not,
http://www.bestcoverletters.com/
If I find better ones, I'll double back. But what you'll notice is that they're first. But don't go to about.com. They don't have formatting, and their advice is generally poor.
Your goal here is to see a variety of different ways of selling yourself. You want to read what you think is the best pitch, and then copy-paste it to your cover letter. Then rewrite it in your own words with your own circumstances.
What do you guys think?
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
A Long Frustration
I started this blog on a whim, in an attempt to motivate myself. The general assumption was that I would be rich by the time I turned 21, and I was going to prove that the American Dream-that you can contribute and profit for it.
Working as a bar-back had given me an idea that I knew was an instant success. of course, in order for the idea to work, one must act upon it.
I have less than five months to make 2.1 million.
Working as an intern for the assistants to two producers at a major production company.
Below is a film I made just recently. I had had this idea in my head, eating away at me, for about a year. It could have been much better, but I was so happy to have it made that I stopped caring. The inspiration for the movie came from walking to class, and I noticed that was trying to keep in front of the person next to me, speeding up to keep up. Then, I though, what if someone was incredibly dedicated to this?
Working as a bar-back had given me an idea that I knew was an instant success. of course, in order for the idea to work, one must act upon it.
I have less than five months to make 2.1 million.
Working as an intern for the assistants to two producers at a major production company.
Below is a film I made just recently. I had had this idea in my head, eating away at me, for about a year. It could have been much better, but I was so happy to have it made that I stopped caring. The inspiration for the movie came from walking to class, and I noticed that was trying to keep in front of the person next to me, speeding up to keep up. Then, I though, what if someone was incredibly dedicated to this?
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
It Seems Impossible
I've been kind of down lately. None of my ideas, and I had about three, seemed to be panning out.
Then, yesterday, I got an email I had been waiting for, and I was excited, to say the least, and a couple other breaks made everything look better. And now I'm back to confusion.
This blog has evolved into my attempt to realize the American Dream, whatever that ends up being.
Then, yesterday, I got an email I had been waiting for, and I was excited, to say the least, and a couple other breaks made everything look better. And now I'm back to confusion.
This blog has evolved into my attempt to realize the American Dream, whatever that ends up being.
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