Hard Times Generations

Things appear to be getting worse with the economy and the unemployment. People living in their cars and having a half full cooler with food for the next couple of days. The reason for the cooler to be half full instead of half empty is because that is how people who are struggling have to look at things. During desperate times the only thing there is left to do id to think positive, just like the people who are living in their cars.

The difference in the 60 Minutes story of hard times generation is that they focused more on the positive aspect of the situation. With the two kids explaining their situation and what they have to do so they can make it through another day. They shared their activities that distract them from the things they don’t have. It shows that even though things are getting worse people can survive by appreciating the little things that many people take for granted. So, for those kids living in a truck is just an "Adventure". The only thing they can do is to find activities and work hard to achieve their goals.

Right now 25% of children are living in their cars. The homeless shelters are full and there is not enough money for food. Even with these hardships families are surviving. People have been donating food for the homeless, there is programs that provide money so people can live in hotels. This is another approach that was different from the last story of hard times generation. They showed that there is always a way through hard times. In one occasion they showed a girl whose family received money for a hotel and a father who found a job shortly after moving into a homeless shelter. 60 minutes provided and outlook of the situation by showing the positive side. They change the story from tragedy to inspirational with the people they interviewed.

Draft Transfering Students

Studenst of the Southwestern College complete their final classes to transfer for spring semester of 2012. With Nov. being the deadline for applying students into Universities,they prepare to take the next step in to their education. Now that fall semester is almost over, many students prepare to transfer to the University of their choice to have the career that they want.

Applying into college is one thing, but being accepted is something really hard to do. Students transfering from a community college have to do a lot of work to be able to transfer. Aside from gathering all 60 units that are accepted by the University of their choice. Students have to complete their general education so they can graduate. it normally takes students two years to complete this courses as they have to take different classes like math, english, sciences, and other that relate to their major. It is a process that takes time but gives them an advantage when theyr transfer. With their general education finished at the college they can focus on only taking classes of the major. Which they can graduate from that University in a shorter time spand than if they were there since freshmen year.

The Pitch

Graduation at Southwestern College is only one semester away. Many students have waiting for a long time for their transfer oppertunity to a 4 year university. With a veriaty of schools here in San Diego, which ones are the students transfering to and why. What is it about that school that appeals to them. Students have worked hard to take a step closer to finishing school and having their dream job. So, what can the expect, now that they are leaving a 2 year college?

The 99%

Carrying a Consensus Model book P.J Gorham age 31 is one of the many protestors in the 99% group. Using the book as an instruction manuel for the protest P.J applies its ideas into the movemnet. Hoping to gather more people for their cause to remove corruption in the Democratic system, the next step for P.J and the 99% is to protest without having to stay the night in City Hall.

Being a big fan of the cause when it started in Wall-Street New York, P.J came to San Diego the 12th of October. Following the cause from an online source called Adbusters he dicided to participate in the "Occupy San Diego" movement. One of his ideas for the movemnt is to organize the 99% into different groups. P.J said that "We need to oranize into comitees so we can deal with specific issues". He also wants more people to join so they dont have to stay the night in City Hall, he believes they can organize well enough so they can have a rotation of  groups coming in and out. With his book P.J shares that "Using the Consenses Model book we will be more coordinated with the protest and it will help unite the different groups that are here". He also talked about how everyone is part of the 99%. "The 99% group are people who have been disinfranchized in the democracy". "We are all memebers of the 99%" P.J said.


Although the movement has a lot of supporters there are "things still missing" as P.J said. "We are still planning on how to frame issues". With the economy problems still going on, the protesters are not thinking of giving up. They are determine to make a difference.

Ben Bernanke

The chairman of the Federal Reserve has made many decisions to improve the economy. Ben Bernanke was chosen by President George W. Bush during his term and was again picked by President Barrack Obama. In the last couple of years the economy has been declining with hundreds of unemployed and homeless.



With millions of dollars handed out to the banks for their bailout people have not been so lucky. While big corporations continue to receive bail out money, people around the country are loosing their homes. Another problem is that there is a risk of deflation as well. Deflation is when the prices of domestic goods fall making it possible to buy more goods with the same less money. Even though Bernanke said we might be at risk it can be avoided if congress focuses on the financial issue. Bernanke refused to comment on the removal of big tax breaks such as the bush tax cuts. He did not want to make any statements on specific actions that congress was planning on making towards those subjects. Although the economy doesn’t seem to be improving there has been some growth in some areas but in the end people are still in the gutter during this major crisis.

Occupy San Diego

There was a trail of colored chalk on the floor along with tents with signs that read "We are 99%" in City Hall downtown San Diego. People with different ideals came together to support the growing movement of "Occupy San Diego" to demand change in the currently corrupt government system. Many protesters have been camping out for days now, trying to organize a potential occupation to make progress in their cause for justice.

On midday Tuesday October 11 2011 protesters occupying City Hall where shaken up by the attempted suicide of a former companion that was part of the 99% group. After participating in the movement a homeless veteran jumped off a building in City Hall without any particular reason. Monica Teran a protester in the movement said "Nobody knew his name, it’s sad that we don’t know him at all because he was a big part of the 99%". The 99% group is the slogan for their cause, in which protesters recognizing themselves with this occupation. Aside from the current tragedy many protesters were simply hanging around, as the day before they had a General Assembly Committee to discuss further actions for the movement. Monica also stated that they were thinking of ways to make the meetings more productive, "We talked about how to run meetings more efficiently, and how to organize questions and ideas to make it smoother". With so many different people in the occupation it can be hard to get things across especially to a large crowd. "People would interrupt because there are so many people with opinions" said Monica who assisted at yesterday’s meeting.　　

One important contributor to the movement is Jordan Hammond a 28 year old protester who has been participating before the movement was even started here in San Diego. Jordan was following the "Occupy Wall-Street" movement in order to prepare for the same cause down here. "I’ve been camping since the first day" Jordan said inspired by the protester across the country. "I knew it was important but I didn’t think it was going to be big" stated Jordan also sharing that the amount of protesters has grown from 1225 people to 1350 in the past week. The reason for the outburst of protesters is because people are tired of being neglected by the government. While big corporations receive financial assistance the working class continues to lose their homes and find it hard to survive. As Jordan stated "We are specifically here to push out corporations so they don’t dominate the democracy" which has gathered hundreds of people to participate in the movement. There are currently different groups representing the cause from anarchist to teacher unions. Sometimes even Democratic Party members come to discuss initiatives. As Jordan said "It’s a conversation we have to have as a country".

In all, the demonstration has been peaceful, although there is constant security by a big number of police officers, this protest seems to be undercontrol. As the police refused to give a statement on the restrictions and their management of the protest, there has been respectful arguments with visitors. When an Attorney Entrepreneur came to the protest people argued their personal ideologies with him while he discussed his point of view. Rick Burgoon of age 50 came to investigate the reasons for the protest, "I am very interested in what is going on" he said. In his opinion he also stated that "There is an incredible amount of passion, diverse concepts, broad base ideas, but perhaps lacking full awareness of what amount of discipline is required to get the movement across". With his presence many protesters came to have a discussion on the broad base of their movement. Rick gave suggestions to them such as to listen to "Ed Rendell" a former democratic mayor of Philadelphia. Rick also said that the protesters need to "Take passion and put it into action".

With definite action this group known as the 99% is looking to make drastic change in the democratic system. With numbers of participants growing daily and recieving great support from the public it doesn't seem like any of the 99% will be going home anytime soon. Although there is a lot to do like organizing and unifying among the different groups people like Monica want this situation to change, "The reason I am hear is because humanity is suffering. I see people sleeping in the street; humanity shouldn’t have to suffer because there is enough for everyone". The passion is there it’s only a matter of time before the movement starts to make progress towards improving the lives of the American people.

The Internet

The internet has become the main resource for finding specific information. With plenty of things posted on the web people have instant access to whatever they’re interest is. Now newspaper is competing for the worldwide audience as internet has made a profound impact on how the public views their information.

 While the newspaper is regarded as the traditional way to read the news, people have turned to their cell phones and other technologies to read the news through the World Wide Web. As this method is more rapid than the traditional newspaper, most of the audiences now depend on the internet for their news. Although the internet saves plenty of time it is unfortunate that the newspaper has to endure hard economic times due to this emergence of the web. As a major fan of tradition it is sad to see the newspaper fade with time as people forget the true value the print industry has. Even if the newspaper falls in popularity it is something that should not be lost in our society.