Newspaper Reflection

One thing that I did for the newspaper that I liked was the front page layout. I created it and I feel it came out very well. One thing I think i could improve would be organization in the layout. I feel that it was too cluttered in the bottom, but aside from that I think it came out well. I think my product was built too much on procrastination. I didn't use my resources too well but I'm working on my procrastination.

Photography

Rule of Thirds


Depth of Field


Fill the Frame


Interesting Use of Light


Eye Level Shooting


Macro Shooting


All images courtesy of Flickr.com and Google.com

Demo-what-ics?!

Demographics! Have you ever wondered what they really are? As defined by Kelly Co. Marketing, demographics are, "common characteristics used for population or audience segmentation, such as age, gender, household income, etc." They are commonly used for TV shows, internet ads, but more importantly, presidential campaigning.

Presidential campaigns are a medium to translate certain aspects of each candidate's policies to certain groups of people, certain demographics. You wouldn't want to campaign a policy on illegal immigration crackdown to a border-town Latino community, you'd want to campaign that to a border-town white community who are worried about their massive loss of jobs due to the immigrants taking them.

Speaking of Latino demographics, on a website for KTAR, a radio station local to Phoenix, AZ, there is an article about how the Latino communities in Phoenix are riled up about the presidential election coming this November. Latinos represent 9 percent of registered voters in the United States, and in another article (courtesy of the Associated Press), there is a quote that clearly states the importance of generating a campaign in accordance to certain demographics. "In [swing states] where the election is very close, they make all the difference in the world." This shows just how much elections can depend on one group of people.

Party, Party, Party! I Want to Party Hardy!

The American political parties have changed since the 1780’s in the sense that not only have they changed their names, but they have also changed some of the rules they follow. In the beginning of Democracy in the US, which was after the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, in 1780 we had two parties. Today’s Democratic party was called the Federalists. They believed in having a strong central government, encouraged commerce and manufacturing, favored having close ties with Britain and emphasized order and stability. In addition, nowadays Democrats also support environmental legislation and limiting economic development.

The Republicans started out in 1780 with no name change at that time. In 1780 they were against the Democratic views on having a strong central government. They, unlike the Federalists have a “strict” interpretation of the Constitution and tended to follow it more rigorously. They also had strength in the South and the West whereas the Federalists had a strong following in the North. While still holding true to defending their position on an Anti-Federalist viewpoint on the US government, they also have stronger ties to Judeo-Christian religions, they don’t believe in abortions, and speculatively favor the higher class/white collar citizens.

Overall, the politicians of 1780 wouldn’t be disappointed, I think, because the ideologies of today’s political parties are, for the most part, the same as they were before.