When told we were to fix a project and re-post it, I was slightly indignant. I felt I was being told my project or projects were not done well. But as I contemplated, I concluded that my “What’s in a Name?” post should be rewritten in order to better present it.

     “Hello, My name is Monica Alcazar. I am a second year here at SMASH and an uprising junior at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto” That is what is known “The SMASH Way” here at the Summer Math and Science Honors Academy. MY introduction to you, however, is much friendlier =] :  

     My name is Monica Alcazar. I like ice cream, Mexican food, and working with technology. My first name, “Monica,” means “advisor” and my last name, “Alcazar” means “fortress”. I find that my first name adequately desribes me in that I consider myself to be a good advisor; I may not be handing out my advice on post-it notes, but I’m a good listener and will be sure to give sound advice if approached. I have found that my last name has grown on me; I am not a big person in size (I’m only 5′1″) but I am a strong and driven person.
     I have met several other girls named  “Monica”; at my middle school there were Monica A through Monica D, and at my high school there are also Monica S and Monica H. In my family, however, I am the only one with my name. And even though there are all those girls at school with my name, a famous singer, and a character on the popular television show, “General Hospital”, with my name, I am the only Monica Alcazar =].

     I chose to incorporate a castle in my background, a glow and colored pencils, musical notes, a gavel, the Flash symbol, a microphone and the Gunn high school symbol in my montage because they all represent a different aspect of me. The background, obviously, is a representation of my last name and my strength as a person. The glow around my image, and the colored pencils behind me symbolize my creativeness and my diversity as a person. I decided to put the musical notes in my though bubble because I love music; if one were to come to my house, there will always be music playing in SOME part of the house if I am home. The microphone is a representation of my will to be heard; I want my voice to be heard, and I often make it happen.: I will MAGNIFY my opinions and my thoughts for anyone to here. The gavel in my though bubble is to show my interest in our justice system and my aspiring to someday be a part of it. I incorporated the Flash symbol in the bubble as well to show that I love working with technology and learning new things I can do with it. Also, the Titan symbol in my bubble represents my school, Henry M. Gunn High School. I love my school, and I wanted to show my appreciation =]. Lastly, I put an image of the Virgin Mary in the corner of my montage to show my love for my religion; I have become a dedicated Catholic and very involved in my church in the past years; it is a very important part of my life.

     What “Monica” and “Alcazar” don’t tell you about me is that I am (clearly) a vociferous young lady. I am the oldest of three children, and I tend to be a perfectionist and an over-thinker sometimes. Some of my nicknames are: Moni, Morrica, Mon-eye-ca, Sylvie, and “conejita”. The first nickname, Moni, is one my parents and any Spanish-speaking person tends to call me once we know each other well; it is a term of endearment and comfort. The second and third nicknames given to me by two of my closest friends, Nidia Morales and Ken Guerrero,and Jose Bernal. Both nicknames keep me grounded and remind me that I am a goofball at heart and I love to have fun and be silly when with my friends. The fourth, Sylvie, came about during my French class, and it has stuck to me amongst a few of my friends; “Sylvie” is of Latin root meaning “from the forest,” I honestly don’t think it’s meaning has anything to do with my personality etc. The very last nickname, “Conejita”, came about during the 2007 SMASH summer session from one of my closest friends, Ken Guerrero; “Conejita” means “little rabbit” or “bunny”  in the female form of the word. I have no idea how it came about, but now I’m a “conejita”. 

     If one were to take my name out of my montage, I would hope it would still represent me to the others around me. The images in the montage would, hopefully, accurately describe me and my character well enough that you would not need my name in there to know it is about Monica Alcazar.

For this assignment, I chose to do a Flash presentation on my group’s laboratory method of testing Lake Anza’s water for potability.

Title: Total Cation Capture

Slide One: Title

Slide two: Table of Contents

Title: Total Cation Capture 

Slide One: Title 

Slide two: Table of Contents  “goto” commands on each mini slide 

Slide Three: Definitions    Cation    Dowex resin    Constituents    pH 

Slide Four: part one    Description (audio)    Flash demo of:     Washing with HCl    4 pH with dH20 

Slide five: Part two    Description (audio)    Demo of:    H+ bonds and replacement/exchange of cations 

Slide six: part three    Description (audio)    Explanation of:    Titration 

Slide seven:    Review/summary 

Slide eight:    In the real world you would use this when…

For my fifth assignment, I am going to alter my “What’s in a Name” assignment. I feel as if the montage does a good job of desribing me, but the text and explanation of my montage is not thorough enough and is not necessarily reflective of the montage’s information.

For the third assignment, we were assigned to make a podcast. I expected this to be an easier assignment for me due to the fact I have been a part of SMASHcast for an entire school year. When actually working on it, however, I found out it wasn’t as simple as I thought it would be. The part that was most difficult for me was the “personal remix” of the interview because I knew what I wanted to do, but I was not completely sure how to go about it. Eventually, I finished my podcast and I’m happy to say I’m quite satisfied with the result.

 smash-comparison_tech_monica.mp3

     On Tuesday, we experimented with Second Life in Tech. It was really odd for me to be in a virtual world where other people, from different places, could also be logged on and interacting with one another. The challenge of the period was to create an avatar that resembled us as closely to us as possible.
     To start off, all the female avatars looked the same, as did the males; there was a generic avatar for each gender. The initial avatar did not resemble me AT ALL! It was quite pale, and very tall, and had funny clothes on (okay…so the funny clothes were not that far off….haha). Trevor and Simon gave us 3600 seconds to fix our avatar and make them look like ourselves as much as possible.
     The very first thing I began to change was the height, and the body type of my avatar; those two aspects were probably the easiest to replicate because all I had to do was shift the height, and adjust the other limbs to fit. The most difficult parts of the avatar to replicate were the facial features. This part was the hardest for me because I could not accurately modify my eyebrows, cheeks, nose and mouth to fit my own. In total, I modified about fifteen parts of my avatar; it was really difficult to change as much as possible, all within those 60 minues provided. It was difficult because there were certain features that I could not replicate onto the avatar; I needed a greater variety of features and details to choose from in order to make her my twin. My avatar kind of reminds me of me, but only because that was my goal. I don’t think my avatar resembles anyone very much; in reality, I don’t think my avatar resembles anyone very closely. 
     Overall, the period was well-spent and fun. I am still excited and blown away, however, by the fact that this little virtual world is so cool!!

Originally I believed this asignment

1. About my name
   • Alcazar: origin = Arabic; An “Alcázar” is “castle” in Spain, generally each city has an alcázar.
   • Alcazar means “fortress” or “palace”
   • Notable people with my name: Monica the singer, some characters on General Hospital
   • I am the only Monica (that I know of) in my family
2. Designing my identity:
   • New Imagery: Any new imagery associated with my name would be sunshine, a pencils, musical notes, a gavel, the Flash symbol, a microphone, and the virgin Mary.
   • The sunshine is shown in the glowing around my head to symbolize potential.
   • The colored pencils behind me symbolize my creative and fun side.
   • The musical notes clearly symbolize my love for music and the arts.
   • I put the Flash symbol in there to show that I enjoy working with different types of media.
   • The gavel is in my thought bubble to express my love for law and the way justice systems work etc. I aspire to be a lawyer some day.
   • I put the microphone in the bubble to show that I am a heard person; I will MAGNIFY my thoughts for everyone to hear.
   • Lastly, the Virgin Mary symbolizes my faith and my religion. I am Catholic and the image of the Virgin Mary shows that I also have a religious side to which I base a lot of my life on and around.
   • My name doesn’t tell you that: I am vociferous, that I am the oldest of three children, nor that I tend to be perfectionist.
   • Nicknames include: Moni, Morrica, Mon-eye-ca, and Sylvie. The first two nicknames remind me of being a little girl again; thus suggesting I have my moments of immaturity and goofiness. Mon-eye-ca simply suggests I can be a goofball sometimes. I am nicknamed “Sylvie” originally because of my French class; we all had to pick a French name. “Sylvie” is the French version of the Latin name “Sylvia” meaning “from the forest”.
   • Colors that represent me include: orange, red, pink, and a brooding purple/magenta. The first three colors are because I am a bright and energetic person (for the most part =] ), and the brooding color because I can be very deep, thoughtful and…brooding at other times.

        If one were to take my name out of my montage, I would hope it would still represent me to the others around me. The images in the montage would, hopefully, accurately describe me and my character well enough that you would not need my name in there to know it is about Monica Alcazar.

Obviously, my life is amazingly affected and influenced by media every day. In my daily life, I am surrounded by image, text, audio, video and interactive media from the computer, the radio, and television. The form of media most affecting my life is probably audio and interactive; within these forms there are also images and text, of course. I encounter audio and interactive media through the radio and the computer. I spend a lot of my time listening to music; where there is Monica, there is music (whether it be by a music device or my own voice ).

In my opinion, the most effective forms of media are audio and video. These are the most effective because they are the most accessible. In this society, there is a serious lack of time to sit down and read through a paper, or an online news release; people can listen to and watch anything, anywhere. I can use media to communicate with others by making podcasts, and producing animations. Also, I can communicate with people through these blog assignments! Through the use and creation of media, one can induce change by bringing up topics that can help people around the world world. One can change the with a simple image: “One picture is worth a million words”. That one form of media can spark and interest in one person and that one person can change an entire world.