The media has influenced me and my environment in many different ways. I use the internet all the time, especially Myspace. I'm on Myspace everyday. It's my way of keeping in touch with all my friends and family around the country. I also love to make new friends and just chat and Myspace lets me do that. Media also lets me express myself and show who I am with many different forms such as slideshows of me, my friends and family, of days in my life that I just want to share, or with blogs. I write poetry and web blogs lets me share my talent with others. Media also lets me get information and answer questions that I may have or need to answer for research that I am doing for school or on a project. Media also lets me listen to the radio at the same time as I am on the internet and I can also watch videos, clips, movies, or any type of show. It gives me the capability to do many different things at once, which is sometimes a lot easier than doing many different things all at different times. Media has effected me in many ways. It has been a very helpful tool to me as a person and as a SMASH scholar. Simon and Trevor teach us many techniques that is helpful to each one of us in many different ways, even if the person isn't a computer person. And Technology is a great way to let me learn and have more fun with the media. It gives us the chance not to only be the person who only looks at everything on the internet, but also be the person who made that page and designed that format and to really understand how to really get what everything means.

Assignment One - Personal Profile & Statement: Media & Me

Doing this project was actually fun. When Simon and Trevor had first showed us how to do it on the projector, it seemed kind of hard, but once it was my turn to actually do this it was surprisingly easy. Simon and Trevor did help me on some things I was still confused on. I could use this knowledge in different ways all the time. I am addicted to the computer and internet. Especially on Myspace, this could help me to really personalize my page in ways that I couldn't before.

Assignment Two - Montage: What's In A Name?

Making this monatge was really fun. I enjoyed working with the different photos and changing them to make them more extract. It really makes me feel like I am a pro at this, because just by looking at it, it looks really complicated, but in reality it is just so simple. I think this would have to be the funnest homework i have ever received in my two years at SMASH so far.

I put two pictures of just me, but i also placed a picture of me and my boyfriend who I have been with for almost two years and feel that he is a part of me. I am also a huge Superman fan. i placed brown eyes and mexican pride in there because I am half hispanic and 100% proud of it and the brown eyes shows a little discription of me. I placed the mustang through my name because mustangs are my favorite/dream car. i also placed both my family crests in the montage because although my last name is Ramirez, I am also proud of my mothers name, Bond. I am aslo a very outgoing and bright person and that is what all the different textures and colors represent.

Assignment Three - Flash Presentation: What's In A Word?

In this assignment, we were given words to give a flash presentation on. the word i was given was ghetto. The front picture of my presentation is a man behind bars. I had placed that there, because when people think of people in the ghetto, they think of people who have been to or is in jail. The car, silver teeth, and Jordans shoes are all ideas that pop on people's head when they thiink of the ghetto. The two pictures of some of the Warsaw camp grounds from the Holocaust in the 1940's is to show the origin and the real meaning of the word ghetto. I had placed the short yellow bus at the conclusion because that is one thing that many people can also relate to when it comes to ghetto. many of today's rappers and music artists refer to riding the yellow bus and "goin' dumb" as something ghetto. I have the song "Ghetto" by Akon playing in the background, because I believe this is the most related song related song to this topic, so i thought it could be relevant to this presentation.

When Trevor and Simon showed our class how to use Flash, I was completely lost. I thought once I started using it, I would get it, but I was so wrong. Once it was my turn to use it, I had no idea what I was doing. It took me about a week and a half to get the hang of how to use Flash. The more and more I kept using it and playing around with my presentation, it started to become easier for me. I still do not completely know what I am doing, I have more confidence in doing the next project using Flash.

Assignment Four - Flash Poll: "Mulit-Poll" Choices

In this assignment, we got to make our own quizzes however we wanted to on whatever we wanted to. We used flash again like we had used in the previous assignment. My question was "What kind of food nickname are you?" The reason i chose this question is because I have an obsession with giving people I am close to food nicknames like Taco, Big Mac, Yolk, etc. I though doing this topic would be easy since it was something I guess in a way could consider that is me. All the nicknames I had used in this end results quiz are nicknames I have given to people in the SMASH program, that is how i related some of the answeres to the names.

In the first project using flash, I was so lost. I had no idea of what I was doing. This time I was the one actually helping people how to use it and hows to do certain things with it. This project was fun because I got to do something to show a piece of my personality of who I am. The fun, out there, crazy part of me. This was our last assignment for the summer so I really tried to put a lot of effort into this project. This was the BEST class all summer and I am going to miss it so much.