Querencia
Whomp! I flop down onto my squishy bed, my ipod clutched in my claws. Fluff here; fluff there, perfect! The pillow is working in my body’s favor and I am able to relax and put the earplugs of my ipod into my ears. As a rush of music flows into my ears, I can almost feel someone blowing a bubble of protection around me.
When I am listening to my sound-blasting ipod, I usually like laying on my bed and that is when I feel best. Sometimes with the music playing in my head, my eyes will go out of focus and I will stare off into space. If my eyes don’t go out of focus, I usually will close them, but I most enjoy just staring. Sometimes I can relate a song I am listening to, to something that has happened to me in my life. Also, if I have listened to some certain song(s) on a trip, I will listen to them again any time after I have gotten back from the trip, and they will bring back memories of fun and laughter. It is like a built in scrapbook in my head. Even if I have a favorite song at the time, I will just listen to it on my bed in my room, and it makes me feel separate from the world (and that is a good thing). As Shaelyn said in class, about feeling safe in small places, well when my door to my room is closed, it feels like my own small, safe place. When I am not in my room I find my querencia somewhere else.
My eyes are searching, wandering and scanning the busy room before me, searching for any sign of my targets: a jacket, face or even a lunchbox. Then my vision snags on a familiar face in the right corner of the room. Found them! I rush towards my friends, what sounds first like the yaps of hyenas slowly take the shapes of conversations. “Oh my gosh I cant believe she got eliminated!” I am at home again.
Each day I am with my friends, it feels like the comfort of being inside on a cold blustery day with the fireplace blazing high. The reason why I feel comfortable or even safe when I am with my friends is because I know they will always back me up. If we are going to do something crazy, it could be embarrassing if I didn’t have my friends there too, doing it right alongside me. Maybe if I am trying out a new look or something, when I am with them it feels almost like they are my safety net, or force field protecting me from embarrassment. Also, if I feel kind of sad about something that has just happened to me, then just hanging around them takes my mind off of things that I have been worrying about. I end up having a bunch of fun and not moping around. Both of my querencias are important to me.

Feature Cast From The Past

Project Purpose
To understand the difference between Cause/Effect Relationships and Correlations. To understand how and why major events in history are connected and intertwined (think yarn activity!). To research a major event from U.S. history in order to understand why it is significant and how it relates to other major events. To understand features of a feature article and podcast and to be able to create a feature article or podcast about your major event in history.

Project Requirements
To present the 5Ws of your major event to the class. To write/peer edit/revise a feature article or podcast. To have at least three drafts in your Writing Portfolio. To present a polished version of your feature article or podcast on Media Night, as well as posting it online to our Team Featurecast from the Past web page (made by James).

Specific Concepts Learned
1.) When I first learned what the Salem Witch Trials were (when people were accused of witch craft and most likely were then sent to their deaths) I really wonder why oh why would someone send someone else to their death by accusing them of witcraft? Well this is the first concept I learned and was appauled that these simple thing was themotive for basiclly killing someone. The reason people accused other people of witchcraft was because 1.... they really believed in the devil taking over someone's body and 2.... just out of annger, jealousy, or pure hatrid of someone. HAVEN'T THEY HEARD OF COUNCELING????

2.) The second thing I learned was how we think that we have gotten rid of the Salem Witch Trials but in fact (as my partner found out) people are getting accused of being a terrorist in the USA (without evidence) which is basicly what the salem witch trials are like.

Challenges:
My problem was that my podcast would not open on any other computer besides Karan's computer. The problem with just finishing it and leaving it on Karans computer was that his computer would not let me add music to my podcast for some reason. What I did to fix it was I had to export my podacast to itunes and then i saved it on my flashdrive to bring home (since that night was the night before the whole project was due! I took it home and prayed it would open on my garageband i was so happy when it opened. I was then able to finish my project and save so it all turned out fine in the end.
Real-World Significance
As I said in the concept section, my event relates to real life because we accused people in the USA of being terrorists sometimes just because of the race even!!!! Making a podacst relates to the real-world because alot of people are reporters for their job and we were reporting for our podcasts. Besides the project is called, "Reporting Live From History".