Final Project

View NaNoWriMo in a larger map

[Minor notes: Somehow the west coast ended up beating out the east. There are actually two markers in south-most California, only noticeable by zooming in.]

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) began as something a group of friends decided to do in 1999 – binge novel writing during one month. Hey, no one ever said writers were sane! It had since evolved, growing much faster than the creators had expected (courtesy of blogging). As time went on participants would receive pep talk emails during the month from known writers – Neil Gaiman, as an example. These would be some of my favorite things, listening to how authors that I knew and loved went on about their writing process and giving encouragement. I'm saddened that this year I didn't pay attention to these emails, though I am inclined to go back through my NaNoMail on the website and read them anyway.

Generally the only reward for “winning” at the end of the month is the satisfaction that you did this. You made it! You survived! You can go back to having a normal life, a normal sleep schedule, reconnect with your friends – because hey, pat yourself on the back, you were amazing! It's about the accomplishment that you wrote 50,000 words in one month. Achievement Unlocked.

There is, however, some new bonuses that I only just realized while I was searching around the website in my sleep-deprived state. To be an official winner, you have to verify your word count on the NaNo website. From there, sponsors have allowed you to indulge on two very nice offers. The first – which makes me really wish I had put in more effort towards my word count – allows you to get five free copies of your novel in paperback form from CreateSpace, a company of Amazon. The second offer is 50% off Scrivener, a program that allows you to work on your manuscript and organize your notes (similar to Microsoft OneNote) all in the same program, side by side.

Congratulations to all participants who made the climb. One year, I hope that I will make that goal! Now, return to your lives, sit back, and enjoy the haul of editing.

[On a semi-separate note, this project helped me reconnect with writers who have graduated from the school, ones that I wish I had gotten to know better while I had classes with them, but I had fallen off the face of the Earth.]

Final Project Concept

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is drawing to a close. I plan to do a podcast on the trials and tribulations people have gone through - both on campus and off - and how their final product looks, as well as using GoogleMaps to plot where those people are (with possible snippets from their works). If I can find a write-in nearby, I may also go to that and do a slideshow.

Video Project Story

The conflict between Palestine and Israel has gone on since long ago, and will likely continue to go on for many years to come. The land in question holds much significance for the different peoples. For the Jews, Israel is their birthplace spiritually, religiously, and for the national identity. For the Arabs, it is the same since they develop their line from Abraham and his son Ishmael.

The Arabs many times throughout history had been shafted. In 1917 in the Balfour Declaration, England promised the Jews a national home, though nothing was yet official. During World War II the Jews sided with the United States and other nations, and because of their support, the UN officially deemed it that they had earned their land, and essentially forced Palestine to give the Jews land for the Jewish state (1947). This land had been called Midinath Yisrael. The land was divided for formation of two countries, one for Jews and another for Arabs with status of Jerusalem as free city that does not belong to any of these two.

1948 the Arabs reacted – which should not have been a surprise, after all, did the UN really expect Palestine to roll over as this happened? But there was little organization of their forces in what was known as the Palestine War, which lasted seven and a half months, and many Arabs either fled or were expelled from their home, which afterward became part of the state of Israel, and Egypt and Jordan took control of Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively, as well as Jerusalem was also split between Jews and Arabs.

The UNRWA (UN Relief & Works Agency) gave these people who fled from Jews refugee status. There are still refugees from this war today. But many, like Ahmed Shukarry [check doc. on who this guy is again] say that they owned for generations is not the solution. Everything that the UN has done is not a solution. The only way to fix the problem is to allow the refugees to return home that they owned for generations before 1948 . It may have been Arab aggression that caused the refugee problem, but how could they not be aggressive?

Currently the situation has finally begun to make progress with its treaties, but even as they work through them, Israel continues to build settlements on the West Bank; [guest speaker of...] said that: “Israelites will not withdraw from the West Bank, unless by force”, and Palestine jumps the gun under Israel by requesting status in the UN. This causes other complications: while most surrounding countries agree to accept Palestine, the US, which holds an unshakable grasp with Israel, promised to veto this, putting a bad mark on them. To make the matters more fractured, the US later makes comment to possibly refuse funding to all international organizations that recognize Palestine as a state.

The Jews don't believe that Palestine can be trusted with a truly independent state.

Vitzhak Rabin, Israel's [former?, date?] prime minister said: “The past no longer matters.” Yes, there had been strife on both sides, however generosity must triumph over the past for there to be success in peace.

For our video project we plan to use pieces from the Israel-Pakistan event tomorrow evening. Our sources will be from that as well.

Slideshow Synopsis

The slideshow I plan to do is on how to make kanzashi, showing pictures on how to make different petal shapes, and how to put it all together, and depending on time I will include some tips that I have picked up over time.

Traditionally tsunami kanzashi (meaning "folded fabric hair ornament") are made with small squares of silk, folded using origami methods, and glued together with rice glue. The adaption I've learned several months back involves small squares of cut ribbon and hot glue.

One day I will try the traditional way!

Slideshow

Slideshows and then some

Here's an audio slideshow that shows pictures of, I believe, the L.A. River and has audio of a woman speaking of it. I don't like how the audio picks up on the background noise so much, it distracts me too much from what the woman is actually saying.

What I do like is that if you hover your mouse over the bar at the bottom (the one that shows where you are in the slideshow, I can't think of a good word for it at the moment), it will pop up with a mini image of the picture that is at that particular point.

For a silent slideshow I picked this one, which is of several different kanzashi. For this particular one I like the options it provides. You can select the speed that the pictures go through, have a mini info bar pop up about them, and have thumbnails of the pictures pop up so you can select a different one.

Following with the kanzashi theme, the photo gallery I found is also featuring kanzashi.


I think when it comes to storytelling, which method you use all depends on the particular story. I think photo galleries and slideshows can work together - have the option to use one or the other depending on the person's taste. Sometimes I like slideshows, but if you can't adjust the speed, it can be too slow for my tastes depending on my mood, and I much rather just click through a photo gallery.

I can see the benefit of having an audio addition, but I can't say I'm leaning either way on whether or not I like it.