News to localize

Friday, June 6, 2008

Test

Akins Photojournalism

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Final Exam and Grades Wrap Up

Final Project

IMPORTANT - Instructions on how to turn in your final are at the end of this document.

Follow them!

All of the following MUST be included in your InDesign Document.

1. All of the content from the the fall final exam must be completed.

2. Your magazine cover is included

3. Your action and architecture InDesign pages must be finished.

4. Make a new page titled " Photo Illustration " - Place your finished photo Illustration here along with the following:
A. Describe which of the four types of Illustrations you made, and how you made it.
B. Explain what concept or meaning your illustration communicates.

5. Make a new page titled "Electronic Essay" - Place one photo from your essay on the page.
A. Explain what the overall concept of the essay is, and how you shot it and created it.
B. Include this web site address where the best photo essays will be displayed:
http://connollyvidcast.blogspot.com/

6. Make sure your GLOSSARY is complete and up to date. (See April 3 post) The glossary entries are on the last pages of the document.

7. Extra credit- Include a page (at the end, but before the glossary) with your favorite photos that you shot this year.

Turning in your final exam and other grades:

Electronic Photo Essay
When you are finished with your Essay, do the following in MovieMaker:
Save your work!

Then, Select File > Save Movie File , and select the "Email" option.
Click "save a copy of my movie on my computer" and name it according to the following:

Period#_photojessay_Last_First
Ex: 8_photojessay_Connolly_Matthew

Email yourself a copy and EMAIL Connolly at mconnoll@austinisd.org or Reeves at mreeves1@austinisd.org. The subject line should read "photo essay."

Final Exam -
1. Make sure your final exam is saved according to the following naming rules IN YOUR FOLDER ON THE STUDENT DIRIVE:

Period#_photojSPfinal_Last_First
Ex: 8_photojSPfinal_Connolly_Matthew

2. In InDesign, select File > Adobe PDF Presets > smallest file size, and export a pdf. Save this as Period#_photojSPfinal_Last_First_pdf in YOUR FOLDER

3. Email the PDF file, NOT the InDesign file to Connolly at mconnoll@austinisd.org or Reeves at mreeves1@austinisd.org. The Subject Line should read "Final Exam." Email a copy to yourself as well.

4. Print a copy of YOUR GLOSSARY. You may use this on the short quiz that you will take on the day of your final.

5. Look around the internet for examples of unethical photo manipulations. Be prepared to explain why the example is unethical.

Have a great summer. It has been an honor working with all of you.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Photo Essay Editing Basics

Start Windows Movie Maker

Click on View > Collections

Click on Tools > New Collection Folder
Name your folder your name

Go to File > Import into collections

Navigate to the folder where your edited photos are saved, select them, and import them.

Drag one or more photos onto the timeline.

Go to File > Import into collections, and Import your audio or record it.

Drag the sound into tthe timeline

Go to File > Save project as, and save it in your folder as last_first_phessay.

Clip off the bad parts of the audio by selecting the audio clip, dragging the blue playhead line to where you want to split the clip, and selecting Clip> Split ( Ctrl + L)

You can now select the bad portion and hit delete.

Make the photos line up with the sound by stretching them to be the right size.

Add credits at the end by clicking on the "tasks" button and selecting M"Make Titles or Credits" - Include your name and the name of anyone who helped you or cooperated.

If you have time, play with the transitions.

SAVE YOUR WORK!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Final Project Part 1 - Preparing the document

Major Grade Reminders
Photo Essay Must be shot by May 21, and complete by May 28
Photo Illustration Must be Complete by May 21

First - Make sure that ALL of your InDesign document up to this point, including the glossary, is up to date.

Check the fall final exam, and the action/ architecture InDesign wrap up.

Next - Rename your InDesign document according to the following formula:

Period#_photojSPfinal_Last_First
Ex: 8_photojSPfinal_Connolly_Matthew_

Make sure that the document is saved IN YOUR FOLDER.

Next - Check all of the links in your document. Remember that an InDesign document is actually a collection of documents. If you start moving or renaming the photos and other files associated with it, you will have problems.

With your document open, select Window > Links. Look at the list of links. If there are any warning signs (yellow triangle w/ !), double click on that link, and select "relink." You then must find the file that you moved or changed. If you can't find the file to link, you must do that part of the page again.

Next - Make three new pages in your InDesign. Title one "Digital Contest," anothe one"Photo Illustration," the final one "Electronic Essay." Remember that your glossary should always be the final pages of teh document.

More to come.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Speaking of unethical photo alterations . . .

Here's a timely real world example of what we have been taking about.

McKinney yearbook photos altered

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Practice photo realistic alteration - Due today

In the previous assignment, you combined two images to make a composite photo illustration. The results are striking. Look at some examples:

MA /
ZG /
SG /
SK /
EL /
DT /
DH /
CH /
JH /
JM /
JO /
MP

While these are well done, nobody is going to make the mistake that these are real, unaltered images.

However, some altered images are possibly unethical because they are realistic. Remember these:

Unethical photos

Your task is to combine at least two photos in such a way that the final image looks realistic. You may use images off of the Internet or your own images. Save your final product as a .jpg and post in on your blog. DON'T forget to label it as a "Photo Illustration" or it will be VERY unethical.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Practice composite photo Illustration - DUE TODAY

As you think about and work on your photo illustration (Due Wednesday, May 21) it is useful to practice and to study an interesting professional example.

Time Magazine's April 28, 2008 cover is a perfect example. It is a composite image that has created lots of controversy.

View the cover illustration here.

Read about the controversy here, and vote on what you think about it.

Reproduce the illustration.

1. Open and save the Iwo Jima photo. (It will be in evil index color. You need to change the mode to grayscale)
2. Open and save a redwood photo. (You may substitute another one)
3. Do the following:
A. Erase the backgrounds of both images. (Make sure the tree background is set to transparent)
B. Move the tree image to the Iwo Gima image.
C. Free transform the tree image to fix the size and rotation.
D. Erase pats of the tree image where the Iwo Jima image needs to show through.
E. Save your work.
F. Post your finished reproduction to your blog.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Time to get organized

Major assignments left in the year:

1. Photo Essay - Look over the preview assignment to remind yourself what they look and sound like.

Decide on a topic and what type of essay you will create NOW. Choos one of the following:
–Introspective photographer – best for a focus on things. Let us into your mind.
–First person documentary – best for interesting people. Let them tell their own story.
–Narrated documentary – best for interesting events. Put the viewer there.

Your final product must be at least one minute long and have at least 10 photos in it.

If you need to sign out a camera and/ or voice recorder, be ready to tell me what you are doing and when you will need the equipment by May 8.

Everything must be shot and recorded for this assignment by May 21. Final product is due May 28.

2. Photo Illustration-

TODAY, you should post an idea for an illustration along with the type of illustration you will be making.
If you need an idea, read the newspaper (ask me for one), look on news sites etc. Good photo illustrations are based on VERY specific ideas.

ALL content in the photo illustration must be original.

Start collecting / shooting images. If you don't know how to do something in PhotoShop, ask for help.

Everything must be shot for this assignment by May 8. Final product is due May 21.

3. Final Indesign project-
This is your final exam and a major grade. You will be given VERY specific guidelines for your final document soon. For now, read over the fall final exam, and the action/ architecture InDesign wrap up.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

[AISD-Watch] Austin Workshop for Parents About Online Social Networking Sites

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2007
Contact: Patricia Fraga, Austin Public Library, (512)
974-7528
Fax: (512) 974-7442
Email: patricia.fraga@ci.austin.tx.us

Workshop for Parents About Online Social Networking
Sites

This Fall the Teen Services division of the Austin
Public Library will offer several opportunities for
parents to get familiar with online social networking
sites such as MySpace and Facebook. More and more
young people are using online social networking sites
and parents and/or caregivers are asking themselves
what these sites are about, and how they can make sure
their children are using them safely. Join us for free
informational and hands-on workshops about online
social networking sites. Registration is required.

Please call (512) 974-7341 to reserve a space in one
of the four sessions offered.

Workshops offered at:

Monday, September 17, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Faulk Central Library
2nd Floor Videoconference Room 202

Tuesday, October 2, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Ruiz Branch, AMD Room

Monday, October 22, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Faulk Central Library
2nd Floor Videoconference Room 202

Tuesday, October 23, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Ruiz Branch, AMD Room

For additional information visit
http://www.cityofaustin.org/library or call 974-7341.

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[AISD-Watch] AISD SEEKS INPUT ON PROPOSED YOUNG MEN'S LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

AISD SEEKS INPUT ON PROPOSED YOUNG MEN'S LEADERSHIP
ACADEMY

AISD is considering developing an academy for boys in
grades six through 12, similar to the new Ann Richards
School for Young Women.

Visit http://www.austinisd.org/schools/ymla to read
more about it and to take the online survey, available
in both English and Spanish. (Announcements)
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[AISD-Watch] A Critique Of US Public Schools

We Can't Get No Educashion

A Critique Of US Public Schools

By Emily Spence

Part One: The Overview - Part 2 :Down In The Trenches,
Anecdotal Evidence From The Classroom

08/26/07 "ICH' --- - For years, liberals have pointed
out the huge gap between funding for military ventures
and US public education. Indeed, a motto, floating
around for a decade or more, sums it up well: "It will
be a great day when our schools get all the money they
need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy
a bomber."

While its a bit overstated, the saying gets the case
across and no one can dispute that our federal
government spends an inordinate sum for our armed
forces, armaments and other military provisions while
many needs back in the US get short shrift. Aside from
New Orleans never being put back together right, there
are the problems of the worn out US infrastructure,
the low income housing deficit, the high rate of
homelessness and the migration of jobs overseas such
that one in seven is expected to disappear over the
next ten years. At the same time, there exist many
other serious problems needing an immediate infusion
of cash and workers (for which returned US military
troops could be employed) to provide national relief.
Moreover, education, is woefully under funded and
could certainly used any help available for its
improvement both in terms of building upgrading and
many other sorts.

All of the above in mind, the cost of the War in Iraq,
alone, has been close to half a trillion dollars [1].
The overall military budget for 2008 is 51 % ($1,228
billion) of US governmental revenue whereas ALL other
expenditures amounts to 49 % ($1,159 billion).
Meanwhile, Human Resources provisions (from which
education receives a modest amount) is set at $748
billion while General Government spending is set at
$295 billion from which interest on the government
debt commandeers 20 % of funds and Homeland Security
another 17 %. Furthermore, Physical Resources (out of
which transportation related and environmental needs
are funded) receives $116 billion from which another
17 % goes to the physical needs (such as buildings,
etc.) for Homeland Security [2].

When the above funding decisions are assessed all
together, it is no wonder that the US Department of
Education received only $68,084,800 in 2007. It is
also not surprising that President Bush wants this
amount pared down to $60,220,138 for 2008 [3]. At the
same time, this spending is being requested to be all
together removed from the US Budget in order to try to
help balance the huge debt load, almost nine trillion
dollars (approximately $30,000 per US citizen), that
our government has driven into place [4]. The
totality, certainly, staggers the imagination [5].

Basically. is it any revelation, then, that the
quality of education varies vastly from community to
community based on the relative wealth that each has?
Likewise, is it incredulous that the breach is
widening?

All considered, there is no equality in educational
provision. For example, current per pupil annual cost
in Greenwich, CT is $15,166. In 2004, the average
amount spent annually per student in the US was
$8,287. with the low at $5,008 (Utah) and the high at
$12,930 (New York). In other words, the range is
amazing and one can expect that ghetto schools in each
state receive less than the average sum whereas more
affluent communities get more than ample funding. All
considered, property tax valuations, as the primary
measure to assess the amount of money that school
districts obtain, are bound to create a wide range of
highly significant disparities [6].

Furthermore, local school boards further compound this
problem by having a large say over the curriculum used
in schools. This, too, impacts the quality of
education capable of being delivered.

For instance, we can have intelligent design theory
taught along side of evolution, no trigonometry or
foreign language classes offered, no computers
available (as they are too costly to provide when
assessed along side of other needs, such as books on
the history of the evangelical movement at the
exclusion of one focused on the history of minority
group contributions to society, and so on). Yet, how
much more agreeable would be education as delivered in
Canada wherein every teacher in every school uses the
same materials (supplemented by ones of local choice)
for its core curriculum and every student is on the
same page with the same academic expectations
regardless of whether they live in British Columbia or
Montreal?!

All of these factors taken en toto, education,
overall, is poorly delivered in the US. This has been
well documented by innumerable educational watchdogs,
such as Jonathan Kozol and John Gatto, whose
conclusions are both highly alarming and disgraceful.

For example, Jonathan Kozol has construed, after
countless studies conducted at a large number of
diverse schools, that our educational system creates
extreme discrimination based on economic class. On
account, those who are advantaged (to receive quality
public education) are accorded an unfair advantage in
terms of obtainment of money, power privilege, class
status, along with other tangible and intangible
benefits [7].

As a result, many students, throughout the United
States, have no chance of succeeding through no fault
of their own. Under the circumstances, the loss to the
individual and the society at large is staggering. For
a nation that, supposedly, treasures equal
opportunity, this is nothing short of intolerable.

In relation, John Gatto elucidates on the findings of
a 1990's ETS conducted national literacy survey:

"Ninety-six and a half percent of the American
population is mediocre to illiterate where deciphering
print is concerned. This is no commentary on their
intelligence, but without ability to take in primary
information from print and to interpret it they are at
the mercy of commentators who tell them what things
mean. A working definition of immaturity might include
an excessive need for other people to interpret
information for us.
"Certainly it's possible to argue that bad readers
aren't victims at all but perpetrators, cursed by
inferior biology to possess only shadows of intellect.
That's what bell-curve theory, evolutionary theory,
aristocratic social theory, eugenics theory,
strong-state political theory, and some kinds of
theology are about. All agree most of us are inferior,
if not downright dangerous. The integrity of such
theoretical outlooks-- at least where reading was
concerned--took a stiff shot on the chin from America.
Here, democratic practice allowed a revolutionary
generation to learn how to read. Those granted the
opportunity took advantage of it brilliantly." (To
have access to more of this assessment, please go to
the eighth "[8]" citation below.)

The ramifications of both Kozol's and Gatto's finding
are multifold. For example, the general workforce,
derived from many HS and college graduates, is ill
prepared to do much beyond almost thoughtless, menial
labor. The disparity between those who've been
provided a sound education and those who have not will
be huge in terms of mental and many other kinds of
capabilities. The value of a HS or a college degree,
in and of itself, will hold no meaning as the bottom
line involves from where the degree originated. The
income disparity between those who have sufficient
funds and those who do not will increase. Even more
awful than these other factors is that the next
generation will be poorly prepared, for the most part,
to lead America into the next century in any
meaningful fashion.

In addition and equally disturbing is the fact that
thinking is, thus, curtailed to the most rudimentary
types for a large number of Americans. In short, many
individuals simply are not able to understand whatever
they are not trained to comprehend. In this sense, the
lack of knowledge concerning science (i.e., the facts
of evolution) and rudimentary mathematics (necessary
to balance a check book), language usage (needed to
communicate basic information on the job) and much
more is predictable.

Indeed, obvious educational shortfalls in the US, in
large measure, appear responsible for many people's
inability to grapple with the more complex ethical
issues, diminished capacity for critical analysis
(i.e., to undertake synthesis and extrapolation to
generate clarifications and accurate models of
"reality" as, for instance, are the ones posed by
transitional frames of reference) limited
hermeneutical understandings, incapacity to
differentiate logical VS. illogical pattens, etc.
Meanwhile TV shows are one of the most popular methods
to gain information on the parts of many, it would
seem, and simply aren't set up to impart much of value
beyond a fleeting entertainment factor and superficial
news coverage of selective topics.

All told, John Gatto, Jonathan Kozol and other
critics, repeatedly and disparagingly, point out that
public education (in the US and elsewhere across the
globe) is guaranteed to keep economic classes in their
relative placement and trapped in a basic inability to
apply higher level cognitive skill sets to written and
heard accounts. Thus, many individuals absolutely have
to rely on commentators (i.e., authority figures for
the most part) to form their understandings of events.
Alternately put, students, in many school districts,
are not taught to think independently, nor question
the opinions provided by the status quo. How
convenient for those in powerful leadership positions!
How easy, then, it becomes to keep corrupt systems in
operation as many people cannot even conceive of
alternatives let alone figure out ways to put them in
place!

The results, then, are clear. For example, one in five
American adults, supposedly, do not know who the US VP
is. Mainstream news commentators and governmental
leaders seem credible even when spouting the most
audacious lies, and so on [9]. (Stanley Milgram
carried out some interesting studies, which indicate
that it is easy to influence people to conform to the
attitudes and commands of those in power even when
these involve injuring or killing another person.[10]
How much easier such outcomes must be to achieve when
people lack some essential mental skills to form
autonomous conclusions.) Lastly, it is hard for people
to stand against the underlying norms (i.e., that you
will be contented if you just buy this X product that
you deserve to have and on which your self-esteem
depends) as they cannot see through the propaganda.

All in all, it is easy to quell any discontent with
"the way things are" when people cannot conceive of
better alternatives, nor question the currently
prevalent standards and practices. Thus, the current
inequities in schools and society at large will likely
continue unchallenged and uncorrected.

At the same time, the current income disparity amongst
classes is all but assured to continue such that most
members of the lower and upper economic classes will
keep in their relative positions, as will their
children. After all, who can afford to pay ~ $140,000
dollars for an undergraduate education and ~ $180,000
for four years of graduate school except for the
relatively rather wealthy? Who can even meet minimal
standards for studies at a school of higher education
after learning at one of the glaringly inferior
schools?

Moreover, taking on this cost as a student loan is
particularly ludicrous in many circumstances in that
the Federal minimum wage (currently set at $5.85/
hour) all but assures that many jobs available to new
graduates will not be able to be provide sufficient
income for them to pay back borrowed money (which,
nonetheless, keep accruing interest over time). All
considered, is it any wonder that the default rate on
student loans is over ten percent, while amounting to
many millions of dollars? Is it not assured that
myriad related problems for former students, who were
unable to repay loans, will subsequently transpire --
such as inability to take out a mortgage due to a bad
credit rating or, even worse, bankruptcy [11]?

At the same time, the jobs available to the graduates
are disappearing. It has been alleged that one in
seven US jobs will disappear over the next ten years
on account of industrial globalization. The majority
of the ones that will be left will be the types that
are impossible to outsource -- types like food service
delivery at fast food chains, construction jobs, clerk
positions at mega-malls, health care provision,
teaching and the likes.

A further consideration concerns the sort of quality
in educators that can be expected with the salaries
that many teachers command. For instance, someone with
a Ph' D in education can expect a starting salary of
$22,000 in some public school systems. Even if someone
with a doctoral degree were to consider accepting such
a low income, what sort of person would he be?

It would seem likely to be someone who is either
highly dedicated to humanitarian service or, due to
some sort of serious flaw, were unable to "make it" in
the business world. After all, what other rationale
could explain someone willingly taking such a pitiful
salary? Who can consider supporting a family or even
renting a home with such a ridiculous wage?

All in all, we are a land that supposedly supports
"liberty and justice for all" (or so our Pledge of
Allegiance, that school children recite every day,
states). In practice, though, we have an educational
caste system of the worst sort imaginable. It is just
one more scandal (along with the treatment of the
victims from Hurricane Katrina, our military invasion
of Iraq without sufficient provocation and evidence of
myriad other woes) plaguing our so-called great
country.
Emily Spence resides in Massachusetts and deeply cares
about the future of our world.

[1] To see the total cost for the War in Iraq, please
refer to information provided at:
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182.
[2] To review US budgetary figures, please see: The
Federal Pie Chart
(http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm).
[3] This data derives from: U.S. Department of
Education Budget News
(www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/news.html).
[4] An overview can be obtained at: Cutting the
Federal Budget to Prevent U.S. Bankruptcy: Part ...
(http://www.lewrockwell.com/grichar/grichar38.html).
[5] Debt figures and similar provisions are located
at: U.S. National Debt Clock
(http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/).
[6] This and related information is reviewed at: US
Census Press Releases.
[7] A summation of Kozol's findings can be found at:
Still Separate, Still Unequal: America's Educational
Aparthe...
(http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2005/American-Apartheid-Education1sep05.htm).
[8] Please refer to: The National Adult Literacy
Survey - John Taylor Gatto
(http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3j.htm).
[9] At these sites, the ease with which this trickery
can be executed is shown: Bill Moyers Journal . Buying
the War . Watch the Show | PBS
(www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html) and Bill
Moyers' "Buying the War" Exposes the Media's Failure
to... (www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/24/730/).
[10] To learn more, please go to: Stanley Milgram -
The Stanley Milgram Website
(www.stanleymilgram.com/references.html) and, for an
extensive analysis, Obedience to Authority (1960-63)
(www.humanresearch.msu.edu/training/Milgram_Paper_by_H).

[11] Please check information at these links to see
definitions of business and personal bankruptcy, as
well as number of cases in US for 2005: Bankruptcy -
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy) and http://www.uscourts.gov/bnkrpctystats/bankrupt_f2table_dec2006.xls
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[AISD-Watch] Fighting for a Diploma

Fighting for a Diploma

By Elisabeth Salemme

So much for one weekend a month, two weeks a year.
Since Sept. 11, nearly 425,000 National Guard and
reserve troops have been deployed to Iraq and
Afghanistan. Like temp workers with no benefits,
however, these citizen-soldiers find that when they
leave the reserve forces, they are not entitled to the
same tuition assistance as regular Army veterans.

To some lawmakers like Virginia Senator Jim Webb, this
double standard is unconscionable. The former Navy
Secretary and highly decorated Vietnam vet is trying
to goad Congress into updating the G.I. Bill, whose
benefits have failed to keep pace with the rising cost
of a college education, by providing full tuition to a
state university plus a $1,000 monthly stipend to all
veterans who have served a total of two years in Iraq
or Afghanistan since 9/11--reserve forces included.
His rationale for extending equal benefits to National
Guard veterans: "Same battlefield, same soldier."

Sounds fair, right? Not to the U.S. departments of
Defense and Veterans Affairs, with each testifying
last month that giving all veterans the same benefits
could hurt National Guard retention as well as
active-duty recruitment. Tom Bush, the Defense
Department's principal director of manpower and
personnel (and no relation to the President), says
that for active-duty service members, tuition
assistance is a powerful recruiting tool. In fact,
according to a 2004 survey commissioned by the Army,
education benefits were the most common incentive
cited by young adults considering an enlistment.

Those benefits are also a good reason for National
Guard members to keep renewing their commitments.
Under the current G.I. Bill, Guard members and
reservists who have spent two years in Iraq or
Afghanistan get $860 a month in tuition assistance if
they attend college full time (compared with the
$1,075 a month that active-duty veterans receive), but
this benefit ends the moment they leave the Guard.
Bush also argues that reservists don't need as much
help transitioning to civilian life. "They can go back
to their jobs, but an active-duty member is really
changing careers," he says.

Aside from retention issues, Webb's bill faces another
significant hurdle: cost. The VA estimates that the
price tag for improving education benefits for
post-9/11 veterans would be $74.7 billion through
2017. Webb counters by pointing to 1944, when the G.I.
Bill was expanded to give tuition benefits to all
service members who fought in World War II. "Nobody
asked these financial questions when they had 8
million returning veterans," he says.

The funding question is worse at the state level. In
Missouri a bill that would have significantly cut
costs for all vets at state universities stalled in
May because state schools pleaded that the proposed
benefits would cost them nearly $2 million a year.
Says Scott Charton, spokesman for the University of
Missouri: "If the state feels that this is a priority,
then it's worth it for the state to fund it."

Meanwhile, California's cash-strapped state
legislature is debating whether to approve Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to start allocating
tuition-assistance funds to help boost membership in
the 20,000-strong California Guard. Democratic state
senator Lou Correa sent a letter to his colleagues
this summer urging them to fund the additional
benefits for Guard members. "A lot of these guys are
losing their jobs, their houses, their cars because
they're being called back to Iraq for a third time,"
Correa says. "Would we try to deny tuition assistance
to World War II veterans? What's the difference
between those heroes and these heroes?" The answer may
be our fiscal priorities.

* Find this article at:
* http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1653634,00.html
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[AISD-Watch] Protest Capital Metro's Bus Fare Increase!

The City of Austin has appointed it's members for
Capital Metro's "Fare Approval Committee." These are
the people who will have the final say on raising
fares or not. They will be joined shortly by 2 Travis
Co. commissioners, and other committee members
appointed by suburban mayors. The City of Austin is
represented on the committee by:

Mayor Will Wynn
Council Member Betty Dunkerly
Council Member Lee Leffingwell
Council Member Mike Martinez
Council Member Brewster McCracken

Contact these people immediately and tell them NOT to
raise our bus fares!

Call, mail or email them at the contacts listed on the
City of Austin website:

www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/contacts.htm

Below is a sample letter submitted by one of our
members:

Dear Council Members Dunkerly, Martinez, McCracken,
Leffingwell and Mayor Wynn,

It is my understanding that you have been appointed to
the Capital Metro Fare Approval Committee.

I have been a Capital Metro bus rider for 21 years. I
am also a member of the Bus Riders Union - ATX.

You will be considering the transit authority's
proposal to raise bus fares. Please reject this
proposal.

Capital Metro is not hurting for money because of the
citizens of Austin. The citizens have contributed more
to the Metro coffers than ever before in fares and
sales tax. Capital Metro is hurting for money because
it is being spent on the Leander train.

The transit authority effectively doubled fares last
year when they eliminated transfers. This was somehow
done without the blessing of any "fare committe," but
it's done, and the end result is a 20% increase last
year in fare revenue and probably even more this year
with high consumer gas prices and the elimination of
"ozone days." This is a healthy contribution from the
poorest segment of your constituency, and it is
enough.

Please reject Metro's proposal to further increase
transportation costs for the people who can least
afford it.

Please call me at if you have any questions. Thanks.

Bus Riders Union ATX
http://busridersunionatx.org/

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