Purdue Men's Ultimate Frisbee: Undue

Proposition 19: Legalization of Marijuana

For my third C-SPAN video, I chose a section of the Washington Journal that discusses Proposition 19. Proposition 19 is to be voted on in California this November and would legalize the possession of marijuana under one ounce for adults 21 years of age and older. The two individuals who are debating this issue on the Washington Journal are Allen St. Pierre the Head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (N.O.R.M.L.)and Asa Hutchinson former Head of the DEA from 2001-2003.

I chose this video because I have been hearing a lot about this controversial issue in the news lately and I wanted a fair and balanced argument of the facts which C-SPAN provides.

FACTS PRESENTED:
- marijuana has been criminalized for 74 years
- since 1965; 20 Million marijuana related arrest
- In 2010; projected 850,000 marijuana related arrest
-90% of those arrest were for possession only; a non-violent crime
-since late 70s; overall drug use down 50%
- This figure comes from a Government issued survey that ask children in schools along with a survey that ask people in their homes. Therefore, people must be willing to admit to using on a government issued survey.
-Increase in Tax Revenues(data by Miron & Waidock of the Stern School of Business @ NY University; 8.7 Billion per year
- Reallocation of DEA funds; focus on other drugs i.e. coke, ecstasy, meth, prescription.
- 14 states and DC have decriminalized marijuana; Michigan, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Colorado, Alaska, Main, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Vermont, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island
- This means no criminal action is enforced if quantity possessed is under the legal limit, simply a fine.
- Use is likely to increase if decriminalized.
- Use on job site; banned, like alcohol, it would not be tolerated.
- Federal Law remains supreme to state laws; "Supremacy Law"
- Marijuana is in fact a plant....
- Marijuana is a unbeatable enemy; destabilizing US boarders.
- Caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol all rank higher (for earliest usage) than marijuana as "gateway drugs."
- There is more access to uncontrolled substances.
- We live is a Republic not a Democracy.

I picked some of the main "facts" that were presented in this video clip and will leave it to you and the people of California to decide if you think it should or should not be legalized. One thing I found most interesting about this video clip is that almost every caller; Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, were for the legalization of marijuana. I was really surprised because of what I believed the demographics of the Washington Journal were.. middle aged, middle class, and I just assumed anti drug. There are many good points brought up from both sides and I suggest you watch and drawl your own opinion.

Your Online Identity: Is It Really You?

We all put on mask from time-to-time to make us feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations. I believe this is a natural defense mechanism that occurs; sometimes unknowingly until afterthefact when we realize....what the hell was I just doing?!!?

In February 2006, I was a high school senior and I finally got my acceptance into Purdue University. At the time my older sister was a senior here at Purdue and Facebook was peaking as the premiere social networking website for specific to college students. A year or so prior I can remember her showing me this Facebook site and she was in love with it. She was showing me her friends, pictures, the concept of "poke"ing, and all the other things I couldn't do because I was only in high school. As most of you know, when you get accepted into Purdue (or any other University/College) you recieve a e-mail account with the magic ".edu" at the end. See several years ago you had to have a .edu email account to be able to sign up for Facebook, back when Facebook was Facebook. When I received my Purdue e-mail, the first thing I did was create a FB account and call my sister. She immediately requested, to a significant amount her friends, that they become my FB friend. She saw it as a way to show how "popular" or "cool" you were, as did I.



Little did I know, I was creating my "online identity." I was putting on my cyber mask to prove to the college world how many people I knew, how much fun I had, how many ladies i knew, and so on... I remember continuing to do this my freshman and sophomore year; only "tagging" pictures that showed me at my best. I wanted to be perceived as a fun, outgoing individual, that knew a lot of people and how to have a good time. Now, I'm not saying this was a complete lie... I am fun and know how to have a good time but I was only showing one side of my life. I wasn't posting family pictures or pictures of me at work or volunteering or studying or any other aspect of my life. I didn't realize at the time what kind of problems FB could cause because I just seen it as a way to perceive yourself in college. Then FB decided ANYONE could join and parents, school officials, and employers jumped on the FB train and I jumped off. I secured all my FB and I barely do anything with it anymore. To me FB was FB no more. Until now I never thought about my "online identity" and now I'm trying to recover it.



But this brings me to my question...Your Online Identity: Is It Really You?
In many cases I don't believe it is. People can carefully choose how they want to be perceived via the Internet. I chose to be the outgoing party-goer while some may have chosen a different way to perceive themselves; our online identity is only one aspect of who we really are. I believe it can be a EXTREMELY misleading aspect that I now realize we must monitor carefully. I was recently watching the Colbert Report and his guest, the director of the movie "The Social Network" who by the way doesn't have a FB account himself, had this to say about socializing via the Internet....

"Socializing on the Internet is to socializing; what reality TV is to reality." ~Aaron Sorkin

This quote made the audience make a "gasping" noise and I believe this is because they never thought of online socializing in that way; I believe they realized the truth in his statement. I 100% agree with him on this and believe that we are judging people too much based on what their myspace or FB or LinkedIn (which is a completely different mask we put on online; one with all the fabulous things we've done and what we want to accomplish..its all suits and smiles and well most of the time ....fake). I do believe you can tell a lot about someone from their online identity but we must step back... and really get to know the person you are evaluating; in person....You remember right??? The old fashion way to learn about someone face-to-face communication...

Longboarding (Raw/No Voice Over)

This was my first piece I ever shot and I admire now the art of video production. Currently, I have not voiced over this piece; however, the voice over is coming. I wanted to inform the audience about the popularity of longboarding on Purdue's campus. This popularity has caused a new club to form specific to longboarding, started in September 2010.

This process was difficult and I ran into many problems while shooting and video editing. I took to the streets to find longboarders and do what I referred to as guerrilla interviewing; chasing down individuals on longboards and asking for a quick interview. Luckily, most of them agreed to an interview; unluckily, I had the mic on OFF for about five interviews (most of them were the best footage because I was in the zone and found some really interesting individuals to interview). However, I still had some footage that I made work, it was just not what I ultimately wanted.

I have never video edited and it took me hours just to get the video from the tape to the computer. I think the lab assistance in Hicks hate me.... I'm not sure what happened during the transfer of the video but I lost some footage and my last interview was choppy. Again, little annoying problems that I had not intended to have but were adaptable. You might notice that my transfers are messed up with the audio and again, I'm fixing that when I voice over.

I loved shooting the video (especially the downhill footage where I rode on my longboard while shooting..fun but not financially smart--those cameras cost over a grand :/ and as you can see, I did wreck because I didn't see a hole-- ) and the experience it created. I'm not a fan of video editing but I know it will become easier as the semester rolls on...I hope..