Monday, June 13, 2011

Yes, we are obsessed

So after the AP exams, APUSH has kind of been hell.  Here's the run-down on our final project, which we have spent the past month and a half on:

Basically, we create a fictitious presidential candidate to run in 2012.  There are 5 groups creating candidates.  My group's in Anthony Louis Benson.  We then write position papers outlining their policies for important issues.  We wrote about energy policy, the budget, and foreign policy in Iraq, Iran, and Israel.  Each of these were about 25+ pages, mind you.  And each completed in 10 days.

Now, as I mentioned, my group can be slightly obsessive about this kind of thing.  We also like to take things above and beyond.  Like so.

  1. Part of the project is to create Twitter accounts for our candidates so they can tweet and stuff.  I wanted our candidate to stand out, so I went ahead and made a Wikipedia page for him.  It was deleted by an admin within 3 minutes of its creation, because apparently it was a "blatant hoax".  Really now, Wikipedia?  The following is my conversation with an admin, in which I pleaded for him not to delete it.
    Me: Please tell me why you called this page a hoax. It really shouldn't be deleted, since first of all it is true, and second of all I need the page for a project.    
    Admin: Wikipedia is not the place for this kind of page. On this page it says that Benson was governor of California in 2004, which is not true. You also don't provide any sources for the other information in this article.   
    Me: Benson is a candidate who has not yet publicized his campaign for the 2012 presidency. His credentials and biography have been used from his own Facebook page and Twitter account, which he updates regularly. 
    Admin: Once he 'publicizes' this with a reliable source, then the article can be created. You will have to apply to an admin to recreate this article as its been creation protected.     
    Me: What is creation protected? 
    Admin: read WP:SALT   
    Me: This is ridiculous. The page should not have been deleted. You've lost yourself a loyal reader.  
    Admin: If you would have read the article creation policies, and followed those rules with your page it wouldn't have been deleted.(or created in the first place)
  2. Another part of the project is to choose a VP running mate (an actual, real person).  We chose Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).  But we actually emailed her to ask if she wanted to be our VP (and offered to send her our position papers).  She has yet to respond but I will inform you if she does.
  3. Another group insulted us on Twitter.  So we created a fake newspaper clipping in which we accused them of "mismanagement of campaign funds."  Next, we're hoping to do a sex scandal or something.
  4. We printed up campaign posters and wallpapered the history hallway.  Tomorrow, we will be giving all the history teachers cookies in thanks for their support (they let us put the fliers on their doors).
  5. Then someone took down the aforementioned fliers.  We don't know who, but we'll do some investigations.  THIS MEANS WAR! 


7 comments:

  1. Man, that admin sounded annoyed.
    Cool project!
    There's this party in Canada called the Rhinoceros Party. It gets like 500 votes every election. BUT ANYWAYS. It's political satire. They promise to make promises that they can't achieve.

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  2. If I went to Canada, I would become a registered member of the Rhinoceros Party.

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  3. hey flyergirl! Found you on sparklife. Im not at all involved in the whole sparklife community thing, but I know your name somehow. Youre famous! Also, if youre a grammar nazi, I apoligize, but Im on an ipod and its too much work to add apostrophes and whatnot.
    So anyway! I dont have a blog, but if I did I know I would be disappointed if people didnt comment on it. So im commenting for you! Your blog is hilarious. It reminds me of Megan from Sparklife. Except...funnier. You dont know how much of a compliment that is. you should know that I checked Megans blog for new updates several times a day during my months of obsession. So when I say your blog is funnier...thats intents. Like camping
    Also, I like your posts about Apush, because Im taking that class next year! Yay!

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  4. I expected that comment to be really long and rambling, so I didnt mention a few things.
    1. I answered your poll! That was me. I love polls ans quizzes and surveys.
    2. You misspelled politics when you were telling me not to scream and hide. But I forgive you.
    3. Apush! Im way too excited about this class, considering the workload Ive been warned about. But its my first AP class, so Im kinda super looking forward to it.
    4. Your life is way more exciting than mine.
    5. There was something I was planning on writing here, but I forgot what it was. Um...bdbb... Oh! Hate to say this...kind of agree with Wikipedia mod. Although good job going above and beyond. Yall should make a website with freewebs in lieu of wikipedia. (lieu? It sounds wrong now that I think about it.)
    Anyway.SO! I might be a regular reader of your blog now! Especially now that its summer and I have endless days of internet timewasting!

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  5. Also, did you get my camping joke? Intense like camping? Camping in tents? I heard that joke a few days ago and am now desperate to share it with as many people as possible. But it doesnt translate well over the internet, so I felt the need to explain it. Do I just sound desperate? Its my third comment on your blog in the last 20 minutes. As of right now, Im not planning on a fourth comment. I hope this doesnt end up that way. But you never know.

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  6. This is AMAZING. You guys are thoroughly intense.

    This reminds me of the time we prepared a reader's theatre re-enactment of 50 years of Guatemalan history for a genocide project... and involved the whole class. We killed off the student teacher (Guatemalan president) and had the teacher (United States ambassador) kidnapped and murdered. It was awesome. =D

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  7. @Anonymous-
    Wow, you kind of made my day! You sound super awesome and I'm so glad you like my blog! *happy dance* I like it when people think I'm cool, especially since cool people think that. :)

    @thinkellen
    That sounds super cool. We might do something like that in AP World next year, I hope so!

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