Eyewitness testimonies refers to people who have witnessed a crime. They usually have to give a description of what happened at the crime and who they remembered were involved.  The problem with eyewitness testimonies is that they are not always accurate or true.

Based in the case study that BBC produced. A  short experiment was filmed, where they played out a fake murder and they have 15 people witness someone getting stabbed then later dying. They took those people to asked them about what they had remembered about that incident that afternoon. Based on the results of what people had said, no one really remembered what happened and everyone missed or added details. What was shocking was the fact that some people said things that they thought happened but did not actually occur. They also put the same eyewitnesses into a room with the victim and the two suspects. The rest of the people who innocent and random people. The majority of the eyewitnesses believed that #2 was the suspect or they believed that he was at the scene. In fact he was one of the innocent men that they randomly put his photo there. So in conclusion it is very possible that your brain and what you remember is always accurate.

I think that personally this topic is very conflicting because there are cases and eyewitness testimonies all the time for cases like this. This could possibly lead to convicted or sending someone innocent to jail and letting the person who actually did the crime go free. I think that this has to do with witnesses being mislead. It is possible that based on how serious what they witness actually happened and if that affects them mentally. They could have anxiety which causes them to have mixed emotions and feelings. I think that possibly something like this could affect their memory. I think also a lot in cases there is a huge possibility that people have mistaken identification. I think that your brain tricks you into thinking someone or something was there when it really was not.

For my Capstone, I originally wanted to produce a documentary about my involvement in the Philadelphia Suns, which is a basketball team in the Philadelphia Chinatown community. In the documentary I talked about our monthly tournaments, summer league and practices. I did end up doing this documentary but as long as getting a ton of footage I also took many pictures. I wanted to be able to share them so I thought about making a website with a page for a photo gallery as well as my documentary.

The process was pretty easy in the beginning because I had everything planned out and I knew since Junior year I wanted to do a documentary so I already had recorded some footage throughout the summer. However, further into Senior I had a lot of technology problems with getting the program to edit and problems that occurred within my laptop. There were also a couple of instances where my camera was on the muted option and I would have to recorded interviews.

I am very happy with how my final product came out. I enjoyed making the documentary and putting the website together. It had a lot of fun doing it and it was not one of those projects where you dread doing.

Annotated Bibliography

Carr, Bella. "Ball Is Life." Personal interview. 26 Oct. 2015.

This interview source will help me a lot in getting a perspective from a young player. Bella plays with the New York Titans. She is the only girl player who plays for her team. I think that she will really be able to influence on how it feels to play on a team with all boys and being the only girl. Also, she is mixed. She could explain the rules of what the process of getting into this Asian league is like. She also talked a lot about her experience at her first nationals and not being able to play, because nationals did not allow coedd. I think that her interview could help me with getting a girl’s perspective in the league.

Chin, Rebecca. "Philadelphia Suns: Harry Leong's Suns Story." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Jan. 2012. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sh-hDZD5jY>.

This source is very useful because someone who was once on the Philadelphia Suns, who has moved to New York made this short film about the Suns. I know her personally and her experience will greatly help me with conducting my documentary. She also interviewed Harry Leong who is my coach and the president of the non-profit organization The Philadelphia Suns. I think that everything here for my documentary and the organization itself will be very credible. The information is coming straight from the person who created this organization and someone who has been in the league for a very long time.

Eng, Stanley. "Basketball Impact." Personal interview. 26 Oct. 2015.

The source is very useful for my project. I am using this personal interview in my project. Stanley Eng is now a coach and sometimes he helps around if needed in the Philadelphia Suns organization. In his interview he shared his experiences, as a player and how he transitioned to become a coach and started helping out in the Sun's community. I think this source will help me talk about the Philadelphia Suns organization as a whole and how it has evolved and changed over the year until today.

Lee, Ken. "Basketball." Personal interview. 26 Oct. 2015.

I think overall out of all the interviews that I have conducted this interview will really impact and help my documentary the most. Ken Lee is a coach of the New York Rockits, which is a basketball team that the Philadelphia Suns play the most. He has started the league with my Coach Harry Leong. In the interview he mentioned a lot about how he was as a player and how he loved basketball so much that he started to coach, and most importantly he coaches his two sons. He mentions a lot about the Asian basketball league and how it is very different. I think I will be able to incorporate a lot of what he says into my documentary, as well as putting the interview footage into my film.

Lowe, Lauren. "Home." Philadelphia Suns. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://phillysuns.org/>.

This is source is the Philadelphia Sun’s official website. It has everything you need to know about the organization. I think that it is pretty updated and it mentions a lot of events and past events that have occurred. It has many videos and pictures. I know that the majority of the contributors on this website are members of the Philadelphia Suns and they are very credible because they have been members of the Philadelphia Suns for a very long time. This source will help me a lot I think with the introduction most importantly of my documentary because they mention a lot about their mission and what they do and how the organization had gotten started.

"NACBA - Official Site of the North American Chinese Basketball Association." NACBA - Official Site of the North American Chinese Basketball Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.nacbait.com/myNACBA/login2?accesscheck=%2FmyNACBA%2Findex.php.>

This source is very useful because it tells you literally almost everything you need to know about the NACBA which is the North American Chinese Basketball Association. This is the league that my basketball team plays for as well as the other teams that we play throughout the year. This website will provide me with information that I need to conduct and ask questions to certain players and coaches that I interview. There are also pictures and short video clips that will help me really understand how the NACBA league is different from other basketball leagues in North America.

Seiter, Courtney. "6 Powerful Communication Tricks Of Great Interviewers."Buffer Social. Buffersocial, 07 Jan. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.

<https://blog.bufferapp.com/6-powerful-communication-tricks-from-some-of-the-worlds-best-interviewers>.

This website is very useful because it tells me tips and tricks to use while interviewing people. For my documentary I already do have some interview questions and some interviews that have already been conducted. However, I do want to make the person that I am interviewing comfortable and to not be awkward. I still need to conduct some interviews still and I want to be the interviewees comfortable to speak because I think that I could improve on that. This is be very beneficial towards my documentary because I do not want people that are watching to think that I did not prepare before interviewing.

"The Unexpected Beauty of Traveling Solo." The Unexpected Beauty of Traveling Solo. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/short-film-showcase/the-unexpected-beauty-of-traveling-solo>.

This source is very useful because it is a very good example of a short documentary or a trailer. I think this will really help me when I have to present my trailer and short piece of the film. I think this will really help me with how much content and how much of my film I should reveal in my trailer. I think that also this will help me with what is good in a video or film. I will be able to see how  director or actor incorporate what was important for the film or what they should have taken out.

Paar, Morgan. "How to Make a Documentary: Part 1 Story Development."Videomaker.com. N.p., 1 May 2010. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.videomaker.com/article/f16/14803-how-to-make-a-documentary-part-1-story-development.>

This source is very useful because it shows you how to make a documentary. It gives you guidelines to which how to process your documentary from the beginning to the end. This source is very easy to understand because it shows pictures and diagrams which visually helps the person who is trying to understand this source. This source will help me because it will show me how to make my documentary organized and in order. It tells you what in a documentary really engages the audience whether it is interviews or music etc. Overall  I think this source will be very useful in making my documentary.

White, Terry. "How To Get Started with Adobe Premiere Pro CC - 10 Things Beginners Want to Know How To Do." YouTube. YouTube, 11 May 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK3JTh2jOf8>.

The passage below is what I think could be added to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road before the final edition.

So where are we going?

You’ll see.

What is there?

Let’s just say we’re going to the good guys.

The good guys?

Yes, the good guys.

And are they carrying the fire?

Yes, they’re carrying the fire.

They walked through the sand and calculated the sky. The days seemed longer, it was getting warmer and the grey clouds slowly disappeared. They have been walking for a couple of days already, approaching their destination.

The man stepped passed the bank and towards the woods. There in the middle of the woods was an open confined community, surrounded squarely by a 20 foot concrete wall. The boy still wrapped up in the blanket, followed the man to the gate.

Here we are. Welcome to Margin.

What is this place?

This is the home of the survivors.

So no one here eats people?

Nope, we don’t eat people. I told you, we’re the good guys. Everyone here is just like you and me.

Come on follow me, let’s get you settled in.

Infamiliar faces observed the boy as he tailed the man. The pistol was still with him, just like Papa said. He didn’t let anyone take his Pistol. It was the only physical part of Papa, that the boy had. The man brought the boy into a tent.

There’s someone I want you to meet.

There stood a woman with blonde hair. As she made eye contact with the boy she started to cry.

Jonathan?

Mama?

Jonathan ran towards her in tears hugging her in disbelief.

For my creative piece I have decided to add my part to the ending of the book which is on page 287. The boy and the man 2.0 start to build somewhat of a relationship. The man 2.0 is leading and replacing Papa as he continues the journey that the boy Papa started down south. As you see in the dialogue between the boy and the man 2.0. The boy is still very curious and he is continues to asks questions about the “good guys” and “carrying the fire”. The boy wants to have this trust in the man 2.0.

The man 2.0 is taking the boy to a confined community where it is safe. The man 2.0 and the women are sent from this community to find any survivors, also known as the “good guys”. In which they bring them back to this place, so that they can start a new civilization that is against cannibalism.

One major theme in this book is survival, trust and love. The whole point of this book is survival. The man 2.0 and this woman are helping these children. The boy trusted the man as a good guy, he didn’t know what was going to happen to him or what was in store for him. However, he did have hope and he continues to follow the man 2.0 and goes south like Papa had said.

In the book the pistol is mentioned a lot.The boy and Papa run into the “bad guys”. The pistol is the last thing that Papa gave to the boy before he died. Also, that Papa said to never give it to anyone so he will always have it on him. I think that since Papa can no longer protect him, the pistol will.

The boy reunites with his mother in the end. In the book it never mentions what exactly happens to the mom. Most of us assume that she died. I chose to have her alive in this confined community because before she disappeared she did tell Papa to keep going south because that’s where it’s warmer. This is where she ended up being as well. At the end the mother also, calls the boy Jonathan. She reveals that the boy’s name is Jonathan. The Christian meaning behind the name Jonathan means given of god. The boy represents numerous amounts of god like features and traits. When the mother realizes that the boy is her son, she cries because she feels guilty for leaving him and Papa. She is also in shock because she didn’t think she’d see either of them.

CULTURE

“The first selfie ever taken in history.”

In 1839, the first ever recorded “selfie” was also the first photographic portrait. It was taken by a young man named, Robert Cornelius. Robert Cornelius was a chemist in Philadelphia. He took the photo outside of himself outside of his family’s store. He took the photo by taking off the lens cap, sitting for a minute before putting it back on. On the back of the picture, Robert Cornelius wrote “ The first light picture ever taken.”

Robert Cornelius was slowly becoming a famous photographer. He had two studios in Philadelphia. He also collaborated with other photographers, and they took pictures together. However, him most recognized and famous photography, was the picture that he took of himself, also known as the “selfie’.

"See The First “Selfie” In History Taken by Robert Cornelius, a Philadelphia Chemist, in 1839." Open Culture. N.p., 23 Nov. 2013. Web. 04 Feb. 2015. <http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/the-first-selfie-in-history-1839.html>.

N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.

<http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-190>.

Being foreign in a new big city, has its perks and challenges. In the book, Girl In Translation a novel written by Jean Kwok, shows how a girl named Kimberly Chang along with her mother emigrate to the Chinatown area of Brooklyn, New York. The main character Kimberly is stuck between a double life, by day she is a preppy school girl and at night she works illegally at a sweatshop, along with her mother. This book will thrive and inspire the reader. Kimberly Chang wants to grow up and live the American dream.

Kimberly is only eleven years old when she and her mother, Ma, arrive from Hong Kong in search of a better life. Since moving to Brooklyn, New York from Hong Kong, Kimberly ends up in a world where she doesn’t understand anything at all. Her mother and herself struggle to survive as they are starting a new life. Ma, works at a local sweatshop owned by her sister. Living a double life Kimberly attends a preppy school. At this preppy school she meets white rich kids, who she develops really close relationships with. Although she is careful that she keeps the boundary of their friendship at school. “Going to the factory after school would become something so automatic that sometimes, even when I needed to go someplace else years later, I would find myself on the trains to the factory by accident, as if that were the place to which all roads led.” Kimberly feels embarrassed that she has to work in a sweatshop after school, she doesn’t want her friends at her preppy school to know that she is in poverty. However, at the sweatshop she does meet a boy named Matt, who is around the same age as Kimberly. Throughout the story they develop an interesting relationship with its ups and downs.

Jean Kwok the author of this book, Girl In Translation is an amazing author. She writes books that have to do with her real life past experiences, but she incorporates them into fiction. The use of words and descriptive language, allows the reader to go into depth with what they are reading. It allows them to imagine certain scenes and chapters of the book as if you were watching a movie or there experiencing it. I feel like the language that she uses makes the book feel so much more realistic. Sometimes I forget that this book is a novel and that it is fiction, even though some things are aspired from Jean Kwok’s life, there are times when I feel like I am reading her diary. I really appreciate Jean Kwok as an author because she loves writing about her experience and culture. In a way I feel like I can relate to her and her experiences. I feel like anyone can read her books and take along the message that she is trying to bring through when she write these books. Jean Kwok’s writing leaves me to inhale a lot about what happened in the last chapter. There are times when you say to yourself  “I want to watch this as a movie.” Also, there aren’t many novels or cultural inspired books out there, so it would be good for more people to find and read books similar to “Girl In Translation.”

Jean Kwok has recently written a second book, similar to Girl In Transition, called “Mambo In Chinatown”. I haven’t read the book myself, but I have read excerpts from the book. This book is very similar to the “Girl In Translation” because the setting of both books take place in Chinatown of New York. Both books share stories about Chinese Americans and the themes behind both books is love. Jean Kwok wants her readers to really know about the Chinese American culture. She wants the readers to know how it’s not always easy being at the bottom, but slowly you will find your way up. Through these two books she shows how love outshines all hardships.

There are many themes that are discussed in this novel, however, I believe that the main theme is the struggle of surviving and love. We can see this theme everyday in our daily lives. You can see how Kimberly struggles with survival. She doesn’t live or work at the best conditions. But at the time and situation that she is in, all she can do is try to make the most of it. At school, she disguises who she is at her home situation because she is ashamed and embarrassed by the staggering truth of how impoverished she is, compared to the other kids at school. Love is the main struggle for Kimberly and throughout this book. She has many different relationships with different people in her life. Some are harder than others and some work out and others don’t. Kimberly has to deal with what she can have or can not have. She finds the true meaning of love with her mother and Matt. Jean Kwok doesn’t leave the ending without one of the biggest plot twist. You’ll just have to read to find out!

Title: Girl In Translation

Author: Jean Kwok

Publisher: Riverhead Trade (May 3, 2011)

Number of Pages: 320 pages

Genre: Fiction

Creative piece: For my creative piece I decided to draw different images and pictures that are important, and very concentrated in the book. I also wrote some important quotes that connected with the main themes in the book.  

There is a little part of every city known as Chinatown. Within the Chinatown in Philadelphia, there is a little Chinese American community. I am a Chinese American, so I feel like Chinatown is a very important part of who I am and my culture. There is non-profit organization that I am very proud to be apart of that is based in the Philadelphia Chinatown area. This organization is called the Philadelphia Suns, which was established in 1972. The Philadelphia Suns started as a basketball team of youths in Chinatown, which brought the community together. The Philadelphia Suns is a very community based organization. Their goal is to build character within their members. The Philadelphia Suns want to spread positivity within the community, so those people could take it to their personal and professional lives. They want to encourage volunteerism and sportsmanship. Their mission is to advocate athletics, cultural and educational opportunities. As being a member of the Philadelphia Suns I get to, learn so many new things and meet new people inside and outside of the Philadelphia area. I feel like personally I have become a better and more well rounded person every since I have joined the Suns. I feel more than a part of an organization, more like a community that I like to call my family.