It's James Dietz with a skit on last summer's happenings from myperspective. The last part doesn't have the music I wanted (in fact there's no music), and the ending hasn't been mixed (basically I'm brought to my senses being asked to finish my "report" on the summer due that afternoon - listen to the skit and it will hopefully be clear), but here it is. I just realized i haven't captioned it. I'll do it.
http://cs.oberlin.edu/~jdietz/dc_rough1.mp3
Hope everyone who checks this blog is having a rockin'-cool awesome year.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
A week back home, by Mitch Paschen
My picture this last post is me in front of Ford's theater.
Well, I've been home a week and I already miss DC. Slowly, I have had to get back to my life back in Wisconsin. I have been very busy this last week seeing friends, taking care of business for school, and slowly moving myself into my apartment in Whitewater.
My last week in DC, a few other interns and I went to Ford's theater and the Peterson house. It was a nice way to end the summer. After that, I decided just for the fun of it to go to the Wheaton Metro station, which happens to be the home of the second longest continuous escalator ride in the world and the longest in the US at 230 feet.
As far as a nice welcome home, it was pouring rain when I arrived home. The next day and a half were more humid and hot than most days I had while in DC. Anyway, since then, the weather has been very pleasant. I have gotten used to driving a car again, and I even got to go to the state fair.
I can barely wait until school starts. This fall I am taking a Geography of Europe class, an IT security class, a marketing class, an operations management class, and marching band. I was also chosen to speak at the opening of our new business building. One student from each department was chosen, and I was picked in the Information Technology Business Education department.
I can't wait to be back in DC again next year to work.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
The Best Summer Ever by Adam Dovens
I can say with absolute certainty that this summer has been by far my favorite summer ever. I have had so much fun and have meet so many new great people. this summer has not only helped me professionally but also personally. I have meet so many different type of people with a very different type of personality. Not to insult Norfolk but the fact of the matter is a lot of people have the same old story. Their is no real variety, but in DC i have been exposed to such a different variety of people with some great and interesting view points. DC has really opened my eyes to whole different political side of the country and how it influences our daily lives. I used to think politics was something that was done at such a high level that it was really hard to see how it effects the common man. Now I see how much the ADA actually helped every person in the disability community. I am really thankful for the opportunity that AAPD has given me this summer. Thank you so much AAPD you have changed my life!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Change
Alright. The summer is almost over. I’m kind of afraid… change is really difficult for me. Really difficult. I always get depressed when I start something new as well as when I end something. In order to cope with this I’ve internalized some ideas that I’d like to share with you guys. I think you can benefit from these ideas whether or not change is difficult for you:
Ok. Things don’t end. Friendships don’t end. Experiences don’t end. Even if I never see or speak to say, Romteen again (I’m just using Romteen as an example) our relationship won’t end. It will just change. It will go from being a relationship defined primarily by physical contact and shared experience to one of memory. I may not see Romteen again (although I fully intend to) but that doesn’t mean he won’t impact my life. It is impossible to know how someone influences you. Even if you think that they haven’t, they have. Something Romteen said in conversation, whether or not I even remember that he said it, may influence the way I look at things. Thinking back to a time that I shared with him will make me smile, make me happy. So while my relationship with Romteen will obviously change (we go to different schools) it can never end. The same goes for everyone. The same goes for DC. For AAPD. Yes, we are leaving the city, ending the program, but for the rest of our lives we will laugh out loud to ourselves in otherwise silent rooms because something funny from the summer of 2009 just popped into our head. For the rest of our lives our experiences, good, bad, and neutral, will help to influence the way we think and act. So, worry not, nothing is ending. Things don’t end. They just change. And it is impossible to say whether DC as a present is better than DC as a memory… so, to all: I look forward to the good that will come from the next stage in our relationship. I look forward to the things that retrospect will teach me, to the lessons that will be illuminated by hindsight, to the purity that comes with romanticizing something that may not have been perfect. Enjoy…
Andrew
Ok. Things don’t end. Friendships don’t end. Experiences don’t end. Even if I never see or speak to say, Romteen again (I’m just using Romteen as an example) our relationship won’t end. It will just change. It will go from being a relationship defined primarily by physical contact and shared experience to one of memory. I may not see Romteen again (although I fully intend to) but that doesn’t mean he won’t impact my life. It is impossible to know how someone influences you. Even if you think that they haven’t, they have. Something Romteen said in conversation, whether or not I even remember that he said it, may influence the way I look at things. Thinking back to a time that I shared with him will make me smile, make me happy. So while my relationship with Romteen will obviously change (we go to different schools) it can never end. The same goes for everyone. The same goes for DC. For AAPD. Yes, we are leaving the city, ending the program, but for the rest of our lives we will laugh out loud to ourselves in otherwise silent rooms because something funny from the summer of 2009 just popped into our head. For the rest of our lives our experiences, good, bad, and neutral, will help to influence the way we think and act. So, worry not, nothing is ending. Things don’t end. They just change. And it is impossible to say whether DC as a present is better than DC as a memory… so, to all: I look forward to the good that will come from the next stage in our relationship. I look forward to the things that retrospect will teach me, to the lessons that will be illuminated by hindsight, to the purity that comes with romanticizing something that may not have been perfect. Enjoy…
Andrew
James Dietz: Coming Back Hard Again
This is scattered, but I hope you enjoy it.
Like David I've felt an increased drive to work on personal projects not only because of all
I've been doing, but because of all I haven't been given the chance to do at my current
internship. Working in this type of environment and speaking or hearing from the
knowledgeable speakers at our AAPD events have driven it home: I need to follow my passions.
I'm working on creating a game using the Klango environment (http://klango.net). It's a
simple 2d maze game rendered in audio. The maze is represented by an x,y grid of tiles.
Each tile is a different ground type (metal/wood/concrete, lava - kills you, ice - slippery
so movement doesn't stop immediately etc.). Entities in the game world range from you the
player to simple enemies (which will probably just move in simple paterns if anything) to
walls, doors, sound effects, explosives (death when touched), switches (which send a signal
- read on for more on signals), powerups and more. The goal will be to complete each game
maze by collecting all of the "tokens" scattered through a maze (I haven't decided on the
story yet - computer chips which are needed to complete the mad scientists experiment?
Hostage monkeys held captive for lab experiments? Who knows?!) within a given time limit.
The most exciting feature of this game on the design end are signals. Every object sends
out a signal when it is created, dies (usually as a result of colliding with the user or an
explosive) and so on. Switches are signaled when pressed by the player. Every object
listens for signals and can respond to any signal sent by any other object. As a result, if
I flip a certain switch, walls will mysteriously open up (releasing robots held behind them)
and alarm sounds will be turned on, creating tention and awesomeness. The collection or
destruction of certain objects can also signal other objects - all monsters can be killed
when the player collects a certain item, or fires may start appearing randomly across the
map (thanks to timers, which can also be signaled) after the player kills a particularly
intimidating boss character.
WARNING: Technobabble ahead.
Klango makes use of the Lua scripting language, so that is what this game will be written
in. Each entity will be represented by a table (basically an associative array - there are
no native object-oriented programming facilities in Lua) with the expected attributes
(standingsound, type, etc). Signals will be placed in a queue when sent from a particular
entity. On each iteration of the game loop (once every 30 milliseconds according to Klango
specifications), the game will
- change the position of each item's sound in 3d space
- Check player's current tile; should it be killed? (lava?) Check entities colliding with
player as well (explosive? Fire?)
- peek at the signal queue and see if the topmost signal applies to the current entity and
if so, performs the designated action (kills the object, wakes up inactive ones, etc). Once
action has been taken (or not), the signal is popped from the queue and the next one is
peeked at. Loops until the queue is emptied... then again I might have the queue checked only once per loop, as there's a potential for tons of signals to stack up slowing down a single loop iteration considerably. Of cousre this would mean a little bit of lag when processing signals (and a potential for starvation as new signals can be continuously queued up). More than likely I'm thinking too much about this, the most exciting feature of the game.
- Checks keyboard input and performs actions as required (move player, use nearest item,
etc)
End Technobabble
As you can see (especially if you read the technogarbage) the design isn't completely nailed down, but I'm excited nonetheless. This game was formerly
being written in C++, but I find Klango/lua to be much less temperamental and much easier to
test and prototype with. Check it out at klango.net - besides a cool programming environment it's also a neat little community complete with forums and open media catalog (I can spend all day looking through radio stations, podcasts and youtube videos with the speed and efficiency any procrastinator needs to get further behind in today's hectic world).
Here again is the college skit I recorded in late 2005. I've written a little script below for those who can't hear. I'm working on a script for a little something detailing some component of my DC experience (reigniting a passion I've slept on for 4 years).
College Essay
Transcript:
[Street, daytime. The sound of birds and the rumble of many passing vehicles. Footsteps
approach from the left.]
W: Excuse me. Do you need help?
J: I hear a female voice to the left of me on the corner of Cort and Rempsen on my way home
from school. The voice becomes more insistent as I feel a hand close around my arm.
W: Here, let me help you.
j: ... it says before I can respond. I feel a hand begin to pull me across the street.
[I try to explain that I'll be fine and I don't need help while she insists ("come on...
take a step, and another step, and ANOTHER STEP, and... OK you're doing great!")
J: I always wonder how my white cane was able to attract passers-by like it was some kind of
magnet. I get everything from drive-by prayers...
Car: (driving by) [2 brief horn honks] Jesus loves you!
J: ... to women accosting my mother with recipes to cure my condition (one of them involved
pouring hot wax over my eyes... no thanks) and any other type of help you can think of.
Fortunately, I don't usually have to deal with this type of exadurated assistance at home or
school.
[Street scene fades out. Cue cheesy flashback harp and jaunty "movin' around" music.]
My parents, after the shock of my sudden blindness, realized that just because I couldn't
see didn't mean I couldn't experience life the way others did. So instead of sheltering me
from the outside sighted world like some other parents, my parents made sure that I was
placed in a Kindergarten class with other sighted children. I learned to read and write in
Braille while my classmates learned print. Of course later in middle school I replaced the
clunky Perkins brailler with a sleek Dell laptop which ended up being a much quicker method
of completing assignments. [Keys typing] I use a screen reader called JAWS which reads the
text from a computer screen in a synthesized voice to use the computer.
[Music cuts out and is replaced by an ominous low drone]
J: I often forget how lucky I am to have such materials available to me. ... As I approach
the other side of Repmsen, I thought of all the benefits I have and realized that there was
no reason to be so put off by this women. At least I was living in a community where people
are willing to help. Suppose I got lost; I'd be needing that help now.
[Street sounds fade back in. Footsteps to the left.]
J: Uh, excuse me; do you think I could hold onto your elbow instead of you holding me like
this? That way I can follow you instead of you push me.
W: What? Oh yeah, yeah sure here ya go. ... Alright, here's the curbe.
J: Thank you very much ma'am.
W: Oh no problem. Don't mention it. See ya later.
[Fade out to triumphant orchestra epicness, ripped from the famous "elephant" scene of
Moulin Rouge.]
Like David I've felt an increased drive to work on personal projects not only because of all
I've been doing, but because of all I haven't been given the chance to do at my current
internship. Working in this type of environment and speaking or hearing from the
knowledgeable speakers at our AAPD events have driven it home: I need to follow my passions.
I'm working on creating a game using the Klango environment (http://klango.net). It's a
simple 2d maze game rendered in audio. The maze is represented by an x,y grid of tiles.
Each tile is a different ground type (metal/wood/concrete, lava - kills you, ice - slippery
so movement doesn't stop immediately etc.). Entities in the game world range from you the
player to simple enemies (which will probably just move in simple paterns if anything) to
walls, doors, sound effects, explosives (death when touched), switches (which send a signal
- read on for more on signals), powerups and more. The goal will be to complete each game
maze by collecting all of the "tokens" scattered through a maze (I haven't decided on the
story yet - computer chips which are needed to complete the mad scientists experiment?
Hostage monkeys held captive for lab experiments? Who knows?!) within a given time limit.
The most exciting feature of this game on the design end are signals. Every object sends
out a signal when it is created, dies (usually as a result of colliding with the user or an
explosive) and so on. Switches are signaled when pressed by the player. Every object
listens for signals and can respond to any signal sent by any other object. As a result, if
I flip a certain switch, walls will mysteriously open up (releasing robots held behind them)
and alarm sounds will be turned on, creating tention and awesomeness. The collection or
destruction of certain objects can also signal other objects - all monsters can be killed
when the player collects a certain item, or fires may start appearing randomly across the
map (thanks to timers, which can also be signaled) after the player kills a particularly
intimidating boss character.
WARNING: Technobabble ahead.
Klango makes use of the Lua scripting language, so that is what this game will be written
in. Each entity will be represented by a table (basically an associative array - there are
no native object-oriented programming facilities in Lua) with the expected attributes
(standingsound, type, etc). Signals will be placed in a queue when sent from a particular
entity. On each iteration of the game loop (once every 30 milliseconds according to Klango
specifications), the game will
- change the position of each item's sound in 3d space
- Check player's current tile; should it be killed? (lava?) Check entities colliding with
player as well (explosive? Fire?)
- peek at the signal queue and see if the topmost signal applies to the current entity and
if so, performs the designated action (kills the object, wakes up inactive ones, etc). Once
action has been taken (or not), the signal is popped from the queue and the next one is
peeked at. Loops until the queue is emptied... then again I might have the queue checked only once per loop, as there's a potential for tons of signals to stack up slowing down a single loop iteration considerably. Of cousre this would mean a little bit of lag when processing signals (and a potential for starvation as new signals can be continuously queued up). More than likely I'm thinking too much about this, the most exciting feature of the game.
- Checks keyboard input and performs actions as required (move player, use nearest item,
etc)
End Technobabble
As you can see (especially if you read the technogarbage) the design isn't completely nailed down, but I'm excited nonetheless. This game was formerly
being written in C++, but I find Klango/lua to be much less temperamental and much easier to
test and prototype with. Check it out at klango.net - besides a cool programming environment it's also a neat little community complete with forums and open media catalog (I can spend all day looking through radio stations, podcasts and youtube videos with the speed and efficiency any procrastinator needs to get further behind in today's hectic world).
Here again is the college skit I recorded in late 2005. I've written a little script below for those who can't hear. I'm working on a script for a little something detailing some component of my DC experience (reigniting a passion I've slept on for 4 years).
College Essay
Transcript:
[Street, daytime. The sound of birds and the rumble of many passing vehicles. Footsteps
approach from the left.]
W: Excuse me. Do you need help?
J: I hear a female voice to the left of me on the corner of Cort and Rempsen on my way home
from school. The voice becomes more insistent as I feel a hand close around my arm.
W: Here, let me help you.
j: ... it says before I can respond. I feel a hand begin to pull me across the street.
[I try to explain that I'll be fine and I don't need help while she insists ("come on...
take a step, and another step, and ANOTHER STEP, and... OK you're doing great!")
J: I always wonder how my white cane was able to attract passers-by like it was some kind of
magnet. I get everything from drive-by prayers...
Car: (driving by) [2 brief horn honks] Jesus loves you!
J: ... to women accosting my mother with recipes to cure my condition (one of them involved
pouring hot wax over my eyes... no thanks) and any other type of help you can think of.
Fortunately, I don't usually have to deal with this type of exadurated assistance at home or
school.
[Street scene fades out. Cue cheesy flashback harp and jaunty "movin' around" music.]
My parents, after the shock of my sudden blindness, realized that just because I couldn't
see didn't mean I couldn't experience life the way others did. So instead of sheltering me
from the outside sighted world like some other parents, my parents made sure that I was
placed in a Kindergarten class with other sighted children. I learned to read and write in
Braille while my classmates learned print. Of course later in middle school I replaced the
clunky Perkins brailler with a sleek Dell laptop which ended up being a much quicker method
of completing assignments. [Keys typing] I use a screen reader called JAWS which reads the
text from a computer screen in a synthesized voice to use the computer.
[Music cuts out and is replaced by an ominous low drone]
J: I often forget how lucky I am to have such materials available to me. ... As I approach
the other side of Repmsen, I thought of all the benefits I have and realized that there was
no reason to be so put off by this women. At least I was living in a community where people
are willing to help. Suppose I got lost; I'd be needing that help now.
[Street sounds fade back in. Footsteps to the left.]
J: Uh, excuse me; do you think I could hold onto your elbow instead of you holding me like
this? That way I can follow you instead of you push me.
W: What? Oh yeah, yeah sure here ya go. ... Alright, here's the curbe.
J: Thank you very much ma'am.
W: Oh no problem. Don't mention it. See ya later.
[Fade out to triumphant orchestra epicness, ripped from the famous "elephant" scene of
Moulin Rouge.]
Monday, August 3, 2009
UNCRPD
Last Thursday Ari and I went on an adventure to NYC to celebrate the
When we arrived at the UNCRPD reception, Ari and I walked in with our “Community Choice Act NOW!” buttons proudly pinned to our chests. We received a lot of compliments on our buttons, so we started handing them out. Soon many people had bright orange buttons on their chests, some even asking Kareem Dale if the Obama Administration was going to do the right thing by the CCA (His response? “We’re going to try”).
After meeting many powerful disability rights leaders, the room went silent so that Ambassador Rice could speak. Following Ambassador Rice was Valarie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. Jarrett announced that President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are creating a new senior level position at the State Department. The individual hired will develop a comprehensive strategy to promote the rights of the disabled internationally. This announcement excited the whole crowd. While I am very excited about this new position, I must admit, I was more excited about the announcement of a new position in the Department of Transportation devoted to people with disabilities and their access to public transportation. This excites me because I work as the Transportation Systems Advocate at the Center for Disability Rights in
The whole event was really amazing. Meeting the Ambassador and Valarie Jarrett was very cool, as well as meeting everyone else at the reception. I am very grateful to Ari for taking me with him. I am so happy that I was able to participate in such a historic event!
Stephanie Woodward
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