Mission 8: Express Yourself

Learn: The community is very important for a city. Whether it be expressing yourself through music, painting, drama, or simply coming together for a common cause, community breeds a connection that is necessary for real growth. It seems with all the cuts being made that we seemed to have lost sight of this very ideal.

Act: It's easy to support the community. There are tons of organizations that put on shows or have special events. Soroptomist creates a community Christmas tree every year to help those who are less fortunate during the holidays. It's easy to sign up to help out by either choosing a kid to support or helping the organization itself keep everything running smoothly. There are also plenty of music shows going on in local coffee shops or even street musicians. Stop by and buy a cheap ticket or drop some money in their guitar case. Either way, you're committing to the community.

Imagine: I decided to help the community by started a community run Organic garden. People volunteer their time to the garden so that any profits made can go back to the community. When the garden was ready, the goods were sold in the farmer's market and the funds were placed in a special collection to go towards other community events that needed extra sponsoring. This can keep the community healthy and keep it thriving for years to come.

Mission 8 Previews

Mission 6: Transportation

Learn: Transportation is an issue in itself. It has become a crowded and damaging mess. There are too many cars, too few alternatives, and there's a vast rise in gas prices and smog levels. We have to find ways to be cleaner and less crowded if people want to be able to make a difference and still make it to their destinations.


Act: To do my small part, I think we can convert the bus system to being hybrid buses. This will cut down on the smog and it will also save the bus companies money so that they can hire more drivers and get more buses, which will allow more people to take the buses. This can help cut down on the amount of cars and the smog levels.


Imagine: From hybrid buses, we can move onto hybrid taxis and more hybrid cars and possibly even hybrid planes. This will not only lower smog levels and cut back on expenses, it will also begin the reversal of global warming. With everyone travelling greener, more people are likely to spend their money on things that can help stimulate the economy.




My Animation

Mission 4: Health

Learn: Many people are not active, as well as having a poor diet due to the mass amounts of fast food available for our busy lifestyles. What we have to do to make a change is make a plan that people can fit into their busy schedules by working together. It is much easier to accomplish a task together than alone.

Act: Changing your lifestyle is much less daunting when you have the help and encouragement of others. By starting a simple walking group three nights a week, you can make a big difference. Even by simply choosing to walk to the nearby store or the mail down the street each time the opportunity arises. It helps in your healthy pursuit. WIth how good you'll feel from being more active, it'll lead to wanting to make more healthy choices like drinking water to stay hydrated and maybe even picking a meal with less calories and fats. My hero spoke to a family about choosing to be active instead of lounging in front of a television on a beautiful day.

Imagine: Now that we've changed hundreds of lives with our walking groups, people are eating healthy and lowering the obesity rate across the city and beyond. Since the exercise also leads to sleeping better and feeling more energized, work efficiency has also gone up. The increase in demand for healthy foods has lowered the costs and made it more readily available to the general public. The higher productivity rates at work have allowed companies to grow, leading to a growth in the economy. By making each other healthier, we've spread health farther than we could've hoped.

Super late due to multiple Flash crashes, more working hours and other classes, but it is now here. I've also realized in my hurry that I have forgotten to change it to the 600x400 and I forgot the music. I'm just happy it's done.

Mission 6 Preview

Mission 4 Previews

Mission Three: Crime

Learn

Crime is not something to joke about. It's happening and we're losing the manpower we need to not only fight it, but prevent it. The problem is, that even with all these cuts to the police and firemen, we're still not doing anything about it. There are neighborhood watch groups, but very few of them and they lack both manpower and technology. We have to fix how much ground is covered in order to catch things quicker or prevent them altogether.



Act

With my power, I created surveillance cameras to be placed all around the city. With these new eyes scanning the city, we can team up with known neighborhood watch groups in non-dangerous situations, or get cops out immediately to the dangerous ones. The problem with this is the lack of people getting these groups together. SO using my influence on the town, and maybe a little begging, I convinced the people to sign up and agreed to go out on a few watch nights with them. Now we've got our eyes and ears ready to stop and prevent any crime headed our way.



Imagine

Technology is a beautiful thing. Being part of the neighborhood watch means we would be in close enough range to use walkie talkies. We could easily notify all members of the group with the touch of a button. With enough money, I would also make sure that each neighborhood watch group would have a police walkie talkie so that in case the criminal is armed, we can get the proper authorities notified for assistance without having to go through 911. We've been able to prevent several break-ins and have even prevented a kidnapping. We plan to continue our "winning streak" through our great teamwork and technology.



Note regarding animation: This is my animation as a video because I could not get the interactive bones tool to cooperate. It will be replaced with a .swf as soon as I can figure out how to make it work.



New Note: I decided to take Sandi's advice and divide the animation. Watch the video, then play with her arm on .swf :)

Mission Three: Preview!

I know I'm super late on this one, but I've been having some technical difficulties. In fact, I would be posting the whole animation if I could just get the interactive bone tool to do what it's supposed to. I may have to try a few other options, but for now, here is the beginning and ending scene of my animation for crime.

Mission Two: Employment

LEARN – Modesto is a town that relies on it's major businesses for commerce. The mall, the several restaurants, a few movie theaters, and big name stores are what bring people to the town. The town continues to try and find or expand big names to create a draw for spending. Their latest additions of high end stores, like Coach, Bebe, Sephora, and Apple, as well several new restaurants, such as BJ's, the new Buffalo Wings restaurant and talks of a new Hooters coming to town are what have helped Modesto grow. Bringing in big names is how this city works.

ACT – My power is going to help this idea of bringing big businesses in by convincing manufacturing companies to come do their business in the valley for lower rent which in turn will lower the cost of the product, bring in a large amount of employment opportunities, and increase the companies wealth as well. It becomes a win/win/win as everybody gets a piece of what they need. People will see the lower costs and will want to spend, companies will be able to produce more without such high manufacturing costs, and now Modesto is on the map as an important place of trade and business transactions.



IMAGINE – With the involvement of the manufacturing company, it not only lowers the cost of the product itself but of the products that use it. This will boost spending all over as people are more likely to spend when they believe there is a sale. This will make businesses happy which means that more businesses will be attracted to Modesto. This makes for more saving money, more earning money, and more guaranteed jobs.

Here is my animation!

Mission Two: Preview!

Here's the preview for my next mission! I plan to help fix the unemployment rate by convincing Intel to make a satellite business down in Modesto. The rent's cheaper and I offered to help them lower the cost of production if they agreed to make the move. We'll see how it goes!

Mission One: Balancing Educational Assets

Learn


I interviewed a family with small children about how their education is being affected by the budget cuts across the educational system. They were not happy with the lack of arts and crafts and the cuts being made to educational field trips. Their children are stuck in the public school system and they felt that their education was suffering. With the cut to field trips, they felt that their children were missing out not only on the fun part of school, but the learning experiences to be had by going to museums, galleries, and even some factories. These people feel like their children are missing out on life and educational shaping experiences and we need to change this by starting in the areas that the government is trying to save so that we secure those areas enough to bring back the creativity, passion, and fun to schools.


Act


To make a difference, I have to start simple and work my way up. This will be easy with my power. I'm going to start by raising the supply of school materials, such as books, so that it will cut the schools' costs and help raise literacy. This small task could give the schools enough money to bring back at least one of the programs they've been cutting or attempting to cut. From there, I can create science supplies so that science classes can be more in-depth and again, saves the school more money. We can work towards creating music instruments, art supplies, and even adding more buses so that field trips can be more likely. I could make sure that school lunches are plentiful and food that is wasted will be transformed into compost to help beautify the schools. These small differences will induce confidence in the school officials and inspire them to make changes of their own to help me and the kids they helping shape.


Imagine


If I had all the resources available to me, I would make sure that all schools were able to keep these very important programs in their curriculum. I would make sure that schools had plenty of money to cover the costs that these programs require. I would make sure that they used the money to buy books to promote literacy and make sure everyone is able to learn equally, to buy important supplies to aid in the teaching of certain subjects, to pay for sports equipment to allow not only the teaching of how to play sports, but to teach the importance of teamwork, perseverance, and drive. Money would go towards a "creative hour" where kids are able to learn about and express the creativity, passion, and artistic abilities. This will teach them about how important imagination can be in solving their own problems and the problems of others with creative solutions and compassion. To help the schools continue to make their own changes, I would give them plenty of ideas for fundraisers to raise their own money so that when I'm no longer there to help them, they can continue to keep their programs intact.


Animation is finally working! Hooray!

Making the Movement

Here's the jpg for the bone structured, music version of my hero.

The Transmogrifier

The summer before college, I went on a road trip with some friends. We went to the beach on a cloudy day for a windy, August picnic. Halfway through our sandwiches, the clouds gave way to rain, thunder, and lightning in a freak storm. My friends ran back to the car, abandoning the picnic setup, but I cared too much about it to just leave it all there. As I grabbed up the last of the silverware, a shock of lightning coursed through my body, actually melting the sand around my feet into molten glass. I marveled at the beautiful change made at the potential price of my life, as I began to fade out. I saw my friends running back down the hill to me as another bolt struck me. I blacked out before they could reach me.

The world seemed too bright and something was wrong, I could tell. Things began to come into focus and I found myself in an operating room...looking down at myself. Doctors were yelling and surrounding my immobile body, but I could hear nothing. I watched the green line of the heart monitor remain flat and unchanging. One doctor was doing CPR, while another was readying the electric paddles. As the paddles took place of the hands, I felt dragged towards my lifeless body. As the paddles current continued, as did my return to my body. By the fourth strike, my eyes popped open and I gasped at the air. The heart monitor beeped methodically and the doctors' voices roared to life in my ears. There were sighs of relief and questions about my current state. After a weeklong stay in the hospital, I was released with no complications, aside from jokes about making sure not to shock everyone. I had been struck three times and was declared dead for twenty minutes before miraculously coming back with no brain damage.

I sat outside on the bench and called my mom to pick me up as I took in the clear blue, Modesto sky. She said she'd be there in fifteen minutes and I hung up, watching the bird who was lucky enough to fly home as soon as he pleased. I thought about what it would like to be a bird and was surprised to look down and see my hands glowing and sparking. The spark spread throughout my body and my arms turned into beautiful wings. I was forced out of my seat as a feathery tail grew behind me. I began to flap my new wings and took off into the sky. That's when I discovered I could change form. As I explored my power, I also found out I could manipulate the forms of whatever object I touched with a conscious idea behind it. I became The Transmogrifier and decided to use my powers to help others.

The Person Behind the Mask

My name is Devin Liotta and I am a Graphic Design student at CSU Stanislaus. I have always been interested in art and computers, thus my draw towards the major I have chosen. I feel it brings an updated touch to art and lets me roll with the changes in society regarding art. I live at home with my parents and my sister and have a boyfriend who lives down in San Luis Obispo. I spend most of my time doing homework and working, never seeming to have much time to just read, write or relax like I used to. I've always been an artsy kid who read like a fiend and encouraged others to read books I have enjoyed.

I've always had high ambitions and a slight ADD so getting myself to stick to one thing is usually a miracle. I've wanted to be a teacher, a writer, an artist, a publisher, a craft store owner, a YouTube sensation, and the owner of my own businesses. I do have my own web store where I sell homemade, crafty jewelry pieces. I started it on my birthday last year and it's now been open for almost a year and I've mostly been successful through friends and family, but I still have high hopes for it. I'm still trying for that YouTube thing. I also love cats and you will often find me trying to pet the neighborhood cats and have ended up adopting them. If I could, I would be a cat so I could just eat, sleep, and lounge all day.

My future hopes, aside from being successful in the graphic design business, is to have a family with a loving husband and two great kids. I would love to be a mother, just not right now as I'm barely approaching 20. That is actually one of the things I have planned out and not changed my mind on, so as I said before, it's a miracle.