Election night, your future, your thoughts

Last night was a huge night across America. There were major upsets in politics, and the opposition party (the Democrats) gained control of Congress. Most experts are saying that the voters were not voting for specific candidates as much as they were voting against President George Bush and his policies.

There was a massive huge turnout in Minnesota.
In Minnesota, many people claim that they use one specific issue to determine who they will vote for at election time.

Here are my questions for you: (please answer all three).

When you are old enough, do you plan on voting?
What issues do you care about? What do you hope that your elected officials will do for you?

Welcome to the blog world!

I've been thinking lately that I'd like to try class discussion in a different format. After much brainstorming, soul searching and bit of free time, the idea struck me like a bolt of lightning from the skies above.
"Albrecht," the voice said as it caused my hair and toes to smoke, "why don't you have the class blog as a part of their ongoing discussion?"
"Genius!" I exclaimed. And thus we have arrived at this moment…

Blogging 101
I'll post a question/thought/idea/image occasionally. We will come down to the media center together, read the question, and you will have a few minutes to respond. If you are not in class when we post, or if you want to take some additional time to respond, just know that you will need to post a response to the question/thought/idea/image by the following Friday at 4:00 p.m. A late response will not count and not be accepted as a grade.

These are THE steps to follow to get into the blog:

1. Go to www. blogger.com
2. Click on the 'create a blog' icon(you will NOT be required to create or maintain a blog yourself, but you need to create a blog in order to obtain a username, which you need to respond to our class blog.)
3. Type in a username and password. If you need an email address because you don't already have one, don't worry, I will give you an address.a quick thought on usernames: You and I are the only people who need to know your screen name and username. If you want to keep your true identity a secret when you're responding to our posts (and call yourself "Dramaguy_215" or something obscure, that is perfectly fine. You will still need to register your username with me.(I need to know what it is so I can give you credit for your responses.)
4. After completing the first page of information and it's been accepted, close out of the program (blogger and the internet.)
5. Now, go to http://bhsreaders.blogspot.com
6. Read the week's entry.
7. Click on the comment "pencil" below the original entry. Type your response.
   PUBLISH your posting. If you don't press the publish button, your posting will not make it only the website. Keep in mind that I know your secret identities. Your responses must be school appropriate or we'll need to go down the discipline path. Ugh.
8. You can verify that your response was saved by returning to http://bhsreaders.blogspot.com, hitting the REFRESH button on your browser bar, and viewing the comments for the post. Sometimes, if there is heavy traffic in the blog world, it may take a few minutes for your post to show up. TIP: don't leave responding to the blog until the last possible minute, in case you run into technical difficulties.
9. Please keep track of your username and password because you will be using it every time you log on to post.
   
   Access to blogging? Home computers with internet, public libraries, or the BHS Media Center, open before school, during open hours, over lunch, and after school until 4:00.
   For your records, keep track of your:
   username: __________________________________ password: _____________