Happy Birthday SAVE SMC Blog!

Today is the very first birthday of the SAVE SMC Blog!!! An entire year of online news, politics, and entertainment through this weblog and our two supporting websites, SAVE SMC and Phoenix Genesis Online News Media. With all the unpublished material we have gathered, it looks like we'll be going strong for another year or two, so bookmark this page now.

When I first envisioned this blog, I did not expect that it would become so large or that it would build a small, but loyal fan base. I did not know what the future would hold, or all the obstacles I would overcome, or all the information I would learn. I simply stayed in the process and the results took care of themselves.

There have been moments of joy and moments of sadness, moments of pure energy and moments of complete and utter exhaustion. Was it all worth it? In retrospective: absolutely. We've provided so much informative news and research about Santa Monica College (SMC), its vocational satellite campus, the Academy of Entertainment and Technology (AET), as well as other news and politics.

We've learned how to create videos and provided some video game entertainment to balance our breaking news. We've sharpened our web design skills and learned how to all work together as a team. We've learned quite a bit of new law, including the ins and outs of the California Public Records Act and the Ralph M. Brown Act. We've also gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about our student rights and civil rights, including our free speech issues and our due process issues. We've kept the students informed, stood up to unscrupulous administrators, negotiated with attorneys, and supported our faculty in their fight for their rights.

We've made new friends along the way and strengthened existing friendships. But I can't take all this credit alone for the success of the SAVE SMC Blog. I have to first and foremost thank my loyal readers who have kept me going through all those long nights, who have offered suggestions and words of praise. This is our story of what it is like to be a student at SMC, standing up for all our rights, and I thank you for sharing it together.

Here's to another successful year!

-- Des Manttari,
Editor-in-Chief,
Phoenix Genesis

(c) 2006: Phoenix Genesis/MBS LP

Feel free to link or print this; just include the SAVE SMC URL: http://savesmc.blogspot.com/

Technorati Tags: Santa Monica College, Academy of Entertainment and Technology, public schools, vocational schools, happy birthday, anniversary, student rights, free speech, due process, weblog, News and politics, Phoenix Genesis, California Public Records Act