Is it me or does that Orbit pomegranate gum only work for three minutes before disintegrating like paper and losing all flavor?
I think... there could be a story there.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Oldie but a Goodey
Oldie but a Goodey
In all of her 90 years, Sybil Goodey has moved maybe 150 yards.
As the middle of five children, Sybil T. Goodey was born and raised in the farming community of Clarkston, Utah.
“I grew up, married my neighbor, and we’ve moved half a block in our life,” Sybil said.
She may not be the most well known woman in the valley, but Sybil knows Cache County well and is a huge USU fan.
Sybil and her late husband Dallas used to regularly attend the Aggie sporting events. Basketball was their favorite sport to watch together.
When the games were held in the Nelson Field House and the Aggies scored over 100 points, Sybil recalled, she and her husband would get the free french fries Labeau’s gave out.
And when the Aggies started playing in the Spectrum, there was no keeping the Goodeys out of the games.
“We had season passes and sat right on the floor,” Sybil said, “but now I watch at home because I can’t make it up those stairs anymore.”
Sybil sits alone in her rocking chair, usually with needle and thread in hand, cross-stitching different designs on dish towels for her children and grand children.
She used to go on regular walks to the local cemetery, but now she has a hard time even getting out of her recliner in her living room.
However, when the gracefully aged, white haired woman does need to get out of her chair, she gives herself the motivational count off, “1-2-3 up,” and slowly begins the standing process.
Sybil fought through tears when she recalled dancing the night away with her childhood sweetheart decades ago at Utah State’s 50th Anniversary party.
In 1938, Dallas Goodey, Utah State Agriculture College forestry major, invited Sybil to go with him to the campus’ celebration.
He may not have loved dancing, but he was in love with Clarkston’s “Miss Utah”—the title Sybil held during the Pioneer Day parade the previous summer.
When Sybil was 21, Dallas made Sybil his permanent dancing partner.
The two Clarkston locals were married in 1939 and stayed happily married for the next 68-½ years, never relocating from their hometown.
Sybil was a September bride, along with three of her best friends since 1st grade.
All of those brides out-lived their husbands, and currently three are still “alive and kicking,” as Ulalia Simper, one of elderly widows, said.
Ulalia and Sybil are both living alone now, and since neither has the strength or ability to leave their home, they chat on the phone to keep in touch.
“Sybil was a good friend,” Ulalia said. She was always willing to help and she was a good wife to Dallas.
Sybil misses her husband, and even displays a fridge magnet and throw pillow that read, “I love Dallas.”
But she is still going on as strong as she can, swallowing 16 pills and a Coke daily as she works through Parkinson’s, cancer, and a broken foot among other ailments.
“I still haven’t had to work a day in my life,” she said. “I stayed home with the family, but that wasn’t work.”
Karen Kent, Sybil’s oldest daughter, said although Sybil may have never been employed, she was definitely the hardest worker Clarkston has ever known.
“She would wake up at the crack of dawn every day,” Kent said. “She never quit.”
Sybil was a hard charger, never giving up on her family or anyone else.
In addition to being a homemaker for her family, Sybil worked with many other organizations, like Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.
Sybil was one of the original presidency members for her chapter of DUP.
Louise Butters, the current historian for DUP and dear friend of Sybil’s, said Sybil was one of the most organized ladies she has know and was always dependable in any office she held for DUP.
Both Sybil and Dallas valued service and improving the people and area around them, which is why they worked at the Clarkston cemetery for 32 years, hand digging the grounds and maintaining the lawn.
Mervin Thompson, the former mayor of Clarkston, said Sybil was the best record keeper the cemetery has ever had.
In fact, Thompson nominated Dallas and Sybil for the Utah Humanitarian Award for Service in 2003.
After being nominated on the local level, the Goodeys actually received the prestigious award for their dedication to their community from the governor of Utah.
It may have been several years since receiving the honor, but Sybil remembers that day clearly, just like many of her other reflections from her younger years.
Sybil’s favorite memories in life have included riding with her husband when he was a bus driver for the school district and going for sleigh rides in Trenton with her family.
Dwelling on positive memories, like raising her seven children in her 101 year-old home bring a thin smile and more creases to Sybil’s beautifully wrinkled face.
The home and two acres she currently lives on was bought for $700 in 1939 when the two Clarkston lovebirds married.
Memories are the reason for living, Sybil said. They let her dwell on fun filled events and learned lessons from the past.
Focusing on good memories and retelling stories are motivational factors for her now.
But Sybil is getting ready to give the self-motivation a rest.
“I’m feeling old,” she said, “very old.”
But nobody ever really knows, maybe Sybil still needs to reach over 100 before she can get the french fries at the end of her game.
In all of her 90 years, Sybil Goodey has moved maybe 150 yards.
As the middle of five children, Sybil T. Goodey was born and raised in the farming community of Clarkston, Utah.
“I grew up, married my neighbor, and we’ve moved half a block in our life,” Sybil said.
She may not be the most well known woman in the valley, but Sybil knows Cache County well and is a huge USU fan.
Sybil and her late husband Dallas used to regularly attend the Aggie sporting events. Basketball was their favorite sport to watch together.
When the games were held in the Nelson Field House and the Aggies scored over 100 points, Sybil recalled, she and her husband would get the free french fries Labeau’s gave out.
And when the Aggies started playing in the Spectrum, there was no keeping the Goodeys out of the games.
“We had season passes and sat right on the floor,” Sybil said, “but now I watch at home because I can’t make it up those stairs anymore.”
Sybil sits alone in her rocking chair, usually with needle and thread in hand, cross-stitching different designs on dish towels for her children and grand children.
She used to go on regular walks to the local cemetery, but now she has a hard time even getting out of her recliner in her living room.
However, when the gracefully aged, white haired woman does need to get out of her chair, she gives herself the motivational count off, “1-2-3 up,” and slowly begins the standing process.
Sybil fought through tears when she recalled dancing the night away with her childhood sweetheart decades ago at Utah State’s 50th Anniversary party.
In 1938, Dallas Goodey, Utah State Agriculture College forestry major, invited Sybil to go with him to the campus’ celebration.
He may not have loved dancing, but he was in love with Clarkston’s “Miss Utah”—the title Sybil held during the Pioneer Day parade the previous summer.
When Sybil was 21, Dallas made Sybil his permanent dancing partner.
The two Clarkston locals were married in 1939 and stayed happily married for the next 68-½ years, never relocating from their hometown.
Sybil was a September bride, along with three of her best friends since 1st grade.
All of those brides out-lived their husbands, and currently three are still “alive and kicking,” as Ulalia Simper, one of elderly widows, said.
Ulalia and Sybil are both living alone now, and since neither has the strength or ability to leave their home, they chat on the phone to keep in touch.
“Sybil was a good friend,” Ulalia said. She was always willing to help and she was a good wife to Dallas.
Sybil misses her husband, and even displays a fridge magnet and throw pillow that read, “I love Dallas.”
But she is still going on as strong as she can, swallowing 16 pills and a Coke daily as she works through Parkinson’s, cancer, and a broken foot among other ailments.
“I still haven’t had to work a day in my life,” she said. “I stayed home with the family, but that wasn’t work.”
Karen Kent, Sybil’s oldest daughter, said although Sybil may have never been employed, she was definitely the hardest worker Clarkston has ever known.
“She would wake up at the crack of dawn every day,” Kent said. “She never quit.”
Sybil was a hard charger, never giving up on her family or anyone else.
In addition to being a homemaker for her family, Sybil worked with many other organizations, like Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.
Sybil was one of the original presidency members for her chapter of DUP.
Louise Butters, the current historian for DUP and dear friend of Sybil’s, said Sybil was one of the most organized ladies she has know and was always dependable in any office she held for DUP.
Both Sybil and Dallas valued service and improving the people and area around them, which is why they worked at the Clarkston cemetery for 32 years, hand digging the grounds and maintaining the lawn.
Mervin Thompson, the former mayor of Clarkston, said Sybil was the best record keeper the cemetery has ever had.
In fact, Thompson nominated Dallas and Sybil for the Utah Humanitarian Award for Service in 2003.
After being nominated on the local level, the Goodeys actually received the prestigious award for their dedication to their community from the governor of Utah.
It may have been several years since receiving the honor, but Sybil remembers that day clearly, just like many of her other reflections from her younger years.
Sybil’s favorite memories in life have included riding with her husband when he was a bus driver for the school district and going for sleigh rides in Trenton with her family.
Dwelling on positive memories, like raising her seven children in her 101 year-old home bring a thin smile and more creases to Sybil’s beautifully wrinkled face.
The home and two acres she currently lives on was bought for $700 in 1939 when the two Clarkston lovebirds married.
Memories are the reason for living, Sybil said. They let her dwell on fun filled events and learned lessons from the past.
Focusing on good memories and retelling stories are motivational factors for her now.
But Sybil is getting ready to give the self-motivation a rest.
“I’m feeling old,” she said, “very old.”
But nobody ever really knows, maybe Sybil still needs to reach over 100 before she can get the french fries at the end of her game.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Stuff-a-bus
Hey Did anyone of you guys go and help with the stuff-a-bus, or does anyone know who was involved or organizes it every year?
Thank-you!!
Thank-you!!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Got windowshopping?
Hey Newsies,
I'm doing my in-depth feature on BLACK FRIDAY. Are any of you planning on hitting up anywhere specific on Friday morning? Are you participating at all? Have you got any leads for me as far as good places to target? (Target, perhaps?) Are you going to buy anything? Are your family members into it? Come on, tell me your opinion...
I'm doing my in-depth feature on BLACK FRIDAY. Are any of you planning on hitting up anywhere specific on Friday morning? Are you participating at all? Have you got any leads for me as far as good places to target? (Target, perhaps?) Are you going to buy anything? Are your family members into it? Come on, tell me your opinion...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
President-Elect Talks Good, Critics Complain
.
Obama’s Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy
By Andy Borowitz
Huffington Post • Nov. 17, 2008
In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.
Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama’s appearance on CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.
But Mr. Obama’s decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.
According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a president who speaks English as if it were his first language.
“Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement,” says Mr. Logsdon. “If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist.”
The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, “Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate—we get it, stop showing off.”
The president-elect’s stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.
“Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can’t really do there, I think needing to do that isn’t tapping into what Americans are needing also,” she said.
Andy Borowitz is a comedian and writer whose work appears in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and at his award-winning humor site, BorowitzReport.com.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
The Future of Journalism?
.
The New York Times
November 18, 2008
Web Sites That Dig for News Rise as Watchdogs
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
SAN DIEGO — Over the last two years, some of this city’s darkest secrets have been dragged into the light — city officials with conflicts of interest and hidden pay raises, affordable housing that was not affordable, misleading crime statistics.
Investigations ensued. The chiefs of two redevelopment agencies were forced out. One of them faces criminal charges. Yet the main revelations came not from any of San Diego’s television and radio stations or its dominant newspaper, The San Diego Union-Tribune, but from a handful of young journalists at a nonprofit Web site run out of a converted military base far from downtown’s glass towers — a site that did not exist four years ago.
As America’s newspapers shrink and shed staff, and broadcast news outlets sink in the ratings, a new kind of Web-based news operation has arisen in several cities, forcing the papers to follow the stories they uncover.
Here it is VoiceofSanDiego.org, offering a brand of serious, original reporting by professional journalists — the province of the traditional media, but at a much lower cost of doing business. Since it began in 2005, similar operations have cropped up in New Haven, the Twin Cities, Seattle, St. Louis and Chicago. More are on the way.
Their news coverage and hard-digging investigative reporting stand out in an Internet landscape long dominated by partisan commentary, gossip, vitriol and citizen journalism posted by unpaid amateurs.
The fledgling movement has reached a sufficient critical mass, its founders think, so they plan to form an association, angling for national advertising and foundation grants that they could not compete for singly. And hardly a week goes by without a call from journalists around the country seeking advice about starting their own online news outlets.
“Voice is doing really significant work, driving the agenda on redevelopment and some other areas, putting local politicians and businesses on the hot seat,” said Dean Nelson, director of the journalism program at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. “I have them come into my classes, and I introduce them as, ‘This is the future of journalism.’ ”
That is a subject of hot debate among people who closely follow the newspaper industry. Publishing online means operating at half the cost of a comparable printed paper, but online advertising is not robust enough to sustain a newsroom.
And so financially, VoiceofSan Diego and its peers mimic public broadcasting, not newspapers. They are nonprofit corporations supported by foundations, wealthy donors, audience contributions and a little advertising.
New nonprofits without a specific geographic focus also have sprung up to fill other niches, like ProPublica, devoted to investigative journalism, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, which looks into problems around the world. A similar group, the Center for Investigative Reporting, dates back three decades.
But some experts question whether a large part of the news business can survive on what is essentially charity, and whether it is wise to lean too heavily on the whims of a few moneyed benefactors.
“These are some of the big questions about the future of the business,” said Robert H. Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Nonprofit news online “has to be explored and experimented with, but it has to overcome the hurdle of proving it can support a big news staff. Even the most well-funded of these sites are a far cry in resources from a city newspaper.”
The people who run the local news sites see themselves as one future among many, and they have a complex relationship with traditional media. The say that the deterioration of those media has created an opening for new sources of news, as well as a surplus of unemployed journalists for them to hire.
“No one here welcomes the decline of newspapers,” said Andrew Donohue, one of two executive editors at VoiceofSanDiego. “We can’t be the main news source for this city, not for the foreseeable future. We only have 11 people.”
Those people are almost all young, some of them refugees from older media. The executive editors, Mr. Donohue, 30, and Scott Lewis, 32, each had a few years of experience at small papers before abandoning newsprint. So far, their audience is tiny, about 18,000 monthly unique visitors, according to Quantcast, a media measurement service.
The biggest of the new nonprofit news sites, MinnPost in the Twin Cities and the St. Louis Beacon, can top 200,000 visitors in a month, but even that is a fraction of the Internet readership for the local newspapers.
VoiceofSanDiego’s site looks much like any newspaper’s, frequently updated with breaking news and organized around broad topics: government and politics, housing, economics, the environment, schools and science. It has few graphics, but plenty of photography and, through a partnership with a local TV station, some video.
But it is, of necessity, thin — strictly local, selective in what it covers and with none of the wire service articles that plump up most news sites.
VoiceofSanDiego grew out of a string of spectacular municipal scandals. City councilmen took bribes from a strip club owner, a mishandled pension fund drove the city to the brink of bankruptcy and city officials illegally covered up the crisis, to name a few.
A semiretired local businessman, Buzz Woolley, watched the parade of revelations, fraud charges and criminal convictions, seething with frustration. He was particularly incensed that the pension debacle had developed over several years, more or less in plain sight, but had received little news coverage.
“I kept thinking, ‘Who’s paying attention?’ ” Mr. Woolley recalled. “Why don’t we hear about this stuff before it becomes a disaster?’ ”
In 2004, his conversations with a veteran columnist, Neil Morgan, who had been fired by The Union-Tribune, led to the creation of VoiceofSanDiego, with Mr. Woolley as president, chief executive and, at first, chief financial backer.
Most of this new breed of news sites have a whiff of scruffy insurgency, but MinnPost, based in Minneapolis, resembles the middle-age establishment. Its founder and chief executive, Joel Kramer, has been the editor and publisher of The Star Tribune, of Minneapolis, and its top editors are refugees from that paper or its rival, The Pioneer Press in St. Paul.
MinnPost is rich compared with its peers — with a $1.5 million bankroll from Mr. Kramer and several others when it started last year, and a $1.3 million annual budget — and it has been more aggressive about selling ads and getting readers to donate.
The full-time editors and reporters earn $50,000 to $60,000 a year, Mr. Kramer said — a living wage, but less than they would make at the competing papers. MinnPost has just five full-time employees, but it uses more than 40 paid freelance contributors, allowing it to do frequent reporting on areas like the arts and sports.
If MinnPost is the establishment, The New Haven Independent is a guerrilla team. It has no office, and holds its meetings in a coffee shop. The founder and editor, Paul Bass, who spent most of his career at an alternative weekly, works from home or, occasionally, borrows a desk at a local Spanish-language newspaper.
In addition to state and city affairs, The Independent covers small-bore local news, lately doing a series of articles on people who face the loss of their homes to foreclosure.
With a budget of just $200,000, it has a small staff — some are paid less than $30,000 — and a small corps of freelancers and volunteer contributors. It does not sell ads, which Mr. Bass says would be impractical.
“There’s room for a whole range of approaches, and we’re living proof that you can do meaningful journalism very cheaply,” Mr. Bass said.
Crosscut.com, a local news site in Seattle, does reporting and commentary of its own, but also aggregates articles from other news sources. It began last year as a business, but is changing to nonprofit status.
VoiceofSanDiego took yet another approach, hiring a crew of young, hungry, full-time journalists, paying them salaries comparable to what they would make at large newspapers and relying less on freelancers. Mr. Donohue and Mr. Lewis earned $60,000 to $70,000 last year, according to the VoiceofSan Diego I.R.S. filings.
On a budget under $800,000 this year — almost $200,000 more than last year — everyone does double duty. Mr. Lewis writes a political column, and Mr. Donohue works on investigative articles. But the operation is growing and Mr. Woolley says he has become convinced that the nonprofit model has the best chance of survival.
“Information is now a public service as much as it’s a commodity,” he said. “It should be thought of the same way as education, health care. It’s one of the things you need to operate a civil society, and the market isn’t doing it very well.”
The New York Times
November 18, 2008
Web Sites That Dig for News Rise as Watchdogs
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
SAN DIEGO — Over the last two years, some of this city’s darkest secrets have been dragged into the light — city officials with conflicts of interest and hidden pay raises, affordable housing that was not affordable, misleading crime statistics.
Investigations ensued. The chiefs of two redevelopment agencies were forced out. One of them faces criminal charges. Yet the main revelations came not from any of San Diego’s television and radio stations or its dominant newspaper, The San Diego Union-Tribune, but from a handful of young journalists at a nonprofit Web site run out of a converted military base far from downtown’s glass towers — a site that did not exist four years ago.
As America’s newspapers shrink and shed staff, and broadcast news outlets sink in the ratings, a new kind of Web-based news operation has arisen in several cities, forcing the papers to follow the stories they uncover.
Here it is VoiceofSanDiego.org, offering a brand of serious, original reporting by professional journalists — the province of the traditional media, but at a much lower cost of doing business. Since it began in 2005, similar operations have cropped up in New Haven, the Twin Cities, Seattle, St. Louis and Chicago. More are on the way.
Their news coverage and hard-digging investigative reporting stand out in an Internet landscape long dominated by partisan commentary, gossip, vitriol and citizen journalism posted by unpaid amateurs.
The fledgling movement has reached a sufficient critical mass, its founders think, so they plan to form an association, angling for national advertising and foundation grants that they could not compete for singly. And hardly a week goes by without a call from journalists around the country seeking advice about starting their own online news outlets.
“Voice is doing really significant work, driving the agenda on redevelopment and some other areas, putting local politicians and businesses on the hot seat,” said Dean Nelson, director of the journalism program at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. “I have them come into my classes, and I introduce them as, ‘This is the future of journalism.’ ”
That is a subject of hot debate among people who closely follow the newspaper industry. Publishing online means operating at half the cost of a comparable printed paper, but online advertising is not robust enough to sustain a newsroom.
And so financially, VoiceofSan Diego and its peers mimic public broadcasting, not newspapers. They are nonprofit corporations supported by foundations, wealthy donors, audience contributions and a little advertising.
New nonprofits without a specific geographic focus also have sprung up to fill other niches, like ProPublica, devoted to investigative journalism, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, which looks into problems around the world. A similar group, the Center for Investigative Reporting, dates back three decades.
But some experts question whether a large part of the news business can survive on what is essentially charity, and whether it is wise to lean too heavily on the whims of a few moneyed benefactors.
“These are some of the big questions about the future of the business,” said Robert H. Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Nonprofit news online “has to be explored and experimented with, but it has to overcome the hurdle of proving it can support a big news staff. Even the most well-funded of these sites are a far cry in resources from a city newspaper.”
The people who run the local news sites see themselves as one future among many, and they have a complex relationship with traditional media. The say that the deterioration of those media has created an opening for new sources of news, as well as a surplus of unemployed journalists for them to hire.
“No one here welcomes the decline of newspapers,” said Andrew Donohue, one of two executive editors at VoiceofSanDiego. “We can’t be the main news source for this city, not for the foreseeable future. We only have 11 people.”
Those people are almost all young, some of them refugees from older media. The executive editors, Mr. Donohue, 30, and Scott Lewis, 32, each had a few years of experience at small papers before abandoning newsprint. So far, their audience is tiny, about 18,000 monthly unique visitors, according to Quantcast, a media measurement service.
The biggest of the new nonprofit news sites, MinnPost in the Twin Cities and the St. Louis Beacon, can top 200,000 visitors in a month, but even that is a fraction of the Internet readership for the local newspapers.
VoiceofSanDiego’s site looks much like any newspaper’s, frequently updated with breaking news and organized around broad topics: government and politics, housing, economics, the environment, schools and science. It has few graphics, but plenty of photography and, through a partnership with a local TV station, some video.
But it is, of necessity, thin — strictly local, selective in what it covers and with none of the wire service articles that plump up most news sites.
VoiceofSanDiego grew out of a string of spectacular municipal scandals. City councilmen took bribes from a strip club owner, a mishandled pension fund drove the city to the brink of bankruptcy and city officials illegally covered up the crisis, to name a few.
A semiretired local businessman, Buzz Woolley, watched the parade of revelations, fraud charges and criminal convictions, seething with frustration. He was particularly incensed that the pension debacle had developed over several years, more or less in plain sight, but had received little news coverage.
“I kept thinking, ‘Who’s paying attention?’ ” Mr. Woolley recalled. “Why don’t we hear about this stuff before it becomes a disaster?’ ”
In 2004, his conversations with a veteran columnist, Neil Morgan, who had been fired by The Union-Tribune, led to the creation of VoiceofSanDiego, with Mr. Woolley as president, chief executive and, at first, chief financial backer.
Most of this new breed of news sites have a whiff of scruffy insurgency, but MinnPost, based in Minneapolis, resembles the middle-age establishment. Its founder and chief executive, Joel Kramer, has been the editor and publisher of The Star Tribune, of Minneapolis, and its top editors are refugees from that paper or its rival, The Pioneer Press in St. Paul.
MinnPost is rich compared with its peers — with a $1.5 million bankroll from Mr. Kramer and several others when it started last year, and a $1.3 million annual budget — and it has been more aggressive about selling ads and getting readers to donate.
The full-time editors and reporters earn $50,000 to $60,000 a year, Mr. Kramer said — a living wage, but less than they would make at the competing papers. MinnPost has just five full-time employees, but it uses more than 40 paid freelance contributors, allowing it to do frequent reporting on areas like the arts and sports.
If MinnPost is the establishment, The New Haven Independent is a guerrilla team. It has no office, and holds its meetings in a coffee shop. The founder and editor, Paul Bass, who spent most of his career at an alternative weekly, works from home or, occasionally, borrows a desk at a local Spanish-language newspaper.
In addition to state and city affairs, The Independent covers small-bore local news, lately doing a series of articles on people who face the loss of their homes to foreclosure.
With a budget of just $200,000, it has a small staff — some are paid less than $30,000 — and a small corps of freelancers and volunteer contributors. It does not sell ads, which Mr. Bass says would be impractical.
“There’s room for a whole range of approaches, and we’re living proof that you can do meaningful journalism very cheaply,” Mr. Bass said.
Crosscut.com, a local news site in Seattle, does reporting and commentary of its own, but also aggregates articles from other news sources. It began last year as a business, but is changing to nonprofit status.
VoiceofSanDiego took yet another approach, hiring a crew of young, hungry, full-time journalists, paying them salaries comparable to what they would make at large newspapers and relying less on freelancers. Mr. Donohue and Mr. Lewis earned $60,000 to $70,000 last year, according to the VoiceofSan Diego I.R.S. filings.
On a budget under $800,000 this year — almost $200,000 more than last year — everyone does double duty. Mr. Lewis writes a political column, and Mr. Donohue works on investigative articles. But the operation is growing and Mr. Woolley says he has become convinced that the nonprofit model has the best chance of survival.
“Information is now a public service as much as it’s a commodity,” he said. “It should be thought of the same way as education, health care. It’s one of the things you need to operate a civil society, and the market isn’t doing it very well.”
Monday, November 17, 2008
For the Issue Story
So guys I am needing some contacts to with economic pressure on families this holiday season. It can be a sensitive topic, if anyone knows anyone who would be directly affected and willing to voice what is on their minds, whether it is a family who is struggling with finances because of the economy or an expert a professor that will have a valid opinion on what will be happening during the holidays, or someone in welfare I would really appreciate it and would be very nice to anyone you could refer me to.
MATT!!!!
Hey Matt!! So i was reading the paper this morning and i read an interesting aritcle about your favorite man up on campus, Brent Guy. It looks like you're going to get your long awaited wish after all. He is being fired. HAHA. Are you planning on doing a story on this subject? I know we only have the issue story and the feature story left to do but if you are not going to write an article about this I would love to. So let me know ok. Take it easy!!!!!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Two monsters at a time
Today I am putting together the following two articles:
Logan Restaurants Adjust to Economic Crisis
USU Micro-Loans Continue to Fund Peruvian Business
I meant to have at least one of the done yesterday, but as I was interviewing, more questions and more sources kept popping up, so I'm re-working things, which always takes more time. But I'm learning a lot in the process.
My issue article will cover the Special Olympics, unless I discover something else.
As a profile piece, I would like to profile my mother, who is a beyond-full-time hair & make-up artist for movies and TV. Is it inappropriate to write about my own mother?
Logan Restaurants Adjust to Economic Crisis
USU Micro-Loans Continue to Fund Peruvian Business
I meant to have at least one of the done yesterday, but as I was interviewing, more questions and more sources kept popping up, so I'm re-working things, which always takes more time. But I'm learning a lot in the process.
My issue article will cover the Special Olympics, unless I discover something else.
As a profile piece, I would like to profile my mother, who is a beyond-full-time hair & make-up artist for movies and TV. Is it inappropriate to write about my own mother?
Friday, November 14, 2008
Banning Books
Banning Books
At the beginning of the movie Footloose the character that Ren is shocked to discover that “Slaughterhouse-Five” is banned from the local library after he makes the commentary that it was a good book.
Banning books has been a controversial subject featuring a broad spectrum of literature that has been questioned.
From “Harry Potter” to “Mein Kampf” people have found reasons to have books taken off the shelves.
One of the big reasons that seems to be the most prevalent concerning banning books was voiced by Brett Bowman who said “yea I would ban some books because I feel there are some things that underage kids shouldn’t be exposed to early in life”.
Others like Kristina Nichols leaned more towards the middle on whether or not books should be banned and said that for her, “it depends on the book, it’s not that big of a deal for me”.
There are some people that don’t agree with banning books at all like Jessi Crossen who said “I don’t get the point of banning a book, if you don’t want to read it then you won’t but if you do you will”.
At times other opinions are voiced that no book should be banned but do agree with the idea of a type of rating system where an individual has to be a certain age or older to check out books so that inappropriate material won’t fall into the hands of children who might not understand what they are reading.
Daniel Crossen, Jessi Crossen’s husband, said “books no matter what it is, is precious, each book has a bit of truth in it and when you ban a book you are basically banning whatever slightest truth it may contain from other readers and your banning that insight that readers might receive”. Daniel Crossen went on to say and give the example “like Mein Kampf it may have some interesting use to it that might help with your insight of the world.”
As far as age restrictions went Daniel Crossen agreed and said, “an age restriction should be put on it so people who won’t understand how to decipher the reality from the falsehood won’t be able to check the book out”.
At the Logan Library, Kara Huggard, an employee who works at the reference desk said “we actually try very hard not to ban books”.
At the Logan Library if an individual has a complaint about a book, something that Huggard says doesn’t happen very often, they can fill out a form that asks them eight specific questions about why they are requesting a reconsideration of it.
The individual with the complaint can return the reconsideration form and return it to the library explaining why the material is not suitable for the audience that it is being geared to or for the library in general.
For the most part, Huggard said, they leave the censoring of what children read up to the parents, but the library itself will allow anyone no matter what their age to check out whatever books they bring up to the counter.
In the Utah State University Library, much like the Logan Library, books are rarely if ever banned there and those that have questionable material are usually found in certain sections of the library where they are less likely to be accidentally found by unsuspecting readers.
Kathy Schockmel, the Art Book supervisor, said that once a student opened up a magazine and was shocked and appalled by the images with in it and complained to the library demanding that the magazine be removed; the magazine wasn’t removed nor the subscription cancelled but it and material like it are now found in the Art Book Room.
The Logan Library and USU’s library both hold to “The Freedom to Read Statement”, a statement that was originally issued in May 1953 by the American Library Association and Association of American Publishers Council can be found on the ALA website www.ala.org.
In the statement the ALA and AAP took a stand and said that people had the right to read whatever they want.
In the first proposition the statement reads, “It is in the public interest for publishers and librarians to make available the widest diversity of views and expressions, including those that are unorthodox, unpopular, or considered dangerous by the majority”.
At the beginning of the movie Footloose the character that Ren is shocked to discover that “Slaughterhouse-Five” is banned from the local library after he makes the commentary that it was a good book.
Banning books has been a controversial subject featuring a broad spectrum of literature that has been questioned.
From “Harry Potter” to “Mein Kampf” people have found reasons to have books taken off the shelves.
One of the big reasons that seems to be the most prevalent concerning banning books was voiced by Brett Bowman who said “yea I would ban some books because I feel there are some things that underage kids shouldn’t be exposed to early in life”.
Others like Kristina Nichols leaned more towards the middle on whether or not books should be banned and said that for her, “it depends on the book, it’s not that big of a deal for me”.
There are some people that don’t agree with banning books at all like Jessi Crossen who said “I don’t get the point of banning a book, if you don’t want to read it then you won’t but if you do you will”.
At times other opinions are voiced that no book should be banned but do agree with the idea of a type of rating system where an individual has to be a certain age or older to check out books so that inappropriate material won’t fall into the hands of children who might not understand what they are reading.
Daniel Crossen, Jessi Crossen’s husband, said “books no matter what it is, is precious, each book has a bit of truth in it and when you ban a book you are basically banning whatever slightest truth it may contain from other readers and your banning that insight that readers might receive”. Daniel Crossen went on to say and give the example “like Mein Kampf it may have some interesting use to it that might help with your insight of the world.”
As far as age restrictions went Daniel Crossen agreed and said, “an age restriction should be put on it so people who won’t understand how to decipher the reality from the falsehood won’t be able to check the book out”.
At the Logan Library, Kara Huggard, an employee who works at the reference desk said “we actually try very hard not to ban books”.
At the Logan Library if an individual has a complaint about a book, something that Huggard says doesn’t happen very often, they can fill out a form that asks them eight specific questions about why they are requesting a reconsideration of it.
The individual with the complaint can return the reconsideration form and return it to the library explaining why the material is not suitable for the audience that it is being geared to or for the library in general.
For the most part, Huggard said, they leave the censoring of what children read up to the parents, but the library itself will allow anyone no matter what their age to check out whatever books they bring up to the counter.
In the Utah State University Library, much like the Logan Library, books are rarely if ever banned there and those that have questionable material are usually found in certain sections of the library where they are less likely to be accidentally found by unsuspecting readers.
Kathy Schockmel, the Art Book supervisor, said that once a student opened up a magazine and was shocked and appalled by the images with in it and complained to the library demanding that the magazine be removed; the magazine wasn’t removed nor the subscription cancelled but it and material like it are now found in the Art Book Room.
The Logan Library and USU’s library both hold to “The Freedom to Read Statement”, a statement that was originally issued in May 1953 by the American Library Association and Association of American Publishers Council can be found on the ALA website www.ala.org.
In the statement the ALA and AAP took a stand and said that people had the right to read whatever they want.
In the first proposition the statement reads, “It is in the public interest for publishers and librarians to make available the widest diversity of views and expressions, including those that are unorthodox, unpopular, or considered dangerous by the majority”.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
African Children's Choir
In a midst of multiple genocides and civil wars in Africa, the African Children’s Choir made a stop on Tuesday at Cache Valley Ellen Eccles Theater on their “journey of hope” to raise money and make Africa a better place.
Journey of Hope is the 25th tour of African Children’s Choir, a daughter organization of Music for Life Institute, a humanitarian relief and development organization dedicated to the survival, education and well being of Africa’s children.
“Civil war, genocide, poverty and corruption have needlessly turned tens of thousands of children in Africa into orphans,” says the president of Music for Life organization Ray Barnett. “Children should never have to face these atrocities but they can be pulled from these ashes to become the solution for a better Africa.”
25 different choirs made of “the neediest and most vulnerable children in Africa” have toured to different countries to present African culture to the world and raise money to improve the lives of their fellows since 1984. Over 30 schools and 7,000 children in Africa are now supported due to the benefits of African Children’s Choir.
Africa as a continent has a literacy rate of less than 60 percent. The fundamentals of the Music for Life are based on the belief that providing children at risk with education and hope today, the global village can help advance Africa tomorrow. The organization makes sure that the members of the choir attain education after returning home.
Victor is from Uganda and was once a member of African Children’s choir.
“I never knew my father,” he says. “My mother could not afford taking care of me and she had to take me to an orphanage. I was blessed to be chosen to join African Children’s Choir. I was once one of the most vulnerable children in Africa. Now I have a college degree in Social Sciences and Development.”
Children are recruited every year. Most of them don’t have one or both parents. Going to school is a luxury for them.
Proscovia is a former choir member. She now volunteers for Music for Life and has a college degree in Communications.
“When I was 8, I had malaria,” she says. “I was living with my grandmother because my mother couldn’t afford taking care of me. My grandmother had to take me to a city and leave me at a hospital.”
Proscovia survived malaria. At the age of 11 she was chosen to be a member of the 13th choir.
“I had to walk barefoot to school every morning. The school was 6 miles away. Sometimes it rained. Sometimes it didn’t. But I knew it was worth. I wanted to get education.”
Proscovia recalls her first visit to the United States as a choir member.
“I thought I was going to die,” she says. “At home we are told that ghosts are white and they have long hair. When I saw all these girls with long hair, I thought that the ghosts had surrounded us.”
A former choir member Ben recalls his story.
“I thought we are going to America through water. I didn’t know how to swim and I was scared. I talked to one of the volunteers. She said we were going by plane. I relaxed.”
With 4 out of 10 children illiterate in Africa, the continent is doing better than in previous decades. Started as a one-time project, African Children’s Choir continues to raise money to drop illiteracy rates.
“We have come a long way,” says Music for Life president Ray Barnett. “And we still have a long way to go. We’ve always believed that mountains can be moved one child at a time. These children represent the beauty and dignity of Africa and hold the key to Africa’s future.”
Journey of Hope is the 25th tour of African Children’s Choir, a daughter organization of Music for Life Institute, a humanitarian relief and development organization dedicated to the survival, education and well being of Africa’s children.
“Civil war, genocide, poverty and corruption have needlessly turned tens of thousands of children in Africa into orphans,” says the president of Music for Life organization Ray Barnett. “Children should never have to face these atrocities but they can be pulled from these ashes to become the solution for a better Africa.”
25 different choirs made of “the neediest and most vulnerable children in Africa” have toured to different countries to present African culture to the world and raise money to improve the lives of their fellows since 1984. Over 30 schools and 7,000 children in Africa are now supported due to the benefits of African Children’s Choir.
Africa as a continent has a literacy rate of less than 60 percent. The fundamentals of the Music for Life are based on the belief that providing children at risk with education and hope today, the global village can help advance Africa tomorrow. The organization makes sure that the members of the choir attain education after returning home.
Victor is from Uganda and was once a member of African Children’s choir.
“I never knew my father,” he says. “My mother could not afford taking care of me and she had to take me to an orphanage. I was blessed to be chosen to join African Children’s Choir. I was once one of the most vulnerable children in Africa. Now I have a college degree in Social Sciences and Development.”
Children are recruited every year. Most of them don’t have one or both parents. Going to school is a luxury for them.
Proscovia is a former choir member. She now volunteers for Music for Life and has a college degree in Communications.
“When I was 8, I had malaria,” she says. “I was living with my grandmother because my mother couldn’t afford taking care of me. My grandmother had to take me to a city and leave me at a hospital.”
Proscovia survived malaria. At the age of 11 she was chosen to be a member of the 13th choir.
“I had to walk barefoot to school every morning. The school was 6 miles away. Sometimes it rained. Sometimes it didn’t. But I knew it was worth. I wanted to get education.”
Proscovia recalls her first visit to the United States as a choir member.
“I thought I was going to die,” she says. “At home we are told that ghosts are white and they have long hair. When I saw all these girls with long hair, I thought that the ghosts had surrounded us.”
A former choir member Ben recalls his story.
“I thought we are going to America through water. I didn’t know how to swim and I was scared. I talked to one of the volunteers. She said we were going by plane. I relaxed.”
With 4 out of 10 children illiterate in Africa, the continent is doing better than in previous decades. Started as a one-time project, African Children’s Choir continues to raise money to drop illiteracy rates.
“We have come a long way,” says Music for Life president Ray Barnett. “And we still have a long way to go. We’ve always believed that mountains can be moved one child at a time. These children represent the beauty and dignity of Africa and hold the key to Africa’s future.”
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
f2f Meetings w/ El Peez
.
Sign Up For Monday f2f w/ PeezNewsHounds:
I’ve posted a signup sheet for f2f meetings on Monday on my office door. Sessions are 15 minutes (sign up for 2 if you want), starting at 10 a.m.
If you can’t find a time that works, email me and we’ll work something out.
The agenda for this meeting is anything you want.
BUT, I want you to come prepared to tell me what you want to do for your final two stories, including the focus, the So what? The sources and the kinds of angles you're looking for. Think about what you want the nut graf to be—this will answer the So what? question: why a reader will want to read it.
To reiterate:
An issue story focuses on a significant social/cultural/political issue, and finds local sources as a focus. For example, the mega issue might be huge—teenage pregnancy, our carbon footprint/air pollution, a disease (AIDS, emphysema, obesity, acne....), mortgage failures. These are subjects about which much already is known on a macro level, and your job is then to explain the issue on a more human, local, micro level by finding local sources/experts/examples on which to focus, weaving in the big-picture info. In your pile of stories from last week, the New England farming and babies having babies stories are examples. Find experts or analysis and example sources for color/human interest.
The feature story may be either an in-depth feature or a personality profile. The
feature is a more in-depth treatment of many of the kinds of topics you’ve already attempted—the Special Olympics, a flea market, a funky business or store(Wiggin It, the Persian Peacock, Sweet Peas, etc.), a Big Brother/Big Sister club, demolition derby, etc. The object is to paint a “word picture” of your subject through both description of the scene and people, and plenty of interviews and good quotes.
A profile is an in-depth feature story focusing on an interesting individual who has a story to tell—someone with an interesting job/hobby (the guy who slaughters cows for Elaison's, an emergency room doc, a sheriff's deputy, the animal control officer, a professor who spends her time in Peruvian jungles, a Mountain Man, a hot air balloonist. As we've discussed, anyone who is passionate about something can make a good story. You need an articulate and interesting source who will spend some time with you. Observe the individual and interview her/him, of course, but also interview everyone you can think of who knows him/her to get a well-rounded picture of what makes her/him tick. These should NOT be only testimonials—who wants to read
a story about someone who everyone says is a saint? Boooorrrrr-rrring.
These stories are longer (about 5 pp. double-spaced), more in-depth, and include more description and narrative.
For instruction and inspiration, you might also (re)read some of the text: Ch 8 (Writing to be Read), Ch 9 (Alternatives to the Inverted Pyramid). Or see the Pulitzer website and look at Explanatory and Feature categories for some great writing.
See you Monday (or before).
More Space to be Found at the Beaver Lodge.
By: Kate Clark
Additions to the Beaver Lodge at Beaver Mountain Ski Area will give boarders and skiers anticipating this year’s snow season an ample area to relax after getting off the slopes.
The remodeling, which included constructing two new lofts, a deck, and large fireplace have cost the local mountain resort owners, Ted and Marge Seeholzer, nearly $400,000.
“I think it will make the customers we have much happier and will hopefully get more people to eat at the lodge,” said Marge Seeholzer.
The main purpose of the construction was to expand the existing lodge to create more space. “We needed a lot more seating,” Seeholzer said, “we covered the deck and made a whole new eating area.”
Seeholzer, who didn’t expect for a large spending year hope the improvements encourage returning and potential visitors to the mountain.
During the last few years the owners have made several improvements to the resort, and more are in the works. “We always have plans,” Seeholzer admitted.
Recent projects have included:
-Building two triple-chair lifts
-The construction of a large maintenance shop
-And, a wing built onto the kitchen in the lodge
Plans for next year already entail tearing down the old ticket office and building a three story establishment housing new ticket booths, rentals, and facilities for skiing and snowboarding lessons.
Referring to improvements Beaver Mountain has shortly undergone, Seeholzer said, “It’s growing so much in the past few years. If you don’t try and keep up, than you don’t progress.”
To accommodate the recently added eating areas, additional kitchen staff will be hired. Food prices have gone up slightly from last year, but remain low compared to competing ski resorts.
Ticket prices remain the same.
“We worry about business due to the economy,” said Seeholzer. “We need to encourage our customers to still come.”
The Seeholzers took over ownership of the resort from Ted’s parents over a decade ago, hoping to make major improvements to boost the rapport of the mountain, and have succeeded, but have also found much more.
“Since it’s a small family business, it is very personal,” Seeholzer said. “I have made so many friends.”
Additions to the Beaver Lodge at Beaver Mountain Ski Area will give boarders and skiers anticipating this year’s snow season an ample area to relax after getting off the slopes.
The remodeling, which included constructing two new lofts, a deck, and large fireplace have cost the local mountain resort owners, Ted and Marge Seeholzer, nearly $400,000.
“I think it will make the customers we have much happier and will hopefully get more people to eat at the lodge,” said Marge Seeholzer.
The main purpose of the construction was to expand the existing lodge to create more space. “We needed a lot more seating,” Seeholzer said, “we covered the deck and made a whole new eating area.”
Seeholzer, who didn’t expect for a large spending year hope the improvements encourage returning and potential visitors to the mountain.
During the last few years the owners have made several improvements to the resort, and more are in the works. “We always have plans,” Seeholzer admitted.
Recent projects have included:
-Building two triple-chair lifts
-The construction of a large maintenance shop
-And, a wing built onto the kitchen in the lodge
Plans for next year already entail tearing down the old ticket office and building a three story establishment housing new ticket booths, rentals, and facilities for skiing and snowboarding lessons.
Referring to improvements Beaver Mountain has shortly undergone, Seeholzer said, “It’s growing so much in the past few years. If you don’t try and keep up, than you don’t progress.”
To accommodate the recently added eating areas, additional kitchen staff will be hired. Food prices have gone up slightly from last year, but remain low compared to competing ski resorts.
Ticket prices remain the same.
“We worry about business due to the economy,” said Seeholzer. “We need to encourage our customers to still come.”
The Seeholzers took over ownership of the resort from Ted’s parents over a decade ago, hoping to make major improvements to boost the rapport of the mountain, and have succeeded, but have also found much more.
“Since it’s a small family business, it is very personal,” Seeholzer said. “I have made so many friends.”
Registration
When your future is on the line, you’d better hope you’re prepared.
USU’s academic advisors have experienced an onslaught of priority registration students for the spring 2009 semester students in search of guidance.USU seniors were able to begin registering this morning at 12:01 am which explains the students’ sudden need for direction. They understand that the choices made during registration set the course of their life for the next few months. An error in judgment here may be the difference between a good learning experience and wanting to bang your head against the wall until you lose the memory of your last chemistry class.
If you haven’t done it already, you may be hard pressed to find a chance to talk to academic advisors this week but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be doing what you can to prepare for registration. Whether you are as lucky as to get a session with an advisor or not, you may want to make sure that the classes you are registering for are the ones that both fulfill requirements and interest you.
USU offers a variety of options that are designed both to make students well rounded and engage their interests in new ways. The difficulty comes in finding which classes will play to your specific interests. To ease the strain of this process Pease’s Pissant has compiled student recommendations of classes and professors whether you are looking for elective credits or something more specific.
Biology 3000 taught by Alice Lindahl fulfills a depth life/physical science credit and comes highly recommended. Shannon Ballard, A junior in the Broadcast Journalism program says, “Alice is so great and she really knows her stuff!” The class involves a lab every Friday “For our field trips we have gone hiking for plants, canoeing to look at birds, gone up the mountains to look at geological formations, ect. It’s is not a very large class and Alice gives lots of one on one attention.” This class is offered during spring semester at 1:30 pm- 2:20 on Monday- Wednesday but if you’re interested you’d better be quick as Professor Lindahl is expected to retire after this semester.
For students in need of a class that covers breadth social science requirements Trisha Budge, a junior majoring in Occupational therapy says take Psych 1010. According to her, the class is involved in a lot of group projects that got the students involved in the curriculum. “A lot of the things you learn you can say “I do that!” Of the professors that are teaching this spring, ratemyprofessors.com- and website where students to evaluate their professors- has Scott Bates rated as the best teacher for this class. His class for this semester will be on MWF 10:30 am to 11:20 am.
Several students that were interviewed recommended Andrea Jensen, professor of Interpersonal Communication. “[The class] had the most practical application of anything I’ve taken. I would go home and see people acting ways that we’d talked about in class.” Alison Gibbs, an English secondary education major said, “[Professor Jensen] talked to us on our level and made everyone feel like they were on equal footing”.
Family finance came up several times as a popular depth social science elective. Lisa Lee, a senior majoring in community and family services took the class last year. She said, “It was great because it teaches you things like how to balance a check book and it shows you how financing will work once you’re married and have a family.” The spring semester class will be taught by Alena Johnson on MWF at 10:30 am to 11:20 am
Tomorrow registration will open for juniors with 60 credits or more, sophomores with 30 credits or more will be able to register Thursday. On Friday the 14th registration will open to freshmen who have attended student orientation. For more resources on what professors to chose visit www.ratemyprofessors.com
USU’s academic advisors have experienced an onslaught of priority registration students for the spring 2009 semester students in search of guidance.USU seniors were able to begin registering this morning at 12:01 am which explains the students’ sudden need for direction. They understand that the choices made during registration set the course of their life for the next few months. An error in judgment here may be the difference between a good learning experience and wanting to bang your head against the wall until you lose the memory of your last chemistry class.
If you haven’t done it already, you may be hard pressed to find a chance to talk to academic advisors this week but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be doing what you can to prepare for registration. Whether you are as lucky as to get a session with an advisor or not, you may want to make sure that the classes you are registering for are the ones that both fulfill requirements and interest you.
USU offers a variety of options that are designed both to make students well rounded and engage their interests in new ways. The difficulty comes in finding which classes will play to your specific interests. To ease the strain of this process Pease’s Pissant has compiled student recommendations of classes and professors whether you are looking for elective credits or something more specific.
Biology 3000 taught by Alice Lindahl fulfills a depth life/physical science credit and comes highly recommended. Shannon Ballard, A junior in the Broadcast Journalism program says, “Alice is so great and she really knows her stuff!” The class involves a lab every Friday “For our field trips we have gone hiking for plants, canoeing to look at birds, gone up the mountains to look at geological formations, ect. It’s is not a very large class and Alice gives lots of one on one attention.” This class is offered during spring semester at 1:30 pm- 2:20 on Monday- Wednesday but if you’re interested you’d better be quick as Professor Lindahl is expected to retire after this semester.
For students in need of a class that covers breadth social science requirements Trisha Budge, a junior majoring in Occupational therapy says take Psych 1010. According to her, the class is involved in a lot of group projects that got the students involved in the curriculum. “A lot of the things you learn you can say “I do that!” Of the professors that are teaching this spring, ratemyprofessors.com- and website where students to evaluate their professors- has Scott Bates rated as the best teacher for this class. His class for this semester will be on MWF 10:30 am to 11:20 am.
Several students that were interviewed recommended Andrea Jensen, professor of Interpersonal Communication. “[The class] had the most practical application of anything I’ve taken. I would go home and see people acting ways that we’d talked about in class.” Alison Gibbs, an English secondary education major said, “[Professor Jensen] talked to us on our level and made everyone feel like they were on equal footing”.
Family finance came up several times as a popular depth social science elective. Lisa Lee, a senior majoring in community and family services took the class last year. She said, “It was great because it teaches you things like how to balance a check book and it shows you how financing will work once you’re married and have a family.” The spring semester class will be taught by Alena Johnson on MWF at 10:30 am to 11:20 am
Tomorrow registration will open for juniors with 60 credits or more, sophomores with 30 credits or more will be able to register Thursday. On Friday the 14th registration will open to freshmen who have attended student orientation. For more resources on what professors to chose visit www.ratemyprofessors.com
Veteran's Day Recognition Concert
This Veterans Day, residents of Cache Valley and citizens of the United States came together in the Kent Concert Hall to honor and recognize the men and women who have devoted their lives to “keep us safe in a land we call home.”
The event included a stage full of The American Festival Chorus and Utah State University’s Symphony Orchestra conducted by the head of the Music Department, Craig Jessop. Ushers had to start turning people away because of the large turnout.
The USU ROTC-Army and Air Force presented the American Flag. The national anthem was performed by the combined choir and orchestra with the audience joining in on the last line.
Gary Griffin, Utah State’s American Legion Post and retired United States Air Force lieutenant and colonel, conducted the event. Griffin talked of the 36-day battle on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. By the end of February U.S. troops took 1,000 Japanese prisoners and mounted the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, the first foreign flag to be raised on Japanese soil in 4,000 years, Griffin said.
Griffin quoted Tom Brokaw in reference to veterans at the World War II memorial dedication. “You are the lucky ones, you came back, and you survived. So many of your friends did not survive. Now you have a duty to honor them, and we have a duty to honor you.”
Michael Liechty, the event’s featured speaker and Utah’s Army Land Forces Commander, talked about people’s willingness to serve their country. “We owe our veterans. This country is a democracy defended by volunteers,” Liechty said, “and our gratitude extends to their loved ones and family.”
In some closing remarks, Griffin talked about Dwight D. Eisenhower and how he is seen as an example of how a military serviceman should act towards his country. After Eisenhower’s induction into the United States Military, he said the U.S. meant something different to him now. It was a nation he would be serving and not himself, Griffin said.
A moment of silence took place to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect us. “As a nation we pause, and we should, in remembrance of them,” Liechty said.
The event included a stage full of The American Festival Chorus and Utah State University’s Symphony Orchestra conducted by the head of the Music Department, Craig Jessop. Ushers had to start turning people away because of the large turnout.
The USU ROTC-Army and Air Force presented the American Flag. The national anthem was performed by the combined choir and orchestra with the audience joining in on the last line.
Gary Griffin, Utah State’s American Legion Post and retired United States Air Force lieutenant and colonel, conducted the event. Griffin talked of the 36-day battle on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. By the end of February U.S. troops took 1,000 Japanese prisoners and mounted the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, the first foreign flag to be raised on Japanese soil in 4,000 years, Griffin said.
Griffin quoted Tom Brokaw in reference to veterans at the World War II memorial dedication. “You are the lucky ones, you came back, and you survived. So many of your friends did not survive. Now you have a duty to honor them, and we have a duty to honor you.”
Michael Liechty, the event’s featured speaker and Utah’s Army Land Forces Commander, talked about people’s willingness to serve their country. “We owe our veterans. This country is a democracy defended by volunteers,” Liechty said, “and our gratitude extends to their loved ones and family.”
In some closing remarks, Griffin talked about Dwight D. Eisenhower and how he is seen as an example of how a military serviceman should act towards his country. After Eisenhower’s induction into the United States Military, he said the U.S. meant something different to him now. It was a nation he would be serving and not himself, Griffin said.
A moment of silence took place to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect us. “As a nation we pause, and we should, in remembrance of them,” Liechty said.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Gaming, the the new recess
Video games have become an essential part of college life. Many young people now days are relying on games to fill their days.
“Games are a good way for me to relax.” says Jamie Stoddart, a student a USU. I have too much homework and am unemployed, so playing games helps me take my mind off of both of those.” Stoddart continued.
In many apartments in Logan you’ll find a wide variety of gaming systems. Systems ranging from Xbox 360, Play station 2, or 3, regular Xbox and the WII are all used to help students “relax.” But does it actually help students?
In a recent study called the Pew internet and American life project 1,162 students were interviewed regarding the “gaming era.” In the survey, almost half of the students used the games as a social activity by playing multi player games. Less than ten percent of those games were done on personal computers.
This information put a new spin on the thoughts that “gamers” were playing games just to isolate themselves. The student may not isolate themselves from each other but they do isolate themselves from their studies. In the study, nearly half of the students said gaming was an excuse to study a lot, and one in ten students played games to avoid studying altogether.
Studying can be affected by playing video games. “Games give me a break from studying so I’m only focused on homework and can get more out of it when I do my work.” Stoddart stated.
Spencer Clayton, a graphic design major said he plays games “because it’s another world where I can do whatever I want and not get into trouble.”
Clayton said he “prefers playing multi player games because it’s always more fun with your friends.” Using games as a social event has become a normal thing among students, especially with the games Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
“We moved into a new apartment and had Rock Band, so we invited a bunch of people over to play, it lasted till like midnight or one in the morning, just chillin and having fun with friends” said Cody Titmus.
Video games are changing our social tendencies and the way we get together. In most cases video games are seen being played by guys. Even that is changing; girls are becoming more involved in game playing with games such as American Idol and Dance Dance Revolution. The game industry seems that it still targets men though, with games such as Gears of War, Halo, and Call of Duty. All action packed games that require players to kill to survive.
Games may influence study habits to some but others, they don’t see an affect. “I’ll let you know in a month how it affected my grades.” Stoddart said.
“Games are a good way for me to relax.” says Jamie Stoddart, a student a USU. I have too much homework and am unemployed, so playing games helps me take my mind off of both of those.” Stoddart continued.
In many apartments in Logan you’ll find a wide variety of gaming systems. Systems ranging from Xbox 360, Play station 2, or 3, regular Xbox and the WII are all used to help students “relax.” But does it actually help students?
In a recent study called the Pew internet and American life project 1,162 students were interviewed regarding the “gaming era.” In the survey, almost half of the students used the games as a social activity by playing multi player games. Less than ten percent of those games were done on personal computers.
This information put a new spin on the thoughts that “gamers” were playing games just to isolate themselves. The student may not isolate themselves from each other but they do isolate themselves from their studies. In the study, nearly half of the students said gaming was an excuse to study a lot, and one in ten students played games to avoid studying altogether.
Studying can be affected by playing video games. “Games give me a break from studying so I’m only focused on homework and can get more out of it when I do my work.” Stoddart stated.
Spencer Clayton, a graphic design major said he plays games “because it’s another world where I can do whatever I want and not get into trouble.”
Clayton said he “prefers playing multi player games because it’s always more fun with your friends.” Using games as a social event has become a normal thing among students, especially with the games Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
“We moved into a new apartment and had Rock Band, so we invited a bunch of people over to play, it lasted till like midnight or one in the morning, just chillin and having fun with friends” said Cody Titmus.
Video games are changing our social tendencies and the way we get together. In most cases video games are seen being played by guys. Even that is changing; girls are becoming more involved in game playing with games such as American Idol and Dance Dance Revolution. The game industry seems that it still targets men though, with games such as Gears of War, Halo, and Call of Duty. All action packed games that require players to kill to survive.
Games may influence study habits to some but others, they don’t see an affect. “I’ll let you know in a month how it affected my grades.” Stoddart said.
The Beast known as REGISTRATION
If anyone is interested in helping me again my article is about Registering and I just want some recommendations of good classes that people have taken (preferably general ed) and really liked. If you have teachers that you thought were great teachers LET ME KNOW so I can recommend them to other students! or if there were classes where your teacher just sat around and knitted throw pillows toss that in there too! Anything helps.
In Depth Feature/Profile
For my profile I am doing an article about a 90-year-old Cache Valley woman and how she has never moved more than 1/2 block in her entire life. The home she is in right now was built over 100 years ago and when she bought it, she got the home and 2 acres for $700. She loves the Aggies and her late husband went to school at USU. She and four of her best friends from 1st grade all still stay in touch and all of them are widows as well.
For my in depth feature I am sort of debating how I want to go about it. I know someone is covering eating habits, but I am thinking about doing eating disorders among college students. I think some of the subtopics I would want to cover are
- how many girls? guys? on our campus? (check with health and wellness center) (as well as ask a campus dietician about services)
- how do roommates feel about girls they worry about?
- What/how do girls think/feel about guys that are too skinny?
- How do guys think/feel about girls that are super skinny?
- societal pressures
- future impacts on health
Any ideas of how to make either of these articles more entertaining?
For my in depth feature I am sort of debating how I want to go about it. I know someone is covering eating habits, but I am thinking about doing eating disorders among college students. I think some of the subtopics I would want to cover are
- how many girls? guys? on our campus? (check with health and wellness center) (as well as ask a campus dietician about services)
- how do roommates feel about girls they worry about?
- What/how do girls think/feel about guys that are too skinny?
- How do guys think/feel about girls that are super skinny?
- societal pressures
- future impacts on health
Any ideas of how to make either of these articles more entertaining?
Game of Love
Game of Love
Courtney Schoen
David Peaden, 23-year-old junior at USU, says the process of dating girls can be troublesome, unpredictable and frightening; but the ladies are generally worth it.
Peaden, like many young adults his age, is getting tired of the drama in college relationships and unnecessary dating games that go on.
“Guys and girls see relationships in completely different ways,” Peaden said, “but everybody needs to experience a little dating ‘pit of despair’ before they make it to the ultimate goal of marriage.”
Sometimes it seems that instantly in a relationship, one or both parties start overanalyzing every little thing—jumping through mental hoops trying to figure out what the other is thinking.
Peaden and his roommate, jokingly called the Love Gurus by friends, created a theory—The Ladder Theory— that explains the different ways relationships are viewed.
Males are climbers and females are the ladders in this fascinating view of relationships.
Guys just believe in climbing; girls are a little more discerning.
“For a guy, up is good,” Peaden said, “The guys see ladders as strictly vertical, but what some guys don’t know is that girls have two ladders—one for courtship and the other for friendship.”
Peaden’s theory claims girls are going to relegate guys to be friends or romantics, so the guy needs to do something to let her know which ladder he wants to climb.
“Dating and ladder climbing is a hard enough process as it is,” Kyle Griffin, Peaden’s roommate, said, “why make it more difficult by playing head games with someone?”
Griffin, a junior in international business, said, “dating mind games are manipulative and break the barrier of trust immediately.”
Peaden and Griffin both agree that guys need some sort of obvious signal that the girl is interested; they called this the Law of Reciprocation.
This law, according to the Love Gurus, includes breaking the touch barrier, sending a flirtatious text or giving a sincere hug and “thank you” at the end of a date.
Girls need to express whether or not they are attracted to the guy, so when they play games like “hard to get” sometimes the guy just finds the girl too “hard to understand.”
“Dating is integral to the ladder theory,” Peaden said, “if a guy does not ask a girl out, then he will never be able to climb her ladder, which means no golden rung (marriage) for him.”
Thomas Cherrington, an instructor at the Logan Institute of Religion for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is known by many of his students as the most outspoken church leader when it comes to promoting dating.
Cherrington served as a bishop and stake president for his church and gave several talks on dating and how “youth don’t date anymore.”
“Girls need to lighten up,” Cherrington said, “and guys need to step it up.”
The question is how do girls lighten up and what can the guys do to step it up?
Rachelle Cazier, a 19-year-old sophomore in elementary education, says women just need to stop playing games and get off the emotional roller coaster.
“My brother-in-law loves my sister so much because she was the first girl he dated that didn’t try to get inside his head,” Cazier said, “he almost didn’t know how to react to a girl that didn’t play games or try to make him jealous.”
Cazier believes that once a guy does not have to worry about being a player in a mind game, he can devote more time to the girl and the actual relationship.
For the most part, most guys claim they prefer a game-free relationship because they hate it when they have to wonder whether the girl is being herself or putting on a pretense.
However, there are those who believe games are healthy for a relationship.
Clay Bingham, a 21-year-old from Spanish Fork, believes games are beneficial because you can learn a lot about a person without actually having to sit down and talk about each other’s personalities.
Bingham said he is tired of dating girls that do not have enough brainpower to even begin to play a mind game.
“I’m done dating girls that can’t think for themselves,” Bingham said, “I acted like a total jerk with my last girlfriend, hoping she’d take a hint and we could brake it off. I was the game player, and she never picked up on it.”
Courtney Schoen
David Peaden, 23-year-old junior at USU, says the process of dating girls can be troublesome, unpredictable and frightening; but the ladies are generally worth it.
Peaden, like many young adults his age, is getting tired of the drama in college relationships and unnecessary dating games that go on.
“Guys and girls see relationships in completely different ways,” Peaden said, “but everybody needs to experience a little dating ‘pit of despair’ before they make it to the ultimate goal of marriage.”
Sometimes it seems that instantly in a relationship, one or both parties start overanalyzing every little thing—jumping through mental hoops trying to figure out what the other is thinking.
Peaden and his roommate, jokingly called the Love Gurus by friends, created a theory—The Ladder Theory— that explains the different ways relationships are viewed.
Males are climbers and females are the ladders in this fascinating view of relationships.
Guys just believe in climbing; girls are a little more discerning.
“For a guy, up is good,” Peaden said, “The guys see ladders as strictly vertical, but what some guys don’t know is that girls have two ladders—one for courtship and the other for friendship.”
Peaden’s theory claims girls are going to relegate guys to be friends or romantics, so the guy needs to do something to let her know which ladder he wants to climb.
“Dating and ladder climbing is a hard enough process as it is,” Kyle Griffin, Peaden’s roommate, said, “why make it more difficult by playing head games with someone?”
Griffin, a junior in international business, said, “dating mind games are manipulative and break the barrier of trust immediately.”
Peaden and Griffin both agree that guys need some sort of obvious signal that the girl is interested; they called this the Law of Reciprocation.
This law, according to the Love Gurus, includes breaking the touch barrier, sending a flirtatious text or giving a sincere hug and “thank you” at the end of a date.
Girls need to express whether or not they are attracted to the guy, so when they play games like “hard to get” sometimes the guy just finds the girl too “hard to understand.”
“Dating is integral to the ladder theory,” Peaden said, “if a guy does not ask a girl out, then he will never be able to climb her ladder, which means no golden rung (marriage) for him.”
Thomas Cherrington, an instructor at the Logan Institute of Religion for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is known by many of his students as the most outspoken church leader when it comes to promoting dating.
Cherrington served as a bishop and stake president for his church and gave several talks on dating and how “youth don’t date anymore.”
“Girls need to lighten up,” Cherrington said, “and guys need to step it up.”
The question is how do girls lighten up and what can the guys do to step it up?
Rachelle Cazier, a 19-year-old sophomore in elementary education, says women just need to stop playing games and get off the emotional roller coaster.
“My brother-in-law loves my sister so much because she was the first girl he dated that didn’t try to get inside his head,” Cazier said, “he almost didn’t know how to react to a girl that didn’t play games or try to make him jealous.”
Cazier believes that once a guy does not have to worry about being a player in a mind game, he can devote more time to the girl and the actual relationship.
For the most part, most guys claim they prefer a game-free relationship because they hate it when they have to wonder whether the girl is being herself or putting on a pretense.
However, there are those who believe games are healthy for a relationship.
Clay Bingham, a 21-year-old from Spanish Fork, believes games are beneficial because you can learn a lot about a person without actually having to sit down and talk about each other’s personalities.
Bingham said he is tired of dating girls that do not have enough brainpower to even begin to play a mind game.
“I’m done dating girls that can’t think for themselves,” Bingham said, “I acted like a total jerk with my last girlfriend, hoping she’d take a hint and we could brake it off. I was the game player, and she never picked up on it.”
In-Depth Feature
For my in-depth feature article, I was thinking of writing about how texting has become an issue for kids as young as nine or ten years old!
I also was kind of interested in writing about teen pregnancy, or on what children think of the new president (but I am not sure if that would work for this specific assignment).
Which of those topics would you guys be most interested in hearing about? Do you have any sources or ideas for any of these topics? Your input would be appreciated very much.
ALSO,
for my profile article, I would like to either do it on a bellydancing instructor, the gravestone maker downtown, or a dog groomer. While you're at it you should let me know your opinion on those as well.
Thanks so much,
Kate.
I also was kind of interested in writing about teen pregnancy, or on what children think of the new president (but I am not sure if that would work for this specific assignment).
Which of those topics would you guys be most interested in hearing about? Do you have any sources or ideas for any of these topics? Your input would be appreciated very much.
ALSO,
for my profile article, I would like to either do it on a bellydancing instructor, the gravestone maker downtown, or a dog groomer. While you're at it you should let me know your opinion on those as well.
Thanks so much,
Kate.
Student Study Habits
Hey guys, I was thinking of doing a story on how students study and whether listening to music while studying helps them study better. I know study habits are different for everyone but I could compare and contrast what I find.
I could talk to students about their study habits and what kind of environment is best for them to study in. And I could also talk to an "expert" on study habits and what kind of environment is ideal to study in. A few questions...
For the student:
What kind of environment do you study in?
Totally quiet? Do you need a few distractions? Can you study in a TOTALLY quiet room?
When you study what kind of music do you listen to?
Is it loud? Is it soft? Is it rocker music? Is it classical music? Is it the kind of music you usually listen to? Do you use earphones?
For the expert:
What kind of study environment is best for students?
Does music help students study better?
What kind of music is best to study with?
Have you seen any patterns in the study habits of students?
Especially at this time of year with finals coming up what would you suggest to students regarding study habits?
Are there any other questions you I should ask? Where else could I go with this story? And I agree with Casey... I'll comment on yours if you comment on mine!
I could talk to students about their study habits and what kind of environment is best for them to study in. And I could also talk to an "expert" on study habits and what kind of environment is ideal to study in. A few questions...
For the student:
What kind of environment do you study in?
Totally quiet? Do you need a few distractions? Can you study in a TOTALLY quiet room?
When you study what kind of music do you listen to?
Is it loud? Is it soft? Is it rocker music? Is it classical music? Is it the kind of music you usually listen to? Do you use earphones?
For the expert:
What kind of study environment is best for students?
Does music help students study better?
What kind of music is best to study with?
Have you seen any patterns in the study habits of students?
Especially at this time of year with finals coming up what would you suggest to students regarding study habits?
Are there any other questions you I should ask? Where else could I go with this story? And I agree with Casey... I'll comment on yours if you comment on mine!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Eating Habbits
Hey whats going on guys? I was thinking about doing a story on the eating habbits among student here at USU. I dont exactly know my angle yet but i have talked to a bunch of students they all have said that they eat real poorly. So here are some questions for you to ponder about:
1. What are some of the things that you eat on a regular basis?
2. Do you feel that your school work suffers when you are eating junk food rather than a balanced diet? And if so what about your energy during the day?
3. IS money an issue when it comes to eating a balanced diet?
I would love any feed back that you could offer. Thanks for your time. And ill make you a deal, if you comment on mine post ill comment on yours. HAHAHA!!!!!!!
Thanks
Casey
1. What are some of the things that you eat on a regular basis?
2. Do you feel that your school work suffers when you are eating junk food rather than a balanced diet? And if so what about your energy during the day?
3. IS money an issue when it comes to eating a balanced diet?
I would love any feed back that you could offer. Thanks for your time. And ill make you a deal, if you comment on mine post ill comment on yours. HAHAHA!!!!!!!
Thanks
Casey
Behold! The power of gatekeepers!
By April Larsen
Last Thursday, a couple hours after the rally started at the L.A. Mormon Temple, I found myself glued to the L.A. Times online article of the event.
I lived on the L.A. temple grounds for eight months, so I wanted to soak up the details of the breaking news. Over four or five hours I refreshed the article, observing its evolution. I was surprised by the way the changing content changed the general sway of the article, and I wondered what was contributing to the choices the writers were making in altering the content.
The first version of the article read:
Soon after the rally got under way at 2 p.m., men and woman hoisting signs shouted down about a half-dozen men in suits from the church, yelling "Shame on you!" and pointing at them. The men in suits and a groundskeeper stood looking at them impassively.
I liked this lead. I think the word “impassively” really hit the spot. Those who are frustrated with the church could resent the idea of temple patrons looking impassively, and members of the church, like me, could be amused by the lack of impact the protesters were having.
A couple hours after I read that lead and chuckled to myself, the writers of the Times article changed it. (At least the typo was removed.) It now reads:
Outside the Los Angeles temple Thursday, dozens of protestors screamed "Bigots" and "Shame on You" at half a dozen men in button-down shirts and ties who looked out at the demonstration from behind the temple's closed gates. The men did not respond.
Now all I hear is "Bigots looked out from behind closed gates." The extra framing really drew a more thorough profile.
There’s also the “no comment” or “did not repond” effect we talked about in class today. It's got to be the quickest way to make someone sound like a bozo. The line that was receptive to perception had become lop-sided.
They also framed the Church statement by what it doesn't say, by writing this:
Church officials made few public statements during the campaign. On Thursday, they issued a statement asking for "a spirit of mutual respect and civility.” "The Church acknowledges that such an emotionally charged issue concerning the most personal and cherished aspects of life -- family and marriage -- stirs fervent and deep feelings," church spokeswoman Kim Farah wrote in an e-mail. "No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information." She did not elaborate.
Finally, they chose to add an outline of what takes place in a very pointed, (offensive and unreasonable) anti-LDS anti-prop 8 ad, and they featured the story of a former member-RM who is practicing gay now. They currently end the article with a quote from an active member from Corona (an hour southeast of L.A.! How's that for proximity?), which doesn't give much information or interest. It ends with his quote on persecution toward the Church being nothing new, but the way it's dumped at the end makes it sound like church members play the victim card.
They also added a tag to the bottom of the article, "Times staff writer Tami Abdollah contributed to this article." I wondered how much of the changes had to do with her. What did she contribute?
I find it interesting the way all of these more revealing tidbits that give the sense that the church is unreasonable were added to the article later. It might be too much involvement to add more about what other churches donated and how they were involved in the campaign, how the church was singled out, how other increased minority votes contributed a large amount... but they could have added more detail from a stronger, active, pro-LDS source—perhaps a reaction to the protests.
I actually emailed the writers, as a proactive journalism student, suggesting they balance the content. I got responses from the writer who was on location while she was at the protest. She said she had nothing to do with what was being published online other than calling in information. (Maybe I should say, "She did not explain the lack of LDS representation in the article..." bozo.) She also told me the Times does not preserve former versions of articles, which I found odd because they might need it in the case of proving accountability for something.
Anyway… gatekeeping! It’s interesting how much you can say from the heart without saying anything personal at all.
Last Thursday, a couple hours after the rally started at the L.A. Mormon Temple, I found myself glued to the L.A. Times online article of the event.
I lived on the L.A. temple grounds for eight months, so I wanted to soak up the details of the breaking news. Over four or five hours I refreshed the article, observing its evolution. I was surprised by the way the changing content changed the general sway of the article, and I wondered what was contributing to the choices the writers were making in altering the content.
The first version of the article read:
Soon after the rally got under way at 2 p.m., men and woman hoisting signs shouted down about a half-dozen men in suits from the church, yelling "Shame on you!" and pointing at them. The men in suits and a groundskeeper stood looking at them impassively.
I liked this lead. I think the word “impassively” really hit the spot. Those who are frustrated with the church could resent the idea of temple patrons looking impassively, and members of the church, like me, could be amused by the lack of impact the protesters were having.
A couple hours after I read that lead and chuckled to myself, the writers of the Times article changed it. (At least the typo was removed.) It now reads:
Outside the Los Angeles temple Thursday, dozens of protestors screamed "Bigots" and "Shame on You" at half a dozen men in button-down shirts and ties who looked out at the demonstration from behind the temple's closed gates. The men did not respond.
Now all I hear is "Bigots looked out from behind closed gates." The extra framing really drew a more thorough profile.
There’s also the “no comment” or “did not repond” effect we talked about in class today. It's got to be the quickest way to make someone sound like a bozo. The line that was receptive to perception had become lop-sided.
They also framed the Church statement by what it doesn't say, by writing this:
Church officials made few public statements during the campaign. On Thursday, they issued a statement asking for "a spirit of mutual respect and civility.” "The Church acknowledges that such an emotionally charged issue concerning the most personal and cherished aspects of life -- family and marriage -- stirs fervent and deep feelings," church spokeswoman Kim Farah wrote in an e-mail. "No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information." She did not elaborate.
Finally, they chose to add an outline of what takes place in a very pointed, (offensive and unreasonable) anti-LDS anti-prop 8 ad, and they featured the story of a former member-RM who is practicing gay now. They currently end the article with a quote from an active member from Corona (an hour southeast of L.A.! How's that for proximity?), which doesn't give much information or interest. It ends with his quote on persecution toward the Church being nothing new, but the way it's dumped at the end makes it sound like church members play the victim card.
They also added a tag to the bottom of the article, "Times staff writer Tami Abdollah contributed to this article." I wondered how much of the changes had to do with her. What did she contribute?
I find it interesting the way all of these more revealing tidbits that give the sense that the church is unreasonable were added to the article later. It might be too much involvement to add more about what other churches donated and how they were involved in the campaign, how the church was singled out, how other increased minority votes contributed a large amount... but they could have added more detail from a stronger, active, pro-LDS source—perhaps a reaction to the protests.
I actually emailed the writers, as a proactive journalism student, suggesting they balance the content. I got responses from the writer who was on location while she was at the protest. She said she had nothing to do with what was being published online other than calling in information. (Maybe I should say, "She did not explain the lack of LDS representation in the article..." bozo.) She also told me the Times does not preserve former versions of articles, which I found odd because they might need it in the case of proving accountability for something.
Anyway… gatekeeping! It’s interesting how much you can say from the heart without saying anything personal at all.
Registration
I'm writing about spring registration for this week's article. If anyone wants to help me, I need recommendations and quotes about classes that people have taken that they've like.
Writing and Publishing Sheet Music by Storee Powell
Though publishing sheet music can be difficult, it’s not impossible, and the reward of simply writing good music is “to bring to life the music that already is deep inside you.”
Dean Madsen, a recently retired USU music professor, and now serving an LDS mission in Israel, said this about the writing and publishing process of sheet music.
Students hoping to someday have their music published can learn a thing or two from Madsen as well as Professor Mike Christiansen and his son, Professor Corey Christiansen.
Professor Mike Christiansen, MM-Utah State University, is director of USU’s Guitar Program. His experience in writing and publishing includes 42 music books, 30 DVDs and 30 CDs, including instructional media for guitar.
A realist, Christiansen explained that he doesn’t teach his students how to publish sheet music “because the chances of it happening are null,” he said.
However, there are things a student can do to better their chances. Christiansen said that just sending sheet music to a big publisher, such as Hal Leonard, is not the best method. He recommends sending it to an artist to see if they will record it. This puts a recognized name behind the music, and if a big publisher hears it, it has a much better probability of being published.
M. Christiansen explained that the profit-driven music industry wants to publish music that is by someone who is well known, or music method books that are new and unique. Solos are unlikely to be published.
“Be prepared to be disappointed,” M. Christiansen said.
Playing in the “real world” or the “school of hard knocks” is another thing M. Christiansen recommends doing to increase experience and name-familiarity.
Madsen suggests a three-step process to students looking to publish. “First,” he said, “develop a thorough understanding of all the musical tools. Second, let your motivation be not fame, not money, but the desire to give a meaningful, positive gift to others. Third, humbly apply your whole heart, mind and soul to the task of preparing a potentially powerful gift.”
What musical tools are there for a student to understand? M. Christiansen said to become familiar with computer programs as well as the copyrighting process. Copyright forms are available online, and it is cheap to do, according to Christiansen.
“You should always copyright your work even if you don’ publish it,” said M. Christiansen.
Professor Corey Christiansen; Visiting Assistant Professor, MM-University of South Florida; is a guitarist like his father. He has over 70 projects published. He said, “I use a program called Finale for all of my music engraving.”
Madsen and C. Christiansen both said students should take advantage of studying with their music professors as well as writing tutors. Doing this can save students time in the writing and publishing process.
Madsen also suggests studying the composer they most want to “emulate.” This will allow the student to learn the “purpose and message of a work,” said Madsen.
Style is another important factor in whether music is published or not. M. Christiansen explained that jazz as well as pop is not likely styles to be published. Country fares a little better. Classical is very difficult, according to Christiansen.
So what’s a student to do? M. Christiansen said to look for a “corner on the market,” or in other words, to fill a void, as he did with a book on how to harmonize chords for guitar.
C. Christiansen he got his ideas for writing music from the needs of his students. “Many of my projects were written with my students needs in mind. A couple of my projects were the result of my own musical progress and practice needs,” C. Christiansen said.
Both Christiansen’s agreed that the time each piece requires would vary from piece to piece. In addition, M. Christiansen said the writing process would vary.
“Mad, thrilled, disappointed, joy. I have felt all of the different emotions when writing music at one time or another,” said M. Christiansen.
What comes after the writing process? Editing.
M. Christiansen said to have someone else play the music before submitting it. This allows the writer to listen, and see if it is played how the writer meant it to be, said M. Christiansen.
For Madsen, editing and composing are the same methodical process.
“The making sure that every pitch, every rhythm, every dynamic marking, every tempo, every style and articulation marking, every indication of phrasing, perfectly contributes to the musical message of the musical moment and the entire piece, is the essence of musical creation,” said Madsen, “In proofing the publishers draft prior to publication, editing involves the same detailed checking of your intent, and its realization, as does the composing of the piece itself.”
Madsen noted that anyone could become published. What really matters is the quality of the music, even if a person is well trained and popular, or “an average soul with little training,” said Madsen.
M. Christiansen’s idea of who can write and publish agrees with Madsen.
“Natural talent doesn’t hurt, but people who work hard can become successful because of motivation,” said M. Christiansen.
“It is the power and love that is embodied in a piece of music which makes it important, not whether or not it gets published,” said Madsen.
Dean Madsen, a recently retired USU music professor, and now serving an LDS mission in Israel, said this about the writing and publishing process of sheet music.
Students hoping to someday have their music published can learn a thing or two from Madsen as well as Professor Mike Christiansen and his son, Professor Corey Christiansen.
Professor Mike Christiansen, MM-Utah State University, is director of USU’s Guitar Program. His experience in writing and publishing includes 42 music books, 30 DVDs and 30 CDs, including instructional media for guitar.
A realist, Christiansen explained that he doesn’t teach his students how to publish sheet music “because the chances of it happening are null,” he said.
However, there are things a student can do to better their chances. Christiansen said that just sending sheet music to a big publisher, such as Hal Leonard, is not the best method. He recommends sending it to an artist to see if they will record it. This puts a recognized name behind the music, and if a big publisher hears it, it has a much better probability of being published.
M. Christiansen explained that the profit-driven music industry wants to publish music that is by someone who is well known, or music method books that are new and unique. Solos are unlikely to be published.
“Be prepared to be disappointed,” M. Christiansen said.
Playing in the “real world” or the “school of hard knocks” is another thing M. Christiansen recommends doing to increase experience and name-familiarity.
Madsen suggests a three-step process to students looking to publish. “First,” he said, “develop a thorough understanding of all the musical tools. Second, let your motivation be not fame, not money, but the desire to give a meaningful, positive gift to others. Third, humbly apply your whole heart, mind and soul to the task of preparing a potentially powerful gift.”
What musical tools are there for a student to understand? M. Christiansen said to become familiar with computer programs as well as the copyrighting process. Copyright forms are available online, and it is cheap to do, according to Christiansen.
“You should always copyright your work even if you don’ publish it,” said M. Christiansen.
Professor Corey Christiansen; Visiting Assistant Professor, MM-University of South Florida; is a guitarist like his father. He has over 70 projects published. He said, “I use a program called Finale for all of my music engraving.”
Madsen and C. Christiansen both said students should take advantage of studying with their music professors as well as writing tutors. Doing this can save students time in the writing and publishing process.
Madsen also suggests studying the composer they most want to “emulate.” This will allow the student to learn the “purpose and message of a work,” said Madsen.
Style is another important factor in whether music is published or not. M. Christiansen explained that jazz as well as pop is not likely styles to be published. Country fares a little better. Classical is very difficult, according to Christiansen.
So what’s a student to do? M. Christiansen said to look for a “corner on the market,” or in other words, to fill a void, as he did with a book on how to harmonize chords for guitar.
C. Christiansen he got his ideas for writing music from the needs of his students. “Many of my projects were written with my students needs in mind. A couple of my projects were the result of my own musical progress and practice needs,” C. Christiansen said.
Both Christiansen’s agreed that the time each piece requires would vary from piece to piece. In addition, M. Christiansen said the writing process would vary.
“Mad, thrilled, disappointed, joy. I have felt all of the different emotions when writing music at one time or another,” said M. Christiansen.
What comes after the writing process? Editing.
M. Christiansen said to have someone else play the music before submitting it. This allows the writer to listen, and see if it is played how the writer meant it to be, said M. Christiansen.
For Madsen, editing and composing are the same methodical process.
“The making sure that every pitch, every rhythm, every dynamic marking, every tempo, every style and articulation marking, every indication of phrasing, perfectly contributes to the musical message of the musical moment and the entire piece, is the essence of musical creation,” said Madsen, “In proofing the publishers draft prior to publication, editing involves the same detailed checking of your intent, and its realization, as does the composing of the piece itself.”
Madsen noted that anyone could become published. What really matters is the quality of the music, even if a person is well trained and popular, or “an average soul with little training,” said Madsen.
M. Christiansen’s idea of who can write and publish agrees with Madsen.
“Natural talent doesn’t hurt, but people who work hard can become successful because of motivation,” said M. Christiansen.
“It is the power and love that is embodied in a piece of music which makes it important, not whether or not it gets published,” said Madsen.
A surprise story [EDITED after emailed]
I'm still doing the restaurant story, but this one jumped into my life, ahead of the restaurant one this week. Enjoy!
Protests have been deemed just a nuisance to LDS members in L.A.
BY APRIL LARSEN
Since proposition eight passed in California, protesters in Los Angeles have been putting forth an ongoing effort to get under the skin of the LDS Church. They might be discouraged to discover they aren't much more than an itch on its back.
In an email Sunday, the president of the LDS Los Angeles Mission, Spencer T. Blackburn, said the hate, anger, and opposition have been very strong, but he still called it simply a "bumpy ride."
He detailed the protest activity around the temple.
"Last Thursday afternoon and evening we had 1,000+ protesters outside the front of the temple, along the sidewalk on Santa Monica Blvd. with very hateful signs and banners and lots of yelling," he said. "With them, though, we also had 300-400 riot police, shoulder-to-shoulder, blocking their potential of going over the walls or through the gates."
He said Sunday there were a couple dozen protesters outside of the Westwood chapel.
Los Angeles native and member of the LDS Church, Ben Archibeque, said the protesters were taking pictures of the church. (Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding; maybe they were just paparazzi trying to get a shot of famous patrons to the Westwood LDS chapel, Larry King's family, or Robert "Dr. 90210" Rey. He is very popular right now.)
Archibeque said, "It's crazy out here. Lots of protesting." Asked if it's ever scary, he said, "Naw, just annoying."
Blackburn said the Westwood chapel groupies didn't disrupt the services.
He said, "It is more of a distraction than anything else."
He credited a deeper source to be influencing the protesters, and he's not surprised by the opposition.
He said, "You can certainly see Satan's hand in all of this, but that is to be expected."
Although rumors said missionary proselytizing was put on hold until further notice, Blackburn said he has had to limit the missionaries' activity only in areas like Hollywood, West Hollywood, and Echo Park, during afternoons and evenings. He said the hold is only during the times when the protesting is more prevalent.
As a people united by faith, members of the LDS Church are assured all is in the hands of someone greater than the world. There is great confidence in the Church because members believe a supreme being will protect them as long as they emulate Jesus Christ and do the will of God.
Archibeque said, "Can't let them get us angry."
Members of the LDS Church are known to conduct themselves with a sense of particular security due to the belief that the Church is the final earthly organization of God's true and complete church, established and run by God's own hand.
Members of the LDS Church may consider opposition to be part of their heritage, as the church has received persecution throughout its history. In the 1800s, members of the young church were tormented in their settlements in the eastern states and eventually migrated to Utah territory.
A well-known LDS hymn from the era, "Come, Come Ye Saints," penned by William Clayton in 1846, states, "Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard? 'Tis not so; all is right. Why should we think to earn a great reward if we now shun the fight? Gird up your loins; fresh courage take. Our God will never us forsake; And soon we'll have this tale to tell. All is well. All is well."
Protests have been deemed just a nuisance to LDS members in L.A.
BY APRIL LARSEN
Since proposition eight passed in California, protesters in Los Angeles have been putting forth an ongoing effort to get under the skin of the LDS Church. They might be discouraged to discover they aren't much more than an itch on its back.
In an email Sunday, the president of the LDS Los Angeles Mission, Spencer T. Blackburn, said the hate, anger, and opposition have been very strong, but he still called it simply a "bumpy ride."
He detailed the protest activity around the temple.
"Last Thursday afternoon and evening we had 1,000+ protesters outside the front of the temple, along the sidewalk on Santa Monica Blvd. with very hateful signs and banners and lots of yelling," he said. "With them, though, we also had 300-400 riot police, shoulder-to-shoulder, blocking their potential of going over the walls or through the gates."
He said Sunday there were a couple dozen protesters outside of the Westwood chapel.
Los Angeles native and member of the LDS Church, Ben Archibeque, said the protesters were taking pictures of the church. (Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding; maybe they were just paparazzi trying to get a shot of famous patrons to the Westwood LDS chapel, Larry King's family, or Robert "Dr. 90210" Rey. He is very popular right now.)
Archibeque said, "It's crazy out here. Lots of protesting." Asked if it's ever scary, he said, "Naw, just annoying."
Blackburn said the Westwood chapel groupies didn't disrupt the services.
He said, "It is more of a distraction than anything else."
He credited a deeper source to be influencing the protesters, and he's not surprised by the opposition.
He said, "You can certainly see Satan's hand in all of this, but that is to be expected."
Although rumors said missionary proselytizing was put on hold until further notice, Blackburn said he has had to limit the missionaries' activity only in areas like Hollywood, West Hollywood, and Echo Park, during afternoons and evenings. He said the hold is only during the times when the protesting is more prevalent.
As a people united by faith, members of the LDS Church are assured all is in the hands of someone greater than the world. There is great confidence in the Church because members believe a supreme being will protect them as long as they emulate Jesus Christ and do the will of God.
Archibeque said, "Can't let them get us angry."
Members of the LDS Church are known to conduct themselves with a sense of particular security due to the belief that the Church is the final earthly organization of God's true and complete church, established and run by God's own hand.
Members of the LDS Church may consider opposition to be part of their heritage, as the church has received persecution throughout its history. In the 1800s, members of the young church were tormented in their settlements in the eastern states and eventually migrated to Utah territory.
A well-known LDS hymn from the era, "Come, Come Ye Saints," penned by William Clayton in 1846, states, "Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard? 'Tis not so; all is right. Why should we think to earn a great reward if we now shun the fight? Gird up your loins; fresh courage take. Our God will never us forsake; And soon we'll have this tale to tell. All is well. All is well."
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Aggie Men's Volleyball finished Second in Tournament
The USU men's volleyball team finished second to the Alumni team Saturday at the USU Men's Invitational preseason tournament.
The Aggies got off to a slow start in the final round of the tournament after starting off the day beating up their opponents at the net.
USU found themselves down 11-6 early in the first game of the final round but scored four straight points to get back in the game. Down 15-12, USU went on a 7-0 run to put the Aggies in the lead by a score of 19-15. The Alumni answered by scoring six straight points putting them up 21-19. The Aggies would eventually lose the game (their first loss of the tournament) 26-24.
In game 2 USU rallied back from a five-point-deficit to win the game 25-23.
The final game of the tournament would only be played to 15 instead of the normal 25 because it was the third game of the series.
The Aggies once again started out slow and trailed the entire game, losing by a score of 15-12.
The USU Alumni team won the series 2 games to 1 and by doing so won the tournament.
Keenan Atwood said that the Aggies just lost their momentum from the previous best-of-three series against The Breakfast Club in which the Aggies won 2-0.
"We lost the momentum from the match before," said Atwood. "We just made simple mistakes and we had an injured player."
Danny Hoerman dislocated his shoulder in the semi-finals against The Breakfast Club. The injury occured when Hoerman swung his arm to spike the ball said a team representative.
James Meno said the Aggies could've played better but were tired from all of the games played and struggled without Hoerman in the lineup.
"We could've done better," said Meno. " After playing so many games we got tired. Danny (Hoerman) has a good block and we needed that."
"We dominated the rest of the pool. We consider ourselves to be the area," said Lewis.
Craig Wallace attributed the loss to being tired on a few important points of the final game.
Atwood also said that he was pleased with how USU did in the tournament despite finishing second.
"I'm way pleased. Our team played really well," said Atwood.
Darren Lewis said that USU he considers USU to be the best team in the region.
"We just got tired on a coupled of crucial points," said Wallace.
Wallace also said that expectations for this season are very high.
"I think its going to be a good year," said Wallace. "We took sixth in the nation last year. This year we have high hopes with most of our players returning."
The Aggies Started off the tournament sweeping the University of Utah winning both of the games by the score of 25-15.
The Aggies also swept The Breakfast Club two games to none winning the first game 25-19 and the second game 25-23. The Breakfast Club made a bit of a comeback to tighten the score after Hoerman's injury.
USU seemed to have complete control in all of their games preceding the championship round.
With the loss of Hoerman in the middle the team seemed to lose some of its defensive power and never seemed to regain it.
The USU men's volleyball team would like to thank the campus recreation for all of their help in having the tournament this year said Wallace.
"We're very appreciative of Campus rec and their willingness to support club sports," said Wallace.
For more information about the Utah State men's volleyball team students can visit www.usu.edu/mensvb.
The Aggies next game will be held at the University of Utah this Friday at 6 p.m.
The Aggies got off to a slow start in the final round of the tournament after starting off the day beating up their opponents at the net.
USU found themselves down 11-6 early in the first game of the final round but scored four straight points to get back in the game. Down 15-12, USU went on a 7-0 run to put the Aggies in the lead by a score of 19-15. The Alumni answered by scoring six straight points putting them up 21-19. The Aggies would eventually lose the game (their first loss of the tournament) 26-24.
In game 2 USU rallied back from a five-point-deficit to win the game 25-23.
The final game of the tournament would only be played to 15 instead of the normal 25 because it was the third game of the series.
The Aggies once again started out slow and trailed the entire game, losing by a score of 15-12.
The USU Alumni team won the series 2 games to 1 and by doing so won the tournament.
Keenan Atwood said that the Aggies just lost their momentum from the previous best-of-three series against The Breakfast Club in which the Aggies won 2-0.
"We lost the momentum from the match before," said Atwood. "We just made simple mistakes and we had an injured player."
Danny Hoerman dislocated his shoulder in the semi-finals against The Breakfast Club. The injury occured when Hoerman swung his arm to spike the ball said a team representative.
James Meno said the Aggies could've played better but were tired from all of the games played and struggled without Hoerman in the lineup.
"We could've done better," said Meno. " After playing so many games we got tired. Danny (Hoerman) has a good block and we needed that."
"We dominated the rest of the pool. We consider ourselves to be the area," said Lewis.
Craig Wallace attributed the loss to being tired on a few important points of the final game.
Atwood also said that he was pleased with how USU did in the tournament despite finishing second.
"I'm way pleased. Our team played really well," said Atwood.
Darren Lewis said that USU he considers USU to be the best team in the region.
"We just got tired on a coupled of crucial points," said Wallace.
Wallace also said that expectations for this season are very high.
"I think its going to be a good year," said Wallace. "We took sixth in the nation last year. This year we have high hopes with most of our players returning."
The Aggies Started off the tournament sweeping the University of Utah winning both of the games by the score of 25-15.
The Aggies also swept The Breakfast Club two games to none winning the first game 25-19 and the second game 25-23. The Breakfast Club made a bit of a comeback to tighten the score after Hoerman's injury.
USU seemed to have complete control in all of their games preceding the championship round.
With the loss of Hoerman in the middle the team seemed to lose some of its defensive power and never seemed to regain it.
The USU men's volleyball team would like to thank the campus recreation for all of their help in having the tournament this year said Wallace.
"We're very appreciative of Campus rec and their willingness to support club sports," said Wallace.
For more information about the Utah State men's volleyball team students can visit www.usu.edu/mensvb.
The Aggies next game will be held at the University of Utah this Friday at 6 p.m.
The Dating Game
For my next article- I want to get inside the minds of guys and girls and figure out what they think about playing "games" when you are dating. Is it necessary to "win" the other person's heart or is it just aggravating?
I know a guy that has a theory he would be more than happy to explain for article (the Ladder theory--you may have heard about it, it's become very popular on campus). But mostly, I want to cover the why's and how's people (particulary girls) "play hard to get" and other common dating tactics/games. Let me know if you can think of other games that are played in relationships. Also, hook me up with your thoughts on this topic, I'd love to hear them.
I know a guy that has a theory he would be more than happy to explain for article (the Ladder theory--you may have heard about it, it's become very popular on campus). But mostly, I want to cover the why's and how's people (particulary girls) "play hard to get" and other common dating tactics/games. Let me know if you can think of other games that are played in relationships. Also, hook me up with your thoughts on this topic, I'd love to hear them.
Campaign Costs
Campaign Costs
Madison Roderick
JCOM 1130
Is the presidency for sale?
President Elect, Barack Obama’s campaign raised eyebrows last month when he bought three primetime, 30-minute spots on major networks to broadcast his “closing statements” before the November 4 election.
A purchase which the Associated Press estimates would cost from 3 to 5 million dollars.
But this leaves hardly a dent in the deep pockets of the Obama campaign. From the beginning of the race, he has been the clear leader in fundraising, sometimes raising up to 150 million in one month.
Obama’s media coverage has built such a case as makes people eager to cast their die (and cash) in with him.
His campaign is the first in approximately 16 years to refuse public funding but it has loosed government restrictions on both fundraising and spending allowing him to raise a total of 605 million dollars.
McCain is limited-- by public funding regulations-- to a mere 84 million dollar budget between the RNC and Election Day.
Obama didn’t have to face those regulations and ended up raising over 7 times more money than McCain to use at his leisure.
According to the Wisconsin Advertising Project, Obama spent 1.6 million dollars more than McCain in swing states between September 28 and October 4.
People might ask whether advantages like this could color the outcome of previous elections. The 2004 election, like this year’s, hosted a record-breaking fundraising effort on the behalf of George W. Bush that ended with him being elected to a second term.
This growing emphasis on advertisements should cause the American people to wonder whether the campaigning process might be compromised.
If a candidate can afford to advertise their message more so than their opponent, do they have a better chance of getting elected?
Patrick Ruffini, former director of the Republican National Committee’s internet campaigns, says that nearly unlimited resources offer Obama a decided upper hand in the campaign.
Ruffini said, “I found 5 states (Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Virginia) in which a massive Obama spending edge correlated with an above average shift since September 28.”
According to him, in states where Obama made above average ad investments, he was rewarded with a 1.17 percent jump in preliminary polling.
With new forms of advertising making more demands on candidates’ funds, the overall cost of running for office is amounting to more than the average American could afford.
Tonnie Dixon, a senior in the Journalism and Communication major at USU thinks that this will hurt the election process. “It’s going to limit the variety of people who can run because the average person can’t afford to pay 10 million dollars for advertising… People who really want to change the country won’t be able to without selling their soul.”
Madison Roderick
JCOM 1130
Is the presidency for sale?
President Elect, Barack Obama’s campaign raised eyebrows last month when he bought three primetime, 30-minute spots on major networks to broadcast his “closing statements” before the November 4 election.
A purchase which the Associated Press estimates would cost from 3 to 5 million dollars.
But this leaves hardly a dent in the deep pockets of the Obama campaign. From the beginning of the race, he has been the clear leader in fundraising, sometimes raising up to 150 million in one month.
Obama’s media coverage has built such a case as makes people eager to cast their die (and cash) in with him.
His campaign is the first in approximately 16 years to refuse public funding but it has loosed government restrictions on both fundraising and spending allowing him to raise a total of 605 million dollars.
McCain is limited-- by public funding regulations-- to a mere 84 million dollar budget between the RNC and Election Day.
Obama didn’t have to face those regulations and ended up raising over 7 times more money than McCain to use at his leisure.
According to the Wisconsin Advertising Project, Obama spent 1.6 million dollars more than McCain in swing states between September 28 and October 4.
People might ask whether advantages like this could color the outcome of previous elections. The 2004 election, like this year’s, hosted a record-breaking fundraising effort on the behalf of George W. Bush that ended with him being elected to a second term.
This growing emphasis on advertisements should cause the American people to wonder whether the campaigning process might be compromised.
If a candidate can afford to advertise their message more so than their opponent, do they have a better chance of getting elected?
Patrick Ruffini, former director of the Republican National Committee’s internet campaigns, says that nearly unlimited resources offer Obama a decided upper hand in the campaign.
Ruffini said, “I found 5 states (Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Virginia) in which a massive Obama spending edge correlated with an above average shift since September 28.”
According to him, in states where Obama made above average ad investments, he was rewarded with a 1.17 percent jump in preliminary polling.
With new forms of advertising making more demands on candidates’ funds, the overall cost of running for office is amounting to more than the average American could afford.
Tonnie Dixon, a senior in the Journalism and Communication major at USU thinks that this will hurt the election process. “It’s going to limit the variety of people who can run because the average person can’t afford to pay 10 million dollars for advertising… People who really want to change the country won’t be able to without selling their soul.”
Bloviation
blo • vi • ate
[bloh-vee-eyt] (v. used without object), -at•ed, -at•ing. To speak pompously.
Brain Fart! Where to Find Story Ideas
.
A worried NewsHound writes:Prof,
I need help coming up with story ideas... I have a hard time finding stories that interest me. Have any ideas? I know that's really broad, but you're a genius so I figure you'll have plenty! Thanks for your help...
Everyone comes up dry sometimes (ask Emilie and Lee about that in Monday’s class), but there are LOTS of stories out there. The trick is to noodle them out.
I’m assuming you’ve all looked at the story ideas file outside my office door. There are still some decent possibilities in there.
The best places to come up with story ideas is a) out there in the world and, b) in the newspaper (or mags, local TV, etc.).
When you’re out there in the world, you run into people you know who. . .
. . . adopt cats or foster animals for a pet agency;
. . . who sell Mary Kay;
. . . who volunteer at PetsMart on adoption days;
. . . who like to spend Saturdays at the hunting center, shooting skeet;
. . . whose brother shoes horses or is a taxidermist;
. . . who is an expert on Logan Canyon or macrame or Thai cooking....
I was a Kitchen Kneads last week to buy a new pepper mill, and ran into a professor (male) who, it turns out, is quite a chef. That’s one kind of thing that makes a story—contrast and the unexpected: the cop who loves square-dancing; the secretary who’s on the ski patrol at Beaver; the engineering professor who’s an expert chef, etc.
Studs Terkel, the prolific Pulitzer prize-winning author who died at 96 last week, used to say that everyone has a good story to tell, if you can tap into what they’re passionate about. And that’s the key—aside from news stories and people who have interesting jobs, you’re looking for people’s passion. This passion can be positive—joy, happiness, devotion (fishing, roller derby, demolition derby, snowboarding, knitting, caring for the elderly...), or negative—anger, resentment.... What you want is to be able to hear, and transmit to the reader, your subject’s emotion and enthusiasm.
Some people just have interesting jobs—selling wigs (Kate’s story), for example. Or the county animal control officer. Or the director of the Stokes Nature Center. Or about 500 professors at USU who do fascinating research that is crying to be translated to a “civilian” audience, or whose expertise makes them great sources to comment on world events. Or my neighbor, who raises llamas. Or the geology grad student who teaches yoga to keep herself centered....
Looking quickly at this morning’s (Saturday) newspapers, I see these possible story topics that anyone could steal and localize:
From Saturday’s HJ:
. . . the anger over the LDS involvement in the Calif gay marriage ban;
. . . the new maternity leave (but not for elder care) policy at USU;
. . . the Obama puppy story;
. . . Box Elder County voters shot down a plan that would have moved our landfill over there; so now what?
. . . gun-lovers are buying up extra firearms in reaction to Obama’s election, fearing a crackdown on gun sales;
. . . new animal shelter will euthanize animals?
From the SLTrib:
. . . U.S. unemployment up to highest since 1994--what local impacts?
. . . the Rev. Billy Graham is 90 and stepping back from his ministry (talk to USU Religious Studies profs);
. . . prospects for new Obama team (talk to polisci profs);
. . . flu season;
. . . the “dinosaur dancefloor” of fossilized dino prints at Vermillion Cliffs (near Kanab)—just erosion? (talk to USU dino experts?);
. . . Jon Huntsman just hosted the annual Diwali celebration for Hindus;
. . . infertility issues—adoption, in-vitro?
The point here is to use your imagination and stay open to ideas. Write them down when you get them, or tear clips out of the newspaper, and stick ’em in an Ideas file for a rainy day.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
"I Voted"
By: Kate Clark
Tired of the war in Iraq and rough economic times, citizens seemed thirsty to participate in this year’s election. Even so, for residents across the valley, “I Voted” stickers were deemed helpful reminders to vote Tuesday in the 2008 presidential election.
Those around the area couldn’t go anywhere without seeing the “fingerprinted” stickers adorned proudly from sweater to sweater, signifying they had placed a vote for either Obama or McCain, and other local issues.
“It is each individual’s duty to contribute to our government however they can,” said Jasmine Agee, a University student and resident of Hyde Park. “I wore the sticker so that I could hopefully encourage others to go vote.”
Another supporter of the sticker, 30-year-old Benson Brown from Logan said he decided to wear the sticker “to show that I have performed my adult responsibility as an American citizen.”
Brown argued that all citizens should have a pride for America and in our democratic freedoms. He compared the “I Voted” sticker with displaying an American flag at your home on the fourth-of-July. “People should showcase that they have exercised their American rights,” said Brown.
Some even called the stickers “last minute advertising,” like Carol Jensen from North Logan who volunteered as a clerk judge at the North Logan Library to help out with voting.
Jensen, who jokingly admitted that she has been voting for many years, said that the stickers have only been passed out for the last five to ten years. She also admitted to having “a really good time,” volunteering although she was at the library for 16 hours.
“I saw fewer voters than I expected because I knew how much interest there was in this campaign,” said Jensen.
But she didn’t blame it on “last minute advertising.”
“I think a lot of people took the option to vote early and avoid the lines on Election Day,” said Jensen.
The stickers weren’t always looked at positively.
“It has almost become too much of a trend to wear the sticker,” said Utah State student Ezra Price. “I think they showcase a sense of self-righteousness.”
Price argued that you don’t have to exploit the fact that you voted to feel good about doing it. “There is a quiet sense of satisfaction you get after doing something you know is right,” said Price.
“We all like rewards,” said Jensen. “I don’t think anyone comes to get the sticker, but it is a way of saying thank you for coming and voting.”
Tired of the war in Iraq and rough economic times, citizens seemed thirsty to participate in this year’s election. Even so, for residents across the valley, “I Voted” stickers were deemed helpful reminders to vote Tuesday in the 2008 presidential election.
Those around the area couldn’t go anywhere without seeing the “fingerprinted” stickers adorned proudly from sweater to sweater, signifying they had placed a vote for either Obama or McCain, and other local issues.
“It is each individual’s duty to contribute to our government however they can,” said Jasmine Agee, a University student and resident of Hyde Park. “I wore the sticker so that I could hopefully encourage others to go vote.”
Another supporter of the sticker, 30-year-old Benson Brown from Logan said he decided to wear the sticker “to show that I have performed my adult responsibility as an American citizen.”
Brown argued that all citizens should have a pride for America and in our democratic freedoms. He compared the “I Voted” sticker with displaying an American flag at your home on the fourth-of-July. “People should showcase that they have exercised their American rights,” said Brown.
Some even called the stickers “last minute advertising,” like Carol Jensen from North Logan who volunteered as a clerk judge at the North Logan Library to help out with voting.
Jensen, who jokingly admitted that she has been voting for many years, said that the stickers have only been passed out for the last five to ten years. She also admitted to having “a really good time,” volunteering although she was at the library for 16 hours.
“I saw fewer voters than I expected because I knew how much interest there was in this campaign,” said Jensen.
But she didn’t blame it on “last minute advertising.”
“I think a lot of people took the option to vote early and avoid the lines on Election Day,” said Jensen.
The stickers weren’t always looked at positively.
“It has almost become too much of a trend to wear the sticker,” said Utah State student Ezra Price. “I think they showcase a sense of self-righteousness.”
Price argued that you don’t have to exploit the fact that you voted to feel good about doing it. “There is a quiet sense of satisfaction you get after doing something you know is right,” said Price.
“We all like rewards,” said Jensen. “I don’t think anyone comes to get the sticker, but it is a way of saying thank you for coming and voting.”
Interviewing—Emilie Wheeler
.
NewsHounds: Please study these two stories from Emilie Wheeler in advance of her visit to class with us on Monday to continue our conversation about interviewing skills. Emilie, a 2005 (?) JCOM grad and former editor of the Statesman, is city editor of the Herald-Journal. She writes:Ted: OK, I'm sending you two stories for them to read beforehand.
The first is interesting because it dealt with death — a suicide, no less — and I interviewed both the principal who found the girl and another student who was friends with the girl... Tough interviews. Typically, we don’t report on suicides, but this one was done in such a prominent place it made it newsworthy. I wrote the second story more recently, and it’s a little quirky. It required interviews with a couple of uptight city guys and a regular resident (who talked too much for her own good). Those types of interviews are probably more common for reporters on any given day.
I'll also bring a list of tips on Monday.
Emilie
School copes with tragedy: Girl's suicide death announced at South Cache
March 23, 2007
By Emilie H. Wheeler
staff writer
HYRUM — Students and faculty who went to South Cache 8-9 Center Thursday coping with a suicide attempt the day before were dealt another blow when they found out the ninth-grade girl died at a Salt Lake City hospital.
Students at the Hyrum school were notified by an announcement Thursday afternoon that Kailey Mathews, 14, died at Primary Children’s Hospital. Mathews was transported there by LifeFlight Wednesday after hanging herself in a girls’ bathroom that afternoon.
Counselors from Mountain Crest High School joined those at South Cache all day Thursday, discussing the situation with students and faculty at the approximately 1,000-student school.
“They tried to make it as normal for kids as they could,” Superintendent Steve Norton said Thursday afternoon, while providing a place and person to talk to should students need it.
The event has caused other issues to surface, Principal Teri Cutler said.
“For some of the kids, it brings out things that have happened in their lives,” she said.
On Thursday, administrators tried to identify students who were especially close to Mathews.
The school also has a meeting planned tonight in the media center for parents and community members to obtain information on what resources are available to help children through the grief process.
Cutler said those who knew Mathews struggled throughout Thursday.
“It’s hard,” she said. “We care about her, we love her. It’s tough to see students and friends and colleagues sad.”
Fellow ninth-grader Sadie Yeates said she hung out with Mathews during lunch and before school and was good friends with her when they were younger.
“She had a lot of friends,” she said of Mathews. “Everybody really liked her.”
Mathew’s act, discovered by another student just after 1 p.m. Wednesday, looked to have been planned, Norton said.
“It was apparent that she had planned it, yes,” he said.
The student who found Mathews unconscious alerted a faculty member, who got her down.
Cutler said Mathews was a cute and happy girl, but one whom friends and teachers worried about.
“Her friends would tell you that she had talked about it (suicide),” Cutler said. “It’s important to note that never were the discussions ignored. She was talked to.
“We tried to talk to her.”
Cutler called Mathews a “very bright, very capable” student with many friends.
“She had a lot of good friends and a lot of people who cared about her,” she said. Cutler stressed that other parents should know there are children out there dealing with depression.
“Sometimes you have to hear that depression’s real,” she said. “You can’t brush (those feelings) aside. That’s why we felt it was so important to offer that parent meeting. We just want to give parents some tools professionals use.”
Parents are also welcome to call the school, Cutler said.
Mathews was involved with the yearbook class and sometimes stayed after school to work on that, Cutler said. Yeates said Mathews liked makeup, liked to shop and made people laugh.
South Cache was somber on Thursday, Yeates said.
“Everyone was really sad,” she said.
Her classmates will remember Mathews’ smile, her friend said. “She made everyone smile.”
Counselors will be available for students and staff at least through the funeral, the date of which has yet to be announced. The district will do what it can to make sure everybody who wants to can attend the funeral, Norton said.
This incident has perhaps been the most traumatic in recent history, he said.
“There have been students who have taken their lives in the past,” he said. “But, most of those have been away from the school setting.”
At some point, Norton and Cutler said district officials and employees throughout the district will meet to discuss handling a similar situation in the future, should it occur, and what — if anything — should be handled differently.
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Titillating tat: City finds no cause to oust tattooed woman from pool
July 30, 2008
By Emilie H. Wheeler
staff writer
Logan officials say they would have no grounds to oust a recent patron of the city’s Aquatic Center whose tattoo of a partially nude angel offended others at the pool.
Councilmembers, the city attorney and other employees have recently dealt with the complaints of one Logan woman, who is concerned about what she calls a graphic tattoo sported on another woman’s back. While some images may offend others recreating on city property, it’s tough to regulate distasteful material, Logan Attorney Kymber Housley says.
Laura Call was visiting the pool about two weeks ago with her husband, 1-year-old daughter and another couple. She said she — and those with her — became concerned after seeing a detailed tattoo depicting a woman’s breasts on an individual’s back. Call said she complained to a lifeguard, but nothing was done.
“With it being so graphic, especially at a public place, I don’t think it should be allowed,” she said.
But it’s not that simple, Housley contends.
Although he admits he didn’t see the actual tattoo, its description is not legally considered “obscene” and wouldn’t warrant forcing someone to leave the pool or prosecuting anyone who displayed that kind of content, he said.
“There’s a lot of distasteful stuff out there,” he said, “but it just doesn’t meet the legal standard to be prosecuted.”
Call, who e-mailed her concerns to Municipal Councilmembers, Mayor Randy Watts, Parks and Recreation Department Director Russ Akina and Aquatic Center Director Jon Eccles, says she isn’t necessarily lobbying for the prosecution of the individual with the tattoo.
She instead hopes the situations are prevented in the future, something Housley said would also not tread on solid legal ground.
“There’s no harm in asking (people to cover up),” Housley said. “They may say no, and it’s not like we can force them to do that. It really comes down to First Amendment issues.”
This is the first complaint Logan has received of this nature that Housley knows of, he said.
But Call said she worries eroding values may hurt children and families who frequent the Aquatic Center. Others in her party were also offended, she said.
“Any child at any age — they’re not as unaware as some people might think,” she said. “The more they’re exposed to it, the more it’s going to stick in their minds.”
Akina, the Parks and Recreation department director, said the situation puts the city in “a little bit of a pickle.”
“We need to be careful because it is a public facility,” he said, adding that the law should be adhered to.
He said as this was the first situation of this nature he’s dealt with, he planned to see how other cities treat these incidents.
“I will certainly talk to the other professionals in the state,” he said.
There is a Logan ordinance that deals with exposing minors to harmful materials, but Housley said as described to him, this situation doesn’t apply. Individuals can only be prosecuted for knowingly selling or loaning harmful material to minors for monetary consideration, according to the ordinance.
Call, who is a former lifeguard and swim instructor of the Aquatic Center, said the incident could change her family’s recreation habits.
“If we’re going to continue seeing that kind of stuff, we’re not going to take our daughter there,” she said.
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Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Donators of Hair.
So, my next story idea is covering people who donate their hair to charity. I do not know if I want to do it on Locks-of-love, or if there is another angle or less known charity organization of the sort that deserves some spotlight. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it! Also, if you know anyone who has donated hair or has received donated hair that would be willing to talk to me that would be wonderful.
Thanks guys.
Kate
Partying it Up on Election Night
Cheers could be heard coming from the Taggart Student Center's ball room on Tuesday night were an election party that was being held.
Hoping it becomes a tradition for years to come, Jackson Olsen Executive Vice President of the student government said that he thought the party was a success.
The election party up to and after the announcement of the president elect engaged in several activities and contests through out the evening.
Some of the activities were a hot dog eating contest, Rock Band competition, Ping-pong, political bingo, guessing which way swing states would go, and predictions on who would win.
With Rock Band, a video game, "the only complaint was more people wanted to enter the Rock Band tournament but due to limited time and space in the brackets we had to turn them away," Mike Watts a volunteer in charge of running the tournament said.
The tournament had a large turn out with some people signing up days in advance Watts said, and the winner was "A Band in Logan".
The hot dog eating contest involved 100 hot dogs and ___ people and a large crowd that gathered to watch.
Bill Sproat won the competition by eating seven hot dots in three minutes.
Political bingo and ping pong had a good attendance as well as people gathered at tables with paddles or score cards to participate.
"I did have a good time at the party," Colin Wiest said despite that, "it didn't turn out the way I hoped."
Even with the fun of the games there was some booing and cheering at points, especially when Utah went to McCain.
When Barack Obama was announced as the new President Olsen said that "There were a lot of happy people, there were a lot of sad people, and there were a lot of people who were seemed indifferent".
Some people danced, but many cheered and many ran out the door to call their relatives and friends.
Olsen went on to say that, "over all I think people knew this was coming so they weren't shocked by the outcome and I think a lot people are coming to terms with President Obama whether they like it or not. I think even the people who didn't want him to win are recognizing that after 230 something years this country has elected an African American president".
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