Week Four: Story Ideas and Rotations

As we had our last couple of general classes, I was eager to see how things would be when we split off into rotations. (I was ill. Yay me.) I’m looking forward to learning about Audacity! I already use it for my voice lessons and Musicianship classes for recording assignments and exercises, but my knowledge is very basic.

Going back a little further, I’m very excited to be starting out on my story idea of the possibility of charging students for the Lilly/Blackstock renovations in the future. When we were thinking of how we’d start off our videos earlier this week, I’ve got an idea that’s yet to abdicate to something better—not about to give it away in case it does change, but I’m liking what I’ve got if it turns out I can find the resources to make it happen.

Ah, for this week’s reading. Obviously, the “It Takes A B.A. To Find a Job As a File Clerk” caught my attention. I definitely wouldn’t have found out about it without the New York Times since this type of story doesn’t seem to be the Internet’s type. What pissed me off was the assumption of college graduates being harder or better workers than non-graduates. Adam Slipakoff in particular said something I shook my fist at: “College graduates are just more career-oriented. Going to college means they are making a real commitment to their futures. They’re not just looking for a paycheck.” Okay, first of all, yes, many of them are “just looking for a paycheck” thanks to today’s economy, so that right there is bullshit. Second of all, saying that college graduates are more career-oriented is an outrageous stereotype. Some people go to college and party all four years. Some people don’t go to college because they can’t afford it and get pushed into a corner with menial labor by high-reaching employers. This isn’t to discredit all of the kids who go to college who are ambitious, but saying that every single kid is ambitious, and, further, more ambitious than every single kid who didn’t go to college or didn’t graduate, is just ludicrous. Several of the hardest working people I know didn’t go to college. Furthermore, if “degree inflation” continues, colleges in this country are going to have to become much more affordable. Much. Mitt’s asinine suggestion of borrowing money from parents isn’t going to work. Not all parents have that money. It’s unfair to place the financial bar for attendance so high and then make all of these assumptions about how people who go to college are better in the workplace.

*Deep breath. Okay. Rant over. Signing out for tonight before I decide that I haven’t milked my bad mood for long enough a time.

Week Three: Watergate and Other Stuff

Carl Bernstein created quite a stir in the community this week. I proudly placed my autographed copy of All the President’s Men on my highest shelf and hope to read it soon. Regrettably I had a 4 o’clock class and couldn’t stay for the MeFe pre-session, but the lecture was fantastic. Anyhow, I really enjoyed Professor Steele’s talk on media ethics, especially considering that the American code of journalism ethics originated right here at DePauw with Sigma Delta Chi, or the Society of Professional Journalists. (I think I picked it up from Losing the News a while back, and it stuck.) Integrity and hard work/verification, among other factors, comprise journalistic ethics, but these two are the ones that are most important to me, especially since they are so rarely seen on the Internet. (The latter especially is impractical due to time constraints.) One of Professor Steele’s points that resounded with me in particular was equating ethics with excellence. Not only is it alliteration, but it rings true. It’s profound and well-spoken—both I appreciate.

My article of interest this week was “Russia seeks the arrest of a politician from Georgia,” which I chose for the fact that it is the first case of Russia’s pursuit of a political figure who is not Russian. I found it interesting that Georgia could not send Targamadze to Russia (the lions) but would open up a criminal investigation into his doings. I would have liked to see some input from Georgians, as well, not just from the Russian president, Putin. I definitely wouldn’t have known about it otherwise, since it’s such an obscure little piece. This is why International News is my favorite section of the New York Times. I haven’t been following the story and thus don’t know a lot about Targamadze and the riots he purportedly incited, only that he seems to be in a lot of hot water with both the Russian and Georgian governments. I’ll end this rather before I fall asleep, even if it’s a bit shorter than my usual.

Week Two: Storytelling and Mali

Eh, I’m ashamed to say that between missing class due to illness on Wednesday showing up half an hour late because of a lengthy interview on Friday, my attendance wasn’t exactly up to par this week. *bows head However, this seems just as good a place as any for shameless advertisement: go read my story in next Tuesday’s issue!

The bits of class I did catch were certainly more print journalist-y than I had anticipated, and I was elated. Telling True Stories is giving me the tinglies, from Jacqui Banaszynski’s nod to The Things They Carried in the first few pages to the whole section on travel memoir in Part III. (Morocco memoir, here I come.) Not only is the writing exquisite, but it’s providing excellent tips on assembling a story, conducting interviews (nice to know I’m not the only one who hates tape recorders), making characters come to life, etc. I know I’ll be going back to this book again and again to remember how to put a fresh coat of paint on that story, how to find a new angle to replace a tired and formulaic old lead, how to arrange things in an order that makes sense. I’m glad I didn’t rent this one because it’s certainly a keeper. In actual class, I really enjoyed the avalanche video and found that I could apply that to storytelling in print media, too, because in many ways it’s really similar across the board. My expectations for this course remain the same, concerning learning media production across the board, but I’m infinitely more excited about it now that I have an idea of how these different media click together.

Ah, the New York Times. Apart from my thirty-minute rant about the Superbowl photo being the cover photo as opposed to something more newsworthy such as maybe, hmmm, a perfectly decent photo accompanying PENTAGON EXPECTS TO KEEP PRESENCE IN AFGHANISTAN on the very next page, it was an enjoyable experience as always. I’ll talk about both pieces of news, since they both affected (afflicted?) me in—ah—very different ways. I would not have heard about the Superbowl blackout had I not seen the NYTimes—I would not, in fact, have known about it at all had I not been in class on Monday, seeing as I was too busy ranting about “that sports photo” to note what it was about. As I’m rather a dullard about sports, I didn’t even realize that the Superbowl was happening. Even if there was a blackout, I still think that’s no excuse. Boot it over to the sports section. The article that most caught my eye was As Extremists Invaded, Timbuktu Hid Artifacts of a Golden Age (with another photo that should have beat out the Superbowl one, even more than the Pentagon one, on A8) for two reasons—one, I’ve always been fascinated with the methods of preserving artifacts in warfare and two, I was staying a country up in the Sahara just two or three weeks ago. I hated to hear that the Tuareg were burning so many artifacts because I had met some Tuareg traders in the desert and understood them to be a peaceful tribe. They comprise a demographic of the Amazigh people (or, as the West derogatorily calls them, “Berber” people), and the Imazighen (plural for Amazigh) are working toward recognition from their respective national governments by demanding that their languages be taught in schools along with Arabic. Amazigh methods are peaceful, and they get their message across through music and cultural messages. There’s a certain allure about the Imazighen that attracts me as a pacifist and as a musician, and thus I forged a deep bond with Amazigh culture. Every bull has its horns, and I met Tuareg people from a different location, but it still hit me hard. I had heard about French and Malian troops advancing to Timbuktu on NPR when I was at home a little while back, but I wouldn’t have heard about this current story otherwise because I have no car and no way of listening to NPR. Either way, this blog is getting too long. Toodles!

First Blog Post Title (I know. How novel.)

The classes this week were really interesting. It was especially useful getting to know the Slideshow program and how to make a slideshow for the ending project. I’m hoping to get some skills I can use as a print journalist out of this course, which is why I’m enjoying Telling True Stories. Storytelling is something I’ve always tried to display in my journalistic writing, and I’m trying to grow in this aspect by drawing from my experiences as an editor-in-chief and writing material for the news section of The DePauw on a regular basis. I would like to see a healthy focus on this in our course syllabus, as well, since I’m at a bit of a loss in working with visual media—i.e., taking photos and making videos and/or slideshows. I’m sure that it will be useful information for me in a modern media setting, especially pertaining to the current situation facing newspapers—which I’ll get into now.

I read Losing the News before beginning my first semester at DePauw, and it had a profound effect on me. I agree with Alex Jones’ view that iron core news as provided by newspapers is shrinking and just generally in danger with the rise of the Internet and “citizen journalism,” and I’d like to think that there’s something we can do to keep newspapers going. Print media, after all, have survived other technological revolutions through film, television, and radio—why should the Internet wipe them out, as long as we play our cards right? Newspapers have to maintain their income, especially through the expenses of printing and distribution—but there’s a way if they can use some of their online revenue to replace funds. One idea in Losing the News I liked was making the search engines pay (More? This part of the book is fuzzy) for the news content they take from other online extensions of newspapers. Not only do I believe we’re losing an in-depth quality of news if we let newspapers go, but I’m rather loath to write shorter stories on a time crunch for the Internet. For the hope that I can write for a physical paper after graduation, I’d like to see newspapers survive—and even thrive—in the digital age.

I began reading hard copies of the New York Times last semester as they became available to Media Fellows. Not only did I love the smell of newsprint and the feel of opening the pages, but I also became much more aware of current affairs—I’d even call people to discuss the news if I had time. I liked this feeling most of all because I wasn’t heavily involved in campus news, not any more than I was obligated to be as a writer for The DePauw. Admittedly, I no longer have time to read the Times every day, but I pick up issues when I can—two to three times a week, now that they’re required. One story in particular that popped out to me this week was “Ban on Gays May Be Lifted By Boy Scouts” (link provided to online version at bottom of page—title listed here is print), which initially shocked me—I thought that, no matter how unethical it was for an organization of such magnitude to propel discrimination, bigots would continue to be bigots for a very long time. Once I got over this shock, I noted where the article was placed—above the centerfold, marking the Times with a liberal slant. (I’ve got no problem with this as a hearty liberal. Besides, during the election last year, I noticed Romney getting more coverage than Obama—probably because he was a new candidate. The Times has no problem with objectivity, least of which in content and coverage.) Anyhow, I was excited to read about the news, even if it allows for decisions to be made by individual organization about whether or not to let gay scouts in—this would merely change national policy about sexual orientation. Still, it’s a step in the right direction, far sooner than I anticipated. I’m also interested in finding out about the standing of religious discrimination in the Boy Scouts and how that progress transpires. As of right now, out atheists still won’t be allowed in the Scouts—which pisses me off, as an atheist. Huffington Post and Washington Post state that their policy is unchanged. It’s understandable, since we comprise such a minority. Still, I can hope it’ll come soon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/us/boy-scouts-consider-lifting-ban-on-gay-leaders.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0