May 2013
3 posts
April 2013
1 post
March 2013
5 posts
In the world of journalism graduate schools and social media, I am remarkably relevant today.
Attending SXSWi? Here are Poynter’s top picks for sessions. Are there other sessions that you’re excited about?
ONA’s Jeanne Brooks and Jen Mizgata are going. Say hi to them at the Awesomest Journalism Party. Ever. III. on Saturday night.
Two major news organizations, The New York Times and TIME, both exhibited graduate school student projects on their websites today.
‘Shoot One. Please,’ a short documentary about a 15-year-old boy’s first deerhunt, is Ken Christensen’s senior capstone project. Christensen is credited as a “recent graduate of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.”
And although it was originally posted in February, today I stumbled across one of TIME’s LightBox photo essays by a first year graduate student at Ohio University in Athens, Sara Naomi Lewkowicz. Her photos, titled “Photographer as Witness: A Portrait of Domestic Violence,” documented the abusive relationship between an ex-con and a mother of two.
Graduate projects being showcased at major media organizations? I’m feeling a little more encouraged about the skills a j-school graduate education can teach you and the possibilities a degree can open.
February 2013
3 posts
It’s pretty incredible that a career change of this nature can happen apparently seamlessly. Zeleny reportedly told TV Newser that the decision to transition to The Times was easy, since he “hasn’t worked for a newspaper for quite awhile.”
The New York Times is undoubtedly a news organization to be respected and revered, but if they can’t catch a break in this climate - who can?
The biggest jaw-dropper? The fact that Zeleny can pull of a career change like this - from one of the most famous print publications on the planet to one of the largest news stations - seamlessly. In fact, he considers it to be a breeze.
This news is only further proof that the media industry is converging. What originally appeared to be three separate tracks (print, broadcast and online journalism), is now merging into one. The do-it-all journalist whose skill set includes adaptability and AP Style, on-air comfortability and web design, Final Cut Pro and multiple social media accounts, with traditional traits like news judgment and the ability to work on deadline.
So if this is the new normal in the journalism world, how does the current system educate the journalists of the next generation? When a program offers its students the option between three tracks, are they really dooming them to fail in today’s climate?
If I want to be the best, and the best can do it all, then where do I go to learn it all?
Today, it seems like your best bet is to teach yourself and hope you come out alright.
January 2013
1 post
“It frustrates me that intellectual, high-level academic material — like the kind of juried, peer-reviewed articles published in various journals like JSTOR — are not available to people outside the academic community. Since none of us gets paid for writing this material, I feel that it should be in the public domain.” - Caryn Stedman, 57, a professor at Central Connecticut State University
It will be interesting to see if this will be the spark to ignite the battle against overbearing copyright rules. I really need to vent about this - more coming later.
December 2012
6 posts
If you hate it, you’re jealous. If you love it, you’re shallow. Tuesday night marked another battle for womankind against womankind in the form of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
It’s flooded Twitter feeds, Instagram profiles, Facebook news feeds. Every woman (and some men) seem to feel a very urgent need to voice their opinion about the #VSFashionShow.
November 2012
13 posts
Peace’s death is untimely but not unusual. The two turkeys Obama pardoned in 2010, Apple and Cider, were both dead by the next Thanksgiving. They developed respiratory infections soon after arriving at Mount Vernon, according to Aloisi, and then a foot disorder that made it hard for them to walk and escalated into joint problems.
Turkeys bred for eating just aren’t built to live long, so the presidential pardon is simply an extension on the death sentence carried by birds too fat and big-breasted to reproduce naturally.
While turkeys in the wild grow to about 18 pounds, the demand for 40 million big, juicy birds this time of year has produced a farm-raised turkey of different proportions. When Obama pardoned Liberty and Peace last Thanksgiving, the 19-week-old birds weighed 45 pounds each. They lost some weight after arriving at Mount Vernon, which may have helped keep them mobile, Aloisi said.
October 2012
6 posts
“People on every continent have realized that to thrive in the modern economy, they need to be able to think, reason, code and calculate at higher levels than before.”
When I decided to learn web development, it was for business reasons. I was sick of not knowing what I was talking about.
Now, I realize that it’s become much more than that. It goes beyond the new languages, concepts, and opportunities. Coding has changed the way I think - both for building…
I decided to learn coding for myself for my “independent study.” I could’ve coasted with just working.
Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit.
Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.
” —Ira Glass, This American LifeSeptember 2012
18 posts
“Some other celebrity might sue a publication for calling her fat; Gaga’s fighting back by taking the high road, by showing the world that it’s not okay to critique her body — not because she’s a pop star, but because she is a human being, with feelings and a history of eating disorders and we can, and should, do better” -Dodai Stewart
So maybe I haven’t been the biggest Lady Gaga fan in the past. I enjoyed her music, but I wasn’t in love with it. I enjoyed watching her antics, but I wasn’t convinced by them. She sat as a benchwarmer on my iPod, occasionally getting her time in the spotlight for a good jam session in the car (obviously alone) but ultimately being passed up for another song.
But this is something I commend her for. I was never a Little Monster, but reading this article convinced me not only of her compassion, but that she really was, despite everything we’ve seen, a human being.
It takes courage to embrace yourself after others tear you down. It takes even more to be an icon of body acceptance to millions of people across the world.
It’s the sad truth that the majority of us, myself included, fail to recognize ourselves for the strength and beauty we already have. Instead we focus on our weaknesses, our pain, our outer appearance. We let those flaws define who we are, instead of acknowledging and owning what we already have. If Lady Gaga is the way to finally help people accept themselves, then I will down my glass of wine in support of her.
Here’s to you, Gaga.
How’s it going, college student? It’s only been a few weeks, but I’ve already seen you grow up a little more each time we talk. It’s the short texts, the lack of phone calls home, the excitement you get when you’re on the way back to school that shows me not just how busy you are, but how much you love Binghamton.
It’s eery how much you remind me of myself after my first few weeks at Oswego (woah - enough m’s? Holy alliteration, Batman). Come on, even our first frat parties were the same! I remember I couldn’t get enough of everything college - the the people, the classes, the parties. I was energized by it all. I know you feel it now too - that cliche feeling you think only belongs in movies or cheesy TV shows, the feeling a select few have in high school but is most rewarding in college; it’s the feeling of knowing you’re right where you belong at this time in your life.
