So, I found this guy on YouTube who is pretty much a video editing beast ANNNND He goes to AACC.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Oh! Oh! Got my internship assignment!
For six weeks starting July 1, I will be interning at the... Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D.!!!!!!
Semi-Charmed Life: Chili Cook-off 2009
My summer break has officially begun and for a moment, I stepped back in time.I went to DC101's Chili Cook-off and instead of acting like the "mature 20 year old" that I am, I acted like I was still a 16-year-old punk rock chick crashing Warped Tour. No joke. I got dragged into the concert by my sister's friend who happens to be my age. I told her, "DO NOT CROWD SURF, my phone is dead and I'll never be able to find you."
Well, guess what? She crowd surfed which left me in a massive pit of sweaty 20-somethings jumping, pushing, slamming and punching their way closer to Puddle of Mudd. I'm not used to this, I'm way too fat for this, I thought as I literally felt like I was going to die from heat exhaustion.
I got out of this -- alive -- and somehow found Alex when I pushed my way out of the crowd when the set ended. When I found her, she was missing a shoe, phone and camera and like me, was covered and dirt and sweat.
But, no sweat.
We migrated. Walked around. Looked for people. She asked everyone -- and I mean everyone -- if she could buy their shoe from them. I wasn't amused. In fact, I was irritated, thirsty, hot and every part of my body was soaked from other peoples sweat. I thought it was supposed to rain all day?
So Alex and I found a t-shirt stand and both bought shirts we couldn't afford. She bought a hat to use as a shoe. Actually, she took the hat and used her old sweaty shirt to tie it on with.
We found the Mystic Piercing tent and we were apparently over our exhaustion because we both decided to get piercings. This is when the 16-year-old punk rock chick came into play. We got in line without knowing what we wanted to get pierced. We got up to the table and I realized.. Oh my God, I don't have my ID on me.
This inevitably led to ME asking anyone that looked over 35 to sign for me. They didn't and wouldn't believe that I wasn't a minor.
BUT THEN, I find Kerri.
"HEY! KERRI! Give me your ID, QUICK! I'm getting my nose pierced. Stop asking questions and just give it to me!" Apparently, in that moment, I realized that I wanted to get my nose pierced for the THIRD time because I had had so much luck the first two times.
So, I got my nose pierced and they gave me a lollipop.
"What is that line on your forehead?" My brother-in-law asked when I ran into him.
It was then that I remembered that crowd surfer who crash landed into my head (this BUMP is finally gone now).
Okay so I'm going to skip over the rest because it was pretty uneventful. Well, sort of. No, you know what? It was pretty damn eventful. We found everyone, I got a wristband (because I had Kerri's ID) and was reuniting with people from Berwyn Heights.. at least some of them.
When finally.... THE RAIN CAME!! Oh, it was beautiful. Imagine playing in the rain with thousands of drunk people.. it's a great time.
By this time, Third Eye Blind was about to come on and even though we had missed almost ALL of the bands performing, we all made it to see them.
My favorite thing about concerts is when the entire crowd is singing. The singer stops, the band keeps going, and no one skips a beat. Your forever bonded with those people. You look around and when your part comes up, all of a sudden everyone starts jumping at the same time, somehow managing to jump, throw their arms in their air and sing all at the same time. It's pretty amazing.
And I realized this is the reason I loved going to concerts when I was 16 - Even though it's hot, you inevitably get injured and at some point fear death, it is all worth it in that moment.
And, I have one last question to ponder: Why do people think it's okay to bring babies and children to a rock festival?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Peer Learning Partnership Hosts Open House
Peer Learning Partnership, a continuing education community for older adults at Anne Arundel Community College, is hosting its fifth anniversary open house on June 12 at 10 a.m. until noon in CADE219.
PLP was developed in 2004 to facilitate intellectual enrichment for retired people who still have a yearning to learn new things.
“I first learned about it in one of the college catalogues,” said PLP member Randall Pack. “There was a class featuring physicist Richard Feynman and I was just fascinated that it was a course being offered.”
Pack soon found out that the course was taught by his peers and he found that he was extremely intrigued by the concept of fulfilling his intellectual curiosity with peers who are experts in their fields.
It started out with only 12 members but now has upwards of 140 members – most of which are retired, said PLP President Bill Daney.
Enrollment has been steadily increasing, partially because many baby boomers are beginning to retire, said PLP curriculum coordinator, Krista Hamel.
“The concept is very appealing to that age group,” said Hamel. “Really, it’s a wonderful social outlet for them.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Anne Arundel County alone had more than 55,000 residents over the age of 65 in 2006, many of which still have the need to remain active, said Daney.
Though, Pack insists that being a member is extremely interesting in the sense that many of the people involved are former professors or fairly educated.
“This is not a group of people who got tired of playing shuffle board,” said Pack. “For example, when we’re discussing a novel, you’ll find someone who knew the author!”
Even though members are not being graded, there is a fair amount of preparation that goes into presenting new information, teaching a class, or partaking in a discussion, said Pack.
For example, one of the benefits of being a PLP member includes participating in “Fridays with Friends,” a lunchtime discussion group that meets once a week. Each week of the month has a different theme: current event discussions, current topics in science, book discussions, a travel group and a film discussion.
Most of the discussions try to reflect what the members are learning in their individual classes and each member takes turns presenting new information.
“When we did current topics in science, I had the chance to present on the 2008 Nobel Prize in Science,” said Pack. “I was just fascinated by the discussions we had. It isn’t like that movie, ‘Ferris Bueller’ when he says ‘Anyone? Anyone?’ You almost have to tell people to settle.”
The social aspect of it is very beneficial too, said Pack.
“It’s an incredible group of people,” said Pack. “When you get a lot of people who have been taking the same classes and meeting once a week, you get to know them!”
PLP offered eight peer taught classes in the spring and hopes to offer more as the enrollment increases.
The open house will allow prospective members to learn about joining, the costs, and get a chance to get to meet other members. Registering for classes offered by PLP requires signing up for PLP membership as well. Each class costs $26 and PLP has a membership of $26 per semester. For more information about attending the open house, contact Krista Hamel at 410-777-1806.
PLP was developed in 2004 to facilitate intellectual enrichment for retired people who still have a yearning to learn new things.
“I first learned about it in one of the college catalogues,” said PLP member Randall Pack. “There was a class featuring physicist Richard Feynman and I was just fascinated that it was a course being offered.”
Pack soon found out that the course was taught by his peers and he found that he was extremely intrigued by the concept of fulfilling his intellectual curiosity with peers who are experts in their fields.
It started out with only 12 members but now has upwards of 140 members – most of which are retired, said PLP President Bill Daney.
Enrollment has been steadily increasing, partially because many baby boomers are beginning to retire, said PLP curriculum coordinator, Krista Hamel.
“The concept is very appealing to that age group,” said Hamel. “Really, it’s a wonderful social outlet for them.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Anne Arundel County alone had more than 55,000 residents over the age of 65 in 2006, many of which still have the need to remain active, said Daney.
Though, Pack insists that being a member is extremely interesting in the sense that many of the people involved are former professors or fairly educated.
“This is not a group of people who got tired of playing shuffle board,” said Pack. “For example, when we’re discussing a novel, you’ll find someone who knew the author!”
Even though members are not being graded, there is a fair amount of preparation that goes into presenting new information, teaching a class, or partaking in a discussion, said Pack.
For example, one of the benefits of being a PLP member includes participating in “Fridays with Friends,” a lunchtime discussion group that meets once a week. Each week of the month has a different theme: current event discussions, current topics in science, book discussions, a travel group and a film discussion.
Most of the discussions try to reflect what the members are learning in their individual classes and each member takes turns presenting new information.
“When we did current topics in science, I had the chance to present on the 2008 Nobel Prize in Science,” said Pack. “I was just fascinated by the discussions we had. It isn’t like that movie, ‘Ferris Bueller’ when he says ‘Anyone? Anyone?’ You almost have to tell people to settle.”
The social aspect of it is very beneficial too, said Pack.
“It’s an incredible group of people,” said Pack. “When you get a lot of people who have been taking the same classes and meeting once a week, you get to know them!”
PLP offered eight peer taught classes in the spring and hopes to offer more as the enrollment increases.
The open house will allow prospective members to learn about joining, the costs, and get a chance to get to meet other members. Registering for classes offered by PLP requires signing up for PLP membership as well. Each class costs $26 and PLP has a membership of $26 per semester. For more information about attending the open house, contact Krista Hamel at 410-777-1806.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Death of Storytelling
Recently, I have read two different stories in two different papers about student journalism. It is strange to me that the media is covering themselves, that newspapers and journalism are the news. I've only been studying journalism for a short time, but I had the impression that the journalists, were supposed to be read but not ever seen -- so to speak.
Though, as the death of print becomes the news, the media finally has a chance to talk about themselves.
The first article I read was in the Annapolis, Md. paper, The Capital. The reporter told the story of Broadneck High School's newspaper who is putting their publication completely online. The newspaper's staff is afraid that putting their paper online will diminish their presence at their school.
The second article was in the Baltimore Sun and it said despite the uncertainty of journalism's future, enrollment in journalism schools is steadily increasing.
The ultimate question is: What do journalism students have to look forward to? Whatever comes after the death of print, it is sure to be something unprecedented. So, if this is something new and no one is sure what is going to happen, how are we supposed to be taught? We are taught by professors who experience is in print, the dying medium.
We are blindly preparing ourselves, dedicating ourselves and hoping that whichever path we take is the right one.
On game shows, they sometimes show three doors and say, choose the right one for a new car, or something similar. I feel that is the state of student journalism: We have to choose the right door. Instead of playing the luck game, we as students are told to prepare for it all:
Learn to write in print AND online.
Learn to make/edit video and be a broadcast journalist.
Learn to be a photographer and make slideshows.
Learn HTML so you can build your own website.
Learn to Design your own graphics and layout your own paper.
Be a mathematician, a politician, a caregiver, an educator.
Journalism students are the ultimate students because instead of mastering a specific field, we are expected to learn them all. If we want to succeed in journalism, we must have something that no one else has, and do it better than anyone else does.
And on top of it all, we still need to be good, precise, unbiased and compelling reporters. We still have to learn how to interview someone, how to research and report a story, how to write a lead under 35 words and above all, how to make a deadline.
The first article I read was in the Annapolis, Md. paper, The Capital. The reporter told the story of Broadneck High School's newspaper who is putting their publication completely online. The newspaper's staff is afraid that putting their paper online will diminish their presence at their school.
The second article was in the Baltimore Sun and it said despite the uncertainty of journalism's future, enrollment in journalism schools is steadily increasing.
The ultimate question is: What do journalism students have to look forward to? Whatever comes after the death of print, it is sure to be something unprecedented. So, if this is something new and no one is sure what is going to happen, how are we supposed to be taught? We are taught by professors who experience is in print, the dying medium.
We are blindly preparing ourselves, dedicating ourselves and hoping that whichever path we take is the right one.
On game shows, they sometimes show three doors and say, choose the right one for a new car, or something similar. I feel that is the state of student journalism: We have to choose the right door. Instead of playing the luck game, we as students are told to prepare for it all:
Learn to write in print AND online.
Learn to make/edit video and be a broadcast journalist.
Learn to be a photographer and make slideshows.
Learn HTML so you can build your own website.
Learn to Design your own graphics and layout your own paper.
Be a mathematician, a politician, a caregiver, an educator.
Journalism students are the ultimate students because instead of mastering a specific field, we are expected to learn them all. If we want to succeed in journalism, we must have something that no one else has, and do it better than anyone else does.
And on top of it all, we still need to be good, precise, unbiased and compelling reporters. We still have to learn how to interview someone, how to research and report a story, how to write a lead under 35 words and above all, how to make a deadline.
While print is moving gracefully to the grave, it is my belief that the need for news will never die. People want to be informed, want to criticize their government, read about car accidents, discuss movie stars and hear about a child who won a battle against Cancer -- they just don't want to pay for print when they can read it online.
So, in the midst of mourning print, perhaps we as journalism students should embrace the future. We should be grateful that we have so many different ways to enhance our stories. We don't necessarily have to decide "Print" or "Broadcast" as a major. We can make our words literally come to life and that is something that should be celebrated.
If we are good reporters and geniuenly care about our work, it will be read - one way or the other. So the best we can do as students is to learn, wish for the best and well, hope we don't end up working at Barnes and Noble.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Notice anything different?
I've apparently learned how to make blogger layouts. Infact, I made everything on here -- the layout, the header -- and It took me all day. I'm super excited that my blog doesn't look so boring anymore! :)
Monday, May 4, 2009
Someday I'll get a giveaway
"Someday I'll Get There" blog is giving away (GASP!) free stuff! She is giving away seven handmade cards and a journal -- a journal I hope to use when I go to South Dakota! I strongly suggest checking it out and doing it by tomorrow!!!
http://remembermoments0823.blogspot.com/2009/05/giveaway-premiere.html
http://remembermoments0823.blogspot.com/2009/05/giveaway-premiere.html
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