There was some great stylistic choices in the article about movie stars that immediately caught my eye. Two paragraphs down, (after a good lead) the article cuts down a paragraph saying:
How bad is it?
Pretty bad.
I thought this choice was very effective and I was reminded that all of my articles do not need to be cookie cutter articles, and that I do have the freedom to play around with the structure of my piece a little more.
The article about facebook ads caught my eye also. As an avid facebook user, anything that has the two words "facebook" and "off key" in the headline made me interested to read more. The article is well put together and I found myself easily being able to read it, and connect it to my own life, since I too have been subject to these kind of ads, and it was interesting to find something that I knew about in the news.
Monday, March 22, 2010
March 3 New York Times
All the reports seem to be repeats of the reports in Haiti. They were already stretching for stories about Haiti, and now that the earthquake has happened in Chile, it's like the same stories are going to be told, except replacing a few names and the country Chile with Haiti's name. I was particularly impressed with the article about the young girl who was molested in India, and how this incident is causing the "middle class to take on the powerful" This article is so effective because it is not only an article about a young girl being molested in India (which is newsworthy by itself) but it goes one step further by making a comment on the social system of India and how crimes like this happen all the time but no one can do anything because of their class system.
March 2 New York Times
One of the articles I found rather interesting was Obama's backing of districts that fire teachers who fail to bring their students up to the standard educational requirements. "Our kids only get one chance at an education and we need to get it right," Obama said on the topic. I think that his involvement in bringing up the educational system of our country will do wonders in our progress. If education is as important to an individual's success as it is made out to be, more students with higher educations will naturally bring our country up to another level. Another thought I had was wondering how many times President Obama's name is mentioned in the newspaper. Through his treatment of so many issues in our country, he himself is newsworthy, the next newsworthy topic. I have a feeling that not a day goes by in the New York Times that Obama's name is not mentioned.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Drinking on College Campuses
Today, two New Hampshire college officials met to discuss the controversial issues of drinking on college campuses and whether it is, or is not, as bad as most make it out to be.
Anne Lawing, the Senior Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of New Hampshire believes that in the last 20-25 years, alcohol awareness has increased as it became more socially acceptable to talk about it.
Sheila Lambert, the Coordinator of Wellness at Southern New Hampshire University, maintains that perceptions from the media and the surrounding community about college drinking creates a misconception about the amount of alcohol college students consume.
Both Lawing and Lambert agree that drinking has been a part of college campuses since they can remember.
“Students have been drinking as long as we’ve had students,” said Lawing.
However, although drinking is common on college campuses, the two officials believe that it is not something that can be ignored or simply accepted.
“We are concerned about the frightening levels of problems around alcohol,” said Lawing, naming off sexual assault, academic problems, vandalism, drunk driving, and death as just few of the many issues surrounding alcohol. “Frankly, we’re tired of all these problems.”
In light of the concerns of college drinking, New Hampshire colleges work in collaboration to address issues and collect data throughout the state.
Although many believe that college drinking is out of control, Lambert has evidence that proves otherwise. In a study conducted by colleges throughout the state, it was discovered that the majority of college students drink in low risk ways, consuming 4 or fewer drinks in a week.
“Do not engage in the misperceptions,” Lambert said. “The data supports not all students drink in high risk ways.”
The two came together after heightened awareness of alcohol problems were seen by Hanover police, worried about the amount of drinking done at Dartmouth College. New undercover programs were put in place in order to track who served underage students alcohol.
Experts believe that this tactic could be more harmful than helpful, driving drinking underground and making students less likely to call an ambulance if a friend needs help.
Lawling believes that college students can still have a positive college experience without the need to drink.
"Methods have to be put in place to curb underage drinking on campus," she said.
Anne Lawing, the Senior Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of New Hampshire believes that in the last 20-25 years, alcohol awareness has increased as it became more socially acceptable to talk about it.
Sheila Lambert, the Coordinator of Wellness at Southern New Hampshire University, maintains that perceptions from the media and the surrounding community about college drinking creates a misconception about the amount of alcohol college students consume.
Both Lawing and Lambert agree that drinking has been a part of college campuses since they can remember.
“Students have been drinking as long as we’ve had students,” said Lawing.
However, although drinking is common on college campuses, the two officials believe that it is not something that can be ignored or simply accepted.
“We are concerned about the frightening levels of problems around alcohol,” said Lawing, naming off sexual assault, academic problems, vandalism, drunk driving, and death as just few of the many issues surrounding alcohol. “Frankly, we’re tired of all these problems.”
In light of the concerns of college drinking, New Hampshire colleges work in collaboration to address issues and collect data throughout the state.
Although many believe that college drinking is out of control, Lambert has evidence that proves otherwise. In a study conducted by colleges throughout the state, it was discovered that the majority of college students drink in low risk ways, consuming 4 or fewer drinks in a week.
“Do not engage in the misperceptions,” Lambert said. “The data supports not all students drink in high risk ways.”
The two came together after heightened awareness of alcohol problems were seen by Hanover police, worried about the amount of drinking done at Dartmouth College. New undercover programs were put in place in order to track who served underage students alcohol.
Experts believe that this tactic could be more harmful than helpful, driving drinking underground and making students less likely to call an ambulance if a friend needs help.
Lawling believes that college students can still have a positive college experience without the need to drink.
"Methods have to be put in place to curb underage drinking on campus," she said.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Thursday Feb 25 NY Times
It truly is scary the way that the world is now preparing themselves for earthquakes. Seeing the devastation in Haiti, countries are now preparing for what would happen if an earthquake happened to hit their country. We wonder if it is going to be a a continuous streak of earthquakes or if the earthquake in Haiti is the end of it. As much as I hoped that the paper would interest me more than yesterday's did, I find myself unable to connect to many of the headlines. Everything seems very negative, rather than positive news that perhaps we need in a time like this.
Wednesday Feb 24 NY times
I was very surprised by the anti-smoking article in France. I looked up the pictures of the ads, and frankly, I don't know if they are doing their job. Equalizing smoking with sexual submission, while a scary concept, isn't the kind of message that would go the farthest in promoting anti-smoking. Maybe it will work on the French youth by making smoking seem like something that only naive people do, but it is pretty offensive. This day's paper for me was overall just okay, with relatively interesting stories, but nothing new that really caught my eye. I'm hoping that tomorrow's paper is better.
Tuesday Feb 23 NY Times
For once, news on Obama's healthcare caught my attention in a positive way, not a negative way. It's good to see something that seems like it actually might make a difference by tackling it head on. The front page article about the drug fight had a great delayed lead- "For the melanoma patients who signed on to try a drug known as PLX4032" the clinical trial was a last resort. Their bodies were riddled with tumors, leaving theme almost certainly just months to live" It continues on to use personal stories to tell the story about these people who have suddenly recovered because of this certain drug. More articles on Haiti continue, now covering the issue of missing limbs. I wonder at what point the news on Haiti will die out. I also found the article about the gay broadway show extremely interesting and relevant. Most of the time, the news covers political aspects of homosexuality, rather than what it really is about, which is love. I'm glad to see that the paper and broadway shows are both covering this issue
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