The Final

So after being late to our final presentations, I thought I could at least do my blog on time.  However, I went to Chicago with my friends.  I apologize for this entry being late.

This semester we learned about new technology, twitter, flash, flickr, RSS, final cut, b-roll, etc., etc.  We learned better writing skills, clear and present nut grafs, telling a story, transitioning from stats and context to the personal and the individual.  We learned how to conduct better interviews, on camera interviews, professional sources to use and getting a person’s story.

I think these lessons were the ones we were suppose to learn.  The ones on the syllabus and the ones that the professors and students expected.  However, our advanced reporting class taught me another lesson off the syllabus, a more universal.  This semester’s class was an experiment in adaptability.

When I registered for the advanced reporting class, I never thought video, audio and multimedia editing would come into play.  I expected the class to be news writing on crack.  It turned out to be a completely different experience–the curriculum was still on crack, however.

I remember the apprehension during the first week of school.  Meg, Molly and I looked at each other with trembling fear in our eyes.  We could write, but we were being asked to tell stories with video, flash and other mutlimedia forms.  Unlike some classes we had took in past semesters, this class challenged us to learn new skills, not just rely on our existing abilities.  I was not prepared for this, and doubted my ability to adapt to the new forms. 

Once we started discussing our projects, I realized that we could use video and graphics to our advantage.  They were tools.  We had to use them to do a project, to accomplish a goal.  Some aspects of our projects needed different tools to build and create them.  I needed to adapt.  My skill set evolved from just writing to shooting and editing video, manipulating sound clips and taking photographs. 

I have carried this lesson in adaptabilty into other disciplines.  After I adandoned a Chemistry major fresman year, I thought I never needed to take another math or science class again.  I was going to delve completely into the humanities.  Now, after getting into political science, I will be taking an upperlevel math class.  I realized that if I wanted to excel in the field, I needed a different tool to use.  It just so happened that this new tool would be applied calculus.

 

Clash of the Titans

Here is an article in the April 21 edition of the NY Times.

It talks about how traditional media outlets are relying more on video, audio and photography.  But when sports leagues sell their product to advertisers, the media are facing restrictions on what content they can post.  The question becomes who profits off of sporting events?

Anyway, the limiting of online pictures to only 7 disturbs me.  However, I do not know how I feel about the limitations placed on video.  Does anyone have an comments?

Favorite in-depth reporting

Here is a link to one of my favorite in-depth reporting articles

It is written by the man, Donald McNeil. I read this story in the paper last year and have not forgotten about it, especially the image in the second paragraph. I thought this would be a good item to post, so we could set a goal in mind for our own projects.

The article is about opiate painkillers in third-world countries.  It belongs to a set of other stories about the use of painkillers all over the world.  This is my favorite in the series.

Building an Iraqi Army

Here is an article in today’s New York Times by Michael Gordon.

There has been a lot of news about training Iraq’s army to take over when we leave; however, news coverage has not been this specific or personal. Compare the professionalism of the U.S. forces and Iraqi forces, especially the conversation about “bad guys.”

We (the U.S. military and government) are trying to build a modern army with Iraqi soldiers who were probably members of a militia a few years ago. They are a cellphone call away from deserting.

How can we build military tradition?

I bet it takes a long time.

The Beginning of the End

Here is my title and blurb for my advanced reporting final.

The Y-Factor: Creating an electorate in the 2008 election.  (Carol, we probably need to edit this.)

The youth turnout rate for a presidential election hit an all-time low in the 2000 election.  However, in the 2008 primary season, young people have become a sizable portion of voters.  The youth vote will continue to have significance in the upcoming presidential election.

This may happen to me.

Bloggers are dropping like flies.

Check out this NY Times article.

Nebraska Death Penalty Column

Here is my column that was published in the April 4 edition of the Creightonian. I wanted to emphasize the urgency that is needed to solve this problem Readers may want to check out a story in the Omaha World Herald and the Nebraska Unicameral Web site for more information. Tell you me your reactions to the story. Do you think I should have included advocacy information for pro-death penalty supporters? The column was meant to encourage political participation, and I did not want to get in a debate over the correctness of the death penalty.

Death penalty divides state Court and Legislature

Let’s make a difference.

No, this is not another Obama transcript from the campaign trail or a speech from your RSP advisor.
But now Creighton students have a unique opportunity to leave a lasting impression on the state in which we live.

Nebraska lingers in death penalty limbo: We have capital punishment but no way to implement it.
The state Supreme Court called “Old Sparky” the electric chair cruel and unusual punishment, but a majority in the Legislature still wants to kill some criminals.

Last week, a bill, LB1063, which would have banned the death penalty was rejected by the Unicameral. Five votes defeated the bill.

To make matters more complicated, Gov. Dave Heinenman released a press statement on his Web site.

“I believe it is now time to move forward,” he said. “Our focus now should be on deciding a legal method of execution for Nebraska.”

However, his efforts to reinstate the death penalty. may be all for nought. Seven out eight members on the Judiciary Committee supported the anti-death penalty bill, so they could possibly pigeon-hole any lethal injection bill supported by the governor.

It takes 30 votes to wrench a bill from a stalling committee–only 28 state senators voted against the bill. Thus, two senators need convincing to adopt lethal injection or five to abolish capital punishment all together.

How will Nebraska pull itself out from this public policy standstill?

This quagmire calls for civic engagement.

While I believe that the state should not engage in the business of killing its own citizens and that the Catholic Church firmly backs this stance, our predicament allows for advocacy on both sides of the issues.

We can e-mail our state senators at http://nebraskalegislature.gov/web/public/contact.

In addition, Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, and Creighton Students for Life who work cooperate on advocacy projects, plan to continue its opposition to the state’s current policy. Visit their Web site at www.nadp.net for more information.

I could not find any pro-death penalty advocacy groups in Omaha. Justice For All is a Texas based organization, which does some national organizing and petitioning. For more information, visit its Web site at http://www.jfa.net/deathpenalty.html

These are by no means all the resources out there; however, they provide a starting point for students to judge such an important issue and apply their efforts to create an effective political outcome.

And although tracing the skeletal structure of 3,4 dihydroxyphenylacetate or memorizing Thomas Aquinas’s “Quinquae viae” are important undertakings, 10 men currently wait on death row.

Our actions will have real-world consequences.

Dr. Janet Smith Column

Here is my column that appeared in the Creightonian on March 28, 2008, about Dr. Janet Smith’s lecture at Creighton on homosexuality. What are your reactions? Did I leave anything out that needed to be included? For more information, here are three links, which I found interesting in my research.

Dr. Janet Smith’s Web site: http://www.aodonline.org/SHMS/Faculty+5819/Janet+Smith+9260/Dr.+Janet+Smith+-+Welcome.htm

NARTH Web site: http://www.narth.com/

Just the Facts– A compilation of research done by the psychiatrists and other social science researchers. It challenges many of Dr. Janet Smith’s conclusions. It is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, National Association of School Psychologists, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, among others. Note the research done by Wolfe Garofalo, M. Schroeder and others in the references.

Table Tents not Pitched for Smith

I was investigating the case of the missing table tents.

The flyers, promoting Creighton’s Knights of Columbus speaker Dr. Janet Smith, began disappearing from Java Jay and Wareham food court tables as early as March 18, even though Knights of Columbus had reserved the spots until March 23.

Once I located one, their disappearance became more obvious. Smith planned to speak on homosexuality, “its causes, effects and treatments,” and all of this was funded in part by my very own Creighton Students Union.

I could understand why the idea of our student government paying for this speaker, whose ad effectively implied that the GLBT community was disease-ridden, lingered with a disconcerting aftertaste.

I arrived at the talk skeptical and a little bitter after realizing Web site recommended the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality “for more information on homosexuality.” But I left pleasantly surprised.

Smith’s basic argument was that homosexuality does not mean eternal damnation, but rather fulfilling a homosexual desire is a sinful, disordered act. In other words, feel free to love your fellow man, just don’t touch him.

She then used numerous public health and psychological data to argue that this Catholic teaching is rooted in reason. I would have used other data and drawn different conclusions, but her argument, for the most part, seemed understanding and thoughtful.

While I disagreed with Smith considerably, especially her statement, “If you can say two partners is natural, I would say this means heterosexuality is natural” and her “treatments,” which included journaling, praying and forsaking caffeine, the level of open, intellectual discourse startled me.

The audience engaged Smith in a mature discussion about topics that would normally make me snicker under my breath, such as anal sex, masturbation, ejaculations and wet dreams.

At her most empathetic, Smith said, “The Church should be eager to accept homosexuals and make sure they do not feel alienated, isolated from the community.”

When a student asked a question that abrasively began with “the gay advocates on campus who preach acceptance but are highly critical of…”, Smith interrupted and asked the student “not to ruin the good thing we have here.”

When she finished her impressive hour long question-and-answer session, Smith thanked everyone for “positively contributing to the discussion.”

This comment left me considering a scenario that would continue her discussion: If a student organization wanted to host a speaker that would encourage the Church to accept homosexuality, would that speaker be met with CSU funding and, more importantly, a respectful, civil audience?

The answer does not seem so reassuring.

So for now, I will only ask easier questions. Why CSU does not pre-approve all advertising displaying its logo, who stole those table tents, and did they at least recycle?

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Catholic Democrats and the ‘Privatization of Faith.’

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend toured Omaha on March 11 speaking about her book, “Failing America’s Faithful” on the 40th anniversary of Robert Kennedy’s, her father’s, presidential campaign.

The book has two premises.

1. The first argues that conservative Catholics have ignored the Church’s history of social teaching on justice and have instead focused on less important themes. “The Church has shrunk God into three narrow issues: heterosexual marriage, stem-cell research and anti-abortion.” This shift from social justice to single-sided issues occurred during the sex abuse scandals when the Church needed to prove its holiness.
2. The second argues that the Democratic party has attempted disassociate itself from religion and has alienated Catholic Democrats. She believed that the Catholicism and the Democratic Party go together because that the Church has a long history politics (“You don’t remain a Church for 2,000 years unless you are good a politics,” she said) and because the party’s ideology reflects the Catholic social teaching. However, instead of emphasizing community, the Democratic Party has ineffectively chose emphasizing the individual because it is more politically successful.

While Townsend seemed to fit comfortably into the liberal Catholic niche her tone dramatically shift to the right when speaking to Omaha Catholic Democrats at the Firefighters’ Union Hall.

At Creighton she said, “The Catholic Church got the abortion issue wrong.” She went on to criticize the Church because of its sexism and close mindedness. Three hours later, she did not mention the word “abortion,” skipped women’s rights in the Church and offered hope for the possibility of “being on top next week.”

More importantly, she praised State Senator Tom White as a ideal leader for Nebraska Catholic Democrats. Sen. White’s record is a little less praiseworthy. He touted his stem-cell research bill in front of the audience, which included a priest. (In her speech after Sen. White’s, Townsend did not mention her disdain for the Church’s contempt for stem-cell research.)

More importantly, Sen. White said that he was a pro-life politician “beyond the fetus” since he supported the revitalization of Nebraska’s mental health hospitals. However, Sen. White said he would not be supporting the bill in the state senate that would abolish the death penalty. When I said, “Don’t you think the state should not be inolved in the killing of humans business,” he responded about some Catholic theologians in California, as if the state’s name justified his liberal tag.

This dissonance between Townsend’s speech at Creighton and her speech in the city echoes her sentiment that the Catholic Universities lead the way in the social gospel. I still contend that one should not have to scale back beliefs depending on its prediction reception. However, a journalism professor reminded me that she is still asking for a lot of change, but “she has to consider her audience.”

More New Media

Here is a NY Times article about professional bloggers in D.C.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/fashion/09bloghouse.html?_r=1&ref=fashion&oref=slogin

I still don’t know if a “blogging party”suits me–maybe I will be more enthusiastic after completing this class.