The best excerpts from class blogs over the past week:
1. The post about Pat Yack's advice to young people starting out in journalism makes alot of sense to me. I chose journalism as a minor because I have always like to read and write and have been pretty successful with English as my major. Yet, what I have found is that the journalism field is actually quite different than English and even a bit scary. My journalism classes are much more hands on and cut-throat, in the sense that if you don't have your brain constantly working and paying attention to whats going on in the world and shouting out ideas, you fall behind. In English, you can read the book and figure out something to write about it because the ideas are right there for you. Pat Yack's suggestions to know other languages and take other types of classes is great advice, and another one of the reasons Journalism seems scary to me--because you can't rely on anything but your own knowledge.
2. While doing research on John Merrill and the plagiarism incident I came across his e-mail and decided to ask him if he could give me his opinion on the issue first hand. This is what he replied:I am happy to elaborate somewhat on the "plagiarism" brouhaha. I am convinced that I did not plagiarize, that I only used direct quotes which I attributed to the two faculty members who said them. I'll admit that I could have--probably should have--noted that they came from a story in the student newspaper. I normally do that. But I know that column writers--and I have checked on this--do exactly the same thing that I did. I see it even in such papers as the New York Times. I did not "plagiarize a similar story" that appeared in the Maneater. My story was a "column," a reflection or spin-off of the facts of the Maneater story. During my 60 years of teaching and practicing journalism I have been a stickler for honesty in journalism. I have not wanted to "steal" anyone else's writing, believing that my own is as good or better. Plagiarism is a difficult subject and certainly one that needs a lot of study and semantic sophistication. Thanks for the interest in this incident. Best, John Merrill
3. I was just reading an article on Yahoo.com entitiled "Obama wins Ga. with strong black support," and it made me think of how the media is attempting to make race a major issue in this election. Most of Obama's wins during the primaries, the media has tried to justify it by saying he has a lot of support in the black community. Although this may be true, I don't believe that African-Americans are the only people that are voting for him. Obama has received strong support from people of all backgrounds, including a significant amount of support for young people. I do not think it is fair of the media to accredit his success only to the black voters. Besides race, there are many issues and beliefs that separate Clinton and Obama, and the media should take more time to focus on the issues rather than the superficial. Race did not have to become one of the main issues in this election, and I think it is disappointing that the media chose to perpetuate this idea.
4. Intro to explanation about creation of a law: How does an idea become a law? The process is more long than complicated.The formation of a law always starts with an idea. The formation of an idea is possibly the only chance for a citizen to get involved with the formation and implication of lawmaking. These ideas usually involve any human activity (basic or complex) from A-Z. Since the birthplace of an idea comes from a need, a change, or a desire, most ideas are proposed for the good of the general public.
5. R.S.S. came in handy for me during the SuperBowl last weekend. As a huge Giants fan, I was very excited to watch the game. Unfortunately, I had a massive paper due the next day which I had put off all weekend. Instead of sitting in my suite’s common room with my laptop, I went online and logged onto a website that followed the SuperBowl and provided users who downloaded R.S.S. with game updates. I clicked the R.S.S. icon and I was able to write my paper and follow the game. Not only did the website let me know how much time was left and who had posession of the ball, but it let me know if anyone scored and who did the scoring! I did not need to refresh the page once! Many websites provided users with the same thing on Super Tuesday. The websites let users know which candidate won what states without refreshing the page. It is obvious that R.S.S. is going to be the technology of the future!
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