YOU KNOW WHAT: Morning Sunshine, or as Lauren likes to call it the “Ass Crack of Dawn!” Got up a little later this morning, but I’m starting to see why grown up are all addicted to coffee!!!!!
Conference: “The Blurring Line Between Advocacy, Commentary, and Journalism”our speaker was Chuck Todd from NBC news. He was freaking amazing he said that the why is how you get your readers and they what the how, People are curious. He also said that it is important to attend your job, and as many things as possible when starting out. Mr. Todd was clear and he got to the point, he didn’t tell a lot of side stories.
I liked him a lot he taught us the difference between commentary and journalism. Commentary is when you are writing and opinionated piece, and journalism is reporting the facts. He also recommended not to get stuck in commentary at this point in our careers, to wait twenty to thirty years.
Conference: Andrew Flegel the Dean of Admissions for George Mason University this conference was called “College Admission Session”. I think that anyone that has ever met him knows that he is very funny, and very entertaining. He gave a speech on what colleges are looking for. According to him they are looking for Grades, scores, and then extra activities/community service. But that could be from work to volunteering for an event in the community. He was honest and straightforward. He spoke to us but in a way that we all could relate.
He also said that the only reason they care about the SAT’s is because we the school wants to look good which is why they combine scores. Because the better we do at college the better the college looks. Which I agree with 100%.
Capital Tour: Okay so we got off the bus and walked into the building at 1:00, waited and went through security and got our tickets by like 1:15. But our tour wasn’t until 2:00, so why where we there so early??
In front of the capital
The tour was okay… we only really stopped in two rooms and the tour man was kind of a grump. We saw where they used to hold Senate meetings and the tour man showed us a spot where we could hear him when he was whispering on the other side of the room it was so cool. We didn’t go over to the House of Reps. because they where conferencing. =(
Then after we all went outside and took a group photo. And it was HOT AS HATI’S outside! And some of those people where all sweaty EWWW! Over all I was disappointed.
SIDE NOTE: There was a shooting today a block from the capital building… like 5 min. after we left. According to ABC – “U.S. Capitol Police fatally shot a man at New Jersey Avenue NW and C Street NW, blocks from the Capitol, according to Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a police spokeswoman. ” Apparently a man was driving the wrong way down the street… When he got out of the car police ordered him to drop his weapon and he fired 3-5 shots. These shots where shot from the police, and seriously wounded the man. Later he was pronounced dead.
Conference: Bob Lichter spoke at a Conference called “Bias in the Media”. But I honestly think that he likes history more then journalism. He talked about the printing press and all these things that are irrelivent to what we are learning now. The best advice he gave was to goout on your own, don’t wait for someone to give you a job, make your own.
Debriefing/Student Media: We all meet up and Lauren helped us learn some new skills like what to ask at a press conference, and how to write articles… She is really helpful, and I love she is willing to answer any question.
Then we all rocked it in a dancing around… Getting warmed up for the Gala tomorrow.WOO Love it!
Posted in Uncategorized July 16, 2009
Conference (Panel): This was held in the National Press Conference Ballroom and was moderated by Vaughn Vevers who is the editor of politico, and former CBS online editor. The panelists where Chris Cilliza from the Washington Post, Jim Brady formally from the Washington Post, and Jonathan Martin founder of Politico.
This was the best one so far!!!! The are all friends and I guess that really makes a difference because they where having a legit conversation. They weren’t talking at you or to you, they where like having a real conversation and we where just there in the background.
The best part was I got up and thanked them all for coming… I don’t really like speaking but I can do it.
Smithsonian’s: We went to all three Natural History, American History, and The National Air and Space Museum…but it was all rushed We had like 1 hr in each museum.
Zach, Karly, Ryan, and Inconspicuous Andy
NH: I loved the stuffed animals, and they looked so real. My favorite was probably the dinosaur bones though because they where so different. I mean you see fossils and bones, but never like replicas of what they would have looked like!
AH: I love History, especially American History. It’s everything that made us who we are as people and Americans. What people had to go through so we can have the freedoms we all have today. And because of what we do have it helped shape our character. My favorite was seeing the Abe Lincoln exhibit. We saw his tux and his famous old black top hat.
NASM: There where tons of planes and space equipment. We saw sputnik and different suits they used over the years. My favorite was going into the space ship and seeing the planes on the inside.
Zach, Karly, Ryan, Andy, Jess, and I in the Air and Space Museum
Conference: There where four different ones …but we got split up and we will further discuss them later.
I went to the one with a woman named Wendy Grossman is a stringer for a slew of magazines like Glamour, People, and she even does stories for the post. A stringer is someone they call to travel and pick up different stories. I thought she was a freelancer, and in a way she is because she doesn’t work for anyone, but she is a stringer because they call her to go to places and report back on things.
She was really personable and down to earth. I loved the setting she created by sitting on the table instead of behind it and she spoke with us more then at us. I thought she was a really good speaker, I learned a lot from her like where to start. How to get people to read our articles, and how to set ourselves apart through what we do, But really it’s about who you know and meet.
D.C. Night tour!: Amazing it went to some main stops and talked about a lot of history. Like did you know the save a dime donation was thought up and was originated by F.D.R.?! I didn’t until the tour guide told us. We stopped at the Lincoln memorial, the Franklin and Einstein’s. We drove by the refection pool, the bridges, and the cherry blossoms. We saw where the first one was planted as a sign of friendship between the US and China.
GROUP AWESOME!
(At the Einstein Memorial)
Posted in Uncategorized July 15, 2009
Wake Up: Time to get breakfast at 6 o’clock in the morning…Urggg I am so not a morning person, and some of these people aka my room mate is def. a morning person. So I got up and left ASAP! I meet part of my group for breakfast and I sat with this girl named Karly. She lives like ten min away from George Mason University.
Conference: Our first conference of the day was a guy named Wes Pippert…He was a journalist and worked many years in this field. He lived in Israel and he talked about uncovering the truth. He kept on asking us how we find the truth, and he kept saying ask questions… But the thing is we can’t always know if it is the truth, unless we are there. And even then we tend to form our own opinions. As he went on and on and on he finally came to the point that you shouldn’t form opinions. You do the best you can with the information you are given, while being open to all sides of the situation, event, or problem.
He was a was a Washington Director, and a former UPI Corespondent talked to us all today. He seemed very interesting… That is at first. He traveled all over and lived in Israel. He says that the most important thing is being honest and I couldn’t agree with him more. I mean once a person lies it’s like you never know if he is telling the truth or not. So it’s the same in Journalism if you print or give out the truth then people are more likely to come back for more information, aka call you for another job.
After about twenty minutes into Mr. Pippert started going off on wild story rants… Some of which where so long you forgot the original question, or lead him to another story and you never quite got a straight answer.
Newseum: The bus ride was nauseating… It was as if the bus driver didn’t know how to drive in D.C. She was constantly slamming on the breaks and going . The best thing we did all day. They had a huge flat screen T.V. in the lobby where they have a constant stream of news and quotes. They had a wax sculpture of Regan. On one of the walls it shows a map of the world and there are 3 colors representing how much freedom they have… America is the only one that is green which means we are free to write what they want. All the other countries are yellow or red, allowing them to write somethings that they want or none at all.
The best exhibet was the berlin wall and watch tower. It is the only one in the U.S. and you can actually go in the guard tower and look up to the top. =) I know I’m a geek, but that is awesomee!
Conference (panel): This event was moderated by Christine LaPaille who is VP University Relations in George Mason University. Participants in the panel where: John Blacksten the director of Media Relations in George Mason University, Courtney Dozier director of Outreach and also Officer of Senator Mark Warner (D-Va), and Ed Prugh founder and President of Nevin Communication.
This conference was long… I couldn’t concentrate on what they where saying, to me they where more of separate interviews all going on at the same time. I kind of felt that they all experienced the same things but in different ways which was cool, cause they each had their own view. But I honestly didn’t learn anything in this conference.
Jess, Ryan, and I in front of the Berlin Wall
We all even went up on the roof and got some nice group shots!
Jess, Me, Ryan, Audrianna, Andy, and Zach on the roof of the Newseum
Posted in Uncategorized July 15, 2009
Arrival: When I first got here people where running all over the place, it seemed as though a lot of people knew each other and they seemed to be gossiping about the stupidest of things. They where all friendly, and I wasn’t to sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Being a New Yorker I always seem to be on the look out and always aware of my surroundings…But when things settled down and I actually talked to people they all really seem nice, but we’ll see my realistic outlook isn’t to sure yet. They are interesting I’ll admit that.
Our group seems pretty rad. They are from all over, and have all different outlooks and interests, but one thing we all have in common is writing. Lauren is our group advisor, she is totally a savior! Haha and she definitely. knows why.
Dinner: What do I say… Well the food was good. I sat with some of the girls in my group Jess and Ryan. We where the only three talking and the rest of the table was really quiet. There was also this one creepy guy…Not going to mention names, but he kept looking at this one girls chest and it was really awkward once the whole table realized it. And thats all I’m going to say.
First Conference-“The Future of Journalism and Media” The Founder and CEO of C-Span Brian Lamb was a guest speaker at George Mason today. He talked about the news and how when he was younger the news basically told people how to think, and he wanted to do something different. He also asked for volunteers and asked them questions like “What is journalism?” and “Where do you see journalism and the media going in your future?” Every single person had a different answer it was really interesting… But then he said something that caught my attention “You can make a difference”.
Is that possible in this world? It seems that the only people being heard are the people on news stations. I mean people still read the paper, but they also get it fee online…So why pay the money when you get the “scoop” for free? Or does it matter who or what news station, it seems to me that they all say the same things over and over.
SIDE NOTE: This really bothers me so I really want to put it out there, and I’m sorry if it offends you. But what is it about celebrity lives that is so amazing?! I mean they are people and they put their pants on the same way regular people do. Sure everyone knows there name…But I feel that we as Americans constantly obsess over them. For example Michael Jackson, yes he was a talented singer and dancer. But should the fact he took pills he wasn’t supposed to causing him to die be on the news twenty-four seven! Dude we are in a war half way across the world, we have killers, rapists, and criminals on the loose. Yes, those are extreme examples, but you see my point that life goes on. Sorry if that’s to blunt.
Small Group Work: We basically talked for an hour and got to know our group…And Lauren made us brownies!!! She’s so funny and I love that she is open and honest with us.
Posted in Uncategorized July 13, 2009
So most people call me Dev and I go to Goshen High School and I live in New York…No no not the city or way up north where there is nothing but farms and you have to travel 9 miles to the nearest gas station or supermarket. I live in the happy medium of Goshen. It has farming and a nifty convenient store.
I was born in Mesa Arizona and I love to be adventurous. I played volleyball for both my high school and a traveling team . I am a good student and I attend two schools. I attend regular high school, and then I go to a Career and Technical School for Advertising Art &Design.
Honestly I have no idea what I want to be, I’ve been toying around with so many ideas…But I’m here to find out if Journalism is a choice that I could live with. I want to learn as much as I can about everything that I can. I feel like it’s important to put yourself out there, yet I’m not the type of person that’s jumping up for joy when making a speech.
I love creative things
Posted in Uncategorized July 12, 2009