When I first heard about this flied trip I was very excited. And I am not going to lie to you, it was because I really did not want to be in school that Friday. On the way there, certain things started running through my head, like: should i have really came on this trip, what if its boring, I am missing a lot of work to go on this trip, and I already had a pile of absences and it is still not even the 2nd quarter of the year.
But when I got there, I knew almost instantly that I had made the right choice. Being a senior, it is pretty sad that this was my first time being on a college campus and in a way, I am glad it was. That just made my day that much memorable.
We started off the conference with an opening "meet and greet" session, at least that is what I called it. A few of the different speakers and professors who were running the conference introduced themselves and talked a little bit about what it was all about. Not to long after that began was it time to break up and find our designated rooms.
Previously I had signed up for two discussions to go to. The first was "Getting it right: Journalism Ethics" I had signed up for this workshop because I have always been interested in ethics, so i wanted to learn about how ethics ties into journalism. I most definitely did, and I learned so much more then expected. As I have said in my most recent blog entry, the Professor Jerry Dunklee is a really cool dude.
Once it was time to move to the next workshop, I, along with a fellow classmate, Maddie, decided to go to "Literary journalism: Fictional Techniques to make Reporting Sparkle. Unfortunately, this workshop had no sparkle. We then moved on from workshop to workshop until we finally found one that we felt would provide us with the valuable information that we wanted to get. "All you need to know about journalism" was very informational and both Maddie and I learned a lot and got a lot out of it. One of the things she said that really stuck with me was "From here on out, it is all a competition."
We finished off the session with a keynote speaker, Rob Parker. He is a famous sports reported who graduated from Southern. He told all of us to keep dreaming and to never give up because we can do it. He was a very inspirational speaker who said "If you fall down and bump your head you can always get up and keep going."
In conclusion, this day was more then worth it and I am extremely happy that I decided to go and I hope something like this comes up again before this semester ends.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
Last Friday, October 24th, Mr. Miller took some of the students from our class and a few students from the school who are very interested in journalism on a flied trip for a day. the trip wasn't too far. we went to a high school journalism day at a local Connecticut college.
While we were there, i was honored to be able to listen to one of the professors teach us all about journalism ethics. Professor Jerry Dunklee, a journalism professor at SCSU, is one of the most unique men i have ever met. he used his own way of teaching to ask us the answers, and sometimes even ask us what the questions are to get his point across. i have yet to come across any teachers like that so far in my almost 13 years of education. He is just one of those people that can get your attention by just saying "hello" and then you are stuck and you don't want to stop listening to what he is saying.
On top of how great of a educator he is, this man is also hilarious. Professor Dunklee talked in a manor that was extremely amusing to his audience. He used the phrase "Brother from another mother!" which one could say got the large crowd laughing. yes, including teachers and advisers. However, he can say the type of things that can really get you thinking about who you are.
"There are some students who should say 'just shut up and get out of our way'". That made me wish i could be one of those students, one of those students who just get it, everything clicks, who knew what they were doing and don't need be be told how to complete an assignment in many different ways. Unfortunately, it takes me awhile to comprehend something, but once i do finally get it i get the ball rolling and understand something enough to write about it.
SCSU is one of the colleges that i plan on applying to for next year, after meeting Professor Jerry Dunklee, It made me want to go there even more.
While we were there, i was honored to be able to listen to one of the professors teach us all about journalism ethics. Professor Jerry Dunklee, a journalism professor at SCSU, is one of the most unique men i have ever met. he used his own way of teaching to ask us the answers, and sometimes even ask us what the questions are to get his point across. i have yet to come across any teachers like that so far in my almost 13 years of education. He is just one of those people that can get your attention by just saying "hello" and then you are stuck and you don't want to stop listening to what he is saying.
On top of how great of a educator he is, this man is also hilarious. Professor Dunklee talked in a manor that was extremely amusing to his audience. He used the phrase "Brother from another mother!" which one could say got the large crowd laughing. yes, including teachers and advisers. However, he can say the type of things that can really get you thinking about who you are.
"There are some students who should say 'just shut up and get out of our way'". That made me wish i could be one of those students, one of those students who just get it, everything clicks, who knew what they were doing and don't need be be told how to complete an assignment in many different ways. Unfortunately, it takes me awhile to comprehend something, but once i do finally get it i get the ball rolling and understand something enough to write about it.
SCSU is one of the colleges that i plan on applying to for next year, after meeting Professor Jerry Dunklee, It made me want to go there even more.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Lemon Justice Deja Vu
I haven't gotten a chance to write as much as i would have liked to over the weekend. i had some great things in my head that have sort of fallen out after such an eventful weekend such as this one. but i am going to try my very best to get my point across
Like i said in the previous blog entry, i am going to start blogging about "themes" (with some other stuff as well) With our country's current economic crisis, corporate greed has been in the news quite often. However, i have yet to hear about it in class until recently. Last Thursday in my sociology class my teacher put on a documentary on corporate greed. now, normally when a movie goes on, and the lights go off, that it is time for Megan to take a nap. especially with the comfy couches that my teacher has provided for us. This was not the case today, i was awake and attentive through the whole thing. It seemed that even though this was not at all a new documentary, it fit in perfectly to what was going on right now.
Later on in the day when i got to mr. miller's class, i found a blog entry on corporate greed. The entry i found was on the blog, Lemon Justice. This blog is written by Sergei Lemberg, Esq. According to the top right hand corner of his blog Sergei Lemberg, Esq., focuses his practice on Lemon Law, Consumer Fraud, Auto Warranty and Auto Injury litigation. He is licensed to practice in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
His blog entry, Philadelphia Lawyers Take On Corporate Greed, focuses on the lawyers who have been fighting the injustices of corporate greed. "Corporate greed often results in poor decisions being made by companies who place profits over the people who buy their product" was something said by Lemberg that tired together the whole blog entry for me.
He then goes on by using different examples that show how major companies would rather make that extra buck then make sure there clients are happy. After reading this blog entry it made the current crisis truly real to me. i knew it was happening, but this entry showed me how it was happening.
Continuing on with my theme of greed...there was an article written in "The Proclamation", the Wilber Cross High School newspaper. The article was titled "AIG Bailed Out by Government" and was written by a student (for sake of safety, i wont say his name). The reason that this article caught my eye when i was flipping through it last Friday, was one of the two picture that were chosen to be placed on the article. the picture that caught my eye was of hundred dollar bills and the word "greed" in capital letter spelt out at the bottom.
While i was reading the article, discussing how the insurance company's stock value had dropped more then 50%, i noticed how perfectly it fit with Lembergs blog entry. The government gave AIG the help it needed to get them back to the top. at least that what the government had thought, but apparently it was not enough. after AIG asked for more money, they finally went back up on top, but according to this article this is not the only company that is struggling.
Even though the price of gas going down is a good thing, our economy going down is not. Hopefully a year from now the things that i will be reading will be written in a different light.
Like i said in the previous blog entry, i am going to start blogging about "themes" (with some other stuff as well) With our country's current economic crisis, corporate greed has been in the news quite often. However, i have yet to hear about it in class until recently. Last Thursday in my sociology class my teacher put on a documentary on corporate greed. now, normally when a movie goes on, and the lights go off, that it is time for Megan to take a nap. especially with the comfy couches that my teacher has provided for us. This was not the case today, i was awake and attentive through the whole thing. It seemed that even though this was not at all a new documentary, it fit in perfectly to what was going on right now.
Later on in the day when i got to mr. miller's class, i found a blog entry on corporate greed. The entry i found was on the blog, Lemon Justice. This blog is written by Sergei Lemberg, Esq. According to the top right hand corner of his blog Sergei Lemberg, Esq., focuses his practice on Lemon Law, Consumer Fraud, Auto Warranty and Auto Injury litigation. He is licensed to practice in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
His blog entry, Philadelphia Lawyers Take On Corporate Greed, focuses on the lawyers who have been fighting the injustices of corporate greed. "Corporate greed often results in poor decisions being made by companies who place profits over the people who buy their product" was something said by Lemberg that tired together the whole blog entry for me.
He then goes on by using different examples that show how major companies would rather make that extra buck then make sure there clients are happy. After reading this blog entry it made the current crisis truly real to me. i knew it was happening, but this entry showed me how it was happening.
Continuing on with my theme of greed...there was an article written in "The Proclamation", the Wilber Cross High School newspaper. The article was titled "AIG Bailed Out by Government" and was written by a student (for sake of safety, i wont say his name). The reason that this article caught my eye when i was flipping through it last Friday, was one of the two picture that were chosen to be placed on the article. the picture that caught my eye was of hundred dollar bills and the word "greed" in capital letter spelt out at the bottom.
While i was reading the article, discussing how the insurance company's stock value had dropped more then 50%, i noticed how perfectly it fit with Lembergs blog entry. The government gave AIG the help it needed to get them back to the top. at least that what the government had thought, but apparently it was not enough. after AIG asked for more money, they finally went back up on top, but according to this article this is not the only company that is struggling.
Even though the price of gas going down is a good thing, our economy going down is not. Hopefully a year from now the things that i will be reading will be written in a different light.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Themes Of The Week...
Have you ever had those days when everything seems to be playing off of each other? that everything is a theme? recently for me, that has been happening. it seems like everything that i am learning, reading, or over hearing can somehow blend in perfectly to something i thought earlier. even throughout a week i will have encounters extremely similar to the next. i have decided that these are going to be my themes of the week...
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Oh Snap...I'm a Star
Yesterday after class I stayed and talked to Mr. Miller for a while. The topic came up of posting comments on our blogs, so I asked him why he never comments my blog. He claims he does, but he doesn't. After listening to him bicker for a while, I convinced him that I was right.
Today when I logged onto Blogger, I noticed I had a new comment. I was assuming it was from Mr. Miller. I was excited to read what it would say because I was expecting a "happy meg? i commented your blog entry" or "comment". But it turns out that it wasn't him at all. It was "Ryan", it took me a little while but when i clicked on the link he sent me i figured it out. It was Ryan McKeen, the author of A Connecticut Law Blog.
My first attempt to show my teacher I was mentioned in a blog was a failure, so a minute later I decided to just to shout out; "Miller! my blog was mentioned in A Connecticut Law Blog!" You could say that got his attention.
The blog entry I was mentioned in was him discussing the blogs and articles he has been reading, and mine was one of the six. How cool is that? I am defiantly smelling some extra credit. So thanks Ryan, it was greatly appreciated.
Today when I logged onto Blogger, I noticed I had a new comment. I was assuming it was from Mr. Miller. I was excited to read what it would say because I was expecting a "happy meg? i commented your blog entry" or "comment". But it turns out that it wasn't him at all. It was "Ryan", it took me a little while but when i clicked on the link he sent me i figured it out. It was Ryan McKeen, the author of A Connecticut Law Blog.
My first attempt to show my teacher I was mentioned in a blog was a failure, so a minute later I decided to just to shout out; "Miller! my blog was mentioned in A Connecticut Law Blog!" You could say that got his attention.
The blog entry I was mentioned in was him discussing the blogs and articles he has been reading, and mine was one of the six. How cool is that? I am defiantly smelling some extra credit. So thanks Ryan, it was greatly appreciated.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Blogging in the News
One of the first assignments this year was to find news articles about a certain topic. we all choose an educational topic to be reading about in the news. i decided on reading and blogging about local news. at first i thought that local news was only limited towards Branford, so with millers help i found this website. over the first few days of reading the articles, that's what i thought this was, a web page. it wasn't until a saw all the comments that i realized it was really a blog.
The Branford Eagle is a blog written by Marcia Chambers. She is a writer who has completely devoted her blog to writing articles about the news in Branford. This is a great blog because it gives the residents a place to read about what is going on in Branford. Because Branford is a somewhat small residential town, we don't typically make it onto the news, this gives us a chance to let others even outside of Branford to know whats going on.
The Branford Eagle is a blog written by Marcia Chambers. She is a writer who has completely devoted her blog to writing articles about the news in Branford. This is a great blog because it gives the residents a place to read about what is going on in Branford. Because Branford is a somewhat small residential town, we don't typically make it onto the news, this gives us a chance to let others even outside of Branford to know whats going on.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Laws and Baseball??
I am now 0 and 2 with finding blogs from blogrunner.com and technorati.com. I cannot even take credit for finding the past two blogs that i have been reading because they were both recommending to me by Mr. Miller. This blog is A Connecticut Law Blog, not only is that what it is, but it is also this title. But that's not all that the writer of the blog, Attorney Ryan McKeen, writes about here... there is also baseball, no wonder my English teacher knew about it.
Last week, Connecticut finally decided to legalize gay marriage in Connecticut, making us the third state to recognize gay marriage. In the past week, this has been all over the news, I have heard many people discussing it. the majority of these people saying how happy they are that homosexuals finally have this right; some jerks saying they want to move.
Because this is such a new, and controversial law, McKeen has blogged about the topic a lot in the past week.
Blog Entry #1
Blog Entry #2
Blog Entry #3
Blog Entry #4
After reading these four blog entry's if gave me a realization of what was really going on, of who was stepping up to get this law passed. Also of how difficult it was to do. However, with a lot of work and time Kerrigan vs. Commissioner of Public Health finally got the right to gay marriage and put into place last week.
There was also another blog entry on the current civil unions in our state. where would they be in all of this? according to the facts on this blog entry, the partners who are recognized as a civil union may either continue on and keep their union, or may choose to be married.
Last week, Connecticut finally decided to legalize gay marriage in Connecticut, making us the third state to recognize gay marriage. In the past week, this has been all over the news, I have heard many people discussing it. the majority of these people saying how happy they are that homosexuals finally have this right; some jerks saying they want to move.
Because this is such a new, and controversial law, McKeen has blogged about the topic a lot in the past week.
Blog Entry #1
Blog Entry #2
Blog Entry #3
Blog Entry #4
After reading these four blog entry's if gave me a realization of what was really going on, of who was stepping up to get this law passed. Also of how difficult it was to do. However, with a lot of work and time Kerrigan vs. Commissioner of Public Health finally got the right to gay marriage and put into place last week.
There was also another blog entry on the current civil unions in our state. where would they be in all of this? according to the facts on this blog entry, the partners who are recognized as a civil union may either continue on and keep their union, or may choose to be married.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
My Left Nut, Meg. (That's real amusing :p)
I have been following this blog for a few days now, and still every time that i type in the address, i laugh. The blog title is My Left Nutmeg (where Connecticut dems scratch that progressive itch), this is amusing for more then just the obvious reason. My name is Meg, so when i was first introduced to this blog, i heard it as "my left nut, meg." After a moment of utter confusion, i caught on. My teacher also realized why there was such an odd look on my face.
This blog is devoted to the Democrats of Connecticut. Mainly those democrats who are very far left on the line, explaining the title of the blog. There are many writers that add to this blog. recently there have been many blog entry's written by ctblogger. this writer, to me, has to most interesting blog entry's. His blog entry on the "democrat" Joe Lieberman showed how liberal this blog really is. He has also written a blog entry showing a controversial picture of Obama which was deleted from Blogger (this site). In this blog entry he even said "I hope this asshole gets a phone call from the authorities."
This blog is devoted to the Democrats of Connecticut. Mainly those democrats who are very far left on the line, explaining the title of the blog. There are many writers that add to this blog. recently there have been many blog entry's written by ctblogger. this writer, to me, has to most interesting blog entry's. His blog entry on the "democrat" Joe Lieberman showed how liberal this blog really is. He has also written a blog entry showing a controversial picture of Obama which was deleted from Blogger (this site). In this blog entry he even said "I hope this asshole gets a phone call from the authorities."
Friday, October 10, 2008
Atempt To Keep Driving From Getting Too Dangerous...
There have recently been new laws put to place for teenage drivers. These laws were put into effect August 1st of 2008, which makes it old news. However, but of the serious affect it has had on teenage drivers all over Connecticut, I believe, along with many other teenagers and parents, that it is continuous news.
Many teenage drivers think that these new rules only apply to those who obtain their licenses after August 1st. But that is a misconception. Most, in fact almost all of the new rules do only apply to those 16 and 17-year-old drivers who just got their licenses, but none of the punishments do. All penalties and suspensions also apply to drivers who have had there licenses for even as long as a year.
The old driving rules still apply to drivers who were "grandfathered in" such as; midnight curfew, driving friends after six months and driving within Connecticut for the first six months. I being one of these drivers who has been "grandfathered in with these old laws have been paying close attention to these new rules, because of the fact that my parents are much more strict on these laws then the police are. Many parents, not just my own, believe that all these laws apply to all 16 and 17-year-old drivers. If someone were to know of a parent, or a driver who are not aware of these new laws, guiding them to this article will keep them up to date.
Many teenage drivers think that these new rules only apply to those who obtain their licenses after August 1st. But that is a misconception. Most, in fact almost all of the new rules do only apply to those 16 and 17-year-old drivers who just got their licenses, but none of the punishments do. All penalties and suspensions also apply to drivers who have had there licenses for even as long as a year.
The old driving rules still apply to drivers who were "grandfathered in" such as; midnight curfew, driving friends after six months and driving within Connecticut for the first six months. I being one of these drivers who has been "grandfathered in with these old laws have been paying close attention to these new rules, because of the fact that my parents are much more strict on these laws then the police are. Many parents, not just my own, believe that all these laws apply to all 16 and 17-year-old drivers. If someone were to know of a parent, or a driver who are not aware of these new laws, guiding them to this article will keep them up to date.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Post Hacker Dan
With the Internet growing more and more every second there needs to be multiple ways people can share information. Many people have found this in blogging. Blogging ranges from small personal blogs to major corporate blogs that companies use. For this assignment we were told to read three blogs; Lifehacker, Huffington Post, and dy/dan. With these three blogs I found new information and great ideas. I also found people discussing and debating about the various topics being blogged about.
Lifehacker is a blog completely focused on helping people with different computer needs. It shows how to use computers in different ways and how to set up all types of cool new screens and backgrounds. This blog can help people who love computers, make their computer even better, it had different ways to download software, and how to upload gadgets. This is not a blog for just anyone, someone like me who hardly uses computers would have no use for a blog like this. However, anyone who has a love for technology would have a great time using this blog.
Huffington Post is a completely different direction then Lifehacker. This blog is political. It discusses all the topics about the up coming election. It tells us who did what, who won what, and who is up in the polls. But something that needs to be considered when reading blogs like this is that they are bias. This blog displays more blog entries on McCain then Obama, but the blog entries on McCain are more negative then the stories about Obama. At first I had thought that the blog was in complete support of McCain, because of the lack of blog entries on Obama, but after I started reading a few I realized what it really was. This is a great blog for people who are very interested in always knowing whats going on. However, because this blog is bias, looking at other blogs similar to this one would be a way to get all the facts and opinions.
Dy/dan is much different then the other two blogs. The first two blogs were large blogs that were frequently being looked at and commented. Also, many different people are writing and contributing to these first two blogs. Dy/dan is only one person and his blog is written on a much smaller scale. His blog is designed for teachers; even his subtitle tells us that, "working hard to make it look easy." Many teachers use his ideas from his blog and take them to the classroom. Dy/dan is a blog not only for information, but a great place for teachers to discuss various things that they have tried and failed or tried and succeeded in.
After reading many blog entry's from each blog I found that blogs are written at many different scales. Even though Lifehacker and Huffington Post are great blogs, dy/dan is defiantly my favorite. His blogs was very simply and the easiest to navigate. Because his blog is a personal blog, there were no advertisements on the page to distract from the reading. The other two blogs had many pictures, which was nice, however, too many picture also can take over the page. Dy/dan had pictures but not too many and they fit the blog entry perfectly.
Lifehacker is a blog completely focused on helping people with different computer needs. It shows how to use computers in different ways and how to set up all types of cool new screens and backgrounds. This blog can help people who love computers, make their computer even better, it had different ways to download software, and how to upload gadgets. This is not a blog for just anyone, someone like me who hardly uses computers would have no use for a blog like this. However, anyone who has a love for technology would have a great time using this blog.
Huffington Post is a completely different direction then Lifehacker. This blog is political. It discusses all the topics about the up coming election. It tells us who did what, who won what, and who is up in the polls. But something that needs to be considered when reading blogs like this is that they are bias. This blog displays more blog entries on McCain then Obama, but the blog entries on McCain are more negative then the stories about Obama. At first I had thought that the blog was in complete support of McCain, because of the lack of blog entries on Obama, but after I started reading a few I realized what it really was. This is a great blog for people who are very interested in always knowing whats going on. However, because this blog is bias, looking at other blogs similar to this one would be a way to get all the facts and opinions.
Dy/dan is much different then the other two blogs. The first two blogs were large blogs that were frequently being looked at and commented. Also, many different people are writing and contributing to these first two blogs. Dy/dan is only one person and his blog is written on a much smaller scale. His blog is designed for teachers; even his subtitle tells us that, "working hard to make it look easy." Many teachers use his ideas from his blog and take them to the classroom. Dy/dan is a blog not only for information, but a great place for teachers to discuss various things that they have tried and failed or tried and succeeded in.
After reading many blog entry's from each blog I found that blogs are written at many different scales. Even though Lifehacker and Huffington Post are great blogs, dy/dan is defiantly my favorite. His blogs was very simply and the easiest to navigate. Because his blog is a personal blog, there were no advertisements on the page to distract from the reading. The other two blogs had many pictures, which was nice, however, too many picture also can take over the page. Dy/dan had pictures but not too many and they fit the blog entry perfectly.
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