Blogging and Such

A hub for my various assignments. Writing, photos. Typical stuff.

[jvanwormer]

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

[jvanwormer]

Cuba's leader Fidel Castro gestures before delivering a speech during the 50th anniversary of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, CDR, in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

AP Database Upload Exercise

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Youtube Embedding Exercise

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Embedding Poll Exercise

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Embedding Tweet Exercise

Flag or Black Flag? That's the punk $64 question for 2013

February 4, 2013

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EP Article Update

900 words. It's really not that much, but it feels like it when the process of cranking them out is spread over 8 weeks.

The article is taking its final form. The story is consistent. Quotes in all the right places. Little nit-picked problems have been fixed. At this point, there's not terribly much to do beyond final editing and picking where to submit it.

It's a good feeling. A full quarter to write an article is a long time, but I feel like it shows in the quality of the piece. I think it might be the best article I've written yet.

[jvanwormer]

The Interview

When writing an article, there are two main events. The actual writing of the article, and the interviews leading up to it.

Every journalist has a part they prefer, but both are equally important and neither can be ignored.

Writing is simple. Take the information you have, and transcribe it into a readable form that someone is going to enjoy reading and maybe even learn something from.

Interviews are a bit trickier. You have to find the person you need information from, contact them, not get ignored or turned away, persisting if need be, set up the interview at some time that is moderately convenient for both of you, and then ask the right questions in the right way to get what you really want out of them.

If any single part of that goes wrong, the whole thing falls apart. It can be frustrating. It can be annoying. It can be downright disheartening. But we have to do it. So we persevere. And we interview our sources. And we get the information. And in the end, we write our articles and they come out pretty alright.

And then we start the cycle of frustration all over again.

[jvanwormer]

On Starting a Magazine

While it is not strictly related to my journalistic studies, I feel writing about another project of mine here is appropriate enough.

That project is a pulp magazine. Or some spiritual equivalent. In essence, it is a magazine that collects various pieces of creative writing, comics and artwork and periodically publishes them to an audience at an affordable price.

A few friends and I have spent the past few weeks organizing this. We have spent time planning the content and how to receive it, how to edit and organize the layout, and how to actually print and distribute the magazine.

It hasn't been the easiest project I've undertaken, but it is one that I look forward to seeing come to fruition. An outlet for writers and artists to get their work out there without fear of losing the rights to their own creative works. It will be something I can be proud to put my name on, and if we're lucky, it might even expand into a decent business we can continue for a while.

Who knows? In an age like this, a man deserves to dream.

[jvanwormer]

EP Article Update

So, I recently wrote up the first 700 words of my article. Hinda says it's well-written, but the focus is a bit too narrow. I need to widen it from solely the business to encompass customer opinions and the like.

And frankly, I need to come up with a decent way to end it. Endings are always hard. You always feel like you've written too much or not enough. And actually giving an article closure is difficult. Repeating information is unacceptable, and cliches are easy to fall into. Just needs a little more thought, though. I'm sure I'll come up with something.

[jvanwormer]

Which inauguration for Obama was harder earned?

President Barack Obama is sworn into office for his second presidential term.

Photo Credit: The Associated Press

Today marks the public inauguration of Barack Obama's second term as President of the United States, and people are excited.

is everyone watching the inauguration? if not, you should be!

— Emma McLaren (@emmakatherine12) January 21, 2013

Watching The #Inauguration.!!! :)

— *01~31~12* (@HeIsMyHeart_11) January 21, 2013

Thank God for livestream! Watching @barackobama's second inauguration at the office.

— SARAH CONCEPCION (@MISS_CONCEPCION) January 21, 2013

After a grinding, miserable election year, he can now work without fear of not being re-elected in four years. He has earned it. And it took a lot more to do that this past year than back in 2008.

Consider the political atmosphere of 2008's United States. We were just coming off of eight years of Bush. People were so sick and tired of war and of economic downturn after economic downturn. They were sick of stuttering, mispronounced speeches. They were sick of numerous countries refusing to talk to the country because they hated our President.

America longed for the days of a charismatic President who wasn't single-handedly destroying the economy.

Then along came this charming young man with promises of change and hope. His emotional speeches inspired the masses.

And his only competition? A tired old man whose policies resembled far too closely the past eight years that everyone wanted to forget. Standing across the stage from corpse-like John McCain, Obama looked so full of life. It was never in question who was going to take the election.

Four years later, it was not so clear. The economic decline has steadily continued despite several attempts to stop it. One war was ended officially, but yet more go on.

Faults can be placed, fingers can be pointed. The lack of ability to fix an economy so far in debt in four years can be pointed out.

But on top of that, it seemed like time had worn on Obama. That formerly charismatic young man seemed older, tired. When he spoke, it felt like he was reflecting how people felt about his campaign.

The spark was gone. When it came time for the presidential debates, Mitt Romney dominated at first. Obama was a shell of his former energetic self who hadn't debated someone in four years. Romney, meanwhile, was just coming off a hot streak of debating everyone and their mother in the Republican party for their slot in the election.

People were jaded on Obama it seemed. While he frequently held a lead over Mitt Romney, it was much closer than his lead over McCain had been. Toward the end of the year, it even started to look like a toss-up.

Election night was a nail biter for both sides, and though Obama did triumph at the end of the night, he had to go through hell and back to do it. Here's hoping he makes it worth it in the next four years.

[jvanwormer]

Armed Teachers?

Photo Credit: VisitJordan on Flickr

In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, many suggestions have been put forth to curb gun violence.

Limiting civilian access to certain kinds of weaponry, cutting back on the portrayal of violence in media. Actually assisting those with the issues that lead to these massacres.

But no suggestion is more ridiculous than putting guns in the hands of school teachers.

It's one of the oldest reactions in the book. Fighting fire with fire. How do you stop a crazed gunman? Well, you shoot him, of course. And the more people with guns in a scenario, the easier it will be to do that. Right?

Let's look back to the morning of November 5, 2009. Fort Hood, a military base just outside of Killeen, Texas. An army psychiatrist snaps, takes his gun, and decides to go for a stroll with it. A few hours later, 12 people on base were dead and 31 more were wounded. 29 of those casualties were trained soldiers.

One can argue the circumstances, but it seems clear that having more guns around does not help stop a gunman on a rampage.

Still, people argue that if teachers could simply carry firearms, students would be safe from such an occurrence. Among those numbers are such names as Rick Perry, governor of Texas.

And the scariest part? A number of states already allow teachers to carry firearms in school. According to research by NBC news, 18 states, including California and New York, allow teachers and other adults to carry firearms in schools. The only requirement is essentially a note from the principal, and sometimes the superintendent.

The federal government is working on a less radical, more gun control-based push to attempt to solve this issue. They are currently attempting to limit access to assault weaponry and high-capacity magazines for such firearms. But there isn't much they can do to stop decisions like these that fall at the state level.

A country where teachers carrying guns is casually accepted is frighteningly close, and people are reacting about as one would expect.

Many people are outraged or scared for their children. Questions of why teachers should be allowed guns abound. They can fall prey to the same mental illnesses that everyone else can. And without a fair amount of training, continuous practice, and some experience under such stressful situations, the gun will be of no use anyway. They will be more likely to harm by-standing students or themselves than anything they are trying to shoot at.

There are too many what-ifs to consider with such an option. Frankly, it is not worth the risk. And the push for it worries me.

[jvanwormer]

Writing Styles

Writing for journalistic purposes is immensely different from writing for creative purposes.

The two are not entirely separate. Certain writers have managed to mix and match and do so quite well. But for the most part, they exist in vacuums apart from each other.

And that's a pain. News writing style tends to be short, concise, and to the point. Whereas creative writing requires at least a certain degree of detail, vocabulary is not limited by an accessibility factor.

As someone who writes creatively turning to journalism, it can be difficult sometimes to write in an acceptable way that doesn't come out sounding wholly boring.

So I look to writers like Hunter S. Thompson and remind myself that I'll be able to branch out as time progresses. And that I can claim my own style some day.

And then I write.

[jvanwormer]

A short video I made to complement an article I wrote.

[jvanwormer]

A lot goes into the introduction of a story, be it news, creative or otherwise. It tells you what it's about, or eases you into a world you weren't previously acquainted with. No matter the content that follows, without an interesting lead-in, no one will read beyond.

A few days ago in class, we rewrote the introductions to our articles a few different times, and it made me realize that my original intro was just sort of flat and boring. Like a skeleton. It needed flesh.

And now it has it. Should be better for it in the long run.

[jvanwormer]

Sometimes I sit here and I stare at the text box for a few minutes, just thinking about what I should write about.

I can always post an update on my Newswriting article, sure. But that only gets me so far. I want something more. Something that feels...worth reading.

Something that I would give more than two seconds of my attention if it fell into my feed. But at the same time something relevant enough to consider applicable to the class.

I guess that's just how writing works some times, though. You stare at a blank white screen and wait for inspiration to strike. And then you just type and type until your thought process runs dry.

And then, when it's all run out, you stop. You don't remember everything you've typed. Maybe you read it over, maybe you just trust yourself. And then you hit the send button, and hope for the best.

[jvanwormer]

EP Article Update

My article is coming along fairly smoothly. The first 200 words are mostly without error. Just a few wording things I have to change up here and there. And I need to add a nutgraph.

But all in all, it's flowing smoothly, and I think it's going to come out pretty well.

Hinda likes my writing style, and that makes me happy. Can be proud of my work.

[kristabellardo-blog]

Jake and I did some video interviews in class today about what some of our classmate’s plan to do for New Year’s.