Harry Potter

Every generation has the stories that they read as a kid.  My mom always talks about reading her Nancy Drew books.  My generation read Harry Potter.

Some elementary school teachers read the first few books out loud in class.

The Harry Potter series is important to me, because of what it did for my sister.  My older sister, Sarah, has multiple learning disabilities including being highly dyslexic.  My parents did everything they could to get Sarah to read books that were beyond the "Bob book" level.  By the time she was in 3nd grade and I was in Kindergarten, I had surpassed Sarah's reading level.  

The titles and pictures for each chapter of The Sorcerer's Stone.

My dad found the first Harry Potter book on an Amazon list of good books for children shortly after it was published.  He decided it sounded like something Sarah would be interested in.  He bribed her, telling her that if she read the seventeen chapter, 309 page book, she would get a prize.  

Harry Potter

Sarah's prize for finishing the first book?

The next Harry Potter book.  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

It was in my family.

I started reading the first book within hours of Sarah putting it down.  The two of us fought over who was going to read the books first as each of them was published.  We actually read the seventh book side by side in Florence, Italy.  We were on a family vacation when it came out, and it was an expensive book, so we split the cost and shared it.

 Sarah graduated from The University of Washington in December of 2010 with an English major.  After she figured out how to deal with her dyslexia, she began reading everything she could get her hands on.

13 years between the publication of the fist book and opening day of the last movie.
3407 pages in the 7 books.
17 hours and 48 minutes in 8 movies.

Zombie Apocalypse

Headlines are often the only part of a story that is read.  On the Internet, the headline is a large part of what comes up when searching for specific stories.  Well-written headlines can get a lot of attention because they draw the reader in and make them ask questions. 

           

Headlines that make the reader want to know to continue reading can be misleading.  While watching headlines this summer, I’ve noticed quite a few headlines that have been interesting, yet have not accurately summarized the story.

            

The subject that I have seen misrepresented the most is regarding the subject of Bath Salts.  The drug has been credited for causing multiple people to attack and eat other humans.  The media has dubbed it a “Zombie Apocalypse.”

1.     ABC:RudyEugene 'face-chewing,' 'zombie-like' attack in Miami caused by 'bath salts,'police say

2.     WPTV: Like Miami 'zombie' face-eating attack, Charles Baker getsnaked, eats human flesh, deputies say

3.     The International Business Times :'Zombie Apocalypse Continues?' Man Eats 40-Pound Pet Dog

4.     CNN: 'Zombie apocalypse’ trending as bad news spreads quickly 

These headlines have gotten to the point that the Center for Disease Control actually had to issue a statement saying that there was no impending zombie apocalypse, nor is there any known drug that could reanimate the dead.

1.     The Huffington Post

2.     Time

The original attack that was called the beginning of the zombie apocalypse was not a zombie attack; it was a cannibalistic attack.  The clever headlines that were used to grab a reader’s attention were incorrect and misleading. 

Science Fiction

Movies and television shows have always been important to me.  It was one of few things that my dad and I have always been able to talk about and bond over.  I have a strange family, our “family time” consisted of sitting around the big screen tv in the basement and watching a show we all enjoyed.

The TV shows that my family always sat down to watch together included:

• The West Wing
• Star Trek (any and all series)
• Stargate (SG-1 and Atlantis)
• Doctor Who
• Eureka

Notice a theme yet? 

I am a closet nerd.  I have been told on multiple occasions that I don’t come across as being super nerdy or geeky.  As far as I can tell, I come across as the type of person who enjoys watching The Bachelor and Bachelorette.  To clear up any confusion, I have only seen one episode of each show.  I do not understand how someone could ever think they would find the love of their life on one of those shows.  It’s not logical.  I digress.

Science fiction shows are a lot of fun for me.  Out of the 5 members of my immediate family, my father and I are the only ones who actually love watching science fiction shows.  My sisters only watch those types of shows during “family time,” that’s not the case for me.

Stargate SG-1 cast. Seasons 1-8.

Stargate SG-1 cast. Seasons 9 & 10.

Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis Casts.

I’m currently working my way through the entire series of Stargate SG-1.  They finally put all 10 seasons of the show on Netflix.  I’ve made it all the way through season 9.  Once I finish the rest of the episodes, hopefully by the end of the month, I’ll move on to the 5 seasons of the spin-off series: Stargate Atlantis.

A Need for Information

My generation is often referred to as the “Now Generation” because of our constant need to be connected.  Most people have a phone on them at all times and as any teacher can tell you, it’s not easy to get us to put them down for any amount of time.

We are always connected with our phones, laptops or tablets.  We want as much information in the smallest amount of time.

Along with the need for information comes a need to get that information fast.  If you ask a normal class of students if they watch the news every night, very few would raise their hands.  Most people my age get their information from sources that are going to provide the fastest grouping of information.

The company I work for, Newsy, is one example.  It puts together multiple angles and sources on the same story in an attempt to give the viewer a fair view of what is being reported.

Morning Rush and TV Replay for the Huffington Post have the same ideas.  They take the highlights from morning talk shows or daily television shows and throw them together. 

All of these sites allow the viewer to get a large amount of information into their heads without taking the time to watch the talk shows or even reality tv shows. 

Throughout my entire education, I have been told repeatedly that the world of journalism is changing.  There’s no doubt about that piece of information, it’s definitely true.  Information needs to be as immediate as humanly possible and as concise as possible.  This means that, as a journalist, we are being taught to get stories written, filmed and posted faster than ever before.  We just saw the change out at KOMU: 4 hours from the beginning of a shift to the show you're working for.  

Disney

When I love something, I tend to become obsessed with it.  I love watching movies and tv shows when I can find the time.  My friends and family tell me on a regular basis that I'm the most annoying person to watch tv and movies with though.  I memorize the whole movie and repeat it without realizing it.  I notice jump cut and continuity errors very easily.  It drives them crazy.  Crazy enough that I wasn't allowed to talk when we watched tv as a family when I was in high school.

Out of the few movies that I own, nearly half of them are animated children's movies.  I love movies in general, but I watch Disney movies over and over again.

My roommate and my (okay, mostly my) movie collection.

My animated movies. 

 The movies above consist of: Peter Pan, Coraline, Horton Hears a Who, The Lorax, Despicable Me, Wall-E, Toy Story 3, The Pebble and the Penguin, The Nightmare Before Christmas and the 8-disc box set of The Lion King.  I've got a problem.

I was planning on giving myself a vacation to DisneyWorld as a graduation present to myself.  I'm graduating from college after 3 years and in that time, I will never have taken more than a 3 week break from school.  It seemed logical that I would go on a vacation after I graduate.  However, my older sister gave me a call last week to let me know that she's been planning my 21st birthday present for the last few months.  She wants to take me to DisneyWorld.  How many 21-year-olds do you know that would want to go to DisneyWorld on their birthdays?  There's just something about "The Happiest Place on Earth" that I will never be too old for.

The Girl in the Green Dress

Journalism is not only about informing the viewers and readers of what is going on.  On the first day of class, we were told that we are in an industry where we need to constantly be entering contests and working to show how much we have improved.  The Pulitzer Prize is awarded for "excellence in newspaper journalism, literary achievements and musical composition."

The 2012 winner of the Breaking News Photography Pulitzer Prize was Massoud Hossaini for a photo taken in Kabul.

Tarana Akbari, 12, screams in fear moments after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a crowd at the Abul Fazel Shrine in Kabul on December 06, 2011. 'When I could stand up, I saw that everybody was around me on the ground, really bloody. I was really, really scared,' said the Tarana, whose name means 'melody' in English. Out of 17 women and children from her family who went to a riverside shrine in Kabul that day to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashura, seven died including her seven-year-old brother Shoaib. More than 70 people lost their lives in all, and at least nine other members of Tarana's family were wounded. The blasts has prompted fears that Afghanistan could see the sort of sectarian violence that has pitched Shiite against Sunni Muslims in Iraq and Pakistan. The attack was the deadliest strike on the capital in three years. President Hamid Karzai said this was the first time insurgents had struck on such an important religious day. The Taliban condemned the attack, which some official viewed as sectarian. On the same day, a second bomber attacked in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Karzai said on December 11 that a total of 80 people were killed in both attacks. Published December 7, 2011

The picture was taken just after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a crowd after a religious ceremony.  The girl in the green, Tarana Akabari, was one of very few survivors.  The photo was published in December, but months later, Tarana was making headlines again.
1. AFP
2.The Sydney Morning Herald
3. The New York Times
4. NDTV
5. itsybitsy Steps

This picture is startling; there's no doubt about that.  When I look at it, I wonder what kind of an impact is has on others.  In an era where violent video games are the norm, does an image like this really hit like it should?  We are all used to seeing images from the War on Terror.  This picture makes me wonder how extraordinary of an event it takes to win a prize like a Pulitzer.

The winner of the same award in 2000 was a group of photos from the Columbine shooting.

Emergency workers treat wounded students as friends and loved ones provide comfort at a triage site on the lawn of a neighborhood home.

In the past couple years I've learned a lot about the journalism industry.  I've learned a lot about the techniques and the ways to film and write a story.  But I can't help think but a large portion of finding the right story to tell is being in the right place (or the wrong place) at the right time.

My roommate is a photojournalism major, and she has told me on multiple occasions that she feels like her best pictures only happen by accident.  Walter Astrada is a freelance photojournalist.  In December 2011 he received the Alfred I. duPont award for Broadcast and Digital Journalism for a project called Undesired.  When he came to MU last year, he said the same thing as my roommate.  This is my own blog from my multimedia journalism class on his talk.