Get a feel for the freelance game by attending the Buffalo Freelance Expo on October 28 at UB’s Center for the Arts. This event, sponsored by the Ad Hub, will bring together freelance writers and marketers with WNY employers. Seniors might want to use this as an opportunity to schmooze and to see what’s out there in the communication job market in terms of internships, and the competition.
I love being part of the Perspective staff and have such an interest in newspaper because of the creativity it allows you to have. Photojournalism is no different.
Photojournalism is news photography that may primarily focus on pictorial media and can often dominate the written copy. A well-written story is not fully finished until it has a strong image to support it. Having a strong image not only supports your story, but helps convey the message as well. With that said, it exemplifies just how important photography is to a newspaper.
Also, like writing, when photographing pictures you will experience new things. You will also see things, people, and objects in a way you never expected to see them in. An example from a previous issue of the Perspective was an article on the drag show, titled “Drag show sparks controversy.” The photographer was more than just another audience member, but rather had the opportunity to get close to the drag queens and kings and take pictures from both high, and low angles.
Normally, people take pictures looking dead on, and pose the people in the picture. But photojournalism allows you to capture candid shots and be creative with them. We sent a Perspective photographer over to the Buffalo Zoo to shoot pictures for an article. Her photos dominated the article, and were creative. She took a picture of an Elk, but rather taking a picture at eye level a picture was shot looking down emphasizing the antlers.
There is so much to do with photography in itself. It’s fun and for those who don’t like writing, it’s perfect. So, don’t hesitate to join a newspaper staff, there is so much to do. Next week, we talk about layout, my personal favorite.
-Summer Gemmati, Perspective Editor-in-Chief
A safety seminar was held last Friday (10/12/07). Lisa VanValkinburgh shares what she learned:
On Friday, October 12, 2007, I attended a personal safety workshop which was set up by Ron Christopher of our Public Safety department. Police Instructors, Barbara Wopperer & Mark Tataro from the Erie County Central Police Services Training Academy gave the presentation. We learned what to do to be safe and we were encouraged to share this information about personal safety to others.
We learned the 3 D’s of safety: Detect, Deter and Defense.
First we detect the danger that is presenting itself. Next we deter the danger by keeping a safe distance from it, perhaps by putting a barrier between you and the attacker, such as a car, table, chair, etc. We tell the attacker in a loud shout to stay away. This also involves thinking defensively when parking your car, by backing it into a spot so that you can see the threat and it is easier to run someone down this way and/or get away. Finally the defense mode involves physical activity to protect yourself from the attacker, with kicks, hits, punches or other moves to stop the attack.
We also learned the OODA loop, which is understanding what the attacker is thinking. They have the following thought process going on:
Observe the victim
Orienting myself to the victim
Deciding what to do to the victim
Action upon the victim
Anything you can do to distract the attacker from their OODA thought process will delay an attack and/or make them less of a threat. Your main goal is to be in the safety zone, and a swift kick or hit can take the attacker out of their OODA loop.
In the case of a sexual assault and rape, we need to ask ourselves the following questions:
1. Do I fight back or not?
2. Do I have the capabilities to kick/hit?
3. Do I have the aerobic capabilities to run?
Statistics show that 74% of people involved in a violent crime fought back.
In sexual assaults, 86% of the victims fought back.
You are less likely to be sexually assaulted if you resist.
If you are taken to another location, you have a much slimmer chance of survival than if you keep the attacker in the original location.
Thinking that fighting back will make them madder at you is a myth–they are already mad.
We also learned some basic punches and kicks and practiced them with the instructors.
I started Medaille as a media major wanting to concentrate in advertising. I love being creative and knew that field would allow me to demonstrate my creativity. It wasn’t until my junior year that my concentration changed. Working in Newspaper was where my heart truly belonged.
I joined the Medaille Perspective staff two years ago as News Editor and now, in my senior year, I am the Editor-in-Chief. I have learned that working for a newspaper is much more than just writing, which is what many people think. While the journalism aspect is important; layout, design, photography, and advertising play a huge role as well. This week, however, we’ll take a look at the writing aspect…
News coverage allows you to interview people, discover new and interesting things, and became a more educated person. As a journalist covering news you may see things you never thought you would see, experience things you never thought you would experience, and meet people you never thought you would meet.
Being part of the newspaper has given me, along with the rest of the staff, the opportunity of being creative and discovering new things when covering a story.
Many times a story will be assigned to someone who is not interested in the topic. However, the beauty of journalism is that stories have more than one angle. You can take any story and make it seem interesting to the readers, which is exactly what you want to do as a journalist.
Aside from news stories, there are also feature stories, which allow you to be more creative with your writing and write about topics many people think would not be appropriate for a newspaper. An example of this is a feature on a sophomore at Medaille who can complete the Rubik’s cube in 74 seconds.
Knowing that newspaper writing is so much more than what people think, I am also aware that writing is not for everyone. However, that doesn’t mean you should rule out a job on a newspaper staff. Next week I will talk about the importance of photography to a newspaper and how exciting it can be.
Summer Gemmati is the Editor-in-Chief of the award winning Medaille Perspective. She graduates from Medaille in May of 2008, with her degree in Communication, and plans on going to grad school at either Medaille or UB to study education. She has completed internships with the Buffalo Bisons, Buffalo Niagara Partnership, and Sam’s Club’s marketing department where she has been employed for the past three years.
Sarah Whitehead, visiting instructor in the Communication Department, has written a book review for the Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies. The RCCS published her review in its October 2007 edition.
Her review examines Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s book, The Anxiety of Obsolescence: The American Novel in the Age of Television (Vanderbilt University Press, 2006). In addition to a thorough summary of the book, Whitehead applies traditional theories of communication and information networks to the content and challenges Fitzpatrick’s application of those theories.
Whitehead’s complete review can be found on the RCCS web site.
Cross posted on Medaille College News.
In recent years many rhetorical studies have been “too politically correct by half” with scholars’ politics being used as substitutes for rigor. More recently, however, this tendency seems to have abated a little bit and interesting “new directions” are now being considered, such as serious consideration of a neo-Sophistic view of rhetoric as symbolic magic, a line of endeavor that I have attempted to pursue since I finished my dissertation, which more or less pioneered such study, in 1982.
Dr. Schedel, whose main research interest is in rhetoric, has been teaching public speaking for over 20 years. He was asked to weigh in on the current state of rhetorical studies. You may ask him follow up questions here, or by e-mailing him at jschedel@medaille.edu
Name: John Schedel
Title: Associate Professor
Courses teaching this semester: SPE 130. (That’s it!)
Last book read or are currently reading: “Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and the Pythagorean Tradition”.
On my way in this morning I kept seeing spray-painted signs, mostly handing from highway overpasses, saying “Ron Paul: Revolution.” After the fifth one I decided I was curious enough to Google this Ron Paul person. The first link that came up was his campaign site. Apparently this guy is running for president. Of course on his site it doesn’t immediately state if he is a Republican or Democrat. Turns out he’s Republican, running a campaign for freedom.
In my public speaking classes we talk about the “6 C’s of language”, one of which is Concreteness. That is taking an abstract idea, such as freedom and making it concrete: defining it to your audience. If Paul is the “leading advocate for freedom” as stated on his site, then what is he trying to say? Especially since he’s not outright with his political learnings on his opening page. Thoughts?
Cross posted on my SPE 130 page.
-S. Whitehead
Medaille News