Tuesday, Sept 27

I started reading an article called "Can I Get One Sheet of the Lady Gagas ..." because even though I am not a huge Lady Gaga fan, I was interested in what the article was about since I had no clue. It turned out that the article was about the United States Postal Service getting rid of its rule that its stamps can only honor dead people. What this means is that living people, such as Lady Gaga, Bill Gates, and Bob Dylan can be nominated to be put on the stamps in the near future (the people I just mentioned have been nominated for already by readers). My initial reaction to this what that is would be silly to spend time on picking someone to be put onto stamps because it seems like we hardly ever send mail anymore. Ironically, I had two letters waiting in my mailbox today and so I came back to this article and read it a little more closely, finding that the goal the people at the USPS have is to get more people to send mail. The USPS is a business and the following quote really explains this well: '“Having really nice, relevant, interesting, fun stamps might make a difference in people’s decisions to mail a letter,” said Stephen Kearney, the Postal Service’s manager of stamp services.' Even though this article wasn't breaking news or anything of that sort, I really did find it interesting as a writer because even the art of writing on paper (so many of us use our laptops instead whether to send email, or use phones to send text messages and emails), it might be nice to sit down and write a letter or two and stick a nice, relevant stamp on it. I don't know if I'd like a Lady Gaga one but I'm sure there will be a fun one besides her.

Monday, Sept 26 - In class exercise

Delayed ledes

It seemed like a perfect day for a swim at the beach.

After all, it was a typical, steamy July day and Alysia Bennett’s three children were hot and restless.

Big mistake.

A resident of Hampstead, N.H., she brought her children to Wallis Sands State Beach in nearby Rye, and by 2 p.m. her kids were three of the 100 people reportedly stung by a huge jelly fish in the water.

The giant jellyfish had barbed tentacles up to 100 feet long, which continued to sting beach-goers even after it was killed and broken up by lifeguards using a pitchfork.

Monday, Sept 26

After looking and browsing over the front page of the NYT this morning, I decided to check out the World section to see what was going on outside of the US. It featured an article about Saudi Arabia granting women the right to vote and run for office, which I thought was really interesting because this is a huge change for the country and its citizens. There were a few articles about the continuous struggle and rebellion going on in Libya, one titled "Former Rebels' Rivalries Hold Up Governing in Libya", and this one caught my eye because of the introduction. It presented the three points to be discussed in the article right at the very beginning of the story, and because I've been following the distress in Libya, I really wanted to read this article. It did strike me that the amount of positive news in the World section was very limited. Besides the article about women in Saudi Arabia getting the right to vote, there was only one article that I came across that seemed somewhat positive news. The article was about the death of Wangari Maathi, a Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate at 71 years old. It discussed her involvement in issues and movements like anticorruption, human rights, and so much more. Her accomplishments are endless and from this article it is clear she was a strong, brave woman.

Wednesday, Sept 21

In today's paper, there is an article about education and nutrition that I found to be pretty interesting. The article, "Recess Is Making a Comeback in Schools", discusses how in Chicago, schools have voted to add thirty minutes of recess back into the school day. The thing that really shocked me was that recess had been taken out in the first place. I come from a family of educators and my father is a PE teacher. He absolutely loves his job and he works hard to make sure that the kids at his school exercise and understand nutrition. He often goes out during recess and plays games with students or supervises games, and every time he hears of schools thinking about taking away recess, he gets really frustrated. In this article, I do like how the reporter explains that as of November Chicago's Department of Public Health will require that children in school spend less than sixty minutes watching TV per day and at least sixty minutes doing a physical activity per day. The Department of Public Health is also paying close attention to the snacks and lunches served at the school and brought from home, hoping to help families and children develop healthy/healthier lifestyles. All in all, I found this article to be pretty interesting and, as I mentioned earlier in the week I was hoping for something a little lighter or positive, and this article has a lot of hope in it.

Tuesday, Sept 20

I found the article "In Small Towns, Gossip Moves to the Web, and Turns Vicious" really interesting for so many reasons. For one, I'm from a small beach town and everybody knows everybody's business, as is the case in many small towns. Also, I'm really interested in the internet and the unintended functions it has on society, including allowing people to write horrible and sometimes untrue comments about people without being held accountable for them (because they can post things anonymously). Although I think it is important to be able to voice opinions, disagreements, stand up for yourself, etc., this whole idea of being able to post things anonymously definitely makes me uncomfortable and uneasy. If people are willing to share their opinions through the media, I think they need to be held accountable (at least to an extent) for what they say. Why is it that people can slander others with the protection of anonymity? In this article, the reporter explained how this small town and its inhabitants have turned to a social networking site called Topix where people have been posting inappropriate things like rumors, lies, and much more. Some of the things posted on the web site have led to public and private fights, divorces, and even possible suicide. The term the reporter used to describe the negative effects this web site has taken was that it allows for "unsubstantiated gossip", and this term is exactly what I'm against. People can simply post something on the site without validation or truth and viewers might believe it just because it is there. Hopefully people will realize the negative effects this has on communities and maybe the residents will get rid of this web site before it causes too much damage.

Monday, Sept 19 - Pirates kidnapped a British tourist in Kenya

This article, "British Tourist, Kidnapped in Kenya, May Be in Central Somalia", caught my eye as soon as I opened the page because I have a friend studying abroad in Kenya right now. She's living with a host family just outside of Nairobi, very close to where the British woman was kidnapped from her resort. Even though I didn't want to read the article because I knew if I did I would worry about the safety of my friend (even though the chances of her getting hurt are slim, I would still find myself worrying about her since she is so far away and in an unfamiliar place), I somehow kept reading to find out what happened to the kidnapped woman and whoever else was with her on vacation. Like we learned in class today, the article opened with a summary news lead and a sense of urgency and immediacy. Although the article doesn't affect many people, it has many elements that interest people in society today, such as conflict, a victim (two actually, her husband was killed while trying to protect her), crime, PIRATES, change in status quo/trend, and much more. The other articles on this page also featured news stories that were sad, negative, and just not very optimistic. I really hope to read some more uplifting, positive stories this week but lately the news is always pretty negative, but that is the reality in which we live. Hopefully some more positive stories, maybe feature ones, will come out this week!

Newswriting exercise: The Big Sting (9/19)

RYE, New Hampshire – More than 100 swimmers at Wallis Sands State Beach in Rye, N.H. reported being stung by a giant jellyfish in the water today, causing officials to close down the beach and sending five children to the hospital in fear of severe allergic reactions.

Emergency medical response crews responded to the incident from surrounding Seacoast area towns and rescue officials said that victims were treated in the bathhouse.

Of the victims, hospital officials reported no serious injuries as a result of the stings.

Alyssa Bennett, a resident of Hampstead, N.H, witnessed her three children all running out of the water at the same time crying.

“They were terrified,” she commented.

The 50 pound jellyfish was spotted by lifeguards shortly after swimmers began complaining of stings. They pulled it out of the water with a pitchfork.

Park Manager Ken Loughlin commented on the size of the jellyfish saying, “It was as big as a turkey platter.” Having worked at the beach for 30 years, Loughlin added, “I’ve never seen such a thing.”

Although such jellyfish are common in New England waters, Robert Royer, an aquarist at the Seacoast Science Center, said, “That’s the largest we have around here. I’ve never heard of them getting 50 pounds though.”

He explained that the tentacles can be up to 100 feet long and have barbs. The far-reaching tentacles can still sting even after the jellyfish is killed and broken up.