The Evolution of Our Cities

In his article 'Did Cars Save Our Cities From Horses?', Brandon Keim explores the history of city streets in America, and questions the idea that transition from horse carriages to cars was a smooth transition. In reality, Keim says, it was a much rockier transition. Keim writes of a time when the budding automobile owners had to share the streets with horses and carriages, streetcars, and pedestrians. Even our modern idea of the street existing as a main artery for transportation, and not a place for really anything besides cars, did not exist before the late 1920s. He even gives an example, when in 1923 Cincinnati passed a law requiring cars operating in the city be modified to not exceed speeds of 25 miles per hour to keep the streets safe for everyone using them.


The types of streets that Keim describes from the late 1800s and early 1900s may no longer exist in the United States, but the concept of the street existing as a jumble of different transportation options, and people not being afraid to use them for whatever they wished, is alive in many different countries around the world.

A year and a half ago I went to China to study abroad, and one of the first things I was struck with was how many people walked in the street. Sidewalks, though existing in s few places, were not the main thoroughfare for pedestrians, and people were not afraid to walk on the side of the road. Some streets, particularly the small ones in residential parts of the city of Nanjing, where I was staying, people flooded with pedestrian traffic. People could barely ride a bicycle on them in between the people, let alone take a car through.

Here in the United States we may think that the road as the home of the car is a give-in, a battle fought long ago, but for much of the world, especially the developing world, this isn't the case. I think that has the potential to let us rethink our streets. If we truly want a sustainable future, we will need to begin rethinking our transportation methods. I don't think we need to get rid of cars completely, but giving people the option to use busses, street cars, and subways, as well as giving people safe places to ride bicycles, can only lead to a more interconnected city.

Why I don't want to cut my hair, A theoretical argument based on Postmodernism Or Intellectual Procrastination During Finals Week

As Pierre Bourdieu argues, a person's place in society can be seen as an interaction of certain groups. A traditional Marxist argument would be to say that a person has a distinct social class that is determined by his or her economic situation. The Postmodern approach is to take this one step further, showing that social status in the grater society is much more complex, and a person's role in said society is determined by the overlapping of what Pierre Bourdieu calls "fields". A field can be seen on a basic level as a particular cultural group. So I am a part of a field devoted to music appreciation, I am a part of an american field, I am a part of (on some level) an anti-establishment field, etc. etc.

A person is completely influenced by these fields, and behavior, mannerisms, how we view ourselves, how we view others, our role in reality, our view of reality, everything, is influenced by the intersections of these fields. We can exit and enter different cultural fields, and we do so all the time as we age and move and change as people, but much of what we think and how we act is controlled by a large part by these fields. These fields change and diversify as different individuals enter and exit the fields, bringing in new ideas, mannerisms, etc., from different fields. 

And so, at the moment, I think I am being influenced by certain fields to not cut my hair. I want to stress that I am not looking to shove off personal responsibility, mind you. I'm not saying that I am unable to cut my hair because of the fields I am a part of, rather I don't want to cut my hair simply because I am happy with it the way it is. My contentment with my hair reflects the sentiment of some of my more dominant cultural fields. To put it simply, in the social settings I am currently in, most people don't care that I have long hair, and in fact, many of the men in my current social settings have similar long hair. 

Now, I will say that I have started combing it a different way, in order to keep it out of my eyes for practical reasons, but I will continue to grow it until I choose to cut it. If you've read this far, congratulations with my procrastinatory rant…

Jaws 4, shark caught

                Police report that the shark that has been blamed for the two recent attacks at Amity beaches has been caught and killed.

                The fisherman who caught the shark was not identified in a recent press release from Police Chief Martin Brody, but said fisherman will be receiving the $3,000 reward.

 The reward is coming from the Kintner family whose son was killed at a beach in Amity yesterday.

A press release written yesterday by Police Chief Martin Brody said the incident “appears to have been a vicious and unprovoked shark attack.”

                Alex Kintner was swimming on a raft yesterday afternoon at Village Beach when the attack apparently occurred. Though his body was not recovered, his raft floated to shore and was covered with blood.

                The shark is also considered for the death of Chrissie Watson, whose body was found mangled at South Beach early yesterday morning.

                The shark was confirmed to be a Nurse Shark by Matt Hooper, a marine biologist from the Woods Hole Massachusetts Oceanographic Institute. 

Jaws, Story 3

$3,000 Reward For Capturing Shark

A $3,000 reward has been set for anyone that can capture and kill the shark possibly linked to two deaths in Amity.

                The reward is coming from the Kintner family whose son was killed at a beach in Amity yesterday.

 Though the police department is quick to caution that a shark has not officially been confirmed at this point, a press release written yesterday by Police Chief Martin Brody said the incident “appears to have been a vicious and unprovoked shark attack.”

                Alex Kintner was swimming on a raft yesterday afternoon at Village Beach when the attack apparently occurred. Though his body was not recovered, his raft floated to shore and was covered with blood.

                A shark attack is now also being considered for the death of Chrissie Watson, whose body was found mangled at South Beach early yesterday morning.

                “We now believe that it may be possible that the Watson death could also maybe have possibly been linked to possible shark activities in the vicinity of Amity,” said Police Chief Brody in the press release.

                In a town hall meeting held last night it was announced that the beaches would be closed in Amity. This was met with protest by many of the people attending the meeting, and the mayor was quick to stress that they would be closed, “only for 24 hours.”

                As the summer season and tourism are extremely important for the Amity economy year round, the closing of the beaches, even for 24 hours, is seen as a serious setback to many in the community.

                The meeting was interrupted by local fisherman Ben Quint, who announced to the group that he would hunt down and kill the shark by himself for $10,000.

Quint apparently has experience with this shark, as he described the animal to those present, saying the size of it was enormous and that, “the shark could swallow you whole.”

“It’s not going to be easy,” said Quint, which may be why he asked for such a high reward in exchange for the capture of the shark.

The Mayor told him they would consider his offer.

                The investigation into the attacks is ongoing, and we will continue to report on the events as they unfold. 

Jaws. second lead

Reports are coming in of a shark attack off Village Beach. A boy was killed in what appears to be a vicious and unprovoked shark attack, according to police.

                This comes only hours after the body of a local girl was found on another beach nearby, marking the second death on an Amity beach today.

                In a press release by Police Chief Martin Brody, it is reported that there may be a possible connection between the two deaths, with a possibility of shark activities in the vicinity of Amity.

                

Jaws New Story

Body of Local Teen Found On Beach

The body of a local high school girl was found washed up on the beach early this morning after she was reported missing.

                The girl, Chrissie Watson, was last seen alive last night by teen Christopher P Hoggenbottam III last night, who reported her missing to the Amity Village Police Department this morning.

                Watson’s body was found mangled and severely mauled by an unknown attacker, the police reported in a press release this morning.

                “It was an extremely grizzly and upsetting scene,” said Police Chief Martin Brody at a recent press conference concerning the case.

                At approximately 11 p.m. Sunday night Watson reportedly decided to go swimming in a remote section of South Beach near the South Beach bell buoy. Cristopher Hoggenbottam reportedly came with her, but did not swim.

                Witnesses told police that both Watson and Hoggenbottam had been drinking heavily and possibly smoking marijuana at a beach party before leaving to swim.

                It is currently not clear who or what attacked Watson, though no charges have been filed in the case at this point, and police are continuing their investigation into the incident.

                “We are exploring a range of possibilities,” said Chief Brody. “It could have been a pack of wild dogs, or some other type of animal.”

                The police report that a shark attack has not been ruled out in the case, but stress that all residents and visitors are not in danger and the beaches will remain open for swimming pending the outcome of the investigation.

                “Shark attacks are rare for this area. They are more likely in the islands down south,” said Chief Brody.

                When asked during the press conference, Chief Brody claimed that human attack has not been ruled out as a possibility as well.  

                Watson’s body has been transported to the coroner’s office for autopsy. At the time of the press conference, police were still awaiting information on said autopsy. 

New Story Workshop, a fake story about a missing cat

Spotted Leopard Reported Missing

The Romanian spotted leopard housed in the Durham Zoo has been reported missing by zoo officials and is thought to be on the loose on the premises or possibly in the neighborhood surrounding the zoo.

                “When we opened the zoo at 9:30 this morning and began feeding the animals, we immediately noticed Fluffy missing,” said Gerry Durrell, director of the zoo. “We are doing everything we can to find her and bring her back.”

                It is currently unclear what happened to the leopard, as the cage did not appear to be tampered with and the fencing was intact. The cage that the leopard is housed in is alarmed, and no alarm sounded between 9 p.m. the previous night, the last time the leopard was seen, and this morning at 9:30 a.m. when she was discovered missing.

                The spotted leopard, or Fluffy as she is affectionately named, was a gift to the City of Durham from sister city Durhamvoska in Romania. Fluffy, the only known female leopard of her kind, is said to be extremely dangerous. She weighs 146 pounds and can run up to 60 miles per hour.

                “Fluffy is a wonderful, warm, gentle cat who has never hurt anyone,” said the zoo’s chief zoologist Kitty Smith. “But if these cats are cornered – or encountered on a dark alley – their defense is to kill and kill quickly.”

                James Petronkis, a 36 year old resident of Newmarket, noticed something odd about Fluffy’s cage when he arrived at the zoo this morning. Petronkis, who visits the zoo daily to see Fluffy, knew something was wrong right away.

                “Fluffy usually draws the straw up into a nest when she sleeps, but there was no nest – there wasn’t even any straw.”

                Petronkis tried to alert zoo staff about his concerns, but they wouldn’t listen to him. He eventually pulled the fire alarm to get their attention, and after checking the cage “all hell broke loose. Police cars came from every direction and within minutes they were roughly pushing visitors to the exits.”

                The search for Fluffy will continue at the zoo until 11 a.m. If police have no luck finding her in the zoo, they will continue the search in the residential neighborhood around the zoo, which is home to an elementary school and many daycares. There are some reports that the schools in Durham have been locked down.

                Fluffy is extremely dangerous, and her species of leopard has been known to kill children under eight years old. If anyone comes into contact with the leopard they should slowly go to the ground and stay limp and lay still. People should avoid eye contact with her at all costs.

                Police will attempt to capture Fluffy using tranquilizers at first. “If nessisary, we will shoot to kill,” said Police Chief William Blair. “We have got to find her by 2 p.m. These cats are nearly impossible to find in the dark – they can see everything and we are blind.”

                The Durham Police have asked for assistance from the New Hampshire State Police and the state Wildlife Department to help in the search. The National Guard will also be supplying five helicopters with infrared scanners.

                If anyone has any information they are urged to contact the police. 

"Large Magma Reservoir Get Bigger" writing about science

Yellowstone Article on Nature

This article from the Journal Nature explores a new revelation in science this week, that the super-volcano located beneath Yellowstone National Park is actually double the size than previously thought. I think that this article is a good one to look at the understand how journalists write about science, as I am planning on trying to write a science article in the coming weeks.

This first thing I think that is important to writing about science is making sure that the reader understands everything that is talked about. That may mean trying to explain complex topics on a more basic level than the scientists may be doing. The article does a good job at keeping concepts simple. When explaining the danger of earthquakes, for instance, the author does a good job about explaining the geologic forces involved in the moving of tectonic plates without it sounding to complex.

Another important part of writing a good science article is making it relatable. This article does that by using analogy to explain certain things. For instance, when talking about the massive magma tunnels under the ground, it relates it to a sponge. The magma flows through pockets that resemble the hollow parts of a sponge.

One more piece that is important for science articles is talking about the future of the research, and what exactly is left to be discovered. This article does a good job at explaining just how much there is to learn about this volcano, and how little knowledge of it we actually have.

What I still need to learn about Journalism

When it comes to journalism, I am still a little unclear about exactly how to come up with a good person to profile. My biggest fear is to find someone who is not important enough. I need to come up with a good reason to interview someone about their life, and I am finding it difficult to think of exactly who. If I choose someone, and write about them, I think there needs to be a reason. I would hate to come up with someone, and have the reader think "So what?"

Lou Reed, Boston Globe Profile

Profile on Lou Reed


Lou Reed died on Sunday, and as a tribute the Boston Globe put out a profile. As I will be writing my own profile on someone in the coming weeks, I think this is an opportunity to look at some of the techniques used by Boston Globe contributor James Reed.

Though the profile is short, and could be seen more as a eulogy as anything else, but it goes into some details about the importance of Reed's work on our culture, and talks a little bit about his life. It talks about some of the taboo topics that Reed's music highlighted, like transsexuality and drug use, as well as some of the songs that have influenced our society such as "A Perfect Day"

Reed died at the age of 71 after complications from a liver transplant that he had received a two weeks ago.

The article also talks about Reed's relationship with journalists and journalism. "For every story written about his music, there’s at least another one about the hell and shot nerves that went hand in hand with interviewing him." writes James Reed. 

This piece is not very long, and when I plan to write my own profile on someone, I will most likely take a different approach. As I said, this is more a eulogy than anything else, so in order for this piece to dig deeper into Reed's life, more sources would need to be talked to to gain a larger picture of his life. 

I would have liked to have read a little more about Reed's influences, his life, and how he got into his career in the first place. It would be interesting to get a few anecdotes from some of the terrified journalists who interviewed him. 

I spent the last week in New York City for the annual College Music Journal Marathon. Each year the radio station at UNH sends members to attend workshops and concerts, and to meet contacts in the radio and music industries.  This was my second year attending the festival, and I really had a great time. It was also informative and I got a lot out of some of the workshops I attended.  Also, just going to New York is an experience in itself.

One of the main features at CMJ is the showcases put on by music promotion companies. These companies are hired by artists and record labels to promote music to college radio. As members of a college radio station we were invited to many of the free music showcases they put on. These showcases feature bands that the companies promote. I took this as an opportunity to discover new bands that I  hadn't heard of before.

Thoughts on the current government situation and on Boston Globe article

On Monday the government shutdown will enter it's third week, and there seems to be no signs of it stopping any time soon. As the congress continues to debate how to move forward, the situation is proving to be more complicated than it may have seemed going into the shutdown. As congress continues to attempt to work on passing a budget, no political topics seem to be off the table. Now, as we are beginning to near the debt ceiling limit, it adds another complex issue for congress to sort out.

I think that the article in the Boston Globe on Sunday the 13th (Obstacle emerges in last ditch struggle to avoid default) highlights the complexity of the situation. Though we have entered the shut down due to an effort to defund Obamacare, it is clear that that is not the only issue facing any way to get out of the mess that the country is in currently. We are clearly in a political climate that leave a lot of disrespect between sides. Each political party feels that they have to upper hand, and it is leaving the country in a difficult situation.

It feels like there are two US governments. The first government is the one that is constantly in the news. It is the president and the congress and the supreme court. These groups have a lot of say in what happens in the country, and are the ones that are in the fore front of people's minds when we think of government in general.

The second government is the people in the background, the ones that are actually keeping things running. These are the office workers, the forrest rangers, the fire fighters, the NASA employees, the CDC employees. It is these groups that keep things happening in our country and are crucial to making sure everything is working properly.

In most cases, the second group is able to continue working even if the political squabbles of those in power are particularly intense. But now, without a working budget, the second group is feeling the full force of a government unable to get anything done. For now, we all have to wait and see how things turn out.

Some students of the Portsmouth school district could find themselves in class on Saturday mornings with a vote from the school board.

At the Portsmouth School Board meeting Monday night member Tim Steele made a motion to approve a new rule requiring students who have disciplinary problems during the week to attend a special Saturday morning school session.

Parent Peggy Bacon is against the proposal. “It’s bad enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday. Why should I have to worry about Saturday as well?”

Others, like resident Bob Farley think the proposal is a good idea. “The kids have no respect for the rules. Maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up.”

The session, which is being proposed as a way to reduce the number of in-house suspensions, would run from 8 a.m. until noon several weekends during the year and cost $3,000 a year for staffing.

In-house suspensions require a student to spend a school day under close supervision of a faculty member in an empty classroom, and miss the class work they would have received. The proposed Saturday morning session would allow the students to attend their classes.

The number of in-house suspensions is high, with 154 students receiving them in 1995. This is due in part to the number of students caught smoking. Currently, students smoking inside or outside the school are automatically given in-house suspensions.

What is news? To me, news is the object of transportation of vital information from the source to the general public. News can take on many forms and be broadcasted by many mediums. The subject of news can range from the very specific to the general. The location can range from local to global. News should be current and have purpose, keeping the public up to date on important events and important stories. News should have a certain level of importance, with stories examining subjects that the public should know.