Journalism blog, 2008-2009.
Maddie White in the House, Part 2
Friday, February 27, 2009, 7:38 AM
When people hear about feminism, they immediately imagine a hairy-legged, crazy man-hating, protest-loving lesbian. However, several changes in direction have taken place and the modern day feminist movement has completely evolved. In addition, modern feminism has become more than a woman's appearance. Any stranger you encounter on the street could be a feminist. Whether it is a high school teacher, an aerobic instructor or the cashier lady behind the counter, they could all have the something in common: they support women's rights and the social equality of sexes.
Many years ago, the feminism movement consisted of enraged women organizing protests and marches. Nowadays, feminism is not necessarily full of hatred and vengeance but rather filled with peace, compromise and even (sometimes) men. Our era has given the feminism movement a whole new concept with efficient strategies and use of technology. Ladies of different age groups such as students at Mary Ward CSS have formed a Gender Justice club where other students can participate and support women all over the world in order for them to gain their own rights. Other people take advantage of the world wide web by creating a blog and vlog (video blog), writing articles for newspapers and magazines and reaching out to help by joining a club.
There were and still are many misconceptions about what most feminists today believe and do. People often regard feminists with overrated and stereotypical views. A feminist is no longer an image of a hostile, unpleasant woman who will yell at you because she believes men are morally-challenged pigs. In our era, a feminist can be a woman such as Hilary Clinton who thrived to become the first Woman President of the United States of America. The feminism movement still consists of fighting for women's equality in society but in a calm yet dynamic manner.
Many years ago, the feminism movement consisted of enraged women organizing protests and marches. Nowadays, feminism is not necessarily full of hatred and vengeance but rather filled with peace, compromise and even (sometimes) men. Our era has given the feminism movement a whole new concept with efficient strategies and use of technology. Ladies of different age groups such as students at Mary Ward CSS have formed a Gender Justice club where other students can participate and support women all over the world in order for them to gain their own rights. Other people take advantage of the world wide web by creating a blog and vlog (video blog), writing articles for newspapers and magazines and reaching out to help by joining a club.
There were and still are many misconceptions about what most feminists today believe and do. People often regard feminists with overrated and stereotypical views. A feminist is no longer an image of a hostile, unpleasant woman who will yell at you because she believes men are morally-challenged pigs. In our era, a feminist can be a woman such as Hilary Clinton who thrived to become the first Woman President of the United States of America. The feminism movement still consists of fighting for women's equality in society but in a calm yet dynamic manner.
"What, do you think that feminism means you hate men?"
- Cyndi Lauper
1 comments
Maddie White in the House, Part 1
Thursday, February 26, 2009, 9:58 AM
Reading Madeleine White's article entitled Gender studies missing from high school was informative because I was unaware that there was lack of recognition of extreme gender-bullying. In my opinion, Maddie dealt with the situation in a very proffesionnal manner. Since writing an Opinionated Editorial is not an easy task, I believe she did an excellent job including sources about the issue and her opinions as well.
Maddie used the following sources: the Falconer report on violence in the Toronto District School Board, the Falconer by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health on the pyschological effects of violence in high schools. In addition to consulting those reports, Maddie returned to the high school she attended, York Mills Collegiate Institute, to inquire from a former teacher if the sexual harassment in high schools has changed.
The use of a variety of different voices enriches the article because she showcases other people's point of view about the situation. Through this technique, she is capable to demonstrate that she is indeed not alone fighting for this change. The fact that there are multiple voices, the readers will perhaps take this issue into great consideration and contribute to the cause.
According to Maddie White, the only safe solution seems to establish a province-wide women and gender studies course in the high school curriculum. A grassroots young feminist organization called the Miss G Project, (themissgprojet.org), has been incessantly fighting for this cause for the past three years. This organization was started by Sarah Ghabrial and Sheetal Rawal who insisted that women and gender studies in high schools could make a difference.
I completely agree that women and gender studies courses should be added to the province's high school curriculum. Through this course, women and girls will able to access important information about women's histories and feminist analysis. The message will be passed on to further generations to make people and women in particular aware of important feminist events that would be marked in history forever.
Maddie used the following sources: the Falconer report on violence in the Toronto District School Board, the Falconer by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health on the pyschological effects of violence in high schools. In addition to consulting those reports, Maddie returned to the high school she attended, York Mills Collegiate Institute, to inquire from a former teacher if the sexual harassment in high schools has changed.
The use of a variety of different voices enriches the article because she showcases other people's point of view about the situation. Through this technique, she is capable to demonstrate that she is indeed not alone fighting for this change. The fact that there are multiple voices, the readers will perhaps take this issue into great consideration and contribute to the cause.
According to Maddie White, the only safe solution seems to establish a province-wide women and gender studies course in the high school curriculum. A grassroots young feminist organization called the Miss G Project, (themissgprojet.org), has been incessantly fighting for this cause for the past three years. This organization was started by Sarah Ghabrial and Sheetal Rawal who insisted that women and gender studies in high schools could make a difference.
I completely agree that women and gender studies courses should be added to the province's high school curriculum. Through this course, women and girls will able to access important information about women's histories and feminist analysis. The message will be passed on to further generations to make people and women in particular aware of important feminist events that would be marked in history forever.
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The hidden epidemic in schools: Cheating
Tuesday, February 17, 2009, 3:37 PM
Cheating is a constant hidden epidemic spreading in schools across the World. Students have developped great unethical and successful strategies in order to receive overachieving marks without the hassle of studying. Cheating on tests and exams is no longer a simple task of writing notes on the palm of your hand or carefully looking at your neighbour's answers. In our generation, strategies are evolved, publicized and even shared amongst others on the Internet such as the popular video-sharing website, Youtube. This well-known Internet community is now abundantly filled with how-to videos on cheating. Many of these tutorials are utterly devious and innovative.
The above video is only one example demonstrating how people are creating simple yet elaborate methods.
As a student at Mary Ward CSS, I have heard of incidents of cheating in the school. However, these practices were done the old fashion way by writing the answers on various parts of the body. They usually occur in the test centre during the unit target deadlines and the dreadful May-June rush. During those particular situations, students are extremely frustrated and exhausted. Subsequently, they decide to study only some parts of their units and sneak in the important notes "as reminders". Cheating saves "valuable" time as it involves less studying for the partaker. In other words, it's the easy way out.
On the other hand, cheating at Mary Ward is much different than cheating at other schools. A teacher is not seated in front of the class, supervising students and inspecting if any illegal practices are occurring. There are supervisors in the room but they are busy giving tests and taking tests.
In my opinion, students cheat because it is a ticket to good grades. There are various reasons why students cheat. Perhaps they are being pressured to be overachievers or they simply would like to increase their mark in a specific course. Cheating is understandably tempting. And the only way to avoid this temptation is to study in advance. If the student knows that there will be a test following the unit, they should take the iniative to take some study notes beforehand. Consequently, they will be prepared and know the exact material to study when the time comes.
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A Question of Journalistic Ethics, Part II
Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 10:24 AM
The article, Sharing the community's grief, written by Keith Moyer, is a story about three teen-age suicides that took place in Sheridan, Arkansas within 24 hours. I believe that the story was well handled by the Arkansas Gazette compared to The Fallen Servant. The contents of the article were more organized and the research was thorough. The journalists even followed strict rules to avoid crossing the border line and causing unnecessary controversy.However, I would have handled the story in a different manner. I think the main journalistic ethical dilemma here is the theory of the "copycat syndrome" and I would not have mentioned it in the article. I do not understand how that could remotely cross their minds. Even though Thomas Chidester and Jerry McCool were friends of Thomas Smith, that does not necessarily mean that they comitted suicide because Smith commited the deed first. There might have been other personal reasons too.
I like for a fact that they made an attempt at using this story as a moral lesson. There were no "pro" suicide or sympathetic views reported. The writer did not share their opinion about the matter. Overall, the Gazette was fair and respectful. Besides, the public had the every right to know straight-forward details about the story.
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A Question of Journalistic Ethics, Part I
Monday, January 19, 2009, 11:03 AM
The article, The Fallen Servant, written by Harry J. Reed, illustrates what happens when a hero is not a hero. In 1982, Norman E. Creger, a 17-year veteran of the Jackson (MI) Fire Department died during a furniture warehouse fire. Forty-five days later, The Sunday Citizen Patriot newspaper who devoted most of page one to the fire incident, revealed that Creger was legally drunk at the time of his death. After the publication of the autopsy story, the newspaper received many complaints from the public. Many readers were furious that the article spoke ill of the dead. Without a doubt, this particular story demonstrates examples of journalistic ethical dilemmas.
The ethical dilemmas were the mentionning of him being drunk now that he is dead. I would have handled the story in a different manner. I would have released an article to mention the autopsy. Then, I would have a follow-up with the results. There would probably have been less anger towards the issue. In addition, the readers would be able to digest the handful information. Nevertheless, the article was necessary because it was honest and true. If it were not reported, the whole story would not maintain journalistic integrity. The public had every right to know the truth behind the tragic incident.
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The Blogging Revolution
9:54 AM
One third of jailed journalists are bloggers. In countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran, innocent journalists are being imprisoned. Since the repressive governments in those particular countries have strict restrictions on the freedom of speech, the bloggers' privacies are easily compromised. The government will simply claim that the contents on the blog are a spread of corrupting information which will damage the reputation of their nation. Consequently, the journalists are jailed, tortured and abused.
Without a doubt, freedom of speech is crucial and important to a healthy and thriving democracy. After reading the short transcript of the Loewenstein interview, I felt a sense of freedom, liberty and relief to be living in a nation where its citizens are entitled to Human Rights. Everyone should be allowed to express their opinions openly without having to repress themselves. There would be no meaning of stating your point of view honestly if you were required to filter your thoughts. The issues would not be adressed and thus, not resolved. All the bloggers would have to sugar-coat all of their entries. But let's face it, life will not be all happy-go-lucky any time soon.
Without a doubt, freedom of speech is crucial and important to a healthy and thriving democracy. After reading the short transcript of the Loewenstein interview, I felt a sense of freedom, liberty and relief to be living in a nation where its citizens are entitled to Human Rights. Everyone should be allowed to express their opinions openly without having to repress themselves. There would be no meaning of stating your point of view honestly if you were required to filter your thoughts. The issues would not be adressed and thus, not resolved. All the bloggers would have to sugar-coat all of their entries. But let's face it, life will not be all happy-go-lucky any time soon.
Nevertheless, a person should be allowed to disagree with a specific matter even though it is very controversial. Everyone is entitled to their own perspective. Accordingly an account of this knowledge, we should learn to embrace our rights and freedom.
1 comments
The Fresh Face of Online Alternative Journalism
Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 10:51 AM
The world of alternative broadcast journalism has evolved throughout the couple of years. Nowadays, freelance journalists tend to lean on the Internet and the famous Youtube video website to express their opinions with the public. Furthermore, this type of medium is a rather easier way to expose and share the undeniable truth that the media hides from its viewers. In the wise words of Lori Harfenist, an alternative journalist herself, "It’s about time real people started talking about really important social issues and our popular culture stopped sucking so bad."
Lori Harfenist is the host of “The Resident”, a very well-known online news show that focuses on today’s real and most vital issues that are of importance. Harfenist often takes it to the streets to interview the public about the current news and social concerns. A couple of examples include the 2008 US elections, the economy crisis, taxes, etc. I personally enjoy her show because it is honest and fascinating. In particular, I like that for a fact she takes the issues seriously and she does not sugar-coat the problems at all while discussing it with the community. “The Resident” is indisputably a show that is appealing to many people because Lori Harfenist approaches the news in a genuine yet humorous manner. Her method of broadcasting attracts the people’s attention and consequently, the news appears to be more captivating and comprehensible especially to the youth population. Subsequent to watching numerous episodes of “The Resident”, it was perceptible that Harfenist is witty, amicable and very articulate. At some point, she may state a comical line in the middle of an interview with somebody to relax the tension and seriousness of the matter. She manages to lay hands on the real opinions of the people she interviews. She is not afraid to neither express herself nor disagree with the news. Lori Harfenist is not like your typical journalist who prefers to stay “safe”. On contrary, Harfenist gets the nitty-gritty by cleaning up today’s dirty media. Visit http://www.theresident.net/ for more show info and videos.
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Hello I'm Tatiana. I love: reading, writing, taking photographs, reading fashion blogs, the ttc, anything and everything in french, drinking tea in the afternoon, and blogging for my journalism class.
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