Description Warmup

Before coming to campus this morning, I had a discussion with Betsy Waldon about her water dragon. Betsy was dressed in a fitted, white t-shirt with Nikki Minaj’s face printed on the front. This was paired with a pair of dark skinny jeans with holes ripped in the knees and thigh. Her long, sandy brown hair was tied back in a pony tail.

Before driving off in her little, white Rav-4, she told me about the waterfall she is making for her pet Chinese Water Dragon. Her elaborate cage for him already makes him a lucky dragon, but her plans will expand this. She is attempting to stack rocks up in a pyramid fashion in one of the corners and use a small hose to circulate the water behind, through, and over top of the rock pyramid.

Weekly News Comment #3 – Odds Are, Your Sport-Playing Child Isn’t Going Pro. Now What?

This week I read an article from the New York Times written by Meghan Moravick Walbert. Titled, “Odds Are, Your Sport-Playing Child Isn’t Going Pro. Now What?”, this article explains that 26% of parents of student athletes are depending on their child to go professional with their career, even though only less than 1% of players really make it.

High school sports of all kinds are known to require loads of time, commitment, and hard work. The number of people who say the work is not worth it for those who do not make it big is surprising.

As far as the front page of a paper or the nightly news broadcast goes, this story is not necessarily “newsworthy.” On the other hand, anyone who is, has been, or knows a hard-working, student athlete will be able to connect to this story and the point it is trying to prove.

The lead to this story is informational without giving away too much, and makes the reader want to continue by hinting at answers that will be provided within the text. The article itself is not something that is relevant to everyone, but is of much interest to the projected audience.

The breaking down of the tiny percentages of young athletes who get athletic scholarships, end up playing a sport professionally, and eventually make it big time is a harsh realization to face. The amount of time, work, and sweat that is put into the sport seems worth it when working towards said scholarship or dream of playing professionally; however, is it still worth it after accepting the reality of statistics and just playing for fun? Especially when that money, work, and time has the opportunity to be invested in something else.

 

link to original article: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/odds-are-your-sport-playing-child-isnt-going-pro-now-what/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=U.S.&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body

 

Weekly News Comment #2 – Why Students With Smallest Debts Have the Larger Problem

This week I read an article published by the New York Times titled, “Why Students With Smallest Debts Have the Larger Problem”. The article discusses the fact that most of the students who fall into default after graduation are those who borrowed less than $25,000. Eventually, it is brought up that those who borrowed more for their studies graduated with a higher paying job, making their loan payments more attainable. On the other side, students who did not finish their college education have a lower borrowed amount, but also a lower paying career. Solutions to the problem, such as switching the loan payment amount to being income-based or stretching the payback frame from 10 years to 25 years, is also discussed at the end of the article. 

The lead is short and to the point, mentioning that “student borrowers owe more than $1 trillion, and seven million borrowers are in default”, a statistic that quickly catches the eye of the reader. The topic of college tuition and student loans is something that connects to a large percentage of the population; however, that does not make everything about it newsworthy. The title and the lead are very intriguing with their bold statements and impressive statistics. Once you read further, the information is interesting, but hearing that students who went to graduate school paid more for their loans and are able to pay them back because their degree got them better paying jobs than those who dropped out with no degree is just sensible information rather than “news”. 

Maybe the newsworthy question should be, why is college tuition in the United States at a level where the majority of borrowers who do not have trouble paying back their loans are doctors and lawyers?

 

Link to original article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/01/upshot/why-students-with-smallest-debts-need-the-greatest-help.html?ref=education

Introducing Shelby

Shelby Small is a second year student at Morningside College, double majoring in English and mass communications. Because she is an English major, her dream job after graduation would be to work for a New York publishing company. She chose Morningside because she is from Sioux City and her mom works here. Over the summer, she worked a job at Bohme at the Southern Hills Mall as a part time assistant manager. She enjoyed working there and was good at what she did; however, the pay did not meet the demands. At Morningside she works as a wrestling manager. Her duties for that include going to practices and tournaments, taking stats, and doing laundry. During her free time she enjoys music and going to concerts. Last summer she went to Warped Tour in Shakopee, Minnesota which was a  very fun experience for her.

Objectivity

What is your definition of objectivity? Objectivity in journalism would be telling the story as it is, with facts and real events. The journalist should not let their own feelings sway the way that they report on a story.

Why be objective? If a journalist is not objective when covering a story, that could question the reliability of it. A person may not be getting the whole truth, but rather their opinion.

How do you do it? A reporter should use facts only and let the readers convey their own opinion on the subject.