Hannah Hecht's Blog

When you first lay eyes on Paige Potter, an average-height, smiley, blond Morningside College mass communications major, you might think that she’s headed into a future of writing or television journalism. However, Paige isn’t your normal female college student. She’s striving towards a career in football.

From the banner on her journalism blog to the t-shirts that she wears, it doesn’t take long to realize that Paige is a huge Green Bay Packers fan. She travels from her hometown of Laurens, Iowa to Wisconsin every year to see the Packers training camp and at least one game. Her love of football even brought her to watch the 2010 Super Bowl. Her dream job is working for the Packers’ public relations.

Everything she does drives her toward that dream job. She works tirelessly on her schoolwork, a necessity for anyone who is planning on cutting a whole year off her college education. Graduating early is a huge priority for Paige. “I don’t get a ton of help from financial aid, and it [graduating early] would really help me save money.” She is very active in MCTV filming and the Collegian Reporter. “I think that being in the Mass Comm. Department here kind of makes you test the waters in all different divisions of mass communications.” She believes that the Morningside mass comm. professors can set up students for a bright future, and hers lies with the Green Bay Packers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/us/politics/michelle-obama-speaks-as-democratic-convention-begins.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hpw

Jim Rutenberg’s New York Times article “Michelle Obama Tops Opening Night for Democrats” summarizes the events and speeches of the first night of the 2012 Democratic Convention. The article began by highlighting some of Mrs. Obama’s main points from the speech, and then moved downward to talking about some of the lesser speeches of the night. (I found that this really seemed to reflect the upside-down triangle of newswriting that we studied earlier this month.) The article especially seemed to highlight the non-confrontational essence of Mrs. Obama’s speech and contrast it with the direct anti-Romney tactics of the other speakers of the night.

This article comments on an event that is, most definitely, newsworthy. The results of this year’s election will have an effect on each and every U.S. citizen’s life and the first step toward the election is the Democratic and Republican primary. While the world already knows that President Obama is going to be the Democratic Party’s candidate, this week is very important in solidifying the Democratic platform and deciding the main issues that will be discussed in upcoming debates. Michelle Obama, as the first lady, as a mother, as a woman, and as a different type of public speaker, can give light to important aspects of the campaign that no one else can. Her speech revealed aspects of the President’s character that he, himself, cannot reveal and it should definitely be covered by the news media.

The article was well-written and used the right quotations to set the tone of the speech. It also pulled really useful quotations from the other speakers, although they weren’t as thoroughly covered. From reading the article, I was able to feel the tone of the whole first day of the convention: a focus on hard work to reach your dreams, the idea that Mitt Romney’s top-down tactics have been tried before and failed, how Barack Obama has made the U.S. a better place than it was four years ago, and the idea that all Americans should have the chance to succeed “no matter who we are, or where we’re from, or what we look like, or who we love.”

However, a two-page article can only give so much information. Mrs. Obama’s speech painted a picture of the American dream that almost drove me to tears at a couple of points. The depth, full meaning, and emotion behind her speech cannot be completely described in a newspaper article. I’d recommend that everyone, Democrat or Republican, watch at least a part of it to see a masterful speaker at work, and to hear exactly what our President and his family think it means to be an American. The link below contains the full speech, both in text and video.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/04/us/politics/democratic-convention-speeches-annotated.html?ref=politics

I tear a small package, moist with melting ice, and hear the crisp tear of thin paper. I fold back the paper to reveal a frosty, vibrant orange popsicle. My excitement begins to mount, and a spring of memories rushes forward: sticky fingers, hot summer nights, games of tag with my little brother. I raise it to my mouth and take the first, most anticipated bite. My teeth exert pressure and the popsicle breaks, leaving an toothy imprint on the popsicle. At first, the treat is tasteless, as the initial cold paralyzes my tastebuds. But after a fraction of a second, warmth and feeling rushes back into them and my mouth is left with an acidic sweetness, reminiscent of breakfast at my grandparents: orange juice which was often accompanied by toast and sausage. I take bite after bite, savoring the flavor and frosty temperature. As the rounded wooden popsicle stick gets more and more visible; each mouthful begins to contain a slight woody taste, which, surprisingly, doesn’t take away from the experience. Instead, the woodiness reminds me of, as a child, chewing the popsicle stick to extract as much flavor as possible.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/opinion/sunday/debunking-the-hunter-gatherer-workout.html?hpw

The New York Times article entitled “Debunking the Hunter-Gatherer Workout” by Herman Ponzer, explores the cause of modern-day obesity. While many people believe that Americans’ sedentary lifestyle, coupled with man’s hunter-gatherer origins, is leading to unprecedented rates of obesity, the article assures us that that is not the case. Ponzer’s study found that the hunter-gatherer Hadza people of Tanzania expend no more energy than sedentary Americans and, instead, use their caloric intake more efficiently. Ponzer study suggests that the cure to obesity lies not in increased exercise, but in portion control and more nutritious eating habits.

This story is newsworthy because it conveys information that can be helpful to people in their daily lives. A woman exercising vigorously to lose “those last five pounds” may read this article and decide to dial back on the exercise and focus more on diet. Meanwhile, an athlete may read it and realize that no matter what he is doing in practice, he still has to have a balanced diet to keep healthy. This also goes against what many scientists before it have said, therefore, a study with results that are so incredibly out of the ordinary deserves to be published.

I really enjoyed reading this article; it upturned a widespread belief and offered sufficient evidence. However, I was left with many unanswered questions, especially about the lives of the Hadza people. What type of game do they hunt? What are their traditions? To what degree are they cut off from the rest of society? Do they have any religious beliefs? If I were the one writing this article, I think I would write it as a much longer feature story. I would still present the findings about the “hunter-gatherer workout,” but I would do it in a much more in-depth and descriptive way. Maybe I would compare the daily life of the average American with the daily life of one of the Hadza people, and then tie it all together with the study’s findings. While the article gives very interesting information with regard to health, it only scratches the surface of a goldmine of cultural material.