As Borders Reopen, New York Wants Foreign Tourists Back, and Fast

This article from the N.Y. Times talks about New York City and the cities’ plans for the return of foreign tourists.

The article mentions how the tourism marketing agency of the city is starting a campaign in some countries to get visitors to come to NYC. It talks about how the city is still trying to revive its economy and for that to happen, a key part is still missing: tourists from foreign countries. These tourists are so important because they usually stay longer and spend more money, compared to American visitors.

In order to lure the tourists back into the city, the tourism agency of the city is planning to spend $6 million. They are starting a campaign called “It’s Time for New York City” in eight different countries.

In my opinion, the topic of the article is pretty newsworthy as it is a perfect example of the aftereffects of the Covid-19 lockdown. The article uses numbers to show the amount of money lost due to the pandemic.  In addition to that, it also uses quotes from a local businessman. The quote clarifies the importance of international tourists and is a good way to end the article.  

Source:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/20/nyregion/nyc-tourism.html

The story is from the German news website tagesschau. It is about the possible new German government and the plan to end the national state of emergency. The state of emergency is ending in November and the possible new government coalition doesn’t want to extend it. However, this doesn’t mean that there won’t be any Covid related mandates.

The article and the video both have different words and don’t really focus on the same things. In addition to that, the video is obviously part of a full news broadcast and is therefore way shorter than the article.

There was one thing that stood out right at the beginning of the video. The video mentions that the government won’t be able to influence certain fundamental rights. It did that right in the beginning, while the article only mentions this towards the end.

Furthermore, the video obviously uses a lot of videos that create a better news-viewing experience for the people watching. Based on that, the video implements videos of politicians talking about the planned changes. An interesting difference in the article is the fact that it uses quotes/ paraphrases from different politicians, compared to the video.  

Lastly, the video also includes an interview with a political expert, which doesn’t appear in the written article.

Sources:

• Article:

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/epidemische-lage-regeln-corona-103.html

• Video:

https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/tagesthemen/

A Brazilian town being destroyed by the force of the sea.

Atafona is a coastal town of 6,000 people, 200 miles away from the famous Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. However, unlike the Copacabana, Atafona isn’t famous for its beautiful beaches. The town has a serious problem, due to rising sea levels and the advancing of the Atlantic Ocean. Every year, the sea advances by nine feet and also rises by as many as 27 feet in some years. About 60 years ago, this process started accelerating and ever since then, the sea has destroyed more than 500 houses.

National Geographic went to Atafona to talk to some of the residents and about the devastating things that happened in the small town. Multiple people that lived there have been ‘running from the waves’ for their whole life’s. One man that currently lives in Atafona mentioned how he already lost three houses to the rising sea. However, he still lives there.

Since the 1970’s researchers have been trying to figure out the reason for the extreme erosion in the small town. While some locals think that the sea is a living being, and the erosions are a punishment for mistakes that they made, scientists think it’s a mix of multiple things. The factors that caused this natural disaster to happen are obviously tied to climate change, but are also influenced by certain regional events.

There is a lot of pressure on researchers and scientists to find a solution for Atafona and one thing is clear, it is going to require a lot of work.

Source:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/a-rising-sea-is-eating-away-this-brazilian-town

“Watch for gesture”

For this assignment, I had a lot of choices to make. At the moment I have a few friends visiting me from different places in the U.S. That is why I decided to specifically look at them and try to find something that catches my eye. One guy that then caught my eye was Jorge Loredo. Jorge is an alumnus here at Morningside and a climber for the Mexican National Climbing Federation.

Based on his climbing practice Jorge needs to stretch a lot. He goes climbing every other day and always climbs for 4 or more hours. Because of Jorge’s need to stretch, he does it constantly. He can’t stop stretching and always does it, no matter where he is. When stretching he sometimes just stands up and stretches in the middle of the room. In addition to that he also cracks all of his bones. He will start with his neck and then go on to make his fingers and arms crack. This shows how much work it takes to be successful in climbing.

Monster Buddies are Kellog’s version of fruit snacks. They have a more solid consistency than normal fruit snacks and can be described with the word gooey or squishy. The little gummies and the fruit snacks have a very similar shape and colors. The one that makes the Monster Buddies stand out from the fruit snacks is the fact that they are shaped like the monster’s that are depicted on the packaging.

The Monster Buddies are small but they have a lot of flavor and probably also a lot of sugar in them. There are a lot of different colors that each have a different flavor. The combination of color and the flavor play an important role as they are supposed to be “matching”. An orange gummy is supposed to taste like an orange, while the red one is supposed to taste like strawberry. However, the flavor in general is very artificial and doesn’t really match the real flavor of the fruits that the gummies are supposed to taste like.

After 16 years of being the German chancellor, Angela Merkel stepped down from her job, which means that in the recent elections, Germany had to find a worthy successor for her.

“Preliminary results suggest her absence deeply hurt her Christian Democratic Union party.” In these elections, the Social Democratic Party, Merkel’s “traditional center-left rival”, won. However, in Germany, parties need at least a 50% majority to govern the country. When people vote for parties, these parties get seats in the German parliament. Based on the number of seats, the parties then form coalitions with each other, to reach the 50% minimum.

It will still take some time until the parties have reached a coalition agreement on who will actually govern the country.

According to Kai Schwägerl, a senior at Morningside, “it’s been one of the most difficult elections for a long time in Germany.” Kai’s opinion on the outcome of the elections reflects the opinion of a vast majority of Germans. “Merkel was there for so long, and now she’s gone. And nobody really knows what to do.”

From Kai’s standpoint, the biggest party in Germany, the CDU, had to lose a lot of votes, which is exactly what happened.  In addition to that, Kai also liked that the Green Party got a lot of votes, because “that’s going to be an important topic for the future”.

Nevertheless, Kai also thinks that this election was pretty similar to a lot of elections worldwide. He thinks that the SPD, the Green party, and the FDP are going to be the parties that will end up reigning the country, which doesn’t necessarily represent the best option. According to him, “there’s nothing better out there. It is just the lesser evil.”

Similar to this, Constantin Tschernig, a Junior here at Morningside, is happy with the way the election results came out, but he doesn’t think a lot will change. In Consti’s opinion, the new government is only going to care more about climate change, but it is not the “ideal type of government.” He, unlike Kai, didn’t vote but Consti is not the only German on campus that didn’t vote. Usame Suud, a former Morningside student, also didn’t vote in Germany.

For Consti, not voting had a pretty fair reason, as he said that it would be too much work for him to actually vote. Consti “would have voted in Germany, and I would have informed myself more.” Voting in Germany, from another country, is a long process. There is a deadline of 2 months prior to voting, that you have to apply for by filling out a form. Usame, wasn’t able to vote because he requested the mail vote, but missed the deadline to apply for it. He “requested it a month before the actual election” but he couldn’t vote anymore.

Looking at the results of the election, Usame thinks the coalitions resulting from these votes are all going to be good. “Whatever coalition ends up being the actual government is going to bring some change from the politics from the last 10 or 15 years.”

Sheikh Set Israeli Spyware on Ex-Wife in Custody Battle, Court Says

This article from the N.Y. Times talks about the ruler of Dubai and his unsuccessful attempt to spy on his former wife, a Jordanian princess, as well as her attorneys.

The article mentions how the ruler of Dubai used Israeli spy software to hack his ex-wife’s phone while being in a custody battle in a British court. It further talks about the organization that sold the hacking software and the fact that the organization had to deal with a lot of backlash recently after reports have surfaced that showed the use of the hacking software for spying on government opponents. In addition to that, the article mentions another accusation that is being made against the Dubai Sheikh. He is allegedly holding two of his daughters in captivity after they tried to flee from Dubai.

In my opinion, the topic is pretty newsworthy as it talks about the ruler of Dubai and the involvement of an Israel company in an already complicated court case. I like that the article explains the background of the story and that it gives an overview on everything connected to this story. In general, the article makes people think about the circumstances for women in certain Arabic countries. It is sad to see that those things can still happen in these days.

Source:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/world/europe/dubai-sheik-hacked-phones-ex-wife-uk.html

When looking at John Gonsler you wouldn’t necessarily think that he has a lot of interesting stories to tell, but after interviewing him, you will quickly realize why he is a really good fit for Morningside’s new Criminal Justice Program. Gonsler is one of two professors in Morningside’s new Criminal Justice department. Before Morningside, he taught as an associate instructor at Indiana University, as well as at a university in his hometown of Flint, Michigan.

Gonsler started as a student, but when he realized that that was nothing for him, he dropped out and went into public law enforcement for two years. After this experience, Gonsler went back to college and got his bachelor’s degree in anthropology. He then went on to do his master’s program, as he realized that being a police officer is also nothing for him.

During his time as a police officer, it was proven that the sheriff at his police station “was corrupt and dirtier than a pig’s dick.” Gonsler even mentioned a book that talks about how corrupt his old station was.

In addition to that, there are also a lot of stories that Gonsler mentioned from his time after his master’s program when he worked as a correctional officer. He worked in a medium-security prison, where the inmates had dorms rather than cells. Gonsler said that while he was only there for six months he could “write a fucking book series about interesting stories.” One story that stood out to me was a rather interesting story where a prisoner collected dead baby birds. The prisoner had those dead birds as his ‘pets’. Then one day water the inmates realized that there were three dead baby birds sitting in the boiling hot pot. When the prisoner was asked why he put them in the hot pot he said that “They needed a bath, I dropped them on the floor.”

After this station, Gonsler decided to do his master’s degree. During his time there he was pen pals with Ted Kaczynski, also known as Unabomber. When asked about this story he mentioned that he “was looking for a master’s thesis, and my mentor…. started writing terrorists and said why don’t you do the same? It was 25 guys and the only one to write me back was Ted Kaczynski.” Gonsler and Kaczynski ended up exchanging multiple letters, but in the end, Kaczynski “would start to refuse to answer questions about himself and only talked about technology and how we should get rid of it.”

After all these adventures, Gonsler started teaching at universities and his life became rather calm. However, he found real joy in teaching college students about criminal justice. He is proud “that people are taking classes that they don’t need to and then find some meaning in them.”

Gas Shortages Awaken Britain to Some Crucial Workers: Truck Drivers

The article from the NY Times talks about the current gas shortage, due to a lack of truck drivers. It talks about a combination of new post-Brexit immigration rules and poor working conditions that led to this shortage of gas and the lack of truck drivers. 

In order to fix this problem, the U.K. government is now sending out letters to people with a truck driving license, begging them to help out in this situation. In addition to that, they are also relaxing visa restrictions for foreign truck drivers. Following this information, the article mentions that the U.K. might have problems finding people that are actually willing to go back in this industry. 

The article further mentions all the problems that are now coming up due to the gas shortage. These problems include people not making it to work on time, as well as clogged streets in the areas of gas stations.

In my opinion, the topic itself is newsworthy as it directly affects an entire country, something you don’t see very often. The authors of the article did a really good job of showing the problem at hand. The lead of the story is very appealing and makes you want to find out more about this gas shortage. The authors used examples and quotes from people that have been interviewed about this topic which definitely helps with credibility. In addition to that, the authors also do a really good job of showing the problems on a larger scale and everything that happens now because of this gas shortage. 

Source:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/business/gas-shortages-britain-truck-drivers.html

CDC Panel Recommends Pfizer Covid-19 Boosters for Seniors, Certain Adults With Underlying Medical Conditions

The article from the Wall Street Journal talks about the CDC recommendation of booster shots for seniors and people with medical conditions. It further mentions that there is no clear outline for who should be eligible to receive those shots.

According to the CDC advisers, people over 65 and people from 50 to 64 years should definitely receive a booster shot. Everybody younger than that should think about it and act according to their medical conditions. In addition to that, the advisers from the CDC panel also recommended people in nursing homes get the booster shot. The article also mentions how the CDC panel disagreed with the FDA’s recommendation to give the booster shot to people at high risk, like prison inmates and healthcare workers. Lastly, the WSJ article mentions how the CDC usually follows its’ panel’s recommendations, which includes 15 members.

In general, the article is very informative and stays neutral the entire time. It doesn’t take one side and just mentions the facts that are at hand. The lead of the story is pretty long but sums up the most important information. One other thing that is good about the article is the fact that it shows the readers how long it takes to read the article.

Source:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cdc-panel-recommends-pfizer-covid-19-boosters-for-seniors-certain-adults-with-underlying-medical-conditions-11632432478?mod=hp_lead_pos3