Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

Earth Day 2009. New York City’s Grand Central station was the host location of this year’s Earth Day Festival. 108 participating organizations were present at the festival last week. Little stands crowded next to each other, with colorful and hands-on displays which offered tips and new ways on how to save energy, which household products one can use which will be safest for the environment, and some tables that were just for fun. There were a variety of creative green enterprises represented, which had for sale products manufactured from cardboard, sails, and even elephant dung. Many of these green projects are publicly- funded, and promoted innovative technologies like a hybrid bus, fueled by different types of energy; the expansion of bike lanes; and tax credits for solar panels on green rooftops. The event was free and open to all.

  Take a look into New York City’s world of diamonds.

Winter Jam 2009. This year, East River Park was home to sledding and snowboarding competitions, a snow-sculpture contest, an ice-climbing wall, live music, and much more.

Winter Jam 2009

The East River Park was packed. Upon entering at about 1:45 pm, I ran into Mayor Bloomberg. He seemed happy enough, and walking into the park to Maroon 5’s “This Love” as I unzipped my jacket and turned my face to the sun, I could understand why.

For New Yorkers and anyone who knows the cost of living in the City, this event is ideal. Winter fun without the stress of how large the hole in our wallets is going to be afterwards. Free hot apple cider, and fresh red apples were handed out. I sipped the sweet cider and joined hundreds of other people to watch Shaun White, a professional snowboarder, ski down a 70 foot snow flume.

70-feet tall snow flume

The Sky Riders are men jumping on trampolines and doing flips in the air. I squeezed my way through the crowd, and joined people shoulder to shoulder to take pictures of these impressive acrobats. The East River sparkled, and I overheard people saying the same thing I was thinking, “I can’t believe this day in February!”

The Sky Riders

The event is sponsored by hip-hop radio station Hot 97, the Metro paper, and the Lower East Side Ecology Center, among many others.

Winter Jam is a perfect event for adults with young children. I was rather disappointed when I was ushered out with everyone as the event ended at 4 pm. Many people told me they had just found out about Winter Jam, and were excited to come next year. Last year’s event was in Central Park, and although I find Central Park to be a beautiful escape from busy city life, East River Park proved to be a success. A cool air coming off the river, and an unobstructed view of the sky made Winter Jam 2009 perfect.

“Equal Opportunity is the Law”- reads a sign (with an accompanying one in Spanish) in the lobby of the Opportunity for a Better Tomorrow (OBT) building. Young men and women crowd near the front desk, waiting for classes to begin. They are dressed in some very good-looking suits, and laugh with each other as they turn off their cell phones. Their school day, and work day, is just beginning.

OBT is a program developed to train youths ages 17-21 with job and life skills. OBT’s two locations in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park and Bushwick neighborhoods provide young adults not only with a productive venue in which to succeed in the work-force, but also hope for a better future, a future of which they most certainly can be proud.

Shawn Fonville, now an OBT employee, is a graduate of the almost 17 week program. Mr. Fonville, 21, admits that not having found this outlet would have left him on the streets, without a higher education, and without motivation to use his intellectual assets to his advantage. Mr. Fonville is a Bushwick native, and entered the program already having his high school degree. Many students who first start out with OBT do not have their high school degrees, and therefore OBT provides them with pre-GED classes, in addition to their other classes.

OBT is a full time commitment; it is not only school. Often times, OBT is the students’ first taste of a job. Students do not have to pay for textbooks, but must come prepared and on time to school in the proper attire (signs throughout the hallways very clearly state and show business dress code).

William Ortiz, OBT’s Bushwick Site Administrator, shared how he felt about working for OBT, and about how gratifying it feels to know he is helping young people not only in his community, but throughout the 5 boroughs.

OBT also provides students with internship opportunities (11 weeks of paid work), tapes its students so that they may self review their interview skills and progress, and also follows up with students with post-graduation counseling. Graduation for students entails celebrating their first hire.

OBT opens doors for students who have the potential to succeed, but not the means. OBT guides them, and by providing them with “transferrable skills” (skills which can help them in any work environment) OBT allows students to make the most out of their lives. OBT is a job, a school, and a family.

I was recently relaxing at home, watching NY1 (I’ve decided to start paying attention to local news- after my fiascos on the 7, I realized it was kind of important to me), and what I saw was more frightening than my memory of when I spilled hot coffee on my new laptop (it still works, calm down!)

Starting in early 2009 subway fares are to be raised from $2.00 to $3.00!! Express bus fares are to be raised from $5.00 to $7.00!! But…..but…..

No-one has any money!! How will we get to work, and to school? It was blasphemous enough when the $2 bonuses they gave on MetroCards went down to $1.50. What the shit am I supposed to do with a buck-50 bonus when each way is two freaking dollars!?

Of all things, raising the price of transportation is the most PAINFUL of all solutions to help this economy! Increase the price of soy milk for god’s sake! Instead of getting RID of a few lines (yes, not only are they making it more expensive to take public transit, but also wayyy more difficult), make, say, Whole Foods prices- which I already laugh at- higher. At least the picky eaters who shop there can feel, I don’t know, more elite? That they’re spending more money on….lettuce and cheese? Shopping at Whole Foods is like saying you only drive BMWs. Ahh…I digress!!

Please, MTA…don’t do this to me! Don’t do this to New Yorkers!! The 7 has taken too many of my tears. Too much of my BLOOD! (Hey, I stubbed my toe on the door, once, okay! and it reallly hurt!)

Where will all the New Yorkers go?

Senior citizens, and close friends, Harriet Block, Harriet Pargh, and Flo Fienstein don’t feel as old as they are. Their trick is not going to the gym, drastically changing their diets, or taking pills to keep their minds functioning- it’s playing Bridge. The three women informed me how playing card games keeps them mentally fit and emotionally grounded. So what is the key to successful and healthy aging? The answer lies in the cards…

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Bari Phillips, a clinical social worker, gives her take on why playing cards is healthy for the elderly population:

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I have always considered myself a “liberal.” I am a registered Democratic voter, and I fully support the Obama-Biden ticket. However, after getting into a recent tiff with my aunt, a McCalin-Palin lover, I surprisingly started to feel bad not only about disliking McCain, but about the extent to which I was disgusted by him.

I knew that McCain was a POW for 5 years during the Vietnam War, but I was unaware of the brutality of it all, of how emotionally and physically traumatizing his experience was. After imitating his walk and mocking his handshakes and waves, my aunt replied, “you do understand why he’s like that, right?” She proceeded to explain to me how McCain was tortured for several years, what exactly was done to him, and made me look up photos of him in his youth and military service. What I found brought me to tears. 

Me?! Feeling bad for McCain? Crying about how he’s suffered? I was surprised at my reaction to my research on him, maybe even angry at myself for crying and going, “Oh my G-d, that poor man. What a hero.” Ahh!! What was I saying?!? I looked over at my aunt and she was smiling, I’m sure partly because she thought she had swung me, but also because she was glad I felt compassion for him. “Just as you want people to understand and respect Obama, you must try and feel for everyone, including McCain.” Part of me wanted to say I don’t have to do anything for anyone, but that would have been just proving her point further. That lack of compassion and understanding for anyone will cloud your thoughts and cause you to seem uneducated, or even hypocritical. 

I love the idea of Obama being President, and he has my full support and vote. However, knowing a little bit more background on John McCain made me understand why other people support him. It’s not that every McCain supporter wants to make abortion illegal, or wants to ensure the rich stay rich. War veterans who have been scarred by their experiences and older generations who have a hard time accepting rapidly changing American culture and values might support McCain because it’s all they know, it’s what they feel most comfortable with. 

I don’t agree with McCain’s policies and I do not support him in this election. But I do have respect for the man, and I won’t hold anything against him. 

Some people like to blog about the news. Some people like to watch the news. Some people don’t like to do either. I bought this expensive laptop, because the CUNY J-school only runs on Macs. I like my Mac. I leave it at school, however, because I prefer using my PC at home. My desire to blog is equivocal to my desire to schlep my laptop home when I have one waiting for me, one that I use better, one that makes me happy.

I understand this whole blogging thing is new, hip, a so called easy way to write/post/share your feelings with members of your community. I could just as easily call up my friends on my Blackberry, which I invest a lot of money in as well, to talk about things about which I might blog. 

Some people in my broadcast class roll their eyes when they get their assignments, because they want to be in print, and do not feel the need to make videos with audio. I understand their feelings. I also understand that it is important to be well-rounded in all aspects of journalism, and it doesn’t make my heart stop to have to sit down and “blog.” I’ll do it. I’d still rather be talking. 

i know the feeling, little one

The 7 train? The 7 PAIN! I live at the last stop of this dysfunctional train, Flushing-Main St. My morning commute to school on a local train should take 40 minutes. Fine, there are a lot of stops along the way to Times Square, the 7’s last stop in Manhattan. On the express train, on a “normal” day, the ride takes 20-25 minutes. Not too bad. Except that there never is a “normal” day on the 7. I would like to know why, and would like to receive any tips/advice from people who can tell me how to not to jump into the tracks while waiting for the train to run “normally.” (more…)