The Teen Friendly Play

What can I say? Teenagers have been deprived of good cultural lessons because the theater is just not cool anymore. A New York theater company has decided to change this though. They are going to premier a simple play written by a teenager for his fellow teenagers. It deals with issues regarding

• school
• sports
• social life

and other common problems students may face in high school. The play is called, Too Old for the Innocence Yet Too Young Too Understand. The play has been widely received by many of the friends of cast members who watched yesterday's dress rehearsal. One person said "It's very realistic. No fantasies, or made up dramas and I promise they don't just break out in song for no reason. All the music comes from Ipods and boring teachers." The play opens tonight on Broadway.

*This is a fictional story written to illustrate the different techniques in online journalism.

How Newspapers Impacted the American Revolution

Newspapers played a major role in the move toward revolution and the changing opinions of people as the American Patriots prepared for war.

Many Americans had no cause to be angry at the British Government five years before the war at the time of the Boston Massacre. John Adams, our second president and a major advocate for independence, defended the British soldiers who fired at the colonists on March fifth. And history dictates that the soldiers were provoked and they had no intention of killing colonists, it was just one hit to many. Yet we look back on the incident as a time of brutal killing in which the British soldiers are at fault because of one engraving that was widely published throughout the time. I post it here because it clearly displays how a single picture can spread and change opinions of an event with just a few distorted facts. By the way, this engraving was done by silversmith Paul Revere of Boston.

The engraving of the Boston Massacre was probably one of the first articles that inspired a nation to rebel. But pamphlets published also helped, including the famous and well-known Common Sense by Thomas Paine. Many newspapers also became strong supporters of the revolution and may likely have been run by well-known Patriots, including the Pennsylvania Gazette by Benjamin Franklin. Look at novels that focus on the American Revolution and you will notice that many of them are centered on a newspaper. One of the more famous ones is Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, which is read by schoolchildren across the country. The Boston Observer, the paper featured in that book, is the center of many of the early rebellions and the words gets out through their paper and codes that are inscribed within it.

Papers would change in late years but there is no way that you can deny that they had an immense effect on the American Revolution and what would happen to our young country in the years afterward.

News websites: USA Today vs. Boston Herald

HOME PAGE: Both newspapers have an appealing and enticing home page, filled with pictures that go along with stories. Stories at the top of the page deal with the entire nation and national politics, such as what the president is doing, war news, and information on space work, which will continue to fascinate people for years to come on USA Today's website. The Boston Herald posts more local stories at the top of the page, including news about the cities sports team, and other more local news. USA Today draws a more wide based group of people in, posting a picture with nearly every other headline. There are less categories to go through and the stories focus less on any particular area but more universally focuses on the world at large. Boston Herald focuses primarily on Boston and only attracts readers from the Boston area. There are much fewer national stories and almost no international stories, although the site does attract younger people looking to follow sports and celebrities. USA Today focuses more on the national and international front and it attracts anyone who is more interested in looking at the world as a whole.

AN ACTUAL STORY: The story is easy to read and a picture is usually included with ads running down the side on USA Today. I did not find it easy to reach the comments but it is most probable that people more inclined to find them would find it very simple or that my computer was simply not working right. The Boston Herald had fewer adds running down the side but no picture was included with the story although links were provided for related stories. It was very easy to comment on the story and the story was very current. Overall the story was relatively well presented.

OVERALL: Overall, navigation was relatively simple on both sites. USA Today had more people pictures and general news on it, but The Boston Herald was easier to be involved with and probably attracts the attention of younger people in the Boston Area more easily. Personally, I would be more inclined to read USA Today, but I am more interested in politics then sports and entertainment.

To view:
The Boston Herald: http://www.bostonherald.com/
USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/

twitter comments

The following are posts from twitter. The first three are from CNN Breaking News, the second three from The New York Times and the third three from Barack Obama.

"GM says it is notifying 1,100 dealers that it will end their contracts with the automaker."

"Kenyan judge sentences white aristocrat to 8 months in prison for shooting dead a suspected poacher on his family estate."

"U.S. soldier in Baghdad kills four fellow troops before killing himself, senior defense official tells CNN."

http://twitter.com/cnnbrk

"4 Accused of Plot to Bomb Synagogues in the Bronx http://bit.ly/oDXYm"

"Flu Closings Failing to Keep Schoolchildren at Home http://bit.ly/qBmon"

"At Least 61 Dead in Iraq Bombings http://bit.ly/YjxTY"

http://twitter.com/nytimes

"The President will deliver remarks on new auto emission and efficiency standards at 12:15 ET. Watch the live stream: http://bit.ly/19qtmw"

"President Obama needs you to tell Congress why health care reform can't wait: http://bit.ly/5Ahqi #obamahealthcare"

"Declare your support for the President's 3 core healthcare principles: http://bit.ly/TBxqY Please RT using #obamahealthcare"

http://twitter.com/BarackObama

I think that twitter is a fad. Why should people want to know what is going on in everyone else's life? I do think that it is a great idea for news companies though so that people will be able to stay informed wherever they are. However, within a period of a few months, I think that it will fade off and average people will only continue to use it for news updates and not to post their entire life. The simple fact is, people don't care what you are doing right now.

Christy by Catherine Marshall

Over vacation, helping my mom clean out her parents' house and we came across a book that she suggested I read (we actually came across several, the house was full of books). It was an old book that she had probably read as a kid. I took it, more because she had suggested it than it really looked interesting. But it was a true example of the phrase, "Never Judge a Book by Its Cover." Not only did I like it but I loved it. The book was Christy by Catherine Marshall.



Christy was a bestseller when it first came out in the 1960s. Christy is about a nineteen year old girl who goes to teach in a one room schoolhouse before the first World War, as part of a mission project. She is from the city of Asheville in North Carolina, which is a modern city. Cutter Gap, where she goes, is a backwards community who considers that anyone not from the mountains is a foreigner.



At first, Christy is amazed by the conditions that she sees these people putting up with in their towns. But as time passes she begins to build lasting bonds with her students and the others who work at the mission, the founder, Miss Alice and the pastor, David Grantland. Christy sees that many of her students have been deprived of what is one of the most necessary conditions for confidence and proof of love, physical contact. She begins to show how much she cares for each of her students by trying to spend a little bit of extra time with each and she is amazed by the growth that she sees in them.

Christy also takes the initiative and tries to improve the materials and possibilities her students have by writing letters and soliciting to wealthy people. Christy is able to successfully get wire for a telephone wire to be build and works diligently to start taking a few students up to board at the school.

Not everyone in town are thrilled with the changes Christy has made. Some are, like her dear friend Fairlight Spencer. Yet she and David start to notice some corruption in the town. When they discover that liquor has been hidden in the schoolhouse for blockading purposes, things really get tense. While David tries to discover who has been breaking the law right under his nose, other events occur, including vandilism of the church alter, new school books, and abuse to the missions horse.

Things are only beginning to quiet down when an epidemic of typhoid occurs. the epidemic forces Christy to put everything she knows about herself, the people at the mission and in Cutter Gap, as well as the doctor, Neil McNeil, whom to her very surprise she finds herself confused and flustered in his presence. She must make a choice, Cutter Gap or Asheville, safety or danger, David or Neil.

Inverted pyramid article

Yesterday, flames soared through the Jesus Christ Church of Latterday Saints in Cambridge around ten thirty in the morning.

The church, which is off Mormon denomination, was conducting a service when the fire alarms went off. All five hundred people in the building made it out and no one was inured.

It is believed that the fire started in the attic of the church. Parts of the roof were destroyed but the white steeple remained standing after the fire was put out.

The church was full to capacity when the fire alarms went off, due to a special service that was being broadcast through satellite from their headquarters in Salt Lake City.

It is being considered a miracle that none of the five hundred people sustained any injuries at all during the blaze.

Many books were rescued from the church with the help of parishioners at the Quaker church across the street, who formed a book line along side the Mormons.

The church has plans to rebuild, say parishioners and former governor of the state, Mitt Romney. He had attended the church when he was in the state. Their spot in Cambridge will not be empty for long, although they will be neighboring churches for a while until they can rebuild.

The Differences in Dance and Sports

Dance and sports are often put into different categories by students and parents alike. But what really separates them from one another. Is it the fact that sports tend to be affiliated with public schools and dance is outside of the school? Why does dance tend to get a second rate opinion in school systems as well as by gym teachers in school?

I am a dancer. I am not good at sports at all. I stink at them. But I happen to be a respectable dancer and relatively good in ballet class. I have been on Pointe for three years and can do a fair performance on it. My parents have paid to have me in dance classes for the past ten years.

What about sports students? I am not saying that they are not good or that they are all stuck-up, but that seems to be the stereo-type we have assigned them. Sports players show there skills at more regular intervals then the dancer because they have games at least once a week, while dancers build up to specific shows. Sports players apply their skills to different situation in every game while dancers master skills to apply and perfect in a single dance, in one practiced and perfected situation.

So let's say that sports participants have to use skills of application more effectively then dancers and on more regular of a basis. But dancers have to use skills of counting and mathematics to keep in time with other dancers and the music. If they do not listen and flow with the music, then the entire dance is lost and bad.

Both dance and sports stress teamwork. Teams that work together tend to do better than "I" teams. Dancers have to constantly be in unison with one another. Not being in unison gives the dance a bad look, because dancers want to look like one. Working with others builds team work skills no matter what you are working on.

There are many other similarities between dance and sports, more than you would really think possible. In fact, the thing that makes them different is not the base work that they put into it, but the final product that they create.

For my blog post today, I am reflecting on one of this year's Pulitzer Prize winner, Patrick Farrrell, who won in the category of Breaking News photography. He took these pictures of victims of hurricane Ike, which struck the poor country of Haiti in the fall. Here are several pictures. They are horrifying and realistic. Look at them for as long as you can and then reflect on if you would have been able to take the picture of someone like that. I'm not even going to tell you what they are about right now.

These photos are about ordinary people in Haiti after the hurricane. Do you think that you could have taken pictures of such misery, hurt, and pain? I know that I could not take those pictures. The top one is of a four year old girl who weighs only sixteen pounds. The second is of pregnant women in labor waiting to get into a clinic, with family watching through the gates. The third is of a woman getting up before labor pains subside, so that another woman can have her bed to give birth. The fourth is of a man holding a young injured girl. The fifth displays children laid out on the ground after they died during the hurricane. The sixth is of a young boy pushing a stroller in an attempt to salvage it. the final one is of an adult holding their dead child.

I comment the photographer, Patrick Farrell for being able to take these pictures and declare him deserving of the Pulitzer Prize.

Tiger Thief at Franklin Park Zoo

Yesterday, thirty-two year old Charles Ray of Milton attempted to abduct a tiger cub from Franklin Park Zoo in Dorchester.

Charles Ray was apprehended before he left the zoo and the tiger was safely returned to its habitat. Ray is to be charged with larceny of no less than $250.

Boston Police Spokesperson Chuck Logan gave an account of the incident at a press conference last night.

According to zookeeper’s, Ray lured the tiger to the edge of the cage wit a picture of a female tiger. Once the cub, Tony, was close enough to the cage, he shot it with a tranquilizer gun.

Ray took the cub out of its habitat and placed it in a knapsack, given its relatively small size at such a young age.

Ray was arrested as he was leaving the zoo and zoo employees reclaimed possession of the tiger cub.

Eyewitnesses say that Ray was crying as he was put in to the police cruiser. Between sobs, Ray managed to say, “But that Tiger liked me. He was purring before I injected him.”

Security at the zoo will not be increased as a result of this incident