Power of photography

I am currently reading the book Savage War. As I read through the pages I can't stop thinking about the importance of photo journalism and wish that I was more skilled in this arena. It's interesting to think about how much more an image can convey rather than a 500 word story. I came across this image today and I think it speaks a very loud message without any words.

Japan Tsunami one year later.

Visualizing Journalism

The information I have found/ The story:

The story I have chosen to visualize is a study done on the relationship between the socio-economic status (of a family or living environment) and obesity in children. According to the Canadian Journal of Public Health kids that live in neighborhoods with a lower socio-economic standing have a higher risk of being overweight or obese.  The study targeted kids between the ages of 5 to 17 year olds. The results showed that a kid has a higher rate of obesity under the following living environments:

-kids who live in neighborhoods with higher unemployment rates

-lower than average family income

-fewer neighbors with post-secondary education

The results:

“The percentage of overweight children varied from 24% in areas with high socio-economic status to 35% in low socio-economic neighborhoods.” (Source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/051104/dq051104b-eng.htm )

The study also gave reasons as to why obesity may more likely occur in kids with lower socio-economic surroundings. Kids in the lower socio economic areas have less access to organized physical activities. The study showed that parents in these low socio economic areas were “three times more likely than other parents to state that their neighborhood parks were unsafe.” From there they took the idea that these kids are getting less physical activity because it's unsafe to be outside where a majority of physical activity takes place for kids.



Potential interview subjects:
-parents of kids who live in lower socio-economic areas (Questions concerning if they think their environment effects their kids ability to be engaged in physical activity/ why or why not?)
-city councillor for the area (Questions concerning what alternatives these teens have)

How I would visualize it/the next step:

They did not have specific data that explained any sort of numbers throughout Canda, it was very generalized. If I was to carry on with this story my next steps would be to gather more specific information and then to follow through with it like this:

1. Map out the different socio-economic areas in Winnipeg (represented by color on the surface of the area)

Additional information for each area would be the following:

- Map of how many parks there are in that area and community centers

- The crime rates that are found in this area

-Find out if there are any ways to figure out the obesity rates per area

Headline magic

While I was interning at Shedoesthecity.com  I came head to head(no pun intended) with my biggest weakness, THE HEADLINE. Sure in Editing for Print and Online we were taught about how to write proper headlines but in the blog world I find not all of the Canadian Press’ rules apply.





What I found out about headlines for a blog post:
-should be in your face
-should be hilarious
-should be interesting to your reader
-don't worry about length if it's clever enough
-say what you want to say

I left the headline writing up to the ever talented Haley Cullingham and would always be so pleased when I would see my stories go up. It’s really an art to create a clever headline for a blog post. Some serious thought must go into it but even when I focused my brain I wasn’t coming up with much.

Here are some of my favourite headlines done by Haley:

Another online presence whose headlines makes my eyes tear up are those over at Dose.ca. Here are some of favourites written by them:

Coming back after an internship...

I've just finished my 6 week work placement with Shedoesthecity.com. This was a huge feat and an amazing learning experience. But finishing our work placement means a lot more than just that. We are at the beginning of the end of our CreComm experience. In roughly ten weeks we embark on our second internship and then we ARE GRADUATED people. Boiling this down means.... in 13 weeks I may be living a completely different life than I am now. The plan is to sell the car, pack up all my goods into boxes, grab my cat and hop a ride to the big smoke. I've always been a dream big type of a girl, and with my goals in mind Toronto seems like the perfect city to get things accomplished in. It's just a weird feeling to have relied on the term student for the past 17 years of my life. What comes after the word student? Professional?

We are all about to step out games up. Lets enjoy these last months of youthful bliss.

Hiroshima

When I read true stories, such as Hiroshima I can never really say what doesn’t work for me in the book. I want the story to be told however the journalist experienced the situation whether that is uncomfortable for me to hear about or not. It doesn't matter if some situations are hard to take in, too gruesome, or graphic because these true stories are not about the reader but about the people who were there. I don’t want to be sheltered as a reader or spared from anything. I’m reading for the truth.

“Of a hundred and fifty doctors in the city, sixty-five were already dead and most of the rest were wounded. Of 1780 nurses, 1654 were dead or too badly hurt to work.”

I would have appreciated more dialogue throughout the book to be able to get more in touch with how the people were acting amongst one another. Although this may have been impossible given the circumstances, but theoretically it’d be interested to know more about the inner conversations. Were people talking? Were people praying? Were people saying good byes?


"They said they would, but the little, broken man got away from them, and the last priests could see of him, he was running back towards the fire."

There is a real art of story telling in this book due to the fact that it feels like very little story telling is happening, if that makes sense? The book flows naturally. One moment, followed by another. Not exaggerating any moment, or expressing opinion but just letting the story be the story. And I appreciate the lack of emotion that was used in the story telling. It’s emotional for the reader to read, but on their own terms.


The whole way, Father Kleinsorge was oppressed by the thought that all the damage he saw had been done in one instant by one bomb.

Like Alyssa mentioned in class, this book was hard to read. I’m not a naive person but when you sit down and just read this book it feels like a story. And then when you shake your head and think this isn’t a story this is humanity, you totally get taken a back. It's important to understand history and if we don’t learn from it as a whole, as a country then at least take your own message from it and keep those morals and live your life accordingly.

The importance of broadcast journalism writing

Weekly we try to conquer our way through broadcast journalism class here at Red River College. As first semester comes to an end certain things that Joanne Kelly has taught me stick in my head:

-talk to your audience directly
-don’t tell but show
-and don’t be cliche or use jargon




How embarrassing is this reel of newscasters reporting on the fact that Conan O’Brien will be broadcasting a same sex marriage? Is there just one writer that works for every news organization in America? Or are these people just too lazy to try and come up with something that hasn’t already been said? I can’t even give kudos to the first person who reported on the topic with the phrase ‘pushing the envelope’ because that’s just too easy.

As I continue my work in attempting to become a broadcast journalist I’ll try to  PUSH THE ENVELOPE. HA!

Remembrance Day Reflections

Remembrance Day means something different to everyone. 

 Neither of my grandfathers fought in the war. My papa Stewart (the only grandpa I’ve ever known) was a farmer and therefore he was exempt from war. I remember when I was younger watching kids in my class cry at Remembrance Day ceremonies because their grandfathers had fought in the war. I was always curious about their emotions and their families because I did not have that connection.

For me, Remembrance Day is a time for me to give thanks for those who fought for me to be a Canadian. I am very appreciative of living in this country. We are so lucky. I attend a service every year to give thanks to those who fought and to give myself time to reflect on how I feel to be Canadian. But sometimes it’s hard to explain what being a Canadian means. Peter Mansbridge shed light on this matter when I attended an Encounter with Peter Mansbridge at the Convention Centre on Friday night.

Mansbridge told 3 stories about what being a Canadian meant to him and they all revolved around our nature to care. One story stayed with me and had special significance  as we approach November 11^th.

Mansbridge was in the Netherlands in 2005 on the anniversary of D Day. There was a celebration of the soldiers and these men that are now in their 80s walked amongst the crowds. And there was one mom who held her 4-year-old child on her hip, and he gave high fives as the soldiers walked by him.

Mansbridge went up to the child and his mom and asked why she would bring her 4-year-old child to this event. She said so he’d know what a Canadian was.

It’s import to be thankful and as our soldiers grow older we cannot let our gratitude fade out. We must continue to teach others what they’ve done for us.

Lest we forget.