Reflection: Spring 2011

This has been the most productive semester of my college career.

I started the semester after a two-year leave of absence, unsure whether or not I wanted to be a journalist.

To my frustration, I’ve had my work torn apart and reconstructed. I’ve stayed up all night on many an occasion, editing and re-editing my work.

I went from being a good essay writer, to having my article published on the front page of the Republican. And now I am sure that I want to pursue journalism as a career.

At its most simple, journalism is a combination of three of my favorite things: learning, people, and creating. To be a journalist is to be a perpetual student, to never lose the inquisitiveness. It’s always building connections with people, learning what questions to ask them. And, of course, it’s writing. It’s creating the best possible package for all that knowledge and hard work.

Check me out at northamptonmedia.com this summer!

Osama is dead

Osama bin Laden, the face that America thinks of when someone says the word “terrorism,” has been killed by US forces.

I feel no remorse over his death. In fact I feel nothing more than inquisitiveness in regards to the whole situation.

America remains in the dark in a lot of ways in respect to the details of Bin Laden’s assassination. Why was he buried at sea? It has been said that we did this to honor his traditional methods of burial. This does not add up. If US forces killed him, why would they care about his beliefs or wishes?

Why are there no pictures of his body? Shouldn’t there be proof out there somewhere? Is he really dead?

Why is no one asking these questions?

Aside from all the fuzzy details, there lies the moral dilemma of assassination. Is it ok to assassinate people? If not, was Bin Laden an exception to the rule? Are there other exceptions? Where do we draw the line?

That is the scariest part of it all. I don’t have a problem with him being dead, but I do not feel right about US forces assassinating anyone they feel threatened by. It seems like a slippery slope to me.

Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear Crisis

Over the course of the semester, the big-news natural disaster lingers horrifically on as the aftermath ensues.

If the 9.0 earthquake wasn’t newsworthy enough, the devastating tsunami that followed certainly did the trick. And then came the issue of the nuclear power plants.

Thousands of people lost their homes and their lives. It is amazing that a country can survive after such devastation.

The death toll has reached 14,000 and the number of missing people is at 13,000.

Now Prime Minister Kan has announced that Japan will abandon the reconstruction of the nuclear power plants, and instead focus on the development of renewable energy sources.

Finally, the light.

I hope it won’t take a disaster like this one to get America’s leaders to make a statement like that.

Smaller class vs. larger classes

As UMASS struggles to meet the budget, classes get bigger and bigger. We are running out of big lecture halls to hold these big classes in.

My first semester at UMASS, I did not have a class that was smaller than 400 students. This was a struggle for me. I come from a small town and I am used to tight-knit communities. And I didn’t have one.

Luckily, I got along really well with my roommate and we formed a community of our own. Consequentially, my focus was more on social events than on academic ones.

My grades were ok, but I cannot remember one thing that I learned in any one of those classes. In fact, I barely remember the experience at all. Since we are here for an education, and we pay good money for it, don’t we deserve more than that?

This is where the Coca Cola sponsorship comes back into play. As far as I’m concerned, we should have more sponsorships like those if it means that class sizes will be smaller. It is simply the lesser of two evils. After all, we are an educational institution first and foremost. It is therefore more important that we provide a sufficient education for students than to be socially conscious by not accepting Coca Cola’s sponsorship.

I can wholeheartedly say that my small classes at UMASS have been exceedingly more valuable. The one-on-one contact is important. The simple ability of a student to raise their hand to ask a question or respond to something the teacher has said is a crucial one that is not available to students in large lecture halls.

Collegian Controversy

In February, the UMASS Amherst Daily Collegian published the controversial column, “Planned Parenthood can’t treat a sick society.” The opinionated column roasted today’s modern woman for her “promiscuous” ways.

“If a young woman wears a promiscuous outfit to a party, then proceeds to drink and flirt excessively, she should not blame men for her downfall. She made a decision to dress a certain way, to consume alcohol and should be prepared to deal with the consequences. Far from being a victim of rape, she is a victim of her own choices,” wrote author Yevgeniya Lomakina.

The Collegian immediately retracted the column and fired the columnist and the editor who allowed it to be published. They later restored the article as a testament to the “failure” of Lomakina.

“We will keep this column available as a reminder of what happens when we do not meet the journalistic standards that we strive to meet every day,” wrote the editor.

While I disagree with the column’s contents, Lomakina does bring an important issue to light. Sexual predators are sexual predators; they are individuals with a problem and are ever seeking prey. Drunk girls at parties are easy prey, and that is a simple fact, unfortunately.

I also disagree with the Collegian’s response. It is a column, Lomakina should have been permitted to express her opinions freely. Perhaps the editor could have encouraged her to provide a little more analysis and maybe some more facts that could support some of those opinions, yet I do not think she should have been punished for them.

As journalists, we all should abide by the policy that there is an all-encompassing freedom of speech. It is what we live by.

Lomakina may have expressed an offensive opinion, but I feel the failure here was on the part of the Collegian for not successfully addressing the issue at hand. Lomakina probably isn’t the only person on campus that has those views, perhaps that is what needs to be addressed.

UMASS Financial Aid Office’s Closed-Door Policy

Because I did not want to appear full of rage in the context of my feature article on FAFSA, I could not include my angering personal contacts with the UMASS Financial Aid Office. Instead I choose this venue.

It all began in December 2008. I was a first-semester sophomore at UMASS Amherst.

I was considering moving out of my parents house at the time. My parents have a strict policy: if you move out of the house, you are “cut off” financially. I knew they wouldn’t budge, but I also felt that it was time for me to be an independent adult. My parents and I were fighting a lot at the time about how often I drove home to visit, how often I was calling them, hanging out with my friends too much, the normal stuff. They also disapproved of the relationship I was in. And it was stressing me out. And it was stressing them out. It was time.

So I went to the financial aid office to see what my options were. They told me that I had none.

So I left UMASS so I could go back to my job at home and save money to come back.

I started renting my own apartment that January. I was cut off financially, altogether.

I lived that way for two years, working and saving what little I could, until I could stay away from UMASS no longer. And now I am back.

I was, however, under the misconception that after living completely on my own for two years and being able to prove this, that I would at least be eligible for more aid. This was not the case.

The women in the financial aid office were stand-offish and downright rude. I went there several times asking for help. They gave me the dependency status appeal form and told me that I had to be able to prove abuse in order to be independent of my parents, or a “break” in the family. To qualify a “break” I would have to have literally no contact with them, which was not the case.

I explained my situation to them. “Unless you can convince your parents to help, you’re ‘out of luck,'” they told me.

They were the opposite of helpful.

I gave up on them and instead decided to work my way through. I work 45 hours a week on top of all my classwork.

When the time came to do my final project on financial aid and I went to the UMASS Financial Aid office yet again, they were just as rude. They ignored me at first. Then they just said, go to the next office if you have questions, without even looking up from the desk.

The lady in the next office said coldly that she was not permitted to answer any questions, that I had to go to the “news office.”

I went to where they instructed me to go and the person they told me to talk to was on vacation, of course. So they sent me to yet another office.

The man at the desk listened to my questions. He told me that they probably were not going to answer my questions, but that he would try. He sent me an email five days later saying that they had no information for me.

Isn’t their job to answer our questions? Or is it just to sit there, pretending to do a job?

Coca Cola and UMASS: Good Friends

Wouldn’t you be good friends with someone who was giving you $1.75 million?

Coca Cola and UMASS have had an exclusive sponsorship agreement since 2004. It most definitely “weirds me out,” but I see both sides of it.

UMASS Amherst is having a hard time making the budget and continues to cut staff and raise tuition and fees. Meanwhile, the state is giving this “state school” less and less money. I see where the administration is coming from. However, I would have more respect if they chose a healthier, more environmentally friendly sponsor.

With obesity and diabetes rates soaring, you’d think they would. And what about that freshman 15? Multiply that by two for the future freshman of 2020, because we are only making it worse.

Are there are other worthy sponsors? Did UMASS have other options? Was Coca Cola simply the highest bidder? These are questions I would like to have answers for.

City of Northampton meeting

Despite the installment of the open meeting law, the City of Northampton Committee on Economic Development, Housing and Land Use meeting on May 3 was very poorly attended.

I was one of three people in the public seats, and the other two had agenda items.

The two main agenda items were to discuss the installation of photovoltaic equipment and to vote on the proposed change to the City Charter and Code of Ordinances in regards to the Board of Health.

The committee discussed at length issues of size, location and sound of the photovoltaics. Photovoltaic energy is a renewable source of solar energy gathered through panels.

The committee concluded that photovoltaics will not be installed in wooded areas because trees would have to be cut down.

The members also discussed the issue of the sound of the equipment, which it was concluded can be averted with “buffers.”

The motion passed and will move to City Council at this Thursday’s meeting.

The proposed change to the City Charter and Code of Ordinances was very difficult to follow, even for the committee members.

The committee separated out the charter change, saying that it needed further clarification. They sent it to City Council without a recommendation. They did, however, pass the ordinance change, which will allow the Mayor to appoint and supervise the Board of Health Director.

“At least everyone is going to know what the Board of Health does,” one member said jokingly at the end of the meeting.

Both items were recommended to the committee for recommendation by the City Council.

UMASS Journalism Alumni Panel

Goodell Hall’s Bernie Dallas room was full of journalism enthusiasts on Thursday evening as six Umass. Journalism alums formed a panel intended to give some real-world perspective to current students.
Self-motivation, first-hand experience, and a perpetual state of learning were dominating themes of the discussion.
“If you’re not a self-starter, you will not succeed in this business,” said panelist Julie Robenhymer, senior writer for Hockeybuzz.com.
Every one of those panelists got to where they are today by being self-motivated. Most of them got their hands dirty early on with internships. And they sought them out of their own accord, as it is not a major requirement.
Panelist Mike LaCrosse’s career stemmed directly from his internship. He works as a reporter and producer for WGGB, ABC 40 of Springfield. He has been there for 3 years, 2 of which he spent as an intern. LaCrosse talked about getting the most of his internship.
“Bug the crap out of them. Don’t wait for them to tell you what to do,” said LaCrosse.
Panelist Mike Phillis emphasized The Daily Collegian. Phillis started contributing to the Collegian as a photographer, and through the experience discovered that he is more interested in writing. Phillis produces 8-10 stories a week for the Lexington Minuteman.
Each panelist spoke about the importance of good writing. First and foremost, journalists have to be good writers. And to be a successful journalist today takes more than that. As the journalism job market is on the decline, enterprises want journalists that are multi-faceted. The panelists embraced this fact. They took the initiative to learn to photograph well, to do podcasts, live feeds, and web page construction. While technology continues to change and advance, we too must be in a fluid state of learning.
“I think to be a journalist today, you really have to be able to do it all. Become an expert in as many things as possible,” said panelist Eric Athas. Athas is now a reporter and producer for the Washington Post.
It is that openness that has made these panelists successful. They looked at journalism and saw a world of change. Instead of turning around and running, they rose to meet the demands of new-world journalism.
Panelist Sean Sullivan spoke of multimedia advancements and student trepidation. Sullivan feels that technological skills come primarily from self-directed experimentation, that it is literally our job to learn these things. He described journalists as “professional amateurs.”
Their passion was evident even in the way they spoke about their careers. These people are where they are today because they have the skills, the drive, and the desire.
“There’s not a day that I don’t enjoy what I’m doing,” said LaCrosse.

Protests in Egypt a Success

After 18 days of protests and a 30-year presidency, Mubarak resigned from office on February 11. This is a testament to the people of Egypt. Inspired by the leadership of the April 6 Movement, young activists that have spent months organizing, the people of Egypt have reinstated their right to have a president that they stand behind. The April 6 Movement began as a small group coming together on facebook and twitter to speak out against police brutality and the injustice within their government. The movement is open to all Egyptians, yet it is youth-focused. This is because the majority of Egypt, 66%, is under 30 years old. The youth population is also the hardest hit by Egypt’s currently rising unemployment rates. This also set the stage for the revolution, as many of the protesters are young, strong, and angry and can have only helped matters for the activists. The activists decided to stage a strike, and began rallying support on the internet. The strike was scheduled for April 6, 2008. Hundreds participated in the strike; many were arrested and some were beaten. The originators, Ahmed Maher and Ahmed Salah, decided to continue the movement until Mubarak heard the people of Egypt and resigned, and named the organization after its first event. It appears as though the biggest inspiration to action was the mass of videos that began streaming onto the site, videos of police brutality and torture. What were once isolated incidences that too frequently went unnoticed by the masses, quickly became common knowledge for all to see. And the people of Egypt became enraged. Mubarak seems to say less, as opposed to more when it comes to defending himself and his administration. To simply say that the hundreds of videos of torture and violence that exist on the internet are the actions of individuals and that they do not reflect the police force in its entirety, cannot sufficiently console a country full of angry people. It is very moving to know that as a human race, we can unite and rise above any common enemy.