As a followup to my previous post concerning President Obama making an attempt to satisfy our need for fuel consumption. I found this little graphic on Jalopnik.com. Jalopnik is just like my blog, but there’s a team of people that contribute to the site. (I wish I had that.)
Anyway, this graphic seems to suggest we Americans consume gas like I do with liquor at the end of finals week. For those of you reading my blog, Iowa is pretty high chuggin’ 13 barrels per capita. ugh.
Well, here we are in the future, and we’re not driving flying cars or cars that rely on anything else besides fossil fuels. True, there are some cars and prototypes that are running on hybrid batteries, but they’re not really available for the massive world market yet. I also look at the oil rig accident, which recently occurred. I was watching a report on CBS a few nights ago discussing the tragedy.
According to the report, there are at least 3,500 oil rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico, and President Obama intends to open up more rigs along the East Coast. Now, this is considered a very rare accident, and President Obama, despite being aware of the issue still plans to go forward with opening more rigs along the East coast.
Now, I love driving my car as much as the next person, but I’m also somewhat envrionmentally aware, and don’t endorse Obama’s course of action on this issue.
I know we do have the technology to make cars with alternative fuel sources, but why aren’t we working on making those? I suppose we’ll just have to wait for a cataclysmic event before we start looking into a new alternative that becomes a mainstay in regards to energy.
Ya know, I’m all for having a car that tells you everything you should pay attention to when driving. For instance, my old Volvo S60 would send me “text messages” explicitly telling me what was wrong with the car (check engine, fill the tank, replace bulb). Now almost every car will do something like this, but some cars are more passive aggressive about this than others. I’ll point you to the Volkswagen Touareg for instance. My family has this SUV right now, and while they love to drive the car, we lovingly refer to the constant dinging informing us of the air bag turning off, our seatbelts not being fastened, and when you leave the car in park while out of the car as the “bitch in the trunk.” The insatiably relentless dinging noise almost makes us want to rip out the car’s computer system. I know other cars do this as well with safety in mind, but sometimes the friendly reminder does become a little too much of a nagging factor.
So, do you have helpful, chronic reminder in your ride, or a Bitch in the Trunk?
Throughout this whole entire semester I’ve encountered people in just about every class, whether they be student on instructor who has to issue a complaint directed in some shape or form over the institute of journalism. Now, being a budding-journalist I fully understand the scrutiny, and have always accepted it as something that just comes along with the whole package. However, it’s incredibly frustrating to go to a class and join the “blood-sport” of accusing news outlets for their coverage of a topic, and then being assigned to find a way to encourage more people to pick up the journalism major in another class. In fact, I get a little disillusioned when I hear people like Dr. David Perlmutter<http://tinyurl.com/26ggrhc> of the school of journalism here at the University of Iowa suggesting the word has a stigma attached to it. However, I sometimes feel as though some people really just don’t get it, and wish to criticize simply because they can.
“People are quick to criticize what they see, but they have no clue about how difficult it is to get this whole thing running,” was what one of the production assistants said when I worked at KGAN/KFXA last year, and I agree completely with that statement as well.
I guess I’m writing this in response to all of the people rolling their eyes claiming journalism is dying, journalists are completely flawed in how they produce their stories, and corporate business and journalism are a match made in Hell.
First off, journalism IS NOT DYING! The institute, is simply reforming. True, newspapers are shrinking in certain locations, but according to a report from “The State of The Media,” it wasn’t that many papers that got the ax. The printed word isn’t going to simply vanish from the face of the Earth. Where would you clever bloggers get all of your information you need to make fun of us anyway? Television is not in any sad state right now either. As a matter of fact, Broadcast journalism did pretty well last year. (http://tinyurl.com/ylzym3h), And guess what? Election year is here, so if the whole nation will be glued to CNN, FOX News, or MSNBC watching coverage and commentary.
True, jobs in journalism aren’t being handed out like candy anymore, but the industry understands it must work smarter, not harder. As a news director or broadcast company, why should I have to pay the salaries of a team of people to set up a camera, shoot footage, report, and edit the video together, when this can all be done by a single person? Consolidation may seem like a scary word in a business sense, but it isn’t the kiss of death here.
The discussion in one of my classes today shifted to the media, and their portrayal of an event that occurred during the Civil Rights. The professor proceeded to compliment the efforts made by the media to expose the “other side” of the story regarding the killings of the Black Panther leader, Fred Hampton. For those of you not familiar with Hampton, he was a leading member of the Black Panthers during the late 60s in Chicago, IL. The Panthers were perceived as a threat by the government at the time, and police raided his apartment, and shot him to death. Law enforcement officials did a smear job on their report of what happened, claiming Hampton shot first, when really, almost every shot fired in the apartment was directed at Hampton’s room. This was exposed by investigative reporting.
After discussing this atrocity, my professor proceeded to compliment the investigative efforts of journalists on the story. He then proceeded to critique the Daily Iowan on their coverage of political issues.
Now, what happened next is probably what lead me to write this note. As a disclaimer, I’m doing this on a moderate amount of sleep, little food, and a boat load of caffeine. Thus I might be overreacting slightly but, here it goes.
The professor critiqued the Daily Iowan for “often times” taking an official’s perspective or word on a topic, and simply sticking with it, and not offering the other perspective against an “official’s” word. (I.E. The Provost speaking out about something.) Alright, I don’t work at the Daily Iowan, but come on. That’s a basic rule to journalism in how you even tell a story. I was borderline insulted, and started to just sit there, and think about this even more during class. I couldn’t care less what the discussion topic was, and just sat there in disbelief. The second professor that is typically there in class, tried to soften the blow being aware there could be Journalism majors in the room. (See Andrew Altenbern issues a death glare.)
They concluded their issue telling the class, or prospective political figures or journalists to “think about someone’s life before acting.”
Alright, let me just clear things up for you. I know sometimes, more often than I’m sure I’d like to think, we journalists look like heartless bastards who want to catch people red-handed in a sex scandal, and we just need to get the story to the presses, on the rundown for tonight’s broadcast, or linked on a trashy blog site. As journalists we do have, get this, ethical issues we talk about before we publish anything. Sometimes, people will have a full staff meeting in a news room to decide whether or not we should run with a story, or if the story is really all that necessary if it’s going to have a severe effect on someone. The rules are not black and white.
Finally, the argument that big business is bad for any news organizations, and journalists shouldn’t really have anything to do with the other side of the wall that deals with number crunching and sales is fallacious thinking. While journalists are responsible for delivering the news in an accurate, timely fashion. They should also be aware of what the sales department is doing as well. It’s understandable that the news room is wary of the people in suits upstairs, but those people in suits are also giving the reporters the money to be able to produce multi-media oriented information. It’s possible for news agencies to slip into lazy, sensationalized reporting, but if the journalists can stand their ground, both the marketing and reporting aspects of journalism can work together, and make money.
I frankly don’t care if anyone reads this, or understands it. I understand there are flaws in my own argument, but I just needed to lay some things to rest, even if it is just to a nebulous void on the net.
Growing up we were all pretty envious of Batman’s pretty sweet ride, and who wouldn’t be? It’s like a more ostentatious James Bond car, but with some attitude. So, let’s look at how Batman has always had a pretty sweet ride.
1. The Lincoln Futura Batmobile- This was the car Adam West and Burt Ward used in their comical crusade against their Villains in the 60s. I don’t think the dynamic duo was going anywhere quickly in this car, it is a Lincoln after all, but Holy Hotrod Batman, was it cool.
2. The Tim Burton Batmobile- Frankly, I think this thing is just awesome. It’s one of my favorite iterations I’ve seen of the batmobile. It looks like the deviant off-spring of a Ferrari and an H.R. Giger painting… Only Tim Burton.
3. 90s Cartoon Batmobile- Alright, this, in my opinion, is by far, my favorite take on Batman’s iconic ride. It has style cues taken from just about any car between the 1920s and the 1950s, but it also has the state of the art gadgets Batman needs when dealing with people like The Clown Prince of Crime. Like the series it was featured in, this thing is timeless, and downright badass!
4. The 90s Movies- While Tim Burton got Batman started in the early 90s, the movies atrophied after he jumped off the project. Batman’s ride did too. It went from looking dark, sexy, and intense to Ostentatious, and uninspired. Good thing the Bat kept this thing parked.
5. The Tumbler- Now, I know the new Batman series (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) is meant to be realistic, but I don’t see a Batmobile. It’s more like a Humvee-Tank that compliments Christian Bale’s raspy, shouting Batman voice. I personally am not a fan of this ride, and I really wasn’t to sad to see it morph into a motorcycle in the Dark Knight. Call me a bronze-aged guy, but I prefer Batman’s ride to have style cues of a Bat, not the Terminator.
The 90s Cartoon with Kevin Conroy as Batman, and his Batmobile was hands down, my favorite one. thoughts?
They could be new lyrics to an old tune: “How you gonna keep ‘em down at the dorm after they’ve seen the bars?”
With one more reading, The Iowa City City Council is poised to pass the so-called 21-ordinance for Iowa City bars. It would restrict people under 21 from being in downtown bars after 10 p.m. The city council is under pressure to curb student binge drinking, and proponents of the ordinance say it’s a step in the right direction.
But it’s an unpopular idea with students under the age of 21 who frequently go out to the bars on Thursday nights or weekends to socialize. Students have argued to the UI student council that preventing underage students from entering a bar after 10 p.m. will simply make them go to house parties or other places in Iowa City to find alcohol and drink.
Enter the Associated Residence Halls
With thousands of under-aged drinkers under their roofs, campus dorms are ground zero for the movement opposing the 21 ordinance. It’s not that the UI doesn’t try to keep dorm residents sober and out of trouble. Activities sponsored by the University have always been in place around campus to offer alcohol free alternatives to hanging out at the bars. The Associated Residence Halls group has sponsored events in the dorms to promote these alternatives. While some students attend these events, many, like 19 year old sophomore Yani Anastis, are skeptical.
“Kids are definitely not going to do that,” said Anastis, who lives in the Currier residence hall. He doesn’t believe there are many activities at the dorm that could compete with going downtown to hang out on the Ped-Mall with friends on a bar crawl.
“No one wants to stay in the dorms during a Friday night, and there’s not much to do around. It’s just kinda hard,” said Anastis. He said he goes out to bars at least once a week , usually on the weekend. What non-alcoholic fun could the dorms offer to keep him entertained? “I’m not too sure,” said Anastis. “I can’t really think of much.”
The Associated Residence Hall organization admits that it struggles to keep students interested in their events, and they’ve recently begun talking about plans to beef up their programs to keep students coming back for more. ARH member Mark Schwenker works with all the other members of ARH and the student governments in each residence hall. He says ARH members have started to talk about the 21 ordinance, and they are trying to create a contingency plan if it passes next week.
“ARH is working with all of the individual hall governments on preparing for the 21 ordinance. Discussion with any others outside of residence hall government has not occurred,” said Schwenker.
The Next Course of Action
While the Associated Residence Halls hasn’t actually sought the advice of students outside their group, there are flyers being distributed at the residence halls’ dining facilities encouraging students to get involved in ARH, and to become members. Students I talked to had ideas, but they were not positive these would make any sort of difference in terms of curbing the appeal of a house party with alcohol. “Maybe more movies, cause back home we’d do that. I don’t know – it’s Iowa - so people are going to go around the rules,” says Samantha Nasca, an under-age student who lives in Rienow Hall.
The residence halls coordinators are well aware that students will still leave the dorms if the 21 ordinance is passed and find a way to party the night away with an alcoholic beverage in hand. But with a “zero tolerance” of alcohol in dorm rooms, the ARH’s Schwenker says they will continue issuing fines to students who break the rules. The dorms are committed to being “dry.”
The Plan So Far
While ARH is just beginning to consider what to do in order to offer alternative activities for students, it may be too early to say what will actually happen. “One idea is to provide more late-night events for residents going from about 11pm-2am,” said Schwenker. ARH believes that if students are able to have an enjoyable time at an event that goes later into the night, there won’t be as much interest in leaving the dorms to go looking for other activities in Iowa City.
However, students are doubtful about any plans the dorms come up with. “Nothing’s going to top going out,” said freshman Hannah Thompson, who lives in Rienow. When asked how to appeal to students like Hannah, who opt for Iowa City’s night life over the residence hall events, Schwenker said, “I ask how can we make it interesting. ARH is asking itself, ‘what makes residents want to go downtown?’”
Looking Ahead
The ARH is also aware that it needs more money to sponsor events that are more frequent and consistently fun for students. How to raise those funds is another problem. Ideas include reallocating housing contract money, or even applying alcohol fines to sponsor “dry” social events. However, students seem ambivalent towards the efforts made by ARH.
The Iowa City City council’s final reading of the 21 ordinance is scheduled for Thursday, April 6. If it passes, it goes into effect June 1. However, it could be repealed later next fall. Dorm resident Samantha Nasca was clear. “I hope it gets repealed in November,” she said.
Iowa City, Iowa- “It was the first time I had traveled on a plane, driven a rental car, drove in the mountains alone. I was staying in a stranger’s house, and I can’t put into words how much I loved that experience.” This was the world Holly Hines enthusiastically dove into after taking a job assignment at the Daily Iowan. But this assignment wasn’t like any other story you may have read in the paper. Holly was writing an investigative story on internet addiction, and she won an eleventh place finish in the prestigious Hearst Awards for excellence in reporting and writing for college journalists.
Holly explains the experience.
Holly Hines is a senior at the University of Iowa, but her major in journalism is something she just picked up last semester. Initially, Hines was going to school as an English and Art major, but last spring she applied for the Daily Iowan because she needed a job. “I was looking for a writing job, and a friend of mine suggested I get a job at the DI to learn how writing jobs work,” said Hines. Initially Holly was not as confident as she is today because the writing style was so different from the poetry, short stories, and other prose she wrote as an English major. However, once she got into the swing of reporting and doing interviews she fell in love with it. “I continued doing the DI during the fall and winter semester, and I liked it more,” she said.
Holly’s enthusiasm, passion, and motivation to excel in journalism would pay off when she was assigned to handle the story that would win her a Hearst Award. The story began as an idea being offered by the editors Holly worked closely with in the newsroom. She found the story interesting because like the story’s subject, Ben Alexander, Hines took interest in internet addiction because she had a friend who played the popular online video game, “World of Warcraft.” But unlike her friend, Alexander’s gaming had become unhealthy.
Hines was fascinated by the subject. “I’ve always had an interest in mental health stories. I had done a few over the summer.” Through the next months Hines would work alongside Daily Iowan Chief editor Kelsey Beltramea, and University of Iowa journalism professor Steve Berry in crafting her story. “The best thing,” says Beltremea, “was she just joined in the Fall, and it was her first story of any significant length.” These intimate meetings between Hines, Beltramea, and Professor Berry focused on the painstaking work of crafting the story so it could be the best possible. “I gave her a few reporting and interviewing tips and made some writing suggestions after she wrote an opening and outline and then again after she wrote a draft. But her editors, primarily Kelsey, I believe, did the heavy lifting on the editing,” said Berry.
The day Hines’ article was published it received a great deal of attention from people all across the internet. The article was linked to news aggregator sites such as www.fark.com for people to read and discuss on the site’s forums. The traffic on the Daily Iowan website jumped that day as well. “Top stories tend to get three to seven thousand hits a day, but Holly’s had at least 11,000 hits that day,” said Beltremea.
Many “World of Warcraft” fans responded somewhat defensively to the article the day it was published, claiming they didn’t have an addiction problem. “We tried our best to make it come across as a story and not an attack,” said Hines.
As for the future, Holly still has another year at the University of Iowa to finish up the classes necessary to complete the journalism program, and she plans to get an internship at the Cedar RapidsGazette. “Afterwards I’m not sure, we’ll see if any opportunity springs from The Gazette. If I have the opportunity to stay with The Gazette I will,” she said.
Journalism has been a great outlet for Holly to utilize her enthusiasm and drive to produce a very thorough story. “Holly, I believe, has a bright future in journalism,” said Berry.
Oh Iowa City, the place where you’ll see everything. No really, you’ll see everything. I’m not positive if this is the same Quattro I’ve seen around town with an awful “Jimmy Johns” delivery topper on the car or not, but it sure looks exactly like it, and I doubt there are many people in this town with a white Audi Quattro. If it is the same one, than it’s good to know this car is just as good at delivering you your Jimmy Johns “Freaky Fast” or rally racing with the same objective in mind…. 
It’s a car not a phone booth. That doesn’t seem to discourage drivers from treating their car like it is one though. However, cell phones aren’t to blame for every bad driver you encounter on the road. Some people, just plain can’t drive… Like the people of New York! Although, I’m sure I’d probably get into a car crash if I lived there too, just because the traffic is so dense, and someone’s bound to hit you if they’re not paying attention.
Good news though for you Iowa natives out there, we’re in eighth place out of the other 50 states. But ya know, that’s because we’re driving pretty slow with our tractors on dirt roads and all.
Here’s the list of states that might make you think twice before taking your next road trip.
Most of the time when we look for cars we find something about them that we can emotionally connect with when we’re purchasing a vehicle. In most cases, we probably are buying a car, because we like how it looks. Because you know, fuel efficiency, utilitarianism, and price aren’t really any other factor to consider when buying a car.
10. The 2010 Toyota Sienna- It looks like Jabba the Hut on wheels.
9. Chevreolet SSR- What the hell is this thing even supposed to be? It’s like an awful GM science project gone bad. Take 1 part El Camino, one part hot rod, and one part pick-up. Naturally, it drove itself right into a hideous grave.
8. New Ford Thunderbird- In all fairness, the concept seemed like a good idea. After all, the retro style worked for the Mustang, but that sadly can not be said for this case.
7. Jaguar XJ- I’ve never liked Jaguars, period.
6. Land Rover Freelander- This thing just drives me nuts. I hate being behind one of these in traffic. It has rear break lights somewhere on the car, but they’re not really break lights. They’re just there for aesthetic appeal apparently.
5. Geo Storm- There is nothing clever about making a sporty looking economic car.
4. AMC Gremlin- I actually think Steven Spielberg’s crazy, homicidal Gremlins looked way nicer than this little monster. Not only was it boring, it broke down every five minutes too.
3. Ford Edsel- It’s funny there are people that actually want to collect these things, because they’re ugly.
2. Plymouth Valiant- It looks like Christine’s ugly sister.
1. Pontiac Aztek- This may very well be the reason why Pontiac is dead.
