Final Article

African American Undergraduate Rates Are On a Rise at EMU



Throughout the nation, black enrollments in higher education have reached an all-time high. But more importantly, statistical measure of the performance is that of how many black students are completing school and earning a college degree.
At Eastern Michigan University, they’re doing this! There are many black students who graduate with undergraduate and graduate degrees. For the past six consecutive years, Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine has recognized Eastern Michigan University as one of the top 100 institutions in the nation for the number of African American students who receive an undergraduate degree.

“EMU ranked 82nd, one position ahead of the University of Michigan; Wayne State and Michigan State were the only other Michigan schools in the rankings.” according to the Eastern Press Release.
Out of 17,283 undergraduate students at EMU, approximately 33.4 percent are African Americans. Records show that the retention percentage rate increased from 18.73 from the previous year to 19.59, in the year 2008.

“My major is literature; I came to EMU because of the smaller feel to the campus. I wasn't just a number to professors, but a person. That’s what made me stay until graduation. The diversity that EMU hosts is incredible. I got to learn about myself and the world around me. I love the sense of family I get from EMU. The professors really did care about my success!” says Jalani Jackson, Alumni and graduate student at EMU.

Anne McKee, Assistant Director of Admissions says “I think that Eastern because we are located in a metropolitan area, and we have good recruiters and the diversity of the campus, I think that students of color see other students who look like themselves, I think help us recruit. Eastern has been recognized as a diverse campus.”


Communications, journalism and other related fields are some of the few degrees that top the ranks of African American students at Eastern Michigan University. Others include Business Administration, Public Administration, Visual and Performing Arts, Ethnic, Social Services, Cultural and Gender Studies.

“My major kind of chose me, I wanted to be a sports medicine major but I didn’t have a car freshmen year and couldn’t get off campus, so I went undecided. Then I was just thinking about what I liked and it came to me.” says Nathan Galloway, a senior majoring in Electronic Media & Film Studies.

A total of 177 undergraduate and 47 graduate degrees were given to African American Students in 2008. That was an increase from 2007, were 147 undergraduate and 38 graduate degrees were given.

“I feel as though Eastern has prepared me for the real world because of the tough teaching and the hard curriculum.” says Emmanuel Upshaw, graduating senior.

The economic gains that come from a college degree are transparently obvious. The Department of Education data shows that, as expected, black students who earn a four-year college degree have incomes that are substantially higher than blacks who have only some college experience but have not earned a degree.

“I'm pleased to know that more Africans (whether American or not) are aiming at obtaining a higher education. In this poor economic state were in, it is needed.” says Chukwuma Undegbunam, a junior.
“As a black graduate we still have to work much harder than the regular graduate. Your job is never done as just a graduate.” says Travis Mines, EMU Black Alumni.

The American Council on Education released its 20th annual Minorities in Higher Education Annual Status Report, which revealed that minority college enrollment has surged 122% over the last two decades, "The good news is that, overall, more students of color are enrolling in institutions of higher education, showing the impact of focus and hard work over the past 20 years," says Marc Sapterstein, former president of the GE Foundation, which financed a report on African American Enrollment Rates. However, African Americans must continue on to do better.

Watch/Listen to the video of EMU's Fight Song, played at Graduation

This I Believe about Digital News

This I Believe About Digital News

As the semester comes to a close, I can truly say that I have acquired and obtained knowledge about the subject entitled “digital journalism”. When the semester began, I had no clue as to what I was going to learn. I had no idea that by the end, I would have gained so much knowledge about digital journalism through an online course. Within these past few months, I’ve been truly taught a lot, but the one thing that I do know is that things are ever changing, especially, including journalism. Nothing stays the same for ever and you must always be willing to learn something new.

You see, digital journalism in my opinion is the recreation of journalism itself. It still carries and contains some of the key characteristics of journalism. However, it has new elements. For example, it contains pictures and web pages. It goes beyond the daily paper, but it includes blogs and youtube links. Digital journalism is still evolving so there is no set right or wrong way.

What I believe about digital news is that it allows different individuals to read what they want. There is something for everyone in the world of digital journalism or news. It caters to the niche audience. However, you have to be careful because unlike journalism of the past, various articles may be biased. Which in return, it doesn’t conform to the rule that journalists are supposed to be objective. For this reason alone, I do believe that digital journalism has a growing number of readers. People want to be able to pick and choose their content of reading. Readers want options. It is quite interesting to see how digital news will continue to manifest and grow with the ever growing of technology. What will digital journalism be like in the next five years? Another thing is that digital journalism and news, has allowed for the latest updates of events. Whatever is happening right now can be seen, heard or read not later but as we speak.

As the authors of “Reconstruction of American Journalism” states, “American journalism is at a transformational moment, in which the era of dominant newspapers and influential network news divisions is rapidly giving way to one in which the gathering and distribution of news is more widely dispersed. As almost everyone knows, the economic foundation of the nation’s newspapers, long supported by advertising, is collapsing, and newspapers themselves, which have been the country’s chief source of independent reporting, are shrinking—literally. Fewer journalists are reporting less news in fewer pages, and the hegemony that near-monopoly metropolitan newspapers enjoyed during the last third of the twentieth century, even as their primary audience eroded, is ending. Commercial television news, which was long the chief rival of printed newspapers, has also been losing its audience, its advertising revenue, and its reporting resources.”
What I do appreciate about digital journalism, is that it gives new comers the opportunity to become a journalist, where once before it was hard business to get into. You see its almost like digital journalism is an art form. I mean it does take a certain type of individual to produce a good article. But, that person is now me. This is What I Believe about Digital News, have you learned about it!

Restaurant Review Andiamo Detroit Riverfront

Andiamo


When I walked into the elegant Andiamos Detroit Riverfront Restaurant for the first time, I didn't really have any expectations. The only thing I expected was to receive superb service. Truth be told, I didn't know what this restaurant was going to be like, since I had never been.
As I entered into the dining room, I noticed the dark earth tones, which sets off the white tablecloths on the tables and black padded chairs. The décor is elegant and innovative with brick-hued columns, earth-toned drapes and large windows overlooking the river. It even has two large fish tanks, filled with all different types of colorful exotic fish.
During the lunch rush, the seating can be crowded. In fact, the large, round tables are used often for business lunches and can easily overwhelm the narrow, two-person tables that are placed just scant inches apart from each other. High-top bar tables in the spacious lounge are sometimes utilized for the lunch seating as well. While the high chairs are somewhat precarious and leave little room to stow a purse or briefcase, there is more breathing room between the tables.
Make no mistake: Andiamo Detroit Riverfront has a prime location along the waterfront of the Detroit River. In the warmer months, it even has an outside patio. The space inside, however, is curiously subdivided with a large section near the entrance devoted to the lounge, which has a dance floor, a tolerance for cigars and pipes, marble floors and a “L”-shaped bar. It is partitioned off from the narrow dining room beyond, making the space confusing to navigate. The odd-shaped space is rivaled only by the odder-shaped, over-head lighting fixtures, set off from the dark ceilings through texture and contrast.
The menu is northern Italian and presented by Chef Edward L. Bailey. In addition to daily specials, the menu consists of salads, Panini, pasta, chicken, veal, seafood and beef dishes. The dinner menu also includes several risotto dishes.
The Italian bread was suitably warm and tasty, and the side Andiamo salad was fresh; but the real highlight leading into the main course was the soup: New England clam chowder. The soup is poured from a cream pitcher into your bowl. It is pleasingly filled with chucks of clams and fresh vegetables with a contrast of thick and creamy goodness. It’s not the everyday New England clam chowder you get a typical restaurants, the flavor of the soup was rich and savory.
The open-faced crab-cake sandwich was served on Challah bread, an interesting and creative twist on the dish. Unfortunately, the crab cake itself crumbled and the bread absorbed the Remoulade sauce, making it impossible to obtain a cohesive sandwich bite.
The daily pasta special was ravioli with shrimp and sausage in a Cajun Alfredo sauce and was served in an enormous bowl. The shrimp were plentiful, large and shelled; the sausage was spicy; and the sauce was rich and nuanced.
Reservations are strongly suggested by the hostess staff, even during off times. While the restaurant itself was busy, we were sat at a high-top in the lounge rather than in the main dining room, just behind the exotic fish tanks.
Unfortunately, we had to wait a few hours before we received our main course. It literally took about 3 hours, before we began to dine into our mouth watering dishes. Even though we waited, the wait staff and the manager were wonderful. They gave us complimentary portions of pasta with marinara sauce, so that we wouldn’t be completely hunger. Both the waiter and manger apologized and asked us, “Would you like a complementary bottle of wine?” and, we ordered a bottle of Moscato.
Despite all the troubles, the food was excellent. The risotto was nice and creamy, the pasta was tender and the wine was smooth and sweet.
Some guests come in jeans or semi-casual, while others wear business suits. You can come for lunch or late-night drinks; order the NY Strip streak or have pasta and don’t forget about a glass or bottle of wine.
It's not the kind of high-end Italian place we've seen in the past. But in an increasingly casual society, it’s good both for the businessman or the young couple.

News Scoops

America’s Thanksgiving Parade thrills parade goers

It's been a tough year for many Americans, especially for Metro Detroiters going through hard times but, that didn’t stop them from coming out to the 83rd Annual America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
They were many volunteers. From the big-headed elves, to the drivers on the floats, to the special celebrity guests, high school marching bands, clowns and more.
And they all gave a thrill to a huge crowd of people, as they walked down Woodward Avenue. One big-headed elf volunteer received an early unexpected Christmas gift in front of the Fox Theatre, as her soon to be fiancée held out a diamond ring, and proposed to her as parade marchers carried a banner that read: "Will you marry me Julie?"
Santa Claus himself, who was riding in the last float that was accompanied by the elves, announced the result to the cheering crowd: "She said yes."
"I was totally flabbergasted," Badaczewski said. "I started crying. He put the ring on my finger but I couldn't see it because of the big head I was wearing."
DeMaggio said later he was nervous, but confident. "I wanted to do something big for her," he said.
Many visitors come from all around to partake in the extravaganza; some come to visit Detroit relatives and others come to visit friends. Officials said all 6,000 grandstand seats were sold out.

EMU Enrollment is up


Michael Belanger, a senior, chose Eastern Michigan University because of cost. He thinks that the cost is affordable and that Financial Aid is helpful. He thinks at Financial Aid is helpful. He thinks that enrollment is up due to the economy. “People are going back to school to get an education because of the jobs,” says Michael.

Eastern Michigan University’s overall enrollment has surged 4.26 percent for the 2009-10 school year. As of Sept. 22, 22,859 students are enrolled for fall 2009 compared to 21,926 at the same time last year, an increase of 933 students. Enrollment is up at both the undergraduate and graduate levels according to EMU.

Outlining Final Paper

Idea of Story

-My idea is to write a story that focuses on life after graduation. It would be interesting to find out how many college graduates actually find jobs in their field within the 1st year.

Steps

-Research
• Trends within the past 2-5 years of college grads getting jobs
• What careers are seeing a hiring trends
• Sources including search engines, career services on campus

-Interviews
• Graduate students across campus
• Career Service Workers
• Advisors and Professors

-Possible Lead Styles
• 1st began with a Prediction Lead
• Descriptive
• Delayed

Answering Questions

What does a hybrid newspaper look like? To me a hybrid newspaper would be both print and online. It contains both elements. How do you strike a balance between editorial control and citizen expression? This question seems to be quite intriguing. I'm not exactly sure how you could balance between editorial control and citizen expression. The only thing that comes to mind is being able to allow the same space for feedback or just allowing feedback on editorials that way its equal opportunity. I'm not sure, what do you think?

Americas Change In Journalism

"We need the established press to not just aid this effort but to lead it. The marriage of all this connectivity with an activist mission of public-service journalism could cut through the layers of banality that clog not just the mainstream media but also the rest of our sprawling information environment. Such a marriage could organize and lead the kind of critical culture that Berman and Carey sought. It could begin to establish a public agenda that reflects the struggle over how America should live—over what America means—in this new century." says Brent Cunningham.

You see, I'm not actally sure if I agree or disagree with Brent 100%. However, I do understand some of his viewpoints. I agree that we are in time where things are changing and that journalism could help add in this change for the better.

Brent Cunningham stated in his article, "In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, as the press faced criticism for failing to use the catastrophe to initiate a national conversation about race (or class, or infrastructure, etc.), Jonathan Klein, the president of CNN/U.S., defended his network’s coverage to Eric Deggans, the press critic at the St. Petersburg Times: “We go in looking for stories,” he said, “not issues which need to be raised."

Now I would have to raise the question, "Why in the hell not?" Why would we not care to address issues of the people. Is it because we have become so greedy to make money, or is it the fact we don't care about things that really affect the people. It's sad that media outlets can do the exact opposite of what there are suppose to be built on. When are we going to take a stand and address these issues. We are the journalists and its our job, we can address it if no one else will.

WE COULD AND SHOULD BE THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE...HELP MAKE THE CHANGE!!!!

This I Believe...What do you believe?

The Importance of God and Family

All Things Considered, November 1, 2009. Growing up from a child to an adult, you are taught certain things about life. In school, you learn about different subjects like math, reading, language and music. At home, you’re taught how important it is to have morals, values, and family. You’re also taught how to be a polite, respectful young gentleman. Then you are drilled about how important it is to receive an education. However, one of the most important things I was taught was the importance of God and family.

Every Sunday as a family we would attend church. It would be my mother, father, sister, cousins, aunties, uncles, and grandmas. Considering the fact that two of my uncles are pastors and my father is a reverend, no excuses were allowed. We had to be there. Every week there was something going on at the church, bible class, Sunday school, and choir rehearsals. Sometimes we would be in church all day long, and if there were two services than we were at church from 9am until 10pm.

Now, as a child growing up you don’t understand certain things. You don’t understand why you have to attend church, pray, or even have a relationship with God. But, you have to be taught and attending church is like attending school. You go there to learn about God. Once you’re a little older you begin to understand for yourself about how important it is to have God in your life.

It’s just the same with family. While growing up, you learn your family members. Then, you learn to love your family. If it wasn’t for having family, I think life would be rather boring. I can remember all the times when our family spent time with each another, its so much fun!! Like the holidays are just amazing, we rotate houses between aunts and uncles. There’s always enough food for any and everyone. The key is that we’re always and I mean always having a great time with each other. We laugh about the past and talk about the present and future.

You see, there’s not a person on Earth who could convince me that family and God isn’t important. Without the two, I don’t know where I would be in life. This I believe.

Someone Triggered an Epiphany

Someone Triggered an Epiphany

Life..Life is interesting. You never know what it has in store for you. Each day is different and a learning experience. Not one day should go by without you learning from it. You see, yesterday I went out to dinner with my ex-girlfriend and her family because her uncle was in town. Now it was the first time I had ever met "Uncle Mark" and when I first walked into the restaurant he did what most uncles do. Of course, thats getting to know the young man that dated his niece. He began by asking a series of questions. What are my goals...what am I going to school for..and what is my next step after graduation. I told him what they were and he responded by saying "Why are you waiting on an interview, become your own boss." It was quite intriquing.

After sharing the fact that I want to become a entertainment journalists and that I like food, fashion and music "Uncle Mark" started talking about the internet. Interestingly enough, he asked me, if I had ever blogged before and I said for class. He then told me that I should start and who knows where it would take me. So, I started thinking seriously about this thing, that maybe I can do this. It would be interesting to see where it leads me.

So...This afternoon as a church family we decided to have dinner at O'Charleys in Belleville. The service was just horrible when it came to getting the food right. It seemed as if the cook was inexperienced. My ex and I both had ordered steaks medium well and everyone one knows that medium well means "slightly pink" not bloody. However, in total we had to send our steaks back at least 5 times and when it was all said and done my ex didn't even eat. The managers came out and didn't want to compensate for anything. Their attitudes were just out right disrespectful and rude. Then I began to think about "Uncle Mark" and what we talked about last night.


So, when I came home and did my readings, here once again was some advice. It's talking about having a voice and how to develop it. Not only that, but not to give up if you don't succeed right away. So, you know what, I think I'm going to listen to "Uncle Mark" the wise guy. Did I mention he owns his own business....See you never know what life has in store for you and whom your going to meet.

Someone Triggered an Epiphany....

EMU Enrollment Is Up

Michael Belanger, a senior, chose Eastern Michigan University because of cost. He thinks that the cost is affordable and that Financial Aid is helpful. He thinks that enrollment is up due to the economy. “People are going back to school to get an education because of the jobs,” says Michael.

Eastern Michigan University’s overall enrollment has surged 4.26 percent for the 2009-10 school year. As of Sept. 22, 22,859 students are enrolled for fall 2009 compared to 21,926 at the same time last year, an increase of 933 students. Enrollment is up at both the undergraduate and graduate levels according to EMU.

Macular Degeneration

The diagnosis of macular degeneration is becoming increasingly more common due to patient awareness, physician access, and new groundbreaking improvements in treatment. Due to new treatment available, the odds of going blind have decreased.

“My grandmother has macular generation, she is legally blind. We have to do everything for her. My mother cleans her house, my uncle takes her shopping and I do her finances”, says, Dr. Todd Gillihan.

Age-related macular degeneration is a common eye disease associated with aging. It blurs the sharp, central vision you need for activities in which you have to look straight ahead in order to perform. Such activities include reading, computer work, washing dishes, eating and driving for example. “We even had to buy her all white plates, just so she could see her food to eat”, says, Dr. Gillihan.

In some cases, this disease progresses so slowly that it really has little effect on ones vision as they age. However, in others, the disease can vastly progress and it can lead to a loss of vision in one or both eyes.

About 1.7 million Americans have some form of macular degeneration. “It is the leading cause of vision loss among Americans ages 65 and over”, says Dr. Arnold Bulos, O.D.

In order to understand macular degeneration, it is helpful to understand the parts of your eye involved with sight. These structures include the cornea, iris, pupil, lens, macula, and retina.

Your cornea is a thin, clear layer on the outside of your eye. The iris, or the colored part of your eye, is a muscle that controls the amount of light going through your pupil, which is the round opening in the center of your eye. Behind the iris sits the lens, which is just larger than your pupil. The iris is enclosed by a thin, clear capsule that holds the lens in its proper place.

When light enters your eye, the cornea and lens form the light rays into a beam of light that is focused directly onto your retina -- the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. The retina instantly converts light, or an image, into electrical impulses. The retina then sends these impulses, or nerve signals, to the brain through the optic nerve. The optic nerve is a bundle of more than one million nerve fibers connecting the retina to the brain.

The macula is located in the center of the retina. It is made up of millions of light-sensing cells that help to produce central vision. This is why blindness occurs, due to the deterioration in the macula, says, Dr. Todd Gillihan, O.D.

There are two types of age-related macular degeneration: Dry (atrophic) form: This type results from the gradual breakdown of cells in the macula, resulting in a gradual blurring of central vision. Single or multiple, small, round, yellow-white spots called drusen are the key identifiers for the dry type. These spots are located in the back of the eye at the level of the outer retina and are detected by examination of the retina with specifically engineered lenses, a slit-lamp biomicroscope, or an ophthalmoscope. Spots typically become visible when a person reaches his or her late 30s or older but are much more common in people over the age of 70. People with these spots may have excellent vision and no symptoms. Most people with age-related macular degeneration begin with the dry form. The dry form of macular degeneration is fortunately much more common than the wet form. Advanced dry macular degeneration, known as geographic atrophy, is the culmination of prolonged, progressive wasting changes in the nerves and sensory retina. Geographic atrophy is the main cause of vision loss in dry AMD, not drusen.

Wet (exudative or neovascular) form: In the wet form of macular degeneration, newly created abnormal blood vessels grow under the center of the retina. These blood vessels leak, bleed, and scar the retina, distorting or destroying central vision. Vision distortion usually starts in one eye and may affect the other eye later. In contrast to the dry type, vision loss may be rapid in the wet type of macular degeneration.Wet macular degeneration affects only about 15% of people who have age-related macular degeneration but accounts for two-thirds of the people who have significant visual loss.
However, there are preventative measures that take place at the eye doctor’s office. “We at Pearle Vision make sure we take steps to help in the preventative measures in eye care” says, Christina, Store Manager of Pearle Vision. When a patient first walks in our store, they must fill out a health form. This allows them to see past history that may help in the process of providing and treating patients accurately. The second step is to be seen by a technician who then pretests and then by the doctor.
“There is an option for patients to have an optomap done, this is when we take pictures of the retina and check the health of the eye”, says, Dr. Bulos.
As you can tell, this is why it’s important to be seen by an optometrist or ophthalmologist once a year. Make sure you don’t forget to get that appointment scheduled today.

Digital Journalism on Wikipedia

It was quite interesting to find out that Dr. Tracy, which happens to be my teacher created a wiki page on Digital Journalism. I just would not have imagined that 1st of all she would be the first person to start the "definition" of digital journalism on wiki. That really puts the stamp, when professors tell you not to use wiki as your only source because anyone and I do mean anyone can contribute to it. I'm not saying that I don't trust this particular page on wiki because I do. I'm just really understanding my professors..lol Here is my contribution to the Wiki page on Digital Journalism.

Digital journalism also creates an opportunity for a niche audiences. It allows for people to have an option as to what they are viewing and reading. Whereas, journalism as we know it has a wide range of topics and diversity. It also allows for everyday people to have a way to voice their opinions. Digital journalism, opens up new ways of storytelling, primarily through the technical components of the new medium. It can provide a variety of media text, audio, video, and photographs, unlike other media sources.

Unlike traditional journalism, where things were stable and constant digital journalism will not be. Digital journalism, will always be constantly changing with the times and technology. There will always be a new, better, faster, easier way to access information. Digital journalism also creates more competition per say, because anyone can be apart of this "world". There aren't any bosses in the field.

Journalism That Clicked

Here is another interesting article that I found on the npr website. According to the website, "The Online News Association gave its annual award for topical reporting and blogging by a large news Web site to Planet Money. The Planet Money team was set up last year to produce a series of on-air and online reports, blog posts and podcasts that explained the global economy. No easy task -- especially given the international financial crisis that was unfolding as the project made its debut last fall." So go and check out this article at http://www.npr.org/blogs/inside/2009/10/journalism_that_clicked.html. Who knew about awards being given out to websites.

Have You Forgotten about the U.P.

Go and check out this article. Its very intriquing. How often do you remember the Upper Penisula, when you talk about the state. This article that I found on npr.com talks about several different things concerning the U.P. However, the legislature is trying to change somethings where maps would be required to show the Upper Penisula. Go check it out, www.npr.org the title of the article is "Often Left Out, U.P. Ducks Michigan's Worst Woes" by Liane Hansen. It's a great piece. Ironically, just as newspapers are changing, so is npr. NPR is posting pieces online. I never knew...go figure.

Annarbor.com

According to the article from Dr. Tracy, I do believe the annarbor.com is a good example of hybrid news. Its almost a perfect combination between old school meets new school. You see, we are still wanting to have the valid, sourseful information but we also want it as quickly as possible. Having computers and the internet allows for that to occur. They still have articles just as you are ready the newspaper, it's just that you're reading on a computer screen. I don't believe that it's always a good thing to totally erase what we have learned in the past but to build upon it. I say that because what we have learned about being journalist from the past is valid information that we need to carry in the future. However, with that information it can continue to help us through the change of journalism.

Identifying a Feature Article

Identifying a Feature Article




The article I had found was out of the Eastern Echo. It’s entitled “Hungry for adventure; In search of yummy deals”. Basically, the article was about being a vegetarian or a vegan but, being healthy and wanting to eat for cheap. The columnist, Sam Primeau shared with the readers of where she found cheap and good vegetarian foods at. One of the places was right here on campus, it was the Bistro Market in the Student Center. However, the Blue Nile in Ann Arbor and Seva who is also in Ann Arbor were also mentioned as great places to eat. Particularly the Blue Nile was a place both vegetarians and non-vegetarians can eat at, which is good to know if friends want to go out to eat together.

After reading the 15 widely recognized types of newspapers feature articles, its somewhat difficult trying to put this story into one group. I think that this story could fit into the category of a How-To or Hobbyist story. I say this because it fits the characteristics. In a How-To story the piece is usually timeless but if it’s pegged to a right season it could possibly be a news feature. On the other hand, I think it best fits the hobbyist story because; you can look at being a vegetarian as a hobby. Only certain individuals are vegetarians.

Now this article is considered a feature story because it focuses on human element and interest. It clearly differs from a regular news story because there is no timeliness of the article. It doesn’t have to be printed by a certain date in order for it to be relevant. I think this article could’ve been improved by going in depth by getting interviews with the owners or the cooks of the restaurants.

Thoughts on Technology

When was the last time you used a form of technology? How about, can you remember the first pieces of technology you've ever used? I do. I remember the first time I used a computer was in the 1st grade. It was a IBM and an Apple Mac. This was like the year 1993 or something. I even remember the big, gigantic, disks that were used to save information. Do you remember what the screens looked liked? They were like greenish, nothing as eye appealing as now. Then the technology began to change disks sizes became smaller and smaller as well as computers. I would like for you to think as far back as possible to when you were younger, what was the technology like then? Please share something interesting!!!

Introduction Times 2

Guten Morgan, Guten Tag, und Gute Nacht. Hallo, ich heibe Clifton R. Kirkman II. In case you didn't know what all that meant, I said Good Morning, Good Day and Good Evening. My name is Clifton R. Kirkman II and my hometown is Detroit, Mich. I graduated high school in 2005 from the best high school in Detroit, Renaissance High School. I am currently a 5th year senior here at Eastern. I am anticipating graduation this December. My major is Electronic Media & Film Studies and I'm minoring in Journalism. I am a 22 year old aspiring broadcast journalist. I would love to work as a local entertainment reporter, that way I can still do entertainment and local news at the same time. This past winter I was a intern at WDIV Local 4 News in Detroit. It was alot of fun. I was able to go out and see how news stories are created. So fun, I can't wait until it's me out there. Lets see, this semester is going to be quite interesting. This is basically the end of the rope for me. I am down to 15 credits and 12 of them, I'm actually taking this fall semester. So let's get this ball rolling....

Interview of Myself in 3rd Person

Clifton R. Kirkman II is a great guy. He is smart, funny and has a great sense of humor. This young male has a sense of style of his owns. He considers it to be a mix of the preppy look combine with dress and class. His style gets him a lot of complements with everybody.

Feature Stories

Feature Stories-Assignment # 3

1. No more Circuit City- Business Story

· The idea here is to have an interview with an employee and see what steps the company may have taken in order to warn their employees.

2. Wildlife at Metro Airport-Explanatory

· The idea here would be to show how the wildlife teams make sure that the skies are clear of birds.

3. How Sickle Cell and Ulcerative Colitis affects my daily life- 1st Person

· This idea here would show people how I live my life with these illnesses.

4. Winter Illness- Medical Story

· I was thinking about given the symptoms of winter seasonal illness. Statistics, hospital reports. For example, frostbite, pneumonia, several colds.

5. Aquarium Enthusiasts- Hobbyist Story

· Since I am a longtime pet owner of fish, I consider myself a hobbyist. So the idea would be, finding someone who has been doing this over some years and that they own different types of fish and fish tanks that the average person don’t have in their home.

6. Barack Obama- Profile Story

· Explain and share some memories of childhood-present and how he became President Elect.

7. Inauguration Day 2009- Historical

· With this idea would travel back in time to the very 1st inauguration-present. What it consist of.

8. UFO Space Invention- Invention Story

· Interview this local man, who has created some type of hovering machine. How long he has been working on it…cost.

9. Top 10 Best Motown Groups- Number Story

· Do a survey with metro Detroit people and see what their opinions are about their top 10 Motown groups.

10. 1st Anniversary of “Miracle on the Hudson”-Commemorative Story

· After a year has gone by see what different people who were involved are doing, what their opinions are about the situation a year later. How it possible affected them.