Documentary Night

For the first time in a while I feel like I've managed to get caught up with all of my school related reading. It's really nice to feel like you're ahead of the game, instead of continually behind. I have a few more sections of USA Today to read tonight and then I need to review the AP Stylebook and then I'm done for the night. That is a really nice feeling.

It was muggy outside the majority of the day, which made walking to and from class uncomfortable. I'm glad I had long sleeves though because it seemed like every single one of my classes was freezing.

After class I came back to my dorm and did some cleaning. The sink in the bathroom was getting pretty gross honestly.

Tomorrow I'm planning to Volunteer at a sort of local Elementary school. They're having a "Curriculum Carnival", so that should be interesting. Tomorrow afternoon I have to make a call and confirm that I can get a ride there and back.

This evening though was really interesting. I went to the 'premiere' of a documentary that was produced by a couple professor's from MSU. The name of the documentary is "Arabs, Jews, and The News". The website for the film can be found here: http://www.arabsjewsnews.org/ . After they played the documentary they had a panel with several of the 'commentators'. It was really interesting to listen to.

Something that really interested me about what was said, was the commentary on the media and the way that they have looked at issues currently taking place in the middle east. I do think that the media often gets hung up on portraying situations in particular ways and failing in many ways to be truly objective. What I mean when I say that is they fail to take an issue and look at it from new perspectives.

For example one of the men on the panel was Nolan Finley from The Detroit News. He talked about covering the rallies that took place in Dearborn. He felt that it was very important to cover the fact that there were people there who supported Hezbollah and equated Jews with the Nazi's. Now, perhaps it is a fact that that was taking place as the photographs confirm, but if reports from several people who were there are true those who were doing so were the minority. In fact, it has been said that those who were holding these signs were asked to discard them by others at the event. This could easily have been the focus of an article, rather than merely the fact that those individuals were there.

Sometimes it's about looking for the less obvious angle...

Staggering Dedication

Once more I am fighting the clock, despite having had the whole day to write anything at all for this ridiculous project. My dedication is staggering I am sure.

I feel as though I have been quite unproductive today, though I did manage to finally watch the documentary "Meeting Resistance". It wasn't quite what I, was expecting it to be, but it was good none the less. I also managed to watch "Miss Austen Regrets" for the second time, which I enjoyed even more than the first time. I know, I'm a bit of an addict.

On the list of things that I should have done today are writing more of my novel and reading in general. Having failed in both of these respects, I feel that I haven't accomplished much. Tomorrow however is another day and for the moment I don't have to work so perhaps I will be able to find some ounce of motivation.

Disconcerting Commercials

Commercials are annoying. When I watch television I tend to mute it during commercials.

So at the moment I am watching Grey’s Anatomy (or was), and during the last commercial break I had muted the t.v. and was surfing the internet. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that there was a face plastered on the screen. There was no text, and the person did not appear to be speaking. This girl was just staring out at me from the t.v. screen.

That was disconcerting. Turns out it was some ad for toothpaste or whatever. In that context it makes sense, but when there is no sound to place with the image it’s a bit creepy.

Just a bit.

According to the tracking number on my latest book order, it’s in town. Hopefully that means it will be in my hands tomorrow. I could have “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” in my hands. Tomorrow. It’s exciting, I’m excited!

Michael J. Fox has a documentary that is playing on ABC at the moment. In it he documents some of his travels, looking for hope in places where maybe it’s not expected. It’s really interesting and it brings to mind Mattie J. T. Stapanek… I always found Mattie to be inspirational. With everything that he ever went through, he always thought about others. That was an important concept for me to be aware of in my early teenage years.

It’s important to always have some concept of the greater world around you.

Why is that only when faced with situations that seem difficult or more precisely are difficult, are we able to really look at the world around us? Maybe this isn’t always true, I’ll own up to using a large generalization here. It just seems that it’s often out of despair, or situations that should induce despair that hope and some form of clarity are reached.

I’m probably not being very clear here. My thoughts are all jumbled and they seem disconnected. But I think this is important. I think that it is always important to analyze the perspective that we place on situations and challenge ourselves to alter our perspectives. Only when we are able to look at a situation from multiple points of view can it be possible to gain any true sense of an event.

I think it’s time to go read. Or sleep, but I’ll probably end up reading…

Bearing Witness

I own this documentary that I’m particularly fond of called, “Bearing Witness “. It follows four female war correspondents who recount their careers to that date. They also talk about what drove them to lives they lead and why they continue to honor the paths that they have chosen.

At one point in the documentary one of the women talks about the role of journalists in general. I need to watch it again because I can’t seem to recall the quote fully, but I remember the gist of it. Journalism, she points out, is about being there and bearing witness. It’s about being a voice willing to speak out, and fighting to be heard in the place of those who stand voiceless.

Sometimes I lose track of what my ultimate goal is. Sometimes the stress that comes coupled with paying for school, and finding the time to study as well as work is so overwhelming that my path’s purpose becomes hazy.

I want to be a journalist because I want to be that voice for those who find they have none. My dad once saw me watching that documentary and he wasn’t too thrilled by the idea of his daughter in a war zone. I’m not saying that I want to go to war zones and report, but I am saying that I am prepared to follow my path where it may lead.

I want to be that journalist who isn’t afraid to pursue the truth, and speak the truth. I want to be a voice for the voiceless. Journalism is my major because I want to bear witness.