Videoblog

This is the final project for our Multimedia Storytelling class. This video podcast is supposed to introduce the Mercyhurst Communication department and its majors.



Hope you enjoyed it!

Snow in November...

This morning, at 7am, I woke up and everything outside was white. Now, when I was younger I would have been ecstatic about that, because that usually means that school might be canceled. However, this morning I was in Westfield, NY (which is right in the middle of the snow belt) and I had to get back to Mercyhurst at 9am. Good thing my fiance and I had heard about the snow warning the night before and had set our alarms really early. Good thinking! We put some heavy clothes on, let the puppy play in the snow and ran the tractor through the yard. This whole ordeal (including getting ready) took about 50 minutes. I left right away and had a really scary ride through about 3 inches of snow still left on the streets after the plough trucks went through. Now, our house is in the middle of nowhere, so I was surprised that someone had actually ploughed that early in the morning. I made it to I-90 and then it took me about another 50 minutes to get to Mercyhurst.
On the way, I listened to the radio and kept shaking my head listening to people calling into the station, complaining that the streets in downtown Erie were stuffed and they would be late for work. When I got to Mercyhurst, I walked over to my meeting and was 15 minutes early. Everybody else who came from either the campus apartments or somewhere a few streets away from campus was late!
I just though to myself that it was good (and will always be good) to set my alarm at 2 hours before I have to be somewhere. You can always fall back asleep, it that is too early and you have nothing else to do, but I found out that it pays back to just open your eyes a little earlier and be prepared.

By the way, here is the weather forecast, better check it out before you go to bed tonight:
http://www.weather.com/weather/local/16546?whatprefs=&what=WeatherLocalUndeclared&lswe=16546&lswa=WeatherLocalUndeclared&from=searchbox_localwx&googleTypeSearch=on&where=16546&Search.x=27&Search.y=10&Search=Search

The new US President

This is of course a pretty broad topic, but here is what a German thinks about the fact that Barack Obama won the election:
When Obama visited Germany some months ago, a crowd of over 200,000 people went and listened to what he had to say. Here is a video to get a glimpse of what this looked like:



Most of the people in the crowd were young people; about College aged. After the speech I talked to my parents and asked them what they think of him. My dad knows quite a bit about German and US politics, because he used to work for the German government for many years and he said that he would vote for Obama if he could because he likes his ideas and he likes that Obama wants to pull the troops out of Afghanistan, which also affects many German solider and their families.
Many people asked me who I would vote for if I was allowed to and I actually found myself saying more and more that I wasn't sure who to vote for. I like some things that Obama wants to change in this country, but I also liked some of McCain's ideas.
I do like a change in the Health Care system in the US, because I have to admit, the German system truly is better. However, my roommate told me that a universal health care system for America would seriously endanger her father's job as well.
I do like that Obama is a little younger and that he is from a minority tho. This way he looks at problems more in a way that the younger generation looks at them. The current German chancellor is a woman (for the first time in history) and she is doing a great job. I didn't believe she would be a good choice when she got elected, but I certainly got convinced by her actions and I am glad that she is doing so great, even internationally.
So, although I am still a bit cautious about Obama, I do think he will be able to change some things in a good way in this country. Since I have been living here for the past 4 years and will be living maybe for the rest of my life, I really hope that he will bring the same success to the country as the German chancellor did and is still doing.

Common sense or required knowledge

I just took a test for a job at the local news station WJET TV. Of course I prepared for the test by reading the newspaper, watching the news, looking at the Erie City Council and so on, but what I saw in the test actually shocked me. Usually, I can handle tests really well and I never ever failed one, but this test made me really question my knowledge of current events and personalities. Some of the questions were actually easy, but some questions asked me about the names of the Presidential Cabinet of the US, or another question asked for the name of the Supreme Court Attorney General's name or other questions asked where important people like John McCain or Tony Blair are from. I would say the questions were a good mixture of current events, geography, history, politics and general knowledge. However, what I painfully realized was that the knowledge that you acquire from your college classes is by far not enough for such a test. I always use the excuse that I don't have time to watch the news or read the newspaper, but this test (and I should have known this before) showed me again how important it is to be informed.
I managed to pass the test with the little knowledge I could stir up in my brain (I also had to take a writing exam which most likely saved my butt) and I now work as a General Assignment editor for the Action News on the weekends and although today is my first day, I already (or again) realized how important it is to know what is going on around you; not only if you work in the news. I think I'll go back to reading the newspaper now...

Comedy for those who don't like it!

I really do not watch stand up comedy, because I never get the jokes or I just don't understand them, because my knowledge of current affairs and politics is not as good as it should be. However, some night I had to stay up late and I had the TV running and I caught a show called "Puppet Up", which is a comedy show featuring puppet artists who are given a subject and then they have to spontaneously come up with something funny for a couple of minutes. I watched the first episode and I immediately fell in love with it. Here is an example of it:



The thing I liked about it is that nothing can be prepared and therefore they artists come up with simple things that everyone would come up with if you can't give something like that too much thought. I admit that when I watch TV, then it's when I find time in my busy schedule when I can just relax and not use my brain too much. I use those moments to just detach from the world and the current affairs that bother me every day and I just want to laugh, cry, be scared, or just watch in an easy way. Puppet Up makes me laugh without needing me to think too much and it's not just someone standing on the stage, it's even funny to watch the puppets and how the people "underneath" them act

The Media and the rest of the world

Normally my life is pretty busy, but I do take the time (as often as I can) to check out the newspaper to get a glimpse of what happens outside of my own busy world. I have to admit that although I live in the United States, I still read a German newspaper called Die Welt (translation The World). However, it is an international newspaper, which doesn't only give me some basic information on what is happening in my homecountry, but also the basics on what is happening in the world. Here is the website http://www.welt.de/.
One thing that astonishes me again and again is the amount of information about US politics that you can find even on the title page of this and many other European newspapers. I recently asked my Dad, who lives in Germany, who he would vote for in the upcoming US election, if he was living in the United States. The answer he gave me almost made me fall off the chair. He argued for about 5 minutes on why he would vote for Obama rather than McCain and he gave me facts that I never thought any German would be informed about! He said that you don't even have to be very interested in US politics to get a good amount of information about these issues in Germany, because every night German newscasts inform their viewers on what is going on in the world's biggest nation. There is almost no possible way around it other than not listening, watching or reading news at all. Not only is this more than I think the American media informs the people about the US election (I know many people who unfortunately do not even know if Obama is a democrat or a republican), but it is also more than any American news outlet informs you about any other nation's politics. My roommates were even surprised to hear that the German chancellor (we do not have a president) was a woman and not even just a woman but a woman who was voted "most powerful woman in the world at the present time" by Forbes Magazine.
I think since the world has become more unified than in ancient times when travelling was expensive and not very easily accessible (some continents were not even discovered), there needs to be better coverage on affairs in other nations. Sure, America is big and has a lot of things to deal with, but in my opinion people should be better informed about other nations, especially about those in the UN to have a better appreciation on their own country and the countries that work together in world affairs.

How some students are different than others

I am taking four classes this term and in all of them, there is at least one adult student in the class. Now, since I am an adult student myself, I think I can dare to make this point: Some of them just behave like they know everything and they do not need to be in a class!
In my one class, two of the adult students sit in the first row and basically talk the whole time as if the class was a private session between them and the teacher. One day, our teacher forgot to give us a quiz that was supposed to happen that day. Naturally, nobody reminded him to give us the quiz so the teacher just begun his lecture. All of a sudden, one hand in the first row shoots up in the air and what comes out of the mouth of the adult student? "I think we were supposed to have a quiz today". Honestly, and those guys wonder why traditional students do not like adult students.
Another example comes from another class in which one of the adult students had to give a presentation. While he was setting up his PowerPoint, the teacher realized that he had forgotten something in his office. While the teacher apologized for having to run back to the office, the student just says: "Don't worry, I'll just go ahead and explain the kids what I'm doing". Honestly, we're in College, which means that everyone is at least 19, which in my opinion is clearly AFTER childhood!
A really big thing that some adult students do not realize is that if they sit in class rolling their eyes and continuously looking at their watches because they already know ALL the material from all their precious life experience, the teacher actually realizes that behavior and gets annoyed. Naturally, the whole class has to suffer because this teacher then gets frustrated and angry and as punishment might assign an even bigger work load. Honestly, if you already know it all, why don't you just take the class as a tutorial and stay out of the classroom!!
Fellow adult students, we need to fit in here, because we are the minority! Traditional aged students rule the College campuses. We should not try to stick out like that by calling everyone a kid or showing off how much knowledge and life experience we already have. This just makes our classmates angry and the teachers as well. Why not go with the flow, pretend to be young again and just enjoy college with FRIENDS amongst the traditional students. I tried it and it works perfectly fine for me!

Are soldiers better than civilians?

This summer I took a design class in the Mercyhurst Pre-Summer session. I was one of the few people that took this class for a major requirement and the rest of the students basically needed three more credits in order to graduate. Naturally, these students were not really gifted when it came to creativity, but the teacher handled it really well. However, one student (an adult student, and I'm not discriminating, because I'm an adult student myself) didn't really accept that he can't get an A for something that isn't that well done. So, one day when the teacher wasn't in the room, he told the rest of the class, that he thinks that the teacher doesn't treat him right. When he asked him what he meant by that, he answered that he used to fight in the Iraq War as an army soldier and that because he risked his life in it, he should be treated way better than ordinary people and therefore should receive all A's in every assignment.
Now, my cousin used to be a soldier too and he was in Iraq and Afghanistan and I told him about this ex soldier's opinion. My cousin said that he never even thought about himself as being special because of that and that he hates people who make such a ridiculous difference between themselves and non-soldiers. I'm glad that he reacted that way, because I never thought that soldiers are anyhow different than regular people. However, I have a high respect for people who go into the war and risk their lives for their country, because I know I would have a very hard time with it, but I do not think that this should effect the way that they are being treated when it comes to normal life that is not related to the war. There are even many people who do want to join the military but are not accepted, maybe because of a medical problem. Does that make them less valuable in life than the soldiers? According to that adult student, yes!
Here is an example of a soldier that probably should not be given such a higher value in life:



I know that war is terrible and usually people behave differently in times of war, but it doesn't seem like the soldiers in the video are afraid to be killed in that situation. So why does such a person deserve more respect than any "civilian" in normal life? I hope that there are not too much more soldiers who think the way that this adult student thought...

Mercyhurst Webmail...

So this week was the third time that webmail was not working for the Mercyhurst students. Ever since I came to Mercyhurst I didn't like it for several reasons.
1- You cannot check your emails when you're not in the United States! How about those people who either study abroad or go to their homecountry over the breaks? Does Mercyhurst see a national threat if I check my email when I'm in Germany?
2- Every 180 days you have to change your password and it can't be the same password as before. Every year this password seems to even grow longer and longer. First it had to be six letters, then it had to be 8, then it has to be at least one number, and finally it has to be at least 8 characters long, include at least one lower case and one upper case letter and at least one number. Since I have a password for everything imaginable (internet, email, blogging, online banking, ITUNES store, facebook, etc.) I try to use similar passwords if not even the same for many of those things to prevent me from forgetting all those passwords. So, how the hell am I supposed to come up with a new password every 180 days and still remember it? What is even better, the system doesn't notify you when those 180 days are over (so you better count!!!).
3- It doesn't work when you need it. Since I'm a Communication major (yeah, email would fall under this topic) I am constantly communicating via email. This week our Multimedia Storytelling teacher had to cancel half his class, because he sent an assignment via email, which didn't work that day...
4- If you have two pictures or several bigger files in your inbox your space is full and you won't get any new emails until you free some space. Honestly...
So, in conclusion, why does the Mercyhurst webmail have to be so complicated? I don't think that any student will post a threat to the college by checking their email. Trust me, there are other ways to do that!

Student housing going down the hill...

So, this year is my third year as an RA at Mercyhurst and although I live in an area where not too much ever happens, I have been to some student apartments that really are going downhill. And I don't mean the mess that some students have in their apartments (my room is a complete mess every day) but the living conditions in those apartments. Built in the 1950s, the Briggs and Lewis apartments really need some work in order to make them worth the money we pay for them here at Mercyhurst.
Before I came to Mercyhurst I looked at the webpage to find out everything possible about the campus. I found some pictures that showed what the apartments look like. Well, typically every website wants to advertise with only the best things, so I found out pretty soon that the apartments did not look the same IN REALITY! So, I moved into an apartment my Freshman year (because I am an adult student) and well, I thought that as a Freshman you pretty much don't have any rights to a nicer looking apartment. OMG, I was so wrong. Well, of course you can try for the townhouses when you're an upperclassman, but only if you also pay even more than we already pay.
I am a Senior now and I have been to quite a number of apartments on campus. The list of all the things that make these apartments not worth what we pay for them goes from windows that don't shut properly (which is nice during the Erie winter) all the way up to leaking gas stoves (!!!). Not to mention the big problems with mold in the Wayne street apartments, which gets overpainted every year.
And here comes the big hit: The school is announcing on their webpage that they are spending $32 million to construct two new buildings (http://www.mercyhurst.edu/construction/). I'm just wondering why!
Of course Mercyhurst wants to attract new students with a nice look, but how about KEEPING current students who just had to suffer through the shock of learning that tuition was bumped up to 31K!!! I just wonder what we pay this money for if noone seems to care about the living conditions in current student housing. It seems like the school only cares about the West side of campus; not the East side. PLUS, word is out that they are planning to build a better, larger Ice Rink for a couple million dollars as well. Sure, we have a Division 1 Ice Hockey team, but what about the rest of the students? Just like every parent should care about ALL his or her children the same way, I think that every school should care about EVERY student as if they were all Division 1!

Hurst TV vs. The Merciad

With the first week of school, the Merciad has been up and running again through the hard work of dedicated writers and editors. The fourth week of school has just started today and not only has Hurst TV not started the production of shows, but some producers have already started to cancel productions for this week and moved them to the fifth week. Somebody who is not an insider, like students who are not involved in Hurst TV, the people in the community, or President Gamble, might wonder why.
The biggest reason for such a difference is, as usual, money. While the Merciad writers get paid $10 per article (which is equivalent to a paper for class) the producers of a whole 30-minute TV show (which is equivalent to a six to 8 hour work day including all the preparations) get paid $0! Hence, working in a TV studio might be attractive, but earning money keeps you alive and happy; at least in our society.
Every year, the Communication Department staff and faculty have tried to make Hurst TV more attractive, but were denied any help from the Walker School of Business, which the Communication Department is part of. They fought for the replacement of old (and not working) technology, such as editing machines and cameras, with new technology and succeeded only through the involvement of the President of the College. However, new technology does not convince students to give up some of their free time and work on TV shows that give them nothing else than one more line in their resume.
In the past three years I have seen many good attempts for shows, but however enthusiastic, they failed in producing a continuous show because of the lack of team members. Since TV production is team work and they knew that Hurst TV has very few viewers, they decided to quit as well. Only a few people succeeded in producing shows that are somehow reoccurring, but nevertheless, the shows do not attract any new viewers yet.
Why does a school that places so much focus on the intelligence of the students (to go to Mercyhurst you have to have an SAT score of at least 1100) and so much importance on looks and prestige not care about the life and well-being of one of its departments? The Communication Department is part of the Walker School of Business (what it has to do with business remains unanswered), one of the richest schools at Mercyhurst. However, Hurst TV does not receive any funding to pay for its producers and staff; not even to buy enough tapes for its few productions.
However, the few people who fight for the survival of Hurst TV have not yet given up their fight. This week is the official first week of productions and the Hurst TV staff is trying to look at this year as a new beginning. We now have a GA who is monitoring the show productions an we have two new station managers who are responsible for TV productions. With the few that are willing to work without money and who do not mind spending their free time for the good of Hurst TV, we strive to keep Hurst TV alive and make this year a year to remember.