A Final Goodbye

K

Dan Williams, one of Lyndon States most beloved professors, will be leaving at the end of this semester. Dan will be leaving us to take a join in Washington DC to work as a copy editor for CCTV, a Chinese State Televisions American affiliate. His love for China has taken him from us, and though we shall miss him, we are glad that he will be doing something he loves.

Dan first came to our campus in 2006. He hailed our cold campus from Samford University in Alabama. If you have ever taken Dan’s Law and Regulation class you have heard him talk about his time at the private Catholic University. Before then he lived a rich life as a world wide journalist for organizations as prestigious as CNN, where he worked for over a decade.

He has worked in both Germany and his beloved China. In 2012-2013 he took a break to be a Fulbright Scholar, teaching journalism at Xian International Studies University. Though not much is known of his time there it is said that he illegally brought back plants and then planted them right here in Vermont.

Despite his criminal tendencies Dan is arguably the best professor at Lyndon State College. He has the highest rating on RateMyProffesors.com, which is in it’s own the highest honor a professor can have. Where some professors are pompous and strict, Dan is kind and considerate. He doesn’t care whether you learn things “his way”, just that you learn them. His door is always open if you need help or just want someone to talk to. He teaches several English and Journalism classes. If you are an EJA major you have most likely taken Journalistic Writing, Introduction to Multimedia Storytelling, and Law and Regulation. To him teaching journalism means opening up a new world to his students.  “Journalism is a free ticket to the best show on Earth,” he says. “It’s a front-row seat on history.”

Dan is more than just a professor though. He has been the advisor for the critic for eight years. Helping mold young journalists through practice. In his final goodbye to Williams Michael Miley said of the esteemed professor “Burned into our memories is the image for a man who would never shy away from talking to a student and dispensing his wisdom no matter whether it be those sluggish Monday mornings or the late nights on Thursdays working with the Critic Staff.”

He also is a co adviser for the Society for Professional Journalism and Editor of NewsInk. At the same time Dan works as a member of the China Currents Educational Board. Whether he is remembered for his teaching, advising, or his friendship Dan Williams will certainly be missed by the students of Lyndon State College.

Above is a word cloud that we made by asking several of Dan's students the first word that came to mind when thinking of Dan. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwA911e_Kf8PM0hJcHBucnhJTW8/view?usp=sharing

Final Project

For our final project we plan on interviewing students about one specific teacher at Lyndon State. We are going to get their opinion on the teacher and than have them write down one word that they would use to describe them. With that one word we are going to make a word cloud. With the interviews we are planning on doing a video project. Depending on the responses of the interviews will determine if we also use a podcast. We also plan on having a writing component to it as well. We have not decided what each team member will be doing for the project. We know that we will conduct the interviews together. When we figure out how the interviews go we will figure out who will complete each step of the project.

Video Project

   Logging has been a very big part of the history of Bethel, Maine. The mountain village was originally settled in 1769 as the small Canadian hamlet of Sudbury.  In the late 1700's Doctor Timothy Andrew and his wife moved from Boston to Maine and built what is now the Andrew's Farm, which still stands today. They were one of ten original families to survive the last Native American attacks in the 1780’s, and sense then have survived everything from scarlet fever that wiped out an entire generation of children, to snow storms that killed all their animals. In the last hundred years the family has expanded their business to include logging, both in the surrounding towns and their own vast holdings.

    Timothy Andrew spent the majority of his life on the Andrew’s farm. He studied agriculture at  the University of Maine Oreno and joined that army soon after graduation. He was stationed in Chicago in the years leading up to the Vietnam war were he met and married his wife Jo Ellen, a Texas native and true southern bell. After they married they moved back to Maine to start their family in the 1960s. Tim would go on to run the family farm just as his father before him, and his son after that. Tim’s father Richard Andrew would spend winters in the New England forest cutting wood to support his family, as Tim does now.

“Our family’s logging history goes back four generations. My great great great grandfather was a doctor, but his son was a farmer and a logger. He worked for the brown company in the woods and my father was a scalar for the brown company out of Berlin.”

 Richard worked cutting and hauling trees for what about two dollars a day, including room and board. During the fall season, they would go into the woods and wouldn't come back out until Christmas time. It was important to the families that the men made it out in time to buy Christmas presents for the children, sense this was the 1950’s and the women had little to no way of supporting themselves.

    “[One winter] there was a huge snow storm, and the men couldn't get out of the woods. And all the women were upset because there was no money to buy toys to put under the trees.”

So starts the family story that has been passed down for generations. A story of how a group of Andrew women took Christmas into their own hands.

            “They went to be and had a dream,” tells Andrew “of making animals, by carving blocks of wood, covering them with cotton, and pieces of cloth.”

    Though the family no longer makes handmade toys the story lives on. It is told every Christmas to younger generations, as a lesson to always appreciate what you have and above all to take pride in their rich family history.

      Logging has been a very big part of the history of Bethel, Maine. The mountain village was originally settled in 1769 as the small Canadian hamlet of Sudbury.  In the late 1700's Doctor Timothy Andrew and his wife moved from Boston to Maine and built what is now the Andrew's Farm, which still stands today. They were one of ten original families to survive the last Native American attacks in the 1780’s, and sense then have survived everything from scarlet fever that wiped out an entire generation of children, to snow storms that killed all their animals. In the last hundred years the family has expanded their business to include logging, both in the surrounding towns and their own vast holdings.

    Timothy Andrew spent the majority of his life on the Andrew’s farm. He studied agriculture at  the University of Maine Oreno and joined that army soon after graduation. He was stationed in Chicago in the years leading up to the Vietnam war were he met and married his wife Jo Ellen, a Texas native and true southern bell. After they married they moved back to Maine to start their family in the 1960s. Tim would go on to run the family farm just as his father before him, and his son after that. Tim’s father Richard Andrew would spend winters in the New England forest cutting wood to support his family, as Tim does now.

“Our family’s logging history goes back four generations. My great great great grandfather was a doctor, but his son was a farmer and a logger. He worked for the brown company in the woods and my father was a scalar for the brown company out of Berlin.”

 Richard worked cutting and hauling trees for what about two dollars a day, including room and board. During the fall season, they would go into the woods and wouldn't come back out until Christmas time. It was important to the families that the men made it out in time to buy Christmas presents for the children, sense this was the 1950’s and the women had little to no way of supporting themselves.

    “[One winter] there was a huge snow storm, and the men couldn't get out of the woods. And all the women were upset because there was no money to buy toys to put under the trees.”

So starts the family story that has been passed down for generations. A story of how a group of Andrew women took Christmas into their own hands.

            “They went to be and had a dream,” tells Andrew “of making animals, by carving blocks of wood, covering them with cotton, and pieces of cloth.”

    Though the family no longer makes handmade toys the story lives on. It is told every Christmas to younger generations, as a lesson to always appreciate what you have and above all to take pride in their rich family history.

Outline

Katilyn and I are going to do our project on Black Friday shopping. I'm going to take the video, Katilyn will write the story about Black Friday shopping in America, and then both of us will edit.

Sound Slide Story

Dorian McGowan has a love for art. 

The artist worked here at Lyndon State College at a professor for many years. And some say that he was the one that started the art program here. 

Dorian is not just a drawer; he is also a painter, sculptor, garbagepicker and bargain finder. When he creates art he uses the things he finds to create the art around. 

But, Dorian’s love is drawing people’s faces. He says even the ugliest person has something beautiful about them and that is what he makes known in his art. 

Dorian loves looking at people’s eyes and ears, and says that has a lot to do with beauty. 

Mr. McGowan has been an artist all of his life. He remembers being a little kid and climbing up in his grandmother’s oversized chair to draw with her. 

We asked him if his grandmother was an artist as well, he said, “No, No she was not,” with a chuckle. 

He said that once he got really good his grandmother said she was not going to draw with him anymore because he was too good. So he stopped being good at drawing because he wanted his grandmother to draw with him. 

Dorian does not like photographs, even though some would argue that it was true art. He thinks that too many pictures are taken these days and they don’t capture the special things. 

That’s why Dorian’s family photos are drawings he has done. They hang on his wall at his home. 

The drawings include his late wife, children and grandchildren. 

His grandchildren are some of the most important things in Dorian’s life. And like his grandmother did he also create art with his grandchildren. 

In Dorian’s latest showing at the library in town he has the King and Queen Sliver Chins. These were named this way because in one of his bargain runs he would these silver pieces he thought would look great as chins. 

Him and his grandson worked on these pieces together and even wrote a story to accompany them. 

Dorian enjoys when his grandchild want to help him with his art because he believes they are all artists as well. 

 

 

Dorian's Story, slideshow project

iReport

iRepirt looked really cool, but I will never know. iReport wouldn't let me create an account. I tried on my laptop at home first, and no matter what I did it wouldn't let me join. Then I tried here at school. iReport still wouldn't let me join. Does iReport hate me? It's possible. Either way I wish it had worked for me. 

Slide Show Project

We plan on interviewing Dorian for our sound-slide-project. Dorian is a professor who draws student’s portraits and displays them in the theater lobby. He and his sketches are a well-known fixture at Lyndon State. Many students and have been the subject of his art. It is our understanding is that he has been at the college for many years and therefor would have plenty to say.

  For images we would photograph the portraits, parts of his process (easels, pencils, clipboards etc.) and if possible, Dorian sketching. We would like to record some nat sound of shuffling papers, pencil on paper, and other art preparations. Of course our main sound will be the interview.

            We our most interested in his process. How does he choose his subjects? What his favorite part of sketching? What about his other work? Does he work with other mediums? How did he begin sketching portraits and why does he continue? We also hope to get sounds bytes about interesting stories over the years. Who are some of his favorite subjects? The most rewarding experiences he has had with his art?

            Of course for all this to happen we first need to find him but once we do it should be all down hill from there. 

Data Visualization: Word Cloud

This data visualization is a world cloud. To create it we used press releases that were sent to news seven from various towns across the state, and then put them into wordle. The most frequently used words are the largest and the smallest ones are the least used words.
As you can see DUI is a very frequently used word. The majority of press releases the station receives are about DUIs. One can also assume that theft is a common crime considering it's fairly large size.  Twenty three and twenty two are also pretty prevalent words, though I am am not sure what context they were used in. It could be that people between the ages of 22-23 commit the most crimes in this area. St. Johnsbury, Bristol, Brattleborro and Lyndonville are all towns with large representation in the word cloud. This could mean that the towns report a lot of crimes, that they just send out more press releases, or that people often are brought their after the crime. For example St. Johnsbury and Brattleborro both have barracks that are often used to hold drunk drivers until they sober up. The last large word is unknown. Unknown is a very common word in press release. A motive can be unknown, a person can be unknown, and a million other little details can be unknown.
   The word cloud is a actually a fairly useful data visualization tool. You can gain a lot of understanding from them. What you can't get from them is facts. There are statistics, so it wouldn't be useful if you were trying to determine exactly how many crimes happen in Brattleboro or how many people between the ages of 20 and 24 receive DUIs. It is very aesthetically pleasing though, which is an added bonus if your are using it on a blog or in a story, it catches the readers eye and therefor draws interest to what you are saying.

Data Visulization

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/08/01/cnn-poll-percentage-who-say-economys-good-on-the-rise/

This article was about Americans who believe the econmy is on the rise.
They didn't really us a graph but they did use a form of data visualization.
I thought they could have done more with their information than what they did do, it was pretty boring.

Pod Cast Project

Would You Rather (Podcast Project)

Would you rather, Lyndon State; Kaitlyn and Kendra Style.

 The reasoning behind deciding to do our podcast would you rather style, was because we thought it would be a lot of fun to ask ourselves random questions and then go out and ask others.

We looked up a lot of different questions to ask ourselves and others. We went up to VIC, above the theater to record our answers.

 We had a lot of fun with it and a lot of questions that were pretty difficult to answer. Some of the questions we asked were really difficult to answer not only for us but the others we interviewed. At the same time some of the questions we had were really easy to answer. In the end both the difficult and easy questions were fun to answer. It took us a little bit longer then we thought because of how much we talk.

 Once we finally got all of the questions answered, we walked around the school looking for people. We found a few people just passing through the halls, and then we ventured outside finding someone to ask. Our last two places were the Stevens Dining Hall, and the gymnasium.

 We interviewed about 6 people, and some of them just answered the question, while others explained their reasoning behind their choice.

 Once we got everyone's answers, we started our editing process. Once the editing process was over we listened to the podcast, and we realized how much fun we had.

 We had a really good time recording this, and we both came to the conclusion that we would have a lot of fun doing a podcast more often, or having our own radio show. With both of us being hyper a majority of the time, laughing at almost everything.

The both of us in a weekly podcast or radio show would be very entertaining for other people out there who are similar to us or at least understand us. If there was a podcast every week, we think that there would be a good amount of people who would listen to it. Starting with our family and friends, and eventually adding to the list with the friends of our friends.

Pod Cast Outline

Pod  Cast Outline
Kendra and Kirk
Our podcast will be a Lyndon take on a classic game. Would You Rather in the Hornets Nest. Kendra and Kirk will sit in The Infamous Ho's Nest and ask those hard to answer questions. For example: Would you rather bite a big, or be bitten by one? It will be quite the event. The duo will even invite others to join in on the fun, so who knows what shenanigans will ensue.

Podcasts Assignment

Friday Night Cranks-
 This is a podcast done by an already established website, where they make prank phone calls live between 9-11 every Friday night (yah get the name now). Afterwards they take the funniest ones and put them on itunes.
I picked this podcasts because I didn't want to listen to a boring podcast and prank phone calls are hillarious, and if you don't think so just subscribe to Friday Night Cranks and your mind will change.
I love their dry humor. It gets me every time. Sometimes they are gross or monotonous, which can be annoying, but something they say always gets me.

NightVale
Night Vale is hillarious. It is about this really weird town where all this science fiction like things happen but everyone is just nonchalant about it. They do care, but they just have more important things going on. Instead of worrying about the strange helicopters or the dog park where dogs and humans are not allowed, they focus on little things like pta meetings. They It is both weird, funny, and cute. There is even music which is almost good. It is kind of like Prarie Home Companion meets Roswell meets Always Sunny. There really is nothing I dislike about it. It's just so hillarious. Every time you think they are gonna zig, they zag. It's perfect. Everyone listen to it. It will make your life better. Promise.

I didn't put either of the podcasts on my phone or ipod but I am going to so that I can listen to them in the car (especially NightVale).

Sutherland Boy Kidnapped

                               

A twelve year old boy from Sutherland Vermont was taken from his foster home today.

               Zachary Lee, who recently moved back to the states from France, was dropped off in the drive way of his Foster home but never made it inside. An Amber alert was issued last night an 8:53.

                Lee has been in the U.S. for under a month and therefor is unfamiliar with the area. This, and his “established pattern of behavior” lead authorities to believe he was kidnapped.

The main suspect in the kidnapping is Lee’s biological mother Patricia Kane. Authorities have been concerned she may take her son since his return to the States, mainly because she made several attempts to take Lee whilst he was in the custody of The Republic of France. It has also been noted by school officials, legal authorities, and the Vermont Department of Children and Families that Kane is “highly unstable and volatile.” Lee’s treatment team has made an effort to keep Kane away from her son since his arrival in the country.

Authorities urge anyone with possible information to come forth immediately.  Lee is a white male, 5’, with brown shoulder length hair, brown eyes and a French accent. Last seen in a black puffy coat, with a white stipe, jeans, a sweater, and blue and black sneakers. His mother is 49, six feet tall, a 125lbs, with white blond hair, brown eyes, and a similar French accent.

If you have any information please call (802) 442-5421, or you can submit an anymous tip to www.vtips.info or text 274637 2ith the keyword: VTIPS.

(It should be noted this is not a current story and is for a class.)

                                                                                                                                                                             

http://dearcoquette.com/
I love this blogger. She is hilarious and on point with almost everything she says. The only thing I don't like is that she only gives advice. I wish she wrote more about life and current issues. It is also a little to blue for my taste.
She updates fairly regularly, her last post was on Sunday. The point of her blog is to give advice and respond to comments, so to continue to hold all the followers she has she really needs to post often.
The fact that it is an active advice blog really answers the third question. Her site is based off comments and questions.  
She doesn't use much media. Just a picture here and there. It's an advice blog though, so there really isn't a huge need for that much multimedia.