"Spare Change" Magazine

This is almost all of the magazine that I did this year. Unfortunately, one page of ads has been lost somehow, so it's incomplete.

View magazine

"Spare Change" Magazine Notes

This was probably the most stressful assignment of the year, because I ended up printing a nine page magazine by myself, which is a lot when you have to format everything and make sure it all fits. It was a real eye-opener to how actual magazine editors and writers work, with multiple well-researched articles, adds, small charts, and photographs. In the end I got it done, but not before going through at least one late-night work session, several mental breakdowns, and ten minutes of nervous terror as I tried to find the finished copy for my teacher on the day it was due. This magazine was definitely a test of work ethic, formatting ability, and mental stability.

History of Journalism Prezi

A Prezi that's about the history of journalism, specifically the Watergate Scandal and how it continues to affect the way today's news is delivered to us.

History of Journalism Prezi Notes

This was a beginning of the year assignment on the history of journalism, specifically the role of scandals in modern news. As I got into the topic, I realized that the culture of scandals originated in Watergate, so that's the direction the Prezi took. It was an interesting assignment, but relatively mundane because I'd made a Prezi before, so I didn't take a special enjoyment in learning something new. It was still a cool topic though.

Famous Photographer Prezi

This is a Prezi on the photography of Roman Vishniac. All the information is there, but if something is unclear please keep in mind that this was made to be presented live with me making comments.

Famous Photographer Prezi Notes

The interesting thing about this assignment was that instead of really doing something myself that was journalistic, I analyzed photographs. It was an artistic assignment that required some research, but it ultimately taught me the basic elements of photography, and how to use image to convey theme. This information came in useful later when I made a Photojournalism Essay, so it was another stepping-stone sort of assignment.

Documentary

This is a documentary I made about teachers, their jobs, their responsibilities, and their students.

Documentary Notes

This is the first project in journalism that I haven't been able to do as much as I wanted. I intended to have three interviews instead of just two, but scheduling conflicts with teachers (the subject of my documentary) made this impossible. I really had a message I was trying to get the viewers, hopefully other students, and I feel that while that message comes through, it's not as strong as it could've been. The assignment though was fun, even if it was time consuming and nerve-wracking, what with deadlines and all. But overall, I felt this was another project that I really had a lot of good ideas for and a really strong theme, but with this project it just didn't come through as well.

Photojournalism Essay

This is my photojournalism essay, with an autobiographical theme.

Photojournalism Essay Notes

This was possibly my favorite project, because it allowed me to completely explore something through images, by taking eight photographs of it. As it happens, the subject was me, and I though a lot about what deserves to be photographed in my life. But, I realized that the interesting things isn't what to photograph but how to photograph it. Photography is meant to convey a single image and a set amount of emotion, and to make eight pictures flow together you really need a theme, and a tone to it all. I loved dissecting my subject, and thinking about how to best represent it. In the end, it wasn't what I photographed that mattered, it was the mood it set, and the way I ended up portraying the subject. Regardless of the fact that I was subject, I enjoyed that sort of aesthetic thinking and I was very pleased with my finished project.

Project Evita

This is a podcast that I made this year about the iconic Argentine leader Eva Peron. Regardless of whether or not you think that she was a good person, please keep in mind the primary focus is that it's wrong to deem a woman a slut because she did some seamy things out of necessity.

Project Evita Notes

One of my absolute favorite assignments this year was the podcast assignment, where I made a podcast on the topic of my choice in the style of my choice. I decided to do a persuasive essay style podcast on Eva Peron. Throughout the podcast, I delivered information punctuated by points in my argument that it's wrong to call her a slut because of earlier aspects of her life. I won't get into it really, but it combined my love of history, burgeoning feminist bone, and style of speaking/writing with learning how to record myself, be to the point, and still remain interesting. While I must admit I failed on that last aspect, it was still an immense learning opportunity, and a a great stepping stone into the next few projects.

Journalism Midterm Essay

Critical Lens Essay

            Jimmy Breslin once said “Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever studied, writing columns for newspapers”. This quote accurately reflects the motivation for many journalists in the world, because what it essentially means is that journalists write to inform the public about what’s going on in the world, and more specifically, what’s wrong in the world. This line of thinking is what the basis is of muckraking, investigative journalism, and other articles meant to inform. Examples of each of these could be Lewis Sinclair, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and even John Steward to an extent. Anger over some sort of dysfunction within society led these people to write, and what they wrote led people to realize something, and society changed because of it.

            In the beginning of the 20^th century, working conditions for many factory workers was atrocious. Bad lighting, dangerous machines, a noxious atmosphere, and low pay all contributed to a period of time in our nations history where the average factory worker was abused. One journalist, Lewis Sinclair, noticed this, and got so angry that he wrote about it. The Jungle was the book he wrote, and it really opened America’s eyes to the treatment some people were receiving for a small amount of money. His rage at the way things were led Americans to take a stand against the owners of the factories and other big businessmen, heralding in an era of unions and labor rights activism. Lewis Sinclair saw something wrong, got angry, and told everyone about it. That was his purpose; to tell the American public a story it needed to hear and he did out of pure rage.

            President Nixon hired men to break into the headquarters of the Democratic National Convention in order to help his reelection campaign. Today, most Americans know the story of Watergate, but when it first happened, it was initially disregarded. When the truth began to come out, or not come out rather (seeing as Nixon refused to give up the evidence linking him to the crime) two writers wrote articles that alerted America to the great wrongs of their president. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodard told the story of Nixon and his criminal actions, and they did it because they saw that the president broke the law. They were outraged, and that outrage spread to the public because people read their articles and took notice. From a moral standpoint you could say that when Nixon resigned, he did it out of disgrace for his actions. From a realistic standpoint, you can say that he resigned because two angry men exposed him for who he was and what he did.

            John Steward runs an entertainment show, but it’s part of the media and to a certain extent, he is a journalist. He may exaggerate the facts for comedy, but people hear what he says, and it affects the way those people think. During the recent presidential election John Steward ran a number of shows where he made fun of the Republican candidate Mitt Romney. John Steward was angry with some of the things that Romney said and did, and so he made fun of him publicly. People might not take John Steward seriously all the time, but there is an undercurrent of fact to what he says, and I personally learned some true things about Mitt Romney from watching the Daily Show. His comedy informed the public about some of the things Romney said, for examples “binders full of women” was a well-known one. I didn’t watch the debate where Mitt Romney said that, but when it was reported to me by John Steward, that’s when I got mad. Other Americans got mad too, and Mitt Romney lost because of it. Mitt Romney lost the presidential election because he angered journalists and those journalists told the public about every single thing that Romney did wrong, and that’s an important reason he lost.

            Angry people influence other people, and angry journalists influence the public. Journalists write because they’re angry, more specifically because they want things to change or they want their opinion expressed and accepted. Anger motivates people this way, and it influences society to act as well, and to a certain extent that’s the point of journalism: to tell a story of a wrong, and hope the public rights it.

Midterm Essay Notes

The first half of the year was partially about understanding the journalist mentality, and so at the midterm my class wrote essays about what journalism really is. We all were given a list of quotes, and we had to use one of them to explain what journalism was, and it really made me think. You can read what I thought about in the essay above, but let it suffice to say that I thought it really was a constructive midterm, that was a lesson into itself because of the question it asked, and the answer I came up with.

Newspaper Article 1

Should Forgetfulness by Punished?

by staff writer Ben Zuegel

Each new school year heralds the arrival of new school rules, and we got a fresh batch, as usual. This year though, one of the new rules is that after leaving the building after dismissal, you cannot re-enter the building. Many people think this rule is pointless, but is it?

Last year, some students vandalized the school by spray-painting the front of the building with permanent paint, not paint that’s easily washed off. This event was a shock to many, because such an act of vandalism hadn’t been committed on school grounds in a long time, if at all, and this had repercussions.

This year, the school is determined to not let something like that happen again, and that’s how we get stuck with the new rules. What is the real point of not letting us re-enter the building though?

The administration believes that people that re-enter the building after dismissal are the people that will loiter around the halls and cause trouble. There is a lot of logic in this, and to that extent, the rule is good. But, there are other people who are affected by this rule than the loiterers and vandals.

Forgetful people are some of the biggest victims of this rule. What if you leave something important, like homework in school? Some teachers are forgiving of this, but you can’t take the chance that they will be. Homework, projects, lost articles of clothing, all these things are important, yet as soon as you step outside, they become inaccessible to you until the following day.

Should people be help culpable for their forgetfulness? That’s disputable, but sometimes you leave something behind by accident, and you desperately need it.

Sophomore Artemis Markakis was one such person who unfortunately forgot her orchestra music inside the school. “I had a concert the next day, and I couldn’t get my music. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I appreciate the administrator’s job of keeping the school safe, but maybe the school could consider revising the rule just a little.”

The administration and their rules come from a good place, but some of their rules have unintended consequences.

 Some suggestions I got from students, such as Artemis are that maybe, the person guarding the door from people re-entering the school could hold someone’s ID while they fetch their lost object, which would be returned when they returned. This way, if the person didn’t come back, the administration would know whom to punish. If the person didn’t come back after five minutes, the door-guard could leave and the next day the culprit could be punished.

Rules are good if they achieve their goal; therefore this new rule is a good one. However, unintended side effects are to be avoided if possible, so maybe the administration should consider a quick revise of their new rules and policies, just to make sure these side effects don’t trouble forgetful people.

Newspaper Article 2

Musical Opportunities

By staff writer Ben Zuegel

Peter Pan was an immediate hit, with talented actors, superb costumes, elaborate sets, and excellent music. Everyone who came on opening night was charmed and raving about it the next day. Andrea Zuegel “Most SOTA musical’s are good, but Peter Pan made me want to recommend it to all of my friends.”  But, so much more goes into a musical than singing and acting.

Actors are important in a musical, obviously, but so are customers, musicians, tech people, and just busybodies to do an assortment of small tasks for the director. So much goes on in a production that it’s hard to not find a spot somewhere in the show to help and participate.

Costumes at SOTA are always elaborate and very well made. They also take countless hours to make, and mend if the occasion calls for it. Mrs. Olender makes nearly all of the costumes for all the productions, because they would cost too much to buy. Even though she spends all year doing it though, sometimes she needs extra hands for all the work. So if you can sew, one way to work on a show is to help Mrs. Olender put together all the costumes. Believe me, she’ll be grateful.

Another seemingly small task is building the set for the show. The theater tech majors pitch in to help build the backgrounds, props, and furniture, but painting it all is a monstrous task. Almost anyone can hold a brush, so if you want to make a small but important contribution, talk with one of the theater tech teachers (Mr. Myers or Mr. Canfield) about coming in to help them paint.

What’s a crucial part of a musical? Music. Who makes most of the music in a musical? The pit orchestra.

Pit orchestra musicians are an integral part of any musical, and work very hard to know every single song, cue, and piece of background music that comes their way.

The pit orchestra starts rehearsing almost as soon as the cast members, but they do it in the morning before anyone gets to school. But still, several pit orchestra musicians such as “insert quote here”.  So if you have some talent with an instrument, ask one of the music teachers if there’s a part in the next musical for you, because you’re needed.

Musicals are complicated things to organize, and all of the various directors need help doing something. If you don’t want to paint, can’t sew, or play a musical instrument, just ask one of the teachers if there’s anything else they need done. They all have a lot on their plates and could surely use extra help, so why not offer it?

Anyone can participate in the school musical, because there’s so much that goes into its production. Actors only make up part of the crew, and while they’re essential, they couldn’t put on a musical by themselves. So, if you want a job, ask around because there are so many opportunities for those who know