My News Story.

Swing Your Hips

CANTON - The 'Hoop Revolution' celebration was Friday’s featured event at Canton’s Summer Festival at The Canton Farmer's Market. Long time Hula Hoop enthusiast, Valerie M. White with her collection of hand crafted hoops and her friend DJ Double Dutch (Jody Tosti) were the duo that created 'Hoop Revolution' at the park. Ms. White was invited by the market manager to come and “hoop” at the festival. Ms. White was more than happy to go but she needed some music to hoop to.

“I asked my friend Jody who is DJ Double Dutch if she would come and she would bring some tunes, cause I like her music it’s fun to hoop to!,” Ms. White said. “She came and set this up and we kind of decided to do it together."

Ms. White commented, “I think it’s a really good exercise and it’s a really good outlet and I like seeing other people do it, I think that’s why I do it.” “To see kids get up and see people moving around and see people who tell me they haven’t hula hooped in twenty years and they don’t think they can do it, and they pick one up and they’re able to do it. It makes them smile and they enjoy the music, so that’s what it’s all about.”

The event was a success. It was a warm and beautifully sunny Friday afternoon in Canton with pop music filling the air, one dozen Hula Hoops swinging, and a good size crowd of participants. These are the perfect ingredients for a ‘Hoop Revolution.’

Sam McBroom, self titled “guy who likes to hoop” was hooping around the event. This is not his first hooping experience. Mr. McBroom works with Ms. White at the library and he has been to other events where Ms. White hula hoops.

“I caught Val doing it at the Madrid Bluegrass Festival,” Mr. McBroom said. “We were both out there she brought the hoops along. She’s been doing it forever; I started doing it and had a blast.” He continued, “She was at Potsdam Summer fest, and I’m with a medieval group and I was actually hula hooping in my armor.” “It’s a chance to get out, have some fun and get some good exercise, just a good time.”
For one younger participant this was her first hula hooping extravaganza. Zoie M.T. Flynn, of Massena, was at the park and she wanted to try it out. Ms. Flynn said, “I went to see everyone hula hoop, and have a great time there… and I got to try it out and I had a great time.”

TRYING IT OUT - Zoie M.T. Flynn, of Massena, left, Valerie M. White, 'Hoop Revolution' creator, center background, and Sam McBroom, Hula Hoop instructor, right.

Fireworks in the burg. Seaway festival

Well I finally got the work from week 2 out of the way it is time to go get entertained by fireworks for the third time this summer. I love summer and I love fireworks! So I'm outta here... hope to see you there!

-Late.

Comparing news coverage

I've been trying to find a good story to write about but every time I get the newspaper the news is always a day late and the rest of the entire media out there has moved on to the "new" news. So anyway I have yesterdays paper and I'm going to focus on the oil leak in the Gulf.

The newspaper is The Ogdensburg Journal and it is dated Thursday, July 22, 2010. The front page has a side bar about the oil spill. It is titled Oil May Leak Again. The lead is about the tropical storm that was moving into the Gulf from Florida. The author of the story tries to hook the reader by saying a tropical rainstorm threatened to shut down the sealing of the well. The story then goes on to the results of what would happen if the area in the Gulf would have to be evacuated. If they leave the area above the cap, they will lose some data that they have been monitoring since BP placed the cap on it a week ago. There is no way to monitor the pressure and the sea floor for cracks from the shore. So The biggest shock to me about this news is it says: "If storms keep them from seeing the cap and getting those readings -- for up to four days, Allen said -- BP could reopen the well to avoid missing signs that it is buckling." Can you believe that?

So I went to my preferred online news outlet and they do not mention anything about the storm threatening the effort. On the homepage of the site is the headline is about politics. Conservative, Liberal Bloggers Hold Rival Conferences in Sin City. So, I searched around the site and the only news I could locate about the oil spill is the headline: Rig Worker: Fire Alarm System on Gulf Rig Disabled Before Oil Spill. To my surprise there was no news about the storm in the Gulf.

Next, I went to the TV and tuned in to my favorite news channel and I barely caught just a quick blurb about something like the storm in the Gulf is moving away from the leak sight. Nothing else. That is why I said "something like." It was so quick that I didn't even have time to absorb the information. All I saw was a graphic that showed the storm drifting north.

My summary about this comparison is: the most coverage about this specific story was in the newspaper. Which is not really too surprising because the news in it is a day old already. The strength of the paper is it is more in depth about the storm and some of the issues with it. The weakness is it is old news by the time the readers get it.

The website: After I think about it I'm not too surprised that the news of the storm was not really there. The news on the internet gets updated so soon and so often that the storm is really old news. So, the strength of the online news is it is always up to the minute with breaking news. The weakness: If someone like myself was trying to learn more about the storm in the Gulf on this website it would be a very cumbersome activity, not worth the effort. I'll just stick to the newspaper then!

The TV: It is just about the same as the online news, even faster. After researching the news for this assignment, I was pleased to even see a blurb about the storm on TV. The strength is it is even more current with breaking news taking up the entire broadcast. So, old news such as this storm in the Gulf is ancient news on TV when Lindsay Lohan is the breaking news. The strength is also the weakness, if you did not see the news about the storm in the Gulf when it was breaking news on TV then the odds are you will not see anything about the storm at all... unless it is a blurb.

Blogging

This is my first real blog entry I guess. I've never wanted to do one because I always thought, "why would anyone want to read what I think about. I never cared to read about anyone else's thoughts."

So I kind of have been holding back. But I better get my ass in gear and make up for my lost time in this class.

My online news survey

Hey I finally got my survey done. I think I came up with some good questions. Check it out.

Click here to take survey