Place: Zilker Park Playground
It's the middle of the afternoon and the park is crowded. One family is sitting on the curb near me. They have three daughters and are latino. The young girls, who look about early elementary school age and are dressed in brightly colored leggings and t-shirts, babble in Spanish to each other and to their parents as they jump on and off the curb. A young man and a young woman playing with their baby son who looks no older than one. The baby is wearing a light blue shirt with a whale appliqué on it and dark blue stripped cotton pants. He's also barefoot. Even though the baby's parent's both have dark hair and olive skin, he is fair, with blue eyes, pale skin, and fine blonde hair pulled back into a tiny ponytail. He toddles around on the rubber surfacing with the help of his father, his mom is trailing behind. The baby climb's up onto the concrete seal statue put next to the smaller playground. The father scoops the baby up and sits him on the seal's head. The baby poses as the father whips out his iPhone to take a picture. I turn back around, there are older children playing on the big playscape and the vintage fire truck that the city repurposed. A scruffy, possibly homeless, man plays the toy marimba farther away. A woman and her daughter, who's wearing a pink shirt and a pink polka dot skirt, are sitting on a blanket on the grass that surrounds the playground, eating a picnic. Three adults lead a boy, about 6, across the playground. Two of the three adults appear to be his parents, and the other, a photographer. As they walk past I hear the photographer say "over here would make a good picture..." A young man wearing baggy denim shorts and a baggy red t-shirt walks up to me and asks if I'm "waiting for someone or somethin'" and I tell that I am. "Oh, okay." He responds and walks away back to a group of other guys his age.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Friday, September 25, 2015
Current Event Quiz 1.3
1. Pope Francis stated that Congress needed to "break
out of its cycle of polarization and paralysis and use its power to
heal the “open wounds” of a planet torn by hatred, greed, poverty and
pollution." His speech was made to Congress and was historic because it was the first time a pope had ever addressed Congress. The pope was invited to make the speech by Speaker of the House, John Boehner, who is Catholic. The article illustrates the huge interest in this address by telling how many people came to see the address, which was in the tens of thousands.
2. It was debated whether the referee actually made the remarks that allegedly caused the attack. Some people think he did but others say he didn't. The two football players will be allowed to return to John Jay High School on January 15th but Breed has resigned. The chairman of the committee, Mike Motheral was frustrated that the referee and the two football players did not appear during the meeting, even though they were the people most involved in the incident.
3. The relocation of 6th grade teacher, John Wetherold, caused the parents and students to protest. Wetherold was relocated to "level out" the student to teacher ratio within the district. This hurt the 6th grade at Maplewood Elementary because now students have fewer teachers which means that they'll get less individual attention. A similar protest at Bryker Woods Elementary (aka MY elementary school holla) resulted in the teacher that was going to be relocated being able to stay.
4. Senator John Whitmire asked if the law that will allow holstered firearms to be carried in the open will be extended to school properties. The law in question takes effect on January 1st, 2016. Sen. Whitmire has interpreted to be that school would be allowed to ban guns in outside areas but is not sure if this is correct because it, often, state gun laws do not consider areas such as sidewalks or parking lots to be premises where guns can be banned. The office of Senator Paxton has 180 days to answer Sen. Whitmire's question but that might not matter because the law will take effect in about 100 days anyway.
5. 700 people were killed and 800 people were injured by a stampede during a hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Health Minister, Khalid al-Falih, has stated that the stampede might have been caused by unruly pilgrims unwilling to follow rules and guidelines that were implemented to keep people safe. I think the topic was well covered but they could've stated the probable cause of the incident earlier in the article because it was towards the end and I spent the whole article wondering what caused this to happen, which distracted me.
6. I think that the elements that make up an obituary are human interest, prominence, timeliness, and sometimes proximity and novelty but not always (it depends on who the person is). In an obituary, you read about the person's life, their accomplishments, significant things that happened to them, and who they're survived by (siblings, parents, and/or children). You might expect an obituary to tell you the circumstances of the person's death but it almost never says. I think that it's often a first assignment because it's easy to research and straightforward to write, which might actually make it a quite boring assignment too so it makes sense to assign it to an inexperienced reporter.
2. It was debated whether the referee actually made the remarks that allegedly caused the attack. Some people think he did but others say he didn't. The two football players will be allowed to return to John Jay High School on January 15th but Breed has resigned. The chairman of the committee, Mike Motheral was frustrated that the referee and the two football players did not appear during the meeting, even though they were the people most involved in the incident.
3. The relocation of 6th grade teacher, John Wetherold, caused the parents and students to protest. Wetherold was relocated to "level out" the student to teacher ratio within the district. This hurt the 6th grade at Maplewood Elementary because now students have fewer teachers which means that they'll get less individual attention. A similar protest at Bryker Woods Elementary (aka MY elementary school holla) resulted in the teacher that was going to be relocated being able to stay.
4. Senator John Whitmire asked if the law that will allow holstered firearms to be carried in the open will be extended to school properties. The law in question takes effect on January 1st, 2016. Sen. Whitmire has interpreted to be that school would be allowed to ban guns in outside areas but is not sure if this is correct because it, often, state gun laws do not consider areas such as sidewalks or parking lots to be premises where guns can be banned. The office of Senator Paxton has 180 days to answer Sen. Whitmire's question but that might not matter because the law will take effect in about 100 days anyway.
5. 700 people were killed and 800 people were injured by a stampede during a hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Health Minister, Khalid al-Falih, has stated that the stampede might have been caused by unruly pilgrims unwilling to follow rules and guidelines that were implemented to keep people safe. I think the topic was well covered but they could've stated the probable cause of the incident earlier in the article because it was towards the end and I spent the whole article wondering what caused this to happen, which distracted me.
6. I think that the elements that make up an obituary are human interest, prominence, timeliness, and sometimes proximity and novelty but not always (it depends on who the person is). In an obituary, you read about the person's life, their accomplishments, significant things that happened to them, and who they're survived by (siblings, parents, and/or children). You might expect an obituary to tell you the circumstances of the person's death but it almost never says. I think that it's often a first assignment because it's easy to research and straightforward to write, which might actually make it a quite boring assignment too so it makes sense to assign it to an inexperienced reporter.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Humans of McCallum
"I don't think I've ever gotten an award. It doesn't bother me though. I don't need special recognition to know that I'm awesome."
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Current Event Quiz 1.2
1A. Mike Perrin was asked if he would become UT's new interim athletics director on Labor Day. He was asked this because the old athletic director, Steve Patterson will be leaving the position soon. People have been unhappy with the way that Patterson has been running the department (and most recently with UT's loss against Notre Dame) and they're happy about Perrin's hire because he himself is a UT alum and played on the football team himself.
2.The CIA director, John Brennan, was on campus yesterday for the release of documents from both the JFK and LBJ presidencies. The release of these documents mark a shift towards a government more open to the public. The documents are accessible through the CIA's website. PBD is short for President's Daily Brief and it is a top secret document given to the president each day that is intended to give the president new information on issues that warrant his attention. It is the type of document that has been released and that the article was written about.
3. Hungarian security forces stopped immigrants at the border and and attacked them with tear gas and water cannons. As a result, immigrants are forced to take routes though Croatia, many of the areas they are walking through are littered with active land mines.
4. The student, a 14-year-old Muslim boy, brought a clock he had built himself to school to show his engineering teacher and it was mistaken for a bomb. School officials took him out of class for questioning before handing him over to the police, saying that it was inappropriate of him to bring something like that to school. Over half a million people, including President Obama, showed their support for him via Twitter, tagging their tweets with #IStandWithAhmed. This incident is suspected to be based on anti-Islamic sentiment, especially since the city council endorsed a bill last spring that would prevent judges from ruling based on "foreign laws", a law that has been deemed "unnecessary and driven by anti-Muslim sentiment."
5. I first learned about the story on Twitter. I got a notification in math class telling me that #IStandWithAhmed was trending worldwide and I checked it out. I don't think social media is an incredibly reliable source for news because anyone can say whatever they want and I don't think it's very fair either because many times one opinion can overwhelm another. I would have placed the story on the front page because of it's proximity to Austin and the people involved, and also because I think that everyone should know about this because i think it just shows how intolerant the American people are towards other cultures and hopefully it might change some people's minds about Muslim people.
2.The CIA director, John Brennan, was on campus yesterday for the release of documents from both the JFK and LBJ presidencies. The release of these documents mark a shift towards a government more open to the public. The documents are accessible through the CIA's website. PBD is short for President's Daily Brief and it is a top secret document given to the president each day that is intended to give the president new information on issues that warrant his attention. It is the type of document that has been released and that the article was written about.
3. Hungarian security forces stopped immigrants at the border and and attacked them with tear gas and water cannons. As a result, immigrants are forced to take routes though Croatia, many of the areas they are walking through are littered with active land mines.
4. The student, a 14-year-old Muslim boy, brought a clock he had built himself to school to show his engineering teacher and it was mistaken for a bomb. School officials took him out of class for questioning before handing him over to the police, saying that it was inappropriate of him to bring something like that to school. Over half a million people, including President Obama, showed their support for him via Twitter, tagging their tweets with #IStandWithAhmed. This incident is suspected to be based on anti-Islamic sentiment, especially since the city council endorsed a bill last spring that would prevent judges from ruling based on "foreign laws", a law that has been deemed "unnecessary and driven by anti-Muslim sentiment."
5. I first learned about the story on Twitter. I got a notification in math class telling me that #IStandWithAhmed was trending worldwide and I checked it out. I don't think social media is an incredibly reliable source for news because anyone can say whatever they want and I don't think it's very fair either because many times one opinion can overwhelm another. I would have placed the story on the front page because of it's proximity to Austin and the people involved, and also because I think that everyone should know about this because i think it just shows how intolerant the American people are towards other cultures and hopefully it might change some people's minds about Muslim people.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Current Event Quiz 1.1
1. The two men assaulted a gay man back in 2004. Officials say that federal law prevents them from explaining the hiring of the two men despite their crime. Although it is never directly stated that UT knew about Darren Gay's arrest, it is implied that they did not, based on the inclusion of the statement "Hiring departments are permitted to request an exemption to this rule (inclusion of arrest records), which can only be granted by senior university leadership in rare cases if they determine the hiring would not compromise campus safety.
2. The city of Baltimore reached a settlement of 6.4 million dollars last Tuesday with the family of Freddie Gray. The mayor supports it because "it is in the best interest of the city, and avoids costly and protracted litigation that would only make it more difficult for our city to heal and potentially cost taxpayers many millions more in damages." The related trial is still pending because, as says the press release concerning the matter, "the settlement does not resolve any factual disputes, and expressly does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of the city, its police department or any of the officers."
3. Vice Chancellor Sig-mar Gabriel has announced that Germany will accept 500 thousand refugees a year. Some people have accused Germany of causing immigrants to risk their lives at sea in order to receive the great benefits that Germany offers. Germany has responded to the criticism by reducing the amount of the cash handouts that refugees will receive. People are fleeing countries such as Syria and Iraq due to the war in the Middle East that has endangered their lives. Germany is one of the most generous countries that is accepting refugees, offering to take the most people (800k by the end of the year) and provide emergency housing and relief.
4. Ted Cruz invited Donald Trump to his anti-Iran nuclear rally. ted Cruz stands out among his fellow conservative presidential contenders with his refusal to criticize Trump. He says that his reason for inviting Trump is that his presence will bring media attention to the rally. Trump is not a "standard target" for Cruz because he has never held office, a type of politician which Cruz has frowned upon in the past.
5. Hillary Clinton apologized for her use of a private email account as secretary of state. This issue will likely continue to be in the news, as two Senate chairmen are entertaining the idea of seeking immunity orders for a former Clinton aide. Clinton has been co-mingling, or mixing, her personal and business life with the use of one singular account for both types of emails. She was also reluctant to admit her mistake back in 2002 during her time in the Senate, when she voted in support in the decision to invade Iraq.
6. The two John Jay High School football player had been suspended for attacking a game official. An assistant coach was also suspended for telling the two players “This guy needs to pay for cheating us.” The attack against the official was allegedly prompted by him using a racial slur towards the players and the assistant coach's comments.
7. In Olathe, Kansas, convicted killer of three and white supremacist, Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., was recommended the death sentence by a jury for his antisemitic crimes at a Jewish community center back in April 2014. Miller stated that he didn't care what his sentence was and that he wanted to kill Jews before he died of his chronic emphysema. It is currently unclear whether Miller will actually be subjected to the death sentence or not.
The story is strong in human interest (it was a shooting), unusualness (extreme display of antisemiticism in modern times), and currency (the article was published in today's paper). It is not strong particularly in proximity because the crimes and trial happened in Kansas and there is to mention of a relation to Austin. The article includes quotes from the District Attorney and other people who witnessed the trial, so first hand sources. I think that the story was well written but could've included more details.
2. The city of Baltimore reached a settlement of 6.4 million dollars last Tuesday with the family of Freddie Gray. The mayor supports it because "it is in the best interest of the city, and avoids costly and protracted litigation that would only make it more difficult for our city to heal and potentially cost taxpayers many millions more in damages." The related trial is still pending because, as says the press release concerning the matter, "the settlement does not resolve any factual disputes, and expressly does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of the city, its police department or any of the officers."
3. Vice Chancellor Sig-mar Gabriel has announced that Germany will accept 500 thousand refugees a year. Some people have accused Germany of causing immigrants to risk their lives at sea in order to receive the great benefits that Germany offers. Germany has responded to the criticism by reducing the amount of the cash handouts that refugees will receive. People are fleeing countries such as Syria and Iraq due to the war in the Middle East that has endangered their lives. Germany is one of the most generous countries that is accepting refugees, offering to take the most people (800k by the end of the year) and provide emergency housing and relief.
4. Ted Cruz invited Donald Trump to his anti-Iran nuclear rally. ted Cruz stands out among his fellow conservative presidential contenders with his refusal to criticize Trump. He says that his reason for inviting Trump is that his presence will bring media attention to the rally. Trump is not a "standard target" for Cruz because he has never held office, a type of politician which Cruz has frowned upon in the past.
5. Hillary Clinton apologized for her use of a private email account as secretary of state. This issue will likely continue to be in the news, as two Senate chairmen are entertaining the idea of seeking immunity orders for a former Clinton aide. Clinton has been co-mingling, or mixing, her personal and business life with the use of one singular account for both types of emails. She was also reluctant to admit her mistake back in 2002 during her time in the Senate, when she voted in support in the decision to invade Iraq.
6. The two John Jay High School football player had been suspended for attacking a game official. An assistant coach was also suspended for telling the two players “This guy needs to pay for cheating us.” The attack against the official was allegedly prompted by him using a racial slur towards the players and the assistant coach's comments.
7. In Olathe, Kansas, convicted killer of three and white supremacist, Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., was recommended the death sentence by a jury for his antisemitic crimes at a Jewish community center back in April 2014. Miller stated that he didn't care what his sentence was and that he wanted to kill Jews before he died of his chronic emphysema. It is currently unclear whether Miller will actually be subjected to the death sentence or not.
The story is strong in human interest (it was a shooting), unusualness (extreme display of antisemiticism in modern times), and currency (the article was published in today's paper). It is not strong particularly in proximity because the crimes and trial happened in Kansas and there is to mention of a relation to Austin. The article includes quotes from the District Attorney and other people who witnessed the trial, so first hand sources. I think that the story was well written but could've included more details.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Research Scenario Part 1
I would try to get access to the district website and see if the powerpoint is on there, either by myself or with the help of a teacher. If the powerpoint is on the website then I would try to get an interview with the people involved with putting it on there, such as the district superintendent or someone on the board of education because that means that the powerpoint was not created by the teacher and that the board of education could possibly support creationism. If it is not on the website, that means that the powerpoint was created by the teacher so I would interview their students and friends to try to get background info on them. I would also interview parents of the freshmen in his class to get their perspective and try to find a student who has a copy of the powerpoint so I could see it myself.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
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