Two Injured in Belmont Car Crash

No streetlights. A dirt road. A white Mustang speeding around a curve.

Mile Hill Road was the site of a car accident that injured two teenagers at about 9 o'clock Tuesday evening. The car swerved off the road, crashed into an embankment and flipped over onto its roof.

"I've never seen a car going so fast on this road. It's really easy to lose control," said Josie M. Crandall, who witnessed the accident and called the police.

The driver,seventeen-year-old Jamie Peterson, managed to crawl out of the crushed car on his own while the other two passengers were rescued using the Jaws of Life after an intense 45-minute operation. The victims, both young females, were taken to Memorial Hospital where one was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

"I thought the worst. They were flying. It's hard to see kids your age in something like this," said Tom Carroll, Jr., who had been driving behind the Mustang.

An Uncertain Future

            Since when did blogs become so popular?

            They’ve been around for a while, but in the last few years they’ve been drastically increasing in popularity. They’re literally everywhere. And now every type of blog exists: cooking blogs, travel blogs, fashion blogs, school blogs?

            It strikes me as interesting that I am required to create a blog for three out of my four classes. I had never had to do this beforehand for any class and it seems like the idea crossed the minds of my teachers all at the same time.

            Last year I made a blog randomly one night when I was bored (and proceeded to only post one time), but other than this brief, impassioned instance I have no experience with it.

            I have a blog for my Spanish class, my newswriting class and my literary analysis class. This may be evidence of an ever-increasing trend toward technological application. Will every assignment I do, every exam I endure and every set of notes I take be on my laptop? Will I forget how to form letters? Is this the death of the pen and paper?

            And as my final question: if this semester I have three blogs, how many will I have next semester?

            (Cue horrifying Jaws-like music.)

            

On Your Marks, Get Set, Write

            Don’t worry. It’s not the end of the world. Well, actually…. it is the end of one world but it’s also the start of another. The world as we know it is constantly changing. No longer do the majority of Americans sit down for a leisurely read of the paper on Sunday afternoons. With today’s technology, they can get news anywhere, anytime.

            This extreme accessibility has caused many journalists to fear for the future of their craft. But, although people are relying less and less on newspapers, it doesn’t mean the end of journalism.

            What it does mean is that journalists will have to be able to adapt to whatever comes next.            

            As our textbook says, newspapers should understand that they are in the information business as opposed to the print business. People still want information. All that has changed is the format with which we deliver it to them.

            So what does the future of media look like?

            Who’s to say. All that we can do is be ready for whatever comes our way. 

Hannah Meet News Writing

           “You’ve written an article though, right?”

            I was talking to my fellow classmate Phoebe McPherson about our first writing assignment and what to do/how to do it. My answer was yes, but it was a very hesitant response, one that if I were to write it here would be followed by an ellipsis and perhaps a question mark.

            The truth is, I’ve never really written an “article”, at least not officially anyway. An article implies a news story and me and news haven’t ever had an actual relationship before. I didn’t write for my high school’s newspaper, my family doesn’t have a TV (i.e. no CNN) and I don’t read the newspaper.

            So how am I adapting to the requirements of news writing?

            I’m getting there.

            On Monday’s class, I almost had a stroke. Professor Marsters was talking about what a news story should be like (simple sentences, right to the point, uncomplicated language) and I realized that these things are everything I hate about writing. I’ve never written this way. Ever. I’ve always been drawn toward creative writing: poetry, short stories, lyric writing. The closest I come to non-fiction is writing in my journal.

            But talking to my mom today on the phone helped a lot. She told me that there are some parts or styles of writing that I won’t like. Some things I will just have to endure so that I can better understand the craft. And also, journalism is a very broad discipline. It’s not just writing articles for a newspaper. There’s feature writing and human interest stories, there’s magazines and National Public Radio. There is a whole realm of writing that I have yet to explore. And who knows? Maybe I will come to like news writing. We’ll just have to see how this next story goes. 

On the morning of Februrary 4th, a little girl and her ill grandmother were eaten by a talking wolf. They were saved by a huntsman who happened to walk by. 30 words

The little girl's name is Elisabeth (insert last name), who is also known as Little Red Riding Hood. She was on her way to her grandmother's house to deliver some food when she was intercepted by the wolf. When he discovered where she was going, he told her to pick some flowers while he made his way to her grandmother's house. He then proceeded to swallow the grandmother whole and put on her nightgown.

What News Is.....The Second Defining Act

Now that I have discussed the definition of news with a few of my classmates, my own definition is transformed. It is not entirely changed, but adapted and broadened. As Katie said, news can be simple. It does not have to encompass events that are of worldy importance. It can be about something that happens in your hometown (i.e. a cat getting stuck in a tree), something that happens on an international scale (wars, political conflict, all that good stuff), or it can be something in between. Jess reminded us that news can be presented in many diverse forms. We need to be informed about the world in a variety of ways: through newspapers, radio, magazines, television. Mike took a different approach to what news is. He said that it is anything that is happening or has happened (and I would like to add to that: anything that will happen). News comprises everything from big to small events, from NPR to The Boston Globe, and from yesterday to tomorrow. Its meaning is wide and varied and everchanging.

What is news?

When I think of news I think of events. Current events. Things happening all around the world. In today's world where we are all more connected than ever, the definition of news and what constitutes as news is ever expanding. It's not just what happens in your hometown or in your state or even in your country. News tells you what's going on everywhere. It helps us to be informed, to learn new things and to gain some perspective on the people and places that surround us.