January Current Events

Caption:  Coffins containing bodies of landslide victims rest on the ground at a cemetery in Nova Friburgo, Brazil on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011. 

Photographer:  Felipe Dana

Publication:  www.boston.com/bigpicture

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1704734,00.html

Editorial Cartoons To Ponder

This cartoon is about Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" being censored because it contains the N-word 219 times, and, therefore, is judged to be offensive.  The solution to this problem is to replace it with the word slave.  However, many argue that Twain uses that particular word to prove a point about Jim's place in society and that censoring it would alter the historical context.

This cartoon makes the point that, if it is truly the N-word that people are protesting, they should consider that young adults are exposed to it outside of books more than in them.  Today's music has a tendency to use the N-word more times in a three-minute song than even Twain could have managed.  Once censorship begins, there will not be an end.  Socially unacceptable words and actions are everywhere.  It is up to individuals to decide what they will allow themselves to be exposed to.

Passions Cafe Photos

Real or Hoax?

It is appropriate to drastically digitally alter the reality of an image if it is intended for an audience that knows or expects it to be altered or if it can be easily presumed that the photo is not real, such as the first photograph.  When reporting news or other issues of importance that are being presented as truth, it is extremely unethical to alter images beyond quality improvement.  Digitally altered photos can be harmful to photojournalism by diminishing the credibility of the news.  Because programs like Photoshop are so widely used, photography is no longer any more believable than any other forms of art and it has become easy for audiences to question whether or not they can be trusted.

My Goals For the New Year

1. Because it is the thing that is weighing on my mind the most right now, my first goal is to meet all scholarship deadlines and get as much money for college as is humanly possible.
2. Behind my obsession with deadlines (which is brought on by my recent tendency to procrastinate until the last minute) is to find a way to visit all three of the universities I am considering before I have to make a final decision about where I'm going next year.
3. My high school oriented goal is to maintain my grades for this last semester at BETA while keeping up with my extracurriculars and dedicating more of my time to my leadership positions, as boring as that sounds.
4. Speaking of my extracurriculars, I need to get back into the competitor mindset that I had last year and get interested in my events for BPA and TSA as Regionals for both are fast approaching.
5. My final goal, and the only dedicated to actual fun, is to finally take the time to really learn how to use the Canon Rebel that I got over a year ago, despite the fact that I really don't want to let go of my Power Shot.