After reading 2 articles from the “Welcome To The Features Department”, my view of feature writing was changed. For example, Donald Murray was very intriguing in the way he explained how feature writers need to predict the news that’ll happen “days, weeks, months, and years ahead”. Not only that, he explained that the lead is not only the most important thing in a feature story, but rather the conclusion as well. That the ending gives a sense of completion to the story. Christopher Scanlan also gave a different approach when he wrote the story “A Day in the Life of a Feature Writer” ; as to what a writer thinks, does, and eventually writes. I found them both very helpful and appealing.

After reading Mrs. Kelly’s Monster by Jon Franklin, my view of feature writing has changed. I didn’t realize how much vivid detail could go into a journalistic type story. I was in awe at Franklin’s attention to detail; such as the exact time something happened, or how he demonstrated Mrs. Kelly’s heart beat with “pops”. Not only that, I was very intrigued when you couldn’t tell what the story was going to be about right away — how he built the suspense. As opposed to a news style article where you know exactly what the article is going to be about in the first sentence.

This movie I believe is parallel to many situations that are occuring today. In the film, reporters are afraid to make a stand against the communist. With everything there is always that factor that you may cause panic amongst the people of the nation, and thus the reason they were hesitant to show the truth. Not only that, their jobs would also be put in question. Just as today’s age, the truth is not always so well received and sometimes when people don’t like that they’re hearing it, your job tends to be put on the line.  

This movie/story is important because it teaches something that will never fail you in the long run — doing the right thing. Yes, it can be scary, very unpopular, and may put you in some situations you’d rather not be in, but as the old saying goes, “the truth shall set you free”. As shown in the film, the reporters still covered the man’s unfair trial in Dexter, no matter the cost.

First off when rating it as a journalism story, the filming (in my opinion) was excellent. It’s not everyday that you see a 2000s movie in black and white. It put you in the mentality of those in that era and communicate some different situations one might encounter as a journalist.

Privacy Boundaries– everyone has different standards. Everyone sets “how far is too far” for themselves. But where do I stand? Depends of the specific boundary that is being surpassed.

As for the question, “What if your employer demanded access to all your digital activity so that it could run the data through an algorithm to judge whether you are trustworthy?” I have a very strong opinion on it.

The first key words that stood out for me in that sentence was “demand” and ” judge whether you are trustworthy”. This is the United States of America, you are innocent until you are proven guilty, thus it is a violation of your rights as a citizen that they preform a test to determine if you are trustworthy. That is already passing judgement on a crime that has not even been committed yet — you have the right to a fair trail ONCE THE CRIME HAS ALREADY BEEN COMMITTED.

Not only that, if they are demanding such a thing, they should be reported to the proper authorities and let the justice system overtake it. We have certain laws, and if we want to keep our nation with its original healthy rights and freedom (which has made America the great nation that it is today), we must follow those laws accordingly.

Growing up, and even in some cases today, we were all told not to use Wikipedia as a source for our school projects and everyday life in general. But according to John Green’s research about Wikipedia, he fact checked how they check their facts and what makes you eligable to write/post on their site. Their content policy includes; (1) A neutral point of view, (2) No original research [must be from published reliable source], and (3) verifiability . As the years have come and gone, Wikipedia’s reliability has also increased.

But there might be something more dangerous than Wikipedia ever was — bogus charts and how easy one believes them. I read in article regarding 5 different ways to avoid falling into the trap and found it very informative. A few of them include; know who published the graphic first, try to access the original dataset, look for specific words that are intended to incite you, and such forth.

Grace Romanian Church in Ypsilanti hosts “Answers in Genesis” Bryan Osborne April 26-28, 2019.

Bryan Osborne set to speak about topics including; “Do Animals Evolve? Dispelling the Confusion,” “One Blood, One Race, One Savior,” “The Big Deal About Dinosaurs,” “The 7 C’s of History,” “Understanding the Times: Revealing the Unknown God,” “Quick Answers for Tough Questions,” and “The Genesis of the Gospel”.

Friday, 26th, beginning at 7pm will be a night for teens. Saturday, 27th, beginning at 10am and 6pm will be for children and families, and Sunday, 28th, beginning at 11am will be for adults. The event will take place in the main sanctuary with light refreshments to follow.  All are welcome!

Osborne graduated from Bryan College with a bachelor of arts in biblical studies and minors in Greek and Christian education. He continued to earn his master’s degree in education from Lee University.

Osborne is also a esteemed writer and has written two books; “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” and “Quick Answers to Tough Questions”.

Osborne taught Bible history in a public school system in Tennessee for 13 years, and helped youth and young adults at his local church defend their faith for over 20 years.

Osborne now continues to speak at conferences and churches for the Answers in Genesis ministry. He has over 20 different presentations and seminars prepared.

Here is a short video clip showing one of Osborne’s presentations regarding “Interpreting the Evidence” ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2El_WU5pnU

Osborne and his wife Marla have been married since 1998 and are enjoying the early years of raising their children.

“We are very excited to have this gifted young man come and speak at our church! We love the Answers in Genesis curriculum and use it for our Sunday School classes. The children will be very intrigued when they see the similarities in his presentation compared to what we learn every Sunday,” said Madalina Sandu, Sunday School Director at Grace Romanian Church and Leader in bringing Bryan Osborne.

“We want to bring the community together and thought what better way to do it than through God’s Holy word and a ministry founded upon that [referring to Answers in Genesis],” Sandu continued.

Answers in Genesis is a ministry located in Kentucky, with the mission statement of, “proclaiming the authority of the Bible—from the very first verse—without compromise by using apologetics in its world-class attractions, dynamic resources, and creative media to communicate the message of God’s Word and the gospel so that believers are equipped to defend the Christian faith and nonbelievers are challenged with the truth of the Bible and its message of salvation.”

At their location in Kentucky, they have something known as the Creation Museum and The Ark Encounter. The Creation Museum focused on the fact of the earth’s creation approximately 7,000 years ago and how it has progressed through the ages. It takes a biblical point of view and backed by scientific evidence.

The Ark Encounter is a life size remaking of the famous Noah’s ark story in the bible. Visitors can learn while being entertained by the various skits, activities, and animal rides at The Encounter.

Ken Ham is the CEO and founder of Answers in Genesis, The Creation Museum, and The Ark Encounter, and is famously known for his debate with Bill Nye “the Science Guy” in 2014 and touring The Ark Encounter with him in 2017.

Ham’s purpose in all of these different foundations and various different speakers is to show that, “Only Christianity and its teachings can explain the purpose and the meaning of this world — and also give the basis for right and wrong, good and evil, etc..”

Ham has brought over 20 various different speakers, Bryan Osborne being one of them, onto the Answers in Genesis team and has plans for it to continue growing.

For more information on Answers in Genesis, The Creation Museum, The Ark Encounter, or Ken Ham, visit https://answersingenesis.org/

For more information about Bryan Osborne and his presentation to Grace Romanian Church visit AnswersOutreach.org/Ypsilanti19.

I read multiple different articles regarding different ways to prepare, and how, to write an article regarding suicide. Overall, the articles that I read, though they had a different target regarding suicide, their message was the same; don’t do it and cover it in the correct manner.

One of the things they discussed was not to glamorize suicide and make it sound appealing to a person, so that they may want their “15 minutes of fame”. After 2 famous people committed suicide, hotline calls jumped 25%, the fact that they were celebrities alone was a form of glamorization. The less detail about the suicide, the articles said, the safer it is for others at risk.

Also, suicide is not a “one and done” type of thing. It is a very complex situation, even if it not something thought about over a long period of time.

Bottom line, yes there are those at risk even without the articles to promote, but be careful in what we write and say so that we can live in a happier and healthier society!

A local Ann Arbor man, Gabriel Buzguta, wants to make a change for children in hospitals in the country of Romania.

On a family trip to Romania in 2016, Buzguta’s 2 youngest girls became very ill and had to be taken to the children’s hospital immediately. The girls were placed in the same room, because in Romania there are no private rooms, nor do they section the patient rooms by disease and the level of contagiousness. There is a very high risk that you or your child will be placed with someone who may worsen your condition.

Buzguta stayed with the girls and their raising fevers for a couple of days, in the heat of July, with not a single air conditioner in site. Heat only increases the chance of bacteria and disease to spread, especially in confined places.

Buzguta asked the nurses there for a fan of some sorts, but the Romanian health care system is so corrupt that the nurses will not take care of their patients unless you bring them something extra on top of everything else your paying for minimal care.

Thus, Buzguta went out into the city and bought a small fan for his girls to share. His girls eventually became well again, after some time.

But this experience really spoke to Buzguta’s heart and he carried it all the way back home and it stirred within him for about a year. “I knew that there was a definite need in those hospitals, and I wanted to do something to help — especially since I was in that exact situation and saw it with my own eyes,” Buzguta said.

“The Lord inspired the idea” of placing air conditioning units in the hospital, especially since Buzguta works in heating and cooling.

Buzguta sang with a Christian band, as their lead singer, starting from the early 90s all the way to the early 2000s. He decided to use his gift as a means to help.

He got to work immediately and collaborated with some friends and a record agency to create a CD that would help fund his mission. Once finished in 2018, he began touring to various churches spreading the news of his mission through words and song. Any and all contributions toward the CD went straight to the purchase of AC units and other supplies.

After finishing his tour in the United States, Buzguta traveled towards the city of Oradea, 10 minutes away from the Hungarian bored, and began to promote there.

He continues to promote, still accepting donations, as he has begun installing the AC units around various hospitals.

When his work is finished, he plans to return and give a presentation on the work that they have done. “With God’s inspiration and those who donated, this is all possible, we can make a difference,” Buzguta said.

Below is a audio recording of Buzguta singing with a group in a local church.

https://drive.google.com/openid=0B3eBfU6uTVi2bXZaeU1ITEZoMUQ2bERWWXZXZGxpT21wSVNr

For more information, or if you would like to donate to the cause, please email saraj1903@gmail.com.

I read the article In Search of Best Practices for Journalistic Crowdsourcing and checked out Grasswire and Google News Lab. Overall, I found it very informative, especially since I wasn’t very advanced in my knowledge about Crowdsurfing.

Crowdsurfing is an act of using the crowd to help complete a task, demonstrate expertise, or share opinions — which has created a buzz in the media and technology world! Specifically for journalism, crowdsurfing is when you specifically invite a certain group of people to participate in a reporting task ( i.e. personal experience, documents, and data collection).

But, for the most part, people need (or rather want) some type of incentive so they can be motivated (for example, money, personal interest, demonstration of expertise).

Part of the crowdsurfing method is something called “the Callout Method”. Basically, it is somethings that is intended to engage a certain audience — such as a website, word of mouth, radio, and such forth.

Grasswire is a good new source and Google News Lab is similar, but they are both mainly connected to crowdsurfing. I look forward to learning more about crowdsurfing and incorporating it in my writing!