Tourism Businesses brought to the Mountains?

     I have seen a lot of short films and documentaries lately about Mt. Everest and K2.  These two mountains are very extreme climbs and have unpredictable conditions.  Personally, when I think of these two mountains I think they should be left to be climbed by the experts/the experienced.  K2 does not have a "tourism business" attached to it, but that doesn't mean one day it won't have one.  I think that that is the way these mountains are going.  Climbers always look for the next extreme, and I think that is starting to pass down to the average person that has a little bit of money to spend on an extreme experience.



     The idea of there being tourism for Mt. Everest is very interesting to me.  With all the controversy of safety for mountains of this extent, I am confused as to how this could be a tourist attraction.  People now seem to want more, they don't look for the casual hike or climb, they just immediately go to the extreme.  Both mountains are completely different climbs, but I am certainly not signing up immediately to climb either!  I never thought a mountain would become a tourism business.  To me that is so silly to make a profit off of a climb.  I understand how they are making it a business, but it just doesn't seem right to me.  But hey if everyone wants that experience and the only way to get it is through the business, then I won't stop you!



 

     This clip I have added is just about how the Sherpas lives have changed with the business and how their lifestyles have changed.  It brings up some interesting points.  Some Sherpas get their money and realize they want more and leave to go live in Europe or the US.  I recommend checking it out, it gives a good perspective to see from the people that do a lot of work for Everest.

Preserve the Parks

     Really awesome project I have been seeing more on television recently.  It started a few years back and it is really cool how the Nature Valley company filmed these parks and made a google maps type of thing out of it.  Just a neat way of virtually taking people to some of the worlds greatest and most beautiful places. Check out the link below to learn more about the project:



http://www.naturevalleytrailview.com/

The RA Experience isn't the "typical college experience"

     When you think of college, you probably think of parties, all-nighters cramming for midterms and lots of freedom. However the college experience is not the same for everyone. This is especially true for Resident Assistants, also known as RAs. RAs are there to enforce policy on weekly rounds to keep residence safe and happy, solve roommate conflicts, assist residents on a day to day basis and build a strong sense of community through social and educational programing. 

    Since RAs wear so many hats their college experience differs in a major way compared to that of the typical college student. The first being that as a college student you can blend in with the crowd, but as an RA you are constantly center stage.  What I mean by this is not that a typical college student can’t be an important player on campus, but that if a typical college student chooses to, they can sink away into the shadows and remain largely unknown.  An RA on the other hand does not have that luxury.  Everyone recognizes you as an RA either from rounds, and programing. Unfortunately because of this RAs are constantly connected to their job and have to worry about how they portray themselves even when they are off campus. For RAs it’s life in a fish bowl.

     

      The second way a typical student and an RA differ is the experience itself.  As a typical college student you are free to come and go as you please. You can stay out late, you can go to parties whenever you want and you have very little worry of any consequences for poor choices. As an RA however the life style is very different. RAs get 14 nights away a semester, the rest of those nights you have to be sober and in your room by 2AM. That means any parties you want to go to, you have to plan out days in advance and request the night off regardless of whether you are on duty or not.  Then of course there is the time commitments, RAs have programing, weekly meetings, duty night, lockouts, conflicts and so much paper work. All in all it is probably a fifteen-hour a week job, which means you can kiss your social life good bye!

      

      With all of this being said, being an RA is great; you gain leadership experience, fond memories and compensation. It’s a lot of work and your typical college student experience is transformed into to something drastically different.   It is a job you will never forget, and something that opens so many different opportunities.  Just think, some of the great leaders in the worlds were once RAs too!

If interested in applying to be an RA for the Fall 2014 semester, fill out the application at http://lyndonstate.edu/offices-services/housing-student-life/ by March 14^th!!!

Your RA’s,

        -Stephen and Holly!

Resident Assistant Podcast

Podcast Outline

Holly Cannon and Stephen Decatur’s Podcast Project: 

The RA Life 

       Our podcast is going to be about what it is really like to be a Resident Assistant (RA) on campus. Stephen and I are both RA’s so we thought it would be a funny idea to share our experiences along with fellow RAs as well. Our podcast is going to be humorous while informative!

I. Intro
          a. Typical things we hear from residents about RAs
II. About
          a. What is an RA
          b. When did we become an RA
          c. Why did we become an RA
          d. What is a typical day in the life of an RA
          e. What are programs that RA’s have to put on?
III. Weirdest Experience
          a. Interview done with fellow members of the staff and asked them to describe their oddest experience on the job
          b. Share our own experiences
IV. What do we hate and like about the job?
          a. Discussion about pros and cons of it (No interviews just me and Stephen)
V. What do you always carry with you as an RA?
VI. How can you become an RA?
VII. Closing
VIII. The 400-word story will be about how being an RA is not the typical college experience.

Numbers 1 through 10

Random Numbers!

Podcast Critique

     For this assignment, I decided to critique the Family Adventure Podcast and Stuff You Should Know.  Both podcasts were very different from one another, but I did that on purpose just to see how different podcasts can be.  I realized that they do not need to follow any sort of structure, they can be pretty much whatever you want.  I did listen to two episodes from each podcast, and so far I have not been won over.  I am a visual person, and just listening to something without any visual I always find difficult.  I start to get bored and my mind always wonders.  I did like how both of the podcasts I chose were very updated and they produced podcasts regularly.  I tried my hardest to stay focused and this is what I found out!

     First I started to listen to the Stuff You Should Know podcast, and it was kind of interesting.  The titles on most of the episodes are funky so they draw you in that way. The titles are what really caught my interest.  I listened to two shows, one was Could you live without a refrigerator? and the other was Will computers replace doctors?, and two men were speaking (they spoke on all the episodes).  Both shows were not what I thought they would be.  I thought they would be comedic, but they were actually serious and informative talks.  The refrigerator one spoke about going green and how to do that.  It did have a lot of information and opinions, and it got a little boring.  Most of the podcasts run for more than 30 minutes, which is ok,but they seem to drag on a little.  I thought in both episodes, they started to repeat themselves a lot.  The episode about Will computers replace doctors? was a little lengthy just like the other episode.  I started to tune out because they just spoke casually.  They weren't drawing me into what they were talking about after the first 15 minutes (they started to loose me).  They would occasionally throw in some interesting/kind of funny story in the middle which did catch my attention, but then they would loose me again.  I may go back to listen to their episodes because they update them frequently, but I will probably not listen to the whole thing.  I also listened to these through iTunes on my computer.

     The second podcast show I listened to was Family Adventure Podcast.  This one was definitely more interesting than the first one I listened to.  I chose this because I love the idea of traveling and adventuring.  I love the idea of a family doing it together even more!  I would totally do something like this later on in my life.  With that being said, I listened to two episodes and they were Family on Bikes....The Fogel Family Crosses Continents!  and Drinkald Family- Sailing from Turkey to Australia! Both of these episodes were somewhat lengthy, which again lost my attention a little bit.  The style of this podcast differed from the other one.  This was more of an interview type of show, whereas the Stuff you Should Know show, was more of just two men discussing topics.  I liked the interview style more just because it gave different perspectives, and it keeps it fresh.  It introduces new topics with new stories each podcast.  I would probably come back to this podcast more than the other one, but again the length is a little long so I may not listen to the whole thing! I also listened to these episodes on iTunes on my computer.

Writing Exercise 3

Springfield High School Manual Updated

Springfield High School's Board of Education updated their school manual after 20 years.

     The Springfield Board of Education revised the 20 year old school manual at their meeting Monday night.

     Superintendent Max Schmidt said "It's overdue.  There have been several changes in the law and mores that we must recognize."  Several ideas were proposed like allowing students to drive their cars to school, carry a cell phone, wear their hair at any length, and suspension of 20 days if caught with drugs.

     Changes that would impact teachers, were not allowing them to use physical punishment on students and that all violations must be reported to the principal.  Some board members were against the change, but the manual was approved with a vote of 5-2.

For more information on Springfield High School visit http://shs.springfield.k12.or.us/ .

Writing Exercise

Craftsbury Man Charged for Hunting Accident

A Craftsbury man is being charged for a past hunting related shooting that happened on Urie Road in Albany.

A Crafstbury man is being charged with aggravated assault for a past hunting related shooting in Albany, Vermont.

Two men, 76 year old Conrad Masse of Craftsbury, and 58 year old Wayne Goff of Wolcott, were hunting bear this past fall, when three shots were fired.  When Masse fired those three rounds from the road, they hit a bear, tree, and Goff in the pelvic area.  

Goff had to be transported to North Country Hospital and then to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, he has since been released.  

After an investigation with the Vermont State Police and Department of Fish and Game, Goff has been cited to appear at the Orleans Superior Court for his charge on February 28, 2014.  Goff also received tickets from the Fish and Game for shooting from the road, having a loaded rifle in the car, and not having proper display of permits. 

Website Comparison

      I decided to use two stations in Vermont and compared the two.  I used WCAX in Burlington http://www.wcax.com/ and WPTZ in Burlington http://www.wptz.com/ as well.  I thought this would be a cool comparison to do because the two stations are in the same location, essentially delivering the same news.  I thought it would be interesting to see how they compared and differed in the delivery of the same news.

     On the home page they both have top stories in a square form with some sort of graphic either a picture or a video. Also of course they have a weather banner above the news stories because today that is clearly a big news story.

     In terms of writing and their stories, WCAX has shorter stories.  By glancing at a few of them they seem to be short and to the point.  For WPTZ their stories seem a little longer and I noticed more quotes.

     I also noticed that WPTZ has more subheadings for their stories.  On WCAX's page I noticed that not many stories have subheadings.  They both had the blurbs and the top headline though.  WCAX did have more descriptive headlines.  They included locations and states, whereas WPTZ did not specify locations really.  Most of it was local news on WPTZ, but it still should have some sort of location/title.

     For graphics, both stations would switch it up with either using photos or video.  I did not find many slideshows, but I am sure at one point both stations have used those in stories.

      Overall I did like both websites, but I liked WPTZ more because it looked cleaner and more professional.  They had larger and more appealing text whereas WCAX had smaller text and their website looked a little outdated. I just liked how WPTZ was easier to navigate whereas WCAX you did have to scroll to really find stories.

     These are my website critiques of WPTZ and WCAX!

Writing Exercise 2

Car Accident at Central Restaurant in Lyndonville 

Bystander dies while trying to help a woman who was involved in a one-car accident in Lyndonville, Vermont.

      A car accident occurred in Lyndonville today at noon near Central Restaurant, Depot Street leaving a man dead who was only trying to help.

  

     Annie Coulter, 82 of Barton, was driving southbound on Depot Street when her brakes failed as she swerved to avoid a pedestrian.  Coulter then crashed her Chevrolet into the front window of Central Restaurant.

     In the restaurant at the time was 59 year old John Baker of Concord, who saw the accident and proceeded to help Coulter get out of her car. As Barker tried to assist the woman, he suffered from chest pains and minor cuts from glass.

     Baker suffered from a heart attack and died while trying to help Coulter.  Coulter only suffered from minor injuries.

     For more information on other products of Chevrolet that have experienced brake failure click on this link: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/08/16/chevy-cruze-brake-recall/