...to Round 2 of floods hits Northeast

I'll be honest, I had no idea this was happening. When I read about it though, I wondered why I didn't, since people's homes are being destroyed and stuff.

Despite this case probably just being my own fault, it still made me think about agenda-setting, and how often things don't get reported if they're not catastrophic and will supply the news agencies with days, sometimes overextended weeks, of coverage. I think too that with the earthquake in Chile, which is said to be one of the most powerful earthquakes ever, making it quite literally a bigger deal than the recent one in Haiti, it has received less coverage, even weeks after Haiti.

So why is that? Geologically, this is AMAZING. Any nerd with a geology fetish is going to want to talk about it and what that means in terms of science. But why are people not talking about it? If the agenda-setting theory is right, then it's because the media hasn't told us to think about it.

Therefore, we don't.

So I'm wondering, what other kinds of stories either get downplayed or just don't get reported. But then again I wonder, do people care? How many of us that did something for Haiti (donated clothing, shoes, money, adopted a kid, whatever) actually stopped to consider what we could do for those in Chile? And now, what about those in the Northeast? Sure, people won't be living in shacks and attempting to rebuild them, but more expensive repairs will have to be done to these American homes in order to make them livable again.

To get back onto the topic of the floods though, this is supposedly "round two". How did I not hear about "round one"? Again, I'll admit, it was probably my own blindness. But let's talk about this for a moment. I'm a journalism student, I talk about news with the people in that department at school, but this has never come up. Perhaps I should specifically bring it up and see how many previously knew about it.

Just some thoughts though.

...to Spring has sprung gardeners, and 3 in 4 Americans can dig it

In this article, gardeners talk about their passion, and the upcoming season full of gardening opportunities.

When I "grow up" and have my own house, I want a garden almost as much as I want an amazing kitchen (and if you know me, I really want a sweet kitchen). In fact, ideally, my huge kitchen window would overlook my vegetable and flower garden, and I could open my window every morning and get a whiff of my wisteria, acacia, or lavender. Talk about perfection.

When reading this though, it brought to mind the importance of planting what will grow in the area in which you live, especially when considering the watering patterns of the plants. While many people would probably love to have a lush, rich, colorful garden, it may not be possible for that dream garden, depending on your geographical climate. They talked about the benefits of native plants, and how, when your imported plants will die if a fluke winter or summer happens, native plants will fare better.

I think it's becoming more popular to grow one's own fruits and vegetables, especially with the movement of natural and organic foods. But what impressed me most about this group of gardeners though, is the passion they had for gardening --planting and interacting with the ground at their homes. I liked what the story quoted author Vita Sackville-West writing that said, "The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before". I think that is true. When my family had a garden, every year we looked forward to adding something we didn't have last year. Our perennial flower gardens expanded and filled-in, and our vegetable garden was filled with new and different produce each year. I think that's the joy and intertwined challenge of gardening.

...find story ideas for your beat.

1) Rob Carney

A better representation of religions and the diverse religious activity in Utah --not just the Mormons.

Profiles of those belonging to other denominations among the Mormons.

2) Lisa Black

Correlation of Utah laws and Mormon doctrine --are they influential or are the laws just law?

3) Janessa Fisher

History of religions --ancient traditions being practiced today

4) Ivan Amargo

Profiles of leaders in area and event coverage.

5) Garit Heaton

Ancient religions (Why did they worship planets? Why do the planets' names come up all over the world? Why are we finding the same symbols in caves, pyramids, and hieroglyphs?)

...to Facebook helps movements unite

After reading this article, I started thinking about McLuhan's theory about the medium being the message. I think that perhaps that is the case with this story --the Facebook medium is the message, not so much what is being rallied for.

For example: more often than not, when I'm invited to join any controversial groups on the site, I ignore the invitation. It can be something I completely believe in, but because of the public nature of a social-networking site, I prefer to remain "virtually" neutral. For me, I feel like the medium allows me that neutrality, and despite whatever content is posted, my right to neutrality remains. However, I believe that is my own interpretation and use of the site, whereas others can use it in completely the opposite way, and it is true enough to their own interpretation of the medium. As we see with the young man who eventually got enough support for his cause (a $500,000 skate park) to enact action, or president Obama's use of it to gain votes, it can be used in a successful way to support causes or rally people together. For myself though, I feel like any virtual proclamation of my beliefs would not only be contrived and insincere, but also so far one way or the other that I would feel trapped by the group creator's beliefs of the subject.

But besides all that, I guess this case's application of Facebook was cool enough.

News Story: Senior Project

For graphic design major Jalise Hinton, a senior project wasn’t just something to finish so she could graduate --it was an opportunity to push herself and gain real-life experience while raising awareness of something she cared about.

Hinton’s design, a photo of a driver texting the message “c u l8r” with the slogan, “Will these be your final words?” addresses the dangers of texting while driving. In her research, Hinton found that texting while driving is as dangerous as driving drunk.

She chose to design the series of display signs and billboards because for her, billboards are a difficult design.

“I tend to always do something I struggle with.” Hinton said.

When she expanded her project and decided put her advertisements up around town, she took on another challenge altogether. To post her signs she had to have space donated, pay for printing, and spend the necessary hours working on the design. For help paying for the printing she turned to a student service provided by Utah Valley University, the Center for Engaged Learning.

“Jalise…has taken what she’s learned in the classroom and applied it on her own.” Said Vincent Fordiani, director of the Center for Engaged Learning.

Since 2007 the center has provided 328 engaged learning opportunities and 1.2 million dollars for students around the school, according to Fordiani. Like Hinton, many of these students partnered with a faculty-member sponsor and were able to carry out their projects with aid from the center’s grants.

“Most companies didn’t take me seriously until I had a payment.” Hinton said.

Once she had the money for printing, Outdoor Promotions helped get her design installed on donated bus benches and shelters in Provo. Taking it a bit further, Hinton contacted Yesco about a billboard and eventually got a spot in Salt Lake. She is pleased with the results.

“I can graduate happy now because I’ve used the school in the best ways I could.” said Hinton.

To see more of her design: http://textfreeroads.info/

For more info about the Center for Engaged Learning: http://www.uvu.edu/cel/

...fake obituary

DISCLAIMER: I am not dead. It was just an assignment in my reporting class.

Celeste Tholen, 19, a Utah Valley University student and dear daughter, died Thursday evening, March 26, in Orem after a head-on car collision.

Celeste was a caring person, and involved herself in the community as often as she could. At the time of her death, she was volunteering at the Orem Literacy Center as a literacy tutor to children, and serving in her church as the ward choir director. Her ambitions extended through her schoolwork, having been awarded with several scholarships, and also into her hobbies. She played the violin beautifully, had a passion for writing and reading, and was frequently putting herself in situations she referred to as making her “sickeningly nervous”. Her most recent endeavor was participating in the Marie Clegg Speech Competition at UVU, where she spoke about another of her passions, American Sign Language and Deaf Culture.

She will be missed by those who knew her, and is survived by her father and mother, Dwight and Joy Tholen; brother and sister, James and Megan; as well as three grandparents, three aunts, four uncles, and numerous cousins.

Graveside services will be held at Wasatch Memorial Tuesday, March 30 at noon. The viewing will be the night before at the Millcreek 6^th east L.D.S. from 6-8 p.m.

...to Miss. school prom off after lesbian's date request

This article about a teenage lesbian wanting to bring her girlfriend to her high school's prom isn't something I normally would want to write about, because it is such a controversial subject. However, today, I want to talk about a couple of things I notice about the situation, although it's doubtful I'll come to any real conclusion.

First off, although I do not support homosexuality, I think that this student does have the right to practice her own beliefs. While these practices may make other students uncomfortable, it does not interfere with their safety, which should be the primary concern at a school activity.

Secondly, the girl and her girlfriend already face opposition in the community, and school should be a neutral environment in which she is free to make her own decisions about whom she will date.

On the other hand, the community does have values to which they adhere strongly, and the school is within the community, even an integral part of it. It can be argued that the school, being this driving force in a community (For example, small towns are extremely loyal to the high school's football team, traveling all over to support that. Parents with adequate education either full-time or substitute teach at the schools, and also head committees), is a place where values will be reinforced and shaped. Keeping this in mind though, how can a lesson about acceptance be a negative experience for students --especially as they prepare to break into a larger pool of people, with diverse cultures, values, and beliefs?

...to Forever blooming: Amazing daffodil garden is closed, but her serigraphs are alive in a new book

I loved this post about a woman and her daffodil garden. Gene Bauer, from San Bernadino, California, has planted millions of daffodil bulbs behind her house, and every year until this last year, she allowed people to come look at her garden. As she has gotten older though, she hasn't been able to keep up her daffodils, and as a result has closed the garden forever. As part of her love for botany though, she has created a series of serigraphs, which have recently been published along with her poetic accompanying thoughts in a book.

What I liked about the story though, was the fact that a woman would plant 20,000 bulbs a year, and then go out and write what some have referred to as love-letter like essays about a plant, and make a serigraph to go with it. Bauer would create a sort of pamphlet from the two, and then mail them to her botany-club members. The book has been compiled from these pamphlets which she sent out. It's people like that who make me wish I was more creative and maybe a little bit more ambitious.

However, I feel like there are things which we will each do to leave a legacy behind us. I hope one day, my kids or my grandkids look over my writing (school papers, journals, freewriting, whatever), and feel that I left something of myself with them. If I could be more visually artistic, I would love to leave a graphic and bold picture for them to look at, as Ms. Bauer has.