Yesterday, I was juggling a camera, notepad and a pen, all while my heart was pounding a mile a minute because of the adrenaline.

Clearly, I have a lot to learn.

I really do enjoy courts. It’s nice to have the prosecution and defense lay out both sides of the stories – all I have to do is take notes. Also, court records are a reporters best friend. They clearly lay out the facts of each case and every motion filed.

However, when it comes to taking notes in court, whether it is on a computer or a notepad, it is significantly harder.  Your fingers have to start flying across the keyboard as you also have to listen intently to what is being said.

Did he just say $25,000 or $250,000?
Wait, who did the attorney just point out as the victim’s mother?
Did he say the 2nd or the 22nd?

Facts fly by like race cars and you have to sort through the blur for the facts you need for your story.  And in court you can’t ask someone to repeat what they said just cause you didn’t hear it.

I’ve also found that it is very difficult to find lawyers afterward to confirm facts or the spellings of their names.  Sometimes you are able to get those details ahead of time, or maybe you are lucky enough to find them on the internet.

In the end, I’m finding that I have a lot more skills to learn when reporting court cases.  Man, it’s really hard to get facts straight when you are a visual learner!

     It’s Monday night and our journalism class has tried something new:  Bimbo’s.  Bimbo’s is a popular restaurant among college student’s in Dayton, mainly because it is open 24/7.  But tonight I have found one more reason to love Bimbo’s, other than their greasy food: Karaoke.

    Billy Findley was paid $5.00 to get up and sing a Taylor Swift song, “Teardrops on My Guitar.”  I love journalism class!                  

I just bought a fisheye adaptor for my camera and was trying it out.   It’s not as good as a real one, but still better than nothing.  Check out the rest of the photos here.

Graffiti litters the side of this building in Soho at Wooster Street & Broome Street. Photo by Lana Douglas

Urban art: defacing or expressive

by Lana Douglas

Graffiti is commonly viewed as a symbol of gang activity or vandalism.  Graffiti can make people feel unsafe and a location where graffiti is present tends to look more run-down. However, graffiti is evolving into a skill known as urban art.

Urban art is a new form of art that is showing up in cities, but it isn’t making its début in galleries or museums. Rather, it appears on the city’s sidewalks, streets and buildings.  To an urban artist, the entire world is a canvas.

From the artistic standpoint, this form of art is beautiful, unique and revolutionary.  But from the business or homeowner’s point of view, this art can be destructive, costly and deface both public and private properties.

There is no clearly defined difference between what would be considered “urban art” and what is just plain, old graffiti.

The New York Police Department defines graffiti is as “any etching, painting, covering or placing a mark on public or private property.”  The main difference between graffiti and urban art is whether the artist has permission from the owner to paint on their property.

“I feel like [graffiti] gives a different perspective…and gives personality to the city,” said Kalvis Hornburg, student and visitor to Museum of Modern Art.  “I really like the different graffiti as long as it isn’t obscene.”

The urban art form is gaining wider acceptance among art students.

“Graffiti has gained so much acceptance as a contemporary art form in the last 20 years, but it is still in a box,” said Ben Stagl, student at the Art Institute in Chicago, IL.  “That impulse to reclaim one’s urban landscape and have a right to be able to affect that and have a statement there is as valid as it ever was.”

Graffiti is generally frowned upon in most communities. However, graffiti is a common sight in New York City.

: Bear Automotive works with urban artist to enhance the community. Photo by Lana Douglas

“When it comes to graffiti we encourage artists to work within the confines of the law, we don’t want to deface business,” said Laura Bucko, director of communications at Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. “However, if there is an opportunity for businesses and artists to work together we encourage that because there may be ways to enhance the community in that regard.”

Urban art is still young.  Right now it is at a crossroads.  It is stuck somewhere between being a menace and being respected.  The decision is up to the artists.  Either their work will be become a disciplined form of art or it will retain its associations with gang tagging.

by Lana Douglas

NEW YORK, NY – As students walk to and from class, Renata Silverio, a student worker is busy making copies and filing papers behind a closed door.

Silverio, a senior at Technical Career Institutes’ College of Technology, is just one of the students who earned a work study job last year.

Photo by Lana Douglasstudents who earned a work study job last year.

“It is a great pleasure for me to be working here,” said Silverio “I have learned a lot while I am here.”

In 2009, Technical Career Institutes (TCI) received a total of $163,000 from the stimulus bill.  These funds allowed TCI to offer students more funds for books and car fare.

According to recovery.gov, TCI was able to create 10 work study jobs with the funds that they received from Feb. 17 to Dec. 31, 2009.  Each work study job

pays the student $7.25 per hour up to 20 hours each week for working at the school.

“The stimulus money gave us the capability of giving the students more money,” said Cynthia Fekaris, vice president of student financial services at Technical Career Institutes.  “We were also able to hire more students under the federal work study program.”

According to Fekaris, all of the funds TCI received from the stimulus bill go to the students.

“Here our policy is always to give it to the students,” said Fekaris.  “We farm it out right away.”

Finding funding after the stimulus

TCI is coming up with new ways to maintain the student work force, now that they have completed the stimulus program and are no longer receiving funds.

Fekaris said TCI is offering more institutional grants to students to help maintain the grant and work study programs.

Institutional grants are college provided grants that help students pay for the extra expenses that are not covered by loans, student earnings and student income, according to the Federal Student Aid web site.

Among these institutional grants offered by TCI is the “Success Grant.”  This grant encourages students to take classes over the summer to finish school quicker.

Any full-time student that has 85 percent attendance over the summer will receive an extra $400 that will help the student pay for books and car fare.

The Success Grant’s purpose, according to TCI’s web site is to reward “students with excellent attendance, as well as motivating all students to go to class.”

According to Fekaris, many of the students are unemployed.  TCI encourages students to graduate as soon as possible so they can find permanent jobs.

Last spring more than one hundred students qualified for the Success Grant.

As Silverio heads back to work, she contemplates how being a work study for the past year will affect her future.

“It’s been beneficial because I could get a job, a good job here and I have learned a lot,” said Silverio, “it could even help me in another job.”

By Lana Douglas

Take a bicycle to work.

Adrian bikes because it is the fastest way to get around NYC.

That’s the message of Transportation Alternatives (TA) and the New York Department of Transportation (DOT).

In New York City, Wiley Norvell, communications director at TA, says the goal is to get as many New Yorkers on their bikes as possible and last Friday’s National Bike to Work Day is just one of the means TA is using to achieve this goal.

Cycling is not just a viable health, environmental and cost efficient alternative, but it is also an elegant transportation solution, said Novell.

Bike to Work Day began as a celebration of biking in New York City.  Today it has turned into National Bike Month, a month-long celebration that encourages New Yorkers to learn about safety, participate in group rides and jumpstart the biking season.

According to the New York City DOT web site, commuter cycling increased 221% from 2000 to 2009.

Cyclist, who goes by Adrian, bikes mainly for the convenience.

Jim Lepri, New York cyclist from East Side, started cycling four years ago while going to graduate school at Columbia because it was the fastest and cheapest way to get to school.  Although bike paths have improved, Lepri thinks many people are still unaware of cyclists and scooters.

According to Norvell, “It’s getting a lot safer; there’s always safety in numbers.  The more of you there are out there the more accustom drivers are to looking for you.”

New York was recently named as one of the five cities to watch by Bicycling magazine http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610,s1-2-19-22561-2,00.html.

Cyclist participating in Bike to Work Day can visit over eleven “pit-stops” around New York City.  “Pit-stops” offer various prizes and free breakfast to cyclists.  Locations are listed on the Bike Month web site www.bikemonthnyc.org.