Photojournalism

In July of 2003, Chris Hondros, a free lance photographer for various news sources, captured this photograph during one of his many journeys to Libya.  During a battle with the Liberian rebels and the Liberian government, this photo was taken of one commander of the Liberian militia who jumped in excitement after firing a rocket-propelled grenade into the crowd of rebels.  Hondros was killed during his last trip to Libya this past week.  The New York Times photojournalism section placed this photo on their website and included it in Hondros' section of memorable photographs.  Within this photo, different news values are present.  The two main values are conflict and impact.  Conflict surrounds Libya and anyone who enters and even though this photo was published during the year of 2003, the fighting between the rebels and the government continues.  Impact describes the emotion within this photo and it is still impacting our world today.  With these news values taken into consideration, this photo can be seen as the excitement of the government eventually settling the country to peace.

 On October 13, 2009, photojournalist, Philip Andrew Scott, snapped this photo of students protesting outside the University of Pittsburgh.  Philip Andrew Scott attended Western Kentucky University for his degree in photojournalism and is now working for the Associated Press (AP).  The protests were outside the G20 Summit in Pittsburg and Scott was there to capture the madness of the students.  Within this picture, the contrast of the students and the policeman, shows how divided things can be.  Conflict, proximity, and currency are all present news values throughout this picture.  The conflict is shown between the school and the students.  The proximity is present because Pittsburgh is within the United States and hits pretty close to home.  The last value of currency describes how current this event was.  This photo and story about students protesting was present on Scott's personal blog.

 Tim Hetherington, a photographer for Vanity Fair magazine, captured this image in September 2007.  An exhausted soldier in the war in Iraq takes a break and feels overwhelmed from all of the fighting taking place.  This could reflect the exhaustion of an entire nation and how much this war truly impacts our world.  After this image appeared in Vanity Fair, it soon earned the title of World Press Photo of the Year.  After achieving such a goal, Hetherington continued to go out and capture many images of the wars going on throughout the world.  Last week, he was killed along with fellow photojournalist, Chris Hondros, during a gunfight in Libya.  This photo contains news values that consist of impact, conflict, and currency.  The impact is how much it affects our country to this day.  The conflict is still present and the fight is still being fought.  This photo was just taken four years ago, which makes it a current conflict.  With this photo and the war still going on, this image will continue to represent how much of a toll this war is taking on the families within our country.

 On March 11, 2011, one of the world's greatest disasters hit the coast of Japan, sending a 30-foot tsunami wave crashing into the coastal regions of northern Japan.  Many towns and cities were completely demolished such as the one in the photograph above.  Takashi Noguchi from Getty Images was just one of the many photojournalists that captured the destruction the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami wave in Japan.  This photo shows the town of Otsuchi being completely demolished and a particular body being buried within the rubble.  The man pictured is a Japanese Self Defense Force soldier who is praying for the body he is about to remove from the rubble.  The Chicago Tribune posted this in one of the many stories about the earthquake and tsunami.  This photo contains news values of currency, impact, and timeliness.  This event is both current and timely, due to its recency of happening only just one month ago.  The impact of this event is still spreading through each continent with strangers lending their hands to help out in any way they can.

In 2008, Hurricane Hanna struck Haiti, destroying much of the land and leaving thousands homeless.  Patrick Farrell form the Miami Herald, was on sight to capture the destruction this hurricane left behind.  This photo is of Sonson Pierre, 7, sitting in the mud outside of his demolished home soon after the hurricane.  Farrell captured hundreds of images from this devastation and ended up winning a Pulitzer Prize for the photos he took.  The London Evening Standard ran a story about Farrell winning this prize in 2009 and displayed the roll of touching images that led him to winning his Pulitzer.  Impact, currency, and conflict, are all news values present within this one image.  People within Haiti are still recovering from the hurricane and are trying to rebuild their lives.  This little boy represents the desperation and the pain the country was going through during the point in time and what would lie ahead.

Should Students Be Given the Option of Off-Campus Living?

With costs of the economy rising and the job market at an extreme low, it becomes more and more difficult for individuals to pay for a higher education.  Many costs are combined along with classes, but the most expensive other than classes is living within the dorms. Sure, two-year degrees are less expensive, but what if a student wants to attend a four-year school and have to pay thousands just to live there? 

College tuitions, especially private campuses such as University of the Cumberlands, a four year private Baptist university, can cost families up to almost $25,000 per year.  Costs include classes, meal plans, and housing.  All students on the UC campus must live on campus unless they are commuters or married.

Housing alone costs up to $4,000 per semester, which makes the cost approximately $8,000 per year.  Since students are not allowed to live off campus, much of their money is being paid toward the dorm facilities.

Most colleges and state universities allow their students to begin living off campus after their first full year of college.  Campuses like Cumberland do not allow off-campus living because of the amount of money that would be lost due to students wanting to live on their own.

When students begin the journey of college and getting prepared for the real world, Cumberland holds the authority of informing students what they are capable of, but when students feel as though they are being treated like babies, they begin to transfer to schools where they are able to live on their own.

Living off campus is about $2,500 cheaper a semester than living in one of the dorms.  With parents being able to barely afford to send their kids to school due to room and board, the option of living off campus seems to be a pretty sweet deal compared to shelling out that extra $2,500.  On average, an apartment per semester costs about $1,500 plus utilities.

So the question remains, should students on this campus be given the option of living off campus after their freshman year is completed?  On most college campuses, students, upon completing their freshman year, are able to move off campus and live on their own.  Most students would agree they should at least be provided that option so they can make that decision for themselves.  If someone just tells them what they can or cannot do, most are not going to listen.

Having the option there and provided, does not mean everyone on this campus will just up and move out of the dorms.  One reason they would not is due to the lack of apartments or housing around the Williamsburg area.  Another reason is that there are few jobs here, so a lot of students would not be able to afford living on their own.

The administration on this campus have been around for many years and have no plans on changing their minds about the housing situation because it does provide a great deal of money to the university and it also gives them the right to check up on every student living in the provided dorm.

If students were given the option to make their own choice on the matter, sure some would move off campus and find a way to pay making it less of a burden on their parents, and some would just continue living in the dorm due to scholarships they received. 

Even though the likelihood of students being provided that option is very slim, students will continue to find their own ways around this little problem.  Eventually the enrollment of the campus will likely dwindle due to students not feeling like they can think for themselves.

The Quake That Shook the World

Stephen Roach, a graduate from Georgetown College, discovered the difficulties of being a grown up when college was ending.  Nothing was working graduate schools weren’t calling and the job market was decreasing.  He was beginning to hit rock bottom.  Little did he know his journey would take him to the heart of disaster.  He kept his mind occupied with “Fear is the mind killer” as he read in the book “Dune” during his long flight to Japan.

He is a graduate student with a major in History.  The only things under his belt are a plethora of college classes, a four month trip to China, and a list of dead end jobs.  He may not be an award winning author, or a scholar with many works to his name, but he is a grown up who is discovering the world across the Pacific Ocean.

 “I had experienced many other cultures in Asia before, but this job was going to be a totally new experience. I would have a good job, and that was about all I knew. I didn't know what my living arrangements would be like, and I had never seen a picture of Tahara. I didn't know what my job would be like, and I didn't know what kind of people I would meet. I had cast my lot into the wind and now I had to prepare myself for the outcome. A mantra that I had been repeating in my head the whole time was something I had borrowed from Frank Herbert's ‘Dune.’ ‘Fear is the mind killer.’ This may make me seem like a huge nerd, but I had no room or time to be afraid. All I could do was go,” said Roach.

Japan was a difficult place to adjust to upon his arrival, considering he knew little to no Japanese since he had only been studying the language for a couple of months.  After hearing about the job opportunity to teach English to Japanese students of middle school age from a college friend, he contacted Georgetown and was granted an interview.

Roach picked up and moved from the little town of Mayfield, Kentucky, all the way to Tahara, Japan, in order to teach middle school age kids conversational English.

“I was walking to the bank when the city-wide PA crackled to life. I can never understand what they are saying, and it happens enough that I just kind of block it out. This time was different though. It was a countdown. "San, Ni, Ichi." This countdown made everyone in the street freeze. I mean everyone. It was then followed by an alarm that I hadn't heard until then. It sent chills up my spine. This was totally different from tornado sirens in the US, but just as chilling. People at this point immediately went inside. I went to the bank. The sirens didn't stop though and I knew something was going on,” said Roach.

On this particular day of March 11, 2011, not only did a 9.0 earthquake strike the northeast coast of Japan, but waves were sucked back into the ocean, leading to an unexpected tsunami 30 feet high, which struck the coast of Japan just minutes after.  Even though Roach lives over 400 miles down the coast from the site, it still shook the country and affected everyone around him.

“Stephen is a strong person.  To leave his family, and go to an unexpected place proves the kind of person he is.  I thought he would be pack his bags and head home after everything happening on this island, but he stuck it out and is sticking with the job he came to do,” said Edo, a new friend of Stephen’s.

“Fear is the mind killer.”  March 11, 2011, was a day that filled the nation with fears of radiation and losing loved ones.  Luckily Stephen was hundreds of miles down the coast from the tsunami, but not from an earthquake.

"San, Ni, Ichi. This time my whole apartment lurched. It was big, and the weirdest sensation I have ever felt. I could feel the ground beneath me rise and fall and everything was rattling. It lasted only about 45 seconds and wasn't very powerful, but it was enough to set off car alarms and wake the neighborhood. I didn't sleep that night,” said Roach.

With the past few weeks behind him, Stephen did not change any of his plans of staying in Japan.  He plans on staying where he is for the next three years with the repetition of “fear is the mind killer.”  “The more you know, the more you can do,” said Roach.