Two weeks left!

The project is finally finished. Now I can breathe again. I must say this one was a little challenging to complete because on several occasions I had to stop what I was doing to come downtown for the project. I did not mind because this is very important to my future and career. I look at it as a huge learning experience. I had fun and learned a lot of great information. It was nice working with someone who was very knowledgeable of sports and the subject matter as a whole. Last week we had an awesome speaker. He gave us great feed back on our projects and told us what we should and should not do. I must say my partner took the constructive criticism well because, he re shot some of the bad video we had and made it look as good as the speaker told us to do. I can not wait until everyone can see it on the class website. I must say this was a great accomplishment and a great experience. I would recommend everyone to take this course. This class is a stepping stone of a great resume tape for your future. Tonight we broadcast a show and I ended up spending 200 dollars on makeup so I can look presentable on the camera. Sometimes you will have to do whatever it takes to get a good story or to make something look good. This semester being my last semester I am truly a broke senior now, but with that I have so much to show for it. And I know in the end I will be rich.

What I've Done So Far

I'm a little unsure about the last project. I was excited about it, but because the rain got in the way and they kickball players, played close to the evening time. I just think that the project would have been much better if the weather was better, and if we had better equipment. Normally we use good camera's but we had to get one from the other building which has very bad camera's. When I was trying to tape my b-roll the camera kept going in and out of focus.

I must add that it was nice because the kickball players was very nice and the sport is pretty cool. I almost forgot I played this game when I was much younger. Now I want to play it again.

All in all I hope everything goes well with my project.

Social club events.

The Chicago Sport and Social Club is the perfect place to fill up your 2009 calendar. With warm weather on the horizon, it's time to spring into gear with our awesome lineup of social events! First up, CSSC will once again be heading to Wrigley Field to cheer on the Cubbies as they seek victory against the White Sox on June 16th and June 18th. We've also got fun Cubs outings planned to the St. Louis Cardinals game and the Brewers game. Also, be sure to grab your favorite derby hat and join CSSC for a day of live horse racing, cocktails, food and fun at Arlington Park for our Kentucky Derby Outing! And don't miss CSSC's exclusive opening event for Social Twenty-Five, the newest River North hot spot relaunched by the owners of Moda and the team behind John Barleycorn. Check back regularly to see all the fun stuff we've got planned. Need tickets to a sold out event? Check out ChicagoSocialTickets.com. View pictures in our photo gallery from past events. View a compete listing of Charity Events going on all over the Chicago area.

Source: http://www.chicagosocial.com/events/

Progress for last project.

I was excited about my last project because my partner and I is covering kickball. I must say I did not know to much about it, and now I am glad that I get to learn about it. Its been pretty rough trying to get everything we need for the project. My main concern is doing a great job and getting everything done on time so that I can have a good outcome for the class. I am the producer this time around and my partner is the reporter. I must say I am excited it's only three weeks left of school, but now my stress begins. Why? My partner and out went out to shoot a kickball game that did not actually start until a week later. This is the month of April meaning showers constantly. So trying to cover an outdoor sport may be kind of hard depending on how everyone schedule is. It is hard for me because I commute but, I will do what ever it takes to get the job done. I know my partner and I will be successful in completing our project and most importantly completing it on time. I just wish it will stop raining because the kickball players can not play in a wet field.

Gender Socialization

We all have a process where we learn certain attitudes, values, and actions that are relevant to our socialization. Sociologist are interested in people behaviors and different attitudes that goes on during anyone lives whether they are young or old. In today's society we all are apart of some type of socialization. This is a way we express ourselves. Gender roles are very important to our society as a whole.

When we are born into this world we are known best as a new born. As this new born you have a role and that role is the gender role. A gender role includes proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of a male or female that has high expectations. Most children grow up by watching their environment. They begin to imitate others. That is a way that they are able to interact with people.

If a child grows up around people that play sports or is very active more than likely that child may become an athlete as well.

When I was growing up I learned that you had to respect others in order to get respect. That was a learned stage I went through. I watched others communicate well with others so that is what I felt I had to do. Another way you can learn is through symbols.

My mom used to give me a high five when I did something good and she would point her finger at me if I did something wrong.

Another way we can socialize children into different gender roles is being a boy or a girl. Back then boys were not allowed to wear earrings. In today's society boys are wearing earrings. The world is becoming more diverse, and less strict when it comes to gender roles.

Now some sports are becoming co-ed. I think is impressive how some teams are letting females play football.

Sometimes we shape ourselves into thinking if anything is too hard to do, let the men handle it.

Nowadays you find more women being more independent and they do not a need a man to do anything for them.

When people violate their gender roles we tend to look at them a bit differently. According to Efthim, Kenny, and Mahalik Journal of Counseling and Development; People from time to time inevitably perceive themselves as violating societal expectations for gender roles, and such violations may lead to negative psychological effects.

People always feel self conscious about themselves when they feel someone is going to stereotype them. When people get rejected some feel useless like there is no need to go on, or even attempt to try harder.

Sam went his whole life trying to get a good job, but he did not have a high school degree. it was hard for him to get a job so he decided to give up.

Efthim, Kenny, and Mahalik Journal of Counseling and Development says, "Gender role norms are internationalized at an early age, shame may also follow from failure to attain gender-related ideals. Thus, violating these internalized gender role standards may result in a direct threat to one's self-concept.

Gender socialization can shape who we become as individuals. It is up to you which role you decide to be apart of.

First year of college

During my senior year of high school I was excited. The
thought of having so much freedom ran through my mind. I wanted
to attend Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois,
University of Illinois, or Lincoln University. I do not know why out of all the colleges I chose Lincoln University. Once I got accepted I was not thinking about anything besides getting away from home, and being on my own. I did not like the fact that I had a curfew, and had to ask if I can do anything or go anywhere. I guess what I was trying to do was grow up to fast. My mom used say to me, “Don’t rush to get old.” Enjoy being young while you can, because the responsibility of being an adult is not easy.

May 2005 came around which was the month graduated in. I went the whole summer preparing for college. I had to attend a freshman orientation at Lincoln University in July of 2005. August came around it was time for me to get ready to set sail to college. What a journey it was. Ever since I attended this college I have become so stressed.

I did not realize that being away from home would get to me
in such a negative way. What I mean is I am very spoiled so I am
used to having my way. I get down here, and I do not want to eat
the cafeteria food. I want to go out to eat everyday which I did. That left me with no money so I would cry to mom and tell her I do not have any more money because I spent it all on food. That is when my stress begins. I really like the fact of having freedom to do what ever I wanted, but I found myself still coming in early like I did when I was back at home. I did not attend too many parties because I felt I came down here to get an education not to be the person to attend all the parties, and get drunk every night.

Another thing that made me so stressed, I was not familiar with
the area. I came from a really big city Chicago IL. It is very
busy and fast there. I had a real big transformation when I came
from Chicago to Jefferson City, Missouri. Jefferson City is a
very slow town. Everything seems like it moves in slow motion.
The people walk slow, drive slow, just move real slow. I am used
to driving real fast, just moving fast. I love to eat. I did not
realize they did not have that many places to eat out here. I
love to shop. The malls are horrible out here. I know I did not
come out here to shop and eat, but in my spare time something has to excite me. I found myself staying in my dorm room everyday my first semester of college. There was nothing to do and I did not associate with anybody because I felt most of these people around here were negative. I say this because I would always see people smoking, drinking, engaging in sexual activity in public, and fighting. When I try to go the library everybody is on face book. I felt that most of the student body came here just to party and get a refund check. I do not like to be around negative people. I do not like the fact that I have a roommate. I need my own space. Going through all of this made me want to go back home. During all this stress I had built up inside I still managed to do well. Even though I was aware with the fact that stress can kill you, it can make you loose weight, and it can also make you not do very well in school if you let it get the best of you.

Coming into college the class work and lectures are very
different from high school. In the beginning the work was very
stressful for me it caused me to loose focus. I could not think
straight. I did not like some of my professors because I felt
they were not connecting with me or the students. That became
real frustrating for me because I felt that I was wasting my
money coming here. The cost of college is outrageous, but luckily we have financial assistance. I used to tell my mom these professors are dumb all they do is lecture; there is no type of connections with the students. Another thing that used to make me real upset was students will walk into class late. That is very disruptive, and it shows no respect for themselves or the students, and professor. When students come in late it causes the professor to stop what they are doing because of interruption. I guess me being very spoiled caused a lot of things to get to me and that made me stressed.

The biggest factor of my stress is having a boyfriend back
at home. I must say 75% of my stress came from having a
boyfriend. It is real complicated because you argue a lot. My
boyfriend and I argued everyday over things that did not seem
important at all. He did not want me to do anything or go
anywhere. He wanted me to stay on the phone with him all night
even though I had classes early in the morning. I lost an extreme amount of focus because of him. I would over sleep sometimes, and miss class because he would make me stay on the phone with him. I had to deal with him thinking I was cheating on him. He did not want me to go out ever. He wanted me to always stay in my room. Sometimes he would make me feel so bad I could not attend any classes in a whole day. I then came to my senses and realize I need to let him go. If he can not support the fact that I am trying to handle my responsibilities like a woman is suppose to then he can try to not let the door hit him on his way out. I was always an A student. That was not about to change just because I came to college. I had to let go of that stress, and I did. Eventually I ended up getting two jobs down in Jefferson City. I worked at Schulte’s Fresh Foods a grocery store, and Tuesday morning, a craft store. I must say it was struggle but it kept me out of this room and my mind off my boyfriend, and just being out in Jefferson City period. My stressed eased up a little bit until Financial Aid decides to come to me two weeks before school is out and tell me they canceled my loaned. I WAS A MAD BLACK WOMAN. These people threatened to drop my classes. Oh this was not good at all. My stress started all over again. I definitely could not focus on any classes because I was to busy trying to make sure my classes did not get dropped. I was beginning to think college was not for me.

Everything ended up going well in the end. I calmed down.
Took my finals, and actually did good like I thought I would. I
got all A’s my final GPA for Spring 2006 was a 4.0. I must say I
struggled my first year in college. I know one thing I would
never let stress get the best of me again. Stress can lead you to failure instead of success.

Going back to first base.

Spring break is over and now it is time to start over with a new project. First I would like to talk about how my spring break was. It started off real slow with little to no relaxation. All I can think about was school work and me graduating real soon. Quite exciting I must say. Anyways I was thinking a lot about my project for class and I am excited and I'm anticipating on doing another good job. I spent most of my break working and trying to look for my own place. On the road back to school I decided to start working on my portfolio and resume tapes. I am so happy that I am graduating from this school because I am going to leave with so much knowledge. So far on my resume tape I have a package I done, a couple of shots of me reading on camera as an anchor, and me being active in a speech class. The field I am trying to go into has the urge for me to be able to do numerous of things. I am excited that this class has a sports magazine online which is another way for me to broadcast my work. I feel like I will be successful and I know that there is always room for improvement. Spring break is over and now I am running back to the first base so that I can begin right where I left off.

If I knew then what I know now.

It all started when I was a little girl. I was born and raised in Chicago IL. I am an only child. My mother is a single parent mom. I must say she done a good job raising me. One thing I love the most about my mom was her stories. She always had stories for me, and I listened to each and every one of them. My mother always tried to teach me right from wrong.

Let me tell you about a story my Mother used to tell me. Out of all her stories I liked this one, “IF I Knew Then What I Know Now.” She used to say, “If I Knew Then What I Know Now” My life would have been better. I said, “Mama what you mean by that?” She told me if she would have kept her head in the books instead of going over some boys’ house, she would not have ended up pregnant at such a young age. Meaning I would not have been here if she would have stayed focused on being in school.

I was brought into this world by a young single parent. Since my mom became pregnant at such a young age, it held her from doing a lot of things. She could not go to any parties, prom, out to eat with friends, or go to any sleep over’s. My mom used to tell me going to school to get your High School diploma, and then going to College to get a degree will land you a well-paid job. She said, “If I knew that I would not be working at McDonald’s making $7.00 an hour.”

She told me one day she was speeding on her way to work because she was late, and ended up getting her license taking away. The officer asked if she had a bond card. She said, “No.” Mama told me if she would have known she could use a bond card instead of getting her license taking away she would have done so. One thing I realized was to never try to grow up fast. There are so many things I am going to have to deal with. I do not know if I am ready for the task yet. My mother told me many things about “If She Knew Then
What She Know Now.” I learned from her many mistakes.

As of right now my mom is making over 90,000 a year has 10 properties of her own, and own her own business. I must say she doing very well. Not to mention she is my Idle. It takes a strong hard woman to be able to over come that struggle.

I have a little story of my own. It is called, “What I Know Now.” I know that getting pregnant at a young age is not the right thing to do. I made it threw High School, and most of College without getting pregnant. I know that going to school to get a High School diploma and a College degree is the right step to succeed in life. I feel I’m on the right track to success. I know that if I was speeding one day for what ever reason, I should have a bond card so my license would not get taken away. Most importantly, just do not ever give up hope. Now when I decide to have my kids in the future, I can tell them my story of “If I Knew Then What I Know Now.”

Half- way through the semester.

I am excited because I am half way through the semester. So far my sports reporting class is going really good. I really like the class because my instructor makes it really easy for the students. She cares about us doing good and expects a lot out of her students. When I have a really good instructor it makes me do very well in class. My instructor builds my confidence and makes me believe in myself. I know that all things are possible and the sky does not have to be the limit. I am looking forward to my next project. I think I did well on the first one. I did well because my instructor gave me the courage because she believes in me. I cannot stress enough how much that means to me. So far I've been brainstorming on my next project idea and taking constructive criticism on my first project I done so that I will not make the same mistakes. I like the whole idea that my instructor knows her students is not perfect and stress the fact that we all can learn from our mistakes.

Step two from the midterm project is trying to pick up the pieces. I had to shoot an interview to fill in some holes and also flip my script around a little bit, and edit a couple of more things. Also, the class will be working on the website where all of our work will be showcased. I cannot wait for the semester to be over because I am ready to graduate.

What I learned so far is being able to take risks, never under estimate my work, and just be confident, truthful, and on time always.

BLOWING OFF STEAM!!!!!!!!

When you think of a blog what is your definition? We all will have different answers, but one answer sticks out to me always; A well-written, in-depth story. This is true in most cases but there are other techniques to the writing such as narrative storytelling on the web.

The storytelling on the web is more fun and has video to go along with whatever topic they decide to talk about. I viewed the New York Times: Blowing off Steam and it was a multimedia slide show. I really enjoy this type of storytelling because it is easy to follow and understand. I never really followed blogs because I don’t have time to sit there and read those long entries. The slide show on the web provided personal stories of a few sports and had wonderful music and sound bites to go along with the story. To me without the music the story would not have been as effective. If the music is appropriate enough it just makes the story flow well. Another important thing in the slide show was the sound of the game action. That was outstanding. You need that sound to make you feel like you’re there.

The class can produce this type of storytelling easily. The project I worked on was the baseball team the Renegades. We got lots of video, sound bites, and great Nat sounds, so were almost on our way if we not there already. All we need is the music and the slide show. That’s why I went into broadcast I rather see and hear what I’m reading.

THE BIG DAY! PROJECT IS DUE

Today is the day my Sports Reporting project is due. There were several of obstacles I had to overcome for success completion of the project. Coming up with the story of informing students on campus that we have a Sports team was one. I say this because you have to figure out how you going to be able to get everyone attention and if your piece could actually make some type of difference. My goal was to try and get the word out so more students could support the Renegades. The second step was getting the video to support the words of the script that needed to be written. Like I said in my previous posts we got great interviews and good b-roll. I just didn't like the fact that they were practicing indoors at Roosevelt University gym. I understand the weather did not permit them to play out doors, but I think that getting video of them practicing outdoors would have been more relevant tome writing to video. Thirdly is my script, it turned out pretty good, but I know how important it is to write to video. When it comes to broadcast writing you have to be clear and precise, and conversational. When you have video to a package you should write to what the viewer see. If you mention playing baseball or throwing the ball that is the type of video the viewer should see. We have a great deal of video to go along with the good script we have. The project is a perfect example of what writing to video means.

Some of the stories on the web is more in depth then the ones we write. I say this because they have way more details, maps, and pictures to go along with what they are saying. Their blog to me is on a professional level whereas we just write what we can to get our point across in a timely manner. I think the ones online just some of them is organized and well prepared. The databases gives you really good information, and it tells you where they got their information from with links to follow it. I'm sure I will get on that level just as long as I keep practicing.

What sports mean to me.

I am an individual who really loves team work and loves working with others. Sports to me is a group of people who get together to do something they are really passionate about. They will work hard to do whatever they can to reach his/her goals. When you become part of a sport your teammates could be like a second family to you. Possibly someone you could lean on or give you words of wisdom.

Almost Finished

I am so excited because I have a wonderful partner and a great idea for a project. We got so much done, were basically finished. What I love the most is that we see eye to eye and we both like to get things done on time if not sooner. I really love all the interviews we got. My partner shot great video of the players while they were training. Everyone was so helpful and we got great results. I am more then confident that we did a fantastic job on this project and cannot wait for everyone to see it. I am even more excited to know that we have sports at Columbia, and this shows that we have students that could go beyond the Arts...I hope that enough people will see our project and support the Columbia College baseball team the Renegades!!!! I wish them the best of luck this season. Go Team!

MULTI-MEDIA SPORTS REPORTING PROGRESS

So far I am so excited about the story I am doing on the Renegades which is the baseball team here at Columbia that most students do not know about. Our group is focusing on getting the word out to the students that we do have sports at this school. So far we taped b-roll of the players and got great interviews. I am so excited!!

All About Me

I really enjoy watching basketball, football, and track. I love track the most because I used to run, and was actually good at it. I like running because it kept me in shape and when I needed to relax it helped me relax. I don't run anymore because sometimes I have difficulties breathing, but I think that's because I'm overweight.