EEK! My story of mice and men

As a student living in my own apartment, I deal with rodents--mice in particular. When my roommate and I first moved in we were at a total loss on how to deal with the critters. This is the point that I come to with my first multi-media project. I want to present a how-to feature on removing mice from a residence. I think to be fair I should include both humane and traditional ways to remove mice.

Sources:

1. I found a few local pest removal experts from the phone book and I am currently contacting them to see if I can interview and shadow them.
2. Sandra Clausen- My roommate. She is the one who handles the "disposal" of the mice.
3. Timothy Dadourian- A junior TU student who deals with mice problems in his home.
4. I want to go to the Off Campus Housing Fair tomorrow (2/25) at TU. While there, I want to get the contact information for apartments in the area. I will also ask representatives there about mouse issues and how their complex/ residents handle rodents.
5. I am looking for other students who live on their own who have mice. If you know of anyone, please leave a comment and I will be glad to get in touch with them.
6. Myself- Since I live with mice, I am a good source. I usually try not to include myself in the story but if putting myself in will advance the story that much more, why not?

Photo Possibilities:

1. If I shadow the pest control specialist, I could get shots of them setting a trap or removing one.
2. I know it will be a hard one to capture but I would like to get a live shot of a mouse.
3. I could get the reactions of students after they have seen a mouse.

Tweet, tweet! What are you doing?

While reading the twitter posts of my classmates from the past week, I have become more aware of how much I actually do not say when I write. I find I often write for the beauty of the written word and not so much to answer the almighty five W’s and H questions. The first twitter I looked at was by Rachel2789. Rachel's twitter seemed to fit into the median range of the class' spectrum of information. She was unable to answer all of the questions, but she did paint a picture for the mind to interpret how the game played out. The next twitter, written by DanieljGross, contains most of the information I needed as a reader to understand the story. He used actual names in his twitter which tells me he knows what he is talking about; however, I didn't need to know his name because the player is not very prominent. The final twitter I reviewed is by bwrigh5. This person, while they are able to paint a picture for the mind, does not give enough information for readers. This oversight, makes the information relative to almost any game and not just for the game from the Spiders. Overall, I feel as though my classmates are beginning to hone in on the events happening in and around Towson. As I twitter, I am becoming more aware of the details I need in order to make my readers as aware as possible. While I did not attend the game on Saturday, by combining the information from each of the leads, I am able to figure out the five W’s and H.

Who: Towson Tigers
What: Lost to University of Richmond
Where: Richmond, Virginia
When: Saturday, September 13, 2008
Why: Interceptions and Turnovers rampant
How: Misguided plays by Towson

Print screen Courtesy of Rachel2789 from Twitter.com. (Below)

Print screen courtesy of DanieljGross from Twitter.com. (Below)

Print screen courtesy of bwrigh5 from Twitter.com. (Below)

Welcome One and All to My Blog!

Welcome everyone one to my new blog! I have not used a blog in over a year, so pardon my rustiness. First, I want to tell you a little bit about myself. I am a 21-year old junior at Towson University. I am currently studying Mass Communication in the Journalism and New Media Track. I enjoy doing things outdoors, especially if it is shopping at an open-air outlet center. I have an addiction to purchasing shoes. At one point, I owned over 50 pairs of shoes. I spend most of my time either at school, hanging out at home with my roomie, or at work. Currently, I work for a background-screening agency in the Baltimore area. Many of my projects include verifying employment/education histories for my company’s clients to stuffing envelopes to send reports out to the client’s applicants.

Secondly, there have been many moments in my life where I have doubted not only my abilities as a writer and editor, but also the journalism profession and the direction it is moving in. I ask myself if my name were never to be in print again, but rather on someone’s computer screen, would I still be just as happy as if it were in print. Although I love the print aspect of journalism, I cannot ignore the ever-increasing accessibility of news on the internet. I love to write and informing the public is important to me. My own ego will have to give way to things more important than me. My own background, I believe, has prepared for a career in print media. I spent two years in high school on the newspaper staff, one of which I was Editor-In-Chief. Before coming to Towson University, I spent two and a half years at Howard Community College (HCC), in Columbia, Maryland. There I earned not only my Associates Degree in Journalism but I also got a lot of valuable experience as the Editor of the newspaper (“The HCC Times”) for three semesters.

Finally, I would like to welcome you once again to my blog. I hope my posts will stimulate readers to leave comments. I welcome any constructive criticism of my works. I look forward to reading everyone’s blogs throughout the semester as we all come from different perspectives and show them best when we write. I wish you all good luck.

Amber : )