Student Spends Spring Break Surfing... On a Couch?

For many college students, spring break equates fun in the sun with close friends and a surplus of cocktails. Andrew Dunn, a 3rd year English major at the University of Maine, did just the opposite, seeing Spring Break 2010 as an opportunity to break the norm.

As Old Man Winter blew his last few snow storms through Maine, Dunn was beginning to feel the all-too-familiar “cabin fever” that circulates the UMaine campus each February. He needed to get out, but where to? Dunn reflects on this whimsical decision:

“I had never been to the west coast, so I figured I mine as well check out Seattle.”

He immediately got on his computer and bought a round trip ticket for a week adventure in Seattle, WA. He had previously heard of some “hipped out” hostiles in Seattle, but that was just a back up plan for his real goal: Couch Surfing.

Couch Surfing is a non-profit organization that provides networking between those who wish to travel, and those interested in meeting people from around the world by giving them a couch (or air mattress, guest bed, etc.) to sleep on while they’re in the area.

Couch Surfers complete a profile with a self-portrait, a picture of their couch (if they want to host), and personal information such as interests, current location, and previous experiences with Couch Surfing. Members can become “verified” when couchsurfing.org verifies your identity and location. Another feature that adds to users’ comfort is being “vouched for.” By vouching for someone, a user is saying that he or she has had a positive Couch Surfing experience with that person, and that he or she vouches for the actions of that person.

These profiles make it easier for travelers to decide who they’re comfortable staying with, and hosts to decide who they will allow stay in their house. Hosts and “surfers” can also communicate through a messaging system provided before they decide to meet up... or not.

Several months before his decision to take a trip, Dunn had heard of this traveling phenomenon from a close friend who highly recommended it to him out of experience. After buying the plane ticket, he made an account with Couch Surfing.

“I made my profile, searched for hosts in Seattle, and desperately started sending e-mails” Dunn explained. He had only one week to find a host, and had no luck until 2 days before his flight.

With a couch to crash on, and his ticket in hand, Dunn boarded the plane.

His week was certainly unique. Rather than relaxing on the beach with friends, and sleeping in until 12 p.m., Dunn was up at 8 every morning ready to explore.

“I would just see what I could see. If something struck me as interesting, I would check it out.” Amongst the many parks, murals, and grafiti art work, Dunn recalled a sculpture that caught his eye: “Down a random alley, there was this red sculpture of a distorted face... it was sitting on a bench like someone had just set it down... there was art everywhere.”

After exploring the city, Dunn would return to the apartment each evening for dinner with his host, then would head back out to experience the bar scene until his eyes could no longer stay open. He would then rest his eager head on the promised couch, only to wake up early to other day, and another adventure.

In addition to getting to know a far away city, Dunn established many friendships, and learned a bit about himself as well. “You’re thrown into a completely new environment with people who have no opinion or expectations of you based on your past. It really allows you to see who you are and what you’ve grown to be up to this point.”

Over all, Dunn’s Spring Break 2010 was unquestionably a positive, life-changing experience. “I would definitely recommend Couch Surfing,” Dunn contended, “...The personalized profiles and messaging system really makes it safe... you can easily tell what kind of person you’re dealing with just by looking at their profile, seeing who they’re friends with, and writing them.”

As for future Couch Surfing, Dunn plans to post a picture of his own couch so that he, too, can host.

Marshwood High School: Possibilities of a Private Policy

South Berwick- Take a moment to recall your high school days-- walking down the familiar hallways, smiling at the faces you’ve grown up with as they pass by, participating in clubs, committees, and teams, celebrating camaraderie at pep-rallies, finally getting somewhat of a choice in the classes you had to sit through... the list goes on. With the current economic crisis, these fond memories may soon be nothing more but mere recollections of the way life used to be. A school district in southern Maine struggles to keep these memories of such opportunity alive and progressing for those in anticipation of attending Marshwood High School.

Since September of 2008, the state of Maine has faced a $200 million shortfall in education in the shadow of the national economic crisis. This translates to a $68 million loss to the school district MSAD #35, who depends heavily on state funding. If not for the $827,000 received from the Federal Stimulus Package, MSAD #35 would have been nearly $1.3 million dollars short of it’s typical funds this fiscal year. This federal aid will not be coming in next year, leaving Marshwood High School in a scramble to prepare for a financially trying bout.

Marshwood has already put a budget freeze into action, and if no solution to this financial problem is found, a salary freeze will be initiated as well as a cut back on employees and programs offered to students. This has stirred up much concern with the community, as such measures have significantly reduced the quality of education in the past. Since the last economic downfall in the 1980’s, Marshwood has worked hard to re-build its reputation as a successful, competitive, college-preparatory high school.

After much research and contemplation, the Marshwood Board of Directors has come up with a possible solution to Marshwood’s financial woes.

Starting in September 2010, Marshwood High School will admit and tuition 10 non-residential students who apply before April 30th. This policy is subject to an annual review where the school board may adjust the amount of students accepted to what is best for the school and its community.

As of next year, the tuition will be roughly $8,700 a year plus a $500 application fee. This yields an $8,400 profit for Marshwood for each student admitted to the high school. With 10 non-residential students admitted, this means a $84,000 profit for the year.

While this profit will serve as a solution for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the school board has confessed an ulterior motive; they are looking at eventually “tuitioning in” another town’s high school students to the present Eliot/South Berwick district.

Traip Academy of Kittery, Maine is a neighboring high school facing similar, yet magnified financial struggles. In addition to dwindling funds, the enrollment rate is lower than ever at 280 students, and is projected to continue to fall. The town of Kittery is now considering closing the high school only two years after shutting down their elementary school.

Marshwood High was built with the intention of holding up to 1,100 students. Currently, there are 750 students enrolled in the high school leaving empty class rooms, and great potential to grow.

If Kittery residents were to attend Marshwood by paying the $8,700 tuition, MSAD #35 would be capable of not only providing more programs and opportunities than they currently do, but also would be able to afford to hire many of the teachers currently employed at Traip Academy.

This integration of Kittery high school students, however, depends on whether or not the town decides to close down Traip Academy. Also, citizens of Eliot and South Berwick must vote in favor of combining kids from the three towns. In anticipation of this possibility, Marshwood and Traip school committees have formed a subcommittee to discuss this option in a proactive manner.

As for now, Marshwood awaits the new-coming school year with the assimilation of the10 tuition-paying students in hopes that it will save the school from further financial detriment.

Discover how planets and moons throughout the universe can influence our survival here on earth

Orono- Galactic voyagers share their discoveries and research in a Omnidome presentation at the University of Maine's Maynard F. Jordan Planetarium. Every Friday in the month of March from 7 to 8 p.m. locals are invited to join these scientists in exploring the ice planets of our Universe including our very own planet's polar caps.

In celebration of International Polar Year, this "Ice Worlds" presentation explains how Earth's polar ice caps and places alike throughout the Universe affect our world today and its near future. In attending, you can expect to see animated scenes of what may be in store for our planet, as well as satellite images and real footage.

These images come to life in the Jordan Planetarium's Omnidome. This is a projection system designed to fill up the entire dome, giving each audience member a unique experience as they are surrounded by the sounds and visuals of our Universe and its ice worlds. All Omnidome presentations are $3 a ticket, or free with a MaineCard. Any questions or comments may be directed towards Alan Davenport at 207-581-1341 or info@galaxymaine.com.

Newscast Critique

In a recent newscast, CNN's Tony Harris reported on Pricilla Minter, a school teacher hoping for Congress' help as she battles colon cancer and its subsequent financial strains.

Harris begins the segment with dialogue to grab the attention of his audience. "I didn't eat enough to have my stomach get that big. Some people thought I was pregnant" explains the school teacher in the first few seconds of the newscast. Harris continues with his report introducing Mr. and Mrs. Minter's issue at hand: colon cancer. The report continues to explain background information up to the point where the couple stands now.

Throughout the piece, Harris switches between past and present tense in describing the couple's struggle through Mrs. Minter's diagnosis and treatment. Typically in writing, it is favorable to stay consistent throughout the work with one tense, but in this script, the inconsistency is effective. When talking about the couple's past, Harris uses verbs like had, asked, gave, and was, and when describing the couple's present situation, verbs such as pays, looking, celebrates, lives, and is are used.

For the most part, Harris maintains an active voice only slipping into passive phrases once or twice. This script would be more powerful if he used statements such as "The insurance company charged her..." rather than "She was charged... by the insurance company.

To wrap it up, Harris ends with another sample of dialogue urging congress to focus less on the division of parties and more on families that need healthcare reform. The closing of this newscast is compelling and leaves a lasting impression on the audience.

This piece maintains the audience's interest with an engaging lead and closing. It also had a generally consistent, concise, and informative body and is a newscast worthy of being described as greatly effective.

Cancer Patient Pushes Congress

The Future of Journalism at the Hands of Convergence and Consolidation

Upon hearing the word "journalism," connotations of Channel 2 anchor Chris Facchini, or the Bangor daily newspaper may pop in to a the mind of typical Maine citizen here in the Greater Bangor Area. These familiar and comforting local news sources, however, will soon be lost not only in Maine, but throughout the country due to convergence and consolidation in journalism.

Convergence is the new buzz word in journalism, referring to the luxury that devices such as Blackberries, iphones, and laptop computers provide. Every day such devices are used as travel agencies, phone books, radios, mp3 players, maps, cameras, movie theaters, TVs, and most importantly, news sources. It would be a great mistake to interpret this as just another source of media to compete with TV, radio, and news papers; the digitization of media is indeed competing, but also replacing these more primitive sources of media (Global Information, Inc.).

While convergence diminishes the significance of non-digital media sources, consolidation causes the disappearance of local as well as bold and aggressive news. Consolidation is a technique used by large corporations to make a larger profit by buying out smaller companies. With respect to journalism, consolidation leads to a small number of business owners controlling the content presented by a large variety of media outlets. When large corporations control the information distributed, many problems arise.

One disadvantage of consolidation is the lack of aggressive journalism. Because large corporations own so many outlets, profit, rather that societal importance, becomes the main goal. In order to gain profit, the owners of these corporations select writers that comply to their personal beliefs and values to write about mainstream topics that are easily embraced by large portions of the public. Because the audience target is so large, anything bold, or dynamic is not included in reports, and the journalism becomes moderate. In addition, the large audience causes local news to become obsolete. News worthy issues in one particular community does not appeal to people throughout the country, and would not, therefore, produce a profit for the corporation.

If consolidation and convergence continues down its path in journalism, we can kiss our newspapers and local news stations goodbye. These familiar sources of news are being bought up by larger corporations, and outcompeted by digital devices. In addition, the independent and aggressive style a dwindling few long for will soon disappear. With the combination of convergence and consolidation, news will be drastically different than it has been for generations. This is the future of journalism, but the true question is does this change need to be addressed, or is it simply the continuing evolution of information and communication?