Amity Rejoices as Killer Shark is Deemed Dead

Celebrations are underway after a nurse shark, believed to be responsible for the death of 17-year-old Christie Watson and 11-year-old Alex Kitner, was caught and killed in waters one mile southwest of Amity by a fisherman.

Amity Police Chief Martin Brody reports that Amity beaches will reopen for the Fourth of July weekend.

Beaches Close as Shark Hunt Begins

South Beach as well as all other beaches in Amity will be closed for the next 24 hours as a wide shark hunt begins. A shark attack has been the suspected cause of death for two local adolescents, Christie Watson, a 17-year-old Amity High School senior, and Alex Kitner, a 11-year-old boy. 

Watson's body was found brutally dismembered on the South Beach shore last Sunday morning. She was last seen alive at 11pm Saturday night by Christopher Hoggenbottom III, after they decided to go swimming after a night of heavy partying. Kitner's body was never found after he went swimming last Tuesday. 

Police Chief Martin Brody announced at the meeting that the beaches are to be closed for the course of a full day in order to allow for wide search and capture efforts to be made. This was an unwelcomed mandate for this beach community which thrives off of the tourism brought by their shores. 

"In Amity 24 hours is like 3 weeks," shouted one enraged citizen. 

A bounty of 3 thousand dollars will be awarded to whomever captures or kills the shark that believed to be responsible for the deaths of Watson and Kitner. 

On Reading Zeitoun

I've been reading a piece of non-fiction called Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers, an author who everyone must read at least one book by before they are thirty. Zeitoun follows the lives of Abdulrahman Zeitoun and his wife Kathy, in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina. Eggers illustrates Kathy and Abdul's lives in vivid, personal detail. I swoon over the intention with which he interviewed the couple in order to capture the idiosyncracies that we only notice are strange when someone outside kin witnesses them. Long-form journalism has always won my attention and appreciation more than any other form of non-fiction narrative (with perhaps the exception of personal memoir). Having interviewed quite a few people now, I know how frustrating it can be to get the subject to engage poignant facets of their memory. If there is no color in an interview, the narrative falls to hueless transparency. Profiles fail without these details and long-form narratives as well. I admire Egger's patience and dedication in finding the colors of a family.

I've Got News for You

I don't read news like I used to. As of late I spend more time critiquing leads, questioning sources and taunting my ego ("well I wouldn't have written it that way) than actually focusing on the content of the story. It is reminiscent of the affect of intro film studies class freshman year. Try watching film without your thoughts deviating from the narrative in order to indulge in cinematic curiosities after studying mis-en-scene, lighting, cinematography and acting. My new inner voice of journalistic critique helps me to have an increased appreciation for good reporting, especially from journalists who tend to diverge from the inverted pyramid and take risks in their story-telling.

2 dead after shark terrorizes South Beach

Wide investigation efforts are going underway after the remains of the body of a 17-year-old were found washed up on South beach early Sunday morning. The teenager has been identified as Amity high school senior Christie Watson. Watson was last seen on 11pm on Saturday night with Christopher Hoggenbottom III, a sophomore at Trinity College, when they went swimming at a remote section of South Beach after a night of partying on the shore. Police report that both Watson and Hoggenbottom had been drinking heavily that night.

Hoggenbottam contacted police at around 6 in the morning when Watson had not returned from the water.

Who Let the Cats Out?

Rare and Dangerous Leopard Missing from Durham Zoo 

Major search efforts are underway after an "extremely dangerous" 146-pound leopard has been reported missing from its Durham Zoo cage since 9:30 this morning. 'Fluffy', the only known female Romanian spotted leopard known in existence, was last seen in her cage Sunday night at 9 p.m.

 The New Hampshire State Police and state Wildlife Department have set out with high powered rifles and tranquilizer guns to find the leopard before it endangers nearby bystanders or itself. The National Guard has also provided five helicopters with infrared sensors to aid in the search.

"We will first search every inch of this zoo," said Police Chief William Blair. "If possible, Fluffy will be shot with a tranquilizer gun. But, if necessary, we shoot to kill."

Blair says that if they have not found the cat by 11 a.m., they will begin to search the bordering neighborhoods.

"We are concerned because this is a residential neighborhood with an elementary school and many daycare centers and we don't want Fluffy wandering around after the kids get out of school," Blair said. "We have got to find her by 2 p.m. If we don't it could be a very messy night."

According to the zoo's chief zoologist, Kitty Smith, Fluffy has never been violent towards any of the zoo staff. However, if  it feels threatened, the leopard can present a great deal of danger to those nearby.

" "Fluffy is a wonderful, warm gentle cat who has never hurt anyone," Smith said. "But if these cats are cornered- or encountered on a dark night or in a dark alley- their defense is to kill and to kill quickly. They take the 'kill now, ask later' approach to life."

Smith has advised anyone who may come in encounter with Fluffy to  "get slowly to the ground, go limp, and lay still" and to "avoid eye contact at all costs."

At this time it is not clear how the 10-year-old rare cat escaped her cage or where she might have gone.

"We have no idea what time Fluffy escaped or where she went," said Gerry Durrell, director of the Durham Zoo. "We are searching the grounds of the zoo, but so far we haven't a clue"

According to Durrell, there are no signs of tampering with the door or fencing in Fluffy's cage.

"We are doing everything we can to find her and bring her back. We love that cat, and we don't want to lose her," Durrell said.

I drink your milkshake, I drink it up!

So I was thinking, maybe the best way to really kick start my radio career would be to guise myself using a DJ persona. Not one of those kooky radio names that rhymes (Mark the Shark is one of my personal favorites), but rather a name that comes with a whole identity and devout, yet invariably creepy, niche audience. 

I humbly present to you my friends, DJ Dracula. 

Catchy, right? Don't worry I have the voice down-pat. You're probably thinking, why not something more classy... and German! I considered Nosferatu, but I feel that allusions to 1920s German Expressionist films ages me quite dreadfully. 

It goes without saying that this show would centered around a Marxist approach to foreign policy. I know what you're thinking, Katie there's way too many of those shows on the radio already!

But here I must kindly remind you, fellow journalists, that not many of those shows include voice-over from a politically-inclined vampire. 

Quick Poll: Would you tune into DJ Dracula's show? 

*someone take this blog away from me

Don't Meet Your Heroes

So last week I had anticipated on covering a lecture given by a contemporary feminist author. As I often do with my stories/ life in general, I had planned out the delayed lead I would use with the story before the events even happened. I had known that a small group of students, self included, were going to have dinner with the author before her presentation. The dinner was enjoyable, yet nothing about the author's presence was inspiring or particularly interesting. Burdened with the internal repetition of a nondescript male voice saying "don't meet your heroes!!", I reminded myself maybe she's just not particularly emotive..yes, there's a certain mystique about her. Perhaps she's more of the brooding activist...yes, she's scribbling down haikus on her napkin while she eats her spinach cranberry salad.

But no. There was no mystique, there was no haikus, not even a damn spinach cranberry salad.

Disappointed by my own neutrality to a night I had anticipated for weeks, I hoped that the actual lecture would deliver something that would inspire some type of particular sentiment, whether it be good or bad. But that didn't happen. I almost fell asleep during the lecture and couldn't bring myself to write about it. So once again fellow 621-ers I look to you. You are to me, as the north star is to a sailor lost at sea. Woah guys, that got pretty emotional and hyperbolic.

 How do you keep readers engaged in a story about an incredibly vapid event?

Video Killed the Radio Star

Well not really, I mean have you seen Rush Limbaugh? Admittedly, that was a low blow. Anyways, just like Jack, I've been involved with WUNH lately and have taken a great interest in radio journalism. Although I am currently training to be a dj for a general programming show, I hope to eventually incorporate journalism into my radio segment. Perhaps something akin to "This American Life", People-centered stories which incorporate interviews with experts on the respective subjects, as well as time for listener participation. Or maybe I should just do a dating advice radio show. With all the internet traffic UNH Crushes is getting, it is clear that college students are just as clueless about socially appropriate ways to interact with people they find attractive as every cinematic character Michael Cera has ever played.

I'm funny..at least I think I am

So can journalists still remain professional but incorporate humor into their pieces? There are not often opportunities to marry the two, but  if you can, do you go for it? Yah or Nah fellow 621ers?

Let's give this question another dimension. The last story I wrote about was on the 19th annual Durham Easter Egg Hunt held last Saturday. My first attempt at reporting on the story was wildly unsuccessful. Why? Because not many 'newsworthy' things happened. Well not much happened in general. There were eggs. There were kids. There was a person in a bunny suit. There were parents with iPhones capturing every precious moment of the whole fifteen minute hunt. That just about sums it up. But come on people, I have a word count to reach here. The only thing to bring interest to the story, which only can be defined as news based on its locality, is the little anecdotes I gathered from the parents and their kids. Although knots on their own, the stories can be stitched together to make a narrative. Hopefully my humor exists outside myself.

Pelican Man Pt. II

I call him Pelican Man.

 I've been planning my next semester abroad in Florence and am lucky enough to have found a travel writing course offered at the Florence University of the Arts. As with any aspiring writer, be fiction or non-fiction, I am at an insufficiency of words to express the excitement I have for this immense opportunity. When I was in Puerto Rico all I wanted to do was write and write I did. In retrospect of the trip I regret not interviewing a man I meet on a beach the locals call 'Crash Boat' in the Southwestern part of the island.

I call him Pelican Man.

( I will post a picture on my blog to honor his title)

 He wanders the shores of Crash Boat with a box of Ritz crackers in one hand and the other fist full of shark teeth necklaces . Searching the beach for anyone wearing Nigel Thornbury (90's anyone??) styled hats or misusing tanning oil, he approaches the gringos and the ostensible tourists and offers them a deal.

I immediately catch his eye, don't worry I don't normally make that assumption about my effect on men. Or it might by the point-and-shoot Cannon camera in my hand that he really is interested in. I'm wearing a loose-fitting sundress and faux floral patterned Ray Bans. My attempt at seeming trendy inevitably branded me as American.

He confidently walks over to me and the second he says "hello" I know I have failed the Boricua test.
He shakes the hand holding the shark teeth necklaces and says "look at these necklaces! Real shark teeth." I smile and fake interest, wondering if he knows just as I do that those teeth were not found on Puerto Rican shores.

In an effort to please Senor Ramos, my high school Spanish teacher, I reply "No gracias."

Nailed it.

He points to a group of Pelicans standing on the vibrantly painted benches not to far away from where I'm sitting.

"Do you want to see them dance like Michael Jackson?"

My friend and I laugh and tell him "maybe later."

After exploring the cliffs around crash boat I end up back along the main part of the beach taking more gratuitous pictures of palm trees to obnoxiously send to my friends stuck in the filibuster of New England's Winter. I see Pelican Man.

"Mike! Mike," he yells in a direction only to suggest that Mike is, in fact, a Pelican. He throws a Ritz cracker in the air which a pelican intercepts before the cracker hits the sand.

As two tourists gather around. I hear him say "Do you want to see Mike dance?"

The man dressed in a floral print shirt that screams gringo gives Pelican Man two dollars.

Let the show begin.

The French Connection

For Frank Francis, the morning of October 13 started off how they always did. He stopped by Jerry's Joint on 22nd Street for a black coffee and lightly buttered poppy seed bagel before heading to Midtown Park, located at the intersection of 24th and 25th Street, at around 10 in the morning. While sitting on a park bench smoking a cigarette he noticed a man who stood out among the familiar cast of characters who could usually be found at Midtown Park. A  Caucasian adult male of average build and height and white collar attire, nothing of his physical appearance marked him as unusual, but he seemed overly concerned about something.
"I had never seen this guy before. He seemed on edge, you know, nervous about something. His hands were shaking so goddamn much he could barely hold his cigarette" Francis said, " This guy was paranoid."



Witness Frank Francis aka Chris Sink
Veracity Rating: 4. 83

MLK Speech

Today over 250,000 men, women, children of all ages and races, representing all the fifty states of this country, lined the sweltering August steps and streets of the Lincoln Memorial, stretching far beyond the reflecting pool, to see Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak on behalf of the struggle for equality of African Americans.

Town Meeting Lead

Summer may seem even farther away for the students of Portsmouth High School as now many students will be spending their Saturday mornings in four hour detentions.

Say Anything....Please?

As some my other peers have mentioned, I struggle in approaching strangers. Rather than a product of general social anxieties, my hesitation to approach people stems from fear of impeding on any activity they might be currently engaging in. Whether it be a riveting column in the New York Times or a bowl of cheesy Mama Mac goodness, or an eloquent composition of a text message, I do not wish to intrude. Upon surveying a room for possible interviewees, I pay keen attention to the facial nuances and body postures of the characters arranged in the layout before me. I stay away from anyone with noise-cancelling head phones. I shy away from biology 400 study groups. And I subconsciously avoid those who use provocative stickers on their laptops to make political statements. I bear no grudge against music lovers, COLSA majors or anarchists; I just want to be respectful. So maybe I should care less and just walk up to anyone regardless of the fact that they may be ten chapters deep into Dante's Inferno or may appear to be dubiously interested in scribbling linear notes upon their forearms before a music theory exam. Just put my journalist cap on and not be afraid to greet, ask or even possibly impede for the reason that their input may greatly enhance the structure of a story. Journalists are right up there with storm chasers on the fearless spectrum. Well maybe not storm chasers, but definitely ghost hunters.

Beloved African Parrot Dies at 31

An African gray parrot named Alex, known as the world's most famous bird, amazing scientists and voyeurs alike with his extraordinary human-like abilities for speech and recognition for shapes and colors, died last week at age 31.

Meteor Shines Light on Cosmic Dangers

There has been a great deal of coverage throughout all news sources on the meteor which landed in Russia on February 15th. Most, if not all, of the video footage has been compiled from the video archives stored in the cameras found in Russian-made cars.

More and more journalists are looking to different social sharing networks for newsworthy images and videos caught on tape through the lenses of smartphones and tablets. It is seem as though it is implicit that as a journalist you must have at least a Twitter and a Facebook; Instagram may be just as pertinent. Journalists must have a pulse on not only the typical sources of news but also have a cognizant regard for the average Joe users on these networks. Once a newsworthy image hits the internet, journalists and editors immediately request for permission to reuse the image on their own website, newspapers etc. I find it interesting that like the Russian meteor demonstrates, the creation of documented news material has drastically changed within the last five years.

Photojournalism: the New Era of News

There has been a new push for video supplements now that news has made the media transition. Breaking news stories do not just come with 600 words, but photo slide shows, and documentary style video segments to compliment the story (see here). The integration of photojournalism into the conventional realm of journalism creates a more well-rounded news experience. It is profitable for newspapers because although they cannot ensure that viewer pays attention to the ads on the webpage, they can promise businesses that their video advertisements will be watched before the newspaper content is shown and integrate advertisement images into photo slideshows. As obnoxious as a thirty-second Febreze commercial can be, it creates a much more accessible business model of revenue for online newspapers. It also provides more jobs for filmmakers and photographers. I'm not playing for the corporate team, but let's just remember there is such a thing as a mute button.

Two Local Teens Hospitalized After Car Flips Over on Mile Mill Road

Last night, around 9 o'clock on Mile Hill Road in Belmont, Massachusetts, two female passengers sustained injuries after the seventeen-year-old driver veered of the road into an embankment, flipping the car over on its roof.

The two female passengers, whose names have not been identified, are both currently hospitalized. The two passengers were trapped in the flipped car for 45 minutes until freed from the crushed car by jaws of life. After taken to Belmont General Hospital, one victim was transported by helicopter to the Mass. General Hospital in Boston.

A resident, Josie M. Crandall, on Mile Hill Road, called the police after witnessing the accident from her window.

"I've never seen a car going so fast on this road. It's a dirt road and it's really easy to lose control."

The embankment on the site of the accident was the same location of a fatal accident on Christmas Eve in 2005 which resulted in the death of two local teenagers.

Boston Globe Observations

Although only on my second week of subscription, I have really been enjoying the diverse range of news and feature writing in the Globe. It has been interesting to see the many different types of leads, aside from summary leads, used by the Globe Staff. I enjoy the scene-setting leads (for example) as well as stories that are opened up using engaging quotes. Although these leads are not as fit for breaking news, I find them very successful in presenting a story to a reader as a narrative rather than just a report.

I was surprised by the lack of interactivity on the Globe website. I expected much more feedback from the online readers than I have seen thus far. Huffington Post has an incredibly high reader interaction, some stories getting over 3,000 user comments. It is probably just a factor of one website being a gratis source while the other requires subscription, but I was  a little disappointed to see the lack of user dialogue on the website.

New Student Org. Brings New Voice to Campus

Last night a new UNH student organization, VOX, held their first meeting. Meaning 'voice' in Latin, VOX plans to be new outlet for discussions regarding reproductive rights and other feminist issues. Partnered with Planned Parenthood, UNH VOX, is one of many VOX university chapters throughout the United States.

I heard about the first meeting of this new group through posters and conversations with some of my friends. I found the organization intriguing as its partnership with Planned Parenthood sets it apart from other student groups on campus. I consider this story to be news based on several factors discussed in class. This story achieves relevance because it has just occurred and directly relates to the audience, the University of New Hampshire undergraduate student body. This subject also offers human interest as I bring in anecdotes from the club executives who discuss how they began to identify as feminists. Most, if not all, of the issues discussed in the first meeting (contraceptive availability, abortion rights, etc. ) have a relevance in current politics as many conservative politicians aim to restrict the accessibility of health services to women.

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Shaken Not Stirred

If journalism is futile without a consideration for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth- then I should just come out clean now: I do not enjoy the often, not always, used  style of newswriting. I do not enjoy reading it; I do not enjoy writing it. So now the question beckons, well Katie, should you be majoring in journalism, or are you just abusing the right to use irony in a blog post? To the first answer, yes, to the second, probably yes as well.

If I was the Hemingway sort of writer, one, I would probably be much more successful, well-traveled, and have had a bunch of crazy affairs by now, two, I could enjoy the unadorned, straight-to-the point newswriting style. I imagine F. Scott FitzGerald would have struggled with newswriting (do not think I am aligning my style aside this necromancer of words for a minute) as his words reads like sheet music, lyrical while remaining intentional. If FitzGerald in fact was a journalist then, one, this makes this argument transparent, two, everyone knows that while writing this I was far too lazy to look up that information for myself. If this entry has not made this clear by now, straight-to-the-point is not really my thing. That of course can be improved.

My main qualm with newswriting stylistically is that I sacrifice my own lyrical voice in trimming the "fluff." Having said that, certain topics allow for more "fluff", albeit nothing categorized as breaking news, but many of my interests allow for stories which can be written while wearing Monet painted glasses. Human interest pieces especially rely on sensory details (maybe even a metaphor!) to create an imaginative experience for the reader. Travel writing as well falls into this category. See Anthony Shadid "The Boy Who was Like a Flower" (http://bit.ly/14QZcjo)

If journalism is futile without a consideration for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth- then I should just come out clean now: the title of this post has nothing to do with what was written, not even a little bit. Thought it might up my page views. As far as journalism goes, I have the honesty part down.

Huntsman Foils Attempted Homicides of Woman and her Grandchild by Wolf

Early this morning, an attempted double homicide of a sick older woman and her young granddaughter by a hungry wolf was foiled, after a local huntsman slain the wolf miraculously saving the two victims who had been swallowed whole by the assailant.

What is News?

Upon discussing it in class, it seems the answers to "what is news" and "what is newsworthy" are subjective. The common thread of what defines something as news is some type of deviation in daily regularity, whether on a local or world level. Anything which cannot be assumed or foreseen that has an effect or is of some concern to a group of people can be considered news. It may be the public's contentment and the scientist's dismay of a fifty-five degrees day  during a New Hampshire Winter, or the rescue of an orphaned fawn trapped in the fracture of a frozen pond, or the retirement of  an Oyster River beloved geometry teacher. While these may be stories of a more provincial beat, they are still news. A story does not have to  impact a great audience in order for it to be  considered newsworthy. Conventional news outlets are a dying breed. Even journalists are making the analog to digital shift, utilizing social media networks like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to keep updated on current events, rather than seeking out newspapers or cable news networks.