Fall Semester Final

The Power of Words

1. She wrote words that were more effective in making passerby sympathize with the man, which motivated more people to donate. 
2. This video made me feel sad and uplifted at the same time, and it also made me feel inspired and motivated to use "the power of words." 
3. I think you showed this video to us because it demonstrates how much the right words can affect both people's emotions and actions. It shows that just words can truly make a difference. 
4. I can "change my words" to have more of an emotional impact on my readers. Two sentences with the same basic meaning can have very different effects on readers because different words, even if they have the same objective meaning, can have very different connotations.

The Guardian: Three Little Pigs

1. They covered the story through online articles and videos with several different angles. 
2. No, I don't particularly remember a SWAT team breaking down the pigs' door, or the public outrage and debate over the case, or the pigs confessing to conspiring to commit fraud and frame the Wolf. 
3. They only seemed to have interviewed police and other officials; they obviously couldn't interview the Wolf and the pigs were in custody. 
4. The Guardian covered the hard news aspect of the story, people's opinions and outrage over it, the speculation about whether it was an inside job, and scientific simulations providing evidence that the Wolf was framed.
5. There was never any personal interviews with any of the pigs, and so there wasn't much insight into their lives except for their confession and public speculation, and there wasn't any coverage on the pigs' relationship with the wolf previous to the murder. 
6. No, they only stated the facts and other people's opinions. 
7. Yes; obviously not on such a large scale, but there are always stories that will generate controversy and they will always have multiple sides to them. 
8. We can make sure to interview people who have differing opinions on what we're covering, and we can make sure to do our research on our stories to make sure we're getting the whole picture. 

Self-Reflection

1. The most important thing I learned this semester in class is that it's okay to sacrifice quality for the sake of deadlines. I mean, I already knew this but I always sort of pushed that knowledge to the side because I hold myself to higher standards than I do to other people and so I guess I kind of saw myself as an "exception."
   I don't want to seem like I mean that in an arrogant way; it's a sort of distorted way of thinking that's produced by anxiety and whatnot. When I hear my teachers or parents say that I just need to churn out a story or assignment and it doesn't have to be perfect, on a superficial level I know that, but that knowledge doesn't immediately change my brain's way of thinking and functioning when I'm trying to get something done. However, I think that towards the end of this semester I finally managed to push through that one or through times which is improvement, even if it was just caused by extreme pressure. 
2. Most of my reasons for having difficulty being an active member of staff were personal, as you know. When I signed up for newspaper last year I thought that this year I would be better, that I would have started to get my mental health under control and that I would be able to handle being in newspaper and being an editor.
   Instead, things got worse. My mental health hasn't improved and my physical health has declined. The newspaper workload that I thought I'd be able to handle was quickly too overwhelming, and instead of trying to communicate with you more clearly I just sort of shut down and tried to avoid everything, as is common with people who suffer from anxiety disorders, which only resulted in everything piling up and things not getting done. 
3. Like I said, I think that a great deal of my issues this semester were largely personal. Newspaper is a rigorous class and I knew that when I signed up. We have a product to produce, and I understand the need to push students who aren't pulling their weight.
   However, I do kind of wish that there were options for students like myself who have trouble keeping up with their work for more reasons than just slacking off. I'm disabled because of my chronic illness, and it's caused me to forfeit several things I was previously very involved in. I'd like to be able to participate in newspaper to the degree that I am able without receiving much of a penalty for producing less work than students who aren't dealing with the things I am, but I understand that that probably isn't much of a possibility due to the nature of this class. It's very likely that I will drop this class for the rest of the year, but there's a good possibility I may be back for my junior year in the hopes that I will have stabilized some and learned to cope.