The many students who returned to Central after dropping out came back with different reasons and motives.

For sophomore Laura Franklin, coming back was what she always wanted.

“I never really wanted to dropout. It was my only alternative,” Franklin said. Franklin dropped out of Hillcrest last year because she and her friend Kelsey felt threatened by another group of students.

“They were threatening and calling us names,” Franklin said, “The day we dropped out, some girl punched …[Kelsey], and the teacher didn’t do anything about it.”

Senior Lucas Boston is just her opposite. He returned to school so he can date his girlfriend, Leslie Loomis.

“My girlfriend’s parents told me I have to have a diploma to date their daughter.” Boston said. Boston says he would still rather have a job than go to school.

Unlike Boston, others are tired of trying to find a job without a diploma.

“I basically tried the job situation and I couldn’t handle it without an education,” senior Robert Howser said. Howser originally quit school because of problems with the Parkview administration.

“I couldn’t handle the principals telling me what to do and trying to take things from me and not giving it back and threatening to call the cops,” Howser said.

After dropping out, Howser held two different jobs positions and decided to come back when he got fired for sitting at the wrong spot.

To help students like Howser, Central asks returning students to complete a four-day “New Student Orientation Program” before receiving their schedules. Through this program, returning students try to readjust to the school environment by participating in several activities. This year, 45 students took part in these activities, which ranged from taking pictures of the students’ lives on day one to conferencing with a Central adult on day four.

“We try to figure out what didn’t work out last time and what we can do better. We try to make school better for you,” school clinician Ken Kabonic said. Kabonic is in charge of the orientation program.

Even though he did not go through the program, Howser still finds school easier.

“It’s a lot harder than what I expected it to be,” Howser said, “but it’s also easier. You get more help than what you bargained for.” Howser said that this improvement was also due to his new attitude at school.

“I knew if I straightened up, I’ll be able to understand better,” Howser said.

Starting over isn’t always easy, especially if you are a teenager. Yet for the students who came back to school, starting over is exactly what they had to do.

Telenovela actress Jenny Arraiz, 28, by Marie de Jesús/New York Times Institute

As a little girl in Venezuela, Jenny Arraiz was never allowed to watch telenovelas. Her mother said there was too much kissing, but that didn’t stop Jenny from sneaking a peek as the blind Topacio — the title character in a 1984 hit — married a rich man and regained her sight.

It was in one of those sweet moments of bliss, while glued to the television, that Jenny knew what she wanted to be: a telenovela star. But she wasn’t going to be just any telenovela star — to the reach the top, she needed to move to Miami.

The telenovela industry, which produces soap operas for Spanish-language audiences, has begun to look north and say “Bienvenidos a Miami.”

Companies like Televisa and Venevisión, two of the largest distributors of telenovelas in the world, have increased the number of productions filmed in Miami by about 500 percent from 2002 to 2007, according to the Miami-Dade Mayor’s Office of Film & Entertainment.

As a result, hundreds of actors, writers and producers from many Latin America countries are flocking to Miami for a chance to become household names in the United States and beyond.

“Miami is turning into a small Latin Hollywood,” said Arraiz, who has been cast in five telenovelas since moving to the city six years ago.

“Miami is a great place to attract talent,” said Don Browne, president of Telemundo, “especially from Latin America.” Brown said the city is popular among Hispanic artists because of its proximity to Central and South America.

“Miami is the capital of Latin America,” said Patricio Wills, president of the new Telemundo Television Studios which pumps out nearly 1,300 hours of telenovela programming a year. “Migration to Miami, from Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia has augmented so much in just the past four years.”

Brown said Miami’s magnetism comes from its beautiful locations, great climate, and the chance it give artists to become famous worldwide.

“The locations are fantastic, to shoot here is great,” Maritza Guimet, CEO and president of Florida Media Market. “In Homestead you have ranches, in South Beach you have the beach, and then you have the Everglades.”

The state also offers 15 percent tax breaks for filming expenses of up to $2 million, an attractive incentive for telenovelas which can cost tens of millions of dollars to produce.

Guimet, who works closely with the emerging Hispanic market in Miami, said many telenovelas filmed in Miami are broadcast in Central and South America, where viewers are enamored of the images of the glamorous city. Exporting American-made telenovelas is profitable, Guimet said.

“In Latin America, everything made in the U.S.A. is more appealing,” said Guimet, a Peruvian native.

But one of the biggest reasons to produce original programming by and for Hispanics in Miami is so that Spanish-speaking people here can relate to what they are watching on television.

“We have to produce a product where the people feel like it belongs to them,” said Wills. “By producing them in Miami, we generate recognition of actors and locations that people here are familiar with. It’s their culture on display.”

For example, the lead character in “Anita, no te Rajes” (Anita, Don’t Give Up) was an undocumented immigrant, who faced discrimination in the story. In other novelas, Telemundo has inserted subplots where characters have had to deal with date-rape, breast cancer and the American legal system.

“We try to include in our storylines everything that can happen to a Hispanic in the United States,” said Wills.
Browne said that the new market opens doors for talented Hispanics who want to connect with their roots.

Hispanic actors are swarming to auditions for a chance to become the next Veronica Castro or Julio Alemán, Mexican telenovela stars from the 1960s and 70s.

Just four years ago, only eight actors showed up for casting calls for Telemundo’s first Miami-produced telenovela “Amor descarado” (Shameless Love). Recently, 350 actors came to audition for its newest project, “Dame chocolate” (Give Me Chocolate).

Gabriel Abdala, a student at Centro Internacional de Formación Actoral, or CIFALC, traveled from the farm town of Pergamino, Argentina, to Miami nearly 10 years ago. He said he came to the city with aspirations of becoming a successful actor in Spanish-language media.

“Soy muy soñador,” he said. “I’m a big dreamer.”

“I want to bring the story home to the people through the television,” Abdala said, switching to English.

Actors can also hone their craft in Miami.

CIFALC, an extension of the Venezuelan “Luz Columba,” a school famous for producing telenovela stars, opened its doors in Miami two years ago.

Six actors found work immediately after they graduated, said Aquiles Ortega, education director at the school.

Ortega said he has starred in several Venezuelan telenovelas, but he is not fond of the shows.

“I don’t watch them,” he said. “There is never anything new. It’s always the same format, Cinderella meets her prince and they fall in love. The only thing that changes is how. But it sells.”

Scribes are also finding work here.

Writers from Venezuela, Colombia and Peru are flying to Miami to pitch their stories of “amor” and betrayal.

Perla Farias, who has been writing telenovelas for 20 years, moved from Venezuela to Miami four years ago. She now writes for Telemundo.

She agreed telenovelas can be sappy, but she sees the genre as a way for the Hispanic community to express itself.

“Being able to have a voice is so important and that is what the media allows you to have, and the telenovela is the medium that makes us comfortable,” said Farias. “We grew up with it. Like North Americans and sitcoms.”

Is it just a fad?

There is no question that the telenovela industry has boomed internationally, with millions of people on every continent tuning in to watch Consuelo find the child she abandoned 16 years before.

But it has taken years for the telenovela to gain a substantial audience in the United States, Wills said.

With the success of “Ugly Betty,” which satires the telenovela format and stars a Hispanic actress, the melodrama is gaining some ground in mainstream television.

And young Hispanics have been showing a stronger interest in their background and are exploring their culture, including watching telenovelas.

A study on the viewing habits of Hispanics in the United States by Miami-based Encuesta Inc. found that 73 percent of American-born Hispanics tune into to Spanish-language broadcasting.

“The telenovela came here to stay,” said Wills, triumphantly.

And telenovelas are simply addictive, Guimet said.

“The love, the passion, the conflict, that is what people identify with,” said Guimet, who is working on a documentary about the history of the telenovela. “The telenovela has crossed into the hearts and homes of millions of people because we are passionate about bringing the story.”

Telenovela: One actress’ story

Jenny Arraiz sauntered down a street toward a coffee shop, announcing her arrival with the rhythmic tapping of six-inch heels. She flipped her dyed red hair and swaggered to an outside table for an interview.

Dressed in skin-tight jeans and an aqua blue tube top one of her characters might don, Jenny explained the complexities of being a telenovela actress.

The industry is competitive and there are many young women vying for roles, she said.

“It’s hard sometimes because I have studied acting for a long time, and they bring in young girls who are beautiful and know how to walk perfectly but have never acted before,” she said throwing her French-manicured hands up in the air.

Most days, Arraiz, 28, lives at the mercy of her BlackBerry, waiting for a call from her manager to tell her where the next audition will be.

“If they call you and say be there in 30 minutes, then you get there, even with the traffic in Miami,” she said, as she smoked a cigarette. “You never know when another chance will come.”

Arraiz was 17 when she starred in her first telenovela in her native Venezuela. She decided to come to Miami after working as the hostess of a Spanish-language music program in New York.

At CIFALC, the telenovela acting school, Arraiz learned to restrain her Venezuelan accent.

“Venezuelans speak quickly, and we eat the end of words,” she said running through her words. “So having to disguise where I come from is sometimes difficult.
“But I need the job so whatever they ask for — Colombian, Argentinean, or Mexican — I give it to them,” she said changing her accent with the mention of each country.

Despite the growing job opportunities here and the apparent glamour of her job, Arraiz said she struggles like any immigrant with limited English.

“Some people think you come to the United States and everything will be easy —Mentira,” she said, slapping the table with emphasis and spilling her coffee. “You are here to work, you don’t have family here, and this is all part of your job.”

July 12-13, 2008, marked the 12th year of the Twin Cities Dragon Festival, the state’s largest festival celebrating Asian American culture. While the event featured various cultural performances, martial arts demonstrations, and lots of Asian cuisine, a major focus was on the Dragon Boat Races. KFAI’s Ian Yue was on the scene for the weekend event.

Taken by Marlei Martinez

The New York Giants versus Arizona Cardinals game blared on the television screen as John Tidd put out his cigarette in the ashtray next to his computer keyboard. Scattered piles of paperwork, plastic kids’ meal toys and hot pink high heels littered the area around his desk. An eye patch covered his right eye because he recently suffered an eye stroke. But even that did not prevent the burly businessman from finding his Marlboro pack in his breast pocket and lighting up another cigarette.

Tidd, 56, says he had three goals in life – to have a successful career, raise a family, and travel. He says he proudly worked alongside his father in construction from the time he was 15-years-old, starting out as a waterboy and moving up the ranks to help move houses.

“I think my father was a great man,” Tidd said. “He instilled a lot of values in me and that’s what I’m trying to do with my workers and kids.”

Tidd spent 25 years in construction, but when his father died, lost his taste for it. Today, 19 years later, he runs a different type of business, where his youngest son Peter, 29, shadows him.

Tidd co-owns Lookers Showclub, a strip club on the North Side of Syracuse.

The club’s flashing neon lights and the picture of a mysterious woman’s face on a sign set the scene for a typical night. Inside, multi-colored strobe lights dart across the smoke-filled room. The bar is located near the entrance to the club and serves a variety of nonalcoholic beverages. Both men and women can be seen chatting at the bar with their favorite Lookers strippers.

A petite brunette in black fishnets struts towards the bubble-filled pole at the center of the club. She dances as she takes off her clothes to the beat of her signature song, Baby Bash’s “Cyclone.”

Up the stairs and past the dancers’ dressing room is the office of a man who preaches women’s empowerment and good family values.

“I’m proud of the fact that I do this,” Tidd said as he turned down the TV’s volume. “But my Aunt and Uncle think I’m the Anti-Christ.”

Syracuse has 13 strip clubs. Tidd says although many come and go because managing a club is difficult, Lookers has been successfully operating for more than 15 years. The Syracuse New Times named Lookers “Best Adult Entertainment Club” in all of Syracuse for 2008.

Its success has not come easily though. Tidd says he and his partner, Bob O’Malley, have struggled to keep their club alive despite public outrage.

“From the day we opened up, we’ve been having trouble with the Common Council,” Tidd said. “We’ve been accused of being the drudge of the community.”

Local government has tried to shut down the club several times. Former Councilor Rick Guy came very close to doing that before it even opened in 1993. But Lookers has survived.

“We always get harassed more than any other business,” Tidd said as he smashed his second cigarette in the ashtray. “There’s always a microscope on us.”

Tidd says Lookers is following all the rules. Syracuse zoning ordinances require adult entertainment centers to be located more than 1,000 feet from all family institutions such as schools, churches and playgrounds. Ordinances such as these, as well as state-mandated tax increases on strip clubs, keep Lookers in check. Tidd says the city government’s treatment of strip clubs is unfair because his club actually improves security in the area.

“We do a community service here,” Tidd said, gesturing towards his TV surveillance screen. “There’s lots of gang violence and prostitution outside, so we help the cops by calling if we see anything get out of hand.”

Unlike a majority of the bars in Syracuse that close at two in the morning, Lookers is open until four. Tidd explained that his club is non-alcoholic, so people who spend the night drinking can come to the club later and sober up instead of roaming the streets and causing trouble.

The sole officer at the nearby police community center, however, said he does not know how much Lookers actually does help with security.

“I’m the only officer that works at this police department and he [Tidd] hasn’t reported any of that to me,” the Northside Community Police Center officer said. He also said he was not allowed to give out his name because he would need approval from the police department.

The officer said prostitution is the most prevalent form of crime in the area around Lookers, but he could not comment on whether it has decreased. He said the owners of Lookers would frequently drop by to assist the police center with activities for the kids when the club first opened. Tidd says he has not been able to do much over the past couple of years because his partner has frequently been out of town.

In addition to security, Tidd says strip clubs stimulate the city’s economy and provide people with jobs.

“We’ve put hundreds of thousands of dollars into the hands of our employees and we give over half of our profits back to the community in taxes, licensing fees and inspection costs,” Tidd said. “We give away every fifth check we make.”

Lookers has about 30 employees. Tidd asks the strippers not to reveal their real names for safety measures and prohibits pictures from being taken of anyone in the club, including himself. The club’s strippers and manager say strip clubs are where the money is.

“Times are hard,” said Ivy, 28, an eight-year Lookers veteran stripper. “Honestly, the reason I do this is just because I need to and there’s money here.”

However, due to the current economic situations, fears have risen within the strip club business. Tidd expects customers will not have as much money to spend on entertainment.

“Strip clubs will have to make business decisions in response to the economy,” said Dr. Craig Watters, Syracuse University Whitman School of Management Professor of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises. “Maybe they’ll shorten their hours, or they’ll have to downsize their staff. But the desire customers feel will never go away, even with the ups and downs of the economy, so that should help sustain business.”

Even with the crisis, Ivy comes to work every day to do what she says she enjoys doing best. She says she is a wife and mother of three, working five nightshifts a week to support her family and pay her way through Onondaga Community College (OCC). She says her goal is to earn an Associate’s Degree and become a preschool teacher.

Despite being married seven years, her husband – a carpenter – is supportive but not happy with her current profession. The couple tells their children she is a bartender.

“I enjoy being naked,” Ivy said. “I am proud of what I have.”

Not all strippers are as confident.

Unlike Ivy, Autumn, 21, is new to the lighted runway and bubble-filled pole. When she first came to Lookers four years ago, she worked as a bartender and doorgirl. She says she hopes to study at OCC this winter, so she is saving money to do so.

Autumn’s mother thinks she still bartends. She babysits Autumn’s six-month-old baby boy while Autumn strips at night.

“Nobody knows about this except for my sister-in-law and the godmother of my baby,” Autumn said as she readjusted her bra strap after performing her first ever set. “My mom begged me never to dance and I told her I wouldn’t.”

Syracuse University child and family studies professor Joseph Fanelli teaches a course titled Human Sexuality. He also runs a private practice in family psychotherapy. His studies have found that oftentimes, girls resort to stripping because they grew up in dysfunctional families and were financially deprived and abused during childhood.

Fanelli said what makes this form of entertainment so personable is the one-on-one interaction between the viewer and entertainer. Club regulars generally know who will be dancing on particular nights. Fanelli said they are sucked into a false sense of warmth that makes them feel like they are in an artificial relationship.

“I had a patient who had to stop going to strip clubs because his wife found out,” Fanelli said. “He became very worried his favorite lap dancer would miss him.”

Tidd says he has heard many complaints that adult entertainment degrades women. He says he thinks strippers should love their jobs and walk with confidence because they get paid well, get lots of vacation time and have the entire day for leisure.

“Being a stripper is one of the most empowering positions a woman can have,” Tidd said. “After working here and saving up for ten years, you can have the nicest house in Aruba and never work again. How is that degrading?”

Tidd says there is stiff competition among prospective strippers. A majority of them apply for positions “fresh out of high school.” Every Monday night at Lookers is “Amateur Night,” and 90 percent of the strippers hired come from this “farm system.”

Apart from the hot pink heels in one of the dark corners of the room, Tidd’s family pictures and grandchildren’s toys describe him as a family man. He says he has a wife, three sons and four grandchildren.

“I try to spend as much time with the family as possible while running a business,” Tidd said.

He encourages his employees to be involved with their families as well. Every summer, Tidd and his partner host the company’s family picnic at Sylvan Beach on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake.

“This is a life decision,” Tidd said. “All women have to do is take off their clothes and men will put hundred dollar bills in their garter. If I had a vote when I was being born, I’d vote to be a woman,” he said without cracking a smile or blinking an eye.

“Brian Doyle”
Portland Magazine editor Brian Doyle reacts to being the subject of a hypothetical beatification by Ken Woodward, contributing religion editor for Newsweek Magazine.

This photo won 1st place for Best Feature Photo in Division 2 at the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s 2008 Collegiate Newspaper Contest.

“Bob and Barbara Balen”
An elderly couple audit an intense 400-level medieval philosophy course on campus.

The recent resignation of Republican U.S. Congressman Mark Foley over the disclosure of what have been called “overly-friendly” e-mails to young men who served in the Congressional House page program has been the focus of much media attention as well as much finger-pointing within the Republican party over how early certain members were informed of these e-mails.

What should have been done sooner and by whom are valid questions for investigation but these were barely points in a recent piece by New York Times columnist John Tierney printed in the Op Ed section of today’s Republican.

Tierney compares pages to “squires” or “serfs” of the medieval ages. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The columnist rhetorically asks what the public would think if the founders of Nike or Wal-Mart had programs in which 16-year-olds were dragged from their homes to run errands or “work on a Wal-Mart loading dock.”

In proposing such a question, Tierney overlooks the facts that pages are accomplished high school juniors from across the country.

They apply competitively and get nominated by their congressional representative to spend a semester working and observing on Capitol Hill.

Pages are paid for their work.

They also continue to take their necessary high school classes by attending the accredited U.S. House Page School in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress.

Class hours are built around when the House is in session.

Far from the life of a serf I would say.

Secondly, there are big differences between running errands at a shoe company, unloading stock for a giant superstore and serving in the heart of United States democracy.

While all the box lifting may build physical muscle, there is no education like that of being on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, where a student page is able to witness history in the making, work in the House space and see all who shape what is done there.

And, when one’s work allows one to be physically present at the State of the Union, it is most certainly different than lifting Sam’s Club fruit snacks.

Tierney questions why any taxpayer money should be spent on the program.

Yet, what better allocation of money than for the hands-on education of young people in how our great democratic society works?

Many former pages have gone on to careers in law, politics and government service.
Today, quite a few are in office.

In spite of this, Tierney would have readers believe that Congress is “dragging” such teens to Washington.

Dragging? I enthusiastically and willingly applied to be a page. I was not “sold” into being a page, and neither were the other pages with whom I served.

If anything did “sell us,” it was the possibility of independence, work and study in the center of modern democracy.

In Tierney’s view, pages must “ingratiate” themselves with “someone powerful” to be selected for the program.

Page positions are not easy to come by and there is a formal application process.

There is only a maximum of 72 spaces for the U.S. House page program each semester, compared to the hundred of thousands of high school juniors across our nation.

Interested participants go through a process similar to applying to college.

High school transcripts must be submitted, recommendations obtained from teachers, a resume done and an essay written on why the participant wants to spend a semester in D.C.
No young adult would put her or himself through the hard work of balancing work, school and additional assignments if she or he did not have a genuine interest in learning about the government.

Tierney also implies that pages’ work is a throwback to a “feudal” era that has nothing to do with our “Information Age” of cell phones and computer technology.

As far as I remember, I tended no horses nor carried any armor during my semester in Washington.

What’s more informative than seeing heated debates and participating in intellectually stimulating conversations with peers who share the same interests on Capitol Hill?

Pages do serve as messengers.

While hand-delivery work may hark back to medieval times (and sounds unglamorous), the House requires officially hand-signed documents to verify evidence of work and progress.

I felt proud to deliver such documents as evidence that our democracy is functioning as it should.

Their delivery cannot be completed via mouse click.

Tierney argues that the page program will disillusion the innocent teen at too young an age.

The columnist’s thinking seems to be that students need to confine their learning to a textbook because the reality of the actual process is too jarring.

This is not the age of innocence, however. This is the age of information, as Tierney said.

Our information age is badly in need of proper face-to-face communication and continued understanding of what goes into professional relationships and good work.

Unfortunately we all outgrown the innocence of childhood and must enter the real world.

In two years, I will be able to vote.

I deserve the right to be aware, informed and to partake in real situations.

The page program is exceptional in educating young people in politics.

By being aware of how backroom negotiating or networking results in passed bills that do not benefit the majority of American citizens, I, as a young person, can think ahead and decide how I will do things differently.

Tierney compares congressional members to feudal lords ready to take advantage of their underlings.

He says representatives are surrounded by “groveling minions.” Members of Congress deserve respect unless proven otherwise.

They represent their constituents, not only themselves. Pages are far from “groveling minions.”

Pages have many privileges accorded to them because of the work they do and where they do it.

These include attending the president’s State of the Union address, police escorts when needed and supervised “Washington Study” field trips.

Tierney writes that the only lesson the page program teaches is that success is “all about making the right connections.”

Success, Mr. Tierney, is all about making the right connections, but not just the political connections.

It’s the connections between the young and wise, mentored and mentor. These people guide you.

In my work for UNlisted I have gotten to meet and interview former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and PBS anchorwoman Gwen Ifill.

Similarly, as a page in D.C., I was able to shake the hand of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, the president of Liberia and the first woman elected head of state in Africa.

Meeting these people was indeed exciting — it’s great to encounter someone you have learned about in class and respect in a field that is of interest to you.

It was a step in learning, not a step up some hierarchy as Tierney would have readers believe.

Tierney says the page program should be eliminated. He misses the point of better oversight.

The behavior in question here is that of a representative and the process for examining any questionable behavior.

I was in attendance when Foley, formerly chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, delivered his speech proclaiming that children must be protected from sex offenders and dangerous adults.

Lawmakers should closely examine and follow the laws they have passed. Congress hates to be told that it needs fixing, but the adults really need to take charge.

Last Thursday, the House ethics committee said it would thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding Foley’s electronic messages to Congressional pages.

A number of questions have been raised including how early the office of House speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was informed of Foley’s electronic messages to pages.

The Justice Department has also been conducting its own inquiry. This latest congressional scandal is only the last straw in a pile of many situations involving ethical and other questions of judgement and behavior.

My service as a U.S. House of Representatives page changed my life.

It deepened my desire to better this nation.

I know that power can be used to corrupt or to create the greatest of change.

Such is the nature of Congress’ work: to use power for the better and to protect and maintain the checks, balances and protections in the U.S. Constitution.

These protections mean a democracy that doesn’t shut its doors in anyone’s face.

This is a democracy that openly collects its mistakes and reforms its downsides where and when they need to be reformed.

My name is Laura Chernikoff and I am from Boulder, Colorado. I participated in J Camp in the summer of 2008 when it was held in Chicago, and had a thrilling, eye-opening, fast-paced, and wonderful experience. I have been on staff of my high school’s newspaper, the Royal Banner, since my freshman year and am currently Co-Editor-in-Chief. In this past February, I had the opportunity to take part in another exciting journalism experience, the Colorado High School Press Association Capitol Hill Press Conference.

This event was held in Denver’s Capitol Building, and was aimed at letting student journalists experience a real political press conference. Additionally, through a contest to write the best news story, which followed the event, we experienced writing under pressure and time-constraints. My Co-Editor-in-Chief Allison Langley and I joined a small group of students from all around Colorado in the old Supreme Court chambers of the gold-capped capitol building. Questions in hand, we were first introduced to two professional journalists, including one who was working at the Rocky Mountain News. The day of this event, February 27th, was the day the Rocky printed its last issue. Speaking to these journalists was interesting, to say the least.

Our first speaker, Nancy Mitchell was tasked with helping prepare us. She asked us to read the questions we had written for our main speaker, Colorado Lieutenant Governor Barbara O’Brien. She then quickly rejected many of our questions in a no-nonsense manner I have only ever seen long-time journalists use. My partner and I nervously posed our two favorite questions, getting the go-ahead on one and the need for revision on the other.

Next, we had the opportunity to speak with Sara Burnett, the reporter in charge of political coverage for the Rocky. This session was reminiscent of our J Camp seminars, and I found many of the questions I had posed to journalists in Chicago coming to mind again. Burnett shared with us her opinion of the current situation of print journalism, made particularly poignant by the Rocky’s closing. She believes the future of the business will be an increasing focus on detailed storytelling in print and interactive and in-depth online content, as well as the growth of local papers. “There’s always going to be a need for news and information,” she told us firmly. She encouraged the rapt audience before her to pursue a career in the field, if that was of interest to them, but to be aware of the tumultuous condition of print journalism, the field we were planning on joining.

Following Burnett, we were faced with the real deal, the press conference with Lieutenant Governor Barbara O’Brien. After a brief prepared statement which focused on the development of educational reforms in Colorado, O’Brien kindly took our questions, smiling as we all stood and did our best to look and sound like professional reporters. With all the questions posed by various students, we got a relatively vast picture of the Colorado government, particularly the plans dealing with education, which O’Brien has worked for throughout her years in office, and the economy, which was clearly on everyone’s mind.

Our final task after the press conference was to whip out a news story focusing on the day’s events. With an hour and a half to write, the room quickly transformed into scattered pairs hunched over clacking keyboards, whispers echoing off the high ceiling. My partner and I wrote quickly, focusing on the ways that the educational reforms O’Brien spoke of related to our school and student body.

We have not yet heard about the outcome of this contest, but simply attending was enough to make it a wonderful experience. The day reminded me of the hours spent scribbling notes in Loyola University’s auditorium, listening to professional journalists speak about all they had experienced. In all, the opportunity to flex my writing skills, to learn about the press conference format, and to speak with a journalist in the midst of all the field’s turmoil was memorable.

Laura and her partner won the contest for best news story.

Click “Read More” below to watch them.

Daniel: “Rhapsody” was our director Sarah’s idea. It was shot for the Campus MovieFest competition, and as of now, we won best picture at the school level and we’re going to Atlanta to compete in regionals. I actually got involved because my friend gave me a call one day and asked me if I wanted to shoot the movie poster. Soon, the movie poster turned into shooting the whole movie. I had the grand idea of trying to get my hands on the Canon 5D MKII to try it out. It’s the new spiffy dSLR that can shoot video. So I actually talked to (J Camp photo instructor) Kyndell about it and she got me started on trying to get one of these cameras. So it finally got shipped to me, on loan from Canon, and I had about an hour to figure out how to use it before the first shoot.

The fair video (click here to view) was shot because I was bored, and I went to the fair. I looked like a creeper with my tripod and camera. It didn’t take epically long to shoot or edit.

The election of our lifetimes is a day away and its outcome is uncertain. Regardless of whom we support, we all know that agonizing loss and blissful triumph are equally probable tomorrow.

But are we really prepared to accept either? Or will we believe that the incentive for recent activism — to secure the election in our favor — will be gone once the ballots are cast?

Looking back, this election of unparalleled importance has been the raison d’être for much of student-led activism this year. Cobb Community’s “Tunnel of Political Oppression,” the Young Democrats’ “March to the Polls,” and the multitude of candidate appearances on campus — all this activity has stemmed from one historic, impending election.

Simply put, all of these events were the symptoms of this year’s election fever, a contagious zeal for discourse that has increased the vibrancy of political dialogue on campus.

Indeed, even the most heated controversy has been worthy in retrospect. The abortion display and its ensuing debate, for example, have threatened to pop the “Chapel Hill bubble.”

But unfortunately, the same election fever that has been building for more than a year will be cured in but a few days.

Assuming the worst, the winners will drift from political elation to political hiatus and the losers from disillusionment to apathy.

We must not let that happen.

This election is not the end, but instead the means to achieve our different interpretations of “change.”

Therefore, we must not resign to apathy if our chosen candidate loses tomorrow. The merits of our political system lie in the controlled efficiency of divided government. Failing that, political minorities consistently empower themselves in even the most unfavorable of positions. Candidates might suffer political deaths, but the issues they champion remain as alive as the activism of their supporters.

And if our chosen candidate wins tomorrow, we should remember that respite does not lead to results. More so today than in decades past, the active spirit of the electorate shapes the actions of elected officials as much as it ushers them into office. Therefore, in the words of one get-out-the-vote campaign, we must “care all of the time as much as we care some of the time.”

Tomorrow, we renew the investment we have made for the past year or more. It will require four more years of our vigilance, interest and input.

To look backward in either regret or celebration does little to brighten our future. In looking forward, we can make Tuesday the dawn of real change in America.