Two of the stories that I decided to comment on were off of espn.com and were called "They went a little overboard" and "We are Canada's worst nightmare". "They went a little overboard" was about the aftermath of the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. Two Swiss athletes decided that they were going to witdraw from the Olympic bobsled events due to the scary track conditions. I posted a comment about how I agreed with the decision they made and that they're life and health is more important than winning a medal. My comment didn't spark and further conversation and was completely ignored by every other commenter. So yes, it was a dead end street. "We are Canada's worst nightmare" is an article about how the USA is basically dominating these Winter Olympics and making ourselves right at home in Vancouver. I posted "when Canada can't even beat the USA at hockey you know you're having a bad Olympics. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. USA is just simply athletically superior than Canada." I posted this with the intent to spark debate and maybe even piss off some Canadians in the process hoping they would directly reply to my comment. Neither happened. My comment was once again ignored...completely. I think this happened because both stories received such a large volume of comments and that it is hard to just pinpoint one and write a rebuttle. ESPN.com is a high traffic website and the comments on those stories mostly didn't even have to do with the orginial topic. The other story I commented on was "Authorities arrest NYC bar owner in Teaneck double homicide". The title is self explanatory and the comment I made was, "I'm just puzzled why he left them in an SUV on a residential street. Like could he make it any easier for the cops to find the bodies?" I just found this part of the article to be striking because it seems like he put absolutely no effort into hiding the bodies. I feel like there has to be some explanation for this. Anyway, since NJ.com gets much less hits then espn. com I figured it would be a better place to post. Once again, I was wrong and my comment was glossed over. This time only 30 comments were made but mine was insignificant in everyone else's eyes.
On facebook I had a little better luck but not much. One day I posted a video I found to be very funny on my status and made a comment saying it's the funniest video I've seen in a while. Well, only 4 people seemed to agree with as that's all the feedback I received. I was expecting a lot more that. I got one "like" and three comments. Also, somebody posted on my wall and I made the simple comment "highly doubtful" and unexpectedly received two follow up comments. I really didn't think that simple statement would provoke any further commentary. The last comment I made was on my friends status. There were four previous comments before mine but none after mine. I guess people must think that what I have to say is pretty boring.
Overall my commenting experience didn't go well, it's safe to say I've seen better days. Commenting on facebook was much more spur of the moment for me while the online stories I struggled to find something I actually wanted to comment on. Facebook is much more personal so it's easier to comment on just about anything. News websites on the other hand aren't, and that's the main difference I see between my posting experiences.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Technically, My First Publication
My letter to the editor of The Daily Hampshire Gazette was published in today's issue, a week after I emailed it in. Better late than never I suppose. I'm not sure if the link will work because you have to be a subscriber to view the page, but I will provide it anyway. For those of you who aren't a subscriber I copied and pasted what I could below:
Former Toyota owner worried about firm's slip
Tuesday, February 16, 2010To the editor:
If Toyota does not recall the production of their Priuses, the company better be able to deal with the consequences, as I feel it will see an immediate loss of trust from consumers. ("Report: Toyota to recall 300,000 Priuses," Gazette, Feb. 9).
I used to drive a Toyota, and I actually loved the car, but the various problems the company has been confronted with recently has got me thinking I will probably never again choose to drive a Toyota, but rather stick with a brand whose cars do not face recall every few months.
The last thing I want while driving is wondering whether or not the brakes on my new car are going to fail me. Driving is already a dangerous activity and owners of a new car should not have to worry about their brakes failing or about allowing extra room to stop.
If Toyota wants to save face, it has no choice but to issue yet another recall. However, if I were an owner of a Prius, I would get rid of that car like a bad habit, and lease a car from a company not riddled with production problems.
Stephen Canning
Amherst
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Letters to the Editor
I sent my first letter to the Star Ledger, my hometown newspaper in New Jersey. Written in response to "College leaders, mental health advocates gather for suicide prevention strategies at Rutgers University".
Dear Editor,
A college student myself, I am writing to express my concern about how hard it is to actually find counseling at colleges and universities. As an out of state college student I can relate with students who find themselves under considerable amounts of stress due to the strain and emotional grind of college life. Unless a student actively seeks out counseling, it is very hard to find on campus; there just simply aren’t any on-campus public advertisements offering stress and mental health counseling. Perhaps it’s because universities don’t want to publicize the fact that their students contemplate suicide and battle mental issues because that would paint the school in a negative light.
Regardless, Rutgers’ decision to conduct this mental health conference is a step in the right direction, and I hope that all involved will work on facilitating the student’s process of seeking help at each of their respective universities. If universities can get their students to realize that they care about them, then schools will see an influx of students seeking counseling and mental solace, a great thing for all parties.
Stephen Canning
University of Massachusetts Amherst 2012
My second letter I sent to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, in response to the article "Report: Toyota to recall 300,000 Priuses".
Dear Editor,
If Toyota does not recall the production of their Priuses than they better be able to deal with the consequences as I feel that they will see an immediate loss of trust from their consumers. I used to drive a Toyota, and I actually loved the car, but the various problems that that the company has been confronted with recently has got me thinking that I will probably never again choose to drive a Toyota, but rather stick with a brand whose cars do not face recall every few months. The last thing I want while driving is wondering whether or not the brakes on my new car are going to fail me. Driving is already a dangerous activity, and owners of a new car should not have to worry about their brakes failing or about constantly allowing extra room to stop.
If Toyota wants to save face then they have no choice but to issue yet another recall. However, if I were currently a owner of a Prius I would get rid of that car like a bad habit, and lease a car from a company not riddled with production problems…like Honda.
Stephen Canning
University of Massachusetts Amherst 2012
I chose to write my first letter to my hometown newspaper because I figured I would be better able to relate to their articles since that's where I lived for 19 years. It turns out I found an article about the stressful life of college students and what universities are trying to do to help them. Although the article was directed a bit more to students with more extreme depression, I made sure in my letter that I let them know I was a college student, and that I can relate to the stress that students deal with. I made it clear in my letter that it was hard to attain mental health counseling on campus unless a student is really motivated to find it, which most are not. I intended my viewpoint to be supportive of the article, which made it clear that college's goals are to facilitate the counseling process for students. I'm hoping that by letting the editor know that help is difficult to come by on campuses he sees my opinions as valuable and informative.
I wrote my next letter to the Daily Hampshire Gazette hoping that because it's a smaller newspaper the chances of having my letter published will increase. This letter had more of a critical tone than did the other, and I thought that critical tone will maybe catch the editor's attention boosting my letter's chances of publication. I demonstrated my familiarity with the subject by letting them know that I was a previous driver of a Toyota model, and further acknowledged that the problems Toyota has been having have driven me away from probably ever purchasing another one of their cars. I didn't make this letter to controversial, but hopefully it is cutting edge enough that it captivates the editor enough for him/her to deem it worthy of publication.
Dear Editor,
A college student myself, I am writing to express my concern about how hard it is to actually find counseling at colleges and universities. As an out of state college student I can relate with students who find themselves under considerable amounts of stress due to the strain and emotional grind of college life. Unless a student actively seeks out counseling, it is very hard to find on campus; there just simply aren’t any on-campus public advertisements offering stress and mental health counseling. Perhaps it’s because universities don’t want to publicize the fact that their students contemplate suicide and battle mental issues because that would paint the school in a negative light.
Regardless, Rutgers’ decision to conduct this mental health conference is a step in the right direction, and I hope that all involved will work on facilitating the student’s process of seeking help at each of their respective universities. If universities can get their students to realize that they care about them, then schools will see an influx of students seeking counseling and mental solace, a great thing for all parties.
Stephen Canning
University of Massachusetts Amherst 2012
My second letter I sent to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, in response to the article "Report: Toyota to recall 300,000 Priuses".
Dear Editor,
If Toyota does not recall the production of their Priuses than they better be able to deal with the consequences as I feel that they will see an immediate loss of trust from their consumers. I used to drive a Toyota, and I actually loved the car, but the various problems that that the company has been confronted with recently has got me thinking that I will probably never again choose to drive a Toyota, but rather stick with a brand whose cars do not face recall every few months. The last thing I want while driving is wondering whether or not the brakes on my new car are going to fail me. Driving is already a dangerous activity, and owners of a new car should not have to worry about their brakes failing or about constantly allowing extra room to stop.
If Toyota wants to save face then they have no choice but to issue yet another recall. However, if I were currently a owner of a Prius I would get rid of that car like a bad habit, and lease a car from a company not riddled with production problems…like Honda.
Stephen Canning
University of Massachusetts Amherst 2012
I chose to write my first letter to my hometown newspaper because I figured I would be better able to relate to their articles since that's where I lived for 19 years. It turns out I found an article about the stressful life of college students and what universities are trying to do to help them. Although the article was directed a bit more to students with more extreme depression, I made sure in my letter that I let them know I was a college student, and that I can relate to the stress that students deal with. I made it clear in my letter that it was hard to attain mental health counseling on campus unless a student is really motivated to find it, which most are not. I intended my viewpoint to be supportive of the article, which made it clear that college's goals are to facilitate the counseling process for students. I'm hoping that by letting the editor know that help is difficult to come by on campuses he sees my opinions as valuable and informative.
I wrote my next letter to the Daily Hampshire Gazette hoping that because it's a smaller newspaper the chances of having my letter published will increase. This letter had more of a critical tone than did the other, and I thought that critical tone will maybe catch the editor's attention boosting my letter's chances of publication. I demonstrated my familiarity with the subject by letting them know that I was a previous driver of a Toyota model, and further acknowledged that the problems Toyota has been having have driven me away from probably ever purchasing another one of their cars. I didn't make this letter to controversial, but hopefully it is cutting edge enough that it captivates the editor enough for him/her to deem it worthy of publication.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
College Shortcuts and Guido Induced Hate
While perusing through the letters to the editor section of the New York Times I noticed the headline Shortcuts to college?, and without hesitation clicked on the link. I figured that the title of this letter was something that I could easily relate to since I am obviously attending college. The letter was written in response to the fact that more and more colleges are sending students "fast track" scholarships which are basically condensed applications that require no application fee or student essay. I chose this letter because the author made an extremely persuasive argument in three sentences. I mean, talk about efficiency. It was written by Gary Ross, vice president and dean of admissions at Colgate University, so his opinion is certainly very reputable. The article was very articulate and clearly stated that no student should take short cuts in the college admissions process regardless of how enticing the offer is, because no offer should compromise a student's right to choose where they want to attend school. I couldn't agree more with what Ross said in his three sentences because for me, the college admissions process was a learning experience in itself.
The other letter to the editor that I chose was Ethnic Stereotyping, written by Rosario Iaconis, vice president of the Italic Institute of America. I chose this letter mainly because it has to do with the MTV show "Jersey Shore", and because I didn't agree with the author's opinions at all. I feel that this letter was really over the top and dramatic. Iaconis is making it seem like Italian Americans are the root of all evil using words and phrases such as "demonization", "Italophobia", and "tragedy of Shakespearen proportions". I think his response was a bit unwarranted and a little harsh. I understand that the show "Jersey Shore" has pissed off a lot of Italian Americans but they have to understand that people who chose to be guido are not the sole representative of negative Italian American publicity. Other TV shows like the "Sopranos" and movies such as the "Godfather" and "Goodfellas" have also painted a poor image of Italian American lifestyle. But the main thing to take out of this whole "Jersey Shore" debacle is that the seven cast members are only representing themselves and it's all of this protesting that has turned this stupid, yet entertaining show into a national issue. As cast member Pauly D perfectly stated, "I don’t represent all Italians, I only represent myself.”
The other letter to the editor that I chose was Ethnic Stereotyping, written by Rosario Iaconis, vice president of the Italic Institute of America. I chose this letter mainly because it has to do with the MTV show "Jersey Shore", and because I didn't agree with the author's opinions at all. I feel that this letter was really over the top and dramatic. Iaconis is making it seem like Italian Americans are the root of all evil using words and phrases such as "demonization", "Italophobia", and "tragedy of Shakespearen proportions". I think his response was a bit unwarranted and a little harsh. I understand that the show "Jersey Shore" has pissed off a lot of Italian Americans but they have to understand that people who chose to be guido are not the sole representative of negative Italian American publicity. Other TV shows like the "Sopranos" and movies such as the "Godfather" and "Goodfellas" have also painted a poor image of Italian American lifestyle. But the main thing to take out of this whole "Jersey Shore" debacle is that the seven cast members are only representing themselves and it's all of this protesting that has turned this stupid, yet entertaining show into a national issue. As cast member Pauly D perfectly stated, "I don’t represent all Italians, I only represent myself.”
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