When we walked into where the dogs are kept, it was surprising to see that not one of the dogs from the trip before were still there!  This is great news, and for once, I'm happy to not see a dog again because they got new families.

Unlike the last time, there was pretty much at least one dog per cage, so this weekend must have not had as many adoptions as the time before.  There were a two pitbull mixes, what looked like a german shepherd mix, a beagle, a basset hound, and a four other dogs.  Greta, Kalie, and I each walked three dogs (and one very hyper dog got walked twice).

That hyper pitbull mix was my favorite dog of the day.  Her name is Orchid and she is anything but an orchid.  The name "Orchid" implies a pretty, fragile dog, but Orchid was a firecracker.  On her walk, she took off in front of me, practically dragging me along and choking herself.  After dragging me for about 30 seconds, she would turn around to Greta's very calm pitbull mix and try to play with her.  Greta's very sweet dog was a little afraid of my overly excited puppy, and mainly hid behind Greta's legs.  My dog, who I swear had ADHD, would then repeat the whole cycle by attempting to drag me and then trying to play with Greta's dog.  Finally, the two seemed to get used to each other and Greta's dog became a little less skiddish.  They played for a little while on a hill.

I'd have to say that that sparkplug of a dog was a reminder to me of how to have fun.  She seemed to get as much out of her walk as was physically possible (I wish I had had my running shoes and it wasn't so muddy because I would have run with her).  She was so hyper that when Kalie and I both had two unwalked dogs for our third and final walk, and Greta was left with no dogs to walk, she decided to walk Orchid again.  Orchid was overjoyed and was still very high energy.  This dog also had a softer side though.  When I took her into her cage, she came over and leaned against me while I scratched her side.  She was very good with people and other dogs, although she'd be better with a younger, more high-energy dog who could play with her.  I hope she finds a good, permanent home very soon.

Once again, walking dogs was very relaxing.  I was all worked up about all of the homework I need to do, but now I have calmed down and realized that I'll be fine and have plenty of time to get it done.  I also got a good bit of exercise.  I probably walked at least a mile on unlevel ground with the three dogs.  

I would also like to thank Greta and Kalie for going dog walking with me both times I've gone.  You two have made my experiences this far a lot of fun and less stressful.  Thanks for coming walking with me on such short notice!

If you happen to see this and you are thinking about buying a dog, please go to a shelter!!!  They have both purebred dogs and mutts.  There are also a number of temperments and ages there.  (The Humane Society of Westmoreland County actually probably has more young dogs right now than old.)  

The last thing I want to say is if you are thinking about adopting a dog, please, PLEASE, make sure you are ready to do so.  Do not adopt a puppy because he/she looks cute, but you really do not have the space, stability, or time to devote to him/her.  Be sure that your choice of dog is a good one for your lifestyle and make sure that if you adopt a puppy, you train him/her basic skills like socialization (with both people and other dogs).  If you teach them a few tricks as well it can help you better control them and help strengthen your bond.

Feel free to leave comments below.

See my other blog entry about dog walking 

1) Collect towels, garbage bags, paper towels, bleach, gift cards, and laundry detergent for the Human Society

2) Take a group of five students to the Humane Society to help them walk their dogs.

     Today, February 22, was the first of what will be many visits to the Humane Society to walk dogs.  What started out as an idea has blossomed into what I see as a future passion.  I love animals so much.  Being about to help them in any way possible has made my day today.  It was a wonderful break from the mundane Monday where I go to class and do homework.  I felt that in some small way, I was making a difference in the animals' lives and also in the lives of the Humane Society workers.  The dogs were so happy to get to go out on walks.  Their tails were going, and they were anxious to be out of the cages.

     I would be lying if I said that the dogs and the workers at the Humane Society were the only ones who benefitted from our visit.  I felt a great sense of accomplishment wash over me after I left.  While I was there, nothing else in the world existed but the dogs.  My stress disappeared and I left a much happier person than I came in. 

     I also received good feedback from the people who helped me do it.  Many of them made the event their Facebook status, commenting on the great dogs and their need for happy homes.  These people also expressed interest in going out again to walk the dogs. 

     I have proposed to all those who are helping me that I make this activity a club.  This club can partner with the Humane Society to aide them in walking dogs or anything else that they may need.  We can take up collections.  Also, the Humane Soceity holds events like the Cash Bash in which they have requested student help.  I can definately see this idea going places other than where I had originally intended, and that's a good thing.

In order to help Humane Society Animals in your area you can:

1) Adopt a pet from there but only if you have the time, space, and dedication to make your home a "forever home" for the animal 

2) Take up a collection around your school or workplace

3) Donate your time to a shelter.  Ask them what they need and offer them your survices.

4) Raise the awareness of homeless animals by talking about adopting dogs and cats from shelters instead of the pet stores.

5) Encourage people to not impulse buy an animal.  Many times people go to a pet store and see that "little doggie in the window;" they decide to take it home on the spot.  In three months, and five pairs of chewed up shoes later, that "bad dog" is taken to a shelter because it is "untrainable."  If you don't have the time to donate to training an animal, don't adopt one.

If you have any suggestions or additions, feel free to comment below.

News writing has been an interesting class.  I have to agree with Greta on this one; I'm not the biggest news writing fan and I'm pretty sure that I could never be a journalist in real life.  I'm so used to writing academic essays that journalism was pretty hard for me.  I like the chronology of writing an academic essay.  It's organized and flows.  Nonetheless, journalistic writing definately has its place.  Nobody wants to sift through all of the flourishes of academic writing.  That just weighs down the paper.  People just want to get the information.  It's not chronological because sometimes the most important information comes at the end.

Here are the best entries from the end of this semester (which means all of them because there aren't that many)

Coverage:

Depth:

• I'm Gettin' Wired! gives an overview of the wired website and an article about electric cars.  The links function really well within this article, taking you to previous, related articles.
• Petland and Puppy Mills definately is one of my best.  I would consider it in depth because I worked really hard researching good websites that I could use in writing my article. 
• Too Much Freedom!? is a little bit of a rant.  I can't believe that someone, let alone 53% of Americans, would make the suggestion that journalists have too much freedom.  Even though it's a bit of a rant, I make some really good points.

Interaction:

• Freedom, Fairness, and Futility is Derek's blog.  I commented first and was a part of a really good conversation.  I also returned to comment on what was said after me.
• Harvard’s Good, the Cavalier’s Ok, But I Found Something Even Better is Greta's blog.  She brings in a third party paper that is better than the other two papers.  I comment on this paper's excellence.
• Greta flattered me by taking a page out of my book in “With great power, comes great responsibility.”  I commented on this blog, leaving a thoughtful addition (and, of course, relating it to superheroes).

Discussion:

• Pleasing the Eye is all about the aesthetics of online news.  Using multimedia adds another level to the story and gives online news the edge over printed news.  A few people had a lot to say about the subject and I returned to comment on what they said. 
• This is ok...I give it a C+ stimulated a lot of conversation.  I was really harsh on The Harvard Crimson's website and some people agreed and some disagreed.  I returned twice to keep the conversation going and give my readers feedback.

Timeliness:

• This Is Garbage! was turned in on time, as was all ov these entries.  I tried really hard to get everything done on time during the hell time of November.

Xenoblogging:

• I took the opportunity in Too Much Freedom!? to promote Derek's article because he made some good points in his entry and it also related to my entry.  Check it out!
• Freedom, Fairness, and Futility is Derek's entry that I mentioned above.  I was the comment primo on his blog.  The conversation was rolling well.

Wildcard:

• Dr. Jerz, I have a few questions about writing the investigative report is a blog that I used to ask a few questions about the investigative reporting article.  I figured that by posting my questions I may be able to cover the same questions that my classmates had.
• How to Not Have a Massive Heart Attack During Finals Week is an entry I wrote just for fun.  I know that finals week brings a lot of stress.  I thought that if I could just help one person calm down a little by giving some advice, it would be worth it.  I could do stuff like this all of the time.  I enjoy it.

Here are all of my portfolios for this class:

• Portfolio 1: What I've Done So Far 
• Portfolio 2, already? 
• Portfolio 3: My Journey to Higher Learning 

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How do get your work and studying done without going crazy?  Well, obviously it depends on the amount of work you have but here's a few tips to help get you through the week.

1. Manage your time wisely.  If you have one final a day, study the night before.  Then look at it again before your test.  Go through all of the information, especially the important information that you are likely to see again.  The more times you see it, the more likely you are to remember it.  Do not try to cram one hour before the test.  That's how to have a nervous breakdown.
2. Find a study technique that works for you.  If your teacher is nice enough to give you a study sheet, make sure you go through the terms/questions.  Make a copy of the blank sheet then write the answers on one of the sheets.  Fill out one sheet with the answers.  Then practice filling in the information on the other sheet.  Notecards really work for me.  Put the term/question on the front and the answers on the back.  Try writing on the cards in different colors so you don't get bored.  Also, there is a program called CueCard that allows you to digitally make your own flashcards.  It's easy and free!  If you don't have a study guide, go over the things the teacher stressed several times.  Read your notes again and again.
3. If at all possible, get away from all distractions or at least put them away.  Don't have facebook on or the TV.  Tell your boyfriend/girlfriend not to text you for a few hours.  If you are more concentrated, you are more likely to retain the information and your studying will go faster.
4. Take breaks!  Don't study for six hours straight.  You're going to kill your brain.  Take a breather and eat a snack or check your email.  Just remember how much time you want to spend on that break and stick to it.  Don't get into watching a movie and decide not to study.  You'll end up kicking yourself later if you do.
5. Eat regular meals.  Don't skip meals to study.  Your body needs food to function, so you need to eat to be able to think.
6. Try not to stress when going into a test.  Chew some peppermint gum to alleviate tension and stimulate your brain.  Take deep breaths.  Everything is going to be fine.

Good luck on your tests!

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“In a 1999 survey sponsored by the First Amendment Center, 53% of Americans

said they believed the press has too much freedom,” (72).

Too much freedom?  How can one have too much freedom to say what’s on their minds?  If the government decided to take away some of our First Amendment rights, people would go nuts!  I guarantee at least 90% of the 53% would change their minds if this were to happen. 

It is the newspaper itself that should regulate what their reporters say.  If a reporter is unfair and the newspaper finds out about it, there should be harsh penalties.  The reporter should at least have to issue a public apology to whomever he/she deceived or represented unfairly.

When people start suggesting that our government take away rights it just shows that people don’t appreciate what they have.  I know I’m getting patriotic but we live in a country that permits us to write what we want.  Freedom isn’t free and we’ve had a lot of people pay the ultimate price to keep rights like freedom of the press.  What’s next?  Are these people going to start suggesting that we don’t write articles that critique the president?  Or that people can only write articles that are told from a republican point of view?  Or what if the government told people that they were going to take away our freedom to tell a lie?  I’d like to talk to this 53%.   I honestly don’t think these people thought this question over when they answered.

Is my anger justified?  Did anyone else get this feeling when they read this statistic?

Derek discusses freedom on his page as well.  Check it out!

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As part of my investigative report, I called one of the companies that distributes to Petland.  When I did this, I put my phone on speaker phone and had my friend listen to the answers as I asked the questions.

1) How do I talk about how I called the company in my article without referring to myself?  I can't say, "When I called Petland..."can I?

2) My friend, in some of her quotes, referred to we (as in her and I) and Angela, so I can't really avoid bringing myself into it if I use some of these quotes.  How should I deal with this?

3) Is it a problem that I was unable to get the name of the person I talked to when I called Mid America Pet?

4) Is it ethical to mention the name of the guy who I talked to from Petland in Monroeville since a person could actually track him down?

News writing page

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What do others think?

• Youtube video- This is a press conference where a man from the Humane Society talks about their investigation into Petland's use of puppy mills.  There are some visual of puppy mills to accompany this.
• Humane Society: Massive Puppy Mill Raid is a youtube video that shows actual footage of the humane society going in and raiding a puppy mill.
• This is the main page for the Humane Society's investigation on puppy mills.  On this page there are several links taking you to articles about the subject.
• This is one of the links from the website above.  The information provided in this article is great.  The article is called HSUS Investigation Ties National Petland Chain to Large-Scale Puppy Mill Cruelty
• Yet another article from the website.  This is about the class action lawsuit against Petland.  The article's called Petland Faces Class Action Lawsuit for Peddling Unhealthy Puppy Mill Dogs in at Least 20 States
• This is the Petland website.  On here it claims, "Our registerable pets come from professional and hobby breeders who have years of experience in raising quality family pets."  This is interesting because the Humane Society's site said that they often times don't know where the pets are coming from.  They often get them through a "middle man."
• It is interesting that in their news archives it says that the above lawsuit was dismissed.  They never use the words "puppy mills" in their description which is rather vague.
• This article is also in their archives.  It claims that the Humane Society turned down helping shelter dogs in order to prosecute Petland more.  I have two things to say about this.  1) It's terrible, if this is true, that the Humane Society would turn down the opportunity to help dogs.  2) If Petland had nothing to hide, why would they try to sidetrack the Humane Society with a different project.  Why not just open up their trade and show the Humane Society that they're wrong.  It you have nothing to hide, hide nothing.
•  I called Petland.  The man I talked to immediately addressed that they do not get their dogs from puppy mills when I asked where they were from.  He said they get their dogs from Missouri.  The distributor was Mid America Pet.  The website midam.org won't work.  Here is a pdf file that claims that MidAm is the "middle man" who gets their dogs from the puppy mills and keeps the dogs in small cages.
• I found out that the USDA has regualtions that animals need to be raised under.  One of the acts that is regualated by the USDA is the Animal Welfare Act.  Here is a link to a fact sheet and a pdf file to a document giving the exact regulations (in foggy legal terms).

See other's article links

I thought this article was cool but did find that it broke a main rule of journalism.  If you're going to abbreviate something, you say what it stands for the first time and then you use the abbreviation after that.  This article never tells you what EV is.  I don't know if they figured that their audience is mainly geeks so they'd either know or figure it out the abbreviation’s significance.  EV, I did figure out, stands for Electric Vehicle.  I would recommend reading the article.  The car seems cool but it has its definite downsides.  You need to charge it like a cell phone and we all know what happens when you forget to charge your cell phone...you're stuck with silence.  You can't forget or it can have bad consequences.  The same goes for this car.  It can only run so long without being charged.  Also, Nissan will own the battery and you lease it however you own the car...weird.

The little links within the article take you to related articles.  There are about nine links on this article.  There is one where the writers of the website get to test drive this car and one that takes you to an article discussing the loan Obama gave to Tesla Motors for researching and funding these kinds of cars.  All I know is that I want the car at the top of this link...it's sweet!

I found these links to be highly informative and cool.  This topic interests me.  I think it's fun to see what kinds of technology is out there for EV cars as a possible future consumer.

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     I thought the links were fun though because I felt like I was on a bit of an adventure.  I wondered where I would go next.  If I were the webmaster of this website I'd add more.  I think this seems like a good start to a very informative site but I would like to see more information, more links.  They have to have more statistics for those who are interested to look at.  Maybe they could have a little expose like "The Day in the Life of a Waste manager" (I believe that's the pc term). 

     I will say that the website is convenient because so many of the departmental links have numbers and hours conveniently listed for all to see.  I've had problems in the past scouring websites for the hours and even contact info.

What did you think about the site?  Were the videos a good addition, a distraction, or a little bit of both?

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On the main page for the New York Times towards the bottom there is/was a story featuring a relatively new star, Megan Fox.  Any time I see anything about Fox I can’t help but look.  First of all, she’s absolutely (I’m convinced) the most gorgeous star let alone person in the world.  She has a certain mystery about her that makes her 100% intriguing.  She, as the article says, got her big brake starring in Transformers but this article expresses a concern that her stardom may wear off because females may be unwilling to accept her oversexed publicity. 

Fox is also known for her quotability.  She says things that you would not expect such a pretty woman to say which I will not repeat on my blog.  Check out this link and you will see.  But the thing that I am primarily concerned with is the use of multimedia that accompanies this story.  It is especially important to the story because one of the most newsworthy things about Fox is the fact that she is beautiful.  She and a short list of other celebrities like Tom Welling and maybe Brad Pitt seem to be the epitome of near perfect human form.  To show the reader this there is a slide show to accompany the story.  If you didn’t know what she’s done in her career or what she looks like you’ll definitely see through this slide show of 18 pictures. 

There is also a video featuring Fox about half-way down the page.  The New York Times filmed her answering some interview questions.  It's nice to see her actually answer the questions as opposed to just reading her answers.  You get to hear her voice inflection and see her mannerisms.  You can also see the fact that she is very self-conscious in front of a camera, an interesting thing when you consider just how beautiful she is. 

The ability of web news stories to have videos and slide shows accompany the text is really where the internet eclipses the written word.  Where the newspaper would not have the room to dedicate to 18 photos of a starlet, online does.  And obviously a newspaper cannot feature videos.  It's all about giving the valuable information and pleasing the eye.  There is an element of choice about the online news that makes it appealing.  Being a person who is interested in people and psychology, I immediately gravitate to people like Fox who are beautiful yet seem shy because of self-consciousness.

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“Moreover, once a reporter has framed a story in his or her head, facts that conflict with the frame, or that don’t fit its premise, can be discarded.” (58).

As an English major, I’m no stranger to being in love with my thesis.  It is only natural to love your own ideas.  This is why it’s important to listen to others.  However, in English papers and journalism alone it is important to address your opposition.  In both cases, you appear to be more informed if you show that another side does exist.  The difference lies in the fact that you don’t want to let your own opinion shine through in an article.  If you do, you’ll look biased and will be discredited because of it.  Showing all angles should never really cause a problem to your report (as I see it).  If your point is ruined as a result of a refuting fact, then your article is most likely biased.  In an English paper, you talk about the opposition in order to tear holes in it.  It makes you look well-read and helps you further prove your point if done right.

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   Believe it or not, it's time to present to you Portfolio 3.  These portfolios are a great way of documenting how the individual student has grown in a particular discipline.  When I look back on my portfolios from Literary Criticism to Introduction to Literary Study, I see how my writing and understanding of complex topics has changed over time.  Even if blogging is a pain, it's worth it in the end.  It's also a good way to express the opinions I have that I may not get to talk about in class!

“Still, there was persuasive evidence that some newspapers have problems in

keeping opinion on the editorial page and out of news stories” (Haiman 50).

YES!  This is so true, especially of the newspapers in the Pittsburgh area, it is sad.  Our class has already explored the Republican bias of the Tribune Review, now it’s time to take a look at the Post-Gazette.  I was feverishly lying in my bed Sunday morning when I heard a ruckus coming from my parents’ room.  (Get your minds out of the gutter, not that kind of ruckus.)  My parents were reading the Post-Gazette in bed.  I heard my mom read out loud, “Republicans -claiming the bill’s tax increases would harm the middle class - reform medical malpractice lawsuits and break down state barriers to insurance sales” (A-5).  Then my Republican mom and Democrat dad began to bicker over the article.  Even in my semi-conscious and brain-fried state I heard the judgment word “claiming.”  The word “claim” implies that what was said could be true but it isn’t likely.  According to Merriam-Webster, claim means “to assert in the face of possible contradiction,” which, of course, adds a completely different level of meaning to the sentence.  To just “say” asserts that this is their stance, leaving the judging up to the reader.  To “claim” leads the reader a conclusion that the Republicans can be (and probably are) wrong.  Also, this statement is a generalization.  It’s a broad statement including all Republicans without putting a real face on it.  This would have been better if it was a quote.  It would sound a little less biased then.

Apparently this problem isn’t just a Pittsburgh thing.  Haiman said, “Thirty percent said bias was not being open-minded about facts, 29% said it was having an agenda and shaping news to fit it, and 29% said it was showing favoritism to particular social or political groups” (51).  Journalists really need to watch these kinds of problems if they really want to be taken seriously.  It is called the “NEWSpaper” if people wanted to read semi-true or completely biased judgments they would read something called the “OPINIONpaper.”

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