This assignment was particularly difficult for me because there are not too many exciting things happening in Easton, PA. Citizen journalism can be defined as the analysis of news and information reported/collected/shared by the general public. In this day and age, one does not need to have the official title of journalist to report like one. Anyone can whip out their phones, and with the touch of a button, record anything they think will grab an audience’s attention.

At first for this assignment, I tried to gather videos from a Coldplay concert I went to a little while ago. I enjoy watching concert footage other people have recorded to get the feeling I was really there. Weeks leading up to the concert, my friends kept telling me how Coldplay puts on one of the best performances they have ever seen with all of the fireworks, and I wanted to capture it on camera. That footage was only about 10 seconds long and did not fit the needs for this assignment.

While thinking about what I was going to do for my plan B, I saw this black cat crossing right in front of me. My next thought: great, now something horrible is going to go wrong in my life. So basically with my citizen journalism piece, I’m warning others of this bad luck roaming around on Lafayette’s campus. I also think the fact that our encounter was unplanned speaks to citizen journalism.

https://youtu.be/2fYmVVCWRl8

My friend has gotten into these mid-2000s online games and I was intrigued at what she saw in them. I filmed her playing them. I thought it was bizarre that so many broader issues you here about in the media about video grames – violence, sexualization, etc. – played out in these extremely short, 15 second games. IMG_9820.MOV IMG_9821.MOV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2_ruaqpOok

I made a video of a conversation in a new restaurant, Tokyo Sushi, at 22 North 3^rd Street. This new restaurant is opened by the previous owner of Plum House, which was popular among Lafayette students. Through the conversation with him, we got to know the reason that why he decided to close Plum House and open a new restaurant. Obviously, the new location can attract more customers living in Easton, and the food resource is more available and fresh. However, according to the owner, Plum House experienced a great decline of customers, which leads to great loss, and they cannot afford the high rent on college hill. He also talked about the competition that comes from Lafayette College. As the college has their own Sushi Bar and global dishes of fried rice and noodles, less and less students go to Plum House. He also thinks that the college’s meal plan imposes restriction on students’ choice for other restaurants nearby. I’m surprised to hear his comments, and I think it reflects the competition and difficulties that a local foreign restaurant has to face.