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.

My project was centered on finding the moments when women I know first became aware of beauty. I began with a sex-ed book from the 1800s. I wasn’t necessarily surprised but still disturbed by the emphasis the author placed on beauty. What was even more disturbing was the fact that many of the assumptions the book placed about beauty and femininity are still tightly held by many today. I decided to guide my piece towards looking at how women internalize these notions of beauty. I was also drawn to a poem which retold the story of Black Swan. In the film, the protagonist struggles with body image, perfectionism, mental illness and fitting into a very structured role. I had also recorded a friend reading excerpts from the sex-ed book but ultimately decided against including them in the piece.  This was largely because I assumed that the listener can begin to make assumptions about what they pertained to and I wanted to focus my attention and time on the interviews. I edited the audio clips and recorded a friend reading part of the poem. I then interspersed my own commentary, interviews and the poem to form what I hope will be a nuanced look at how we think about beauty. This topic certainly isn’t under-covered by any means. However, I was struck by the responses my friends gave me and hope that the piece offers an interesting look at the internalization of social pressures. I wanted to create a cohesive narrative for my piece but am worried that it comes across a bit too much like a podcast. Ultimately, I was hoping to create an intimate, personal look at the experiences of several different women.

My project is about technology and how much its impact has changed the world we live in today. I used JFK’s “To The Moon” speech from when he announced the United States would be headed to the moon.

Not only did I include sounds from technology we are familiar with today (iPhones, airplanes, cars) but I also included an airplane safety demo from 1987 and an instruction video of what long distance operators used to have to do before the advanced technology we have today.

I wanted to make it feel like The Twilight Zone by adding in alien sound effects and futuristic noises. I did a lot of layering with my sounds to make this eerie feeling possible. I ended the piece with a real space shuttle take off to relate it back to JFK’s speech and tie it all together.