Digital Extra's for issue #6

The Outlook

By Emily Young Contributing Writer

We worry about our sal-aries. They worry about their lives.In America, journalists fear the chang-ing format of the media: we wonder if our jobs will disappear with print news-papers. Yet our troubles seem light in comparison to the struggles faced by journalists in other na-tions. In many African countries, journalists fear imprisonment or death by their own governments. They risk their lives to report the truth. October 2-6 USF students had the honor of meeting visiting journalists from several African countries, who told us their own experi-ences in the field. It gave me a greater respect for reporters around the world who fight to uncover the truth, despite opposition.

American journalists have the advantage of a free press and a respon-sive public. We do not fear being stabbed in the night or sentenced to jail. But do we really appreciate these freedoms? In many – though not all – African

nations, writing investiga-tive articles is a danger-ous process. Governments make it difficult for jour-nalists to access necessary information; once their article is published, these reporters face persecution. Some are killed. Others jailed. Many journalists do not face physical harm, but must endure daily frustration as their voices go unheard. According to one journalist, Uganda enjoys a “free press,” but no one responds to inves-tigative articles. Public of-ficials ignore them and the public is too afraid to take action.

A Liberian journalist, Akai Akasu Awuletey, has committed her life to broadcast journalism. She remembers the day she told her mother this decision. Her mother tried to dissuade her, warning Akai that Libe-rian reporters were being killed. Reporters in other African countries face similar dangers. A jour-nalist from Mozambique was jailed for two days after writing about a cor-rupt chief of justice. The

situation in Zimbabwe is even worse. Journal-ists can be imprisoned for two years for writing whatever the government labels as “falsehoods.” This government can de-tain anyone for 48 hours, without reason. Some-times journalists in Zim-babwe are even forced to divulge their sources, which is unethical.

Despite the persecutions these journalists face, they do not want Africa to be portrayed in a negative light. They believe the Western media overem-phasizes corruption and crises and ignores posi-tive developments in their countries. They remind us that not everyone in Africa is corrupt.. Though they face greater persecu-tion than most American journalists, they also feel we have many things in common. Samuel Rodney Valcarcel, of Sierra Leon, believes that some aspects of journalism are univer-sal. Whether in the United States or Africa, we all strive to be “great journal-ists.”

The Crow’s NestNavigating the News for USF St. Petersburg

StudentMediaatUSFSP.comVolume 44 • Issue 6 Monday, October 19, 2009

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Campus & Beyond, 2

Flying dogs and other well-dressed pets on paradeCampus & Beyond, 3

Reporting in Africa

Flight of the Conchords never takes themselves too seriously. Case in point; note their self-description “Formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo.” The fourth most popular part might be questionable, but, for the most part, this claim is a dead ringer. On the duo’s first studio album, and their self-titled HBO series, members Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement’s musical techniques jump all over the place from folk to rap to Indian to Bowie-esque synth-pop; musical A.D.D, but mixed in with their subtle comedic sensi-bility it becomes fresh and unique, especially for just a comedy twosome.

Flight of the Conchords’ musical chops, are defi-nitely something to be ad-mired. Where we see most comedy musicians strap on an acoustic guitar and idly play while they rifle through all their bits, Flight of the Conchords seem to try and give equal attention to the comedic and musical aspects of their work.

Sadly, their newest studio album, I Told You I Was Freaky, shows the Con-chords slowly slipping out of this crafty equilibrium they had previously struck. Chalk it up to overconfi-dence, plain laziness, or elements of both, I Told You I Was Freaky does not come close to tickling the funny bone like nearly every track on their first self-titled album.

I Told You I Was Freaky starts hilariously strong with a bouncy, old school rap called “Hurt Feelings.” “Some people say that rap-pers don’t have feelings/ we have feelings/ Some people say we’re not rap-pers/ we’re rappers,” they boast, laying the lyrical foundation before the beat drops. The twosome then jump into rhymes about making underappreciated casseroles for friends and a store employee suggesting buying a women’s sized wetsuit when all the men’s are too big; all situations leading to Jermaine and Brent’s hurt feelings. Fun-ny, but it is relatable even if vaguely.

Story continued on pg. 2

Music comedy duo goes waywardBy Andrew [email protected]

By Nikeya [email protected]

Campus & Beyond

I’m an average American who is mixed with the normal three to five different ethic races. You see, nowa-days it seems as though everyone is at least one-fourth of this race or half of this race; it’s the modern day melting pot. But even during this melting pot era, the ugly face of modern day stere-otypes still lurks around the corner. In my junior year of college at Lee Uni-versity, I had the opportunity to come face-to-face with stereotyping. It was the most uncomfortable, annoying and perverse feeling that I have ever experienced. “I speak English, and you speak ghetto,” she said. My ears shrieked at the sound of this statement. I didn’t speak ghetto, nor did I pretend to. I spoke American English. I have spoken American English all my life, I’d never spoken ghetto (whatever that is.) Thinking back on this incident of stereotyping behooved me to talk about this modern day beast that no one wants to tame or claim.

When the words “stereotyping or stereotypes” pokes its little head into conversations most of us ignore it, since we believe that our country doesn’t struggle with race issues. In the 2004 movie Crash, director and screenwriter Paul Haggis addresses some of the issues of racial and gender stereotypes that we face. For instance, one of the main characters Jean, played by Sandra Bullock, has a fear of peo-ple of color, and her fears are con-firmed when her SUV is carjacked by two African-American men – Antho-ny (Chris Bridges, aka Ludacris) and Peter (Larenz Tate) who hates white people as much as Jean hates blacks. Throughout the movie, the characters struggled with each others differences, just like we do today.

I’m glad that Haggis had the nerve to address stereotyping in Crash; I think that this might help us realize that stereotyping is something that keeps haunting us.If you watch some of the major news channels and televi-sion shows, you can still see the preva-lence of stereotyping. Although there are some positive stereotypes such as careers stereotyping, negative stere-otypes definitely out weigh the posi-tive ones.

According to Encyclopedia of Edu-cation Technology, stereotyped char-acters can negatively influence the way we view real people in society. Tel-evision tends to depict racial groups, as well as genders, in the same man-ner. More often than not these groups are stereotyped in a negative way by television. People who watch large amounts of television begin to view these people negatively in real life.

These negative images of stereotypes cultivate and condition our minds, thoughts and reactions to each other. We need to realize that we are all a part of the human race, and it does not matter which ethic group you rep-resent. Each person should be treated equally, justfully and respectfully. We should not try to dumb down anyone’s culture or race, so that we can under-stand it .Each person brings something new and different to our multicultural society. There needs to be a respect to our differences, not disrespect. Once, we can accept our differences and re-spect each other the doors to learn one another will open.

I hope that the negative stereotyping that I faced will not continue showing its ugly ace in conversations, maga-zines, newspapers or television. In-stead I hope it will become a stepping stone for us to move forward.

Don’t assume you know meMusic Comedy Duo goes Wayward...

Continued from front

The album then moves into the second track, “Sug-alumps”, where it all starts to fall apart. Sugalumps are, to the Conchords, the front-of-body male version of Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas’ humps. While the idea is funny for about two sec-onds the song is just sad. It is like a bipolar Black Eyed Peas (go figure) and Lady Gaga mash-up. The rhymes range from the incredibly predictable and bland (“All the ladies want a taste of my sugalumps”) to the just plain weird (a description of a man removing and sell-ing his own sugalumps for ten dollars and a Frisbee?). It feels like an inside joke only Jermaine and Brent are in on. Hopefully, it is an in-side joke only Jermaine and Brent are in on because that is just disturbing.

For the most part the rest of the album follows in the same suit as Sugalumps; quasi-funny stabs at cliché 80’s and 90’s era pop styles with little to no comedic substance. Although some-what unpleasant, I Told You I Was Freaky is not entirely dismissible. There are a few standout tracks where the old Conchords rear their heads for a welcome change.

“Rambling Through the Avenues of Time” is a Jethro Tull-like ballad where Brent tries to sing lovingly about waltzing down moonlit boulevards and sipping dan-delion wine with his lover, while Jermaine interjects every few lines putting down Brent for being “quite gay.” It is always funny to hear or see the Conchords interact with one another. I think that is where a lot of their comedic sensibility lies, and it definitely shines

through in this song. “Carol Brown” is another

noteworthy track. It is an acoustic, elevator music-like ditty where Jermaine reminisces on his past girl-friends and why they broke up. After the first verse a women’s choir kicks in, “He doesn’t cook or clean/ He’s not good boyfriend mate-rial.” They sing, “You’ll lose interest fast/ His rela-tionships never last.” “Shut up girlfriends from the past,” Jermaine elegantly sings back turning the song into a con-tinual, quirky duet between himself and his supposed girlfriends from the past.

In general, the Conchords seem to strike the comedic nerve when they riff on the situational. Be it hurt feel-ings, because no one likes their casserole, or just talk-ing about how lame the other is for singing a song about moonlit boulevards and dan-delion wine. They have a way of picking up on the fun-ny subtleties of human inter-action that I wish they would do more of on this album. Save the testicle-referenced “Sugalumps” and other like-minded tracks for the twelve-year old adolescent boys at the recreational center. I’m sure they would appreciate them more than most of to-day’s core audience.

If you have never heard Flight of the Conchords before, go listen to their first self-titled album for a good initial impression. It is much more musically diverse and just genuinely funnier than this newest one. If you are a die-hard or have listened to them be-fore, do not expect much out of I Told You I Was Freaky, save a few gems amongst the album’s rough. Flight of the Conchords have not lost it, they have just gone a bit wayward. Here is to hoping they steer back on course.

VarietyDon’t assume you know me

Even though the Tampa Bay Rays are not in the MLB playoff picture for the 2009 season, there are still plenty of compelling storylines about this year’s baseball season. Here is a look at the eight teams that made it to the promised land:

American League

The Yankees just had to make a run this season after a rare playoff absence in 2008. The team controlled its own destiny most of the year, winning the American League East with little competition from the Rted Sox and Rays. New York’s acquisition of starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia paid off well as he won 19 games for the Bronx Bombers. In his 15th season with the club, Derek Jeter also had a breakout year with a .334 batting average on his way to becoming the Yankees’ all-time leader in hits. Alex Rodriguez reached 30 home runs and 100 RBI for the 12th consecu-tive season.

In Boston, the Red Sox eventually pulled away in the Wild Card race that had a few other teams vying for it, including the Rang-ers and Rays. But as the season progressed, it appeared that Boston would take the final AL playoff spot, which they did. Starting pitch-ers Josh Beckett and Jon Lester combined for 32 wins to put the RedSox in position to win their third championship this decade.

The Twins squeaked into the postseason this year by avenging a one-game playoff loss last season to the Chicago White Sox. Tied with Detroit after the regular season was over, the two teams squared off in what was déjà vu for

those in the Twin cities - another one-game playoff to determine the AL Central cham-pion. Minnesota won in extra innings, elimi-nating a Detroit team that appeared to have wrapped up the division earlier in the season but blew a seven-game division lead with just three weeks to play. For the Twins, Joe Mauer had a dazzling .365 batting average – the best in the majors. The team’s starting rotation did not put up overly impressive numbers, but closer Joe Nathan collected 47 saves on the year – the second most in the majors.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, whose name seems to change on an annual basis, overcame some major adversity in 2009. The team suffered a devastating loss after just three games into the 2009 season. Starting pitcher Nick Adenhart, a 22-year-old rookie, was killed in a drunken driving accident in California just hours after he had pitched in a game. The team carried on in his honor and dominated the American League West, cruis-ing to its fifth division title in six years under manager Mike Scioscia.

National League

The Phillies made it back to the playoffs coming off their World Series win over the Rays last year. Ryan Howard led the team with 45 home runs and 141 RBI, while Chase Utley hit 31 homers. The last time a team won back-to-back World Series titles was the Yankees in 1999 and 2000.

The Cardinals made the playoffs for the seventh time this decade. Slugger Albert Pu-jols, who adamantly denied using steroids

early in the season and is highly admired by fellow players, coaches and fans as one of the “clean” players in today’s game, hit 47 homers and drove in 135 runs for the Cardinals. Manager Tony La Russa always has his team in contention, and this season was no exception.

The Rockies were the big surprise of 2009. They proved once again that a small-market team can compete in the big leagues and make it to the postseason. Colorado was only six games over .500 at the All-Star break, but they played well down the stretch and cap-tured the NL Wild Card. The Rockies fired manager Clint Hurdle in May and replaced him with Jim Tracy, who led the team to a much-improved record. Colorado’s last play-off appearance came in 2007 when they went to the World Series but were swept in four games to the Red Sox.

Just as he did in New York, manager Joe Torre led his team to the playoffs once again – this time on the opposite coast with the Dodg-ers. Manny Ramirez was definitely “being Manny” this season despite being suspended 50 games for using steroids. His absence did not seem to affect the team, however, which played even better without him. He still man-aged to maintain a .290 batting average de-spite his limited playing time, and he helped Los Angeles get back to the playoffs for the second straight year.

So will this UFL experiment turn out to be a league of washed-up players and coaches just trying to cash a paycheck every week? Or will it provide fans another outlet to watch pro football during the week? Only time will tell.

Down to the Wire By Greg [email protected]

Sports

The Crow’s NestEditor in ChiefErica [email protected]

Design EditorMyra [email protected]

Designer Jimmy [email protected]

Assistant EditorsPeter [email protected]

Sara [email protected]

Nikeya [email protected]

Staff WritersMarisa [email protected]

Amy [email protected]

Paola [email protected]

Greg [email protected]

Andrew [email protected]

PhotographerZachary [email protected]

Office AssistantAstrid [email protected]

Professional AdviserDeb [email protected]

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