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09.25.04 || 2004 Football -- NIU vs. Bowling GreenYesterday was the first time I've photographed football. Pretty exciting, being on the field and all, going places not many people get to go. There's lots of stuff to watch and excitement, especially when our team is winning. So, well I finally went through the pictures, and got them on here. Some cool looking pictures here, click the picture to check them out:
09.21.04 || Controversy
Someone has to have the last word; I think the Star will win this time. The following is a response to the "Your Voice" statement, which stems back to the picture I had printed last week, and the article along with it:
Star covers the bad with the goodLast week, the Northern Star received a letter to the editor criticizing the newspaper staff for not covering events and for covering only negative stories that happen in the NIU community. This is a common complaint, so we thought we’d dispel rumors of biased coverage with an explanation of how we determine what appears in the Star.
Q: Why do you write only negative stories?
A: We don’t. ...MORE
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Happy 21st Birthday to Maria on Saturday! I have the pictures from the party up now, for those interested in seeing them. It was quite a night and her being one of the youngest in the group we don't have many more 21st birthdays to go. I don't think we let her down, as we always try to have everyone have an eventful 21st birthday. Hope everyone had a good time at the party, I did. You can see on the right Maria getting out her ID to get ready for the bars, as people are wishing her a happy birthday at midnight. As always if I have a picture of you on here, and you don't like it, just let me know.
09.17.04 || Northern Star's "Your Voice"
Here comes the controversy. I knew someone had to have a problem with my picture. Lots of people were commenting about it, on website posts online, in my classes, and now this. I was happening to thumb through the newspaper today, like I do everyday, and found this in the "Your Voice" section:
Star lingers in the gutter, doesn't cover good news
Wow! You guys are really something at the Northern Star! It totally amazes me how the Star manages not to come to any of the wonderful events organized by black and minority organizations that have happened on campus this far this semester. For example "Black II campus Tour," "Night of Black Elegance" nor the 19th annual Chill Fest were covered by the Star.
However, the moment a couple of immature individuals have a fight, we are granted access to the front page news for two days straight! Does the Star see anything wrong with this? I actually thought this newspaper was for the entire campus, but it truly seems that the Star is biased as to what goes on the front page or even in your paper at all.
The Star states that it "seeks to provide information to the NIU and DeKalb community." That is a wonderful goal; however, just what kind of information does the Star seek to inform the community about?
I am not in any way condoning the actions of the people involved in the "brawl" that occurred Sunday morning, but I strongly believe it is important to publish articles about the positive as well as the negative things going on in our community. Furthermore, what was a Northern Star representative doing out at 1:30 a.m. with their camera anyway?
-Quinette Sterling, Senior sociology
She has some valid points, I can grant her that. I personally thought that picture wouldn't run, let alone of the front page. Then to cover it on the front page the next day, did seem kind of overboard. However I just took the pictures, I didn't have any say in when or where the picture gets placed. I thought they were pretty sweet pictures, even if I had to stay up till 1:30 a.m. to get them!
09.15.04 || Northern Star picture
Well I finally caught up with homework, and have time to update this. Apparently the NS designers decided to use this picture rather than the one of the Huskie Band for Monday's Northern Star. It's old news now, but for those who were confused, that's why. I must be doing pretty well the last few days because for the last 3 days I've had pictures on the cover page of the Northern Star, not too shabby I must say. I'd also like to point out for those new visitors, and for those who have forgotten, about my Photographer site.
This is where I keep a log of all the pictures I've had in the paper. As of today I'm up to 94 pictures printed. I guess I can consider it my online portfolio.
09.12.04 || Crazy Saturday
What a crazy day, very eventful at least. Ok first off we had tailgating for the NIU vs. SIU game today, then I took pictures of the third largest crowd at Huskie stadium, something over 28,000 people. NIU won, for those who didn't know, 23 to 22. Then Lucky Boys Confusion played at Molly's, took pictures there, boy was that fun. Then a crap load (over 25) cop cars were surrounding the Huskie Bar, so I ran over there. Apparently there was a call for a shooting there, who knows what the actual truth is, I've heard a few stories, but anyway the fact is I got pictures of it. Cops from Dekalb, Cortland, State, and County were there, and some had their shotguns drawn. ...It's late, I'm tired, but I stayed up to get these pictures up, for you, so enjoy.
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I did get a good picture of someone being arrested last night, and I wouldn't think it would be a picture to go in the paper, but apparently they liked it, so I added it to the pictures above. Also tomorrow (9/13) that picture, and this picture will be on the front page of the Northern Star. Also look inside for the picture of Lucky Boys Confusion.
09.10.04 || Northern Star's poor pick of pictures
Working in the newspaper has taught me a lot about how screwy our news-media is in this country. Seeing on Chicago TV news stations broadcast about a kid who drown in the river in my home town and actually knowing the truth I realize that well, they don't always broadcast the whole story. They only tell you what they think you would want to know. It is true that they can't tell you every detail, but to me they leave out some very important details. They make the reader try and figure out the missing details, and well what the reader comes up with is not always what actually happened. This comes to mind when I go and take picture at a "bonfire" like the Northern Star likes to call it. Well yes there was a bonfire there, but well me being there I can see that was not the main attraction. There was an inflatable maze, a 'bungee run', 'extreme jumper', climbing wall, 'spider web' and free chicken wings and free drinks. This was all funded by SA (Student association) which was paid for by our student fees. So on today's front page, I had a picture printed. Well it was a picture of the bonfire, how boring! I thought I got a really good picture of Kevin and Damaen running in the bungee run, also not a bad picture of Amanda and Alison in the bungee run. Basically they had a bungee strapped to their back and they had to run against it and see who could get that velcro strip the farthest. The picture of Jason upside down on the velcro spider web is interesting too. For some reason the designers of the paper thought that a picture of fire on the cover would look cool, to me it's boring, and it's my own photo. So sense I couldn't get the good pictures printed, I'll share them here:
