Keenan Coffey

 

9/23/13

 

Journalism F

 

Student Interview

          I interviewed Kylie Werner, and there were many things I found interesting about her. Her birthdate is 12/22/98. When I asked her what she liked to do she answered with: "I like to dance. I also like to write." I found a similarity between us in our enjoyment in writing. I also asked who she lived with, and Kylie said: "my mom". She is not a huge fan of school, and has no real opinion of the government. When I asked if she supported peace or war, she liked the idea of peace, saying: "definitely peace". I found that to be interesting because I agree, but many people think its the only resolution.
         The next set of questions I asked were a bit different. She was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts and her ethnicity includes Irish, Indian American, and German. Kylie supports homosexuality, which shows her tendency to be hospitable. When I asked her what she wanted to do for work after college, she stated: "I want to do something in cosmetology." I asked a very specific question next. I asked what would be her food or beverage on her deathbed, and I received an interesting answer. "Tacos" she said for her food, and "Orange Juice" for her drink.

Keenan Coffey

9/19/13

Journalism F

Texting While Driving

Texting and Driving

Many people don't realize the overwhelming risk of texting and driving. Texting a friend, family member, or boyfriend/girlfriend can be very tempting to do while in a car. Some of the time they are actually important conversations. Although, texting while driving can wait. In the grand scheme of things, it just is not worth it. Taking eyes off the roadway creates a risk to not only the driver, but other drivers as well. Even the greatest drivers in the world lose concentration when looking at their phone intstead of the road. In doing this people are putting helpless civilian lives in danger. While texting and operating a vehicle, getting into an accident is 23 times more likely. Loss of concentration and awareness of ones surroundings can cause cell phone related accidents. 18% of all deaths in 2012 that contained distraction related activities were caused by cell phones. A driver's reaction time while reading and sending texts is far worse than drinking and driving. Not to mention the crime being commited while texting and driving. Penalties can amount to $2,750 in the most severe cases. Fines and tickets are so high because of the huge risk at hand. As a highschool student, I am very confident in saying my parents would make me pay for the entire ticket myself, and be extremely angry with me. A lot of highschool kids are angered when people say they are terrible drivers. This may be untrue in some instances, but more and more teens are losing their sense of good judgement. In a survey created by AAA, 46% of teenagers said they text and drive. This statistic is off because of the amount of teenagers that probably lied in the survery. Dishonesty is very frequent amongst 16-19 year olds. Taking this into consideration, More than half of the teenagers on the road jeopardize their lives and others around them. 77% of teens that text and drive said they were very confident in doing so and felt there was no danger. This being said,  11 teens each day get into fatal car crashes due to using a cellular device and driving. Statistics show texting and driving can not only put people in the car in danger, but also innocent people on the road. 

Keenan Coffey

9/17/13

Journalism F

Jahar's World essay

Terrorism within the United States borders have scared a broad amount of people for a long time. In particular the Boston Marathon bombing caused mass hysteria, and brought fear to one of America's most beloved cities. The Rolling Stone article Jahar's World by Janet Reitman illustrates Jahar's life, and the "monster" that he became. The jaw-dropping cover and article of the magazine portraying Dzhokar Tsarnaev as innocent was a tremendous controversial issue that angered a wide variety of people.

The cover of the Rolling Stone magazine showed Jahar taking a "selfie" with multiple captions directly below. These captions said "How a popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical islam, and became a monster." I believe this provides a list of excuses on Dzhokar's behalf. Instead of the cover saying failed by his family, it should say he failed himself. Only the most psychologically disturbed people would go through with an act of terrorism in this proportion. It was brought all upon himself once he agreed with his older brother Tamerlan to join radical islam in the first place. The cover depicts Jahar as an innocent college student that had a rough life, and was destined to fail. I disagree with both the choice of the cover, and the captions describing Tsarnaev. In the article itself, Reitman stated, "soulful brown eyes and the kind of shy, laid-back manner that 'made him that dude you could always just vibe with' one friend says." The way Reitman described Dzhokar in a positive manner caused a lot of people to feel anger towards the magazine. They believed he should not have been given any credit because he is such a poor human being.

In the response to the article, New York Times journalist David Carr wrote an article about the reactions of very involved people in the investigation. Sgt. Sean Murphy took many pictures of Jahar when he was in a very bad state before he was ultimately captured. Carr wrote, "The images taken by Sgt. Sean Murphy, a photographer with the Massachusetts State Police who was described as 'furious' about the Rolling Stone cover and accused the magazine of 'glamorizing the face of terror.'" Murphy saw first hand the destruction caused by Tsarnaev, and doesn't support the cover and article whatsoever. Many stores and important people refused to buy or sell the magazine for many reasons. Mayor of Boston Thomas Menino apposed the magazine, along with other retailers. Carr stated, "Mayor Thomas Menino wrote a letter of protest to Rolling Stone and several retailers with Boston ties said they would not sell the controversial issue." The contents of the magazine angered Bostonian retailers and the mayor which is very understandable. Apposing the cover and article was popular amongst the people of Boston as one could tell. Carmen Rasmusen also wrote an article regarding the Rolling Stone magazine. She felt very strongly on the issue of the story getting published. She thought it was a terrible idea and was not approriate for Rolling Stone. Rasmusen said, "What's even more baffling is how this story got approved." Rasmusen, along with many others, were shocked as to how the story was published considering the word choice and description of Jahar.

Rolling Stone portrayed Dzhokar Tsarnaev as the opposite of who he really was. They said he was "just a normal American kid", which is extremely hard to believe regarding the actions taken by him and his brother on 4/15/13. Many people found the magazine offensive and innapropriate. Getting on the cover Rolling Stone is usually a milestone for a lot of celebrities, and an honor. In this instance, it shows an infamous bomber that had a lot of nerve to do what he did. Therefore, the article published by Rolling Stone angered a lot of people and was the centerpoint of a lot of controversy.