The Caffeinated Carbivore

This new term has been flying across the internet, from creative to advertising mediums. So what exactly is a TransMedia project? A TransMedia project places content on multiple stages, such as Facebook or Twitter, and uses each medium to tell a part of the story. This type of storytelling offers a deeper appreciation for projects because of the varying strengths of these mediums. In this way, viewers often become more engrossed in stories or characters because they can interact with them on Facebook, get live and instant updates via Twitter, and watch new episodes on YouTube. This type of advertising offers strength in its variety; the message is sent to multiple audiences simultaneously and can be altered accordingly. One new TransMedia project is highly anticipated in the comedy world: I Made America . Particularly timely in light of the upcoming election, I Made America is a comedy sketch about a few founding fathers stuck in the mire that is our current campaign trail. The father...

The abundant elemental resources available to us often go unused (i.e., solar and wind power. Solar panels are too expensive! We could power most of the United States if we covered the entire state of Nevada in solar panels, but the trade-off between a hot shower for every American and thousands of acres of desert is clearly too much to ask Windmills cause visual displeasure apparently larger than gray smog and smoke stacks). Teachers complain daily of poor performers, American hunger is on the rise (what's worse, as food stamp usage increases, so does its abuse ), 1/3 of foster children are abused , juvenile crimes are increasing , the population is at an all time high, and scientists worry about feeding future generations. The idea of eating our own children is simply barbaric, so I have my own modest proposal* : Babies. Crawl, Baby! CRAWL! Too cruel? Exploiting children to make your clothes cheaper is cruel. Destroying habitats is cruel. Too illogical? Burning corn when half the...

Graduation day brings all kinds of new assignments, especially for recent ROTC grads. Many of them will be reporting for duty very shortly. Mom gets her wings from Air Force graduate *Copyright Stephanie Bushman This image captures the sacrifices of the American community. While the armed men and women are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, their families are sacrificing, too. God Bless. Remember, just because you don't support the war doesn't mean you can't support the troops.

Everyone loves a good story. In fact, we love good characters so much that they often re-appear. The step parent was evil in Cinderella, and that hasn't changed much in the new blockbuster Step Father . The media has always been a vehicle to tell a large story to a large audience. Now with the dawn of the digital age, we too can become story tellers. We share our personal narratives with our Tweets and add our voice to movements on Facebook and newstories on CNN. But who's story is NOT being told? Those without access to technology, either because of their membership in a lower economic group or a higher age group. Aka, those without the skills or the money cannot be cultural storytellers. This was not the case in Egypt, however. While the inernet was shut down, only outsiders could tell the Egyptians' story. BBC and American news networks innitially told the tale of the Egyptians without adding individual narratives. Instead, blanket statements about the protestes (not as ...

Penguin Books has begun its "Read a book, Give a book" campaign this month. How can you give books to needy children? By reading a book to your children. Log on and read a book online with your child. Then, you can donate that book to children in New York City, Haiti, or Africa. There are many separate campaigns this year: 1. Jumpstart Reading Libraries . This campaign helps create libraries in preschools across the USA. 2. The Million Word Challenge. 3. Tinga Tinga Tales: East Africa: 4. Conspiracy for Good: A teacher in Zambia reaches out to seek books for her students. 5. Books for Asia. 6. Family Story Power: Books for New York City libraries: All of these campaigns offer you the chance to share literacy with children across the world, while also sharing a story with your child!

Billboard top 100, that is. Remember Auto Tune the News? Well, they've taken another news story... ...and turned it into a song. Only this time, they've got a hit on their hands. And an article In the NYTimes ! Just another example of social media bringing people together. The media serves different purposes for us (news vs entertainment). Auto Tune the News is a sterling example of the permeable boundaries of the mediums since the dawn of social media-none are mutually exclusive, and each is connected by us, their users. Another trend exemplified by Auto Tune the News is the user-centeredness that mediums have adopted. Twitter and now the New York Times have monopolized on our desire to get quick and personalized information.

The "No Child Left Behind" issue has a lot of teachers raving. I too feel that standardized testing leads to trouble, both for teachers and students. A VERY brief list: Teachers: 1. Teaching to the Test restricts creative lesson plans 2. Standardized teacher reviews neglect teachers' connection with students (arguably more influential on student mental health than getting A's) in favor of ability to cram facts into students' heads ( teaching vs educating ). Students: 1. Loss of connection with teacher 2. Those in low income areas seem to be getting the short end of the stick...again. -students in low income schools rarely see change. If teachers truly want to make an argument against Standardized Testing (aka breaking from the status quo of "intelligence" marks) then we're going to need a few good arguments. Most of all, we have to watch our fallacies. Suggesting that the testing structure or disciplinary schools leads underachievers to jail...

Arachnophobia: The fear of spiders Omphalophobia: The fear of Belly Buttons ...and the list goes on . Our culture creates and appropriates words to fit the current situation. We even re-name certain events or individuals as our culture sees fit. For example, a cel phone gets you in touch with your friends outside of class, but in class teachers call it a " mobile educational device " (if used for lessons, that is). Recently, American culture has developed a hypersensitivity to Islamic culture. In recent news, we've heard about unrest in Florida and the possibility of burning the Koran . What doesn't hit the daily news is that we are making assumptions about Islamic women in the workplace (yes, even us teachers!) The following is a scene from the film Arranged during an ice breaking session where Nasirah was asked by the headmistress to tell a little about herself Perhaps this is a reaction to our age-old Crusading history, or the more recent historical event of 9...