Finals Current Event!

1.    The issue between the Labay family and the Old West Austin Neighborhood Association is that the retail landmark in West Austin is tied up in what could be the endgame of a 16-year fight over an eyesore of a vacant old house a few blocks south of the store. Because of my love for, the pass, i have to agree with the neighborhood association, i think that the historic landmark should be left there and untouched. The compromise being proposed it to subdivide the lot to preserve the home while allowing development on the other portion. I think this will work, however the real problem is the money, and the compromise is allowing OWANA to get the historic presence of the house while the Labay family gets to have some land to do whatever they want. I think it will more likely please both sides morally, but the wallet doesn't seem like it will be very happy. 
2.    This article is about UT and A&M joining together! The University of Texas System and the Texas A&M University System announced Tuesday that it will compete for the contract to operate one of the nation’s nuclear weapons labs, along with the University of New Mexico, the Boeing Co. and the Battelle Memorial Institute. This partnership plans to bid in order to run Sandia National, which is owned by the federal government, has a $2.9 billion annual budget and more than 10,000 employees. By reading the article i have to agree with the UT system Chancellor, i think the collaboration is a great fit, and that leveraging the power of stellar universities along with other would remark the coming out and development of Sandia National Laboratories. However, the idea of it being an overall good fit as the universities collided, I personally think its good to show relationships between universities, football fans may not like it as much. However, the idea that the administrators are working together gives a good sense of leadership for students.
3.    The latest news in the Bill Cosby saga is that prosecutors on Tuesday crossed their final hurdle to bring Bill Cosby on trial on charges that he drugged and sexually assaulted a woman whom he once mentored, with a judge ruling that enough evidence existed for the case to move forward. I completely agree with the judges, if their is enough evidence to prove someone guilty, then we cant just go against fact. Cosby's lawyers said that that the former district attorney promised never to prosecute Cosby as a way to induce him to testify in the civil suit brought by Con-stand, which was ultimately settled, until February, a trial court judge dismissed the defense’s challenges.Reading through the arguments, I don't think that they have any merit. It seems like they just are doing anything possible to limit the amount of information that comes out. All of it seems a bit sketchy. I think that putting the story on the front page deals with the idea of news values. For the reason, that the story needs to come out quick and seen soon, before nobody cares, and it wont get that many responses if it was on a different page because they would more likely think that its just the same news, the front page just makes it seem more important. 
4.    The final decision that was made was to rename Lee Elementary, decided on Monday night by an 8-1 vote. This is the first time AISD changes the name of a school because of its ties to the confederacy. It was changed to Russell Lee, for the reasons that he was a critically acclaimed photographer and founder of the UT photography department. He also lived in the neighborhood.  Another decision made was that some people wanted Bettie Mann to be the school name, since she was the first African-American teacher, which resulted in the school's kindergarten gall after her in the same vote. I think it was kind of awkward that Mann, went to the voting to see if her name would be picked and it wasn't so... I do like the change and i think that what was mentioned in the article, about it being not necessary about re-writing history but about shaping AISD into the world. 
5.  According to the news report one likely outcome of the Football sexual assault scandal at Baylor University is that an independent law firm about how the school handled multiple sexual assault allegations would be done. The nature of the scandal grew in speculation, however knowing that Baylor is a Christian school, i feel like the school should be a little more careful with that and possibly enforce it more.

Mr. Susman Feature Profile

     
  Micah Susman, has been apart of the McCallum High School Staff for 10 years now. He has been teaching the subject of English Language Arts, to several grades and generations throughout his years, currently working with 9th graders today, he also is involved with teaching other classes, however he is mostly known as a an English teacher. From being a rookie to being an expert, he now has learned how to balance his job and his life at home, including handling situations with parents, behavioral issues and all the little things.  Mr. Susman has found the way to enjoy his life a bit more throughout his entire teaching experience.
        Even though teaching the same topics and lessons every year might get a bit exhausting, Mr. Susman finds that students are his motivation to keep him going, "...I like meeting new people, I like sharing new ideas, I like learning from them and all of their backgrounds as well." Throughout the course of the year, freshmen learn many topics, and do many readings to help them comprehend these topics. Mr. Susman shares with us that his favorite subject to teach students about is, existentialism and the absurd with the connection to The Stranger, written by Albert Camus. Yet he wishes that his students also, "...enjoy The Alchemist, and some of the ideas that things do matter as well."
        Teaching for such a long period of time, a memorable year Mr. Susman connects to is, "...when I was teaching seniors and we lost a couple of students that year." It's very tough to deal with a loss of a fellow student, but yet Mr. Susman kept going. However, Mr. Susman does have plans for his near future career, "...I am considering taking some time off, to raise my daughter...until she goes to kindergarten and then I would go back and maybe work full time..." He also included that he felt, like he works too much for the amount he gets paid, and its not worth to loose time with his loved ones. Considering, the fact of living in South Austin, and the growth of Austin as a city, has caused a long car ride from home and work a week, which he much rather be spending with family.

Many future generations will lose the teaching of Mr.Susman, throughout their high school years here at McCallum. Accomplishing his goal by allowing himself to, "sharing new philosophical ideas, and… introducing ways of thinking almost more than skills", with the students, Mr.Susman sees that its more important to extend a students mind farther beyond improvement in just reading and writing skills, overall showing the loss of a teacher McCallum is going to have a hard time to replace. Mr.Susman concludes that he thinks that teaching English is his skill and he will always teach it in some way, even though it will not be in a classroom. He recently is letting his classes know about his decision to resign at McCallum, hoping that his current and formal students here it from him and know that he is leaving for the right reasons. Mr.Susman, does not want this to be a sad farewell, instead he jokes with his classes about the fact, that if they ever see him in the street to at least be kind and throw in some cash.

VOCAB

Teaser- found on the front of the shield, leads the reader to a story
Flag- name of the newspaper, and where it's located
Folios- a line showing the page number, date, paper, and name
Bylines- the lines that say who wrote the article
Jumps- tells the reader where a story is continued
Story Dividers- any graphic element that brakes the story into parts
Screens- a light color over an entire article, can be grey or colored
Infographics- images that give information, (pie charts, bar graphs)
masthead/staff box- same as flag
bastard measure- Type set in a different width than the standard column measure
Raw wrap- when a story or headline might be bumped into, so they cut it short
Reefer- reference...basically.
Wild Art- the picture is good enough to go on the front..story not so much. Picture has caption to lead you to the story.
Pull Quote-key phrase, quotation, or excerpt that has been pulled from an article and used as a graphic element
Ears-Space at the top of the front page on each side of the newspaper's nameplate
Banner-headline extending across the width of a newspaper page, usually across the top of the front page
Kicker Headline-small headline just above the main one
Wicket Headline-headline design that consists of two or more lines of a secondary headline above one or more lines of a primary headline
Tripod Headline- headline style with a primary headline on the left covering two lines, next to lines of secondary headline
Hammer Headline- headline style that features one or more lines of primary headline above one or more lines of a secondary headline
Modular Design-style of design where all graphic elements are rectangular in shape and fit together cleanly and concisely.
Text Wrap-enables you to surround a picture or diagram with text
L-shape text flow- words go around the picture, when it is placed in a corner, creating an L
U-shape text flow- words go around the picture when it is placed in the center, creating an U