Cult Publications – Book Catalog

Assigned to create a publishing company for my Editing and Publishing class, my group came up with “Cult Publications.” We had to come up with an idea for three books, all different budgets, and one marketing plan. Although we came up with 15 books total, I am only including mine in this post.

For the “A-List Author (big budget)” category, this is what I created.

The Daily Prophet by J.K. Rowling

Based off of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling brings you The Daily Prophet. This is a collection of short stories by Rita Skeeter, a reporter in the Wizarding World, written at the same time as the original books.

“This collection of stories will bring you right back to your childhood in the best way possible.”  -The New York Times

• Release date: July 31, 2018.
• 300 pages
• $11.99 (paperback) $14.99 (hardcover)

I chose to create a marketing plan for this particular book, putting myself in the shoes of the customer, a fan of the Harry Potter books.

The Marketing Plan:

• Pottermore.com
• Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook
• Book Clubs
• Bookstores
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Borders
• Book Trailer
  • Big budget
• Review by “America’s Biggest Harry Potter Fan”
  • Steve Petrick

The next book was meant to be a “Money Maker (medium budget).” I created this:

Ms. President by Jo Wilson

It’s 2044, and the United States has become a broken skeleton of a country, with riots and revolutions happening left and right. Helen Murray decides to run for the first real presidency since 2020, when the country started to deteriorate. Helen and The Cabinet (her faithful group of followers) try to gather the American people to overturn the corrupt current “president,” who took charge when the country was weak.

• Release date: November 2018
• 400 pages
• $12.99 paperback / $15.99 hardcover

The last book we were made to create was “The Longshot (low budget).” I created this short novel:

Slumber by Cat Stark

How do you get over the death of your loved ones? According to Rose, you sleep it off. Based on “Little Briar Rose” or Sleeping Beauty by the Brothers Grimm, Slumber follows the story of 17-year-old Rose. Living with her godparents after the death of her mother and father, she struggles with depression, but then meets 18-year-old Philip in a dream. Mixing fantasy and reality, Slumber brings you into a dream world of risk and romance. 

• Release date: December 25, 2018. 
• 400 pages
• $11.99 paperback / $15.99 hardcover.

 

SENIOR THESIS: Is He or Isn’t He? A Close Textual Analysis of the Auteur Theory and the Works of Tim Burton

This is my Senior Thesis for Salve Regina University’s English Communications Department. As a graduating senior, I was required to write a thesis encompassing everything I had learned, and more, over the four years I spent at Salve. I decided to have some fun with mine, and focus not only on a subject that I was interested in, but something that I would stay interested in, since I was going to be writing it for nine months.

My senior thesis title is, “Is He or Isn’t He? A Close Textual Analysis of the Auteur Theory and the Works of Tim Burton.” The PDF attachment is linked below.

SENIOR THESIS 2019

The Return of the Jonas Brothers

I wrote this final paper for my Spring 2019 Fan Culture class at Salve. We were to choose a current trending topic that interested us, that was also related to the class. Since this was a class about fandoms, I decided to write my final paper on the Jonas Brothers, and whether or not they will make a successful comeback since announcing their reunion a few months ago.

By: Lauren O’Neil

The Jonas Brothers have recently announced their reunion after an eight year hiatus. On February 28, 2019, the Jonas Brothers twitter account released a tweet that said, “Just for you guys,” with a gif of them picking up a table, turning it around, and putting it back down. After putting the table down, a flag comes up with the words “Hello Again” on it. Confetti flies all around the short video, with the Jonas Brothers standing together, like they had done so many times from 2005 to 2013. With almost 11 million views just on that one tweet, the Jonas Brothers have officially returned, and the young teenage girls who loved them before the break-up are still as excited in their twenties as they would have been all those years ago to see them.

Formed in 2005, the Jonas Brothers are a band of three brothers from Wyckoff, New Jersey. Nick, Joe, and Kevin gained their following after having a few of their music videos feature on Disney Channel in 2006 when they were 12, 15, and 17 years old, respectively. Their albums, “It’s About Time” (2006), “A Little Bit Longer” (2008), “Jonas Brothers” (2008), “Lines, Vines, and Trying Times” (2009), “Jonas L.A.” (2010), their movies Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, Camp Rock, and two television shows, Jonas and Jonas L.A. brought in millions of fans, the median age being 16. The Disney Channel basically brought the Jonas Brothers into the light, and shaped their careers from 2006 to 2013. Did this make an impact on the band members themselves, because Disney has such strict guidelines for those associated with the company? After eight years, four albums, two television shows, a movie and countless tours, they made the decision to break up in October of 2013, in the middle of a tour. Fans were destroyed, and the band itself was not doing as well as they thought they would be, personally. The brothers realized that their familial relationships were beginning to tarnish as a result from the stress of the band duties.

Now, the Jonas Brothers are all grown up. Nick, 26, is married to Priyanka Chopra, Joe, 29, is engaged to Sophie Turner, and Kevin, 31, is married to Danielle Jonas with two young daughters, Alena and Valentina. After announcing their return to fame in late February 2019, they have released two singles. “Sucker” made it to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (Trust). Before that, “Burnin’ Up” made it to No. 5 in 2008 (Trust). There are also rumors of an album release in June, and a tour in September. Since the Jonas Brothers have made such a comeback, I want to know whether or not their fan base is the same, and whether or not the fans have changed over the years, like the band itself has. By analyzing fans, interviews, and scholarly sources on band reunions, I want to find out whether or not this comeback will be similar to the Jonas Brothers’ history of wild success. My questions are these: How and why have the Jonas Brothers made a successful comeback? Do they have the same fan base or has it changed, just has the band itself changed?

Research Methods

The research methods that I used were two in-person interviews with two super fans, and an online survey of Jonas Brothers fans. I interviewed Janelle Jean, 23, and Natalia Farias, 23, both of whom are superfans of the Jonas Brothers. The survey I conducted was through surveymonkey.com, and I sent it out via Facebook, Twitter, and texted it to people I knew who were fans. I got 44 responses mostly from fans, but also responses from people who were not. The questions I asked through the survey were about age, how they found out about the Jonas Brothers, whether or not the respondents were fans from 2005-2013, and whether or not they are fans now. I also asked how big a fan respondents were on a scale of 1-10, and how big a fan they are now, still on a scale of 1-10. I then asked whether or not respondents remained a fan when the Jonas Brothers broke up, and I asked them why they were fans then and why they are fans now. I got a number of various responses, all ranging from “my kids liked them” to “their songs are SO good, Camp Rock is SO good, and Nick and Joe are SO hot.” The range of responses I received has allowed me to identify different levels of the Jonas Brothers fandom, not just the experiences of mega fans.

Apart from interviews and surveys, I decided to analyze interviews of the Jonas Brothers, and pieces they have written themselves about being a part of a band of brothers. I am also looking into scholarly sources about band reunions, like Take That and Spice Girls, who have had successful comebacks in the past years. Scholars, such as Anja Lobert and Mark Duffett, have analyzed why and how boy bands have made successful comebacks, and this has allowed me to shape my on thesis on the Jonas Brothers. By also analyzing articles written for Billboard, Bitch (the magazine), Eye Magazine, New York, Rolling Stone, Seventeen, and Entertainment Weekly, I will discover more about the fans of the Jonas Brothers, as well as the band itself and why they have decided to make a comeback.

Literature Review

Mark Duffett, an expert on popular music and media fandom, writes about four discourses, youth, exploitation, gender and fandom, that “interlock” to explain the phenomena of boy bands (Duffett 185). Duffett goes on to talk about social media and its effect on boy band fandoms, specifically “anti-fan” pages (186). Anti-fan pages are hate pages that take an “active dislike to specific media products” and, “because fans by definition love the pleasures they get from engaging with popular culture, ‘anti-fandom’ is a semantically troublesome term: since ‘anti-fans’ vocally register their dislike of texts and performers, maybe the term ‘fan’ should not be included” (Duffett 186). Anti-fans have negative viewpoints of bands, and spread that hate through pages on social media, like Facebook. According to Duffett, there are several hate pages dedicated to the Jonas Brothers on Facebook (186). He goes on to talk about other scholars who have written about the boy band phenomenon in youth, and how these young people obsessing over bands will eventually grow up. Then, he writes about how being a member of a boy band is a job first, and the members of the group come second to that job (189). Fandom, according to Duffett, is gendered, and female audiences are targeted through the looks of a boy band, their “youthful manliness” that attracts young girls to their music (192). He ends with, “the popular discourses define ahead of time what there is to talk about in relation to boy bands as a social and cultural phenomenon. Their predetermined focus tends to preclude any discussion of things that might be just as interesting to address in relation to the genre: for example historical change, racial difference, generic diversity and issues of cultural memory” (196). Duffett’s take on the boy band phenomena is that even with anti-fan pages, boy bands will continue to attract young female audiences to them because of their youth, exploitation, and appeal of a fandom.

Joe Jonas, the middle brother of the Jonas Brothers, wrote an article with Jennifer Vineyard for New York. In this article, Joe talks about growing up in the public eye, Disney Channel’s control over his family’s life, and his own personal relationship with God. He says that when they first started their band, Nick was the one who truly had an opportunity as a solo artist, at the age of 12. Joe writes, “he had to make all these big decisions about whether he wanted to be in a band or work solo or work with his brothers. Luckily, he was cool with working with us” (Jonas 50). The brothers toured anywhere that could take them, until they finally got their big break with Disney. They did a few Christmas cover songs, concerts, and Disney roller coaster openings. Joe writes, “Then we made a music video for a cover song that we initially didn’t want to do because we hadn’t written it, called ‘Year 3000,’ exclusively for Disney, which led them to start playing the song on Radio Disney and the video on Disney Channel. Before we knew it, our fan base had exploded” (Jonas 50). After writing about how the Jonas Brothers blew up into headliners, Joe then goes into talking about the control Disney had over them. He writes, “Disney is great at creating fame” (Jonas 50). Then, the Jonas Brothers got their own show on Disney. Jonas was about three brothers who were in an already-famous band. Joe writes, “But the thing about the show was that some of the writing on it was terrible… they took out the kissing scene Nick had. I had to shave every day because they wanted me to pretend like I was 16 when I was 20” (Jonas 51). The brothers went along with everything Disney had them do, even if that meant singing songs they did not want to sing, or pretending to be much younger than they were, to cater to younger Disney audiences. After a scandal came out about one of the other Disney stars, the Jonas Brothers felt the pressure. Joe writes, “We didn’t want to disappoint anyone- our parents, our fans, our employers- so we put incredible pressure on ourselves, the kind of pressure that no teenager should be under” (Jonas 50). Joe goes on to talk about how difficult it was to maintain such a perfect image while also still trying to be a normal teenager. He then talks about the first time he smoked weed, his girlfriends, and then the breakup. Joe writes, “Things came to a head when we had a meeting where we thought we were going to talk about how to release our new music and it ended up shifting into this huge fight” (Jonas 100). After that fight, the brothers realized that they needed time to sort things out, so they cancelled the tour. Joe writes about how he did not want to go on a tour with his brothers if they were not going to be happy doing it. He just wanted a good relationship with his family.

Nick Jonas, the youngest Jonas Brother, did an interview with Entertainment Weekly, where he talked about anything and everything. He answered questions about his personal life, his “new” album (this interview is from 2016), and even sex. When asked about his co-child stars, like Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and Selena Gomez, Nick responds with, “If you want to talk about that graduating class of 2008, I’m really proud- it’s a really good group. Regardless of some of the history between us in different ways, there’s a generational strength and empowerment that we all feel” (Greenblatt 28). Nick goes on to talk about his worries of if his career was over, when the Jonas Brothers had broken up and he did not know where to go from there. Then, he decided to write his own music, and ended up having an extremely successful solo career.

Anja Lobert, an expert of media studies, writes about the different elements that contribute to the success of a boy band reunion. She focuses specifically on the reunion of Take That, and touches on the reunions of the Spice Girls and Boyzone. By analyzing these three band reunions, Lobert has concluded that the reunion, the breakup, the band history and idiosyncrasies have led to a successful reunion, specifically of Take That (Lobert 140). The reasons that they have been successful because, 1. The reunion was “explorative, rather than assumptive” (Lobert 141). 2. The reunion showed “continuity with an authenticity shift” (Lobert 141). 3. Their original split was a “framed breakup at a point of vast popularity” (Lobert 141). 4. The band’s personalities are capable of maintaining healthy relationships, and 5. A solo artist’s rise to fame “fuelled continued interest in the group” (Lobert 141). These five reasons for a successful reunion are closely related to the Jonas Brothers recent reunion.

Interviews/Survey

The Jonas Brothers, Joe, Nick and Kevin, have announced their reunion as both a band and as brothers, since their break up in 2013. In order to answer my question of whether or not fans have changed just as the Jonas Brothers have and if they will make a successful comeback, I interviewed two superfans, Janelle Jean and Natalia Farias. I knew that these women had been huge fans back in middle school, and I knew that they had stayed fans throughout the hiatus. I thought to interview them because I remember how excited they were when they found out the band was getting back together.

Janelle Jean, 23, became a Jonas Brothers fan in 2008, when she attended the Burnin’ Up Tour on August 7, 2008. After listening to their recent albums and watching their music videos on Disney Channel, Janelle had grown such a love for them that she just had to attend their concert when they came to Massachusetts. After the concert, she realized how big a fan she really was. She would listen to their music constantly, she had posters of Joe, Nick and Kevin all over her room, and she would purchase magazines with their faces on the front cover just to see if there was any new JoBro information inside that she did not already know. After attending the premiere of Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience in 2009, Janelle remembers how excited she was to experience her favorite band in concert again, but four years later, when they toured again, she could not afford tickets and was crushed that she could not go. After always keeping up with the Jonas Brothers through Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, Janelle thought she knew everything about them. Surprisingly, she did not anticipate their breakup in October 2013. When asked why she was a fan of the Jonas Brothers, Janelle said, “I just remember seeing their music video for “Year 3000” on Disney Channel and falling in love. Immediately after I saw it, I just had to know more about them. I obviously loved them because of how cute they were, but my little 12 year-old self appreciated their music for just how good it was. It just made me feel good.” Janelle was also a big fan of Camp Rock, so that just solidified her love for the Jonas Brothers. Joe was her favorite, and she had pictures of him in her 7th grade locker. Natalia was the same way.

Natalia Farias remembers the first time she fell in love with the Jonas Brothers. “I saw them on Disney Channel, probably like everyone else who was a fan of them, and searched everything I could about them on YouTube. They were perfect and I have been a huge fan ever since.” Natalia became a fan in 2008, like Janelle had. Although Janelle went to their Burnin’ Up Tour in 2008, Natalia did not get to go. She did not yet have any friends that were also fans of the Jonas Brothers, and obviously could not go alone to a concert as a 12-year-old. She did not get the chance to attend a concert until the Live Tour in July of 2013, which she attended with me. We drove into Boston, listening to the Jonas Brothers the entire way, had amazing seats, and Natalia even cried when Nick sang “A Little Bit Longer.” She remembers the night perfectly; it was the first time she got to see her all-time favorite band in person. When I asked her about the specific details that she remembered about the concert we went to, she said, “I just remember how Joe walked down the center aisle right next to our seats, and I reached out and touched his arm. It was the best thing ever, I still remember it perfectly.” After this amazing experience, Natalia knew she just had to go again. She had a friend who wanted to go to their next concert, a few months later in October 2013. After getting those tickets and patiently awaiting the concert, only a week was left that they had to wait to see their favorite artists. A shock came though, when Natalia was scrolling through Twitter and saw someone had tweeted about the Jonas Brothers breaking up. “I remember seeing that tweet, and my heart almost stopped. I thought it was fake at first, just someone trying to start rumors. But then when I looked deeper into it, I found out it was true. My favorite band had broken up just one week before I was supposed to see them. How typical is that? Just my luck,” she said. Over the years and the hiatus, Natalia and Janelle have kept up with the Jonas Brothers through social media and through Nick and Joe’s solo careers. Kevin had a television show at one point, and they both watched that, but it just was not the same as all three brothers being together. They still listened to their older songs and made sure to keep track of the rumors about a reunion that occur once every year. This year though, the rumors were true: the Jonas Brothers were back.

From my survey on surveymonkey.com, I got 44 responses. After asking how old the respondents were, two were 18 years old or younger, 27 were between the ages of 19-22, 13 were aged 23-26, and two were older than 27. Next, I asked, “Were you a fan of the Jonas Brothers before they broke up in 2013?” 34 answered yes, while 10 answered no. Then, I asked if the respondents were currently a fan of the Jonas Brothers. 33 responded yes, while 11 answered no. Next, I asked, “When did you first hear of the Jonas Brothers?” I gave five options, and 33 answered, “Disney Channel- ‘Year 3000’ music video,” two answered “radio,” five chose “from a friend/school,” two chose “online,” and two chose “other,” with typed out responses of “my kids” and “Camp Rock.” For the next question, I asked, “On a scale of 1-10, how big of a fan were you from 2005-2013? (i.e. 10 = superfan).” The majority (23%) chose 7. The rest were ranged from 1-10, but 12 respondents chose the options 8-10. I then asked the same question, but instead of from 2005-2013, I asked if they were fans now. This time, 25% answered “7,” while six chose “1,” and only five chose the options 8-10. Clearly the fans who responded to my survey have not drastically changed their opinion of the band, except for a couple who are no longer fans. Next, I asked if the respondents were excited that the Jonas Brothers announced their comeback. 31 responded yes, four responded no and nine were indifferent to it. Then, I asked if respondent remained a fan when the Jonas Brothers broke up. 19 responded yes, 6 responded no, and 19 were indifferent. For the final two questions, I asked why respondents were a fan from 2005-2013, and then why they are a fan now. The majority of responses for why they were a fan from 2005-2013 were about the band’s songs, their good looks, and the influence of Camp Rock and friends who were fans. Some wrote that they were not fans originally, though. When asked why they were fans now, the majority of respondents cited nostalgia as a big reason as to why they love the band now. One response stood out to me though. It said (anonymously), “I love each individual’s growth and solo music (well not Kevin lol). My friends and I have always loved listening to throwback Jonas brothers music and now we have new stuff to listen to from them which is so Cool (no pun intended)! I think there’s something so cute and special about them being brothers so people love the band!” Although the band has grown, so have the fans. Another interesting response was, “I’ve only heard that one song. Sucker. Not a huge fan of it. Haven’t heard rest of music. I think they have changed and matured as a group so their music should also change with their growth.” Even though this person is no longer a fan, they recognize that the Jonas Brothers have grown and evolved, and I think that is interesting that they are no longer thought of as a part of the Disney Channel.

The responses I got from my survey are very telling. Clearly, some fans of the band have not stayed with them, but from what I gathered, those who are no longer fans were never huge fans of the Jonas Brothers in the first place. The fans that have stuck with them were mega fans back from 2005-2013, and have stayed fans of the band throughout their six-year hiatus and now into their much-awaited reunion. A respondent from the survey said, “The band has changed due to the natural aging process, but they are attempting to get the same pop beats as before and I dig that.” I think this is interesting, even though the band has clearly aged and has recently made music that is different to their original sound, “Sucker” and “Cool,” they have still managed to keep their fan base, and even expanded it to new people with their change in sound.

The interviews I did gave me a new perspective into the Jonas Brothers fandom. Clearly, these fans have grown up, but so have the Jonas Brothers. As the superfans got older, so did the brothers. They kept track of their lives, and made sure to keep updated on them through social media and their solo careers. They have followed them for years, making sure that they are up-to-date on what they are doing, and have made an effort to stay fans of the Jonas Brothers even now, when they are much older and are making different music than they had before.

Analysis

The idea of nostalgia is clearly associated with this band, as so many of the people I surveyed and interviewed cited it as one of the main reasons they still love the band. A respondent from the survey said, “I think I like them for the nostalgia factor but the music is still great. Just more grown up but so is the fan base.” Janelle and Natalia also talked about the nostalgia factor in depth. They both remember having such a good time whenever they listened to the Jonas Brothers, and would listen to them or watch their music videos whenever they were feeling sad or feeling like they just needed to forget about something bad that happened that day.

Natalia said, “I think I still love them as much as I did in middle school because it reminds me of such a happy time in my life. I would dance around my room, that was full of posters of the Jonas Brothers, listening to their music and jamming out to ‘Year 3000’ and ‘Hold On.’ I just remember having such a good time whenever I listened to them, or read about them in a magazine.”

Although both Janelle and Natalia associate the Jonas Brothers with happy moments in their tween and teen years, they both mentioned something interesting. They were bullied for liking the Jonas Brothers in middle school. Janelle said, “I loved them so much, and for some reason, liking a band that was associated with Disney Channel was lame, and it was a reason for someone to make fun of you.” Both Natalia and Janelle were made fun of for liking the Jonas Brothers, just because they listened to their music and had pictures of them in their lockers. This leads me to the idea of “bandwagon bullies,” a term that Natalia used to describe the people who made fun of her for liking the Jonas Brothers back from 2005-2013, but are now jumping on the bandwagon of today’s Jonas Brothers fans. She said, “I think it’s funny that the same people who bullied me for liking the Jonas Brothers are the same people who are posting on Twitter how excited they are that they’re back. Like, were they not good enough for you when they were on the Disney Channel? Now they are cool because they’re older?” I think this is interesting and leads to a bigger question. Are today’s Jonas Brothers fans split into two parts? Original superfans and bandwagon bullies?

Anja Lobert’s analysis of boy band reunions is really interesting to me, because all five reasons for a successful reunion tie directly into the Jonas Brothers’ reunion. The reunion is explorative, meaning that they do not fully expect to be successful, they are doing this for their fans. There is continuity with an authenticity shift, meaning that they are the same band, but now they are just not associated with Disney Channel, and have shifted their style to what they feel is original to them as a band. Their breakup was at a vast point of popularity, and it was devastating to fans. The Jonas Brothers are also clearly capable of maintaining a healthy relationship in the band, because they are brothers and have since worked out their differences since they split. Lastly, Joe and Nick’s solo careers have kept the attention of fans, and have kept them relevant over the years since the band was broken up (Lobert 141).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Jonas Brothers have made a successful comeback, despite the fact that they have not yet released an album. They have teased a tour recently, and fans are going crazy about it. Even with the two songs they have released, they have already done better than the majority of the songs they released back between 2005 and 2013. Because of the fact that the Jonas Brothers emit a feeling of nostalgia in their fans, and bringing in new fans with their new music, they have clearly grown their fan base. Has the fan base changed as well as the band? Through my interviews, survey, and research on boy band reunions, I believe that yes, the fans have changed, but I think it is for the better. The idea of “bandwagon bullies” rings true here, because yes, these new fans used to make fun of the original Jonas Brothers fans, but the band has clearly made an impact on these “bandwagon bullies” enough to make them change their opinion of the band.

Bibliography

Duffett, Mark. “Multiple damnations: deconstructing the critical response to boy band phenomena.” Popular Music History, Equinox Publishing, 2013, pp. 185-197.

Fuentes, Tamara and Carolyn Twersky. “Everything We Know About the Jonas Brothers Reunion.” Seventeen, 22 Apr, 2019, https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/music/a26408288/jonas-brothers-reunion-2019/

Greenblatt, Leah. “Wet Hot American Pop Star.” Entertainment Weekly, summer issue 2016, pp. 26-31.

Jonas, Joe and Jennifer Vineyard. “My Life as a Jonas Brother; The real, PG-13ish version.” New York, 9 Dec. 2013, pp. 48-100.

Lobert, Anja. “Explorative, authentic and cohesive: factors contributing to successful boy band reunions.” Popular Music History, Equinox Publishing, 2013, pp. 128-142.

Reed, Ryan. “Jonas Brothers Confirm Reunion, Plan First New Music in Six Years.” Rolling Stone, 28 Feb. 2019, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jonas-brothers-reunion-new-music-sucker-late-late-show-801382/

Trust, Gary. “Jonas Brothers Notch First Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 as ‘Sucker’ Blasts In On Top.” Billboard, 11 Mar. 2019, https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/8501890/jonas-brothers-sucker-no-1-hot-100

Is College Really Worth the Stress of Student Loans?

I wrote this feature piece for my Fall 2018 Feature Writing course at Salve. We were to choose a current “trend” or “issue” and I chose student loans. Personally, I am dealing with them and know others are as well. After interviewing students who have recently graduated and are currently dealing with debt and an admissions counselor at Salve Regina, I gathered information and wrote this piece.

By Lauren O’Neil

70% of college graduates will owe an average of $37,172 in student debt after school. That is about the same as a downpayment on a home. Student loans are something that almost everyone has to deal with if they decide to attend college. Only a few are lucky enough to receive a full ride to a college or university. The decision to go to college is so important: getting a degree will help you both figure out what you want to do with your life, as well as give you life skills. The skills that students learn while away at college are key to succeeding in life. Learning to live with others, meeting new people, and discovering new ways to learn are all different aspects of the college life, and they all contribute to the real-world experience. High school students are stuck with a big decision at a young age: where are they going to go, what are they going to do, and how much are they willing to spend? There is a certain amount of stress that comes with choosing where to go for the next four years of one’s life, and the pressure of student loans can be even worse. Is it really worth it to spend so much on a college experience?

I spoke with Tenley Sodeur, an admissions counselor at Salve Regina University to get a professional point of view. Her job is to visit high schools around New England and get students to think about applying to Salve, as well as reviewing all applications and deciding who will be a part of the newest freshman class. I asked her if she believes that high school students, most of those who do not have a great concept of money, should be the deciding factor on where they go to college. I know that when I was in high school, I had no idea how much money I was going to be spending on student loans. I had the choice of a few different state schools and private schools. I knew I wanted a good education that would take me far in my career, but I just did not know from where. I went along with what my parents were telling me, and ultimately chose Salve Regina because I knew I would be happiest here. Although Salve Regina is expensive, the environment and campus attitude has made my experience so great. Tenley thinks that “students should still have the right to decide where they want to go, but still understanding the concept of paying student loans is what is important. We try to provide students with as much liberty to make their own decision as possible.” Salve Regina University provides students with the correct information about how much they will be spending, and how much of that is going to be paid through student loans after graduation. Salve also tries to be as transparent as possible with financial information. They let you know exactly what you should expect, and offer advice if Salve may not be the right choice for your financial situation. The Office of Financial Aid always has someone available to speak to if you are having trouble figuring out a good payment plan, or if you just want to learn more about different options that the school has for financial aid.

Students should choose a school where they know they will be most comfortable. Jackie Bletzer agrees. She graduated from Suffolk University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism in 2017. Jackie just recently landed a job doing what she loves, broadcast journalism. A monthly payment of over $900 in student loans has put Jackie in a difficult position, though. She is stuck paying so much to student loans that she can “barely afford” to keep the job she has. Living in Boston requires a high rent price, and a high living price. Jackie loves her job, but the cost of living in Boston and her student loans have made her realize that her dream job may not pay well enough to get her through. Although she really loved her college experience, Jackie says, “I do wish that I had known back when I was choosing between schools what my loans would be like… I looked at a few state schools, but didn’t like them nearly as much as I liked Suffolk. I based my decision on where I believed I would be happiest at.” Happiness is so important, because if you end up going to a school just based on the financial aspect, you may not be happiest there, and would it really be worth it?

Is college really worth how much it costs? In The Narrative and Rhetoric of Student Debt, the author writes that, “Higher education is a personal, private ‘investment’ that must be ‘worth it’ to the student.” College is so important, and is definitely an investment. Tenley, the Salve admissions counselor, made a good point when she said, “I like to remind students that this is ultimately like you’re investing in a house. The cost of a typical house is what your four years will shape up to be.” That makes a lot of sense, and really puts the college experience into perspective. People buy houses because they want something that will last them a long time, well into their life. A college experience should do the same. It should be something that you will keep with you forever, whether it is what you learned in your classes or whatever life skills you learned while being away at college. Emily Bertolami, a recent graduate from Merrimack College feels the same way. She says, “If the school has the right program and the right career path you know you want to go into, I think it is definitely worth it to spend more and get your money’s worth of a quality education.” But what if you end up doing something completely different than what you thought you were going to do?

A factor that people may not think about when making the college decision is that a lot of people end up with jobs that had nothing to do with their college major. The main question here is: if you end up doing something completely unrelated to your degree, is it really worth it to spend such a high amount of money? By even attending college and taking courses, you are learning so much. Tenley Sodeur had this happen to her. She graduated from Plymouth State University with a degree in Meteorology, but ultimately decided that career path was not for her. She said, “I’m still a math and science nerd to this day, and I loved my major, but I started to think about what I really wanted to do with a major in meteorology. I didn’t see myself going into broadcast, so I was left thinking: what am I going to do?” Since Tenley had spent time in college working for the admissions office as a tour guide, she figured she would try something new. Completely turning around, Tenley became an admissions counselor at Salve Regina and is now working on completing her MBA. When talking about this decision and whether or not it was still worth it to spend so much on a degree she was not using, Tenley said, “I don’t think an education is ever wasted.” I agree with this. General education classes are so important, and the experiences of taking those classes provide students with different life skills.

So, the big question is: is college really worth the stress of student loans? Over 44 million Americans owe $1.5 trillion in student debt. This number is the highest it has ever been. You are on the same boat as almost everyone else if you decide to attend a particularly more expensive college. I am on my way to joining this growing number of recent grads who are dealing with debt, but it will be worth it in the end. Students are given such a big opportunity that a lot of people may not have. College is important, and although extremely expensive (probably too expensive), it allows students to grow and learn in new ways that will help them in their careers down the line. From admission counselors to recent grads, everyone is dealing with student loans, and you should not let that get in the way of a good education. Tenley, Jackie and Emily all believe that a college education is worth the stress of student debt, if you have the means of paying it off (like a well-paying job in a career that you love). There are ways of dealing with debt, like loans, scholarships, and forgiveness programs that can help you get out of debt, faster. Every student is different and has different experiences, but the price of a college education should not deter you from going and getting an education that you believe will help excel both your career and your life skills. If you want to learn something, learn it. The cost of learning should not get in the way of getting what you deserve.

The Break-In

This is a story I wrote for my Fall 2018 Feature Writing course. After interviewing and observing my subject, Salve Regina senior Susan Phillips, I wrote this story detailing her experience with a home invasion.

By Lauren O’Neil

As we’re sitting in her kitchen, only a few feet away from where the event occurred, Susan, tells me what happened to her only a short while ago. Awoken at 1 am by screams and a slamming door from her roommates, Susan thought she was dreaming. Hearing her roommates Andrea and Amy yelling back and forth, she remembers opening her door, confused, asking what was going on. “There’s someone in the house!” is the response she got.

Susan Phillips, 21, is a senior at Salve Regina University, and lives with her three friends, Andrea, Amy, and Megan. Early on in the morning of Tuesday, September 25th, a man broke into Susan’s home while she and two of her roommates were home. After hearing loud footsteps and another door slam only a few moments earlier, Susan gathered with Andrea and Amy in the upstairs hallway in a panic. “We had no idea what was going on but we knew something was wrong. I checked my Find My Friends app to see where Megan was,” said Susan. Seeing that Megan’s location was no longer in the house, Amy nervously announced that she was going to call the police. On the phone with the police, all three girls went downstairs to see if anyone was there. “We saw that the sliding door in the back was opened, and we realized that someone had actually been in the house,” said Susan.

Her roommate Megan came home around 1 am to find the front door left open, and the intruder at the top of the stairs. After spotting him, she yelled to her roommates, telling them to get out, then ran back out through the front door. The intruder followed her, running after her, but turned and went the other way at the end of the street. A camera across the street caught Megan and the intruder running out of the house. He was a few seconds behind her. According to Susan, the camera captured the man running in the opposite direction of Megan, who was already on her phone, calling 9-1-1. Immediately, Megan called the police and was quickly on her way back home with a few officers.

Once Megan was back in the house with the police, she told her roommates what had happened only a few minutes earlier. Susan recalls seeing Megan visibly shaken, and tells me what Megan told her. “When she walked in around 1 am, the front door was ajar.” Hitting her hands on the table, Susan mimics the sound of footsteps. “She heard someone walking around upstairs, but was confused because she knew we were all in bed, asleep.” I could tell that Susan was getting visibly nervous, rubbing her neck as she told her friend’s side of the story. “After calling out to us to ask if we were awake, Megan turned to go up the stairs and stopped. There was a man at the top of the stairs dressed in all black,” said Susan. “At this point, Andrea, Amy and I were all still upstairs in our rooms. We woke up to Megan yelling ‘guys, get out, there’s someone in the house’ and the door slamming.”

“The police had a lot of questions,” said Susan. Megan, who had just caught her breath, had to explain the entire situation in detail to everyone in the room. The officers were asking questions like, “Was the door locked? Did you know anyone who would want to do this to you? Would any of your friends play a prank on you for some reason?” Susan told me, “None of our friends would do this to us. This isn’t some sort of joke. Nobody would go this far to prank us.” A friend would never do something like this. Megan revealed to the police that her bedroom door, the one that leads out to the backyard, was unlocked that night. It had a tricky lock and she used it to come in the house when she came home from class for easier access to her room. “The police knew right away that the sliding door in Megan’s room was how the intruder entered the house,” says Susan. “That night, Megan had to give a witness statement to the police because she was the one who actually saw the man. We were here for four or five hours with the police while they were investigating,” says Susan. “They dusted for fingerprints, looked for footprints, and just checked around the house to see if anything was out of the ordinary or stolen,” recalls Susan. After a couple hours of investigating and questioning, the police left, and the four girls got picked up by Megan’s parents to go sleep safely at their house. They stayed there for a few days while the police were going in an out of their off-campus house. The girls finally returned back to their house after about six days.

The police search revealed that nothing from the house was stolen. That reveals an even bigger question. If the intruder was not there to steal, what were his intentions? “Thankfully Megan just happened to come home at the right time,” said Susan, “I don’t even want to think about what could have happened.”

As I am interviewing Susan now, it is a few weeks later. She is still shaken up, for good reason, and it shows in the way she speaks about the break in. Her hands are constantly doing something, either pulling at her shirt or rubbing her neck. She is visibly anxious as she recalls what happened in her home only a little while back. Walking around the house, Susan shows me where the intruder entered the house, through the sliding door in Megan’s room. She shows me the two other doors that he left propped open for an escape route. Looking around, I can see the scene play out. The intruder comes through the back door, goes up the stairs and into the hallway where the three upstairs bedrooms are. Megan comes home, notices the door cracked open, and yells to her roommates. A few seconds later, she hears footsteps and sees a tall man, dressed in all black, at the top of the stairs. Turning around, she runs out the door and onto the street with the man on her heels. As soon as she takes her phone out to call the police, he turns and runs in the opposite direction, clearly trying to get away as quickly as possible. As we walk around the house, Susan is telling me exactly what happened, in as much detail as possible. “I want to show you how quickly this all happened. It was only a few minutes from the time I woke up to screams until the police were here,” says Susan, “We were so lucky that Megan came home when she did.”

After the break-in, Susan and her roommates wanted to spread the word to Salve Regina faculty. Susan said, “the next day, we went around Salve and talked to different administrators. We talked to Michael Caruolo, Malcolm Smith, Barbara LoMonaco, and other staff members, telling them what happened.” Talking to the head of security at Salve put the girls’ minds a little more at rest, because he could now coordinate with Newport Police. Later that day, “we went to the police station, all four of us, and Andrea, Amy and I had to give our witness statements as well,” said Susan.

The police patrolled the house for a few days after the break in, to make sure the suspect did not return. The only update that the girls have received thus far from Newport police is that the camera that caught the man running out of the house after Megan, was not helpful. “We actually haven’t heard anything in about a week and a half since it happened, which is kind of a let down,” says Susan. A couple days after the break in, once the police were done combing through the house, Susan’s father drove up from New Jersey to install a new security system, by SimpliSafe. Motion detectors and cameras monitor the house, and will alert the girls if there is something wrong. “We are also taking a lot of precautions that we didn’t before. We all bought pepper spray, personal alarm systems, and we are using the ‘Buddy System’ a lot more now,” says Susan, “we want to make sure that we are safe at all times, something like this really makes you think more about everything you do.”

Time is of the Essence

In my Spring 2018 Marketing Communications course, a group of myself and 4 other students were tasked with creating a commercial for Fossil’s line of “Hybrid Smartwatches.” I filmed, edited and produced this commercial for my group. It is titled “Time is of the Essence.”

The Simplest of Them All

This is a response paper that I wrote for my Animated Films class. The assignment was to watch a film and write a specific response to it. I wrote mine on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and why she is portrayed as simple-minded and innocent, and for what reason.

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The Simplest of Them All

In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Snow White is portrayed as an innocent and simple young girl. In the article, “Art, Adaptation, and Ideology,” M. Thomas Inge writes, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs accurately reflected the general public attitude toward the place of women in society and continued a long tradition in Western culture of portraying women as passive vessels of innocence and virtue” (140). At the time of when the movie was made, women were viewed this way. Disney made little to no effort to try and make Snow White psychologically complex, and that was to be expected. Snow White seems to be simple minded, when she sees a man she automatically falls in love, when she meets the dwarfs she trusts them immediately. She is not very reserved when it comes to possible dangers. When I first saw this movie when I was young, I absolutely loved it. I loved the Dwarfs, I loved the idea that a prince would come and rescue Snow White, and I loved how everything turned out happily ever after. Even the part when the Evil Queen (as an old woman) gives her the poisoned apple amazed me because it was scary, but I still knew that everything would be alright in the end. I was used to Disney Princess films and the way that they were structured. Now when I am watching it again, all I can think is: how can Snow White automatically trust everyone she meets? She was threatened with a knife by a huntsman, she got lost in the forest, and then is absolutely fine after a few seconds. Personally, I think this is because Disney wanted her to seem like a positive figure, not having many reservations and being eerily happy all the time, because how could she possibly be upset for more than one scene? Snow White is able to go into a stranger’s home, not knowing who lives there, and just expect them to let her stay, which may say more about her and how she just assumes everyone is good. When she finds out that seven men live there, she just gets excited because to her, they seem like small children. Then, towards the end of the film, Snow White was warned against strangers by the Dwarfs and she promised not to speak to anyone she did not know. But of course, a little old woman comes to the house and Snow White is so inviting that she does not even question the nature of the visit. I cannot tell if Snow White was too innocent to believe that someone would really hurt her, or too simple-minded to put two and two together. Did Disney do this on purpose to make a point about women in 1937? Or was this just to make the film more simple and easier to create?

This brings me back to Snow White’s psychological complexity. She seems to be a little naive, and that she assumes that people have her best interest at heart. She may be used to this, growing up as a princess, but having the Evil Queen as your step-mother must have some effect. I think Snow White is meant to seem this way, because it makes her easier to understand. If you are making a children’s film about a princess, why would you make her difficult to receive? By making Snow White a simple-minded person and by making her trust people very easily, it leads to an easier storyline. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has a structured storyline that does not need much background, but if Snow White were to have more of a complex personality, or if she tended to question people, Disney would have a problem on their hands. If Snow White questioned why the Evil Queen wanted to kill her, or if she thought more about going into a stranger’s home, there would be more of a need for background and explanation. By making her simple, Disney made the film simpler for the audience. Children may not have understood the story as well or may not have wanted to pay as much attention if Snow White decided to do some investigative work into the Queen or the Dwarfs.

There is also the possibility that Disney made Snow White simple-minded because that was how women were viewed at the time. Going back to the quote from “Art, Adaptation, and Ideology,” about the tradition of viewing women as passive vessels of innocence and virtue, Inge writes that, “The facts of Disney’s own life suggest that he was not always easy around women” (141). His mother was supportive of him, but everything was controlled by his father. He rarely dated and ended up marrying a woman who would become the “ideal” housewife. Disney may have just been used to seeing women this way, but women were generally viewed as housewives, especially by men, who were in control of the production of this film. Snow White’s life goal is to find a husband and get married to him because that is what she was taught. She never thinks that she can live a life on her own, mostly because there is really nothing after being a princess. This brings me back to the fact that Snow White always does what she is told, possibly because she does not think of any other option, or because women were not “supposed” to have a career or have a life of their own without a husband to have children for. Snow White is a very passive and flat character, without many layers. By making her this way, Disney is either trying to represent women of the time, or he did it to make the film more simple and easier to understand from a child’s point of view. If this film were to be released in today, instead of in 1937, the general public would not have taken well to it, and this was proven. Inge wrote, “On the re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1993, as journalist Jami Bernard put it, the film has returned ‘just in time to mess up a new generation of little girls” (141). The fact that women are no longer viewed as passive vessels of innocence and virtue shows that if this film had been released in present day, it would not have been as successful as it was when Disney originally produced it. Disney took the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and made it into a film that families would enjoy watching at that point in time, and families are still enjoying it today, but as a memory of 1937 and a classic film.

Short Film: “The Dance”

This is a short film I created for my Animated Films class at Salve Regina. We had the option of choosing a type of animation to create a film, and I chose stop-motion. I based my film on the dance scenes in both Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Anastasia. 

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CRU Cafe: Where Customers and “Cru” Are Family

This is a mini documentary for my Multimedia Storytelling class on a place in Newport that I thought made a difference in the Community. I chose CRU Cafe. I produced this video using the Ken Burns effect, cutaways, and documentary-style editing.

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Salve Regina Women’s Volleyball Game

This is a TV Broadcast-style video that I created for my Multimedia Storytelling class. I interviewed, edited, and produced this video using iMovie in television broadcast-style.

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Tales

This is a podcast that I created for my Multimedia Storytelling class at Salve. It focuses on Disney films and compares them to their original stories. I interviewed Dr. Matthew Ramsey, who is an Animated Films professor at Salve Regina. Below, I have included my original plan for the podcast.

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The Plan:

Tales is a podcast about fairy tales. It will explore the deeper meanings of specific stories to better understand how and why they were written, specifically the themes, techniques, and history. Some children’s movies, like Snow White and Cinderella are based on older fairy tales with different meanings. A lot of original fairy tales are much more gruesome than we realize, because Disney changed them to be happy endings. Tales will explore the stories we grew up with in a way that college students are interested in, relating specific topics that they may be studying. Tales is a single-host podcast, with interviews about the stories with fans of the stories and professionals in the field. There are many things that people do not notice that are under the surface of fairy tales, and Tales will dive deeper into the storylines. The music used in this podcast will be “The Zeppelin” by Blue Dot Sessions.

The demographics that Tales is aimed towards are college-aged students, who grew up watching films by Disney and loved the fairy tales of princesses and princes. People of all ages could enjoy Tales, but the movies being analyzed will relate mostly to young adults. Everyone grew up watching these films and hearing these stories, so the majority of students would be interested in this topic. If reminiscing on your childhood while still learning interesting facts intrigues you, Tales is the podcast for you. Three possible topics that Tales will cover are: Grimm Brothers vs. Disney, the history of the stories, and the underlying meanings of the fairy tales.

There are a couple of podcasts that may be similar to mine, Singing Bones and Myths and Legends are two of them. Singing Bones is a podcast about the history of common and famous fairy tales. Myths and Legends is a podcast that is not entirely focused on fairy tales, but it features a couple of episodes on specific stories. These podcasts explore the fairy tales themselves, while I focus on the film versions and the story versions, specifically by the Grimm Brothers and Disney.

My podcast, Tales, will be an episodic podcast. Tales will be produced every month, with a new episode on the first Sunday of every month. I want this podcast to be really well produced, and for it to stay in production for as long as possible, so every month gives me enough time to research, produce and edit in order to make Tales the best it can be.

There are three possible interview segments for the first three episodes of Tales. The first episode, the Pilot, is focusing on the Grimm Brothers and Disney, comparing and contrasting the way they adapted Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The interviewee will be Dr. Ramsey, a professional and professor of films. The second episode will be the history of Cinderella and the differences between every version of it. The interview guest for this episode will be a fan of the story, possibly Emma Butterbrodt, a student at Salve Regina. The third episode will focus on the themes of a newer film, Zootopia. This film has been thought to be about racism and equality. A possible interviewee could be Alex Bletzer, a student at Salve Regina who has interests in these topics.

One local advertiser for Tales could be newportFILM, which is a local non-profit organization that promotes documentaries and emerging filmmakers. I could promote their cause for more people to know about it, and it is related to Tales. A national advertiser for Tales could be Penguin Random House, which is a well-known and very successful publisher in New York. Since they publish books, as well as children’s books, I could relate that to my podcast and feature them in some way.

Mini Profile on Angela Augusta

This is a mini-profile I did on someone who makes a difference at Salve Regina. I chose Angela Augusta, a junior at Salve. After interviewing her, I created this profile on her for my Multimedia Storytelling class. I also created an Adobe Spark Video on Angela which is linked after the profile.

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Angela Augusta has always had a passion for helping others. She was the type of kid to invite others to her lunch table if they seemed lonely. Augusta is from Windham, NH, but went to boarding school at Kimball Union Academy. There, she played all varsity sports including soccer, lacrosse, and hockey. Augusta started playing hockey when she was four years old, and has been ever since. When she was young, Augusta wanted to be either a professional hockey player or a famous singer. Her biggest supporter in life is her brother Adam, who has been her motivation for everything she does.

Augusta has always wanted to help others who need it. “I love loving everyone. I think since I was a little kid, I’ve always just wanted to be kind to other people, and help other people that don’t seem to get that social recognition.” After spending time at Looking Upwards during her freshman year orientation at Salve Regina University, she immediately fell in love with the people there and signed up the next day to work with Best Buddies. Looking Upwards is a non-profit agency for adults and children with developmental disabilities based in Middletown, RI. Augusta had always known that she wanted to work in the healthcare field, but this experience helped her to nail down exactly what she wanted to do.

Augusta makes time for Best Buddies, the girls hockey team, and all of her classes. “Hockey gives me time organizational skills.” Augusta is a junior, with a major in Business Administration and two minors in Healthcare Administration and Marketing. She has been working with the Best Buddies program through Salve Regina for the past two years. “Right now, I’m doing it because it’s something that takes away the stress from the school day and playing hockey here at Salve. I want to work with disabled people when I’m older, but right now it’s a stress reliever and it just makes me really happy. It makes the people that go there happy too.” By far, her favorite experience with the program was meeting her buddy Bob, a 46-year old man with a mental disability. Augusta is very fond of Bob, saying, “Bob is my best friend. He’s outgoing, he’s friendly, he’s kind, he loves everyone he talks to, he’s literally the greatest person I’ve ever met.” Forming this friendship has made Augusta into the person that she always wanted to be. “I just love being around people, helping people, talking to people, meeting new people. And I think that down to my core i’m just a very outgoing, social, kind person. I like knowing people.”

With big plans for her future, Augusta has many ideas of what she would like to do. She has been offered two jobs by Looking Upwards, the program built to provide service to those in need. After graduation, Augusta plans to go back to school to get a bachelors in Healthcare Administration and hopefully a degree in Special Education. If she does not get a job in the healthcare field immediately after school, Augusta wants to work at a prep school, possibly in administration. If her life goes in the direction of preparatory schools, she wants to help run a Best Buddies program in prep schools so that “kids in high school get to get a taste of what it’s like working with people outside of their population.” She wants high schoolers to be more educated about other people in the world other than kids that have the same set of skills as them with no disabilities. Augusta wants to take her own experiences from high school and merge it with her determination to help people who need it. While the future is still far away, Augusta has big plans. “I want to have own facility for people with mental disabilities that I administrate, and I manage, and I take care of, and do the hiring. That’s my main goal. That would be the best career for me.”

Adobe Spark Video on Angela Augusta

The Kardashian Effect

This is a blog I created for my Media and Culture class in 2016 as a final research project. It is focused on the Kardashian family, specifically as one of the most influential families that year.

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The Kardashian Effect

Self-Driving Cars

For my Media Writing class, we had a group assignment of a “Convergence Lab” to choose a topic and write a multitude of different stories about that topic. My group chose technology, and from there, we wrote this story (featuring a print news story and a Storify) about self-driving cars.

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Is it Time to Think About Self-Driving Cars in Newport?

Newport locals have mixed beliefs on whether or not self-driving cars would be welcome in the seaside city.

In the past year, the transportation company Uber has begun testing self-driving cars to pick up passengers around Pittsburgh and Phoenix. Uber is now looking to expand testing operations and Rhode Island legislators need to decide whether to ban the technology or embrace it.

A poll conducted by Harris Interactive in 2014 showed that 80 percent of those polled believed that computer glitches would be the greatest drawback of self-driving cars, while only 7 percent of the sample believed there would be no drawbacks.

The greatest benefit in the survey was perceived to be a cure to dangerous driving accidents. The participants believed self-driving cars would limit drunk driving, as well as reducing speeding and traffic.

The Executive Director of the Audrain Automobile Museum on Belleview, David De Muzio, believes that self-driving technology in Newport may help during tourist season.

“Obviously they are working out all the ins and outs of all the technology to make it work on public streets, but I’ve read that they help congestion. We certainly have congestion on the island in the summer with tourism. I imagine initially it would be interesting, but it may not completely alleviate our problem. Over time I imagine it would be a great thing, though,” said De Muzio.

While De Muzio said he has no fears about the change self-driving cars would bring to his career, auto mechanic Paul S’Braccia fears technology is moving too far, too fast.

“Right now there’s not enough information and sources… there’s not a lot of history on it, so I think it’s something to do in the future. Right now, it’s hard to answer that question because we don’t know enough about it yet, it’s in testing stages,” said S’Braccia.

Local opinions pointed toward the biggest problem of self-driving technology: the unknown.

Salve Regina sophomore Angela Augusta admitted to not really knowing much about self-driving cars outside of doing some research for a class.

“I think that self-driving cars being tested in Newport would be cool, but I also think the concept of a self-driving car is actually kind of dangerous, especially in a college town. I feel like there would have to be precautionary measures made, and everyone on campus and in the city would have to know,” Augusta said.

Professionals and townies alike are unsure what to make of Newport’s possible future with self-driving technology and the state has yet to make a move for or against.

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I also made a Storify for the project, featured here.

Panel on Trump’s U.S. Asia Policy

After going to a panel on Trump’s U.S. Asia policies, I wrote this event story for my Media Writing class along with interviewing three people who also attended the panel. It features both a print and a broadcast story.

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Wondering what President Trump and his administration have been up to in regards to Asian policies?

Last week, the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University held a discussion with four panelists who all spoke about the future of U.S. Asia policies under President Trump. They held this panel to inform more people about what is going on in our government, especially internationally.

The panelists were Dr. Tanvi Madan, Jeff M. Smith, Isaac Stone Fish, and the mediator, Dr. Iskander Rehman. They all sat at a table in the front of the Bazarsky Lecture Hall on Tuesday, March 21. Speaking to an audience that was spread sparsely around the auditorium, they explained their positions and views of Trump’s administration and Asian policies.

The discussion started off with Dr. Rehman introducing the panelists, and stating what they would be speaking about.

Jeff Smith, Director of Asian Security Programs and the Kraemer Strategy Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, spoke about how there is currently no clear policy of Asian security, and how President Trump has unstable connections with China. Dr. Tanvi Madan spoke about India’s relations to Trump and the personal relationship between President Trump and President Mukherjee of India.

Isaac Stone Fish spoke about Trump’s unpredictability and overreach in his presentation, specifically about his tweets and Trump’s non-involvement in China’s human rights issues.

“I think so far [China has] been very happy that Trump doesn’t want to get involved in China’s human rights issues and I think they’ll continue to express pleasure at that, because it’s really good for them domestically,” said Isaac Stone Fish, a senior fellow at the Asia Society.

The sparse audience consisted of students, faculty, and people from all around Rhode Island who wanted to hear what these professionals had to say.

“It was a long discussion with a knowledgeable group of people and it was very informative,” said Abby Porzio, a sophomore Psychology major at Salve Regina.

These panelists were invited to speak at Bazarsky Lecture Hall by Dr. Rehman because of personal connections. He has worked with them in the past, dealing with international policies.

“I thought all of the presentations were excellent, but I didn’t expect anything less from these guys. I know they’re good,” said Dr. Iskander Rehman, a senior fellow at the Pell Center.

The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy will definitely be hosting more panels similar to this in the future to both inspire and intrigue students and faculty at Salve Regina University

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422 words.

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Broadcast Script:

00:00-00:10 Anchor:	A panel is being held at Salve Regina University tonight on Trump’s international policies. Here is our reporter Lauren O’Neil with more.
00:10-00:30 SU: Lauren O’Neil in front of Bazarsky Hall CG: Lauren O’Neil	That’s right. I’m here at Bazarsky Lecture Hall at Salve Regina University and behind me is the panel for U.S. Asia policies under Trump’s administration.
00:30-00:50 VO: B-roll: video of the lecture hall CG: Bazarsky Lecture Hall	With a scattered crowd in front of them, four panelists spoke about the international policies with Asia, and how President Trump is dealing with it. A Senior fellow at the Asia Society spoke about how Trump doesn’t want to get involved with China’s human rights issues, and how that will affect the future relationship between China and the U.S.
00:50-01:00 SOT: Isaac Stone Fish (panelist) CG: Isaac Stone Fish	“I think so far they’ve been very happy that Trump doesn’t want to get involved in China’s human rights issues and I think they’ll continue to express pleasure at that, because it’s really good for them domestically.”
01:00-01:10 VOSOT: B-roll: scanning over lecture hall, stopping on the panelists.	The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy set this panel up with the help of Senior Fellow Dr. Iskander Rahman. He knows the panelists personally from working with them in the past and has invited them to come speak at Salve.
01:10-01:30 SOT: mediator (senior fellow at Pell center) CG: Dr. Iskander Rahman	“I thought all of the presentations were excellent, but I didn’t expect anything less from these guys. I know they’re good.”
01:30-01:40 VO: B-roll: film of the lecture hall, focusing on the audience	The audience was made up of students, faculty, and the public. The panelists did a great job of explaining their positions, and how they believe Trump will perform in regards to the U.S. Asia policies in the future.
1:40-1:50 SU: reporter CG: Lauren O’Neil	Reporting for Newport News, I’m Lauren O’Neil.

 

Is the “Gig Economy” Taking Over College Campuses?

This is a story about the “gig economy” trend that I wrote for my Media Writing class. I had three interviews from various sources.

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“I love Uber. It’s like having your own private driver wherever you want to go,” said college student Sabrina Llangozi.

Uber, Airbnb, and many more companies are using the internet to gain revenue. People are willing to share their homes, cars, and even themselves for money. They will run errands, arrange IKEA furniture, and just about anything else in order to help fill their wallets.

New findings from the Pew Research Center state that 24% of Americans report earning money from the digital “platform economy” in the past year. That does not include the rest of the world, so there are even more people using the internet to earn money.

Not only are people earning money online, but people are spending it. Sabrina Llangozi, 20, has been using Uber to get around at Umass Amherst for the past few years. “Uber is just super convenient, and sometimes when I just don’t feel like driving downtown and paying for parking, I just order one in a matter of seconds,” said Llangozi.

By selling things online, whether it is clothes, homemade items, or food, people can earn a ton of money and not have to do much physical work. A website that student Janelle Jean uses is called Poshmark.com. Poshmark is a place where you can sell your clothes, and buy other people’s clothes. Although it may seem a little strange, it is very popular with people who do not have time to go to the store, or do not have enough money to spend on brand new clothes.

“Poshmark is actually really easy to use. You just take a picture of what you want to sell, and then people can bid on it or just buy it from you. I think I’ve sold probably half of the clothes that I never wear anymore,” said Jean, 21.

Although a lot of people do this for fun, or just for a luxury, some do it to earn a living. In a TED Talk, Rachel Botsman spoke about how the new currency of this economy is trust.

“But I love, that the number one task posted over a hundred times a day, is something that many of us have felt the pain of doing. Yes, assembling IKEA furniture,” said Botsman. People turn to others for help in many aspects, but on TaskRabbit, they require the services of people to assemble furniture for them.

Online companies like this are very successful in the way that they help people. The people that are hired to do these tasks are paid, and the people who require the tasks end up happy as well.

You have to have a lot of trust in others in order to let people drive you around and buy clothes from them online. However, many people do not trust others in that way, so that is why this “gig economy” has not surpassed any other way of earning income.

Some people do not use Uber, TaskRabbit, or Poshmark, and are perfectly happy. As a student, Alex Sullivan prefers to use public transportation in order to get around and prefers to go to actual stores to get necessities.

“I don’t know, there’s something about buying things from people you don’t know that freaks me out. And I just like to use the bus to get around because, well, it’s cheap,” said Sullivan, 20. Although these online sites are easy and helpful, there are a few that can cause problems. Sullivan said that she had a bad experience with someone on Amazon, and she does not like to use these online platforms anymore to get things that she needs.

The Pew Research Center has come to the conclusion that although a lot of people use these websites for fun, others need them. People need money, so instead of working in an office, they use their own supplies to help others and get paid for it. People trust them enough to let them into their homes, their cars, and their lives, so why not?

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668 words.

Sources:

Alex Sullivan

Janelle Jean

Sabrina Llangozi

Radio Roundup

This is a broadcast roundup that I wrote for my Media Writing class. It features five stories, from national to local.

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This is Lauren O’Neil with WSRU News Minute.

Friday Night, Salve’s Campus Activities Board is welcoming Saturday Night Live’s Vanessa Bayer (buy-er). She is an actress, a writer, and a comedian, and will speak about her life on and off of SNL. If interested, students can get tickets online.

Harvard Law Review has appointed their first black woman president in the journal’s history. Following in Obama’s footsteps, ImeIme (ah-may-may) Umana, who is a Nigerian immigrant, will lead the journal in the right direction, focusing on the underrepresentation of minorities in the law.

In Moscow, the Kremlin wants to reveal the weaknesses of the White House. Russians believe that President Trump is not fit to be involved in foreign affairs. An analyst from Russia claims that Trump is too distracted with America to worry about what Russia is doing, and they are going to take advantage of that.

The Newport Irish Heritage Association was founded by four men in nineteen seventy-seven, and after forty years, the men have decided to disband the association. After so long, they feel as though Newport, Rhode Island has really appreciated the Irish Heritage, as many groups have formed behind them. The Newport St. Patrick’s Day Parade will continue on, and the Irish pride in Newport will continue to grow.

Last night at the Oscars, producer John Horowitz wrongly accepted the award for Best Pictures. His film, La La Land, was announced winner because of an envelope mix-up, but the actual winner was Moonlight. Horowitz graciously announced the mistake, and handed the award over to producer of Moonlight, Adele Romanski (ro-man-ski).

This has been Lauren O’Neil with WSRU’s News Minute.

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275 words

Read Across America on Dr. Seuss’ Birthday

This is a press release story that I wrote for my Media Writing class about Read Across America Day, which also happened to fall on Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 21, 2017

Contact:

Lauren O’Neil

lauren.oneil@salve.edu

Read Across America on Dr. Seuss’ Birthday

The National Education Association is excited to announce that the 20^th annual National Read Across America Day will take place on March 2^nd, which is also Dr. Seuss’ Birthday.

National Read Across America Day is a nationwide celebration of reading, and will take place in libraries, schools, community centers and homes all across the country.

This year, the NEA is especially encouraging people to read books that highlight the diversity of America. The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization. It represents nearly 3 million educators at all academic levels.

“The imaginations of millions of students are ignited with the exhilarating magic that happens when they open up a good book… There are so many great new children’s books that really celebrate diversity and we’re excited that publishers like Random House are doing more books with themes about cultural identity,” said NEA’s President, Lily Eskelsen Garcia.

In order to build a nation of readers, this event aims to motivate everyone, including students and parents, to open a book. The Read Across America campaign is about more than just this one day; as well as grant programs for school libraries and curriculum support for educators, this event inspires parents to read aloud to their children.

“When an adult happily reads aloud with a child, the message that reading is important becomes clear. When an adult bedecked in the Cat’s hat reads aloud and serves up green eggs and ham and birthday cake, kids get the message that reading is also fun!” said ReadingHouseKids.com blogger, Rachael Walker.

The NEA partners with nearly 50 national nonprofits, such as Random House and Seussville, it also is an association that brings together kids, teens, and books in thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers.

The NEA expects to reach more than 45 million readers on this upcoming National Read Across America Day.

Don’t forget to join the Read Across America Fan page and Cause page on Facebook and check out the Read Across America Channel on Schooltube.com for videos.

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The goal of the NEA is to inspire people around the nation to read, and to read to children. Read Across America Day is just one day of the year that this organization arranges to promote their cause.