Cuba and the US

Ack, Wednesday already!  I have a ton of work to do and about 350 papers to grade still, so unfortunately, no original material from me today.

Instead, I'm doing another shout-out to my little brother, who is now the Editor of the Marketplace segment of the Boston College newspaper, The Heights.  Now, you might be wondering, what the heck is the Marketplace section?  I thought it was financial info.  My friends all guessed the classifieds.  Turns out, it's actually the world news and politics section.  Who knew?

I know the main focus in the news recently has been the Egypt protests, but my little brother's last article was on another interesting world situation-- the lifting of travel restrictions between the US and Cuba, for the first time in almost 50 years.  The article gives some really great history on the issue and some of the arguments for and against the changes.  Check it out!  Definitely could be an interesting change in US/Cuba relations.

Movable Type-- Quality Undergrad Media Studies

I am in graduate school.  By definition, this makes me kind of (really) a nerd about my field of study.  Possibly one of the most nerdy things I've done, and also one of the best, was joining together with a few of my awesome fellow Media Studies majors as an undergrad to found Movable Type, an undergraduate media studies journal for the University of Virginia.

The reason I bring it up today is because the journal didn't close down when the original staff graduated in May.  In fact, it's still going strong, and the second edition is in the process of being released now.  As an online journal, new editions of Movable Type are released a few papers at a time, to keep postings more current.  Even better, all the content is archived and searchable, as well as sorted by keyword.

If you've ever been interested in exactly what media studies majors and scholars write about, Movable Type can give you more than enough insight.  One of my papers on gender and video games, a topic I covered briefly in an earlier post, is up on Movable Type, as well as some of the best work I've read by my fellow undergraduates.  If you're interested in hackers, crafts, Glee, Harry Potter fandom, political campaigns or more, I'd encourage you to check it out, read some material and leave your comments.  It's great to get feedback on work, especially if you're planning to go anywhere with it.

Because the articles and the journal can be a little heavy at times, however, I'll also leave you with "A Media Studies Love Story", a video created by one of the original Movable Type staffers, demonstrating not only her own nerdiness and love for media studies, but a bit of insight into what it is.



In case the video looks familiar, it was inspired by the follow advertisement, "Parisian Love", released by Google for the 2010 Superbowl.  Enjoy!

Traveling!

I'm going home!

So there may not be anything major posted today.  However, I will leave you with a piece of interesting news, that also fits in with the fact that I'm flying today-- researchers may have found Amelia Earhart!  Or at least what's left of her.  She did disappear quite awhile ago.

Researchers in Kiribati found a bone that they think may belong to Earhart and are hoping to run DNA tests that will prove it.  You can check the article out here.

If you're also traveling today, have a safe trip!

Presidential Pardons

I'm so overwhelmed with finals work and grading that I didn't even put something up yesterday.  Eek!

In lieu of that, today you get a link to some work by my little brother, who's been spending this semester writing for his college newspaper.  Check out his newest article here!  Gives you some illuminating insights into the powers of the presidential pardon.

Pretty good writer for a freshman!  (Good job, Dave!)