Opinion

Journalists: You Can Control The World 16

 in Opinion by

Journalists have the power to control the world!

“What are you on about?”

I’ll explain!

When you are a journalist, your power is to inform the public on matters. As seen in recent events in the world, what you read online you generally believe. Most people don’t do any extra research.

So, if you are a journalist, you can inform everyone who reads what you write.

This can be a great task, but if you are not in the business to inform but just as a job, then you aren’t going to exactly care about this.

You’re probably wondering why I’m writing about this. So I’ll tell you.

Recently in my town we had a vote on letting individuals hunt our deer population. I know! It’s so crazy and so dangerous. Any sane individual could see that. I’m not going to bore you with the details but essentially it lets people hunt during a large period of time as long as you have a license. This could end so badly.

Our local newspaper, which is used in 3 local towns and is quite well read, especially by the older residents in town, printed an article on the day of the vote saying the vote had failed, and even quoted representatives on saying they wish it had passed.

If you weren’t active in the town and knew the up-to-date information, you’d believe this and not be worried.

You should be!

This vote, in fact, hadn’t even occurred when the newspapers were distributed, occurring that evening, and has misinformed so many individuals on a potentially dangerous situation.

Now, for a lot of things, you can easily fix this by posting on social media and such, informing the public of the mistake and the reprint. However, this paper has no website, and their social media has posted nothing of the sorts.

Sloppy journalism at its finest!

When you are a journalist, your power is to inform the public on matters.

You never post an article about a vote before it happens! A true newspaper would know about the vote and make sure they had someone there to get information. Especially for a front page article.

The reason I am writing this small rant today is to make sure you know your sources.

You can trust places like the NY Times and Wall Street Journal for your information, but even then make sure you read up to know all angles.

But your local paper? A small website you read?

You cannot always trust these sites.

I used to think that if you were a newspaper you had to be decent to get published.

Apparently this is not the case.

Moral of the story: check your sources and double check information before you act on something.

Classic Versus New: The Art of Taking Your Time 14

 in Books / Interesting / Loving Language / Opinion by

Have you ever received a book recommendation from an adult of a classic that you were told you needed to read, but when you picked it up you were disappointed to find you struggled?

Then you get a recommendation from a friend for a YA or new adult book and you flew through it?

Why is that? Why can you more easily read one than the other?

When I was in High School, I had to read a lot of classic works as my English teacher really loved old novels. For the entire class, we generally loved the story, but just struggled with the reading. Class discussions helped us fall in love with the story but homework sucked.

If you ever take time to look at how books are written now versus how they used to be written, you’ll see the difference.

When you look at classic novels, like Anne of Green Gables,for example, you’ll see that the first page is all one sentence, just with lots of punctuation.

You look at the first page of most YA and adult books, you’ll see maybe 8 short sentences in the first paragraph alone. And that doesn’t even take up the full page.

Classic Versus New: The Art of Taking Your Time

Short, bite sized sentences.

Most books now is just like that. It has short sentences, short chapters and lots of action. There’s always something going on – there’s no quiet time to just reflect on the book and writing itself.

The Essex Serpent  is a fantastic example of a new book that’s written in an old style.

  • The book moves much slower.
  • They will spend pages just describing a town
  • You really just experience the atmosphere as it’s built slowly and carefully – there isn’t lots of action going on.

You don’t need someone to die or for there to be sex scenes on every page for it to be good writing.

Just because a book doesn’t have you racing to the end of a chapter to find out what happens next doesn’t mean it’s a bad book!

It’s a writing style, that’s all.

People now are always so busy, running around, used to short info (ex: tweets) that they need short sentences. Sitting down and reading complex sentences, big words and ideas takes too much effort. It’s a mental discipline that many now are lacking. I’m guilty of it too, but the challenge of classic novels is good. It helps you to write better and just become more rounded as an individual.

Is it difficult? Of course!

Is it worth the challenge? Definitely!

Overall, my advice to you would be to not to be discouraged.

Pick up a classic book and struggle through it. Take 15 minutes to read one page. Not all reading should be relaxing.

Sometimes you have to put in a little effort to take something away.

 

Reading Outside: DO IT!

 in Books / Fun / Interesting / Opinion by

You know those summer days when you just want to stay in and do absolutely nothing. You just want to curl up with a good book, maybe some tea (or wine, no judgement) and do literally nothing!

That’s great! Do that! But do it outside! Go and sit outside. Smell the roses!

Well, not literally (or if you got some, go for it!). But do your relaxing activity outside.

‘Why?’ you may be asking me. No, I’m not a doctor. But I pay attention to my body and find things out by trying it.

I love to read inside on my favorite sofa as much as the next person. It’s much cooler inside so you aren’t sweating. But sweating is good for you!

Now, you can go and tan, of course. But you can also go sit in the shade and just get some fresh air.

We spend so much of our lives inside behind a computer screen, or stuck in traffic with petrol fumes around us.

So when you have time to be outside, go out!

The sun is good for your skin. Sure, you may complain about getting burnt, so put on some sunscreen, or find a shady spot. But the sun is good for you. Getting some Vitamin D will make you feel a whole lot better and feel healthier overall. The fresh air is good for your lungs and the breeze just is so relaxing.

If you can’t manage outside, open your windows and read near a window. The breeze is so refreshing.

But just note, if you read outside, make sure that you have sunglasses on. It’s really bad to be reading on your bright white pages with the sun. It can damage your eyes (found that out the hard way – you know, you read in the sun and then look up and you see the page with the words imprinted on everything and you can’t see to save your life).

I find that reading outside for a little bit every day is so wonderful! You come in with a little color on your skin, you got a nice little sweat in which is healthy for your body, got some Vitamin D so you feel healthier overall, and you got some productive reading in. What’s better than that?!

I love going out about 5pm when the sun is low, it’s a little cooler with my drink and a nice book and just relaxing. It’s absolutely wonderful and I highly recommend you try it. Trust me, you’ll thank me later!

Audio Books over iPads: Great Road Trip Alternative

 in Books / Opinion by

Audio Books over iPads: Great Road Trip Alternative

We’re all guilty now of using our phones too much. We surreptitiously check it under the table when it vibrates silently in our lap, we turn on post notifications so we don’t even need to unlock our phone and type in that pass-code to see what social media update we got or what that latest text just said. We just want a short bite of information to give us the quick fix.

Now, if you’re an adult, about 21 years or older now, then when you grew up, you didn’t have technology like kids of today do. Little ones are being given iPads before they can even walk. Parents aren’t teaching their children how to spell but apps are. Car rides are full of pixels.

The amount of times I’ve been out driving and seen the minivan in front of me with a movie playing. Why would you do that?! Your ride can’t be that horrible that you have to put a movie on in the car for the kids to watch. Now cars let you sync your phones or XBoxes to play your video games in the car. And god-forbid your car comes with built in wi-fi. Your passengers will be glued.

Long gone are the days of getting lost and turning it into an adventure.

But road trips….ah, the good old road trip. You pack the family into the car, bring some snacks and set off for your final and intended destination.

Audio Books over iPads: Great Road Trip Alternative

When I was younger, I’d always pack a book with me because there were no phones. It was either music (and you could only bring so many CDs), books or looking out of the windows.

Now, parents fully charge up the iPad, make sure the games are updated and off they go!

But it doesn’t need to be that way!

https://www.audible.com/ep/kids-audiobooks

I get that some kids don’t like reading books, they need their kindles (who knows why), so maybe they want something simpler than a thick book to enjoy a story.

That is where audiobooks comes into play!

Adults love them! You can go on long drives and listen to your favorite audio book and complete a story, immersing yourself in it. You can even listen at work (maybe not so productive, but shhh, the boss doesn’t need to know – your story is more important).

Now this is a fantastic way to get your kids to use their imaginations, without images being fed by apps, and not have them go blind from staring at screens too long.

Audio books are fantastic!

Audio Books over iPads: Great Road Trip Alternative

They let you enjoy a story without even having to strain your eyes. The kids can listen quietly from the back, it keeps them entertained, the driver can listen as well, and everyone gets to just enjoy the trip without being immersed in their own worlds.

This way the kids can get a break from technology, can shut the kids up ‘cus you can turn up the volume and increase everyone’s imagination.

It’s a win win!

If you’re looking for some good suggestions, check out this article from NY Times, or if you want to save your limited free NY Times views (to see much more important articles *wink, wink*), check out Audible.com and their stuff!

Happy Listening!