In Tiger Woods’ new ad for Nike, Woods is facing the camera wearing a Nike hat and polo while a recording of his late father, Earl Woods, plays. The ad essentially shows tiger being lectured by his father in what seems to be an attempt to gain sympathy from the disappointed public about his marital infidelity. What is most preposterous about the ad is the level that Nike will sink to to shake off the bad image of one of their top promoters.  Using the words of Earl Jones only makes Tiger seem like even more of a child.

Nike should help Tiger renew his image, but the way in which this ad went about it was not appropriate.  A more effective manner would have been a montage of Tigers victories.  Tiger being reprimanded only shows that disappointment others have in him not that he feels remorseful by what he has done.  Involving Tiger’s family in rebuilding his image just shows that he is trying to take the easy road into gaining America’s forgiveness.

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A man robbed a bank in Washington D.C., yesterday.  The man entered the PNC bank, located at 814 Wisconsin Ave, around 2:30p.m. with the pretext of obtaining information about a loan; he spoke to a loan officer and left the bank.  Shortly after, he returned flaunting a pistol and demanding that the bank teller give him money.  The bank’s manager, Jill Higgins, reports that the perpetrator forced two tellers to lie on the floor while he jumped behind the counter and took the money from five cash drawers.  The robber grabbed a small exploding device, which was disguised to look like a packet of money, and stuffed the money along with the device into his pockets.  The money-disguised device contained red dye and tear gas, which after a certain interval automatically detonates. The device is activated as soon as the person carrying it exits the bank.

As the gunman exited the bank, he demanded that four customers lie on the bank floor.  The majority of customers were not aware that the bank was under siege until they were told to lie on the floor.  The robber, described as a Caucasian male with blond hair between the ages of 25-30, is said to have fled the scene in a pick-up truck that was parked in the rear of the building.  Police discovered a red mark in the back parking lot and they assume the device went off just as the robber was entering his truck.

An eyewitness relayed to the police that shortly after the robbery he saw an old pick-up truck a few blocks away with a red cloud coming out of the car window. Unfortunately the witness was unable to read the license plate number.  A detective at the scene, Myron Neely, said, “That guy should be covered with red.  The money, too.  Just look for a red man with money.”  Presumably, the man, described as 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, would be covered with red for the following two to three days.

America’s youth plays a large role in helping the United States’ efforts to stop climate change.  As a college student in the nation’s capital, watching the American Forum on climate change gave me a sense of obligation to the environment to do whatever I can.  The forum discussed several issues including the responsibility of America’s youth to aid in the effort to raise awareness of climate change in the United States.  In addition, the panel discussed the media and major corporations involvement in global warming.

The event had a well-rounded panel consisting of two American University School of Communications professors, one Washington Post columnist and a writer for Mother Jones magazine.  Matthew Nisbet, a communications professor at American University started the panel off by discussing that while America finds climate change to be a large issue, America does not feel it is as big as an issue as say the economy or healthcare.  Nisbet reiterated that if climate change is portrayed as a personal issue or a health issue, Americans are more likely to pay more attention to the problem.  I find this point to be a particularly important part of the discussion because climate change is not getting enough constructive attention.  It was interesting to hear Nisbet point out ways to show it in another light.  Kate Sheppard, an environmental reporter for Mother Jones magazine, spoke about how proponents for climate change need the support of republicans.  This is a very important part of the panel because climate change is thought to be a very liberal issue. Emma, an American University student, asked whether is it the responsibility of the American media to educated society about global warming.  The panel responded by saying that journalists get quite a bit of heat when they write about global warming.  Media’s role in climate control is something I believe to be a very sticky situation because it is hard for a writer or network not to speak of the issue without having undertones of opinion.

The forum consisted of a very liberal panel that discussed fundamental issues in climate change.  A very interesting element was that both the panel tended to answer questions that were very appealing and relevant to America’s youth.  I believe the discussion was geared in a youth direction to motivate the students.  For example, Jane Hall, an American University professor and leader of the discussion, brought to the panel a question from Facebook.  This was interesting because it pointed out that America’s youth tends to follow whatever issue is trendy and as a result should the media make sure that youth get involved in more substantive efforts.  I found it particularly interesting that Juliet Eilperin, writer for the Washington Post, did not think it was the media’s responsibility.  I believe she did this to motivate the audience to be pro-active.

Overall, I agreed with the panel, however I feel that it is the Media’s responsibility to motivate America’s youth to get involved in more substantial climate control efforts.  The panel was very well rounded in terms of knowledge on the issue.  I wish the panel had lasted longer because I would have liked to know more about the media’s involvement in global warming.  Since I very liberal I did saw eye-to-eye with the panel on most issues.

The event was very compelling and motivated me to be more active in my community in order to help fight climate change.  I feel as though the panel worked very smoothly together but I wish there had been more participation from the audience, after all the youth of America is who has power to change.  If the event were to be repeated, I think that students should have been required to write down questions first because I feel that a lot of the audience was hesitant to approach the panel.  After viewing this event I want to attend the next American Forum because listening to the event did not give me the full experience.

Blurb:

Millions claim that when to close to electromagnetic fields, they experience physical symptoms of what they call ‘electro-sensitivity syndrome’.  Medical experts believe the disorder to be psychological.

Story:

Millions across the globe, the majority from Europe, blame the spread of electromagnetic fields for acquiring electro-sensitivity syndrome.  Suffers of electro-sensitivity syndrome have gone to several drastic measures to cope with their symptoms, such as wearing metallic clothing to avoid EMFs.

Those who claim to have the syndrome describe symptoms of nausea, depression, and headaches when they are in close proximity to EMF sources like cell phones.  Environmental health and biomedical sciences professor David Carpenter of the University at Albany, State University of New York, believes EMFs to be harmful and result in life threatening illnesses, however, he does not believe there to be harm from low-levels of radiation like cell phones.

About Me:

My name is Isabel Rosa and I am sophomore at American University in the School of Communications.  I am public communications major and a sociology minor. I am passionate about photography and the environment.  Below you will see some of my work pertaining to my major.  I Hope you enjoy my blog!