Ick. Ick. Ick. Blood and Gorges returns to Park!

This just in from Colleen Goodhue, curator extraordinaire of the Blood and Gorges Film Festival:

"This was the third year of Blood and Gorges [editor's note: the Park School's horror movie competition] and it was by far the best! We had ten totally awesome entries in the festival ranging from thriller to comedy, experimental to slasher. There were films about vampires, zombies, werewolves with frying pans, demonic beards, trolls, things that go bump in the night and other spooky things. We'd like to thank the over 100 people who attended this year and hope to see them (and more!) come again next year. Giovanni Colantonio will be taking over the festival and we hope to see it get even bigger.

Since we had such great entries it was a close and competitive audience voting. The winners this year were:

First Place
"Black" by Nils Hoover

Second Place
"I Feel Fine" by Kevin Kirner, Matt Shea and Mike Garland

Third Place
"Fang" by Brad Collins and co.

Congratulations!!!

An adviser is...well, full of great advice

Associate Dean Virginia Mansfield-Richardson, left, and Tracey Frenyea, Academic Advising Coordinator: The "advising gurus" of the Park School's Dean's Office

It's that time again:

Mid-semester. Crazy busy. Too many things to think about. (You coming to see Tom Wolfe on Thursday? Someday, somebody will say something about how great Tom Wolfe was, and you're going to be able to say: Oh, I saw HIM when I was a Parkie at Ithaca College...he was very cool.)

AND

this week, you are getting ready to think about NEXT semester (and, if you're as smart as I know you are, the semesters after that....)

And that means it's time to go and see the person in your (academic) life who can give you the help and information and advice and mentoring you need -- and want -- better than anybody else you know:

Your academic adviser.

OK, so it's true: Parkies don't HAVE to see their academic advisers (watch this space: that may change).

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't. (And in fact, you should.)

We surveyed you all last year (and we're going to do it again...), and here's what you said:

Park doesn't have mandatory advising. But you know (you said), it should.

Our seniors said that they didn't go see their advisers because they didn't have to. And now, at the end of their four years, they were wishing they had.

So:

This semester, just do it.

Go sign up on the schedules on your advisers' doors. Ask about your courses. But more important, ask about your future, your goals, your plans. Establish a partnership in which you can work with a faculty member to map your future.

That's really what advising is all about. Inevitably, those conversations touch on course selection and scheduling. But they're really all about you, your ambitions, your dreams, your future.

So why would you NOT do that?

And if you don't want to do it for you, maybe you could consider doing it for the rest of us.

At the end of advising season this year, I'm going to send you all -- every one of you -- a survey, to ask you to give us feedback about your experience with advising.

We really want to make Park a better place to be a student -- including your experience as advisees.

Help us out. Sign up. Show up. And let us know how it went.



If you don't know who your adviser is, you can find it in your Homer account (Click on "Student Financial Aid, and Residential Life"; then on "Student Records & Billing Information"; then on "View Student Information" (11th option on the list); and your General Student Record will appear. It includes all kinds of info about you -- the ninth one on the list is your "primary adviser".

Voila!

Or you can stop up to my office and see Tracey Frenyea, Park's Academic Advising Coordinator (see her smilin' photo, above), or call her at 274-3898. OR you can stop by and see our associate dean, Virginia Mansfield-Richardson (also smilin' above). They would be HAPPY (really, I mean it) to help you out.

And if you have decided you want to change your adviser (don't feel bad, it happens all the time), they can help you with that, too.

Think about it: It's an hour out of your life....

What better way to spend it than talking about where you're headed and how you're going to get there?

Blood and Gorges returns to Park!

Once a year, a light flickers on from the back of the dark caverns of the Park Auditorium. It projects the scariest, most horrifying, ghouliest films created by the Park students. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT!

When? Sunday, October 26, 2008, 7:30pm - 10:30pm
Where: Park Auditorium

The third annual Blood and Gorges Film Festival will prove to be a night of frightening films and gruesome good times. Refreshments and screams are free.

Sacramento State? Seriously?

So, let's talk about it: Who has the best college radio station in the country?

Ummmmm.....gosh, could it be Sacramento State? (Nope.)

How about Auburn (fyi, that's in Alabama)? I don't think so.

Well! That leaves DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.

Right?

Wrong.

The best college radio station in the country is (of course) right here in the Park School.

WICB has already been selected as the best college radio station in our region (a region that includes Emerson, by the way).

And now we're a finalist in the MTV-U national competition for the best college radio station.

All we need to do is VOTE to win.

And that means all YOU need to do is click here: http://woodies.mtvu.com/nominees/college_radio.

Please (and we'll do it for you when you need it -- that's what community is all about): Take the time to support your fellow Parkies and let the rest of the world know that WICB really is the BEST college radio station in the nation.

No contest.

No doubt about it.

Expose: America's Investigative Reports comes to the Park School

Extraordinary documentary work and a chance to talk to the people who produced it: what could be better?

In yet another opportunity for you to interact with the best and most important media makers in the country, the Park School is bringing to campus two documentary film producers for a special screening of their Emmy-nominated work.

On Tuesday, October 28, at 7 p.m. in the Park Aud, we'll screen one of the most compelling documentaries produced by Expose: America's Investigative Reports, a television series produced through a partnership between Channel 13/WNET and the Center for Investigative Reporting. Called "In A Small Town," the film tells the story of a young reporter who discovers hidden evidence of a pedophile who has worked with the Boy Scouts for years despite documented—and ongoing—evidence of molestation.

The screening will be followed by a q-and-a session with executive producer Tom Casciato and senior producer Scott Davis.


To learn more about Expose: America’s Investigative Reports visit: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/expose/about.html

To learn more about “In A Small Town” visit: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/expose/2008/07/2008-emmy-award-nominee-in-a-s.html

To learn more about Tom Casciato and Scott Davis visit: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/expose/bios.html

Going Green (and get paid): Environmental Studies needs some multimedia Web work for the Finger Lakes Project

This just in from Biology Professor Susan Swenson:

The Environmental Studies Program is looking to hire students who would be willing to help us produce some short (e.g. 30 sec) video and audio for a new website for the Finger Lakes Project, a curriculum development workshop. The estimated project completion date is Jan. 09.


Interested, contact Susan Swensen, Associate Professor & Chair. Biology Department at 607/274-3511 or
sswensen@ithaca.edu

What a birthday bash! Ithaca College Television turns 50....and it was a night to remember

Could it have been any better?

I don't think so.

Nearly 200 of us turned out Saturday night to celebrate Ithaca College television's 50th anniversary, and its status as the oldest student-run college television station in the country (OK, the universe).

A gala dinner and live television show capped off a day of events, including a barbecue with alumni and current students, school tours, clips from old shows running in the auditorium, the Bombers game, and lots (and lots and lots) of lifelong friends remembering great times when they were students at Ithaca College, making television.

The show Saturday night was extraordinary; our current students -- including Sean Brogan as emcee, Erika West as our live on-the-scene reporter, and Joe Pera as ....well, as Joe Pera -- were fabulous, as were all of those who pitched in on everything from directing to lighting: Bryan Mercer, Stu Kenney, Tyler Ries, Joe McCormick, Allison Gainza, Bobby Zeleny, Eric Olen, Jordan Edelstein, Matt Portman, Nick Righi, Ryan Boyce, Mike Sokol. Rachel Hastings, Tucker Ives, Devon Thurmond, Averi Smith, Jeri Krasnoff, Joe Stagliano, Shayna Saunders, Christina Bryant, Brian Rosenberg, Melissa Frisco, James Heasley, Mike Ceccolini, Jillian Mitchell and Anne Northgraves....to name a few...

You guys are the best.

And finally, my own special thanks to Professor Peter Johanns, adviser to ICTV; and April Johanns and Melissa Gattine of the Dean's Office for all of their incredible work on this extraordinary event. Six months ago, when they came to me and suggested we "do something" to celebrate ICTV's 50th birthday, I had no idea they meant something of the scope, significance and impact of the event they orchestrated and executed. It was a great gift to every one of the people who attended, to the Park School and to Ithaca College.

We are grateful. And proud.

Happy birthday, Ithaca College television. It was a great first fifty years....can you imagine what we're going to accomplish in the second fifty?

Why Negative is a GOOD Thing, or How To Think about that Vote You're About to Cast

John G. Geer, distinguished professor of political science at Vanderbilt University, will visit campus this month to present a lecture titled, "Why Negative Campaigns Are Good for Our Country." The presentation will be held on Tuesday, October 21, in Park Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.

Geer's research interest in American politics has focused on elections, public opinion, and political communication. He is currently serving as editor of the Journal of Politics and recently published a book, In Defense of Negativity, with the University of Chicago Press. His latest research interests include understanding the news media's coverage of negativity and a project that examines the bias that Mormon candidates face in American elections.

Geer teaches courses on American politics, elections, the presidency, and, most recently, one called Genetics and Politics with David Bader, a professor of cell biology at Vanderbilt.

This event is sponsored by the Roy H. Park School of Communications and the Department of Politics. It is free and open to the public.

WINNERS! Ask them to send you a postcard from FRANCE

We pulled the names of the students who will be going to France in May on our annual "Parkies Only" trip at noon today.

They are:

Amanda Ahmadi
Sabino Cao
Corinne Colgan
Alex Cunningham
Elisabeth Estrada
Melissa Frisco
Anna Ghosin-Szeliga
Kaitlyn Kaczynski
Kayla Knapp
Christina O'Neil
Seth Palmer
Jacqueline Palochko
Luiggi Ramos
Brian Rosenberg
Lindsey Stafford
Thomas Strauss
Chris Tamburrino
Daniel Vesey
Kelsey Walzer
Robert Zeleny

Alternates (in order, in case one of the others can't go):

Kelly Zenger O'Brien
Taylor Hassman
Allison Boos
Leah Tedesco
Lena Yue

In order to go on the trip, a student must be in good academic and judicial standing as of the spring semester 2009. We will check that status for each of the 20 students early in the spring semester to confirm eligibility; if any of the 20 students cannot participate -- or chooses not to -- we will fill the available slots with the students on the "alternate" list in the order in which their names were selected.

CONGRATULATIONS! (It's so fun to be a Parkie!)

Design a logo, win $100 gift certificate!

This just in from the provost's office:

We need your help to design the logo for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research that Ithaca College will host in 2011.

Your logo design could be selected to represent this major academic conference, which will bring 2,500 students and faculty from around the country to Ithaca from March 30-April 2, 2011. The winning design will be used on all conference materials, including the conference website and promotional posters that will be seen on college campuses around the country.

The prize for the selected logo design will be a $100 gift certificate at the Ithaca College Bookstore.

Click here for details about additional NCUR logo requirements and to view samples of past NCUR conference logos.

Logo entries must be submitted as camera-ready files, preferably in high-resolution JPEG format. Logo files should work equally well for web presentation and for print media. Logo files should be designed in color, but should be equally effective in black-and-white.

Electronic submittals are acceptable; a CD with your entry is preferred. With your submittal, please provide complete contact information, including name, campus address, phone and email.

Submit your contest entries NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1 to:

By mail:
Marian Brown, Special Assistant to the Provost
Ithaca College
Office of the Provost
953 Danby Rd
Ithaca NY 14850
mbrown@ithaca.edu
274-3787

For hand-delivery:
Marian Brown
Office of the Provost
Third floor Job Hall - see the receptionist

Who's going to FRANCE? Find out on TUESDAY!

A Dijon street scene, photo by James Martin, about.com European Travel

NOTE: I wrote this earlier today and since then, I've received a couple of emails asking whether you have to be present on Tuesday at the drawing in order to win. The answer is no, you don't; if we pull your name, we'll find you and let you know. But it would be a LOT more fun to be there, don't you think? Sorry for the confusion.

We're picking the winners on Tuesday!

This year, we're going to select the names of the twenty lucky Parkies who will be going to France in May at noon in the Park Aud.

I'm going to ask somebody in the audience to step up to the front of the room and pick out of the "hat" -- OK, so there isn't a hat, we'll probably use a box -- the names of the lucky winners.

AND -- because the rules say that you have to be in good academic and judicial standing at the time of the trip, and while I trust that ALL Parkies are in good academic and judicial standing, one never knows what might happen between now and then --

we will also pick five alternates.

Then we'll take the winners' picture (so be there!) and I'll post it to the blog....

And just fyi, Photo Professor Janice Levy is leading the trip this year....and she's planning a visit to Montreal and a dinner-at-her-house-featuring-Beef-Bourguignon between now and then....DOUBLE (TRIPLE!) BONUS!

See you Tuesday!

Park makes the LA Times, FRONT PAGE!

Check out today's LA Times: It features a story about college program's in LA, and OF COURSE Park is featured front and center:

"Generally, more than half of the students in the L.A. programs end up staying in the area if it's their final semester before graduation, or return later, administrators report. They join what the colleges tout as large networks of alumni already in the entertainment field in Los Angeles.

"It really does immerse you immediately into what's going on here and gives you a real sense of how to break into the industry," said Jeff Bibeau, an Ithaca College senior enrolled in that school's L.A. semester. "It would be silly of me to study four years of communications in upstate New York, cut off from the rest of the world."

A television and radio studies major from Massachusetts, Bibeau is juggling internships with the "Brothers and Sisters" television series and at a movie production house. He does clerical work, fetches coffee, reads scripts and offers opinions in story meetings.

Bibeau enjoyed a sophomore semester in London but said his Los Angeles jobs and classes on film criticism and media law seem "much more relevant." He intends to finish at Ithaca in the spring and may job hunt in Los Angeles."

Way to go, ICLA!

Is print dead? Who's a journalist? Is Google a newsroom? Why should I care?

(Get it? Get the picture? Cool, huh?...Illustrated by Jennifer Daniel and Erin Sparling. Check it out at A Brief Message : An Inconvenient Truth.)

It's Journalism Week in the Park School, and that means it's time for you to consider -- just for a moment (OK, a week) -- the answer to such questions.

They matter.

Take a look around at what's happening in your world.

The war in Iraq rages on, surge or no surge.

The economy is struggling (to be polite about it).

The cost of living -- from gas prices to tuition to shopping at Wegmann's -- is making it difficult for folks who work hard for a living to make ends meet.

And the news industry is dissolving before our eyes.

Seems like it's worth a week of our attention to talk about the role of a free press in a democracy, the impact of technology on the sharing of news and information, and the future of the Fourth Estate -- journalism -- in our digital age.

The campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, under the leadership of Erica Hendry, has put together a program of events and presentations that will address some of these questions....not to mention bring to campus some really outstanding alumni now working in major American newsrooms. (And yes, I'm included on the roster: I'll be talking about the future of American journalism on Wednesday at noon. Bring your lunch!)


Here's the schedule:

Monday, Oct 6 (TONIGHT)
7:30 p.m. Park 220
"International Journalism: Reporting Across Borders"
A presentation by Dr. Matt Mogekwu, Chair of the Journalism
Department, and Vadim Isakov, Scholar-In-Residence from Uzbekistan


Tuesday, Oct. 7
12:15 p.m. Park 220
Brown bag lunch: "From Classroom to Career: Thoughts on Journalism Education
With Jeffrey Selingo '95, Editor of The Chronicle of Higher
Education. Bring your own lunch — light refreshments
will be served.
(SPJ Members only)

7:30 p.m. Park 220
Building Online Communities: Making Journalism a Two-Way Conversation
With Vanessa Schneider '07, content moderator r at the New York
Times, and Wes Siler, an editor at Jalopnik.com

Wednesday, Oct. 8
Noon to 1 p.m. Park 220
Future of American Journalism
With Dianne Lynch, Dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications

Thursday, Oct. 9
12:15 p.m. Park 220
Brown Bag lunch: "Journalism across multiple platforms"
With Jill Agostino '86, night news editor at the New York Times online. Bring your own lunch — light refreshments will be served
SPJ Members only

7:30 p.m. Park 220
Hands-on Photojournalism workshop
with Simon Wheeler, photo editor of the Ithaca Journal

Friday, Oct. 10
Noon to 3 p.m., location TBD
Journalism Barbecue
Tickets required. Tickets will be distributed at each of the week's events.
--

OK, what better way to spend the weekend than helping a fellow Parkie?

So it's the weekend (almost), and you probably have lots of plans for tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night....but really: isn't Sunday the day when you relax, sleep in, just hang out?

And doesn't that mean that you would have time THIS SUNDAY to help out a fellow Parkie, and to make your film debut as an extra?

Really? Doesn't it? Especially if you can STILL sleep in AND be helpful, all on the same day?

A group of senior Cinema students really really really needs you to show up at noon at Sunday at St. Paul's Church, 402 N. Aurora Street, to fill up the pews and act like a church congregation for their thesis film, "Bad Faith."

They need 200 of you-- at least -- to do that.

Here are the details:

"Bad Faith", a senior thesis feature film project, is looking for 200+ extras to act as a church congregation on Sunday, October 5th from 12pm - 5:30pm at St. Paul's Church (402 N. Aurora St, Ithaca). We ask that extras dress in muted colors and bring accessories as we will be shooting scenes that signify different days in the script.

We will be supplying food and beverages for all extras that attend the shoot. We will also be raffling off prizes throughout the shoot for the extras including a $50 gift certificate to Best Buy, 2 tickets for a Cayuga Lake Brunch Cruise, tickets to Cornell Cinema, and more!

We also ask that anyone interested, contact Danielle Harrison at dharris1@ithaca.edu.


Come on, guys. Contact Danielle. Hang out in church on Sunday afternoon. Win a door prize. And take a photo so we can post it to the blog next week -- proof positive that Parkies help Parkies.

VOTE....for WICB

Don't forget to vote for WICB for the mtvU Woodie Award for Best College Radio Station!

Just go to wicb.org/mtvu!

Five friends...I'm starting with you.

VOTE! (Everything you need to know, right here at home....)

I posted some information to encourage you all to vote in the upcoming election. And I didn't even point you to the VERY BEST PLACE ON THE INTERNET to get all the information you need to cast what may be the most important presidential vote of your life to date. (OK, so for nearly all of you, it is the ONLY presidential vote of your life to date....)

And it's right here, right now, in the Park School.

Our very own WICB has posted an extraordinary election page that will tell you everything you want to know about casting your vote.

Here's their intro (cool, huh?): There comes a time in the life of a nation, a city, and a state, that it must turn a new page in its history and elect new officials.
This November 4th is one of those times, and WICB wants to take you there.

So keep stopping by for candidate profiles, commentary from our newscasters, and other special goodies that will make ICB your local home for the 2008 elections.


And here's the URL: http://www.wicb.org/elections/index.php

(And here's a big THANK YOU to WICB for all of its effort on this one... That's why Park is such a great community: you anticipate what your fellow Parkies are going to need, and you make it happen....)