Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman, Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald come to Ithaca Tuesday!

The Park Center for Independent Media (PCIM) at Ithaca College has announced that its first annual Izzy Award for special achievement in independent media will be shared this year by two pillars of independent journalism: blogger Glenn Greenwald and “Democracy Now!” host/executive producer Amy Goodman.

The award ceremony — featuring Goodman and Greenwald — will take place at Ithaca’s State Theatre at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 31.

Tickets are available FREE at the information desk in Phillips (the Student Center), or at the box office at the State Theatre. (We decided to distribute tickets so we could be sure you all would have seats....it's going to be crowded...)


The Awards
The Izzy Award is named after the legendary dissident journalist Isidor Feinstein “Izzy” Stone, who launched his muckraking newsletter “I.F. Stone’s Weekly” in 1953 during the height of the McCarthy witch hunts. Stone, who died in 1989, exposed government deceit and corruption while championing civil liberties, racial justice and international diplomacy.

Citing their “pathbreaking journalistic courage and persistence in confronting conventional wisdom, official deception and controversial issues,” the judges chose the two winners because “the intrepid spirit of Izzy Stone is alive and thriving in the tireless daily efforts of Amy Goodman and Glenn Greenwald.”

Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Greenwald is a former constitutional lawyer who started blogging in 2005, acting as his own editor/publisher in the I.F. Stone tradition. In 2007 he moved his popular blog to Salon.com, retaining full editorial freedom. Week after week, in meticulously documented and detailed blog posts, he skewers hypocrisy, deception and revisionism on the part of the powers that be in government and the media. His 2008 reporting on a false claim about 9/11 by then-U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey led to a retraction. With devastatingly crisp arguments, Greenwald has inveighed against torture and defended constitutional rights for all, whether they be “enemy combatants” or American protesters. He has toughly criticized both Republicans and Democrats, and his blogging frequently sparks debate in major media and on Capitol Hill.

Amy Goodman
Over the past 12 years, Amy Goodman has built “Democracy Now!” into the largest public media collaboration — it can be found on television, radio and the Internet — in the country. Independent of any party or sponsor in the I.F. Stone tradition, “Democracy Now!” offers a daily cutting-edge broadcast featuring issues, experts and debates rarely heard in corporate media, including the voices of both policymakers and those affected by policy. Through timely interviews with heads of state, opposition leaders, artists and organizers, Goodman in 2008 maintained an ongoing, tenacious focus on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. violations of the Geneva conventions, racial justice issues such as the still-displaced poor of New Orleans, and political repression overseas. “Democracy Now!” has become a daily stop for journalists, scholars, officials and activists seeking not just to get behind the news, but to stay ahead of the news.

PCIM
Based in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College, the Park Center for Independent Media (http://www.ithaca.edu/indy) was launched in 2008 as a national center for the study of media outlets that create and distribute content outside traditional corporate systems and news organizations.

Judges of the inaugural Izzy Award were PCIM director Jeff Cohen; University of Illinois communications professor and author Robert W. McChesney; and Linda Jue, director and executive editor of the San Francisco-based G.W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism.


For more information, visit http://www.ithaca.edu/indy/izzy or contact Jeff Cohen at Jcohen@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-1330.

Warnecke (and PARK!) make Variety!

Park's own Kevin Warnecke is among the ten "Standout Students"named by Variety this week as "young filmmakers (who) could teach their peers a thing or two...."

Or three......

Jobs? Internships? Here's how.....

Beginning to think about life after mid-May (can't think of anything else?).

Take a few hours out of your busy lives and sign up to attend the Ithaca College Job and Internship Fair. More than 80 full-time job, internship, and summer opportunities are available: maybe one of them is YOURS.

Some of the opportunities for Parkies include associate producer; photographer; reporter; guest editor internship; marketing and outreach assistant; marketing internship and publications intern.

Worth a visit? Obviously so.....

FLEFF: A multimedia interarts extravaganza -- right here in Ithaca!

It's that time of year again: The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival arrives tomorrow (Monday, March 30) and will once again this year blow Ithaca away with the sheer number of events happening all over town.

Here's how the FLEFF site describes this year's event:

The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) is a one-week multimedia interarts extravaganza that reboots the environment and sustainability into a larger global conversation, probing issues ranging from archives, digital culture, disease, economics, fine art, food, health, human rights, labor, music, war, women’s rights and more.

This year’s festival will focus on four new content streams: Spice, Syncopation, Toxins, and Trade.

Film screenings and special events will take place at Ithaca College, Cinemapolis, and Fall Creek Pictures.


You can get the full schedule at the FLEFF Web site. See you there (and there! and there! and there!).

Water Theory: Stunning. Sensational. See it.

Sometimes words don't do experience justice.

That's the case with Water Theory, Park Professor Megan Roberts' new exhibition (with her collaborator of 31 years, Raymond Ghirardo) at the Handwerker Gallery.

Here's how the gallery describes it:

Water Theory is the overarching title for a series of new installations thematically related, using water as metaphor. This new work is the product of studies we conducted as artists in residence in Iceland, Everglades National Park, Yosemite National Park, Chesky Krumlov, Czech Republic and Beijing, China. Drawing from a variety of visual, sound and media elements, from both natural and man-made environments, the overall structure of the works incorporate video projection on walls, floor and three-dimensional objects. Rather than water, a metaphoric river of projected imagery is created as a play on ubiquitous media.

Additionally, the works exploit the possibilities of manipulated audio, matching exaggerated sounds with the slowly examined visual textures and incongruous landscape.

Megan Roberts, a composer and media artist and Raymond Ghirardo, a sculptor and media artist, have been collaborators in video, sound sculpture, installation and performance for the past 31 years.

Here's how I describe it: Amazing.

It's a crazy-busy time of year. Take 30 minutes, take a walk over to Handwerker, and take a deep breath.

It'll astonish you.

The show runs through April 5. The artists will present a talk on April 2 at 12:15 p.m., and there will be an artists' reception as part of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival from 5 to 7 p.m. that afternoon.

Handwerker is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.

This just in from the Music School (how cool is this?!?):

“Creating Culturally Affirming Education for Students of Color: Integrating the Performing Arts and Academics”

This is a very special opportunity to hear, learn from, and interact with national leaders, researchers, authors, and experts working to address this critical issue! All of the following keynote addresses and events are free and open to the public!! We very much hope interested people from the community will attend


Friday, March 27 – in Hockett Recital Hall, Whalen Center, Ithaca College Campus
9:00 - 10:15 a.m. -- Dr. Geneva Gay, University of Washington – The Power and Practice of Culturally Responsive Teaching. (Dr. Gay is recipient of many national awards and author of: Expressively Black: The Cultural Basis of Ethnic Identity; At the Essence of Learning, Multicultural Education; Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Practice & Research; and Becoming Multicultural Educators.)

1:00 - 2:15 p.m. -- Mr. Aaron Dworkin, President of the Sphinx Organization --
Breaking the Sound Barrier: The Sphinx Organization and Classical Music. (Mr. Dworkin, a passionate advocate for diversity in music education and performance, is a McArthur “Genius” grant recipient and was named one of Newsweek’s “15 People Who Make America Great.” He has also been featured in People Magazine and on NBC’s Nightly News and Today Show, Anderson Cooper’s 360, NPR’s The Story and Performance Today, and more.)

6:00 - 7:15 p.m. -- Dr. Gail Thompson, Claremont Graduate University --
Expect a Miracle: How Educators Can Help America’s “Stepchildren” Succeed in School and Life. (Dr. Thompson is author of five books: African American Teens Discuss Their Schooling Experiences; What African American Parents Want Educators to Know; Through Ebony Eyes: What Teachers Need to Know but are Afraid to Ask About African American Students; Up Where We Belong: Helping African American and Latino Students Rise in School and Life; and Exposing the Culture of Arrogance in the Academy: A Blueprint for Increasing Black Faculty Satisfaction.)

7:30 - 8:30 p.m. -- Mr. Alejandro Jimenez, Hartford Connecticut Public Schools --
“Spicy, Picante”: Afro-Spanish- Caribbean Styles and Rhythms as a part of the African Diaspora and Multiculturalism – a performance workshop with a band. (Mr. Jimenez has presented at many national conferences, has contributed to a number of music textbooks, and was named Connecticut’s 2006 Elementary School Music Teacher of the Year.)


Saturday, March 28 – in Emerson Suites, Ithaca College Campus Center
9:00 - 10:15 a.m. -- Dr. JoBeth Allen, University of Georgia -- Diverse Families, Welcoming Schools. (Dr. Allen is author of Creating Welcoming Schools: A Practical Guide to Home-School Partnerships with Diverse Families; Literacy Research for Political Action; and With the Best Intentions: Agents, Impetus, and Consequences of Placement Decisions.)

8:15 p.m. -- High School Gospel Music Festival -- 250 young gospel singers from six high schools in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Florida, New Jersey, and New York will join for the fourth annual Ithaca College Gospel Invitational Music Festival. This event gives deserving underrepresented students a rare opportunity to be taught by and work with luminaries of gospel music and to take part in gospel music’s rich heritage.


For more detailed information about speakers and other conference events, please go to the conference website at: www.ithaca.edu/music/education/conference

Thank you -- we hope to see you there!!

Parkies: You're ideal interns (just ask NBC Sports!)

NBC Sports was on campus this week to interview Parkies for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

This year, we are one of only TWO schools in the entire country where NBC Sports is recruiting interns. One of only TWO.

Why is that?

The NBC staff told us that it's because Parkies are so well-prepared, talented, enthusiastic and hard-working. They get the job done. They step up and volunteer. They are grateful for the opportunity to be at the Olympics. And they are just plain fun to work with.

In other words, Parkies are ideal colleagues at one of the most extraordinary, exciting and competitive media venues in the world.

I can't think of higher praise that you could receive, from anyone.

Congratulations to all of you who were interviewed this week (they said it was going to be an incredibly difficult decision to figure out who is going to get to go)....and to everybody else as well. Because you're all Parkies. And I am certain that the NBC Sports definition and description fits every one of you.

The Watchmen photographer (Class of '91) at Park!

Clay Enos, a 1991 Park School graduate recently cited for his photography work on the new Warner Brothers movie Watchmen, was in the Park School today and wil be speaking to students in Ron Jude's Photography Workshop course at 1:00 p.m. Friday, and will be interviewed on WICB's Countdown to the Weekend.

According to his publicity file, Enos refuses to be pigeonholed into any one category of photography. "From a portrait session with Sting, to a print campaign for Coca-Cola, to glue-sniffing children on the streets of Cambodia, Enos consistently captures moments that feel both real and transcendent. Always spontaneous and edgy, Enos' unique style shines through his commercial, editorial, and fine-art photographs."

Enos, who earned a BFA in film, photography, and visual arts, proved his eye for portraits in his first large-scale photography project, Streetstudio. Launched in 2000, Streetstudio involves shooting portraits of random passersby on the streets of New York City. By bringing his studio to the street, Enos gains access to the most remarkable faces in the city. This access, combined with his sheer enthusiasm and friendly rapport, allows Enos to create quiet poignant portraits of everyday people that reflect the myriad beauty and electric spirit of New York City.

The project has expanded to include London, Paris, Amsterdam, Black Rock City, Bangkok, and Berlin. To date, the Streetstudio collection contains more than 20,000 portraits and the project is still going strong.

Director Zack Snyder hired Enos to document his film adaptation of Watchmen. That effort resulted in three coffee-table books, one of which is dedicated exclusively to 220 on-set Streetstudio-style portraits made during the film's production. Recent covers of Entertainment Weekly and Empire magazine have featured that work, and one of his set photos appears in the March 16 edition of Time.

Enos describes himself as a typical New Yorker who doesn't own a car. When not riding his bicycle on the streets of Manhattan, he roams the globe discovering memorable photographs in far away places (48 countries so far). Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers and the Lemelson Foundation have tapped him to document their innovative development projects around the world.

Clay Enos' most recent foundation work found him traveling around East Africa (Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and Kenya) to document the development work of the Jane Goodall Institute and the Lemelson Foundation in developing sustainable water and forest projects with coffee farmers. The work itself involved documenting coffee farming practices, co-op meetings, and portraits of farmers and their families, as well as key players in the development projects. The images ranged from chimpanzees in their preserves to big industrial coffee plants in Kenya.

Get Optioned! Announcing The Dan Heffner Scriptwriting Competition

Editor's Note: "John" asked whether it would be OK to submit a script that had sci-fi characters written as an action/adventure film. The answer: Sure, as long as it's an action adventure film.

But the question reminded me of one more "rule" -- well, guideline -- to keep in mind:

Serendipity Productions is really serious about optioning a script. And it makes smaller-budget films, stories based more in character and plot than special effects and massive sets. So you'd have a better chance of winning this one with a script that wouldn't require a tens-of-millions-of-dollars production budget. Just a thought.


Editor's Note #2: OK, so we've gotten another question worth noting here: Can you submit more than one script? Yes, you can submit more than one, but no more than three.


You've written the script. Now it’s time to get it optioned.

The all-new, Park-School-only (that's you!) Dan Heffner Scriptwriting Competition is designed to help.

Sponsored by Dan Heffner, one of the Park School's most accomplished and generous alumni (if you have somehow missed meeting Dan during his multiple visits to campus for the past few years you can find a summary of his accomplishments at IMDb)., the competition will identify the best feature-film script from among the entries, and Dan's production company, Serendipity Productions, will option it.

The runner-up will receive detailed notes and an opportunity to discuss his or her script with Heffner and his production team.

Here are the rules:

A. Screenplays must be written in English.

B. Content must be original. Adaptations of books, plays, or other source material are not acceptable.
C. Content must be narrative. This award is not for documentary or experimental film.

D. Acceptable genres include action, adventure, comedy, or drama. No horror or sci-fi scripts, please.

E. Scripts must be submitted in standard screenplay format. They should be single sided, printed on plain white paper, in Courier 12 point font with proper margins. All pages except page 1 must be numbered in the upper right hand corner.

F. Scripts must have a standard cover page listing the title, name of author(s), mailing address, telephone number, and email address. Judging will be anonymous. Therefore, do not include a name on any of the script pages—only the title page.

G. Entries must also include a story synopsis, attached to the script on a separate sheet of paper, along with the author(s) name and contact information.

H. Scripts should be registered with the Writer’s Guild of America Script Registry. http://www.wga.org

I.The winning script will be optioned by Serendipity Productions under the terms of its standard option agreement (available for your review in the Dean's Office) for the period of one year, at a fee to the author of $1,000; option rights may be extended for an additional 12 months for an additional fee to the author of $1,000. If the option has not been exercised by the end of the option period, all rights return to the author.

J. Scripts must be submitted to April Johanns, ajohanns@ithaca.edu, before midnight, August 1, 2009. No exceptions. Scripts and story synopses can be submitted as email attachments, or sent by postal mail to April c/o the Park School, Ithaca College, 953 Danby Road, Ithaca NY 14850. Postmark MUST be on or before August 1, 2009.

K. Winners will be announced in early September 2009.

L. This competition is open exclusively to current students in the Park School of Communications. Students graduating in May or August of 2009 may participate.

Questions? Let me know and I'll get the answers for you.

And ANOTHER one....The Ithacan Picks Up Best in Show!

Editor in Chief Erin Geismar with the Apple Award at the convention.
After picking up two Columbia Scholastic Press Association Crown Awards at the National College Media Convention in New York, The Ithacan was then presented with an Apple Award for Best of Show during the convention's closing session. This is the fourth consecutive year the paper has won the Apple Award in its category, and the sixth time it has won the award in the eight years it has been presented.

TEST? Did somebody say we have to take a TEST?

This is a message for seniors....and for all those of you who eventually will be seniors:

You got an email from Associate Dean Virginia Mansfield-Richardson today, informing you that you will need to take a writing skills test before you graduate.

You're probably wondering what that's all about - right?

Let me explain:

Last year, Ithaca College underwent its ten-year Middle States Accreditation review; a group of faculty and administrators came to campus and spent several days reviewing the college's academic and administrative policies on everything from course scheduling to learning assessment.

The college is (of course) accredited, but the Middle States group said we need to do a better job tracking your learning in ways that are clear and measurable.

Over the past six or eight months, the department chairs have been working with me to develop a plan for doing that here in the Park School. We looked at the school's "learning objectives" -- what do we think all graduates of the Park School should know and be able to do? -- and then we figured out ways to evaluate whether you are, in fact, learning those things.

This year, we're looking at whether you have the basic writing skills you should have: that's the test (more on that in a minute).

We're also going to be evaluating particular writing assignments in particular courses to determine whether you're also critical thinkers at the levels we anticipate you will be.

And later this summer, a group of our alumni will spend an afternoon reviewing a collection of student work to determine whether that work meets the basic standards of professionalism.

The point of all this is that none of it is about any particular individual or student performance. It's about ALL of you and ALL of your collective abilities to write clearly, think critically and produce professional-quality work.

Remember those standardized tests you used to take in elementary and middle school? You got a grade on them, but what really mattered to your school is how the school *as a whole* performed on those tests.

That's what this kind of assessment is all about: the school as a whole. All of our students.

A few questions-and-answers [Editor's note 3/20/09: I've revised this in response to questions from several students, and a variety of conversations I've had over the past few days. I think they are more accurate and clear now]:

Q: Do you have to do this?

A: Well, "have to" is an interesting phrase. Let's say it would be incredibly helpful if you would.

Q: Really?

A: Yes, really. We've said it's a requirement, so that you understand that if you can't make it, you need to let us know that you can't.

Q: What does that mean? what if I don't?

A: We've asked that you contact me to let me know. That's not a punishment. It's a way of ensuring that I have a chance to explain why this is important and you have a chance to explain to me why you can't make it.

Q: Why should I do this?

A: You should do this because you care about the Park School. You want us to do a better job teaching students how to write. And you know that if the Park School gets better, your degree has more value.

Q: Can I flunk this test?

A: No, you can't flunk this test. THE RESULTS OF THIS TEST WILL HAVE NO IMPACT WHATSOEVER ON YOUR GRADES, YOUR CLASS RANK, YOUR GRADUATION, OR ANY OTHER ASPECT OF YOUR ACADEMIC RECORD. Again, it's not about your individual performance, except as that is part of the larger collection of data on ALL Park students' writing skills.

And besides, we would really really really appreciate your help on this one. We can't get better if we don't know how we're doing: we can't fix a problem until we know there is one.


When is the test being given?

We're in the process of adding several dates to make it more flexible for you. And we'll be providing pizza before the test so you can take a dinner break from your work and help us out.

HURRAH!: The Ithacan wins national awards....again and again and again....

Shown in photo from left: Online Media Editor Andy Swift, holding the Gold Crown; Assistant Design Editor Michelle Barrie; Assistant Photo Editor Allison Usavage, holding the Silver Crown; and Assistant News Editor Jackie Palochko.

This just in from Michael Serino, adviser to the Ithacan:

The Ithacan Online, the Ithacan’s Web site, has been awarded a 2009 Gold Crown Award for overall excellence by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Crown Awards are the highest recognition given by the CSPA to a student print or online medium.

Following on the heels of the Ithacan’s third consecutive Online Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press in November, CSPA’s newly created Online Crown Award solidifies The Ithacan Online’s standing as a leader in college multimedia journalism.

In addition, The Ithacan newspaper was awarded the organization’s Silver Crown Award for papers produced during the Spring 2008 semester.

The award was presented March 15 at the spring National College Media Convention in New York City. The CSPA has recognized excellence in journalism with Gold and Silver Crown Awards for student newspapers, magazines and yearbooks since the early 1980s. The award for online publications was added this year.

The Ithacan also is a finalist in the Northeast Region SPJ Mark of Excellence Award competition this year.

Erica Hendry's "Jazz Man," a profile of jazz professor Steve Brown, and Jen Nevins' roller derby story, "That's How They Roll," are finalists in the Feature Writing category as well.

Winners will be announced at the regional conference April 24–5 in Philadelphia.

Alum Bill Carraro co-produces new Matt Damon Film

From Variety:

While Universal Pictures waits for the next installment in the "Bourne" franchise, the studio has stepped up to secure Matt Damon's next film.
Universal is finalizing a deal with Media Rights Capital for "The Adjustment Bureau," a contemporary love story with sci-fi overtones that was written and will be directed by George Nolfi. The material is loosely based on a Philip K. Dick story.

Nolfi will produce with Chris Moore, Michael Hackett and Bill Carraro. Production begins in September.....

Nolfi, who scripted "The Bourne Ultimatum," is also penning the next Jason Bourne vehicle for Damon and director Paul Greengrass.....

Izzy Awards in Salon.com!

An excerpt from Glenn Greenwald's column in Salon.com today, announcing his status as one of the first two recipients of the Park Center for Independent Media's Izzy Award:

Speaking of Izzy Stone, I learned this week that -- along with Democracy Now's Amy Goodman -- I've been named as the receipient of the first annual "Izzy Award for special achievement in independent media" by The Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College. Details are here. Once I know them, I'll post the details of the March 31 award ceremony, which is free and open to the public.

Even though he died in 1989, Izzy Stone basically invented blogging -- the tone, content, function and format -- and was a practitioner of journalism in its purest and noblest form. A few months ago, a commenter here linked to the online archive that contains every one of Stone's newsletters for the 18 years that he produced it (from 1953-1971), and I spent many hours reading through all of them. That's basically the dictionary definition of "adversarial journalism." I also consider Goodman to be a living, breathing embodiment of what independent journalism should be, so the combination of those two makes this award one that I greatly value.

Mumbai this summer? Bollywood? How cool is that?

Mumbai Street Scene

This just in from Anthropology Professor Denise Nuttall, who is taking a group of students to Mumbai, India, this summer - and would love it if a couple (or more than a couple!) of Parkies joined the group (what an experience! Wish I were going!).

The course will include a section on Bollywood, a visit to a film production site, and a visit with director Somanth Sen, who directed Leela and who now teaches at both the Premiere Film Institue in Pune (FTII) and with Subhash Ghai in Mumbai. Students would have the opportunity to spend time in Mumbai making connections with film-industry professionals.

The course will be divided into three distinct phases: cultural studies; service work, working with able disabled children; and a silent meditative retreat in the
countryside (as well as visiting some pre-schools in Dharavi, made famous by Slumdog millionaire).

For more information, contact Dr. Nuttall directly: dnuttall@ithaca.edu.

The Center for Independent Media's "Izzy Awards" bring Amy Goodman and Glenn Greenwald to State Theater!

Glenn Greenwald And Amy Goodman Share Inaugural Izzy Award For Independent Media

ITHACA, NY — The Park Center for Independent Media (PCIM) at Ithaca College has announced that its first annual Izzy Award for special achievement in independent media will be shared this year by two pillars of independent journalism: blogger Glenn Greenwald and “Democracy Now!” host/executive producer Amy Goodman.

The award ceremony — featuring Goodman and Greenwald — will take place at Ithaca’s State Theatre on Tuesday, March 31. More details on the event, which is free and open to the public, will be announced at a later date.

The Izzy Award is named after the legendary dissident journalist Isidor Feinstein “Izzy” Stone, who launched his muckraking newsletter “I.F. Stone’s Weekly” in 1953 during the height of the McCarthy witch hunts. Stone, who died in 1989, exposed government deceit and corruption while championing civil liberties, racial justice and international diplomacy.

Citing their “pathbreaking journalistic courage and persistence in confronting conventional wisdom, official deception and controversial issues,” the judges chose the two winners because “the intrepid spirit of Izzy Stone is alive and thriving in the tireless daily efforts of Amy Goodman and Glenn Greenwald.”

Glenn Greenwald is a former constitutional lawyer who started blogging in 2005, acting as his own editor/publisher in the I.F. Stone tradition. In 2007 he moved his popular blog to Salon.com, retaining full editorial freedom. Week after week, in meticulously documented and detailed blog posts, he skewers hypocrisy, deception and revisionism on the part of the powers that be in government and the media. His 2008 reporting on a false claim about 9/11 by then-U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey led to a retraction. With devastatingly crisp arguments, Greenwald has inveighed against torture and defended constitutional rights for all, whether they be “enemy combatants” or American protesters. He has toughly criticized both Republicans and Democrats, and his blogging frequently sparks debate in major media and on Capitol Hill.

Over the past 12 years, Amy Goodman has built “Democracy Now!” into the largest public media collaboration — it can be found on television, radio and the Internet — in the country. Independent of any party or sponsor in the I.F. Stone tradition, “Democracy Now!” offers a daily cutting-edge broadcast featuring issues, experts and debates rarely heard in corporate media, including the voices of both policymakers and those affected by policy. Through timely interviews with heads of state, opposition leaders, artists and organizers, Goodman in 2008 maintained an ongoing, tenacious focus on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. violations of the Geneva conventions, racial justice issues such as the still-displaced poor of New Orleans, and political repression overseas. “Democracy Now!” has become a daily stop for journalists, scholars, officials and activists seeking not just to get behind the news, but to stay ahead of the news.

Based in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College, the Park Center for Independent Media (http://www.ithaca.edu/indy) was launched in 2008 as a national center for the study of media outlets that create and distribute content outside traditional corporate systems and news organizations.

Judges of the inaugural Izzy Award were PCIM director Jeff Cohen; University of Illinois communications professor and author Robert W. McChesney; and Linda Jue, director and executive editor of the San Francisco-based G.W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism.

“The judges were impressed by the daunting number of outstanding candidates for this new award,” said Cohen. “It reflects the growing clout and diversity of independent media.”

For more information, visit http://www.ithaca.edu/indy/izzy or contact Jeff Cohen at Jcohen@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-1330.

Vancouver? Olympics? NBC Sports is coming to Park!

A friendly reminder:

The NBC Internship Committee will be on campus to conduct an informational session and interviews on Monday, March 23 and Tuesday, March 24. For those selected to interview, more information will be provided about times and locations. For those currently studying abroad, phone interview times will be scheduled.

But first...Get in your applications in by Monday, March 9 no later than 5:00pm. No exceptions.

Applications must be typed and accompanied by your resume and cover letter. They can be handed in at the front desk of the Dean's Office, Park 311 or e-mailed to ajohanns@ithaca.edu.

Park students and alum take top awards....again!

IMC Senior Peter Pasco at the American Advertising Federation's award ceremony for the Most Promising Minority Students; he is joined by Murray Gaylord, AAF Board member and vice president of marketing and customer insights for the NYTimes.com, and Connie Frazier, AAF's executive vice president – corporate programming and development.

IMC alum Joe Rockhill received the American Advertising Foundation's "Rising Star Award" at a ceremony in New York. He is joined here by Fran Kelly, CEO of Arnold Worldwide (advertising agency).


Once again this year, Park students and alumni took top honors at the American Advertising Federation's annual "Rising Star" and Most Promising Minority Student awards competition -- proof positive that Parkies are the best at what they do, in every category.

IMC Senior Peter Pasco was named among this year's Most Promising Minority Students; IMC Senior Hannah Moore made the Honor Roll for the award; and alum Joe Rockhill won the prestigious Rising Star Award, which recognizes"outstanding leadership and career success and a demonstrated passion for the advertising, marketing, media or public relations industries."

Congratulations to Joe, Peter and Hannah -- and to Professor Scott Hamula, director of the IMC program, and all of the other faculty whose hard work and dedication have contributed (once again) to their students' extraordinary success.

Rising Stars: Park students take top awards

IMC alum Joe Rockhill received the American Advertising Foundation's "Rising Star Award" at a ceremony in New York. He is joined here by Fran Kelly, CEO of Arnold Worldwide (advertising agency).
IMC Senior Peter Pasco at the American Advertising Federation's award ceremony for the Most Promising Minority Students; he is joined by Murray Gaylord, AAF Board member and vice president of marketing and customer insights for the NYTimes.com.

Once again this year, Park students and alumni took top honors at the American Advertising Federation's annual "Rising Star" and Most Promising Minority Student awards competition -- proof positive that Parkies are the best at what they do, in every category.

IMC Senior Peter Pasco was named among this year's Most Promising Minority Students; IMC Senior Hannah Moore made the Honor Roll for the award; and alum Joe Rockhill won the prestigious Rising Star Award, which recognizes"outstanding leadership and career success and a demonstrated passion for the advertising, marketing, media or public relations industries."

Congratulations to Joe, Peter and Hannah -- and to Professor Scott Hamula, director of the IMC program, and all of the other faculty whose hard work and dedication have contributed (once again) to their students' extraordinary success.

WICB/VIC and ICTV: The best college sports coverage....anywhere!

EDITORIAL NOTE: In the "even blog editors/deans make mistakes" category: Mike WARWICK wrote these kind and thoughtful comments about our student media; I'm absolutely certain that Mike Welch shares the sentiments, but I got my Mikes confused....my sincere apologies to both of them!).

We have so many students (and advisers and staff) who work so hard -- every season, for every game -- to provide us all with the best college sports coverage in the country.

And every once in awhile, somebody takes note and reminds us all of the extraordinary talent and commitment of our student media.

This weekend, it was Mike Warwick (SEE EDITORIAL NOTE, ABOVE) who took a few minutes to acknowledge and praise the work they do:

If I ever think that after so many years of raising the bar in terms of the sports coverage that ICTV and WICB/VIC provide, there'd be no more plateaus for them to reach, weekends like this past one will always change my mind.

With Ithaca hosting both the conference men's basketball and conference women's basketball tournaments this weekend, both our TV and radio stations stepped up their efforts in a big way. It turned out that three of the six games we hosted over that 45-hour span didn't even feature an Ithaca team, but the level of professionalism and dedication that Allison Gainza's ICTV staff and the radio staffs of Michael Polak and Lee Small didn't diminish a bit no matter what teams were playing. Both TV and radio had made the decision to cover every game, regardless of whether or not Ithaca was playing, long before we even knew we'd be hosting both events. Now that they're over, I appreciate -- as always -- what a tremendous job they did. There were representatives from five other schools participating in the tournament and I know how impressed they were with the work of our campus media.

The work of Allison, Michael and Lee and their hard-working staffs -- and the great support they get from Peter Johanns, David Priester and Chris Wheatley -- made the entire college look good this weekend. It's greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

-- Mike

Hollywood Assistants: Parkies make the 'big time'

Jesse Porter ('05) and a group of his friends put together a music video in the past few months about life as a Hollywood assistant; it's hit the blogosphere in LA and is catching on among the hundreds (thousands?) of Hollywooders working as assistants in the industry.

And even for those of us watching from afar, it's downright hilarious:
Hollywood ASST from Back of the Class on Vimeo.