A few of these stickers were spotted around Regis College on Election Day 2016
By Chris Avery, Maggie Crowe, Curtis Fraser, Karen Marquez, Marissa Minor, Robert Nelson, Liz Stygles, Andy White
WESTON, Mass. – Sophomore track and field athlete Taylor Garner sat in a chair in the basement of the Regis Student Union building on Tuesday night, staring at a live stream of CNN Presidential Election coverage.
“I’m not leaving until there’s a president,” he said. Garner, along with junior Gabie Telemaque of Somerville, Mass., led an initiative at the university called Regis Rocks the Vote, encouraging the student body to register to vote in this year’s election.
Many students at Regis are voting this year in their first presidential election, and voters at the nearly 2,000-student Catholic university were torn about the prospects of choosing a new president.
“I don’t think there’s ever been such a polarized difference (between two candidates). They’re north and south,” said Garner. “What does that mean for our republic?”
According to data from YouGov, an internet-based research firm based in the United Kingdom, 38 percent of first-time voters are excited to vote in this election while 37 percent are not excited.
“In a way it’s exciting, and in a way it’s kind of scary,” said Regis freshman Shelagh O’Neil, a Tyngsboro, Mass. native on voting for the first time. “You just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Senior Trevor Hamilton voted early to avoid the lines.
Taylor Garner helped run Rock the Vote on the Regis Campus and said he was not leaving the LSU until there was a new president.
Joseph Bunce-Grenon dons his “I Voted Today!” sticker after voting for Hillary Clinton
First-time voter Rachel Tortora, a senior from Haverhill, Mass., says it’s too early to tell whether this election will impact how she votes in the future. “It depends on if the candidates are just like these two.”
The wave of first-time voters did not just stop at Regis. According to a poll of 35,000 voters taken by Reuters, 15 percent of voters this year will be voting for the first time, a number that is up from nine percent in 2012.
“You really need to look into it to have an educated vote,” said Regis senior Matt Norton, from Weymouth, Mass. “I think we will be more inspired to be politically active for the next election.”
A very dear friend is republishing a very funny book and asked me to comment on it. Here goes:
In the decades since the initial publication of Women Who Love Cats Too Much by Allia Zobel Nolan with illustrations by Nicole Hollander, the world has changed.
That yowling, mewing, purring sound you hear is the soundtrack of hundreds, even thousands, of cat videos, cat photos and cat memes being uploaded to the Web every day.
It’s not that far-fetched to say that cats invented social media because if we weren’t sharing videos of Nora the piano playing cat or trading posters of Grumpy Cat, or playing someone off with Keyboard Cat or laughing at Kitlers (Cats Who Look Like Hitler) or using that copious extra cat hair to Trump Your Cat — what else would we be doing? Something silly, no doubt, like actual work.
So the republication of Women Who Still Love Cats Too Much (Now With Even More Cat Hair) with updates that acknowledge the feline digital revolution, is cause for celebration. Because let’s put this book into a proper historical, social context. It ain’t just women, folks!
Say what you want about Dog Friend vs. Cat Friend, but cats rule the Internet (except maybe for the Dog shaming) which means both nerd and nerdettes are snorting the catnip. Women Who Still Love Cats Too Much acknowledges this with such bon mots as “You stand on line for six hours to get an autographed copy of Grumpy Cat.” Or “They expect you to make videos of their midnight crazy antics and get up at 5 am to post it to their blogs.” These lines join such classics as: “You can’t enjoy sex if the cat’s box needs cleaning. “ “Or you feel guilty having a quiet, romantic evening out without your cat.”
Does this sound like you? From: Women Who (still) Love Cats Too Much
These lines and others could be the story of my life with cats. It wasn’t always that way. When I first met and became friend with Allia Zobel Nolan, so long ago that dinosaurs still roamed the planet, I was amused, even annoyed when she stressed over a sick cat. “You wait, “ Allia told me. “You wait and see when this happens to you!”
And oh boy. It did. I was adopted by a beautiful tortoiseshell and have not been without a feline companion since. Which is why reading Women Who Still Love Cats Too Much remains such a pleasure – I see myself on almost every page and on almost every page, I think, “Actually, that’ s quite reasonable behavior.”
Because another friend has never let me forget the time I went to the back door and called out, “Titan, Titan come in. Animal Planet is on. You’ll like it.”
That’s not in the book, thank goodness, but readers will recognize themselves and that includes both men and women.
Seasonal produce on sale at Land’s Sake Farm in Weston, Mass., includes several kinds of peppers. Photo by Shelagh Dolan.
Yesterday’s post was the result of a class project completed on Saturday, July 18, at Land’s Sake farm in Weston, Mass., near Regis College. The goal: Produce a multi-media narrative, with text, photos and video, in one day. And the students did it!
Tasks were divided up: some students concentrated on interviews, some on photography, some on video. The class play acted interviews ahead of time, then went to the farm when they talked to staff and a few customers. The students felt the customers were not very friendly. The instructor, however, sees that she needs to teach students to be more aggressive (as well as respectful) in approaching strangers. The students finished their research about noon and after a break went into the class and as a group wrote a story, editing and selected photos and created a short video using iMovie.
The results were posted about 5 p.m. The class then composed tweets and research hashtags of the type that that would be sent out to promote their story or the farm itself.
The goal was to show students how to approach a story using multiple formats and how to operate under deadline pressure. We all applauded when the instructor hit publish.
Land’s Sake Farm in Weston, Mass., offers Community Supported Agriculture that Connects Customers with the Land. Photo Courtesy Nicole Jean Turner.
A Morning at the Farm
By Matthew Cerullo, Shelagh Dolan and Simona Horsikyan, Edited by Nicole Jean Turner, Instructor Stephanie Schorow
The morning was dark, chilly, and somewhat rainy at Land’s Sake Farm in Weston, Mass., but the sun prevailed in the afternoon. Bumblebees hummed around the sunflowers, feeding on nectar, and birdsong welcomed guests and farmers alike.
As soon as we walked in, we were barraged by smells coming from the chickens, the flowers, and the many different fruits and vegetables. These aromas mixed with subtle hints of petrichor and fresh-cut spices from the land around us were some of the many treasures of spending a morning on a farm.
Sweet Corn is Harvested and Sold Fresh Daily. Photo Courtesy Nicole Jean Turner.
While the market’s staffers are arranging the produce and explaining farm mechanics, customers start browsing, mothers start picking flowers, and children observe the chickens and rabbits.
A white truck drives up the dirt entrance. A man hops out of the cab and opens the back of the truck, and unloads stacks of what resemble thin white pizza boxes. He carries them up the gravel path and places them on a wooden farm stand shelf.
A look inside the stack reveals green cardboard containers of blueberries, raspberries and currants, freshly delivered for community members to buy this Saturday morning.
Bell and Sweet Peppers Are Among The New Produce This Season at Land’s Sake Farm in Weston, Mass. Photo Courtesy Shelagh Dolan.
Welcome to a typical Saturday morning at the farm, which is dedicated to building connections among people, the food they eat, and the land. Most of the produce you buy at the grocery store is picked before it is ripe and transported thousands of miles before it reaches the store. In contrast, the Land’s Sake produce is picked right before the market opens in the morning.
You can find a variety of colorful organic fruits and vegetables, which are packed with vitamins and minerals. Here at the Land’s Sake farm, customers talk directly to the people who grow the produce. The farmers tell how they grew it, what fertilizers they used, what variety they planned, and can answer other questions.
Squash and Cucumbers Ready To Be Weighed and Bagged. Photo Courtesy Nicole Jean Turner.
A visit to Land’s Sake Farm is a great opportunity to spend time with your family. There is no entrance fee, so and also it’s a fun way to enjoy a walk on a summer’s day.
Land`s Sake is a registered nonprofit corporation that supports sustainable farming, environmental education, food donation programs, and land management. The farm is based on principles of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), meaning community members can invest in shares for a season, and in return they can pick up fresh vegetables and flowers from the 30-acre property.
Colorful Watering Cans Sit Alongside the Colorful Flower Field. Photo Courtesy of Shelagh Dolan.
The farm has about 300 CSA shareholders, each assigned a weekly pickup day, when they can come by and collect their shares. Seasonal shares come in five different options, so families can choose which type best fits their needs.
In addition to the CSA shareholder program, Land’s Sake has an on-site farm stand, stocked daily with fruits, veggies and special products like popcorn, honey, syrup and shortbread cookies. Land’s Sake doesn’t grow its own berries but it receives fresh berry deliveries to the stand three times a week from partner Nourse Farm of South Deerfield, Mass. Farm stand products are available to everyone, CSA shareholder or not.
A Customer Snips Celosia From The Pick-Your-Own Flower Field. Photo Courtesy Nicole Jean Turner.
Our team arrived in the early morning to scope out the grounds. We first noticed the chicken coop housing about 10 birds, clucking and drinking water. The chickens came close enough to the gate that we could touch them but we didn’t dare risk getting pecked. The little things loved the attention but as soon as we walked away from the coop they went back to their water and food.
The Farm is Home to Rabbits for Teaching Children About Animals. Photo Courtesy Simona Horsikyan.
We also saw a mother and baby rabbits in moveable hutches. Their homes could be picked up and moved around the land to provide the rabbits with the most luscious grass. When we got closer to their cages, the rabbits jumped up on two legs and pressed their twitching noses against the metal grate.
Stacked on the shelves of the farm stand, barrels of fresh violet eggplant, juicy red and black raspberries, thick leafy greens and bell peppers overflow onto the tables. Customers of all ages browsed the day’s selection. In the fields next to the stand, other farm visitors borrowed scissors to cut their own flowers and create bouquets.
In the CSA shareholder tent we caught up with Weston mother Barrett and son Naimon, Land’s Sake members who come every Saturday to collect their produce and cut flowers. Naimon enjoys hand picking the green beans and Barrett likes that the farm teaches her son about growing local, fresh food.
An Employee Bundles Fresh Flowers, Hand Cut by a Customer for 50 Cents Per Stem. Photo Courtesy Nicole Jean Turner.
“Land’s Sake is a very important part of our town,” said Barrett. “It’s great because [the kids] learn what vegetables look like when they come out of the ground.”
Shareholders Roam the Flowerbeds with Scissors, Working to Create the Perfect Bundle. Photo Courtesy Shelagh Dolan.
The Front Driveway of Land’s Sake Farm is Adorned with Several Signs Advertising Hours, Summer Programs, and In-Season Produce. Photo Courtesy of Shelagh Dolan
Ready for the new semester in professional writing
With hope and sadness, I begin to update this blog. I will teach Multimedia and Social Media for the Professional Writer for the third, and possibly last, time at Regis College. Unfortunately, due to many factors — most of them budgetary — the MAPW program will fold as a separate entity at Regis College and my position as director has been eliminated. Some good news — the courses we develop will be retained and become part of the Master of Science in Organizational and Professional Communication program at Regis College and I will continue to teach some of these courses as an adjunct professor. I will continue to maintain and run this blog and make it part of my own personal branding platform.
In the meantime, we will be using this blog as a teaching tool for EN 504 Multimedia and Social Media class. The summer is about to start.
MAPW student Shelagh Dolan turned her final project for the Advanced Professional Writing class into a published article — a lesson for other writing students and teachers. She was interested in how shoppers were using mobile phones while stopping; she found that many young women were sending photos to friends for advice. The idea was discussed and refined in class and Shelagh later did a series of interviews of shoppers in Downtown Crossing to flesh out the concept. She finished the piece for class and later pitched a final draft to BostonInno. After patience, polite phone calls and more patience, Styling Ourselves with Selfies was published last month. (There was a last-minute correction on her name, a lesson in how a fast-paced media can sometimes mess up, but also how corrections can be easily made once you reach the right person.) Shelagh also did a great job in tweeting out the story; it was retweeted more than two dozen times and “favorite” by fashion mavens. So this piece of homework turned out to be an exercise in multiple aspects of publication… and persistence.
Recently, I shared a story about the perils of freelancing with my EN501: Advanced Professional Writing Students: A Day in the Life of a Freelance Journalist by Nate Thayer. What I wanted them to look at was not only Nate’s account of how he was asked to write a story “for exposure” by the Atlantic, but also the comments made after he posted on his blog. The story is old now, but the questions remain: What are we willing to pay for quality writing in this digital world?
My students then did a “free write” exercise in which they were asked to answer the question posted at the top of this post. Their answers were very thoughtful and I share them here:
B.J. Brown: Writing is a craft
I consider myself a willing, if modest supporter of the writing I consume. I pay for two newspaper subscriptions, for both print and online access. While I seldom buy books for myself, I often give books as gifts. I will pay in the neighborhood of $30 for a hardcover book, and I shop at independent booksellers whenever I can. I rely on my town library for my own reading; I support the library through my taxes and an annual donation. I also make an annual membership contribution to my local NPR station, which I consider another source of good writing. On the other hand, I don’t pay for the half-dozen podcasts I listen to regularly. I wonder if I’d check The Writer’s Almanac now and then if I had to pay 99 cents for a poem, even though I appreciate the introduction to writers I’d never have otherwise heard of.
Writing is a craft, even an art, and I believe artists and artisans should be paid for their work. Should writers calculate and charge an hourly living wage? Should they put their work out for auction? The first seems impossible and the second too subjective and fickle. I can’t imagine an alternative to the free market, but I do think that writers and artists should benefit more from the sale of their work than market middlemen. I also believe that good writing and art are public goods that merit public support. At the least, access through public libraries and museums, and teaching the arts through public education, should be generously funded.
Shelagh Dolan: Supporting writers by buying books
I must admit that I get my news on the Internet for free. Twitter is my local, national and global news sources. However, the reporters delivering this news deserve compensation from their organizations(and the organizations deserve compensation from advertisements? Is that how it works?). I have purchased full albums from musical artists I really admire but I have also downloaded songs for free, justifying it to myself by saying that Justin Timberlake has already made enough money without my help. As for personal spending on writing, I’m a sucker for writing as an art form – short stories, novels, poetry, etc. I will spend money to support writers and own copies of their work. The last time I went into a Barnes & Nobel just to browse, I accidentally walked out with three paperbacks (The Circle by Dave Eggers, The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo and The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling) and a receipt for about $65. I am aware that libraries exist but I enjoy filling my shelves with books that I can keep, write in and revise whenever I want. To me that is money well spent.
Nicole Jean Turner: Willing to pay what I hope to earn someday
What I would pay and what I hope to be paid for good writing are two different prices, which make me sit here and ponder why I feel this way. I suppose, if I can more means, I would be willing to pay what I expect to earn for/from good writing, but because of my tiny paychecks and negative student loan balance, currently I won’t pay much for good writing by choice. For example, The New Yorker. Even though I wanted to subscribe for a while now, I didn’t subscribe until recently when I found a link online to subscribe for free through a contest portal. The most I’ve ever spent on a book that wasn’t for school (I can’t think of a specific instance) but I think from $25 to $30 sounds about right. There are times I do go out of my way, such as collecting from eBay copies of old magazines that had short stories in them that I wanted. There is one book – Rage, by Richard Bachman – that I’m willing to spend a couple hundred on if I can find a copy. (Granted, I know I can buy a copy on eBay for $400 but I really don’t’ want to spend more than $200 on a book that won’t even get money to the author because it’s out of print.) But for the most part, I won’t pay for good writing if I can find a way not to, simply because I can’t afford it. If I had money, though, I’d be more than happy to buy more literary magazine subscriptions, etc.
Anne Peacher: Not easy to figure out fair compensation
Of course, good writing has monetary value. I believe the hours put forth in creating, researching, copy editing, and publishing must be compensated. But it’s not always easy to determine what that compensation should be. Enlightening nonfiction and fiction clearly is clearly worth more, especially when I compare it with the poor quality of the erroneous or sloppily written work online. I do believe the market demand determines so much of what we are willing to pay. For example, I was willing to buy Chris Bojhilian’s book on tape because I had a long car ride in front of me the next day with no Bluetooth connection. His audio book as entertainment for me in the car alone was priceless. I am willing to pay more for books, magazines, and news that I know will be quality work. I keep an online subscription to the Boston Globe and the New York Times because I find them the most credible. I grab magazines and journals more as entertainment for travel or when I have extra time in a waiting room. I believe having some price on these words keeps them more reliable and demands a better standard of creativity, prose and research.
The Devil’s Dictionary – Re-imagined by EN314 and EN514 Students at Regis College
As part of our study of rhetoric, students in EN314/EN514: The Art of Argument have examined a number of forms of satire –probably one of the chief forms of discourse in today’s snark-driven media. We looked into the past, in particular, the work of Ambrose Bierce and his popular Devil’s Dictionary. Bierce used his dictionary to poke savage fun at the foibles of his era. Example:
VOTE, n. The instrument and symbol of a freeman’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.
I asked the students to use this technique to satirizes today’s Internet culture. Here’s what they came up with:
One interpretation of Google
Google
A search engine that produces desired results and today’s valedictorians.
Submitted by Shannon Simonelli
Where you search automatically to find an answer when you don’t have one.
Submitted by Melissa Lopez
Give you information so you don’t have to bother your Facebook friends with your easily answered questions.
Submitted by Meg Reilly
Slowly taking over our lives … and that is fine.
Submitted by Maggie McCarty
Facebook
A virtual memory book of visited places, accomplishments, and life milestones viewable by everyone you’ve ever known, even that one guy from Spanish class who copied your homework in the 10th grade. Also a reliable resource for feeling left out of parties, and getting daily updates on an ex’s new life without you.
Submitted by Nicole Jean Turner
A website where you can voice your deepest beliefs and be validated by those who agree and unfriended by those who don’t.
Submitted by Meg Reilly
Snapshot
All fun and games until someone screen saves.
Submitted by Maggie McCarty
A way to make people think you’re cool through sharing photos of the drugs you just bought, that will then destroy the photographic evidence immediately following the crime. Hopefully. Not guaranteed.
Submitted by Nicole Jean Turner
Where you send pictures to anyone and everyone without really having to look good. Where you post a story so people think your life is actually interesting.
Submitted by Melissa Lopez
Tinder
All the fun of dating without those pesky emotional connections.
Submitted by Meg Reilly
Meeting sketchy has never been easier.
Submitted by Maggie McCarty
Twitter
140 characters might be too many characters. #thoughtsthatshouldremaininyourhead
Submitted by Maggie McCarty
A means to feel important by pretending people actually read about how your day is going.
Submitted by Meg Reilly
Texting
A way to talk without saying anything.
Submitted by Meg Reilly
One of the drawbacks of modernity. An action that is increasingly leading to mediocre and incomprehensible writing. A form of communication that has entirely substituted both personal and “over-the-phone” interaction.
Giselle Rodriguez
A form of communication implemented by possessors of cellular telephones, whereby a message can be conveyed to a person without the benefit of face-to-face contact with the proposed recipient. An advantage to texting is the ability to answer at one’s own leisure, usually to decipher the meaning behind the message, in order to answer in a logical fashion. As such, texting stands in as a method of confrontational avoidance towards an unsavory situation, such as the ever-frequent “break up” scenario between couples. Unfortunately, in addition to the aforementioned statements, texting is the “grammar annihilator,” tempting those to give in to incorrect, yet apparently-efficient/productive processes towards conveying a message, much to the ire and angst of “grammar sticklers,” who actually take the time to write out, piece by piece, as if they are under scrutiny.
Tomorrow (Monday) will be the first session of the Advanced Professional Writing class and the second meeting of Advanced Rhetoric: The Art of Argument. It’s a brand new year.
The Devil’s Dictionary – Re-imagined by EN314 and EN514 Students at Regis College
Submitted by Maggie McCarty
productive processes towards conveying a message, much to the ire and angst of “grammar sticklers,” who actually take the time to write out, piece by piece, as if they are under scrutiny.
The New Professional Writer 
