A Leap Above Backyard Bouncing

"Just the feeling of flying, you know, being off your feet, you can't describe it, being upside down 30 feet off the ground," said 19-year-old Steven Gluckstein. He is a member of the U.S. National Trampoline Team and is currently ranked No.1 in the country. "A Leap Above Background Bouncing, Competitive Trampoline", produced by David Frank, Katie Thomas and Evelio Contreras, a video clip on "The New York Times" Web site, located in the sports section, October 2009. After learning about backpack journalism, which are the variety of tools available to the journalist in reporting today's news. It's surprising that a media professional today must possess a variety of skills, such as; photography, writing, stand-up television reporter and have some knowledge of cinematography, in order to be a journalist. The video pairs Gluckstein performing multiple routines with an audio of him explaining those different techniques. He spoke about his coach, 1996 World Champion in Women Trampoline, Tatiana Kovaleva, and how she asked him to be apart of her trampoline team that she was looking to launch some 10 years ago. Gluckstein said, "Trampoline consists of grace and extreme. It brings together gymnastics and diving, the skills are similar, we just land on our feet....most of the time." Competitive trampoline is composed of two routines, compulsory and optional. Compulsory which is the easier of the two, is judged out of 10 consecutive skills. While optional, are your 10 most difficult tricks all back-to-back, with the opportunity of getting difficulty bonus points added to your final score based on how many flips and twist are in the routine. Gluckstein met his synchro partner, Logan Dooley, in Canada at their first world cup. Both were accepted and nerves since it was their first big competition. Everyone noticed how identical they looked, and the world was bound to confuse them, so they decided to become a synchro pair. In synchronize trampoline the requirements and skill values are the same as for individual trampoline, but two athletes compete simultaneously. Each athlete gets a score, with a maximum of 10.0, which are then averaged and added together. Optional routines are also given a difficulty score. Gluckstein and Dooley believe that they are the only high-level synchronized trampoline team that does not regularly train together, since Gluckstein lives in New Jersey and Dooley lives in California. However, with the perfection they execute in their routines, no one would be able to tell.

Herta Muller, 2009 Nobel Prize winner in Literature

Everyday people live under a dictatorship were they are constantly persecuted and censored. For a person, who makes a living as a writer; such circumstances could be unsafe to truly express ones thoughts and opinions. Herta Muller, recent winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature, understands these conditions of living under the oppression of a dictator. A Romanian-born German novelist and essayist, Muller emigrated to Germany in 1987 after years of censorship. She is the 12th woman to win the Literature prize, said Motoko Rich and Nicholas Kulish authors of "German Who Writes of Exile Wins Nobel" in "The New York Times" on Friday October 9, 2009. Out of her 20 published books around five have been translated into English, including the novels; "The Land of Green Plums" and "The Appointment". Both stories exhibits graphic portrayals of what the average person endures while living under totalitarianism. On Thursday in Berlin, where she lives, at the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, Muller elaborated on what life encompassed during her 30 years spent living under a dictatorship and of friends who did not survive to share their experiences. Recounting her living conditions Muller said, "every day with the fear in the morning that in the evening one would no longer exist." In 1982, Muller began her first collection of short stories which would soon be censored by the Romanian authorities. When writing a feature story, there are multiple structures to choose from, however the writer is free to adapt to whatever structure is suitable for the topic. Profile features typically center on a single person, like Herta Muller, a fascinating woman who spoke out against oppression and collaboration. 'Lyn Marven, a lecturer in German studies at the University of Liverpool who has written about Ms. Muller, said: "It's an odd disjunction to write about traumatic experiences living under a dictatorship in a very poetic style. It's not what we expect, certainly."'

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/books/09nobel.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=herta%20muller&st=cse

Leaving Iraq

Armored vehicles extend into the blue horizon in a photograph taken by Johan Spanner on the front cover of "The New York Times." The Friday October 9, 2009 edition shows these armored vehicles in an infinite space at Camp Victory in Baghdad stationary as the military awaits orders on where to transport the equipment. From dismantling 300 bases to shipping out 1.5 million pieces of equipment the military said that this is the largest movement of soldiers and material in more than four decades. The withdrawal as been complicated due to attacks from an insurgency that remains active, disagreement with the Iraqis about what should be left for them and what soldiers in Afghanistan need immediately. Most missions are carried out at night because Iraqi politicians prefer that the American presences be less visible. Congress as also limited what the military can leave the Iraqis to around $15 million in equipment per base, which does not include infrastructure. Colonel Gust Pagonis, one of the leading logisticians, as been assigned to extricate America from the desert. I am curious how different aspects of a war that is six and a half years old can still make the front cover of "The New York Times." At what point does a war lose its hard news quality? Why does society become immune to information about a war? If it were not for the staggering figures of troops and equipment, would the attention of the average civilian be engaged through informative war coverage? Talk of bring our troops home as been the topic of conversation among civilians and political figures for months in not more. However, 124,000 troops must continue to hold their positions across the country while determining what supplies to leave for the 50,000 troops that will remain until 2011.

Abortion and Health Care

The article, "Abortion Fight Adds to Debate on Health Care" was published in "The New York Times" on September 29, 2009. Abortion opponents within the House and Senate are against individuals eligible for federal insurance to use the money on abortions. Abortion rights supporters say that a restriction would banish private plans that cover the procedure forcing women who have the coverage to give it up. The latest health care bills ban federal abortion financing by requiring insurers to pay for abortions from private sources. However, abortion opponents still feel that the subsidies would help people afford abortions. When it comes to abortion everyone has an opinion whether they are in favor of pro-life or pro-choice. This is where quotes and attribution on opinions add inciting to an article. Whether the author uses direct, indirect or partial quotes, attribution is essential for representing different views especially on controversial topics. Direct quotes are used when paraphrasing would not justify the speaker's intent. Yet indirect quotes, which are paraphrases, are used more in articles then any other type of quote even a partial quote. This is understandable since people are more relaxed in everyday conversation and are less likely to get to the point while having a discussion or giving a statement. One vote needed to pass the bill was Senator Nelson his spokesman said, "Senator Nelson does not believe that taxpayer dollars should be used in any way to fund abortion." So where is our taxpayer dollars being spent? What about the orphans in the United States? Even the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops opposes the bill unless it bans the use of subsidies for covering abortions. What about separation of church and state? Why should a religious group affect a governmental issue?