Eeeeeelection time!

I'm getting pretty nervous about the upcoming election. It's so soon, and so important. I have mini-anxiety attacks every time I think about it.

What could potentially happen if George W. Bush is re-elected? Armageddon.

This country needs to start over. We need a leader who can help our country regain the massive amounts of respect that it has lost in the past four years. We need a leader who can do something about this ridiculous budget deficit. We need a leader who cares about me and you and the majority of the country, not just that miniscule percentage of this nation who make more than $200,000 a year. We need a leader who will get our troops out of Iraq as soon and as safely as possible.

We need John Kerry as the next president of the United States.

For more on this, check out my blog in the recent election issues of "unbound", which you can find here.

Hopefully, by the time you read it, my latest posts regarding my trip to the Kerry-Clinton rally in Philadelphia last Monday will be online.

Oh man...Indecision 2004.

(In reference to the title of this entry- "The Daily Show" is amazing, and if anyone at CNN ever picks on Jon Stewart again, I will destroy them. Hear that, Tucker Carlson?)

A suggested topic for this week's blog entry related to the presidential election, and since I'm pretty passionate about politics, I think I'm going to run with this one. I know a lot more about politics than I'll probably ever know about HTML and digital storytelling, so hopefully this entry will be more interesting and make a lot more sense than my last few posts.

Frankly, I'm very worried about what's going to happen on November 2. To me, it's blatantly obvious that Senator John Kerry is the better man for the job. (Did you see the debates? Did you know that being the president of the most powerful nation in the world "is a hard job"? Because with President Bush's excessive repetition of that phrase during the first debate, that's the only thing I can remember him saying.) But the polls show that the candidates are (shockingly) close, and that makes me extremely nervous. I'm genuinely worried about what could potentially happen with Bush in office for another four years.

Well, at least we're definitely rid of him by 2008.

Anyway, I'm going to lead this brief election nugget into the realm of "shameless plug."

For about a month, I've been blogging the presidential election from a Democratic perspective for TCNJ's online magazine, "unbound." It's finally due tomorrow (!!) and I'm really excited and a little worried that the Republican blog's going to be better, but whatever. It'll be online soon, and I'll be sure to post the link when it's available.

Another digital storytelling-related question.

How does the inclusion of relationship elements engage the reader?

Naturally, everyone wants to be a part of something. We all like to think that certain things are created solely for our own use and benefit. If a reader has personal interest invested in a piece- or a "relationship" with it, if you will- then the reader will automatically become more involved in the piece. The reader will be more inclined to read it, finish it, and share it with others if it's something that really affects him or her and strikes a note within that reader's mind.

Interrelated stories create a sense of continuity. Theoretically, an interrelated, interlocking story never has to end. One story may branch off into other, creating a series of spinoffs which will keep the reader's attention for a long time.

(Once again, I'm writing to the best of my ability about concepts that I don't fully understand.)

Digital storytelling?

Homework question: "Is this understanding used in professional writing? How does this serve narrative functions such as scene-setting and character development?"

In all honesty, I don't think I can really answer this question. My knowledge of digital storytelling is extremely limited. I read "Elements of Digital Storytelling," but the concept is still not very clear to me. We touched on the subject only briefly in class, and I'm not quite sure exactly what digital storytelling entails. But I'll try to get through this the best that I can, though my answer may not make any sense at all. You've been duly warned.

I've just checked out this really cool website that was mentioned on the syllabus. It tells the stories of things related to apples (oddly enough) in wild, visually intriguing manner, with a blend of graphics, sounds, narrative, and other effects. I'm assuming that these effects are the "concepts" that I should have an "understanding" of, and I'll answer the questions as such.

In order to grab and maintain a reader's attention, a piece must have some special quality that makes it desirable to read. A professional writer uses various devices (language, style, format, etc.) to make the piece come alive, and in that way, yes- the concepts of digital storytelling are used in professional writing.

To answer the second question, the elements of digital storytelling- the visuals, the sounds, the text, and whatever else I may be missing- serve narrative functions because these elements are the vehicle that's telling the story. They are the narrative functions.

Another homework question: "How does action function as part of the narrative? Can it be likened to the function of transitions in a linear print narrative?"

Action is what keeps a narrative moving. I can't think of any story in which absolutely nothing happens. If one actually does exist, I bet it's really boring, and also really short. In digital storytelling, the action can be shown through various graphic tools and images, which assists in getting the story's message across to the reader. I suppose it could be likened to the function of transitions in a linear print narrative in that after an action has taken place, the story usually moves on to a new scene, and a transition moves a story onto a new scene as well.

(Note: I think all my answers to these questions are pretty lame, but I'm trying my hardest.)

I want to work for JANE so badly.

I went home this weekend to do some work for my local Democratic club. While I'm at school, my mother keeps the mail I receive at home in a pile on my dresser, and every time I head back to Pitman, I practically race past my parents in order to see if I got any of my magazines.

"Yeah, Mom, I haven't seen you in two weeks. But I haven't gotten a new 'Cosmo' in over a month!"

Anyway, on this visit, there was no "Cosmopolitan" waiting for me. (Despite the fact that I've been a subscriber for almost four years, I always seem to get my issue weeks after ShopRite and WaWa.) But I didn't mind that much, because the newest issue of "JANE" was waiting for me. It had slipped off of the dresser and was laying haphazardly on the floor, half on top of some old sneakers. The plastic cover looked a little beat. But it was still a glorious site to me. If I was forced to have only one magazine subscription, I'd give up "Cosmo" in a second.

I know I've said it before, but working for "JANE" is my ultimate career goal. It's fun, it's witty, it attacks serious subjects in a not-so-serious way. The articles are cleverly written, and the writers really interact with their subjects and inject a lot of their personal humor and style into everything they write.

I can't imagine doing straight journalism. I don't like the "no-nonsense, no-frills, just news" attitude. There's so much more I'd like to write about.