WSU Participates in National Nutrition Month

By, Jenn Weldy

March is National Nutrition Month and the Washington State University Wellbeing program and dining services have partnered to launch the first “Find Your Balance Challenge” campaign across campus—one they hope will continue for years to come.
“Our goal is to give every individual an opportunity for them to find their own balance between healthy [eating] and exercise as part of their physical wellbeing,” Whitney Mueller, Staff Assistant for Dining Services, said. “We thought National Nutrition Month would be a good time for that.”
Mueller organized the program in collaboration with Dining Services’ Registered Dietitian, Annie Roe, WSU Employee Wellbeing Coordinator, Brad Stewart, and Associate Director of University Recreation, Joanne Greene. Mueller said they aren’t trying to get students to work out every day and only eat healthy food; they just want to give students tools to help them each find their personal balance.
Young adult health and wellbeing recently earned so much concern that it was noted in a special feature in the 2008 United States health report that read, “the period between ages 18 and 29 sets the foundation for future health behaviors and health status, and may be the time in life when health education and preventive care may arguably have their greatest impact.”
“I think it’s a little bit of a personal mission for all of us. We really care about that stuff so we wanted to do something for the students to show them that,” Mueller said.
The program challenges students to track their nutritional and physical habits throughout March with stamp cards, according to the WSU press release. It states that the completed cards will be entered in a raffle April 3 for several prizes, including an iPod Shuffle and cash.
Mynutrition.wsu.edu provides nutrition label information for foods offered in the dining halls, and other nutritional information. “Annie built that whole thing herself,” Mueller said about the website. Mueller said Roe has done a lot to communicate with students about new and existing healthy options on campus.
For WSU student Ronnie Fontenot, 25, wellbeing is “more than just eating right, it’s also living right, being a good person and keeping low stress.” He said that attitude and mental health influence physical wellbeing, and that’s why it is important to realize that a healthy lifestyle includes a “sharp mind not bogged down by negativity.”
WSU student Kaley Porter, 20, agrees, and said, “I feel better as a student if I am physically and emotionally content with myself.”
According to the WSU Recreation website, WSU promotes a holistic approach to wellbeing that includes emotional, environmental, financial, occupational, physical, social and spiritual dimensions.
The recreational center offers a wide variety of activities ranging from an hour to several days that challenge the mind and body, including yoga classes, rock climbing and several outdoor adventures, according to “Play,” the spring 2009 program guide for university recreation.
Gail Sterns, director of The Common Ministry at WSU led two free stress relief workshops earlier this week for all community members. According to a WSU press release for the sessions, for the last ten years, Stern has been “researching and practicing mindfulness and spiritual centering as stress relief techniques for daily life.”
The press release quoted Sterns: “in my own life, putting into practice research on waking up and becoming aware of the present is the most authentic way I have found to deal with grief and stress.”
The workshops were sponsored by The Common Ministry, Health and Wellness Services, and Counseling and Testing Services.
For information about the Find Your Balance Challenge and other wellbeing workshops and activities, visit wellbeing.wsu.edu, dining.wsu.edu and urec.wsu.edu.

The nature of the news-and its beast

The beast refers to the consumers- and the orgainzations that wish to keep them fulfilled. Consumers are creating the demand. They want reletive news in a timely manner from sources they can trust. News organizations want to feed it to them.

Consumers are eternally hungry for more and more. News organizations must give them not only what they need, but what they want- constantly, or consumers will turn elsewhere. News organizations must supply that information accurately and without fraud or bias. They cannot do this without hoards of people, especially journalists, constantly researching and preparing the food for the next meal.

The on-demand news presentation style that 24-hour stations and the internet require does not allow journalists much time to double-check their work and sources. Reporters now face the risk of receiving inaccurate information and passing it through to the consumer, more than they did in the past when news presentation was more structured than constant.

Also, the time and space crunch required to produce news in a timely and daily basis often does not allow reporters to give the full story the first time. Usually they report the most pertinent information in the time and space alloted. They can report a follow up that gives more in-depth coverage at a later time. However, that does not always happen because the story loses relevance when it becomes yesterday's news.

Specialty Ledes

New York Times
"TERRY GARDNER, a legal secretary in California, returned home from work recently to find two police officers waiting. They said her brother had told them he thought she might be having a breakdown because she had shaved her head. "

This lede is interesting because it draws you in without being too far off from the point of the story- marketing on the body. I'm sure this lede can be improved a bit in that it it could me more closely tied to the story (i.e. a spiel about "Do I look like I have "" tattooed on my forehead?"). This lede is much more interesting than a summary. I think the narrative is the best fit to draw in the reader. It worked on me- I read the whole thing.

The New York Times
"They borrow leftover prescription drugs from friends, attempt to self-diagnose ailments online, stretch their diabetes and asthma medicines for as long as possible and set their own broken bones. When emergencies strike, they rarely can afford the bills that follow."

I think this is a good example of a staccato lede. It provides a very good inclination of what to expect in the story, and is appalling enough to want to continue reading. I think this is the best lede for this story. It is far more effective than a summary lede. I also think that this is the best specialty lede option because it demonstrates a repetitive problem worth learning more about.

Day 2 Norton lede

Maria L. Norton pleads for her daughter's safe return while police continue to search for clues, 24 hours after Angela Melissa Norton, 4, disappeared from her bed while in the care of her babysitter.

Murrow College takes control of Pullman-KWSU and Richland-KTNW TV stations

Raising questions and lowering costs, PBS-member stations KWSU/Pullman and KTNW/Richland merged operations under the Murrow College “as part of ongoing efforts to achieve maximum use of existing resources and increased operational efficiencies,” according to a Washington State University press release.
The merger, directed by WSU President Elson S. Floyd, went into effect February 1.
“I think he saw both academic and financial advantages to the move,” Erica Austin, Dean of the Murrow College of Communication, said in an e-mail regarding Floyd’s decision.
Austin, who will hold control over the stations’ operations, said the change will give programming more “WSU flavor.”
“It also means that the producers will have the collaborative power of faculty and students to help create and distribute more programming so they can increase and improve what they do; as if they had a larger staff,” Austin said.
“It’s going to align us closer to the college in helping [with the] training of students,” Warren Wright, Station Manager of KWSU/KTNW said. “The students will be able to help the station with production assistance.”
Wright said Floyd was looking for a way to better involve the students in the public television organization.
Austin said WSU students will have the opportunity to use state-of-the-art equipment to produce professional-quality programs.
“Our students often win national awards for their projects already,” Austin said. “It doesn’t seem to be much of a stretch for them to be able to meet high standards of professionalism.”
Wright said he thinks students are supportive of the change, which he called “win-win.” Austin said she thinks the move will generate few, if any, disadvantages. Tim Pavish, Vice President, University Relations, declined to comment.
“We have 12 students currently doing production with us and we hope there will be more,” Wright said.
Jamerika Haynes, student reporter for “Taking on the Issues,” a Cable 8 production, plans to be a broadcast news reporter when she graduates.
Haynes is excited about the production move but worries if censorship will become an issue. She said students need to thoroughly research their rights and responsibilities with the type of programming that they want to cover, and make sure they are accurate.
“[Students] just need to be aware that the administration can now have control over what will be on the air,” Haynes said.
Censorship will likely not be an issue, Austin said, because “the station has not been producing news, and the producers will still be involved in decision making.”
Austin did not mention whether censorship would be a factor in program selection or non-news content.
Austin said the association between the stations and college is one of few programs around the country, and it will benefit students from all areas of the college, “including advertising, public relations, organizational communication and research specialties in addition to journalism and broadcasting.”
The administration believes the move “will help propel the College to another level of excellence,” and make a big difference for the students, community and state, Austin said.

Summary News Lead

Vatican Demands Holocaust Denier Publicly Recant - NYT

ROME — Responding to global outrage, especially in Pope Benedict XVI’s native Germany, the Vatican for the first time on Wednesday called on a recently rehabilitated bishop to take back his statements denying the Holocaust.

Increasing Budget Cuts

Talks of recent budget cuts affecting WSU continue to increase as time goes on. According to a press release, WSU President Floyd, Provost and Vice President Bayly notified university deans, vice presidents and chancellors to prepare for an additional 20 percent cut. What is in danger of the budget cuts? A private source said that everything is on the table, anything could get cut. I have not confirmed yet, but a source said that University of Washington is freezing new student admissions. What does this mean for student admissions at WSU? What about new graduate students? What will the new budget plan entail? How big of a hit will academics take in ratio to administration, university beautification projects, campus lighting, and other non-academic areas? What can the individual do to help?