General

As I sit at my computer and look out my window, I hear the very annoying sound of crickets. Most city people would find crickets a refreshing sound, not me. It was nice to hear them chirp when I first arrive in Fredericton but now this is day 21 and they never shut up! That is over 500 hours of non-stop chirping; I hear them in the morning, and in the afternoon. I hear them when in the evening, and they do not even stop underneath the moon. Beyond the numbing sound of those awful crickets, I can hear the bustling traffic from the nearby highway eight. Outside my window, there is a maple tree, if you look closely one can see that the changing of the leaves is about to start occurring. This is the sign that autumn, or the “almost winter” season according to the sheet on a professor’s door in Edmond Casey Hall, is going to begin on Monday.

There is a sticky spot on the floor in front of my door. I have no idea how it got there nor do I care. It probably will be gone as soon as Aramark gets around to cleaning it in the morning.

The STU Help Desk, everybody comes by looking for something or another. Let it be to get their posters stamped, buy bus passes or stamps, looking for some sort of literature, or trying to find something. Working at the Help Desk is the best of times and the worst of times. It can be extremely rewarding to be helping someone, or it can be very boring when nobody needs help. Some of the inside secrets of the Help Desk are that if we do not know where something is, we send them either to the Registrar’s office or Student Affairs. In addition, when people leave posters to be posted by us, they may or may not get up in time for an event.

The CBC 50th Anniversary Special on the History of News and Reporting was on. It included a roundtable at where I believe was the University of Regina. Many of the panellists were former and current broadcasters and reporters, including my favourite two Peter Mansbridge and Adrian Arseneault. I found this program particularly interesting, as it should the transition from the only Canadian broadcaster to one of the lofty standards.

It was quite quiet. There was a mid-afternoon calm to the scene as I looked up there a few odd fluffy white clouds among the blue horizon over the roof of a dark George Martin Hall. At half past three, the sun is just starting to make its decline lose its intensity. As I try to look up to see more detail from the silhouette of where George Martin Hall should be, my eyes became overwhelmed by the sun. Then I felt a quick frigid wind blowing past my uncovered arms a gentle reminder of the fact that autumn is but nine days away. Although the air was cool there was sweetness to the air that became overwhelmingly refreshing.

Originally Printed in:

Saint John Telegraph Journal (August 15th, 2002)

Bilingual signs are great teaching tools

Although it will cost some money, the new Official Languages Act although will be beneficial to all New Brunswickers.

The best part of this is the part where all signs will have to be bilingual. The reason I say this is that it will greatly help the general public to learn more French in the majority English communities and English in majority French communities. When someone passes these new signs every day, after time they will have both the English and the French names memorized.

I personally have learned more French from reading government building signs and food containers than 12 years in the New Brunswick school system. I think it will be very beneficial as long as they don’t take it too far and try to translate things like the Saint John sign on Fort Howe.

Thursday 27 September 2001

Good Morning,

Effective 4 pm on Monday the 24^th of September, I declared that I was willing to accept the responsibility, and officially placed my name forward as a candidate for Student Senator.

I am not saying that I am the best candidate for this position but that I am without doubt that I am the second best choice, and luckily you are not voting for the best person but the best TWO people.

Moreover, it is for this reason that instead of telling you why I am the best candidate I will tell why I am not the worst candidate.

First, I will tell you a little about myself. I am an aspiring politician from Saint John, New Brunswick. This is my first year here at St. Thomas and I am in the Journalism program.

Second, you might be asking why is a first-year student is going for a position of such importance as Senator instead of going for something more basic like first-year rep? The Answer is that my philosophy is that if you wish greatness you must start near the top.

Third, I feel that I have the time, dedication and enthusiasm to do a magnificent job as one of YOUR two student senators.

In conclusion, remember on October 1^st get out to vote, and while voting, vote Charles E. Frees-Melvin for Student Senator.

Thank You, and have a great day!

Subject: Critique on Article

The article I have chosen to comment on is about the life of the late Ernie Coombs. Although it is not specified who the author of the article is, it is a Canadian Press story which I found on canoe.ca. This article explains the what of how Ernie Coombs a children’s television legend was an influence on at least two generations of Canadians as the legendary Mr. Dressup. The where, when, and why is because Mr. Coombs kicked the bucket on Thursday at the Toronto Western Hospital after taking a stroke on 11 September. The reason we care is that the man was well-loved by all and things like this bring people together. This story is only one-sided since usually on a legend dies under respect for the family only the good side and positive accomplishments are written about. Much of the research was done by interviewing people who were there first hand.

Jour 1013- Intro. to Journalism

Charles E. Frees-Melvin (920722)

Thursday 13 September 2001

Subject: Commentary on TV Coverage of the “Attack on America”

I woke up on a beautiful summer day, as usual, went to class and came back for a noon rest. I left my dorm room and went to see my neighbours in the next room, who watch movies all the time, I saw the WTC and Pentagon on fire and ask, “What movie is this?” They responded with a “Dude, this is real!” At that moment I returned to my room and turned my T.V. on to watch a day of coverage. Switching back and forth from: NBC/CBC/Global/ABC/CTV/CBS/FOX/CNN/&TBS. I found that most of the footage was from CNN but I was hooked on the commentary by Peter Mansbridge (CBC).

Peter made me feel more secure in really knowing what was going on. It was also very helpful to have it from a Canadian perspective. I found that Lloyd Robertson (CTV) did not really have as of a heart touching production as Peter Jennings (ABC News).

Some of the most questionable stuff I saw was the broadcast from Global National News where most questionably the showed the man in freefall from the north tower. Also, Global National News had a very inconsistent format where the show was from Toronto than to Vancouver and Dartmouth and had so many hosts that about 2 pm they were contradicting each other and you lost the continuity of what was going on.

Also, details of the Pentagon looked liked like they were given less importance to the events at the World Trade Centre on all the broadcasts except WTBS from Atlanta. GA.

Now it is the evening of Thursday 13 September 2001, a full 60 hours after the “Attack on America.” Airports are slowly reviving. Survivors are slowly one by one being pulled out of the debris. The remnants of fires still exist in both buildings. “They are just spotted fires, and we would not like to pour water into the building since it could pour down into open spaces where there are most likely still survivors,” a rescue worker stated on CBS News he went on to say that, “It is likely that people could survive in the subfloors for days or weeks.”