Fly on the Wall

On Saturday 2/27/10 at 2pm I was at the cafe at a hospital in Lexington, MS. As I began to get my hot coffee, I recall overhearing 2 white women discussing healthcare and how expensive it had become since they were younger. Even when you are making a decent amount of money and are considered "high class". I decided to butt in, although I had plenty to say, instead I was jus a fly on the wall. Eaves dropping as some may call it. I observed how even though the women who were of a different race and ethnic background then me, they still could understand the struggles in which my race as each and every day. I had almost rebuked myself for putting them into a stereotype. Seeing that healthcare is such a huge conflict these days. This could be a localm national and even international story. There are individuals acorss the country who have little to no health coverage. They say it should be up to the doctors or government to decide. But truly its not to the doctors nor government, but its up to the insurance agencies. In some countries people pay doctors when they are well and healthy and when they're sick they dont have to pay. So it seems like we are only paying for what we want. Possible interviews would be froma local Jackson resident, a government health offical and a doctor for and against Obama's health plan. We have a voice we must utilize it!

Who Me?

It is absolutely absurd to even attempt to summarize one’s self in a box this small. I am far too complex for that… and not in a bad way, but in a totally normal way. There’s much more to us than these nice four graph synopses we provide for the world to see. But who has time to type all of "who they are"... better yet who really WANTS TO...? So I’ll just say… I am me.

But for class sake...I am a junior Multimedia Journalism major hailing in from the "Windy City" of Illinois. I am the oldest of four siblings. I enjoy singing (JSU Interfaith Gospel Choir), reading, cheering and overall being happy.

No Closure, No Merger, but Adequate Fundimg

The proposal to merger Mississippi’s three historically black universities has been getting a lot of press these days. A lot of negative feeds and confused students, faculty, staff and alums of the three universities. Governor Barbour has stood by his plan to merge the three HBCUs since day one of announcing the proposed plan. However many people have strongly disagreed with him and his brilliant way of getting a plan in the works in order to save money, due to the financial burden and responsibility that lie ahead for the next couple of years that he has to make tough decisions on. The Clarion Ledger has been reporting of the merge since the beginning, trying to feed into any negative aspects of the merge, while stating the facts and introducing the media to what is happening each and every day of the merge. Surprisingly the Mississippi Link covered the story in much more detail and got responses from a variety of sources, whom in which the merge would affect and from professionals and experts on HBCUs. Marybeth Gasman, an associate professor in the graduate school of education at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on HBCUs, stated that Barbour’s plan “is not in the best interest of the African-American students in the state.”
It is simply silly to merge three institutions just because they are historically black in nature. This assumes that they are all the same and that there is no diversity within the black college context. JSU is an urban institution, and Alcorn and Mississippi Valley are rural in nature; a merger would bring together institutions with very different student bodies and missions. And I believe this is what most media coverage tried to convey and express to the mass audience. How this merger would affect the students most importantly.
U.S. News and World Report have reported that the governor’s recommendation does not honor the spirit of the Fordice settlement, which aimed to bolster HBCUs, not destroy them. Given the history of Mississippi and its extreme forms of racism and segregation, more--not less--should be done for the HBCUs in the state.
NO MERGER, NO CLOSURE, but ADEQUATE FUNDING