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The Communicator

February 7, 2007

Welcome back everyone! Here's another Communicator for you to read while you're inside avoiding those subzero wind chills.

Attention Communications Seniors:

Studio 5 is trying to find you!

Hi, Seniors in the Communications Department!

To showcase what a promising class of women the class of 2007 is, the Studio Five members are again producing Commtracks, the student-produced magazine of graduating seniors in the Communications Department.

To get a handle on this large-scale and exciting project, we're asking you to help make the magazine the best it can be for the Class of 2007.

We're asking that you PLEASE fill out the "Senior Questionnaire," which has gone out several times via email, so that we may start to produce your "Senior Profiles." To receive a questionnaire by email, please contact Lily Strauss-Matathia at strauss@simmons.edu.

The sooner we get your responses, the easier it is for us and for all of you because we won’t have to track you down when you’re swamped at the end of the semester!

Thanks all!

Sincerely,
Commtracks Staff 2007

Simmons IABC: Navigating the Big Questions

You are invited to participate in an evening of small-group discussions about communications careers.

The new Simmons IABC student chapter is pleased to host five communications professionals who will share their experiences and expertise with you. During the evening, you will have the opportunity to participate in an informal discussion with each of our guests. Refreshments will be served.

  • Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2007
  • Time: 5:30-7:30 p.m.
  • Place: The Kotzen Meeting Room, Beatley Library, ground floor

For more information, email simmonsiabc@gmail.com.

Mandatory Meeting for Summer Internship Class

Juniors and seniors planning to take the Communications Internship course, Comm-370, for credit during Summer 2007 must attend an Internship Orientation session.

  • Date: February 28
  • Time: 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.
  • Place: To be determined (Please watch for the posters)

For more info, email sarah.burrows@simmons.edu

Simmons College Radio???

We invite faculty, staff, administration, and students of all majors, to join us at a general interest meeting to discuss the possibilities.

If you would be interested in being part of "Simmons College Radio" doing:

  • music shows
  • talk
  • production
  • marketing and promotions
  • news
  • entertainment features
  • sports
  • or something entirely your own

Join us Tuesday, February 27

  • Time: 3:30 p.m.
  • Place: Lefavour Hall, room L-007

or

  • Time: 6:00 p.m.
  • Place: Palace Road, room P-210

Emily Catallozzi always wanted to go to Central America. Her desire sprang from Spanish courses where she learned about the Latin American culture, and the need that those in Central and South America have for human services.

Last month, Catallozzi was participating in a typical RA training at Simmons, when she found just what she was looking for. During a tour of the campus' services, she spotted an information sheet on Central America in the Study Abroad Office. The trip, hosted by the African Studies Department, was designed to allow students to perform ten days of community service in Belize, a small coastal nation bordered by Mexico and Guatemala. Catallozzi immediately signed up, sacrificing for 10 days hot showers, paved roads, and drinks containing ice or tap water in order to experience life in Central America.

You take your living conditions for granted, says Catallozzi shortly after her return to Simmons. In Belize, the water in the shower was so cold that it felt like knives, she says.

"I came back and looked like I had been on Survivor," Catallozzi laughs. And the bugs; "My feet still itch."

In Belize, Catallozzi explains, the students were immersed in the culture of a half- black, half-Carib tribe called the Garifuna. As an expression of their culture, the Garifuna celebrated their spirituality with the students during a dreaming session. The natives then performed a dancing and drumming session, called the Punta dance.

We were taught how the Garifuna celebrate the death of a member of the community, through a "Dugu" session, a religious ceremony in which a Buyei, high priest, leads the mourning family into contact with deceased relatives, says Catallozzi.

The Garifuna "celebrate the death of one person … for years," she says.

Spirituality is practiced in different ways throughout Belize, according to Catallozzi. To look comparatively at spirituality, the students were taken on a retreat hosted by a local woman. This time the students created prayer altars and when it was dark they built a bonfire and listened to rhythmic drumming.

Spirituality was not the group's only lesson on culture. The group toured the Mayan ruins and other tourist attractions. Health studies students also actively saw patients and provided free medical advice.

Students also learned that the pressure is mounting for the Garifuna tribe to drop their traditional lifestyle due to commercialization of the area and the building of resorts.

Having seen poverty in the passionate Garifuna people, Catallozzi is seeking to motivate others to participate in community service through Study Abroad or even within America.

"You're torn because there are so many people in America who also need help," says Catallozzi referring to the victims of hurricane Katrina. "Helping anywhere counts, it doesn't have to be big."

Communications Lab Hours

  • Sunday: noon – 9:30 p.m.
  • Monday – Thursday: 9 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.
  • Friday: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
  • Saturday: (closed)

Presidents Day Weekend:

  • Saturday and Sunday: (closed)
  • Monday: noon – 9:30 p.m.

Massachusetts Broadcasters Association Student Broadcaster Scholarship

Students interested in a career in over-the-air broadcasting are encouraged to apply for a $1,500 scholarship from the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association, a non-profit trade association for over-the-air radio and television stations in Massachusetts.

Students must be Massachusetts residents enrolled in or planning to enroll in an over-the- air broadcast program at an accredited 2- or 4-year college for the 2007-2008 academic year. Graduate students are also eligible.

Deadline: Friday, April 6, 2007.

Faxed or incomplete applications will not be accepted. Applications are available online at www.massbroadcasters.org.

The State of New York Senate Fellowships

The New York State Senate currently awards 14 fellowships per year. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, but are not required to reside or attend school in New York. Enrollment in the 2007-2008 Fellowship cycle begins Thursday, September 13, 2007, and continues full time until Wednesday, July 16, 2008. The grant in stipend for study purposes is $32,000, paid in bi-weekly installments, and is prorated over the term of the Fellowship.

  • The Roth Fellowship is open to graduate or graduating students.
  • The Biggane Fellowship is open to mid-career applicants who are at least 35 at the time of application and have graduate-level experience.

Deadline: Friday, April 13, 2007

More information is available online at www.senate.state.ny.us. Click on the "student programs" link. For an application, see Kerrin Dowling in L-302.

Institute for Humane Studies Journalism Internships

The Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University is offering nine-week paid reporting internships at many newspapers across the country. Benefits include a stipend, travel and housing money, professional career training, and mentoring. Internships begin June 9, 2007 and end August 18, 2007.

Deadline: Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Applications are available online at www.theihs.org/journalism.

Web Producer—Hackensack & West Paterson

Seeking 21st-century journalists who will create new news sites for North Jersey Media Group, which owns The Record, the Herald News and northjersey.com. You will publish articles, perform basic copyediting, write headlines, and choose photos. You will create photo galleries and add audio, video, and interactive-elements stories. You will update the news sites throughout the day with breaking news. HTML, CSS, and Photoshop should be in your toolbox. Familiarity with XML, DHTML, Flash, Freehand, and Illustrator are pluses. A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, with experience in communications/publishing, are required. Online publishing highly preferred.

Days/hours: 37.5 hours a week. Variable shifts and schedules, including evenings and weekends.

Contact: Jodi Leese Glusco, deputy director, digital news group, glusco@northjersey.com.

Dan Connell is scheduled to participate in a panel at a conference on "Radical Islam and Terrorism in Africa," which will be hosted by the U.S. Department of State under the Intelligence and Research Bureau on February 22 and 23.

The panel will discuss, Where are the major fault lines (i.e., ethnic divides, tribal conflicts, criminal networks, etc.) that are likely to produce support for terrorism in Africa, and what is the character of the groups that represent the radical Islamist trend?

| 2.7.07 | Issue #4.1 |

Call for Submissions

Do you have information that you would like listed in The Communicator? Have you been published? Are you receiving an award? Please submit your information and achievements to the Communicator.

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The Communicator is a biweekly newsletter published by the Simmons College Department of Communications. This publication is edited by Deirdre Yee.