Media Grimes Blog

       I hope everyone had a fantastic Labor Day!! Now that's out of the way, the following message goes out to teachers, administrators, school staff, school counselors, central office folks which includes superintendents, parents, and students who start the 2020-2021 school year tomorrow, Tuesday, September 8th.         I want to sincerely wish everyone, from the bottom of my heart, good luck as y'all embark into a brand new era of public education. This year's first day/school year hasn't been like what we've seen anytime in anyone's past. Because of that, it poses some new challenges we all have to hurdle over at some point. I really want to say that y'all got this. I'm beyond excited to see what creative things y'all are implanting for the upcoming year, in which all of us have to be flexible. Remember to always try your best no matter what the situation calls for. It will help all of us move forward over the new challenges/hurdles together. I s

          It's September 1st, the first day of meteorological fall, and James Madison University has made the decision to move classes online temporarily. In the released statement, the president of the university, Jonathan R. Alger, announced how the university was going to transition to online classes at least through October 5th . This comes after 500+ cases of COVID-19 was confirmed, and after consultation with the Virginia Department of Health. As part of the announcement, President Alger wrote that classes that will remain hybrid through the month of September include those for accreditation and licensure requirements, graduate research, and specialized upper-classes courses requiring equipment and space. Furthering writing that courses currently offered online will continue to be online without any break of instruction. Other than those online courses, the ones that are currently in-person, according to the announcement, will continue to happen for the rest of this week unle

The Search Has Concluded Remembering a star from the hit FOX show "Glee" CALIFORNIA ---- After a five-day search in Lake Piru, Naya Rivera, age 33, was sadly recovered and confirmed dead. This sadly comes on the day the show lost another star, Cory Monteith in 2013. The well-known actor went missing about a week ago, on July 8, after going on a boat ride and a swim with her four-year-old son at the lake. After the time that her boat was slated for return went by, someone found Rivera's son asleep on the boat but with no sign of his mother. When the son was found, he had a life jacket on but also had an adult-sized life-jacket on the boat. When authorities asked what had happened, according to the Sheriff's office statement , the son told investigators that he and Rivera were swimming, and he got back onto the boat, but his mother did not. The Ventura County Sheriff's office along with other law enforcement agencies spent a total of five days searching, along with

Remembering a Legendary Newscaster  Former Today Show Anchor and co-host of ABC's 20/20 died July 1st at age 99 ARIZONA ---- Hugh Downs otherwise known as the "founding voice in modern American media", died at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona at the age of 99. His career had a span of 60 years in broadcasting, anchoring, and hosting.  According to From Yesterday to TODAY: Six Decades of America's Favorite Morning Show, written by Stephen Battaglio, an author, Hugh began his broadcasting career in 1939 as a radio announcer in Lima, Ohio before serving in the army during World War I. When he worked at the NBC Chicago station WMAQ at the age of 22, it was then when he met another legend Dave Garroway, a WMAQ personality. Dave, later on, became the first anchor of TODAY on January 14, 1952.  After many years doing local inserts for TODAY,  out of the WMAQ Chicago station, Hugh eventually moved to New York where he was an announcer, co-host, and sidekick on other shows at N

Honestly, while doing this special podcast and discussion on race, the Civil Rights Movement, and Juneteenth I did a great amount of learning. Learning the best way to put together the podcast, learning how to moderate the conversation, learning more about the topics, and learning how to edit what was needed to be edited on the anchor.fm site. I also learned that sometimes you have to be open to not having a set deadline of when you want the podcast to come out because sometimes things are beyond your control and you have to adapt and adjust. Going back to the beginning of how this came together. The idea of having the panel came in the early morning hours several weeks ago and I'm just glad that this was able to be put together in the time when it was the most needed. One of the easiest things about the project was getting people that wanted to be on the panel. I had some folks in mind when the idea came up and for more folks, I asked my professor if she knew somebody and I'm

For Immediate Release: June 26, 2020  Upcoming MediaGrimes Podcast Special Edition  MIDLOTHIAN, VIRGINIA ----------- In a special edition podcast that is coming out on Sunday, June 28th at 2pm, a panel will discuss the Civil Rights Movement, Juneteenth, and Race in America. This idea came through after the recent protests that are apart of the longtime Black Lives Matter movement, which came alive after the death of Mr. George Floyd, Mrs. Brianna Taylor, and so many others. To listen to this podcast it can be found here .  The panelists who will be part of this discussion are:  Dr. Jody Allen, an Assistant Professor of History at William & Mary, and Director of The Lemon Project. Dr. Charles Ford , a professor of History at Norfolk State University (NSU). Dr. Elizabeth Wood , a lecturer at Christopher Newport University in the Department of History. Jonelle Brown , a 2020 graduate of Christopher Newport University. William "Billy" Tucker , a senior in the Christopher New