Media Grimes Blog

 How to Vote in the 2020 General Election            Since it's National Voter Registration Day, feel free to read the article I wrote for my campus's newspaper on 'how to vote now or in November'.  http://thecaptainslog.org/2020/09/21/early-voting-has-arrived-in-virginia/  Thank you for reading and make sure to VOTE now or on November 3rd. #Decision2020 #Vote2020 Decision 2020 Graphic Screenshot from WWBT (used prior to October 2019 on NBC12)

       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

        Nygren, Thomas, and Brian Johnsrud. “What Would Martin Luther King Jr. Say? Teaching the Historical and Practical Past to Promote Human Rights in Education.”  Journal of Human Rights Practice , vol. 10, no. 2, July 2018, pp. 287–306.  EBSCOhost , doi:10.1093/jhuman/huy013.          For my academic translation, since I am also an American Studies major with a minor in Political Science and History, I went with the article What Would Martin Luther King Jr. Say? Teaching the Historical and Practical Past to Promote Human Rights in Education  by Thomas Nygren and Brian Johnsrud, which was found using the databases the Trible library uses at Christopher Newport University.  Those who I interviewed for this assignment include Dr. Charles Ford , a professor of History at Norfolk State University (NSU) and historian; and Dr. Elizabeth Wood , a lecturer at Christopher Newport Univerity (CNU) in the Department of History and historian.           In the set up of the article, Thomas Nygre

For Immediate Release: June 22, 2020  #DecisionVirginia is Tuesday, June 23rd beginning at 6am VIRGINIA ------  Primaries will take place on June 23rd from 6am until 7pm. If you're still in line at 7pm, your vote will still count. This election is for either the Democratic or Republican primary. If you voted absentee, the ballots are due by 7pm Tuesday. If you can't find where your polling place, the Virginia Department of Elections site is located here . If you are not sure what to bring to the polling place, visit the Virginia Department of Elections site which is located here . When you go to vote, remember to wear Face Coverings, wash your hands, and Social Distance.  On the ballot we have:  Allissa Baldwin (R); U.S. Senate  Daniel Gade (R); U.S. Senate  Thomas Speciale II (R); U.S. Senate  Qasim Rashid (D); U.S. House of Representatives 1st Congressional District  Vangie Williams (D); U.S. House of Representatives 1st Congressional District  Jarome Bell (R); U.S. Hou

Phase III Guidelines Released for June 26th, at the Earliest            In today's update from the Governor, he came from Northern Virginia, which is a change of scenery from the Patrick Henry building in downtown Richmond. As Northern said at Tuesday's conference, he was expected to cover what Phase III looks like.            When Governor Northam approached the podium, he first recognized some election officials and leaders in the Latino community. Then, he reminded Virginians that we are not entering Phase III this week before announcing what the phase would look like and a few other reminders.  The following is what Phase III will look like : (slides can be found here )  You're still Safer at home;  Strongly encourage teleworking; People still need to focus on physical distancing in all situations outside of their home;  Face Coverings are still the right thing to do in indoor public spaces.  Changes include:  Social Gatherings may include up to 250 people;  The cap on

Standing Together Series Part 1: How to Talk about Race 6:46pm - Live video down below.  6:38pm - Thank You for joining me in this Live Blog. This conversation has been quite educational. I am happy that the conversation is just beginning in the school district and I know that there's more to cover in the future.  6:37pm - Anthony Antoine closes the Standing Together conversation out.  6:36pm - Jonathan Zur comments; "unless we are as committed six months from now as we are today to these issues. We're just gonna be bouncing from crisis to crisis. We can respond to this moment with a sustained commitment. Inclusion requires Intention. If I'm not being intentionally inclusive with everything that I say and do, I run the high likelihood of being unintentionally exclusive. It's true interpersonally, but it is also true from top to bottom in terms of our systems and structures."   6:34pm - Lauren Wayne comments; "I want to be brave so that my black and brown

Juneteenth becomes a State Holiday; Virginia is not entering Phase III           On the same day as President Trump signs an executive order on policing reforms, Governor Northam held a press conference at the Patrick Henry building with another historic announcement about proposing to make June 19th a state holiday. This state holiday is known as Juneteenth, which marked the official end of slavery in the United States when in 1865 the word came to Galveston, Texas about the Emancipation Proclamation, which was spoken two years prior by President Abraham Lincoln.  Governor Northam had Grammy winner and Virginia native Pharrell Williams ; first African American House Majority Leader Charniele Herring ; Senator Mamie Locke, chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus ; Rev. Kelvin Jones of First Baptist Church Capeville on the Eastern Shore ; and Dr. Laurette Lee to speak on the Significance of the Governor's announcement, the importance of faith and to offer some remarks. Governor Northa

NBC NEWS Special Presentation 

Virginia Universities & Colleges Reopens; Revenue numbers financial update In the "short" press conference, Governor Northam touched on the commonwealth's health metrics, reopening plans for higher education, and the commonwealth's revenue numbers for May and what they mean for financial planning later this year. Before he got to his three topics, the governor spoke on the protests and the confederate monuments. This can be found at the 9:00 to the 12:00 mark of the video below.  Going towards the metrics. Virginia hasn't seen a spike in the cases so far, despite other states beginning to see that spike. In fact, the metrics continue to trend downward. To see the slides, it can be found at the 12:00 to the 15:17 mark. The slides include total cases by date reported; total deaths by date reported; and the number of people tested, number of positive tests, and percent positively by lab report date, PCR only.  After reminders about phase II guidelines , since the

ShowChoir.com is the website where those interested in keeping up with the show choir community around the United States can go and find stats on groups; competition information, which includes awards; the weekend's list of grand champions; photos as well as videos. This site been up and running since the early 2000s. Down below you will find a critique of the site based upon Chapter 4 of the Writing & Editing for Digital Media  3rd edition textbook. Beginning with its home page, it's very concise and direct. The first thing someone would see when they first look at the site, they will find a collection of photos from the shortened competition season. Another thing is they can see the week's Grand Champion Winners and the list of scheduled events for the week, which is empty due to the season being over since mid to late March. This is great because it is an easy way to check on the week's competition list instead of going through the multiple steps to get what the

Virginia Schools reopens this Fall; Rest of Virginia enters Phase 2 Friday             As the nation reflects and celebrates the life of George Floyd, in an almost five-hour event, in the Virginia commonwealth Governor Northam made a major announcement on youth sports and on a phased approach to the reopening of Pre-K to 12 schools. Higher education will receive an announcement in Thursday's briefing.         Before announcing the verdict for Pre-K to 12 schools, which has been shut down since late March, the governor had some business to get through. "Business" includes an update on his talks with leaders of the police chief association; an announcement on personnel appointments; and an update on how the City of Richmond and Northern Virginia can move forward into Virginia's reopening blueprint.        After a brief moment of silence for Mr. Floyd, Governor Northam explained the ultimate shared goal of "rebuilding trust within the community." This shared go