About Lacy

Lacy Peyman, from McKee, Kentucky, is a freshman at the University of the Cumberlands. She is majoring in journalism and minoring in religion, with an emphasis on missions. Lacy says her goal in life is to “make it count.”

At age 13, Lacy realized her call to the mission field, but she did not decide to go into journalism until age 17, though she had always had a love for writing. After her four years of college Lacy plans to go on missions and write about her experiences. When she decides to settle down with a family, she would like to work for either a Christian magazine or radio station.

Not currently employed, Lacy is devoting part of her time to writing for The Patriot under the religion section. Combining her work with that and her Intro to Journalism class, she hopes to gain knowledge and experience in the field of journalism.

One movie Lacy has seen recently is “To Save a Life.” Lacy found this film very moving and inspiring. She now claims it as one of her favorites.

When it comes to music Lacy can rarely claim a favorite. She loves most music, having it playing continuously. A song Lacy recently downloaded is “Dive In” by Jennifer Knapp. She found this song very meaningful. Lacy felt that she could relate to the artist when she says "I'm so tired of standing on the edge of myself. You know I'm longing for it. To dive in. Dive in."

Normally Lacy does not read many newspapers or magazines for news. Many times she will read MSN’s news section. It has both informative and interesting information.

Two of the most memorable books Lacy has read are the Bible and “Three” by Frank Peretti. Peretti is one of Lacy’s favorite authors. He writes Christian fiction that is both thrilling and meaningful. “Three” was full of excitement, suspense, and mystery, making it hard for Lacy to put down. Yet the Bible will always be the most memorable book for Lacy. To her it is the foundation of her life and everything she believes and lives for.

Lacy is starting the new chapter of her life full of hope and determination.

Obituary of Walter Cronkite

            Walter Cronkite, a premier TV anchorman, died of cerebral vascular disease in his New York home Friday, July 17th, 2009. He was 92.

            Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. was born on November 4, 1916, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He started his life of involvement in the news when he was a young boy, delivering newspapers. He also worked for his high school newspaper. Cronkite dropped out of the University of Texas when he got a job as a full-time newspaper reporter. Then in 1937, he got a job with the United Press, where he worked for 11 years. Cronkite married Mary Elizabeth (Betsy) Maxwell in 1940. She was from Kansas City. They had three children. She died in 2005. Cronkite started working for CBS in 1950.

Cronkite worked for "CBS Evening News" from 1962 to 1981. He covered many very important and memorable news stories as well as issues America faced. He covered the Watergate Scandal, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as well as that of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He also covered the Vietnam War and is considered to be a major factor in the turning of the public’s opinion negatively towards the U.S.’s involvement of the war.

President Lyndon Johnson knew how much of an affect Cronkite had on the American people. He said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."

President Obama even spoke of him as being like family.

Leslie Moonves, who was the CBS Corp. chief executive, said of Cronkite, "He was a great broadcaster and a gentleman whose experience, honesty, professionalism and style defined the role of anchor and commentator."

Don Hewitt, the onetime executive producer of the "CBS Evening News" said, "He was the consummate television newsman. He had all the credentials to be a writer, an editor, a broadcaster. There was only one Walter Cronkite, and there may never be another one."

Cronkite died at his home in Manhattan at 7:42 p.m. He was surrounded by his family.

Cronkite is survived by two daughters Nancy Elizabeth and Mary Kathleen, and a son, Walter Leland III.

Walter Cronkite was considered to be “the most trusted man of America.”

Photojournalism Assignment

           
            This photograph is titled “Rockabye Tabby.” It is of a Balinese monkey carrying a kitten that had been abandoned. The male long-tailed macaque monkey carried the kitten into the forest in the Ubud region of Bali, Indonesia.  It took care of the kitten as its own offspring. The monkey was very protective of it and even tried to hide it from the photographer by trying to cover the kitten up with a large leaf.  

This photo was taken by amateur photographer Anne Young, who was on vacation and visiting Bali's Monkey Forest Park. It appeared on MSNBC’s website as one of the pictures in the Week in Review.

I would consider this photo to be news worthy because it is bizarre and unusual. How often do you hear of a male Balinese monkey adopting a small orange kitten? It does not happen often. In his book “Journalism, Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How,” James Glen Stovall also talks about people many times being more drawn to pictures with animals or children. This could make this photo more newsworthy as well.

            This photograph is of three military engineers blowing up a house in Zhare District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It is surrounded by fields of marijuana.

This photograph and article appeared on New York Times’ website on November 16, 2010. It is by Taimoor Shah, whom reported from Kandahar, and by Rod Nordland from Kabul, Afghanistan.

The accompanying article by Christoph Bangert  who was reporting from Zhare, Afghanistan, said, “In the newly won districts around this southern city, American forces are encountering empty homes and farm buildings left so heavily booby-trapped by Taliban insurgents that the Americans have been systematically destroying hundreds of them, according to local Afghan authorities.”

I would consider this photograph to be newsworthy for several reasons. It shows action; the house blowing up and the soldiers looking on. It also shows drama, because there is a story behind it. This photo can also convey emotion. Many times when people see pictures of soldiers or of things that have to do with the war, they become sad, or they feel pride for the soldiers and their country.

This is a photograph of passengers waiting on the wings of an Airbus 320 airplane which had safely landed in the Hudson River after its engines had been knocked out by a flock of birds at takeoff. The plane floated down the Hudson until ferries could come and pick up the passengers. There had also been a water taxi approaching in this photo but it was cropped out.

 This picture was taken by Steven Day, who works freelance in New York City. This was one of the first frames he took of the scene.

This photo was from the Year in pictures 2008 on the Times CNN website.

This photograph would have been considered newsworthy because it was from a current event, and people would like to know what is going on around them. It can also be considered bizarre or unusual. As Day put it, “You just don't see people standing on the wings of an airplane in the middle of the Hudson River.”

This is a photograph of an enormous lightning bolt which struck the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, New York.

This photo was taken on September 22, 2010. It was taken by Jay Fine. Fine spent two hours trying to take the perfect picture. He took about 80 pictures before capturing this image at about 9 p.m. that night.

The photograph appeared on MSNBC’s website on November 13, 2010 as a part of the Week in Review photos. It was accompanied by several other photos as well as an article that was called “Deadly Bolts: Lightning Survivors Stress Safety.”

I believe this picture would be considered newsworthy for a few different reasons. It is a very dramatic picture as well as an action picture. As Fine would agree, it would be extremely difficult to capture something that happens as fast as lightning, pun intended. This photo could also cause emotion in some. The Statue of Liberty, a symbol of our freedom, tends to cause emotion to rise in the hearts of many patriotic citizens.

Free Entertainment Offered at the Redhound Theater

            Corbin, Ky- The Redhound Theater of Corbin offers free movie viewings on Saturdays and Sundays to the general public. Admission is free and concessions are available; soda, candy and popcorn are $1 each. Normally the showings are at 2, 4:30, and 7 p.m. on Saturdays and 2 and 4:30 p.m. on Sundays.

            The movies played are targeted for teens and young adults, and a wide variety of genres are shown. Some movies played in the past are “Iron Man,” “The Fountain,” “How to Train “Your Dragon” and “Caroline.”

            The theater is located in the auditorium of Corbin High School. There is plenty of comfortable seating and the screen is large, 30’ x 70’, giving you the feel of a regular cinema.

Some upcoming showings:

Nov. 6- ”Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” at 2 p.m. and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” at 5 p.m.

Nov. 7- “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” at 2 p.m. and “Harry Potter and the Goblet

of Fire” at 5 p.m.

Nov. 13 –“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” at 2 p.m. & 5 p.m.

Nov. 14- “Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince” at 2 and 5

Sarah Gay, who is manager of the Redhound Theater said, "It's a great theater that's easy on your wallet. It's true hi-def with surround sound. Everyone should check it out!"

For more information and movie listings contact Sarah Gay at (606) 526-6981, or visit their website http://redhoundtheater.org/. They can also be found on Facebook.

Grab some friends and come enjoy some free entertainment!

# # #

The Redhound Theater, Film & Video Foundation, Inc. has existed since November, 2004.  It is a non-profit corporation organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes.  The organization focuses on the creation and promotion of performing arts, live music performances, cinema, pageants and other events for the community and Corbin School District.

Classmate Profile

            Wandering in to what appeared to be an empty Rob-Cook lobby, I plop onto the couch, only to hear a voice, “I’m over here.”

Comfortably seated in the corner, waits Matt Williams.

Oops. Laughing to- and at- myself, I quickly change seats. Williams, disregarding this silliness, shows of his Red Hot Chili Peppers t-shirt, testifying to his love of music.

            “You can write about music. I listen to music all day, every day,” Williams states.

            Music is a major factor in Williams’s life. “Matt’s day is not complete until he listens to a new cd,” later adds Cody Gay, a close friend of Williams’.

            In middle school, Williams began his pursuit of music; starting with drum lessons. “I felt like everybody played guitar, so I wanted to play something different. But I wasn’t very good,” he laughs.

            Freshman year of high school, Williams decided to learn to play the guitar instead. Sophomore year he joined a rock band called Civic Service, with friends Mac Kern, Luke Robinson, and Keith Parrot. Williams played guitar and also sang. After about three years of playing together, Williams felt he was being pushed away. There were some disagreements. Collin, the brother of Kern, was added to the band as guitarist, and Kern asked Williams if he would just do vocals, which he agreed to. But after more arguments with other band members, Williams eventually quit.

            “It had pretty much been my dream; to be in a band,” Williams muses. “It progressively depressed me.”

            Soon after, Civic Service broke up, and Williams started his own alternative rock band, The Argyle Sweater, consisting of Tyler Caldwell, Parrot, and himself.

            One day in class, Williams met a girl who was also a part of a band, which was scheduled to play a concert in Lexington. Williams asked if they had an opening act, and after finding that they did not, asked if “The Argyle Sweater” could have the honors. The girl agreed, so Williams and his band practiced for about a month to prepare themselves for the performance. About a week or two before the concert, Parrot quit, causing the cancelation of the opening act and also the disbanding of The Argyle Sweater.

            “I just wanted to do something with music,” Williams reflects. “I didn’t know what.”

            Williams is now a sophomore at the University of the Cumberlands. He decided to try the introduction to journalism and public relations class, and after talking to several people about music journalism, decided that is something he wants to do. He was able to try it out by writing an article for the school newspaper, the Patriot, on a local band called The Sowing Season. He loved it!

            “I want to write anything about music,” he declares.

            Williams hopes to someday write for the music magazine SPIN.

            “I don’t want to write for Rolling Stone. It’s too political. But I mean, don’t get me wrong, if Rolling Stone offered me a job, I’d take it,” he smiles.

            Williams also hopes to learn to play more instruments.

“I want to learn like everything. I really want to learn to play the sitar. I mean, who do you know that can play a sitar?” he laughs.

Because I sponsor...

Editorial: World Vision

            An average of 14,000 children die every day to a lack of necessities. That’s one child dying every 7 seconds because they don’t have the basic means of survival. All over the world children are starving. They need clean water to drink. They need medical attention. But they are so poor that they don’t have these fundamental requirements of life; these things we take for granted every single day.

Shouldn’t we all be able to have these necessities?

            I think so. And so does World Vision.

World Vision is an organization that helps children all over the world by providing them with food, water, medicine and education, as well as biblical teaching. They do this through sponsorships from people like you and me. For only a dollar a day you can provide for one child’s needs.

They can live on $365 a year!

Can you believe that? Only $30 a month pays for everything they need. Can you imagine only having 30 bucks to pay for all the food, water, doctor bills, school tuition, and gas money you need for a month. What I would spend in gas could potentially save a child’s life.

World Vision is a great way to make a difference in the lives of so many people. Not only do all those children benefit from your sponsorships, but so would you. Through this organization you can touch each other’s lives. They are blessed with your support and you can be blessed by writing to them and learning their stories and experiences. When you hear of their hardships you will realize how truly blessed you are.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child through World Vision, or if you just want to learn more about the organization, go to http://www.worldvision.org/.

Give these children what every person has a right to; life.

Bless and be blessed.

UC student recording album in Nashville

             Tori Wright, a junior at the University of the Cumberlands, is currently working on an album in Nashville, Tennessee.

            “I’ve been singing since I could talk,” Wright said. She started singing in church and started singing auditions at age 3, and started leading worship at church at age 15.

            When Wright was 8 months old her mother took her and her sister to a modeling audition in New York. While there, Wright’s mother met a woman named Beverly  Sage-Crocker, whose daughter is now Miss New York. The two mothers lost contact but found each other on Facebook not long ago. When Crocker learned that Wright sings, she told her about the vocal coach that her daughter goes to before her pageants.

            Wright called the vocal coach, who’s name is withheld, is also the vocal coach of Beyoncé, TobyMac, Francesca Battistelli, and many top Christian artists. She took Wright as a student without even hearing her sing. Wright started her song writing in March, and at her second meeting with her vocal coach they started talking about recording an album.

            Wright travels to Nashville on some weekends to clarify and work on songs. Recording will begin in January. So far there are seven songs chosen for the album, Wright said she hopes to have between 10 and 15 songs total.

            “My songs are all to God, not necessarily about Him,” Wright said. “Mostly worship songs. It’s all about how glorious God is.”

            The songs are written about things Wright has learned from going through hard times and about praising God through them. Quiet places are ideal for Wright when writing songs, “anywhere that’s quiet, when I can zone out and forget about everything else,” she said.

            Wright said her music has a “coffee shop, indie type of feel, a mix between Kari Jobe and Ingrid Michaelson.”

            Wright said that she could not have put any of this together on her own. “God opened all the doors. It’s kind of cool to just marvel in His awesomeness.”

            Robbie Fiefhuas, a life-long friend of Wright, said, “Tori is a very good singer, so I think she will do good. The hardest part will be her publicizing herself to the community.”

            The album will be finished in the spring and will only be available for sale at Wright’s concerts, which are not yet set. They will later be available in stores.

            “This isn’t about me. This is about the Lord and leading people in worship,” Wright said. “Worship the Lord in beauty and holiness.”

New to America

University of the Cumberlands is home to 87 international students representing 23 different countries.  Students come from as far away as Australia, Brazil, China, England and Mongolia. How did they hear about a small university in Williamsburg, Kentucky? Wanda Hensley, who works in the Office of International Student at UC, said that sometimes students hear about UC through friends, on the Internet, or through an agent.

Moving to the United States, for most foreign students, is a big change, and probably not what they had expected.

“Not having my family, moving to a small town; everything was different,” said David Intal, who moved here from New Zealand but is originally from Cambodia. Intal had been to America before. He had visited Orlando, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but Williamsburg was nothing he had expected. “I expected there to be big train stations in every city. I thought everything was big.”

Some students experienced more of a cultural shock than others. The biggest challenge for many was the language. Most students could speak or read at least a little English, but with the southern dialect and slang, picking up the language proved to be harder than what would have been studied at home.

“I think food is a big thing too,” said Hensley. “They miss their home cooking. They’re not used to pizza and hot dogs and stuff like that yet.”

Intal said another challenge is making friends. “Finding where to fit in was hard because I was the only Cambodian student. But I made some friends,” Intal said.

UC is very diverse, and all students, whether from China or Williamsburg, are adjusting to life on campus and are trying to find their place.

 “I think our internationals have a lot to offer,” Hensley said. “I’d like to see more interaction between the foreign students and the others. I think they have a lot they can teach us.”