Final Draft story 3

Slug – Canvassers

 

Reported by – Jon Tattum

 

Proposed Headline – Canvassing from Canvassers perspectives

 

Blurb – Canvassers talk about the successes and drawbacks of canvassing.

 

“Hey do you have a minute for the environment?” Unless you turn up the volume on your I-pod, you probably hear these words often while on campus. Mark Severy, a 25-year-old canvasser for Environment Colorado, says he is used to being avoided.

 

“It’s a good day when you’re out here for like five hours talking to between 35 and 40 kids” Severy said.

 

Of these people, Severy predicts that around 15 to 20 percent of them donate money.

 

According to Jacey Dapper, a 22-year-old who also canvasses for Environment Colorado, the amount of people Severy talks to during a shift is pretty average.

 

“Around 40 people stop, about five or six of them become members and around 15 of them sign postcard petitions,” Dapper said.

 

The postcard petitions are sent to the state legislature to try and increase awareness of a cause.

 

According to its Web site, Environment Colorado’s cause is to focus “exclusively on protecting Colorado’s air, water and open spaces.” Mike Severy said environmental issues made him want to become a canvasser.

 

“What first drew me into working with the organization was to work on energy and preservation energies,” Severy said. “But I do enjoy canvassing on gay rights or other social issues as well.”

 

Severy canvasses in different towns including Fort Collins and Breckenridge. He said the average donation doesn’t vary from town to town.

 

“The average monthly contribution is about $15 a month” Severy said. “On one-time contributions, the average is usually about $35 to $40.”

 

This average can change due to bad weather, which tends to put people in bad moods, Severy said. Sometimes however, people will be rude despite the weather.

 

“Sometimes people will be like, ‘haha this guy’s like trying to get money for a cause and is trying to sap all of the funds of the people’” Severy said.

 

Severy said these comments are normally said quietly.

 

“For the most part, the good thing is that they just keep walking” Severy said.

 

Word Count – 333

 

Sources – Mark Severy, 25. Jacey Dapper, 22.

Story Ideas

1. 7th annual poetry slam (friday)

2. Interview campusers, find out how many students donate, average donation, what the worst things kids have said to them while passing, etc.

Final 2nd story

SLUG – Hullo, My name is Lily Foster

 

Reported by – Jon Tattum

 

Proposed Headline – Hullo, My Name is Hunter Ewen

 

Blurb – The CU student talks about creating his multimedia production, “Hullo My Name is Lily Foster”

 

Music, poetry, film, aerial choreography: CU music doctoral candidate Hunter Ewen used all of these art forms to tell the story of a sexual abuse survivor in his multimedia production, “Hullo, My Name is Lily Foster.”

 

Ewen’s audience viewed the only production of his show Saturday at the Atlas Building’s Black Box Theatre. He used a Dean Small Grant from the music department to finance his show. When did Ewen realize he could put on the production?

 

“About 15 minutes ago,” Ewen said shortly after the show ended. Though he created the show’s dialogue, poetry, artwork and film, he said the production required the help of many people.

 

“As long as you keep it open and stay flexible, it makes for a really successful project” Ewen said. The show was something of a methodical composition said Ewen.

 

“If I’m doing a really angry scene then I try to get as angry as possible,” Ewen said. He wrote all of the show’s poetry from Lily’s perspective. He even created a Facebook profile for her.

 

He said how he tried to relate to the perspective of an 18 year-old sexual abuse survior.

 

“Go and read as many files as possible and go and interview as many people who were covering abuse victims as possible and try to find out what life from their perspective was like,” Ewen said.

 

Word Count – 227

 

Source – Hunter Ewen, CU music doctoral candidate

Hard News Leads (unfinished)

1. Three to four children die every day in the United States from child abuse or neglect according to a survey released yesterday by the Child Abuse Prevention Center in Baltimore.

2. Police arrested 150 anti-abortion protestors yesterday on disorderly conduct charges of blocking the entrances to an abortion clinic in Milwaukee.

3. A man robbed a Chinese food delivery driver

Edit Funeral story

PANORA, Ia. – The small town welcomed home one of its soldiers Friday, but instead of jubilant well-wishers, 525 mourners packed the United Methodist Church. Instead of a parade down Main Street, a stream of cars stretched from the church to the West Cemetery outside of town.

Flags at half-staff and red, white and blue ribbons tied to flower sprays surrounded the altar. There were tears of grief, not of joy.

To the rest of the country, Army Spec. Michael Mills was one of 191 Americans killed in the war. To the 1,100 people here, Mike Mills was the 23-year-old hometown boy who carried on a family tradition by joining the Army.

He was one of 28 people killed Feb. 25 when an Iraqi suicide bomb exploded. His funeral Friday provided a somber contrast to the joyous reunions held for returning troops throughout the country.

Event Coverage #2

Slug - Hullo My Name is Lily Foster

Reported by - Jon Tattum

Proposed Headline - Director Hunter Ewen talks about his new show "Hullo My Name is Lily Foster"

Blurb - Ewen's production left one audience member "speechless."

Story - Wild, jubilant jazz music dances in the audience’s ears. Images of faceless musicians swirl on the huge projector screen; colors have replaced their features. Two women gaily begin a synchronized dance on stage. There is no singer alongside them though, and no stylish lyrics to complement the mood. Instead, pounding through the speakers, the audience hears the heavy breathing of Lily Foster as she cries “stop, stop, ow, stop, please stop.” The scene seems to go on forever.

CU music doctoral candidate Hunter Ewen said in a Colorado Daily article that he would be disappointed if his new multi-media production “Hullo, My name is Lily Foster” did not make his audience feel uncomfortable.

“ He definitely accomplished his goal,” said J.D. Drumheller, an 18-year-old high school senior.

Ewen used many art forms to tell his fictional story of an 18-year-old sexual abuse survivor named Lily Foster including music, poetry and film. At one point, he even used a choreographed aerial dance. The show had its only performance on Saturday.

“I’m speechless” Clara Wachtel, 68, said, “It was amazing, it just really takes a while to digest.”

Lily gives her audience a hint of what they will be in for at the beginning of the show: nudity, language, sexual content, the list went on. She advises them to turn off their cell phones, but to her embarrassment, her phone rings off stage. Her abusive father, who is also the conductor of the music, is not amused. He grabs her arm firmly.

“Ungrateful B----, can’t even turn her cell phone off,” he says. This will not be the last time that he treats Lily like trash.

The show required the help of many people said Ewen, including many musicians and stage crew. So when did Ewen realize he could successfully put on the production?

“About 15 minutes ago,” Ewen said shortly after the show ended. He received a Dean Small Grant from the music department and used it to finance his show and he also created all of Lily’s poetry and artwork featured in the production.

Ewen researched sexual abuse survivors so he could better relate to their perspectives. He spoke about the process.

“Go and read as many files as possible and go and interview as many people who were covering abuse victims as possible and try to find out what life from their perspective was like,” Ewen said.

He even created a Facebook profile for Lily. He said that the process of creating the show was somewhat of a methodical composition.

“If I’m doing a really angry scene then I try to get as angry as possible, and if I’m doing a really light scene, I try to do that before I start writing a piece,” Ewen said.

Though the story is fictional, Ewen said that it is based in reality. He said that there are many people who suffer from sexual abuse who don’t want to make their opinions known.

“ It’s like 1 in 4 women suffer from sexual abuse in their lifetime, which is really a scary figure. It happens all the time,” Ewen said.

Ewen wants to become a teacher of composition. He believes that the production of “Hullo My Name is Lily Foster” will help him realize his goal.

“I think this is going to be my breadth piece,” he said.

Word Count - 598

Sources - Hunter Ewen, Composer, CU music doctoral, candidate. J.D. Drumheller, 18, high school senior. Clara Wachtel, 68.

UMC food court

The UMC food court is an unfriendly place for eavesdroppers. It’s hard to pick up a particular sound wave when one is in an ocean of voices. The conversations are sporadic and they constantly change in intensity; they build into crescendo’s and then fall into silence.

Of the 42 people whose faces I can clearly view, 39 of them would mark ‘Caucasian’ on a census survey. Despite this fact, they speak very few words of English. Here, at the food court, the local population speaks a nonsensical language in which they carelessly throw in a couple of English fragments such as “ I wanted to” and “Craig was called.”

If everyone were to leave the room, it would be much colder; that’s asking a lot though, those 42 people I mentioned make up about 1/6 of the room’s occupancy. It is probably around 20 yards shorter than a football field and ten yards less wide.

The tables and chairs form a pattern of number and color; there are mostly four or five old, small, wooden chairs with red seats for every gray tabletop with a black metal base. If only the people would behave and fill up these tables, the pattern would be complete. There wouldn’t be this cluster of chairs sprawled about; the labyrinth would still be there, but there wouldn’t be as many dead ends. But the people pull chairs from now odd tables and clamor together with their friends. Others can’t find tables, not only because of the large crowd, but also because they consider tables with one occupied seat to be taken; the other open seats become useless.

The carpet complements the blur of sound. It looks like one of those skewed pictures you stare at that are supposed to have a hidden image. It is a mirage of colors: blue, purple, orange, green, but mostly gray.

The smell is the usual, that of air. The kind where you can take a deep inhale, and though your surrounded by what your sure is many smells (I am 40 feet away from at least three restaurants), your not sure there are any scents present. Maybe it’s the smell of warmth?

I try my best to follow the path of a conversation taking place at the table next to me. There are two girls who appear to be around 19 or 20. One girl has streaks of blonde highlights throughout her brunette hair; she is wearing a thin, gray sweater button up. She must have bought this sweater for the sake of style, because it’s not keeping her warm. The other girl is wearing a real sweater, a red one, and she has not yet decided to put highlights in her brown hair. Unlike her friend, she is a bit chubby.

“Oh atheists,” I hear highlights say in a jubilant way. Though it is hard to follow the conversation, I gather that she is telling her friend about a debate she had on religion with a man who “took himself way too seriously.” “It’s not even his opinion, he puts it down for other people,” she says, still laughing. I never find out whether she took a religious or secular stand on the issue, that doesn’t seem to be the angle of her story. The angle seems to be the absurd arrogance of this man’s argument. This arrogance made the girl feel that any reasoning with this man would be useless. She concludes her story by sharing the new perspective she would take if she were to ever debate this man again; “So now I just want to say all these stupid comments, just to be petty and immature.”