My video isn't uploaded to the blog yet...but you can still post your comments here!

How to Build a Fire

Earlier this week (before the 80 degree weather), it was cold and rainy at my house. So we decided to build a fire. The stove is a soapstone masonry stove that my dad built.

The Life of An Apple

Week In Photos - Dimond Library from Different Angles

So I hope that these aren't too different from the original assignment. My place was the library, but instead of taking a picture of the same spot every day, I photographed different things inside the library and even some outside.

What would happen if I tried to climb into one of these?

Atlantic Monthly's have gotten smaller.

5th floor quiet room.

The Atrium, looking up.

Quiet room.

Photo of a photo-shoot.

I've always wondered about these drawings.

Unsung Hero of UNH - The Students Beneath the Mascot Suits

Beneath the Suit: Wild E. Cat and Gnarlz

By Ella Nilsen and Travis Harsin

Go to any University of New Hampshire sports event and you can’t miss them.  Gnarlz and Wild E. Cat, the two UNH mascots, are everywhere, interacting with fans, leading the student sections in cheers, and generally getting everyone riled up.  They are perhaps the best-known faces of UNH.

But who are Gnarlz and Wild E. Cat, really?

Inside the mascot suits are two UNH students.  Because Athletics must keep the identities of these two students a secret, their names have been changed.  However, what can be disclosed is that they are two boys of junior class standing and are currently the only two students who are the mascots.  ‘Alex’ is over six feet tall. Big and muscular, he’s physically similar to the mascot he portrays.  ‘John’ is shorter, but also quite muscular and fit.

Although both enjoy the work they do, each student was recruited under different circumstances.  John first became aware of the program through Facebook in his freshman year.

“They (Athletics) were doing something on Facebook,” he said.  “I saw that, and was like; ‘Oh, that could be interesting,’ and I went to talk to them. From there, I tried one out at the end of my freshmen year, I did a bunch last year, and am doing basically everything this year.”

Alex, on the other hand, began his role as a quick replacement for the original mascot.  According to him, his height was key to getting the position.

“My roommate at the time was in the Cat Crew [a team of students who do promotions for Athletics], and they needed someone to cover some games,” he said.  “Gnarlz has a 6 foot height limit, so they said, ‘We need someone who’s tall enough.’” 

Fortunately for Athletics, Alex had always wanted to try out for the role. While the original Gnarlz entertained the audience at games, Alex took notes.

“I had my phone out and in the notepad section I had three pages of notes on just what to do for a hockey game,” he said. 

The mascots have a full schedule before games.  They get dressed, and have about an hour’s worth of time interacting with the fans and athletes. “It’s all specifically set up to make sure we’re covering all the spots in a timely manner, getting everything done,” said Alex. 

Both mascots cover a variety of UNH sports, and while each one shows up at the football and men’s hockey games, they are often divided between different UNH sports.

“I do football, women’s hockey, men’s hockey, women’s basketball and gymnastics.  And Gnarlz does football, men’s hockey, men’s basketball, and we switch off gymnastics,” John said.

Out of all of them, the one sport that both mascots love to perform at is hockey, especially when UNH is paired up against the University of Maine.

“The Maine hockey games are always one of the best…some of the best fun,” John said.

“It’s just pure adrenaline,” said Alex.  “You just step out and everyone starts screaming.”

Photo credit to UNH Athletics.

Ideas for Project - Possible Styles

I've been thinking a lot about this since I heard a basic story about it a few weeks ago.  It would be telling the story of housekeepers and the housekeeping staff at UNH.  I had a conversation with one of my bosses a few weeks ago, and the subject of UNH housekeeping came up: how there's been controversy with Unico (sp??) the private company that pays most (and maybe all of the housekeeping staff).  There are a lot of different directions I could take this idea in, but I'm worried it might be too ambitious and a lot to take on.  That one would mostly be visuals from interviews and pictures of housekeepers doing their jobs at UNH.

My second idea is interviewing my grandmother about a conservation project she spearheaded in the 70's or 80's.  Again, I recently found out about this, and there's not much I know about it at the moment. I believe it was to conserve a mountain range in the Whitefield/Lancaster area of NH, but I don't know if the area was being threatened by a project that would have destroyed the habitat, etc.  My grandmother has a very strong connection to the land, but I had never heard about this particular time in her life, so I think it would be fascinating to learn more.  Interview footage could be used, as well as family pictures (which she has a lot of) and pictures of the area that she fought to conserve.

My third idea is to do a story about the composting program at UNH.  It's a really cool program that I learned a lot about last semester, by which food is pulped and then composted at the UNH run Kingman Farm.  I was able to go out and see the site where all the food is composted as part of a class last semester, and also talked to a professor about the problems the composting program is having, since the compost is not certified organic.  Apparently, NH guidelines prohibit the use of the compost as it is on the school crops, or crops that are to be sold, so the program now has a buildup of compost that it can't get rid of.  I could interview professors in the nutrition and agriculture programs, as well as officials who make guidelines about compost, and take pictures and video of the area.


This short documentary is much longer than a multimedia project that I would do, but the style is very similar to what I hope to achieve.  http://projects.latimes.com/homeboys/

Link to Soundslides Project - Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Here's the link to the Soundslides project:

http://hosting.soundslides.com/vrtzf/