Final Projects: JRN538 Spring 2010

FINAL PROJECT	AUTHOR
Steroids In America	Michael Bonzagni
Northeast College Hoops: NBA Draft 2010	Kels Dayton
The Invisible: Feral Cats In Connecticut	Sean Maloney
Travelers’ Survival Guide	Cameron Mitchell
Like Hemlines, Fashion is Rising in Connecticut	Jennifer Sauer
Connecticut’s Sustainable Table	Bree Shirvell
The Truth About Organics	Melissa Smith
Gluten Be Gone: Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance	Danielle Travali
The Real Game: Fantasy Baseball	Ernest Tolden

The Literacy Center Of Milford Offers More Than Standard ESL Classes

March 25, 2010

by Michael Bonzagni

Rain clatters on the roof of the cars parked outside the Fannie Beach Community center in Milford, Conn.  But on this dreary Monday night, the cold and biting wind doesn’t seem to have dampened the laughter coming from John Scalici’s conversational English class at the Literacy Center of Milford.

The Fannie Beach Community Center on a much nicer day. Photo courtesy of literacycenterofmilford.com

Scalici, a volunteer teacher, and four of his students can be found sitting around a long table, smiling, sharing news of former students. The class doesn’t feel much like class at all; more like a structured conversation.

The students:  Jim and Xueyan Peng from China, Shakila Timakonda from India, and Maria Arevalo from Colombia, are guided through some lively lessons of grammar, idioms, and spelling.

Working with focus and attention to detail, the students all diligently take notes, constantly participate, and even track their quiz and test results on bar graphs to show their progress.

The Literacy Center of Milford, established in 1994, is a non-profit, community-based literacy agency that serves the greater Milford area.  The center is far more than simply a place to learn to speak English. It is a sanctuary for people from varying cultures, free of judgment, offering knowledge and encouragement.

Scalini’s class, for example, goes far beyond Monday nights.

“We celebrate birthdays and go on field trips so the students can experience the culture,” Scalini’s said after class. “We went to a ballgame in Bridgeport. We also went to the Milford Historical society for a tour. Everyone brought their families. It was a great time.”

View Larger Map

The center currently boasts 52 active tutors, like Scalici, who teach English as a second language to students of all ages. Last years, the tutors donated more than 4,100 hours of teaching time.  The Center also provides a preschool literacy program and a “Books for Babies Program” where Milford’s youngest residents are given books on their first birthdays.

More than 70 other volunteers help staff the literacy center office and organize fundraising events, including the annual winter Leprechaun Leap at the beach (see picture).

BRRR! It's cold, but it's for a good cause! Photo courtesy of literacycenterofmilford.com.

According to Tami Jackson, the center’s director, there are currently about 5,000 people in Milford who are not fluent in English or about  9% of Milford’s total population.

Conversational English is not the only class offered by the Literacy Center of Milford.

“We offer one on one tutoring, conversation class, intermediate class, and an advanced level class,” said Jackson. “We also have a class for parents at one of our elementary schools because we were finding that there was such a large population of parents to learn so that they could interact with the students, the other parents, and the principal.”

Jackson (right) enjoying the Leprechaun Leap with friends and supporters. Photo courtesy of literacycenterofmilford.com.

To learn more about the Literacy Center of Milford, go to www.literacycenterofmilford.com or call 203-878-4800.

If There’s An NFL Lockout In 2011, The Fans Lose

With NFL free agency kicked into high gear and the draft quickly approaching, many pigskin fans are already itching for the 2010 season to begin. Fans better enjoy it, because it could be the last one for a while.

View this document on Scribd

If you have a spare billion years and enjoy legal jargon, check out the CBA, courtesy of nfl.com

The collective bargaining agreement, or CBA is a contract reached between NFL owners and the NFL Players Association that guarantees an equitable share of revenue.

Instituted in 1993, the agreement brought about changes such as free agency and the salary cap and was last renewed in 2006. It was supposed to last until 2012 but the league owners chose to opt out for the 2011 season.

Part of the reason the owners opted out was because the players receive the lion’s share of revenue.

The end of the collective bargaining agreement will bring about the dreaded uncapped year. NFL teams team will be able to spend as much or as little on players as it wishes.

Ironically, the uncapped year clause was supposed to deter owners from locking out the players. But as ESPN the Magazine’s Seth Wickersham explained recently on Football Today, the reverse might be true.

Courtesy of ESPN’s Podcenter.  Excerpt taken from “Football Today.” 2/11/10.

The way the teams spend revenue – or don’t for that matter – has drastically changed. Restricted free agents now have to play at least 6 years in the league before they can be considered unrestricted. The last 8 eight teams in the playoffs cannot sign free agents until they have released other players. 

Do you think they're talking about the CBA? Photo courtesy of Michael Conroy/Associated Press

What does all this mean? 

In short, if there is not a new collective bargaining agreement between the players association and the owners by March 2011, the owners will lock-out the current players for 2011, effectively canceling the season. 

DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the player’s association, said of the lockout’s chances of happening, “On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a 14.”

Further proof of the lock-out’s inevitability can be found in the fact that the NFL has yet to renew their radio contract with Westwood One, something that is usually done speedily.

Who’s fault is this? The players blame the owners. The owners blame the players. In the end the fans suffer.

The NFL currently is the most popular sport in America, and as Foxsport’s Jason Whitlock points out, the NFL would be crazy to let this happen.

If the lockout does happen, and players in the NFLPA are not allowed to play, owners could get replacement players, whom Gene Hackman will hopefully coach.

The UFL is looking like the only winner in this mess.  Since NFL players have a such a narrow window to capitalize on their athletic ability, they’ll at least cash checks on UFL teams, even though they might have to wear lime green or teal uniforms.  (Yuck.)

The Real Game: Fantasy Baseball

This post is a minor tutorial about fantasy baseball with comments from fans who play it, the different types of leagues, top fantasy players, and an example video of expert opinions.

http://ernesttolden.wordpress.com/

NBA Draft 2010

Hey everybody, I am done with my final project.

It is probably the greatest final internet project about the NBA Draft  I’ve ever done for a grad school class. That was the link back there. I don’t know if you noticed. It was in a different color.

I don’t know what else I should say, but everyone else wrote a whole paragraph about theirs so I’m just typing words right now. I think it’s gonna be readable. Not positive. 

But yeah, my project is all about the NBA Draft and stuff and there’s an article about Quinnipiac star James Feldeine in it. It’s awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! So click on it man. It could change your life. That was the link again. 

Okay, see you guys in class.

Kels

The Invisible: Feral Cats In Connecticut

CLICK PHOTO TO GO TO MY CAPSTONE

Feral cats in Connecticut are known as the Invisible. They are the forgotten. Hidden from our world by choice or by necessity, they have limited contact with man in order to survive. Pariah, bête noire, phantom or scourge, most were, at one time, companion, friend, confidant or soul mate to any number of us. Here are their stories. Stories populated with those who are compassionate enough or are simply unafraid to give the Invisible something for all of us to see.

Steroids in America

Hello my dear classmates,

Please check out my final project. During my reporting and interviewing, I felt it necessary to expand my topic beyond baseball and get to the root causes of steroid abuse in America. Only 15% of steroid users do it to get better at a sport. The other 85% do it for aesthetic reasons. But don’t worry, there’s still a lot of baseball in there! Enjoy!