Journalism

This is my first entry for this blog that I'm starting for my CMJ 236 class. In it I will be reporting on various newsy things regarding my beat. My beat topic is Alpha Delta, the branch of a national service fraternity that operates on the UMaine campus. Alpha Delta is one of the smaller fraternities, and is the only one whose primary focus is on the performance of community service. The brothers participate in various projects throughout the year, some occasional and some that they do on a weekly basis. These include driving the Late Night Local with members of their sister sorority, Gamma Sigma Sigma, organizing events for the Maine Day celebrations- this year they will be the hosts of Oozeball- and much more. I will be outlining some of these projects and providing more background about Alpha Delta and their goals in my future blog entries.

CMJ 236 is a good course that will better prepare me for a career in Journalism by teaching me the basics of writing for print. Blogging about my beat topic I think will help me feel more familiar with my topic and force me to become more knowledgeable about it. It offers a more informal portrayal of what I could also be reporting in a news or feature story, which I think sometimes makes it easier for readers to relate to. Citizen journalism is ever-growing in popularity, and I look at this as an example of that.