“Life’s A Happy Song” – Kasteel Well Spring 2013 from Brandon Cardwell on Vimeo.

What do a group of students from Emerson decide to do amid finals? A musical act, of course. This is one reason why I LOVE Emerson. Emerson students are innately creative, upbeat, and full of life. I see several of my former students in this video: Renée Deschene, Courtney Tharp, Xandra Fileccia, Jackie Pauley, Mary Quigley and Beth Treffeisen. Great job, guys. One day I hope to teach at the castle!

This video is narrated by Ed Asner and animated by Mike Konopacki. It was written and directed by Fred Glass for the California Federation of Teachers.

This is a terrific video for budding writers.

Callie Crossley continues to amaze me with her wit and her ability to keep the conversation focused. It was my second appearance on the WGBH-TV program.

AIJI participants, Will Ferrell, and me. (Photo by Janine Harris)

Below are highlights of the work done by students who participated in the American Indian Journalism Institute in June. We worked long hours for 10 straight days, but it was fun. It was amazing to watch how quickly these energetic budding journalists took to creating video packages.

Photo by Dacia Idom

One of the many video projects created by AIJI students. As of this posting, not all were uploaded to the AIJI site, but will be soon. Click here to see them.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

I was among several panelists who spoke at “The Futures of Immigration: Scholars and Journalists in Dialogue” held in the fall and co-sponsored by the  Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

Read the Harvard Gazette’s story here.

Emerson College has been ranked as one of the top creative colleges in the U.S. and this video, below, gives you a glimpse of the spirit and energy our students have, as well as the world-class technology and theaters we own.

And if you’re wondering about the students prancing on brooms, that’s a nod to quidditch, a sport our students play.

I did, however, watch part of the half-time show. Madonna was brilliant. She continues to amaze me with her strength and agility. (Reminder to self: start lifting weights again.) I wasn’t too keen on her entrance. Men as slaves is hardly provocative. To me, a Goddess would have no need to subjugate. She should be of the people. But, OK, I get that it’s theatrics.

Here’s a screen grab of the first few grafs:

How did you identify a reporting topic?

CR: The reason I was interested in this topic goes back to the general issue of how people are marginalized in society and especially in the context of religion. I wrote my Master’s thesis on this subject and had just finished at Columbia University [Graduate School of Journalism] in 2010. So, this topic was still fresh in my mind and something I wanted to delve into a little bit more.

What was it like reporting overseas as a freelancer?

CR: I didn’t have an editor to crack the whip and just bounce ideas off of and to frame ideas. So, I relied on some friends, but they’re not getting paid and there’s only so much time you can take from them. So, that was tough. I didn’t have someone to talk to help develop the story.

I’m an avid Foursquare user. I like to check into places and occasionally add a comment or photo, especially if I like the place. If I don’t, I just don’t go there any more, rather than write a snarky comment about the place.

Non-Foursquare users usually ask me two questions: 1. Aren’t you worried about stalkers? (My answer: No. I’m not important enough to have a stalker.) 2. What’s the point? Here’s my answer to that second question:

Being the mayor of a place has certain advantages. For example, at Boloco Commons I get a free meal for myself and two buddies every Monday as long as I’m still mayor when I check in. I’m still waiting for a student to take over my mayorship, but I’m hoping he/she will take me to lunch on Mayor Mondays. It’s also a great way to keep up with where my friends are headed and to find out if anyone I know is in a particular place. (I use Sonar to help me figure out if a friend of a friend there.)

Early in the fall semester, my graduate student Barry Thompson asked me to hold the mayorship of Emerson College’s Walker Building because he writes a regular “Meet the Mayor” feature for the Boston Phoenix and wanted to wait until the end of the semester so there would be no conflict of interest. I had been rivaling someone known to me only as Michelle Z. for the honor and came to find out she’s an Emerson staffer! Michelle, I wish Foursquare would let me be your deputy mayor.

Barry’s write-up can be found here. I’m now prepared to teach students how to prepare for the zombie apocalypse. Thanks for the head’s up, Barry.