My Autobiography

Marc Webb is from Shelbyville, Ky. and is a junior at the University of the Cumberlands. He is majoring in communication and minoring in journalism. Webb has a passion and love for music. This love of music is what inspired him to major in communication and to seek a career in radio broadcasting.

Webb is currently the student manager for the campus radio station at the University of the Cumberlands. His two radio shows are Wake Up Williamsburg and Marc After Dark.

He also has a part time job as a broadcast technician at a local radio station in Shelbyville, Ky. When the radio station has remote broadcasts, Webb is responsible for running the board, sound equipment, music, and underwriters for the station.

After graduation, Webb wants to have a career as a radio producer. He also hopes that one day he will be able to own and operate his own Christian rock radio station.

Besides radio and music, Webb is an avid Duke Blue Devil basketball fan. Ever since the famous 1992 shot by Christian Laettner, against Kentucky, Webb has been devoted to Duke basketball. He also has an avid hatred of North Carolina basketball. North Carolina and Duke is one of the most passionate and intense rivalries in sports today, as described by this NBC Sports article.

He also loves to watch and critique movies. His favorite movies of all time are: Star Wars, V for Vendetta, The Lord of the Rings, The Prestige, and The Dark Knight.

Webb loves to read fantasy books and online news articles. The most memorable fantasy books he has read are: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and The Long Patrol. Webb does not like to read newspapers or magazines; instead, he frequently loves to visit CNN and ESPN to read their online news articles.

(Picture of Marc Webb at the campus radio station)

Cornerstone Music Festival

The annual Christian music festival, Cornerstone, celebrates its 26th year in existence

Bushnell, Ill. is the site for the annual Christian music festival, Cornerstone. This year, from June 28 - July 3, thousands will descend upon Illinois to enjoy the 26th year of the festival.

Cornerstone festival is known as a unique musical experience. Currently, 112 bands have been scheduled to attend this year’s festival. More bands are added to the list every week. Some bands that will be playing at Cornerstone this year are Skillet, The Almost, Devil Wears Prada, Red, TobyMac, Switchfoot, and Demon Hunter.

(Relient K playing at Cornerstone 2009)

(Flyleaf playing at Cornerstone 2008)

Cornerstone also features a New Band Showcase. This showcase offers a look into the most well known, up and coming Christian rock artists. Sixteen bands will be awarded with playing a live show on the New Band Showcase Stage and the grand prize winner will get to play on the Main Stage.

Joe Stockton, lead singer of the Christian band Nineball, describes his experience playing at the Cornerstone festival. “Cornerstone is a chaotic mess of music and fun. There are so many stages and so many bands to play them. My favorite part about Cornerstone is the number of bands you get to see. Being on the road, you build friendships with a number of bands. It's like a rock and roll summer camp,” said Stockton.

Cornerstone also features many other programs including seminars, games, and a prayer village.

Seminars occur in what is known as the “seminar village.” Cornerstone seminars feature a wide variety of topics including: activism, mental illness, sex, dating, digital media, and more.

The festival also showcases many games for students to play while at Cornerstone. Students can participate in volleyball, basketball, soccer, and canoeing.

Another aspect of the festival is the prayer village. At the prayer village, people can fellowship with other Christians, meet people from around the country, and take part in daily prayer.

Cornerstone festival has been in existence since 1984. Each year, thousands of people descend upon 500 acres of land in Illinois for music, entertainment, fellowship, and prayer. The Cornerstone Festival staff believes that Cornerstone is more than a musical festival; it is a beacon of joy and spirit for those who attend.

Photojournalism Project

This photograph is by Dorothea Lange. This photo was taken on Arizona Highway 87, which is south of Chandler, Arizona. It features a grandmother and a sick baby. They both are members of a migratory family. This family came from Amarillo, Texas in order to pick cotton. When this photo was taken, they were living in a trailer in an open field. This picture was taken pre-World War II, during the Depression. This picture was not featured in a publication, but it was taken for the U.S. Farm Security Administration. The FSA was investigating living conditions of families hired to work in the cotton fields and farms in Arizona and California.

Dorothea Lange was a very influential American photographer and photojournalist. She is most well known for her Depression era photographs for the use of the FSA. She went to school to study photography in New York City, and one of her teachers was the famous photographer Clarence White. Her photographs did not end after the Great Depression. She also did many photographs of American Japanese as they were being rounded up in camps during the Second World War.

There are a few news values within this photo. First news value is impact. People during the Depression did not always realize the hardships that many migratory families were facing. This photo definitely impacted people of the Depression era, but I also think this photograph impacts people today who view it. I also think conflict comes into play. The people in this photo are in conflict with the hardships of nature, and the people owning the farms at this time. They are in conflict with nature because many of the immigrants fled to Arizona and California due to the Dust Bowl that occurred in the Midwest. They are also in conflict with the farm owners because of poor living conditions and poor wages.

This second photo is by James Nachtwey. This photo was taken after the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti. The man in the photo is taking refuge behind a garbage dumpster by a hospital. He was refused entry to the hospital because the workers there viewed him as mentally unstable. This picture was not featured in a publication, but was featured on Time Magazine’s official website as part of a slideshow of Haiti photographs. The slideshow was called Haiti Out of Ruins.

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake ravaged the people of Haiti. According to Fox News, 3 million people were in need of emergency aid after the earthquake. The quake also sent 33 aftershocks ranging from 4.2 to 5.9 in magnitude.

James Nachtwey, the photographer, grew up in Massachusetts and went to Darthmouth College where he studied Art History and Political Science. He had no interest in photography until he began seeing many chilling photos of people in the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights Movement. He is a self taught photographer. He has been a contract photographer for Time Magazine since 1984. Nachtwey has also received numerous awards for photography. He has even received the award, Magazine Photographer of the Year 7 times.

I believe this news source has many news values. First, is impact. This photo is very moving and upsetting. This photo definitely impacts the people who view it. Second news value is conflict. First, this man is in conflict with nature. He is conflict with nature after Haiti was devastated by nature, through the earthquake. Second, he is in conflict with the hospital staff. He was not allowed to have refuge inside the hospital, so he is forced to seek refuge behind a dumpster. Third, this photo is a little bizarre. This man is seeking refuge in the middle of trash and debris. Finally, this photo is current. The earthquake happened a little over 3 months ago on
January 12.

The third photo was featured on ESPN as they were covering the NCAA National Championship game. This photo was taken by Kevin C. Cox of Getty Images. Featured in this photo are Brian Zoubek, of the Duke Blue Devils, and Avery Jukes and Shawn Vansant, of the Butler Bulldogs. All three players are reaching for a rebound. This picture was taken on April 5, 2010 at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Duke won the National Championship game 61-59.

I could not find any biographical information on Kevin C. Cox. But, I did find quite a bit of information on the company he contributes to, Getty Images. The main purpose of this company was to move photography into the digital age. The goal of this company is to inspire communicators and give them tools to create their own inspiring work. Getty Images is used in advertising, newspapers, feature films, and blogging. Kevin C. Cox is a frequent contributor to this company.

This photo has many news values. The first one is prominence. This photo features two prominent college basketball schools, Duke and Butler. It also features prominent players on each of the teams. Finally, this picture features a very prominent event in college basketball: the NCAA National Championship game. Another news value is proximity. This event happened fairly close to Kentucky. It occurred in Indianapolis, Indiana. This photo also features conflict. These two teams are in conflict with each other. They are not only battling for a rebound after a missed shot, but they are battling each other over who will win the National Championship Game. They are in complete and total competition with each other. Finally, this photo is current. The event took place on April 5, 2010.

The fourth photo was taken by Baron Wolman. It is featured on the front cover of the Rolling Stone Magazine. The photo is of Tiny Tim. The issue was number 13, and was published on July 13, 1968.

This photo was featured the same year Tiny Tim released his debut album. His debut album included his first hit Tip-Toe Through The Tulips. It also featured a version of I Got You Babe. This photo was taken right as Tiny Tim was rising to fame.

Baron Wolman is one of the most well known photographers of the Rock and Roll years. He took many famous photos of artists such as Jimmy Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin, and others. He was also known as the chief photographer of Rolling Stone. After only a few years, he decided to leave Rolling Stone to pursue his own endeavors. He went on to take action shots of the pro football team, the Oakland Raiders. He did other work with the NFL including taking aerial shots from a blimp. He has also started working with nude shots as well.

This photo has some news values. The first one is prominence. At this point in Tiny Tim’s career, he was not widely known or famous. But, after this photo was taken and printed, Tiny Tim’s career began to take off. Shortly after this, Tiny Tim did become prominent and famous. The second news value would be bizarre or unusual. First, Tiny Tim is sitting in an old and rather unusual chair. Second, he is holding flowers, which could be a representation of his first song, Tip-Toe Through The Tulips. But, the photo is taken in a strange way because of the way it portrays Tiny Tim with the flowers. It is almost like he is hugging and patting the flowers, not just simply holding them.

The final photograph was taken by Robert Capa. This photo is of an American soldier landing on Omaha beach on D-Day, on June 6, 1944. Life magazine printed this picture along with 9 others on June 19, 1944. They called these ten pictures, Slightly Out of Focus, because the magazine claimed that Capa’s hands were shaking while he was taking these photographs. Robert Capa denied this claim. While he was on the beach, Capa took a total of 106 photos but only 10 photos survived because of a dark room accident.

Robert Capa came to Omaha Beach with the second wave of soldiers. The purpose of this wave of soldiers was to bring reinforcements, support weapons, and headquarter elements. This battle left 3,000 American soldiers dead and only 1,200 dead for the German forces.

Robert Capa was best known as a combat photographer. He took pictures for 5 wars including: the Spanish Civil War, Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the first Indochina War. He first started taking pictures of World War II for the American magazine called Collier’s Weekly. He was soon fired from this job and he quickly switched over to Life magazine. His most famous work occurred on June 6, 1944 when he swam ashore on the second assault on Omaha Beach. In 1947, Capa founded the company Magnum Photos along with Henri Cartier-Bresson, William Vandivert, David Seymour, and George Rodger. Robert Capa died while taking pictures in the Indochina War. He stepped on a landmine.

This picture has many news values. First, there is the news value impact. This photo does a great job of showing the impact of not only war, but the impact of D-Day on June 6. This photo also has conflict. It is between the United States and Germany in World War II.

Eliminate the BCS in College Football

Every year, the same debate arises: should the bowl system be eliminated in college football? Some people are for this change, such as former USC head coach Pete Carroll, and Mike Leach, former Texas Tech head coach. Even President Barak Obama is ready to see a change in college football. However, these people are not the norm. In fact, according to rival.com, 85 percent of coaches today prefer the college bowl system.

The Bowl Championship Series is the current playoff system for Division One College Football. The BCS is made up of five games: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and the BCS National Championship. These bowls feature the top 10 teams in the country. Besides these games, there are 27 other bowl games that feature teams that were not good enough to make it to the BCS.

According to the BCS official website, “The BCS is a five-game showcase of college football. It is designed to ensure that the two top-rated teams in the country meet in the national championship game, and to create exciting and competitive matchups among eight other highly regarded teams in four other bowl games.” However, this system does not create exciting matchups and it does not always assure that the two top rated teams play in the championship.

With this playoff system, there are many problems that the bowl system faces. First, the BCS is run by a confusing computer system. According to College Football Poll, the computer system uses a series of polls and averages to decide where teams rank. “The percentage totals of the Harris Interactive Poll, USA Today Poll, and the computer rankings are then averaged. The teams’ averages are ranked to produce the BCS Standings.” The BCS committee then puts teams into different bowl games based on the generated computer data.

The second problem with the BCS is it does not always have a defined, clear-cut champion. With this system, teams that have had an amazing college football year are not always allowed to play for the National Championship because their computer ranking is not high enough. For example, last year five teams finished the regular season undefeated: Alabama, Texas, Boise State, Cincinnati, and TCU. Only Alabama and Texas were allowed to play for the National Championship because they were number one and two in the BCS system. The other three teams, Cincinnati, Boise State, and TCU, were forced to play in smaller bowls because their computer ranking was not high enough. These teams were not allowed to play in the national championship game, even though they finished the regular season undefeated.

A third problem is the bowl system celebrates mediocrity. Teams can finish .500 in the regular season and still make the playoffs. Last year, eight teams had a .500 record going into their respective bowl game. Eight teams made the playoffs that didn’t even have a winning record.

For all the problems that the bowl system faces, there is one simple solution to fix these problems: play a tournament. Every other major sport, both college and professional, uses a tournament for the playoffs. Even the other smaller divisions in college football have a tournament.

One solution would be a 32 team tournament. The top 25 teams at the end of the regular season would automatically make the tournament, and then a committee could choose seven at large teams to also enter the tournament.

This type of playoff system has many advantages over the bowl system. First, a tournament would crown a true national champion. The national champion would be decided on the playing field instead of having a computer system choose it for them. Second, a tournament would weed out the mediocre teams. Teams that do not finish with a winning record would have no chance of making the tournament. Third, a tournament would take relatively the same amount of time as the bowl season. The bowl season currently lasts about one month. If you played one round of the tournament each weekend, the tournament would only last six weekends.

Overall, the current bowl system has many flaws. Each one of them could be easily fixed by transferring the college football bowl system to a simple tournament style playoff. Pete Carroll said it best when he described the current bowl system, “I think it stinks. I don't think it's the way it should be.”