Spotlight: Stephanie Whitney

Please explore recent USF grad Stephanie Whitney's website swhitneydesigns.com. Not only is she my best friend, but she is also an extremely talented graphic designer who is dedicated and devoted to good design. 

Here are few samples of her work that can be found at her website.

RVCA shelving for flagship store in SF

Regina Spektor redesigned CD cover

Dia De Los Muertos Poster for a USF event

7th Annual USF Human Rights Film Festival!

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

Tuesday February 24

1:00pm     Opening Remarks

                 USF Students' shorts

1:45pm FILM: 4 De Julio. La Masacre De San Patricio

4:00pm FILM: Promise to the Dead

6:30pm FILM: Nuevo Dragon City

7:00pm FILM: Sleep Dealer

Wednesday February 25

1:00pm FILM: Freeheld

2:oopm FILM: Burning the Future: Coal in America

4:30pm FILM: The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo

6:30pm FILM: Trouble the Water

Thursday February 26

1:00pm USF student shorts

2:00pm Alex Gibney: the Role of Documentary in Re-making the News 

4:00pm FILM: Taxi to the Dark Side

6:30pm FILM: Dos Americas: The Reconstruction of New Orleans

Learning Some Common Sense

This sunless and fog filled summer was a memorable one. I turned that longing age that every college student counts down the days for, moved into a new apartment, and had my first “I hope I don’t get hit” bike ride around this beautiful Bay City. But the most noteworthy experience didn’t involve champagne glasses or moving boxes or even bicycle spokes, rather it was my internship with Common Sense Media.

For the past three months I have been fortunate enough to be the PR and Communications Intern for Common Sense Media, a non profit non partisan media organization that provides tools and reliable information for families and kids as they navigate their way through our vast media world. Offering ratings, reviews, and an independent forum, CSM focuses on teaching families to be savvy media interpreters.

Having worked first hand with kids in the past, CSM was a different perspective, as I learned how to benefit kids and families indirectly while still providing a service. The need for the service that CSM provides is more prevalent than ever before as cyberbullying (13% of online teens reported that someone had sent them a threatening or aggressive email, instant message, or text message), online predators (32% of online teens have been contacted by strangers online), and media violence continues to rise in numbers.

Through this internship, I've learned the ins and outs of Public Relations, the significance of staying current on the news that affects your organization, and the need and importance for such an organization to exist. Most importantly I’m taking away the understanding that a company who is dedicated to a cause and making a difference provides for a positive and productive work environment that isn’t stuck in a monotonous, “just trying to make it through the day” routine. As soon as you walk into the vibrant office with lime green carpets and splashes of bold orange paint it is evident that CSM cares about what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. From the foosball table in place of a desk in the front hall to a good luck cake for a colleague’s first marathon, CSM’s distinct style motivates its employees to make a difference and have fun while doing so.

Thanks CSM, it has been a great experience!

The Best Education is Found Outside of the Classroom

This past spring semester I was far from the bay breeze and routine I had nestled myself into at USF. I was now eating gelato daily, avoiding eye contact and causal smiles with men, laughing with friends amongst some of the world’s most celebrated sites, and every so often checking my purse to insure a gypsy hadn’t emerged victorious with my wallet and passport in hand. For four short months I was wandering the cobblestone streets living and learning in the Eternal City as I studied abroad at The John Felice Rome Center.

My experiences in Rome, all throughout Italy, and the three other countries I visited, can't be given justice with even the most extravagant and heavy hearted words. Sure, when your asked, “how was your time abroad?” It’s fun to say, “I skied the Swiss Alps, went to a famous Flamenco bar in Southern Spain, swam in the Mediterranean, took a gondola ride in Venice during Carnivale, went wine tasting in Tuscany, and even popped champagne underneath the Eiffel Tower.” But as I learned early on, the exuberant and giddy feeling that you get from sharing stories of abroad comes off as arrogant and showboating to others. I now tend to reply with a simple and understated, “amazing. Indescribable.” Because going abroad cannot be explained but rather must be experienced.

Luckily, students throughout the United States have started to take advantage of the study abroad experience. According to the Open Doors report in 2007, the number of American students receiving academic credit for their study abroad has increased 150% in the past decade, from fewer than 90,000 students in 1995/96.

Below, Vistawide provides reasons for students to get those visas approved:
-It is the optimal way to learn a language
-Study abroad provides the opportunity to travel
-Allows you to get to know another culture first-hand
-Will help you develop skills and give you experiences a classroom setting will never provide
-Study abroad helps you to learn about yourself
-It expands your worldview
-Gives you the opportunity to break out of your academic routine
-Study abroad enhances employment opportunities
-Study abroad can enhance the value of your degree

For me, studying abroad truly was the epitome of the overstated yet underrated cliché, “time of my life.” Besides, how else are you going to learn how to say “cheers” in several different languages…

“Prost!” “Cin Cin!” “Salud!” “A Votre Sante!”

Our Time at the University of San Francisco

Check out an audio slideshow about the University of San Francisco produced by my fall '07 Photojournalism class.
Photographed and produced by:

Eva Erickson
Christina Kho
Michael Vick

Jacob Marx

Samantha Blackburn

Carly Perez

Kate Elston

Lulu McAllister
and professor Brant Ward

Don't Make a Promise You Can't Keep

And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense,
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope.
-Shakespeare in Macbeth

Decoding Shakespeare’s famous words is always a daunting task. Yet from this excerpt I reason that Shakespeare meant, promises are serious-and when broken the results can be devastating. President Bush’s recent promise of combating HIV/AIDS through a five-year plan and $15 billion dollar budget is one promise that we all hope he can keep.

The United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was announced by President Bush at the State of the Union address in 2003 and was to occur over the following five years. The plan is the largest commitment ever by a single nation toward an international health initiative with the goal of support for treatment for 2 million HIV infected people, support for prevention of 7 million new infections, and support for care for 10 million people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS (according to PEPFAR). Last Thursday, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Mark Dybul and Executive Director of the AIDS Support Organization (TASO), Dr. Alex Coutinho came to the University of San Francisco to discuss PEPFAR amongst Nursing students, African Studies students, and students with a global perspective and concern.

PEPFAR is a plan that incorporates many strategies and partnerships in its fight against HIV/AIDS. One strategy is the ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, and the correct and consistent use of Condoms) approach. Ambassador Dybul said that this approach specifically aids children, as they are able to remember a simple acronym that is often accompanied with a song and dance. “With sensitive topics, especially dealing with sexuality we use music, dance, and drama to make topics non threatening,” said Dr. Coutinho. Methods like ABC are teaching preventative measures in the 150 countries that PEPFAR is associated with. However, PEPFAR specifically focuses in 15 countries, which is where half of the world’s HIV/AIDS disease is: Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanada, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia.

And although results are occurring, “if PEPFAR hits the target, my estimate is that it will avert eight million orphans,” said Dr. Coutinho, there is still much to do. What can we do now? “What’s most important is your compassion,” said Dr. Coutinho who suggested raising money to send over soccer balls which helps children who are infected with HIV/AIDS to rise from the stigma of the disease and enjoy the simple pleasures of childhood. “We need more innovative approaches,” said Ambassador Dybul. “This isn’t just a medical problem, it affects every aspect of life.”

Lets hope Bush and company deliver on their promise. And, we need to take it upon ourselves to do more to help the more than 39 million people currently living with HIV worldwide.

I don’t believe those evil creatures anymore.
They tricked me with their wordgames, raising my hopes
And then destroying them.
-Translated version of Shakespeare's excerpt from Macbeth

Happy Earth Day!

Dread heads, deadheads, hippies, and more…Families, fairies, ganja galore, converged together to form an eclectic crowd, that San Francisco is synonymous for. Unlike 4/20, this time it was for a cause, as the Green Apple Music and Arts Festival hosted a celebration for Earth Day, April 22nd, in Golden Gate Park.

The second annual Green Apple Music and Arts Festival, presented by JP Morgan Chase, was held on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Speedway Meadows of Golden Gate Park. The festival, accommodated over 30 booths that included the San Francisco Green Party, Greenopia, a massage parlor, and a global mourning-global awakening area by Creative Community Catalysts, where artists work to inspire more ecologically sustainable and socially connected communities. The main attraction to the event, however, was the free musical line up that brought San Franciscans out in throngs, to hear Bob Weir and Rat Dog, Stephen and Damian “Jr Gong” Marley, The Greyboy Allstars, Martin Sexton, and Jonah Smith all in the name of mother earth. Earth Day, was created as a result of the conscious awakening by Rachel Carson’s bestselling novel, Silent Spring. Silent Spring, among other things, inspired United States Senator Gaylord Nelson, to speak out on a need for an environmental teach-in. Thus, Earth Day was created and began on April 22, 1970 with the participation of more than 20 million people. Today, the once grassroots rally, has turned into a celebration by more than 500 million people in 175 countries.

The Green Apple festival held in San Francisco was also held in New York and Chicago, and celebrated by 15,000 people in each city, said the MC for the event (event staff declined interview). For one of the 15,000 in attendance, Brandon Redman, a student at the University of San Francisco, Sunday turned into Funday as he described the celebration as “a well organized event that did a good job of bringing all different types of people together to celebrate Earth Day.” Emily Stetson, a young adult festival goer, said “I’ve never seen this at a festival before,” in response to the overwhelming large attendance as she waited for her garlic fries.

As bubbles and smoke hovered above the crowd, San Franciscans enjoyed free music and good food as the need for global environmental awareness grows stronger with every passing gas guzzling Hummer. Which begs the question, shouldn’t Earth Day be everyday?

In Remembrance

On Sunday, April 22nd, at 9:00 p.m. in Xavier Chapel/Fromm Hall, a special mass will be held for all affected by the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

USF will join numerous colleges in gathering books of prayers that will be sent to the Virginia Tech ecumenical/interfaith campus ministry group. These condolence books will be placed in Koret, the Outtakes Café on Lone Mountain, and the Market in University Center.

A Distracting Obsession

There is something taking over the lives of college students across the United States. It never sleeps, it never eats, and it’s often changing its appearance. Some might call it a monster, invading the land of Cyberspace and taking over helpless mouse pads. Others might say it has god like qualities, able to create anything and see everything. Others however, simply call it, Facebook.

Regardless of how you feel about Facebook.com, a popular social networking site, there is one common description that Facebook believers and objectors can agree upon, Facebook is a distraction. And since its creation in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook now has over 19 million registered users, spanning over 47,000 regional, work-relate, and collegiate and high school networks. One of which, is the University of San Francisco, where out of 264 students surveyed by a USF journalism 2 class, 42 percent said they log on to Facebook multiple times a day. Nearly 30 percent of those students, also admitted to logging on to Facebook during their valuable and pricey class time. Through an email exchange, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at USF, David Silver explained that a reason for the popularity of Facebook is because it is, “an example of customizable or personalized media,” said Silver.

Sophomore Amanda Niello, Media Studies Major, agrees with Silver and says, “Facebook is very distracting. I’ll be on the computer writing a paper and I will suddenly get the urge to see if there are any new pictures tagged of my friends from home or if I have gotten a new wall post about the past weekend.”

Regardless of whether you find yourself as a friend or foe to the overwhelming popular Facebook, which according to comScore, is the sixth-most trafficked site in the United States and is the number one photo-sharing site, it is undeniable that the social networking site serves as a both an obsession and distraction for countless college students across the country. “College students, like so many other contemporary Americans, love thinking about, talking about, and hearing about themselves,” said Silver. “This may explain the root of the obsession.”