It’s a “Miracle”!

The past three and a half months, 100 days in total, were full of surprises!

The beginning of my time here was already very exciting. A Chinese student, I had the opportunity to come to the United States, the worldʼs media kingdom. At last I was going back to school, studying my favorite major and pursuing my dream career-Journalism! I met many new friends, discovered a new culture and challenged myself, every second, in every way! Looking back, the most surprising aspect of this first semester at the University of Florida is the substantial amount of new knowledge that I acquired. I feel like a sponge in the ocean, absorbing everything that I possibly can.

I chose to begin my graduate studies with three courses: Dr. Clearyʼs Mass Communication Theory, Dr. Leslieʼs International Communication and Professor Mindyʼs Journalistsʼ Toolkit. The latter two classes came to me as a surprise; I realized that, through hard work, I was able to succeed in this new school environment-just as much as a native student!. Leslie is a strict professor. Thanks to his strict criteria and his high work ethic, I find that I have made tremendous progress in my reading, writing and communication skills. Also, I was able to broaden and deepen my knowledge through reading scholarly papers of diverse subject matters.

During my Toolkit course, I was exposed to concepts that I had never seen before. In fact, prior to stepping into this class I was very unconfident about my English and the myriad of required technological skills. However, as I read back on all the blogs that I wrote during this semester, I notice a pattern, a recurring theme. On countless occasions, I wrote a sentence along the lines of “I had never realized that I could do this before, I’m learning so much!” Before this course, I had never even heard about making sound slides, I never understood how to frame a photo, and I never used HTML to make a webpage. This course truly challenged me to better myself and I know all the skills I have learned will benefit me my whole career. With every finished project and accomplishment, I had a renewed motivation to advance further into the world of journalism and media.

When done in Chinese, I conduct interviews with ease; interviewing in English, however, is entirely different. I feel timid, afraid that I cannot express myself clearly and conduct the interview well. Although I still lack enough confidence to comfortably conduct interviews in English, at least I have the opportunity to work hard at it and better myself.

During the course, I found my true passion, that of photojournalism. Kobreʼs book helped me develop some basic skills about photojournalism and build a good foundation. By shooting photos for my sound slides, I could see my progress, which made me want to learn more about photojournalism. Taking good pictures is not only an essential skill for successful journalism; it is also immensely enjoyable!

Affordable Housing in the U.S

At last I finished my final projects! I feel very satisfied with what I have done, as this is the first webpage that I have ever made.

When I finally got done with my final package, I sent it to my friend in Shanghai to ask for feedback. Her first comment was that affordable housing in the U.S. is a heavy topic. Another comment I received was that my project as a whole attempted to illustrate the problem from a perspective that emphasized the country’s quickly soaring house prices and somewhat overlooked Americans’ stalling income levels. According to my friend, such a biased point of view will paint too simple a picture-I agree.In fact, I have thought in depth about this problem. The reasons why people cannot afford housing are somewhat complicated. While some Americans are lazy, most are hard working and driven, but still cannot afford their own house. Even more, this is not only a problem in the United States; the whole world is affected. In fact, this issue is even more severe outside the U.S. Along with the urbanization and industrialization, global real estate prices are soaring higher and higher. Three web pages definitely cannot cover such a broad subject, so I think it would be best to focus on the disproportionate rise in house prices and the augmentation in household incomes.

On my introduction page, I introduce this issue. What is affordable housing? How severe is the shortage is in U.S.? I use the concept of “American Dream”, as I think this all-American idea can make audiences feel more involved.

In the slideshow page, I use a sound slide that combines the interviews of a citizen affected by lack of affordable housing and an official working to solve the problem. A few questions are addressed. What is it like to struggle with those difficulties? Is there help on the way? What people think is the main cause of this issue? In the sound slide, I try to illustrate that the perception that those who cannot afford housing are lazy is mistaken. In fact, most people work diligently to achieve their “American Dream”.

My data package contains a chart which clearly illustrates the change from 1974 to 2006. The data is relevant and updated, which I think can really help me illustrate the problem. Besides, I included government data on this page that shows readers what the government has done to solve the problem. Because of other factors such as inflation and regulations, it seems that the government cannot do much.