Roman Polanski, the famous Oscar-winning director, citizen of both Poland and France and friend to young and old, sat in a Swiss jail over Thanksgiving, waiting to be released on a multi-million dollar bail. Polanski is battling extradition to the U.S. to face charges for raping a teenage girl more than 30 years ago. I hope people realize there is something wrong with the former sentence. How is it possible that this man hasn’t been in prison for the past 30 years? The answer is just as bizarre — after confessing to his crime, Polanski escaped the clutches of the…

While reading a chapter for my journalism class one night, I came across an interesting topic called “citizen journalism.” This up-and-coming branch of journalism focuses on news reporting and media contributions done by ordinary citizens who are not professionally employed in a journalistic field. My initial reaction to this information was positive, as it’s cool that everyday people get the chance to interact with the media and make themselves known. This positive opinion lasted for only a second, as my imagination traveled and I thought about a very close relative of citizen journalism: reality television. Like ordinary people reporting the…

For most of us, when something bad happens in our lives we react by either talking about it to a loved one, keeping it bottled up inside, or going on a rampage and taking our emotions out on other people. If these options don’t suffice I am happy to inform those who don’t already know of a new venue out there, available for anyone who may be having a particularly bad day. It’s conveniently dubbed FMylife.com, where everyday people can anonymously publish short tidbits on how messed up their life is, and where the emotionally unstable can take the time…