Rain and Lee Bo-Young was invited as the Korea representative at the launching event of "Mont Blanc's star Nicholas Lyusec Watch", which will be held in the natinal gymnasium of Beijing, Chaina.

This event is to be with not only the world-famed actor Yang Jo wi, actree Jang Chui, Leebingbing, but also the world press corp, the notable from all countries of the world including Asia, there will be about 3,000 people.

These two players are expected that they will have interviews with the world press corps on November 7th, when it will be started to progress in earnest, and step the red carpet together about 9 pm.

Lee Bo-Young is being popularity boomed due to acting as a title role on TV drama  like "The queen of the game", "Seo Dong Yo",  and they were broadcated in China.

Taken from  Rain-America.com

Here's a segment of that speech where Freile discusses being a multimedia reporter and why multimedia is so important.

[audio http://intotheprism.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/victoria-freile-blog.mp3]

I covered Greenpeace stopping by Manatee Academy in Port St. Lucie as part of their Global Warming Story Tour on Wednesday with an afternoon deadline. I finished the article two hours early and even wrote another story.

When my article ran on the front of Thursday's local section, I noticed it was almost identical to what I wrote with the exception of a few lines - the beginning. The lede is the part I usually spend the most time putting together. I get stuck on the whole story if I can't think of a lede right away.

Read the article here on TCPalm.com: "Greenpeace exhibit focuses on environment."

Here's what I wrote:

PORT ST. LUCIE -- Greenpeace is traveling to educate Americans - including local K-8 students - about environmental issues.

The global campaigning organization visited Manatee Academy on Wednesday, the day after a similar stop at the Florida Atlantic University campus in Jupiter, as part of Greenpeace's Global Warming Story Tour. Principal Mimi Hoffman directed classes of students...

Final Report

Also after many hours of testing and optimizing i have got the robot to go around the maze and ramp section in only 1 min and 4 sec. so should be a good race.

America’s Best Newspaper Writing’s Examples of Crime and Court Reporting

"Caught in the Web: Evil at the Door" by Cathy Frye of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Frye starts this piece with a lead detailing the most suspenseful part of the story, the kidnapping. It is a lead that grabs the attention of readers as well as giving them a glimpse of what the rest of the story will be about. One of the interesting things Frye does is spend time describing life of the father of the kidnapping victim. It draws an interesting parallel to the story because Kacie’s father is a police officer, on duty at the time of her kidnapping. Frye tells most of the story chronologically, using a web chat session that Kacie was having at the time with a friend. To avoid confusion, Frye gives some background as to what instant-messaging is and explains some of the dialogue. Frye tells a story with key details, even writing the time events happened as well as the temperature outside. If it contributes to the story-telling, she uses it, and it makes for a great complete picture of a crime situation.

"Humanity on Trial" by Linnet Myers of the Chicago Tribune

Myers story is unique. Rather than focusing on a sole court case, Myers’ story details the strained court system of the Cook County Circuit Court. The strength of this story is the way Myers plays with scope. She starts off by explaining the larger picture of the court system, and then narrows it down to specific cases and incidents that highlight the desperate situation. Myers gives the example that rape cases are sentenced as hard as drug cases, to show that the strained courts have to often make the tough choice to deviate from the goal of bringing justice. She also highlights where the courts fall short by giving out the unofficial “rules” of court. Her story ends asking the compelling question of why the system is the way it is.

"Metal to Bone, Day 1: Click" by Anne Hull of the St. Petersburg Times

“Police reporting rarely goes beyond the official version of events.” That is how America’s Best Newspaper Writing described this work by Anne Hull, going well beyond the official version of events to give a comprehensive story on a police officer who was shot at one night on duty. Hull begins her story by explaining thoroughly the people involved in the incident. She starts by describing Lisa Bishop, the officer who was shot at one night. Her story details the life of William Merrell, a man who saved Bishop’s life. Through his life story, Hull is able to describe the public-housing life where the shooting took place. The story ends about to find the suspect of who shot at Bishop. It leaves the readers ready to read the second part of the story.

Here are some other solid examples of crime and court reporting.

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-252431.html&tag=txt

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0412090169dec09,0,3743574,print.story

http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/2002-12-27-Christopher-Bernaiche-27-prozac.htm

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2002/mar/16/meths-legacy-burns-ruined-lives/

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/05/MNGRVMOB811.DTL

More to come on this post, including video and advice from a crime/court reporting from North Carolina's  Burlington Times.

Reference: 1223458848

The Team Leader will be accountable for ensuring that the team meets its business targets and for managing and developing the team of engineering professionals. Reporting to the Operations Manager in the Reactor Support business.

Location

Booths Park

Salary

Attractive salary package available, negotiable depending on qualifications and experience.

Job Responsibilities

The key result areas for the Team Leader include:

Supporting the Operations manager in developing and executing the business strategy for the team.

Supporting the other team leaders in the business with generic strategic challenges.

Day to day management and development of staff with a variety of skills and levels of experience.

Ensuring that financial and non-financial targets are met.

Maintaining and developing relationships with clients.

Pro-actively marketing the services of the Company and winning business.

Ensuring projects are managed to meet client expectations and to meet or exceed profit targets.

Ensuring staff receive appropriate training and development so that business needs are met and that individuals meet their personal aspirations wherever possible.

Developing excellent team working relationships across the Group and the rest of the Company.

To discuss this or similar posts, please contact ERS on 01454 203 460, or submit a CV to cv@energyrs.co.uk, to register your interest or apply for this position, further details available at http://www.ERSJobs.co.uk

Under Videos: Search for the Washburn Tunnel Story

Rain who is laying aside his overseas activity unfinished for some time has the releasing of his domestic regular 5th album "Rainism" to go.

The title is made by suffix "-ism" called the ideology added to his English name for activity "Rain".

It is a more advanced coined word that is jumped one grade from its own characteristics,
and is expressed as a even thought.

J.Tune's official said that Rain directly fixed the title of Rainism, he decided himself the even title with great effort due to the first album after changing livery. "Rainism" stands for "Rain doctrine", and it can be considerated as the various meanigs about Rain.

Rainism contains his self-conceit in solution.

His social spreading power and position have been taken forward enough for himself to be defined as an ideology. In addition, that may mean he put his true character into the new album.

And that doesn't have no connection with his vigorous oversease activity as the representative singer of Asia.

Taken from  Rain-America.com

I'm starting to think I should add "bad media" to my byline...

The link in the mini blog is to the ITV news report on a study examining the cortisol response of the body to stress in adolescent males with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (F91.3). The report has been described as flaky, unreferenced, reductionist and dire. All of that is true, and then some, my favourite part of the report is this:

"The next step for those looking into this will be to design treatments for the condition. To do that they will have to find what triggers the lack of cortisol production in the body"

Now that looks the wrong way round to me, surely the next step is to see whether the hypothesis holds true? To be honest this report is so beyond sensible it reminds me of Brass eye.

The Daily Mail report is brief but just as reductionist, at least it has a quote from one of the researchers. Whether that quote is in context is another question entirely. The fusing of "anxiety" and "provoking" to create a single word shows the care and interest placed in the story. (Oh dear I'm getting picky again aren't I)

And now the BBC, this starts off quite well by reporting a possible link but then falls into the same trap of saying:

The Biological Psychiatry study suggests some bad behaviour may be a form of mental illness linked to a chemical imbalance in the brain

So all three reports are describing bad behavour as a "mental illness' with a reductionist physical cause. No mention of Antisocial Behaviour Orders in the main body of the reports either.

Shall we look a the actual data? Oh go on you know you want to really.

Who were the subjects of the study? There was a control group with no psychiatric diagnosis and another group of "index cases" who had a diagnosis of conduct disorder. So we are comparing two groups on the basis of a diagnosis, when the two groups are compared, more of those with conduct disorder have a blunted cortisol response to stress which is mirrored by a smaller increase in heart rate when compared to those with no diagnosis.

Interestingly the subjective mood rating showed no significant difference between groups.

Why is all this interesting? Well, the reports quote Dr Fairchild as saying:

If we can figure out precisely what underlies an inability to show a normal stress response we may be able to design new treatments for severe behaviour problems.

We may also be able to create targeted interventions for those at higher risk.

This seems to have been interpreted as "tablets" by the press. Some current treatments for conduct disorder and ODD have aspects of focusing on the physical sensations associated with stressful event (heartrate, breathing etc) and if some individuals do not have those physiological changes it rather hampers the treatment modality. The study authors also state in their discussion that the hyporeactivity during stress could have different aetiologies, including habituation secondary to risk taking behaviours.

So precursor or symptom? We don't know from this study. But that doesn't make headlines whereas simplistic physical reductionism does.

Fortunately, the story ran at the top of Monday's edition of the local section, the once-a-week Treasure Coast section rather than just St. Lucie County.

Read the article here on TCPalm.com: "Vero Beach woman launches parenting magazine for special needs children."

I also managed to capture some photos from Joel McHale at the Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce Sunday night despite poor lighting - and cameras not being allowed:

They both have respective points that are, for want of a better turn of phrase, correct (and I may be one of the few people who finds Rod Liddle quite amusing), but Liddle's case isn't served by a few little misreadings of the Guardian's style guide and, in his apoplexy, misses a few points on good writing.

Back in my training days, one of the best tutors I had drummed into us the importance of saving as much space as possible by eliminating meaningless phrases, hence my dislike of the word prestigious.

Keeping things, pithy, punchy, simple and exciting is the mark of a good piece of reporting [2]. As my old tutor used to say, if you're needing to use extra adjectives then chances are you're not confident in the story itself. And these unnecessary words can be deleted to save space for words that will help to tell said story.

Harold Evans also has a nice little example in his book Essential English For Journalists, that of the fishmonger who puts the sign FRESH FISH SOLD HERE outside his shop. A friend points out to the fishmonger that the words SOLD HERE are unnecessary, so the fishmonger rubs the words out. The friend then points out the word FRESH is also unnecessary as customers wouldn’t expect the fish not to be fresh, so that too goes. Finally, the friend notes that the word FISH is also unnecessary as you’d expect it to be sold in a fishmongers.

So, from fish to "active homosexual", which is one of the phrase that has aroused Rod's ire: a point that fits neatly into this. The trick is, when adding a qualifying adjective like 'active', is to ask yourself "as opposed to what?" In this case, an inactive homosexual, and how many of these do we read about? Does it also suggest that our active homosexual stops being gay when not active?

"Illegal asylum seeker" is another phrase, so beloved of tabloids, that's aroused Rod's ire. But, technically, there's no such thing. If they're here illegally, they're an illegal immigrant. If their application for asylum is accepted they become a refugee. And before this, they're simply an asylum seeker. Some may be bogus, some may be illegal, but until ruled either way there's no way of knowing. Illegal asylum seekers don't exist; illegal immigrants do.

Most of what can be found is style guides is not designed to provoke or promote certain values, but simply to ensure accuracy in copy, and to eliminate ambiguity. I'd argue that if, as a reporter, somebody has to read your copy more than once to understand it, it's probably lacking in clarity. This is where the style guides come in, God bless them.

The 'sensitivity' areas - language around race, gender, sexuality, swearing, etc - is one of the hardest areas to get right. I spent hours arguing back and forth and changing, and rechanging, aspects around this on the most recent style guide I worked on.

It's largely about finding a balance and recognising your audience. For example: swearing. Neither my co-author nor I have a problem with swearing. Frankly, there's nothing like a well-placed fuck to enliven proceedings [3]. But we recognised that our audience probably would, hence the decision to add f***ing asteriks.

Regardless on my own views on the use of certain phrases - some of which I wouldn't use, and some of which I don't see a problem with - style guides aren't written for the person, they're written for the readers of the publication as much as anything else. It's a balance to be struck, and I don't envy the person who has similar conversations while authoring style guides.

Somewhere, somebody - be it those decrying the non-existent PC brigade, or supposed members of such a brigade itself (whose memberships overlap more than you'd think) - will find something to disagree with in it.

But, at the end of the day, I've never claimed any style guide I've worked on is infallible, and nor should it be the be all and end all - more a guide to coherency and fluency across whatever you're working on rather than a list of shoulds and shouldn'ts. The English Language is far too wonderful and flexible a beast to be caged.

[1] Yes, unbelievable so, given all the errors that probably pop up on here. It's because I normally post and go and don't always have time (on this blog) to go back piece by piece, although I try to if I have time. It just shows the value of sub-editors :)

[2] Not necessarily the same as good writing. I'm a big fan of both Stephen Fry and Will Self, both excessively verbose.

[3] Although, as Michael Bywater once said, swearing should be measured out like an expert chef measures out salt.

by Lesley Cowie

Reporters often use crime to sensationalize their stories, in an attempt to gather more readers. The proper way to report crime is to instill emotions in readers and to fulfill a civic duty.

An important tip to remember about crime reporting is to face fears. By facing one’s fears of crime and safety, he or she is actually showing courage and persistence.

Some of the best examples of this style of writing come from Cathy Frye, Linnet Myers, and Anne Hull. These reporters have been able to explain a crime in an artful, narrative way.

These kinds of descriptive tales are very difficult to find in many newspapers. Therefore, it is important to cherish these rare commodities when they come along.

Crime reporting appears to come in three forms: newsworthy, creative, and narrative. Some reporters strictly deliver the facts, some insert creative details, and others create a vivid portrayal of the facts.

The following articles appear to fall in the second category. These writers devoted half their stories to creativity and half to facts.

"On bail, Simpson is freed from jail" by William Booth

An example of this is William Booth’s article, “On bail, Simpson is freed from jail.” This Washington Post reporter uses grim details to attract the reader.

Booth presents a wealth of information and facts regarding O.J. Simpson’s past and current trial issues. Interestingly, Booth makes references to many media outlets as he delivers his information. This could be Booth’s way of illustrating the severity and notoriety of Simpson’s troubles.

Another reason for utilizing other media outlets is to show how criminals often become celebrities as a result of their troubles. Although some suspected defendants are already celebrities, like Robert Blake and Michael Jackson, others acquire celebrity status through the media’s coverage of the trial.

This is an important article for evaluating the extent to which Americans, and the media, idolize (celebrity) criminals. As Booth alludes, is it really necessary that the American people know such intricate details about these celebrity criminals? It is not pertinent to the trial to know that Simpson lives in a Miami suburb, spends his days golfing, and enjoys eating at Hooters.

While the main point of the article was to explain Simpson’s movements post-jail, Booth was also able to convey that fact that crime and court trials often become media spectacles.

"San Quentin is Scott Peterson's new home" by Kim Curtis

In a similar light, Kim Curtis’ article for the San Diego Union-Tribune discusses the shift in Scott Peterson’s lifestyle since being convicted of murder in 2005. Like Simpson, Peterson used to enjoy playing golf, but now Peterson stays locked up in San Quentin State Prison.

This is an interesting article because it goes inside the prison, describing the crude conditions that Peterson will be living in until his execution. Curtis kindly uses layman’s terms to describe the cells, showers, and processing procedure.

Curtis does not describe the controversial positives of being locked up in a prison; she strictly discusses the negatives and limitations. This is necessary to show how Peterson is being punished, compared to lifestyle he used to live.

To further convey the severity of Peterson’s punishment, Curtis wisely includes an important fact at the end of the article. She says that California moves the slowest towards executions and that it is likely that Peterson will sit in prison for at least five years. This allows the reader to think back over the prison’s description and let those details sink in. Even though Peterson received the death penalty, he will be facing these crude conditions for a while.

In a sense, this article allows the reader to consider the effectiveness of the capital punishment. Often times, people assume that the death penalty means immediate execution. Clearly this is not the case.

By explaining the prison’s harsh conditions, one might assume that Curtis is promoting capital punishment. It may be that Curtis is okay with the delay and believes the harsh prison conditions are suitable for a convicted murder while he or she waits. The theory is up for interpretation.

"School ties link alleged plotters" by Doug Struck

Doug Struck, of the Washington Post, wrote an interesting article about school friends who became alleged terrorists. This theme strikes a nerve with Americans because we are very afraid of terrorists and do not want to believe that our children can grow up to become terrorists.

The underlying importance of this article is for parents to pay close attention to who their children are spending time with. Under close supervision, it is expected that terrorist plots will not have a chance to develop.

One example that Struck gave was of Saad Khalid, whose mother died in an accident in 2003. Although Khalid showed signs typical for cult-like behavior, he had no parental influence observing his detrimental actions.

Struck also ties religion into his theme of terror. Following Sept. 11, Americans have become increasingly aware of bonds between religion and terrorism. Struck uses Khalid’s Muslim beliefs as ammunition for the terrorist plot. It appears that Struck wants others to be aware of when religious beliefs go too far.

"Pahokee plays for 'Pooh'" by Antonio Gonzalez

Sometimes sporting beliefs can go too far, according to Antonio Gonzalez’s article for the San Francisco Chronicle. In this report, the captain of a Florida high school football team was shot to death. Some believe it was because of a town football rivalry.

Gonzalez weaves football throughout each paragraph of the article, detailing how important the sport is in the town, as well as some believe the murder was connected to the sport.

Football is so important in Pahokee, Fla., that Norman Griffith’s family postponed the boy’s funeral so that the week’s football game could go on.

By describing the important role of football in the town, Gonzalez is demonstrating how particular hobbies and beliefs can go too far. He presents his information in an unbiased format, yet it is clear that there are questions left at the end of the article.

Did football play a role in Norman’s death? If so, the town must consider a way to remedy the situation so that it does not happen again. Norman’s death is one of seven deaths that have recently occurred in the area. While football is a hobby, it is becoming a deadly one.

This article makes the reader worry about the world, such that someone could murder a student over a football game. There is much to say about the world we now live in and what inspires criminals to act the way they do.

"Wedding of Mary Kay Letourneau and former student shrouded in secrecy" by Melanthia Mitchell

Melanthia Mitchell wrote an article, published in The Seattle Times, about Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau. Letourneau spent approximately seven years in prison for raping Fualaau in 1997. To continue the serious themes of crime, government, and jail, Mitchell creatively wrote about Letourneau and Fualaau’s wedding in a serious, top-secret government format.

Rather than writing about a joyous occasion, Mitchell described the wedding in a very serious tone. She described all the secrecy that went into planning, and carrying out, the wedding.

By doing this, Mitchell almost conveys the idea that Letourneau is breaking the law again. It seems quite mysterious that the wedding was kept so secretive. Mitchell described the various ways that Letourneau and Fualaau tried to make the wedding secret, from phone calls and emails to predetermined locations and buses.

The format of this article may be interpreted as such: once a criminal, always a criminal. This theory may be untrue, but Mitchell’s serious format might convey this thought.

Crime reporting should, of course, detail the events of a crime. It is interesting how reporters can creatively find an underlying theme about criminals, crimes, and society in writing these kinds of articles.

Why would you be interested in such a thing? From the article,

Business users often request functionality in their web applications that connects them to the applications they know best – the Microsoft Office suite.  In particular, a significant portion of today’s workforce live and breathe PowerPoint and Excel daily.

However, silos of data embedded in Excel spreadsheets scattered across the company present real challenges for today’s CIOs and IT executives in charge of maintaining consistent and accurate reporting.  In this post, I am going to describe a solution for providing a consistent and easy to use method for enhancing reporting consistency across the enterprise by providing business users the ability to upload their presentation tool of choice – a PowerPoint presentation – and return the same presentation to them containing accurate and up-to-date data in the form of customizable charts and tables.

Read the whole article to learn more.

Rain who just has a comeback to go revealed "Rainism jacket images", it is included in his 5th album, and announced the formal schedule for comeback stage.

The breathless and male strong attraction is being expressed on the jacket images of total two, his own sinle-party cut to be decorated the main of this 5th album shows off the strong attraction, expresses the more matured & refined atmosphere over the length and breath of this album by summarizing.

And on the other image, he reveals the strong will which he is going to steer this album to success with his dancers on the ship, which it is raining down on it.

J.Tune's official, he belongs to. announced that he is to show up  the showcase to be comeback stage through "Myself, Rain, Dance", that is his comeback show to be broadcated this 17th.

This showcase with the invited 1,000 fans by the closed-door is to raise the splended curtain at MBC Dream Center on Oct 9th, which is located in Kyungkido Ilsan.

MBC side organized MBC special "It's raining" on the 10th and Rain's comeback show "Myself, Rain, Dance" on the 17th as a series of two broadcasting.

Taken from Rain-America.com

At stake is the $339 billion in Wachovia deposits and its network of more than 3,300 branches throughout the country that would solidify the winner as being in the top tier of U.S. retail banking. Full story: http://tinyurl.com/3ehdnj

CNN's Citizen Journalism Goes `Awry' With False Report on Jobs

CNN's plunge into online citizen- journalism backfired yesterday when the cable-news outlet posted what turned out to be a bogus report claiming that Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack.

Apple shares fell as much as 5.4 percent after the post on CNN's iReport.com and rebounded after the Cupertino, California- based company said the story was false. Atlanta-based CNN,  disabled the user's account and said it tried unsuccessfully to contact the individual. 

In June, Yahoo shares surged after a technology blog said acquisition talks with Microsoft had resumed. The report was later contradicted by CNBC and the shares gave back most of the 11 percent gain.

A six-year-old article on the 2002 bankruptcy of UAL Corp. appeared on the Web site of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, was picked up by a Google search agent and mistakenly presented as a new story by a trade publication. Full read: http://tinyurl.com/53hp9u

Euro Falls to 13-Month Low

The euro fell to a 13-month low against the dollar as the deepening credit crisis prompted European governments to pledge bailouts for troubled banks. Full story: http://tinyurl.com/4bcr7s

Germany guarantees savings to avert panic

Germany said on Sunday it would guarantee all private German bank accounts – currently worth €568bn – in a dramatic move to prevent panic withdrawals as fears over the worldwide financial crisis spread to Europe’s largest economy. Full story: http://tinyurl.com/4myffx

test-points

I am back to post the latest article I wrote. It was the second assignment for my Reporting III class. It's written in an 'hourglass' format and I'm actaully really happy with how it turned out.

It's a story about two girls who auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance Canada and just a story about their story. I had SO much fun talking to them - Lindsay Eales & Harmanie Shairp - it was one of the best interviews I'd ever done. Really comfortable, really interesting, and we were all American SYTYCD fans so we started off the conversation and ended the conversation just talking about the season that had just ended and who our favourite dancers were and it was just a really, really great experience. I've made new friends out of it and I'm just so excited to tell their story! (This article is going to be printed in our program's newspaper)

This is their audition clip followed by the story I wrote. We'll see how well it gets graded...

A local pair of inspirational dancers brought out tears and applause from judges and the audience during the Calgary auditions for So You Think You Can Dance Canada last month.

A current University of Alberta student, Lindsay Eales, and a Grant MacEwan College graduate, Harmanie Shairp, travelled three hours to audition for the dance reality show So You Think You Can Dance Canada (SYTYCD) back in May, but they weren’t auditioning to get to the final rounds of the show—instead, they had a bigger, different goal in mind.

Shairp has the most severe form of spina bifida, a birth defect where spinal nerves are damaged and paralysis in the legs occur, causing her to rely on a wheelchair in order to get around.

In short, Shairp can’t walk. But, she can dance.

“If you have a heartbeat, you have a rhythm, and if you have a rhythm, you can dance,” Shairp had said during her audition. “I want to challenge each and every body individually to challenge [themselves] to dance with somebody who [they] don’t think is maybe perfect in a dancer way – just give them a chance.”

“[We auditioned] because we hoped that we could challenge dancers in their ideas of what a dancer looks like, what a dancer moves like, what it means to be dancing, and [break] down barriers for people with [or] without disabilities,” Eales said. “I had said to the audience, ‘All of you dancers here, if you could go home to your dance studios and open up one class at each studio for people with disabilities, we could totally change dance [and] change the people who have access to dance.’”

The pair didn’t make it to the next round of the show, but they said they found the success they were looking for anyways, after one of the judges, Tre Armstrong, told the two that she was so inspired by what they did and what they had to say, that she was going to go home to her studio and start “integrated dancing” there.

Shairp began “integrated dancing” in her wheelchair in September 2006, when she first met Eales.

Eales, who had been dancing since she was ten years old, decided to do an independent study in dance on ability and disability back in 2006.

She recruited five volunteer dancers from the University of Alberta’s Orchesis dance group, then found Shairp and another wheelchair user who was interested in dance, through the U of A’s Steadward Centre, a centre for physical activity for people with disabilities.

“We went through a process where there was a lot of talking, bonding, dancing, and building a really safe environment for people to explore and push their personal boundaries,” Eales said. “Over time we came to a fabulous piece and the way it changed people’s perceptions about ability and disability and what they think people can and can’t do and even their idea of what a disability is, was astounding.”

Eales, Shairp, and their dance group performed their piece at Orchesis’s dance concert in January 2007.

Ever since their performance in 2007, Eales and Shairp have been trying to promote integrated dancing, wheelchair dancing, and dancing with any kind of disability.

Shairp said that when she was in the first grade, she had wanted to learn how to dance like a ballerina, but her mother had told her they couldn’t afford dance classes.

“What actually happened was the dance teacher told my mom that I would hold everyone back [because of my disability], so she wouldn’t teach me,” Shairp said.

She says dancing with Eales and learning how to dance in a wheelchair changed her life and she hopes that by spreading the message that people in wheelchairs can dance and be danced with, what happened to her as a child won’t happen to anyone else in the future.

“The ultimate idea is that there is some little girl in some town that is going to be able to take that ballet class because her teacher isn’t afraid to include her,” said Eales.

“And she’s not afraid to ask to be included,” Shairp added.

Since auditioning for SYTYCD, the two have received a lot of attention from newspapers and TV stations, as well as being offered opportunities to dance and talk about integrated dancing at different dance showcases.

Eventually, Eales said, the pair wants to see integrated dancing become a normal, natural, everyday occurrence.

Eales and Shairp are performing for Orchesis’s 2009 concert Jan. 23 and 24.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="415" caption="Lindsay Eales & Harmanie Shairp. Photo by Linda Hoang. Oct.1.2008"][/caption]

There's so many wonderful things that they told me that I wish I could have just written it all in the article though. It's really great what they are doing and what they've done so far and I really believe that they're going to change dance - and that their audition has already put the change in motion.

As I said, I am really happy with how it turned out and I hope my Reporting III professor (who is brand new this year and he's been great so far!) likes reading it as much as I liked writing it.

Hopefully I post a blog again sometime soon,

Linda