Northern Community Internet Holiday Event

Join us to celebrate the holidays! The Northern Community Internet Quad Cities Community Journalism Club has been meeting monthly since July. We're a group of like-minded people interested in using technology to build community. Sure we can Google and get results in China, but how do we find each other, learn about local projects? Come learn about the project and meet the people who want to use e-tools to build community at the local level.

Date: Wednesday, December 17
Time: 6:00 pm
Place: La Cocina and Cantina, 407 Chestnut Street, Virginia
Cost: Entrees from $9 to $20

Bring a spouse, s/o, friend! Questions or RSVP to Barb or Les at 218-744-2000 or e-mail barb@bonsaitea.com.

Nine Lessons and Carols at Gethsemane Lutheran Church Dec. 14

Nine Lessons and Carols will be celebrated on Sunday, Dec. 14, 6:00 pm, at Gethsemane Lutheran Church, 901 S 4th St., Virginia. After the service, all are invited to join in for fellowship with coffee and cookies. A freewill offering will be accepted that will go to support North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity.

Come and listen to special music from Gethsemane Senior Choir, Joyful Noise Choir, Our Savior’s Choir, Messiah Choir, Holy Spirit Choir, Hope Presbyterian Choir, The Divas, The Three Gusties, Sue by Two, The Choralaires, and The Psalm 100 Trio.

This service of Lessons and Carols comes from the King’s College in Cambridge, England, and its origin dates back to the 1880’s. The birth of Christ evoked and still evokes song, and everyone is invited to join in the Christmas carols, so sing with thanksgiving and joy for the coming of the Savior.

Calling All Artists (Ely outreach)

Ely Greenstone is looking for Artists interested in teaching students during art camp.

This summer’s camp will be held Mon - Wed. June 15-17 (or 22-24th?) Hours 9 - 12

We’d like projects to be geared toward 2 different age groups, grades 1 - 3 and grades 4 - 6.

Please email or mail project proposals by February 28, 2009 to:

Judy Fredrickson, 1581 Grant McMahan Blvd, Ely, MN 55731


218-365-4020

Age Group Served________________________________________

Project Name/Description and goal________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Equipment/Materials needed______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Time frame (how much time will the project take you to teach and kids to make?)

______________________________________________________________________________

You may submit as many proposals as you like. We pay $20.00 per hour teaching time. Greenstone provides all materials and equipment. Greenstone also enlists volunteers to help so you can usually figure on at least one helper with your project. We will be looking at all proposals and making a schedule depending on projects submitted.

Your project(s) may or may not be chosen depending on scheduling and variety of projects.

Please also provide information about your schedule:

I am available anytime during camp hours_____________________________________

I am only available one day during camp and that day is__________________________

Other scheduling concerns__________________________________________________

Bonsai Tea Hosts Eveleth Community Page Working Session

Wednesday, November 19, 3:30 – 5:30 pm
411 Grant Avenue, Eveleth

Northern Community Internet (www.northerncommunityinternet.org) now offers individual community pages for the Range communities of Chisholm, Eveleth, Gilbert, Hibbing, Mountain Iron and Virginia.

Eveleth-based Bonsai Tea will host an open working session to search the Internet to add local websites and Internet resources to the Eveleth community page. Bonsai offers a wireless Internet connection and a comfortable work space to support this community effort. Bring your laptop if you have one. Come anyway if you don't!

Are you using the Internet and e-tools to build your business or the community? Do you want to know about how the Internet can be used to build community? If so, come be part of making Eveleth a place where the Net Clicks!

For more information, contact Les Crawford or Barb White at barb@bonsaitea.com or 744-2000.

Comedy Program/Fundraiser for Iron Range Veterans Memorial

We need a good turnout! Yes, it is the night before the opening of Mn. deer hunting. We can't help that! Ken Davis (former Zim resident) and now a professional entertainer has donated the entire ticket sales from the November 7, 2008 comedy concert, "Ken Davis Unplugged" to our IRVM! It is a very generous gift to aid us in the completion of the 26' x 15' bronze sculpture "Shoulder to Shoulder Even the Fallen Stand Tall".
The concert date was open in his busy speaking schedule and also was selected because of Veterans' Day Nov. 11. Ken's father was in the Bataan Death March. Mr. Davis promises a clean family night of comedy and also a very serious and heartfelt tribute to those who have served from Northeastern Mn. Please be a part of something important and something that will stretch into the future as a beautiful honor to the many from your Iron Range area who have served their country.
Tickets are sold at the Silver Lake Floral Chestnut St., Virginia or 97.3 KDNW Radio East Central, Duluth, Mn. 1-800-425-0873 for ticket info. Program is 7 p.m. Friday Nov. 7 at the Goodman Auditorium, Virginia H.S. $18 (general) in advance, $20 at the door, $25 gold seating, $15 for groups of ten. (www.kendavistickets.com). Hope to see you there!
The IRVM (artist; Gareth Andrews) is underway at the Crucible Foundry, Norman Oklahoma and scheduled for completion and delivery around Dec. 2009 or early spring 2010. Imagine how proud you all will be to have a world class tourist destination and local tribute to every branch of the service, both sexes, many ethnic groups and all conflicts of the last century! Imagine further how proud you all will be if you have purchased a memorial paver (IRVM Bx. 35 Virginia, Mn. 55792), made a donation, or played a part in any way (including the Nov. 7 ticket purchase) toward the costs of the Iron Range Veterans Memorial Park and bronze sculpture! Let's fill the house at the Goodman Auditorium for this very worthwhile fund raiser! Thank you to Mr. Davis, organizing committee, donors and "you" for buying tickets and attending.

Creative Power of Aging

Creativity Matters
You are invited to the showing of a half-hour film… "The Creative Power of Aging"
Followed by a presentation on the statewide campaign of the Minnesota Creative Arts and Aging Network (MnCAAN - www.mncaan.net)

Monday, October 27, 11:30-1:30
Virginia Senior Citizens Center / 511 Chestnut Street
Area artists' exhibits & demonstrations - 11:00 to 11:30

Lunch included

All community members and professionals interested in the arts and aging are invited to attend. The event will conclude with a community conversation to spark ideas and connections that will help expand arts activities for older adults on the Range.

Register by email: lyriccenterforthearts@yahoo.com
US mail: Lyric Center for the Arts /PO Box416, Virginia, MN 55792
Phone: 218-741-5577or218-263-6785

* Must register by Wednesday, October 22nd / Seating is limited *

Please provide your phone number, email address and the names of people you wish to register

Area co-sponsors: Range Artists Association Inc., Mesaba Concert Association, SoHo Gallery, Northern Lakes Arts Association, Lyric Center for the Arts, The Creative Shop, Range Fiberarts Guild, Fine Edge Custom Framing, Virginia Foundation, First National Bank of Gilbert, US Bank, Queen City Federal Savings Bank, Northern State Bank of Virginia, American Bank, Virginia Senior Citizens Center, Edgewood Vista Senior Living, Quad Cities Optimal Fitness, Thrifty White Drug, Falkowski Super Market, Natural Harvest Food Coop, The Range Center, Peterson Well Drilling, Copy Magic, Ben Franklin Crafts, Fine Arts North

Community Journalism Club to Meet

Community Journalism Club Meeting
Monday, October 27, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Room C156
Mesabi Range Community & Technical College
1001 W. Chestnut Street, Virginia

October focus: Bring a project or story idea to run by the group for feedback, ideas and suggestions.

The Community Journalism Club is designed for anyone interested in using the Internet to communicate!

Free and open to anyone on the Range. No previous experience required.
RSVP\'s requested. Contact Jennifer Armstrong at jen3344@gmail.com or 290-8020.

Community Journalism Club Update

The Community Journalism Club has been meeting in Virginia since July! It's about time we posted a progress report!

At our first meeting we talked about forming a club to informally support local people interested in using the Internet to communicate. We decided to alternate short presentations about technology topics of interest to group members with working session where we bring in our project or story ideas to vet get feedback and solicit ideas and suggestions from the group.

Our first technology presentation was about Tips and Technologies for Conducting Interviews. We picked that topic because the Britt Historical Society is working on a project to interview elderly residents and Char wanted to know more about how to post interviews to the Internet. In August, Shelly Ceglar, Mountain Iron-Buhl technology and media specialist, provided information on interviewing technologies and uploading interview files (audio/video) to the Web. Scott Hall of 91.7 KAXE community radio provided tips about how to conduct good interviews. Google them both for fascinating results.

In September we were going to talk about Hometown Focus, a local community journalism site and weekly paper, but everybody at the meeting already knew about them, so we talked about important issues on the Range like restoring historic buildings, climate change, the spiraling national economy and people having to choose between food and heat this winter. Did that come up at the meeting or was that another conversation?

And then Ross issued our assignment: Bring a story idea or draft to the October 27th meeting to run by the group for tips, ideas and suggestions!

Next Meeting:
Monday, October 27, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Mesabi Range Community & Technical College Room C156
1001 W. Chestnut Street, Virginia, MN

Related Links (Places I ran into while writing this post!)

Saturday, October 18, 2008 Ironworld
Out of the Dark: Shedding Light on Your Family History - A full day series of workshops designed to help you research and tell the stories of your family history. Keynote Presentation “How to Be Your Family’s Storyteller” by author and storyteller Kevin Strauss.

July 2008 - Moving community radio to the Internet - A BusinessNorth article about the Northern Community Internet Project.

Griff Wigley's March 2007 Post on the Northern Community Internet Project and Leadership Blogging Guide - How to use weblogs as an effective local leadership tool.

and
KAXE's Morning Show Blog

Practice Makes Perfect

Just practicing..it can be done..perseverance is what it takes..now it's everyone else's turn..blog away!

Report on Wednesday, May 21 Citizen Journalism Workshop

Blognet
Sergeant Friday on Wednesday


(dramatic Dragnet/Blognet music) The synopsis you are about to read is true. Only the wording was changed to protect the innocent. (cue more music)
......
* This is the Iron Range.
* My name is Charlene Luoma (alias Sergeant Friday).
* I am a community journalism student who was recently shown and obviously influenced by everyblock.com/crime.
* I absolutely came to believe that a local murder had been committed “based on pure speculation and hearsay” sending me out on a fact finding mission. It was my opportunity at good investigative reporting and I was up for the job.
LOG:
* Wednesday May 21, 2008, 8: 50 a.m.: a winded Doug McGill arrived at the Mesabi Community College after suspicious activity surrounding the loss of his briefcase.
* I was taking notes on Ross Williams’ (Blandin Foundation) presentation on a recent axe murder (correction: that would be kAXE.....note to self to “Listen Carefully”) when an assignment came in from the news bureau chief: “Wade into a murky bog” (oh, wait, or was that a quirky blog?) My attention had drifted causing my listening skills to waver.
.......
* A former high school classmate had sat down beside me and we began riffing jokes off of each other. My professional investigative questions kicked in. Why had she taken the class? Her answer peaked my interest. She had been leading what she called “a shallow life” and wanted to return to her serious side. She added that she had once been serious. “Mam, when was that?”, I asked. Kathy replied, “In my thirties. For about six months.” (As students in another time and place, we would have been given detention for being inattentive in class. )
* Unfortunately, we had returned to the “shallow” end of the journalism pool.
.........
* Back to the assignment. Mr. Williams wrote on the cleanest blackboard that Mr. McGill had ever seen: “Quad Cities Community Journal Blog”.
BLOG:
* 9:10 a.m.: Kathy and I were again off task. She asked, “Who has time for that?” I replied, “It must be like a hobby for some people.” 1.) Collaboration began: “You and I could make our own blog: ‘I’drathercarveaduck.com’ “. 2.) Design: click on ‘no comments’ box.
3.) Concept: Kathy and I are the only two allowed to post on the blog. We express our opinions and do not solicit commentary from anyone else. 4.) Clever hitch: There isn’t anything ever on the blog. It’s totally blank because we are off “carving a wooden duck”, raking the yard, baking chocolate chip cookies or just about anything else except blogging! (We definitely decided it was a hobby that ‘some’ choose to participate in while others “carve wooden ducks”). Little did we know that soon we too would be expected to become bloggers! As a captive audience, our hands had been tied and our mere presence in this journalism workshop had implicated us, moved us out of our comfort zone and we found ourselves wading into the murky blog!
..........
LOG:
* I was again back on task to the scene of the crime and proceeded to gather the facts.
* Situation: Technology
* My job: blog. (cue blognet music.)
* I WONDERED. “You assigned something?”
* “Yes, a Quad City Journal Blog”, Ross announced.
* “You got a lead?”, Doug asked.
* There was not much to go on.
* There were only small matters..something about Freedom of the Press, Free Speech, Thomas Jefferson, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, First Amendment. etc. How could I get the story with only small details like that to follow up on? Where’s the story? Why would people care?
* Mr. McGill: “Did you write down the two forms of stories?”
* “Yes, I chose the nut graf!”, I replied. (cue the extra dramatic loud music)
..........
LOG:
* 10:22 a.m.: Scott Hall had not yet arrived so I needed to find the next closest source for questioning:
* “Pardon me, sir. Can I talk to you, sir? “
* “Sure. I don’t mind. Who are you?”
* “I am a community journalism student. Just for the record would you state your name and address?”
* “Thomas Jefferson.... Monticello”
* “I want to ask you a few questions. Just the facts.” Mr. McGill said, “nothing but good can come from the facts.”
* “I understand you have said some fairly profound things about freedom of speech. Is that fair to say?”
* Thomas loudly reacted, “It was terrible! We had to declare our independence!”
* “How can I be sure of that, sir?”
* Mr. McGill interjected, “cross reference and recheck your facts!”
* “Yes, sir”, I replied. “I want to get this straight from Mr. Jefferson’s mouth. May I quote you, Thomas? Please help me understand.”
* “Mr. Jefferson, have you ever been picked up on a 903 for instilling unrest in the civic population and empowering the citizens over the government? Just answer yes or no please.”
* “Yes, I proudly plead guilty”, Thomas emphatically responded.
* I proceed carefully with my next line of questioning.
* “We hear there has been a New York Times reporter operating in this vicinity. Can you describe him? We just want to get the facts, sir. Thomas, did you notice anything unusual about him?”
* No”, he said in a rather matter of fact tone. “He was just the run of the mill staff reporter who worked for the New York Times from 1979-1989 and the Bloomberg News Bureau Chief in London and Hong Kong in the 1990’s.”
* Note to self: (McGill, oh yes, I’d seen his kind before: intelligent and experienced, capable of asking and answering all the right questions.) He was a difficult “nut graf” to crack!
.........
LOG:
* 3:05 p.m.: I needed to make the deadline and get my report into Mr. Ross Williams.
* Note: I seemed to have broken the Top 10 Writing Tips of Journalism Rules in addition to Thomas Jefferson’s famous 10 Rules to Live By. Actually, I probably broke every rule in the Communications Act of 1906 because I forgot to Listen Carefully!
* My corrections(far out numbering Mr. MCGill’s career of only 2 corrections in 1,070 N.Y.T. news articles ) were as follows: 1.)The location of the “supposed” murder crime was not in the “Amazon Jungle” and was not to be confused with the frequently mentioned “Amazon.com”! 2.) My assignment was not in a “murky bog” but it was in an “online blog”! 3.) No one had met a “watery death” in a soggy crime site, however, Ross Williams had shown us an aquatic blog site. 4.) There hadn’t been the viewing of an axe murder site, just a kAXE web site viewing. 5.) The supposed murderer had not been “strung up” but we were exposed to a Minnesota stringer! 6.)No victim had been brutally beaten with a brick but I definitely remembered Mr. McGill mentioning something about bricks! 7.) No victim had been smothered with a pillow in his sleep but again, Mr. McGill reminded us about pillows! 8.) No one had attacked anyone else and kicked him to death yet, Mt. McGill repeatedly emphasized kickers! How could I have been so wrong in my reporting? I was so close to the TRUTH!
* My factual errors confused me into “assuming” a crime had been committed. It seemed innocent enough at the moment. (cue the very ominous music at this point)
.......
FINAL LOG REPORT:
* 5:20 p.m.: community journalism class was dismissed.
* On May 22, 2008: Mr. McGill departed for places unknown (actually I think it was Carlton
College).
* Ok, so my facts were a bit off! So, sue me! There really was a crime committed that day. Unfortunately, as it turned out, I was the guilty perpetrator of none other than false journalistic reporting.
......
VERDICT:
* I stand guilty as charged. I committed the unmentionable crimes of A.) deluding myself into thinking that I am a writer and B.) I have been practicing journalism without a degree.
* Unfortunately and ironically, these crimes are punishable by me having to actually write!
* My journalism license was revoked ( oh yeah, that’s right, I never had one and besides, Mr. McGill isn’t certain that journalism degrees are all they’re cracked up to be). :)
* I confess I have now dabbled in risky legal business and produced only entertainment and fluff! This is obviously not the stuff of pure journalism!
* What information did I leave the “j school” class with you might ask? Well, I am older and wiser and I see clearly that I probably at some point will need legal counsel. I am not talking until I first consult my journalism lawyer, Geanne Rosenberg!
.......
LOG OUT:
* 5:30 p.m., I depart for home to recline in a Campeahy chair (research conducted on T. Jefferson’s Monticello home ) to curl up with a couple of good books: Elements of Journalism, 2nd ed. and The Largemouth Journalism Handbook (Doug McGill) “because I can not live without books” (Thomas Jefferson 1815).
* (cue the cheesy music one more time)
* Over and out...I’m off to carve a wooden duck.

Welcome

Welcome!