On Thursday, March 30, 2017, photojournalist Tomas Van Houtryve visited Westchester Community College. There, he spoke about a few of his most recent projects, focusing on one entitled “Traces of Exile.” “Traces of Exile” focuses on the current Syrian refugee crisis and helps people to visualize/understand the journey refugees are on, as well as breaking/shattering stereotypes in the process. After his presentation, he sat down for an interview where he elaborated/spoke more about what he himself got out of this project. Two students, Fiorella Cavelo and Liam Thomas O’Reilly, also spoke about their thoughts on the presentation.

To check out some of his work, click here.

From a very personal perspective, Katie Roberts discusses what it was like for her to work in a predominantly male field.

For other women’s stories and more information on this topic, click here!

The piece I’ve chosen is entitled “Traces of Exile.” This piece seeks to challenge stereotypes surrounding the current ‘refugee crisis’ involving many Middle Eastern families and their journeys into and across Europe. Through exploring images posted by refugees onto Instagram, it is able to be noted that, while going through a negative situation, refugees are just as human as someone such as you or I. It’s a more humanizing perspective on a current, relevant, and extremely important global crisis.

Throughout the video, different Instagram photos show up. These photos are overlayed onto a slow motion video where the photo was geotagged, along with a sound byte. Each photo represents somebody on their journey to a new life, and each photo also helps to effectively diminish often thought of images where these families are in a perpetual sadness with absolutely nothing. Images of families and friends exploring places on their journey to a new and better life is a great way to show that refugees do what they have to to make the best of a bad situation.

I thought it was an excellent and extremely interesting manner to choose to explore such an important and meaningful topic.

While searching for an article to do this blog about, I happened to stumble across one on the Huffington Post’s website entitled, “Donald Trump Promises Investigation Into ‘Illegal’ Voting He Made Up,” and written by Alana Horowitz Satlin.

From a quick glance at the title, one would be correct to assume that the article quickly goes into debunking President Trump’s belief of mass voter fraud this past election – a belief that approximately “3 to 5 million” illegally cast ballots cost him the popular vote. Throughout the article, valid points are found through the many links to outside sources used in gathering the ideas and facts presented. Not only does this article successfully utilize the usage of hyperlinked outside sources and articles, but it also employs the usage of a short video featuring small clips of Press Secretary Sean Spicer and a news commentator discussing the article’s main topic, and tweets of President Trump’s where he, himself, declares his position on suspected voter fraud. This article, also, engages interactivity through its highly active comment section, as well as allowing readers to directly share the article to various social networking sites and email. I think the interactive aspect of the article suited it very well – without it, it probably would’ve seemed overly simple and underdone.

Truthfully, I think the article and accompanying video should’ve been done from a more impartial perspective, showcasing multiple points of view, rather than trying to cast everything in a black and white manner. The fact of the matter is that President Trump’s claims, while outlandish sounding, probably are resulting from, at least, a little more than his apparently very pained ego over losing the popular vote. I found this article to be exceptionally biased, much thanks to broadly stated claims of, “he lied,” rather than simply discussing that numerous studies suggest that he is incorrect. Gathering various studies from multiple angles may have been a better option to avoid bias/making the story seem simpler than it truly is.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-voter-fraud-investigation_us_58889827e4b0441a8f71ed83?