Internet Nowhere

Wait, did anyone see this? Is this as crazy as it sounds? Or am I being superficial here?

The American University Eagles men’s basketball played their first game of the year Wednesday November 2, against the Randolph Macon College. The Eagles won the exhibition game 62-61, despite a late rush by the Yellow Jackets. AU seniors Charles Hinkle and Troy Brewer led all players in scoring, with 18 points each. Third-year point guard Daniel Munoz added five assists and seven points for the Eagles. 

I love the audio in this video. Basketball games have distinct natural sounds, with squeaking shoes and the ball bouncing on the floor. The crowd, the announcer and the referee’s whistle also add description and livelihood to the piece. But the greatest challenge was getting everything to mix, since each of these shots has constant audio in the background. Some of the fade ins are still a little jolty, but I think it works.

It was a little hard to get some good quotes out of this story, since the postgame press conference was cancelled due to lack of media. I had hoped to get a few quotes out of coach Jeff Jones, but he was unavailable for comment. Luckily, I was able to get Simon McCormack coming out of the locker room.

It seems odd that a pro-Israeli student group would refuse to go on a talk show and defend Israel. But that’s exactly what happened this month at American University. 

A political debate show on American TV invited AU Students for Israel on, as part of a special episode for Palestine’s UN statehood application. They promptly turned the invitation down. AUSFI representatives say they didn’t want to get involved in a confrontation with Students for Justice in Palestine, and they feared such a discussion would devolve into a shouting match. They also say they couldn’t find a student who could accurately represented the group’s diverse political and cultural views. 

But the real story began when, about a week later, an op-ed appeared in the campus newspaper, the Eagle. It was from AUSFI, and addressed reasons why they refused to go on the show, Capitol Politics. This letter struck ATV by surprise, since the Israel/Palestine episode of the show was never made, and they considered the story over and done with. 

The producers of Capitol Politics were taken aback by the letter, and spent a good part of their newest episode defending themselves. They say the issues raised in the letter were addressed at their pre-production meeting, and they feel AUSFI unfairly judged their show. 

It is still unclear why AUSFI chose to write their letter to the editor. 

FULL DISCLOSURE: I work at ATV, on a completely different show. I am also a Jew,and pro-Israeli, but have never been involved with AU Students for Israel.

The Occupy DC rally was supposed to leave Freedom Plaza Sunday night. But on Monday morning, the protesters showed no signs of budging.

Police had not showed up to kick the activists out of their tent city on the corner of E and 14th Streets. By 9 a.m, the protesters were out making coffee and planning the day’s actions. They were fairly confident that the police wouldn’t interfere for a while. 

The protestors planned to march to Union Station, where representatives from the Italian and Spanish Embassies were set to participate in a wreath laying ceremony to honor Christopher Columbus. They also intended to rally near the Mt. Vernon Convention Center and volunteer an a local homeless shelter, to honor World Homeless Day.

The protest was inspired by the movement that started in New York last month. That movement was aimed specifically at eliminating the corporate greed that, in the protesters’ view, is the root cause of the national depression. Most of the DC activists shared those same views, but also rallied against the war in Iraq and environmental destruction.

This is a short personality profile of Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad. He is one of two Imams at American University. As Imam, he leads Friday prayers, conducts Qur’an study groups and serves as counselor for the Muslim students on campus. 

Dr. Ahmad was born on a boat, en-route from Palestine to the United States. He grew up in Pennsylvania, and went to Harvard for his undergrad education. He earned a doctorate in astrophysics from the University of Arizona in 1975. After a few years, however, he decided to leave the sciences and go into theology and advocacy. He now runs a Muslim, libertarian think tank in Bethesda, MD. 

Filming this piece was a bit of a challenge. Dr. Ahmad is only on campus for about four hours per week, and he was never leading prayers when I had the camera. And I really had wanted to focus the whole piece on him leading prayers. Instead, I was able to film the Qur’an study group, which was included less action and fewer people. And there was only one other person working at the think tank, and he was busy, so there wasn’t a whole lot of interaction to film. 

Still, Dr. Ahmad is a very interesting character and I think the piece turned out well. I like how I was able to get a concise narrative arc out of his interviews. I hope you like it too!

(ANCHOR)

American University students are getting a timely look at the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

(Take VO)

The non-profit group OneVoice brought two speakers to the old SIS building Wednesday night. Eyal Shapira is an Israeli student, and Obada Shtaya is a Palestinian student. They talked about their activism in the Middle East and took questions from students. Eyal and Obada say Americans should not be taking sides.  

Incue: The Israeli Palestinian conflict is not something to be taken as black or white.

Outcue: And you don’t have to be pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli 

(ANCHOR)

Voiceover: TODAY. THE ISRAELI TEAM MACCABI TEL AVIV ARRIVED IN ISTANBUL FOR A MATCH AGAINST TURKISH CLUB BESIKTAS (BESS-EEK-TAS). THOUSANDS GATHERED OUTSIDE THE TEAM HOTEL TO PROTEST ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES. LAST YEAR, ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES RAIDED TURKISH SHIPS HEADING FOR THE GAZA STRIP.