Staff visits SoHo for shopping spree

Despite Feather staffers working late into the night, video journalists woke up earlier than the rest of the group to prepare a presentation. For the second consecutive day, Feather staffers took the subway trip to Columbia University for the CSPA Spring Convention.  

Once again, The Feather taught sessions open for other student journalists to attend. The sessions were the some of the first to be taught on day two of the convention. It was up to the video team to make a good impression on all who would attend.

First, Jarrod Markarian and the rest of the video journalists walked students through the process of making a video in less than one hour. The next session, led by Markarian and adviser Kori Friesen, focused on the quality of videos produced by a student paper.

Markarian believes the experience taught him something that he would probably not have learned anywhere else.

“I feel that our session went great and we had a much larger audience than expected,” Markarian said. “I think that it went better than I ever could have hoped for. The experience of just talking in front of a crowd of people is more valuable than anything you can learn in a classroom.”

Other sessions students attended included ‘The Music of Writing’ led by Michael Lydon and ‘You Sound, Like, Um…Stupid? Ya Know?’ led by Jacob Palenske.

In ‘The Music of Writing’, Lydon compared novelistic and journalistic writing to music by using examples most would hear in a band room. He has been attending the conference for ten years.

“I hope they (students) learned something about how to make their writing musical,” Lydon said. “To have it flow, to have rhythm, to be convincing not just because of the words, but because of the flow of the music. (I would suggest) reading their writing aloud and see how it sounds, balancing short words and long words, keeping the sentences on the short side, find ways to repeat with variation and just keep trying.”

After the lunch break, students visited Little Italy and SoHo (South of Houston Street) in the Manhattan Borough. With shops, food, and plenty to see, all were able to keep busy for a few hours.

Alex Rurik, ‘19, enjoyed all of the things to do around the area. Rurik explored several department stores and visited iconic parks. 

“I went to the Nike Lab store because I’ve never been there and heard it’s a cool place from Feather members have gone on this trip in years past,” Rurik said. “I bought some awesome shoes. Then I went to the regular Nike store and Dean & Deluca. After that, a couple of us went to Washington Square Park and then to Tompkins Square Park. Tompkins was really cool for me because I got to check it off my bucket list.”

Julia Fikse, ‘19, found both the food and community pleasant in Little Italy and SoHo.

“The community was unique because all the stores were bigger than they usually are in other towns,” Fikse said. “I enjoyed going to Little Italy because the food was really good. I got a lasagna-type food and gelato ice cream and it was one of the best meals I have had in awhile.”

After their time in SoHo students and chaperones headed to see the show ‘Stomp’. Stomp is a musical production that combines dancing, comedy, and music made by using only brooms, lighters, trash cans and other random items.

Many enjoyed the show for its uniqueness and the fact that it involved the audience. Julian Castro, ‘17, would attend the performance again if given the chance.

“Stomp was a very fun performance to watch,” Castro said. “The connectivity between the cast and the audience without saying a word was magical. The interactivity the crowd had was awesome and made the performance easy to follow along with. I would go again because the beauty of the performance is not in words, but in a great cast and show.”

While some students enjoyed the show, others found it repetitive. Lauryn Tucker, ‘18, found the show interesting but strange at the same time.

“I thought that it was very interesting,” Tucker said. “It was cool to see different ways to make music. I wouldn’t want to see it again though because it was very loud and weird at times.”

On day six of The Feather’s New York trip, the CSPA Gold and Silver Crowns will be awarded to crown finalists. Stay up to date with The Feather’s social media accounts to hear what the staff was awarded.

To read yesterday’s recap check out: Feather takes NYC 2017: Day 4.

Mariana Fikse can be reached via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Juliana Lozano can be reached via Instagram and Twitter.

Slideshow images below are from day five of the Feather’s New York trip.

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