Chik-fil-a at College of Dupage
Chik-fil-a employee waits for students
Chick fil A took the place of Grill 155 at the College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn Campus in March 2014. Despite some concern and debate about bringing the franchise into the cafeteria, a 4-3 vote for Chick fil A from the board of trustees amended a contract with Sodexo.
Chick fil A has been in the public spotlight for having straightforward religious beliefs. Supporting Anti-Gay Groups such as; Focus on the Family, Exodus International, and Family Research Council, providing them with aid and other types of profit.
College of DuPage serves a diverse population of over 31,000 students every semester, a fact that was overlooked by Sodexo when considering what food service provider they would bring in. Looking at all sides of having Chick fil A at COD was a key component in the final decision.
“We had felt that most of the issues had cleared up.” Lynn Konicek general manager of Sodexo said.
The debate about having Chick fil A on campus or not was all about making sure the student body had some participation in it. The company wanted to make sure that no groups on campus would be offended. In conclusion it came down to a partnership with Chick fil A.
“We really didn’t think that it would offend anyone, basically Sodexo is, the group that’s managing it, and Sodexo is a very diversified company. As a matter of fact, we’ve ranked in the top five, from diversity Inc. So our company itself is very strong in diversity.”
Sodexo as stated in fact did receive one hundred percent rating on the annual Human Rights Corporation Corporate Equality Index.
While considering what company to bring in, Sodexo said they held a number of surveys to find out what the students were looking for. The first survey was conducted over the summer. An online survey was put out to the public of COD asking them what choice of franchise they would like to see.
“One of the main things people were looking for was how the Chik-fil-A express was supposed to help quite a bit with the speed of service.” said Konciek.
Sodexo, aware of the high controversial topic surrounding Chick fil A felt that the company would do well at College of DuPage without any radical moves being made by students opposing.
The board of trustees as well as the college did include some minimum student participation in the decision. Some things weren’t accomplished that were promised by the actual food hiring company of Sodexo though.
Selected participant officers were chosen to represent the student body of COD. These individuals stated and contributed feed back to the company of Sodexo.
Bradley Setter, President of COD’s Pride Alliance, felt that Sodexo did not involve the students enough.
“I do not think that Sodexo listened to the student body when bringing Chick fil A on campus. I being the president of pride alliance along with three of my chosen officers, and some faculty sat down with them and talked about some ideas for them surveying students, that never came out” said Bradley Setter President of the Pride Alliance group at the College of DuPage.
Although Sodexo invested time into making the right decision in bringing in Chick fil not as much effort was made by them to include any student say as supposedly stating.
The collaboration of all parties brought Chick fil A into the cafeteria at College of DuPage but the future remains unknown if it will be a permanent home.
Chick fil A prides their company’s name on being “family friendly”.
“The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender,” said the company CEO Dan Cathy in a statement released in 2012 to the public.
The franchise has spread around the nation to many college campuses causing an overload of fuel to a burning fire of students who do not believe that Chick fil A should serve food in their cafeterias.
Duke University decided not to continue a relationship with Chick fil A after renovations were done in its West Union because they were seeking to promote equality and eliminate discrimination. The community as whole was striving to teach tolerance and acceptance and the brand of Chick fil A did not exactly meet their criteria.
Many petitions have been created by students around many different campuses against Chick fil A. At the University of Illinois about five hundred signatures were obtained by students in support of the cause. The list goes on adding about twenty other schools.
LGBT right groups have also vocally expressed their opposing side to having Chick fil A on many campuses. Rallying and protesting against the franchise.
*info provided by College of Dupage website
Shipwreck in South Korea
The article that I chose for my latest blog assignment was from CNN’s website about how there was a ferry in South Korea that sank while transporting hundreds of passengers. According to the article, at the time there are nearly 300 people missing due to the fact that they stayed on the boat; as was announced over the loudspeakers as the ship was sinking.
CNN did an excellent job incorporating different media sources into this article. They had numerous video links involving different aspects of the story. They had highlights of the story near the top left-hand side of the page, a map of where the ferry sank, and they had a full length story; explaining in detail what had happened.
I feel they could have broken up the story into different sections, possibly put a number of videos between each possible section.
I would like to ask the authors a couple of questions. The first one being why the chose the layout of the story? The second being why they chose to focus on the fact that the speaker over the PA said “If you move, it’s dangerous. Don’t move.” to the passengers. And the third question is; how long will you follow this story?
To view this story click here
Daily life of a cat
Wednesday March 19th, 2014 10:30 A.M.
Wednesday March 19th, 2014 11:45 A.M.
Wednesday March 19th, 2014 12:15 P.M
Wednesday March 19th, 2014 1:30 P.M.
Wednesday March 19th, 2014 3:45 P.M.
Most Surprising Photos!….?
So Time magazine picked the most surprising photos of 2013 and while some of them are really good, others in my opinion are just okay. So I’ve decided to share my favorite three with you guys.
The first picture I found to be interesting was the first picture shown on the site. It is a pic of a giant rubber duck in Darling Harbor in Australia. To see the picture click here. What I really liked about this pic is how your attention is immediately drawn to the giant duck. As well as how the bright color of the color stands out from the rest of the photograph. Another interesting point of the pic, is the reflection of the duck in the water.
The next photo that I found to be interesting was number 51, the picture of the flowers covered in ice. What was most surprising to me was that despite the fact that the photo was taken in April, all the flowers are completely covered in ice. What I really like about this photo is despite the simple subject, it still is interesting. The colors really catch your eye. Click here for the photo.
The final photo that caught my attention was number 81, the riots in Brazil, that occurred due to the raising of bus fares. What surprised me was how that there were even riots because of something so simple. The amazing thing about this picture is how you can almost hear and feel the chaos coming from this photo. It captured the action perfectly, the colors of the photo are striking, and despite the subject being chaotic; the photo is not busy in the slightest. Click here to see the pic.
Can we live in color?
In Medinah, IL., a small independent film company is planning on making big waves with its latest film. Windy City Films was started by Tony DeGuide back in 2000. DeGuide has been working in the film industry for over 23 years and has appeared in a number of films including “Groundhog’s Day”. Windy City Films is known for their previous film “The Voices From Beyond”, which was a 2013 Award Nominee in the Bare Bones International Film Festival. This film is a major move for not only Windy City Films, but also the movie industry in general. This is due to the fact that within the last five years there have only been two films from major studios, whose plots have been based on racism.
His most recent film, “In Color” is about how a Caucasian male in a relationship with a prejudiced woman and starts an affair and ends up falling in love with an African American woman, who happens to have a prejudiced mother. According to DeGuide, the woman his character is dating in the beginning, Maria, finds out about the affair and “in a fit of anger towards her boyfriend and a knee jerk reaction, she posts an ad online and starts dating African American men only to fall in love herself.”
“There is love, hate, happiness, sadness…this film is well rounded and I feel so many people will be able to relate to someone or something,” said Bonnie Rios Jones, member of Windy City Films, when asked about her thoughts on the film’s subject. Calvin Thomas, another member of the cast for “In Color”, mentioned that how he was hesitant at first due to the subject of the film being so controversial. “After learning more about the script, the characters, and more importantly the underlying message I felt like it was a no brainer” said Thomas. Thomas mentioned that though the topic of the film is controversial he feels that the film, “ will shine a positive light on the subject matter and will entertain people most importantly.”
Jones mentioned that how her character, Maria, is someone many people will relate to. “She was taught a certain way, so that is how she believed it was supposed to be.” Jones mentioned how her character, that by learning, by living and falling in love “only then does she truly understand what is right, true and real.”
DeGuide decided to write this film because he wanted to explore the views on interracial relationships today. “I wanted to show that people of different races can find common ground and romantically can fall in love and build lasting relationships” said DeGuide. He wanted to show that no matter what, there will always be people who judge others based on race, color, and sexual orientation. The main message that audiences should take away from this film is how “that no matter how much the world has improved regarding being prejudicial, it still has not been extinguished,” said DeGuide. DeGuide plans on entering “In Color” into numerous film festivals and has plans to eventually turn it into a full length feature film for movie theaters and commercial release. DeGuide plans on releasing the film by June 2014.
For more information on Windy City Films or to see their previous film The Voices From Beyond , visit their website at http://www.windycityfilms.com/. Windy City Films offers weekly acting classes for those who are interested in getting into the film industry. You can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/bmgreene1.
*Disclaimer: The author of this piece is a member of the Windy City Films crew*
poorly written anime
So, for the last seven weeks or so I’ve been watching this new anime series called Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil. It follows the life of a wizard lawyer named Cecil, in the near future Japan. The main plot is about how wizards, or as the show calls them WUDs for short, are considered second class citizens by the rest of the world and how there are numerous laws in place to keep them from using their abilities. If they break said laws, they are brought to wizard court and are represented by the Barristers. It’s less exciting than it sounds.
This series doesn’t follow its own rules. Cecil is constantly breaking the wizard laws by using magic, yet she’s never punished for it; save for a small portion of an episode. The character herself is childish, annoying, and is becoming what I call the “god character”; wherein she’s the chosen one, most characters love her instantly, and constantly developing new powers.
One character; her “rival”, is an older girl that started working at the Butterfly law office at the same time as Cecil, doesn’t like her. She’s supposed to be written as the mean jealous girl, but I find myself liking her more than Cecil. Mainly because every thing she says about Cecil is absolutely true; that she relies on magic to get her out of every situation, she’s immature, and she is self-absorbed. Though, all the other female workers; save for the boss, treat her poorly.
This series could have been amazing; were it not for the slow moving story, extremely unlikable main character, lack of action( the opening theme has more action than the show), and just overall bad writing. I’m sticking to it in hopes that it eventually gets better, but I doubt it.
If you want to check out the series you can watch here
Cosplay storify
Here is a storify “article” I recently did on Cosplay. Click herefor the article. I talked about how Cosplay is slowly taking over the world
Valentines day. Commercialization!?
So, valentines day has once again come around and I’ve decided to talk about one of the many articles that are written because of this holiday. These articles are written to either “help” people making valentines day “more romantic” or why it’s a bad holiday. The article I chose is from the NY Times, and it’s title happens to be Sweet Ways to Romance Your Valentine; clearly this article is about how to make valentines day more romantic.
The reason I chose this article was because it shows how commercialized valentines day has become. This entire article is about how, in the words of the article ” your smartphone apps can play a part in finding love, celebrating love and sharing things love-connected”. First of all, that just feels very pathetic to me. I mean, why would you need a smartphone to be romantic? And most importantly, WHY!? Why would you want to use an app like that in the first place. Nothing could be more impersonal and hell, insulting, than getting a message via a smartphone app on Valentines day. That’s like, I can’t even think of something that’s just as impersonal.
I digress, the point of this post is to discuss the article itself. The writing style of this article is sickeningly sweet, it’s praising the benefits of the different apps and how you can “convey your love messages” using one specific app. It also briefly mentions the prices of the different apps, which range from free to $1.50. Other than that the writing is bland and somewhat informative.
The type of lead that was used in this article was a round-up lead. It honestly feels a little weak to me.
All in all this article is boring and seems pointless to me. To read this article and more click here
News!?
Tonight I watched the news on CBS Chicago for the first time in a very very long time. They covered mostly hard news stories with some soft news stories thrown into the mix.
The stories included:
Hard:
Man taken from lake Michigan harbor in critical condition.
Sexual assault at North L-station near Clyborn
One story that stood out to me was the one about how the man who sexually assaulted a woman on a North Redline station in Chicago this Sunday was just arrested. The reasons this story is newsworthy is because it hits a number of the elements of news. It’s timely because the man was just arrested. It happened in Chicago, so it has proximity. The story deals with sexual assault, so that fulfills the emotional aspect as well as the relevance and impact.
This story stood out to me because I’ve used that station many times. I did like how the reporting just contained the facts, there were no noticeable biases from the anchors, and they were clear and concise in their reporting.
To read the story click on the link here
Till next time.
Who covered the state of the union the best?
The state of the union is a pretty big event and many news outlets cover it. But which one of them did the best job covering the address. In my opinion; CNN.com was one of the better websites covering the address. They summarized the president’s speech, posted a video of the entire address, and they provided a link to a transcription of his speech.
Click here to be linked to CNN’s page on the State of the Union address. CNN’s coverage of the State of the Union was effective because; as mentioned above, they provided three different mediums for viewers to learn about what happened. The first was an overall summary of the address, the second was a video of the entire address; which is good for those who find it easier to listen and watch a video, and the third was a link to a transcription of the President’s entire speech.
benmgreene1 