Nokia ads created in MU class
Students developed the commercials, which have aired nationally.
By MICH MARUYAMA
Watch out, Madison Avenue ad executives. You might have some competition coming from the Avenue of the Columns.
Television ads produced by MU advertising students have begun airing nationally. The ads for Nokia’s 3650 camera phone were produced as part of a broadcast advertising class last fall in conjunction with Nokia’s college advertising program. The spots began airing last month.
Jack Smith, the adjunct professor of advertising who teaches the class, said the project began when his son showed Nokia representatives previous work of students in the class. The representatives liked what they saw and told the class what they wanted for the camera phone ads.
“They came to Mizzou and presented the phone, all information about it to us,” said Liz Underwood, an MU senior who produced one of the two 30-second commercials Nokia chose to air.
The commercial created by Underwood and her partner, Melissa Hillebrenner, shows a young woman who has to study at the library while her friend goes out to a club. The studious one asks her friend to keep an eye on Jake, a guy she likes.
The club-goer sends the young woman pictures of Jake surrounded by female admirers. The woman in the library receives the photo evidence. She is dismayed, but then she spots another handsome guy at the next library table. She clicks his photo. “Jake who?” she writes back to her friend.
“We just asked ourselves, ‘In what situation could we see ourselves using this phone?’ We go to a class, we study, we go out on occasion, and maybe we work, and really that’s what our lives revolve around at this point,” Underwood said. “That’s what we tried to do, so we ended up taking a combination of, we have to study and we like to go out, and we form the situation.”
After students finished with the conceptualization and produced examples of what their ads would look like, they presented their commercials to Nokia.
MU seniors Libby Hall and Holli Coleman also had their idea selected for production and airing.
Hall) and Coleman’s commercial won first place among the work produced in the class, but it wasn’t until January that they learned it would actually go on the air.
“They came back to talk to this new class and had a big announcement. None of us knew what it was,” Hall said. “They announced they would be producing two of the commercials in that class. That was exciting, kind of stunning.”
Underwood said after their commercials were chosen, she and the other students who came up with the ideas attended a pre-production meeting with Nokia representatives, the advertising agency and the production company. They later worked on-site during production as art directors.
“There were probably about 60 people on the set,” Hall said. “They were all working on the idea we had. That was really cool.
“Actors were hired and getting paid to act the lines we had written, and to see actually our commercial idea on the monitors as we were watching, and make little decisions about, ‘Well, maybe he just said that line a little bit differently.’ I felt like I had reached my dream when I’m at a very young age already.”
Underwood remembers the first time she saw her commercial on TV.
“I think I jumped on the floor like real close to the TV like a little kid, and it was really exciting,” she said. “It was a thrill, it was so exciting, and I still don’t think any of us really feel like this is actually happening. It’s so beyond our realm of what happens to you as a student.”
4/13/2003 Metro
Experts develop kit for military families
Healthy Parenting Tool Kit helps parents, children deal with wartime issues
By MICH MARUYAMA
Experts from MU and Lincoln University developed the Healthy Parenting Tool Kit to assist military families during difficult times.
“The Healthy Parenting Tool Kit is designed to support military families as they parent within the contexts of deployment, relocation and dangerous work,” said Carol Mertensmeyer, one of the project leaders and MU’s ParentLink program director.
The toolkit was developed by MU and Lincoln University in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It includes question and answer sheets, fact sheets and checklists for deployment, relocation and dangerous work, which could help increase knowledge about parenting and family issues and reduce stress on the family. It also has communication tools such as pass-along cards or postcards to raise awareness of the impact of deployment or relocation on children and to facilitate communication related to those situations. The pass-along cards include words of encouragement for children and parents.
“It’s the creative way to help parents address the issues, and so it just seems like that’s what we ought to be doing,” Mertensmeyer said.
Yvonne Matthews, another project leader and human resource development state specialist of Lincoln University Cooperative Extension, said it took two years to develop the toolkit.
“One problem was the lack of an extensive body of knowledge about the ways in which families with deployed service members can deal with stress,” said Robert Hughes, another project leader and former associate dean of MU Outreach and Extension. “We know a lot about stress management in general, but far less about this specific situation and the unique challenges facing military families.”
Project leaders visited four different military installations and talked with military families about their parenting issues. They also talked to commanders, principals, teachers, pediatricians and counselors. From the discussions, Matthews said they learned that communication is one of the most important things they need to help foster in military families.
“You gathered all the information, you sorted it out and you had to sit down and think,” Matthews said. “I heard a thousand pieces of information and then organized that.”
The toolkit was being developed when the Sept. 11 attacks happened.
“Although by this time we understood the dangers faced by military families, this gave a new meaning to our work,” Hughes said. “During this time I think we began to sense some of the emotions faced on a routine basis by military families and recognized more than ever the importance of this work.”
With the war in Iraq, Matthews said the toolkit could be beneficial.
“The materials can be used by people such as in the time we find ourselves right now, where you are working with children and they are not necessarily the children of military families but they are children affected by what’s going on the media,” she said. “The materials assist in those kinds of discussions as well.”
Mertensmeyer said “the chaplain, the child care worker, the pediatrician, the extension workers and the public school teachers, everybody who comes in to contact to the military family will hopefully know that these materials are available and they themselves will use them.”
Matthews said he is confident the toolkit would help military families.
“We went to children, we went to parents to be able to gather the information to do this work and it reflects everything we learned from going to military installations and talking to families,” she said. “So definitely that would help.”
The electronic version of the toolkit is available at http://outreach.missouri. edu/parentlink/
4/3/2003 Learning
Faces
MU senior Meng-Chin Lim teaches at two Columbia elementary schools.
She teaches English at West Boulevard Elementary under the campus program, A Way With Words, in which MU students volunteer to help children master basic literacy skills.
In a typical class at West, a teacher assigns Lim a couple of students who have difficulties reading or writing, and she helps them catch up with other students.
Lim says her work is useful because a big classroom makes it difficult for a teacher to individually teach students.
Lim also teaches Chinese at Morningside Community School.
The principal is one of her friends and asked her to teach Chinese at the school.
Her class is an introduction to Chinese language and culture. Lim has eight students in her class, ranging in age from 7 to 13.
"It is a little challenging sometimes because there is a large age gap," she says.
"If you go slow, then you lose the older kids. If you teach too fast, you lose the younger kids."
MICH MARUYAMA,
Missourian
3/31/2003 MiniMo
Spring is blooming in the kitchen
By MICH MARUYAMA
reporter@digmo.com
Spring is here. And you can do many things to bring in the new season, such as playing in your yard, hiking in the woods, or going for a picnic at the park.
In my home country of Japan, when the cherry trees blossom, it means spring has come.
Every spring, Japanese families go to parks to see the blossoms. Under the cherry trees, people enjoy eating and drinking while admiring the cherry blossoms.
You might not get to see cherry blossoms in Columbia, but you can make a treat that looks like a cherry blossom. It is called sakura-mochi.
Sakura is Japanese for cherry blossom and mochi is Japanese for rice cake. So sakura-mochi is a rice cake wrapped in a cherry leaf. Its color is pink, so it looks like a cherry blossom. Inside the cake is a sweet red bean paste.
Here is a recipe for sakura-mochi. I hope you enjoy this taste of Japanese culture.
Sakura-mochi:
Beans
Make sure to have your parents help with this. Wash beans in water. Put the beans in a pot on the stove with enough water to just cover the beans. Turn the heat to high. When the water begins to boil, turn heat to medium and cook for about an hour. While cooking, add about half a cup of water every 10 minutes. When the beans become soft, turn the heat back to high. Add half of the sugar and stir until it becomes a paste. Add the other half of the sugar and stir until mixed thoroughly. Turn off heat and set aside. When cool, divide onto 16 equal parts.
Cake
Wash rice in several changes of water. Then soak for about two hours. Drain and put in a microwave-safe container. Add 1-1/2 cups of water and a few drops of food coloring to the bowl. Cover the bowl and heat in the microwave for five minutes. Let it settle for a couple minutes. Mix sugar with rice and stir to divide it into 16 equal parts.
To combine
Take a large piece of plastic wrap. Put one of the pieces of rice onto the wrap and flatten. Put a piece of bean paste onto the wrap. Use the plastic wrap to form the rice into a ball around the paste. If you have cherry leaves, wrap each ball with one.
Enjoy!
You need
For the beans
1 1/2 cups red beans
1 3/4 cups sugar
For the cake
2 cups glutinous rice
1 1/2 cups water
Red food coloring
4 tablespoons of sugar
To Combine
16 cherry leaves (optional)
3/17/2003 Metro
Profs outline protest plans
By MICH MARUYAMA
reporter@digmo.com
If the United States begins a war with Iraq, some MU faculty members are planning to have a protest during the first two days of the war.
Clarence Lo, associate professor of sociology, and romance languages professor Michael Ugarte thought they should do something to protest the war and began to organize a campus group, Concerned Faculty About War.
Ugarte said that, as a community of intellectuals, it is important for them to communicate their dissatisfaction with the Bush administration's war policy.
"The immediate purpose (of the group) is to present a response to the president'spolicy of invading Iraq," Ugarte said. "But it's also a means by which progressive faculty who are concerned with peace and justice can communicate with each other, not only on the war on Iraq, but on their own projects and their contributions to knowledge that would serve the cause of peace and justice."
About 40 people attended the first meeting Feb. 20. They discussed what resources they have or what kind of talks they could give during the demonstrations.
"For 40 faculty to voluntarily attend something is quite remarkable," Lo said. "Sometimes it's almost impossible to get five people at the same time. But for this, to have 40 and they didn't have to do it ? I think it's quite extraordinary."
Should a war begin, the group plans to be at Speakers Circle the next day, giving short talks, handing out information and announcing events that will be held on campus and in Columbia.
A meeting to discuss the war for faculty and staff members and students is planned for 2 to 4 p.m. If war begins on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, the meeting will be at Middlebush 12 at 2 p.m. If war begins on Tuesday or Thursday, the discussions will be at General Classroom Building 12 at 2 p.m.
Faculty members will also lecture about the war and discuss it in their own classes during the second day of the war.
Bill Wickersham, a lecturer in the peace studies department, belongs to the group. In 1970, he was one of the leaders of a demonstration on campus. He has been involved in the Columbia peace movement since 1962. To him, the Bush administration seems arrogant.
"Can you imagine?" he said. "Going to any other group and saying to the group, 'Yes, we are believing in democracy, we believe in democratic votes, but if you don't vote the way we want, we are going to do whatever we damn well please.' That to me is arrogant and stupid, and it's certainly no way to win friends and influence people."
Lo hopes Concerned Faculty About War will use every lecture hour of the two-day protest for students to discuss the issues and hear many perspectives.
"The English classes may want to take different perspectives from philosophy classes and political science," Lo said. "I think there are many disciplines that can contribute to understanding of the war. We'd like to have like a peace university for those two days."
Ugarte said the main intention was to create a dialogue among students and the MU community.
"It's not only for people who are against (the war)," he said, "but for people who want to know more or people who might even want to convince us that the war is necessary."
Ugarte said he thinks MU students are not sure whether war is warranted and need more information.
"I think our society needs to rely more on intellectuals to give us information beyond what journalists can provide," he said.
2/27/2003 World
Professor: War education is key
An MU course teaches conflict philosophies and critical thinking.
By MICH MARUYAMA
reporter@digmo.com
For John Kultgen Jr., an MU philosophy professor and World War II veteran, the United States may go to war against Iraq soon because the U.S. government cannot keep hundreds of thousands of troops in the Persian Gulf indefinitely.
"Clearly the signs are there, and clearly that's the plan," Kultgen said. "We've got to either use them or bring them home. I suppose that's one reason why the administration doesn't want to give U.N. inspection another six months because they think they'll have to go through all this again."
Kultgen teaches Philosophies of War and Peace, one of the philosophy and peace-studies courses, during fall semesters. Students learn the legitimacy of going war - what is to be accomplished and what is to be sacrificed. He said there are at least three points of view about war, which are political realism, pacifism and the middle between the two positions. Political realists accept war for national interests without regarding any moral issue, and pacifists think all war is evil. People in the middle think some wars are right, but others are wrong.
"My obligation is to be sure that the students totally understand each of the positions," Kultgen said.
Vincent Mughwai, an MU junior, was in Kultgen's Philosophies of War and Peace class last semester.
"We learned about different schools of thought regarding the justifications for war," Mughwai said. "We discussed war from the realists' point of view as well as war from the pacifists' point of view. We also considered religious philosophies about war."
Kultgen said his experiences inspired him to teach the course, which more than 400 students have taken since it began in 1995. He said when he served in World War II in the Navy, he did not question what the government was doing because his family was quite patriotic.
"Midway through the Vietnam War, I began to get concerned and see that we make mistakes and do bad things sometimes," he said. "Given my position, I think, trying to think critically about national policies and teaching students to think critically are best I can do."
Kultgen is concerned about the current U.S. government's policies. There are about 200,000 U.S. troops in the Middle East. During the Gulf War, there were about 470,000 troops in the area.
"It seems to me that there is a strong faction in the government that's committed to unilateral action," he said. Kultgen said he also feels the government's attitude toward war against Iraq is not honest. He said there is a difference between a pre-emptive attack and a preventive war, according to a philosophical theory called the Just War Theory.
"Pre-emptive attack is sometimes justified, (because) you know the other guy is going to attack, so you move first," he said. "But if there's no evidence he's going to attack you, you're just attacking to prevent some remote future event. That's called preventive war and that's condemned."
Kultgen said the U.S. government is just changing the semantics involved.
"Our government is clever enough to call it a pre-emptive attack. So, just borrow a term that applies to something acceptable and apply to something unacceptable. I don't think that's honest."
With his experiences and philosophies of war and peace, Kultgen said he is trying to enlighten people as an educator.
"Our general public is astonishingly ignorant as to what's going on and they are astonishingly trustful of their government," he said. "I sit in my Ivory Tower and I believe education, so all I can I come up with is to say people should be more educated. They ought to be educated to think critically and not just indoctrinated with opinions or given technical knowledge and not asking, 'Well, what does that mean?'"
2/13/2003 Learning
Junior teams score high at state event
By MICH MARUYAMA
reporter@digmo.com
Teacher Russel Sackreiter was confident that his ninth-grade students could perform well in the "We the People" state civics competition. He had a right to be.
Two Jefferson Junior High teams recently finished first on the ninth-grade level and third on the senior-high level. In the competition, the students answered questions and had mock congressional hearings on the Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution.
Although the Jefferson Junior High students were ninth graders, one of the two teams competed against senior high school students. The first-place team received a plaque, and the third-place team received a plaque and bronze medals.
"I felt they had the ability to compete against seniors," said Sackreiter, who teaches government class and directed the students for the competition.
"I offered them the challenge and they were willing to accept the challenge."
Sackreiter said that although the juniors and seniors had several more years of government classes compared to his ninth-graders, his students prepared for the competition by doing additional work outside the classroom.
"We were really happy because we competed against 12th-graders, and we are ninth-graders," said Danielle Geneux, a Jefferson ninth-grader. "So the third place was quite an accomplishment for us."
The competition was based on the "We the People" program sponsored by the U.S. Government which began in 1987. In the program, students were divided into six units to research 18 questions and prepared for follow-up questions from judges throughout a semester.
"I really like it," Molly Anderson said. "It wasn't hard at all because we practiced so much. So I had a good time."
Sackreiter said that students who participated in the program have a tendency to have better academic grades.
"It teaches them to research," he said. "It teaches them to learn the difference between fact and opinion. It teaches them to, probably one of the most important skills, apply knowledge they have learned. That is the big plus."
Sackreiter said the skills the students learned will benefit them in high school and college.
"I think it must definitely be useful for life and for school work overall," Anderson said.
8/18/2002 Metro
Winner's circle
Kids Fair features competition, climbing and collecting
By MICH MARUYAMA
reporter@digmo.com
Grace Freeman, 4, was already the best with a Hula Hoop in her family.
"She got a Hula Hoop for her birthday in June," said her mother, Sheila Freeman. "She's Hula-Hooping all the time, (while) watching TV."
Saturday, Grace took on outside competition and won first place among 10 contestants during the Hula Hoop contest at the KPLA Kids Fair at the Expo Center. Organizers of the event, known as Baby Fair from 1995 until 1998, expected to attract about 1,000 people. Now targeting children 12 years old and younger, the event became known as Kids Fair this year.
The fair featured a variety of entertainment including small basketball hoops, bounce houses, face painting and wall climbing.
Jan Hoemann made balloon animals for kids and taught curious mothers how to make the creatures at the Alive in Christ Lutheran Church booth.
"I probably began to make animals 10 years ago when my first son, now 18, was 8," said Hoemann, who can craft a balloon turtle in about two minutes. "I did it as entertainment for my kid."
Jenna Getzlaff, 21, was among the face painters, who were among the more popular stops at the event. Getzlaff said she's especially busy with events during the summer, and that demand was evident Saturday as a line of children waited their turn.
Riley Salisbury, 4, came with his mother, Denise Salisbury, his 9-year-old cousin Shane and his 3-year-old triplet sister and brothers, Shelby, Connor and Conrad.
"I like climbing," Riley said after his turn on the climbing wall. "I felt good."
Aileen Gannon, 5, practiced exiting a home during a fire emergency at the Boone County Fire District's booth. The booth gave kids the chance to experience a virtual fire emergency with simulated smoke in a small two-story house.
Representatives of the Columbia Cares for Kutaisi Steering Committee used the event to provide an update on progress collecting iodized salt for Kutaisi, Columbia's sister city in Georgia. Trish Blair, president of A Call To Serve, a nonprofit organization that supports activities between the sister cities, said in a release that organizers were nearing the goal of 164 pallets of iodized salt. She added that one more push was needed to reach the goal.
Copyright 2002 Columbia Missourian