Multimedia

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  Obama Discusses Jobs Report at Campus Rally

  Multimedia, News1 October 5, 2012 at 2:01 pm Comments are Disabled

  Just hours after the monthly jobs report was released, President Barack Obama spoke at a rally held on the Fairfax campus, telling the lively crowd that he wanted America to keep moving forward. “Today I believe that as a nation we are moving forward again,” Obama said. “After losing about 800,000 jobs a month when I took office, our businesses have added 5.2 million new jobs over the past 2 and a half years. The president elaborated on many of the points made at the debate Wednesday night, including taxes, the economy and spending. Reiterating the promise he made in 2008, Obama promised to be a president for all if re-elected. “I’m not just fighting for Democratic jobs or Republican jobs. I’m fighting for American jobs,” Obama said. Women and women’s issues were the clear focus of the rally. The stands on the stage behind the podium were filled with women and all but one of the opening speakers and performers were women. “The decisions that affect women’s health aren’t up to politicians; they’re not up to insurance companies, they’re up to you,” Obama said. Obama touted the points of his healthcare bill, which is especially pertinent to the college-age […]

   
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  Student Chosen to Sing at Obama Campaign Rally

  Multimedia, News1 October 4, 2012 at 2:58 pm Comments are Disabled

  They called her name and she headed to the stage. As excitement kicked in, Christine Gonzales’ main concern was not to fall in front of all the photographers taking pictures as she was going up the steps. Gonzales, a Mason student, was given what she calls an amazing opportunity to sing the national anthem at one of President Obama’s campaign events in Woodbridge, VA on Sept. 21. “There were a lot of people from my back left all the way to as far as I could see. To my right, there was the American flag, huge. Behind me, it said ‘Forward’,” Christine Gonzales said. “I took a breath, looked around and started the song.” Singing has been part of Gonzales’ life since she was three years old. Back in San Diego, where she was born and raised, she and her sister, Melody, were in musicals and community based theaters. For six years, she did mariachi. She also plays the violin. Graduating next May, Gonzales entered Mason as a voice major for two years, but transferred to New Century College to concentrate in community and public engagement. “I decided that I don’t need a degree to sing or to enjoy music, […]

   
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  From Binding to Box Office: Former Mason Professor Matt Bondurant has Book Turned into Movie

  Multimedia, News1 October 4, 2012 at 12:02 pm Comments are Disabled

  Matt Bondurant caught his first break at Mason. After moving back to his hometown in Northern Virginia, Bondurant began interviewing for part-time academic jobs but was hired as a full-time faculty in Fairfax, a rare feat for an aspiring author with no publications to his name. “I was the guy with a Ph. D. and nothing else,” Bondurant said. Despite a heavy teaching load consisting of four composition courses, Bondurant published his first book shortly after coming to Mason. He immediately began working on his second book, efficiently using his infrequent free time to churn out another novel. “You have to manage your time,” Bondurant said. “But the teaching schedule allows some flexibility.” Because it is essential for an author to have numerous publications to his name in order to advance in the field of academia, Bondurant worked at an astonishing pace, publishing a book every three to four years. “If I hadn’t been under the gun, academically speaking, I would have spent another year or two on most of my books,” Bondurant said. “But, on the other hand, after three or four years, I get kind of sick of one thing. I invest myself in a world for three […]

   

• Mason Cable Network: Green Machine Vlogs

  Multimedia October 1, 2012 at 3:45 pm Comments are Disabled
   
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  Mason Student is Redskins Calendar Cover Girl

  Multimedia, Sports September 24, 2012 at 3:33 pm Comments are Disabled

  There is no bigger fan of the Washington Redskins than Lindsey McCormick. McCormick was born and raised in the D.C. area and quickly adopted her family’s passion for the hometown football team. She bled burgundy and gold. More telling, however, is the tune that echoes throughout her home each time the doorbell rings, “Hail to the Redskins”. “I don’t know whether to answer the door or cheer,” said McCormick, a three-year veteran on the Redskins cheerleading squad and a current Mason student. A competitive dancer throughout high school, McCormick tried out for the Redskins cheerleading team at 19 years of age. She spent one year on the non-dancing ambassador group before earning a spot on the sidelines every Sunday for her favorite team. “I love to dance and I love the Redskins,” McCormick said. “I had the urge to continue my dance career; I didn’t want to stop dancing. But it wasn’t until I got older that I started to think, ‘Dancing and Redskins together might be a good idea.’ It was the best of both worlds.” Since her debut on the sidelines in 2010, McCormick has dedicated a vast majority of her time to the Redskins organization. While other […]

   
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  End of the World: Zombie Apocalypse

  Featured, Lifestyle, Multimedia September 24, 2012 at 3:24 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fifty-eight years after the United States government launched Project 4.1 to study the medical effects of nuclear fallout, Justin Watson and his friends have continued working on the experiments, with disastrous results. Watson, who graduated from Mason in 2010 with a degree in government and international politics, has opened an urban haunted house called The Warehouse with four colleagues in Rockville, MD. The Warehouse features an imaginary scenario of a continuation of Project 4.1. The haunted house centers on the story line of Atomic Advancements, a private pharmaceutical company that decided to continue the work on the decades-old research project to study the response of human beings who were exposed to significant radiation from high-yield weapons. That is when everything went horribly wrong. The Warehouse, which is located a block from the White Flint Metro station, is a 37,000 square foot department store in a dying shopping mall. Watson and his company have transformed the space into 17 rooms with zombies, decaying bodies and armed guards. A hospital wing, jail and laboratory are all included, but Watson has kept the final room a secret. He promises that it will be different than your average ending to a haunted house. “Our […]

   
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  Former Mason Basketball Player Teams Up with Joe Jonas on Reality Singing Competition “The Next”

  Featured, Lifestyle, Multimedia September 24, 2012 at 3:20 pm Comments are Disabled

  A crowd of several thousand of his newest fans roared with excitement as Jordan Baird was called to the stage. It was early August and Baird had just been announced the winning contestant on the Baltimore show of “The Next”. He glowed with excitement as he paced across the stage to thank his mentor, Joe Jonas, and acknowledged the crowd for allowing him to move forward in the competition. The moment was surreal. “I was pumped,” Baird said. “The whole place was going crazy. But then I got backstage and they told me they were not actually disclosing the winner.” Not knowing his standing within the competition, Baird was forced to watch the show on television to find out if he would be advancing. As senior co-pastors of The Life Church in Manassas, Baird’s parents hosted a viewing party at the church where many members of the community gathered, awaiting the results. For a second time on the show, Baird sat with his family and anxiously anticipated the announcement. Finally, after enduring the hour-long show, Baird heard the news he had been waiting for: he would be moving on to compete in the semifinals at Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. […]