Shutterbug

A look back at a few of my favourite shots from this past year.

Who's Cuter?

Winter's Biggest (and brightest) Fan

Efflorescence

Humdrum

Chad, Damien, and Crystal

Family

Pucker up!

The Indian Princess

(All rights to these photos belong to me, do not use without permission.)

~ Stay Salty ~

Who can we trust?

My very first podcast! Reputable news outlets are becoming harder and harder to come by, so what can we do?

~ Stay Salty ~

We Will Change the World

Millennial: noun; a young person who is prone to narcissism and favors technology over basic human interaction.

This is a stereotype; one that I am sick and tired of hearing.

I don't believe Generation Y is any more addicted to technology than Generation X. In fact, we may be less. I believe that -- I see that -- this generation is incredibly powerful, incredibly influential, and yet our significance is still oftentimes overlooked.

Many argue that the Liberals never would have won the Canadian federal election if not for young voters. And look at the following of millennials Bernie Sanders gained in such a short span of time during the U.S. Presidential election -- with hashtags like "Bernie or Bust" and supporters boosting Kickstarters.

I can't say for sure, but I suspect if Hillary Clinton had actually listened to the concerns of this generation right from the beginning and had taken advantage of social media and other means to spread awareness of her goals and ideals -- rather than trying to "appeal to the youths" through painful Vines -- she may have reached a critical mass of voters.

This comic (right) is a much more authentic portrayal of millennials. It really impressed me the first time I saw it, partially for its message, but mainly because the girl's tablet is presented as a useful tool to gather information, rather than just another Millennial Brain Rotting Device™. And the fact that seeing that is so rare should be telling enough.

I work with group of incredibly driven and hard-working individuals; the vast majority of whom are (you guessed it!) millennials. We have been told several times by our very supportive instructors that we are the future of journalism. We are shown the advantages technology gives us in our future careers (Skype interviews, IM, faster fact-checking, etc.) we are encouraged to explore the new mediums technology has created for us (blogging, YouTube/vlogging), yet the generations above us still look on with disdain when we opt to look at our phones -- often searching for stories, messaging contacts, or perhaps just taking a much-needed break by laughing at memes -- rather than humor complete strangers on the bus.

The very basis of journalism is to embrace change, isn't it? To learn about it, to report it and to grow with it.

~ Stay Salty ~

Aesthetically Pleasing

The average human attention span has reduced to a mere nine seconds since 2000, which means news outlets only have that much time to reel readers in. And how do they expect to do that without an aesthetically pleasing layout?

Most of us know about the vital influence of clickbait -- it's what draws the eye first and foremost, through a striking image, an intriguing title, what have you. But then there's the trick of getting the reader to stay.

If a website is poorly designed -- to the point where it takes an inordinate amount of time to load, or the content is smothered in ads or it's difficult to find my way around -- then I am unlikely to stay on that page and read the rest of the article, no matter how much it initially intrigued me.

The same goes for news sources outside the internet.

Most newspapers and magazines nowadays contain more advertisements than stories, and that in and of itself is unfortunate, but if kept neat and tidy then it isn't distracting. If a magazine had a messy layout like the Buzzfeed home page, where the articles are all jumbled together, then I am less likely to pick up that magazine. (In Buzzfeed's defense, their app layout is much cleaner than their website; which actually makes sense considering most people view Buzzfeed on their phone rather than on a computer.)

An assault of unavoidable advertisements is likely to chase readers away and doubt your site's legitimacy, but if placed in such a way that the layout remains pleasing to the eye, easy to navigate and overall balanced, then all that's left to traverse is getting them to click the link.

~ Stay Salty ~

#MuslimBan

Two days ago, President Donald Trump signed an executive order which bans citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for the next 90 days and suspends admission of all refugees for 120 days.

The ban sparked outrage all over the world, effectively turning American airports upside down with many green card holders being detained and other citizens gathering in protest.

I first heard about the ban not on television, not through friends or news outlets, but via the hashtag MuslimBan on Twitter, which began trending early yesterday, flooded with people speaking out and sharing their stories.

Both CNN and the Huffington Post reached out through the platform yesterday, looking for people who have been affected by the ban to talk to, and CNN has already started sharing some of their findings today.

While fact-checking the authenticity of every single report on Twitter surely proves difficult, and it is dangerous to take tweets from a stranger at face value, the sheer magnitude of heartbreaking stories rolling in and celebrity attention was certainly enough incentive for onlookers like myself to do more research.

Without Twitter, I wouldn't have found out about the ban as early as I did; that's how powerful of a role social media can play in online journalism. Sure, it has it's problems, but if enough voices accumulate about a certain cause, people will take notice.

~ Stay Salty ~

Well, looks like someone took a wrong turn at Albuquerque

Welcome to Pinch of Salt; a little corner of the internet run by a Newfoundlander who is far more eloquent in print than in spoken word. Forewarning, setup is still rather new, so expect some minor construction work now and then.

A little bit about myself:

I was named after the song See Emily Play by Pink Floyd. I'm a pisces. I can wiggle my ears, but I can't roll my tongue. If I could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, it'd probably be Robin Williams. I'm currently a journalism student, and this blog is a requirement for said program.

Now, while it's my responsibility as a journalist-in-training to remain unbiased and well-informed on all matters of controversy, I do have some pretty strong opinions. So, please take everything I say with a... well, you know.

~