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Final Projects

Growing Political Activism in Athens: A Spotlight on Millennials

The 2016 presidential election created a new wave of politically active youth whose growing awareness turned into protests and rallies.

An unprecedented number of millennial voters participated in the election.

An estimated 24 million people ages 18 to 29 voted, according to a poll by Tufts University, which was higher than the previous millennial voter turnouts for the November 2012 and 2014 elections.

In Athens, GA specifically, activism has become a trend with rallies and protests surrounding the University of Georgia’s Arch and causes communal gatherings in the streets of downtown.

Osama Mor, a student at UGA, said that his own experience as a Muslim American in a xenophobic society is what led him to start speaking out for the rights of his community and spearheading organizations like the Students for Justice in Palestine.

Mor is just one of the many minority students who have felt the after effects of the recent presidential election and believe speaking out is the only way to get their opinions heard.

Adel Amer, imam of the local mosque in Athens and lecturer at UGA, thinks that the growing political awareness will have a positive impact on society because he knows so many Americans are hungry for knowledge about different faiths and minority groups.

He believes that interest must be met with openness and transparency, which is exactly what happened when he held an open house for the Islamic Center in Athens where over 1,600 people showed up to learn about the faith of Islam.

Groups like Athens for Everyone, a grassroots organization that holds demonstrations and provides information about local politics to the people of Athens, have catered to the growing activism.

Chris Dowd, the operations coordinator for Athens for Everyone, said that the people of Athens are an underrepresented population who have a lot of interest in making sure their politicians have their best interests at heart, which is why the organization makes brochures to keep the town updated on local policy.

According to a poll by civicyouth.org, around 30 percent of both millennial Clinton and Trump supporters wanted to become more politically active after the election, although that percentage is concentrated with more liberals than conservatives.

Many protests on both sides of the political spectrum have been bringing out new, young students and community members in the Athens area, but loud protests are not the only way to voice an opinion.

Silent protests are also starting to gain momentum.

According to Mor, there have been prayer vigils for various minority groups that have felt especially targeted after the election, where people stand in solidarity to show unity and peace rather than the perceived anger seen at some demonstrations.

Whether chanting or praying, activism is on the rise and is gaining a lot of support.

Amer said that the future for activism is strong because of the youth that are starting to speak out and use their voices to create change for themselves and for the minority groups who need an ally in times of oppression.

Athens has always been a political hub because of the history of protests by UGA students and other millennials and now it is just one example of the overall growing political attitude in the youth of our society.

Athens Protest Thinglink

Exercises

Chapter 14 Exercise

  1. Media use for the day:
    • Facebook – free
    • Instagram – free
    • Snapchat – free
    • Twitter – free
    • Daily Skimm – free
    • Netflix – ~$8
    • Hulu – ~$8
    • Cnn.com – free

In total I spent around $16 dollars today in order to watch multiple episodes of TV shows on Netflix and Hulu. I personally think it was worth it because of the content that I consumed, since the show I watched on Netflix is exclusively on there and I wouldn’t be able to find it elsewhere. However, I could’ve watched the content I saw on Hulu on my regular cable subscription so those 8 dollars were not worth it.

Exercises

Chapter 13 Exercise

Sehar Ebrahim

#1 Choose a story from the front page of today’s newspaper – US launches missiles at Syria.

Rewrite the story as:

a. A text-message alert – Trump launches missiles at Syria to send message about chemical weapon use.

b. A headline for a billboard – US launches missiles at Syria.

c. An email message – After Syria tested chemical weapons, Trump decided to launch 50 to 60 missiles to the airbase that tested the weapons in order to make a statement that the US does not tolerate chemical weapon testing.

Exercises

Chapter 11 Exercise

  1. After picking 10 friends outside of journalism, I have identified that they use Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and VSCO. People I know use twitter to keep up with the news and what is trending right at the moment, while also looking for funny tweets or tweeting funny things that happen to them. People use Instagram to post pictures about their lives and channel more of an artistic vibe. People use Facebook less and less now, usually only for uploading pictures and watching videos. People use snapchat to post live updates about their lives and chat with their friends who don’t have other social media handles. Only some people use Tumblr now but those who do use it for photography and getting inspiration from art. A majority of my friends use LinkedIn to keep up a professional profile. Finally, some of my friends use the picture app VSCO in order to post pictures that they usually wouldn’t on Instagram by using cool filters the app features. Out of these, people usually tend to avoid Facebook because it is becoming outdated and there has been a shift to the other social media platforms.
MOTS, News

An Athens Perspective on Growing Social Activism after the Election

Following the recent election, political activism in Athens, Georgia has not slowed, according to an informal poll conducted by JOUR 3190.

All of the dozen interview respondents said they were at least as politically active now as before the election—and in some cases more politically aware.

When asked if they voted in the presidential election in November, three of the 12 interviewed said they did not.

Amelia Grace Wolfe, a 19-year-old UGA student said she was out of the country during the election, but also “didn’t want to be ignorant” while voting.

Katie Morgan, 20-year-old student at UGA

Another Athens resident, Ike Astuti from Indonesia, said she was not a citizen so she could not vote.

Although Astuti did not vote, she expressed a unique opinion when asked how she felt about the demonstrations against the Trump administration and said though the policies protested did not directly affect her, it was very common to see disagreement among citizens and the government.

She said that both, the citizens and the government, have to come from a place of understanding in order for progress to be made.

According to the poll conducted, only three of the 12 interviewed said they became more politically active after the election.

Riley King, a 25-year-old Athens resident, was concerned about the impact of the protests.

King said, “Demonstrations are great, but they lose their purpose if they don’t cause any actual change,” but continued to say that he still believes protests should happen.

“It’s important to challenge what you oppose…one person has very little power. A lot of people have a lot,” said Keaton Law, a political science and history major at the University of Georgia.

Law said he participated in the late January and early February Atlanta Women’s March, Atlanta airport protests and the Immigrants March in Athens.

Tyra Roberts, a 19-year-old finance student at UGA did not participate in any demonstrations but said, “Prior to this election, I feel like a lot of people weren’t really engaged in politics.”

“I think we’re realizing if we don’t use our voice and actually speak out, this is what can happen,” said Roberts. referring to the election of Donald Trump.

Eight of the 12 polled said they became more politically aware after the election, and those who said they did not were either already politically aware before or their amount of interest did not increase.

Robert Poole, a 25-year-old law student at UGA, said that his awareness did not change after the election since law students are generally more aware.

When asked what Poole thought of the demonstrations around Athens and the rest of the country, he said, “I think it is kind of our political system at work, especially because even though it kind of seems messy, it is a good sign that citizens still have the ability to speak either for or against the election and not have to fear prosecution for that.”

Eloise Rodgers Hancock, a 68-year-old resident of Athens, had a more cautionary view on the growing protests and thought the demonstrations needed to stay “cool, calm and collected.”

Stephen Tyler, 24-year-old Athens resident
Backgrounder, News

The Tree That Owns Itself: A living monument

The University of Georgia, home of the Georgia Bulldogs, received criticism from the greater Athens community when it cut down trees during a 1999 expansion of Sanford Stadium, Clint Williams wrote in an article for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Although the community was standing up for the rights of those half dozen trees that were destroyed, it has a true appreciation for one tree in particular: the “Tree That Owns Itself.”

The landmark tree is planted on the corner of Dearing and Finley streets in the city of Athens, Georgia.

However, as Rebecca McCarthy explained in her 1996 article “A Tree with Rights,” the tree that stands there today is actually the offspring of the original “Tree That Owns Itself,” which fell during a storm in 1942.

The father “Tree That Owns Itself” was estimated to be around 100 feet tall and 400 years old, according to McCarthy.

McCarthy wrote that “in about 1820, Col. William Henry Jackson deeded to the original oak the land it stood on and eight feet of surrounding property” because the colonel wanted to protect the tree out of love.

Although there is no evidence of the deed, the community protected the agreement and protested against the construction of a street that would have cut through the oak’s home.

Because of the complaints, the street had to be detoured around the tree and the surrounding 8 feet, according to a 1946 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In 1946, four years after the original tree died, members of the Junior Ladies’ Garden Club announced that they would plant the seedling of the “Tree That Owns Itself” from a stripling of the oak donated by Capt. and Mrs. Jack Watson.

At the 50-year anniversary celebration of the new tree in 1996, Dan Magill, son of Dan Magill Sr. who first proposed to plant the offspring after the original tree fell, said, “Paris has its Eiffel Tower; New York its Empire State Building and San Francisco its Golden Gate Bridge – but Athens has a beautiful living monument that changes with the seasons,” according to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Visit Athens GA on Twitter: “Happy Anniversary to the #AthensGA Tree That Owns Itself! – Farmers’ Almanac – https://t.co/azTLSNEPpe / Twitter”

Happy Anniversary to the #AthensGA Tree That Owns Itself! – Farmers’ Almanac – https://t.co/azTLSNEPpe

Exercises

Chapter 5 Exercise

Exercise 5:

After visiting Twitter and searching “Atlanta”, I was not surprised by the results. A majority of the results were about the Atlanta Falcons and their preparation for their Super Bowl appearance this Sunday.  There was also buzz about the different Atlanta sports teams, like the new soccer team United welcoming their player Josef Martinez to the team. There are also a lot of throwback videos of retired Atlanta football players produced by accounts such as the NFL in order to create excitement about the match up between Atlanta and New England in the Super Bowl. There is also some content about the ATV fest coming up in Atlanta that is an award ceremony for various TV shows. Overall, I was not surprised at all because the area of sports seems to be a hot topic especially with the Super Bowl coming up so soon.

Exercises

Chapter 4 Exercise

Of the four rumor choices, I would immediately blog about A because if the rumor happens to be false, it causes the least amount of damage. You could easily make up for the false rumor by saying your source was mistaken and it wouldn’t jeopardize a reputation or cause panic amongst a crowd.

The other options, however, are more severe in nature. Blogging about a possible affair the mayor is having with his secretary could damage the reputation of the mayor, if found false. Blogging about the quarterback’s injury and his inability to start in an upcoming game would cause a panic of emotions for those who support that particular team. Finally, blogging about the closing of a local bank with frozen accounts could raise panic amongst those who have accounts there. I would hold off on these three until I could confirm if they are true. These three are ideas that the public should have access to, but only if they are absolutely correct. If they aren’t correct and are still shared, the consequences could be major.

Exercises

How to Make the Perfect Quesadilla

Maggie Holland would say that making the perfect quesadilla is “an elegant art” that requires the perfect balance of ingredients within the tortilla.

Holland says the key is to nail the flip when flipping the quesadilla so that both sides are evenly cooked while making sure the pan isn’t too hot.

“The cheese is the glue that keeps it all together”, she says, while always airing on the side of too much cheese.

Contributors

Mae Eldahshoury

Mae Eldahshoury is a second year Journalism student from Alpharetta, Georgia. She hopes to build a career by incorporating her passion of social justice with  her hobbies of photography, reading and making films. She aspires to travel and make documentaries while working with refugees around the world. Mae loves all kinds of music except country and her favorite artist is Chance the Rapper.

She tweets at Mae Eldahshoury.